#so I go sit in my car instead of in the lobby. because it’s loud.

[thelostmagicians]

Summary: Eddie Munson's reputation has never been worse, but you must like him for him. [2.8k]

Fluff, comfort, slight angst, sad boy Eddie

♡

This ain't for the best, my reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me

Eddie’s always had a bad reputation, in high school he was known as The Freak, which soon morphed into Devil Worshipper, but the worst label he’s had so far had to be Murderer. It’s been almost a year since he’s been cleared for the murders of Vecna’s victims, but Hawkins has yet to move past it and believe in his innocence. 

His friends stay strong by his side and even Hopper has a soft spot for him now, but it still isn’t easy. He’s taunted and harassed relentlessly, everywhere he goes, fired from jobs, rejected by girls, and his once dream of going on tour with Corroded Coffin squashed when he lost their slot at the Hideout. Some days, he thinks about packing it all up and moving away, leaving behind his past and the trauma, but he wants to be strong. He wants to show people that their words can’t break him any more than the Upside Down already has. He’s made peace with the fact that his reputation will never change and that he’ll lead a despairing life in Hawkins, but at least he’ll do it with pride. 

-

The first time Eddie sees you, it’s storming outside. Wayne is getting ready to close the garage while he’s checking the register. He sees you running towards, your worn out purse doing nothing to cover you from the pouring rain. Your shoes squeak as Wayne ushers you in, gently pushing you to stand near the heaters.

“I’m so sorry, I know it’s closing, but I just moved here and my car keeps making this weird noise, and tomorrow is my first day of work and I don’t want anything to go wrong and…” you keep rambling, frustration seeping through your words.

“Take a breath darlin’, you’re okay,” Wayne reassures.

You nod, hands clutching your bag as you take deep breaths. Wayne’s gaze meets Eddie over your shoulder as he gestures at him to bring the office chair around. Eddie grimaces when the chair squeaks against the tile floor, hoping you won’t notice, but his wish goes ignored when you meet his eyes. 

One look into your eyes and he’s a goner, his heart fights to jump out of his chest, his hands clam up on the chair, and he forgets how to breathe. You shoot him a soft smile and he nearly topples over, legs having a mind of their own. He hurriedly drags the chair near you while Wayne gestures for you to sit. 

“What’d you say was wrong with your car?” Wayne’s voice breaks Eddie out of his trance and the smirk he gets tells him Wayne knows more than he lets on. 

“I’m not really sure, it just makes a chggg… chggg…” you trail off, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. 

Eddie chuckles under his breath, god you were so fucking cute. 

“What time does your work start tomorrow?”

“nine a.m.,” your eyes light up with hope at Wayne’s question. 

“We’ll have it done by eight, you can come pick it up then. Do you need a ride back here?”

“Oh no, It’s only a five minute walk away from my place. I’ll be okay, thanks.” You glance out the door, the storm barely visible now, you thank both of them profusely rushing out the door, squealing with giddiness when you think they can’t see you anymore. 

“That was awfully nice of you,” Eddie accuses. 

“Yeah it was… only for my favorite nephew though.”

 “I’m your only nephew,” Eddie huffs, “Still didn’t think you would volunteer to work late because I have a crush.” 

Wayne smirks at Eddie’s admittance, “I didn’t. Have fun working and don’t forget to double check the doors before you leave.” He shrugs on his leather jacket, bustling through the front door, leaving a very confused Eddie in the lobby. 

_

Eddie stays up until three in the morning, fixing everything wrong with your car. He goes home sluggish, but doesn’t forget to set an alarm for seven, so he won’t miss you when you come to pick up. 

He’s awakened by a loud pounding at his door, instead of the shrill of his alarm. He trips over clothes as he shuffles out of bed, grabbing his old hellfire t-shirt before swinging open the trailer door. 

Wayne’s frantic face appears before him, hands grabbing his shoulders and checking him over, while repeatedly asking if he was okay. Eddie runs his hands through his hair finally fully waking up at Wayne’s distraught voice, “Wha’s going on, somethin’ happen?”

Wayne’s eyes turn dark, “The shop… someone came over and…”

Eddie doesn’t let Wayne finish before he’s grabbing his jeans and shoes and running towards the building. He can spot the words from nearly a mile away, crimson paint making it unmissable. Murderer covers the entire side of the building, the dripping of the paint being a near perfect replication of blood, the windows are smeared with the same paint, handprints accompanying the paint strokes. The sight itself was gruesome and cruel, the situation wasn’t anything new to Eddie or even Wayne, but it was still distressing when it happened. It was the same viscous cycle over and over again, Eddie and Wayne reporting the incident to Hopper, who would then catch the perps, but release them just as fast because he had no power against the rich of Hawkins, and then Eddie and his friends would spend the next few days helping Wayne scrubbing down the shop. This has happened so many times that Eddie doesn’t even flinch anymore, but today was different, you’re coming in to pick up your car in under an hour and he doesn’t think he can get the shop cleaned up by then. A disgruntled sigh leaves his lips as he grabs the nearby mop and bucket to start scrubbing. 

-

Time passes by quickly, Eddie’s arms sore from tirelessly scouring, but he isn’t even a fourth of the way done. Just as he’s about to head in for a quick water break, he spots you flitting over in your pretty blouse and flouncy skirt. You reach his side before he can hide and he busies himself with wiping off the red paint on his jeans.  

“What happened here?” Your soft voice sets his heart aflame and he tries to think of any excuse to explain all this away, but his mushy brain forces him to tell you the truth.

“I-I don’t really have the best reputation in Hawkins and people are… um v-very keen on reminding me of that,” he stammers. 

You glance up at the wall, the r at the end of murderer being the only thing that’s almost gone. Wayne was able to spray down the windows with the hose, but some of the handprints remained stubborn, similar to the scars he’ll never heal from the night he saw Chrissy die. You frown looking at the mess and Eddie feels like he’s suffocating, your silence heavy in the air, filling his mind with intrusive thoughts of despair. 

“Your car’s ready by the way, it shouldn’ give you anymo’ trouble,” he whispers.

You nod and head inside, returning momentarily with jingling keys. “Wayne said you stayed back late to work on my car, thank you.”

He shrugs, “It’s no problem.”

He’s expecting another awkward silence, but you surprise him, “Do you need help? I mean I can’t help right now because I have work… but I can come back after and help you out.”

“You want to help me? Did you not see the murderer written across the walls?”

“I did. I just don’t believe you’re as good of a murderer as Hawkins thinks considering I’m still alive.”

Eddie laughs loudly, head thrown back, brown curls flying on his face. “I don’t know I did work on your car, so maybe I’m trying new methods, you know, straying away from the usual stabbing.”

You smile at him before getting in your car, you roll your windows down as you back out, yelling out, “I’ll be here at five!”

-

We can't make any promises, now can we, babe? But you can make me a drink

You stayed late that night, helping him until Wayne’s shop glittered clean, what would have taken him a few days to finish, only took him a few hours. It felt like everything was easy when you were next to him, your presence alone giving him a new outlook on life. He talked to you for hours and hours, words flowing out like quick sand, sharing every thought and experience and you were no different mouth moving a mile a minute, eager to learn about him, but also teach him about you. 

Although you exchanged numbers before parting ways, you hadn’t had the chance to give him a call, work and a new environment getting in the way. Eddie on the other hand found excuses to not call you in fear of what you might say. Maybe you only gave him your number to be nice, or you hadn’t called him yet because people’s opinions on him finally got to you, or maybe you just didn’t like him. He knew the excuses were a shield to protect his heart, but no matter how many times he tried he could never find the courage to dial your full number, always stopping before the last digit and hanging up. 

-

He’s genuinely surprised when you walk into the Hideout at 2 a.m. on a Thursday morning. You look rundown and tired, but your eyes light up when you see him, smiling so bright it blinds him momentarily. 

“H-hi.”

“Hey, Eddie. I didn’t know you worked here.” That was a lie. You knew he worked here once your co-worker let it slip that she avoided the Hideout because of Eddie. You started frequenting the bar almost every night hoping to catch a glimpse of him, until finally one of the other bartenders showed mercy and told you the time for his next shift.

“Yeah, I work the dead shifts, when people really aren’t around,” he looks down sadly, busying himself with dirty scotch glasses. 

You smile softly, hand reaching to squeeze his, “You’re not who people say you are, I hope you know that.”

His neck heats up, blush blossoming its way towards his cheeks, “you know I never thanked you properly for that night, helping me out with cleaning the shop.”

“How about you make me a drink and we’ll call it even.”

-

Sometimes I wonder; when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me? Sometimes when I look into your eyes...I pretend you're mine, all the damn time

Nowadays, instead of nightmares keeping Eddie awake it's you. You're always in his dreams, keeping the bad memories at bay with your sweetness. Sometimes he dreams of the day you first met, but most nights he dreams of a future together. He isn’t brave enough to ask you out, but he can feel his heart get stronger and stronger the more time he spends with you, the usual taunts and threats being easily brushed off now instead of sticking to him like honey. He doesn’t know what a future with you looks like, but he hopes it’ll always feel like this, safe, happy, and serene. He dreams of holding your hand, whisking you away on dates, and charming you until your heart gives out and you finally shut him up with a kiss. Waking up from a dream about you is more painful than waking up from a nightmare, knowing that everything he dreams to have with you can only be achieved when he’s asleep.

_

You wake up everyday eager for nightfall so you can see Eddie in your dreams. It hasn’t been long since your first meeting, but you’re addicted to him, his laugh, hair, charm, wit, everything and anything about Eddie is your favorite thing in the world. You feel at peace just thinking about him and you’re eagerly counting down the minutes for when you can see him next. You dream about lying in bed with him, waking up late, cooking breakfast, doing laundry, all the chores you hate doing, but you want it all with him, even the boring-ness of life. You have to set your alarm an hour early now, otherwise you’ll keep snoozing it just to bask in your dreams longer and soak up as much Eddie as you can before facing the reality of him not being yours. 

-

Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you're in my head? 'Cause I know that it's delicate  Is it cool that I said all that? Is it too soon to do this yet? 'Cause I know that it's delicate

You and Eddie hang out almost everyday now, whether it’s an early morning at the hideout or late nights in his trailer, you talk about anything and everything, conversation flowing easy and warm. He looks happier than he did the day you met him, almost boyish and young, eyes full with hope. You hope it stays that way. 

You feel different too, lighter on your feet, a smile permanently etched on your face, and love blossoming in your heart. You know you have feelings for Eddie, strong ones at that and you know he feels something for you too, but you see the hesitance in his eyes almost like he’s scared to believe you’re real. Every time you reach for his hand he pulls back, fearful his touch might burn you, he shuffles farther away from you when he sees a passerby hoping to save you from the ridicule that accompanies him. You’ve told him you don’t care what others think, but he thinks it’s too good to be true, which is why, today, you decide you’re going to sweep Eddie Munson off his feet. 

Your first stop is flowers. Eddie has never said anything about his favorite flower, but you think sunflowers are the most fitting for the boy who warms your heart. You stop by Benny's for his usual order before heading to his trailer, your palms sweat and your knees shake, walking the short distance from your car to his front door seems like a battle, your heart as heavy as the bags you're carrying in. You're nervous, sure, you're pretty confident that he likes you like that, but change is still nerve wrecking, even if it can be good. You knock fast and loud before you lose your courage, part of you hoping he doesn't open so you can go back to wallowing, but another part, a bigger part, of you is giddy with anticipation. 

He swings open the door, sweats hanging almost too low, and an old band t-shirt falling off his shoulder thanks to the stretched out collar. 

"Hey, sweetheart. What brings you here?"

The speech you had prepared vanishes, mind becoming blank as his stare looms over your face, you act before you speak, hands shoving the sunflowers roughly in his chest. "These are for you. I didn't know your favorite flower, but I thought you'd like sunflowers... 'cause, well... you're my sun, I guess." You shyly meet his gaze.

His eyes are tender, oozing love, but it's his tone that makes your heart plummet. "Sweetheart, this is nice 'n all, but we... you and I can never work. You don't wanna be with someone like me."

You sigh, dropping the Benny's takeout on the floor, you reach out and let your fingers brush back his curls, and then slowly trace down his forehead to his cheeks, then lips. He sighs softly, eyes closing as the ache in his heart is replaced with bliss, your fingers stop at his chin gently cradling it, encouraging him to meet your eyes. 

"Eddie, I don't care what people think.. or say.. or do. All I know is that I'm my best when I'm with you, you make me feel alive and safe. I like you for you. If I make you even half as happy as you make me, then..."

He chokes back a sob, bringing you chest to chest forcing you to share the same breath of air. "I'm my best when I'm with you too. You've changed my life for the better, you're my first thought in the morning and my last one at night."

You laugh through your tears bringing his face close to yours hoping you can finally taste the lips you've dreamed of, but he beats you to it, pressing his lips to yours, giving you a kiss as soft and tender as him. 

Eddie‘s delicate heart finally mending with your love.

[dilfcherricola]

Trying not to resent my roommate/coworker for things that are not in faer control but damn if the things aren’t making my life harder

[strawberrystrangers]

Little, Teeny Crush | sebastian stan

Synopsis: Chris and Sam hook you and Sebastian up on Chris’ birthday night out, knowing you like him.

A/N: This is really rough for my first piece lol but hope you enjoy anyway. Requests are open for Sebastian Stan/Chris Evans/Tom Holland related topics. I have a few of my own story ideas I’m putting out, so if you do request bear with me.

“I honestly hope he doesn’t come,” you say, twirling the straw in your drink as a hopeful distraction. You focus on the ice cubes that circle the glass, feeling your chest pulsating at the same pace. It was June and that meant, really, only one thing: Chris demanding a night out for his birthday. You and Anthony had already planned the night, intending it as a surprise, but Chris ended up finding out and wanted to stay updated. So, now, the three of you were sat in The Wooden Crown Arms—because Chris always had an interest in British pubs—in a booth in the corner, waiting for Sebastian to arrive… Well, they were waiting, you were dreading.

     “Why?” Anthony asks, sitting opposite you and laughing. “He’s just late, what’s he ever done to you?”

     An already tipsy Chris giggles. “She has a little crush on him,” he points at you and then boops your nose. “A little, teeny crush.”

     You roll your eyes and try to suppress a laugh. “I’m gonna need a lot more to drink if I’m gonna catch up with you, Evans.”

     “A crush?” Anthony leans closer to you from across the table excitedly. “Really?”

     Before you can reply, you watch Sebastian walk through the entrance on the other end of the room. “Shut up,” you say. “He’s coming over.”

     Chris turns around but Sebastian still hasn’t seen you guys. “Oh, you mean Sebastian Stan?” He says loudly, almost falling off the seat. Anthony manages to pull him back before he completely hits the ground. 

     That’s when Sebastian sees you.

     He only looks at you first and it’s like the two of you are having some film-like slow-motion moment. But then Chris’ loud voice breaks it, and he engulfs Sebastian in a hug. You feel Sebastian still looking at you but you try and keep your focus on Anthony, too worried that you’ll blush if you look long enough. 

     “Sorry, I’m late,” he says, sitting down next to you. His thigh brushes yours and you gulp, but he seemingly ignores it, greeting Anthony across the table. “Traffic was a bitch.”

     “I think Y/N wants you to say that last part again,” Chris giggles. You widen your eyes at him and grit your teeth. Fuck.

     “Why?” Sebastian is looking right at you, obviously waiting for an answer but you can’t meet his eyes—and you see Chris staring, evidently manifesting you to look at each other.

     Still looking at Chris, you say, “My hearing is really bad in this place. I just didn’t catch it.”

     “Right,” Seb laughs in confusion. “I guess I’m gonna need a lot to drink if I’m gonna catch up with you, Chris.”

     Anthony and Chris turned to you, eyes wide at Sebastian’s similar line to yours earlier.

     “It’s a common phrase, guys,” you sigh.

     “A what?” Sebastian laughs confused again.

     “Common phrase.”

     “A common phrase?”

     “We said the same thing,” you explain. “They think it means something. I think it means Chris is too drunk already.”

     “I’m perfectly fine, Y/N! Look, it’s like this… when you have a time and you have a moment, it’s going to be pretty interesting.”

     “Chris, what the fuck are you saying?” You laugh.

     Sebastian laughs. “I’m gonna go get a drink. Anyone want another?” He looks at Anthony, who shows his full bottle, and then to Chris, and Anthony shakes his head. Then he finally looks at you, and you finally look back at him which causes your stomach to feel like a whole circus.

     “Southern Comfort and lemonade.” You smile.

     He nods and heads towards the bar. As soon as he’s out of sight, you lean across the table. “I should smack you both, what are you doing!”

     “Did you just say you’ll smack us?” Chris giggles.

     Anthony ignores Chris and says, “Trying to hook you up.”

     “You don’t even know if he’s attracted to me. Can you not put me out there when I haven’t done it myself? I can’t handle rejection. Especially not from someone as hot as Sebast—“

     “Here you go.” Sebastian sings, sliding your drink towards you. “Got you a straw too, saw you had one in your last drink.”

     In unison, Chris and Anthony shout, “Gentleman!”

     “This is so weird,” Sebastian laughs. “I love it.”

***

Chris and Sebastian are deep in conversation while you and Anthony scan the food menu for snacks. Sebastian stretches his arm across the back of the booth seat behind you—his focus still on Chris. Anthony’s eyes widen at you, face not really containing his excitement. You mouth to him to “chill out”. 

     “I need the bathroom!” Anthony bursts out abruptly. Everyone looks at him. “Yeah, I need the bathroom. Move Chris…”

     After a short moment, Chris’ phone dings and he looks at it. Then he quickly looks up, grinning at both you and Sebastian. You give Chris a look of, don’t you fucking dare leave me alone with him. But his grin only grows larger.

     “I have to go to the bathroom.”

     You sigh, “did Anthony just text—“

     “I just have to go to the bathroom. I can’t hold it any longer, I guess.” 

     And then he’s gone… leaving you and Sebastian left alone. With his arm still behind your head, he taps the seat with his fingers and you feel your heartbeat get faster. You’re getting nervous—or rather more nervous than before. You can hear his fingers on the leather so close by your ear.

     “Y/N?” He says, and you snap out of your daze. “Were you not listening?” He laughs, a smile wide on his face.

     “I don’t think I was, I’m sorry. Say that again.”

     “I was asking if you were having a good time.”

     “I’m having a great time.” You’re still facing frontwards but you notice and feel Sebastian turn his body towards you. “What about you?” You give a quick glance and then sip your drink again.

     “I’m having a good time…” he’s chuckling to himself. You can hear the leather squeaking as he’s shaking his leg. “I’m having a really good time, yeah.”

     “Seems Chris is too,” you joke.

     “Yeah,” he says. “Chris is definitely going for it tonight.”

     “Yeah…”

     “Why were they shouting my name when I first arrived?”

     You gulp and hope he didn’t hear it. “They must have seen you come in.”

     “They were facing you,” he says with a smile still on his face. “You were the one to see me. I saw you look at me and look away.” You drink faster through the straw. “Did you say something about me?” He laughs. 

     You choke as you swallow your drink, coughing and catching the attention of the other people in the bar. He rubs your back and puts a hand on your arm. “Oh my god, that was embarrassing.”

     “Are you okay?” When he asks this, you turn to him. Properly looking at him now and you wonder if you can trust yourself. While looking at him, you notice one of his collar sides is sticking up. You unfold it and caress it down so it’s in its right place.

     “Sorry,” you say overly apologetic. You completely forgot where you were for a moment. “It was bugging me. One side up. One side down.”

     He just stays smiling and shakes his head. “No problem, I liked it… I mean, I appreciated it. Appreciated it, yeah.”

     He’s looking at you in the eyes and you don’t think you’ve ever met someone who makes such great eye contact like him. It’s making you nervous again. His eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips then back to your eyes, licking his lips every now and then.

     Then you move your hands down to the hem of his top, twisting it around your fingertip to ease your nerves. “Is this okay?” You ask and he nods.

     He moves his free hand—with his other still in the back of the booth seat behind you—onto your thigh, his thumb gently caressing the inside of it. “Is this okay?” He asks and you nod. You feel your insides becoming giddy, goosebumps forming across your skin.

     Just as you think Sebastian is leaning in, Anthony approaches the table and you retract your hand from his shirt but his hand stays still on your thigh.

     “I’m gonna give Chris a ride home,” he says. “He’s gone a little bit overboard. You two good, here?”

     You nod. “Yeah, I’ll grab a cab home.”

     “We can share and split the cost,” Sebastian says. “Then we know you get home safe.”

***

The cab finally pulls up outside your apartment building, and you hesitate for a moment. The rain is pattering on the car windows and with your light alcoholic buzz, everything feels so calm and soothing.

     “You okay?” He asks.

     You want to ask him up, but you don’t want to feel rejected. Maybe you were imagining the moment in the bar?

     “I’d like that,” he says.

     You’re brought out of your thoughts, “Huh?”

     “Coming up to your apartment,” he laughs.

     “Did I say that out loud?”

     He nods, laughing. “Did you not mean to?”

     The cab driver sighs. “Look, man, this is cute and all but I’m running gas, here. Are you getting out or not?”

     Sebastian looks at you to make sure you want him to come up. You nod at him knowingly. He lets you out of the cab first before he paying the driver. When he exits, he puts a hand to the small of your back. You’re both quiet when you walk through the lobby and into the elevator—maybe it’s tension or maybe it’s just awkwardness. You’re not quite sure.

     “Which number?” He asks.

     “Oh, yeah, sorry,” you laugh. “It’s the third floor.”

     He presses the button for number 3 and stands close by your side, his hand still on the small of your back. The doors open on your floor and you walk down the hall to your apartment, Sebastian now trailing behind you instead of beside you. You put the key in the lock and turn it, open the door.

     “You’re not some secret serial killer, are you?” You ask. “Only you’re trailing behind me…”

     “I figured I’d give you some space in case you felt like you wanted to slam the door in my face and not let me in.” He says this as he’s walking through the hallway of your apartment. When he sees your couch he asks if he can sit on it and you nod.

     “Water or coffee?” You call to him from the kitchen.

     “Coffee, please, Y/N.”

     You walk into the room holding a glass of water for yourself and a coffee for Sebastian. You sit opposite him on the couch. “Tonight was fun,” you say.

     “Very fun,” he agrees, sipping from the mug. Then there’s a moment of silence. “Did you like my hand on your thigh?”

     “Did I?” You stutter nervously, taken aback by the question.

     “I should really stop making you choke, shouldn’t I?” He chuckles. “So, did you? Like my hand on your thigh?”

     “That’s a sexy way of asking for consent,” you giggle. “But I did, yeah.”

     He looks at you deeply again, and you’re getting nervous again. “Would you like it…” he moves closer to you, and you do the same.

     “I would,” you whisper.

     He places the mug on the table and rests his hand on your thigh like earlier. His thumb gently caressing the inside of it.

***

Sebastian’s hand was cold when it slid up your body to rest his hand by your collar bone, his palm flat feeling your heartbeat get faster and faster, and his wrist resting between your boobs. His other hand slipped into your underwear, finger sliding down your slit.

     “You’re soaking,” he whispered in your ear, his breath warm. A jarring difference from his cold hands. “Have you been like this all night?”

     You tilt your head back onto his shoulder. And he loves the sight, you in pleasure heaven, your neck on show for him, your body quivering back into his. “Have you been like this all night?”

     “Y-yes,” you manage to make out. “Oh, daddy, yes. All night.”

     “Good thing I came up to you, then?” He asks. “Are you glad I came up to you?” He emphasises the word “came” and he feels you clench against his finger.

     “Not yet, baby, you don’t get me inside of you yet. Just be patient, baby.”

[koushou]

i love it smmmm omg. the megumi fix is amazing it’s more than i asked for ❤️❤️ bro 6,9k is a blessing you don’t understand how glad it made me it’s so worth the wait. tumblr is so dry when it comes to anime fics and especially w megumi thank you for feeding me something other than the crumbs this website gives me. i don’t want to be too annoying but whenever you’re free if you could do a pt 2 cause that ending omg. i love it sm and i can’t thank you enough ❤️

pairing : megumi x f!reader [fluff]

warnings : slight makeout scene idk HAHA nothing too intense though (also not proofread because i wanted to get this posted as soon as i finished it)

wc : 3.5k

a/n : ur too sweet omg and im FINALLY back from procrastinating your request again anon… (i really apologize i don’t mean to take so long pls forgive me D: ) i hope this is what you wanted!!

pt. 1 (you don’t really have to read pt 1 to understand this part but i do recommend it)

loud chatter echoes through the large modern dining hall located on the second floor of the hotel.

“i’m… so full…” a certain pink haired male burps for the nth time as he still continues to stuff food into his mouth. gojo laughs at itadori’s passion for the hotel food, while doing the same as he takes a large bite of a pancake.

you chuckle, taking a sip of your drink and leaning back in your cushioned chair, already finished with your 3rd plate of breakfast. i mean, who could blame you? hotel breakfast food just hits a different type of way.

“so, spill all the juicy events that happened last night, i wanna know!” nobara nudges you excitedly, her eyes twinkling as she pulls her chair closer to yours.

rolling your eyes, you look away from the ginger female and pretend to not have heard her. accidentally, you were now faced towards megumi, sitting on the opposite side of you. your eyes met for a brief moment before you quickly turned away, breaking the awkward interaction.

“aww— c’mon, y/n! please—“

“nothing happened at all! and don’t think i forgot the way you ignored my knocks on your door yesterday,” you shot her a glare, earning a sheepish laugh in return.

“but... in the same bed..?”

you were about to retort back when gojo stands up and claps his hand over his stomach, which now seemed just… a few sizes bigger.

“alright! have we all finished our food? god, when did hotel food get so good— anyway, it’s time to pack our things and head back home!” your constantly enthusiastic teacher exclaims, as a waiter comes to collect your plates.

after thanking the waiter and paying the bill (poor gojo-sensei’s wallet), you all head back upstairs to drive back home.

a thick silence hangs over your room as you and megumi collect your items, not wanting to bring up any events from last night. finally ready to head out, you walk towards the door to open it until another hand reaches the handle at the same time.

you retract your hand quickly, while the other hand lingers in the air above the knob.

“oh— sorry, you can go first!” you gulp, backing up a bit so megumi can exit first.

he pauses for a second, twisting the knob until the door pulls open. you expected him to walk out, but he makes his way to the other side of you instead, still holding the door open.

you look over at him with a questioning look, receiving a slight shrug and a hint of a smirk.

“ladies first.”

why was his stupid face so handsome?

you shook your head at his teasing expression, making your way out the door to the carpeted hallway, him following close behind.

the others were already at the lobby waiting, their conversation becoming clearer as you reach them.

“what’s taking them both so long? you don’t think they’re too busy… y’know…” nobara’s usual cheerful voice carries her words to your ears, making you roll your eyes and spook her from being.

“boo.”

“i’m just sayin- oh my go—“ she frantically turns around, breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing it was just you.

“you scared me!”

“what were we talking about?”

“nothing important! come on, we should get going!” nobara nudges gojo and itadori ahead, escaping you as she scurries out of the lobby.

you hear a yawn from behind you, a tuft of black hair moving past you as you suppress the urge to laugh at megumi’s already messy hairstyle, amplified by his morning bed hair.

finally, you were all seated back in gojo’s car, ready to drive back to the school so you all can head back to your own homes.

the ride back was full of gojo’s irritating voice singing along to songs playing from the car radio, itadori laughing along, and the rest of you too excited to leave the car.

“alright kids! we’re here, make sure to be safe on the way back home!”

gojo waves to all of you as you hop out of his car one by one, basking in the cool summer air for a few seconds.

“see you guys!”

itadori jogs away, heading in the direction of his own home, followed by megumi, then nobara, and lastly, you.

upon reaching your house, your mother welcomes you, asking about your day, if you had fun, and other typical mother questions.

you were telling her about your day when you suddenly recalled the hotel night events, and scurried away embarrassed upstairs to your room, leaving a very confused mom behind.

you flop down onto the bed, face down, wanting to get a good few minutes of quiet nap time in before your phone dings with a notification.

grunting, you pull your phone out from your pocket, swiping across the screen to check the message.

surprisingly, it was from megumi, eyebrows suspiciously raising as you open the text message from him. you two rarely texted unless it was about school or business-related, so you couldn’t think of anything he would need from you right now.

megumi : Hey.

megumi : I have your hair tie with me. You probably left it in my bag or something.

megumi : I’m coming over in 5 minutes.

you sat up abruptly, rereading his messages to make sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you.

you had been so caught up with his prior messages that you failed to register that he said he was going to be at your house in… 5 minutes.

hurriedly, you swiped to see what time he had sent that last message. 12:34 AM.

your eyes moved to the top of your phone screen, reading the current time. 12:37 AM.

almost falling out of bed scrambling to your room mirror, you checked your appearance to make sure you looked fine and your hair wasn’t messy and-

you paused.

“why am i so concerned about how i look? why do i care about this?”

you slapped your face with both hands, bringing yourself back to reality when you were interrupted again, but this time by your doorbell ringing from downstairs.

making your way out of your room, you saw that your mom had already opened the door with a familiar tall figure standing in the doorway.

“oh! megumi, it’s been a while!” your mom lets megumi in with a smile, already going to the kitchen to make him some tea.

he bows politely, sitting down on the couch, now changed into a loose white t-shirt with black shorts.

“uh- theres no need to make me tea, i won’t be here for too long—“

“nonsense! you can even stay for lunch, dear megumi! i just have to prepare the last dish and—“

you finally clear your throat, standing at the middle of the stairs, catching both of their attention.

“oh, y/n! i have to go out to the grocery store for some ingredients, take care of our guest megumi, alright?” she places two cups of tea on the table in front of megumi, grabbing her keys to head out.

“wait, mom—“

she sends you a wink by the door, already outside before you can finish your sentence.

you sigh in defeat, sitting across from megumi on the other couch.

“here.”

megumi pulls out a black hair tie from his pocket, almost identical to the one currently around your wrist.

you raise your eyebrows in suspicion at the hair tie. “but i only have one? and i didn’t bring any extra yesterday..?” you motion to your own arm.

he looks back and forth between your wrist and the one he had in his hand, scratching his head in confusion.

“it was in our hotel room, so i assumed it was yours.” he shrugs, placing it on the table. “but if it isn’t, i can just throw it away.”

you hum, taking a sip of the tea your mom prepared as he does the same, cringing as the still hot tea burns his tongue.

“pfft…”

he glares at you, placing the cup down as his eyes scan around your living room, taking in the decorations.

“i’ll just keep it then, it seems new.” you take the forgotten hair tie on the table, and wear it around your wrist, now decorated with two black hair ties.

he nods, sitting back against the couch, silence falling between you both.

a question suddenly popped up in your mind, your mouth moving faster than your brain.

“you came all the way here… just to give me a hair tie?”

the question seems to set him a little nervous, clearing his throat and avoiding eye contact as he fidgets in his seat.

“well— i figured i’d return it to you before i forgot,” he shrugs, reaching out to take another sip of his tea before pulling back quickly again at the heat.

you nod slowly, still unconvinced with his answer. who goes all the way to someone’s house to return a hair tie?

“okay then, see you on monday?” you get up, ready to send him back off.

his head snaps up, still not moving in his seat as he opens his mouth slowly, as if unsure of how to respond.

“um- i thought your mom said i could stay…for lunch…?”

he averts his eyes, pink dusting his pale cheeks as he looks away. your mouth forms into an ‘o’ shape as you recall your mom’s words and those were - in fact what she had said.

it wasn’t that you were against him staying for lunch, but you two weren’t even friends or remotely close at that. rivals would even suit you both better than friends.

“but if you want i can, uh, leave now,” he starts to stand, looking uncomfortable in his position across from you.

it was then that you remembered megumi’s background, that his mother had left early at birth, plus his father wasn’t exactly present.

you couldn’t imagine living without your parents, and how lonely he must be without true family.

“no! i mean, that’s not what i meant, you can stay.” you sputter out before he gets the wrong idea.

his eyes seem to light up at your words, nodding before sitting back down on his previous spot on the couch.

you glance over at the time on your phone, it had been around 7 minutes after your mom had left.

the tension was thick in the room, and just when you thought you were about to explode from the awkwardness, he finally breaks the silence.

“do you… play that?”

you turn to where his eyes are placed on, seeing your black xbox console laying on top of a cabinet, having been untouched for a while.

“oh that? yeah, occasionally, why?”

you hear a snicker from beside you, snapping your head to find his lips curled into a teasing grin.

“oh, i just didn’t think a nerd like you would play games.”

you raise your eyebrows at his words. “you sure about that? it doesn’t seem like you’re very good at games either, megumi.” you make sure to stretch out each three syllables of his name to tease him further.

he huffs while leaning back, still maintaining intense eye contact with you, almost challenging each other to say something back.

“how about this, whoever wins against the other gets to make them do whatever they want. no matter what it is.” he nods over to the console, tilting his head as he waits for your response.

you chuckle, standing up to take the console, fiddling with it for a moment before turning back to him.

“alright, just don’t cry when you lose too much, okay?”

he shrugs, smirking as he looks around the living room for the other console, making you remember something.

“oh, the other console plus a TV is in my room, wanna just play there?”

he stiffens suddenly, before nodding slowly and following you upstairs to your room.

reaching the door, you suddenly stop, making megumi grunt and come to a stop, almost crashing into you.

“uh - wait here.”

you open the door just enough to slip inside, quickly gathering some of your belongings and cleaning as much as you could, to at least make your room seem presentable.

“okay!” you open the door for megumi, who makes no move to enter at first.

“...”

“you can come in.”

“... is this okay?”

you cock your head, not understanding his question.

“your mom isn’t home.”

“...so?”

“we’re alone.”

“and?”

“i’m… going into your room.”

“what is your point?” you began to grow frustrated at this conversation. then, it hit you all of a sudden.

“ahh, megumi? have you never been in a girl’s room alone before?” you snicker, shaking your head from laughter.

he starts to protest, before quickly closing his mouth and finally entering your room.

you connect the two consoles into your TV in your room, sitting down on the edge of your bed as you load up the games on the screen.

“you can sit here if you want,” you pat the empty spot next to you, to which he carefully sits down on, taking one console from your hand.

“ready?”

he nods, as you start the game.

-- --

“what--?!”

you throw your hands up in frustration, groaning as you flop backwards on the bed.

“i told you, you can’t beat me.” megumi chuckles, dodging a stuffed bear you threw in his direction.

you huffed, sitting back up, determined to beat him at least once.

“one last rematch!”

he lets out a laugh, a rare one that you think you might just never forget, and starts the game again.

after a few minutes of intense clicking, yelling and laughing, you let out a proud shout, the word victory flashing across your screen.

you pick up another stuffed animal from your bed and toss it straight at megumi’s face, celebrating as he lets out an ‘oof’ and glare back at you.

“but i still won around, 7 times, so i get to make you do something- oof-” he stumbles back again from another stuffed animal to the face.

“hmm? i don’t know what you’re talking about--” you pretend to not have heard him before your vision goes momentarily black from a soft object hitting your face, a pink bear landing in your lap.

“hey!”

“what, you keep throwing them at me!”

“fine…”

“hey, why are you getting so close--!”

you tackle megumi backwards onto the bed, throwing your pillows at his face -- not very gently -- as he tries to shield his arms in vain.

“ahh—! okay, okay, i’m sorry, stop it—“ he huffs as you finally stops your attack, his dark blue orbs looking up into yours.

you only now noticed your close proximity, quickly sitting back up to create some distance between the both of you. he clears his throat, fiddling with one of your pillows.

“well, a loss is a loss, what do i have to do?” you sigh, admitting your defeat.

“hmm…” he seems to be lost in deep thought, probably trying to find the worst thing he can make you do.

after a few silent, intense seconds, he finally speaks.

“are you… free tomorrow?”

you turn to him, giving him a questioning look at his strange question. he only stares back at you in response, awaiting your answer.

“um… yeah, i’m free the whole day, why do you as-“

“come watch a movie with me tomorrow.” he blurts out quickly, not even letting you finish your sentence.

you gape at him, still processing his words, unsure if you had heard wrong.

“... sorry?”

his face was reddenning by the second, yet his eyes remained firmly on yours the whole time.

“let’s go watch the new movie in the theater. i heard it’s quite popular already despite releasing only last week.”

“oh… okay, i can ask nobara if she wants to com-“

“don’t!” he says a little too loudly, clearing his throat after as he regains his composure.

“i mean, i- just, you.”

“just.. us?”

he nods.

silence fell again between the two of you, unsure if he was asking you what you thought he was asking you. you decide to test the waters cautiously.

“man.. it’s almost like you’re asking me out on a date, megumi?” you tease lightly, expecting a ‘tch’ or an, ‘as if’.

“so what if i am?”

now that was an answer you weren’t expecting.

“you’re.. joking, right?”

megumi sighs, moving closer until his body was mere centimeters away from yours.

“i’m serious.”

“do you... like me or something?”

he stares at you blankly. “would i ask you on a date if i didn’t have feelings for you, idiot?”

you only just realize how stupid your question sounded, trying to find a response until he reaches up to cup your cheek with one hand.

they felt soft, yet slightly gruff from constant training and fighting, large enough to cover one half of your face. they were warm, slightly trembling probably from nervousness, yet made you wish he’d never take it off.

“it’s okay if you don’t want to. we can forget this ever happened.” his own cheeks turning slightly pink, yours probably even worse as the space between your faces closed in slowly.

“but i don't think i can do this anymore, so just let me be a little selfish this once, okay?”

barely registering his words before he moves in to kiss you, soft lips moving against the other as his hand tightens against the side of your cheek. you barely register your own actions anymore, hands reaching up to tangle themselves in his hair, moving down to his neck, and finally finding home cupped around his face.

he groans against your lips, pressing you down until he was now hovering above you, never breaking the kiss even once in the process. you lost track of how long you both had been making out in your bed before you hear the front door open from downstairs.

frantically, the both of you separated in fear of your mom catching you in the act, catching your breaths while still processing what just happened.

you hear shuffling from downstairs, standing up to escape megumi before you were pulled back into a warm chest.

“wait—“ his arms wrap around you to trap you from leaving his grasp, your eyes looking everywhere but his, and suddenly your wall was the most interesting thing in sight.

“are we… really going to pretend that didn’t happen?” you finally gather the courage to look him in the face, almost melting at the soft pout set on his (now slightly redder than before) lips.

“ilikeyoutoo.” you get out quickly before you lose the chance to say it again.

he stiffens against you, eyes lighting up almost like an excited puppy receiving treats. “you like me? i didn’t hear you, so can you say it again?”

you huff, trying to wriggle your way out of his arms, only resulting in him pulling you closer to sit on his lap. he presses his forehead to yours, chuckling at your futile attempt to escape.

“i said— i like you—!” you ram your head into his, making him groan in pain, loosening his hold on you. the perfect chance for escape.

you saw the opportunity, dashing to the door, twisting the knob, almost getting it open until—

“nope,” megumi’s hand stops the door in time, instead twisting you around until your back was now flat against the wood, both of his palms placed beside your head.

“y/n? megumi?” your mom’s voice calls from downstairs, but all you could hear was your heartbeat thumping loudly in your chest.

“megumi! move, my mom’s home,” you place your hands on his chest, trying to push him away to no avail.

he grabs your pushing hand and places it on the left side of his chest, letting you feel the soft but fast thumping of his heart, almost matching the pace of your own.

“this is all your fault. you’re not gonna take responsibility for it?” he inches closer to your burning face, making you huff and grab his face.

you press your lips to his, feeling him immediately return the kiss, but you pull away after a few seconds, leaving him still trying to kiss you again.

“nope, my mom’s home, and i’m hungry.”

you open the door, seeing your mom begin to set the table with plates of food downstairs. you look back at megumi, who still looked sad after getting his kiss cut short.

sighing, you take his hand in yours, intertwining your fingers together before pulling him down the stairs.

“come on, it’s time for lunch. you’ll get more later.”

you feel him perk up, giving your hand a squeeze as he follows close behind.

you steal a glance at your wrist, still wearing both the hair ties. good thing he hadn’t noticed you stuffing one into his bag this morning.

[whisker-biscuit]

The Birds, The Bees, and The Bottles

Fandom: Psychonauts

Rating: T for mild language and discussions of underage drinking

Summary: Two teens are caught trying to sneak into a bar. Bob finally has a conversation he’s held off for far too long.

Because herbaphony is not the only thing that runs in the Zanotto family.

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

Bob’s phone rang at two in the morning. Judging by the jolly ringtone of Helmut singing Strawberry Fields Forever, it was his personal phone instead of his work one, and that was the real tip off to things being very, very wrong.

He woke up and groggily pulled out of his still-slumbering-husband’s arms to answer the little thing going off on his nightstand.

“H’lo?”

“Bob!” Truman’s voice came out far too loud for the time of night, and far too stressed. “Bob, I’m so sorry to wake you, but something happened with Lili. I need you to pick her up for me, please.”

The older man sat up, much more awake as worry and fear immediately rolled in his gut. Helmut finally began to stir beside him, sensing his partner’s agitation.

“Truman, what’s going on? Pick Lili up from where?”

“The city’s police precinct on Abbey Avenue. She – she called me, but I’m out of state and I wouldn’t get there for hours at least even if I left this instant. She’s not in danger!” He added hastily, hearing the concern before Bob could even voice it mentally. “She didn’t get hurt! She’s just…”

The way he tapered off, the way he hesitated, said more than words could.

“She just got herself into some trouble, and she needs someone to go get her.”

Helmut was sitting up now, and Bob felt the question cross their mental link.

 What happened?

 Truman needs me to pick Lili up from the police station.

“I’m up, I’m on my way right now,” He responded to his nephew verbally, heaving himself out of bed. His husband followed suit despite still looking extremely puzzled, bless him.

“Thank you so much, Bob. I’ll make it up to you as soon as I can, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The older man waved a dismissive hand even though Truman wasn’t there to see it. “Family is s’pposed to do that for each other anyway.”

“Did I hear that right? Our peppy petunia had a run-in with the law?” Helmut asked as soon as his partner hung up. He paused, and in a lower tone – “she didn’t kill anyone, did she?”

“I don’t think it’s that serious,” Bob said, pulling a coat on over his sleep shirt. “But something tells me we still have a few things to worry about. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Ohohoh, no, don’t even think about hoofin’ it without me. We both know I’m the better driver.”

“Neither of us are very good drivers, Helmut.”

“Exactly! That little bit makes all the difference!”

The herbophanist sighed, charmed despite himself and the situation. “Alright, alright. Let’s not keep her waiting.”

The police precinct was nearly dead at this time of night. While it would’ve felt eerie to anyone else, Bob was grateful for the lack of people, and not just because he was still an introvert of the highest degree.

Two teenagers awaited them in the lobby, sitting on a bench together. One was hunched over and burning a hole in the ground with his downcast eyes. The other sat straight up, defiant, holding a glaring contest with the officer standing over them. When Bob entered the room first and met his great-niece’s eyes, her self-assuredness wavered for a brief moment. She hid the slip-up behind a wall of indifference.

“Lili,” he said softly. Then, just as softly but with a gruff tinge of surprise; “Razputin.”

There was no accusation in his voice, but the former scowled harder and the latter looked like he wanted to employ his invisibility. Bob studied them both a moment before his husband appeared and broke the tension with his mere presence.

“We’re here to bust you out, kiddos!” He announced with spread arms, cheerfully ignoring the looks he received from every person in the room.

“Are you Truman Zanotto?” Asked the officer who finally broke his gaze away from Lili to give them a disapproving once-over.

“No, I’m uh, I’m Bob Zanotto, and this is Helmut,” came the awkward reply. “Truman called me to pick Lili up. She’s my great-niece.”

A few seconds of silence passed as the officer made no move to do anything with that information. Bob cleared his throat.

“We’re, uh, listed in her emergency contacts for school?”

“I see. If you can just fill out some paperwork first, we can release her into your custody.”

The herbophanist watched the way Raz seemed to sink further in his seat at the mention of family contacts. The Aquatos were also out of state right now too, if he remembered correctly. Perfect timing for two minors getting up to mischief.

Well, up until they were actually caught.

“And…Razputin, too?” He asked, catching the teen’s startled gaze and giving him the mental equivalent of a thumbs-up.

The officer raised a brow. “Is he related to you, too?”

“Well, uh –”

“Yep!” Helmut interrupted, strolling right up to Raz and giving him a merry clap on the back. The teen had a physique comparable to most adult Olympic athletes, but even he nearly toppled forward from the force of such a big man. “He’s my third cousin, twice removed. Big family. Very close. Holidays are an experience, lemme tell ya!”

“Fine,” the officer pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, okay, I’ll make sure he gets cleared for release too. I’ll be right back.”

He stalked off, muttering something about it ‘being too damn early for this’, and the older couple turned to face Raz and Lili. Helmut steepled his fingers together to rest against his mustache.

“So! Now that Officer Spoil-Sport is gone, are we allowed to know what heinous crime has been committed in the night by my favorite pair of mischief-makers?”

The two glanced at each other. Raz was the one to break their silence.

“We, uh…got caught sneaking into a bar.”

Cold heat rushed through Bob’s core. Helmut blinked once, twice, then let out a boisterous chuckle.

“That’s it? Jesus! From the way you two were acting I thought you’d robbed the First National Bank.”

“…Helmut.” His husband murmured. The psi-king lost his mirth as he caught Bob’s eye.

“Ah…w-well, y’know, while I’m certainly glad we won’t hear about a righteous homicide in the news tomorrow, forgery ain’t exactly a humble hobby either.”

“It was just two IDs,” Lili muttered under her breath. “Not a big deal.”

The ice in her great-uncle’s heart turned frigid, but before he or Helmut could say anything to that, the officer was back. He shoved a handful of forms under Bob’s nose and the herbophanist fumbled to grab them before they all tumbled to the floor.

“Uh, uh, thank you.”

“Alright, we’re putting the pause on this conversation to make you free citizens again, but don’t think that means we’re done with it.” The Psi-King gave the teens the sternest look he could manage. “As soon as we get in the car, you two will have a lot of explaining to do.”

“O-Okay.”

“Uh-huh.”

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

No one spoke a word as they got in the car and started the drive back.

Raz seemed content to continue his efforts to blend in with the background of his seat, still not meeting anyone’s eyes, and Lili stared out the window with her chin in her hand, leaning against the car’s backdoor and letting the lights of the city bathe her in neon sickness.

Helmut, bless his soul, dutifully kept the radio going while he drove, changing the station to something more mellow whenever a song started getting a little too upbeat for the collective mood of the vehicle. Bob sat in the passenger side with his arms folded awkwardly. His brain was buzzing, dreading the inevitable conversation he needed to have with his great-niece and trying to figure out how he was going to go about it.

It surprised them all when Raz spoke over the music.

“It was my idea.”

The two adults glanced at each other, then through the rearview mirror at the fidgeting teen.

“Your idea to go looking for a drink? Or to sneak into a bar to do it?” Helmut asked, turning off the radio.

“Both.”

He still wasn’t meeting their eyes. Bob sighed through his nose.

“I don’t believe you.”

Razputin’s head finally snapped up to stare at him in shock for the fast call on his bluff. “I’m telling the truth!”

“I think you’re only telling part of it, kid.”

“No! I’m telling all of it.”

“Razpu-”

“Oh, come off it, Raz,” Lili snapped a little too loud, making the whole car jump. “Quit trying to take the fall for me. It was my idea to try the stupid fake ID thing, okay? Happy now?”

“Wh – uh, who said anything about being happy about it?” Helmut asked, legitimately confused.

“Look. Neither of us had anything to do tonight, and we were bored, so Raz suggested getting a drink somewhere, but Adam and Lizzie are out of town so we couldn’t ask them.” She crossed her arms and spoke without any inflection. “So, we went out but no one would let us do anything cause we’re minors. I thought that was stupid, because we’re agents same as any of you, so I came up with the sneaking-in part. We only got caught cause one of the bartenders recognized Raz from a show.”

There were a lot of loaded things to parse through from that explanation, but Bob’s mind stalled on one particular detail.

“Adam and Lizzie give you two alcohol?”

“Not…often,” Raz admitted. “Just once or twice, when we asked.”

“Do you mean like, a literal once or twice, or a…an estimated once or twice?”

“Did Dad put you up to this?” Lili shot back. “It was just a few times, like he said. What’s with the inquisition?”

“…Lili –”

 “Raz.”

“Okay!” Helmut proclaimed as he slapped his hand against the steering wheel in boisterous aggression. “Who wants some ice cream?”

Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Cause I’m really feeling some chocolate-vanilla swirl right now. Basic bitch style. Right? Who’s with me?”

Silence.

“Great! Look at that, open Dairy King right there, better take advantage of this opportunity before it slips through our fingers like the melting ice cream we’re all gonna have in about five minutes!”

The psi-king swung into the parking lot in a frenzy and herded the car crew inside before any of them could come out of their shock long enough to protest. It was only as Bob was staring up at fifteen flavors of oversaturated sugary goodness that he realized what had just happened.

He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief over his husband’s diversion. The tension that had been boiling over was cooled significantly by the sudden non-sequitur, and while the teens were rather half-hearted about picking out their sweet treats, there was no longer a risk of an explosion happening.

Metaphorically and literally.

Helmut caught his spouse’s eye with a meaningful look at Lili the moment all of them had their orders in hand, then slung his arm around Razputin’s shoulders and steered him away. “C’mon my lad! Nothing like the cool night air of three in the morning to keep your Hurricane ™ properly chilled!”

The poor boy had no choice but to let himself be pulled outside, leaving the two Zanottos standing awkwardly in the dingy restaurant. Bob gave a nervous scratch at his chin under his beard.

“How about we, uh, find a seat somewhere?”

Lili couldn’t fully cross her arms while holding ice cream, but she did a good job of making it work anyway. “Sure.”

They sat in a booth in the farthest corner from the front counter. Both great-niece and great-uncle stared at their respective sweet treats as if they could teleport them out of this situation. Bob glanced out the window and saw Helmut and Raz standing outside of the car. The former was on one knee with his hand on the teen’s shoulder, speaking earnestly but inaudibly, and the latter was scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the asphalt.

“Are you going to lecture me?” Lili finally cut through the silence.

Bob turned back to her. “No. Not really.”

“No?” She broke her gaze away from her ice cream just a little bit, eyeing him with surprise. “Then why did Helmut take Raz and leave us alone?”

She was so perceptive, so smart. And yet, still so young.

“Well, I… I still want to talk to you about what happened. I’m just not very, good, at this kind of thing.” He took his spoon and absentmindedly began drawing a flower in his soft-serve. “You already know what you did wasn’t a good idea, right? So I don’t think a lecture would help things any on that front.”

She didn’t respond. He continued.

“It’s less about the fake ID and more…the reasons you made the fake ID. Does that make sense?”

“I guess so, but I know what I’m doing, Uncle Bob. I’m not going to drink irresponsibly.”

The herbophanist shook his head. “But you’ll do irresponsible things to be able to drink in the first place.”

“That’s not –” Lili didn’t have a good rebuttal. She folded her arms and grumpily started eating her cherry chocolate delight. “Whatever. It’s two different things, anyway.”

Against his better judgement, Bob began picking at his own food as he thought about how best to bring the subject back up without making the teen defensive again. Spoons clicking against teeth was the only sound between them for a solid minute.

Finally, an epiphany.

“Did Truman ever…tell you anything, about your great-grandma?”

The girl paused with a bite halfway up to her mouth. She frowned, confused. “Grandma Tia? Not much. Just that she died when he was a baby.”

“Yeah. Yeah, she did.” He ran a tired hand over his face. The ache in his heart might have long-since healed into a scar, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when pressed. “She passed away when I was nineteen. The doctors told me it was liver failure.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. Lili’s mouth thinned and she put her spoon down, uncomfortable.

“When I…found out the reason behind her death, I was horrified by it. It didn’t make sense to me why she would willingly do something that hurt her so badly, especially when I was right there to love her and help her. It felt like a betrayal that she never got help or made herself stop. I was…disgusted by the mere thought of doing anything like that.”

Bob took a moment to breathe and wipe his eyes. He wasn’t crying, but better safe than sorry.

“It sounds pretty hypocritical when I say it now, doesn’t it?”

His great-niece only gave him a hesitant look.

“Anyway, uh, where was I…” He worried his lip. “Oh, right. I told myself that I’d never touch the stuff after that. I was angry at what she’d done, and I was determined not to have the same ‘weakness’, so to speak. As you know, it, uh, it didn’t last long. I was at a college party barely a year later when I was invited by some friends to drink with them. I didn’t make human friends very easily back then – actually, I still don’t – so I was a little desperate to keep them. It turned out to be pretty hard whiskey, so I got hammered.”

The man leaned back in his seat, staring at the patterns in the booth table.

“Back then, no one really knew how alcoholism could run in a family. Everyone thought it was a personal choice to keep drinking. It wasn’t even classified as an addiction yet. So I didn’t know how susceptible I was, or how careful I had to be. I’d spend months not having a single drink, thinking I was fine and could handle myself, and then I’d get plastered for a week at parties and bars and God knows what else, and it would take me even longer to get myself to stop again. It was like that even when I was with Ford and his gang. It wasn’t until I started dating Helmut that I started trying to change those habits. I’d never met anyone who loved me so unconditionally that I wanted to be a better person for them, until him. And it worked for a while.

“Well, barring our wedding, of course. I got shitfaced at the reception. It was embarrassing afterwards, but Helmut told me it made our cake-eating ceremony a hell of a great time.”

Lili snorted, and it was accompanied by a tiny upturn of her lips. Then it dropped as her expression became solemn. “And then…everything with Maligula happened, right?”

“Yeah. I think you know the rest of that story.”

“Uh-huh.”

Great-niece and great-uncle sat together for a while, just thinking about it all.

“I know I have to be more careful drinking than a lot of people, Uncle Bob,” Lili finally said at length. “My dad warned me about it when I was old enough to ask.”

“Truman is a good dad,” he murmured in response.

“The best dad.”

“Definitely the best dad.”

More silence.

“I didn’t mean to worry you and him,” she continued. “Or scare you. I know it was dumb to do what we did tonight.”

Bob looked at her, and she gave a conceding sigh.

“Okay, it was dumb to do a lot of what we’ve been doing with this stuff. That doesn’t mean I’m not being careful.”

“Kid, it’s not always just a matter of being careful. I thought I was being careful. I thought that for years and years, and when I finally realized I wasn’t, I convinced myself I could stop any time I wanted to, and kept up the same patterns anyway. That’s what I’m trying to get you to understand. I just don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did. I’m just worried about you.”

Lili closed her eyes with a grimace. “I know. I’m sorry, Uncle Bob.”

“Hey, kiddo, look at me.” He waited until she did so. “I’m not mad at you. I’m not disappointed, either. That’s your dad’s job. I get it, is what I’m saying. It gives you a buzz, and it’s fun and exciting, and you just wanted to have a good time with your, uh…”

Bob leaned in a bit, and dropped his voice to a stage whisper.

“Is Raz still your boyfriend?”

“Wha –” her cheeks went red. “Yes, he is!”

“Alright, sorry, I’m just always out of the loop. No one ever tells me when these things change or not. Anyway,” he continued before she could get brighter than the cherries in her ice cream. “I’m just saying that you gotta be more than careful with this kind of thing. Everyone should be, really, but especially people like us. Plants aren’t the only thing that runs in the Zanotto family, unfortunately, so we just have to be aware of it and act accordingly.”

The teen turned this over in her mind. He could practically see the gears moving. When she looked at him again, it was with a slow, contemplative nod.

“No more late-night bar-hopping?” Her great-uncle asked.

“No more late-night bar-hopping.” She answered, sincere.

“Good.” He looked outside. Helmut and Raz were both lying on the front of the car, pointing out stars to each other. The sight made him smile. “Come on, we’ll work on that whole thing about Adam and Lizzie giving you alcohol another time, when it’s not three in the morning. For now, let’s rejoin our boys again and go get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.” Lili slid out of the booth and tentatively took her family member’s hand. His fingers squeezed hers in reassurance. “And...thanks, Uncle Bob.”

“Well, what can I say. Us weird Zanotto plant people hafta look out for each other, right?”

“Right.”

They walked out together, hand-in-hand.

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

A/N: I knew from promotional material that we'd be going into the mind of someone struggling with alcoholism, but Bob's Bottles punched me hard in the gut. It's probably my favorite mind in the game, both because it's visually gorgeous and because it hit a little close to home with some of the themes, like generational alcoholism and how the addiction can make someone a shell of themselves.

I wrote half of this three weeks ago and then found myself really struggling to finish it because it brought up a lot of old feelings I thought I'd sorted through a long time ago.

Psychonauts, man.

[intercoursefluids]

You Lied to Me?

The Wayne Enterprises building was the most beautiful building Marinette had ever seen. The tour guide was a very sweet man and he loved telling jokes to try to get the class to laugh.

Unfortunately, Lila was on a roll today, lying about knowing the Waynes and growing up with the youngest son, and finding out that they were true mates.

Even if she was claiming that her true mate was Prince Ali a week before the trip was announced, god forbid Marinette points that out and makes Lila shed her crocodile tears.

Even Adrien, her own mate, took Lilas's side and yelled at her for pointing out her lies when she should just stay quiet.

It ended up leading into a huge argument between them that Marinette had to apologize for to get him to talk to her after 3 long weeks of him ignoring her existence.

“Bruce Wayne funds multiple charities around the world in honor of his late parents, he has several adoptive children and a single blood son. Bruce typically keeps his children out of the spotlight and most Gothamites are very good about keeping pictures with them off of the internet.”

As the tour guide talks, Marinette reaches out her hand for Adrien's just for him to brush her off and step away from her.

Wrapping her arms around herself she leaves his side to stand next to the tour guide. At least he tells jokes and tries to make this interesting.

Damian's POV:

“Master Damian, you should start heading to the office if you want to catch Master Dick before his lunch break is over.”

Running his hands over his face he thanks Alfred before grabbing his jacket and starting his car up.

He needed Dick to sign off on his trip to Paris, France since he was his temporary guardian until Father got back from his honeymoon with Selina.

Pulling up to the building he stops. Not because of the bright yellow bus sitting in the parking lot, no, it's because of the intoxicating scent of baked goods, plants, and rain wafting through the air.

Following the smell leads him to the tour group Grayson is leading into the cafeteria.

Walking to Grayson's side he passes him the permission slip, trying to understand why he wants to be near the Blue haired angel getting a lunch tray.

“Grayson, how can you tell if you’ve found your true mate?”

Grayson startles looking up from signing the papers.

“Well, their scent is one way, they will smell like absolute heaven to you and you can’t help but follow it. Another way is that when you see them you want to touch them so you can get your scent on them as well, and when you do touch them, it's electrifying. Literally and figuratively. Do you think you found them?”

Damian nods, his eyes following his mate as she looks for a table to sit at.

“She’s right there. The one with the blue hair.”

Grayson smiles, clapping Damian on the shoulder.

“She’s pretty.”

Damian snorts responding without even thinking.

“She’s beautiful, Grayson. ‘Pretty’ doesn’t even scratch the surface.”

Grayson coos at Damian, being thoroughly ignored.

Damian starts walking towards her, intent on introducing himself when he catches another scent just beneath hers.

Another male’s scent.

He freezes in place making Grayson stop his cooing to instead question him.

“What's wrong? Is it not her?”

Damian watches as she walks to a seat at an empty table away from the rest of her group.

“She-”

Damian cuts off as he watches someone stick out their foot and trip her. Her lunch spills everywhere as she falls to the floor.

Not thinking twice he rushes over to her, holding out his hand and helping her up.

Just like Grayson said little shocks travel up and down his arm and he finds himself never wanting to let go.

She has the most beautiful blue eyes he's ever seen and the most angelic voice he's eve- Oh wait she's talking.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped, I’m so sorry!”

Damian just shakes his head, motioning for one of the janitors to come over and clean up the mess.

When he arrives she automatically drops down beside him to help pick up the mess muttering apologize the entire time.

Damian shifts his hand to her shoulder, subconsciously marking her with his scent and trying to overpower the other males.

“It’s fine honey, this stuff happens all the time. Why don’t you go hop back in line and get another tray? We wouldn’t want you to go hungry now.”

With the janitor's gentle prodding she finally stands up and gets another tray.

On her way back, Damian makes sure to keep an eye out for anyone else who wants to trip her.

The rest of lunch goes smoothly as she takes a seat at the table she was heading to and Damian watches her from his spot next to his brother.

Everything goes fine until they are about to finish the tour. A guy with blonde hair roughly grabs the girl with blue hair pulling her off to the side.

“Ow! Adrien, what’s wrong?”

Damian watches from Grayson's side, wanting to go help but certain she can handle herself.

“You know exactly what you did, Marinette. Don’t play stupid.”

A low growl leaves his chest as his mate is insulted.

“Adrien, you’re not making any sense. What did I do?”

He grabs both her wrists, shaking her violently.

“You belong to me! You are mine Marinette! Trying to get me jealous by flirting with that other guy? Really?! How low can you sink?! It's pathetic!”

She pushes away from him, rubbing at her wrists with the start of a bruise forming.

Damian starts to make his way over, a low, vicious rumbling in the back of his throat.

Grayson, seeing how mad Damian follows him.

“What the hell are you talking about?! I wasn’t flirting with anyone! I fell because Lila stuck her foot out and tripped me! It wasn’t my fault!”

Their argument starts to attract the attention of the other workers, a few running to find security.

Damian starts running as he watches the guy's hand clench before raising it.

He strikes her. Hard.

‘Marinette’ being caught off guard, loses her balance and falls to the ground, turning to look at him before he roughly grabs her by one of her pigtails and pulls her up to his face, and screams at her.

“Don’t talk back to me! I own you and you will do as I say! Do you understand?!”

She pushes him away.

“Whoever decided that you were my true mate was wrong. Dead wrong!”

He snarls, pulling his fist back to strike her.

Damian gets there first.

The next thing everyone knows is Damian Wayne is standing protectively in front of the girl and the guy is several feet away clutching his cheek and groaning.

Grayson kneels next to Marinette, helping her to her feet and taking Damian’s coat from his outstretched hand to wrap around her shoulders.

“Are you okay?”

She nods as he pulls her closer to him away from the fight that is likely to break out before a loud screeching voice cuts through the air.

“True mates? With him? Please Marinette, I knew you were ignorant but I didn’t think you were stupid. I am Adriens true mate. Not you.”

Damian stands up making his way to Marinette, taking her in his arms as she starts to shake.

“What are you talking about Lila? Adrien was there on my birthday, he said we were mates!”

‘Lila’ cackles as other people gasp, some with their phones out recording the entire thing.

“Oh please, did you just take his word for it? Why didn’t you just check his scent? That’s always been the easiest way to tell. Go ahead, I won’t even mess with you.”

She stays frozen looking straight at the boy claiming to be her mate.

“I can’t. I lost my sense of smell when I was a kid. I couldn’t check even if I wanted to.”

Lila looks surprised now, before looking on sadly.

“You really had no idea he was lying, did you?”

She starts shaking, taking a hesitant step towards Adrien.

“Adrien? W-what's she talking about? It’s not true. Is it?”

Her voice ends in a broken whisper, eyes tearing up as he slowly stands up and walks to her.

“You are mine, Marinette. You were mine the moment you put on those earrings. I mean seriously if I don’t take you who will?”

She flinches as he steps closer, his voice getting louder with hysteria.

“Nobody likes you, Mari! I am all you have left now! You want to leave me? HA! I’d like to see you try it.”

At the end of his ‘speech’ he roughly grabs her arm pulling a whimper from her and a very, VERY dangerous sounding snarl from Damian.

Ripping Adrien's hand from her arm while being as gentle as possible to not hurt her he pulls her behind him handing her off to his brothers entrusting them to take care of her.

“Who do you think you are grabbing her like that?”

The words are accentuated with the deep growl rumbling from his chest.

“I don’t see how it's any of your business, what I do with MY personal belongings.”

Damian picks Adrien up by his neck slamming him against the nearest wall.

“Don’t talk about her like she's an object.”

Adrien, being the Buffon with no sense of self-preservation he is, laughs.

“Oh yeah? What's it to you how I treat her? Not like you would want her for anything other than her body anyway.”

Adrien sneers down at Damian, even as he slowly starts to turn purple in the face from his grip on his neck.

Slowly tightening his grip even more he watches as the blonde idiot starts to flail from the lack of breathing. Fighting to get a single breath of air.

“Do not act as if I would ever treat my mate in such a way.”

His voice is deadly, sending shivers down even the security guards spines.

Everyone watches on, some with their phones recording, certain that they are about to see Damian Wayne, their bosses son, about to commit a murder in the lobby.

And no one is even going to try and stop him.

That is until a small pale hand lands on his arm, shooting sparks all the way to his heart.

“Is it true? Are you really my true mate?”

Damian nods ever so slowly, never taking his eyes off the blonde who is slowly losing consciousness.

Two thin, lethal arms wrap around his waist from behind.

“Please stop. I just want to leave right now. Will you take me?”

Without another word Damian drops the barely conscious man, taking his coat off and wrapping it around Marinette's shoulders, tucking her into his side as he swiftly walks her out of the building.

Adrien slowly gets up, trying to chase after them only to be cut short by the three eldest Wayne brothers.

All armed with glares that could kill.

Behind them stands all of the Wayne enterprises employees, making a human barrier between the newly found mates and Adrien.

The brother with the white piece of hair steps forward pushing Adrien back down to the ground.

“I think we need to have a little talk.”

[jinx-jade]

Secret Dreams Chapter 2: Meeting the Wayne’s

Marinette woke from the dream zone, leaving her alone in the empty bed of her hotel room. While Aunt Penny, Uncle Jagged, and herself were staying at the same hotel, Marinette had a separate room from the couple.

When she went to open her eyes the sun was shining directly in them, temporarily blinding her, which was strange since she had closed the curtains last night. Squinting her eyes open slowly to let them adjust to the bright light. Marinette tensed when she could make out the shape of a person.

“Rise and Shine my little rockstar!”

Relaxing, Marinette groaned at her Uncle's childish antics.

“It’s too early for you to have this much energy!” Marinette whined, pulling her pillow over her face.

“Nah, no such thing as too much energy!” Jagged informs her. “Besides we're meeting up with Brucie and a couple of his kids at W.E. today.”

Marinette grinds at that piece of information before quickly replacing it with a scowl. She removed the pillow from her face and glared at Jagged.

“I’m not going anywhere without having some form of caffeine first.” Marinette bargains

“Well then isn’t it a good thing that I got us both coffee?” Penny suggests as she walks in to hand Marinette her cup. “After all, not all of us wake up as energetic as Jagged does.”

“Gasp, Betrayed by my wife!” Jagged cried, placing a hand over his heart dramatically.

“Did? Did you just say Gasp?” Marinette questioned looking a lot less annoyed and more like she was about to explode from laughter.

“I know what I said, little rockstar!” Jagged exclaimed as if it would help his case. Instead of the desired effect, Penny and Marinette burst into laughter.

Penny wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, “Jagged is right though little star” causing Jagged to preen a bit at the praise. Penny just shook her head at his antics, "We're meeting up with a few of the Waynes to discuss any final details for the charity gala."

Marinette nodded her head before taking a sip of her coffee, letting out a pleased sigh.

"Let me shower and get ready, then we can head out?" Marinette suggested. Penny agreed and dragged Jagged out to let her get ready. 

Marinette grabbed an outfit out of her suitcase that she had forgotten to unpack the previous night. Entering the bathroom and locking the door, disappearing until she was ready for the day.

"Well, today seems like it'll be a fun day, huh Sugar cube?" Plagg asks rhetorically, grinning as he abandons his hiding spot.

"You think any kind of chaos is fun, stinky socks!" Tikki argues leaving her spot as well. 

Once the kwamis of creation and destruction came out of hiding, the rest followed suit. Most of the kwamis moved towards the mini-fridge to grab their breakfasts. Some of them settled on the counter while others moved to sit on the bed or couch.

The kwamis made idle chit-chat until Marinette left the bathroom. She was wearing a high collar ivory blouse with long frilly sleeves and lace details. The blouse was tucked into her black high waist sailor shorts, with gold buttons and trim. She spends only a few minutes debating whether to wear platform heels or her knee-high black combat boots before deciding to go with the boots. 

“Which of us would you prefer to join you today Mademoiselle Guardian?” Kaalki questions with her usual grace and elegance.

“Hmm, maybe you, Tikki, Plagg, and Trixx?” Marinette considers it before nodding to herself. “Yeah, let’s go with the four of you. Unless any of you wish to stay here?”

“And miss the chaos? Don’t be ridiculous, Sugar cookie!” Plagg answers with mock offense. Trixx nodded their head in agreement with Plagg’s statement.

Tikki let out a sigh, “Someone has to keep you from getting into trouble.” Shaking her head in amusement, “Might as well be my luck.”

“As you wish, Mademoiselle Guardian. I have no issues with your decision.” Kaalki informs her.

“All right then! Let���s get going before Uncle Jagged comes to get me.” Marinette makes a face at that, making the kwamis laugh. “Have a nice day everyone. Remember, don’t be seen, and don’t cause too much trouble.”

Each kwami gave their agreement to stay out of sight and not make trouble. Marinette nodded her head, grabbing her small black backpack for her sketchbook, pencils, and the kwamis. After checking that she had everything, Marinette made her way towards the lobby. Once there, she had no trouble spotting her Aunt and Uncle. Easily making her way towards them.

“Ready to go little star?” Penny questioned

“Yup! Plus I’m much more awake after finishing my coffee and taking a shower.” Marinette smiled as they started walking out of the hotel.

Jagged led them to a sleek black car with an older gentleman standing next to it.

“A pleasure to see you again Master Jared.” the man politely clams, only to have Jagged tackle him into a hug.

“Good to see ya, Alfie!” Jagged exclaimed as he pulled away.

“You must be Mrs. Rolling and Miss Dupain-Cheng?” the man, Alfie? Questioned. Receiving a nod from both Penny and Marinette.

“But feel free to call me Marinette. My last name is a bit of a mouth full.” 

“And Penny is fine for me, Monsieur.”

“Of course Mrs. Penny, Miss Marinette. Master Bruce sent me as your ride to W.E., and anywhere else you may go during your stay. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, but please call me Alfred.”

Once introductions were over and done with, the group moved into the car. Heading towards Wayne Enterprise.

Marinette looked out of the windows of the car, watching the gothic architecture pass by. Damian had been right about the city seeming dark and gloomy. He was also right about it being the perfect inspiration for her new clothing line, Shadows. Marinette took out her sketchbook and got to work, not even noticing the time passing by.

“We have arrived,” Alfred claimed as he turned off the car, stepping out and opening the car doors for them. “Simply head to the reception desk and introduce yourselves. They have already been made aware of your appointment.” and with that Alfred reentered the car, driving off, presumably, back to Wayne Manor.

They did as Alfred instructed and were taken up to Bruce Wayne’s office. Jagged knocked on the Office door. After a few moments, Mr. Wayne appeared in the doorway.

“Jared, I’m glad you could make it,” he said welcoming them into the office. “Am I right to assume that these lovely ladies are your wife and niece?”

“That’d be a right on assumption” Jagged agreed. “This is my wife Penny Rolling, she’s also my lovely assistant.”

“It’s nice to meet one of Jagged's childhood friends, feel free to call me Penny.”

Jagged continues with the introduction, “And this little rockstar is my niece and designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Wayne. You can call me Marinette, my last name is a bit of a mouth full.” 

“Please call me Bruce, there’s no need to be so formal.” Once Marinette nodded her head, Bruce started to introduce his kids. “These are a few of my children. My second eldest son Jason Todd-Wayne, my second youngest son Timothy Drake-Wayne, and my daughter Cassandra Cain-Wayne.”

Marinette smiled at them before taking a seat on the office couch to sketch. She mostly stayed out of the business conversation, only really talking when the conversation had to do with herself. Marinette took time to observe the Waynes for herself because while she trusted Damian with her life, he was their younger sibling and therefore biased.

Marinette observed Jason first. He was sarcastic and would throw in snarky comments now and then. When Jason wasn’t talking, he would be reading his book which seemed to be a classic novel. Marinette let out an amused huff when she realized that Damian’s description was accurate. He’s a book nerd wrapped in spikes and leather.

She noticed that the attention had turned to her, most likely because she had no reason to be amused. Marinette simply raised an eyebrow towards them until they went back to the previously abandoned conversation.

Her observation moved to Timothy, or Tim, who seemed to be exhausted but he easily kept up with the conversation. She noticed that he was holding a thermos for what seemed like dear life. Now the caffeine zombie made more sense. In all honesty, Marinette thought that the caffeine dependence was a “mood.”

The attention once again turned to herself. ‘Must have said that out loud’ Marinette assumed. She simply ignored the attention until the conversation started again. Once the conversation was flowing freely, she went back to her observations.

When Marinette looked in Cassandra’s, or Cass’s, direction, she found that Cass was already looking at her. Curiosity clear in her eyes. It would seem like Damian was right with all of his information on his siblings. Cass was trying to read her body language. Marinette quickly thought of an idea, tensing all the muscles in her body to slowly relax them as she quickly turned her attention to her sketchbook, pretending to be embarrassed.

When Marinette looked back up, Cass looked amused, causing Marinette to smirk. The smirk seemed to confuse Cass, who tilted her head to the side as if trying to look at her from a different angle to get a better read. Marinette simply copied Cass’s movement, making both girls seem confused. Cass continued to change her body language only to have Marinette copy it. A smile appeared on Cass’s face.

“Can we keep?” Cass asked gesturing to Marinette, which made Marinette burst into laughter.

The others in the room looked confused before realization appeared on the Waynes’ features.

“You can’t just ask to adopt people out of nowhere Cassandra,” Bruce said with a sigh.

“Keep?” Cass asked again with her best puppy dog eyes. Bruce simply shook his head, causing Cass to pout.

That seemed to be the last straw as everyone burst into laughter.

_____________________

Marinette collapsed onto her bed with a smile. Letting herself be consumed into the exhaustion from the day. She drifted off to the dream zone once again.

Tag list: @little-bluestar @redbullgivescaswings @stackofrandomstuff @meismu @maskedpainter @nyx-in-line @iamabrownfox @m0chik0furan @jjmjjktth

[samwilsonshandsandass]

Interrupted Road Trip

Pairing: Sam Wilson x reader x Loki Summary: You and Sam are on a road trip. Your car breaks down and you find a hotel in the middle of the forest. The receptionist doesn’t seem surprised you’re stumbling upon the hotel and a room has already been prepared for you. Will you enter? Warnings: smut (vaginal and anal, oral from and to m and f), dom/sub tendencies, restraints, one spank, choking Word count: 2532 A/N: This is my entry for @ambrosiase Hotel Indigo writing challenge. Congratulations on everything you achieved and thank you for hosting this challenge. I chose the characters Sam Wilson and Loki with the room "Darkest Desires" and a vacation, namely a road trip.

You were upset at your car breaking down but after a little trek you and Sam saw a Gothic manor in the middle of a clearing of the windswept and rainy forest. The gravel in front was devoid of cars or any other vehicles. Honestly, you would have expected carriages drawn by at least four horses each. Nowhere was any sign of what this building was or who inhabited it. Someone was probably there, because light shone through the windows left and right of the carved double door. A few windows in the upper stories were illuminated.

The double doors opened on their own as you and Sam approached. You entered the hotel lobby. Light came from a black chandelier, small lamps on side tables between velvet chairs and loveseats and black and dark red candles on the walls. The color pattern was accompanied by dark wooden furniture. No one seemed to be there but as soon as you stood in front of it, there stood a person. They didn’t seem to have moved from somewhere in the back or came from under the reception desk.

“Please follow me. Your room has been prepared for you” They said and walked up the stairs with a candleholder.

Sam looked at you and shrugged his shoulders.

After three flights of stairs the person stopped in front of a double door. It was carved wood, as dark as the rest of the wooden furniture of the manor. Carved in it were things like vines and leaves, berries, apples and snakes. Peculiarly (or deliberately), the snakes were always near the apples. Above eye level were two carved and painted golden letters.

“D. D.” You read aloud. “What does that stand for?”

“Darkest Desires” The person said and went down the hallway and the stairs again.

“What do you think about this? Should we go in?” Sam looked at you and squeezed your hand.

“Why not? The car will still be broken down when we get out of this forest and besides, this feels weirdly homey.”

“Homey. Right” Sam chuckled.

“Let’s do this?”

“Yeah.”

You walked in the room, the doors once again opened by themselves. The room obviously focused on the big four poster king size bed with a canopy. The canopy was made of thick fabric, almost as thick as the floor length curtains to the windows showing the rain picking up even more. Light came once again from tall dark candles in candleholders on the wall. To the left and right of the bed were bedside tables and besides each stood a velvet armchair. On the left side was an oriel with two chaise lounges of the same material and on the right side a door led into a dark luxurious bath. You couldn’t see much of it but somehow you knew it had floor heating, a whirlpool and a big shower with special settings. It was like intuition.

Sam walked ahead to the bed and pulled the canopy away. “Would you look at the bedding and all the cushions! Now I’m, feeling very lucky to have broken down near here.” Sam pulled you down to sit on the bed. He kissed your lips softly.

“So you are the two Midgardians who broke down” Someone said calmly from the direction of the arm chair.

“My fucking God!” Sam jerked away from you.

“While people still do worship me in Norway, I did not think you were one of them. The American” The same voice continued.

“This can’t be normal” You looked over to the person. The person who looked like Loki. Who spoke like Loki.

“Come now, you didn’t think this place was normal, did you?”

“Not exactly, but this is not what I expected. Can’t say what I expected though” Sam, now sitting upright and pulling you to him, said.

“Why exactly are you here? And how did you get here? Into this room?” You blurted out.

“I am here because I have been involved with this manor for some short time. If someone who enters tickles my fancy, I come down myself and today I am glad I did. As to how, constraints you humans have, I don’t have.”

“Wait. What do you mean ‘short time’?” Sam thought out loud. “What even is ‘short’ for you?”

“Decades, one or two centuries” Loki mused. “You saw the gravel path. Big enough for carriages.”

“O- kay.”

“When thoughts about time and space constraints are out of the question, I expect you two can think of why I’m here?”

“Sure we can” Sam said. “And you are…?”

“Yes.”

Loki rose from the armchair and stood in front of the short side of the bed. With a flick of his wrist the canopies on the sides facing the room flew open. Sam looked at you. You looked at Sam.

“We did talk about this. You’re sure you want to do this with him?” Sam looked from you to Loki.

“Yeah. Are you?” You looked between the two.

“Yes.”

“I thank you for the trust, Midgardians. Come here, pet” Loki beckoned you over to stand in front of the bed.

With deliberate slowness you walked over to him.

“I wouldn’t test myself, if I were you” He smirked.

“And what are you gonna do?” You challenged him.

Loki ignored you and spoke to Sam: “Is she always bratty?”

“Sometimes. She likes to test me. And, apparently, you. I can get her to behave. I’ll look forward to seeing how you’ll deal with her.”

You looked over at Sam in mock betrayal but couldn’t keep your grin full of memories of you and him and full with anticipation at what Loki would or could do completely off your face. You walked the last steps to stand directly before Loki. From behind, you felt Sam looking at you.

Loki took of your clothes one by one. Shirt, pants, socks, bra, at last your panties. He pushed you back until you laid flat on the bed. After another flick of his wrist, Sam and Loki were both naked. Both were already hard and standing proud. The contrast of Sam’s warmth to your left and Loki being colder than the average human sent a tingle down your spine.

“And now?” You grinned at them both.

Loki didn’t answer. Instead, he bent down and brushed his lips over yours. He sucked on your bottom lip and licked over your lips. You opened them and let Loki play with you further. Sam moved behind you and laid you between his legs.

Loki kissed his way down your body. You felt his lips on your body like they were everywhere. Everywhere except your neck. There, you felt Sam’s hand. He massaged and squeezed it. After a tighter squeeze you whimpered.

The God who seemed to have several pairs of lips looked up at you and smirked. “Look at you. Already whimpering and I didn’t even use seidr…”

Sam chuckled and stroked your cheek. “You wanted this. About that seidr of yours. Never saw you use it. What can you do with it?” He looked at Loki.

“I’m glad you asked, Samuel.”

After a glimmer, you were turned on your belly and felt your arms being pulled together behind your back. Your legs were spread and your mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape. You wriggled and tested your restraints.

Something cracked down on your butt. You hadn’t seen anything to do that with anywhere. And neither Loki’s nor Sam’s hands were near your butt. Loki had migrated to the head of the bed and stood near your head. Now and again he stroked your hair.

“Seeing her ass jiggle without anything in the way is incredible” Sam moaned.

You felt the familiar sting but with each second you still felt it, seemingly elongated by something or someone, you felt something else wrap around your legs, arms and torso.

“This is more than what would just achieve the goal” The tone of Sam’s voice told you, even while still locking eyes with Loki, that he was squeezing his cock.

“This is as much art as much as it is arousal.” Loki looked Sam up and down. His eyes stayed a little below Sam’s navel.

“I’ll take this as a compliment.”

“Oh, it is.”

With that, you heard a whoosh and there stood three duplicates of the Loki currently stroking your hair and spanking you but at the same time not. If that made sense. Then again, sense should be out the windows with the velvet curtains.

You turned your head and saw Sam being passionately kissed by the two Lokis that had just appeared. But you couldn’t enjoy the sight of Sam being pleasured, four hands caressing him and Sam seemingly not knowing where and who to touch and kiss, although technically they were the same person. Just double and that without any alcohol.

The Loki behind you pulled you to stand with your back to his chest. His colder lips traveled down your spine. He stood up again and pulled you closer to him. There was a smaller whoosh sound and two of the Lokis disappeared. One on your side and one on Sam’s side. The remaining God softly kissed down Sam’s back to America’s ass.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” You grinned.

“That it is” Loki spread the cheeks and asked Sam: “Wanna experience something new?”

“Not like I don’t already.”

“I’ll take that as a yes” Loki started to sink into Sam slowly.

“I’m not pre-“ Sam said.

“Do not worry. I know a way” He whispered into his ear. Sam closed his eyes with a moan when he was entered from behind.

Sam seemed to need no time to adjust, despite being allegedly not prepared, and was immediately lost to pleasure. Loki wrapped his arms around him, pressing his chest to Sam’s back. The Loki behind you mirrored his twin or whatever he was in his position. He nudged your back entrance with his cock.

“Do not forget your lady” The Loki behind you addressed Sam.

His eyes snapped open and he chuckled breathlessly. “Sorry. It’s just so good.”

“Thank you” Both Lokis said in unison. “Now, enter her.”

Sam nodded and put his cock to your pussy. He filled you slowly. Agonizingly so. But at the same time you felt Loki entering you from behind.

“H- how is this possible?” You wanted to know.

“God” He whispered simply into your ear.

“Uh-hu.”

Loki grabbed your hair and bent your head backwards to kiss you passionately. You felt Sam’s wet lips and tongue licking and sucking on your neck. You could hear Sam being kissed as well and opened your eyes to see only sleek black hair just above Sam’s shoulder.

Fairly quickly, the men had found a rhythm that didn’t allow you any reprieve from stimulation. When Loki pulled back, Sam and ‘his’ Loki pushed in. Sam kissed you messily and started rubbing your clit softly. He spread your juices on his fingers and pushed them into your mouth, all the way to your throat. Your whimper morphed into a gag. Loki squeezed the base of your neck and at the same time Sam pulled his fingers from your mouth and slapped your clit.

You saw stars behind your eyes. You mouth opened in a silent scream and you felt yourself clenching both on Sam and Loki. Both didn’t cease or falter in their movements, they just stroked you even more and whispered sweet nothings to you.

“Such a good, pretty girl” Sam whispered when you went lax in their arms.

“Samuel, pull out of your lady” Loki ordered.

“Do I have to? She’s so warm and wet…”

“Obey me. You won’t regret it. And you’ll still have me behind you.”

“How?” Sam asked and looked back at the Loki behind him who was identical to the one behind you.

“Wait. You can feel that?” You asked.

“Excuse me?” The Loki behind you, the original one, responded and applied a little pressure on the sides of your neck.

“That came out wrong. I meant, can you feel what your illusion is doing?”

“Yes, pet. Before any of you ask, it would be too hard to explain. And I’d rather use my mouth for something else.”

“No shit, Sherlock” You deadpanned.

Sam’s eyes went wide at what you’d just said.

Loki’s voice became dangerously quiet. “Talk back to me once more and see what happens.”

You nodded. Sam smiled at you. “My, aren’t you a good girl for him?” He kissed you messily until moans of him and you broke the kiss, because the Loki behind Sam had thrust into him.

Loki laid down on the bed and pulled Sam with him. ‘Your’ Loki pulled out of you as well but before you could do much more than pout, he pushed you to your knees and pressed your head to Sam’s cock.

He pushed your head down until you gagged on Sam. He whimpered at the feeling.

“You feel so good…” He moaned.

He was pushed into you, just as Loki kissed his way up your thighs. Loki licked across your lips before he spread them and suckled on the inner sides of them, now and again poking his tongue a little into you. Then He stopped.

“Samuel.”

Sam just whimpered and continued to thrust into your mouth, like he was possessed.

“Samuel, you will not come before your lady. You will come at the exact moment she comes. Understood?” Loki said sternly.

“Y- yes” He moaned.

As reward for that, the Loki behind Sam quickened his pace. You hollowed your cheeks and licked him. Loki started sucking on your clit and inserted two fingers in you. He found your G spot almost immediately. You were already moaning around Sam because of how Loki pleasured your clit. But apparently that wasn’t enough for Loki.

He went to town on your G spot and you could do nothing but take it, the almost overwhelming pleasure transforming into muffled whimpers around Sam. Sam in turn whimpered because of the added vibrations and the thrusts he received from his Loki.

“I want you to cum, my darling” Loki whispered into your ear and thrust into you.

You felt like you ascended to the heavens and stayed there. Faintly, probably down on Earth, you heard a mix of whimpers, moans and even fainter gulps.

When you were able to open your eyes again, you looked into Sam’s big brown, and dazed, eyes.

“There you two are” Loki chuckled.

You looked around and saw the last Loki illusion having vanished.

“When you can move, let us take advantage of the whirlpool.”

In the bathroom, that had indeed floor heating, so your intuition like feeling had been right, you stepped into the whirlpool with Sam. Loki sat down between you and pulled you both close to him.

“Stay as long as you like” Loki offered.

Your car would still be broken down if you didn’t get a mechanic to come all the way out here. And you didn’t have anywhere else to be. After all, you were on a road trip with Sam.

What were a few more days?

[nillabeam]

strange magic

synopsis: sex pollen quirk? sounds fake. until you realize it isn’t. it’s totally real. not only is it totally real but it’s effecting you AND your fellow pro hero, Ground Zero. 

pairings: bakugoxf!reader

warnings: it’s smut so 18+, language but that’s a given, slight violence and a brief blood mention, characters are also aged up

a/n: based on this request!! it’s a lot different than libido in terms of like, content lmao, but the situation is similar sort of?? idk hopefully it’s not completely terrible bc i felt like i was a bit rusty writing this?? also excuse my overall writing ability and bad grammar <333 also there’s like a little tiny bit of fluff at the end!!! 

“Give up already!” 

Ground Zero barks, threatening sparks emitting from his palms. He was standing a few feet away from a woman, hysterical and clearly enraged by something he honestly didn’t care enough about to remember. Something about a cheating husband, maybe? Whatever, one thing he did know was that this lady just stabbed a guy in the middle of a popular park and if he didn’t hurry the poor cheating bastard would be dead soon. 

The woman pressed her heel into the victims chest, he yelped pathetically in response. “I said get away from me! This son of a bitch is going to get everything he deserves!” 

“Not happenin’ lady. Bastard or not you can’t just fucking stab people because you feel like it!” Ground Zero snaps back, he shifts his weight forward. 

“He has to pay! I’ll make him pay!” She screams, turning the knife in her hand, her heel digging further into the victims chest, it was becoming increasingly apparent that Ground Zero had to make his move soon. 

“Shut up and listen! Drop the knife or you’re gonna end up worse than that asshole!” He threatens, muscles tensing, ready to explode forward and overwhelm the woman if she didn’t comply. 

“I’ll slit his goddamn throat don't you da-” She’s interrupted by your hand gripping her wrist bending it backwards in an unnatural direction. The movement makes her cry out and drop the blade. She tries to take the knife back but a swift jab of your elbow to her nose sends her reeling backward onto the floor. 

“You bitch! That really fucking hurt!” Her hands grip her face, trying to suppress the heavy flow of blood now streaming from her broken nose. 

“Shut up! You should have listened to me when you had the chance!” Ground Zero is suddenly beside you, he extends a fist and you meet it with yours, resulting in a friendly fist bump. “Nice elbow, Rookie.” He comments, impressed.

“Nice diversion.” You reply, leaning down to restrain the woman. “The police will be here soon so we should help-” You’re interrupted by a strange purple mist clouding your vision. 

“What the hell is this shit?” Ground Zero asks, fanning his hand in front of his face, trying to push away the mist. “Her quirk?” You suggest, landing a quick precise blow to the woman’s neck, incapacitating her. The mist dissipates, having only reached you and the other hero. 

“Hope it’s not some kind of defensive response. Like poison or something.” You worry for a second before standing, waving the remaining fumes away. “It’ll take more than some fucking purple bullshit to kill me.” You squint your eyes at him, an amused smirk finding your lips. “That sounds like something someone who gets killed by purple bullshit would say.” You quip, amused despite the looming danger of being exposed to an unknown quirk. A devious smirk finds his lips. 

“If it kills me, it’s killing you too so I guess I’ll see you in hell, asshole.” 

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

“They said they’ll get back to us once they figure it out. Also they said we can go home but we have to stay put, since we feel okay, oh, and also to call if we suddenly feel like we’re dying.” You explain, clicking the comm. in your ear off. 

“Great. So we can die at home instead.” He mocks, rolling his eyes. You lift your arms above your head to stretch them, sore from a day of hero work. “I’m perfectly fine with going home early, maybe I won’t die and I can catch up on laundry.” You move past him toward the locker rooms, more than ready to change out of your hero costume. 

“Oi, Rookie!” He calls out. 

You turn to face him, still walking backwards toward your destination. 

“Good work today.” 

You can feel your cheeks heat up at the compliment. 

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

Once you finally changed into your civilian clothes you walk into the lobby, distracted, hand in your purse fishing for your phone. You smack into something hard. “O-ow.” You mumble, scrunching up your face in discomfort, hand reaching up to rub your nose trying to alleviate some the pain. 

“Watch it, Rookie.” 

The voice is familiar and you realize you’ve hit a person. More specifically, Ground Zero. Or Bakugo, as you knew him when the two of you weren’t busy being heroes. “Bakugo, sorry I was-” You un-scrunch your face so you could see properly. You should have closed your eyes and ran away instead because the sight in front of you would prove to be too much for your stupid brain to handle. 

He stood before you, bag slung easily over his shoulder, the fabric of his expensive looking dress shirt clung perfectly to his impressive chest and biceps. Your eyes trail down the length of his lean body, his other hand shoved into his dress pants, perfectly ironed, and the way they showed off his thick powerful thighs nearly had you drooling. It’s becomes painfully obvious that you’re ogling him. 

You’d forgotten there was a staff meeting earlier that morning and he was dressed nicer than usual. Yet, you’d seen him before all dressed up like this, so why was the sight of him making you feel hot now? 

“My eyes are up here, pervert.” 

His gruff voice snaps you out of your trance, you snap your head up to meet his fierce stare. Your entire face now covered in a thick blush. “I-I wasn’t looking at anything-” You lie, pushing past him. He takes a second to do some looking of his own, his eyes fixed on the swell of your ass as you walk away from him. 

You stand impatiently outside the agency, fiddling with your phone, trying to push the image of Bakugo’s perfect body our of your mind. You take a quick look over your shoulder, making sure the blonde hadn’t followed you out. The sound of a honk made you turn attention to the company car that pulled up ready to take you home and save you from your own embarrassment. 

Sliding into the backseat you offer a nervous smile, “S-Sorry thank you-” You’re interrupted by the force of someone pushing you into the space of the empty seat next to you. “Move over, Rookie.” The voice makes you tense, and you lose your balance falling back awkwardly into the empty seat. Your hands moving to tug the hem of your skirt down as not to expose yourself. 

“W-What?” You sit up properly, adjusting in your seat. “Get your own car.” Your tone laced with false confidence immediately ruined by his ruby orbs peering down on you. 

“Quit whining.” He snaps, shoving you further over with his large frame. “Drive.” He instructs and to your horror the car starts moving. You push against him with both hands, shoving him back over to his side. “Keep your dumb giant body over there.” He lets out an amused ‘tch’ and leans back in his seat. A stretch of awkward silence fills the air and it takes a second for you to relax in your seat. 

There’s an obvious tension between you two, it’s thick and heavy and it makes Bakugo’s chest tighten. He decides against his better judgement, to find out if you were feeling just as fucking needy as he was. 

Bakugo keeps his attention fixed on the window, but experimentally spreads his legs, his knee hitting yours. You take the bait like a fool. Shifting away from him, your mouth opens to lecture him about personal space but your jaw snaps as your eyes fix on the prominent bulge in his slacks. It finally dawns on you that he’s not even hard, he’s just that big. 

“Shit-” You mutter out loud. Panic covers your features at your sudden lack of filter and you force yourself to look up, not surprised that Bakugo’s glaring down at you. “Keep looking at me like that, Princess, and i’ll get the wrong idea.” The pet name makes you rub your legs together in anticipation, why were you being so desperate right now? Suddenly, you felt the overwhelming urge to rip those stupid pants right off of his body and slip his cock in your mouth. 

“I’m not!” You blurt out the obvious lie, covering your flushed face before smacking your head on the window in a feeble attempt to physically knock the sinful thoughts out of your mind. You were finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything but the man beside you, he let out a dark chuckle at your embarrassment.

You glance over again and he rolls his hips slightly, purposefully, as he notices you sneaking another peek. “Oi!” He grips your face in his hand, roughly squeezing your cheeks together, you whimper at his force and you see his eyes widen a bit at the sound.

“What did I just fucking say, Princess?” You move your hands up to pry at his wrist to loosen his grip but he won’t budge. Your eyes betray you and you look down again. You swear his pants are even tighter then before and your tongue rolls out of your mouth at the sight, practically salivating.

“Oh fuck-“ Bakugo groans unable to keep himself from shoving his fingers into your open mouth. Your mouth shuts immediately and you begin to suck harshly against his slender digits. “Shit, you’re so fucking needy.” He began rhythmically pushing his fingers deeper into your mouth, eliciting a gag as he reached the back of your throat. You were actually drooling now, all over yourself and his hand, but you continue to take his fingers greedily. They actually tasted better than you could have imagined, they had a slight sugary sweetness to them. 

Pulling his fingers from your warm mouth, he watches as excess saliva drips out, you unable to stop it due to his vice grip on your cheeks. His gaze darkens at the sight and he’s looking at you with a hungry need that makes you rub your legs together. Leaning forward enough to feel his breath fan your face, he smirks darkly, chewing his bottom lip in anticipation. 

“Such a mess for me already and I haven’t even touched you yet.” He teases, his nose brushes against yours and you lean forward, whining when he pulls back just enough that he’s just out of reach. You clutch the fabric of his dress shirt in both hands, trying to pull him closer to you. “Bet you’d like that huh, Princess?” he asks, and you can’t help but nod like an idiot. You feel his grip on your face loosen a little. 

His tongue lolls from his mouth slightly, per his instincts and he leans in, unable to control himself any longer, ready to taste that cute mouth of yours when the driver clears his throat rather loudly.  

The two of you freeze, hyperaware of your surroundings. Bakugo pulls his hands away and you nearly fall forward. 

“We’ve arrived, Miss.” 

You wipe the spit off of your face as quickly as you can, and you stare at Bakugo in horror. “I-uh-” Your brain fails you as you try to form coherent sentences. Grabbing your bag from the floor you scramble out of the car shouting a ‘thank you’ to the driver as you leave Bakugo in the car alone, with his lewd thoughts, raging hard on and a very polite driver. 

It takes him a second to snap out of his daze fully and by then he’s already a few blocks down the street. “Fuck-” He grips the passenger and driver side seats and leans forward so he can see the driver. “Stop the fucking car.” The driver looks confused, “S-Sir?” Bakugo is looking over his shoulder through the backseat window and the tightening in his chest worsens as he continues to get further and further away from your apartment. 

“I said stop the fucking car.” He snaps again and the driver begins to slow the vehicle down to stop. But Bakugo being the impatient little shit that he is exits the car before it can even stop properly leaving the driver thoroughly annoyed and maybe a little bit flustered. 

He starts a normal pace once he’s out of the car but it’s not long before he breaks out into a full sprint toward your place. 

You’re clutching your chest, trying to calm yourself, but the urge to slip your hands between your legs to relive some tension overwhelming you. Every time you try to think of something besides the goddamn porno scene in the car your brain throws it right back at you. 

Just as you hike up the front of your skirt ready to finish the job yourself when violent banging on your door makes you scream pathetically in surprise. You throw it open immediately. It’s Bakugo. Thank heavens it’s Bakugo. His face flushed, thin layer of sweat glistening in the afternoon light. 

“You too?” He asks breathlessly. 

“Yeah.” You respond, equally dazed. 

“Fuck.” You say simultaneously.

You blink and his large hands are gripping your biceps to pull you toward himself and his lips crash hungrily against yours. He walks you both forward enough to shut the door behind him with his foot. His hands move to your waist and he spins you both around shoving you back against the door, his palms pressing against it, arms caging you in. 

“What are you doing to me?” He asks, there’s a mixture of jest and seriousness in his voice. He tugs his dress skirt collar open exposing more of his neck and chest in an attempt to cool himself down. 

Now he’s done it. You can’t help yourself any longer, and you lick a hot stripe up his neck, before doubling back to pepper desperate kisses against it. A low throaty groan escapes him and your fingers fumble as you begin to unbutton his dress shirt completely. He watches as you undress him, his tongue darting from between his lips wetting them before he leans down to capture you in another needy kiss.  Shrugging the shirt off of his body, he begins to unbuckle his belt. 

You pull back for air, eyes wandering to his clothed member, eager for to see him, to taste him. He can see it too, the want, the need in your eyes. It matches the look in his own, vermillion and glassy. Your self control wavers again and you drop to your knees pulling his slacks down with a few good tugs, they were as tight as they looked. 

Finally, his cock is free and of course it’s bigger than you thought, you take a moment to admire it before slipping it into your mouth. He hisses at the sudden warmth, both hands tangling into your hair, the dull pain against your scalp elicits a moan and you feel him shudder as he tries to compose himself. 

“Couldn’t wait to suck my-” His breath hitches, an unintentional whimper falling from his lips as you move to take the entirety of him, cheeks hollowing as you greedily suck his cock. His hips rut involuntarily and you gag around him, the feeling of your throat around his aching cock almost send him over the edge. 

Your movements are desperate and sloppy, moaning and mewling against him like his cock is the best thing you've ever tasted. You make eye contact and notice he’s having a hard time keeping his cool. His face flushed a dark pink, panting, low groans falling easily from him lips. 

You’re honestly quite pleased with yourself. 

With a sharp tug he pulls you off of his dick, excess saliva drips from your mouth and you look up at him confused. He presses the pad of his thumb against your tongue and you open your mouth wider for him. 

“You’re being such a greedy little slut.” He comments, a smirk finding his lips, his hands move to grip the front of your dress shirt and he pulls you up off of your knees, tearing the shirt in the process. The second you’re standing he pulls you into another kiss, hot and blistering. His hands searing against the plush skin of your chest, he lingers at the lacy cups of your bra before activating his quirk just enough to burn the fabric away.  The sound startles you a bit but the feeling of his hands expertly kneading at your breasts makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. 

He pulls one hand away replacing it with his lips, when he pulls away to give your other side the same attention his teeth lightly drag against the tender bud forcing a moan to spill from your lips. Your fingers dip down under your skirt to give your mess of a pussy some much needed attention. Your frustration is only made worse when Bakugo catches your wrist in his hand. 

“Did I say you could touch yourself, slut?” He growls, you look up at him, still trying to pry your hand out of his grip. “Then you touch me.” You command weakly, voice dripping with want. 

He can wait, he can. He’s trying to act like he’s completely in control. Like he isn’t burning up with desire, like he can hold out a little longer. 

He can’t. 

“F-Fuck.” He spins you around, pinning you against the door, thankfully you were able to put your hands up to keep from slamming your face into it. He pushes your skirt up and it bunches at your waist, you hear a loud ‘rip’ and he’s tossing what’s left of your panties on the floor. He teases the head of his cock along your dripping slit, you wiggle your ass impatiently. 

He finds purchase on your hips before sliding into your soaking core. “S-So fucking tight, shit..” He mumbles to himself. You cover your mouth stifling a groan as you feel his cock stretch you out. His fingers dig into your hips harder and you’re certain they’ll bruise. He gives a shallow thrust, and you bite your lip to suppress another moan. His hands move to grip your arms where they bend, pulling them back toward him.  

“I want to hear those dirty little moans, Princess.” You can't see his face but you can hear him smirking. You don’t have time to object as he begins thrusting into you, his pace brutal, your legs nearly buckle beneath you. But he’s strong enough to keep you steady. It doesn’t take very long for your orgasm to sneak up on you, each drag of his cock only worsens the feeling of impending pleasure building inside you. “I’m so close..” You whimper breathless, and he adjusts his grip. Both of your wrists are in his hand now, still trapped behind your back, his free hand moving to rub messy circles into your puffy clit pushing you closer and closer to your release. 

“Cum for me, cum all over my cock like a good little slut.” 

His skillful and calculated thrusts, mixed with his fingers teasing your clit and his permission to cum overwhelm you. “F-Fuck, Bakugo!” Your orgasm washes over you more violently than you were expecting, you’re a mess, whining and moaning incoherent praises. The feeling of you constricting so perfectly around his cock has Bakugo not far behind you, he releases your arm, and it hurts to move them, but you press your palms flat against the door as he adjusts himself his grip returning to your hips, his thrusts become more sloppy and erratic as he’s coming undone. 

“S-shit, Princess, I- haah- I’m close.” He nearly whines, you begin to push back against him, doing what you can to match his movements. “Cum inside, Bakugo.” You command, your voice is smooth and breathy. 

“Fuck-” You groan in unison as he fills you with hot ropes of cum, he falls forward a little, one hand on your hip the other against the door to steady himself as he rides out his high, his hips still gingerly thrusting into you. When he’s finished and you’re satisfied and full, he slowly pulls out, hissing at the overstimulation. 

You both take a moment, still processing what happened. Bakugo lets out an amused huff of air and your glance over your shoulder. 

Well this was new. 

Sure, Bakugo knew his recovery time was amazing but never instantaneous. You glance down nervously at his still fully hardened cock, eyes widening at the sight. You dare to meet his gaze, hazy and piercing. 

Without warning, Bakugo slides two fingers into your still dripping cunt, you whimper, pressing against the door with more force. He chuckles darkly and it matches his devilish smirk. You were suddenly hit with the realization that your night was far from over. 

“I’m going to fucking ruin you, Princess.” 

 BONUS: 

The two of you lie in bed, exhausted and completely fucked out. You’re nearly asleep, resting comfortably on Bakugo’s firm chest as he rubs slow, soothing circles against your soft skin.  

It’s interrupted by your phone, the loud ring tone makes you both cringe. He reaches to answer it, you open your mouth to object partly since it’s your phone and partly because the loss of contact but honestly you’re too tired to truly argue about it.

“Y/N’s phone.” He answers, voice slightly hoarse. 

“Oh yeah?” He glances at you with a smug smirk. 

“I think we’ve figured that part out-” You put two and two together and realize it's probably someone from the agency informing you on the unknown quirk you were both hit with earlier. 

“Yeah, thanks for nothing.” He says his tone slightly irritated. 

“One more thing, have whatever paperwork I need to document a workplace relationship on my desk in the morning.” He instructs and hangs up the phone. Your eyes widen a little and he thinks it’s cute how hopeful you look. 

You chew your lip a little, “Is that paperwork for us?” You ask weakly, and he rolls over so he’s on top of you, arms caging you in. 

“Of course it is, stupid.” 

Your nervousness disappears the moment his lips meet yours. 

[babbushka]

Mrs Z! Thank you for doing a Flip special!

What about throwing Flip a big surprise party with lots of people and he’s not happy about it. You make it up to him by letting him have his way with you before you cut the cake. Maybe he’s too into and gets carried away with being loud and noisy or gets caught somehow and that’s his birthday party, is his guests cheering his bedroom antics or roasting him.

2.6k; humor & NSFW (blowjobs/face fucking, hair pulling, come swallowing)

“I don’t remember you forgetting anything here.” Flip frowns, as he pulls the Chevy into his usual parking spot at the CSPD.

It’s his birthday, and he hadn’t taken the day off of work to avoid drawing any suspicion, so he’s a little irritated that when he gets all the fuckin’ way back home to you, finishes having the delicious dinner you cook for him, and he’s just about to ask if you want to engage in a little birthday love-makin’, that you groan and announce that it’s urgent he take you back to the station.

He already gets sour enough on his birthday as it is, but he had hoped that he could enjoy a quiet -- or maybe not so quiet -- evening in bed with his wife, just the two of you tucked up against one another to distract him from the passing of time.

“It was my Pyrex, I left it in the breakroom, it should be in the sink unless someone moved it.” You’re too determined to get the damn thing back, and Flip loves you, so Flip drove you in his truck that he parks, eyeing his work.

“And you want me to go in and get it?” He complains, deep voice too gravely for it to be a true whine, “Can’t I wait in the car?”

“You’re going to abandon your most beloved wife in her hour of need?” Your eyes are wide and clear and he hates how he gets lost in them, how he meant it when he said he’d do anything for you. He hates how you know it.

“That’s not fair.” Jabbing a finger in your direction, you only lean forward enough to cup his cheeks in your hands, sweetly pressing chaste kisses to his lips, your lashes brushing against his cheek as you draw him in with the smell of your perfume.

“Please?” Your voice is breathy in the way that makes Flip go weak in the knees, and even though he knows he’s being manipulated, he’s not mad about it.

“Fuck, alright fine.” He gives in, making you brighten up immediately as he turns the car off so the engine doesn’t idle, being sure to keep the windows cracked even though Colorado in May is a balmy sixty-five degrees. “You just, I don’t know, sit here and keep being pretty.”

“Yes sir.” You wink, and Flip isn’t so sure he likes the twinkle that he sees in your eye.

Walking through the CSPD lobby, he notices it’s quiet.

Too quiet.

No one is calling in emergencies, no one is typing away at their desks, no one is chatting by the water fountain. Something must be very very wrong, and Flip halfway wonders if there was some kind of national announcement, if Ford was making a speech somewhere.

His suspicion only grows, when he turns the corner to the break room, and opens the door frowning to himself and muttering, “Why are all the fuckin’ lights turned off?”

When he flicks the light switch, he’s so startled that he takes a step backwards, as seemingly the entire station jumps up to shout in his face a big loud, “Surprise!!”

“What the fuck -- ”

“Happy birthday Zimmerman!” All his friends and co-workers are there, the guys from the narcotics division, the folks down at homicide, all the higher ups, secretaries, rookies and seasoned pros alike.

Everyone gathered in this room that is way too small for them, organized by someone to give him a goddamn heart attack. A hand gently rubs at his back, and Flip whirls around to see you there.

“Is this your way of saying you want a divorce?” He jokes dryly, making the entire room chuckle, because really only Flip would have this sort of reaction.

“For the record this was not my idea.” You say, not wanting him to think the blood is on your hands, “Ron insisted. I tried to tell him.”

Ron steps forward then and hands Flip a card, one that he’s not going to open now because he’s sure he’d die from the embarrassment of floundering with the envelope in front of all these people, but he does bring Ron in for a hug.

“It’s signed by all of us here.” Ron gestures with one of those big handsome smiles of his, the kind that shows off all his teeth, and Flip doesn’t have the heart to be angry about all this attention to his face.

“Thank you.” He says instead, feeling so fucking out of his depth, completely out of his element, palms sweating as he reaches for you with a quiet pleading, “Ketsl?”

“I’m right here.” You whisper as you take his hand, grounding him in the present.

Everyone is looking at him, and it reminds him of when he had to give presentations in school. He doesn’t know what to say, the tips of his ears going crimson red.

“You guys didn’t have to do all this.” Flip pulls you tight against his side, his arm stretching across your shoulders. Maybe if he just holds you close enough, he can use you as a human shield for conversation, he thinks.

“We had no idea it was your birthday! No one ever can figure it out -- but don’t worry, we’ve put it in your file so we know for next year!” One of the older secretaries, Ms. Rosie, cheerfully pipes up, making dread creep up Flip’s spine.

He looks down at you, and you give him a sheepish smile. He wants to complain like the grouch that he was, but then his attention shifts to the big table of food and drinks that is spread out on the table against the wall of the break room.

“...Is that chocolate cake?” He tries not to sound too hopeful, and the break room laughs again, because even the strongest most stoic man truly can be lured in by cake.

“I made it for you special. We’ll do candles after everyone’s had a bite to eat!” You announce to the room, patting Flip’s back as the crowd begins to murmur excitedly amongst themselves, a queue forming for the hot fresh pizza. You lean up to whisper in Flip’s ear, “If you can play nice, I’ll give you one of your presents before we get to cut the cake.”

Raising his eyebrows at you, he blinks a little. The surprises just kept comin’, didn’t they?

“Can’t I get it now?” Flip tries, but you only chuckle and shake your head.

“Go say hello to everyone, and then meet me in the back of the file room.” Patting his back once again, you slip away, an incentive for him to get this over with as soon as possible.

Flip doesn’t think he’s ever shaken so many goddamn hands, or kissed so many cheeks in his life. On the one hand, it felt nice somewhere deep down inside, to know that so many of his co-workers decided to take part of this party. He felt valued and appreciated, even if he would have rathered this never happen in the first place, would have rathered to be in bed with you right now...which brings him to the other hand; he’s achingly hard in his fucking jeans, thinking about what’s waiting for him in the file room.

He doesn’t have to wait much longer though, because soon the last person has been spoken to and thanked, and he’s excusing himself to go to the “bathroom,” heading in the complete opposite direction of the bathroom.

“Ketsl, honey?” Flip prompts softly, looking around for you in the low light of the room, “You back here?”

“Took you long enough.” Your voice sounds from around the corner, and like a glass of cool water on a hot day, there you are, arms reaching out for him.

“Would’ve been sooner if you hadn’t invited so many fuckin’ people.” Flip lets himself be wrapped up in your embrace, his palms smoothing around your sides to caress your back, one of them dropping down to give your ass a firm squeeze.

“Ron did, not me. Like I said, he insisted.” You remind him, kissing your husband deeply, licking into his mouth, voice soft and breathy, “Let me make it up to you?”

The hair on the back of Flip’s neck stands up when you sink down to your knees, not breaking eye contact. He holds his breath, his cock twitching at the implications of that motion, pulse already starting to pound a little harder.

You rest your cheek against his strong thigh, popping open the button on his jeans, sliding the zipper down tantalizingly slow, making a real show of it. Flip hums, pets at your hair, smooths his palm against your cheek as he watches your eyelids grow heavy. You nuzzle against the palm there, suckling on his fingers just a little bit, teasingly, playfully.

“Oh fuck yes.” He quirks a little smile at you.

When you finally pull his dick out, you’re licking your lips, wetting them, drooling over yourself. He’s just as affected, pre-come already leaking out of the tip of his cock, and he groans when you swipe it up with your tongue. Time is of the essence here, and as much as you would like to drag this out, you can’t, so you cut right to the chase.

“Shit -- your moth’s so hot.” He grunts as your mouth opens wide wide wide for him, tongue flattening as you suck the head of his cock between your lips, careful of your teeth.

One of your hands braces yourself on his thigh, while the other holds the base of his cock, keeps him steady. Flip has a tendency to buck and choke you when he’s too wound up just like he is now, so the grip holds him in place as you swallow him down inch by inch.

Fuck, your husband’s dick is big! It’s not just long but thick too, the girth of it always something that has your jaw aching. You open your mouth wider to take him, relaxing your throat so that he can slip deeper and deeper, breathing through your nose. Never once looking away from him, you can see how antsy, how impatient Flip is getting, and if you could smile, you would.

But you can’t, because your mouth is filled to the absolute brim, so you tap the side of his thigh to signal that he can start moving.

“Yes!” He says maybe a little too loudly, “That’s it, oh fuck that’s it.”

And oh, does he fucking move. The second you’ve given him permission, he’s gripping your hair and thrusting hard. Moans and grunts pour out of his chest as he holds your head in both of his hands, keeps you snug against his groin. Your nose is nestled in his dark thatch of hair, and you can’t deny the way the musky smell gets you flustered, gets you wet. He’s not going to have time to fuck you properly here, but that’s okay -- this was only the preview of the evening to come.

“God you feel so fuckin’ good, my good girl, fuck -- ” Breathing hard and fast, Flip fucks your face hard, keeping you steady so that you don’t accidentally take him down at a wrong angle and splutter and cough.

Relaxing for him, you let yourself be used, the salty sweaty taste of his cock running over your tongue, plunging down your throat soothing and familiar in a fucked up way that only over a decade of marriage can bring.

“Fuck!” He snarls when your tongue wriggles against the veins that throb along his shaft, sucking down hard everything that you can, one of your hands moving to cup and roll his balls, “Oh baby that’s it, just like that, keep doin’ that, oh god your tight fuckin’ throat feels good.”

Tears start to prick at the corners of your eyes when it becomes so much that your jaw aches, and you squirm, wanting to be touched, wanting to be fucked even though you know you can’t have it yet. Right now is about him, about the pleasure he gets from the way you suck him down, and then you’re swallowing hard, and the friction has him cursing loud loud loud, coming down your throat.

“Damn, ketsl!” he pushes his cock all the way down your throat one last time, before pulling away to watch his come shoot all over your tongue, your lips, your chin. Painting your face with it, he grunts, pulling your hair to angle your face up some more, a better view. You stick your tongue out for him, and another pulse of come bursts out of his cock from the sight, his filthy fucking whore of a wife, love of his life, on your knees like his own personal pornstar.

You fucking look like one anyway, and you sure as shit sound like one with the way you’re moaning and breathing hard, nipples so hard that he can see the way your blouse peaks out from over them.

Wiping away the come on your face and licking it off your fingers, swallowing every drop of evidence that you can, you and Flip grin at one another, his orgasm having him in a much more pleasant mood.

“We should get back out there, huh.” He gives you a hand and hoists you off your knees, pulls you close and kisses the taste of his come off your lips.

“People are gonna wonder where you went.” You smile, giving him your lovey-dovey eyes, glad that he’s enjoyed at least one part of this surprise. “You can’t disappear at your own party. How do I look?”

“Too beautiful for your own good.” Pinching your nose and giving you face a little shake, the two of you leave the records room behind.

“Well well well, if it ain’t the lovebirds!” Sergeant Trapp announces the second that you and Flip walk back into the main lobby of the station where everyone has spread out with their food and drinks.

“You two really can’t go two seconds without goin’ at it like rabbits, can you?” Ron laughs, teasing in a way that has Flip’s scowl coming back after all your hard work.

“Mrs. Z I gotta admit I’m impressed you’re still standin’, that sounded like quite the time.” Jimmy winks at you, and you slap a hand to your face. You hadn’t even thought about the noise that you must’ve made -- all the shelves moving, the grunts and groans, the cursing.

“Watch your mouth Jim, or I’ll be forced to do something about it.” Flip warns, but there’s something warm in the threat, playful. You’re fuckin’ glad for that, the last thing you needed on Flip’s birthday was him getting fired for beating the shit out of his friend.

“Oh yeah like what? I’m surprised you’ve got the energy for threats, old man.” Jimmy only eggs him on, all eyes on the two of them.

“That’s it -- ” Flip lunges immediately, making you rush forward and grab him by the scruff of his neck, preventing a wrestling match, even if a friendly one.

“Boys please, have some cake and maybe you’ll calm down.” You roll your eyes.

“You know,” Flip says later, when you lead him through to the breakroom where someone’s lit a fuckton of candles in an attempt to guess how old he is, and you’re curled up on the couch next to him as he licks the frosting off of his fork, “I’m starting to think there never was any Pyrex.”

And it’s all that you can do to just kiss him and shut him up, letting him get away with being an idiot because he’s your birthday boy.

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

Tagging some Flip friends! @mochabucky @sacklerscumrag @artsymaddie @bitchydecisions @direnightshade @reyloaddict55 @thembohux @kylorenswhxre @sunflowersinthesnow @babayagakeanu @safarigirlsp @steeevienicks @materialisthicc @hswritingrecs @han68000 @rosi3ba3z @chapterhappygirl @loverofallthings @groovetoob @bxnnywriting @glassbxttless @angel-bxby3 @smallgirlbigpersonality @lovelyyy-luna @2000andwhat @raddo1975 @cornmousequeen @metsienmenninkainen @caillea @painttheskylineforme @holding-on-to-starwars

[ssahoodrathotchner]

Lover, Please Stay

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader

Summary: you get shot and Hotch worries about you while trying to keep it together. 

Word Count: 5.4k

Warnings: swearing, shooting, blood, injuries, hospitals, some angst and then fluff, mostly just wanted to write some worried!Hotch 

A/N: here we go! this is my first fic, so enjoy

Masterlist

---

As far as dates go, getting shot in the stomach twice was definitely not the way you wanted the night to end. Especially because you actually cared about the man sitting across from you in the dim lighting of the restaurant and you definitely had something else planned involving him, your clothes hitting the floor, and then the wall, kitchen counter, possibly the sofa, and of course, your bed and maybe the shower—but all that would have to wait as you slump back in your chair, stunned and bleeding. To his credit, however, Aaron Hotchner is not about to let the man who shot you get away with it, and swiftly tackles, disarms, and subdues the shooter, in record time, you think hazily to yourself with a small smile. After making sure the unsub won’t do anything else –not that he could even if he wanted to– Aaron turns to you. Eyes wild, he finds you –rather dramatically if you say so yourself—bleeding out and losing consciousness. So much for after-dinner plans.

“How romantic,” you gasp out and suddenly at your side, Aaron tips you out of your chair and lays you on the ground, immediately shedding his jacket to apply pressure to your abdomen and the growing red spots staining the dark green dress you had worn tonight. Fuck you loved this dress. And his jacket.

“….Sweetheart? You still with me?” Aaron’s voice wavers, and you realize he’s leaning over you and trying to gauge how you’re doing, aside from the obvious, of course.

You huff a laugh out—big mistake—and a small cry tears out of your throat as the pain in your midsection makes you regret your actions. Turning your head with a surprising amount of effort, your eyes float over him, taking in the way his hair sticks up, the frantic gleam to his eyes (tears?) and then down the black button-down he wore to his bloody hands on your body. You try for a reassuring smile—it doesn’t land—and then there’s some sort of commotion on the other side of the restaurant which you belatedly realize is the stampede of patrons out, as the ambulance slams to a halt outside, sirens blaring.

“Love, y’need t’figure this out,” you grit out, knowing that he won’t—can’t—argue with you as you look up at him.

“Y/N...”

“No, Aaron. Get th’ team,” your eyes are closing and breathing is getting harder so you stop, and hope that he figures this out. He has to. You know Aaron will want to protect you and go to the hospital this instant, but you can’t let him do that just yet. Not this time. It’s not everyday a BAU agent gets shot in a crowded restaurant in front of her boyfriend, who is also a BAU agent. It’s too weird to be random and the rest of the team needs to get here now.

The next few moments pass in a blur of shouting and pain, as you are lifted on to a stretcher and poked and prodded. Tiredly, you try to keep your eyes on Aaron, but in the noise you find your head rushing and with a sharp pain in your stomach, you fall into darkness.

Barred from climbing into the ambulance with you, Aaron has never been so scared and enraged. The ambulance screeches towards the hospital as he quickly fires off a text to the team –you’ve been shot, it doesn’t look good, meet him at the restaurant. And then he sits on the sidewalk. And thinks. And seethes.

How could he not have noticed the man advancing toward your table sooner? How could he not have noticed how out of place the man looked and the way that he kept a hand in his jacket pocket? And finally, why didn’t the man shoot him before getting taken down? Head in his hands, Hotch lets out a sigh before clenching his fists and closing his eyes, waiting. There are police officers milling around, taping off the restaurant and the unsub is in a car around here somewhere, or maybe already on his way to the police station, but Aaron can’t shake the fear in his mind. He should be speeding off after the ambulance, keeping you company, and pacing the hospital lobby until he knows you’re okay. You need to be okay. But your words ring in his head, figure this out, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t at least try. You need him to try. He needs to focus.

A hand claps down on his shoulder and Aaron jerks his head up to find Morgan and Prentiss looking at him with sad eyes. Accepting Morgan’s hand, Hotch stands, and after a beat, straightens up and becomes SSA Aaron Hotchner, BAU Unit Chief, and not Aaron Hotchner, concerned and, quite frankly, terrified boyfriend.

“Garcia is pulling security footage from the restaurant and surrounding area. She’s also keeping tabs on the unsub at the police station and will let us know as soon as the cops figure out who this guy is.” Morgan says as Hotch looks around at the crime scene that’s sprung up around him.

“Unless she figures it out first,” Prentiss adds “which she probably will, it’s Garcia.”

A black SUV pulls up, and Reid, Rossi, and JJ emerge. Rossi immediately takes stock of the blood on Aaron’s hands and the usual chaos of a crime scene. Reid looks shaken to his core, and JJ isn’t much better, although she is valiantly trying to put on a brave face if only for her own sake.

“Aaron, you should be at the hospital. We can handle this,”

“Dave, she told me to figure it out. It was one of the last things she said and if I don’t and she…” Aaron trails off as the rest of the team looks at him, worried.

“I need to do this for her,” he says softly, thinking of how you looked as you were whisked away by the ambulance. How you passed out, face contorted in pain and then still.

“Hotch…” JJ lays a hand on his arm and squeezes.

“We got this. You can run point from the hospital with Garcia,”

That shakes him a bit.

“Garcia is running point from the hospital?” he wants to smile, but he can’t. Not while you’re possibly fatally injured.

“Of course she is,” says Morgan with a small smile.

“She went directly there after you texted us. She said she doesn’t want Y/N to be alone, ” Spencer supplies, and Hotch can’t help but be startled by how much he appreciates the thoughtfulness of his team in this moment.

Looking around the circle, he realizes that he doesn’t have to take on the investigation and your injury alone. No shit, he can hear you say. That’s what they’re here for, dumbass. Teamwork.

Halfheartedly, he tries “but the police need to take my statement and—“

“—and they can do that from the hospital after we’re done here, I’m sure they’ll make an exception for the Unit Chief of the BAU since his girlfriend got shot,” Rossi finishes for him. “Aaron. Go.”

“Come on, Hotch, I’ll drive,” and as JJ pulls him into the SUV, he watches the rest of the team disperse amongst the police and crime scene techs with a determination and focus he wishes he could emulate right now. Instead, he tries to focus on getting to you and how good it’ll feel to hold your hand again.

---

The ambulance ride is blurry and the lights are too bright and the noises too loud as you slide in and out of consciousness after initially passing out. Vaguely, you hear something about a perforated something or other and blood loss, but that’s really all you can understand before going back to being unconscious. Again. If only falling asleep was this easy.

---

Aaron never particularly liked hospitals, but now, with your life in danger, he hates them. Striding into the lobby, JJ at his side, his eyes find Garcia, furiously typing and wiping away tears as fast as she can. As his feet carry him to the desk, JJ breaks off to comfort Garcia.

“I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner, and I’m here for Agent Y/L/N she should have arrived half an hour ago with two GSWs to the abdomen,” his voice is surprisingly collected, as the nurse looks up at him from her computer.

“She was rushed into emergency surgery almost as soon as she got here. I don’t have an update for you now, Agent Hotchner, and it could be awhile until I know something for sure,” the nurse replies with a sad smile.

With a curt nod, Aaron walks over to Garcia, who now has JJ’s hand firmly in her own. Upon seeing him, Garcia springs up and sets her laptop and JJ’s hand aside to instead throw her arms around her stoic Unit Chief. Stunned but not unwelcome, Hotch reaches around to hold the crying tech analyst. Pulling back from the embrace and sniffling, Garcia looks at Hotch and her eyes widen almost comically.

“Blood. Oh my God, blood,” she states in a hurried breath and it’s only then that Hotch realizes that his arms and torso are covered in your blood still; he hasn’t had a chance to wash it off. Looking down at himself, his vision blurs for a second and the weight of his appearance takes a toll. Stumbling to the bathroom as JJ and Garcia reach for him, he staggers through the door and to the closest sink before throwing up. Leaning heavily on his hands, he hangs his head and catches his breath before turning the tap on. Slowly, methodically, he cleans his hands, then up his arms. Splashing water on his face he looks in the mirror, noting the bags under his eyes, the way his hair sticks up on one side, and the dried blood on his black shirt as it catches the shitty fluorescent lighting.

You’re laughing at him and he can’t help but smile back at you. In the light of the restaurant he loves the way your eyes shine when you look at him. Something catches his attention out of the corner of his eye, but you’re still laughing and he loves the way you look when you laugh. Bang. There’s screaming. Bang. You slump in your chair across from him. His stomach drops and there’s a roaring sound in his ears and years of training take over. The unsub stands still, gun in hand, and Aaron moves. Takedown. Push the gun out of reach. Hold the guy down. Swift punch to the face and the guy is out. You make a sound—a whine? a scream? his name?—and Aaron turns. You. Hands on your stomach, but Aaron can see the blood seeping through your fingers. Gently, as gently as he can, he gets you to lie on the ground and uses his jacket to try and staunch some of the bleeding. Your eyes flutter and he calls your name, asks how you’re doing, something to keep you awake and talking and with him and—

A knock on the door draws him out of his mind and JJ pokes her head in.

“I found a sweatshirt in the back of the SUV and thought you might want to put it on instead of having to stay in your shirt since…” she trails off and gestures to his bloody clothes.

Wordlessly, Hotch takes the sweatshirt from her. It’s one of his, he knows that, but he can’t remember why it’s in the SUV, especially because he hasn’t seen it since—You. You had it last. Inhaling your scent off the piece of clothing almost shatters him again and he holds the sweatshirt to his face as he tries not to cry. Slipping into a stall he slowly undoes his shirt before crumpling it up and dropping it on the ground. Pulling the sweatshirt over his head, he takes a moment to collect himself before stooping down for his shirt and walking out the bathroom door back into the waiting area.

Sitting next to Garcia he can see that there’s a picture of the unsub on her screen, as well as general demographic information and stuff streaming past that’s too fast for him to read.

“Garcia, what have you found.” Business as usual. Except for the part where he doesn’t know how you are or if you’re alive.

“Well, Sir, the bastard who shot Y/N is Parker Harrison and from what I can tell, he’s a creep. Like look-through-your-windows-and-take-photos-while-you-change kind of creep so—“

“—so it’s weird that he came up to you two in a crowded room and shot Y/N when there is nothing that Garcia’s found to suggest that that’s even something Harrison would even consider,” JJ finishes while continuing to glare at the photo on the screen.

Hotch sighs and puts his head in his hands. Again. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he looks at JJ.

“Call the rest of the team and let them know that we know who the unsub is, but he doesn’t fit the profile for the crime and see if they’ve found anything out of the ordinary.”

With a nod, JJ moves to her feet and goes out the front door to make the call. Garcia makes a noise somewhere between frustration and surprise before renewing her furious typing. Aaron looks towards the nurse at the desk, the same one he had spoken to earlier, and catches her eye. She shakes her head and he tips his head back against the wall behind him, eyes closing.

---

You don’t think you’ve died. At least, not yet. Maybe this is some fucked up afterlife precursor, but you really, sincerely, hope you aren’t dead because that would suck for you and for Aaron. And Jack. And the team. Fuck you really hope you aren’t dead, but the fact that you can’t feel your body really isn’t helping you figure out what the hell is going on. There’s pressure building in your chest and as it expands, it feels like you are going to explode. You fight against whatever is happening—it hurts, dammit—and then back to nothingness.

---

He waits for hours. Pacing, sitting, standing, silent. Garcia mumbles to herself as she works, and calls the team with possible updates, but Aaron can’t bring himself to focus on anything but you. JJ comes and goes, standing, sitting, pacing, leaning over Garcia’s shoulder. She calls Will and the team a few times to give or get updates and for that, Aaron is grateful. He knows he should be doing more, as Unit Chief and as the person you told to get the unsub, but you you are his focus. He nods when Garcia shows him something and shakes his head when JJ appears with food and coffee. And he waits. At some point a police officer shows up and Hotch mechanically rattles off what happened. There isn’t much he can say since they have the shooter in custody already. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the team show up and all of a sudden Hotch is suffocated by the amount of people in the waiting room. Prentiss moves to JJ’s side and Morgan to Garcia’s, talking quietly. Reid and Rossi trade glances before descending on Hotch.

“Any news?” Rossi asks, but Hotch shakes his head.

“You guys find anything at the scene?” And Hotch is hoping for something anything to make this make sense.

“Well, according to the security cam footage, the unsub was dropped off at the restaurant and then walked inside, bypassing the hostess and making his way to your table. It seems like Harrison knew exactly where you were going to be and when, which is concerning. But after you take him down and he got to the station, he didn’t talk—and still hasn’t which indicates that he may be trying to protect someone which furthers the idea that he really didn’t come up with this on his own given that his previous criminal record didn’t indicate that he would shoot someone that he deemed a target, although Garcia is currently going through the contents of his electronics to see what she can find and—“ Reid is effectively cut off by Rossi, who states “and so we still don’t know enough about this guy to draw any concrete conclusions, but this isn’t an ordinary unsub and if he does have a partner, we need to figure out who that is before someone else gets hurt; possibly someone on this team.”

Aaron frowns to himself at this information. He thought that the team would be able to find something find more about Harrison, but it seems the universe is making him wait not only on you, but the fucker who shot you as well. Collapsing down on to the nearest chair, Aaron tries to come up with a plan, a preliminary profile, something that will help him figure out what exactly you’ve been drawn into. Staring down at his shoes, he fails to notice the way the team looks at each other, and then at him. With a sigh, Prentiss moves from JJ’s side to Hotch’s and sits. He doesn’t look at her, or even acknowledge her presence, but doesn’t shake off the hand that she lays gently on his shoulder as he continues to study his shoes.

It’s well into the early hours of the morning when the team is alerted to a development in your wellbeing by the loud squeak of the swinging door that leads to surgery. Half asleep, Rossi wakes the others from their various levels of slumber as Aaron stumbles to the doctor after he announces your name, eyes wide and hopeful.

“First, Agent Y/L/N is alive. She coded in surgery about two hours ago,” Aaron swears he stops breathing “—but we were able to revive her and finish stitching her up and repairing the internal damage. The bullets entered her abdomen and tore through her large intestine, and she did suffer more blood loss that I had hoped, but in time, she will recover.”

Aaron’s breath rushes out all at once and he almost collapses with the weight of his relief. He hears the gasps and murmurs of the team behind him which confirm their own happiness that you are alive.

“Can I see her?” the words leave him quickly, and he knows you won’t be awake, but he needs to see you. Needs to make sure you’re still here, with him.

“As you can imagine, she won’t be awake for quite some time. Her body has sustained major trauma, and we will be keeping her under watch for at least a week, depending on how long it takes her to wake up and then the rate at which her body’s healing process takes place. However, you may see her, one at a time, and are welcome to be here during official visiting hours tomorrow.”

Without turning to the team, Aaron nods and gestures for the doctor to lead the way, mind spinning with relief and worry, a dizzying rush of feelings at knowing that you’re alive. Stopping outside of a room, the doctor looks at Aaron before opening the door and stepping aside. Making his way to the side of your bed, Aaron can’t help but take stock of your appearance. Eyes tracing your face, fingers lightly following the same path before coming to hold your hand as he sits in the chair next to your bed. Exhaling slowly, he raises your hand to his lips and kisses your knuckles, eyes finding your sleeping face and finally, Aaron allows some tension to leave his body. You’re here you’re here and you’re alive and breathing.

---

Your return to actual conscious reality is slow, to say the least. The steady beeping of your heart monitor catches your attention first because it’s just so damn annoying. But hey, it means you’re alive—what a relief—so you really can’t find it in your hazy mind to care too much about the incessant beeping noise as you drift into consciousness. The next thing to draw your focus is the scratchiness of the sheets surrounding your body—are hospital sheets purposely so uncomfortable?—and the way that you can feel someone holding your hand. Aaron. Fighting to open your eyes damn those fluorescents you manage to squint your way awake. Well, as awake as one can be after what you just went through, but it’s an improvement to whatever semi-alive state you had been in even if you are still in a moderate amount of discomfort.

“…Sweetheart?” there he is. You squeeze his hand and turn to see him more fully, eyes raking over his face. Teary-eyed and smiling, you’ve never seen him look more handsome (okay besides when he was wearing his black button-down and black jacket at dinner before you got shot, but that’s obvious).

“Aaron,” his name leaves your lips on a breath and you smile back at him as he kisses your hand before leaning over and kissing your forehead.

“I was so worried, Y/N. So worried about you,” he continues down to your nose, your cheeks, and finally, finally, he presses his lips to yours. Hands intertwined with his other one coming to cup your face, you pull apart just enough to look each other in the eye. And to think you might not have survived to do this ever again. The thought is enough to bring tears to your eyes and as they fall down your cheeks, Aaron kisses your forehead again before leaning his head against yours.

“You’re okay, Sweetheart. You’re here, I’m here, the team is in the waiting room. We’re all okay,” he says gently, stroking your cheek with his thumb. You continue to cry, soft whimpers escaping you as the pain in your midsection sets in and you realize how much you could have lost if you died.

“Th’ team. Need t’see ‘em,” you mumble through your tears, and Aaron nods before reaching for his phone and texting someone, staying by your side the whole time. Your tears continue to fall, but Aaron’s presence and steady reassurance calms you and soon you’re just staring at each other, hands clasped, reveling in your closeness.

A nurse enters the room and checks your vitals on all the machines you’re connected to before remarking on how good it is to see you awake and then she’s gone; Aaron doesn’t leave your side.

A swift knock on the door turns your head, and a smile breaks across your face as the team shuffles into your room and gathers around your bed. You watch them as they come in, looking for injuries or something out of the ordinary. However, they’re all okay, looking at you with sad hopeful eyes, but they’re okay just like Aaron said.

“You’re okay,” you whisper, wide-eyed.

“We’re okay? Mama, we should be checking on you. You’re the one whose been unconscious for a day and a half,” Morgan chuckles.

“’M okay. Good. Great. Sp’tacular,” you assure them with a smirk and a wave at your general hospital-chic appearance. You don’t have to turn to Aaron to know he’s rolling his eyes as the others let out small laughs at your answer.

“Glad you’re awake, Y/N,” Rossi states with a smile as Reid nods behind him.

“We were worried,” JJ adds.

“Don’t you ever do that again! I mean it,” Garcia says, pointedly. You huff out a laugh and grimace as your abdomen twinges in pain. Note to self: don’t do that again. You catch the rest of the room in a collective wince out of the corner of your eye, but your focus is now on Aaron, as he leans impossibly closer to you, gauging your level of pain through his furrowed brow.

“We’ll be back later,” Emily suggests, laying one hand on JJ’s arm and another on Reid’s shoulder. “Get some rest, Y/N.”

“Will do,” you grit out, pain subsiding only slightly in your stomach. Your eyes shut and over the sound of your heavy breathing, you hear footsteps retreating and the closing of the door. Aaron’s hand brushes your hair back off your forehead and comes to rest on your cheek. With your eyes closed, you realize just how fucking tired you are now that you’ve confirmed everyone is fine with your own eyes. You squeeze Aaron’s hand, and as you give in to your exhaustion, you feel him kiss your knuckles with a sigh.

“You’re okay,” he whispers, and then you’re out.

---

You wake up to a hushed argument taking place between Morgan and Rossi at the foot of your bed and surprise surprise Aaron’s scowling at both of them.

Fighting through a yawn, you mumble, “G’morning, everyone,” pointedly glaring at Morgan and Rossi who at least have the decency to look sorry for disturbing you.

“Afternoon, princess,” Morgan says with a nod. “Nice to see you awake again.”

You roll your eyes and can’t help but notice the careful way Aaron’s watching your face for any signs of discomfort. Squeezing his hand—has he let go of it since he got here? A thought to pursue at a later time—you turn your attention back to the agents at the end of your bed.

“What have I missed?” Rossi looks at Aaron before taking a breath and facing you.

“We think the guy who shot you has a partner and we’re trying to figure out who it is.”

Well shit. Schooling your face into a somewhat neutral expression, you repeat “…a partner…?” and something akin to fear washes over you. There’s someone out there who wants you dead. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Steeling yourself, you look over at Aaron for confirmation and the hard look in his eyes is all you need. Fuck. Sinking further back into the pillows behind you, you stare at the ceiling and try to fully comprehend what you’ve just learned. Breathing deeply, you try and quell the panic that’s rising in your chest. Shit. Now what happens. Eyes clenched shut, you address the room.

“So, what now? There’s another guy so what do we have on him what do we know has the unsub said anything that might help us? Something? Phone calls at weird times, unusual credit card activity, change in schedule, unexplained absences from work, something has to stick out,” Your words rush out before you can stop them.

“Well—“ Morgan starts but you cut him off, rambling.

“—and what’s the name of the unsub anyway? What’s the name of the fucker who shot me two times?” you ask, eyes flying open at the realization that you only know him as “the unsub” and not his actual name.

“Parker Harrison,” Hotch states with enough contempt for you to stop and squint at him, worried.

“Sounds like an asshole,” you remark, but Hotch doesn’t smile like you thought he would.

It’s at this point that Morgan wisely makes some excuse about seeing if Garcia has found anything new and he herds Rossi out the door before the other man can protest. The click of the door behind them is deafening as you continue to watch Aaron’s face while he stares down at your joined hands on the bed. Tracing your knuckles, he doesn’t elaborate on the unsub and so you wait. You focus on your own breathing, Aaron’s hand in yours, and his presence next to you.

However, there’s only so much silence you can take when you have so many questions that you would like answered. Tugging on his hand, you wait for him to look up at you before speaking.

“Aaron, who is this guy?”

Silence.

You try again.

“Aaron, I can’t help you profile the partner if I don’t know who Harrison is. Let me help you catch this fucker,” and that catches his attention. With a small quirk of his lips, he exhales and leans closer to brush some hair out of your face.

“You shouldn’t be profiling or working at all, Y/N. You got shot. You need to rest,” he says as his hand settles on your cheek.

You snort and roll your eyes. As if.

“I can multi-task, love. Also, I need to work this case. Do you really think I’ll be able to rest and recover knowing there’s someone out there who wants me dead? Harrison is the first step to figuring this out and I can help, Hotch. I’m a profiler and he’s an unsub. This isn’t anything we haven’t faced before and we will catch him. So, once again, I’m asking you to let me help,” you implore. “I’m on bedrest, not dead. I can be semi-useful, even while lying in a hospital bed.”

With that, Hotch sucks in a quick breath and his eyebrows pull together.

“But you did die,” he says lowly. “You died you were dead. The doctor said you coded on the table. I could have lost you,” and with that last admission, his voice breaks. Bowing his head, the slight shake of his shoulders is the only sign you have to know that he’s crying. Crying over you. Oh, Aaron. Carefully sliding over in your bed—ouch—you pull on Aaron’s hand insistently.

“C’mere, love,” you whisper, and Aaron maneuvers his way on to the bed. Has he always been this tall or are hospital beds just smaller than normal ones?

Slowly, mindful of your injuries even in the midst of his own emotional turmoil, he curves himself around you as tears continue to fall. You lift your hand to card through his hair at a steady pace and eventually, just rest your hand on his face, catching tears and brushing them away. You raise your other hand, which is still holding his, to your lips and softly kiss his fingertips.

“I’m here. We’re here and we’re okay, and I love you,” you repeat gently until the shaking in his shoulders subsides and his breathing evens out to match yours. Holding your hand to his face, Hotch gives it the gentlest kiss imaginable before clearing his throat.

“I love you too, Sweetheart. So much. I was scared you weren’t going to make it, and then to find out you almost didn’t?” he trails off with a heavy sigh.

“It’ll take more than a few bullets to take me away from you, Aaron Hotchner,” you say. “I mean it.”

Instead of responding, Aaron nuzzles the top of your head and moves impossibly closer to you on the bed.

“I just—“ he stops. “I waited for hours to hear how you were doing. I was basically useless to the team because all I could think about was you and how you told me to get the guy and figure it out, but I couldn’t. Not without you.”

“Oh, Aaron,” you shift so you can smile at him warmly and then he’s leaning down to you, cradling your face, and kissing you with a desperation that makes your heart ache. You return his kiss with all the reassurance you can offer. I love you. I’m here. I’m alive. I’m sorry. Tilting your head, you move a hand to his chest, over his heart trying to do what you can to get closer to him. I love you I love you I love you. 

Breaking for air, Aaron presses one last lingering kiss to your forehead before settling back into your side. Heart racing, you smile contentedly at the man in front of you before trying to get comfortable. Leaning just a little too far forward, your breath leaves you in a whoosh before the pain sets in, letting you know you’ve overdone it just a bit—and just when things were getting good, too. Ever the protector, Hotch readjusts your pillows and presses the call button for the nurse as you let out a whimper. Soon enough, a nurse makes her way into the room and asks you how you are—brilliant—and what level your pain is at—an eight—before giving you a very welcome round of pain meds.

As your body relaxes and your mind starts to drift, you turn your gaze to Aaron, still by your side. He kisses your cheek and then your forehead softly as you close your eyes. Safe for now.

[simmerandwrite]

strangers - steve rogers x reader

Warnings: mentions of sexual harassment and non-consensual touching, swearing.

Word count: 4870

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: When your subway ride home takes a turn for the worst, you hope a stranger in a coffee shop will help you out.

Notes: If you saw a snippet of this the other day, here’s the full thing! I wanted to tackle some ‘in need of saving’ tropes and this just sort of happened. I’ve never posted straight up on Tumblr before but I’m a bit lacking in my experience with reader fics, so I figured this was a good place to share it. no beta, any mistakes are my own! If you like it, let me know - thanks for reading!

—

Steve Rogers liked his days off. Not that he had a set schedule week to week anyway but when things aligned correctly, he could do whatever he wanted. No world saving, no training, no report writing, no meetings.

He had scoped out a small little coffee shop in Brooklyn where he liked to spend these quiet afternoons. Usually with a book in hand (he had so many books to catch up on) or some music loaded to his phone (Nat was currently educating him on 90s punk rock) or a notebook and pencil. People watching served as wonderful inspiration to sketch.

He sipped his cappuccino, eyes tipped downward at the book ahead of him on the table. He was interrupted just moments later as someone dropped into the chair across from him.

Now, Steve wasn’t intentionally hiding out at this hole-in-the-wall cafe. But he did put on his laughable disguise still - a beaten up Yankees cap and his prescription-less thick framed glasses. He liked the anonymity. That didn’t always stop people from recognizing him.

As he opened his mouth to question the person who was suddenly joining him for coffee, she slid her phone across the table to him. Her hand shook. His eyebrows flexed into a curious frown as he looked at the screen displaying a plainly typed note:

‘Do you mind if I sit someone is following me home sorry to disturb you’

—

As if your day hadn’t been absolutely terrible enough, you spotted the gremlin of a man on the subway watching you again. You knew he worked somewhere in the same office building as you because he always trailed a few paces behind you when pushing through the revolving doors in the lobby. It wasn’t uncommon to see the same people on the same subway line at the same time every day, but this man’s presence had become an unwanted downside.

He was always there. Worse than that, he seemed to be always watching you. Today, it was even more obvious that he was following you.

When that thought first occurred to you, it had been really easy to shrug off. He was just a guy taking the subway. But when he happened to be on the later train with you one day, an uncomfortable feeling settled in your stomach.

And now, as the car was filling up even more after the second stop in DUMBO, he had moved to stand and put himself even closer to you.

You had been going through so many Next Steps. God, that phrase was the bane of your existence. Next steps, next steps..

Maybe you could tell him to fuck off. You could make an appointment with Leanna in HR and see if there is a way to figure out the name of this guy - though he didn’t work for your company so that was likely going to be a dead end. You could start taking the bus to the village before grabbing the train. Maybe you could Uber home some days instead of taking the subway. Not that you could afford that but this guy was..

You stiffened immediately.

This guy was touching you. In the midst of the crowded subway car, he was pressed against you entirely. And was he.. His hips were moving against your leg and.. Wait, that was two hands on your hips now.. Hot breath whispered against your neck and -

Fuck.

You threw yourself through the mob as the train came to a stop. With hurried feet you ran onto the platform and up the stairs, doing your best to weave through the flow of people, like a fish trying to make it upstream. You tried not to be obvious but as you snapped your head over your shoulders to look back, you saw him there again.

He was smirking. No, snarling.

Next steps, next steps.

You joined a sea of people crossing the street, taking your first left to try and steer yourself into a particular direction. You were still a far walk from your apartment but with this man on your heels, you didn’t want to lead him anywhere near there.

You grabbed your phone from your jacket pocket, unlocking it quickly and scrolling through the contacts. Surely there had to be someone you could call but even then, what could they do? Offer advice?

It didn’t occur to you until then but would it be valuable to call the cops?

Despite the late day sunlight, you suddenly felt very aware of the emptiness of the sidewalk on that side street. You needed to be around people. It definitely wasn’t logical to be anywhere near alone with this guy and -

It sounded like his footsteps were getting closer. With a panicked gulp, you yanked on the door of a little hole-in-the-wall cafe. Your eyes scanned the space quickly once you were inside. You probably shouldn’t sit alone, you couldn’t run to the bathroom if you aren’t sure where it is or if you needed a key. There were too many variables.

You needed something. Next steps..

You spotted someone sitting at a small table near the window and without thinking, you sent out a silent prayer to whoever might be listening and you rushed over. The man was clearly alone, a half consumed ceramic mug of coffee sitting to the right of his book.

Swallowing hard, you quickly typed on your phone and slid it across the table to him after you sat. You tried your best to stay very calm and hoped that he would play along. God, what if he didn’t play along and -

Behind you, the door chimed once more and you desperately wanted to see if it was that man - if the gremlin had followed you inside. You clasped your hands together in your lap and forced a smile on as you looked at the stranger sitting across from you.

Despite not knowing him, there was a familiarity about his appearance. Behind his thick glasses, soft blue eyes searched you carefully. His eyes flicked to the screen once more, stiffening in his chair as he looked past you towards the rest of the cafe.

With his right hand, he reached into the inside pocket of his coat and took out a small notebook and a pen. He scribbled something quickly and turned the page towards you.

Are you hurt?

You shook your head quickly. He offered you a tight smile and wrote once more.

Buzzcut, grey jacket?

Your eyes blew open wide and you tilted your head into a nod.

I’m Steve

He flipped the notebook closed and extended his hand across the table, palm facing up. He leaned forward just slightly, meeting your eyes with a reassuring smile. “Play along.”

Your eyes flicked to his hand and you slowly unclamped your own, grabbing his on the table instead. He was doing an impressive job splitting his attention between you and his surroundings, eyes scanning the room. He squeezed your hand very gently, brushing his thumb against your knuckles.

“Tell me about your day.”

You sucked in a hard breath. You weren’t entirely sure what his strategy was but something told you this guy was in your corner. Though despite that, you could feel another set of eyes on you.

“Uh,” you started quietly, letting the air escape your lungs. “Surprisingly, I didn’t think it could get worse before I got on the subway after work. I had a review meeting that was not great and we had a free catered lunch that was not vegetarian friendly. Missed an important email and deadline and… well, here I am whining about it and interrupting your day. Listen, I’m going to-

You moved to stand up but Steve shook his head, grasping your hand. “Give it a few more minutes, I think he’ll give up and leave.”

His words were casual but had an authoritative tone. Once more his eyes left you, looking towards the front of the cafe. He raised his free hand and motioned to one of the baristas. You weren’t certain if this was the type of place who served people at their seats but clearly he had a comfortable rapport as the young girl approached with a warm smile on her face.

“Hey Tia, could I get another?”

“Anything for you?” The barista turned her head as she asked, pony tail moving from side to side.

“Uhm.” You paused and thought. You certainly had no desire to even consider a coffee order when you felt someone’s linger gaze boring into you. “A decaf con panna, if that’s possible.” The girl confirmed it was with a nod then left the table side.

“Con panna?” Steve’s lips pulled into a curious smirk. Something about his smile calmed you.

“Espresso with whipped cream on top,” you answered. “Short and sweet.”

“I’ll have to try that next time.”

Steve sure had a soothing smile. When his thumb stopped tracing against your palm - when did that even start? - you felt an empty sadness about the loss. Wow, what did that even say about your standards when a stranger was brushing his thumb against your hand that you were so grateful for? Well, it was a thousand times better than someone rubbing his -

You winced at the memory, biting down as you clutched your bottom lip between your teeth. Though that shameful feeling hadn’t disappeared, you managed to keep it at bay. But now, it seemed to have left an image you were unable to blink away.

The sweet smell of whipped cream and the shuffling of paper cups broke you from your trance. You reached for your bag to fish out a few dollars but when you looked up, Steve was waving a hand to stop you.

It’s not that you didn’t appreciate his kindness. You did. You really, really did. But given the last half hour, you still had a hard time settling your nervous mind.

“Thanks, Tia.” Steve’s eyes were jumping around the place as the barista grabbed the cash he offered. A loud stomp of footsteps drew their attention as the Subway Gremlin saddled up beside the table.

“Sorry to be a bother, darlin’ - any chance I can borrow your phone?”

You couldn’t help but look at him. Though his words were directed at the barista, he made a point to glance over at you.

You felt Steve’s hands grip yours. When you looked towards him, his eyes were very carefully watching the man. How did he manage to -

“Sorry, we don’t have a dedicated line available to customers.” Tia politely shook her head, pointing towards the door. “There’s a CityBank up the street that can help you, I’m sure.” She shrugged and headed back to the coffee counter.

The man stood still, opening his mouth to argue.

Steve sat back, shoulders broad and steady. “Did you need directions there? I think it’s just two blocks. Maybe 500 paces.” His tone was flat. “Just out the door and you’ll be on your way.”

You kept your eyes on Steve. He kept his stare directed at the man. Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, the man moved his feet. He turned on his heel, though not before stopping to look at you again.

“I will see you tomorrow, dar-

Steve released your hand and pushed his chair back, standing quickly and grasping the man’s shoulder.

Steve towered over him. “You have five seconds.” The man pulled away from Steve’s grip then finally stomped away. You kept your eyes tightly shut until you heard the chime of the bell indicating the movement of the door. Then, you collapsed onto your arms on the edge of the table.

Steve, meanwhile, headed to the door and kept watch for a few more moments to ensure the man actually departed from the area. Then, he stopped at the counter and exchanged a few words with Tia before returning you.

You were still doing your best to encourage the floor to open up and swallow you whole. How had this even escalated? The worst part was your mind seemed clouded with doubt. This man, you hadn’t even interacted with him before. Why was he suddenly so invested in you? To a point where he might follow you home? Were you just another target or had this been intentional?

You considered yourself a fairly observant person and yet..

You twisted your hands together in your lap and tried to consider what was going to happen now. Next steps, next steps..

“Hey.” Steve returned to his chair. Your eyes flicked up towards him, noticing he was sliding a bottle of water towards you. Your sad little espresso and whipped cream treat was deflated next to it. “Are you okay?”

You reached for the water bottle, twisting the cap open and taking a long drink. “I don’t know.” Chewing on your bottom lip, you shook your head. “No, actually. I’m not. It somehow feels like my skin is on fire and my lungs are failing me and I’m sweaty but I’m not and - and -

“Hey, hey. Look at me.” Steve spoke so calmly and evenly. “Just take a slow breath with me, okay?” You closed your eyes once more and followed his instructions as he walked you through a few breathing exercises. “That’s great, you’re doing great-

When he stopped speaking so quickly, you opened one eye to look over at him. His cheeks were a warm shade of pink and his mouth was twisted into a frown. “What?”

“It just occurred to me I didn’t get your name.” He paused, as if to consider his next thought. “Although, given what just happened with that man, you are under no obligation to tell me anything about yourself. I just.. I’d like to help.”

His genuine concern for you was surprising. You allowed a small smile to stretch across your face. “You’re very nice, Steve.”

You gave him your name and he smiled back, repeating it to himself. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Your smile turned downwards when you looked towards your phone. “I should probably get going. Again, I’m really sorry for dragging you into this mess but I appreciate the… solace.” You took a deep breath and pushed your chair back, pausing to tip the lukewarm espresso into your mouth. “I owe you one.”

You winced when you heard yourself and sighed. Why did you say that? This stranger, this friendly, broad shouldered, tall, handsome stranger who’s day you interrupted, did not need your weird backhanded flirting. In fact, even though every signal in your brain seemed on edge after, well, everything, the only thing that seemed to ground you now was the kindness of Steve. So you tried to will yourself not to ruin it with any additional commentary.

You weren’t entirely sure what had driven you down this particular street into this particular cafe and towards this particular man. But, you were certainly grateful. “Actually, do they have gift cards here? I’d love to buy you one to say thank you and -

“Are you going to walk? Wherever you’re going right now?” When you looked over, you saw that Steve had stood, too. You saw his eyes move towards the door and the far windows up the street where the man from the subway had gone. “I don’t want to overstep but I hope you’ll let me walk you home. Or far enough away to have cleared his radar.”

“I feel like I’ve already wasted enough of your time, Steve.” You truly felt worse and worse for interrupting his afternoon.

“Please, I insist.” Steve tilted his head, half a smirk on his lips. “You just said you owe me one, so. I’m cashing in the favour.”

“The favour repayment you’re cashing in is.. you doing me another favour? Do you know how favours are supposed to work?” Admittedly, you knew you would feel a lot safer having someone walk home with you. And something about Steve made you feel very secure, his presence like a comforting shield.

“C’mon,” Steve replied with a laugh, nudging his head towards the door.

When you stepped onto the sidewalk, you stopped to think. “Let’s go this way.” You turned to the right and Steve followed, staying on your shoulder closest to the street. You walked in a comfortable silence - which made you nervous at first. Then, as your steps fell into a pattern, the quiet soothed you.

You pushed your hands into the pockets of your jacket as you turned down the next block. You looked over at Steve, who turned his head towards you as you shifted. “You didn’t ask anything else about the man.. Who followed me.”

A quiet hum came from Steve. “I didn’t think I should. You seemed shaken up enough.” He shrugged, peering down at you through his glasses. “If you want to talk about it..”

“I work in this big office building in Midtown. The Clifton building?”

Steve motioned his hand diagonally. “Little bagel place downstairs? That’s right down from The Avengers tower, isn’t it?”

You nodded along. Right. Stark Tower was The Avengers Tower, now. It was the most iconic landmark on that block. “Yes. Actually, I work on the 40th floor, which makes for a great angle to see Iron Man coming in.” Your smile was fleeting when you continued on. “It’s a huge building. I work in human resources for this pharmaceutical company.. But there’s a law firm in there, too. Insurance companies, start ups.. Hundreds of people in and out all day long. Yet, that man on the subway has managed to..” You stopped yourself before your chest got too tight. “Let’s just say I’ve seen him around before.”

“Do you know his name?”

“That’s the thing!” You couldn’t help but laugh now, shaking your head in dumbfounded confusion. “No. I have no idea who he is. But he often gets on the same subway line as me, watches me from across the crowd then today..” You stopped and dragged a hand down your face. “It’s a sad truth but I would say most of my friends have been.. Touched inappropriately on the subway before. I guess it’s a weird right of passage or something..”

“Wait - what?” Steve stopped in his tracks and reached his hand out to grab yours. You stopped and looked up at his eyes, somehow both soft and dark with concern. “He touched you? What do you mean?”

You raised an eyebrow, wondering if his ask was authentic. When you saw the disappointment in his face, eyes flooded with something you couldn’t quite pinpoint, you realized his reaction was genuine. You opened your mouth to explain but suddenly it seemed impossible to find the words.

Steve let go of your hand as he absorbed your lack of response and reached for his phone. “You can file a police report, right?”

“No, no.” You stopped him, placing your hand on his as he held his phone. “Trust me, that’s just paperwork that goes nowhere. Without the guy's name, absolutely nothing would come from it anyway.” You shook your head. “It’s fine, really. I might just adjust my work hours and change my route home for a few weeks. Maybe he’ll give up.”

Steve muttered something to himself, shaking his head. His face shifted from concern to something else, like his brain was working on a different trail of thoughts. He spoke your name quietly, drawing your attention to him again. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Steve’s kindness was a strange contrast to the entire experience on the subway. How one man could have such questionable intentions while another apologizes with sincerity for it was nearly jarring. Although, it did suddenly occur to you that Steve was just as much of a stranger.

“The worst part is.. men like that sever any opportunity for trust in other people. Especially blind trust. Like me telling you, a stranger, where I work and walking you to where I live. Funny enough though - every wire in my brain should be telling me not to and how it was a bad idea but.. I guess there is something about you.”

Steve sucked in a breath, eyes wide as he considered his response. “When you walked into the coffee shop, you could have asked the barista for help or tried to hide out in the bathroom. But you sat next to me instead. How come?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Like I said, there's just something about you, Steve.”

You walked in silence again, feet falling into a pattern once more. The sky was growing darker, the air cooler. After crossing the street again, you looked at him. “How do you feel about Prezio being traded to the Orioles?” You reached out and tipped up the brim of his Yankees hat. “A tragedy, right?”

A quiet laugh escaped him as he tipped his head. “I think it was a huge mistake. Don’t you think we’ve had a hard enough year as it is?” Your silence was filled with baseball talk instead and it seemed to put both of you at ease.

“This is me.” You stopped outside of a short apartment complex, pointing a thumb to the door.

Steve smiled, one hand in the pocket of his jacket as he studied you. Was this it? After the wild rollercoaster of emotions you had spilled onto him in the last hour, parting with nothing else seemed empty. Lacking. He opened his mouth and closed it, once then twice.

Finally, you cut in. “Thanks again, Steve. Really. If you hadn’t played along and scared him away.. well, I’m not sure where I would be right now. It means a lot that you cared enough about a stranger to make sure I was safe.”

Steve sighed out your name. “I’m sorry your barometer for kindness is so low.”

You sighed. “Yeah, me too.” Part of you wanted to do something. Say something else. Linger a tiny bit longer. But your feet shuffled and your hand reached for the door. “Have a good night, Steve.”

—

“I need a favour.”

“Well, good morning to you, sunshine. Did you lock yourself out of your computer again? FRIDAY can help with that.”

“Tony, this is serious.”

“Okay, okay. I recognize that scowl. How can I help you?”

“If I provided you some video footage from a security camera, can we track someone down? Figure out who they are? For full transparency, it’s just a civilian.”

“Sounds like we’re operating outside of the law, Rogers. Can you provide me with more context? I don’t mind the grey area - I just like the drama, too.”

Steve sighed, then reluctantly explained himself. The cafe. Your panicked message. The stalker of a man. The way you dismissed it all as a normal, unfortunate side effect of existing as a woman. His barista friend provided him with camera footage but he wasn’t sure it was enough.

Tony pinched between his eyes. “Men are scum. And I say that as someone in the practice of trying to be better. Recovering scum, if you will. I’ll see what I can do. FRIDAY, how quietly can we get into the security database at the Clifton building?”

—

Although you hadn’t lied to Steve, it occurred to you on your journey home that your guard should remain up. Which is why you had actually allowed him to walk you to your aunt’s apartment, instead of your own. She was happy to see you burst through the door and insisted you stay for dinner. That was a tiny silver lining to the whole mess.

The next day though, the thought of going into work was suffocating. So you opted to spend the day working from home instead, which your boss had been agreeable to, at least. One day rolled into two and you successfully avoided the office building until the following Monday. But then, you needed a plan. Next steps, next steps.

You took an Uber to the office early and left late at the end of the day, leaving out the back stairway and crossing a few blocks to take a different subway line home. It was unfortunate you had to cater your life to the chance you would run into this goon again, but your sense of security was slowly returning. That had to count for something.

Things shifted later that week. There was a sudden new policy sent out to all the staff in your office outlining new building ownership and training about sexual harassment policies.

“It’s a long time coming,” you heard someone mutter out in the elevator as you headed down towards the lobby.

“Guess Tony Stark just wants to own the whole block,” their coworker chirped back, pulling to loosen his tie.

There was even more commotion when you exited the elevator and walked towards the large glass doors. A team of NYPD officers were standing outside, shoving someone in the back of their cruiser. Your eyes narrowed. You couldn’t be certain but from that angle, you certainly recognized the bad buzzcut. Your eyes darted around the lobby anxiously and across the room, a small crowd of suits and officers had formed near..

Tony Stark, himself.

Before you could even try to understand what was going on, you heard someone calling your name. You turned your head and saw someone who looked a lot like -

“Steve?” You took a few steps towards him, pausing to glance from him back at Tony Stark and.. “Oh my god. You’re Steve Rogers. Why didn’t you say something?”

Captain America had walked you home. Hidden behind glasses and a hat. And you always considered yourself observant.

Steve just smirked, shrugging a shoulder. “I didn’t think it was important.”

You couldn’t help but smile. “Should I be thanking you for all of this chaos?”

Steve furrowed his brow in mock confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, maybe I’m extrapolating here but the same day my subway stalker gets taken away in cuffs, Stark Industries buys out this building and mandates a new policy and code of conduct.”

Steve pursed his lips, swallowing back a mischievous smirk. “Here’s the thing. It occurred to me that your best choice of action after that day was changing your entire life to avoid that man. And I couldn’t help but think about how broken that system was.”

You sighed. It had occurred to you, too. While you were relieved to shake the man from your trail, your mind considered he would probably turn his attention to someone else. And that wouldn’t be fair.

“Well, Cap. Job well done. That scum of a man had priors in Jersey, too.” Tony Stark himself had walked to where you and Steve stood. His hand clapped on Steve’s shoulder. “You’re at least going to ask her out, right? I mean, I bought an entire building for you - make a move, pal.”

Steve flushed pink and you couldn’t help but do the same.

“I’m getting a bagel. You want a bagel?” Tony raised an eyebrow from you to Steve again, smiling proudly.

“I’m good. I recommend the poppy seed though!” You called as Tony flitted away, narrowly avoiding a proper looking blonde woman who seemed very tired.

You turned your attention back to Steve. “He seems like a lot.”

“He is.” Steve nodded, motioning his hand. “I know it’s only one thing, maybe a ripple in making a difference but.. I’m hoping one less inappropriate person on the subway can give you peace of mind.”

You smiled again. Though you had seen many appearances by Captain America on the news, seeing the man in person was different. It seemed Steve Rogers walked the walk. After parting ways with him before, though he had crossed your mind, you didn’t anticipate your menial issues leading to this.

“Thanks. Really. Even one person makes a difference.” You reached out and touched his arm. “Thank you, Steve.”

“I’m sorry about Tony, though. His comments about asking you out and.. that certainly wasn’t my goal here.”

“I don’t know. You just did me a huge favour getting rid of that gremlin. I think I owe you.”

Steve caught your cheeky smile and stood up a bit straighter. “Well, in that case, the Yankees are playing the Sox tomorrow night. Tony never uses his tickets and the seats aren’t half bad. What do you say?”

“You’re cashing in this favour to take me on a date? Usually people ask for help moving or a ride to the airport or something.” You let out a dramatic sigh. “Sure. I guess you can take me to the game, Steve. If you ask politely, I’ll probably even hold your hand.”

After work the next day, Steve met you outside and you took the subway together to the stadium. You knew this wasn’t the end of it for you or anyone else worried about their personal boundaries being crossed. But, as you gripped the subway pole and your fingers grazed against Steve’s, you could finally breathe again. For the first time in a while, you weren’t anticipating next steps.

It was just you and the kind stranger from the coffee shop.

[cobaincreates]

body count

warnings: language, jealous rafe ;) & uh smut 18+

count: 3k+

hiiiii!! not my gif! bye!!!!

songs (that you’re not prepared for :)) (also crank them at full volume otherwise you won’t get the full effect) — keep lying & metal man by donna missal

— — —

body count never mattered to you. in fact, whoever created the notion that body counts were important or a need-to-know fact could shove it. you always felt that it was degrading and a useless piece of information. what did anyone gain from acquiring that knowledge? sure, it was smart to keep track for hygiene reasons, but not for social reasons, or for future relationships.

so when rafe posed the question, you couldn’t help but scrunch your face up in discomfort. he was curious and you understood that, especially at this stage. you had only been dating for a couple months and it had been great so far with a handful of late night dates and mid-afternoon rendezvous’ in between classes. you rarely became nervous around him anymore, but you couldn’t push away that uneasy feeling at the current topic.

“can i guess?” he asked, looking at you under his baseball cap.

tonight, rafe had taken you out for ice cream only a couple miles from campus. he had picked you up in his car, even clearing the front seat off that usually held a stack of papers ranging from returned tests to scribbled notes. he brought you to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and ordered a brownie sundae right off the bat. he knew what you liked.

“are you going to be rude about it?” you countered as you scooped up a generous amount of brownie and vanilla ice cream.

“are you implying that there’s a lot?” he eyed you, stopping mid-scoop.

you chewed what was in your mouth, the ice cream cold against your teeth. you hid your mouth behind your hand so you could answer him. “don’t be so shocked. i’ve had my fair share of hookups.”

rafe couldn’t help the broad smile as he ate. “but you’re so innocent-looking.”

“oh, please.” you groaned.

there was a pause as rafe continued to smile to himself. you took another bite, knowing that the conversation was far from over. if rafe wanted to know something, he would eventually get the answer.

he stared at you from across the table while you spent several moments looking around the diner. you weren’t trying to prolong the answer you were going to give him, in fact you knew you didn’t have to prolong it because it wasn’t a big deal. you supposed you were just stubborn since you didn’t like the topic anyway.

“what?” you asked rafe when you found his eyes still on you.

“how many hookups have you had?” he asked, some sort of amusement in his eyes.

“does it really matter?”

“is it more than one hand?”

“now i don’t want to tell you.” you laughed lightly as you leaned over the table, dipping your spoon back into the dish.

“i’m just curious.” he shrugged.

biting the inside of your lip, you looked at him under your lashes. you weren’t sure why you were giving in, but you set your spoon down and held your hands up. you showed him with your fingers how many people you had been with intimately, including relationships. rafe’s smile seemed to falter just a bit.

“not so innocent anymore, huh?”

you could see the tiny sliver of disappointment as he tried to pull the smile back on. without commenting, he picked up his spoon.

“who’s the best you ever had?”

you knew he was just being curious, or nosy, but you could also tell that he was asking because he was jealous. you saw it in the way his gaze changed, how he couldn’t fully look at you anymore. his shoulders seemed tense.

you already had an answer in your head, but you didn’t dare say it out loud. you knew for a fact that he wouldn’t like it. you took a sip of your drink as if you were thinking about it. looking around the restaurant again, you focused on the waiter at the register and the smell of fried food filling the room.

“just some guy.” you shrugged, your shirt falling off your shoulder. the cool air meeting your skin calmed the thoughts brewing in your mind so you didn’t bother fixing it.

“do i know him?”

you bit down on your straw and locked eyes with him. this could go two ways, you told yourself. either you could tell him the truth or you could lie and hope it would end the conversation. but you had gotten off to such a good start with him and there was no need to ruin it now. if he wasn’t staring at you as closely, you would’ve buried your head into your hands.

you weren’t even close to answering him when a body appeared beside your table. “hey guys!”

your stomach dropped. now you had to will yourself not to bury your face into your hands. both you and rafe looked away from one another to the soft-smiling face of his best friend, topper. what a coincidence. rafe looked back to you without your notice, hoping you wouldn’t forget about your conversation.

“hey, top.” you said in a deep breath, praying your voice didn’t shake. honestly, you couldn’t tell with the blood pumping in your ears. “you getting food?”

“yeah, just needed a break from studying for finley’s exam. you ready for that?” topper lowered his head, looking down at you.

rafe watched the two of you for a moment, letting go of his spoon and sitting back in his chair unbeknownst to you. you were too uncomfortable to look in his direction, which he surely took note of.

“maybe?” you shrugged a shoulder and leaned your cheek in your palm propped on the table. yes, you had most definitely been trying to separate yourself from rafe’s eyes. “i did some studying earlier, but i definitely need to do more. i can’t get past the moral error theory, i think i’ve re-read it about seven times.”

rafe’s eyebrows furrowed, wanting so badly to interject in the conversation with his own anecdotes. he let his jaw slack slightly, leaning back onto the table as he shifted in his seat.

“i don’t blame you. finley seems like a madman with a whole exam covering five completely different things.” topper said.

you laughed, mostly out of awkwardness. you glanced at rafe then and felt your laughter quickly dwindle. he had set his elbows on the table, his clasped hands propped against his mouth. you looked away when the dark eyes under his hat latched to yours. your stomach dropped and if you weren’t careful it felt like it was going to fall apart completely. topper continued your conversation for another minute, but you had no idea what he was saying. you didn’t register it as you could only think about rafe and question everything. did you say something wrong? were you too friendly with topper? did he know?

“i’ll see you guys later.” topper backed away to the cash register then, leaving the two of you alone. you averted your eyes to your spoon sitting in the dish in the middle of the table. you suddenly had the urge to eat the rest of it.

“there’s a little brownie left. you want it?” you pushed the small piece closer to rafe in the dish. your voice felt quiet, but you knew he heard you.

“no, i’m good.” he said and sat back, dropping his hands to his lap. you peered at him under your lashes again as you popped the brownie into your mouth. the sugar didn’t make you feel any more at ease as you chewed.

rafe dug out his wallet and placed his card on the edge of the table for whenever the waiter came over. you sipped the rest of your drink, not knowing what to say. you wanted to pick up where you left off in your conversation, but you weren’t sure how to go about it. so instead you bit the inside of your lip as rafe took his phone out and tapped his fingers along the screen.

“all done? can i get you two anything else?” the waiter asked as they took the dish and spoons off the table. both you and rafe looked up at them at the same time. you shook your head while rafe said no, he held his card out to them then dropped his gaze back down to his lap. you looked at the hat on his head, wanting so badly to reach over and take it off.

rafe was kind of his usual self as you left the restaurant. he held the door open for you and walked along your side to the car, but he was completely quiet and he didn’t touch you. he was all for physical touch, either an arm around your waist or his hand holding yours. you itched for it as you parted ways around the car and got in.

you stole glances at him as he drove. his hat seemed lower over his face as if he were hiding. was he relaxed or defeated as he rested against the seat? at the next green light, he went straight instead of turning left. you figured he just wanted you to come over to his apartment instead of ending the night earlier than usual. you also speculated that he wanted to continue the conversation before topper showed up. god, why did topper have to pick up food? why did he have to be hungry like any other human?

it was a longer silence as you followed rafe into the building, sniffing that familiar sanitary scent of the lobby. could he hear the buzzing in your head reverberating off the metal walls of the elevator? you tried to think of what you were going to say, of how you should explain in the best way. but then you thought that rafe didn’t need an explanation, you were free to sleep with whoever you wanted before him.

“do you want to watch a movie?” you tried adding a happy tone to your question, setting your bag down and shuffling your jacket off your arms. rafe turned to you from the front door, looking taller than he really was.

you watched him as he came over to you, towering over your shorter frame. his hands came up to your face, pulling you closer to him for a kiss. you melted completely in his hands, touching his sides to make sure you were still on solid earth. you had shared plenty of kisses, but you still felt that rush when his lips were on yours.

“topper?” he questioned, pulling away from you.

your bliss quickly broke, eyebrows furrowing and your dopamine levels dropping. you swallowed noticeably as your hands left his waist and his disappeared from your face. “what about him?” you nearly whispered and immediately regretted it. you didn’t like playing dumb and you could tell by the way rafe’s jaw clenched that he didn’t like it either. what had you gotten yourself into?

“take your clothes off.”

you blinked rapidly, your stomach leaping. did you hear him correctly? “what?” you closed your eyes for a moment, trying to comprehend where this was going and how his words were jumping all over the place.

“you heard me.”

you couldn’t take your jaw from the floor as you stared up at rafe in astonishment. you had never seen this stern side of him and it was making your head all jumbled in thoughts. your lungs felt short of breath now.

rafe stepped closer to bring his chest flush against yours. his head lowered, his eyes piercing intensively. you wanted so deeply to look away. his lips were right in front of you and they looked very tempting but you were trying desperately to understand what he was trying to do. he didn’t give you much thought as his lips came over yours again, this time much firmer and more incessant. you made a noise against him and rafe soaked it in, letting it disappear into his mouth as he opened your lips further. you moved your hands up to his face, trying to get your mind moving to the pace of his lips. it seemed impossible as he knelt down and grabbed ahold of your thighs to lift you up.

you felt rafe start to move, his legs carrying the both of you somewhere further in the room. you didn’t know where exactly until his hands disappeared from you and you dropped down onto the couch with a slight bounce. you gasped and looked up at rafe in front of you as he tore off his hat and jacket, sending them both flying somewhere behind him. next went his shirt before he bent down toward you, his tongue quick to enter your mouth.

you tried your best to match his pace, your eyebrows furrowing in concentration. it wasn’t until his hands went up your shirt that you pulled away from him with a deep breath.

“wait, wait, wait,” you said as rafe’s lips went to your neck momentarily. “slow down, rafe.”

this wasn’t how you expected or imagined your first time with rafe. he pulled away without a word and propped himself on the back of the couch, bent directly over you. you swallowed and reached up to touch his shoulders, the kitchen light sending a warm glow over them.

“talk to me.”

“i don’t want to talk.” he said as he fisted the back of the couch. you noticed his arms flexing above you.

“what are you trying to do?” you begged, searching for anything.

rafe let out a noise before he pressed a few kisses along the underside of your jaw, making you tilt your head up and close your eyes. you brushed your face against his as his breath hit your ear. “i’m going to show you the best you’ve ever had.”

you couldn’t help the moan from slipping out. it clearly egged rafe on as he kissed you again.

“take your clothes off.” he said once more as he pulled away. you wanted to kick him for leaving you again, especially with how quickly your anticipation was increasing. instead, you sat up, moving closer to the edge of the couch, and pulled your shirt over your head. rafe watched you as you both reached for your bottoms. the adrenaline started to kick in as you noticed the way he was looking at you and your movements.

you bit your lips together as rafe grabbed ahold of your pants and tugged them the rest of the way off. he glanced at your underwear next and you leaned against the back of the couch to push them off, lifting your hips. he leaned down for another searing kiss, your breaths mingling together. you breathed him in next, opening your mouth wider and moving your fingers into his hair. you gripped it softly as you felt his hand appear on your thigh, slowly traveling up and maneuvering over the new territory. the only thing you two had ever done was innocent petting over clothes, but you managed to shiver just as much at his touch.

rafe didn’t make a trail of kisses down your front or spend time caressing your skin like the many times you imagined he would. he didn’t go down on you or hold your legs tightly around his head as he tasted you, like you hoped he would. as he remembered why he was doing this in the first place, his kisses became impatient and sloppy.

“turn around.” he commanded when he pulled away just centimeters from your face. you were just about to pull his hips closer to yours, your own impatience pooling between your legs.

a wave of nerves ran through you and you swallowed as you did as he said. once you were turned around, your arms propped on the back of the couch and your eyes trailing over the bare wall a few feet away, your breath hitched. rafe’s lips pressed to the back of your thigh.

you let out a sudden yelp as rafe touched you for the first time. his hand pressed into you, his fingers gliding your wetness around. your belly clenched. your head seemed to sense his movements, leaning toward him as he came to your ear again.

“are you this wet for me?” he whispered huskily.

“yes.” you said and leaned your head against his, your eyes slipping closed. you focused on his fingers, the thickness of them, the assured way they moved.

“were you this wet for him?” he asked next as his fingers teased your entrance.

“no, rafe.” you mewled and moved your hips back in search of some friction.

“don’t lie to me.” he said. his head disappeared as he pressed a kiss to your shoulder blade, his teeth making an appearance for a subtle bite. your head lulled forward onto the cushion as your hips pushed against his hand.

your body pressed into the cushion as rafe’s fingers were replaced with him. you moaned lowly as he pushed into you, your eyes rolling in pleasure. you could feel yourself pulsing around him and his size and you wanted to stay just like this for a while.

rafe had no intentions of keeping still. he planted his hands at your hips, adjusted his knee beside yours, pulled back out and hit you harder this time, rocking you deep into the cushions. you barely had time to adjust to him, wincing slightly as he moved.

you lifted your head up just as he thrust forward. reaching a hand back to him, you gripped his wrist. “god, rafe, be nice.” you groaned as he thrust again.

“you fucked my best friend.” he accused through a clenched jaw and a harder thrust.

“twice.” you gasped, your head dropping back to the couch.

rafe groaned and managed to pull out nearly all the way and hit you even harder going back in. you moaned, feeling him pause for a second before doing it again. each time he pushed, you lost your breath, only having two seconds tops to get it back. you could feel his jealousy in his movements and his total frustration at learning that you’d slept with topper. it had been months before even knowing rafe. it was fun while it lasted and you now had that experience to thank since it brought you to where you are now— in rafe’s apartment, fucking him for the first time. you didn’t regret sleeping with topper at all.

now you pushed yourself up on your hands, arching your hips back to give rafe a new angle. you brushed your hair over your neck, turning to get a glimpse of him. he was relentlessly thrusting into you and showing no signs of stopping any time soon. you could feel yourself getting somewhat close to your release and you wanted nothing more than for rafe to bring it to you.

you let out a high-pitched moan, one you never heard before, as rafe took it upon himself to smack your backside. he eased the sting as he rubbed his palm over it.

“did he make you feel like this?” he panted, so clearly close to his end too.

“stop talking about him.” you chided.

rafe only laid down another smack, this time gripping your backside harshly afterwards. you fisted the cushions and squeezed your eyes shut as it brought your climax closer.

“don’t stop,” you begged. “please, don’t stop.”

you felt the sting as rafe removed his hand and brought it to your clit. your mouth dropped open, a slew of curses and moans pouring out as he drew circles in time with his thrusts. his touching you, moving inside of you, and the periodic smacking of your skin was enough to throw you overboard. you grabbed onto the couch, holding on tightly as you came over rafe and said his name in bliss.

his hips stuttered at the feel of you coming, your walls pulsing around him. he panted as he took it in then went right back to his fast pace, chasing his own high. your hand stretched back, searching for him, and wrapped around his wrist tightly. he gripped your hip then, your touch encouraging him. it was another moment before he was pulling out of you and coming onto your back.

he breathed in deeply through his nose, staring down at the mess on your skin, your sides moving as you breathed. he brushed his hair off of his forehead, now slick with sweat.

rafe wiped the mess clean with his shirt then pressed a kiss to your shoulder. he collapsed beside you and rested his tired muscles. you sat down and blinked around at the room, trying to remember little details about tonight and how you had gotten there in the first place.

rafe’s head rolled to look at you, his eyes now tired. “how was it?”

you grinned at the question and couldn’t help poking fun at him. “you’re so jealous.” you jabbed at his chest. a second later you pressed your hand onto his sticky skin. rafe didn’t deny your statement, instead continuing to stare at you in a daze. “there’s room for improvement,” you teased and pecked his shoulder before getting up. rafe didn’t miss the slight limp you had as you went behind the couch.

“where are you going?” he asked with a smirk.

“i have to pee.” you called to him.

“i’m not done with you yet,” he called back, making you laugh and close the bathroom door behind you.

[wildingrose]

intrigued police

dark alley help part 6

part 5: diamond in the rough | part 7: refusal

word count: 1.9k

》 mild violence, riding

- ✿ -

You texted Raymond that you were waiting in the lobby of his hotel.

"Y/N?"

You spun around and found the man that you dreaded to see and were ready to run out the door if it weren't for Taeyong beside you, holding your hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Hey Raymond," you greeted without much interest.

He glanced over to the man beside you. "Who's he?" he asked, almost snarling in disgust for someone other than him to be holding your hand.

"This is Taeyong. He’s going to take your place soon. Wait, what am I saying? He already did!"

Raymond didn't see that coming and was utterly shocked. "What?"

Meanwhile, Taeyong was amused by the way you introduced him to your... former future prospect.

"Okay then, Taeyoung-"

"It's Tae-YONG," you corrected with a glare.

He disregarded it and continued. "What do you do?"

Taeyong had been warned of this and kept his mouth shut. Instead, you spoke up. "That's none of your business."

"Yes, it is. Clearly, you're replacing me with him, so I need to know what he has that I don't."

You scoffed. "Something really big."

Raymond gaped. "You slept with him?"

Taeyong's eyes widened from the directness, yet you coolly retorted back with, "I meant heart but sure. We can consider that too even though I haven't seen yours."

Raymond laughed, almost sinister. "I thought I was the one doing you a favour to let you take the spot that other girls would die to have. Your mother really..." he muttered the last part real quiet, and something snapped in you with rage.

"I dare you to say that thing about my mom."

He rolled his eyes. "Your mom is the desperate one to have you married off to me. And look at you, next to another guy while standing in front of the one you're supposed to be with. Both mom and daughter are such..." he trailed of shaking his head in disgust.

Your blood boiled, knowing exactly what he was going to say but didn't want the filthy words to taint his mouth. You'd bear with it if it was only you, but if your mother was getting dragged into this, you weren't going to stand it.

"You fucking asshole! Don't you fucking say that about my mom!" you shouted.

He didn't listen to you, liking that he got you triggered and added, "There's that term. What's it called? Ah yes! Motherfucker. I can just imagine your mom-"

You didn't let him finish. In a blink of an eye, you slapped him hard. His head snapped to the side, fingers coming up to touch the stinging cheek. His eyes locked on you in shock as you fumed furiously.

Raymond clenched his teeth with seething anger. "I let it go when you called me an asshole, but this? You're such a slut- no, whore. Go have fun with your new-"

A yelp of pain came out of his mouth when Taeyong had enough of the shit he was witnessing, especially when Raymond called you names. Names that he couldn't fathom you being labeled as. You were an angel, his doll that did nothing wrong.

How dare he had the nerve to? Taeyong thought.

He couldn't stop himself from getting involved when you had strictly warned him from doing so. And so he yanked Raymond by the hair, hard, bending him backward till his arms were flaying around for something to grip onto. "Let me go, dude!"

Taeyong did, letting him go immediately and caused Raymond to fall to the ground. Humiliation burned throughout his body and he got to his feet right away to make an attack. But Taeyong's fists were ready to leave a nasty mark on his face. Taeyong swung it hard right in the center, making Raymond's head bumped backward and he screamed in pain as he clutched onto his nose.

Your hands covered your mouth in shock and fear. It wasn't because Taeyong had butted in for you and hit the jerk.

But for what Raymond was going to do next.

-

The constable on duty strolled in unhurriedly. "Kids these days always get into fights," he muttered under his breath. He sat down at his desk and finally looked up to the three people sitting across with you in the middle. Taeyong crossed his arms and was looking elsewhere while Raymond hissed, holding onto his broken nose.

The officer gasped. "Taeyong?"

Taeyong met his surprised eyes and mirrored it.

You frowned and asked, "You know Taeyong?"

He nodded. "I sometimes help out with the construction crew to manage the traffic so he's a familiar face. It's nice to see you, boy. But I wasn't expecting it to be like this."

Your heartrate picked up and warily glanced at Raymond. He looked like he was too much in pain to pick up on Taeyong's identity.

"Who are you two? Are you together?" The officer inquired when shifting his eyes onto you and the asshole.  

You rolled your eyes. "No, thankfully. I'm with Taeyong. He was only defending me after this..." You sent Raymond a scowl. "...one attacked me. So please don't arrest Taeyong. If anything, it's him," you said, pointing to the injured one.

A smile tugged at Taeyong's lips, seeing you defend him. The officer raised his eyebrows, intrigued that Taeyong had a girl on his side and stood up for you.

Raymond snapped out of his pain and spoke up. "She's lying! I didn't even touch her! Plus, I'm the one needing medical attention!"

"Shut up! Just take the blame and end this. You have the money anyway for treatment," you argued.

"Have you always been this rude?"

"Now that I have an excuse to get you out of my life, yes."

Raymond huffed in annoyance. "I can do anything for you, buy you anything that you want, and this is how you treat me?"

Taeyong stiffened upon hearing the words. He couldn't do that for you. He couldn't buy you anything that you'd ask for. He didn't have the kind of money Raymond did.

Though that didn't affect you and replied, "Then, why don't you go get yourself a sugar baby?"

The officer stifled back a laugh as Taeyong was stunned by your response, touching his heart. He butted in once again and muttered, "While I might not have all the money, I definitely have the strength to snap your neck easily."

Raymond gasped loudly and shouted, "Arrest him, officer! He's threatening me right in front of you!"

The officer tutted calmly. "Nah, I would never on Taeyong."

"What? You're abusing your power to save someone you know? I'll get you fired!" All his yelling was hurting your head and you rubbed your temple in circles.

The officer clasped his hands on the table. "No, I'm not. I know that no matter how strong Taeyong is, he would never use violence under any circumstance, even if a fight breaks out onsite. Him using it on you shows that you were being extremely rude to this young lady and he had to intervene. This is my reasoning for not arresting him. You all are dismissed."

Stepping out of the station, Raymond started laughing hysterically. Your hands wrapped around Taeyong's bicep and gave him a silent signal to not say a word, to which he nodded.

Raymond pulled his phone out and began typing something on the phone. "Your mom is going to be so shocked to hear that her future son-in-law is a laborer."

Your heart got caught in your throat. So he did hear it. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I texted her. Think of it as payback for what he did," he sent you a wink. "May you have all the bad luck trying to get her permission, Taeyoung." With that, he walked to his car and drove away.

Taeyong felt your hands squeeze on his arm. You did your best to stay composed, reminding yourself of the plan that you had in mind. If that went well, then there was nothing else to worry about. Even if your mother knew about Taeyong's work.

"Y/N?" he called for you softly, placing a hand over yours.

The touch brought you to meet his worried gaze and gave your best 'don't worry' smile. "It'll be okay."

He let out a long sigh. "This happened cause of me. Sorry," he mumbled.

Your shook your head. "She would have found out eventually." Your phone began ringing and learned that it was from none other than the one you'd expect. You ignored it and said, "Let's go home."

Taeyong hummed. "I'll drop you off and come later."

Chuckling, you clarified, "I mean our home."

Taeyong's heart stopped beating before going completely erratic. Our home, he thought. He absolutely adored that.

-

You watched him quietly close the door behind him and take off his shoes. Taeyong hadn't uttered a single word on the way back to his place, making you worried when he refused to make eye contact with you. "Tae?" He finally did, meeting your concerned look. "What's wrong?"

He shifted his gaze to the floor and still kept quiet.

You huffed and mischievously narrowed your eyes on him, "Where's the confident stranger I asked help for the first time?"

That brought a very subtle tug at his lips. Success!

You cupped his face and lifted it, making him meet your eyes again. "Seeing you like this makes me sad," you said with a pout which made him chuckle softly. "Remember our deal in the car?"

That seemed to excite him as his eyes darkened rapidly. He licked his lips with half lidded eyes and asked, "Really?"

You nodded with a tender smile, glad to see him back to the version of Taeyong you were used to.

With quick feet, he led you by the hand into the bedroom and sat comfortably on the sheets, pulling you to sit on top of his lap. A loud gasp left your mouth when he flushed his face against the skin above your covered breasts, his hot breath fanning over your chest and your shoulders shook as a shiver crawled up your spine. You were confused with what he wanted in this position until he started grinding up into you, going slow and steady until his pants grew super tight and your core began to throb. You mirrored his action, grinding down onto the hard tent and a beautiful moan fell from his lips.

Taeyong's hands came to your hips and lifted you off briefly, enough to unbutton his pants and pull out his dick. He shoved your panties aside and slowly pushed in while you helped simultaneously by sinking down.

"Fuck, doll, so pretty." His brows were furrowed as he concentrated on the feeling of being enveloped by your paradise.

You set a pace, steadying yourself with hands on his shoulder as you bounced on his cock. He rolled his hips up to meet you perfectly and you cried out quietly at how heavenly he felt deep in your womanhood. You mewled when he tugged one strap of your dress over your shoulder, letting it fall and expose your breast to the air. His mouth attached to suck on your nipple, your hands coming around to hold his head close to your chest.  

When he got close, his pace slowed before stopping altogether and came hard into you, your pace not slowing to draw out his release and shortly after, you came.

tag list: @cosmiclatte28 @mel-yjh @johnnysuhisnotmyproblem @kttyongie @chantellsievert

[yutahoes]

No Longer

pairing : ex lovers (band bassist! Yuta Nakamoto x doctor! Y/N) ft. NCT 127

word count : 2.4k words

genre : angst

summary : It’s been years since the break-up but no one can seem to move on yet. 

tag list : @ailoveyuta @yutazen01​ @aiforyuu​ @cosmiclatte28​ @2-3-t-i​ 

The bass of the pub music kept on ringing on Taeyong’s ear. It was a miracle that his friends invited him to watch them play. He had known the members of the club since college and he was amazed that they’re picking up popularity. When the five finished their set, they quickly went to Taeyong’s table. An awkward silence engulfing them made him curious. Did they fight? 

Yuta took a glass of beer and started drinking it in one gulp. Taeyong gave the band vocalist a look as if asking what the problem is. “He’s been in a sour mood all night,” Taeil explained. 

Johnny nodded then stopped Yuta from taking another swig of beer. “He never mentioned anything wrong.” Mark, the rhythm guitarist of the group, claimed. Taeyong nodded. Among the five, he’s the closest to Yuta, so he’ll know what happened. 

“He probably fought with Mika again,” Jungwoo stated and Yuta slammed the glass on the table with a loud thud. 

He glared at the five other guys on the table. “She wanted me to marry her,” Yuta whispered that made Taeyong shake his head. So that was it. 

“Why not? You’re already dating for six years.” Johnny asked. It was a mystery why they’re still together when all they do is fight. But then, maybe, it was the charm of their relationship. 

Taeyong had to sigh when the bassist stared at him with his watery eyes. “Yong, I can still dream of her every night...” And his head dropped on the table. Yuta is really a bad drinker. 

This isn’t new. Whenever he’s drunk, he would always look for her. But whenever they’re in the same place, they’ll play cat and mouse on each other. His bandmates just stared at him in pity then at Taeyong who was dialing someone on his phone, “Doyoung, I need your help.” 

--

Y/N was doing her hospital rounds when Haechan from reception beeped to tell her that someone is looking for her. Thinking that it was an emergency, she immediately went to the lobby to check who it was. She greeted the new nurse before asking who the visitor was only to be greeted by her brother, Doyoung, and his bestfriend Taeyong. “What is it?” she asked, annoyed. She still has lots of things to do. 

“You know that I love you right?” Doyoung asked that made her wide-eyed. She screamed when Taeyong suddenly carried her to his shoulders, out of the hospital. What is this? Where are they taking you? “We figured you needed a vacation.” her brother explained when his friend put her down. 

She gave the two of a curious gaze but Taeyong just shrugged, opening the van. “Noona!” Mark greeted which made her smile. When was the last time she saw him? Even Jungwoo started hugging her, pulling her inside the van. 

“Wait, my things are still inside. And I…” Y/N stopped when her fellow intern in the hospital, Jaehyun, handed her bag. “What is this?” 

He smiled, dimples appearing on both cheeks. “Enjoy your vacation, Y/N. You deserve it.” The girl just looked at him in surprise. “I’ll take care of everything here. Just come back in one piece.” He even greeted Doyoung that made her more surprised. When did Doyoung and Jaehyun become close? 

The door of the van closed. “Is he your boyfriend? He’s handsome.” Jungwoo teased. 

“No way!” You quickly revolted. “My past boyfriend is more handsome than him.” Mark chuckled then she heard someone coughing from behind before seeing the past boyfriend leaning by the window, smiling to himself. Instead, she turned to Johnny who she greeted enthusiastically then at Taeil who gave her a high five. “So, where are we going?” But they just shrugged. 

They stopped over in a gas station and she took this opportunity to change into her casual clothes. The moment she went out of the ladies’ room, Yuta was leaning by the wall. She lightly glanced at him then decided to walk past him but he quickly took her duffel bag and opened the van door for her, putting the bag on the back of the van where some of their things are. 

Mark and Jungwoo transferred on the back, sharing the small space with Johnny and Taeil. “We’re fine here,” Jungwoo said that Johnny even smiled. “We wanted to get closer with each other.” The girl shook her eyes then sat properly, creating a huge gap between her and Yuta, when he sat beside her. 

She isn’t stupid. She knew why they’re doing this. But why? She can’t seem to wrap her head on that. It’s been years. Haven’t they moved on? 

Haven’t you moved on yet? She asked herself. Y/N shook her head. Of course, she did. 

There were a lot of conversations in the car, Taeyong was driving and Doyoung is next to him. Johnny even asked how is Doyoung’s work which made the girl surprised. Does Johnny know her brother? It was a wrong question to ask since it was Taeil who answered that Doyoung used to be her chaperone whenever they had date nights with Yuta. Again, she was reminded about her and Yuta. 

A phone rang and everyone glanced at Yuta when he mentioned the name, Mika. He was so quiet while talking to the person on the other line as if sharing a secret. But Y/N clearly heard his silent ‘I love you too’. He moved on. He found another girl already. Well, it’s already years. That’s acceptable. “I didn’t know you were dating someone,” Doyoung claimed and she swore, the air inside the van is so thick that she’s burdened by it. Yuta just nodded. “How long have you been dating?” 

“Six years?” You gasp then covered your mouth quickly. That long? But wait, that only means that he had a girlfriend after they broke up. And fuck, she felt betrayed. 

You really need to move on, Y/N. 

--   

The house that Doyoung and Taeyong rented for the vacation is near a beach but what made her amazed is a trail to the mountain at the back of the house. Excited, Y/N started forcing Doyoung to go on a hike with her but he kept saying that he’s tired. So she asked Johnny who just shook his head. Even Mark doesn’t want to go hiking. 

It’s a good day and she really wanted to go to the peak of the mountain. “I’ll come with you,” Yuta claimed that made her surprised. She’s convinced that Yuta kept on avoiding her so what is this now? But then, she shouldn’t be wary of him. Isn’t he the one who had a girlfriend just months after the breakup? Everyone looked surprised when she agreed with a smile on her face. 

It isn’t as awkward as she thought. Yuta had always been her buddy when hiking so this is normal. The only weird thing is that she cannot ask for his help even if the steps are kind of slippery. The slope was too steep that she doesn’t know where to step. Maybe hiking is a bad idea. He held a hand for her to hold and she hesitated before taking it. He helped her up, not letting go of his hold on her. Until the two reached the peak. 

Her eyes were sparkling at the scene in front of her. She could see how the mountain meets the shore then the sea. Even the sun setting makes everything so picturesque. A camera shutter was heard then she turned at Yuta who took another picture of the view in front. Shit, she thought, her phone was in her bag. "Fuck! My phone." She groaned, frustrated. She wanted Doyoung to see this and tease them for not hiking with her. 

"I'll send you the picture," Yuta assured and she nodded. 

The girl crouched down on the grass, wanting to bask in the breeze of the mountain peak before heading down. Yuta removed his jacket, revealing a sleeveless inside, then placed it on the ground for her to sit on. She thanked him and he just smiled, shaking his head. Isn't he cold? But then, Yuta is always wearing a sleeveless that she had this obsession on his arms. Even now, she wanted to sink her teeth on his skin. But Yuta isn't hers now. 

"Y/N." Yuta called and she just answered a 'yeah?', eyes still focused on the setting sun. "I just want to let you know that I'm proud of you." She bit her lip, waiting for a continuation. "I have to admit that I wasn't sure that you'll be a doctor, especially when you started focusing on that dream and not on our future…" 

"Is that why you broke up with me?" Yuta stopped that made her laugh. "I get it now." She exclaimed. "I've always wondered what went wrong with the two of us." 

 "Y/N…" 

She shook her head then stood up. "And I wanted to thank you Yuta, for breaking up with me that time," she said sincerely, facing him. Yuta thought that this is the first time that she stared at him. His memory flashing back to those moments where she kept crying and he can't do anything for her. "We wouldn't be here if not for that. I wouldn't be a doctor and you wouldn't continue playing the bass for the band." But what she said next made him roll his eyes at her, "You wouldn't be happy with your girlfriend. Mika, right?" 

The guy laughed, a menacing laughing that surprised Y/N. "Funny of you to think that we're happy." She feigned a shock even claiming that they're dating for six years already. "Five, going on six." He corrected and it was now her turn to roll her eyes at him, it's the same. "She's forcing me to marry her just because her friends are married." 

The girl chuckled lightly. "Then why aren't you proposing to her?" 

"I'm not ready to settle down." 

"Really, Nakamoto?" She gasped. "I remember you asking me to get married on our third anniversary." She exclaimed then stopped. "Didn't you want to have children early?" 

He smirked. "So you rejected my proposal." Y/N pursed her lips at that. "It's different. I saw my future with you. Us getting married, having kids in our small apartment." He then shook his head. "But her," He gave an exasperated sigh. "I can't see any of that." 

"I'm sorry, Yuta." She said then handed him the jacket. "I'm not the right person you should talk to about this." She walked first, heading down the slope of the mountain but missed a step that made her slip. God, what is wrong with her? 

--

The other guys were worried when they went back to the rest house. Yuta carried her on his back, and there was blood on her leg. "How can a doctor be injured like this?" Jungwoo teased that made the girl hiss at him. 

Yuta took her to the shower room, washing the dirt and blood on her leg. "Does it hurt?" he asked calmly that made her shake her head. It's bearable. "Tell me what I should do to clean your wound." 

"It's fine. Don't bother." 

"Just let me fix your wound." 

"You can't, Yuta!" 

Doyoung entered the room, staring at the two of them in surprise. "Sorry, are you two…?" But the girl just sighed and Yuta sat down on the bathroom floor as if frustrated over something. "I called Jaehyun, he wants to talk to you." 

When did Doyoung and Jaehyun become this close? But the girl took the phone to her ear calling his name. "Hey, what happened? How are you so clumsy?" Y/N was startled, why is he so worried? "I'm driving there. In the meantime, just put a bandage on your wound. If you do not have…" 

"I know what to do, Jae." 

"But I just wished, I was there to take care of you." He whispered. "You always hurt yourself…" The girl stared at the person who's giving her the greatest pain now, seated on the toilet floor and still checking on her leg. "I want to take that away from you." 

This is it, isn't it? Yuta wouldn't be able to fix the wound. Someone else can. A doctor can. "I'll wait for you, Jae." Jaehyun can. 

The door was closed, Doyoung isn't inside like earlier and there's just her and Yuta. "I still think of you from time to time, you know?" Y/N started. "If you're eating well. If you're warm. Sometimes, I caught myself drifting to thoughts of you." Yuta was about to speak up, but she raced him in talking, "But I realized there would really come a time when you'll love the memory more than you'll love the person." 

He stared at her in surprise. "I'm sorry for always rejecting your proposal. I'm really scared of the future that time." She confessed. "You were struggling with the band and I have these high dreams that I felt like we're pulling each other back. I love you, really. But I cannot give you the future that you want.” 

“I know,” Yuta answered then held Y/N’s cheek. Sliding his thumb on her cheek to wipe the tears she didn’t know just flowed on her. “And I’m sorry that you would always cry because of me. I guess I’m really not the right guy for you.” 

But he is. Maybe not in this lifetime. 

There’s really such a thing as right love at the wrong time. 

When Jaehyun came to the beach house, everyone was just staring at him then at Yuta who was sitting on the couch nearby, phone at hand. “What happened?” Taeil asked, eyeing how Jaehyun treats the girl’s wound and her, laughing playfully at him. 

Yuta just shook his head as Taeyong tapped his shoulder. His eyes were stuck on his phone, a picture of her smiling at the sunset. It was supposed to be a new part of his collection of her smiles. That smile that always gave him strength all this time. But the smile isn’t his now, watching how she smiled at another guy. 

Sighing, he quickly typed a message. ‘Mika, what is your ring size?’ A bitter smile appeared on his lips when he hit send, followed by erasing hundreds of smiling photos of her. A goodbye to his first love. 

[joontier]

Subliminal in Scrubs | V2; report xiv 

pairings: dr. jeon jungkook x female reader

chapter rating: NC-17 | genre: humor, workplace relationships

warnings: none to note

word count: 2.4k

g/n: Send me your thoughts?

[taglist]:  @nottodayjjk @ditttiii @zeharilisharaban @btsbunny07 @turquoiseandplaidinautumn @aamxxrii @codeinebelle @btsmakesmehappy @stargukkie @moonchild1​ @starbear019​​

Subliminal in Scrubs (the records) |  navi. | m.list

“Do you really have to leave me?” you drag the words out as you chew your dinner, one you insisted on having inside Ayoung’s apartment on her last day. You even add a cute little pout afterwards, hoping that Ayoung might reconsider her moving last minute. 

“_________, that was literally the third time you asked me tonight. One more and I think I might change my mind.” 

You sit up straighter, an expectant look on your face. “Really?” 

“I’m afraid not, __________. I’m even surprised you kept asking when you literally helped me pack the last of my stuff. Shouldn’t you have been doing the opposite if you wanted me to stay?” 

You let out a rather unattractive burp and a pretty loud one at that, then you sigh again for the nth time tonight, knowing it’s going to be a while before you find another neighbor that is as unbothered by your poor table etiquette as Ayoung. 

Speaking of neighbors, a coworker’s face pops into your mind and you’re suddenly reminded of your embarrassing encounter with Jungkook just the other day in the very corridor just a door away from where you were seated. “By the way...that guy you brought over the other day…” 

“Oh him?” 

You brace yourself for the bad news, tilting your head towards Ayoung while you wait for her response. “Yeah, I don’t think he’ll be moving in anytime soon.” 

“Oh,” comes your reply, shockingly nonchalant enough to mask the joy of not having Jungkook as your neighbor. Giddy, you prod her on, wanting to hear the rest of the story. “Shame though, he was such a hottie.” 

“How did you even meet him in the first place?” 

“Just last week I went to a cafe to study and partly cure a hangover from the previous night, I checked the post I uploaded for new possible tenants and Jungkook...that’s his name by the way...he was one of the first who sent a message about wanting to see the apartment in person, so we agreed to meet up on a later date.” Ayoung pauses for a moment, stacking a box on top of another. 

“But just a few moments later while I was reading, this boy came up to me and asked if I was...well me and he told me he was Jungkook. Eventually, he asked if I was free because he mentioned that he had nothing else to do that day and he would’ve appreciated it if he got to see the place and have a drink at the same time.” 

There’s a funny look on her face and you raise a brow questioningly. “Have you ever seen a man more attractive in just sweats?” Oh Christ. 

“I mean, most guys would look like a hobo in those, plus he’s probably dumb for just walking around in sweats with only 25 degrees outside but damn.... You know only truly hot men can pull off looks like that. And he surely was packing.” Shocked to the core, you stare at her with your mouth hanging open, not wanting to believe all of these were coming from your sweet sweet Ayoung. Especially not when they’re about Jungkook. 

“So I thought, why not right? I guess the hot chocolate I made wasn’t the only thing that was warm that night…” A suggestive smirk graces her lips and you scoot farther away from her, absolutely scandalized. 

Much to your chagrin, your mind betrays you with rather raunchy images. Goosebumps line the skin on your arms as the embarrassment comes back to you in waves. “Gosh Jungkook, that little fucker.” 

Ayoung creases her brows. “You know Jungkook?” 

Crap. Ayoung wasn’t supposed to end up knowing this. 

“Yeah I know him. Sort of.” 

“Oh, too bad. It would have been great if he moved in so you won’t have to deal with a total stranger for a neighbor. Where do you know Jungkook from?” 

You contemplate for a moment, wanting to weigh if it would be of any benefit having to tell the story of how you met Jungkook. Ultimately, you ended up sharing a brief background, missing out on a few vital points aka Jungkook being a total prick. 

You help Ayoung bring down the rest of her stuff to the lobby, wanting to see her off. “I wanted to bring you to your new apartment but I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, and being late won’t be a good record this early in my job.” 

“It’s alright, silly.” Ayoung leans in for a hug. “We’ll see each other again soon, yeah?” 

“You’re making it sound like I’m moving overseas, stop it!” 

You wait until she gets inside the cab she booked, waving at the car’s rear until it fully disappears from your sight. 

The next day you wake up freezing your ass off, even with you wrapped in a duvet burrito. You take a peek outside your window, grunting as a blanket of snow envelops everything in sight. Everything is white, and the gray trails on the road are the only thing that distinguishes the street from the sidewalk. 

You do your morning routine fairly quickly, spending the rest of your spare time watching people outside your window while you finish your coffee. As a motorbike moves along the length of the street in front of your building, you silently wish the driver a safe trip, hoping he or she didn’t have to use such a vehicle in this weather. 

You take another sip and Jimin instantly enters your scrambled thoughts, remembering how he mentioned he uses a scooter to and from work. There’s a side of you that is assured the Jimin is responsible enough to know how risky it is to use a scooter during the winter. 

The other half of your brain, though, isn’t convinced. Quickly, you set your mug aside, replacing it with your phone and dialing Jimin’s number. He answers after three rings. “_________?” 

“Hey Jimin, I know it’s too early for me to be calling you but I was wondering if you were going to use your scooter on your way to work today?” 

“I was--” 

“Because if you were planning to, don’t. It’s snowing really hard outside and I’m worried you’ll be taking your friend’s scooter on the slippery road….Would you mind if I’ll offer you a ride?” 

You know you were risking a lot, with your own car - your very own Camry which you don’t even trust. It has aged gracefully, and was clearly nearing its end but you knew four wheels was better than two in this snow. 

“I don’t...but I also wouldn’t want you to come all the way here to pick me up when I can just take the subway? Or the bus maybe…” 

“Would you rather pick one that asks for a fare or a free ride?” 

“You’re not exactly giving me a choice here, _________.”

“Great! ‘Cause I’m already on my way to pick you up.” 

“Thank you for the ride, sunbaenim.” Jungkook pulls on the handbrake before setting his hands on the Porsche’s steering wheel for the last time.

‘Someday’, he says to himself, someday he’ll get a car of his own. Someday. 

“Thank you for also letting me drive your car…” 

“She’s a beaut isn’t she?” the younger doctor nods, wanting to rub his palms over the dashboard in fascination, but then he wouldn’t have wanted the senior resident to think he was some sort of lunatic. 

Jungkook decides to keep his hands on his lap instead. 

“You live around the area?” 

“Yeah, just a few blocks from the garage…” 

“Really? Which apartment do you live in? I’m quite familiar with the area.” 

Jungkook is hesitant to mention the name of the building knowing that the apartment complex he stays at most likely has a reputation because it’s the cheapest he could find around the area. 

Before the intern opens his mouth to reply, Seokjin’s phone rings just on time, the sound startling the latter. He opens the car door and alights from the vehicle to get more reception. Jungkook grabs his bag from the back and follows after shortly. Seokjin points to his phone, mouthing that Jungkook doesn’t need to wait for him, so the intern bows to his senior in gratitude, before heading off to the main building. 

As he passes a vending machine, he remembers he wasn’t able to bring his jug with him today so he approaches the machine, scanning other options he could take with his water. He comes across a small carton of banana milk and a thought crosses his mind, a smirk playing on his lips as he adds the beverage to his purchase. 

Jungkook hurries to the on-call room, hoping his tiny plan will fall into place. 

“Thanks for the ride, ________. I owe you so much already. You’re too kind.” 

You wave Jimin off, expressing your worry and how you thought you wouldn’t be able to handle your conscience if you didn’t ask about his mode of transportation to work today. Jimin gives you a warm smile in return. 

“You’re a good friend, _________.” Jimin leans over the center console and gives you an awkward side hug, catching you completely off guard. 

“Woops! Sorry! I didn’t… wasn’t…” Jimin has his hands waving around in the air as he tries to apologize for hugging you out of the blue. “It’s fine, Jimin,” you laugh as you put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Tilting your head outside, you tell him that you both should get going and that you’ll be heading to the toilet first to get changed. While Jimin heads to the surgery department, you make your way to the parking lot’s toilets, bumping into the one and only banana-milk-thief Jeon Jungkook. 

“Hi _________, good morning!” He chirps, the uncharacteristically wide smile on his face throwing you off for a moment. 

At least somebody woke up on the right side of the bed today. Jungkook chuckles, and you realize you weren’t supposed to say that out loud, but you’re somewhat proud that you did, making your sentiments towards the guy as clear as day. 

“Bit rich coming from you miss grumpypants.” 

Your mouth falls open. “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me, darling. See ya later....grumpy.” Before Jungkook leaves, he manages to give you a quick noogie, definitely messing up what’s left of the quick messy bun you made before leaving your apartment. 

Taking in a deep, long breath, you calm your nerves down, deciding today wasn’t going to be the day Jungkook was gonna get to you. 

After your brief encounter at the parking lot, Jungkook heads quickly to the on-call room and looks for a place inconspicuous but visible enough for you to see. He plucks a sticky note from a stack from the shelf just above the table and grabs his pen from his chest pocket. 

Jungkook folds the yellow square into half and writes your name on it, just in case nobody would dare take a carton of milk for someone named after a dwarf from Snow White.  He then sticks the note on the moist packaging, hopeful that the slight sheen of water will help stick the paper onto the carton.

Recognizing Jimin’s voice from the door, Jungkook quickly hides his peace offering behind the files on the table, and pretends he’s reading the patient’s charts before Jimin nears where he’s standing. You and Soomin enter the room shortly afterwards. 

“Just in time!” Namjoon says, adjusting the large frame of his glasses. “Right, as you may already know from the orientation, I’m Kim Namjoon, resident, and specializing in neuro. I’ll be guiding you all throughout admissions and reports this morning while I am waiting for my Chiari decompression scheduled in a few hours.” 

Namjoon gathers the rest of the surgical interns before proceeding to the wards to do rounds with the group. He partners with the head nurse and another doctor from the night shift, updating the patient’s condition before moving on to the others. 

As soon as his rounds are done, he leads the group back to the on-call room to brief the interns on using the EMR system to keep a patient’s chart updated at all times. To speed up the charting, he asks everyone to come up in pairs and update the patient records. 

True to the plan he’d come up with at the spur of the moment, Namjoon and the interns manage to get the job done quicker than expected. With the night shift’s updates already uploaded, the group disperses to carry out the orders and responsibilities.

Jimin, with his throat parched after having come up and down multiple flights of stairs, decides to return to the on-call room to get something to drink. He breathlessly pages Jungkook about it, telling him he’ll get back to his partner after drinking. 

He no longer waits for Jungkook’s okay, too thirsty to even think straight. As Jimin goes through his stuff, he realizes he must have forgotten his jug inside your car but having to call you about it would have been too bothersome for you and him both. 

There’s a water dispenser in the room but there are no cups or mugs free for him to use - and too unsanitary as well. Jimin searches the room in desperation and spots a carton of banana milk just behind some of the patient’s charts. 

He makes a grab for the small carton, checking if it’s got any owner. There’s none written on the carton and no note stuck to it to indicate that it belongs to someone. He spots Yoongi on his phone just by the other corner of the room and approaches the senior resident. 

“Excuse me, sunbaenim. Is this yours?” He points to the carton in his hands. Yoongi shakes his head no. “Any name written on it? Some note perhaps?” 

“I couldn't find any.” 

“Well, it’s yours then. All food on the table is communal unless it’s otherwise labeled.” Yoongi shrugs his shoulders as he explains, giving Jimin a thumbs up afterwards. 

“Alright. Thanks sunbaenim.” 

Throat as dry as the Sahara, Jimin grabs the drink and punches the straw in as quickly as he could before finishing the drink in a few gulps. ‘Thank god for free banana milk.’ He thinks to himself before throwing the packaging away, now more energized than ever.

© joontier 2021