#ten minutes after the person I was watching with gave up and went to bed.

[neverendingford]

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[keerysfreckles]

stay here - mike schmidt

pairing: mike schmidt x f!reader

warnings: use of y/n and she/her pronouns (no movie spoilers bc i haven't seen it yet im just obsessed with mike) fluff! fluff! fluff! like one makeout scene but thats it

enjoy!

to say babysitting michael schmidt's little sister, abby, was easy would be a lie. mike called you earlier that day, right before his shift started, and asked if you could look over abby until he got home. at the end of the call he mentioned his hours were shorter, and earlier than normal, so he wouldn't be home too late.

it was currently eleven pm. abby's supposed to be in bed by ten-thirty, and nothing was working. y/n tried calming her down with a disney movie. she even colored with her in her makeshift fort in her room. but nothing worked, she was as hyper as ever.

"abby, please! we both know you're going to be tired tomorrow and you have school," y/n pleads.

"but i'm not tired," abby groans, rolling over dramatically on the couch.

"you know what? fine. i'll just tell mike you weren't listening to me," y/n sends abby an evil smile. abby perks up, and sits up to lean on the arm of the couch to look at y/n.

"no! no no no! he said if i was good all week he'd buy me something from the store."

y/n crosses her arms and leans against the hallway wall, opposite of the couch. "looks like you're going to have to listen to me afterall."

"but i'm still not tired," abby groans again, but walks over towards y/n.

y/n looked down at the girl in front of her. she saw the small bags under her eyes, and noticed her eyes kept closing every so often.

an idea popped into y/n's head, "why don't you go lay down, and i'll be in in ten minutes, yeah?"

abby nodded, confused by the request, but still nodded nonetheless and walked down the hallway and towards her room. y/n watched for a moment before abby was fully inside her room. she knew abby was most likely to fall asleep once her head hit the pillow. now she only had to kill two hours until mike would be home.

y/n and mike have known each other for three years. y/n moved into the one story house that was unoccupied in mike's neighborhood. the town wasn't used to newcomers, so of course y/n was the talk of the town for her first two weeks there.

it wasn't until a month later when y/n was on her morning run on a saturday, and had bumped into michael. she was instantly confused when she noticed he was in his work uniform, and on the way back to his house. the two made light conversation, and ended up at y/n's that night for a movie marathon.

about a month after that, mike knocked on y/n's front door, and properly asked her if she wanted to go on a date with him. of course the girl agreed, and that was the first date of many for the couple.

which leaves y/n in the position she's in - babysitting abby.

when mike and y/n officially started dating abby interrogated the girl. asking her a bunch of questions, some more personal than others, which mike quickly interjected. abby gave mike the idea of having y/n watch over her, instead of having to pay random strangers. mike obviously agreed.

y/n settled herself on the couch and put on a random horror movie that was on tv. she couldn't even get past the opening as her eyes closed and her body went limp from tiredness.

she grabbed the blanket at the other end of the couch before fully letting sleep embrace her.

the only time y/n woke up was when she heard the doorknob rattling. she turned slightly, to look over the back of the couch, and saw her boyfriend walking through the doorway.

"shit, were you sleeping?" mike asked, taking off his jacket and throwing it by the front door.

y/n sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "yeah, but i can go. abby's asleep so i did my job pretty well," she chuckles.

"thank you again. and you know you can stay babe, i don't mind the comapny," michael smiles.

y/n couldn't help but notice how on edge mike looked as soon as he walked inside.

"are you okay?" she asks softly, still sitting on the couch.

mike nods as he sits down beside her, "yeah, just a long night." he leans over and kisses her cheek, causing y/n's cheeks to turn pink.

"do you want to talk about it?" y/n moves her leg to rest her chin on her knee, as mike's eyes glaze over the tv screen before turning fully towards his girlfriend.

"william was just on my ass before my shift, and vanessa had so much energy tonight, i just couldn't handle it. and it felt like time was going so slow tonight," mike's voice was quiet. y/n could tell he had a rough night as he rubbed his eyes.

y/n leans forward and turns off the tv, making mike slightly confused. "is there anything i can do to cheer you up?" y/n stands in front of mike and holds her hands out. he immediately takes her hands in his as he stands with her. mike leans forward and kisses y/n's forehead.

"can you just stay here tonight?" mike's voice almost seems desperate, as if y/n's presence was the only thing keeping him going right now.

y/n nods, "i'll always stay if you ask me to," she smiles as mike closes his eyes and rests his forehead against hers.

"was abby okay tonight?" mike asked, pulling away, but still keeping their hands connected.

"she was good, until trying to get her to go to bed. but you didn't hear that from me," this caused mike to let out a small laugh.

the couple, with one of their hands linked with each other's, went down the hallway. mike stopped y/n and opened abby's bedroom door quietly. y/n stood beside mike and held onto his arm with her free hand, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

the pair were met with abby sleeping under her blanket. small snores escaped her lips. y/n leaned up and kissed mike's jaw, before whispering, "c'mon, i know you need sleep just as much as she does."

y/n pulls mike into his room, which was at this point their shared room. mike had two drawers of his dresser specifically for y/n, vice verse in y/n's room. mike stepped into the bathroom and they both got ready for the night, in the most comfortable clothes they own.

y/n was already laying down under the sheets once mike came out of the bathroom. even laying there, he thought y/n looked so effortlessly beautiful.

"why are you staring at me like that?" y/n asks as she watches mike slide into the bed next to her.

"what? i can't stare at my pretty girl?" mike leans forward and kisses y/n on the lips, as he brings his left hand to her cheek. he rolls over, so his right arm is on the mattress, as he hovers over y/n. her hands move to his waist, slowing moving to his lower back.

their lips molded with one another's, and y/n could almost sense the stress leaving mike's body.

mike barely pulled away, leaving little to no space in between the two, "i love you so much."

y/n smiled, "i love you too."

she leaned up to kiss him once more, and mike playfully rolled his eyes while moving to lay down beside the girl. mike loved falling asleep while holding onto y/n's waist, because he knew she was safe.

[m0nsterqzzz]

Valentine

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pairing: Clarisse La Rue x reader

summary: Clarisse blinked and suddenly she had you as a Valentine

content: clarisse being a love sick foul. thats it. thats the entire fic

a/n: recently started listening to Laufey and I have like TEN different fic ideas nowwwww ahhhhhh. this is really short but idk i kinda like it. idkkkkkkk. ahhhh. anyway, love yall.

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Clarisse has a problem.

It's not like a, "I just killed some Dionysus kid with my spear" type problem, but it's a problem nonetheless.

When she was a kid, the daughter of Ares hated affection. Even when her own mother would try and hug her, it just made her feel crowded and trapped. She'd avoid it at any costs, which is why now in her teenage years at camp half blood, she's never had a relationship.

That's usually been okay. She's always preferred glory or love. But right now, as she clings to you like a koala bear while you read your book in her bed, she finds herself questioning it.

This is the problem.

She’s never craved affection the way she does with you. When you hug her or wrap your arms around her waist from behind, she doesn’t feel trapped or crowded the way she does with everyone else. She feels safe and warm. 

Something is wrong with her.

It only dawned on her when she was sitting on the beach with you watching the sunset. The way the golden light looked on your face, it was shining off your already beautiful eyes, and you looked mythical as you turned to cast her a heart stopping smile.

Clarisse La Rue, scary daughter of the god of war, is in love with you.

She panicked, avoiding you for a whole week before she finally came to peace with her feelings. That doesn’t mean she told you, if some of you were expecting that. She loves what friendship you guys have, and she would never want to ruin it by doing something as stupid as telling you about her emotions.

It didn’t help that you were so affectionate though.

So after months of stopping cuddles with the excuse, “It’s getting warm.” or explaining her crimson face after time you congratulate her sword fighting wins with a kiss on the cheek as a reaction to the heat outside, she finally went to the one person she knew could help.

Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite and expert when it comes to crushes.

“Ask ‘em out.” Was what the girl said, casually brushing out her hair as Clarisse groans into her pillow.

“You don’t get it.” The daughter of Ares says with much annoyance, rolling over on her friend's bed as she holds a stuffed animal close to her chest. “I can’t. I try, but every time I build up the courage to say it, the words get stuck in my throat and I end up looking like a total idiot! I hate it!”

Silena chuckles, joining Clarisse on the bed as she shrugs. “Then die alone I guess. I really don’t know how to help you other than that.”

So….Silena was no help if you didn’t know.

Clarisse has just about given up at this point, instead deciding to just keep dying internally while still being friends with you.

She lasted with this just about four minutes.

“You look pretty.” You had casually said to her while putting on your golden helmet for capture the flag, folding up the sleeves on the flannel you’re wearing- one of hers- as Annabeth shouts out orders.

She’s caught off guard, almost dropping her spear and tripping over a rock. She swallows thickly before she says, “You…you look pretty too.” Silena eyes her with a teasing look from across the clearing, making kissy faces with a smug look. Clarisse doesn’t even know if she gave you a worthy compliment, stuttering out a quick goodbye before she makes her way into the forest to avoid anyone seeing her blush.

After that she manages to keep to herself for about an hour.

She’s running through the forest looking for you after hearing a scream that sounds way too similar to yours, ready to rip the head off of anyone who dared to mess with you. She finds you casually lounging on a rock near the beach, sword discarded on the sand as you talk joyfully with some younger campers. The sound of her erratic breathing alerts you, so you turn around, calming down when you notice it’s her.

“Hey Clar. What’s wro-” You don’t even get to finish before she’s picking you up in her arms, burying her head in the crook of her neck as she grips you as tight as she can without hurting you. You’re confused though you don’t question it, just running a hand through her curly hair as she shakes and slowly calms down.

It’s surprising really. Clarisse hates being affectionate in front of other people, scared of being seen as weak or too emotional. Though right now, she doesn’t seem to care as all the younger campers stare and giggle, just enjoying your embrace as forces down the fear she felt when she thought you were in trouble.

She realizes now that she can’t just keep this secret. She can’t go another minute without you knowing how much she loves you- that she would go to the ends of the earth or fight as many monsters as she needs to just to see your smile.

So for the first time in her life she skips capture the flag, joining the Apollo kids at the arts and crafts table and glaring at anyone who dares to question why she’s here and not out there fighting.

Silena joins her after a while, spending an hour making bracelets and teasing her friend while the daughter of Ares makes the cheesiest sign anyone has ever seen.

You’re lying in bed with a book when someone knocks on your cabin door. You frown in confusion, sure it’s one of your siblings and wondering why they don’t just open it. You call out for the person to come in, but when nothing happens and another knock comes through, you groan and get up to answer it.

The annoyance is immediately gone when you open it to see your best friend, though the confusion is still there as you take in her appearance.

The glittery, pink and red sign that is covered in hearts with the words, “I’ve been struck by cupids arrow. Will you be my Valentine?” is a harsh juxtaposition to the dark clothing on her body and shiny, sharp spear hooked to her back. It’s adorable, really. The way her face scrunches up as she slowly and slowly spirals deeper into the thought that this is the cringiest thing ever done in the history of the planet, the way she shifts from foot to foot as you stare in awe, the way she nervously smiles your way.

“If you hate it, it was Silena’s idea.” She mumbles when you don’t speak for a few seconds.

“And if I love it?” Your words surprise her, but she soon recovers and responds as a grin takes over her face, “Then it was all my idea.”

You nod, gently plucking the flower out of her hand then grabbing the sign so that her hands are free to hug you. She easily does, wrapping her arms securely around your waist as she pulls you as close as possible.

“I blinked and suddenly I had a valentine.” She whispers before leaving a chaste kiss on your forehead.

Clarisse has a problem.

But you are the perfect solution.

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[fleurrreads]

hi b!

i was wondering if maybe i could request something angsty w steve?

thinking maybe of something like … unrequited love? or you feel like it’s unrequited?

(i absolutely SUCK at requesting i apologize)

★ right person, wrong time

an: hi lovely! i went through it with this request lol. i hope you like it ♡

warnings: angst and some more angst

tick tick tick

The day is going excruciatingly slow. You’re counting down the minutes before the school day is over. Just ten more minutes. Ten more minutes until your life hopefully changes for the better.

The plan is simple. You’ll go to Family Video after school, ask Steve out on a date and then hopefully he’ll say yes and you’ll have the best day of your life.

You try to push away the lingering anxiety that he won’t reciprocate your feelings. Pushing all the contents on your desk in your bag when the bell signals the end of the day. Hands sweaty as you stop by your locker to gather some things for the weekend.

Your locker door gets pulled open abruptly, Robin facing you with a smile. “Soooo? How are we feeling? You ready to confess your undying love to Stevie boy?” She wiggles her eyebrows and you laugh nervously. “I’m ready. As ready as I’ll ever be at least.” You’re trying not to think too hard about it.

The walk to Family Video was probably the most tiring and nerve wracking that you’ve ever experienced. On the way you’ve been recalling all the times you’d tell Steve how you knew you fell in love with him.

‘That one time you were still working at Scoops Ahoy and you gave me that ice cream for free because you saw the look on my face and just wanted to see a smile on my face.’

‘And the time when we went camping as a group and my tent just wouldn’t cooperate and you set it up for me without any complaints.’

‘And then of course the countless times you call me ‘pretty girl’ when you pick me up from school.’ You feel confident that he has to feel the same. It can’t be a coincidence that he’s never helped Robin like that.

Your feet stop infront of the video store and your heart beats madly in your chest. Robin stops you and spins you around before you can spot Steve in the store. A panicked expression washing over her face. Your heart sinks. “What’s wrong Robin?” You try and turn around to face what she’s looking at but she turns you back to face her. “Nothing. Uhm- I just forgot to tell you that I needed your help on this project of mine. Maybe we should uh… maybe we should go to my place first and finish it. Yeah! That’s a great idea!” She’s rambling, she’s nervous. You shove her hands away from you lightly, turning around and looking into the shop.

Robin was right. We shouldn’t have been here now. My heart feels like it’s breaking in a million pieces.

Steve is stood infront of the counter, a blonde girl standing next to him — kissing him. You see Steve smile into the kiss, grabbing her by the back of her head. You feel funny, the world is spinning as you stumble away from the store. Robin’s grim expression makes you feel even more embarrassed. She was rooting for this to go successfully. Did she know about the girl?

“Who is she Robin?” your voice is wobbly from the tears threatening to spill. “Did you know he was seeing her?” your embarrassment is on an astronomical level as you recall all those moments you thought he was showing you he liked you. Pfft, what a joke.

The hesitation in Robin’s voice is the final straw. You don’t look at her as you turn on your heel and make your way home. You don’t notice Steve watching the whole thing unfold with the blonde now walking around the store. Robin yelling your name after you.

As soon as you get home in the comfort of your own space you break down. The sobs now racking your frame as you fall to the floor. After a few jagged breaths you throw your bag’s contents on your bed. The letter you wrote Steve being right on the top. You rip it into four before throwing it in the trash bin.

Your heartbreak turned into despair. You were a fool to think that he would ever like you. Why did you think he’d ever go for you? You should’ve known better.

You cried yourself to sleep that night.

You hadn’t contacted Robin the entire weekend. You couldn’t face her. So as Monday rolled around you dreaded going to school. You barely ate anything at all, your cheeks were hollow and eyes baggy. You’re tired.

Robin tries talking to you before your Chemistry class, but you ignore her — choosing to sit at the table furthest from her. Away from everyone.

At lunch you sit with Dustin and the Hellfire Club. No-one asked anything as you sat down, quietly eating your meal.

Last period rolls around and Robin finally gets the chance to talk to you. “Please, talk to me. I’m so sorry for what happened. I didn’t know he was fooling around with that girl. Please you have to believe me, I didn’t know.” Robin is pleading, desperate. She scolded Steve when you left that day. ‘How could you not tell me you were serious with her?’ to which Steve replied, ‘Who? The blonde? We’re not.’ Robin was just as mad as you were. Steve could be so oblivious sometimes. So she told you everything. What he said and how he was just desperate because he hasn’t had a girlfriend in months.

Your brows furrowed. Has he always been like that? Was that why he was nice to you? Because he was bored and desperate? Robin sighed, her frustration also evident on her face. “Please try the confession again, I hate seeing you like this.” You laugh sarcastically. “Are you serious right now? I can’t do that, no.”

Something flashes in Robin’s eye, and she nods, understanding that was a silly question. “Steve’s picking us up today by the way.” She says it hesitantly. You look down, your shoes giving you some silent encouragement that you’d be able to face him today.

You see his car before you even step foot out of the building. Robin walks you towards the car, holding your hand in reassurance. You stop dead in your tracks before you can open the car door. “I can’t do this. Pretend i’m okay. Pretend i’m not hurt. I don’t belong here. I don’t want you to have to choose between us, because that would be unfair towards you. He didn’t technically do anything wrong. Just tell him i’ve been sick or something. I’ll walk home from now on.” You breathe a relieved sigh and walk towards the school again, tears spilling from your eyes.

You were wrong. Your heart fell in love with someone it shouldn’t have.

Steve watches from the car as you wipe your eyes, as Robin gets in the car. “What was that? Is she not coming with us?” He hasn’t heard from you in three days which was unusual for you. Robin puts on her seatbelt, sighing sadly. “She won’t be driving with us anymore. She says she prefers walking now. Something about exercise.” Steve picks out on the obvious lie but chooses to ignore it for now.

Steve thinks of how he was going to ask you to watch a movie with him that previous friday when that stupid blonde came into the store and kissed him for a bet and ruined his plans. He saw the look in your eyes when you walked away that day.

His heart ached as he drove away. He blew his shot, the only one he seemed to really care about. This one shot with you, and now that was gone too.

[spliffymae]

exboyfriend!geto…

synopsis: you were stuck with suguru geto. he was the father of your kids, earning him a lifetime supply of make-up attempts. you hated him, but you were determined to make it work for your kids.

⚠️established relationship, afabreader, toxic geto, reader got two kids by him (idc i love a good parent plot), toxic relationship, smut, cheating, geto has a daddy kink, oral (f receiving) geto is a munchhh, breeding kink too, mentions of baby trapping

kio’s notes - toxic tropes are so good that it should be bad.

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exboyfriend!geto, who is also your babies father, sharing five-year-old sky and two-year-old apollo with you. two boys he loved to death.

exboyfriend!geto who you broke up with shortly after apollo’s first birthday. you weren’t fulfilled with him in your life. you were a housewife on a girlfriend status. kept at home as a stay-at-home mom, and geto wasn’t satisfying you emotionally.

exboyfriend!geto who at first, didn’t take your breakup seriously. he expected to be out of the house for a week, tops. but you didn’t budge. he didn’t realize how serious you were until day ten.

exboyfriend!geto who kept his distance at first, giving you the space you needed, but as time went on slowly became shocked at how committed you were to no longer be with him.

exboyfriend!geto who bribes sky with treats to tell him whether or not mommy has had any guy friends other than uncle kuna or uncle gojo at the apartment. but all he reports back is “mommy says the only boys she needs are lolo and me.”

exboyfriend!geto who has a key to your apartment despite no longer living there. he pops in whenever and never gives you a heads up, because he never stopped associating your place as home.

exboyfriend!geto who only lets you know his eta when the boys’ bedtime is approaching.

“i’m ten minutes away. do not put them to sleep without me” he spoke to you over the phone as he drove. he was just coming from a meeting with his bosses.

exboyfriend!geto cannot stand you now. he hated the way you managed to look ten times more beautiful now that you were a single woman. he hated how you got your lashes and nails done. you were dressed in a red silk robe, your face bare and glowing form you doing your nightly skin routine. your shoulder length locs were out and free. only thing on your face was clear, thick framed glasses and some lip balm.

“okay daddy’s here, now you two get to bed.” you spoke from the kitchen, stirring a cup of tea. the boys were sitting on the living room couch, watching bear in the big blue house. they were bathed and dressed in pokémon onesies, gifted to them by gojo on a random saturday.

the boys cheered as geto came over to them, scooping them up in his arms and giving them loads of kisses. he asked about their day, and listened to sky tell him about a bird he saw outside at recess.

exboyfriend!geto looks at you with a glare as you walk past him without so much as a greeting to go to the couch, typing away on your phone. it was you silently letting him know you won’t be with him to put the boys to bed.

exboyfriend!geto who swallows down the millions of ways he could pick an argument with you and smiles at his two boys, instructing them to go give you a goodnight kiss and hug.

exboyfriend!geto who reads his kids two stories every night, a book each of them choose. he ticks them into bed and gives them a kiss, telling how much he loves them. he gets a little sad when he puts his kids to sleep, knowing he won’t get to wake up to them.

exboyfriend!geto comes out their room after setting up their night light/white noise machine to find you now in the kitchen, washing your tea mug. he makes his way to you, hoping to work some of his charm on you, but you turn him down.

exboyfriend!geto who gave up trying to get you back after a month of rejection and gets a new girlfriend named kimmy. she’s younger than you by a year, twenty-six, and she’s a giggly, bubbly personality.

exboyfriend!geto who can’t help but smirk at the way you pushed your lips to the side in annoyance when he walks through the school’s gym with kimmy on his arm. he brought her to sky’s afternoon music recital. they had been dating for three months, and he was ready to introduce her to you all.

exboyfriend!geto who, despite getting a reaction from you, is still not satisfied in your response. because although you were annoyed his girlfriend was present, you told him it was okay to bring her. you expressed how happy you were for him to move on.

exboyfriend!geto watches as you shake kimmy’s hand, a tight smile on your lips as you looked past him to speak to her. apollo was on your hip, snoozing away. the concert hadn’t started yet, so parents were just mingling in the gym.

exboyfriend!geto watches the way you record sky’s performance, apollo still sleeping on your shoulder, but you still stand to cheer sky on. you came from work—a secretary position at gojo’s law firm. you were dressed in a long white dress with a green blazer over it and matching green heels. you were practically glowing.

exboyfriend!geto who joins you in cheering sky when he comes off the stage. you bend down so you can give him a hug, your hands were now child free since apollo woke up toward the end of the performance and wanted to be held by his dad.

exboyfriend!geto who doesn’t focus on introducing kimmy to the kids, because he can’t get over how fine (both physically and emotionally) you are.

exboyfriend!geto who is now six months into his relationship with kimmy, but still finding himself pining after you. he would show up every night to try and annoy his way back into your heart, but you never gave him an opening. you kept your guard up.

exboyfriend!geto who is really starting to get annoyed that you haven’t moved on to someone else. are you messing with him? he asks gojo to try and figure out what your angle is, but gojo just responds with “that’s the thing, she has no angle. she’s just focusing on herself and the boys.”

exboyfriend!geto who starts to feel…depressed that you’re not his girlfriend anymore. he starts to think about his faults in the relationship, his flaws and what he could have changed. he looks at kimmy and thinks if you, wondering what you were doing. he even finds himself journaling about it.

exboyfriend!geto who successfully co-parents with you, because he figures peace and cordiality was what was best for your relationship. if you weren’t going to be his girlfriend, then at least you could be his friend. that way he could keep you in his life on good terms.

exboyfriend!geto who is almost at the ten month mark in his relationship with kimmy. the boys have taken somewhat of a liking to her. you don’t talk about her privately and have let them develop their own relationships with her. geto hated you for it.

exboyfriend!geto who for the first time ever, thinks you will kill him when he sits in the hospital room with a sleeping sky, who has a cast on his right arm. the two of them were outside racing on bikes and sky went down a hill. he couldn’t keep up with the speed and fell off the bike before geto could catch up to him. the doctor said it was a clean break, and that there will be no long lasting effects, but sky did have to undergo surgery, and it was something that scared geto.

exboyfriend!geto who falls to his knees and apologizes to you with tears in his eyes when you walk into the hospital room with apollo in a stroller. geto had already left you three hefty voice messages regarding the incident, so you were up to speed as far as updates go.

“baby m’sorry. fuck, he just got away from me and i wasn’t running fast enough to catch him.” he was feeling guilty, and he gripped onto your waist as he continued to cry into your stomach. he kept apologizing, even after you told him it was okay.

exboyfriend!geto who refuses to leave sky’s side, staying at your apartment and texting kimmy to let her know he would not be seeing her the next couple of days because of it. she protested, but he paid her no mind. after all, who was she to state her opinion on what he was doing for his son?

“you can go home, he’s okay.” you said to him when he sat on the couch next to you. he had just finished tucking the boys in. “go rest and come back tomorrow morning.” you smiled warmly. originally, you had planned to be cold to him. to make him feel terrible for getting your baby boy hurt. but you knew how parent guilt was already eating him up.

he doesn’t listen to you. instead he just slumps back and puts his hand over his face. you roll your eyes but let him have his moment, “m’gonna go wind down. let yourself out and i’ll see you tomorrow morning, g’night.” you patted his shoulder before walking away to your room.

he didn’t move from his spot. not when you left the area, or when he heard you turn the water on in your en-suite bathroom. he planned to sleep on your couch, honestly. but that didn’t go as planned since you came out now in your red robe and black bonnet over your head.

“nuh uh, geto get your ass up and go. i need to get ready for bed and you gotta be anywhere but here.” you pulled his arm to try and get him up, but he wasn’t budging. “suguru move your ass.” you groaned, you were tired from the day’s events and just wanted to sleep .

exboyfriend!geto uses his strength to pull you to fall onto his lap, still keeping his head against the back of your couch and looking to the ceiling. you put your knee up and in between his legs to avoid from sitting on his lap.

“m’really sorry about sky.” he whispered as his hand rubbed your hip, the soft and thin material of your robe moving up with his motions. “can’t imagine how scared you must’ve been.”

you shook your head, “it’s fine, suguru. accidents happen. but you guys are okay so—oh.” your sentence is cut off when geto grabs the back of your thigh and pulls it to stretch over his own, moving the other one after so that you would now be sitting on his lap.

“didn’t mean to upset you.” he put his hands right on the globes of your ass, the robe leaving nothing to the imagination as he felt how warm and soft you were through the fabric. he rubbed his hands over them, kneading your flesh.

“s’okay. i’m better now. sky’s home and he’s good. you don’t have to feel like this anymore.” you tried your best to be as cool and comforting as possible, despite the massage you are getting on your ass. you hadn’t been touched like this in some time, and were biting your lip to hold back the whines of pleasure.

exboyfriend!geto who mumbled that he ‘needs to feel something else’ and picks you up to put you on your back, resting inbetween your legs.

“g-geto.” you tried to be the voice of reason, but geto shut you up with a kiss. one that was primal and filled with his groans. your lips were as he remembered, soft and full, mixed hues of brown and pink he still loved to nip at. and your tongue seemed to remember to yield to him, allowing him to control the kiss.

exboyfriend!geto who knows you weren’t wearing anything underneath your robe. you had planned to come out after your shower and kick him out, however, because he could feel your pussy’s warmth against his thigh, he wasn’t going anywhere.

exboyfriend!geto who stops kissing your jaw to ask you when the last time you got eaten out was. the vulgarity of his question shocks you. your robe was loosely tied, now revealing your breasts. your brown nipples got hit with the apartments a.c and hardened, perky buds calling out to geto. his fingers were cold, and he used the tip of his index to touch your nipple, the sensation getting you to buck your hips, grinding your clit on his thigh.

“ah—.” it was a moan that slipped out. you had your hands over your mouth instinctively, but it got out before you could stop it. geto smiled.

exboyfriend!geto who has failed so many times before, but now that he finally has you back under him, is going to milk this so you never forget this moment. “let me in, mommy please. i been missing you so much. s’been so hard without you.” he begs and grabs your hand from off your mouth to put it to his erection,that was so prominent despite being covered by boxers and sweats.

he squeezes your hand around him, hissing and thrusting into your palm. “y’know just how to cheer daddy up, yeah? what’ll make me feel all better after today?”

exboyfriend!geto who gives you one last kiss before moving down to kiss your chest. one hand of his squeezes your left breast, his palm rubbing against your nipple to hear the faint breaths you took. his mouth went to the right, initially biting your nipple to her you scream.

“careful mommy,” he taunts you. “don’t wake the boys up.”

exboyfriend!geto is a boobs and ass man. he loves both, especially yours. if you couldn’t tell by the way your chest glistened with his spit, then clearly you could tell by the countless of purplish hickies and bite marks that adorned your brown mounds. you could’ve came from his mouth on your titties alone and he knew that but he wanted your first time to be in his mouth.

exboyfriend!geto feels your fingers slide through his hair and create a bun, tying his long hair with itself as he sucks your clit into his mouth. one hand of yours still holds tight to his head, digging into his scalp when you feel him ever so slightly bite into your bundle of nerves.

your arm is over your mouth, moaning into your limb to surpress the volume. geto was spelling his name out with his tongue against your heat, moaning at your taste. it had been too long since he last had your scent on him, since he drowned himself in your wetness. he missed you, he missed your body. he missed his pussy.

exboyfriend!geto who remembers just how long you thought his fingers were. you loved moments like this, where he would shove two into your wet hole and stretch you out to prepare for his cock. the sounds your pussy would make as he thrusted his fingers inside her, it was beautiful.

exboyfriend!geto smiles in your pussy when he feels your thighs squeeze around his head. he imagines you suffocating him, and he loved every second of the fantasy. he’s gotta get you to sit on his face next time.

exboyfriend!geto who ruts his hips against the couch cushions as he eats you out through your first orgasm. your body jolted with every flick his tongue made against your clit, but he didn’t let up. he was getting enough friction to have him moaning.

“so good to me, baby. you know just what to do to make daddy alright.” he spoke to your cunt, his finger rubbing slow circles on your clit. you were clenching around nothing, and he smiled as he sucked hickies into your inner thighs.

exboyfriend!geto who is now eating you out for his own pleasure. you were overstimulated and begging him to ease up, but he locked himself between your legs and brought you to two more orgasms. by the time his face came back to yours, the lower half smelt of your juices and he was licking the drips off his chin.

exboyfriend!geto who let’s you give him the most nastiest kiss you can muster. your lips smack, spit spills from the corner of his lips and you suck his tongue to taste yourself off him. he had never experienced you this needy before. his dick was throbbing.

exboyfriend!geto who folds you into a mating press with your knees against your shoulders. he didn’t put the tip in yet, he couldn’t. not when you we’re screwing your eyes shut.

exboyfriend!geto, who was big on eye contact, and forced you to look him in the eyes as he buried himself in you. he pushed your legs back, hands on the back of your thighs as his upper body pressed against yours. his forehead rested against yours, eyes on you and mumbling for yours to do the same.

“right here, pretty. just keep ‘em on me.” he encouraged you as he pushed in. it was snug, and he groaned from the back of his throat. his eyes didn’t close though, they stayed watching the way your head turned up and lips parted, you let out struggling breath, feeling full of him already.but you kept your eyes on him, his intense gaze driving you insane.

exboyfriend!geto who fucks you within an inch of your life on that goddamn couch. his thrusts are deep and sensual. he preferred the fast and rough ways of sex, but this called for more passion, more intimacy.

exboyfriend!geto who gets dumb off your pussy and starts to make promises you know he won’t keep.

“fuck, promise i’m gonna treat you so much better this time, baby.”

“get that house you always wanted us to have, fuck you in every room in it.”

“m’gonna make ya my fuckin’ wife. my pretty little wife.”

just empty promises you shooed off, hoping to just get your nut and leave.

exboyfriend!geto who tells you to cum together, and he’s a moaning mess in the crook of your neck, squeezing your breast as he rides out the intense climax. he hadn’t cum like that since the last time you two had sex.

exboyfriend!geto who gives you a moment of rest, giving you the impression he was finished and just needed to catch his breath before going home.

exboyfriend!geto who pushes himself from off you with a smirk. you were exhausted, you were positive you looked ike it. but geto just grabbed your wrist to pull you up, and positioned you to hang over the couch. your knees were on the seat, spread out with your back in an arch.

“geto!” you tried to object, but a swift swat to your ass cheek got you to whine instead.

exboyfriend!geto who thinks it’s almost criminal the way your body responds to him. every touch, every kiss, every slap he gave was received with a moan or whimper, whether it be to your ass, face, or even pussy. when he pushes himself into you, you grip the couch and hold back an exhausted moan.

exboyfriend!geto who grabs your jaw and pulls you back into the most perfect arch as he thrusts himself into you. his movements are sharp, their precise, and he bucks his hips just at the right angle to make you see stars. he can feel the drool from your mouth on his fingers, but doesn’t care.

exboyfriend!geto hears the way you slowly lose brain cells as he fucks you now, his strokes giving you no time to recover. you just babble out how good it feels with moans to follow. he lost all sensual energy. all the love he had for you was fucked out of him from the first round and what was left was the hate.

“think your pretty ass can just be done w’me, huh?!” he slaps your ass hard to get your attention but you had no strength to respond. your head is by his shoulder , he’s looking down at you in disgust and you feel your walls clench tighter. he grips your jaw open and spits inside of it, easing his hold so you can swallow it.

exboyfriend!geto pulls you back straight against him, now going at an inhumane pace as he forces you to look at your children’s room door. it was closed and their white noise machine could be heard through it, letting you know your sounds were drowned out.

“you’re fuckin’ mine.” he says as he leans against your head, kissing your temple. “them boys don’t prove it enough, huh? me making you the mother of my kids doesn’t tell you that?”

exboyfriend!geto who raises his brows when you shake your head no and tighten your hold on the couch. you were gasping for air but your body was matching his thrusts.

“uh oh, they don’t? why?” he teased you with his words and cock, drastically slowing down his thrusts to aggravate you. “s’cuz they’re growing up, hm? ya startin’ to miss having a baby around? need daddy to come back and take care of it?”

exboyfriend!geto who knows you know where he’s going with this once your eyes widen in shock and look at him with what he could only describe as fear. he doesn’t give you time to respond as he picks back up his pace from before, and hits that spot that has your toes curling and teeth biting into your bottom lip.

“geto!” you cried, “i’m sorry, baby. m’so sorry.” maybe if you apologized he would have mercy. frankly, you were too sensitive, but geto had not a care in the world. he started to rub your clit and you let out a choked sob, “why’re you…doing me like this, baby? ”

exboyfriend!geto, who tells you “because you tried to leave. you forgot that we’re a family, mommy. and tomorrow m’gonna fuck you like this again, and the day after that, we’re gonna do it again. and again, and again. either until i fuck you so dumb you let me back home, or you get my third baby fucked into that sweet womb of yours, so then you’ll have no choice but to lemme back in.”

exboyfriend!geto who puts his hand on your stomach to seal the deal, and cums deep inside you as you cream onto him. “regardless, i’m coming home tonight, baby.” he rides out the orgasm with you, muttering profanities as he watches how much of a mess you two made.

exboyfriend!geto who knows you’re too fucked out to object to him, so he carries you to your bathroom to clean you both up, praising you for how well you did for him. he makes sure you’ve peed and brushed your teeth before carrying you to bed.

exboyfriend!geto who leaves you to throw the couch’s cushion covers in the wash, and quickly wipe down and disinfect what could not be washed. you were too exhausted to do it now, and though he was tired, it made no sense to wait ‘til morning.

exboyfriend!geto who gets into bed with you, making a mental note to break up with kimmy tomorrow as you wrap yourself around him. he listens to you talk, “i’m being so serious when i say try that shit again and i’ll walk for real, geto. be glad i got kids wit’ yo ass and actually wanna be a family.”

exboyfriend!geto who gives you tender kisses all around your face, massages your waist and lets you know he has changed, promising to show you everyday from here on out.

this longer than a mf 😮‍💨

[anime3fan]

a Life without you

Aizetsu x Reader Part 1

: Angst

Creators Note :

( i don't know about hantengus Backstory )

Let's pretend aizetsu was once a human and isnt a Clone ,think of it as an au and because every demon has a different name in their Backstorys so i gave him one too

The First Part is Just about the Backstory !

( He's so Babygirl )

You hadn't much friends as a child , Not even one ,you Always sat under a roof watching others play and had fun while you sat in the shadows

and even when you tried to fit in when you hear Something you do and try to Talk with them about it , the only Thing they responded with was laughing at you or telling you to shut up

One day a single mother came to the Village and you heard that she had a son , it was your chanse , If you could impress him maybe He will become your friend and you wont be alone anymore

So the next day when you saw her Holding a Boys Hand while smiling at him you went to her and asked If you could Play with him , she Said You should ask her son Not her

You saw the calm Boy building a Snow man , can i Help you ?

You asked him , he turned around and saw you standing behind him , He nods with a shy Look on His face , you sat down besides him helping him build a Snow man,you found Out His name was azak, since that day you bacame bestfriends , pepole didn't Like him either so you both Always hang Out , until one day after three years later a Girl moved in the House besides His , she asked him to be her friend and He acctepted after Sometime you tought that Something was wrong with her and didn't feel good about her

When you told the Same thing to azak tho , you Had a big fight with him ,,you are Just Jealous that i found someone better than you , do you think your the best in the World ?" Bu- but what are you going to cry about it ? Or do you want to be alone again that much ? You Look shocked at him The Person before you wasn't azak , He wasn't the Same kind Boy you knew

,, i have better Things to do than Bring with a someone Like you , He went away

after Sometime Standing you feel to the ground tears Ran uncontrolbly down your eyes falling to the ground , you couldn't hold Back you tears anymore

After that day you never talked to him Nor did He to you , you sat under that roof again , you now didn't want Friends anymore they all betrayed you and used you , you better than them anyways

You Wish you could belive it yourself, but you knew you Lied to yourself

Seven years has bassed you we're now 19 and it was still the Same , the Girl who ruined your friendship, Marie told everyone that you Hit and harmed her , azak belived her without even caring If it was a lie or Not ,even your Family did , you Life became hell since then

Everyone hated you sice then , the Most Thing you hated about it was how azak looked at you with a cold disgusted Look on His face , you even tried to Tell him that it wasen't you , but He never listend

One day you heard Panick screaming and crying you Ran as fast as you could , you arrivel was Welcomed with a big fire

a Villager then told you that zandak was there you rushed in without histenation after Hearing His Words , you Goughed, you've been sreaching for azak for ten minutes now it was slowly becoming hard to breath , after Sometime you finally found azaks Body you checked If He was still breathing , you we're reliefed after Hearing His calm breathing you Put him on your Back and went to the outpot trying to hold yourself together after finally ariving at the door you opened it and Fell to the ground azak in your arms

You woke Up , finding yourself in a room you never Seen before you Look around and See azak lying the bed next to you , you try to sit Up and feel and awful pain in your Back

You shouldn't sit Up much , you have a big Sound in your Back so be cearful you heared a familiar voice , you looked where it came form ,oh Miss renaer Long time No see , how have you been ? You asked azaks mother

you right, it has been a long time , i am fine thanks for asking , and how have you been ? I Heard about how you saved my son , thank you she bowed infornt of you

please don't bow infornt of me , i didn't do something that big , you Shake your Hands in the Air , hahaha you haven't Change even a little you heard her laughing gentely you Smile , please i have a little request for you Miss renaer

i would Love to do anything i can honey as a thank for saving my son , please don't Tell him i was the one who saved him and If He ever asked Tell him it was Marie He Likes her more than me i Look down , you Like my son don't you , you raise your head shocked , was it this obvious , she chuckeled no, no but i know it , but If you Wish Not to Tell him i wont force you , but please try to get better with eachother again

thank you, i will try to , you sayed your goodbyes

After Walking for Sometime you Turn around seing the sun Go down , remembering how you Always watched it with the man who once meant the world to you

Will we ever be as Happy as we we're once ? Or never ? Azak ...

Wait for more ;⁠)

I am Not the best at writing fanfictions but i gave my best (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

Please don't Reporst or translate my work

i will rewrite this with more ditails and Backstory later i was in a Rush when i started it , i Hope you Like it

There will be a Part 2 for the Backstory but i will write everything including this Part with it

[sparkle-d]

untouchable

pairing: daniel ricciardo x you

tags: friends to lovers; unrequited love; mutual pining

warnings: drinking, mature, swearing, sexting

words: 16541

summary:

“I bet I can make you fall in love with me.”

“Well, I bet I can make you fall in love with me first.”

They say after drinking a bottle of tequila.

you can also read it here!

hope you enjoy it <3

Your friendship with Daniel has always been like a ticking bomb, ready to explode any time. Since the first day you met, things were very intense and… fiery. Apart from that little detail, you were inseparable, even when Daniel broke his arm and needed to stay at the hospital for the night, you stayed and slept beside him in the bed. And you totally hate hospitals.

But what really made things hard for the outsiders to handle your friendship was that both of you are very, very competitive, always wanting to do better and be better. Alex says it’s a healthy thing, to push yourself to the limit and try to be a better person. Pierre is the one that hates it with all of his guts, he always thought you would end up killing each other one day.

When the bets started, things got even worse.

The first bet in all those years of friendship started when you were just thirteen years old, when both of you were still in the school’s soccer team. It was a summer afternoon, when Daniel had his first real and official match as a team and you, being the great best friend you were, went there to watch and support him. After winning it, the coach took the team to eat pizza in a small diner near the soccer field where the match had been held.

The pizza was so good you said aloud “I bet I could eat a whole pizza alone.” Daniel peered you with the corner of his eyes, watching a string of cheese get stuck in your chin. Daniel pointed with his fingers where you should clean your face.

“I bet I could eat a whole pizza plus an extra slice. Alone.” Daniel voiced, his eyes piercing you, which just raised one of your eyebrows.

“With peppers and pineapple?” Daniel aggressively nodded at your words.

Daniel could fulfill his bet and actually ate more than a whole pizza alone, with all the peppers and pineapple. But that led him to stay in the hospital for an entire day with an upset stomach. He won the bet anyways, so it gave him some confidence, even if you laughed his ass off while Daniel was throwing up his guts during the night.

The second time it happened, it was some months later and, this time, you were the one to start the bet. You were in football practice, just some days away from an important game for both teams. You caught yourself thinking about Daniel’s long legs. They were so lean he could run ten laps around the field in minutes. At that time, you still had short legs, making it difficult for you to run as fast as Daniel.

“I bet I can finish ten laps faster than you.” You started to stretch your legs and noticed a grin around Daniel’s lips.

“You know I’m always up to beat you up in a bet.” And he fully smiled at you.

You snorted “I’ve been practicing my time. It’s way closer to yours than you might think it is.” Daniel shrugged, not really buying your improvement in running.

You and Daniel got set up and started the laps. Daniel was so fast in the beginning, but you did indeed improve your running and could beat him up so easily. Daniel felt bitter about it later. After you finished, you were feeling glorious about you winning and he needed to put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“It doesn’t matter if you win or not, we aren’t from the athlete’s team anyways. We play soccer.” You rolled his eyes at your words “Let’s upgrade this bet a little.”

“I’m listening.” You said.

“Who scores the most during our next game wins.” You know Daniel is better at scoring, that’s why he’s the forward of the team. Daniel seems pleased with the bet, but it would be too easy for you to not even try hard and accept your loss. There’s no point in winning something if you don’t have a regard for it in the end “And the loser has to shave all of their head.”

You thought twice about the bet. You’ve never even thought about cutting your hair short, imagine shaving it. You were not even sure your parents would allow something like that, but you agreed, excited with your newest bet.

The next monday, Daniel appeared at school with his head shaved.

At some point, Pierre started to get worried with your competitive asses and tried to stop it. It wasn’t healthy at all in his opinion, especially when you started to grow up and you weren’t from the soccer team anymore, so the bets started to get serious.

Like when you were sixteen and you bet who could stack more books on the foot while upside down. It became a school’s event, everyone stopped to watch you two struggle while all of the blood in your bodies was flowing to your heads.

After ten books on each, you fainted, causing the whole school to freak out, especially Pierre who almost started crying when you were still unconscious.

You had to give your Percy Jackson collection to Daniel after losing that bet.

After the fainting event, you stopped with the bets for some years, until you were in their last year of high school and you decided you needed to shake things up once more “I bet you to go to the school’s radio during the class break, take the mic and scream ‘ HULAHOOPOHOOPIN ’ .”

“Just HULAHOOPOHOOPIN ?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, you’re right, scratch that. I bet you to go to the school’s radio during the class break, take the mic and scream ‘ HULAHOOPOHOOPIN, I’m Daniel Ricciardo from 3-C and I have two penises ’ .”

Daniel never felt so betrayed by himself before for encouraging you to do worse with him.

The next day a girl came and asked him what two penises could do. 

°°°

In university, the bets started to involve alcohol too, leading things to a whole different and dangerous level. But since Pierre was always around you two, nothing deathly happened, just Daniel in the ER taking glucose shots in his vein after drinking a whole bottle and a half of vodka alone. Plus some other things - but you like to forget that part - and label Daniel as a ‘ light weight ’, in your opinion.

“It’s been a while since the last time we bet something.” You say, leaning against the kitchen’s counter of Charles’ house. Daniel is opening the second bottle of tequila for you, since you two have been drinking alone in the kitchen while everyone else is playing some card game in the living room.

“Sometimes you forget that our last bet led me to break up with my girlfriend, so yeah, we stopped with the bets for real.” Daniel says it in a bitter tone with a grimace in his face. He remembers your bet with him: who could run the longest naked around the campus without getting caught by the security. You never actually went running naked, you were in your bikinis, only Daniel did indeed get fully naked.

Daniel’s ex-girlfriend didn’t like it, everyone seeing his boyfriend’s hot body naked and talking about it for the rest of the year.

“She was a coward. Everyone, even the ones that aren’t close to you, know that you have a six pack anyways.” Daniel drinks another shot of tequila and glances at you. He looks totally drunk, his eyes almost shut and a corny smile on his lips.

“You just say that because no one said anything about your body.” Daniel knows that gets on your fragile spot, because you always want attention and praise, but no one really cared about you when your best friend Daniel was showing off his nice butt around. Which was odd because Daniel thinks you have a really good body, maybe not as muscular as Daniel’s, but still, nice thighs and curves.

“Yeah, because I’m a girl and it wouldn’t be nice to comment on my body around campus.” You roll your eyes “And I didn’t even go past my dorm’s door.”

“Yeah, sure.” Daniel chuckles “Oh, some of them remembered the two penises thing. Turns out I only have one, sadly.”

Daniel does the face he always does when he’s being sarcastic and you hate it, because you’re the sarcastic one in your friendship and what’s the point of being sarcastic if you’re going to give it away with your expression? “I thought people would let it die in high school.”

“They were really interested in my two penises, you know.” You punch Daniel’s arm, but he doesn’t feel a thing because his body is already numb and you are not that strong “Even with only one penis, I may be more interesting than you.”

You gasp “I have my charms too, Daniel. I’m hard to get, but a bunch of people are interested in me, for your information.”

And Daniel wheezes.

“I bet they are.”

“What do you mean by that?” You hiss and squint your eyes in Daniel’s direction. Daniel says all sorts of things when he’s drunk, but he’s playing with a side of your insecurities that is really sensible.

“I mean that it’s hard for you to make people fall for you. You always look so mighty and when someone tries to get closer to you, you always push them away.” Daniel shrugs, as if what he’s saying is nothing, but it gets deep in you.

Daniel is your best friend, but still he doesn’t know how to deal with your feelings most of the time, maybe because you never show what you’re truly feeling in your core.

“They fall for me, you’re just not around.” You say, trying not to sound as pathetic as you feel.

“Yeah? Could you name them for me then?” Daniel takes another shot.

“I could if I cared about them, but I don’t so…” That could fool Daniel, especially when drunk. You can be really cold when you want to and Daniel knows it.

“Not a single name from the people that technically fell in love with you? A one night stand, maybe? Nothing?” Daniel continues to try to get something from you, but it only makes you more and more nervous with your conversation “That’s bullshit, just assume people don’t have interest in you because you’re not that appealing and that’s okay, you don’t need to be a lady killer or whatever.”

That’s easy to say when you’re literally the heartthrob from campus , you think.

Even if you have your reasons for not being tempting in others eyes, you can’t just say it in front of Daniel like it means nothing to you. Daniel is too drunk and wouldn’t understand your reasons anyways.

Your mind is foggy with all the alcohol you drank with Daniel. The second bottle is almost empty already, the liquor disappearing faster than you imagined. You think of something Daniel would say if this conversation was the opposite, if you were the one accusing Daniel of being untouchable and impersonal. Daniel would get at the main point of the conversation and use it in his favor, so you do the same.

“I bet I can make you fall in love with me, Daniel.” You hiccup, glaring in Daniel’s direction. The latter grins because he knows what you are doing. Trying to scare him . But Daniel isn’t the type to bolt away from your bets and panic with it, he’s the one to embrace them and make you regret betting with him in the first place. It was always like this.

“Well, I bet I can make you fall in love with me first, cupcake.”

The mood completely changes in between you, because as Daniel says those words, you lick your lips and smirks, reaching for the bottle next to Daniel. You could blame everything in the booze you drank so you did close the gap between you and Daniel, touching the latter’s chest with your fingers.

You obviously never flirted with Daniel before, your friendship never got that intimate, but Daniel can feel that you are already trying to make a move in his direction. You’re too close, with your expression showing anything, but innocence and Daniel takes a deep breath, because you are serious about whatever you were just talking about seconds ago.

“Deal.” You whisper next to Daniel’s ears.

Maybe Daniel is the type to panic a little, just a bit.

°°°

“Jesus fucking christ, calm down.” Alex rolls his eyes, sitting in your bed. He watches you pacing around in your room, panicking with every little cell in your body. You are close to having a breakdown “Can’t you just quit the bet?”

“Alexander, I love you, but do I look like a quitter to you?” You let a hand go through your  hair, messing it a little bit, trying to think of a way to get out of the bet without sounding like you’re chickening out, which you totally are “W-What if he touches me, Alex? Like, intimately touches me. I would probably have a heart attack.”

“I still can’t believe you started this bet about who falls in love with who first,” Alex sighs, pulling a strand of his hair out of his sight “when you’re already in love with the person.”

“I WAS DRUNK.” You snort because you don't want to believe you actually did that. Daniel would win the bet, he already did actually, and plus he will get to know about your feelings, you’ve been hiding them for so fucking long. It’s bullshit letting Daniel know about them now, after so many years “It’s your fault, actually. You started that crappy card game you know both me and Daniel hate, so we left to drink and that’s when things got out of control.”

“You started a bet out of your free will with your best friend, how is that MY fault?” 

“That’s not the main point here, Alex. I need to think of how I will conquer him and not give myself in with his first attempts. No… I can’t, I need to at least try to hold myself back from it.” You stop and stare at Alex “From where should I begin to try to seduce him? I need a plan.”

“Okay, let’s see. He’s your best friend, so you should know what he likes and what makes him hot… at least the basics. Focus on those things and it’ll be a complete success.” Alex says it like it’s the easiest thing to do.

Maybe he’s a maneater and knows how to steal others' hearts with a snap of his finger, but you don't have much background to work with. People are always trying to win him over, not the other way around.

“Uhm… Daniel likes touching, things like grabbing his thigh during meals and cuddling, but he’s also really into sexting, I guess?” You start thinking about everything you know from your best friend “I don’t know if I can be this risky with him. Not like this, as his friend.”

Alex blinks twice “I honestly don’t wanna know how you know the sexting part, but you have your plan here. Grab him whenever you can and cuddle with him before going to sleep. Also text him like you normally would, but put something spicy in it. Like… invite him for dinner! In my apartment, so he won’t suspect anything.”

You laugh, out of nervousness “What should I do? Be clingy with him the whole night? You know he’s trying to win this too, right? If I do something like that, I might be the one enjoying it more than him.”

“I don’t know. You’ll figure it out once you’re doing it.” Again, you snort. You want to tell Alex it’s useless trying anything, but don't want to sound like your friend isn’t helping you at all “Let’s not panic and think about solutions to your plan.”

“Ok, I’m going to invite him for dinner in your apartment. Play it simple, some slight touches and some flirting…” You say, holding your hands.

Maybe Daniel is right and you have no idea how to do these things, not even how you should make someone pay attention to you. You’re useless when the main point is love life and things related to it.

“Maybe… try kissing him at the end of the night? Oh, Pierre would have a heart attack if he saw it happening.” Alex laughs and gets up from the bed.

Your group of friends consists of your friend’s from the football team. You’ve known each other since kids, they would indeed find it weird if you and Daniel became more than friends. None of them ever thought of you in a different way than everyone’s beloved friend. You don’t want to mess up that too.

“Alex, jesus fucking christ, if I kiss him I might, I don’t know, melt right there in front of him. I already told you, I don’t want him to notice I like him.” You roll your eyes, feeling your heart start racing only by thinking about kissing Daniel.

“Look, I can’t help you with a lot of tips because things like this come easily to me, but I can help with something else. Give me your phone.” Alex says.

You raise an eyebrow, thinking if you should really give your cellphone to Alex. You couldn’t invite Daniel for this kind of dinner alone, you’re sure of it, and Alex might really help. So you hand the phone. Alex gives a giggle and starts typing, making some pauses to think, and going back to it again.

“So, what are you doing?” Alex does a dramatic last touch on the screen and gives it back to you, with a small grin around his lips.

You read the message on your phone.

mybuttercup said: hey, so we’re having dinner tonight at Alex’s. at 8pm.

mybuttercup said: bring that wine i like ;)

And immediately Daniel replies.

danirik said: ok… but which wine you’re talking about tho?

“This is what you call spicy? I could’ve done better alone.” You feel frustrated after reading the simple texts and Alex just shrugs “But that’s enough, he’ll never guess this is a trap for me to seduce him.”

“I’ll invite Pierre and the boys too, so it won’t be too awkward for me while you two are flirting.” You sit in your bed for a moment, your mind spinning with how much you need to think now “We should eat pizza.”

You nod because you don't really mind that much what the menu will be for the night, you need to organize his thoughts about what you intend to do with Daniel. You need to prove to Daniel that you’re playing seriously and you can make Daniel feel the slightest of attraction towards him. You need to prove that to yourself too, or else, everything Daniel said to you will be one hundred percent true, and you hate that you’re not lovable. You need to think people actually fall for you.

The first thing you come to a conclusion, is that the grabbing thigh under table is a must.

°°°

“Use your best cologne, she likes men that smell good.” Pierre yells when Daniel comes out of the bathroom “And let your curls down, she likes it too.”

Sometimes Daniel thinks Pierre is your best friend and not him, but it’s just that there are things that you won’t speak about with Daniel. Like your love life, or sex life, or whatever. You just mention the basics, a date with a girl you met in the bar or that you kissed a cute freshman from Daniel’s history class in a party. No details, rarely names, or if you think you’ll have a future with this lover or not. It’s very impersonal like everything you do in your life.

But with Pierre, you normally say all the little details and answer every question Pierre does, even the personal ones. Daniel can feel a small sting of jealousy, bothering him every time he thinks about the matter, every time he remembers that he is your second option sometimes, while you are always his first.

Daniel decides to dress the way he always does when he wants to get someone’s attention: black t-shirt and skinny jeans. Once you said he looked hot in a suit, but laughed it off some seconds later, saying you preferred the normal shirt and jeans look better, so Daniel kept that in mind since then.

“Do you have any idea of how you’ll win this?” Pierre enters the room, holding his shoes in his hands “Like, okay, you can look hot for her, but she saw you naked already so many times, that won’t change much? You need to think about how to win her heart, not only make her horny.”

“Her being horny would be enough… I mean, she could fall in love with me because of her hormones and my-”

“This is not the way to go, I think.” Pierre starts, totally cutting Daniel “It’s hard to get into her core, you should try something tender. Show her you’re really intending to make her fall in love with you, that you’re the love of her life, not just a sexual attraction.” Pierre finishes putting his shoes on and looks at Daniel “She can have anyone’s body and you know it. You need to be different and conquer her heart.”

Daniel thinks through about what Pierre said and maybe his friend is right. You had countless relationships, but none of them were really that important to you; the moment you broke up with the person, you wouldn’t care about them anymore. Daniel can’t aim for something like that, he needs to go somewhere no one tried to go before and bloom your deepest feelings.

He already knows what to do. Even if you run to Pierre’s direction sometimes, Daniel is still your best friend and he knows you better than anyone else.

“I should make a list of the things I should do to try to win her.” Daniel speaks more to himself than to Pierre, already plotting how to put everything in practice.

°°°

“Can we eat already?” Max asks, whining because he’s hungry and everyone is doing whatever, but gathering at the table to eat “The pizza will get cold.”

“We’re coming.” George screams from somewhere in the balcony, where he’s waiting for Alex to enter too “Max, go upstairs and tell our beloved friend to come eat, she’s been hiding in Alex’s room the entire night.”

Max rolls his eyes because he doesn’t want to move from his seat, he’s ready to dig into a big plate of pizza and drink a whole mug of beer in one sip. Charles gives him a look, the one he always does when Max is being stubborn about something, and Max just sighs “I’m going, okay?”

Charles smirks at him and Max gets up off his chair, heading to Alex’s room.

Everyone is in the living room, so when Max is in front of Alex’s room’s door, it’s pretty silent compared to the rest of his friend’s house. When he opens the room’s door, he finds a worried you inside, totally panicking over something, with one hand in your waist and the other on your forehead, trying to figure something out.

Max lets out a giggle, because the view is funny. You are always composed and hardly show any bad feelings, you always look happy and confident.

Max never saw you like that.

“What’s happening?” Max asks, entering the room. You seem to not notice Max until the moment he speaks, so you look surprised with the boy there, watching you “Something’s wrong? You’ve been in this room the whole night.”

“I was just trying to figure something out…” You say with a low voice, more tense than ever. And then something pops in your mind “Actually, Max, I have something to ask you.”

“Sure, shoot it.” Max says.

“Remember when Daniel had a crush on you in...”

“Middle school. Yeah, terrifying.” Max grimaces at the memory of Daniel being all kinds of cringe with him and eventually giving up because Max didn’t give two fucks about him “What about it?”

“I was wondering if you’ve ever done something to him to, you know, make him like you.” 

Max stops for a moment and tries to remember something that triggered Daniel’s feelings for him. They were from the soccer team and you broke your little finger, so you couldn't show up in the practices for a while.

Daniel was lost in the first few days, especially because him and you were almost the same person, always stuck together. One day after training, Max went home with Daniel because he looked lonely and sad, and that’s when everything started.

“I spoke with him about you while walking home, he said you broke your finger because you two were betting who could punch the wall harder and you won.” Max shrugs, because he didn’t do anything special for Daniel to feel that way about him, he just did “I told him to take care of you and after that day he was always around me wanting to spend some time together.”

“So he likes to just… talk? Uh…” That didn’t help much because you already did that with Daniel. All the time. 

Max nods, not thinking too deep about Daniel’s feelings “I guess…? Daniel is a pretty quiet guy sometimes, but he likes to be listened to.”

You look at your friend, wondering if you should thank for what he said or keep it like that because you don’t want to speak about the bet with Max, or mention it to him at all “He’s been distant to me lately, so I was wondering what I should do.”

That makes zero sense in your head, asking about how Daniel started to have feelings for Max and then telling him it’s because you’re going through a phase in your friendship. But Max seems to not bother it too much.

“Communication is an essential thing in friendship, I would say.” Max shrugs. “Anyways, I came here because the pizza is ready, we should go downstairs to eat.” Max isn’t the type to listen to others, or give advice, or anything that implies in giving too much of his time, but you seem troubled and friends are supposed to help, right?

“Yeah, we should.” You take your last deep breath and follow Max in the hallways.

°°°

Daniel is there as expected, of course, you invited him. Actually, Alex did, but Daniel didn’t know about that. You notice Daniel did the thing with his hair that you said one hundred times that you loved. That made it more difficult for you to not show any kind of confused feelings you have for your friend, but you were used to hiding it, you’ve been hiding for years now. 

“Hey, I haven’t seen you all night.” Daniel is the first to notice you’re in the room. He comes for a hug and makes it last more than it usually does. You can smell Daniel’s perfume and feel the soft skin in the nape of his neck. 

For a moment, you forget Daniel is playing his game too and trying to win against you, because there’s nothing to win there. You already like him. But Daniel seems to be trying to do all the things you like, and that pleases you more than you thought it would.

“University stuff.” You smile when you get away from each other. Everyone is already sitting at the table and there’s two spots left, one for you and the one next to it for Daniel “History of Art can be really exhausting when your teacher thinks you only study their subject.”

Daniel chuckles and sits in one of the chairs, next to Alex. You sit in the remaining one, George by your side. You feel relieved because if George saw your hand running around Daniel’s thighs he wouldn’t make a scene out of it, like Lando and Charles would. They would make everyone look at you and Daniel, and point at your faces, claiming you were almost fucking under the table while your friends were there, eating.

George would find it normal, just bros being bros. 

Things are going smoothly as ever and everything is leading to a success for you.

You start to eat, but you can’t even finish your first slide of pizza out of anxiety. There’s always the option that Daniel will hate it, especially because you’re with friends around them. You need to be seductive, and also do it in a way you’re sure Daniel will like it.

“There’s something I have to ask you.” You whisper in Daniel’s ears, when you notice everyone is too distracted with Pierre’s story of how he lost his car in a parking lot next to the University, to care for what you’re whispering in Daniel’s ears.

“What?” Daniel answers, just some inches away from you. You normally speak like that, close to each other, so you don't have to cope with your proximity.

“I was wondering, what’s the final prize of our bet?” You whisper again, speaking slowly in the last words of the sentence. And when Daniel turns to face you, you slide your left hand in the corner of Daniel’s thigh.

Daniel tenses up, you can feel it under your fingers. All the muscles are stiffened up and you continue your trail until you’re fully grabbing Daniel like you’ve planned to since the beginning “A prize?” Daniel breaths out, trying not to catch your friend’s attention.

“There’s no point in a bet, if there’s no prize in the end.” Your fingers almost reach Daniel’s groin area, but come back to massage Daniel’s thigh. It seems to be working because Daniel takes a little longer to even think about what is happening “Like that time when I bought you lunch for a whole month.”

You want to touch more, to really make Daniel horny and bothered in the middle of your friends, but you need time. It would be no fun if Daniel gave away so easily, it’s not only an arousal you are looking for. So you stay in a safe area, running your fingers up and down, sometimes doing circles in some areas. Daniel doesn’t even move under your touch.

“I don’t know.” He whispers back, staring right into your eyes “If I win the bet, your love and heart is the best prize I could ask for.” And you freeze, because Daniel says that like he means it. As if your affection was the only thing he was aiming to get out of that craziness you called a bet “Or maybe a car, I need one.”

You brush off any thoughts of Daniel really meaning what he said, because he ruined it just seconds later. You smirk, letting your hand run freely in the inner part of Daniel’s thigh, discovering every inch of it “I’m being serious.”

Daniel breathes in again, glancing to see if any of your friends noticed what is happening there. They seem to be used to you and Daniel having your own conversations like this, in your own world “The prize is that the loser needs to do one thing the winner wants.” He glances at your hand on him, and looks back at you “Whatever the winner wants.” 

“Whatever the winner wants?” You repeat and Daniel nods “Deal.” 

Even if it wasn’t your intention to give Daniel a boner, you could see it slowly appearing through his jeans. You lick your lips thinking about if you should go near that part, maybe touch it with your fingers, but in that exact moment Pierre says loudly.

“We need another bottle of wine.” And you hear it despite your intimate moment with Daniel.

“Daniel can go get a new one in the kitchen for us.” You say with a smile on your face.

You take your hand off from Daniel’s body, feeling the skin of your palm feverish after touching Daniel like that, so different from what you’re used to. Daniel looks confused and mostly embarrassed because if he stands up, everyone will see what is happening inside his pants.

“Daniel?” Pierre calls after no answer from Daniel, not a single muscle moving “Will you go get the wine or…?”

“Sure.” He says, starting to cover his crotch with his hands, but you stop him from getting up.

“I’ll go.” You say, holding Daniel down in his place. Daniel looks disoriented with everything that is happening in such a small span of time. You groping him in an unsafe way during dinner with your friends and then trying to sabotage him in front of everyone… but not really.

“Thanks.” He smiles softly at you and you give a smile back to him.

danirik said: next time you do something like that

danirik said: please don’t leave me hanging like that

danirik said: i almost got blue balls from whatever you were trying to do today

mybuttercup said: nice :)

After the first time during the dinner, you start to feel more confident with your actions. Not because you’re over the fact you’re, finally, hitting on Daniel for real, but because you saw Daniel’s reaction to it.

In all those years of friendship, you always kept your feelings a secret from Daniel, not even showing the slightest attraction towards your friend. You never even thought about Daniel actually reacting positively if you ever tried anything. In your head, Daniel would turn you down in every scenario. But in reality, Daniel is showing way more attraction towards you, than you towards Daniel

Maybe you have a chance of winning this thing after all. Daniel hasn't won this one yet.

“I think we should put some rules in this bet.” Daniel puts his plate on the table where you are sitting to eat your lunch during break “Or things can go bad really easily.”

“Aren’t you taking this too seriously?” You ask, trying to be the calmest ever. You are the one being too serious about winning it “It’s just a bet, we had countless of them.”

“But with this one, now I feel like you will slide your hand inside my pants during class someday.” You look up to see Daniel glaring at you. After the event during dinner, Daniel stormed down with you, and you just laughed in his face (and found Daniel’s angry side really hot). Daniel admitted he liked the massage, but the situation was awful, especially that not all of your friends were fully aware about the bet they were in “Or I don’t know, do something as dangerous as that with me.”

You grin, “Okay, you’re right, we should put some boundaries in this.” Daniel feels relieved that you agreed with it “We could’ve made Pierre’s life so much easier by putting rules in the bets since the beginning.”

“It wouldn’t be as funny as it was.” Daniel says, almost grinning at his own comment, but shaking his head and getting back to the serious subject “But this one is a different case. So, the first rule is: nothing during classes or around friends. No teasing, rubbing, massaging, or groping. The crotch area is completely out of limits in these cases too.”

“So, public stuff is allowed, just in class and with friends that it’s forbidden?” And Daniel can feel your foot touching his leg underneath from the other side of the table.

“Yes.” Daniel just answers. You go up with your foot a little, but stop in Daniel’s knee. You could use that move in a better situation, you think “Aside from these two things, everything is allowed.”

Daniel smirks and for the nth time, you regret starting that bet in the first place, because there’s no way you’ll handle whatever Daniel have in mind to do with you.

°°°

It’s test season and you are stuck in the library the whole day. You saw the morning, afternoon and night students pass by the library and leave. Now, almost too late for anyone to be there, there’s only you, a student in the computer and the library lady in the place. Oh, and Daniel is sleeping on his chair on the other side of your table, right in front of you. He stayed the whole day with you, helping you study History of Music for your test.

But now he’s sleeping, his eyelids not fully closed and you could hear a soft snore coming from his mouth. Daniel’s arms are his pillow and his hair is falling over his face. You have seen Daniel sleep a zillion times before; since you were six years old you would throw sleepover parties with your friends, or just sleep in each other’s house once in a while. But every time you remember Daniel has this habit of sighing while sleeping, you get reminded of why asleep Daniel is the most adorable thing in the world.

The library woman looks at you and points at the clock, showing that they’re about to close and you should leave. You stare at Daniel, thinking about how you should wake him up. You really don't want to do it, because you know Daniel is tired and probably needs all the sleep he can get, but there’s no other option than waking him up.

Maybe leave him in the library, but that’s not really an option at all either.

You wonder what he’s dreaming about, because he looks so calm and peaceful, and Daniel is normally an agitated sleeper. You remember all the kicks Daniel gave you whenever they shared a bed together. It’s rare to see him still for so long while sleeping.

Daniel sighs, moving his head slightly on his arm. You feel your chest tight, squeezing your heart inside of it. If Daniel knew he didn’t have to do anything to conquer your heart, how would his reaction be? You thought about it a lot. Would he still be there in the library with you?

You always wanted to tell the truth to Daniel, to speak your mind and explain to him how much you’re attracted to him; it’s almost absurd the way you feel towards your best friend.

For a couple of years, it was torture every minute of your life.

You are still Daniel’s best friend and that means seeing him naked or changing his clothes in front of you at least once a month, touching Daniel. Feeling like electricity is running through your body, but having to hold it back; cuddling with Daniel but not being allowed to go too far. But what hurt you the most over the years was Daniel talking about his significant others. And Daniel had a lot of them. And the worse one out of all of them: Max. 

Daniel never confessed a thing to you or Max, not even Pierre, but everyone knew it. The way Daniel looked at the boy made super obvious that he had a crush on Max. It was as if he was mesmerized by seeing such a beautiful creature in front of his eyes. You don't take Max’s credits in the story, he’s pretty handsome and anyone with two eyes and a little bit of patience would fall in love with him too.

“I like his eyes.” Daniel would say to you, with a dumb smile in his lips. You normally would just roll your eyes and Daniel would still go on about Max for the rest of the day.

It’s been a while since Daniel hadn’t had anyone in his love life and you feel relieved for it, but something it’s fishy because Daniel is the type of person to always have someone by his side. He needs affection all the time.

“Hey, wake up.” You whisper into Daniel’s ear, trying to wake him up.

Daniel hums something you can’t understand and squeezes his eyes. When he opens it and sees you so close to him, he almost jumps out of his chair. There’s no one around, so it’s alright to make some noise and have some reaction. You just giggle.

“We need to go, they’re closing the library.” Daniel rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

“How long have I been sleeping?” Daniel’s voice is still warming up, so it cracks a little in the middle of the words.

“A couple of hours maybe?” Daniel’s eyes go wide and you laugh again “It’s okay, I know you’re tired from all the race training.”

“But I said I would make you company.” He says it more to himself than to you.

“I guess your plan didn’t go as you expected?” You grin, because you know Daniel spent the whole day there because of the bet. Daniel would do something like that for you on a daily basis, but he surely thought it would be a nice move to try something with you. Make you melt with his tender action of spending the whole day watching you study. You already melt for him all the time anyways, so there’s no difference between “We should go.”

Daniel nods, packing his things inside his bag and getting up, ready to leave.

Outside the building, you can feel shivers running around your body because it’s much chillier than earlier. You hug yourself, trying to keep yourself warm, but there’s not much you can do when you’re wearing only a shirt and it’s freezing outside. At this time of the year, no one really expects to be this cold already, but you were naive to leave your house without a sweater.

“Here, take my jacket.” Daniel puts the jacket on your shoulders and covers you, rubbing his hands around your sides. When you are ready to protest, Daniel continues “You get sick too easily.”

You don't know if Daniel is really doing it because he cares about you or just because of the bet. You had repeated at least a hundred times to Daniel how much you love when people give you their hoodies or jackets, trying to protect you.

That’s the issue of betting something so intimate with your best friend, he knows everything about you, everything you like and how you like it.

The jacket smells like Daniel, citric and woody. So different from the floral perfume you use, but you like Daniel’s scent better. It’s warm and involving, wrapping around your body. You feel like you're more and more falling into Daniel’s trap, even if you thought things couldn’t get any worse for you.

Daniel surely is doing it for the bet, you don't doubt it for a minute.

Daniel watches you for a moment, stopping his hands and just contemplating your figure in front of him. He likes your eyes a lot. But Daniel likes a lot of things about you and that’s no secret. He’s always telling his best friend about it. He’s always praising your looks and your beautiful legs.

You always take Daniel’s compliments as jokes, or something normal between friends, but Daniel is serious about it. He always takes notes inside his head about your beauty and sense of humor, even when he doesn’t share it with you. Daniel really likes you as a whole.

“Is kissing allowed?” Daniel asks suddenly, then blinks twice and smiles at you “I mean, in our rules, we didn’t mention it, right?”

“No, we didn’t.” You say, bluntly.

“But if I want to, is it allowed?” By the distance in between you, he can easily kiss you if he wants to. You aren't sure if Daniel is asking you for consent to kiss you, or if he’s just asking if during the bet - as a whole - you can kiss at all.

In whatever scenario he means, you are panicking inside because the kissing thought crossed Daniel’s mind at that moment.

“No.” You say. Daniel tilts his head, backing off a little and taking his hands away from yourbody “We should add it to the list of rules. No kissing is allowed during the bet.”

“No kissing.” Daniel repeats.

You know that if you, by any chance, kiss Daniel, it’s over for you. While for Daniel, this is all fun, hormones and nothing more than a bet. You can’t risk any more things into this.

Your drunk self should fuck off , you think.

°°°

You are just laying down on the couch in your dorm, waiting for the delicious meal Alex is doing for you. Probably spicy noodles, with grilled chicken and cheese on top of it. It smells good and you forget about your problems for a moment, because you’re too hungry and can only think about that for a while.

Until your phone buzzes in your pocket and you see a message from Daniel popping on the screen.

danirik said: are you alone right now

mybuttercup said: kind of

mybuttercup said: alexie is in the kitchen doing dinner for us and i’m procrastinating in the couch

You see in the app that Daniel starts typing and then stops midway. He does it twice and then the message arrives.

danirik said: are you up to something

It’s kind of suspicious because Daniel is normally straightforward with what he wants, especially with you. But he’s not going to the main point of the conversation and you frown your eyebrows reading the message.

mybuttercup said: up to what exactly?

Again, Daniel takes a while to answer, but he does it. When you read the message on the screen of his phone, you jump from the couch, holding the phone tight with your fingers.

danirik said: idk i’m kinda horny right now

You can feel your heart pounding against your chest. It’s unreal how much it affected you. Daniel haven’t said anything in particular with that, but he could only mean one thing with that message – and it was directed towards you.

Alex shows up in the living room, holding a bowl in each hand. He studies you for a second and raises an eyebrow in his friend’s direction. You are patting to say the least, your face has this reddish tone all over it, especially in the cheeks and ears, and you’re almost hugging his phone.

“What is happening?” Alex asks a little concerned and you just shoves your cellphone in Alex’s face, showing your text chat with Daniel. Alex’s mouth forms a perfect ‘o’ when he reads the last message, putting the bowls on the living room’s table for a moment “He’s willing to sext you!”

You groan loudly, falling on the sofa and hiding your red face in a pillow “Is he really?”

Alex takes a while to understand what his friend said because you said the words against the pillow, but when he understands, he jumps on his friend’s side on the couch and makes you look him in the face.

“Of course! He wouldn’t tell you he’s horny out of nowhere like this, has he done it before?” You deny and Alex almost rolls his eyes at you “Do you want to do it too?”

“I don’t know, Alexie.” You murmur, trying to hide again but Alex stops you before doing it “I’ve never done this and it’s Daniel we’re talking about here. He might send photos!”

The phone buzzes again and both you and Alex look at it the fastest you can.

danirik said: is it against our rules

“What rules?” Alex asks, taking his bowl of noodles and starts eating.

“We’ve made rules for this bet, you know, to make things more civilized. But this isn’t in any of the rules, I should’ve thought of it first.” You are whining and Alex just sighs at his friend freaking out in front of him.

“This is your opportunity, sweetie. It won’t kill you to go with the flow and enjoy this a little.” Alex says.

Another message arrives.

danirik said: welp nvm then

Alex is the one yelping this time, almost pouring his dinner on their couch. He looks at you and you look like a scared kitten lost in the middle of the night. 

“Come on, I can help you.” Alex tries again, now thinking that if they wait for too long, Daniel will give up for real or think that he went too far in their friendship’s boundaries.

“This is personal, Alex! How will you help me?” You look at your phone again, reading the messages Daniel sent and taking a deep breath.

“I can help you with the beginning and then you just need to continue it as if it was in real life. Start with the foreplay, you know.” Alex slurps his noodles and continues “But first, answer Daniel and tell him you’re down to it.”

You unlock your phone, your fingers trembling a little as you start to type on the screen.

mybuttercup said: it’s not against rules I guess but im having dinner right now

mybuttercup said: if you can wait a little until im done and in my room…

mybuttercup said: ten minutes

And as soon as you send the message, Daniel replies.

danirik said: sure ;)

“Ok, you did well.” Alex says, reaching for your bowl and handing it to his friend “Now you need to eat while I tell you what you need to do here.”

“I don’t feel like eating right now…” You are hyperventilating with what you’re about to do.

“But you need to, also I made the noodles for you, so eat while I teach you the ways.” Alex waits until you take the first bite to continue, “First, it’ll start a little weird, especially if you’ve never done it before, it’s more like ‘what are you doing right now?’ and then you need to answer things in a sexy way. He’s already horny, so he’ll probably start things and you continue with whatever is happening.”

“And if I just don’t know what to answer?” You are still frightened, but now your only option is to do it or ignore Daniel for the rest of your lives.

“You’ll know. Remember that you can’t be ashamed of whatever you’re talking about with him, he’s your best friend and you probably said worse things to him than just a little sexting.” Alex pats your shoulder, giving you courage to do it. It seems like such a big thing and it’s only Daniel wanting to be naughty with his best friend “Ah, and have fun, of course.”

Alex seems more into this than you. He waits until you finish your noodles, takes your bowl and leaves to the kitchen. So now it’s your turn to go to your room and start that nonsense with Daniel.

mybuttercup said: im back

You close the door from your room, feeling your heart racing again. You’re anxious and can already feel your body warm. You lay on your bed, waiting for Daniel to show up. Will Daniel say explicit things to you? You’ve spoken about Daniel’s sex life before, but details weren’t mentioned. And even if you have already seen Daniel naked, you’ve never seen him naked with a boner. Only with clothes on, most of the time Daniel’s hand was covering it, so that’s a field you’ve never walked in before with your best friend.

There’s a chance photos won’t happen too, and you would be a bit thankful if they didn’t.

Maybe you can send one to Daniel, to surprise him.

danirik said: hey

danirik said: have you eaten?

mybuttercup said: yea, left alex alone in the kitchen so i could talk to you

Not that you would complain about not doing chores, but you know Alex let this time slide because you had business to finish.

You remember that Daniel doesn’t know that Alex is aware about what you’re going to do, and Daniel knows Alex as good as you do, so you continue.

mybuttercup said: he started to whine about me not helping but i said i have a headache and he let me leave

mybuttercup said: heh

danirik said: were you this excited to chat with me?

danirik said: even lying to alexie

mybuttercup said: i told you i would be back in ten minutes

mybuttercup said: and here i am

mybuttercup said: :)

You bite your lower lip and remember Alex’s tips, so you think a little and send another text, before Daniel can reply.

mybuttercup said: and what are you doing right now?

danirik said: spent the day on the couch only left for training

danirik said: now im on the couch and talking to you

danirik said: you?

mybuttercup said: laying in bed and talking to you

danirik said: you could be laying in bed WITH ME right now

danirik said: just sayin

mybuttercup said: could i? and what would we be doing then

mybuttercup said: you should’ve invited me earlier

You slap your face, feeling the embarrassment bubbling inside your body. You can feel the heat in your face growing and as the conversation starts to lead to the point where Daniel wants to, the more you feel hot inside your clothes.

danirik said: first i would cuddle you because you know how much i like it

danirik said: i like to have you in my arms

danirik said: especially because you smell so nice 

danirik said: it makes melt every time i feel your scent so close to me

danirik said: and other things not very pg13 i guess

mybuttercup said: kjdskjfn

mybuttercup said: what-

mybuttercup said: whta you mean

danirik said: that i like your perfume?

danirik said: and i think the skin in your neck is very smooth 

danirik said: very kissable

mybuttercup said: you know that i have a sensible neck 

mybuttercup said: i wouldn’t let you get any way closer to my neck. not even in your wildest dreams.

danirik said: You. you say this now 

danirik said: i would get closer to your neck and whisper something in your ear

danirik said: and make my way to your neck with my lips

danirik said: leaving soft pecks all over it until i decide to fully kiss it

The messages start to cause some reaction in your body aside from awkwardness, anxiety or embarrassment. You can almost feel Daniel getting close to your neck and kissing it, sending shivers through all of your body.

mybuttercup said: if you do this

mybuttercup said: i will kick you in the balls

After sending the messages, you notice what you did. That would be your answer if Daniel ever said something like that normally, but that wasn’t a normal conversation between you and your best friend. This wasn’t the time for you to say anything like that.

danirik said: Yo

danirik said: WHAT THE FUCK

danirik said: KSKFJGNB

mybuttercup said: sorry heh

mybuttercup said: i got carried away force of habit etc etc

mybuttercup said: you know what would really happen if you kissed my neck

mybuttercup said: and it wouldn’t be a kick in the balls…

danirik said: no i don’t?

danirik said: i’ve never kissed your neck before remember

danirik said: duh

You think about what to say for a second. You have something in mind. As you start writing it, you stop, erase it and sigh loudly. You can’t say that to Daniel, not like that.

No, you can’t.

But you have nothing to lose there. You can even use that to tease Daniel a little. Alex told you to have some fun, so you will.

mybuttercup said: as you kiss my neck

mybuttercup said: it’s so sensible and you will be so close to me

mybuttercup said: i might moan a little

mybuttercup said: very close to your ear

mybuttercup said: you know i’m not quiet at all

Daniel doesn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, but you can see that he’s online. Perhaps you went a little too far and now Daniel is awkward to answer something to you, but that was what Daniel was asking for, right? 

danirik said: then i would know i was doing the right thing

danirik said: and continue doing it 

danirik said: until i thought your neck received the care it deserves

danirik said: then lower my kisses

It’s like Daniel is there with you, and you truly wish your best friend was indeed there. You can almost sense the kisses tracing its path through your neck, to your collarbone and to your chest. Would Daniel do it in real life, or was it just a momentary thing? You couldn’t tell exactly the difference there.

Daniel seems good with this entire sexting thing, and of course he does, he’s a normal person after all. He has had girlfriends before and he probably played the same card on them too, just repeating things he already told someone else.

Does Daniel do this often?

That’s the question.

With plenty of different people? 

Probably.

Doesn’t he have someone better to do it, so he’s doing it with you? What does this have to do with the bet after all?

And even if you want to continue this and see where it goes, you’re also not feeling it anymore. You’ve never felt the slightest kind of jealousy over your best friend, but the thought of others having him entirely and you can’t even tell him your feelings, makes you feel pettiness for yourself. You’ll never be more than just a good friend, something like a sister, to Daniel and this thought breaks your heart more than anything.

Sometimes you think this is why you’ve never had anyone by your side, because the thought of the person not being Daniel makes everything too overwhelming to you, and it wouldn’t be fair.

danirik said: are you there

danirik said: i can see you online skjfn

danirik said: are you doing something without letting me know?

Yeah, just overthinking my situation again , you think.

You feel a heavy weight in your chest, as if you’re sinking to the ground. You don't want to talk to Daniel anymore, you just want to lay and be gloomy until you fall asleep. Until you stop thinking about Daniel kissing your neck, with his soft lips discovering every part of your collarbone and chest.

You need to stop.

mybuttercup said: i have to go sleep

mybuttercup said: sorry…

mybuttercup said: we can talk tomorrow

mybuttercup said: good night

danirik said: good night cupcake…

danirik said: tests are over!!!!

danirik said: we should do something

danirik said: i feel like I haven’t seen you in ages

mybuttercup said: my room or yours ;)

danirik said: mine ;)

You sigh after reading the message, because there’s no escape from Daniel if it’s just both of you together - and you’re pretty sure Daniel didn’t invite the others to his house. After a week of flirting all the time and touching in inappropriate places, you don't feel as scared as you did the first time. 

You feel freer to try things with Daniel, but you’re still trying his best to hold it back a little. Your feelings are still in the game and you can’t let them control you, not right now, not after so many years hiding them deep inside your heart. After the event that led you to avoid Daniel for some days, you’re trying really hard to hold everything in and keep things like they always were.

°°°

“Really?” Daniel says looking up at you. Daniel is studying for his tests and you are laying on the floor of his room playing games on your phone, looking through your social media feeds and doing whatever. You’re beyond bored, you had enough of watching Daniel reading that book about engineering over, and over again. So you decide to try something new “Sitting on my lap? While I’m studying?”

Daniel has a defeated look on his face, almost grinnin in your direction when you put your legs on each side of Daniel’s waist. At first, Daniel doesn’t know where to put his hands, he would normally put them on the thighs, maybe a little higher… But it’s you and he still doesn’t know how to act when things like this happen between you.

“You’ve been studying for several hours, you need to relax a little.” You smirk and grind with your hips, watching the normal face Daniel does whenever you touch him in the right places. It’s something similar to a pleasure expression, but when the person tries to hold it back and fails “I know it’s a big test, but you could take a little break.”

And you grind again.

It’s not like you wanted to have sex with Daniel. Actually, you wanted to, but not in this situation. You’ve been holding back all of the uncontrollable hormones inside of you for so long, you could wait a little longer. Also, you’re pretty sure nothing like that would actually ever happen between you, but if it did, you would want it to be special. Not you just messing around in Daniel’s room before a big test.

You just want to tease Daniel because it’s fun. Daniel is desperate and gets turned on easily, so you only need to do the bare minimum and Daniel is already crawling in your direction. It’s fun to see Daniel like that, especially because it’s a part of Daniel that you’ve never had the chance to see before.

“You’re right, a break should be fine.” Daniel almost bites his lower lip, but decides to grin at your direction instead.

You can feel Daniel spreading his legs under you, making your legs spread too, and grabs both of your butt cheeks with his strong hands. Daniel tightens his grip and makes you grind again, this time slower and deeper

He continues to guide what your body should do, with his fingers tight around your ass “Are we dry humping?” You smile because you like it, especially because Daniel is so down to it too.

“I don’t know, are we?”

“I think so.” You say in a soft whisper because you’re starting to feel things, and feeling whatever is happening with Daniel’s down parts too. 

It’s a new sensation, to be finally able to share a moment like this with Daniel. It’s totally different from when you were fourteen and decided to share a first kiss, just to see how it was to kiss someone. It was just a peck on the lips, but it was the most intimate moment you shared in years. 

It was different from your almost-sexting weeks ago, because now you are face-to-face. You can feel Daniel under you. It’s physical, tangible and hot. You don't need to imagine anything, because you’re living it.

For a moment, you stop and think about this situation. Daniel has no idea about your true intentions. Of course, Daniel was the one to start the intense grinding, but he doesn’t know you are actually taking advantage of everything. And you feel awful thinking about it in this way.

You put your hands over Daniel’s and the boy smiles, thinking you wanted to take control, but it’s the opposite, you wanted to end everything right there “I-I should probably go home… you have to study.”

Daniel looks like a lost puppy, eyes begging for at least an explanation from his best friend “You… Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry if I did, you don’t have to leave, you can stay.” 

“No, I really should go.” You brushed off any chance Daniel could get off making you stay. You grab your jacket on the floor and leave the room before Daniel could even get up from his chair.

While you’re walking home, you feel nauseous because you know you’re doing something wrong. It’s not fair with both of you, but you can’t think of a way out of this situation.

You decide to avoid Daniel for a whole week, until Daniel asks you to come over, so you do.

You still have to win the bet and being impersonal and avoiding Daniel isn’t the way to win him over. Daniel’s love language is physical and touches, so that’s your chance to make a move again.

Daniel would never resist your cuddles, you’re sure of it. 

When you arrive, Daniel is watching something and eating snacks on his couch. It’s the perfect mood for a cuddling session and you are glad Daniel’s brain always works in your favor.

You watch an episode of some series Daniel has been binge watching since early that day and in the middle of the second episode, you’re already tangled together. It was easier than you imagined, because all you had to do was lean against Daniel’s shoulder and Daniel did the rest. You’ve already cuddled before, especially when Daniel feels down and sad, he can be really clingy. But Daniel is being more… loving? If that’s the right word to use in that situation. 

You’re on the floor, you're sitting in the middle of Daniel’s legs. You gave up on the sofa because it was too small for both of you and you honestly hated that sofa since day one, it was too uncomfortable. 

You like this new cuddling more, because Daniel keeps kissing his neck and caressing your arms. There’s not much difference from when you used to cuddle when Daniel needed to, but you would normally just stay hug on the bed during the whole day. Now, Daniel is really cuddling you, not just waiting for you to comfort him. 

This time it looks like what Daniel would do with his love interest. You saw him doing it to many of them, and deep inside envied all of them. Daniel is romantic and his love can be really intense when he’s into someone. You've never thought you would experience this type of relationship with Daniel after so many years of crushing him. It always felt too far away from your reality, but now that you’re in it, you enjoy it.

“I need to ask something.” Daniel says, placing another round of kisses in your neck. And you don’t feel like punching him at all.

“What do you want to ask?” You are ticklish in your neck, but you don't mind if Daniel continues to kiss it for the rest of the day “It isn’t related to the episode we just watched, right? You always get distracted when we watch something and I always have to explain everything that happened in it to you. But this time it’ll be a little difficult, I already forgot how many times he went back in time.”

Daniel keeps quiet for a second and then says:

“No, it’s about us.” The way Daniel says ‘ us ’ makes you turn around and face him. Nothing good comes from Daniel using that type of tone and speaking about a relationship “It’s nothing serious, don’t worry.”

You gulp because maybe Daniel noticed you have a crush on him, and now he wants to claim that he won the bet and kick you out of his life “Okay, so what about us?”

“I was just wondering, this is weird, right?” Daniel scratches the back of his head, looking away from your eyes “We’re best friends and we never had something like this. I know all of this is because we made a bet and we’re trying to win this by seducing each other, but when this ends, what will happen? Are we friends with benefits now?”

“No, I think we’re still just friends.” You feel like throwing up, or maybe running away. You can still end the bet and things will go back to normal, but deep in your guts you want to continue this fantasy and have Daniel treating you like you’re in a relationship for a little longer. You’re selfish after all.

“So what will happen? The bet will end at some point.” Daniel sighs, a defeated sigh.

“In the end one of us will have fallen in love.” You shrug, trying to sound unbothered by the matter “And probably heartbroken too. It's a pity to fall in love with your best friend.”

Daniel keeps silent for a moment, making you even more nervous “We should add more rules into this bet, it’s still too abstract in my opinion and I get confused.”

“Okay, let’s solve this then.” You cross your legs and start to point out everything you’ve discussed about the bet “I said I can make you fall in love with me and you said you can make me fall in love with you first, that’s how the bet started, right?” Daniel nods “We can do everything to win this bet, BUT nothing during classes or when our friends are with us. And no kissing. This is a long-term bet, we have all the time we want and the winner can make the other do whatever they want as the prize. I don’t know what will happen next, Daniel, because I don’t know how our reactions will be if the other wins the bet. It’s crazy to bet on something like this because it involves feelings and all, but that’s what we agreed to do.”

Daniel thinks for a while and says “I want to add another rule.” You just nod at him “We need to know when and if the other falls in love, right? So the new rule is: confess your feelings the moment you realize you’re in love. No lying, just accept you lost the best.”

You freak out inside because you already know you’re in love with Daniel, but you’re not ready to confess it right away. You can’t just say in Daniel’s face that you’ve been in love with him for the past few years, even before the bet even started. You can’t say without it sounding bad; Daniel will feel betrayed and he’ll assume you started all of this to take advantage of him.

No, you can’t confess.

“Deal.” You say with a straight voice. You need to get out of this situation so you continue “You know Daniel, now that we figured everything out, I really want to know the end of this episode, so…” Daniel rolls his eyes and nods.

You sit like before, in your spot in between Daniel’s legs. Daniel hugs you and hides his face in the curve of his neck, holding you tight.

You have made your mind – he needs to forget about Daniel, quickly. For your own good.

°°°

It’s 4 a.m when Daniel’s phone starts ringing. He reaches for it on the bed table, and with his eyes almost shut he looks at the bright screen. ‘My buttercup’ is shining in it, so he picks it up right away.

“Cupcake?” He says with his husky voice, confused with the call.

“Daniel, can you come pick me up, please?”

°°°

“Our relationship labeled as friendship

I wonder if I’ll ever ruin it

I just hover around you as if I was lost”

You feel completely out of control, everything that happens is just a huge mess.

It’s something new in your life because you have always been in control of everything. If you knew the bet would make you feel this way, you would have never even started it. But now you’re here, in the middle of your friends for Daniel’s birthday.

You decided you would wait until Daniel’s birthday was gone to tell him about everything - you couldn’t ruin such a special date for your best friend with your bullshit. Once, Daniel told you his birthday was the best day on earth for him; he liked the attention and the gifts, that everything always works in his favor and he could eat all the cake he wanted to.

You can’t confess to him in such circumstances and ruin his birthday.

“Have you sent it already?” Alex whispers, eyeing everyone sitting around the table in Daniel’s apartment.

Charles is stuffing all the cake he can inside his mouth, while Max rolls his eyes and eats another slice of pizza; Max was more of a savory guy, so cake wasn’t that attractive to him.

George is holding a glass of wine, watching everyone with almost shut eyes. You knew he drank too much wine for a night and now is sleepy as hell. Daniel and Pierre are with birthday hats, drinking beer and eating all the snacks they can. Pierre would punch Daniel in the arm every time he stole a snack from Pierre’s bowl, leading him to pout, but laugh just a moment later.

Alex is dancing in the middle of the living room; he drank too much beer and is drunk too, so whenever he approaches you, you would feed Alex with something sweet, trying to sober up your friend.

“I don’t know about this, Alex.” You sigh, keeping your voice down, but with the loud music you’re sure no one would listen to your conversation “I mean, he already saw me naked before.”

Alex sits beside you and puts his hand on your shoulder, looking straight inside his eye “Being naked isn’t the only way to turn someone on, sweetie, and you know it.” Alex tsks because he feels like you’ve lost all of your flirting skills, that Alex knows they exist, when the only one you’re supposed to conquer is Daniel “Also, it’s a pretty picture, he’ll probably go nuts with it.”

“Did YOU go nuts with it?” You are grossed out by thinking that. Alex was almost like your brother, he couldn’t think of your body in that way.

“You disgust me, loser.” He grimaces “Anyways, do you want me to send it then?” 

“No, I’ve got this.” You shrug it off, holding your cellphone tight inside your fingers “Should I wait until we sing ‘Happy birthday’?” 

“Charles almost ate all of the cake, but yeah, you should send the photo after it.” Alex looks around, grins at you and then yells “Let’s sing ‘Happy Birthday’!”

You try not to look so surprised with the sudden suggestion because everyone is cheering and excited with the candles, it would look bad if you winced at Alex’s actions. Daniel would think it’s directed to him and it would be difficult for you to explain the situation to your best friend.

Daniel looks so happy and cheerful, you don’t want to take that away from him.

They put the candles on a fried chicken because the cake is already destroyed and Pierre is the one to start the Happy Birthday’s singing. You can’t breathe properly, but keep on singing, trying not to look suspicious to your friends. Daniel’s stare crosses with yours and for a moment you keep just looking at each other. Daniel looks so happy, like really happy, the wrinkles around his eyes are more prominent because of his smile. 

Everyone is cheering and yelling, but the first thing you do after they finish the ‘Happy Birthday’ part is unlock your phone and send Daniel your picture. It’s not a nude, because it would be too obvious - Daniel sent one to you last week and all you did was laugh because he saw him naked so many times it wasn’t a surprise at all to you. Even if your face turned bright red instantly, but you were alone, no one needs to know it.

You needed to go somewhere Daniel never reached. Something he thought you would never do in front of your best friend, with all the no romantic feelings in your relationship. Cuddling and neck kissing, but no romantic feelings. At least three dates a week, but no romantic feelings.

Everything is a hundred percent normal between best friends.

That’s how you imagined Daniel’s brain would think about everything that was happening between you in the last few weeks.

Alex is sure Daniel is already in love, you think he is crazy.

You two promised to tell whenever you fell in love.

“You never told him”, Alex said to you when you used that excuse, but it was different. You didn’t confess because it was a much deeper matter, not just because of the bet. If it was just the bet, you would’ve already confessed. Probably.

You can see Daniel take his phone from his pocket, a frown growing in his forehead while he looks at the screen of it. It takes him a moment to unlock the phone. He looks up in your direction and grins, probably knowing what that photo meant, and then unlocking the phone.

Daniel’s expression changes to completely astonished with a hint of dumbfoundedness in it. Maybe horror too.  Daniel glares at the photo for too long and that makes you uneasy because you wanted a reaction from him, anything at all.

Actually, you didn’t know what kind of reaction you wanted or expected, you’ve never experienced that with Daniel before and you also thought you broke the friends’ rule a second time. But again, it is just a photo.

Daniel looks up in your direction again, and he looks somewhat angry. Not as angry as when you broke his CD player, but the kind you can see his jaw clenching and his eyes narrow, studying you.

He goes back to the phone and takes a deep breath, his eyes search for you and he mouth-shouts “Bedroom” to you. You just tilt your head, not getting what he means, so Daniel does it again.

“My. Bedroom. Now.” 

You gulp because you feel like you’re going to get scolded.

Daniel looks beyond pissed, or maybe it’s just you increasing everything inside your head. You get up from your chair and see Daniel doing the same. Daniel puts his hands in his pocket and walks to the hall, so fast you lose his figure for a moment. You look back and your friends don’t seem to mind that you are living the small party. If they didn’t miss the birthday boy, they wouldn’t miss you as well.

The room’s door is opened, so you peek inside of it, trying to read the atmosphere before getting in. Daniel just looks like he’s about to explode, you can see his cheeks flushed a bright color of red.

You don't feel like Daniel would be physical with you, maybe scream at you? He looks more frustrated than anything. In any case, you should close the door after getting in, Daniel can be unpredictable sometimes.

When you enter the room, you do it in slow motion, saving some time before Daniel criticizes you for what you did. You close the door behind you, leaning your body against it, not wanting to get any closer to Daniel. Daniel looks at you, holding your stare for a couple of minutes, until he reaches for you. It’s not the reaction you expected at all, but Daniel goes at you, his stare so intense you could disintegrate right there, on his room’s floor.

“I know this is in the rules, but you broke one too, so…” Daniel speaks too fast, holding you with both his hands on the sides of your face. Your mind is swirling around him, ready to have a meltdown in that moment, right there. Daniel is so close there’s no other rule to break than the kissing one and that makes you lose it in the few seconds you had to think about what was happening “Actually, can I…”

Daniel doesn’t have to end his sentence because you are already kissing him, all the red signs starting to appear in your brain, telling you to stop it right away. But you don't and Daniel doesn’t too, he actually deepens the kiss and runs his hands from your face to the lower part of your back. Daniel tastes like beer and candy. It’s a bittersweet taste, but you don't mind because you’ve been waiting for this to happen for so long that everything seems perfect to you.

It’s not like you once imagined it, because it’s way sloppier and you never thought Daniel was the messy type of kisser. But there was a lot going on with you, all the hands running on your curves and tongues out of rhythm. You hold Daniel back and make the kiss slower, taking control over the kiss and Daniel follows you, biting your lip every now and then, tasting your flavors.

Daniel lets a groan escape his mouth, trying to reach for some air after several minutes of kissing.

Daniel is out of breath. He’s only pecking your lips, but not kissing you properly, just not wanting to let the moment end. He doesn’t close his eyes and you watch him in front of you, so vulnerable and tamed, you felt like you could ask for anything in that moment and Daniel would do it. Start a war, rob a bank, steal the sun or just confess your feelings… and Daniel would welcome those twisted thoughts and feelings you had for years about your best friend.

“Daniel…” You take a deep breath, ready to say something.

“I like you, cupcake.” Daniel blinks twice and shakes his head “We promised we would say something if we were sure and now… I am.”

“Did my photo in lingerie make you fall in love?” You try to laugh, but you’re sinking in your own mind, not knowing how to cope with what Daniel just said because now it would be weird to confess too.

You just won the bet.

“It wasn’t the photo.” Daniel lowers his voice as if he’s telling a secret to you “I just feel like I want you all the time and I kind of lost my control here because it wasn’t my intention to kiss you, but that’s not what I’m trying to say. I love you, cupcake. As a friend, of course, but maybe more than a friend too.”

You doze off, Daniel’s words echoing inside your brain. It’s not like you ever imagined things to go this way, not even a little bit. You always thought things would end up with you confessing and being rejected.

Daniel didn’t go as planned and just dumped you. No, he had to fall in love too.

You feel lost, weird and kind of happy. You still don't know how to react, you should probably confess too, Daniel would laugh and the bet would end up as a tie. But you say nothing, you just stare at Daniel’s direction, studying his rose cheeks and plump lips.

“I’m sorry, I went a little too far. We should go back to the party, they’ll notice we’ve been gone.” Daniel says, patting his best friend’s shoulder. You just nod, starting to open the door behind him.

You didn’t have the chance confess too. 

°°°

Daniel pulls the car and waits for you to come out of the house party and enter the car. Everyone looks wasted, some of them are laying down on the sidewalk, with friends helping them to at least survive.

Daniel can hear the loud music coming from inside the place, it’s a deep beat, but Daniel can’t really recognize which song it is because it sounds distorted from where he is. He can see you getting up from the sidewalk you were sitting on, near where Daniel parked, and walking to the car’s direction. Opening the door, closing it and putting the seat bell.

You don't say a thing, not even a hi to Daniel.

He smells like cigarettes, booze and sweat. Daniel is pretty sure he can see a beer stain in your jeans. You turn around to the window and keep watching the night sky, so silent it’s like you’re not even there. Daniel is confused because he’s sure something is up with you. You normally go to parties every weekend and never called Daniel to pick you up before. It’s so out of ordinary and weird, Daniel doesn’t know how to act, so he stops the car.

“It’s my prize, Daniel. I want you to give me a ride to my dorm.” You say.

You eye him, not fully looking at Daniel’s direction and go back to the window, looking in whatever direction, but Daniel’s “Did something happen? Can you tell me what?”

“Nothing.” You sigh.

“I’m serious, what happened?” Daniel didn’t buy the monotone you used with him, he knows you too well to be fooled by a simple ‘nothing’.

You gulp, turning in Daniel’s direction. Daniel is watching you with worried eyes, the same exact ones he uses when you are sick, or hurt. It’s as if Daniel can feel what you are feeling, but doesn’t understand it.

When you open your mouth to speak, you stop for a moment again, thinking, and start to cry.

Big and round tears fall from your eyes, washing your face with them. You try to brush them off, but every time a tear is pulled away, another one appears in its place. You cry so hard you can’t even breathe. Your head feels like it is about to explode and your chest is tight. You start sobbing and trying to say something to Daniel, but Daniel can’t understand a thing.

“T-They… they…” You try to continue, but nothing comes from it. 

Daniel doesn’t have a reaction at first. He normally doesn’t know what to do when people start crying, but what makes him more numb is that you hardly cry. He saw you crying maybe twice during all the years you’ve been friends. Of course, you whine and sometimes you let a tear or two fall, but cry like a baby like that, it’s something new.

With gentle fingers, Daniel reaches for your face and starts to caress your cheeks slowly. He wipes some tears and touches your hair, brushing it away from your forehead and face “Take a deep breath.”

You do what he says and take a deep breath, your restless hands rubbing your knees, trying to calm yourself down. Daniel continues to try to calm his best friend down, even if you spent the night there, trying to figure out what is really happening. Daniel can see some red spots around your neck and it makes his heart sink a little, not wanting to know the story behind the bruises. You slowly stop crying and breathe normally, but you don't look at Daniel’s direction, not even a single glance.

“I was hanging out with some friends, they were all drunk. We started talking about some people in our campus and they just told me about a rumor that goes around about me and… For a moment I-I thought about you and I started to panic and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t mean to call you, but your number is the only one in my favorite’s list so I called you, but…”

You let some tears fall, wiping them quickly away from your face. Daniel doesn’t know what to say because he knows about the rumor, but he doesn’t want to believe you thought he would do something like that to his best friend “Why am I included in this?”

You wheeze at Daniel’s words “Daniel, there’s a rumor on campus about me. A very specific one about people trying to sleep with me in these three years and that’s why people call me the Ice Princess behind my back, and there’s a bet with the people around campus about who can take me to their beds and have sex with me, but you don’t see anything related to you in this?”

Daniel tries to control anything he’s feeling inside of him. He’s running his hands around his hair and looking redder and redder as he controls to not yell with you.

“Really? I’ve known you my whole life, but you think I would do something like this to you?” He puts his hands on the wheel of his car, trying to calm down a bit and waiting for you to say something.

“You’re popular and I don’t know, people thought it was funny.” Daniel looks like he’s about to burst “It’s just that everything fits so well, Daniel. Our bet, you getting closer to me in a way you’ve never done before and the thing at your birthday. The next step is obvious in my opinion.”

“Next step? What, me trying to have sex with you?” Daniel tries to sound as sarcastic as possible, or else you would believe this was his evil plan from the beginning “You forgot you were the one to start all of this? I was just drunk and went with your craziness.”

“So you didn’t think about it even for a second? You had everything in your hands.” You still want to take something from Daniel, maybe a confession, it would be easier if Daniel did all of that out of pure selfishness.

“You know, it pisses me off that you even thought I would do something like this to you. Humiliate you in front of everyone just to win this stupid thing? I just confessed to you, dumbass. I just said I love you as in more than a friend and you think this about me. I liked you for so long and when I finally realized and said something you mislead my actions. Why would you even consider this crazy thought in the first place?”

“Because in my stupid mind it makes sense, Daniel!” For a few seconds, it escapes your mind what Daniel just said, but you overlook every word again “Liked me for so long?” 

Daniel freezes there, looking at you. He didn’t intend to say that, not in a moment like that. You just accused Daniel of being a jerk with you and now he’s being whipped as always “Yeah, for years, I think.”

“Years? But what about Max and…?” You try to not sound jealous when mentioning it, because if Daniel is just messing with you, you might sound too unsettled.

“Jesus fucking christ, I have no idea where all this Max thing came from, but I’ve never had a crush on him.” Daniel rolls his eyes, leaning on his seat and crosses his arms.

“What? You were all over him the whole time, everything you spoke was about Max.” You blink a couple of times, to make sure it is really Daniel in front of you “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“When you were gone for that week, when you broke your finger, Max was the one to fill the gap you left. I know, it wasn’t that deep, but we were almost the same person at that time and I missed you so much. And if you ask Max, everything we spoke was about you, he gave me tips about my feelings towards you. I guess it didn’t help at all because Max is terrible with feelings, but at least he tried. And for years I thought I was confusing my feelings for you because of what he said to me.” Daniel speaks everything too fast, almost eating some words and making weird sentences that you almost would not understand.

“What about your girlfriends and boyfriends?”

“Oh, I couldn’t wait forever for you, cupcake.” Daniel sighs, glancing at his best friend’s direction “At some point I just accepted you were only my best friend and I needed to move on, but then you made the bet and I couldn’t run from it.”

You don't know what to say, because it all sounds too unrealistic.

Daniel crushing on him since forever? Doesn’t sound like something you should believe. Daniel never showed his true feelings towards you, except from that one time he went to take care of you when you were sick, or when he got in a fight because some boys from school said some bad things about you. Or when he helped you finish your essay in the middle of the night, on a Monday before his race test.

But you thought he did all of that just because you were best friends.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” You whine with your crying voice, feeling like everything would be much easier if Daniel just said things right away. Or even you, but that’s a small detail.

“Because you’re my best friend and you’ve never shown anything more than just friend’s love and all the ‘ I don’t want to ruin our friendship ’ crossed my mind.” It was amusing to think both of you were idiots trying to hide your feelings; one because he didn’t want to ruin the friendship and the other because she couldn’t handle rejection. “But I’ll get over it, you don’t have to worry about my feelings. Just please, never doubt me again.”

You hold your breath for a moment thinking about your next actions.

You could end everything there, you wouldn’t get over each other for sure, you’ve been in this for so long that thinking about getting over anything at this point is almost impossible.

At least for you.

Or you can pretend as if nothing happened, the next day you can tell Daniel you were too drunk and don't remember a thing.

It’s a rough choice, because the last one is so much easier.You’ve been hiding everything for so long, you can pretend nothing happened for a little longer. The one with feelings and commitment was a much more complicated choice, especially because you had no idea about what would happen after you got together.

Maybe you wouldn’t even get together, now that you doubted Daniel and everything. Everything is just messed up now.

“Okay Daniel, if we’re going to do this we need to start from the beginning and not just cover everything for years and be constipated about our feelings.” Daniel frowns his forehead, not getting where you are going with all of this. But you continue before Daniel can get the wrong idea “First of all, I hate that we waited so long to speak about this. We literally had to come up with a bet to make things clear about this matter and it should be so much easier. We’ve always been so close and open with each other, we should’ve talked about this when it started. Maybe the fifteen years old me was too scared of rejection, and it only grew inside of me with the passing years. Because I always saw you with someone else and never pictured me by your side like them. It’s still a weird thought because I never thought I had the chance, but if what you say is true then there’s no running from it, right? There’s no point in suffering more just because we don’t know what will happen. Can it end pretty bad? Of course it can, knowing us there’s at least a hundred different horrible ways to screw things between us. Can it change us? Well, if you take into account that we’re always changing, for bad or for good, there’s not much we can do about it. Can it end our friendship? Never in a billion years. I would never let this happen, even if I need to step in my pride and do anything to keep you in my life, I would do it. So there’s nothing we need to worry about, right?”

Daniel takes a moment and nods “So, what you’re saying is…?”

“That you’re really dense and never noticed that I’ve had a crush on you since forever.” You roll your eyes.

“Have you?” Daniel raises his eyebrows and looks shocked, but with a little bit of irony in his tone “What does this mean exactly?”

“That we’re probably going to date?” You sound as if you think Daniel is dumb, which you totally think he is “Sorry, I’m not as good as confessing as you’re.”

“You just did a whole essay about our ‘relationship’ but can’t ask me properly about it.” You think about kneeling and doing a show about asking Daniel to be your boyfriend, but that would be something Alex would do, not you. Maybe if you were drunk or in front of your friends, but just you and Daniel makes you a little shy about being so extra in a moment like this. Also, you’re inside of a car, no kneeling space.

“Oh, Great Daniel Ricciardo, do you want to be my boyfriend?” You say, hiding all the redness in your face, but it goes down your neck and up your ears. Daniel can see it even with the dim light from the pole.

“Two things I never thought I would have the pleasure to be alive to see: you being so shy about something and you asking me to be your boyfriend.” Daniel chuckles.

“Answer the damn question, Daniel.” 

“Oh, you want me to answer it even if I was the first to confess. But, yeah, I want to be your boyfriend.” Daniel shrugs and you hit him on his arm, both of you letting soft giggles escape “Now that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend can we kiss? And hold hands? And cuddle, like, all the time? And touch each other in inappropriate spots even in public?”

“I guess the last one is a bit too much, maybe only sometimes. But the rest, a big yes for those.” Daniel lets his hands fall on his side and then tries to reach for your’s, grabbing your fingers first and then holding your hand. It feels warm, safe and right to do it, so Daniel squeezes your hand to make sure everything it is real. And it indeed is. 

“How are we going to tell our friends about this? They’ll freak out or not believe it.” Daniel imagines Max tsking because he already knew Daniel’s feelings. Pierre would laugh in your faces because it was too obvious. George and Charles wouldn’t believe it, they would think it’s just pretending to fool your friends. Alex would make a play about your love life and make the next university’s recital be about the foolish best friends that were too damn idiots to know how to deal with feelings. And finally when Lando comes back from his trip he would join Pierre and laugh in your faces, but help you to make a silly poem for Daniel. Something really cheesy and stupid that you would mention only when you’re drunk or during midnight talks. You are the type to spill things when you’re sleepy.

“I bet I can hide it better than you. I’m almost an actor, you know. It’s easy for me to hide things.” Daniel looks as if he’s superior to you.

“And I bet I can hide it better than you, because now that I know how you play your games and now that I know that you’re crazy about me things are much easier for me.”

“Cupcake, you’re so naive.” Daniel runs his hands up until his fingers are on the side of your neck “I can’t wait to win another bet over you.”

[cu1tsmark]

"A Day With The Lee family"

Ten cats. It seemed like a daunting task, but Y/N had agreed to watch over Louis, Leon, and Levi while their owner went to work. With a heart full of love for these feline companions, Y/N accepted the challenge.

Ten left for work, giving Y/N some last-minute instructions. "Remember Louis can be a bit of a troublemaker, Leon enjoys a sunny spot by the window, and Levi loves to play with feather toys. Just make sure they don't tear the place apart."

Y/N nodded, ready for a day of feline adventures. As soon as his car pulled away, the cats sprang into action. Leon claimed the windowsill, keeping a watchful eye on the outside world. Levi darted after the feather toy, determined to catch it this time. And Louis? He simply strutted around like he owned the place.

Hours passed in a whirlwind of feeding, playtime, and cuddles. Y/N marveled at the unique personalities of each cat. Leon was reserved but enjoyed chin scratches, Levi was a bundle of energy, and Louis was indeed a master at stealing attention.

When Ten finally returned home, he tiptoed into the bedroom, curious to see how Y/N and the cats had spent their day. To his astonishment, he found Y/N nestled in a pile of cats. Louis, Leon, and Levi were all there.

Ten couldn't help but laugh softly at the heartwarming sight. "Looks like you've made quite the impression, Y/N."

Y/N smiled sleepily, surrounded by purring feline companions. "I couldn't resist their charm, babe. They're all so precious."

Louis, ever the attention seeker, purred loudly and decided to climb onto Ten shoulder, as if to claim his owner's attention.

"I see Louis hasn't changed," Ten chuckled, gently patting the cat.

As Ten grabbed his phone to capture this adorable moment, the cats seemed to know it was their time to shine. They posed, stretched, and even gave each other affectionate nuzzles, creating a perfect photo opportunity.

Once the impromptu photo session was over, Ten decided it was time to return the cats to their designated beds. He picked up each cat one by one, placing them in their comfy spots.

But when it was time to move Louis, Leon, and Levi, they hesitated, sharing a glance. It was as if they had formed a special bond with Y/N in just a few hours.

Ten sighed in amusement. "I think you've won their hearts, Y/N."

As the last cat found its place in its bed, Y/N smiled up at him. "They're amazing cats, and I'm lucky to have spent the day with them."

Ten agreed wholeheartedly, grateful for Y/N's care and the newfound connection between them and his three special feline friends. It had been a day filled with joy, laughter, and precious moments, all thanks to the bond that had formed between Y/N and Louis, Leon, and Levi.

[therealdisneyfan2319]

Mission Impossible Part 2 | Natasha Romanoff

Summary: Four months ago a mission went horribly wrong.  Natasha’s learning to live with the consequences.  Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, they do.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Male Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI, graphic description of injuries, blood, violence, medical procedures, mentions of death, mild suicidal ideation, language, cheating

Word Count: 5.6K

Masterlist

A/N: This is the long-awaited part 2 to Mission Impossible.  I’ve taken little bits and pieces from different comments on the first part to create this pile of angst.  You’ve been warned 🫠

Nearly four months had passed since the mission that ultimately destroyed Y/N and Natasha’s relationship.  After Y/N left their apartment he didn’t return.  He didn’t even go back to get his things.  Pietro had done that, muttering and cursing Natasha out under his breath as he shoved clothes and books into cardboard boxes while she watched everything that reminded her of her favorite person disappear right before her eyes.  Y/N stayed with Pietro for a couple of weeks while Tony pulled some strings to get him another place.  He ultimately ended up letting him stay in his New York penthouse, as Y/N had also requested a leave of absence.  He was in no shape to be going on missions, let alone spend  all of his working hours with the woman who tore his heart into a million pieces.  Natasha had also been placed on administrative leave by Fury while he tried to sort out what exactly had gone wrong that night.  She resigned herself to Yelena’s apartment most days, not wanting to spend time in the place that she once shared with Y/N.

 She awoke one morning to her phone ringing: it was Fury.  

“Hello?” she croaked into the phone.

“I need you to come to the office now.”

“I’m still on leave.”

“That’s an order, Romanoff,” he repeated sternly.  “You’ve got ten minutes.”  The phone clicked as Fury abruptly hung up.  

Groaning, Natasha sat up.  She’d spent the night crying herself to sleep like she did most nights.  She rubbed her bloodshot eyes, sighing as she contemplated skipping out on meeting with Fury and going back to bed.  Consequences didn’t bother her anymore.  Nothing bothered her anymore because nothing mattered to her anymore.  Most of the Avengers gave her the cold shoulder.  They didn’t go out of their way to explicitly exclude her, but they didn’t make any effort to include her either.  She was grateful to still have Yelena and Clint, but even they were upset with her.  Whether she meant it or not Natasha hurt Y/N and her mistake affected more than just him.

She threw on a pair of slippers and started for Fury’s office.  She was still in her pajamas, but she didn’t care.  When the elevator opened, she was surprised to see Steve standing there holding two cups of coffee.

“Morning,” he said, handing her a cup.

“Hi,” she mumbled as she tentatively accepted the drink.  Steve wasn’t one of the Avengers who was outwardly hostile towards Natasha.  While he in no way approved of the way she handled the situation, he understood that she needed a bit of compassion.  They never talked about what happened that night.  Steve never pushed and Natasha never offered, but many nights they sat in silence together in the common room.

“Looks like you’re back on the team then.”

“I guess,” Natasha shrugged.  “Maybe I’ll just quit.”

“Nat-”

“I’m serious, Steve.  I don’t know if I want to do this anymore.”  She stared straight ahead as she sipped her coffee.  Steve sighed, knowing it was futile to try and talk any sense into the assassin.  “What’s this about anyways?”

“No idea.  All Fury told me was that it’s important.”  The duo stepped off the elevator as the doors opened right in front of Fury’s office.

“Nice of you to dress up for the occasion,” Fury joked as Nat entered the office.  She looked down at her fuzzy Cookie Monster pajama pants and grey tank top somewhat abashedly.  “Have a seat.”  He motioned to the two chairs sitting across from his desk.  

“What’s this about?” Steve asked as he sat down.

Fury sighed, rubbing his goatee as he paced behind his desk.  “Four months ago Romanoff was tasked with retrieving intel that’s critical to SHIELD’s assault on the vibranium black market.  Her target was a man by the name of Oliver Parker.”  A picture of Parker appeared on the holographic screen behind the desk.  Natasha immediately lowered her gaze from the tall, dark, handsome man looming larger than life in front of her.  The mere thought of him churned her stomach.  

“Parker,” Fury continued, “is only one of many aliases the man assumes.  His real name?  Pyotr Larionovich.  Spent his formative years working for one General Dreykov as a recruiter essentially.”

“Dreykov?”  The name sent a chill down Natasha’s spine.

“He’s since moved on and now works as an independent contractor for all sorts of underground dealings…has contacts all over the world.  We didn’t learn this until well after the mission.  But the fact of the matter is that he knew exactly who Romanoff was.  He played us big time.  The microchip was a dead end.  Sent us on a wild goose chase.”

“I’m guessing you want us to find him and bring him in?” Steve asked as he walked around examining the various pictures and pieces of intel that appeared holographically.  

Fury’s face wove itself into a look of unease as he clicked the remote in hand.  “We need you to recover Y/N.  He’s been abducted.”  A picture of Natasha and Y/N flickered into view: it was the one Natasha kept in her wallet.  

“Where did you get that picture?” She’d never shared that picture with anyone.

“What happened to the black handbag you brought with you that night, Romanoff?”  She thought back to that night, trying to remember what she did with the handbag.  She definitely had it with her while she was down at the party, but what did she do with it afterwards?  She hadn’t left the hotel with it.  As she put the pieces together, she slowly realized her error: she left it on the bar.

“I left it on the bar,” she whispered.  She was so distracted, drunk, and wrapped up in the moment that she completely forgot about it.

“And we have video footage of him picking it up and putting it in his coat pocket.  We figure he went through it, found the picture, and figured out who he was.”

“Is this a hostage negotiation situation?” Steve asked.

“Negative.  He doesn’t know that we know about Y/N.  We’re sure he’ll be demanding a ransom shortly, but we’d like to avoid that.”

“Are we sure about the intel on this, Fury?”

“Unfortunately, yes.  He’s being held in a cargo storage unit just outside of Atlanta.  It’s an old Red Room extraction site.  They haven’t used it in a number of years, but everything is still there.”

Natasha barely heard a word either man said.  She was lost in the depths of her mind, spiraling as she realized the extent of her carelessness.  First she lost her relationship.  Now it could potentially cost Y/N his life.  Grief crashed over her like a wave, threatening to swallow her whole before spitting her back out.  

“Romanoff?” Fury’s gruff voice snapped her back to reality.  

“I can’t do this, Nick.  Send somebody else.”  She stood up to leave, not wanting any part of the mission.

“Absolutely not.  You started this, you’re going to see it through to the end.”  Natasha paused.  He had a point.  She sighed as she realized that he wasn’t going to give her another option.

“He won’t want to see me,” she muttered.

“That’s beside the point, Natasha.  You’re the only one who has extensive experience with the Red Room.  Just get it done.”  The screens flicked off as the lights came back on.  Steve looked over at Natasha, his hands in his pockets as he shrugged.  

“I’m ready when you are unless you plan on going in your pajamas,” he joked.  Natasha groaned, rolling her eyes as she stormed out of the office.

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

They sat in silence as Steve piloted the Quinjet.  Natasha stared out the window and watched the world fly by.  Steve looked over at her.  He gave a slight cough, indicating that he wanted to speak.  

“What?” she snapped.

“Nothing.  Just wanted to ask how you’re doing?”

“I’m fine,” she sniffled, rubbing her nose as she turned to look back out the window.

“Nat-”

“I’m FINE, Steve.  Drop it.”

“Okay.”  He adjusted his shoulders as he sat back in his chair.  An awkward tension hung in the air as the silence filled the cockpit.

“I messed a lot of things up that night, didn’t I?” she whispered as she put her feet on the chair and hugged her knees to her chest.

Steve didn’t answer immediately.  He thought for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to say.  “Yeah, yeah you did,” he finally admitted.  “What were you thinking?  I can’t understand how you came to the solution that-”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know, Steve, I don’t know.  I was drunk and I know that’s not an excuse but I got wrapped up in his charm, okay?”  Her voice cracked as she spoke as all the emotions from that night bubbled up inside of her.  “It was dumb and if I could take it all back I would.”

Steve sighed as he looked over at her.  “He’s a mess, you know.  I went over to visit him right after he moved in and…you really hurt him.  He wanted to quit, you know?  I managed to talk him into sticking with the leave of absence instead.  That was after I convinced him to take a shower for the first time in almost a week and actually eat something other than pizza.” Natasha hung her head in shame.  She’d been beating herself up over cheating on Y/N for months now.  There was no doubt in her mind that he was suffering, but hearing just how distraught he was broke her heart.  

“I miss him so much,” she began to sob as she pictured a depressed Y/N, a shell of the vibrant, loveable man he once was.  “He told me not to do anything dumb before I left.  I know how he gets when I go out on missions alone and I thought it was just another stupid thing he said to make himself feel better.  I told him he worries too much and that nothing would happen.  And then I went and fucked it up.”

“You made a mistake, Nat.  Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Yeah, but not everyone cheats on their boyfriend.”

“Look,” Steve sighed.  “I won’t sit here and tell you I’m not mad at you because I am.  In my book what you did is inexcusable.  Not only did you put the entire mission at risk, you hurt one of my teammates.  The team is broken, Nat.  That’s on you.  I don’t know how I can trust you again.  I’d like to, but I can’t right now.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.  I know that doesn’t cut it, but I am.  I just want to tell him that.”  She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.  “Let’s get this over with, okay?”

“ETA is about 70 minutes,” he noted as he looked over at one of the screens off to the side.  “Fury should be sending the last of the intel soon if you want to give that a look.”  Nat sniffled as she nodded, pulling up the last-minute SHIELD intel on the small screen in front of her.

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

“Y/N?!” Natasha yelled as she cleared the door of the storage unit.  “Are you in here?”  Her voice echoed around the empty unit, bouncing off the walls as she struggled to see in the pitch black.  “Damn it,” she muttered under her breath as she slammed the door shut.  

The Red Room base was a complex of old warehouses full of storage units.  Overwhelmed by the sheer number of units to check, Steve and Natasha quickly agreed to split up.  She carefully checked and cleared every unit.  Every rusted door filled her with dread and apprehension.   Gruesome images of a mangled body flashed through her mind and for the first time in years she prayed to whatever higher being would answer first that Y/N would be alive and in one piece.  

“Southwest sector is clear, Nat.  He’s not here.  Anything yet?” Steve’s voice crackled over her earpiece.

“No.  I’ve still got a few units left up here,” Nat murmured into the microphone.

“I’ll head to the southeast sector.  He’s gotta be here.  All the signs point to it.”

“I know,” she sighed.  She shivered against the cold dampness of the warehouse.  The bleakness of it all chilled her to the bone, physically and emotionally.  Her hope of finding Y/N alive was quickly dwindling and the thought of finding him dead made her want to curl up into a ball and scream.  Of course she knew this was all her fault.  If she hadn’t let her guard down on that damn mission none of this would be happening, but there was no changing the past.  The best she could do would be to find him and bring him home safely.  

“Y/N?!” Natasha shouted as she kicked the next door in.  Her eyes scanned the room robotically, not anticipating to find anything worth noting.  As she turned to let the door slam shut once again, her ears perked up at a soft scraping sound.  It was barely audible, but the fact she hadn’t heard any sort of noise in any of the other units gave her reason to pause.  Reaching for the flashlight on her belt, she heard the noise again.  She shined the bright beam directly in front of her and nearly dropped it as she saw her worst nightmare in front of her.

“OH GOD NO!” she screamed, tossing the flashlight to the side as she sprinted toward the back of the metal box.  She nearly slipped in the pools of blood that surrounded the chair Y/N was tied to.  He was blindfolded with a bloody rag, slumped over as thick ropes cut into his wrists and ankles.  Blood, both dried and fresh, coated the exposed parts of his face and matted his hair to his forehead.  His hands were bruised and broken while deep lacerations drew whimsical patterns up and down his arms.  

“Nat, we’ve got movement in the northwest sector not too far from where you are.”  Steve’s voice interrupted the screams that pierced the darkness of the rusted unit.  “Natasha?  Natasha, are you there?”

“HELP ME!” she wailed into the microphone.  The anguish in her voice cut into the deepest parts of Steve’s soul as she cried out like a wounded animal.

“I’m on my way.”

Tears clouded Natasha’s vision as she carefully untied the blindfold knotted at the back of his head.  As it slipped down, part of her wished she’d kept it on.  His beautiful face was bruised and bloodied.  His eyes were blackened and swollen shut and his nose was more crooked than she remembered.  Blood streamed down his nose and lips, staining his face a dark crimson.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry,  This is all my fault.  It’s all my fault,” she cried as she held his face in her hands, stroking his cheek with her thumb as she smeared more blood around his face.  “I’m so, so sorry.”  She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his, tears silently streaming down her face as she held him close.  She missed the way his body felt under her touch, the way he used to smile into her lips as he kissed her, the way his hands rested perfectly on her waist whenever he pulled her close.  Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the way it felt when he hugged her for the last time and she smiled at the thought of their last happy memory together.

A sharp, groaning intake of breath snapped her back to reality.  Y/N coughed and painted Natasha’s face with specks of blood.  He was awake.  He was alive.

“Nat?”  His voice was garbled and his mouth full of blood.  His swollen eyes barely fluttered open as he attempted to make out the redhead kneeling in front of him.  

“It’s me, baby.  I’m right here.  Steve’s on his way and we’ll get you out of here and back home in no time.”  She ran her fingers through his bloodied hair as his eyes struggled to focus.

“Hi,” he grinned weakly.  Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t try to talk, okay?  Just rest.  You’re safe now.”  She wiped up the small trail with her thumb. 

“ ‘M sorry,” he mumbled as tears began to roll down his bloody face.

Without any hesitation Natasha pressed her lips firmly against Y/N’s.  The salty, metallic taste of his lips against hers brought her back to a time where none of this nightmare was real.  For a fleeting second everything was as it was supposed to be.  

“Don’t you dare apologize, mister.  This is all my fault.  I messed everything up and I’m so, so sorry I hurt you.  Okay, Y/N?  I’m sorry.  I wish I could take it all back and I know I can’t so I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.  I promise.”  She kissed the top of his head as Steve kicked the door open.  

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

Natasha was grateful she had a super soldier with her as Steve picked Y/N up effortlessly and sprinted toward the Quinjet at a superhuman speed.  She followed close behind, making sure that the Red Room agents that were lurking in the area weren’t following them.  

“STEVE!  Let’s go!” she shouted as she sprinted up the ramp.

“Already ahead of you-F.R.I.D.A.Y.!  Take us home!”  The ramp closed and the ship began to hover as Steve placed Y/N on the medical fabricator Stark engineered specifically for the Quinjet.  “How’s he doing, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Mr. L/N has received multiple critical injuries to his head and torso.  Current body temperature is 100.4, heart rate is 50 BPM, blood pressure is 77/50.”

“Can you keep him stable until we get back to the Compound?  And call Dr. Cho.  We’ll need her to be ready the second we land.”

“Anything else, Captain?”

“Don’t let him die,” Steve gritted through his teeth as he took over the manual controls.

Natasha stood by the wayside as robotic arms started IVs, suctioned blood, injected various antibiotics, and monitored Y/N’s vitals.  An oxygen mask was placed over his face as an incubator cover encapsulated him from the outside world.  She watched while a sedative was injected directly into his IV.  The effect was instant: he fell into a state of unconsciousness that permitted him a moment’s respite from the excruciating pain of his injuries.  He struggled to breathe even with the oxygen mask.

“His lung collapsed as a result of his broken ribs, Agent Romanoff,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed her.  

“What’s the odds of survival here, F.R.I.D.A.Y?” she asked, crossing her arms as she walked to the fabricator.

“In his current condition, Mr. L/N has a 37% chance of survival.”

“Shit,” Natasha cursed.  Y/N looked completely helpless as he laid there with tubes and wires sticking out of him.  A lump grew in her throat at the thought of him not not being alive by the time they got back to the Compound.  She wiped her eye with the back of her hand, struggling to not completely break down.  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so scared.  More than that she was overcome with guilt.  This was all her fault.  If he died, his blood was on her hands.  She’d been responsible for countless deaths in her lifetime, but his death would be different.  He wasn’t supposed to die.  Not like this, not because of her.  

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Yes, Agent Romanoff?”

“C-can I hold his hand?”

“Seeing as he has 24 broken bones in his left hand, I would advise against that.  I would recommend perhaps his forearm or his elbow.”

Natasha exhaled a laugh as the AI suggested she hold his elbow.  Carefully reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm just above his wrist.  His entire arm was bandaged from the wrist to the shoulder.  Her sweaty palms stuck to the neat white bandage.

“You can’t leave yet.  Not when I still need you,” she whispered over his unconscious body.  “I’ll make this right, Y/N.  I will be here every step of the way and I’ll do anything and everything to fix us.  I miss you so much.  I know I messed up.  That night went wrong in so many ways and I think about how badly I hurt you every single day.  I know it’s not enough to say sorry, but it’s all I have.  I’m sorry.  I’m so, so sorry.  I’m such an idiot for throwing it away.  But I’m going to fix this.  Because I still love you.”

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

No sooner had the Quinjet landed that an entire medical team was waiting for Y/N on the landing dock.

“Cho’s on her way, but it’s going to be a while.  We’ll keep him stable in the meantime.  F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s been sending us real-time updates on his condition,” Sam yelled as he helped a team of medical officers run him into the Compound.  

Natasha’s jog slowed to a stop as the glass doors slammed shut in front of her.  Her chest heaved as she watched the team hang an abrupt right to lead Y/N toward the medical bay.  With Cho on the way and the Compound’s medical team watching over him, she knew Y/N was in good hands.  They were his best shot at survival.

Steve called out to her from the Quinjet.  She strained to hear through the whirring of the engine shutting down.  As she turned to ask him to repeat himself, she felt herself being lifted into the air and tossed like a rag doll.  She crumpled to the ground, rolling back toward Steve.  Instinctively he raised his shield against the unknown assailant, only lowering it when he saw the grief-stricken brunette witch hurtling toward Natasha.

“Wanda,” he warned.

“Don’t stop me, Steve,” Wanda threatened.  Red orbs of magic hovered between her hands as she conjured another spell.

“Wanda-“

“SHE KILLED HIM, I’LL KILL HER!” she screamed as tears streamed down her face.  “I CAN’T LOSE HIM, TOO.”

“Do it.”  Natasha’s voice was small yet firm as she pushed herself to her knees.  “Please.”

“What?” Steve dropped his shield in disbelief while Wanda continued to sob.

“It’s my fault he’s dead.  I deserve it.  Please.”  She choked back a sob as she thought about Y/N’s final moments, how he died a shell of the wonderful man she fell in love with so long ago and how he’d never light up her life again.

Before Wanda could respond, utterly dumbfounded herself, one of Clint’s stun arrows whistled by, landing on her forehead before she shook violently and collapsed.

“Both of you need to relax right damn now,” Clint grumbled as he passed Wanda.  “Relax, he’s not dead.  They’ve stabilized him enough so that Cho can put him in the regeneration cradle when she gets here.  Wanda misheard something and got a little upset.”

“That’s an understatement,” Steve replied as he picked up his shield.

“And you.  Nat, come on.  Come on.  This is ridiculous.  Get up.  Up, up, up, let’s go.”  He extended his hands to her, which she reluctantly accepted.  “Can you grab her?” he yelled at Steve.

“Why-?”

“Did Wanda get so upset?”  He sighed, shaking his head as he pulled her to her feet.  “They’re dating, Nat.”

Natasha didn’t realize that her heart was capable of breaking any more , but Clint’s words shattered it into a million more pieces.  While she spent the last few months wallowing in self-pity and loathing, he moved on.  Her head spun with a million different thoughts and questions as she started to process what she’d just been told.  She looked up at the clear night sky, not wanting Clint to watch as tears started to stream down her face.  The stars offered little comfort to her overwhelming grief. 

“Nat-” Clint placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  She pulled away at his touch.

“Don’t,” Natasha begged.  “Please don’t.  I can’t deal with this right now.”  She wiped the snot from her nose with her sleeve as she stormed off, surpassing Steve as he carried an unconscious Wanda toward the Compound, for Yelena’s apartment.

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

“He wants to talk to you.”

Natasha groaned as she rolled over under the covers, pulling the comforter over her head.  The early afternoon glow of the sun peeked through the blinds and landed on her face.  After spending most of the night crying, she had no interest in being up so early.  Clint and Yelena spent the rest of the night waiting up in the med bay for any updates on Y/N’s condition.  Sam and the team were able to keep him stable until Dr. Cho arrived in the wee hours of the morning and got him in her regeneration cradle.  Once he was in there, everything seemed to turn around for him.  He was in rough shape and recovery would be tough, but it looked like he was going to pull through.

“I don’t care.  I don’t want to see him.”  Her eyes screwed shut as she willed herself to go back to sleep.  A sudden rush of light and cool air pulled her from the feigned sense of relaxation.

“You’re going.  I don’t care if I have to drag you.  He wants to see you!” Yelena ordered as she pulled the covers off her sister.

“What am I going to say to him, Yelena?  Sorry I messed up our relationship and nearly got you killed and then asked your new girlfriend to kill me?”

Yelena shrugged.  “I don’t know, just see what he says.”

“Fine.”  She rolled out of bed, throwing her slippers on as she headed down to the med bay.  The long walk felt even longer as her heart pounded in her chest.  The butterflies she once felt at the thought of him turned to knots that suffocated every inch of her body while the sterile smell of the hospital wing loomed closer with every step.

When Natasha came to his room, she paused as she looked through the window.  Y/N was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, casts on both arms and tubes hanging out from every inch of exposed skin.  Wanda sat in the lone chair next to his bed, her hand holding his plaster-wrapped one through the rails of the bed.  She gazed lovingly over him as he reclined on the mountain of pillows behind him.  Her fingers trailed through the tufts of hair that poked through the weaves of his head bandages.  Natasha could almost feel the way his hair used to slide through her fingers as she watched Wanda soothe him.  She almost felt embarrassed at the way she invaded such an intimate moment between the two.  Taking a deep breath as she grabbed the door handle, she gave a soft knock as she opened it.  Wanda’s neck snapped toward the door as it creaked open.

“Get out,” she growled, her eyes glowing bright red as she lifted her hand threateningly.  Natasha froze as little red bursts of magic danced around her fingers.

“Hey,” Y/N croaked as he struggled to lift his arm.  “It’s okay.  Let us talk.”

“Are you sure, baby?”  He nodded weakly.  “Fine,” she huffed, leaning down to plant a chaste kiss on his swollen lips.  “Try anything and you’ll regret it,” Wanda whispered as she walked past Natasha, who gulped rather loudly.  

Once Wanda left, Natasha cautiously walked over to Y/N’s bed.  At first glance, he didn’t look as bad as he did the night before, but he still looked awful.  The swelling around his eyes had gone down, but they were still black and blue.  His nose had been reset and his lip had been stitched up.  Blood and iodine stained the exposed parts of his face and arms.  Small spots of blood were starting to soak through his arm bandages even though Cho had focused a considerable amount of energy repairing the flayed skin.  

“Hi.”  His voice was hoarse from the breathing tube that was recently removed.

“Hi,” Natasha whispered in a weak voice as she sat down in the stiff chair.  “How are you feeling?”

“Shitty.  The meds make it a little better.”  He winced as he laughed at his own joke.  “You ever broken a rib before?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.  “Hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll never take breathing for granted again.”  Natasha smiled weakly.  It was just like Y/N to crack a joke in the midst of a horrible situation.  “Listen-”

“How long?”

“What?”

“You and Wanda.  How long?”

Y/N sighed.  “About three months.”

“That’s a little fast.”

“I know, but it just sort of happened.  She came with Pietro to help me move and that…that was that.”

“She’s too emotional.”

“She listens to me, Nat.  I can talk to her about anything.  She tells me when things are bothering her.  We don’t have anything that we keep from each other.”

“It’s been three months, Y/N-”

“And in those three months we’ve had more important conversations than you and I ever had in three years.”  His Y/E/C eyes stared deep into hers as innumerable indescribable feelings bubbled up inside Natasha.  “She never brushes aside my anxiety.  She helps me cope with it, Natasha.  I never realized that a partner could do that before I met her.”

Natasha stared down at her slippers.  So many moments from their relationship came flooding back into her mind.  Moments where she brushed him off.  Moments where she kept her true feelings to herself because she didn’t know how to bring them up.  Moments where she simply went through the motions for the sake of the stability of their relationship.  She loved him, but love wasn’t enough.

“The night of the mission…I don’t know what happened.  I never meant for it to go so wrong.  I got drunk, he was handsome, and I messed up.”  She continued to look at her shoes as she recounted the events of that night, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.  “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you.  I’m sorry.  I wish I could take it all back.  And I’m sorry about this.  I should be the one in that bed right now, not you.  If anything I should’ve died.  I don’t deserve to be here after all of this.”

“Don’t say that.  Don’t ever say that again.  Natasha, look at me.”  She looked up as he strained to look at her.  “You hurt me and I can never forgive you for that.  I don’t think you can ever understand just how much you broke me that night.  That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to live.  You deserve love and happiness and a good life.  It just won’t be with me.”  He lifted his arm slightly, carefully reaching out to her.  She gingerly wrapped her hand around his.

“I still love you,” she choked out through the lump that was forming in her throat.  “I was so scared you were dead and that I’d never be able to tell you that again.”

“A part of me will always love you, Natty, but I’ve moved on.”  

“Shit,” she whispered as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.  “I hate this.”

“Me too,” he nodded.  “But we’ll be okay, okay?  I’ve got Wanda, you’ll find someone, we’ll move on.”

Natasha nodded tearfully, unable to get any words out.  Her heart was breaking again and again.  Y/N moved on.  There was no chance that the two of them would ever get back together.  All of the hopes and dreams she’d been sitting on since he walked out were officially gone forever.  Now all that was left for her to do was to pick up the broken pieces and try to start over.  

“Go back to work, okay?  It’ll help.  And be civil with Wanda.  I don’t need you two threatening to kill each other all the time.”

“What about you?”

“Well, once I get healed up I’d like to come back.  I miss the team.”

“Do you really think we can work together again?”

“I don’t know,” Y/N shrugged.  “The only thing I do know is that you should probably get out of here before Wanda gets back.  She’s still a little heated about the whole thing.  I’ll work on her, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled.

As Natasha left Y/N’s room, she felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and guilt.  One mistake cost her the love of her life.  There was no way she could possibly forgive herself for that.  Yet in the darkest depths of her soul, she felt something reaching for a glimmer of hope.  Maybe Y/N was right.  Maybe she would find someone else and move on.  But she knew herself all too well.  There was no coming back from that fateful night.  The best she could do would be to soldier on, getting through every day the best she could while pretending that she wasn’t completely broken on the inside. 

[bearsinpotatosacks]

I wrote a snippet of Bones welcoming some new Starfleet medical cadets. I'm not sure exactly how training works for Starfleet doctors, but after watching ER, I get the idea that it works mostly the same. Start training, do your rotations as a third year medical student, but I like to imagine that once you've chosen your area, surgery, psych, etc, you have to do a rotation on each kind of Starfleet vessel. Maybe they start on a starbase, then go to small ships that may or may not need your specialisation, then end up on some of the big ships such as the Enterprise. Enjoy!

Words: 1136

Looking at the group of fresh faced cadets in front of him, he knew that coffee wasn’t going to be enough. He hated when they hosted cadets. Partially because the little fuckers didn’t leave him alone when he was working, anything and everything he did was ripped apart and he couldn’t walk for two seconds without some question that a stupidly simple answer. The other reason was that they didn’t pester him anywhere near enough when they were off duty. It was like they were trying to pack all their questions into their eight hour shift and then were too scared to hold break their silence. 

Part of the journey of being a medical student, at least in his opinion, was pestering your mentors. You had to really get on their nerves because no matter how much it pissed him off, he knew that they had to learn somehow. And the ones who disregarded his gruff exterior, who plucked up the courage to ask him questions ten minutes after he’d woken up, or ten minutes before he was going to bed, were the ones who he answered. Not the fifth one in a row who’d stopped him as he went to go and check on a scan for a patient. There was a time and place for bothering him and these cadets never seemed to learn when that was. 

“Welcome to your rotation on board a constitution class vessel,” he said, not bothering to put any effort into the script they gave him to say. “This is where you’ll learn about the vital part you play, yada yada yada, be on the cutting edge of discoveries, yada yada yada, and face the final frontier.”

He rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his coffee. “Now that the mandatory stuff’s out of the way, here’s your real induction.”

The cadets looked at each other confused. Ah, so naive, they didn’t know about his reputation yet. Good, he wanted them to be shocked when they learnt how he really was. 

“Real induction, sir?” One of the cadets, who looked unnaturally groomed for someone standing in a sickbay, said.

He held up a finger and stopped the cadet before he continued. “First rule of sickbay, no one is sir, especially me, if you call me sir, I will not answer.” They seemed more puzzled. “You can call me Doctor, but that might get confusing fast, McCoy, Leonard, Len, or any number of curse words or well divised nicknames that I have no doubt the nurses will teach you in your time here, will suffice.”

They wrote that down. He almost laughed, but decided against it, he didn’t want to confuse them any further. Seeing them all so fresh faced was rather jarring for someone like himself. Medicine was in his blood, so to speak, it felt like a lifetime ago that he was in their place, all squeaky clean. Yet again, he hadn’t trained in Starfleet. And that was another point. 

“Who can hazard a guess as to why I don’t like being called sir, or by my rank for that matter?” 

Scanning the crowd, he didn’t see any hands popping up. Disappointing, he at least expected one person to be enough of a swot to look into the crew of the Enterprise. None of them were surprised when they saw Jim was their Captain, or Spock was XO, yet none of them did research into the department they were going to work in?

A sigh was on his lips as a cadet, near the back with her hair suitably tied out of her face, raised her hand. 

“Yes, Ms?”

“Cotteril.” She answered. “Is it because you didn’t train with Starfleet?”

“Bingo! I trained in Atlanta, Georgia, and despite the wonders we’ve made in socio-economic policies in the last few hundred years, some places remain rough, and nowhere else is that seen than in large cities. So trust me when I say, I am a doctor more than I am an officer of Starfleet, and I expect every single medical professional who works on this ship to follow that same rule of code.”

He stopped with the half hearted attempts at humour and made sure to stare across the group. A few of them gulped, some were either confused, or others annoyed. 

“My father, god rest his soul, was a doctor in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, so I learnt medicine in the best way you can, the messy way. My first experience in the medical field was helping a horse with a c-section because there ain’t no vet hospitals in the Appalachian Mountains, I can tell you that for free.” His accent was coming out now, it always did when he talked of his childhood home. “And I want you all to understand that when you walk into my sickbay you leave your politics at the door, understand?”

They didn’t reply. 

“Excuse me, I thought I asked y’all a question.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Good, because if you have Vulcan with a sprain and a Klingon bleeding out, I expect every one of y’all to pick the Klingon,” He gestured at them with his coffee mug, a splash got on the floor. “So, repeat after me, the Hippocratic Oath is my Prime Directive.”

“‘The Hippocratic Oath is my Prime Directive’” The group chorused.

He nodded at them again, “Good, you may now step into sickbay.”

Turning around he gestured for them to follow. He’d never say the q-word, but he was grateful that there weren’t a lot of people in today. The last thing he needed was some part of engineering breaking and causing an overflow of red shirts. They weren’t the best of friends, engineers and those in sickbay, and it wouldn’t be such a problem if they knew some kind of first aid down there. 

“I will give you a full introduction of staff when we do rounds, but first I'll give you lesson number two of serving in the Enterprise sickbay,” he turned on his heel to face them. “Do not disrespect a nurse. Not only because they do some of the most vital and downright disgusting jobs there are to do, they set up the beds, machinery, administer the drugs, take samples and bathe the crew when the replicators malfunction and start spewing rotten fish guts in the mess hall, don’t laugh that happened last Tuesday, but also because if you do you will get doing rectal exams for most of your time here while also, most definitely, getting a mystery hypo that will make your dick turn purple, if you have one, or make you grow one if you don’t, and you won’t even feel it either. Understand?”

Yet again, more confused faces. One cadet was looking down at his trousers, concerned. 

“Excellent, now for the tour.”

-----

Take this an early WIP wednesday, I guess? I'm not sure if this will go anywhere apart from this snippet, but it could. I mainly just had this scene fully written in my head this morning and finally had a chance to write it.

[doyouknowbtsswag]

A Flash Of Time |Jung Jae Chan|

A (H/C) girl smiled shopping for new clothes. She grabbed two outfits and started to walk to the cash register. Before she could make it to the register blood seeped through her shirt.

"No!" Hong-Joo yelled sitting up on the bed a tear going down her cheek.

Hong-Joo caught her breath and grabbed her post it writing down what she remembered from her dream. She ran her fingers through her hair as she got out of bed. She placed the sticky note on her window next to the many others.

"I feel like I've seen her before" She mumbled before making her way to the bathroom.

———

Jae Chan dropped two bags and ran to a (H/C) girl seeing her falling with blood coming out of her stomach. A person turned his head as Jae Chan passed him pushing the man away out of the way. He was crying putting pressure on the wound and yelling for people to call 911.

Woo-tak woke up looking around remembering he was on patrol with his partner.

"Let me drive" Woo-tak demanded as he took off his seat belt his partner looked over confused and pulled over.

"Don't take your seat belt off that quick"

Woo-tak ignored him as he got out of the car and walked to the driver's side. He waited till his partner got out anxiously looking at his watch. He caught a glimpse at the time and date thanks to the wall in the background. He saw what the place looked like which he concluded to be the clothes store in the mall. Once he got in the driver's seat he looked at his watch at 12:07. The clock read 12:29 in his dream and the mall was 15 minutes from where they were. Woo-tak turned the sirens on and sped to the mall.

———

I smiled laying on my bed texting Jae Chan about what time we would meet at the mall. We both decided after dating for a year and a half to move in together. I was moving into his house which meant I would also be sharing a house with his brother who is not aware of this. That's the point of this shopping trip in a way. I wanted to get him a small present in hopes he'd be fine with me moving in. I got up and got dressed leaving my phone on the bed. I decided on a baby pink shirt with black pants. I brushed my hair and added mascara and lip gloss as I didn't feel like fully doing my face. I grabbed my phone, purse, and keys and walked to the door. I slid my sneakers on and made my way to the bus stop. I went on the bus and I saw Jae Chan looking out the window saving a seat for me. I made my way to him and sat down. He looked over and smiled.

"I'm glad you're finally off work so we can go on a date," I said as he smiled.

"I just finished a big case so they gave me a day off"

"You deserve more than a day with all the work you've been doing recently"

"It just comes with the job" He smiled before holding my hand.

"Well I'll always be by your side even if everyone hates you," I said.

"How can anyone hate this face," He said letting go of my hand and putting his hand on the side of his face.

"You'd be surprised mister," I said hitting the red button indicating to stop the bus. "Come on"

"What's that supposed to mean," He said but I just smiled and walked off the bus.

"Mm, nothing," I said smiling as he grabbed my hand. We walked inside the mall and I saw a clothing store I've been meaning to go to. I decided to wait not wanting to drag Jae Chan into the store wanting to surprise him. We kept walking till he stopped.

"Do you mind if I go to another store real quick?" He asked.

"Sure" I smiled. "I'll go to the clothing store"

"Alright, I'll meet you here in about ten or fifteen minutes"

"Sounds good" I smiled.

"I promise I'll be quick," He said kissing me softly.

"Take your time" I smiled.

"I Love you"

"I Love you too"

He kissed me on the cheek again and walked away. I walked inside the store looking around for something worth to wear. I was getting tired of wearing the same clothes on date nights and wanted to impress Jae Chan with new outfits. I smiled at the memories of past dates making me 10x more excited to buy a few new outfits.

Jae Chan walked to the store holding two small bags. He was going to propose soon so he was over the moon when shopping for stuff he needed for his idea. He thought of what to get Seung-won as you keep insisting to get something for his little brother. He walked back to where you two originally left off.

I grabbed two outfits and started to walk to the cash register. I made eye contact with Jae Chan and smiled before I could make it to the register I felt something go through my side. I looked down and saw blood on my baby pink shirt. Jae Chan dropped his bags and ran to me seeing me falling with blood coming out of my stomach. He was crying putting pressure on the wound and yelling for people to call 911.

"It'll be alright" He whispered. "I'll keep you safe"

I looked at him barely able to think. I looked up seeing Jae Chan panicking. I did my best to stay awake holding onto his white shirt accidentally getting blood on it. He kept whispering I love you's and stay awake for me. I made eye contact with him seeing tears fall down his face. The face that deserves a smile, not sorrow. The world started to go black as I lost consciousness.

Woo-Tak ran into the store and froze. He was too late to stop the accident however not the person. Woo-Tak looked around trying to find the face that appeared in his dream. He spotted the man from the corner of his eye and ran after him. The man started running trying to get away from Woo-Tak but he was too slow as he was pushed to the ground.

"I'm Lieutenant Han Woo-Tak from Sangku Division. You are under arrest for attempted murder. You have a right to an attorney and the right to stay silent" Woo-Tak said as he handcuffed the guy who was trying to slip from his grasp.

Woo-Tak called for an ambulance even though others did the same. Kyung Han came running to where Woo-Tak was bewildered by seeing Woo-Tak suddenly arresting someone.

"Ya! You can't keep running off when trying to get someone alone" He said.

"Duty calls" Woo-Tak simply said. "Charged with attempted murder"

"What?"

"He stabbed a young girl in the clothing store," He said looking back. "Can you take him for me? Thanks"

Woo-Tak booked it back to the clothing store shooing everyone away to give space to you two. Jae Chan was a crying mess and Woo-Tak felt awful for not being there on time to help. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder which made no effect on Jae Chan.

"It's gonna be okay, she's going to make it I promise," Woo-Tak said trying to help him.

He watched as the paramedics moved Jae Chan to the side so they could reach you. Once you were moved onto the stretcher they wasted no time in taking you to the ambulance. Jae Chan raced behind them wanting to be with you. Woo-Tak walked worriedly, he didn't meet you much. All he knew was you and Jae Chan were dating. On his way back to the cop car he picked up what he assumed the bag was Jae Chan's. He continued his way back to the cop car seeing that he was finally in the back. Kang Han whipped his forehead looking at Woo-Tak.

"You owe me now"

"I know" Woo-Tak gave a fake half-smile. "I'll drive to the station and do the paperwork"

Kang Han nodded getting into the car. In the mirror, you could see the man glaring back at him. The only thought that went through his head is why he chose to attempt to kill you. He hoped you'd make it for Jae Chan. Woo-Tak frowned and made his way back to the station letting them know in advance.

———

Jae Chan ran with the paramedics and was allowed in the ambulance. They pushed him to the side as they made sure you were still breathing. He stopped himself from crying even though he wanted to do more. Panic set inside him his eyes darting at every moment the paramedics did. He watched them apply pressure where the wound was and how they made sure the oxygen mask stayed on. Once they made it they rolled the stretcher out and he jumped after. He followed them for as long as they allowed him as he broke down in the middle of the hallway. A nurse had to escort him to a chair and let him know she would tell him how she was doing. He stared blankly at the wall blaming himself.

If only he didn't take you to the mall. If only he went with you to protect you like he promised when you first started dating. He waited hours not leaving the seat he was on. His conversation with his friends and brother were dry. The only thing he looked forward to was waiting for the nurse to tell him the news. Hong-Joo would normally ask several questions to cover the news and get the scoop but she didn't. Even if she tried he wouldn't answer. He thanked Woo-Tak for catching the person who tried to kill you. Oh, would he do his best to convince them to take his case during prosecution.

"Mr. Jung?" The same nurse called his name as he swiftly got up ready to bomber this nurse with questions. "Fortunately he didn't puncture any important organs. Even though she did lose a lot of blood we are going to monitor her for a while. Follow me"

He didn't ask any questions like he originally wanted to. All he wanted to do was see you and make sure you were fully okay. He wanted to be by your side when you woke up. Once they made it to the room his heart broke seeing you hooked to a monitor that caught every beat you made. He gently sat down and held your hand.

"I'm sorry" He whispered tears falling down his face.

"Here," Woo-Tak said gently holding the small box.

"Thank you" He whispered stuffing it in his pocket and paying attention back to you. Woo-Tak patted Jae-Chan's back and left. Jae-Chan stayed by your side till they kicked him out because of visiting hours. He frowned and walked home on his way he got a phone call. He picked it up noticing it was from his work.

"What?" He said bluntly not in the mood.

"We have a case for you," Mr. Choi said

"Listen I don't-"

"It's about what happened at the mall"

"What?"

"It's your case except"

"I'm handling that?" He said his voice piping up a bit.

"Mhm except the person already has a lawyer"

"Who?" Jae Chan said.

"Mr. Lee"

His eyes opened wide and he stopped in his tracks whatever slight happiness flew away.

[trannigraham]

Hannigram desert!au and repairman!will :)

Desert Blossom ~ Part One

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Summary: Hannibal is not too pleased when a repairman shows up at his house secluded in the desert. But perhaps this man may pique his interest after all….

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Prompt: here :) ((not used in part 1 but we will get there! It’s what inspired the idea))

Word count: 1,207

Cw for part 1: insects, food, ax, minor scratches (from yardwork)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hannibal stood in his kitchen, spiced aroma wafting from a simmering pot as he scraped the spines off of a nopal pad. It was calming to hear the melody of the clock on the wall ticking with a steady beat as the soup bubbles danced to the gentle scraping of the knife.

Hannibal was suddenly pulled away from the soft symphony by the low rumbling of a car engine pulling up in the distance. Quickly wiping his hands on his apron, he quietly approached the blinds in the front of his house. He saw an old, white truck pull up some meters away at the edge of his property.

Hannibal watched as someone got out of the driver’s seat, rolling down the sleeves to their flannel top to protect them from the midday sun. It wasn’t usual that Hannibal saw others out in the desert near his house. He would like to keep it that way.

The stranger grabbed a shovel and wire from the bed of the truck and headed to the run-down fence that separated Hannibal’s property with the next property over.

Hannibal continued to carefully observe as the person began to dig at the base of a large, gnarly bush that had uprooted one of the fence’s weathered wooden poles.

Pricked with motivation to scope out the suspicious activity, Hannibal walked to one of his china cabinets and reached behind, retrieving an ax he kept stowed there. As he walked through the house to the front door, he kept a careful eye on the fence-worker.

He exited the cool shade of his house and into the burning sun and the buzzing of summer cicadas. He effortlessly glided through the desert brambles at a swift pace, and he closed the long distance in ten minutes.

The other, being engrossed with the arduous task at hand, hadn't noticed his presence.

As Hannibal approached, he noted their dark hair with curls beginning to glisten from sweat, their square, wire glasses, and their muscles flexing as they expertly went to work. They didn’t have gloves, and their hands were already adorned with fresh scratches from the thorny plants they were working with. Hannibal was taller and larger than them, but he could tell they were still strong. He didn’t let down his guard.

Hannibal finally cleared his throat.

“Good afternoon,” the human mask slipped over Hannibal’s features.

They jumped.

“Shit! Oh god, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming,” they gave a half-smile without looking directly at Hannibal.

Hannibal continued to stare at the stranger.

“My apologizes,” he replied. Despite the initial reaction, Hannibal noted how they didn’t seem to be intimidated by his unexcused presence nor the tool in his hand.

After a beat of silence from the other, he continued, “My name is Dr. Hannibal Lecter. And you are?”

“Will,” the other said.

Hannibal bored holes into the stranger with his eyes, waiting for a last name. They caught on after a moment and added, “Oh- uh, Graham. Will Graham. He/him. Are you the owner of this next property here?”

“I am,” Hannibal calmly replied, still cautious of the man’s intentions of being near his property. “He/him as well.”

“May I ask, what are you doing out in the heat this afternoon?” he feigned concern with a flit of his voice.

“I’ve been hired by your neighbor to help fix this cattle fence here. I gotta remove some of this scrub and re-establish the poles and rewire the sagging parts. I’m only working right now instead of in the morning because they’re going to pay me double to get it all done in the next two days. Guess they have a potential buyer for the property coming around on Thursday.”

Hannibal took in the new information with a grind of his teeth.

“Do you come to this area often? I admit, you seem to be ill-prepared without gloves or a head covering.”

The stranger’s face twisted up slightly, apparently not liking his expertise or preparedness questioned. “I’ve lived here all my life, but someone stole some items from me yesterday, so I will just have to make do until I finish this job.” He turned away, continuing to jab at the dirt around a pesky bush.

He continued to work, seeming a little spiffed. He gave a sideways glance at the shining metal in Hannibal’s hand.

“So what made you walk all the way out here to greet me? Wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to trespass?” The wavy-haired man asked.

“Well, I-” Hannibal began before he was abruptly cut off.

“Wait! Quiet,” the stranger harshly whispered. His eyes were locked on a spot on the bush in front of them.

Hannibal raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together, displeased at the interruption.

“Look…” the other said in a softer tone as he crouched down. He excitedly motioned for Hannibal to do the same. After a moment of hesitation, Hannibal followed the other man’s lead, his eyes following where the other was pointing.

On one of the branches lay a Tarantula Hawk. The gorgeous creature sat peacefully, black legs that shone iridescently blue gently carried the enormous wasp through the dried leaves. Its ferociously orange wings sparkled in the sunlight, and its antennae perked up with the breeze.

“Look at her… isn’t she marvelous?” He asked Hannibal with wonder, not daring to peel his eyes away for a moment.

Suddenly, and to Hannibal’s surprise, he slowly put his hand an inch from the dangerous creature’s face, allowing her to walk onto his hand.

No longer interested in the insect, Hannibal’s eyes flicked to study Will’s face.

“You know she has the second most painful sting in the world, correct?” Hannibal proded.

“Oh, I know. But she won’t do us any harm. I just want to make sure I didn’t accidentally hit her with the shovel.” Will smiled as he carefully stepped through the rocks to lay her on the shaded side of a bush that was a few feet from the fence.

“Absolutely incredible,” he breathed out.

“Yes, indeed,” Hannibal replied, his mind occupied with curiosity about the genuine vulnerability in the face of potentially extreme pain that he had just witnessed.

He suddenly changed the subject, “As I was about to say, I came out here to offer you this,” he lied, handing Will the freshly sharpened ax.

“I saw you through the window with only the shovel, and I thought the ax might be able to assist you in removing some of the larger bodies of bushes before you tackle roots, lest you get scratched by the thorns.”

He paused for only a moment, and before Will could respond, he added, “Speaking of which, I see you have already acquired some injuries. Could I interest you in briefly coming to my house to disinfect those, as well as borrowing some sort of hat or scarf for your head?”

Will looked at Hannibal’s face for a moment with wide eyes before replying, “That’s extremely kind of you, but really I don’t think I can accept-“

“I insist,” Hannibal interrupted, beginning to lead Will in the direction of this house.

“Oh, alright. Thank you,” Will said as he gave a sheep smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2…. Coming soon?

[imamotherfuckingstar-lord]

promised her

eddie munson x reader

summary: after losing max to vecna, eddie is there for you.

warnings: AGNST. max dies in this fic. alcohol abuse. depression, grief.

a/n: in this story, eddie was never accused of killing Chrissy (she did die, but she never went to him for the dr*gs– he got mixed into the vecna mess because of reader and dustin. reader/eddie have an established relationship.

The house phone rang three times before Eddie could reach it, cursing under his breath as he detangled himself from his bed sheet. Shirtless and out of breath, he answered with a sharp, annoyed tone, which quickly disappeared when he heard your meek voice on the other end. He looked around the living room and noticed that his uncle wasn’t back from his graveyard shift, which meant it was smack dab in the middle of the night.

“What’s going on,” he asked gently, leaning against the kitchen counter; his question was met with silence, and he gave you a few moments before asking if he needed to come get you. “Where are you?”

His voice was concerning and sweet, so you gave him the address of the house party you were at. He promised to be there as soon as he could, hanging up and running a tired hand over his face. Eddie didn’t mind being your personal chauffeur, but these calls were weighing on his heart. Ever since losing Max and ending Vecna, once and for all, your mental state faltered. Everyone was hurting, but you were the one that had promised the young girl that everything would be fine, and you were the one who answered Lucas’s screams for help while Erica ran to telephone 9-11. Nothing could ever erase the burned memory of seeing Max’s lifeless body or the wrecked expression on Lucas’s face as the world shook beneath the three of you. Watching the whole town erupted in chaos – all while trying to not think about the others in the Upside-Down. It had taken a few hours before you would even know the others were fine, that Eddie was fine. When he arrived at the hospital with Steve, Robin, and Dustin, Max was still unresponsive and on life support – as soon as he laid his eyes on you, he knew that you were wrecked, and he held you in his arms for hours. A few days later, Mike, Eleven, and Will arrived at the hospital and two days later, Maxine Mayfield left the world. That night, you arrived drunk at Eddie’s trailer, whiskey oozed through your pores and when Eddie opened the door, you fell off the porch. He had cursed and helped you into the home, taking you to his bedroom and laying you on his bed.

“…I promised her…” was all you could say, over and over, as Eddie placed a blanket over you. He laid next to you, eyes watching carefully as you muttered until sleep came over you – you slept for sixteen hours, straight through the next day and when you had awakened, you couldn’t recall how you arrived at the Munson’s’ residence.

Now, Eddie was driving across town to some stranger’s house to get you; no doubt in his mind that you were piss drunk – he never met anyone who could drink so damn much, but he placed no blame on you. He had seen how badly Max’s death affected the whole group, but there was no doubt of the kinship the two of you shared. He couldn’t even count the times he saw the two of you lounging outside the Mayfield trailer – lawn chairs sprawled in front, an ice chest decked in the middle, and music playing from the boombox you had gotten Max for her birthday. He’d find himself watching from the living room window, not trying to drool too much over you – now, every time he’d glance out the same window, all he saw were ghost memories of what had been.

He arrived ten minutes after your call, parked in front of a two-story house – people were piling in and out, cars parked on the lawn. Eddie got out of the car, didn’t even change; still wearing his black gyms shorts and white Led Zeppelin shirt.  He drudged towards the house, bed hair and all; a few people greeted him, and he just waved, not in the mood to entertain. Luckily, he didn’t even have to go inside the house, because he found you sitting on the porch swing alongside Steve and Robin. The duo looked relieved when he walked up, giving them each a nod before bending to your eye level; he rested his palm om his knee and said your name. Your head lifted from Robin’s shoulder and Eddie smiled, holding out his hand to you.

“You came,” you murmured.

“Of course, I did,” he cooed, giving your knee a little pat. He stood up then and Steve gave him a concerned look. Eddie just waved a hand and helped you off the porch; your body was heavier than usually, because you were completely relaxed. The alcohol did that for you and he understood why you wanted to use it to numb the pain – shit, he used weed to calm his anxieties.  “Alright, sweetheart, let’s get you to the van.”

“Let me help,” Steve said, getting up from the swing. Eddie sent him a thankful glance as the two of them lead you to the van, Robin trialing behind with your handbag. The three friends didn’t say a single word until you were buckled up and the passenger door was closed. Robin handed over the handbag to Eddie and he tried to smile, but almost lost his composure when Steve placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“She was doing okay, but then she just kept drinking,” he explained, letting go of Eddie. Robin concurred and added that you were even sneaking drinks when Steve cut you off. Eddie listened and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before thanking the two for having you call.

“No worries, we care about her. I know losing Max was hard on her…”

“…on all of us,” Steve added, looking away as Robin placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I appreciate you guys lookin’ out for her – she’s…my girl,” Eddie almost smiled, glancing at the passenger window, where your head rested. He sighed and gave each of his friends a nod, before bidding them a goodnight. They watched with heavy hearts as Eddie hopped into the van and drove off, the air as thick as the alcohol in your blood.

The trailer looked peaceful when Eddie pulled up, parking right at the porch steps. He turned the engine off and jogged to the passenger side, opening the door carefully and helping you out of the car. You were more coherent when he placed an arm around your waist, guiding you up the steps and to the front door. Once inside, he helped you straight to his bedroom but not before asking if you needed to use the restroom – you whispered no, and he quickly helped you to the bed. Your back fell down onto the mattress and Eddie stared down at you; your eyes were glazed and all he could see was a fragment of the person you once were. Regardless, he loved you.

“How about some water?”

“…can you just scratch my back?”

Eddie laughed, for the first time in hours, and he crawled over you, landing on the mattress. “Come here.”

He laid flat on his back, and you snuggled up against him, laying on your side and resting your left leg over his hips. His right hand came over your thigh and the other snaked around your shoulder, over to the top of your back. You made a whiny noise when his fingers lifted your shirt and started scratching up and down you skin. He leaned his head a bit to kiss the top of your head and he remarked on how he could smell the booze on you.

“Well, I did drink Steve under the table…”

“…bet it wasn’t hard at all.”

“Yeah,” you whispered, closing your eyes, and relaxing to the motion of Eddie’s chest faintly rising and then falling. His body was warm and you wished you could spend forever in bed with him, away from the reality of not being able to see Max again – to spend countless hours with her at the mall, to giving her hair trims in your kitchen, or listen to her complain about Lucas with a smile on her face. You were never going to see her again, give her sisterly hugs and advice – the times you spent thinking about her future and helping her get back on track with school, encouraging her to continue her writing and to find something she was passionate about. All that time you had with Max was never going to be enough and you lived – God damn, what you wouldn’t do to trade places with her.

“I miss her…” you voice was so low you were sure Eddie hadn’t heard but then he pulled you closer and kissed you on the forehead. Tears escaped your eyes as he promised you everything would be okay. “I promised the same thing to Max and now she’s gone.”

This time a sobbed erupted from your throat and Eddie closed his eyes as you clung to him, holding on as if something was pulling you into a dark abyss – and then he realized, as he held you tight, he was the one holding on for dear life. He was the one that was afraid of losing you, because you were slipping through the cracks – everyone else, they were at least trying to move forward, even Lucas. He had busied himself with school and basketball, plus he had his sister and family. You? You were floating around like a ghost and Eddie was the only person you had, and he was terrified that you were going to lose this battle. That the light would never return to your eyes or even worse, you were going to drink yourself to an early death.

“You’re going to get through this,” he promised, hand rubbing up and down your back. The motion relaxed your sobs and you nestled into his side; fingers wrapped around the hem of his shirt. He relaxed then, knowing he was doing the best he could and that was enough, that had to be enough.

“I love you, Eddie,” you whispered, head leaned back to get a look at him. He smiled then, lifting his hand from your leg to brush away dampened hair from your face. He looked so thoughtfully beautiful, and you were glad to have someone to hold on to, glad it was him.

“I love you too, sweetheart – let’s try to get some sleep, yeah?”

You agreed and allowed him to turn off the lamp beside his bed, and when the room went completely dark – the light from the moon shined through the bedroom window, and for a moment, as you gazed sleepily at the corner of the room, you swore you saw Max. It could have been the copious amounts of alcohol you had consumed or your mind seeing what it wanted, but suddenly a wave of comfort flooded over your body and for a split second, you felt peace. A single tear fell down your face and then you smiled.

“Eddie…”

“…yeah?”

“I want to take flowers to Max tomorrow…”

Eddie’s fingers paused from scratching your back, you hadn’t been to the cemetery since the funeral a few weeks ago. He was surprised but pleased – he knew losing Max had forever altered you, but maybe this was a step forward. Maybe one day he’d get to see his girl again smile and if you couldn’t, he would do it for you – he would smile enough for the two of you.

“Yeah, baby, we can pick up some flowers too,” he lifted your chin up with his finger and you glanced up at him. God, he loved you. Would do anything for you and if that meant carrying your spirit around until you were ready to reclaim it, then he’d do it proudly. “I love you.”

With heavy eyes, you captured a kiss from him before resting your head back on his chest; Eddie continued to scratch your back until the sounds of your soft snoring filled the room and only then, when he knew you were sound asleep, did he too fall asleep under the moon light sprouting through the window.

[spiderceo]

WORLD SWAP AU

warnings: slight scopophobia (fear of staring)

a/n: welcome to my funky lil au inspired by @aerkame and their ‘alive au’. i really like the idea of the puppets somehow ending up in the reader’s world and making their life ten times harder than it needs to be lol

master post

🌟 you were never a morning person so you always hit the snooze button the moment your alarm went off. you reached over like you usually do to your alarm clock but instead of the usual metal, you grabbed onto something soft and squishy like…felt? hold on-

🌟 you opened one eye only to come face to face with a little yellow puppet staring at you widely with a grin. it’s blue hair in your hands and nothing but staring between you both. time seemed to pause as you waited for your brain to catch up but then it suddenly spoke:

🌟 “…good morning, neighbour.” it smiled brightly.

🌟 you let out a screech that could burst eardrums and tried to put as much distance between you and this creature. you backed into the wall against the other side of your bed and just kept screaming bloody murder. the puppet was also screaming alongside you but it wasn’t scared, it was just copying you.

🌟 cut to a few minutes after and you are standing in your living room with all of the puppets crammed on your couch. they all came in varying sizes so it made their squeeze to fit rather difficult. the puppet who almost gave you a heart attack introduced himself as wally and then told you the names of all the others. the fact you even felt sane enough to sit and listen to them all talk over each other for your attention was a miracle. most people would have either fainted or gone back to bed in hopes this was just a bad dream.

🌟 for some reason, the shock of these living puppets in your home wore off pretty quickly. it was probably the idea of having to take care of them and the stress it would put you through that did it. no time to be in shock when your entire life needed to be rearranged.

🌟 none of the puppets could find a way to explain their situation. “one day we were playing, and the next we were here!” the one named sally exclaimed, using her arms expressively as she talked. it wasn’t like you were much help in this situation. you were just as confused as they were.

🌟 the rest of the day went by a bit chaotically. these new roommates of yours caused a lot of trouble. they didn’t know anything about the modern world apparently so you had to teach them like they were children. they asked about everything from the toaster to your toothpaste. curiosity was something they all didn’t lack.

🌟 keeping them entertained wasn’t a hard job. it meant that you could process your situation and figure out a way to send them back to where they came from.

🌟 frank was interested in your bookshelves. you found him reading pride and prejudice. the speed at which he read amused you greatly. they were practically flying through the pages.

🌟 you had to teach poppy how to use your kitchen. all she wanted to do was bake you a nice meal in thanks for welcoming them into your home — despite all the trouble it was going to cause.

🌟 you let julie try on all your clothes and have a fashion show with everyone. cleaning up after her was a haste but they offered to help clean up which was weirdly sweet.

🌟 wally had figured out how to use the tv but not entirely. you walked in on him watching static to which you asked “how long have you been staring at that?”. his response was “my eyes feel funny.”

🌟 sally has taken a liking to the random ornaments scattered around your house. she will randomly pick one up and come running to you to ask what it is. of course you’ll explain anything to her but it was strange that she didn’t know what a sea shell was…

🌟 eddie has started doing arts and crafts in bulk. frank said that he does it when he’s stressed. you’re not entirely sure how to relax him because it’s not like you can take a puppet to a spa or treat them to a nice meal-

🌟 barnaby has been following you around with perfectly timed jokes and sound effects. it’s starting to get on your nerves (especially when you’re trying to nap) but your hope that they’d soon return to whatever world they come from makes you tolerate it.

🌟 howdy hasn’t found something in your home he enjoys yet. he spends most of his time helping you with housework. his multiple arms and tall stature help when it comes to cleaning and reaching the top shelve. if you could choose any of them to stay it would definitely be him because he’s so kind and helpful — maybe you’d keep poppy around too because her meals are like heaven on a plate.

[lokis-army-77]

Andrew nNeiman fluff, him being a dad and putting his daughter to bed and then coming to his wife(reader) and being all cutesy

Sleep tight

Andrew Neiman x female reader

Word Count: 795 (Short and sweet)

The Reader comes home from work and sees her husband asleep with their daughter after reading her a bedtime story.

Warning: None

Inbox is open

Masterlist (Taglist linked here)

I never usually came home late, but today I had. Traffic was worse than it had ever been and my boss at work had dropped two deadlines on me after lunch today. Needless to say, I had to stay a few extra hours and now I was super stressed and wanted nothing more than to see my daughter and husband and then curl into bed. Thank god tomorrow was Saturday or I would be even more on edge. 

The apartment was quiet as I walked through the door, setting my purse on the kitchen counter and kicking my shoes off next to the door. 

“I’m home!” I called out but received no answer. Curiously, I walked out of the kitchen and down the narrow hallway where I saw a sliver of light coming through the crack in my daughter's bedroom door. 

Quietly, I pushed the door open. Andrew was sprawled out on the tiny toddler bed with our daughter cradled in one arm and a book in the opposite hand. She had already fallen asleep, her tiny grip on her plush triceratops loose and mouth wide open with small deep breaths going in and out. Andrew was on his way there too, head, nodding off every so often as he read, not noticing he had gone over the same two sentences three times. 

I smiled, crossing my arms and slowly backing out of the doorway. Waking him up would have startled him and I don’t think I could handle both his and our daughter whining about being woken up at the moment. So, I went to our room at the end of the hall and got ready for bed. 

The shower was hot and, although not exactly what I needed, it helped immensely to ease the tension in my shoulders. I wasn’t in there long, thanks to the shitty water heater going cold after about ten minutes. Then, on to pajamas. The soft fabric of my sleep shorts graced my fingers as I grabbed them from where I had tossed them at the foot of the bed this morning. I tugged them on and immediately began rummaging through the dresser for one of Andrew’s shirts to wear. Ever since we got together in junior year of college and practically moved in together, I had never worn anything else to sleep in, and now, I don’t think I ever will. 

Yawning, I threw the covers of the bed back and snuggled in, shining in relief when my aching feet were finally able to have a rest. It wasn’t long after that, that I started to doze off, only waking when I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall. 

Opening my eyes only a sliver, I watched as Andrew entered the room and left the door cracked open. My eyes closed again while I listened to him rummaging around the room, trying to be quiet so he didn’t wake me, but he’s never been the most careful person. A laugh left my lips when he accidentally hit one of the symbols of his drumset in the corner of the room. 

“Shit.” I heard him say as he quickly grabbed it, stopping the vibrations. 

“You know,” I spoke up, “I swear you could wake the dead. You are literally the least quiet person ever.” I rolled over to look at him. 

He stared at me with a sheepish smile. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Hun, if I had been, I wouldn’t be now.”

“Sorry.” He dropped into bed, scooting closer to me. His hand came out to hold the side of my face, thumb caressing back and forth. “How was your day?” 

“Shit. Why did you ever let me apply for an office job?” I couldn’t stop my words from coming out in an annoyed grumble. 

“Hey, you were the one who said it was a dream of yours to have a cubical.” He defended.

“Well, I take it back.” 

He only shook his head and leaned in to kiss my forehead. “I missed you, and so did Carter.” 

“I know. I tried to make it home before bedtime, but they gave me a ton of paperwork that needs to be submitted by Wednesday next week and I ended up staying overtime. And you know how traffic and the subway can get after work.” 

“You’re here now, and tomorrow is the weekend. So, just close your eyes and get some sleep.”

I did as he said, giggling when he started to pepper kisses all over my face before pressing one last one to my lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too baby.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, cuddling close to his warm body and quickly falling asleep to the sound of his rhythmic heartbeat.

Miles Taglist: @n3ssm0nique @babyhoneystvles @xelizabethvalentinex

[madsworld15]

Part 3 of Chapter 2: "May" from Heal Me, Hold Me, Make Me, Know Me.

QAF, BrianxJustin, Asexual Spectrum Representation, Series Re-Telling

*Trigger Warning: This section contains talk of vivid, violent nightmares.

Also, this is for my sweet friends who have been my biggest supporters with this series: @winderlylandchime @maryp50 @in-cracks-of-light

This whole Chapter will be up on AO3 sometime tomorrow!

With a bag slung over his shoulder, Brian opened the door to his loft. He walked through it, leaving it open for Justin to follow him inside. 

He looked around at his pristine, minimalist decor and silently wondered how this was going to work out. Justin hadn’t been wrong two days ago when he had told Brian and his mom that Brian’s home was basically a fuckpad on steroids. Brian had never been good at sharing his personal, private space with anyone. Mostly because he was naturally social to the degree of getting what he needed – sex and the occasional family contact. When he left work or dinner at Debbie’s or any other outing for that matter, he loved that he could come back here and put all his walls down and just be himself. Now, he wouldn’t be able to have even that. Maybe Justin was right, and they’d drive each other nuts within days.

“I can stay on the couch.” Justin’s words broke through Brian’s thoughts. He frowned in confusion.

“What do you mean?” Brian looked Justin up and down, observing how small the man now made himself.

The last time Justin had been in Brian’s apartment had been right after his father died. Justin had been larger than life that night. Moving around like he owned the place, putting things away or moving them so that Brian didn’t have to think about anything but his overwhelmingly complicated grief. That night, Brian saw just how take-charge Justin naturally was. It had been extremely sexy, and despite his despair, he had realized then that Justin was exactly the kind of man he didn’t know he’d been looking for.

Looking at him now, cowering into himself in the middle of the room, surreptitiously glancing every which way to assess the possibility of a threat, you wouldn’t know he was ever overly confident. That realization broke Brian’s heart. No one deserved to get bashed for being themselves, but even more so, no one deserved to live in a constant state of fear. Brian ached to take that fear away from Justin, but he felt helpless to figure out how. If there was one thing good that came out of how Brian was raised, it was that he’d learned at an early age to stand back and observe, letting others dictate his presence in their space.

“This is your apartment. I can sleep on the couch.” Justin didn’t make eye contact and he shrugged. It was as if he believed he was already taking up too much space.

“You’ve seen my bed; it’s big enough for the two of us. I promise I won’t touch you.” Brian slowly approached Justin, not wanting to startle him. “You’re safe here.”

“Or I could sleep on the couch if you’d prefer not to share direct space with me.” Brian gave Justin an alternate option, “Whatever you decide, you don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Justin didn’t give Brian an answer at all. He just continued to stand there, trembling ever so slightly. Instead of pushing him, Brian walked around him and went about straightening up the apartment. There wasn’t much to do, but he needed to distract himself, or else he would physically try to get Justin to respond to him. They co-existed in the same space for another ten minutes in silence.

“I remember coming here. But, it still feels like foreign territory.” Justin’s voice was emotionless and distant.

Brian continued looking over files on his computer, knowing that Justin hadn’t given him permission to be in his bubble of safety just yet. He did, however, silently watch as Justin slowly walked toward Brian’s bed and reverently ran his fingers along the edge of the bed as he walked the link of it. Justin’s right hand still couldn’t do much, but he could move it more than previously.

“I remember we slept here together. You were so sad. I didn’t know what to do for you that night. So, I did what I knew; I held you while you pretended you weren’t crying.” Justin looked up, and their eyes met.

“I have always respected your lack of desire for sex. That now extends to any form of touch you aren’t comfortable with. Everyone else might say I’m selfish and only think of myself, but I would never cross a line with anyone. Especially not you.” Brian sucked in his bottom lip and waited for Justin to react.

Justin sat down on the corner of Brian’s bed and nodded. A silence fell between them once more. It was only 6 pm, and Brian still needed to go over the notes for his client meeting the next morning. So, he turned back to his computer and continued to work. He wanted to ask Justin what he was thinking in the hopes of better understanding his silence, but he didn’t. Brian was nothing if not predictable; conversation and feelings were not his strong points, especially if they converged into one.

The next time he looked up, he saw that Justin had curled up on top of the covers on the right side of the bed. Brian shut off his computer and went about his nightly routine as quietly as possible. He didn’t want to wake up the young man. As he went through the motions of taking a shower, cleaning his face, and brushing his teeth, Brian thought about what sharing a space with Justin would probably mean in the months to come.

I have to make things right by him. All he’s ever done is be patient, kind, and understanding with me. And what have I done in return? Dismissed him and denied my feelings for him. Because I had to self-sabotage to avoid being hurt, I hurt him. If I had followed him outside that night, maybe I couldn’t stopped him from getting anywhere near those guys, or I could’ve stopped them from hurting him. Fucking Michael. All he did was stand there and stare. 

Brian’s phone rang in the other room, and he dived to answer it before it could wake up Justin. Without even bothering to check who might be calling, Brian pushed the accept button.

“Hello.” He kept his voice soft and low, moving toward the bathroom once more to finish up his routine. 

“Hey, are you coming out tonight?” Michael’s voice was filled with hope. 

Brian from six months ago would’ve allowed his tone to manipulate him, and he’d feel guilty for having to say no. But, currently, Brian didn’t give a fuck how Mikey felt.

“Can’t. I’m busy, busy.” Brian glanced toward his bed once more when he saw movement. It was just the lad turning over in his sleep.

“Come on! I haven’t seen you in days.” Mikey whined.

“I’m sure Emmett and Ted are available,” was Brian’s clipped response.

“But I wanted to see you. I figured we could dance the night away now that we’re both single.”

“I’m not.”

“Not what?” Mikey seemed caught off guard by Brian’s simple reply.

“Single. I’m with Justin. And he just got released today.” Brian rolled his eyes and added, “Like I said, I’m busy.”

“I knew you were mad about what happened to him and, for some reason, blamed me, but it's been a month!” Mikey huffed and then hung up.

Brian hung up the phone and sighed. Between his job and Michael, he didn’t think his headache would ever go away. Pushing Michael from his mind, Brian went to the cabinet off to the side of his bathroom, where he kept an extra pillow. He could just grab his from the bed, but he didn’t want to leave anything up to chance when it came to waking up the kid, especially considering he had consistent nightmares.

He grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and turned off all the lights, except for the one illuminating the hall just off his bed area. He didn’t want Justin to wake up to complete darkness and freak out. Then, he took his glass and pillow over to the couch and got settled in for the night. He didn’t always sleep with pants on, but until Justin felt more comfortable, he would be.

The night air was chilly enough that Brian could see his breath as it escaped his mouth. The thumpa thumpa of Babylon permeated his skin from behind while the sound of a scuffle did the same to his front. He focused on what was happening and lept into action. Justin was being attacked by a group of faceless men who didn’t look much older than the kid himself. But, like always, Brian was too late…

NO! GOD! NO!

Brian awoke with a start, only this time it wasn’t his own dream that had startled him, but Justin’s screams.

“PLEASE! STOP! BRIAN!!!”

Brian lept over the couch to find Justin trapped in a tangle of the blanket. He was thrashing his body around, trying to get free. Brian froze. Was he supposed to wake him? What was the protocol for nightmares?

Brian tentatively stepped toward his bedroom and the bed. He pulled the blanket down toward him from where it was tucked in at the end. He didn’t touch Justin but allowed the sheet to be pulled from where it lay around his body. With the release of the sheet, Justin’s eyes shot open, and he sat up.

“Wha? Where am I?” His breaths came in gasps, and his eyes were wide and wild. 

Brian stepped into his line of site, still not close enough to touch, and used his soft, gentle voice – the one he mostly used for Gus, to calm down the blonde.

“Justin. Look at me.” Brian instructed, “Deep breath in. Deep breath out. It was just a nightmare. It wasn’t real.”

Justin looked into Brian’s eyes, and they both remained silent as Justin tried to get his breathing under control.

“You are safe,” Brian added. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t even touch you.”

Justin dropped his head into his hands and started to cry. Brian sat back, just watching, until his heart couldn’t take it anymore and he moved closer in the hopes of being able to give Justin some comfort.

He sat inches away from Justin, making sure his body didn’t touch the young man in any way. As Justin started to hyperventilate because of his crying, Brian reached out and tentatively placed his hand on Justin’s knee. It was up near his chest, but Brian figured it was safe because there was no intention but comfort to be interpreted by it.

“Justin, you need to take a deep breath and calm down.”

Justin tensed the moment Brian’s hand made contact with his knee, but then he slowly regained control of his tears and, by extension, his breathing. After a few minutes, Justin was reduced to hiccuping after each breath. Brian just sat there waiting for Justin to lead what came next. This wasn’t exactly familiar territory for him. Brian didn’t usually stick around for complicated, not even with his closest friends. He’d rather let them figure it out and rely on him for simple things like a check or some booze.

After a few minutes, Justin finally spoke. His voice was raspy and still filled with the remnants of sleep.

“I’m sorry.” 

“Why? You can’t control nightmares any more than you can control the color of your eyes.” Brian kept his voice at a low volume because it seemed to keep Justin at ease.

“I know you have a client meeting tomorrow. You need your sleep.”

“You didn’t wake me up.” Brian lied a little. “I had my own nightmare, actually.”

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.” Justin pulled away from Brian’s touch and twisted himself into an even tighter ball of limbs and torso.

“I’m not lying. Ever since that night, I have had a recurring nightmare. I try to get to you and save you, but I can’t.” Brian looked at his hands. He would never admit something so vulnerable to anyone else, but Justin deserved to know he wasn’t the only one harmed that night. He wasn’t alone.

“Do you have the same nightmare every night, or does it change,” Justin whispered, untangling himself a little to lean closer to Brian in interest.

“It’s not every night, but yes, it stays the same. Every time. I see the guys hurting you, and I run, but it’s never fast enough. Sometimes, my nightmare also stretches out the distance, so it feels like I never get any closer to you.” Brian bit his lip and continued to stare at his hands.

Suddenly, Justin’s hand was in his. For the first time since before the bashing, Justin allowed their fingers to interlock, and he squeezed Brian’s hand really hard.

“You did save me, though.” Justin’s voice had an air of awe to it. “Or at least that’s what my mom and Emmett say.”

“I couldn’t stop them from kicking you in the head or slamming their foot down on your hand.” Brian sucked in a breath, willing himself not to cry, “If you never draw again, it’ll be all my fault.”

Something about the stillness and darkness of the night forced Brian to let down his walls. He felt a vulnerability like never before. He was close to Michael and Lindsay, but not in a way he would ever admit any of this to them.

“My nightmares change from night to night. Some nights, my attackers do exactly what everyone has described to me. On those nights, I scream and scream but a sound never comes out, so no one ever hears me. Some nights, it’s even worse. I’m stuck in a straight jacket that I can’t escape and my attackers are monsters – sometimes it’s werewolves, sometimes vampires, occasionally they’ve been vicious dogs – and nothing I do gets them to stop. But the worst nights are when my attackers have familiar faces like my dad or my mom. The worst one was a few nights ago; my attackers were you, Emmett, and Debbie. I woke up that night and immediately vomited.”

Justin paused and took a few deep breaths to recenter himself and Brian just sat there in shock. He knew that Justin had been having nightmares, but he never could’ve imagined his brain would replace the unknown with known people. 

“I – uh…I don’t know what to say.” Brian struggled to respond. He knew Justin deserved to feel like none of what he saw would ever come true. “Just know that you are safe with us. Emmett, Debbie, and I would never hurt you. Emmett and Debbie would kill for you before ever laying a hand on you in malice.”

Justin just nodded. It wasn’t something Brian could say, but deep down, he added that he would commit murder for Justin. He desperately hoped the police would be able to find his attackers because Brian wanted a piece of them. Nothing could’ve prepared him for the anger he constantly had to keep at bay alongside his overwhelming guilt. Brian wanted so badly to make sure nothing ever hurt Justin like that again.

“You will always be safe with me.” Brian reiterated before he got up, crossed to the kitchen, got Justin a glass of water, and brought it back to him.

“Try to get some more sleep.” Brian squeezed Justin’s knee and went back to his arrangement on the couch. Not another word was spoken between them that night.