#roast me more weather boy

[lunar-alden]

Zayne, c’mon man… I’m just tryna bond with you over your cute cat friend, why’d you have to go and roast me like that 😭

[neocrias]

diet pepsi - kim mingyu

synopsis: When a ride home becomes something much more... interesting.

Your interactions with Mingyu have been getting weird during the last group meeting. There’s a certain tension in every kindness he does for you—it could be you overanalyzing friendly acts, or maybe Kim Mingyu wants you as much as you want him.

pairing: mingyu x reader wc: 3,6k

warnings: unprotected sex; kinda public car sex; dry humping; figering (f receiving); cock riding; mingyu is a teasing little shit; very slightly size kink; mentions of alcohol; inappropriate language. MDNI.

You don't know when you started feeling this way about Mingyu, but lately he's been... different. He's hot, but you already knew that. Everybody did.

Mingyu is tall, tanned, has a charming smile and beautiful sparkling eyes that goes along with the sweet and patient personality he always has when he's with you and the boys. But something is different.

You don't know what happened, but Mingyu's every attitude seemed different tonight and what would normally be “your friend's caring and concerned way” was making you crave his attention in a way you've never felt before.

You felt your face heat up when he took the beer bottle from your hand and, before you could even try, Mingyu opened it and filled your glass, extending his arm towards you. When you hesitantly held the glass and your fingers touched briefly, Mingyu winked at you playfully and a shiver ran through your whole body.

This went on all night.

Mingyu carefully roasted the piece of meat you like best until it was just right for you. He also reached out to slap Vernon's hands away before he could snatch it from the grill, his muscles bulging under the sleeves of his black shirt right next to your face.

And, of course, you wanted to kiss him the moment he put his denim jacket over your lap to protect you from the cold without complaining – even though he told you to wear warm clothes tonight because of the weather.

— Gyu, you don't have to...

He cut you off before you could be the proud little thing who never gives in even though you know you're wrong.

— Don't be stubborn again. I told you it was gonna be cold and you still came in this tiny dress, at least keep the jacket. — He whispered, a perfectly balanced mix of seriousness and care. For emphasis, he tugged at the thin sleeves of your white dress, which didn't fit to keep out the cold.

Blame it on the drink;

Blame it on the several months you've gone without seeing anyone;

Blame Jeonghan for implanting indecent ideas in your head with his provocative comments about the way Mingyu always stood around you and looked at you;

Blame the smell of him surrounding you and inhibiting your senses in the enclosed space of the black range rover, or the way he drove with only one hand...

Blame anything, but you wanted him.

You felt your head spin the moment Mingyu said he would take you home, not letting anyone think of any other possibility during the carpool. And that was like a confirmation of everything a certain angel-faced devil had told you earlier.

You put on his dark denim jacket, sinking into the smell of his perfume that lingered on your clothes and biting your lips anxiously, an involuntary reaction to the scenarios you'd imagined and, to prevent your mind from continuing to go to places forbidden by “friend status”, you grabbed a can of Diet Pepsi before heading towards the car. 

Of course, you also had to deal with the feeling of disappointment silently when you found Dokyeom and Minghao waiting in the back seat. “Jeonghan, you're paying me for this!”, you thought after fastening your seatbelt. 

Mingyu smiled at you as he started the car, making his way to Dokyeom's house first - which was closer to the restaurant you were in. Eventually, you opened the can of Pepsi to distract yourself from the conflicting feelings you'd been having all night.

You didn't know it, but Mingyu noticed your strange behavior and, wanting to test whether his theory was right, he ignored the route to your house, deciding to leave Minghao first and then - by pure chance of fate - take the long way home.

He didn't stop there. Mingyu knew you were looking at him and purposely let go of one of your hands from the steering wheel, ran his fingers through his black hair to make it look messy as it fell over his eyes and, finally, grabbed the gearshift - as close to your thigh as possible, after all, Mingyu wanted to see how you reacted to him.

Of course, every glance was noticed, as was the intense way you stared at his hand holding the steering wheel. Mingyu could have sworn he saw you squeeze your thighs together a time or two when he made a skillful turn.

You started to shake your leg out of anxiety and seeing the perfect opportunity, Mingyu held your thighs in a firm grip to keep them still. The truth was that it didn't bother him at all, but he wouldn't miss the opportunity to put his hands on your thighs after so long watching them with desire.

He smirked arrogantly as he heard you sigh and struggle to keep still, muscles twitching uncontrollably under the palm of his hands. His eyes remained on the road, but they had a lustful glint behind the brown tenderness that Mingyu usually directed at you.

In your haze of thoughts, you didn't notice that the road to your house was taking longer than usual or that you had passed the same street three times. You also ignored the playful and arrogant expression that Mingyu wore, in fact, you didn't even look at his face as you were focused on the extraordinary way the veins stood out on the golden skin of his forearm and his thick thighs that were deliciously marked by his jeans.

The thin gold chain reflected the dim light of the streetlamps, shining through the collar of the black shirt that also highlighted the biceps carefully built up with regular routines in the gym, but just enough for the imagination. Kim Mingyu was dressed so casually and still managed to be sinfully handsome. Him wearing a black shirt so tight against his arms and chest should be considered a crime against public safety and you, feeling your neck heat up, pulled your hair up and leaned back in your seat to look at his face from a better angle.

 And the look in your eyes...

Mingyu felt his patience fading. He pushed his tongue against his cheek to control himself, squeezing the gearshift until his fingers turned white. And then your eyes went to his face, your rosy lips were slightly open, your shoulders barely moving because of the shallow breathing and the typical doe eyes that blinked heavily at him, scanning every birthmark he had on his chiseled face.

He was tired of overthinking what kind of game you were playing now.

Slowly, Mingyu pulled the car over as soon as you turned into a discreet, quiet - partly dark - street and, as if a mist was coming out of the front of your eyes, you came back to reality as you felt the car stop and looked out of the window. It wasn't your house and you were even more confused when you heard the car's engine stop.

You turned to Mingyu who was taking the key out of the ignition.

— What are you doing? — you asked, but Mingyu didn't answer. — Why did you stop here?

He continued without answering, Mingyu didn't even look at you. Still facing forward, he just unbuckled your thigh to open his own seat belt and moved the seat back very slowly. Your eyes widened in surprise, confusion and... anticipation.

You focused your attention on the sliding seat, returning to stare at Mingyu's thick thighs, and clamped your lower lip between your teeth. By the time you raised your eyes to Mingyu's face again, he was already looking at you with a naughty, arrogant grin and his head tilted slightly to one side.

— Having fun? — He asked arrogantly and you blinked rapidly, feeling confused and overwhelmed.

“Maybe I shouldn't have drunk so much,” you thought.

Mingyu leaned over you, knocking you backwards. Your back slammed against the car door and you held your breath, not wanting to make any movement or comment that would break the tension that bubbled deliciously under your skin. Your eyes were locked on Mingyu's, and you couldn't take your eyes off them for a second.

The sound of your belt opening made you blink repeatedly once more and let out an anxious sigh - which, in turn, made Mingyu even more confident.

He rested his left hand on the tinted car window and brought his right hand up to your neck, wrapping his hand around your throat and subtly pulling you forward. You let out a pained grunt and close your eyes as you felt his nose brush against yours, both breaths mingling.

His thumb moved slowly against your skin and your lips touched quickly as he moved his head. You were going crazy and he was doing it on purpose, after all, watching you need him was more fun than Mingyu could have imagined.

— Gyu… — You called softly. A heavy, needy whisper that complemented the hushed atmosphere that enveloped the two of you. He was so close that you could smell the beer and mint gum he was chewing earlier. You shifted uncomfortably against the leather seat, wanting to get rid of the feeling of unease that ran through your whole body.

— Hm? — was all Mingyu replied.

You brought your trembling hands up to his shoulders, sliding them slowly under the collar of his shirt, feeling the warm skin against your icy palms and the defined muscles under your fingertips. You slid down to the nape of his neck, making a point of dragging your nails lightly along the way in a phantom touch that Mingyu reciprocated by squeezing your neck a little tighter. 

With a sigh you pressed your nails against his neck, marking his honey skin with red scratches and pulled the gold chain into a closed fist. Mingyu finally crashed his lips against yours in a strong, needy kiss.

An involuntary moan of satisfaction escaped your throat as you felt his tongue making its way into your mouth, the soft muscle crashing deliciously against yours, and Mingyu released your neck to wrap his arm around your waist, pulling you against him so that you rode his lap.

It wasn't the most comfortable position even though the car was large, but 'comfort' wasn't a concern for him at the moment and even less so for you.

Still with trembling, hurried hands, you slipped them under his black shirt, dragging your nails across the length of Mingyu's abdomen, leaving more red marks across his immaculate skin. Your fingers stopped against the waistband of his jeans, unsure of what to do now.

Despite (trying) to be a confident person most of the time, you weren't the most experienced person when it came to boys. Minghao and Seungcheol tried hard to keep them away from you - after all, no guy was good enough for their best friend.

Mingyu, who had both arms around your waist now, pressing you against him, moved his hands down to your bare thighs, his fingertips trailing along the length that the slit didn't make a point of covering and - for the thousandth time tonight - your skin shivered at his touch.

Suddenly he grabbed both sides of your hips, pulling you forward and pressing you down against him, and you broke away from him with a gasp of surprise. You were both breathing heavily, your eyes closed and your foreheads pressed together. Mingyu brought his hand up to the collar of your jacket, gently pushing it back, his fingertips leaving a ghostly touch on the skin of your shoulder, exposed by the square neckline.

He removed the jacket from your body slowly, he was in no hurry at all and, now that there was nothing else in the way, Mingyu began to trail kisses and bites down the length of your jaw, neck and collarbones, marking your skin as you did with him and you answer by pressing your hips against his.

With an impulse of confidence you moved your waist, a slight and insecure movement at first, but one that made Mingyu sigh against the sensitive skin of your neck and increase the tightness against your skin - leaving marks that would turn red later. Mingyu's reactions were what you needed to keep going and you swivel your hips harder, making him throw his head back against the car seat.

Clumsily, you pulled up his shirt, trying to undress him, and Mingyu smiled even more arrogantly when he saw you fumble. He moved his hands away and pulled up his shirt and your eyes went down to his defined abdomen, measuring it completely.

His eyes darkened when he saw you biting your lips with glassy eyes. You brought your hands up to his shoulders, Mingyu was huge and very well built - unconsciously you thanked him for his dedication to the gym. He slid his hands under your dress, now squeezing the skin of your hips and waist with nothing to stop him.

You wrapped your index finger around the gold chain and pulled him forward, kissing him again, again, again and again and as many times as you wanted, you couldn't stop yourself.

You were so focused on the kiss, on moving your waist in just the right way to get all his reactions and whimpers, on the warm, soft skin against the palm of your hands, on the smell of him that intoxicated you, that you didn't miss his hands on your waist, and you weren't even surprised when the seat came down all at once, making you fall on top of him.

— What are you planning, Kim Mingyu? — you managed to ask between kisses and heavy sighs.

— You'll find out — he murmured against your lips. — And you'll love every second of it.

You felt your legs tremble and you rolled against him even harder, making him whimper softly and bite your lips hard. Mingyu stopped your hips, pushing you down a little just enough to unzip his pants and take out his cock that stood proudly up to his hips.

His red tip was shining from pre-cum, the veins that stood out on the skin, making you clench around nothing.

Mingyu moved his hand down your dress again, his fingertips slowly dragging over the thin fabric of your panties, teasing you.

— Gyu... — you whimpered.

— Tell me — he muttered against your mouth. — You need to tell me, pretty.

He enjoyed being a little teasing shit, finding fun in the way you react and your body trembles to his touches. Mingyu slides your panties to the side, his finger finally making contact to your clit.

— Please — you tried again, refusing to say it out loud. 

— Nuh uh, baby, you need to say it.

— Gyu, please… — you started, but failed again.

— Poor little girl, can’t even use her words… — he teased you.

— Kim Mingyu, I swear to God if you… — your words were cut off by a groan when he slid his middle finger into your wet cunt.

Mingyu smirked when saw you struggling with your words again, just because of him. It's a complete ego booster for sure.

— If I..? — he suggested, provoking you again. — Come on, baby, what are you gonna do? 

He slid a second finger, bending them to hit that specific spot that makes you tremble and gasp in his ears because of the stretch. You leaned forward, resting your hands on his chest and hiding your face in the crook of his neck.

You feel a knot forming in your low stomach and bite his shoulder to relieve some of the feeling, moving your hips by your own, chasing it.

Your whimpers became louder and more frequent and Mingyu took this as an incentive to go faster, always aiming for that spot that made you react the way he liked the most.

Sequenced moans of his name left your lips and you dug your nails harder into his shoulders. Involuntarily squirming to escape the overwhelming sensation that you were experiencing. And at the same time that you wanted Mingyu to continue, it was becoming too much.

You hold Mingyu’s wrist, trying to stop him, but it only makes him go harder on you. His free hand, grabbing your hips to make you quiet.

— Shh — he whispered into your ear. — It's ok, pretty, let it go.

Mingyu was slowly edging you to your high. His fingertips brushing against your soft walls plus his sweet voice praising you makes your toes curl. His actions turn all too much to handle and you feel losing yourself.

— That's it, baby, cum for me.

And you came, his name leaving your mouth as a chant, while your body grows even hotter. Mingyu continued moving his fingers, slower this time to help you come down from your high. He left several kisses on your shoulders, and caressed your back until your breathing regulated again.

You push his arms down, breathing heavily with your foreheads close to each other.

Mingyu began to caress your thighs to calm you down, kissing your lips tenderly, moving down to your chest and collarbones. In a burst of courage, you sat on him, still not sliding in, just an attempt to tease him the same way he did to you before.

He moans your name in response, a smug smirk adoring his lips and his hooded eyes staring directly at you in pure desire. — Stop the teasing, baby. — He said.

You grabbed his cock aligning him to your cunt. You went down slowly, holding your breath as you felt him open you inch by inch. His hands grabbed your hips harder, pushing you down to help you keep moving. 

— Fuck… — He groaned when he reached the bottom. Despite the urgency Mingyu felt to move, he remained still so you could adjust to his size.

You whimpered in discomfort, not being used to his size, but somehow the initial stretch was kinda pleasant. The caress Mingyu gave your back and the little kisses he left on your shoulders were enough to calm you down a little and, still a bit insecure, you raised your hips, waited a little trying to prepare yourself emotionally, and lowered yourself again slowly.

Mingyu squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip hard. He wanted to take things at his own pace, so you would be comfortable, so you would enjoy it too, but you looked so beautiful and angelic in that short white dress and your frowning face that his inner self roared with the need to destroy you.

He wanted to take control, pin you against the leather seat and watch fat tears roll down your face, destroying your makeup with black mascara stains. You sped up little by little, gaining confidence as you moved, but it still wasn't enough and your thighs burned from the effort. You tried to keep going, wanting to get more grunts and moans out of Mingyu, but something was missing and so you stopped, hiding your face in his neck out of embarrassment.

— What happened? — he asked you, stroking your hair to comfort you.

— Tired… — you muttered. After a few seconds of silence you heard him laugh.

— Spoiled princess wants me to do all the work? — He asked you again, his voice dripping in a condescending tone.

— Please — you beg.

He blinked in astonishment, taken aback by you. His eyes darkened and he thrust his tongue against his cheek. — Move to the backseat!

You do as he says, moving to the back of the large car. Mingyu skillfully takes the seat again, pushing it closer to the steering wheel and gets out, walking around the car to the back seat. You lean your back against the door opposite the one Mingyu came in through, biting your lip in excitement.

He grabs your ankle, pulling you down. You slide into the seat, now lying on your back as Mingyu towers over you with all his splendor and size and you feel so small next to him — he has that effect on people.

You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him down so you can kiss him again and circling his waist with your legs. Mingyu can only think about how you're going to be the death of him, but that moment doesn't last long as he's thrusting into you again. You moan louder, feeling him deeper than before.

The exchange of intense looks, foreheads colliding and the sloppy kisses constantly interrupted by sighs and moans add something more, intensifying all the feelings. His scent is surrounding you, making you dizzy and confused and Mingyu thrusts harder when he feels you scratch his back.

— More —you asked and Mingyu happily complied with your whining.

He holds your thigh, placing it above his shoulders, resting one of his arms on the window glass for support, going even deeper. You feel your high coming for the second time that night and involuntarily tighten around him, making him grunt and go harder.

You scratched his back, cumming again.

This time Mingyu followed you, spilling his cum inside you. The feeling was overwhelming, something you had never felt before and didn't imagine experiencing so soon, even less not being in a relationship with this person, but when it came to Mingyu everything felt so right.

— What are we now? — maybe you were reading the situation wrong and this was nothing more than a casual hookup, a one night thing, but you couldn’t help to feel your heart drop at this possibility.

— I’ll take you on a date — he answered simply.

— I think you reversed some steps — you joke, eliciting a breathy laugh from him.

Mingyu slid out slowly, but you still shivered in sensitivity. To reward him, he left several little kisses on your face.

— Maybe, but I’ll do it right this time. — He said. — Let’s get cleaned up and take you home.

You mumble in agreement, too tired to even respond and, unwillingly, you drag yourself back to the front seat. Mingyu leans towards you, fastening your seatbelt before leaving one last slow and deep kiss on your lips, one that you gladly return.

[reccyls]

Beyond the Merging of Then and Now (Leon story)

Leon's 4th anniversary story sale, where child Leon is brought to the future to meet Emma and current Leon

---

It was a morning just like any other, and as Leon and I returned together to our room with breakfast... We found a small boy in Leon's room.

Emma & ???: ......

(Black hair and amber eyes... he looks exactly like Leon!)

Leon: Are you--

(Does Leon know him?)

Leon: --Leon Dompteur?

("Leon"!? They do look identical, true... so is this...?)

Young Leon: ...That's right. And you are?

Leon: I'm also Leon. More accurately, an adult version of you.

(...It's something right out of a novel. But seeing it happen right in front of my eyes, I have no choice but to believe it.) (And now that I think about it... I can believe it. This lonely looking boy really does seem to be Leon as a child.)

Young Leon: You're an adult me...? Do you have any proof?

Leon: Proof? Well, you must have already realized, but we look nearly identical. Leon: There is nobody else here who looks like us. After all, isn't that the reason you came here in the first place?

Young Leon: ...I'm the only person left in the whole world who knows "that secret." Young Leon: So you must be telling the truth. And that means... I'm in the future?

(He's able to accept such an unrealistic situation so calmly. I guess Leon is Leon, no matter what age he's at.)

Leon: Seems like it. Ah, one correction, though: I'm not the only one who knows our secret anymore. Leon: Emma here also knows.

Young Leon: ...Who is she?

Leon: Emma is...

Emma: Hi there, Leon. I'm your future self's fiancée.

Young Leon: ...You know everything, and you still want to marry me...?

(He looks like he doesn't believe me. Considering his situation, I suppose I should have expected that.) (But... I've always wanted to meet Leon when he was younger.) (To be there at his side. To support him, to hold him close.) (...So I want him to believe me.)

Emma: I do. Because I love you.

Young Leon: ...

Leon: Leon, your future fiancée is an amazing woman, you know? Your future will be bright, and full of happiness. Leon: Well, that's future talk. For now... how about we go play outside?

(....Play?)

Young Leon: I can't. As long as I'm Leon, I have things I need to do.

Leon: But here and now, I'm "Leon". You are just a kid. Leon: And there's only one thing that kids need to do: play and have fun to their heart's content.

(Right, he is just a child...)

Leon: This kind of chance doesn't come around very often. We've got to make the most of it, don't we?

(Leon has never had the chance to be "just a kid".) (And that's why, he wants to give this child version of himself the opportunity he never had.) (So in that case...)

Emma: Hey, why don't we go out and have a picnic together? We can play a lot, and we can enjoy lunch and snacks outside too. Emma: I'll make the best lunch you've ever had. We can have a lot of meat, how does that sound?

Young Leon: Meat...

(Looks like he's interested! One more little push...)

Emma: I'm planning to make some roast beef sandwiches, and some thick cut steaks... Emma: And maybe some stewed meats, and lots of other meat-based dishes too.

Young Leon: ...It sounds tasty...

(Aww, how cute!)

Leon: So we're decided. Leon: Emma's cooking is the best in the world. Look forward to it, Leon.

--scene change, meadow--

Leon: Looks like great weather today. Perfect for a picnic. So, let's start with having some fun.

Young Leon: What things do to have fun?

(Looks like Leon isn't sure what he should be doing.) (But he's fidgeting like he's excited.)

Emma: I found a book that describes a bunch of games we can play outdoors like this. Let's start with reading it together.

Young Leon: ...A book?

Emma: I know you're not great with books. But I'd be very happy if you listened while I read. Emma: So, I'll start now. "There are many games perfect for the outdoors, where you can feel the wind whipping around you..."

...

Emma: Okay, I'm going to throw this acorn over there. The first person to find it, wins. Everyone ready?

Leon & Young Leon: Yes!

Emma: Ready, set, go!

Leon: I'll be going first.

Young Leon: He's fast... But I can run too...!

(Leon's running with all his might, and little Leon is too!) (I can't let them show me up, I've got to step it up too!)

...

(...I'm... so tired..........)

Leon: Well, it's about time for lunch. I'm eager to try what Emma's made for today.

Young Leon: Me too... I'm hungry too.

Emma: I've unpacked everything, so come on and sit.

Leon: Everything looks delicious. That's my Emma.

Young Leon: .......I can really eat this?

Emma: Of course! I made enough for all of us.

Young Leon: Thank you. .....It's really good. It really is the best in the world.

(His eyes are sparkling... I'm feeling a little embarrassed.)

Leon: Told you. Everything's delicious, but this one especially. It's definitely my favorite.

Young Leon: Hey, I wanted that! ...You eat too much, Leon. Young Leon: And... you're more childish than I thought you would be. Young Leon: I always thought that "Leon" should be really mature...

Leon: Yeah. I thought the same. However... I'm really happy about being childish.

(Because Leon can be his true self. I'm glad.)

Young Leon: ...Why?

Leon: You'll understand one day. When you meet Emma in your world, and fall in love.

(Leon looks so gentle right now.)

Young Leon: Okay... Well, whatever. Anyway, that flower...

(Why did he suddenly stand up? Hm?) (....My head? Aw, he tucked it into my hair!) (What a lovely gift. Leon really is Leon, after all.)

Leon: Heh, trying to steal Emma from me? Looks like I can't let my guard down even around myself.

Young Leon: I'm not trying to steal her. You look after my future self, right? Young Leon: I just want to say thank you... I thought the flower would look nice with your hair...

(Oh my gosh, how adorable...!)

--scene change, leon's room, sunset--

Leon: And to bed now... there we go.

Emma: He really is sleeping deeply. He probably isn't going to wake up until next morning.

Leon: I've never played this much when I was young. It probably tired him out.

Emma: He's so cute... He seems a lot more mature when he's awake, but he is much more relaxed when he's asleep.

Leon: It's because you accept him as he is. Leon: He can relax because he doesn't have to put up his guard around you. I know, because I'm him. Thank you for today.

Emma: Don't thank me, it's something I'm happy to do. He is you, after all. Emma: ...I've always wanted to meet you when you were younger. Emma: So I'm very happy he's here today.

(...You aren't alone anymore, little Leon. Leon and I are both here for you.) (So be an ordinary child. Be yourself.)

As I stroked his hair, hoping to convey to him my feelings, his little body curled closer towards mine.

[justawritterwithideas]

a/n: a small blurb of season 2 spencer x older female reader, to end the night. I hope you like it and thank you very much for all the support. T T

warnings: this is a blurb containing mentions of suggestive innuendo and a bit of mommy kink !!!

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pov: the first time you occupy an eye-catching low-cut shirt.

Miami had never been as hot as it was that day.

Your whole body was sweating under the hot sun, plus the blouse you were wearing was the worst choice for a day like that.

With your hand, you pulled in some air in order to get rid of that melting sensation that invaded your whole body.

"I think the unsub picked the worst time to murder." Commented the cop, from whom you could notice a layer of sweat on his forehead.

"No shit, come on. Let's call it a day here before we get heatstroke." Emily was the first to walk away, following her pace to the SUV to go straight to the hotel.

The days passed the same or worse with the weather, you felt like roasted birds were going to drop at any moment.

Your formal clothing options were warm enough that they could burn you alive if you were exposed to the sun with it, so you looked at the bottom of your suitcase to find that shirt with cleavage.

It was perfect to get you out of that hot situation.

"Wow." Was the first thing you heard as you entered the station, feeling everyone's strong gaze on your neckline.

"What?" you asked without knowing what was going on. Your gaze went down your body to scan you, not quite understanding.

You walked in the direction of the coffee pot, pouring some of that majestic liquid into your cup. You turned to look at the others, who were talking among themselves in order to dissimulate.

But you felt an attentive gaze on you. One that you knew where it came from.

Young Dr. Reid wasn't taking his eyes off you, staring at the neckline of your blouse in the most undisguised way.

You smiled to yourself, walking over to him and sitting down on the table to quietly sip your coffee.

His strong gaze made your hair stand on end. You knew that young Spencer was in the prime of his hormones, so you were aware that, your actions, triggered something inside him that was noticeable in how the fabric of his pants suddenly tightened.

Hotch gave the necessary directions to the team, leaving you and Spencer at the station as a fixed point.

You both had to re-profile geographically, taking into account the recent kills that had occurred. You were hitting on a clue.

But Spencer's lingering gaze and null words kept you quite distracted. Every time you turned around, Spencer looked away; every time you leaned in, you felt him swallow hard; every brush was a real turn-on for him.

So you decided to face him.

"If you keep undressing me with your eyes, I'm going to catch a cold, dr. Reid."

A smile tugged at your lips as you saw him stop so suddenly, seeing him frozen in place.

You walked up to face him, who had a face like a sweet apple.

"I-I meant no disrespect, Y/N. I-I just... I can't e-explain my behavior-"

"If you want to see them up close, come to my room tonight. Mommy would be happy to have you over to learn a little more about human anatomy, pretty boy."

Your thumb ran across his lips, gently pushing this one over them before turning your attention back to the profile they made.

Well, you realised because as soon as you pulled away, young Dr. Reid escaped into the bathroom.

I think that was too much encouragement for the moment.

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If you like it, don't forget to like and repost it.

a lot of love, alme. ❀

[clumsy-jiminie]

ɪɴᴇᴠɪᴛᴀʙʟʏ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱ | ᴘᴊᴍ | ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ

❝ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀ ʜᴏᴏᴅɪᴇ ❞

↣ summary :: Kiara Smith had dreamed of true love for as long as she could remember. from being obsessed with the Disney princesses who found affection in the strangest situations to dressing up as a bride from kindergarten to fourth grade. it was the only thing she ever truly desired, so much so that a pleasant smile and kind eyes could have her smitten in seconds. right when she thought she found the one, a chance encounter with Park Jimin—the city’s famously perfect fuck boy with a smile so warm and a heart of ice—has her feeling quite the opposite. he knocks her off her axis and derails her life as she knows it, yet the universe seems to have another plan for the two.

↣ rating :: 18+

↣ genre :: fluff, angst, smut, e2l, slow burn

↣ pairing :: business owner!jimin x fem!artist!oc ft. taehyung

↣ word count :: 4.7k

↣ chapter warnings :: mature language, angst without resolve, smut - marking, unprotected sex, creampie

↣ notes :: pretty pretty please don't let anyone treat you like this 🥺 small argument or not, there are healthy ways to communicate this type of insecurity 🫶🏽

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if you have any questions, comments, or concerns PLEASE don't hesitate to message me or send me an ask! my inbox is always open. 💖

"I can see that look in your eyes, the one that shoots me every time you grace me with your cold shoulder."

- ᴄᴏʟᴅ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅᴇʀ, ᴀᴅᴇʟᴇ -

Kiara stuffed her hands in her oversized hoodie pocket as her feet led her through the hustle and bustle of the city streets. The weather was getting more tolerable as they approached a new month in the year. But then again, you could have a full snowstorm in New York in the spring. She kept her outfit light today, as light as she could go without freezing: A hoodie, a pair of leggings, and a spring jacket. The sneakers on her feet were old—dirt and stains in the crevices while the laces started wearing out. Kehlani blasted through her headphones as she weaved through people. She missed the city dearly. There was something about the feeling here that was addictive. Everyone had somewhere to be—whether it was to a job that they hated or a job that they loved, to see a family member, to sell a hat, to shop until they created a debt, or to see something incredible. Everyone had a story, no matter how big or small.

Kiara's story led her to a quaint coffee shop. Tiny and modern, it is a perfect puzzle piece in the large-scale picture of Manhattan—the smell of dark beans roasting mixed with the semi-sweet scents of freshly baked pastries. Exposed brick and pipes gave the place an industrial feel, partnered with the greenery hanging from the walls. Furniture with dark wood and black metal legs contrasted with the grey concrete flooring.

Despite it now being a crowded place where teens and adults alike could get their daily fix of the dark liquid, she knew this place from its humble beginnings. Mr. Choi brewed a mean cup of Joe, and she would sip it during the early morning rush before class in college. She and her best friends practically lived in this shop during school. They were always the first to arrive and the last to leave. Mr. Choi almost adopted them, considering how often they were there. Jeongguk even got a job here at some point, figuring if he was going to spend all his time here, he might as well get paid for it.

They still gather here occasionally, especially on days like today. When Kiara arrived at the door, she pushed it open. A crowd greeted her upon entering. Most had drinks in their hands already but were struggling to find a seat in this small coffee shop. Kiara squeezed through the people until she arrived at her usual table. A seat by the window had her name engraved on it, and she slid into it with ease. She finally pulled off her headphones, greeting the midnight-haired girl across from her.

Samira glanced up from her tablet, her lips forming a wide smile as she chewed her gum. "Sup Ki."

"Not much. You doing wedding work?" She asked as she watched Samira write on the device while looking at information on her phone.

She nodded. "I gotta get these bouquet choices to Momo later today. I also gotta show her these swatches of blue." She tapped on her tablet several times before lifting it to show the woman.

Kiara stared at the four squares on the screen. Each blue was the same hue, but the tints, shades, and undertones varied. Her lips pursed as she examined the options. "I, personally, like the first one," she said as she leaned back. "It's soft and kinda reminds me of winter. Like how the sky looks on a clear day."

Samira turned the device back to her, staring at the color while she nodded. "See, this is why it's always great to have an artist as a friend." Kiara rolled her eyes while Samira chuckled. "Speaking of, anything happening with that? Are you close to buying that house like the sugar mama you are?"

Kiara's jaw dropped before she lifted her leg to kick the girl under the table. Samira laughed loudly. "I'm not a sugar mama!"

"Is he helping you pay?"

"…No."

"Then you're a sugar mama." Samira was always so blunt, and that's why Kiara loved her. It wasn't always jokes, but she would always call the girl out when she was being dramatic or wrong.

"Anyway!" Kiara exclaimed. "I had a client dinner last night."

”Ooh, tea time." Samira locked her table and phone, giving the other her full attention. "Was he hot? Was he single? You had a little fun last night?" She asked as she wiggled her eyebrows. She leaned in, resting her elbows on the table while holding her face in her hands.

Kiara's face suddenly grew hot, and she reached up to involuntarily cover her neck with her hand. She had forgotten about the hickey Taehyung had left on her for a split second, hoping the hoodie would've covered it for her. "No!" She said quickly, hoping Samira didn't notice the red staining her cheeks. But she did, causing a smirk on her friend's lips. "He was that same asshat from the gallery."

"Oh." Her smirk quickly faded. She scrunched up her nose with disgust as her shoulders dropped.

"And turns out he wasn't just having a bad day. He was actually just a dick. He called me a coward, then selfish! All because I would rather separate my painter life from my regular life." Kiara pouted at the end of her sentence, leaning back into her chair. It was still a fresh wound, making her rethink every choice she had made thus far.

Samira scoffed. "He obviously doesn't know you. In fact, if you ever see him on the streets, let me know. I'll beat his ass."

Kiara's eyes widened as she quietly chuckled. "What is with you and Kookie being so violent?"

"Don't act like you're not the same. Just because you're in a little relationship that has you acting all prim and proper doesn't mean I don't know the real Kiara and how she used to beat ass because someone looked at me funny."

Kiara rolled her eyes. "I was younger back then and clearly had uncontrolled anger."

"Yeah, sure," Samira smiled while shaking her head. "Speaking of JK, when is he going up?"

Kiara shrugged as she grabbed her phone, looking at the time. "You know he never gives a time for these things." Suddenly, the coffee shop roared with cheers, grabbing the girl's attention. They looked towards a small stage along the shop's farthest wall. "Speak of the devil," she smirked as the tall man approached the stage. He wore a black T-shirt with a pair of dark denim jeans. There was a silver chain that hung from his belt loops. Sitting down at the piano on the stage, he tugged a stray strand of his midnight hair behind his ear. A microphone was attached to the instrument, angled perfectly so the person could speak.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen," his smooth voice entered the mic and echoed through the establishment. Samira and Kiara locked eyes before covering their mouths to hide the giggles that quietly escaped. "This song is called 17, and I hope you enjoy it."

His fingers began to press on the white and black keys, combining the notes until they formed a beautiful melody.

"I would need a million words if I tried to define all the things you mean to me…." 

His voice was like laying on a cloud — soft and fluffy, wrapping around you like a warm embrace. Everyone in the store was mesmerized; even those who came in solely for a beverage stopped to listen for a few moments. They always left with a broad smile after. Jeongguk's voice has affected people ever since he was little. Kiara couldn't help but smile as she watched her best friend do what he loved. He shut his eyes as he sang, tuning out everything around him until nothing was left but notes. Kiara felt like a mother watching her child's first performance. 

She knew everyone in that room fell in love based on their reaction when Jeongguk sang his last note. It was overwhelmingly positive. The audience overfilled the tip jar near the bottom of the stage with bills and coins. Jeongguk stood up with a smile so wide on his lips that his eyes crinkled, smiling along with him. He bowed as the crowd cheered for him, leaning down to grab the tip jar before walking off the stage. Women who were bold enough stopped and flirted with him as he passed through the crowd. All Jeongguk did was laugh it off and politely turn them down, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him. He reached his usual table, dropping the jar onto the table with an obnoxious thud. He made the same sound as he dropped down in the seat next to Kiara, letting out a dramatic sigh.

The girls exchanged a look before watching as his eyes closed, breathing heavily. "God, it's so hard being wanted." The two burst into laughter as he grinned, opening his eyes to look at them. "So? What did you guys think?"

"Not my favorite song," Samira said with a smirk.

"It's a good thing I don't value your opinion," Jeongguk quipped before sticking his tongue out, causing her to mirror his reaction. After a moment, he turned his head to Kiara, waiting for her answer.

"You know I loved it Kookie." She smiled at him, making his heart skip a beat as heat rushed to his ears. She chuckled as she poked at his reddening skin with her finger, making his body scrunch up like a snail recoiling into their shell. "How long did it take to write this one?"

"Only a few weeks this time," he answered with a smile. His silver lip rings glimmered as he spoke.

Kiara's smile was still etched on her lips, leaning over to the man. The scent of fresh laundry with the faintest hint of cologne entered her nostrils as she cupped his jaw in her hand. She squeezed Jeongguk's cheeks until his pink lips puffed out, shaking his head from side to side a little. "Look at him, Sammie! Our little bunny boy is growing up so fast!" Jeongguk chuckled, trying to pull her hand away, but her grip was tight.

Samira grinned, reaching her hand out to join in the fun of playing with Jeongguk's face. Her hand replaced Kiara's as she pouted out her lips. "I know! We did such a good job raising our little bunny boy." She teased in a baby voice.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, pulling Samira's hand away from his face. "You know we're the same age, right?!"

The two girls glanced at each other before looking at the man. "And?" Kiara asked.

"Your point?" Samira added.

Jeongguk stared at them, shaking his head as he smiled. "You guys kill me." He reached into his tip jar, pulling out various bill amounts. "Y'all what something? It's on me."

The girls enthusiastically agreed before Jeongguk handed Kiara some money. She got their orders before standing up and walking towards the counter. She squeezed through the shoulders of random customers. Most waited for their drink orders, while others stayed for the atmosphere. Kiara hated crowded places like this. People had no respect for personal space or sense of how much space they took up. And because it's an establishment, she couldn't necessarily mow through people like she could on the streets. The crowd was less tight when she finally got closer to the counter. She sighed deeply, taking a single step before someone bumped right into her. She quickly felt something warm spreading from her chest to her abdomen, glancing down to see coffee all over her cream hoodie.

”What the fuck?!" She shrieked without taking a second to remember where she was. She reached for the napkins on the counter, frantically patting at her chest and torso.

"Oh my god, I'm so—" His eyes then met with the familiar golden skin Kiara possessed. He couldn't help the playful smirk that formed on his lips. "Well, doesn't karma have a funny way of working?" Jimin said, his words laced with smugness.

Kiara glared up at the blonde, huffing as she accepted defeat. Her hoodie was forever stained. "Eat ass, Park." His eyelids lowered at the girl. Why did his last name sound so unique, leaving her mouth wrapped in that annoyed tone? Maybe it was how she formed the noun—the light reflecting off lovely glossed lips as they parted to allow the syllable to roll off her tongue. It was intoxicating to watch. "You owe me a new shirt!"

His brows drew together as he tilted his head to the side. "Oh? If that's the case, I should send you my dry cleaning bill from last night."

"Fuck you, that was water!" She snapped at him. "And this is coffee! I'm never gonna get this out!"

His face remained unchanged despite receiving daggers from the girl. The most he did was shrug, causing her jaw to drop. "It wasn't that cute of a hoodie."

"What do you know about cute hoodies?!" She sounded a bit like a child, making the man chuckle softly.

"Enough to know yours isn't."

Kiara's eye twitched before she covered her face with her hands. She dragged them down her face, pulling gently at the skin as it relieved some of the building stress. She wanted to punch him in his nose. Or his mouth. Or anywhere on his body, in that case. He was such an asshole. The least he could've said was sorry. Maybe even offer to buy her a new hoodie. But no, even in moments where he was wrong, he still was an asshole through and through. "You are such a—"

"Woah, what the fuck happened?" She recognized Jeongguk's voice almost instantly. He stood beside her, staring at the massive stain on her shirt. Jimin eyed the new man, practically sizing him up despite the man being taller.

She inhaled deeply before sighing. "Nothing, nothing," she said as she shook her head. She wrapped her fingers around the man's tattooed bicep as she looked up at him. Eyes so big and round. Love, the blonde thought as he watched their interaction intently. How come she never looked at Jimin like that? But why did he want her to look at him like that? "Do you have a spare hoodie?"

The man looked down at her with the softest eyes, like she was the only person in the world to him. Jimin's brows furrowed again as he watched the warm smile form on Jeongguk's lips. "Yeah, of course."

She didn't need to say thank you; her eyes said more than enough. She then glanced towards Jimin, and for the second time, he witnessed that fondness instantly dissipating. Kiara's amber eyes were set ablaze once again. "Fuck you," she spat before Jeongguk led her away. They disappeared behind some door with a sign that read employees only. Jimin felt the same heavy feeling from before, sitting uncomfortably in his stomach. He didn't know why he wanted her to look at him with fondness so severely. She was annoying, a coward, a complete headache, and nowhere near his type. He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before rejoining the line.

"He's such a fucking jerk!" Kiara groaned as she followed behind Jeongguk to the break room area. "Who the fuck spills coffee on someone and doesn't even apologize?!"

He stopped in front of his locker and opened it, grabbing one of the two hoodies that were inside. When working at a cafe with clumsy newbies, spare clothing is more of a necessity than a suggestion. "Who the fuck was he?" He asked as he tossed her the hoodie, and she caught it.

"The same dickhead from last night," she grumbled. She pulled her hoodie over her head, leaving her standing in just a red bra with an intricate white lace pattern. Jeongguk's eyes widened briefly before quickly looking up at the ceiling. Heat flooded his ears and over his face, as he tried to forget the image he just saw. "Like, first of all, what are the odds?" Kiara continued to rant casually as if she wasn't half naked. She pulled Jeongguk's black clothing over her head, slipping into the three times too big fabric. "Second of all, he's lucky I didn't fucking deck him."

Jeongguk's eyes finally returned to the girl once she was clothed again. "Wait, what? The guy from last night?"

Kiara nodded as she picked up her dirty hoodie. When she looked towards Jeongguk, he was suddenly gone. Her eyes grew wide as she ran after him. "Kookie!" She yelled as he walked through the door. She returned to the central part of the cafe, seeing Jeongguk glance around with his brows furrowed. She grabbed him, but that didn't stop him from scanning the room. "You're on the clock!" She whispered.

All Jeongguk did was suck his teeth. "Man's lucky I like my job," he continued to look regardless, "and I can't find him."

Kiara rolled her eyes before patting his chest, "You need therapy."

"You need therapy," Jeongguk taunted quietly as Kiara joined the line again.

Kiara said goodbye to Jeongguk, watching him pull off on his motorcycle before walking inside her house. She sighed heavily upon entering, her energy drained from today's activities. After the coffee shop debacle, the three decided to hang out at Samira's house like old times. Little did Jeongguk and Kiara know that agreeing to hang out meant helping her with wedding planning. The woman was so passionate and dedicated to her job that it was something to admire, but only from afar. Her apartment was a wreck, littered with pictures and business cards. Kiara knew Samira's seriousness about her job, but since agreeing to be Momo's wedding planner, she has gone off her rocker. She ate, slept, breathed wedding details, and dragged the other two into it.

As she kicked off her sneakers, she could hear jazz music blasting from the kitchen. "Babe?" She called out as her feet led her amongst the familiar path.

Soon, Taehyung popped his head into the kitchen archway, causing a smile on Kiara's lips. "Darling! When did you get home? I'm just about done with dinner." His boxy grin made her heart skip a beat. She soon joined him in the kitchen while he resumed cooking. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she pressed her face into his back. She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent mixed with fresh laundry. Taehyung chuckled softly, "Long day?" Kiara nodded, moving along with him as he acted like she wasn't currently attached to him. "Wanna talk about it over dinner?" She nodded again, releasing him once he picked up the plates. 

They sat at their small dining room table, peacefully munching their food. Kiara looked up at Taehyung, who focused on his plate. That same warmth swamped her system. She felt so happy with him. She loved this small house they called home. She loved coming home after a long day to see his smiling face. She loved how comfortable she was with him. She glanced down at her left hand, eying her bare ring finger. If only this were enough for him.

"So?" Taehyung started with a mouth full of food. She filled him in on the events of last night and how they bled into today. Taehyung's features remained blank until the end, where he raised his eyebrows and shrugged a little. "I honestly wouldn't put that past him. He's a little snobby."

"There's a difference between being a little snobby and a complete dick. Like, do you think I'm selfish?" She asked as she placed her fork down.

He shrugged again. "You have your moments, but I don't think it's like what he's saying."

"Exactly! Everyone is a little selfish; it's just human. But he's making it seem like I wanna keep everything to myself on purpose." She folded her arms over her chest as she leaned into her chair.

Taehyung glanced at her, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Is that a new hoodie?" He stared at the dark fabric covering her body with a red skull and crossbones decal in the center.

"No, it's JK's. He gave it to me after Jimin practically dumped his coffee on me."

"JK's?" He repeated to himself, almost scoffing as he nodded his head.

Kiara watched his reaction closely—how his body suddenly tense up and the corner of his lips pushed downward. She rolled her eyes before shutting them as she leaned her head back into the chair. "Don't start."

"Don't start what?" He chuckled, absent of any joy. "I just find it funny that you come home in his hoodie. He drop you off too?"

"Yes, he did. And it's just a hoodie, Tae. I didn't want to walk around with a huge coffee stain on me, especially in public."

"Samira didn't have anything?"

"No?" She snapped a little, raising her head and opening her eyes to look at him. Taehyung's eyes narrowed at her. "Why would Samira carry around extra clothing?"

"But he did? Or did he peel his own shirt off to give to you?" He laughed, running his hands through his slightly curled locks. "Shit like this always seems to conveniently happen to you. You come home with a piece of JK on you; whether it's his clothing or his smell, you were wearing his boxer briefs once!"

"Oh my god," Kiara mumbled while pressing her fingers to her temple.

"What was that?" Taehyung suddenly raised his voice. Her eyes met his, and just as she opened her mouth to respond, he lifted his hand. He used the gesture to silence her, and it did just that. The words died on her tongue, abandoned sounds running around in her head. "You know, this is getting ridiculous. If I had a girl best friend doing all of this with me, you would've flipped your shit a long time ago."

"Taehyung," she tried her hardest to remain calm. It would've been over if she raised her voice or said something with a hint of sarcasm. "I have been friends with this man for years now. There is absolutely nothing between us."

He scoffed loudly, "That's a likely story." He stood up from the table and walked over to the living room. Kiara sighed as she got up, following after him. She noticed he grabbed his leather jacket and a white baseball cap. He put the hat on to hide his midnight hair.

"Where are you going?" She asked, but there was no response. She rolled her eyes. "Taehyung," she reached out to grab his hand, but he quickly pulled away. He glared at her over his shoulder, making her step back. 

She hated it when he looked at her like that. Like she was something vile, it made every insecurity she had crawl out of the depths of her brain and take center stage. Taehyung slid on some shoes, grabbed his keys, and walked out the front door, slamming it behind him. Her body jumped at the noise, tears stinging her eyes as she watched him pull out of the driveway from her window.

"Fuck," she sighed softly, turning to the table to grab her phone. She frantically clicked on Taehyung's contact, which was sent to voicemail each time. The tears filled to the brim before rolling down her cheeks silently. She used the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe away the waterworks, the hoodie that caused this whole mess. She never understood why he got like this and flipped a switch with ease. It was always over the tiniest things, too. She sat on the couch, chewing on her nails as she repeatedly called the man.

Taehyung was gone for hours, and by the time he returned home, he found Kiara passed out on the couch. She had replaced Jeongguk's black hoodie with one of Taehyung's grey ones instead. He carefully removed his jacket and shoes before walking to the sleeping girl and sitting in front of her. He gently wiped away her smudged mascara, causing her to scrunch her nose as she started to awake. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then her nose, and then her cheek. He gently persuaded her to wake up, her tired eyes finally fluttering open to meet his. There weren't any words exchanged between the two before he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was timid and soft. She followed his lead until she couldn't help but yearn for more of him.

The kiss guided Taehyung onto his knees, then to the couch with Kiara, where he found a place between her legs. Her hands ran up his arms, feeling his muscles subtly flexed underneath her touch. Within time, the kiss between the two grew heavier, his tongue gently appearing by grazing past her lip. She parted them just enough to let him in, their tongues gliding past each other as he pressed his hips into hers. Her hand traveled up to his head, where she swiftly pulled the cap off and tossed it to the ground. She ran her fingers through his soft hair, causing a soft moan to escape from his lips to hers.

He broke the kiss as his hand caressed her thigh. His lips found her neck, placing various kisses against her skin until her chest arched into his. And that's where he stayed, adding another bruise to her golden skin where the first one had barely healed. She moaned out for him, pressing her hips into his as she silently begged for more. He stuck his hand between their bodies, slipping his fingers underneath the fabric of her underwear. His middle finger found her clitoris with ease, gently circling it with the pad of his finger. Kiara tensed from his touch and then released. A chorus of moans parted from her throat as she tried to match the circling of her hips to his finger. 

After being satisfied with the bruise on her neck, he crashed his lips into hers again. Her hips bucked against his finger, making his cock throb in his sweatpants. He couldn't wait much longer, breaking the kiss once again. He pulled his hand out of her panties before swiftly sliding them down her legs. He didn't bother with taking his pants off, only pulling them down enough for his member to spring free. He aligned himself with her entrance, sliding his tip in between her lips to lube himself up before pushing forward. She sucked in through her teeth, her brows furrowing as she tried to get accommodated to his length. It stung a little, but Taehyung continued, slowly pulling his hips back and then forward again. As soon as Kiara's face relaxed, he increased his pace.

Her eyes shut as she moaned out for him, gripping his arm tightly as he stretched out her walls. He worked her into the couch, skin slapping together as he fell into a rhythm. He leaned forward, resting his temple against hers as he panted and groaned into her ear. She whined, her hands traveling to his back where nails dug into his skin through the fabric. The power of his hips increased, his tip pressing into her cervix until he suddenly bottomed out and stopped. She could feel him throbbing before he pulled out of her. There was a cool breeze on her lower region as he got up, pulling his pants back onto his waist. He sat down beside her, panting as he used the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow. She felt uncomfortably wet, scared to move in fear of pushing Taehyung's seed out and onto the fabric of the couch.

"I'm going to bed," he said before getting up. He walked towards the bedroom before disappearing from her line of sight.

Kiara's eyes were wide with shock, and she scoffed quietly as she carefully pushed herself off the couch. She grabbed her underwear off the floor and shuffled to the bathroom, where she cleaned herself up. She couldn't understand how, even after that, he could still be cold to her. What was the point if he was still upset? After her shower, she walked into the room and crawled into the space next to him, feeling more alone than before.

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[revelisms]

please do not feel obligated at all if you’re not feeling it or don’t get to it but since you’re taking writing reqs I would adore more tamaharu from you🫶 I really loved bee’s wing! when I got into ouran and asked for tamaharu recs it was recommended to me multiple times right away haha

Aw! I continue to be flattered by the day that folks are still enjoying bee's wing 🥲 It was such a special fic for me when I wrote it, and even though it's been ages since I've written these two, I still love them to bits. Truly the top-tier bi4bi disaster couple.

That said—the fact that you've just given me an excuse to put Ouran on my dash in 2023? I am showering you with hearts. My inner child nostalgia is brimming right now.

I've been in a very holiday mood recently, so I hope you enjoy this little Christmas-themed drabble 🖤

No warnings / 1.2k words / Established relationship, goofiness, fluff

It starts softly—a low humming of voices and breaths that echoes off age-weathered stones: contralto, baritone, tenor, soprano: ebbing like a pianist's solo against a murmuration of gilded strings—and builds. It tethers Haruhi's attention before she can wrestle with it, a warm set of fingers still squeezed within her own. On the horizon, past the speckling snow, the glittering panes of a cathedral window gleams.

"Can we," she finds herself murmuring. At her side, Tamaki shifts, the ungodly red-green-blue of his patterned sweater blurred in her peripheral. "Can we go there?"

She knows when he's smiling, that faraway little crook that makes her stomach twist in knots; can see it, now, out of the corner of her eye, a haze of snowfall glistening through his fringe.

"You want to listen?" he whispers. 

Of course, he's delighted—and not doing much of a job hiding it. Dragging her out to this festival had been his own doing, after all.

He'd spent the evening prancing between their kitchenette and their living room, hellbent on convincing her to go with him, no matter how much she loathed tourist traps like these.

("Haruhi is so mean!" he'd wailed, shaking that ridiculous pamphlet from their university's event board in her face. "A true Scrooge! A cheerless fiend! Look at this, look—they have ice skating, and cookie decorating, and roasted chestnuts, and a parade, Haruhi, a full Christmas Parade—"

Into one of their couch pillows, she'd let out a dismal groan.

"And—and caroling," he'd blustered on, beaming ear-to-ear. "And a baking contest!"

"No."

"But mon chous! Mon petit nounours!"

"No."

He'd resorted to burying her full-bodiedly into the cushions, like some overgrown lapdog with no awareness of personal space. "You leave me no choice. We'll bake at home. A full extravaganza to our lonesome, since my dear Haruhi is clearly horrified to be seen with me in public—")

Needless to say: she had ended up, some hours later, in the ugliest sweater of her life, arm-in-arm with her boyfriend's giddy beanpole of a frame, trying fruitlessly to steer him away from plowing children off their feet in the ice rink.

The night had gone well enough, to be fair. Much of it, though, had come insufferably (reluctantly) at the heels of his own indulged whimsies.

At one point, she'd found him masquerading as a back-up Santa Claus after the hired performer had supposedly jumped ship for a bathroom break. It taken every willpower she had to keep her mouth shut when he'd beamed at her, plucking down his beard with a wink, as though she'd never be able to break through the disguise. It had sent the little boy standing beside him into a blubbering outrage, and himself into a panicked flurry of damage control.

Now, some hours later, the chill pinking their ears, they stand sipping their hot chocolates, hands tangled and watching the snow: a quiet, admittedly lovely moment, despite the crowds: the kind that never fails to make her look at his ridiculous clothes and windswept hair and the crinkle of unbridled joy in his eyes, and feel her heart melt, despite it all.

And the choirs are singing.

"I'm sure they have seats," he says to her, giving a light tug at their laced fingers. "Let's go see."

"But—the drinks—"

"Shh-sh-sh, a worry for another day," and he's already starting her off, his dress shoes slipping in the snow, determined nonetheless. His eyes glitter over his shoulder: a indigo prism of autumn skies, speckled with stars and moonlight. "My little bear wants to listen," he hushes, playfully stern, "we will listen."

Despite herself, a smile blooms.

The cathedral is more beautiful than she could have imagined. Grand iron-capped doors stand glossed with an evergreen so rich it shines nearly black. A pathway of tapered stone clicks beneath their shoes, resounding deeply into the cavern of a domed chapel, flanked with a wonder of gilded, candlelit-kissed glass. Nearest the dais, two choir groupings sing in tandem, tressed in robes of white. Their voices fill the air like some ancient holiness, like a folktale she'd forgotten: a mysticism that coalesces, beckons.

They're going to get scolded for not leaving tithes, for bringing liquids in here, for being visibly out of place, as she'd always felt in spaces like these—but Tamaki doesn't care. His thumb kneading gently at her knuckles, he shuffles them into a pew closer near the back, plunking down quietly amidst their cluster of other patrons.

His breath tickles her ear. "In Dulci Jubilo's one of my favorites," he whispers.

It's a gentle, powerful tune—wistful and reflective, in turns. The layers of the choir fill the hall in an cresting tide, striking a chord in Haruhi's heart that quivers.

She takes his hand between both of her own, holds it between her knees while they sit shoulder-to-shoulder. The song makes her think of the countryside in spring; like new life striving through desolation. A loneliness that feels like home, feels hurtful, feels hopeful, feels comforting. 

A loneliness that isn't so lonely, anymore.

Slowly, other movements come and go. In The Bleak Midwinter—a hymn that takes one by the hand and leads them to a pinnacle of beauty. Ave Verum Corpus—one of resolution, of rebirth, of redemption. Dormi Jesu—one that she turns to find Tamaki with the golden line of his brow gently furrowed, a lump in his throat, blinking a sheen from his eyes. 

Between her hands, his thumb fidgets. She squeezes it, carefully.

"My maman," he says quietly. "She liked this one."

Haruhi squeezes his hand tighter.

"I like it, too," she murmurs back.

For a moment, his closeness, the taste of green in his cologne, the calm that is him, in these rare enough moments, envelops her. Tears blinked free, he smiles down at her: a small lift of his lips, genuine and slightly crooked. And were they not in a church—were they anywhere at all, just the two of them to be found for miles—she may have kissed him, for long enough that she forgot anything but the hitch of his breath behind his teeth, the soft glitter of hair at his nape, the weight of his arms around her.

For now, the warmth of his palm will do.

The organ strikes up, again: a brighter shift. Tamaki leans down to nose into her temple.

"Can we make an orange garland, when we get home?" he says. His words pinch into a childish lilt. "With cinnamon sticks and cranberries?"

Haruhi fights the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she huffs out a breath, the start of a disobedient smile twitching at her mouth, and finds herself staring at the playful scrunch of his nose, close enough for her to count every freckle. 

"Fine," she sighs, poking her finger into the underside of his palm. "But just one."

Tamaki beams into a quiet giggle.

The old woman hunched in next pew finally cracks her back to shush them.

[thewordworrier]

Are You Thinking Of Me Like I’m Thinking Of You? - Part One

Series Masterpost

Word Count: 7,481 words. Warnings: A decent amount of swearing, some slightly perverted flirting.

While Shelly can always escape the weather, she can never escape her band. At least not for very long. Ultimately she doesn't really mind, even if the conversation gets a little bit heated.

[Setting: We’re a few years into the Revenge Era, and the band are performing a few sets at some kinda Music Event during the warmer months. This is probably Warped 2005. Or thereabouts.]

It was hot. Far too hot. Way too hot, way too loud and way too busy. Shelly found herself struggling with it all, honestly. She couldn’t get used to the different types of heat in America, and she felt a bit dumb for it, really. She’d been working this side of the water for a good couple of years now, so surely she should at least be a little bit used to it.

Thankfully, she wasn’t totally needed at that moment - the bands were all mingling, hanging out and having a good time until their set times. Besides, if her band needed her, they’d call her. They knew that they could call her whenever they needed to, no matter what the time was or what they needed. But right then, Shelly needed to find somewhere quiet because everything was starting to feel overwhelming.

Once Shelly made her way through some of the backstage areas, it took her a few minutes to find somewhere that wasn’t occupied. Once she had though, she dropped her bag by the small couch and flopped onto her back, stretching out and letting out a sigh. It was quiet and a bit cooler. Maybe it was cooler because she wasn’t surrounded by people. Or maybe it was cooler for another reason; her brain wasn’t exactly running on a full tank of gas. She was just too hot - even though her “uniform” in the summer months ended up being t-shirts or tank tops, shorts and sneakers, she still found herself roasting.

She wasn’t very good with the heat; she reckoned if she wasn’t so hot, she’d be able to deal with everything else so much more. Of course, if she could get used to any one of the three things that were overwhelming her right then (the heat, the noise or the crowds), then the rest would fall into place. In theory anyway - it was, of course, entirely possible that everything felt like Too Much because it was All At Once. But she reckoned that the heat was the main offender. She had never been very good with the hotter summers back home either.

Shelly spent some blissful minutes in solitary silence, cooling down a little, even managing to cool down enough in order to sit up properly instead of being stretched out. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check it, to see if she was being looked for, but before she could properly check her notifications, the door opened and she heard her name.

“Shellyyyyyy!”

The blonde in question looked up to see a heat flushed Lux.

“I found youuuu,” the other girl said, closing the door behind her. “I need time away from smelly boys. There’s so many of them! They’re awful in this weather. Can I hide with you?”

Shelly giggled and gestured for Lux to join her. “Sure, baby.”

Lux beamed and plopped down next to her for a moment. “Thanks! Do I smell? I’ve been outside all day.”

“Hmm,” Shelly leant closer to sniff her drummer. “No, I don’t think so. I think you’re alright.”

“Okay great!” Lux huffed a bit before she stood up to stretch, feeling restless. “So, what are you doing?”

“Um,” Shelly rubbed her arm a bit. “Just trying to catch a break from all the noise and all the people, and especially all of the heat because oh my god it’s so hot.”

Lux nodded, she knew that Shelly suffered in the heat, and sat on the other couch in the room. “I agree. It’s all too much.”

Before Shelly could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened again and Mikey stuck his head around it. He looked worried until he saw Lux, and then his expression changed to relief. “Ah, there you are.”

Lux blinked rapidly. “What?”

“I thought some creep -” He paused before shaking his head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter.”

Shelly tilted her head and cleared her throat a little. “What can I do for you Mikey?”

“Nothing Shell, just looking for Lux.”

“Come and hang out in here,” Lux said with a grin. “It’s much cooler.”

“I am apparently very good at finding the coolest spots,” Shelly said softly, rolling her eyes.

Mikey chuckled and settled close to Lux, not too close because it was still hot after all, before turning to Shelly again. “I suppose you’re still not used to this weather are you? I mean, Britain is well known for being… Wet?”

Shelly giggled a bit at his tone before she tried to fan herself with her hand for a moment. “It can rain a lot, yes, but even when it’s warm, it’s not this warm.”

Mikey nodded as he listened. “Different climates and humidity and all of that.”

“Exactly,” Shelly nodded and squirmed in her seat for a second before plucking at her darker coloured t-shirt and standing up, grabbing her bag. “I might need to change this. I screwed up putting this on today. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

Mikey shook his head, and to make a point, he took off his glasses, hooked the arm in his t-shirt and covered his face with his hands. Shelly watched this, slightly amused, as Lux sat up a bit straighter, resting her chin in her hands.

If you asked Lux about this at a later date, she would probably willingly admit that she was ‘chin-handsing’ at Shelly getting half naked (not that this was new to Lux, the girls often shared a room and sometimes a bed), and maybe, just maybe she would admit that she was also heart-eyesing at Mikey being so darn respectful.

“I’m assuming you don’t have an issue, Miss Lux?” Shelly grinned slightly in the younger girl’s direction, giggling when Lux went a bit pink before she shook her head. “I didn’t think so.”

“You’re just so pretty Shell,” Lux said, as she watched the blonde pull a tank top out of her bag.

Shelly shook her head at Lux before looking at the tank top. She then pulled a face before turning her back to the other two. “Ugh, it’s white. I guess all the others are in the wash pile.”

“That bag is your emergency bag though,” Lux said, trying not to be too obvious about watching Shelly change. “You don’t really plan to use what’s in it. It’s a last resort.”

“Perhaps,” Shelly tugged her t-shirt off over her head, rolled it up and shoved it in her bag before pulling the tank top on. “Maybe I should swap the emergency shirt for a darker colour once we’ve done some laundry.”

Almost as if he was summoned by the flashing of female flesh, there was another knock at the door and Frank appeared. He looked around to see some of his bandmates. And Shelly, who seemed to be half dressed.

“Well, well well!” He said, closing the door behind him. “What’s going on in here?”

Shelly pulled the fabric down properly over her chest before turning to face the noise. “It’s like Waterloo Station in here.”

The other two frowned at her slightly, while Mikey kept his gaze averted.

“Um! It’s like… Uh, Grand Central Station? New York Airport?” She tried to correct herself. “It’s a really busy public transport hub - one of the main ones in the capital city.”

It was only as she looked around at them that she realised that Mikey still had his eyes covered. She giggled and made her way back over to the smaller couch to sit back down.

“Oh, Mikey, honey, you can look now.”

Frank plopped himself down between Mikey and Lux as the bassist quickly cleaned his glasses on the hem of his t-shirt before putting them back on.

“Nice bra, by the way,” Frank said to Shelly with a grin.

“Oh shut up,” Shelly rolled her eyes. “I didn’t think I’d have to wear white today.”

“Is that blue?” Frank leant forward a bit, trying to get a closer look at Shelly. “Or is it some kinda purple?”

“It’s purple!” Lux blurted out, earning a smile from the blonde.

Frank glanced at Lux, grinned even wider and then turned to Shelly again. “”Purple is very becoming on you. Then again -”

Mikey rolled his eyes and elbowed Frank. “Don’t be crude.”

The guitarist managed to avoid the elbow to the ribs and just cackled. Lux rolled her eyes at this behaviour.

“Who’s being crude?” Ray asked as Gerard closed the door.

“Who do you think?” Lux said.

“Frank,” Mikey clarified, as he rolled his eyes.

Ray sighed.

“We’re,” Frank gestured to himself and Lux. “We were just talking about Shelly’s bra.”

Gerard glanced over to Shelly - she had settled on her back again, stretched out on the smaller of the two couches. She had one arm over her eyes and the other was resting on her stomach. Although, it took him a little while to notice that because his eyes lingered on her chest. He couldn’t help it! Her bra was actually quite visible through her white tank top. Which he swore she wasn’t wearing earlier. He’d remember it being so see through.

“Shut up Frank,” Shelly muttered. “Is that Ray I hear?”

“Hey Shell,” Ray took a seat in the single chair that looked like it was once part of a dining set. “Are you alright? What’re you doing here?”

“I was searching for somewhere quiet and cool to relax. It’s too hot and busy for me.”

Frank had been focused on Gerard for a few minutes, so he had seen where the singer’s gaze had lingered.

“Gerard’s here too,” Frank said. “But he’s been too busy trying to figure out the colour of your bra too. Which I still think is blue.”

Gerard went bright red.

“It’s purple!” Lux repeated, going pink herself.

Shelly removed her arm from covering her eyes and glanced around. “Oh, the gang is actually all here.”

Frank laughed a little at Shelly’s observation as he watched her cover her eyes with her arm again. Gerard, meanwhile, glanced around; checking to see if there was somewhere for him to sit. He didn’t really want to ask Shelly to move - she’d been here first after all, and she’d clearly found the best spot in the room for her needs. The best spot to stretch out in an attempt to cool off. A bit like when cats found the sunniest spot to sleep in, actually but… He’d much rather see her stretched out like that, than all curled up like a cat. Sure, maybe that was because of the shorts and the white tank top. Those definitely didn’t hurt. And that had been his thought before he let himself acknowledge the fact that he could see her bra through her top. Jesus. So, maybe he’d rather see her stretched out because of her clothing… Or maybe he’d rather see her stretched out because it meant that she was happy, comfortable and (hopefully) relaxed. That second reason sounded a bit… Lame, actually. It was true! He did like seeing her comfortable and happy! But he was also only human. And she was very attractive.

Asking her to move wasn’t an option to him - as much as he wanted to sit next to her. He wouldn’t even mind if she wanted to stay stretched out - he’d quite happily have her legs in his lap. Then again, he’d be more than willing to have her head in his lap too, or even her whole body… Like… Her sitting in his lap -  but he didn’t want to give those thoughts too much screen time because he knew he wouldn’t keep it PG if he did. And he really needed to not think about her like that. At least not right then at that second. He might allow himself a few minutes of inappropriate thoughts later on when she wasn’t around.

“Gerard,” Shelly grumbled quietly, making him jolt out of his head. “Sit down, I can tell that you’re still standing.”

“I’ll make room!” Lux offered quickly, standing up to allow the vocalist to sit in the spot closest to their tiny tour manager.

Frank snorted slightly as Gerard took Lux’s spot after a quick “you sure?” exchange. “And where are you gonna sit?”

“She can have my seat,” Mikey moved to stand up, but stopped when he saw Frank roll his eyes.

“Jesus,” Frank muttered. “Someone needs to just sit in someone’s lap, or something! Enough musical chairs.”

“Although,” Ray glanced over to Shelly. “I really, really would advise against asking the tiny one to move.”

Shelly huffed - more at the heat than at anything else (she didn’t mind the ‘tiny one’ comment from Ray, as she really was small compared to him). She sat up and fiddled with the hem of her tank top to knot it up under her bust to get it off of her skin. Once she was sort of happy with that, she flopped back down again.

Gerard glanced at her as soon as she huffed, and then continued to watch her as she fiddled with her clothes. Frank, still sitting in the middle on that couch, heard Gerard sigh softly as soon as her lyric tattoo was exposed by her fiddling with her top. Frank grinned at the vocalist, not that Gerard was paying any attention to him at all.

“You’re really suffering in this heat, aren’t you?” Frank asked gently.

The older Way next to him nodded (despite the fact that Frank had aimed the question more towards Shelly) at the same time Shelly whined. That little noise from the blonde made Gerard sink back into the sofa, trying really hard not to file that noise away for later.

“I’m not built for this,” Shelly grumbled.

“I don’t know,” Frank grinned as Shelly turned her attention to him. “You’re certainly built for wearing very little clothing.”

Gerard sank even further back into the couch, if that was at all possible, and decided to keep his mouth very, very shut on that matter.

“Quit aggravating her!” Lux tutted at Frank with a roll of her eyes, shifting from one foot to the other - she was still standing up, not having been brave enough to just, as Frank suggested, sit on someone’s lap.

Mikey reached forward and tugged at Lux’s clothing. When he’d gotten her attention, he gestured for her to share his spot. He figured that they were both tall and fairly skinny, so two of them would fit in the space sized for one regular person. Lux smiled and, quite happily, squeezed in with Mikey. He made sure that Lux had as much of the space as possible, nudging up against Frank in the middle a little bit. He wasn’t concerned about the warmth he might start to feel from being too close to Frank - he was just happy that Lux was close. Both of them were totally oblivious to the looks that most of the rest of the band exchanged. Because god forbid that anyone admit their feelings.

Ray had been studying the situations in front of him while all of this had been happening. He spent a little longer studying the small blonde before letting out a soft “hmmm” and leaving the room.

The others (except Shelly, who had her arm across her eyes again) glanced at their tallest guitarist, first as he got up and their eyes widened as he left. They looked at each other, all sort of mentally shrugged and then turned back to their previous conversation.

“Well, it’s a shame that it’s summer really, Shell,” Frank mused after a few minutes.

Shelly sighed. “I agree, but… I’ll bite -”

Gerard nibbled his bottom lip. Yeah, she could bite him if she wanted.

“Go on,” Shelly grumbled. “Why?”

Frank grinned. “Because if you were cold, Shell, most of us have really warm hands.”

Lux groaned, which Shelly heard and giggled at, while Mikey rolled his eyes.

“Keep your hands to yourself Frank,” Lux grumbled.

“I think she’ll chop them off right now if I don’t,” Frank said. “But you just wait until winter.”

Gerard coughed very slightly, starting to shrink back into himself a little.

“She doesn’t need your hands, Frank!” Lux retorted, her tone slightly sharper. She had noticed Gerard’s reaction and felt a little bad for him; it was never nice seeing someone flirt with someone you were interested in.

Frank looked at Lux and raised an eyebrow at her. “You offering yours?”

Lux hesitated, realising what she’d said, and how that might’ve come across, and, again, aware of Gerard sitting right there.

“Hmn!” She said eventually, figuring that her flirting with Shelly a little would probably be a bit better than Frank. “Maybe I am!”

All three men glanced at their drummer, and even Shelly tilted her head in the direction of Lux’s voice.

“Well,” Frank grinned widely. “I’ll yield to that if you’re gonna put your warm hands all over her.”

“Ugh,” Lux muttered. “It’s Shelly’s body, and only she can decide whose hands she wants all over her!”

Shelly giggled from her sofa. “If it’s that cold, and people’s hands are that warm, I’m not gonna be overly fussy, to be honest.”

Gerard perked up a tiny bit - that didn’t sound like she’d be against him volunteering to help warm her up… Sure it wasn’t her seeking him out specifically, but she wasn’t exactly excluding him either. So… That was something.

Frank grinned, Mikey shook his head and Lux just sighed. The drummer was a little annoyed that Shelly wasn’t picking up on the hints that she (Lux) was trying to put out/down. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Frank touching her friend, and it wasn’t that she wanted to feel Shelly up (although Lux wouldn’t be totally against that…) - but Lux had noticed how much Gerard quietened down and shrunk back every time Frank flirted with the blonde. Despite his stage persona, Gerard was just not that forward, not that brave. Especially when it came to Shelly.

The shorter guitarist looked at Lux as she sighed, before he looked at their singer. Gerard was fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt, while glancing up at Shelly every so often. Frank shook his head a little bit. The vocalist really did have hearts floating around his head every time he looked at the girl.

“Although,” Shelly pulled herself up into a sitting position before stretching a little bit (Gerard tried really hard not to stare at her when she did that). “I don’t know what Jamia’s gonna say about you putting your hands all over another woman, Frankie. Maybe it’s better that you keep your hands to yourself.”

“Yeah, Frank!” Lux relaxed a little. Maybe Shelly did pick up on the hints after all. Even if it was just a fraction, that would do.

Gerard smiled a tiny bit at this interaction.

“I’m sure she won’t mind,” Frank said with a pout.

“Dude,” Mikey sighed, nudging his glasses up to rub the bridge of his nose. “You already have a woman. You don’t get two. Don’t be greedy.”

“Yeah,” Lux nodded. “Some people don’t have one, so chill out.”

Frank pretended to huff, but before he could argue any more, Ray returned, looking a little… Rumpled. He handed out some bottles of water to everyone, ignoring the curious expressions.

“Miss Manager,” he said.

Shelly blinked rapidly at him and the offered bottle.

“Drink this please,” he said.

She smiled slightly, took the bottle from him with a raised eyebrow, but, ultimately, she did as she was told; twisting open the cap and taking a drink.

“Better?” Ray asked, his voice gentle.

“Mm hm, a bit, thank you.”

He nodded before going to sit in the chair he’d been in earlier. “Good.”

“Thanks dad!” Lux grinned at him, almost giggling at his splutter. It always startled him when she called him that. Still, as Frank had pointed out once, at least she didn’t call him ‘daddy’ - he’d nearly choked on his beer that day.

“Awww! Look at Band Dad looking after the kids! And looking after Band Mommy too,” Frank grinned, almost giggling at the looks shot his way.

“I’d threaten to punish you, but I think you’d enjoy it,” Shelly shot back at Frank, with a roll of her eyes.

Gerard bit the inside of his cheek as his brain decided to wander off with those words.

Frank puckered his lips at Shelly in a kissing motion. “What’re you gonna do Shell? Spank me?”

Ray sighed, got up and clipped Frank around the head. Lightly, but still enough for it to be felt.

“Ow!” Frank whined. “Dad!”

“Behave,” Ray sat back down. “Don’t be so crude. Give the woman a break.”

“Bless you for calling me a woman and not a girl, Ray,” Shelly smiled sweetly at him before blowing him a kiss.

Privately, Gerard thought that yes, Shelly was very, very much a woman. Clearly not a little girl. Clearly a full woman. And just… God damn.

“Why do you look like you’ve been in a scuffle?” Mikey asked, after peering at Ray for a moment.

The question caught Shelly’s attention. And Gerard’s actually. He even stopped half watching Shelly to look at Ray properly.

Ray looked a little sheepish when all of his band turned to scrutinise him. “Um. Well…I did get into a little bit of an altercation.”

“What?” Lux perked up. “Do we have to go and fight someone? Who’re we fighting?”

“Down BabyCat. You are very vicious,” Shelly said, turning her attention back to Ray. “Excuse you? Who do I have to have Words with?”

The band shared looks. Shelly’s version of “having words with someone” could be just as vicious as Lux’s actions.

“No, no! I’m fine!” Ray said quickly. “I was talking to a friend, asking a favour, and someone overheard and said something stupid, so they got a little…”

“Ruffled?” Frank suggested after a moment of Ray searching for the right word.

“Yeah!” He nodded. “They just got a little bit of a talking to.”

“A stern Dad Talk?” Mikey asked.

Shelly narrowed her eyes at Ray. “Okay. What are you not saying?”

“Who was it?” Lux asked again.

Ray hesitated, because they had clearly seen through him attempting to brush the finer details under the rug. As he’d expected, Shelly had been the first to properly call him out.

“How about you just tell us exactly what happened?” Gerard said, his voice quiet, calm and rather matter of fact. Not accusingly or anything.

“Like I said,” Ray started, sheepishly. “I was talking to a friend - I managed to get a fan for the bus for you, Shell. Hopefully that’ll help you deal with this heat a bit better.”

Shelly’s expression softened. “Thanks Ray.”

“And,” he continued. “I was asking him if I could do something in return, like a trade system thing -”

Shelly tilted her head as she listened.

“Makes sense,” Mikey nodded.

“And some idiot nearby must’ve heard most of the conversation,” Ray hesitated, clearly not really wanting to continue, but after a sigh, and a look from the blonde, he did. “And he said something like…”

“About something I could do in return, right?”

“Fucking pig!” Lux spat out.

Mikey pulled a face, agreeing with Lux. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but this was the main reason why he kept a closer eye on Lux. Not that she couldn’t take care of herself! Because she was very capable of that. But she was the youngest of their group, and another woman in a male dominated space. And, clearly, so many of these guys could be complete assholes.

Gerard huffed angrily from beside Frank, almost trembling in rage.

“Fucking what?” Frank hissed. He, like the others, hated this attitude anyway, but he was also super protective of Shelly because of how she took care of them all - especially him.

Shelly watched Ray nod, slowly and regretfully, in answer to her question, and she sighed.

“I might’ve gone for him,” Ray admitted quietly. “But I didn’t get far, as my friend grabbed me first.”

The blonde shook her head and pushed herself to her feet, untying her tank top and smoothing it out so it sat properly again.

“Well,” she said softly. “It’s not the first time someone’s said something like that, and I doubt it’ll be the last.”

“It shouldn’t fucking happen at all!” Gerard exploded. He’d raised his voice a bit, but he wasn’t yelling. “And it shouldn’t be a case of ‘oh well he wouldn’t say shit like that if you were our sister’ or something like that. How about you don’t make fucking disgusting comments like that about women in the first place?!”

The rest of the band stared at Gerard.

“She doesn’t have to go by that ‘oh she’s someone’s daughter’ thing to deserve some damn respect,” Gerard continued. “Why does everyone think she got her job on her knees anyway? Why is that the only answer to most of them?! Is it really that hard to believe that women can work just as hard if not harder than men in this industry?” He huffed for a moment. “And, more to the point, they often do work harder because of attitudes like that!”

Shelly had turned to look at him at the same time as the rest of the band. She blinked rapidly at him and tilted her head as she listened. When he looked up and noticed that she was looking at him, he went quite pink, and even pinker when she smiled a little.

Lux looked at Mikey, her eyes wide. She was still pretty much in his lap at this point, having been gently anchored to the couch by the bass player when she’d been getting excited about the prospect of a fight. While Mikey knew that everything Gerard had said was true, he looked just as surprised at his brother’s outburst. Normally the vocalist was a bit more subdued (but no less accurate) in voicing his opinion on the matter than he was during that outburst.

Ray and Frank glanced at each other before nodding in agreement. This wasn’t the first time Gerard had gotten like this, but it didn’t mean that they agreed any less. That was a sentiment that the whole band would share too, if you asked any of them.

“Why don’t you walk Shelly back to the bus?” Ray suggested. “It’ll allow her to cool down more without having people gawk at her, and you can make sure that she gets there without being harassed.”

Frank opened his mouth to make some kind of… Frank comment, but Lux shot him such a look he gulped down the words again.

Not that Shelly or Gerard noticed that. Or the looks the rest of the band kept sharing. She kept glancing from the others to him, back to whoever made a noise, or whoever said something, but she always ended up looking at Gerard again. Gerard, on the other hand, kept glancing up at her, and then back at his lap again.

“Um,” Gerard pushed himself off of the sofa and to his feet. “Um, yeah, sure, I can do that.”

Shelly smiled a little before going to grab her small bag. She had no complaints about this proposed plan. Of course not, why would she? Once she’d grabbed her bag, she shouldered it and waited for Gerard.

“Hold on,” he said, untying his hoodie from around his waist before he offered it to her.

She side eyed him a little, her eyes darting from the offered hoodie to his face.

“Just until we get there,” Gerard said.

“Okay, I guess, but why?” She took it, but still looked very confused.

“Um,” Gerard swallowed and avoided her eyes. “Well…”

“Your shirt is very see through Shell,” Frank finished for Gerard.

“I wouldn’t put it past someone to throw something on you to get it to be both clingier and more see through,” Ray added.

Gerard exhaled deeply through his nose, cross at the thought of someone doing that to her. But on the other hand… He tried really hard not to think about the results of those actions. 

“It’s days like this that I’m glad I’m not sexy,” Lux shook her head.

Mikey’s eyes widened at Lux’s words.

“Psh! Nonsense!” Shelly put Gerard’s hoodie on and zipped it up. “Yes, you are.”

Gerard watched her while she did that. He hoped he had a neutral, quiet expression on his face. Because his mind was very, very loud - seeing Shelly wearing his clothes like that.

“Nah,” Lux shook her head again. “I’m not. But! Let’s not worry about that right now. Go ahead, get out of here.”

Mikey squinted at Lux, his brain naturally and automatically disagreeing and arguing with her. Not that his mouth would go along with that right then; his mouth would stay quiet. He still couldn’t really decide if that was a good thing or not.

“Go on ahead Shell,” Ray nodded to the blonde. “We’ll catch up later on.”

“Hmn,” Shelly eyed him suspiciously for a moment, shouldering her bag again. After a minute, she shrugged. “You’ve got the other set of bus keys, right?”

Ray nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

“He is the responsible Band Dad after all,” Gerard said with a grin, moving to stand next to Shelly.

“Well, one of you has to be the other responsible one,” Shelly edged closer to Gerard, kinda surprised to see him wearing a regular t-shirt. If he had been wearing a long sleeved top, she would’ve been able to gently grab ahold of the sleeve. She was touchy feely like that sometimes.

“Hey!”

She giggled at the exclamation from multiple voices, and gently took Gerard’s hand. “C’mon, before they lynch me.”

“They wouldn’t dream of it,” he let her take the lead, definitely not complaining about her holding his hand. “See you later guys.”

The others waited until the door closed behind the other two and then for just a moment more. Frank then let out a groan before moving to sit on the couch Shelly had vacated.

“Jesus Christ, they are oblivious!”

“Well, I don’t know if she’s actually said anything to anyone about… Anything,” Ray tried to be diplomatic. “Like, how she feels. But we all know how he feels.”

“Oh, she likes -” Lux started, immediately stopping when her brain caught up with what she almost admitted. She could feel her cheeks starting to get warm because of her slip up.

The other guys looked at her.

“Miss Lux,” Ray tilted his head. “Do you know something?”

Frank tilted his head. “Or, are you just going off of her behaviour?”

“I don’t know if you can do that though,” Mikey said quietly. He was still sitting with Lux practically on his lap, despite the amount of freed up space - Frank had moved over when Gerard had gotten up. “Go off of her behaviour I mean. “She’s pretty affectionate with everyone. All of us anyway.”

Lux glanced around to see the three guys looking at her, clearly expecting some kind of answer. She hesitated for a moment before sighing. Truthfully, Lux did actually know how Shelly felt - the girls had had conversations about it before. Shelly had still been a little bit cagey about her feelings, not wanting to come out and say anything explicitly, just in case she was overheard but she still opened up just enough for Lux to get the picture. The thing was though, Lux didn’t want to outright say for definite how Shelly felt, just in case, so she decided that the best thing to do was to make it seem like she wasn’t positive.

“Listen,” she said quietly. “This doesn’t leave our circle. Okay?”

The three men nodded.

“I think that Shelly does actually like Gerard. Not just in the ‘he’s the favourite’ friendly kinda way.”

“Like, a romantic way?” Mikey clarified.

Lux nodded. “I… I think so.”

Frank looked at Lux, curiously. “Has she said something to you?”

“Frank,” Lux frowned at him, annoyed. “Do you honestly think I’d tell you if she had? You’d go and tattle!”

“I would not!” Frank pouted.

“It would be good for them to sort themselves out though,” Ray mused quietly.

“Gerard did nearly punch a guy for her after all,” Frank said.

“I think we’ve all nearly done that though,” Mikey said before nodding over to Ray. “You nearly did today!”

Ray just smiled.

“I would if I had the chance,” Lux added, smiling when the others nodded. Because she would - she’d fight for that girl.

“And,” Ray added. “We all remember having to hold Shelly back from, more than likely, badly hurting Bert.”

“That was hot though,” Frank said. “Little Miss Spitfire!”

“I’ll admit that I didn’t think that she had that in her,” Mikey said with a shake of his head.

Lux pouted. “I’m kinda gutted that I missed that.”

“But, it was probably better that you weren’t actually there; I don’t think we would’ve been able to hold both of you back,” Ray rubbed the back of his neck.

“Oh definitely, there’s no way I would’ve just stood there and let him say that shit about Shell.”

“We know,” Frank nodded with a smile. “We’re the same.”

“Especially Gerard,” Ray said with a grin.

Lux giggled. “Well, yeah, but we all know that.”

“He’s proven that by his reactions every so often,” Frank said with a nod.

“Not just by reacting to people saying things about her in front of us, but by the speeches he keeps giving,” Mikey added.

“Oh, like the one to us earlier?” Lux asked, getting nods. “It clearly really annoys him. But is that because it’s aimed at Shell, or does it annoy him in general?”

“It annoys him in general,” Ray said. “He’d feel that way even if Shell wasn’t around.”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah, we kinda had that attitude installed in us by our grandma. Respect and all of that.”

“So he’s double annoyed because not only is it an attitude he doesn’t like, it’s an attitude towards the girl he’s crushing on?” Lux said with a nod.

“Exactly,” Ray nodded. “It’s a feeling we all share so the mood surrounding it is amplified.”

“Speaking of crushing,” Frank shook his head. “Why can’t they see what we can? Or at least, why can’t she see it? We know he’d never believe it.”

“She’s being professional,” Lux said. “She loves her job, remember?”

“That covers her behaviour,” Frank replied. “Like, why she hasn’t made a move, why she’s not reading into things -”

“He’s said that he doesn’t want to risk losing her,” Mikey said from his spot with Lux. “He’d rather have her around as she is, with him pining a little bit, than not have her in his life at all.”

“He doesn’t want her to go and work for someone else either,” Ray added. “I think that’s the main reason he falls back on. He keeps saying that he doesn’t want the band to lose her.”

“I mean,” Mikey tilted his head. “She works so hard for us, having her go and put all that effort into another band? That would really suck.”

“She wouldn’t leave us though, would she?” Lux asked before her voice dropped in volume a bit, exposing a bit of her vulnerable, squishy centre. “I mean, I don’t think… I don’t think she’d leave me…”

“She wouldn’t want to,” Frank said quietly and genuinely. He recognised that Lux was opening up a little bit, and while she was pretty comfortable with them now, she didn’t do that very often. “She’d try and cope if it was a bit awkward, and see how long she could cope for. She’d hold on for as long as she could.”

“Yeah,” Ray nodded. “She really adores us as a band, she really believes in us and what we stand for.”

“She really loves you though,” Frank said to Lux.

“Are you just saying that?”

He shook his head and Lux snorted.

“I don’t know if I believe you.”

“You forget that she and I spend a lot of time together when she’s looking after me when I’m sick. We talk a lot during those times, about a lot of things. And, almost every time you come up in conversation, Shelly says something like…” Frank paused to try and quote Shelly directly. “She says something like; ‘I love that girl and I will fight anyone about it’ - which scares me a little, as I’ve seen her start a fight.”

Lux studied him for a moment.

“I agree with Frank,” Ray said quietly. “She really does love you. She’s so very protective of you.”

“You’re just as protective of her too,” Mikey added.

“Sometimes it feels like you’re more protective of her than we are,” Frank said.

“I suppose I can hit more people than you guys,” Lux said after some thought. “I can hit girls who start and I can hit guys. You guys can’t really go for the girls.”

“That’s fair,” Ray nodded. “You’re not picky about who you’ll go after if they hurt someone you care about.”

“That’s right!” Lux beamed before turning to Mikey. “Look, I know he’s your brother, and the band’s lead man, but if he hurts her -”

“He’ll have a line of people after him,” Mikey said with a small nod. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t get special treatment. I’m not gonna stick up for him just because he’s my brother - especially if he’s actually in the wrong.”

“If anything,” Frank said. “He’s under double scrutiny; he has even less of a pass.”

“And considering he doesn’t have a pass anyway,” Ray added.

“None of you get a pass,” Lux looked around at the three men. “If any of you hurt her, I will come for you.”

They all nodded solemnly.

“We don’t plan on doing that Lux,” Ray said. “We promise.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want to have to break anything for any of you,” Lux smiled as innocently as she could manage.

The group fell quiet for a little bit, enjoying the coolness of the room, because of course Shelly had been right; of course she’d picked somewhere that would’ve fitted her needs at the time.

“Do you think if we give them enough time alone, one of them might say something?” Mikey asked the room.

“We give them a lot of time alone and no-one’s done anything yet,” Ray shook his head.

“Yeah, but he might accidentally say something while she’s…” Frank paused. “While she’s scantily dressed. He might be so distracted by her bra and her legs and all of that skin that he forgets his filter.”

Lux rolled her eyes and shook her head at Frank’s words, although she wouldn’t deny that he had a point. Shelly could be quite distracting sometimes; Lux definitely agreed with that. She was a little guilty of having a wandering eye when Shelly was involved. Especially if the blonde was wearing a little less than normal or a lower cut top. The drummer was not immune to Shelly’s particular… Charms.

Not that Lux would ever admit to Frank being right. Nor would she really admit to (sometimes) being no better than a man when it came to their tiny tour manager. Not that Shelly minded - she’d said so once or twice when the girls had been sharing a room. Despite the fact that Lux essentially had permission to gaze at Shelly like that, she still felt a little… Nervous about it. She didn’t think she was going to stop, but she also wasn’t going to be obvious about it. 

Especially not in front of Frank. And maybe Gerard. Poor boy had enough to deal with, with Frank flirting with his crush all the time, he didn’t need the reminder that Shelly played for both teams. Not just because that might be a distracting thought, but also because that might make him feel even more like he didn’t have a chance with her. Which was such a lie, because he totally did.

“How likely do you think that might happen?” Frank asked Mikey, breaking the silence they’d fallen into for a few minutes.

“Um,” Mikey shifted in his seat. “It’s not impossible. I know we’ve given him the idea that she might have similar feelings.”

“He’s listened to us, has he?” Frank raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Mikey scratched his neck. “Yeah, of course he’s listened. He doesn’t believe a word of it, but I know he’ll take things on board. They'll stick in the back of his mind and linger.”

“I know I’ve tried to coax Shelly into opening up to him,” Lux said before remembering that she was supposed to be pretending that she wasn’t sure how Shelly felt. “If she has any kinda feelings for him, I mean.”

Frank side-eyed the drummer. He didn’t believe that she was unsure about how Shelly felt, he thought that she knew for definite. But, he wasn’t gonna call her out - he understood that Shelly would’ve told Lux in confidence. Even if she never planned on doing anything, Shelly might’ve felt better just telling someone. They all knew that Shelly valued loyalty and trust, but he didn’t think that she would be mad that Lux had let slip about the blonde’s feelings for the vocalist. Especially not if they could all encourage the pair to get their acts together and just… Confess how they felt about each other, to each other. The rest of the band could see it, the rest of the band didn’t have a problem with it; hell, they all wanted the two to get together. They just needed to get on and do it.

“They would be so cute together,” Lux shook her head slightly, having noticed Frank’s side eye. “They’re so perfect for each other!”

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Frank said before letting out a soft sigh. “You’re right there. They are perfect for one another.”

“She brings out a lot of good in him,” Mikey added. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look at someone the way he looks at her.”

“That’s kinda gross, to be honest,” Frank pulled a face jokingly before shaking his head.

“I think I’ve seen her look at him the same way though,” Lux continued to at least try to pretend that she didn’t know anything for certain. “She’s normally so smart. I wish she would just continue to use that big brain of hers.”

“Not just a big brain she has,” Frank grinned.

Lux looked around for something to throw at him, and, when she didn’t find anything, started to get up to go and hit the guitarist. Mikey grabbed at her to stop her.

“Leave it Lux,” Mikey said quietly. “I don’t think Shell would be impressed if we went back to the bus after having been fighting each other.”

She huffed but did as she was told before turning back to Frank. “Don’t be so crude!”

Frank giggled, mostly at Mikey holding Lux back and at Lux doing as she was told. Normally she only really listened to Shelly, so to see her listen to someone else was amusing to him. Actually, seeing her listen to anyone at all was funny.

“I mean it!” Lux continued, frowning at Frank’s giggle. “She doesn’t need or deserve to be objectified all the time!”

“She likes it though.”

“Not all of the time,” Lux shook her head. “Just like… Give the girl a break?”

“She’s not even here!”

“That’s not the point!”

“Well!” Ray said, a little louder than normal in an attempt to get the other two to stop, bickering a bit. “Enough of all that! Let’s get back to the matter at hand, shall we?”

“Which was trying to get Gee and Shelly to get their acts together,” Mikey said with a nod as Lux and Frank huffed a bit between them. “Via more encouragement and time alone together.”

“Yeah,” Ray nodded. “All we can do is try, right? Try and give them as much time as we can and just hope it works.”

The others nodded. There really wasn’t a lot else they could do, except maybe lock them both in a room until they were forced to talk, but they knew that Shelly wouldn’t like that. She’d feel betrayed, trapped and uncomfortable. And that was the last thing they wanted.

“Yeah,” Frank shook his head. “Let’s just hope they get their acts together before we have to properly intervene!”

“Because nobody wants that!”

[katyawriteswhump]

Mixing it up (Moving us on)

WC: 696, for @steddieholidaydrabbles day 6 prompt: Cooking together

Rating: T

CW: Alcohol and drug use. Implied chronic pain/illness, angst, fluff, 90s hits.

Christmas, 1991—a year into the new decade, the ghosts of the 80s still linger. (Argh, this has a few overlaps with @steddieas-shegoes' awesome fic already posted, but I wrote it so... *panics and runs away like a newbie making an idiot out of themselves*)

*********

Eddie saunters into the kitchen, spies Steve downing painkillers, swallowing them with a gulp of red wine.

“Woah! Easy there!” Eddie leaps forward, surprising Steve and grabbing the bottle from him. “Headache?”

Steve gestures at the chaos around—half-chopped veg, uncooked meatloaf, Santa’s-shitting-sleigh’s worth of dirty pots and pans. “It’s a meal. I should be able to handle this! What’s wrong with me?”

Eddie loops his arms around Steve, tugs him close and weathers his glare. “Nothing’s wrong. Other than you needing to be the goddamn hero and do all this shit yourself.”

“There’s zilch heroic about it. We agreed—I cook, you clean up when I inevitably pass out humiliatingly at kiddy bedtime o’clock.” Steve’s cheeks are flushed pink, and he sweeps unsteady fingers through his hair: “It’s just a lousy meal!”

Eddie knows it’s waaay more than that. 

It’s their first Christmas in their condo. The first Christmas where they could invite over friends. It’s also the fifth Christmas since ALL THAT SHIT with the Upside Down ended. The scars, mental and physical, have not all healed, so…

“Babe,” sighs Eddie, “take a breather. You can’t punch your meatloaf into submission, so let’s toss it in the oven. The rest can wait.”

“It can’t—”

“Some other sucker can sort it.” Eddie takes Steve’s burning face in his hands. “It’s snowing outside, and you’re sweating like you’re roasting your hot sausage on a July BBQ.” Steve smirks. Eddie smirks harder—Hah, smut triumphs, big boy! “Uh, you’ve got cream on your nose.” Eddie swipes it off with his thumb, sucks it. “Butterscotch. Yum.”

“You don’t get it!” Steve wriggles out of Eddie’s embrace. “ Headache or not, I gotta see this thr—”

“Is he being a bitch?” Robin leans in the doorway.

“Exactly as forecast,” says Eddie. “You got the rota there?”

“The wha—?” Steve dumps a spoon down with a clatter.

It had been Robin’s idea. On learning Steve was hell bent on taking the lead on everything that mattered, she devised a chores rota, to kick in if he started to crash and burn. 

Eddie eventually coaxes Steve from the kitchen, promising he can lead the charge again on the dessert round. He plants a wet, sloppy kiss on Steve’s mouth—Mmmm, yeah, baby! He can’t argue with the taste of red wine and butterscotch whipped-cream on his boyfriend’s lips. Then he orders him onto playlist duties with Vickie.

Which sucks. 

Steve and Vickie play Bryan Adams’ vomit-inducing smash hit ‘Everything I do (I do it for you)’ on loop for an hour. However, Steve is chill, and dinner is cooked, and everyone winds up mildly trashed and happy.

After their guests leave, Eddie puts on a Guns ‘N Roses mix-tape—not mega-loud, because he remembers Steve’s assault on those painkillers. He and Steve cuddle up on the couch.  Eddie leans in for a lazy kiss, and Steve is well up for it.

He slides his tongue against Eddie’s, slickly and sweetly, while his hands roam up and under Eddie’s t-shirt. Steve now tastes of the chocolate fondue dessert that he totally nailed solo. Soon, Eddie’s gotten Steve straddling his lap, rutting against very strained denim. The kiss heats up like the fondue turned nuclear.

Steve is soon pink-cheeked and breathless again, though Eddie’s not worried. Steve seems, if anything, less exhausted than usual at this time of night.

Eddie, however, has a new issue.

He reaches out, flicks a switch. Cuts off Axel Rose mid-warble through, ‘November Rain.’

“Don’t be a dick. That’s the only track I like,” protests Steve.

“It’s been sullied. Thanks to you and Vickie, I got that numb-nuts Bryan Adams stuck in my head.”

“Thought you dug the Groover from Vancouver.”

“I once tolerated him. ‘Everything I do’ minces my brain-matter.”

Still, Eddie can’t be too cranky, particularly when Steve leans close so his lips brush Eddie’s ear: “You gotta admit, Bry’s dead romantic,” whispers Steve. And then—flooring Eddie with the killer punch—he softly starts to sing: “I’d fight for you, I’d lie for you, walk the world for you, yeeeeah, I’d die for—"

No, you don’t, Harrington. We’re through with nearly dying for each other… 

Eddie silences him with another epic kiss.

***

Thank you so much for reading :) Also posted here on my AO3

[dansevilpianotea]

💇

so i forgot that i reblogged the ask game post and fully was like wtf is this about but anyway enough about my adhd lets yap about hair length...

💇 what's your opinion on their hair length: should they keep it long, or cut it?

unpopular opinion (!) but i actually rlly like that they got a hair cut 😭. like listen, id be all on board with them (this is exclusively about dan, phils haircut is perfect) letting the hair on the top get longer because release the floof (think of swwtty hair but more tidied up) but in the end the way it was didnt rlly look good with the hair on the sides and in the back. it was growing all over and started to wage into bowl cut territory. ALSO in some shots in the latest tiktok video dans hair looked sm like his emo fringe .-. it rlly freaked me out. tbf it was very hot in england (so i was told) so that probably played a role too, but it was kind of turning his head into an oval and that didnt sit right with me. sth was wrong in the universe. everytime he has his hair in take over his forhead i get flashbacks/j. but it was probably the heat. i have rlly straight hair which doesnt behave differently in diff weather so i have no idea what its like. sometimes he does just look like a little crazy boy tho.

also TO BE FAIR i think hair looks generally quite weird immediately after getting hair cuts so its deffo way too short on the sides when we last saw it but the beauty of it is that it will grow back and we will have this conversation again. to name a few examples from recent videos i think dans hair looked rlly good in the first phan twt react video, roasting dans fashion, it takes two (rip), phil pushes dans button and unhinged texting. basically when the curls are roaming but havent taken over yet.

phils hair is 10/10 perfect no notes i love the blonde.

[dailyreverie]

By the fire

A/N: This one was requested by the lovely @the-little-ewok🧡 i really hope you like it! This is a cute little blurb about cuddling by the fire with Santi

Fall prompts 🍂 Bonfire

Pairing: Santiago Garcia x reader

Word count: 542

[gif by @pedropcl]

Before the year began to get unsufferably colder, you needed to take advantage of being able to go outside as much as possible. Along with the rest of the squad, you take on water sports, beaches, and hiking trips that had been coming more and more often as the year began to reach its cold end, up until the air became too cold for any activity, and instead, it dragged you all closer to home, to backyards and football games.

That is until a particularly cold afternoon where a rematch from last week’s football game was supposed to take place but the cloudy skies and cold wind made the perfect weather for a bonfire instead.

Logs were gathered, marshmallows and sausages were served, and once you grabbed a drink for Santi and one for you, you joined him by the fire where he already had a plate of ingredients ready.

Santiago’s arm welcomes you by his side as you join him on the floor. He’s in the middle of a conversation with one of the boys, but he doesn’t need to interrupt his talking to greet you back next to him, with a tiny squeeze and a trace of his fingers he acknowledges you. It is like that with him sometimes, with just a touch or just a glance, just by being close suddenly all is right.

Once the conversation turns to someone else, Santi looks at you, staring at your profile until you feel his gaze and meet it. “Hi,” he whispers a little bit struck by the way your face was shining with the reflections of the fire with a bright smile and hooking his arm around your shoulders.

“Hi.” The happiness that radiated off of him was contagious, making you smile back at him. 

“You alright?” His question came when you began rubbing your hands together, trying to produce some warmth.

“I’m alright, just cold.” Chuckling, he kissed your temple and pulled you impossibly closer to him.

“There’s a huge fire in front of you, isn’t that enough? Or was it an excuse to be closer to me?” Santiago teases, making you smack his side. 

“Do I have to answer?” He already smelled like smokey wood and roasted marshmallows, and even though his skin is always warm the fire had made him even cozier; if you could get any closer to him, of course you were going to do it.

He chuckles again knowing your answer already, all dimples and crinkles around his eyes. Santi leans down to capture your lips with a kiss that finally warms your bones, he lingers there for a second, lips barely touching and noses grazing, even though the conversation shifts to him again and he knows he has to turn to listen. He does, eventually, after one last peck to your lips and one to the tip of your nose. 

Your eyes match the way he looked at you before as he joins in the conversation, his profile strong even when bantering with the rest of the group, his hand still going up and down your arm. You don’t need more, just being by his side and seeing him as pleased as he looks, is all you need to feel his love too.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

Thanks for reading! Please reblog and comment if you enjoyed it!

[madhatterbri]

Christian Cage Fics

Sometimes - Sometimes people open up about their feelings.

One Last Time - A business trip takes an unexpected turn. 18+.

Christmas in the Mountains - Could you do a Christian Cage fic where it's the first Christmas together where y/n had a birthday during the holidays (doesn't necessarily have to be on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day) with some fluff and spice?

Monthlies - Christian comes back from his win at World's End to you on your period.

Layover - Basically your flight gets canceled because of bad weather and since it’s the holidays all rooms are pretty much booked so you have to share a room with the person you’re with 😏

Only Us - Hey! I love your writing and was hoping i could get prompts 9 + 10 with christian? That man has a choke hold over me😂.

One Less Problem - "I’m not your boyfriend when we’re at work.”

Christmas Party - You are invited to a Christmas party and you beg Christian to be your date to not look lonely to Jack.

Moving On - Christian costs you your friendship.

Kissing Singing In The Rain - Can I have Christian Cage x Fem reader where they have an age gap and hang out getting caught in the rain sharing a kiss? I need fluff

Conducting Business - Reader distracts Christian while he is conducting business. 18+.

Daddy Issues - You take Christian to your family cookout. Christian being Christian.

Discipline - “Nick told me you tried to scold him today. For what? That boy does nothing wrong. You’re the one who needs discipline”

Christ....ian Under The Tree - Christian gives you a gift for Christmas.

New Beginnings - Christian and you finally confess each other's feelings. Part 2 of 2 to Too Late

Family Cook Out - Christian roasts your family.

Too Late - Christian realizes he may have lost you forever. Part 1 of 2 to New Beginnings

Valentine's Day Game - Going to Valentine's Day hockey game as friends. Only as friends, of course, and nothing else. 😉

P.D.A. - You debut in AEW and join Christian Cage as his On Screen Girlfriend as "The most Controversial Couple in AEW." Before your debut, he asks how far the on-screen PDA is, and she's okay with kissing and all that, and after the successful debut, they discover their is more than just the On Screen romance

Family - Summary: Count Christian tries to convince Y/N to join the Patriarchy.

Sweater Weather - Summary: Y/N forgets her sweater at home, and Christian gives her his sweater.

[wetcatspellcaster]

OCs as Obscure References

thank you for the tag @novarunestone :)

name: Rosalie Frostsong

animal: oh, I'm already failing to answer lmfao. Not to be basic, but: cats.

colours: pink, lavender, warm yellow

month: oh boy. fuck if I know... Imma say, January.

songs: More Like You - Orla Gartland, People Watching - Conan Gray, Bad Ones - Call Me Karizma, Proof - Paramore

number: 13

plants: roses, foxgloves

smells: aged paper, spearmint, or cinnamon sugar

gemstone: emerald, rose quartz

time of day: sunrise

season: spring

places: beaches on cold days, libraries, warm fireplaces

food: cinnamon toast, strawberries with sugar, roasted pumpkin and squash

drinks: chai (without milk!), raspberry lemonade, warm whisky with honey

element: weirdly i think it's fire???

astrological sign: hahaha idk man i think there's contenders for Cancer, Virgo, Libra and Aries but if i think about it too much she ends up diagnosed.

seasonings: cinnamon, thyme, sea salt

sky: warm orange/pink sunrise that is pretty but hints at rain ahead!

weather: cold winter sunshine

magical powers: extreme overthinking (divination magic)

weapons: she carries a dagger and feels weird about it

social media: lmfao. goodreads.

make up product: blush

candy: hard toffee

method of long distance travel: boat

art style: art nouveau or pre-raphaelite

fear: isolation, vulnerability, being alone

mythological creature: hilariously, it's a unicorn

piece of stationary: very ornate notebooks, all full with extra notes in the margins

three emojis: 🥺🌺💫

celestial body: stars!

tagging: literally anyone who wants to do this! plz don't be shy, just @ me when you play so I can make friends :)

[3mutantsinatrenchcoat]

It takes a village to raise a family part 4

Part 3 , part 5

Rural au, once again, by the amazing @angelpuns

Tw: this short contains descriptions of late stage hyperthermia and brief hints at death during a talk

My husband has 3 rules during the winter. "Wear warm clothes, don't drink or eat anything cold, and do not walk outside unless you can see light".

Well, one fine winter my husband fell sickly ill, along with my youngest. Not only where they on my mind so where the young turtles, little Leo would wander from the rest, Mikey as excited as ever to be in town, so much so his eyes where a guide that never stayed on path...little Donnie whose own body couldn't stand on its own and little raph as head strong as a bull.

The last thing I remembered before stepping into the snow storm was shoving my feet in my boots, I had no time for socks. Throwing on my coat, I had no time for layers. The slam of the door as the wind argued it's point against me, but I would not listen. I was out of medicine and time.

Then there was cold, and wind, and white everywhere. I couldn't see more than two feet ahead, we didn't have many storms in the winter.

I could barely make out lights of lanterns inside houses, stumbling as my feet sunk into the snow. At some point I remember tripping a lot, feeling like hands were grabbing at my ankles, wrapping around my boots.

I don't remember much, but I do remember hearing shouting not far from me. I remember when the cold started to warm. And then it got hotter...and hotter. My cloak was too warm, I was wearing too much. I would roast in this weather.

I remember just barely pulling off my cloak before it got snatched right back over my head, a gruff and angered voice shouting at me to keep it on. Burning hot hands touching both sides of my face. "let go-!"

I don't even think I could hear my voice clearly, but I heard his just fine. "no! You are coming inside with me!" It was a demand, no room for argument, stomping of feet and creaking of wood I knew to be a porch, a specific porch with specific creaky spots.

I remember how i barely felt being lifted, I could barely feel the shoulder I was on if it wasn't for how warm it was. I barely remember the chatter of the turtle boys.

Then, time went past with every blink.

The bright of fire, the crackling, the burning feeling.

The way the kids looked as I kicked and fought their father over a blanket, shaking and biting. The way metallic tasted on my tongue as I snagged his hand.

I would blink again and I had a cup in one hand, Mikey's in the other, Splinter pulling away snow from my fur with gloves, tossing it into a bucket that Raph watched from behind. "I know it's hot, it's okay, let it burn. I know it's burning let it burn" I could barely feel the tears that froze to my face pulling off my fur.

I would blink again and now Donnie and Leo where at another side, rambling about some book from the market, Splinter's warm hands cupped around my ears. "Pay attention to those words Flint!" A snappy voice laced with anger and fear. A demand, a protest.

And then it was as if time got slower, the boys all curled up asleep and Splinter staring at me, sitting on the floor. "...your eyes. You paying attention?"

"mm.." i barely moved my head and the room was blurring again, tears building up.

"alright...keep...keep talking to me...keep on talking.." he got up and then I felt warm on the side of my face. I couldn't help the noise that came out, or the burning hot tears that flooded out afterwards.

"I know..I know it burns.."

"augh!" It felt like I was boiling from the inside and burning from the outside, the heat from the fire, the boys and Splinter was uncomfortable..even more uncomfortable once I saw my fingers move but I couldn't feel it.

"s-splin-..splin-ta-..I- I can't-" it felt like my throat was tightening, but Splinter sat beside me and pulled me into his side. He didn't say another word, not until my crying had stopped and all I could let out was Shakey breaths.

"...you really are an idiot..." Splinter spoke, not with anger but something I've never heard in his voice before.

"wh...what?" When I turned to look at him, his eyes were lost from reality...really...glossy and sad looking.

"why did you go out...? It's storming and you are little- not only that you-..you nearly froze-"

"...my family is sick..your boys c-could have gotten sick...I-i was out of medicine.." the shame flickered inside my chest, only to be drowned out but a laugh. One of both mockery and disbelief. Eyes wide and filled with shock in this human's eyes.

"Flint, you sound like a buddy of mine..." His voice was filled with anger and mournfulness. "you know, I was a soldier..." He starts, glancing to see if I was paying attention, of course I was. I could listen to him forever.

"...we had a mission, one day. It was snowing that day, we had to rescue our medics.." He went silent, then he shook his head slightly, blinking away at some thoughts that I would never get to hear. "...they got too warm, just like you. We didn't bring back our medics"

"...I don't...i-.." it clicked and the cold that washed over was worse than anything I had felt before. The more I think about it the more I realize I barely know Splinter. He's my neighbor, I help with his kids and he built me a pump for water. We learned to cook for our family, yet we never shared stories...well. I did, Splinter didn't.

There was more to him than I would ever understand, but...for now....

I felt him jump as I put my head against his side, moving my tail to cover his hand, situated in his own lap...now that I saw it, it was soaked, and trembling..or well I was trembling...but it was nothing compared to the slump that Splinter gave. One that meant he understood the gesture.

That no matter what I would always, be here to listen.

[stuffymcstuffsworld]

I'm freezing

Winter in Hell was not something you'd ever get used to. You weren't worried about the children freezing, thank goodness for Alice and fire magic. You even had to wrestle a fussy Kamui into extra layers because you knew he'd hate having to stay near Alice for heat, and Alice may roast him alive if he made any comments.

Admittedly, Kamui was getting better, but you weren't taking chances. You shivered, cursing under your breath about cold weather and how all the layers you were wearing did nothing. At least Kamui has feathers to add for warmth. You had nothing to help your frozen body.

You stopped in your tracks... wait a second! Spinning around on your heels, you made your way up to the upper classrooms. Still freezing, you managed to get to your destination that even from outside you could feel was warmer than other classrooms.

Grinding your teeth, you kicked open the door. "You bastard!" Pointing a frozen didget at none other than professor Ifrit Eito. "Eh, what the hell is your problem?" He asked, annoyed.

"My problem??? My problem!! Oh, you ass!" Slamming the door behind you, marched over, shedding a few layers as you went.

"My problem is; here I am suffering. Freezing my bones off, and there you stand perfectly fine and unaffected by the weather outside!" You shrieked.

"What do you want me to do about it? I don't control the freaking weather?" He snapped, getting irritated and releasing more heat.

You sighed before saying. "You're right, you don't, but you radiate heat! For the rest of winter, you are my personal portable heater!" Declaring that last sentence.

"What hell no!" You glare while taking off your gloves. "That wasn't a request." You reach out and touch his face. He jumped in shock. "Holy shit your cold!!"

"I know," you whined a little as you attached yourself to him. He struggled for a few moments, but you had experience from fighting Kalego to get cuddles. Like hell, you were letting go of your new heater that easily.

Ifrit growled and huffed, annoyed. Eventually, he adjusted you into a better grip and continued teaching class. After class, however, he shifted you over his shoulder and sprinted down the hall you grunted.

"My layers are in your classroom. You can't just dump me and let me freeze again. I will haunt you if I freeze to death." A string of curses was the only response you got as you saw you were making your way down a familiar hall.

It was Ifrit's turn to kick down a door. "I ain't no heater and I certainly ain't gonna let this thing cling to me all day I have a reputation!" He shoved you into Balams arms.

"I'll have the freaking rookie run you back your coats like hell I'm letting you near me again!" Storming out of the room. You scream back. "COWARD!!!" You gave the gargoyle a teary-eyed look. "He was just so warm." Mourning the loss already.

Balam deposits you into a nest that kamui and iruma are already in and goes to get more blankets. You three instantly latch onto each other for more warmth. Balam comes back with one of your comfy sweaters, and you shimmed into it as he crawled in himself.

Both you and the boys latch on immediately seeking any warmth from the large demon. Slowly, all four of you start to doze off. Unaware of the school day that passed you by. The next day, Sullivan installed fireplaces in every room in the school, ensuring that his precious family didn't freeze to death.

[whumpy-writings]

Helpless

Febuwhump 2024 Day 1

The Dhampir Files Masterlist

CW: Non-con drugging, abusive parents (whumpees are adults), carewhumpers, reference to murder of parents

"You're an old man now, ya know that?" Cal leaned against the doorframe, smirking. Renn rolled his eyes.

"You're older than me."

"Exactly. Welcome to the old man club, where our favorite activity is napping and complaining loudly about the weather." Cal crossed the room and ruffled Renn's hair. Renn slapped his hand away playfully.

"But seriously, Renn. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks," Renn said. "I honestly can't believe I'm twenty. Part of me didn't think we'd live this long."

Cal sighed. "Wow, way to bring down the mood." He wrapped Renn in a hug. Renn closed his eyes and squeezed his brother back. They were dhampirs, half human and half vampire. They weren't supposed to exist. If the authorities ever discovered them, they would be executed. There had been several close calls over the years, but they had so far evaded detection.

"Boys! Dinner is ready," Silvie called from downstairs. She was the human housekeeper who had taken care of them for the past few years. Ever since things with their vampire parents had gone sour.

The two boys tromped downstairs. Renn breathed in the scent of rosemary roasted chicken. It was his favorite meal.

"It's smells delicious in here." Renn pulled out his chair and settled in, Cal in the chair across from him.

"I would hope so. I've been slaving away at the stove all day. There's mushroom soup, rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes, and a lemon cake for dessert." Silvie put a dish of butter on the table, removed her apron, and sat down.

Renn's mouth watered at the feast. He started to fill his plate. "Thank you, Silvie. Everything looks amazing."

"Anything for you, Renn. Happy birthday."

They talked and laughed as they ate. Renn drank the cup of blood Silvie had provided for him to wash down his dinner.

Silvie brought out the cake and she and Cal fussed over how best to arrange the twenty candles on top.

"Well make a wish," Cal said.

Renn stared at the flickering flames, contemplating. Then he blew out the candles. I wish for twenty more years just like this.

The cake was, of course, heavenly. Renn leaned back in his chair. "I pronounce this birthday feast a success." He got to his feet and started to gather the dirty dishes.

"Hey, I got those," Cal said as he swatted Renn's hand away. Renn let his brother have the dishes. Cal was at the sink when Renn noticed Silvie crying.

"What's wrong?" Renn pulled out a chair next to her, his brow pinched in concern. She looked at her lap and sniffled into a handkerchief.

"Oh, nothing. You boys are just both so grown up." Sylvie looked at him with a sad expression. "It feels like it went by so fast." She stroked his cheek. "I'll miss you."

"What do you mean?" Renn asked. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sylvie's eyes widened. "I mean . . . I'll miss the little boy you used to be."

Renn couldn't suppress his snort. "Really? I think I single-handedly gave you at least three-quarters of your grays."

Sylvie laughed. "You weren't that bad. I only got half from you, the other half came from your brother."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cal called from the sink. "I'm an angel."

"What about that time you brought an entire bucket of frogs into the house?" Renn asked.

Cal spun around. "It was freezing outside! I was trying to save them."

Sylvie chuckled. "I swear my heart almost gave out when I woke up to a frog on my pillow."

The rest of the evening passed quietly. Renn changed into his nightclothes and climbed into bed. It was early spring and he left the window cracked open to get the cool night breeze. The only sounds were the chirping of the crickets and the wind whooshing through the leaves. Renn, Cal, and Sylvie lived in a little house out in the country, far away from prying eyes. It hadn't always been that way. Renn shook off the memory. They were here now, that's what mattered. He was just about to put his candle out when there was a knock at his door.

"Come in."

Sylvie came in, a candle in one hand and a cup in the other.

"I brought you some tea," she said as she set the candle on the table. "I know how much you like the chamomile."

Renn sat up in bed and took the teacup. "Thanks. Does it have-"

"Yes, I put in two dollops of honey."

Renn grinned. "You're the best, Sylvie."

Renn took a sip of the tea. He sighed at the sweetness. Sylvie sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I love you, Renn. Please always remember that."

Renn's forehead creased. "I love you too. Are you alright? You've seemed sad today." He took another sip of his tea. He could feel a headache coming on.

"You've always been such a sweet boy. I asked them for more time, but they said it had to be now."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Renn asked. His vision blurred and his head pounded. He suddenly was so, so tired. Sylvie took the cup from him as he fell back against the pillows.

"I'm sorry," Sylvie said. Renn's eyes widened. She had drugged him. But why? He tried to move away from her but his limbs were as heavy as lead. Sylvie shifted his head into her lap. "Don't fight it. It's no use. Just relax, Renn." Renn's eyes drifted shut. He forced them open. He had to get away. He had to warn Cal. He attempted to yell but all that came out was a strangled sob. He was going to die. He had always thought he would burn to death. That someday the authorities would discover him and Cal and have them burned at the stake for being monstrosities. He had never thought it would be like this. Drugged by the woman who he loved as if she was his own mother.

"It's okay honey, it's okay," Sylvie soothed as she ran a hand through his hair. "You're just going to sleep for a little bit." Renn wanted to pull away from her, but he was completely helpless. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the tear sliding down Sylvie's face.

Renn floated in the darkness for what felt like eternity.

"He's more sensitive than Callum," a voice said. "She should have given him a smaller dose."

"She had no way of knowing that," another voice said. "He'll be fine. It'll just take a little longer to get through his system."

Renn whimpered. His head pounded and he had never felt so sore in his life. He blinked his eyes open. The light burned and he snapped them shut again with a groan.

"Ah, you're awake!"

"W-" Renn coughed. His tongue felt thick and a bout of dizziness washed over him. He tried again. "W-where am I?"

"You're home, my beautiful boy. You're finally home." That voice. Renn knew that voice. With enormous effort, he opened his eyes.

"Mother?"

"Yes baby, I'm here." She looked just like he remembered. Long black hair pulled back into a sensible bun, a no-nonsense gray dress, eyes that sparkled with what he had once thought was love. He knew better now.

"You had Sylvie drug me," he said.

His father spoke up. "I'm sorry about that, it must have been unpleasant. But you never would have come home otherwise."

"Of course not!" Renn yelled. His heart pounded and he was hit by the instinct to flee. He had never wanted to see them again. Not after he had seen them murder his human mother and Cal's human father in cold blood. "You killed them. You killed our parents right in front of us."

Father sighed. "For what it's worth, we didn't intend for you and Callum to see that. The only reason we eliminated them was to protect you two."

Renn let out a deep breath. "Why am I here? Where's Cal?" He tested his limbs and found he could barely move a finger.

"Callum's downstairs. We've already spoken with him," Mother said. "As for why you're here, you'll be helping us to push the boundaries of modern science. You and Callum are the first dhampirs to make it to maturity in generations. We know next to nothing on dhampir anatomy and physiology, so we'll be studying you two."

Renn's throat went dry. "You're going to dissect us?"

Father had the audacity to laugh. "Oh no, of course not. We're much more interested in how your bodies work than what they look like on the inside." That wasn't very reassuring.

"You're too special to waste on something as unrefined as dissection," Mother pitched in. Renn closed his eyes as tears burned. "You must be exhausted. Let's take you downstairs."

Renn couldn't fight back as his father picked him up and carried him to his fate.

Taglist: @dragonqueenslayer6 @whumpsday

[lal-ffxiv]

STAMP OF APPROVAL (#5- Stamp)

The taverna was not the place the gang customary did business, but the point of contact said the client had insisted on this place for the meeting.

The crew couldn't be as rowdy as they would be in an eatery on the lower decks, so they drank quietly.

"How long are we going sit around here sweating." Chaele grumbled over her ale.

"It is a cool evening, so stop worrying."

Of the people that walked, he had not expect the officer in uniform to be the one to order the 4 shots of dark rum. He drank down the cups as quickly as he received them. Lucien did the signal back only his short glasses were filled with ginger beer over dark rum and drank them one at since liquid courage was cowardly.

"Which one of you is the forger?"

"None of us, of course, we are all law abiding citizens here officer." Chaele dislike the man out right. There was too much risk already, and Lucien would have listened to her concerns before, but there was something here that was worth the risk in his opinion.

"Don't patronize me girlie. I can make up any reason being here and have you hanged in half that time."

"With that kind of lofty position. Why come to us at all?"

"I'm here a forger, not all of you."

"We-"

"I'm sure that comrades would appreciate another round of drinks. Maybe some tidbits for the table."

Chaele understood she was being quieted. If this happened a moon before she would have stood down, but there has been a change over her friend and pain her to see it so clearly now as Lucien spoke over her.

"I'm ordering top shelf." Their lalafell companion jumped at the chance to break the tension and of more liquor.

"And I'll have a dinner plate or two. Come Chaele, lets hunt down a server."

The midlander relented with a condition, "On our new acquaintance's coin. Price of consultation, I'm afraid."

"It would be rude of me otherwise." The officer agreed.

Lucien and her locked eyes as the crew left the table. He looked away from her glare.

"She is the leader?"

"We are all equal partners."

"Sounds like a messy relationship,"

Only as of late, Lucien didn't say.

But you are the forger?"

"If you are asking for the best, I am."

"I need leave of absence for medical purposes."

"Like my friend said, someone in your lofty position could easily bride any physician in the city for those documents."

"And I have, but the commander won't have it. There is a very real war coming, its all the commanders whisper about, and I am too young to left dead in field or to live disfigured or disabled. Only the Admiral's orders won't be questioned." The officer was sweating the rum now as the true request was laid in the table.

"This is more than a forgery. The level authenticity you are requesting is only possible one way. There isn't a price high enough for that risk."

Ordinances were written on embossed paper with mark of the maelstrom, by an approved scribe, and sealed with high quality dalamud red dye by the Admiral's own hand.

"Maybe is because you can't count high enough, but I can give you enough gil to live out the rest of your life in peace." The man was sweating despite the cool sea breeze.

"If this letter is to save your life, then I should own it, and the gil. Once the city state weathers whatever storm is coming then you will be at my call at anytime I need someone in your position."

"I'll need to see you can have it done first."

"The letter will be from the Admiral's own desk, I promise my mother's life on it."

"Enter her office first."

"That is a mistake. You're asking for the impossible to done not once, but twice." Lucien hissed.

"You are asking for my life. Not only my fortune, but my power. It seems fair to me." Lucien gritted his teeth, but couldn't argue a better deal before being interrupted.

"Its talking over boys? Aermgeim is going to raid this cafe kitchen soon otherwise. The dinner plate was disappointing, and the liquor is painfully watered down."

"When a commis can't roast a popoto, they deserve death." Aermgeim sulked.

"We will meet on the lower decks, and bring a bigger purse then." Lucien said leaving the table.

Chaele was waiting at the exit.

"What's the job?" She asked matching Lucien's pace.

"We will have to earn it, but you'll be glad that we waited." Lucien said quite happily was the crew walked to the lower decks.

Chaele broke the stride though, and shared an uneasy look with her friends behind Lucien's back. Whatever this job was, they were sure it wasn't worth the same for all of them.