#tangerine x gn!reader

[bertinworms]

Late Night Talking

Pairings: Tangerine x gn!Reader

Tags/Warnings: language & cussing, reader is sad/going through it, comfort, angst ig, lmk if anything was missed!!!

Word Count: 3.7K

Summary: You had been having a hard time recently and it all hits a wall when Tangerine comes home early in a bad mood and accidentally scares you. You end up sobbing in his arms. 

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Most people you knew assumed that in your relationship, you were the one who kept both of you down to earth, and most of the time that was true. 

You and Tangerine had been together for a while which meant that you had been present for multiple Tangerine tantrums, as you and Lemon liked to jokingly call them. Sometimes the boys would have a job go wrong and Tan would come home upset, steam practically coming out of his ears, rambling about what could have gone better and why. Sometimes Tangerine would come home from a particularly scary job, like the job in Kyoto that he refused to tell you anything about, and practically go mute - shut off the world, and take a break from everything. Whatever he needed to do to decompress — but he never, ever aimed any of it at you. His anger or frustration was shared, but he always made sure that you understood he was not upset with you, he’d just had a rough job that go around.

Tangerine’s many moods and how he processed his job never bothered you. The man had a pretty tough job and whatever way he chose to process that job was up to him. Plus you enjoyed taking care of him – when he let you. It seemed that he took care of you in every other aspect of life. The man paid for anything and everything you wanted or looked at, so being there for him made you feel important. It had taken him a while to get used to the constant reassurance, trust and love from you, but he now greatly accepted it. 

You on the other hand were still having a hard time letting Tangerine be there for you emotionally. Being vulnerable was not one of your strong suites.

Tangerine’s jobs usually took him away from you for long periods, and usually took a lot out of him. So whenever Tan was home, you didn’t want to bother him with what was going on in your mundane life. You felt like your worst days would probably be a wonderful one compared to some of his bad days. So when Tan was home, and even when he was on a job, you didn’t usually tell him the full truth of how you were doing or how your day went. You would conveniently leave out the part where you accidentally dropped your keys into the garbage somehow, or how you dropped your phone in a muddy puddle, or how the day had been an extremely overstimulating one for whatever reason. You usually could step away for a second, take a breather, and you were back to being fine. It wasn’t that big of a deal, you just needed to push it down and enjoy the time you had now with Tan before he went away again for gods know how long. 

Sometimes when Tangerine was on a trip, you would come home and have a good cry for a solid ten minutes and then get on with making dinner or any other chore needing to be done. And today was no different. 

This March had felt like the longest month you had ever lived through. So many little things kept going wrong. Every day seemed to be a little bit worse. And you hadn’t seen Tangerine in exactly fifteen days. You had woken up late that morning because your phone apparently hadn’t charged the night before, then you couldn’t find your keys, you had spilled coffee on yourself right before walking into work, you had a coworker who had made a rude comment to you, your boss had reprimanded you for something that wasn’t your fault, and to top it off on your way home someone had rear ended your car, sending you to the hospital to be checked out where you had sat in a room for three hours, alone, waiting to be discharged. 

You just wanted to go home, crawl into bed and disappear. The regular day had been a horrible one anyways and sitting in a cold, scary hospital room alone where you had been examined and poked about fifteen thousand times did not help. You also hadn’t heard from your partner in almost a full 48 hours.  Your anxiety was now through the roof. You were tired. You were sore. You were sad. You wanted to go to bed. 

You unlock the front door and step into the dark and quiet place that belonged to you and Tangerine. You quickly slip off your shoes by the front door and head towards the kitchen where you set your keys and phone down on the island counter. 

You tap your phone screen – 8:43PM and no notifications. You take a deep breath in, and let out a sigh as you rub your eyes, willing the headache of the day to go away. It didn’t work. 

‘Maybe some water and a snack would help,’ you think to yourself as you head towards the refrigerator. You quickly grab some water and a snack and grab your phone before making your way to the living room where you slumped onto the couch. While eating your snack, the thought of Tangerine can’t help but come to your mind. 

You pick your phone off of the couch cushion, unlocking it and going to your last text thread from Tangerine. 

Tangerine had texted you the morning before, a simple, ‘Good morning, love. Thinking of you, hoping to be home in the next few days. X’ 

When you had woken up to the text, it had made you smile. But now that it had been two days of no responses from him or Lemon, it felt more like a taunt. You were used to Tangerine being very hit or miss when it came to communication while he was on the job – it was for safety. But with this being one of the longest jobs he and Lemon had ever been on, it made you nervous. So you read back over your texts. 

7:03AM: morning tan – hope you and lem are keeping each other safe! im ready for you to be  home safe again ♡

1:43PM: a package was delivered for you. im not sure if its a new suit, work stuff or something else so im leaving it in the garage for when your home lol

9:42PM:  im headed to bed, but wanted to let you know im just thinking about you. i love you and hope youre safe wherever you boys are at. get home soon ♡

11:32AM: missing you extra today, as cheesy as that sounds. hope you arent getting yourself into too much trouble

You roll your eyes at the last text you had sent. That was a little too cheesy even for your taste, let alone Tangerine’s. 

You start typing out a message to Tangerine. Thinking about telling him a little about your day, or even just telling him you missed him and loved him and couldn’t wait to just see him face-to-face again. But you erase the half written message, worrying that he might get annoyed by your abundance of needy texts that didn’t really have a need to be sent. 

You let out another sigh as you turn your phone off, setting it on the coffee table in front of you along with the trash of your snack. You grab the throw blanket laying across the back of the couch and slump further down the couch until you’re laying down with your head supported by the arm rest. You absentmindedly look out the window next to you. 

You were glad you had left the lights off in the flat. The lights of the city outside the window allowed for a soft glow to seep into the room. Without the lights on you were able to see the quiet street and watch the people of the night go about their business. You wanted some sort of distraction, but the thought of scrolling on your phone or turning the television on seemed like it would make the headache you had even worse.  It also allowed for your brain to wander gently between thoughts. 

You wonder where the people on the street below are going.

You wonder where they’re coming from. 

You wonder where Tangerine and Lemon are.

You wonder if they were safe, if something bad had happened.

And before you realized it, your eyes had grown heavy and you had dozed off. 

You jolted as you were rudely awoken by the refrigerator door shutting harshly. You could hear your heartbeat in your ears as you realized you weren’t in the place alone. You didn’t move at first as you opened your eyes to see who was there. You could make out the silhouette of a man standing in the kitchen, illuminated by a small amount of light coming in through the window from the street lights. Tangerine hadn’t called or texted you before you had fallen asleep so you weren’t sure if it was him. You were hoping it was him, if it wasn’t you didn’t know what you would do. 

“Tan?” you half whispered. 

“Yeah.” He says dryly. You watched as he turns towards your voice and flips on the light above the kitchen island. You blink a few times to adjust to the bright light and give him a look over. 

He looks tired, or maybe annoyed? You couldn’t really place the emotion, but it wasn’t a positive one. You notice his suit jacket is laid over the back of one of the barstools with his suitcase propped up against it. You look from the jacket, back to him and notice a few bruises and small cuts that range from his face to the exposed upper chest sticking out from a slightly unbuttoned undershirt. 

You watch as Tangerine quietly moves around the kitchen gathering a variety of things to make some sort of meal. His movements are sharp and more than once he lets a cabinet shut a little roughly. 

You clear your throat as you readjust how you’re sitting so you can see Tangerine better. “I didn’t realize you’d be back home tonight. How did the job go?” 

He looks up at you with half a sandwich on the way to his mouth. “D’rather not talk ‘bout it, love.” He quickly says before taking the last bite of his dinner.

You watch as he puts his dishes in the sink and washes his hands. You watch as he dries them off and then places his hands on either side of the sink, almost bracing himself. You could tell something was stuck on his mind as he takes a breath in and closed his eyes. 

You begin to play with the blanket laid over you out of nerves, avoiding looking at him. You couldn’t read Tangerine’s mood and you worried something serious had happened. 

“Why didn’t you wake me up when you got in? You scared me when y–” 

You were cut off by Tangerine.

“Wouldn’t have to be concerned about who had gotten in if ya’d keep the front door locked, would ya now?” He snaps, raising an eyebrow and cocking his head at you. He hadn’t raised his voice, but the look on his face shares the irritation he has. 

The tone in his voice had taken you by surprise and had caused you to stop fidgeting with the blanket and look up at him. Tangerine wasn’t prone to snapping at you out of nowhere like he just had. Even after a particularly bad job, he usually was able to keep his aggravation not geared towards you. 

“Excuse me?” You question him, your voice faltering as you look at him. His face was tense. You couldn’t pin if he was truly irritated with you or if he was taking out his last fifteen days on you. 

“Ya left the fuckin’ front door unlocked. Again, love.” He readjusts his stance and stands up straight, with his arms crossed. You let out a small sorry, but either he doesn’t hear it or doesn’t care as he continues on.

“I’ve told ya so many times, ya got ta keep it locked.” He drags a hand down his face, and rubs his chin. “Do you know how dangerous it could be? What happens if some prick comes lookin’ for me? When me and Lemon aren’t here, you’ve got–”

This time you cut him off. “Tan, I apologized. It was a fucking accident. Okay?” 

You couldn’t even remember if you had or hadn’t locked the fucking door when you got home. All you remember is wanting to just be inside and hidden from the day. And you start to tear up just thinking about the last few weeks you had had. 

“Accident or– if someone – it is dangerous, darling. Do you know–” he cuts himself off as he looks directly at you. At this point tears are streaming down your face and you’re wiping them off of your cheeks.

“Tangerine. Please. For the love of god. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to leave the god damned fuckin’ door unlocked. I don’t even remember– I–” 

It becomes harder to speak the more you talk. You hadn’t meant to just break down. But the combination of the last few weeks, being startled awake and the tone of Tangerine, you just couldn’t not let it all out. 

You rub your face with both your hands as you take a shaky breath in and look up towards Tangerine. You realize he had made his way across the distance from the kitchen island to the coffee table as he stood a few feet away from you. The features of his face had softened, he had a look of sadness on his face. 

“I know you’re afraid when you leave me someone will show up, it was an accident. I’m fine now. Okay? Just let up, Tan.” You can’t even try to stop the tears now. 

“Love, m’sorry.” he sits down at the edge of the couch, “I just worry. So, so much when I’m not ‘ere. Especially when I’m gone so fuckin’ long. ‘Didn’t mean to snap, it was just a shit job. M’sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, my love.” 

“It wasn’t just you, Tan. Its… It’s just been such a day. It’s been such a month.” You sniffle and wipe another tear off of your face. You take a deep, shaky breath. “I’ve really missed you.” 

“Oh, darlin’. I’ve missed you as well, more than I’d probably like to admit. How about a hug? Is ‘t okay if I get closer?” He asks, setting a hand close to your crossed legs on the couch. 

You sniffle and nod your head. 

At this point Tangerine readjusts himself to where he is fully sitting on the couch. He pulls you into him and holds you tightly, wrapping one of his arms around your head and pulling it to the crook of his neck. He kisses your head as you further break down. 

“I’m so sorry. You just got home and I don’t mean to be like this. I just, I had such a bad day and then you scared me waking me up like that and you’re upset with me, I know it’s scary when you leave and you can’t be here making sure I’m safe. I know you just got back and you were gone for so long and–” you wrap your arms around his waist and begin to cry harder.

You hadn’t meant to upset him in the first place. You knew he always worried about you, and you felt even worse that you were sobbing into his chest, making him worry even more. 

“Tangerine, I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to–” 

You're cut off by Tangerine hugging you a little closer. 

“Love, it’s okay. M’not upset with you, I was just being a right fuckin’ asshole, yeah? I didn’t really mean what I said. You’ll always be safe as long as M’here. Wha’s happened? Wha’s wrong?” Tangerine says while he starts to gently run a hand over your hair. 

“One thing just hasn’t happened, it’s just been so many little things. And you’ve been so busy with work. Tan I’ve missed you. And I didn’t mean to make you mad as soon as you got home. I hadn’t even realized I didn’t lock the door.” You say, squeezing your arms around him even tighter. If you could be any closer to the man, you would be, but you don’t think it’s physically possible. 

You take a deep breath again with a sniffle, gaining more composure before starting again. 

“I just got home tonight and I just wanted to go to bed, Tan. I barely even remember what all I did when I got home. I’m sorry. I don’t want you to have to worry or to be mad at me.” You sniffle once more and bring a hand up to wipe your eyes.

“Darlin’, I promise I’m not upset with you.” Tangerine says petting your head again and kissing your temple.

“But you’re tone. Tan, you’ve never spoken to me like that. You were mean, you sounded mad.” You sniffle again. God. You needed a tissue, but you weren’t going to risk moving out of Tangerine’s arms. You didn’t think you could bear to look him in the eyes, even if you had stopped sobbing.

“M’sorry, ya know I’ve been with Lemon for the last few weeks and I’ve been dealing with right arseholes. It just slipped, yeah? It isn’t right of me, but it just happened. I promise I’m not upset with you or even mad at you – I could never be mad at you, love.” 

He lets out a sigh before pulling back from you for a second, adjusting you both in a way where he can look into your eyes. He wipes away some of the left over tears on your face

“I promise I am not mad at you. And I promise I won’t bring my work tone back home to you.” He says, making sure to emphasize each word a little slower than he usually would. 

Your eyes trail over his face, looking at the bruises that scatter his body closer than you previously could. “Okay,” you say quietly, realizing just how tired you were and you could imagine Tangerine felt the same. 

“What can I do to make it up to you? What can I do to make up for the last sixteen days?” He holds your face in his hands softly, rubbing a thumb over your cheek. You let out a yawn, followed by a soft smile. 

“You don’t have to do anything, Tan. It’s okay, really.” You bring your hands up and place them over his. “Let’s just go to bed, yeah? We can make up for the last few weeks after some sleep. I know you’ve got to be tired – not to be rude, but you look like hell.” 

Tangerine lefts out a soft chuckle, and you smile once more. He leans forward and places a soft kiss on the tip of your nose, and then your lips. 

“Let’s put you to bed then. But I’ve got to shower before bed, love.” He helps untangle you from the throw blanket you were previously wrapped in and then stands himself. You walk to the barstool in the kitchen grabbing the handle of his suitcase as he grabs his suit jacket, and you both head towards the bedroom. 

“Well I’m glad you made that decision by yourself. I wasn’t going to say anything, but you do smell like work.” You say jokingly, scrunching your nose at him and letting out a small laugh.

Tangerine’s face breaks out in a grin before he throws his suit jacket towards the hamper and turns to you. You go to set his suitcase by his side of the bed when you’re suddenly blinded by Tangerine coming up from behind you and engulfing you in the shirt he was just wearing.

While your back was turned, Tangerine had unbuttoned the rest of his shirt and had now cocooned you in it. “Shoulda kept your mouth shut, love.” He laughs as you try to push him away from you.

You laugh as you turn around, now facing his chest. “Jesus, Tangerine– you smell so bad.” You duck down and out of his arms, falling back onto the bed before Tangerine tackles you flat onto the bed. 

“It's the wonderful smell of a man who’s not showered in three days, dear.” He begins to shower you in kisses as you try to push him away between laughs. 

“Tan, EW! Go make it zero again!” You laugh as he gives you a final, overdramatic kiss on your cheek as he gets off of you, throwing his shirt into his hamper before heading to the bathroom with a “Whatever you say, lovely.”

You smile to yourself as you wipe your face, attempting to wipe off the grime you felt from Tangerine’s attack. 

While Tangerine quickly showers, you plug both of your phones into their chargers and set them on their respective bedside tables. You also change into your own night clothes before turning off the overhead light and crawling into the bed. A few seconds later Tangerine follows suit and you move closer to him. 

“Better now, yeah?” He says, pulling the collar of his shirt out and offering it to you to smell. 

You swat his shirt away before snaking an arm around his waist, and giving him a kiss on his jawline. 

“Much better, thank you.” 

You smile to yourself as you lay your head onto his chest, and Tangerine scoots closer to you letting his arm snake around your waist and pulling you tight to him as he gives your forehead a kiss. You had missed this, you had missed him. 

You knew you and Tangerine would have a chat in the morning about how he was doing, and what had happened with you, and how much you had missed the other. Lemon would probably come around and would tell you about how much Tangerine whined about missing you the entire trip, which would cause a spat between the two. But for now, all you could think about was how at home you felt. How comfortable you were. How happy you were that your Tangerine was finally home, safe in your arms.

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A/N: i dont just absolutely love this piece, but i've been going through it and very much benefited off of writing this lmfao

if you liked this, check out my master list! --> HERE if you have a request, feel free to send it in! :]

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3/21/2023: edited to update warnings

3/22/2023: edited to fix grammatical mistakes and text formatting

[ch0wen]

Hi!!!!!!! Loooooove your writing!!!! May I ask Tangerine x reader (fem if you want!), hot "Thank god you are safe!" kind of sex?

Thaaaaaank you for your support and for sending this over!! 💕 I am so so so happy to read comments on my posts and I really appreciate receiving these messages. Please accept this work as a token of my gratitude -

Request: Gunpoint - Tangerine x gn!reader

warnings: 18+ (minors dni), smut, & cursing

“I’m okay. I promise.”

“He held a gun to your head, Y/N.”

He has a serious look on his face but his dick is sliding deliciously in and out of you. He’s thrusting slowly. Analyzing, not admiring, your body to ensure there aren’t any hidden cuts or marks he may have missed from earlier. You’re clenching down on his cock to try and savor the feeling of him filling you up. Gripping him to hold onto the feeling of being full to avoid the emptiness from him slipping out.

You’re grateful Tangerine is so doting. It’s an entirely different side to him that not many people see. He’s generally caring and listens to you, but his worry is not an emotion you see often. In reactive situations, when the cause for the stress is over, he gets clingy and has to state verbal reminders that you’re okay, but they're mostly for himself. It's been a while since you've seen this side of him, but today put him in a position he hasn’t been in before and you could tell it shattered him.

Earlier, you opened the front door of your apartment with a smile, thinking it was just Tangerine meeting you for your agreed date. However, you were staring down the barrel of a gun with a sweaty, blonde man’s hesitating finger dancing on the trigger.

Moments later, Tangerine’s pounding footsteps were heard down the building's corridor. His tight facial expression faltered once he got a look at the scene now in front of him. Blondie had swooped in behind you and put you in a chokehold; the pressure of the gun prodding at your head.

The look on his face paired with the gun made your stomach twist. He paled whilst trying to fight off any trace of worry to not give Blondie the reaction he wanted. But you can pick up on any of his micro-expressions, except he wasn’t successful at fully hiding some of the changes to his demeanor. Contorted eyebrows here, a quivering lip there, hands stuttering with the flexing then balling of his fists, and a command to let you go with a slight quiver to his stern tone. And when he locked eyes with you, you could read his silent plea for you to stay calm. He was helplessly trying to figure out a safe way to free you from being Blondie’s hostage without having said man react and shoot you. You never saw that clear emotion wash over him before. It didn’t make you feel good at all. You felt horrible to be in a position where your smart, always confident Tangerine was unsure of himself and what to do next. To feel this way being the one with a loaded weapon pressed against your temple says a lot.

But you’d do anything to never have him doubt himself or for you to be labeled as a damsel in distress. So, you took initiative to defend yourself against Blondie by throwing your head back into his nose as you’ve seen in the movies. Honestly, what they don't tell you, is that the impact causes whatever part of your own head to throb. But arguably that was the preferred pain over the harsh smack of the gun to your face. Your body hitting the ground with a quickly forming welt set Tangerine off, and now Lemon is currently out God only knows where to dispose of Blondie’s corpse.

Tangerine embraced you over the cooling body, followed by a quick text to Lemon. He iced your cheek/eye in the kitchen. Leading to more kisses that finally wound you up on your bed for him to 'assess' how bad your injuries are. Now you're here.

“Tan, I’m not gonna break. Fuck me, baby.”

Wordlessly, he is moving back to sit down near the end of the bed and pulls your body with him. You’re now straddling his lap; being wrapped in his arms with his dick never slipping out of you. His hands soothingly stroke up and down your sides as he continues to thrust his cock rhythmically. Fingers ghost over the bruise on your face. He’s afraid to apply any pressure to it. This close you can see how genuinely concerned he was and still is. There are traces of tears around his baby-blue eyes. You're not sure if they’re from now or earlier in the hall, and he would deny having ever welled up if you tried asking. But you carefully stroke under his eye with your thumb to wipe them away and now he’s staring at you.

“I was so scared I was going to lose you,” he admits.

You kiss his fingers as they sweep over your lips then replace the sensation with a soft kiss to his own. A silent message that that didn’t happen. You’re alive.

“I’m right here,” you whisper promises against his lips, “I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”

His mouth quirks into a smile and nips at your lip,

“Oh, yea. You’re an absolute bore to be stuck with,” he teases.

Your giggle turns into a hearty moan as he gives you an unexpected firm fuck up into you. Oh. His pace has impressively sped up and his hands keep alternating where he's holding you. Like he wants to constantly touch you to physically confirm you’re here with him.

“You’re safe,” he whispers; moans escaping past his concerned tone.

“I’m safe.”

“You’re mine.”

“Yes, baby. I’m all yours.”

“Mine,” he nods then sucks a love bite into your collarbone. Then moves to place one onto your skin just above your left nipple. Taking a moment to pay attention to the sensitive bud by licking and suckling on it. You’re writhing against him; pushing his hair back from his face to watch him pay attention to your chest.

Your nails bite at his shoulders with each drive up into you. The bed creeks and shakes with his hips pistoning into you from below, creating the sickest, dirtiest slapping sounds in the room. What he's doing with his lower half is a stark contrast to the gentle touches he places on your face. The overwhelming sensation of your creeping orgasm and being cradled so close to Tangerine is your confirmation that you’re here and today really drove in the fact that you know Tangerine will always strive to keep you out of harm's way.

[aliorsboxostuff]

tangerine x reader who gets bad migraines thatd be so silly haha

A/N: AWH ANON :(( okay i did a bit of background research about the migraines thing and oof if its abt the chronic fatigue thing, my heart goes to ya anon. Though, no assumptions, so this little drabble can be about the illness or simply Reader going through a migraine. btw im surprised im capable of writing anything under 1K words, wow. anyways, Enjoy anon! <3

Hold Tight

tags: Tangerine x gn!reader, Soft!Tangerine, maybe OOC but boyfie Tan is a softie, Reader going Through It™, short drabble, fluff, established relationship, 100-200 words

Tangerine enters the room to a groan, immediately looking up from the debrief file Lemon gave him that morning. 

"Darling?" His eyes scans the office to find it empty, before he hears another hurt sound and turns to enter the living room. There, he finds his beloved on the couch, hands holding their head, another groan of annoyance.

Tangerine sighs and makes his way to the couch, announcing his entracne with a soft hand on their shoulder. "Another migrane?" 

"Yeah…" They grunt, trying to blink out the dizzyness. Tangerine sat hinself next to them, arms around their shoulder as he pulls them closer. "I hate this," 

"Come now," He slowly lowered himself on his back while pulling them with him, one hand on their waist while the other rests on their nape. 

"Tell me if you need anything, if the nausea comes up, yeah love?" 

They simply nodded, melting into Tangerines hold. He runs his hands through their hair, scratching at the scalp a bit, before down to their nape, simply grounding them, drawing little circles. They sigh, huddling closer under Tangerine's neck and breathing in the familiar woody scent. But Tangerine was probably getting ready for a mission before he came to comfort them, so they tried holding their head up to meet Tangerine's deep blues.

"Tan, you have your mission.." They begin to stir, only for Tangerine to hold them tighter.

"Missions can wait, love," He answers simply. "You, however, can take as long as you need," He presses a kiss to your crown, brushing back stray hair before they huff in compliance, dropping their head to the crook of their boyfriends neck and almost dozing off as they wait out the migraine. 

[thenarryparable]

"Tangerine, sugar, honey, sweet"

sub tangerine x gn/top reader

its pretty tame I'd say just uh, SMUT

Thursday is going to kill me. Mother im sorry dont look at this. I have lost myself-

(praise k*nk, sub/dom roles, degr*dation, b*ndage...all of it)

Tangerine laid down in bed while you finished up in the shower, washing off a load of stress and anxiety from the job you, Lemon and Tangerine had done today. Taking care of Wataru with all the stupid White Death associates without a job, wanting revenge was stressful to say the least.

You turned off the shower when you were finished and told him he could go next before you got an idea. Tangerine was pretty tense, always tense. Especially when it came to even seeing you a bit naked, always scared of doing something "Wrong and immoral" as he put it.

Why not let out some of that tension?

From the job, from trying not to 'fuck anything up', let's knock out too birds with one stone.

Tangerine sat up and said "Thanks, che-" then he looked back and saw you taking off your towel, revealing the sweet body you had, the one he cherished. "On another thought, I dont need to take a fucking shower now, luv" got him.

"Why is that?" you asked. "You fucking know why you sly prick" he muttered through gritted teeth as he walked over to you, nudging you for consent before going further. "Is this okay, luv?" he whispered, clearly nervous. "Yes" you whispered back, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He goes to wrap his hands around your waist before you grip his tie and pin him onto the bed, he looked so cute, so vulnerable this way. He didn't expect that from the weak whine and gasp you got from his filthy mouth. "Oh my, desperate are we?" he nodded.

"Why that won't fly with me love, you need some self-control before you go making a mess everywhere." you undo his tie and wrap it around his wrists, "Green light?" he nods, as you make a knot. "Now, let's get you undressed baby boy. Carefully now, don't need to mess up your suit, you look very handsome in it, so accessible as well," you say teasing the fly of his blue, pinstriped slacks that snagged onto his body so beautifully.

He whimpered, Tangerine couldn't think straight at this point. "Tangerine~" you purred as you pulled his fly down, making him twitch and tense up. "Oh baby, relax...deep breaths" you said as you stroked his thigh, pulling down his trousers.

"Oh dear, you are quite, ha...rigid to say the least" Tangerine blushed more, from embarrassment. "Now let's get the rest of this off your marvelously shaped frame, shall we?" Tangerine nodded as you unbuttoned his vest, and his shirt. Exposing all of his tattoos and scars, especially the one on his neck.

He let out a sob as you pressed a kiss against it, his shaft throbbing in pain. Even you could feel it, sore against your stomach as you held him down, his legs spread out against your exposed body and soon, his.

"You ready my sweet, Tangerine?" you asked with, a mischievous look in your eyes. "Y-yes" he choked out, as you felt at the seam of his soft boxers that were now, tight. You carefully took his cock out, him mewling as you took it into your hands.

You gave him a few gentle pumps, letting him get adjusted to the pace before remembering, lube. You slow down and stop before grabbing a small bottle of it from Tangerines dresser. "Forgot this!" you said, as Tangerine groaned.

You poured some into your hands before making your hands busy again, listening to Tangerine pant and moan as you pumped his thick cock, faster and faster. Sweet, sticky, cum leaking from his swollen cock. His breath became more and more hitched and heavy as you worked.

He arched his back as he reached his climax, spilling out white sticky liquid all over your hand. You grinned and pulled your hand away, as he had gone limp. "Good boy" you praised as you untied his wrists. "Now lets go get you cleaned up, sweetheart" you said as you took off his shirt and vest completely this time now that he's untied and helped him to the bathroom.

You took a clean rag out of the cabinet and cleaned him off. You then started a bath, he tried to refuse your care but you insisted that he'd bathe. You helped him into the warm bath and grabbed some rose-scented soap and rubbed it all over his gorgeous bare skin.

You then moved onto his soft curls and poured some coconut oil and shampoo into your hands and massaged his scalp, his head rubbing against your hands like a kitty. "Thank you, luv" his whisper sounding like a purr. "You're welcome, hun" you said as you helped him lean back and get the soap out of his hair.

"I love you" he said, as you helped him out of the tub, drying him off with a towel.

"I love you too, sweet boy" you responded, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek.

[tange-my-rine]

saying something stupid (like I love you) || Tangerine × gn!reader

Summary: With Lemon's guidance, you take the initiative and confess to Tangerine. He kept saying he felt the same, and wouldn't shut up until you did it. So, in a moment of weakness, you told him. You kind of knew what to expect: either reciprocation or rejection. Easy. But when Tangerine instead physically runs away from you, you have to admit you weren't expecting that.

TW: angsty (with a happy ending), crying, cursing (it's Tangerine), and avoidance (Tangerine is really bad at feelings, what can I say).

[[A/N: yes this is based off that one song. It's so GOODDD. And also something Tangerine would totally do. Peep the Little Women reference. Enjoy :)]]

"C'mon," Lemon urged, "-'s not 'at hard, mate."

You rolled your eyes, absent-mindedly chewing the inside of your cheek, "You say that as if you've ever been in a relationship. Ever."

You had known the twins since middle school (probably), both raised with shitty parents and even shittier lives. When you saw them for the first time swindling a boy out of his money in a go-fish game, you essentially blackmailed them.

('If I don't get a share, I'm telling the teacher.')

You actually even knew their names, and them yours, but you preferred the codenames -you were the one to come up with them afterall.

Tangerine almost popped a blood vessel when you met that day, but Lemon smiled big and bright and pulled a five out of his brother’s hand. You and Lemon were fast friends after that; Tangerine took a lot more time.

That being said, when you were finally friends -near high school, he started to... fill out his form. Naturally, being close to someone who is handsome, you find yourself in... certain states of mind. And what started as a little crush your senior year, snowballed to now.

Where you were in love with him.

You probably told Lemon after a few years of it not going away. But, you'd find that every day after you'd regret that decision.

"Sally Jones," Lemon offered up, seemingly in defense of himself.

You scoffed, "The girl you dated for a month?"

He nodded his head.

"You didn't even like her," you clarified, "-you liked that she had cable so you could watch your fucking trains."

"So?"

"So-" you said a little loudly, turning to the bedroom where Tangerine slept and drastically lowering your voice at the distinct absence of shuffling, "-Lemon. We have been best friends since we were kids, that's... That's a lot to mess up because I'm... because I have feelings."

"What so-" Lemon starts, "What if he gets married one day? What are goin' to do? Just... Just fuckin' bury it down?"

"First off, he's too much of a dick to get married, secondly-" you paused, letting out a big sigh -something in your chest twisting, "-yeah. I mean, it's what I've done for all of these years, isn't it?"

He frowned for a minute, hand finding its place on your shoulder, "You ever think ya deserve to get it off your chest? 'At maybe you deserve the happiness it'll give ya?"

"Might give me," you corrected.

"Look, I know my brother," Lemon argued, brown eyes layered onto yours, "-and I know he's been fuckin' crazy about you since you stole that fuckin' five dollars on the playground."

"I didn't steal it," you clarified, a little defensively "-we made a deal. We negotiated-"

"Y/N," he refocused, "-I just wanna see the two of ya happy, yeah?"

"I know," you spoke, softer, "-I know, Lemon."

Before another word could be spoken and it really seemed like Lemon wanted to, Tangerine stepped into the living room -hair still sleep-mussed, and clothes far more casual than what he'd wear normally. Not that it was new to you, but it still made your heart flutter a little.

"You 'avin' a fuckin' pow wow without me?"

"Morning, sunshine," you smiled with a sing-songy tone.

"Fuck you," Tangerine muttered (a tiny little smile quirked onto his lips), before slinking off into the kitchen -most likely in search of coffee.

When you stayed seated, eyes flickering over whatever reality TV show was on -Lemon nearly burned a whole in your side.

'What?!' you mouthed, exasperated.

He was wordless, brown eyes darting from you to the kitchen -a few times in a row actually.

'Now?' you mouthed back.

'The sooner the fuckin' better,' Lemon mouthed back, shoving you further down the couch.

Well, you debated to yourself, it would get him off your back, and that would be nice.

But, you didn't feel so scared then -not like all the years prior. It was like something... something had shifted in you and you just wanted it done.

Shit, you thought, maybe it is time.

You took a deep breath in and with raised hands (in mock surrender), stood up.

'Fine.'

Lemon seemed taken aback a moment, shock, like he'd never actually expected you to cave; to be fair, you were a little surprised too. But... you were tired, and if heartbreak was to come of it -you wanted to get it over with now.

'But if he doesn't...' you mouthed, '-you owe me everything in your wallet.'

He neatly nodded in agreement.

You swallowed, squeezing your hands together and with the timidness of a doe, entered the kitchen.

The kitchen in the apartment was small, but modern-looking. It was all sleek metal and plain colored cabinets, looked like something out of a magazine. That being said, Tangerine fit right in.

Your eyes unwillingly went to his hair, the unkempt curls, and you briefly wondered if they felt soft.

"Hey, Tan?" you echoed out -trying to keep your voice level and calm.

He held up a finger -as if to say 'one moment', before fidgeting with his coffee. He took it basically black so it didn't take him too long to do so. Just a dash of both sugar and milk, he spun around to look at you.

You supposed you hadn't thought about the idea that he had to be looking at you while you said it. His eyes were always so... bright and distracting -you could hardly handle it when he looked at you so intensely on a regular day. How could you do that today? Right now?

You cleared your throat, wringing your hands together, "I, um, I need to tell you something."

Tangerine pursed his lips, looking you over -leaning slightly on the counter with his cup in his hand. His eyes dashed over yours with a curious sort of question there -scanning over you like he was trying to figure out just what it was.

"Ya alright, love?"

You blinked, trying to clear your head, and opening your mouth to respond. In what way, you weren't sure but any at all sounded good-

"Get fuckin' on with it, mate," Lemon yelled out from the living room -apparently hearing everything in here he could.

Tangerine was just looking at you -blue eyes just looking.

Something in you snapped.

"Jesus Christ, fine, Lemon," you hissed in frustration -words coming out before you could stop them, "-Tangerine, I'm in love with you."

Tangerine froze.

You weren't even sure he was breathing.

"Tangerine," you stepped forward, concerned, "-are you okay?"

Before you could so much as touch him though, he, without a word, beelined out of the kitchen. So fast you were left reeling in his dust, blinking a little deliriously.

You instantly spun around your heels and rushed to the living room -just in time to see Tangerine swipe the keys (the car keys) off of the little table near the door and promptly leave the apartment.

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed into your mind -like a pin dropping into silence.

Something swirling up into your chest, you swallowed -something heavy on your tongue and even heavier on your heart. You blankly stared at the door, like if you wished hard enough he'd come back and tell you he loved you. That all of it had just been a gut reaction.

After a few minutes, that did not happen.

"Lemon...?" You croaked out, eyes suddenly blurry and heart pounding in your chest -had you really just ruined it all?

"Lemon-" you let out a breath and it somehow turned into a sob. It felt like your chest had been cracked open and your heart crushed to dust.

God, you'd lost him. You fucking lost your best friend because you decided to be stupid and fall in love with him-

You don't know when you fell to the floor, crying, but you do remember Lemon rushing over to you -brown eyes guilty and somewhat confused.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He kept repeating it, over and over, but all you could see in your head was Tangerine frozen and all you could feel was a loss. You were grieving him, there was no way anything could go back to normal-

You'd have to get separate jobs, live on your own-

"I'm not leavin' you," Lemon said suddenly, and you realized you must've been muttering, "-My brother can shove 'at idea up his arse."

Without another breath, you pushed yourself into his arms -wrapped around him into a hug.

"Liked you much better anyway," he muttered, and there was a laugh that burst through your chest.

You and Lemon ended up staying at that apartment for about three more days, waiting to see if Tangerine would return. All of his clothes were here, and you weren't entirely sure he even had his wallet in his pajamas -but he didn't show back up.

Not that he hadn't been in contact, Lemon had been both answering and not answering phone calls from him almost by the hour. He always ran to another room to answer them though, and you respected the privacy -it's not like you wanted to hear from Tangerine anyway.

Even though he was your friend and you were worried, you knew it best not to talk to him.

"You're a fuckin' idiot, mate," Lemon hissed out -bitter and disapproving, "-none of it makes any fuckin' sense, I swear you were-"

There was silence for a minute, you assumed Tangerine interrupted him.

"Are you really fuckin' serious with me right now?" Came back with a much harsher sentiment and the tone of it chilled you to the bone -Lemon was mad.

Which you'd really only seen once or twice, in grade school, either when someone picked on you and you cried (both boys reacted similarly to that) or when someone, unprompted, hurt Tangerine.

You were suddenly flashed back to your senior prom when a guy had asked you but it had all turned out to be some joke. 'He's fuckin' stupid not to like you, love,' rang through your head -familiar blue eyes and arm wrapped solidly around you pulled you into his side, '-doesn't deserve you anyway.'

There was a bitter taste in your mouth.

Lemon pulled you out of your thoughts, "What were 'ey supposed to think, mate? That you were so joyous you couldn't stay fuckin' still?!"

You rubbed your hands up and down your arms, mindlessly packing your bag. The next piece made you stutter to a stop. Hands lingering on a long-sleeved button-up, one you'd borrowed from Tangerine and he'd never asked for back, your heart sunk to the bottom of your chest.

No more crying, you thought.

With not a word, you took the fabric in your hands, leaving your room, and shoving it into Tangerine's bag.

You did stay in the room for a moment, breathing in the... Tangerine of it all.

And then, you left.

"No, no, mate," Lemon laughed, incredulously, "-I'm not doin' shit for you. You come 'ere and do damage control yourself."

You pulled your bag up on your shoulder, it was just a little duffle -you didn't carry much job to job, and trailed into the living room.

Lemon immediately straightened, cutting off Tangerine, "I've got to go, brother. I think you know 'at to do."

With the precise press of a finger, he hung up.

Letting out a big sigh, Lemon turned to you, "Let me get 'is stuff, and then we'll leave, yeah?"

And you did.

You're not sure what the last call was about, but after that one, he started calling you too.

Lemon had decided to cool off on the jobs, just visiting a few cities out of want -kind of treating it like a tourist. It was weird, but not unwelcome. One of those nights, it started.

You were eating on the couch, some sort of reality TV show distracting you with Lemon -when your phone vibrated on the coffee table. You unhesitatingly went to pick it up, eyes smoothing across the name-

'Tan 🍊'.

Staring at it for a moment in disbelief, you quickly declined and set your phone back on the coffee table.

He didn't call you again until late that night when Lemon was asleep in his room; you weren't asleep, to be fair, just staring up at the ceiling.

The name flickered across your screen, and with a little hesitation, you answered.

"What the hell do you want, Tan?"

He was silent for a minute, slow to respond -speaking a little in disbelief, "Hey, love."

"Tangerine, don't-" you started, something breaking in your voice -you cleared your throat, "-That's not fair."

"Love-"

"You're being mean," you echoed out, tone a little broken and weepy -it was all you could say.

He was silent for a long while then, almost exhausted, "I'm sorry."

"It feels like," and you could feel the tears bubbling up, "-it feels like when that stupid guy ditched me at prom," your voice got much quieter -a little pathetic but you didn’t care, "-but you're not here, Tan."

'I want you here,' went unsaid.

"I'm sorry," he repeated -but this time a little more dim.

"Don't you think I deserve to hear that in person?" You offered -swallowed back a sob, you were crying by now, just silent tears down your cheeks, "Don't you have any respect for me-"

"I never meant to-"

"Save it," you interrupted -tired and exhausted, "-I need to sleep."

Before he could say another word, you hung up.

And if you cried yourself to sleep that night, that was between you and the apartment walls.

He didn't stop after that night, calling you more than Lemon -he still answered. You didn't. You had nothing to say to him, until he decided to apologize, in person. Or even just come back at all. He couldn't run forever. No matter how much he didn't want to reject you, you needed to hear it.

Couldn't he understand that?

Because every day he didn't, there was a traitorous little part of you that held onto the hope that maybe he had just been overwhelmed. Maybe he just wasn't ready.

And that hurt more than anything else. That he wouldn't come to tell you otherwise, when you already knew it.

There were a few times he'd call you, and Lemon would call him back: 'Just leave 'em alone, mate.' And then, he'd disappear off into a room -ready to talk about whatever they did.

And then, about a month after the start of it all, you heard a knock on the door.

It was a normal day, where you and Lemon ate takeout and watched whatever show was on -which was often shitty. He didn't talk about Tangerine, so the conversations were more lighthearted -made you feel better.

But when you heard the door, you froze.

Lemon seemed to be looking for your reaction, brown eyes darting all over your face. And for a moment, you were relieved that he was okay but then your face settled into something strained.

You told him you loved him and he ran away. You didn't think it could get much worse than rejection, but it did.

Lemon took the look as a sign to gently rub your shoulder, comforting, before standing up and heading to the door.

Deciding to focus on the TV and eat, you did so. You only flinched when he swung open the door, and in quiet whispers, you heard his voice again. It felt like your whole world was crumbling, you thought you were ready for this -the rejection. But you still loved him so much-

You blinked away tears, determined not to let him see you cry. You wouldn't accept pity, not from him.

You knew his footfall, knew exactly where he stopped behind the couch and you even felt his hand come to clutch it right by your head. You ignored him.

"Y/N," he started and his voice seemed a little wrecked.

Not knowing entirely why (or maybe knowing exactly), you turned to meet him.

Tangerine was disheveled, hair messy like he'd been running his hand through it for days -which you knew he did when he was nervous, and his new suit messy. He did look a little like he'd been in a bar fight, and won. You also knew he did that when he needed some stress relief.

Was that why he was here? For refuge?

"I-"

You abruptly stood up, food falling from your lap, and somehow safely onto the couch, "I'm too tired for this."

Tangerine looked at you for a moment, and you thought it was a little desperate but you smushed the idea without hesitation.

This time, you were the one to run away from him.

You found immediate solace in your room, slinking against the door and breathing so quickly -your eyes fogged up. Needing something to do, you decided to unpack your bag.

Unwillingly, you heard a mutter of voices, and even Lemon's footfall as he disappeared into his room. Tangerine took a bit longer, but when you heard the door shut, you let out a long sigh of relief. Not tonight.

Before you could finish with your clothes though, you heard his steps again -slow and hesitant. You thought for a second that maybe he was leaving again, and something in your stomach twisted.

Instead, though, all you hear was them booming closer. You stilled.

You had the off thought to run over and lock it, but it was too late then. The door opened slowly like he wasn't sure if you were asleep. And you chastised yourself for not thinking of that.

When he opened it all the way, his eyes landed squarely on you. You waited for him to say something, anything, so you could shut him down and go to bed.

Instead, he simply extended his hand forward.

Your eyes darted to it, his hand clutching a shirt -the shirt you had shoved back into his bag. How did he even know it was different?

"Take it," he spoke, voice quiet.

"Tangerine," you countered, swallowing back the heaviness in your voice, "-that's yours."

"'S not," he explained, "-I fuckin' gave it to you."

"You let me borrow it," you clarified, tone wavering slightly, "-I'm just returning it."

"You didn't fuckin' borrow it-"

"Tangerine."

"Take the fuckin' shirt, love," he reiterated, "'s not mine anymore."

"Tangerine," you sighed out, "-can you not? It's late, and I'm tired-"

"It's your shirt," he interrupted, something in his eyes but you couldn't quite label it, "-take it, and I'll fuckin' leave you alone, yeah?"

"I'm not-" you exhaled, closing your eyes for a moment -trying to bat away the tears, the frustration, "-Tangerine, I don't want it."

"Well, I want you to fuckin' have it."

"Do you think about what I want?" you echoed, "-Ever?"

Tangerine opened his mouth, but you were on a roll now.

"I..." you laughed incredulously, looking up to stop your tears (you blinked them away), "-Tangerine, it's been a month."

He tried again, but you didn't let him.

"You. You left," you sniffled slightly, clearing your throat -prolonging the inevitable, "-Tangerine, I... I told you that I loved you and you ran away."

"Love," he started, small and barely there.

"Stop-" you swallowed, "-Don't call me that, it's not... it's not fair."

"How is it not fair?"

"You don't-" you groaned, swiping at your eyes -you were crying now, and out of the corner of your eye you saw his hand twitch (like he wanted to comfort you).

He stood in silence waiting, patient.

"Tangerine, why didn't you just tell me then?" You asked the question that bounced around your mind ever since he left.

"Fuckin' tell you what, love?"

You flinched, ever-so-slightly, at the name again -something twisting in your stomach, and squeezed your eyes shut. Breathing a big breath in through your nose, you started.

"That you don't love me," you clarified, and now your voice was shaking and your eyes were blurry, "You could've-"

Tangerine seemed to be processing something, a flicker in his eyes.

"You could've made it so much easier if you'd just-" you frustratingly wiped your eyes again, "-said that. But instead, you ran away, and all I could think about was what I had done wrong for you to-"

"You didn't do anythin' wrong."

"Then why didn't you just tell me the truth?" You practically begged, "-Why don't you tell me now? So I don't have to... So, I know."

"That's not..."

"Tangerine," he looked at you -and you but back a sob, "-I deserve the truth. Just say it. I know you're scared you'll hurt me, but I... I've survived worse."

"What makes ya think it'll hurt you?" He offered, and your heart in your chest started beating loudly -ringing in your ears.

"Because you ran away," you repeat, wiping at your eyes again, "-I think that makes the answer pretty clear."

"Y/N-"

"Just fucking reject me!" you exclaimed, not loud enough to bother neighbors but enough to bounce around the room (Lemon probably woke up to it), "-It's not that hard, Tan, you've practically done it before."

He seemed to flinch at that, grimace even, at the mention of what he'd done. You were glad he felt some kind of guilt. Still, he remained quiet.

"For the love of god, Tangerine-" you echoed out, shaky now and your heart on the floor -vulnerable, "-just say it. It's not that hard."

"I fuckin' can't," he finally answered -something bubbling up in his tone; his hands clenched by his sides -shirt still clutched between his fingers.

"Can't," you questioned, voice shaky and tears building in your eyes, "-or won't?"

"Can't," he reiterated.

"This is ridiculous, Tangerine," you whimpered -swallowing back a sob, "-you can't give me fucking peace?"

"Y/N-"

"Give me a reason," you interrupted, brash, "-give me the reason you can't reject me right here right now."

"It's not 'at fuckin' simple, love," he remarked, low in tone, but you could tell he was getting frustrated.

"Nothing ever is!" you reasoned, "-Just tell me, that's all I want."

"It's not..."

"Tangerine, please."

He swallowed, eyes dipping to yours -scanning over you with your no doubt red eyes and shaky hands. Like he was thinking, deciding on what to say. All you could see was reluctance.

He let out a big long sigh, fidgeting with his hands (and the shirt in the mix).

"Tangerine-"

"'S not how I feel."

You furrowed your brows, "What?"

"I can't..." he trailed off, eyes off you and flickering toward the ground, "-I can't reject you because it's not what I feel, love."

Your breathing halted in your chest. Heart twisting into something so complex, sad and angry and hopeful.

There's no way, he- Why the hell did he run away?

"That's not funny, Tangerine."

"It's not a fuckin' joke," he responded, eyes finally back on yours -and you tried to read them all you could.

"Stop, no," you echoed out, shaking your head, "-don't pity me, just tell me the truth-"

"I am," he reiterated.

"No you're not," you laughed incredulously, "-it makes no sense."

He pursed his lips, exhaling through his nose, "I was scared."

"That's not-" you started, before clearing your throat, "Do you not think I was scared? That I wasn't putting everything on the line to say that? I thought I was going to lose you and then I did-"

"You didn't lose me," he spoke, softer, "-you could never lose me, love."

"I did, Tan," you sniffled, "-I lost you."

"No-"

"Tangerine," you echoed, "-you left. And I thought, I thought that my best friend was gone. I thought that because I had stupid feelings I lost you. You ran away, Tan!"

"They aren't stupid," he responded and it seemed that he was deciding on whether to step closer -you took a preemptive step back.

"At least," you sighed out, voice cracking, "-at least you knew the truth, I... I didn't know shit. You could have never come back-"

"I did," he interrupted, "-I did come back, love. And I know I'm fuckin' stupid, Lemon has been drillin' it in my head for weeks. I regret walkin' out of 'at fuckin' room so much."

His eyes were shiny with tears now, as he stepped forward into your room -hands reaching forward like he'd wanted to touch you, but he stopped.

"How the hell am I supposed to believe you? What if you just-" you sniffled, "-run away again?"

"I won't," he spoke -unwavering, "-I swear on whatever fuckin' god is up there, 'at I won't do it again."

"I don't-" you whispered out, clutched at your arms.

"I never meant to hurt you, love," he echoed out, stepping closer, "-I fuckin' hate myself for doin' it. I will never fuckin' do it again."

"Tangerine, this isn't-"

"I'm fuckin' madly in love with you," he finished, laughing a little -slowly placing his hands on your arms. You didn't move away, and he seemed to smile at that, "-'ave been since we were kids, and you pulled 'at greedy shit on me."

"It wasn't greedy," you defended.

"Most certainly fuckin' was," he tsked back, moving one hand to your face -thumb wiping back and forth.

Your heart fluttered in your chest, but there was still something heavy in your stomach. Tossing like waves.

"I'm sorry," he said, finally, "-I got fuckin' scared and ran away. It wasn't fair to you, and-" his hand brushed against your cheek, "-I'd beat myself bloody senseless if I could."

You laughed at that for a moment, and his smile got a little wider.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" you asked, something clawing up your throat again.

He frowned, allowing his hand to fall to his side -sighing, "I'm a fuckin' coward, love."

You opened your mouth to say something, anything.

"You confessed to me and it was so fuckin' brave," he looked at you like you were the sun then, bright and warm, "-and I... I couldn't spit out a fuckin' word. I just went into autopilot and..."

"Ran away," you finished, swallowing.

"Yeah," he spoke, confirming, "-ran away."

Before you could hold your tongue, words slipped out, "That is pretty cowardly."

Tangerine laughed, a big one, and something in you warmed -a smile perking onto your lips.

"It is," he agreed, "-I'll give you fuckin' 'at."

And then he paused, eye flitting over you -seeming to detail all your features in his head. Tracing over your nose, your eyes, your eyebrows, your lips-

"Are we okay, love?"

It was soft and hopeful, and something in you softened -your hurt letting up just a smidge. It wasn't gone, not yet.

"Yeah, we're good," you hummed out, taking a hand and pushing a strand of hair behind his ear, "-but you have a lot to fix."

"I know," he hummed back, blue eyes soft and affectionate, "-I'll do it. Whatever you fuckin' want."

"Well," you smiled, so close to his face -merely a breath away, "-I think I've got my first idea."

"Do you?" He offered with a smirk, hands coming to hold the sides of your face.

"Yeah," you brought your hands up on top of his, "-kiss me, please."

Tangerine didn't hesitate after that, pulling you closer with the grasp of his hands -still somehow gentle. His mustache tickled your upper lip, and you laughed a little -a grin spreading along his own lips in response. And after, it was slow, languid, each press of the lips just a touch more desperate -like you were his oxygen. Fingers pressed into your skin, your head went a little fuzzy -fingers twisting around his palms.

Speaking of oxygen, you parted.

Before you could so much as say a word though, Tangerine pressed a small one to your lips -simple. You laughed a little.

And then again, and again, and again, and again-

"Tangerine-" you laughed out, "-I can't breathe."

"Fuckin' fine," he muttered, before taking a deep breath of his own.

And then the thought crossed your mind that he would leave eventually -go back to his room. Sleep. But, you had lost so much time. You didn't want him to leave yet.

"Tan?"

"Yeah, love?" He gave you all his attention, eyes focused on you.

You pursed your lips for a moment, "Will you sleep in here with me?"

Tangerine opened his mouth.

"I don't want you to leave yet," you clarified, hand loosely twisting around one of his own -held limply between the two of you.

"I don't want to leave either," he breathed out, "-ever, preferably."

You smiled, "Is that a yes then?"

"Oh," he laughed, "-love, 'at's much more than a yes."

[spookyspecterino]

A Friendly Auction

Tangerine x !GN Reader x !Platonic Ladybug

Word Count: 4.5K

SFW; Language, Jealousy, Possessiveness (all from our best fruit boy)

After being out of commission for a little while, you're getting back into the industry by attending a job auction. You see some familiar faces.

A/N: *speaks into the mic* Hi, did anyone order a *checks notes* jealous Tangerine, and a bestie named Ladybug?

There were a few requests for these, I combined some themes but will definitely be doing more. I have unlocked an addiction to jealous Tangerine and writing a platonic Ladybug is really fun too.

Tall industrial buildings, most of them vacant or under construction, lined the sides of the street as your car flies down the empty road. Coasting through the rundown, abandoned side of the city, pot holes dotted the asphalt and you had to swerve to avoid them. Only sounds of the engine and wheels on pavement fill the small cabin. On the passenger seat beside you was your cellphone, a half empty pack of cigarettes, and an auction invite. Flashy gold lettering on thick paper caught the light of the afternoon sun through the window, shining in your peripheral vision.

Refusing to look at it, but picturing it clearly in your mind anyway, you muttered under your breath. “Fucking ridiculous.”

When you had received the invite along with instructions, you wanted to throw it away, act like you had never gotten it. A job auction? Are you joking? Your boss, a woman you highly respected and had worked with for years, was sending you to do errands for her.

“Just scope it out; see who’s bidding. Think of it as a way of getting back into the swing of things.”

Yeah. Not insulting in the least.

Slowing the car, you turned down a narrow, patchy road, squeezed in between two brick buildings. At the end of it was a guarded security gate blocking off a much wider section of an empty lot in front of a two-story warehouse.

You rolled down your window as your car crawled to a stop, leaning on your forearm to stick your head out. Three heavily armed guards were coming out of the little hut positioned at the side of the gate to meet you. There were more inside, two sat in front of monitors; they were armed to the teeth as well.

Cheerily, you greeted them with a polite smile. “Good afternoon!”

Their faces never lifted from a deep-set scowl.

The one closest marched up to your window and barked orders at you. “Please step out of the vehicle with your invite.”

Well at least he said please.

Over the next few minutes, you stood outside as they inspected your invite, patted you down, and searched your car for any weapons. They even had a dog sniff you and the car’s undercarriage. That was new; security had gone up since the last time you had come to one of these things.

Not that you could blame them. Maintaining peace in a neutral zone where all criminal families (and a bunch of no-good contract killers) could meet, had to be one nightmare of a job. Those that ran the show at least mitigated the risk by choosing who got an invite. Reputation came into play no doubt—generous donations helped too.

Satisfied that you weren’t trying to sneak anything in, the guard motioned for you to go ahead, keeping your invite. That’s too bad, you wanted a souvenir.

Only a few other cars were in the lot when you parked. Every single one of them nice, probably worth a small home; your car was no exception—fitting in is preferrable for this line of work. You parked away from the rest, maintaining the space like everyone else. Checking the time on your phone, you were pleased; even after the long security process, you were early by 25 minutes,. Being early was good, especially when some mob bosses considered tardiness a personal insult.

Grabbing the pack of cigarettes off your passenger seat, you got out and leaned up against the car door. No one would appreciate you smoking inside, and this would give you an opportunity to see whoever showed up next.

It wasn’t long before someone did, and they parked right next to you.

“What the fuck…” You murmured, lit cigarette hanging between parted lips. Then, the car door swung open and you were greeted with a goofy smile and a head of blond hair.

Ladybug flew around the side of his car, throwing his arms out wide. “Holy shit! Welcome back to the land of the living!”

A smile instantly lit up your face as your old friend walked up and embraced you heartily.

“You call auctions living?” You laughed, speaking into his shoulder as you returned the hug.

“Aw, come on. It has to be better than the hospital, right?” He pulled away, checking you over with a hand on your shoulder. “How long did they keep you?”

You huffed, flicking your cigarette ash onto the pavement. “Three fucking weeks, I was going stir crazy!” Giving a wave of your hand, leaving a fading trail of smoke behind, you add, “I started smoking so they would let me sit outside a few times a day.”

Ladybug’s laugh was infectious, and it was enough to lighten your mood; you were suddenly glad you came.

His hand left your shoulder as he leaned back against his own car to face you. “How are you feeling now?”

“Good!” You motioned to your right leg, lifting it a little. “Sometimes I’ll get the odd phantom pain, but other than that, brand new. Ready to start working again.” You motioned toward him with a wide smile. “What have you been up to?”

“I’ve just been looking around for grab and go jobs, I’m tired of shooting people—tired of getting shot at.” He pauses to ask with a raised brow.“Are you bidding?”

“No, not today. Boss lady wants me to ‘scope it out’. I guess she thinks this’ll get my foot back in the door.”

He grins, sensing the impatience in you. “That’s good!”

You only shake your head and groan.

This turns his grin into a wide smile. “Don’t try to rush back in so fast. Take some time to relax. Recovery is important.”

You pressed your lips together to keep yourself from disagreeing. The only thing on your mind after months of doing nothing was holding a gun again. Your hands itched for it; fingers impatient to pull a trigger. You wanted to go after targets, travel to new locations—not sit endlessly on your couch, smoking and waiting around for your next doctor’s appointment.

Giving you a look, one that suggested Ladybug knew exactly what you were thinking, he continued on. “Don’t be like that. I was worried! When I found out you were in the hospital I was shocked—didn’t think anything could take you out.”

More cars were parking now, some distance away. Their owners exited and headed straight for the entrance. A lot of the faces you didn’t recognize, only a few were vaguely familiar.

You scoffed lightheartedly. “A broken leg didn’t really ‘take me out’. It’s not like I was in a coma or anything.”

Those were small lies. It hadn’t been just a broken leg, and you had been in a coma, but only for a day or two. Which, in your opinion, shouldn’t really count. It was more like an extended nap.

Ladybug sounded curious. “Wasn’t it worse than that…?”

Taking a drag from your cigarette and blowing smoke to the side, you attempted to brush his prying off casually. “Says who?”

He shrugged with another one of his goofy smiles. “Heard it through the grapevine, I guess.” He watched as more people exited their cars and went inside.

You groaned through another drag of your cigarette. “Oh, God. People were talking about it?”

“Yeah, of course! A contractor as good as you gets put in the hospital? Disappearing for months? That’s news.” He waved a hand, standing and motioning for you to join him as he started toward the entrance. “You should have seen the other contractors scramble to pick up the jobs you had left over.”

You dropped your cigarette onto the pavement and snubbed it out with a foot, then joined him.

“Sounds worse than it was.” You mumbled.

He shrugs. “I think it was a wake-up call.”

“How so?”

“You’re someone who’s been in the business for years. When people looked at you, they saw how you managed to thrive for so long in this profession. It gave others hope that they could do the same. And then, boom, just like that—you’re gone.”

Frowning you looked at your friend. “That’s part of the job.”

“Sure, sure. That’s something we all say countless times, and we all act like we know or understand what it means…but when it happens, it still rattles nerves.”

You fell silent, contemplating this. On the other end, as the one ‘disappearing’, you didn’t think much of it. You were hurt and now you’re back. It was just the way of the job; you’d seen this happen to others many times.

As you and Ladybug made your way across the lot, two acutely familiar faces got out of a car a small distance away. Despite all the talk of being a professional, your stomach did a flip.

Trying to keep your voice down, even though they were too far away to hear anything, you pointed a look toward them. “I didn’t know The Twins were desperate enough to go to job auctions now.”

Ladybug looked in their direction, speaking carefreely as he openly stared. “There’s big money in this. Connections. A lot has changed since the last time you’ve been here.”

Lemon was exiting the passenger side closest to you and Ladybug, he smoothed out his jacket as he stood, eyes on the people entering the building ahead. Tangerine was coming out of the driver’s side, wearing his usual suit attire with slick-backed hair. He was frowning deep enough that you could make out the lines on his forehead. He looked to his brother but caught sight of Ladybug still staring at them, then his eyes snapped to yours.

His whole demeanor instantly changed—forehead lines disappeared and his eyes widened. Jesus, it even looked like he straightened his back. He must have said something to Lemon, or maybe his brother saw the change, because a second later Lemon turned to look too.

Ladybug laughed, observing your carefully neutral expression. “Uh-oh. Do I detect a little drama?”

You only turned away and grumbled something incoherently. The tall, glass doors to the warehouse were nearing. Inside you could see people milling about.

He bumped your arm playfully with an elbow and leaned in a little. “You know, rumor has it they were involved. Or at least, one of them was involved.”

You tried to hide a smile as you bumped him back. “Involved in what?”

“In what happened!” You could feel his eyes roll. “Don’t try to play dumb with me, you know I can see right through it.”

You hummed, reaching for the door and holding it open for him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

As Ladybug passed by and into the warehouse, you saw Tangerine watching you closely as he and Lemon were walking over from their car. You caught Tangerine’s eyes for a few heartbeats, trying to suppress a smirk. It was a look with meaning behind it. Before Lemon could lean over to say something to his brother, you broke the eye contact and went inside.

Ladybug was waiting a few steps away; he had seen the interaction and was deadpanning. “You couldn’t be any more obvious if you tried.”

In contrast to what the outside of the warehouse looked like, the inside was like a luxury ballroom in a hotel. Rows and rows of comfortable chairs all faced a lacquered wooden stage with a mahogany podium. The wall behind it was filled with a long digital screen that had yet to display anything.

People stood in groups among the chairs and along the rows talking idly. You could plainly tell who was a boss, an underling, or a contractor. It was all given away by the amount of people they were surrounded with, their clothing, or how they carried themselves. As you entered the room, a few heads turned to take long looks.

Ladybug came to a stop at the end of a row and turned to you, leaning his head forward to try and keep his voice down. “I know you enjoy playing with your food, but when are you gonna eat?”

“Weird analogy, Ladybug. I’m not a cannibal.” You teased back.

“Stop dancing around the subject.”

“Well, this isn’t grade-school, we can’t just casually go out for burgers and a malt.” You glance around the room as it continues to fill up. The auction would be starting soon. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but our profession involves killing people; that complicates things a bit—and you don’t know the whole story.”

Ladybug chuckled shaking his head. “This must be serious. In all our years as friends, you’ve never avoided talking about someone this much.” He put his hands on his hips, eyes narrowing playfully. “Just promise me, when you two get married, I get to be your maid of—”

You interrupted Ladybug, sucking a quick breath through your teeth and placing a hand on his chest. The Twins were walking up. Tangerine’s eyes looked at your hand on Ladybug’s chest and those deep forehead lines returned as his brow furrowed. You dropped your arm from your friend’s chest, noticing Tangerine’s eyes trailing the movement.

Ladybug beamed. “Well, helloo—”

Ignoring him completely, Tangerine gruffly interrupted; addressing you. “Good to see you back in the field.”

The corners of your lips twitched, fighting to keep an even face. “This isn’t really the field. More of a playground.”

His mustache twitched as he blinked and stammered out, “Well—uh, it’s good that you’re back. At least.”

Lemon made a face at his brother before asking you politely, “How are you feeling?”

Turning, you gave him a smile. “Great, thanks for asking.” Tangerine’s eyes could have burned a hole through you.

Tangerine opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by someone on a speaker asking for everyone to take a seat. The auction was officially starting.

Ladybug spoke up, pointedly sarcastic. “Nice talking to you.”

There was a gentle tug of encouragement on your arm as he moved toward a nearby row of empty chairs. Tearing your eyes away from Tangerine, you could have sworn that his eye twitched a little.

“Christ, what did you do to him?” Ladybug whispered into your ear.

You leaned in to whisper back as you sat down beside him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, he somehow managed to look like a kicked puppy and a psychopath, at the same time.”

At the opposite end of your row, on the isle, The Twins were taking their seats. It had you facing them anytime you turned to talk to Ladybug, and Tangerine was facing you anytime he turned to talk to Lemon.

Had he purposefully done that? The idea almost makes you snort, but you catch yourself.

You blinked, focusing on your conversation with Ladybug. “I didn’t do anything.”

At the end of the row, Tangerine was turning and talking with Lemon. His eyes flickered to meet yours several times. You sat back in your seat to face the front, staring straight ahead and resisting the temptation to look over.

Ladybug hissed. “Uh-huh. Is that why he positioned himself to be able to watch you from the end of our row?”

Unable to control it this time, you snorted and brought a hand up to cover the laughs that followed. He also started to snicker and laugh. Thank God you were in the last row sitting behind everyone. Leave it to Ladybug to bring out the un-professionalism in you.

As the announcer began speaking, the screen lighting up with an introduction, you wiped at your eyes, trying to dry the tears and focus. It lasted about 10 seconds before Ladybug was hissing again.

“He keeps looking this way.”

You grumble back, keeping your face toward the front. “Ignore him.”

“He’s staring at me with those psycho eyes. Like he’s thinking about killing me.”

“He probably is. Just keep acting like you don’t care, maybe Lemon will slap him or something.”

“If you two could just fuck already, it would make everything a lot easier—”

“That’s not how I do things, Ladybug.”

“Yes, that’s right. You enjoy driving men to the brink of insanity, first.”

You whipped your head to look at him, about to come up with a retort, when your eyes met Tangerine’s. Yeah, he was definitely still looking this way.

He frowned at you a little, no doubt wondering what you were over there talking about in the middle of the auction. You frowned at him back, clearly sending the message of ‘mind your own business’. His head tilted to the side a little, eyes flickering to Ladybug and back to yours. And that’s when Lemon looked at Tangerine and shoved him back to sit properly in the seat.

As you also sat back, Ladybug triumphantly whispered, “Told you he was staring.”

The next 30 to 45 minutes of the auction was much of the same. Different jobs up for grabs flashed across the screen while members in the audience raised little auction cards to signal that they wanted to bid. You watched and committed to memory the most sought-after job and by which group. Naturally, since you were unable to participate, it was a complete fucking bore.

During a particularly long bid, going between two mob families for over 10 minutes, you lean over to Ladybug and whisper, “I’m going to the restroom. Let me know who wins this job.” He gives you a nod as you stand to leave.

Making your way down the corridor to the bathroom, the sound of your shoes clicking against the marbled floors bounces off the walls and back to you. It’s no surprise that the bathrooms are just as nice, spotless and adorned with fancy soaps and towels. So much money for a place that’s only used, at most, once a month.

Exiting the bathroom while smoothing down your shirt, you startle a little as you’re greeted by Tangerine’s intense blue eyes. He was casually leaned up against the corridor wall.

“Tangerine.” You greet, fixing him with a cool, even stare.

Something akin to amusement flashes in his eyes as he looks you over. “Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

You huff, purposefully relaxing your shoulders as you lean back against the doorway. “Not scared, you just surprised me. Didn’t expect to be followed to the bathroom.”

He pushes off the wall and takes a step closer. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Your eyes narrow, but there’s a hint of a smile on your lips. “About what?”

“I wanted to make sure you were doing alright…”

You could feel another question lingering in the air. “I’m doing good, Tangerine.”

His jaw clenched once, then twice. “Are you here to bid on a job?”

Slight annoyance spread into your words. “No, just browsing. I’m ready to get back out there, except my boss thinks I’m prone to shattering.”

He takes a step closer to you. “Please just…take it easy—at least for a little while.”

You give a firm shake of your head. “Between stewing in my apartment and going to physical therapy, I’ve been ‘taking it easy’ for seven months. That’s long enough.”

“If you push yourself too far you might end up getting hurt, again.”

You gave him a look, “I’m only going to get hurt if someone hits me with another car.”

The words sting him, even though you hadn’t meant them to. His eyes turn pleading. “Are you still upset?” He shakes his head, letting out a deep breath. You thought you saw wetness in the corners of his eyes before he blinked it away quickly. “You know I still feel terrible, it was a complete accident, love.”

It really had been an accident. Both working on the same job, but with limited communication, left windows for mistakes. So, when you came sprinting out of an alley and into the road while Tangerine was trying to find the right building the target was in, neither of you had time to react.

There’s a vague memory of him holding your hand in the backseat, wiping hair and grit off your face, as Lemon rushed to the emergency room.

You attempt to say something, a gentle smile peeking through, but he’s already speaking again. “Look, what more can I do to make it up to you? Name anything you want—it’s yours. Flowers? You want more flowers, like the ones I sent you in the hospital?”

He had sent countless bouquets of the most gorgeous flowers you had ever seen, every day like clockwork, for three weeks. By the time you left the hospital, your room had more color in it than you had ever seen. Each came with a hand written note from him. Some were pages long about how awful he felt and how sorry he was. You kept every note; they were on your bedside table.

Shaking your head, “No, no flowers. They were nice though; the notes were too—thank you.”

While he seemed momentarily pleased by that, his eyes flicked around the room, trying to come up with more things to give you. “Jewelry?

“No, really it’s—”

“—what about clothes?”

You take a step toward him. “Tangerine—”

“Your car out there’s nice, but I’ll get you a bloody new one. How about that? A little ironic, sure, but—”

“Tangerine!”

When he stops to fix you with round eyes, you laugh gently. “You don’t have to do anything, I’m not upset.”

His shoulders relax, an invisible weight dropping away. He closes the distance between you to under an arm’s length. “You’re sure? I mean, I’d really be happy to—”

Placing a hand on his chest, your laughing response is good natured. “I’m sure. You’re right it was an accident—no hard feelings.”

He’s smiling back now, infected by the sound of your laugh. A large gold-ringed hand comes up to wrap around yours on his chest, pinning it there. It’s warm. “Honestly, it’s a relief to see you again. I was so worried, all this time.”

Playfully, you asked, “You were worried I was mad at you this whole time? Seven months?”

“Sort of—yes, but more at the idea of you not coming back. Thought maybe you’d get offered a cozy desk job and like that more.”

“A desk job? And give up all the excitement? Not in a million years.” While chuckling at the idea, you miss the way his eyes soften and his hand lightly squeezes yours.

His eyes watch you gently. “It sounds silly now, yeah. Especially after seeing you again; I’d almost forgotten how lively you can be.”

With a hum, you stepped forward to look up at him, you were very close now. All it would take was to stand up on your toes and… “Was it boring without me?”

Tangerine seemed to notice the closeness as well, his breath was shaky. “Absolute torture, love.”

You brought your other hand up to rest against his chest. His heart was racing.

Moments before you were about to close the distance to his lips, he cleared his throat gently. “I just have one more question.”

Frowning a little at the way he looked suddenly perturbed, you asked, “What is it?”

“Who’s that fuckin’ prick you walked in with?”

The tiniest snort left you before you could hold it back. “Ladybug?”

“Yeah, I don’t give a fuck what his name is. What’s he doin’ bumpin’ elbows with you?”

Something about Tangerine’s accent getting thicker as he became more upset did things to you. Trying to hold back a few giggles, you spoke plainly. “He’s an old friend of mine—a colleague.”

Tangerine looked at you closely, as if this was a very serious matter, but there was a hint of a smile behind his eyes. “Oh, are you havin’ a laugh? I haven’t seen you in forever and you come in with some fuckin’ bloke, carryin’ on back and forth, as if that doesn’t drive me completely mad.”

By this point, you are laughing which only spurs him on. “Well, I’m glad that you’re havin’ a grand time of it. I’ve been in complete agony. Seven whole months, love. That’s how long I’ve had to wait to see you—and you walk in, smiling at him, and not me—"

The only thing that shuts him up is when you press your lips to his with a smile; whatever he was saying died off with the smallest of whines. You feel his strong hands move to wrap around the small of your back, pulling you closer as he moves his mouth back against yours. His mustache scratches your face but the warmth of his lips on yours drowns out the feeling.

He speaks in broken sentences between kisses, murmuring against your lips with a growl that vibrates through him. “Don’t ever—put your hands—on his chest—again.”

When Tangerine feels your slow smile through the kiss, he tries to pull away and give you another warning, but a gentle bite on his lower lip stops him.

You whisper a cheeky, “Yes, sir”, that has him groaning into you, his lips turn feverish. His tongue swipes at your bottom lip.

You’re about to open your mouth for him when you hear a loud cough to the side, down the corridor. Instantly you pull away, face flushing a scarlet red. You would have jumped back if Tangerine’s arms weren’t stubbornly still wrapped around you.

Ladybug watched with raised eyebrows and a grin, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “Auctions’ over.”

Tangerine’s words angrily drown yours out. “Oi! Can’t you see we’re busy? Fuck off, ya cunt.”

Unwrapping his hands from around your back, you chide softly, “Be nice to Ladybug.”

His fingers grasp at your clothes, tugging in protest, as you move away and walk toward your friend. His glowering eyes burn into your back as Ladybug waggles his eyebrows.

With one last adoring look at Tangerine, that sends his heart fluttering, you wave. “I’ll see you around.”

. . .

“There a reason why you’re keen to rip the handle off that door, mate?”

Lemon eyes Tangerine closely as his brother yanks open the passenger side door, but says nothing in response. They stand on opposite sides of their car in the lot. From his side, Tangerine can see you chatting with that blond prat by your car.

When Lemon is met with silence, he tries again. “Did you get a chance to talk, at least?”

“We talked, yeah. It was good.”

Lemon wasn’t convinced. “Then why does it look like you’ve got a thunderstorm over your head?”

Tangerine doesn’t hear him as he watches you hug Ladybug goodbye. Lemon’s eyes follow his and suddenly he understands. He makes a noise. “Oh, come off it. I told you, they’re nothing more than friends.”

As you open the door to your own car, Tangerine catches your eyes. Pausing, you give him a delighted smile, then disappear as the door closes.

Lemon sighs, getting into the car. “You’ve got to talk to someone about your jealousy. I’m serious.”

As he ducks to sit down, Tangerine shoots back. “I don’t usually have a problem, it’s just the way that muppet grins—”

The Twins arguing is muffled incoherently to the outside world as Tangerine slams the door shut.

🍊 Tag list: @whatiswrongwithpeople @marquisdefrenchfry @everythingisspokenfortbh @titaniusanglesmith @sjprongs @piechans @cherrygayness

[spidervee]

edges (tangerine x reader)

a short little something that's more feelings than plot 🌻 18+ for language, blood/injury, and mentions of drinking and sex

After Istanbul, you hoped you'd never see Tangerine ever again. Mind, that likely meant also not seeing Lemon, but such sacrifices had to be made.

And then, after Lagos, you swore that if you ever laid eyes on that moustache again, there weren't enough bullets in the world with which you'd be able to express your distaste for the man in the golden rings and designer suits.

And then, in Toronto, you very nearly decided to just throw a grenade (quite literally) on your entire mission when you heard that smarmy fucker greet you. In fact, had Lemon not very astutely put a glass of wine in your hand, you may have not been made it to be here.

Here.

Here, in Ho Chi Minh City with a cold bowl of phở on the tiny desk of your cramped hotel room and a profusely bleeding gunshot wound in your right arm. The soup bothers you more than the injury, but neither bother you as much as the man knelt in front of you, his knees buckled in the threadbare carpet as he leans into you from between your legs, his large hands surprisingly delicate as he changes your bandages.

"That fuckin' bullet was meant for me, you fuckin' muppet," Tangerine frowns, deep lines etched into his forehead as he runs a towel over your arm, the scratchy fibres coming away stained red. "Shoulda never fuckin' been here but you can't stop getting in my bloody way like some goddamn—"

"Oh, for shit's sake, shut up." Finally, after biting your tongue so hard you can nearly taste the metallic twinge of blood, you speak. "Last time you were shot, you nearly fucking died—" He glances up, seemingly shocked that you know this, but even if Lemon hadn't told you, the scar on his neck is story enough.

Tangerine opens his mouth to respond, but, to your immense and immeasurable surprise, simply closes his lips into a tight line with a heavy sigh, returning to the task of bandaging you up.

Your eyes follow his movements until you start feeling a little woozy and need to let them close, tilting your head back to rest on the hard wooden edge of the chair you're sat in. Fuck Tangerine—he's all hard words and sharp edges and yet he'd managed to snag your interest, catch you on those pointed boundaries of himself—it might qualify as affection, even, though you'd rather take a shot of arsenic than bloody well admit that. It's why you hate seeing him here, why you hate that he's helping you and not running his mouth about what a tosspot you were, jumping in front of him back there.

Because after Istanbul—after he'd first kissed you—the threat of intimacy had overwhelmed you and it was easier, a safer bet, to tap out than to go all in.

And after Lagos—after he and Lemon had swooped in to save your ass and you'd all celebrated with too much expensive liquor until Lemon fell asleep and Tangerine fell into your bed—you actually dared to hope the next time he texted you would be about something other than theft or murder. It wasn't.

And in Toronto—after the two of you had watched the sunrise over the city, a sizeable sum newly deposited into your respective bank accounts—you had kissed him goodbye; you had a plane to catch for home. He was bound for Tokyo.

And in Tokyo, he'd very nearly died. Lemon had told you as much. You'd seen as much, when the calmer twin had asked you to fly in to visit and you weren't sure if he was asking for company at Tangerine's bedside or for your face to be there if his brother woke up.

In Tokyo, when you weren't fetching shitty coffee (for yourself) and admittedly excellent tea (for Lemon), you'd sat beside Tangerine, not daring to speak lest he could somehow hear you in his comatose state and know that as you kept vigil there, your hand clasped in Lemon's, you cared. By the grace of some god, you'd managed to fly out of the country before Tangerine opened his eyes—before Lemon could convince you that his brother cared just as much as you did.

And now, here. In Ho Chi Minh City with your cold phở and your bleeding arm and Tangerine in front of you it's all you can do not to scream.

You thread your fingers through his hair and pull his gaze up to meet yours. "Sometimes," you mutter, the bones in your free hand cracking as you flex your fingers—a nervous habit you've never quite grown out of— "Sometimes, I think I never want to see you again because it'll hurt less when you eventually do something fucking idiotic and die."

Tangerine blinks at you, big blue eyes a little wider with surprise. Then the bastard has the audacity to smirk before he's hooking a finger under your chin. "That's fuckin' stupid, love. Think of how much time you've bloody wasted."

You let out a stuttering breath, again caught on the edge—of his teasing words and his soft touch. "I'd rather fucking not, thanks."

With a short bark of a laugh, he presses himself closer into you—led, you'd like to think, by the tug you give to his mussed curls. His grip on your chin becomes firmer as he leans in to kiss you.

And here, in Ho Chi Minh City, you realize that maybe you'd like to see a lot more of Tangerine.

[prongslvl]

DATING HIM - tangerine.

PAIRING tangerine x gn!reader

SUMMARY hcs of what's like to date the man, the myth, the legend; tangerine.

a/n: it's my first time writing hcs for a character so i hope it doesn't look weird or something! i merged two requests together to make it easier for me. happy reading! my reqs are open

the start of your relationship with him, even before the dating, was a rough road, to say the least.

with tangerine's secretive personality because of his job, it caused a lot of arguments. this results in lemon jumping in to save the day— honestly, the two of you owe him so much. 

when the two of you aren't talking about jobs, he's usually sarcastic and teasing during conversations. tangerine eventually confessed that he did it to gain a reaction from you. 

he confessed his love for you when you got caught in between the chaos of a job he and lemon had; the thought of you dying made him do so because to hell with a normal declaration of love, right? 

if you were never involved with anything, it would've taken him at least a month or two to even realize what he feels isn't just "person-who-unfortunately-crossed-paths-with-him" type of guilt but actual infatuation.

angry confession, most definitely. as i've mentioned, you two argue a lot, so in the heat of a argument, he'd go;

"can't you see i'm doing this for your safety?"

"i'm a full grown adult, tan, why are you so worried for!?"

"because i fucking love you, alright? and if see any of those bastards lay a hand on you, i don't know what i'll fucking do to 'em!" 

and he wouldn't be embarrassed about it after. you can hear lemon in the background saying, "about damn time!" 'cuz he knows from the very beginning.

tangerine would act differently the next day. "different" means just him being himself with you and finally expressing his true feelings for you openly. 

in your case, ever since you met the man, you've been in love with him. at first, it'd be sexual (have you seen that man's walk?) but after getting to know him better, knowing all the bits and pieces of his actual personality from lemon, you'd catch yourself staring too deeply into his eyes. 

the only reason you fought with tangerine in the first place was your need to get to know him and also let him know you're a person he can trust. as much as you liked every inch of him, secrets and lies left a bad taste on your tongue.

hanging out with them would be a reason for your involvement in their job. it's one of those cliches where the bad guys target the person close to their target so they can trap them. of course, you kept up your own fight.

when tan saw your injuries, he saw red. he didn't even think about the vast difference in your wounds compared to those of your captors. they'd have several bruised patches on their body, black eyes, etc., while you only had a bunch of cuts and a busted lip. lemon did tell you he was the type to shoot first and come with answers later.

in both scenarios, getting captured or in between arguments, after he confesses, you would be too shocked to answer him right away. 

a few weeks into tangerine's unspoken courtship, when you confessed as well, your relationship with him was all like clockwork. 

tangerine finally told you everything about himself, lemon, and the life they lived. all secrets were uncovered— he still kept some details, but it was enough for you.

expensive dates are on the table. as much as you refused to use so much of his money, tangerine would find a way to trick you into a fancy restaurant, saying it was for business, but after desserts with no businessmen approaching him, you knew it was all rubbish.  

tangerine wasn't the only one who could afford expensive things; as a professional pianist, you also had a bit of money to spend on your boyfriend. when he refuses to buy new suits that are actually on trend, you'd go by yourself and buy them for him—he'd have no choice but to accept the bags of new clothes when they're already nearly placed inside his closet. 

you shower him with compliments before he leaves for his job, wearing the suit you bought for him. he'd roll his eyes as he suppressed the smirk on his face. vice versa, he'd give you tons as well on both your looks and performance.

speaking of performances! 

someone give this man a perfect attendance certificate; he's always present at your performances, whether you can ask him or not. he uses his "in a relationship with one of your best talents" ticket to get front row seats. 

you would glance at the crowd to look for him, your eyes automatically scanning the front rows. you'd see him staring at you as if you'd created everything he's ever known. when he does notice your stares, he'll wink with a sly yet proud smirk on his face. 

lemon's beside him, silently cheering you on. 

he's the one you see first after going backstage, engulfing you in a tight hug and kissing your forehead. 

"how was i?" you'd ask, with him answering with no hesitation. "amazing, as always." 

tangerine may or may not have bought a whole grand piano in the middle of his and lemon's house so you can play or practice in their home. 

there would be attempts by tangerine to learn how to play the piano with you. you were a great teacher, he reassures you; his hands weren't just made for all that grace. 

in exchange, he'd bring you to a local shooting range. he brought his own gun for you to use, placing himself behind you as he guided the weapon in your hands. he purposely breathes on your skin, whispering inappropriate words in your ears as you press the trigger— that earned him a knock on the head after the session was over. 

shorter ver hcs !

you didn't like holding grudges, but tangerine was there to hold them for you. 

tangerine hates when people touch his hair, except for you, who give the best messages. he told you it was probably because of your profession that you got so good at working your fingers (several very mature jokes were made after that).

in the beginning, he always had his hair slicked back, but now he keeps his hair naturally curly when he's around you. 

he nicks it, and you put it back. 

lemon refuses to wear a bulletproof vest, saying something about a false sense of security, even with tangerine's scolding. but with you in the picture, he could only grumble to himself as he wore the vest underneath his suit. 

he likes giving you forehead kisses or on your head, saving the intimate ones for private. 

eye contact. unbreakable eye contact. he stares directly into your eyes whenever you talk or are just face-to-face with him. 

your waist as his arm rest. he'd snake his hands around your torso, the proximity between the two of you lessening by the second. 

you like fiddling with tangerine's rings, especially when he's wearing them.

you find it hot whenever he rolls up his leaves, and tangerine is fully aware of it. 

he doesn't like admitting it, but he easily gets jealous. when another person smiles too sweetly at you, his arm will find its way onto your shoulders, using his height to his advantage. sometimes it would be a fan of yours, so you'd scold him for scaring them away.

as for you, you're open about your jealousy. unlike tangerine, it takes a lot for you to get mad at a person, let alone be jealous. but when they were a woman purposely resting her boobs on his arms or a man getting too friendly with him, you'd shoot them the sharpest glare tangerine ever saw you make. he voluntarily removes himself from the person and tries to calm you down. 

when tangerine's angry, he's loud and aggressive. but when you are, you're unnaturally quiet and serious. lemon thinks you're much scarier than his brother. 

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Can you do a Tangerine x gn reader who is in med school? Like maybe the reader is stressed over exams and shit and tangerine is trying to calm them down

Stress

@kpopgirlbtssvt

Tangerine was worried, he always was worried about you.

Since you were in med school, and you only had a few years left, things got harder and harder. And exams were coming up.

He passed by your guys shared room, but noticed you staring at your computer, hand on your forehead.

He did a double take, and shook his head to himself. He put the book he was reading down on the bed behind you as he entered the room. He could tell that the stress was getting to you.

“Love, you wanna watch a movie or something?” He grabbed your shoulder, you whipped your head to him.

“I can’t, I gotta go over this again. Exams are tomorrow.”

“Just take a break for a few minutes. You’re too stressed, love.”

“I am not! I’m fine.” You said, taking a sip of coffee that was on your desk.

He gave you a look, and he pulled up the camera app on his phone. He showed you yourself.

You were a mess. Your hair was messy, your eye bags getting darker and darker.

You looked at Tangerine, and then back at his phone. You put his phone down and handed it back to him.

“Okay.” You muttered, standing up. He gave you a small smile, and you both walked out into the living room.

He sat down and then you did, putting your legs in his lap. He grabbed the remote, and he grabbed a bag, it was your favorite candy.

You smiled at him as he gave it to you.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, love, now what do you wanna watch?”

“Mm.. you pick.”

“Alright.” He said, and picked a movie you’ve both never seen.

You had a better night with him, and had totally forgotten about all your problems.

[avocado-writing]

For the 'staying the night' prompts, maybe [unexpected] with Tan?🥺

Absolutely love your writing<3

[ UNEXPECTED ]  one muse stays the night to keep an eye on the other after something traumatic and they end up having comfort sex.

“You alright?”

Tangerine’s voice is quiet. Respectful. On the off chance you’re asleep he doesn't want to risk waking you. Yeah, there’s no chance of that happening. Your body still canes from the beating that you took earlier, despite the pretty expert job Tangerine did at patching you up. Danger of the job: sometimes bastards come at you with crowbars. 

You turn over to face him - in the shared bed in the one hotel room your employer could be bothered to shell out for, tight bastard - and look him in the eyes. He’s tired but far from falling asleep. You’re sure he doesn’t want to be the first one to conk out tonight, not until he’s sure you’ve nodded off first. Until he’s sure you’re okay. 

“Been better,” you reply, and a breathy exhale from his nose tells you he’s nearly laughing. “Thank you for helping me.”

“‘Course, darling. Wouldn’t just leave you there, would I?”

You purse your lips and hope he can’t see it in the low light of the room. A couple of months ago you’d have to admit you weren’t sure if he would just leave you bleeding out in the middle of a car park. But ever since Lemon broke his leg and the two of you were temporarily paired up by your handler, you’ve been getting closer to Tangerine. Finding out about the man whose rough outer shell you have to chip through. Liking what you slowly uncover. 

“Can you distract me from it?” you ask, voice a little horse. “Gently. Please?”

Tangerine carefully reaches over and cups the side of your face, pressing his mouth firmly against yours. As your lips move and tongues touch his hand skirts down the front of your body, across your chest, under the waistband of your pyjamas. He’s careful to avoid any bandages as he settles between your legs, and you can feel him smile against you as he realises how ready you are for him. 

“You’re eager for someone who got the shit kicked out of them not three hours ago.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” you chuckle, and your brain stops thinking about the pain as his hands take it away.

[bertinworms]

I Wish You Would

Pairings: Tangerine x gn!civilian!drunk!reader

Tags/Warnings: cursing/language, alcohol alcohol consumption, drunk character, mention of gambling/betting, bar atmosphere, kissing/make out, mentions of fire arms/weapons

Word Count: 5.3K

Summary: You are drunk. Not “black out and forget the entire night “ drunk, but white girl at the club with her friends drunk. One of your bestest friends is getting married soon and tonight you and the rest of your eccentric friend group are club/bar hopping to celebrate the engagement! Your friend group told you to think about it like the bachelorette party before the bachelorette party. Whatever that means… The group isn’t a big group, only about seven people, but the seven people all come from various backgrounds. Three of your friends come from pretty well off families and happened to be in university for law school. One of your friends works for some huge tech company with something to do with security. One of them comes from a line of surgeons and happens to be in residency for surgery. Your best friend and bride-to-be comes from an extremely wealthy and famous family, you aren’t really sure what for, but you know it has to do with tycoons and business and yada yada. And then there was you. You were in university too, at the same establishment as the rest of the group, but you didn’t come from lines of money. You were in school for education. 

Various backgrounds or not, your bestie for the restie wants to go absolutely ballistic and celebrate her girlfriend finally popping the question, so of course your study buddy group just has to go out! With the intentions of bar and club hopping, you all end up at an arcade? Or a bowling alley? You aren’t really sure, but the place has heaps of alcohol, arcade games, a place to bowl, mini golf, and also some cute patrons….

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

You honestly could not believe that you had agreed to this. You had been friends with your group for almost five years and you had always said you would do anything for them, but you never thought it meant being out since about 7:00 PM celebrating Ava May’s proposal. When you had gotten the notification that afternoon with an image attached, you were hoping that her partner, Jordan, had finally popped the question and you were right. And of course the groupchat had blown up.

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“Girls, Gays, & Daddies $$$”

Leoni: SHUT THE FUCK UP DID THEY REALLY PROPISE THIS TIME!!>>??!>!? Mateo: here comes leon with the typos 🙄 BUT OMG CONGRATS AVA!!!!!!! Camilia: HOOOOOOLYYYYY SHIT!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!! THEY HAD THE FUCKING BALLSSSSS You: OMG YESS!!!!! WHEN’S THE WEDDING!!?? Elijah boo: FORGET the wedding!!!!! bitch, when are we CELEBRATING!!!!!! Naomi: omg can we PLEASE go out tonight!!!!???  Wrenster: omg ava congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it took them long enough!!!!!! Ava Bear: omg y’all already KNOW we’re going out tonight!!!!!! b @ my house 5pm SHARP troops 🫡

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Of course five o’clock came, and everyone in the group chat was at Ava’s house. You all got to congratulate Jordan and Ava on the engagement, and say hello to both their family’s, but quickly carried Ava away to party the night away. That was of course after all seven of you pregamed getting ready.

The group was a close knit one. You all were giggling and laughing and dancing around each other while getting ready, raiding Ava’s closet and her accessories and checking yourselves in the mirrors. Everyone had gone for outfits that made them stand out, but complemented their features. You had ended up in some brightly colored crop top that Ava had shoved into your hands, your sneakers, and some designer jeans that Mateo had said would have your ass looking like you did 500 squats a day. You had laughed and rolled your eyes at that. You were pretty sure Mateo just wanted you to feel sexy. 

The rest of the group had picked similar outfits. Some exposing skin, other’s exposing less skin but featuring skin-tight clothing pieces. Some had added accessories to their hair, their neck, their wrists and more. With six other bodies dancing around, you honestly hadn’t gotten a great look at everyone’s outfits – but you figured it didn’t matter anyway because by the end of the night most of those outfits would probably look a lot different from how they looked currently. And once everyone was ready, you all headed towards Ava’s car where a driver was waiting. And you all climbed in and pregamed some more.

Half of the group tended to be “partiers”not crazy party goers, but they liked to spend time when they could out having a good time. That didn’t really happen to be up your alley. You were a little more introverted than your friend group, especially since you didn’t necessarily have the same funds your friends did. The group loved paying your way through parties though and always made sure you were included, but the combination of feeling bad and not loving the party scene meant you didn’t go out with them as much as they probably would’ve liked you to. But this night was different. Everyone in the group had already sternly told you that tonight you and Ava were not spending a dime on anything. Mateo telling you that tonight that they were celebrating Ava’s engagement and also the rare occasion of you going all out tonight with them. 

You didn’t disagree.

And that’s how you and your friend group ended up at some club? Arcade? Bowling alley? Bar? You weren’t sure what to call it, but the place seemed to have it all.. There was a bar with many-a-drinks, bowling alley lanes, an arcade, neon minigolf, laser tag, and televisions everywhere, each featuring a different sporting event which you assumed was for people betting on games. 

It was loud, and dark, but also brightly lit all at the same time. You were cold, but kept comfortable with the warmth of your friend group buzzing around you. You were very out of your element. You would’ve been slightly uncomfortable if you hadn’t already had about seven? No, you think eight? You weren’t sure, but you and the rest of the group had a fair amount of alcohol in you. 

Right then, everything seemed a little fuzzy. You had glanced at your phone and thought you had read some time around 11:00 PM, but with Rihanna blasting over the speakers in the building, it was a little hard to concentrate. 

The group was currently at a bar-like table. Mateo, Elijah, Ava, and Naomi were currently on their fourth round of bowling with Ava still somehow in the lead. Leon, Wren and Camilia had snuck away from the group either to get more drinks or maybe to play mini golf, you really couldn’t remember. 

Your glossed over gaze was disturbed by Mateo standing up and stretching as long as he could, his arms reaching up a little revealing a bit of his stomach. 

“Okay, I am going back to the bar to get another drink, anyone else coming?” He said, eyes bouncing around the faces at the table. Nobody responded as they all seemed to be involved with something else at the time, so you stood up quickly.

“Mmmmmmm, I’ll come with Matty!” You smiled and trailed after him as he led the way to the bar.

“You know there’s some cuties here, you should try and chat one up.” He says, side eyeing you as you both arrive at the bar to look over what you want.

You roll your eyes and playfully push his shoulder. “That would be a grand idea except I’m drunker than a skunk currently and we’re here to celebrate Ava, not find me a date.” 

Mateo rolls his eyes as he orders both of your drinks and collects them. 

“Okay, yeah we are celebrating Ava, but you know good and damn well if I told that girl you saw a hot guy looking your way that she would jump on the idea of you making a move tonight.” Mateo chuckles as he finishes his sentence and starts walking you both back to the table, curving through the different people.

“I know, but tonight I’m just hanging out with you guys. I’m honestly shocked that nobody has attracted any spare wild men to the table with how loud and obnoxious we’re being tonight.” You laugh, a tiny hiccup slipping out of your mouth.

As you and Mateo round the corner to your table, Mateo sees the group before you and busts out into laughter. “Oh my dear, have you truly jinxed yourself tonight.” He walks the few steps to the table, puts the two drinks down. “Hellooooo boys!”

When Mateo steps aside, you're greeted by the eyes of two men who look like they don't belong here. They both are extremely attractive, but both appear to be in suits. Like suit suits. Like they could be working at the bank. You recognize the two as workers for Ava’s father. Bodyguards. Or honestly the word babysitters fit the situation too. ‘Babysitters with bullets,’ you think to yourself as you look down at one of the men’s waists, catching a glimpse of a not-so-hidden weapon.

Your thought is cut off by that said man speaking and your eyes trail from his waist to his face. He holds eye contact with you before speaking. “Sorry to crash this here lil shindig, but you lot should be wrapping all this,” he twirls a finger around in the air, referencing the group, “up pretty soon. It’s getting late.” 

Once he finishes his sentence, it’s now his turn to look at you. You watch his eyes look up and down, scanning what felt like every inch of your body, before he looks back to Ava as she begins to speak.

“Oh my god! Look, I know Daddy sent you two to “look after me”’ Ava uses huge air quotes, “but I’m old enough to make sure I don’t get fucking dragged off drunk off my fucking ass. We’re just celebrating, just chillax, yeah?” Ava lets out a giggle as she clearly slurs her words and then playfully slaps the shoulder of the man that hadn’t spoken yet. 

“Come on Tangerine, just let them be, yeah? They’re not doing any harm and they're all in one spot.” The man says, putting a hand on Tangerine’s shoulder, giving it a little squeeze and shake. If you remember right, you’re pretty sure he goes by Lemon. Or that’s what you’ve heard Ava’s father call him.

“Yeah Tangerine! Just let us chilllllll” Naomi drags out the last word as she tries to put a hand on his chest. He takes a step back away from her, his face slightly puckering up as it seems like he stifles a face of annoyance.

 You sit down next to Ava, across from where the open seat in front of Tangerine is.

“Look. Ava’s father gave clear instructions to make sure she doesn’t make any fucked decisions tonight. And seeing as sh–” Tangerine’s speech is cut off once more, this time surprisingly by Elijah.

“Look man, if your concern is making sure Ava isn’t dead in a ditch, why don’t you two just pull a seat up at the table. It isn’t like we’re going anywhere else tonight, just fucking sit and relax. Have a drink!” Elijah almost barks this out before returning to the game of bowling. He’s currently in second place, behind Ava and you know he’s dying to beat her. 

Lemon gives a nod before sitting down at the bar, grabbing Ava’s half finished beer and taking a swig. Tangerine on the other hand reluctantly takes a seat in front of you. You watch his demeanor once he’s sat. It seems like he’s avoiding your gaze, and you’re not sure why. You watch his face as he observes the people around you. You can’t tell if he’s just surveying the place or if he’s just uncomfortable. His body language looks stiff and his hands are clasped on the table in front of him.

“You have pretty eyes…” The sentence slips out of your mouth as you stare at him, rubbing your own eye as you feel yourself getting a little tired. You were hoping to break the silence. “Also pretty arms.” You let out a little giggle as you prop your head on your hand, continuing to stare at the pretty man sitting across from you.

You talking seems to bring him back to the group at hand. Or at least brings his attention to you. He gives you a weird look, seeming to calculate what to say. “And you seem pretty drunk, love.” He reaches across the table, grabbing your drink and taking a sip from it before returning it to you. “And that’s a pretty strong drink you got.”

You give yet another giggle, reaching for your drink and taking a sip. You were drunk all right, but you needed more liquid courage if you were going to be in the presence of this man. Your brain had fallen quiet and your friends seemed to not be coming to your rescue in this one. 

You recall a comment from Mateo earlier in the night about ‘letting you do your thing if you ever came across a hot ass man tonight.’ 

You had been around Tangerine and Lemon before. From what you could recall, they weren’t truly employed by Ava’s father. You’re pretty sure it was more like a freelance thing? They weren’t always around Ava and her family, but they were hired common enough for you to know exactly who they are and remember Tangerine. 

The first time you had ever met the two, the group was at a soccer game in the city. You were in Ava’s family’s suite at the game having a blast. You remember spotting Tangerine and asking Ava just who the tall man was exactly. After that, any time Tangerine and Lemon were hired to babysit Ava, you always basically gawked at the man. After Tangerine and Lemon left for the room, your friend group, especially Ava liked to tease you. Ava and Mateo knew you had a thing for Tangerine. Ava liked to get her father to hire the two as much as possible, especially if you were present. It meant you saw him often. It meant you thought about him often. You thought his curls were pretty and you could imagine what it would feel like to run your fingers through his beautiful hair. You could recall the accent he had. You thought the tattoos he had were attractive, or maybe it was just because they were on his arms. And god did he have pretty arms. 

You’re once again brought out of daydreaming, this time by Naomi sitting down by Tangerine and placing a hand on the back of his shoulder, and one hand on his chest. You don’t listen to what she’s saying, but by the look on their face, you know she’s flirting. And hard. You hear her let out a giggle as she makes some sort of comment about the man before you swap from sipping your drink to straight up downing it. 

You slam the cup down on the table and shoot up. “I’m off to get another drink..” You twirl around, maybe a little too fast, and begin heading for the bar.

You know the announcement of your departure was a little stern. You don’t know why, but it almost got on your nerves that Naomi was making a pass at the man. You let the jealousy stay for a second before rationalizing the thought. 

‘I’m not actually jealous. It’s late and I’m drunk, it isn’t that big of a deal, I’m just being silly.’ You think to yourself as you arrive at the bar, propping both elbows up onto the ledge and waiting for a bartender to notice you. You wipe your face hoping to clear your mind. 

While waiting your eyes slowly are drawn to one of the television hung above the bar – some wrestling match was going on. You notice the other people at the bar, their eyes glued to the screen. ‘I don’t understand why they are so invested.’ You think to yourself as you turn your attention back to in front of you, looking at the drink choices before noticing a man standing to your right. You turn your head and are happily met by the pretty blue eyes of a curly headed man.

You grin.

“Tangeriiinnnneeeeee” You draw out his name. You aren’t quite sure if it is on purpose or if you’re just drunk, but it didn’t matter as you watched the man’s lips twist into a smirk itself.

“Interested in the match, are we?” He asks, nodding back to the television.

“Mmmmmm, not quite. I’m not much of a sports fan.” You give a glance at the match before turning your attention back to him, noticing his shirt. He usually had it buttoned up all the way, as professional as you can get. But tonight, you notice at least two, maybe three buttons that seem to be open. You can see a tattoo peeking out from under his shirt. You take a deep breath before your eyes return to his. He had watched you check him out yet again.

You clear your throat before asking, “Are you a fan?”

He doesn’t break eye contact. “I am tonight.” 

A noise escapes your throat, almost a hum. He still hadn’t broken eye contact. Maybe it was just you, but it seemed like it had gotten hard to breathe. You felt like you hadn’t taken a breath in ages. “And why’s that?” You ask, still looking at him and still maintaining eye contact. 

In the moment you felt like the only thing in the room was him. 

“Got money on the small guy. Everyone likes an underdog story, yeah?” The smirk returns to his face.

You nod your head in agreement. Once again, your brain has gone blank. The sudden movement of his lips catches your attention as your eyes quickly dart down to his lips, and quickly dart back up to his eyes. He had watched that happen too.

As your eyes meet, your body forces you to take a deep breath. You notice he does the same. Maybe his breath had also been caught in his throat. You realize the sound of the world around you also comes back to you. 

You’re brought back to the real world completely as a bartender greets you and Tangerine, asking what you two will have. But before you can answer for yourself, Tangerine speaks for you.

“Water for this one, and whisky for me.” He says before telling the bartender exactly what he wants. As soon as the bartender turns to go grab the materials, you turn back to Tangerine.

“I can’t order for myself now?” You jokingly ask, your voice getting a little higher in disbelief as you raise both your eyebrows in fake disbelief.

He looks at you and gives a scoff. “You can, but I don’t know if you should be at this particular time darling.” He gives you a sly smile, one probably meant to comfort you. 

And you lose your breath again and you avert your eyes. You thought you had gotten confident, but you weren’t expecting him to call you that. You clear your throat. And start to mess with a laminated menu on the bar.

“So why exactly are you here tonight? You know this isn’t the first stop we’ve made, right?” You ask, trying to change the subject. Or at least to get him talking.

“We’ve been hanging back most of the night. Nothin’ suspicious has happened, but a few o’ you idiots are getting a little too far gone. Ava’s father sent us specifically to watch her. The rest of the group is just an added bonus. Don’t wanna make any rich parents mad, do we?” He asks the last part rhetorically. 

This time he’s the one looking away. He takes a drink while looking off. You can’t read the expression on his face, but it isn’t quite neutral. He looks like something is on his mind. 

“You don’t seem all that excited to be babysitting a bunch of adults. Why do you even take the jobs offered by Ava’s family? I assume there’s other things you could be doing.” After speaking you realize your tone seemed a little snippy. You hadn’t meant for it to come out rudely, but it did just a tad. You really were on a roll tonight. 

You didn’t want to necessarily influence the man to stop taking the jobs, but you were curious. You could tell by what he was wearing that he had money. In previous interactions, you had drawn the same conclusion. You weren’t extremely up to date with the latest fashion trends when it came to wealth, but you did know that the watch on his wrist looked very similar to one that Elijah had. And you knew it wasn’t cheap. Plus the extensive wardrobe the man seemed to have also led you to believe he was pretty well off for himself.

He half turns his head back to you, side eyeing you with a scrunched eyebrow.

 “A little touchy on the subject are we?” He asks you before setting his drink down. He rubs his chin before turning his face to yours.

 “Ava’s father pays well. The jobs easy, quick and usually clean. Easy money.” He pauses and you watch his eyes move down to your lips and back up to your eyes and then down to the drink back in his hand. “It's an added bonus that sometimes you idiots can be entertaining.” 

“Well. I’ll agree that they – we – can be quite entertaining. I can imagine it can be a little obnoxious at times.” A few times come to mind.

Like this year's New Years Eve party held at Ava’s. Camilia had drunk way too much champagne and had eaten quite a few shrimps. She was in the midst of a nasty break up with a pretty popular actor and had seen the reports of him attending a party that night with his co-star. A smile comes to your face as you remember the look of absolute horror on Tangerine’s face when Camilia had thrown up on him. You remember Lemon’s gasp.

Or the one time you, Ava, and Leon had somehow ran into one of Leon’s father’s old clients who had recently gotten out of prison. You three had been out shopping at the beach when the man confronted the group. Calmly at first, but very quickly drew a gun and began yelling at you three. Tangerine and Lemon had resolved the situation as quickly as the man had appeared.

Or one of the most recent events. For Ava’s birthday, she had thrown a huge, fancy party out of the country. Some place in Ireland, with almost a Bridgerton theme. Somehow you and Tangerine ended up in a room on the outskirts of a castle while the party was booming in the distance. You remember how close he had gotten to you. How close his face had gotten to yours. How he had stared at your lips for what felt like ages as you spoke. You remember the silence that happened after you had finished speaking, and the way his eyes darted quickly back to your eyes to just as quickly return to your lips. You also remember the way he had drawn away from you as Jordan had busted into the room looking for Ava. You weren’t one hundred percent sure, but you were pretty confident that if she hadn’t done so, Tangerine would have kissed you.

“I wouldn’t say ‘obnoxious’. Not all of you at least.” Tangerine says. He seems to have a distant look in his eyes. You wonder if the memory of you two alone in Ireland had come to mind. You hope it had. 

Eventually you and Tangerine began reminiscing on some of the funnier moments that had happened while him and Lemon had been present. 

You two had moved from the bar to a small table in a corner. Tangerine was still able to see the rest of your group, most importantly Ava. Even then, it wouldn’t have mattered anyways as Ava had convinced Lemon to join the current round of bowling. The group didn’t seem like they were going anywhere and neither did Lemon. 

The place was still as loud as ever, but in the corner it was a little easier to hear each other. The neon lights that were reflecting off of most everything in the building was giving Tangerine a glow. The lights were giving his hair a darker complexion than normal, while highlighting his blue eyes. If you weren’t sitting so close to him, you wouldn’t have noticed the details. But fortunately for you, you were. 

You were close enough to him to smell his cologne. He smelled almost like citrus. Or maybe like sandalwood? Or maybe like the inside of a linen closet? You weren’t exactly sure of the scent profile, but he smelled good. He smelled familiar. 

“Do you remember Ireland? That birthday party was insane! I don’t know how you two kept up with Ava that week, it felt like every ten seconds we were going somewhere new!” You let out a small laugh remembering just how crazy it had been. 

Tangerine rolls his eyes with a smile on his face. “You honestly think I would forget? I felt like I needed a leash on that girl. I wish she would have stayed around me or Lemon like you had during the trip.” His eyes light up a little as he scans your face. 

You hadn’t realized you had been so obvious on that trip. Most of the friend group had paired off in Ireland and you remember hoping to talk more to Tangerine on the trip. You hadn’t made it your priority of course, but during down times or sightseeing activities you had hoped to hear his thoughts.

The air got thin once more. You realized that you both were leaning in towards each other. You were sitting in your chair sideways. Your right elbow propped on the table, with your hand propping your head up turned towards Tangerine, your back turned to the group’s table. Tangerine was turned towards you, almost leaning into your space with his right arm draped over the back of your chair, his hand hung in the open air between the back of your chair and your side. His left arm draped into his lap. Your legs sandwiched in between his. 

You hadn’t realized just how physically close you too were. Talking with him and drinking water seemed to have sober you up some. Realizing how close you were to him also helped to sober you up in the moment. Your eyes trailed to his lip as you went to speak.

“Well, I’d never pass up the chance to be around you all day.” You say, a little softly as you had grown even more distracted by each and every centimeter of his face. You think about how soft his skin would feel in your hands. 

You readjust yourself, trying to redirect your thoughts. You sit up a little straighter and let your hand that had been previously holding up your head fall into your lap. It unintentionally brushes Tangerine’s knee and you watch it slightly move, almost shocked by the touch. Sitting up like you were now meant that your face was even closer to his. You really hadn’t realized how much you two were leaning into each other. 

You're staring at Tangerine’s lips when your eyes rush back to his as he places a hand right above your knee. You watch as he begins to lean in, his eyes on your lips. Before you can even process that his hand is practically on your thigh. He stops an inch away from you, his eyes moving up to meet your glance. His eyes meet yours for only a second before they move back down to your lips, and once again back to your eyes. You could feel him let a breath out, nearly a scoff.

“You’re extremely drunk.” He says dryly. and goes to pull away from you.

“I was dead sober in Ireland.” You quickly remark before retaking the distance he had put between the two of you. You plant a quick kiss on his lips. 

“I haven’t forgotten about Ireland either.” You say softly as you move one of his curls behind his ear that had fallen when you kissed him a little too forcefully, the fear of missing another chance had brought some adrenaline into your system. Your hand makes its way to the back of his head as you begin to play with his hair. “I’ve been hoping you would be around more after that trip. Especially after the party.”

The hand Tangerine had set previously on your knee quickly moves to your face as he gently goes to hold your chin before lifting it up. This time h initiates the kiss. He’s more gentle than you were. 

You grin into the kiss, only slightly thinking about how contrasting the situation was. The harsh man kisses gently, yet you, a more soft person kissed him like you were a thirteen year old kissing their crush at the school dance, afraid to be seen.

His hand moves from your chin to hold your head as he pulls you in more. Once he’s pulled you in as close as he can, his hand trails to your waist where it rests. Both of your hands quickly move back to his head where you pull him in closer.

His mustache tickles you, but you don’t care. All you could think about was how his head felt in your hands. How you wanted to be closer to him. How his hand was pulling your waist in. How his lips felt against yours. How you felt like you were breathing for the first time this entire night. 

Your breath hitches as you feel his fingers dig into your waist. You feel yourself becoming warm as your attention is drawn to the fact that his skin is touching yours. Both of Tangerine’s hands are now holding on to your waist, pulling you in even more if it’s possible. One of his hands begins to trail up your back. It feels like he’s trying to find a better way to pull you closer to him, but at this point if you two got any closer you would be in his lap. 

You accidentally let out what you think is supposed to be a gasp as one of his hands runs back down your spine, returning to your waist once more. This doesn’t faze Tangerine as he takes the short break from your lips to move both his hands now to either side of your head as he pulls you back into the kiss, not without a short and breathy ‘shit’ that escapes his mouth. 

You aren’t sure who initiates the harsher kiss, but you didn’t care. As Tangerine bites your lower lip, you let out a breath and you grab onto the neckline of his unbuttoned shirt. Tangerine plants one last hard kiss onto your lips he pulls away, and leans into your ear before.

“I’d slow your breathing down, we’re about to have a visitor, yeah?” He plants a kiss on your cheek and pulls his head back to look at you before wiping your lips to get rid of some spit that had been left from when you two had separated. “Gotta make sure you look good too, dear.” 

He takes a deep breath in, clears his throat and seats back against his chair, while running both of his hands over his head in an attempt to put his hair back in place after you had tussled it. He then leans back in his chair, giving a smile at the unwelcome visitor.

You wipe your hands over your face, and then over your own hair in an attempt to self soothe. You take a deep breath yourself as you try to slow your breathing and your heart rate. You wipe your hands down the thighs of your jeans before turning to meet whoever was coming towards you.

“Hey, you guys ready to go? Lemon is rounding up the rest of the group now. Ava and Elijah finally got bored with bowling.” Naomi says before finishing the drink she had in hand.

“Right. We’ll be over shortly.” Tangerine says, raising his eyebrows at Naomi and turning his attention back to you. You give her a smile and a nod to acknowledge her. As she goes to walk back to the table, you turn yourself back towards Tangerine.

“Glad we weren’t interrupted before this happened. Hope it was worth the wait.” Tangerine says giving you a sly smile.

You let out a half hearted laugh. If you thought nothing was in your brain beforehand, it was even more empty now. All you could think of now was when you would be alone with him again. 

“How long did you say you and Lemon were staying this time around?” You manage to get out, looking up at him. You didn’t want to get your hopes up, but you also wanted to do this again. 

Tangerine chuckles as he fixes his shirt from where you had grabbed it as he goes to answer, “I’m in the city for a couple of days. Off work too.” He tucks a curl behind his ear. “You have something in mind that could keep me busy?”

You nod your head as you give out a short laugh. “Ask me out to a proper dinner and I think we could figure something out."

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A/N: hey home slices, so here's this. i recently rewatched the movie, and am about to read the book and thought i would write something. who knows if i'll write more, but it was fun lol if you liked this, check out my master list! --> HERE

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[ch0wen]

I saw your post with the girl on the bed wearing sunglasses with the caption “y’all want anything from me?” And first of all that made me smile so thank you. Second Tan and Reader cuddles? I’m a sucker for physical intimacy.

“And then that stupid git wouldn’t let him go. So, I had to force his arms to release Lemon with a tire iron,” Tangerine rubbed his callused hands over his exhausted face as his lips curled into a smirk,

“Lem, told me the guy’s right forearm broke in three different places.”

You’re sat on the edge of your shared bed, raking your fingers over his bare thigh as he catches you up on his day. This has become a nightly affair for you and Tangerine. It's a way to make up for lost time by sitting together and talking over little accomplishments or big complications that may have occurred during your shifts. Tangerine always has more of the latter; Seemingly never skimping on the gory details. When it's your turn to speak, he sits close and listens intently to your stories. Even if you think your job as a teacher is comparably not as thrilling.

And although his body is visibly exhausted after his outings, he still listens attentively and offers advice. He likes these spoken reminders that you are not in danger while he’s away. He wants to know you have some normalcy when he faces chaos during his nine-to-five.

“It sounds like you did what you needed to do,” your hand gently caresses his face then brushes the hair away from his hooded eyes as he lays back. His skin slightly pink; Freshly scrubbed from his post-work shower.

“You did great, as always. Now please rest up, honey.”

Wearily, he hums in agreement. His hand grasps for yours before kissing your knuckles,

“Tell that little shit Frankie to start listening during the maths lesson or I’ll give him a good spook at recess.”

You giggle, “He’s five, Tan.”

His eyes are now closed but a playful smirk stays spread across his lips.

You take this quiet beat to rise off the bed and provide him with his much-needed rest. Your finger applies a bit of pressure to the light switch,

“Y/n?”

“Yeah?”

“Come back. Stay with me for a moment. I’ve been surrounded by lunatics today. I need some familiarity.”

You’re now snuggling into Tangerine’s muscular and warm arms. He nuzzles his head into the crook of your neck. Breathing you in deeply before letting out a content-sounding sigh.

“Better?”

“Much,” he squeezes you impossibly closer. His chest gradually rising and falling. You angle your head so it’s not pressed into his armpit and reach up to stroke his hair. He mewls a bit before his hold loosens; not letting you go but giving a sign that he has fallen asleep.

[aliorsboxostuff]

oh my goood i'm in love with your tangerine fics <33 if that's alright, may i request something with a nonbinary reader please? maybe something cute and domestic like grocery shopping or doing chores. thank you in advance <3

A/N: Thanks so much! I'm glad you like these words i spew out anon! And yes of course, a domestic, fluffy and slightly smutty Tangerine x nb!Reader fic it is!

Normal Day

Tags: Tangerine x nb!reader, no use of Y/N, They/Them for Reader, merc!Reader, cursing, not brit picked, fluff and smut, implied smut, domestic fluff, doing everyday things, soft!Tangerine, reference to Avengers Age of Ultron, reference to Pietro from AOU

Tangerine and you finally get a week off together, so you decided to do ‘normal couples stuff’ because despite it all, getting to do things together with Tangerine is the best way to spend a week off.

—

Tangerine and you rarely ever get a day off in sync. The unfortunate routine was; whenever you had a week between missions, he'd be halfway across the world with his twin in some life-threatening work while you busy yourself in the house, and vice versa. You and him would call, obviously, late at night while it's early in the day for him. He'd tell you the latest gist of what's going on in his mission while you try to fight off the hands of slumber and stay up for your boyfriend. Once, when you were in Borneo for an intel mission, Tangerine called you in the middle of the day, surprising you whilst you were on the runway to get on your helicopter. What amused you was how dedicated he was to calling you at the right time despite having to wake up at 5 AM, and Tangerine is not a morning person; despite his defense.

So yes, a day off together is truly a rare occurrence. 

You and Tangerine are spending the month in your apartment in Queens, running from London's usual rain. You awake slowly, feeling Tangerine's strong arms wrapped around you and his mustaches tickling your nape from where he's snuggling. You chuckle, cherishing the warmth of his body and the rays penetrating the blinds as the sun makes its entrance. Tangerine pulls you closer despite already flushed chest to back with you, and you sigh in content. Your eyes travel to his hands, just below you chest, splayed possesively over your nightshirt. Scars and weak tissues litter his long fingers, his knuckles just healed enough after his last mission, veins slightly prominent on fair skin.

His hands move slightly, now one is balled on the sheets in front of you while the other presses on your stomach. You feel his eyelashes flutter behind you, knowing soon your boyfriend will awake and you'll get to spend the week with him. A week! Not just a day off, a week! God, you're excited. 

Carefully, you bring his free hand to your lips and press on the various scars scattered on it. One kiss, then two, then the ones on the back of his hand, then on his knuckles and following to the tips of his finger, until you feel him humming awake when you kiss his palm, breathing in his scent, trailing down to press your lips against the vein that indicates his consciousness. 

"Mornin' darling," The low vibration of his morning voice is intoxicating. You humm as the hand that you were holding cups your jaw, running calloused fingers softly on your cheek, turning you so you meet blue eyes shattered with gold from the sun. His face is relaxed, cheeks dusted pink highlighting the gleams of healed scars that he usually kept under makeup, a small smile on his lips. His curls are a shade lighter, illuminated by the rays peeking through. Unruly bed hair is what Tangerine calls it, but despite it you're obsessed with how it makes him look. Without his gell, his hair would travel down and cover his ears, then curls adorably on his forehead. Not to mention that's the same hairstyle when he's screaming your name at night.

Truly ethereal.

You blink, focusing wholly on the warmth on your face as he traces circles just near your eye, his fingers tangling your hair. His eyes gazes down to your lips, making you grin, before you push yourself enough to kiss him. He moves to hold your hip, smoothing down the fabric as your hand finds his strong chest, the smallest of hair felt beneath your fingers. His lips sealed over yours, lazy pecks until you slip your tongue into his and he makes a hum of approval. Its warm and soothing, awaking the sensation you and Tangerine shared last night, and you'd love to continue and spend the whole week fucking him but you had other plans, and you needed to get them in motion.

Shifting beneath the comforter, you break the languid kiss and position yourself on top of him, your legs between his while you rest on his chest, getting a good view of a slightly grumpy and aroused Tangerine. 

"Hey," You chuckle, one hand reaches to smoothe a curls away from his eye.

"Hello you," He smiles then raises a questioning brow. You huff, dropping your head to rest on him, his steady heart beat relaxing you.

"I was thinking," You started, Tangerine busy playing with your bed hair. "We can do some…. Everyday things, today,"

He scoffs, making you pick your head up in question. "'Everyday things'?" 

"Yeah, y'know like uh… Clean our office, do the laundry, or go get groceries, we are out of cheese so-"

"So like, do our chores or sumn'?" 

You pouted, making your boyfriend's brows shot up. "No, I mean like… Domestic stuff, the things couples do everyday?"

Suddenly, Tangerines face reddens and he blinks, once, twice, before he stutters. "D-domestic like… normal stuff?"

"Yeah, i think that'd be fun, a little different than our jobs y'know," You smile, bright and wide almost as blinding as the sun outside Tangerine gapes, then slowly the red from his face dissipates into a smirk.

"Well, if you're thingkin' 'bout normal-coupley stuff, let's start here yeah?" His hands are suddenly on your waist, fingers digging at your skin.

"What do–" Then he suddenly grinds between your legs, a low groan punched out of you. You glare at Tangerine, his signature smirk in place and more coy than ever. "Alright, let's do that,"  

—

If you and Tangerine ended up leaving the bed at 10 instead of 8 then that's no one's fault, you were simply following your boyfriend's wishes. 

After showering together—And spending another hour cleaning each other and sharing kisses—You dressed for the day and began preparing breakfast. While you were busy making the pancake batter, you could hear Tangerine in the bedroom humming to himself, probably picking an intricate top to go with his also intricate trousers. You smile to yourself, knowing despite the day off he'll always dress extra. You picked something to rival him, of course; a sleek white dress shirt and dark gray pants, with the belt that Tangerine got you on a 'impulsive' spending spree.

Finally, when two plates of pancakes are ready and so is Tangerines morning tea, the man himself exits the bedroom, clothes, hair and makeup ready for the day. He takes a seat on the kitchen island next to you and you retire your phone to pay attention to him, whistling when you take in his outfit. Navy waistcoat with matching trousers, a white top with a sheer pattern that ghosts over the color. 

"What gala are we going to, babe?" You snicker, earning a huff from him before he starts eating, and so do you. 

Half an hour spent talking about mundane things around the infosphere. The recent politician who's done something dumb again, the weather, the prediction of the weather, and the small crime that the police have hyperbole enough to make it into the news. You and Tangerine shared a laugh at that last one, knowing most of the shit you both do is worth putting in museums instead of the lowly cops. 

After doing the dishes together, you open your phone to the list about today that you've planned since last night. 

"So, since we're both dressed to go out," Tangerine takes a seat beside you, his arm already resting behind the couch. "I'm thinking we do grocery first, get the stuff we're out," He nodded.

"I've put our shopping list here, is there anything you wanna add?" 

Tangerine reads the screen. "Why's my shampoo there? ain't it still enough for another month?" 

"Well… about that," You avoid your boyfriend's questioning eyes while your face reddens, before he slowly catches up and takes a whiff of your hair, holding you by the shoulders while you giggle and try to pry yourself away.

"You have been usin' it! I knew i smelt something familiar, ya' cheeky bastard," 

"I like it okay! Plus it makes me smell like you…"

"Yeah?" He's smirking again and thank god he's your boyfriend because instead of slapping him you press your lips to his in a short kiss.

"Yes. Problem?" You huff, Tangerine grins.

"Not at all, love," He slides back to you side, squeezing your hip and rests his hand there.

"Alright, next. After we shop, we could stop somewhere near to get lunch," You point back at your loss. "I'm thinking maybe the cafe that opened next door?" 

"Oh yeah! Been eyein' their coffee for days now," You grin, turning back to your phone and scrolling.

"Oh and here!" You pointed. "When we get home, we'll do a cleaning of our office, then spend the rest catching up on our shows,"

"What movie you thinkin' then?" He sleeks back a fallen fringe. You note he's wearing less gel than usual. 

"We can continue our Marvel marathon,"

"Sure, what's the next film after Avengers again?" 

"Age of Ultron, i think," You tried to recall the list, when he suddenly groaned from behind you, making you turn and crunch your brows.

"Oh bollocks, its with the fuckers who's similar to me ain't it?" He huffs. "Lemon bugged me all the time about 'em,"

"Who? Pietro?" 

"Yeah, him!" 

You laugh, careening to the side until you're holding your stomach. Tangerine side eyes you, sharp and annoyed, until you finally stop laughing but still giggles in huffs. He turns his head, looking away from you and you know he's a bit more pissed than usual. So you smile slowly, pulling your boyfriend just enough to press a warm kiss on his cheek and hold his chin to tilt him to meet your eyes.

"Don't worry babe, y'know i only fall for one Tangerine," He sighs, a smile tugging on his lips, then he presses a kiss on your knuckles. 

"Plus, you can go undercover as Aaron Taylor-Johnson if you ever want to," That makes him pout again, pushing your hand away from him and sending you into another fit of laughter. 

—

And so you and Tangerine spent the day outside.

You both went shopping for the things you've run out of, and picked out the ingredients for future recipes. Tangerine spent the better half of the hour picking through champagne and wine, ensuring to get the best one thay had before he decided; "Let's just go to a wine shop, this place got nothin'." Which made you laugh while he pulled you away from the mediocre drinks.

Finally exiting the shop, you and Tangerine went to the Cafe that you mentioned. Despite them being opened quite recently, the establishment is run by an old married couple. The wife takes care of the orders and cashier while her husband is in the back. While Tangerine placed his, the woman looked at you and said "And what will your friend be having?" 

Which made Tangerine's eye tick and you had a millisecond to hold him back before- "My partner will order for themselves." 

You only huff in amusement as the old lady blinked, before she nodded sheepishly and you placed your order quickly. 

"Quit hissing at old people, dear, she didn't mean it," You had said when you and Tangerine were in the middle of your meal.

"Yeah well if we can learn about their damn repetitive history then they can learn to respect our choices," His eyes are narrowed and burning holes the poor womens back, you had to pry him away when you're done.

Tangerine took a detour to actually purchase good, genuine wine and champagne, and while he was with the worker who was presenting him the sparkling beverages you busy yourself looking around, afraid to touch those on display because despite your combined income from yours and Tangerines work, you're still cautious about these bougie things.

Finally, when you two arrived home, you and Tangerine moved in tandem as you retire the groceries into their places, Tangerine taking care of the expensive drinks while you changed your clothes in the other room. Tangerine joined you shortly after, wrapping his arms from behind you while he buries his face in the side of your neck, taking lungfulls before he suddenly attacked the sensitive skin with a bite. You shrieked, of course, before you swatted him away and pushed his clothes into his hands, making Tangerine chuckle. As you pass the bedroom mirror, there's a prominent red mark from where he bit. It sent a shiver as you pressed it, before you blinked and exited the room.

The 'office' is the safe name for ou and Tangerines house weapons bank. It's located next to your bedroom with a hidden keypad beside the door, hidden behind a wall, and changed every 2 weeks. Cleaning the room just means cleaning the weapons and doing check-ups, making sure the guns are properly cared for and the knives are sharpened. So you and your boyfriend spent an hour and a half making sure all your weapons and ammunition are in place, stocked, and cleaned. When you both finally finished, Tangerine closed the door behind him while you attacked his neck with kisses that made him groan, before you placed your own bite just above the deep scar on his left.

Now, the clock reads 9 PM, leftovers from dinners are stored into the fridge, dishes cleaned, and living room vacuumed. You’re currently in Tangerine's arm as he grumbles throughout Avengers: Age of Ultron. Every minute the ‘Pietro guy’ as he calls him, appears on screen, he would squint and send death glares to the unassuming character until you had to swat at his arm, making him huff before pulling you closer. One of his arms rests behind his head while the other hugs your middle, you sigh in content when he finally quiets down from his complaints and lets you continue the movie in peace. However, it only lasts another 20 minutes before he scoffs again, hearing Pietro’s accent, which made you pout, peering up at him.

“What?” His eyes twitched.

“You have an accent too, dumbass,” You grin, making his eyes widen.

“Are you usin’ my accent against me? Last I remembered you said I sounded ‘hot’,” He exaggerates, making you giggle. “And ‘sexy’, where did that go, hm, love?”

“Sure mr. Oh-So-Sophisticated,” 

“I’ll show you sophisticated-” He says before he attacks your sides with his nimble fingers, burying his face into the crook of your neck. Both his fingers and mustache tickles you, making you squeal. You try to push at his hands and he knows you’re strong enough to flip him over if you want to, but instead you play the role of helpless and laugh while Tangerine keeps up his act. It wasn't until he finally stopped tickling you and your giggles settled down did he hug you again, pull you close and press a kiss to your nose. 

He stares, a soft smile tugging on his lips, your hand reaching to cup his jaw. He turns slightly into your touch, inhales slowly, before his striking blues meets yours.

“I enjoyed today,” He smiles. 

Your eyes widened slightly. “Really?”

“Yeah, this whole- domestic bullshit,” He sighs. “I liked it, we should do this again,”

The moon might be out but your smile brings the sun right back into the apartment, making Tangerine chuckle. “Thank you,” You grin, and kiss his lips when he brings you closer.

“Of course, love,” He breathes into the kiss.

My Requests are Open! 

[tange-my-rine]

guard dog || Tangerine × gn!reader

Summary: Lemon has been trying to get you to see it for years. His brother was into you, so much it physically hurt to watch. That's what he said anyway. You were skeptical, to say the least. The fact that everyone who had ever hurt you, or even just threatened to, was dead though, was indisputable.

TW: protective!Tangerine, jealous!Tangerine, violence, murder, cursing (it's Tangerine), all things bullet train.

[[A/N: y'all know I love a good pining story 🫣🫣🫣, enjoy :) ]]

You'd known the twins for about as long as you've been in the business. Your handler was the same, and for a mission, they just decided to pair the three of you up. It was some simple grab-and-go, you can hardly remember now actually, but the three of you mended so well that your place was practically cemented.

Don't get you wrong, Tangerine has resisted, hard, since the beginning but you could see the progress. Or well, you hoped it was progress.

Lemon seemed to think so, and that was good enough for you. Who knew him better than Lemon, after all?

That brings you to now, where you sat in a fancy sort of gala -dressed to the nines; there was a man, some wealthy guy, that was the hit. Tangerine had gone to roam the crowds to, well, find him. Lemon sat inconspicuously to your right in a suit, a nice gray number, with a drink in his hand, looked a little like champagne but you couldn't be certain.

"You think he's lost?" You questioned, smiling over your cup -eyes directed to the crowd in a sweeping motion. You lagged on every good blue suit in the mix, perhaps for someone in particular, but you'd never say that out loud.

"'Wouldn't admit it if he was," Lemon retorted with a chuckle.

"I could get lost in here," you remarked, tapping your fingers along the tablecloth, gaze slipping across the ceiling -it was all shiny with chandeliers and painted columns, "-I bet there's at least 16 rooms on this floor."

Lemon pursed his lips, "He's only supposed to be in one, though, ain't he? Minglin' and such."

"He could've slipped away," you hummed, messing with your sleeve.

"Guess so," Lemon echoed, eyes glazed over the bustle of the people.

You paused for a moment, before saying, "Why did we send him again? He's really not the sociable type to get the guy's guard down, yeah?"

"Easy," Lemon smiled, something twinkling in his eyes, "-he wouldn't let me go because of competitive reasons and he wouldn't let you go because he'd sooner fuckin' die than leave you alone."

"Lemon," you lowered your voice, "-I'm an assassin, I'm sure I could've found this guy myself. I'm not a baby."

"Not sayin' you are love," he spoke matter-of-factly, "-It's nothin' about your skill, it's all him."

You quirked your brow, taking a long sip, "All him?"

"Have you really not noticed?" Lemon questioned, now fully facing you, "-He's like your fuckin' guard dog."

Ah, this again.

"Lemon, we've talked about this-"

"Doesn't mean it ain't true," he tsked, "-I can read people you know that, especially my brother."

You did know that, but your brain just really couldn't wrap around the idea of Tangerine seeing you that way. Not that it wasn't desirable, god was it desirable- it just didn't make any sense. He didn't treat you any differently than his brother, except for small things. Like holding open the door, pulling out your chair, and listening to you talk thoughtfully (unlike with his brother who he'd directly told to 'shut the fuck up').

He was just polite.

And it's not like you didn't think him to be handsome. He was probably one of the most well-crafted people on the planet, all pressed suits and slick hair and blue eyes and strong arms-

"Think back for me," Lemon interrupted your train of thought, thankfully, "-last mission, how many people got their hands on you?"

A grab-and-go, some sort of drive, you think.

"Like how many I fought? I mostly knocked them out, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Lemon agreed, "-but, somehow, they all ended up dead. Not your doin', not my doin'."

"Well," you scoffed, "-you can't leave witnesses-"

"Mission before that," he continued, relentless, "-quick in and out, nobody but the target to die, yeah? But some bloke held your arm too tight, remember?"

He'd wanted to buy you a drink, and you said no. He insisted. By the time you'd gotten him off, Tangerine had neatly sauntered to your side. You'd always thought it was weird timing, actually.

"Yeah," you hummed, furrowing your brow, "-okay. He didn't die though."

"Yeah, he did, back alley when you were in the car," Lemon replied, taking a long sip of his drink -finishing it actually.

"What?!" You hissed, "-There was no need-"

"You're barkin' up the wrong tree, love-" he held up his hands in surrender, "-I had nothin' to do with it. Except well, baggin' 'im up, Tan wanted to meet you in the car. He's always givin' me the dirty work."

Before you could respond, and you very much wanted to, Tangerine leisurely waltzed up to the table. Slow and steady steps didn't draw attention. Although you're not sure that mattered because well, everyone is going to look at him -I mean, come on-

"Disappeared in a room with a woman," he spoke quickly, exhaling a big breath, and snatching your drink from your fingertips -promptly downing it.

"Hey-" you began but didn't get far.

"I'll buy ya another one, love," he spoke, sly and smooth -sitting down to your left, exasperated, "-Fuckin' needed it. All the guy droned about was kissing arse and fuckin' stocks."

"You spoke to him?" You tilted your head, curious -promptly ignoring the fluttering when he called you love.

"No," he nearly spit out, "-just heard 'im. Real fuckin' piece of work, I tell ya."

Lemon hummed, "Good thing we're 'ere to kill 'im then, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tangerine agreed before eyes flickering over the two of you, "-What have you been doin' then?"

"What do you think?" You laughed, "-Not much else we can do but sit."

"They haven't been flirtin'," Lemon smiled, teasing, "-if that's what you're askin'."

"Fuck you," Tangerine retorted, "-just thought I'd ask somethin' nice for once and you twist it, see? Can't be nice to you."

"Enough, you two," you exhaled, swatting at both of them -your hand brushed Tan's but you didn't focus on it for long, "-Guy's back out."

The man was tall, greying slightly by the ears and big full dark beard -seemed the type to be a beneficiary or whatever it was. His suit was one you recognized to be expensive, probably because of Tan now that you think about it, and he was swarmed by quite a few men -itching for conversation, advice, you assumed.

And then, his eyes, deep brown ones, slinked over the table, landing solely on you.

You smiled -the kind that made all the men happy, waving gently. Standing up, you patted the table and whispered to your partners.

"Looks like he has a weak spot," you spoke through your teeth, "-be back in ten. Don't bite each other's heads off, please!"

You were a people's person, and men were simple, it wouldn't be hard to get him into a private space and-

You were halted, something pulling on your wrist. Less pulling and more held in place, actually. Spinning on your toes, your eyes held on Tangerine's fingers pressed into your wrist -keeping you at the table.

"Tan!" you hissed out, trying to pull your hand away -it wasn't a hard grip, just enough to keep you unmoving, "-What the hell?"

He seemed to scramble for a second, eyes fluttering across your face, "You can't just go without a plan, you know 'at, right?"

"Tan," you seethed, voice low to keep unwanted ears out, "-the plan is simple, get him alone and kill him. Now, why don't you let me-"

"No," he reiterated, "-you can't just go on your own. He's got men by his side, 24/7, what are you supposed to do if-"

"Lemon," you hissed, trying to get him on your side.

"No," he spoke, passively, standing up, "-I'm not involved in this, you two sort it out. I'll take care of 'im, yeah?"

"Seriously?" You turned to him, merely watching as he disappeared into the crowd -there goes your backup.

You turned to him, something heavy in your eyes -disbelief, "Do you really think I can't do it, Tan?"

"Love," Tangerine began, standing up beside you -it was almost like you were holding hands, "-I didn't mean-"

"Yeah, right," you scoffed, shaking off his hand, "-I need some air."

That is what led you to push through the glass doors and back onto the patio, rain trickling down from the sky. You stayed under the ledge for a moment, before decidedly stepping into it; it brought you back to earth for a moment, anger and frustration slowly numbing to the patter against your skin.

You'd always liked the rain.

"Come out of the rain, love," he spoke, careful and quiet -gentle in a way you'd only seen once ever, "-you're gonna get a cold."

You ignored him, raindrops dusting off your eyelashes and making your clothes stick to your skin ever-so-slightly. It wasn't enough to give you a cold, you knew that.

"Please."

Now, that was new.

You turned to face him, eyes adjusting to the shadow of the ledge. He looked at you softly, like you held the entire world in your hands and he didn't want you to drop it; blue eyes dusting over your face for any signs of anything you assumed. Something in you faltered.

Wordlessly, you stepped back under the ledge.

As soon as you did, he shrugged off his coat jacket and put it on your shoulders -almost out of habit. Another thing to add to your list.

He spoke first, leaning against the wall right beside you, "I'm a fuckin' dick, aren't I?"

You laughed, just a little -looking at the ground, "Yeah, you are."

"Look, love," he started, slow -his hand brushed up against yours on the wall, "-I wasn't tryin' to say anythin' about you. I kno' you could kill 'im without even thinkin' about it. You're incredible-"

Something in you twinkled, cheeks dusting a pink -not that you'd let him see.

"I just-" he started, running his hands through his hair -you watched the motion with lazy eyes, curious, "-I'm fuckin' daft."

"You are," you answered with a lilt of a tease, before turning to him, seriously, "-but why did you freak out like that? I really just thought you didn't trust me-"

He spun to you then, catching your eyes with his -a breath shattered out of your lungs, his hands firmly on your arms to keep you in place, "I trust you with my life. I do."

You hummed, looking at him critically, "Then what, Tan? If you trust me and know I'm good, then what's the problem?"

"It's not-" he sighed, eyes leaving yours as he rubbed a hand down his face -turning away slightly, with one hand still just below your shoulder, "-Fuck, I never wanted to-"

"Tan," you echoed out, gently placing your fingers against his jaw -turning him to meet your eyes, "-you can tell me anything, you know that."

You were so close now, a breath away from him -blue eyes flicking across your features, a bit frantic. You could feel his breath fan across your face, as your hands fell back to your side. You didn't dare blink. It almost felt like-

Could Lemon be...?

Your brain was working against you, as you blurted out, "Are you my guard dog?"

Tangerine paused, eyebrows furrowing, all tension now dissipated, "What?"

"Shit, I didn't-" you stepped back, but his hand on your arm didn't let you roam far, "-Lemon keeps telling me you're like my guard dog. All protective and like constantly keeping your eye out, not letting me go anywhere without you-"

"Your guard dog?"

"Yeah, it's stupid, but-" you paused, looking back at him, curious, "-did you really kill that guy in Madrid?"

"The hit?" He questioned, something in him relaxing, "-no Lemon did, you don't remember? The fucker stabbed me in the leg-"

And then, he fell silent -something passing over his face in recognition.

"In my defense, you weren't supposed to know about 'at."

"Well, I do," you exhaled, expectedly, "-may I ask why?"

"Why what?" He asked, somewhat innocently.

"Tan," you stressed.

"Same reason I didn't let ya leave," he exhaled, simply, like you knew the reason. You thought you might, but you weren't taking any chances.

"Tan, how am I supposed to-"

"He could've said bodyguard," he spoke, suddenly, working himself up, "-Just had to compare me to a fuckin' animal, didn't he? He's lucky I-"

"Tangerine."

"Right, yeah," he interrupted his thought process, eyes swimming to yours, "-I can... I can explain."

You met his eyes, "Please do."

He paused for a moment, seeming to settle on what to say, "I am... I am your fuckin'... guard dog, as my brother so eloquently put it."

You opened your mouth to comment.

"Hear me out, will ya?" He spoke, softly, fingers brushing circles against your arm -you merely nodded, "-I'm protective over ya, beyond belief really, not sure how ya didn't figure that one out."

Your hands went to the edge of his coat, tightening it on your shoulders. It was a little chilly now actually.

"Not because you can't protect yourself," he clarified before his eyes settled on your face -gentle and soft, almost... admiring, "-but because I don't kno' what I'd do if I lost you."

"Is it not the same with Lemon?" You questioned, your breath hollow in your chest.

"It's-" he cleared his throat, almost awkward, "-very different."

"Different how?"

"Love," he sighed, a little exhausted, "-I..."

"Just be honest with me, Tan," you echoed, a mere whisper, "-that's all I want."

And then his eyes darted over your face, swimming like he was committing every bit to memory... like he could never get enough. Suddenly, something settled over you, watching as the words stopped on his tongue but his face said it all.

He didn't have to say it, you realized -watching him, you knew.

With a breath, you pushed forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and digging your head into his shoulder. His whole body tensed for a moment like he hadn't expected it, before relaxing -hands coming to twist along your waist.

"You don't have to say it," you muttered into his shirt, all crisp and clean, "-I know."

He spoke quietly, you could feel the breath on your skin, "You know?"

"I know," you repeated.

"'At mean I can take ya to dinner?" He questioned, playful but you could hear the nerves -you knew him well.

You pulled back, fingertips twisting in the curls on the back of his neck -smiling brightly, "I'd love to."

He grinned, and it crinkled at his eyes -now looking at you a bit like he can't believe it, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," you smiled back.

"You had your fill, you two?" Lemon interrupted, suddenly making himself known, "-Figured out all your shit, then?"

Tangerine's face dropped turning his head but making no move to let you go -it made your head fuzzy, "Don't fuckin' start."

"I won't," he held up his hands, before grinning -mischievously, "-I will say though, you can thank me anytime. Ya know, since I played fuckin' cupid."

"One more word," Tangerine leveled, eyes glaring daggers, "-I'm fuckin' serious, mate-"

"Thank you, Lemon," you interrupted, turning out of his grip -one hand still on your waist, you doubted he'd let you fully out of his grip, not now. You didn't mind.

"See?" Lemon asked, "-'At so hard, brother? Always liked 'em better, really."

Tangerine paused, jaw tensing as he licked along his teeth, reluctant but his eyes kept darting to you -he softened, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Lemon grinned for a second before he fell rather serious, "-really though, we should leave. 'Give 'em another fifteen minutes to find 'im."

Tangerine pressed his lips together, not moving.

"Seriously," Lemon echoed, "-I know ya expect me to be jokin' but I'm not, I give 'em fifteen minutes."

"Tan," you pushed, eyes meeting his, "-later. We have forever, don't we?"

Something in him softened, eyes dashing across your face, he bit down a smile. Wouldn't dare let Lemon catch him, you assumed.

He seemed to anyway.

"Oh, you are whipped, bro," Lemon retorted with a laugh.

"Don't," Tangerine seethed, "-I'll pound your fuckin' face in, you know 'at? Not another word."

You rolled your eyes, slipping your hand into his. This was your life now, huh?

You flickered over Tangerine practically tackling his brother to the ground, verbally, but his hand still gently wrapped around yours -unaffected.

Maybe that's okay.

[spookyspecterino]

You're So Cute When You're Jealous

Tangerine x GN! Reader x Platonic! Ladybug

Word Count: 2.6K

(I almost forgot how fun and rewarding it is to write short little one-shots lol)

Mild NSFW; Non-explicit sexual content, jealousy, possessiveness, language

Ladybug watches your back for an easy mission that isn't supposed to take more than 20 mins. When Tangerine shows up the plan goes out the window.

A/N: I interrupt your assassins hunting assassins/murder mystery series to give you this! Hope you enjoy, and there's more one-shots coming! <3 Also, I'm trying to get my NSFW writing skills back into shape for future fics… 👀💅 Let me know how I did!

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“Ladybug…”

“Hm?”

“Are you listening to me?”

“Mm, yeah.”

“What was the last thing I said?”

“Uhhh…”

“That’s what I thought.”

There was a good-natured laugh, easy and light over your comms piece. “You worry too much. This job is gonna be a piece of cake.”

It was, but you weren’t going to admit it. The task was straightforward—take the provided SSD card, which you had taped to the inside strap of your watch, and stick it into some yuppy senator’s laptop; wait until the files are uploaded, then take the card and get out. It was all being done at night too, so the office building was empty. Still, best not to get sloppy. Maintaining a reputation is important.

You hoped the sigh you made was loud enough for the mic to pick up.

It was.

“Oh comon’ don’t be like that.”

“Like what? Concerned over the job we’re currently on?”

“It’s ‘cause you miss your boyfriend, isn’t it?”

With a scoff, you attempted to make a rebuttal, but the best you came up with was, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Ladybug was smiling, you could hear it in his voice. “Oh! Well, excuse me.”

“Just focus.”

“I am—you focus!”

“I’m already focused!”

As the elevator dinged open you peeked your head out and looked up and down the hallways. All clear.

Ladybug practically giggled, something crinkled on his end. “Why are you acting like this is Mission Impossible?” He was currently watching you on thermal imaging from the roof of the next building over.

You held back a loud scoff. “I’m being careful.” There was a crunch followed by loud chewing. “For Christ’s sake, Ladybug—are you eating?”

“We didn’t get dinner beforehand…so, yes.”

Hoping he could see it through the camera, you exasperatedly threw your hands up into the air as you made your way to the office. Rounding a few hallway corners, it came into view.

The door was a lacquered wood with the identifying number and senator’s name displayed in fancy, hand lettered script on the frosted glass window. You attempted to go in, but it was secured with a keypad and deadbolts.

“What’s the combination for the door, Ladybug.”

“…Combination?”

Your stomach sank. “Yes…for the office door. There’s a keypad.”

“Uh—standby.”

Pinching the bridge of your nose between your fingers you were running through ways of getting inside when Ladybug’s voice returned, it held more urgency than before. “Hey, yeah, listen. There’s bad news and there’s other not-so-bad news, but it’s still not very good.”

“Just tell me!”

“There’s someone coming out of the elevator—that’s the not-so-bad news.”

“You think they’re going for the senator’s office?”

“Looks like they’re making a beeline straight for it. Better move!”

You hiss, cursing between your teeth. The nearest place to hide is at the other end of the hallway and you sprint to it, trying not to make too much noise. Once behind the corner you peek out, feeling like a child trying not to get caught. “Great, what’s the bad-bad news?”

“I’ve got no idea what the combination is.” There was another crunch as he continued to eat.

You grumble under your breath. “God fucking damn it…”

“I’m looking through everything, they never gave us any combination—didn’t even mention it. I’m gonna chalk that up to an oversight on their part.” There were a few beats of silence save for the sound of Ladybug’s crunching. “Ok, here comes company, they’re coming down the hallway now.”

“What do they look like?”

“It’s a guy. Judging by his build, he’s probably in his early thirties. Struts as he walks—”

“Oh, motherfucker…”

“You sound like you’ve got a guess as to who it is.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good guess…”

Sure enough, the muscular outline of Tangerine—clad in his usual blue Italian suit, walked into view and up to the office door. The familiar gate of his walk and the slope of his shoulders sped up your heart rate.

“Who is it?”

Forgoing a reply, you positively simmered as Tangerine effortlessly entered the keycode and waltzed inside.

If you know Tangerine, which you do, he’ll shut the door behind himself—which only gives you a split second…

Ladybug’s voice was slightly obscured by the food in his mouth. “What are you doing?”

Without a second thought, you had dashed toward the door as it slowly closed. Pivoting with your shoulder, you bash into it—sending it flying open. Tangerine’s eyes are wide with surprise as you barrel into the office. There’s a flash of recognition, quickly replaced by confusion as his brows furrow and he takes a few steps back.

You’re breathless. You tell yourself it’s from sprinting and not the way he looks up close in that suit. “What are you doing here?”

He stammered a moment before he remembered how to speak. “Me? I should ask you the same thing, love.”

Ladybug chortled over comms. “Holy shit, what are the chances. Well, there goes our plan, I’ll start packing up.”

Turning your head to the side you hissed as quietly as you could. “Cut it out, the plan’s still on.”

There was a crunch. “Uh-huh, suree.”

“Just eat your dinner!”

You faced Tangerine again, who was watching closely. Somehow, his brows had pinched together even more.

He was opening his mouth to say something, but you beat him to it. “I was awarded the contract bid—this job is taken.”

The corner of his mustache raised as he took a step closer. “Oh, that was you who won? I thought I’d just nick it, honestly. Didn’t seem like a big deal.”

“What a charmer, and you’re in love with this guy?”

Ignoring Ladybug’s commentary, you stared down Tangerine, who was obviously fucking with you to get a reaction. Something he loved to do.

Well, maybe two could play at that game. “It’s a big deal to us…”

His eyes instantly narrowed. “Who’s us?”

It was just too easy.

“My partner for this job.”

“Please don’t bring me into this! He already wants to kill me!”

Tangerine stalked closer, eyes flickering over your ear. “Don’t fucking tell me…”

“Yes, don’t tell him.”

You simply nodded.

His jaw moved from side to side. “Are you fucking kidding me, love? You chose to go on a job with him?” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “You chose to do it with him and not me?”

A tired sigh came through comms.

Between Ladybug’s annoyance and Tangerine’s reaction you couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face. Something about Tangerine’s jealous side really softened you up. Maybe it’s the way he seamlessly goes from angry to pouting every few seconds.

“I chose Ladybug for obvious reasons…”

He marched a few steps closer. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know.”

“No, love. I really don’t.”

“Would you please mute yourself for this, I might vomit.”

Tangerine’s eyes flashed to your ear and back to stare into your eyes. “What’s that prick sayin’?”

A quiet snort broke its way out of you. Covering your mouth with a hand at the sound of Ladybug scoffing and grumbling, you tried your best not to laugh. There was a click as he disconnected himself from the comms.

Tangerine’s eyes were practically bulging out of his head as you took a deep breath and looked back up to him. “Ok, we’re alone now.”

His mustache twitched. “What did you mean by obvious reasons?”

This was probably the easiest job you’ve had in a while, in and out, wasn’t supposed to take more than 20 minutes. And now Tangerine was here and everything got all muddled. How were you supposed to do your job correctly as he stands this close, with his lips looking like that.

His tone dropped low, husky sounding. “Are you gonna answer or just stare at my mouth all day?”

Oops, you’d been caught.

Raising your eyes slowly you grinned. “This is exactly what I mean.”

Tangerine’s eyebrows raised a fraction and his frown lessened, obviously pleased. “Oh.” He paused for a beat, eyes glancing at your lips in return. “So, I have to suffer because you get a little distracted?”

“Suffer? Why would you be suffering?”

He closes the short distance between you and him, his chest brushing against yours. “You know how much I love working with you, darling.” His eye twitched slightly. “And you also know how much I hate seeing you work with others, especially that fucking—”

“—Ladybug isn’t distracting. He lets me get the job done.”

That is when everything went smoothly and his bad luck wasn’t complicating things.

Tangerine’s head leans in a little, his eyes softening—warm breath fanning out against your lips. “I can let you get the job done, too.”

“As evidenced here, I don’t think you can, Tangerine.”

The silky caress of his name on your lips makes his eyelids flutter as his brain short circuits. One of his coarse hands, thick gold rings around his fingers, raises to trace along your jaw with a feather-light touch. The understanding that he can use those same hands to go from killing, to brushing your face in such a sensitive way has you swooning.

He’s so close to kissing you now, you can feel the ghosting touch of his lips against yours as he speaks. “Maybe we would be more focused if we took care of our little distractions before the job.”

Well, that was incredibly tempting, but a sneaking suspicion told you it wouldn’t make a difference. There was a fire between you two that couldn’t easily be put out.

Sighing, with the nagging feeling that you were still on the job creeping into your mind, you were about to poke holes in his theory. “I doubt it would—”

Tangerine’s lips molded to yours, smothering everything else that followed. One hand cupped your face while the other pulled you closer by the small of your back. You weren’t getting the rest of that sentence out no matter how hard you tried, so instead of fighting, you melted into it with a sigh.

There was a breathy chuckle as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss; mustache scratching your upper lip. Tangerine’s cologne invaded your nose, flooding each of your senses until it was all just him. You swallowed it up, wishing you could wrap yourself in it forever.

He seemed to be equally affected; his strong hand skating along your back, gripping and tugging as it explored the curves of your body. Desperate to touch all of you. The other held your face to his, pressing into your soft skin with a calloused, but warm palm.

Your arms had wrapped themselves around his neck without you even realizing it, and they brought you up on your toes closer to him. Messing up his slick-backed curls, you ran fingers through them. Tugging, and scratching at the roots rewarded you with a few soft moans.

Tangerine’s mouth pulled back into a slow spreading smile under the press of your own. God, he loved this—thought about it at night before he fell asleep, dreamt of it. Dreamt of other things too, things that had him waking up harder than steel with your name gasping from his lips. Just the reminder of those mornings had him swiping his tongue along the bottom of your lip with a groan.

While tempting, the SSD card poked into the skin under your watch as a reminder. You pulled back slightly, panting from the waves of heat between you two.

Pressing light kisses to his chasing lips, you mumbled. “I need—to do—my job—Tangerine…”

At the sound of his name again, he made a low moan. His hand left your face to wrap around the base of your head, pulling you back to him. He spoke between feverish kisses as his lips attacked yours, tongue occasionally swiping at your lower lip, begging for permission. “Alright, sweetheart. Let me—show you how well—we could work together.”

Never once breaking the kiss, his hands snake up to your wrist and grab the SSD card from under your watch strap.

Murmuring against your lips, he grins. “You should find a new place to hide things, you always stash them there.”

You scoff, going to pull away with a snarky retort but he bites and sucks on your lip, holding you in place. It pulls a light gasp out of you and he hums triumphantly, taking the chance to slip his tongue into your mouth, fed up with waiting for permission. It slides against yours and you return the movement twisting your tongues into a dance.

He broke the kiss and bent down lightning fast to place a strong arm under your thighs, picking you up as if you weighed nothing. Returning with a crash of his lips on yours, he walked you both over toward the desk. Your hands flew up to hold onto his face and neck, leaning into him for support. He didn’t seem to notice one bit as he kissed you like you were the only thing that mattered in the world.

The smooth motion was enough to leave you breathless already, but when Tangerine plopped you down to sit on the desk and pressed himself between your legs, you forgot what the concept of breathing even was.

He grumbled, the sound vibrating in his chest. “Mm, see? We’re getting the job done.”

You turned your head to see him roughly shoving the SSD into the laptop, the force he used scooted it further away, but that was all you saw as he turned your face back to look at him, thumb and forefinger holding your chin. His blue eyes looked at you with hunger.

Moving down he began to bite and suck at your neck as his fingers tilted your head up, exposing the entirety of your throat to him.

Finally free to speak, you couldn’t help yourself. Panting, your voice was breathy and halting, distracted by the sensation of his teeth on your skin. “You’re getting my job done. What happened to nicking it?”

There was an amused hum. His hands moved to your thighs, running up and down the length of them, gripping the muscle. They traced around to slide underneath your ass and he roughly scooted you closer to him, connecting his hips to yours. The feeling of his rock-hard length pressing into you stole the last of your breath away.

He pulled back from leaving bruising hickeys and bite marks on your neck to look into your eyes. “To be perfectly honest with you, love—I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about the fucking money right now. Have it.” A thumb moved up to caress your cheek. “But, promise—on the next job, you’ll work with me.”

You about rolled your eyes into the back of your skull. “Tangerine—”

A low growl ripped through him as his hips snapped forward against you and he devoured your lips. It pulled a moan out of you before you could even form a thought.

His breath was hot against your skin. “Fucking promise me.” His fingers traveled down and started working on your belt.

“Alright, I—I promise.”

Tangerine shoved his tongue into your mouth with a groan. As his hands expertly slid your pants down and thick fingers traveled past the elastic of your underwear, your mind drifted off into a blissful haze.

Working with Tangerine might actually be a fantastic idea.

🍊 Taglist: @felhomaly @whatiswrongwithpeople @marquisdefrenchfry @everythingisspokenfortbh @titaniusanglesmith @sjprongs @piechans @cherrygayness @queenofstarsanddarkness @idkwhattowritelol

If you'd like to be added off let me know!

[kse22chili]

Henry Winter

He was such an alluring man to me. He was a mysterious man who loved writing and reading books, particulary in latin and ancient greek. This detail really mesmerised me, I might even say that I fell in love with him thanks to this trait of his. And why so, you might ask yourself? Well, I'm a writer myself. I write and read in latin and I have a connection to that language. So, when I found out that he had studied latin too and adored it with the same profoundness that I did, I was demolished to the ground.

But, what really tormented me forever was that he was writing a diary in ancient greek with an intriguing motive to it : he loved that language. And, by using the verb "love" I don't allude to a superficial emotion that is easy to get rid of, but, I'm talking about the fondness that one feels for a certain thing that truly is at one's heart. He practically lived within the ancient greek world.

What was even more entertaining was that I didn't know anything about ancient greek. I mean as in the language itself.

Perhaps, that's what really amused me the most. Because, I finally had found a man who was smarter and better at something than me.

Do you, my dear reader, know what a relief it is to finally find that person you had been looking for everyday of your life?

I cried the first time that we met. I was so happy. My heart was beating so fast and I was in ecstasy, or better, euphoria. And, do you want to know how he reacted to that?

He wiped my overflowing eyes and smiled at me. It was as if he knew in what a bliss I was at that moment. No. He knew, for sure, that I had been vigorously waiting for him.

Now, where is he?