#sorry for the late response my brain was soup

[relamune]

Illidan for the old character ask thing 👉👈 🥺

favorite thing about them Oh oh I have several things I like about Illidan. First, from a design perspective, I LOVE his color palette SO much. Like its a very good middle of not being too cluttered but not overly simple, not too loud but not too muted. Its such a fine line of both and its SO good.

On a personality basis, I love how consistent he is throughout every iteration of him. imo, he's one of Blizz's better written characters. Even the retconning from TBC aside and not making him a bad guy anymore, he still works VERY well as the anti-hero type.

i also love how he interacts with the illidari. IMO hes never seen them as lesser or just "troops" but he seems to genuinely care about them all. absolutely love the fandom trope that hes the dad to them all cause he absolutely is.

least favorite thing about them tbh I can't really think of anything I dislike about Illidan? hes such a great character & I miss him dearly :( my lil ufo favorite line "YOU ARE NOT PRE- oh, what's that? Am I denying you something? Ha! You know nothing of true longing." (one of his annoyed click lines. my lil angst machine) brOTP illidan 🤝therapy In all seriousness, him & mal... They may be dysfunctional but I want them to be happy bros :( they can bicker & still get along. OTP Illigar & Kaellidan ♥ I love them both equally nOTP illidan w/ maiev or tyrande. Maiev seems very...abusive (isnt there a part where she admits to torturing illidan & enjoying it? weird af ship) as for tyrande, while i do enjoy the one sided trope, i think the game+fandom have overplayed illidan simping for tyrande to the point where its sort of annoying imo but thats just me. random headcanon TRANS ILLIDAN IS BEST ILLIDAN. I'll die on this hill. nobody can convince me he is a cis man. unpopular opinion cant say bc i dont really have one unless you count the tyrande bit but even then its like. idc about it THAT hard yknow song i associate with them Gorillaz - Empire Ants favorite picture of them This absolute classic

[xxblairexxss]

Doudou (part 4, Charles’s ending)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Pairing : Charles Leclerc x reader / Lando Norris x reader

Theme : Angst / Fluff

My heart broke for Lando. I’m so sorry. :( I haven’t proofread!

After everything that happened last week, you went on with your life. You started working, met new colleagues, and it felt like you were onto the next stage in your life. You were no longer a student, dying to catch up on the submission deadline and somehow, you were really enjoying it.

But it felt like something was missing, or someone. Someone who would be among the first one to congratulate you on your exam result, someone who always accompanied you staying up late going through files of different cases, someone who became your wall to lean on when things got so stressful you were so close to give up.

You spent every night thinking about him, about you and him. Yes, what he did was horrible but you remembered that aside from what happened that night, he never raised his voice, never cursed at you. He had always treated you like a delicate, dainty piece of flower. It felt unfair to judge him and to keep on punishing him based one part, and ignoring all the admirable and meaningful things he did before and after what happened. After all, he was still an important person to you. However, you had realised that he was somewhat different. Yes, didn’t shout, he didn’t curse at you after that night but it felt like he was walking on an egg shell around you, as if he didn’t know how to act.

But then again, you didn’t know what you would do if he was the one who asked you to give him space in this matter. Like, how would you act when you couldn’t touch the person that you spent days and nights with like you always did. How would you act when you were so used to have them locked in your arms one night but couldn’t even touch them the next day.

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

It was Wednesday night and you just had a long day at work. You skipped lunch because you got carried away and for some reason your social anxiety kicked in and you felt like these people would judge you to the core for trying to eat like a human being so now you were so famished you even had to chumble the chocolates that Charles gave you while waiting for your onion soup to simmer.

Speaking of Charles, you haven’t seen him after that night. New season is starting again in 2 weeks so he had been really busy going back and forth to Maranello but he never missed a call or text to check up on you.

And so was Lando.

“Oh my god, this new flavour is so good! What the heck did they put in this one?” You exclaimed and picked up the packaging to go through the ingredients. Somehow everything, anything was interesting to you at the moment. Your brain just needed to distract itself from thinking about how starving you were.

Then you heard a doorbell.

And you weren’t expecting anyone.

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

“Hi, I was thinking if you want to have dinner with me? The food’s on me.” He lifted the paper bag with a restaurant’s name on it and it was your favourite restaurant.

“Oh my god! How did you know?”

“You mentioned it during our Lego session the other day I thought it would be too last minute to have dinner at the restaurant so I ordered takeouts.”

Lando insisted that he wanted to try your onion soup though you kept on saying no. You weren’t that bad in cooking but if you knew you weren’t cooking for yourself and that someone else would like to try it, you would have paid more attention to it instead of just sprinkle sparkle eye level everything.

“I don’t want to be held responsible if you get food poisoning.”

“That’s alright, I won’t die.”

“Your have a race next week!”

“We have reserved driver for a reason.”

You could never win against him. There you were, spending another night in sweatshirts and baggy pants with Lando,

and your onion soup.

Which was surprisingly good. Not as good as a Michelin star restaurant as Lando claimed it to be but good for someone who cooked it while munching on chocolates.

“Are you nervous? I mean, the new season.”

“Hm, not really. Kinda excited for it. I have been driving the virtual car for months now. A real, hands-on experience would kick up the adrenaline again.”

“I think….” You trailed off and bit on your lips.

“Yeah?” Lando took another bite of the onion soup.

“I think I’m gonna give Charles another chance. What do you think?” You lifted up your gaze and beam timidly at him, feeling embarrassed to talk about your relationship problem with another guy, a friend of your ex-boyfriend at that.

When Lando caught your gaze, he caught your eyes making the same twinkle that made him stunned. Talk about timing. The first time he saw it up-close, it made his heart flutter and lost at words. Now that he saw it again, it still made him lost at words, but his heart didn’t flutter, it was smashed to pieces.

When Lando didn’t reply, you were slightly taken aback. You thought he would get mad or criticise your decision so you dipped your head down and started playing with your fingers.

“I think….” His voice halted your movement but you still didn’t look at him in the eyes.

“I think you should do what you heart desires, Y/N. After all, I am not the one to control your life because it’s yours but whatever it was, I’m gonna be with you, always, as your friend.”

Lando realised he didn’t actually have a lot of time with you. He thought he did. He spent half of the time loving you and the other half hiding how much he loved you.

“I’ll take back my Lego set with me, yeah?”

“I thought we were gonna finish it together?”

I don’t think there’s anymore chances for me to get to know you more so I don’t need it anymore was what Lando wanted to say.

“No, Y/N. We ran out of time. I ran out of time. The season is starting soon and I’m gonna start flying here there, remember? It’s okay, I won’t do it alone. I’ll bring it back and we can get it done together. Promise.”

One promise is made out of lie.

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Charles had called you a few days after, telling you to get dressed and he was gonna pick you up at 8. He didn’t tell you the occasion, he didn’t tell you the details and here you were, in a fancy restaurant with all candle lights and fancy music in the background.

You weren’t sure if he had asked the restaurant for a privacy set up or this was how they set up the theme for their restaurant but your table was separated by a door or more like a room where the waiter would shut the door every time they walked in and out through the full-course dinner, leaving both of you all alone in your comfort space. There was also like a glass doors which opened on to a balcony with a view of Monaco at night.

Charles had asked you to head out to the balcony after dessert and you were so glad that you agreed to it. He was so good-looking, the luminesce coming from the moon and street lights made his green eyes looked as if they were glowing which made him looked so, do much more attractive.

“Thank you. I mean, I never thought you would go this far just to celebrate my first job.” You took the first words. It was peaceful, not peaceful as in no other sound. There was still sound of cars passing by, the shallow voices from people in the street and the faint sound of music coming from the nearby clubs.

“I had it plan for a while but I didn’t have any free time to carry on with it so I’m like 2 weeks late. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t mind. I really really appreciate it, Charles. Thank you so much.” You stepped closer and placed your hands on his chest and they moved to the rhythm of his breathing. “Let’s give us another chance.”

Charles’s green eyes are now locked on yours but he looked like he needed you to say it again.

“Let’s give us another chance.”

Then you could see the ends of his mouth lifted into a curve, the dimples line that you used trace looking deeper as he pulled you closer by your waist. His eyes studied your face as if he was looking for the sincerity and genuineness to make sure what he heard was indeed real.

“Are you being serious?”

“Yeah! Do you…want to?”

You didn’t know if he nodded to your question or if he even replied to your question but youfelt Charles’s lips on yours and it sent a tingling sensation ran through your body. God, you missed him so much. The kiss was full of gentle urgency, you felt his hand cupped on your face as he deepened the kiss. There was nothing else mattered to you at the moment, there was no fear or worries, no past. You just felt this pure, unconstrained and overwhelming passion that reminded you back that it was him, all this time and it would always be him. The kiss ended only when both of you ran out of breath but instead of pulling away, he leaned his forehead against yours and closed him eyes when you began stroking on his cheek.

“I was scared that if I ever stumbled around you again, you would slip off my fingers and I can’t go through that feeling of having no contact with you, not being able to tell you about my accomplishments or failures all over again. I have been living in a constant terror these past few months it’s frightening—“

“I knew, Charles. I knew. I saw the way you being all restless and fidgeting around me, I saw you scanned my face as if you were seeking for my approval before you could touch me. You slipped off once and you made a mistake but we are all learning, aren’t we? None of us knew exactly what love is, none of us knew how relationship worked but look at us now. It’s okay to make mistakes, I want you to be yourself, be comfortable around me like you always did. We’ll figure things out together and I want you to be with me throughout the journey in my life, in our lives. Promise me that you’ll never push me away, talk to me when things get too hard for you, please?”

“Promise. I love you, doudou. All ways, always.”

And one promise is made out of hope.

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“Hi, Y/N.”

“Hi, Lando!” You squealed in excitement to the phone as soon as he picked it up.

“I’m assuming things go well between you and Charles?” You had texted him last night that you were excited and scared but he had assured you that you had nothing to worry because he knew Charles, and he knew you.

“Yeah! We made up and he was so happy and I was so happy too I cried last night and he almost cried—“

And Lando stayed on the phone, every words you said felt like it was piercing on his heart but hearing your voice, knowing you were triumphantly joyful felt like the wound in his heart healed instantly,

and then he remembered that you were talking about Charles, and he felt his heart bled, again but almost instantly, over and over, the sound of your joyful laugh through the phone healed the wound, again.

Lando knows he will never be him, but you will always be her.

“Perhaps in another life, I could be the first one to teach you about friendships, about relationships, perhaps I could be the first guy to hold your hand, the first guy to kiss you and the first guy to break your heart. Perhaps by then, you would choose me over him.”

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris and 455,365 others

ynusername Pasta and wine 🍝🍷

username si belleeeee 🥰🥰🥰🥰

username You look unreaaal

username Is that Charles on the last pic?

username It’s him check his story

username Does that mean my fav couple is back 🥹

username I’m no longer a child of a divorceeeeee

username La plus belle ❤️😍

charles_leclerc has added to their story

landoprivate

Liked by 8 others

landoprivate Flowers. This one doesn’t wilt.

kymillman

Liked by 103,554 others

kymillman Guess who’s back in the paddock at the start of the season! Ms, childhood sweetheart!

username I knew it!!

username Charles P1 let’s go!

username sighs she’s so pretty 🥹😔

username MY PARENTS THAT’S MY PARENTS RIGHT THERE

username LOLL to all those people who think she had something with Lando

username first love will always wins

[rustys-lodge]

It is but a little cold

Request by : @xpsidedownn​ :  Please more Hannibal x daughter reader! I love your stories sm. I have a request, if that’s okay? Maybe reader gets sick and stays home from school (if they go) and Hannibal takes care of her? If you feel uncomfortable in any way pls don’t do this! Thank you 

A/N : I’m so so so sorry, darling. I have been busy with school. I hope you like it  ❤❤❤❤

Warnings : none, just a bunch of fluff. 

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A shaken up noise left your lips as you attempted to lift your head off the pillow, indomitable and unwilling.

“Dad…I’m not sure i’ll be able to go today.” You whispered, drawing in a breath of air and exhaling it painfully. 

Your whole body hurt, your muscles, your head, even your eyes ached with each movement of the iris and your body burned flames, all the while you trembled from the cold. You were ill, you felt like you were…dying. 

“Dying ?” Your father sweetly chuckled. “You are not dying,It is but a little cold.” 

You growned, unsatisfied with his answer. 

“ It is said that contentment preserves one from catching a cold.” And just as if he needed to make you feel worse. “Have you been feeling down lately ?” 

You growned. “Oh, please.” As you rolled to your other side, facing away from him while whimpers followed each movement you made, right until you stopped moving “You, of all people should not be mingling philosphy and science.” 

Hannibal chuckled again at your response, pressing his warm hand on the back of your shoulder. “I am only joking. What a better way to lighten up your mood ?” 

Your eyebrows furrowed. Actually make me feel better, maybe ?

“Maybe try less boring jokes ?” You sugarcoated your own thoguhts, but still surpressed a laugh.And although you usually find yourself to be funny, he still was the man that kept you alive. And you’d much rather keep it that way.

“I’m going to let that one go, only because you are ill.” Your father flashed you a quick smile before getting off the bed. But you gripped his wrist and pulled him down, causing a gasp to leave his lips. 

Hannibal was a trained man, always aware of his surroundings because one little mistake, one little moment of relaxation would cost him his life, and much more. 

It seemed to you, though, that whenever you were around, he’d get calmer, like at that moment, if someone else would have done that to him, they’d be lamb for dinner....Not literally, hannibal is not a canniball. 

“Please don’t leave me;” You pouted. 

“I have to feed you, my darling. How else would you heal ?” Hannibal completely ignored your puppy eye attempt. He got up, again, tenser than before, prepared for another drag down. But you didn’t pull him again, you just gripped his wrist harder. 

“By staying with me, maybe ?” You sarcastically said, dragging your lower lip out even more. You thought, maybe if you looked cuter he’d stay ? 

But he didn’t. And you growled, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“Rest, darling. I’ll come back with the most delicious soup you’ve ever tasted” Your father bent down slightly, rubbing your cheek from above. “And i will come back with the most delicious soup you’ve ever tasted.

Thankful, you smiled weakly.  “No need, dad. I’ll stick to a chicken soup this time. I’d much rather you be with me, right now.” 

Jokes aside, you didn’t want to be alone at such a moment. Your whole body ached, and so did your brain. But your father’s presence eased that pain, somehow. And as much as you knew his lovely soups do ease the pain too, you’d rather stick to his presence, his smile and lame jokes. 

“You’ve won me over.” Hannibal stepped away from you, just a little warning step, before disappearing out of the room. And soon after that, his steps quickened, he was running. 

“Why are you-” Your voice cracked and you let out a loud cough. “Why are you running ?” You tried again, quieter this time.

“So that i can come back quickly.” He shouted from afar, and all you could do is grin. 

Your father was never one to take things lightly, smile, joke, even less play around. But there he was, doing it all , for you.

-----

❤❤❤🌹🌹🌹

[lessi-lover]

could you do headcannons for mccfoord? love ur works btw x

sorry for the late response just finished one text going strong! 💪

★ k.mccabe x c.foord

best believe katie and caitlin have fully conjoined their wardrobes together, walking into their shared closet you probably wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two. as well as their wardrobe, there won't be a day that you won't see one of them wearing something of the others. If it's not katie sneaking a pair of caitlin's shoes, then it's caitlin taking a pair of katie's hoodies, the brunette's jumpers much larger on her. "are ya wearing my clothes again?" katie would complain, knowing full well that she loved when the aussie borrowed her things, her jumpers and shirts mysteriously going missing. "maybe. but are you wearing my slides again?" the forward would ask. "shush."

caitlin is always cleaning up after katie's messes. for example, one time katie went around before caitlin arrived telling everybody that kyra had been hit with a terrible virus over the weekend. even explaining that she had just dropped by to give kyra some soup through the door. and exactly as you would think, kyra showed up not even a few minutes later with slight confusion on her face at the worried looks she was receiving from her friends. "ky why are you here?" beth questioned, stepping backwards nervously until her back hit the wall. "why wouldn't i be here beffy?" kyra jokes, walking towards the older blonde until she caught her teammates eyes widening as she shuffled away. "why are you all being weird?" as kyra approached the girls, she couldn't help but notice the uneasy tension in the air. beth's nervous reaction made her brain all puzzled, as she exchanged confused glances. "um, what's going on?" kyra asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. "we heard you were just a bit under the weather, that's all." steph responded sheepishly when nobody else spoke. a low chuckled could be heard, all the girls turning around to see katie giggling to herself as she tied her boots. "oh you think this is funny do you mccabe? five pounds you had something to do with this!" kyra challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. the irish captain began cracking up hysterically, head falling backwards as her chest hurt from laughing so much. "katie mccabe what did you do?" and all amusement dropped the minute katie heard the scolding voice of her girlfriend. "nothing?"

when caitlin and katie first started going out, katie had already had a cat. no matter how hard the irish tried to convince her girlfriend that cats were completely harmless, the aussie was adamant that she was a dog person through and through. although, caitlin couldn't defend herself when she came home early from brunch with some of the aussie girls and saw cooper so innocently curled up on the couch and decided there was nothing not worth trying. so you could imagine the surprise on katie's face when she came home from shopping to find her girlfriend cuddled up with her cat so relaxed on their couch, she couldn't help but post it on her instagram later that day.

katie will go to all ends to make caitlin the best breakfast she possibly can because it's the only way she knows she can get out of her bad books for all the trouble she causes with kyra and less.

caitlin and katie mimic each others accents all the time and they find it hilarious to hear one another attempt.

they could listen to each other for hours on end about almost everything.

nobody will ever understand what they are giggling about, almost as if they can talk to each other without words (which they can) but they certainly get a lot of stick for the interruptions they cause during conversations.

they really are designated bus partners and won't let anybody stand in the way of after game cuddles. you best believe katie will bite if she has too.

[phoenix-and-found-family]

Unconditional Love (Phoenix's perspective)

Because brain said so

(mentions of emotional abuse/gaslighting (I think))

They were definitely not about to cry.

They definitely weren't thinking about how weird Prism was acting lately, or why she kept glancing at them and sighing.

They definitely weren't worried out of their mind that one of their only real friends had started to dislike them.

They definitely weren't supposed to be falling over- Oh shit, the chair was toppling.

Before they could really think about it, they sprung off the falling furniture, doing a cartwheel in the air before landing flawlessly on the nearest counter.

It was only then they realized that Prism had asked them a question.

"Yeah, sorry."

They walked over the countertops, considering everything, anything they could do to make her like them more. Maybe they could make her something? Like soup?

No, they did that already from time to time.

They got over to her and sat down, smiling as convincingly as they could.

"Am I killing something for you?"

She shook her head and sighed. (Oh god, they said the wrong thing. Oh no...)

"Please don't... Look, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

They froze up.

Was she... did she...

"I... Supposedly, the feeling of falling in love is the same as a life-or-death situation."

It was all they had not to fall over in that moment.

She was in love with them. Roxana Prism was in love with them.

She kept talking, but all they could hear was her voice, repeating over and over in their head.

Don't you love me, Trevor?!

Of course I do, you know I do!!

Do I?! You sure as hell aren't acting like it!

What do I have to do to prove it?

You know what you have to do.

But I...

Babe... Are you saying no?

Of course not, but it-

Good boyfriends don't say no to a simple request.

I'm... not a boy...

You are if I say so.

...I'm sorry...

Aww, sweetie, no. I didn't mean it like that. Come here.

Okay, mi amor.

...I'll steal it for you.

I knew you'd come around.

"-Just... Do you want to go to dinner sometime? As... more than friends."

She's my girlfriend now.

Roxy's the best person I know.

Roxy's more important than my feelings.

Roxy can do whatever she wants with me.

Roxy is in charge.

They slid off the counter, grabbed her hand, and kissed her gently.

Roxana Prism is in charge of my feelings.

She kissed them back until she ran out of breath. They could have kept going. If she wanted them to.

When she pulled away, her face fell a little.

"... Phoenix-"

"-Dinner sounds great, mi amor."

They smiled, not able to meet her eyes.

"But first, I thought you wanted me to kiss you?"

They didn't wait for a response.

Roxana Prism and I are in love.

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

@the-one-and-only-043 @wyvchard Brain said more angst time so I wrote more angst

Still gotta write the date lmao

I should probably be writing this on A03 instead of Tumblr but ehh

[hugsohugs]

Hey, do you have any pikmin fanfic recommendations?

sorry this is late, i hit post limit :^)

anyway. yea sure why not (rifles thru my bookmarks)

first off i'm sure everyone's heard of this one by now but like, i can't not include it: To Die (and be born anew) by Valkohai is real good so far. basically detailing olimar's descent into Dandori Brain after becoming a leafling, plus a plot twist...!?!? cannot recommend it enough

in a similar vein is Re-leaf by CosmicMishap, which is an AU (idk if i'm using that term right) where olimar regrows his leaves post-game. not really as angsty as it sounds, but still a fair amount of drama. focuses on louie's relationship with olimar, plus the rescue corps show up a bunch. everyone is really well written

speaking of louie:

True Confessions of an Amateur Gourmet by Lotophagia is an introspective on everyone's favorite Weird Guy. goes thru his life n such. great for anyone who really likes louie :) also he says shit a lot lol

What's Scarier Than Piecrust by TheDuckofIndeed is SO underrated. it's a silly story abt olimar and louie competing over a can of pumpkin soup via telling scary stories. i find myself coming back to it a lot. it's also much older than the other ones i've recommended, so it's like...retro B)

Holiday by ssserf is still early on but i like it so far :) basic summary, olimar's going through hell and louie decides the best response is Chaos. i'm excited abt this one!!

and as long as i'm here i might as well promo my own fics lol (there's only like two)

Dandori Daycare is an AU where instead of being found by the rescue corps, he's found by the plasm wraith and, uh. yeah. things go poorly. inspired by @/molabuddy's cool art of this exact concept (i'm obsessed with leaflings Can You Tell)

(side note, while looking for more fics i might've forgotten i saw dandori daycare is on like the second page of the most kudos'd fics now??? whadda hell. thank you)

Coward (posted just this morning lol) is an idea on why dingo might've abandoned bernard beyond the obvious explanation of him being a, well, coward. warning for a fairly detailed panic attack

i'm sure there's others i'm not remembering rn but yea

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #109

So many things happened between the last letter and right now. From some of the things, I'm running on only 3 hours of sleep. I regret nothing; what I did was one of the most important things I could have done. I don't know if it worked, and I don't know to what extent the responsibility for it if it didn't work falls upon my shoulders. I shan't speak any more on it; it's heavy, and all I can do is wait and see what happens from here, hoping for good things.

…It's only the second paragraph, and already the things I wanna say are crumbling and fading away before I get a chance to write them. I guess I had better write quickly… I'm sorry that today's letter might not be any good. But still, I write because I wanted to make sure you know that someone is thinking warm and kind things at you. I wanted to make sure that you know that there is at least one person in the vastness of our universe who sees a person - not a god or a monster - when they look at you. A person - lovable and worthy, even without all the amazing things you can do, and even after everything that happened to you, and even after everything that you happened to. I wanted to make sure you know…

…Someone's gotta make sure you know… so I'm gonna try, no matter how impossible it is.

…

Br made bacon in the oven today, and it was amazing. I made confit garlic with bacon drippings instead of olive oil or butter; the results were just as awesome as you might expect. I am eagerly looking forward to bringing the results to the nice place with the good leader tomorrow:

J has recovered from food poisoning; fortunately, this one went away as soon as the offending item was purged. Good discussion was had with Br as well, and J and I helped her do a thing that was important, and that was very good. A handful of others needed my support for various things; I did the best I could today, given that I haven't really been able to think clearly all day.

Then, J, Br, and I went to the Asian grocery store; we needed rice, and it's cheaper to get it in giant, huge bags, so that's what we did. I chilled out in the car though, because I was zombied from lack of sleep. Br asked me if I wanted anything, and so I said muscat gummies. And so J got me some muscat gummies. Of all the Kasugai gummies that exist, these ones are my favorite. I really, REALLY wish I could share them with you:

After that, I tried to rest for an hour, but it didn't work because I wasn't able to resist the hypervigilance. Oh well. And then my friend P and his sister J picked me up for a concert that they had invited me to some time ago, in a place that is about an hour away by car. I tried to take some pictures for you, because I remembered that you like looking at nature…

There was a huge, giant bird in the sky in this one; I couldn't get a big picture of it, but... still. It's the black speck in the sky:

...Please don't think that no one notices your humanity or the things you like. I'm going to keep trying to find as many small ways to tell you that I love you as I can, so... please. Please don't lose sight of the good and beautiful things, okay?

...

...Sephiroth... I'm so, so, so tired... What if none of this counts for anything? What if it doesn't count for the person I stayed up late trying to help? What if it doesn't count for you? What if, ultimately, it doesn't count for anyone, anywhere...?

...

...I can't let thoughts such as those get to me. I just need to sleep. I just need to sleep and not be dehydrated. That's all. I can't sink in the swamp. Not while I'm still determined to pull you out of it.

Anyway, here is how the concert went. I had a nice time even if my brain was soup:

I knew some of these songs from an old Disney movie called Fantasia. I even remembered which animations some of them were from. The second part was kind of scary-sounding, though. So afterwards I sang a small little lullaby just in case - "...anata ni utatteiru, matteiru; itsumademo utatteiru, matteiru..."

...And then I was shocked when I received one in return. No, I am not going to elaborate. And, strange as it sounds, I have a funny feeling like I don't have to.

I haven't even gotten to the best part yet though!!

There's an awesome person on the internet!! We have had brief (but invariably lovely!) interactions in the past intermittently; it's always a delight when I see something from them in my messages! But today we talked a lot and it was amazing and we exchanged music, and!!! Tomorrow I'm going to make you a playlist of the songs I was shown, because I think you will like them!! I think you will find them relatable!!

…I hope that maybe I can become friends with this person. But I gotta make room for the notion that they might not want new friends. And I gotta make room for the notion that even if they do want new friends, they might end up thinking I'm too weird. But I'm gonna try anyways. It's good to try anyways, even if it might not work out.

…But my brain is soup right now. Because I've got only 3 hours of sleep. So I gotta go to bed. I'm gonna do that right now. I hope you will get good sleep, too. Someplace that is comfy and warm and safe and with lots of soft plush things to hug…

I love you. I'll write again soon.

Your friend, Lumine

[kota-corner]

not to be rude but how do you be pro life and pro choice at the same time?

Hi! Sorry I took a few days to answer. I've been overwhelmed with life and my brain is literally soup right now. Anyways!

When we hear the terms, most people often jump to the idea that they are opposites. In reality, these issues aren't black and white. Difficult circumstances do exist, different reasonings do exist. When I say I am both, I am saying that a. I support whatever the best option is for all parties involved with the situation, and b. I support access to reproductive healthcare, however, I do not think I'd ever would get an abortion myself. Of course, I'm non-binary afab in a closed relationship with a cisgender woman, so there's a very low chance of me ever getting pregnant as long as I'm in this relationship (and I have no plans not to be), obviously unless some bad things happen, which I do not like to think about.

One reason for this is that there is an irrefutable difference between a four week ball of cells vs. let's say a twelve week old fetus that can now start to take in shallow breaths and has a heartbeat in the womb, and there's also the fact that at around twenty four week, a fetus can start to feel physically pain and is more aware of its surroundings. I would be in full support of an abortion for a woman who has just a ball of cells she does not feel she has the capacity to carry to term nor raise, but I don't think it's morally ethical to have abortions passed a certain point, especially when the heartbeat starts, breathing begins to happen, and when the unborn baby/fetus(whatever you'd want to use as the term) feels pain. Of course, I do believe in certain exceptions such as cases of r*pe, whenever a minor gets pregnant, or when the health of the mother is at stake.

That being said, I do not agree that abortion should be used as a form of birth control. I don't think women should be allowed to have abortion after abortion, when it is the responsibility of the parents to be safe during sexual intercourse. Accidents happen of course, but there are some individuals who repeatedly act irresponsible and use abortion as a safety net. In a lot of these situations, options like condoms, vasectomy, tubal ligation, birth control pills, IUD, contraceptive patch, shots, arm implants, etc, are more long-term and proven to be effective solutions overall. If we made all of these things free, and focused on unrestricting these first and foremost, we could then focus on ethically regulating abortions. A very small percentage of abortions are actually caused by r*pe or inc*st, and again, I'm not talking about those cases.

But if we want to reduce abortions, especially late-term abortions, We. Need. To. Make. Them. Accessible. Earlier. On. We also need to make birth control methods free or, at the very least, significantly more affordable. No one should have to pay over $50 for a single plan-b pill. And yes, some insurances cover some of these options, but not all do, not all people have insurance, and some options don't work for some people. For example, I've been on "the pill" before, back when I was with an ex-boyfriend, not only to prevent pregnancy, but also to regulate my hormones. However, I got sick from it, and had to be taken off. I was considering getting an IUD as a replacement, but things went south with that guy and I ended up not getting one. I'm with a cisgender woman now yes, but I still want to find something to help regulate my hormones, especially since I have PMDD and very painful periods.

Again, I don't believe in telling people what they should with their bodies. I just think certain things on both sides of the extreme are unethical and have gone too far. Take this with a grain of salt since it truly is just my view on things, and if you disagree, that's okay. I do appreciate you asking this question! I feel like approaching subjects like this with an open mind is how we all grow and learn as people.

Please don't go off on me in the comments for this if you disagree with anything I said. You can respectfully voice your disagreements, but I don't want anyone being nasty to one another about it.

Here are some resources for AFAB individuals for birth control methods, as well as some for AMABs! *Ps- I used terms like woman and mother as a catch all here, I am fully aware that non-cis men and enbies can and do get pregnant and have abortions!*

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11427-birth-control-options

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control

https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/ss/options-in-the-pipeline-for-male-birth-control

[queerian]

I've started binging episodes of the Multiamory podcast again lately and I am currently listening to the episode "My Brain Understands, But My Body Is Panicking" and a lot of the things being discussed on this episode as it pertains to polyamory is also resonating with me as a highly masked auDHD person.

They're talking about how people have these "stored imagery" that the body responds to as a trigger or less intense emotional response to stories and patterns even when the mind knows rationally they're not doing something "wrong", eg being a partnered poly person hanging out at home while their partner is out on a date or spending time with another partner, the normative story is "I am being taken advantage of/abandoned", or when a poly person is on a date with a poly but also married person, they normative story is "I am a homewrecker/assisting in cheating" even when that's not the case.

The guest on the podcast says she feels like the body "still stores these deep feelings of shame, fear, rejection, all of those things, in this big primordial soup that gets built up over time."

Which instantly reminded me about "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria"... and it got me thinking about how autistic pattern recognition and tendency for rule-making and keeping can also work against us. Well, myself specifically, I don't want to assume on behalf of others but I suspect this will probably seem familiar to some. My pattern recognition does give me a good "instinct" about many things, but it also very frequently causes me to round up completely innocuous or harmless things into four-alarm fire threats. This is, I believe, the root of my not-quite-hypochondria (I am chronically ill and hypervigilant for any signs of flares or anything that could indicate I need to adjust my plans to preserve my health). It's inaccurate pattern recognition combined with small t trauma from flare after flare that doctors can't help me with or explain satisfactorily. That feeling of helplessness and confusion further pushed me into hypervigilant attention to patterns and rule-making as a way to try and almost superstitiously ward off flare ups.

I have recently unlocked the ability to mindfully take a look at an uncomfortable feeling I am feeling and remind myself that it is the memory of a past harm or anticipation of possible threat, not a real current actual threat. I would like to reframe "threat response" as "possible threat recognition device", and because it's better to be safe than sorry, I spend a LOT of time being Very Very Sorry because my "possible threat recognition device" is overactive and sees many patterns that could add up to threat where no threat exists. But my brain still interprets "possible threat" with the same rush of fear chemicals and nervous system activation that accompanies "real threat". It's a process. I'm sure I'll get better at it.

I don't have much experience doing somatic work but I keep hearing about it and I'd be curious to try it sometime like, on purpose. I wonder if I could find someone who does somatic work specifically for autistic and adhd people.

[5raysofsunshine]

I Don't Want To Be Alone Anymore - Emily Prentiss x Fem Reader

Hi friends! This fic is for @sweetprentiss 's birthday bingo, filling spots "it's not as bad as it looks" and "love confession". It's hurt/comfort with a dash of angst, but don't worry there's a happy ending! Hope you enjoy! :)

Description: Set after Minimal Loss (4x3). After Emily comes back to the east coast after being stuck in Utah for two days, she calls to tell you she's okay but confesses she's been hurt. She argues that she doesn't want you to see her, you argue back that she needs to stop pushing you away. When she finally let's you come over to see her, something unexpected happens.

Rating: Explicit, but only because there's a couple F bombs and other curse words. Tw and cw for bodily harm and aftermath of a physical fight, but if you've seen 4x3 you'll know what to expect.

Word count: 4,006 (this is the longest fic I've written so far!!!)

Tagging @ssaagentemilyprentiss @themoontaxi @sweetprentiss @dalexandriag16 @its-soph-xx (if you want to be tagged in my fics lmk by asking and/or filling this form out)

---

The melodic tune of your ringtone catches your attention while you're in your car, stopped at a red light. You reach over the center console and dig around in your bag to find your cell phone. With a flick of the wrist the phone flips up and you press it to your ear, holding it between your head and shoulder as you move the steering wheel to make a left turn. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," Emily says through the phone.

“Hi baby!" You happily exclaim. You hadn't heard from your girlfriend in two days and were starting to get worried. When Emily is out of state on a case she at least tries to call you once a day, even if it's only for a couple minutes, just so you can hear her voice. That didn't happen this time.

Usually Emily will mirror the tone of your voice, happy to hear your greeting. But she doesn't, she sounds a bit anxious instead. “Sorry to call, I know you’re at work.”

“Oh, that’s okay! I’m actually on my way back to the office now. I had a late lunch. Went to Saggio’s, that Italian place with really good gnocchi soup. You jelly?”

You hear a very small chuckle on the other side of the line, “Very.” 

“Are you still in Utah?” You ask as you attempt to parallel park your car outside your office building. Emily had to travel to Utah for work. She said they were just going to interview some people and gain intel so they could build a stronger case, the details of said case were kept hidden from you for the most part so you only had a very vague idea of what Emily was working on. Before she left, she assured you that she’d be in and out of Utah, but you assumed by Emily's radio silence that her assignment must have gotten more complicated than originally planned.

“No, thank fucking god." Emily says, "We landed back in Virgina about two hours ago.”

“Oh good! How’d it go?"

There's a moment of silence before Emily answers your question. “Well... we were hit with a lot of... unexpected trouble.”

You frown at Emily's response as you shit off the motor and sit back, wanting to wait a few minutes before you have to walk across ice covered pavement to return to work. “Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, honey.”

“It's..." Emily sighs harshly, "it's alright babe. I just wanted to call so I could hear your voice. I’m sorry I couldn’t call you earlier, I was... tied up. With the case. Had to deal with some really fucked up people who made things so much worse then they should've been. But-um... anyway, I wanted to let you know that I’m okay.”

“Oh... okay.” You say hesitantly. Redflags are beginning to fly around in your brain, your curiosity tempting you to ask Emily what happened over there, because you can tell that something is wrong. “I was worried when you didn’t call, but I just figured you were focussed on work, so I didn’t want to disturb you. But I’m so glad you’re back! Just in time too! I was starting to worry that I’d have to tell my parents you weren’t going to make it... again.” For the past couple weeks you’ve been trying to arrange a time for you and Emily to have dinner with your parents, since you and Emily have been dating for a little over six months and things might be getting a little more serious. Somehow, Emily has managed to get pulled into work at the last minute, causing you to have dinner with your parents alone or not at all, but hopefully the fourth time’s the charm. “I can’t wait to go to dinner tomorrow! I talked to mom this morning and she said, and I quote, ‘I can’t wait to finally meet that gorgeous girlfriend of yours.’ Are you excited or what!” The grin on your face is so large it makes your cheeks hurt. Sadly, it doesn't stay on your face for very long.

“Wow, that’s uh... I’m-uh... I’m really sorry to do this Y/n, but I don’t think I can make it.”

“Again?" You ask, already frustrated because this dinner had already been rescheduled for the third time already. You open your car door and step out, slamming it behind you as you begin making your way towards your office building. "Emily, I thought you didn’t have to work this weekend?”

“I don’t, I still don’t. But I have to stay home and rest for the next couple days.” 

“You have to stay-?" You quickly realize what Emily means. Something happened in Utah. Something bad. "Wait, what happened? Are you hurt?”

The silence on the other side of the line gives the answer away before Emily starts talking, “Yeah... I got roughed up a little. But I’m okay though, I’m okay. I just..." Emily's voice trails off. Your heart is racing, panicked by the idea of Emily getting ‘roughed up’ by anyone. From time to time since you two started dating, Emily has mentioned incidents when she would get hurt out in the field, but it wasn’t something she liked to talk about with you. Even while you’ve been dating, if Emily came home with a couple bumps and bruises, she would tell you to stay away and give her space for a day or two. She claims that she doesn’t want you to deal with the aftermath of a bad case, that she preferred to handle it on her own. You knew it was just Emily’s way of shutting you out, her fear of being vulnerable, her fear of you not being able to handle the bad parts of dating an FBI agent. You hope this time she’ll let you see her, let you be with her as she recovers, but you’re doubtful. And that frustrates you.

You can't help but lose your patience with her. "Just what, Emily? What's going on?"

"Y/n, I don’t want to meet your parents when I... I have a black eye, and a bruised jawbone. And a lot of scratches on my hands and arms.” Emily says, sounding embarrassed.

You stop in your tracks and immediately regret losing your patience, your frustration dissolves and is replaced with shock and concern. “Oh my god, baby! What?!”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine! I'm okay! Calm down!”

You can't calm down. Your eyes are wide in panic, your chest is tight. Even though you’re two feet away from your desk, all you want to do is turn around and walk back to your car so you can rush over to Emily's apartment. You have to see her, you have to see your girlfriend. Your poor bruised girlfriend. “Are you home? Can I come over?”

At this point your coworker who sits across from you is awkwardly glancing at you, trying to figure out why you’re so shaken. You wave to them before sitting in your rolly chair, trying your best to ignore their look of concern. Your only focus is listening to Emily's voice. 

“No, no Y/n. I don’t want you to see me like this. I don’t want you to...” Emily keeps talking, but you stop processing what she says. Mainly because you’ve heard it all before. You’ve heard all of the excuses and defensiveness that come out of her mouth when she’s like this. And you’ve had enough.

“Well, Emily? That’s too fucking bad. I get that you want to protect me from all the big bad scary shit you go through. But if we’re gonna make this relationship work? Then you’re going to have to stop trying to shut me out. You have to stop thinking that I’m gonna take one look at you and be like, ‘Oh, this is too much for me, nevermind’ and leave. You know that’s not what I want to do Emily, you know that all I want to do is be there for you. We’ve been dating for how long now, over half a year? How am I supposed to get used to you coming home to me after getting hurt out in the field if you won’t let me see you? How am I supposed to make this work if you don’t want to let me be there for you, like good girlfriends are supposed to do!”

“But Y/n, I-” Emily tries to argue, but you're not having it.

“No, don’t 'Y/n' me. You don't get to keep hiding yourself away every time you get hurt, Emily. Especially now when I haven't heard from you for two days. Every time you’re gone, I wait for you to come back, and then when you come back you don’t want to see me. It’s bullshit, Emily.” You say defensively. Your co-worker clears their throat, causing you to look up at them with an awkward grimace on your face. They awkwardly grimace back at you. Slightly embarrassed, you sink down into your desk chair.

“I know, I know it’s bullshit, Y/n. But this is what being with me is like. My job takes a toll on me, and when I have bad days, bad weeks, I just- I don't want you to be subjected to that. I just wanna be alone. You have to understand.”

You can't help but roll your eyes at Emily's words. She still doesn't seem to understand that the whole point of being in a relationship is to support each other through the good and the bad. And when it comes to Emily, there’s always gonna be something bad. You try not to blame her for that, you know that she loves working for the FBI, and you’re always so proud of her for kicking criminal ass and protecting innocent people. But it seems to still cause a strain between you two, especially when Emily refuses to let you near her when she’s in physical and mental anguish. 

"Oh I understand, babe. Totally understand. If you really want to be alone, then fine. I’m not gonna stop you. I’ll just tell my parents that they’ll have to give up on trying to meet you because this relationship isn’t going to progress anymore than it has since you don’t want me around.” Tears are building up in your eyes and your chest is so tight you’re struggling to breathe. You know you’re being slightly unreasonable and dramatic, but you don’t care. You need Emily to understand how frustrated and hurt you feel.

Emily sighs heavily, her breath blowing into the receiver and making a loud sound that makes you cringe slightly. "Please, baby. Don’t do this. I’m sorry. I understand you’re upset, I understand why you’re upset with me, but I don't want to fight with you. I've been punched in the face and kicked in the ribs and I’m very very worn out. So please, I'm really sorry... Okay?"

Taking the time to acknowledge that Emily is trying to talk to you despite having gone through something traumatic, you nod and try to center yourself. "I'm... sorry too,” you say begrudgingly. “I'm sorry, I know you're in pain and I'm just making you more upset and that’s totally unfair.” You’re genuinely sorry, and you want Emily to know that you’re not angry at her. You can never truly be angry at her. Frustrated to the point of crying? That’s a different story. “Listen, I just want to see you. I want to make sure you’re okay. Please, Em. Can I come see you after I get off work? Or... do you want to be alone tonight?” You ask, acknowledging that Emily might still want space after whatever she's been through, even though you’re internally begging on your knees that that’s not the case.

“No, no-um... you can come over.” Emily says, “I’d love to see you.”

"Yeah?" Her answer surprises you and makes you feel instantly better about the whole situation. You’re sure Emily is uncomfortable with you seeing her in whatever condition she may be in currently, but this is her trying to prove to you that she wants to let you in, that she does indeed want you around even after a really bad case. This is a tiny but also huge step in the right direction.

"Yeah. I’m sorry for shutting you out, you don’t deserve that. I don’t want you to think that I don’t want to be with you. Because I do, I really do. I really missed you, Y/n." Emily says warmly, the way she says your name makes you melt just a little.

The corner of your mouth perks up , “I missed you too, Em. I’ll see you in a couple hours, okay?”

“Okay. See you soon.” Emily replies.

After you hang up the call and put your phone down on your desk, you glance over at your coworker. They look back at you and shake their head slowly back and forth, “I have no idea what that was about, but if you wanna grab a cup of coffee real quick to spill the tea, I’m down.”

You chuckle and roll your eyes lightheartedly, “No tea needs to be spilled, I’m pretty sure you heard enough anyway.”

They turn back to their computer and nod, “Hmm... fair enough.”

---

When Emily first opens the door to greet you, it takes you a couple seconds to recognize her. It nearly brings you to tears as soon as you see the dark colored bruises and the butterfly bandage holding the cut on her chin closed. Her skin looks more pale and pasty than usual. She’s wearing a large hooded sweatshirt and leggings, trying to hide as much of her body from you as possible. You’re not sure what you were expecting to see when Emily told you she was hurt, you thought you had prepared yourself enough on the drive to Emily’s apartment. But after seeing the black eye and the bruising on her jaw and neck, you suddenly realize how wrong you were.

“Can you come inside please? I don’t want anyone else to see me like this.” Emily pleads, her eyes nervously glancing from side to side. You can tell that she’s embarrassed by her appearance.

You quickly snap back to reality, having realized you’ve probably been standing there for a good thirty seconds just staring at her like an idiot. “Oh my god, yes. Sorry. I’m- I’m sorry.” You quickly step inside the apartment and take off your coat. 

Emily smirks, “You have snow in your hair.” She reaches her hand up to your head and ruffles your hair before smoothing it out, combing her long fingers through it. You can’t help but stare at her face, your eyes locked on the blue and purple bruising around her left eye. Emily notices of course and backs away, “It’s- um... it’s not as bad as it looks.”

This is when you finally speak up, “N-not as bad as it looks? Emily, I- Who did this to you?” 

Emily huffs and begins to walk away from you, “I don’t want to talk about it, okay? All you need to know is that the guy who did this to me is dead now and we saved a bunch of people. I did my job.” 

You follow her into the living room, observing the way she’s walking stiffly and with a slight limp. Your mind is racing with a million questions you want to ask, but you know that it’s better if you don’t. Emily sits down on her sofa and holds her head in her hands. You slip your shoes off your feet and approach her slowly, joining her on the sofa. You make sure to leave some space between you two, not wanting to crowd her. You can’t imagine what Emily is feeling, what’s running through her mind. You want to help her so badly but you don’t know how. You don’t know what to say. You’ve never been in this situation before.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so so sorry that this happened to you.” You say, fidgeting with your hands because you’re scared to reach out and touch her. “I know this is a stupid question but... is there anything I can do? To help make you feel better?”

After a few long seconds Emily lifts her head and tilts it to the side to look up at you. You notice the tears right away, which triggers your eyes to tear up as well. She sniffles and wipes her nose with the sleeve of her shirt, “I don’t know. I’m... I’m sorry.”

“No, honey. Please don’t apologize, you don’t have to-”

“No, I need to apologize. I need to tell you this before I lose my nerve, so please, just listen to me.”

You nod your head, crossing your arms over your chest. Emily takes a deep breath in and rubs her palms against the top of her thighs. “Okay. I know that when I’m upset or hurt, I usually just want to be alone. And I tried to pull that crap earlier today, but... I really didn’t want to be alone. I was just really freaked out and letting my insecurities get in the way of us, again. Y/n, I don’t- i don’t want to keep doing that to you. I don’t want to be alone anymore, you know?” Emily's brows furrow as chews on her bottom lip to stop it from quivering, her demeanor changing to show her sudden determination as her tears begin to subside. “I don’t want to keep pushing you away when shit like this happens. I know you just want to be there for me and support me, but I don’t... I don’t know how to let you do that Y/n. I don’t know how to trust that you won’t get scared and run off when things get rough. When not seeing me for days at a time is too hard for you, when seeing me like this is too hard for you.”

You begin to speak, “Emily, I-” But you’re quickly cut off by Emily saying something that you definitely weren't ready to hear.

“I love you.” 

All you can do is stare at her with your mouth agape, eyes wide with surprise. This is the first time those three words have been said out loud. You figured you were going to be the first to say them, coming close a couple times in the past few weeks before stopping yourself out of fear and doubt that Emily wouldn’t say it back. But now here you are, being told that your girlfriend, Miss Emily Prentiss, loves you, for the first time ever.

“What?” You ask, dumbly.

“I love you, Y/n.” Emily repeats, “All I could think about when I was in Utah getting my ass kicked was, ‘Oh my god, if I don’t make it out of this alive, Y/n’s not gonna know that I love her. She’s not gonna know how much I want to be with her for every free moment I have. She’s not gonna know, and she’ll be left alone.’ And that only made me want to do everything in my power to get through that stupid fucking disaster so I could come back to you. Even if that meant you seeing me all scratched up and bruised.” 

Emily scoots closer to you and reaches up to tuck your hair behind your ear, cupping your face and rubbing her thumb across your cheek to wipe away the tears you were unaware you were shedding. “I know being with me isn’t easy, baby. I know my career makes things extremely difficult and stressful for us. I know I make things difficult and stressful for you. And I am so deeply sorry for letting you think I didn’t want to be with you, that I didn’t want you around, that I didn’t care about you and our relationship. Because I do. There are gonna be times like this where I’m gonna get really hurt out there, or you’re not gonna hear from me for more than a day because something bad happened at work. I’m sorry if that scares you, it scares me too. I want you to know that no matter what happens to me, I’m going to try my best to make sure that I don’t leave you alone anymore. I need you to know that I will always want you around. That I want you to be here with me when I’m upset, even when I’m hurt. And I’m going to do better at being there for you when you need me too. Because you matter so much to me, Y/n. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you in it. I love you so much it scares the hell out of me because I’ve never had a partner like you. I’ve never truly cared about a partner like I care about you."

You’re barely processing Emily’s words because you’re so overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, but you can tell by the way Emily’s eyes are boring into yours that she’s being very serious about how strongly she cares about you. How much she loves you.

“I’m really sorry that I told you that I love you for the first time like this. This probably wasn’t the right time and I-”

“I love you too!” You exclaim to Emily, smiling awkwardly as you try to stop yourself from crying. 

A massive grin grows on Emily's face, her eyelashes flutter. “Yeah?” She asks sheepishly.

“Yeah." You say reassuringly, nodding a lot and mirroring Emily's elated expression. 

You both gaze at each other, reveling in the significance and sweetness of the moment. The impulse to give Emily a big hug and kiss begins to make itself known, but you stop yourself before you make a move. “God damn it Emily, I want to kiss you so bad but I don’t want to hurt you!” 

“Oh come on! Don't worry, I can take it. Come here, kiss me, please!” Emily pleads as she pulls you closer to her face by the collar of your sweatshirt. Your two smiling mouths meet and your whole body relaxes. Any tension that you had in your shoulders, any tightness in your chest, dissipates as Emily's lips move against yours. You wrap your arms carefully around your girlfriend’s chest, making sure not to squeeze her ribs.

Suddenly a thought pops up in your head, a reminder more like. "So. I hate to bring this up right now. But um..." You mumble against your girlfriend's mouth. She begins trailing kisses down your neck so you can continue speaking. "I should probably call my parents and tell them that dinner is-"

"I think we should still go."

"What? Babe, no!" You shake your head, accidentally bumping your jaw into Emily's nose. 

"Ow!" Emily says, her hand shooting up to hold her nose.

"We're not going! Your face is broken!"

"So? I know this dinner has been pushed back more times than you'd like, and I'm sorry about that. Let me make it up to you. Let's do dinner tomorrow. Your parents can come here so we don't have to go out, I'll have Rossi give me a recipe to make. Come on baby, I want to meet the parents of the woman I love. Even if my face isn't as gorgeous as your mom says it is."

You chuckle at Emily's reference to your mom, "Oh my poor baby! You're still gorgeous to me even with your boo boo eye." You coo in Emily's ear before pressing butterfly kisses all over her face. "I appreciate you wanting to do that, Em. We'll talk about it in the morning, okay? Right now, I just want you to keep kissing me."

Emily's lips land on yours once more and she smiles against her mouth before mumbling, "Mmm... fair enough."

[dragonqueenofice]

Hi! May I have some comfort from Kaeya for a sick reader?

I contracted 'the plague' so to speak, and mentally I feel disconnected navigating a swampy limbo, while my throat is sore and parched. No amount of water is helping. Before this I didn't know you could have sore eardrums

Thank you!

Kaeya tending to a sick reader

Notes: sorry for answering this so late!! I got distracted and for some reason my brain wouldn't let me write but suddenly my brain started working! Hopefully by the time I'm writing this you've gotten better because your condition sounds like hell! Also y/n is enby

Warning: y/n is a knight of favonious, minor story spoilers for Mondstadt, there's a very sudden style change in the last paragraph

Word count: 500

This awful sickness hit you hard. Normally, if you were sick you could push through it and go through the day as mostly normal, although you'd never force yourself to work when sick. Jean refuses to let you work when sick, the one day you tried she forced you to go home and get some rest. Though now, you couldn't even make yourself get up from your bed. It was as though you had an invisible force pressing down on you.

Naturally, people were confused why you weren't at work. You being sick wasn't that irregular, you've had small bouts of illness here or there but you've always appeared at some point to inform everyone of your ailment and then go back home. It didn't minimize the concern at the KoF headquarters as this was the most interesting thing that's happened after the "Stormterror" incident got cleared up. The buzz around the workplace was palpable as rumors were spreading quickly about why you were gone. Most of them made no sense, like the one about how you got attacked by hillicurls. If something like that happened, you'd be at the church getting patched up. Eventually, Jean stepped up and said you were most likely sick, killing the fun the rest of the knights had with coming up with stupid reasons why you were out.

Though the rest of the knights went about their day after that, Kaeya had a few other plans. See, you and the Calvary Captain had been dating for a while now, to the point where the two of you have keys to the other's house, and after hearing the news that his new s/o was sick, Kaeya wasn't about to just let you be sick with nobody there to take care of you. Kaeya snuck out from his regular duties and patrols and walked up to your house, giving a loud knock knock knock on your door. When he received no response, his concern only grew. It must be a bad sickness if you couldn't answer the door. He took out his copy of the keys to your house and unlocked the door, inviting himself in.

It was certainly a sight to see in your state of half-consciousness to see your lovely boyfriend Kaeya sitting nearby your bed with a bowl of soup sitting on your nightstand. Although you were a bit confused about how he got in, it only took him jangling his keys you gave him to jostle your memory, and it also served to get your brain to start waking up. It was a pleasant surprise and a little silver lining to your otherwise awful day to be taken care of by Kaeya, he was surprisingly good at taking care of people when they're sick, though he still insisted on a few kisses, claiming he'd be fine.

"You said you'd be fine." You teased, sitting above Kaeya and checking his temperature. Turns out, he wasn't okay and those kisses did end up giving him a minor fever. Guess now you have to be the caretaker.

Once again, I hope by the time of posting this you've gotten better! Sorry for not answering this ask untill now but like… motivation is far and few between, hope this cheers you up if your still sick! And also, have a good day! -Dragon Queen

[crispynuggetbutter]

Howdy! I heard read your first post and decided to send in an ask!

Which Overwatch character is your favorite? And what’s your favorite fan-fiction trope?

And if you wish you can write the character with the trope or ask me to do it and I just might.

Thanks for the ask!!!

Sorry for the slow response, I’ve been so busy with school work lately. 😫

Hmmmm... My favorite Overwatch characters would probably have to be Mccree and Reaper, at least for right now anyway. But, In game, I main D.va (lol).

My favorite fanfic trope is Yandere and cute fluff stories. I know, Those two are on two far sides of the spectrum. Ive always wanted to do headcannons but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet!

Ill do a story abt a reader whose sick and Mccree is taking care of them! A/N: I wanted the fic to get all of the cute himbo Mccree that I have stuck in my brain… lol

Rolling over to the far side of the bed, you reach for a cold glass of water to soothe the itch in your throat. Jesse had left a glass there for you the night before. He had tried to force you to drink it but you put up a good fight. So, he decided to leave it for whenever you felt ready.

The two of you had no idea how you had got a cold. It could’ve been from you never wearing a jacket outside, or maybe even from the old lady that was coughing in that one grocery store the other day. But you don’t really know.

Hearing heavy footsteps from down the hall, you quickly sit the glass down and pretend to be asleep. Jesse was always serious when it came to you not feeling well. He’s always suffocating when it comes to your health, making you drink soup and sleep the day away until you’re better.

Quietly, you hear the door creak open. The sound of glass clinks nearby, causing you to open your eyes out of curiosity.

Not to your surprise, A large, steaming bowl of chicken soup sits on the nightstand.

“Morning, sunshine.” Jesse drawls, placing his hands on his hips as he looks down at you smiling.

Squinting your eyes, you look towards him and begin to stretch. “Good morning, love.” You say, with a sore throat still present in your voice.

Jesse feels around on the bed, and sits next to your lying form. Softly grabbing your head with both hands, he presses a kiss on your forehead and slowly rubs his thumbs across your cheek.

Ruining the tender moment, Jesse whispers into the side of your neck, “It’s time for breakfast~” in a singing tune.

Chicken soup has been the only thing on your menu for the past two days. Jesse has been keeping you on strict bed rest as he watches over you. You’ve begun to grow sick of the soup. And how much he enjoys teasing you.

Jesse reaches over towards the nightstand and brings the fragrant bowl to your face. He begins blowing on a steaming spoonful, and then lifts it up to your mouth.

“Say ahh-” Jesse chuckles. He knows how much you hate this. Relenting to his smile, you open wide, allowing him to shove the warm spoon into your mouth.

“Mmm?” Jesse asks gleefully. Struggling to hide a smile, you reply. “…Yum.”

This painful process continues on for a few minutes. Once the bowl is empty, Jesse sits it on the nightstand once again. Instead of leaving you in the room by yourself, he begins setting out clothes for you. As if you were actually going somewhere…

“What are you doing?” you question. His large form is currently hunched over, digging through the clothes in your dresser. You watch tentatively as he unfolds a different white t shirt and lays across the bed.

Before he answers, he takes a moment to dump the stray clothes he threw about the room, back into the drawer. “I’m getting you a change of clothes.” He declares.

“Well, are we goin’ somewhere?” You ask excitedly, practically ripping the sheets off of yourself as you stumble out of bed.

“Well, you’re gettin’ a bath before anything.” Jesse holds back a laugh before bringing two fingers to his face, covering his nose.

“I DO NOT STINK!” You yell, throwing a pillow across the room at him. Of course he dodges just in time.

“Give yourself a sniff sweetheart!” Jesse says through a flood of laughter.

Grabbing the collar of your shirt, you try to catch a whiff of whatever has Jesse in tears in front of you.

And god do you stink.

Armpit must and sweat is the only thing that comes to mind after you smell the inside of your shirt. Lifting your face from your collar, you avoid making eye contact with Jesse.

You never stopped to consider that two days on bedrest had the ability to make you smell so bad. You didn’t think you smelled horrible, but Jesse made it seem like your underarms could kill with the way he’s hollerin’ in front of you with his hands on his knees. He must’ve read your facial expression, because you hadn’t even had the chance to defend yourself.

Trying to hold onto any amount of pride you had left, you fold your arms and say “It has been a while since I’ve had a bath.”

Jesse wipes his tears as his laughing fit calms down. “Yeah, I’ll get the water started, and you can look for those shorts you like so much.”

When you hear the bath water finish filling up the tub, you grab a fresh towel and wash cloth from the closet and make your way down the hallway. Jesse is standing next to the door with a stern look on his face. Like he’s planning on making sure you actually get in the water.

Returning his serious glare, you walk past him and close the bathroom door behind you. Jesse had laid out different bottles of lotions, soaps and bath salts for you to use. At times he could be a real pain in your ass, but sometimes… sometimes he could be the most thoughtful person you’d ever known.

Relentlessly, he had been by your side every time you caught a cold. He always made sure you got enough rest and never asked for anything in return.

After ridding yourself of your dirty clothes and throwing them in the corner, you stepped into the warm bubbly water. You reached for the lavender bath salt container and poured a generous amount into the bathwater with you.

After taking your time to clean your body, you stepped out of the tub and began drying off your body with your towel.

You spend extra time to brush your teeth in the sink before stepping out of the foggy bathroom, with Jesse sitting outside waiting on you.

Picking up your speed speed, Jesse grabs your wrist and pull you close. “Lemme smell.”

Struggling against him, you attempt pushing him away to no avail. “I don’t need you to check me Jesse!” He pulls you into a tight hug, squeezing you against his chest and makes an exaggerated inhale through his nose and then let’s you go of your damp form.

Gasping for breath, You scramble away from him and make your way towards the living room and turn on a familiar TV show. Jesse slowly follows behind you and collapses on the seat next to you.

You lean into his shoulder as the two of you begin watching a new episode. “Thanks for everything…” you quietly say into his arm. You feel his body shift towards you as his palm rubs against the side of his face. He pulls your face closer to his and places a prolonged kiss on your forehead once again.

Both of your bodies move closer together as you look back to the tv screen.

“You’re welcome sweetheart…”

[full-of-jams]

Tangsuyuk Love

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Summary: College student Jungkook passes cute notes with a customer who always orders take-out tangsuyuk at his part-time job. Meanwhile he’s trying not to miserably fail his Math class, while hiding his ever-growing crush on you.

Genre: college au, f2l, fluff, smut, one shot, did I mention FLUFF?

Warnings: mild swearing, sexual content, hold your heart palpitations!

Word Count: 11.5k

A/N: I wanted to write something light and sweet before I continued with Good Riddance. It will be easy, she said. It will be fun, she said. It will be quick, she said. Ha. haha. ha. ha. Ignore my pain. Enjoy!

°°°°°°°

[09/04 18:34 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY] 1 Tangsuyuk (large) 1 Jjamppong 2 Kimchi Mandu ---------------- Note: Without pineapple! Please make the jjamppong extra spicy, my boyfriend just broke up with me T-T

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (large) -- 20,000 1 Jjamppong -- 5,000 2 Kimchi Mandu -- 6,000 1 Soju -- 0

Total: 31,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: Service! Nothing’s better than the fresh taste of soju to lighten a heavy heart :) Cheer up LatteIsHorse-Nim!

Paper Note: JK-nim, thanks for the soju. It sweetened my bitter night. This is Tokki, please give him a loving new home! TT-TT

Jungkook was fucking terrified of you. If it weren’t for the fact that he was close to failing Statistical Analysis, he would’ve considered faking a stomach flu and making a beeline straight out of the library.

“If you have a box containing 3 white, 4 red and 5 black balls what is the probability that you will draw a white ball on your first draw and a black ball on your second draw?” you asked again through gritted teeth.

You looked up at Jungkook and were met by an empty stare. Usually you enjoyed tutoring your fellow classmate. He was a smart and funny guy, maybe a bit awkward at times, but always trying his best. Today every little thing grated on your nerves. It took you every ounce of energy to get out of bed and look like a presentable human being this morning. You really didn’t want to sit here for another hour if the boy was just going to stare at you like a petrified statue. “It’s really not that difficult. You just have to apply conditional probability.”

Jungkook let out a frustrated huff and pulled at his hair, “I really don’t know, this doesn’t make any sense! Why do I even need this stuff for my major? Who cares if I pull out a white ball or a black ball first? It’s not like I’m planning on becoming Houdini!”

Sometimes you pitied him, but who on Earth had an irrational fear of Gauss distributions and probability?! They were beautiful, harmless, abstract concepts of life. Your sympathy was muffled by a thrumming headache. All the late-night crying already had you chugging water and slapping ice cubes on your face at breakfast. Right now you just wanted to go home, change into your pjs, order some tangsuyuk and binge watch Boys Over Flowers. The cringy acting and Go Jun Pyo’s luscious locks were the only things that made your miserable life feel a bit less pathetic at the moment. “Jungkook, we went over this last time. Just apply the damn formula,” you snapped.

“Why are you being so scary today?” he asked wide-eyed and apprehensive.

You took a deep breath, rubbed your temples and tried to calm your inner turmoil. It wasn’t his fault; you were just in a really shitty mood. “I’m sorry. It’s not my day today. Is it okay if we rain check? I promise I’ll make it up to you next week.”

Jungkook wasn’t used to seeing you this distraught. He wracked his brain on how to lift your spirit. “Hey, do you want to hear this math joke my friend Jin told me the other day? What do you call an angle that is adorable?”

The boy scrunched his nose adorably and waited for your response. He was really handsome, you noticed that back when you two first met. Back then you just didn’t have a reason to care. Back then you still had a boyfriend.

“I don’t know, tell me,” you answered.

“Acute angle!” he said with a timid smile.

Despite your foul mood you had to snort at his joke.

Jungkook’s smile grew wider. It wasn’t a full laugh, but at least your frown disappeared. He discovered early on that you had a soft spot for bad math puns.

Although he absolutely detested Statistical Analysis, he has come to enjoy your study sessions over the past couple of weeks. The TA of his class, Namjoon, was a close friend of Jungkook’s and a sunbae of yours. Once he discovered that his favorite dongsaeng was abysmal at reading a z-score table, he immediately referred him to you.

At first Jungkook was very reluctant to accept any help. He was a mechanical engineer for fuck’s sake! He calculated distributed load across uneven surfaces and directional derivatives all the time!

His inner protests died down during your first session when you unwittingly asked him if he was constipated while he tried to calculate the standard deviation. During your second session he noticed you liked to doodle small geometric and fractal comics on his work sheets whenever he was solving a problem.

‘What did the triangle say to the circle?’ ‘You’re pointless!’

By the time your third session rolled around he still hated statistics, but it was too late and he’d developed a hopeless crush on you. Your monologues about dead mathematicians and the beauty of an infinite series were oddly captivating. He didn’t think he’d ever met anyone who was so passionate and animated about anything in all his life.

“Is everything okay?” Jungkook asked carefully. You seemed tired and a bit wary. “I-I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel like it. Sorry, it’s none of my business,” he immediately added.

You smiled at his flustered state. Jungkook’s heart stumbled when your smile turned sad and you said, “No not really, but I’m sure I’ll be fine sooner or later.”

[13/04 19:12 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

1 Tangsuyuk (large) 1 Jjajangmyeon 1 Jjajangbap ---------------- Note: JK-nim! Omg your tangsuyuk is the best! I could drown in that sauce! How is Tokki doing?

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (large) -- 20,000 1 Jjajangmyeon -- 4,500 1 Jjajangbap -- 5,500

Total: 30,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: LatteIsHorse-nim! Little Tokki is doing well and bravely guarding our store! Don’t drown, but here’s some extra sauce for you to enjoy. I asked for it to be without pineapple. Hwaiting!

“Yah! Why does it smell like rotten take-out in your bedroom?” Jisoo asked.

Scowling has become your new go-to expression. “Too soon. Just let me wallow in my self-pity and sorrow.”

If you didn’t know any better you would’ve thought your friend was playing ‘The Floor Is Lava’ considering how gingerly she walked across your room. Safely on the other side, she ripped open a window to let some much needed fresh air in. 

“I think you’re going to be wallowing in mold and fungus instead,” Jisoo commented with disgust. “Wallow all you want, I’m here to support you, girl. But I can’t allow you to turn your place into a biohazard zone. Isn’t your sister bothered by this?”

“My sister doesn’t care; our rooms are off limits to each other. As long as we both keep the common area clean, she won’t complain,” you said.

Jisoo sat down on your bed and patted the empty spot next to her. She immediately retracted her hand. “Eww, is that tangsuyuk sauce on your sheets?” she asked, completely appalled.

You shrugged and thumped onto your bed.

“So what are your plans for tonight?” she asked, trying to suppress a shudder.

“It’s Monday night. What plans could I possibly have?”

“We’re in college! Weekdays, weekends, they’re all the same!” your friend exclaimed. She looked at your sprawled-out figure. “I told you from the very beginning he wasn’t good for you. I know it doesn’t feel like this right now, but you’re lucky he’s out of your life. I really can’t watch you torture yourself over a jerk like him. Let’s go out to Hongdae!”

“I can’t go out. I already have plans.”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t have any plans?”

“I lied. I have a date.”

Jisoo paused for a second, unsure how to respond. “Really? With whom?”

“Gong Yoo. We promised to kiss each other on first snowfall,” you responded listlessly.

“Yah!” Jisoo yelled and smacked your butt.

“Oww! What was that for?” you cried in surprise, rubbing the tender spot.

“Re-watching Goblin is not a date! You scared me for a second,” Jisoo said.

“How is it not a date? I meet a hot oppa, multiple hot oppas, we have dinner together, I giggle and blush and at the end of the night I get kissed to sleep.” You sat up and gave your friend a weary look. “I really don’t want to go out right now, but also don’t want to be on my own. Can’t we just stay in and watch a drama?” you asked with the saddest face you could muster.

Jisoo wanted to argue, but she couldn’t resist your pout. “Fine. But first you change your bedsheets, I’m not gonna sit in moldy tangsuyuk sauce all night. And I get to choose the drama.”

“Call!”

[16/04 17:58 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

1 Tangsuyuk (small) 1 Kimchi Kimbap 1 Beef Kimbap  ---------------- Note: JK-nim thanks for the extra sauce! It was delicious. Are you a dipper or a pourer?

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (small) -- 13,000 1 Kimchi Kimbap -- 2,500 1 Beef Kimbap -- 2,500 1 Soup -- 0

Total: 18,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: LatteIsHorse-nim! Personally, I’m a dipper, but I don’t discriminate! I added some broth as service for you. It’s chilly tonight. Don’t catch a cold!

Paper Note: JK-nim, let’s be friends? I’m also a dipper! Did you know that butterflies can’t fly when they’re cold? Here is one that I folded, sending back my warmest thoughts to you on this frosty spring night.

The first thing that caught your eye was Jungkook who was patiently waiting at the library entrance. Despite the steaming goods in his hands, his entire body was shivering. The temperature suddenly dropped last night, but he couldn’t be bothered to dig up his padded jacket when he left the house this morning.

Before you could even greet him, he shoved a hot milk tea towards you and mumbled, “Here, it’s cold today so I thought you could use something warm.”

You were surprised by this sweet gesture. “Thanks,” you reached for it and examined the drink in your hand, ”How did you know I like black milk tea?”

He ducked his head and mumbled something into himself.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

Jungkook lifted his head. His cheeks and nose were a lovely wash of pink from the cold. “You mentioned once that you’re an OG milk tea drinker, so I just guessed” he repeated again, louder. “I saw this bungeoppang cart on the way here. We can share them while studying?” he said, holding up a small paper bag.

Your heart warmed and for the first time in weeks your face split into big smile, “Sure, I love bungeoppang! We’re not allowed to eat inside the library. So how about we eat everything first before they get cold and then go in?”

The both of you took a seat on a bench. By now Jungkook definitely regretted being too lazy to find his jacket this morning, but he was determined not to let it show. He passed the bag full of bungeoppangs to you.

You happily reached for one of the fish-shaped pastries and started munching on it. Your face crinkled, steam came out of your mouth. Jungkook’s heart skipped as he watched you in fascination. Your cheeks were flushed. A sudden instinct to stroke your rosy skin overcame him. Instead he reached for a bungeoppang and took a careful bite. “Are you feeling better today?”

“A little bit,” you said between bites, “I’m really sorry about last time. I feel bad now. I ditched you and now you’re treating me to snacks.” You went on and stabbed your straw through your milk tea. “I should be the one treating you instead.”

“I like to treat you,” Jungkook said, mesmerized by the way your lips moved against the straw. He suddenly realized what he was doing and cleared his throat, “A happy teacher is a good teacher! You’re already spending your time tutoring me.”

A laugh slipped out of you, “Jungkook, you’re paying me for your lessons. But it’s okay, this bungeoppang and tea definitely hits the spot, so I’ll accept it with a grateful heart. What are you drinking?”

Jungkook looked down on his drink and gave it a shake, the black pearls swirled around buoyantly. “Banana milk tea, I prefer sweet drinks.”

You leaned back against the bench and looked up at the clear blue sky. “Sweet things are the best combat against the bitter taste of life,” you sighed. You closed your eyes and soaked in the crisp air. Jungkook felt your melancholy, he could warm your body, but he didn’t know how to warm your heart.  

“Sorry that I’m bothering you with my personal stuff. It’s just that I had a really bad breakup recently. I shouldn’t let it affect our lessons,” you said with a wistful smile as you lifted your head again.

The boy next to you remained silent. You turned and saw a contemplative look on his face. “It’s alright, everyone can have a bad day,” he finally said, “You don’t have to pretend to be okay when you’re not. If you’re never angry or sad, you won’t know when you’re happy.”

His words stunned you. Has Jungkook always been this thoughtful? You turned away from his gaze and looked down at the pastry in your hand. “They’re rhombus shaped,” you muttered in an attempt of distraction and showed your bungeoppang to Jungkook. “The fish scales,” you added when he looked confused.

“Ah yeah, the scales. It’s actually erroneous since most of the bungeoppangs depict a ganoid scale structure when in fact carps have cycloid scales to allow for a greater flexibility,” Jungkook explained.

A blank look appeared on your face. Probably the same blank look he had whenever you tried to explain the Bayes’ theorem to him. He let out an awkward laugh, “We studied the mechanics of fish scale structures in Material Science. You can correlate the flexibility of a scaled surface depending on its underlying geometric structure and material. It’s pretty cool stuff.”

“I can’t believe you can geek out about the geometry of fish scales, but don’t know how to define your probability population,” you snorted in disbelief. 

“Hey, when will I ever need to calculate the probability of two people with the same birthday in a room? I just have a hard time learning stuff I never have to apply,” he said defensively.

Then you suddenly had an idea. “Tell you what, how about this? If you pass your statistics final, I’ll treat you to the best Chinese take-out in town! You can order whatever you want!”

Jungkook didn’t want to dampen your excitement by telling you that his part-time job already allowed him to eat as much Chinese take-out as he wanted. “Okay, but don’t complain when you go broke. My record was five jjajangmyeon and two tangsuyuk in one sitting.”

You batted away his challenge. “First you have to pass your finals,” you teased.

“I’ll pass,” Jungkook said.

You smiled at his cute determination. “Then it’s a date.”

Jungkook beamed back at you. “It’s a date.”

[05/05 18:21 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

1 Tangsuyuk (large) 2 Pork Mandu 1 Tteokkguk 1 Jjajangmyeon 1 Tteokkbokki ---------------- Note: No pineapple plz. JK-nim! Happy Children’s Day! For this special occasion I’ve decided to order all of my childhood favorites. Life is too short to eat bad food. I hope today you treat yourself to something delicious as well!

“Yah! JK! Your girlfriend placed an order again!” Yugyeom yelled across the store.

A mop of black hair peaked out from the back of the shop. “She’s not my girlfriend, she’s just a regular,” Jungkook yelled back.

“A regular you flirt with,” Yugyeom snickered, “I saw all the notes you left her in the system. ‘Don’t catch a cold!’, ‘Hwaiting!’ Don’t tell me that’s not your lame attempt at flirting.”

Suddenly an angry Yoongi stomped out of the kitchen. “Keep it down boys, we have guests here.”

Jungkook went up to the register and printed out the online order. “Hyung, can you make a large tangsuyuk without pineapple?”

“It’s a national holiday, there’s like two people here tonight,” Yugyeom muttered under his breath.

“What did you say, Yugyeom?”

“Nothing, hyung!”

Yoongi snatched the order out of Jungkook’s hand and gave both boys another irritated glance before he headed back into the kitchen.

“Hey JK,” Yugyeom said in a lower voice as he moved next to his friend, “aren’t you ever curious how LatteIsHorse is like? I mean, she must have some sense of humor judging by her username.”

“Sometimes. Don’t you ever wonder how our regulars are like? But it’s not like I’m ever gonna meet them or know it’s them when they come into the store,” Jungkook said with a shrug.

“You could though. Mingyu’s out on delivery, Eunwoo’s off so we have a free bike. The store is dead tonight. You could go deliver the order and have a look,” Yugyeom spurred him on.

Jungkook considered his friend’s suggestion. Every time he opened his locker a little origami bunny and butterfly stared back at him and brightened his day. It was true, he was curious how LatteIsHorse was like. “Okay I’ll go, but don’t pretend you’re doing me a favor. You just don’t want to do delivery tonight.”

<Ding Dong>

A pretty girl in a Yonsei hoodie and shorts opened the door. She somehow looked familiar, but Jungkook couldn’t place from where. Maybe he met her on campus before.

“Delivery from Golden Bang,” Jungkook said, holding up his metal box.

“Ah great! I’m starving!” the girl said.

Jungkook started unloading the box and handed the dishes to the girl. Once he was done, he lingered awkwardly in the doorway. The girl gave him a curious look, clearly wondering why he wasn’t leaving. Jungkook gathered his courage and said, “I’m JK by the way.”

What followed was a beat of silence. Jungkook could feel his ears burn.

“Err, it’s nice to meet you, I guess? Is there anything else you need?” the girl asked after the painful pause. “Ah got it! Just a sec!” She ran into the apartment and came back with her wallet. “Here’s a tip, we’ll put the dishes back outside for pick up,” she said as she scrunched a bill into Jungkook’s hand, “Thanks for your hard work. Happy holiday!” And then she shut the door right into his face.

What just happened? Jungkook was stupefied. After an eternity he finally moved and mechanically pulled out his phone. He checked the delivery order on his app. LatteIsHorse – this was the address. She didn’t recognize him. Why was he so naive to believe that she would remember him? All he wanted in that moment was for the ground to open and swallow him up.

“Dinner’s here,” your sister said as you came out of the shower. “Did you order banana milk?”

“No? Why?” you joined her at the dinner table and started rummaging through the dishes. “Where’s the receipt?”

“I threw it in the trash,” she said. When she saw you opening up the trash can and fishing for it, she added, “Gross! What are you doing? Why do you need it?”

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (large) -- 20,000 2 Pork Mandu -- 6,000 1 Tteokkguk -- 4,500 1 Jjajangmyeon -- 4,500 1 Tteokkbokki -- 3,000

Total: 38,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: LatteIsHorse-nim! Happy Children’s Day to you too! I added my favorite childhood drink, banana milk! I hope it brings back as many happy childhood memories for you as it does for me.

There, sitting on the table, was a small bottle of banana milk. A smile spread across your face. “I need to file it away for tax purposes.”

Your sister looked at you like you were crazy. “Let’s eat already, I’m starving. Wash your hands.”

[14/05 16:55 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [TAKE AWAY]

1 Tangsuyuk (small) 1 Jjajangbap ---------------- Note: JK-nim, hope you’re doing well. I’m in the area today, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello in person! Is it weird that I feel a bit nervous?

The restaurant door wasn’t going to open itself. The past 15 minutes of you standing in front of it has proven that. You had some errands to run in Hongdae after school and decided on a whim to place a pickup order at your favorite take-out place. 

Why was it so difficult to enter a restaurant? If you steeled your nerves any more, they’d probably break from how brittle they’ve become. You just had to open that damn door.

Sometimes you wondered if you liked that place more because of its great tangsuyuk or because of JK’s little notes which always managed to put a smile on your face.

One thing was for sure, you weren’t stalling because of the tangsuyuk.

“Welcome to Golden Bang!” a bright male voice rang across the restaurant as you passed through the door.

You walked up to the register and sneaked a peek at the boy’s name tag, ‘Yugyeom’. You felt a slight twinge of disappointment.

“I’m here to pick up my order? LatteIsHorse?” you asked tentatively.

A sign of recognition flashed across Yugyeom’s face. “Of course, your order’s ready! I’ll just bag it up for you,” he said cheerfully. He walked away and quickly came back with a white plastic bag full of food. Then he printed out your receipt and handed both to you.

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: YG ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (small) -- 13,000 1 Jjajangbap -- 5,500

Total: 18,500 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

You looked around the restaurant, it was empty since dinnertime was still a while away. You wondered if Yugyeom was managing the store alone right now. At least the cook must be in. “Your tangsuyuk is really delicious. It’s probably my favorite.”

Yugyeom gave you a big smile, “Happy to hear that you enjoy our food so much. The tangsuyuk is our chef’s family recipe. It’s one of our most popular menu items!”

You wringed your hands and finally decided to bite the bullet and straight out ask, “Is JK here? He usually takes my orders when I order delivery, so I just wanted to say hi.”

“JK’s shift doesn’t start until 6, so he should be here in about half an hour. If you want, I can relay a message,” he said with a knowing smile, “Or you can also take a seat and wait for him. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to meet you.”

No way you were going to sit here for half an hour and wait up for a stranger. “Ah no, that’s alright. If you could just say hi from me, that’d be great,” you quickly replied with a flush. JK would probably think you’re a creepy stalker.

“Sure, can do! Enjoy your day!” Yugyeom said merrily as you walked out the store.

A feeling of both relief and sadness passed through you. You slowly walked down the busy streets of Hongdae as you reprimanded yourself for being so stupid. What were you going to say to JK anyway if you met him? Thanks for being nice to me? You’re the reason I don’t burst into tears every single night? You’re the reason why I don’t feel completely alone when I’m sobbing into my food over Song Joong Ki’s acting? Thanks for making me gain 3 kilos in the last month?

Whatever you said, it would’ve only made you sound pathetic.

A crippling wave of desperation suddenly washed over you and rooted you in your tracks. A single tear rolled down your face. Then another. You dropped down into a crouch and started to bawl. You couldn’t fathom how you’ve reached this all-time low in your life. Why did you feel so incredibly sad about being stood up by a stranger? Especially when that stranger didn’t even know you were coming?

“Y/N?” an alarmed voice asked. You looked up when you felt a soft shake against your shoulder.

Through your tear-blurred eyes you recognized Jungkook’s face. He crouched down next to you and asked, “Is everything okay? Are you hurt?”

You shook your head and tried to wipe away your tears. It was a useless attempt as they kept on streaming down your face.

Jungkook hesitantly pushed your hair out of your face and asked, “Do you want to go somewhere else so you can tell me what happened?”

You gave him an imperceptible nod.

His hand gently moved down to your arm, afraid that you were going to push him away. With a steady grip he slowly helped you back onto your feet. Then he slid his hand through yours and led you down the hustle and bustle of Hongdae until you ended up in front of a convenience store located in one of the quieter residential side streets. He sat you down in a plastic chair and told you to wait. After a while he came back with a packet of tissues, a bottle of water and two red bean popsicles.

You gratefully took the tissues and loudly blew your nose. A small part of your brain told you to act more ladylike, especially in front of Jungkook, but the bigger part didn’t really care and just wanted to drag you back down into the pits of loneliness. A strangled sound came out of your mouth as you started to hiccup, making you sound like a drowning cat.

You expected Jungkook to laugh at your weird orchestra of emotions. Even you found it absurd and would’ve laughed if you weren’t already crying and hiccupping at the same time. But all he did was quietly open the water bottle and hand it to you.  

As soon as you lifted the bottle to your mouth another hiccup made you almost spill the water on yourself. You held your breath for a few seconds and then took a careful sip. It seemed to work. You took a bigger sip, when another hiccup racked your body and you squeezed water all over your face.

There was a bewildering moment of shock, then you started to laugh deliriously. Forget before, this was your lowest point in life. This was so pathetic that it was hilarious again. Your laughter garbled whenever you hiccupped, only causing you to laugh even harder. You would’ve continued laughing for another long minute if you weren’t choking for air.

A small smile played around Jungkook’s mouth. He took another tissue and started wiping down your face. You hiccupped under his touch. He must think you’re a nutcase.

“I have a question. We have to do some statistical testing in my Quality Management class. What would a hypothesis look like if I wanted to analyze any deviation in a spare parts production line due to temperature conditions?” Jungkook asked.

Did he really forget hypothesis testing already? He finally managed to get it after four sessions! You frowned slightly. “You could set up a null hypothesis stating that a variation in temperature does not significantly impact the parameter of measurement in your production line. Jungkook did you seriously forget this?!” you said indignantly.

Jungkook gave you a playful laugh, “No, I think you drilled it so hard into my brain, I could probably recite all variables of the standard deviation formula if you woke me up in the middle of the night. Your hiccups stopped though.”

They did.

Embarrassment set in as you realized your predicament. Maybe your hormones were going crazy, maybe you were going crazy. You were getting whiplash from the emotional roller coaster you were on. In an attempt to hide your disgrace, you picked up another tissue and wiped away the remaining water, snot and tears.

There was tangible awkwardness in the air.

“I hope you like red bean,” Jungkook said shyly as he unwrapped a popsicle, “Red bean is my favorite. My friends keep on calling me old fashioned, but it just reminds me of the time when my mom used to buy me these after taekwondo class. I think I liked the popsicles more than I liked going to class.” He sighed in reverie and held up the popsicle for you.

You stared at his hand. You remembered how it felt against yours just a few moments ago. Firm, warm and steady. Then you looked up at Jungkook. He hid it well, but you could tell that there was concern behind his encouraging smile.

“This is so embarrassing,” you said as you accepted the popsicle and turned your head away from him, “I don’t know what is wrong with me right now. I’m usually not like this.”

“Did something happen earlier?” Jungkook asked cautiously as he unwrapped his own popsicle and took a bite out of it.

Did something happen earlier? Why did you cry? Where you really crying just because you didn’t meet JK?

“No,” you said and slowly shook your head, “I don’t know. I just suddenly felt overwhelmed.”

Jungkook hesitated before he asked, “Are you sad because of your breakup?”

Were you sad because of your ex-boyfriend?

“I don’t think so. In the beginning when we broke up I was devastated, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore,” you said more to yourself than to Jungkook. “Everyone told me I was lucky to be rid of him. I really didn’t understand why. But I think it’s becoming clearer now. Maybe it’s not sadness. Maybe it’s fear. I think I just feel lost. I don’t know who I am anymore. Maybe it scares me to know that I was able to lose myself and I don’t know if I can find a way back.”

Before you knew it, you spilled your heart, your deepest and darkest fears to Jungkook. You barely knew this boy, yet it still felt oddly comforting. He remained quiet and listened.

“I wanted to meet someone today, but they weren’t there,” you continued, “I think in that moment I just realized how utterly lost I was on my own.”

Jungkook searched for the appropriate words. How do you respond to someone’s most vulnerable thoughts? “I mean you know what they say. It’s not about how much you’ve lost, it’s about how much you have left.”

He peeked at you to check if it worked.

“Jungkook, did you just quote Iron Man at me?” you asked incredulously before a giggle slipped from your lips.

You noticed how his cheeks dimpled when he gave you an embarrassed laugh, “Sorry, I was trying to say something that would cheer you up. I’m probably not doing a very good job.”

In that second you realized how kind-hearted Jungkook actually was. Your heart squeezed. “Don’t say that. Thanks for listening to my problems. And thanks for the red bean popsicle. I also ate this a lot in my childhood. Mainly because my sister hated them. She always used to steal my ice cream out of the freezer so at some point I asked my parents to only buy me red bean popsicles. She never touched those,” you reminisced.

Jungkook laughed at your story, “Your sister sounds like a piece of work.”

“We used to fight a lot, we used to never get along,” you became thoughtful, “At some point that stopped. I think we just grew up and grew to understand and accept our differences. She doesn’t steal my food anymore. I don’t steal her clothes anymore. We may not always agree, but we respect each other’s decisions.”

“You know, for someone who just said she feels lost, you sound pretty self-reflected right now,” Jungkook mused, “Maybe you need to do the same as you did with your sister. Understand yourself and accept the differences of your past and present.”

You paused at this. He was right. You were so desperately trying to fend off these negative emotions that you never took the time to actually think. You were chasing an image that never existed. Not in the past nor in the present.

“You’re surprisingly good at giving advice. Thanks, Jungkook,” you said.

“Surprisingly? What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, offended. The glint in his eyes gave his teasing away.

Laughter pealed from you. Jungkook was captivated by the sound. He drank in the way your eyes creased with mirth and followed your fingers as they brushed back your hair.

Jungkook’s phone vibrated. “Oh shit!”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I was actually on my way to work and my boss is asking me where I am,” he said as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

Jungkook startled when you suddenly jumped up. “Then you should get to work! You should’ve said something sooner. I’m so sorry for keeping you here!”

“No, it’s really fine. I’ve done enough overtime. He won’t complain if I’m a few minutes late,” he said, “Are you feeling better?”

You ignored his question and pushed against his shoulders to get him out of the chair. “Go to work, Jungkook. I’ll be fine, your red bean popsicle did wonders,” you responded placatively.

When he still didn’t move, you grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the main street. Jungkook’s skin scorched under your touch. “Go to work, Jungkook,” you said again with more emphasis.

“Are you sure…?” he asked, unwilling to let you out of his sight before he knew you weren’t just going cry again at the next street corner.

“I won’t burst into tears,” you said as if reading his mind. “You were right, I need to reconcile with myself. So I’ll go home, enjoy my dinner and think about who I am and who I want to be. And you,” you said giving him another gentle shove, “need to go to work.”

Jungkook saw the stubborn look on your face. He wondered if you realized you were using your teaching voice right now. You weren’t going to take no for an answer. “Okay fine, text me when you get home?”

You waved away his concerns. “Sure. Go already,” you said with a big reassuring smile. “See you tomorrow at school!” you added before you turned around and walked away.

“You’re late,” Yugyeom said as soon as Jungkook entered the store.

Jungkook gave Yugyeom a sheepish look and only muttered, “Yeah sorry, something came up on my way here.” Then he rushed past him to the back of the restaurant and changed into his uniform.

Once he came back out he noticed Yugyeom throwing him strange looks.

“What?”

“Your girlfriend says hi,” Yugyeom said with a hint of amusement.

“Who?”

Yugyeom gave Jungkook a meaningful look, “LatteIsHorse. She ordered pick up. I think she was hoping to meet you. She’s cute. She looks like she’s probably a college student around here.”

“I know,” was all Jungkook replied.

Yugyeom’s eyes bulged in curiosity, “You know? You know she’s cute or you know she’s a student? You never told me what actually happened that night!”

Jungkook gave him a tired look and said, “She didn’t recognize me. She wore a Yonsei hoodie, so I guess she goes there. Nothing else happened.”

“Hmm, that’s weird. She was asking for you today, so she definitely knows your name,” Yugyeom said.

“Who knows, maybe she was having a lot on her plate that day,” Jungkook said with a shrug. He wondered where you lived and if you already got home safely. “Why are you obsessing over this so much?”

“Man, do you know how painful it is to watch your sorry attempts at flirting? I’m just trying to help you out, mate,” Yugyeom quipped.

“I wasn’t flirting! I was just trying cheer someone up who was obviously feeling down! It’s called being a decent human being,” Jungkook exclaimed.

Yugyeom gave him the side eye, “Yeah, that’s still not gonna get you laid.”

[19/05 18:47 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

1 Tangsuyuk (small) 1 Bibimbap ---------------- Note: JK-nim, I visited you at the store last week, but you weren’t there. TT-TT I hope you don’t think I’m weird, I just really like talking to you. You always manage to put a smile on my face when I’m having a hard day. We’re still friends, right?

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (small) -- 13,000 1 Bibimbap -- 5,000

Total: 18,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: LatteIsHorse-nim! I’m sad that I missed your visit to our store. I’ll try harder the next time! I added some extra bulgogi to make up for it. :) Of course we’re still friends. I don’t wish any hard days upon you, but I’m glad to hear that my words have a healing effect. In case you ever need a friend to talk to, feel free to talk to me. 010-1234-5678.

The study sessions with Jungkook continued per usual. He still struggled and had frustrated outbursts from time to time, especially when you forced him to revise probability distributions. When you finally reached regression analysis, things became easier.

Although your sessions remained the same, something in your dynamic changed. The both of you became looser and more playful around each other. He wouldn’t clamp up anymore and you felt more at ease around him. You became friends. He never once mentioned that disasterous afternoon.

At home, on the evening of the incident, you shot Jungkook a text and slumped down on the couch. Your sister was out that night, so it was just you in the apartment. Normally, the eerie quiet would’ve unsettled you and you would’ve distracted yourself from your deafening thoughts. But that night you just let them scream, yell and tear at you.

It was an excruciating process, but in the end your head was clearer, your heart calmer. You still weren’t quite there yet, but at least you made a first step out of the endless pit of desperation.

There were other things you noticed about yourself. Gradually you realized you didn’t mind being on your own anymore. You rediscovered your love for drawing and created you own mandala art. You also learned to code your own website and now had a clickable version of your cv on the go. Although you made time for yourself, you weren’t a hermit. You went out for drinks with Jisoo and soon asked Namjoon to take you along to your university’s Math Club. There you met a lot of familiar faces that you’ve encountered in class but never talked to. With them you spent animated evenings discussing stimulating math problems and exchanging incredibly bad math puns.

You also started noticing things about Jungkook. He wasn’t as timid and shy as you initially thought. Once he got over his awkwardness, he turned out to be quite a cheeky and goofy guy. He teased you or told you silly jokes whenever you were on a break. Despite his obvious aversion for statistics, he still took your lessons very seriously. Diligently listening to your explanations and trying to solve the problems to the best of his abilities. His study-mode showed you other sides of him. The cute pout he had whenever he tried to hide his confusion. Or the two little ridges which formed between his eyes whenever he was concentrated and deep in thought. More often than not you fought the urge to smooth them out with your touch or even better, with a kiss.

“Is something wrong?” Jungkook asked when he caught you staring.

“No,” you quickly said, “I was just thinking that you don’t seem to have much trouble with regression analysis.”

“I don’t know, the relationship between the variables just makes much more sense,” Jungkook said.

You looked at him and considered, “Hmm, maybe you don’t need my tutoring anymore?”

Brief dismay crossed Jungkook’s face. “My finals are in three weeks. I think I’d still prefer if you helped me revise the earlier chapters,” he said, “Unless you need more time to study for your own finals.”

Being in college meant that you were always in dire need of more time. That constant nagging voice in the back of your head telling you to study was an occupational disease. But you didn’t have to kid yourself, those four hours a week spent on Jungkook weren’t going to make or break your grade. Besides, you enjoyed spending time with him. You wondered if he felt the same.

“It’s alright, I’ll help you revise. Just don’t embarrass me on your finals. I don’t want Namjoon to tell me afterwards that you didn’t manage to calculate the mean of the population or worse, read the scoring table upside down,” you teased him light-heartedly.

Jungkook’s ears turned bright red. “That happened once!” he said, “How long are you going to hold that over my head?”

You laughed at his indignation. “Don’t forget, you’ll get endless tangsuyuk if you pass.”

[26/05 20:09 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

1 Tangsuyuk (small) 1 Jjamppong ---------------- Note: JK-nim, I’d like to get the advice of a friend. There’s this kind, sweet boy that I really like. I would like to tell him how I feel, but he’s seen me in my lowest and ugliest moments. Maybe he’ll think I’m just baggage? I guess I’m afraid of his rejection.

Golden Bang 7 Wausan-ro 29-gil, Seogyo-dong

Server: JK ------------------- TO GO

1 Tangsuyuk (small) -- 13,000 1 Jjamppong -- 5,000 1 Soju -- 0

Total: 18,000 -------------------- Thanks for ordering at Golden Bang! Have a golden day!

Note: LatteIsHorse-nim! It’s only human to fear rejection. I can completely understand. I also have someone I really like. She’s really pretty, smart and funny. Spending time with her makes me really happy, but I never managed to tell her. Maybe we should both gather our courage and cheer each other on? I’m not saying that drunken confessions are the way to go but consider this soju a symbolism for (liquid) courage.

Paper Note: This is a flexagon. Whenever you need a word of encouragement give it a flip!

Jungkook examined the hexagonal origami in his hands. On the outside it read ‘Flip Me!’

He gave the flexagon a flip. ‘JK you’re the best!’ And another. ‘The world needs more people like you!’ And another. ‘Don’t forget that LatteIsHorse is always rooting for you!’ And another. ‘Aja, aja, hwaiting!’ And another. ‘Thank you for being my friend!’

Jisoo barged into you room and flopped onto your bed. ‘Ahhh! I’m so glad you finally cleaned in here. Seriously, if I find another rancid noodle stuck to my clothes, I’ll call in a hazmat team.”

“I don’t know why you’re complaining so much. It’s not even your room,” you said.

“Hey, where are you ever going to find a friend like me?”

Your friend sacrificed many a night away from college parties to binge watch handsome oppas sweep equally beautiful unnies off their feet with you. And she wasn’t shy telling you that.

“Let’s go out tonight,” Jisoo suggested. She rolled back onto her feet and started walking around, inspecting your cleaning job.

“Our finals start in two weeks; I really don’t want to spend my weekend nursing a hangover.”

“I’m not saying you have to get wasted. Tonight is the Pre-Game Night. We have to go!” Jisoo demanded.

The Final’s Pre-Game Night was a campus-wide tradition. Every semester on the Friday a week before finals huge parties were thrown to signal the beginning of the end. It was like a dare – were you confident enough to get completely drunk and still hope to pass your finals? Naturally everybody on campus joined in and drank.

“Not getting wasted at a Pre-Game party? That’s like saying you’ve decided you don’t need to breathe. I really don’t think…”

“What’s this?” Jisoo suddenly interrupted. “LatteIsHorse-nim! Personally, I’m a dipper, but I don’t discriminate! I added some broth as service for you. It’s chilly tonight. Don’t catch a cold!” she read aloud, “LatteIsHorse-nim! Happy Children’s Day to you too! I added my favorite childhood drink, banana milk! I hope it brings back as many happy childhood memories for you as it does for me.”

You flung yourself across the room and almost tripped over your own feet trying to rip the receipts out of Jisoo’s hands.

“Oh. My. God. Is your take-out guy flirting with you?!” she asked.

“No! He’s just a friend. We send encouraging notes to each other,” you tried to explain.

Jisoo threw her hands in the air. “Okay that’s it! We’re going to the Pre-Game party, whether you want or not. You can’t tell me that the only flirting interaction you have is with a stranger who delivers you tangsuyuk!”

The place Jisoo picked out was ram packed and buzzing with energy. It was an open dorm party; all the common rooms were transformed into dancefloors. Different types of music played from each corner of the building. Crates of alcohol were stacked against the walls.

The both of you grabbed a beer and made your way through the crowd.

“You’re going to have fun tonight, alright?”

“I don’t think this works that way,” you laughed.

“Then put some effort into it. We look way too cute for it to go to waste,” she said as you roamed around the floors and explored the different areas. You looked down on your dress. It was a pretty warm night; you had opted for a flowy summer dress with a blush pink floral pattern. Jisoo was right, it was cute.

You discovered a familiar face at the edge of the crowd. “Sunbae!” you said.

Namjoon turned around gave you a surprised smile. “Y/N! Out of all the places on campus, we meet each other here tonight. What are the chances?”

He was surrounded by a group of friends, you spotted Jungkook right behind him. The boy gave you an excited wave. A slow smile spread across your face. “I don’t know, but why don’t we ask Jungkook to calculate it for you?”

Namjoon let out a hearty laugh while Jungkook groaned in exasperation.

“Do you see what I have to put up with every week, hyung?”

“Didn’t you just say it’s the best thing that happened to you?” Namjoon taunted, “You have some nerve showing up in front of me tonight. You better ace your SA finals. Do you know how many favors I had to pull to get Y/N to tutor you?”

“What do you expect me to do?” Jungkook sputtered, “Go home and lock myself up on Pre-Game Night?”

If it weren’t for Jisoo you would’ve done just that. Speaking of Jisoo, your friend cleared her throat and gave you a painful nudge in the side.

“Ah yes, uhm, Jisoo you already know Namjoon. This is Jungkook. You know, the guy I’m tutoring.”

Jungkook gave her a small wave.

Jisoo didn’t even try to hide her amazement. “This is Jungkook? But you’re like wayyy cute!” She turned to you and added still loud enough for everyone to hear, “Why didn’t you tell me he was cute?!”

The embarrassment was obvious on Jungkook’s face. You could tell that Namjoon was getting a rush out of his dongsaeng’s reaction and before he could provoke him any further you decided to jump in.

“Who wants to go dance?” you asked loudly. You turned around and headed to the dancefloor without waiting for any of them to respond.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were tutoring a hunk?” Jisoo muttered under her breath.

“He’s not a hunk. Don’t call him that.”

“Yeah but he’s hot. You made him sound like he was a nerd.”

“He is a nerd.”

Your friend gave you a glare, “Why are we arguing about this? I know you’re not that oblivious.”

Of course you weren’t oblivious to Jungkook, but you weren’t going to tell Jisoo that.

“Let’s dance.” You grabbed Jisoo’s hand and twirled her around.

Namjoon and his friends joined you on the dancefloor. The mood of the crowd was electric. Music pulsed through your veins. Drinks flowed, shots were downed, people pulled out their best, lamest, craziest dance moves. Everyone celebrated like the world was going to end.

After a while you became hot and needed a new drink. You looked around for Jisoo and saw her grinding up against one of Namjoon’s friends. She’d be busy for a while. You inconspicuously moved away from the group and decided to go get some fresh air.  

“Wait up,” Jungkook said as he appeared next to you, “are you getting something to drink? I’ll join you.”

His dark curls were slightly matted with sweat. His baggy t-shirt clung to his body. You weren’t sure if it was the alcohol or Jisoo’s damn voice whispering into your ear. He was hot.

You circled your arm through his and pulled him through the crowd. His muscles shifted under your touch. You grabbed two drinks from a crate and handed one to Jungkook, your nerves tingled when his hand brushed against yours. The both of you remained in comfortable silence, leisurely walking through the dorm, neither of you in a hurry to get back to your friends. You explored the facility areas, weaving through pounding and quiet parts of the building.

“You look really nice tonight,” he said after a while.

The heels of your shoes echoed against marble floor of the dark hallway. “Thanks, Jisoo raided my closet.”

“She’s really something isn’t she?”

“She’s the best. I’m grateful to have her as my friend.”

Somewhere further down the hallway you made out two figures pressed against the wall, probably trying to find a quiet place of their own.

“You also look nice,” you said to Jungkook.

“I’m wearing the same things I always do,” Jungkook said, his voice turning shy.

You were getting closer to the couple. You could see how the guy was sticking his tongue down the girl’s throat. She seemed to enjoy it from the sounds she was making. Lucky them.

Your next words were definitely fuelled by your tipsy state, “I guess that means you always look nice.” Jungkook missed a step. You had to laugh at his blunder.

The couple in front of you broke apart and looked in your direction. More annoyed about being interrupted rather than embarrassed being caught. You were about to make a funny comment to Jungkook when your heart stopped and you froze.

A string of saliva still clung to the guy’s lips. His eyes widened when he recognized your face in the darkness. “Y/N?”

Your breath hitched and your grip tightened around Jungkook’s arm. He glanced between you and the guy, the situation slowly dawning on him.

“Why did you stop? Who’s that?”, the girl whined.

“No one,” the guy responded as he returned his attention to her and they started making out again.

Jungkook didn’t know if he wanted to puke or punch that guy. A sharp pain in his arm brought him back to his senses. Your nails dug into his skin. He put his hand around yours and loosened your iron grip.

“Let’s go,” he said and quickly pulled you past the couple. You followed him in a daze. He stopped once you were outside of the building, hidden away in a quiet corner.

His hands reached for your face and he lifted your eyes to his. “Breathe.”

You closed your eyes, let out a long breath and let your head fall against the wall behind you. The horrible encounter replayed in your mind. You had to open your eyes again.

There he was right in front of you. Worried Jungkook, kind Jungkook, beautiful Jungkook.

Your hands reached behind his neck and you pulled him a bit closer. You tried to decipher his gaze, it was dark and yearning. Everything was a haze, the alcohol in your blood made you daring.

“Kiss me,” you whispered.

His mouth crashed against yours. Your hands slipped up into his hair and your bodies entwined. You opened your lips and sucked in his hot breath. Your tongues found each other; he groaned at your taste.

He moved one of his hands down your side until he found purchase on your leg and hitched it up against his waist, pressing his body further into you. You let out a moan when his hips ground into yours.

All your senses drowned in Jungkook. You drowned in his scent, you drowned in his touch, you drowned in his heat. You tried to use Jungkook to drown out the grotesque image from before. Suddenly the heat of the moment disappeared, and a cold shower ran down your spine.

You broke away from your breathless kiss and put your hands against Jungkook’s chest to put some distance between you. He gave you a disoriented look.

“I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have kissed.”

Jungkook’s eyes grew wide and alarmed. “Did I do something wrong?”

His lips were swollen, his hair was mussed. You wanted nothing more than to pull him back in, but you couldn’t. Not here. Not like this. He deserved better.

You pushed yourself off the wall and gave him a small shove. He immediately let go of you and stepped back. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like this,” was all you said before you ran back into the building.

The next day you woke up to a splitting headache and a heart full of regret. You really needed to talk to Jungkook and explain to him why you ran away the previous night, but you were too much of a coward to pick up your phone and contact him. You decided it was better to talk to him in person at school.

The following week at school you waited for him in the library. Your heart was in your throat. Your prepared speech played in an endless loop in your head.

‘I’m sorry I ran away. I shouldn’t have kissed you in that state. It wasn’t fair to you. You deserve better than that.’

You looked down on your phone to check the time. A message blinked. You opened and read through it. Your heart sank. He wasn’t coming. He wanted to study the last week before finals on his own. He thanked you for your time.

Slowly you got up and packed your bag. You blew it. You wanted to do him right, but you only caused him pain. Thinking back, you realized he gave and gave and gave and all you did was take. He was right to stay away from you. There was no way he’d be happy with someone like you.

The week passed and finals week commenced. You immersed yourself in your exams and tried to get over your heavy heart. You were pretty sure you aced Geometry II, but the Numerical Analysis exam was nothing but a blur.

Although your heart ached, you didn’t fall back into the same dark pit of the past. You didn’t feel lost, you got on with your life. Nobody noticed the Jungkook-sized hole in your heart except for you. You wanted to talk about your feelings, but you didn’t think Jisoo or your sister would understand. They’d probably just tell you to get out there and find a new guy.

Another week passed. You were walking out of your professor’s office, finalizing the details of your summer internship, when you bumped into Namjoon.

“Y/N! What are you doing here? Aren’t you off for summer break yet?” he asked.

“I was just discussing my internship with Prof. Kim,” you said.

“Ah you’re participating in his research program?” Namjoon said, “I heard it’s really interesting, he’s intense though.”

“I think intense is fine for me, I need something to do with my brain. Otherwise I’ll just go crazy,” you said with a smile.

“Speaking of intense, what did you do to that kid?” Namjoon suddenly asked.

You tensed. Did something happen to Jungkook? “What do you mean?”

“Did you brainwash him or something? He got a 98 on his SA final! When I handed him over to you, he was still asking me why the positive and negative z-scores tables had different values,” Namjoon said in awe.

Relief washed through you and your chest filled with pride. “Watch out sunbae, I might be coming for your TA position,” you said with a wink.

At home you sprawled out on the couch. Your sister’s classes ended earlier than yours so now she was away with her friends travelling the countryside. Your mind wandered as you stared up at the ceiling of your quiet apartment. You really wanted to call Jungkook and congratulate him, but you didn’t think you should. He clearly didn’t want to be in contact with you, you hadn’t heard anything from him since his text canceling your study sessions.

A pang of sadness washed through you. It should have been a happy moment for the both of you, you should be eating tangsuyuk together right now. You really wanted to tell someone about your joy and your grief.

Then you suddenly remembered your friend. Your friend who never judged and always had something wise to say. Maybe he would understand the conflicts of your heart. You got up and dug through the receipts on your desk until you found the one with his phone number on it.

You hoped he wouldn’t think you were crazy, but then again, he was the one who offered himself to talk to you any time. You typed in the number and hit call. Your phone dialed when suddenly the number displayed switched to a name. Jungkook.

You quickly hit the cancel button and stared at your phone. Did you accidentally hit Jungkook’s contact? Was your phone broken? This time you typed in the number more carefully and hit call. Again, the display switched to Jungkook’s name. You hit cancel.

Your heart began to race. You opened up Jungkook’s contact and compared it with the number on the receipt.

Holy shit.

JK was Jungkook. Jungkook was JK.

The stranger who cheered you on and made you smile whenever you felt down was Jungkook. You combed through all your receipts and reread them one by one. What was the probability for this to happen? This was so bizarre, but it made so much sense. Jungkook was the kindest person you knew. Why wouldn’t he be kind to a stranger who needed some uplifting words and comforting tangsuyuk?

[13/06 18:20 PM] User: LatteIsHorse ---------------- ORDER [DELIVERY]

3 Tangsuyuk (large) 6 Jjajangmyeon ---------------- Note: JK-nim, I hope you’re doing well! Can I ask you for a strange favor? Would you mind delivering today’s order to me? I would really like to meet you and thank you in person for always being by my side! <3

<Ding Dong>

The doorbell rang. Your heart pounded painfully in your chest. You slowly walked up to the door and opened it.

“Delivery from Golden…,” Jungkook’s voice faltered.

“Hi JK-nim,” you said quietly. You opened the door wider. “Thanks for coming today.”

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” he asked.

You had to smile at his look of utter confusion. “I live here. Come in, you can put the food on the dining table.” You turned around and walked back into the apartment.

Jungkook hesitated before he followed you inside. He moved up to the table and unloaded his box. He tried to steady himself. “You’re LatteIsHorse-nim?” he asked skeptically, “I’ve been here before. Last time someone else opened the door.”

He has visited you before? “Oh, that was probably my sister. I live here with her. She’s out travelling right now.”

“So you’re on your own right now? Why did you order so much food?” he asked. A giant mountain of neatly stacked dishes graced the table.

You came up and pried the metal box out of his hand. Then you moved in front of him and unclasped his bike helmet. He flinched at your sudden closeness.

“To celebrate. Congratulations on passing your Statistical Analysis exam. Namjoon told me you passed in flying colors,” you said in a gentle voice. “I promised you the best Chinese take-out in town, didn’t I?”

Jungkook still looked shell-shocked and simply stared at you.

“I’m sorry about that night at the Pre-Game party. I’m sorry I ran away. I owe you an explanation.”

Jungkook regained his wits and swallowed. “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain yourself. I get it, we were drunk. It was a mistake.” He looked down and tried to turn back around.

You grabbed onto his hands before he could move away. “Jungkook, look at me.”

He stopped turning, but his eyes remained on the floor.

You took a deep breath and squeezed his hands. “I really like you. I’ve really liked you for a while now.”

His eyes shot up to your face.

“The reason why I ran away that night was because I felt guilty. I probably would’ve ended up kissing you anyway, but in that moment, I kissed you because I wanted to forget. I didn’t want our first kiss to be like that. I wanted it to be the me who liked you and not the me who tried to drown out her shitty ex-boyfriend. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

There was an unreadable look in his eyes. Your heart fluttered in nervousness. “How long have you known I was JK? How long did you know I had a crush on you?” he asked.

You could feel your blood rushing through your ears, the butterflies in your stomach beat like crazy. “Since today. I was sad because I thought I couldn’t share the promised meal with you. I wanted a friend to talk to, so I thought to call you. You who was always kind to me, even when I wasn’t kind to myself. Isn’t fate strange? We cheered each other on to find each other.” You had to laugh at the irony of it all.

Your hand hesitantly moved up to his face and stroked across his cheek, “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I made you sad.”

Jungkook melted against your touch. “If I’m never sad, I won’t know when I’m happy.” Then he closed the gap and pressed his lips against yours.

It was a sweet but sad kiss. Filled with happiness and sorrow. Every touch was filled with an ‘I missed you’ or an ‘I’m sorry’.

Jungkook pressed you against the edge of your dining table, he lifted you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist. You both deepened your kiss. Your hands snaked through his hair and pulled him closer into you. Jungkook braced his hands against the table and instinctively ground his hips against your core. You moaned his name at the sensation. The both of you broke apart to catch your breaths, you pulled at his jacket and removed his layers of clothing.

You stilled at the sight of his bare chest. He was truly beautiful. Your fingers traced along his skin and marvelled at its silkiness. Jungkook shuddered under your touch. His hands moved under your shirt and you both lifted it off your head. Then you gripped his hands and slowly led them around your back, urging him to take off your bra. You wriggled out of your jeans and laid yourself completely bare in front of him. Jungkook stopped and stared at you, equally amazed.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

Your heart swelled and you pulled him back into a kiss. Both his kisses and his hands left a burning trail down your body. His mouth sucked on the soft skin of your neck while his hands moved across your breast, across your stomach, lower and lower. Wetness gathered between your legs.

“Jungkook,” you sighed. The muscles of his back shifted under your touch.

He released your neck with a loud smack and looked at the artwork he created. He still couldn’t get over how overwhelmingly beautiful you were. Your cheeks flushed, eyes bright and his name at the tip of your tongue. He felt himself strain against his confines.

“Please,” you whimpered. You looked down at his hand and tried to silently command him to touch you.

He kept his eyes trained on your face when his fingers moved lower and slid through your folds. Another moan left your lovely lips. He teased you with his touches, gathering your wetness until he finally pushed down where you wanted him most. Your hands dug into his back, your hips bucked, and you threw your head back in pleasure. He steadied your hips with his other hand and slowly pushed a finger inside of you. Another loud moan echoed through the room.

Jungkook was transfixed by you. He added a second finger and started pushing in and out. Your eyes squeezed shut in pleasure and small breathless pants left your mouth. Jungkook increased the speed of his movement and marvelled at the way you reacted under his touch. Then he moved his mouth to your breast and closed his lips around your nipple. You raked your hands through his hair and arched into him. Your core tightened around his fingers. All your nerves were on fire.

You pulled him away from your breast and guided his mouth back to yours. Your tongue traced his lips and you swallowed his moan. You wanted more, you wanted him closer. His fingers curled and his thumb pressed down on you. Jungkook held you tight as you shuddered and fell apart around him.

He rested his forehead against yours, your breath mingled as you both panted into each other. He slowly removed his hand from you and traced his mouth with his slicked fingers, then he moved them to your lips. Your tongue licked the tips of his fingers. His grip tightened around your waist.

“I want to feel you,” you said.

Jungkook shuddered at your words. “Where is your room?”

“The door behind you.”

Jungkook lifted you off the table, you tightened your legs around him and gave him another kiss. He walked you both to your room and gently laid you down on your bed. He took off his pants, then slowly moved onto the bed and hovered above you.

“Tell me what you want,” he said.

Your fingers caressed his face. “I want you to be happy.”

Another shudder ran through him. “I am happy. What else?”

You traced his eyes, his nose, his lips. “I want to be the one making you happy.”

Jungkook couldn’t contain himself anymore. His heart felt like it was about to explode. He covered your body with his and pressed himself into you. Your eyes rolled back as he entered you slowly. You felt so full you wanted to burst out of your skin. You could feel how the Jungkook-sized whole in your heart filled up again.

He rocked into you and took your breath away. Your nails raked across his back and left red lines against his smooth skin. Jungkook ducked his head into the crook of your neck and moaned against your skin. Every pull dragged pleasure out of you, every push brought you closer together.

You wanted more. Jungkook gave you more.

You wanted him closer. Jungkook pushed deeper into you.

With every moan, Jungkook pushed harder, pushed deeper. He wanted to melt into you. He wanted the lines between you and him to disappear. Your desire was his desire. His pleasure was your pleasure.  

Jungkook could feel you tightening around him. He moved his mouth over yours and gave you an ardent kiss. The light of your desire turned brighter and brighter until it burst apart into a thousand little flames. You cried against his lips and let the heat consume you. Your body pulsed around his and the overwhelming sensation brought him right over the edge with you.

The both of you laid on your bed and clung to each other. Neither of you willing to let the other go. Your pounding chests beat in tandem. Jungkook stroked his hand across your hair and kissed your head.

“I want you to be happy too,” he said.

“I know,” you said as you smiled against his chest, “You make me happy.”

Jungkook pulled you tighter into him and you remained silent for a while. His hand traced lazy patterns against your skin. Your breathing evened out.

“Are you allergic to pineapple?” he suddenly asked.

You looked up at him in surprise. “No. Why?”

“Because you always order tangsuyuk without pineapple.”

“Oh. That’s because my sister hates pineapple.”

Jungkook frowned, you pulled yourself up and kissed the little ridges between his eyes.

“What?” you asked.

“I think the jjajangmyeon is all soggy by now,” he said.

You had to laugh. “Probably, but the tangsuyuk should still taste great.”

Jungkook kissed you with a smile. “You’re right, tangsuyuk always tastes great.”

°°°°°°°

02/05/20

Copyright © 2020 full-of-jams. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, repost or translate without permission.

[queerlykat]

for the bnha prompts, could I ask for bakukami with 27 (did you just say you love me?), 28 (I didn’t know you could be romantic), 29 (you’ve never kissed anyone before?), or 30 (I notice when you stare at my lips) thanks!

Ahhhh yes!!!! Sorry it took so long to get to but holy fuck was this fun to write, though I may have gone a little overboard considering the other ones have all been under 1k words so... oops.

I hope you like it!

Anyway, here it is! And I'll be posting it to AO3 soon as well.

Word Count: 1,703

Genre: Fluff

Prompts: 28. "Wow, I didn't know you could be so romantic." | 29. "You've seriously never kissed anyone before?" | 30. "I notice when you stare at my lips, you know."

"Oi, dunceface, I'm not an idiot, you know - I fuckin' notice when you're just starin' at my lips and not actually paying attention and if you're not gonna take this seriously, I -"

"Sorry!" Denki interrupted in a squeak, a red flush spreading across his face. "I - uh - Fuck, sorry," he repeated when Katsuki set him with a murderous glare.

That glare softened and shifted to something not quite as furious after a moment, more contemplative than anything. A few long seconds passed before Katsuki sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "You didn't take your Adderall today, did you?"

"Heh - it's that obvious?" Denki asked sheepishly, grimacing as he looked down to stare at the corner of his textbook.

"Well you sure as shit ain't paying attention to the stuff you're supposed to be," Katsuki scoffed, reaching over Denki to slam the book closed. "We'll study tomorrow when you can actually fucking focus."

"Sorry, man, I was trying - really," Denki rushed to say, but only got a disbelieving look in reply as Katsuki grabbed the pen and notebook that belonged to him and stuffed them in his bag. "No, seriously, dude. It's just hard to when my brain won't slow down and let me process shit and then I guess I just kinda... check out? 'Cause I know I won't understand it anyways and then when you were leaning over you got really close and I noticed that you actually have really nice lips which... sounds really creepy now that I've said it out loud. Fuck. I didn't - uh - mean it like that. 'S not like I want to kiss you or anything. Er, well, not that I wouldn't or don't want to but I uh -" Denki swallowed hard as he realized just how deep of a hole he had talked himself into, face burning red as he buried his face in his hands, "I'm shutting up now."

Katsuki huffed wordlessly and Denki heard him zipping up his bag. The lack of response quickly ate away at Denki's nerves and he was lifting his head to start speaking again when Katsuki cut him off.

"So? Which one is it?"

Denki tilted his head at his friend, "What...?"

Red eyes pinned Denki to the spot with the sort of intense shine to them that was usually reserved for extreme challenges; the same faux-confident look Katsuki wore before taking on something he wasn't actually sure he'd succeed at.

Katsuki took in a deep breath, rolling his eyes and glancing away as he let that breath out in an annoyed huff. "You keep givin' mixed fucking signals, dumbass. So I'm asking, do wanna fucking kiss me or not?"

Denki felt his jaw drop open at the sudden blunt question, eyes going wide as his ever-racing thoughts screeched to a halt and all he could think about suddenly was how adorable Katsuki looked in the moment. Anyone else would think he looked pissed, but Denki knew Katsuki well enough to know that the particular scowl on his face was one of uncertainty and not anger. Not to mention the red flush across his cheeks and how he was glaring directly at a spot on the table, refusing to look at Denki.

He was nervous and that was just,

"So cute."

The words tumbled out of Denki's mouth in an awed whisper and he didn't even realize he had said them out loud until those red eyes flicked towards him, going wide for a moment before narrowing back into a seemingly angry glare.

"That's not an answer, you idiot!" Katsuki shouted, that red flush on his cheeks spreading over the rest of his features all the way down his neck and up to his ears. "And I ain't askin' again, so -"

"Yes!" Denki blurted out as his mind caught up to the situation all at once - along with the added urgency that this may be his only chance.

There was a split-second hesitation that seemed to last for hours, freezing Denki to the spot before a hand was grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him forward.

Flailing for balance, Denki barely managed to grab onto Katsuki as their lips collided with bruising force and ow, that actually hurt.

A small whimper came from Denki at the rough treatment, followed closely by a muffled shout of surprise when he felt Katsuki's tongue soothe over the sore spot on his lip. Katsuki took that as an invitation to slip his tongue into Denki's mouth, momentarily sliding over Denki's before pulling away completely.

"Fuck," Denki mumbled in a shaky exhale, still gripping onto Katsuki's biceps and staring dazedly at the spit-slick lips he'd just been kissing. "That was... wow. Um," he cleared his throat, head still spinning, "Didn't - uh - didn't expect my first kiss to be like that. Guess I should've since it's - it was y'know, with you and -"

"Wait," Katsuki interrupted roughly, "You've seriously never kissed anyone before? The fuck?"

Denki felt his face go hot, undoubtedly a bright shade of red, and he couldn't help but drop his forehead against Katsuki's shoulder to hide. "Y-yeah," he mumbled, face burning even hotter when he heard Katsuki laugh. "Shut up!" he whined.

"Nah, don't think I'm gonna," Katsuki teased, though Denki couldn't help but relax a little when he felt a pair of warm hands land on the curve of his waist and pull him closer. "Wish I woulda known, though, wouldn't have done it like that if I knew it was gonna be your first kiss," he snorted.

At first, Denki couldn't help but grumble in protest at the continued teasing before an absolutely genius idea lit up his brain. "Well, uh, what - what would've you done if - if you knew?" he asked, tilting his head to look shyly up at Katsuki even as a small, mischievous smile tugged at his lips. "You could... show me, if you want," he suggested, idly tracing patterns against one of Katsuki's arms.

A soft, albeit amused scoff came from Katsuki as he rolled his eyes. "Well I woulda taken you out first," he said before pausing a moment, glancing off to the side again, "If you - uh - if you'd want that."

There was no way Denki could stop the grin that spread across his face at the implication that Katsuki actually wanted to date him. "Yes!" he gasped excitedly. "I mean - um - yeah. Yeah, I'd... I think I'd like that," he added with a sheepish chuckle when he realized how desperate he must've sounded.

The warm, soft laugh that came from Katsuki flooded Denki's stomach with butterflies, chest swelling with pride at managing to get such a genuine laugh from the other. "Yeah. Well. I'd do that."

"And then?" Denki prodded.

"What'd'ya think, dunceface?" Katsuki snorted, "I'd walk ya to your door 'nd kiss you there. Y'know. All proper and shit."

"Hmm," Denki hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head so he could look at Katsuki better, "Okay, but that still doesn't tell me how you'd kiss me. Just... when and where. And I dunno about you, but I really think a demonstration would be the best way to explain it."

"Of course you do," Katsuki scoffed, but Denki didn't miss the way Katsuki's cheeks flushed a little.

"Well?" Denki asked, lifting his head from Katsuki's shoulder, "Are you gonna or not?"

He got another eyeroll in response, before those red eyes focused on him again all sharp and intense in a way that never failed to make it hard for Denki to breathe. He felt one of Katsuki's hands trail up his side and over his shoulder before the backs of Katsuki's knuckles were lightly brushing over his cheek.

As if Denki wasn't already struggling to breathe, the way those gorgeous red eyes softened their gaze and dropped to stare at his lips made him completely forget how to breathe at all. He found himself leaning in, guided by the hand now cupping his cheek, until he was close enough for their noses to brush.

"Can I kiss you?" Katsuki asked, all soft with only a hint of his usual gruffness.

If it weren't for how hard Denki's heart was pounding, he would've worried that it may have already melted into nothing more than a pile of goo. The same couldn't be said for his brain, though, which Denki was almost certain had long since turned to soup.

Which made it rather difficult for Denki to formulate any coherent words, let alone verbalize them so, instead, he nodded his consent.

A small smile graced Katsuki's lips for a mere second before he was tilting his head and pressing their lips together with a gentleness that Denki didn't think Katsuki was even capable of.

"Wow," Denki breathed shakily when Katsuki pulled away, feeling even more dazed than after the first kiss. "I didn't know you could be so romantic," he mumbled, barely even realizing he had said that out loud.

"Hah?!" Katsuki huffed offendedly, "The fuck is that supposed to mean? Didn't think I'd be a good boyfriend or somethin'?"

"What?" Denki gasped, eyes going wide at Katsuki. "No, I - w-wait. Wait, did - does - are we - boyfriends?" he stammered when he fully realized what Katsuki said.

"You agreed to go on a date with me, dumbass, so yeah," Katsuki scoffed even as he shoved Denki away - much more gently than normal, Denki noticed. "Meet me in front of the dorms Friday night at 6 'nd I'll take you to the carnival or something," Katsuki said, walking to the door. "And don't be late!" he added roughly as he left, slamming the door shut behind him.

Still trying to get his brain to catch up with everything that just happened, Denki found himself staring blankly at the door for several long moments before it finally, fully sunk in.

He had a boyfriend.

And that boyfriend was Katsuki.

"Holy shit," Denki whispered to himself, a grin slowly spreading across his face as giddy excitement bubbled up inside of him and spilled over in the form of incredulous laughter.

For the rest of the day, Denki couldn't stop smiling even when it started to hurt and he's never looked forward to a Friday more in his life.

[jean-does-not-have-a-horseface]

hi can i please request one where levi's s/o is sort of like him in personality but just melts whenever theres a baby. like she'll see a baby in town and will go from silent and moody to the heart eyes emoji but a person, or she'll babysit her neice or nephew or cousin and will be just so loving and bubbly? like its obvious that she wants to be a mum but she never brings it up because she doesnt think he wants kids and eventually they get pregnant + his reaction? sorry if this is too much (1/2)

ΑΝΟΟΟΟΝ IM BLUSHING THANK YOU SO MUCH. I really loved this request and it inspired me so I pushed before others because I had to get it out of my system. I hope you like this. It's super duper long also👉👈

Warnings: uhh pregnancy, mentions of anxiety

Tags: fluff, domestic Levi, pregnancy, modern au

Pairing: Levi/ Reader

Baby Fever

Your heartbeat grew louder with each passing second as Mike abused the door with one too many knocks. You didn't know if you could talk, or breath or do anything other than vomiting though this time from the anxiety building at the pits of your stomach and not due to your very recent event of morning sickness.

"Are you alright in there?"

You choke on your own voice as you try to huff a single response. It's not really up to your judgement of you're alright or not but rather in the small white object's that rests between the thumbs and pointer fingers of each of your hands. You contemplate if there's a way to not raise any more suspicion to the blond male, you're at his house for all that matters. Nanaba called you to take care of their their twins and you happily complied to your half sister's pleas because Mike had a very important job interview. Life had taken a toll on him lately, they couldn't afford a babysitter and he was just recently fired due to his company having to cut down expenses thanks to the pandemic. Amidst this pandemonium he had to find a way to provide for his family and help Nanaba with at least a short monthly salary. So babysitting your beloved niece and nephew wasn't much of a problem. Not until now.

At first it hadn't bothered you that your period was late, you had accepted the pcos lifestyle the hard way ever since you first got it. You would track down your period in hopes you could ever predict when it would come again but it always seemed to surprise you. Sometimes it would come in a months notice only to take four months to do a full circle. At twenty three, this was the most positive outturn as a resolution to your problem. Levi was pushing you to eat healthy and exercise to get a better grip of your situation, even though you knew it was in vain. And thus, overall it didn't bother you that you hadn't had your period still, fatigue and breast inflammation were also common problems due to hormonal abnormalities so you chose not to pay any attention to those early signs either.

What had driven you to urge Levi to drop you off to the drugstore next to Nanaba's house though was that you've been having symptoms of morning sickness for almost a week now, that you had tried to push aside for Levi not to notice. He would quarantine you on your on your own and go stay with Erwin and Hange had he any suspicion of you being down with the stomach flu. The stomach flu though didn't feel like that and you knew, you had been through it one too many times, this was something different and yet you cursed at yourself for overthinking it. You had bought the pregnancy test as something that was supposed to turn out negative, as a positive resolution that you weren't pregnant and that you should quest for whatever it was that was making your stomach turn and twist every morning.

Upon finally opening the door in an attempt not to delay Mike who wanted to attend his interview, the blond male inspected your form with a harsh gaze. "You shouldn't push yourself if you're sick. We could call my mother to watch over Eli and Blaire."

"No." You pushed it off. "I'm fine Mike, it's probably that weird mushroom soup I ate yesterday, Levi insisted on not buying it but I didn't listen."

"I see." Mike said scrunching his nose at the process. Sometimes you hated that he knew you so well that he could even smell you lying, but he was Nanaba's childhood friend before her mother married your father and had you; you had practically grown up with the blond duo so for all you knew, even if he was certainly aware that you were lying he didn't push things further. He simply placed a hand on your shoulder, the brother like nature of his touch as assuring as one can be. "If you need anything call me, I'll answer as soon as possible, drink lots of water and don't wear yourself down."

You bore your eyes into his and nodded simply. Mike greeted the twins with reluctance and let out a sigh before fixing his suit perfectly on his shoulders. The small kids smiled bubbly in return and waved at their father enthusiastically. As soon as the door closed and their father got out of sight both children jumped on you with loud giggles. The act alone was enough to curl your lips into an upward position.

By noon you had fed and lulled the kids to sleep, earning some significant time to sink into the crevices of the feathery soft sofa before Nanaba came back from her shift. As tiring as Eli and Blaire were you enjoyed their teeny company. You didn't mind their lack of ability to form full understandable sentences yet, you loved how they didn't even try to spare a second thought on what they bubbled on about and you did your best to provoke them to speak correctly. They would open their arms for you, their tiny palms signaling you to take them into long affectionate hugs as they called a baby spoken version of your nickname and you would melt at it every single time. Everyone knew you much you loved the chubby cheeked sweethearts, as much as it contrasted with your usual demeanor. There was something that truly made you feel like the best version of yourself when you were around them.

Babies seemed to be a hot topic in your group of friends for a couple of months now, ever since you started helping Nanaba in the house before Mike got fired. Levi seemed very unbothered by the subject in a way that saddened you almost; sure, you might have talked about it in the past, being that he was a little older than you and he might have understood that you longed to be a mother one day, but that was as far as that one conversation had gone. He still had that bored, stoic gaze that slipped off of yours when you would encounter a baby in the street, whereas you would basically make heart eyes and weird grimaces to any infant he would just click his tongue and avert his gaze away, to any other direction as if he disapproved off your fondness.

That memory alone left you hollowing inside as you recalled of the two very much pink lines on the screen of the test this morning. Naturally you would check with a doctor before jumping to conclusions, there still was a chance that the test was at fault and you wanted to bet on simply that. If the case was that you were actually pregnant though things were more complicated than you wanted them to be. For instance you were still in University, for your last year at that, but you had excessive amounts of studying to get your hands on your degree and Levi was cornered and ready to be squished by his job for being a vice president, which was unfair as he worked for Erwin. You understood the situation though as Erwin was struggling to keep the company going especially through these rough rough times. There was also the fact that you were terrified of Levi asking you to put the baby down, with pcos wearing your system down you were panicking that you wouldn't have a chance to conceive a baby later on. What if this was your only chance? You've always longed to be a mother so it didn't matter that it came to you this early right?

The sound of the front door clicking open shook you off your thoughts immediately. For better or for worse it was Nanaba that had finally returned, eager to strip herself of her clothes and face mask and run to the bathroom. She offered you small greeting to which you only nodded, your tired mind ordering your eyes to find comfort at small shapes in the ceiling. You didn't know how long your sister took in the bathroom, but judging by the lack of giggling coming from the babies' room you supposed it wasn't for long.

"You want to wait for Levi to come pick you up or should I give you a ride home when Mike's back? He should be home soon!" She spoke as she poured water in a red metallic boiler.

"I'll just walk. I need some air."

Nanaba emitted a soft hum in response "Are you alright? You seem off."

"Oh no." You brushed her off "I was just thinking about what I should wear at Erwin and Hange's anniversary dinner next week, and what gift to buy Levi now that his birthday is coming."

"Good, I see, just don't stress alright?"

___

The way home was longer than you had initially remembered, whether it was for your inability to walk with a steady pace or mostly because it was already getting dark and cold. You wondered if Levi would be getting home by now as you neared the apartment complex the two of you resided in. By the looks of your illuminated window he was already home as expected of him this certain hour. It probably was one of those days when he didn't have a strict deadline to attend to, which, under normal circumstances, only meant more cuddles and kisses for you. Yet, tonight was different.

"Hey Levs" Your voice lingered in his brain the moment you stepped inside.

"Hey brat, welcome home." The kiss you left on his cheek as you hurriedly headed to the bathroom was different, off almost, and he picked up on it immediately. "Did Nanaba drop you off? I had asked Mike to come by tonight, he said he'd bring some tea leaves he bought for me."

He leaned at the frame of the door as he watched you wash every crevice of your face thoroughly, paying enough attention to the insides of your outer nasal cavity. He was pretty meticulous about hygiene and especially at times like these with a hole pandemic going on he wasn't taking any chances, you knew, plus you were kind of disgusted of germs lately yourself, you thought you finally understood where he was coming from. He took a few steps ahead, away from your body in search of a clean face towel to hand out to you when you were done. You have it to him, even if he seemed cold as stone that domestic lifestyle was mesmerizing to you.

"Thanks baby, you're the best." You half smiled.

"You good?"

At this point you wondered if you seriously we're so easy to read. You supposed you were off, but you were always off and unresponsive to many things so what exactly was it about today that made everyone know you had a conflict in your mind.

"Yeah I'm just tired, I walked here."

Levi clicked his tongue at that "Nanaba's home is very far away from here, have a shower and I'll rub your legs and feet." With eyes that never left yours Levi watched as your face lit up a little more, he gave you a tiny of a smile on return.

"You prooomise Levs?" You knew teasing with him could only lead to one thing, yet you did it shamelessly.

"Tch, of course, hurry up, I'm making pancakes with eggs and bacon."

Normally at the very sound of this particular food your eyes would water and your mouth would drool but the unresponsive nature of your expression only sent a new wave of worry through Levi's chest. As much as he had wanted to convince himself you were just tired, he couldn't, not after this reaction to your favorite snack. He decided not to push you into saying anything you didn't want to though. Maybe it was that enormous amount of notes you had to memorize for your next exams in addition to your fatigue and any hormonal altercations.

"Yeah" you trailed off "babe, about that, can we have cocktail shrimp? And maybe fried rice and fries? Pretty pretty please?"

Ah, there it was. Although it was a rare occasion for you not to be in the mood of his infamous pancakes, you could still have a few different cravings from time to time. Levi let out a sigh of relief as he proceeded your order trying to figure of where he should order from, last night's mushroom soup had messed your stomach up, that he knew, but you seemed to be fine now so in theory that should be enough to prevent him from whining out his concerns.

As he closed the door to the bathroom he hummed his favorite tune to himself, softly enough as not to disturb you with your bath. He picked up his phone from the kitchen table with ease before collapsing on the couch, there was a limit to what his body could take and he had surpassed that by far these past few months. Endless deadlines that took turns one after another and extra hours at the office had been killing him, mentally and physically, making him a little more grumpy than usual. In great addition his back ached, his fingers were sore and his mind felt like canned alphabet soup every single night. Perhaps, seeing him in this state was taking a toll on you as well; you were always so protective over him, almost like a mother to her child, despite being younger, and he if he had to, he'd admit he enjoyed it a little too much than he should have.

When you came out of the bathroom he gazed over you briefly, you were sitting before the end of the dresser, standing in front of the full body mirror, examining your form. He seemed to be puzzled by your demeanor once again. Normally, or up until yesterday, you would have immediately shot out to where he was seated at to plough into his arms with wet hair, only to slightly irritate him for getting him wet, not that he didn't enjoy to smell your fresh scent anyway, but it was a game of routine for you by now. It was almost as if you were seeking to be scolded at for not rushing to dry your hair. He always wanted you as healthy as ever.

You couldn't shake off your head how soft Levi's chest is. There probably wasn't a reason as to why he's sleeping shirtless tonight, your apartment was very warm, given that it was the start of December already, but you didn't complain. The feeling of creamy, milky soft skin, perfectly excused by any coarse hair was slowly putting you to sleep. You loved how Levi was so soft everywhere you touched, it was so unlike what the world perceived of him, maybe your baby's skin was going to be as smooth and perfect as his and not as dry and oily as yours. Of course the baby's skin was going to be soft, ugh and those little arms and legs, you couldn't lie to your self, deep down you were just a tad excited to have a baby, if it meant that it would look like Levi you wouldn't want to give up on it for the world.

"Levi, does Kenny keep baby pictures of you?"

"What?" The onyx haired male raised a brow at your inquiry but didn't give you enough time to repeat yourself before he answered. "My mother had so many pictures of me so I guess that it's natural that he has some and well there probably are a few pictures from after my mother's death, I'm not that sure."

In response, he only earned a hum.

"Tch, can I lay on your chest? I want you to play with my hair." His eyes pleaded with you in the darkness. Of course you could never say no to such thing, you loved it even more when he was the one sleeping on you. Another sentence left his lips, this time with a yawn as he shifted himself on you, cooing like a small child. "I'll call Kenny tomorrow, sleep now I know you need it."

____

Under any other circumstance you would have loved seeing everyone's dumbfounded faces stating at you as if they had seen the dead rise from their graves. You had to pinch your arms to remind yourself this was indeed serious and you shouldn't let out a single chuckle.

"Please tell me you're joking" Nanaba pleaded, placing her hand on yours in disbelief.

"I'm going to screeeeeam! Shorty can't even hold it in, ghaaaa!"

"Hange he will hear you through the restroom."

Hange blinked her eyes rapidly at the sound of that. "You haven't told him?" She immediately seemed to lose her enthusiasm, something you hadn't intended to happen, especially at such a night, but you knew you didn't have a say in other people's emotions.

"Hange he never seemed too fond of the idea, why would I complicated things for him?"

Mike's eyes widened in disbelief. There was no way in hell he was having this. You were practically his little sister, seeing you so tormented as you were in the moment when you spoke those words ravaged his last nerve, causing anger to clench his hands into fists. He watched as you took a small bite of your food giving the rest to Eli who was comfortably sitting on your lap, tapping his little hands on the rim of your plate. Other than the fact you broke out such news to him, Nanaba Hange and Erwin and had expressed your fears on informing your significant other, you seemed quite bubbly. Children really did bring out such a soft side of you, he knew that was for sure.

"Hange" you spoke, unphased as ever "Levi's coming please stop screaming at me, i love you but it's only making me dizzy."

It felt as if a thousand pairs of eyes were burning holes through his whole body, his head, and everywhere around his personal space bubble. Levi could feel his pulse tense just a tad, Hange's unnerving gaze and her crippling smile were fixated especially on him, making his nose itchy. There was something very different in the atmosphere around him; Nanaba wasn't eating anymore, she was more fixated on her daughter than anyone else, Erwin was nervously staring between him and you and you and Mike were trying to clean Eli's hands from the food he had just touched. When the scenery wasn't something irregular, none of you dared look eachother in the eyes, beat it that Hange was staring only at him.

"Oi, what the fuck is wrong-"

"Levi, shorty! Does Eli look like he's enjoying himself in (y/n)'s arms?" Hange turned her sweetened gaze on you, making you choke on your words, you shot her an atrociously strict glare. "Remember when Nanaba gave birth? What do you think about babies? Maybe you think they smell a lot? But what about ackerbabies?"

"Way to be discreet Han, thank you!" Your lips puckered in anger as you brought your arms to cross under your chest.

"Wait what's going on shitty glasses?"

"Yada Yada shorty, you're not getting a word from me, my lips are sealed" Hange spoke and shut her eyes to emphasize the significance of her words.

You sighed in a pathetic attempt to relieve some tention of your chest. A tight knot had formed due to anxiety, fog had clouded over your brain and you were feeling so faint and exhausted that you just wanted to get it over with. You didn't mind standing there like a fish out of water after breaking the news to him, the tention in the air was in fact what was making you suffocate in your seat. With wobbly hands you pushed Eli off your lap, not caring about the moan of disagreement he made and you shot up from your seat, announcing you had to take some fresh air. Levi had to stop Nanaba mid tracks to be able to come after you, fast enough to be there when you got out.

Naturally, you stood seated at a bench that neared the restaurant. Your hands were covering your face scratching softly through your hair, probably in attempts to calm your self down. He approached you without any second thought, this time determined to know what was it with you. Your behavior these past week had been unnerving and overly concerning to say the least. Carefully he sat himself down next to you, his right arm come around your frame comfortingly while the left one came to caress underneath your cheek.

"You should probably talk to me."

Your voice came muffled from between your palms as you still hadn't dared to look him in the eye. "Levi, I'm, I'm so sorry it's just... I'm very anxious."

"I think I figured that, brat." His voice was so soothing, it felt as if he was speaking to you in the comfort of your private room, not on a bench outside a semi fancy restaurant

"You know when Hange talked about ackerbabies she uhm, she might have had a particular baby in mind."

Levi blinked erratically for a single second before his mouth, unable to compel to his brain's orders, formed the shape of an oh. Of course, in the moment it was hard to click with any other even but he attributed that to his lack of knowledge over the situation. Had he any clue or suspicion that you could be pregnant he would have been able to realise that it wasn't that your stress had been messing with your stomach every morning and that your extreme fatigue couldn't possible align with the erratically swift rhythm of your palms. Of course, of course it wasn't a thermometer that you had disposed of in the toilet, he wanted to slap himself for being so naive as to believe that. He was strict with recycling rules, you wouldn't have just straight up there s thermometer in the trash. Fuck now's not the time to think about recycling.

With the soft, chaste kiss at the top of your hair you finally decided to turn your gaze to him. Watery eyes met with an adoring grey gaze, a gaze you've never seen at this extreme before. "I love you, you know." Another kiss meant your head got to lift a little more, just to get closer to him. "I don't say it often but you don't have to worry, I'll try to tell our kid more often."

Your eyes shimmered with adoration at his words, despite the cold weather you couldn't bring yourself to feel not even a little tingle, Levi was keeping you so warm with his words. "Really? You want this?"

"Tch why wouldn't I, you thought I'd ever let you go and leave me lonely? I've always thought you knew we're sharing the same future."

Your lips attacked his in fiery passion. It was a natural reaction to his words, an ice melting kiss, a promise for the future. There were many reasons as to why you lived Levi but maybe the fact that you would have a little stoic faced baby running around your feet made you love him a little bit more.

[fruitcoops]

If you’re up for more of a series could you possibly write the part of Remus recovering at home after leaving the game (the one with the stick to the face) and Sirius having to take care of him and all that?

Yes, I can! I’m so glad you guys are enjoying the continuation of something I wrote so long ago <3 Side note: I would give my left foot to be part of the Lions groupchat. Sweater Weather credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for bruises and blood

Sirius was worried. Even though Remus claimed he felt fine, he was just fine, everything was fine, a small seed of doubt lingered in the back of his mind. He had dozed off in the car on the way home—Sirius’ heart had stuttered for a moment before the swelling-enhanced snores started. His phone lit up every few seconds, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off the road for even a millisecond, just in case.

Remus woke when the car stopped and immediately winced. “What’s wrong?” Sirius asked, taking the hand that rested on his thigh.

“Just hurts.” Remus kissed his knuckles as best he could. His skin felt strange, and the edge of the tape was an unfamiliar sensation next to the softness of his lips. Sirius collected their gear from the trunk, then helped him up the front steps; just as he went to unlock the door, he felt Remus’ hand tighten on his forearm. “I hate not being able to see well.”

Sirius kissed his temple. “That’s what you’ve got me for.”

Hattie stopped in her tracks as soon as the door opened, and Remus frowned. “Hatters? Where are you, sweet girl?”

“She’s here.” Sirius whistled for her and crouched, setting their bags aside while Remus sat crosslegged on the floor and held his arms out. Hattie’s tail wagged low, almost as if she was afraid; she glanced up at Sirius, who tilted his head back toward Remus. “Go on, mon chou, he’s not going to break.”

“C’mere,” Remus said softly, shifting in her direction. “C’mere, babycakes. I need some cuddles right now—there we go. Okay, Hat Trick, okay.”

Sirius carefully closed the door as Hattie climbed into Remus’ lap and let him hug her, resting her chin on his shoulder. “Good girl,” Sirius said softly. A quiet sniffle led to a flinch. “Re? What’s wrong?”

“I fucking love our dog.” His voice sounded even more clogged than before.

“Are you alright?”

“It really hurts.” A shuddering breath made Hattie nuzzled closer. “Hey, good girl. I love you.”

Sirius sat down next to them and wrapped his arm around Remus’ shoulder, tracing a pattern with his thumb. “Deep breaths. You can take more Tylenol in a few hours. Let’s go get some ice, yeah?”

“Can I stay here with her?”

“Of course.” Sirius kissed the top of his head and gave Hattie a gentle pet before walking into the kitchen and grabbing an ice pack out of the freezer, as well as a towel to wrap it. The last thing Remus needed was a freezer-burned bruise. They were in the same position when he came back, though Remus raised his head from her thick fur when he heard him coming. “I’m going to put it on your face, okay?”

“Okay.” Remus sighed when the ice pressed against his eye and one hand came up to cradle Sirius’, running carefully down to his wrist. “Love you.”

“I love you, too. I was thinking about making some soup if you want to hang here for a bit.”

Remus nodded silently, though his lower lip wobbled in the one spot it wasn’t puffy. Sirius carefully transferred the ice pack to his hand and ran his thumbs over Remus’ cheekbones—usually they were sharp enough to cut glass, but now they were purple and overheated under his touch. He kissed each one before going back to the kitchen.

After grabbing some soup from the freezer and turning the stove on, he finally took his phone out. You Have: 20 New Messages

Message From: J ;)

Did you get home safe?

Call me when u can

Lil is worried ☹

Tell Re we send big hugs

 Message From: Tremz <3

Lmk when you get home

Leo is making soup for u

Bringing it over demain matin and won’t let us have any :(((

 Message From: Bliz

Nat sends her love for Re

Remember ice packs and NO IBUPROFEN DUMBASS

Ily

 Message From: Dumo

Sa mère est inquiète

Send text when home safe, love you

 Message From: Walkie Talkie :P

U okay? Sending lots of love

Lmk if you need soup or smth <3

 Message From: Hope <3

Thank you for the call honey <3

Tell Remus not to look at his phone and keep us updated please

Love you so much <3

 Message From: Baby Rookie

I’m bringing y’all soup and that’s a threat

NO IBUPROFEN OR I’LL TP UR HOUSE

Big hugs for Re <333

 Sirius laughed under his breath.

Message To: STANLEY CUP CHAMPS FUCK YES

Home safe. Re is fine, getting lots of cuddles from Hattie. Thanks for the messages.

 He sent a few more texts to the individual people and, after a quick conversation with Hope, stirred the soup until it began to bubble. Remus entered the kitchen a few seconds after he took two bowls out of the cupboard. “Smells good.”

“It does. Are the lights bugging you?”

“Nah. At least I can see.”

Sirius poured out two portions and set one in front of Remus, handing him a spoon as well. “Careful, it’s hot.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Can’t cook it cold.”

Sirius’ phone began to ping several times in rapid succession and he turned the ringer off quickly, checking the screen to make sure there wasn’t an emergency. “Leo’s bringing us soup in the morning.”

“Neat. Is everyone else okay?” Remus blew the steam off his spoon.

“The guys are all worried about you.” Sirius glanced back up, only to see Remus staring down at his soup bowl, frozen in place. “Re? Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Is this my mom’s?” he asked in a small voice.

Sirius wracked his brain. “…I think so? It was in the freezer. Is that okay?”

He nodded silently and a tear dripped down his cheek. “ ‘s fine.”

“Are you sure?” He reached across the counter and pressed Remus’ hand between his own, wiping his cheek dry.

“God, I miss them. You called her, right? To let her know I’m fine?”

“I did. She told me to give you something.”

Remus’ eyebrows drew together and he looked up. “What?”

Sirius scooted around the table and wrapped his arms around Remus, pulling him in for a tight hug and pressing his face into his curls. “This.”

“Thank you.” Remus went a little boneless against him. “I needed that.”

“I bet. Do you want me to give them another call so you can talk to her?”

Remus squinted at the clock. “It’s pretty late.”

“They’re still awake.”

“Could we?” Remus dug around in his pocket and handed it to Sirius, who dialed Hope’s number and put it on speakerphone.

The call connected on the first ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, mom.”

“Are you okay, love?” Hope sounded like she was on the verge of tears already. “You sound a little funny.”

“A little banged up, but I’m alright.” Remus gripped Sirius’ hand tightly. “We heated up the soup you left us.”

“Oh, I’m so glad. Have you taken any Tylenol? Ibuprofen is bad for bruises, but I don’t know how much pain you’re in.” Her voice hitched at the end of the sentence.

“Mom, it’s okay,” Remus said gently. “It’s okay, I promise I’m fine. It looked worse than it was.”

Looks pretty bad to me. “Hestia took really good care of him,” Sirius said instead. “We got home safe and we’re icing up now.”

“What’s the healing look like? Sirius said you didn’t have a concussion.”

Thank you, Remus mouthed before turning back to the phone. “About two weeks, mostly for the little scrapes.”

The ‘little scrapes’ were held together by strips of medical tape, but once again, Sirius kept his thoughts to himself. “The blood was just a regular old nosebleed and a cut on the lip.”

Hope paused and they heard a new voice in the background. “Alright. Is it okay if Jules and your father say goodnight?”

“Yeah, totally.” Remus sniffled and Sirius silently handed him a tissue.

The line crackled for a moment. “Re?”

“Hey, buddy!” All trace of pain and exhaustion disappeared from his voice. “How’s it going?”

“Are you still bleeding?”

“Nope, my nose is a-okay. I’ve got a pretty cool black eye, though. Kinda look like a pirate.”

“The announcers were saying you were really hurt.” Jules’ voice wavered and Sirius’ heart broke a bit.

“Well, they were wrong.” Remus leaned closer to the phone, as if he could reach right through it. “In two weeks I’ll be good as new. I was really lucky.”

“Okay,” Jules still sounded unsure. “Mom says I have to go to bed.”

“Yeah, it’s late, buddy. Sleep well. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

There was a rustling noise. “Remus?”

“Hey, dad.” The exhaustion returned and Sirius rubbed his back gently, letting him lean on his shoulder.

After a moment of hesitation, Lyall sighed. “Alright, they’re in the other room. What actually happened?”

“High stick from the Ravens caught me in the face. No concussion, just bruises and swelling.”

“Do I want to ask Sirius to send me a picture?”

Remus winced. “Probably not.”

He sighed again. “I’m sorry we can’t come out and see you.”

“Don’t worry about it, dad,” Remus said softly. “Really, I’m okay. It sucks, it hurts, I’ll ice it and be fine.”

“Sirius, are you there?”

“I’m here.”

“If he starts pulling some ‘go back to practice early’ bullshit—”

“Dad—”

“—don’t let him. If you have to lock him in the bathroom, I promise to cover for you.”

“Yes, sir,” Sirius laughed.

Lyall chuckled on the other end as Remus groaned. “Love you.”

“Love you, too. If Sirius locks me in a bathroom, I’m citing you in the court case.”

“There won’t be enough witnesses if he does it right. Sleep well, kiddo. Thanks for calling.”

“Love you,” Remus said again as the call ended. He blew out a long breath and leaned his forehead on Sirius’ chest. “Thank you for that.”

“Ne rien, mon loup. You should eat and then take a shower.”

“Are you saying I smell?” Remus teased.

“Yes, I am. I also think you’ll feel better if you do.”

They ate in silence; both were hungry, so it wasn’t long before Remus walked carefully up the stairs. Sirius checked the groupchat as he poured himself a third bowl of soup. You Have: 7 New Messages.

Message From: STANLEY CUP CHAMPS FUCK YES

DETAILS CAP

That is the blandest fucking response I’ve ever read

I’m guessing y’all are alive then???

Y’all

Haha y’all

Ok gator boy

Give Hattie lots of kisses from us and also GIVE US DETAILS

 Message To: STANLEY CUP CHAMPS FUCK YES

What do you want to know??? We got home, ate soup, called parents, and now Re is showering

You’re so fucking nosy jfc

Also cut Rookie some slack it’s hard being so far from his swamp

 Message From: STANLEY CUP CHAMPS FUCK YES

From the bottom of my heart, go fuck yourself.

He doesn’t have to he has Remus

Pots I’m going to remove your kneecaps

 Sirius paused just before responding. Despite the quiet of the house, he couldn’t hear the shower running. “Re?”

“Up here.”

“Did you take a shower already?”

“Not yet.”

The bathroom door was ajar and the light was on when he entered their bedroom; Remus stood at the sink, staring into the mirror as he felt along the edges of the butterfly tape at his lip. “Did something happen?”

“It’s worse than I thought.” Sirius stepped inside and joined him, staring at their reflections. The stripes that marked the stick’s edges had turned almost indigo since they left the rink; no less than six pieces of tape decorated the places between mottled bruises. Remus reached up to touch his cheekbone and Sirius guided his hand back down.

“Poking it won’t help.”

“Two weeks, huh?”

“That’s what Hestia told me.”

“Will you help me get the tape off?”

Sirius patted the edge of the counter and Remus pushed himself up on it, leaning forward for easy access. The first one was easy—a small cut just below his brow. It slid away without an issue and Sirius pressed a gentle kiss to the spot, then moved on to the next one. They fell into a rhythm—one side, second side, slow pull, and a kiss, until only two were left.

Remus hissed in pain as he lifted the edge of the tape across the bridge of his nose and Sirius shushed him softly, moving to the other side. “Two more, sweetheart.”

“Just rip it off.”

Sirius gave him a look. “Absolutely not.”

“I’ll do it.”

“No, you won’t, because that would be a stupid idea.”

Remus huffed, but didn’t protest. His jaw ticked as Sirius pulled the last bit off. “Can we leave the lip one?”

“Not unless you want an infection.”

“You’d be a good PT.”

“I would be the worst PT.” Sirius worked the inner edge free. “I know, like, ten stretches and basic first aid. My bedside manner sucks, too, and I’d pass the fuck out if someone asked me to set a bone for them.”

“Good points all around,” Remus laughed.

The motion pulled the last of the tape off and Sirius held it up with a grin. “All done. Hey, your swelling is down. I can see your eyes now.”

The slight gleam of amber brightened as Remus smiled. “I thought I could see a little better.”

“Do you want company?”

Remus thought for a moment, prodding the cut on his lip with his tongue. “As much as I’d love to invite you in, I think I need a second to myself.”

“Cool.” Sirius kissed his cheek and stepped out of the bathroom. “Yell if you need anything. I’ll be in bed.”

He made a pit stop downstairs to gather Hattie and bring Remus’ ice pack up, and by the time he finally slid between the sheets it was nearly midnight. Remus came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, looking happier but still incredibly worn out. He took another Tylenol and snuggled up against Sirius’ side with a quiet hum, laying the ice pack over his face once again.

“Sleep tight, Re.”

“Love you.”