#the amount of times i’ve been rejected because i can’t do heavy lifting or stand for long periods

[faeparrish]

the fact that having a degree means absolutely nothing anymore lol almost everyone i know from uni has had to apply for benefits 😍

[wwilloww]

the bodyguard | ksj

pairing: bodyguard!jin x reader

genre: smut, fluff

rating: explicit

wc: 5k

summary: As your bodyguard, keeping you safe from the world comes with rules for Kim Seokjin. But you’re used to getting what you want, and you want him. 

warnings: nudity. pining. makeout. YN always gets what they want. no pronouns used to address reader. public sex. exhibitionism.  unprotected sex (pls be smarter than these fictional characters). creampie. fingering. oral sex. multiple orgasms. fluff. oh my god so much fluff.

AN: The first part of this fic was written entirely wined up with the INTENTION OF IT BEING A DRABBLE. The second part of this fic was written with the intention of showing all the love to Jin, but then came the idea of smut and bam here we are. 1 million thank yous to @jin-fizz​, who beta’d this at the very last moment and helped me rearrange some things. SMOOCHES to you, you lovely!

The Bodyguard

“Help! Someone, please, Help!”

The cry rings through the rooms, splitting through walls, through the heavy wooden doors of the almost-empty city manor. 

Jin’s footsteps echo from what sound like too far away, climbing the stairs, sprinting down the creaking wooden boards. He bursts through the door to find you, crouched and hunched over your leg on the floor.

“What! What’s wrong?” he almost yells.

His gaze flicks around the room, taking in every detail possible. The unmade bed, the open perfume bottle on your vanity, the doors open to the balcony, curtains fluttering in the late-night breeze.

“My leg!”

In a split second the man your father has hired to be your bodyguard is on his hands and knees next to you, large hands reaching for your palm, gripping it tight.

She had shown you exactly how to do it. Mixing the expression of pain and beauty so expertly on your face. Your mother, despite all the awards and golden trophies she had won for her Hollywood success, had always been the best kind of actress at home.

His eyes light with the slightest amount of relief as he scans your face.

Alright. She’s alright.

“Where?”

Before you can even say anything, he’s gripping your ankles, pulling you to him, looking for any sign of injury.

“Higher.” You lace the pain so particularly into your voice.

His deft fingers kneed into the flesh of your calf, searching for the cause of your cries.

“I don’t see-”

“Higher,” you insist.

His fingers trace so delicately, so carefully, over your knee, pressing into your thigh, higher, higher, until he’s brushing back the silken fabric of your nightgown.

And then, breath drawn so quickly through his nose, fingers digging into you, holding you tight.

“Oops,” you breath. “I must have completely forgotten.”

“To put panties on?”

“Mhmm. Exactly.”

With a quick movement, he’s wrapped both of his hands around your calves and tugs you forward to him.

“You’re a liar,” he drones, your legs nearly wrapped around his waist.

“I am.”

“And a cheat.”

“Of course.” You grin. “You know more than anyone that I don’t like to play these kinds of games by other people’s rules. And I know that you love it.”

He doesn’t respond. Just closes his eyes, takes a long controlled breath. When he exhales it brushes so teasingly across your face.

“I might be a liar, but I know you’re not.” You reach for his cheek, and you think you see his eyelids flutter at the touch. His hands are still wrapped around your leg, the warmth of his palms seeping through into you. “So tell me you haven’t been thinking about this,” you whisper.  

He growls softly, his eyes flashing bright and conscious towards you.

“You know I can’t.”

“Are you saying you don’t want me?” You draw on your prettiest of pouts.

“I can’t.”

You just blink back at him, letting your eyelashes brush against the warming rise of your cheeks.

“That’s not a no.”

“Your father would kill me.”

“Father’s not home.”

“He’ll be back by morning. And he’ll take pleasure in killing me if he were to know,” Jin asserts, running a hand through the falling wave of his sky-dark hair.  

“You’re avoiding the question. Why do you always avoid my questions?” You push yourself closer to him, coming to wrap your hands around his neck and tug on the fresh pressed angle of his white dress shirt collar. He looks away from you.

“Because you always ask all the wrong questions.”

“I do not. In fact, I’d argue I’m asking all the right ones.” You glance up at him. The look in his eyes is unmistakable. Desire. Mixed with restraint. You know which one he’ll let win out over the other, and within a second he’s proving you right.

“I should go.”

He begins to pull away from you.

“You should stay.” You push yourself forward, wrapping your legs around his torso and slinging your arms around his neck. Impulsively, his hands press against your lower back, supporting you. So when he stands, you’re face to face. He blinks, taking a second to realize your position.

“Stay. Please,” you whisper.

He continues to stare at you, eyes tracing the shadow of your brow, the press of your lips, the mound of your warm cheeks. Your confidence crumbles in his silence.

“At least tell me you want this. Tell me I’m not making it up. Tell me I’m not alone in this.”

Finally, his eyes flick up to yours. It’s there. The answer. But he remains silent, his breath moving through his chest, and then through you. The stillness of the moment — being held by the man you can’t get out of your mind — mixed with the bitter taste of a lingering question. You can’t. You can’t hold it all, not in one body: the tenderness of his being and the acrid promise of his rejection.

And so you release your arms from around his neck. Unhook your legs. When your body drops softly to the floor he lets you go.

“It’s okay,” you say. “If you want to go, you can go.”

Without looking at him, you pad silently to the cracked open french doors. With a light push, they swing open before you and the crisp of the night air ruffles through your hair and the thin fabric of the night gown you’re wearing.

Silly. Silly. Silly.

You squeeze your eyes shut, letting the breeze swirl around you and prickle with ice against your skin. If only you might lose yourself in it. If you could lift yourself up off the stone balcony to fly through the city streets, feeling nothing but the brush of strangers against you.

Had you mistaken it all? The lingering gazes. The tightened grip on your waist when your father introduced you to potential suitors — all of whom you’d quickly turned away in front of Jin, by the way. Did you misread the way that his gaze had begun to latch onto you to trace not just your safety, but your sense of being in a way that surpassed his usual loyalty? And most important to you, the way he’d begun smiling around you for the first time. Letting cracks show in his usually pristine professional behavior.

You wait for the sound of the doors to your bedroom slamming shut and Jin leaving, but you must be so lost in yourself that the sound never comes. It’s just the wind, howling. The beating of your heart in your chest. The bite of something that tastes like regret nibbling at your throat.

“How could you think I didn’t want you?” It’s so soft you can barely hear it. But you do.

Spin back towards the room.

Jin stands between the doors, his broad frame flickering gold in the soft light behind him. His face is shadowed in blue  as he faces out into the night, out towards you, but his eyes shine with a warm light.

“How dare you?” he says softly with a smile playing against his lips. He steps towards you. Before the smile can fully take position on your lips, he’s so close to you you can feel the warmth of his large body radiating out towards you. “How dare you think I don’t want you.” A long pause. And then, as softly as if the words might break him: “You’re all I can think about.” Tentatively, he reaches out towards you.

And then he stops, just as his hand is about to touch your burning cheek.

You do the rest, stepping back into your usual tradition of goading him on. With a soft movement, you reach for him, interlacing your fingers with his and letting his touch fall across your face. You sigh into it. His thumb strokes slowly over your cheek bone.

“How dare I?” you say. “How dare you make me wait this long.”

He just smiles back, his dark eyes reflecting the streetlights back to you.

“Will you let me kiss you, now? Finally?”

“Finally, yes,” he says.

You reach up, pressing your fingers to the back of his neck where his hair has grown long in the past months, tangling your fingers into them before his lips have even reached yours.

None of your other first kisses have been like this. Sure, you’ve kissed other people. Other men. But you’ve never kissed Kim Seokjin before.

Your lips meet like wings brushing against each other: soft and fluttering, finding a path through the air with ten thousand questions etched into each feather. He wraps one of his long arms around your back, spreading his fingers wide and pressing you lightly into his chest, all the while his opposite hand brushes so lightly and tenderly against your cheek, guiding you ever closer, ever deeper into his affections.

“You,” he whispers against your lips, “are an absolute gift.”

“I don’t know how you did it,” you whisper back.

“What?”

“Resisted me for so long.” He snorts against you and you can’t help but giggle. “I swear to god I’ve been trying for so long to let you know how I’ve felt,” you explain, leaning your forehead against his.

“I’m a dumbass, baby.”

“I know.”

“Good.”

“Please,” you look up at him. “Kiss me again.”

For a split second he hesitates.

“What?” you ask. The silence that opens between you two opens up something else inside of you.

“If…” He wets his lips. “If I kiss you again, I won’t want to let go.”

“Then don’t.”

The smile that spreads across his pretty face is wide and splitting, but it is only a half second before he is recapturing you in his hold, pushing you back against the stone railing of the balcony as his lips meet yours a second time.

Whereas his first kiss was like a ring of petals opening slowly to the dawning sun, this kiss is midday heat. It is searing, pressing through you like a flash, lighting every nerve within you on fire. It is red and pink and all the warm colors on the spectrum of life. It burns you tender with its quickness, but all you want is more.

As if he is feeling exactly as you, his kiss quickens. He bites your lower lip and greedily swallows the moan that slips out of your mouth. When you tangle your fingers in his long hair, he hisses back at you and you can feel the curl of his smile against you.

“You like that,” you note quietly when he moves to nip at the cut of your jaw.

“I like you.”

With a graceful move, Jin twirls you around, slamming your back against the open door, effectively slamming it shut and leaving you in privacy on the balcony. Your breath rushes out of your lungs in a gasp.

“Jin?”

“Darling?”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to get as close to you as possible.”

“Then, goddamnit, get closer.”

He grins, takes your begging, and runs with it.

With the kind of grace and speed you were so used to seeing abound in him while he was working, he dives for your neck, intertwining the pillowed press of his lips with sharp nibbles against the sensitive skin.

“Closer.”

He chuckles and does as you bid. With his awkward strength, he lifts you, balancing your weight on his hips as you wrap your hands around his neck for balance. An unfortunate time to remember your current situation: entirely unclothed except the thin slip you donned just at Jin was sprinting up the stairs.

He adjusts you and your bare cunt brushes against the silky smooth fabric of his dress pants. But that’s not what makes you gasp. It’s the bulge that nestles hard and hot against you as he dives back in for your neck.

One hand tangled in his thick locks, you can’t help but grind your hips down on him. The sound that spills from his lips is needy, desperate, and it reverberates straight through you.

“I want you,” you whine as his hand graces up your torso. He pulls back. Cocks his head to the side ever so slightly.

“You want me?”

“As if having me half naked and wrapped around you isn’t enough to convince you of that?”

“Isn’t that a little… fast?”

“Is waiting four years a little too fast for you?”

“Good point.”

And he’s diving back in, nipping at the already blossoming marks on your neck. Throw your head back, relishing in his every touch and the even more divine gift: his entire attention focused on you.

“Please, Jin, I don’t want to wait anymore. I mean it.”

“What do you wan—”

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Oh.”

“Here.”

“Here?”

“Mhmm.”

“On the balcony? Where everyone can see?”

You kiss him then, taking his lower lip between your teeth and relishing in the gasp that you pull from him.

“No one will see. And if they do, then they’ll know.”

“Know what?”

“That I’m yours.”

He grins back at you. “Mine?”

“If you want me.”

“Of course I want you. Don’t you know what you do to me?”

“You could tell me about it.”

“I could, but then I’d miss out all on this.”  

Gently he lets you down, but his lips never leave yours as his hands come to meet your hips and guide you where he wants. You let one of your hands drift down from where you’ve kept them locked around his neck. Kissing him still, you pluck open the first two buttons of his dress shirt and trace your hands down the burning skin.

If you’re known for anything, you’re known for your impatience. So you don’t linger long on the smooth planes of his chest, and instead glide your hand down his torso until you reach his belt buckle. You make as if to dip underneath his pants, but at the last moment you pull away and cup the impressive bulge he’s already sporting.

“Shit,” he hisses as you trace a manicured nail around the shape of his cock. But all sound chokes in his throat as you grip his erection through the fabric of his pants and begin to stroke him. “Need you. Now.”

“Good.”

You begin to turn, to pull your nightgown up over your bottom, but he’s tugging you back towards him and spinning you around so you’re pressed to his chest.

“I want to see your face.”

It’s hasty work, him pulling himself out of his pants, wrapping his veiny hand around his throbbing cock and notching the head of it against your dripping folds. But you’re no more patient, hopping up so you’re seated precariously on the balcony railing and kissing at his neck steadily and reaching down to part your lips just for him.

He only teases you for a moment, stepping between your legs and dragging the head of his cock against your clit. He wraps one hand around your waist, securing you tightly to him.

“Please,” you breathe against his chest and he pushes into you in one swift thrust. The sensation of him filling you is everything. It clouds your vision. It resets your senses till all you can think of, can feel is this man’s existence, beating so close to yours.

“Fuck—” he hisses as his cock settles inside you, as you adjust around his thick girth.

“You’re so—” you pant against him.

“Is it too much?”

“Big. Just give me a moment.”

He does, reaching to cup the back of your neck and press a kiss to your forehead. It’s almost too intimate, the way he holds you so softly, so tenderly, all while his cock throbs within you. It’s in that moment that the discomfort of the stretch shifts to pleasure. Warmth, spreading from your abdomen outwards. You relax in his hold, hands falling from his neck to the strong muscles of his arms.

“Please,” you murmur. “Need you.”

His hips rut against yours as if he’s never had anything as good as you before.

“Want you to feel good,” he tells you. “Tell me—”

“Just need you—closer.”

You weren’t sure that he could get closer but it’s what your body craves and it’s what he serves. He wraps his arms around you, hands spreading wide and pressing you impossibly close. In the moment, you wish you two were bare as your bodies move against each other as if they’d known the shared rhythm all along.

He fucks you like that, like you’re suspended in air. The warmth of his body keeps you grounded as the height that hangs behind you reels through you, adding a giddy, heady feeling to it all. Or maybe the giddiness comes from the way you relish in the quick pants and desperate grunts that fall from his lips and to your shoulder. Or the way he gasps your name like a monk’s chant into your ear, the sound of it like nothing you’ve ever heard before. You don’t want to hear it any other way either.

When he comes, spilling deep inside you, it’s your name on his lips. When you come, it’s his name splitting through the silent sky.

Jin holds you there, pressed still against his chest for a long moment as you both catch your breath. It’s only when he feels the slight shiver of your body that he pulls back.

“You’re cold?” You nod. “Let’s get you inside.”

He helps you down carefully from the balcony banister before tucking himself away and grabbing your hands in one of his large ones.

“Come, I’ll take care of you.”

You can’t help but let the joy show on your face as he leads you forward.

He reaches behind him, opening the balcony doors. The light curtains wash out into the room with the cold air, brushing around Jin like some kind of ethereal welcome.

Welcome back to my world, you think. But the thought of reality, of the conversations, the negotiations, the reality that will await you in the morning slips out of your mind as Jin twirls you into his arms and suddenly your whole world is warm again. Suddenly your world is Jin again.

He peppers your whole face with kisses as he walks you backwards, loud smooching sounds echoing through the large room coupled with your giggles that turn into full blown laughter.

“Hey hey hey!” you chide, grabbing onto the loose collar that now teases the delicious arch of his collar bones and neck. “You can’t do that!”

“What!” he snaps between kisses. “I can’t kiss you!”

“Not if you’re going to be that ridiculous!”

At that moment you feel the soft edge of the bed hit the back of your knees and you are tumbling backwards, eyes widening with shock. At the last second he’s reaching behind you, catching you and lowering you slowly to the soft mattress. You reach for him, but he kneels at the edge of the bed, just far enough that your grabbing hands only find empty air.

“So then tell me, if I can’t drown you in kisses, can I at least do this?” His hand teases the hem of your slip, tracing circles on your upper thigh. The touch is simple, but it raises goosebumps all over your body. He slaps away your reaching hands.

“Or this?” His fingers dip beneath the fabric, tracing up your thigh to dance around your hip. “What about this?” He pulls the fabric all the way up to your waist. With the quickness of a fox, he’s bending down and licking one long line up the slick folds of your cunt.

“Fuck!”

His tongue swirls around your clit, still bathing in soft sensitivity from your most recent orgasm. He seems to sense this as he blows lightly against your lips, forcing your back to arch into the mattress, your hand reaching out instinctively to tangle in his hair.

“Okay, okay, I get it!”

“What, you act like it’s some kind of punishment.”

“It is, when it means you’re not up here, fucking me.” He blinks, still not quite used to your explicit language. “And anyways,” you pant, “doesn’t this kind of foreplay usually come before the mindblowing sex?”

“And who’s rules are you playing by now?”

You grin, giddy at the cleverness of your own words turned back on you.

“No one’s.” You push up to your elbows, taking in the beautiful man above you. “But if I’m making the rules, then I need you inside me, now.”

“Patience, darling,” Jin smiles, sitting up.

“No,” you say, reaching for him. “I will not be patient. Not for you, anyways.”

“No?”

“No.” You’re moving to unbutton his shirt, and he lets you, but doesn’t do much else to help you along. “Off, off, off,” you grumble, tugging on the collar of his now wrinkled shirt, but he stands there like a limp fish. You sigh, sitting back on your heels. “Please?”

Jin throws his head back and laughs that full-belly laugh. “Will I ever be able to say no to you? To this?”

“No,” you smile. “You won’t. And I won’t have it any other way.”

“Good.” He presses a kiss to your lips, one that lingers long and sweet. Sweet enough that when he pulls back, you miss the taste of him. But he’s doing as you’ve asked and quickly tugs his shirt over his head and drops his pants to the floor.

You don’t know if you’ve ever seen something as beautiful.

Jin had always had the power to command a room with his large but quiet presence, but seeing him like this, bare and breathing hard for you is something entirely different. There is both something soft and sweet about the tenderness of him, and something sharp about the desire he lets swirl through his body. You want it all.

“Your turn?” he asks softly, reaching for the slip that pools around your hips. “I want to see you.”

You nod and he pulls the light fabric up over your head with an unspoken gentleness.

“Look at you,” he breathes, but his gaze doesn’t linger long on your body. Instead, it’s latched onto your gaze, watching for every thought that will flicker across your expression.

“Come here.” You open your arms wide and he is tumbling into your embrace, pushing you back into the bed. You’re both giggling in the sensation of falling, giggling at each other's laughter, giggling because, really, what else is there to do when you’re finally wrapped up in the person you adore?

And then you take a breath. Let the silence of the room, the old, ticking clock in the hallway, the sweeping sounds off the streets filter through both of you. For a moment both of you become everything around you. For a moment, both of you are only the sensation of looking at another and wondering.

It doesn’t last.

It’s too difficult to resist reaching up for him, pressing your fingers lightly against the arc of his neck and drawing his lips back to where they belong: against yours. You’re not sure how, but each time he kisses you it’s a whole new world. This time, it’s spring. Ice melting against the promise of warmth. He melts against your touch and you wrap your legs around his waist.

He pushes into you without resistance. This time, your body welcomes him with ease, wrapping warmly around his throbbing length. He reaches so far into you.

When he begins to move, it’s too much. The spear of pleasure shoots through your abdomen and you arch your back. He stills immediately.

“Look at me,” Jin says. “I want to see your eyes when you come around my cock.”

You smile. Nip at whatever skin is accessible to you. Press yourself as close to him as you possibly can and chase the pleasure of having him, finally, in your bed.

When you grind your hips against his, he grunts and thrusts deeper.

When he lowers his weight down on you, he does it at an angle, one hand near your chest, the other one coming down on your hips. His fingers wrap around your waist and he begins to move you in time to his thrusts. It’s with even more power that he enters you now, but his pace has slowed just enough that your own orgasm dangles in front of you like he’s teasing you with sweetness.

He’s always teasing you, isn’t he.

Pleasure ripples across his face, marking his brow, dancing across his lips like a fleeting ghost. You want to memorize the way his delight radiates out into the world, want to return to it everyday like a favorite book.

He holds you like he has so many times before, but this time there’s a new edge to his gaze. Trust. He knows you’re his. Knows that the blossoming purple on your neck and the breath coming quickly from your lungs are marks of him. That even if the red blessing of dawn tears him from your bed and your arms that this moment is marked, is held, by him.

For now that will be enough.

He has you wrapped up in his arms, your gaze fluttering between pleasure and weariness.

“You’re a gift.”

You don’t know what it is about that phrasing. If it’s the way the words take shape on his pink lips, if it’s the deep sound of his voice flooding through you. If it’s the devotion swimming in his eyes. Either way, your cheeks flood with warmth and you cut back: “You said that already.”

“And I meant it both times.”

He notices your flickering gaze and the heat painting your cheeks and reaches for you, stroking his thumb against the burning flesh.

“You’re so warm.”

“I’m embarrassed,” you say softly.

“What?” He leans in. “The crown jewel of the city embarrassed? By a measly little affection?”

“You’d be surprised at the list of things you do that can bring a blush to my cheeks,” you cut back too quickly — only to realize it’s not as much of a cut as you thought it was.

“Oh?” He rolls closer. So his chest is once more pressed to yours. He lets his hand drift up to tug on a loose strand of hair that falls into your face. “Tell me more.”

“Really?”

“Give me the juicy details.”

“No!”

“Give them to me,” he grins. “I want to know exactly why the hell you’ve fallen for me, me of all people.”

“Fine — that, uh—” Suddenly you are overwhelmed with all of the moments and instances that this dear man inspired you with. Where to begin? “I can’t get you out of my head.”

“I know. You’ve made that quite clear.” He punctuates his meaning by flicking his gaze towards the discarded nightgown at the foot of the bed. “But why?”

Moment after moment flies through your brain and before you can think of censoring yourself, you’re grabbing on to the first one that sparks your attention. “That thing you do when you throw me over your shoulder and run. It’s a little excessive but I promise you it gives me plenty of time to admire your broad shoulders.”

That crinkling scrutiny in his eye glimmers again.

“It’s just my body. Hm.”

“No! No…” You correct him, bringing your hands up to his cheeks and tugging his face closer to you to make sure he is listening.

“Your kindness.”

“Sure. My job is to beat people up for you and you fell for my kindness?” You see the flash of shyness in his expression and suddenly you’re devoted to making him understand. He doesn’t see it.

“Really.”

“Really?”

“Really. You know… when you aren’t out there performing you’re actually quite riddled with kindness and… intricacies.”

He laughs. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Like… that one time you woke me up at 3am because it was our only night at the beach and you weren’t going to pass up the chance to go fishing — and refused to leave me alone just to do something you loved — and how you sat there with your little frown and waited for hours only to realize that we were in the completely wrong spot to be fishing in the first place. You love it. And you’re horrible at it. And in this stupid world where everything either has to be for perfection or for money — that’s so fucking refreshing.”

His laughter echoes through the room, bouncing off of the cold stone and landing warmly in your chest. “That-that’s it? My horrible fishing skills. What about the time-”

“At the gallery?”

“Where I literally-”

“Took a bullet-”

“To my shoulder!”

“Your prized possessions,” you wink.

“Yes, the time I saved your life. That’s not it?”

“Sure, sure,” you flap your hand. “I can find a man to take a bullet for me on any street corner, any day of the week.”

“Sure, sure!” Jin scoffs back at you, but he’s smiling. Watching the way his plump lips stretch towards his cheeks, you realize you could list the reasons you can’t let him go until the sun bridges her gaze over the horizon of city buildings — and still not be finished. And yet, you continue.

“Here’s one: The way you listen. You take things in and notice — but, no, it’s not just noticing. You process them and turn them quietly into something deep and beautiful and meaningful and it never fails to surprise me. And! And the way that sometimes when you laugh it sounds like something horribly squeaky and delightful.”

His jaw drops.

“Something squeaky!”

“Like windshield wipers… Sometimes! Only sometimes! And it’s delightful!”

His brow narrows.

“I’m going to kiss you now to shut you up before you say something even worse than that.” Your eyes widen. “If you’ll have me.”

“Yes-yes, god, I’ll have you.”

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[sunflowersteves]

i’m right here || d.d.

summary || Din thought that you didn’t want to be around him as much anymore, but it couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

author’s note || happy valentine’s day! I hope you all have a great valentine’s day and are given lots of hugs and kisses <3 this was a little angstier than I initially thought but I hope you enjoy!

warnings || absolute pure fluff, a little angst, nightmares, comfort

masterlist

Din Djarin wasn’t used to small touches and gentle caresses. In fact, before you came along, it had been years upon years since he had been touched so softly by another person. 

It all started the first week you were on board the Razor Crest. You had been utterly startled by him barging through the ramp, his clunky armor loud on the hard floors. He had been hurt severely while pursuing a bounty and was nearly about to pass out from all of the blood he had lost.

But then he was wide awake because you had taken off his chest plate to observe the wound. Your hands ripped his undershirt in haste to get to the wounded area, and his breath instantly hitched. Your smooth fingertips skated across his rough skin, and his heart pounded faster than ever. He couldn’t stop staring at you as you cleaned and sewed up his wound.

You were graceful. You were oh so soft. If he had died right then and there, he wouldn’t have been that sad. To get to touch you—to feel your hands on his skin. It was divine, truly. It was the most wonderful thing he had ever felt.  

Ever since then, it was like the two of you were bound as one. You were always touching, constantly in the presence of one another. It was addicting—almost infuriating at the fact that you two had to have your hands on each other at all times. Even Grogu started to get a little jealous at the amount of times your presences were practically on top of each other. 

But then all of a sudden you had stopped. Din didn’t know why, but he didn’t like it one bit. You had been so closed off all of a sudden, and he didn’t know what to do. You would barely speak to him as the two of you sat in the cockpit; the stars and far galaxies spoke louder than you did. 

It was bothering him to no end, but a part of him was too afraid to ask. He was scared to know the truth of why you were desperately hiding away from him. Had you realized this life wasn’t for you? Had you realized how much of a complicated person he is? 

So many questioned buzzed through his helmet as the void that ruptured the two of you spread further. It was horrid. The pure silence, the lack of tender hand-holding, and the absence of fluttering touches had made him feel lonelier than ever. It was all so bleak, so empty. 

He just hoped that you were okay, that you didn’t regret a single thing. He hoped that the space he was giving you was enough. And that’s all he could do at the moment, was hope.

Din was currently sitting in the cockpit, pressing buttons here and there to make sure that the Razor Crest is running smoothly. You were all in the Outer Rim following a bounty, and he knew that it could get rough some times. Everything was so quiet other than the snores that left Grogu’s little mouth and the occasional creek of the ship. 

He sighed as he heard you crawl up the ladder and open the door, the latch opening with a loud hiss. He didn’t turn around like he normally would, just in case you were cold and un-wanting. He didn’t want to scare you off, considering that it had been almost two days since you left your small room.

“We’re still in the Outer Rim. We’re not too far from Actlyon, so be prepared to land in two hours.” It came as no surprise that you were still silent, completely restrained by whatever was bothering you. He let out another sigh and sat back into his chair, hoping to get a little bit of shut-eye before you all landed.

But then he heard it. At first, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, and his helmet was just messing with him. But then he heard it for a second time, and he could’ve sworn his heart broke into two on the spot.

Small sniffles permeated through the silence as though it was tidal waves crashing up against the shore. His head whipped around to see your eyes puffy and your cheeks wet from tears.

Coarse pain burst through his chest at the full sob that broke out of your mouth. Your hands reached out to grab anything that could support you, and Din wasted no time in getting up and walking over to you. At first, all he could think about was the high possibility of your rejection, but your body immediately latched onto his. He pulled you into his arms, your head dangerously close to his chest.

Each tear that ran down your face was heavy on his heart; his gloved hands would reach up and wipe them away as fast as he could. He lightly ushered you to let go for a moment, and his heart clenched as panic flashed across your face. 

“I’m right here.” That seemed to calm you down for a second as he left you to stand there. He sat down into the pilot chair, and he patted his lap softly. You inched closer to him, his hand reaching out and grabbing yours. He then carefully placed you onto his lap. You wrapped your arms around his neck and stuffed your face into the crook of his neck. His arms quickly wrapped around your torso and kept you close as you sobbed into his cloak.

You kept muttering small words, some he couldn’t recognize and some he figured out was his name. Each and every time, he would pull you even closer and whisper into your ear, “I’m right here, cyare. I’ve got you.” And he waited. He waited for your weeping sobs to die down to low sniffles. It took quite some time, maybe an hour or so, before you were able to calm down. 

Your voice was raspy as you spoke, “I’ve been having nightmares lately.” He tilted his helmet to signal an understanding because he did. He got them too, and sometimes he couldn’t sleep for days and days. He started to rub your back, the tips of his gloved fingers rubbing back and forth.

“They’re just...” You suck in a breath, tears already bubbling up on the surface just thinking about it. Din grabbed a hold of your hand to give you a squeeze of encouragement. “They absolutely horrifying. Even when I wake up, I don’t feel safe. I feel so frightened and helpless. It’s like I can’t escape from them even when I’m awake.”

You paused as a few tears slid down your cheek, your hands tightening around him as you try and stop yourself from crying again. “I thought that... I thought that if I stopped caring, I wouldn’t have those nightmares anymore.” You pushed your head back to look at him, staring right into his visor. “But you died, Din. Y-You were in my arms covered in so much blood and-”

You were interrupted by the screeching sound of his chest plate ripped off of his chest. He grabbed your hand and placed it on his heart. Your eyes widened slightly at the fast, thumping pace. “I’m here, okay? I’m here—I’m alive.” Pure adoration burst through your chest as his heart continued to pump against your hand. 

Relief washed over you, and your shoulders relaxed slightly. Everything felt okay like a weight had been lifted off of your shoulders finally after weeks of denial. “I’m never leaving you, absolutely never, got it?” 

You nodded, his other hand moving up to caress your cheek. Your head absentmindedly moves closer into his cheek, relishing in the warmth that’s radiating off of his hands. He leaned in a bit closer, “I don’t want you to ever cry again, cyare. I never want to see it again.” 

You could hear the hurt in his voice at each syllable that releases out of his mouth. Your hand moves from his chest up to his helmet, palm resting on the cheek of his helmet. It was a cold contrast to his hand that was currently resting on his cheek, but you didn’t care. You wanted him to know that you were okay—that he made everything okay.

“I’m okay... I just- hold me. Please”, he nods almost instantly to your words, and his strong arms wrap around your torso. He was pulling you in, and you rested your face in the crook of his neck again.

“I’m right here. I’ll always be right here, with you. I’m yours.” He chuckled as he heard your faint snores echo through the cockpit, almost matching Grogu’s. You must’ve been exhausted from all of the crying, and he knew you needed the sleep. He lifts up his helmet only for a second to place a quick kiss on your forehead. 

“Sweet dreams, cyar’ika.”

~~

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[wonder-kid-pugh]

Favourite T-shirt - (Jessie Fleming x reader)

I've been sittin' here, tryna figure out

What did I do right to be with you right now?

I put my arm around your shoulder

To see If I can pull you closer

And I didn't wanna say it

But I honestly thought I'm growin' older

"Sup Fleming" I smile as I walk up to the small Canadian. She whips around but a smile spreads across her face when she sees me. "Hey America" she smiles as she stops walking letting me catch up to her. I throw my arm around her as we start walking back to the dressing rooms and I can already feel all our teammates eyes on us.

We had met few years ago playing against each other on the national team so we knew each other in passing. I would be lying if I say that she didn't catch my eye from the beginning but I never got the chance to talk to her other than post match pleasantries.

But it wasn't until she was dragged along to a party at Stanford by her friends did I get a chance to actually talk to her.

"Fleming? What are you doing here?" I ask as I see her standing by herself off to the side in a quiet corner of the kitchen. I had to stop myself from checking her out. She wasn't wearing her usual shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Instead she had swapped from for jeans and a more fitted top with her hair let down. She tensed for a slit second but visibly relaxed when she saw it was only me. "Oh hey L/n. Some of my friends were invited and dragged me along". I raise my eyebrow, "And they left you alone. A bruin alone in cardinal territory? That's dangerous". She chuckles lightly taking another sip of her drink, "Is that right?" I lick my lips a smirk playing at my lips, "Don't worry I'll protect you".

Honestly if it wasn't for the small few drinks I've had tonight I don't think I would of have the courage to flirt with her let alone talk to her. But taking advantage of the small liquid courage because at least if she flat out rejects me I can hide behind the excuse of being drunk. But it seems that it paid off as she bites her lip probably trying to stave off a smile but I can see it poke through, "Oh really?"

I smirk down at the smaller player, "Let's see how hard they party in Canada".

I saw your eyes in the city lights

And almost said, "I want you so bad tonight"

Yeah, you were kissing my neck, you were making me nervous

And none of our friends would believe it

You were puttin' your hands up under my shirt

Makin' fun of the way I was breathing

Parked up on Mulholland drive

Blankets in the back of my car all night

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

"Fuck" I moan as Jessie nips at a particular spot on my neck as I throw my head back giving her more access to my neck. She chuckles as she trails kisses down the column of my neck. I latch my arms onto her hips trying not to show how much my hands are trembling right now trying to anchor myself.

I know I was drunk otherwise I don't think either one of us would have gone this far. But I was wasn't drunk enough to stop myself from feeling nervous. The height difference working against us as I had to crane my head down to kiss her. As I kissed her I started walking her backwards until her back hit the wall. As her back hit the wall she gasped letting me take control.

But that doesn't last as she slips her hands under my shirt causing me to gasp and shudder from her touch. This doesn't go unnoticed as she pulls back just enough to smirk at me as I stare down at her breathless. I have to hold back a moan as her finger rake over my abs. "You okay there?" She asks with a smirk evident on her face. She rests her palm over the side of my ribcage, "Your breathing pretty heavy there. Do I make you nervous?" She teases.

My breathing hitches again as her hand moves higher so it's now over my heart. Her palm lays flat over my rapidly beating heart which she can no doubt feel. "Looks like your heart is racing" she giggles lightly. I huff out a laugh as I grin leaning my forehead against her own.

I don't know whether it's between the amount of alcohol I've consumed or how hazy my mind was but the way the dim light was hitting her perfectly. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her badly I wanted her right now.

But she catches me staring at her as she tilts her head at me, "You okay?" I take another second to stare at her before shaking my head. But before she could ask I lift her up by the back of her thighs and pin her to the wall using my hips as her legs wrapped around my waist. "Now I am" I whisper before smashing my lips into hers.

Heart is beatin' harder than it ever has

Wanna put you in a photo, put you on my dash

I put my arm around your shoulder

To see If I can pull you closer

And I didn't wanna say it

But I honestly thought I'm growin' older

"Y/n! Stop!" Jessie whines as I keep the camera trained on her. But I just grin, "Nah. If your going to drag me out here on a long ass hike. The least I'm going to do is take pictures of the amazing view".

I mentally fist pump at the pink tint coming across her face but while I'm distracted she lunges at my phone and now she grins as she turns the camera on me and starts taking pictures of me now. "Hey!" I laugh and try and reach for my phone but she steps out of my reach and continues on, "give it back". But she just shakes her head, "Nope! It's your turn now".

I throw my head back groaning playfully, "Ughhhhh". But it instantly drops as I hear her laugh causing me to smile. It seems that she catches it and starts taking pictures again. I start making funny faces at her making her laugh again making my heart beat even faster.

I take my phone off her and start scrolling through the pictures. I stop of one of Jessie laughing and I show it to her, "Now that's a beauty. That's definitely going on the dash". I send her a wink, "That way I get to see your pretty face everyday".

I chuckle as she blushes before I pull her into me throwing my arm around her shoulders. She looks at me questioningly before I hold up the phone so the both of us are the in shot. When she sees the camera focused on us she buries herself into my side slightly hiding from the camera. I chuckle and grin at the phone as I snap the picture before showing Jessie.

"Huh" I say making Jessie look at me. I smile down at her, "I think I like this one much better actually".

This causes her to smile wrapping her arms around my waist and hugging into my side. I wrap my arms around her as we watch the city below us and as the sun falls out of the sky.

I saw your eyes in the city lights

And almost said, "I want you so bad tonight"

Yeah, you were kissing my neck, you were making me nervous

And none of our friends would believe it

You were puttin' your hands up under my shirt

Makin' fun of the way I was breathing

Parked up on Mulholland drive

Blankets in the back of my car all night

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

No, it doesn't really fit, but you don't really care

'Cause you said you were cold and you need it

Hope you're gonna forget that you ever put it on

'Cause you gotta see me if you keep it

Parked out at the end of your drive

Kiss me through the window one more time

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

"God I'm tired" I groan as I flop down onto the grass. "Same" Tierna sighs as she lies down beside me. I lay my arm over my eyes trying to shield from from the sun just too tired to move. "What's that?" I hear but too lazy to move so I just lay there.

"Y/n?" I hum indicating that I was listening. "What's that?" I move my arm to see Andi nodding towards me. I look down at my neck to see that the make-up I had put on had wiped away revealing the small purple swelling that was peeking out from under my training top.

"Oh my god. Y/n! Is that a hickey?" Tierna gasps from beside me as I try to adjust my shirt to try and hide the dark bruise. "Y/n got laid?" Katie asks acting shocked learning some laughs from the team while I flip her off, "Fuck off". Alana pulls my top down showing off the hickey to everyone before I can swat away her hand, "Damn whoever it was she got you good".

"Who is she anyways?" Tierna asks as I start collecting my stuff. I just shrug but she scoffs, "Don't give me that. Cmon who is it". But I remain quiet as we start walking off the pitch. But then Tierna decides to play dirty.

"Tell me who it is or I'll tell Alex and Kelley your sleeping with someone"

I stop in my tracks and glare at the redhead, "You wouldn't dare". When we were called up to the national team. Kelley kinda just drifted over to us seeing as we were cardinals. But seeing as I was a forward and hanging out with Kelley a bit, it was only natural that I became close with Alex as well. The two had taken me under their wing and had watched over me at camps.

Tierna smirks, "Try me". I huff out while she nudges me, "So? Tell me who is it?" I huff our before glancing down at my trainers and mutter, "Jessie Fleming". Tierna groans, "Cmon tell me seriously who is it?" I just give her a confused look, "What do you mean? I told you it's Jessie". Tierna scoffs, "Cmon off it. Are we talking about the same person?" Tierna looks at me, "Jessie Fleming the shy timid Canadian who's an entire head smaller than you. Did that?" She says pointing to my neck. But I just nod causing her to scoff again and turn on her heel, "Fine don't tell me".

I watch wide eyed as she turns back on her heel towards the locker room. I can't help but chuckle and shrug before following her.

Yeah, I've been sitting here, tryna figure out

What did I do right to be with you right now?

You were kissing my neck, you were making me nervous

And none of our friends would believe it

You were puttin' your hands up under my shirt

Makin' fun of the way I was breathing

Parked up on Mulholland drive

Blankets in the back of my car all night

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

No, it doesn't really fit, but you don't really care

'Cause you said you were cold and you need it

Hope you're gonna forget that you ever put it on

'Cause you gotta see me if you keep it

Parked out at the end of your drive

Kiss me through the window one more time

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

After much awkwardness and a small bit of embarrassment I finally grew a pair and asked her out on a proper date. I went slightly cliche and brought her to a drive in movie. I had it all setup with food and drinks along with pillows and blankets to sit in the back of my truck.

We whispered quietly between each other at the terrible film that was playing. With all my preparation I forgot to check what was playing. But it worked out in the end as we laughed at how terrible the plot line was. At one point I could feel her shiver as she leaned up against me. "You cold?" I ask as I look down at her. But she just shakes her head but immediately moves further into me contrasting her actions.

I detach myself from her making the both of us frown lightly from the loss of warmth but after a minute find what I was searching for. I hand it to her, "Here put it on". She looks at it for a second before accepting the shirt I keep in my car for emergencies. But I can't help but stare. Due to the height difference it doesn't really fit and it hangs off her.

But she looks absolutely adorable in it.

She smiles at me before moving back into her position at my side snuggling into me with the blankets wrapped around us, "Thank you". I kiss the top of her head throwing my arm around her as her head fits perfectly into the hollow between my shoulder and neck, "Your welcome".

Eventually the movie ended and I drove her back to her dormitory for the night. Running off the high of the successful date I turn to her with a smile as my hand goes to hers, "Thank you for agreeing to go on a date with me". She smiles as she interwine our fingers, "Thank you for asking". Neither of us saying anything. We sit in a somewhat comfortable silence neither knowing what to say and both not wanting the night to end.

Sadly time was against them

"I should head in" Jessie says quietly her eyes locked on our hands as she rubs her thumb over the back of my hand before looking back up at me, "you have a long drive back and I don't want my teammates sending out a search party". I chuckle, "We wouldn't want that".

I bite the inside of my cheek wanting to kiss her so badly but not wanting to push it and ruin a perfect night. Unfortunately my awkward side prevails as I scratch the back of my head sheepishly, "So uh I-I'll text you?" I cringe at how awkward I sound but thankfully she just giggles and nods, "Yeah I'd like that".

She turns and gets out of the car closing the door behind her. And I can't help but sigh and sink back into my seat grateful I didn't make a complete fool of myself in front of the Canadian international. But it doesn't last long as I jump as there's a knock on the window. But I quickly calm down as I see it's only Jessie who's currently laughing at me.

I roll down the window, "Jesus Jessie you scared the shit-" But I don't get to finish my sentence as she leans down and kisses me through the window. I don't hesitate as I kiss back. When she breaks the kiss she smiles and kisses my cheek one last time, "See you later America". I grin letting out a breathy laugh, "Bye Canada".

With one last smile she taps the window before heading back to her dorm. I bite my lip as I watch her until she makes it safely inside. She looks back and waves before disappearing into the dorms. I drum my fingers against the wheel before beginning the long drive back home myself.

I smile the entire drive home. Not worried about a second date knowing that we'll see each other again soon. After all

She's still wearing my shirt

In my favorite T-Shirt

You look so good, it hurts

In my favorite T-Shirt

And god damn did she look good in it.

[nekumiko]

Does Everything Grow Fruitfully for Kita?

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Genre: Fluff, Light angst

Rated: T

Words: 3.6k

Chapter: 1/2

Summary: When his friendship with their club manager starts to bloom into something more, would Kita do something about it?

If you would ask Kita when he fell in love with her, he’d say it was that time she cooked rice without a rice cooker. At least, that’s as far back as he could remember seeing her in a different light.

The Inarizaki Volleyball Club probably doesn’t need a manager because of how Kita keeps everything well-maintained - the equipment, uniforms, and even the restroom. But it wouldn’t hurt to have extra help.

Although, since she only needed a club under her name, she was allowed to not even attend every day, and she had done just that for a year. But in her second year, Kita eventually found her regularly working beside him to make sure the team had everything they needed in practices and matches. He did ask her why, but she quickly changed the topic to picking up the uniforms from the laundromat.

It was on that unusually stormy night during the team’s summer training camp.

Because of the howling winds outside, the lights have been flickering on and off in the neighborhood, so practice is cut short before it becomes completely dark. They return to the inn, where the couple who owns the place tells them they would prepare dinner in advance. Kita then quickly drops off his bag and changes his clothes so he could help out in the kitchen.

Despite the dimming lights, the middle-aged couple are working fast. The wife is on the stove frying fish, while the husband is making dumplings.

Kita then sees the rice cooker sitting unplugged on the counter. "Excuse me,” he says, catching the attention of the couple. “Do you mind if I help out? I can cook rice traditionally.”

“Oh,” the husband replies, “we appreciate it, but your manager is already taking care of that.”

“She is?”

As if on cue, she emerges from behind a wall, carrying a pot. “Kita-san?” she calls out before smiling brightly. “You've come at the right time! Please help me.” And then she disappears behind the wall again.

Kita finds her sitting beside an open sack of rice grains, the scoop in her hand and the pot on her lap. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

She looks up. “Oh, nothing's wrong. I just never cooked for the team before, so I don’t know if this is enough.”

He sits beside her and reaches for the pot.

She looks startled for a moment, but then smiles again and gives it to him.

It takes Kita a moment to carefully consider his answer. “You need more than this.” He gently takes the scoop in her hand, brushing against her warm skin. He scoops more grains into the pot and then stands up again. “Come on.”

She stands as well, but immediately holds onto the pot, stopping Kita from walking away. “What do you think you’re gonna do with this?”

“What else? I’ll be cooking rice.”

“But I told them I’d do it!”

“I can do it.”

“I can do it too.” She smirks. “Or are you here to doubt me again, Kita-san?”

He sighs in mock defeat. “Fine.” Then he gives the pot back.

She grins. "Thanks."

“Won’t it be heavy, though? That's a lot of rice to wash.”

She puts the pot in the sink and starts up the faucet, shaking her head. “You always underestimate my strength. I’ve handled heavier stuff than this.” She turns the faucet off and drains the water. “You’re a witness to that.”

Kita stays silent beside her, watching her work and talk at the same time. This is their norm. Light banter, eye contact, hands brushing against each other, standing at close proximity, and watching her back as he helped with her manager duties. But for some reason today, he is focused too much on her exposed nape and her lips, hyperaware of her hands and her voice. He doesn't even realize he'd tuned her actual words out until she looks back at him expectantly.

“Are you okay, Kita-san?"

"Huh? Yes."

She giggles. "I asked you to please move to the side a little. I need light."

"Sorry." Kita then steps aside.

She then holds the pot to her chest level, carefully measuring the amount of water with her finger. And then she puts the lid over the pot.

Kita follows her to the stove, too.

“Oban,” she says softly to the wife, who is just removing a pan from the stove, “I’ll be cooking the rice now.”

The wife thanks her while Kita swoops in to take the pan. “Oban, is there anything else you need more help with?”

The two of them move around the kitchen to clean up and help with plating. From time to time, she would check on the rice, adjusting the fire in the stove. And whenever she does, Kita finds himself watching her intently, not really understanding what’s so... captivating about it. Is it because she’s cooking food for them? Like she mentioned earlier, this is her first time, because she'd only bought food for them before. But is it that unusual? Because surely, as their manager, she’d be making more food for the team from now on.

Finally, she calls him over excitedly. “Kita-san! Look at this!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” she whines. “Why do you always assume something’s wrong?”

He only smiles at her, finally reaching her side.

“Just please look!” She lifts the lid again and continues, “Just look at how perfect my rice is!”

“It does look good.”

“I bet it tastes delicious, too.”

“It would taste like rice.”

She turns to him with a deadpan stare. “Cold.” She covers the pot again, and then pauses. Her lips form into a small smile, but her hands reach for the hem of her shirt to fidget with it as she speaks again. “Hey, Kita-san,” she begins, her gaze still trained on the pot. “Would I make a good wife?”

“You just cooked rice.”

That makes her head whip towards him so fast. Her smile vanishes, her eyes widen, and a pink tint is creeping up on her cheeks. “Ahh, I mean with how --!” she cuts herself off to look away, waving a hand in front of her face. "Never mind. I’ll just go call the others. Dinner would be ready soon.” She hurriedly walks away from him, only stopping by the couple to thank them before exiting the kitchen.

Quite often, Kita has been told that he can’t read the room. And usually, he doesn’t mind. It's more important for him to get his thoughts across, to correct something he thinks is wrong or illogical, even if it's in a brutally honest way. But right now, it’s bothering him that she got upset by his words. She has never reacted this way before, so what did I say wrong?

“I think your girl meant something more than that, young man,” the husband tells him.

Kita turns to the couple who are both looking at him teasingly. “My girl?” he repeats.

“Aren’t you two together?”

He shakes his head. “No, she’s just our manager. I just help her out sometimes.”

“I see…”

The couple share a look, and then the wife turns to him. “You should follow her, though. We’re about to wrap up here anyway. Thank you both so much for your help.”

The husband also expresses his gratitude, and with that, Kita thanks them as well and starts to leave.

But as he passes by the wife on his way out, he overhears her mutter, “Ah, young love.”

And he pretends he just didn’t.

---

But maybe Kita really does have reason to worry.

Their manager sits with the sophomores on the other side of the dining table, not in her usual spot next to him. It's not like she's obligated to, though. She is a sophomore and she gets along well with them. If someone had noticed this, they just didn't bring it up, because her sitting with them is new, but should not be unusual.

But she hasn’t once made eye contact, and deliberately avoided touching him when she passed him a bowl. Now that's something alarmingly different.

The storm outside has thankfully subsided, but he feels another one brewing right here.

“You're going to burn a hole through her head,” Aran suddenly says beside him, just low enough for the two of them to hear.

Kita blinks and turns back to his food, realizing he’d been staring. “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

“Don’t apologize to me. Though, I don’t think she noticed.”

Kita only sighs.

Aran hesitates. “Is there something wrong?”

“I think so. I might have said something wrong, but I don’t know what.”

“Do you need my help?”

Just then, Kita notices Suna, who is sitting right across from him, discreetly looking at the two of them. “Maybe later.”

The team finishes eating, and their manager volunteers to help clean up. Unsurprisingly, Kita does the same.

And for the first time since their last conversation, she finally looks up at him.

An unfamiliar feeling blooms in his chest right then. And Kita does not understand. Why does it feel like he hadn’t met her gaze for a long time, when it was actually just a few minutes ago? This is strange, but not unwelcome. He can’t help but smile down at her.

She approaches him to take the plates he had stacked from his hands. “Kita-san,” she starts.

And that makes the warmth in his chest spread even wider. It’s not like she’d been quiet during dinner. She had talked and laughed along with everyone else, but not once was he involved.

“Don’t worry about this." She smiles. "This is my job, and you need to rest because you still have practice tomorrow.”

What?

“Please go rest with the others. I’ll be fine here with Oban.”

Kita feels himself sinking fast as he watches her walk away. It doesn’t even register that he’d been pulled out of the room by Aran until they almost bump into Suna in the hallway.

“Wow,” the second-year says as he pockets his phone. “Kita-san getting rejected. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“What are you still doing here, Suna?” Aran asks.

“Just lagging behind,” Suna nonchalantly replies, turning around to walk ahead of them.

Aran makes sure their junior is a safe distance away before he turns to his friend. "So, have you figured it out? That was a bit heavy back there."

Kita crosses his arms in thought, once again revisiting that conversation in the kitchen.

"What did you even say to her last?" Aran continues asking as they start down the corridor. "What made things suddenly different?"

And then it finally clicks. Kita stops walking, uncrossing his arms and looking away. "She asked me if she'd make a good wife."

"WHAT?"

---

The next day at practice, their manager goes by her day normally. Watching over them, assisting them. To an outsider, nothing seems off.

She probably thinks nothing of it now, Kita tries to assure himself when he takes a break from practicing serves.

Instantly, she stands up to give him his towel and water bottle. She compliments him, and he thanks her like usual. But the tension is still there, especially when she doesn't initiate more conversation. They may not talk a lot during practice, but she always has something to say.

That's how Kita knew he still needs to do what Aran told him to.

Yet even as practice ends and they both help prepare dinner again, he just can't seem to find the right words. It brings a small frown on his forehead, which the team isn't used to seeing.

Which makes dinner silent.

Until the twins, of course, start nudging each other's sides with their elbows, bringing up each other's mistakes at practice that they think might have upset their captain. As they keep going back and forth, their voices start to raise and their nudges turn into painful jabs.

"Stop that," Kita says.

And they do right away.

Somehow, even without the frown on his face now, Kita looks even more intimidating.

"Kita-san," their manager, sitting right across from him today, takes one for the team by asking, "why do you look so upset, though?"

His heart suddenly starts pounding. What would he even say? "I'm not. I just…"

Everyone looks at him then. Did their captain just stutter?

"...About what you said yesterday."

She looks puzzled. "Which one?"

The team looks as confused as her now, except for Aran who holds his breath.

"I've given it a lot of thought," Kita continues, "and I have to say that, with the effort and care you put in every day, you would be a good wife."

Silence settles over them for five seconds, before the whole table erupts into chaos.

Their manager quickly hides her face behind her hands.

Atsumu shouts, "What kind of confession is that?"

At that, Kita immediately realizes his mistake. "It's not –”

"Kita-san."

He looks back at their manager.

She seems to be forcing herself to calm down, because her cheeks are still flushed. She weakly points to the door. "Can we talk?"

The hollers and laughter grow louder as both of them stand up and exit, especially when she catches hold of his wrist to lead him away from the noisy room.

Finally, she stops and turns around to face him, looking upset. She lets go, leaving behind a warm spot on his wrist. "Why did you say that?"

His forehead creases again. "I'm sorry. I worded it wrong. Aran told me I should give you an answer, but I just… didn’t know how to say it without sounding like that."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Of course," she says softly.

Kita falls silent. He doesn’t like how everyone is reacting, and he definitely had not intended to put her on the spot like this. It's true that he wants to answer her question, because it seems like his answer would make her happy. But why, then, does it feel like he’s lying when he says that’s just what it is?

She sighs loudly, snapping him out of his thoughts. And then she smiles again, as if it had all been a small joke. "Kita-san, please be careful with your words next time. I'll go clear it up with them now." And then she leaves.

And that would be the last time they would ever talk about it. But just because neither of them had brought it up anymore, doesn't mean it left his mind.

Yet months pass. Summer and Spring Nationals have become more important than that incident, especially because they have fallen back to their usual dynamic. So Kita focuses on playing.

And even as he graduates from the team, career talks and college applications start for the third-years. Meanwhile, the juniors, their manager included, become busy with transitioning for the new team.

Eventually, Kita’s batch and then hers both graduate high school.

Now, years have passed. They have all taken different paths. She had moved to Osaka to pursue a career, while Kita stayed in Hyogo to become a rice farmer.

Is it a coincidence? For his chosen work to constantly bring him back to the first time he started developing feelings for her, to remind him of all the time lost?

Because they had all grown older, Kita of course understood his feelings now. But it’s too late to even start anything anymore, especially when they haven't kept in touch for the last five years.

She has probably found someone emotionally smarter than me by now, he would often think.

For some reason, this pops up in his train of thought again today, making the already sweltering day even more upsetting.

"Kita-san!"

The heat must be making him delusional. He straightens up and wipes the sweat off his forehead. At least he’s finished with today’s work, so he can go home and --

"Kita-san! Heyyy!"

He sighs. Why is he hearing her voice? It's not like she knows this place anyway. And even if she does, why would she bother going all the way out here, right? Yet the small hope bubbling up in Kita's chest makes him turn around.

And there, at the end of the field, stands his former team manager, so silly to not have an umbrella nor a hat to protect herself from the sun. But she is still smiling, waving both of her arms more enthusiastically now that she has caught his attention.

Kita calls out her name as a question, still unsure of what he's seeing.

"Yes, it's me! Can I go there?"

And Kita feels like his breath is knocked out of him. What is she doing here? But he isn’t given enough time to process this when she sees her already taking a few steps forward. Kita clears his throat to shout back a reply. “Just wait there! I'll come over!" Taking a deep breath, he crosses the distance, quick yet careful not to slip on the damp ground.

But he should have known she can still be too excited to listen sometimes. She tries to meet him halfway, and that's how she slips.

Fortunately, she is already within Kita’s reach.

Catching her breath, she holds on to him to stand upright again. And then she laughs, a very welcome sound in the peaceful field. "As expected of you, Kita-san!"

Kita only stares at her, not letting her go just yet. His former manager that he'd only seen in pictures and heard about from his former teammates' stories is now right in front of him, in between his arms.

"Sorry for dropping by so suddenly --!" she is cut off with her own squeal as Kita envelops her in his embrace.

Because right now, Kita needs to feel that she's real. He has convinced himself that there's no chance anymore for them to meet again, that their time together will just remain a memory. But here he is now, holding on to her as if she would suddenly disappear.

Finally, she relaxes and hugs him back. Then, she says softly, "I missed you too." A few moments pass before she gently pulls back with a grin. "I’m sorry, but where can I wash my feet? They still got muddy."

Back at his house, where Kita hears the water running in the bathroom, he holds his head in hands as he finally comes back to his senses. What did he just do? After all those years of not contacting her, he doesn't even say hello and instead hugs her without her consent? Did he just disrespect her? And then embarrassment takes over when he notices his sweat-soaked shirt. Did he really hold her like that while looking and smelling awful?

"Kita-san, are you alright?"

He looks up, but immediately looks away and nods in reply.

"Why don't you take a bath for now?" she asks, depressing Kita even more. He must have really disgusted her. "We can catch up afterwards."

---

While he was showering, Kita had heard the clanging of pots and utensils, and the kitchen sink’s faucet turning on and off. Now that he’s back, he confirms his suspicion.

She is cooking rice.

His rice.

The rice he had worked so hard to grow is now being cooked carefully by her own hands to fill both of their tummies soon.

Kita can't help but smile.

She notices him watching her, so she smiles back at him before turning the stove on.

Kita steps closer. "You really make a good wife."

She gasps, instantly turning to him.

He only stares back, still smiling.

Her brow slightly furrows. "Kita-san, there's no one else to joke around with like this."

"I mean it. Even back then. I just didn’t understand… no, I just denied it. But now..." He gulps. "You do make a good wife. Maybe not mine, but anyone would be honored to have you. I just want you to know that."

"Kita-san," she says, stepping even closer to him, "do you not want me to be your wife?"

"I do!" he says right away, sounding frustrated.

She bites her lip, as if fighting a smile. "You do?"

"I do."

"Skipping the dating part?"

"I would date to marry you."

She hides her face in her hands. "Oh my god! You are serious." She looks up again to pout. "How can you say all these things but still be unsure?"

"Because we live very different lives now. I can't tie you down here when you've got your own dreams to pursue."

"But life would be fine for me out here. As long as it's with you, Kita-san."

Kita stops to hold her gaze.

It’s intense, warm, and most importantly, honest.

And he is glad that the first time he actually let himself cry for her, it's because he’s too happy. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she says, smiling again as she reaches up to wipe his tears away.

He kisses one of her palms and pulls her close. To embrace her once again. To kiss the top of her head, and then the tip of her nose, and finally, her lips.

Kita has always prided himself on being built by the things he does every day. But love is not just an individual effort, and because he didn't do much for it, he thought he'd lost all his chances.

But here she is, willingly coming back to his life, showing him she loves him too. Maybe even more than he does.

He doesn’t believe in luck, but maybe it has helped him this time. He is too careful to be reckless, but if she’s willing to take the risk with him, they would figure things out.

But all that matters right now is this. Melting in each other’s arms, catching up on lost time. A moment too perfect to break.

Or not.

As they redo the rice, Kita asks her, "Why didn't you just use the rice cooker?"

EDITED A/N: WILL WRITE A SECOND CHAPTER SOON! i just don't know when i'll post it, considering my hectic work sched...

[justlostinautumn]

Request: His Human.

@nick-1432​ asked: hey are you taking requests? If yes then, can I request a cute Klaus x human reader imagine, you decide the plot. P.S. I love your writing

THIS IS A KLAUS X ORIGINAL FEMALE CHARACTER (NAMED NIKITA)

Nikita studies Marine Biology at Tulane University. After an accident, she becomes unlikely friends with none other than Kol Mikaelsons. But after an encountering the infamous Hybrid, Niklaus Mikaelson her life changes. The question is how does a tiny human capture the attention of one of the most dangerous supernatural beings in existence.

WARNING: MENTIONS OF ATTEMPTED ASSAULT, IMPLIED SMUT?

Hun, I’m so sorry you had to wait so long for this I hope it meets your expectations! Sorry, it’s not the best.

~Third Person~

Nikita was exhausted after a long day of classes and all she wanted to do was head back to her studio apartment and pass out before she had to head off to work for the night. Tulane University was one of the best decisions that she had ever made and she loves her Marine Biology course, the sciences had always been one of her biggest passions. But, she did know how to appreciate the fine arts like books, music and painting. Nikita had always known she wanted to do something with Marine Biology so she doesn’t regret not taking a more artistic course. She was lucky though because she was given the opportunity to pick up some more classes when she raised interest in languages and they were finally allowing her to do it… after all the months of hard work. She hated working nights for the last 9 months and truthfully she hadn’t for that period of time avoiding whenever possible. She honestly just didn’t want the chance of the same thing happening again, but she didn’t worry too much because she always had her trusted hero there to walk with her. Nights always paid better, she found that once the alcohol started flowing a lot more freely people became a lot more generous. It just meant that she had to be a little bit wearier around the patrons.

Walking into her studio she is welcomed to the noise of her TV and Kol laying on her bed, this wasn’t an unusual sight for Nikita to see and as much as she loves Kol this wasn’t the sight she wanted to see.

“How was your day?” Kol asked from where he laid on Nikita’s bed and she let out a heavy sigh looking at him with a slight frown thinking maybe, just maybe he would leave and give her peace for a while.

“Why are you here?” She was exhausted and all she really wanted to just sleep, maybe get a couple hours in before her shift. Sleep is good, sleep is her friend and sleep is what she needs if she wants to be able to get all the good tips tonight!

“No answering questions with another question. I asked first!” Kol smirked at her, Nikita tipped her head back looking at the ceiling closing her eyes taking a deep breath, calm. She was running on coffee and spite and as great as that is, she is beginning to lose steam and just wants to curl up in her bead and get just enough sleep so she feels energised but not too much that she ends up waking up cranky.

“I’m regretting this friendship.” She looked him in the eyes and gave him a weak smile. “Long, Kol. My day was incredibly long and it’s not even finished, I just want to get a couple minutes sleep before I have to work.” Kol looked at Nikita closely and noticed that she looked more worn out than usual and he can’t help the small wave of worry that ran through him. He speeds over to her lifting her face to have a closer look at her to ensure she is actually okay. 

“Anything fun happened today?” Kol asked as he leaned on the wall watching her move to her desk and sort her bag out, taking out folders and organising what needed to be done.

“Nope. But, I did see Marcel and Hayley in passing, they say hi and that they’ll see you tonight.” Nikita said not looking up from her task at hand. Kol smirks as he thinks about the best way to bring up the party that he was planning to drag her to, he just needed to find a way to tell her he knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“Do you wish you didn’t know?” This was the first time Kol ever thought about how the secret of the supernatural could weigh someone down.

“Didn’t know what?” Nikita finally looked away from what she was doing and looked over to Kol who was now standing behind her looking down into her brown eyes. His gaze intense and it sent shivers down her spine, he had only looked at her like that once and that was when he told her about Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and Hybrids.

“About the supernatural world that you live in?” Kol was watching her carefully and he saw her molten chocolate eyes melt as his question. There was a softness to it that gave him comfort, a small smile tugging at the left corner of her mouth, she raises a hand to his cheek and sighs softly.

“Kol, I’m happy that you trusted me enough to tell me about the supernatural world. Honestly, I wouldn’t want our friendship to be any other way. You make me feel safe.” She smiles at him lightly slapping his cheek playfully as she heads to her small kitchenette to get some water.

~Flashback 8 Months Ago~

Kol was pacing in her room waiting for Nikita to return from her class. He didn’t know why but he had to tell her about who he was… no, what he was! She had been nothing but honest with him this whole time, telling him about her past and her family. Talking about why she is so willing to break her back working extra at the Diner, but also at school. So, it was only right to tell her the truth about the world that she lives in. That everything from those fictional stories she is so fond of is true. He knows it’s crazy and that it’s only been a month of knowing her, but he has finally found someone he can call his best friend and he wasn’t going to lose her because of this secret… he’ll make her see she’s safe around him. When the door opens he freezes and Nikita sees him and gives him a soft smile.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” She looked slightly confused, but as she looked closer at him she noticed the look of panic and worry in his eyes and she moved quickly to be in front of him holding his cheeks in her hands, “what’s wrong Kol?”

“I’m a vampire.” Kol blurted out, that wasn’t how he was planning to do it, but Y/N froze and then burst out into laughter.

“That was a good one!” Nikita laughed, patting his chest as she walked away, “I’m a vampire, I’m gonna have to remember that one…”

But before she could say anything else Kol stood in front of her, startling her causing Nikita to stumble backwards, her eyes wide in disbelief and confusion.

“How? But… what?” She stuttered broken questions with confusion and a small amount of fear in her eyes, Kol held up his hands to show he meant no harm as he watched her drop into her reading chair and Kol crouched in front of Nikita. 

“I’m a vampire, but you are safe with me. My family and I normally drink from blood bags. But, there are many vampires in New Orleans that drink from humans. Most only target tourists, they don’t want to draw too much attention that having the locals missing draws.” Kol spoke calmly to her.

“Okay… cool… so, vampires… anything else? Werewolves? Witches? Mutant Turtles living in the sewers with a rat for a Sensei?” There was a defensiveness in her voice, but Kol could see that she believed him.

“There are werewolves, witches and hybrids… I’m sorry, but I don’t know any mutant turtles that live in the sewers with a rat for a Sensei.” Kol smirks at her and Nikita breaks out into hysterical laughter. She couldn’t explain why.

“Why are you telling me this?” She asks once she has gathered herself enough. Looking down at where Kol is crouched down and sees the fear of rejection, but also a pain in his eyes and she frowns trying to figure out why he would be in pain.

“Because you’ve been nothing but open and honest with you. I don’t want you to find out because you’ve been put in danger by being my friend… my best friend.” Kol looks down at his hands and doesn’t notice that she moves to kneel in front of him and uses her hand to lift his chin so he can look her in the face. He sees that soft look in her eyes, the look she gave him the first day they met. 

“Thank you, it may take some time and a lot of explaining on your part. But, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve never had someone who understood me well in my life and I will not allow anything to take that away from me!” She smiles at him. He can see the determination in her eyes and knows that she means every word. This was far from how he expected it to go… he expected to scream and running away.

“I thought you’d run from me because I’m a monster.” Kol sighed, and he sees the laughter in her eyes. But there is something else there’s a flash of something dark.

“Kol, I don’t believe you’re a monster… I’ve seen monsters and you are not one.” There is a darkness in her eyes that he knows well and he pulls her into his arms and holds her close. She grips on to his shirt and a small laugh bubbled from her, “besides, you’re my knight in shining armour.”

They both stood there laughing for a while until they pulled apart and sat on her bed. Kol spent the night and most of the next day answering all of Nikita’s questions. It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“Do you remember how I told you my siblings are planning some fancy party?” Kol was sitting back on the bed again and Nikita let out a sigh moving slowly towards him taking her coat of dropping it on her reading chair.

“Vaguely, why?” Nikita was watching Kol closely; she could see that he was up to something and she just wasn’t 100% sure what it was yet.

“Oh, it’s tonight.” Kol looked at her with big puppy dog eyes and she knew there was a catch.

“I don’t know Kol… meeting the family that you talk so…” Nikita pauses looks at Kol who is smirking at her, her head tilts to the side as she chooses her words carefully “highly. Kol you are always complaining about them and I’m sure you’re going with Davina you don’t need me to go too if that is what you are trying to get at.”

Kol just stood there watching his best friend very closely and listening to what she was saying. He knew he hadn’t painted his family in the best light considering most of the time he complained about them to her but he honestly really wanted her to come. He was silent as he watched her pull off her shoes and crawl up on the bed.

“I thought you might like to come to a party my family are hosting.” Kol shifted over so Nikita could lie in her bed next to him. This wasn’t uncommon for them since they had become friends. There were many nights where the two of them would sit and gossip about everything happening in their lives as they watched some trashy TV or even movies. It was like their own personal bubble that they have together, where they can just be themselves… no expectations from their families, from school, from work. Nothing but calm and relaxation.

“Working.” She mumbled as she finally found her comfy spot in her bed and sleep began to take her. Kol smiles softly at her as he watches her as she settles in.

“I may have spoken to your boss and gotten you the evening off,” Kol smirked down at the girl who shot up and looked at him in shock, mouth opening and closing with nothing coming out. Kol laughed and his eyes shined with nothing but mischief as he watched Nikita look at him in complete and utter shock.

“What?!” She was in disbelief, her boss who would barely let her off for the evening when she had to help out her auntie who was in the hospital and with her kids. Cutting her eyes at him, she had a funny feeling that Kol might have used his compulsion on her boss. Kol didn’t have enough charm in the world to get her boss to so easily roll over on this one, he had to have used compulsion. “Kol tell me you didn’t use compulsion.”

“I didn’t use compulsion,” Kol smirked at her, he knew that she knew that he had. He couldn’t help the amused look he had on his face.

“Kol!” She groaned as she sat up with her head in her hands, she ran her fingers through her hair and gave him a dirty look.

“What?” He was honestly confused by her reaction, he thought she’d be happy to have the evening off from work… she works so damn hard all the time she deserves this and he wasn’t going to back down on this one.

“You can’t just go and compel my boss to give me time off, that’s wrong.” Nikita gives Kol a stern look and he just smiles at her and gives her his puppy dog eyes with those big brown orbs.

“But, you need a break.” He pouts, Nikita can’t help but huff out a laugh at his dramatics shaking her head.

“Don’t you ever compel my boss again… without my permission.” She scolds him, but there is a smirk on her lips. Even though Nikita is smirking at Kol, he knew that she was being dead serious about the compulsion. She hated the idea of using it for her personal gain. But, Kol knew that if he had asked for permission she would have said no and he wasn’t going to risk that.

“So…” Kol looked at her hopefully.

“Fine,” Nikita says looking at him, Kol beams at her.

“I think it’s time you meet my family!” Kol chuckles and Nikita groans as she sits up and gives him a dirty look. This was the last thing she wanted. Nikita pauses at that thought. Kol normally came in frustrated and annoyed at what they had done. He called Elijah stuck up and a stick in the mud. He called Rebekah a hopeless romantic and pigheaded. He called Klaus a control freak, narcissistic megalomaniac and general arsehole! Nothing that she had told her about them made her want to meet them. If anything it really put her off.

“I think this is a bad idea.” She closes her eyes as she leans on Kol’s shoulder as she lets sleep take her. Kol rests his head on hers, thinking of all the times that they had done it before.

“I’m sure you do,” Kol spoke, shaking his head leaning back and continuing watching the movie he was playing.

Kol had bought her a dress to wear. It was a long-sleeved backless dress that had a slit up to her right upper thigh. It was soft and the layers of sheer fabric for the skirt made it dark enough that people wouldn’t be able to see her ass through it even though it has a leotard type of top to it. Shaking her head at the dress a soft smile tugs at her lips, she knew Kol would give her something like this to wear.

Looking in the mirror ensuring her curls fall perfectly she had to make a good impression because no matter how much Kol bitches about his siblings they mean the world to him. Klaus and Rebekah were usually the stars of his complaints. They were always doing something that was rubbing him up the wrong way and it makes her laugh at how much drama happens within one family. But, as she looked in the mirror at herself thinking about Kol complaining about his family she felt an ache in her chest. She knew what it was straight away… it was loneliness. She didn’t know what it was like to have a family like that. 

Shaking her head she walks away from the mirror and heads to her door, deciding it was now or never. When she got downstairs she saw a town car, laughing to herself as the driver opened the door and helped her in. Of course, Kol would send her a car, he was always complaining about how where she wasn’t safe and just to let him get her a place that was nice and safe it was always an argument and as much as she loved his protective side she didn’t need him to look after her and pay for her. She’d been taking care of herself for a long time now. She doesn’t need his money, she doesn’t want him to think she would just be taking him for granted.

The car pulls up to the Compound and Nikita takes in a deep breath at the amazing building before her and is completely shocked and amazed by it. The driver opens the door and she takes his hand as he helps her out of the car, she slowly makes her way to the door. From outside she could hear the soft sound of the music and also the chatter of the guests and Nikita couldn’t help the nerves that started to rise up in her. The door is opened for her and she gives the server a soft smile before her eyes scan the room and she sees both Davina and Kol smiling up at her and she smiles back at them giving them a small nod. But, before she can move into the room anymore she feels the gentle breeze she knows oh so well.

“Well don’t you brush up nicely?” She smirks at Kol who is by her side in a heartbeat, she is used to his speed. It comes very handily when she has multiple things she needs to be done quickly. Giving her his signature smirk as he looks her up and down. Kol admits to himself she is beautiful, but she would be perfect for Klaus not that he wants Klaus anywhere near Nikita.

“I must say, I have exquisite taste in fashion.” He chuckles and Nikita just shakes her head and starts to walk further into the compound smiling and greeting people she had no idea who they were. Kol keeps a close eye on her knowing better than chasing her and finds Davina.

“You should worry less about her, you know she can handle herself.” Davina chuckles, smiling knowingly at Kol.

“I know. It’s just that she's my best friend and I don’t want to risk losing her.” Kol lets out a deep breath.

“I know baby. But, I’m sure she’ll be able to handle your family… she handles you.” Davina smirks at Kol who laughs and holds Davina closer to him as they watch Nikita make her way around the room.

“She’s just too pure to be touched by this family.” Kol murmurs as he kisses Davina’s head.

Nikita had been walking around the room and had settled near the bar with a drink in her hand and she was just watching the room. Watching the people around her as they interact with one another but also not paying too much attention to anyone to draw attention to herself. But, the Mikaelsons siblings already have her attention, especially when Kol is by her side within seconds of her arrival.

“Hello, who might you be?” A beautiful blonde walked up to Nikita, Nikita couldn’t pinpoint what it was about this woman but there was something familiar about her. Rebekah had noticed Kol and Nikita’s interaction.

“My name is Nikita, I’m a friend of Kol’s.” She held up her hand and the blond shook it with a look of surprise on her face. Rebekah watches the girl closely. She may not be Davina’s biggest fan, but she wasn’t having someone swoop in and ruin the peace the family finally had.

“I’m Rebekah, his sister, I thought he was lying about having a friend,” Rebekah smirks at the girl.

“To be honest, the guy saves you once, you spill coffee on him once or twice. You become friends?” Nikita laughs and Rebekah smiles at the girl. She notices, Nikita’s eyes almost look distant as if she’s recalling a memory. Rebekah can see the sincerity. But frowns, what did she need saving from.

“How did he save you?” Rebekah asked pulling Nikita over to the bar, getting both of them a drink. Rebekah thought that this was going to be an interesting story, maybe it was a rogue vampire or something silly like her tripping and almost getting hit by a car.

“I was walking through the city at night. I had just finished a double shift at the dinner I work at, it had been a long day, classes in the morning and then work. I normally don’t take doubles that would lead to closing hours for some of the bars and I don’t like walking back to my apartment late at night… well, I guess it’s more like early hours of the morning. But, the tips were good so I stayed. A customer had been a little handsy most of the night, clearly drunk. He followed me and before anything could happen Kol swooped in and saved me. Making some sarcastic remark about me owing him a coffee… the same coffee I spilt on him.” Nikita gave Rebekah a sad smile and Kol swooped in his smirk falling slightly at the look on his best friend's face. Rebekah noticed the pause in the story, Nikita had missed some points out but knew better than to push it. Kol knew from the look on Nikita’s face what was wrong.

*9 Months Earlier*

~ Nikita’s POV: ~

It had been a long day and normally I don’t work double shifts especially if I’m already working the evening shift, but the tips were so good, there must have been something happening tonight. The money was so good it meant that it possibly meant that I wouldn’t have to take an extra shift for the rest of the week and possibly month. Uni has been long, finals are coming up in the next month and I just don’t wanna have to work extra if I don’t need to. Allowing to focus more of my time on finals rather than paying bills. So, instead of finishing at the usual 11/12pm, I was finishing up at 4am. Taking a deep breath as I clocked out putting my tips in my bag as I zip up my jacket. I was still dark outside and cold. 

Images of the customer who seemed to act a little familiar with me flashed in my mind, guys slapping my ass as I walked past and their lingering touches. I had never felt threatened or uncomfortable ever at work. But, today I did and no matter how much I complained about working the diner and the hours one thing for sure was the boss took care of his staff no matter what. He may be a hardass about time off, but his employees’ safety is number one. He kicked the guy and his friends out as soon as he saw it happening. She had seen it happen to some of the other girls on this shift and this is always how it is dealt with. But, she has never experienced it herself before and a shiver ran down her spine.

I just needed to get home. Sleep for the next 4 hours before I have to get up and go back to work all day tomorrow, Saturday’s sucked. I hadn’t noticed the person walking behind me I was too lost in my own head trying to figure out what I had to get done the list was extensive, during my breaks I will have to run to the library to pick up some of the textbooks I need and then in other breaks I will have to work on some of my assignments along with the extra credit projects I had taken on. I wanted to take on another class. A language, but they said that my course was already intense and that I had to prove that I could handle the work. So, they piled on the extra credit a mile high. I have the majority done just two more and a couple of edits which is most likely what I’ll be focusing on tomorrow.

When the hand grabbed me, I was so shocked that I didn’t scream. I smelt him before I saw him. The stench of stale alcohol and cigarette smoke filled the air between us, I let out a deafening scream and he only laughed as he started to try and take my coat off. Praying that someone would hear me. I recognised who it was straight away and fear ran through me. I would not allow this to happen to me. So, I fought like my life depended on it, because it did. Before I could hear the ripping of my shirt but before he could rip the whole thing off, he was ripped off me and I let out sobs of relief sliding to the floor as the man let out a shout of pain and then it became quiet almost too quiet. The only thing that could be heard was my sobs.

“Hello Darling, are you okay?” A smooth British accent asked me.

“Thank you.” Was all I could choke out repeatedly between sobs and the next thing I knew I was being pulled into a warm embrace as he held me to him. I didn’t realise it was my hero, so I tried to fight him off until I heard him soothingly shushing me.

“It’s just me. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe now.” Kol kept repeating rubbing my back while speaking his soothing words.

“It’s okay, how about I walk you home and you can tell me more about you?” He smiled down at me as he had me still in his arms and I gave him a small nod. He put me on my feet again and that was the beginning of something amazing. He looked down and noticed my ripped jacket and shirt and pulled his jumper off and gave it to me.

Kol introduced himself to me and the conversation flowed easily between us. He talks about his family, by the time we arrived at my apartment it felt right to invite him in for a coffee. Being around Kol felt like being around a friend I’d known my whole life… it just felt right.

~Third Person~

Kol makes his way over to the two at the bar quickly, not happy with the look on Nikita’s face and worried that Rebekah might have said something to offend his best friend. Nikita hadn’t noticed that Kol had arrived next to her and was now glaring at his sister.

“Are you okay? Rebekah wasn’t rude to you was she?” He glared at his sister who was generally surprised by her brother's attitude. This snapped Nikita out of her thoughts and she smiled softly at Kol at how protective he was about her.

“No! No, I was telling her how we met and also how I spilt coffee on you twice.” She smirks at him resting a hand on his arm giving it a soft squeeze. But he could see that she was still a little lost in the memory

“I swear you did it on purpose.” He gave her a slight pout and both Rebekah and Nikita laughed at his response. He knew he had to keep those darker thoughts at bay. He couldn’t help the guilt that seeped in.

“Oh, I did.” She smirked at his look of horror, he knew that she was joking.

“Ouch, my heart.” She laughed at him as he rested his hand on his heart with a look of mock hurt on his face. Kol couldn’t keep straight for long before he broke out in laughter. He couldn’t help it, even Rebekah was smirking at the two of them.

A tall dark-haired man in an expensive suit started to make his way towards us. Kol slightly tensed Nikita noticing. Rebekah smirking at Kol

“Brother, who is our guest?” He spoke formally as he looked Nikita up and down and she moved closer to Kol to avoid the penetrating stare of the stranger. Something about him oozes power and Nikita knew from the suit that it was Elijah.

“Elijah this is Nikita, my best friend, the girl I told you about,” Kol informed his brother resting his arm around Nikita’s waist. Almost defensively making Elijah raise a brow and Rebekah smile. She can’t help but feel just as protective of the girl as Kol.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Has she met Niklaus yet?” Elijah smiled softly at her and then his eyes flickered to Kol. From the way he was when Elijah walked over, he would love to know his reaction to Klaus

“No. I’m trying to avoid it. You know what he can be like.” Kol sighed heavily. He knew what might happen and he was apprehensive about it.

“Niklaus?” Nikita asked softly, looking up at Kol noticing the look. The name sounded familiar, but Kol had never mentioned a Niklaus before. Klaus, yes. Niklaus, no.

“I prefer Klaus, Love.” A voice spoke behind her making her jump and spin around and Kol glared at his brother. So this was the other brother. Her head tilts as she takes him in. 

“Nik.” Kol greeted him coldly. Nikita notices Kol's change towards Klaus and shifts uncomfortably, just as he is protective of her, she is the same with him and hates to see him like this.

“Baby brother, who might this be?” Klaus smirked down at the girl who had an arm around his brother's waist. Klaus frowned slightly at the sight of Kols arm around her. For some reason, he didn’t like her hiding from him. But, he saw something shine in her eyes. It looked like defiance.

“My name is Nikita. So, this is Klaus the big bad hybrid then?” Nikita smirks and her head tilts to the side. Kol had told her that he had siblings but she had never met them. She could feel the tension running through Kol’s body. 

“What else has my little brother told you about me?” Klaus was curious about this human she had defiance shining in her eyes and it was something very few people had when dealing with him. He just knew that she would be a hell-raiser. No witch, human, wolf or vampire who had looked at him that way or made him feel this way.

“That you have an awful temper and it sounds to me like you’re a control freak. I’ve also heard you get a little stabby when your siblings annoy you, like to keep them in coffins and cart them around. A little morbid to me… have you ever thought about going to therapy? I think it might help you with your problems.” Nikita smiles sweetly at him, taking her drink and walks away leaving all the originals looking after her like she didn’t just call the most powerful creature in the room mentally unstable… out loud.

“Did she just do that?” Klaus looked at his siblings for clarification that that had just happened. No one spoke to him like that and got away with it, but watching her walk away smiling at the guests and the twinkle in her eye the siblings looked at Klaus and they saw a look of both amusement and anger and they could help but be amused.

The siblings were honestly shocked and speechless at what she had just said, but it wasn’t what she said it was how casually she said it. Kol couldn’t help be a little proud of his best friend. But also incredibly fearful for her life.

She stood with Marcel and Hayley as they talked and laughed. This didn’t sit right with Klaus. 

“What makes you think you can talk to me like that little human?” Klaus spoke softly into Nikita’s ear, leaning in close to her. Marcel and Hayley watch the couple closely. They see the smirk on Nikita’s face. It seems like she enjoys playing with her food just as much as Klaus does.

“Kol would burn everything you love if you hurt me. We both know that. You’d dagger him and know you’d never be able to take it out because he would never forgive you.” He knew she was telling the truth. Kol doesn’t have friends and he hasn’t seen him act like this in a long time. He wasn’t sure he could get away with him killing her or daggering him. But, also Klaus didn’t want to hurt her as much as she pissed him off. She turns and looks at him, not backing down. He can see that fire and notices his siblings listening close to their conversation.

“Why would I care about that?” He plays with a strand of black her curled hair. He was looking deep into her brown eyes that looked like they were laughing at him.

“Because, even under the whole act, all you really care about is your family. You’d never hurt him like that no matter how much it wounds your pride. Now if I was some floozy or whatever you call them in your day… I would’ve been dead a long time ago.” She smirks and they both leaned in closer as they spoke. There was something about her that drew him in this fearlessness, something not even other supernatural creatures have of him. Neither noticing Kol watching them closely smirking at what was happening. The family enjoyed the show.

“You know nothing about me.” Klaus became defensive and the girl in front of him had the audacity to just smirk like she hadn’t just dissected him, her red painted lips pulled into a satisfied grin. He didn’t like how uncomfortable she made him, he turned on his heel and walked to the bar to get a drink. Just standing there watching one another. He hated his family watching with amused looks on their faces, he hated she had the power to make him so uncomfortable.

Kol wrapped his arm around his best friend's waist and let out a heavy sigh as he leaned his head on her shoulder. He couldn’t control the smirk on his lips as he held her close. 

“What’s wrong?” He could hear the laughter in his voice. He's glad one of them could find humour in what was going on. Even though he did it was kinda funny he was very fearful for her life.

“You managed to avoid death twice let's not push it a third time with my brother.” Kol holds her tight; he wasn’t really willing to test her theory on whether his brother would or wouldn’t kill her because Kol is more important to him than he realised. Kol could tell that Klaus likes her, but Kol was still worried. He wasn’t willing to lose his best friend on a possible crush.

“Kol, if you didn’t matter I’m pretty sure the wolf boy over there would have killed you a long time ago. I’m also 100% your brother would raise hell if someone tried to or did kill you.” She shrugs patting his cheek and walks over to the bar where Klaus was stewing at her calling him a wolf boy. She knew he heard and smirked.

“She’s going to be murdered by my brother.” Kol slaps his face.

Kol walks over to Davina who’s with Rebekah, Elijah, Marcel and Hayley who are all looking at the two wondering what is going to happen next and the likelihood of it ending well.

Klaus was watching her every move around his home. How dare a human come into his home and disrespect him! He couldn’t pinpoint what it was about this girl that got so under his skin, something about her made him want to strangle her but also hold her close. Spill his guts about everything and he didn’t understand. He questions why this is happening… some cruel act of fate.

“I’m sorry.” The words surprised him as he looked down at the girl leaning on the bar next to him with bourbon in her hand as she stood next to him watching the people all around them he watched her carefully as she drank. How had he not noticed her approach? How is she human? She must be a witch or something, maybe a siren!

“What?” He was shocked and confused about why she was apologising to him.

“I’m sorry about making you uncomfortable. I can be a little heavy-handed with what I say… I guess it was just how I was brought up.” She sighed, he noticed her tension at this point and took a long drink from her glass and looked up at him.

“You and Kol?” He left the question open for her to answer not sure what he was hoping for her to say. Was he jealous at the fact his brother may have a claim on this girl?

“Friends and nothing else… to be honest, sometimes we act more like siblings. The bickering and the arguing, but it’s nice.” She chuckles softly and Klaus notices her softness.

“What about your family?” Klaus frowned, family, is important. Maybe her family could tell him what she is because she can’t just be human.

“Unimportant.” Her voice was flat and it left Klaus confused. To him family is sacred and to this girl, it wasn’t anything. He notices the knowing look on her face. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“No, you don’t!” Klaus frowned at the girl, he was becoming more and more frustrated at Nikita.

“You’re thinking how I could say that family is unimportant. I know you had hardships with your father, the whole trying to kill you thing and all. I also know you’ve had your disputes with your siblings. Then there's also your mother too. But, your siblings love you, your mother loved you… your father was a piece of shit. You have love, they may piss you off and you may end up putting them in a coffin for a 100 odd years here and there but still, they wake you bicker and argue and yet they still love you and stand by your side no matter what. Always and forever, right?” She looks Klaus in the eye, there’s a flash of something in her eyes and he looks down at her speechless at what she is saying looking back out to the crowd she notices the siblings all looking their way listening into the conversation. “My family isn't like that. There is no love there, only resentment, anger and pain. Maybe at one point, there was love, but not anymore. Mom and Dad divorced when I was younger, Mom blamed me. She took to partying and had a slew of boyfriends and all sorts in the home, I thought my Dad would save me but he never did. I left home and moved in with my Aunt and Uncle, they were nice but had enough of their own problems. Their own heard of children to look after, I was just another burden. I studied and worked hard to get a full-ride here at Tulane University, I bust my ass off in a diner so I can pay my rent and bills. Family is what you make it, blood means little to me. It's people like Kol and a handful of other friends I have that are my family. I’d die for them.”

Klaus was left with nothing to say at her words, there was a deep pain in her heart that made him want to wrap her in his arms and protect her from everyone and there was a burning rage to find everyone who’d wronged her and make them suffer unimaginable pain. Maybe it wasn’t so wrong to care about her.

It had been a long evening and Nikita was beginning to feel it, so she looked for Kol to say goodbye knowing that there will still be a car waiting to take her home, but before she could leave Klaus walked in her path.

“Where are you going Love?” Klaus watches her closely and when he sees her sigh he truly sees how tired she is.

“I think it’s time for me to go home, I was just going to say goodbye to your brother… considering he was the one who invited me,” Nikita says patting his chest as she walked around him, she didn’t have the energy to come up with a witty line.

“Are you okay?” Klaus frowns walking next to her.

“Nothing a little sleep won’t fix.” Nikita smiles up at him before spotting Kol and walking quickly over to him, leaving Klaus to look after her.

“I’m going to get going.” Nikita hugs Kol who holds her tightly.

“I’ll come with you,” Kol says firmly, but he’s watching Klaus not looking at her. Nikita frowns before looking over her shoulder to see who he’s looking at and she snorts shaking her head.

“Fine… whatever.” Nikita rolls her eyes not really bothered.

The car ride was silent and Nikita leaned against Kol’s shoulder allowing her body to relax a little, she hadn’t realised how exhausted her body was till this moment right here.

“I think you made an impression on my family,” Kol spoke walking up to her door and pulled her into one more hug.

“I had fun. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you or anything.” Nikita leans onto Kol’s shoulder.

“No, you did me proud like you always do.” He smirks at her.

“Go back to Davina and tell her to thank you for ensuring I got home.” Nikita laughs, walking in before she can hear his response.

It had been a few weeks since the ball and Kol had been keeping as much information about Nikita to himself as possible. He would disappear and no one would be able to contact him and so they decided enough was enough and trapped him so that he would have to tell them everything. So here they are walking into the Dinner and sitting in a booth in Nikita’s section.

“Why do you all insist on coming with me?” Kol sighed as he waited for her to come out from the kitchen where Nikita was talking to one of the chiefs. When she backed out of the kitchen they all could hear her laughing with arms filled with plates of food as she swept around the room surviving hungry dinners. Klaus has never seen her like this and is amazed. She’s in her element and Kol can’t help but smile at the girl he has watched grow for the last year. Her eyes landed on the Mikaelson family, they stuck out like a sore thumb and she couldn’t help the soft chuckle that passed her lips. She got a tray and got four mugs and a pot of coffee, cream and sugar. Making her way through the tables. She’s in her element, but the thought of her being able to fit in anywhere she wants.

“Coffee?” She smiles at them as she puts a cup in front of Kol without getting his answer, they all notice this with raised brows. Both Elijah and Rebekah nod in response and Klaus can’t help but smile at her.

“Yes please, Love.” Klaus leans on the table to watch her closely and a light blush covers her cheeks. He couldn’t help the smirk on his lips.

Kol had been watching Klaus closely over the last couple of weeks since the ball and had noticed Klaus smiling more and also looking at his phone and disappearing more. He had an idea why.

“Nikita, will you come and sit with us?” Elijah asked with a soft smile on his face.

“I don’t know if I can.” She looked back at her Boss, but before she could look away and she saw Kol next to him. Her Boss walks over.

“Hey darling, you’re finished for the day.” He smiled at her before patting her on the shoulder and going back to work.

“Kol! What have I told you about compelling my boss?” Nikita glared at her best friend.

“That I’m not to do it without your permission, but we both know you wanted to join us and he would’ve said no.” Kol pouted.

“Kol, that’s beside the point and you know it. ‘I want never gets!’ It’s the way of life!” Nikita huffed walking away.

“Where are you going, young lady?” Kol stands in front of her with his hands on his hips as the siblings watch the scene with amused smiles on their faces. 

“I’m going to change out of my uniform. Is that alright Dad?” The sarcasm dripped from her voice as she barged past Kol heading to the lockers. Kol leans his head back and walks back to his siblings.

“Does she really hate it when you compel her boss?” Rebekah was intrigued by it all, anyone else would be happy that they didn’t have to work. But you, you were pissed.

“She’s strong-willed. She doesn’t like me using it because she feels like she is using me for her own personal gain… that she’s being selfish.” Kol sighs dropping in the seat next to Elijah.

“But, she isn't. You decided to do it.” Klaus was confused.

“But, that doesn’t matter to her, because she is still reaping the benefits. Trust me it’s a never-ending argument between the two of us.” Kol shakes his head, thinking about all the disagreements they’ve had over him compelling someone. 

They all see Nikita walking back over to their table, she’s in a pair of black jeans and a dark red long-sleeved shirt. 

“What are you guys talking about?” Nikita looked at them, her head tilted to the side and her eyes focusing mainly on Kol. There was something dark in her eyes.

“How pretty you are.” Kol smiles at her and she just shakes her head.

“Try again, Mikaelson.” She stands there staring him down and all Klaus can do is stare in amazement. No one would stand up to any of them all would be too scared of the consequences but here she is a human staring down one of the Originals like it was nothing.

“We were talking about your aversion to compulsion.” Klaus says smirking at her, Nikita’s head snapped in his direction and she glared daggers at him. Kol couldn’t help but watch the interaction with fascination, there was something in her eyes when she was looking at him and he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

~Flashback of the siblings teasing Klaus~

“Who would have thought that the great Niklaus would fall in love.” Rebekah teased her brother.

“I have not fallen in love,” Klaus mutters.

“Who is it Nik?” Kol smirks.

“I guess we should thank Kol.” Elijah smiled teasingly at his youngest brother.

“Why?” Kol was confused.

“Because you introduced them,” Rebekah smirks.

“I haven’t… NO! Not Nikita!” Kol glared at Klaus.

“I’m not in love with her!” Klaus says in frustration.

“You stay away from her,” Kol warned his brother. Klaus could see the glare in his eyes and knew Kol wasn’t joking around.

“I thought they were perfect.” Rebekah sighs dropping into the chair next to Elijah.

“Same, the way she stood up to him… fearless.” Elijah nods in agreement with a thoughtful look on her face.

“They would make a good couple.” Rebekah sighs, looking Klaus up and down imagining it.

“King and Queen. I can imagine her temper is just as bad as his.” Elijah smirks.

“The tongue lashing she could give him.” Rebekah snorts.

“Let’s not forget my dear friend did tell our brother he needed to go to therapy,” Kol smirks at Klaus who was getting more and more frustrated.

“What do you want?” Klaus groaned in annoyance at the whole thing.

“Admit you like her!” Rebekah leaned in excitedly.

“She’s interesting. She’s annoying. I don’t like her. Hell I don’t even know her.” Klaus stormed out the room and the siblings laughed at his annoyance. They follow after him to continue the teasing and as much as it annoys Kol that his brother likes his best friend, it was very amusing to watch as Klaus became more and more frustrated and uncomfortable.

~Flashbacks of Klaus & Y/N hanging out~

Klaus was watching her study, there was something so mesmerising about it. Her black hair piled on the top of her head in a messy bun, with strands falling around her face. A pen resting between her soft lips that Klaus can’t help but stare at wondering if they are as soft as they look. Her warm chocolate eyes focused on her work. Klaus couldn’t deny he was attracted to her and the more time he spent with her the more and more he fell… the only problem was he didn’t know how she felt.

“So tell me something.” Nikita looked at him, taking him by surprise.

“What do you mean?” He was confused.

“Tell me anything… about you, or your family.” She smiled at him softly putting her pen down and drawing her knee up against her chest. They had been sitting on her bed, she had promised a movie when she finished the last chapter of her text. But the truth was she couldn’t focus with him there watching her, couldn’t focus on anything other than the warmth she could feel coming from his body, couldn’t focus on the words on the page because all she could focus on was his smell… the smell of the forest; fresh pine, damp soil like it had just rained. A smell she found comfort in.

“You know all there is to know about me.” Klaus smiles as he leans back against her headboard.

“Surprisingly, I don’t. Kol doesn’t like to talk about you much… unless he’s complaining. How did you break the curse?” This was something that had always intrigued her, the fact he was both Werewolf and Vampire. She knew his mother had an affair and that a curse was placed on him. But, Kol was always very evasive about how Klaus broke it.

“I… I don’t think I should tell you.” Klaus looked away and Nikita could see the shame in his eyes and something else… was that fear.

“Nik. I’m assuming a sacrifice had to be made. Kol mentioned the Sun and the Moon curse and google came up with all sorts of answers to that… but that curse was about you right?” She leans over resting her hand on his cheek. She had put it together on her own with the small bits of information that Kol had given her.

“You’re smarter than your own good.” Klaus chuckles softly resting his hand over hers, leaning into her touch. He turns his head a little so he can place a soft kiss onto the palm of her hand and she shifts a little closer to him.

“So, what I’ve gathered is you needed the moonstone, a vampire, a werewolf and a witch.” Nikita looks at him.

“There is also the doppelganger needed and the ritual can only happen at the birthplace of the doppelganger.” Klaus explains.

“Is that all I’m going to get?” Nikita smirks at him.

“Yes Love, that’s all I’m going to tell you. But, how did you figure out that The Sun and The Moon Curse was about me,” Klaus was curious, they were both leaning in close, not bothered by the closeness or intimacy.

“I wouldn’t have figured it out if Kol hadn’t told me what you were. I would have thought they were just a curse about Vampire’s being able to walk in the sun and Werewolf’s not having to turn at a full moon. But, I then thought if I was you and I wanted to break a curse my mother put on me, but I needed a moonstone and a doppelganger… I’d create a fake legend. Have the warring species looking for the same thing, you are sure to find it quicker.” Nikita leaned back smirking and Klaus couldn’t help but smile at her.

“And that is exactly what Elijah and I did.” Klaus returns to his position against the headboard and watches Y/N put all her books away and comes to sit next to him leaning in close. He smirks, “done already?”

“Can’t seem to focus.” Nikita rests her head on Klaus’ shoulder and flicks on the TV. Neither one paid attention to what was playing as they were too busy focusing on one another.

Nikita draped her legs over Klaus curling into his side as he rested one hand on her lower back and the other on her thigh squeezing it softly making her squirm closer to him. She was practically sitting on his lap but he didn’t mind. Klaus’ hand mindlessly ran up and down her spine and her hands would draw patterns on his chest while the other played with his hair. Neither looked at one another, but neither of them paid attention to what was on the screen. They looked up at each other and before either of them could figure out what was happening they were kissing.

They moved closer together, Nikita straddling Klaus’ lap and him resting his hands on her thighs. He slowly slipped his hands higher as their make-out session got more heated. One of his hands slipping up to her waist pulling her in will the other landed on her ass squeezing it softly and a soft moan slips from her lips as she grinds down on him. Klaus groans at the action pulling away softly and she bites and softly nibbles on his lower lips continuing her movements. His hands move to her hips quickly stopping her movements and she lets out a whine.

“I want to do this right. I want to take you on a date.” Klaus breaths out, speaking against her lips and she can’t help the small smile forming on her lips. She leans in and this time kisses him softly, her tongue trails along his lower lips as she pulls away sitting on his thighs.

“Fine.” She sighs in defeat knowing she wasn’t going to win against his strength and control. He smirks at her and places a soft kiss on her lips before wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

Klaus was nervous about this, why was he so nervous?

This was their first official date, after bickering with Kol for who knows how long getting him to agree that it was perfectly fine for him to date her. He’d been sneaking off to see her when she was at work and he knew that Kol was with Davina, he would go to the library and sit and watch her work or maybe even back to her studio apartment and films. This was no easy feat with the amount of time she spent with Kol, also Rebekah stealing her away. It was so mundane… it was so human and he loved it. No, he lived for it. It was those moments that he felt most alive… when he felt the most human and that was the feeling he always wanted to keep. It was strange to him he thought the power and control made him feel alive but it was this siren.

He had never been scared about anything but this was something he was petrified about. He was scared that she would see him for the monster that he is and run and never look back. Klaus may be selfish when it comes to you but if you wanted to leave he’d let you go.

The date that Klaus had planned was extravagant. He had booked a whole restaurant for just the two of them, with the best chefs and music. There were roses, chocolates and champagne everywhere Nikita looked and she couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. But, it felt like it was missing something and she couldn’t figure it out. This was more than a dream come true, but still, there was something about the whole thing that just didn’t seem to sit right in her chest and she couldn’t pinpoint it. They laughed, drank and ate.

“Can we go for a walk?” Nikita looked at Klaus who was beaming at her, “what?” She laughed.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to walk through the Quarter with me.” Klaus laughs, as he stands next to her holding his hand out for her to take and she smiles at him.

As they walked through the Quarter music drew their attention and Nikita dragged Klaus to go and listen with her. His arms wrapping around her waist and they swayed together listening and enjoying it. Klaus decided at that moment he wanted to dance and so they did, they twirled and danced around the square, made onlookers smile and the band continued to play and Nikita and Klaus’ laughter could be heard all around. It was a moment so pure. This was what was missing… this was perfect, they both thought to themselves smiling down at one another. When they finally stopped dancing standing to the side to admire an artist at work something hit Nikita a thought she had never had before.

“Nik, you know you don’t need to impress me with all these fancy dates, dress and jewels, right?” She looked at him with her chocolate eyes and he melted just staring into her eyes confused.

“What do you mean?” Klaus tilted his head frowning slightly and it made a smile tug at the corner of her lips. ‘He doesn’t see it,’ is the only thing she can think at that moment.

“Your money, as great as it is, isn’t the reason I’m with you. I love the gifts, but what I love more and I know this is insane and happening so fast. I love you… the you I see when you come to my work just to watch me, the you that sits there with me in the library telling me the history books have it wrong or is constantly asking me questions about what I’m doing, the you that curls up on my bed with me and watch trashy TV or a film, the you that is content to sit there and draw me as I read. I love you for this.” She rests her hand on his heart and smiles softly at him and he feels something inside him warm at her words. “I don’t need the fancy stuff. Yes, it is nice now and then, but what I want is the real moments we have… the mundane and unexpected. Like dancing to the street performers playing, like when you saw me looking at a flower so you bought it for me just to put it in my hair, like the surprise tickle attack or you giving me a foot rub.”

“You love me?” Klaus was shocked, he never thought anyone would love him for all the things that she had just said to him.

“Klaus, I don’t think love can even begin to cover how I feel about you.” Nikita smiles at him and he smiles down at her. His smile was broad and filled with so much joy and happiness, he was beaming like he had been given the best news in the world.

“In all my years walking this earth I have never met anyone that has made me feel like you have. I’ve met a lot of people, I’ve known a lot of people and they have all treated me the same way… with fear and/or hatred. But you, a little human girl has no fear to tell me how it is. Drives me insane! But, it makes me feel more alive… more human than I have ever. I don’t know the last time someone told me they loved me, some who looked me in the eye and said all the things they loved. When people see me they see money and power, but you… you see everything else. You see every flaw and you never judge me, you remind me it’s okay not to be perfect.” Klaus held Nikita’s face in his hands and their lips were so close she could feel his lips against hers as he spoke.

They arrived back at the compound quickly. The kiss was soft, but soon became something hungry.

The Mikaelson compound was empty for a change; all his siblings had other things to attend to and he was 100% grateful to that.

Klaus had Nikita against the wall pinning her and kissing her deeply, she let out a soft moan and she could feel him smirking at her response to him. She ran her hands in his hair and tugged it causing him to groan into her mouth and she smirked back at him. He sped them to his room and threw her softly onto his bed. A slight giggle left her as she bounced and he couldn’t help the smile at the sound. He hovered over her again and they began kissing again but this time it was slower again as their hands explored each other's bodies.

Klaus flipped them so she was straddling his thighs grinding her down onto him a soft groan falling from both their lips her head was leaning back and he took the opportunity to kiss down her neck grazing her throat with his teeth and she ground down hard on him. He leaned back pulling her dress over her head as she worked his shirt off quickly leaning down to kiss his neck as she did so her hands went from his chest to his hair and then to his back where she clawed her nails down.

The house was filled with their moans and neither of them noticed when Kol came home, he’d forgotten something. He was horrified by the sounds he heard and left before he could collect what he needed.

The next day Nikita was blissfully sore and as she collected Klaus’ shirt from the night before and her underwear, she decided she would head down and make her and Klaus some breakfast. What she wasn’t expecting was to be greeted by his siblings.

“Hi.” Nikita smiles awkwardly and gives them a small wave.

“Hello.” Rebekah smirks leaning in.

“Good morning, good night last night?” Elijah’s eyes flicked up from his paper and he was smiling at her, his eyes flicking behind her.

“Perfect, brother.” Klaus answers for her. Wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her neck, Nikita didn’t think much leaning her head to the side letting out a sigh.

“Please my eyes!” Kol groaned in pain. Nikita’s head snapped back up and she blushed. Looking down at her heads as Klaus pulled her closer and Elijah and Rebekah giggled.

“Anyone want pancakes?” Nikita moved quickly getting everything she needed, it wasn’t the first time she had stayed at the Mikaelson’s.

“Me!” Rebekah cheered and Elijah nodded along with her.

“Okay… cool… pancakes.” Nikita spoke nodding pretending that whatever just happened never happened. She could feel all of their eyes on her.

“I came home last night.” Kol broke the silence and Nikita was there frozen, she slowly turned and looked at her best friend horrified.

“Wha- W-w-when?” Nikita stuttered, her face was tomato red.

“You guys were already home.” Kol couldn’t look his friend in the eye.

“NO!” Nikita looked horrified. Burying her face into Klaus’ chest.

“I’m going to have to bleach my mind.” Kol glares at Klaus, who is just smirking.

“I’m going to bury myself alive somewhere,” Nikita mutters leaving the room quickly, the sounds of laughter following her as she hides in Klaus’ bed. Before she fell asleep she felt Klaus’s arms wrap around her and she turned into his chest burrowing in close and he kissed the top of her head.

“Always and Forever Little Love.” Klaus spokes softly and Nikita smiled as she fell to sleep.

[random-mha-thoughts]

Boy in Luv (Midoriya x Reader)

Pairing: Midoriya x fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff/crack

Summary: Midoriya has a crush on a girl in his class, but he has no idea how to confess to her, enlisting the help of his two good friends.

Inspo: Based on BTS “Boy in Luv” MV

Word count: 1,802

Tags:  @liviitehe @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog @bunnythepipsqueak @yuki-osaki

a/n: As promised, here’s the post!  And with this, I’ve officially added Midoriya to the list of characters in the Touch Starved collection.

Enjoy the cuteness and, mostly, the crackhead friendship between the main 3 characters!  And even though I’m really late, happy 6th anniversary to Skool Luv Affair!

Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki sit on the front stoop of their dorm building, enjoying the good weather since it was raining the past few days.  They've been practicing all day and decided to take a break and snack together.

Midoriya munches on his stick of string cheese.  "Do you guys get the math stuff?  I'm still having trouble with integrals and stuff."

"Tch, you're falling behind again, Deku," Bakugou scoffs, ripping open a bag of spicy chips.

Todoroki, the only one of them who decides to snack healthy with some fruit, chews for a moment before offering, "I can help you if you're stuck, Midoriya."

"Like you're any better, Icyhot.  You went completely frozen trying to figure out that problem in class yesterday," Bakugou points out smugly.

"I was simply calculating the answer mentally before writing down my work," Todoroki answers, cool and collected as ever.

"Don't make me laugh!  Just admit that you can be dumb sometimes too!"

Midoriya laughs awkwardly, stuck between his two friends as they argue - more like one of them screaming while the other brushes them off calmly.  The boy raises his eyes out to the distance, widening his eyes at what, or who , he sees.

The girl jogs towards the dorm building with Yaoyorozu beside her.  Her face lights up into a smile at whatever they're talking about.  A black windbreaker jacket is thrown over her golden honey colored sports bra that shows off her lean abdomen, and black leggings with a matching yellow stripe tracing down the side hugs her toned legs.  Midoriya doesn't want to admit it, but he can't stop staring.

The two girls slow to a stop in front of the group of still-bickering boys.  "My, they're always fighting, aren't they?" Yaoyorozu shakes her head.

The girl lets out a few chuckles.  "That's just how they are, I'd be more surprised if they stopped, honestly."  She turns to the green-haired boy and offers him a beaming smile, her eyes crinkling up.  "You still holding up, Midoriya?"

At first he's dazed, staring at the way her chest heaves as she breathes and the thin sheen of sweat on her face glistening in the fading afternoon light.  At his name, he sobers up and his cheeks flush from what he was staring at.  "Oh, uh, yeah, somehow," he sputters.  "Did you guys just come back from training?"

"Yeah, we had a pretty good session."  She stretches her arms over her head, letting a few hums of pain escape her.  "I'd love a good shower and my bed right about now, but I still have homework to do.  See you tomorrow!"

The boy watches as the girls retreat back into the building.  I never thought yellow would look good on someone besides Kaminari, he finds himself thinking.

"Midoriya, are you okay?" Todoroki's concerned voice scatters his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Your cheeks are red and hot like you have a fever."  The heterochromatic haired boy leans forward, about to touch his face.  "Are you coming down with something?"

"No, you clueless idiot, he's in love," Bakugou barks, "He's got the hots for (Y/n)."

Midoriya jolts up.  "Is it that obvious?"

"Maybe not to Icyhot, but yeah, you look at her like she's your entire world or something."

The boy's emerald eyes drop to the ground and he hugs his knees to his chest.  "She's a really down to Earth person, and she's really easy to talk to.  And...the way her smile lights up her entire face."  His goofy smile and warm feelings fade as he sinks his head down to rest on his knees.  "I don't really know how I should tell her though."

Todoroki takes a bite of his orange slice, pondering the situation.  "Give her a lamp?  Since you said she lights up easily?"

Both boys shoot him a confused glance.  "I don't think that would impress her."  Midoriya gives it a thought.  "She likes coffee, maybe I can get her a thermos for the morning?"

"Give her a new set of pens, she has a bad habit of always losing her own."

"Maybe buy her a new pencil case to match?"

"Buy a plant for her dorm to brighten it up, like a cactus."

Bakugou finally throws his head back and groans at their stupidity.  "You guys are such idiots!  Neither of you know the first damn thing about romance?"

The two other boys slowly shake their heads dumbly

The ash blond groans again.  "Okay, let me tell you what you should do, Deku, since you're obviously clueless."  After explaining a somewhat elaborate plan to the two other boys, he leans back, a triumphant grin on his face.

Midoriya's eye widen, blush coating his cheeks again at the thought of the scenario unfolding.  "Wow Kacchan, I never expected you to be a romantic."

"Yeah, it's because you idiots are totally clueless.  You need me to educate you."

"If you're so good, why are you still single?" Todoroki asks simply.

Silence.

"SHUT UP ICYHOT! DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU!"

Two days later, the three boys decide to go through with Bakugou's scheme.  After class, Bakugou silently follows the girl, waiting for her to stop talking to the rest of the girls to get her alone.  After spending an annoyingly long amount of time outside their classroom talking to Mina and Tzuyu, she finally bids them goodbye and makes her way to the library to study.

Unfortunately for her, she never makes it.

Just before she opens the door, she notices a shadow looming behind her.  Turning around, she's startled to have Bakugou's piercing crimson eyes boring into her's.  She backs into the door and he slams an arm by her head.  She's shaking like a leaf.  "W-What do you want, Bakugou?  I didn't do anything to you."  Despite trying to seem strong, her voice comes out feebly.

A sinister smirk crawls across Bakugou's face.  "How'd you like to go on a little trip?"

Before she can scream bloody murder, he grabs her arm and pulls her away on a little "joyride."

Meanwhile, Todoroki and Midoriya move all the chairs and desks of an empty classroom towards the walls to make a clear space in the middle.

The nervous, freckle-faced boy nervously paces around the room, going over the lines in his head while his fears wreck his quivering body.  "I can't do this, Todoroki!  What if she says no?  What if she laughs at me?!  What if she tells everyone?!  I'll be absolutely humiliated!"

"Midoriya, calm down," he stares at the jittery boy with a level gaze.  "Bakugou said he's very confident this will work.  He's sure she also harbors feelings for you too."  He places a warm hand on Midoriya's shoulder to stop his anxious habit.  "Besides, since she likes you, she would appreciate your nervous stuttering because she would find it endearing and think it's genuine of you.  Sounding too practiced ruins the natural anxiety of the moment."

The boy stares back the Todoroki's stoic expression, letting his words sink in.  "So I need to make sure I don't overpractice or else she'll still reject me?" he whines.

The half-hot-half-cold boy sighs, being cut off by his phone ringing.  "It's Bakugou, he says they'll be here shortly.  And he says, 'Don't mess this up, Deku.'"

The boy cries out, feeling his entire body suddenly lose all heat to hysterical cold.  Todoroki turns off the lights and closes the window shades, plunging the room into darkness only to light the few candles scattered across the room, casting a dim golden ambiance.

For the final step, Todoroki produces a single rose out of the inside pocket of his uniform jacket.  Walking over to Midoriya, who's mumbling strings of inaudible, neurotic fears to himself, he juts the rose out in front of him, cutting off his speech.  "Relax, Midoriya.  Just say what comes naturally."

Midoriya blinks, delicately holding the rose by the stem, Todoroki moving to stand behind the door to be out of the way.  The smaller boy feels sweaty, shaky, sick.  His uniform tie is suffocating around his throat, stomach heavy in anticipation and fear, heart hammering in his chest and ears.

Finally, the door swings open and his heart almost stops completely.

Bakugou walks in first, holding the girl by the arm.  The first thing Midoriya notices about her is her insanely windblown hair and dazed eyes.  Bakugou said he would take her out on a ride around school, hitching her on his back, jumping out a window, and using his quirk to rocket them around the school building once.  He says it would get her blood pumping, adrenaline rushing, and cheeks blushing; the perfect primer for riling her up for the big finale.

"Take it away, nerd," Bakugou makes a dramatic sweep of his hands towards Midoriya, and he knows it's his turn to shine.

The girl blinks back into focus and surveys the layout of the room, scanning the messily pushed around desks, the candles, and finally resting on the boy with the rose in his hands.  Her blush intensifies at the last thing.  "M-Midoriya, what's all this for?"

The boy goes cold all over again, perfomance anxiety getting to him.  "I... Uh, (Y/n)- You-"  All the different ways he could possibly start his monologue jumbles together to produce a mishmash of word vomit.  Pull yourself together, don't mess this up!  He takes a deep breath in and clears his throat to start over.  Whatever comes natural.  "(Y/n), you are the most amazing,  bright, fun, cute person I know.  Just seeing you smile makes my day and manages to tongue-tie me.  I'd really like to be...more than friends."  He holds out the flower with both shaky hands and dares to look in her eyes.  "W-Will you...go out with me?"

Her silence seems to last agonizingly forever.  Her entire face seems to lift as she flickers back and forth between the boy and the flower he clutches to keep from coming undone.  She finds it endearing.  In a swift movement, she gently grips his hand, leans in close, and places a kiss on his freckled cheek.  "Yes, I'd love to go out with you, Midoriya."

The boy lets out a strangled yelp of excitement, before slapping a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.  "I'm sorry, I'm just really happy!"  Sheepish chuckles bubble out as he throws his arms around her, and she welcomes his embrace with her own delighted laughter.

The other boys look on at the scene before them.  "The nerd did better than I thought he would've," Bakugou mumbles, shoving his hands in his slack pockets.

"At least his confession was accepted.  Don't know what would happen if you tried this, though," Todoroki comments, his dig smoothly executed.

Bakugou grips the boy's shirt.  "YOU WANNA DIE ICYHOT?!"

[dindjarindiaries]

Collide - Chapter 1

summary: Bella arrives to Colombia to start a new life at her new job and instead runs into some old things.

warnings: angst. lots of it.

rating: R

word count: 4.315k

masterlist

chapter 1.

Medellín, Colombia, 1992

You look out the window of the plane as it begins its descent into Colombia. A soft sigh passes through your lips as a weight seemingly falls off your shoulders. Getting out of Texas is proving to be a relief for you already; you may be running from your problems, but damn does it feel good.

Colombia is a dramatic place to run to, you know, but after hearing about the crisis on the DEA’s hands there with Pablo Escobar having escaped from La Catedral, you couldn’t help immediately requesting a transfer. Not only is it getting you far away from Texas, but it’s also putting you at the heart of some of the trickiest work the DEA’s had to do—a sure distraction from the daily torment of your mind. With no family to leave behind, you feel as unattached to your home as ever, and the feeling is already more freeing than you’ve anticipated.

After waiting a painfully long amount of time for a cue, you’re soon reaching for your carryon and getting off the plane. You stop at baggage claim once you’re in the airport, preparing to get over the border. You raise an eyebrow when you see a man start approaching you, his tall and lean demeanor not appearing as threatening but simply surprising, sticking out oddly amongst the locals who roam around. He ruffles a hand through his light hair before he stops just in front of you.

“DEA,” he greets, flashing his badge. You do the same with your own. He offers a small smile. “Good, you are the new agent. I was hopin’ they would give me an accurate enough picture.”

You chuckle a bit yet keep your gaze skeptical. “I’m not new,” you correct him, “just… reassigned.”

He nods, reaching out his hand to shake yours. “I understand. I’m Steve Murphy, your new partner.”

You shake his hand and introduce yourself, letting your arm fall back at your side, returning a smile as best as you can. “Nice to meet you, Agent Murphy.”

“Please, just Steve or Murphy is fine,” Steve insists. You nod to acknowledge the correction. “Look, I know you’re probably confused as to why the hell I’m here, but you see—when I came through here the first time, they found out I was DEA and somehow ended up killin’ my cat, so… I didn’t want that happenin’ to you.”

You widen your eyes in shock. “Damn, I’m sorry.”

Steve waves his hands. “I’ve done my mournin’. I’m just here to make sure you don’t have to do any of your own.” He pauses, looking at the luggage you’re carrying. “You don’t have a cat, right?”

You laugh lightly. “No, Murphy, I don’t.”

“That’s a great start.” He bites back more chuckling as he takes your largest bag for you. “Let’s get goin’. You’ve got a lot to see today.”

You can’t help feeling a swarm of butterflies ignite in your stomach, composed equally of nerves and excitement. You follow Steve to the border control, getting cleared with ease thanks to his presence and soon finding yourself outside in his car. He takes you on the road quickly, and he gets down to business straightaway.

“It’s dark shit down here,” Steve begins, not looking away from the road as he speak, “as I’m sure you know.”

“From what they’ve told me,” you respond, “and what I’ve seen on the news.”

Steve huffs. “The news. Don’t got a damn clue what they’re talkin’ about.”

You raise an eyebrow. “I thought they agreed that Escobar—?”

“No, no, not with that shit. Just…” Steve trails off, letting out a heavy sigh before finishing. “Things. It’ll make sense once you’re settled in down here.”

You offer a nod, tapping your fingers against the car door as you look out the window. You watch as your new home passes you by. There’s lots of children running around and enjoying the warm air, bringing you a nostalgic smile regardless of the pain those memories of your own now offer. Other people stroll down the streets, looking like they’re either going to shop or just having a leisurely trip. Some simply stand there and stare at Steve’s car as it passes by, and at the sudden unease their attention brings, you break your eye contact with the window to look back to the windshield. The city seems surprisingly active and busy for a place that’s suffered from acts of terrorism and violence at the hands of a drug lord.

“You alright over there?” Steve’s voice pulls you from your observations, and you turn quickly to look at him. “You got quiet.”

“Yeah, yeah, just looking,” you murmur. “I’m surprised. It seems…”

“… normal?” You offer a nod as Steve finishes the thought for you. “Yeah. That might be one of the saddest parts of it all.”

“Do they all know about Escobar?” You know the question sounds naïve, but you can’t imagine how they could possibly know about everything that’s been happening and still function as if the world’s completely normal.

“‘Course.” Steve pauses as he takes a turn, soon pulling up into a parking space outside a large building adorned with a sign designating it as the Policía Nacional de Colombia. “Some just still think he’s a hero.”

You scoff. “A hero?”

“He built neighborhoods with that money, helped out the poor. To some, he’s their Robin Hood.” Steve turns off the car, looking over at you. “Sorry we had to come here first. You can leave your stuff here, and I’ll bring you back to the apartment building after. Your rental’s there.”

You wave a dismissive hand at him. “It’s fine. The flight wasn’t that bad, anyway. The sooner I dig into things here, the better.” You’re yearning to lose yourself in your work, to finally push aside some of the darkness that clouds your mind—or, at least, exchange it for a different kind of darkness.

You and Steve both get out of the car, and he leads you inside. You already feel surprisingly comfortable alongside your new partner, likely because of his sheer kindness and evident grip on reality. He seems educated, motivated, and experienced, which are all things you’ve always wanted to see in a partner. You’re about to vocalize some of these thoughts to ease the nervous tension that’s surely exuding from you when Steve unknowingly cuts you off. “So, there might be one small detail I haven’t told you yet.”

You raise a curious eyebrow and look at him. He looks over at you, a small grin appearing on his lips before he looks ahead of you again.

“We have another partner. Now, he doesn’t know you’re comin’, because—well—he isn’t the best at makin’ quick friends, and he can be too skeptical for his own good. We had to surprise him.”

You hold back the urge to roll your eyes. Of course there was a drawback. Things had seemed too good when it was just you and Steve. “Oh, that’s… great.”

“Don’t worry, you know your shit. I’m sure Peña’s gonna warm up to you just fine.”

Upon hearing the name, your gaze snaps over to Steve, and you feel a rush of strong emotion run through you as you nearly stop dead in your tracks. “Who?” He doesn’t even have to answer as he suddenly stops at a cluster of desks, and you look ahead to meet the deer-in-the-headlights expression of none other than Javier fucking Peña.

You freeze. It feels as if your entire body has turned to stone, and if you make one wrong move, you’ll crumble into pieces on the tile floor. You haven’t seen Javier ever since that night—that fucking night. That night was unlike anything you’d ever experienced before—and, as hard as you try to keep it tucked into the shadow of your memory, it always somehow makes its way to the front of your mind again—and the fears that’d crept up in your mind shortly after ended up coming true. That’s when life in Texas became a shitshow: right after senior prom. Nothing had changed between you and Javier, and he treated you the same, as if you never shared those intimate moments together under the night sky at all. You didn’t gain the faith to confront him about it until just before he left for college. It proved to be a bad decision, as Javier was immediately flustered and, as a result, very angry. He questioned your friendship, your lifelong bond, and you—and he rejected it all. When he left the next morning, you never saw him again. Ever.

Until now.

His dark gaze pierces through yours in a way it hasn’t ever since you shared far too much of yourself with him. You want to look away, but you can’t, and you absolutely hate yourself for it. You shouldn’t be feeling fireworks inside your stomach, or a skip in the rhythm of your heartbeat. Your eyes shouldn’t be noticing his new sense of fashion, having exchanged the modest flannels and loose jeans for tight short-sleeve button-ups and fitted denim. You shouldn’t have the urge to melt into the ground when you observe the long sliver of tanned chest the loose buttons of his shirt offer, or the new mustache that makes his lips look even more kissable than they did all those years ago. Yet, here you are, unable to do anything but stare.

“Javi?” you finally choke out, your throat already feeling dry.

“Bella.” Javier’s voice is much gruffer than it used to be, as if it’s been roughened over the years, and your knees almost give out at the sound of it. Hearing him say your old nickname nearly makes tears rush to your eyes, but you refuse to let something so childish happen during your first few minutes at your new workplace.

“So… you know each other?” Steve interrupts your trance, and both you and Javier look over at your partner who’s evidently confused by your familiarity and longer-than-necessary stares.

“Why are you here?” Javier questions you as if Steve never spoke. You look back at him, seeing his gaze glitter with a hint of concern at your random presence. You want to tell him to cut the protective and sympathetic shit out, but you also want to wrap your arms around him and let him comfort you.

“I work here, now.” You say the words more firmly than necessary. Javier’s brow lifts, and you swear you can see a hint of horror in his expression. “As an agent.”

Javier’s head snaps to Steve, and he gives him an accusatory glare. “You didn’t tell me we were getting a new partner, Murphy.”

Steve shrugs. “It was last-minute.” Javier exhales deeply, closing his eyes as he pinches the bridge of his nose and leans back in the chair of his desk. You feel an ache in your chest, detecting that he’s displeased at your presence. You let it fuel the angrier side of you as you cross your arms over your chest indignantly. “That won’t be a problem, will it, Peña?”

Upon hearing Steve’s words, Javier looks up quickly, his eyes falling on you as he shakes his head. “No, Murphy, it won’t. I just… I would’ve liked a warning, at least.” Javier stops, and his eyes continue to watch you as Steve pushes a vacant desk over to the cluster of two where Javier sits. He maneuvers it so that it splits the end of his and Javier’s desks, placing you in almost a mediator position. It’s just as close to Steve’s as it is Javier’s, which you feel grateful for at the moment. Still, there’s a small part of you that yearns to be even closer to Javier to make up for all the years you’ve endured without him.

You scoff to yourself at the thought. Endured. Javier’s absence was torturous, indeed, but it was mainly because of his stinging rejection that had made you question so much about yourself. He’d taken your vulnerable heart in his hand, provided it with the most love and comfort you’d ever felt before, and then ran it through with the sharpest of knives, leaving it to bleed back in your own chest. And now, he’s staring at you as if that never happened, as if he can’t understand why you haven’t run over to him and embraced him yet.

What a cocky bastard. The Javier you knew—rather, the one you thought you knew—would never be like this.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Steve warns you, gesturing with his thumb back to the hallway you just came from. “Messina wanted to see you.”

You nod, unable to produce words thanks to your racing thoughts as you file into the hallway behind him. Though you’re faced away from him, you can feel Javier’s gaze burning into your back, and you bite your lip to keep yourself from looking at him. You’re still unable to process the fact that it’s him, and that you’re going to have to get closer to him again whether you like it or not.

Maybe one of the things he said that night had been true: your paths really did collide in the most unexpected of ways. Is it a good thing? You’re not sure. You’re not sure if you’re even ready for that answer yet.

The brief meeting with your new boss feels like a blur, and while you’re able to hold together your professionalism and understand the things you’re being informed of, your mind never leaves the man who’s waiting for you back in the office. You’re proud of the way you can compose yourself despite the storm that’s raging within, like a feral animal being caged and managing not to fight its way through fragile iron bars. You tell yourself you can keep it up once you’re heading back to where you came from, but you’re not sure if you can.

So much has happened since Javier walked out of your life, and you’re sure it’s been the same for him—and, despite how hurt you’ve been by him, you still feel attached to him. You want to know about his life because you still care for him. He’d mangled your heart, yet it still belongs to him, and you know that. It’s just what makes everything shittier, because you know he doesn’t feel the same way. How could he, if he’d walked so easily out of your life and never even tried to come back? Javier’s never been one to leave things to fate, so it’s not like he’s been waiting for a miracle to see you again. If he had, he wouldn’t have tried to marry one of your high school friends or started a brand-new life in Colombia without so much as a phone call to let you know.

Shit. It’s gonna be a goddamn fight to keep this animal caged.

When you get back to your desks, Javier’s gaze snaps up from his previous work straightaway, falling on you naturally. You avoid his eyes, knowing they’re a trap that’ll drown you back in the feelings you can’t give in to right now. Steve announces that they’ll catch you up on everything they’ve got so far, and so all you have to do is sit in your chair as they tell you names, places, faces, whatever the hell they’ve managed to scrape up and what they can do with it all—which is not much, right now. They talk about the tip lines and how unproductive they are but encourage you to just deal with it for the time being.

While in the midst of a rant about a time they ended up visiting a complete setup, Steve suddenly gets cut off by the ringing of his phone. He picks it up and answers, and your gaze falls to your thumbs as they play with each other in your lap. You refuse to look up, knowing who you’ll have to face if you do. You’ve been doing so well, and you’d hate to ruin it so fast. Your gaze only raises once again when you hear Steve hang up his phone, and you look to see him gathering his things.

“I hate to do this, but I gotta run,” Steve announces, looking between the both of you with a guilty expression. “Connie’s getting called in for something, and she needs me to watch Olivia.” Upon seeing your confusion, Steve gives you a clarification. “That’s my wife and adopted daughter.”

You nod, lifting your brow in an attempt to alleviate his guilt. “Don’t worry, Steve, it seems like not much is happening around here, anyway.”

Steve scoffs in agreement, grabbing his keys and stalling immediately after. He looks at them and then back at you. “Shit. Your stuff.”

You make a move to stand up, intending on going with him. “I can just—.”

“I got it, Murphy.” Your head snaps over to Javier upon hearing his interruption, and he’s already risen from his chair to walk over to Steve. “We’ll put it in my car, and I’ll bring her back when we’re done here.”

“You sure?” Steve seems almost dumbfounded, as if this is something extremely out of the ordinary for Javier. You resist the urge to roll your eyes. It probably is.

“Yeah. Now let’s go before Connie calls back asking where the hell you are.”

Steve chuckles, shaking his head as they walk down the hallway towards the exit. You sit in a panicked heap at your desk, staring blankly into its metallic surface as you try to determine how you’re going to keep yourself composed once you’re alone with Javier. Your fingers bounce on your thigh as your other hand runs over the crook your neck, a typical nervous habit of yours. The thoughts in your mind run so fast that you can’t keep up, and before you know it, his voice is breaking everything up again.

“You alright, bella?” Javier’s voice, while still rough, is softer than it’d been even just minutes before, and you watch him as he sits back in his chair and leans towards you. His dark gaze never leaves you. I wish he never left me.

You curse your thoughts mentally, instead forcing a small smile on your lips. “I’m fine. Just… adjusting.”

Javier raises an eyebrow at you. Your fingers begin to tap against your thigh again, and your hand slides back and forth over your neck. “You’re doing that thing.”

“What thing?”

“Your nervous thing.” He gestures to your neck and thigh with his head. Your mouth nearly falls open at that. You didn’t expect him to remember things like this anymore. You were sure he’d long since forgotten about you—but things like this are starting to make you think otherwise. “Are you nervous?”

You shrug. “Sounds like a lot of shit’s happening down here.”

“Not at the moment.”

Your lips make a thin line as you try to ignore the awkward tension swimming around due to both your inabilities to address the elephant in the room. “Well, that’s good, I guess.”

“No. It fucking sucks.”

“Oh, yeah, well—sorry about that.”

Javier stares at you blankly for a moment before the corners of his mouth start to twitch up. He lets out a curt laugh, shaking his head as he runs his hand over the back of his neck. “Dios mío, bella, relájate. You know me.”

You feel your anger begin to bubble up as you furrow your brow at him. “Do I?”

Javier’s eyes widen a bit, and you resist the urge to flinch at the shock and hurt his gaze reveals. “What do you mean?”

A crude chuckle leaves your lips as you cross your arms. “Javi, you’re acting like it hasn’t been almost twenty damn years since I last saw you, after leaving off on the worst of terms.”

Javier doesn’t respond at first. He only begins to look around nervously, as if he’s scanning the area for potential eavesdroppers. He then rises from his chair, beckoning you to do the same. “Let’s have this conversation somewhere else.”

You oblige, feeling more than glad to be getting the freedom to give Javier a piece of your mind. No, you chastise yourself. You can’t do that. You have to stay calm. But, after the hell you’ve lived in ever since he walked out of your life, how can you possibly do that? Everything went to shit after he left, and he never even checked back in to see if you were okay. It’s not his fault, but for some reason, you put a lot of the blame on him. Unfairly.

Your mind runs through all of this as you follow Javier to his Jeep, trying not to think about the times he’d opened the door for you that night. Once you’re both sitting inside, your mind envisions him holding your hand in his, and you shake your head to try and get rid of it. As soon as Javier starts pulling away from the building, he wastes no time continuing where you’d left off.

“So, you never thought about me all this time?” There’s a pained tone to Javier’s voice, and you feel a quick pain in your chest upon hearing it. “Is that why you’re saying you don’t know me?”

“No, Javi, you idiota. That’s just the problem—I have. A lot. But have you? Because it really seemed like you didn’t even want to remember me when you left that day.”

You see Javier’s jaw clench, but he remains silent for a few minutes before speaking again. “I was young and stupid then. I didn’t mean what I said, bella.”

You bite back a harsh remark requesting not to be called that, knowing it’s just second nature for him—a word with completely detached meaning. “If you didn’t mean it, then this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen you since that night.”

Javier’s hands tighten around the steering wheel, and you watch as his knuckles go white. “Well, you haven’t made much of an effort to see me, either.”

You scoff at his words, looking at him with widened eyes. “Because I thought you never wanted to see me again! What the fuck did you expect me to do? Beg for you to forgive me for being honest? You broke my fucking heart, Javier.”

Javier’s shoulders tense at that, but you’re too angry to read further into its meaning. Your gaze has now switched to the window, and you continue to look out and breathe in tempo with the bounces of the Jeep over the uneven Medellín streets. Javier’s silence is deafening, and you’re almost relieved when he speaks again to break it. “I never wanted to.” His words sound like they’ve been choked out, and it almost makes you tear your gaze away from the window. “I know it won’t mean much now, but… I’m sorry. I’m real fuckin’ sorry.”

You bite your lip to keep yourself from forgiving him on the spot. Those are some of the few words you’ve been craving to hear from him ever since he left, but you can’t give in that easily. There’s just too much he hasn’t addressed yet—things that you know and things that you don’t. He has to realize it’ll take time. So, once you compose yourself and take a deep breath, you speak to him again. “I appreciate it, Javi. But you have to know, we can’t go back to the way it was.” You finally look back over at him, trying to ignore the way his eyes are glossier than usual. “Maybe… maybe we can get there, but it’ll take time and work. Since we’re partners now, we have to be willing to do that. Especially for Steve’s sake.”

Javier nods right away. “I’m more than willing if you are.” He pauses as he arrives to the building, pulling into the small driveway and parking the Jeep before looking over at you. “You may not believe me, but I’ve really missed you, bella.”

You offer a small smile, trying to ignore the rush of feelings you gain from his words. “I’ve missed you too…” you trail off, hesitating before reaching into the depths of your strength to utter the last word, “… cariño.”

Javier’s eyes light up a bit at the sound of his familiar nickname, and he gives you a smile similar to your own before he steps out of the Jeep. You do the same, allowing him to help with a piece of luggage as he shows you to your apartment, which—lucky for you—is just down the hall from his. “Did Steve give you your key?” he asks, and you nod as you pull it out of your jeans pocket and show it to him. Javier gives a nod of approval, watching as you unlock the door and step inside. He sets the luggage down near the doorway, freezing in place after he does so. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”

You stop to look at him, nodding in response. Javier lifts his hand to offer an awkward wave before he steps out, closing the door behind him. You release a breath you haven’t realized you’ve been holding, and you find yourself plopping down onto the nearby couch. As you look around your new home, a wave of overwhelming feelings sweeps over you, and your face falls into your hands. You have a brand-new place to get used to, Escobar’s missing at large, and the man you still love is right down the hall, and he’s one of your new partners.

Maybe the true shitshow’s just getting started.

chapter 2

translations:

Dios mío, bella, relájate = My God, beautiful, relax

tags: @tarrevizslas @none-of-your-bullshit @lavenderl3mons @gooddaykate @flower-petal-blooming @mrsparknuts @fionnthebandersnacc @pisss-offf-ghostt @gaydreamland @longitud-de-onda @literallytrashhhhhh @arrowswithwifi @rage-isaquietthing @awesomefandomsunited @theforceofdarkandlight @murdermewithbooks @blushingwueen @marchingbass1 @madadlorian @ah-callie + three users that tumblr said didn’t exist! (stilllivindue2spite, kkgraham, irishleesh93)

[boymeetsweevil]

SS3 - MYG, Fluff, 1791w

You’re not even supposed to be on the pay roll anymore because you’re supposed to be phasing yourself out of work entirely. There’s a new intern that you’ve been training a few days a week to take over for you until he’s competent enough to let you fully withdraw from your position as secretary to the CEO of Min Corp.

Said intern has just called you with what sounds like tears thickening his voice to inform you that Min Yoongi, said CEO, is terrorizing the employees.

“Jungkook,” you use the same tone you might use to calm down a lost toddler in a grocery store. “Take a deep breath for me please.”

A shaky breath crackles through your phone speaker.

“Good. Now tell me what Yoongi’s doing. What do you mean he’s terrorizing people?”

“Yoongi—I mean, Mr. Min has made three separate IT workers cry because of jammed printer and he sent the head accountant into a panic attack with a request for a two week advance on the quarter reports.”

You sigh and lift a hand that was submerged in the fragrant bath you’d drawn to pinch at the bridge of your nose.

“Did you read the 3rd section of the binder I gave you? There should be stuff in there for when we need to increase speed in specific departments. There’s outside agents we can enlist—”

“I called them, and they’ve agreed to come help out and I’ve gotten the paperwork for their payments ready.”

“Okay. What about the printer?”

“I unjammed it myself. It s-seems to be working fine.”

“Good! So just tell him and I’m sure that’ll solve things.”

“I don’t—I don’t feel super comfortable talking to him right now.”

“Jungkook, I told you that Yoongi is normally very rational. If you tell him the problem’s solved, there’s nothing to be scared of.”

“Sorry, you’re right.”

He’s quiet then. The sound of paper small clinks in the background grab your attention.

“What’s that sound?”

“It’s nothing!”

“Jungkook.”

“It’s not a big deal. I just...he also,” Jungkook sniffs a meek little sound, “knocked over my lego replica of the office. It was an accident though—”

“I’ll leave in 5 minutes. Don’t let him leave his office, barricade the door if you have to.”

It’s defeated tone of voice that makes you get out of the tub you were soaking in. Water gets everywhere and the calming atmosphere you had painstakingly set up so you could have a lazy morning and afternoon is long gone.

Jungkook barely has any time to protest or beg you not to mention him calling you before you hang up.

Normally Yoongi is all bark and no bite. There’s no need to bite when his reputation as a former gangbanger preceded him so well. Too well, in some cases. Yoongi came from almost nothing and turned to illegal activities as a child in an act of desperation to care for his ailing mother. He’d learned about (legal) business after one of his elderly bosses took a liking to him and showed him some of the ropes.

Even after he started getting out of the gang and getting interested in business, it took years to get past the fearful glances and rejections that so many people in the industry sent his way. It was only after a lucky investment that he was able to start building his business from scratch.

Now, he’s able to care for his family and provide means for his employees to do the same while running a successful head hunting firm. When you were fresh out of college and looking for work anywhere, he was the only one that took a chance on your meager application. He was ruthless back then, but so were you.

So in 9 years of acting as his right hand, it was inevitable that you would learn about his past. No one else at the company knew that it nearly cost him his life to start this new chapter. He has the scar on his shoulder to prove it. Sometimes when it gets close to a certain time of year the memory of what he almost lost creeps over him.

When you finally arrive you find Jungkook gnawing on his thumb as he eyes the door to Yoongi’s office unblinkingly. The walls of the office are soundproofed to protect the confidentiality of his clients when he has important meetings and phonecalls, but you can still hear the way he snarls into the phone.

“How long has he been like that,” you ask as you hang up your coat behind Jungkook’s desk. The lego office lies in a heap of probably more than a thousand pieces in a pilfered custodian’s bucket. You can’t help but frown.

“About 20 minutes on the phone. Maybe a few hours today in general.”

“Alright. I'll go in.”

“Is that safe,” he eyes you with poorly hidden awe as you move towards the door.

“Is a zookeeper safe when they enter a tiger’s cage?”

“No?”

“That’s your answer, I guess.”

“Seokjin, I don’t give a flying fuck about the new cases. I gave those to your team weeks ago. Bring me an update on the Simmons case, or I swear I’ll come down there and pull it out your ass myself.”

The sound of the door to the office closing has him rushing to end the call so he can redirect the yelling. He tosses his phone back onto the glass surface of his desk with a harsh crack and turns to face the skyline in the window, his back facing you.

“I thought I told you I don’t want any more of that shit you call tea. It’s doing fuck all to calm me down so why don’t you—”

“Mr. Min, please take a seat.”

The line of his shoulders, already grimly hunched, shoots up further. He clearly wasn’t expecting you. It’s your day off. Technically.

“What are you doing here?” His voice is still low and tense, but the volume is significantly softer.

“Please take a seat, Mr. Min.”

There’s no need for pretenses when the two of you are alone. You could curse him with the foulest language you have for being an ass to the people who keep his company functioning like the well oiled machine that it is. But you know that your message is that much louder by using your professional voice with him.

He turns then, dark brows set heavy over stormy eyes. It would be incredibly intimidating if it weren’t for the slight turn in his lower lip giving him a subtle petulant expression. Someone’s having a bad day.

Grumbling the entire time, Yoongi takes himself to the long leather sofa that rests off to the side of the office. You make your way over to the couch as well after peering at his desk. It’s covered in papers as if he dumped onto the table one of the folders that he normally organizes with great care. The collection of expensive fountain pens that he’s received as gifts from various successful deals lay strewn about as well. And there’s a hairline crack running through the surface of the ornate globe he received as a birthday gift from one of his old bosses.

When you finally come to stand behind him, the grumbling has been replaced with silent fuming. His arms are crossed and his silk tie hangs like a dead snake around his neck after being roughly undone.

With no words, you reach forward and slide the shoulders of his jacket down  his arms. 

“You don’t have to,” he sighs a moment later. If you listen closely you can already hear the embarrassment from letting his emotions get the best of him.

Ignoring him, you dig your fingers into the meat of his shoulders. He jumps and lets out a hiss as you drag the pads of your fingers over the raised skin of his scar beneath the fine cotton of his button down. A low curse leaves his lips but nothing more comes out as you continue to untangle the muscles that had somehow knotted up impressively during the few hours of the day that had passed. You can only imagine how painful the actual injury is despite it having healed a little more than a decade ago. 

It takes a while and your hands cramp up with the amount of force you’re using to massage the pain away. When there’s merely a phantom ache, he raises a hand to grasp one of yours. The action has you freezing up this time. He turns his head so the soft skin of his cheek brushes against your wrist. His cheeks are damp from a few pained tears he shed. His lips press dryly against the back of your palm and he turns more so he can pull your hand forward. It’s awkward but he doesn’t care. So long as he can pepper small kisses against your hands.

“Come back to work,” he says finally. 

“No.”

“Marry me, then.” There’s no flair, no drama. He says it like he’s asking you to run an errand with him.

“No. And stop always asking me that.”

“I’ll stop asking when you stop saying no.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Well, you’ve never given a reason. I deserve that at least.”

He turns to face you then with eyes that are just a tad bit shiny. All of the sharp, feline essence gone when replaced by frustration that’s still plenty fond.

“Because I don’t feel like it yet. And it’s fun to tell you no.”

From this angle, you can see the very top of the tiger tattoo he got when he was not yet a man. It peaks out of from underneath his collar. You pick up his tie and loop it back around his neck while he’s distracted.

“Have pity on me” he lays his cheek back on your wrist as you finish up a simple Windsor knot. “I’m just a simple man who wants to settle down with the love of his life.”

“How about you go apologize to everyone for your outburst,” he winces but looks properly ashamed. “And then maybe I’ll think about it.”

“Fine.”

“And make sure you give a special apology to Jungkook for ruining his replica.”

“To the temp, are you kidding me? The kid put it on the edge where it was begging to get broken. I’m pretty sure the tail of my jacket did it.”

“Just do it, Yoongi.”

He leans in then, nose brushing against yours. “Say yes and I’ll even hire someone to rebuild it for him.”

“Go apologize already.”

He huffs but strides to the door with purpose.

“Promise you’ll think about it?”

“I’ll think about it.”

[vannahfanfics]

The Healing Properties of Oolong Tea

Category: Hurt and Comfort, Mild Romantic Fluff

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Characters: Ochako Uraraka, Katsuki Bakugo

Hey, everyone! This piece was made for @bnhabookclub‘s weekly SFW prompt, “I’m fine.” I hope you all enjoy it! ^u^

The ceramic mug was pleasantly warm in Ochako’s hands, as it had absorbed much of the heat emanating from the piping hot Oolong tea Momo had courteously prepared for their weekly girls’ night. Steam was curling in faint tendrils in the air above the cup, which was still full to the brim with the dark liquid sweetened with honey, sugar, and a dash of cream.

The tea, though still hot, was the perfect temperature to drink after several minutes of cooling, but Ochako made no move to do so. The heat continued to bleed out of the cup into her fingers and palms, turning the soft flesh a faint hue of pink. Distantly, Ochako heard Kyoka quip something about her tea going cold, and so she robotically lifted it to her mouth to take a dainty but mechanical sip. Its robust flavor, highlighted by the undertones of the sweeteners, spread a comforting warmth through her mouth and body. Ochako barely noticed. She was too busy staring at the entranceway leading up to the boys’ dormitory rooms, where one Katsuki Bakugo had made his exit not three minutes before.

“Guys… Does Bakugo seem a little more… tense than usual?” she finally posed and looked back at the girls with raised eyebrows. They were all snuggled up on the common room couches together, preparing to watch whatever romantic comedy Mina was loading into the DVD player. At her question, the pink, fluffy-haired girl peered over the edge of the coffee table with a frown.

“He does seem a little snippier than usual. He yelled at me this morning because I didn’t pour my cereal fast enough and was ‘hogging the box like a stupid extra,’” she pouted. Momo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and her gaze shifted up to the ceiling as she pondered the notion.

“It’s only been four days since Kamino Ward… He was kidnapped by the League of Villains and held hostage and witnessed All Might’s fight against All for One up close. Even for him, it must have been a very traumatic experience.”

“Yeah, ribbit, but he’s Bakugo,” Tsuyu sighed dejectedly. “He’s not the type to talk about his feelings or accept help dealing with them.” At her poignant statement, the troupe of girls collectively heaved weighty sighs. Ochako sipped once more at the tea, finding its spreading warmth more therapeutic now. She knew she should focus on girls’ night, because they started the weekly get-together specifically to create a safe space away from their problems, but she simply couldn’t help but worry about Katsuki. Everyone is so convinced they’ll be rejected that he probably hasn’t even been offered help, she moped. Deku hasn’t even made any gestures to help him feel better. He just says, “Kacchan is strong. He can manage.”

But could he? All Might’s retirement had proved that even the strongest people had their breaking points. Katsuki could be suffering immensely, and they would never even know it because he was bottling it all up inside, and no one even attempted to twist the cap open to let out a little of the built-up pressure. That’s it! Ochako decided and set down her cup of tea to pour a fresh one from the teapot. Kyoka raised a critical eyebrow at her as she stirred in a small amount of sugar.

“Uh… Ochako, what’re you doing? You have a full cup right there. Are you going all space-case on us again?” she teased with a playful smirk. It fell from her face when Ochako abruptly rose from the couch and began stepping over their legs.

“It’s not for me. I’m taking it to Bakugo.”

“Why are you even bothering, ‘Chako?” Tooru quipped. Ochako could tell by the way her llama-patterned pajamas bunched at her bust that she had crossed her invisible arms. “He’ll probably yell at you to go away!” Just as she had clambered over Momo’s legs, Ochako stopped and stared down at the bitter tea swirling in the rose-patterned teacup.

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly. She watched the swirling light patterns of the sloshing tea slowly settle with her lack of movement. “You’re probably right. But he may open the door and take it, too. If he does that, then I’ll know that I’ve helped, even if it’s just a fractional amount.” The group of girls fell into awed silence. She continued to stand there at the edge of the couch for a second, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as she steeled her nerves. Bakugo would probably yell at her to go away and not even open up the door… but at the very least, she ought to try. That’s what friends were for, after all. Even if Bakugo didn’t consider them friends, she considered everyone in Class 1-A her friend, and friends always made an effort to be there when they were needed most- even if the recipient didn’t know they needed help in the first place.

“Wait, Ochako,” Momo interrupted when Ochako began walking again. Ochako looked over her shoulder to see that the black-haired girl had taken a saucer and was loading it up with the small tea cakes and tartlets that Tooru had bought from the supermarket. “Take these to him as well. I’m not sure if he has much of a sweet tooth, but at the very least, there should be something he likes,” she said with a smile and held out the pastry-laden saucer. Ochako adjusted her grip on the teacup before taking the small platter with a grateful smile.

“I’m sure he’ll love them! Feel free to start without me, guys. I’ve seen this one!” she chirped before whirling on her heel- not too fast, because she didn’t want the tea to spill and scald her hand. She carefully walked from the common room to the boys’ side of the dormitory, using the placards hanging on the doors to guide her to Bakugo’s room. She knew she had reached it when she stumbled upon a slightly crooked and bright red “Keep Out!” sign hanging on a door. Ochako kept Momo’s expensive teaware close to her body and kicked the door a few times with her foot since she couldn’t knock. “Bakugo! I brought you some tea and cake!”

“What the hell?” she heard him grunt from within. His voice sounded thick. He had announced that he was going to bed before stomping out of the common room, so it could be from sleep… But Ochako knew from overheard conversations that Katsuki fell asleep remarkably fast. It had only been about five or ten minutes since he had left; by all rights, he should be sleeping. Did that mean that Ochako’s instincts were right, and he was having difficulty sleeping because he couldn’t stop thinking about Kamino?

She jumped slightly at the harsh shriek of a chair scraping across the wood floor, then hissed as a few droplets of scalding tea landed on her hand and sizzled against the vulnerable skin of her fingers. Katsuki’s heavy footsteps echoed behind the door, but never seemed to grow any closer; he was muttering under his breath, too, words she couldn’t hear enough to comprehend. Is he… pacing? “I’m fine!” he barked suddenly, making her violently wince once more. She clenched her teeth with a little whine as more small, circular burns appeared on her hand from the hot Oolong.

He said he was fine… But he didn’t tell her to go away.

“Bakugo…” she murmured pityingly. Her eyebrows cinched a little, and she pouted determinedly before kicking the door with the toe of her slipper a few more times. “Momo worked really hard to make this Oolong tea! I didn’t add a lot of sugar because I wasn’t sure if you would like it too sweet, but I brought cakes, too! So please open the door and take them.”

“Stop bangin’ on the door, Uraraka; you’re givin’ me a headache!”

“Caffeine is great for headaches!”

“Shitty Round Face…!” Ochako grinned victoriously as his hefty footsteps finally thundered in the direction of the door. She kept the grin plastered on her- as Katsuki called it- round face, even as he flung the bedroom door open to glare scathingly at her. “I said that I am fine.” Her expression trembled a little at the unquestionable venom dripping from his voice, but she had come too far to yield to his defensive maneuvers. Wordlessly, she offered up the tea and cakes to him. His vermillion eyes bore seditiously into hers before slowly drifting down to the Oolong tea. His words were but a breath as he repeated, “I. Am. Fine. I don’t want the stupid tea.”

“Bakugo, I-” Evidently, as she began to protest again, her grin finally wavered and was replaced by an expression that Katsuki absolutely detested.

“Can’t you take a fucking hint?! I don’t want your fucking help, Uraraka, so stop looking at me with that fucking pitying look on your face!” He roared and, on reflex, knocked her hand away.

Ochako screamed in agony as the piping hot tea splashed all over her forearm. The scalding heat dissolved her fragile skin with violent relish, and she wasn’t sure if the steam billowing over her arm was just from the heat rapidly dissipating or her skin cells evaporating. Katsuki’s red eyes went as huge as blood moons as she crouched down over the shattered teacup and splattered pastries. She held her trembling arm at the elbow, wailing shrilly at the burning pain dominating her senses. Tears streamed down her cheeks to puddle at her chin, then drip down onto her fluffy purple spaceship pajamas.

“I just-” she could barely choke out the words with the sobs heaving in her chest at the terrible stinging pain, “I just didn’t want you to suffer all alone.”

“Jesus, I- Uraraka, don’t just sit there, here,” Katsuki huffed and grabbed her by the elbow of her good arm. It took no effort for him to haul her to her feet and drag her into his bedroom. He kicked the door of his bathroom open and flipped on the light. He lugged her over to the sink to flip on the tap. Ochako quailed at the sight of the stream of cold water, knowing it was going to burn like Hell, and tried to tug away. “No,” Katsuki insisted, and his grip tightened around her arm, but only just enough to keep her in place. “No,” he repeated more softly. With a gentle movement so unlike him, he pulled her back to the sink and lifted her burned arm to the stream of water. “It’s gonna hurt,” he warned.

“I’m fine, Bakugo, really! It’s worse than it looks!” she attempted to dissuade him with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

“No, Uraraka, you’re not fine!” he barked savagely, and all the protests died in her throat as his voice cracked. While she was reeling, he jerked the burned section of her arm under the cold water. The sudden change in temperature along with the liquid streaming over the wounded flesh tore a shrieking wail from her throat. Soon it died into a few pitiful sniffles as the ice-cold water soothed the stinging flesh. “You’re not fine,” he repeated in a broken whisper. “You’re not fine, I’m not fine, this whole situation is fucked up and so far from fine, it ain’t even funny.”

Her red, puffy eyes found his. While her brown irises swam with awe and shock, his red ones burned with the most vicious self-loathing. He stared miserably at the disfigured skin of her forearm. “’S not fine,” he grumbled. “You were just tryin’ to make me feel better. Now look. I’ve gone and scarred you all up.” Ochako wanted to argue that it probably wouldn’t scar at all, but her tongue was unwilling to voice the fact. She went ahead and closed her mouth that was hanging open, since she clearly couldn’t use it. Katsuki’s face sagged woefully as he watched the last dregs of the dark tea swirl down the sink drain. “That’s all I can do, is fuck up and hurt people.”

“Bakugo, that’s not true.” This time, she was able to voice her opposition. He continued to gaze wretchedly at her arm, so she raised her good one to cup his cheek and force him to meet her eyes. He didn’t resist her. When those vermillion eyes met hers, she couldn’t help but whimper, because she had never seen him wear such a lost and devastated expression.

“I hurt you,” he insisted in a small voice. Ochako smiled forgivingly and caught the single tear that leaked out of the corner of his eye with her thumb. The fact that he was so passive right now, accepting her gestures and even deigning to shed a tear, meant that Ochako’s instincts had been correct. Katsuki was so overwhelmed by the incident at Kamino Ward that he was shouldering the blame entirely. In his mind, it was he and he alone who caused the downfall of the invincible, infallible, indestructible All Might.

“It’s not your fault.” She only had to say it once before the dam broke. He let out a choking sob and put a tightly balled fist to his mouth, obviously trying to contain the roiling emotions inside him. She let out a soothing “hey” and stroked his cheek a little. “It’s okay. You can let it out. I won’t judge you. It’s okay.” It was the most distraught she had ever seen him- face flushed, eyes brimming with tears, teeth clenched, and breaths heaved in between little sobs. At her coaxing, he slowly dropped his hand from his mouth and let out a little choking snuffle, then hung his head.

“I was so fucking useless, Uraraka.”

“There was nothing you could have done,” she said firmly. She reached up to put her hand on the back of his head, guiding his forehead to her shoulder. His hands came up to dig into her upper arms, like she was his lifeline, keeping him from sweeping out into an unforgiving and perilous sea. His body shuddered with an agonized groan, and she began to feel the shoulder of her pajama shirt dampening as the tears finally poured down. “It’s not your fault,” she repeated while rubbing comforting circles into the muscles of his upper back, just above his shoulder blades. “All Might doesn’t blame you. We don’t blame you. Please stop blaming yourself. Sometimes there are just things we cannot do alone, and it’s okay if you need help. But it’s not your fault if that help doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to.”

His grip on her arm tightened as he heaved another wracking sob. She rested her head against his as he sought ought more of her reassuring presence, burying his face into the crook of her neck. She closed her eyes as tears of her own began to prickle in the corners of her eyes. It was just so heartbreaking, seeing the ordinarily confident and proud Katsuki reduced to such a state. It was enough to bring even the stoutest, staunchest stone wall of a person to tears. Ochako was not made of stone at all, so the tears began to cascade. “It’s not your fault.”

Finally, he nodded weakly. Ochako smiled as he began to wind himself down, inhaling and exhaling deeply to steady his breathing. With each deflation of his lungs, she could feel the tension working out of his muscles. Soon, he was breathing normally again, but he remained with his face buried into her neck and her small frame supporting his bulky one. “Bakugo-”

“Katsuki,” he interrupted quietly. Her face flushed pink. No one called him by his given name, not even Deku- just Kacchan, but that was a little different. “Call me Katsuki, and just… I need a little longer.” Ochako smiled sweetly and nodded. Her head still leaned against his, and his ash-blond hairs twisted a bit with her chestnut locks.

“You take as long as you need to. I’ll be right here.” She closed her eyes to relax, just allowing him to recover his mental state when he did something she would never have expected. His hands slipped from her upper arms to slowly slide to her lower back, and then he pulled her body against his in a small but firm hug. Ochako was so shocked at the intimate gesture that she just froze. She didn’t want him to think it was unwelcome, however, so she quickly gave him a squeeze of her own in response. Her cheeks reddened further when she felt him grin against the junction of her neck.

“Thank you... Ochako.” She hummed affirmingly, and he finally retreated, giving her a small smile. He then returned to serious, kinda-grumpy Katsuki, frowning at her burned arm and lifting it to inspect the injury. “Jeez… Can’t believe myself for this.”

“It’s okay!” she chirped brightly, and he gave her an inquisitive side-eye. “I don’t mind a scar. Scars are sexy, right?” He stared at her in utter disbelief for a second before bursting into a fit of incredulous laughter. Ochako started pouting, very unappreciative of his complete disregard for the sexiness of scars. “What?”

“You? Sexy? Come on.”

“Katsuki, that’s mean,” she frowned. She knew she wasn’t as sexy as Momo or Kyoka, but damn, did he have to go for the throat? His cheeks darkened, and he gave her a stern look.

“Dammit, that’s not-! I just mean-! Gah, I just meant that you’re cute, that’s all! Cute and sexy are two different things, but bein’ cute ain’t bad!” It was evident that he was saying these things well before actually realizing it, because after he finished babbling, he went as red as his vermillion eyes. Ochako stared at him with a gaping mouth.

“You think I’m… cute?”

“W-well, yeah,” he grunted nonchalantly, but the increasing hue of his face belied his words. “With those cheeks of yours, how can I not?” She squeaked in protest as he playfully pinched one of them emphatically. She swatted his hand away, protesting loudly but very much enjoying the compliment as betrayed by her blush. She was so focused on maintaining the unbothered act that he didn’t notice his face approaching her other cheek until he pressed a quick, chaste kiss to it. Her face immediately blazed with heat, like he had dumped some more hot Oolong right in it. He moved so that his face was hovering right in front of hers, their noses nearly touching. “Thanks for the help, cutie.”

It probably would’ve been the smoothest line ever if his face wasn’t the color of Tooru’s llama pajamas. Literally, it was the exact shade, a bright pink bubblegum color. Ochako got the image in her head of Katsuki dressed like a fluffy llama and immediately snorted piggishly in laughter. He reared back as she doubled over, giggling and holding her stomach. “The fuck you laughing at? I mean it!”

“No-! Ah, it’s just-! Ahahaha… You’re just so cute!”

“The hell? I ain’t cute! I fall under the category of sexy, thank you very much! Damn Cheeks…” he grumbled. Still holding her arm aloft, he began rummaging through his medicine cabinet and procured a tub of burn cream and some bandages. They quibbled back and forth over his levels of cuteness and sexiness as he applied the thick white cream to the burn and then wrapped it up. She was so absorbed in trying to keep from breaking into hysterical snickers that she barely registered the little spikes of pain his ministrations caused. After he secured the loose end of the bandage with a fastener, he playfully shoved her in the head. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Cheeks.”

“Is that what you’re calling me now?”

“Damn right,” he confirmed haughtily with another pinch. She groaned as he yanked on the sensitive skin and slapped half-heartedly at him, making him grin widely. “Better get used to it, Cheeks.” She sniggered happily and looked down at her bandaged arm. He had been very gentle in nursing her injury, applying only the necessary amount of pressure, and hadn’t wrapped the dressings too tight. It made her smile warmly. “Oi. Space Case,” he huffed and knocked on her head with his knuckles.

“What?” she pouted. She shrilled as his face dove down to steal a little kiss from her. All she saw was his triumphant grin as he strolled out of the bathroom with his hands stuffed into his sweatpants pockets. “K-Katsuki…!”

“You make it too easy! Let’s go.”

“Wh-where?”

“You were so damn insistent on that tea, so I’m goin’ to get some.” She jumped when she heard the click of his doorknob.

“Ah! Wait for me!” she cried and rushed out of the bathroom. It wasn’t necessary, as he already stood in the threshold. He frowned at her with the faintest hint of a smile. As she hurried to his side, he roughly threw his arm around her shoulders and steered her into the hall. Her face steamed hot with embarrassment, but she snuggled into his form with a tiny smile. “… Are you gonna try the little cakes too?”

“Eh? I ain’t tryin’ no frou-frou girly-ass cakes.”

“But they’re good!”

“Just one! But you better pick wisely. I ain’t gonna forgive you if you give me something gross.”

“Hehe, don’t worry,” Ochako reassured him brightly. He grinned and hugged her a little tighter.

“Ochako?”

“Mhmm?”

“… Nuthin’.” He didn’t say it, but she knew he was thanking her again. She decided against embarrassing him by acknowledging that, and instead said, “Thanks for your help with the burn.” He raised an eyebrow at her, then looked away, faintly blushing.

“Anytime.”

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork @mhafandomman @simplybakugou @sadistiks

[atlasburdenedarchive]

day one .

she watches him leave , speechless in a new kind of way  . he’s asked for his space and she’ll give it to him , despite every bone in her body yelling at her to follow him. convince him to stay with them , with grog , with her . percy and vex storm out , she understands . she tries , she tries to catch grog before he leaves because she knows how hurt her brother is , even if no one else does . she looks to vax for answers she knows she won’t find, a hurt she doesn’t quite understand forcing tears to her eyes and a guilt in the pit of her stomach that no matter how hard she tries , she can’t fill with alcohol . she waits until they’ve drunk all their bodies could physically handle . until their matching fun buns make their way slowly back to the castle in an uncanny silence that she hates and she deposits vax on the nearest soft surface and collapses next to him once her armor is off. her head and the room are spinning as she stares at the ceiling of one of many drawing rooms at castle whitestone and she grabs her earring to activate it .  

scanlan . i know you can’t hear me. you’re gone …. with kaylie . which is good . she needs a dad . you’re gonna be such a good dad . i’ve always known that . even before she came along . you’ve got such a big heart and you don’t want anyone to see it … i see it . grog sees it . vax sees it. vex and percy and keyleth , they know how much - how big - how you love them . i know that you needed to leave . i don’t get it but i understand it you know ? we shouldn’t have done that while you were … percy and i … it was wrong of me to do that in front of kaylie after you trusted me with her . i know that now and when you come home i’ll apologize proper . swear on sarenrae . vax snores abruptly and she stops , smiling at him softly as tears she hadn’t even noticed roll down her cheeks .  i don’t regret asking kaylie to help us bring you back because … we might not have been able to get you back at all & having you alive and gone for a while is a trade i will always be willing to make if the alternative is …  well, anyway …  she pauses again, a heavy weight on her chest that even now she knows isn’t due to the alcohol . i miss you already. she falls asleep on vax & if any of vox machina was sober enough to hear her , they don’t tell her .

day two .

allura asks her to go to emon and she doesn’t hesitate . guilt compounding on her heart because it knows before she does that she won’t be able to be there for keyleth . until she meets taryon & it’s almost like they’ve replaced scanlan already & she just … she just can’t . vex tells her that she doesn’t always have to be so strong & for the first time she tells someone besides scanlan the truth : of course she does . if she’s not strong , if she doesn’t have a stiff upper lip she’d never be able to watch them walk away . she’d never be able to bring them back over because seeing them , lifeless in front of her is only half the pain & guilt of not being there to save them in the first place .

day nine .

vax died today. he died for keyleth and neither of us were there. i want to be so mad at you scanlan, and i’m trying so hard not to be. they need you. they need you more than you know. not because you can heal them or because you can house them . they need you . we love you .

day ten .

i miss you . not because everyone is gone . not because i’m lonely & i miss everyone . i just … miss you & not knowing that you and kaylie are safe is driving me crazy .

day seventeen .

scanlan? i know you can’t hear, but i’m sitting in a tavern right now with grog; he just went to sleep . i had a pretty good day . i had to do a lot of labor; just lifting stuff into a cart . and then , you know , vox machina, lo and behold, come home and i see them and now we’re here . but we miss you . i’m going to– I’m very tired .

day seventy-two .

i hope you’re safe .

day eighty-seven .

grog misses you & he’s looking for you , vax is looking for you … we’re all looking for you . we just want to know you’re safe , scanlan .

day one-hundred and seventy-five .

she’s tired of talking to a man she knows can’t hear her , who clearly doesn’t want to be found , but she still implores her god to watch over him and his daughter every night she prays .

day two-hundred and sixteen .

i have to tell you something . she says quietly to her empty room in grayskull keep . the keep is full of people who’s homes were destroyed in the siege , who can’t afford to rebuild just yet . it had been stupid to think that she’d show up & he’d be there .  it was vex . who i had feelings for - who i had my heart . did . i do love her still . i don’t know that i could ever stop , she’s a part of this family that we have and she’s a huge part of my life . my feelings are part of the reason i went to sea . i couldn’t be around everyone & not tell her because if i did & she didn’t feel the same way i’m not sure i’d have been able to stay anyway . & i think i knew … that she and percy would … well , that’s not the point . the point is that there wasn’t anything wrong with you scanlan , you should know that . sure , you came on a little strong but you were never mean about being rejected & so many people would have been . you just loved me & i couldn’t … i couldn’t take all of the feelings you had for me while i still had feelings for her . especially after you gave me that beautiful note & opened your heart to me so fully . you did propose to me , though , in front of everyone . even though i think you knew i’d say no . 

day two-hundred and eighty-eight .

she’s on a beach in marquet at dawn , small feet buried in the sand as sits with her knees to her chest , arms wrapped around them . there’s a quiet breeze that plays with the loose tendrils of her recently dyed hair as she watches the waves crash on the shore before her , the water barely coming up to kiss the top of her feet . the sun creeps it’s way slowly across the horizon and it doesn’t seem fair to enjoy it without scanlan . tary is amazing , they all love him . he’s no scanlan and thankfully never tries to be . she takes her earring out and clenches it in her hand as if it would still work . he can’t hear her either way . hi , scanlan , we’re on vacation ! in the bay of gifts ! i don’t think … we ever got to go on vacation before you left . too many dragons . too many vampires . i like us relaxed , i think you’d like us relaxed . we’ve … done such good things this year . we’ve all done … such good things , despite missing you . i can’t wait for you to see slayer’s cake . we named some cookies after you . they’re ok . i can’t wait for you to meet taryon . i can’t wait for you to see how happy vax is , it’ll blow your mind . percy and vex are , of course , a power couple . grog and i kicked most everyone’s ass in vasselheim . keyleth is … such an amazing leader . of course she is . i wish you could hear me . i wish you were here . there’s a small sound behind her & she looks up to find keyleth , sleep still on her features and not a small amount of worry as she watches her sheepishly . pike smiles , holding her hand out for keyleth to join her & she’s grateful that she gets to enjoy this beautiful sunrise tucked into kiki’s side without the questions she knows she wants to ask .

day three-hundred and eight .

i met my family this week . well , they’re not really my family , honestly . vox machina is my family . grog & wilhand are my family . you are my family . they made my doubt myself but i … i opened up , you know ? i thought that they could be different , that they could be proud of me & that i could change them  & they just wanted my money . i opened my heart & i trusted them & they … they wrecked me . i - you could destroy me . i could open up my heart & i could trust you & you could destroy me , scanlan , more than they did . that’s not fair to you but it’s true & i would just - never recover from that . you mean so much to me & your friendship means so much to me but you confuse me . you kind of – you – make me feel like i’m standing on the edge of a cliff & i want to jump . you have no idea how often i want to jump with you scanlan . something always holds me back though , something that fears the way that i can’t always read you for what you actually mean or say . the thought of hurting you , of getting hurt , of ruining what we have , of ruining vox machina is so much scarier than facing vampires & necromancers & five dragons . because i can’t live up to an ideal . no one can live up to a fantasy .... by the way that cliff metaphor is kind of fucked up because keyleth ... well , the only person who could kill keyleth killed keyleth . i miss you .

day three-hundred and fourteen .

as soon as the half-orc calls his boss the meat man , the tension rolling off of grog only fuels the anger that’s sparking in her heart . they go through this farce . they meet ‘ aes adon ‘ . scanlan doesn’t even have the dignity to show them his real face . to face grog . to face her . & she thinks maybe she built it up in her head a little bit because she’s thought about seeing scanlan a lot ( more than she’ll admit ) over the past three hundred and fourteen days . she’s thought about the relief she’d feel once she knew he was ok . she’s thought about … well, it doesn’t matter what she’s thought about because he hadn’t been planning on staying after he’d given them the information about the ziggurat and/or gotten the plans for a fucking gun from percy . her fingers curl into small fists at her side and when tary leaves , she so desperately wants to follow him out , despite vex’s small plea . despite the hurt on scanlan’s face . she finds herself unable to keep quiet as he speaks , petty asides thrown at him that she doesn’t truly mean but only make her angrier . at him . at herself . when percy breaks the seal she takes the opportunity to leave as quickly as she can because she can’t stand it anymore , especially not when the twins are so clearly ready to forgive him . she and grog do what they do best , they drink their feelings ( whatever they might be ) & fight chod  / lionel / scanlan’s new … whatever he is . she knows lionel doesn’t deserve her anger , he doesn’t deserve grog’s anger . the punch to the half-orc who has been nothing but nice to them , feels a lot worse than she thought it would . vax and vex find her before she can catch up to grog , her anger as entwined with his as anyone , and she tries . she tries so hard to convince them she’s fine . it’s a lot harder this time . she hasn’t had to in so long . they are too perceptive for their own good but they let her leave anyway & that means more than they know . 

she doesn’t want to open the door , doesn’t know if she can see him again so soon but when she does , she definitely doesn’t expect to hit him . it doesn’t make her feel better . cussing him out doesn’t make her feel better . apologizing like she promised she would all those nights ago doesn’t feel like a real apology . she listens to him & some part of her is happy for him . so very happy that he & kaylie have what most of vox machina has never had with their own fathers . it’s all she’s wanted , to be honest . all she’s prayed for when she prays for them . & she can feel herself soften . he’s different , she notes as he apologizes for ogling her , for hurting her , for meeting her at the wrong time . she doesn’t deserve the apology , owes him one at this point if she’s being honest . will owe him until she & grog talk & she finds out where he stands . perhaps we’ll meet again in different circumstances . she lays in grog’s bed later that night listening to him snore , they hadn’t talked . she’d just climbed into his bed like she’d done when they were younger . she can’t help but hear the echoes of her own words replaying themselves in her head . no one can live up to a fantasy . scanlan is not the ghost that she’s spilled her secrets to under the cover of night . he’s not the same person who’d taken all of their flaws and thrown them in their faces . he’s not the same man who got kaylie’s mother pregnant without knowing . he’s trying his best to be true to himself , just like she is . just like they all are . different circumstances feel an awful lot like a second chance to do things right , to do them better . it doesn’t mean she’s ready to forgive , despite the nagging at the back of hear head . she already knows what she’ll find when she finally acknowledges the anger she is clinging to : the confusing feelings scanlan has always made her face whether he knows it or not , whether she wants to or not .

[atlasburdeneda]

day one .

she watches him leave , speechless in a new kind of way  . he’s asked for his space and she’ll give it to him , despite every bone in her body yelling at her to follow him. convince him to stay with them , with grog , with her . percy and vex storm out , she understands . she tries , she tries to catch grog before he leaves because she knows how hurt her brother is , even if no one else does . she looks to vax for answers she knows she won’t find, a hurt she doesn’t quite understand forcing tears to her eyes and a guilt in the pit of her stomach that no matter how hard she tries , she can’t fill with alcohol . she waits until they’ve drunk all their bodies could physically handle . until their matching fun buns make their way slowly back to the castle in an uncanny silence that she hates and she deposits vax on the nearest soft surface and collapses next to him once her armor is off. her head and the room are spinning as she stares at the ceiling of one of many drawing rooms at castle whitestone and she grabs her earring to activate it .  

scanlan . i know you can’t hear me. you’re gone …. with kaylie . which is good . she needs a dad . you’re gonna be such a good dad . i’ve always known that . even before she came along . you’ve got such a big heart and you don’t want anyone to see it … i see it . grog sees it . vax sees it. vex and percy and keyleth , they know how much - how big - how you love them . i know that you needed to leave . i don’t get it but i understand it you know ? we shouldn’t have done that while you were … percy and i … it was wrong of me to do that in front of kaylie after you trusted me with her . i know that now and when you come home i’ll apologize proper . swear on sarenrae . vax snores abruptly and she stops , smiling at him softly as tears she hadn’t even noticed roll down her cheeks .  i don’t regret asking kaylie to help us bring you back because … we might not have been able to get you back at all & having you alive and gone for a while is a trade i will always be willing to make if the alternative is …  well, anyway …  she pauses again, a heavy weight on her chest that even now she knows isn’t due to the alcohol . i miss you already. she falls asleep on vax & if any of vox machina was sober enough to hear her , they don’t tell her .

day two .

allura asks her to go to emon and she doesn’t hesitate . guilt compounding on her heart because it knows before she does that she won’t be able to be there for keyleth . until she meets taryon & it’s almost like they’ve replaced scanlan already & she just … she just can’t . vex tells her that she doesn’t always have to be so strong & for the first time she tells someone besides scanlan the truth : of course she does . if she’s not strong , if she doesn’t have a stiff upper lip she’d never be able to watch them walk away . she’d never be able to bring them back over because seeing them , lifeless in front of her is only half the pain & guilt of not being there to save them in the first place .

day nine .

vax died today. he died for keyleth and neither of us were there. i want to be so mad at you scanlan, and i’m trying so hard not to be. they need you. they need you more than you know. not because you can heal them or because you can house them . they need you . we love you .

day ten .

i miss you . not because everyone is gone . not because i’m lonely & i miss everyone . i just … miss you & not knowing that you and kaylie are safe is driving me crazy .

day seventeen .

scanlan? i know you can’t hear, but i’m sitting in a tavern right now with grog; he just went to sleep . i had a pretty good day . i had to do a lot of labor; just lifting stuff into a cart . and then , you know , vox machina, lo and behold, come home and i see them and now we’re here . but we miss you . i’m going to– I’m very tired .

day seventy-two .

i hope you’re safe .

day eighty-seven .

grog misses you & he’s looking for you , vax is looking for you … we’re all looking for you . we just want to know you’re safe , scanlan .

day one-hundred and seventy-five .

she’s tired of talking to a man she knows can’t hear her , who clearly doesn’t want to be found , but she still implores her god to watch over him and his daughter every night she prays .

day two-hundred and sixteen .

i have to tell you something . she says quietly to her empty room in grayskull keep . the keep is full of people’s who’s homes were destroyed in the siege , who can’t afford to rebuild just yet . it had been stupid to think that she’d show up & he’d be there .  it was vex . who i had feelings for - who i had my heart . did . i do love her still . i don’t know that i could ever stop , she’s a part of this family that we have and she’s a huge part of my life . my feelings are the reason i went to sea . i couldn’t be around everyone & not tell her because if i did & she didn’t feel the same way i’m not sure i’d have been able to stay anyway . & i think i knew … that she and percy would … well , that’s not the point . the point is that there wasn’t anything wrong with you scanlan , you should know that . sure , you came on a little strong but you were never mean about being rejected & so many people would have been . you just loved me & i couldn’t … i couldn’t take all of the feelings you had for me while i still had feelings for her . especially after you gave me that beautiful note & opened your heart to me so fully . you did propose to me , though , in front of everyone . even though i think you knew i’d say no . so i think we can both say we’re not ready for whatever this is to be real .

day two-hundred and eighty-eight .

she’s on a beach in marquet at dawn , small feet buried in the sand as sits with her knees to her chest , arms wrapped around them . there’s a quiet breeze that plays with the loose tendrils of her recently dyed hair as she watches the waves crash on the shore before her , the water barely coming up to kiss the top of her feet . the sun creeps it’s way slowly across the horizon and it doesn’t seem fair to enjoy it without scanlan . tary is amazing , they all love him . he’s no scanlan and thankfully never tries to be . she takes her earring out and clenches it in her hand as if it would still work . he can’t hear her either way . hi , scanlan , we’re on vacation ! in the bay of gifts ! i don’t think … we ever got to go on vacation before you left . too many dragons . too many vampires . i like us relaxed , i think you’d like us relaxed . we’ve … done such good things this year . we’ve all done … such good things , despite missing you . i can’t wait for you to see slayer’s cake . we named some cookies after you . they’re ok . i can’t wait for you to meet taryon . i can’t wait for you to see how happy vax is , it’ll blow your mind . percy and vex are , of course , a power couple . grog and i kicked most everyone’s ass in vasselheim . keyleth is … such an amazing leader . of course she is . i wish you could hear me . i wish you were here . there’s a small sound behind her & she looks up to find keyleth , sleep still on her features and not a small amount of worry as she watches her sheepishly . pike smiles , holding her hand out for keyleth to join her & she’s grateful that she gets to enjoy this beautiful sunrise tucked into kiki’s side without the questions she knows she wants to ask .

day three-hundred and eight .

i met my family this week . well , they’re not really my family , honestly . vox machina is my family . grog & wilhand are my family . you are my family . they made my doubt myself but i … i opened up , you know ? i thought that they could be different , that they could be proud of me & that i could change them  & they just wanted my money . i opened my heart & i trusted them & they … they wrecked me . i - you could destroy me . i could open up my heart & i could trust you & you could destroy me , scanlan , more than they did . that’s not fair to you but it’s true & i would just - never recover from that . you mean so much to me & your friendship means so much to me but you confuse me . you kind of – you – make me feel like i’m standing on the edge of a cliff & i want to jump . you have no idea how often i want to jump with you scanlan . something always holds me back though , something that fears the way that i can’t always read you for what you actually mean or say . the thought of hurting you , of getting hurt , of ruining what we have , of ruining vox machina is so much scarier than facing vampires & necromancers & five dragons . because i can’t live up to an ideal . no one can live up to a fantasy .... by the way that cliff metaphor is kind of fucked up because keyleth ... well , the only person who could kill keyleth killed keyleth . i miss you .

day three-hundred and fourteen .

as soon as the half-orc calls his boss the meat man , the tension rolling off of grog only fuels the anger that’s sparking in her heart . they go through this farce . they meet ‘ aes adon ‘ . scanlan doesn’t even have the dignity to show them his real face . to face grog . to face her . & she thinks maybe she built it up in her head a little bit because she’s thought about seeing scanlan a lot ( more than she’ll admit ) over the past three hundred and fourteen days . she’s thought about the relief she’d feel once she knew he was ok . she’s thought about … well, it doesn’t matter what she’s thought about because he hadn’t been planning on staying after he’d given them the information about the ziggurat and/or gotten the plans for a fucking gun from percy . her fingers curl into small fists at her side and when tary leaves , she so desperately wants to follow him out , despite vex’s small plea . despite the hurt on scanlan’s face . she finds herself unable to keep quiet as he speaks , petty asides thrown at him that she doesn’t truly mean but only make her angrier . at him . at herself . when percy breaks the seal she takes the opportunity to leave as quickly as she can because she can’t stand it anymore , especially not when the twins are so clearly ready to forgive him . she and grog do what they do best , they drink their feelings ( whatever they might be ) & fight chod  / lionel / scanlan’s new … whatever he is . she knows lionel doesn’t deserve her anger , he doesn’t deserve grog’s anger . the punch to the half-orc who has been nothing but nice to them , feels a lot worse than she thought it would . vax and vex find her before she can catch up to grog , her anger as entwined with his as anyone , and she tries . she tries so hard to convince them she’s fine . it’s a lot harder this time . she hasn’t had to in so long . they are too perceptive for their own good but they let her leave anyway & that means more than they know . she doesn’t want to open the door , doesn’t know if she can see him again so soon but when she does , she definitely doesn’t expect to hit him . it doesn’t make her feel better . cussing him out doesn’t make her feel better . apologizing like she promised she would all those nights ago doesn’t feel like a real apology . she listens to him & some part of her is happy for him . so very happy that he & kaylie have what most of vox machina has never had with their own fathers . it’s all she’s wanted , to be honest . all she’s prayed for when she prays for them . & she can feel herself soften . he’s different , she notes as he apologizes for ogling her , for hurting her , for meeting her at the wrong time . she doesn’t deserve the apology , owes him one at this point if she’s being honest . will owe him until she & grog talk & she finds out where he stands . perhaps we’ll meet again in different circumstances . she lays in grog’s bed later that night listening to him snore , they hadn’t talked . she’d just climb into his bed like she’d done when they were younger  . she can’t help but hear the echoes of her own words replaying themselves in her head . no one can live up to a fantasy . scanlan is not the ghost that she’s spilled her secrets to under the cover of night . he’s not the same person who’d taken all of their flaws and thrown them in their faces . he’s not the same man who got kaylie’s mother pregnant without knowing . he’s trying his best to be true to himself , just like she is . just like they all are . different circumstances feel an awful lot like a second chance to do things right , to do them better . it doesn’t mean she’s ready to forgive , despite the nagging at the back of hear head . she already knows what she’ll find when she finally acknowledges the anger she is clinging to : the confusing feelings scanlan has always made her face whether he knows it or not , whether she wants to or not .

[unikornavenger]

Pairing: Platonic Moxiety

Warnings: General anxiety, cursing, homophobia, family issues, money issues

Word Count: 2,738 words

A/N: Ah, so it’s been a while. Haha like one and a half years. Uh oopsie. I hope someone reads this lol. I finished this sometime in 2018 and then forgot about it, so I’m uploading it now. Also, I kinda don’t like this, and I’m finishing a new fic very sooon. and sorry for this horrid formatting. (i can’t add a read more on mobile sorryyy)

Summary: Virgil can’t get a job and he accidentally takes his anger out on poor Patton.

Alright, onward with the story!

Virgil stares at the paper in his hands as his breath speeds up without his awareness. The edges begin to crinkle in his fists. It’s shaking.

He doesn’t deserve this letter. He refuses to accept the words that are screaming back at his face. Not after everything that he’s tried. Not after all of his hard work. He doesn’t deserve to read the words “We regret to inform you” again.

After so many pieces of paper with the same phrase ended up shredded in the trash, it feels so easy to just stop trying. Because he’s trying so hard to get a job. It’s so unreasonably difficult.

He’s applied for jobs he’s overqualified for, underqualified for, and ones that he was certain that he would get hired for. Maybe that’s why it hurts so much. Because he knows that he should have gotten a way to earn income on his own by now.

The desire to just be able to stand on his own two feet is overwhelming. He’s tired of staring into the black hole that is his wallet and deciding that he hasn’t done enough to pay for a cup of coffee. Friends keep paying for simple things that he insists he doesn’t want or need.

It’s the building guilt that’s getting to him. That’s it. He doesn’t want them to pay for the things that he should be able to pay for himself.

And another rejection? Virgil’s sure that he has applied for all the operating stores in a five-mile radius. There have to be more desperate places where he could apply. He just has to look harder and dig deeper.

But if he receives another “we regret to inform you” letter, he’s going to lose his mind.

There’s a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, Kiddo? You okay?”

Virgil takes a deep breath, “Yeah, it’s just another rejection.”

“Aw, I’m sorry.” Patton leans his head on Virgil’s. It’s supposed to be comforting, but it feels like the action is full of pity. Patton must be tired of Virgil using him as a crutch. He probably thinks he’s manipulative and only has him as a friend because he wants money.

“Thanks,” Virgil manages, hoping that Patton can’t hear the weird raspiness in his throat. “It’s just exhausting trying and trying and then to keep… you know?”

“I know,” Patton rubs Virgil’s arm. He finally gently shakes himself out of Patton’s hold to place the letter on the counter.

“I don’t know how I can support myself anymore.”

Patton slowly nods his head, “Are you sure you can’t ask your parents for help?”

As close as Patton and Virgil are, Virgil’s never told him about his situation with his family. It’s embarrassing and dirty and awkward. But he’s thankful for it because he was able to meet Patton. His parents essentially kicked him out as soon as he turned eighteen because they couldn’t handle a gay son in their house. He would be a bad influence on his younger siblings. His behavior was “unacceptable”.

He isn’t really mad at his parents for thinking like that though. He knows that they grew up in a generation where “gay” was a slur and there was so much negativity in the media about the queer community. He couldn’t really change their mind.

He just wishes he could for his siblings’ sake.

That being said, Virgil can’t ask for his parents’ help. He told them he could manage on his own. He told them that he could support himself better than they could support him.

And here he is. Drowning in his empty pockets, leaning on his friends for everything. Once again his parents prove him wrong even though they are thousands of miles away.

He promised himself that he would be independent and he’s become more able to do things on his own. He thought he could handle it, but evidently not.

“Yeah, I don’t think they would be able to help me.”

A strange expression washes over Patton’s face. Virgil can’t read it. “Are you sure?”

Virgil rolls his eyes. Maybe he’ll take the hint and bite his tongue. “Yes, Pat. I have to do this myself. On my own.”

Patton crosses his arms, “Okay, then, I just don’t understand why you refuse to ask your parents for help. They’re your parents. They have to understand your situation.”

He resists the urge to laugh. He would rather not think about them being his parents because they never really seemed like his parents. “I don’t understand why you think that I can ask for their help.”

“Well, when I’m struggling, I just give my mom a call and have a chat with her and I always feel better. I think you should explain your situation to them, and they can help you out while you find a new job.”

“Okay, well, some of us don’t have the luxury of calling our parents. Some of us don’t have everything served to us on a silver platter. Some of us have to actually work in order to float. Some of us actually have to try.”

Virgil could tell by the amount, condition, and brand of Patton’s clothes that he grew up in a wealthy family. Or at least one that never needed assistance from the government. Maybe that’s why Patton’s always happy. Because he already has everything he could ever need in life.

Patton shakes his head as he takes a step back, “That’s not fair-”

Virgil laughs dryly. How thick can he be? “You’re right. It’s not fair that I’ve had to work so hard in order to be able to survive up to this moment in time and you have been able to feed off of your parents to this day.”

He snatches the letter from off the counter before storming off to his room, shaking his head.

He latches the door behind him slowly, preventing himself from slamming it because he told himself he would never ever slam a door.

Sure, maybe, his actions are a bit immature. But, as he stares at a crumpled piece of paper in his hands, his actions seem justified.

He leans his head against the door and closes his eyes. Patton didn’t understand. He can’t just bring up Virgil’s family and expect the conversation to go over well. After everything Virgil’s done to prevent phrases that his par- phrases that they’ve said from resurfacing. Patton can’t just make them bubble up to the forefront of his mind.

He’s made progress that he’s proud of. It’s wrong to remind him of the past without warning. Patton has no idea how difficult it has been to not think about the people that raised him. They were his foundation that he relied on until he couldn’t anymore.

Patton has no idea.

Wait, Patton has no idea.

Sugar honey iced tea.

He turns around and grasps the door handle. He pauses. If he goes out there, Patton could be upset that Virgil just lashed out at him for no reason.

His hand falls.

He doesn’t want to be reprimanded by Pat. But, if he stays in his room, he’s afraid he might explode. Of guilt or anxiety? He’s not really sure.

He looks around him until he notices the window that leads to a fire escape. Perfect.

It takes a few moments to carefully traverse the rickety metal steps. And once he reaches the ground, he feels an actual weight being lifted from his chest.

Freedom. The air in his apartment is far too heavy with the guilt of hurting Patton and the combined failures crumpled up in messy spheres in his garbage.

He needs to talk to someone else.

His legs guide him to the library where Logan works. The walk is peaceful, side for the hum of cars whizzing past him. Memories of his youth flood his mind. When he was younger, he would walk hand in hand with his mother and the cars driving past would cause him alarm. They were so close to him and they could so easily jump the pavement and hit him.

But, everything was alright because Mom said so. She told him that the drivers knew what they were doing. And since she was there, she would always protect him. The cars would have to get past her first.

She always placed herself between the street and her son.

The rush of air from the entrance of the library brings him back to the present. Taking out his earbuds, he approaches the front desk to see Logan rapidly shoving items into his messenger bag as some random librarian assists the person checking out a stack of books. His phone is sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear.

He said he never does that because it is dangerous, and one could easily drop their phone. Yet, here Logan is, disregarding his own advice.

“I’m on my way. Try to calm down. Take a few deep breaths,” Logan hangs up the phone before throwing it into his bag.

Scrunching his eyebrows together, Virgil asks, “Logan?”

Logan whips around, interrupting his frenzy to face Virgil. “Virgil? Why are you here? Are you okay?” His voice is low in volume but still incredibly urgent.

Virgil takes a step back so his brain can comprehend the words that are quickly exiting Logan’s mouth at Mach 2 speed. “Uh, I’m fine.”

“Then why the hell-” He cuts himself off as he looks around him. Virgil is suddenly aware of him wringing his hands together. He watches as Logan takes a deep breath before informing the librarian that he has to step out for a second. The librarian nods once sharply in conformation.

Logan silently slips out from behind the counter and leads Virgil to the front of the library. He tucks them into a side street branching from the library.

Virgil feels his throat go dry. He’s pretty sure that Logan didn’t bring him here so he could beat him up, but he can’t stop the thought from crossing his mind.

“Would you like to explain to me why Patton just called me panicking because he thought that you ran away and would quote-unquote ‘do something bad?’” Logan urges as he crosses his arms across his chest.

Virgil takes the tiniest step back at Logan’s tone. It’s like his words are made out of steel. “I might have upset him.” It sounds more like a question than a statement.

“That might have been the largest understatement that has ever exited your mouth.” He sighs loudly, “Excuse me, I have to tell Patton you are alright before he keels over.”

His stomach flips as Logan turns around, pulling out his cellphone from his pants pocket. Hurting Patton is the absolute worst thing Virgil has ever done.

That might have been an exaggeration, but in this moment it feels like it. Patton didn’t deserve Virgil’s stupid outburst. He didn’t deserve any of the shit Virgil puts him through. And yet, he continues to tolerate Virgil’s presence.

Logan’s voice cuts through the stale air, “Hi, Patton. I’ve run into Virgil, and he is fine.” Virgil shuffles his feet and sniffs, “Yes, I’ll tell him… Okay… Okay… 10 minutes… Goodbye.”

Logan turns back around as he pockets his phone once again, “Patton is awaiting your arrival back at the apartment. I told him that it would take you approximately 10 minutes for you to return home. Please hurry back and fix this mess because he is very worried.”

Virgil feels like he just murdered someone. That’s how much intense guilt is crushing what is left of his soul. He doesn’t deserve friends like this.

“Thanks, Logan.”

“Anytime,” he leads Virgil to the end of the side street before pausing and turning Virgil to face himself. “Just please try to not do this again.”

Virgil swallows, “Duly noted.”

Logan makes off toward the library as Virgil is left wallowing in his own mind as his feet trudge back to his apartment.

As soon as Logan leaves, Virgil feels light, whispiness in the air leave with him. He doesn’t want to face Patton yet, but he’s already done enough damage. He’s taken Patton’s money, lied to him, and screamed at him. Why does he still care?

Why does Patton have the capacity to care about him?

It doesn’t seem fair. Virgil has absolutely nothing to offer Patton. His implanted negative attitude always brings everyone down with him. He’s not smart like Logan and can’t solve any of his own goddamn issues. He’s not funny like Roman and can’t make anyone laugh to brighten their day. He’s not empathetic like Patton and can’t help anybody. He’s just a goddamn nuisance.

He’s exactly what his parents told him he would become.

A monster.

A monster who craves power and feeds off of exuberant people.

A monster who is the villain that rampages other people’s wallets and destroys their happiness.

A monster with absolutely no purpose.

Virgil looks up to see his apartment complex. His fingers wrap around the keys in his pocket. They feel heavier than usual.

He drags his feet as he maneuvers through the small crowd of people gathering in the lobby.

Virgil decides against using the stairs as he’s afraid his legs just might collapse underneath him.

Entering the elevator, he feels like he’s breathing through cheesecloth. The keys jingle in his left hand as he uses his right to push the button for the fourth floor. Luckily, the elevator doors slide closed before anybody else could enter the small box.

He glues his eyes to the ascending floor numbers that seem to be changing far too quickly.

This problem must be solved for Patton’s sake. The monstrous puddle of guilt gushing into his stomach agrees with him.

The elevator dings as it comes to a stop on the fourth floor. Virgil exits and soon enough he is staring at his apartment number.

He should just run back down. Forget about this whole ordeal and deal with it tomorrow. He can’t open this stupid door. His hands refuse to fish for the keys in his pocket.

No.

He has to do this. If not for himself, then for Patton.

Deal with the consequences.

He wills his hands to take out his keys and insert them into the keyhole.

Here goes nothing.

The door creaks open and Patton is standing in the living room. His back is to the door. His hands are tangled in his hair and he holds his glasses in his left hand.

He turns around quickly, “Virge?” Patton makes a mad dash for the door.

Virgil’s legs suddenly don’t work, so he allows Patton to wrap his arms around him. Virgil slowly pats his back before using his foot to close the door behind them.

Patton sniffs before he lets go, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pressured you to talk about your parents. And I’m so sorry I made you feel like you had to leave. But I wasn’t thinking and-”

“Woah, Pat,” Virgil interrupts, “It’s- It’s,” he laughs humorously. “It’s not your fault. It never was.”

“Of course it was!” He exclaims, rubbing a hand across his eyes. “I should have never made you- I should have just been there for you, no questions asked.”

“Patton,” Virgil chuckles quietly, “That’s insane! We’re best friends. I should have never expected you to blindly catch my fall. That’s asking way too much of you.”

“Wait,” Patton pauses, “You still think we’re best friends?”

Virgil takes Patton’s hand, “Of course I do. One disagreement doesn’t equal the end of the world.”

Patton looks at the ground, “Oh.”

“Patton, none of this is your fault. I was just scared because I didn’t think you would understand the, um, situation with me and my parents.”

“I can assure you that I will do my best to be here for you.”

“It’s just,” Virgil pauses. The words won’t exit his tongue. His mouth is filled with cotton. He didn’t realize how difficult this would be until he was actually in the moment.

“You don’t have to tell me tonight, Virge. I trust you to tell me when you’re ready. And if that day never comes, I will respect your decision.”

“Thanks.”

“Well!” Patton shouts, “I think this calls for a tea and Netflix night. What do you think?”

Virgil smiles as Patton grins widely, “With that smile, how could I disagree?”

[midotakaism]

I love ur hc! Can u do some on jealous he tian of people hitting on his mo? Either if it’s at his work or out in public at the store or something

im really glad you like my past headcanons, anon!! im always happy when someone enjoys them even if at this point they’re starting to get pretty old, so thank you!! ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

i.. actually haven’t written any headcanon in more than two years by now, i’ve been keeping them in my mind for all this time and to tell you the truth i’ve started to feel a bit self conscious about them. back in the days i also ended up disappearing without fullfilling a lot of requests, which makes me feel pretty bad… that being said, though, i did have some time between yesterday and today and at this point you all know tianshan always makes me lose it, so i did try to write down something

im not sure if this is exactly what you wanted, or if this is how you pictured it go, but i hope you’re gonna enjoy it anyway!!

so the keyword here is CLINGY

when he tian gets jealous he also gets clingier than usual, if that’s even possible

it starts one day while he is waiting for guan shan to end his shift at the grocery store so they can walk home together

after that first time he tian helped him out, guan shan made it clear that he didn’t want he tian to disturb him while he was working anymore, so these days he tian just waits for him outside, or roams around the store checking out the pre-made meals as guan shan sends him warning looks and he tian smiles back at him like the picture of innocence

doesn’t matter where he is, though, girls from different schools always come flocking around him, some just staring and blushing and whispering to their friends, others - the bolder ones - even asking him for his name and number and if he is there alone

he tian smiles and answers them politely, but never particularly minds them, that is until one day he notices that the one some girls are whispering about and looking at is not him, but guan shan

at the moment, guan shan is lifting up a heavy case full of oranges, the color of them almost matching his hair, his white tanktop sticking to his chest for working up a sweat and the muscles in his arms bulging because of the effort, a serious look of concentration on his face

he tian almost forgets to excuse himself from all the adoring girls around him and before anyone can realize it he is already sliding an arm around guan shan’s shoulder and standing close to him with a ‘little mo, this case seems really heavy, let me help you with it’

guan shan of course tells him off and yells at him to take all his fan group away with him, and he tian quickly understands that guan shan is completely oblivious to the attention he is receiving

maybe because he had to grow used at people whispering behind his back since at a young age, what with all the situation with his dad, guan shan doesn’t seem to notice all the girls looking at him adoringly, and if he finds strange that suddenly so many girls are asking him to grab something from a top shelves for them, his shirt riding up to reveal a flash of his toned stomach, then he doesn’t really show it

he tian almost finds it amusing when he hears guan shan complaining about the amount of girls around the store making it hard for him to work, blaming he tian’s presence for it and not realizing at least half of them are there for guan shan himself, and sometimes he thinks about making guan shan aware of that even just to see his reaction, but thinking back on what he said about modeling, he tian is not sure guan shan would be comfortable with all the attention

he tian is also not particularly fond at how outright flirty some girls get when asking guan shan informations, twirling their hair around their finger and touching guan shan briefly on the arm to call for his attention or thank him, so he keeps the thing to himself, and when guan shan is done with his shift he tian makes sure to guide him outside with a hand resting on his lower back, leaning against him closer than necessary and talking directly into guan shan’s ear

then one day, at school, guan shan gets stopped in the school hallway by a girl from some class over stuttering a small ‘s-sorry’ at him

thinking that the girl is yet another one looking for he tian, guan shan tells her that he doesn’t know where he tian is, but the girl just pushes something at his chest before running away

guan shan realizes he now has a love letter in his hands, all cute and pink and with a small heart sticker closing it, and suddenly pissed off he marches to he tian and shoves the letter to his face, yelling at him to tell his girlfriends that he is not he tian’s personal mail man

he tian asks him if he is jealous and then adds that if guan shan really wants to get a love letter he tian can always write him one

guan shan flips him off, telling him to stop saying weird things before going back to his class, and he tian forgets about the letter until he gets home that evening

he tian is pretty used to receive this kind of letters, and he usually just skims over them quickly so he knows what to thank the girl for before rejecting her gently, but as soon as he reads the first line he tian realizes the letter is not for him, but for guan shan

so this is where maybe some people won’t agree with me, but in a case like this i actually do believe that in the end he tian would deliver the letter to guan shan, even if deep down he is afraid of what might happen, if only because he knows that even if he destroys the letter now, he can’t keep guan shan away from that girl forever, one day guan shan is gonna find out anyway

he tian stays up all night reading that letter over and over again, and at one point he even texts guan shan to wear the black studs he tian gave him the following day, but of course guan shan reply is ‘fuck off’

the next day at school, he tian’s eye bags are worse than usual when he goes to find guan shan during break and hands him the letter with a small ‘for you’

there’s a moment of silence, then guan shan blushes bright red and starts yelling and hitting he tian because he actually thought that he tian made good on what he said the previous day and actually wrote him a love letter

needless to say that’s the first thing to put a smile on he tian’s face in the entire day and he teases guan shan about it but sombers up quickly to tell him that the letter guan shan handed him over yesterday wasn’t for him

guan shan doesn’t really believe him at first, even after reading the letter himself he still looks doubtful, asking he tian if he put her up to it, but after a while he finally convinces himself that the letter is genuine and his cheeks get a rosy tint

he tian, because sometimes he goes as far as twisting the knife in his own wound, asks guan shan what he is gonna reply to her

‘how am i supposed to know, im not like you, this is the first time something like this happens to me, i don’t even know what she sees in me’ ‘you put yourself down too much, you’re a very handsome guy’ ‘it’s not like im gonna believe that just because you say it!’ ‘she seems to think so too. aren’t you gonna say yes to her?’ (please imagine he tian saying all this with his hair covering his eyes and the saddest smile on his face) ‘how should i put it… she is a very cute girl, and i think she is sincere, but these are all impressions she got of me. she doesn’t really know me.’ ‘so? that’s what dating is for, isn’t it? so that you can get to know each other. i think… if she’d get to see the real you, she’d just end up liking you more and more’ (shout out if you get the parallel)

guan shan yells at him once again to stop saying this kind of things, and then leaves saying he is gonna think about it

as you can imagine, he tian doesn’t have a good day: he spends the entire day silent and withdrawn, so much so that even the girls start to get worried about him, and once again he doesn’t sleep at all at night

the next day, while he is walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria with jian yi and zheng xi, he catches a glimpse of red out of the window and he freezes on the spot: guan shan is in the courtyard with a girl, both of them looking embarrassed and blushing slightly

jian yi and zheng xi notice that he tian stopped and follow his gaze to guan shan, and you can imagine jian yi’s reaction: he plasters himself against the window asking zheng xi if he is really seeing what he thinks he is seeing and then asking he tian if he knows who is the girl

he tian however doesn’t reply to him and after a moment he keeps walking without saying another word

later, jian yi and zheng xi catch guan shan alone, and jian yi asks him all the details since they saw him talking to a girl, to which guan shan blushes and tells him to mind his own business

‘he tian was with us’ zheng xi says to guan shan ‘he should be down to the basketball court’ ‘what should i care where he is…’ zheng xi smiles. ‘just saying’

despite what he said, guan shan does go look for he tian and sits down next to him on one of the banches

‘should i congratulate you?’ he tian asks after a while. ‘about what?’ ‘having a girlfriend. that’s a big achievement. don’t close mountain is all grown up now’ a beat, then ‘i turned her down’. he tian’s eyes go wide in surprise. ‘she is very pretty’ guan shan continues ‘but i don’t know if she’s exactly my type. plus, im working most of the time after school and in the weekends, i don’t really have the time to deal with a girlfriend now.’

he tian looks up at him for the first time and finally notices that guan shan is wearing the black studs he tian bought him

he tian smiles and leans on the side to rest his head on guan shan’s shoulders, to which guan shan asks him what the hell is he doing all of a sudden

‘little mo, let’s go somewhere together after school’ ‘why should i go with you, im busy with work anyway’ ‘then let’s have dinner together at my apartment after you’re done’ ‘don’t wanna’

even after getting together, i think this is how he tian will mostly show his jealousy to anyone hitting on guan shan: if he is there as well, he’ll mostly stick close to guan shan, putting an arm around his shoulders or his waist, smiling and answering politely at whoever guan shan is talking to but making perfectly clear using their body language that guan shan is very much already involved with someone

he trusts guan shan completely and would never limit him, even if sometimes he tian worries for guan shan’s safety since he still has a hard time realizing people are flirting with him

but most of the time he just turns this on his favor, using the excuse that someone was hitting on guan shan to hold his hand in public or ask him for a kiss when they get home because that really upsetted him

he tian also tends to be a biter in bed, so it’s not the first time he leaves evident bitemarks and hickeys on guan shan’s neck and shoulder and clavicles for everyone to see. guan shan is not too fond of it because he still doesn’t like the idea to be owned, but he tian is his just as much as he is he tian’s, so in the end, even if he still yells at he tian for leaving them, he doesn’t actually particularly mind them

[fatgirlwritesscenarios]

Back Pains

((A/N:...I think this was a request. I’m not sure anymore. I’m just trying my best, you guys.))

Pairing: WonwooxReader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2,489

Summary: There are some people in the world who do not suffer as you suffer, who can go about their day- nay, their week without dilapidating back pains that have you sprawled on the floor because nothing else is even remotely comfortable. On top of that, they don’t have the ever crushing anxiety that only grows heavier when they feel they have to ignore their worried idol boyfriend’s call for the third time, but...no one is as luck as you are, are they?

                                                   *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Oh my god! What is this misery and why must I suffer from it?” you groaned from your place on the floor face down with your cheek pressed into the cold wood.

Your friend peeked out from the kitchen to see you sprawled out on the living room floor, sympathetic to the pain you were going through. IT had been a terrible week of back aches for you, mostly concentrated in your lower back. You had been able to tough it out for the week, even if it did mean having to alternate between sitting and standing more frequently in order to make it bearable. But today it attacked with a vengeance, imprisoning you at home for the day to suffer as loudly as you wanted to.

Y/F/N disappeared back into the kitchen, where she had been making the both of you lunch, and emerged with two plates of food a couple minutes later. She quietly approached you, setting a plate on the floor in front of you before taking a seat herself.

You were both quiet for a few beats. “It smells good, whatever you made,” you broke the silence, voice a little muffled with your cheek still pressed to the ground and your head turned away from her.

Your friend smiled and rubbed your back, “Try to eat something. It might help a little bit.”

You lifted yourself onto your forearms and looked down at the food presented to you. It looked as good as it smelled and you were grateful to Y/F/N for being as sweet as she is.

“Thank you,” you said, starting in your lunch, eating slowly as the discomfort fluctuated every now and then.

“No problem.”

“And thanks for coming to eat with me. I know I’m not exactly thrilling company.”

“You’re all the thrill I need,” she teased, grinning as you rolled your eyes, “Besides, I wanted to come and make sure that you were okay. You sounded terrible when I called you earlier.”

“Ah, yeah. The pain was pretty bad when you called and I was leaning against the wall like a hunch back trying to pretend it didn’t even exist.”

The both of you giggled, your friend ruffling your hair to the sound of your protests. Your good time was interrupted when your phone started ringing beside you. You picked it up while your friend focused on her food, a grimace crossing your features.

She noticed right away. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Wonwoo,” you answered, feeling conflicted, “I don’t know if I should answer…”

“Why wouldn’t you?” she questioned, brows furrowing.

“Because I’m pretty sure he’s gonna want to come over or have me come over to the dorm.”

“So?”

“So I can’t be around him like this! I’ll just be a burden! I haven’t seen him all week because of my back pains. I thought I would be better by now, but it feels like they’ve only gotten worse,” you explained, sighing deeply when the phone stopped ringing.

Y/F/N looked all the more perplexed, “What does he think you’ve been doing all this time? What have you been telling him?”

“Well, uh…he thinks I’ve been helping you with a project…and that I’ve been really busy with classes.” You grinned sheepishly when she stared at you flatly.

“Oh good. Just drag me into your web of lies and not tell me. That’s totally not gonna backfire or anything.”

“It hasn’t yet.”

“Yet being the operative word.”

The phone started ringing once more and you flinched. Nothing made you feel guiltier than lying to your boyfriend or avoiding him, especially when he had such a short window of time to spend with you on most days. You really wish you could meet him for a date: go somewhere comfortable and quiet and ask about what he’s been up to. You wish you could cuddle close to him and lay your head on his chest as he told you about his day or read you a chapter from his newest book out loud, his deep voice comforting you. Despite what you wanted, you couldn’t take that chance. Not right now, anyway, while you were rolling around in utmost discomfort.

The phone stopped ringing…and then started up again.

You groaned aloud and let your head hit the floor. This was killing you! The guilt and the anxiety were going to send you to an early grave!

“I really think you should answer it, Y/N,” Y/F/N offered gently, “I know you don’t want to burden him, but that’s part of having a relationship. You’re not gonna be perfect all the time or feel perfect or act perfect, but if you really care for each other then you’ll support one another no matter what. Wouldn’t you want him to tell you if he was sick or in pain?”

You stared at her for a beat and then glanced down at your phone, your shoulders slumping. You hated that she was right.

“Wonwoo cares for you so deeply and would want to support you during this time. I know he would and if this relationship is forever, like you keep saying, then he’s going to see you like this at some point.”

You really hated that she was right! Answering the phone before it stopped again, you held it to your ear and greeted your boyfriend in the sweetest voice possible.

“Hi, Oppa.”

“Y/N,” you heard him sigh your name in relief, your heart heavy and light at the same time. “I was worried, Y/N. I was starting to panic. What’s wrong? What happened to you?”

“N-Nothing’s wrong! Why would you think something’s wrong?” you returned, flinching when your friend shot you a sharp look.

“You’ve been avoiding me all week. You hadn’t answered any of my calls and barely send me any text messages to tell me that you’re okay,” he stated.

You pouted and played with the food on your plate while mumbling, “That’s not true…”

“It is true,” he insisted, his deep voice straining a little with the effort to hold back his agitation, “Have I done something? Did I upset you? If you’re mad at me, Y/N, then tell me so I can apologize and make it better. I hate not talking to you. I hate barely hearing from you…I hate that you’re avoiding me.”

You couldn’t take the pain and rejection you heard in his voice. It was never your intention to make him feel like anything was his fault. Now thinking back on it, you could see how he would believe he played any negative part in your reluctance to see him this past week. Your intentions to keep him from worrying about you completely backfired and it was enough to make you misty.

“Y/N…please tell me what I did.”

“No, Wonwoo, you didn’t do anything. I promise you didn’t.”

There was a slight pause and then Wonwoo continues, “But…Then why have you-”

“You haven’t done anything,” you interrupted, insistent, “I just…I, uh, haven’t been feeling well.”

You signed in defeat after finally admitting it, Wonwoo repeating your statement as a question; “What do you mean? What’s wrong?” he pressed further, concern saturating his voice.

“Well…” Movement caught your eye and you peered up to see your friend gathering up her empty place and your half-eaten one, tossing you a knowing look before going into the kitchen, “It’s my back.”

“What’s wrong with your back? Did you hurt yourself? Did you get injured at work?”

“No, no, Wonwoo-ah, it’s nothing like that. Every now and then I get these back pains. They’re usually not too bad nor do they last that long, but they’ve been constant all this week and only getting worse as the day goes on. I…didn’t want to burden you or make you worry over me when you already have so much going on. I never meant to make you feel like you had done something wrong, though. I’m sorry.”

“Aish, Jagi. You can’t keep things like that from me! I don’t want you to suffer alone.” You lowered year head in shame as you were lightly scolded, watching your friend’s feet quietly walk past you towards the front entryway, “I’m coming over to see you and don’t try to dissuade me this time. I’ve wanted to see you all week. I’ve missed you, Y/N.”

You breathed a little laugh, your cheeks feeling toasty and a giddy smile creeping along your lips. “Okay…I won’t,” you conceded, laying your cheek down against the wood floor and enjoying the reverberating sound of his voice in your ear. It might have only been seven days since the last you really had a chance to just listen to him or waste a day away in his arms, but you reveled in the moment as if it’s been months.

“I’ll be there soon, Y/N. Wait for me.”

“I will.”

Wonwoo hummed, his voice already sounding lighter, before he bid his goodbye and hung up. Your smile was permanently fixed to your face as you placed your phone on the floor next to you. Suddenly, the pain in your back didn’t seem as bothersome.

“I’ll be taking off, then.” You lifted your head up to see your friend with her purse over her shoulder, her sweater in her arms, and her shoes already slipped onto her feet. She smiled at you and gave a little wink. “You won’t need my company anymore. Tell Wonwoo-ssi I said hi when he gets here!”

“Thanks for coming over! Be safe!” you called after her.

“Okay!” she responded, the echo of her shoes slowly fading away as she made her exit, the front door closing softly behind her.

You were left in relative silence, the muted drone of the TV your only companion. With your friend gone and Wonwoo yet to arrive, there wasn’t much to distract you from the pestering discomfort assaulting your back, the pain returning in a rolling wave with a vengeance.

“Oh my god! What the hell?” you hissed, shifting about to try and find a comfortable laying position before completely giving up on that notion and rising to your feet.

It was unclear the amount of time that passed, but when Wonwoo finally arrived- armed with a bag of your favorite snacks, pain medication, the current book he was reading, and your favorite movies- you had circled the entirety of your apartment before posting up on the wall in your living room. Your forehead rested on the plaster as you leaned at an angle to alleviate your discomfort, your arms folded above your head.

“Jagiya? I’m here,” Wonwoo announced, wandering into the living room where he found you.

Alarmed, he quickly deposited the items onto the coffee table and appeared by your side in an instant. His broad hand slid across the small of your back, gingerly rubbing the open area in an effort to bring you some kind of relief.

“Y/N…Jagiya. Are you okay? Are they getting worse?” he questioned, his brow furrowed.

“Hi, Wonwoo…” you greeted him, turning your head to give him a week smile, your own brow pinched in pain, “It’s coming in waves…This is a great way to spend your day, isn’t it?”

“Don’t say it like that, Y/N. As long as I get to spend time with you, I’m happy.” He took your hands in his and guided you close until you were laying your head on his shoulder, arms around his neck.

He relished in the feeling of having you in his arms again for a few moments, your warmth encasing him, before he pulled back some and nudged your nose with his. You lifted your head to gaze at him, his dark eyes locking with yours and his warm lips giving you a soft kiss.

“Come with me. I’m going to start taking care of you right now and I have a few ideas that might help with the pain.”

 You were all out of ideas yourself, so you were more than willing to do as your boyfriend said to see if that helped any. With a nod of your head, you followed him as he took your hand and lead you towards the back of your apartment. From there, you found that, indeed, Wonwoo’s ideas were exactly what you needed to feel better.

From an hour long hot bath that Wonwoo spent every minute of beside the tub with you to a careful, gentle massage focused on the small of your back to slow walks around the apartment and stretches to help loosen up the muscles, Wonwoo certainly seemed to know the exact remedy to make you feel more comfortable. While the pain hadn’t completely gone away yet, it had subsided to nothing more than a dull ache that was more than bearable for you.

Finally, the last thing to do on the list to bring you maximum relaxation: cuddles in bed. Wrapped up in Wonwoo’s sweater that he had taken off and pulled over your head after your bath, you found yourself curled into his side with your ear pressed to his chest, listening to his soothing voice read a chapter of his book to you. He kept an arm wrapped securely around you, his hand gently rubbing your back every now and then and his lips pressing light kisses to your crown.

“Wonwoo Oppa?” He stopped reading and regarded you curiously, waiting for you to continue. You smile at him, your eyes tracing the lines of his face. “Thank you. I really needed this.”

A smile bloomed across his face, your heart stuttering when you acknowledged the fact that it was because of you that he felt so happy.

“I did, too,” he answered, marking his place in his book and setting it on the nightstand, his arms encircling you completely, “I really missed being with you this week.”

“I know and I’m sorry for that.”

He kissed you tenderly and leaned his forehead against yours, “You don’t have to apologize anymore, Y/N. I know that you were only thinking of me. Just…Just promise me that you won’t keep something like this from me again. I want to take care of you whenever you’re sick or hurt the same way that you would take care of me. Promise me that you won’t suffer alone again.”

“I promise,” you said, closing your eyes as he placed a kiss to your forehead.

“How does your back feel?”

“A lot better. I feel so relaxed now.”

“Good,” he whispered, bringing your head to rest on his chest again and pulling your blanket over the both of you, “then all that’s left to do is take a well-deserved nap.”

You giggled, but nodded your head anyway, wrapping your arm around his middle and snuggling in deeper, “I love you, Wonwoo.”

“I love you, too, Y/N,” he whispered back, stroking your hair and smiling proudly to himself when you slowly drifted off into a peaceful, comfortable slumber.

[triviuhtae]

the color of fate (01) | kth

━ pairing: taehyung x reader (referred to by nickname) ━ genre: prince!au | fluff, humor, just a little bit of angst  ━ word count: 6.9k ━ a/n: this is heavily inspired/based on the anime (snow white with the red hair) with a few changes here and there so please do not come for me      ━ warnings:  talk about death in a family, mistresses/concubines, family separation, minor injuries, curse words, poisoning  ━ summary: Running away from home is never easy, but maybe with Taehyung, it can be. Not according to him though. ━ excerpt: “I’m sure you’re so used to helping others, so I thought you’d let me help you.”

It grows darker inside of the small tavern as she assists a patient, her sister walking up to her with a small glass bottle in her hand. The elder woman takes the pharmacist’s hand in one of her own with a grateful smile as her other hand holds onto the cane that she uses to help her walk. “Thank you so much, dear.” The old lady tells her weakly as the younger female helps her to her feet.

“It’s no problem, Mihee.” She grins as the older individual lets go of her hand to stand up a bit straighter and she pulls her lips into a tight smile, wrinkles appearing at the corners of her eyes. Turning to look at her sister, she gives the bottle to the elder and motions for her to put it in her small leather bag that hung across her shoulder. “Remember to drink a sip of it twice a day for a week. The pain in your foot should be gone by then but if it’s not, come back and either Sooyun or I will make you something stronger.”

“Jangmi,” Her little sister calls her by her nickname, catching her attention as she looks away from Mihee. “Don’t forget to give her the leaves for her tea as well.” Jangmi raises her eyebrows, surprised at herself for not remembering, but mentally thanking her sister as she reaches another bottle on a nearby shelf.

After giving Mihee the leaves, she nods towards the sisters. “You know, your grandparents would be so proud of how you two have grown.” She suddenly states as Jangmi shyly looks to her sister and then to the ground, her long brown hair falling into her face before she lifts a nervous hand to push a strand behind her ear at the compliment.

It was no secret that they had been raised right by their grandparents when their parents left them behind as children. She was only five at the time, meaning that Sooyun was only one years old. The siblings work hard every day to live up to their grandparents’ names ever since their accident in a neighboring town just a year ago. The ancestors had set out on a search for a rare herb that would help with their medicines but were caught in a raid and killed by thieves. Jangmi was incredibly heartbroken at the news but, now that she was responsible for raising her little sister on her own, she quickly picked up her own set of gloves and started running the small pharmacy they owned in town.

Mihee leaves without another word, the bell above the door chiming as Jangmi takes a seat on a nearby chair. “Besides Billi, I think Mihee is my favorite customer.” Sooyun nonchalantly states as she props herself up onto the counter and looks down at her older sister with a playful smile. “She’s just so old and cute, reminds me of grandma.”

Huffing out in exhaustion as a response, Jangmi can’t stop the growing smile on her face. No matter how tired she was, she could never forget the feeling she felt when helping someone in need. She was especially happy to have her sister see how rewarding this line of work was in hopes that she will be able to run the business herself one day. “Listen, I need you to grab some ingredients from the market before it closes.” She tells her sibling as she gets up and pats her arm with a small grin. “I’ll close up.”

Sooyun groans slightly as she rolls her head back. “Do I have to? I’d rather be the one to close.” As she brings her head back up, she’s met with Jangmi’s beaded eyes and arms crossed over her chest. Raising her hands in surrender, Sooyun grunts. “Fine, I’ll go, but only because I love you. Give me your list.”

After handing her the paper with the ingredients written on it, Jangmi bids her sister farewell at the door and turns to face the shop with her hands on her hips. “What a mess.” She mutters to herself, taking a few steps forward as she picks up random rags here and there as well as rejected medicines and empty cups of tea.

The bell rings once more and Jangmi gets ready to tell her sister to hurry up before it gets dark outside. However, as she slowly turns around, she’s surprised to see one of the guards from the palace. “By order of Prince Yurim, we hand over this letter written by him himself.” They pass the scroll to Jangmi, who takes it with a shaky hand and knitted eyebrows.

She half expects the guard to leave but as he stands there with his eyes glued to her, she knows she will have no luck of making him go away unless she reads the letter right then and there. Quickly unfolding the piece of paper before Sooyun comes back to see the knight in their shop, Jangmi walks over to the counter and reads what Prince Yurim has to say to her.

To Choi Y/n,

Firstly, may I take this moment to appreciate your different colored eyes and long, rich chocolate brown hair. I’ve been watching you for quite some time now and I’d like to make a formal request. Please join me at my castle where you will be appointed as my concubine and personal pharmacist. I’d like to point out that this is not an option, but an order.

Can’t wait to see you,

Prince Yurim

“Is he serious?” She wonders out loud, forgetting that the guard is there as he takes a step forward and places his hand on the hilt of his sword. “I-I mean, this is all so sudden. Is he sure that this is what he wants?” She tries to question innocently, not wanting to stir up any trouble with a soldier as she knew it would be an immediate defeat on her part.

The guard removes his hand so that they’re both behind his back and he adjusts his footing on the uneven wood floor in attempt to not come off as intimidating as before. “Prince Yurim is very serious. He seems to have taken a liking to you, especially your rare eye colors.” At his comment, she instantly looks away and tries to avoid his gaze. Sensing the uncomfortableness, the soldier takes a gulp of air and sighs. “He expects you at the castle tomorrow morning as confirmation. I suggest you clean up and pack your belongings.” As he turns to walk out the door, Jangmi raises her head and glares at the back of his helmet. Suddenly, the guard stops at the threshold and looks over his shoulder at the commoner. “Oh, and don’t be late.”

As soon as the guard walks out of her store and is out of sight, Jangmi lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. She couldn’t fathom the thought of being Yurim’s mistress and living out the rest of her life in his castle. The idea fills her with so much disgust and rage that she crumbles up the letter in her hands, but before she can toss it into a corner of the room, the bell rings once more. “Jangmi, they were all out of Echinacea, but I got the last bit of Burdock.” She shoves the crumbled note into the pocket of her tunic as she whips her head around to be greeted by the sight of her sister waltzing towards the counter. Sooyun deposits the contents from the market onto the wood before finally looking up to meet her sibling’s eyes. “Hello? You there?”

Looking up from her back, Jangmi meets her sister’s eyes and nods her head. “Yes, sorry. Thank you.” She quickly responds before scurrying towards the materials to put them into their proper places. Sooyun furrows her eyebrows before turning to face her, catching Jangmi off guard. She stops what she’s doing and catches her gaze with a surprised expression. “What?”

“What’s wrong?” Sooyun inquires as she crosses her arms over her chest, Jangmi shrugging her shoulders and asking her what she means. “You’re acting odd.” She comments before her eyes goes wide and she rests her arms at her sides. “God, don’t tell me that bum came in and bothered you for alcohol again!”

“No! No, Sooyun, just relax. Nothing happened.” Jangmi quickly disregards with a shake of her head as she holds a hand out towards her to stop her from talking. Her heart is heavy as she holds herself back from telling Sooyun the truth. If she did, she would only be putting her sister in danger. After a substantial amount of silence followed her frazzled remark, Jangmi finally straightens her posture before clearing her throat. “There’s leftover dinner for you upstairs. I decided I’ll be working late, so you can go ahead without me.”

“We won’t be eating together?” Sooyun immediately responds with, watching in disappointment as Jangmi shakes her head no. Her younger sister bites her bottom lip quickly, as if coming up with a plan in her head before speaking it out loud. “I could bring dinner down and keep you company if you like.”

“It’s alright. I’m not hungry or tired yet. I’ll be preparing some medicines for our patients in the morning, so it’s not as busy as it was today.” A frown appears on her sister’s thin, pink lips, but she nods her head anyway. “I promise I’ll go to sleep soon. Go on.” Without time to react, Sooyun rushes forward to give Jangmi a hug. She’s shocked at first, but then Jangmi opens her arms to properly hold her sister. “Hey, guess how much I love you.” She commands but the sibling says nothing, causing Jangmi to whine. “Sooyunie!”

The fabric of her tunic moves as she feels Sooyun smile against it. “I love you right up to the moon and back.” She answers before pulling back and letting go. “We’re supposed to say it the other way around, Jangmi.” Jangmi knew very well that they had switched lines, because she had done it on purpose. She knew what she had to do, and it pained her as she looked into her sister’s bright blue eyes. Hiding the hurt that she felt, Jangmi grins and rolls her eyes at her sister before jolting her head in the direction of the staircase. “Good night!”

Once her sister was out of sight, the corner of her lips immediately drop into a frown and a heavy sigh leaves her lips. “I’m so sorry, Sooyun, but I can’t stay here.” She tells herself in a whisper before tightening the string of her apron as she starts to prepare the medicines their patients will need for at least the next month.

She’s up all night, the sky outside beginning to slowly brighten as she ties a string around the last bottle of medicine. Patting her hands against the black apron draped over her usual clothing, Jangmi smiles down at the alignment she’s created with a proud smile. In front of each bottle is a name and directions, all personalized with a special thank you at the end of the note.

Throwing off her apron to the side, she reaches for random herbs and medicines throughout her numerous bookshelves and shoves them into a satchel before throwing the strap over her shoulder. With all the candles blown out in the back of the store, the last remaining piece of wax sat in the front window as its flames welcomed her. She steps towards it in awe as a crunch sounds from beneath her. Removing her foot, she sees the note from Prince Yurim that she had put in her apron earlier that night. It must have fallen out when she tossed the linen moments ago. Unable to stop herself, she picks it up and opens the scroll to read it once more, the same anger swirling in the pit of her stomach from before now mixed with sorrow at the thought of her sister.

Instead of destroying the paper, Jangmi straightens out the crinkles and places it down beside the candle. Without a second thought, she reaches for a pair of scissors on the counter behind her and puts it up to her ponytail. Taking a deep breath in, the next thing Jangmi hears is the sound of the scissors cutting into her hair as she struggles to get it through to the other end as evenly as she can. Once the inches are departed from her head, she places it on the letter beside the candle and grins in satisfaction. Glancing at the counter behind her, her eyes land on a stack of paper with a writing utensil beside them.

An idea forms in her head as her mind reels back to her sibling. Maybe she could leave a note for her sister to find when she wakes up and sees that her Jangmi is nowhere to be found. It could be risky if Prince Yurim or the guards found it, but she could tell Sooyun to burn it afterwards. Quickly, she scribbles a short letter for her sibling to read in a few hours’ time.

Putting up the hood of her tunic to cover her, now botched and short, brown hair, she blows out the fire in one puff and exits the shop. Her boot covered feet walk along the dirt path for about an hour before she finally makes it out of the town, the sun rising just over the horizon as she gives the cluttered cottages one last nod before giving them her back. Hooves clacking against the ground come from behind as she moves over to the side of the road to allow a clear passage. However, as the man on the wagon sees her, he slows down the horse and waits for her to come up beside him again before saying something. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He calls sweetly, gaining Jangmi’s attention as she lifts her head to look at him from under her hood. “I’m not sure where you’re going but I’m headed to Sangdo in case you would like join.”

Glancing at the ground, then the horse, and then back at the old man, Jangmi clears her throat to speak. “I have no money.” She tells him honestly, her hand hovering over her satchel as she keeps it from moving forward.

“Ah,” He disregards with a wave of his hand before signalling for her to hop on. “No charge miss. I just hate to see you walk into the woods alone.” Jangmi grins before walking to the stacks of hay on the bed of the wagon as she grips onto a metal fencing and pulls herself onto it. She settles herself on top of a bulk of hay before giving the old man acknowledgement that she was all set to go. Pulling the reigns of his horse up and down harshly, the creature begins moving at a much faster pace than what Jangmi’s feet were doing moments ago. “Going somewhere important?”

Upon barely hearing his question due to the creaking of the wagon mixed with the wheels turning as well as the horse’s hooves, she calls over her shoulder without looking at him. “I hope so.” The man gives her a chuckle as a response. “I’ve decided I want to live my life my own way.”

For the most part, the ride is silent. A comment here and there slips from his mouth as he attempts to conduct casual conversation with her. Finally, at a fork in the road, he stops the wagon and turns in his seat as to meet her gaze. “Sangdo is in this direction if this is where you’re headed.” He announces, pointing to the right as her eyes follow his finger.

Collecting her items and making sure she had everything she left her town with, she hops off the back of the wagon and walks towards the front. “I’m going this way. Thank you again for the ride, it was very kind of you.” She gives him a slight bow before quickly pulling her hood tighter over her head to shield her hair and eyes from the stranger. The man nods in response, giving her a small ‘you’re welcome,’ before he whips the reigns on his horse and continues on his way into Sangdo.

Turning on her heel, Jangmi’s mismatching eyes land on the forest ahead of her. Putting one boot in front of the other, she steadily makes her way through the woods with no care in the world as she begins to whistle a tune out loud. Her hands are clasped together behind her back as her eyes travel over the greenery, taking in the sights of the trees that tower over her by at least one hundred feet. The sun shines through the leaves and glistens against the water droplets from the short rain shower that had occurred earlier that day.

As she walks, the sound of a branch breaks in the distance and catches her attention. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she walks in the direction of the noise with a cautious attitude. As she approaches an opening in the trees, she is shocked to find a small abandoned house sitting at two stories tall with a long stone wall on one side that protruded out to provide shading near the front door. Her once careful gestures were replaced with those of astonishment as her mouth slightly hangs open and she walks up to the front door.

One knock at first, and then two. Three more knocks before Jangmi sighs in frustration and bangs the bottom of her fist against the wood. “Hello! Is anyone here?” She yells, raising her voice as she tilts her head back to try and look through the second-floor windows. There was no movement and no sound, but, it was getting dark again and she knew she couldn’t stay in the woods. “Please! I need to stay the night if that’s alright!”

Still nothing. She huffs out in annoyance as she crosses her arms over her chest and furrows her eyebrows. She walks down the short steps made out of rock and takes a seat in the grass next to the front door and under the biggest window on the home’s exterior. Perhaps she could just wait until whoever owns the cottage comes home and then she will have a proper talk with them about spending the night before she heads off again the next morning.

As the sky gets darker, her eyelids become heavier with the threat of sleep. She blinks hard, attempting to stay up, but it’s no use as they flutter shut and she finds herself in a comfortable position with her satchel as a pillow on the ground beside her. It’s not long until she falls asleep, however, it’s also not long until she wakes up at the crack of dawn as a habit from her previously jampacked schedule in Busan.

Her eyes adjust to the light shining in her face as she lifts a hand to shield herself from the brightness. Squinting, she looks into the woods for any sign of the homeowner once again, although she soon notices that the grass at the edge of the forest still only has her own footprints from the day before. Standing to her full height, she cups her hands around her eyes and tries to look through the window she had slept under. It’s too dark, even with the sun shining down on the structure, so, she turns around and prepares herself to knock on the front door once again.

She gets about three steps away from the window before noises from the other side of the stone wall catch her attention. Her eyebrows knit together at the center of her forehead as she turns in the direction of the stone wall and moves about six inches closer. The sounds become louder and louder, her heart beating faster as she wonders what waits for her on the other side. Without much time to prepare for what was to come, she’s surprised as a boy jumps over the stone wall and flies in her direction.

Immediately, the boy sees her, and his eyes widen slightly in fear as he realizes he has nowhere to land, the panic rising in his throat as he tries to yell at her to get out of the way. Her feet are glued to the ground as her own eyes double in size and she holds up her arms to protect herself from the impact. The dark-haired boy falls onto her, the both of them hurtling to the ground as a sharp pain becomes prominent on her forehead and a sword sheath goes flying towards the house.

“Ow,” He speaks in a deep voice, squinting his eyes shut even harder than they already were as his arm aches with a burning sensation. Opening just one of his eyes, he looks beside him to see her body turned away from him. Quickly getting on his knees, he pokes her back just as the hood of her tunic falls to reveal her short, brown hair and he inhales sharply at the sight before finding the courage to speak. “Hey, are you okay?”

She groans as she uses her hands to push herself up, still facing away from him as she lifts a hand to her forehead. Pulling it back, her eyes settle on the red liquid draping her fore finger and middle finger. Slowly turning, she glances over her shoulder to meet his eyes as his lips part and his jaw drops at the sight. “Shit, you’re bleeding. Does it hurt?” She answers his question with a lie by shaking her head no and reaching for her satchel to find a medicine that will help ease the discomfort.

“Taehyung! Tae!” A man’s voice suddenly sounds, catching her off guard as she searches for the individual responsible for the bright voice. It made her head hurt as she whipped it back and forth before seeing two figures come out from behind the stone wall. They’re both noticeably shorter than the boy who flew into her and are not dressed as fancy. Their clothes almost seemed as if they were a uniform, and even if they were, she couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed by the rags she had thrown together to wear. One of the men lick their extremely plump lips as he takes in the sight of, who she assumed was, Taehyung. “Would you look at that? I guess you finally did fall for someone.”

“I was going to make that joke, Jimin.” Taehyung states in annoyance as he slowly rises from the ground and walks towards his sheath. She takes this opportunity to put her hood back on and crawls toward her spot under the window. “You always do that, you know. It’s not fair, especially when it’s a really good one.”

Jimin scoffs at him, removing his hands from behind his back as he loses his professional attitude. “Cry me a river, Taehyung.” He responds sarcastically with a slight exaggeration to his voice before he turns and looks at the other man, whose arms are crossed over his chest. “Can you believe this, Hobi?”

“Hoseok hyung, please.” Taehyung begs as he walks closer to all of them, his eyes trained on the two men before him. “Tell him he’s wrong and that I’m right. How many times have I made that joke before, but it wasn’t as funny?” Hoseok says nothing, his lips pulled into a thin line as dimples appear on each side. Tae groans and throws his head back. “It’s only funny now because I actually did run into someone.” His eyes suddenly widen before his head snaps to the right and his dark brown eyes land on her as she continues to crawl on all four in an attempt to make a break for it. “Wait, you’re injured.”

She mentally curses herself at his sharp memory. Her eyes move to his arm as she notices that he’s holding onto it as if it hurts him as well. “You’re injured, too.” She shoots back, still ignoring her own injury as she digs through her satchel once more. Taehyung steps closer to her but is careful to keep his distance as she pulls out a glass bottle. “I’m a pharmacist. I think I have something that can help.”

“No but thank you.” Taehyung instantly says, holding out his good hand with his long fingers spread out, simple silver rings wrapped around three of them. He lowers it as to rest his hand on his hip. “You’re a stranger to me. For all I know, you could be trying to poison me.”

Her attitude changes after his words. Though she’s already wounded, she reaches out and takes Taehyung’s sheath from his waist, the button easily coming undone. “Hey!” He yells out right before his eyes enlarge at the sight of her pushing the sheath down onto her arm at only half of her strength. Pain shoots up her forearm as she bites down on her bottom lip, regretting the action immediately but knowing that she needed to change Taehyung’s mindset about her. Looking back up, she meets Taehyung’s dumbfounded expression as she tries hard to keep her face calm.

Placing the sheath down in front of her, she uses the medicine she was going to give Tae and places some of it on her area of irritation to prove that it was, in fact, not poisonous. When she looks up again, she can see as Jimin smirks down at her from beside Tae before he elbows the boy. “She got you good, Taehyung.” Jimin is struggling to hold in his laughter, his composure slowly diminishing the more he looks at Tae’s surprised face. “You’re so cautious for nothing more than just a small girl in the woods.”

She couldn’t help but think that this was all a joke to the three of them. Even Hoseok, or as Jimin had called him, Hobi, couldn’t keep himself from letting out a slight chuckle. This only annoyed her more as she stands and collects her satchel before marching off into the forest without looking back at the three men.

She uses the inside of her hood to clean whatever blood had spilled from the cut above her left eyebrow before pressing it against her forehead firmly to stop the flow. “Wait up!” A voice calls out to her as she turns around to see Taehyung running toward her. Stepping out of the way, she watches as Taehyung slides to a stop beside her. She rolls her eyes and tries to walk away but Taehyung’s hand stops her as he places it on her shoulder. “I’d be an ignominy if I let a battered girl walk through the forest alone.”

“I’m perfectly fine on my own.” She counteracts with, pointing to the medicine bottle in her bag as she shrugs his hand off her shoulder and continues walking. “Have been my whole life.” Taehyung picks up his own pace to catch up with her before she turns her head to the right to see him attempting to match her strides. With a sigh, she shakes her head and looks ahead of them at an opening in the distance.

“You’re not from here.” Taehyung suddenly observes, bringing his dark, prominent brows to the center of his forehead from what she can see under his bangs as he stares at her. “I would’ve remembered your name if you were from here, especially with those different colored eyes. So, that begs the question,” The two of them stop for a moment as Tae warily pulls down her hood. “What brings you to Daegu?”  

She pretends to not hear Taehyung’s question as she continues to walk, her eyes milking in the sight of an open field surrounded by trees reaching beyond the sky as she decides to introduce herself. “My name is y/n. But everyone who knows me calls me Jangmi.” It’s not until he relentlessly repeats his inquiry and steps in front of to stop her form strolling through the forest, that she finally looks up to meet his eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “Maybe I’m searching for the good things in life.” She wholeheartedly states, momentarily thinking about her sister and wondering if Daegu would be the place where they could live out their lives in peace. After a second thought, she smiles up at the boy to lighten the conversation. “I thought it would be easier here.”

“Good things aren’t supposed to be easy. We have to fight for them. In Daegu, and in everywhere else too.” Taehyung instantly contends back just as she leans her back against the trunk of a tree and he stands in front of her with his eyebrows screwed together. It’s not that he didn’t want good things for her, he wanted good things for everyone. But, he knew from experience that good things were never just handed over. “I’m a strong believer in good things being worth fighting for in the end.”

She goes to walk off once more but something pulls her back, a pain shooting down the back of her head as her hand reaches up to discover that her hair is stuck to a piece of bark. She struggles a few seconds with it before realizing that she can’t get herself free. “Taehyung, can you please cut my hair for me?” The boy freezes at his name spilling from her lips, his eyes trained on her as if nothing else in this world mattered in that moment. “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

He gets ready to unsheathe his sword, his fingers wrapping around the hilt before he tilts his head to one side and then releases the handle. “No.” He responds firmly, causing her lips to part in shock as he smirks down at her, his hair slightly covering his eyes. “Not until you tell me the real reason why you’re in Daegu.”

“Taehyung.” She slightly whines his name, dragging out the syllables but it’s no use as it only causes his grin to grow wider as she drops her hands to her sides and gives up. Taehyung stands his ground, attempting to hold a gaze with the pretty girl in front of him as she finally gives in. “It was my choice to leave.”

After she reveals some form of the truth, Taehyung decides to poke further as he closes the distance between them. “Leave from where? And why?” He inquires, his eyes grazing over her body. He’s unsure why he wants to know everything about the girl with the different colored eyes, but he just knows that he has to.

“I’m from Busan.” She admits to her origin, watching as Taehyung’s eyebrows raise with slight surprise. “My grandparents owned a pharmacy and I worked there with my sister all my life.” As she speaks about her family, she quickly takes the inside of her cheek between her teeth and gnaws on it softly before looking down at Taehyung’s sword. “The prince ordered me to be his concubine, so I ran away.”

The man in front of her exhales from his mouth loudly in dissatisfaction, causing her to glance up as she comes face to face with a very disgruntled Taehyung. “He wants you to be his mistress?” He scoffs. “What about your grandparents? And your sister? Did they do anything about it?” She quickly points to her hair with wide eyes, to which Taehyung chuckles a bit. “Oh, right.” He says before unsheathing his sword and holding it carefully at the back of her head.

The piece of hair is cut clean and she’s freed from the tree, Taehyung eyeing her as her hand reaches to the back of her head and she lets out a sad sigh. “My grandparents died a little over a year ago.” She informs him as he tries to immediately apologize. “No, no, it’s okay. As for my sister…” She trails off as her eyes prick with oncoming tears. “I left her behind with a note. I told her I would come back for her when I found a safe place.”

“That’s a lot to handle. I hope you can reunite with your sister soon.” Taehyung comments, the girl nodding in agreement without looking at him. “I can understand why you ran away now. Does your haircut have something to do with the story as well?”

Looking up from the spot of grass separating them, she plays with the hair at the nape of her neck and shakes her head yes. “The prince sent one of his guards with a letter stating that he loved my eyes and hair.” With the same hand, she runs her fingers through her hair and pushes her bangs out of her face. “I can’t change anything about my eyes, so I decided to cut my hair and leave it for him since he adored it so much.”

Taehyung puts a hand to his mouth, but not quickly enough as she sees a smile hiding behind his long and bony fingers. “You surely are something else, Jangmi.” He states while stifling a laugh, her nickname falling from his lips like honey before he puts his hands on his hips and regains his composure. “Don’t worry about the prince. I’ll protect you from him here, in Daegu.”

Taken aback by his sudden offer, she waves him off and begins to slowly step away from him.  “That’s not necessary, but I really appreciate it.” She begins to say, Taehyung quickly interrupting her to say that he insists on caring for her and her sister, regardless of her appreciation. Tilting her head to one side as she rests her arms under her breasts, she sends Taehyung a questionable glance. “Why me?”

It’s as if he has to think about it for a moment, eyes looking to the sky as he rests a finger on his lips and his eyebrows furrow in deep concentration. After a few seconds, he gazes at her and shrugs his shoulders. “To be honest, you’re the only one I’ve ever spent this much time and effort on.” He shamelessly discloses to her, a small blush growing on her cheeks as Taehyung grins at the sight. “I’m not sure why yet. Maybe you’ll just have to stick around to discover the true reason.”

At the sight of Taehyung’s smile, that seemed to resemble a box shape, the air left from her lungs. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt as if she was falling in love at first sight. Wait, no, love at second sight. She’s only just met Taehyung but there’s a warmth in her chest that tells her she’s going to fall in love with him. She doesn’t love him now, but it’s inevitable that she will.

Taehyung and Jangmi go back to the abandoned house to see that it’s not abandoned anymore. From the yard, they can see lights on through the front window, two bodies aimlessly walking around as they set up something on a table. Entering the home, they’re surprised to see Jimin and Hoseok sitting down with a game of chess set up between them. Jimin has a concentrated expression on his face while Hoseok sits back, smugly staring down at the piece of wood between them. With his hand taking hold of her elbow, Taehyung leads her to a loveseat in the living space and sits her down before walking away.

When he returns, Taehyung sits beside her and opens an emergency kit. “What’s all that for?” She inquires innocently, her eyebrows knitting together as she looks from the bandages to Taehyung’s deep brown eyes.

“Your head.” Taehyung responds simply, using his left hand to hold her bangs back as he uses the rag in his right hand to clean the wound. “I’m sure you’re so used to helping others, so I thought you’d let me help you.” She hisses when he hits a sensitive part of the skin and his face immediately drops. “Sorry. Maybe I should just stick to my day job.”

“It’s okay, it just aches a little. I should be fine though.” She watches intently as Taehyung grabs a bandage and some tape to protect the cut on her forehead. Once he’s done, she expects him to put away the materials, but instead, he holds out his own arm. Tilting her head to the side as she looks up at him through her lashes, he avoids her stare by turning his head towards the window. “Oh, now you want my medicine, huh?”

Taehyung struggles to hide the growing smile on his lips as he pushes his arms towards her some more. She rolls her eyes playfully and reaches into her satchel for the same medicine she used on her own arm earlier. After lathering a decent amount on his wound, she takes the same bandages from the kit and wraps it around his forearm. She’s careful to not tie it too tight but she also doesn’t want it to be loose enough to fall off. As she finishes, she begins to clean up the mess between them on the sofa and Taehyung finally turns his head back towards her. “Thank you.”

A loud screech echoes through the open concept of the house as the couple on the couch both turn their heads in the direction of Jimin and Hoseok with worried faces. Jimin is standing with his jaw dropped as he stares down at the chess pieces in shock. “How the hell do you beat me every time? I’m literally smarter than you!” He exasperates, lifting his arms before dropping them at his sides quickly. “Unbelievable.”

Hoseok grins mischievously, getting ready to fire back with a snarky comment before three hard knocks on the door startles all four of them. Taehyung immediately jumps to his feet and stands in front of Jangmi, blocking her view with his bottom and forcing her to look to her left where she sees Jimin and Hoseok take out their swords to point them towards the door. Slowly but surely, Hoseok walks forward and opens it deliberately.

She gets up and peers over Taehyung shoulders by standing on her toes, covering her mouth with her hand as an audible gasp leaves her throat. Tae’s head whips around as he looks down at her from over his shoulder with an arched eyebrow. “That’s the guard that gave me the letter from the prince.” She whispers to him while pointing at the man in the doorway.

Before any of the citizens inside the house can say anything, the guard holds out a basket with a blank expression. “This is a present for Miss Choi Jangmi of Busan.” They can’t see what’s hidden inside of the basket because a small blanket is draped over the items, her curiosity peaking as Taehyung takes her hand and pulls her towards the door.

Without saying anything toward the guard, Taehyung pulls a card off the basket and opens it low enough for her and him to read together. Her eyes scan the carefully written letters, her jaw dropping as the piece of paper begins to shake in Taehyung’s hands. “My sister…” She trails off, her voice hardly above a murmur as she looks to Tae.

“That damn prince.” He mutters in irritation, not caring about the look given by the guard as he takes the basket from him and slams the door closed. “First he causes you to run away from your home but now he’s threatening your sister’s life? What a scumbag.”

She watches as Taehyung sets the basket down on a small table in front of the loveseat they were sat in just moments ago. He throws the letter onto the cushions before pinching the blanket with his thumb and forefinger, slowly pulling it up as the gift beneath is revealed. Jimin and Hoseok put away their swords as they come up behind the others, peering over their shoulders as the blueberries and green grapes become visible to them as well.

The boy beside her exhales as he views the fruits with distaste, everyone else sending each other confused glances before he lifts his head to meet her eyes. “‘Blueberries and green grapes to represent the eyes that will soon be mine.’” He quotes the letter, sending chills down her spine as she reaches down to pick up a grape and prepares herself to eat it. Tae’s eyes widen slightly as he panics and takes the grape from her hand, shoving it into his mouth as he sends her a pained smile. “They taste rotten.”

Following his every gesture with her eyes, she notices as his body starts to sway a bit. “Tae?” She calls his name, only for him to respond with a small grunt as he leans towards her. “Taehyung!” Eyes enlarging in fear, she opens her arms to catch the boy, a loud groan spilling from her lips as Jimin hurries to help her drag him towards the couch. Looking up from his body, she looks to Jimin with worry clear in her discolored eyes. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Poison…” Catching her attention, she looks back down to see Tae reaching for her face. She kneels closer to his body, allowing his long bony fingers to caress her hot cheek as his eyelids continue to flutter. “The fruits are poison. Don’t eat them.” Her body shakes as his eyes finally close and his hand goes limp, his arm falling onto his chest as he turns his head and struggles to breathe peacefully. She knew deep in her heart that Taehyung was going to die, and it was all her fault.