#they make me insane!! all of the admissions of love they gave us is gonna make me crazy!

[crownspeaksblog]

One of my favorite (if not my favorite) admissions of love in fiction is Mark Darcys "i like you very much, just as you are" from Bridget Jones's Diary.

He tells her that he likes her but she interrupts him with oh apart from all of these awful things sbout me and starts listing things and mark just hits her with "just as you are"... not thinner, or better, or smarter, or more polite or more organized or successful.. just as she is, with all of her mess and imperfections, just as she fucking is!

The lyric "I've loved him, since he was born" during ed and stedes reunion is so "i like you very much, just as you are"!!!

Ed and stede are two people who've felt/been unloved for so much of their lives, childhood and adulthood. They (and even the world) hate parts of themselves, parts of themselves that the other absolutely fucking ADORES about them! They've loved eachother since they were born! They love who the other was, who the other is and who the other will be! Just as they are!!

[ramblingdisaster73]

The wedding planning sneak peak yesterday gave me lots of feelings! I'm super excited! I'm already sure I'm going to enjoy it a lot from beginning to end!

But as much as seeing Carlos all stressed out is gonna be fun, I'm a little concerned about it too. I need to see him be happy, at least for a bit, about this journey, and to see him actually together and 'a team' with TK, since we haven't actually SEEN that since before the kidnapping. I need a sweet moment between them and Carlos to smile for real at least once. I hope we're getting that either at the start of the episode or at the end when things with the parentzillas have calmed down and before shit hits the fan with Marjan (assuming they're gonna realize something's wrong with her in this episode).

I think the lunch scene may have some potential for at least some of what I'm looking for. I also hope we're getting the beginning of Carlos unravelling his need for control, even though I think this is not the right setting for it to be actually solved or at least delved into more.

One last thing, what is your opinion on the tuxes? What do you think would suit them?

When Nancy started downing her drink – I was like, you know what – not a bad idea. I will be joining her in drinking my way through tonight’s episode (and by drinking my way through it, I mean I will have a wine cooler since that is about all my tolerance can handle these days). Paul lived through a brief convo with Owen about the Tarlos wedding and said “I’m out, I will be over by myself reading at a safe distance from anything resembling a wedding – Mateo and Nancy were bribed with Champagne or sparkling cider (or at least Nancy was – Mateo lives for Owen’s antics).

I need to see Carlos look like he WANTS to get married. I know that wedding planning and getting divorced and recovering from a drugging/kidnapping is a ton of stress. But – at some point, you should look like you actually want to do what you are planning on. What you are subjecting yourself to so much additional anxiety for. It wouldn’t take much – just a genuine smile, one that isn’t tinged with unease. That’s all, I am pretty easy that way. I don’t doubt their love or relationship – I just want them to show us Carlos being happy for more than 2 seconds before or after a crisis or admission. They have shown us a lot of drama for them already this season – can we see them truly happy for 1 scene before their wedding? They make a good team – just show us that they are happy too. Even the stills in the loft when they are talking to Andrea look more like they are pitted against each other than on the same side, which I think is more of a blocking/staging thing than anything else because we know that TK says his father has gone insane – but still gives the illusion of them not being a team.

I would have loved for the wedding/wedding planning to be about the characters that are getting married, not their parents. Maybe we will get that after this episode – but I am keeping my expectations on the Tarlos wedding being truly about Tarlos very low as of this minute (this could easily change after seeing tonight’s episode).

Unfortunately, it happens all the time. I have had countless meetings with Brides and Grooms where they just need someone to vent to about how controlling and ‘helpful’ their parents are being. I always try to remind them that their wedding is about them, not their parents while knowing when to pick your battles.

Most parents (in my experience) do things out of love and wanting things to be perfect for their child’s ‘big day’ (Which is where I think both Owen and Andrea are at) and others want to make the wedding about themselves (which is super weird to me). But, they aren’t truly ‘helping’ if they are making the entire experience more miserable than necessary for their children. Most of the worst weddings that I have worked in any capacity have been with parentzillas – all but like 1.

I also think that Owen feels a little extra pressure (self-imposed, but extra all the same) to make TK’s wedding perfect because Gwyn can’t be there in person (I do think that they will find some way to incorporate her though – I wrote a fic about this exact thing with them reading a letter that Gwyn had sent to Andrea). I think being TK’s surviving parent is something that Owen does take seriously when it comes to the emotional stuff (not so much with work related stuff – but since they are first responders – it makes sense), or the ‘big moments’ that she will be missing. One thing that I have never doubted when it came to Owen & TK was that Owen loves his son deeply, he may not always make choices that show that clearly, but he does love and want the best for his son.

I think that wedding planning while mentally recovering from the kidnapping would be an excellent way/time to show Carlos that he doesn’t always have to be in control – that other people can take some of the load too (Which is kinda what Owen learned in 4x06) it is easier to share the load and be honest with what you need than to try to be the one to keep it all together. I am hoping that they go in that direction with Carlos – but not sure if they will go there yet.

This season has done a great job of showing us the saying “You marry your parent” is very true for TK. Not that Carlos and Owen are the same person, but at their cores, they have a lot of similarities, #1 being their total love for Tyler Kennedy Strand.

I hope that by the end of the episode tonight we get both parents realizing that their sons are perfectly capable of choosing their tuxes, centerpieces, etc. – but would welcome their input/assistance.

TK and Carlos would both absolutely want their parents to be involved in the planning of their weddings – this makes sense for both men. Carlos has always wanted a closer relationship with his parents, one where they were involved in all aspects of his life – not just the easy ones. TK literally became a firefighter to be closer to his father, so obviously he would want Owen involved. But at the end of the day, they know that it is still TK & CARLOS’ wedding. That is what I would absolutely love to see (while having a maybe 10% chance of it happening).

I am wondering how much of Marjan we will be seeing tonight. I originally thought it would be more at the end to set up 4x09, but I have been rethinking that she might be in a lot more than I thought. Which is weird since the article that came out after 4x05 said when we saw her again it was basically a whole mini Marj movie episode (which is why I had thought she would only minimally be in this ep & they like to be misleading).

I do think that there will be a lot of humor this episode (and potentially a death at a rescue – I am getting dad dies at the scene vibes, but would be happy to be wrong). I am sure that the cast will be killing us with their facial reactions – Ronen & Rafa are amazing with this. I wonder if the lunch scene will be before or after the tux scene – either way I can’t wait.

For their tuxes – I am a believer in wearing what fits you (your personality & body). My wedding dress was purple (I don’t mean it had purple accents – it was purple) which is my favorite color. I see TK in something a little less traditional, BUT – I do think that the romantic that TK is, would also love going traditional if that was what Carlos wanted. Carlos is very much more traditional than TK, and I think the black & white tux fit him & his character well – but I can also see him going with something a little bit less simple.

While TK still regularly wears his loud button downs, he wears more solid colors than he used to (kind of like he didn’t need to be so loud as he became settled in life) while Carlos has branched out to 30 snap button downs in every color. They have been embracing elements of each other’s styles over the course of the seasons, but I think that this season shows us this the most.

I do wonder if the tuxes we see in this ep are the final ones, because if so, why show them to us now? So, they may end up with something a little more modern / less classical. But then thinking that makes me think of this batshit timeline, which makes me think that they already bought or rented these tuxes. With rentals, you only get them a couple of days before the event – so in both cases it would seem like these tuxes are final.?!

[mccoys-killer-queen]

Seeing Faster Pussycat/LA Guns/Tom Keifer Band in concert:

if you follow me on insta you know a LOT happened last night xD this is going to be a VERY long post I can just feel it. I gotta try and sort out my copious thoughts mixed in with all the events so we're gonna TRY doing this in chronological order:

*deep breath*

when I first got there 5 hours before showtime, I went inside to use the bathroom. Now this venue is relatively small, and they have a small restaurant upstairs (those are the bathrooms you have to use prior to doors). I went upstairs and I heard Tom soundchecking from there :o he was playing Don't Know What You Got (Til It's Gone) and it was making the room shake it was the greatest piss of my life

I was the 4th person in the general admission line and I was with these two guys, one of whom had a RAD hysteria tat and said I have Joe's (pyromania) haircut

this guy offered me free beer

one of these three people in front of me ended up being my "concert friend" (I'll refer to her as Robin) bc we talked so much and she's old enough to be my mom

Robin and the other two guys in front of me had VIP packages to see LA Guns' soundcheck so they left and I was first in line until only Robin came back

Slim Tender actually passed in front of us in line hours before doors opened but none of us really realized it was him

I got my photo pass and got in like 10 minutes before everyone else!! I ended up being front row at the barrier to stage left

Faster Pussycat's rhythm guitarist (Ronnie Simmons) gave me big Steve Clark vibes bc he's a skinny white boy with long hair who looked shy, did air split jumps while playing, and just in general felt Steve-y

Sam Bam is incredible and adorable just saying and FP sounded awesome like Taime sounds exactly the same as he did 30 years ago

They stole the fucking show I swear to god the night peaked with them imo

Phil was wearing a mesh tank top with a bandana and feathered hat he looked like a granddad trying too hard to be a pirate and the curly ass mustache didn't help

Phil looks like his 80s self is pretending to be old

Due to personal reasons I am now in love with Phil Lewis

he was dancing like a total dork it drove me insane I couldn't get enough

His speaking voice is so high???

Phil grabbed his left tiddy like twice during their set

guys I SWEAR I saw a tramp stamp on him with my own two eyes I SWEAR I saw it you gotta believe me

Phil pointing at my camera during the first fucking song and me not getting the shot ;-;

Phil replacing random lyrics with the words "Tracii Guns" (i.e. "nowww Tracii's breaking hearts in heaven")

Phil giving a speech about Tracii during Jayne and saying how he's been his best friend for over 30 years and how "no man has ever touched me like he has-"

Tracii: *pokes Phil's shoulder* C:

Phil: "-and I LIKED it"

Tracii: *pokes Phil's boob* C:

Ace apparently pulled his groin early in their set (I was on Tracii's side so I didn't see- I will elaborate more on this later)

since I was on the side of the stage with the exit, that meant the drinks were there too, so every time Tracii went into a solo, Phil would come over and would almost always interact with me and the teenage girls next to me

at one point I took advantage of this and I blew a kiss at him when he was in front of me, to which he went :O and slapped his cheek to show he "caught" it and I went fuckin ballistic

at the end of their set Phil grabbed one of Tracii's picks and crouched down in front of me and threw it to me (I CAUGHT IT)

was anyone going to tell me Tracii Guns is a dilf or-

I literally thought Johnny Martin was a woman the whole time- like I KNEW it had to be him but I was seriously second guessing myself because he just- he was in glasses and a scarf and a hat and he haS A VERY FEMININE BUILD

Phil saying he's happy to be "on top of this beautiful mountain again" (the venue is on top of a mountain) and it's so weird bc like ? this is just where I live? and he likes it? HE likes it??

apparently Phil complemented a girl on her tits during the show (she was showing a lot on purpose and bouncing a lot and he just kinda motioned bouncing tits with his hands and nodded- I'M TOLD- I didn't actually see any of this. Robin told me afterwards)

LA Guns stole the show I stg I had no idea how Tom was gonna top that it was the peak of my night

Tom was ethereal just saying he sounds T H E E. S A M E. HAS HE DID ON NIGHT SONGS.

Tom's knee high boots and tight pants hell yeah

Tom wasn't really playing with the crowd that much but he did slightly acknowledge me during Shelter Me by just kinda looking at me and singing

He played much more Cinderella than I expected I was LIVING

Tom saying we (him and the crowd) are basically related bc we're all from PA. So from this point onward I am related to Tom Keifer I didn't make these rules he said it himself

Tom during Nobody's Fool going "I SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM- *falls to his knees*" a capella, letting his voice absolutely shudder the whole building, and holding it forever and everyone going nuts what a fucking god

Tom betting we knew every word to Nobody's Fool which we DID

his playing just seems so smooth????

his wife Savannah being on backing vocals and them doing Don't Know What You Got (Til It's Gone) together was really cute ;-;

Before they did that Tom told us to "show him some Pennsylvania stars" (aka put our lights on during the song)

the stars actually coming out in the sky after the show ;-; <3

they did Long Cold Winter as an encore and I was dissociating thee whole fucking time so badly because I was THAT exhausted- like I didn't even recognize the song until the very end I was that out of it. I didn't have anything to drink- alcohol or not.

someone was holding a very good drawing they did of him and his wife the whole time and at the end of the set one of the roadies took it from her and brought it back, and came out a minute later asking if she wanted it back, to which she said they could keep it. SO yeah Tom and Savannah kept a fan's drawing of them ;-; <3

Tom's hair is still godly

I also never knew he has a nice butt 👌 and legs

When Tom was recording the video of the crowd he put on his insta he was like "hold on I gotta I make sure I recorded bc the other night I fucked it up and didn't get it..."

"...I GOT IT" *audience cheers bc yay Tom knows how to use a phone good for u honey we're proud*

Okay that's JUST from the show. Now here's where it gets crazy.

[tinyboxxtink]

Build Me Up Buttercup *Part 9*

Weeeee!!!! Here we go, getting close to the end guys. 

I’m glad so many people like it, it makes me happy. 

Okay okay enough sappiness, we’re not dead yet.

Oh and gotta tag: @wanniiieeee 

If you need to catch up:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Finale

Epilogue

“...Soooo, are we hoping he shows up, or not?” 

Once again, your BFF was there to hear the latest escapades of the saga unfolding. 

“Obviously NOT,” You scoffed, falling back onto the bed. It was stiff, almost…crusty. You tried desperately not to think about just what exactly went on in these rooms on a normal basis.

“Because….?”

“Because I don’t wanna just BANG IT OUT, that’s why!” you exclaimed, wondering why that wasn’t blatantly obvious.

“Yeah but didn’t you say that Barba said that he was still gonna care about you, even after sleeping with you?”

“Yeah…” you twirled your hair again.

“So then if he does come to you then you know he really does believe that, correct?” Your BFF pointed out.

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Oh come on, you think that Barba would just have sex with you to prove a point to your sergeant?” 

“I mean, what if he doesn’t care about me after, y’know...we fuck,” You said blatantly.  

“Seriously?”

“Yes SERIOUSLY. Come on babe this has all happened SO fast, I mean it can’t be anything other than physical attraction,” 

“You don’t believe that,” 

“Of course I do! Look at me! Metaphorically. Guys don’t ‘date’ me, they wanna fuck me and leave me.  

“Yeah, that’s usually because you fuck them before you give them even so much as a name, and then kick them out in the morning. Nice try,” Your BFF shot down your attempts to self deprecate.

“...Whatever,” 

“Look, I love you. I know you’ve been through hell and back. But, at some point you have gotta let the past be the past, and realize that you’re not that girl anymore. You’re not 16, you’re a grown up. And a smart, beautiful one at that. A guy could easily fall in love with you,” they assured you.

“In less than 24 hours,” you rolled your eyes.

“Okay maybe not love, but certainly more than a dicking. I mean Christ Y/N if that’s all he was after he wouldn’t have defended you to Liv, he would’ve just begged her to let him have a day pass to fuck you and move on!” 

“But, we’re so-- and he’s-- and I’m-- I just can’t see how we’re gonna…” You tried expressing your thoughts but it just wasn’t coming.

“Look, get out of your head. Just, stop. Stop overthinking it,”

“Yeah okay,” you said sarcastically.

Suddenly, there was a knock at your door. 

“Y/N?” you heard Rafael’s muffled voice outside. 

“SHIT,” You hissed into the phone, jumping off the bed.

“Is that him? I TOLD YOU,” your BFF laughed triumphantly. 

“Shut up. I’ll call you later.” you tossed the phone on the bed, fluffed your hair as if that was going to help the situation, and opened the door.

“Hey, can I…?” He motioned inside, leaning into the doorway. 

“First, I need you to be honest with me,” You put your hand up to his chest.

“Okay…”

“How drunk are you?”

“Seriously? I may not drink straight shots of tequila all the time, but that doesn’t mean I’m some old man lightweight,” he scoffed, very offended.

“That’s not an answer,” 

“...Honestly? I think I’m more buzzed off that kiss earlier,” he smirked.

Damn he was smooth. 

 You rolled your eyes and opened the door, letting him walk in. You motioned for him to sit on the bed, to which he replied, “Yeahh….I don’t think I’ll be sleeping anywhere tonight. God knows what is on these,” 

“Really? So how pray tell do you think we’re going to ‘bang it out’?” his head whipped around at that sentence.

“Christ almighty, again Y/N?! Privacy, google it,” 

“Oh whatever, you two were practically screaming in the parking lot,” you scoffed.

“I swear to God, you are so--”

“So what? Stupid? Immature?”

“Infuriating!” 

“Hello, kettle,”

“Oh really? How am I the bad guy here? Olivia sat there and basically called you a piece of ass, and I defended you!”

“And yet, here you are. Ready to fuck,” you presented your hands as if you were a platter. 

Rafael put his hands over his face and paced the room.

“Ay dios mio, me voy a suicidar,” he muttered while pacing. 

“Oh really, you wanna kill yourself? That’s a tad dramatic, counselor,” You scoffed again.

Rafael’s eyes widened, “You understood that?” 

“I heard suicide,” 

“Right...ok look,” he stopped pacing and stood in front of you, taking your hands in his.

“I’m not-- I don’t...want to just, ‘bang it out’,” He rolled his eyes at the notion. 

“But, also-- I don’t not want to….y’know,” He gestured towards the bed with his head. 

“...So you do, but you don’t,” you continued with the sarcasm. 

“It’s not JUST what I want to do, carino,”  he put a hand up to your cheek. 

“Cards on the table, I would love nothing more than to rip that shirt off and ravish you right here, until we have to leave in….Jesus, 7 hours,” He shook his head, knowing he was never going to sleep tonight either way this went. 

“Just not on the bed,” you half laughed.

“...Y’know what? For you, I would risk the thousands of venereal diseases that are seeped into these sheets,” 

“....How romantic,”

“If you really knew me you’d know that is the peak of romance,”

“See that’s the thing Rafael-- I don’t really know you. Not really. And you don’t know me. We just...I don’t know, we had this little chemistry thing going all day, and then y’know you cleaned me up when I was crying, and then held my hand through my story, and I--”

“And that’s why you wanna sleep with me,” he dropped his hands and stepped back from you.

Your face fell, your eyes widened. It had never occurred to you that he would be the one doubting the sincerity of the situation.

“What? Seriously?”

“You just said I don’t really know you, you don’t really know anything about me, except that I helped you through a difficult situation and now you wanna ‘repay’ me, or you feel attracted to me because I made you feel good,” 

Your jaw was on the floor; was he actually saying this? Was he this insecure this whole time?

“That is so not--” you tried to interject but he kept on.

“Then how do you explain it? This, this little attraction coming out of nowhere--”

“It didn’t come from nowhere,” you cut him off without thinking. 

“Excuse me?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Are you a moron, counselor?” you asked, to which he just stared at you dumbfounded.

“You honestly think that just because you dried my tears in a bathroom and held my hand through a story, that I would just throw caution to the wind and make a very obvious, romantic grand gesture? In front of my BOSS? Olivia could’ve fired me at any point today for ‘fraternization” or “unprofessionalism”, or a million other things that have run through my mind. You think that I would just risk my career because I thought you were nice?!”

Now it was Rafael’s jaw on the floor, flabbergasted at your sudden admission. He shook it off quickly, walking back up to you and caressed your face once again.

“So...you do have an insane crush on me?” he smirked.

“I wouldn’t go far as to say ‘insane’....spirited, maybe,” you blushed, making him grin like a kid in a candy store.

“AND, really to be honest it’s only been a subconscious thing, I think. But this morning at the gas station, something just…”

“Clicked,” he finished your sentence.

“Ye-Yeah,” You whispered, now once again stunned.

“Yeah…” he smiled, rubbing your jaw with his thumb. 

“So….what are we doing here, counselor?” You tried to keep your voice from wavering, but his hands on your face and the smell of his cologne was driving you nuts.

“We’re standing here, detective,” he smirked.

“Oh fuck off don’t be cute about this,” you hit his hands away at his snarkiness.

“But I’m so good at it,” he pulled on your hands playfully. 

“Alright what are we going to do about….” you gestured between the two of you.

“Well, I told you what I want to do,” he smirked again, pulling your face close to kiss you, but stopped mere millimeters from your lips. 

“BUT, I also don’t want to do something just because Olivia tells me to,” he pulled back quickly, amused at the annoyance on your face.

“So what, you wanna make out like teenagers? Wouldn’t that just be proving her point?” You scoffed, trying to hide the fact that you wanted to do so much more than that.

“I just...I don’t want us to...and then you--” he made hand gestures left and right.

“And then I? And then you!” you hit him softly. 

“No, not me. You think you’re the only one with a subconscious?” He raised an eyebrow, indicating he had always felt the same about you.

“So...neither of us, wants either of us, to change our minds,” you pulled him in closer once again, your arms wrapped around each other’s necks. 

“But both of us, assume that we will,” you continued, moving a hand to play with his collar sans tie, so that it was showing the tiniest bit of his chest.

“SO-- I propose this,” You patted the chest window with both hands. Rafael took this chance to grab them and keep them there, anxious to hear your proposal.

“We….have some fun,” you wagged your eyebrows suggestively. 

“And since both of us already think that the other one is gonna bail, we’re not gonna expect tomorrow to be any different, right?” 

“Right…” he held onto your hands, forcing you to balance back and forth on your toes. 

“And, if we both still feel the same when we get home…” you clung tighter to the collar, pulling yourself closer to his face.

“Then we do this. For real,” you whispered, staring him straight into his gorgeous green eyes.

“...And what happens when one of us changes our mind when we get to the city?” He brushed hair away from your face.

“Well then, I’ll just transfer units so you can get over me,” You gave him a tongued smile.

“Oh, I think you’ll be transferring to get over me, carino,” he smirked.

“What does that mean, by the way? I hope it’s nothing bad, considering you’ve called me it all day,” you asked, and he laughed. 

“No no no, not bad-- never,” He kissed your forehead.

“It means like, ‘sweetie’ or ‘honey’, it just sounds prettier in spanish,”

“It really does. To be honest you could call me trash in spanish and I’d still think it was sexy as hell,” you admitted, making him laugh louder.

“I would never call you basura, carino, EVER,” he assured you, going in for another kiss; this time, he didn’t stop. 

You both began kissing each other furiously, the crescendo of your wants from the entire day came spilling out all at once like a broken dam. Without thinking you jumped up and wrapped your legs around his waist. Surprised, he momentarily stumbled back, but quickly adjusted your weight in his grasp, pulling you tighter into him. You could feel his growing member against your thigh, and you couldn’t help but smile knowing you were the reason for it. All of a sudden you felt yourself falling back onto the bed, Rafael continuing to kiss you.

“Oh yeah sure just let me get the jizz germs on me,” you giggled in between kisses. In response, he crawled on you and moved you up closer to the headboard, his entire body now on top of you.

“Alright there, my body is full of jizz now too, happy?” he panted. 

“Yeah I know it is, I can feel it,” you smirked, grabbing his belt and tugging on his erection. He moaned, his eyes widening in shock and excitement.

This was it, no going back now….

[taetaespeaches]

“I don’t know where we go from here, Dear.”

jimin x reader (or oc) genre: fluff; angst word count: 1.8K

a/n: the time has come... JIMIN IS GETTING HIS GIRL BACK!!! This is the first time they see each other after he shows up at Dear’s place in, “Yeah, I’m drunk. And you’re wearing my t-shirt and I fucking love you.” So yeah, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!!! 

p.s. This is sorta kinda inspired by “Until the Sun Comes Up” by Gabrielle Aplin. So yeah, do with that what you will. 

YOUR hand was nearly shaking as you adjusted your seatbelt across your body. The last time you saw Jimin was a week ago when he came to apartment looking for a way to go back in time. When he asked to see you, you expected a simple dinner date or a walk along the Han River, but you had been sitting in the car for over thirty minutes now and the city was beginning to disappear behind you.

“I haven’t been this nervous since our first date,” Jimin admitted shyly, you looking across the cab at him. “Or that whole time between, you know, our first time and first date.”

You couldn’t help the grin that formed on your lips at his admission as well as the memory of how shy he was for those two days between the first hook up and first date. You were both nervous, but he was more obviously so. At least for a little while.

You went from friends to lovers overnight. It was hard to even remember what you and Jimin looked like before the extra label was added to your relationship. It was even harder to comprehend what you looked like now.

“I was nervous too,” you told him, Jimin taking a quick glance from the road to you, obviously surprised. “And now.”  

“Really?”

“Of course,” you smiled. “I just hide it better.” You hid a lot of things better. Your love and your heartbreak for starters.

A tense quiet settled inside the car, the low hum of Jimin’s music buzzing throughout the cab. You let the silence persist as you turned your attention to the window as Jimin drove you both to an unknown destination.

It was a little over a month ago that Jimin broke up with you over a text. It was so unlike Jimin it scared you into action before you could even take in the purpose of the text. You desperately called him but every effort went to voicemail. After a text to Taehyung to have him check on your boyfriend, and Tae assuring you he was ok considering the circumstance, you got angry. And you refused to speak to the man until he showed up at your apartment drunk, sad, regretful, and desperate.

For weeks you wanted to blame him for the whole thing. But you knew you were to blame as well. You had been pushing him away for months before the breakup, letting your own personal struggles affect your relationship. You didn’t want to push him away, but how do you simply let another person into the fucked up hell space that is your mind? You had never before wanted a person so badly during those months as you wanted Jimin, but it was like you couldn’t, or wouldn’t, allow yourself to reach out for him. And that made him feel very insecure and unsure. He felt unloved.

As Jimin drove further and further from Seoul, completely losing the city skyline, you turned to him in confusion.

“Where are we going?” You asked, turning to look at him.

“Away,” he grinned cheekily.

You let a small chuckle slip as you looked at the road ahead of you. “Away where?”

“Away from ourselves.”

You looked back at him in response to his words. You scrutinized his face as he stared ahead, eyes focused on the road but his mind wandering through a million loud thoughts. “There you are being a poet again,” you teased, Jimin’s lips quirking into an amused smile.

You slowly looked away from him, staring ahead, waiting to see the final destination for your date or whatever it’s called when your ex-boyfriend/best friend takes you out of the city in his bid to win you back.

Several minutes passed in silence before Jimin called to you gently, “Dear?”

You hummed, looking over at him, the pet name sounding so natural coming from him.

“Do you think people have to be ok before they can give themselves to someone else?”

The question should have taken you by surprise but you knew Jimin well enough to know he often had these deeply personal and sometimes troublesome questions swimming around his mind.

You thought for a moment before shaking your head. “No,” you started, Jimin looking from the road just for a small moment to peer at your face. “I’ve started thinking lately that if you’re lucky enough to have someone and its real, you have to give yourself to them even if you’re not ok.”

He forced a small smile though his eyes became glassy in the dashboard light. “I’m not ok.”

You nodded in understanding, keeping your gaze on him as his face became less clear through the tears that gathered along your lower eyelid. “Yeah, me too.” He looked over at you to see you beginning to cry and his face scrunched up as his own tears increased. “Jimin,” you whimpered.

When he sniffled you reached out to touch his forearm. “I fucked up, I kept pushing you away—”

He adamantly shook his head, telling you, “no, no, this is on me—”

“No, you needed me. And Jimin, I needed you, fuck, I wanted you, I just couldn’t—”

When a sob wracked through your body into the otherwise quiet car, Jimin quickly pulled over to the side of the road as an oncoming car sped by you.

“Dear,” he started, turning to you and pulling your hands from your face where you were wiping tears, simply holding them. “I broke up with you over a text.” He didn’t say anything more, letting his words sink in as proof to why the whole situation was his fault. You both knew he wasn’t the only one to blame, but at this point, did it even matter?

“Why did you send the text?” You asked him through your tears.

“I don’t—I don’t even know, baby, it’s—I get so insecure sometimes and I was driving myself insane on tour thinking about you and whether you love me and I just—I get so scared sometimes that you’ll just walk away.”

“I could never just walk away,” you told him defensively, but also to assure him. “I hate that I made you feel so insecure and unloved because I just love you more than anything and I should have been pouring all of that love into you.” Tears fell down Jimin’s face at your words as his hands squeezed yours tighter. “It’s going to take a while for me to forgive myself for that. A lot longer than it’s gonna take for me to forgive you.”

“Can you forgive me?” He posed, looking into your glistening eyes with his own.

“You know I can,” you whispered. “But can you forgive me?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his eyes scanned your face. Then he brought your hand to his lips and feathered kisses to your knuckles. “I already have,” he mumbled against your hand.

Fresh tears burst from your eyes at his confession, Jimin gently placing your hands on the console just before they met your face, gently wiping your cheeks with his palms. You leaned into his touch, bringing your hands to grab his wrists.

“I don’t know where we go from here, Dear,” he softly admitted. “But you were my best friend before all the extra and I’m not giving up on us.” He paused for a moment, both of you watching each other carefully. “Even if you want to go back to just friends.”

You scoffed at the statement, Jimin pulling his eyebrows together in confusion to the sound. “Chim, we were never just friends. I don’t want to go back, I want to fix this.”

Jimin let a small smile greet his lips, the sight making you return a small one of your own. You leaned forward, dropping your head to his shoulder as his arm wrapped around your upper back, his hand finding your tricep. His palm and fingers soothed over the muscle as he told you, “We should probably get back on the road, we still have like an hour until we get there.”

“Jesus, did Taehyung show you some spot out here or something?” You asked, though you didn’t dare lift your head to look at him, afraid of losing his touch.

Jimin giggled. “Yeah, he did actually.” You fell into laughter, Jimin laughing with you as he shifted his position, his hand finding your chin and directing you to sit up and look at him.

“I don’t want to drive anymore, I just want to be here with you,” you told him and his thumb gently ran along your jaw. “Wherever we are right now, I just want to exist here with you and lose ourselves or whatever you said earlier in your poetry recital.”  

He flashed you a stunning smile and nodded. “Ok, but,” he started, craning his body to reach for something in the backseat, “do you still,” he sat back in his seat holding a couple of long thin plastic packages up for you to see, “want to play with these?”

You reached for the packages in realization. “Oh my god,” you giggled, inspecting the sparklers. “Of course I do.”

Within a matter of seconds, you and Jimin were out in the cool air as Jimin used a lighter to ignite the ends of your sparklers. As they fizzled with sparks, you both backed away and began waving them around.

You were spinning and laughing as Jimin giggled and drew shapes. Several cars drove past but neither of you took notice. He gave several attempts to spell your name before the sparks faded out, but he could never complete the word in time, letting out yells of playful frustration.

It felt like a dream, and he was burning so brightly in the night air, carefree for the first time in months. He was beautiful.  

By the time the sparklers burned out, you were both breathless, standing a few feet from one another, staring at each other. He walked toward you and when he was close enough, you gripped the material of his shirt and pulled him to you. Wrapping your arms around his waist, his secured themselves around the back of your head.

You didn’t know how long you stayed like that, but it was the closest you felt to him in months, and him you, and neither of you wanted to let go of that. Only time would tell how long it would take for things to feel normal, or whether normal was even a possibility. Maybe a new normal was in the making.

All you were certain of was you were willing to travel through the unknown, as long as he was by your side. And you weren’t letting go of the night. Not until the sun came up.

[starrynite7114]

everything is you: six

A/N: Good afternoon! Sorry for taking so long to update, have not been in a good mindset and still not, but I want to post this just to give you guys something. It’s been hard and my confidence in my writing has been shit. It’s not something I like sharing, but just wanted to be honest with you all. I just want to thank you all for giving me such nice messages regarding my finals, it was awful, but definitely glad to have it over with. 

Currently, Snapshots and Misconstrued is almost done, just trying to work some things out with it. Two Weeks part two should be coming  up soon as well along with three requests. I’m updating the request list later, if you do not see your request, feel free to message me. 

Also, got a Rio/Reader/Angel story on the horizon. 

Thank you all for your patience and support. Hope you all enjoy this update! Love you all!

I would also like to thank @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat​ & @justahopelessssromantic​ <3 

Also, happy birthday @losolvidad0s​ <3

everything is you

one : two : three : four : five

Word count: 8088

Warnings: Angst

Masterlist tagged list: @justahopelessssromantic​ : @ifoundmyhappythought​ : @carlaangel86​ : @woahitslucyylu​ : @encounterthepast​ : @enamoured-x​ : @whyisgmora​ : @briana-mishell24​ : @bribri-82​ : @briannab1234​ : @chibsytelford​ : @agirllovespasta​ : @twistnet​ : @everyhowlmarksthedead​ : @trulysuccubus​ : @jadert15​ : @sammskellington​ : @cind-in-real-life​ :  @claytoncardenasbabymama​ : @sadeyesgf​ : @thickemadame​ : @summertimesadnesswithadashofsass​ : @gemini0410​ : @elcococruz​ : @samcrobae​ : @sesamepancakes​ : @iambabyharry​ : @blackmissfrizzle​ : @soamayansfangirl​ : @1-800-imagines​ : @phoenixhalliwell​ : @lady-pswrld​ : @dazzledamazon​  : @getyourcrayoncas​ : @fvckthisbxtchup​ : @lukealvxz​ : @scuzmunkie​ : @lilac-tea-time​ : @danie1432​ : @cocotheclown​ : @soaronmywings​ : @my-rosegold-soul​ : @buttercup812​ : @itskiranbitch​ : @angelreyesgirl​ : @sheeshgivemeabreak​ : @vicmackeybullshxt​ : @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ : @khyharah​ : @strawberrywritings​ : @cherry-icetea​ : @fuzzy-jellyfish​ : @losolvidad0s​ : @brownsugarcoffy​ : @courtrae89​ : @prdsdjarin​​ : @blessedboo​​ : @marvelmaree​​ : @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat​​ : @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ : @thesandbeneathmytoes​

As always, if you want to be added to the tag list or do not see your name, please let me know!

Alena laughed as Victor told her about his younger brother Richard and all the mischief they used to partake in when they were younger. She’s met Richard a few times and he was quite a charming guy, but he definitely was not as charming as Victor.

He was the oldest of the two and their parents passed away when they were younger. The only family they had, the only family they cared for was Eddie Johnson, Alena’s boss. Victor was Eddie’s nephew, his self-proclaimed favorite nephew, though Richard states the same phrase as well. Alena liked being around them since she reminded them of her own little family. 

“Are you going with Mr. Johnson next week to Bali?” 

“No, I passed this time around since you respectfully declined yet again.” Victor wasn’t sure what it was about Alena. She was a cute girl, but she was hardly his type. But he gravitated towards her. His Uncle Eddie always raved about her and he had to get to know her. Much like her, he had a shared love for art and was actually a gallerist for a few well known painters and sculptors. Victor didn’t do it much since he found himself working at his uncle’s much more often, mostly due to Alena.

For years, they’ve become closer and closer and he learned more and more about her. And due to that, he fell harder and harder. At times he felt like an idiot for doing so, she was married, no matter what the status of her relationship with Angel was, he knew Angel had a hold over her. He wasn’t sure if it was gratitude, his son or what, but whenever she spoke about Angel, her whole face would brighten up. But he also had the greatest control over her emotions. He doesn’t think Angel purposely yo-yo’s his feelings for Alena, but it frustrated him.

Alena should move on and be with someone who would proudly tell people that they were in love with her. Not someone who kept her at limbo and had sex with her more frequently than Alena would like to admit to him. He was honestly surprised Alena wasn’t pregnant. 

“I would rather spend some time away from Mr. Johnson, he’s amazing, but I need a break. He might make me work while we’re there.” Alena took a bite of her pasta, letting out a small moan at how good the sauce was. “Absolutely insane how good that is.”

Victor couldn’t help it. Hearing her moan, it made his dick twitch. But he would never push Alena and he was pretty sure this was a friendly dinner and not a date. 

“My grandmother had the best recipes. If you marry me, I can totally share the family recipes.” He winked at her, making Alena blushed. “Speaking of marriage, how is your husband dearest?”

“He’s fine, I’m really sorry about the way he answered the phone the other night. He’s just protective and you know, territorial cause he thinks I won’t be committed to Cruz anymore.” She took a sip of the wine that she bought for their dinner. “I can assure you, there is nothing going on besides coparenting.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Alena placed some salad on her plate. 

“Come on Alena, we’ve been friends for almost seven years now. You’ve always had a complicated relationship with Angel and now, he tells you he has feelings for you. It’s a rollercoaster ride with him and you deserve someone who is more stable.” He was talking of himself of course, but it was true. Alena didn’t need to be taken on this ride. She deserved more than that. 

“Angel is just projecting or something, he just thinks he’s losing me because I’m interested in you.” Alena looked up at Victor before looking back down at her food. 

He smirked at her admission and lightly chuckled. “You’re interested in me, carina?” It was his nickname for her, cute in Italian. Alena always hoped that Victor would never call her that in front of Angel and she was determined to keep it that way. She knew Angel’s nicknames held special meaning and she didn’t want him thinking that Victor had numerous nicknames for her. It was just one and if she was being honest, it was incredibly adorable.

“Maybe, I don’t know.” Alena sighed, biting her bottom lip, which Victor hated cause all he wanted to do was kiss her. 

“Alena, I would never push you. If you want to give it a shot, that’s fine, but I know the guilt is eating you up cause you’re technically married and you respect the sanctity of marriage.” Victor placed a hand on top of hers. 

Alena couldn’t help but think how much bigger Victor’s hands were compared to hers. She looked up at him and he had that warm smile he always gave her. Victor was always there for her, he was so sweet and always let her do her own pace. He never pushed her or anything. 

Once she and Angel’s divorced was finalized, she would give him a chance. 

“I have a gallery I’m setting up for next week, did you want to come and see how it’s done?” Victor knew of Alena’s passion for art. She was an amazing painter and he really wanted to slightly push her on sharing her work with the world. Hell, he wanted her to go back to school and pursue art so he could get her to do a few gallerist work, maybe even become an art handler. She couldn’t be Uncle Eddie’s assistant forever. 

“Sure! I would love that, when is it again?” Alena excitedly replied. She’s never seen an art gallery be put together before and she would love to experience that. 

“Next Tuesday, it’s at the art gallery a few blocks from our apartment.”

“Sounds good, I’m excited to see the master at work.”

Victor held Alena’s hand as he walked her down to her door, their night was full of laughter, random topics of conversations and just an overall good night. Alena forgot how it was to go on a date with someone and she was glad it was Victor that she went out with. 

“I had a great time.” Alena told him when they stopped in front of her door. 

“Same here on our lovely friendly date.” He teased her. “I’m serious about this Alena, I really want for us to give it a shot when you’re ready.”

Alena was slightly annoyed at the fact that she let herself be blinded by her relationship with Angel, well her non-relationship. He was always so hot and cold. She knew enough about relationships to know it wasn’t worth it. Their relationship was solely for Cruz and she was finally understanding that better and better. 

“I know. Thank you again.” 

Victor nodded his head, his eyes drifting to Alena’s lips. Maybe a little push wouldn’t hurt her. He leaned down, waiting for Alena to back away or anything, but she didn’t. When their lips connected, Alena froze, but eventually relaxed. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. Alena couldn’t help but compare Angel and Victor. Angel’s lips were moist, warm, and so sinfully delicious. And to her surprised, so was Victor’s. The butterflies in her stomach were going wild as Victor’s tongue slipped inside her mouth. 

He eventually pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers. He gave her one more kiss before pulling away. 

“I’m gonna go before this goes any further.” Victor chuckled. “Good night Alena.”

“Good night Victor.” She unlocked her door and leaned against it once it was locked.

God, she was in such trouble. 

============

Carla sat down on Alena’s couch, nursing the wine glass in her hands, completely enjoying her day. They went to the spa like Angel had suggested and it was the best idea ever. Carla watched as Alena smiled as she was texting on her phone. It seemed that her date with Victor went well since she had been texting him nonstop this whole day.

“Dude, put your phone down, you need a break from Victor.” Carla teased her.

“I’m not talking to Victor,” Alena laughed. “Angel is being silly and sending me pictures of him and Cruz.”

Carla had to smile at that. From what EZ told her, Angel finally realized his feelings for Alena, but was just taking his sweet ass time to tell her. The way she saw it, Angel was losing precious time because Alena seemed to be entertaining the idea of starting a relationship with Victor. 

“Ah, the husband. How are things with you and Angel?” Carla placed her wine glass on the coffee table.

“Good, the sex ban went out the door.” Alena had her phone on her lap. 

Carla had to applaud Alena for the valiant effort. She knew that she could just deny Angel for so long. She couldn’t blame her, even though she was with EZ, she could appreciate that Angel was a good looking guy. And she knew of Alena’s attraction to Angel, her love for Angel. It was sad at times knowing how much Alena gave up for Angel, how much she loved him to the point that she became the mother of his child. 

“Told you you couldn’t resist him.”

“He literally woke me up to have sex.” Alena blushed remembering how amazing that night was.

“Has Angel ever not enticed you?” Carla teased.

“Yes, there was like six months where we didn’t do anything because I really didn’t want to do anything with him. He didn’t initiate anything until I was fully comfortable with sleeping with him.” Then she remembered Angel’s words. “Cruz asked Angel for a sibling.”

“Oh, did he?” Carla was more than amused. She’s heard that before. Cruz had been asking Angel for a sibling and it was always the same response, ‘we’ll ask mommy’. Carla was secretly rooting for Angel. She watched them do this dance for so long and always wanted Alena to be happy, she knew that it would be with Angel no matter how much of an idiot he was. As much of an idiot Angel was, Carla always saw how much Angel cared for Alena. He always protected her, was there for her and she was almost sure that Angel almost killed Dante, well deserved.

“Yeah,” Alena shrugged. “But I mean we’re getting divorced in a few months, so maybe his next girlfriend.” She laughed, but Carla knew there was no humor.

“Why do you do that?” 

“Do what?”

“Put yourself down or even believe Angel would let you go.” Carla knew Angel had no plans on signing the divorce papers. “Your Cruz’s mom, do you think that after you get divorced if it even happens, that you would become a stranger?” Carla wasn’t sure if Alena knew what would happen once they got divorced, but it wasn’t what she thought that was for sure. Hell, she didn’t even actually believe that they would get divorced. Angel finally realized he’s in love with her. If there was one thing she knew for certain about Angel, she knew he wasn’t a quitter. Alena has loved Angel for so long, she was certain her friend would never believe it once he confesses. “I love you Alena, but you can be so naive. Angel would never let you go, Cruz would never let you go. I know you somehow believe that you two will get divorced and have shared custody of Cruz, but we both know you don’t want that and Angel doesn’t either.”

“Angel just likes me because of convenience. Otherwise, he would take any other women.” Ailee slightly smiled, looking down at her lap. “He said it himself that he had no feelings for me, and that’s okay.”

“You can’t possibly believe that, Angel is losing his shit because of Victor.”

“Angel is just territorial. I’ve been the one constant in his life and he’s being unreasonable, once he finds someone else to occupy his time, wouldn’t even be an issue.” 

“Stop doing that, come on Alena, give Angel more credit than that.” Carla should help Angel, especially how much of a dick she was when it came to Victor. Besides, all she wanted was for Angel to realize what he had before he lost it. The Reyes brothers could be so dense at times. “Do you,” she paused, not sure if she should even put the idea in Alena’s head cause Angel would have her head. “Do you want to pursue something with Victor?”

Alena looked at her best friend, slightly laughing. She wasn’t sure. Victor has always been there for her, he was a kind man who protected her. He was smart, Cruz liked him, and he wasn’t bad on the eye. But at the same time, Angel, she’s loved Angel for eight years now. She prayed that maybe it would fade, that she would settle with being friends with him, the old cliche, she’d rather have him than not at all. 

Then Cruz happened.

Then they got married.

And now, she was anticipating for them to divorce.

God, she felt like a fool.

She gave up so much for Angel. She didn’t expect him to do the same and she was an adult who made her choice. She never regretted it. But she wished she found someone for herself as well. 

And she felt now that she did. 

She found it in Victor. 

“Yes, once Angel and I are divorce, I want to pursue something with Victor.”

Carla felt her stomach drop and she kind of regretted asking Alena. She knew once she told EZ, it wouldn’t be long before Angel found out. Angel would raise hell knowing him and his temper. Carla wasn’t obtuse to Angel’s feelings for Alena before his own realization. The way he protected her, the way he hung onto her every word, the way he followed her around like a fucking lost puppy, it was endearing and annoying how Alena never realized Angel was in love with her. 

“Don’t use Victor as a rebound, he deserves more than that.”

“I’m not,” Alena weakly defended. “I wouldn’t pursue anything with Victor till I’m fully over Angel.”

“Alena, you’re never going to be over Angel.”

“I can do it, just need some motivation, which is this divorce. Once the papers are filed, I have to keep my distance and just interact with him for Cruz. I can do this.”

“It’s not that I doubt you can do it, I’m sure you could if you truly pushed yourself, but what I’m trying to get through your stubborn ass head is that Angel wouldn’t let you go. Do you not know Angel? He would kill a man for you if you requested for him to do so.” 

“That doesn’t constitute to love Carla. I would do anything for Angel too. I would do anything for you.” 

“Alena, that’s literally not my point.” 

“Carla, please, don’t do that. This is the reason that the hope has never faded. I want to remain friends with Angel and co-parent for Cruz’s sake. I thought you wanted me to move on, to find my way away from Angel.” 

“Things change.” Carla didn’t want to tell Alena that Angel was in love with her, that wasn’t her place. But she can dissuade her from thinking of Victor than anything more than as a friend. 

“It doesn’t matter, it’s been five years. Nothing has happened and it’s time to move on.” 

Alena was done. 

It was time to move on from Angel. 

============

“Mama, can we go to the park today?” Cruz questioned as he finished his plate of pancakes.

“Of course baby.” Alena nodded her head, taking another bite from the breakfast sandwich she made for herself.

“May I be excused?”

“You good little man.” Angel let Cruz go. He wasn’t saying he didn’t have manners, but all of Cruz’s mannerism was definitely all Alena. 

Cruz jumped down from his seat, going to the couch to watch some cartoons, something he has done right after breakfast while Alena usually cleaned up. At times he wouldn’t help her, but Alena excused him, since she wanted to talk to Angel. He was finishing up breakfast, chuckling as Cruz enjoyed his PJ Mask.

“Did you get all of your errands done?” Angel questioned. He was relieved when he woke up and Alena was bringing her stuff in this morning. He didn’t want to bug her and seemed needy, but a few times, he was itching to ask her to come home. 

“Yes, I did,” she smiled, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. 

“You know you’re due for your annual eye appointment.” Angel reminded her before he took a bite out of his breakfast sandwich and shoving hash browns right after. 

Angel loved having breakfast with Cruz and Alena. They were a real family and it always had him starting his day on a good foot. Just being able to be with his two favorite people was the best thing in the world.

It always marveled Alena how good Angel was with appointments for her and Cruz. Like routine work, doctor’s office appointments, dental visits and annual eye exams was something Angel kept track of. Her and Cruz’s inhaler and nebulizer refills? Angel was always on it. 

It was quite impressive and she was touched. 

“Am I? How are you so good at this, but forget to put the toilet seat down.” She teased him. She poured more mango juice in her cup, pouring some in Angel’s as well.

Angel chuckled. “I have to make sure you’re well taken care of cause you suck at taking care of yourself.”

“Thanks Angel,” she blushed, which didn’t go unnoticed by Angel. He did it to purposely see her blushing. 

It was so fucking cute. 

“Do you want me to make the appointment?” Angel knew that Alena absolutely loathed talking on the phone. She would become anxious, planning the conversation ahead. So from time to time, he helped her out. 

“No, it’s fine, I can do it.” She appreciated the offer. Angel really took care of her. “You can’t always make my phone calls for me.”

“That is true, but I would do anything for you cielo.” He kissed the back of her hand making Alena blush again. He chuckled. “Eres tan linda.(You’re so cute).”

They continued to eat, Angel updating Alena of the recent club happenings. She was hesitant to bring up Victor, but if she wanted a chance on normalcy, she would have to start somewhere.

“So, Victor and I went out and it was nice, we went to a museum then we had dinner at his place.” Alena paused, if they were ever going to become normal or whatever the fuck they were before Cruz, she had to talk to Angel like he was her friend, not tip toe around him. “And he kissed me.”

Angel choked on the mango juice he was drinking, looking at Alena like she grew another head. “Excuse me, what?”

“Yeah, we kissed at the end of our date.  It was nice, he was very sweet. Potential, once we get divorced.” 

Angel was fucking losing it. Did he fucking enter the twilight zone that Alena was nonchalantly talking to him about going on a date with Victor and kissing him. 

And divorce?

Maybe she’ll change her mind when he tells her how he loves her and how he wants to be with her. That he was an idiot for not moving quicker and just letting everything hang in the air. Communication hasn’t been his greatest asset, but he was going to try for her. 

He would never force Alena to stay with him, but he knew her actions were a consequence of his own doing.

“Alena, what are you doing?” 

She looked at him oddly as she took Cruz’s plate, placing it on top of hers.

“Nothing, I’m telling you about my date.” 

“You’re telling your husband about a date you went on?” Angel tried to say it in a way so she could see how insane she sounded. He knew what she was doing, trying to normalize this insane notion of her and Victor being together, to try and become just friends. She has never been just a friend to Angel.

“Yes, we’re friends right? And we know what this is. The divorce papers should be ready in the next few weeks and once it’s signed, we’re both free to,” she thought for a moment, “publicly do what we want.”

Yep, Alena had him fucked up.

“Divorce papers? Who agreed to a divorce?” Angel didn’t like this at all. He fucked up. He should have told Alena so that they could be talking about having more kids not fucking dates and divorce papers.

“We did, a few years back remember?” Alena wasn’t sure where this surge of confidence was coming from, but this was to protect herself. She’s loved Angel for so long and he was always so hot and cold, he didn’t know where to place her so she’ll do it for him.

“Alena, I don’t have any plans on ever signing those papers, you want to file them, go ahead, but we both know you don’t want for us to get divorced.” Angel shook his head in disbelief. This was partly his own doing, but he knew what Alena was trying to do. She was taking initiative since he’s been so back and forth with her. But he was taking initiative too. Alena was his wife, and they’ll remain that way. “You kissed him?"

"Yes,” Alena noticed then that Angel was stoic, keeping his emotions at bay which he did when he was trying his best to control himself. “I'm sorry, I don't know how it happened." She wasn’t certain why she apologized, but she felt that she had to do so. They were married.

"You said you had errands." Angel reminded her of her lie. Since when did Alena lie to him?

"I did and Victor wanted to go to dinner and a museum. I just, it just happened." 

“Did you sleep with him?” Angel stood up.

“No, of course not.”

“Yes because just kissing him is so much better.” Alena watched as Angel placed a kiss on Cruz head as he was sitting on the couch, watching television. He looked up at him confused. "I got shit to handle at the club, I'll be back late, don't wait up." Angel grabbed his kutte.

"Angel, please, I'm sorry." Alena wasn't even sure why she was apologizing. Angel had told her that he didn’t have anything to do today except be with them. “We’re just friends.”

“I don’t like Victor, you’ve never lied to me before and since this whole thing started you started lying to me.” Angel frowned. “If there was nothing to worry about you wouldn’t hide it and you wouldn’t excitedly tell me about a kiss you two shared.” Angel turned to face her as his hand gripped the doorknob. “Do you love Victor?”

"What?" That was ridiculous, she didn’t love Victor. 

"Do you love Victor?"

"No." And she didn’t. 

"Do you want to be with him?"

"I don’t know.” And she didn’t know. 

"Don’t know?” Angel let out a chuckle. “Sure doesn't seem like it."

============

Alena sat down at the park bench, Cruz in perfect line of sight for her. He was in the sandbox playing with a few other kids. She took out the book EZ had recommended for her a few weeks ago and opened it to the latest page she was on. Every once in a while, she would look up to check on Cruz. It made her anxious when they went to the park since she read so many horror stories of kids just disappearing. She wouldn’t know what she would do if Cruz disappeared while he was with her. 

She’s been trying to text Angel all day, but he hasn’t responded to her. In hindsight, she could understand why he hadn't responded to her, but she was hoping he would at least let her know he was okay. Maybe she approached it wrong and could have done it in a better way, but she didn’t know how else to do so. She was trying to go back to normal with Angel, whatever normal was for them two. They were friends once and were able to talk about anything, but it was different now. 

Though maybe it was disrespectful to speak about a date to her supposed husband.

“That’s a good book.” She heard someone comment beside her. “Don Quixote.”

She looked up and smiled at the person, thanking her. She noticed the tattoo on her neck, which was actually beautiful. The young woman before her was beautiful as well. Her pale skin was in contrast to her dark green jacket. She wasn’t sure why she was wearing a jacket since it was scorching hot in Santo Padre right now. But she definitely looked cute. 

“You’re Angel’s wife.”

Common knowledge in Santo Padre, not odd whatsoever. 

“Yes, I am.” Alena hoped this wasn’t one of those psycho’s who was hoping for her death so they could sweep Angel off his feet. Can they just sweep him off his feet without wishing for her death? Alena no longer wanted to be a part of this conversation, focusing her attention back on the book before her. Being Angel’s wife was quite a pain. Besides the fact he slept with almost fucking everyone in Santo Padre, all these women began to lust after him again after he got a ring around his finger and Cruz by his side. Cruz was a cute kid and it was hard to resist that aspect of Angel’s life, but she wished they would stop confronting her as if it would do something if they did. 

“I’m not here to start any trouble, I just wanted to meet the woman who has Angel’s heart.” Alena looked over at her again and she had a smile on her face, it wasn’t menacing, it was genuine. Woman who had Angel’s heart? Right, cause they’re married. “He speaks of you and your son often.”

“Do I know you?”

“My name is Adelita.” 

Alena almost gasped when the name registered. She was the rebel leader, the one she was convincing Angel to date. God, she was beautiful. 

“Oh,” Alena closed her book then. “Angel speaks of you often as well.” Alena lightly laughed. “I’m quite surprised to see you on this side.” 

“Plans have changed and I wanted to meet you. You have a beautiful son.” Alena and Adelita both looked over at Cruz who waved at his mother. “You’ve sacrificed a great deal for Angel.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“No, he didn’t. Any woman who has chosen to raise a child who is not hers is admirable, though I’m sure it came with great sacrifices.”

“It did, but I don’t regret it. They’re my family.” Alena wasn’t even sure why she was entertaining this conversation, but she had always wanted to meet the woman that Angel admired. “I have to correct your statement though, I don’t have Angel’s heart. I’m sure you know of our circumstances. In a few month’s time, we’ll be divorced so I’m sure you two can pursue whatever relationship you would like to do so then.”

Adelita laughed, shaking her head. “Angel did tell me you were planning to get a divorce.” It was comical for her since Alena and Angel were telling the stories differently. On one hand for Alena, their agreement has come to an end and it was time for the divorce. For Angel, she overheard him mentioning the divorce EZ as they drove her to her destination a week earlier and how he had no plans of divorcing her. 

Alena smiled, nodding her head. “Yes we are, will you be staying on this side of the border from now on? To be closer to Angel?”

“I think you misunderstood Alena, Angel and I only have a purely business relationship. He is quite an attractive man, but his attention is solely on you.” Adelita stood up then, Alena standing up as well. She stuck her hand out, which Alena took. “You are quite remarkable Alena Reyes, you have made a good man out of Angel.”

Adelita walked away then, leaving Alena speechless. She wondered why she even came to see her. She felt a pull on her skirt and looked down at Cruz.

“Mama, who was that?”

“Just one of daddy’s friends.” She ran her fingers through Cruz’s hair. “Did you want your juice?”

Cruz nodded his head. Alena took the juice out of the little cooler she had for Cruz’s snacks and drinks. Handing it to Cruz, she wiped the sweat on his face and back, making sure he was hydrated. 

“Mama, can I have a little brother or sister?” 

Alena wanted to laugh at Cruz’s request. It’s not like she thought Angel was lying, but Cruz has never asked her about having a sibling.

“You want a sibling?” Alena sat him on her lap, pressing her cheek against his head. “How many do you want?”

“Um, five.”

“Did you tell Daddy that?” 

Cruz nodded his head as he drank his juice. “Daddy says he wants, um,” Cruz thought for a moment. “He said he wanted 8.”

Alena let out a baffled laugh. 8 kids? Was Angel going to carry them all? What was up with her boys and wanting a handful of children running around.

“And when you ask Daddy, what does he tell you?”

“He says we have to ask you because you’re the boss.”

Alena shook her head. Her boys were too much at times. 

“How about a puppy first?”

============

Alena yawned as she exited the bathroom. She almost screamed when she found Angel sitting at the edge of their bed, fidgeting with the keys he had. 

“Angel?” She called out questioningly. No answer. He continued to fiddle with the keys. “Babe?”

Angel looked up, his watery eyes immediately got Alena. She quickly walked over to him and cupped his face.

“You okay? What’s wrong?” She frowned as the tears fell from his eyes. The scratches on his face worried her. She moved away to grab the first aid kit, but Angel grabbed her elbow and pulled her against him.

He had his head on her chest, arms tightly around her. “Please don’t leave me cielo, you’re the only person I have.”

“I would never leave you Angel.” She ran her fingers through his hair. She knew he was crying, the way his shoulders were shaking.

“You and Cruz are my family, I can’t lose you. I would go insane.” 

“Angel, you’re not going to lose me.” She pulled away, cupping his face as she wiped the tears. Angel rarely cried and when he did, she was the one who caught him and provided relief. “I’ll always be here for you.” She kissed him, knowing Angel needed some type of reassurance and it was the first thing that came to her head. 

Angel pulled her to his lap, Alena straddling him. He wrapped his arms around. One of Alena’s hands cradling his face, while the other arm wrapped around his neck. She pulled away, leaning her forehead against his. God, that kiss was definitely different when compared to Victor. When she kissed Angel, she felt that if she wasn’t sitting on Angel’s lap, her knees would go weak, her body going limp. All the worries they both had were wiped out since they were the only two people in this world, everything else blurred out.

“What’s wrong?” Alena asked.

“Ezekiel betrayed me.” Angel plopped down the bed, Alena still on his lap. 

She frowned, getting off his lap and moving to sit beside the top half of his body. “What happened?” She intertwined their hands, waiting for Angel to talk.

And when he did, he told her everything. 

At the end of the story, Angel had his head on Alena’s chest, her fingers running through his hair. His arms were wrapped around her middle as Angel listened to her heart. Alena was in shock that this all occurred. She always thought it was too good to be true for EZ to get out, but she believed that the cop may have been corrupt or whatever excuse they had given. She worried the most for Angel, his relationship with Felipe was starting to mend due to Cruz and now, she knew Angel’s trust was shattered. 

“What can I do to make it better?” Alena broke the silence that befell them after he finished his story.

“Just don’t leave me.”

“Other than that, you already know I won’t leave you.” Alena kissed the top of his head. 

“Can we have a baby?”

“If you carry it, absolutely.”

Alena and Angel both laughed. She playfully smacked him upside the head, causing Angel to flinch. He loved laying his head on her chest, just listening to her heart beating. At times, it even lulled him to sleep, but he knew sleep wouldn’t be coming soon. 

“He’s your brother Angel, I know you’re hurting, but hear him out.”

“No,” Angel’s tone was firm and left no room for argument. “You’re my family now, you, Cruz and your family are mine. I was always the outsider, but not anymore. I have a family of my own and none of our kids will ever feel second best to any of their siblings.” 

“Okay babe.” 

Angel knew this was the perfect time to tell her he loves her, to show her how much he loves her, but he wanted to settle this whole thing with Ezekiel. Once it was done, he would tell Alena everything and from them on, as it’s always been, it would be the two of them against the world. 

“I met Adelita.”

Angel froze, his eyes widening. He sat up, looking down at Alena who propped herself using her forearms. “What?”

“Yeah, she came up to me while we were at the park.” Alena noticed how uncomfortable Angel became and sat up as well, placing her hand on his. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s not weird at all. She’s beautiful and I think you two would make a good couple.” 

Angel gave Alena an incredulous look and shook his head. “Did she do anything? Say anything?”

“No, she just said she wanted to meet me and she thought I was remarkable, which was kind of odd if you think about it. I’m not the leader of some rebellious group that is giving the cartel a run for their money.” Alena went under the covers then, just so she could hide when Angel broke the news to her about him and Adelita. “You okay?” She noticed how tense Angel was. 

He was livid. How dare Adelita approach Alena. He told her, his family was off limits. No Alena. No Cruz. No Felipe. He played her game and helped her as much as he could, she should have at least respected his wishes. 

“What did she tell you?” 

“That she wanted to meet the woman who had your heart.” Alena turned to Angel, resting her head against her propped hand. “Did she meet her?”

Angel wanted to laugh at the irony and slowness of Alena. “Cielo, it’s you.”

“Look, I think we should clear the air.” Alena was surprised by her own words. She was never to be the one to clear the air and after what happened with Ezekiel, this may not be the right time, but they were here now. “I know you said you haven’t slept with anyone since we got married, which I believe you, but I just want you to know that you don’t have to try and salvage things here. We’ve always known what it was and that’s fine. Maybe we shouldn’t have sex anymore so it doesn’t,” Alena looked up at Angel when she noticed she was looking at his ringed fingers that had dried blood on it. “We should clean the blood off.” 

“So it doesn’t what?” 

“It doesn’t confuse us further.” She got out of bed and grabbed a wet cloth. She sat in front of Angel wiping off the dried blood from his knuckles. 

“I would never force you to be intimate with me Alena, we both know I can respect your boundaries.” Angel watched as Alena cleaned his wounds.

“I know, which is why I’m putting up my boundaries again. I want us to be able to be friends after all of this.”

“Alena, do you honestly think that’s going to make things better? I already told you, I have feelings for you and that’s not going to go away because you decide we’re not going to have sex. We’ve done it before, remember? Six months, no sex, which is fine, I would never force you. The most I did was kiss your neck.” Angel remembered that. Alena had asked him to back off, which he did, she eventually came to him on his birthday and after that, they’ve been intimate ever since. “It didn’t do anything for how I felt about you Alena, it just made me feel like you didn’t want me.”

“You’re so hot and cold Angel, I don’t even think you know what you want.” Alena sighed. “I don’t want to fight, you had such a long day and it’s almost six in the morning.” 

Angel stood up. “I’m gonna go see pops.”

“Angel, I, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’ll never lose me Alena. I know I’ve been an asshole, I’m hot and cold, but I truly have feelings for you. Just give me time to fix all this shit with EZ and once it’s done, we can figure us out.” Angel walked over to her and kissed her. “I’ll see you later.”

Alena sat on their bed and sighed. The butterflies in her stomach were still running rampant after Angel’s words. She believed him, she really did, but he would most likely change his mind tomorrow.

She didn’t want to be with Victor, that was for sure.

At least not right now. Not when she was still irrevocably in love with Angel. 

============

Angel sat beside Coco on the couch as he finished his session with the tattoo artist. It’s been a whirlwind of a day and as much as he wanted to go home, he needed space from Alena. With everything going on, he didn’t know where they could go. Of course, confessing to Alena was still in the plan, but after Adelita came to see her, Angel just felt shaken. He never wanted to involve Alena in this, but he told her everything. She was like his journal, non judging and took everything in. The most important thing for her was him and Cruz, how it would affect them.

It would kill him if something happened to Alena and Cruz. 

“Alena texted me, have you spoken to her?” Coco questioned as he sat down next to his brother, letting out a puff of smoke from his mouth.

“I told her we were here and that I would be staying the night. Why?” His eyes drifted over to his brother who was currently getting the tattoo.

“You know Adelita came to see her?”

“She told me, why, what’s going on?” Did Adelita go to see her again? Did someone else? He took his phone out and there were no messages from Alena.

“I don’t know, I just don’t feel comfortable with her visiting Lenny.” Coco shrugged.

“You think I fucking do?” Angel sighed. “She isn’t going to harm Alena.”

“I don’t think she is, but I’m sure Alena’s mind is running wild.” Coco knew how deeply Alena felt for Angel. During times that Angel had a run that would take him away from Alena and Cruz for longer than he wanted which was basically a day, so Coco would stay with Alena. 

And when he did, he let her let loose and have a few drinks with him.

============

Alena giggled as she took another shot. Korean Vodka, Soju, was Alena’s favorite, specifically the apple flavor. Coco had come to take a liking of it as well and they were three bottles deep. Alena’s cheeks were red, a clear sign of her intoxication. She also had no filter, which Coco enjoyed thoroughly. 

“You know I feel stupid for taking on a role I always wanted, but not under this circumstances.” Alena rested her cheek on her palm, giving Coco a small smile. “I love Cruz so much though, I feel like he is my kid.”

“Alena, Cruz is your kid. He’s so attached to you.” Coco was surprised that Cruz didn’t throw a bigger fuss whenever Alena went back to San Diego. Though, it was a hit or miss. When he threw a big fuss, Alena would take him to San Diego, Angel following behind after a few days. Their dynamic was fucking odd, but who likes normal anyway?

“Sometimes I wish he really was, that Valeria wasn’t his mom.” Coco watched as Alena’s face scrunched up. “I was going to confess to him when he told me Valeria had his kid. I was going to tell him that I was in love with him, that I was going to Paris and if he didn’t feel the same, it was okay.” She began to cry then, letting her tears fall. “I love Angel so much, it hurts at times. But I’m happy where we are no matter how fake our relationship is. Being here for him, to raise Cruz with him, it’s more than I can ask for.”

Coco frowned at Alena’s words. He and Gilly always spoke about Alena’s love for Angel, how idiotic she could be, but at the same time, they admired her greatly. She had the purest kind of love for Angel. She didn’t become angry when he was with another person. She doesn’t hold grudges against him or anyone for that matter. She didn’t become angry when she felt rejected. She loved him unconditionally without any expectations and Coco was envious of that. They were all a bunch of misfits who did not have the best relationships with their families, they found a family in one another. Then they have Alena, someone they definitely don’t fucking deserve, who loves them as well, as an extension of her love for Angel.

When he first met her, he couldn’t believe this young woman was fucking hanging around Angel. He was closed off, but she always went out of her way to make sure he was taken care of along with Angel. And from then on, they became closer and closer. Seeing her hurting like this, it hurt him, his younger sister was suffering cause his brother was a fucking idiot.

He was certain Angel felt greatly for her too, with Cruz around, it just wasn’t the main priority. 

“Alena, you know you deserve better. You should have gone to Paris.” Coco was the one who encouraged Alena to go to Paris. Was it a dick move? Maybe, but Angel didn’t know what he had, perhaps it would have woken him up. She refused to tell him though. And he knew why. Angel would have begged her to stay and she couldn’t say no to him.

“Yeah, I should have. But when I met Cruz, I couldn’t. He looked so much like Angel. He deserved a chance to be a father. I wasn’t going to let Valeria take that away from him.” Alena wiped her tears, laughing at her silliness. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying. I like it when you come and stay with me, I miss spending time with you and the others.”

“Yeah, Angel fucking locked you down here or something ever since you two got married.” Coco teased. They held no hard feelings towards Angel. He was always protective of Alena, but that increased tenfold when they got married. “But we get it, Cruz is your priority.”

“He is.”

“Alena, it’s okay for you to cry. I know how frustrating it is for you. It’s rare for you to show any frustration, but don’t you just want to scream at times?”

“For what?”

“I’m sure this situation isn’t ideal for you. I know that you always wanted to marry Angel, but not like this.”

Alena smiled. “No, but it’s fine. Angel needs me, Cruz needs me. I’m like the glorified nanny.”

“Stop that shit Lenny, you know you’re not a fucking nanny. You’re Cruz’s mother.” Coco hated hearing Alena put herself down. She was far from a fucking nanny.

“I know, do you think Angel could ever love me?” 

“Alena, it’s hard not to fall in love with you.” 

“He didn’t though.”

Coco watched as Alena took another shot. But Angel was in love with her, he was just too fucking stupid to make a move.

============

“Running wild?” Angel wasn’t sure what Coco meant. Did Alena express to Coco that she was worried about Adelita or disclosed information she didn’t tell him about? If he was honest, he was glad Alena was close to the members, but at times, he felt that she withheld information from him and heard it from Coco instead. 

“I’m sure she thinks Adelita and you are getting together.” Coco regretted telling Alena how much Angel admired Adelita. She just gave him that smile of hers and he knew it got to her. Yet again, she was on the losing end with Angel. His brother really did a number on her.

“Is she fucking insane? I haven’t even touched another woman since we got married.” Angel knew it was easy to assume that he slept around, but he didn’t. He was devoted to Alena and that was that.

But he also knew why Adelita came to see Alena. She’s overheard Angel speak about Alena so much, anyone would be curious. 

They were across the border, bringing some supplies to Los Olvidados when Alena had messaged Angel.

============

Angel chuckled, shaking his head and replying to Alena. He knew there was some international charges, but he didn’t give a fuck. He always kept his phone on in case there was an emergency.

“What Lenny send you?” Coco questioned, trying to peak at Angel’s phone.

Angel moved it closer to his chest, shaking his head. “Nothing man, just Cruz finally jumping in the pool at her apartment building.”

“I still can’t believe you’re okay with her living in San Diego.” Coco chuckled. “You aren’t worried she’s dating people while you’re not there?”

“Careful bro, we don’t need Angel locking her down more than he already has.” Gilly teased Angel, adding to Coco’s statement. 

“Alena doesn’t need anyone, she has me.” Angel scoffed at their suggestion that his precious Cielo would even stray from him.

“Right, does she know that?” Coco was not a fan of Angel’s methods when it came to Alena. For him, he didn’t need to tell her they were it for one another, even though 

“You have a girlfriend?” Adelita surprised the three men. She was attracted to Angel and she honestly thought he was attracted to her, but she’s heard them mention the name Alena plenty of times. She thought she was just the mother of his child. 

“No, Alena’s my wife.” Angel showed his left hand.

Adelita smiled, nodding her head. “She’s a lucky woman. How long have you two been together?”

“Four years.”

“She must be one hell of a woman to have tamed you.”

Coco chuckled. “You have no idea.”

============

“I literally told Alena, it’s me and her. Always has been since we got married.” Angel extinguished his cigarette, shoving it down on the ashtray. 

“Hermano, you know why she’s like that. Talk to her. Communication is key.” Coco smirked. “And from what you told us, it’s not you and her anymore. She went on a date with Victor.”

“Victor is nothing. He’s a fucking pretentious asshole.”

"You would like Victor if he wasn't making moves on your girl. Told you, a girl like her would just stay single for so long. Her kindness was always beyond you, and someone finally noticed her. It's the day you always feared hermano, what are you going to do about it?"

"It's too fucking late for the church of Coco."

[ceealaina]

Title: Who Do You Want Me to Be? Collaborator Name: ceealaina Card: TSB - 4008 IHB - 2007 Link: AO3 Square Filled: TSB A1 - Tony Stark/James Rhodes IHB G3 - Guilt Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Friends to Lovers, Pining, Pre-Iron Man 1 Summary: It's the early 90s and Rhodey's just returned stateside with a shiny new promotion. So of course Tony turns up like a one-man USO troupe to help him celebrate. And all of a sudden Rhodey's seeing Tony in a whole new light. Word Count: 7908

Rhodey sighed and rolled his neck, trying to stave off the headache he could feel building in his skull as he listened to the hold music. After he’d come back from Kuwait there had been medals, and ceremonies, and promotions, and now he was halfway through his extended leave. He’d been excited about having three straight weeks off when they’d first offered it to him, but his family had only been able to get time off for about a week, leaving him to entertain himself for the rest of the time. Some of his Air Force buddies were here too, and the hotel they’d been put up in was really nice, and he wasn’t… not having fun, exactly. But he’d been feeling antsy and unsettled and maybe a little lonely -- especially when all his friends had brought their girlfriends along to stay. 

The hold music clicked off then and a moment later there was a soft, feminine voice on the line. “Stark Industries, Tony Stark’s office. How may I direct your call?” 

Rhodey rolled his eyes a little -- not at her, just at the idea of his dumbass former roommate having a personal assistant. “I’m calling for Tony, please.” (Obviously, he resisted the urge to add. Why else would he be calling Tony Stark’s office.)

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid Mr. Stane has asked that all Mr. Stark’s calls be held today. May I take a message?” 

“Oh, uh…” Rhodey fought back a sigh. “It’s Captain Rhodes, calling for Tony please.” 

“Oh, of course!” she said, her tone changing. “I’ll put you right through. And if I may, congratulations on your promotion, Captain.” 

“Thanks,” Rhodey told her genuinely, grinning despite himself as he imagined Tony going around telling everybody in the office, down to his damn secretary. The hold music came back on but it was just a few seconds before it clicked off again. 

“Hey handsome,” Tony’s voice drawled down the line. “How’s your leave going? Partying it up? Knock anyone up yet??”

“Jesus,” Rhodey muttered, laughing a little as he flopped back on his bed and scrubbed a hand over his hair. “You never stop, do you?” 

“Don’t lie, you love it.” 

Maybe it was Rhodey’s imagination, or maybe he was projecting, but he thought Tony sounded tired. 

“Yeah, I do,” he agreed, unable to keep back a little sigh at the admission. 

“Hey, you alright?” Tony’s tone was teasing. “You’re sounding awfully maudlin for somehow who just got about a metric shit ton of commendations from the Air Force.”

Rhodey huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m good,” he promised, scratching at his chin; he’d skipped shaving the last few days. And then, because he’d had just enough beer with dinner to keep him honest, “It feels weird celebrating without you here, man.” 

“Hey, you know I’d be there if I could, right?” Tony sounded agonized, and Rhodey felt his stomach sour with guilt. Tony’s parents had barely died a year ago, and he had a ton on his plate. Rhodey should have been checking in on him more, not making him feel guilty for not dropping everything to fly across the country and keep Rhodey company. “I’m really sorry.” Tony gave a little laugh but it sounded forced and even more exhausted than before. “I’d much, much rather be there, believe me. This is… Well it’s just that there are these deadlines looming, and Obie’s been really pushing me to come up with the next great thing, and since my parents--,” He choked on the word, cleared his throat, tried again. “Since dad died the board’s been on my ass, and everyone’s got ideas about what I should be doing and saying and how I should be behaving. I just couldn’t get away.” 

“Hey, no, come on.” Rhodey shook his head, even though Tony couldn’t see him. The other man still sounded pained, like he was letting Rhodey down and it killed him, and Rhodey was gonna shut that idea down fast. “It’s totally fine, Tones, I promise. I miss you, but I can still survive without you, you twerp.” 

Tony snorted. “You sure about that?” 

“I’ll get by. And hey, when things settle down I’m sure I can get a couple days off. We’ll live it up like it’s 1985.” 

“So… Cheap beer and terrible videos?” 

“You know it baby.” 

“Yeah, alright.” Tony hummed. “I miss that,” he admitted quietly. “No stakes. And I miss you too, Honeybear.” 

“Obviously,” Rhodey told him. “I’m a goddamn gift, Stark.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony told him. And then his voice shifted, obviously talking to someone. “Yeah, I know. No, I didn’t forget Obie, I just had something come up. I’ll be right there, I promise… Just let me finish this call.” 

There was a long moment of silence, long enough that Rhodey wondered if Obie hadn’t let it go, if Tony had had to hang up on him. 

“Sorry,” Tony finally said, just as Rhodey was wondering if he should hang up too. He sounded completely deflated, all traces of good mood evaporated. “Board meeting. Guess I better go.” 

“Man, I thought CEO meant you’d have more freedom,” Rhodey teased, trying to make Tony a little brighter. But there was no trace of humour in Tony’s voice when he replied. 

“Yeah. Me too.” There was a shuffling of papers. “Shit, okay, I really better go. Obie’s gonna be pissed if he has to come back to get me again. Have, like, an entire bottle of champagne for me, yeah?” 

Rhodey smiled despite himself. “Sure, Tones,” he agreed. “Don’t work too hard.”

The line was dead before he finished the words. 

***

Despite everything, Rhodey woke up feeling better the next morning; talking to Tony always seemed to have that effect, even if he was a chaotic disaster child. He was still lonely -- especially after watching Mikey literally feeding his girlfriend waffles at brunch the next morning -- but it felt more tolerable after that. 

And then, just as a group of them were making plans to do something for the afternoon, he heard a low whistle from behind him. “Hey sailors,” an extremely familiar voice drawled. “Enjoying your leave?” 

Rhodey whipped around so fast it was a miracle he didn’t injure himself, watching as Tony sauntered into the room, wearing his sunglasses inside like a complete asshole. “I know you know it's the Air Force, you absolute jackass,” he told him, grinning wide. 

Tony just shrugged, his smile just as bright, and Rhodey got up to give him a huge hug -- no delicate ‘bro’ hugs for them. He could feel Tony sink into it the way he always did when he got a proper hug and Rhodey squeezed him a little tighter, letting go just before it got weird. 

“What are you doing here, man? I thought you were in LA.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Dude, I’ve got like a fleet of private jets. What’s the point of being CEO if I don’t get to fly them at my whim.” 

Rhodey just gave him a pointed look and Tony shrugged again.

“I don’t know, you sounded bummed on the phone, and I don’t trust the US of Army to be showing you boys a proper good time, so I snuck out.” 

“Again, it’s Air Force, and you know that.” Rhodey was still grinning. “It’s good to see you, Tones.” He cleared his throat then, realizing he’d been staring at Tony, and steered him towards his friends. “Come on, come meet everyone.” 

Tony, of course, immediately charmed everyone, making the rounds and introducing himself and laughing like they were all old friends before pulling up a chair at the table and stealing the rest of Rhodey’s waffles like he couldn’t afford his own. It felt nice, right, the way things were supposed to be. He was maybe a little worried about the sudden decision to just take off, but it wasn’t like Tony’s relationship to spontaneity was a new one. It was probably his version of sticking it to the man, or just his best friend being his normal over-the-top self when it came to showing his affection for their friendship. 

Or maybe, Rhodey reconsidered when he saw the activities Tony had booked for them, he was working out his 'I'm-as-good-as-Captain-America-right-Dad?' issues. 

“Jesus man,” he said, laughing as he read over a copy of itinerary that Tony’d had his secretary print out and fucking laminate for everyone. “You’ve got helicopter tours of the city on here. What are you, the one-man USO girl troupe?” 

Tony just looked over from where he’d been writing down the contact info for some exclusive wedding venue for Matt’s fiancée. “That’s for later, baby,” he purred with a ridiculous, lascivious wink that had Rhodey busting out laughing. The whole thing was insane and over-the-top and ninety million percent Tony, and everyone seemed onboard so Rhodey figured, why not?

And the day was a blast. Overdone it might have been, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a great time. Tony had won everyone over in about five seconds flat, and the more ridiculous his antics the more they seemed to like him -- not that Rhodey was surprised, since that described their entire relationship. And he loved having Tony there with him, hadn’t even realized just how much he’d missed having him by his side. 

Tony had, apparently, planned some big dinner and party for them all at the hotel, so after a packed day everyone had gone back to their rooms to rest and get ready. Rhodey had had just enough time to dump his wallet and keys and strip off his shirt before there was a knock on his door. He wasn’t even surprised when he opened it and found Tony on the other side, leaning coquettishly against the frame. Rhodey snorted but didn’t acknowledge his positioning further, just left the door open and turned back into the room. He could practically hear Tony pouting at his lack of response, but he followed him in anyway, flinging himself across Rhodey’s bed. 

“Hey handsome,” he purred, dragging his eyes up and down Rhodey’s bare chest. 

“You’re hopeless,” Rhodey told him, throwing his t-shirt at Tony’s face. 

“Wow,” Tony mumbled, words muffled from underneath the fabric. “Rude.” 

Rhodey laughed, grabbing a dress shirt from the closest. “Hey,” he said, sitting on the side of the bed and smacking Tony’s leg. “How’re you doing, man? Like really. Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you even doing here? You okay?” 

“Huh?” Tony pulled the shirt off his face, giving Rhodey a borderline-manic smile. “Fine, great, excellent.” He sat up fluttering his eyelashes at Rhodey. “Why do you ask?” 

Rhodey rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t do that, Tones. Come on.” 

Tony shrugged, suddenly fascinated by an invisible stray thread on his pants. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, like he was five. He looked back up at Rhodey, his eyes suddenly tired. “I’m running the company. It’s busy.”

“Busy,” Rhodey replied dryly. 

Tony rolled his eyes at him. “There’s… It’s a lot. And Obie’s, I don’t know… Different, I guess, when I’m the CEO, and… I don’t know. It’s weird not having you around, and you know me, I don’t think things through so I just figured, why not? And now I’m here.”

“Mmm,” Rhodey considered this a moment and then turned to Tony with a bright grin. “Are you saying I’m your happy place, Stark?” 

“You know it, Honeybear,” Tony retorted, and he was obviously going for dry and sarcastic, but there was something a little too sincere in his voice, a shy little smile unwillingly teasing across his lips. 

“Hey, it’s okay, baby,” Rhodey told him. “I’ll be your happy place. I make you feel all warm and safe and squishy inside, that’s totally fine with me, man. I’m very comfortable in my masculinity.” 

“You’re very stupid, is what you are,” Tony retorted, but that little smile had turned into a full-fledged grin, and the stress lines around his eyes were fading a little. 

Rhodey flicked Tony’s nipple, just for the strangled wheezing noise he made and the way he clapped his hand to his chest, staring at Rhodes like he had some kind of virtue to protect. “Takes one to know one,” Rhodey informed him childishly before sobering a little. “Seriously, Tones, don’t overdo it though, alright?”

Tony blinked back at him innocently. “Overdo it? Me?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, that’s your middle name or whatever. I mean it, though. You need a break, take it. Not that I don’t appreciate it, but this is a lot. We’ll survive without a round of helicopter paintball or whatever you have planned next.” He rolled his eyes at the look on Tony's face. “No, that’s not a suggestion.” 

Tony pouted a little before he relented. “Rhodey, honey, I promise, this is a break for me. I’m having a blast.” 

“Yeah, alright.” Rhodey smacked his leg. “Come on then, Captain Overdo It. Somebody said something about a party downstairs. You wanna borrow my shower? Maybe a fresh shirt? You stink, dude.” 

“I don’t stink,” Tony scoffed. “I’ll have you know my cologne is imported, and very expensive.” He made a show of sniffling his own armpit and then wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, okay, maybe I’ll grab a quick shower,” he said before suddenly sitting upright so fast he nearly gave Rhodey whiplash. “Oh, no wait, I just remembered! I, uh… Left something in my room. I’ll shower there. Meet you downstairs?”  

He was gone before Rhodey could actually give him an answer, leaving him shaking his head as the door fell shut behind him. “Whatever, weirdo.” 

***

Rhodey occupied himself with his Air Force buddies, drinking and shooting the shit while he waited for whatever crazy surprise Tony had cooked up now. He was upstairs long enough that Rhodey was just considering going up to make sure he hadn’t gotten trapped in the shower curtain or something when Mikey’s jaw dropped, eyes going wide. “Oh my god,” he muttered as the room erupted into jeers and catcalls. 

Rhodey spun around and nearly fell off his stool as Tony sauntered into the room in a vintage Captain America USO girl costume, complete with halter top, red and white flared miniskirt, and a pair of ridiculous starry blue heels. “Oh my god,” Rhodey echoed, completely able to look away. 

Tony stopped a few feet away and cocked his hip, the heels and the angle making his ass even more gorgeous than usual. “Hey sailor,” he purred with a ridiculous, over-the-top wink, and Rhodey couldn’t even find it in himself to remind Tony once again that they were Air Force, not Navy. Tony just smirked at him. “Told you I was going to show you boys a good time.” He stilled then, waiting for some kind of a reaction, and there was the slightest bit of hesitation creeping into his smile. 

“Jesus Christ,” Rhodey finally managed, shaking his head and laughing, and Tony relaxed again. “You are an absolute idiot.” 

Tony shrugged. “That’s not what the shareholders say,” he answered, and without skipping a beat he closed the distance between them and plopped himself in Rhodey’s lap, sitting sideways and stealing Rhodey’s beer. 

“Yeah, sure, help yourself,” Rhodey grumbled, signalling the laughing waitress for another. He let his hand settle on Tony’s leg since there wasn’t much room anywhere else, especially now that Tony had gotten past his skinny twink phase. The fabric was a little stiff beneath his fingers, and he peered more closely at Tony’s costume. “Wait, is this an actual USO costume?” 

Tony shrugged, unphased as he stole Jake’s fries. “Dad had some weird shit in his Captain America collection. ‘S mine now.” He shot Rhodey a bright smile over his shoulder as he popped another fry in his mouth, winking at him in the process. 

“Jesus,” Rhodey muttered. He shifted his legs a little, the left one starting to go to sleep. “You’re fucking heavy, man. Is there something wrong with the chairs?” 

Tony just squirmed his ass a little harder on Rhodey’s thighs. “Well, you know. You’re the only one here without a girlfriend, so I figured I’d step in.” 

“Just helpin’ out, huh?” Rhodey asked dryly. 

“Exactly.” Tony agreed. “Just helping out.” 

Rhodey shrugged and resigned himself to spending the evening like this, shifting into a slightly more comfortable position and then pinching Tony’s side hard for good measure. He yelped, loudly, and Rhodey cracked up, nearly dumping Tony on the floor in the process. He looked up a second later in time to catch the end of a look shared between Mikey and Jake and frowned a little. “What?” 

“Nothing!” Mikey said quickly, Jake holding up his hands innocently. “Just, you know… This explains so much.” 

“Explains what?” Rhodey asked suspiciously. 

“Well, I mean… You’re very…” He trailed off, looking for the right word, and Jake snickered. 

“Uptight?” he offered. 

“And this explains that,” Mikey said.

Rhodey blinked back at them, not following, and Jake gestured toward Tony, distracted with talking to somebody else. 

“You left all your stupid at home.” 

Immediately Tony whipped around to face them. “You calling me stupid?” he asked, face lighting up. “Awesome.” 

“You are stupid,” Rhodey told him.

“Awww. Love you too, Honeybear.” 

The thing was, Rhodey was so used to Tony being Tony that he didn’t even give his behaviour a second thought. The constant flirting, the sexual innuendos, the way he strutted around in those ridiculous heels like he wore them every day, arching his back in ways that seemed strategically designed to draw Rhodey’s eyes to his ass… It was all the same Tony he’d known every day since he met him. And sure, as the night went on and the booze flowed his eyes drifted to Tony’s ass even without Tony’s doing everything he could to draw attention to it, but that was nothing new either. It was just… How they were. 

Tony was back in his lap again, his weight oddly comforting. Rhodey hadn’t even noticed his hand snaking around Tony’s waist until it was suddenly vibrating beneath him. 

“What the hell?” Rhodey yelped, voice way too high. He snatched his hand back like something had bit him and Tony nearly laughed himself sick. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, pulling out a monster of a cell phone. He wiggled the ringing device. “Top of the line,” he told him before he glanced down at the caller id and his face fell a little. Rhodey felt his heart clench sympathetically as Tony blew out a deep sigh. “It’s Obie,” he said. “I, uh… I should take this.” He gave Rhodey a smile, but even in his half drunk state, Rhodey could tell it was a little forced. “Back in a flash.” 

With Tony gone, Rhodey leaned back and let the voices and music and laughter and general sounds of the party wash over him as he sipped at his beer. He was vaguely aware of Jake wandering off too, and Mikey sliding over to the seat beside him, and he grinned when Mikey clapped him on the shoulder. 

“Having a good time?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Mikey agreed, gazing around at the light show and DJ that Tony had brought in from somewhere. “This is insane.” 

Rhodey shrugged, vaguely aware that he was grinning. “That’s Tony.” 

“Yeah…” Mikey glanced around and shifted a little closer. “Hey, Captain?” 

“Mmm?” 

“I’m not asking, and you’re not telling, but please god, kiss your boyfriend he explodes.” He grinned then, and while Rhodey was left blinking back at him, he gave him a wink and wandered off after Jake. 

“No,” Rhodey said weakly, even though Mikey was far enough away that he never would have heard him even without the noise of the party. “He’s… I’m… We’re not…” 

But the thing was, why weren’t they? If he was really, truly honest with himself, in the way that only came with a bit of a buzz, there’d always been something there, an extra side to their friendship that they’d never quite touched on. The flirting, the grand gestures… They’d been dancing around each other for years, really, and apparently hadn’t even been that subtle about it. 

Abruptly, Rhodey shoved his chair back from the table he was sitting at, looking around the room for Tony. He had no idea what he was going to do or say to him, but now that it had been pointed out, he couldn’t stand another second of letting this hang over them without doing something about it. 

There was no sign of Tony in the bar, probably still on the phone, but Rhodey noticed a promising looking side door, half propped open. Slipping through found him in a concrete back hallway of the hotel where, more importantly, he could hear Tony’s voice bouncing off the walls. He followed the sound, and found him around a corner further down the hall. He was still on the phone with Obie, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and a pinched, tired look on his face that Rhodey didn’t like at all. He didn’t appear to have heard Rhodey, though through some trick of acoustics Rhodey could hear Obie’s voice filtering through the tinny speakers of the phone, demanding to know when Tony was going to be back from his distraction of a vacation. 

Rhodey wasn’t wasted by any means, but he was just drunk enough for it to seem like a good idea to step forward and take the phone out of Tony’s hand. Tony’s eyes snapped open, and Rhodey had the brief thought that they really were gorgeous, even when looking confused, before he held the phone up to his own ear. 

“Hey Obadiah?” he said down the line, not even stumbling over the name as he cut off whatever the other man was saying. “Fuck off.” 

Tony’s eyes went even wider as Rhodey punched the off button. “Rhodey… What?” His tongue flicked out against his lower lip, a nervous tic that he’d had for years, but Rhodey’s eyes focused on his lips with the motion.

Rather than speaking, he let his arm drop to his side and stepped forward, closing the distance between them. His other hand came up, curling around the back of Tony’s neck, and Tony inhaled sharply, lips parting. Rhodey couldn’t resist then, leaning in to kiss him. 

It was soft and sweet at first; he’d meant it to just be soft and sweet. But then Tony made a soft noise, his hands curling in Rhodey’s shirt, and without quite meaning to Rhodey deepened the kiss. The phone dropped to the floor with a loud clatter as he pushed Tony up against the wall, having just enough presence of mind to cradle his head so it didn’t smash into the concrete. His other hand dropped to Tony’s thigh and he moaned softly into his mouth at the brush of bare skin beneath the fabric of the short skirt, pressing his own thick thigh up between Tony’s legs. 

And then the press of Tony’s hands against his chest changed and he was shoving instead, enough force behind it that Rhodey staggered backwards. His balance was off and when he regained his footing Tony was staring at him, a slightly shaking hand clapped over his mouth. Rhodey couldn’t quite find the words to ask what was going on and Tony regained his composure, drawing in a deep breath before he lowered his hand again. 

“What the fuck are you doing, Rhodes?” he asked, and his voice was low and cold but there was hurt in his expression, not anger. 

“I mean…” Rhodey shrugged helplessly because he’d thought it was kind of obvious, but that didn’t seem to make Tony feel better, hiding his face as he stooped to pick up his phone. 

“I’m not your drunk, pity, gay experiment, Rhodey,” he said quietly, before turning and striding off down the long corridor. 

Rhodey sighed, and thumped his head against the wall.

His first instinct was to take off after Tony, to try and explain what he’d been thinking. But while he wasn’t drunk drunk, he clearly wasn’t sober enough to not be a total moron, and the truth was that he hadn’t been thinking, he’d just… Wanted. So instead of going after Tony, or going back to the party, he wandered through the confusing back halls until he found an exit, slipping outside into the night air. 

It was cold out, but it was refreshing after the sweltering heat of the party and Rhodey’s head felt clearer almost as soon as he was outside. Still, he wandered around for a while, trying to get his thoughts together before he ambushed Tony again. Suddenly kissing him after years of supposedly being straight probably hadn’t been the best way to handle this.

He was shivering in his shirtsleeves by the time he made it back into the lobby. The party still seemed to be going strong, but he ignored it in favour of the elevators, heading up to Tony’s room on the top floor -- penthouse, of course. He drew a deep breath before knocking, and there was a long moment of silence on the other side of the door, long enough that he was worried Tony was going to ignore him entirely, before his voice finally filtered through the thick wooden door. 

“It’s open.” 

Rhodey let himself in, locking the door behind him, and followed the faint sounds of splashing water to the bathroom. He found Tony stretched out in the bathtub, up to his neck in a thick layer of bubbles. He was focused intently on the faucet, although his eyes flicked briefly over to Rhodey at his appearance. Not wanting to corner him, Rhodey leaned against the bathroom door frame, hands in his pockets.

“Rich guy like you leaving your hotel room unlocked while you’re in the tub? Doesn’t seem like the safest idea.”

Tony just shrugged, still not meeting his eyes, and flicked at some bubbles. “Think I’m safe. They’re supposed to have pretty good security here. Although I guess they’re letting just anyone up here now,” he added, the words void of their usual snark. Rhodey sighed. 

“Hey, so, I’m an idiot.”

Tony snorted. 

“First of all, are you okay? Second of all, I think I’m missing something here. Third of all, why are you hanging out in this whirlpool. You have something approaching Olympic-sized at home, I know you do.” 

Tony finally looked over at him then. His hair was soft and curling from the steam and he shoved a stray strand impatiently out of his eye. “Well, you’re definitely missing something. But I guess I like this tub because it’s here.” 

“Right. That makes sense.” 

“... Where you are.” 

“Oh.” Rhodey felt his stomach swoop. “Oh.” 

“Yeah.” Tony let his eyes cut away again. “Guess we’re both idiots, huh?” 

Rhodey huffed out a laugh. Tony’s cheeks were flushed, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t just because of the heat of the water. “So all of this was…?” 

“For you? Yep,” Tony confirmed dryly. “You know how I am with self control.” 

“So why’d you run away when I kissed you, then?” 

Tony looked over at him with an arched eyebrow. “Because you were drunk.”

“Not that drunk.”

“And I didn’t want you to regret it when you sobered up,” Tony continued, ignoring Rhodey’s interruption. “And… And… Maybe I was panicking a little. Like sure, I guess I did all this to show you I liked you but then I started thinking what if you only like me because I did all this? I wanna bang you like a screen door in a hurricane, but I never expected you to know about it, you know?” 

Rhodey couldn’t help it, he started to laugh, and Tony groaned, burying his face in his wet hands, soap suds dripping down his arms. 

“You wanna bang me like a screen door in a hurricane, huh?” 

Tony groaned louder. “Shut up,” he grumbled, words muffled by his hands. 

Rhodey ignored him, moving across the room to sit on the side of the tub and pull Tony’s hands away from his face. “That all you wanna do?” he asked softly. 

Tony blinked up at him with those ridiculously wide, beautiful eyes before he shook his head. “No,” he admitted hoarsely. “I want to take you out to nice dinners, and galas, and watch movies like we used to but with cuddling and making out and… I want to be the one you come home to when you’re on leave, I want to be your home and… And…” He faltered, trailing off, and shrugged. “I want it all.”

Rhodey grinned down at him. “Definitely both idiots,” he agreed. “Because I want all of that, too. I just didn’t realize how much until now.” 

Tony’s breath caught and he shifted a little closer. “Yeah?” he asked, licking his lower lip. “You promise you’re not drunk?” 

Rhodey planted a hand over his chest. “I swear it.” 

“Good,” Tony breathed and then his wet hands were fisting in Rhodey’s dress shirt, yanking him in for a rough kiss. Rhodey yelped against his mouth as he nearly lost his balance, felt Tony’s lips curl into a smile against his before they found their rhythm, the kiss even better than the one in the hallway downstairs. 

 “Shit,” Rhodey breathed when they pulled back again, lips brushing against Tony’s with the motion. Tony laughed softly in return. 

“Shit,” he agreed. “Is this even real?” he added, sounding absolutely delighted by the fact. Rhodey immediately reached up to pinch him hard in the arm, and Tony cried out, swatting at him in return. “What the fuck, Rhodes?”

“You asked!” Rhodey said, grinning, and got a faceful of water splashed in his face for his trouble. He had to splash Tony back in turn and the two of them ended up splashing and smacking at each other until Rhodey did lose his balance, slipping into the tub with his legs still hooked over the side. Tony nearly drowned himself, he was laughing so hard, slipping under the water and sloshing it all up over the side and onto the bathroom floor. “Stop laughing,” Rhodey grumbled, although he was laughing too. He smacked Tony’s leg under the water as he bumped up against him. 

“Sorry,” Tony said, not sounding it at all. His eyes were sparkling as he pulled himself upright a little, leaning into Rhodey’s shoulder. “Guess we should get you out of those wet clothes, honey,” he added, barely getting the words out before he was snorting with laughter again, draping himself across Rhodey. 

“You’re hopeless,” Rhodey told him, snaking his arm around Tony’s waist. “Don’t know what I see in you.”

“Too late,” Tony told him. “You already said you like me. Can’t take it back now.” He stilled then, suddenly very interested in the button on Rhodey’s cuff. “Uhh, you do, right? Like me, I mean? I mean, I know you’re my best friend but… This isn’t just a sex thing for you, right?” 

“Tony…” Rhodey just shook his head. “You're hopeless,” he repeated, waiting for Tony to look up at him again. “It’s not just a sex thing,” he promised. “I like you, Tony. I really like you. Even more than as my best friend. I might actually be a little bit in love with you, I just haven’t had enough time to process it yet, but…” He trailed off, pretending to consider. “Yep, I’m definitely at least a little bit in love with you.” 

Tony’s eyes were shining, and he cleared his throat. “I’m maybe a little in love with you too, Honeybear.” 

Rhodey gazed at him a few minutes longer, his own throat feeling a little thick before he patted Tony’s leg again. “Well, if we’re all on the same page then I think that demands a celebration party.”

Tony’s nose wrinkled. “You want to go back downstairs?” 

“I was thinking more along the lines of room service? Pizza, champagne, movies on TV… I think I was promised cuddles and making out?”

Tony gave him a slow, sweet smile, leaning forward to kiss him again. “Yeah,” he said, grinning against Rhodey’s lips. “That sounds perfect.” 

It was a little longer before they managed to extricate themselves from the cooling water of the tub, and get dried off and dressed -- since naked cuddling seemed a little weird, when they hadn’t done anything more than kiss. Rhodey borrowed some sweats while Tony ordered the room service, which meant they ended up with the most expensive champagne the hotel had on offer. 

By the time Tony was pouring a second glass for them, Rhodey was feeling loose and bubbly, partly from the champagne but mostly just from how right everything felt. They hadn’t done anything, were just sitting side by side, watching Lethal Weapon like any number of nights at MIT, but it still felt like he’d found something he hadn't even known he was missing. So when Tony passed him the refilled glass, he set it on the nightstand instead, turning back to Tony and curling a hand around his neck, drawing him in for a slow kiss. 

“Oh.” Tony hummed happily against his lips, squirming closer as he kissed him back, and when they pulled apart again that flush was back on his cheeks, along with a pleased smile. “Hey.” 

Rhodey snorted, kissed him again. “Hey.” 

Stretched out and reclining against the pillows as they were, it wasn’t long before they shifted lower, until they were lying on their sides, facing each other. Their kissing picked up, less exploring and more intent, and Rhodey was hyper aware of everything about Tony, the way he was panting into his mouth, the soft, needy little whines that occasionally slipped past his lips, the way his ankle was rubbing between Rhodey’s own, a poor replica of what he really wanted. Tony’s ratty old t-shirt had rucked up and Rhodey’s free hand had settled on his hip, stroking over the warm skin until Tony was shivering against him. 

Tony pulled back suddenly, his hair even more fluffed up and falling into his eyes. Rhodey couldn’t resist brushing it out of his face and Tony’s nose wrinkled, like he thought he could hide how pleased he was by the action. 

“You’re such a sap,” he whispered, leaning in to suck at Rhodey’s lower lip. It was Rhodey’s turn to shiver, doubly so when Tony slid a hand up under his t-shirt and dragged short nails down his chest. Tony smirked and moved closer until they were pressed together head to toe. Rhodey could feel him hot and hard against his hip, and Tony moaned when the sensation had him twitching against Tony’s tip in turn. “Are we, um…” His voice was hoarse and he gave Rhodey a crooked grin. “Are we doing this?” 

“Are we doing this?” Rhodey repeated, laughing when Tony groaned and ducked his head against his neck. “Is that the famous Stark charm you’re always bragging about? Christ, how do you ever get laid?” 

“I hate you,” Tony grumbled, but Rhodey could feel him shaking with laughter against him. He took advantage of Tony being distracted to roll them, easily flipping Tony onto his back so he could straddle his waist and lean over him. Tony stopped laughing, staring up at him with wide, soft eyes, and swallowed hard. 

Rhodey grinned, grinding down against Tony a little and grinning at the near-gasp that slipped past his lips at the sensation. “So what do you want to do?”

Tony groaned and his hands slipped down, clutching and squeezing at Rhodey’s sides. “Christ, Rhodes,” he grumbled. “You’re gonna fucking melt my brain here. I want… I want…” Suddenly his mouth dropped open, expression changing into one of disbelief. “Oh, fuck me.” 

“I mean, that was what I was getting at,” Rhodey teased, laughing when Tony swatted at his shoulder blade. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, come on. What’s wrong? You’re in a hotel room with a gorgeous man between your thighs. What more could you want?” 

“Lube,” Tony muttered, sounding distraught, and Rhodey blinked. 

“What?” 

“I don’t have any lube,” Tony whined, his cheeks flushed again. Rhodey had never seen him blush this much in his life, and he was kind of enjoying it. This may have been an unfortunate turn, but he couldn’t help laughing anyway. 

“Are you sure you’re really Tony Stark? Aren’t you some kind of self-proclaimed sex god?”

Tony huffed and squirmed. “It’s not… I didn’t… I had some, but then I… I came here to see you, asshole. I wasn’t planning to hook up.”

“I’m sorry, didn’t I just see you in a vintage USO costume with the express intent of hooking up with me?” 

“I didn’t expect that to work!” Tony wailed, burying his face in his hands. “Please hand me a pillow. I need to smother myself.” 

“Hey, no, come on.” Since Tony was still hiding his face, Rhodey ducked down to kiss over his neck, tonguing at a tendon that had Tony moaning. “I’m sure we can figure out something to do instead.” 

“Yeah?” Tony asked, voice coming out breathy. His hand moved to scratch over the back of Rhodey’s head, and his hips rocked up against him. “You want me to put the skirt back on?” 

Rhodey laughed into his skin. “Maybe later,” he hummed, lifting his head again to give Tony a wink. “Besides, it was the heels that really did it for me. Your ass is incredible, man.” 

“Finally,” Tony huffed. “You know how many squats I’ve been doing, waiting for you to notice?” 

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Of course you have,” he muttered, kissing him again. Tony melted against him -- so easy -- and Rhodey took advantage to wrangle his arm between their bodies, cupping Tony’s cock through his pants. He was hot and thick even under the fabric and Tony moaned at the touch, legs falling a little further open. 

“Christ,” he gasped. “Little warning.” 

“Aww. Where’s the fun in that?” Rhodey asked, squeezing and then stroking up his length with his thumb.

“Fuck,” Tony choked out. “You’re a goddamn menace.” He squirmed and wriggled underneath Rhodey, hauling on his t-shirt. “Come on, I wanna see you.” 

Rhodey grinned and sat back on Tony’s thighs, pulling his t-shirt off over his head. Tony made a soft, pleased, humming sound at the sight, eyes fixated somewhere around Rhodey pecs before dragging over to his biceps, and Rhodey preened at his obvious appreciation. He waited a moment before arching an eyebrow at Tony. “You gonna reciprocate there, hot shot?” he asked, flicking Tony’s nipple again. Tony made the same, hilarious sound, but this time it was followed by his eyelashes fluttering and a low moan, his hips arching up. 

“Every time,” he muttered, sounding breathless. His eyes were heavy lidded and he grinned up at Rhodey from under thick eyelashes. “Every time you do that it goes right to my cock, jackass.” 

Rhodey felt his cock twitch at the thought, at the idea of Tony, trying to hide how affected he was. He pulled Tony up off the mattress to kiss him again, wrestling with his shirt in the process. It took a few tries but he got it off, letting Tony fall back against the mattress again before following him down. Tony whined when their bare chests pressed together, wriggling around until he could get a leg on either side of Rhodey’s, grinding up against his hip. 

“Shit, Rhodey,” he gasped. “You’re killing me. I’m gonna lose it here.” 

“Yeah?” Rhodey ground down against him, doing his best to ignore the way his own cock was throbbing in his pants in favour of teasing Tony. “You that close already?” 

Tony shrugged, utterly shameless. “You’re hitting all my buttons here, Honeybear. And, you know… I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. Fantasies come true. You…” His eyes fluttered again when Rhodey rubbed over his nipple. “You know how it is.” 

“Mmm,” Rhodey hummed, groaning softly when Tony’s fingers scraped over a sensitive spot on his hip. “Yeah, I do.” 

He kissed Tony again and wriggled his hand further down between them, shifting and pressing at the waistband of Tony’s sweats until they were sliding down over his hips, his cock popping free. Rhodey rocked back on his elbows far enough to get a look at him. He’d never really thought about men like this before, but Tony was gorgeous. 

“What?” he asked, teasing him instead of saying it outloud. “No thong?” 

Tony was panting, but he still managed to give Rhodey a smirk. “Maybe next time. Let’s see how good you are first.” 

Rhodey narrowed his eyes and then he was curling his hand around Tony’s cock, turning whatever he’d been going to say next into a low whine. Tony rocked his hips up into Rhodey’s grip, and his hands moved to grip tightly at his biceps, hard enough that Rhodey was pretty sure he’d have little fingerprint bruises left behind. The thought turned him on more than he expected and he squeezed around Tony’s cock again, rocking down against him. There was precome beading at the tip and Rhodey dragged his thumb through it, using it to slick Tony up more and filing away the noise he made at the touch for future reference. 

“Christ,” he groaned, out of breath himself now as he buried his face in Tony’s shoulder, teasing his skin with his teeth. Tony groaned. “You’re so fucking hot.” 

“Could… Say the same to you,” Tony gasped, fingers squeezing harder at his arms. “Fucking come on, Rhodes.” 

Rhodey pried his spare hand away from where he’d been clutching Tony’s side, reaching down to shove lopsidedly at the waist of his own pants. Tony picked up on what Rhodey was doing, sliding his hands down over his ass until they’d gotten his sweats pushed down too. He pulled his hand away briefly, ignoring Tony’s petulant whine at the loss, and spit in his hand, curling his hand around both their cocks, pressing them tight together. Tony gave a full body shudder at the feeling, one hand gripping hard at Rhodey’s ass, the other scrabbling over the back of his neck. Rhodey could feel him twitch against him, the feeling almost setting him off, and he closed his fist a little tighter, jerking them off hard and fast. He’d thought it might be a little weird, being with a guy -- he’d never touched a dick that wasn’t his own before. But it wasn’t weird at all, it was just… Tony. They’d always done their best to help each other feel good. This was just taking that to another level. 

And it felt really good. 

Tony’s body was hot against his, wound tight as he arched into Rhodey’s grip. They’d given up kissing, panting against each other’s mouth as everything spiralled higher, and Tony was making occasional little high-pitched whines that made Rhodey want to lay him out, pin him down and take his time exploring his entire body, finding every little spot that made him make that sound again. 

Later, though. For all his teasing of Tony, he wasn’t going to last that much longer himself. He could feel his balls drawing up tight, Tony’s thighs tensing on either side of his hips. He moved his free hand back to Tony’s chest, more of a rough drag than the sensual slide he’d been going for, but Tony didn’t seem to mind when he pinched his nipple again, making him cry out. 

“Come on, baby,” Rhodey panted against his lips. “Wanna see you come.” 

Tony moaned loudly and then his back was arching, mouth falling open as he spilled over their cocks. One of his hands moved to close over Rhodey’s, squeezing tight around the two of them, and Rhodey nearly choked as he came too, the force of it taking him by surprise. 

It was a long moment before he felt like he could breathe again, before he became aware of Tony panting and cursing softly beneath him. Pushing himself up on shaking arms, Rhodey pulled back far enough to collapse on his back beside Tony, sprawled out and panting. He wasn’t even surprised when Tony immediately squirmed around to cuddle up against him, head pillowed under his shoulder. Grinning, Rhodey let his arm curl around Tony, running his fingers absently over his skin.

“Shit,” Tony muttered, turning his head to place an absent kiss on Rhodey’s pec. “That was fucking…” 

He trailed off, apparently out of words for the first time, and Rhodey snorted. “Technically, I haven’t fucked you yet.” 

Tony made a pained noise. “Do you think there’s a 24-hour pharmacy around here somewhere?” he asked, moving like he was going to sit up, though he settled right back in when Rhodey’s hand closed over his arm.

“Jesus, Tones. Give me a chance to catch my breath, huh?” 

“What, are you old?” Tony teased, though he seemed happy enough to just stay there, snuggling. They’d never turned the TV off, and whatever movie was on now was a comforting buzz in the background. 

“Yup,” Rhodey agreed. “So ancient. Anyway, I think I’ve got a better idea.” 

Tony shifted a little more, turning enough that he could see Rhodey’s face. “Yeah? What’s that?” 

Rhodey cleared his throat, feeling absurdly nervous despite everything they’d just done. “You’re going back to California tomorrow, right?” 

Tony sighed, long and tired. “Yeah,” he admitted. 

“Well, I’ve got another week’s vacation left…” 

He trailed off, leaving it hanging, but Tony knew exactly where he was going, pushing himself up on his elbow to grin down at him. “Yeah? Really? You wanna come with me?” 

“I mean, if you’ll have me…” 

“If I’ll have you, he says,” Tony was still beaming, even as he rolled his eyes, then put on his best affected ‘East Coast Wealthy’ accent. “Yes, Captain Rhodes, I would love to have you join me at the California home for the next week.” Then he waggled his eyebrows at him. “You’re on vacation? You can be my kept man.” 

“I’m regretting this already.”

Tony ignored that, flopping back down onto the pillow. “I’ll get you a silk robe, you can spend your days lounging around, making yourself pretty, sunbathing in the nude… Have dinner waiting for me when I get home from the office.”

He was giggling now, and Rhodey smacked him without looking, catching him somewhere around his stomach. “I ain’t cooking for you, man.” 

“That’s fine!” Tony assured him, rolling up onto his side to flutter his eyelashes. “We can order in. I am very rich. Just as long as you’re in your best heels and pearls.” He gave Rhodey a ridiculous, over-the-top wink. “Other clothing is optional.” 

He looked ridiculous, and so absolutely pleased with himself, and Rhodey couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to realize he was in love with the man. 

But he hadn’t gone this long without knowing that if he encouraged Tony he’d never stopped, so instead of telling him how in love with him he was, Rhodey shoved him onto his back again and kissed him until he stopped giggling. 

(In retrospect, that probably didn’t have quite the dissuading effect he was going for, but Rhodey couldn’t find it in him to mind all that much.)

@tonystarkbingo @ironhusbandsbingo

[alex-ruins-everything]

Turning Pages - Chapter 6

Intrulogical bookshop au! Read the whole thing on ao3 here.

“Roman, that’s no fair! I called dibs on the car days ago!” Remus argued, chasing his brother down the hall.

“And I told you! Virgil and I are going to the mall, so I need it!” Roman replied, dodging Remus’ attempted swing when the other got too close.

“Well it’s your fault for breaking your own dumb car!”

Remus had been waiting for this day since he had somehow miraculously gotten Logan to agree to go on a date with him. Logan, the uptight nerd from the bookshop with a jawline that could cut glass and eyes Remus wanted to be waterboarded in. He had texted the number on the back of the receipt immediately upon getting it. A simple ‘hey itz Remus ;-3’ to which Logan replied with perfect grammar and punctuation. Gah, he could be in love. They had gone back and forth about their plans for the aquarium and Remus had promised to pick Logan up. Then the conversation turned to other things and Remus got to know more about Logan other than the fact that he was gorgeous. He liked astronomy (which is different from astrology apparently),  he drank his coffee black, and he had been working at the bookshop since he was sixteen. Remus had never committed to anything that long, that was insane. For every question he answered he asked one in return and Remus couldn’t remember the last time he’d held someone’s attention that long in a positive way that wasn’t Janus or Roman.

Roman, who was currently trying to sabotage their date it would seem by putting his own first. Remus had to resolve this quickly or he’d risk being late to pick Logan up.

“Roman, you know how pumped I’ve been for this. I’m taking the car,” Remus argued, watching Roman pluck the car keys off the hook and fully getting ready to pounce on his brother.

“Take your bike! You have options, I don’t!” Roman replied, holding the keys away from Remus.

“Fine! Fine. But you so owe me a big one.”

Roman cheered at winning the argument as Remus plucked the keys to his motorcycle off the hook and headed out to the garage, grabbing his jacket on the way. It might have been hot as hell outside but the aquarium could be chilly plus he never rode without his jacket. He shoved the helmet on his noggin and grabbed a spare for Logan before zooming off to the address his date had given him. It was an easy enough to find building, balconies lining the outer walls and large brass numbers over the front door. Remus parked his bike and pulled his helmet off, finding L. Berry on the doorbell system and pushing the appropriate button.

“Hello?” Logan’s voice answered after a while.

“Your noble steed awaits, Specs. You ready?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be down in just a moment, Remus.”

Remus went to go lean against his bike, resting his helmet on the ground so it didn’t get knocked off. It really was just a moment before Logan emerged from the building’s front door causing a smile to break out on his face. The nerd walked over and Remus opened his arms for a hug to be met with a hand extended for a handshake. He laughed and went for that instead.

“We aren’t going on that...are we?” Logan asked, eyeing the bike warily.

“Ro totally hijacked the car this morning,” Remus explained. “You’ve never ridden one before?”

“No. Motorcycles are highly impractical and-” “Lemme stop you there,” Remus said, handing Logan the spare helmet. “It’s not as dangerous as you think it is. All you gotta do is hold onto me nice and tight and before you know it, we’ll be at the aquarium making kissy faces as the fishies.”

“That’s not generally how I spend my time at the aquarium...is that how you spend your time at the aquarium?” Logan questioned, taking the helmet hesitantly.

“Sometimes, yeah,” Remus laughed, sticking his own helmet on and getting onto the bike, motioning for Logan to do the same.

Once Logan was on and he felt long arms secure themselves around his waist Remus headed off to the aquarium. He looked in the mirrors every once in a while to check if Logan was okay and after about a mile of panic the other seemed to relax a little bit and almost looked like he was enjoying the ride. The only thing Remus didn’t like about this was that he didn’t get the chance to converse with Logan, but there was plenty of time for that once they got to the aquarium itself. Besides...silence was a pretty good payoff for having Logan hugging him from behind. It wasn’t a terribly far ride to the aquarium and they were there quite quickly.

“See? That wasn’t so bad was it?” Remus asked, getting off first and holding out a hand to help Logan do the same. “And now you can check that off your bucket list.” “No...it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Logan admitted, accepting the hand offered to him for help. “Though I do not have a bucket list, I don’t think riding a motorcycle would be on it. I never had any desire to do that before...but it was rather exhilarating…”

“You use a whole lotta fancy words, Specs. I like it.”

Remus held out a hand for Logan’s helmet to secure it on the bike with his own. He thought he almost saw the hint of blushing on the other’s cheeks but that could have been the summer sun beating down on them. Logan didn’t have sunglasses like he did, just his regular ol’ glasses.

“I got a membership to this place so I’ll get the tickets, they’re free with it,” Remus said as they walked into the large building, the lighting inside much darker and slightly blue tinted.

“I’m a member as well, actually,” Logan replied. “I’m a member of all educational facilities in the tristate area.”

“Oh be still my beating heart...cute and a member at the aquarium? You’re really turning out to be the whole package here, Logie.”

Logan opened his mouth like perhaps he wanted to protest the new nickname or that he wasn’t any sort of package, but the duo was called up to the ticket booth before he could. Remus went ahead and asked for two tickets anyway, flashing his membership card and getting two stickers to show they had been cleared for admission. He stuck his own on his chest before sticking Logan’s on his tie and moving them off the line and towards the first set of tanks.

“So...you wore a tie to a date to an aquarium, huh?” Remus asked, starting up conversation as they looked at the colorful fish swimming around.

“Oh- yes,” Logan said, looking down at his now stickered tie. “Admittedly, I did have to research how to dress for a date and the articles I read mentioned ties. I wear them often so I thought it was the best route. Was I not supposed to wear a tie to the aquarium?”

“No, no. You can wear whatever you want, Lo. I was just curious,” Remus assured, pausing a moment. “You had a look up what to wear for a date?”

“Well, yes. I, ah...don’t go on very many. Or...any...”

“Aw…” Remus cooed, gently nudging Logan’s shoulder with his own. “Then we’ll make this a good one.”

The two of them walked around, pausing to look into the different tanks. Remus coulda sworn he almost saw a smile on the other’s face at some of his enthusiastic bouncing. Turns out Logan had a whole lot of fish facts to share and Remus eagerly listened, sharing a few of his own though they weren’t as cool as the ones Logan shared. When they got to the archway tank a shark swam right overhead of them and Re excitedly pointed it out, the pair stopping to watch the shark swim around for a while. Shockingly the aquarium wasn’t too busy on a Thursday afternoon, only a few groups of camp kids in brightly colored matching shirts. Finally they got to Remus’ favorite exhibit.

“Look!” he said, grabbing Logan’s hand and pulling him over to the octopus tanks. “God- aren’t they fuckin’ awesome…”

“You’re quite fond of octopuses, aren't you?” Logan questioned, nodding to the tattoo on display on Remus’ arm since the other had cut the sleeves off of his shirt at some point.

“I really couldn’t tell ya why...I just think they’re neat,” Remus explained, smiling when Logan pointed out his tattoo. “This octopus is actually here! He’s somewhere in this tank but y’know, camouflage and all.”

“You got a tattoo of one of the octopuses from this aquarium?” Logan asked for clarification, his eyes going from Remus to the tank in an attempt to find the creature in question.

“Yeah, Duke. When I was like twelve or somethin’ I won a raffle to name their newest octopus. I made the poor nanny drive me here like every day so I could see him.”

“That’s actually...quite nice.”

“Oh! There he is,” Remus said, pointing out a small bit of movement in the sand at the bottom of the tank. Now that they knew where to look it was easy to spot the octopus. “Did you know octopi have three hearts? Oh! And blue blood.”

“I did know that, but it’s very interesting,” Logan nodded. “They also lack bones and are quite intelligent.”

“They’re just so cool!”

They stood and watched Duke the octopus for a long time, swapping facts about cephalopods. The octopus eventually did move and Remus was able to show off the similarities between the creature in the tank and the tattoo on his arm. The resemblance was striking. Eventually they moved on, continuing to talk about they fish they passed until they ended up in the gift shop.

“I always loved the gift shop of museums,” Remus said, moving over to browse a rack of postcards. “It was almost like a reward for making it through the boring stuff.”

“You didn’t seem to find the aquarium boring,” Logan stated.

“Oh, yeah. Aquariums don’t count. I just...don’t like museums as much. They’re cool and all - especially the art museum that has all the medieval armor and weaponry - but no one will go with me because apparently I’m too loud for museum culture.”

“I quite enjoy that museum actually,” Logan said. “Perhaps we can go there together. I do have a membership.”

Remus thought he was gonna vibrate from excitement. Logan had just asked him on a second date, right? That’s what had happened? He gave an enthusiastic nod, his eyes catching on something along the wall. Ties!

“Oh! Oh, wait here,” he said, running over to the display.

Sure enough they had a few different designs. Remus immediately fell in love with a navy blue tie that had a green octopus towards the bottom. He pulled it off the rack, not bothering to check the price and moved back to show Logan.

“I’m gonna get this for you,” he said, holding the tie up.

“Wha- Remus, no. You don’t have to do that,” Logan replied. “It’s a very lovely tie, but you don’t need to buy me a gift.”

“I know I don’t need to. I want to...so I am.”

“I’m not going to be able to convince you to put that back, am I?”

“Nope.”

“Very well,” Logan nodded. “Your turn to wait here.”

Remus did as he was told, looking over the rack of postcards again. He found one with an eel on it and picked one up to give to Janus. Eels were like water snakes, right? Janus did love his snakes. Not too long after he walked off Logan came back with a small stuffed octopus in his hands.

“I’m going to buy this for you,” Logan said. “Is that- is this something you’d like?”

“Lo, I will literally cherish that for the rest of my life,” Remus grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. “Hell, I’ll be buried with it.”

Logan’s shoulders seemed to relax a little bit at Remus’ approval. Remus moved over to the register, flashing his membership card again for that wonderful 10% off he got as a perk. Once he was done Logan got rung up, showing his own card.

“For you,” Logan said, holding out the stuffed octopus.

“And for you,” Remus replied, exchanging the tie for the toy. “Y’know...all this walking around the aquarium has me heavily craving some coffee. You game?”

“I- yes. I would also appreciate some caffeine right now,” Logan nodded.

“It’s no Remy’s place, but there’s a cafe like a block away, c’mon,” Remus said, grabbing Logan’s hand again to lead him away from the aquarium and towards the sidewalk.

The coffee shop was much busier than the aquarium but the smell of roasting beans was pretty much divine as soon as they walked in. The seats inside were all full but there were a few spare seats outside that hopefully wouldn’t be snagged before they got their orders in. The two of them continued to chat during the walk and while waiting on line. Remus placed their order, getting a black coffee for Logan and his own personal drink which he liked to call the Gamble With Death.

“Surely that cannot be good for your heart,” Logan stated after hearing Remus say eight shots of espresso.

“It hasn’t killed me yet,” Remus shrugged. “If it ever does I promise to let you know.”

“How would you let me know? You’d be dead?”

Before Remus could think up an answer for that his name was called out and he went to go grab the two cups, handing Logan his. They grabbed a table outside and Remus stuck his new octopus in the middle of the table.

“He needs a name,” he said, gesturing to the stuffed toy.

“It does?” Logan questioned, sipping his coffee.

“Of course he does!”

“You could perhaps go with a nod to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu and name him that,” Logan suggested.

“Hm...I like that, I like that,” Remus nodded, getting an idea. “Cthuwu. Y’know, like ‘uwu’?”

“Tell me if I use this wrong but, ah...cursed.”

Remus broke into laughter at that, assuring Logan that was the right context but it was more the delivery that caught him off guard. Apparently Virgil works with Logan to get the adorable nerd up to date with modern slang. The guy had flashcards which Remus absolutely needed to see now. They stayed at that cafe table long after their coffee cups had been drained, until suddenly the sky was a mass of pinks and oranges.

“Ah, shit. I totally kept you out longer than I had promised,” Remus said, stretching in his chair.

“Oh,” Logan looked up, blinking like he had just been pulled out of their little personal bubble. “Yes. I should probably get home. I do have work tomorrow and I have my nightly routine to keep up with.”

“So...organized,” Remus grinned, standing up and tossing his empty cup into the trash bin. “Then home we go, Logie.”

Logan stood up as well, discarding his cup and following Remus back to his motorcycle. Remus was able to fill any void of silence by running his mouth. He was currently telling Logan about the first time he took Janus on the bike. He hadn’t been too fond of it. Remus handed Logan his helmet and stuck their purchases in his side bag, before long they were back off towards Logan’s apartment.

“Y’know, Lo...I had a lot of fun today,” Remus said once the engine was killed and they were parked by Logan’s front door.

“I...actually did too. You were certainly a wonderful companion for the aquarium,” Logan replied, handing back his borrowed helmet. “Thank you for not letting me die on the back of the motorcycle.”

“Nah, Specs...I would never let someone as cute and clever as you die,” Remus winked, pulling the tie out of the side bag and sticking the helmet in there with Cthuwu. “I’ll see you around, yeah? I’m almost done with that book you recommended.”

“Oh? I’m so glad you’re liking it,” Logan grinned, books seeming to be a topic he rather enjoyed talking about. “Well...I’ll start building a list of recommendations for you.”

“Absolutely cannot wait,” Remus returned the other’s smile, pausing for a moment before taking a step closer and kissing Logan on the cheek. “Bye, Specs.”

He shoved the helmet on his head and sped back home after making sure Logan made it inside alright. He looked a little dazed after that kiss on the cheek which was just so damn adorable. Remus was absolutely on cloud nine. Now he got to go home and gush about it all to Janus over the phone.

TAGLIST:

@theiwatobiicepic

[uwua3]

hi parental goose (should I say bunny?) figure I am here to request 😌🤘 can I request some amusement park date hc for kazunari? ♡♡♡♡ I love how you put songs you listened to while writing so I, your goose ally, will suggest a song! I really recommend listening to "She Looks So Perfect" by 5 Seconds of Summer since it gives off summer vibes and specially, kAZOO VIBES ♡♡♡ THANK U ILYYY ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

erisu 🥺 hi baby how are you everyone this is my Daughter my Baby my Other Child (lyd is the other baby) ♡ how r u did you sleep well here is *All My Love* of course you can request!!! i would do anything for you!!! but, thank you for recommending a song~ it is ON REPEAT as we speak!!! i remember being obsessed with this song when it came out! thanks for the nostalgia :D

summary: there was a rumor that couples who went on the ferris wheel together would be in love forever

warnings: multiple mentions of food

author’s note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERISU !!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE A YEAR OLDER YOU’RE GROWING UP SO FAST ♡ I LOVE YOU (so. much. hand. holding)

word count: 3,562

music: she looks so perfect – 5sos, hey mama! – exo–cbx

all the luck in the world.

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

this was it, the biggest fair in the whole country was this weekend and this weekend only. you guys had to go

“yo~ we gotta go!!!” kazunari practically pushed the flyer in your face, not giving you time to read the colorful, bright font as he excitedly rambled about it being his dream to even attend such an iconic event

it didn’t take much convincing before he had whipped out two admission tickets from his pocket, as if he already knew you’d be on board with such a fun date with the coolest boyfriend ever!

(seriously... if you said no... he might’ve cried by himself, he just wants to check off a bucketlist goal with his favorite person and best friend ever!)

(“wah~ i’m so #cool right? give me a kiss to prove it!!!” when you actually did it, he was quiet for about three seconds before he started cooing and sending an attack of affection your way)

you two planned your outfits ahead of time (the only thing he bothered planning), with kazunari rummaging through your closet and throwing pieces he thought would coordinate behind him (ultimately landing on your face).

he was being your personal fashion consultant (you didn’t question him, he was an art student who knew how to dress!)

throughout the entire process, you strutted out of the bathroom like it was a runway with your ever chaotic and supportive boyfriend clapping. he had a questionable french accent as he complimented you without end

“my chérie, you are absolutely darling!” kazunari flipped the end of a feather boa over his shoulder dramatically as he had on a pair of sunglasses (how he found that in your room was beyond you). he sat at the edge of your bed with his legs crossed, pretending to write critics down on an invisible notepad as he feigned fainting out of shock

kazunari ran over to pull you in a hug as soon as you found one of his options perfect. he blabbered about how cute you were and how he was so lucky

you tried processing how your boyfriend had so much energy. he was so dramatic, but you never felt unconfident or nervous to be yourself around him because kazunari loved you for who you were!

when you collectively agreed on the best outfit, kazunari worked to find something of his own to match you to be that couple at the amusement park (it was hilariously coincidental he almost had the same items)

(the #ootd on instagram that day got him so many likes when he included multiple mirror pictures with you doing ridiculous poses. he captioned the picture with so many happy faces and heart emojis)

(yes, he had his own story category reserved just for your pictures)

(yes, you also were the person behind a majority of his posts online and was credited every single time without fail) (you were known as “kazu’s photo guru”)

“kazu... are you sure you don’t want to plan ahead?” you asked carefully as he just scrolled through his phone, disrupting his rant about having the most iconic date of all time. kazunari just laughed, shrugging without looking up

“don’t worry~ everything will be fine!” kazunari exclaimed as he asked his followers recommendations for rides to check out. you knew he wouldn’t change his mind with his “happy–go–lucky” attitude

you just hoped the drive to the park wouldn’t be a nightmare since it would be so crowded

on the ride up, you two screamed pop lyrics at the top of your lungs no matter how busy the road was (you two never noticed, but at stop lights, you’d be the center of attention as kazunari just had to fail at a whistle note with the windows down)

the moment kazunari took control of the aux cord, you knew it was going to be a party until you arrived. you two sang together so much that you knew which parts were yours and effortlessly bounced off each other, flowing naturally and laughing nonstop

although kazunari went with the flow, he had the luck of the world on his side the day when you guys showed up. he had managed to find parking, got in line fast, and made it into the amusement park like it was second nature

(you knew of horror stories where the lines were way too long in the blazing heat, kids crying about not winning, indifferent employees not caring at all... how did kazunari manage to repel all the bad from your life and make it as easy as possible?)

it was as if his positive energy about the whole day manifested the universe to give him the easiest entrance ever (or it was his insanely charming charisma that got him off the hook with just about anything)

you two even got a discount on your tickets, believe it or not! somehow, one look at you two and the seller knew you were a couple (the matching outfits definitely didn’t give it away) and gave you extra for “young love”

(kazunari was so ecstatic, you were almost worried he was going to kiss the employee right then and there. you had to drag him away before he got on first–name basis with everyone)

when you two got your wristbands and went to the grounds, kazunari let out the loudest squeal of excitement ever and had to stop himself from jumping up and down (just bouncing on his heels like an impatient child)

“O. M. G!!! we’re gonna have the best date ever!” kazunari shouted, holding onto your hand as he took in the entire view, with so much to do for the entire day

booths were set up with so many fun (but rigged) games with yelling handlers, advertising their set–up to passerbys with infectious energy. crowds of children were rambling in awe about the animal display (like the world’s biggest pig apparently, who knew?). screaming passengers were swinging over your heads from the multitudes of crazy rides only the country’s biggest fair could have

you were so busy taking in the view of kazunari’s excited big eyes and huge grin that you missed the mischevious spark glinting back at you

when he craned his head back at the tallest ride there was, that contraption that somehow brought tens of people in the air just to swing them around in a circle, you suddenly came back to earth

“—wanna bet?” kazunari finished, tilting his head towards you with a competitive edge. you raised an eyebrow, not bothering to question it when you swung your arm around his shoulders and smirked back

“bet.”

suddenly, you were being dragged to the games section, passing by the crowds easily when kazunari was always by your side. it was as if the road parted for him when he reached a display with balloons pinned to the wall

“i know you didn’t hear me, which is why i’m going to win~” kazunari teasingly hip–bumped you, passing the necessary amount of tickets to the game runner which they accepted graciously. you just shrugged, picking up the fake plastic rifle they let players use

(“was i too handsome?!” kazunari joked, missing how you actually agreed)

“yeah, yeah. i don’t need to know, i’m gonna win.” you winked, making kazunari swoon as he lifted his arm to his forehead with a dramatic flair

“my hero!” kazunari called out as you readied yourself to shoot the balloons, knowing the odds were gravely against your favor

“what am i shooting for again?” you asked, putting your cheek against the gun. kazunari just slid up to next to you, his lips brushing your ear with a smile

“if you lose, we’re riding the swings together~” kazunari giggled and you fired, hitting one balloon with satisfaction. kazunari wrapped his arms around your waist, reading his chin on your free shoulder despite you trying to focus

“and if i win?” you asked, not bothering to entertain your clingy boyfriend as you hit another balloon. even the person running the game seemed anxious about your chances at crushing the whole thing

“we can do whatever you want.” kazunari breathed out, placing a gentle kiss on your neck with a laugh when you flinched. you hit your last shot though, exhaling in relief when the attendant begrudgingly gave you a large–sized prize

(it was a super triangle, you definitely knew who you were giving this to when you got to the dorms)

“you know what, i think we’re both winners.” kazunari tried to laugh off, but you didn’t let him get away that easy when you grabbed his hand quickly

“nu–uh! you know where we’re going!” you giddily pulled him towards another game, leaving kazunari holding onto the super triangle with great difficulty as you two played game after game

(you were right; kazunari was an universal favorite as he somehow managed to swindle the toughest of games with sheer luck)

(when a kid began asking him to play a game for them, you knew you had to stop making your boyfriend do outrageous things just for a stuffed animal)

(at least kazunari got a cool boomerang story on his snapchat of him throwing a ring onto a bottle)

“make a deal with me~” kazunari begged, holding way too many prizes to count in between his arms as you looked around for more. he was about to give up but as he caught sight of two double doors with a neon sign, he knew you’d agree immediately

“if i win every game in the arcade, we’re going on the carnival rides.”

when you accepted the deal, you regretted it. somehow, you forgot how kazunari always had everything go his way

it was like you forgot all about the rides outside. you two entered an air–conditioned, hipster arcade and had to play everything despite dropping the coins everywhere (“please keep them in the cup!” “it’s not my fault!!!”)

you name it, kazunari probably won it. fuseball, air hockey, pac–man, nintendo crane machines, zombie shooters, motorcycle/driving simulators, he won it all just for the hell of it. you’d never admit it, but he really was just the best at everything he did

although the games were fun, it was time to fulfill your end of the deal (as deserved since kazunari had no reason to go as hard as he did at the ddr pad inside the arcade)

after storing all the stuffed animals into the cramped back of the car with kazunari apologizing to them profusely (“dad is so sorry! we’ll be back soon~ promise!”), you two returned to have the biggest adrenaline rush of your life

any rollercoaster kazunari saw, he wanted to go on right away. lines felt like nothing when all he did was talk them away and get so excited seeing the ride rush by

kid–specific rollercoasters had to prevent him from going (“i’m sorry, sir, but your height exceeds the maximum” “what???” kazunari would feign shock as if he wasn’t five heads taller than the whole line)

he wanted to try it all since he never had this experience before! he wanted to make all these memories with you even if it meant yelling his head off as long as you were by his side

(seriously, one ride you had squeezed your eyes shut but heard the most high–pitched scream ever. you thought it was someone else, but of course it was your boyfriend)

you didn’t mind that much, since you used the whole ride time to grip kazunari’s hand tightly and make sure his hat stayed on the entire ride (why he wore one was questionable, anything for fashion, you guess)

ironically enough, you had done about ten rides with dizzying effects before ending it with the swings, the tall ride he initially wanted to go on with you. when you looked up at the full height, you gulped after being strapped to the two–person swing (how was this safe?!)

it was the first ride you weren’t exactly comfortable with, but when you looked at your seat partner, kazunari had two thumbs up with a big dumb grin. you instantly calmed down before the ride started

“i love you!” kazunari exclaimed as the ride began pulling you up further from the ground, holding onto your hand and looking up at the blue sky with the giddiest expression ever

it was the first time he had said he loved you out loud before, but before you could process it, all you could do was scream when the ride began rotating you around in a circle

(you had to stop him from taking out his phone, reminding him the post wasn’t worth it)

(though, kazunari did drop his hat this time. he really was lucky to find it again)

“okay, okay,” kazunari stumbled off the ride, exaggerating his lack of balance by holding onto you, his excitement not even decreasing a little after so many hours of fun

“food time! my muse needs a snack!” kazunari had whipped out the crumpled map someone gave him from his pocket, quickly locating the area without being delayed (he was always good at directions, it must’ve been why he was so popular at these types of social events)

somehow, kazunari always knew what you needed at every exact moment. you were thankful he couldn’t hear your stomach growl over the sound of the general atmostphere

when you guys arrived at the food hall, it was definitely the greatest prize of all (sorry to the stuffed animals who were defintely overheating in the parking lot)

all the best chefs and caterers came together for this event with the most outrageous food options of all time. fried oreos, cheese curds, cotton candy, caramel apples, churros, basically anything you imagined, it was most likely 1000x better with some funky twist

you never had to be nervous ordering because kazunari always stepped up and spoke, letting you hold his hand as if to reassure you he had the situation handled. he would somehow form a meaningful friendship with someone within two minutes of ordering and got extras, hurrying over to a table with every option possible

(yes, he took a photo of the whole spread and added ridiculous hashtags only savvy internet users knew) (he also posted on his private an embarrassing candid picture of you drooling at the food)

kazunari liked feeding you whatever he was eating, always encouraging you to try new things but respecting your boundaries at the same time just in case you weren’t up for it

(“oh, you don’t want to? no big deal~ just happy to be with you!” he’d say, wiping your mouth with a napkin regardless and just being content with you not being hungry)

while eating, you noticed a pattern of kids walking by, pointing at kazunari like he was a legend

“is that the guy who won basically every prize back at the games? wow~” they whispered, not realizing kazunari was extremely observant as his ears perked up at his name. he had turned to wave at the children, but they ran off

“you know...” kazunari started, and you already knew what he was gonna say as you rolled your eyes fondly, knowing how big his heart was, especially for innocent children who kept getting scammed by games

“yes, we have no need for most of the giant stuffed animals.” you pretended to sigh, as he quickly got up, giving you a quick kiss as thanks on your cheek as he ran back to the car

for the next hour or so, you and kazunari managed to give out most of your prizes (except anything triangular) to the children who had been staring, all of their parents or guardians thanking you guys profusely for your gift (though, there were some who were staring at kazunari suspiciously)

(as if they should be afraid of a liberal arts college student)

“it’s no big deal~ no problem!” kazunari always said, truly finding it not bothersome at all to share. you always admired that about kazunari, his natural instinct to care for everybody and make people smile. at a distance

you leaned against a light pole with a small smile as you watched kazunari crouch down, ruffling some kid’s hair as he gave them a prize

when he instinctually looked for you, he smiled back like you were the only person at the park

suddenly, you wished you said “i love you, too” before back at the swings

after indulging, you two shared an ice cream cone on the hot summer’s day as the lights began to turn on and the sun set. this was apparently the best part of the fair, where all the colors would pop like fireworks and the night breeze was your friend

you two had basically done everything at this point, even being the amusement park’s robin hoods with your wins. the arcade had both your names at the top of every digital leaderboard, the ride controllers had seen you too many times to count, and you two had digested an unhealthy amount of snacks that you’d regret the next day

what else could you do? it was already the most perfect date, there was nothing else except...

this time, you leaned your head back and saw a circular shape blocking the sunset: the ferris wheel

you turned to kazunari, who was already admiring the way the light hit your face. he wanted to paint you right then and there before you ruined the serene moment by biting your ice cream (why?!)

“i bet i can make it to the ferris wheel the fastest, wanna bet?” you questioned and you never saw kazunari grin even bigger as his eyes lit up with recognition

“bet!”

you two raced to the ferris wheel, much to the chagrin of every carnival–goer ever who dodged your fast advances. you got to the line first, skidding to a stop and nearly bumping into the person ahead of you as kazunari whacked into your back with an “oof!”

“awww, what do i have to do now that i totally lost?” kazunari pouted, but you just giggled and poked his cheek, not noticing how he became slightly flustered from your touch (you could never tell, it was a hot day)

“go on it with me.” you offered and he didn’t even think twice before he agreed, realizing this was the ride he’s been waiting to go on with you this entire time

(kazunari remembered the only other thing he really researched was this ferris wheel, where a rumor around it stated two people who went on it would be together forever)

when you two were allowed into one of the trolleys, you two sat close like always with your head on his shoulder. the orange light made everything feel like a fantasy, like this was a daydream. you didn’t want to wake up as kazunari squeezed your hand the moment the wheel started increasing

slowly but surely, you two were going around in circles as you savored the moment, wanting nothing more than to be here with kazunari forever

“you know... i never thought i’d be here.” kazunari started and you hummed, encouraging him to keep going as his thumb traced circles around your palm

“i didn’t have many friends growing up, so it would’ve been totes not cool to come to these things alone!” kazunari tried to play it off as some joke, but you knew better, just lowering your hand to his lap and waiting for him to talk

“but... now... i have friends? good—no, great friends! and... i have you. i’m living, and i have you.” kazunari trailed off, like this was a revelation he hadn’t realized before. the quietness between you two dragged on too long, you wondered what he was thinking

you opened your eyes and kazunari was already looking at you again with a soft smile, not bothering to notice anything else but you, like he wanted to remember this forever

you two reached the top of the ferris wheel, the wheel stopping to give you two a moment by yourself with the sunset

“i love you.” kazunari said again, and you didn’t hold back this time

“i love you, too.” you whispered, afraid to break the moment. but kazunari laughed, and you were laughing, and it was like the funniest joke ever as you two tried to maintain your composure

even as you two got off, you couldn’t let go of him as he did the same. these were the memories child–kazunari always dreamt of, and they were so much better than he ever imagined

after saying goodbye to all his new friends, kazunari couldn’t stop smiling as he drove home, with you sleeping beside him in the passenger seat

he turned off his music this time and carefully watched the road. taking one hand off the wheel, kazunari took your own and kissed your knuckles again and again with love

“i love you, i love you, i love you.” kazunari said, like he couldn’t say anything else but that

(kazunari posted a shot where he held your hand in front of the sunset on the ferris wheel with the caption: “best date ever”)

kazunari really had luck on his side if he was in love with you, maybe he had the ferris wheel to thank for that!

[allforhader]

They Don’t Know You, Like I Know

Barry Berkman x M Trans Reader

[Reader is FTM] [Y/D/N = Deadname]

Warnings: Langauge, Unsafe binding

This isn’t an act...

It’s who I want to be

Y/N stepped into the backstage to grab his backpack when he noticed Barry holding his head down. He frowns walking over to him instinctively resting his hand on his shoulder. Barry looks up at Y/N seeing the worry plastered on his face.

“Are you okay?”

“I...No”

“Do you want to...talk about it?” Y/N asks hesitantly since not everybody wants to talk about it.

“No. I don’t” Barry frowns thinking he was going to leave but Y/N sat down beside him. “What?”

“What? I don’t like being alone when I’m not okay...” Y/N frowns. “You don’t have to talk about it. But I’m gonna stay with you if you don’t mind”

Barry didn’t even have to ask or do anything.

Y/N was just there for him, no matter what

Barry rummaged through the apartment trying to find something as Nick and Jermaine looked at him like he was insane.

“Lose something Barry?”

“Can’t find my keys” Barry lifted part of the couch cushion in search for his keys.

“Going somewhere?”

“Nick I think it’s obvious”

“Well I didn’t know!” Nick frowns as Jermaine got up from his spot to help Barry look. “All I know about his keys is they have the wear bear keychain”

“Who doesn’t have a keychain on their keys?” Jermaine questions Nick as he shrugs for the most part.

Barry eventually found them under the couch and once he got them he waved his roommates off before stepping out. He made his way out of the apartment complex heading toward the front of the building smiling when he saw Y/N waiting for him on the steps.

“Hey” Barry smiles as Y/N looks up from his phone shooting him a smile.

“Hey to you too” He smiles standing up putting his phone away.

After a while Y/N sat down on the edge of the cliff of the Hollywood sign. Barry looks around for any security as Y/N has done this before and gestures Barry to sit down.

“Do you come here often?”

“Eh. Yeah. Used to with...an ex partner”

“Doesn’t that bring bad luck to a date then?” Barry questions as Y/N laughs shaking his head.

“Only if this placed bugged me at the thought. I simply like being here...and want to bring someone I care about” Y/N smiles taking his backpack off his person before rummaging in his bag and handing Barry a sandwich he made.

“It’s not peanut bu—“

“Yeah. It’s not” Y/N states. “I don’t understand the point of PB&Js...they are kinda gross after a while” he says calmly taking a bite out of his own sandwich. “Turkey is better anyway”

Barry laughs a bit loving his solo banter as Y/N kicks his legs on the edge.

After a while Y/N unlocks the door to his apartment letting Barry in setting down the takeout they stopped for on the coffee table before going to grab them something to drink.

“Make yourself at home”

“How can you afford this? LA is kinda expensive...”

“Hm. I was born and raised here. I got a part time in high school and saved up yknow.” Y/N says calmly setting down glasses. “Water or?”

“Water is fine, and I thought no one is from LA. Sally honestly goes by that”

“Welp. I’m from here. Weird huh?”

“No, not at all...unique in a sense” Barry smiles as Y/N turned away for a moment to contain themselves.

Soon Y/N watches the movie they started after eating, go on holding his knees close to his chest as Barry tried to hold his hand every chance it hit the couch.

“Y/N?”

“Hm?” He looks over at Barry curious with a smile.

“Can I um”

“...Huh?”

“Can I hold your hand?” Barry asks feeling his face heat up as Y/N brought his legs down off the couch hearing his heart pound in his ears. “Sorry. I didn’t mean..”

“No! I uh.” Y/N blushes bringing himself closer to Barry’s side. “I want to...”

Barry rests his hand on top of Y/N’s intertwining their fingers. He felt how soft Y/N’s hand is. He was about to say something when Y/N instinctively rests his head on Barry’s shoulder comfortably.

“I’ve wanted to hold your hand for a while...is that weird to say?”

“No, because I wanted to too” Barry reassures leaning his head on top of his.

Y/F/N Y/L/N...

Barry frowns not finding Y/N anywhere at class. The hallway. Backstage. Audience. Nowhere.

“Hey Natalie, have you heard from Y/N?” He continued to have that sad puppy look on his face. “I know you two are friends and I’m just...curious”

“The last thing he texted me was...” Natalie took her phone out to re-read. “Uh. He was going to be at the ER. I didn’t—“

Natalie looked up from her phone seeing Barry immediately leave the class at that fact.

Once arriving to the hospital, Barry’s as very hesitant. Thinking he’d run into a face he didn’t want to see. But something else mattered more.

“Hey um”

“Are you hurt?”

“No?”

“Is someone else hurt?”

“I don’t know!”

The nurse felt his tension and gave him a worried look before opening up the patient files.

“Does this person have a name?”

“Y/F/N Y/L/N”

“Hm...” The nurse typed that in and nothing came out of it. She looked through recent entries into admission and found another name before the last name. “There’s a Y/D/N. She shares the same last name as the one you said and was admitted an hour ago. Would you like me to take you to her?”

Her?

After being taken to Y/N’s room, Barry hesitantly stepped in as the nurse left them alone. Y/N looks over to the small commotion before suddenly wheezing and rolling himself over to his side covering himself up.

“I-I’m Sorry”

“What are...what are you doing here...”

“I...I know you talk to Natalie a lot and...you weren’t in class so I had to ask. She said you would be here and...” Barry frowns walking over to his bedside. “I didn’t want you to be alone”

Y/N frowns hugging the pillow given to him for his chest. Barry pushes the chair beside his bed taking a seat watching Y/N start tearing up.

“H...hn...how much you know?”

“That your name is Y/D/N. Or well the name you’re born with...I don’t really know much other than that and that you’re here”

Barry didn’t know what to say to any of it. He also didn’t know how to phrase the fact that he’s not upset that Y/N kept this from him. He didn’t have to tell Barry. This...past isn’t the Y/N he knows...

And loves.

The next day came around and Y/N was discharged, but instead of going to stay at his place. Barry insisted he’d stay with him since he wasn’t going to be okay for a while and doesn’t want him to be alone if anything were going to happen.

“So...can you tell me what happened?” Barry asks as he helps Y/N get redressed out of the hospital gown.

“Um...I. Never had...proper coverage. My insurance covered my shots and I have a decent job but...the essentials for everyday living kinda took over what I needed...so I bind with ace bandages...” Y/N frowns feeling ashamed for doing such but he lived in LA. Rent is too expensive. He doesn’t drive. He has bills to pay. It’s not that he couldn’t afford a binder. It’s everything else that is more “essential”. “I was having an asthmatic episode in the ER when I came for chest pain. They had to take me out of it and told me to not bind for a while...let my lungs breath”

“Y/N...you...you could’ve really hurt yourself” Barry frowns instinctively resting his hands on Y/N’s cheeks as he gave him an even more worrisome look.

“Barry...you risk your life...everyday” Y/N frowns as he couldn’t help but start balling. “For fuck sake...when you told me. I felt selfish whenever I was in pain. I want you safe as much as you want me to be”

Barry wrapped his arms around Y/N holding him close. He felt his hands press against his chest and Y/N’s. He wasn’t comfortable. He lets go of him so he can take off his sweater letting Y/N wear it. Y/N felt like a little kid in over sized clothing, but it distracted him from his chest and he wasn’t bothered by it.

A few days went by and Y/N has been staying with Barry. He didn’t mind Nick and Jermaine since they are his roommates, they were loud sometimes. But for the most part Y/N slept in Barry’s bed, got up to get ready for work, and watched Barry cater to him when he doesn’t know how he’s ever going to repay him.

Y/N flinches to the knocking when he’s told Barry countless times that he can just walk in. Unless the door was locked. But he does it anyway.

“I got your mail, your neighbors are nice”

“Did you see Tiny? That big Great Dane in the complex? I’m surprised the landlords even allow him there” Y/N laughs taking his mail from Barry and setting it down on his backpack after looking through them.

“Didn’t see him, but maybe next time.” Barry laughs sitting on the edge of his bed as Y/N moves his desk chair to look at him. “If you Uh. Ever have me over again”

“You know I like having you over...” Y/N smiles fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. “Um...Barry can I ask you something?”

“Anything”

“You’re...you’re not going to tell people right? That...I’m..that I was born...female right?”

“It’s not my story to tell, and...I love the person I met. The others, they don’t know you like I do and that’s okay. You’re Y/N. Nothing is going to change that for me” Barry smiles as Y/N got up from the desk chair walking over to him.

As Barry stood to his feet, Y/N instantly wrapped his arms around him hugging him tightly. He didn’t hesitate to return the embrace.

They don’t know you like I do

[tonystarkissist]

IronDad Bingo Fic #3

Trope: Protective Tony

Tony sighed dramatically and pressed the palm of his hand to his face in exasperation. This kid was going to drive him insane. “I can't believe I actually have to tell you this… No, you cannot test your new ‘venomous’ webs on yourself.”

Peter rolled his eyes and Tony had the sudden urge to give him a light smack upside the head for being ridiculous and teenager-y, but he couldn't do that… because Peter wasn't there in the lab with him. The kid was face-calling him from school for some God-knows reason, claiming to be bored in study hall with no homework to do to pass the time.

“Whatever. Are you picking me up today?” Peter questioned, fiddling with the earbuds in his ear, then dropping his gaze to pick at some tape stuck to his desk with his fingernails, looking bored and tired as he propped his elbow on the desk and rested his cheek in his hand.

“I thought you were spider-manning today,” Tony hummed, looking down at his own desk, examining the guts of his most recent project sprawled across the surface. 

“Well, yeah, but um…” Peter paused, looking up at the phone with a sheepish laugh, and Tony should know, because Peter was sheepish a lot.

His eyes narrowed when he picked up on the nervous tone lined with faux amusement in an attempt to lighten the mood. He lifted his head to look at Peter and glared, because what could he have possibly done this time?

“What did you do?” He questioned calmly, narrowing his eyes, leaving no room for debate because the obnoxious child would most certainly try to veer around it if given the opportunity. 

“I didn't die…” Is what the kid decided to start with.

No wonder he, the child's mentor, had so many grey hairs.

“And?” Tony prodded, becoming increasingly more desperate for answers the more Peter screwed his face up into pure humiliation and resentment. 

“And I didn't get hurt… bad.”

“Oh God, kid. What. Did. You. Do??”

He saw Peter's gaze flicker around his classroom silently, as if looking for eavesdroppers before bowing his head and dropping his voice to a soft whisper.

“I might have tore up my suit on the last night’s patrol.” 

“The multimillion dollar one?”

Tony tried not to sound panicked, because the kid was fine. He was sitting right there, painless, and joyful. There was nothing wrong. But goodness, that stirring in his gut started again, and the taste in his mouth went really, really sour. Why did he have to choose the reckless, teenage vigilante to mentor? He could have gone for one of the older, more mellow ones. One of the ones that weren’t reckless and stupid, and all around crazy. The ones that wouldn't give him so much stress and panic at all hours of the day. 

“Peter,” he grit out slowly, “What. Did. You. Do?” 

He tried repeating the question again. Maybe Peter would get the hint and answer it right that time. 

“There was a dude, and he had a lot of knives. And I mean a lot-”

Tony didn't like where it was headed, but then there was another voice speaking, and it took precedence over current revelation he was slowly squeezing out of his spiderkid. It was an obnoxiously loud, teasing tone growing louder with each syllable while it drew closer to Peter. Tony didn't like the voice, or the words used in the least. He most definitely didn’t like the notification he received on his watch when Peter’s heart rate spiked a substantial amount. 

“Who you talking to Penis?” The boy taunted. 

Tony's back stiffened and his gaze hardened as he turned to look at the screen intently, searching for the source of the voice. He couldn't find it, because Peter had already laid his phone flat on the desk to hide both parties from the other, giving Tony a perfect view of a completely black screen with his frowning face reflecting back at him in the top corner.

“Peter.” He pressed sternly, “Peter, who is that?”

Peter didn't answer him, instead he answered the boy who taunted him, and being the smart spider he was, he didn't use a name to address him. Sometimes Tony hated how smart his kid was.

“Nobody of concern to you,” he stammered out. “Just leave me alone.”

“What, you embarrassed or something?” The boy taunted even more, his voice dropping between the lines of smug and demeaning. 

Tony was seething, and his grip on the screwdriver tightened. 

“Peter! So help me, you better tell me who this kid is. What's he doing? Is this the kid that hit you last week? He better not lay a hand on you-”

Peter still didn't answer.

“Is it your boyfriend or something, Penis? I saw you grinning and whispering like a little girl. Who is it??” The kid prodded, his voice growing clearer to Tony as his face apparently drew closer and closer to the microphone on Peter's headphones.

“No-no, it's not my-my boyfriend!” Peter insisted, sounding small and wrecked as he tried to get rid of his tormentor. “Just-just leave me alone.”

“What're you gonna do?” The boy continued to taunt, “you gonna stick your ol’ pal Tony Stark on me for bullying his little boy-toy of an intern?”

“THAT’S IT!!” Tony shouted, throwing down his screwdriver angrily onto the table, resulting in a loud clang and series of crashes and shatters as it tumbled across the parts on his desk. “PETER! I swear you better tell me who this little prick is before I blast over there and take care of this myself.”

He swore he heard Peter swallow nervously. He wasn’t sure if it was because of him, or the bully patronizing him, but he didn’t care. Nobody messed with his kid like that.

“Oh, I can hear him getting all angry,” the kid mused, laughter in his voice. “What’s he saying? Is your boyfriend upset that I’m messing with his favorite little-”

“Flash,” Peter’s voice wavered dangerously, “I really, really think you might want to stop talking now.”

Tony felt mildly triumphant at the name given to him. It obviously wasn’t his ‘legal’ name, and if it was then goodness that kid’s parents must have been on drugs, but it still gave him something to work with.

Peter felt a smidgen of relief when his mentor stopped badgering him in his ear and he released a breath as he turned to look at Flash with a serious, calm expression. He lowered his voice to a whisper, in hopes that Tony would miss his next words over the loud, determined clickety-clack of his keyboard.

“Flash,” he whispered softly, garnering the confused and slightly wary boy’s expression, “you really, really should have stopped talking.”

“Wha-what?” Flash scoffed indignantly. “Was that supposed to be a threat, Penis?”

“No!” He replied immediately, shaking his head emphatically. “I just meant…” 

He chewed on his lip worriedly, hoping for some excuse to come to him. Any excuse would work. Anything that would make Flash go away and prevent Tony from flying all the way from the Tower to beat the crap out of him, because if Flash opened his mouth again, Tony might just do it. Then, an idea hit him. One that would make Flash sit down and shut up and one that would appease the angry Tony on the other end of the line and potentially even distract him enough to blow if all off as fun-looking teasing.

“My-my Dad’s the one on the phone,” he screwed his mouth into an apologetic grimace at the way Flash’s face paled. The bully tried to make it seem like it didn’t faze him, but it was obvious that the admission didn’t settle well in his stomach.

He could also hear the keyboard clicking stop, and he knew Tony was listening.

“Kid, what?”

But Peter ignored it, swallowed down the minute embarrassment at Tony hearing him refer to him as ‘my Dad’, and went along.

“He’s um, now he’s kinda pissed. And-yeah. You really should have stopped talking.”

“Wha?” Flash spluttered, reeling back at the insinuation Peter was making. Then, after a moment of reflection, the boy’s face contorted into an angry scowl and an accusing finger was jabbed into his chest. 

It took Peter by surprise, because he wasn't expecting for Flash to attack him when he knew his ‘dad' was on the phone, listening.

“What are you even talking about you little liar? Your parents are dead. You’ve been a sad little orphan for years. Stop lying about everything. You don’t know Spider-man, you don't know Tony Stark, and you don’t have parents who love you. None of that is true no matter how much you want it to be.”

Well, that plan sure did burn and fail. And Tony was back at it, spiraling through another one of his little conniption fits. Peter couldn’t help but wince at the high-pitched screech of the genius launching into a long string of various, foul curses, some Peter had never even heard of before.

“I’m going to kill him. I’m coming over there right now,” the man seethed after finishing with his little tantrum. Then, Peter heard the distinct sound of repulsors and the call immediately cut off.

He panicked, full on panicked. Because oh god, Tony Stark was coming to his school to tell of his bully. Oh god. It was actually happening. 

“Oh, no. No-no-no-no,” He grabbed his phone frantically and stared dubiously at the lingering icon of him and Tony smiling in a picture. “Oh god.” He finally relented, dropping the device back onto the desk and cradling his face in his hands, wishing desperately it weren’t true.

Flash obviously wasn’t very sure how to digest the look on Peter’s face. He just sorta stared at him with a confused, yet irritated, lilt to his brow; not quite sure how to proceed.

“Flash, oh god, you gotta get out of here.” Peter pressed, standing from his seat, and trying to usher the bully away. The teacher certainly didn’t care, because she left the room long ago. The bully wouldn't be missed. He just had to GO, now.

“What the heck, Penis? What do you think you’re doing? Get your hands off of me!” Flash slapped his hands away and gave him a good shove backwards, but Peter didn’t let it faze him. He couldn’t let Tony kill one of his classmates, because that’s exactly what was going to happen if Flash were still here when Tony came barging in, blasters ready.

“You don’t understand,” Peter backpedaled, pleading for the bully to listen to him. “He’s coming. He’s coming to the school, and he’s going to kill you! He's going to legit kill you!”

By then, they’ve garnered the attention of the rest of their classmates, and they looked up at the pair in confusion.

Flash seemed worried, but quickly built up the facade of unperturbed as he laughed in Peter’s face.

“Who? Your imaginary dad? That’s a bit pathetic. Even for you Parker.”

“No, it’s worse,” Peter squeaked helplessly.

That admittance just got another laugh out of Flash, and a few of the other students joined in.

“It’s Tony Stark,” Peter whispered frantically, desperate for Flash to understand the deep, dark hold he had just dug himself into. “I was on the phone with Tony Stark.”

For a second it looked like Flash actually believed him, but he brushed it off with a roll of his eyes and another accusatory finger jabbed into Peter’s chest.

“You’re just a dirty, fat, little liar looking for attention. That’s all you are you dork. Stop lying, stop making up these ridiculous stories, because nobody believes you.”

When Flash said that, Peter frowned and took a moment to reflect, asking himself why exactly he was trying to protect his bully. In fact, he should be happy that his mentor was coming down to set things straight, and it'd definitely shut everyone up about the internship. Why should he be so upset?

So, Peter rolled with it, sighing, and dropping his head, wearing a smug little grin. If Flash was too dense to listen to him… it wouldn’t be his fault, because he tried. He tried warning him, but he didn’t listen. Not his fault. He was done putting up with the jerk. It’d be nice to see a bit of fear in his eyes; give him a bit of humility… Goodness, that sounded terribly cruel of him…

“Whatever Flash,” he relented, narrowing his eyes challengingly, “just remember that I warned you.” He was the one to jab his finger in Flash’s chest that time. 

“I’ll give you one last warning to make it a little clearer. Tony Stark is coming here, to kill you, because you messed with me. Well, not literally kill... more like, mentally and emotionally scar for life...” He smirked triumphantly and crossed his arms over his chest at Flash’s terrified, befuddled expression that quickly spread across his face when he came to the heart-stopping realization that Parker was not, in fact, lying. “So… if I were you… I’d start running.”

For a second, Flash looked as if he might have done just that, but it was too late.

The door swung wide open, and in strut a seething, red faced Tony Stark with his suit disengaged, waiting idle a few feet beyond the doorway.

“Where’s this little prick?”

Flash paled at the sight of him, and Peter was happy to point him out.

What was the use in having an overprotective Dad if you didn't take advantage of it from time to time, right?

This one was kinda fun to write :) Thx, @scaredhuman88 and @annofarkansas for requesting it, and thank you @irondadbingo again for setting this whole thing up. It’s crazy fun :D

Um, yeah, besides that, I’m sorry if Peter seems a bit OOC when it comes to confronting Flash, I just love the idea of Peter putting him in his place because the little prick really deserves it.

Thx for reading :)

[illumose]

i’m no sweet dream  [ kim taehyung ]

× genre : fratboy!taehyung au ; angst ; badass! reader.

× pairing : kim taehyung x female reader | words : 1,3k

× sum up : in which the reader decides to make Taehyung pay for his bad actions.

× author’s note : this scenario is inspired by Halsey’s new song ‘Nightmare’.

The cold wind hit your face as you wandered aimlessly in the street. From time to time, the window of a shop would catch your attention, but you wouldn’t stop walking. There was something soothing about walking, you didn’t mind the slight tiredness.

Two months afo, your life was perfect. You were dating what you had thought to be the love of your life, and you had a reputation untouched by sins, rumors and gossips. It was insane to see how things changed so quickly. Your life had been turned upside down, because of a single man. He dragged you down, making people believe that you were just a slut in seek of attention.

People talked shit about you, without knowing anything about what you went through. That’s what happen when you’re too nice, they eat you alive. Now, you wouldn’t make the same mistake. Kindness is weakness, it became your new mantra.

Kim Taehyung could have been the love of your life if he was not a complete douchebag. After all, your friend warned you about his past of bad boy. He manipulated you, he used your kindness at his own advantage. You were blinded by love, when all he cared about was your body. You’ve trusted lies and men, but this was over. This was the last time you would allow people to hurt you, to break your heart.

You had broken down, but you had put yourself back together. The first week, you were a mess. You cried yourself to sleep, you did not eat, you did not go out. You had blamed yourself. The week after, a friend came over, informing you of the rumours, the gossips. It was when you realized that he had wrecked you, that it was all a game for him. You had decided to take your revenge for the damages he caused to your heart.

You would not allow him to have power over you, to destroy your life. Your reputation had been torn apart because of Taehyung, but if you had to drown, then he was going to drown too. After all, he did not show any mercy for you when he spread the rumour that you were a whore addicted to sex without any morals.

He was the one who started this, and you would end it. Tomorrow. You were tired and angry.

The next day, you entered the university, walking confidently. The students’ curious gaze made you smile. You knew that he would come to you first, he had no other choice.

"Y/n." You heard his voice, calling you out from the other side of the hallway. He was probably wearing his leather jacket, the one you used to steal because it looked good on you.

You stopped only when the two of you were in an empty classroom. "What?"

"They suspect me and Connor of having cheated on the admission test." He said, leaning against the door frame. What he did not know was that you, accidentally or not, spilled out that his little secret.

"And? It isn’t my problem." You scoffed, rolling your eyes. It amused you, he seemed cocky. It would not last, though. You were going to shatter his life, to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Taehyung stared at you, in disbelief. He had never witnessed this type of behavior coming from you. He had expected you to beg him to take you back. He had thought you would be worried, but apparently, you weren’t. "They will take my scholarship away. We’ll be expelled."

"Will you? And, what do you tell me this? Your little toys cannot help you, can’t they?" You answered, walking closer to him. He raised an eyebrow, a smirk displaying on his lips. He won’t smirk for long.

"They’ll ask you questions, to see if we’re lying or not. Don’t tell them anything." He demanded, believing that you were still a compliant little toy. He had no hold on you anymore. People always believed that you would stay the kind and compliant woman who put her own self second for others. They pushed you, again and again, until you could not take it anymore. He belittled you, having no consideration for your feelings.

"Fun fact, I don’t owe you a goddamn thing, Taehyung. You’re a douchebag, and this is what you deserve. Perhaps the past girls you wrecked hadn’t had the guts to make you pay, but I ain’t them."

Your laugh resonated in the whole classroom. You’ve learnt to grow from the heartbreak, the shame and the judgement. It changed you in so many ways, and perhaps, without Taehyung, you would not have found the strength to be tough. In some way, you were thankful for what he caused.

"You made a mistake when you thought that I would come back, crawling and begging. I trusted you, and you betrayed my trust, but it’s okay." You added, defying his gaze. "You tore my reputation apart. You told them I was a slut, that there wasn’t someone more disgusting than me. You and your group of jerks are rotten to the core. I’ve got a lot of things to say about you, because don’t forget that we dated for one fucking year. It’s a lot of time." Your tone was threatening, it was so pleasing to hold the power.

"Is it a threat, sweetheart?" He chuckled, approaching you.

"Someone like me can be a real nightmare. My old self would still be crying her eyes out over a man without any values. You’ve done things that are far worse than cheating. The university won’t be the only one going after you, Taehyung."

Taehyung eyes changed, he was no longer amused.

"You can act cocky all you want, you can threaten me, but the truth will be heard. I ain’t giving you the pleasure of enjoying your life when you did horrible things. You’re gonna pay for your actions. I’m no sweet dream, I’m your worst nightmare.” And with that, you stepped out of the room, walking past him. He stood there, frozen and baffled.

Your eyes slid over to take one last look at Taehyung, and you left. Once back home, you took everything that Taehyung had left in your apartment to the trash, definitely deleting him from your life. You were relieved, and in peace with yourself.

You’ve tolerated Taehyung horrendous behavior with others for a whole year, letting him do whatever he wanted with your heart. Unfaithful and distrustful, he ruined the love you two had. His friends were just like him, a group of douchebag without any consideration for woman and other people. They gave looks of haughty disdain to those who weren’t as wealthy as they were.

You had hoped that Taehyung could change, what’s greater than helping the love of your life change into a better person ? You were so wrong, and regretted getting involved with him. It was a nasty shock when you had found out that he took pictures of you naked on the bed, and that he allowed his friends to see them. It was a nasty shock when you had found out that a girl he used to date committed suicide because he ruined her life.

Nonetheless, he was finally paying for his actions. You had pressed charges against him for the nudes he had stolen and you had revealed to the police what he did to the poor girl. The cheating scandal was only the beginning of his fall.

[rough-n-randy-rando]

Edd and Flow, The First Night Of Summer

The air smelled of summer. Earth and ozone were heavy in the humid air, intermittent storms making their way to torment the mountains to the west. Dogs yipped at fireflies as they rose from the tall grass near the swollen creek and fluttered about like wild embers in the creeping dusk. In the cul-de-sac, dinners were being eaten, chores were being done, plans were being made. This was the last summer of childhood, the gateway to Senior Year, to college tours and military recruiters roaming the halls, to future success or the pit of immediate mediocrity.

Kevin Barr worried that he was at the edge of the pit rather than on any path to a different, rosier outcome. He had cruised through high school on the bare minimum, lettering in any sport that involved a ball and some measure of physical violence. But Peach Creek isn't scouted like Boston or D.C. or Rhode Island, and so while the bare minimum was enough to allow his athletic career to go uninterrupted, his prospects were slim. His father's voice was stuck in his head saying, 'There's always the Army.' He shrugged it off, shuddering at the prospect of getting yelled at for a living by legions of men who reminded him of his father, minus the warmth and intelligence to cushion their authority and judgement.

This was the year to pull out the stops, make every Hail Mary he could think of, even if it were Lemon Brook Junior College. Last resort. 'There's always the Army.' Last of last resorts. But that was for another day, another time. Tonight, here and now, there was a party to attend, and worries to drown.

The party started to take shape around 7. Nate's family was in California on business and wouldn't be back till the day before graduation, so he naturally became the host and organizer. The first to arrive and help set up the well-loved speaker system was Johnny, with Plank's help of course. Then came Nazz with Kevin, Rolf following with a wagon full of various types of meats in plastic and metal containers. The Kankers arrived together bearing peace offerings of several cases of beer obtained through dubious means. Nate sanctioned the deal and declared his house neutral ground.

As a dozen or so other kids from Peach Creek High arrived and took advantage of Nate's luxurious home, the question arose, 'Where are the Eds?'

"Well I mean, I invited them." Nate said offhandedly as he thumbed through the playlist on his phone, settling on an EDM song who's only lyrics were, 'feed me your love'.

Kevin groaned and grabbed a beer from the rapidly draining supply in the fridge. "Eddy's gonna say something to someone and it'll all go South."

Nazz pinched his arm and stole the beer from his hand, topping off her solo cup before handing it back, "You're just worried he'll say something to YOU and YOU'LL make a big scene."

"I thought you were all buddy-buddy with the short one now, ever since that whole cross-country chase y'all went on in Junior High?" Nate also snatched Kevin's beer and took a sip.

"Eddy's Eddy, he's always out for another scam, something to make him money or make him look good."

"Well good, because I can only play my Spoofy playlist for so long before people get bored." Nate handed back the nearly empty beer to Kevin and turned to walk out to the pool. "We need a little excitement and scandal every now and again."

Kevin huffed and turned to Nazz, "He just doesn't know the Eds like we do."

Nazz shook her head and sipped at her drink, "Maybe just Ed or Double-Dee will show up, Eddy's supposed to be moving to The City right after graduation so for all we know he's apartment shopping right now."

"Yeah, maybe just Double-Dork…"

The lights in the house all cut out abruptly. People yelped and cursed, phone screens and flashlights piercing the darkness. The speaker system shrieked, causing even more chaos.

"The Germans!" someone cried out, causing nervous laughter and breaking a bit of the tension.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, and of course Kevin…"

"I knew it, Shorty had to make an entrance!" Kevin saw a pulsing neon glow approaching the rear fence near the pool and tried to make his way out of the house, tripping on Plank en route.

"I, Eddy Reese, your facilitator, your entertainer, your guy in the know, present for you an entertainment extravaganza unlike any you've ever seen!"

A stage adorned with stadium-quality lights that pulsed and flashed along to a heavy, percussive beat with what can only be described as a crystalline hissing sound rose over Nate's rear fence. It was emerging from the lane, slowly and deliberately, billowing thick grey smoke that flowed into the yard and even spilled onto the surface of the pool, obscuring a couple that was involved in some heavy petting. It was about 8 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, with a drawn, pitch-black curtain swaying slightly as the entire traveled through the air on barely visible supports.

"Whatever this is, I'm sold." Nate had stripped down to just his boxer briefs and had managed to adorn himself with glow bracelets and necklaces, as well as what looked like a military-grade chemlight that was clenched in his teeth.

"I knew the dorks would pull something!" Kevin had emerged from the house, Plank in one hand, a pocket flashlight in the other, which he used to scan the crowd for the usual suspects.

"Chill out Kev, this looks fun." Nazz had taken off her shirt and was also covered in glowing jewelry, her bra patterned with various amorous emojis.

"Yes hot of the collar Kevin, join in the merriment and cease your sour face making!" Rolf was wearing tube socks, a jock strap and not much else.

Everyone barely had a moment to take in the sight before the stage finally settled with a crescendo of electronic insanity, punctuated by the stage-lights all fading out and back in as a deep, dark red.

"People of Peach Creek!" A single floodlight snapped on and aimed skyward, revealing Eddy standing at the uppermost level of the stage, the light making him seem villainous. "I give you, Edstravaganza!"

The lights on stage began to strobe as the curtain parted, revealing none other than Ed, standing alone and wearing a billowing robe as well as a vacant but pleasant look on his face. The lights flashed brilliantly, like a chain of precise lighting strikes that dazzled and awed the rapt audience. They slowly diminished, easing into a weak but steady pulse. Ed stared out into the crowd and the crowd stared back. The crowd stared at Ed and Ed stared back. Ed stood upon the stage, a mysterious figure cloaked in magnificence and showmanship, and those gathered were in the palm of his hand. And that was it, he just stood there. The lights suddenly snapped to their full brilliance; Ed still unmoving.

"Hey, Lumpy, you're on!" Eddy's shoe dropped down and bounced off Ed's head, eliciting no response. Kevin began to laugh.

Suddenly, Ed threw off the robe, revealing that he was stripped to the waist with an intricate network of what looked like EKG nodes and wires crisscrossing his torso and arms.

"You Got it Eddy!" Ed threw out his arms and the lights turned a mossy, aquatic turquois, the strobes speeding up as he fluttered his fingers. As he raised his arms above his head the percussive beat rose in tempo as well, a slight whining pitch emerging from the depths of the stage. He clapped his hands and the lights all shifted to violet and indigo, bathing everything in color.

A woman's voice cut through all the sound and implored no one in particular, 'Trap for me!'

And so the party raged, guided by the kinesics of Ed and the occasional, orgasmic words of unseen men and women begging the audience to perform various vaguely musical actions. The party had grown, kids that weren't even from Peach Creek were arriving with more alcohol and more than a little drama. Word had gotten out, and Eddy quickly capitalized, charging admission and harassing people that tried to cheat the house by clambering over the fence.

Kevin escaped the borderline riot by climbing onto the roof, discovering that other exhausted party goers had gotten the same idea. He was soaked in sweat, and was splattered with the contents of several chemlights, looking almost radioactive. Even after stripping off his shirt he felt like he was running hot, and a few splotches of the glowing fluid were visible on his skin. "Damnit Nate…"

"Mix a solution of one teaspoon liquid dishwashing detergent, one-fourth cup distilled white vinegar, and one cup of cool water."

Kevin was startled and looked to the far end of the roof. Edd was sitting comfortably on a padded camping stool, with what looked like a control panel balanced on his knees. He was dressed casually, possibly owing to the humidity, wearing a tank-top with a design of the solar system across the chest, a fanny pack, and a pair of vintage men's athletic shorts that looked more at home on a beach in Florida than in a Peach Creek cul de sac.

"Oh, hey Double-Dee… uhm… what?"

"The recipe I gave was for a simple mixture that will clean the luminescent fluid from your clothing without ruining the color." He looked Kevin over and giggled.

"What's so funny?" Kevin felt his face get warm, though not in anger, more embarrassment, like he'd been caught with his, well, his shirt off on a rooftop in the dead of night.

"Oh, nothing, just having a laugh over the small amount on your skin, it's quite amusing."

"Yeah, Nate decided he wanted to write his name on his 'property' and went around trying to write 'NKG' on me and a few others." Kevin wiped at the fluid, smearing it more and transferring it to his palm.

"Well I see you escaped the branding, though not wholly unscathed." Double-Dee set down the control panel and walked over to Kevin, taking the glowing hand in his own. "Luckily this chemical is both non-toxic and simple to clean off."

Kevin watched Double-Dee consider his hand like some kind of specimen, a wave of prickly, cold needles washing over him at the coolness of the raven-haired teen's fingers played across his skin. Kevin felt warm, unusually warm, and while he could chalk some of it up to the rave going on just past the lip of the roof, he felt the odd sensation that it had something to do with the boy holding his hand. His other hand moved to his stomach and likewise smeared and stained itself, Kevin watching it with detached confusion.

"Oh my, now both your hands are glowing." Double-Dee lightly took hold of the other hand as well, making a flustered face that bordered on the maternally annoyed. "What are we going to do with you?"

Kevin didn't know why but his hands closed around the other boy's fingers, not harshly, not menacingly, but just enough to press them fully to against his own. Again, the difference in temperature between the two stirred up some bubbly, anxious humor in his belly and further south. Was that it, was it just that he was slightly colder, and his body was reacting to it? These thoughts and more came to a halt as he felt Double-Dee's hands squeeze back.

"Is something wrong, Kevin?"

The redhead instantly released the boy's hands and set about neurotically searching for something to do with his own; stuffing them in his pockets, wiping his forehead, scratching his belly, sliding under his very sweaty armpits, and finally hanging uselessly at his side. "Ah, no, just, your hands are cold, is all."

"I have poor circulation, Father ties it to my lack of physical exertion but Mother attributes it to an old Vincent family malady, we're all slaves to our genetics in the end." Double-Dee smiled pleasantly at Kevin, totally nonplussed.

Kevin nodded and nodded and grunted something akin to "uh huh, uh huh" without truly understanding a single word he'd said. It would seem impossible but a quiet settled between the two while the impromptu concert dominated the soundwaves all around.

"You two are cute."

The pair jumped, Double-Dee letting out a small squeak and Kevin throwing his cap at the now glowing Nate laying luxuriously on the roof nearby.

"Don't do that!" Kevin shouted.

"Do what, lay on MY roof watching MY friends get… friendly?" Nate flung Kevin's cap back at him.

"Nathaniel, you startled me." Double-Dee tugged at the front of his shirt, airing himself out.

"I have that effect on people." He stood and walked over to Double-Dee, putting him in a very intimate hug, soaked in sweat and chemlight fluid, still dressed in only his boxer briefs. "You really outdid yourself with the light show, makes Eddy's promoter shtick almost tolerable."

Double-Dee, clearly dismayed by the physical contact and the unsanitary state of Nate, nodded and tried his best to escape the teen's embrace. "Y-y-yes, ah, Eddy can be rather overbearing where profits are involved, I hope you won't hold it against him."

"No, but I'm fine with this situation as far as holding things against other people goes."

"While I appreciate the levity you're approaching the situation with I think I should go and try to calm Eddy down, as well as check on Ed, he must be parched."

"Yeah, Nate, I think Double-Dweeb has better things to do than get dry humped by you." Kevin knew his hands were balled into fists but for the life of him he couldn't explain why.

Nate nodded and released Double-Dee with a cartoonish, meaty, sucking sound as they came unstuck from one another. "Very well, please see to the evening's festivities."

A loud thud and a sudden burst of shrieking feedback came from the stage, the lights all snapping back onto flood-mode. Dismayed boos and surprised shouts came from the sizeable crowd below. The trio looked out and saw that Ed had collapsed to the floor in an inhuman puddle of sweat.

"All Done!" Ed wheezed from his place on stage.

Eddy fought his way to the stage, pockets and a backpack bursting with bills. He climbed on stage and began trying to revive the larger Ed, using entreaties and threats in equal measure.

"Oh dear, Ed must be absolutely exhausted, curse my curiosity!" Double-Dee started as though to leave but paused and turned to look at Kevin, biting his lip.

Kevin was frozen to the spot, his knees locking up and leaving him vulnerable to a stiff breeze. Double-Dee approached and removed a sky-blue bandanna from his fanny pack, using it to lightly scrub at Kevin's palm, lifting some of the glowing fluid.

"There, see, nothing drastic, just a little elbow grease, which I'm sure you have no shortage of." Double-Dee squeezed Kevin's bicep, pausing in appreciation, then hurried off, bidding Nate a brief farewell in passing. Kevin noticed a large letter 'K' written on his back in chemlight fluid.

"I couldn't help myself, after your Saved By The Bell moment I had to."

Kevin, unable to respond, walked towards the edge of the roof, Nate standing beside him. "Nate… not a word."

"What about a tasteful nude drawing?"

Kevin put his hand to Nate's back and gave a firm shove, sending him flying out into the crowd. As Nate surfed the rowdy sea of teens and the Eds alternatingly argued and tended to their friend, Kevin looked at the unremarkable blue bandanna and felt the unfamiliar cool needles attack him all over.

READ THE FULL STORY IN SEQUENCE HERE

[geewithluv]

yoongi ♛ meeting her parents

Ｐａｉｒｉｎｇ：Min Yoongi x Fem!OC Arabella

Ｗａｒｎｉｎｇｓ：heavily implied verbal, physical, and emotional abuse, unhealthy family relationships

Ｒａｔｉｎｇ：pg13

Ｗｏｒｄ Ｃｏｕｎｔ：1.2k

Ａ／Ｎ： «this belongs in my headcanon universe and you can read the other parts in the masterlist, the description of the characters is [here] so you get a summary of who they are. »

ｍａｓｔｅｒｌｉｓｔ

Arabella didn’t want Yoongi meeting her parents. Mainly because that meant she’d have to go see them. She didn’t want that at all. So, she avoided seeing them like the plague, which wasn’t difficult. They didn’t check up on her much, so it wasn’t like she was lying about being in a relationship. In fact, they only found out she was in a relationship through her 17-year-old sister who had heard it through their 27-year-old brother. But they didn’t know she was dating Min Yoongi. Her father texted to ask, condescendingly, about her relationship but she didn’t respond.

When Arabella’s sister graduated high school, she knew she wanted to be there. Even though she knew her parents would be a pain. Her sister didn’t do anything wrong. Yoongi had been dating Arabella for a year and a half at that point and considered themselves to be very serious and Arabella had become friendly with his parents.

When she mentioned wanting to see her sister graduate, Yoongi offered to go along and meet her parents. She shot that down quickly. Yoongi knew there was some tension in the family but wasn’t expecting such a violent ‘no’ to leave her mouth. So, he dropped it for the day. Arabella, however, didn’t drop it. She thought about it for the rest of the day until finally when getting ready for bed she mentioned it to him while he was changing.

“My parents are going to hate you.” Was how she started, Yoongi was taken aback by the statement. At first, he didn’t even know why she said it but then it dawned on him and he beckoned her to continue. “They’re going to hate that you’re successful and that you love me. They’re going to ask you how much you pay for me to sleep with you and say that whatever the price it’s too much.” She explained, looking at him seriously.

“That’s why you don’t want me to meet them?” He said after a period of silence. She nodded, sitting down on the bed.

“I wouldn’t want to meet my parents, Yoongi. When I said I want to go just for my sister, I meant it. I don’t want you to see how I grew up and think I’m pathetic.”

“I will never think you’re pathetic. Your parents won’t change the way I think about you, Arabella.” He walked over to her, holding her hands. “You are who you are, and I love that. They won’t change it.”

“I’m scared of them.” She admits and her body shakes a little as she says it. Yoongi tries not to show that he noticed, and it worried him. “I’m scared of what they’ll say, and I’m scared of what they’ll do when they find out who I’m dating.”

After this admission, Arabella still booked a trip to see her family. She, reluctantly, let Yoongi join. After admitting she was scared of them, Yoongi wanted to be there for her. He insisted and she was secretly grateful for it.

Her sister, Annie, picked them up from the airport and was very excited to see Arabella. Yoongi smiled fondly at the reconnecting of the sisters and pretending not to hear Annie say that Yoongi was more attractive in person. 

“Our parents are crazy but I’m sure Arabella told you that. I just want to confirm that they’re insane and you’ll hate them.” Annie said as she drove out of the airport. She said this so indifferently as if it was her order at a coffee shop.

“She mentioned it.” Yoongi said.

“They already hate you so don’t think about them liking you. They won’t. It’s nothing personal, I’m positive you’re great. But you’re a living breathing thing so they hate you.” Annie only glanced in the rearview mirror once to see his reaction.

“Annie!” Arabella hissed at her younger sister.

“I’m just prepping him!” Annie defended. “I’m sure you sugarcoated a lot of it, the poor guy will get his hopes up and think you give a fuck what those assholes think.” Annie clenched her hands around the steering wheel which didn’t make Arabella’s first time driving with her sister very relaxing. “And I know Austin didn’t mention anything about them since he’s living life as if they don’t exist. Can’t wait to do that same thing.”

“This is not the time to vent about our family, Anastasia!” Arabella glared at her sister, leaving Yoongi in an uncomfortable third wheel position. He wondered how bad they truly were since Annie seemed to only be getting started with her rant.

“I just hope we can make the best of our time here.” Yoongi chipped in making Annie scoff and shake her head. It was mostly silent for the remaining 20 minutes of the car ride.

They pull up at a decent looking house. Given the small mentions Arabella had given Yoongi of her family, he was imagining a little more than a crack den. But it was actually in a nice-looking neighborhood, the lawn was a lush green, a sign outside promoting an upcoming election.

“I’m surprised you came.” An older woman, Yoongi assumed the mother, came into the living room. “Surprised you both came.” She gave a very quick flash of a smile to Yoongi.

“I’m gonna take their things to Arabella’s room.” Annie excused herself and grabbed the suitcases.

“I suspect the car ride was pleasant.” The mother said, mainly directed at Annie who turned to her mother with a smile.

“Of course, I know how to act.” Annie quickly rushed off with the bags.

Arabella worked very hard to convince her mother that she and Yoongi were very tired, but she was finally able to get them away from her mother and her father who was yet to return home for work.

“Annie, please show… Yoongi…? To the room. I need to talk to Arabella for a second.” The woman who Yoongi learned was called Angelica, said.

“Is she okay?” Yoongi asked as Annie walked up the stairs with him.

“She’s used to it. Just don’t think about it.” Annie shrugged as they reached the closed door. “They threw away most of her stuff so it’s kinda bland in here now.” Annie explained. Just as Yoongi was about to dismiss the interior design they both heard a loud noise and then yelling. 

“We’re going to a hotel.” Yoongi heard Arabella come around the corner.

“With what money?” Her mother laughed, following a few steps behind.

“My money!”

“You mean the money that boy gave you?”

“The money I earned making music. But you wouldn’t understand profiting off a passion since your passion is making my life hell!” Yoongi still couldn’t see either woman.

“Don’t go down there.” Annie mumbled to Yoongi as a warning.

“I cannot believe I thought you’d be a decent person when I got back home.” Arabella was now in Yoongi’s line of sight coming up the stairs. “We’re leaving.” She said to Yoongi as if he wasn’t aware. 

3 hours. Yoongi was in Arabella’s family home for 3 whole hours before they left. She hardly mentioned it as Annie drove them to a hotel or even for the rest of the trip. Only saying “my dad is worse” and dropping the subject. Yoongi stayed behind at the hotel when Arabella watched Annie graduate and she didn’t mention her parents after she got back.

After that trip, Yoongi never asked about her family again. He saw her brother and sister occasionally, but he never asked about them either. It wasn’t ideal, Yoongi imagined he’d get along with his significant other’s family but he’d rather Arabella be safe than have a set of in-laws.

I’m currently out of town until the 29th so postings are a little slow. Also, I think this classifies as pg-13 and not higher but I could be underestimating the intensity, so please let me know. Thanks for reading!

[ausp-ice]

Apparitions, Scene 6: Nightmare Characters: Raffle/Wenzel ( @the-valiant-valkyrie​ ), Incisura/Wren (me) Words: 1763 Archive | 1 2 3 4 5 6

That’s what happens when you’re exposed to nightmare fuel!

Wren was sitting at their couch, staring blankly at the wall. Their phone was held loosely in their hand, hanging off the edge of the couch. The screen darkened at another tap. They felt... detached. Tired. The shadows seemed to dance at one moment, and be perfectly normal at another. They should just... sleep....

“Wren??” Wenzel was only semi-confident in the fact that he actually had the right address (despite literally having a map in front of him on his phone, he was never good with direction), but he certainly pounded on the door as though he were the most confident man in the world,

“Wren you better be alive in there! Don’t make me find a half open window!”

Something pressed at the corner of Wren’s awareness, but... The phone slipped out of their hand, clattering to the floor as they slumped to the side.

“WREN! C’MON OPEN UP! DON’T MAKE ME CALL THE COPS I DON’T LIKE THEM TOO MUCH-!” He sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he’d like it to be...

Just as he threatened, he began looking for anything to help him ‘break in’ (it’s not breaking in if it’s a medical emergency) ⥎

Whispers.

.̴͓̇.̷̢͋.̶͇̈́

It was dark. Endless.

̷̢̛-̶̪̊n̷̛͔.̶̳̆.̵̱̄.̷̟͌.̷̹͠

But... not empty.

̴̠͠W̸̤̽r̸͇̆ḙ̷̇ṉ̶̀.̵̗̅.̵̮̆.̶̟͗ ̷͍̉W̶̊͜r̸̥̈́a̴̛͇ị̷͝t̴̗̏h̷̻͝.̴̤̑.̷̨̽.̷͛ͅ

They jerked in their sleep.

̸̱͌T̸͎̊h̵̘̕e̵̯̎ ̵̞͘s̵̪̓h̶̯̚a̸͖̍d̷͍͒ő̶̠w̴̒ͅs̶̫̀ ̶̜͋i̸͙͘ń̵̯v̶̼́i̵̟̽t̸̥̀ẽ̷͜ ̸͙̄ỳ̷̳o̴͝u.

...Dance for us.

⥎

Wenzel waltzed around the house a moment, looking for any way to get... In. It wasn’t as though he was skilled in breaking and entering- that was more up a villain’s alley, and he... Could barely be considered some sort of a hero.

He rapped on the windows, pulling on each one in an attempt to find one that was loose or unlocked.

One was, indeed - it just so happened to be one in view of the living room. Wren was lying on their side, splayed on the couch. Their hair hid their face, but their fingers seemed to be twitching.

“I even said- I even said, ‘Wren you idiot don’t go to sleep’. I take ten minutes to go over there and what else are they doing-” He fumbled with the window for a little bit, slipping his body in little by little and just hoping no one was around to call any sort of security

They rolled over a bit, hair slipping away from their face. Their eyes were scrunched up, as if they were in pain - but they made no sound.

"Wren-!" Wenzel fumbled a little as he hit the floor (though if anyone were to ask he's simply explain with confidence he took a skilled roll), but pulled himself back onto his feet with no delay, clapping a few times in the poor fool's ear,

"Wren, c'mon. Wake up." Every syllable punctuated with yet another clap.

One moment, Wren was prone. The next, they had Wenzel's wrists gripped tightly in their hands, wide eyes locked onto his face.

"Woah jeez-!" He flinched almost automatically, trying to wriggle his hands free from their grip,

"C'mon, Wren, it's just me-! I told you not to sleep didn't I? Look at you- you're a mess!"

Their grip loosened slightly, and they blinked. The tension bled from their shoulders slowly, awareness coming back to them piece by piece.

"Wenzel...? I..." Their eyes flicked to their hands and they jerked back, letting go immediately. "Ack! I'm- sorry-"

"Yes, its Wenzel." He finally wormed his wrist away, rubbing it for a second or so,

"And what did I tell you, huh? I said not to fall asleep, aaand you did. You did fall asleep. You could have gotten possessed or something-! Or turned into sludge!"

Wren grimaced. "It was strange, alright? I might even argue that I was under the influence of whatever that stuff was. I couldn't seem to stop myself." They rubbed absently at their chest. "And I feel like... I feel like I saw something. Heard something. Just now. When I was asleep."

"Yeah..." Wenzel looked them up and down suspiciously, as though he'd find anything of notice of concern on his person,

"Yeah you need to go to the doc or something on that."

Wren pouted petulantly. "I am a doctor! Who would I even go to? Do you know someone that might know about this?"

"You can't doctor yourself, that's not how doctors work." He pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation,

"I mean... I might know a guy who knows a guy?"

"Hmmrrgghhhhh...." They put a hand on their head. "I guess I'm not really in much of a place to argue."

They sighed. "Alright, fine. Who's this person who you know knows?" Wenzel gestured to the couch again, pushing Wren back a little,

"At least make yourself a little comfortable; I could get you some water or something. 'V got half a sandwich on me. If we're gonna chat you might as well stay stable- you've got aspirin?"

They sunk into the cushions of the couch. "Ah... yes. I'm not very hungry, don't worry about that. I've got water in that filter and aspirin in the cabinet- I can go grab it-"

Wenzel could be heard from the other room, fumbling around with glasses and such while he tried to make himself at least somewhat useful,

"So, uh, you know that neat little electronic repair place? Cool little joint not too far away from the bus station, ever took a peek in it before?"

Wren had already taken a bite out of the sandwich. "Mmm. Prh'ps?" They hummed thoughtfully, swallowing before they continued. "I tend to use modern technology. But I think I've passed by a few times. Is the person you know there?"

"Yeah. He's a real friendly sort once you get passed all the sorta gruffness he sprinkles about just a little. Doesn't really get a lot of business, so I don't really know what he does half the time, but I've reason to believe he's got maybe a couple of connections. You know how those non talkative folk are; they know all sorts of things."

Wren snorted. "Sprinkles. And connections, huh? I suppose it's worth a shot. Do you trust him?" They peered at Wenzel, one eyebrow raised as they took another large bite of the sandwich.

"I don't talk to folks I don't trust." He shrugged, leaning over to steal a piece of cheese hanging a little off the edge of the bread. After all, it was originally his sandwich,

"Once you really get to know him, you sorta can't help but trust him. Not that he looks trustworthy- he's just not not a good liar, and he knows it."

Wren's eyes followed the piece of cheese, expression revealing nothing, before they gave a soft laugh. "Heh. Sounds like an interesting guy." They started to get up, "Shall we go now, or-"

"Are you in any condition to go now? I mean look at yourself." He gestured vaguely at Wren's entire person, "You freaked out when I tried to wake you up. Not to mention you were twitching all over the place like some poor piece of roadkill-"

They sat back down. "Ngh." They looked like the admission pained them. Their eyes flicked to Wenzel, "and you're sure you haven't felt anything?"

"No, because I'm not the one who eats blood and sticks their whole nose in suspicious black goop."

"Ughhhhhh." They flopped an arm over their eyes. "I've never seen anything like it! And Winter! She should have been dead! I wanted to know what was going on with all that gunk."

"We don't even know what the stuff is yet, and not to mention how that freaky lady just melted into it all of a sudden... And those bad sensations it was giving off was just terrible." He could have shuddered, but refrained,

"Whatever it is, it's bad news. With a capital B and an N."

Wren was silent for a moment. "When... when I was asleep. The voices I heard. I... it's not clear, and it evades the conscious grasp of my mind." They lifted their arm. "But it felt like... They were calling to me." They looked towards Wenzel. "Perhaps... not unrelated."

"Calling to you..." his brows furrowed, and he tugged nervously on his bottom lip with his teeth,

"I... I'd say that's not good... But most assuredly not unrelated... Otherwise you'd seriously need to see a doctor."

They laughed nervously. "Ah, goodness! It's like this gunk is made to drive you insane!"

"I certainly hope not..." He swallowed, dryly, "Imagine how... Dangerous that sorta thing could be for the city."

"... That's true." Their eyes narrowed. "I must... investigate... later..." They muttered under their breath.

"Yeah, you... You're really not looking so hot..." He suddenly stood up, picking at one of his nails,

"Lets, uh... Tell you what, huh? As much as I'd love to chill here and make sure you don't kill yourself, I've gotta go to work in like..." He checked his phone (which was dying again, he noted), "Thirty? Forty minutes? So here's what we'll do, huh? Since you don't look to be in any condition to do anything whatsoever, you can just chill here and nap. But set like, an alarm on your phone for every hour. That way, if something happens, you won't be sitting around dying or hearing any more whispers, or whatever fever dream stuff happens then-"

Wren gave another snort. "Alright, alright, you mother hen. I can take care of myself, don't worry. I'll do as you say." They set their alarm on their phone to every hour. "Now, go do your thing. Don't let me keep you." They waved a hand at him.

He shoved his phone in his pocket, taking one look back at his accident prone friend,

"Don't die. If you start to, call like, the police or something? Or me? Even though I'll be at work I probably won't be able to come- but then at least I can call the police-"

"I will, I will! Go do your work. Be a responsible citizen. I will be resting. Oh, and tell me whenever you want me to meet that electronics guy."

"I'll text you-!" He called back, hopping carefully through the window again (it was easier than unlocking the door- and besides, Wren'd have to get up to lock it again). He'd never think, of all his friends, he'd be one of the most responsible.

Wren watched him go, before flopping back on the sofa. Well. Into darkness, then.

[lamarkeu]

Celebrating National Boyfriend Day with

BF!GOT7

(Authors Note: In celebration of National Boyfriend Day today I wanted to write about BF!Got7. I tried to make this as gender inclusive as possible. I did really have to edit so if the wording seems off don’t be a afraid to pm me about it. Also I don’t own any of these gifs, all credits to original owners. Anyway hope you enjoy reading!)

Mark Tuan

Wouldn’t care much about at first, he thought it was a pretty pointless holiday. Like was Valentine’s Day not enough? It all just seems like a ploy to waste money on useless things.

He’d change his mind as soon as he saw all the amazing work you put into today’s celebration. Maybe this day wouldn’t be as bad as he first initially thought.

He’s not the type to be interested in the material things. Being fully aware you decided to fill the day with fun activities.

You two first stoped by JYP to pick up some clothes Mark left behind from practice. Afterwards you two went to the mall to buy some new winter clothes.

Of course you paid because it was Marks special day, but not without him whining about how you didn’t need to. He eventually gave up knowing he couldn’t win with you (very smart of him to do so :p )

After buying Mark a new winter coat, a pair of sweatpants, and some headphones, the two of you would head out for some spicy ramen at a near by home style restaurant.

“I have to be the luckiest man on Earth right now, not only do I get to hang out with my cute s/o but I also get to eat ramen?! By far the best day ever.” - Mark

Lim Jaebum

Honestly I can see JB not believing that it’s a holiday. He thought you made it up so he would chill for once his life maybe even us it as an excuse for you to pamper him all day.

As soon as he found out it was legit he took full advantage of the day. Since it was his day decided that instead of going out, you two would have a lazy day at home.

Your guys lazy day consisted of you two and your 5 kids (your cats) not getting out of bed. Eventually you do get up (ever so slowly) in order to make brunch.

You’d cook some of his favourite food like soondubujiggae (spicy tofu stew) with rice and a side of bean sprouts as hed happily be feeding the cats.

Afterwards you brought pulled out a gift box which had the subwoofer he’s been asking for forever. He literally gets so soft that you still remembered that he wanted it.

Showers you in kisses and thank you’d. Those kisses of course get a little more heated and let’s just say one thing lead to another and you two ended up back in bed ;)

“I loved the subwoofer you gave me, and the amazing food you prepared but I think like this gift a little more than those two combined.” -Jaebum

Jackson Wang

This kid would be the person that had the day prepared long before you did. If this holiday is about him then he’s gonna go all out with the different activities. Let’s just say he’d take you to some places you liked and then some.

You two would go for a nice couples hike after breakfast. The walk up was insane but as soon as you got to the top, you forgot all about the pain and took cute pictures you could post on Instagram.

He’d then take his new Audi and drive to his favourite organic bubble tea and board game shop where you guys had lunch and took more pictures.

After a couple battles of connect four Jackson excused him to use the rest room. Feeling bad for not being able to get him a legitimate gift, you thought of what treat you could buy him to eat.

You asked the cashier what would be the best dessert and ended up ordering a slice of vanilla cake with strawberries.

You kindly ask the cafe owners to write “Thank you for being an amazing boyfriend” on the plate and placed it right in front of his chair. As soon as he saw it he just couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you for being the best s/o ever Y/N, and for giving me the opportunity to be the best boyfriend ever.”- Jackson

(Side note: lmao yugyeom why are you like this 😂)

Park Jinyoung

Aside from being your boyfriend Jinyoung was basically your best friend. He knows all your secrets, your likes, you dislikes etc..

He helped not only emotionally but helped you financially, paying off your student debt and some of your family’s expenses.

You decided to take the opportunity of National Boyfriend day to thank Jinyoung for everything has done for you and what better way to celebrate the day by getting tickets to see Justin Timberlake in Hong Kong.

You two arrived in Hong Kong the day of the concert, dropped off your luggages at the hotel and hit up some of the shops to buy gifts for him as well as grab some dinner.

At the concert you and Jinyoung would be having the time of your lives. Jinyoung would be belting out the lyrics of Suit and Tie and pull out some interesting dance moves.

Of course his dad dance moves were to be expected though. One thing you didn’t expect on the other hand was for Jinyoung to drop down to his knees and propose on stage.

“ I know today was supposed to be about me, but I didn’t think I could wait any longer to make you mine forever.”- Jinyoung

(Side note: You are basically Mark in this Gif)

Choi Youngjae

You wanted to surprise Youngjae for his hard work on the latest album by taking a little couples trip to the great island of Hawaii. Life on the other hand, had other plans for the two of you.

Of course when you heard the news you were upset, but you decided that if you guys could go on vacation on national Boyfriend day why not bring the vacation to Youngjae.

While he was busy with JB and Jackson recording some new songs he wrote, you, BamBam, Jinyoung, Yugyeom, and Mark decorated the dance room in leis, a small kiddie pool with water, some fake palm trees and of course beach chairs

BamBam would print off a massive poster with a picture of the beach you two were supposed to visit and taped it to the mirrors.

You quickly shooed away the guys, turn the lights off. When Youngjae turns the lights on he is literally laughing and smiling so much you’re scared he’s gonna pull a muscle.

Once you and Youngjae settle into your matching beach chairs and sipped in some fresh coconut juice, each of the members would come in with food.

“This is the best thing ever Y/N, I’m so happy that I get to be the boyfriend of probably one of the smartest and sweetest people in the whole world.”- Youngjae

BamBam

Ironically enough your birthday happened to be the same week as National Boyfriend Day so it was a double celebration. BamBam personally did make a big deal out of it but, you did.

You wanted to find time to celebrate the day with him but your family had asked you to come home to celebrate your birthday. Though already close with your intermediate family, this would be the first time he’d meet your extended family.

Let’s be really there weren’t a small amount of them either. You’d walking into your aunts house for the party. The living room was tight pack with older family members insisting that you and BamBam eat first before heading to the basement to see your cousins.

Literally all your aunts wouldn’t stop talking about how nice of boyfriend BamBam was as he went to get your food and filled up your drink. Your uncles would joke about how skinny he was, asking BamBam if you feed him anything back in Korea.

Your cousins, especially your younger ones love him because of his endless energy (and screaming). Your youngest cousin even had openly admitted to wanting to take your boyfriend which caused BamBam to laugh.

After you guys left, you apologize for neglecting him, also for leaving him alone to fend himself from your cousins. You gave him your present, a new pair of ray bans with his name engraved on the side. He literally was blown away by the gift.

“I’m so happy I have an amazing girlfriend, with an big but, amazing family and not to mention, a cool new pair of shades. Best National Boyfriend day ever!”- BamBam

Yugyeom

Ever since you and Yugyeom dated he’s always wanted to take you to his favourite place on Earth, Everland for a day of fun.

Of course his busy schedule would never allow that, or at least so he thought. Luckily, National Boyfriend Day happened to be the same day your boss was retiring.

Your boss was very kind and nice so it took you by no surprise that his last project as your boss would be for you and the rest of your co-workers to take the rest of the day off.

Coincidentally, JYP decided to give GOT7 a day off for all the hard work they put into the new comeback. You two met at the JYP Building, and rush to the nearest bulletin train to everland.

After you payed for the two admission tickets (since it was technically Yugyeom day), Gyeom grabbed your hand and head to the nearest ride.

As you two walk out of the park during closing, yugyeom places a light kiss on your forehead as a thank you for the gift. You guys took a quick picture and continued your way back to the bullet train.

“Man, I thought we hit up all the concessions and rides. Oh well we can hit up the ones we haven’t seen the next we go, right Y/N?”- Yugyeom