#rly unlocked the door when he saw me come home and then was like “hey have a beer

[swagbitch666]

my dad is so cute

[spideyharrington]

His Favorite Song

Summary: Peter tries so hard to balance Peter Parker’s life with Spider-Man’s. But even superheroes can’t carry that much weight on their own. Good thing Y/N is there to catch him when he inevitably falls.

Warnings: mild anxiety attack; peter being overwhelmed; little angst before fluff but i cant rly do angst so it pretty much skips to fluff lol

A/N: wrote this very late on a whim while listening to sad songs sooooo it’s short and messy but 🤷‍♀️ maybe i’ll try some angst tomorrow or tuesday if i’m still feeling kinda angsty 🤭 i’ll probably cry writing it because sad peter is the worst thing to imagine but who doesn’t enjoy causing themselves emotional pain every now and then 🤩

word count: 1.6k

It was your typical sunday afternoon; Peter out patrolling for awhile while you do your weekly grocery shopping. As you walk through the store heading to grab bananas, there’s this strange feeling in your gut. A feeling you get so rarely, but when you do it never means anything good. You tried to joke with yourself that it was your own spidey-sense but it only made you think of Peter and it made the feeling that much worse. You tried focusing on the music playing in your earbuds to distract yourself, trying to convince yourself it was just your silly anxiety at it again, but not even your favorite 80s songs would make the feeling go away. That’s when you knew oh fuck. something is very very wrong.

You quickly grabbed the last few important groceries and rushed out of the store. In the car you tried calling Peter, twenty-two times within five minutes to be exact, but it was no use. The phone just rang and rang. You had gotten so anxious in the ten minute drive to Peter’s that you hadn’t played any music in the car, palms sweating as you drove as fast as you could without getting in an accident.

You finally arrived at Peter’s hoping, no, praying, he was home. You lost count of how many times you knocked on his door. No one was answering. The gut feeling grew much more intense. You thought maybe you were gonna be sick, but you forced yourself to get back in the car and go home. Maybe Peter was there. You recall what he had told you the last time you were scared he wasn’t coming back from patrol.

“Y/N, no matter how broken i get out there, i will always come home to you. If I can’t swing, I’ll run. If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk I’ll fucking crawl home to you. I promise I could never ever leave you behind.”

God, of course if something was wrong he would be at your home and not his own. If he made it away from whatever psycho he was fighting that day… You gripped your steering wheel tight. Knuckles going white.

You finally pull up to your apartment, half-assing your park job. Your car was kinda the least of your worries right now. You run inside and fumble with your keys, getting frustrated when you drop them from shaking too hard. You take a deep breathe and finally unlock the door. You immediately check the couch in the main room, no one. You check your room, no one. You even check the bathroom to see if maybe he took a shower, no one. You almost start panicking even more, somehow, but then you heard something. “The fire escape! Fuck I didn’t check the fire escape!” You basically yell to yourself.

You open your window and sure enough there’s Spider-Man. You would be relieved if he wasn’t leaning on the rusty metal breathing heavily.

“Peter?” You whisper, kneeling next to him. He just turns his head over to look at you, and you start panicking but you manage to help him get inside, taking off his mask once you closed the window. You sat him so he was leaning up against the wall.

“Peter? Peter! Pete, can you hear me?” You saw him look at you but it was more like he was looking through you. It was that moment you were able to calm down. You knew that look all too well. You were still worried about him, but at least you knew he wasn’t hurt. Not physically at least.

“Pete. Hey, it’s ok. I’m here I’ve got you,” you instantly sit on the floor next to him, putting his head in your lap as you run your fingers through his unruly hair with one hand while you hold tightly onto his hand with your free one. You sit like that for a good few minutes until his breathing finally steadies itself.

“Pete, what happened?” You asked in the softest voice you possibly could. To your surprise, you feel him start to shake slightly as he holds onto your waist with almost a painful grip.

“That bad?” You frown deeply, “Do you wanna try to get out of that suit? Maybe it’ll help you feel a little better sweets. Then you can talk about whatever happened if you want to,” He lazily nods and lifts up his head. You wipe his tears away with your sleeve and give him a small smile.

After he was able to successfully change out of the suit and into sweatpants and an oversized Beastie Boys shirt, which you had found at a thrift store months ago and it became his favorite shirt of yours to steal to sleep in, he climbed onto your bed to you. He laid his head on your chest holding onto you tightly, but not as tightly as before. You resume playing with his hair and you see him close his eyes as he listens to the steady beating of your heart for a moment.

“Pete do you wanna talk about it?” He was silent for a moment before answering, “I thought I could handle this. I thought I could handle having Peter stuff while doing Spider-Man stuff. But I can’t. Y/N I cant handle this shit anymore,” you heard his voice break and it broke your heart.

“Sweetie, listen to me. It would be hard for anyone to balance two life’s like that at once. You can’t expect yourself to be able to just because you’re Spider-Man. You may be a hero, but you’re also just a man. You have super strength physically, not mentally,” Peter laughed very lightly at the end, “Ok I know I worded that weird, but you get my point Pete. Believe it or not you’re not invincible.”

“I know I know. It’s just… I feel like it’s my responsibility to be out there keeping people safe twenty-four/seven, but it also feels so unfair to you. When I’m here with you I feel safe and warm, but there’s this guilt I feel. I feel selfish for indulging in something so nice when I could be using this time to help people. But, when I’m out there fighting crime, I feel good for helping so many people and using my powers for good, but on the other hand I feel awful for leaving you alone for so long. I know you don’t need me to be around every second of every day but I also know you need me for more than just a few hours a day. Some days you don’t even see me at all until some ungodly hour in the middle of the night, or early morning for that matter-“ you cut off his rant.

“Peter. stop it,” he looks up at you with furrowed brows, “You keep doing this. You keep blaming yourself for every tiny little microscopic thing you can find. Yes, with your abilities you have some intense responsibilities. Yes, you have responsibilities in a relationship. But you cannot beat yourself up every time your responsibilities clash. It’s out of your control Peter. And I never blame you for any of it, ok? I need you to know that. I never get mad because I understand it isn’t your fault. But I need you to understand that too Pete. ‘Cause I cant handle seeing you like this. I know that’s selfish to say, but it absolutely shatters my heart to see you in so much pain. Pain that you cause by being too harsh on yourself.”

Peter stays quiet, just staring into your eyes. He can see you trying to hold back your own tears. He sits up and puts a hand on your cheek, rubbing it gently back and forth. He then puts his forehead to yours and you both close your eyes as your breathing syncs with his. He tangles his free hand in your hair and kisses you so softly that you wonder for a moment if he even actually kissed you. He pulls back before you bring him in to kiss him again. You still kiss him softly, but more passionately this time. When you both pull away, you just smile at him which of course makes him smile back and his eyes light up.

“Call off work tomorrow, yeah? We’ll have a John Hughes marathon as a little reset. I think we both deserve it,” as you look into those deep brown eyes, you know there’s no telling him no, so you nod and smile at him.

After you both talk for another hour, or maybe two, you finally settle in your bed, both feeling incredibly tired. Peter puts his head on your chest again as he wraps his arms around you and tangles his legs in yours, a thing you’ve found that he does when he wants to make sure you don’t go anywhere.

“I think this is my favorite song,” Peter randomly stated and you looked at him confused, “Pete, there’s no music. Are you ok? I mean, you don’t have a concussion do you?” To that, Peter chuckled.

“I don’t have a concussion ladybug. I meant the sound of your heart,” It was your turn to let out a little laugh, “I’m serious Y/N! We should take a microphone to your chest and broadcast the boom boom boom boom and make ‘em all dance to it!”

“Did you just… Did you just say that to quote Lorde?”

“I did really want to quote that song. But I bet if everyone could listen to your heartbeat they’d have no choice but to be completely and totally ok. Even if it’s just for a moment.”

“There’s my Peter Parker,” you smile, kissing him on the head.

[sakuric]

study dates -> akaashi keiji

synopsis!the love you felt for keiji was growing bigger and bigger, suffocating you more and more each day, but you still didn't let yourself confess. all it took was rejection to finally word how you feel about him.

pairing!keiji akaashi x gn!reader

genre!fluff

warnings!slight cursing

wc!1886

gen taglist! @graykageyama @elixhirs @soranihimawari @admiringlove @softieynnie

a/n!hello babes :3 this is a short? not rly drabble dedicated to my dear sam @admiringlove , and every akaashi stan reading !! this wasn't proof read, but i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing it :)

you were in love. in love with a boy whose presence made your heart skip a beat. in love with a boy whose hands are gorgeous, but he hides them everytime someone, who isn’t you, around him. he's a boy you've been in love with for a long time now, yet you can't gather the courage to let yourself tell him.

"hello, y/n. are you ready to study?" akaashi asked, sitting down opposite of you at the table. you were doing your study session in the library, as you do every week. although bokuto, akaashi's friend, once joked that you two go out on study "dates", but neither of you found it funny. and it made you worry, why akaashi didn't find it funny. of course, he doesn't usually laugh at bokuto's jokes, and he usually answers with a snarky remark, but he stayed quiet that time.

"l/n?" akaashi waved a hand in front of your face, causing you to flinch out of your daydream. "oh, uh, yes i'm ready." you smiled softly, opening your biology book, but akaashi noticed something wrong.

"you sure? we can skip today if you want."

"oh, no, akaashi, it's okay. i'm okay." you gave him a soft smile before continuing to read. "so what i'm thinking is-"

"what i'm thinking..." akaashi interrupted, a hand slid across the table to close your book, his deep emerald eyes gazing back at your own. you gulped, swallowing any sign of anxiety that could be visible. but it didn't help, akaashi knew you well, and he knew how fidgety you get when you’re anxious for something, so when he saw you anxiously play with your nails while waiting for him, he knew something was up. "is that we can continue this later. do you want to go out with me, y/n?"

as the words left his mouth, your body stiffened, your breath came to a halt for just a moment, and your palms started sweating heavily. "like- like on a date...?"

"yes, y/n, like on a date." akaashi let out a laugh, mumbling "cutie" before sitting back in his chair. "i'll let you think about it, and if you say yes, i'll see you tomorrow at eight pm, by the crooked tree in the campus park, deal?"

"deal."

—

the next evening came faster than expected. and you weren’t really confident with your choice to go on the date akaashi suggested. what did you have to wear? did you have to bring anything? was it a friendly date? the answers to these questions were too unknown to you, but nonetheless, you couldn’t disappoint your best friend, right?

“i was thinking you forgot about the date.” akaashi’s voice ringed in your ear, your body shifting immediately towards the origin of the sound. your eyes scanned his body; a university hoodie, a pair of black, skinny jeans, and his beloved converse shoes. you swooned over how he dressed, for the study sessions he’d wear a beige button up with a sweater-vest on top and some formal, checkered pants. but for afterschool chats and hanging out, he dressed nearly opposite.

“are you alright? why are you not saying anything…”

“you.. look nice.” you mumbled, stepping closer to him, in hopes that your anxiety will calm and let you speak the words you wished to say.

“thank you, y/n. you look nice too.” he smiled softly, his emerald orbs scanning your face for any discomfort. akaashi was good - he was good at identifying different emotions of people, even if there was the slightest change in a person's body language, he could already identify why and what they felt. he was also good for you, and you knew if he’d reject you, he’d try his best to continue being friends without it being awkward for you.

“akaashi, why did you ask me to come here?”

“i wanted to tell you something.” keiji extended his hand towards you, waiting for you to grasp it. he loved when you held his hands, and you’d do it quite often. akaashi never let anyone hold or look at his hands for too long, and he had opened up about how he’s insecure about his hands, their shape and form. that time, you comforted him by planting a small kiss on each of his fingers, saying his hands were perfect the way they were. you intertwined your fingers with his and started walking.

you wondered what it was that he wanted to tell you, what was on his mind this exact moment. you sometimes wished to be able to read people’s minds, just so you could figure out what goes on in that pretty head of his. and maybe, for your own good, what he thinks about you. these emotions flooded your mind like a flood after a rainstorm, and akaashi noticed. he stopped in his tracks, covered your eyes and mumbled ‘were almost here’ as he stood behind you. you two walked for a while, akaashi mumbling a few words into your hair as he led you further. your mind started racing with a million thoughts an hour as you wondered where he had taken you.

“okay we’re here,” keiji announced, removing his hands from your eyes. you turned around to see him smiling softly at you, as he stood in front of the object he wished to show you. you tried to get a look at it, but akaashi forbid you from it. “remember when you showed me that flower, in our biology textbook?” you nodded your head, anticipating what the boy had planned.

“i did some research and i found out that the flower is right next to our main campus,” akaashi moved so you could finally see what he brought you here for. and then you saw it… the bright lilac flower staring back at you. a laugh mixed gasp left your lips as you walked closer to the delicate flower, your fingers carefully tracing the petals. “and i also found out that it was planted here on exactly your birthday. so i think i’d like to call it the y/n flower.” you giggled and turned to him with a smile painted on your face. as your arms embraced keiji in a warm hug, you mumbled a small ‘thank you’ against his warm skin.

—

a week had passed and akaashi wasn’t seen, to you at least. you saw him in the halls and tried to catch up to him, but he’d walk away without letting you even say hello. you’ve had enough. what did you even do wrong? you two just hung out later after the date, he gave you a book he really liked and said there was something special in it for you- wait. the book… you haven't opened it yet, and maybe the important thing was why he was ignoring you.

as soon as the class bell rang you ran out of the school building and jogged across your campus. thankfully, it was your last class of the day, so you didn't need to rush. except you did, you wanted to fix this, you wanted to find out what went wrong.

you attempted to unlock and open the door to your dorm, but the door seemed to give you a middle finger and decide to not unlock. fuck it’s the wrong key, you thought and clumsily fumbled with the multiple keys you had. as if the day hadn't been horrible already, you dropped the keys.

“fuck!” you exclaimed, feeling tears prick your eyes. you quickly grabbed -hopefully- the right key and unlocked the door. you had never gotten in your dormitory as fast as you did now. without taking any notice, you quickly speed-walked to your bookshelf.

The picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. was the name of the book Akaashi Keiji gave you. it was one of your favourite books when you had read it in highschool, yet you haven't picked up a copy of it ever since. you flipped over to the page where a small blue sticky note marked. you opened it to find a highlighted quote, and another sticky note writing something underneath it.

“You are a wonderful creation. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.” y/n, have i not been obvious enough? I have tried to show you that I love you. maybe my cheeks weren't a bright enough shade of crimson when you kissed each pad of my finger on both my hands, maybe i didn't use my body language enough. Bokuto says that for a genius I am truly stupid. and I cannot help but agree. i hope, that instead of study sessions, we could go on real study dates, as a couple. but i’ll ask you this later. I love you, l/n y/n. please tell me you do too.

that was it. that was enough to make you realise what you had done and why he was ignoring you. you hadn’t told him.

—

“hey, y/n.” spoke akaashi, seeing you the next day after your date. you smiled softly at him and greeted him with a hug.

“hi, keiji. are we going to study today?” you asked, tightening your grasp on the straps of your black backpack. you noticed how akaashi’s hands twitched, he was going to hug you, or maybe hold your hand, but he restrained himself.

“i.. uh.. i have to go, y/n. see you around.”

—

he had expected you to open the book as soon as you got home, and didn't think about the fact that you wanted to give all your time and attention to it. it didn't make sense. it didn't make sense how all this time you expected to be rejected by akaashi when you’d confess (which you thought about never doing), but you unknowingly rejected him.

once again, your body worked faster than your brain could register and you were right out the door, on your way to akaashi’s dorm.

“y/n? what are you doing here?” keiji asked, his head slightly tilted to the side, signifying that he was confused. he was wearing that gray university hoodie of his and some black sweatpants, and you swore you had never wanted to embrace someone in a hug as much as you did now.

without even saying anything, you embraced his lips in a passionate kiss. akaashi’s mind raced with multiple thoughts, but nonetheless his warm hands travelled to the groove of your waist. you two made out with the open door for about two minutes until either of you realised it was even open. akaashi thanked the gods that no one saw and that bokuto wasn't over at that time, because he would've made funny remarks, that neither you or akaashi would've found funny.

“i love you too, akaashi keiji. i’ve always loved you.” you smiled after you two caught your breath. “i read the highlighted page, and i’m sorry that it took me so long. we could've avoided the whole… ignoring that went on if i had opened it sooner and i- i love you, akaashi.”

“i know you do, y/n. i love you too.” akaashi smiled, placing a kiss on your forehead. “how about a study date at the library?”

© all work written by sakuric is not to be posted on any other writing app or website without notice. if it is found to be reposted without consent, rightful action will be taken.

[theblackberrygirl]

Dead Hearts

Summary: The Red Room is destroyed and Natasha has some unresolved goodbyes to say.

Author’s Note: alright I wasn’t super happy with this bc I felt like it was kinda OOC but my beta reader said she rly liked it so here it is!

Warnings: torture, death, death of children, hypothermia, grief. It’s sad alright

This is a song fic and it’s inspired by Dead Hearts by Stars

Tell me everything that happened

Tell me everything you saw

They had lights inside their eyes

They had lights inside their eyes

“JARVIS, show me the article,” Nat asked, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

“Of course, Ms. Romanoff.”

The headline streamed across the TV in her room. Russian training academy, Red Room, has been destroyed and burned by the US government.

Her stomach dropped. No. It can’t be true. The Red Room doesn’t just get destroyed. That’s not possible, it’s not true.

But it was. It was true. The Red Room had been reduced to a pile of burning cinder blocks.

She felt a strange feeling in her heart. She definitely wasn’t nostalgic. The Red Room had kidnapped her from that house fire when she was 4, leaving her parents to die. They tortured her, made her into a killer, messed with her mind and memories.

They made her kill her friends.

When she had escaped when she was 16 and Clint had found her, she never looked back. She ran and ran because running was what she knew, it was all she knew.

But now, she couldn’t run away. No, for once in her life, it was time to run towards something.

“JARVIS, is the quinjet fueled up?”

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff, but-”

“Get me 29 roses please. I’m leaving in 10 minutes.” JARVIS didn’t answer her, but she knew he was listening.

It was late, around 2 in the morning. Tony would be in his lab. The others would hopefully be asleep. Clint… well, he was a wild card at night. He could be anywhere. But she had known him for years. She knew how to avoid him.

She threw some essentials in a bag before heading towards the quinjet. JARVIS had been listening, because a bundle of blood-red roses laid on the countertop.

She picked them up on her way out to one of the jets. She needed to do this. Not just for herself.

But for them.

-

Did you see the closing window?

Did you hear the slamming door?

They moved forward, and my heart died

They moved forward, and my heart died

-

“Mr. Stark, Ms. Romanoff has just entered the roof.”

“What? Why?” Tony asked, actually pausing his newest project to listen to JARVIS.

“She asked me to make sure one of the quinjets had fuel and to get her roses.”

“That’s helpful,” Tony grumbled. “Is Barton still up?”

“Mr. Barton is currently downstairs in the archery range.”

“Typical. Tell him to come up here, will ya J?”

“Right away, Mr. Stark.”

Tony didn’t go back to his tinkering. He wanted to give Natasha her space, since she’d probably kill him if he didn’t. But at the same time, if this was something important, he didn’t want her to be alone.

“Tony? What’s up?” Clint had arrived in the lab, his bow on his back.

“Hey, do you know if today is anything important for Nat? An anniversary or something?”

“...no? Not that I know of anyways. Why? She alright?”

“I’m not sure, Katniss. JARVIS just told me that she was going up to the jet with roses.”

“Where is she going?”

“The GPS coordinates are set for an area approximately 50 miles West of Vorkuta, Russia.”

“Russia? Why would she be going back to-”

“JARVIS, how many roses did she want?” Clint interjected.

“29, sir.”

“That’s specific,” Tony commented.

Clint didn’t say anything. He wordlessly picked up one of the laptops Tony had laying around and typed something into the search bar.

“Oh no, Tasha… I knew you talked about it doing something, but...”

“What? What is it?”

Clint spun the laptop around for him to see. “The Red Room. It’s gone. And I think I know why she’s going back”

-

Please, please tell me what they looked like

Did they seem afraid of you?

They were kids that I once knew

They were kids that I once knew...

-

Even in a quinjet, the ride from New York to Northern Russia was pretty long, giving her plenty of time to think and contemplate.

She did not want to think. Not about the Red Room, or Madame B, or the other girls, anything.

You owe it to them to remember.

All of her memories before 16 were jumbled. But some things… some things can’t be erased or altered by drugs.

She remembers their names. All of them. All 29.

She had been the youngest girl in her class of Black Widows. Some said that was a weakness. Others said it was an advantage.

But when they brought little Natalia Romanova to that place, still covered in burns and ash, she didn’t care about becoming the Black Widow. She wanted her mother, and father, in their little one-bedroom apartment, with her stuffed rabbit Alexei. It was always cold in that apartment, but when she was snuggled between her mother and father, she felt safe.

She learned quickly that safety was not a feeling in the Red Room. That was something for children, and she was not a child. She was Natalia, made of marble.

On her first night there, when she had silently cried from the pain of cold metal handcuff cutting her wrist, one of the older girls had helped her. She was 8. Her name was Nadia.

Nadia had stolen one of the handcuff keys from the guards. She had unlocked the cuffs and hugged her. Made her a makeshift doll out of an old sock and toilet paper. Told her stories of magic and heros.

In the morning, they found out about what Nadia had done. They punished her until she couldn’t scream anymore. Just before they killed her, she looked at Natalia. “It’s ok”, she whispered. Just before they pulled the trigger.

Magic had not been in that place in a very long time.

After Nadia had been killed, Natalia funneled her grief and fear into her training. She rose to the top, taking down girls who were twice her age and twice her size. She used untraditional methods on the mat, using her legs to take them down since that was where she was strongest.

Her handlers were very impressed with her sudden prowess. She became the best dancer, best fighter, best liar. She picked up the languages quickly. She was as stoic as stone, never flinching or backing down from the threat of a punishment.

They never knew what fueled her excellence. Never knew that she was motivated by rage and grief. For her parents. For Nadia.

When she turned 9 years old, she decided that it was time to repay her debt to Nadia. There was a new girl, the last one for their class. The thirtieth. Sasha.

No one knew what had happened to Sasha. But they did know that she was good. She was unwavering, unmoving. During the day, anyways.

At night, Natalia could hear the girl in the bed next to her trying to muffle her cries. She took out the key that one of the guards had foolishly left in the washrooms. She carefully unlocked her own cuff and Sasha’s.

She rubbed her back silently. Rebraided her French braids that had come undone in the night. Made her a crude doll out of an old sock and toilet paper. Just as Nadia had done for her.

The next morning, Natalia had waited all day for someone to take her to a room to be killed. But they never did. They hadn’t been caught.

Sasha and Natalia continued their routine every night. It was nice to have a friend in a place where friends were a myth.

They were friends for 2 years. They learned to master sneaking around. When Sasha turned 11, someone took her into a room alone. They did this all the time for training, interrogation practice, or just a mental test.

When Sasha didn’t come back that night, she knew something was wrong.

She never saw Sasha again. She didn’t know what happened to her. She still didn’t.

“Landing in 10 minutes,” the jet intercom told her. A wave of anxiety washed over her. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to turn around, go home, and never come back.

She hated the memories associated with this place. This was the closest she had ever been in the 12 years since Clint saved her. She avoided it like the plague.

The clearing the jet had landed in was still about 2 miles from the old academy. She pulled her coat and hat on and began her march through the barren fields and forest.

Tank tops and shorts. No shoes, she thought to herself. When she was 13, Madame B had given them all black tank tops and shorts. She took away their combat boots and forced them out into the bitter winds.

“Only the strongest will survive this challenge. Only those worthy of the Black Widow title will make it through this. If you are not ready, well, hypothermia isn’t a bad way to go,” she had told them. 2 girls out of the remaining 18 had died that day.

Then they had gone inside to train. The cold made their muscles achey and stiff, but the Red Room was not a place for complaints.

Then they did it all again the next day.

By the end of the week, 7 of the remaining 18 girls were dead, either from exhaustion or the cold. 11 remained from a group that was once 30.

Anastasia. Irina. Svetlana. Alina. Manya. Eva. Kyana.

Their dead hearts were everywhere. The lights inside their eyes extinguished. They’re still out there. And she still cares.

She always will.

-

I could say it, but you won't believe me

You say you do, but you don't deceive me

It's hard to know they're out there

It's hard to know that you still care

-

Pepper, Tony, Clint, Bruce, Thor, Steve, and Fury had all boarded a jet to Russia as soon as Clint told them what had happened. They weren’t going to let her go through this alone.

Natasha Romanoff liked to pretend she didn’t feel things. But they were her family. And family helped each other.

They all sat in silence. Natasha only had an hour on them, but that was still an hour where she was alone and hurting. Even Tony didn’t say anything.

Clint was playing with the spider necklace he always wore. Natasha had a matching one with an arrow. It was a symbol of how deep their friendship went.

Fury was completely still. He had his arms resting on his knees, looking straight ahead. His lips were more downturned than usual, and his forehead was more tense. You could only tell if you had known him for a long time, but Fury was upset. Upset that the woman he looked at as a daughter had to relive this. That she even had to live through it at all.

Clint and Fury were probably getting hit the hardest. They knew the most about what went down in the Red Room. They knew the most about how painful this had to be for their friend.

As the jet lightly set down in the field near the jet that Natasha had taken, they all prepared to walk the 2 miles in the cold weather.

The ground beneath their feet was completely frozen. Permafrost. Snowflakes rushed around their faces. It was painfully beautiful.

The sound of dried grass and leaves under their feet was the only sound on their walk. The wind whistled in their ears. The cold air bit into their exposed skin like needles.

Clint’s breath caught in his throat when he saw her.

She was standing on a pile of rubble with her back to them. Her flaming red hair was flying in the wind. In her arms was the bouquet of roses. Each rose had a note attached, written in Natasha’s small, elegant penmanship.

As Clint looked closer, he saw what the notes were. Names. All of them.

If Nat had realized they were there, she made no move to acknowledge them.

She just stood there. As if she was in shock. To be honest, she might’ve been.

“Sometimes, I swear I can see them,” Natasha spoke. She sounded so… broken. “Everywhere. In the reflection of a window. When I heard a door slam, it was like they were right there like they used to be. Like how they were in here.”

They all stayed quiet. She needed to get this out.

“It’s like they’re following me. Protecting me. I miss them. I miss them all.”

“Inna, Katrina, Larisa, Polina, and Oksana were the first 5 to go.” She held the 5 flowers tightly in her hand, like if she squeezed it tightly enough, she could bring them back. “5, 7, 6, 4, and 8. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” she whispered. Her emotions were coming to the surface, hidden by a thin veil of control.

“Raisa, Sonya, Ulyana, Vanka. I didn’t know any of you. Not personally. But all of you deserved so much better than what you got.”

“Luda, Lubov, and Klara. You were 8 years old. Triplets. Nothing could come between you three. Not the Red Room. Not even death.”

Clint started to move closer towards his best friend. He could see the way she was shaking.

“That week when we stood outside for hours. The cold and exhaustion took 7. Anastasia, Irina, Svetlana, Alina, Manya, Eva, Kyana. I hope that you weren’t in pain when you died. I hope you’re finally resting.”

Only 10 roses were left in her arms, the other 19 laid out on the ground in front of her. The bright red petals contrasted sharply with the grey cinder blocks and white snow.

“Yelizaveta. Liz. We were in actual hell together, and yet you somehow managed to make me smile with your fucked-up sense of humor. In a place like that, dark humor is the only kind you have.” A small smile joined the tears running down her face. “I hope I’ll see you again one day.”

“Taisiya, Sonechka, Nikita, Mischa, Maya, Luda. You were all so smart. And so strong. You fought harder than everyone. Even now, I have yet to meet someone as smart as you six, and 2 of my best friends have more than one PhD,” she laughed.

She was down to the final three roses. Clint put his arm around her. The dam was threatening to break any moment now.

“Nadia.” She let her tears fall for Nadia. “I wouldn’t be alive without you. I wouldn’t have gotten to meet my family. I wouldn’t have gotten to become an aunt without you.” Clint had already been crying, they all had, even Fury, but that had struck him deep in his heart. “I owe you. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she choked out. She bit her lip to keep it from trembling as she gently set the rose down on the ground.

“When I was 14, we had to do torture training.” Pepper let out a small gasp. “After I had finished the whipping and electrocution day, Anya split her bread with me. She cleaned the cuts that I couldn’t reach. In the morning, I-” Her voice began to crack. “They made me be the one to kill her. She was 15.” She set Anya’s rose on the ground next to the others. “You didn’t deserve it, Anya. You were always so good. Better than I ever was.”

“Sasha. Sasha and I were best friends,” she let out a small bittersweet laugh. “When I was with her, I felt like, maybe, we could lead normal lives. Escape. Be happy. One day, when we were 11, they took her away and never brought her back.” She held the rose with Sasha written on it in her hand. “I’m sorry, Sash. I’m so, so sorry. For everything.”

“You forgot one,” Clint whispered. He held out one more red rose. “Natalia Romanova. A little girl orphaned in a fire, who did what she had to do to survive. Who walked through hell and back and still found herself a family and a home.” He set the rose down with the others.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she cried. Clint hugged her tightly as they sank to the ground.

“We were all so young. We were all kids. Just kids,” she sobbed into his shoulder.

Years upon years, over 2 decades worth of grief, sadness, fear, rage, and pain came pouring out. She had been bottling these feelings up for 24 years, shoving them down, and now they were finally being released. Finally being set free.

“They were kids that I once knew. They were kids that I once knew...”

-

Now they’re all dead hearts to you.

They were kids that I once knew

They were kids that I once knew

Now they're all dead hearts to you

Now they're all dead hearts to you

They were kids that I once knew

They were kids that I once knew

Now they're all dead hearts to you...

[extremelyblackandwhite]

handmaid - 22

PAIRING: mob!sebastian stan x ingenue!reader

WARNINGS: age gap

A/N: there is a HUGE musical theatre reference in this chapter and i’m rly happy it is here 😉 hope you enjoy this chapter xx thank you so much for the love you’ve been giving this series so far, i love you all so so much !! 

NEXT CHAPTER

In any other circumstances, Y/N would’ve been crying but considering Daniel was downstairs awaiting her. She was happy, she convinced herself, she was happy to spend Christmas with Dan, Gwen and everyone else. She was happy, this was just her post first time brain playing tricks on her. Why would she expect the mob boss to suddenly drop his plans to come and spent Christmas with her at his wife’s childhood home? Maybe it was a good idea he didn’t want to go with her. How hypocrite to walk into Gwen’s house with the same husband to be she just slept with. God, Y/N, get your head in the game.

With the bag that hadn’t been unpacked the day prior she abandoned her bedroom, head slightly turning towards Sebastian’s room. Unconsciously, she hoped he would be at the door but it was closed. There was no way he was spending Christmas with the Forrests and Y/N did not know why she was hoping he did. Well, she knew why. She was an hopeless girl filled to the brim with naivety. Shaking those thoughts and the events of last night into a black corner of her mind, she went down the stairs where Dan was standing, awaiting her on his phone. 

     - Hey Dan. - she forced a smile out of her clouded, over ran mind. The eldest Forrest sibling smiled at her, coming in for a hug. However, Y/N was not much into the mindset to be hugged or to be her regular self so she let herself be embraced with a dazed off look. - We should be going before it starts snowing again. 

     - Of course, birdie. 

She gave the upstairs another look as she followed Daniel onto the lift. She was happy, right? She was happy to go spend Christmas with those who she considered the only sort of family she had ever known. She was happy. She couldn’t be happier. Right? Couldn’t be happier, right there with Dan in the car, sort of like her own happy ending, right? Spending Christmas like she always did. Though it is she admits the tiniest bit unlike she anticipated but she couldn’t be happy. No, she’s happy, she’s happy to be here driving away from the Upper East into her childhood home. 

However, there’s a kind of a sorta of cost, a sort of thing that got lost when she left that bedroom. There are bridges you cross you didn’t know you crossed until you crossed and Y/N, Y/N had just crossed that bridge. With an overwhelming sadness in her eyes, a far cry from the bright sparks whenever she got to see the decorations from the car windows, she leaned against the glass, finger raising up to doodle sweet nothings onto the fogged surface.

It didn’t take as long as she was expecting to arrive to her childhood home. Maybe this was due to her need to be inside her mind wondering if she had done something mid falling asleep and waking up that would’ve hurt Sebastian. Did she hurt him in any other way or was he just playing safe? He was an analytical man, after all he needed to be in order to thrive in the environment he’d been born in. Maybe Y/N was expecting regular expectations from a man who wasn’t regular. 

    - You’re very quiet. - Dan was the first one out of the car, thanking the driver before taking her bag off the back. - Did something happen with Sebastian? I was worried about leaving you alone with him.

    - Don’t you think it’s odd he doesn’t want to spend Christmas with us ... I mean with Gwen? She is his ... wife-to-be. 

    - Dad doesn’t really want him here. Don’t you remember Gwen’s 18th? He was here. 

    - I’m sure I would remember if he had been around. - however, in all honesty, Y/N had spent Gwen’s 18th, which had also been her 18th, much more interested in reading Pride and Prejudice for the 100th time. - Why doesn’t Mr. Forrest want him here?

    - You’re making a lot of questions you don’t need the answer to, birdie. 

    - Why do you always leave me in the dark? I’m 24, I’m not exactly a child anymore. - she crossed her arms, annoyed at the lack of responses to her questions. Maybe it was the newly found annoyance at everything that gave her the chops to stand up and ask for some answers.

    - You are not in the mob, Y/N. You don’t get to ask questions and you certainly don’t get to have the answers. - he harshly opened the door, allowing her to come inside and see the same sights she saw every single year. How come she didn’t feel as excited as she should? The decorations seemed prettier and shinier in her mind and the once environment she was sad not to return to, she was now sad to be in. It just felt empty. 

   - Where is the staff? - she looked around, noticing the substantially lack of people running around despite for a few bodyguards.

    - Gwen gave them Christmas off. - Dan shrugged. - I guess she’s preparing herself to be a housewife. 

   - I seriously doubt that. - she muttered under her breathe before grabbing her bag and climbing up to her bedroom. It was mostly unchanged, like a picture frame of what her life had been like before she had met him. Well, turns out she might have met him prior but Gwen’s and her 18th birthday had been a mostly chaotic experience so maybe her brain had compartalised that far far away from her. 

Sitting down in her bed she let out a huff. God what did she want? First she wanted to spend Christmas like she always did and when she got it she felt miserable. Is that how people behave after losing their virginity or was Y/N missing him already? It surely had hurt her for him not even to consider coming with her but if Mr. Forrest wasn’t found of him then maybe it made sense. Anyway, it felt like a cold answer and Y/N was starting to tire herself of being constantly left in the dark. If she was good enough to be close to Mr. Forrest’s daughter then she was good enough to get answers. 

Much too upset with that whole line of thought, Y/N grabbed her phone from her back pocket, unlocking it to reach for her contact list. She didn’t have many which gave her an easy path towards who she wanted to reach. Sebastian. After convincing herself that he wasn’t mad at her and that all of this was a great misunderstanding, she dialled his number. Leaning her ear against the phone she heard the long and high beeps, expecting to hear his voice anytime soon. However, it never came through.  

    - I thought I’d head Daniel arrive. - Y/N raised her head from her bed to see Mr. Forrest by the door. - I’m sure you’re hungry, Y/N. Why don’t you join us for lunch and great the guests.

    - I’m not entirely sure I’m up for food, Mr. Forrest.

    - Nonsense. Besides, I’m sure Gwen misses you. - he fully opened the door, gesturing out. Gwen, yeah, how was Y/N gonna look in her eye ever again? As she went down the stairs with the head of the family, she wondered how she was ever gonna speak to Gwen ever again until she spotted her at the table being very cozy with one of the associates sons. Great, just what she wanted, a table full of the same associates that clearly disliked her by the cabaret experience. However, it wasn’t Gwen flirting with the young men at the table or the amount of associates present at Christmas Eve, it was a very familiar man sat next to the only empty seat. - Y/N, I’m sure you’ve met Mr. Williams before. He’s spending the holidays with us. 

    - Yes, we’ve had the pleasure. - he smiled as she sat next to him. - We are very glad you can spend Christmas with us, Miss Y/N.

    - Imagine having to spend the holidays with Sebastian in that tiny overrated penthouse. - Gwen said before stuffing her mouth with a forkful of meat loaf.

    - He is really not that bad, Gwen. - Y/N spoke up in her normal soft and melodic voice. Normally her opinions tended to go unnoticed but at those words, every single person seemed to redirect his attention towards her. 

    - Never mind Y/N. She’s a very forgiving person. - Mr. Forrest diffused the situation with the sort of swiftness that only people holding power could do so. Soon enough, everyone was too distracted in their own affairs and conversations to really care about Y/N. She didn’t care much about being invisible, in all honesty, her expectation in life was to be invisible and so far she was good at it. Invisible people don’t deal with conflicts ... well at least not physical conflicts as she has mental conflicts galore. 

The meal took a rather long time to finish with people laughing and stopping to comment on various issues and she had to admit not having the staff to speak to was a bit boring. Yet again, Y/N was already quite uncomfortable being next to Mr. Williams and the weird aura he always let through, so she had spent most of her lunch checking her phone for any new messages, any new calls but there were none to be seen. He was probably busy, he was a busy important man. 

    - ... no, there’s no need. Y/N can take the dishes into the kitchen. - her name being spoken by Gwen made her raise her gaze from her phone onto the table and Gwen. - Right?

   - Gwen ... - Daniel warned, voice low but still laced with threat. In normal situations, she would’ve recognised it, but the heiress was much too intoxicated with champagne. 

   - What? It’s not like she’s part of the family, she’s staff. - she added and in that moment Y/N felt a bit less guilty she had slept with her husband to be.

   - Genevieve, that’s rude. - Mr. Forrest added.

   - What? It’s true, she’s a handmaid.

   - Gwen ... - Daniel returned with that same threatening voice but Y/N found it rather hypocritical coming from the same man who just a second ago had shot all her questions down in a rather rude manner. 

    - It’s alright. - Y/N stood up and started collecting all the plates, stacking them together on top of her arms.

Gwen was right, at the end of the day this wasn’t her family. They had raised her but they weren’t her family at the end of the day. She was just a handmaid. She wasn’t part of the mob, she was a handmaid. A handmaid. She never thought about the word itself for too long, always considering herself a friend but at the end of the day she was a subordinate to everyone and that was what she would always be. 

Words can hurt and these words had cut through her. Not even Sebastian seemed to want to actually pick up her calls. Maybe Gwen was right, she was a handmaid and that was what she was always gonna be. 

She put the dishes on the sink, taking them one by one to dispose of the food scraps and start scrubbing them. She looked down at her soapy hands and then at the metal kettle on her side, noticing her reflection in it. The tendrils flying in front of her head and the soap suds made her look exactly like the staff Gwen made her out to be. She was too lost in how she looked in her reflection that the slippery plate slipped off her hand, shattering onto the floor into a thousand bits. 

Y/N kneeled down, starting to pick up the shards so lost in her own negative thinking she didn’t realise tears had started to run down her cheeks until they hit the palm of her hand and she broke down sobbing in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by the shards of porcelain which once were a plate. 

Just a handmaid. Out of the sudden, it seemed to her that she had finally realised what she was. A subservient. At that point, Y/N wondered if that what she was to Sebastian too, a submissive creature which he could do with as she pleased.

   - It’s just a plate, there’s really no need for there to be any tears about it. - she immediately straightened her posture, returning to her standing position.

   - Mr. Williams. 

   - It’s really unfair, isn’t it? - he circled her, leaning against a opposite marbled surface in the kitchen. - People like us getting treated like dirt by the top ones. 

   - I’d really rather not speak about it. - she smiled softly, hoping he would leave. - It’s really no issue, I enjoy doing the dishes anyway. 

   - It hurts, doesn’t it, Miss Y/N? To know that she’s the one who is going to walk down the isle and you’re gonna be in the sideline. 

   - I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I really need to return to the dishes.

   - You and Mr. Stan aren’t fooling anyone. Maybe Genevieve, but you’re definitely not fooling me, birdie. You’re not the mistress type.

tag list: @lilya-petrichor​ @xoxohannahlee​ @irespostthingsiwanttoseelater​ @nikkipea​ @madisonpillstrom​ @cevans98​ @thelostallycat​ @sideeffectsofyou​ @anxiousdreamersworld​ @captainchrisstan​ @lookiamtrying​​ @sarge-barnes-sir​​​​​ @stuffforreferences​​ @thebadassbitchqueen @sebastianstansqueen​​

[skullrock]

the party - Steve x Reader

pairing: Steve x Reader

prompt: “For your song prompts can you do one based on Sister and Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge and whoever you think those songs would work best with”

word count: 3.3k

warnings: swearing, dancing, cute and cocky and sweet Steve, smut, fluff 

a/n: this fic is rly long but it is wholesome and I hope you enjoy!

----------

The party was in full swing.

Parties weren’t really your thing, but your best friend, Anna, had insisted that you come to Lisa Hopkins’ on Friday night. You’d been to a few parties before, but tended to skip them, enjoying a quiet weekend alone. But the promise of drinking and dancing and kissing after midterms was a little too tempting.

It was fall now, the weather just beginning to cool. You decided to wear one of those velvet bodycon dresses, as uncomfortable as it was. You were excited at the prospect of meeting someone, despite the fact it would mainly be classmates.

You’re drinking from a plastic cup, some concoction of soda and juice and alcohol. It tastes like shit, but it gets the job done. You dance lazily in the corner, talking to some friends. You mainly just survey the room. Your eyes land on a tall, toned boy with long brown hair and dark irises.

Steve Harrington.

He had been checking you out for a while, both at school and this party. He knew you were quiet and shy, not talking to too many people outside of your group. He was a bit surprised to see you out, but even more surprised to see you in that tight dress. His jaw clenches as he watches you sway. He crosses his arms and leans back, eyes narrowing on you. When you look up at him, he smiles, and you blush and look away. He’s crushing, and hard, blushing along with you.

“What was that?” Anna asks beside you, nudging your side with her elbow.

“Nothing,” you laugh, consciously avoiding his gaze. “I mean - I don’t know.”

“Dude,” she says, grabbing your arm. “He’s blushing. You got the King to blush.”

“Ugh, please don’t call him that,” you beg. “It’s weird.”

Steve pushes off the wall and goes into another room to get another drink. If he’s ever going to get the courage to talk to you, he has to drink a good bit. As a new friend approaches your corner, Anna slips away, following him to the kitchen.

“Hi,” she says to him, reaching around him to grab a beer. He turns and looks at her.

“Hi?” he says.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Anna says, leaning against the counter. “I saw you looking at Y/N. What’s the deal?”

He freezes, cheeks flaming red again, but he tries to seem non-chalant. “Well, you know. She’s pretty cute.”

“Yeah,” Anna replies bluntly. “So, either you go tell her what you think, or I will.”

He turns to look at her, glaring, and she smiles at him innocently. He should have shut up. Anna shrugs and walks away, back to the corner where you are. You furrow your brows at her as she walks up. Your eyes flicker behind her, where Steve is coming from the same direction, looking bothered. Your mouth drops and you whack her arm.

“You did not just talk to him,” you hiss, and she only smiles in response.

The staring game lasts a while longer, getting the both of you more and more excited. You watch as Steve talks to his friends, running his hand through his hair, watching his lips turn up into a grin as someone makes a joke. He’s watching you from the corner of his eyes, keeping tabs on where you are and where you go. Suddenly, a boy approaches you, asking you to dance. You figure why not? and make your way to where everyone else is dancing. Steve watches with a clenched jaw as your skin presses against the boy’s, how you throw your head back when you laugh, how you start to grind on the boy, a flushed look on your face. As you dance up on the stranger, you make intense eye contact with Steve. His hand clenches around his drink and his face flushes, watching your hips work. It feels downright sinful, and you suddenly realize how fucking hot it is in there.

“I’m going to get some air,” you tell the boy, and head off for the back porch. You secretly hope Steve follows you.

Sure enough, a few moments after you go outside, Steve follows. You hear the door creak open and turn quickly to look, feeling your stomach flip as your eyes meet his. You quickly look away.

“Hey,” he says, coming to stand beside you as you lean against the railing.

“Hi,” you whisper meekly, and he laughs lightly.

You both stay quiet for a while. Your heart is in your throat, hammering away, and you’re hot even out here in the cold.

Finally, he speaks.

“It’s funny,” he starts, laughing a bit. “I, um… I never would have guessed you could dance like that.”

You laugh in response, breaking some of the tension, but you can’t bring yourself to look over at him. “I guess I can be surprising.”

“Yeah,” he responds. “I always knew you as the quiet girl. I never woulda guessed you could dance like that… or wear something like that.”

You blush deeply and mentally kick yourself. “There’s a lot to me you don’t know, Steve Harrington,” you say lowly.

“And there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he says casually.

“Like?”

He is quiet for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “Like how for the past few weeks, you’re the only girl I can think about.”

You laugh loudly, head thrown back, and he looks at you in surprise.

“Do you tell that to every girl?” you ask, finally looking over at him, but you’re met with a grave seriousness that you weren’t expecting.

“Well… yeah, I guess I do. But I do mean it,” he quips, a small smile forming. “I think I’ve… uh….” He runs a hand through his hair, then tilts his head and gives you a signature lopsided grin. “Got a bit of a crush.”

You feel like you can’t breathe. “Are you joking?”

“No.”

You bite your lip and look away. You stay quiet for a while more as you mull over your thoughts. You did want a break from all the bullshit of the past few weeks, and maybe that break could be Steve. Would a single night of fun really hurt? Maybe. It would cause a reputation, sleeping with Steve, but it would also cause him a reputation, sleeping with the quiet girl. His bets are on you, it seems, however. But it’s probably purely carnal. But is that a bad thing?

All Steve knows is that he wants that dress off of you as soon as possible. It’s all his boy brain can muster right now, watching you stare out into the backyard, taking in your curves.

You swallow hard and decide fuck it.

You reach your hand out and brush it beside his, making his breath hitch. You both finally make eye contact, and it’s enough to take you out and make your knees weak.

“I think I’ve got a crush too,” you whisper, inches from his face, and then you both finally connect.

It’s an awkward kiss at first, feeling each other out. But you both quickly get handsy, running your hands over each other, your fingers going for the buttons on his shirt. He laughs and pulls your hands away, but they come back up, and who is he to say no to that? Steve snakes an arm around your waist and pulls you closer. As you grip his shirt and ghost your tongue over his bottom lip, something snaps in him. He brings a hand up to grip your hair and moves his lips down your jaw and onto your neck, making you sigh heavily.

“God,” he breathes. His lips come up and rest on your ear. “I want to tear you apart.”

Your brows furrow comically fast, and you still for a moment, a bit taken aback. But then you realize that’s exactly what you want. You want that rough type of sex, the kind you’d never had before, and the kind that you figure only Steve can give you.

You pull away and take a deep breath. “Take me home?”

He nods and digs through his pockets for his keys. You reach out and grab his arm. “Are you good to drive?”

“Yeah,” he says, looking at you with knitted brows. “Do you live close?”

“Like two streets over,” you say, licking your lips, looking at the chest exposed from the buttons you’d loosened.

“Oh. Well yeah, yeah, I can drive there.” He smiles at you, cockily, making you equally hate him and love him. “Look at you, caring about me.”

“Shut up,” you mumble, and he reaches around to pinch your ass before sweeping you away towards his car.

Anna watches you with wide eyes and a large smile, mocking a dramatic clap, and you roll your eyes and wave to her.

As you climb into Steve’s car, the apprehension comes back, biting both of you. Steve’s worried he’s moving too fast for you, or being too forward, and you’re worried about the same. You weren’t a virgin, but you didn’t do casual hookups. You worried you were in over your head. You check the clock on his dashboard – it’s already 2 am. Maybe you should just go to bed and sleep the tipsiness off.

You quietly give him directions, and he follows them hesitantly. As you pull into your driveway, he sits, unsure. You look over at him, and he looks back. Looking at him, his kind eyes, his boyish and pretty features, you are reminded of why you wanted him to take you home in the first place. You lean forward and catch his lips in yours again, relaxing him, and he cups your jaw in his hand.

You grab his hand and lead it down to your breasts, slowly, and he sighs in response, cupping one and massaging it.

“Such a bad girl,” he breathes, and the butterflies go from your stomach to in between your thighs. It’s a bit funny, hearing him say that about you, but you can’t find the time to care.

“No, I’m not,” you respond quietly. You smile. “I just wanted you to come tuck me in.”

He rolls his eyes and smiles back, catching your lips again, hands wandering. You start to giggle after a few seconds of this, asking, “Are you going to tuck me in or not?”

Steve gets out of the car in lightning speed, running over to open your door. You shake your head – why is he being a gentleman right now? – but take the hand he offers as you climb out. You stumble slightly and he catches you, kissing you again. You have to practically pull him towards your front door.

“You have to be quiet,” you say as you go to unlock it. “My parents are home.”

“A shame,” he whispers, pressing into your back. You can feel his erection against your ass and you sigh, pressing into it. “I wanted to hear you scream tonight.”

“While you tuck me in?”

You can’t see it, but he rolls his eyes.

After successfully sneaking your way into your room, you decide to give him a bit of a show while you were feeling confident. You push him away slightly and start to pull your sleeves down, and he watches with an open mouth. You shimmy out slowly, left in panties and your heels – no bra, as it wouldn’t look good under the dress. A wave of desire runs through Steve as he looks at you; he had never been with a girl that didn’t wear a bra. It would not have been a big deal to anyone except him.

You take your shoes off successfully and stand up straight, looking at him expectantly. He breathes out and whispers, “You are so beautiful.”

You notice your anxiety making you shake a bit and try to just focus on his smooth face and pink lips. “Tuck me in?”

He walks you backwards until you’re at your bed. He pulls the covers back and you lay down, goosebumps covering your skin. As he leans down (with a smile) to tuck the sheets around you, you pull him towards you, lips colliding, and he climbs on top of you breathlessly.

Your hands fly everywhere again. Your fingers run through his hair, gaining a moan from him, and you tug it lightly, making his hips buck. You smile at your discovery but continue your hands down. You tug his shirt and he parts briefly to take it off and chuck it. Your hands run down his toned chest, across his biceps, down to his jeans, and he bucks his hips again. He parts from your lips and kisses down your neck, sucking bruises into the skin, and you moan lightly.

“Are you sure?” he asks, coming up to meet your gaze. His hand cups your cheek and you see a tenderness in his brown eyes, one that you hadn’t seen with other partners. You trust him.

“I’m positive,” you pant. Your eyes glisten as they take in every feature. “Do whatever you’d like.”

He stills. “Are you sure? I mean – I don’t – I don’t want to hurt you, or anything –“

“Steve,” you whisper, cupping his cheek. “Shut up and tear me apart.”

He needs to further convincing. He is soon as naked as you, left only in his boxers, and he kisses down your chest and to your stomach. Your eyes flutter closed and you grip his hand, lacing your fingers through his. It’s a simple gesture, but one he had never experienced in bed before. He squeezes back and uses his free hand to rub your clit. You let out a strangled moan, careful to be quiet, and he dips into your folds to pump a finger in and out. After a few moments, he adds a second finger. His movements are gentle, and while you appreciate his tenderness, you want more. You whine and he seems to get the hint, picking up his pace, making your hips thrust and a hand flies up to your mouth. He reaches his thumb up to brush against your clit, and even though its awkward as his hand pumps in and out of you, you relish in the feeling.

You reach down and try to take his boxers off, but Steve pins your free hand to the bed. He unlaces his fingers from yours and reaches down, ridding them himself, and you can’t believe how good he looks. Well, you canbelieve it, as its all his exes would talk about, but you weren’t really expecting them to be truthful. You wrap a hand around his dick and pump as he moans sinfully, hands going back to work at your cunt, mouth wrapping around a nipple and biting and sucking harshly.

You press your mouth into his hair, moaning out his name, and he smiles around your breast, releasing it and going to the other one. The hand not pumping him runs through his hair and you tug, releasing another loud moan from him. He pulls away from you and you stare as his eyes squeeze shut, mouth open in an “o”. You continue to jerk him off and tug on his hair, and he swears he died and went to heaven, thrusting his hips into your hand and groaning, trying not to make too much noise. Eventually he pulls your hand away from his cock and he pulls you down to him.

“Condoms?” he asks. “I have one in my –“

You beat him to the punch, pointing at your nightstand, and he quickly gets one out and puts it on. He laces his hands in yours, pinned up by your head, and lines up with you. You feel like you can’t breathe, or maybe you literally can’t, and you pant up at him. His face his framed beautifully by his hair, and he looks like an angel.

“Are you sure?” he asks again.

“Positive,” you repeat, and he fills you in one thrust.

Steve starts slow but quickly picks up, eventually slamming into you so hard that your headboard slams against the wall. You wish you had the power to tell him to slow down, but you don’t. It feels way too good, to the point that you don’t give a damn if your parents question you in the morning. The feeling of him pulling completely out before plunging back in, his lips on your neck, pinning your hands down: it was all too much to handle. You bury your head in his hair again and he lifts his head to kiss you, drowning both of your moans out. You free a hand and pull on his hair and he whines sinfully, fucking into you even harder, spurred on by your touch.

His hands run down your body and he grips your thighs harshly, steadying himself. He makes a conscious effort to not cum too quickly at the feeling of you, the sounds you’re making, how slick and hot you are, the sheen of sweat and your hair fanned out around you making you look like someone out of his Playboy magazines. Steve finally reaches down and rubs your clit, and your vision goes black, head thrown back, and his lips clash against yours just in time to silence a loud moan.

“I’m going to cum,” you say against his lips, and he grins.

“Cum for me, Y/N,” he pants, fucking you quicker and harder than before, making you wander fleetingly how it’s even possible. “Cum all over my cock, sweetheart. You can do it, come on, let go.”

You cry out and his face buries itself into your neck, biting down as he has his release at the same time you do. You see stars, eyes clenched shut tightly, legs wrapping around his hips. His pace stammers for a moment before slowing down and stopping, panting into you. He rests on your chest and you play lazily with his hair, trying to catch your breath. He’s sticky and wet, but you can’t care, just enjoying how your hearts beat together, coming down from their highs.

Eventually Steve pulls out and disposes the condom in your bedside trashcan, laying down beside you after. His hand reaches for yours and your fingers interlace again – a silent gesture of trust.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, and you nod.

“My legs can’t stop shaking, but I’m great,” you say. “Are you?”

“I’m amazing,” he says, squeezing your hand, and you laugh.

You roll over to face him. “Do you still have a crush on me?”

He rolls over and faces you, too, eyes serious. “I do. And I can’t wait to see you on Monday.”

You bring his hand up to your chest, resting it above your heart. “I can’t wait, either.”

Steve pulls you back in and kisses you, gingerly this time, soft and slow and sweetly. His gentleness is dizzying.

After laying in silence for a few minutes, just staring at each other, you start to nod off, and Steve decides it’s time to go. He quietly gets up, pressing a kiss to your forehead. He dresses himself again and your eyes flicker open just as he is about to go.

“Steve,” you whisper, reaching your hand out. He comes and takes it, smiling down at you.

“I wish you could stay,” you mumble.

He nods, his content smile turning sad as his eyes turn downward. “I wish so too.”

“My parents –‘

“I know,” he responds. He gives your hand a kiss and releases it. “I’ll see you Monday.”

You smile dreamily. He walks towards the door again, wishing he didn’t have to go, leaving you in all your beaming glory behind. He shakes himself out of it and exits, quietly shutting the door on his way out.

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

tags (message if you want to join <3): @harrington-ofhawkins​ @wolfish-willow​ @gothackedalready​

[cherry-ber]

Too drunk to fuck pt.9

Previous | Part one

Whatever that text was supposed to mean, you didn't care. You purposely ignored and avoided Mark the whole week, and after a few ignored messages, he gave up, and seemed to understand what you were probably thinking, every day Jaemin walked you home -because then you'd spend more time together than if he drove, he said- after a day in school with your new friends, and every day promised to be better than the last one. Friday came sooner than expected, and you got up earlier to dress extra special, tonight's dinner with Jaemin and your parents, although excited, made you incredibly anxious. So many things could go wrong.

When the classes were over, Jaemin was waiting for you outside of your classroom, holding your hand and giving you a sweet kiss as soon as he saw you. He carried your bag as you walked to his car, before you were home for dinner, he figured it would be nice to have a real first date, not a risky late night trip or an awkward meeting with your parents. He'd never done that, dating had never been important for him, he was too busy, and too invested with his deals and his friends, no time for girls and feelings at all, but he did a great job at planning, though. He took you to a museum, fair enough, you had to go as an assignment from Art class, but when you asked him to be your museum date, he was absolutely into it, then he took you to an ice cream parlor, a cute one, with the prettiest walls and decorations, and the best ice cream you've ever had. He took you flower picking, and to a park with lots of dogs being walked, and finally back home, just in time for you to be earlier than your parents. He greeted them politely, and your father was happy to see him again. Jaemin looked as handsome as he always did, but putting on his good boy persona, he looked softer and nicer than he usually did. His hair was pushed back, and he was wearing a light, baby blue sweater, that matched your baby blue, princess dress, your mom wasted no time mentioning how cute it was that you wore matching outfits, although it was actually a big casualty you did.

They had many, too many, questions for him. How you two met, how long you'd been friends, what classes you had together, what did the rest of your friends do, what did he want to do for a leaving, what were his plans after school. Jaemin handled every single question and gave an answer to every question that astonished your parents.

Jaemin's phone received a bunch of calls, he never picked up, arguing that if it were truly important, no one would really call him, but when your parents stood up the table for a couple minutes, and he finally had time to check his phone, all the calls were Mark's, but he left no message, and your date assumed it was, probably, not important at all. Usually, at least some months ago, on Fridays they'd be going to the abandoned warehouse, get drunk and have a race, or maybe they'd be shoplifting, attending their clients and playing dumb when they got caught, and although Jaemin, and the rest of his friends, knew it was bad, a tiny particle in his mind is telling him that he should be doing that right know. There's a part of them that has accepted the path they started walking so long ago, and it's a shame that they did, since the could be doing so much better.

After the food, and the awkward, intrusive, questions were out of the table, Jaemin suggested you went to Jeno's place again, and because you had no interest in staying home, you agreed, asked your parents permission to be home, and reluctantly they said yes, although you knew they agreed basically because Jaemin is too convincing, and too likeable.

He drove with the windows down, which made the chilly air play with his hair, giving him this absolutely attractive, messy hairstyle, and then all you wanted to do was to make him stop and kiss him while you ran your fingers through his hair. The annoying ringtone of your phone got your mind back to where you were sitting, and looking at the notification bar, you notice how many texts from Mark you got all day long, last one being received in thus exact moment.

“Friday, 7:15 a.m, Mark ♡:

hey”

“can we meet today?”

“Friday, 8:30 a.m, Mark ♡:

are you free after this period?”

“Friday, 9:48 a.m, Mark♡:

are you okay?”

“Y/N”

“???”

“Friday, 2:45 p.m, Mark♡:

are you at home”

“did I do something wrong?”

“Friday, 4:04 p.m, Mark ♡:

I think you hate me?”

“wait”

“you're with jaemin right?”

“Friday, 6:36 p.m, Mark ♡:

So i saw jaemin driving”

“And i was about to get close”

“and then i see you on the passenger side”

“you couldve replied, yk”

“Friday, 7:19 p.m, Mark ♡:

Ans know im fucking drunkk”

“fuck yOu”

“actually no”

“Friday, 8:58 p.m, Mark ♡:

hu sorry im liken really rly drunk”

“im at jenooossssss'”

“ypu should comeb too”

By the time you finished reading, it was too late, Jaemin had already parked, and when the men inside noticed, all of them, except Mark, came out to greet him, and when they saw you, they couldn't look happier. They urged you inside, but before you could get to the living room with them, Jeno stopped you and Jaemin.

“So, look, Mark is... Kinda sensitive right now” he looks into his direction, Mark sitting on the floor, with his head head resting on Renjun's lap, he's laughing and smiling and rubbing his hands on the carpet “I don't know what he had, he's drunk but, I think he might be high too”

Jaemin makes an effort to keep his annoyance unseen, remembering that every time Mark drinks, it's a mistake, a mistake that he's gonna have to solve.

“Just” Jeno knows, Jeno can read Jaemin like a book, and although he agrees that they shouldn't be the ones caring after his oldest friend, he can't let him alone whenever he needs them “don't mind him, he's saying weird shit, he's harmless”

Jeno sits in the couch next to Renjun, trying to block Mark's view of you, but when you walk in, holding Jaemin's hand, he loses it. His laugh is insanely loud, and it's almost scary, making Jaemin squeeze your hand harder between his, and he grabs someone's drink and takes it in a single sip, you can tell it was strong, because of the face he's making. Suddenly, everyone in the room is uncomfortable, waiting for someone to make the next move.

After minutes of staring at the wall in front of him, Mark stands up, tumbling when he does, and walks closer to you, stopping when you are just a few centimeters away from him. Jaemin reacts immediately, pushing Mark away from you, and putting himself between you two. Mark giggles, he looks innocent, and when you're about to apologize to him, that sweet look disappears.

“Are you really gonna let her get between us?” he asks jaemin, arrogance in his tone, and absolutely spiteful when he looks at you.

“You're drunk, go home” all eyes are on them both, but no one really dares to interfere.

“Is that all you're going to say?” he walks closer to Jaemin, and although he wishes that Mark doesn't do anything else, he's ready for whatever he tries “is that it, huh? I give you a home when you need it, a job, money, my time” he grabs Jaemin by the collar of his shirt “I let you into my life” Renjun rushes to you, dragging you out of the room, meanwhile Jeno and Donghyuck try to get Mark and Jaemin away from each other.

Everything happened too fast, and you can't even complain when Renjun walks you upstairs to Jeno's room and locks the door. You can hear the screaming from downstairs and there's nothing you can do to help. Your mom couldn't have possibly chosen a worst time to call, lying, you tell her that as soon as the movie you're watching is over, Jaemin will drive you back home.

Jisung and Chenle are leaving, after Renjun insisted that they shouldn't be there, although they are worried, they know there's not much they can do, and promise to be ready if something else happens, they say you goodbye from the porch, and offer to walk you home, but you know you can't leave just yet.

Jeno was successful in calming Jaemin down, but Mark wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted, Donghyuck and Renjun getting tired of dealing with him, but doing it anyway because the idea of what could come next was too scary. Jaemin unlocks the door, and brings you back down, with Jeno and himself protecting you from whatever Mark could try, going outside and into his car. Jeno apologizes to the both of you, and runs back inside.

Jaemin doesn't speak in the whole way back home, when he stops, he opens the door for you, walks you to the door, and says sorry when you open the door. You can only shake your head and give him a kind smile, hoping that he understands what you are trying to say. He drives away, but instead of going home, as you wished he did, he takes the way back to the mess, you watch him drive off, and you can only hope that things don't end up too bad.

“Saturday, 1:26 a.m, unknown number:

Don't panic, but Mark's in the hospital”

next♡

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

A.N: well that escalated quickly 😳

HeyyYYYyYy I'm finally bringing this back, after, well, i got notes from the whole series again. I hope you're having a good time guys, be healthy, be safe.

[eightysixed]

snapped

It was lunch break when he got the notification, at first going unnoticed because he was sitting outside with Duncan and Krista in their usual spot. The sun beat down on the three of them as they ate the wraps Krista got for them from the 7-Eleven, that and the lemonade. He tuned out of the conversation at hand, some plans Kirsta was making for Bonnaroo or something, to check on his phone.

[ 1! new snapchat ]

As he unlocked  his phone, he shielded it in view from the other two. Being a snap from Gaby, he was probably wise to do that. But it was unlike their usual snaps. Sat in the backseat of a car, she was strapped in next to two other girls. The bar caption underneath it: road trip with the bestiesss.

Confusion was the first emotion, wondering if she’d sent it to him by accident. It was set as her story too, once he pulled out of their chat and noticed as much. He contemplated not answering anything at all, but that would be rude. Then again, she had been rude. Torn this way for a couple of seconds, he settled for sending a chat her way instead.

tyson hey gaby🍒 haha hiiii tyson what up gaby🍒 not much u? tyson work lol gaby🍒 oh right haha tyson yeah

It was fucking weird, this. He wanted to say as much. But what else could he really say that hadn’t already been said? There was nothing else. Months ago, she told him to meet at Carousel. It started out friendly with drinks, and then turned ugly. A perfect storm of the worst proportions, him telling her that he was basically seeing someone now and her saying that she wanted more than 3am booty calls and nothing else. She presented her case, how she thought they really could be something, if he only gave them a chance — hell, he was almost convinced for a second. But no more than that second. He stuck to it, she got upset, she stormed out. Now, he just wanted to ask her what the fuck all this was, but how to do that without coming off hostile? A task.

gaby🍒 just saying hiii is all tyson kinda weird but cool lol gaby🍒 what i can’t say i miss u? damn :( tyson kinda weird after how u left yeah but nah it’s cool ig gaby🍒 i was jk chill 😛

Tyson wondered if he read that right. Why were girls like this, he wondered. You could never get anywhere half the time with them because you never knew what the fuck they meant. Life would be so much better if they just said what they thought and meant it, but of course, that’s not how things went in life. It never went like that in life. Playing games, they all liked to play games. 

He left Gaby on read and pulled out to the main screen of his snapchat (handle: bonghitter). Unopened items there were plenty, a video, and messages from two other girls. For a brief second, he contemplated deleting the app entirely, before that notion slipped from his mind again with Duncan grabbing his attention. He put his phone away and went back to lunch.

***

Later that night, somewhere in between hallucinating an earthquake in his and Tierney’s living room (he was completely sober, so that wasn’t a factor), and picking up an unidentified number that didn’t answer down the other line, Tyson found his evening going funny. Almost like he’d stepped into an alternate dimension. He wasn’t on any of Sulley’s edibles though, so what was going on? Maybe this was that psychosis that was setting in that Jude had warned him about (though he can’t remember why Jude had told him it would, they hadn’t been sober then). If it wasn’t an earthquake that had shaken the floor just now, what could it be? Did some fatty whale of a person fall directly outside their door, making the ground shake? A possibility. Oasis’ infrastructure wasn’t the strongest.

Then he got a new snapchat notification. 

From her. Again.

He braced himself for the worst, opening it, and surely, there it was. A half-clad Gaby in mirror view, the usual ‘hey’ postscripted by that unholy black bar that was strategically covering up places that normally, he’d want uncovered. It was clearly some hotel or motel room, and he could probably guess the next that would follow, if encouraged. But all he felt was a faint wave of disappointment. Nothing else. Old Tyson would’ve sent her a ‘where’s the rest’ message, no questions asked, but not this one. He was angry and not sure how well he downplayed it, maybe not well at all.

tyson ?? gaby🍒 what? haha tyson why u actin like this gaby🍒 like what?

Tyson mumbled an expletive under his breath. He was an argumentative person, sure, he loved to debate, talk until the cows come home about the right subject. But this was his least favourite type of confrontation, and he’d rather be doing anything but this, literally anything.

tyson you were the one who said okay we’re done u stormed out the bar u did that remember? lol gaby🍒 ohhhhh that look i wasn’t in a good place then okay? i’m sorry :(

Tyson said nothing, a sigh escaping his lips. Starting to get angry now and not even sure why. He’d always had it good with this girl, but outside of whatever they did in bed (or on a couch, or in the shower), there was nothing. And he wasn’t exactly interested in anything she had to offer right now. Or anytime in the future. It was borderline ridiculous to think or believe, and Dom would probably ask him if he was okay and not sick, but there it was. He thought of the right thing to respond, but before he even could, she sent through something else. A Bitmoji. Hers hugging his. 

tyson okay apology accepted but nothing’s changed with me meant what i said then still stands now gaby🍒 you’re still seeing someone? tyson yea gaby🍒 oh okay just thought something changed my friend saw u tyson where? gaby🍒 at santa monica on the pier u were with some girl tyson jfc that’s my best friend’s babymama she came w/her kid to see him gabriela i’m tired i’m seeing someone rly can’t do this gaby🍒 okay tyson have a good night

The last reply back took the longest time coming through, but when it finally did, there was no more. Relief. Was he off the hook? Was this it? He waited for more to come, but it didn’t. Maybe he was off the hook. Maybe she’d come around again in 3 months. Or 6 months. Or a year, who knows. Maybe she’d find someone and stop snapping him. He hoped she would. As he was thinking these things, maybe five maybe ten minutes having passed, he got a new notification. 

gaby🍒 my friends say you suck btw tyson LOL okay

Now this was funny. Though still a little infuriating, he thought as his brows pulled together in both confusion and dismay. Girls, when would they learn that no meant no? He was about to all but toss his phone aside, leave it on the bed to go back into the living room, when one more came in. 

gaby🍒 sorry im a lil drunk...

Now that he would leave on read, and hopefully there would be no more, and that would be the end of that. She really wasn’t a bad person, Gabriela, deep down he liked her. As a person. But it ended there. He was about to go through with his toss-the-phone plan and shuffle into the kitchen to see if a bag of takeout had magically materialized on the counter, be done with this chapter for good, when he got a new notification. With dread he glanced to the top of the screen, but a smile picked up on the corners of his lips when he saw who it was from.

Jude: holy shit dude you need to check this out… [ http://absoluteepicpranks.com/monkey-flaming-motorcycle.htm ]

[nyisles]

Magic In The Hamptons

~ part two, be kind ~ 

part one

Player: Mathew Barzal 

Words: around 3.3k 

Warnings: language?

Notes: wowowow, part one was so well received that I honestly just pray you folks enjoy. Anywho, she’s here and she’s unedited :-) 

Now it was just a game. How long does one wait to text someone back after they disappear for three weeks? You hadn’t thought much of it after week two. The first week you were a little down on yourself, spent a little too much time wondering what exactly was the problem? It was a constant topic of conversation amongst you, your girlfriends, your work friends, and Reese who all seemed to love to talk about your nonexistent love life. They also didn’t quite understand the magnitude of ‘professional hockey player’ who ghosted, it cut a little deeper than your regular ghosting. You felt like maybe the Islander wags’ advice wasn’t even worth it, you should’ve just gone home with him. Maybe he felt rejected, but you never outwardly said no? Right now you wished you had Grace’s number. An SOS text was what you really needed, and she seemed to really be clued in on Mat. This absolutely sucked, he decided after three weeks you were worth the text and it didn’t give your ego a boost at all. Something that Mat didn’t fail to do when you were together at the wedding. You were a big self love, forget about those who don’t want you kinda girl, but God you couldn’t help but want to text him immediately. Your heart sped up and the butterflies in your stomach kicked into overdrive after you saw the text. It wasn’t even a drunk text. It was a casual 3pm text message, which made it hit a little different.          “Maybe you could wait like...a week?” Reese said laying back on the couch in your studio apartment scrolling through his phone, not paying you any mind. He was great at getting you into this whole mess, taking you to a wedding you weren’t even invited to. Now he was here and unable to give you any sort of boy advice. At this point in your friendship you should’ve known, but you had no one else who understood the scenario. He was one of your best friends. His legs hanging over the armrest dangling along as you paced back and forth of the apartment, fuzzy socks sliding along the hardwood floor. “You know, I think this whole thing is dumb. Just answer the guy. He texted you for a reason.” The pout on your face said otherwise, you didn’t find this dumb at all. This was a serious matter. “I need more female friends. You are no help. Yesterday you called me a 6 with a personality!” You exclaimed, pushing his legs off the side of the couch making room for yourself to sit down. Throwing yourself onto the couch you feel into a slumped position. “I need someone well versed in hockey boy, you just aren’t cutting it.”        Within seconds Reese grabbed your phone off of the coffee table in front of you, unlocking your phone with great ease. It was moments like these where you regretted letting him know all of your passwords. The next moment happened in what felt like slow motion, but as soon as he picked up your phone you knew you were doomed. Reese was always like an older brother figure, someone who could embarrass you in less than a minute. Watching his fingers type away, you attempted to lunge for the phone but it was too late, you never thought he’d follow through with the action, but he did, locking the phone throwing it back at you on the couch. “Six’s with personalities deserve love too.. Or at least a hot hookup.”        (Y/N): three weeks and all you got is ‘hey’?        You shrieked reading over the text message Reese had sent to Mat in your honor. “Why would you do that? Are you stupid? Is your brain the size of a literal pea?” With that you saw the beginning and end of your short little fling. This was not part of the advice you got from Grace or any of the other girls. In no way would you ever text any male this, except for maybe Reese because he was an absolute moron. Best friend sabotage is what this would be considered. “Reese, I’m going to close my eyes and when I open them I want you to be out of this apartment, and you can only come back after you’ve bought me lots and lots of apology fries.” Eyes closed you heard footsteps, then your front door open, and close. All of it almost distracted you from the small ding that came from your phone with the screen lighting up to show one new text message. It’d hadn’t even been five minutes from ‘your’ original text. Your eyes sprung open, and that funny feeling in your stomach returned. Heart pounding, you picked the cell phone up off your lap letting out a deep sigh. Facial recognition unlocked it within seconds, but it wasn’t really fast enough. In your head you could only imagine the rude things Mat would say about how it was kind of him to even send you a text, or maybe the text would spring back at you because he decided to block your number.        Mat Barzal: haha, what r u up to?        Mat Barzal: down to chill?        You tried not to be instantaneous with your answer and play it a little bit cooler than his double text, which honestly brought a huge grin upon your face. Suddenly you felt as if your apartment was getting warmer, was it the flush brought upon by the texts or were you just getting more and more nervous? The idea of having to pick out a cute outfit and getting out of this old ratty hoodie seemed nearly impossible which added a special level of stress. Counting down from 60 very slowly you decided you would be able to answer his text, enough time had gone by to not seem overly interested. Internally rolling your eyes at yourself for thinking waiting a whole minute was some sort of accomplishment, slowly typing a reply.        (Y/N): sure, whats the move?        Mat Barzal: finishing up @ the rink, rly craving ice cream if ur cool with that?        (Y/N): lol cheat diet already? Sounds perf.        Mat Barzal: kk cool, drop me a pin. See u in an hour?        After sending Mat your location you liked his message letting him know that worked for you. You felt like you couldn’t really waste time trying to have a conversation through text when you needed to figure out how you were going to go about an ice cream date without flashbacks to any corny and horrible middle school date you had. Just be cool was all you could tell yourself before rummaging through your closet trying not to be the dramatic girl in movies that would say she had nothing to wear with piles and piles of clothes surrounding her. Settling on a pair of your favorite “ass flattering” jeans and a plain white t-shirt. It was only ice cream, you had to remind yourself. There was no reason to do anything more, but you still added a simple necklace and one of those fancy velvet headbands they sell for way too much money after spending a solid 10 minutes scrolling through Sydney Esiason-Martin’s instagram trying to figure out what looked cool.        It was almost scary how perfectly exact Mat’s timing was. Right after an hour on the dot you heard a buzz come through to your apartment, letting you know you had a visitor. “I’ll be right down.” you voiced over the intercom, grabbing your keys and bag. It was a five floor walk up to your apartment and you didn’t want to put this boy through any more torture after a practice. You tried not to keep him waiting too long, but you also went at a slower than normal pace giving yourself enough time to breathe. It was just a boy you’d already been out with. How could this be so bad, you tried to remind yourself. He was just a silly boy dancing around shirtless at a wedding. He stood in the entryway of the apartment building looking around at the paintings on the walls, they were cheap and not well done but it gave the appearance that maybe people with money lived here. He was in a blue and orange islanders hockey t-shirt and sweats, his hair was slicked back and damp, clearly from a post practice shower. Since the last time you saw him, he was clean shaven, no little stubble that had scratched your cheeks during sneaky kisses. His hair was also freshly cut, you liked it, but you also found the long hair to be endearing. To be honest you were just so nervous and excited that you couldn’t even tell which hair you liked better, and you didn’t have time to contemplate it as he called for you. “(Y/N).” Mat said catching your eye, he stepped closer to you, bringing you in for a warm hello hug. He smelt like mint mixed with the kind of bar soap you get at hotels, yet at the same time he smelled familiar and homey. “So I was on yelp and there’s this homemade ice cream spot in and I thought maybe we could go and hang for a little.” A smirk slid upon your face maybe a little too soon, “Yelp?” you joked with Mat. Rolling his eyes, he stuck out his hand for you. “Well are we going or not, (Y/N)?” disregarding your subtle dig. Placing your hand in his you followed his lead out of the apartment lobby. Have you ever been on a first date where someone wanted to hold your hand? Maybe at the end of the date, but this was the beginning. You just silently prayed your hand wouldn’t get sweaty in the meanwhile.        It was a short drive in Mat’s white cadillac, which you had learned was the butt of many jokes. He let you take the aux cord and play whatever you wanted, which was your current September 2019 playlist. Mat was bopping along to it which gave you little butterflies in your tummy. The way his short hair flopped around and the goofy grin on his face just made your heart melt. This was a boy who in such a quick period of time made you feel like you wanted to be near him 24/7. He had an infectious personality. At one point during the car ride you thought he was singing along to Lizzo, but you didn’t want to call him out. Mat was clearly in his element and so comfortable with you that it all just felt fun and exciting. At a red light, he looked over at you and just smiled. He said nothing, but just moved his hand over to yours. Someone needed to let you know how this boy was driving with one hand, while the other was holding onto your own as his thumb traced back and forth. “Alright, I have two rules for us. First being you need to send me this playlist, and any future playlist you make. Second, don’t let me get anything larger than a medium.” You scrunched up your facing almost saying ‘are you really sure about that’ without any words “And I’m now instituting a third rule… Don’t make that face, it reminds me of my mom.” He said letting out a giant cackle. The one you had originally heard at the wedding. It was so stupid, but you liked hearing it and knowing you were the reason for it. You couldn’t help but laugh along with him. - - -        “So I’m thinking two large sugar cones, one for you and one for me. I want cookies and cream, I’m not sure what you plan on having.” You said bumping your hip into Mat as you both stood overlooking the ice cream counter as the teenage girl behind it patiently waited for the official order. “I know you want it and ugh, look.” You said letting out a moan pointing at the barrel of mint chocolate chip. “It’s calling you.”        “Shut up, ice cream whisperer.” Mat chuckled bumping you right back, “We’ll get two large sugar cones. She’ll get cookies and cream, I’ll take...hm.. Buttered pecan.” The girl behind the counter just nodded and went to work as you turned to look at him letting out a small laugh. “Buttered pecan? Grandpa is that you?” you said turning up the banter with Mat. If there was something he seemed to appreciate, it was the way you were able to joke around with him. He was a hockey player for God’s sake, he loved to be chirped. “Oh for sure, I’m the hottest grandpa you’ve ever seen. Have you seen my ass in these pants?” Mat said taking his hands and lightly giving his tush a squeeze for dramatic effect, before being cut off by the now very embarrassed girl serving you ice cream. She mumbled the price and before you could even open your purse to grab your wallet Mat had already paid for it. “I’d say you’ll get it next time, but you’re a bad influence, I don’t know if there will be a next time for ice cream.” You just smiled taking a lick of ice cream, finding a table in the back corner trying to give you both a little bit of privacy so you both wouldn’t embarrass each other any longer. It was like those few weeks with no conversation between you two weren’t a thing, everything flowed naturally between you two. From conversations about your job, to what you’d rather be doing than working and him training, to what you both were currently binging on netflix. “The office is just so good. I end up crying because I’m laughing so hard just about every episode.” Mat said finishing off his ice cream. “I need to show you this episode, you have to come to my apartment.” And with that you were whisked away to the Barzal apartment. - -        It was surprisingly homey, it was all neutral toned except for bits of a royal blue that would peek out in a throw pillow or picture frame. You couldn’t help but wander the apartment (with Mat trailing), looking at the photos he had hung of his family and friends. “I like this one.” you said pointing to a picture of Mat as a kid, making some sort of silly face with who you presumed was his sister, she was practically his twin, but blonde. “You look the same, haven’t changed a bit. Still as goofy looking.” Mat’s face rolled his eyes once more, rubbing his cheeks with the palms of his hands, then reaching out for your arms holding your wrists gently as his eyes pleaded with you, “Why do you hate me?” he gently shook your arms playfully. A small giggle escaped your lips, “Has your mother ever told you when a girl makes fun of you she likes you?” you said quite boldly, taking a step closer to Mat with his hands still wrapped around your arms. He was so much taller than you, and you hadn’t really noticed until just now when you found yourself looking up at him. His eyes were this piercing green you couldn’t look away from, and you just stood for what felt like forever hoping he would get the hint and kiss you again. It only took him a second before leaning in to place a much gentler kiss than those you shared at the wedding and after party, probably because you were completely sober this time. The soft kisses turned into more passionate ones as he moved the both of you from you standing in the hallway of his apartment to lying on his couch in his living room, him gently on top of you careful not to weigh down his whole body’s weight on yours. Maybe you went on kissing him for ten minutes or hours, you couldn’t tell exactly the time. It was kind of mesmerizing, you were totally lost in this boy, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck that wasn’t as long as you had once noted. His hand slowly tracing up your side, slipping underneath your shirt. God it was only the second date, (Y/N), you tried to tell yourself, but you didn’t pull away, nor did you really try.        “Barz? Mat?” was all you heard bringing you two out of your dazed kisses. Pulling your lips away from him as the two of you sat up trying to look as innocent as possible. You didn’t think he had a roommate, but you weren’t quite sure. He really didn’t get that far, and you thought you knew all of his friends, or at least teammates you’d met at the wedding. It was an unfamiliar voice, but a shorter boy with lighter hair walked into the living room with a stupid grin on his face. It would’ve been cute if he hadn’t interrupted. Completely not even noticing you on the couch, he continued to speak, “You’ll never fucking guess who texted me today asking about you...” With that you saw Mat’s face tightened, the happy smiley Mat had disappeared within seconds and you needed to make a mental note of that. Almost as if Mat knew what the boy was going to say. “Tito…” He said distinctly to the boy now standing in front of you two on the couch, it’s like he had seen you with his peripherals but was far too excited to take note of the other human in the room. You couldn’t help, but look down at yourself trying to fix your t-shirt making sure you didn’t look silly… if the boy was to ever take note of the stranger inside Mat's apartment. “No Mat, for real, she said she wanted things to be different, she was thinking of surprising you here.”        “Tito” Mat now spoke a little bit louder and firmer than before. It was almost as if it brought his friend from the cloud of happiness that drifted on. Honestly you could tell this was a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear, and it made you a little sick. Another girl? Surprising Mat? Nothing about this sounded promising in the slightest. And it really only got worse for your feelings. “Whitney clearly fucking wants you back. You sat around all summer practically crying to me and now what…you fucking get her back!”        “Tito, this is my friend, (Y/N).” Mat said bringing this Tito character out of the clouds and back into Mat’s living room where the three of you were. Tito’s eyes just widened, face getting red. “I-uh, Hello.” He said softly unsure of what more to say.          “Mat, this was fun, but uh… I think I’m going to go now.” You said politely standing up, feeling your stomach take a turn. You didn’t even have a ride home. God, it didn’t even matter, you just wanted to leave. Clearly there was some other girl in the picture and it almost disgusted you to know that Mat could act this way with someone when he was clearly interested in some other girl. You reminded yourself once more, boys are disgusting and not to be trusted.        “(Y/N), let me give you a ride home.”        “No. I’m ok.” You said swiftly showing yourself to the door making sure not to look back at the two boys you had left in the apartment. You honestly weren’t sure how you had gotten to your apartment. It would’ve easily been a twenty minute walk, but you were in such a daze that you sat back on the couch somehow back in your own apartment, surrounded by apology fries from Reese as he tried to coax the story of your date. Maybe you should’ve just seen it coming, it was only the second date and it all felt very silly, you were crushing way too hard. You needed something like this to bring you down to earth.  As your thoughts were flying a mile a minute, a ding came from your phone. Your day ending just how it began, with a text from Mat.        Mat Barzal: hey.

[mayaparker]

Wild and Bittersweet Honey;

@aedanthewitch, Maya and @rydenbolt all do their best to help @scarlettxruby though a painful Blood Moon. 

Ruby had decided awhile ago that this was probably not the best idea she'd ever had. Her moonlight charm was a good one, strong and well-made, but the pull of the blood moon - a lunar eclipse no less - was not making this easy. It had started as Ruby feeling the usual crawling anxiousness that came with the moon's call. That she was used to. But then when the magic of the charm said 'haha nope' to her body's want to shift, that's when Ruby had started to feel ill. She'd never resisted the moon before. But she couldn't do it this time. Not the Blood Moon. She'd told Ryden she'd be riding it out at home, Maya too. Just in case. Because the feeling of wrongness, of fear, where this type of moon was concerned, was too much. She would resist, no matter what. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much her body screamed at her to give in. She wouldn't. Not this time. By the time someone knocked on her door, she was shaking with fever, her body on fire as the magic did it's job and kept the wolf contained.

Aedan was spending the blood moon alone rattling about his house. With its new windows in and tarp on the roof, it was so much easier to deal with the inside too. But he was so damned bored. After so long working on the place all alone, it got lonely. And what with the moon the way it was, he couldn't help but think of Ruby. Especially after the Spirit ritual. [Text From Aedan to Ruby] *Image Delivered* The image contained in the text was of the red moon set upon a clear night sky from Aedan's overgrown courtyard. [Text From Aedan to Ruby] Look at that moon! Made me think of you =D

Maya knew that Ruby was trying to ride out the moon without shifting. She personally thought it wasn't a good idea, but Ruby was an adult. Of course that didn't stop her from doing research into what kind of magic might help ease the unavoidable discomfort Ruby would feel. And after several texts went unanswered Maya showed up on Ruby's doorstep, magical chocolates in hand.

Ruby heard her phone ping from where it was somewhere under the covers nearby. Blearily, she pulled it out and saw the text from Aedan. She smiled despite herself, and sent off a couple of texts in return, though it took her a minute. [Text From Ruby to Aedan]  hey u. [Text from Ruby to Aedan] did it?

Ruby also saw the texts from Maya, and scrolled over, squinting at her phone. [Text from Ruby to Maya] not dead. [Text from Ruby to Maya] 💗

[Text From Aedan to Ruby] Yeah. [Text From Aedan to Ruby] You're the only person I would think of. Especially after telling you that story with the Spirit and the Celt.

Maya's phone went off as she raised her hand to knock on Ruby's front door. She pulled it out to see that Ruby had finally texted her back. Rolling her eyes, but glad that her friend was okay, Maya shouted, "Too bad I'm already here."

Ruby smiled, though she had to set the phone down for a second as she felt ill again. But it passed about the time she heard Maya's voice from downstairs. Ruby groaned. "M'fine..." she said, not that Maya could hear her. She blinked at her phone again, the words blurring slightly as she replied to Aedan. {txt} I like that story.

[Text From Aedan to Ruby] I'm glad. I got a present for you when we next hang. Aedan stepped back into his house and idly ran his fingers over the half-bound leather book that he was still working on.

Ruby hummed, smiling still despite how bad she felt.

[Text from Ruby to Aedan] prestne? rly? [Text from Ruby to Aedan] bday's not til may. [Text from Ruby to Aedan] beltane.

Maya waited for a moment, but heard no noise from inside the house. She rolled her eyes again. If Ruby hadn't already texted her back she would've been more worried, but since Ruby had Maya knew that the woman was inside and probably just sick as a dog. A pun intended. Maya tried the door and found it open. "I know you're like the Big Bag Wolf now, but you can't leave your door unlocked," she said as she walked in, closing and locking the door behind her. Not seeing Ruby in the living room she made her way up to Ruby's bedroom. Standing in the doorway, and seeing Ruby in her nest of blankets, she put a hand on her hip, "So this idea looks like its going super well for you?"

Ruby growled (quite literally) at Maya's voice. "'S'fine." She buried herself a bit further under the covers.

[Text From Aedan to Ruby] A present indeed. But it's not for your bday! Just a wee silly thing to make your day. Aedan settled on his dust-sheet covered Rococo armchair (which he didn't think would suit the rest of the place once it was all done), and turned his focus to finishing the bind of the book.

Maya shook her head although Ruby couldn't see it. She heard the growl too and knew that her own tone was probably playing with fire. "I come bearing gifts if that helps," she said, not yet moving into the room.

Ruby's growl turned into a groan as her head throbbed madly. "A sledgehammer? To bash my head in?"  In the sudden wave of pain that rippled through her, Ruby forgot to send a text back to Aedan, and ended up knocking her phone underneath the bed.

Maya laughed. "Well, how about you try this chocolate first and then we'll see if I need to go pick up a sledgehammer," she said and finally crossed over to sit on corner of the bed

Aedan knew people had better things to do than text every five minutes, so he simply thought she'd gotten herself distracted by something. He used the time to continue his work on her present.

"How 'bout you get the hammer first... got one out back..." Ruby's voice was muffled from beneath the covers, and she barely moved when Maya sat down.

Maya tugged at Ruby's blankets. "How about you sit up like a big girl, try this and while we see if it works I'll pop down and grab the hammer?" she asked. In the back of her mind she knew the tone was probably a bad idea. Not as bad as Ruby deciding a blood moon was the best time to try her first attempt at not shifting, but still a bad one.

Ruby would've snatched back on the blankets, but she couldn't muster the strength. She also might've used her feet to shove Maya off her bed in a fit of pique, but she also couldn't find the energy. "You're such a bitch..." Ruby murmured to herself (not really meaning it, of course), but stuck her hand out from under the blanket for the chocolate."'S'my phone?" she asked suddenly, realizing it wasn't there.

"You think that's news to me?" Maya asked with playfulness in her voice. She put one of the chocolates in Ruby's hand. "Not sure," she replied, "Probably dropped it." As she said it she got up to search and found it easily under the bed. "So need to text someone else back that you're not dead or is it something more?" she teased even as she dropped the phone back beside Ruby's head.

A noise scraped against the shingles of the roof right above Ruby's bedroom window. At first, it was a heavy thud landing above their heads, a dull bang against the ceiling and then a dragging sound of something heavy walking, or rather, creeping carefully over the slanted rooftop until it became a shadow outlined against the windowpane behind Ruby's bedroom curtains. A large, looming shadow now looking for an ajar window to go through.

Ruby just snorted again and took the chocolate. It started to melt in her hand as hot as she currently was, so she ate it without much hesitation, grimacing at how dry her throat was. She had to uncover herself a bit to get to her phone, not answering Maya's question.

[Text From Ruby to Aedan] ty. [Text From Ruby to Aedan] im not ded btw. Ruby was about to send another text off to Aedan, when the sound of something on her roof took her attention. The text got cutoff midway-- [Text from Ruby to Aedan]I'm ju- - --as Ruby pushed to her elbow. A moment later, she groaned a fell back on the bed. "Use the door!"

[Text from Aedan to Ruby] You're not dead? Why? What's wrong? [Text from Aedan to Ruby] Do you need a charm or tea or something? [Text from Aedan to Ruby] Ruby? Is this a mark thing?

Maya snorted, "I'll take that as something more." She was distracted by whatever other teasing she might've done, by a loud thud above her head. Looking up she frowned, trying at first to write it off. But the dragging sound was hard to write off. She turned just in time to see a shadow appear outside Ruby's window. In contrast to Ruby's nonchalance Maya's heart skipped several beats before going into overdrive. At least until she recognized Ryden. Opening the window for him she said, "For fuck's sake, dude, have you heard of knocking?" as she tried to get her heartbeat under control.

When she realized it was just Ryden, Ruby wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or what. This had been a dumb idea she knew. To try this for the first time during such a powerful moon. But it scared her too much to lose control again. Or whatever had happened last time. She'd glanced at her phone again, seeing that she'd made Aedan worry, but before she could reply something twisted in her gut, doubling her over and whiting out her vision as she cried out. Her phone fell to the floor, forgotten.

With the panic setting in about Ruby's wellbeing, Aedan had to force himself to wait for a reply for more than five minutes. It just so happened that while he was waiting, he was also packing some things into a rucksack. If she didn't reply within the hour, he'd find her house to check on her.

Slipping into the room through the window as nimbly and stealthily as only a supernatural creature could, Ryden seemed a bit... odd. Though that was a major understatement. His eyes had adopted that otherworldly quicksilver glow and every source of light reflected around his pupils like moonlight against still water. He was brimming with some kind of electric energy and a witch would be able to feel it right to the bone. There was also something off with his posture as well. Usually slouching, now he had a sort of straight-spine dexterous elegance to him. It was a full moon after all and although his body wasn't shifting, his mind wasn't entirely his own. A wolf in a human body was a strangely mysterious, fascinating presence and Ryden, although not born a wolf, wore it like his favorite sweater. It almost fit him better than being himself. Glancing at Maya, he reached back and knocked on the windowpane, just to make up for not knocking before. Passing her by, he stood at the foot of Ruby’s bed just as she shrunk in on herself in writhing pain. A low growl bubbled out of Ryden’s lungs as he crawled onto the bed. He still didn’t know how, but he’d felt Ruby was in pain, even from a distance away. He didn’t question it – instincts weren’t there to be questioned. So when it became too intense to ignore, he came to her as if on a call and a locked front door obviously couldn’t stop him.

Maya got about halfway through rolling her eyes at Ryden for his belated knock when Ruby screamed from behind them. It registered with her, faintly, that there was something different about Ryden, but her mind dismissed that information for now. Her heart rate kicked back up as she whirled around. "Fuck," she said and moved around to crouch beside Ruby's head. "I think you gotta shift dude," she said softly, "I can't imagine this is better."

It had been five minutes or thereabout so Aedan sent another text, desperate to know if she was okay. [Text From Aedan to Ruby] Ruby? Seriously, is there anything I can do? [Text From Aedan to Ruby] Please reply asap. Or I'm coming over.

Ruby didn't know what was wrong, but it felt like someone had shoved a white-hot blade through her guts and out through her spine. The ring on her right hand flared white-hot, and the smell of burning flesh rose in the air as the magic of the charm pushed back against the magic of Maya's remedy. Ruby's scream turned to an almost animal-like wail, and her nails ripped into her mattress just as Ryden crawled towards her. The pain was like nothing she'd ever felt, and Ruby had lived through some hellish nightmare situations. She grabbed for Ryden as he came close, fingers twisting against whatever fabric they could find as she panted through the wave of anguish. She registered Maya, but shook her head, a buzzing sound rising in her ears.

Ryden’d immediately reached out to her, taking her into his arms and gathering her up against him even as her fingers dug into the fabric of his short-sleeved shirt, which was the only top he had on despite the cold night outside. He left Rein’s place in a rush, on an instinctive whim, and forgot to put his jacket and shoes on. But cold never bothered a werewolf anyway. He held her tight, pulling her onto his lap, as if wrapping his arms around her would protect her from whatever was hurting her inside.

After another long time of no replies, Aedan swore to himself and hopped his motorcycle. If she was in danger, he had to check. He sped to her address and felt his heart race when he heard screams carry through the night.

Maya froze as Ryden pulled Ruby onto his lap. She took a second to assess how likely she was to get her head bitten off if she tried to do anything. What she had noticed about Ryden earlier was sinking in. But her own protective instinct was stronger than her self preservation. Carefully she sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Ruby's hair off her forehead, a small electric jolt passing between them as she did so. "Tell me you got some kind of potion or something downstairs?" she asked, an undercurrent of hopelessness in her voice. Obviously her attempt at helping had either done nothing or, she worried, it had made things worse.

Ruby clung to Ryden, her cries muffled as she turned her face into his neck. Her nails cut into him, digging in as tightly as the fire twisting deep in her gut. Her body writhed, like an animal in a trap, but Ryden held her fast. The pain rolled on, over and over again until Ruby felt like she'd surely die. She might have begged Ryden to kill her at one point, when she felt the fire rise to her chest and squeeze her heart like a vice. Squeezing the breath out of her for a long moment before it released her with a suddenness that had her sagging agaisnt him. "Make it stop..." she sobbed weakly, but whether she was speaking to Ryden or Maya was beyond her.

When Aedan got to the house, there was no mistaking who it was that was screaming. He tried knocking but there was no way it could be heard over Ruby's voice. And he didn't want to leave anymore time, so his patience was obliterated. Without invitation, Aedan entered through the unlocked back door and ran upstairs. “Ruby?” He opened the bedroom door to see a mess of a scene. He almost didn't notice Ruby, concealed in a mass of muscle and tattoo.

Ruby smelled him before she heard him. Peppermint and old stone. No... no, not like this... she didn't want him to see this. "Maya..." Ruby pleaded as Aedan's scent grew stronger. She couldn't let him get hurt because of her…

“Shhh…” Ryden hushed her when she begged, her nails into his skin not even registering. Practically the moment they’d rip a tear into his skin, it would heal, so this hindrance wasn’t worth his attention. “Breathe.” He spoke calmly into her ear, voice unusually flat and composed even as his arms squeezed her tighter. As almost everything Ryden did since he was bitten, he had no clue why he did it or how exactly it worked. But his instincts were almost always completely right and accurate. He never meditated in his life – he didn’t believe in energies, chakras, whatever – couldn’t keep still to save his life. But something told him to breathe with her, open up a hidden door inside him and let her pain pass through it, take some of it from her to make it easier. And it… seemed to work. He started feeling what she was feeling and it was horrible. He wouldn’t be able to take it all away – not now, when he was still unsure how this peculiar skill he had worked, but he could share some of the burden, provide comfort and warmth, security of a pack member being there to lick another’s wounds clean. It wouldn’t heal the wound, but it would numb it, maybe stop the bleeding. “Breathe.” He repeated, gently rocking her now. Aedan entering the room was yet another thing that didn’t register.

It was hard to tell what was happening, but what Aedan could see was a woman he cared for being restrained after tonnes of screaming. “Let go of her,” he said, not noticing Maya on the bed.

Maya didn't know what she should do. "It's going to be okay, alright?" she said softly. Gently, she brushed Ruby's damp hair off her forehead again, hoping that at the very least her touch might be comforting. As she did so she felt something akin to a low electricity pass between them, but didn't pay it much mind. Instead Maya's expression broke into guilt and sorrow at Ruby's pleading of her name. It was an expression quickly replaced by confusion as she turned at the sound of someone's voice behind her. She stood immediately, putting herself between the wolves on the bed and Aedan at the door. "Aedan, it's fine. They're pack buddies," she said.

“So what was that screaming? What's wrong with her?” Aedan set his rucksack down to try find something to help her.

Later, Ruby would look back and wonder why she had ever been so afraid of the red moon. Surely this was worse than anything that could happen to her. It wasn't like she remembered it anyway. But no other moon had ever frightened her before, other than her first one. But gods above, this was like death. This was worse than death... death was cold. Death was nothingness. This was pain and agony and magic rebelling against magic holding back even stronger magic. And removing her charm would either make it better, or make it 1000 times worse. So she tried to focus on Ryden's voice, the deep rumble of it in her ear. The smell of the Other he carried with him, inside him and around him and over his skin. "I... can't..." she stuttered, coughing and shuddering against him. But he kept up his mantra ,and eventually, after feeling like she'd been flayed to the bone, Ruby felt her breath catch in her throat. She moaned again, but her eyes fluttered shut as Ryden started to rock rock, and as Maya's cool fingers touched her forehead.. The pain was there, very present and white hot as ever, but bearable now. "'M sorry..." she murmured between breathes. ""m'so sorry..."

Maya shrugged, shaking her head helplessly. "I don't know," she replied, "She's trying not to shift and I brought over some shit I thought would help. But..." She trailed off shaking her head again. "But point remains, I wasn't completely convinced Ryden wasn't going to bite my hand off for getting too close and he sleeps in my bed sometimes, so I'll take any suggestions on how to help with you over there," Maya said, not moving from where she stood in between Aedan and the bed.

With Ruby calming down even for a little, Ryden gathered her up, hooking an arm under her knees, the other against her back. He was carefully picking her up from the bed.

Aedan felt lost. He'd never seen Ruby like this. Vulnerable and terrified. “I- A painkiller maybe?” He didn't know why he felt a pang when he saw how Ryden was treating her. How close they were... It wasn't Aedan's place to be jealous.

Ruby’s skin burned. Like she was on fire. The magic raging inside her was exacting a price, and that price was pain. Hers and that of the people she cared for. She would be mortified and ashamed once she recovered.

"Right because none of us thought of that," Maya replied in a sharp tone that Aedan didn't deserve. Hearing movement from behind her she turned again to see Ryden picking Ruby up. "And where are you going?" she asked, tone still sharp, but concerned as well.

Carrying Ruby bridal style and slipping off the bed, Ryden looked very much like a beast turned human with his sleeveless shirt and bare feet, come to take the troubled maiden away. At Maya's voice, he gave her a cold, indifferent stare of an animal who didn't care much for explaining itself to humans. "Out. To shift. Night calls." His eyes reflected light like a predator in the dark as his gaze slipped to Aedan, finally noticing a stranger in the room.

Aedan held his hands up with the look of annoyed resignation. Even with Maya's obvious denial of the painkiller, he continued digging for something to help Ruby. He found a jar of honey filled with herbs and flowers, “Here. This- this might help.” Aedan didn't notice Ryden's gaze.

"No..." Ruby tried to protest as Ryden picked her up. Even if it was probably the best idea, and she trusted him, she didn't trust herself. Not like this…

"Not yet," Maya said, moving to stand in Ryden's way. She hoped that Aedan would have an idea. Ruby had said she didn't want to shift, which meant that Maya would do what she could to help her. Even if it meant having to see Ruby in pain. She nodded in Aedan's direction, still looking at Ryden, "Let's try what he's got first okay? It's what she wants. Dumb as it might be."

Aedan straightened up and approached with the jar. “It's a druid recipe,” he said, as if that might convince a terrifying tattooed man to leave Ruby to her wishes.

Ryden paused when Ruby protested, studying her face for a moment before he pressed his forehead against hers in a gentle attempt to wordlessly persuade her. He looked back up at Maya as she stood in his way - which was not a smart thing to do when the blood moon was full. "Who?" He asked, tilting his head in Aedan's direction - a very inhuman gesture but it screamed distrust.

Aedan was a self-proclaimed idiot and didn't notice how Ryden looked at him. All he could think of was how Ruby was in pain. And what this man was trying to do was completely against her will.

The ring on Ruby's hand burned, starting to glow as it worked to resist the ever-encroaching pull of the moon, and the animal that scratched and clawed beneath Ruby's skin, wanting out. She opened her eyes when Ryden paused, the blue gone and only crimson remaining. "Please..." she asked. "Try..." The tone of her voice was such that it told Ryden that if this didn't work then he could take the ring from her hand and let the moon have her. 

Maya could see Aedan coming closer with the jar out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help the way her heart rate picked up. While she knew that it wasn't a smart move to put herself in Ryden's way at this moment she trusted that he wouldn't hurt her. Whether or not that was rational was its own whole question. She didn't trust him not to hurt Aedan if his instincts told him he had to. "I know," she said with a tight throat, watching Ryden press his forehead to Ruby's. She hated to see her friend in pain. "He's a friend," she answered and reached out to take the jar from Aedan without looking away from the wolf in front of her. She was sure it was the wolf in front of her.

Ryden growled lowly at Ruby's plea. He wasn't trusting the stranger. But then again, there were few who Ryden trusted. And he tried to connect to Ruby, to speak to her without words, as they would when they would shift. But her wishes were shutting him out and it unnerved him. Ryden the human was a friendly, chatty, loud sort of creature. His wolf was a complete opposite - reclusive, careful, solitary. And it didn't like more than one person around him. The energy the full moon filled him with crackled with annoyance about him. He bared his canines at the jar being passed around.

Ruby would have to explain later, if Aedan still wanted to speak to her after tonight, that Ryden was only doing what instinct told him to do. That he wasn't trying to force her or make her do something against her will. Ryden would never do that. It was the wolf. The wolf knew what needed to happen, just like Ruby's wolf did. Even if the human side of her was too idiotic to let it.

"Yeah, I'd stay back by the door," Maya said, finally turning to face Aedan for a moment. She then turned back to Ryden. Slowly she opened the jar and held it out for him to sniff. "You can try it first if you want, but it's what Ruby wants. You know it's what she wants, even if it's wrong," she said.

Ryden's growl tugged at something inside Ruby. The wolf lurched against the magic holding it back, and she growled in return as she felt his unease, and the urge to protect him rose from out of nowhere. 

Aedan relented his jar to Maya but refused to completely leave Ruby's side. He wanted more than anything to see if he had helped her with it. And given the nature of her mark and new spiritual discoveries in the past weeks, he didn't know how that would affect this. Though, he did step back from Ryden to keep from being gutted.

Maya turned to Aedan again when he didn't go far. She did it slowly, without any sudden movements. "Could one person in this room please listen to me?" she asked, "I know you want to help, but I need you to do it from over there."

 “And if she's allergic to the honey? I know how to treat it but I can't from the corner of the room,” Aedan asked.

Ruby had never done this before: been around others when she and Ryden were shifted. Or in the process. She'd been around Maya before as a wolf but never during the moon. This was perhaps why. Ryden was pack. He was Other. Alpha. Whether his human side wanted to be or not. And Ruby's wolf would listen to him. But Maya was pack too. At least to Ruby. And Aedan was... he was so much more than that.

Ryden tilted his head curiously at the offered jar, but he was more curious about the person holding it rather than the jar itself. Maya he did trust and she was very wise to not make any sudden moves. He didn't sniff at the offered item and instead, carefully crouched down so he could lay Ruby down onto the floor. Whatever they were planning to give Ruby, best do it quickly, before Ryden changed his mind. He was as tense as a bowstring, ready to shoot at the slightest sound. He remained kneeling, hovering over Ruby's weak, pained form, answering her growl with fussy sniffs against the top of her head.

Ruby groaned as Ryden lay her down, unwilling to let go of him just yet. Her fingertips were bloodied from where they'd dug into his skin over and over even as he'd healed, and her skin flamed. The ring glowed, and Ruby fought the urge to claw it off her finger. Ryden's fussiness was met with a low sound that wasn't a growl,but something different. A sound that meant she was alright. She hurt, but she was alright.

Maya let out a breath, "That I also know how to help with. We had to deal with allergy attacks all the time at the group home." She turned back at the sound of Ryden moving. Ignoring Aedan for a moment she knelt carefully beside Ruby. "Alright," she said, "I'm going to need you to sit up for me for a minute." As gently as she could she propped Ruby up enough to take a sip from the jar. She spoke softly too the whole time, nonsense about how it was all going to be okay.

Aedan felt powerless. Useless. He ran his hands through his hair and back down his face with a grumble. He wanted to help Ruby so much. That's how they'd met in the first place. She had needed him. And now she needed something he couldn't give her. 

Ruby drank from the jar as it was lifted to her lips. The honey was sweet, and after a few seconds Ruby reached a hand up to grip the jar over Maya's. There was a slow feeling of euphoria that washed over her, and whether the draught negated whatever magic was at war with the magic of the charm, or just numbed things alltogether, Ruby couldn't say. She drank greedily, perhaps too much, and when she finally released the jar her mouth was stained with honey, as where her chin and neck where it had run down her skin.

Hovering over her, Ryden watched her drink, expression calm but anxious to see her reaction and confirm if this helped.

The fire in her belly started to ease, drawing to a point on her hip that flared brightly: her mark. But that was a feeling she was used to. A feeling Ruby knew wasn't meant to be pain. But something else. When she opened her eyes this time the red had started to recede. Her hand raised Ryden's face, and she tilted her forehead against him, making a small sound that said she was alright. Her other hand she held out towards Aedan, towards the silhouette she could see against a backdrop of stars. "'s'alright... won't hurt you..." she beckoned, unsure if he would come close or not.

Maya heaved a sigh of relief. Her shoulders slumped. "Oh thank God," she breathed. She made no move to stand or go anywhere. Instead her eyes closed as her brain processed what had happened. When she opened them again a moment later they were watery. It didn't take a genius to realize that the chocolate she'd brought, now abandoned on the bed, had made Ruby's pain worse. Maya blinked a few times, hoping that every in the room would still be too focused on Ruby to notice her momentary almost tears.

Aedan felt a wave of relief and approached, not needing Ruby's assurance she'd not hurt him. He didn't care about his own safety when he'd heard those screams and saw her pain. “Ruby…”

"No..." Ruby said to Maya, still leaned back against her. "Not you, hm? 's'good magic... yours." Her words were a bit disjointed, but Ruby hoped she got her point across that it hadn't been Maya's chocolate's, but the ring itself, that had caused the pain.

Ryden closed his eyes briefly at Ruby's touch, her reassurance enough to put him at ease. Without much joy or reaction at all, because he wasn't quite human enough for human reactions and expressions, he retreated, standing up to pad on bare, dirty feet over to a sofa in the room, which he'd climbed to perch on its headrest, one leg folded under him. He sat there, overlooking the room, a quiet, vigilant spectator now that the danger was over. 

The moment Ryden was less terrifying and less 'on Ruby', Aedan finally knelt beside her and took her hand, “Ruby, oh God.”

"Shhhh," Maya replied, running her fingers through Ruby's hair, "You don't have to talk. It's okay." She swallowed thickly and tried to discreetly wipe an escaped tear from the corner of her eye. After another blink she moved out of Aedan's way. She moved to sit on the bed, knowing that Aedan would need to check Ruby himself and wanting to give them both space for that. Maya looked over at Ryden and nodded, saying without words that she appreciated his letting them help.

Ruby let Ryden go, feeling his ease now that the Druid's magic had calmed her. It wasn't the same a witch magic, she'd learned. So perhaps that was what had made the difference. Maybe they would never know. But Ruby was certain that none of this was Maya's fault. It was hers, and no one else's. She could only tip her head against Maya's cheek, much as she had done Ryden, as Maya moved away. "I’m sorry...." was all she could say as Aedan knelt beside her. "I'm so sorry..."

When Maya's and Ryden's eyes met, there was definitely recognition in his silver orbs. He was gone enough to be a different person, yes, but not too gone to not have kept at least a part of himself. Another different thing Maya would notice were army tags hanging around his neck like a necklace - something he never wore before. The item most definitely exuded magic, the kind that would keep him from shifting fully - his own personalized moon charm.

 “Why are you apologising, Ruby?” Aedan ran his thumbs over her knuckles, “You should never apologise for something like this.” He held her hand close to his chest, “God, are you feeling better, now?” He could see she was, but he needed it in words.

Maya might've done a fair number of stupid things tonight, but she wasn't an idiot. Ryden wasn't Ryden at the moment. At least not the one she was used to, which was why she had sat on the bed and not next to him. Her eyes caught the chain around his neck and she frowned. Without the pressing concern of Ruby's pain to worry about it was easy for her to put two and two together. "Are you doing okay?" she asked him, watching carefully as she waited for Ryden to answer. He didn't seem to be in as much pain as Ruby had been, but she also knew him well enough to know he probably wouldn't show it unless he had to.

It was times like these that Ruby felt like she was cursed. That no matter what happened, no matter how much she grew or learned or recognized about herself, that she would always always hurt the people she cared about. If not physically, then... well. Like this. She blinked past the sting in her eyes, wondering why he wasn't hightailing it the hell outta Dodge. "I'm... because I hurt people. It's what I do." She swallowed. "But... yeah. It's better." She smiled at him, squeezing his hand.

“You're acting as if you hurt someone tonight. You didn't! Not at all,” Aedan reached over to run his fingers through her hair to soothe her, “I was just scared you were in pain.”

Ruby wanted so badly to protest. It was habit. Or had been. Taking the blame on herself for anything that went unexpectedly. But she couldn't bring herself to dispute him. So she just nodded. But as far as the pain went. "I was," she told him truthfully. "It felt like... I can't even say." She would have to shift now, she knew. Or else the pain could come back. She glanced at Ryden, at quietly on his perch, and wordlessly tried to tell him that she would go with him now if he wished it. Even if she wanted to stay here.

Eerie, reflective eyes directed themselves at Maya when she spoke and for a moment, half immersed into the shadow of the corner he scooted over to, it seemed like Ryden would jump out like a monster from the dark to eat everyone's faces off. But instead, he grinned widely at Maya, showing full rows of unnaturally white, straight teeth. There were too many of them though and they practically glowed with how white and perfect they were. The sharp canines poked against his bottom lip. "Hey cupcake girl." He purred, finally showing some real recognition of Maya. Then he glanced over at the other pair, hunching over to rest his elbows on his knees. "Bullshit, drama queen." That one was directed at Ruby and her whining. "Wanna know who hurts people? Look back here." His sharp grin was directed at Aedan with those words.

Aedan was soothing Ruby when he heard Ryden speak. Why did those words send a shiver down his spine? He didn't dare look behind him, instead he focused on petting Ruby's hair. “I'm sorry I didn't know, Ruby. I'd have helped sooner.”

Maya knew enough of werewolves to not be scared of Ryden, to not think him a monster. She got the strangest feeling that he wasn't exactly like Carson or Ruby or even Officer Baer. But she couldn't put a finger on why. She smiled though, taking his words and smile as a yes that he was doing okay. She too looked over at Ruby when the woman tried to claim that she hurt people. "Wolf man over here didn't even bite anyone. We're all fine, no one hurt," she said, half serious, half teasing. Shaking her head at Ryden she added, "Hey, play nice with the guy who actually fixed the problem."

Ruby growled at Ryden over Aedan's shoulder, but only to let him know she didn't agree with what he said what he said about himself.  "There's nothin' you could've done," Ruby told Aedan. "I should've just shifted and been done with it." She didn't say anything to alleviate any fear the Druid had towards Ryden, her wolf unable to challenge him over mere words.

"I'd give 'um a medal for it but I ran out." Ryden's baritone rumbled sarcastically, settling more comfortably on the sofa's headrest. It was pretty amazing how he balanced on it.

Aedan continued to try and ignore the threat of Ryden's rudeness, focusing on Ruby, “Well, maybe. But the honey could've helped sooner. Is there- there anything else I can do to prevent it? I have to admit, I've only done a wee bit of reading on werewolves.” 

Ruby shook her head. "No. Any normal moon wouldn't have done this. A blood moon..." Ruby frowned. "It's too strong. He's been a wolf longer than me." She tilted her head towards Ryden. "So it don't affect him the same way when he wears a charm." 

“Right because your whole YA fantasy cover was so helpful," Maya almost snapped. With the relief ebbing away, she felt on edge again. For the last couple of days she'd felt herself creeping towards it and knew it was probably only going to get worse. Not that she planned on admitted that. Instead she closed her eyes again and shook her head. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Ryden's in her head reminded her not to get worked up about things that hadn't even happened yet.

Ryden gave Maya a raised eyebrow look then dismissed her moment of almost snapping. He shrugged casually when Ruby explained he wasn't affected the same because he'd been a wolf for a longer time. Because who knew and whatever. He wasn't about to question it. He was just glad his own charm worked, well, like a charm.

Ruby wasn't going to tell Aedan that Ryden didn't trust witches much, other than Maya. Or much of anything related to the other wolf. It wasn't her story to tell is all. She flexed the hand that she wore her charm on. "I'm gonna find this witch and punch her in the fuckin' face though..." she said, tryin' to lighten the mood.

Aedan gave an uncomfortable chuckle, “Never punch a witch. You should know that by now.” 

Ryden chuckled at that, "Yeah, don't punch. Slit their throat. Can't cast a spell if they can't talk, yeah."

Part of Maya wanted to go and sit next to Ryden, but she didn't. Not tonight at least. Thoughts a little more clear she turned to pay better attention to Ruby, which she was what she should've been doing. "Yeah, not unless I get to her first," she muttered more to herself.

"Never punch a witch that don't deserve it," Ruby countered. "He's kiddin'... mostly," she said, glancing at Ryden and then back to Aedan.

Ryden’s toothy grin said that he was everything but kidding.

Aedan bristled, suddenly feeling a pang of unease, “I meant that if you upset a witch... It was just supposed to be a stereotype. don't worry.”

"Good thing you're not a witch, hm?" Ruby whispered, leaning close, still holding onto his hand. "I know what you meant..." she reassured him quietly.

Maya sighed. She had been worried about the physical damage that Ryden might cause Aedan while they both tried to help Ruby. She hadn't even thought of the potential emotional damage. This time she did get up, cross the room and sit on the same couch as Ryden "At least pretend like you're trying to play nice," she said giving him a very light swat on the arm. 

“Problem is, most people can't tell the difference,” Aedan replied. 

"I can," Ruby told him. "And now they know too," she said of Maya and Ryden. What the others would do with that information, Ruby couldn't say. 

"But I ain't nice." Ryden said flatly, catching Maya's wrist before the swat landed. But he didn't grip hard and he was grinning. He let her wrist go the next second. "So, where'd ya get that junk charm?" he asked Ruby, glowing eyes glancing down to their joined hands. He put two and two together instantly.

"Witch in Grisielle," Ruby said, glancing at Ryden. "I should've gone to someone I knew. Like Faye or Damek or... somebody..."

"Bullshit," Maya replied as if it were as much a fact as how many eggs needed to go into a cake. She turned her attention though to Ruby and Aedan while putting her hand back in her lap. "You still can," she said to Ruby, "If you ever think this is the route you want to go again after tonight."

"Yeah. Ya should've." Ryden didn't sugarcoat it, as usual, but he also knew that saying I told you so wasn't exactly productive. So that was where he left it and he wouldn't say it twice. Everyone had the right to learn things the hard way once. He settled back, bulky tattooed arms crossing over broad chest. He snapped his teeth playfully at Maya at her comment.

"I know..." Ruby said to the both of them. She'd definitely be getting a better charm. But as for not shifting again, she wasn't sure. This had been... a singular experience. "Are you alright?" she said to Aedan, realizing that she hadn't asked him that yet.

Maya spared a glance over at Ryden on the other side of the sofa. "Should've said I like it when you're not nice. Wouldn't have been able to argue on that one," she teased. She turned back to Ruby and Aedan though, wanting to make sure they were both okay. Even if he wasn't she doubted Ryden would admit it, especially not in mixed company.

Like Maya, Ruby knew better than to ask Ryden outright if he was alright. He was... better... than he had been when he first arrived - she could tell that just by the scent he put off - but there were still things that flittered about under his skin. Running and crawling this way and that. She felt the same way. Though whatever was in the honey she'd drank still had her feeling a bit high as well.

Ryden barked out a loud laugh at what Maya had to say but otherwise didn't comment further. Instead, he interrupted the other couple again. "You tell me when you ready." He put that thought out there for Ruby because he was pretty sure that the healthiest thing she could do right now is get out there and actually shift. 

Maya nodded, "He's right. You should probably go before we're back where we started. I'll make sure Aedan gets home."

Ruby nodded at Ryden and Maya, grateful to the both of them for different reasons, before turning back to Aedan. "You can stay here if you want... both of you." Maya too. "It's late and... well... I've got plenty of booze." 

'”'m fine, Ruby,” Aedan stood, “'I'll call you in the morning, okay?” He turned to Maya, “I came by bike. I'm fine.”

Ruby watched him leave, unsure what she felt other than... the sudden urge to run and run and run. "I'm ready..." she told Ryden, standing and brushing herself off.

"Please do," Maya said to Aedan. She gave Ruby smile, "Oh don't worry I know how to help myself to your booze. But I'll probably head home too."

Ruby nodded. "Be careful, okay?" She didn't wait for Ryden, making her way downstairs and out the front door after she heard Aedan's bike drive away. The moon was dark and red and looming, and Ruby looked up at at, hating it for the first time in a long time. 

"Hell yeah." Ryden readily jumped off the sofa but before he walked away, eager to just go and finally shift, he gave a lick to Maya's cheek. "Bye cupcake." Walking over to the same window he came through, he pulled his shirt off, leaving it on the floor. And with that, he was gone through the window, nimbly maneuvering down Ruby's roof.

Ruby pulled off her useless ring, held it in her hand briefly before tossing it into the bushes. By the time she pulled off her clothes, she could already feel the pull of the moon. It hurt when she shifted, but Ruby was glad for it. At least until she could no longer remember who she was, other than the White Wolf. She stood in her front yard and waited for the Other.

Maya nodded to Ruby, "I will. See you later." As for Ryden's goodbye she wiped her cheek, laughing. "See you later, werido," she called after him as she shut the window. After giving the two wolves enough time to wander off she made her way downstairs and out the front door, locking it behind her.

[team-free-squiggle]

Hey, if you're still taking prompts/requests, would you write something pairing Thomas with a side? If you do, thomas x virge? I really like the idea of thomas being able to calm virge from a rly bad panic attack or something

I can certainly try! 

Fair warning, I have never written Thomas before, but I certainly don’t mind trying! Also keep in mind that I will try to make his character like he is with the Sides - like a slightly heightened version of himself, if that makes sense” It won’t be perfect, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to try!

I really hope you like it!

~~

First Date of Wanting to Kick A Slimy Boi’s Arse

~~

Fandom:

Sanders Sides

Summary: Thomas helps Virgil with something and they are a really cute and fluffy couple.

This is a Human AU, so no one is related, just all super good friends.

Characters: Thomas Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Roman Sanders, Logan Sanders, Patton Sanders, mentions of Deceit Sanders

Pairings: Thomas x Virgil

Warnings: slight/almost Panic attack, mentions of a break in, mentions of cuts/brusies

~~

“So, Thomas. We know you and our Angsty Boi recently got together. We were sort of wondering, how?” Roman asked. 

Thomas Sanders was having a lazy day with some of his friends. Roman, Patton, and Logan were at his house, along with his boyfriend, Virgil.

“Well, it all began with a Slimy Boi - Logan, shush, you know that Dee’s a slimy lil’ snake -” Thomas was cut off between Virgil laughing and Logan holding his head in his hands. 

“What?” Patton was extremely confused. Virgil continued to laugh, though not as hard.

“He’s referring to my brother - Dee, though I’ve always called him Deceit because he was a lying bastard - and what happened with him. Thomas has always called him a snake, and Logan said once that snakes can sometimes be slimy. Hence, the “He’s a slimy Boi, Logan!” Virgil continued to laugh as Patton and Roman joined in. 

“In all seriousness though, it kind of did start with him. Well, a made up version of him.” Thomas smiled when everyone was done laughing for the most part. At his statement, Virgil snuggled a little closer to Thomas. 

Thomas pressed a quick kiss to the top of his boyfriend’s head, holding his hand and rubbing soothing circles into it as he told the story of what happened that night to his friends. 

Virgil and Thomas were supposed to go on a date, that night. Thomas was actually in the middle of getting ready when he got the call. 

“Mr. Thomas Sanders?” The lady on the other side said, seeming slightly tense. Thomas narrowed his eyes.

“This is him. What’s wrong?” He had recognized the phone number - Virgil’s security company. The one where both of them had gotten their houses secured from. 

“You are listed as the second contact for one Virgil Williams’ house security, is that correct?” Thomas nodded worriedly, before remembering that the lady couldn’t see him.

“Yes, what’s this about?” There was a nervous edge in his voice.

“Mr. William’s house was broken into earlier this afternoon. The man who broke in, one Dee Williams, has been apprehended. Mr. Virgil Williams has been contacted, but we could not get ahold of him. You were listed as someone to contact to make sure that he knew and that the situation got dealt with.”

Thomas took a deep breath. “Thank you for notifying me, I will make sure it gets taken care of. Was there anything else?”

The lady’s tone was sympathetic, now. “Nope, that’s all. I hope you have a better day after this is dealt with, Mr. Sanders.” 

“Thank you, I hope the rest of your day is better than this too!” He was sincere, but glad when they hung up. 

Thomas was off that day, luckily, so he just put on his regular outfit and headed over to his crush’s house. They weren’t dating - tonight was supposed to be that first date - but Thomas guessed it was off. That was okay with him, though, because Virgil came first. 

Thomas was there soon enough, and walked in after using the spare key to unlock the front door. He locked it again, knowing that both he and Virgil would be extra paranoid about safety for awhile, especially since it was Virgil’s younger brother who had broken in. 

Thomas looked for Virgil everywhere. He had let him know he was coming, by text, but the phone was nowhere to be found. Thomas wondered if it was with Virgil, so he called it to at least find where it (and hopefully Virgil) was. 

Thomas heard the sound from upstairs before it was abruptly muted, but it was all he needed. He ran to Virgil’s bedroom, finding it unlocked. He ran in, but Virgil was nowhere to be seen! The phone was on the bed, still ringing. Thomas hung up, wondering if Virgil was just hiding in case his brother came back. 

“Virgil, it’s me, it’s Thomas. Are you in here?” He spoke quietly, sitting on the bed, hoping for Virgil to trust him enough to come to him. 

The bathroom door creaked open slowly, Virgil stepping out from behind it. Thomas stayed seated, not wanting to scare his anxious crush more.

“Thomas, is - oh, god…” Virgil was clearly in pain, bruised and slightly bloody. He walked slowly over to the bed with Thomas’ help, who had risen and very slowly helped him while trying not to hurt him further. 

“Virgil, baby, what happened?” Thomas’ voice was gentle, soft, trying to care for his boyfriend as he found the medical kit and started to help clean some of Virgil’s wounds.

Virgil took a deep breath. “Dee cut the security wires, alerting them, thank god. And thank god they called you. But anyway, I was about to get ready for what tonight was supposed to be. Sorry about that, by the way.” He winced as Thomas cleaned some of the cuts. 

“It’s fine, Virgil, you come first.” He finished up, noticing that Virgil was panicking more and more. “Hey, love, in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. With me, now, okay?” 

Virgil matched his ragged breaths to Thomas’ calm and steady ones, coming down. Thomas held his crush’s hands as he continued with the story after calming down. 

“So, he breaks in. And starts hitting me, calling me names, saying that I shouldn’t have left home. He said mom and dad hated him, and kicked him out. I know for a fact that this is a lie because I saw them last week and they said Dee had run away. I brought that up to him, and that’s when he tried starting to take my stuff. While he was distracted with that, I dragged myself upstairs, and hid in the bathroom.”

“The police caught him and put everything back, if it makes you feel any better; there’s no evidence he was ever here.” Thomas smiled. Virgil let out a breath.

“He can’t do this again?” The way Virgil looked at him, wide-eyed and hopeful and so, so full of innocence made Thomas kiss him with everything he had.

“He can’t, not ever. Especially not if you press charges.” 

“If we press charges, you mean.” Virgil smirked. “He tried to throw your laptop at me. So I have him on breaking and entering, stealing and physical assault, and we both have him on destruction of property.”

Thomas smirked right back. “You are briiliant and cunning. See, this is why I want to date you. Not to mention, you’re hot.” 

Now Virgil was blushing. Then his eyes lit up, and he leaned in really close to Thomas.

“Hey, Thomas.” Thomas made a noise akin to a low whine. Virgil’s smirk grew.

“Yeah, Virge?” Thomas tried to appear nonchalant, but they both knew better, especially when his voice broke.

“After our date tonight, you know what I want to do?” Virgil’s deep voice was sultry and Thomas had to take a deep breath.

“What?”

“I want to put your mouth on my mouth!?” He laughed as Thomas blushed and glared.

In the present, Roman was hollering with laughter as Virgil finished the story.

“I said that one time, because you said you wanted to kiss me!” Thomas was indignant, and it only made him that much cuter to Virgil.

“Aww, baby, it was adorable, and I couldn’t resist.” Thomas pouted, but allowed Virgil to kiss him gently as Logan smirked, Patton squeed, and Roman cheered a little. 

Dee might have broken some items, but he could never break apart their little FamILY.

~~I didn’t know how to end this I’m sorry, I loved writing this though! I hope I wrote Thomas well enough… Also I really hoped you liked it!

~~(Sanders Sides)

@astraastro @madly-handsome @amber1594  @lie-lie-birdy @thebaagelboy @justanotherpurplebutterfly @ravenclawunicorn1 @ako1209  @princessbelix @water13girl @romanasanders @deathshadowrules @virgils-jacket @fandomsofrandom @cochroachkappa-blog @zoeyheys @chipminkle @6tick6tock6 @maizieandbirds @panic-at-theeverywhere @not-my-patton  @cookieturtleart123 @confinesofpersonalknowledge @generalfandomfabulousness 

(All) 

@birdybabybird @awesomelissawho @funsizedgremlin

[tcm--holland]

project // peter parker

request from @emarvil: Hi!! I love your writing! Could you please do a fix where tom is your brothers best friend and like you only see him when he comes over to hang out with your brother and he's in the grade above you at school but like it turns into something rly cute??? Not sure I made sense... anyways can you also add me to the tag list for threat bc that shit is GOLD

word count: 1.6k

a/n: tysm for the request! this was adorable hjasghkjsf and i’m so glad you loved threat!!! lol enjoy this little unedited fic <3333

masterlist

_______________________

Dinner is always the most boring part of your day. Your parents have a conversation about work, and then they ask how your and your brother’s day went. You’ve tried to escape upstairs with your plate of food numerous times, but your mother always makes you come down and sit at the table. It’s precious family time, she’ll say. It’s a bonding experience. Yeah, right. There’s just so much bonding going on at this silent table.

Your brother speaks up as you’re shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into your mouth. “Mom, is it cool if Peter comes over tomorrow? We have to do a project.” Upon hearing this, you choke a little. Everyone turns to look at you.

“Sorry,” you mutter, gulping down some water. Peter hasn’t been over in nearly a month, and you hardly see him at school. You’re a freshman and he’s a sophomore, and you’re pretty sure he doesn’t think twice about you.

You vividly remember the first time you saw Peter. It was your first day of high school, and you were wandering around campus trying to find where the hell E312 was. You were already nervous enough as it was, and suddenly you were frozen in an empty hallway, paralyzed by fear. You were going to be late to class if you didn’t figure out where you were supposed to go soon. You could feel the hopeless tears starting to well up in your eyes when you heard someone call out to you. You turned around, and there he was.

Standing there with tousled golden brown hair and bright eyes was Peter Parker. He was in a Star Wars t-shirt and jeans, but you’d never seen anyone pull it off so well. He asked if you were lost, and you nearly said that you were lost in his eyes. He told you exactly where to go, and smiled at you before he walked away. Granted, you were still late to your class (turns out it was on the opposite end of campus), but didn’t even care anymore.

And then he befriended your brother in World History, and he came over for the first time. You had come into your brother’s room wearing your embarrassing middle school gym shorts and a hoodie to ask him for math help. And he was just sitting on the floor, looking down at some homework. Immediately, you turned around and left before he could see you, cheeks flaming. Ever since then, you looked forward to the days that he came over. You’d constantly make excuses for passing by your brother’s room, walking back and forth. Peter would smile at you each time, and you always returned it sheepishly.

It’s been forever since he’s been over, and now you can...keep walking past your brother’s room obsessively. You know it’s pathetic, but you can’t help yourself. It’s like you forget your own name each time you see him, and when he talks to you, you remember again.

“Which Peter is that, again?” Your dad asks as he spoons more rice onto his plate.

“Dad, there’s only one Peter.” Your brother sighs.

“Really? Hm. I must be thinking of Paul, then.”

“Only one of those, too…” He mumbles. You quickly finish your dinner and excuse yourself to your room. You hop around in excitement for a few seconds, and then realize you need a cool outfit to come home in.

You go through different outfits? A dress? No, that’s too out of the ordinary for you. Maybe a skirt...ugh, no, it doesn’t look good on you anymore. In the end, you settle for a something simple: black shorts and a tank top. The tank top is Spider-Man themed, custom made in your art class. You’re very proud of it. And to go on top, your royal blue school sweater.

You turn back to the rest of your room to find it a mess. Clothes and shoes are strewn everywhere. Obviously, it all has to look clean for the three seconds that Peter will spend passing by your room to get to your brother’s. Groaning, you begin to clean up.

That night, you go to bed with a smile. You can hardly sleep, you’re so excited. But the next day goes by surprisingly quickly, and you nearly forget about Peter. You’re busy at lunch finishing your English homework early, and your classes are filled with work. So by the time you bike home, you pleasantly recall that Peter’s coming over. You rush up to your room to make sure your room looks okay, and then finish up the homework you didn’t get done at school already.

By the time you hear the front door unlock, you have absolutely nothing to do. You hear the conversation drifting from downstairs.

“Dude, it’s been forever since we last hung out. How did you get so busy?”

“Well, you know, with the Stark internship and everything...it’s been pretty crazy.” Peter chuckles a little.

“Right, forgot about that. How’s your aunt doing?”

“She’s good. We’re good. Last year was really tough on her, but...yeah.”

You hear footsteps come up the stairs and quickly pick up the book beside you, pretending to read. You glance up over the top of your book to see Peter and your brother, heading to his room with Cokes in hand.

“Hey, Y/N,” Peter greets. You smile back, not trusting yourself to say anything. He pauses, eyebrows furrowing together slightly as he looks at you. “Are you reading that upside down?”

Your eyes widen slightly when you see that the text is, indeed, upside down. “U-Uh…” You quickly try to think of an excuse. “Normal books are getting too boring for me. So, to keep up my reading comprehension, I’m trying it out.” You mentally facepalm at this. Is that the best you could think of.

Peter gives you an amused smile. “Right,” he says, but before you can say anything else, he’s gone. You spent the next few minutes wallowing in embarrassment before getting up to go get a drink.

You return with a mug of white tea, prepared to walk past your brother’s room. As you do, you see Peter mutter something to your brother. He considers it for a second and then looks at you. You stop as your brother starts talking. “Did you do all your homework?”

“Uh...yeah...why?” You take a sip, glancing at Peter. He’s chewing on the back of his pencil as he watches. Why is it so cute when he does that?

“Peter thinks you could help us out if you have nothing else to do. Who knows, maybe you could learn a thing or two before you take this class next year.” He shrugs, expecting you to say no.

“Yeah, sure!” You say, almost too excited. Your brother gives you a suspicious look. “I mean, I’m a sucker for history.” You really are, you find it fascinating. You step inside and slide off your shoes to get to work.

You find yourself sneaking glances at Peter at every possible opportunity. But just as he turns his attention to you, you look away, rubbing the back of your neck. You tie your hair in a ponytail before you sketch out the lettering for the title. Peter watches in interest.

“You’re good at that,” he says, and you look up to meet his eyes. A shy blush coats your cheeks.

“I’m taking art,” you explain with a nonchalant shrug. Inside, you’re screaming because he complimented you. You stay silent as you work, listening to Peter and your brother lightly chat. You slide off your sweater as sunlight begins to stream into the room.

“Y-You like Spider-Man?” Peter purses his lips to hide a smile. You’re confused for a second before you glance down at your tank top.

“Oh. Yeah, he’s pretty cool.” Your brother snorts at this.

“Y/N’s obsessed with him. She came home one day after school and she wouldn’t stop talking about how she saw Spider-Man save an old lady or something. And ever since then, she’s been crazy about it. I don’t get it.” You shoot him a glare.

“I’m not crazy. I just…”

“Have an appreciation for a neighborhood superhero that just wants to do good?” Peter says, a hopeful look on his face.

“Exactly!” You exclaim, grinning.

“Hey, Pete, don’t you, like, know Spider-Man? Maybe you could hook something up with my sister here.” Your eyes widen at this, and you open your mouth to speak.

Peter beats you to it. “Okay, first of all, I met him. Once. I wouldn’t know where to find him even if I wanted to.” Your face drops slightly at this. He sees this and adds quickly, “But...I mean, I’ll see what I can do.”

The smile quickly returns to your face at this. “That’s amazing, thank you! You’re the best!” You feel the urge to throw your arms around him, but you resist since your brother’s here.

A while later, you’re making finishing touches. The project looks pretty amazing, thanks to your skills. Your brother leaves to recycle the soda cans and bring up new ones, leaving you and Peter alone. You’re leaned over the project, wisps of hair escaping the ponytail. You finally sit up and glance at Peter, who’s been looking at you. You offer a small smile, and he gives you one back. Your heart hammers in your chest as he reaches over and tucks a piece of hair behind your ear.

When you breath out, it comes out a bit shaky. You finish off your tea to try and calm down, and when you look up, his eyes are still on you. You swallow and find yourself leaning into him. Your faces are just a few inches apart and your hand is on his knee. You hear footsteps start coming up the stairs and you jump away from him. Both of you are grinning widely by the time your brother comes back in. He sees you two and frowns slightly.

“Did I miss something?”

___________________________

tag list:

@thelifeofanengineeringstudent @deans-angel-of-thursdays @half-superhero @baka-chanismyname @lilacyra @chelykat451-blog @webheadparkr @hailey-a-s @bonza-bear @beforethebraces @ketterdame @emarvil @mirageofthedesert @tonight-couldbeforgettable @kat-rivalle

[jilyyall]

i-saw-you-sneaking-food-out-of-the-dining-hall college AU for jily prompt? i loooove the neighbors one you just posted 👌🏻❤️

Here you go! This was fun to write :) Thanks for sending me a prompt!

It Began with a Dare

He’s rounding the corner of the dining hall when she stopshim – the beautiful redheaded girl from his history class. Just appears out ofnowhere, really, running up from behind him and swinging round in front of himto corner him there. For a long moment, she just stands there and stares athim, wide-eyed and crazed and pretty. His hand jumps to his hair, gives it aslight ruffle.

“Hello,” he says, trying his best to sound confident andcharming and even half as cool as his best friend and roommate, Sirius, who hashad more girls in his bed since the start of term than James and their twomates, Remus and Peter, have in their lives combined. “Not that I mind beingcornered by a beautiful woman, but…”

Before he can give his best attempt at charming her, shecuts him off. “I saw you.”

“Yeah?” His eyebrows, he is sure, are attempting to join thegravity-defying mess atop his head, but she doesn’t seem to care. “I saw you,too.”

He had, after all, seen her in class earlier. He didn’tthink she had seen him, though. Until this moment, actually, he had been underthe impression that she had no idea he existed. She sits nowhere near him, isalways there before him, and tends to stick around after class to talk with asmall group of girls long after he heads out for his next class.

Her eyes narrow in confusion. It isn’t until she switchesher focus to his face that he realizes she has been staring at the two bagshe’s got slung over his shoulders this whole time. Oh shit.

“What are you talking about?” she asks, studying his facefor a long moment and then raking her gaze down his body.

He wants to think she is checking him out – she may verywell be, he’s no slouch – but he gets too caught up in the fact that she isstaring at him like she has never seen him before in her life. He is toocrushed to have his long-held theory confirmed to rejoice in the fact that herface flushes when she realizes he caught her.

“What are you talking about?” he parrots back at her, tryingto keep the surliness out of his tone. Why he is so crushed that she’s nevertaken any notice of him before, he doesn’t know. He knew she had never seen himin history before. He sat in the seat very nearest the door and never spoke inclass, preferring instead to alternate between quietly staring at her andtexting his mates who had somehow managedto get into a different history class than him, all three together. Itshouldn’t bother him that she hadn’t noticed him. It was his own fault, really,for not speaking to her before even though he’s been staring at her for fivesolid months.

He hefts his loot more firmly over his shoulder, which is amistake. In an instant, she is staring intently at the two bags he is carrying,like a lioness tracking her prey. He makes to step around her, but she shiftsto block his way.

“If you don’t share, I may kill you.” Her voice, previouslyso light and soft and adorably confused, comes out in a low growl. James pauses, looks at her, laughs. And instantly regrets it when she stalkscloser. His grip tightens on the straps of his bags and he clears his throat,his heart pounding and thinks, dear God,she’s not only beautiful, she’s crazy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says aloud.

“The scones, you prat!” She grabs for his bag, and heinstinctively steps back.

She trips, nearly falls, catches herself against the brickwall next to them. He grips her shoulders to steady her, eyeing her warily.When she flushes, clearly embarrassed, he reluctantly relinquishes his grasp onher.

“Are you okay?” he asks. He wants to ask if she’s stoned asfuck because, honestly, who else cares this much about a scone? Her eyes areclear and focused and she seems perfectly in control of herself, if not a bitscone-crazed, so he thinks she probably isn’t stoned.

Sconed, says thevoice in his mind and he nearly laughs aloud, but refrains, not wanting to seethat warning flash in her eyes again, not so soon anyway.

“I’m fine. Sorry.” She looks down at her feet for a moment,then takes a deep breath and looks up into his face again. He is momentarilystunned by the pure green of her eyes. “It’s just… I really fucking love thosescones. They’re the only thing that they serve consistently that I actuallylove and you’ve gone and taken them all!”

Her eyes widen and go a bit glassy and he is horrified tothink that she may actually cry? Over scones? Jesus Christ, she is actually araving lunatic. He may also be in love with her, which is ridiculous and justas horrifying a prospect.

“What on Earth do you need with five dozen scones anyway?”she demands, thankfully not crying.

“I don’t…” He trails off, unsure of what he should say.

“Don’t try to play innocent!” She jabs a finger at him,stopping just short of actually prodding him in the chest. “I saw you! Youwalked right up to the scones with your empty booksacks and started talking topoor Myrtle…”

“Myrtle?” he cuts in, genuinely confused.

“Yes, Myrtle! The scone lady! Myrtle!”

Judging from the look on her face, he is a right asshole fornot knowing the name of the woman who serves the very dry scones in the dininghall. He wonders if this girl knows the names of every server in the dininghall. He reckons it’s probably not the best time to ask, though, so he nodsinstead.

“Oh, yes, of course. Myrtle the Scone Lady. Very sorry,continue.”

“You were talking to Myrtle, distracting her with yourdashing looks and your charming smile and your bedroom eyes and she didn’t evennotice you stuffing five dozen of myfavorite scones into two bags!”

They stare at each other for a moment, both wide eyed forprobably two very different reasons.

“Look, I’m going to be honest with you,” he finally says. “AllI got from that was that you were watching me and think I’m attractive.”

“I didn’t – I never – now you just…!” She sputters, gasps,and chokes on the words that won’t come out.

“Now, don’t worry. I’ll level with you. I have watched youbefore…” When she takes a step back, he realizes what he just said, and hiseyes widen. He holds out both hands in a reassuring gesture. “Oh God, no. Thatsounded awful. I just meant…”

He stops, rakes a hand through his hair, fights the urge torip it right out of his scalp. Fuck, I’mnot Sirius I can’t be smooth.

He takes a deep breath and lets it out in a whoosh, forcing himself to calm down andspeak rationally in spite of the erratic beating of his heart. “I’ve noticedyou, is what I mean, and I find you rather attractive as well.”

“I don’t – That’s not - I just –”

“And that’s why,” he interrupts her, swinging one bagaround, unlatching it, and holding it out to her, “I am willing to share myhaul with you.”

She eyes him uncertainly for a moment, then stares down intothe bag. The look on her face is absolutely hysterical – it’s as if he has justpresented her with the Mona Lisa. Sheis either half starved to death or she actually just really, really loves thesescones.

She picks one out of the bag, and immediately startsdevouring it. He decides not to tell her that these are far from the bestscones he’s ever had. She may literally kill him if he did.

When he zips up his bag and swings it back over hisshoulder, she sends him a reproachful look. He sighs and reaches for it again,handing her one more. This is the last one, he vows silently, because if hegives her any more, then everything could very well be ruined. One missingscone? Easily explained as a miscount. Two missing scones? Well, it’s not hisfault if the server –Myrtle the Scone Lady – decided to take one or two forherself before serving.

“Stingy,” she says, but smiles nonetheless.

This time when he laughs, she doesn’t look angry. She justcontinues happily munching away on her subpar scones.

His phone vibrates in his pocket, his friends undoubtedlyinquiring as to the status of his mission.

“I’ve got to go,” he tells her regretfully. “But I’ll seeyou around.”

“Where?” She asks, and he understands that she’s asking howhe knows her when clearly this is first time she’s ever noticed him.

“Tell you what,” he says, grinning when she looks up at him,crumbs coating her lips. “You figure out where I know you from and I’ll buy youall the scones you want.”

She flushes and makes to wipe her mouth so she can replywith some dignity, but James has already turned to leave, convinced that thatis the smoothest statement he is capable of making and choosing to leave it atthat.

—-

Somehow, for the first time ever, he is running early onMonday morning. When he slips into his seat at the back of his history class,his gaze slides immediately to the seat she always occupies – six aisles downand four rows to the right. His heart sinks when he finds her spot empty.

His phone vibrates in his pocket. Before he is even able toget it out of his pocket, it vibrates three more times. For once, he isrelieved at the fact that his mates are going to be chatting in the group allclass; the object of his affection isn’t in class today, so the texting won’tbe a distraction. He holds his thumb over the home button and his phoneunlocks, immediately opening up to the group chat.

SB: bets on whether ornot prongs gets a date

PP: not

RL: Bets on whether ornot Prongs even gets noticed?

SB: SICK BURN

JP: i hate you all.

SB: hey two scones isworth a date right

PP: unlikely

RL: For what it’sworth, I think she’ll at least recognize you.

PP: rly

JP: what a lad, moony.wormtail, you’re my least favorite.

RL: Sure. Wouldn’t theface of the absolute nutter who stole every last scone in the dining hall andfelt it appropriate to only give you two of them be forever burned in yourmind?

JP: don’t act likeyou’re not the one who dared me to filch them all.

JP: by the way, i takeit back. i have no least favorite. i hate you all equally.

SB: chin up mate

SB: just ask her out

SB: if nothing elseyou can always lure her in with the promise of free scones

PP: tru uve alrdy prvnurself capable

JP: what? couldn’tfigure out how to shorten capable?

PP: rude

RL: He’s not wrong. Imean, you all need to work on your punctuation and capitalization, butWormtail, it hurts to read your texts sometimes.

PP: :( 

SB: enough of that

SB: back to matter athand

SB: are you going toask her out

JP: she’s not evenhere.

PP: she h8s u

SB: shes avoiding youlol

JP: fuck off.

RL: She doesn’t evenknow you’re in that class. It’s still early yet. There’s time.  

JP: okay, okay, i’llcome clean. moony, you’re my favorite.

SB: that hurts

PP: dnt wry hes vfickle ull probs b his fav in a few

Someone sits down next to him, and he looks up expecting tosee his usual neighbour, a pale, perpetually-tired-looking boy who usually payseven less attention to the professor than James does. Instead, he sees long redhair and vibrant, triumphant green eyes.

“I believe you owe me all the scones in the world.”

His grip goes slack for a moment, just enough for his phoneto slip out of his hands and clatter loudly to the floor. He ducks down to grabit. When he sits up straight again she is smiling at him.

“James Potter,” he says, holding out his hand with a widegrin.

When her small, soft, warm hand slides into his, his heart stutters.He is staring at her, absolutely enchanted by her, but she’s staring rightback, the smile on her face a perfect mixture of triumph, happiness, and excitement and he thinks, really hopes,that he’s not imagining the flush on her cheeks. She bites her lip and ducksher head, but still manages to maintain eye contact with him.

“I’m Lily Evans.”

[rapmonphile]

HALLO! can i request a reaction where you fight with bts and he say something hurtful but with fluffy ending please :)

hello! thanks for your request, i enjoyed this a lot and i’m rly sorry this took so long,, i’m a slow writer

Jin

“Well. If that’s how you really feel, then maybe we need to take a break from each other.”

You couldn’t fucking believe it. Was he really saying what you thought he was?

Your head began to spin and you could feel yourself starting to panic. You needed to get out of there. You grabbed your keys and a jacket and ran out of your apartment as fast as your legs would carry you, not bothering to shut the door behind you. You kept going for a block or two before stopping next to a convenience store, sitting down on the bench outside and holding your head in your hands.

How could this be happening?? You couldn’t even remember what you’d been fighting about. Something stupid, you were sure of that. You’d lost your temper and blown up at Jin, and now he wanted to break up, and holy shit, what were you supposed to do now? He was the only man you’d ever loved, the only one you could ever imagine yourself being with. You’d been planning to get married. How could you have fucked up the one thing that had managed to go right in your life?

You felt a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey, what the –!”  Fuck.

Jin was standing in front of you, looking as pitiful as you’d ever seen him.

“Y/n……please listen to me. I need you to know that I didn’t mean what I said back at the apartment. I knew I didn’t mean it before I was even finished saying it. You’re the woman I want to marry. I don’t even know what I would do if I lost you. Please. Please forgive me.” 

“Please say you’ll stay with me.” His voice wavered as he looked down at you, pleadingly.

You couldn’t stop crying. You couldn’t bring yourself to care. All you could do was nod.

Jin breathed a long, shaky breath out, a look of pure relief breaking out on his face. Pulling you towards him, he wrapped you in a hug so tight you could barely breathe. You never wanted him to let go.

Namjoon

“Don’t you understand how important this is to me? There’s more to my life than just us, you know!”

Namjoon had spent the better part of the past four weeks at the recording studio. He was there when you got up for work in the morning, he was there when you went to bed at night, and you hardly ever saw him on the weekends. Sometimes he didn’t even come home to sleep; he just spent the night on the old couch at his studio. The most intimate you’d been with each other in the last month was a quick kiss when Namjoon was on his way out the door.

And yeah, you understood why he was doing this. You understood that he wanted to finish recording his mixtape as soon as possible, and you also understood that something deep inside of him was nagging at him to make it perfect. You admired how hard he was working, and you wanted to support him the whole way through.

You just missed him. You missed sleeping with his arm slung over you. You missed eating at your favorite Mexican place with him. You missed kissing him when he’d just gotten out of the shower and smelled like soap and peppermint shampoo.

So, when he said those words to you? It stung. It stung because he didn’t understand why you were upset. Even more so, it stung because you knew he thought you were being selfish.

At a loss for words, all you could do was stand there, staring at Namjoon with tears welling up in your eyes, your mouth half open in disbelief. Namjoon’s face softened instantly, and you could see that he regretted saying what he did.

“Oh….fuck. Aw, no, y/n, please don’t cry. Shit. I didn’t mean that at all. You know I didn’t. You mean more to me than anything. I just…..I’ve been working towards this for so long. And it’s like…I’m almost there. It’s so close.”

You swallowed, hard. “I know that. And I’m so excited for you. So, so excited and so, so proud of you. I just miss you. I miss us.”

Namjoon stepped closer, slipping his hands around your waist. “Oh, god y/n…..I miss you too. Really.” He let out a shaky breath. “I’m gonna try harder to make more time for us.“

He slid a hand farther down your back, grinning down at you cheekily. 

“How does right now sound?”

Yoongi

“I said I don’t want to fucking talk about it!!”

You froze. Yoongi had never raised his voice at you like that. Sure, you’d seen him get mad before. Sometimes he even got mad at you. But you had never seen him like this.

You didn’t like it.

Tears stinging at the corners of your eyes, you turned on your heel and went straight to your bedroom, locking the door after you. Leaning against the wall, you ran your hands through your hair, willing yourself not to let the tears fall.

You knew you shouldn’t have pushed him. He’d been so stressed out lately from work, and you’d thought that if you could just get him to talk about it, he would feel better. Usually, Yoongi would give in and vent to you about whatever was bothering him, but this time he just… lost it. He’d never talked to you like that before, and it really upset you.

You heard a soft knock on the door to your bedroom.

“……….Y/n?” 

Of course it was Yoongi.

He knocked again, a little louder this time. “Y/n, please open the door. We need to talk.”

Hesitantly, you unlocked the door and sat down on the bed. A beat later, Yoongi entered the room, rubbing his neck sheepishly. You turned your tear-stained face toward him, not looking him in the eye. Yoongi looked visibly upset at seeing that he’d made you cry.

“Can I sit down?” he asked. You nodded, and he moved to sit next to you on the bed. You could tell that he was being deliberately gentle.

A few moments passed before Yoongi finally spoke. “Y/n….. I’m really sorry.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “I should never have yelled at you like that. I don’t know what the fuck’s wrong with me. I don’t know, maybe it’s the lack of sleep, or the late hours at work, or the pressure of this new album – anyway. I know it doesn’t matter. I was way out of line. And I want you to know that I’d never hurt you on purpose. I’m so sorry, y/n.”

You sniffled. “Yoongi. It’s okay. I know you really didn’t mean it. And,” you paused, looking at him pointedly, “I know it’s never going to happen again.”

He nodded, looking serious, but relieved all the same. “Thank you, jagi. I love you so much.” He wrapped an arm around you, pulling you to his chest.

Hoseok

“That’s the problem with you! All you ever do is shut me out!”

Your depression had been flaring up again. In the past when you were feeling low, all you wanted was to be alone in your room. Sometimes you’d do nothing for days at a time. It was how you coped, even though it didn’t seem to really make anything better.

As much as it killed you to admit it, deep down, you knew that Hoseok was right. You did shut people out. You were fiercely independent, often to a fault, and Hoseok was earnestly helpful in the same way.  Hoseok always noticed when you were feeling like this. He could be incredibly perceptive when it came to you. When it seemed like you were in a bad place again, he would do everything he could to make you feel better. it was sweet, but it could also be really fucking annoying. All you wanted to do right now was be left alone! Why couldn’t he see that?

You felt terrible for pushing Hoseok away, but you felt even worse that he’d pointed it out to you. Who was he to tell you how you should be feeling? And why couldn’t he stop trying to help for five seconds?

You heard the glass door that led to the balcony of your apartment slide open behind you. You didn’t need to look to know that it was Hoseok.

“Hey.” You didn’t respond.

“So… I know you’re irritated with me, and I know you want to be alone. But, hear me out for just like, thirty seconds.” You hummed, letting him know you were listening.

Hoseok took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for accusing you of shutting me out. It wasn’t fair of me to say that. I know you’re going through a really rough time right now. But listen, jagiya. It kills me to see you hurting like this. But I really think that if you would let me go through this with you, together, it would help you. I just want to be by your side, through the good and the bad.”

You felt like such an ass. Hoseok really did care about you.

You still wouldn’t look at him, but this time it was to hide the tears forming in your eyes. It was no use, though. Hoseok moved closer to you, wrapping you in a big bear hug from behind. You melted into him, letting his touch comfort you. “Okay,” you whispered. “I’ll let you in.”

Jimin

“If you like him so much, why don’t you date him instead?”

You couldn’t believe Jimin would even pull this shit on you.

You’d just been promoted at your new job, and one of your coworkers had offered to treat you to drinks tonight to celebrate. Now, normally this wouldn’t be a problem, except it just so happened that this coworker was a man. (A married man, to be specific, whose wife worked in the same office as the two of you and trusted her husband to make friends like a big boy. What a novel concept.)

“Okay, you know what, Jimin? I guess I just won’t go tonight. I guess I’ll just miss out on my plans to celebrate my new job because you’re feeling jealous.” The sarcasm in your voice was practically tangible.

Throwing your purse down, you stormed down the hallway towards your and Jimin’s bedroom.

“And, by the way, Jimin? He’s married. His wife works with us. Do you really think I would cheat on you? And with a married man, no less. But it’s nice to know that you don’t trust me.” You finally reached the end of the hallway, entering the bedroom and slamming the door.

God. How could Jimin even accuse you of something this ridiculous? He knew that you loved him, that you were in love with him. You couldn’t believe he would blow something this insignificant out of proportion like this.

You were just kicking off your heels when you heard the door to your bedroom open. You turned around to see Jimin standing in the doorway, looking hesitant.

“Jimin, I am seriously not in the mood to hear whatever you have to say right now –”

“Y/n, I’m sorry.” Jimin cut you off. “I was an ass. I didn’t know the guy was married, but that’s not even what matters right now.” He took a few steps, bridging the gap between you.

Looking into your eyes, Jimin continued. “I’m sorry I made you think I don’t trust you, because that’s not it, I just….I don’t know. I’m scared you’re going to find someone you like better than me. I dunno. I think about it a lot.”

Your heart was breaking.

“Jimin….I love you. I want to wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life. There’s never going to be anyone else for me.” Placing a hand behind his head, you pulled him in to you and just barely touched your lips to his, hoping to reassure him.

Jimin let out a breathy sigh. “I love you, y/n. Now….get outta here,” he said, handing you your heels.

You hesitated. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Jimin nodded, looking serious. “For real, y/n. Go, have fun! Besides…..” he paused to wink at you. “I’ll be here waiting for you when you get home.”

Taehyung

“I’m just not ready for that right now, okay? Stop trying to move so fast!”

You really didn’t expect Taehyung to react this way when you mentioned going to your parents’ house for Christmas this year. 

You’d been together for almost a year and he still hadn’t met your family, despite the countless offers you’ve made to introduce him. You didn’t understand what the problem was; you’d met his family on several occasions and even had lunch with his sister now and then. They were as sweet as could be, and you loved them. You wanted Taehyung to have that kind of relationship with your own family, but every time you brought it up, he became visibly nervous and changed the subject.

Little did Taehyung know, you’d decided that this Christmas would be it. You had already called your parents to let them know, and they were so excited to finally meet the man who made their daughter so happy. You couldn’t wait to surprise Taehyung with the news.

Let’s just say he didn’t take it as well as you’d planned.

Taehyung completely freaked out. “Y/n, oh my god, we’ve talked about this! You said we were going to wait before visiting your parents!”

This made you even more exasperated than you already were. “No, Tae, you know what? We haven’t talked about it. You have never once given me an actual reason why you don’t want to come home with me! Are we not serious?! Do you not want to be a part of my family, like the way I am with yours?”

Taehyung’s huffy expression disappeared, and was replaced by one of slight embarrassment. “That’s the problem,” he muttered.

“What?” you asked, confused.

Taehyung looked up at the ceiling. “I’m afraid that they won’t like me, okay?” he said quietly. “I’m loud, and too hyper, and not serious enough. I’m worried they won’t think I’m enough of an adult to be with their daughter.”

You thought you could feel your heart shattering into a million pieces. “Oh….Tae.” That was all you could say. You opened your arms, feeling Taehyung lean into you, just letting you hold him.

“Taehyung…..they’re going to love you, because I love you. But if you don’t give them the chance, you’ll never find out. Please, do this for me. Please come home with me for Christmas.” A few beats passed before you heard a muffled “……Okay.” against your shoulder.

Jungkook

“I don’t have to consult you every time I want to do something!”

It was after two in the morning when you finally heard Jungkook unlock the door to the apartment you shared. You were laying in bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep without Jungkook beside you.

Jungkook opened the door to your bedroom, his movements slow and deliberate. He probably thought you were sleeping.

“Where have you been?” Your voice startled Jungkook, causing him to run into the wall.

“Ow! Y/n, you scared me!” Rubbing his arm from where he’d bumped the doorframe, he continued, “I was out with the boys. It’s Yoongi’s birthday.”

You crossed your arms. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be out so late?”

Jungkook huffed. “Um? Sorry, I didn’t realize you were the boss of me? Am I not allowed to hang out with my friends anymore?”

You couldn’t believe what he was saying. “Holy shit Jungkook, I’m not mad that you went out with your friends! I’m mad because you weren’t answering your phone! I’m mad because you didn’t even think to let me know you’d be out this late! I was worried sick about you! And if you don’t get that, I guess you really just don’t understand me.” Grabbing your pillow and a throw blanket, you went into the hallway. “I’m sleeping on the couch tonight.”

You lay on the couch, feeling lonely and a little cold. Was Jungkook really accusing you of being controlling? You didn’t care what Jungkook did as long as you knew he was safe. You never told him to blow off the boys to spend time with you. You loved them as much as he did, and you even joined them sometimes. You were only mad because you were worried that something had happened to Jungkook tonight.

Soft footsteps padded down the hallway. You felt the opposite end of the couch sink.

“……Y/n?” It was Jungkook.

“Hey, y/n, listen.” You didn’t move to look at him, but Jungkook knew you were listening. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I was tonight. We didn’t even think we were gonna be out that late. I should have called you.” He hesitated.

“And I’m also sorry that I called you controlling. I know you aren’t. You’re so good to me. I’m so sorry I made you worry.”

Sitting up from your makeshift bed on the couch, you leaned into Jungkook. “It’s okay,” you said. “I may have overreacted a little bit. I know you won’t do it again.”

Jungkook kissed your forehead. “Thanks for being so sweet, y/n. Now…..” He got to his feet, picking you up bridal-style. “How about we get you back into the bedroom?”