#sorry for putting you on blast bits but your tags are simply wonderful

[simcardiac-arrested]

@bitsbug thank you so much this is the best idea ever

[usagis-tsukinos]

Guys My Age - 2

Read, Comment, or Kudo on Ao3!

Chapter 1

Pairing: Lucifer x F!Reader

Rating: E for Everyone

Warnings: None

Words: 1,329

ask to tag: @just-a-sleepy-idiot

For the next three to four weeks, they barely saw each other between saying good morning or talking after their respective jobs in the driveway. Lucifer would sometimes see the mailman linger at her door for a little bit longer than usual but other than that he didn’t really pay attention. He’d walk Ramsey and keep to himself. One day he sat on the couch, watching TV on his day off before there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, there stood another neighbor, a woman closer to his age who held a plate of cookies in her hands with a big smile.

“Oh. Hello.” He awkwardly greeted, looking behind her and seeing the first girl he met across the street talking to the mailman– again? Didn’t he just come by this morning? “Hi! My name’s Eleanour.” Her voice was a little squeaky but she seemed nice enough, Lucifer simply nodded, standing there in his doorway before he noticed her holding the plate. “I brought you some Welcome to the Neighborhood treats! These are butter pecan cookies, with some peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chips…” He found himself distracted as she rambled off the cookies, still watching as the mailman across the yard kissed his neighbor on the cheek after making sure no one was looking. He's not very subtle, Lucifer thought. He must think he’s somehow invisible in that uniform. 

“Am I interrupting something?” Eleanour frowned, lowering her tray slowly before Lucifer cleared his throat and tried to force a smile. “No, no, you’re… fine.” She smiled, handing him the tray. “Well, I’ll be over there, just three doors down.” He gave her a tight smile, nodding slightly. “Okay.” Eleanour was pretty, just.. Lucifer couldn’t put his finger on it. “Just holler in case you need anything!” With that, his front door was shut and Lucifer could actually gather his thoughts for a bit. He couldn’t understand why he felt so weird about seeing the neighborhood mailman kissing his next door neighbor, he barely knew her! So what was the fuss? It was none of his business.

The next day, he went to the store, bringing Ramsey to sit in his passenger side while he grabbed groceries with the doors locked and the AC on blast. Even though Lilith and his divorce was final and he was on his own again, he just felt like his life was on autopilot. Everything was slow, even when he played with Ramsey. It felt like something was missing and he finally understood men who had midlife crises. The sound of another cart bumping into him took him out of his gaze as he mindlessly stared at the conflicting object before meeting the face of his neighbor, the pretty one kissing the mailman before she awkwardly tried to move her cart out of his way.

“Sorry.” she mumbled as her one wheel went funky like they always do when you’ve grabbed the worst cart possible. Lucifer looked into her cart briefly; eggs, flour, different shaped pans, a few different cereals, nothing out of the ordinary. He almost wanted to make a joke about how he saw her kissing the mailman like some 1950’s housewife kissing the milkman while her husband worked but knew he wasn’t quite on that level with her, and wondered if he ever would be. Now that was a thought. Clearing his throat, he shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.” This felt so unnatural. It’s not like he’d never spoken to her or seen her before, nor was it like they weren’t on at least first name basis with each other. Lucifer saw her cheeks go red in embarrassment as it took her so long just to move her cart to the other side of the freezer aisle.

“So,” She stammered, placing her purse into the little basket at the beginning of the cart, “How are you settling into the new place? Is it nice?” “Yeah.” Does she know he saw her yesterday? Was it really that big of a deal? Unless he was married… Scandal in the neighborhood indeed, sleeping with your married mailman. 

“I saw that Eleanour came to welcome you to the area. She’s super nice, isn't she?” Lucifer glanced towards the frozen pizzas, wondering how long they were meant to carry on such polite conversation before one of them went to pay for their food. “She’s fine. Nice.” He opened the door, grabbing a box and interrupting her before she could continue, “I’ll see you around, I have Ramsey in the car waiting and she starts barking if I leave her in there too long.” Before she could say anything he was almost speeding his way to self checkout as he fought down the pit in his stomach at the thought of his neighbor, who he barely knew by the way, kissing their mailman. Was it jealousy? Envy? That’s just stupid, he thought, putting his groceries into the car and petting Ramsey in greeting before making his way home. 

Meanwhile, across the street she dumped her baking supplies on the counter, groaning loudly as a pan fell on her floor with a loud bang. In the corner of her eye her phone lit up, Eleanour’s name flashing across the screen with a text reading ‘Hi sweetheart, do you need any help today?’, but she chose to ignore it for now, looking over the recipe she printed out and deciding to get started. An hour later she sat on the floor, crying because the cookies she attempted to make were burnt to a crisp and this would show to be the seventh batch she’s attempted to make this week that came out wrong. Grabbing her phone, she cried into Eleanour’s ear about how she burnt yet another set of cookies and that no one would want someone so bad at cooking. “Okay, okay, honey, I’ll be right over.” could barely be heard over her sobs before being hung up on to sit in her kitchen in the dark, with only the oven light and the smell of burnt food to keep her company for the next few mins.

Letting herself in, Eleanour quickly began to clean up the kitchen, scraping off food from the tray and pushing the trash down so she could easily work. Eleanour bent down, helping her neighbor up and wiping her tears as she continued to listen to her complaints. “You’ll get it eventually,” She soothed, sitting her down at her own kitchen table so she could breathe, “It takes practice, that’s all.”

“But all I do is practice! And every time I almost have to call the fire department! It’s bad enough Kenny won’t even eat what I cook, even if I manage to not burn it by some miracle!” Whoops. That wasn’t meant to come out. But Eleanour said nothing, she wasn’t stupid, she was well aware of her little fling with their neighborhood mailman but it was none of her business. Making them a cup of decaf Eleanour sat across from her, “I saw our new neighbor today. I was a little late to the Welcoming Committee, but he seems alright.” She said nothing in response, almost looking shy as she remembered her awkward encounter with him in the grocery store that afternoon. But was it really that awkward? She thought, circling her coffee cup along the rim. 

Changing the subject, she got up from her seat, “I’m sorry I called you over, Eleanour,” she started with her back to her as she leaned a little towards her kitchen counter. “But I think I need some sleep.”

“You want me to sleep over? Maybe help out with breakfast in the morning, I’m off.” “No, thanks.” She mumbled, pouring her coffee into the sink and not looking at her. “I’m gonna make a TV dinner and call it a night.” Eleanour walked over and kissed her cheek, “I’ll treat you to lunch tomorrow, you sleep well.”

“Thanks.”

[burberryharold]

hey, lovies! i’ve been so excited to post this fic because i am in love with Harry and Jules and i hope you will be too (and excuse the lousy banner i just wanted to have something lol)! this is a part of @1dffchallenges’s valentine’s day challenge, so i hope you enjoy reading it and happy valentine’s day, it’s all about spreading love around so here is some love from me to all of you ❤️

a special thank you to @fireproofrry @bodejacketharry @strawberryystyles​ for beta reading and giving feedback, you are absolute angels <3

word count: 7.7k

warnings: none!

challenge prompt and dialogue: strangers alone on valentine’s day + “I’m allergic to chocolate. And roses.”

It’s official, valentine’s day is the worst.

At least that’s what Jules thought as she adjusted herself on the bar stool, trying to get into a comfortable position while she waited for her drink to be served.

It wasn’t in Jules’ agenda to spend what was supposed to be the most romantic day of the year alone at a bar ten minutes away from her apartment. If she was still with Leon, they would have been having a nice dinner somewhere, laughing over whatever funny story one of them had to share about their day at the company.

But alas, Leon was someone else’s now and Jules was only left with her own company.

Truth be told, though, Jules never minded being alone, in fact, she enjoyed being by herself because people were simply exhausting.

But being alone and being lonely were too completely different things, and Jules hated feeling lonely.

And valentine’s day only made that worse. Seeing loved up couples around her, flashes of red and pink everywhere she glanced, hearing cheesy love songs blasting through the speakers of the shops she passed by. Everything about valentine’s day just seemed to remind her of her lonely status.

Instead of staying at her apartment all night long doing nothing but watching rom coms and feeling sorry for herself, Jules thought of a better alternative, which was to get pissed drunk. So when she got up in the morning to go to work (because even on valentine’s day duty calls), she put on her favourite black dress, one that was sleeveless and had a deep v-neckline, and put on enough makeup to feel confident in the way she looked before pulling on her coat and venturing into the cold streets of London.

If she was going to get pathetically drunk by herself at a bar after work whilst everyone else was being all lovey dovey, then she would look hot doing it.

The sound of a glass coming in contact with the wooden surface broke her out of her reverie and she glanced up, finding that the bartender had placed her drink in front of her and he was beaming at her. “There you go, love, happy valentine’s day.”

After squinting at the name tag (she’s never seen him here before, he must be new), Jules forced herself to return his smile and lifted her glass. “Cheers, Jonah.”

Poor guy must have thought she was waiting for a date or something. Too bad, no one was going to be joining Jules on this fine evening. Just me, myself, and I.

Setting her glass back on the counter after taking a big gulp, Jules scowled as she was reminded of the items she had received earlier in the day. For some reason, Leon thought it was a good idea to give her a box of chocolates and a rose, even though they were no longer together and he had another woman by his side.

She appreciated the thought behind it, he probably just wanted to be nice or maybe he felt guilty, but his gift was staring at her, almost laughing at her misery and she wasn’t having it.

That is why she instantly asked Jonah for a fork, which caused him to send her a confused look but he complied nonetheless, and she proceeded to stab the pieces of chocolate placed perfectly in the box, taking out her frustration on the sweets.

Once satisfied, she dropped the fork with a clunk and heaved out a sigh, lazily resting her chin in her right hand before looking back at Jonah. He was staring at her with wide eyes as he dried off some shot glasses, surely thinking that she was a lunatic, but Jules just flashed him a sweet smile and shifted her eyes back to the chocolates she had just assaulted.

Poor chocolate, but oh well.

“Are you alright there?”

“What the fuc-“ The sudden voice caused her to jump in her seat and she almost fell off the bar stool if it weren’t for the hand that magically materialised behind her, holding her steady.

Before she had a chance to slap the hand off her back, the stranger retracted it and returned to his seat and she had the chance to take a proper look at him.

The man stared back at her with concerned eyes, a stool separating the two of them, but he was still not that far away from her. Jules wondered when he had gotten there because she certainly didn’t feel him arrive. Perhaps it was during her chocolate rampage.

What really surprised her though, more than his sudden appearance, was the fact that she knew who he was. In fact, she believed everyone knew the man sitting beside her because it was none other than Harry Styles.

Many questions ran through Jules’ head, the most important being what on earth was a guy like him doing at this bar on valentine’s day? Jules never believed in the image the media painted of him, but surely he has something better to do than be here, all by himself it seems?

As big of a fan as she was, the fact that he was right before her didn’t faze Jules all that much, her mind was more preoccupied by other matters. So, she ended up doing what she would’ve done if it was any other person: she glared at him and wordlessly turned back in her seat, pretending as if he wasn’t there.

He didn’t seem to take the hint.

“You were quite aggressive with the chocolate there.” His deep voice floated in the empty bar as he pointed at the box in front of her.

Jules inhaled deeply before responding in a flat tone. “I’m allergic to chocolate.” Glaring at the single rose lying beside the box, she grabbed it and tossed it on the floor beneath her, silently cursing Leon once more. “And roses.”

She felt guilty for littering, but she’d pick it up when she leaves. Eventually.

“Are you really?” The man beside her questioned, leaning forward in his seat, his body completely turned towards her at this point. She could tell from her tone that he was skeptical of her supposed allergies and she honestly couldn’t blame him.

“No,” she found herself shaking her head, signalling for Jonah to get her another drink, still keeping her body facing forward and only glancing at him from her peripheral vision, “I’m just fucking with you.”

To her surprise, he let out a small laugh, not seeming to be upset. Jules couldn’t help but turn her head a bit to look at him, finding a dimpled smile on his and she wondered what was wrong with this guy.

“May I ask why you were stabbing the poor sweets then?”

Figuring she should just put him out of his misery and answer his question, Jules huffed and crossed her legs, not missing the way his gaze flickered down for a split second before returning to her face. She ignored it and sighed, “Well if you must know, my ex gave them to me this morning.”

“Trying to get you to take him back?”

“Oh god no,” Jules laughed at the notion, her hand waving off his wrong assumption, “he’s as happy as can be with his new girlfriend.”

The blatant confusion on his face prompted her to provide more explanation.

“We broke up a couple of months ago, he left me for someone else. So he probably just felt guilty.”

“He left you for someone else? And before the holidays?” When she nodded in confirmation, he shook his head with a frown. “Bastard.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Valentine’s day just sucks, it’s just a reminder of how lonely you are,” she muttered with bitterness, “Of how lonely I am.”

“Well if it’s any consolation,” Harry said, pausing to ask the bartender for another drink, “I’m lonely tonight too.”

“Well, obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t be here getting drunk on your own.” With a few drinks already in her system, Jules practically had no filter whatsoever (not that she really had one in the first place).

“Touché,” he clicked his tongue, then leaned back to chug down the rest of his glass. Jules was almost concerned by how quickly he downed his drink, but she’s not in a position to talk, after all, she’d been doing the same. “But I’m not getting drunk on my own now, am I? You’re right here.”

She scoffed, eyebrows raising at his words. “Who said I’m keeping you company? Or that I’m not leaving any second now?”

“I don’t think you are.” He responded with much conviction that it almost threw Jules off.

“You think too confidently about a stranger you just met.”

“Let’s fix the strangers part then, shall we? I’m Harry.” He extended his ring-clad hand and Jules noticed a coat of red nail polish on his fingers. How ironic.

She sighed before deciding to entertain him, grabbing a firm hold of his surprisingly warm hand. Maybe she’ll allow him to keep her company tonight. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to leave her alone anyway.

“Jules.” She simply responded before turning back to her drink, swirling the pink straw around. She made a mental note to thank Jonah later for the cute straw.

“Jules” Harry repeated, as if testing the name on his lips and Jules would be lying if she said that she didn’t like the way it rolled off his tongue. “Is that a nickname for Julie? Julia? Short for Juliann-“

“Juliet. It’s Juliet.” She interrupted his ridiculous ramble. He surely was inquisitive. And did she really look like a Julianne?

“Huh,” he hummed, gliding a finger over the rim of his glass, staying silent for a few seconds and Jules thought he was maybe done for the night.

She thought wrong, it seems.

“Oh, Juliet, oh, Juliet, where art thou, Juliet?” He dramatically recited, voice going deeper as he stared upwards at a spot over the bar. Simply put, Jules thought he looked ridiculous.

She could hear Jonah snickering in the background.

“It’s where art thou, Romeo, but nice try.” She rolled her eyes in response to his theatrics. Almost everyone she’s ever encountered has commented on her name and made a reference to the infamous Shakespearean tragedy that she’s never been too fond of. It’s why she mostly went by Jules.

No one’s ever recited that line though, however wrong it was. That was a first.

“I knew that,” the curly-haired man mumbled beside her, swirling his glass and watching the ice cubes swim around, “was just joking, geez, tough crowd.”

Jules couldn’t help but roll her eyes again in response. That joke got old a long time ago.

She’s beginning to regret coming to this bar tonight. Maybe she should’ve just headed straight home and cuddled into her blankets.

“It’s pretty, though,” he added a few moments later, “beautiful name for a beautiful woman”

No way. She huffed, spinning in her seat to face him once again. “That’s your line? Tell me, Mr. Rockstar, has that really worked on anyone before?”

She could tell he was a bit surprised but tried to hide it; unluckily for him, Jules was a very observant person, hardly anything passed her.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that-“

She interrupted him again and leaned in closer, resting her elbow on the countertop and raised an eyebrow. His eyes flickered for a fleeting second to the charm bracelet adorning her wrist. “So you don’t think my name’s beautiful? Or that I’m beautiful? Sheesh, Harry, you’re not looking good here.”

Harry spluttered, staring at her with eyes blown wide in panic and Jules almost felt bad for messing with him; it was just hard not to, she was lonely and he was right there annoying her with his lousy jokes, so he has the unfortunate fate of being her victim tonight (and truthfully, he brought it on himself). And if she was being honest, messing with Harry Styles was just too entertaining of an opportunity for her to pass on.

To be fair, she was a little annoyed by his presence in the beginning, having originally planned to wallow in her misery all by herself, but now she’s having fun. She might just enjoy her time with him.

“No- no of course I think you’re beautiful, y-your name too,” he responded in clear panic, seemingly trying to figure out how he can redeem himself. Jules’ attention was momentarily caught by the way his rings glimmered under the light as he flexed his fingers, still fumbling for a response. “I was just-“

“Styles,” she interrupted him, yet again, with a light-hearted laugh and shook her head, hair falling forward on her shoulders, “Relax, was just messing with you.”

His shoulders visibly relaxed and he heaved out a sigh of relief; his eyes then narrowed and he lifted his hand, pointer finger wagging in her direction. “You really like messing with people, huh? Not very nice of you.”

“Made you sweat, no? Was just having fun. I can now say that I’ve made the infamous Harry Styles stumble over his words. How much do you think they’ll pay me for that hot gossip? Reckon it would be a lot.” She said as she turned back in her seat, now facing the bar once again, but she knew he caught the smirk on her face and the teasing lilt in her tone.

Coming to the bar was definitely a good decision.

Harry felt like a proper idiot.

Here he was, sitting at a pub with a lovely woman that clearly didn’t want to be bothered, yet he had to fuck things up and be a git.

And the Juliet bit? Harry had never been more embarrassed, he didn’t know what he was thinking, or if he was thinking at all. He made sure to remind himself that he wasn’t that funny and should just stop trying to be. You’re making a fucking fool of yourself.

In spite of his rather embarrassing advances, Harry found himself enjoying Jules’ company immensely, even if she had barely looked his way when he had arrived at his spot.

She might’ve looked irritated by his insistent attempts to start a conversation with her in the beginning, but from the way her body has been facing him for the past half an hour and the smile or two she’d thrown his way, Harry had a feeling she was warming up to him.

He discovered that she was an accountant, which thoroughly surprised him because she didn’t seem like one. Harry doesn’t like to judge a book by its cover, but Jules definitely didn’t scream accountant, more like a Greek goddess or something. Her black dress hugged her body in a way that almost made Harry dizzy; he had noticed her the second he walked into the nearly empty pub – and before he could even think about it, he found his legs carrying him in her direction (he was already headed to the bar anyway, or so he told himself).

Admittedly, the way she was stabbing the chocolates had him fearing for his life for a split second, but Harry brushed it off and figured she just wasn’t a fan of valentine’s day, if her apparent disdain for the sweets and the rose before her was any indication.

He was also surprised to learn that she’d moved here from America about five years ago and this pub was one she often frequented, yet Harry had never run into her somehow despite coming here a lot and living not too far himself.

He’s glad their paths have finally crossed tonight, though.

That being said, Jules was definitely keeping him on his toes. He never knew what she was going to say next, and she certainly did not hold back from saying exactly what was on her mind.

Harry found himself liking that about her, even if her forwardness came at his expense sometimes (he couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it). Oftentimes, people acted cautious around him and treated him differently just because of his status. Not Jules, though.

But now he could tell that she had something on her mind, from the way she looked at him then shifted her eyes elsewhere a second later.

“What is it?” He questioned, deciding to put her out of her fidgety state. He wasn’t sure what was holding her back, she certainly had no problem handing his ass to him earlier.

“It’s just,” she started, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, the movement catching Harry attention for a second before he reminded himself to be respectful, “what are you doing here by yourself tonight? I find it hard to believe that someone like you doesn’t have anyone to hang around on a day like this.”

Someone like him? Harry furrowed his eyebrows, not sure what she was implying with her words but he didn’t believe she meant it in a negative manner necessarily.

“That came out wrong, I didn’t mean anything like that,” she quickly defended, face becoming redder by the second and Harry was a little endeared by the sight. The woman before him was confident all throughout their conversation, having no fear in expressing her thoughts, yet now she was the flustered one. And Harry couldn’t help but enjoy it.

Time to give her a taste of her own medicine.

“What, thought someone like me had a flock of women at their beck and call and that I’d be off with one or some of them tonight?”

He gave her a blank look afterwards, pretending that he found offence in her words and he almost blew his cover at the way her face visibly fell.

“N-no!” she exclaimed, voice rising a few octaves and Harry could see the bartender, Jonah, suddenly flinch behind her from the sound. He pressed his lips together to silence the chuckle that threatened to escape and continued to stare Jules down.

“Of course I didn’t mean it like that,” she added in a much calmer tone, though Harry could detect that panic lacing her voice and he was starting to feel guilty. “I never believed that you were like that, I just,” she paused, averting her gaze away and staring at the lights above them instead, “never mind, just ignore me.”

Harry figured that she already knew of who he was and his status, and despite having just met her, the fact that she just said she doesn’t believe the rumours about him filled him with inexplicable warmth and he had to remind himself again that he’d only just met this woman. He shouldn’t feel anything of the sort towards her.

He could tell by the way her eyebrows were furrowed that she felt bad about what she’d said, so Harry called out her name and waited for her to look at him again.

When she did, her face holding an apprehensive look, he smiled at her and leaned a bit closer, which made little difference because there was still some space separating them.

“I was just messing with you, Jules,” he reached forward and flicked her nose, causing her to instinctively scrunch her face in a cute manner that had Harry’s stomach fluttering. “Doesn’t feel that nice now, does it?”

Jules chuckled in disbelief, wide eyes staring back at him and a smile was slowly stretching on her lips. “Touché. I see how it is then.”

Harry just shrugged, his own lips twitching as another smile threatened to appear. “Just having some fun, eh?”

Jules was now beaming at him and if Harry was standing, he was certain that his knees would’ve buckled at the sight. He already knew that Jules was gorgeous, and he was sure anyone would agree with him, but when as she smiled at him like that, eyes shining bright under the warm orange lights, brown hair cascading loosely yet somehow perfectly on her shoulders, there was no doubt in Harry’s mind that there was an angel sitting before him.

“Truce then?”

Her voice brought him back to earth and Harry chuckled before he shook her outstretched hand, marvelling for a moment at the way it felt enveloped in his. “Truce.”

“But to answer your question,” Harry said after a few beats of silence, glancing at her to find her eyes already set on him. “I didn’t have anything planned, haven’t been on many dates recently to be honest, so I just figured I’d come here and spend time with my good friend,” he lifted his drink with a wide grin on his face, “alcohol, the one thing that never let me down.”

Jules threw her head back in a laugh, the sound being music to Harry’s ears and he wished he could record it just to hear it again and again. “Amen to that.”

The two clinked their glasses together, laughing stupidly for no reason, before they threw their heads back to drink.

“Another round, then?”

Jonah suddenly appeared in front of them, startling Harry a bit. Sometimes he forgot that the man was lingering around behind the bar.

Jules took the liberty to respond for the both of them, exclaiming a “hell yeah, buddy!” that had the two men laughing, and soon enough their glasses were refilled.

After taking a sip, Harry leaned his head on the palm of his hand and set his eyes on Jules again, “So, are you a fan? Of me or of the band?”

He had to ask, he couldn’t help but wonder. If she was indeed a fan, she certainly didn’t show it.

Jules shrugged, playing nonchalant it seemed, but it didn’t escape him the way her cheeks seemed to redden. “Eh, I dabble. You’re alright.”

Her response made him chuckle. “Good to know.” Call him a narcissist, but he really wanted to know whether or not she liked his music. Perhaps he’ll inquire further later.

Because Harry knows that there’s no way he’s letting Jules go anytime soon.

Getting to know Harry was fun.

Sometime during the night, Harry had migrated from his seat onto the bar stool beside her, their thighs brushing against each other every now and then.

Tapping his fingers around his glass, Harry’s rings clinked against it and Jules couldn’t help but be slightly captivated by the action. She wasn’t one to stare at anyone’s hands, but she had to admit that Harry’s were fascinating to look at; his long and slender fingers, adorned by a number of his infamous rings, were truly a sight to see.

She took the chance to also admire his outfit, something she was too busy to do earlier on. His coat was long discarded on the stool beside him, which allowed her eyes to run over his figure. His upper body was covered by a plain white t-shirt with the word “Sex” displayed on his chest, a pair of pair of wide-legged black pants covering his long limbs; it was a simple fit yet it made it difficult for Jules to take her eyes off him. And his hair just looked so soft that her fingers were begging her to touch the fallen strands on his forehead.

Hearing Harry clear his throat broke her out of her trance and Jules realised from the smirk that stretched on his lips that she’d been caught in the act.

She tried playing it off, as if she hadn’t been shamelessly checking him out for the last couple of minutes and smoothed her hands down her dress, adjusting in her seat because honestly, her butt was starting to ache.

But she didn’t want to leave just yet.

Seeming to notice her discomfort, however, Harry downed the last bit of his drink before setting his glass down with a smack, causing Jonah, who was still lingering around them, to shoot Harry a warning glance and a low “careful!”, to which Harry smiled sheepishly before turning to face her again.

“Want to get out of here?”

Jules’ eyebrows shot upwards in surprise, having not expected him to want to continue spending the night with her.

“Sure there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing?” She couldn’t help but question, still struggling to grasp the fact that he still wanted to be around her. Her hands were fidgeting with the hem of her dress, eyes staring into his emerald ones as she waited to hear his response.

Truth be told, she was enjoying his company far much more than she had anticipated and she didn’t want to part from him just yet.

To her relief, a dimpled smile adorned Harry’s face as he took in her words before he shook his head, “Trust me, Jules, there’s no one else I’d rather be with tonight.”

She’d be lying if she said her heart didn’t skip a beat at that.

The two got up from their seats after thanking Jonah and fighting over who’s paying because Harry insisted on paying for her drinks. As she was gathering her things, she felt Harry’s presence behind her and she realised, after looking at him over her shoulders, that he was holding her coat up for her.

Heat rushed into her cheeks at the gesture, finding it sweet that he was helping her when he didn’t really have to. “Thank you,” she whispered, turning to him with a smile after feeling him adjust her hair.

His only response was a faint “No need” and he quickly turned to shrug on his own coat, the bashful smile on his lips not going unnoticed by her.

Flashing Jonah another smile, Harry extended his arm towards her and nodded his head towards the exit. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

The two stepped into the night, the biting London air hitting Jules’ cheeks immediately and she was positive her nose was already red from the cold.

Jules reached into her pocket to grab her phone, realising that she hasn’t checked the device since she walked into the bar. There weren’t any notifications that she missed, which wasn’t surprising since her friends (all four of them) were out on dates or staying at home with their partners, so she was sure no one was thinking of her at the moment.

Noticing that it was already 8 in the evening and they were aimlessly walking down the street, Jules turned to Harry with a questioning gaze. “Where are we going?”

Leaning his head down to look at her (or perhaps to be closer, Jules wasn’t sure), he paused, seeming to think, before shrugging his shoulders. “Dunno if I’m quite honest.”

Jules found herself chuckling at him. How did her day end with her walking around with no purpose with a man she’d just met?

She looked at the sign closest to them before she turned to him and did something she rarely ever did. She found herself inviting him to her apartment because they were quite close.

A smirk found its way onto Harry’s lips and she started to regret her decision. “Already trying to get me into your bed, Juliet?”

She mentally cursed at the way her heart leaped upon hearing her name roll off his tongue. Almost no one called her Juliet anymore, except for her parents when they were being serious, but she found herself wanting to hear him say her name over and over again.  

Shaking her head at the thought, Jules reached her arm out and lightly slapped his shoulder. “Oh come off it, you idiot. You can just go ahead and cry alone in your mansion if you want.”

Harry raised his hands in surrender and muttered an apology, although the smile lingered on his lips and Jules tried to ignore the fluttering feeling in her chest.

“Lead the way, then.”

“Make yourself at home, I’ll get us something to drink.”

The walk to her apartment was full of smiles and laughter. She’s come to the conclusion that Harry loves making people laugh, even if his jokes were actually awful, but she found it endearing; he was like a ray of sunshine bringing joy to those around him.

She was glad that she had cleaned up the place a couple of days ago, it would’ve been embarrassing to have someone over to see pyjamas and junk strewn over her furniture. Suffice to say, Jules was a bit of a mess around the house.

After hanging up her coat and Harry’s, she made her way into her kitchen and looked for the good wine she reserved for special occasions. She easily grabbed it, along with two glasses, but then Jules found herself lingering by the kitchen island.

It dawned on her that there was a man in her living room, and he wasn’t just anyone. This was Harry Styles, someone she’d long admired and holy shit was this really happening?

And as sad as it may sound, she’s never felt this connection with anyone before, never felt like the person before her got her and could keep up with her. Yet with Harry, it felt different, and that scared her because she’d only just met him a couple of hours ago.

And he was bound to forget all about her after tonight. He’s just looking for some company, and Jules didn’t think she was that special. Eventually, he’s going to leave. Just like everyone else.

Feeling like the black marble of the island was starting to swirl in her vision, Jules snapped out of her thoughts and sucked in a deep breath before moving back towards the living room.

Harry had his hands interlocked behind his back, perusing through her record collection and it made her inadvertently smile. She was proud of her vast collection of vinyl records, a good portion of them handed down to her by her father; they both had a deep appreciation for records that her mum often made fun of them for.

“Found anything you like?” He jolted at her voice, not having noticed her presence behind him, but then his shoulders immediately relaxed.

Turning towards her with a wide grin, Harry gestured to the shelf behind him. Jules liked the way he seemed to glow underneath the dim lights and she wished she could take a picture of this moment as a keepsake. “This is amazing, there are records here that I couldn’t even find.”

“You can thank my dad for that,” she told him, making herself comfortable on the couch but not breaking eye contact once, “he’s been collecting them for decades and I’m so glad he let me have some, like you should see his collection back home, it’s even more impressive.”

“Hope I’ll get to someday.”

His response caught her off-guard. Before Jules could react, Harry’s teasing voice carried through the room.

“You dabble, you said?” He smirked, turning the Fine Line record in hand to show her and also nodding to the space that held One Direction records. Jules groaned out loud and flopped against the back of the couch.

“A little yeah. Sue me.”

She blushed under his amused gaze, a little embarrassed that he’d found her collection of the band’s records and his own solo music.

“It’s okay,” he assured her, dimples adorning his cheeks, “think it’s cute that you’re a big fan.”

“Don’t know why that makes me cute but okay if you say so.” She mumbled under her breath, realising that he heard her when he chuckled.

“Mind if I put on something then?”

Jules shook her head, signalling for him to go ahead while she poured their drinks. Soon afterwards Stevie Nicks’ voice filled the silence and her lips tugged up at the choice.

The couch dipped beside her when Harry sat down, the scent of his cologne invading her senses. Jules doesn’t think anyone has ever smelled as good as him, but she chose to keep that thought to herself and instead handed him his drink.

A few moments of silence passed after he quietly thanked her, Stevie’s voice the only thing that can be heard.

“So,” he started, throwing an arm on the back of the couch, a shit-eating grin on his handsome face, “would I find any 1D posters if I went into your room?”

“Oh fuck you.” She threw one of the cushions at him, smiling at the way he threw his head back in laughter.

Jules did not mind his company at all.

“Hold on a minute,” Harry straightened up from his previously relaxed position on the couch, “you all work together and you see him and his new girlfriend every day?”

“Yup, you can imagine how fun that is.” She loved her job as an accountant, having always been fascinated with numbers, but she hated having to see him every day in the office across from hers.

It’s not like she hated him, they actually ended on good terms, all things considered. Leon wasn’t bad, he never cheated on her, but the feelings between them just died out, a flicker of something that dwindled into nothing. So, they were friendly with each other and that’s probably the reason why he brought her a box of chocolate and a rose.

But Juliet just didn’t like the daily reminder that she was in fact much lonelier than he was; it’s like rubbing salt in the wound.

“Shit, Jules, that must be hard,” he frowns, leaning forward to pat her hand, “I’m sorry you have to go through that.”

“It’s not that serious,” she mumbles, feeling heat rushing to her cheeks at the simple touch and she mentally cursed herself. She had sworn off men for the unforeseeable future. “I’m over him. You know, I actually think I was never really in love with him to begin with.”

“Why’d you think that?” He questions, his thumb still softly caressing her hand; Jules wasn’t sure if he was aware of that or was absentmindedly doing it. Either way, the touch warmed her.

“I think,” she started, setting her glass of wine on the coffee table so she could sink in further into the couch, the move unintentionally bringing her body closer to Harry’s. “I think I was just happy to have someone around, someone to spend time with. I’ve spent a lot of my life alone and I think I just clung onto him because he kept me company.”

A few beats of silence passed before she continued. “That makes me sound horrible, no, it’s not like I used him, I did enjoy his company and we had a lot of fun together, but I think I was just in love with the idea of him, not him.”

Harry nodded his head, leaning back and mirroring her position, “I understand. That’s how I felt in most of my relationships actually. I longed to have someone around so I wouldn’t be lonely, but I’ve learned over the years that having company doesn’t mean that you won’t feel lonely.”

“You sounded pretty heartbroken on your last record though.” If she wasn’t as inebriated as she was, Jules would have probably had some filter and wouldn’t have said that.

Luckily, Harry chuckled in response and relaxed further into the couch, retracting his hand from hers (she instantly missed the warmth), but he didn’t seem upset. “I was. I would say that I was actually falling in love with her, so I was a bit of a mess when she left me.”

His words made her frown. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t know how anyone could leave you.” She muttered under her breath, forgetting that she was usually louder than normal after she’s had a few drinks.

“Could say the same thing about you.”

With her cheeks flushed, Jules forced herself to look him in the eye again. “You don’t even know me.”

“But I’d like to get to know you.” He almost instantly shot back, resting his chin on his hand and his dimples made an appearance, “I think you’re very interesting.”

“Pfft, me? Interesting?” She laughed, waving him off with her hand. “I am anything but.”

“That’s not true!” Harry vehemently denied, sounding almost offended at the thought, which admittedly made Jules’ heart skip a beat. Just a little.

“I’ve spent a few hours with you now and I can already confidently say that you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” his eyes shone bright as she stared into them and she could somehow tell he was being sincere, “and trust me, I’ve met a lot of people.”

Dramatically placing a hand over her heart, Jules flashed him her biggest smile. “Oh how special that makes me feel, I can just die happily now.”

Even though she was being melodramatic, his words did cause Jules’ heart to flutter. In the past, some people told her she was annoying, or brash, and some others would make her feel invisible and undeserving of attention.

Harry, though, was unlike anyone she had ever known. From the moment they met, Harry made her feel like the centre of his attention, never once ignored her or brushed her off, even when she was taking the piss; his emerald eyes were always set on her, giving her his undivided attention as he listened to every word that came out of her mouth.

Jules was definitely not used to that.

Harry threw his head back in laughter, a sound that Jules found to be a beautiful melody, and gazed at her with those bright eyes. “Oh you’re insufferable, I take it back.”

She gasped in feigned shock, crossing her arms with force. “No backsies.”

Another melodic laugh left Harry’s mouth and she couldn’t stop the smile forming on her lips; right then and there, Jules decided that his laugh was one of her favourite sounds.

“Backsies?” He echoed, his tone still laced with laughter, “what are you, five?”

“Shut your pretty mouth.”

“Oh so you think I have a pretty mouth?” His smirk caused his skin to flush and she cursed herself for saying those words. She really needed to think before she spoke, something her parents always reminded her of.

She recovered quickly, bringing her glass closer to her mouth. “I mean, it’s fine, your lips are a little on the thin side but-“

“Heyyy now,” he protested, pink lips forming a pout and Jules definitely thought about kissing them at that moment. “That’s not nice.”

“Never claimed I was nice now, did I?” Jules smirked, feeling a sudden surge of confidence as she took another sip from her drink.

Jules did not miss the way Harry’s eyes seemed to darken just a little, his jaw tensing as she continued to stare him down. Harry leaned forward, mouth opening to respond when suddenly a shrill tone burst their bubble.

Patting the couch cushions, Jules was trying her hardest to forget the look on Harry’s face as she searched for her phone. Stop it, Jules, he’s an international rockstar and he won’t even remember you after tonight.

She sighed in relief when her hand made contact with the device, but that quickly turned into a groan upon seeing who the caller was. Looking back at Harry, who was leaning against the armrest simply staring at her, she shot him an apologetic look before she answered the call.

“Hey, mama” she closed her eyes, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. Not that she was expecting anything to happen between her and Harry, but the mood was definitely ruined now.

“Hello, honey, how are you? Are you home yet?” Her mother’s calming voice sounded from the other side of the line, making her smile a bit despite the interruption. Ever since the breakup, her mom made sure to call her frequently to check up on her, even though Jules insisted that she didn’t have to.

“I am home, mom, yes,” she responded, shifting her gaze back to Harry who was now leaning his head against the back of the sofa with his eyes closed.

“Good, good. Just checking on you, cariña, how was your night then?”

“It was fine,” she paused for a second, not sure if she should mention meeting Harry now, but she decided it was best not to, “had a few drinks then went straight home. Think I’m gonna go to bed in a few actually.”

She could tell by the way Harry’s lips twitched that he was awake and listening.

“I won’t keep you up then,” some noise was in the background and she heard her mother whisper to someone, “okay, honey, good night! And your dad says good night too.”

“Good night, mama,” Jules smiled, finding herself suddenly missing her family that she hasn’t seen since the holiday season. “Tell dad I said good night too, and that he better spoil you today.”

Her mother’s laugh ringed loud on the other side, “We’re going to dinner tonight, cariña, and he even got me a large bouquet of my favourite roses! Joseph shh- Alright then, bye bye, sweets, love you!”

“Bye, mama, love you too.”

A few seconds passed after she ended the call before Harry spoke up, head tilted to the side. “That sounded sweet. Does she check up on you often?”

Jules hummed in response, resting her head sideways on the sofa so was mirroring his position. “Especially after the breakup. She just worries too much about me.”

“I don’t think she needs to,” he shot her a gentle smile, one that made her want to wrap her arms around him and bask in his warmth, “her daughter’s a very strong woman.”

Not finding any words to say in response, Jules continued tracing Harry’s features, lazily admiring the slope of his nose, the curve of his brows, the sharpness of his jawline; everything about the man before her was mesmerising.

Turning her gaze back to his eyes, Harry flashed her another smile before sitting up straight, the smile slowly dropping. “I should probably go now, it’s getting late.”

Jules immediately wanted to shout “no!” and ask him to stay, but the rational part of her mind told her that she shouldn’t, that she would only set herself up for heartbreak when he finally leaves her.

So the only thing she could say was a faint “Okay.”

As they stood up, it seemed like Harry was holding back from saying something, but she didn’t know if she was just reading too much into things. It was probably just her hazy mind (though she’d argue her head has never been clearer)

They silently made their way to her door, Jules feeling deflated at the prospect of his departure. Would they keep in touch? Would she just become a distant memory, a miserable woman he spent a lonely valentine’s day with?

“Can I-“ Harry abruptly stopped in his tracks, causing Jules to almost run into his back because she was trailing behind him. His demeanour was suddenly all shy when he turned to face her, cheeks flushed crimson.

Jules waited with bated breath and wide eyes for him to continue, heart beating loudly in her chest.

“Can I have your number?”

Relief washed over Jules and Harry visibly relaxed at the bashful smile on her lips. Jules didn’t know why he was so nervous, but the sight was so endearing to her.

She added her number after he handed her the device, secretly smiling at her contact name Juliet x. She already earned herself an x after her name after a few hours? Jules’ heart was beating so loudly she feared Harry would hear its calls for him.

Jules watched him put his shoes on, wishing the night wouldn’t end so soon and wondering if it would be too forward to ask him to stay longer.

Deep in her thoughts, Jules didn’t register that Harry was standing in front of her, bodies close enough that the scent of his cologne engulfed her senses once more.

“I should go now.” Harry whispered, leaning down and wrapping his arms around her and Jules had never felt so whole. She’s heard about Harry’s incredible hugs and now that she’s experiencing it, she never wanted to let go of his warmth.

Harry broke their embrace much too soon for her liking, but not before peppering a gentle kiss on the side of her head. “Good night, Juliet.”

Say something. Don’t let him leave. “Good night, H.”

And then he was gone and Jules was left on her own once more.

After staring longingly at the closed door, as if he would suddenly appear behind it, Jules sighed and made her way back to the living room, slumping against the couch cushions and wishing Harry’s arms were around her again.

Her phone dinged on the coffee table, signalling the arrival of a text. A simple “Hey. I really enjoyed tonight. H” was staring back at her.

Jules contemplated for a few seconds, heartbeats picking up their speed again, before she whispered “fuck it” and clicked on his number.

“Juliet?”

Deciding to go after what her heart wants for once, Jules didn’t hesitate to respond, “Do you want to-“

But an insistent knock interrupted her and Jules wanted to scream at the intrusion. Who on earth would be knocking at her door at this hour?

“Harry, hold on just-“

She takes frustrated strides to the door, ready to yell, but the sight behind it made her anger immediately evaporate.

“H-Harry? What are you doin-“

“What were you going to ask me?” He interrupted, sounding a little out of breath and she wondered if he ran all the way back to her apartment.

Feeling emboldened by his return, Jules took a few steps towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, his hands immediately grabbing her face and pulling her closer, their lips joining together in a gentle yet eager kiss. 

Jules felt her body melt in his hold. Their kiss only lasted for a few seconds before they pulled apart, still lingering so close that she could taste his wine-stained lips. 

“Stay?” Jules asked, rubbing her nose against his, her heart thudding in her chest as she waited for his answer. Her words carried more weight than she had intended them to and she hoped they wouldn’t scare him off. But her worries vanished when she felt him smile widely against her lips. 

“For as long as you’ll have me.”

Maybe valentine’s day isn’t so bad after all.

thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it and please come talk to me about Harry and Jules and tell me your thoughts!

[fanfic-she-wrote]

A Cute Mistake: Part 1

Reader is a witch and accidentally turns Dracula into a cat.

No warning just fluff (ha, no pun intended)

"Y/N, this is not funny." Dracula told you, staring up at you looking very unhappy. You bit your lip in an attempt to surpress a laugh that so desperately wanted to escape your lips as you looked down at the black cat at your feet. The black cat being the one and only Count Dracula himself.

You had been practicing a new spell all day and all day you had one failed attempt after another. That was until your husband, Dracula woke up. He should have known better than to disrupt you while you were working, after all spellcasting could be dangerous. He just thought he would be sweet and surprise you with a little kiss on the neck, but that's when it all went wrong. You were so focused on your work that you hadn't even noticed that he had entered the room. Suddenly and unexpectedly you felt his arms wrap around you making you jump and before you could stop yourself you flicked your wand at him. In a puff of smoke Dracula vanished and was replaced with a fluffy black cat with unusually long fangs, and bright red eyes looking very confused.

"Don't just stand there! Change me back!" He ordered impatiently.

"I can't." You answered. "I haven't gotten that far yet."

"So you mean I'm stuck like this?" He asked you.

"Just for another day or two till I can learn the reverse spell." You explained as you fiddled nervously with your wand. Dracula sighed and lowered his head in disgust. "If it makes you feel any better I think you make a very adorable cat." You added petting him on the head.

Angrily he swiped your hand away. "I'm the prince of darkness, I'm not supposed to be adorable!" He exclaimed, shooting you an annoyed look. Unfortunately, no matter how angry or irritated he became you thought he looked cute, which didn't help his mood in the slightest. He wasn't used to people thinking he was cute when he was angry, he was used to people fleeing terror.

You closed your book and placed your wand down on your work station before making your way towards the stairs. "Where are you going? Aren't you supposed to be finding a way to change me back?" Dracula asked his voice sounding urgent, following you.

"Tomorrow. I'm tired. I've been working all day." You replied, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. He groaned.

"I just want you to know I'm not happy about this." He stated, his tail wagging furiously back and forth behind him.

"I'm sorry. You'll just have to wait." You insisted, locking up your office. "You know I rather like you as a cat. Keep complaining and I might leave you that way." You warned him. He hissed at you.

"Don't you dare!"

You smirked and raised a brow. "Try me." Without another word, he scoffed and walked away. Oh was he going to make you pay once you changed him back. You thought as walked down the corridor to the living room where there was a warm fire and a plate of food waiting for you on the table. You found him sitting in his usual spot by the window looking very glum. You sighed, feeling guilty, but it really wasn't your fault. You stood beside him. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'll work on it first thing in the morning." You apologized as you tried to refrain yourself from giving him a comforting pet on the head.

"Its okay. I shouldn't have snuck up on you." He replied looking over at you, his expression softening. "What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the strange look on your face and how you were rubbing your hands together.

"Can I pet you?" You ask, reaching your hand out hoping he would say yes.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh fine." He sighed, leaning his head toward your hand. It was just a natural reaction. You knew it was Dracula, but he still looked like a cat and like with all other cats you wanted to pet him. Happily you pet his head and scratched behind his ears. His fur was so soft. You thought. "Oh," He rubbed his head against your palm. "that does feel nice." He admitted. No wonder cats liked this so much. He thought.

"Thank you." You said with a satisfied smile as you turned around and sat in your chair in front of the fire, digging into your well deserved meal. As you quietly sat there, you suddenly heard a loud thunk from behind you as something hit the floor. "What was that?" You asked curiously.

"Nothing. Just me." Dracula answered you. Once you were finished eating, you got up to bring your plate into the kitchen when you came across an unusual sight, Dracula the cat sitting on the floor reading a book. He glanced up at you. "I was bored." He simply stated as though a cat reading a book wasn't anything out of the ordinary. You chuckled and shook your head, leaving the room.

When you returned to the parlor you saw Dracula rolling all over the floor. You watched him, your head titled in confusion. "What are you doing?" You finally asked him.

"This blasted tail is driving me crazy!" He exclaimed as he swiped unsuccessfully at his tail.

You snorted and looked away, not wanting him to see how much you wanted to laugh. He was so cute. You thought as he continued tumbling across the floor trying to grab his tail.

"How do you get it to stop?!"

"You don't." You answered with a shrug. Suddenly, Dracula let out a small yelp as he finally caught his tail and bit into it.

"Are you okay?" You asked as he plopped down on the floor tired and disgusted.

"No." He grumbled. In an attempt to cheer him up, you walked over to him, and scooped him up in your arms.

"Put me down!" He demanded, trying to wriggle himself free from your grasp.

"No!" You refused as you pressed your lips against the furry top of his head. He let out another hiss and pulled himself loose, landing on the floor with a silent tap. He glared up at you.

"Don't do that again!" He snapped, walking away. He acted more like a cat every second. You just hoped he wouldn't need a litter box...

A little while later, you found yourself dozing off by the fire, book in hand with Dracula softly purring on your lap. This wasn't quite the evening either of you had planned, but as long as you had each other it didn't matter, regardless whether one of you was a cat.

Tag list: @christopherleefan @joyfuldragondonkeypickle

[nose-bandaid]

layers

DK (Seokmin) x (gender neutral) Reader | college AU fluff | 4.2k words

synopsis: seokmin first captured your attention with his smile, and you were more than enthralled. then you captured HIS attention by utterly destroying his favourite scarf and then fleeing the scene (oops). but surely you can fix this before things get awkward, right?

a/n: it ended up more platonic than it did romantic but oh well,,, this is a very specific plot i apologize LOL

taglist: @elcie-chxn​ @woozisnoots​ (hi alex this is the seokmin fic you asked me to tag you in like MONTHS ago sksfhdjkjdsf) [send and ask or dm if you ever wanna be tagged in my works!]

=====

You've always called him the scarf boy. On alternating days, it was the sunshine(y) boy.

The first day you met him was actually about a week into the semester, when you glanced over to your left and saw him sitting on the other side of the lecture hall. Nothing out of the ordinary. Normally, you would’ve just looked away and carried on with your life. It’s not unusual for your eyes to wander around as you zoned in and out of the professor’s speech. That's what you get for always staying up late the night before.

But on that day, you found your eyes fixated on the boy for the next few minutes, and you watched as he whispered something to his friend. It must’ve been something funny because soon they were both giggling like fools and he smiled from ear to ear. 

And it was that smile that captivated you because you don't think you've ever seen such a bright smile before. 

His face was familiar. Surely you've seen him many, many times before today, you thought. And yet you couldn't place a name on the classmate.

You brought your attention back to the lecture for a brief second and then looked at your friend, Seungkwan, who sat to your left. You gently nudged him with your elbow and he spared a glance your way before going back to his notes. You nudged him again, this time a little harder.

“Hm?” He still didn’t look up from his notebook, but you knew you had his attention now.

“Do you know who that guy is?” You gestured with your head in the smiley boy’s direction, and Seungkwan finally looked up to follow your gaze.

“Oh, you mean the literal ball of sunshine that doesn't know how to shut up?” He replied in one breath.

“Huh?”

"I said that as a good thing, by the way. Or, for the most part. His name is Lee Seokmin, everyone on campus calls him a happy virus 'cause he keeps on smiling." He paused to scribble something down. 

It was probably something important and you should've written it as well, but you could tell he had more to say. You patiently waited. 

"I've heard that he's in the theatre club, but I'm not too sure. He's Soonyoung's friend, but not really mine."

"So he's a theatre kid, huh." You echoed quietly and Seungkwan quirked an eyebrow.

"Why are you asking? Also, I'm not lending my notes, it's your problem for not paying attention."

"I was just wondering." You answered a little too quickly but tried to divert the attention elsewhere by busying yourself with re-organizing your own notes. "And if you lend me notes, I'll bring snacks for you tomorrow." You added quietly when the professor glanced your way after shushing Seokmin and his friend.

"Deal." You heard him whisper back after a minute and his notebook slid into your vision.

=====

A few days later, you went to class early so that you could finish up a small assignment to prepare for the lesson. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary.

You sat in your usual spot — not too far in the back, but also not too close to the front. Just enough for you to see the board and sneakily hold conversations without really being noticed. 

There weren’t any assigned seats, but by now, it was a convention that everyone sat in the same spot every day. The spot beside yours was always saved for Seungkwan, and the spot beside his was saved for that one kid who only showed up once a month.

You were finishing up the last few pages when a loud “HELLO” echoed in the hall and you whipped your head towards the doorway.

It was that boy — Seokmin — dressed in a soft yellow hoodie, hair slightly ruffled as if he hadn’t bothered to fix it after waking up. Around his neck was the red knitted scarf he always wore the moment the weather grew cold. (Though you swore you've seen him wear it in the middle of the sweltering summer). He smiled widely, waving to the half-empty hall and then to the professor who simply chuckled at his entrance. That smile stayed on his face the entire time he made his way to his seat. 

From then on, you began to understand why people called him a happy virus.

The next day, you found yourself going to class early again, this time, because you honestly didn’t have anything better to do. Besides, arriving at a good time always made you comfortable. The moment the clock struck 8:46, the same boy appeared.

"HELLO!~"

This time, it was sung out in a (very beautiful) falsetto, and you wondered how it was even possible for him to be this exuberant so early in the morning. Waking up was always a struggle on your part.

Just as quickly as the show started, the boy shut himself up after receiving a few tired "hellos" from his classmates and took a seat.

The day went by accordingly.

Since you were little, you've always been told that something needs to be repeated at least three times for it to be considered a pattern. So you decided to go to class early just one more time. You told yourself it's so that you could see you were missing out on things. In case coming to class just in time was a bad habit. A lousy excuse, really.

You knew that you just wanted to see Seokmin again.

Sure enough — it was a Thursday that day — he came in, this time in a navy blue cardigan, but still with the same red scarf. The "hello" today was a little more subdued and based on the package he had in his hands, you guessed he had stayed up all night practicing his lines. When his greeting was met with unusual silence you looked around to see that everyone was far more focused on the upcoming test than the boy at the door. So you mustered up the courage to be the one greeting him that day and he immediately perked up, sending you an appreciative smile. His eyes remained brighter as he walked over to his seat.

You decided to come to class early every day after that.

=====

As the seasons changed, so did your classes, and you were more than happy to realize that you and Seokmin shared not just one, but two classes this semester.

Bouncing on your toes a little bit, you silently willed for the people in front of you to hurry the heck up. The narrow stairwell did no good for the congestion of students trying to get by. 

You glanced at your phone again to see that class was starting in just 3 minutes and grimaced at your predicament. You knew your professor loved starting lectures right on the clock, so you were already cutting it pretty close when you agreed to help someone with their spilled drinks before you got here. But now... did these students really have to carry their gigantic project up the stairs?

You had hoped that maybe they would step aside and let you scurry your way up to the second floor — that was literally all you needed for them. However, they seemed to be far too engrossed with the fact that one of the components was coming apart in the stuffy stairwell and you let out a sigh, backing out the door.

If they won't take the elevator then you supposed you will instead.

Thankfully, the usually crowded elevator was fairly empty, and you managed to score one all to yourself. That was a win for you if only everything else had gone as smoothly as that. Your day had only started and circumstances have suggested that it wasn't going to be the best ones out there.

Perhaps, it was also partly your fault for blasting music through your headphones in the morning. That caused you to get a little lost in your thoughts on the way here, it also caused you to bump into a few unsuspecting people. Or perhaps, it was because you decided that it was a good idea to check your phone after receiving a text to hurry to class when the elevator door was closing.

But you like to think that it was maybe also his fault for stuffing his face with a bagel at 8 am in the morning, rendering him unable to clearly shout out at you to keep the elevator door open.

You looked up at the strangled noise and saw Seokmin barrelling towards you, his one free hand wildly waving at you to do something about the situation. You, just as frantic as the boy was, rushed to smash the "open" button to no avail as the door continued to close with every step he took.

He made it, much to your relief, tumbling into the lift and almost spilling his coffee onto you (another drink disaster would've ruined your day completely). You didn't have much time to congratulate him for his feat, however, because you both watched in horror as his iconic knitted red scarf — caught in between the doors of the elevator — began to tear and unravel itself. 

Seokmin frantically lifted the scarf over his head and tried to pull it out of the elevator's grip while you reached down and grabbed it in an attempt to help. But all efforts were futile when the last stitch came apart, and he was left with only a fraction of what used to be his favourite red scarf. Your stomach twisted itself when you looked up and saw the distress in his eyes, his teeth biting down on his lip as if he was contemplating the best way to curse you out.

He was an actor though, and you could tell he was putting up a facade to hide how upset he actually was. His eyes wavered as he stared at the scarf, now reduced to a mess of yarn and his lips tugged into a weary smile.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to close the door on you it was an accident." You blurted out.

Seokmin didn't answer, but the elevator door dinged open as your phone buzzed with its second alarm of the day. Class was starting.

Your hand slipped into your pocket to turn off the alarm and you looked back at Seokmin, eyes begging for forgiveness. "Look, let's meet up again sometime later so I can make it up to you, okay? I promise that I'll fix this."

And with that, you sprinted away from the scene, leaving the poor boy alone with his destroyed scarf.

=====

"Let me get this straight — the elevator door closed too soon and Seokmin's scarf got caught and tore apart and now you're worried that he hates you 'cause you think the scarf is really important to him?"

You nodded.

Seungkwan sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to return to his notes. "This reads like a fanfic someone wrote at 5 am."

"It what." You blinked and he dismissed the question.

"Nothing, nothing. Did you get his number? Any way to contact him?"

You gave him a sheepish look. "I forgot to ask, I kinda ran away."

"You ran away?"

"It was an accident okay! I was nervous. But we have a lecture with him tomorrow morning, right? I could just talk to him then."

Seungkwan raised an eyebrow. "And you'll be able to muster up the courage by tomorrow? It took you 10 minutes to even tell me what happened, what do you plan to do?"

You bit your lip and stared at the forgotten work on your laptop. "Good question, I have no idea how to make up for it. Scrap talking to him tomorrow."

You both settled into silence as Seungkwan continued on with his notes and you leaned back in your chair. All sorts of ideas ran through your mind, but not of them seemed like the right one.

Then it hit you.

"That's it!" You gasp and sat straight up again, accidentally startling Seungkwan who whined about his smudged diagram. "I'll buy him another scarf, the exact same one."

"That's a good idea." He hummed. "But how will you know which one to buy?"

"I was hoping you'd have his socials? We could do some classic investigating." You suggested.

Seungkwan's eyes lit up at that and he reached over to grab his phone. "If Soonyoung's friends with him, then they're probably following each other so... Ah! There he is. A childish username, as expected."

He gave his phone to you and you scrolled through Seokmin's profile, many were pictures of food or his friends, but you stopped at one photo that caught your eye. It was of him at a park, trying to act casual for a photo (as anyone would), but wrapped around his neck was the famous red scarf.

"Perfect." You muttered to yourself. Now all you had to do was buy that scarf and hope that it comes quickly.

Or else things would become terribly awkward.

=====

Buying that scarf turned out to be much more difficult than you thought it would be.

No matter how deep you searched on the internet or how many times you looked at the photo of his precious scarf, there was no trace of the exact same copy.

"Don't tell me it was handmade." You groaned and got up from your seat to flop onto your bed instead. You stared at the ceiling for a while, long enough for your laptop to fall asleep. 

"Maybe it's a high-end brand?" You speculated quietly to yourself and rolled onto your side to stare at the wall instead.

"No... This guy eats ramen every other day in the caf, there's no way he can afford that."

You rolled onto your back once more and pouted at absolutely no one.

Why did you have to get into this situation with someone you hardly knew?

=====

The next day you went to class at the normal time to avoid having to see Seokmin when he inevitably greets the class. However, when you took your seat and discreetly glanced at his spot, it was empty. Minus Soonyoung's bag that sat there instead.

You chewed on your lip for a while, wondering if his unusual absence had anything to do with yesterday.

"Good morning!"

Your shoulders relaxed at the familiar voice and you almost let yourself send him a smile when you remembered that you were supposed to be avoiding him. You immediately stiffened and stared at your table. Seokmin didn't look your way for the entirety of the lecture, which you were almost grateful for, but it also left a sinking feeling in your stomach.

On the way out, he did end up glancing at you and you immediately turned to Seungkwan to strike up a meaningless conversation.

"Make it seem like we're busy with something, he's looking my way."

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. "I talked to Soonyoung yesterday and he brought up what happened 'cause apparently he thought it was really funny. He said Seokmin wasn't mad but didn't really know what he's supposed to be doing either."

You nodded, pretending like you were listening to him and he continued on.

"Seokmin's a kind soul, you know. I doubt he's ever been angry at anyone before."

"That just makes me feel even worse though," You whined and watched Seokmin leave the room with another classmate by his side. "And I told him that we'd meet up again but I'm not ready at all. What's he gonna think about that?"

"Then you could go up to him and say that you're still sticking to your promise, but you still need time to think about what to do. Maybe he'll tell you what he wants then." Your friend suggested, poking at your work to tell you to start cleaning up.

"I think I'm going to avoid him until I'm fully prepared. So I don't mess this up." You decided, completely ignoring Seungkwan's words and the boy sighed.

"What did I do to have such dense friends?"

=====

The week before exams was spent cramming some last-minute studying with your friends in the community library. 

It's been a while since you last spoke to Seokmin. 

Which translates to "you haven't spoken to Seokmin since the incident."

You ignored those worries and buried yourself in work instead. Using yet another excuse to get out of the very problem you should probably be prioritizing.

Besides, focusing on Minghao and Jun, who were bickering over who left the empty juice carton in the mini-fridge seemed far more interesting. You giggled when Minghao practically brought out photo evidence to defend his point and Jun spluttered out a shocked response after being called out. As their conversation grew louder and louder, you quickly scanned the library, searching for the librarian to make sure you weren't going to be chewed out for being noisy.

You stopped when you spotted Seokmin sitting next to Chan, who ran the dance club you've always admired. His nose was buried in a book. It was only for a brief moment — perhaps a second or two — but you stared at him from afar, taking in his sharp features and gentle smile.

When he felt your gaze on him and locked eyes with you, you immediately looked away, trying to not let him know that you saw him.

"I gotta go." You muttered and packed up your stuff, leaving behind a bewildered Minghao and even more bewildered Jun (who was still trying to recover from the previous attack).

All those days preparing yourself crumbled right in front of you. This wasn't supposed to be happening, this wasn't moving according to the plan you promised you'd stick to.

He wasn't supposed to beat you to it.

"Y/n!"

You carried on, pretending to have not heard him and prayed that he would just give up. He was Lee Seokmin though, so of course, he didn't stop.

"Y/N!" He shouted a little louder this time and you could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer, just like on that fateful day at the elevator. You took a deep breath and braced yourself for the confrontation.

"Hey, Seokmin."

To your surprise, he gave you a big smile. "Hey! 'Was worried I wouldn't be able to catch you just now. You were walking so quickly, where are you headed?"

"Oh..." Away from you. You thought to yourself, but said something else, trying to play it cool. "Nowhere in particular, just on a walk. Needed some fresh air after spending so much time in the library. It’s always stuffy when everyone’s cramming for exams." You rambled on.

"Can I join you?"

"Sure." You lied with a small smile.

You walked in silence for a while, with you leading the way, cheeks heating up with every second that passed.

"You've been avoiding me haven't you?" He finally spoke up.

The tips of your ears burned. "I wasn't trying to."

"If it's about what happened in the elevator, you don't have to worry about it." He prompted lightly and you stopped walking.

"Well, I am worrying about it." You admitted. "Because not only was that your first impression of me, but I know that scarf meant a lot to you and it was such a stupid way for it to get destroyed."

You took a deep breath and continued before he could think of an answer. "I'm trying to buy you another scarf, but I've been having some trouble finding it anywhere..." You admitted.

"Ah," Seokmin chuckled. "My grandmother made that scarf so I doubt you'd be able to find it online."

"It was from your grandmother?" You rubbed your face, thinking about all the hours spent examining the photo and struggling to find the perfect match. "I'm so sorry, that's even worse than it just being your favourite."

He shrugged. "Nah, it's fine, I got over it after that day."

You couldn't hide the look of surprise when he said that.

"To be honest, she's been trying to get me to ditch that scarf because I wore it too much. It's a good excuse to get a new one now!" He finished happily and you suddenly felt less tense.

"Your grandmother makes nice scarves, though. I never knew that there was a little design on it until, well, until it ripped. But it was beautiful! Please give her my compliments."

Seokmin let out a shy laugh. "Ah, you're talking about the little bunnies and sunflowers stitched onto it, right? I've always worn the scarf inside out because I don't know what people will think when they see it."

"What?!" You blurted out, incredulous. "They're really cute! If anyone were to hate on the cute bunnies then they're going to have a word with me." You joked, pretending to get into a fighting stance. "I would definitely wear that scarf proudly, but what makes you comfortable, of course."

"Interesting. Hearing that does make me a little for confident." He hummed. The conversation stilled for a brief second before he spoke up again. "What are your plans for the break?"

You blinked at the sudden change of topic. "Uhm, nothing much, probably just heading back to spend time with family."

"Cool! My plans are the same. How about you meet me..." He walked over to a nearby bench and planted his feet firmly on the ground. "Exactly here on the day, we get back. Does that sound okay?"

"Why?" You asked, but he was already backing away. You stepped forward, insisting on an answer but he refused to give you one and you could only nod your head in agreement.

"I'll see you then... I guess..." You called out weakly, speaking to practically no one because the boy was already on his way elsewhere.

And just like that, your conversation with Lee Seokmin ended.

====

 Winter break soon arrived and left as quickly as it came.

You arrived exactly 5 minutes before the meeting time and Seokmin arrived exactly 5 minutes after the meeting time.

"Y/n!"

You waved when you heard the familiar voice and the two of you shared a warm smile despite the cold weather.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," He continued. "How have you been!"

"I've been alright, how about you?"

He replied with his own "same old, same old" and you sent him a curious look when the small talk died down. "So why did you ask to meet up today?"

"Yes! About that." His hand drifted towards his neck and he didn't even have to speak for you to piece two and two together.

Wrapped around his neck was a new scarf, the same style as the old one, but this time, it was a soft shade of pink. Embroidered along the front was a small line of bunnies and flowers, perfect for the spring that was soon to come.

You brightened at the sight and let out a small gasp. "You got a new one! Nice!"

"Yep! And," Seokmin placed something warm in your hands and you realized he's been carrying it with him this entire time. "This is for you."

You stared at the scarf in your hands. It was a lovely shade of blue. "Wh— why do I get a scarf too?"

He laughed and fidgeted with his sleeves. "You spoke so fondly of my old one, I thought you'd appreciate having one for yourself so I asked my grandmother to make an extra one."

"That makes me feel even worse!" You cried out, guilty for not only ruining his old scarf but also inadvertently making him do more work to gift you something you didn't think you deserved.

"No, please don't feel bad!" He immediately replied, eyes wide to get his message across. "She was happy to make another and honestly, I just wanted to clear things up so that we don't start off on the wrong foot, you know?"

"Thank you." You pouted, still feeling a little bad, but you wrapped the scarf around your neck nevertheless. Seokmin smiled as he watched you and you grabbed the end of the scarf to admire the handiwork.

"They have the same pattern. We're matching with each other now." You quietly noted and suddenly the atmosphere between you two grew warmer.

"I guess we are! This makes us scarf buddies now, I guess." Seokmin smiled sheepishly. "We are bound by an unfortunate incident, but I hope to turn it into something positive. We can be friends, right?"

"I should be the one asking you that, idiot." You replied with a grin. The grip you had on the scarf got a little bit tighter. "Of course we can be friends, I would love to be your friend."

The smile on his face reminded you of when you first saw him.

Suddenly, your phone went off in your pocket, signalling that it was a good time to start heading to class. So much for an easy transition back into the school year.

"I should probably get going now," You started at the same time Seokmin spoke up.

"I promised I would meet up with—"

You both paused mid-sentence before bursting out in laughter at the coincidence.

"We have a lecture together tomorrow, right?" He asked excitedly and you nodded. "We can continue our conversation later then."

You laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow, scarf buddy."

=====

The next day went by accordingly, starting with a familiar “HELLO!~” from the boy who loved to eat bagels at 8 in the morning and wear scarves in any kind of weather.

The only difference is that this time, he took the seat to your right instead of one at the opposite end of the hall. He greeted you with a smile and you happily started up a lively conversation before class started. Decorating both your outfits were your matching scarves, flowers and rabbits on the outside for the world to see.

This way, everyone could know that you guys were scarf buddies.

[hops-hunny]

The Daft and Dashing

Pairing: Ron Weasley x Male! Reader

Pronouns: He/Him

Word Count: 1.3k

Request: “can I request a ron weasley x male reader where ron just discovered his feelings for the reader and he kinda freaks out because its the first time that he feels attracted to a boy and he is just so cute and kind to the reader and everyone its like ??? because ron its treating the reader like that and just they end together and super fluff?”

Summary: Ron is a bit daft but he eventually realizes what he feels.

Warnings: A bit of swearing (as usual), fluff, slightly sassy Luna.

A/N: Sorry for the wait anon! Hope I captured the prompt well enough!

Ron had a very unusual life. He lived in the middle of nowhere in a house that could fall apart at any moment, he had as many siblings as a small class, and his best friend was Harry-fucking-Potter for merlin’s sake! He had come to a point in his life where nothing was really surprising to him no matter what circumstance he found himself to be in. That was until (Y/n) came into his life.

(Y/n) had transferred from Ilvermorny half way into the year. No one wanted to befriend the new kid, especially the new kid sorted into slytherin. After the things (Y/n) had heard about his house, he couldn't blame them. The sad thing is, if anyone would've taken the time to watch the boy they'd see he really wasn't much harm if any. He loved to stay after and help professor Sprout out with the green house. He’d sneak from his dorm late at night to prepare meals for the next day with the house elves. And although up to that point no one had noticed him, that one night someone had.

(Y/n) had bid his favorite house elves goodbye, eating the vanilla cupcake they had given him. His heart dropped at the sound of a jingling collar and the swearing of Filch’s gravely voice. He had always been careful, making sure to keep track of time to avoid this situation but it seemed that Filch was patrolling earlier than usual. 

“Oi! Weasley, get back here! I’ll get ya just you bloody wait!” He heard as a mess of red hair rounded the corner.(Y/n) hid behind a pillar debating whether or not to help the boy. He grabbed Ron’s wrist, pulling the larger boy with all his strength. He began to run, moving a tile on the floor as he jumped through it, dragging Ron as well. 

“What are you doing? Who the hell are you?!” The ginger boy said loudly, looking at the smaller boy as he muttered ‘lumos’. Even with the light illuminating from the unknown male’s wand, he could barely make out his features.

“Shh!!I’m the guy who’s saving your ass. Keep moving, quickly now!” (Y/n) said. He was very thankful for all the free time he had to himself due to his lack of social life. While everyone else had a blast at Hogsmeade, he simply explored the castle finding new ways around that would even put Fred and George’s passage ways to shame. (Y/n) and Ron went through many twists and turns, ducking under cobwebs and avoiding critters. They finally reached a wall. The shorter boy hit the wall three times, a passageway opening up and a ladder falling down in which the Gryffindor common room could be seen. “Here’s your stop.” He said. Ron stood there, inspecting the boy before looking down at their hands. He quickly pulled his back as they had at some point began to hold hands.

“Thank you… I’m sorry, what was your name? I don’t think I caught it.” Ron said, looking down the hole he had come up from. His eyes widened slightly at the Slytherin emblem embedded on the boy’s sweater vest.

“I didn’t throw it. See you around.” He said. He smiled slightly and winked before hitting the wall 3 times again as the hole that was once there vanished right before Ron’s eyes.

To say Ron wasn’t amazed with the boy after that would be an utter lie. He recalled how he didn’t sleep any that night, thinking of the mysterious Slytherin boy he had seen. It gave him a feeling in his chest that felt familiar and when he saw the boy that following day in potions, he knew he had to know him. And now, months later he was glad he did.

“I think you’re in love.” Luna said, knocking the boy out of his daze.

“Yeah? And how the bloody hell would you know?” Ron said, getting defensive over the subject. Luna wasn’t phased by the boy’s demeanor however.

“Well, the real question is, how the bloody hell wouldn’t you know?” She said in a calm state, continuing to weave together the flower crown she was making. Despite how Ron and his two best friends thought the girl was an absolute loon, he knew she was very intuitive especially when it came to emotions. He knew Hermione would just tease him and rush him and that Harry couldn’t keep his trap shut. So, he came to the only other person he knew could help. “Okay, let’s try something. Close your eyes.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ll see, just close them.” she looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to do so. As he did, she started to speak again. “Okay, now picture this: you’re hanging out with (Y/n). You’re having a blast, studying together in the astronomy tower. All of a sudden, someone approaches him. They hold him, kiss him deeply, hold his hand. How would that make you feel?” Ron’s brow furrowed as he listened to the situation. He clenched his fist slightly, visibly getting more angry. Luna gave him a knowing look even though the boy couldn’t see her.

“I’d bloody kill them! No one should be doing that to him, no one but me that is.” His eyes snapped open, widening at the realization. “Bloody hell. No way...I like him. I fucking like him!” He said in shock, Luna shaking her head in agreement. He stood up quickly. “I gotta go! Thank you Looney- I er- mean Luna!” He said as he ran back to the castle. The girl rolled her eyes when he was out of sight, sighing softly as she placed the freshly done flower crown on her head.

Ron continued to sprint, not stopping until he reached the gryffindor common room where he found his friends. They were all deep in conversation, looking up when they saw him coming. Hermione moved over, making room for the boy to sit in his usual spot which was next to (Y/n). (Y/n) smiled up at him.

“Hey Ron! Where’ve you been? I was lookin’ for ya earlier!” He said as his friend sat next to him. Instead of Ron saying anything, he simply grabbed the boy by his sweater, kissing him rushed and roughly. The slytherin boy gasped, but melted into the kiss nonetheless. Ron pulled away from him.

“I love you, I love you for merlin’s sake! I don’t want some fucking bloke to hold or kiss you in the astronomy tower!” He said, stroking the boy’s cheek softly as he looked into his eyes. (Y/n) looked at him, tilting his head confused as he chuckled slightly.

“I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean by that, but I am sure that I don’t want that either. Although, I was wondering when you’d realize you were into me that way. I was starting to lose hope.” He said, rubbing his arm sheepishly. Ron continued to caress the boy's cheek delicately, before he hugged him close.

“You owe me a fiver, Harry. I told you Ron would tell him first!” Hermione said, breaking the silence as Harry groaned, pulling his money from his pocket as he handed it to the girl.

“What? You guys knew?” Ron said, mouth agape as he watched his friends who had lost bets exchange money with the ones who won. “All of you bloody knew?! How come no one told me?”

“Ron, you carry the boy to his dorm when he’s too tired, bring him soup and flowers when he’s sick, and let him wear your sweaters. Anyone would be a damn fool not to notice! But, I suppose that’s why you didn’t.” Ginny exclaimed, shaking her head at her brother's stupidity. He was about to get steamed but the smaller boy kissed his cheek, grabbing his hand.

“Everyone calm down. The important thing is that he DID notice! I’m just glad to have him now.” He said, not wanting a repeat of the last time Ron and Gin had gotten into a fight. He yawned and began to rub his eyes. “Carry me to my room, love?” He asked him. Ron didn’t hesitate, picking the boy up bridal style as he began to walk off to the slytherin common room. He turned around, looking at the lot of their friends, giving a devilish smile as he winked.

So, as the sun began to go down, so did Ron….on (Y/n) that is.

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

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[lokilickedme]

Hulu and Do You

A Hammer Of The Gods Jake & Tate Shortfic, Part One

Part One - The Worst Kind of Man Rated M for language and adult themes - no sex yet (and I stress yet) 1703 words Takes place a year after the events of Hammer of The Gods

I’m posting this here for now because I’m not in the mood to accidentally start another longfic and AO3 tends to do that to me.  This will be two parts with the second coming later.  Written under the duress of a headache and not edited or proofread, so...whatever’s down there is what ya get.

I’ll reblog later tonight with my tag list attached.  Slide under the cut and lets go :)

“Geezus fuck kid, take that to your mom.”

Tate flinched, that same old kneejerk reaction to a raised male voice that she’d always had, a holdover from another time, another place, and most definitely another man.  But the man in the next room hadn’t really raised his voice, had he?  No, it was just that she was so damn used to it happening that the reflex had become too deeply ingrained to not be automatic.  It made her feel ashamed of herself for not being over it, just a tiny bit.

Jake didn’t raise his voice.  Not at her, not at her kids, not ever.  She’d never really actually heard him raise it, not in anger, not even when he was threatening a creatively bloody demise toward her long gone ex the day he’d popped his jaw damn well near clean off his face.

Jake wasn’t a yeller.

But he was definitely a curser, and her son had committed the unforgivable by blasting into the room he was working in to offer up an empty GoGurt tube in trade for a new one.

It wasn’t unforgivable in this house though, and it wasn’t unforgivable with this man.

Only The Ex.  Once upon a time.

Jake didn’t mind the kids coming into his study room; he wasn’t insanely nuts about them being around him, but he had no particular dislike of it either, other than when one or the other of them handed him something sticky.

Like the youngest just had.

She couldn’t blame him, to be honest.  GoGurt tubes in the hands of a four year old weren’t something she enjoyed dealing with herself, and Jake - well, Jake wasn’t the daddy type.  But he was a good man, albeit a filthy-mouthed one, and the words hadn’t even been the slightest bit irritated sounding.  Just more of an Ew, hell no.

So why the flinch?

She’d been trying to sort that in her head for the past year, and the only conclusion she’d reached was the uncertain possibility that she was simply afraid that one day Jake would become like The Ex.  Angry, irritated, controlling, condescending.  Disapproving.  Abusive.  She had nothing to base it on other than the fact that it had happened once and her luck, though vastly improved since the night she’d grabbed the kids and walked out with nothing but Jake’s tuition money in her pocket, couldn’t possibly hold.

Or could it?

Perhaps Pete had been right when he’d summed his friend up in a single sentence - He might look like he’d snap your neck for a half smoked cig but he’d just as soon pay you a nickel for it.  It hadn’t made sense at the time, but a year of dating the man had put a bit of clarity on it for her.  Jake was quick to anger in attitude only.  For the most part he was levelheaded, quiet, capable.  He had a low tolerance for idiocy and a deep appreciation for common sense, and what he put into the world by way of surliness he made up for in an intense intelligence and observant nature that dictated he simply deal with problems himself instead of waiting for anyone else to solve them.  And now, after all this time, she knew something not many other people knew.

The angry attitude wasn’t real.

Jake Harper was a fraud.

He didn’t hate the world...he was just uncomfortable in it.  Whether it was shyness or impatience or what his sisters referred to as “a near fatal case of attention deficit coupled with just too damn smart for this world”, she’d probably never figure out.

Not that it mattered.  She’d long since sorted how to work around it and keep that furrow-browed scowl from being used on her.

Jake was easily distractable...and he didn’t like to watch TV.

At all.

And that was where Tate’s secret weapon came into play.

He’d been studying a lot lately.  Way too much, but he had finals coming up.  She shouldn’t even be here, not really, not while he was working on such a time crunch with such a massive class load, but they hadn’t seen each other in a week aside from a quick lunch on Tuesday and a late night Facetime sexup the following evening.  It hadn’t been difficult talking him into letting her come over.

Or talking Pete into picking up the kids and taking them to the park so she and Jake could be alone for a couple of hours.  But he was running late and the kids were making a lot of noise, and now there was a drippy GoGurt tube incoming.

“Pete, come on.”

“Your wish is my command, Tatertot.”

“Geezus!!”

Her face went a bit warm, hearing that crude word pop out of her own mouth.  She’d been around Jake too much, he was rubbing off on her.

Rubbing off on her.

The alternate connotations of that phrase added more heat to her cheeks but thankfully Pete didn’t notice.  He was too busy grabbing her son up and tossing him haphazardly into the air, a horrifying habit she’d gotten used to.

“Sorry, runnin’ late.  Little girl, come on lets go!”  One huge paw came up to gingerly remove her son’s tiny fist from where it was twisted in his long unruly hair.  “Ew.  Is that GoGurt?  Better be blueberry, the cotton candy looks shit on me.”

Good old Pete.  If Jake hadn’t been the one to break the lock on her bedroom window - euphemism or no - things might have been a little different at this juncture of her life.  But Pete was a better friend than Jake would have been if the roles were shifted, and she was grateful for the big brash Viking’s helpful companionship.

Especially now.

“Take some frozen peas for the ducks.”

And then they were gone, and she was left standing in the doorway to Jake’s study room, looking at his broad back and swooning just a little bit over the contrast between his long dark hair and the light blue of his tee shirt as he hunched forward over his desk, deep in concentration that she knew didn’t come easy for him.

“You want to take a break?  Kids are gone, we could watch some TV.”

She knew he didn’t like TV, he didn’t have either the ability or the desire to put that much focus into something recreational after devoting so much effort into keeping his head on his studies.  He turned his head just slightly to the side, not looking at her, but acknowledging her presence.  “That show you like, they put the final season up.”

“Yeah?  Which one?”

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his back.  “That whack one about the preacher and the vampire.”

“You’re kidding?!  Want to start it?  I can call us in a pizza.”

He turned his chair to the left, coming around slowly to face her.  There was something dark and slightly wicked in the twist of his lips that shot a shiver through her.  “Do that.  I’m gonna finish this chapter and then I’m gonna Hulu and do you.”

“Ooh...and here I thought the whole Netflix and chill trend was going to just pass us by.  I mean...”  She took a step back, exiting the doorway, letting her hand stray purposefully toward the top button of her shirt.  “You’re always so busy with school and you have that personal vendetta against Netflix and all - “

“They sold Doctor Who to Amazon.  Fuck ‘em.”

“Well yeah, can’t disagree with you there.”

His eyes passed over her briefly, lingering for just a moment on her hand where her fingers toyed with the button.  It was enough.  Jake didn’t ogle, though there were times she wished he would as some sort of a courtesy warning shot before he made his intentions known.  There wasn’t a lot of preamble with him.  Straightforward and to the point, always.

Good old Viletongue.

She had no complaints.  Because she always knew where she stood with Jake.

But today...today she wasn’t planning on standing.

                                         ************************

He was bored already, she could tell.  He was a scientist at heart, which she found humorous - Captain Curseword, the filthiest-mouthed man she’d ever met, the guy who could take a toddler’s boardbook with eleven words in it and turn it into a foul diatribe so intensely crass it made you step away from him for fear of the wrath of God accidentally hitting you while aiming at him - this man was possessed of an analytical mind so sharp and detail oriented that anything shy of a scientific documentary lost his attention within minutes.  His chosen profession suited his intellect, the chemistry aspect of pharmacology more than enough to give his mind something to work on all the time, but it ran so counter crossways to the physical side of him that sometimes she found herself wondering if he’d been accidentally housed inside the wrong body at birth.

In fact, sometimes it seemed like he wasn’t quite human at all.

She’d thought him an angel once.

And then she’d slept with him and realized he was, in fact, a god.

A god that was about to fall asleep less than ten minutes into Preacher episode one season four.  She looked over at him, next to her on the couch with his head back on the cushions, those stormy sky blue eyes half closed while his fingers tapped out an odd little rhythm on the thigh of her jeans.  Likely typing a chemical equation of some kind, his brain’s stubborn refusal to shut down long enough to rest seeping out through the steady drum of his fingertips.

He was a confusing thing sometimes.  He was both the best kind of man and the worst kind of man...and what she needed right now was the worst kind.

Taking that busily distracted hand from her thigh, she moved it up to her chest and laid it palm-down over her breast.  Jake didn’t respond, but his fingers clenched slightly; she looked over to find he’d closed his eyes entirely, but the tiniest twitch of a grin was gently turning up the corners of that filthy, filthy mouth.

[plussizeappreciationfics]

*rolls up to ask box* Lemmee get a Yoongi with plus size black reader where she's a teacher who moved to Korea teaching English at a university. She's grading papers at a 24 hr coffee shop with her 4c hair in puffs & glasses on. He's out getting his beloved iced Americano and he sees her. He's watches her for a bit until she overhears him talking about her fine ass in korean thinking she can't understand him but she snaps her head up and speaks perfect korean to the waitress? Sorry it's so long

I changed it a little bit but here you go wifey! 

First encounter

“God, this is so good…” you sighed in happiness once the delicate taste of your sweet cappuccino hit your tastebuds. This was exactly that you needed after a long day at school: a nice coffee and a new book to enjoy reading at your favourite café.

After clocking out, you had gone home to change into something comfortable and decided to let your hair rest in cute little buns and your glasses just complimented the whole outfit. Thank God it was Friday because you were so ready to just unwind and spend some quality time alone. You had some plans to go and have some fun in Seoul but those weren’t fully convinced of the plans just yet. Teaching had been very exhausted, but you loved your job, nonetheless.

You were about to dive back into your book when you noticed a very handsome guy sitting just two tables away from you. He had his laptop out, with something that looked like a small portable piano keyboard. He was bobbing his head along to whatever tunes were blasting through his headphones. You couldn’t help when he suddenly broke out grinning, showing off his gummy smile and it instantly made your heart swell with happiness.

The handsome stranger continued to grin while tapping away at his laptop, making you lose yourself in his little bubble, you were growing curious to what he was creating while wondering whether you’d ever be lucky enough to listen to it.

“Shit!” you hissed to yourself when the handsome stranger noticed your gaze on him and snapped his head in your direction, the two of you making instant eye contact. In that moment you released two things:

1. You had been staring at Min Yoongi aka, BTS’s Suga 

2. Min smiled when your eyes locked, and he gave you a gentle head nod

To say that you were panicking a little was an understatement. That man wasn’t just a celebrity but also had acknowledged your existence. A boost of self-confidence rushed through your body while you looked down at your book and mentally counted to ten in order to get your shit together. This wasn’t happening.

It took you more than ten seconds to calm down before clearing your throat and trying to focus on the phrases of your book. Your tensed shoulders slowly relaxed again, and a small smile crept onto your face, you had never guessed this would happen in a million years.

Five minutes into your book, you randomly glanced up again and noticed that Min was still staring at you. You gave him a small smile and raised your cup of coffee, not knowing that your beauty was putting the musician in complete awe. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off you as he instantly was interested in you.

Sure, Min had seen and met many beautiful people in his life but something about your smooth brown skin, the clothes that were hugging it perfectly and your simple behaviour was doing something to him. You didn’t know that he had paused his music and made it his personal mission to try and get close to you. Min was happy that today was the day he had decided to leave the house in order to find some inspiration for BTS’s upcoming song, because you were now the newly discovered inspiration.

The group had decided to write another beautiful love song, this time not just only expressing hopes of finding that intense and addicting love but to actually write about experiencing it. Not many knew that Min Yoongi had experienced that kind of love, it hadn’t lasted for a very long time but his heart had once belonged to someone special. The breakup nearly killed him though, the pain was unbearable and the musician had ever since been afraid to even approach someone.

Seeing you there, he felt his stomach flip in anxiety but also excitement because he felt determined to get to know you. Your eyes locked for a few more minutes before you felt like a creep and decided to get back to reading.

Taking another sip of your cup, you noticed your palms starting to sweat as Min’s handsomeness was simply too overwhelming for you. “Such a beauty”, whispered the singer in Korean before shaking his head in amazement.

I BEG YOUR PARDON?!

You screamed in your head, your eyes almost popping out of its sockets. Min didn’t know that you were fluent in Korean as it was a necessity in order to teach in the country and probably didn’t expect you to understand him, so he felt more than free to voice his opinion on you.

You took a big sip from your coffee and decided to take your interaction a step further. You took a few deep breaths before standing up, collecting your book, hot drink and phone before walking over to him and joining him at this table.

Min let out a surprised gasp when you looked at him and replied in Korean “Thanks for the compliment”. Then you started the conversation, saying that you had been fluent in the language for a few years now and that you were a fan of BTS. The way he snapped his laptop shut had you giggling while leaning back against your seat and smiling happily.

Min instantly felt shy and apologised for his comment, expressing how it wasn’t gentleman like and that he just felt so amazed by your beauty. You excitedly let him know that you also found him very beautiful and then you loved his musical talent. The rapper then asked you about your life, you liked your job and how you liked living in Seoul, he patiently listened to you while making mental notes how you beautiful your voice sounded. It was like sweet honey to his craving ears.

You told him a few funny stories that happened while teaching and the way he threw his head back and laughed loudly had you instantly catching feelings. His gummy smile just looked breathtaking, he didn’t give a single fuck about the fact that his loud laughter was booming through the whole café, he just was in his happy moment.

Min then told you different stories of his life as a worldwide known musician, the ups and downs of dealing with fame and even his hopes for the future. It was so easy to read right through him like an open book: that man found happiness in the simplest things of life but was very lonely. He didn’t have many friends and barely had the time to spend some quality time with them, but just from the way he was looking while talking about them, you knew that he loved them dearly. 

Yoongi continued talking about the group’s members, what he had learned from them and how much he loved them despite being very bad at showing his appreciation. You clung onto every word that left his soft and plump lips and imagined what it would be like to feel them gently pressed against yours.

“Hey…Can I take you out sometime? There’s many amazing places I can show you if you want”, Min asked with the most adorable yet shy expression on his face. You were melting away while he was trying his best to not show how much he wanted to hold your hand, listen to you talk for hours and be lucky enough to kiss your plump lips that were calling onto his.

Your numbers already had been exchanged a few minutes into the first conversation so all you could hope for was to get a text from the musician.

“I would love that!” you grinned and couldn’t help but reach out for his hand and give it a quick squeeze. His palms were sweating, and his nostrils immediately appreciated your delicate scent when you leaned in. That man was falling quick and hard for you. You didn’t mind his sweaty hand, actually loved the feeling of his soft skin.

Your heart skipped a beat, but you didn’t dare show it. This felt amazing. You wished it never end, but that wasn’t an option, for now. With one final smile you wished Yoongi a nice day before standing up and gathering your things, your cup of coffee already having been consumed. After leaving a few bills and a nice tip on your table, you made your way out of the café without glancing back, knowing damn well that Min was staring at you and your luscious curves.

Tag list: @jamesbarnesappreciationclubub  l @pleasantdreamqueen l @disneymarina l l @harleycativy  l @sparklemichele l @melaninmarvel l @amethyst09 l @the-force-of-imagines l @bossyboyd03 l @pebblesz892 l @stars8melanin l @brittyevans l @toc1985 l @janeyboo l @badassbaker l @winters-beauty l @cannonindeez  l @ilovefanfic86  l @adorablespecialsnowflakes l @brittanyovens l @kanupps06 l @jazmynejack l @thebookwormslytherin l @theunsweetenedtruth l @talannalew l @littlexmissxfandomxlover l @amethyst-dreams-and-candy-canes l @crimsonash330 l @booklover2929 l @aranelgrey l @panda-duuu l @thisismysecrethappyplace  l @titty-teetee l @honey-anon l @princess-evans-addict l @hp-hogwartsexpress l @malindacath  l @letsdisneythings l l @shado-raven l @alisoncdariel l @plutoneu l  @queenoftheworldisdead l @briannab1234l @miyaeadys-blog l l @hihellogoodbyebruh l @nackrosor l @nerdgurl1985 l @2darkskinbeauty l @bugngiz l @african-melanin-goddess l @barnes-wilson-love l @ktiz90 l @let-the-love-in  l @robinredboob l @hopefuloperaangelnerd l @kola95 l @partypoison00 l @alwaysadreamingoptimist l @reniescarlett l @g0thicdream l @mayasopinions l @captaintightpants58 l @leillee

-Emmanuelle 💋❤️

[writeofmind]

a ghost?! (pt. 1)

Genre: fluff, slow burn, multi-shot <3

Pairing: College!Rosé x Reader

anon: Hi! If possible could you make a master list of all the fics and scenarios you have posted? 😅 I’d also like to request a blackpink college AU focused on Female Reader x Rosé 🥺 lots of fluff and maybe some slow burn and smut? I’d be happy with any Rosé fluff or blackpink fluff though 🤍🤲🏻 thank you 😊

A/N: hi, j anon! this is part 1/? of your slow burn college!au. :D I will try to make this as slow and fluffy as possible. i don’t have a specific plot that i’m sticking to rn, but i have general ideas that i’m very excited to write. that being said, feel free to send in suggestions as to how you want this story to go! (or you can leave it up to me, and be in for cute surprises >:) ) 

a ghost?! | caramel lattes | your favorite regular

-

There were two things that you learned from living your college life. One, you definitely weren’t a morning person, and two, your roommate was a ghost. 

Not literally. The thing was just that you had never formally met them; when you moved in, they weren’t home, and when you would wake up in the afternoons, they would already be long gone and out of the house. Your schedules never lined up with each other, so for the past few weeks, you’ve just been barely missing them, not even knowing their name. 

You didn’t mind, really. The apartment was kept clean at all times, so it really did feel like only you lived there sometimes. But, you can say: if your roommate was a ghost, then they were the loudest ghost. Ever.

It was just your luck to be paired with them, too; they would be up at the crack of dawn, most times even earlier. You’d often wake up in the mornings to music playing or their (you’re sure you can say her) voice singing along. If you were being honest, the latter was your preferred way of waking up. She did have a wonderful voice, and you wished you could get yourself out of bed to tell her that; but she just woke up way, way too early. 

Today was another one of those days. Music was blasting in the background, yet another replay of “Call Me Maybe.” 

Ugh, god... you raised your head at the rude awakening, squinting your eyes at the door. Not this song again.

Based on what little you knew about your roommate, you had an image in your head of what she may look like. To put it short, you imagined a sorority girl, in a way. The type that dance and sing along to pop songs, dresses in tank tops and jeans, partying everyday, that sort of thing. You figured that maybe she didn’t party a lot though, considering she was already home and sleeping when you would walk through the front door. 

You let your head drop back into your pillow. You were too groggy and beat from work the night before that you blocked out the song, blocked out your roommate’s singing, and fell soundly asleep once again as her music faded out the front door and into the hallways of your apartment. Jeez, that girl needed some headphones.

When you woke up a few hours later, the apartment was silent. There was a sigh of relief from you, and you groaned as you stretched your entire body out. Class started in about an hour and a half, so you decided not to laze around in bed and instead get ready for the day.

When you walked into the kitchen to grab something quick to eat on your way to campus, you smelled something delicious. Sniffing the air, you smelled... something spicy? 

Sure enough, when you walked inside, there was a pan of tteokbokki sitting right on the stove. The aroma of the spiciness itself made your mouth water the closer you got to it- then, you saw a note next to it, sitting right under a bottle of water.

Good morning, roomie! I heard you come home late last night, (not that I was trying to be a stalker, but I couldn’t sleep so I was still up when you got back. Crazy, right?) Anyway, I figured you didn’t eat because I didn’t hear you in the kitchen, so I made extra tteokbokki this morning for you to take with you. I made it a little too spicy, so make sure you grab the water too!!

- PC

Your eyebrows raised higher the further down you read the note. She made you breakfast? And packed you a water? 

How sweet of her, you smiled. You wasted no time in scooping a whole bunch of the delicious rice cakes onto a plate and devouring every single piece. (She was right, though, it was super spicy.) 

That was really sweet of her. I should do something for her, too. I feel bad that I haven’t thought to even leave a note. And PC, huh? I wonder what that could stand for. I should make a mental note to ask. 

After eating and cleaning everything up, you realized that you wasted a little too much time in your own head and was running a bit behind schedule. You grabbed the water bottle quickly and ran as fast as you could out the door, into the elevator, and out the main lobby of your apartment. You didn’t even notice the blonde haired girl you almost ran into along the way. 

-

When you were finished with your school day, you always dreaded having to go to work afterwards. Not that it was a terrible job, you were just a barista at a café near campus, after all- but you would be tired and drained after pulling afternoon to closing shifts.

So there you stood, leaning against the counter top at your job as you sipped away at a small cup of espresso. You and your coworkers chatted absentmindedly. It wasn’t too busy tonight, except for a few straggling students that stayed to study. Your manager had even offered to let you go home early, but you decided you needed the money- you were practically getting paid to stand around, anyway.

The bell on the door jingled after what seemed like hours (and maybe it was). Your coworkers, all clowns, hid away from the incoming group of customers and shuffled behind the counters, leaving you to take care of them all. You glared at them and groaned internally, but that was the rules of a college student barista. If you’re not fast enough to hide, you face the consequences.

“Hey, guys,” you put on your smile as you approached the register, “what can I get for you tonight?”

When the girls got closer, you were glad that your hat was a bit too big for your head. It covered the burning read at the top of your ears at the sight of how pretty they were— all four of them, to be exact.

One of the shorter ones smiled back at you. “Hiii,” she greeted, “do you guys know what you want?”

The redhead of the group spoke up first. “Yes, can I just have a tea, please?” She turned to the other girls, “I noticed that my voice has been kind of raspy from rehearsal. I hope it’s nothing serious.”

You minded your own business as you punched in the order. “Of course, and for you?” You looked at the tall brunette, who was squinting at the menu board. You had to hide a laugh as you slid a smaller menu to her. “Here you go, our menu is printed kind of small.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you,” she laughed and took the menu in her hands. The shorter one that spoke earlier laughed too and simply pushed the brunette’s hands down. 

“Can we just get two large white mochas, please?” 

You smiled as you punched in that order too. “Of course.” You now turned to the final girl of the group, who stood silently, staring back and forth at the pastries in the case and the menu board. “For you, miss?”

When she looked up at you, you froze. 

Wow, she was cute. 

She smiled at you so sweetly, brushing her blonde hair behind her ear. “Um, yes please, can I get all of the vanilla scones that are in here? Oh, and a caramel latte, please.”

Just from eyeballing the case, there were at least 10, if not a couple more scones in there. You glanced at her with a humorous smile and nodded. “Yeah, no problem.”

As you punched in the order, you made sure that you only rang her up for four scones. It was almost near closing time anyway (you told yourself that, but really you still had a couple hours left), and you didn’t want to have to waste any pastries. 

“Can I have your guys’ names for your drinks?” You popped the tip off of your sharpie. 

The redhead, again, spoke first. “Jisoo.” 

Then went the brunette. “Lisa,” she then pointed to the shorter one, “Jennie.”

Lastly, you turned to the blonde. Again, she smiled, and nodded when she spoke. “Rosé.”

Such a pretty name, you thought to yourself. You made it a point to draw a little flower next to her name, just for funsies. You let them know that their drinks would be ready soon, and you gathered all the scones in the case for the girl to have.

The girls didn’t notice the price difference at first when they paid. After calling out their names for their orders, it wasn’t until they sat down at their table with their drinks and snacks that they realized something was off. 

It was Rosé who came back up to the counter as you were wiping it down. 

“Um, hi,” she spoke softly as if not to surprise you, “I’m sorry, but I think there may have been a mistake?”

You looked up at her from the counter with raised eyebrows. “Oh, I’m sorry. Was your drink wrong?”

“No, not at all! It’s great,” she shook her head and showed her bag of scones, “but, um, I think you mischarged me for these.”

Ah, so she did notice. “No miss, that’s okay,” you laughed at her innocence and honesty. Her face even looked worried just from you saying that. “We’re going to be closing in a couple hours anyway, and to be honest, the scones can be a bit overpriced when you buy a lot. Don’t worry about it.”

Her eyebrows were furrowed in the cutest way possible. “But— are you sure? You won’t get in trouble?”

“I’m sure, I’m sure. It’s fine, really miss.”

“Aww... well, thank you—” she beamed and squinted at your name tag, “Joy.”

Aw, shit. You internally slapped yourself in the face, I put on the wrong apron. 

Of all days to be talking to a cute girl, you weren’t even wearing the right apron with the right name tag. You really didn’t want to have to explain yourself and essentially embarrass both you and the girl right now, and you were quite frankly a bit shy already from talking to her for as long as you have. So you just smiled back. “It’s no problem, Rosé.”

With a giggle, the girl turned back around and hopped over to her table, where you could hear her recounting your conversation. You chuckled.

-

As your shift went on, the students inside the café began to disperse and pack up their bags to head home. One of the last students to leave was the group of girls you served earlier, and they even made sure to call out “bye, Joy!” as they left. Your coworkers looked at you funny but ended up laughing at your awkwardness once they realized your mistake.

“Oh, come on, y/n!” One of your best coworkers, Seulgi, laughed, “Now you’re gonna be known as Joy to them! Joy is not going to be happy.”

“Look, man, I didn’t wanna correct her, alright??” You sighed and palmed your forehead, “I got nervous!”

“Ah, well,” your other coworker Yeri shrugged, “at least you may not see her again. So you don’t have to be too embarrassed.”

Your shoulders dropped at the sound of that. You may not see her again? Boo. 

Your closing shift went by smoothly and before you knew it, you were walking through the threshold of your already dark apartment. You saw that your roommate’s door was closed and her light off, but her shoes were on the shoe rack, so you knew she was already sleeping. 

You almost went straight to your room to knock out before remembering what your roommate did for you this morning. You didn’t want to just leave her hanging and make yourself seem ungrateful, so you grabbed a post-it note and a pen.

Hi there, roomie, you began, thank you for the tteokbokki this morning! It was delicious, actually, and I only needed a few gulps of water between each bite. (lol, i’m just teasing, it really was good. i love spicy food.) i’m not sure if you like flavorings in your coffee, let alone if you like coffee or not, but here’s some for you for the morning, since you’re usually up earlier than me. you can use any of my coffee cups, i have way too many.

- y/n

After setting up the coffee machine to brew in the early morning, you stuck the note on top and dragged yourself into your room to get ready for bed. 

-

The next morning, you woke up to silence. No music, no singing, nothing. And it wasn’t early in the morning- it was the usual time you yourself would get up and out of bed.

Huh? you wondered, This feels... unnatural.

You got yourself out of bed and ready for your day as you normally would. You walked into the kitchen for your usual breakfast of coffee and a single granola bar, when you saw yet another note waiting for you on the kitchen table.

it’s no problem at all! i almost thought you hated the tteokbokki when i didn’t see any feedback when i got home. TT TT it’s so funny that we haven’t even met yet. btw, i’m sorry i’m loud in the mornings, i never realized how late you got home every night. i’ll let you sleep in more. :) and you’re so sweet, thank you for letting me use one of your cups, and thank you for the coffee this morning :)

p.s, just so you know a fact about me too, i love caramel in my coffees.

- PC

[fakeloveaskblog]

(Hi, me again.)

Janus you should check on Remus. If he wants to be alone then you can go back to sleep but it’s better to make sure he’s okay and risk him being a little bit annoyed than to leave him alone when he seems to be distressed. Also Ms Carl is adorable.

Tw: Light allusions to past abuse and drug use. There is exactly 1 line that implies some things but it’s so vague I’m pretty sure it doesn’t need to be trigger tagged

"You're right" Janus replied. He took a deep breathe to psyche himself up.

He slowly untangled himself from Ms. Carl and let her soft noddle body sink down into the couch pillows. He put a blanket over her so she wouldn't get cold.

He sneaked as quietly as he could over to the bedroom door. Footsteps could be heard from inside the room. Loud snores were still coming from the other couch so he tried to knock as quietly as possible. The steps stopped abruptly.

"....Hey...Remus?....Are you alright?" No response came. Janus decided to blurt out "I heard some weird noises coming from the kitchen and I got worried the zombie apocalypse had started. Just wanted to make sure you haven't gotten bit"

The door opened and Remus peaked out at him. "Can't sleep either?"

Janus shrugged.

Remus hesitated before asking "...Wanna come in?"

"I would like that"

He opened the door and let them come in. He still seemed jittery and shaky as he slumped down by the foot of the bed. Janus sat down as well but made sure they weren't too close to him.

Remus writhed the ring on his finger around while biting on the inside of his cheek. "Did you see me in the kitchen?"

"Do you want me to lie?"

"...no"

"Then yes. Were the painkillers out of date or did you simply feel like having a good ol round of spitting stuff into a trashcan?"

It took a little bit before Remus answered "Y'know how it is when you can't sleep. Your brain just blasts off and at first you're thinking about torture methods and eel monsters but then without you realizing you start remembering....stuff....you start... missing people...that you know you shouldn't miss"

"Mhm. I get that. Honestly it feels incredibly weird to not even speak to my parents during this time of year. They haven't even bothered to call. It's not like I have their number blocked-"

"You should!" Remus butted in.

"I know. I just kinda had this revenge plan in mind where one of my parents would call me to wonder when I would visit and then I could go on a terrifically theatrical yelling spree about how I am happy and incredibly gay with my boyfriend and that I am also pretty and desirable no matter what they say!!....But uh as you can see they totally definitely called...And they totally wonder how am I.....so it’s really not at all silly for me to miss them even if they were the most angelic most kind most complimentary parents on the planet!”

Remus turned to meet his eyes “I don’t think it’s silly”

“I don’t think you getting up from the couch to spit painkillers into a trashcan is silly either”

“Babe I already knew that. I can just feel in my red bloody guts you get up to do much weirder shit in the middle of the night...Like eating dried snake scales like chips!”

“Aw chucks! You caught me!” Janus threw his hands up and fake sighed.

He rubbed his hands together and did his evil snicker which he practiced regularly "Yes I caught you in my web! Now I shall dissect you!!"

"Oh! Oh! How frightening!!" Janus fanned himself and fell back on the bed "Anything but my organs! Please!"

Remus grinned as he laid down beside them. “Your organs are mine!! My fine lil bitchbabe!!” 

He slammed his head down into Janus’ stomach. It made sound like a dog’s squeaky toy. Remus stopped and was about to ask if they were okay when they let up into a laugh.They sank deeper down against the sheets and turned their head to meet their crush’s eyes.

“Honey if you destroy my organs now you will never get to dissect them” Janus said with a smile.

“Ugh. Beginner’s mistake. Sorry”

Janus was one second away from letting out some amazingly cheesy line about how he already had his heart anyway, but they stopped themself. Remus had laid himself on his side and was still playing with the ring on his finger. There was a slightly fake smile playing on his lips.

“You wanna hear something real silly?”

“Go ahead”

“I’m missing Os. It’s not like you. Missing parents is like understandable ‘cause they’re like uh your parents. But I haven’t talked to mine in like 4 years so I don’t even miss them most of the time, but Os, oh fucking hell. It’s so stupid since he’s just some like guy! I shouldn’t miss him as much as I do”

Janus looked at him for a few seconds. They slowly blinked before looking at him for a bit more.

“Honey didn’t you date that guy for 3 years?”

“Well uhhh it was more like 4 years, it was just that he waited until my 18th birthday to officially start dating me and kissing me in public”

Janus waved his hand around “The exact time doesn’t matter. You are literally still wearing a fiance ring from him. Dear I promise it’s not stupid to still miss someone you obviously put a lot of effort and attention into building a future with. I am quite sure it’s even normal to miss your exes even after many a months without them”

Remus looked down into the sheets as he traced his finger along the patterns of gold “......i think rowan would be mad if she knew i still missed him...i know i shouldn’t”

“From what she’s told me it sounds more like she’s angry at herself, and also filled with enough rage at Oswald to power a sun”

“You sure? ‘Cause sometimes it feels like it’s my fault for making her angry”

“I’m sure”

His shoulders relaxed just a bit, though his eyes kept looking downwards “I wish that when I miss Os I would at least only miss him. But” He leant his head back and groaned “It’s complicated and gross and it makes me sick. Like- like before on the couch I started to remember the holidays we spent together and he would always try to make them extra fun by....by buying more....y’know uhm drugs for us. More hard stuff. And it makes me miss that as well. Even though I know I hated being high. I hated losing time and control over myself and being unable to form coherent sentences or feel what I was doing with my own body even be aware of what was happening to me half the time. And yet I miss it somehow. It’s like every cell in my body is screaming for it and the only part of myself I can control are my thoughts. They’re only thoughts!! They don’t choose what my hands do or what I say! I am just trapped inside of myself and I have to watch as- as- So that’s why I uh took the painkillers and spat them out immediately after. They managed to remind my body of the....the..bad things that came with being high. It made me not miss it as much. I’ve done the painkiller method before, it works even if it hurts”

Janus moved a bit closer “Honey I am quite sure that is the definition of triggering yourself”

“No!!! It just!!! It makes my body get like hot flashes and I start to shake and get the urge to puke and feel sick and ill and all fucked up!!! It’s just a reminder!! A physical remind- oh.....Okay...so I might be triggering myself to keep the urge to relapse away but eeehhhh at least it’s better than relapsing??”

"Well yes it is, and I admire how you're able to hold yourself back-”

“Like the most dangerous session of edging” Remus interrupted. He glanced to Janus to see if it got a chuckle out of them. It did even if they tried to hide it.

“Yeah sure. Like that. Very strong. Very admirable” Janus muttered “But honey dear darling sucklepie. You fucked up piece of bloody trash smeared together into a person, I am quite sure there are better ways to avoid relapsing. Like..”

They dragged in a few loose threads at the end of their shirt sleeve. A soft blush spread on their cheeks.

“Like you could talk to me? Maybe? If you feel comfortable. I could tell you about lizards and space worms to distract you until you feel better. I could even stay over if the urge to relapse doesn’t go away. We wouldn’t have to sleep in the same room, we don’t have to do that tonight either. At worst if you need to trigger yourself I will at least be here to calm you down afterwards” Janus reached out to move his hand onto his “If that sounds g-”

Remus flinched. Really violently flinched. The type of flinch where his breathe hitched for just a moment and his whole body moved back. And when he realized he’d flinched his eyes were still wide open, his jaw tense, his hands gripping onto the sheets.

“Sorry- I didn’t mean- It’s not ‘cause it’s you”

“I know. It’s okay” Janus assured.

“....I don’t remember Os’ eyecolor” Remus quietly admitted. His voice shook and his fingers clammered onto the edges of his ring “I can’t remember if they were a light brown or a hazel green or- or a green like blue. I can’t remember. Isn’t that stupid? I- I spent so much time with him I should remember. But it’s so blurry and distorted and when I try to remember Anything, any single small thing, about those entire 4 years of my life I get such a piercing headache I stop trying to remember. And when I don’t stop I start feeling sick to my stomach and my eyes tear up and it’s like there’s an octopus in my stomach and it’s filling my insides with oil until the oil reaches up to my throat and the oil makes me unable to breathe or speak or scream for help and I’m drowning and I can’t remember his eyecolor-”

“Remus, Remus please focus on me” Janus held back the urge to reach out and comfort him “Just follow my breathing, please”

“If anything actually happened- if the pain was real I should be able to remember it” Remus continued on, not really hearing them “4 entire years of my life! Gone! Barely even there! I should- If I forgot it it means it wasn’t important- It means it never mattered - I was just overreacting and making things up and-”

“Bearded dragon lizards have a third eye on their neck” Janus blurted out.

Remus stopped and looked at him “What?”

“Sorry I had to get your attention somehow. You were kind of spiraling and just laying on thickly with the falsehoods. Could you follow my breathing?”

“Yeah- uh- I think-”

“Good”

Janus slowly breathed. Remus tried to mimick them. When he breathed in he puffed up his cheeks like a frog. He hesitantly reached out and placed his finger where the vein on their wrist was.

“is this okay? Sometimes feeling someone else’s pulse helps. Reminds me I’m still alive. And not like a zombie who was left dead in Os’ apartment”

“It’s okay” Janus assured. 

“You have so much blood Jannie. So much blood and organs and nice layers of skin cells. It’s amazing. All those blood cells working to hold you together. I wish I could hug every single one of your blood cells. I want to thank them for keeping you alive”

Janus blushed “Thank you”

Remus laid down on his back with his head against the pillow. His hand stayed on their vein while the other moved to trace their cheek “There your blood goes, making your cheeks all red”

Him pointing it out made them blush even more “Great observation. I would have never noticed. Thanks. Are you feeling any calmer?”

“I think so. Just a little though. The worry is still there. It’s like my organs are one step away crumbling on on themself. But having something to focus on helps. Even if it’s just your pulse and pretty face”

Janus starting to look like a christmas light “Glad I could help. Just remember that not remembering all of it doesn’t mean shit” They choose to avoid the topic of abuse to not make him freak out again “I mean I am quite sure drug usage and going through periods of psychosis will do that to your memory in most cases”

Remus sent him a small smile “You’re right. My smart lil Jannie”

Jan laid down with their head against the other pillow. Remus kept his hand lightly on their wrist as they gave him a soft look.

“Do you also have like specific phrases stuck in your head?” Remus asked “Like the 4 years are so blurry and yet I can remember certain things Os said so fucking clearly it drives me crazy”

“..I do get that. Even if my memory isn’t as blurry. Some of the things my mom called me just doesn’t go away even if I now know they’re not true”

Remus eyes were had stilled and were staring right through Janus as he admitted “I think I might be avoiding going on hormones because of some of the things Os said to me”

For a moment Janus saw a vision of him kicking the shit out of Os “Do you want to talk about it?” He said through slightly gritted teeth.

“Mhm.....He said he would break up with me if I got on T...said he wouldn’t be able to love me anymore....said he hadn’t signed up for dating a person who did that to themself”

Remus held onto Janus’ wrists a little harder. His eyes met theirs. His voice nearly broke as he continued.

“He said I would look like a disgusting unloveable monster if I got on T. That no one would want someone with a body that was a freakish monster version of sexes”

Janus barely thought for a single moment before respond dead faced with “Monsters are hot though”

Remus’ eyes went wide as he held back laughter “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. If That fucking Oswald thinks you would look like a monster then what’s so wrong about monsters? It just sounds like he had bad taste! Monsters are aesthetically pleasing as hell, And cool. And being a freakish monster version of sexes sounds dope as hell actually!”

A smile started to play on his lips “I guess you’re right. I mean monsters can fuck shit up!! That’s pretty metal”

“Exactly! I can not think of a single situation where I wouldn’t want to be with a monster!”

“Oh sweet Jannie. My wonderful lil monsterfucker. I knew your furry experience would turn into wonderful uplifting one day”

“Scallie. I was never a furry. Only a scallie and a monsterfucker. Don’t get it twisted now”

Remus burst out laughing at that “Sorry. Deeply sorry. I must never call you a furry. I would never share misinformation!”

Janus laughed as well. They both leant closer. Remus lightly leant his forehead against theirs and closed their eyes.

“But really Rem, he is out of your life. What he thinks doesn’t matter anymore in any way. It never did anyway. Especially if he’s clearly not a monsterfucker and therefore not cultured in anyway”

“The only type of exploitation movie he ever wanted to watch with me was the lesbian vampire kind so definitely uncultured”

They extra gasped “very uncultured! Such a bullshit of a man!”

He chuckled at that “He never liked my neon clothes. Said I looked like a clown”

“Clowns can be both incredibly fashionable and creepy. So they fit you perfectly!”

Remus took a deep breathe. Actually saying things he disliked about his ex felt like walking through a huge pile of snow “He would make fun of my infodumping! And say I talked to much every time I ranted! He said my original characters were stupid and childish!”

“His ears must have been broken. He was probably too busy shoving his head up his own ass to actually hear your brilliant ideas and interesting gross facts”

“He always used my psychosis against me! Whenever I tried to have a mature conversation about how he acted like a dick sometimes he would say I had hallucinated it or that I was delusional and making things up or overreacting!! Every time! It made me feel insane! Until I stopped trying to talk to him about that stuff!! And if he wasn’t blaming my psychosis for my overreacting he blamed the drugs! And then he didn’t even let me take my anti psychosis meds!! Because he said it was making my delusions worse!! And y’know I didn’t trust my brain anymore ‘cause of him so I just went alone with it!! Which is so stupid and very mean of him!!! Very mean!!!”

Janus held back the immense urge to call Oswald a gaslightning asshole “Wow. Him being able to have his head shoved so far up his own ass for so long oxygen stopped coming to his brain making him an immensely stupid piece of fuck is almost impressive. Almost”

“He called me broken” 

Janus opened his mouth to respond. To comfort. He tried to think of what to say. But Remus cut him off before he had a chance.

“Can you stay here tonight? Sleep here I mean?”

“Of course. If you want me to”

“I want you to”

“Okay”

“I know you don’t like me sleeping in my binder but I will freak out less if I do”

“I understand. But you better take it off the moment I leave tomorrow. You have to let your ribs relax”

“I’m aware”

The lights were already off. Remus threw the blanket over the two of them and sunk down against the pillow. He looked over and his breathe caught in his throat when he saw the way Janus’ hair spread out over the pillow. Like a beautiful crown. Even in the dark he still awed at his features. The soft jawline, the miscolored dark eyes, the patches of black and light skin woven together.

He noticed how Janus kept his distance. Their weary eyes carefully looking at him. They moved their hand closer and he nodded to show it was okay. So they let their arm lay over his stomach, like a lazy embrace.

They let out a relaxed sigh and closed their eyes, they were shyly smiling. Until they noticed Remus shaking. They looked over to him and saw tears pricking at the edges of his eyes.

“Are you okay? Is this-”

“It’s nothing. It’s just- It’s been a while since I shared a bed with someone” He sniffled out “This is...it’s nice...I trust you Janus. I really do. I didn’t think I would trust anyone like I trust you ever again. I hope you sleep well. I hope all the blood in your body also sleeps well”

“Goodnight to you too”

“Goodnight...sleep tight.....don’t let the cowboys bite.....Have sweet dreams about monsters...And fuckers”

Janus managed to get out some mumble. His eyelids were heavy and the bed so incredibly soft. Remus was still shaking when he fell asleep.

--

A few hours later he woke up. Quiet conversations came from the other room and light shone in through under the door. Everything was blurry for a few moments as he tried to remember where he was.

He looked over to his side and was met with Remus wide puppy eyes staring at him. There were dark circles under his eyes and a small smile on his lips. They were crammed close together under the blanket. With Janus’ arms around him.

“You’re awake” Remus murmured out.

“It’s a miracle. Truly”

Remus didn’t seem to make an attempt to move away so Janus didn’t either. They leant their head against his shoulder and relaxed. Saying good morning to the others could wait. meeting Logan’s parents could wait.

They couldn’t help but notice how ruffled Remus’ hair was. And how his voice was a bit rougher than usual. His half open eyes. It made them feel all jelly like inside.

“Did you sleep well?” They asked.

“Yeaaah babey! I slept an entire hour!!!” Remus exclaimed “Before being woken up by a nightmare and like shaking for a while but having you near actually calmed me down!! Sleeping an entire hour!!! With someone beside me!! Who isn’t Rowan!!! I’m kinda proud of myself!”

Janus didn’t get why it was a big deal but he still grinned and agreed “I’m proud of you too”

“Aww snakey. Oh speaking of snakes we gotta say good morning to Ms. Carl. She’s been knocking”

“MS. CARL!”

Janus had jumped up from the bed within a second. They took Remus’ hand and pulled him out into the living room. Logan, Patty and Rowan were sitting by the couches eating dinner. Ms. Carl was laying right outside the door waiting for her new owner.

Jan promptly hunched down and pulled her into his warm arms. He snuggled his face right into her very long snake stomach before kissing her on her snoot.

“Hello my sweet angel. Light of my life. My favorite little rope”

“Good morning darling mine” Logan greeted from the couch.

“Oh” Janus looked up from the snake “Hello second light of my life”

“I hope you slept well” Logan did an absolutely not subtle at all wink after saying it.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!” Patty yelled out. She was vibrating in her seat. Somehow she had on an even more Christmas dress than the already very red and very fluffy dress she had had on yesterday. She had a santa hat and all.

“Merry Christmas” Everyone replied to her.

Remus jumped onto the couch and slumped down right next to his sister. He started to whisper in spanish to her. They both got really excited and kept looking over to Janus while talking.

With each moment that went by not cuddled up next to his crush Janus got more and more aware that is was Christmas and that he was meeting his boyfriend’s parents today. All while eating breakfast and getting ready he got more and more zoned out and anxious.

No mater how many kisses or hand squeezes Logan gave him it didn’t help. Not even letting Ms. Carl wrap all around him helped. 

He stood by the door all spaced out as Rowan and Patty kissed and hugged goodbye for like 5 minutes. They kept throwing gushy compliments and promises of dates at each other and avoided actually saying goodbye. Ro was after all flying back to filming in Canada tomorrow.

Remus bonked his head against Janus’ shoulder which forced them out of worry land. “Want me to babysit Ms. Carl until you come back? I got some dead rats I found along the road!! So don’t worry about me feeding her!! I got it!! I love seeing her eat!! I can keep finding dead animals for her if you want me to! It’s a great hobby!”

“Mhm thanks” He handed Ms. Carl over.

“Uhm hug?”

Janus didn’t respond. he just fell forward slightly and let Remus catch him in an embrace. Until Logan took his partner’s hand and told him it was time to go.

“Don’t forget to take off your binder, And call me if you need help stopping yourself from a relapse of any kind” Was the last thing Janus mumbled before leaving the apartment. “And remember the monsterfucker thing!”

(Rowan was dramatically waving a napkin around as they left. She and her brother would spend all Christmas watching movies and eating chinese takeout, and also gushing out about the sharing bed with Janus thing)

The trio got into the car. Patty took the wheel while Logan shotgunned. Janus crumpled up like a piece of paper in the backseat. He lightly banged his forehead against the car window.

The married couple did hand paper scissor if they were going to listen to a Patty podcast or a Logan podcast. Lo won. He started a podcast about geographical stone science.

“Uhm darlings” Janus quietly said to get their attention.

They both glanced back at him “Car sickness?” “Flu?” They asked at the same time.

“No sickness. Now when we are going over to your parent’s place...Could you please only use he/him for me?”

Both of their expression softened. Logan reached out and took their hand “Honey I promise they won’t mind”

Patty nodded along “I promise they never minded my change of pronouns. You really don’t have to worry”

“I would still feel better if you only used he/him. Meeting them while they from the start know I’m gay already feels quite worrying to me. I think them knowing I’m gay and genderqueer would give me an actual aneurysm”

Logan gave them a quick kiss “If that honestly help you then sure, you can change your mind at any time”

Patty started the car and the conversation quieted.  Janus sighed as houses and trees went by. He looked over to you and whispered 

“Excuse me for venting for a moment, I Know you don’t know Logan’s parents and neither do I. And that is kind of the problem. I am honestly really anxious that they will hate me. My parents disliked me so why shouldn’t his. I know they won’t break me and Logan up or anything but it’s still worrying. I’m sorry. I’m bringing the mood down.....I hope it goes well...I hope.....I am quite a hateable person aren’t I? They will probably hate me? Oh god. I am going to hell tonight aren’t I? This isn’t going to go well. This is going to go horrible. You all better come to my funeral at least!”

[hitsuackerman]

Unpredictable (Overhaul x Reader) pt.9

a/n: yall ready for the date? >:)

warnings: this cannot be read solo, a bit of harassment

Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

Masterlist to my other fics: here :)

Overhaul’s waiting list: @jjk-biased​​ @infinite-universe-love​​ @dirtypride​ @blackymomo03​ @azzie 

You usually loved it when the hours would pass by. However, for this particular time, you hated it. One moment you were facing your desk; Typing and answering emails, documenting files, calling a few people, and praying for a miracle that something would happen in order to cancel the dinner date. The word ‘date’ made you want to puke.

Now, you were on your way home. Hands clenching the steering wheel. The music blasting through the speaker in an attempt to calm your disturbed soul.

The restaurant your chief had chosen was an hour away from the city. It was situated in the mountains. It had a nice view of the city. Even though it was a one star restaurant, the reviews were relatively nice. Their steak was the most recommended dish. The question now was whether or not you would find an appetite.

Opening the door to your unit, you threw yourself to your bed. Hair sprawled everywhere as you suffocated on your mattress. Resting on your cheek, you glanced at your closet and tried to think of obnoxious outfit combinations to wear for tonight. Besides, the chief would never know what you were outside the office.

A buzzing sound came from your pocket. Taking your phone out, you sat down and answered it.

“Yes, Nao?”

“I managed to dig into one of your major cases. The arson one.” He said rather proudly. Letting him proceed, he continued. “So, I looked into the shareholders to see if there were any similarities. It might be me pulling straws, but try to set a meeting with Endeavor.”

“Endeavor?” You repeated. Making sure that you heard him right. “Are you sure?”

“I back tracked the previous establishments. And all of them had a lot of shareholders in common but his name stood out.”

“Nao. That’s like a very thin straw…” You stood up and turned your laptop on. “But I was at a dead end so I appreciate your help.”

“Anytime, (Y/N). How’s the yakuza case?” Him asking questions at this time meant he was on break. It had been a while since you last gossiped with him so you gave him some attention.

“I still have to set a meeting with Birdman. Crud. That reminds me. I have to buy an earpiece.”

“The chief tagged along last time, right?”

“He did. Lucky for my ass, the meeting was short.”

“He was fuming when he arrived back at the precinct. What happened?”

“Birdman somewhat threw a fit since he cut me mid sentence.” The mere memory of it made you chuckle. But, there was this feeling that you shouldn’t have said that. It became second nature to always keep your guard up when you talk to Tsukauchi. It felt as if you had lowered it for a millisecond.

“No wonder.” He breathily replied. “Be careful, (Y/N).”

“With the chief or Overhaul?” You sighed and massaged the bridge of your nose. “Because honestly speaking, I’m not sure who the villain is among those two.”

That statement was rather strange. He was used to your antics but a comparison like that? Tsukauchi on the other line had not been using his quirk on you. Although, he had always felt something off whenever he and the chief talked about you. He was never one to pry but perhaps this would have to be an exception.

“So what are your plans for later?” He asked. Carefully choosing his words.

“Dinner with some dude.” Heading over to your closet, you scanned for some hideous apparel. “You think a Bee Movie sweater will make him cringe?”

“If you cleared your schedule for him, I think your ‘I come with background music’ shirt would do the trick.”

“Damn, you’re right.” Looking for that shirt, Tsukauchi could hear you opening and closing your drawers. That gave him enough time to do some of his research. “I HAVE FOUND THE SHIRT!”

“Would you really wear it, though?”

You wished but you had already given your 3 men cases, Tsukauchi had given you a new lead, and the yakuza case was more than enough you could handle. Casting the shirt aside, you flopped to your bed.

“Any chances you can send a hero later?”

“Give me a name and I’ll see what I can do.” He teased back. “Anyway, my break is over. Enjoy your dinner.”

“So long, farewell.”

--

You did not wear the shirt, sadly. However, you did wear clothes that hid every single inch of skin your body had to offer. Turtleneck, high waist jeans, knee length boots, and a coat you wouldn’t mind being overhauled.

Taking one last look at yourself in the mirror, you fixed whatever was needed to be fixed.

“You will not go to the restroom. You will not leave your bag unattended. You will put on a fake smile and give him hell.” Hearing the knock on your door, the night was now starting. Inhaling deeply, you swallowed every single ounce of pride.

“You’ve dressed nicely.” The chief greeted you. He wasn’t wearing his standard get up. Instead he wore a plain black shirt with a leather jacket. White pants with complimentary gray shoes. He half expected you’d dress like you always did. Seeing you in your get up made him want to take his phone and snap a picture.

Moments later, you were standing outside your building. The chief had instructed you to wait for him at the drop off area. More than willing to follow, you scrolled through your phone for any messages or emails. The honking of a horn caught your attention.

A Koyota Figo was now parked in front of you. Forgetting that your chief owned a hatchback, you opened the door and began sending out prayers for any gods or telepathic heroes in the vicinity.

The drive was silent. Your gaze fixated on the lights the city had to offer. Wanting to be in a neutral mood, you let your thoughts wander.

Tomorrow, you would schedule a meeting with Endeavor. How? You weren’t sure but hopefully his assistant would let you get 5 minutes with him. An update from Takashi and the rest was also in line. You began to enumerate the stores that sold earpieces that you could purchase for Overhaul to use. Maybe you should buy 2, just in case it fails.

Feeling something resting on your thigh, you stared at the chief’s hand. Biting your tongue, you held on to your breath as well as the want to jump out of the car.

“We’re almost there, sweetcheeks.” He stated. His hand began to pat the area he just infected. “And since we’re outside the office, feel free to call me Yokai.”

“Aight.” There was no way in hell you would.

“Or daddy would be fine.”

That made you wonder. Would it be professional if you would ask Birdman to overhaul your ears and repair them back to normal. Cringing at the statement, you held on to your bag for dear life. Taking your phone out, you began to scroll through your social media.

“No phones, darling.” He warned. Abruptly hitting the brakes.”Wouldn’t want any unwanted people ruining our date. Now put that phone away before we arrive.”

Maybe a trip to the restroom in the restaurant didn’t sound half bad. Doing as told, you leaned on to the seat and closed your eyes. It was getting dull, a bit boring, and a little creepy. Keeping your senses sharp, you fell into a very light sleep.

Feeling that the car had come to a stop, you unstrapped your seat belt and immediately stepped out of the car. Waiting for him to lead the way, you trailed behind him as he told the usher his reservation. For a minute, you forgot that he had booked a private room.

Entering the small room, you were met with a candle lit dinner. The chairs beside each other.

“For a change, you know?” The chief commented. Putting his hand on your back, he pushed you towards the table and let you sit down. Watching as he pulled out his chair, you copied his actions and managed to inch your body away from his. “I have already ordered so for now we can simply chat.”

“Sure.” Your eyes remained glued to the plate.

“So, when was the last time you went on a date like this?” His voice proud of the place he had chosen.

“Years ago.” You forced a smile. “I’m not a fan of fancy restaurants.”

“Well, better get used to it.” He rested his arm on the back of your chair. Moving your back away from the back rest, you fixed your coat to make it less obvious. “How’s your cases going?”

“Fine. Recently got a new lead.”

“You’re using your yakuza ties, aren’t you?”

Finally looking at him, you focused on his glabella, you cocked an eyebrow.

“For the cases I’m handling right now, I had to work 3 of my cases with them.”

“Your side or his side?” He tilted his head.

“I’m sorry. I thought this was a dinner, not some kind of interrogation.” “Always admired how feisty you are.” The chief remarked. “Why are you single?”

Before you could answer, the doors opened and your food was served. The food was being served by two waiters. One of them had blonde hair and the other had blue hair with arrows at the end. Your eyes followed the blue haired man since he wore a white face mask. It made you think of Overhaul.

Pasta was served in front of you while the chief got his steak. Observing how he opened the wine, you took note that both of them wore white gloves. The wine bottle opened with ease and you saw the label. It was one of those wines that Gei didn’t really recommend due to its uneven taste. Once the glasses were filled, you thanked the waiters. When the door closed, you felt the air grow cold.

In all honesty, the pasta was good. And the wine he had chosen, despite it being too bitter for your taste, matched the sauce pretty nicely. The soft classical music somehow calmed your spirits.

As you were quietly enjoying your meal, the chief put his steak knife down and began to brush his pinky with yours.

“Is the food to your liking?”

“I’m liking the pasta. The noodles are cooked just right.”

“How about a toast then?” Taking his wine glass, he turned to face you. “For this new found partnership.”

Sighing, you took yours and merely stretched out your arm to clink your glasses. Sipping on the wine, you savored the flavor a bit and swallowed. Glancing at the chief, you saw him furrowing his brows at his drink. Checking his food, he had only eaten half of the amount. Compared to yours, the food was almost gone.

“Are you okay? You’ve barely touched your food, Yokai-san.” Saying his name made the pasta slither up your throat.

“Don’t worry about me sweetcheeks.” He set his glass down and let out a burp. Thankfully, he had covered his mouth. “Let’s continue where we left off. Why are you still single?”

“I’m not really into dating.” You replied. Eating the last bit of your pasta, you placed the fork down and wiped your mouth with the napkin. “I have too many cases to even think about that.”

“You interested in someone?” He hiccuped and burped. His hands rubbing small circles on his stomach.

“Where’s the fun if you know who I’m interested in.”

“Oh. So now you’re flirty. Wine works wonders.” He took his glass and sipped once more. This had to be one of his favorite wines but it tasted different. Perhaps it was the steak. Seeing that you were still taking yours, he deduced that you had nothing to do with it.

“No. It’s just that you have no business regarding that matter.” By now, you were fully facing him. The sudden change of his facial features showed signs of discomfort. The room was comfortable yet you could see sweat forming on his forehead. His chappy lips were now pale. The constant rubbing of his stomach only made your suspicions grow. “Are you really sure you’re okay? You look like shit.”

“Okay. Ya got me.” Pressing the buzzer on the side of the table, he waited for the waiter to arrive. Not a moment too soon, the door opened and the same waiter from before appeared. “Boy, the food you served is making me sick. There’s no way in hell I’m paying for this.”

“I apologize.” The waiter with arrow-tipped hairs responded.

“Useless employee.” He leaned in and whispered to your ear. All you could do was lean away. “May I speak to your manager?”

“Unfortunately, the manager is still in a very important conference.”

“To think this place has a 1 Michelin star.” He mumbled as he took his wallet. Fumbling for his card, his stomach let out a rather loud sound. Biting your inner lip, you tried to suppress the smile forming. When he took his card, he tossed it to the table and demanded. “Swipe the card. We’re leaving.”

Taking his card, he excused himself but left the door open.

“You’re not playing tricks now, are you (Y/N)?” He held your wrist a little too tightly. “You know what happens when you mess with me. I can give you more than 10 cases if this little incident is caused by you.”

“In my defense, I have never set foot in this restaurant.” You fought back. “And if you even wanted to impress me, WcDonal’s or even just Burger Queen would be more than fine. If you think these kinds of things would do the trick, sorry but you’re terribly wrong.”

You closed your mouth shut. Anger had somehow taken over and the words you said were not the best. Biting your tongue, you cursed at the sight of his mind moving and plotting as to what to do next.

The blonde waiter came with the receipt and apologized once more for the issues. Standing up, the chief told you to wait for him in the lobby. Leaving you alone with the waiter, you took your bag and bowed to him.

“I’m sorry about that person.” Your eyes darted to the men’s room where he entered. “But, if it helps, the pasta was really nice. Just sucks he had to experience that. Though he deserves it if we were to be honest. The amount of times he’s invaded my personal space is just revolting.” Shocked that you had uttered your last sentence, the wine must be a little stronger than you had expected.

The blonde waiter chuckled and went off to the kitchen.

While you were waiting at the lobby, checked your phone and saw messages from Gei. Smiling at the story he had to share via message, you quickly put your phone away once you heard a door closing followed by a burp.

“Looks like I’ll have to take you home now, love.” The chief said.

Not wanting to waste another second, you lead the way back to his car.

Chrono and Nemoto stared at the window. Undivided attention as you stepped into the car with a happy face. In Nemoto’s hand was a glass vial. When the vehicle was now out of sight, they walked towards the manager’s office.

“It’s been a while since we had this kind of fun.” Nemoto commented.

“Agreed. Did you actually down the whole bottle into the sauce?”

“It would be a waste if we didn’t empty this. And, the boss would be most pleased to know that the laxatives work well.”

Knocking on the door, Overhaul gave them permission to enter. He was seated on the sofa with a stained cloth wiping his bloody hands. A huge splatter of blood painted the wall beside him. Next to the sofa, the two men saw a pair of legs lying lifeless on the floor.

“It went smoothly, I presume?” He leaned his head on the sofa back. When he heard the grunts of his men, he stood up and faced the decapitated body. Squatting on the floor, he could feel the hives starting to form. “Nemoto. Prepare the propranolol. Kurono. Give the drug to the two waiters as well.”

With a disgusted look, he touched the leg of the deceased body. The blood on the walls began to morph and the next second, the manager’s body was whole once more. When the manager’s eyes opened, he was face to face with the masked man who had just killed him a while ago. Just as he was about to scream, Overhaul knocked him out.

Instructing Nemoto to administer the drug, he began to itch on his forearm. Cursing at the mess he had just made and fixed, it took a lot of his willpower to push those thoughts aside. Instead his mind focused on one thing.

The memory of you smiling and the want to make sure no harm comes to you.

Besides, he could care less about the consequences.

-----

propanolol- a drug that supposedly erases memories

and yes, Chisaki to the rescue ;) just had to write the trio cause they deserve love and all of them are hot. 

do you guys have any questions? feel free to comment and ill gladly answer them :) take care and i hope you guys like this chapter <3

[simmonsofshield]

Broken, Mended Chapter 2

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Sam Wilson x Reader (platonic)

Summary: After breaking off an engagement, Y/N may have possibly hit rock bottom. But she doesn’t have time to think about it because she gets deployed to Iraq. Leaving their daughter with her friend, Sam Wilson, she’s gone for a year. She doesn’t like talking about her ex-fiance and is unsure if she’ll ever be able to love again. What happens a certain Captain is his literal doppelganger?

Words: 1650+

Warnings: Lies, mentions of death

A/N:  This is for @ussgallifreyfics​​ 550 follower writing challenge!  Takes place during Civil War.

tag list is open

A couple of weeks pass and Y/N is loving her time with Rosemary (and Sam too, of course). As the sun rises, Y/N rolls over and looks at the clock on the side table. 6:00 am. She wants to go back to sleep and the small body next to her breathing steadily makes it so inviting but she simply can’t. Once she’s awake, she’s awake. She gets out of bed and wanders around the small house, putting together that Sam was probably out on a morning run. She sleepily stalks out to the kitchen where she finds a note on the counter.

In New York. Will text later.

Well, that’s...weird. She puts the note aside and begins making breakfast. By the time it’s done, Rosemary is walking in.

“Smells good mommy.” she looks around, “Where’s Uncle Sam?”

She sets a plate with two pancakes on it in front of her daughter, “I’m not sure honey. Maybe he got called into work.” She definitely knew that wasn’t true, but was unsure of how to answer since she herself didn’t understand the note.

With Sam in New York, or wherever he was, Y/N and Ro had a nice day together. It was nice to relax and not have to worry about anything. It was days like this that Y/N was looking forward to while overseas.

Just getting home from dinner, her phone rings. A restricted number. Rosemary runs to the living room, while she hesitantly answers. “Hello?”

“Is this Y/N L/N?”

“Yes...”

“Johnny.” Her Commanding Officer. She lets out a breath of relief and smiles.

“Oh! I was worried when you came up as a restricted number. Do you need something?”

He chuckles. “I do actually. There’s a UN meeting in Vienna tomorrow. Would you be able to do some security detail?”

A confused look appears on her face. “Don’t the governments attending have people for that? And it’s way above my paygrade anyhow, isn’t it?”

“They do, but I was contacted this morning for recommendations from the Falcon missions. You were the first to come to mind. They want someone up above looking over everything. You would be compensated appropriately.”

“I appreciate the thought, but as you know, I have a daughter. I’d have to find a babysitter or someone to look after her while I’m gone. And I just got home. I don’t want to just up and leave her again.”

It’s silent for a moment while Johnny takes that in. “I understand. Unfortunately, this is an urgent matter, so take a little bit to think about it and get back to me. I need an answer in an hour.”

“Yes, sir.” And with that he hangs up.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N puts her phone back in her pocket and goes to find Rosemary. As expected, she’s laying on her stomach in front of the TV watching her favorite cartoon. Y/N sits on the couch and sighs, rubbing her forehead with her thumb and pointer finger. 

Her daughter’s voice takes her out of her moment. “Mama, are you okay?”

She gives her a small smile, “Yeah, flower. Just thinkin’.”

She crawls onto her lap and gets cozy, “What about?”

She couldn’t help but smile at her 4 year old’s curiosity. “My Commanding Officer, my boss, just called me.”

“Do you have to go away again?” She’s smart too.

“I don’t have to if you don’t want me to. I have a choice this time.”

“You should do it.”

The answer surprises her, “Are you sure, hun? I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. Could be a few days, could be a month, or more.”

She nods matter-of-factly, “I can stay here with Sam. Ooh! Or with Hannah. She has a really big house, remember?”

Y/N cradles her daughter’s face, moving a strand of hair out of the way, “Sometimes I swear you’re 18. I will go if you’re okay with it.”

“I am, Mommy.”

Y/N nods, and sets Rosemary back on the ground, off her lap. She immediately takes her phone out again and texts Sam.

Y/N: Don’t know what the heck you’re doing in NEW YORK, but will you be able to watch Ro for a little bit? CO just called and I’m needed in Vienna for some UN meeting or something. Sam: Vienna? Cool! I can’t watch her though, sorry. Tony Stark wanted to talk to me. Y/N: Iron Man?! What the heck for? Sam: Not sure exactly. He seemed very interested in the Falcon suit. Y/N: How would he even know about that? You’re not making any sense. Sam: I don’t know. He is a tech genius. And has connections. Maybe he just found me. 🤷🏾‍♂️  Y/N: Looks like I’m not the only one with secrets, Mr. Cryptic.

Sending that message, she then calls Julie, Hannah’s mom who is more than happy to take Rosemary. After calling Johnny back, she packs a suitcase and helps Ro get packed and takes her to Hannah’s. Thanking Julie again, she kisses her daughter goodbye and heads to the airport.

Once again, Y/N falls asleep and wakes up on a plane. It’s getting old. Looking at the little screen on the back of the seat in front of her, she can see that they’re only mere minutes from landing. As she probably should have been able to tell by her ears and the change in air pressure. 

Landing in Vienna, she gets her luggage and heads to the hotel next to where the meeting is being held and by the looks of it, all the upper floors (maybe even the whole hotel) has been reserved for everyone that is attending. There’s a lot of people dressed in black with earpieces standing outside of certain rooms. 

Y/N finds her room and enters it, not even bothering to change and lays on top of the bed. She doesn’t even realize she’s almost asleep until a knock at her door startles her awake. She looks around, remembering that she’s in Vienna in a hotel. There’s another knock and she walks to the door to answer it. Outside is a hotel staff person with a big box on a luggage cart. On it is the Air Force insignia along with the word fragile on one side and handle with care on the other. The staffer looks at her, “Are you Miss Y/N L/N?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is for you.”

She smiles at him, taking the box, “Thank you.”

He leaves and she closes the door. Opening the box, she finds her assumption to be correct- inside it is the Falcon wings. Underneath them in the box however, are a couple extra things with a note. It reads, Just a little upgrade.  -J

She pulls the first thing out and it’s a new tactical suit to go with the wings. It’s not like anything she’s seen before. She wonders who Johnny or the Air Force consulted to make this. It’s lighter than anything she’s ever worn, yet looks like it has better protection coverage. It has a holster on each thigh and one on the waist. For this job Y/N isn’t really sure why she would need that much firepower, but it’s nice nonetheless. Beside it was another smaller box, she assumed held the pistols for the holsters.

Waking up and looking at the clock, Y/N realizes she got more of a nap rather than sleep. Some sleep is better than none though. She takes a quick shower, puts her hair up in a tight bun, and gets dressed in the new suit. It’s snug, yet surprisingly comfortable, breathable. She puts on the wing pack and secures the guns. Along with them in the little box was an earpiece, presumably for keeping in contact with one or a few people on the ground. She heads up the hotel stairwell to the roof. She opens the wings and flies to a building across the way so she could see everyone and everything going on.

She sits at her perch and watches as all the news trucks line the street. As camera crews and anchors get themselves set up in front of the building, she brings her hand up to her ear. “If anyone is on this channel, can you contact law enforcement? There’s one truck down on the street that only one person has exited. They didn’t have any camera equipment. White ADS truck.”

There’s a little bit of crackling then a response, “Yes ma’am. We’ve been watching it down here too.”

Only a couple minutes pass before a K9 unit and another policeman approach the vehicle. The dog stands alert, which is never good. She releases her wings again and gets ready. The officer not holding the dog opens the back door and Y/N can tell, even from her high vantage point, that he’s scared. As he backs up, he’s definitely telling people to clear out and get as far back as possible. At this, she immediately jumps off the building and dives towards the ground.

It’s only but another few seconds later that whatever was in the van goes off. It sets off what she assumes is a chain reaction of explosives that goes up the building right to where the UN meeting is being held. The severity of the blast throws her back into the building that she was just on top of and through a window. She grunts at the impact but quickly recovers, flying to the meeting room.

Everyone of course is in a panic. A redhead has seemed to have taken charge, getting everyone out of the room and exiting the building. From what she can see, there was only one casualty, more probably on the ground. She approaches the body and the one holding it, instantly recognizing it at King T’Chaka of Wakanda and his son T’Challa. 

She puts a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

He doesn’t say anything, only nods. As she begins to walk away she sees him take a ring off his father’s finger and hold it.

tags:

@cake-writes​​ @supraveng​​ @vxidnik​​ @kallafrench​​ @itsallyscorner​​ @polarcrystall​​

[laceymorganwrites]

She-Hulk and Explosion Boy pt.4

Word Count: 1, 683

Pairing: Bakugo x reader

Warnings: sadness and swearing

Summary: Bakugo is an asshole 

Over the course of the next few weeks you managed to warm up to Mina´s and Bakugo´s friend group, you hung out together often and you liked it that way.

Bakugo and you also deepened your friendship, he told you about his rivalry with Izuku and you told him about your past troubles.

Sometimes you´d talk all night over the phone, comforting each other.

Well, you tried your best to comfort him, you weren´t sure if it worked.

Today there would be an exercise about retrieving an enemy´s weapon.

The class was separated into teams of two, some played villains and some heroes.

The objective was to turn off the weapon or to demobilize the villains.

You and Bakugo were playing the villains today, something that just happened to be your forte.

But you were up against two very able opponents, Izuku and Ochaco.

“Okay, we need a strategy” you pulled him to the side to figure out a plan together.

He just scoffed.

“We just need to beat them up, should be easy enough” he growled, he was too fixated on winning and beating Izuku, that wasn´t good.

You didn´t like the aura he had, where this was going.

“Don´t let him get to your head, Katsuki...” you gently placed your hand on his shoulder to show him your comfort, but he only pushed you away angrily.

“The fuck do you know about what´s in my head?” he mumbled, not even looking at you.

You wanted to tell him that you knew because the same insecurities lied in your own head too, you wanted to tell him that he wasn´t alone and that it was okay, but if you did that he´d blast you into oblivion.

“Just fucking focus on the task, no need to take it out on me” you grumbled, gritting your teeth.

His eye twitched, fucking Deku… why was he here? Wasn´t he the little quirkless kid that always tagged along with him? Bakugo was better than him in every way, so why did he feel like he already lost? Why was Deku always superior to him? Why was he smiling through all the shit Bakugo put him through? Why did he always keep going? Why was he always so nice and could admit his weakness? And why couldn´t Bakugo do all those things…

He knew the answer. He knew it all along, ever since he had that stupid quirk of his.

He wasn´t hero material, he was a villain.

And that fucking pissed him off.

He took that anger out on the one who he projected it onto: Deku.

Meanwhile he shut you out completely, you were just trying to complete the assignment and now Bakugo was going off on his own like a fucking idiot.

You tried to hold him back, but it was too late.

Luckily you got to the scene just in time to stop Bakugo from beating up Midoriya.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” you grabbed Bakugo by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall harshly.

“Going off on your own wasn´t part of the plan! We just fucking lost because of you! Because you couldn´t control your anger, going off on your own like a damn child doesn´t get you anywhere! I thought I could count on you...” you yelled at him, tears coming to your eyes the more you ranted, why did he have to be like this? Was it so hard to ignore his stupid insecurities for once?

Bakugo looked down guiltily and stayed silent as he bit his lips, finally you averted your eyes from him and went back to the rest of the class.

Mina looked at you worriedly, she never saw you that emotional before.

Sure you were always sort of pissed, but in the same way Bakugo was, it was never serious.

Until now.

She supposed it was because of the closed off way Bakugo had, she knew how much you hated it when he didn´t tell you something.

See, you always thought you and Bakugo were close, you thought you reached that friendship level where you could and would tell each other everything.

And if something was on your mind that could possibly negatively influence your day at school,  you would always come to each other.

At least that´s what you thought.

Apparently Bakugo didn´t think the same way.

If he wanted to stay closed off though, he shouldn´t tell you that you were friends, he should just tell you that you could fuck off like everyone else.

You hated it when people deceived you, gave you false hope.

In reality his words hurt more than you wanted to admit to yourself, you should´ve known getting close to someone for the first time would end up like this.

Especially since Bakugo never wanted to be your friend, he simply wanted to compete with you, all of the sweet words he said meant nothing.

You hated yourself for realizing it too late.

“You alright?” she tried to soothe you, placing an arm around your shoulder.

You shook your head, you still hadn´t fought back all of the tears.

“I´m not, not at all” you hoarsely whispered, forcefully holding back sobs.

“Aizawa-sensei, can we go outside for a bit? (Y/N)´s not feeling well” Mina asked, luckily Aizawa nodded.

“You did good work today, (Y/N)” he said before dismissing you.

As soon as you were outside you couldn´t contain your tears and sobs anymore.

“He´s an asshole, Mina...” you exclaimed, you didn´t mean it of course, you liked him too much for that, but Mina just nodded.

“I don´t know what´s up with him sometimes, either. I thought he´d at least tell you what´s on his mind” she said.

You scoffed and shook your head.

“Why did he have to go against Midoriya like that? Why did he cut me off?” you wondered, letting yourself sink down on one of the benches outside of school, Mina joined you, putting an arm around you.

“I don´t know...” Mina thought of ways to comfort you, but couldn´t come up with any.

Normally she´d say you could hang out at her place and she´d let you rant but you had to go back soon.

Instead she let you cry until your tears dried up, cuddling up to you to at least give you some comfort.

“Okay, I´m done, let´s go back” you didn´t even bother to fake a smile, Mina knew you too well, she could smell your bullshit from a mile away and you didn´t need to be fake around her.

You both strolled back to the classroom for the next lesson, you had your head hung low and everyone could sense how miserable you were right now.

Well, everyone saw your outburst too, and they were all on your side.

Bakugo´s heart broke when he saw you come into class, everyone avoided him or confronted him about his behavior earlier.

But he didn´t care about any of them, all that he cared about right now was your glum, disappointed and broken expression.

The sadness in your eyes, the way you couldn´t even smile and didn´t bother looking at him.

He always felt shitty, but he never felt as guilty as he did right now.

Bakugo wanted to kick the shit out of himself for making you feel and look like this, this was a look that wouldn´t be washed away with a simple “I´m sorry”.

So he did what he did best…

“Don´t fucking interfere with my business anymore” he coldly stated.

… distancing himself and making people hate him.

Mina and you sat outside on a bench after school ended, she tried her best to comfort you again, but soon she had to go home.

You should´ve gone home too, but somehow your feet wouldn´t move. You just felt too empty inside, so shallow.

Right as you decided it was time to go home, you saw Bakugo leave the building and prayed he didn´t see you, you weren´t ready to talk to him just yet.

Your heart ached again thinking back on the words he said to you and a lump started building in your throat.

The moment Midoriya left the building and called out to Bakugo should´ve been the moment you left, but you didn´t. Instead you stayed and listened in on a conversation that wasn´t meant for your ears.

You felt sorry for Midoriya, you didn´t know he had someone else´s quirk, maybe you would help him with the control someday, after all you were a master at controlling quirks. It was inspiring seeing Midoriya´s side of the rivalry, you really needed to find out what exactly happened to them in their past, maybe that way you´d understand why Bakugo was so keen on winning and being better than Midoriya.

Bakugo said nothing for a while, but when he did you could clearly hear the hurt underneath his rage, it made the lump in your throat grow larger.

He was saying how Midoriya made a fool of him, how he had lost to him today, Bakugo repeated the losing part as if to burn it into his mind, to never forget it, to be sure of it.

Then he mentioned Todoroki and how he could never beat him, at this point all you wanted to do was to get up and hug him, tell him he was fine the way he was and how strength wasn´t all that mattered.

But you were frozen in place, watching the scene unwind before your very eyes.

He started walking away and got closer to where you were sitting, vowing to never lose again and become the number one hero, he was crying, you noticed as your heart sunk to your chest.

You wished he´d open himself up to you like that as well.

When he passed you, you stood up, trying to get him to halt.

But he just told you to fuck off, not even looking at you.

To be fair, you understood it, if you were caught crying like that you´d react the same way.

[aisling-beatha]

You were never gone [SFW]

A standalone story #2

Based on a request by @mindfreakswaggy :

So one of my favorite things to see is when Daryl reunited with carol and gets hella emotional😩 so can you do one where the reader and Daryl are close around season one, ending up having a crush on each other and gets split up when it’s overrun and the reader ends up reuniting with the group at Alexandria and they’re all back together??

A/N: I got carried away, sorry. What was supposed to be a short drabble, turned into a standalone story. Moreover, I took the events a little bit further than s1, hope you don’t mind! Also, let me know if any of you want to be tagged in my future works.

P.S. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

The Walking Dead | Daryl Dixon X Reader

You met when Dixon brothers appeared at your quarry camp one day. Daryl’s quiet and observant nature caught your attention right away. He wasn’t like the other men in your group, not like Shane or Glenn, but neither was he the same with his brother. Merle Dixon was an asshole. While Daryl mostly looked like a wild animal locked in the cage.

He watched your people with squinted eyes, never letting anyone come closer or touch him. He didn’t talk to any of you but argued with his brother. You saw them bickering a few times, but even then he wasn’t the one starting the fight. He followed his brother anywhere and everywhere he’d go, never saying anything, while Merle did whatever he wanted, mocking Daryl, calling him names, not giving a shit about his brother. And you didn’t get it. 

Though Shane let the brothers stay, everyone kept their distance from them. Merle was rough and even violent but Daryl constantly provided for the group, going hunting, so nobody could find the courage to make them leave. Daryl was strong, smart. He was a survivor. And every time you watched him, you couldn’t help but think that he was practically built for this world. His hunting and tracking skills made him fast and silent, and his ability to shoot a crossbow made him one of few who could protect themselves in the world like that. 

You never really spoke to Daryl, only making sure both his brother and he had food and a spot to sleep on, which always resulted in Merle constantly teasing and catcalling you. Daryl, though, never said a single word. But once that new guy, Rick Grimes, joined your group and Merle went missing, you felt the urge to somehow support him, to tell him, it was gonna be okay. Everybody had lost something or someone. Now, you had to stick together to survive, and that meant being there for each other when one needed it. With Merle sticking around it was simply impossible. But once he was gone, you felt like it was the right time. What you didn’t expect was Daryl snapping and shouting at you, basically telling you to back off. 

Even without his brother Daryl wasn’t friendly, he wasn’t open about his feelings and that made him a damn mystery you couldn’t help but wanted to solve. Though, while you tried your best to know him, Daryl seemed to hate you.

When everything started to go south, your relationship seemed to change though. Your camp was overrun. Amy died. Jim was bitten. And Carol had to kill her husband. You lost control over the situation. That’s when the realization of how scary the world had become dwelled on you. 

You were sitting on the ground, Sophia sleeping on your lap. The poor girl had been crying for hours before she finally dozed off in your arms from exhaustion. Carol needed time to calm down too, so you decided to look after the kid on your own, though your mind was a mess too. You still couldn’t believe that they died. You knew Amy and her sister right from the start of your group, Ed too, though you never liked him. And now they were gone. Jim was going to die too, as he was getting worse in a matter of hours. You couldn’t help a shudder running down your spine. How you were even supposed to survive? You barely made it out alive that night and there were more nights like that coming. 

You were lost in your thoughts, watching Glenn and Rick drawing geeks’ bodies to the pile. Somebody insisted on burning them. A gruff voice coming from behind made you jump.

 “Ya a’right?”

 You didn’t believe your eyes, as you blankly stared at Daryl. He was standing a few steps away from you, watching you with narrowed eyes, though he didn’t seem hostile or mad. 

You shrugged, looking at Sophia. She lightly stirred in her sleep but didn’t wake up. You were afraid she wasn’t gonna pull through after what happened.

 “What are we going to do?” you blurted before you could stop yourself.

“Rick wants to keep going. Head to Atlanta”

You frowned, “What for?”

“CDC” he muttered, looking closely at you.

 Center for Disease Control, right. That could be your second chance. 

You hadn’t thought of it before, but now with Daryl mentioning that to you, you felt hope rising in your heart. Maybe you could make it out alive, maybe there still were doctors, maybe the cure existed. In that case, Jim could still be saved. The thought of it made you smile and pull Sophia closer to you. You wanted to ask Daryl whether he was alright too but it was too late, you saw him already walking away. 

His sudden behavior surprised you. He never talked to you, let alone checking on you. But something in his voice made you think he actually cared. But more than that, it made you think that maybe all of your attempts weren’t a waste.

 ***

Jim died. He killed himself with a gun that Rick had given him, before you could get to CDC. You didn’t think it could be any worse. 

Sophia was clutching into you, shaking and crying when you were staying in front of the metal doors, walkers surrounding you. Shane and Daryl were shooting dead ones one after another while Rick was trying to reach out to anyone alive behind those doors. And you couldn’t stop tears of relief streaming down your face when you finally made it in. That’s when you caught Daryl looking at you. He did that on the stops during your ride too, watching you closely, much rarely asking if you were doing okay. It wasn’t much but you were grateful for those tiny pieces of conversation you had. You finally felt like Daryl was one of you, despite Shane trying to prove the exact opposite. And Daryl seemed to get that as well.

No matter how hard he tried or wanted to, he couldn’t explain it to himself why it bothered him so much. Merle was gone and he had every right to leave your group behind, to be on his own as he had always been. But he didn’t leave. Instead, he started watching you. You were one of few, if not the only, who still tried to know him. Ever since Dixons joined the group, everyone seemed to be afraid of them, never talking, always avoiding them. And Daryl was a-okay with that. But then you started talking to him. You were bringing dinner, always making sure both he and Merle had enough to be able to go hunting the next morning, you’d make sure both of them would come back to the camp uninjured. 

You had always been kind. You cared. And Daryl didn’t understand why. No one ever cared for him, and even his elder brother, if he cared, did it in a special, sometimes cruel manner. So when, after Merle's disappearance, you tried to talk to him, Daryl didn’t know where to go. He was afraid. And your behavior made him want to go into the woods and never come back. Daryl honestly wanted to. But then for some reason, he’d remember your sad eyes, looking after him, and again he’d go back.

Merle saw the changes in his brother and didn’t miss the opportunity to poke or make fun of him. But when Merle no longer hung around, Daryl suddenly felt completely vulnerable in a vast expanse. That night when your camp was overrun, Daryl found himself unconsciously looking for you in the crowd of people and the dead. Hoping you were safe.

He was drawn to you like a magnet, and he couldn’t stop. Every time he saw you caring for Sofia, or helping other women in the group when you laughed and smiled, his heart would skip a beat. Daryl still couldn’t solve one simple riddle. He still couldn’t understand why you weren’t afraid of him. Why didn't you hate him?

 ***

As they say, nothing lasts forever and the CDC was left behind.

When Dr. Jenner revealed all the cards, when the truth came out, it seemed to you that the earth had gone from under your feet. Everything you aspired to turned out to be a lie. There was no magic cure for the virus. No one and nothing could save those who were infected.

 For a second, when the CDC building started the process of self-destruction, you wanted to stay. Like Jackie did. Everything seemed meaningless.

 And exactly when only seconds were left before the explosion, Daryl was there. He tugged at your hand, dragging you behind him. The blast wave subsequently threw both of you through a broken window. Daryl, not knowing why himself, saved your life.

It was strange and impossible, but you and Daryl got closer after that, while you were on the road. Daryl looked after you every time you made the next stop. And you kept wondering why he had saved you. You still barely spoke, but even the silence between you now felt differently. You trusted him. And Daryl seemed calmer when he was around you.

Then Sofia disappeared. A common tragedy made you join others to find her. And no matter how Daryl was indignant, you still followed him into the forest, feeling incredibly guilty. You hadn’t watched her. You didn’t save the girl. And Daryl seemed to read you like an open book.

 ‘’s not your fault” he once said when your group was left far behind and the two of you went forward.

 Then Carl was shot. You found Greene farm. Renewed your searches for Sofia. Daryl almost died in the forest when he fell on his own bolt. The barn full of the dead. Sofia….

You didn’t think it could be worse. Carol hadn’t been leaving the house for days. And you still couldn’t fall asleep. You were coming to Daryl at night. There, where he put his camp away from everyone. But even then you couldn’t fall asleep. Daryl's gaze, full of malice and guilt, was imprinted in your memory, making your heart hurt mercilessly.

And again you were forced to flee. The farm has fallen. Patricia was torn apart right in front of you. Andrea never made it back. You barely made it out alive.

On the road, things got worse. The nights got colder, there were more and more of walkers stumbling their way to you.

On especially chilly nights, when you couldn’t stop the trembling in your body, you were coming to him again, lying down closely next to him. And Daryl allowed. He no longer flinched at your touch, didn’t scowl, didn’t sneer. He just looked like a beaten dog who didn’t understand how could anyone love him.

You realized that you were falling for him by the time you occupied the prison. You were almost physically hurt by the fact that Daryl didn’t see, didn’t understand why he was loved. He would run off to the forest in the morning, spending most of his time hunting. The only people he allowed closer were Rick, Carol, and you. He scowled at the others with an unkind grin, as if expecting the worst.

He was different with you. He was soft and vulnerable. For all the time that you were together, Daryl had never let anyone get so close to his soul. You made him open up. You made him feel something that he couldn't explain at all. He was afraid of these feelings to the point of weakness in his knees. Like a wild beast afraid of fire. But he couldn’t stop it. He didn’t want to.

He was coming into your cell at night, sitting down, and sometimes lying on the floor, listening to your stories about life from before.

And on especially cold nights, when you were left alone at the guard tower, he would come to keep you company. He always came, no matter how much he got tired after hunting or a recent supple run.

Daryl often gave you his poncho. And each time he saw you wearing it, his heart did strange things in his chest. Something that heart shouldn’t do. He let you fall asleep on his shoulder; because very soon Daryl realized that there was nothing more beautiful than your sleepy and slightly gloomy face when you wake up. Well, perhaps only your calm face, when you’d accidentally fall asleep on his chest, curled next to his side.

And most of all, Daryl was afraid that sooner or later you would leave. Come to your senses. Remember who he was. And you would never talk to him again. Daryl figured he wouldn’t have pulled through if that ever happened.

 ***

Virus. Cold. War with the Governor. Hershel. Merle. Fucking freak Merle...

The prison fell before you could even enjoy having the roof over your head. Daryl saw you in one instant, in another - you were gone. He ran after Beth, looking around, again and again, screaming your name. But the answer was nothing. He returned there a few days later, only to find your handkerchief, which you so loved to tie on your wrist, and to understand that you were gone. Right from that moment, Daryl knew he was a goner.

***

You didn’t know how much time you had been wandering from one place to another. A few weeks? A month? A whole year? It felt like infinity and you were completely alone. 

The pistol you had found ran out of bullets a long time ago and was useless. You were beyond exhausted, starving, weak. After the prison, you managed to join a group of survivors but they didn’t last long. You were surprised they even made it that far. Since then, you were alone. Going from one town to another, hoping it wouldn’t be overrun and plunderers hadn’t got their hands on it yet.  

One day would slowly turn into another, as it was the same scenario. As time passed, you learned that it was no longer safe to stay the night on the ground in your state. Now you’d climb a tree, your hands bleeding and in bruises, prop yourself against its trunk, tying the rope you had found around your middle to keep you in place. That was the closest to safety you could provide to yourself. You were too weak to fight off a group of five, let alone larger herds. You couldn’t run either. So instead of risking, you’d stay in that position for hours, letting yourself fall back in and out of conciseness.

 Your situation came to the worst when you ran out of all canned goods and water you’d managed to scavenge. And right when you felt the panic overwhelming you, you saw it. The gates. 

 “Alexandria Safe Zone. Mercy for the lost. Vengeance for the plunderers”

 You stumbled to the doors, feeling your heart beating somewhere in your throat. If that wasn’t your chance, then you could already consider yourself dead. You wouldn’t last any longer. You saw a slight movement on one of the guard posts. It was so invisible, blink-and-you-miss-it kind of shit. But you saw it and cried without thinking twice, calling for whoever was there.

 “Who’s that?” you heard man’s voice from inside, and you almost died right here and then. It had been too long since you heard anyone’s else voice.

“Please!” you begged your voice hoarse, scratching down your throat. “Please, help me!”

Silence followed. You tried again. And then again. But nothing happened. Whoever was behind those walls seemed to disappear. 

Hot tears streamed down your cheeks as you fell on your knees, hitting the ground with your fists, screaming from pain and desolation. It could not be happening. After everything you had been through, you could go crazy, sure, but it couldn’t happen that way. You poisoned mind simply couldn’t give you hope only to take it away and destroy you to the bones. 

 Groaning and shuffling from behind made you turn around. Walkers were getting closer. Lots of them, they probably came to the sound of your cries. You whipped away your tears, glancing once again to the gates, getting up. Anger mixed with resentment and pain boiled your blood, as you pulled out your knife. Tears were still falling when you tried to get yourself together. You were barely holding on. 

One of them got too close but fell on the ground before it could bite you, a katana stuck in his skull. You lifted your gaze from it just in time to see a woman practically screaming to your face, “Go. Now!” 

You ran, grabbing your backpack, stumbling and almost tripping over. Once gone through the gates, you fell, your body giving in. You didn’t see people gathering around you, as you closed your eyes and the only thing you could do was whispering “thank you” over and over again. 

 “She can’t even stand!” somebody said.

Your hearing wasn’t good either; you thought you went deaf as suddenly all the noises became muffled by the sound of blood in your ears.

 “Come on now. What’s your name?”

“Y/N… Name’s Y/N” you managed to say, finally opening your eyes. The same woman that saved your ass a few moments ago was now sitting in front of you. She watched you with squinted eyes, but then nodded, helping you to get up.

 “Alright, Y/N, I’m gonna get you to the infirmary. You need medical attention”

 You whispered another “thank you”, not trusting your voice anymore. You wanted to ask the woman for her name, but another voice didn’t let you do that.

 “Michonne, are you alright? What’s going on here?”

 Even with a sharp pain throbbing in your head, you managed to make out the words. You focused your misty eyes on the man approaching you. His voice all of the sudden was oddly familiar, and your eyes widened in pure shock as you stared at him once he was close enough.

 “Rick?” you managed to say, your voice breaking.

 Rick Grimes, who was standing in front of you, tilted his head, startled. He was taking in your features and you could tell the exact moment his expression turned from confusion to realization. 

 “Y/N?” 

 The next thing you knew, Rick was squeezing you in his embrace, pulling away to look into your eyes. 

 “Goddamn, how’s that even possible?” he muttered under his breath, nodding to the woman, whose name, you figured, was Michonne. “I’ll take her. She’s good”

 Rick walked you down the place, his arm wrapped around your middle. He was glancing worryingly at you from time to time, clearly still shocked. As for you, you couldn’t believe it either. You made yourself believe that your family was long gone, and you’d never find them again. Ever. But here you were. Rick was flesh and bone present next to you.

Thoughts piled in your head, haunting. But no matter how much you wanted to ask about the place where you ended up, about how Rick got here, you felt like your head and your eyelids were becoming heavy with every minute from experienced emotions. You were on the verge of physical and emotional exhaustion. And the only thing that you still had some strength for was to move your legs so that Rick didn’t have to carry you on him.

 “Shit, there’s so much I gotta ask you, but let’s get you to Doc first, alright?” Rick asked, seeing you nodding weakly. “You look like you gonna pass out.”

 “Rick? The hell’s goin’ on, man?”

 That was the last straw. Your knees simply couldn’t hold you any longer as you leaned on Rick completely.

That voice. After prison, you made yourself forget him forever. Thinking that he died, like the others. You heard him in your nightmares and the dead silence of the forest, losing your mind over and over again. And here it was again. You heard him again. Tears poured out of your eyes with new force, as soon as you raised them.

 Daryl stood a few steps away from you and Rick. All the same vest with wings and a crossbow behind, unless his hair seemed much longer now.

He looked from you to Rick; his eyes were wide open as if he was afraid that if he closed them even for a moment, then everything would be gone.

 “Daryl” you called, and that was enough for him to come out of his stupor.

 Rick hardly had time to let go of you, when Daryl's body crashed into yours. He squeezed you in his arms. Pain with renewed vigor gripped your body, making you groan, but you couldn’t think of anything else but the heat radiating from the body in front of you.

You couldn’t help but started to cry again, bringing your arms to hesitantly hug him back. Daryl hid his face in the crook of your neck, his whole body shaking with quiet sobs. He pulled away from you, his arms never leaving your body, only to catch your eyes. His own were full of tears. 

 “I… I thought… the prison, it fell… and I…” you tried to bring yourself to talk, but there wasn’t enough air. 

 Daryl pulled you into him so that your head was pressed into his chest, stroking your hair with one hand, the other wrapped tightly around your back. His eyes were closed. 

 Daryl was a coward. But only in a sense that he couldn’t bring himself to open them again. For months now he had been thinking about you gone, and he couldn’t forgive himself. And now, just when he started to slowly lose his mind, you were back. Weak, pale, injured, but alive and back. Daryl was afraid to open his eyes only to find himself lying down in the bed in one of Alexandria’s houses. Alone.

 “Brother” Rick’s soft voice brought him back to reality.

 You closed your eyes, feeling how the darkness gradually enveloped everything around. Already in a semi-conscious state, you felt how Daryl picked you up in his arms. He made it so easily as if you didn’t weigh more than a child. You only managed to hug him by the neck, snuggling closer to his body when Daryl's quiet, hoarse voice pierced through.

 “’M here. I gotcha. I gotcha, girl"

 After that, everything sunk into the darkness.

 ***

You barely opened your eyes. Consciousness returned slowly and reluctantly. It took you a few minutes to finally come to your senses and remember the events of the previous day. Or a few days? Your heart started to beat faster.

You turned your head, a stupid smile immediately spread over your face. Daryl sat leaning in a chair next to the hospital bed you were lying on. His eyes were closed. One hand laid on his knees. The other held yours. His fingers were laced with yours.

You took the moment to look at his features. Daryl was still the same Daryl that you knew from the time of the camp near Atlanta. His hair was a little longer now, the circles under his eyes were darker, but he was still pretty darn cute.

You gently squeezed his hand in yours. Daryl instantly opened his eyes, straightening up in the chair and scanning the room for any danger. Only after a few seconds did his gaze finally fell on you.

“Y/N?”

You smiled weakly, still not trusting your voice, afraid to burst out crying the moment you say his name.

 “Ya scared the shit outta me,” Daryl admitted. His hand never left yours as his thumb was rubbing circles on your skin.

 “I’m sorry” you whispered back, shifting on the bed, Daryl instantly helping you to sit up.

His face was suddenly inches away from yours. You couldn’t help but bite your lower lip at the thought of how long you’d wanted you to be together. How you wanted him to finally kiss you.

All your emotions and feelings were flooding back at you once you saw him. 

Daryl fell quiet, he watched you as if trying to decide something in his mind.

But then, his hand was cupping your face so gently, as he leaned closer to you to the point where you could feel his breathing on your skin. Daryl searched for your eyes, giving you enough time and space to move away. Not like you wanted to.

And then finally, his lips touched yours. 

You kissed as if the world ended on the two of you. As if it was your last day on Earth. And when you finally pulled away for air, Daryl tilted his head just the slightest so that his forehead touched yours.

 “I’m back and I found you” you whispered to him, feeling your eyes fill with tears.

 Daryl shook his head lightly, pulling you into him, hugging and whispering back, “Ya were never gone”.

 A corner of your handkerchief was sticking out from the back pocket of his pants. The one you had dropped, trying to escape what you used to call your home.

[gumnut-logic]

We’ll Be Home For Christmas 3.2

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Day Three - If not for the courage of the fearless crew – Part 2 Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 3.1

Author: Gumnut

23 - 27 Dec 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 2909

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Science!Gordon. Artist!Virgil, Minor various ships, mostly background.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos we haven’t seen it yet.

Author’s note: For @scattergraph. This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic :D I hope you enjoy it.

Okay, you’ve almost caught up with me and I go back to work tomorrow :(  So, unfortunately updates are going to slow as work takes over my life for the next five days – it is my double weekend where I work both Saturday and Sunday and I will whinge appropriately. I have been fortunate to be off work from Christmas to New Years and have churned out somewhere around 15,000 words in an attempt to finish this fic…and I failed (It is currently at 32,000 words and climbing). Getting there, but my writing speed will drop dramatically as RL takes over ::pouts::

Happy New Year to all you wonderful Thunderbirds peeps. Thank you for all your support on this fic and all the others I’ve played with throughout the year.

Many thanks to @vegetacide and @scribbles97 for cheering me on and their wonderful support through this craziness. And to @onereyofstarlight for geeking out with me over the setting.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

 “You’re going to be talking gibberish. We don’t speak whale. You could do more harm than good.”

“I have to try.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“I know that, John.” A harsh indrawn breath. “Please. It might be just enough to cause a distraction to draw the mother away so Gordon can do what needs to be done.”

John glared at his brother. It wasn’t an angry glare, but a worried one. Virgil was acting odd. His attention kept focussing elsewhere, his expression troubled.

But John trusted Virgil, so he set up the audio interface with the buoy, giving both his brother’s mic and his keyboard access to the amplifier and transmitter currently hanging in the water column. He looped in full control over the frequency and amplitude and duplicated the buoy’s holographic feed onto Virgil’s tablet so his brother could see what was happening.

Gordon appeared to be in a glaring contest with the mother whale.

Virgil played the first note.

John held his breath.

And his brother began to sing.

-o-o-o-

Virgil recited the notes of the distant whales’ answer to the mother’s distress call in his head as his fingers touched the keyboard. It had a pattern in both the math and the music bouncing around in his brain. He couldn’t duplicate it, but he could harmonise with it.

At first he echoed it a little, getting a feel for the extra dimension of the lower frequencies and the fact he couldn’t hear it when the computer calculated it below human range. Then he improvised.

The mother’s call still echoed through his body, its pulses sharp and poignant. Whales were mammals. Humans shared a relatively recent ancestor and if there was one constant amongst all the mammals on this planet, it was emotion. It might not be quite the same, but if he could feel that mother’s anguish, perhaps she could feel his reassurance, his hope, his need to help.

He wasn’t one to sing often, but in this case he felt the need to connect beyond the electronic and create the sounds only his voice could communicate.

So after a few initial attempts to align his music with the language of the great whale, he let himself go.

-o-o-o-

Mamma whale continued to stare at Gordon.

His brother’s voice echoed through the water around him, the melody fractured by the parts Gordon could not hear.

“C’mon, beautiful, you gotta like that. Virgil is a great musician.” Please.

She moaned again.

Virgil’s melody acknowledged her even though Gordon knew his brother had no idea what she was saying.

The music pleaded and even Gordon felt its draw.

Mamma muttered and drifted a little closer to her calf, nuzzling her as the little girl whimpered.

Calming notes and his brother’s voice slipped into a fragmented resemblance of a familiar lullaby their mother had sung when they were children. No words, just notes, his tone softer, his voice deepening.

Gordon edged closer to Mamma.

She didn’t move.

Still staring, her beautiful eye fixated on him.

Closer.

A little more.

He reached out and touched her.

Still she stared.

He brushed his gloved hand across the folds above her eye. “That’s it, beautiful. I’m from International Rescue. We’re here to help.”

The water vibrated around him as she punctuated his statement with her voice.

Moving slowly, he took off his right glove, removing the barrier between them.

Her skin was wrinkled, yet smooth to touch.

Her eye kept staring at him.

He kept stroking.

Virgil kept singing.

They stayed that way for a period of time Gordon wasn’t quite sure he could measure, when Mamma suddenly let off a grunt and a whine before backing off a little, opening the distance between her and her calf.

Oh, thank god.

“Thank you, Mamma.”

She didn’t answer, but also didn’t stop staring at him.

Gordon edged closer to the calf and when she didn’t intervene, he moved even closer, approaching the little one where she could see him, her frantic eye darting between him and her mother.

Net was snagged up half her face and wrapped around her pectoral fin.

Gordon swallowed and approached, reaching gently up in a parrot of the movements he had made with her mother.

“Hey, sweetheart. Who did this to you? Hey?” He reached out and touched her eyebrow ever so gently. “I’m so sorry.  We’ll make it better. I promise.”

His bare fingers brushed such soft skin.

She didn’t pull away.

“Hey, Scott. You and Alan, in the water, quietly. Either side of this little one. Let’s get her free.”

His brothers’ FABs were ever so quiet.

Gordon stroked the little girl’s eyebrow, muttering reassurances as his brothers materialised quietly beside her. It was no surprise when it was Scott who took his side between calf and mother.

Mamma moved a little, but didn’t protest.

Keep eye contact.

Keep stroking.

Keeping his voice low. “It is wrapped around her fin and caught in her mouth. Scott, see if you can free her fin. Alan, cut away the netting on that side and I will manage it on this side. She is very tired. Who knows how long she’s been stuck here.” His stomach roiled with anger again.

“FAB, bro.”

Scott’s hand landed gently on his shoulder and squeezed.

Virgil was still singing.

Gordon kept stroking.

Scott made short work of the net on her fin, cutting the cursed nylon rigging away with a very sharp knife. Alan signalled that he had cut the netting on her left side.

“She’s looking at me.” Alan’s voice was quiet.

“Al, she’s scared. Show her you care.”

Gordon was still stroking her eye ridges.

“How?”

“Reassure her. She’s a rescuee like any other.”

As Gordon turned to the net caught in her mouth, his little brother started murmuring reassurances.

“Okay, sweetheart, let’s get you free.” He put his glove back on and with a final brush of her brow, he set to work cutting netting away from her throat folds.

In places it had gouged deep into her skin.

His heart flickered between sorrow and anger.

Scott moved in to assist and between them the majority of the snag was cut away.

That only left the tangle in her mouth. She was actually free to move now, but she stayed where she was, perhaps unaware of her freedom, perhaps because she still had net in her mouth.

Bubbles danced on her skin as she stared at him.

He brushed his hand across her eye ridge again, ever so gentle.

Scott settled beside him and tentatively reached out and touched her flank. “She’s beautiful.”

Gordon sighed. “That she is.” A pause. “Stay here. Keep her calm as much as you can. I need to look at her other side. Removing that last piece will probably hurt.” He swallowed. Ignoring the emotion roiling in his gut, he turned away and dove under her.

Alan was splayed across her left flank, still murmuring reassurances, his arms wrapped around her as much as he could.

Gordon bit his lip, not sure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of his little brother hugging a whale.

Ultimately, he did neither and simply approached her other eye beside Alan and gave her a reassuring stroke.

The net had worn into the corners of her mouth as she struggled against the snag. He could only pray it wasn’t caught in her baleen.

Gritting his teeth, he nudged the net a little, testing it to see if he could pull it out. Once slipped from the groove it had cut into the poor calf’s skin, it did move...just enough to give him hope.

“Okay, guys, be wary. This might hurt.” He reached over and caressed her eye ridge again. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but this has to come out. We’re almost done.” Another caress.

Her eye fixated on him.

He tugged on the net.

To his surprise it slid easily, the majority of it just thin nylon rope.

Then it snagged.

The calf let out a sharp groan, her pectoral fins flailing.

Shit.

Alan narrowly missed getting tossed.

“Woah!” Scott yelped from her other side.

“Scott, you okay?”

“I’m good. That must have hurt. Have you got it all out?”

“No.” It was a rush of exhaled air.

Mamma moaned, then clicked at her daughter, but she stayed where she was.

Gordon returned to her eye. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” His hand stroked her again. God, he wished he could communicate with her. Ask her to open her mouth so he could take the blasted net out safely.

As if the thought was a magic wand, she did exactly that, slowly opening her mouth just a crack.

“Oh, that’s it, sweetheart, yes.” His hand brushed over her rostrum, gently encouraging her to open just that little bit wider. Her sheets of baleen emerged and Gordon refused to acknowledge his awe of this moment, knowing if he did, he would get lost in it.

Reaching in, he gently slid his fingers between the brush-like filaments of her feeding filters, ever aware he was probably either the first or one of very few to have ever reached into a live whale’s mouth. His fingers followed the netting until he could feel what it had caught on. And yes, it was caught in her baleen.

He swore silently and, as gently as he could, he fiddled with the rope, desperate to get it loose.

The calf shifted in the water, agitated. Mamma called out again and Virgil, still playing, still singing, answered best he could with a gentle note echoing through the water.

“Almost there, sweetheart.” He said it more to reassure himself than the calf. He wanted to swear. Unable to see the snag and relying on touch, he failed to locate the tangle. Frustrated he removed his hand and then removed his glove. He needed more information.

Placing his bare hand into a whale’s mouth was an experience. But it gave him the information he needed to unhook the netting from her plates. Something soft and squishy brushed against his palm and he had the distinct impression that he had just been licked.

In any case, he was able to remove his hand and the netting along with it.

The relief was a physical thing, his whole body wilting.

He handed the net fragment to Alan and with a brush of his bare fingers across her rostrum again, he returned to her eye.

She stared at him.

“You’re free, sweetheart.” His fingers touched her eye ridge and to his astonishment, his vision blurred.

Aw, shit. Crying underwater was not a good idea.

He blinked madly and straightened himself out. “John, Virgil can stop playing now. She’s safe.” Scott swam up beside Gordon and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

The calf’s eye flickered to his brother and back to Gordon.

Virgil sung one more note, long and plaintive, then faded into silence.

Water lapped at the calf’s flanks.

A quiet click.

A moan.

And Mamma was moving in.

Gordon grabbed Scott and Alan and dragged them backwards, out of range as Mamma took her place beside her offspring. There were several more clicks and moans.

She draped a pectoral fin over her baby.

Nudged her gently.

A flick of a tail and they were both moving. The calf was still exhausted, but she was no longer snared and the injuries should heal, though likely scar. Gordon thought briefly back to the sunfish he had seen yesterday. One of the lucky ones. His anger surfaced again.

Mamma groaned loudly and a wave of something washed over them. Gordon felt it in his gut. It was as if she had reached out and touched him with her voice.

They stayed there until the blue of distance swallowed the pair.

As the last of the adrenalin left his system, Gordon found himself shaking. But it wasn’t over yet. He turned towards the inflatable. “John, I need Four out here, now.”

-o-o-o-

It took John to snap him out of it.

Soft words.

A hand on his shoulder.

An end to the music.

Virgil found his throat aching, his abdomen complaining and his whole musculature system pissed at him for holding his position so long, wired with so much tension.

He let his shoulders drop and groaned. “God.” His hands on his face and he bent over the keyboard.

“Virgil?”

“I’m fine.” It was automatic and muffled by his palms.

John’s hand was back on his shoulder anyway.

Virgil sighed and pushed himself upright, looking up at his brother. “I’m okay, John, honest.”

That earned him a copper frown. But John was forced to turn back to his controls as WASP called in.

Virgil rubbed his face.

His holographic display showed the mother and her daughter turning back onto the south-easterly migration route. His eyes latched onto them.

The mother let off a groan and a wave of intensity washed over him. His bones sung with it and he gasped out loud.

Then it was gone.

“Goodbye.” It was a parched whisper falling from his lips.

John was shooting more worried looks at him.

Virgil pushed away his keyboard and struggled to his feet. Yes, he was going to pay for this little jamming session. His abdomen complained extensively.

But his head was so...full.

“Vir-“

“I’m fine!” Okay, it came out sharper than it should have. Another sigh. “Sorry. I’m...” He waved a hand in the direction of the back of the boat. “I’m just going to see if Gordon is okay.” His brothers were making for the inflatable on his display.

“Take it easy.” John’s expression was still annoyingly worried.

“I’m good. I promise.” He just needed a moment to think.

Gordon called for Four and John turned to action the request. Virgil took the chance for what it was and slipped out of the room, one arm wrapped around his middle.

-o-o-o-

By the time Gordon made it to the inflatable and dragged himself and his brothers out of the water, Two was on approach.

He glanced at their yacht and sure enough, his second eldest brother could be seen climbing the steps to the bow of the boat. He was hunched over just a little more than Gordon was comfortable with.

He nudged Scott and gestured in Virgil’s direction.

His big brother’s lips thinned.

Two’s VTOL fired as she braked mid-air and levelled herself out. Tin was brusque, keeping conversation to procedure, no doubt as unhappy with the reason for this callout as the rest of them.

Virgil straightened on the bow of the yacht and stared up at his ‘bird.

“I’m going to fish that net off the ocean floor before it can hurt anyone else. You want to field our musician?”

“FAB.” It was muttered as Scott eyed his artist brother across the water.

Okay, it wasn’t fighting fair to target Virgil with smother-brother number one, but there had been something in that music that even Gordon and his tin ear could pick up. He would check on the man himself, but that net had to be removed immediately.

Two dropped her module with a splash and Alan engaged the inflatable’s engine to dart them over to it. Gordon jumped off onto the open module ramp, the sight of his ‘bird, as always, lifting his spirits.

He rolled his shoulders as Alan turned the inflatable around and bee-lined for the yacht.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

-o-o-o-

“I’m fine.”

Virgil said it loud enough to be heard above the roar of Two’s VTOL the moment Scott set foot on the top step leading up to the bow. His wetsuit was still dripping, blue neoprene leaving puddles in his footprints.

He raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t say a thing.”

“You thought it, though.”

Scott shrugged and took the remaining steps to reach his brother’s side. He eyed him sideways, noting the tension knotting the muscles in Virgil’s shoulders through the light shirt he was wearing.

An arched eyebrow and Scott reached out, letting his arm drape across those tight shoulders. As expected they flinched the moment he touched them. He pushed the matter and pulled his brother into a damp one armed hug, regardless.

Some of the tension slipped away.

Target result achieved.

“That was some performance.”

“Hmm.” It was distracted and barely acknowledged, Virgil’s eyes still on his ‘bird.

“John says WASP was able to grab a good percentage of the onsite perpetrators. Penny reports she has some good leads on the financial sources. We will find those responsible and they will pay.”

“They can rot in hell.” The hate and acid in Virgil’s voice was so uncharacteristic, Scott had to stop himself from taking a step back.

“Virg?”

He turned away, pulling himself out from under Scott’s arm. “I’m going to go lie down. And before you ask, yes, I’m fine, okay and completely dandy. Just...a little tired.” Virgil ran a hand across his face.

Scott eyed him, completely unconvinced, but knowing if he said anything it would be either brushed off or his brother would explode. “Okay.”

Virgil looked up at him and Scott was taken aback by the anguish in those dark eyes. But Virgil reached out and squeezed his arm before brushing past and heading back towards the steps off the bow.

Scott’s eyes followed him as his brother braced his side and made his way down.

Yes, they could rot in hell.

-o-o-o-

End Day Three, Part Two

[patricia-von-arundel]

If anyone wants it, AO3 link for the story I put up last night. I’ve also gone through and edited out (I hope) all of those blasted typos. I shouldn’t type up stories in the middle of the night. 

But okay! I promised to do better about responding to comments. So let’s go:

snoffles

said: Oh man, yes! Good stuff. I think the style works very well - really keeps it brisk and engrossing. I tore through this thing. I’m on the fence about the age issue - at first, I was thinking I’d prefer if you kept it set when they’re younger so it matches up with when Edelgard was experimented on. Then that final scene happened and…yeah. Whatever you decide, I’m good with it. I just want more! Thanks for this and all your other beautiful writing. :)

Thank you! I’m still debating on the age thing, too. I realized I needed to avoid the influence of those back in Enbarr/TWSITD after the experimentation, but wasn’t sure what to do with her. What I think I’ll do for now is leave it as-is, and potentially, as the plot develops, see if I can go back and rework the beginning... somehow. I do need her and Byleth to get their butts to Garreg Mach. I’m really glad the final scene worked, because I was super excited to write it! Thank you for reading!

insectoid5 reblogged this from patricia-von-arundel and added:

This is excellent, Em!! I think you managed to write Edelgard in this way quite well. ���Oh, El, you and your aim...

I will get snark in about El’s aim however I can. Every time. 

ishtar0110 said: Holy moly!!! YESSS!!!!! 💜🧡💖💞💓🧡💜

I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thank you! :D

lysissisyl said: So, I think Edelgard is perfectly recognizable here. It’s just not the exact same Edelgard we all know, because she can’t be. She shouldn’t be, because her life wasn’t the same. The Edelgard at the end of CF and the Edelgard at the end of SS are very different people for very obvious reasons. Here it’s the same and I’m an even more critical moment of her life. This Edelgard got a chance to heal when her wounds were still fresh. That really reminds me of Marvel’s “what ifs”!!! As for Edelgard’s darkness surfacing at times, I think it is perfectly understandable here, even for someone who doesn’t know her well. She has been saved, she has known love, but sometimes the horror just comes back and she can’t help it. It’s a possible way to handle trauma while still healing, and not an uncommon one. I’m still a bit shaken, so I hope my words make sense somehow. I think this already tells you you made a very good job. 😅 Still, you asked for some feedback, so here it is. I tried to keep it brief, but I miserably failed. My sincere apologies.

lysissisyl said: And she still has a hard time dealing with her own feelings. She can’t name what she’s starting to feel for Byleth and she calls it envy, probably because it’s less scary. All this just to answer to your doubts and say that she IS recognizable and she IS in character. I’m not even starting on anything else XD Sorry again This Edelgard is still able to hope, she hopes for her father to saver her, even just for a moment. She sees someone who is not an Agarthan and can still trust them. This is something the Edelgard we know has lost. At the same time, she doesn’t want Byleth to hold her down, she can stay still despite the pain when Jeralt cleans her wounds. She doesn’t scream. This is so Edelgard.

Good! Excellent! Thank you! That’s exactly what I was most worried about - missing the mark on El’s characterization. She’s so internally focused... and so reluctant to speak up about her own goals/struggles. Going forward, I’m hoping that problem will solve itself, but I’m glad she wasn’t completely OOC here. Balancing trauma with living daily life in a believable way is tough at the best of times. Especially with a character like El who is never going to lash out or allow herself to express her own pain and fear and anger. She isn’t going to be like Dimitri, who through his behavior can be read quite readily. El is a mask, Flame Emperor or not. 

The part where her wounds were cleaned - yeah. That one I hoped would give that impression. This is Edelgard. She will not scream. She’s so dang-blasted stubborn she will not scream. There’s a piece of the same Edelgard we see at the start of the game. 

This is wonderful feedback, and I appreciate it very much! Long responses are the very best, I promise. (And I hope I got your responses in the correct order. Tumblr is Tumblr.) 

kalinary said: Woot, didn’t have time to read this last night when I was half dead but was definetly looking forward to reading it today which I did :). Hmmmm so now feedback and constructive feedback. The kind I’m worst at :P. All in all I think the story was great, excited to read more of it. See where the story ends up going and the characters growth and changes. I wonder who the third house leader is. Could be Hubert would think he would also recognize El. Hubert raises an interesting question though. How does he change without El returning and how does he react to her miraculous return. Then you have the other characters reactions as well. Does El keep her identity a secret? With her changed hair and depending on timing would there be many who would recognize her? Does she accept her identity at garreg Mach at the start?  Or do the others end up oblivious and she gets to approach and get to know them simply as El and not the emperor for once. Many questions and I very much look forward to hearing the answers but I think I’ll end my mini rant here for now

I’m terrible at constructive feedback, too. It’s hard. I envy those who can do it well. 

As for the third house leader... bad news. I said next chapter? It’s, uh... actually going to be the one after. You’re getting more mysteries in the next chapter. We’ll definitely be seeing Hubert, though, in some capacity. Could be a house leader. Could be in another role. We shall see, we shall see... but he’ll definitely show up. 

As for El’s identity, I guess that’s not a huge spoiler to say that yes, she will be keeping her identity a secret (at least at the start). But of course, secrets like that are never kept for long, especially in a school. Where is there more gossip than in a school? And, of course, Rhea’s around, and Rhea isn’t fond of those who keep secrets from her... and Edelgard isn’t too fond of Rhea. (There’s some stuff with those two I cannot wait to write. Things go very differently than in 3H, though. Very, very differently.) 

Let’s put it this way: including Byleth and Jeralt, there will be five people initially who know El’s identity. And they’re probably pretty easy to guess. 

Appreciate the feedback!

Did I get everyone? If I didn’t, poke me, and my apologies. I know I missed some tag responses - if any of them need to be addressed, again, gimme a poke. 

Oh, and the story has a title now! A World on Its Side, derived from the song “Ring Them Bells” (Bob Dylan). Full lyrics beneath the cut:

Ring them bells, ye heathen From the city that dreams Ring them bells from the sanctuaries ’Cross the valleys and streams For they’re deep and they’re wide And the world’s on its side And time is running backwards And so is the bride Ring them bells St. Peter Where the four winds blow Ring them bells with an iron hand So the people will know Oh it’s rush hour now On the wheel and the plow And the sun is going down Upon the sacred cow Ring them bells Sweet Martha For the poor man’s son Ring them bells so the world will know That God is one Oh the shepherd is asleep Where the willows weep And the mountains are filled With lost sheep Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf Ring them bells for all of us who are left Ring them bells for the chosen few Who will judge the many when the game is through Ring them bells, for the time that flies For the child that cries When innocence dies Ring them bells St. Catherine From the top of the room Ring them from the fortress For the lilies that bloom Oh the lines are long And the fighting is strong And they’re breaking down the distance Between right and wrong