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#the cliche and expected ending is that she falls in love with One of the guys
seishun-emergency · 2 years
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anyways i watched all of romantic killer recently and i'm now actively fighting off the urge to make either an enstars au inspired by it or write a stupid longfic that expands off where s1 ends . also the keito, hiiro, and hiyori VAs are the main three love interest guys,
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coeurify · 1 year
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actually on my knees begging for a girl next door blurb with Ellie
like imagine moving into the house next to her’s and her being all grumbly and closed off because she cannot physically face the reader because she’s just a loser lesbian and OMG THE UNKNOWN PINING SUJDJSNSNDB
I NEED HER I CANT-
WHERE IS THE LOVE FOR LOSER GND!ELLIE ⁉️
giggles.. cause like.. yea.
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if we r talking modern!ellie, oh god would it be the most cliche shit ever (plz tell me if u want jackson!ellie version cause i’d be happy to do that too. or jus more of this concept) [not edited]
⋆˚✿˖° im talking, ellie looking out from her window in her old house, eyes narrowing as a moving truck pulled into the pretty blue house next door. the neighborhood had been recently taken over by young families, which ellie hated— cause why was she being interrupted in her ‘laying in her bed while blasting music and complaining to herself’ alone time by a bunch of kids screaming outside? either way. she expected another one of these cases.
⋆˚✿˖° but then you popped out, trying to handle three boxes all on your own, cheek pressed against the cardboard as you yelled something ellie couldn’t hear to whoever else was in moving truck. you had glanced over at ellie’s house, maybe even up at her window. and maybe ellie was just dramatic, but she flipped away from that window and face down onto her bed so quickly she was pretty sure it was a new record. because fuck you were pretty.
⋆˚✿˖° and it only got worse later, when el was pulling her hair down from its bun, glancing the sun pressing below the clouds. her fingers moved to close the curtains of her window, and there you were, standing at the window directly across from hers. like— shit straight from a taylor swift music video or something.
⋆˚✿˖° and you, almost as awkward as her, let your hands fall down from their place above your head. you had been putting up shades, but once you caught the gaze of your messy haired neighbor, you smiled at her. fuck, you smiled and waved and ellie just turned away and shut her curtains. you know, like the master at social interactions she was.
⋆˚✿˖° a twin frown painted both your lips at the interaction that night, and at the same time you both huffed out, “god, why’d i do that?”
⋆˚✿˖° nothing really got better from there. not when your family forced you over to ellie’s house with a plate of cookies, your sweet smile the first sight ellie had seen that day as she turned the doorknob to shoo away some girl scout selling something. “we don’t need— oh— oh hi.”
⋆˚✿˖° you looked so fucking pretty. ellie was sure it was fake. maybe she was still in bed dreaming. maybe this was about to turn into one of those really weird s- never mind. you were talking now, and not asking to borrow sugar, so definitely real. “hi! uh— I just, we— i mean, my family, we just wanted to introduce ourselves. and give a gift i guess,” you glance to the plate of wrapped up treats and chuckle lightly. because really, cookies?
⋆˚✿˖° ellie was about red as the shirt she was wearing, stammering a thank you as joel creeped behind her at the door. “you the new neighbors kid?” joel had asked, making ellie clam right up. she backed away from the door, like— just side shuffled out of your view with an awkward wave.
⋆˚✿˖° your eyes followed her, fighting back the odd sense of disappointment that you were no longer staring at the freckled and flushed face of your new neighbor. “uh, yea—yes sir.” you eventually spoke again, offering your grin to joel instead.
⋆˚✿˖° one time joel was doing yard work the same time your family was outside working on the garden. you were fanning your sweating cheek with your hand, the warmth from the sun along with carrying in and out heavy tools was not exactly ideal, and you only felt more heated when ellie came outside the door at the exact moment joel ended up making conversation with your mother.
⋆˚✿˖° “your girl in college?” you could hear him ask, but it was lightly muffled, your attention instead on watching as ellie struggled to bend over and tie her converse against the wall. what an odd way to do it. she was balancing some sort of notebook between arm.. maybe pencils too? did she draw? or maybe write? why couldn’t you stop wondering about it?
⋆˚✿˖° your mom answered joel’s question with some version of the story she always does, gushing about how you were doing so well in school, how she was so proud of you. you didn’t tune back in until joel was speaking again, “ah yea, my — well, ellie, she’s in school too. physics major. but she’s got this thing for astronomy too. kid’s always talking about double majoring.”
⋆˚✿˖° god, she was cute and smart? and her name was ellie? you swore the sun got even hotter at the thought of her talking to you about quantum something-or-other, just nodding along. god you could see it now. a hand in that pretty auburn hair.. mumbling ‘mhm.. whatever you say ellie.’
⋆˚✿˖° then you saw her trip down the stairs on her porch as she looked over. full on hand on the side of the stairs to keep her from eating shit on the rocks there. you sucked your bottom lip between your teeth, stifling a giggle as you wave her way. only to be given a tight lipped smile as she quickly moved away to her car. god. what an odd girl.
⋆˚✿˖° ellie simply lost it the moment she sat in her car, groaning loudly as she slammed her sketch book on her face. “stupid fucking shoes!” she muttered, as if it was the shoes fault for tripping, and not the way she had been intently staring at your face from across the yard. definitely not.
⋆˚✿˖° but really she couldn’t help it, you looked so good, you were wearing shorts, and ellie was happily taking in the sight of skin before that evil fucking creaky porch board got her tumbling down. fuck. she couldn’t ever talk to you again. not ever. she let her head fall to the steering wheel as she went through a million and one ways to simply become invisible and escape any way of running into you. maybe she should become nocturnal.
⋆˚✿˖° but when she let her head fall to the steering wheel, it honked. like a loud, drawn out honk that had you, joel, and your mother’s head turning to the direction of the sound.
⋆˚✿˖° ellie screeched, and you pressed fingers to your lips to contain another smile. you were pretty sure living here was going to be kind of great.
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aloesarchives · 8 months
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Popular Boy (JJK One-Shot)
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TW/Warnings: Fem Reader and She/Her pronouns, Angst with Fluff ending, Profanity, Smoking from Shoko and Suguru, Highkey Miscommunication Trope, Cheesy cliches, this one-shot being way too long than it's supposed to be, a little OOC Satoru and Suguru
Series: Jujutsu Kaisen
Pairing: Satoru Gojo x Fem! Reader
AU: Modern/High School AU!
Pronouns: She/Her(any gal could read this, but Reader is slightly coded to be introverted, good at drawing and crafts, and a nerd)
Word Count: 10.2k words
Summary: You weren't supposed to fall in love with your best friend Satoru Gojo. But you did anyway. It doesn't help that he is the most popular guy in your school.
(A/N): This is my longest one-shot to date. I went off the rails and wrote this out of this idea and brain dump I had. Un top of being sick, I didn't post for like 2 weeks because I was working on this and having little motivation. But I'm back!
[!!!Unedited and not proofread!!! 1/24/2024 4:27pm CST]
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Having a crush on your best friend is the absolute worst. You promised yourself you wouldn’t. But after reviewing your symptoms, you concluded that you are, indeed, in love with your best friend, Satoru Gojo. It's too bad he’s the most popular guy in the school. Suguru is second to him but doesn’t bask in the attention like his friend does.
It all started when you became friends with them in your first year of high school. Shoko was in your class, and you two became best friends instantly. You’d usually eat alone somewhere during break or lunch because the cafeteria was always rowdy, making it overstimulating. One day, your usual spot was taken over. Though it bummed you out your little spot was discovered, it wasn’t yours in the first place, so you went on a search for a new one. After a few minutes of searching, you spotted Shoko smoking in a hidden spot behind the school. She hears you from how your feet crunch on the dirt and asks you to join her. Though you didn’t smoke, you stayed with her. After talking briefly, Shoko asked if you were free after school, taking a long drag out of her cigarette.
You never stayed too long after school, only for your respective clubs, but that’s it. You also had no friends, so maybe this is your chance to get closer to Shoko. Upon agreeing, she smiles before taking her last drag out and extinguishing her smoke in a nearby ashtray. As the two of you returned to class, she told you that her other two friends were coming. Hinting that they were quite the handful. Your expression lightens upon hearing the two new people joining your hangout with Shoko. Perhaps this could be what you needed to step outside of your comfort zone to have a social experience like everyone else your age.
 After getting off the train with Shoko, she pulled you along the busy crowd and met the two boys at the subway station entrance. You didn’t, however, expect Shoko’s mystery friends to be Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto—the most well-known boys in the entire school and possibly the whole district. Shoko was making your introduction to them as you grew shy under their gaze. Nervous was an understatement; anxiety was brewing in you like rain clouds forming a storm. What if they scoff at you? Mock you? Purposely pick on you for fun? Each thought raced against each other across your mind that you didn’t notice Satoru placing his hand on your shoulder. It snapped you back to reality as you looked up to avoid being rude.
 You’ve heard the rumors and the hushed whispers from every corner of the school about how Satoru Gojo was among the most good-looking guys. How he had blue eyes that matched the sky and hair like snow. You only caught glimpses of him throughout the campus but never saw him up close. But now that you are, you can confirm it for yourself. To you, he looked more ethereal, if anything. His blue eyes were like the endless cerulean sky above, his white hair lightly tousled in the wind; he was beautiful to you.
“Hey, you don’t have to stiffen up around me. I don’t want you to go all shy on me (Y/N). Satoru Gojo, at your service~.”
Extend his hand to shake yours; you return the gesture, albeit clumsily. Satoru chuckles before he unexpectedly brings your hand to his lips. He kissed your fingers ever so gently, feather-like almost. Your body most certainly would have erupted in a blaze by his actions. But it didn’t; you were more caught off-guard. You wondered if he did this to every girl he came across. He just smiled afterward but gets bonked on the head by Suguru, who went to introduce himself to you.
“Satoru, you’re going to scare her off. Sorry (Y/N), he’s always like that. I’m Suguru Geto, and I hope you’re not uncomfortable because of him.”
You quickly dismissed it, trying to ease Suguru’s concerns. After hanging out with them, you knew you found people you would call friends. You never had that much fun until you hung out with them. Going to arcades, eating out together, and wandering the city of Tokyo filled you with non-replicable happiness. After that hangout, the rest was history. Since then, you have always hung out with Satoru, Suguru, and Shoko. You all stuck together like glue every time possible. You never guessed their popularity rubbed off as well. You became known on campus as a well-known upperclassman and now a senior. 
But you noticed you spent more time with Satoru than with Shoko or Suguru. You could credit it to his goofy, childish personality that matched your vibe even more. He loved discussing Digimon and was happy you shared the same interest. You two would indulge in each other’s interests and hobbies. It became more evident that both of you had grown closer from when Shoko adopted you into their group. Yet, you told yourself time and time again not to fall for Satoru. In fear of losing what you have with each other because you caught “feelings.” In addition, Satoru had many, many, MANY admirers—girls across the school, district, and the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Many come from prominent backgrounds, blessed with being gifted, or simply beautiful in every way. While you didn’t mean to self-sabotage yourself, you were beautiful and brilliant in your own right; you were being realistic. How could someone like Satoru Gojo, from a wealthy and prominent family for centuries, go for someone like you? It was wishful thinking at that point, but it was stretching itself thin even then.
Anyhow, this brings you to the present. It’s December 1st, six days before Satoru’s birthday. You were in your dorm, conjuring up what to get him. It was more complicated than because the man was loaded. He had the money to buy anything and everything he wanted. So what can you get for him that wasn’t already bought? After some time, you had the genius idea to make something for him. You decided on making a bracelet and a framed sketch of him from one of your sketchbooks you occasionally draw in.
While working on your gifts, you were on the receiving end of teasing from Suguru and Shoko, specifically from Suguru. I mean, he was the first one to catch on to your feelings for his friend. Shoko had her suspicions but never mentioned them in case she was delusional. But once Suguru brought it up, she instantly joined in the teasing. It was harmless fun, yet you couldn’t help but rethink your crush on Satoru. Your feelings for him shouldn’t exist, yet you can’t help it. You felt alive, but most of all, you felt comfortable and safe with Satoru. You never hid your lovely personality or felt ashamed of your interests. Satoru was always supportive and was a part of your shenanigans too. As cheesy as it was to admit, it felt like you’ve found your soulmate, your other half. You always relished your moments with Satoru, no matter how short or dumb they were. Sure, you loved your moments with the gang, but it hits differently when it’s only Satoru and you. It was as if your life changed when he came into it. 
During the day before Satoru’s birthday, Shoko and Suguru hunched over your desk as you finished the page you were doodling. The smears from the graphite and erased pencil markings showed the fine details to capture Satoru’s features. 
“Wow, those look exactly like him. If he were animated, he'd be drawn like this. May I, (Y/N)?” Suguru asked.
You nodded, and Suguru picked up the sketchbook to inspect the page further. Shoko peered over his shoulder to also get a look.
“I think Gojo would love this. Don’t you think so, Suguru?”
“I would think so too, Shoko. It’s a well-thought-out gift (Y/N). Satoru would love it.”
“Wait, (Y/N)! Show Suguru what else you made him!”
Suguru raises a brow at the brunette as you pull up a photo on your phone to show to Suguru. Suguru squinted his eyes a bit to see the picture a bit more clearly.
“You made that bracelet for Satoru? It’s pretty nice. Where’s our (Y/N)?”
“I have them back in my room, Suguru! I just. . . You know. . .”
“So you’re implying we’re not as special as your beloved Blue Eyes White Dragon?”
“SHOKO, you’re not helping!!! OfcourseImadeitmorespecialforhimbecausehereallylikesdigimonandhisbirthdayiscomingup–”
“(Y/N)! I was just joking! Geez, calm down before you pop a blood vessel.”
As you catch yourself from any further rambling, you are about to explain the bracelet to Suguru before Satoru slides the classroom door open. You think it’s him but can’t tell through the mountain of gifts and bags in his arms. But seeing a wisp of his white hair gave you all the more reason that it was Satoru. Satoru plops the pile on his desk as his arms cave in, some gifts falling off the edge and onto the floor. One fell near your desk, so you picked it up and placed it back on his desk.
“Is it Valentine’s Day? What’s with the gifts, Satoru?”
“*sighs* These are from numerous girls all over the school from varying grades. My birthday is tomorrow, so I guess I'll get the early gifts. Though, I don’t know how to return all this to my dorm. You guys wanna help me open them up back in my room?”
You all replied yes and helped Satoru with his pile of gifts. As you put on your sketchbook, you felt a breath tickle your ear.
“Hey, whatcha drawing, (Y/N)? Drawing (favorite Digimon/Pokemon) again? Let me see!”
You caught a whiff of his surprisingly minty, fresh breath. Usually, it comes in hot with the number of sweets he’s been eating, so this was a pleasant surprise to you.
“I’ll show you later when we open your gifts in your room, ‘Toru. You gotta be patient.”
You chided while swatting his all too-close face away from you. Little did you know, a sickly sweet smile flashed on his face upon hearing his nickname. Once the last bell rang, you four headed straight for Satoru’s dorm to open all the gifts he received from the day. Once dumping them into a pile, you each read the note attached to the gifts and opened them up. Some were cool, homemade gifts, others were basic and generic. Most were sweets or baked goods since he is widely known to have a sweet tooth. You all were open and chatty when Suguru grabbed a neatly wrapped velvet box.
“Hey, Satoru, isn’t this from your ex?”
“Which one?”
“Don’t know, let me see the tag. . . From Satomi. . .”
“Oh, her! Let me see, Suguru!”
You cringed hard hearing Satoru talk about his numerous “girlfriends.” As much as you didn’t want to say it, Satoru’s playboy attitude was your least favorite thing about him. All the girls he saw shared one common trait: they never stayed too long with him. Satoru would cycle through many girls every few weeks to maybe a month. He never bothered to introduce them into the friend group, let alone bring them to your shared hangouts. Now that you think about it, he never talks about them when you or the others are present. He never calls them his girlfriends or partners, just sugar-coated words and nicknames meant to sweeten a non-existent fruit that never grew in the first place. You wondered if he would treat you the same if you dated him. But you were thinking too deeply, FOCUS GIRL!!! It’s now or never. Well, not really, but you have the perfect chance to give Satoru his birthday gift! You can make it work for just the two of you! Find him by himself, steal him away to deliver your gift, and possibly confess. 
Satoru's birthday gifts from his fans dwindled to only small boxes and clear bags. Shoko and Suguru categorized his gifts as apparel, food, trinkets, etc., while Satoru plopped beside you. You were munching away at some candy, deciding to take a break from opening the cookie cutter-esk presents as your vision became spotty. It was silent for a moment, only the sounds of your other two friends' voices bickering about which pile a gift should go. Satoru shifts his attention towards you, mindlessly popping the candy into your mouth before dramatically yawning, spreading his limbs across his bed. His legs would stretch over your lap. You popped the last candy before throwing the empty bag at him.
“What’s wrong, Satoru? You've grown tired of your gifts or what?”
“That and feeling sore from sitting on the floor. . . Hey! Will you show me your drawing from earlier (Y/N)?”
“Uh. . . I dunno, Satoru–”
“Pleaseeeeeeee?! I promise I won’t crease the pages like last time! Come on (Y/N)!”
Satoru juts out his lip and gives his puppy eyes with praying hands. You glance at Suguru and Shoko, who snickered at your little predicament. You sighed deeply and pulled out your sketchbook for him to see. He was giving you his full attention, asking questions, and complimenting the fine details of your latest creation. You two were smiling and giggling along as you turned the pages. However, you were getting nervous because you didn’t want Satoru to see his page. You hoped he got bored or distracted so you didn’t have to flip through more from your book. Suguru has a sixth sense because he called Satoru’s attention before you flipped to the next page, which would’ve been his. 
“Okay, man, we sorted your gifts into these four separate piles, which one should be obvious. . . Look at the time; it’s almost curfew for the girls. I’ll walk them to their dorms, Satoru.”
Before Satoru could protest and tag along, Suguru snatched you and Shoko away and out of the dorm. Satoru stood up perplexed, before shrugging it off and storing his gifts away. Suguru dragged you two to the skywalk and looked dead into your eyes, startling you from his sudden closeness.
“You have to do it tomorrow, (Y/N).”
“Uh, do what, Suguru?”
Shoko and Suguru gave each other a face before looking back at you.
“You gotta confess to Satoru, (Y/N). Do it tomorrow when you give him your gift on his birthday. And before you ask, we knew about your feelings for him way before. It’s painfully obvious, (Y/N).”
Shoko just nods her head in agreement. You knew Suguru had a point; it’s now or never. But you didn’t want to make things awkward for Satoru, let alone pressure him to say yes because he feels terrible for rejecting. Overthinking started kicking into high gear, and you started thinking about every possible scenario Satoru could react to. None of them were of him reciprocating your feelings. Unfortunately, Suguru had to say the dread words no one wants to hear when trying to confess to their crush.
“The worst thing he could say is no, (Y/N).”
Shoko elbows him while you wince at his words. You knew he meant to comfort you, but it didn’t help ease your nerves. Suguru, observant as ever, picked up on it, and from Shoko’s reaction, he knew his words were a miss.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll come with you for support, so it won’t be as stressful going alone.”
Suguru gives you a comforting smile, and you give on in return. Shoko said she couldn’t come because she volunteered to tutor some underclassmen for some Visa gift cards. So she says good luck to you before walking across the skyway and into the building of the girls' dormitory. You gained some confidence and bid Suguru goodnight to finalize your gifts. You framed Satoru’s page in a sleek dark blue frame and knotted Satoru’s bracelet. The marble beads of the bracelet were white, cerulean blue, and black. Complementing each with a small interchange charm in the middle where an Agumon charm dangled freely. You wrapped up both gifts and placed them in a mildly used paper bag you had from when you went shopping.
As the next day rolled in, you were surprisingly giddy to give your gift. You just had to catch Satoru alone and give yourself a good ten minutes to slip in your confession. The problem was you hadn’t seen Satoru at all. Sure, today was a half-day, but Satoru was barely in class. When he was, though, he was flooded by many girls telling him happy birthday or giving more gifts. Since it was a Friday, Satoru didn’t do much after school and would wander Tokyo for the remainder of the day. You knew you were losing time, so doing it right after school was best.
Once the last bell rang, you packed your bag and held your present tightly to find Satoru. However, he was gone from his seat when you looked at his desk. While you tried to find him, Suguru texted you. He said he saw Satoru go behind the school. He also said he would wait for you at the front gate to hear about your results. As you go to the back, you are smiling so hard that it would make your teeth rot. But as you got closer, your sweet smile instantly dropped when you heard a girl’s voice and another voice you made out to be Satoru’s. Your heartbeat repeatedly drummed in your ears as you hid yourself to not be noticed. Trying to even out your breath, you slowly peek your head in a slow, agonizing manner to get a better look. Unfortunately, your curiosity kills your heart as it confirms your worst fear.
Satoru stood smiling, and another girl giggled like a classic school girl in a high-school rom-com movie. You recognized her as she was in the same grade but from a different class. You’ve seen her around but never been a part of Satoru’s unofficial fan club. Yet you could never have guessed she liked him too. You knew you should look away, already seeing what was needed. But the naive sliver of hope forced you to continue watching, hoping it was a delusion your mind conjured up. Although you couldn’t hear what they were saying, you knew the other girl beat you to him as she held Satoru’s hand and smiled up at him. Satoru places a hand on her cheek and probably says something you can make out ‘I love you' before dipping his head to meet hers. A chill washes over your body as your grip on Satoru’s present stiffens, further crimping the paper bag. Shakily, you pulled out your phone and took a picture before turning on your heels and going anywhere but here.
Suguru was ever so patiently waiting on the outcome. He was blissfully smiling. Hoping all is going well and in your favor. He was distracted by his phone when he recognized the sound of your footsteps. He pockets it as he sees your figure walk towards the gates. He cheerfully called out for you but was met with silence. When you walked past him, your head hung low; Suguru knew something was wrong. Concerned, he quickly went after you while calling for you. When nothing works, he steps in front of you to hold your shoulders still to prevent any more movement. Shaking your shoulders, he firmly asks what’s wrong.
A wretched look contorted on his face when he saw your face. Your eyes are shiny from glossy tears on the verge of overflowing from the edges. Lips in a tight quiver, trying to not let a sob escape from within the depths of your hurt soul. You were trying your best to stay together, but Suguru saw you were hanging on by a thread. He gives you a comforting, tight hug as you begin to cry into him. Letting it all out and providing comforting pats on your back. As you start to calm down, Suguru gently takes you to a nearby cafe where some of your group hangouts and study sessions happen. Considering your current state, he keeps you from paying for your drink. Once he got them and sat down, you told him what you saw that caused this. Suguru chokes on his drink in disbelief upon hearing about Satoru’s doings.
“He what?! Are you sure, (Y/N)?”
You nodded as you pulled up the picture on your phone to show Suguru. His eyes widen even further as he stares at the picture. Returning back your phone, he takes a big sip of his drink.
“So, what are you going with your gift then, (Y/N)? Are you still going to give it to Satoru?”
“I... I. . . Don’t know, Suguru. . . I did make it for him, but I don’t think he’ll care.”
“What makes you think he wouldn’t, (Y/N)?”
“You know what I mean, Suguru. Satoru doesn’t really hold onto any gifts he gets. Unless it’s sweets or something he thinks is cool, he’ll donate, give, or throw it away. My present would collect dust in his room and be forgotten. We literally sorted out his fan mail yesterday.”
You glance over at your initial present for Satoru. The bag has deep creases and wrinkles from death gripping it in your disassociated state. You delicately bring it to your lap, blankly staring at the two dedicated gifts inside. Sighing in defeat, you slowly fold the top of the bag before setting it back in its previous place. You gave Suguru a tired smile, saying how wishful thinking blinded you from reality. Suguru couldn’t help but feel pity. It hurts him to see you like this and blame yourself for dreaming about something he knew would become a reality. But he was thrown in for a loop because he was sure his best friend was hopelessly in love with you. The glances, the consistency of bringing up your name, the extra care he gave when it came to you, IT WAS ALL RIGHT THERE! Was Satoru leading everyone on, you included? Suguru was going to get to the bottom of this. He escorts you back and asks Shoko to stay with you until nighttime. 
After filling Shoko in, you looked at the crippled bag sitting alone on the floor. Taunting, making a mockery of you, and constantly reminding you how you really let your feelings get out of hand to let you believe a fantasy. How foolish you are, little stupid fool you were, you think. Getting off your bed, you go over to the bane that reminds you of your naivete as a hopeless romantic. You were tempted to throw the whole bag away; consider burning it all.
Despite thinking of wiping the existence of those gifts from this world, you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. They were drawings of Satoru and a handmade bracelet with his favorite Digimon, and you were proud of how they turned out. The time and dedication you put into it really showed how much this man had a chokehold on your life no matter what. Crush, friend, it didn’t matter. He really changed your life; you would be forever grateful for that. Even if that meant you always stayed friends. It was a better fate than being strangers altogether. So you decide to store the bag in an empty drawer for miscellaneous items, not wanting to see it anymore. Shoko was surprised by your actions. Though she would understand you destroying them, she didn’t expect you to keep your gifts. You just shrugged, saying destroying it wouldn’t do you any good. No amount of satisfaction or fulfillment would come from it. Shoko just gives you a hug as you lean into it.
Ever since that day, you slowly stopped talking to Satoru. He didn’t notice it because you would make excuses or leave immediately before he could catch up. He thought you were busy with homework and school. It was brought to his attention when you wouldn’t hang out with him. Whenever he texted you to hang out, you would say you were busy or not feeling good. It got worse when you didn’t attend your group hangouts with Suguru and Shoko. It was always the four of you. Without you, it felt incomplete, and Satoru started to miss you and the vibe you brought. Even when he asked Suguru or Shoko where you were, they would give the same answer you did. And it was starting to frustrate him. Did he say or do something to distance yourself from him? Did he accidentally hurt without realizing it? Why did you suddenly not want to talk to him anymore? He sees you talking to your other friends and classmates without a care in the world. Your lovely lips always curled upwards, and how your cheeks and eyes molded to highlight your face, you were absolute divinity in his eyes. Had you always looked so beautiful to him? Yes, but he didn’t realize that until now since his only way of looking at you is from a distance. 
Every time he would try to make his way over to you, you gave a quick side glance in his direction before wrapping up any conversation and leaving. This honestly began to hurt Satoru. He had never dealt something like this with anyone else. Maybe when he had severe fights with Suguru, but they would make up in the end since he knew it was mostly his fault. But this is different because he was in the dark of your avoidance. It was like he was the bubonic plague, and you were straight-up social distancing yourself from him. It didn’t matter when or where; as soon as he entered within a 12-foot radius, you were going in the other direction. This had been going on for almost two weeks! It was now the 21st, the last school day before winter break. Nothing significant was happening today besides the classic winter break assembly. He needed to talk to you so you two could somehow talk it out and make it. It’s ironic how oblivious he was to the circumstances he was in. The roles are now reversed because now he’s pining after you like you had been for him for the past few years. You usually would sit with them during these events, but since you’re distancing, you opted to sit with your peers. When you did sit with them, you would be the furthest away from Satoru. 
Satoru should’ve been paying attention to the assembly. But his only focus was you, who was on the other side of the gymnasium. You were sitting on opposite bleachers with one of your underclassmen, Riko Amanai. Satoru wished he could teleport himself to you, pick you up, and go to a quiet place to talk. But he knew he had to be patient to make his move, something Suguru had to remind him constantly. Once the assembly was over, Satoru by-lined to where you were. However, the sea of students eager to leave school is challenging, even for the 6’3 boy. He saw glimpses of you with Riko as you pulled her along and weaved through the crowd out of the school. The resistance he met trying to reach you became so aggravating he was shoving anyone who got in his way. It got to the point where students made room for him to pass through, fearing the wrath of Satoru Gojo in a bad mood.
Alas, once he exited the school, you had already gone off campus to who knows where with Riko and Kuroi, her caretaker. Satoru tightened his fists, and his face bore a scowl as you slipped away again. He would have punched the school’s concrete fence if Suguru didn’t pop up in front of him. Satoru was slightly calmed when he saw his friend, but a twinge of unease settled in when he saw Suguru’s strained smile. To a regular person, it seemed like a genuine smile. But Satoru knew Suguru enough to know when he gave these smiles. This one meant he was in deep trouble. Suguru said he needed to talk to Satoru about something over a bucket of KFC with one of the Visa gift cards Shoko gave them. Satoru followed it, knowing there was more to Suguru’s unidentified mood. However, Suguru just stops in front of the KFC, idly standing with his back to him. Seeing his standoffish behavior, Satoru becomes confused and finally breaks their tense silence.
“Look, Suguru, I know this isn’t the best time. But we need to talk about (Y/N).”
“What is there to talk about her, Satoru?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Suguru. You noticed how (Y/N) has barely been hanging out with us. Giving excuses to not hang out. I don’t understand why this happened so fast. Two weeks ago, (Y/N) was fine. She was laughing with us and being a part of our stupid antics. Then, after my birthday, she slowly stopped replying to my texts and avoided me altogether. Suguru, you got to know something. I don’t want to be left in the dark anymore. I need to know what I did to make her stop talking to me.”
Oh, Suguru knew the reason why you were doing this. You told him yourself. You admitted to Suguru you didn’t know how to act around Satoru anymore, in fear of spilling your confession and making a fool out of yourself. You knew how cowardly it was to do this. Not correctly communicating your emotions and actions to Satoru was self-sabotage, and your relationship with him would suffer severely. You tried to ride out your feelings to the best of your abilities. But you learned that those feelings for Satoru wouldn’t go away no matter what you did. So, you thought the best option was to slowly distance yourself from Satoru to heal your broken heart and save your dignity. Suguru was against this at first. But he let it slide since it was only Satoru and not him or Shoko.
What he didn’t let slide was how he saw his best friend paraded around his latest girlfriend. He knew that relationship wouldn’t last at all because there was one thing he knew about his best friend. Satoru Gojo is a lonely person. No amount of fan girls or guys dick-riding him would fill the void of loneliness Satoru faced in his life. He always was told that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was talented and good at anything and everything he did. But with that, people only saw him from afar, never really caring to realize Satoru was like anyone else besides his wealth. Suguru knew you made Satoru feel seen and let him dwell on his antics so he could be a teen, not some high, mighty God people were willing to kiss his feet. Satoru fell in love with you but doesn’t want to admit it. Seemingly taken you for granted. Suguru doesn’t blame you for trying to lose feelings for him. He would, too, if the person he liked gave mixed signals and had a cycle through partners like daily outfits even though they heavily implied to their best friend they wanted you but never cared to tell.
You would have made the first move. But with many rejections, some harsher than others, you decide to wait for the other person to say something first or drop an obvious hint. You aren’t going to drive through a red light, only green ones. You often hear the phrase, ‘Girls who make the first move on a guy get the relationship.’ That is a blatant lie and bullshit because it only works if the guy doesn’t care, the girl asking is conventionally pretty, or the guy already liked or was interested in the girl. You experienced so much rejection that you might as well give up on telling your feelings so as not to be seen as pathetic. You thought it would be different for Satoru because of your powerful chemistry together. But he sent many mixed signals, being flirtatious and teasing you, genuinely looking out for you simultaneously, all the while still never giving a break to dating and having a long line of girlfriends at his beak and call. It was too complicated for you. Then, with the incident, you knew you had no chance with him because it seemed he would never feel the same.
“Do you like (Y/N), Satoru?”
Satoru gave his best friend a bewildered look, his face recoiling.
“Yeah, of course, I like (Y/N), Suguru. What kind of question is that—”
“That’s not what I’m asking you, Satoru. Do you love (Y/N)? Yes or No, simple as that.”
“What are you trying to get at, Suguru?”
Suguru visibly groans at the Satoru’s density. This was annoying Suguru at this point.
“Satoru, be honest with yourself. Admit it, you’re in love with (Y/N). How you look out for her, care for her, and constantly bring her up in conversations every chance you get, the longing gaze you give her when she isn’t looking, always staring at her instead of anyone else in the room. The list goes on and on, Satoru. Stop denying it. Do you love her, or are you just saying that because you want to joke about someone’s feelings?”
Satoru’s voice was caught in his throat; he had his answer, but his body wasn’t giving him a chance to say it. It was like Suguru hitting the nail every time, making Satoru feel cornered. Suguru sighed frustratedly at the silence of his best friend, who usually would have his answers ready in the queue.
“So you never really loved (Y/N) then, Satoru.”
“What! No! I do love (Y/N), Suguru—”
“Then why the fuck do you still indulge in your playboy personality? You and I both know that won’t get you anywhere, Satoru. It’s doing you more damage than good, yet you continue feeding into it! Maybe if you gave a break from your causal flings, (Y/N) would have confessed to you, and the two of you would have been dating by now. God, You’re just a headache, Satoru…” Suguru doesn’t shout, but his sharp tone is on the edge of becoming angry.
Wait, what?
You were going to confess to him?
You like him too?
Satoru blinks owlishly while trying to process this mind-breaking information. You liked Satoru, so the feeling was mutual, right? Then why is Suguru getting mad at him for feeling the same way?
“Wait… Suguru...(Y/N) likes me too? Why didn’t she say anything in the first place? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because you already had a girlfriend, Satoru. (Y/N)’s not a home wrecker.”
“Yeah, okay. But I was single for two weeks! She knew that! Why didn’t she confess to me then?!”
“I don’t know, Satoru… Maybe because she was more focused on making your birthday gifts than her confession towards you. How much of her time was dedicated to making them? She was going to confess to you but decided not to.”
“When, Suguru?!”
“ . . .Your birthday. . . (Y/N) was going to give your gifts and confess on your birthday, but you decided to fuck yourself over.”
“ ‘Fuck myself over? What do you mean, Suguru?” Satoru said in a hushed but shocked whisper.
Suguru pulls out his phone, pulls up the picture you took, and shows it to Satoru. Satoru’s eyes widen like saucers, surprised by Suguru’s possession of a photograph that captured his private moment. He grabs Suguru’s phone to take a closer look before looking back up at him, face still bearing the same expression.
“Wait, that happened on my birthday. How did you take this? 
“I didn’t take it, Satoru. . .”
“Huh? Then who—”
Oh. . .Oh. . .
Oh no. . .
It all was starting to click for Satoru. Suguru looked unamused as he saw his friend’s gears moving in his head.
“Suguru, I—”
“So, do you love (Y/N), Satoru? Yes or no?”
Satoru stays silent with no motions to verbalize an answer.
“*sighs* Then tell me, Satoru. Do you love (Y/N) because she is beautiful? Or is she beautiful because you love her?”
Suguru left a defeated and devastated Satoru in the streets to be alone with his thoughts. In doing so, he hoped his friend would connect the dots himself. Satoru stood frozen in front of the KFC, finally understanding it. The distance, the consistent decline in hangouts, the short conversations, being ‘happy’ around others but never near him, how your smile droops at the mention of his name, and the solemn expression your eyes wore ever since his birthday all added up. It was all because of him. Sure, it’s both parties at play here.
On the other hand, your actions were just reactions to his own, especially when his loneliness caused him to become desperate in seeking out the attention of multiple girls he would ‘date.’ Consequently, it signaled he was looking for something casual with no strings attached, making you believe giving a confession would be useless to someone like him. But that’s far from the truth.
 He couldn’t believe he had done you dirty for so long. You were always in front of him, waiting for him this whole time. You were the one to give him warmth and fill in the void of loneliness that has plagued his soul for so long. But he never gave you a chance because he never cared to ask or consider it. He took you for granted because he knew you would always be there for him through everything and anything; you were his ride or die. Oh, how irresponsible of him that not truly appreciating your presence would lead to your eventual withdrawal.
Now he realized his love for you was real and profound as it was tiered above anything else. The way he flexed his bicep when you linked arms with him to stay close in big crowds, the stars your eyes have when talking about your favorite topic made him have this dumb love-sick look, or your smile that always filled him with love and joy when it’s directed at him, he still wanted to experience these things with you but as more as friends. And yet, he was on the verge of losing it all forever. Three years of friendship/pining would be wiped away in three weeks. All because he was scared to admit his fragile vulnerability behind his pompous attitude. He had to do something; he needed to. Or the only thing he will have of you is the memories you two created. Satoru booked it and ran through Tokyo for ideas on what to do. He didn’t care if he looked absurd. All that mattered to him was finding a way to mend things. The only thing on his mind was you.
Because he knew it was you.
It always has been you.
And he had to pull off miracles to save your relationship with him.
It was the next day; Satoru was carrying a big shopping bag around Tokyo, hoping to find you. After spending the rest of his afternoon and night finding some ideas, he made you what he dubs his ‘I’m sorry’ present, which was also your Christmas present. It contained a 15-inch plushie of (Your favorite Animal/Digimon/Pokemon/Character), a jacket you told him you wanted but was too expensive a while back, and (earrings/necklace/bracelets/rings/any sort of wearable jewelry) in your favorite color as you stared at it longingly when at the mall with the gang, Satoru always made a note of that.
Now, the hard part giving them to you in hopes of talking with him. It would have to be a  miracle to cross paths with you. Satoru couldn’t text you since you stopped responding to his attempts at communication. In a vast city being hectic in the upcoming days of the holidays, he needed all the luck he had just to spot you in the crowd. But even if he knew your schedule by heart, there was no sign of you in Tokyo. He could visit your home, but he assumes he’s an unwelcome guest since you lived with your (sibling(s)/guardian/parent(s)/loved one), and you confide in them frequently. As time never stops, he’s losing time. His precious time with you is slipping away, never to return. Both and forth, the wind chill nipped and whipped at his exposed skin. Satoru’s cheeks, nose, and knuckles were rosy as his body worked overtime to keep warm. The puffs from his mouth fogged up his glasses as he forced himself to continue searching just to have a chance to run into you.
Satoru is not religious, nor does he believe in a god. And yet, in those moments, Satoru started to pray. He was praying, begging, pleading for any divinity to hear his desperate cries to come across you. Just a chance, anything, he’ll do anything to see a wisp of (hair color) hair walking along the streets. His strides slowed; every step he took was heavy. Until they eventually came to a stop; his chest puffed in and out after wandering aimlessly along the bustling streets of Tokyo. He exhausted himself to the point that he was unaware he was in front of the school’s gates. He didn’t even notice the gates were wide open, and a familiar figure approached them along the adjacent side. His hands were on his knees, hunched over where a shadow loomed over him. Then he hears a voice so angelic and heavenly that he believes he was hallucinating at first.
“Satoru? Satoru, are you okay?”
Slowly, he lifts his head to meet your gaze, seeing you are bundled up well. You wear a slightly troubled face while holding an umbrella over his head. 
“What brings you here, Satoru? I thought you had stayed home today since it was forecasted to snow.”
Once pointed out, Satoru noticed white specks falling in front of him. He stands up at full length, making you adjust your umbrella's height on him. Though his signature grin is on his glossy lips, internally, he is screaming and celebrating that his prayers have been answered. After hours of aimlessly trying to find you throughout the city, you were finally in front of him in the most ironic place. He chuckles at your gesture before gingerly taking your umbrella and hovering it above you two.
“I was going to ask you the same thing, (Y/N).” He gives a warm smile at you.
“The school left the campus and dormitories open so students could grab their things to take home. I forgot some stuff at my dorm, so I came today to get them. Would you like to accompany me, Satoru?” You said, adjusting your empty canvas tote bag on your shoulders.
With no hesitation or thinking, Satoru immediately said yes. He smiled as he walked the two of you to your dorm.  But you couldn’t help but glance down at the big shopping bag he was holding. ‘It must be a Christmas present for his girlfriend… she is so lucky.’ you thought. Not a single peep came out of you two throughout the trip to your dorm, even with no words, tension building up in the air surrounding you. Neither one of you wanted to make the first move. It was childish to continue like this. There was no bad blood between the two of you at all. But you were persistent in embarrassing yourself in front of Satoru. Before all this, you were never afraid to have banter or say the most off-the-record stuff with Satoru. But it was different when it was unrequited thoughts and feelings, as you didn’t want to further humiliate your pathetic self. Once you got to your dorm, you said you wouldn’t take long. Closing your door, Satoru leans against the back of it. He watches silently as you diligently gather your needed items and place them inside your bag. Each item is packed into your bag, and he has less time to make his move. He knows he needs to say something because he sought after you for a reason. 
Likewise, you were in the same boat. You can feel the tension blanket your body as you retrieve your things. Avoid direct eye contact with Satoru for fear of breaking your facade and folding. While trying to focus on anything that wasn’t him, your eyes kept glancing at the massive bag beside Satoru’s feet. It was a decently sized bag spaced out from the items it contained. By the looks of it, you assumed Satoru went out splurging on his latest girlfriend for Christmas.
‘Wish that was me receiving that bag. . .’ You thought to yourself as you arranged the items to avoid ruining your bag.
Satoru snapped out of his trance when the sound of your shuffling stopped. Your head slightly hung low as you stared at the bag with flat palms. You sighed with your head shaking side to side. You decided to break the silence to ease the tense air in your room.
“I didn’t know you did last-minute shopping, Satoru. Guessing how full that bag is, it’s your Christmas present to your girlfriend. You love spoiling your girlfriends with endless money to burn. Keep doing that, and you’ll go broke, dude. . . Lucky her. . .” You slipped the last part out under your breath. Your smile dropped briefly before returning, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Satoru.
However, you remembered Satoru had excellent hearing. He could pick out of the faintest of whispers. When you realize that, you panicked and faced him. From how his brows were raised, you knew he definitely heard it. Your brain scrambled to find a way to cover the creaks in your walls from your slip-up, causing you to speak up. What you didn’t expect was Satoru doing the same.
“Sorry, Satoru, I didn’t mean that–”
“(Y/N), I need to–”
After catching each other’s words, you both abruptly stop to give space for the other to talk. Satoru gestures for you to go first. Gentleman as every. Feeling the anxiety and embarrassment weighing on you, you didn’t dare to look at him when talking, so your head focused back on your bag.
“Look, Satoru. . . I know how immature this is, but I want to apologize for the sudden change in my behavior and distance over the last few weeks. It was uncalled for, and you deserved a proper answer.–”
“No.”
“It’s because– huh?”
Prompting you to look up at Satoru, to which he had an unreadable expression. His glasses were blocking the creases of his eyes to indicate any of his emotions. A chill of uneasiness ran up your spine when you saw the serious look on Satoru’s face. He walks over to you with his hands in his pockets as he stares down, his expression unchanged.
“No, I need you to hear me out.”
Satoru cut off any chance for you to speak because he and you would be done if you did. He knew if he didn’t find you before Christmas Eve, what you two had would cease to exist. Once winter break ends and school resumes, he and you would be in two separate worlds. Ultimately becoming strangers who once knew each other. The thought of it made him nauseous and clammy to the core. You were the sun that shined in his endless cerulean sky. The moon and stars that gave illuminated his night sky. You gave light to the vast numbness he’d endured for all he could remember. You were the light he had been longing for years. And he was going to lose it all because he was a coward who didn’t have the balls to admit it and used dating as a coping mechanism to fill the hole in his heart.  So it’s now or never for him to be vulnerable to you because he feared this was his last chance.
“I know you didn’t mean to distance yourself from me at all. I know you still cared about me and didn’t want to push me away for fear of humiliating yourself. Being me, I didn’t notice at first that you were hurting until you uprooted yourself from my life, and it’s been god-awful without you. . . I’m sorry, (Y/N).”
The genuine sincerity in his eyes as they bore into yours. You noticed that. It came straight out of Satoru Gojo, not from the egotistical, pompous, popular senior, but from your best friend. So you decided to up your ears to what he has to say. When you gave him your undivided attention, Satoru knew this was it, so he spilled it out.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t really appreciated your presence. I took you for granted because I thought you would always be with me, with no chance of leaving me. That bit me in the ass once you slowly stopped being with me. But I know there’s more: the mixed signals I gave off, the playboy attitude, and the lack of self-awareness I had for myself. It was a way for me to not confront the crimpling loneliness and numbness I’ve been having. I indulge in my fangirls and causal relationships, hoping it would fix it. But it was just a temporary solution to a long-term problem. I saw the girls as a means to get my mind away from it, and the girls get to be with the famous Satoru Gojo. . . I’ve done this song and dance for so long that it was a part of my routine. . .”
“Oh, Toru. . .”
God, he missed that nickname you gave him. The way it rolls off your tongue in any tone, it’s seared into his memory and mind. When people, especially his ‘girlfriends,’ try to use that same nickname on him, it fills him with unexplainable rage. That name was for you to use on him, not them. They didn’t have a place in his heart like you do, so he always corrected them to minimize the usage of that nickname. But when you said it, it was soft and tender like the snow falling outside. He knew he was getting to you, and it was working. He relaxes as he closes his eyes, only to open them when your hand gently holds his cheek. Thumb swiping it in a comforting manner. You wanted to say something so Satoru didn’t have to do all the work. For him to admit, he took down all his walls so you could see all of him. To you, it was a privilege and honor to see such vulnerability coming from an individual who was charismatic and oozing with unspeakable rizz. So you continue to listen patiently to see what point your famous friend is making.
“But you disrupted the routine, (Y/N). . . When you came, it felt like I didn’t have to do that anymore. You made me feel free and alive. Allowing me to be my authentic self around our group or just the two of us. But most of all, you made me savor each moment I shared with Suguru, Shoko, and you. I always cherished what I had with them. I cherish what I have had with you over the time I’ve known you. I always did. Maybe that’s why the moon and stars shine brighter when I tell them about you. They know how brightly you shine in the endless sea of regular people. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to admit you already had my heart. . . And in doing so, I hurt you in ways I couldn’t have imagined. . . I am so sorry I had to make you wait so long, (Y/N).”
You hadn’t realized your tears were cascading down the curves of your cheeks. Was this really happening? Did Satoru just confess to you? You think this is all too good to be true, a scenario you conjured up to cope with hopeless romantic delusions. But his voice was full of raw fondness. His face had this lovesick expression, and his eyes bore sheer devotion as his tears were caught in his eyelashes. He really did feel the same way after all. He would’ve resumed pouring his heart and soul out if you hadn’t firmly pulled him into a tight hug.
Though caught off guard by the gesture, he warmly welcomed it as he returned the action. Tears wet his shirt as you clung to his chest. Satoru lightly kissed your head before cradling it like it was the most fragile thing in the universe. The once-thick tension disappeared, and a comforting warmth blanketed the two of you in its place. You two dared not to pull away, taking in the moment that has caused mental gymnastics for both of you. Eventually, someone had to pull away, and it would be you. You smiled so warmly at him with love-filled eyes. You wipe away Satoru’s tears that continue to fall and hit his glasses.
“. . . I love you too, Satoru. I should also apologize because I didn’t communicate my feelings to you. I was scared of how you would react to my confession. I didn’t want to lose what we had, nor did I want to pressure you into saying yes to spare me the heartache. I also didn’t know how to act when I was with you, and I feared I would look stupid. I shouldn’t have thought the only solution was to cut myself out of your life. Though these are my explanations, they don’t justify my excuses. Please forgive me, Satoru.”
“All is forgiven, Sweetheart. Will you forgive me, too?”
“Of course, Satoru. . .” 
Satoru starts to dip his head as you both smile at each other. You were going to let it happen, but a thought came across your mind as you softly stopped Satoru’s head. With a pout, Satoru would ask what was wrong before he was faced with a panicked look.
“Satoru! What about your girlfriend?!”
Satoru blankly stares at you before he starts to chuckle quietly. You were truly a kind person.
“Satoru! I’m being serious! Stop laughing!”
“Oh my dear, (Y/N). You truly have a kind and caring heart. I promise you I’m not cheating on her, nor are you homewrecking. She texted me she found someone else and ghosted me right after. I’m all yours, baby~.” 
Satoru waves his hand as he pulls out his phone to show you the proof, as you have always been skeptical of his words. Once you visibly relax, your gaze returns to the big shopping bag Satoru carried around. He already knew what you were going to ask and had an answer.
“Why don’t you take a look and open it yourself, (Y/N)? You did say the bag was my Christmas present for my girlfriend~.”
Your face heats up as Satoru retrieves your Christmas present. He holds it out, and you slowly take it from him. His grin becomes a soft smile at the reaction to the gifts in the bag. You squealed at the massively cute plushie as you gave it a happy squeeze. You gasped and were awed when you pulled out the jacket/sweater, gleefully trying it on.
“Give me a twirl, Love.” On command, you spin yourself so he can see how it captures your figure. Anything does look good on you in his eyes.
“I thought this was sold out, Toru! How did you get your hands on this?!”
“I have my ways. Now open your last gift.”
You go to open your last gift, and how your mouth was opened reassured Satoru that he was the best gift giver in the world. Fingers delicately hold up (favorite jewelry), observing the glow and reflection it gave off. It was gorgeous and unique as it had (favorite gemstone) being the main centerpiece. Only the best for you.
“Satoru, you still remember this?”
“Of course I did!”
“But that was over three months ago. . .”
“I know, (Y/N). But the way your eyes lingered on it when we went to the mall, I always noted it. Plus, I thought it suited you the best, so I had to buy it.”
“Oh, how sweet of you, Satoru. Thank you for the Christmas present. I really love them.” 
After returning your gifts to their bag, you walked to your dresser to fish something out. Satoru watches curiously as you pull out a crumpled paper bag. Satoru eyes widened as you handed the bag to him.
“ While they are Christmas gifts, they are technically your birthday gifts. I would’ve given them on your birthday but chickened out when I found out you had a girlfriend. So Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Satoru. They may not be as good as your gifts, but it’s something, right?”
You offer a smile as Satoru opens his gifts. You giggled at his extravagant reactions, praising and adoring his Agumon bracelet that he instantly wore on his wrist proudly. He pulls out the other gift and is shocked to see the drawings of him. The frame fits in his hands as he analyzes each sketch of himself. The detail and precision that went into each told Satoru you took the time and energy to draw him. But it also made him giddy as he looked extremely handsome and good-looking in each of the drawings. It caused him to blush when he realized this was how you see him through your eyes. As he was looking at your drawing page, he noticed the frame’s stand was attached to its sides.
Turning it around, he saw another drawing on the other side. But this sketch made Satoru’s heart beat out of his chest. The page contains only one illustration of two people walking with smiles. However, those two were him and you walking, smiling at each other, and holding each other’s hands. Satoru’s silence did concern you for a bit, but it was shattered when Satoru went in steadfastly to seal the gap between your lips. Your initial shock wore off before you let him reciprocate his kiss. You can feel his soft and smooth lips; he needs to give you his lip care routine. After parting, Satoru leans his head against yours, his arms not unraveling from you. 
“No, they are wonderful gifts. Thank you, (Y/N). I love them. . . and I love you.”
“I love you too, Satoru~.”
Basking in each other’s warmth, eliminating the cold and gloomy atmosphere from outside. As much as you wanted to stay together a little longer, the campus would close soon for the rest of the break, and you must leave quickly. You didn’t want to leave Satoru yet, so you tried to extend it as much as possible.
“Hey, Satoru? Can you walk me home? The forecast said the snow will pick up tonight, and I don’t want to go home alone.” 
Satoru gives his classic grin before kissing your forehead sweetly. 
“I would love to, Sweetheart. I’ll carry your bags while you can hold the umbrella.”
The snow continues to softly fall as the two of you walk along the bustling streets of Tokyo. Although the white puff clouds appeared every time someone spoke and the tips of Satoru’s face were bright red, Satoru never paid attention to the frigid temperatures. Even in this cold white winter, he can see that your bright aura always gave a comforting warmth he yearned for. Making you stand out amongst the sea of passersby, the bright neon lights of Tokyo, and the white dots that continue to cover the city.
The light that shines and gives light to his dull Cerulean sky. Satoru’s world wasn’t grey anymore as he had finally found his light, you.
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Bonus:
—A few days later—
“You think they made up, Sugs?”
“Honestly, I hope they do. If not, we’re fucked, Shoko.”
It had been a few days since Shoko and Suguru had last heard from you and Satoru. Neither has responded to your texts as often as usual, making the two nervous. Then Suguru proposed a hangout before New Year's Eve. He didn’t add it in the group chat because he was unaware of the situation. Opting to ask you two individually instead. Even though you two responded, he was unsure if the storm between you two passed over or was still raging on. 
However, his initial worries would be meaningless soon enough. As Shoko and Suguru were taking a drag at the meet-up spot, they spotted two figures approaching them. Squinting their eyes to get a better look, they recognized that it was you and Satoru. Their eyes traveled down a bit to see both your hands intertwine. The love that came from Satoru’s smile and your eyes told them everything.
Though the two smiled and high-fived each other, Suguru grinned ear to ear, which earned a frustrated sigh from Shoko. She then reaches into her coat to fish out her wallet. 
“I guess I win, Shoko. Hand over that $25 Visa gift card, please?”
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galacticseonghwa · 4 months
Text
faster n harder - Lee Jeno
1) chapter one
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INCLUDES: biker!jeno x fem!reader, slow burn, enemies to lovers (they don't really get along at first not so much that they're enemies), fluff, smut, angst(?), fingering, choking, degrading (slut, whore, etc.), pet names (doll, baby, etc.), cockwarming, lmk if i’ve missed anything! wc: 1.9k a/n: this chapter is fairly rushed and has some VERY cliche scenes in it, so if you have high expectations for this story, please lower the bar to the ground lol. I'm not a very strong writer and it shows here, but please if you do decide to read anyway, don't be scared to leave any feedback <3
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truth be told jeno never found himself the type of guy to fall in love with a girl who had absolutely no interest in him whatsoever, or even feel anything for anyone that wasn’t his bike. at least not until you had come around.
he has always been about the bike life, the dark aesthetic type that book girlies love. that was his hidden weapon, in his words at least. tattoos covering several inches of his skin, sharp eyes rimmed with eyeliner peeking through his open visor, all-black kawasaki he paid way too much for and can’t forget about his arms. toned, tanned with those veins that are too hard not to stare at.
but you didn’t spare him a second glance, that was new for him and he liked that. he liked that you weren’t throwing yourself at him, like all of the other girls he had come across. but once he found out you were into cars and bikes, man he may as well have just fallen in love with you right then and there. which he unintentionally did.
he would watch you from his bike as you pulled up to the university campus in either your car or bike. you knew he was watching, everyone knew. but that didn’t waver you, you had your three friends that was all you needed. having jeno’s eyes on you ultimately ended up in teases from your best friends. 
“oooh, he’s into you best friend.” mark would giggle as he watched you roll your eyes dramatically while shotaro and felip laughed along with him. “whatever” you would grumble and just push past him and to your next class.
you weren’t planning on getting involved with jeno let alone his friends until you and felip noticed one of jeno’s friends had the same bike as the both of you. felip dragged you over to the owner of the bike with the biggest smile on his face.
“you have the same bike as us!” felip says to a brown-haired haechan who was sitting on his white suzuki gsx r600. haechan raises his eyebrow in both question and confusion. felip notices how out of place haechan’s white bike is compared to all the black bikes surrounding him. 
“i’m felip by the way,” he says happily and holds his hand out for haechan. haechan smiles back and shakes felip’s hand. “oh, this is y/n” your best friend points over at you as you stand awkwardly behind him as you feel all the eyes of jeno and his friends on you.
“oh i know who she is.” haechan smirks as he looks over at you. “i’m haechan.” he says and ushers his friends to introduce themselves too. 
“chenle” a guy with pink in his hair all but spits out coldly as he turns up his face at you and felip. “calm it.” haechan snips and smacks chenle’s arm, chenle pouts angrily and rubs his arm.
“i’m lee jeno” the last one tilts his head as he watches you with a smirk on his lips. you side eye him and turn back to haechan without sparing jeno a second glance. jeno raises his eyebrows and laughs softly at this.
felip starts up a conversation with haechan about his bike asking all sorts of questions. “where are you guys parked at?” haechan asks as he turns to chenle briefly. felip points out where your bikes are just as shotaro and mark pull up next to your bikes as well.
“you got a gang already?” jeno asks, his eyes never leaving your face as you pull your phone out with a waiting call from shotaro. “yeah, but we’re always looking for more people to join.” felip shrugs and waves at mark.
mark and shotaro were now walking towards you and the guys with their helmets in their hands. “wanna join us? it’s only the three of us.” haechan offers while chenle scoffs and drops down from his bike.
snatching up his helmet, chenle stomps away but not forgetting to smack his shoulder into you as he walks past. “ouch” you mumble and rub your arm to try to ease the pain chenle left behind. “i know it’ll be hard to, but ignore him. he’s not good with new people.” haechan offers you a sympathetic smile.
“clearly” felip scoffs and turns to you with a frown. “you okay?” he asks softly. you nod up at felip. “this is mark and shotaro.” felip points at both boys he named then turns back to haechan. “and this is haechan and jeno. the one that just practically abused y/n is chenle.” felip points at haechan and jeno.
“oh that loud ass kid from your music class?” shotaro asks mark innocently. mark seems to think for a couple of seconds before nodding. “i think so.” mark mumbles. upon hearing this jeno and haechan both laugh a little at the fact that shotaro and mark know chenle as the loudmouth he usually is.
haechan stares at mark with a smile before turning back to you and felip. “us three are going on a ride after class, would you guys like to join?” haechan offers as he gets off his bike, wedging his helmet between his left arm and hip, while slinging his backpack on his right shoulder.
you notice jeno doing the same from the corner of your eye, but see that he’s already got his body cross bag on and his helmet grasped in his right hand. jeno looks down to the helmet that was gripped in both your hands in front of you, he smirks seeing as it is the same helmet as his.
“i’m down, what about you guys?” felip smiles and turns to you and the other two guys who were pretending to fight behind you. “yeah, why not?” mark shrugs, shotaro throws felip a thumbs up with the hand that wasn’t holding his helmet.
felip opens his mouth to speak only to be cut off by jeno, who steps right in front of you. “what about you y/n? will you come?” jeno leans down to look into your eyes better. you flinch at the sudden intrusion of your personal space. “the fuck?” you mumble under your breath.
“if you get the fuck outta my face i’ll consider saying yes.” you scoff earning a chuckle from jeno and a full-blown laugh from haechan. “she’s not very good with new people in her space like that.” mark says from behind you, pushing at jeno’s chest as he stands behind you.
jeno stares at you for a couple of seconds before backing up with a smirk. “weird fuck.” you mumble to mark as you turn around and head towards your first class, which unfortunately for you had only jeno, chenle and haechan in.
you and the three guys make it to class just in time for the bell. beginning your walk to your usual seat you’re thrown off when you feel someone pull you into one of the isles by your elbow. “you’re one of us now, therefore you sit with us.” haechan says in a tone you can only pin as teasing.
“what? nah she’s not one of us!” chenle almost yells, you cringe at how high his voice went. “i agree with barney, i’m not one of you.” you scoff and begin walking away again.
haechan rolls his eyes drastically as he reaches out and grabs your arm again. “fine, not one of us. but sit with us.” haechan gestures to the empty seat between himself and chenle. you roll your eyes and sit down anyways. “call me barney again, and you’ll be picking yourself and your bike up off the fucking road, you prune.” chenle spits at you and shoves your chair away from him.
the push sends you almost flying into haechan. “chenle. stop it.” haechan seethes through gritted teeth just as he catches your chair right before it smashes into his. chenle does nothing but roll his eyes. “i’m sorry, he’s not usually this mean.” haechan looks down at you almost sadly, making you raise your eyebrow.
“it’s okay, i’m just glad he’s not hitting me.” you try to joke, but haechan doesn’t take it that way as he stares at you with a straight face. “i’m sorry.” you whisper.
as the class drones on for what felt like seventeen years, you somehow got chenle talking and laughing with you. after your multiple attempts to talk to him, he finally gave in and started talking to you, only for him to somehow really like you. 
“hey, i’m sorry for how i treated you before.” chenle mumbles softly and looks up at you with a sad pout and shining eyes. you find it hard to ignore the smile pulling at your lips as you look down at him.
“it’s okay, you just left quite the impression.” you giggle. unbeknownst to you, chenle and a blissfully unaware haechan, jeno had been staring at you the whole class without any shame, a few of the girls who ogle over him noticed this and didn’t like the fact that a girl who wasn’t ‘visible’ before today had snagged a spot in the most popular friend group at this university.
jeno feels the girls stare on him and turns around to see half of them with their eyes on him and the other half glaring at you. jeno tilts his head and waits for them all to look at him before opening his mouth. “i know what you girls are about, so if you so much as breathe the wrong way in her direction you’ll have to deal with not only my group, but hers too,” jeno pauses, chenle frowns as he hears jeno speaking and turns to see what was happening.
chenle stops a laugh from escaping as he watches the scene unfold. “and i’m sure none of you wants mark and taro after you or felip speaking to you. do you?” he asks condescendingly. seeing all the girls shake their heads as fast as they could, chenle burst out into a fit of laughter.
the bell rings for the end of class, thanking the school for letting this be your only class today you begin walking to the exit where you can see shotaro jumping up and down while waving at you.
you giggle happily and run towards him, engulfing him in a hug when you see him waiting for you with open arms. the girls who were glaring at you had followed behind you to see if jeno was telling the truth about who you were friends with, only for jeno, chenle and haechan to push past them and stand behind you.
jeno looks over his shoulder at the girls and raises his eyebrow as if to challenge them to try something. while a couple of the girls were satisfied with seeing jeno telling the truth a couple of them still didn’t like the fact that you somehow got into jeno’s group before they could.
the girl who seemed to be the ‘leader’ of the group stomps her foot and stomps away. jeno rolls his eyes, to him all the girls at this uni were all the same. that was until he pinned you down a couple of months ago.
don’t get him wrong, he’d noticed your beauty from several miles away two years ago but it wasn’t until you rode to school on your old ninja h2r that he finally noticed you properly. It was almost like love at first sight despite it not being the first time he had laid eyes on you.
love at second sight, he liked to call it.
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AUTHORS NOTE ! — this fic will be very generic for the first couple of chapters as i don't want to dive straight into the story so please bear with me, it'll get better.
TAGLIST — @sinisxtea @rjreins @wonwootakemyheart @vltevgrdn
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piscesirko · 2 years
Note
omg bella angst with a happy ending, they're good friends, reader likes him, there's rumours about bella with a girl, she's upset and keeping distance, bella trying to figure out what's wrong, something like this if possible?
ty for the request!!!! this is a little longer than i expected but who cares! enjoy some bellaaa:)
-hurt/comfort, bit of angst, pining, cliche confession lol, fem reader
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it hurts you to ignore her this way.
she’s your friend.
best friend. for god knows how long.
and best friends are supposed to be there for each other. to help, and support, and care for one another when no one does. it's the principle — and you shouldn't want for more.
(you shouldn't want to hold her hand when you'd walk side by side. you shouldn't want to push the stranded curls off her forehead and stare deep into the umber of her eyes until everything dissipates and you're both left floating into this void; you shouldn't want to kiss him suddenly when he smiles. and you definitely shouldn't want to wake up beside him every morning and tell him that you love him.)
the thing is, they're normalized now. everyone does it when they know everything remains platonic. but you don't want to hurt yourself that way knowing he didn't feel the same. you couldn't bear the heartbreak.
so when you dawned upon that realization, or maybe when you've come to terms with the fact that the devil on your shoulder was right—that you're in love with him—you'd gone insane. your mind filled to the brim with possibilities of what might happen if you told him the truth. and each one increased the anxiety in your chest even more.
you tried to act like everything was okay. you acted normal around them . you talked like you used to. hung out like you used to. bella would hang an arm around your shoulders, rub her knuckle on your hair and laugh with you like you used to.
up until last week.
the picture of him with some girl on social media and articles. bella with a smile so bright it's familiar, and you realize that she’d only smile that way when she’s with you. and god, she’s laughing with a girl. a pretty girl; it's mind fucking to be hurt this way by just staring at an un consented image.
you drowned in unreasonable jealousy. because why should you be jealous if he's not yours? why should you be jealous in the first place? you fool yourself. you're only jealous because he didn't spend time with you, not because he was with some girl.
some girl.
some pretty girl.
and while you wallow in self-pity, you ignore them. for both your sakes. before you do something that could ruin everything.
bella does their nightly texts — hey! how are you? and you'd respond curtly than go on a long rant. obviously he'd wonder what's wrong, but he'd let it go on the first night.
hey, what's up?
hey can we talk?
hey i miss you :(
until three nights later when you flat out ignored her and it had gotten to the point she started texting your friends. and the same reason was used: you're busy. you're asleep. your phone died. you're out of town for work.
you're in love with her and got stupidly jealous at the sight of her someone else.
so it brings her here.
a week later, outside your door with nothing but questions formed from his confusion and frustration. bella knows you're by the door looking through the peephole by your shadow beneath the minuscule gap beneath the door. you see her sigh heavily, holding back an eyeroll.
"i know you're there, (y/n),"
"fuck," you whisper, standing back on your heels and let your hands fall and raise between your side and the doorknob.
"just— let me in, please? i just want to talk." you hear him sigh faintly. "please?"
you take a huge deep of breath, hand shaking as you twist the doorknob. you're first greeted by the cold air from the hallways, before your eyes land on bella’s hunched figure. covered solely in a pair of blue sweats and a white shirt, her chain hung on her neck.
"hey," he exhales, relieved. "thank god you're alive. thought someone might have kidnapped you and pushed you off a cliff.
you frown. "well, that's specific."
bella comes in when you step aside to make way. he removes his shoes, placing them beside the door as he wipes his feet on the mat. "i was worried." he says. "until i saw you hanging out with our friends while you were ignoring my texts."
it's amusing how quick her tone changed, almost as if she hadn't been worried in the first place as she quickly returns to being irritated by your ignorance. you shrug. "i- i was busy."
"busy with what?" despite the irritation, their voice remains soft, their patience speaking for them.
"work," you laugh a little, tone pitched as you hand waves in the air. "i was busy with work. and- and catching up with others. that's all." bella furrows his eyebrows. "sorry if i ignored your texts. i'm...i'm sorry."
"that's okay," he murmurs. "just wished you would have told me. i thought that i might have done something to make you mad. i was worried."
he's only saying that because he's my friend. best friend.
"sorry," you say again. "just got caught up with things,”
"yeah with partying," it's obvious that he's bitter. and somehow, it pisses you off that he's pissed off for being ghosted. "didn't even bother to invite me,"
you scoff, turning around. "why would i invite you if you're with some girl?"
it was a sarcastic remark, your mouth speaking before you could think. your voice meant to fool her into thinking that it meant nothing. but bella knows what's up—especially with the strain in your voice as you said the last word that was followed by a sardonic chuckle. her face falls, furrowing her eyebrows at you.
"what are you talking about?"
you clear your throat, scratching your forehead. "i dunno. it's social media bella. one day you're in a famous show and the next people with cameras follow you around."
bella frowns. "what?"
"come on," you spin around to face him again, laughing incredulously at him. "people saw you with a girl. who you've been with for the past week. so why would i invite you?"
"because i'm your friend!"
"you were with some girl!"
"that doesn't even make any sense!"
their voice raises, but not loud enough that it hurts your ears. your face wrinkles, throat swallowing your words that the only thing that leaves your mouth are defensive scoffs as your hand drops to your side, turning back around to walk somewhere. "you- you were busy."
"bullshit—hey!," bella pivots his way in front of you, blocking your way to your bedroom, hands on either side of the doorframe.
"don't lie to me, (y/n). look- if i did something that hurt you, or made you pull away from me, just tell me. please?"
she’s desperate now, affliction in her plea. a heavy rock rises to your throat, hands to a fist on your sides. bella’s eyebrows raise, leaning down slightly as if to encourage you to speak. confined with the difficulty to choose between the truth or not, and you sigh heavily.
"you did nothing, okay?" you shrug his hands off, your index finger picking at the skin beside your thumbnail. "everything's fine. it's my fault. "
"then talk to me," he adjures, his hands clueless as to where it should be. "please? if—if you want some space for whatever it is that happened, fine. just tell me, and i'll give you that space.”
her patience makes your heart ache, because you feel guilty for lying to the person so tolerant and understanding. you hear the desperation in her voice. loud and sad as it yearns for your truth to feed his clueless mind, worried of the wrong she didn't do. you look away from bella, at the wall where you trace its small bumps, and you huff.
"it was because of the girl,"
bella’s back straightens, his bottom lip jutting out slightly as his eyebrows return to its place. and suddenly he's perplexed. "oh. why?"
"i—"
"do you not want me to hang around her?" he asks. "are you jealous that i spent the week with her...?"
"no! no, i don't want to be telling you who you should hang out with. and no, why would i be jealous?" the white face paint's beneath the sink, and there's a red wig in your closet, 'cause you look like a fucking clown.
bella scoffs. "then what is it?"
"god, okay, maybe i was a little jealous," you quip, throwing your hands in the air. "maybe- maybe i got upset that my best friend's with another girl. but not because she's taking up his time, but because she's pretty! pretty enough that i'm jealous of you? no, but could be 'cause she is hot. but yes, i could be if i didn't like—“
you pause, your brain telling you you've been talking too much, because bella’s got her head ducked and eyebrows raised to listen. and if you looked closely, her lips are twitched up slightly in bemusement. you close your mouth, glaring at her.
"if you didn't like?" he smirks. "you like someone."
"no i don't."
"yes you do."
"what makes you say that?"
"you said it."
"like can mean anything. i mean, i like your mom because she's nice. i like you because you're my friend. like doesn't mean like like, because i like anyone. and liking anyone doesn't mean i like like them."
"what?"
"fuck!" there's a boulder in your throat, hard and prevents the air from slipping through. you don't find his amusement entertaining, and you're trying to swallow that rock down your throat while he's looking at you like that.
— all innocent and happy, eyes wide as they stare at you like, like you're important.
like they’re in love with you.
they’re not.
bella’s smile falls, noticing the tears at your waterline that makes your eyes all glossy.
"hey. what's wrong? is it something i said?"
"no," you push him aside, stepping into your room and sitting on the bed right in the middle. "it's not your fault. it's never been your fault," the heel of your palms are pressed against your eyes. you hear him shuffle until you feel him kneeling in front of you, gentle hands wrapping around your wrists.
"then what is it?"
you whimper. and when she tugs your hands off your eyes and replaces it with her own thumbs, letting your fat tears wet her calloused skin, it makes your heart hurt even more, with the fact that she’s so gentle and caring.
"i like you,"
three words. something he's heard before but not in the way that he thinks. "yeah, i know. i like you too."
"no, bel," you close your eyes, nails lightly scratching at the bracelet on his left wrist. "i like you."
there's a soft sigh that leaves them that begins the silence between the two of you. the way their hand stays on your face but weakens in the slightest; the way her eyes narrow in anxiousness as they waited for your confession. you mistake this his silence as disgust — that you'd liked your best friend as something more. and you wonder what would have happened if you told her that you loved her.
you didn't have to. because you spoke again. "i...love you."
it's what makes him fully remove his hands on your face, feeling the burn his touch left behind (or maybe it was just the sudden sweat on his palms). he sits down on the carpet, cross legged, a soft thump of denim to wool. bella breaks his eyes away from you to look at your knees in a quiet state of shock. his lips parted in the slightest.
"oh..."
"you know what," you sniffle, licking your lips as you stand up, wiping your tears with the side of your hand. "i'm just gonna go."
bella, who's still processing everything, looks up at you. "you live here."
"i didn't say i was gonna leave for good, dumbass—"
you're startled with the sudden feeling of her lips on yours, befuddled with her speed from sitting to standing. bella holds your face in his hands, flesh rough but touch gentle as he keeps you close to him. and your eyes are open, sense of touch heightened that you can feel every fibre of her as she pressed her mouth harder against yours that it renders your eyes shut and your hands on the softness of her hair.
his mouth opens to part yours, his breath fanning on your face and some into your mouth, his forehead resting against yours. bella’s thumbs drag across the dark circles beneath your eyes, his eyebrows furrowing before he lets out a chuckle.
"i'm sorry," they murmur. “i just kissed you,"
you open your eyes. "it's alright,"
your hand drags from his shoulder to his chest, watching as he slowly looks at you.
dark eyes bright with glee, a ring of doting arousal on the corner of their irises. bella angles your face back, neck straining slightly so they’d get a better view of you. "i like, well, i love you too."
they chuckle when a slow smile comes to your face. "really?"
"fuck yeah" he wrinkles his nose. "i've loved you since that first chemistry read"
before you respond, she kisses you again, a deep inhalation of your scent as her nose dig on your face. her lips are soft, cherry, hot and feverish when they move with yours and break in a soft click.
"you're amazing," she murmurs. "beautiful," a kiss, "smart," another, "unfathomably lovely," and a last. "i love you. that girl you saw? she's just a friend. she's nothing compared to you."
you shake your head, laughing. "christ in hell, bella."
"i love you," he repeats. "yeah? i'd post it on instagram or whatever. i love you."
"i get it—"
"i love you."
"i know," you kiss his nose. "i love you too."
1K notes · View notes
ash5monster01 · 9 months
Text
Learning to Love Part 7
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Pairing: Rafe Cameron x FemReader!PlusSize
Warnings: 18+, langauge, angst, fluff, mentions of bullying, body image issues, fat shaming, fake relationship, eventual smut, minor enemies to lovers trope.
Summary: It's not uncommon for you to be shamed for your size, it is however uncommon to be told that no one would ever date you because of it. Rafe on the other hand is used to being called a jerk, that is until he is accused of seeing people for only what's on the surface. It's purely coicidental you two meet right after these accusations are thrown your way. So even though you two don't know each other, and probably never would've looked the others way before this, now you're both going to prove a point. It's simple really, prove others wrong and don't fall in love. Easier said than done.
word count: 3.5k
Part 6 ←→ Part 8
Masterlist
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When you agreed to drive Rafe to work you hadn't expected for him to drag you inside. Especially since you were still wearing your bar clothes, jeans that would reek of tequila by the end of the night, and a T-shirt that acted as a spare rag half the time. Now your fingers were interlocked with Rafe’s, in a grey suit as he marches through his building full of other suits and pencil skirts. Add on the fact everyone looks on with confusion, shocked to see someone like you walking in with their sexy as hell boss. You knew most of the women fantasized about him taking them over his desk and the image alone sent a chill down your spine. Rafe looks to you with confusion and you just offer a smile as if you weren't just picturing him having his way with you.
"Hey, long time no see" AJ beams at you two when you reach the top floor and you offer a sweet smile even though you entirely resent her for being one of those girls that could easily have Rafe on his desk if she wanted.
"AJ, I'm taking the rest of the day to spend with my girl. Make sure Matt and Levi don't start a game of strip poker again" and she nods with a salute that has you snorting in laughter over the fact that even happened once before.
"It was one time at an employee party" a man you assume is Matt calls out from a corner office and Rafe rolls his eyes as he leads you to his own office.
"Kaitlyn, hold my calls and cancel my meetings for the rest of the day. I'm taking some personal time" Rafe says to the prettiest brunette girl you've ever seen with the brightest green eyes. Kaitlyn nods and starts typing away at her computer like she was trained to obey every order. Then Rafe was guiding you through large double doors that revealed the largest office you've ever seen. You stare in awe as he shuts the doors behind you and the click of them shutting closed is enough to make you jump.
"What's wrong?" he asks, spotting how just closing the door suddenly made you nervous.
"Do you know what they think we're doing?" you whisper and he looks confused until he spots the bright pink hue flooding your cheeks.
"Oh" is all he says and you chuckle, unable to look him in the eye which he finds entirely too cute.
“And how do you know this?” he asks as he approaches his desk.
“Come on, it’s like every book cliche ever. Girl dates important guy, guy bends girl over his desk, tale as old as time” you say confidently and it’s only until his eyebrows raise towards you that the confidence deters.
“Are you admitting to me that you read dirty books?” he asks and your neck burns with embarrassment.
“I’m just saying” you pout and he laughs as he sits behind the desk and begins to type at his computer.
“There’s just one thing I have to finish up before I play hookie with you all day, that’s why I didn’t want you to wait in the car” he explains and you nod quickly as you allow him time to work.
Thing is, you’re impatient. Which Rafe notices quickly when you sit at the chair in front of his desk and won’t stop bouncing your leg. It takes you not much longer after that to stand and start observing the room. Looking at the shelves and pictures on the walls. It was only a few emails he had to send, confirm a few projects, but now he was finding it hard to pay attention with you walking around all pretty and staring at his office with awe. You study the room like you're studying him, trying to fit puzzle pieces into the mystery that Rafe Cameron is. Yet even his office, a place that should be so intimate to him, is still just as bland as his home. Lacking warmth, evidence of a life, hiding everything underneath the surface.
"You like that one?" his voice pierces through the silence and you almost jump again as you look away from the abstract painting on the wall. To someone else it seems like it's just various colors, swirled around and claimed as art, but you see it. The curve of a larger girls shilouette, the hip dips and heavy stomach and breasts. She's there but hidden within a sea of beautiful colors. It deep, beautiful, and entirely too intimate. "It's new"
"It's beautiful" you try not to tear up, because surely Rafe Cameron is like the rest of the world. Blind to something so beautiful hidden within. It was probably bought for its colors and the beautiful swirls that fill the canvas and not for the shape of a woman hidden inside who just wants to be seen for more than what's on the surface.
"It made me think of you" your breath hitches almost instantly, trying not to take his words with as much meaning as the painting had put over you.
"Not much of a picture guy then, huh?" you want to act entirely normal about what he just said but how can you. He had dropped a bomb and you weren't sure how to diffuse it. It all depended on what Rafe saw when he looked at that picture. If he saw the colors or you.
"Don't really have people worth taking pictures with" Rafe says, a small scowl on his face. You know it isn't entirely true but for Rafe all the pictures from his past held reminders. Reminders of ruined families and friendships all for something obselite now.
"Well that's to bad Cameron because I'm gonna take a picture of us and frame it for this exact office, put it right next to that computer of yours so you see it all day long" You tease and Rafe chuckles lightly, looking much happier now.
"That's probably not a good idea, I'd be looking at you more than doing my work" the compliment bubbles in your stomach, settling and warming you over, but you move past it like you always do.
"To bad, we're taking one" you say and he laughs before gesturing you over which makes you furrow your eyebrows.
"You want to take it now?" you ask and he nods, patting his lap like it's the most natural thing in the world for you to come over and sit on him.
"Yeah, have a picture of us in my office in my office" he says and you snort lightly, walking towards him while trying to ignore your nerves.
"How breaking the fourth wall of us" you say as his hand lands on your waist and guides you to sit on him. You try your best to keep your weight off of him as much as possible but he pulls you to him before you can even try. You land on his lap as his arms snake around your waist and chin lands on your shoulder.
"Okay baby, take the picture while I still look good" he teases and you roll your eyes as you grab your phone and open the camera app.
"You always look good Rafe" you say and your ears burn red instantly. Rafe grins and presses a kiss to your shoulder, not saying more to make sure he doesn't embarass you further. Even if he likes it when you get all flustered. "All right, smile"
An easy smile crosses Rafe's face as you hold the phone up and try to take a picture of you two. Yet when your thumb meets the button he's kissing your cheek, breath fanning over your neck. You giggle instantly hand clicking more than just one picture, the two of you laughing with each other. It feels all to real and you hate how much you've come to like the boy underneath you. Saying goodbye will be all that much harder the more you keep getting close like this.
“You have to be smiling normal for at least one" you tell him with a pout and he smiles at you before nodding.
"Okay baby, one more" he tells you and this time he obeys, easy smile on his face as he squeezes you close, foreheads leaned against each other. For a moment you look like a real couple, two people just happy to be together. It warms you over as you drop the phone and go to look at the few pictures you had managed to get. Rafe watches over your shoulder, holding you close and not letting you go.
"You ruined almost every one" you say and he shakes his head, looking at that beaming smile on your face as his kisses you and not the fake one you normally wore.
"No I didn't, they're perfect. I want that one" he says pointing at it and you roll your eyes, trying to avoid the saying that lays on the tip of your tongue anytime you look at a picture of yourself. I look fat you want to say, eyes catching the slight double chin from your beaming laugh. You're unposed, unaware of the way your body looks so big compared to his.
"I look... I don't look good" you try to convey, avoid looking at him and you feel him sigh against you.
"You always look good, especially in that picture" he tells you, hands squeezing your waist. It should be a sentimental moment but his hands make you jump and Rafe realizes fairly quickly that he has just tickled you. Even though there is other parts of him affected by you bouncing on his lap he can't help but grin and start digging his fingers into you. You squeal instantly, toppling against him and trying to lean away but Rafe holds you close, laughing as you cry out for him to stop. Your both to caught up in eachother you miss the knock and open of the door to his office.
"Sorry to interupt Mr. Cameron" you both freeze, hazy smiles left on your faces as you see Kaitlyn in the doorway.
"What's up Kait?" he asks, a small huff to his breath from how he was just tickling you. You should feel weird to be sitting on his lap as his employees speak to him but you’re still trying to get your heart rate back to a normal pace.
"I just wanted to let you know I've cleared your schedule and sent over those files from yesterday that you needed reviewed. I can do the next pile if you need" she says, a small pink hue to her cheeks for having caught the two of you giggling like lovesick teenagers.
"That would be great Kaitlyn, me and my girl we're just heading out here. The stack is where it always is and you have a good rest of the day" you blush deeply when Rafe pats your bottom, indicating you stand up so the two of you can leave. You watch as he readies himself and then locks his arm around your waist to guide you out the door. You give Kaitlyn a small wave as he walks you back through the office, head high, and proud that you're the girl he has his arm wrapped around.
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When you reach his apartment you make yourself comfy. You had planned to work all day, distract yourself from feelings for Rafe but look how far that had gotten you. So you sit on his couch, clicking through Netflix in search of a good movie, something to get his mind off of things. You’re still not entirely sure of what kind of movies he likes so it’s proven to be pointless, mindless clicking, until he returns to the living room in leisure wear and falling next to you on the couch.
“What do you want to watch?” you ask as his head lays on your lap, looking up to face you. You’re certain you’re unflattering from this angle but caring about things like that had been proven pointless with Rafe.
“I’m good with anything, I don’t really watch movies” you’re shocked to hear this, considering when most girls were out on dates you were at home watching the latest film and enjoying every second.
“So you’re telling me you haven’t watched the classics?” you ask and he shrugs against you.
“I’ve seen the Godfather once and that was about it” you shake your head at him, saddened to hear your fake boyfriend hasn’t watched at least the required films of any human beings on this earth. So you set off on a hunt, trying to find the perfect film, going through almost every streaming service, until you find the one.
“Here we go” you mutter to no one in particular as you hit play and Rafe furrow his eyebrows as he looks at the screen.
“Dirty Dancing” he pouts and you can see the crease in his brow from where he lays on you.
“Oh don’t be a boy about it, watch it like a man” you tell him and he chuckles before rolling to his side and getting cozy on your lap. From where you sit you can’t see Rafe’s reaction and as much as he’s enjoying the movie he’s enjoying you whispering the lines behind him, knowing what song was next, and most of all the way your legs shifted underneath him when the characters truly dirty danced. His hand had come to caress your leg as the movie progressed, unable to stop himself and you took that as an invitation to run your hands through his hair.
Finally it had reached the scene where Baby goes to Johnny’s cabin and admits her feelings, Rafe knows this is an important part by the way your hand freezes against his head. The music starts as Baby and Johnny start undressing each other, your breathing has become uneven, and based on the glance Rafe dared to take you look wrecked for a girl who has had nothing happen to her. He waits patiently as the two characters begin to get intimate and once the scene is over he takes a chance and hits pause.
“Hey” you mutter softly, voice hoarse and eyes still semi glued to the screen. Rafe rolls onto his back, looking up at you as your hand that was in his hair falls to his chest.
“Can I ask you a deeply personal question and you answer me honestly without freezing up?” his sentence makes your heart accelerate as you look at him. You take a moment to catch your breath before answering him.
“Sure” you know you shouldn’t of said it but you’ve crossed personal lines with Rafe that you had never expected to and soon he won’t be a part of your life anymore, no harm in being vulnerable if it’s guaranteed you never have to see him again.
“Have you, ever done stuff?” you’re confused by the question until it suddenly dawns on you what he’s asking. Your silence instantly makes him feel guilty. “It’s just the whole thing with the hickey and no intimacy rule. Then the way you’re reacting to that scene, it’s just. I don’t know”
“I’ve never” you whisper, unable to look into his eyes. Regret swirls in a pit in your stomach. “I want to. I want to trust someone so deeply that I can but how can I? Everywhere I go people look at me like something wretched and if they’re daring enough they’ll say things loud enough for me to hear. I’ve been told how repulsive I am for years because of my size, seen it movies, watched it in real life. It would break me beyond repair if I undressed in front of someone like y- someone and they decided they didn’t want me”
“Hey, you are not repulsive. You are so beautiful, every piece of you” Rafe tells you and you shake your head, looking away to hide the tears that rim your eyes.
“I wish I could believe that” you whisper, not even for him to hear because the worst thing about compliments was the fact you could never actually believe them.
“Hey, look at me” Rafe says as he sits up, pulling you to face him. You accept defeat as you turn and lock your eyes onto his own. “You are perfect the way you are. I would never lie to you about that and any guy would be stupid to walk away from a beautiful woman that is naked for him”
“I just panic Rafe, as much as I try to fight it and push it away. I can’t” you mutter, lip trembling and a tear falling loose. Rafe feels bad for bringing it up but he reaches to brush the tear away anyway. He wishes he could find the right thing to say, to convince you that you were just as good if not better than anyone else. To tell you how much he is attracted to you. Yet he can’t do it. You’d never believe him and in the end this is all fake. You’re going to leave him just like everyone else and he isn’t prepared to lose you by messing this all up.
“It’ll get easier, one day you’ll meet someone you trust more than anything and you won’t even remember ever feeling like this” Rafe says it because he knows it’s true. He was convinced he’d never really love someone, trust them entirely, that is until he met you.
You take a moment to respond to him. He has no idea he has just broken your heart in two. Meet someone, not him, which means he didn’t want anything to do with you. This whole time you had been catching feelings for a boy you made a rule with not to. Maybe when you made the rule you’d hoped he’d be the one to break it but of course it was you. He was just another boy to add to the long list of crushes who would never ever be attracted to you. So you decide you’re no longer going to be weak in front of Rafe Cameron. What’s the point if he just proves he could never love you?
“In order to meet someone Rafe this will have to end” you don’t want to say it. There’s really no point. You know you won’t meet someone and ending this will only sadden you more for having to let him go. Rafe stiffens beside you and you feel guilty almost instantly.
“I know” he says quietly and you swear you almost hear the heartbreak in his voice but that can’t be true. Rafe will have proven his point, he can go back to girls like AJ, and live a life without being bullied for only liking supermodel women. You will go back to failed relationships and being unable to trust your partner.
“Listen it doesn’t have to be now-” but the shaking of Rafe’s head has you swallowing your words. Is he about to end it right now? Had you said too much?
“It can be, look our worlds don’t intermingle often. So if someone at the bar flirts with you or asks you out, you’re welcome to say yes. We can keep pretending but if you find something serious we can end it” Rafe tells you and you fight the new tears that are burning at the back of your eyes. It’s kind but it means it won’t ever be him.
“I guess the same goes for you. Someone at the office or whatever” you say, your voice slightly cracking at the end and you pray he doesn’t notice.
“I guess this had to end at some point” Rafe shrugs and you wish he was just as sad as you. You had gotten close and pretty soon he would become just a stranger again. You didn’t want him to be. He had become so much more.
“True but we still have some time” you say to which he nods, knowing it wasn’t over just yet. For some reason it felt like it though. He just had no idea how he could make you believe that he loved you.
“Exactly which if you’re free Saturday night I have another work event. Rooftop with a pool and open bar” Rafe suggests and you giggle lightly, relishing in the fact that the same boy who had upset you was the only one who could cheer you up too.
“Well how can I say no to that?” you say as a smile cracks across Rafe’s face before he lays back down and into your lap.
“Hey, what do you say we finish this movie then order some pizza?” he says and you nod, heart heavy with the goodbye bound to come but full of love for the boy in front of you.
“Sounds perfect”
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a/n: I’m not sure when the next update will be out considering the Holidays but for now please enjoy. I rewrote this chapter about three times and they’re all entirely different versions but I feel like I like this one best. I want this story to take the best course that is possible. Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed so far. I wanted to put this out before tomorrow because tomorrow is my birthday and I’ll be far too busy to be writing! We’re about halfway through folks!
Taglist: @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @fishingirl12 @houseofperfecttaste @abbybarnesstuff @carma-fanficaddict @jjmaybankisbae @exhaustedbutelated @diagnosedpsychosis @daivny @drewstarkeygf @vinniehackersbaee @emsgoodthinkin @apollo3475 @https-urwife @willowalexissss @kisstaya @hcneyedsstuff @lexiereblogs @drewsuncrustables @mveggieburger @marvel4life3000 @bibliophilewednesday @humungouspatrolwolf @ijustwanttoreadlols @jaijustreads @sleepjam @dilvcv @aaronhotchswife @sunshine1218 @lavenderhazeq @theultimatefrenchfangirl @kravitzwhore @chalahyung01
Comment if you want to be added to the taglist :))
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reputationmunson · 1 year
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Hii I was wondering if you could write a Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader where she’s like 2 or 3 years younger than him and she’s in love with him and he knows about it but he pushes her away because of the age gap but when they’re in the upside down she gets hurt and he freaks out and they have an argument and he realizes his feelings for her. Sorry if it’s confusing :) she/her pronouns please
I am so sorry this took me so long! I’m already a perfectionist and then i’m even worse when it comes to requests because i’m scared of disappointing people that request things. I hope you enjoy and thank you for the request and being patient!
Bloodshed, Crimson Clover | s.h x fem!reader
content: angsty, mentions of unrequited feelings, reader is 20 and steve is 22, blood/injuries, the upside down, mentions of death, happy ending!, henderson!reader(i made reader adopted so that way there’s no indication that she has to resemble dustin) 
Word count: 2.3k
What is it that causes such an incessant need for someone’s validation? Especially when that person has never even given you an inkling of recognition. 
Is it low self-esteem? Is it to fill a void? Or is it because your “adorable”, “genius” younger brother overshadowed you for the majority of your life? 
If you would get a B+ on a test, Dustin would come home and say he got the highest grade in his class. When you got your driver's license, Dustin had just invented one of his gadgets. Those were just two examples out of many instances. 
You know it was never intentional or malicious. You considered him to be your best friend and your mom always talks about how excited you were about having a baby brother. You were adopted as a baby, but biology never mattered much to you. Your mom was your mom and your brother was your brother. No ands, ifs, or buts about it. 
Your issue with approval didn’t start until your freshman year of high school. When you met him. 
Steve Harrington, to be specific. 
It’s cliche, right? The quiet girl who’s a bit of a loner having a huge, almost embarrassing, crush on the popular guy who practically runs the school. 
Much like the rest of the girls, you fell victim to the fascination of Steve. 
As expected, he never paid much attention to you. There was a time period during sophomore year that he would occasionally copy off your tests in science class. He tried to be subtle about it, but that only made it more obvious. It never bothered you, though. It made you feel special, however silly that sounds. 
Then, the unthinkable happened. your little brother, who was still in middle school at the time, befriended Steve. 
To say it was mind boggling would be an understatement. 
Here you were, spending your first two years of high school trying to get his attention, and out of the blue Steve drives Dustin to a school dance. Ever since then, he became a glorified babysitter and mentor to Dustin. Even now, after all these years since Dustin has grown up, their relationship remained the same. 
“I’m always gonna look out for you, buddy” you once overheard Steve say to your brother, making your heart swell. 
You thought for sure this was going to be your chance to get closer to Steve, maybe you’d be lucky enough for him to fall for you the way you fell for him. A silly school girl crush had turned into a pining, unrequited mess. You felt like a fool the way you would try and put yourself out there, only for him to drift further and further from you. 
“Hey, Steve, wanna watch a movie after you drop Dustin off at the arcade?” you’d ask and he’d reply “Sorry, I can’t. Gotta do laundry tonight” or some other half-assed excuse and pity smile to try and let you down easily. 
The way you acted was cumbersome. Laughing at his jokes too loudly when they weren’t even really that funny, putting on your best outfit when you knew he was coming over, and baking him cookies as a ‘thank you’ for taking care of Dustin. You weren’t subtle about your crush, making it even worse that the feelings weren’t reciprocated. 
At first, you chalked it up to being a sophomore while he was a senior, then being a junior once he graduated. After that, you blamed nothing but yourself. Were you not pretty enough? Not funny enough? Not good enough? Too upfront with how you felt? Too desperate?
The same questions run around your mind almost every night before you fall asleep, hoping that one day maybe it’ll hit him that he wants you just as much or maybe you’ll wake up one day and be over him, which is the more likely option. 
At least it was, until tonight. 
_
“Jesus christ, y/n, you could’ve gotten yourself killed!” Steve reprimands for what feels like the thousandth time. His arm supports your waist as your arm is wrapped around his shoulders as you walk into his house.
“So you’ve said” you grunt, barely audible due to the fact you feel like you won’t make it if you use up all your energy to speak. 
_
A gate had opened to the upside down, which you only learned about two years ago. You all thought the gate was closed for good, but alternate dimensions seem to be a bit unpredictable. 
You refused to let Dustin go with you and Steve agreed. Both of you had one thing in common; you’d do anything to protect him. It was only you and Steve that had gone and it wasn’t exactly how you pictured having alone time with him. 
After what felt like hours of going in circles, you strayed from him in an attempt to find your way out and then planned to go back to him then lead the way back home. Steve ran after you, but ended up losing you. 
All of the sudden, the weirdest looking creature you’d ever seen came out of nowhere, scratching and biting at you. You fought hard, finally grabbing hold of your weapon and killing whatever the hell was trying to kill you. 
You laid there for what felt like an eternity, covered in blood with blurry vision and the feeling of slipping away from your body. 
“Oh my god, y/n!” you had heard him shout and he sounded like he was a million miles away. “Nonono, what happened?” he kneeled on the ground, hands flew to try your wounds to try and stop the bleeding
“I tripped” you attempted to joke, hissing in pain when you let out a small chuckle. He didn’t laugh, though. Didn’t even crack a smile. He just looked at you with wide, concerned eyes. “I’m gonna help you stand, okay?”
“I-I c-can’t” you began to sob. “It hurts so bad, Steve”
“I know, I know, but we gotta get you out of here. I’m gonna clean you up and make you feel better, but you gotta stand up” He tries to help you up, but you can’t do it. “Just leave me. You need to get out of here. Please don’t make me move, please” you beg. 
“I can’t lose you, y/n. We can’t lose you. Think about Dustin and your mom and your friends a-and me” you swear it sounds like he’s choking on a sob. What does he mean he can’t lose you? You barely mutter out an ‘okay’ and muster up all of your energy to move. 
Somehow, you escape the hellhole and you don’t remember how you make it back to his house, but you do. You’re battered and bruised, but you're safe with Steve’s arm around you, nonetheless. You’re gonna have to find a way to send the weirdest thank you note to that demonic creature. 
_
Steve runs around the bathroom frantically, gathering every possible first-aid item as you sit on the sink counter. 
“We gotta get you cleaned up first, alright?’’ you give a small nod and he turns the shower on before rushing out of the bathroom, going as quickly as he can so you aren’t left alone too long. 
“Here take these pain pills” he says when he returns, handing you the pills and water. “And I’m gonna put this stool in the shower so you can sit down, okay? Oh, and here are some clean clothes and towels” he’s talking so fast, still in a panic. “M’gonna be fine, Steve. Don’t freak out”
“Can you, um, get undressed by yourself?” he asks, avoiding eye contact. “mhmm” you respond and he helps you down from the counter. “I’m gonna be right outside that door. Let me know when you’re dressed” 
Steve shuts the door behind him and sits on the floor right outside, just like he said he’d do. 
The hot water bites at your wounds, blood and dirt flow down the drain and you can’t stop the tears that start to burst. You almost died tonight, but Steve saved you. He’s still saving you. 
His words echo throughout your mind. “I can’t lose you’’ he had said. Did you hallucinate or something? Did he actually say that? 
On the other side of the door, Steve sits with his head in his hands and trying to quiet his sobs. He’s seen and experienced things unimaginable, but the image of you lying on the ground almost lifeless makes him sick. He thought you were already dead. The feeling of his heart dropping to his stomach hasn’t gone away. 
Steve has never thought of a world without you in it and now that he has, regrets swirl in his head. 
He remembers you in high school. The introverted girl with an obvious crush on him that he never thought twice about because let's be honest, he was no stranger to girls being attracted to him. At the time, Steve only thought of you as the girl two years younger than him who would get flustered everytime he sat next to her in science class.
 As time went on, he knew your feelings never went away, but it took him almost losing you to realize how he feels about you. A world without you in it would be a world not worth being a part of. 
Steve hears the shower turn off and your groan as you get dressed. He quickly wipes his tears and tries to compose himself. 
“Steve” you mutter, voice meek. “Are you dressed?” he asks. “yeah. Can you help me now, please?” he’s never opened a door faster in his life.
Despite the look of defeat on your face, you still look beautiful. Especially in his clothes. 
“Can you sit on the counter?” he asks and you hoist yourself up with a grunt. “I’m gonna lift up your shirt then clean the wounds with rubbing alcohol. Might sting a little” he informs you. 
When the alcohol hits your wounds, you grab Steve’s shoulder and squeeze. “sorry” you mutter. “s’fine. I know this hurts. I don’t mind” he assures you. “If you wanna talk as a distraction, that’s fine. It’s helped me in the past” he suggests. 
“What did you mean when you said you couldn’t lose me?” you ask, getting straight to the point.
“I don’t think i said that” he lies. “you did” you counter. “I said everyone else couldn’t lose you” he responds. He’s too scared to tell you how he really feels, even after all this. “Are you really going to argue with a dying person?” “You aren’t dying. You’re fine”
“Then why were you crying?” you argue. “I wasn’t. I’m tired” he lies again. “You’re impossible” you scoff. “I’m impossible? You’re the idiot who ran away and almost got killed!” he exclaims. “I was trying to find a way home!” you defend yourself and he rolls his eyes. 
He stops cleaning your wounds to look at you. “And how did that go? You do understand that you almost died, don’t you? It was so fucking stupid”
“Then why didn’t you just leave me like I asked you to?’
“Dustin would never forgive me” he states. “Is that all?” he hesitates for a second
“Yes” 
“Tell me the truth” you demand. “That is the truth,” he insists. “I don’t believe you”
“Fuck, y/n! What do you want me to say? That if I lost you I would never fucking recover? That if I had to go the rest of my life without hearing the way you laugh, I’d never smile again? Or do you wanna know that the thought of you being gone would kill me and I would never forgive myself. Ever” 
“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it or ‘cause you know that’s just wanna hear” you look down at your lap and a tear falls down your cheek. “I’m not and I hate that this is what it took for me to realize that I lo-” he stops himself and you look up at him with wide eyes. “Do you really feel that way?” you whisper and he nods, huffing out a sigh. 
“Can you kiss me?”
“I will once I put the bandages on. I promise” he swears “They can wait. I’ve been waiting for five years”
He rests his hand on your cheek and you try to lean in, but whimper in pain when you move. “Sit still, baby. Let me take care you”
Steve Harrington just called you ‘baby’. If you found out you died and went to heaven, you wouldn’t be surprised. 
Steve leans in slowly, pressing kisses to the corners of your lips before fully placing his lips on yours. You sigh into the kiss, feeling the weight of a thousand pounds being lifted off of you. His lips are as soft as you imagined they would be and his hand that cradles your face makes you feel safer than you’ve ever been. 
“I love you” he whispers against your lips “I love you, too. I always have” 
“Way to one up me” he teases. “You better get used to it ‘cause you loooovvvee me” 
“Yeah, I do, so you don’t have to write sad love poems in your diary anymore”
“You read those?!” you gasp and he laughs. “Dustin told me about them. They sounded like shakespeare, you should write a damn book or something”
“Shut up and kiss me again”
He kisses you again and again, only stopping to finish tending to your wounds. When you start to cry over the scars you’re gonna have, he promises that he’s going to kiss and adore them for the rest of your lives. You don’t doubt him for a second
Tonight was equally the worst and best night of your life, but you’d do it all over again for him in a heartbeat.
_
thank you for reading!
_
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lanawinterscigarettes · 8 months
Text
The Masters + finding rocks that match the color of each other's eyes
Characters included: Simm, Missy/Gomez, and Dhawan
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Warnings: some cute and romantic fluff, brief mentions of light hearted threats/violence (it's The Masters, what do you expect), brief swearing
A/N: for anyone who doesn't understand the context here basically there was a trend on tiktok where you and your partner or friend look for rocks that match the colors of each other's eyes and I thought that would be a cute thing to write with the masters (if y'all want me to do a version with the doctors or the companions then just lemme know)
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Simm! Master
Absolutely does not want to do it with you at first I'm sorry
He needs to be either tricked or bribed, or you need to catch him at a moment when he's already feeling vulnerable
Honestly it'll most likely end up being the former of the two
Bribe him with extra kisses and cuddles. It'll work, even if he does still complain
Doesn't actually look for the right rock color at first, he just wants to throw rocks at other people instead
Gets mad when you tell him to stop and (lovingly) threatens to stone you
As soon as he finds the one he's looking for he wants to leave immediately, even if you're still searching. He does not care
Acts like he doesn't know what happened to the rock he found that matches the color of your eyes when you ask him about it later on (he snuck it in his pocket and stares at it every night before he falls asleep)
Missy/Gomez! Master
She'd be the most excited out of all of them honestly, even if she doesn't show it on the outside
I'm a firm believer that Missy is a true romantic at heart and actually really loves cliche couple activities okay
Ends up taking you to a stony beach or rock covered planet with her TARDIS, wanting to make a day of it
She doesn't rush you when searching, mostly because she also doesn't want to be rushed
Spends her time finding a rock that matches the color of your eyes perfectly, and if you can't find one that matches hers then she'll help you look
She wants to sit with you on a blanket and hold hands while watching the sunset <3
Later she finds something that'll turn the rock she found that matches your eyes into a piece of jewelry that way she can always have a part of you with her
Dhawan! Master
He doesn't need to be bribed like Simm! Master does, but it will definitely take some persuading
Refuses to let you choose where you're going to search. It's his TARDIS, and he'll take you wherever he wants lmao
Says he doesn't want to spend all day looking, but then does just that because he's a perfectionist who refuses to settle for anything that's not the best, especially when it comes to you
Grumbles under his breath the entire time he's searching because he gets upset when he doesn't find the 'right' rock as soon as possible
If you help him look not only will his frustration disappear he'll also get calmer and maybe even give you a kiss as a thank you
He ends up leaving with an entire bag full of rocks because he couldn't decide on just one, so now he has a whole collection of them that's literally just your eye color
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Likes < reblogs | comments are greatly appreciated <3
Main masterlist | Doctor Who masterlist | wanna be added to my taglist?
🏷 taglist: @theonetruepotato87
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stuckysbike · 1 year
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I’ll Be Your Prize 2
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A/n: All mistakes are my own. Written on my phone.
Bucky x Reader
AU: Bucky returns the favour with a surprise for you but it backfires.
Warnings: friends with benefits situation, idiots in love, presumed unrequited love. Sharon is a bitch (never meet your heros).
Part 1
“Oh my god I love her,” you clapped your hands.
“I know,” Bucky was smug, his eyes twinkling as he rested his socked feet on your coffee table. He looked good relaxing in your home, and it was moments like this that you almost asked him to stay.
“Can I come?” You hesitated.
“That’s why I’m here Doll,” he said squeezing your hand. “I knew you’d maim me if I didn’t bring you along.”
“And you’re in her music video?” You asked as you got comfortable on the sofa next to him. You rested your feet on his lap and he tugged playfully on your toes.
“Yeah, I don’t know much about it, Sam never consults me on stuff like this he just agrees with everything then sends me along,” Bucky said but he wasn’t annoyed. Sam Wilson was an amazing agent and a close personal friend.
“I can’t believe I’m going to meet Sharon Carter, I’m so excited,” you giggled again as you sipped your wine.
—————
The warehouse Bucky pulled up to was a hive of activity; there was so much to see that you almost tripped as you followed him inside.
Sharon was in the middle of it all, a tiny dress and towering heels making her stand out. She looked beautiful and you admired her good looks as you approached.
“You’re late,” Sam grumbled to Bucky.
“Sorry,” Bucky didn’t sound sorry at all. “Almost ran out of hot water.” He winked at you as he spoke and you giggled fondly, thinking back to the extra long shower you had shared.
“You must be Bucky!” It was Sharon making her way over to him, the heels bringing her close to his height.
“At your service,” his big hand dwarfed hers.
“I’m so excited to work with you,” Sharon said with a grin and a flutter of her eyelashes. Their eyes lingered, and Bucky’s lips curved up.
Your heart stuttered, suddenly you regretted being here and seeing this. They clearly had chemistry and you knew that once again you were going to be the girl on the sidelines, quite literally.
“Mr Barnes dressing room is this way,” and just like that he was pulled away with Sharon going back to the set. You hovered next to Sam for a moment feeling ignored and out of place.
“What now?” You asked, trying to cover the wobble in your voice.
“We just watch I guess,” Sam shrugged but he was already tapping furiously on his phone and you stood feeling lost.
—————
In the video, Sharon was to be a ring girl, and Bucky was the boxer. Cliche but believable you guessed, you were sure a few of the notches on his belt came from the scantily clad women who paraded the ring between rounds.
Sharon looked stunning as she posed for the camera, singing and pouting and Bucky looked like he’d already went a few rounds with an opponent. His chest was gleaming, the oil making the black of his tattoos stand out, and his silk shorts matched Sharon’s dress. You had to admit they looked good together. The perfect celebrity couple.
They were having a lot of fun, laughing between takes and sharing smouldering looks when the camera was on them. They shared flirty touches and suggestive smirks.
The video ended with him grabbing her and pulling her into a fiery and passionate kiss. Watching from the sidelines your chest burned, and you could barely look at them together. Everyone around you was discussing their chemistry and how they expected them to be a couple within weeks, how good it would be for the sales of the single, the new album and the upcoming tour.
“He could join her for part of it, come out on stage for this song, be part of the routine,” one of Sharon’s assistants was saying to Sam.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Sam held his hands up but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. He looked at you with a frustrated roll of the eyes and you shrugged sympathetically.
“It’s a wrap!” Someone shouted and you watched Bucky get out of the ring then easily lift Sharon down. He held her hand, pulling her behind him excitedly as they walked over to where you stood clearly eager to introduce you but all you wanted to do was run away and hide. This was turning out to be the worst day of your life.
Bucky introduced Sharon to Sam but she barely looked his way, her eyes on Bucky. And then he pulled her towards you with a pleased grin on his face. “And this is my best friend.”
You heard your name fall from his lips but your ears were too busy ringing with the words “best friend”. Your heart fractured on the spot, you swore you were bleeding out, the damage irreparable. You were his best friend. Nothing more. That was it.
Sharon was looking your way now, her eyes roaming your body critically. You tried to act casual in your favourite faded jeans and scruffy Converse, “You must be a good friend to stand idly by all day doing nothing while Bucky works.”
“She’s the best,” Bucky grinned reaching out to pull you into a side hug, but you flinched away, and his eyes flickered in concern. “Are you ok?” He mouthed and you nodded in response. Luckily he seemed content to drop it.
“I’m going to go change, you’re coming to the party right?” Sharon said to Bucky with a coy smile as she rested her hand on his chest.
“Wouldn’t miss it, you’ll come too won’t you,” Bucky looked at you. You just nodded, not trusting your voice. He had told you to bring along a party dress earlier as you left your place.
“It’ll probably be more standing around for her,” Sharon said pointedly to Bucky.
“Sugarplum is a big fan of yours,” Bucky added. You could hear the fondness in his voice and you wished it meant more.
“Awww that’s cute, explains why you stood around all day waiting for a friend,” she simpered at you. Her smile was forced.
You just nodded in agreement but you liked this woman less and less. In fact you were beginning to hate her.
“Make sure to buy my album, and my single,” she said walking away with a sway to her hips. “I need to pay the bills somehow.”
Her belittling tone reddened your cheeks but Bucky was laughing. You glanced up at him but his face was unreadable as he watched Sharon go. You followed his gaze and couldn’t help but notice how good Sharon looked from behind. Of course he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“It has been a long day for you, let’s get changed and we’ll head to the party yeah?” Bucky’s brilliant blues were back on you. “Have some fun.”
“Sounds good,” you huffed out. He winked and walked off in the direction of the dressing rooms.
—————
The party was in full swing and you were sipping a glass of champagne when Sharon turned up almost two hours late and looking stunning.
You looked down at your dress, a favourite of yours. Bucky had always admired it, teased it went with the carpet in his bedroom. Bucky’s arm was around your waist, his fingers teasing little patterns on your hip as you chatted. You’d almost forgotten your day but with Sharon’s appearance it had all come crashing down.
Sharon made a beeline for Bucky, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from you.
“You don’t mind if I dance with your friend do you?” She called over her shoulder. You shook your head, you had already lost him and you knew it. There was no point in fighting it.
Bucky followed her like a lamb and you drained your glass and turned away from the sight. This would be the last time you were a third wheel or a bit on the side for him.
You loved Bucky you truly did, but you could no longer take the heartbreak. You needed a clean split, you decided or you’d go insane watching him and Sharon together. The best thing you could do now was slip away and let them get to know each other.
At the door you paused and looked back, finding Bucky easily. His eyes were locked on Sharon’s face as they stood at the edge of the dance floor and you turned, leaving the party.
“Heading off?” A voice startled you and you looked up to find Steve, Bucky’s best friend.
“You know what they say, threes a crowd and all that,” you shrugged.
Steve glanced towards Bucky and you saw a small tick in his jaw. He went to step into the party but you placed a hand on his chest. “Can you take me home. I rode with Bucky and I hate taking Ubers alone.”
Still protecting Bucky, his feelings and his reputation even when he’d forgotten about you. You were a fool and you needed to grow up.
By the time you got home you had a plan, and despite how drained you felt you started gathering all the bits and pieces of Bucky that had infiltrated your home.
His spare clothes from your drawers, wash products from the bathroom and books and trinkets that were in the living room all went into a bag. He had protein powders in the kitchen and a leather jacket hung on your coat rack with a pair of boots and trainers below.
It took an hour and afterwards you felt empty. Your home had gaps, you could already see them, but you didn’t have the heart to care so you changed, got into bed hugged your favourite plushie to your chest and pulled your duvet over your head.
—————
Sharon was an asshole, and Bucky regretted introducing you to her.
“I think you’re passing up a great publicity opportunity,” Sharon said. “You’ll not be a boxer forever and besides, it’ll only be short term. A year we’ll be together.”
Bucky examined her, this confident woman who was used to getting what she wanted. “You want us to fake date for a year?” He asked.
Instead of dancing Bucky had pulled her aside to talk, to say thanks but no thanks. Sharon was counter offering his rejection as if this were open for debate.
“No silly we’ll date. We can go on holiday and make public appearances, we’ll be a real couple,” she said slapping his chest. “Have real sex.”
“I don’t think that’s something I want to do,” Bucky said as he removed her hand.
“Think of your future. Your career. I’m about to be in a movie Bucky, I can get you a part and you won’t have to worry about your income drying up when you retire,” Sharon said. “You were a natural in my video.”
“Look, I’m flattered and you’re hot but I don’t feel that way. I love her,” Bucky said. He longed to go back to you, take you home. He was going to tell you tonight.
“Oh please, if you officially date her the press will tear her to shreds. Face it Bucky, she’s punching well above her weight when it comes to you,” Sharon looked into his eyes, searching his face.
“You know, I think she’s stunning. The girl you saw today was the woman I love, she‘s good and kind and I’ve not always been careful of her feelings but listening to you just know I know one thing for certain. There isn’t anyone else I’d rather spend my life with,” Bucky turned but Sharon’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“If she’s such a good friend, then why haven’t you noticed she’s been gone since I arrived? Went off with some tall blond beefcake,” Sharon’s smile was smug.
Bucky frowned. “Beard, long hair, blue eyes?”
Sharon nodded.
“Yeah that’s Sam’s husband Steve,” Bucky said as he headed to where Sam stood talking to a group of girls. “I’m going home Pal.”
“Smartest choice you made since hiring me,” Sam said.
—————
You found sleep impossible but the tears came easy. You laid with the pillow Bucky used last night in your arms and wept bitterly.
You didn’t hear your front door or footsteps coming up your stairs, but the bedroom door squeaked softly as it eased open.
You sat up startled and ready to scream for help and then you recognised the hair and beefy shoulders.
It was Bucky.
“I can’t right now Buck,” you said as you laid down.
“You kicking me out Sugarplum?” Bucky rasped.
Your heart clenched. “I can’t keep doing this,” you admitted.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise,” Bucky said as he stepped into the room. You noticed he’d taken his shoes off.
You smiled sadly. “I guess I was just happy I was getting something, but it’s not enough anymore.”
“I get it,” Bucky said sitting on the edge of the bed. “I realised something else though.”
“Do I want to know?” You whispered, feeling brave. You peered up at him, from this angle he looked tired and you wanted nothing more than to pull him in bedside you.
“I want you to know. Sharon asked me to be her boyfriend, told me her plans for the rest of the year for she and I.”
“Oh,” you bit the inside of your cheek. You didn’t want to know any more and you shifted away but Bucky reached for you.
“She assumed I wouldn’t say no, just like I assume you’ll be there every time I need you,” Bucky’s hand cupped your cheek, his eyes searched yours. “I need you all the damn time Doll.”
“I can’t-“
“I love you, been in love with you since forever, but our lives are so different that I thought you wouldn’t want to be in mine full time,” Bucky searched your face but you were too shocked to respond. “I know I’ll never be good enough but I want a chance to do my best to make you happy.”
“Not good enough?” You sat up. “What in hell gave you that idea?”
He shook his head and it was your turn to cup his cheek. He shook his head again, turning his face into your hand to kiss your wrist and you tabled it for now but you would press this later. You’d never meant to hurt him, you loved him from the moment you met him. “Tell me what you want?”
“I want you on press tours and at training camps and Christ even at shitty promotional activities like music videos for spoiled singers with no manners or respect for their fans.”
“I don’t understand,” you said.
“Marry me,” Bucky said. “Be my wife.”
“Bucky!” You gaped. Bucky took your hands. “We haven’t even- we can’t- I don’t- how?”
“We’ve been doing this dance for years now, pulling away from each other then tumbling back together. When I’m with you it feels right. You treat me good, so damn good and I haven’t always done right by you. That’s going to change.”
You launched yourself into his arms and he laughed as he caught you pressing kissed to your face.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Bucky grinned and rolled you onto your back, his lips attaching to your neck.
“But…” you sighed.
“But? But what? No but’s Baby!”
“But I think we should abstain from sex, until we’re married,” you teased. It started as a joke but the look on Bucky’s face had you giggling internally. “We have a lot of talking to do, years worth to catch up on.”
“You’re right. Let’s talk.”
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Idea of dear @lmn23op tysm 💕 Hope you like it 😊
Maybe having a professor be smitten by Larissa but said professor isn't good with words. So she'll appear as if she's not interested. So confessions will be made by action or lingering touches.
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✨ ̲W̲a̲̲y̲ ̲t̲̲o̲ ̲s̲̲h̲̲y̲ ̲f̲̲o̲̲r̲ ̲t̲̲h̲a̲̲t̲ ✨
Obsessed, yes we'll that was definitely the word to describe your feeling for Larissa Weems because let's be honest, saying you were in love with her was just not enough.
Everytime you were in her presence or just close to her, you looses yourself completely and started freaking out when she addresses you. It was literally like if god wanted you to look like a fool in front of the only person you cared about.
Her voice was so soft, so perfect and you just was getting lost in her deep blue eyes that makes you think about the deep ocean each time. Larissa Weems was just to perfect and you couldn't muster the strength to tell her how you felt.
It wasn't like you haven't tried before, that you did. Perhaps tree or four time already. Yet all of them ended up with you babbling incoherently in front of the women, and your face blushing like a tomato. What a shame really. After all, you were one of Nevermore teacher and normally being able to talk like a grown up human was a qualification needed to be one. Yet it seems like every time you wanted to talk to the blonde it ended up unsuccessful.
That's why at some point you changed your tactic, hoping it would be more successful than the other.
This time, you tried to show her in actions instead of just trying to tell her your feelings with words. After all you always were a tactile person and touch was something you were comfortable with.
So you tried more and more to sit asside of her in meetings and sometimes brush your body with hers or delicately touch her hand like it was a mistake in some occasions. You still was quite shy and overwhelm by her closeness but honestly it was going pretty well compared to the talking...
The most surprising part thought, was the discovery of Larissa not minding them at all. In fact, she quite looked like she liked this new side of your relationship and you were delighted to see her smiled at you more and even sometime instigate the touch. Those occasions were making your stomach flip and butterfly start a waltz in you.
After a little while of executing your plans in the moments you could find yourself in the blonde compagnie. You start finding them not enough, so you started to write short anonym love message that you attached to flowed you bought for her. Then you asked the flower delivery guy to ship them in her office.
It was cliche yes but since writing was much easier that talking in your case, you found it a good alternative. The only sad part about this stratagem, was the fact you wouldn't be able to see her face when she received the flower of read the message.
It made you sad to be fair, after all you were convinced that the principal would have been a sight and you could only imagine the surprise and the happiness on her face.
You'll have to wait until and hope she talks about it you supposed.
Yet, you didn't.
Because the next morning, you received a email on your laptop asking you to meet her in her office. You felt your heart hammering in your chest and you stopped breathing for a moment.
Did the flower guy turn you over ? I mean she couldn't be summoning you for fun could she...
Anyhow, even if you were absolutely terrified and expecting the worst you found the courage in you to walk to her office in time and knock on the door. The other side of it, you heard Larissa's perfect voice asking you to come in and you didn't wait for a second demand to do so.
You then entered and walked to her desk stopping yourself in front of it, your head falling to the ground and your fingers played with nervously.
That's when Larissa's eyes fell on you and she smiled delicately.
Not that you saw anyway since you were way to concerned about it all to look in her eyes.
The tall blonde after over a minute of observing you, stood up from behind her desk and took the poem you had written in between her fingers. Then, with her cheeks becoming a little bit pink, Larissa walked around her desk and ended up just asside of you, taking your chin with her free hands delicately.
Darling look at me please.
A shaky breath left your lips at her command before you raised your eyes to hers obediently.
The women you loved so much in front of you smiled at that, before delicately caressing your face with her fingers.
I received a letter this morning that was accompanied with my favorite flowers.
The beautiful poem wasn't signed sadly. I've been thinking about who this mysterious sender could be all morning and honestly at first I wasn't sure. But then, I looked at the hand writing and found that it looked quite alike one of my favorite teacher...
That was it, you were screwed she knew you were the one that wrote it and you couldn't help thinking that you might get fired for that. Then, there was a part of her word that flashed back in your thoughts.
Favorite teacher...
After reading that, I allowed myself to have some hope...that maybe my feelings could be reciprocated... y/n. Did you send it to me...
You were completely stunned, you had no words and you didn't know what to do. Did she just say reciprocate feelings... was she implying that she had feelings for you. No it couldn't be real right? But... at the same time she was quite clear about her words.
Your lips were half open and you stood dumbfounded in front of the poor Larissa that seemed to start worrying she might have been wrong about the person that wrote the poem.
You wanted to answer her, you really did but when you found the courage to do so and confess, the only thing that came out of your mouth was...
I euuuu I'm...humm I mhh... and then you started blushing in pure shame, hiding your face with your hands.
Larissa at first looked at you with surprise, then when she realised how dumb you were in her presence she just giggle and bit her bottom lip. Her eyes were still on you and she couldn't help but feel special to be able to make you fell like that.
Awn darling, it's ok don't be shy I'm not mad I promesse. I actually think it's quite...adorable.
You heard her words and her little giggle and then let your hands fall down a little just to allow your eyes to look at her for an instant. Then, when you saw how full of love her look was when observing you, they fell down completely and you blush even more.
You didn't wished to speak again after that, not feeling like making yourself look like a fool again. So you went with what you knew best and brought yourself closer to the blonde. Then, you took her hand in yours and kissed the top lovingly while looking Larissa directly in the eyes. Then you continued up her wrist and arms before you layed a last kiss to her cheek.
This time it was the tall blonde's time to blush and she sent a loving smiled your way, making your heart tighten in your chest.
So it really was you sweetheart...
You nod at her statement with a loving smile on your lips tightening your hand on hers.
Happiness flood on the tall women's face when she realised her feeling were reciprocated and she lowered herself at your level a smirk on her lips. She waited for you to do the next step and you did, crashing your lips on hers without a second thought.
You moaned in the kiss, your hand tangling in her hair that was loose today.
Larissa on end, sight happily before picking you up in her arm and hugging you to her. She layed multitude of kisses to your face, making you giggle and wrap your arms around her neck happily.
I love you Larissa sayed to you with a last kiss to your cheek before you whispered it back to her with a timid voice.
I love you to.
Finally.
You said it.
Without stuttering! Well, now that you had made the move that was so hard to do maybe things would be different when you tell her next time. Because their was no way this kiss was the last.
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all-the-things-2020 · 8 months
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Late Night Talking
A Dieter Bravo x OFC fic
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Notes: Title comes from the Harry Styles song. I heard it on the radio one day and the line “Now you’re in my life, I can’t get you off my mind” just screamed Dieter to me.
My Dieter is (mostly) sober and trying to put his life and career back together after hitting the bottom during the filming of Cliff Beasts 6. He is still a menace but he’s working on it. There will be comedy, angst, fluff and possibly some smut (not sure how explicit my narrator will get).
Narrator is an original female character loosely based on myself. She is around Dieter’s age, not thin, and introverted. He turns her life upside down and she’s not quite prepared for it.
Tagging @rhoorl because her Dieter in “Working Title” inspired me to start this fic!
Chapter One below the cut
I met him in a bookshop, of all places. Not exactly the environment you’d expect, but sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. Bookshops are one of the few places I frequented where it’s even remotely possible to meet a man. I’ve never liked bars or clubs; too noisy, too many creeps trying to be charming and getting too hands. As an introvert, I prefer quieter surroundings, like bookshops, museums, and botanical gardens. Not exactly hot spots for single guys, but I wasn’t trying to meet anyone. I was always open to whatever might happen, though.
I was in The Last Bookstore in downtown L.A. It was the first day of my summer break and I’d challenged myself to get out of my box a little and do things I’d never done before. I’d taken the train into the city, which I’d never done by myself. Of course, once I got into L.A., I ended up in my preferred habitat, surrounded by books.
I had spotted a book on my to-be-read list on the top shelf. Being petite (the polite way of saying I was short), I couldn’t quite reach it. I was debating whether the shelves were structurally sound enough for me to try standing on the bottom shelf to reach it when I heard a low, warm voice behind me say, “Let me.”
An arm reached up, easily plucking the book off the shelf and handing it to me. “Good choice,” the voice said. “That’s one of my favorites.”
I knew that voice. Turning to see the man who stood next to me, my suspicions were confirmed. It was Dieter Bravo. He was wearing a baggy gray t-shirt, a well-worn pair of jeans and some god-awful Crocs that had seen better days. His hair looked like he’d forgotten to comb it that morning and his scruffy beard and mustache could use a trim. But he was wearing glasses and his deep brown eyes were looking directly into mine, so that was all I saw.
“Thanks,” I managed to say, hoping I wasn’t blushing or anything ridiculous like that.
“No worries,” he said with a smile. He indicated the small stack of books in my hands with his chin. “You’ve got good taste.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks,” I said. Real smooth, doofus, I told myself. I tried to start over. “I read a ton of YA for work, so I’m trying to read more ‘grown-up’ stuff during the summer.”
He leaned against the bookshelf, his broad shoulders blocking the aisle. “YA?,” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Young Adult,” I explained. “I work in a high school library. A lot of it is really good, but after nine or ten months of dystopian love triangles and hot werewolves and teenagers with weird diseases falling in love, I find myself craving something more substantial.”
He smiled again. “I can imagine,” he said. “So, a librarian, huh? Oh, I’m Dieter, by the way.” He held out his hand and I shook it. It was huge and warm and made my knees melt.
“Um, yeah, I know,” I stammered. “I recognized you. I’m, ha, a big fan of your work.” I felt like a complete idiot as I stumbled over my words. “I’m Emily.”
“Well, Emily, this might be a dumb question, considering your line of work, but do you come here often?” He chuckled as he seemed to realize how cliched his questions was.
“Actually, this is my first time here,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to visit this shop, I never got around to it. I live out in the boondocks, so I don’t get into L.A. very often.”
“It’s great,” he said. “I don’t get here very often, though. Always too busy, it seems.”
We chatted for a bit, about the books we were buying, and favorites we’d both read (and made a few recommendations to each other when we mentioned titles the other hadn’t read). Then the conversation turned back to bookshops.
“I usually end up at Barnes & Noble,” I admitted. “There’s a good indie bookseller in Riverside, but it’s kind of small. My absolute favorite bookshop is Vroman’s in Pasadena. I don’t get there as often as I’d like, though.”
“Vroman’s,” he said, wrinkling his forehead. “I think I’ve heard of it but I’ve never been there.”
“Oh, you should go!” I said. I loved talking about my favorite bookshop and started rattling on. “They have all kinds of great stuff besides books. Plus a wine bar.”
“Whoa, books and booze? Sign me up.” He smiled that radiant smile I’d seen in a million photos, the one that always made me feel funny inside.
“Then you should definitely go.”
“Is that an invitation?”
I was stunned, but managed to speak without stumbling too much over the words. “Sure, why not?” Holy crap, he’s flirting with me!
Dieter pulled out his phone. “Let’s see,” he said, scrolling through the phone. “Um, I’m free Friday evening. I have a meeting at two, but I should be out of there by four at the latest. It’s in Burbank, I can probably make it to Pasadena by five, if that works for you?”
My tongue felt like it was swollen to twice its normal size. Was he actually asking me out? Or had I accidentally asked him? “Um, yeah,” I stammered. “Friday’s good, yeah.”
“Okay, then.” He tapped away at his phone and then slipped it back into his pocket. “It’s a date. Friday, five o’clock, Vroman’s.” He winked and now I knew I was blushing like a fool. He glanced at his wristwatch. “I have a meeting with my agent in an hour, so I’d better go pay for these and get going.” He pulled his phone back out and opened up the Contacts app. “Here,” he said, handing the phone to me. “Put in your number.”
I did and handed the phone back to him. He put it back in his pocket (oh, how I tried not to look too closely at that pocket, afraid he’d think I was checking out his crotch), then held out his hand again, wiggling his fingers. “Your phone?”
“Oh, yeah.” I pulled my own phone out of my purse and handed it to him. He opened my Contacts app and typed in his name and number. As he handed it back to me, our fingers brushed against each other and he smiled.
“See you Friday.” He turned and walked away, heading for the cash registers on the ground floor. I stood in the aisle for several minutes, staring at my phone. I had a date with Dieter fucking Bravo, and he’d given me his phone number.
I waited until he’d left the store, then went to the register myself. “Hey, you just missed Dieter Bravo,” the clerk said. “I got his autograph.”
I got his phone number, I wanted to say, but I didn’t. The kid behind the counter was thrilled to have had an encounter with a celebrity; he didn’t need me rubbing his nose in my good fortune. That didn’t keep me from texting my best friend Sam once I was back on the train headed for the IE. We’d been friends in elementary school before her family moved back East the summer before junior high. We’d kept in touch over the years, first by letters and now by text and Facebook.
<Went to downtown L.A. today. You’ll never guess who I ran into>
&lt;somebody I know?>
<Dieter Bravo>
&lt;Get out! Where were you?>
<The Last Bookstore, really cool shop.>
&lt;Were you cool about it? Please tell me you were cool about it>
<As cool as I could be, lol. Must have done okay. We have a date Friday night>
Sam replied with a string of emojis and punctuation marks. &lt;Don’t fuck with me, Em. It’s not funny>
<Totally serious. I have his phone number and everything.>
I clicked over to my Contacts and stared at the screen. The name “DB❤️” stared back at me. It was real.
<I want details!>
I sketched out the encounter for her.
&lt;You’re living in a rom com, I swear. But be careful. Heard he’s a bit of a wild child. Make him wear a condom. You don’t know where he’s been>
<Shut up. I’m not going to sleep with him on the first date. Eww.>
&lt;I know, you’re Miss Sensible Shoes. LOL>
It was joke between us that Sam had grown up to love wearing stiletto heels and clubbing while I preferred flats and quiet evenings. We always said it was a good thing we lived so far apart or we’d never have remained friends. And yet Sam was the one who was married with three kids and a job in finance, while I was still unattached and basically living paycheck to paycheck.
<I’ll tell you all about the date, I promise. Luv u>
I put away my phone and stared out the window, watching the backyards and alleys of Southern California flash by. What a world, where I woke up in my tiny condo thinking the highlight of my day would be a new book and lunch at Olvera Strett, and now I had a date with a famous actor. Only in L.A. I mused. It really is La La Land.
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Hii hope all is well 💜. Can I please request Jack Sparrow being in love headcanon? Thanks if approved! 😊
Hello dear 💖, thanks for your request.
Jack sparrow being in love 😍
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This wasn't planned, nor thought out in any sense of emotions.
Jack being in love was something rare.
Sparrow had his ways with women. A corsair of the buccaneers, a Casanova of the seven seas.
Jack had many admirers and lovers; angelica, giselle, and scarlett, esmerelda, even Tia Dalma at one point.
Jack avoided you, and he deceived you. He didn't want to believe he was in love, such a cliche thing, really. A pirate falling for a woman/man/person and they live happily ever after on the pearl.
Jack sparrow hid in the most unusual places, even when you weren't expecting it.
Jack spent nights in tortuga ravishing himself with pretty wenches to take his mind off. But even then, when he came lip to lip with them, he didn't kiss them. Instead his mind thought of you.
He couldn't be in love, he didn't want to. He valued the freedom and the sea. He was committed to the sea and his ship.
Jack spent his days trying to figure out what his feelings were, why he valued you, or rather felt the "weird things" when you were around.
One night Master Gibbs was out with his bottle of rum "a yo ho ho, a pirate's life fo-".
"Psssst, Matser Gibbs" Jack whispered.
"Cap'n, be tha yer? Where ar' yer" Gibbs looked around the main deck.
Master Gibbs walked up to a bunch of cargo with a big barrell.
Gibbs looked inside the barrell to see Jack, hidden inside.
"Did they see me?" Jack's pupils turned left and right.
"What's wrong Jack, why ar' ya hidin', who ar' ya hiding from" Gibbs asked.
"Is it tha' kraken? As Jones spotted our ship, Gibbs looked worriedly.
"No mate, even worse than that," Jack stood up from the barrell.
"Her?/him?/them?" He whispered.
"Her?/him?/them?" Gibbs replied.
"The lass/lad/y/n," Jack muttered.
"The lass?/the lad?/y/n?" Gibbs questioned further.
Gibbs soon caught on to who Jack meant. "Ye mean, y/n, the landlubber."
"Ohhh, ar' they a spy from tha navy." Gibbs tried to realise,"I knew it, Jack, tha's why I said I didn't trust them from the moment they first docked."
"I've been having these," he gestures with his hands. "Things."
"Wha-what sort o' thins, ave' ye caught scurvy?" Gibbs still couldn't make sense of what Jack meant.
"You know, things, things that make you feel... funny," he couldn't make into words. How could he? It's not like Jack's ever felt this way before.
"So yer feel funny when ye see--ohhh Jack" Gibbs realised finally what was going on.
"Are ye, in love?" Gibbs smiled. "Aye I remember the first time I be tha way, and let me tell yer, she was a fine lass, one I couldn't forget".
"Turned out tha next mornin', I couldnt find er'-- or rather, she wasn't even human, Aye, Turned out ta be but a sack o' oranges" Gibbs rambled about his drunken tale.
Jack got out of the barrell and took Master Gibbs's rum and swung it down his gullet.
"Aye, I remembered that, bieleved that sack was named sally or martha, hm, also that night I do recall nearly losing a finger or two from that wager, was worth it though, got that map in the end" Jack explained.
"Aye, Is that how we ended up cursed" Gibbs leaned against the big oak railing of the main deck.
"The pearl's already cursed mate, I'm just the captain of it" Jack threw the rum over board.
"So whaddya gonna tell er/im/em then" Master Gibbs asked.
"I'll do em one better, ill set them off at some fancy port and they can tell their friends of how a devlelish, delightful captain Jack Sparrow saved them from the clutches of a bunch of rutheless scoundrels" Jack agreed.
"Now that sounds like a tale to behold, don't it?" Jack smiled.
"Jack, ye can't just abandon tha poor thing" Gibbs sympathised.
"Ye did that already--on an island" Gibbs recalled.
"Jack" a woman/man/person called from the distance.
Jack gestured with his hands for Gibbs to move.
"You never saw me, savvy?" Jack scurried away.
Jack would be like this for a while but eventually you would confront him about why he was acting strang-er.
Jack would come clean and admit "the world's a funny place innit darlin, things I can't explain between you and I, happens from me always wondering about you, wondering in Tortuga, wondering when I drink rum, wondering about these...things". He continued with a smile, "Things for you mate".
"Hm, does sound a bit cliche to say 'I love you' don't it" Jack places his first finger on his chin.
Jack leaned toward you "Hmmm, how about rather, your enduring, I can't figure out why I'm besotted to you"
"Suppose it ain't gonna sound cliche to say--" he admitted. "I loved you mate, I always have, I always will".
You blushed with astonishment. You had no idea yet it made sense for Jack's behaviour recently.
You could kiss him, and that would be that. You could marry him, and that's the end of your love story. You could sail with him, entailing the fantasy of many countless women, men, or anyone with pirates--or--rather.
You chose to endure the freedom as Jack did, being two souls that understood each other when no one else did.
A rather more passionate romance then the tales of Will and Elizabeth.
Jack was no fool when he was in love. A legendary captain like him would grant you protection.
Though for Jack, would it truly be the end? No, of course not, it only means another chapter is written in the tales of the captain.
Anyways that's all I have for now:
Ta Ta ✨️
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heyidkyay · 2 years
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Just wondering if you would ever consider writing a Matty fic where he falls in love with a fan in the audience of a show? Maybe he writes songs about it all? It’s very cliche but man does it pull on my heart strings, the Cinderella of it all. Getting swept up into his life like that would be so romantic.
Tag along |
Part one
Strayed a little but it’s still very much fluff filled, maybe not what you’d first expect? Idk, that sounds strange but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Thank you for the prompt!<3
Part Two
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--
It was official. 
After days of relentless pleading and having been so blatantly coerced into it by my mum and younger sister, I’d finally relented and given in to attending the concert. And I sort of hated myself for it. Strange, I know, but now I had no choice but to see some fuck-off band- I’d never even heard of- with my teenage sister and her best mate, who were practically mad about them. 
I mean, I love the girls, I truly do. With all my heart. But having to spend an entire evening with them, surrounded by a thousand other screaming fans, just wasn’t something I was looking too forward to.
And who could honestly blame me? 
You see, it had all begun earlier that same week. I’d been on my lunch break, grateful to have just a minute to myself, when my mum had called. We’d gone through the motions, happy to catch up; she told me the gossip whirling round back home (next door were back to rowing again and Tracey in the post office had fallen pregnant for the seventh time); she’d asked after me, like she always did, questioned if I was eating enough, sleeping alright, if I’d met anyone new…
My mum and I had always been pretty close. She’d had me young, I was her first baby- something she never failed to remind me of- and we’d sort of grown up together. Seeing as how my father (nickname: The Sperm-Doner- yes, the caps were necessary) had gone and fallen into all kinds of shit and ultimately decided to fuck off when things had gotten too real. She was my rock, the one person I could count on to defend my corner, and always believed in everything I ever set my mind to.
It had been hard on the both of us when I’d left home, especially seeing as I was now a couple dozen cities away. But life continued on and we adapted, I went back to visit as much as I possibly could, and called whenever I had the time. Even though in moments when all I really needed was a good hug from her, it was easy to remember what I was doing this all for, and that my family was only a train journey away. They were a constant, even if they lived a couple hundred miles from me.
So she had phoned, I’d immediately noticed the stress which underlined her tone and I’d asked what was up. She’d danced around the topic as much as she could- she hated asking for things, ‘that’s my job,’ she liked to reiterate whenever something occurred and I tried to help out. But I’d dragged it out of her in the end. And oh how I now wished that I’d just left it.
Because here I was, stood in the freezing cold, outside of the O2 arena, in a line full of a couple hundred other excited fans who were all waiting eagerly for the gates to open. 
The two girls were squirming beside me, so ecstatic you’d have thought that I’d gone and laced their drinks with something other than sugar, jumping all about the place whilst they squealed to one another in such a high pitched tone that anyone else would’ve believed that they were conversing in another language all together. 
It was amusing to a point, because I could honestly recall the same euphoric high I’d felt when I’d finally gotten tickets to an Arctic Monkeys gig almost a decade ago now. 
Internally I winced as the memory drifted to the forefront of my mind, feeling far too old for my twenty-three years.
But I could also admit that I was honestly in a tad bit of a mood, had been for the last half hour or so, because I truly fucking hated the cold. And right now? It was baltic and I was freezing my tits off. 
I’d already buried my face into the opening of the leather jacket I’d thrown on that morning and wrapped my arms around my torso to enclose some of my remaining heat, but it was of little use. I was still shivering away with a frown.
I’d gotten a couple of lingering looks whilst here, something I’d noticed but could’ve cared less about. It was far too cold to be stood about waiting in any sort of line, so they could all excuse me for not being overly delighted with the whole ordeal.
I sighed and peered down at my phone screen, glancing at the time, then double checked my pockets for the tickets I’d been handed on arrival and told to guard with my life. 
It was probably the twentieth time I’d done so, because who in their right mind would give me, of all people, something important to look after? I was the least irresponsible person I knew when it came to being organised. 
Because listen, I could get anywhere on time, I was insanely good at that- a job interview, an airport, a school play… But nine times out of ten, I’d almost always forget the one thing I’d needed most. My resume, everybody’s passports, the wig I’d worn one halloween and promised to my younger brother so that he could complete his costume in time for his class assembly…
Yeah, so I was a bit of a mess. But who wasn’t?
Albeit saying that, I had ultimately been the one to score these tickets. My mum and step-dad had gifted them to my younger sister as an early Christmas present after she’d literally begged for months on end during the lead up to the drop of the presale.
It had just been the three of us, all sat down in the family living room, back home up north, earlier this year. We’d counted down the minutes, a dozen devices in hand and at the ready, and it had been something short of a miracle, in all truth. 
The website had crashed a couple times, my step-dad’s phone had died, and then my laptop had quickly followed. The dog had knocked over a freshly made brew and almost pissed itself. And then the postman had scared the absolute life out of us when he’d knocked on the front door. 
So to say that we had all breathed in sudden relief when I’d loudly announced that I’d managed it, was a MASSIVE understatement.
Note. The worst part to seeing your favourite band live; Ticketmaster.
Even the thought of doing it again had me riddled with anxiety. I shivered involuntary, whether it was from the mere idea of it, or the cold, I’d never know.
But being stood here now, I was cursing myself for having been the one to officially bag the stupid things. I sighed inwardly, if only I wasn’t such a brilliant, caring and amazing older sister. But it was a hard life, I supposed. 
“I’m so excited!” My sister, Rosie, squealed, drawing me from my thoughts. She’d gripped onto Tea’s arm in her sudden bout of elation, and the two shared a maddening grin. The other girl didn’t seem to mind the tight grip her best friend held, and so I figured it was probably down to the anticipation of it all- or the fact that it was still so bloody cold.
The thing about Rosie and Tea was, they had been as thick as thieves for as long as I could remember. There’d never been one without the other, and so it was sweet to see the pair looking so forward to something like this, something which they both shared such an obvious love for. 
“I know!” Tea breathed dramatically, looking a little flushed, “I want to meet them so bad, it actually hurts.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the pair, in good fun of course, because they were both so adorably obsessed. 
Oh, to be a teen again. 
“You two are really looking forward to this,” I commented with a light chuckle, watching on as the two girls danced around happily in the small section we’d claimed. “I just don’t get it.”
Once those words had left my lips, I instantly regretted it. Having been met with the deathly glare of two teenage girls was not something I’d offer up to just anyone. 
“Are you serious?” My sister outrightly demanded, staring up at me with a face of utter bewilderment. Scarily, she looked a lot like our mum in that moment. “They’re The 1975, Y/n. They’re- incredible! You must have heard at least one of their songs!”
Tea nodded her head alongside Rosie, bobbing up and down in agreement.
I simply shrugged at the pair of them, finding amusement in their infatuation. “Can’t say that I have, Ro.”
“But, Y/n/n, you love bands! Music in general- I’d bet my whole vinyl collection that you’ll love them too!” Rosie stressed, she then smiled brightly up at me when I merely quirked a brow in retort. I dug my hands deeper into my pockets.
“I like bands, yeah. Band’s like The Stone Roses, The Kooks, Joy Division… The type that make music for music’s sake, you know? Not the kind that strive to get on the top ten, babe.”
I shook my head fondly at the two. 
This band they were so enamoured by were probably just as decent as they claimed, and I could admit that simply because, well, they’d have to be to have all these crazy fans gathered in one place. But they just weren’t my cup of tea.
Ooh, talking of tea, I was proper gagging for one. I’d yet to have my daily fix, and after having been rudely rushed out of my flat early this morning, I’d been unable to stop off at any sort of coffee shop on the way over in fear of losing a spot in line.
The two teens rolled their eyes at me, and my forehead pinched when my sister pulled out a pair of headphones and all but shoved them into my ears. “Look, just listen, okay?”
I reeled back in alarm, having not expected the sudden ambush. “Christ, Ro!” I exclaimed, but the girl only huffed at me before turning to press play on her phone. She gave me a stern look. I relented.
At first, I couldn’t hear anything but the slow intro to an unfamiliar song- even with the swarm of fans gathered around me. But I continued to listen, honing in on the tempo and its melody. And as the song went on, I begun to understand why so many people enjoyed it. The lyrics, although a bit out there and entertainingly vulgar at parts, were smart and witty, they fell with the instrumental perfectly and the singer’s voice was pretty different to what I’d first expected. It made me want to really listen, to follow along, to understand the backstory.
Honestly, they weren’t half as terrible as I’d first believed. And once the outro had faded out, I actually felt a little conflicted. The song obviously had a much deeper meaning to it, but its instrumental made it so lively and energetic that I’d found myself bobbing along almost subconsciously. It was something I could see myself getting lost in, and I wondered whether or not they’d made anything more raw, or emotional.
The songwriter was definitely talented, I couldn’t deny that, they’d had gone through some shit, and I found myself longing to read deeper into their words.
“They’re sick, right?” 
The headphones being ripped out of my ears brought me back to the present and I blinked slowly at my sister’s question.
“Yeah.” I shrugged a shoulder, handing over the wire. “Yeah, they’re alright. Can sort of see why you two like them so much.”
I laughed to myself when the girls faces lit up. 
“They’re amazing! And you’ll so enjoy this show- as well as the boys! They’re proper nice deep down, like really care about us as fans and all that.” Tea encouraged, seemingly quite happy that I hadn’t just gone and shit all over her favourite band. 
“Yeah, they’re so lovely, Y/n!” Rosie added, eyes alive as she barrelled on to explain further, “There’s four of them, right? First, we have Adam, he plays the guitar mainly- blonde, tall, only one who’s started his own little family. And then there’s Ross and George-”
“Ross is on bass, long haired with a beard, whilst George plays the drums.” Tea weighed in, before Rosie was back to chattering away again.
I was honestly beginning to feel as though I was watching an extreme game of tennis with the way my attention kept batting back and forth between them.
“Tea’s obsessed with him.” Rosie felt the need to inform me, before her face immediately brightened, “Oh, and then there’s Matty of course!”
My sister was wearing one of the biggest grins I’d ever witnessed on any singular person and I snorted when Tea rolled her eyes and made a slight dig, “You can see who Ro’s claimed.”
“Hardy har.” Rosie deadpanned, jutting a light elbow into her friend’s side before she gave me a serious look, “I haven’t ‘claimed’ him. I just…”
“You just want to have his children. Yeah, I know, Rose. You never fail to not mention it.”
Rosie stuck her tongue out in retort whilst I tried to bite back my rising amusement when they continued to bicker. The two made a right pair.
“So, what’s this Matty like then?” I questioned, wanting to know a little bit more about the guy who’d caught my sister’s eye, but mainly just eager to poke a bit more fun at her. “Come on, what’s so great about him that you’ve gone and dubbed yourself a tribute to birth his prodigy spawn?”
The girls wrinkled their noses at me, Rosie’s upper lip curled in faint disgust. “Why’ve you gotta word it like that?” She scoffed, shaking her head at me.
I chuckled, shrugging a singular shoulder. “Because I live to annoy you. So, are you gonna tell me or do I have to ask about?”
I made the effort then to pretend as though I was about to disrupt the group behind us’s conversation, but the girls were quick to waylay me, jumping hastily to grab at my outstretched hand. I smirked.
“Stop it!” Rosie all but hissed, her worried eyes flicking back over towards the people beside us before falling on me again, this time they were slitted. “God, you’re so embarrassing.”
Me, embarrassing? Hah. She should be thankful that I knew when to stop. I could still vividly recall the days when my mum had attempted the same shit with me, except she’s the type to actually follow through, leaving her daughter to stand sheepishly behind her, internally cursing the day her mother had decided to forgo an abortion. Dark, yes, but I’d also been a hormonal fifteen year old girl, so sue me.
I rolled my eyes instead of voicing this though, knowing it would only go in one ear and out the other. And ultimately, my sister sighed allowing me to prompt her on further with the rise of my brows.
“Matty, he’s the frontman basically.” She said, back to talking with her hands, forgetting about the whole ordeal.
That made sense, I thought to myself, although I’d always been a drummer sort of girl. Helders, Taylor, Fleetwood, Bonham, Moretti… I could go on.
No honestly, I could, so I was just glad that Rosie chose that moment to stop me.
“He’s a proper performer, you know? Like he just belongs up there, on stage.” My sister breathed, and she wore the sweetest look of admiration on her face. “He’s got this mop of messy black curls and he’s covered in tattoos. Wears all this cool shit and he’s-”
“-also a bit of an arsehole.” Tea summarised for her, before Rosie could get too carried away. 
I blinked at my sister’s best friend in surprise, before a loud laugh bubbled out of me. 
In all the years I’d known this girl, this deceivingly sweet girl, not once- once, I stress!- had I ever heard something so shameless spill from out her mouth, and with the exasperated look she had paired with it, I couldn’t hold in my delight.
“Tea!” I exclaimed, and was so tickled to see the younger girl’s cheeks redden when she turned to give me a sheepish sort of smile. “How crass! I always thought it was Rosie who’d been the bad influence between the pair of you, but now I see quite a few secrets are coming to light tonight.”
Rosie snorted in reply, “She’s done worse. Trust me.”
Tea swatted at my sister’s arm upon hearing that, widening her eyes in a silent warning.
“Oh, come off it.” Rosie waved away with a roll of her eyes. “It’s just Y/n.”
I decided to leave off of the teasing, feeling a bit bad for embarrassing the younger girl. “Yeah, I’m just messing, lovie.” I told Tea with a soft smile as I draped an arm over her shoulders to draw her in for a hug. “You can relax, nothing that happens tonight will be getting back to your mum, alright?”
“Yeah, ‘cause we all know what she’s like.” Rosie tittered under her breath and I slapped lightly at her bicep to scold her. “What?” The girl exaggerated with a high-pitched drawl, rubbing at her arm with a narrowed eyed glare that was directed towards both Tea and I. “I was just saying! And what’s with you two and smacking me about today?”
Tea giggled and I squeezed her lightly before letting go.
“Don’t talk about things that have nothing to do with you.” I told my sister simply, “Freya’s a perfectly lovely woman, just a tad…”
“Insane?” Rosie offered, at the same time Tea said, “Extreme.”
“Eccentric- was what I was going to say.” I shook my head at the duo. “Honestly, the two of you.”
The girls only laughed. 
The line started to move a little while later, slowly mind, but it was a progress I was grateful to see. 
Anything to get out of this chilly wind in truth. 
And as we waddled along, the two teens I was with continued to speak of the band, trying to catch me up on anything and everything I’d missed before the show officially started.
Not that it helped at all. I was beyond crap when it came to things like that- recalling anything trivial- I could hardly even remember the band’s actual name and it was plastered practically everywhere around me. As well as this big box thing. 
I breathed out a loud sigh of relief when I realised that we were up next, and when we were signalled over towards the gates by one of the arenas guards I could see just how nervous Rosie and Tea had grown, giddy but mostly eager to just get inside. I couldn’t help the fond smile which limned my lips then, happy to see them so excited.
“You three.” A large man, branded in a security uniform, called, jerking his head over at us. I heard the girls take a deep breath as we approached and I quietly chuckled at them. “Tickets?” He stated. 
Oh shit, yeah. The tickets.
“Tickets…” I murmured quietly to myself, patting down my pockets to find them, “Tickets, tickets, tickets…”
I could feel the apprehension radiating off of my younger sister as I continued to riffle around for the poxy things, and so I flashed the bloke a wry smile before I started to unload the contents of my jacket pockets into both Rosie and Tea’s hands...
Gum, house keys, a stray tampon. Pack of haribo (because you never knew when you’d need those), ID, bank card, phone, charger. A few spare pound coins-
Oh God, that was where my Argos receipt had got to! I could finally return that shitty Nespresso machine my cousin and her fiancé had talked me into buying now.
I grinned in quiet victory whilst tucking the slip into the back pocket of my trousers.
“Y/n.” My sister stressed out in a hushed whisper, I just simply waved her off.
“They’re here somewhere. I felt them like, twenty minutes ago.” I assured her and- “Aha, told you! Three tickets, all here!”
I wore a triumphant grin when I held out the wrinkled papers towards the guard, who appeared to have been throughly amused by my prolonged charade. He took them from me to scan with a toothy smile.
“Oh cheer up, we’ll be in there in a sec.” I huffed at the girls, tucking all of my belongings back into their rightful place. Rosie didn’t look too cheerful though, but I could see that Tea’s lips had started to twitch, so I have her a conspiratorial wink in turn. Then glanced back towards the bloke, “We all good here?”
“Yeah, all good, love.” He exhaled on a faint chuckle, waving us in through the barrier without further issue. “You girls enjoy your night.”
“We will!” I promised, gifting him a gleeful smile, “You too- hope you don’t have to spend too much longer out in that cold!”
He just nodded at me, still looking rather entertained by all our antics.
“So embarrassing.” My sister felt the need to reiterate as we wondered further into the arena, practically growling.
“Oh, loosen up, would you? He was proper nice about it all. Fit too, don’t you think?” I said, glancing back over my shoulder.
But Rosie just rolled her eyes at me. Fed up, I was about to bite back at her when Tea’s unexpected gasp broke us from our little quarrel.
“Oh my god. They have the limited edition LP!”
Rosie’s eyes widened dramatically and before I knew it the two were scurrying away from me and over towards the merch stand. I sighed to myself and glanced about, hoping to see a sign that would lead me to where the bar might be.
We were here. In the middle of a fucking mass of people, but we’d actually done it. We’d finally managed to swindle our way near the front of standing, practically touching the barriers, even after having loaded up on snacks and drinks- mine mostly alcoholic.
The girls were buzzing. Looking all cute and excited in the outfits they’d planned months in advance, singing along to the set that was playing through the speakers to keep the crowd entertained before things begun.
And me? I was getting swept up in the atmosphere. Unable to believe that I’d almost forgotten how good it all felt. Because live music was truly unmatched.
There was just something about the heavy thud you felt in your veins, how being this close to the amps could make your chest ache in the very best way, and how’d you’d have to scream just to be heard over all the noise whilst you got lost in an avalanche of happy people. 
It really had been too long.
I was already a fair few drinks in by the time the opening act came out, and was chatting away to the couple crowded beside us. They were both a year older than me and studying down in Bournemouth. They’d bought their tickets off of a mate, who hadn’t been able to make it, on a whim when they’d had the cash to spare, and had decided to make a weekend out of it. 
We’d actually only gotten to talking when they’d almost sloshed a canned cocktail all down my back. 
I’d been startled at first, rightfully so, as this giant of a man had all but stumbled right into me, eyes as wide as saucers. His boyfriend had come to his rescue though, offered me up one in apology, and who would I have been to deny? 
So I’d cracked it open, found myself pleasantly surprised by the taste, and one thing had quickly led to another and they’d ended up letting me share the bagged vodka they’d also managed to smuggle into the stadium in the bands of their socks.
To say that I’d been impressed wouldn’t have been a lie, I sort of felt like I’d found my people in truth. Because the price of alcohol at these kind of events was always extortionate. Practically daylight robbery, there was no other way about it.
And my bank account had taken quite the hit from the first trip to the stands alone. And with two teenage girls, who could care less about money unless it was their own, I’d almost wanted to shed a tear when I’d handed over my card to the boy behind the till- he’d sympathised with me, I’d seen it in his eyes as he wished us a good time.
So here I now was, pissing it up in the pit with a bunch of strangers, a medical bag full of spirits clutched tightly in one hand. 
“Oh, God! Y/n, Y/n! It’s starting!”
I turned away from one of the boys to glance back towards my sister, who was staring up at the stage with this starry eyed expression, Tea was right beside her wearing the exact same face. I chuckled beneath my breath.
“You girls ever been to a show before?” Lewis, one half of the couple I’d met earlier, asked Rosie.
My sister shook her head at his question whilst the screens above us begun to distort and screams overwhelmed the arena. Lewis merely chuckled at Rosie's nonverbal reply, she only had eyes for the stage it seemed. 
“It’s her first gig ever. She’s been dying to see these lot for years.” I answered for her, leaning in close so that he could hear.
I saw his eyebrows lift at the information before he was grinning against my ear. “She’ll never want to see anyone else after this!”
My forehead pinched, silently questioning his statement, but just laughed it off when a row of boxes flashed brightly above us.
Lewis and I separated on cue, just as the world around us hushed for a split second and the sudden intro of a loud guitar pierced the veil.
“Please welcome, my favourite band, The 1975!” A voice then announced and I looked up, right into the eyes of a man who’d seemingly taken claim of the stage.
His smile was wide, unmatched, as he pranced up and down the front, his hair a mess of curls as a set of drums picked up the pace of the opening beat. I had to be reminded to close my gawping mouth.
Who the fuck’s that?
And I must’ve said it out loud, because I heard Lewis snort obnoxiously from right beside me, continuing to sing away whilst the girls immediately turned towards me to shout, “Matty!”
Shockingly, their loud exclamation also managed to garner the attention of the man himself when he danced by, and I watched on as the dark-haired frontman smiled down at Rosie and Tea. Waving hello. 
I was caught by utter surprise when I then found myself trapped in his heady gaze, still giggling away at the girls' hysterical reactions. 
Okay. Before I continue on, I truly am putting this all down to the alcohol that was streaming through my system, because it was then that Matty appeared to pause before me for the briefest of moments. 
And I didn’t dare look away. I couldn’t. 
He smirked down at me, eyes so observant, and I found myself shaking my head at him with a smile of my own. But sadly he only left me with a sly wink as he traipsed away to sing out into the rest of the audience.
Rosie and Tea had squealed beside me, excited to have captured the singer's focus, whilst I tried to catch my breath.
The show continued on after that and I allowed myself to relax and get lost in the people, their heat, the music. I danced, the girls and I swayed, twirling about, Lewis and I laughed, and I even managed to sing along to a couple of songs I sort of recognised. 
The current one came to an end though soon enough, and Rosie informed me with a glossy eyed smile and smudged liner that the last song was fast approaching, whilst Tea just pulled out her phone to record again. 
I nodded at my sister, squeezing her close before she pivoted away back towards her best mate, leaving me to sip at the drink I’d been trying not to spill all down myself due to the constant shoving and pushing.
Minutes went by and Matty engaged with the burly bloke on bass- whose hair I found I’d rather like to touch (because honestly, how did he get it so glossy?). Before he continued on, pointing out signs here and there, and sparking up another massive round of cheers by vocalising the inner workings of his mind, which was something he supposedly did quite often. Enough for the rest of the band to begin playing again only to shut him up. That had made me giggle. 
Dozens of faces passed over the main screen, most of them beaming, or crying, there wasn’t much of an inbetween. And Matty interacted with them all, grinning and joking in such a way that only screamed sincerity.
The shouts around us only started to double then when he made his way over to our section, and even my own heartbeat sped up as I watched his eyes drag over the absurdly large crowd. He was unfairly attractive, okay? I could easily see why my sister had taken such a shine to him.
He was smiling and my pulse stuttered then stopped altogether when Matty paused right by us, to look me directly in the eye, his eyebrows drawn tightly together.
“Alright, darling? Having a good night?” He quizzed me, the sudden weight of his attention making me jump even though the surrounding screams had yet to cease. “What’s in the bag?”
I glanced down at the liquid filled bag I was still holding, gaze drifting to Lewis for a split second before it darted back up towards the singer. “Vodka.” I told him before I could think better of it.
The sound Matty produced then was almost inhuman and I was actually quite proud of myself for having been the cause of it.
“Definitely snuck that in.” He accused, quieter this time around and with a growing smile. The audience laughed.
Rosie and Tea spun around to face me, huge smiles threatening to split their faces in half, as my brows pinched.
“Way to out me to an entire arena!” I instantly called back, ducking slightly to avoid the eyes of the hefty security man stood on the other side of the barricade. Matty’s cackle echoed out around me, coming from all directions.
“Oi, mate! Escort her out, will you?” Matty ordered, nodding down at the same man I’d previously noticed. “Ruining it for everyone.”
I gaped, eyes widening in sudden alarm whilst he just shook his head at me, feigning disappointment.
Thankfully though the singer was quick to go back on his word, waving the guard (who had actually begun to MOVE) off with a sway of his hand and a thoroughly amused grin.
Fuck, this man was really going to be the death of me, I thought. 
I willed my racing heart to slow.
“I’m just joking, love.” Matty reassured me, eyes twinkling under the array of lights. “Spotted you a couple times tonight, actually. Like to stand out, don’t you?”
It didn’t sound like much of a question.
“Might do.”
I could physically feel my brain struggling to make my mouth cooperate, and I figured I might’ve drunk a tad too much, because I usually wasn’t this tactless. Which was how I managed to surprise even myself with the next sentence I fired back.
“Or maybe it’s just you.”
“Just me?” Matty queried with a tilt of his head, and he squatted down then, bouncing on the balls of his feet for a moment before he took perch on the side of the stage. “What do you mean?”
“You’re the one who spotted me.” I retorted with a smug smile, raising my voice to be heard. “I’m just one face in a thousand. Nothing I did.”
He hummed, mouth quirked to one side. “So this is all on me then?”
I shrugged casually, but my mind was reeling.
Matty laughed before he motioned me closer. “Here’re.” He prompted, jutting his chin out and willing the crowd to woefully part. “Come on, let her through. Let her through.”
I frowned but did as I was told, slipping my way past the few who had actually managed to claim the metal fence before us, quirking a confused brow up at him.
He towered above me, even from where he was seated on the stage, and I willed back my shock when he proceeded to jump down from off his perch and approach me. My heart hammered and a lump formed in my throat.
“Have you got a favourite song of ours?” He asked and I actually felt how embarrassed I must have looked in that moment, gifting the singer a sheepish smile before I quietly informed him that I didn't have one.
His head jerked back, “What do you mean, you don’t have one?”
The sudden crow of Rosie's voice sounded above the rest of the buzzing noise then and I was unsure on whether or not to be grateful for it.
“She’d never heard any of them before tonight!”
I grimaced slightly from behind the hand that had come up to hide my face, silently hoping for the ground to just open up and swallow me whole. I could feel the heat radiating in my cheeks and the tips of my ears, knowing full well that Tea was definitely recording every inch of this mortifying moment.
“Oh, so we have a fake fan within our midsts?” Matty voiced and it was full of mirth, he found pleasure in his teasing. 
A soft brush touched my skin and before I even knew what was occurring my hand was being pried away from my flushed cheeks by the singer himself, who looked me dead in the eye and had the utter nerve to wear the most devastating grin.
“Is this all part of your plan? Lure me in and then break my heart. How’re you at my gig, after never having heard a single one of our songs?”
“I’ve heard a few!”
But my attempt to defend myself was waylaid, it seemed Matty had other ideas.
The frontman nodded over towards Rosie, who blanched under his gaze. “Go on. Tell me more. What’s her motive here?”
I watched on as Tea nudged my younger sister into talking, Rosie too shellshocked to remember that she had the biggest gob I’d known to man.
“Um,” My sister startled, blinking away before she took a deep breath, “I dragged her along tonight. Me and my friend, we’re huge fans!”
“Lovely to meet you. Glad you could make it- only wish you’d made a listener out of this one beforehand!”
“We’ve tried!” Rosie exclaimed with an exasperated sigh that had me rolling my eyes. It appeared as though she'd reverted back to her usual self, despite being under the gaze of her favourite person in the entire world. Yes, you could be assured that that was an actual quote.
“Oh it’s like that is it?” Matty asked, peering down at me. I couldn’t tear my gaze away, his brown eyes smudged with kohl making them that much more enticing.
His attention differed then, flitting back towards my sister.
“She seemed to be enjoying the set whenever I looked over though, so what happened?”
“She’s stubborn!” Rosie shouted back, and I could hear her muffled laughter through the crowd, probably upon seeing me so put out.
“Stubborn, are we?” Matty smirked, and his lips were by my ear before I knew any better, his mic long forgotten. “I like a challenge.”
And then he was gone, back to wooing the crowd and making the most of having all this attention.
I let myself slip back into the seams, breathing heavily as my sister and Tea joggled me about, Lewis and his boyfriend beaming madly from ear to ear. I tried to focus.
What had just happened?
Part Two>
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Fourth Wing is almost unreasonably compelling as a story (SPOILERS)
While the plot twist is something you can absolutely predict, there is a kind of joy in knowing that it will happen because you’re so caught up in the lead up and the ultimate fall out.
I’ve always thought that tropes and cliches, while treated like a bad thing, when done properly, make for excellent storytelling.
Was it immediately obvious that Xaden, not Dain, was the main love interest and she would eventually fizzle out of her childhood crush on him? Duh.
Did I get extremely suspicious each time Dain touched her face after I realised their friendship was going the wayside?? Uh absolutely. I clocked that bitch a mile away.
With all his hesitation and emphasis on secret keeping, was I surprised that Xaden turned out to be working with the gryphon fliers?? Nah.
Was it unexpected that venin and wyvern were real?? No the amount of emphasis on that damn book being just a silly little book of folktales made me realise quite quickly.
Brennan at the end was a bit of a surprise, but after never ever seeing or hearing about his dragon, despite knowing about Mira’s and knowing Tairn was the bonded dragon of Brennan’s “friend”, it made sense.
The moment I heard about big scary black dragon not having a rider, I was like yeah that’s gonna be Violet’s. then golden feather tail came along and I was like but wait why the emphasis on new dragon if big dragon??? Then she got two so that was a fun switch up.
But did any of these change my enjoyment of the story??? No. My expectations were met in the best way and I was compelled to see them through the whole way. The satisfaction of knowing what will happen and having accurately anticipated it is where half the fun is. I don’t need nonsensical plot twists for no other purpose than shock value. It’s a well written story and a tight narrative.
What I for sure wasn’t expecting was not one but TWO and I guess technically a half sex scenes. I was fully expecting a cut to the next morning or the next hour or something. But nope. Just like any raunchy fanfic I was reading words like clit and cock and immediately had to remove myself from the living room to my bed room because my mother was next to me and I can’t be reading these things in her presence. Even if I am 25 years old.
So yeah. As expected. I will be waiting for Iron Flame. My first booktok rec turned out pretty well.
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x-liv25-jamieswife · 29 days
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short taylor swift playlists for each tig character - max
here's another playlist for my girl max. we don't know her that well, so some of these songs were added based on hcs i have or vibes. not proofread so i apologize if smth doesn't make sense.
#1: but daddy i love him: the song is about a person rebelling against the criticism they receive from their controlling parents, specifically when it comes to their romantic relationships. we already know max's parents are quite strict and that she has a complicated relationship with them. she had to hide her first relationship from them because they forbade her from seeing anyone (even though she was 18). i feel like they would have mixed feelings about her dating xander, and i see this song as her fighting back, saying that she doesn't care what they think, and she can do whatever she wants (also,the song was also purposefully written to sound really dramatic, and, max, to me, sounds like the type of person who would jokingly overdramatize a situation).
#2: i can do it with a broken heart: i think the title of the song is quite self explanatory. it's about a person putting on a facade whilst struggling to get over a breakup. in tig, avery and max had some issues with their friendship. we find out that max put aside all of her problems and hurt in order to be there for avery who didn't really think about doing the same for max. max sort of reminds me of xander and gigi because of this. they constantly put on a smile and act like everything's fine when in reality it isn't.
#3: so high school: i don't really have a reason for adding this song in her playlist. its about falling for someone new and feeling like you're back in high school (basically, its about a giddy, teenage kind of romance). this song sort of reminds me of max and xander for some reason. it might be because of how cliche they are; max is a bookworm who seems happy all the time and has a couple of friends whilst xander is the rich, nice, popular kid.
#4: i hate it here: this song is about escapism. its about a person who escapes to this secret world they've created in their mind because they hate this world. i've always associated this song with reading since it's a form of escapism for me, and i like to think that max also sees reading that way. we know that max doesn't have the best home life so i can definitely see her trying to find ways to escape it.
#5: you're on your own, kid: i think the title of this song is quite self-explanatory. its about realizing that, at the end of the day, you only really have yourself. we know max isn't really close to her family and was sort of overlooked by other people in her life (im talking about avery but i'm guessing she wasn't the only one to do so). although she had people around her, she was basically on her own.
#6: paris: this is another song that i don't really have a reason for adding to her playlist. the song discusses being in love with someone and blocking out distractions like the paparazzi and gossipers. we don't know much about max's relationship with xander, but they seem like the type of people who couldn't care less about what the public thinks of their relationship. i mostly just added this song because of the vibes. it just feels like such a maxander song.
#7: mirrorball: the narrator of the song compares themself to a reflective disco ball. they reflect other people's personalities in order to please them or make them like them. this song sort of reminds me of max in the first book when she constantly put aside her problems in order to be there for avery. it also sort of reminds me of her relationship with her parents. they seem like the type of people who have high expectations for their kids, and so i can see max trying to mold herself into what they want her to be. i obviously don't know for sure, but she seems like she would hide parts of herself in order to be more likeable.
#8: i think he knows: this is another song that i mostly just added because of the vibes. the song is about a person's attraction to another person. there isn't really a lyric in this song that screams maxander, but the vibes definitely do.
#9: paper rings: the song is about a person who's so in love with their partner and committed to them, that she would marry them with paper rings. again, this is another song that doesn't really have any lyrics that scream maxander. i added it simply because of the vibes.
#10: call it what you want: this song is about not caring what the media has to say about your relationship bc all that matters is that the two of you know the truth. i mentioned earlier that maxander seem like the type of couple who don't really care about what the public has to say about their relationship. i feel like this song fits them because of that (its also just a really cute love song that i think they'd like).
#11: how you get the girl: this song screams romance reader to me (and we know that max is a romance reader). its a song about a person that gives advice to a guy who wants to get a girl back. max seems like the type of person who would give relationship advice to people even though she's never been in a healthy successful relationship. also, the vibes are just so max.
#12: new romantics: this is another song that i simply just added because of the vibes (the 1989 vibes fit max so well imo). the song discusses young love and how young adults approach romance. i don't think the meaning of the song fits max, but it sounds like a song she'd really enjoy and, like i said, gives off max vibes.
#13: i bet you think about me (ft. chris stapleton): this is a song i like to think max relates to. the song is about a person who confronts their ex after moving on, knowing the ex still hasn’t. we know that max has a really shitty ex who sent her nudes to her parents and tried to invade her privacy, so i like to think that she confronts him at some point in time. max seems like the type of person who can really hold a grudge (when she wants to), so although she moved on, i don't think she'd ever forgive her ex.
#14: all too well: this is another song that i don't think is a perfect fit. its about a person reflecting on her best and worst memories with her ex. now, we don't know much about max, so i don't know if she'd relate to this song, but smth about the song just screams max to me. the ex in the song is a little older than the narrator, and i've always thought that max's ex was also a little older than her. although her ex was a huge asshole, i don't think it's possible that he was that bad over the course of their relationship. i mean, when max called avery in the first book, she sounded truly heartbroken and betrayed over the breakup (as if she truly loved him) (although you can obviously still be heartbroken after breaking up with a toxic bf, i just have this feeling that max's ex wasn't all that bad before the events of tig). idk, i just feel like this song suits her for some reason.
#15: the story of us: the song is about finding yourself in the same room as one of your exs (like at an event or smth). now, i don't think max would ever be put in this type of situation (and even if she was, the song still wouldn't suit her perfectly bc of how they ended things), but i feel like some of the lyrics apply to max, and the vibes of the song really suit her.
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Red
kai parker x reader
summary: for forty years, kai only knew three shades of red. however, he finally finds his fourth and favorite the year he settles into a new life in mystic falls.
tags: christmas / holidays, dysfunctional family, minor character death (kai's mom & siblings), loneliness, crushes, christmas party, cheek kiss, first kiss, soft (& shy) kai by the end
word count: 1.4k
a/n: i'm not sure this fic makes any sense, but it's the only christmas-y thing i conjured up this year. i hope it comes out in writing as well as it did in my head. <3
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kai always hated christmas
everything about it, from the bright colors, to the overexcited children, to the dramatic traditions, to the overplayed movies
his family participated in all of it. even when they treated him like an outcast, they still expected him to join in on christmas festivities
there’s even the time his mother forced him and his sister to wear matching sweaters
they were red in color, his favorite, but heavy, and his mom was all too excited over having her twin, teenage children dressed alike as she had them dressed as toddlers
jo wasn’t any happier about it, but wore it and forced a picture for their mom’s sake
immediately after christmas, kai stripped himself of the sweater and tossed it in a bin for next year, in case he’d be forced to wear it again
but there was no sweater next year, nor was there barely a christmas, because five months into the new year, their mom had died
that year, christmas was still full of red, but it wasn’t the same festive, jolly shade that his mother enjoyed
it was, instead, a bright flame of anger, carried all year by their father. wounded by his wife’s passing, he cursed the world for taking her
for eighteen years, red was a color of joy, before it turned to pain. after their mother’s demise, it became a reminder of death
then almost two years to the date of his wife’s death became the that of the same for four children. the middle ones, survived by the two sets of twins, older and younger
the crimson stains on the once white walls were a constant reminder of the treacherous day
the day he had taken it too far; the day he had finally snapped
for eighteen years, red became to exist only in the shade of blood
it had since been cleaned off the doors and windows, but it could never be erased from the mind
in the eternal prison, it remained. a reminder of the crime that got him sent away; a reminder of the family to which he never belonged
it should’ve softened him, over time, to be reminded of such a thing, but it hardened him more, instead
two escaped, the youngest twins, and lived their lives, while he was left forgotten and alone
kai bets may 10th is his father’s modern day christmas, for now it must be the only day he remembers he has an eldest son
all other days, he’s been forgotten, omit the one he was drawn out from his room by his mother
the christmas before he escapes (unbeknownst to him), he wonders what shade of red occupies his father’s mind: his mother’s love, his own rage, or his son’s bloodshed?
kai then wonders if he’ll ever see another shade himself, or if all he’ll ever know are those tainted by his family
the following year contains more excitement than kai’s ever seen in his life
he manages to escape his father’s prison, completes the merge he was denied, and carves out a corner of life for himself in the little town of mystic falls
throughout the summer, he tries to integrate himself into the supernatural cliches around town, but fitting in with potential friends proves to be as difficult as fitting in with his family was
kai’s tempted to give up; to go back to chaos-causing, as he’s seemingly best at doing, but then he meets you
he sees you first on one chilly, autumn night, teasing a bright red lollipop between your teeth and tongue
you listen intently to your friend, caroline, kai recognizes, and only stop sucking to comment when your friend comes to a pause
he watches you, admiring your beauty and the sparkle in your eye, and realizes only too late that he’s staring
you catch his gaze and politely smile, but when caroline follows your line of sight, she suggests you move seats
kai’s interest in you only grows after that night
the second time he sees you, you swirl a red coffee cup in your hands
it’s empty, but you hold onto it until you can find a recycling bin, and in the meantime, you carry on down the street
feeling a pair of eyes on you, you turn, and gasp in surprise at the familiar face watching you
kai interprets your sound as fear, but it isn’t at all
“sorry,” he apologies, “you’re just… really pretty”
the sparkle in your eye returns, and a sudden red blush matches the cup in your hands. “thank you…?”
“kai”
“kai,” you repeat, “y/n.”
he tastes your name in his lips, repeating it as you did his
“see you around, kai,” you smile, tossing your cup and disappearing from sight
soon, christmas is nearing
kai is anxious
his last twenty years have been painted red over and over, his father’s flame of anger dethroned by his own apt for violence
but while he doesn’t remember the apple-red love of his mother all that much, he can’t deny the hole in his heart he has to feel that again
even if it was a lie, the faux tenderness from his mother is something he chases
he feels it from you, a girl he barely knows, yet finds himself desiring
maybe it’s the kindness that seems to radiate from your soul; maybe it’s the twinkle in your eyes, or the redness in your cheeks
whatever it is, kai craves it
the next time he sees you, kai isn’t expecting it
he’s not expecting any of it, to be honest
but there he found himself, knocking on the door of the salvatore house, after being invited to a christmas party
damon was the one to tell him about it, but he slipped up and made kai swear not to tell that he knows, y/n practically begged the vampire to invite the young witch
unsure what made you want his presence, but definitely not missing the chance to see you, kai said yes to the invite
caroline is the one to greet him
she offers a cocktail, which he accepts
nervous, for reasons he doesn’t understand
but then he sees you and fights the urge to down the drink in one gulp
you stand by the fireplace, your own drink in hand, talking to a group of good friends
your lips are painted red with a perfect gloss to match your sweater. it stains the side of your glass, leaving a kiss-shaped mark on the side
kai swallows, stunned by your beauty, and then again, at the realization that he’s here because you wanted him there
as soon as you catch him out of the corner of your eye, you pause your conversation and excuse yourself to see him
your friends dissipate. none of them greet him, still uneasy, but they don’t try to persuade you from going up to him, as if that’s a battle they know they’ve already lost
“you came!” you say, “i was hoping you would”
“i couldn’t deny your invitation, even if most of the people in here hate me.” he glances around. his sisters stand close to the bar; his prison world companions watch him carefully from the kitchen; the last human of mystic falls shoots an angry glare as he leaves the bathroom
“they’ll get over it,” you shrug
“why did you invite me? i mean, thank you, for inviting me, but why?”
“it’s christmas,” you tell him simply, “the perfect season for second chances. now come on, follow me”
kai stays with you all night, getting to know you and meeting your friends. he’s shared jokes, and offered drinks, and eaten cookies. he’s introduced to past-enemies, now friends, and promised he could share that same title, too, if he wants
by the end of the night, a huge smile has found its way on his face
you make it permanent with a red kiss to his cheek, lipstick staining his face right below his cheekbone
it totally catches him off guard, but when he sees it in the mirror, his heart starts to feel funny. something tingles in his stomach at the feeling of your lips on him
when the guests start to go home, they swear that in the coming days, they’ll all see each other again soon
y/n asks kai specifically if he’d want to meet her for coffee sometime, just the two of them, to which he happily agrees
they part on a kiss to the lips, his move, and the red blush takes up residency in her cheeks once again
for the first time in twenty years, red is a happy shade again
but for the first time in forever, he actually feels loved
~~~
the cherry red of promise; of second chances, and what could be
the red of her kindness is the last he ever wants to see
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