#those quiet moments can be at w a shared cup of tea or out on the road at 3 am staring up at the stars in the cool autumn breeze

[doctorwhoandfairytaillover]

Loving Arms (3)

Summary: The children of Viserys I from his wife Alicent Hightower had always been lacking in affection from their parents. They simply didn't realize how much until their widowed aunt was brought into their lives. (AU where Alicent has an older sister and her kids get the love that they deserve, takes place some time after the Driftmark event)

Part III: Conversations over tea

|| Loving Arms Masterlist ||

A/N: Sorry for those of you who saw this before it was fully done! I tried the mobile app and don't plan on doing that again. 😅 P.S I tried a different way with the tag list, and hopefully it worked!

The Targaryen siblings were seated in a semi - circle in the chambers of their aunt, while she sat on the chair of her vanity looking at them with an expression of bemusement.

"Typically, when a child asks to be excused from the table at supper, it is to go and do anything besides seek out another adult" she chuckled.

"It is just.... we hoped to speak with you without our Mother or Grandsire present," Aemond mumbled. "From what we saw at supper, we did not think things would be productive with them present."

"Well... I suppose you are not wrong there," she laughed. She settled herself comfortably on her hair and slowly began to take out the pins from her hair, loosening the tight hold she had placed on it from the style she had it in.

While she did so, the children looked over her features to see if they could spot any similarities between themselves and their aunt. Apart from her distinct auburn hair that she shared with his sister, their aunt looked nothing as they expected of her. But then again, they had such little expectation until they had the opportunity to meet her.

Feeling their gazes, she stilled her hands and met their curious stares. "It would be considered rude to stare at a lady, is there something troubling all of you?"

"Well.... we know so little about you, muña" Aegon said. "We really were not sure what to expect with your arrival, even more now since it is quite obvious that there remains tension between our mother, grandsire, and you."

"I did very little to hide it, didn't I?" she sighed and rubbed at her shoulders to release the pressure settling into her body from the days event.

"Muña?" said Aemond. "Why did you come to King's Landing? And why do you not get along with mother or grandsire?"

Her smile faltered and she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Let... let me have someone bring us some tea and a comfortable change of clothes for the three of you." She brushed her skirts and fidgeted with her hands. "This... this will be a rather long conversation, if it goes the way that I think this will. I will be... as honest as I can be. Just... give me a moment. Alright?"

The siblings nodded nervously, her own tense smile was a clear enough indication that she was uncomfortable.

Before she left the room to change, Halaena reached out quickly and took her aunt's hand in her own, all the while shaking as she did so as she was so unused to giving her touch freely.

"Muña, we are prepared t - to listen but only what you are w - willing" Halaena stammered. Her gaze dropping down to her feet, plucking and picking at the skirt of her dress.

Their aunt whispered in return, "Thank you."

------------------

When all had dressed comfortably in their night shirts and shifts, they sat once more in their places. A few teacups were placed in front of the children and carefully their aunt poured each of them a steaming cup.

"I am not one for wine before bed," she attempted a laugh. "I hope you all do not mind, I find it can be quite relaxing for both the body and mind."

The children were quiet, nursing their cups in their hands and looking at one another, unsure of how to keep the conversation. But this did not escape the careful eye of their aunt, deflating in disappointment of herself.

"I am sorry," she said. "I suppose it is a bit difficult to really know where to start with this conversation and do not wish to place that burden on the shoulders of you three. You are all far too young to be worried about the mess that is our family and the affairs that come with it."

"Muña, I do not think we can be too young to know about the shortcomings of our family if mother and grandsire already have the intention of marrying Halaena and I soon" Aegon countered.

She scoffed in disbelief, "Surely you must be joking. Our family has always followed the Faith of the Seven, marriage between brother and sister is not permitted. It is absolute madness, no matter what those daft Targaryen ancestors of yours say!"

"I wish it were simply a joke, muña" Aegon said seriously. "But our grandsire says this would strengthen my claim to the throne and that as Targaryens we are within our right to marry."

"No! Absolutely not!" she said. "I will fight this tooth and nail if I absolutely must, but you and Halaena are not getting married. Is that understood?"

"Yes muña," the pair said with equal sighs of relief.

"The old man is going senile if he thinks that I would let such a marriage occur, he might know the ways of this court but the man does not know how the politics of marriage work at times" she huffed as she took a drink from her tea. "He claims that he was the one that arranged my marriage to your uncle, may the seven rest his soul. But I was the one that made my match and no one else, he thought I was a lost cause."

"Because of your... your," Aemond wasn't sure how to word it.

"My disfigurement?"

"I was trying to find the right words to be tactful, muña" Aemond blushed.

"Do not worry about my feelings pertaining to it, my sweet boy" she soothed. "I have had many years to understand that it is best to not beat around the bush when it comes to the topic, alright?"

The one - eyed prince nodded in appreciation.

"But yes," she murmured. "When I was very young, your grandsire did not think I would ever find a match because of my disfigurement. The skin on my face is still puckered and scarred from where I was burned, and my left eye can see nothing but light."

"You say you were burned," Aemond noted. "My eye was cut by my nephews, the sons of Rhaenyra. Who hurt you?"

She grimaced, "I do not think that I should be telling you that."

"Why not? Do I know who did it?"

"Yes, sweet boy and I do not want to be the one that changes your perception of them."

"Simply tell him, muña" said Aegon. "You said it yourself, the topic isn't one that you need to beat about the bush."

She rubbed at her temples tiredly, "Using my own words against me now. I suppose that I should keep my word about it."

"Who was it?" Aemond asked again.

"Alicent, your mother."

All three of the children looked at her wide - eyed, it was incomprehensible to them that their own mother could have possibly done such a thing. The burns took up the majority of the left - hand side of her face, it was difficult to think of how their mother could have done it and for what reason.

"I will tell you all the story another time," she sighed. "I am not particularly fond of how or why it even happened. People say we should forgive and forget, but it is not an easy thing to forget when the reminder looks back at you in the mirror every day."

"But muña, you said that we could talk about all these things" Halaena said. "You are delaying the conversation."

"We can talk about these things. But I think it would be better if that was a conversation that we saved for another time, it is too complicated of a story to tell. Or maybe it isn't, but I do not feel like having it today."

"Do you promise to have the conversation?" the young girl asked. "People tell us that one day we will be told or one day we can understand, but they never keep their word."

Their aunt looked at each of their young faces, hopeful and yet no expectation because of the many times that someone else had let them down before.

"I promise, my sweet loves. And may the seven strike me where I stand if I do not keep my word."

Satisfied, the three finally took a sip of their tea, only to then have varied expressions of disgust.

The elder lady Hightower burst into laughter at their faces, trying to stifle the amusement. "Either your tea went cold or all three of you have not partaken in drinking much tea, have you?"

"I tend to drink wine, not this leaf water that we have swallowed," Aegon stuck his tongue out in mild disgust.

"If tea is solely leaf water then wine is merely grapes that have spoiled," she teased. "But I suppose my gifts for you all will not have much use then."

"Gifts?" they all asked, because for as much talk that they were grown, the siblings were still only children.

"Yes," she laughed. "But now that I think on it, perhaps the gifts had a bit of selfishness on my part."

She stood and walked to the trunk near the foot of her bed, opening it, she picked up three small bundles of cloth and placed each bundle of the hands of her nephews and niece. Quickly Aegon opened his, finding a light purple tea cup with a golden handle and filigree along its rim. Halaena was more gentle as she unraveled her bundle to find her tea cup was a rosy hue and a darker red handle with ladybugs along its rim. While Aemond carefully found a sky blue tea cup with a silver handle and filigree.

"I was not sure what to gift you all, but I thought that perhaps, your own tea cup that we could use every time that we come together for a chat" she said sheepishly. "But if you all do not like tea, they could serve as a decoration and reminder of today."

"I do not mind tea," Aemond said.

"I suppose I could tolerate it" said Aegon.

"If we drink it then I would like some sweets to make it tastier" Halaena said looking over the ladybugs.

Their aunt laughed and quickly wiped at her eyes, "I will make sure that I have some sweet tarts or other treats for our next conversation. I will look forward to it."

The three flushed happily and looked at their tea cups fondly, already looking forward to the next time that they would spend time with their beloved muña.

[azullumi]

summary — all the gestures and way of love shared by either you two.

characters — wanderer, kaveh, and pantalone (w/ gender-neutral reader)

tags — fluff, established relationship ; headcanons

words — 1040

notes — im not sure if i have already done something similar to this but anyways pantalone :DD

WANDERER

Wanderer has met kindness in different forms, one or maybe more in each name he takes and this time, kindness and forgiveness was in the form of you with your tender touches and soft kisses on him.

Gentleness and affection was in the form of you, given through the touch of your fingertips and the caress of your lips on his, fondness and passion was in the form of him, shared through his rough words that disguises his intimate feelings for you and lingering touches that ghosts over your skin—you mend the shattered pieces of himself with the loving and quiet work of your hands.

He likes the peaceful moments he spends with you. There's no words being shared and only just the roaming touches that persist on the skin of one another, accompanied by the soft and gentle breathing or the low chuckles when the lurking caresses gets ticklish as it grazes over a spot that emits a laugh out of you—he likes hearing your laughter and giggles especially when he's the cause of it, he just adores the sound so much.

Has he ever told you about how much he loves the feeling of your skin underneath the tip of his fingers? Thus the reason why he always takes the chance to hold you, to feel you, and everything. His skin always seeks out yours, desiring to make contact as much as he can. Perhaps, even if your body was laced with poison, he would still choose to touch it because what even is death if he couldn't get to touch you anymore?

He adores and craves the quiet love the two have—the moments wherein he listens to your heartbeat as he lays his head on your chest and you cradle him, the times where he gets to wake up in the morning to the sight of you, those instants of sharing a cup of his favorite tea in the morning with you and a cold drink in a hot afternoon, everything that seems so serene and peaceful but speaks so loudly in intimacy and affection.

KAVEH

Affectionate gestures are something that he's familiar with especially when he's known to shower you with it, mostly in the form of actions.

Back hugs are something that commonly happens between you two, often with him the first one to be initiating it which leads to him surprising you with the wrapping of his arms around your waist. If it's you doing it, however, he would definitely love it—if you were facing him at that moment, you'll be able to see the huge grin that is being worn by his lips.

There's just so many hugs being shared between you two, it's not limited to only just cuddling or back hugs. When you're busy doing something and he's just there? He'll pull you into an embrace, snaking his hands around you as he lays his head on your shoulder—he occasionally does this when you're doing some work in the kitchen like cooking or washing the dishes (instead of lending a hand to help). He likes to hug you as soon as he comes home and sees you and you'll often complain that he's sweaty or it's hot which urges him to pull you in a much tighter and closer embrace.

There's a long list of things that he would do to you and for you—he'll hold your hand while you two are taking a walk, he'll make you gifts and puts so much effort in it in hopes that you'll love it, he'll finish the work that you left off and massage your shoulders whenever you're tired, he will hold you always and every time especially when you're asleep, and a lot more of it just to show you that you're special to him and he loves you.

He loves you harder than anybody ever could, comparing other people's adoration for you will only be a droplet to the ocean of his affection that he holds—just his actions and words are not enough to tell how much he feels for you and perhaps, he might spend his whole life adoring you in his arms and it wouldn't even be enough.

PANTALONE

Pantalone sure does know how to love and knows how to show it to you—and he definitely does shower you with it, whether it's through his own words or by his actions. He has quite a variety of ways in showing how much he loves you and would go through such lengths to do so.

He adorns you with all kinds of jewelry, loving the way you look with all the glimmering and shining jewels and gems that are being worn across your skin. He often comes home with a lot of gifts in hand with the amount depending on how long he's been away—if he's been gone for too long, expect to have so much that it could fill an entire room but even if it's only a short time, there's still so much of it—he just loves to buy different and many kind of things, thinking that you might like it.

Nights with him are sometimes shared in warm and intimate cuddling with whispers of words being shared between you, otherwise, it's underneath the sheets while breathing heavily and chasing after one's lips—occasionally it's both, it all just depends on the mood, the atmosphere, and the energy between you two.

He loves having his lips all over your body, tracing and drawing on your skin, murmuring sweet words of affection, wishing that it will reach your ears and remain in your mind. He kisses you before he leaves and once he comes back, his lips touch you when you both lay in bed or when you're spending another time in each other's embrace, he does it in every moment that he can.

His love for you is overwhelming, literally. If his feelings are water and you are the cup being poured on, it will be overflowing, spilling and flooding, but honestly, that's just how he is. After all, you are the poetry that lives, not only in his head but in his entire being, the words that form the poem in his thoughts and the one who comes to his mind when he thinks of home.

© azullumi — do not plagiarize, copy, repost, nor translate any of my works.

[dracarialove]

📄 F it, I'm posting my finished fics here, too 📄

Heartfelt Holidays

*Check the 'heartfelt holidays' tag if you haven't read chapter 1

[Chapter 6: Christmas at Sonic's]

Sonic invites his friends over to swap gifts on a cold winter day, participating in a tradition of sharing kindness with the people he likes most.

December was a cold month, pelting strong, crisp gusts of wind against the rounded clay walls of Vanilla's home. The chilled air kept her guests inside, Sonic and his friends sitting about the living room with cups of tea and plates of baked snacks.

"Thanks for letting us stay a while, Vanilla," said the Blue Blur, lounging in a recliner and idly twirling a ring-shaped cookie around his finger. "It sure beats being out there."

"Of course, dear," the kind woman replied. "Hopefully the breeze doesn't become too harsh."

She looked out the window and took a sip of her tea, gazing at the few flittering leaves that still clung to the trees' outstretched branches – the wind came in bursts, but the clear sky wasn't yet dropping snow on them.

Tails spoke up while inching closer to the burning fireplace, "At least we have shelter and warmth; but, you know, some people love this kind of weather! I've heard there are humans who've made special traditions for the cold season."

"Oh yeah!" Amy chirped, as if she'd just been reminded of something forgotten. "They give each other presents, right?"

"Yeah, usually," answered Tails. "There are different traditions, I think... but I've heard one of them is called Christmas."

Sonic took a bite of his cookie and leaned forward in his chair when the fox added, "I might have a book about it somewhere."

"Sounds awesome!" he blurted, dropping crumbs onto the plate in his lap. "We should do something like that!"

Amy looked over at him and agreed excitedly, "I think so, too!"

Knuckles, who had situated himself on the floor between Sonic's and Amy's seats, spoke up, "Sonic should throw this party." He turned to his speedy friend and smiled. "You've been going to all these events hosted by other people – so it's your turn, now, right?"

The hedgehog grinned back. "Sure! As long as I don't have to invite a bunch of people. You know my house isn't really that big. Let's say we only invite our friends."

Knuckles' posture relaxed a bit as he let out a light, relieved sigh. "Ah, so we won't have any thieves or troublemakers showing up. I like the sound of that!"

"Hm, well..." Sonic started, cupping his chin in contemplation. "If you're talking about Rouge and Shadow... I'd consider them friends! Omega, too!"

Both Knuckles and Amy exclaimed, "What?!" and stared at their companion with perplexion.

He rubbed the back of his head and changed his expression to one of awkward defensiveness. "I mean... they've helped keep the world safe, right? They deserve some kindness."

Amy's gaze was uneasy, and Knuckles crossed his arms at the sentiment; but it was Cream who expressed what they were thinking. "Are you sure they would be nice guests, Sonic? I'm afraid they won't like being there."

"Yeah..." Amy cut in. "This isn't like Valentine's Day; it's bigger than that. And even I was kind of glad that Shadow didn't show to my party. Plus, I think Rouge stole some of the snacks I put out that day!"

"W-well, those were for anyone to have, right?" replied Sonic, once again awkward and scratching his head. He took a quick second to think, then grinned again and snapped his fingers as a solution came to him. "They might not be the warmest people, but I'll bet I can at least get Rouge to understand what the season's all about. And she might even be able to convince Shadow to chill out, for once! If she can't..." He shrugged. "... he doesn't have to go."

After a quiet moment, Tails smiled hopefully and said, "I trust you, Sonic. I think it'll be a great time with you as our host."

Picking up another cookie, the speedster glanced between all of them. "Don't you guys worry about a thing – I've got this."

The rest of the group also exchanged looks, silently agreeing that they would leave the planning to Sonic and have faith in his efforts to throw a fun party for everyone.

***

After the hefty winds died down, Sonic and his friends left Vanilla's home, parting ways to spend the rest of their day on their own activities. Since he now had an event to prepare for, the blue hedgehog decided his best first step would be to talk to Rouge.

He traveled into the city as the late afternoon sky darkened a bit, transitioning into early evening and bringing more guests to the bat's business. Walking through the casino lobby, he weaved around patrons and looked for Rouge, eventually spotting her at the bar.

She was resting on a stool with one leg crossed over the other, her back to the big wooden surface, her elbows planted on the bar top, and a glass of something in her hand.

Her attention was on the bartender – who seemed to be holding a conversation with the charming woman – while Sonic made his way over.

"Heya, Rouge!" the young hero said, loudly enough to be heard over the music, and threw himself energetically onto the seat next to her.

She startled slightly, her teal gaze snapping towards him as her mouth hung open to pull in a soft gasp. Her expression relaxed when she saw his charismatic smile. "Oh, Sonic, what a surprise! Did the cold push you in here?"

"Nah," he said, swatting the air with one hand. "I came to visit you! Got some news for ya."

"Ah, let me get you a drink, first," the pretty bat insisted, turning to the tender. "Something light for our hero, here."

Sonic raised one brow, his witty smile sticking. "On the house? How much is that gonna cost you?"

She shrugged, letting her eyes close in a confident expression. "Nothing, really. The light stuff is cheap, but I'll spare a friend a few rings' worth for a nip."

A small opaque bottle thunked against the wood as it was placed in front of Sonic, soon being wrapped in the hedgehog's gloved grip. "Heh, still – that's thoughtful of you. And speaking of us being friends, I wanted to invite you to a little holiday party I'm throwing at my place."

"Really?" Rouge asked, eyelids raising in fascination at the hearty first swig he took from the bottle. "What's the occasion?"

"Something called Christmas. Tails was talking about it... you give each other gifts, and really just hang around the people you like. So, it won't be anything huge, but I thought it was only fair to invite you since you invited me to your party."

"Hmm... well, I do love receiving gifts," she conceded. "Alright, I'll go. What about-"

"Omega and Shadow are invited too," he interrupted, "but... it's supposed to be, like, a peaceful holiday. So-"

"Shadow will have to behave?" she interrupted back, smirking playfully.

Sonic nodded. "If he decides to go at all, that is. Maybe you could...?"

He gestured towards her, grinning again and making her chuckle. Then, she gave him a wink and said, "Can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do. If I can't convince Shadow, I'll still bring Omega."

"Nice!" He sat up straight and took another drink, then looked around the lobby. "You know, I'm glad this place gets such good business. You run it really well."

"Aw, thanks, Big Blue," Rouge responded, then took a sip from her own glass.

They chatted a bit longer, until Sonic's drink was empty, then he said his goodbye and left her to talk over the invitation with Shadow. He stepped out onto the downtown sidewalk and breathed in the cold air, thinking about the list of things he'd need to put together in preparation for the party.

In the hidden top floor of Club Rouge, the darker hedgehog stood staring at his golden wristwatch, making a mental note of the time and the rising number of patrons that came with it. With the evening crowd entering the building at a faster pace than they were leaving, he made his decision to vacate the club soon.

When his eyes left the watch, they landed on Rouge's empty bed, resting against the wall on the opposite side of the small room. Her blanket was tossed aside, bunched up near the foot of the bed, and the pillow laid slightly askew – and, strangely, Shadow felt the urge to tidy it.

For a moment, he held back, arguing with himself that she could straighten her own quarters; but it was oddly bothersome, and compounded with the fact that she had let him stay there regularly since the night they...

He shook the thought away and approached the disorganized bed. His partner wasn't around to see his thoughtful gesture, anyway, so what would it hurt if he fixed something that was out of place?

Steady hands straightened the blanket along the mattress, then smoothed out the creases. He grabbed the pillow to align it, then noticed that it was fairly lumpy in places.

How could Rouge – as particular as she was about the immaculateness of her possessions – stand to lay her head on such an uneven surface?

Shadow lifted the pillow, intent on fluffing it for her, but paused when he saw the glittering stone that'd been lying underneath. Shining shades of purple gleamed along angular edges; the Chaos Emerald he'd gifted her sitting pretty on its side.

It rested in a little divot, likely pressed into the mattress by the weight of Rouge sleeping on top of it. Involuntarily, the hedgehog's mouth curled into a warm smile, and he fluffed the pillow diligently before replacing it over the Emerald.

A moment later, he heard the creak of the wooden hatch door being pushed open, and his attention was drawn to the winged club owner entering her room.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she started, her glossed lips carrying a dazzling smile as she walked up to the stolid being. Turquoise eyes glanced down his form briefly before she asked, "On your way out?"

Shadow nodded; his smile having calmed into a more subtle curve. "You know I'd rather not be here when your customers start to get rowdy."

"I know," replied the woman, playfully rolling her eyes as one hand drifted to grip her hip. "It's a routine at this point. But, hey, before you go, I did want to bring something up..."

She expected a reaction – a change in his demeanor, the disappearance of his calm smile, maybe even a scoff – but Shadow only stood and listened, waiting for her to finish her thought. "It's... well, it's another holiday... thing."

"Uh huh?" Shadow nodded again, his smile slowly fading this time into a more neutral expression.

Rouge chuckled awkwardly. "Not my most graceful start... hell, I'll just say it: Sonic is hosting a party at his house in about a week, and he invited us to stop by. Shocking, I know, but he says it's a tradition to give gifts and show kindness, so he's including us if we want to attend."

She slowed her cadence a bit, speaking more gently after getting past the most important part. "It'll be small, he said, so I'm interested in getting a gift and seeing what this celebration's all about."

At first, Shadow didn't respond, then shifted his body language as if he were about to decline. Though, he paused and took a moment to think; one that lasted too long for Rouge's patience, so she spoke again. "I'll be bringing Omega, but... it's fine if you don't want to go."

His crimson eyes drew back up to her face, a bit surprised that she was offering him a choice to avoid the festivity. Her mature, pleasant tone continued as she added, "It's supposed to be a peaceful holiday. And if you think you can't get along with Sonic or... the rest of them... for a few hours, then it would be against the caring spirit of this season to force you."

She gave the hedgehog a kind, knowing smile, and he felt the sincerity behind her words. It made his own smile reappear, and Shadow's smooth, deep voice matched the calmness of her timbre. "I will consider it, while I'm gone and have some time to think. But don't get your hopes up."

A faint smirk played at the corner of Rouge's lips while she dragged one index finger in a cross formation over her heart, silently promising not to expect the answer she wanted.

In return, her teammate exhaled through his nose in a soft laugh, then stepped towards the treasure hunter and smoothly wrapped his arms around her waist until he was gingerly gripping her back.

Her smirk quickly dropped and bright eyes widened in surprise. His cheek brushed against hers, and he closed his eyes to savor the rare instance when he felt strongly enough to act on the fondness he possessed for his truest friend.

The unexpected hug was Shadow's first unprompted show of affection since their kiss on the moonlit rooftop – and it left the bat charmed and blushing. She returned the hug and gave his back a firmer squeeze than the tender embrace he held.

Then, the space between them grew, and Shadow's arms slipped backwards until he was no longer holding her. There were no words between the two before he left her establishment; none were needed when they knew exactly how the other felt.

There was only a long, endearing glance and serene smiles spreading across their muzzles, until the hedgehog disappeared from Rouge's sight through the hatch's opening.

***

The day of Sonic's party closed in over the course of a week, giving his invitees time to find gifts for each other while the blue hero decorated his house with strings of white lights, lining them along the top edge of his home's sky-colored walls.

He'd also picked out a present for each of his friends – even the ones who might not show – which he laid neatly on a square-shaped table in the corner of the living room.

And on Christmas Day, he set up a smaller table for snacking, where he put together plates of cheese and crackers; tea sandwiches; a few different types of sodas; and, of course, a stack of chilidogs. He was putting a CD of angelic instrumental music into the stereo when he heard the first knock on his door.

"Welcome, winter wanderers!" he greeted, his smile wide as he looked upon his dearest companions.

Tails, Amy, Cream, and Vanilla were the first ones to arrive – with their larger friend, Big the Cat, following behind – all wearing something warm to combat the lowering temperature, and three of them carrying colorful boxes.

Cream had Cheese wrapped in a small blanket and was cradling them closely to her fluffy sweater. The weather wasn't too frightful, but the afternoon sky was darker than usual, and Sonic could feel a chill lingering through the entrance.

He opened the door more and beckoned them inside. "Get in here before the cold bites ya!"

"Pretty lights, Sonic!" Cream piped as they walked in, her head tilted upwards and brown eyes shimmering.

"Thanks!" He closed the door once Big managed to squeeze through. "Sorry I don't have a fancy fireplace, or anything. Hope it's warm enough in here for all of you."

Amy turned around, her white scarf flowing to one side, and said, "It feels just fine! Here – my present."

She held out the purple box, which bore a big pink bow, and Sonic smiled as he took it in both hands. His grateful expression made her blush, and she said sweetly, "I didn't know if you'd wanna open it now."

The speedy hedgehog looked up at her and responded, "We'll do gifts a little later, once everyone's here. I don't want anyone to miss out!"

Amy watched as he walked towards the table in the corner, his confident voice announcing, "You guys can put all the presents here, for now."

Their boxes joined the ones Sonic had prepared while another few knocks rapped on the door, heavier this time. His spirits rose as he strolled over to open it, being met with Knuckles; who had thrown a thick green beanie over his head.

"Hey, Knux, come on in! That's half of the guests already – can't wait to see everyone in the same room."

His excitement was palpable, his grin growing and his posture so proud that he looked an inch taller. When Knuckles walked in and trailed his eyes over to the gift table, his own posture slumped a little, and guilt entered his expression. "Oh, Sonic, I... I forgot I was supposed to bring something."

Sonic looked at the table, then back to his friend, his smile never changing. "That's okay, man." He threw an arm around the echidna and walked with him towards the rest of the group, who were getting comfortable on the couch and in collapsible chairs. "We're just happy to have you here. Take a load off!"

Knuckles' face brightened and he took a seat on the sofa next to Cream and her mother. They all settled in to play a card game and have some snacks, erecting a table in the center of the circle before Sonic dealt out the deck. The friendly competition among the group heated up as the game went on, and a little while later, two more guests arrived.

"Hello, Sonic," greeted Blaze, standing next to Silver and holding two small gold-and-blue striped boxes.

"Blaze, Silver!" he said back, exuberant and letting them in quickly. He didn't manage to fully close the door before the presents were taken from the cat's hands by Silver and handed to Sonic.

"When do we exchange gifts?" he asked, his yellow eyes glimmering happily.

Sonic chuckled and accepted the boxes. "A little later. I'll just put these with the rest."

"Oh," Silver started, noticing the corner table while Blaze joined the others. "No, please, allow me."

A bright blue aura formed around the little boxes and lifted them from Sonic's hands, then floated over to the table with the rest of the presents. The young host offered for the pair to join their card game; and when Silver turned to do just that, Sonic attempted to properly close the front door.

But the wooden slab thumped against something solid and refused to move further, which made him open it again. Towering over the hedgehog was E-123 Omega. His robotic hand pulled back from where it had halted the door, and his monotone voice soon followed the action.

"GREETINGS, SONIC. I UNDERSTAND WE HAVE RECEIVED INVITATION TO ATTEND A FESTIVITY AT YOUR LOCATION."

"Heh, you got it, Omega," he answered, amused. "That must mean Rouge is right behind you."

"Hey, Blue," said the bat, peering around Omega's form as he turned to let her pass. She was wearing a plum-colored overcoat and clutching a red box in her arms. "Let us in already, would ya?"

"Of course!" he piped, faintly sheepish at his hesitance to invite them inside.

Just before he moved to allow them room, he spotted Shadow standing behind Rouge and Omega, looking off to the side with a neutral expression.

Although he was partly grateful for the sight, he also felt a shallow drop in his stomach; but a bit of nerves wouldn't be enough to stop the friendly man from letting them join the party.

Rouge handed off the gift as they walked in, letting Sonic take care of it while she began removing her coat. Omega's metal frame thankfully fit through the doorway, but the blue hedgehog was glad he hadn't invited anyone else as he glanced over the guests filling most of his small living room.

He gave Shadow a smile in a show of good will, but it wasn't returned, and he was ignored instead. The dark speedster didn't even look at him, although Sonic preferred that over a sneer or an insult. He supposed it was Shadow's way of being civil.

Closing the door once more, the host placed Team Dark's present with the rest while addressing the invitees. "Now that everyone's here, we can start the gift exchange soon!" He turned to his newest guests and added, "Find yourselves a comfy spot and then I'll get to passing around the boxes."

Rouge nodded in acknowledgement and the three of them joined the large group of friends all gathered in the center of the room, settling themselves so that the treasure hunter rested on Omega's flattened palm while he and Shadow sat on the floor.

The chattering attendees talked amongst themselves and Sonic looked over the presents, preparing to gather them up; then, he heard an unexpected knock on the door.

Puzzled, he tried to think of who it could be. He hadn't invited anyone else, and his home was nearly at capacity. But he answered the door, confused and surprised to see Team Chaotix on the other side.

"Hey, Sonic!" Vector belted. "We heard through the grapevine that you were havin' a party! Hope all the snacks aren't gone yet!"

The crocodile started to walk in, coaxing Sonic to shift aside while he struggled to figure out what he wanted to say – and while the host was attempting the start of his sentence, Vector held up a yellow box with red ribbon.

"Don't worry, we all brought gifts!" he said with a toothy smile. "That's the theme here, right?"

"Uhh-" Sonic tried to protest, but felt bad about doing so.

He let the detectives in, worrying over the lack of space, and closed the door for the final time. His living room was packed with their arrival, but he didn't want to ruin the night by kicking them out; and they had brought gifts with them, each member of the team carrying their own colored box.

Espio turned to Sonic and asked, "Where should we put these?"

Before the hedgehog could point to the table behind them, Charmy shook his gift and interrupted, "We couldn't get presents for everybody, so these are for whoever wants 'em!"

"Oh, um..." The green-eyed hero switched his gaze to the table they'd set up for their card game, noticing that the others had cleared it off, and decided that was a better spot for the ownerless parcels. "Over there is fine, in the middle of the group. I'll be handing out all the gifts here in a sec, but... sorry, I don't have any for you guys."

"That's alright!" replied Vector, clapping Sonic on the back. "We're mostly here for the camaraderie and the food, right, boys?"

Charmy exclaimed, "Right!" while Espio gave a single nod, then the three of them added to the cluster of people and left their boxes on the empty table. Sonic took a breath and quickly gathered himself to scoop up some of the gifts his guests had brought, passing them out based on who they were addressed to.

"We'll do the special ones first," he explained, humbly glazing over his boxes which remained on the table.

And once the initial presents were doled out, he handed the Chaotix' gifts over to Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge – letting them be the ones to open and announce the mystery items after the personalized surprises were revealed.

Wrapping paper started to crinkle as most of the group began tearing it off. The host himself first opened the blue and yellow present he'd gotten from Blaze and Silver, his eyes glancing over at the identical one they'd given Tails.

From the small boxes, the pair pulled flat silver medallions that hung on a thin chain, each bearing the shape of half a Chaos Emerald. The fox's blue gaze brightened when Sonic held up his half, and the two shared a smile before the hedgehog looked over at his futuristic friends.

Recognizing them as the gift-givers from Sonic's cue, Tails spoke to Silver and Blaze, "Is this a set of one of those friend necklaces?"

The princess nodded and smiled as she continued peeling paper from her present, while Silver answered, "They're best friend necklaces! We thought it fit you guys perfectly."

"Thanks!" beamed Tails, happily knocking his shoes together and lifting the jewelry for a better look.

Rouge leaned towards the cat – who'd gotten the red wrapping off and was removing tape from the box's flaps – and said in a leading tone, "Those are some shiny pieces of metal you got for the boys. I might be a bit jealous! But I hope you like the one I got for you."

She straightened her posture as Blaze made eye contact, the bat's expression turning cheeky while she primped one of her curls. Curious, the fire-user opened the box and asked, "So you got this for me? Strange, I wouldn't expect a gift from you."

Inside the abundance of tissue paper was a large, heavy hairclip in the shape of a crown, colored gold and stamped with a ruby decal. Blaze's eyes widened a bit as she took in the nature of the present, feeling the heft in her hand while still taken slightly aback that Rouge had gotten her something.

The jewel thief took it upon herself to fill the silence between them, claiming, "It's just something I saw, and I thought it looked pretty. Then I thought, 'Who could even use such a thing?' And you were the lucky winner on that one, Blaze."

"Ah, well, thank you," she replied, smiling softly to show appreciation for the gesture.

Once Tails had hooked the silver emerald's chain around his neck, he looked towards Cream sitting on the couch; she and Cheese were working together on opening their gift, one which was hugged by pastel green paper and topped with a shiny red stick-on bow.

His smile grew knowing what was inside, and how likely they both were to utilize it, even after Christmas. As they took off the last bit of wrapping, he leaned forward and told Cream, "That one's from me!"

"Thank you, Tails!" she said back through a cute grin, then opened the box and picked up a deep-red stocking with designs of snowflakes and stars in white and gold colors. "Wow, it's so pretty!"

"Chao!" Cheese blurted, then dove into the opening and claimed the stocking as a sleeping bag.

Amy and Sonic giggled at the Chao's excitement before the pink hedgehog turned to her crush. "Sonic, I can't wait any longer for you to open my present!"

"Oh, right!" he said, grabbing up the purple box that'd been sitting on his lap. He ripped off the bow and the wrapping in three easy swipes, then popped open the cardboard flaps. "Woah!"

The hero was quick to pull the radar gun from its containment, noting its high-tech design and bold blue coloring. Amy said, "Tails helped to make it so it could detect super high speeds – even yours."

She gave the fox a wink of shared success while Sonic turned on the device and marveled at the interface; which was interactable and also seemed to be capable of playing music. "This is cool! Thanks, guys!"

On the other side of the circle, Silver was unveiling his gift from Cream and her mother: a framed photo of their group, containing most of the friends he'd gotten to know since meeting Sonic.

Vanilla noticed the slight sparkle in his eyes that suggested he was close to tearing up, and so she explained in her calm, polite tone, "It's been a while since you've had something to take back to your time. My Cream thought you would like something nice and new to remember us all by once you return to the future."

Cream gave the white hedgehog a wide smile and received one from him, as well, while he clutched the frame close to his chest. "I love it!"

With the first batch of personalized gifts opened, Sonic began gathering up the paper that'd found its place on the carpeted floor. He threw the scraps into a trash bag while announcing, "Alright, guys, now let's see what the Chaotix brought for us."

"We didn't pick them out for anyone specific," Vector added, "so don't everybody clammer to take 'em home all at once!"

He said as much, but the crocodile was secretly hoping that his matronly crush would want to take home the present he'd donated. Though, he already had to make peace with her overwhelming politeness to let someone else have it.

Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles pulled the different colored papers off the different sized boxes and opened them around the same time, calling out what each gift was and holding them up for the group to see.

Knuckles declared first, "This one looks like a music player," as he showed Vector's item. A number of people around the circle exclaimed softly with interest before Rouge reported her find with a touch of detachment.

"Action figures?" she said, tilting the box to display a collection of humanoid figurines. "Or... dolls? Whatever these are."

With a few chuckles and murmurs, everyone could guess it was Charmy's submission, so that left Amy to announce Espio's offering. She read the writing on the clear square-shaped case, "A CD mix of music for meditation."

A couple of nods showed a possible desire for his gift, and the small crowd soon filtered more closely together to decide who would get the extra presents.

Some who weren't interested took the opportunity to get a snack while Sonic cleaned up the last of the wrapping paper and collected his own boxed items from the corner table.

In the end, the attendees decided to let Big have the meditation mix, feeling it might get the most use during his fishing sessions; Tails and Cream split the action figures, choosing the ones they each liked; and, after a round of light debate, they ultimately conceded that Amy had the strongest library of tunes and deserved the music player the most.

"Alright, my friends," Sonic started, ramping up his host energy as he held the gifts he'd gotten, "I've got a present for – almost – everyone here, and hopefully they're just as good as all of yours!"

Most of his guests squirmed with anticipation as he started handing out boxes, though his darkest attendee blatantly rolled crimson eyes at the Blue Blur's modesty.

Shadow had been entirely silent during his time there, simply sitting with his arms crossed and watching everyone else, receiving brief glances from Rouge to make sure he wasn't brooding too much. But he thought he'd carried himself well enough so far, even after cementing the holiday as yet another pointless one in his mind.

When Sonic passed by their group and held out their presents, he outstretched one hand and let the host's humble donation fall into his palm. It was a tiny box compared to some of the others, wrapped in simple black paper and nothing else.

So, while not impressive in the slightest, it did make the Ultimate Lifeform wonder what his cheery rival thought a good gift was for someone who hadn't a need for nearly anything.

He unwrapped it before Sonic could finish handing out the presents, flicking aside the flimsy paper and staring down at a square-shaped slab of silver.

It was engraved with the image of a daffodil, the grooves of which shined when light passed over them; and when Shadow turned it over in his hand, he saw a split down one side of the metal. Still skeptical, he pried apart the magnetized halves, then was shocked by the picture inside of what he now recognized as a locket.

His eyes widened as he looked down at an old photo of Maria Robotnik, smiling at an angle that suggested it might've been taken by Professor Gerald. It was small in the locket and tiny in his hand, but Shadow felt the emotional weight of the gift growing – and it gave him questions.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, suddenly enough that it caught the attention of everyone around him. He looked up at Sonic, his brows furrowed again, and the accusatory tone of his voice hung in the air while the blue speedster paused.

"Oh, uh... let's just say you'd be surprised at the stuff Eggman held onto," he answered, grinning before turning to give out the last of the boxes.

The sound of ripped wrapping paper started up again and Shadow's eyes fell back onto the locket. Rouge leaned over to him while opening her gift and commented, "What a sentimental present. I guess Sonic knows you better than you expected."

He gave her a quick frown, then sat quietly thinking while the rest of the group gushed over their presents from Sonic. Knuckles received a squishy replica of the Master Emerald; one that fit in his hand, being dubbed a stress-emerald by his green-eyed friend.

"When you're feeling quick-tempered, give it a few squeezes," he explained. "It might help dissolve some of that stress you're always carrying around."

The echidna wanted to refute his assumption, but gripped the emerald instead and let it be. He could afford to give it a try, at least. Amy's voice pierced the living room in excitement as she pulled a porcelain rose from the pink-and-red box. Its smooth petals were also colored red and pink, and the base was wide enough for it to stand on its own.

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" she beamed, running her fingers over the flower. "Thank you, Sonic, it's the best present ever!"

"Heh, you're welcome," he replied, happy to see her so excited.

For Tails, he'd gotten a new gadget to enhance the speed of his plane – something Sonic didn't know much about, but he was confident the smart kid would find a way to install it.

Cream, Vanilla, and Cheese shared their gift, which was a box full of chocolate oranges; special treats that were only available during the winter season.

Big was more than happy to have been given a handful of brand-new fishing lures, instantly bringing out his tackle box to organize them with the others.

And the next person to fill the room with their voice was Rouge, dramatically gasping while she held up a bracelet. It was colored gold and encrusted with diamonds, seemingly real from the way they shimmered at every angle.

"Sonic! My goodness, wherever did you get a diamond bracelet?!" She hooked it around one wrist and flaunted her hand in the air, looking over at the Blue Blur.

He hesitated, then gave her a sly smirk. "You know, I'd rather keep that a secret. I think it's more special that way."

One of her brows lowered as she smirked back. "Fine! I'll just have to assume you went to great lengths for it."

Sonic chuckled and sat back in his chair, watching with a warm smile while the rest of his guests finished opening their gifts. He'd gotten Silver a specially crafted medallion with his signature colors, declaring the hedgehog an "expert time-traveler" and "savior of the future."

Blaze received a small statue of a phoenix, resembling her flame powers and her ability to come out on top in even the toughest battles. And finally, he gave Omega a stack of blow-up balloons plastered with a cartoonish decal of Eggman's face.

When the robot stared his way – in what could be considered confusion – Sonic sheepishly claimed, "Sorry, I had a bit of a tough time finding something for ya. But I thought you might at least enjoy destroying something with Eggman's ugly mug on it. You could blow up the balloons and then blow 'em up, you know?"

Rouge jumped in with, "It's a nice gesture," and patted Omega's headcap, which coaxed him to express appreciation for the present.

The group mingled for a while and finished off the snacks, dealing out another round of the card game they'd previously been playing. And as the evening drew on, it eventually got cold enough outside to start snowing.

Sonic noticed the small white flakes falling in front of his window and thought of how cozy it felt to have so many of his friends in one place. After a while, they started to tire of the party, and began filtering out with their presents in-hand.

The heroic host stood by his front door and saw out every one of them, saying his goodbyes as each of his guests left – but he stopped Team Dark for a more sincere farewell.

"Hey, before you guys go, I wanted to especially thank you for showing up." He spoke mostly to Rouge, but the other two heard his sentiment just as well. "It wouldn't have been the same without you three."

Behind his teammates, Shadow rolled his eyes again, while Omega said, "THANKS UNNECESSARY."

Rouge threw on her coat and countered, "Don't mind them. They won't admit it, but we all had a good time."

Sonic gave their group a nod and let them out the door, followed by the Chaotix and Vector speaking up, "Nice party, Sonic! We should make this a yearly thing!"

"Heh, I don't know about that, Vex! But I appreciate you stopping by."

Charmy chimed, "It was fun!" and floated out behind Vector.

Being the last one out the door, Espio stopped briefly and offered his hand for the hedgehog to shake. "This evening was one to remember – you were a gracious host."

"Hey, thanks," replied Sonic, his smile widening.

Espio's compliment made him feel the warmest as he watched his friends leave. And once he closed the door, he couldn't help but swell with contentment and grin to himself as he fully understood why the humans celebrated such a tradition.

[the-traveling-poet]

Semi-Sweet

Nominated to be ‘Official’ bartender for the night, you’re surprised to see just how radiant everyone’s smiles were when you poured them out another round. It made you feel useful; providing a small pleasure for your fellow comrades after all you’d been through.

But what surprised you more, was having Captain Levi accompany you for a drink after the party’s over.

Pairing: Levi x Bartender!Reader.

Warnings: Slow burn fluff, swearing, and alcohol consumption.

A/N: A requested fic from over in my Wattpad I felt like sharing lol.

“Another three shots of whiskey, please!”

Throwing a casual smile over your shoulder, you met the soldier's dilated eyes.

"Just a moment!" You reassured him as you poured another shot for some other soldier.

Despite the growing excitement of the men and women in the mess hall, you found yourself stressing to run back and forth to pour out new drinks for anyone who asked.

It had been Hange's idea, when Commander Erwin announced a celebration was in order for the scout's hard work and success in the recent expeditions outside the walls they'd been on.

They had pulled you aside, giddy with excitement as they adjusted their glasses further up their nose and spouted off to you about how you should be the official bartender for the night.

Of course, you had accepted the role easily. Your father had been a bartender back in the day, so you were familiar with the family business of mixing drinks and serving thirsty customers. The idea of being able to contribute something for the soldier's night of relaxation and fun had excited you.

You'd always admired them before joining the regime, all those years ago, and even more so now that you'd worked beside so many brave and loyal people.

Naturally, you'd want to give back to them all in some way or another for their comradeship.

So there you were, behind a counter in the kitchen mixing drinks and pouring your heart into each cup you grabbed.

Turning to grab the bottle of whisky for the gentleman waiting for you, you nearly dropped the glass container in surprise.

"Shit Captain, how long have you been standing in here?"

Having spent years in the Scouts and promoted to the position of a captain, the two of you were acquainted and able to talk less formally around one another. You'd fought together, trained together, and even lead your separate squads side by side through titan territory over the years.

Yet you'd always wished to be closer.

Levi scoffed slightly and pushed off the wall he had been leaning on.

"A few minuets."

He seemed slightly disgruntled, but seeing the glare he shot out at the increasingly rowdy crowd in the mess hall, you understood completely. He wasn't a fan of large social gatherings.

"Anything I can do to help you?" you offered as you went back to pouring.

"No," he stated, though not aggressively. After you had handed the three glasses of whisky shots to the soldier outside the kitchen and watching as he stumbled over to two of his comrades, Levi continued.

"Just came to get some tea before heading back up to my office. But you're in the way."

This time, he didn't hide his displeasure at the situation.

"Ah, right, let me just move some of this out of your way.”

You started to move around the various bottles of alcohol that had been purchased by Commander Erwin for the event out of the way, but a quiet 'tsk' halted your movements.

"No need, I'll get it later. Besides, another brat wants a drink."

Following where he was currently glaring, you saw another soldier with an empty cup approaching the kitchens.

Giving Levi an apologetic smile, you prepared to take their order. For a moment, he merely stood and watched as you made drink after drink. But at some point, when you turned to strike up a conversation with him, he had already disappeared. Whether it was to seek out the Commander or perhaps supervise a drunken Hange, you weren't sure.

Though you tried to keep your train of focus, you couldn't help but wonder where he'd went off to in slight disappointment.

Seeing as the party was starting to die down slightly, you knew people would start to stagger off within the hour.

And perhaps then, you'd see him again.

═══════════

Cleaning off the last counter, you untied your hair and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the messes in the kitchen had been taken care of, you decided it was time to relax and enjoy the night to yourself.

Almost everyone had gone off to their barracks rooms or wandered off somewhere else in a drunken haze around HQ, so your job for the night was complete.

You briefly contemplated how you should spend your free time, when something caught your attention.

Eyeing a large unopened bottle of wine neatly stacked back in the boxes they'd arrived to HQ in, you grinned to yourself.

═══════════

"The hell are you still doing here?"

Lowering the large bottle of wine from your lips, you glanced over the rim at the person's plain yet inquisitive tone as they closed the mess hall's doors behind them. Brows raising slightly, you quickly shook off your surprise at anyone being up and sober enough to come back in here.

"Ah, Captain Levi," you greeted softly. "I could ask you the same; the party ended an hour ago."

"Exactly," he muttered, crossing the room to the table you sat upon, your legs crossed and posture relaxed.

"They're all either passed out or spilling their guts, perfect time to get some tea unhindered and in silence."

You chuckled softly behind the back of your hand, lifting your bottle up to your lips for another quick sip.

"They do tend to get a bit rowdy when the drinks get poured, I don't suppose I blame you."

Levi made a small noise of acknowledgment, or perhaps agreement, you couldn't tell, and went to turn away and grab his preferred beverage from the kitchens.

But for a moment, he seemed to pause. Idly, you wondered to yourself if perhaps it was from the wine, or maybe even your slowly growing fatigue making you see things, but it seemed as though he had made to sit down at your table before changing his mind and his rout.

Pursing your lips in thought, you watched as he disappeared into the kitchens behind you.

For several long moments, you merely sat atop the table sipping at your wine, comfortable in your own silent thoughts. The semi-sweet liquid bubbled pleasantly against your tongue, with a slight warm sting down your throat when you swallowed. A faint fruity aftertaste filled your mouth by the time the bottle had left your parted lips.

A deep breath led to a contented sigh as you closed your eyes in relaxation, only to slowly open again shortly after when the sound of light footsteps approached you from behind.

Turning to look over your shoulder, you gave Levi a reassuring smile. Remembering what you thought you might have seen earlier, the way he had paused before passing you by, you spoke.

This was your chance...

"If you're not busy, I wouldn't mind the company."

Short, simple and sweet.

He could refuse with the excuse of work he may or may not have, or take a seat without feeling obligated. You figured this was the best way to communicate with the captain.

And you were right.

After a brief moment, he looses a breath almost inaudibly and sat facing you on a chair. You didn't miss the way he glanced disapprovingly at your boots being on the table top, much less your whole self. But, surprisingly, he remained silent.

You too remained silent, once more giving him the option to fill the silence with conversation or to simply exist in comfortable silence together. Around the five minute mark, you assumed the latter would be how you spent your night, until his low tone caught you off guard.

"So, why are you still in here? Said it yourself; party ended an hour ago."

"Oh, I just enjoy having quiet time to myself to unwind. Serving out drinks all evening to a hoard of eager soldiers tends to drain your social energy." You hummed, sloshing the wine left in your bottle before taking another sip.

Levi merely grunted in acknowledgment, taking a sip of his own beverage. The scent of black tea rising from the steam in his mug wafted over to you, making you smile at the pleasant aroma. Looking up to ponder what it was he was thinking in his silence, you were slightly startled to meet his gaze already on you.

Quickly, he darted his eyes away and took another sip from his tea cup, briefly obscuring his face from your view due to his unique way of holding his cups.

A feeling of warmth flooded your chest and face, and you had a feeling it had nothing to do with your bottle of wine now being half empty.

"So...Not much one for alcohol, huh?" You suddenly asked, feeling a need to dispel the awkwardness that had seeped into the quiet.

Still glancing away, he shook his head.

"I don't dislike it, I just prefer tea.....I suppose I've never gotten used to the fact that I can afford to drink it whenever I like now, so it's always my preferred go-to."

A pang in your chest made you frown. By now, everyone knew that Levi had grown up in the Underground City for half his life, but very few knew any details. Yourself included. But you'd heard from Hange once that tea was a rarity down there, so Levi's tiny (ahem, huge) obsession with the drink was understandable.

But what surprised you most was that he was willingly telling you something like this.

"Makes sense to me," you smiled, keeping your response light hearted instead of pitiful. You knew he'd scoff at any form of pity aimed his way. 

"Black tea is soothing, especially on nights like these."

This time he hummed in agreement. It seemed he was pleased with your response, and in turn he kept the conversation alive.

"And you?" he gestured to the bottle in your hand.

"I suppose I drink more than I should, but how else would I have been able to perfect the art of mixing drinks if I hadn't sampled my work?"

Your chuckle brought out a slight raise in the corner of his mouth, a ghost of a half smile.

For awhile, the two of you conversed back and forth over your drinks. The topic of conversation varied every few minuets, but neither of you seemed to mind.

In fact, after a moment, he finally fully relaxed in his chair and continued to meet your gaze.

Occasionally, he would even go as far to lean forward when the things you said interested him.

Once Levi's tea ran out, you offered him a taste of your wine, telling him he might actually like this particular brew after he revealed he wasn't much of a "wine person."

"I don't do sweet shit," he mumbled as he took a glance at the bottle uncertainly.

"This wine's only semi-sweet. Kinda in between dry wine and desert wine, but not overwhelmingly so," you explained quickly.

With one last glance at the dark bottle, he gave in and gently took it from your smaller hand. For a moment, he hesitated as he glanced at the rim, then back up at you almost nervously.

"O-oh, here, I can get you a glass. Or better yet open a new bottle for you-" you started to say, realizing his delay over drinking after someone.

"No need," he cut you off. "Alcohol kills germs."

With that, he raised the bottle and took a sip from your bottle, making your eyes widen slightly in surprise at his sudden tolerance in sharing a drink.

He swallowed, eyeing the bottle for a moment before meeting your gaze with a slight pink hue covering his cheeks, matching your own.

"Doesn't taste like shit."

Though his expressions of his emotions and overall thoughts were rough around the edges, you could tell he liked the wine.

But still, his comment cracked you up, and you were delighted to see a slightly more prominent lift in his lips at your amused chuckling.

Handing the bottle back to you, he silently agreed to pass the bottle back and forth as the night drug on, sharing in the semi-sweet wine and trading tales.

Some time during the early hours of the morning, it came to both of your attentions just how long you'd been chatting in the mess hall. Albeit awkwardly, you both stood and cleared the table of anything you'd left there, placing them where they should go.

You were both silent as you walked towards the doors of the mess hall, leading to the barracks behind the winding halls. But before you could part ways to your respective rooms, Levi stopped in the hall.

Halting a few steps away, you cocked a brow at his back. It took him a moment, but he turned to face you. His expression was unreadable, but if you had to guess at it, you'd supposed he looked out of his element at the moment.

"We....We should do this again, s-some time," he blurted out softly, facing you but once again averting his gaze.

Feeling a warmth wash over your face, you found yourself admiring your boots as you tried to form together a coherent sentence.

"I'd like that."

And you absolutely meant it, much to his relief when he chanced a glance at your downcast face. Seeing the shy smile donning your pink lips, he felt his heartbeat speed up.

Turning back around so that you couldn't see the expression of awe on his face, he cleared his throat awkwardly and tugged at his cravat.

"Goodnight, y/n."

Turning down a separate hall, you couldn't stop your smile from growing.

"Goodnight, Levi."

[1980ssunflower]

min and ryan make my heart melt 🥺🥰💖💙

[tobiosmilktea]

hiii can i request tsumu, kenma, oikawa, and kuroo where they’re in a secret relationship and the reader feels like they’re hiding her bc they’re ashamed of her ? like a hurt too comfort type of thing? thank u bb 🥺🥺

- 🍒

secret relationships w/ atsumu, kenma, oikawa, and kuroo

a/n: i have so many angst requests,, yall must like getting hurt 💀 also this wasn’t as angsty as i thought it was gonna be since im going through writers block yet again and i can not handle pain rn (also not proofread, so read with caution lmao)

— m. atsumu

it honestly surprised you at first, the way someone like miya atsumu returning your feelings the moment you told him you liked him near the start of the school year

there wasn’t that instant gratification though, knowing that one of inarizaki’s golden boys still felt out of your reach

despite being in a relationship with you, it wasn’t like anyone knew of it besides osamu and your closest friend

of course you didn’t really mind as you’ve always thought couples who were obnoxious with their relationships 24/7 and constantly making out in the hallways wasn’t your cup of tea either, so you get why atsumu wanted to keep it a secret

besides, with a guy so popular like him, you really just thought he was sparing you from the harassment (not that it would be bad if all the girls crushing on him new)

you get that he was just trying to protect you, and yet the more you thought of it, the more than it was simply just an assumption and you really didn’t know why your relationship was kept secret

it wasn’t like either of you would get backlash in any way, so what was the problem?

you weren’t exactly the type to be the most insecure either

sure, you were aware of the flaws you had, but it wasn’t something you were ashamed of as you learned to get used to it

yet it’s hard to fully love yourself when your boyfriend isn’t even comfortable with the fact that no one knows you two are even together

you hated jumping to conclusions, but you couldn’t help but to think the worst case scenario—was he ashamed of being with you?

you honestly thought the idea was impossible

if he was seriously ashamed of the thought of being with you in public, why would he even waste all those months dating? were all those dates and nights sneaking out to see each other for nothing?

it was like this for weeks with the way your own thoughts sabotaged you as you stood next to him during lunch

in moments like this in school, surrounded by your classmates and acquaintances, you and atsumu were only friends who sat next to each other occasionally and shared conversations that only friends would have

only friends

god, you hated the way that atsumu wouldn’t even look at you the way that he would when you two are alone

was he that embarrassed to be with you?

you didn’t want six months of all your hard work and effort of making time to be with him for nothing,, you had to do something about it

everyday, you, atsumu, and osamu would walk to school together with osamu typically walking ahead of you and your boyfriend

most couples would hold hands as they walked together, but atsumu had made it explicitly clear as the closer they get to school the farther they had to be from each other to avoid suspicions

thinking of it now, it sounded wrong to begin with and you had no idea why you even agreed to do such a thing

the school was close, maybe a block away and instead of slowing down your pace to create a gap between you and atsumu, you stubbornly stayed next to him to which he flickered you a weird look

he shrugged it off but the moment you two passed the gates and into campus, you slipped your hand into his

without missing a single beat atsumu immediately pulled his hand away from you with a look on his face that held all the questions running through his head at that very moment

“what are you doing?” he asks, almost in a harsh whisper

a frown melted upon your expression at how quickly he pulled away, almost as if he was disgusted by you. “i um, didn’t know you hated the thought of people seeing us together so badly.”

you didn’t know where all your strength went as it disappeared the moment you needed it the most

yet as you were about to walk away, atsumu tugs at your wrist lightly and pulls you into his embrace—his warmth and comforting scent of chamomile from  saved you from the embarrassment that was tainting your cheeks red

“no, no it’s not that,” he mutters, lips tickling your forehead. “i just wanted to keep you to myself a bit longer.”

— k. kenma

you honestly weren’t surprised at the fact that kenma wanted this relationship to be kept secret

he never seemed like the type to be in a relationship let alone get the attention of being in one in the first place, yet it irked you to the core

it was fine at first; acting like you two were just friends while at school or at volleyball practice and it wasn’t at all weird or out of the ordinary

maybe that’s why you were okay with it in the first few months of your relationship with kenma as you were always near him the majority of the time

yet you constantly had to fight the urge to not be so touchy with him from wanting to hold his hand to leaning your head onto his shoulder—you often had to stop yourself especially in front of your friends and his teammates

you were good at keep secrets, but it was absolute hell not being able to even tell kuroo considering you always hung out with him too (it was a given obviously but you digress)

kuroo is a bit curious in his closest friend’s antics so his constant teases of how you and kenma would be such a cute couple annoyed you to your core

he laughs as if you and kenma being together would be absolutely impossible and wouldn’t happen in a million years, and yet here you two were, pretending to laugh at his jokes and agreeing and it would be, in fact, impossible

as mentioned before, you’re more annoyed at keeping your relationship secret rather than angry

your actions were more abrupt and cold rather than your usual warm self and kenma definitely noticed

despite his usual calm and collected expression that he has on a daily basis, it covered up his own emotions of blatant insecurity and worry that you were losing your feelings and losing them quick

the last thing kenma wanted was for everything that happened between the two of you to be wasted over his own fear of being judged for being with you

you were his first in everything and he certainly wasn’t going to let you become his first heartbreak either

he worried about this for a few days, overthinking while he played video games with kuroo, lev, and yaku that they noticed how quiet he was being over the call

it was then did he impulsively asked kuroo to go on a separate voice channel with him just so he could blurt out, “i’m dating (y/n).”

and to his surprise, all his best friend said was: “yeah, i know. (y/n) told me.”

“what? why?” kenma asked with confusion evident on his visage

“she had no one else to go to vent.” kuroo answers, his amused laugh echoing through kenma’s headphones. “don’t worry, i won’t tell anyone.”

“thanks, but... i think (y/n)’s angry at me and i don’t know what to do.”

“she told me that she was getting tired of keeping your relationship a secret. she asked me if you felt embarrassed or even ashamed of being with her.” he explained.

confusion and a bit of worry washed over kenma as his words suddenly faltered, “i could never be ashamed of being with her,”

“then i guess, you should tell her that.”

“what should i do?”

his best friend lets on a smirk (not that kenma could even see it, anyway), “i’m so glad you asked.”

you weren’t exactly sure what you expecting to be honest

you knew there was something going on between kenma and kuroo as if they were planning something intricate, but you weren’t bothered to even ask

perhaps you were still in that petty mindset of giving kenma the cold shoulder after having to keep your relationship on hold all the time that stopped your curiosity

sure, it was a bit childish, but you were planning on talking about it with kenma the moment he came back into the classroom after going off somewhere with kuroo

which by the way, where the hell were they? lunch was ending soon and you needed to talk to you boyfriend asap

the timing was almost perfect the way the thought of him entered your mind was at the same time as his familiar blonde hair walked back into the classroom with a melon bun and a canned drink in his hand from the vending machine—your favorites

“i noticed you didn’t eat lunch, so i bought you this.” he says, placing them down onto your desk.

“is this supposed to be your way of apologizing to me or something?” you mused at him.

there was a faint smile on kenma’s face when you did. this was your usual self, one that constantly smiled at him rather than deadpanned and cold. “no,” he simple put it. taking in a breath of confidence before pressing his lips on the corner of yours. “but i was hoping that would.”

with wide eyes, your eyes scanned the room to see if anyone noticed, afraid at the fact that you broke the first rule. despite being a blushing mess from a minuscule peck on your cheek, there was an inkling of confusion still evident within you, “why did you do that?”

“kuroo told me everything.”

“i knew that guy couldn’t keep a secret,” you mutter as you tried to ignore that infamous feeling of butterflies in the pit of your stomach. “i don’t think people saw, so they won’t think we’re together—”

“what if i wanted people to know we’re together?” ded asf

— o. tooru

you honestly should’ve known oikawa was going to keep this relationship between the two of you a secret since the moment he confessed his feelings to you

what else could you have expected from aoba johsai’s most popular boy wonder with an actual fanclub full of naive girls

perhaps you’ve become naive yourself considering you dealt with months of having your relationship constantly being swept under the rug, psyching yourself out that he was doing this for your sake

and you understood that

it was the reason why you even agreed to keep your relationship on the downlow considering how annoyingly notorious oikawa’s fangirls were, they wouldn’t have let you see the light of day if they were to find out

if you were in fact being honest, there was a period in time near the beginning of the relationship how cautious you were being—barely talking to oikawa unless it had to do with school, avoiding his gazes during class, and even swallowing your pride by just watching his fangirls flirt with him and there was nothing you could do about it

you honestly had to give yourself a pat on the bat for dealing with six months of this treatment

you figured it wouldn’t be that bad, especially after schools where you and oikawa could finally have alone time to yourselves, but even those times alone with him there was a lingering feeling of tension and unease

the thought of someone from school even finding out of you two being  together even affected your relationship outside of school hours

you were tired of waiting outside the school gates for hours just for him to come out of volleyball practice and apologize that he couldn’t walk you home yet again

you figured that oikawa had grown far to used to seeing you waiting for him all the time that it was practically common sense that he was going to reject you again and again

you had to stop waiting for him at some point, but there was an inkling inside that for once, just for once, he would look at you with a smile so sweet that he would finally go with you

but not once has it happened

was he really that afraid of people finding out of his relationship with you that he’s willing to disregard all your hard work to even make this thing (whatever is was) to even happen?

if you were truly being honest with yourself, the only reason why this relationship is still up and active for this long is all because of you

you’re the one always asking him when he’s available during the weekends so you two could finally see each other, you’re the one always texting him first, you’re the one always being the most understanding of the situation

and yet it’s almost like oikawa isn’t even batting an eye at how difficult it has been for you

you absolutely hated jumping to conclusions and thinking of the worst case scenario and yet here you were, suddenly drowning at the possibility that the only reason why oikawa wanted a secret relationship was because he was ashamed to be with you

it was a thought that kept you up at night, tainting your optimistic thoughts of hope that this relationship would actually work out to decimate into thin air

the more is simmered in your head, the worse it became—what if his feelings that he confessed to you was a lie?

you hated overthinking

but if you really thought about it, even before you and oikawa dated, neither of you two were close. just two acquaintances in the same class that occasionally shared answers with each other just by the convenience of sitting nearby

you even went as far as believing that him dating you was just a joke, that this whole goddamn relationship was just some mindless prank just because he was bored

six months of wasted time. you were over it

the next day at school, you didn’t even look at him, you didn’t smile or even acknowledge the way he said good morning to you (as a friend does)

you figured he’s probably too dense to even notice, but he did. the usual glow you had each morning when you said good morning back to him was gone

he already missed the way your gazes would meet and how he would constantly find himself lost in your irises, but now you couldn’t even look at him in the eye

the only person who’s aware that you and oikawa were dating was iwaizumi. it was a given as who else would oikawa ramble on and on and on about how pretty you looked or how smart you are if it wasn’t his best friend?

if anything, iwa was the only guy oikawa could complain about how you were ignoring him

“maybe she’s bored of you for once,” iwaizumi cuts straight to the point. there was really no point in beating around the bush

offense was written all over oikawa’s face, utterly surprised, “how could she?”

“you can’t keep your relationship with her a secret forever, you know.” his best friend goes on to explain, “with the way things are going with you two acting like you’re nothing but acquaintances, (y/n)’s bound to lose her feelings.”

“but i don’t want her to lose feelings for me! and it’s not like i can suddenly tell all my fangirls that i’m dating someone, they’ll freak!” whines oikawa.

“why do you care about your fangirls’ feelings more than your own girlfriend? seems to me, it doesn’t even look like you care about (y/n) at all the way she’s constantly waiting for you after practice only to be rejected.”

it’s obvious iwaizumi wasn’t here to sugarcoat

“i just don’t want them to harass (y/n)...” oikawa reasons, trying to ignore the way his heart drop at iwa’s words like a gripping poison

“then that’s your job to tell those girls to back off.” he suggests, “they literally treat you like a god, surely they’ll listen if you tell them to leave her alone.”

the following day, you came across oikawa waiting outside your door, dressed in his uniform with his gaze lingering about to occupying his attention

“what are you doing here?” you ask him as you close your front door behind you. he’s probably here to break up with you, you thought to yourself

you had to force yourself to ignore the way your heart dropped at your own self-destructive thoughts

taking a deep breath as you approached him, you readied yourself for harsh news to come your way

but it never did

instead, you were greeted by oikawa’s infamous smile that made everyone at school to fall in love with this guy (including you)

he takes your hand into his, intertwining his calloused fingers that dwarfed yours in size. you don’t remember the last time you held oikawa’s hand, but it felt so familiar and warm

it was like home

you couldn’t help but feeling the ends of your lips tugging into a smile as you looked up at him, “what if someone at school sees us?”

you were expecting some kind of excuse, but all he did was shrug. “who cares?”

— k. tetsurou

when you and kuroo started going out, you certainly wasn’t expecting it to be like this

if anything, ‘going out’ would be a stretch if you count late night dates and sneaking out at midnight just to see each other as dating

it certainly wasn’t your usual definition of dating either as you yearned greatly to be able to do normal couple things with your boyfriend—like actually going out on dates during the day, eating lunch together, hell, even just holding hands!

it almost seemed laughable how normal things done in relationships were something you never even experienced with kuroo even after a few months of being together all due to him wanting to keep the relationship a secret

and if you were truly being honest with yourself, you never really understood why he wanted to keep it on the downlow in the first place

you never really questioned it as you just that much of an understanding person, but at a certain point it just wasn’t adding up

it wasn’t like he had girls going after him 24/7 despite being at the top of his class, popular, and nekoma’s volleyball captain

it wasn’t like oikawa who had an actual problem with hoards of girls surrounding him and tracking his ever move, so what was the big deal of letting your relationship public?

it was then did it hit you

the suddenly downpour of insecurity within your own loving boyfriend that you trust so much was getting the best of you

“what if he’s embarrassed to even be with me?” you contemplated in a harsh whisper to your best friend

it was in the middle of lunch and you two were sitting alone on a bench in the school’s courtyard chatting while eating—well, more like overthinking in your case while you friend just sat there and nodded

“if he actually felt that way, then he would’ve broken up with you already.” your friend stated in between bites, “besides, if i didn’t have feelings for someone, i wouldn’t put in the effort to sneak out just to see them.”

you hummed, not sure what to say as she did have a point

but could you really blame yourself for wanting an actual relationship rather than one that’s forced to go unnoticed?

“i should talk to kuroo about it...” you sigh out.

“talk to me about what?” an oh-so-familiar voice calls out to you and your friend

kuroo’s figure approaches the two of you as he give you a curt smile with hidden meanings that you weren’t able to even notice. you were too caught up in your own meddling thoughts that you also didn’t notice the way kuroo frowned slightly at the way you avoided eye contact with him

“nothing,” was all you said before standing up and throwing your trash away. “lunch is almost over so we should all get to class.” was all you said before briskly walking away

kuroo’s brows furrow in confusion as he looks over to your friend, “what’s up with (y/n)?”

“she thinks you’re too embarrassed to be with her, that’s why you hide your relationship.” she cuts straight to the point (homegirl just wants to eat her lunch in peace ffs)

“what?” your boyfriend huffs out in shock, almost offended at the fact that you out of all people would believe such a thing. “why does she think that?”

your friends shrugs, “not sure. that’s something you should be asking her, but if it were me, i would want a normal relationship as well.”

kuroo doesn’t say another word before walking away. and yet his walk quickened so he could catch up to you before you could get to class, footsteps echoing through the hallway in patters as he sees your familiar figure near your classroom 

“(y/n)!” he calls out to you as you slide the classroom’s door open. it was sure to catch the attention of the rest of the students already in the classroom as you turn towards him, brows furrowed in the same confusion

as he neared you, there was almost no sign in him stopping, sending your heart beating in a frenzy as you parted your lips to tell him to slow down

but before a single syllable could even fall from your lips, your boyfriend’s own pair press against yours harshly. it was sweet like caramel and you swore everything moved in a slow motion when you suddenly realized where you two were

he stole your breath away when he pulled apart from you, eyes immediately scanning the room of his own classmates staring at him in awe

“since when were you two dating?” matsukawa asked rather loudly, it seemed that others were interested in knowing as well.

panic suddenly coursed through you as you gave kuroo a look, gravely ignoring the way yoru heart was thumping against your chest and the dozens of unanswered questions running through your head

“w-we’re not actually dati—”

“we’ve been together for a few months actually.” kuroo cuts you off, sending you a wink before entering the classroom

[xxxsoukokuxxx]

BSD Poe x short(4”11) female reader

Soulmate au

Fluff oneshot

Reader has the ability to turn into a black cat.

Black Cat in the Rue Morgue

Soulmate AU

Character: Poe x short fem!reader

Warnings: None

Notes: Thanks for requesting and for your patience. I haven't written a soulmate AU before so I actually did some research on it and hopefully it pays off. I hope that this is what you wanted and have a pleasant day/night!

The sun was now setting and dipped itself into Yokohama's waters letting it's light drip onto the water's surface. Book in hand, raccoon on his shoulders with a pen in the other hand Poe is lost in his thoughts. The outside world doesn't exist. There is nothing but the various ideas for his novel running through his head and softness of fur against the back of his neck and head.

He jots down a few things that he could elaborate on later. The room is dyed in the color of honey and wine as the fading warmth of the sunset creates a sense of comfort. The side of his face illuminated by the gentle golden color.

Karl suddenly jumps off his shoulders and Poe's startled. His eyes wide, 'How long has it been?' he takes in his surroundings and realizes it's already sunset and soon night will fall upon Yokohama.

Poe gets up, closes his book and stretches with a sickening cracking sound erupting from his back, indeed how long has it been? He looks down to where Karl is sitting on the floor and he reaches to ruffle the fur on his head before leaving the room.

He makes a cup of tea for himself once he's in the kitchen and stares out the window. The sleeve of his shirt slides up a bit as Poe tilts his cup to take a sip, a small scarlet mark of a feline like figure on the underside of his wrist becomes visible. It's always been there but he brushed it off, that was until he came across various articles, theories and fiction books about "soulmates". And he can't help but wonder 'Is there really someone out there who'd love me? Do I have a soulmate? Or is it just a meaningless mark?'

Sometimes he'd think it's preposterous while other times he'd genuinely love that idea. But he always blushes straight after, to imagine spending such intimate moments with someone, to hold their hand, to hold them, to share a meaningful smile...it's really a beautiful thought.

Poe sets his cup down on the counter before adjusting his coat and making his way to the front door of the spacious house and opens it. He peeks through the gap between the door frame and from where he's opened making sure there are no people out at the moment and he sighs a breath of relief. Stepping out into the quiet evening he takes a walk along a specific quiet and peaceful street he likes. Evening and night are the only times he'll ever make it outside the comfort of his home without having an anxiety attack.

As he walks down the pavement a rustling noise can be heard in an alleyway which he is just about to pass. He freezes and the hair on the back of his neck stands up. From the corner of his eye he sees a dark shadow on the floor approaching which makes him panic, "P-Please don't attack me or anything, I really don't have any valuables that you'd wa-" he cut off his sentence as he felt something rub against the bottom of his leg.

Immediately he drops to his knees and buries his face in his hands, "Okay, okay I'll surrender!" he yelps. "..." Nothing. He dares to turn his head towards his left and relief washes over him, a panic stricken face now softens, "Oh, silly me. Always panicking for no good reason." He now looks at a black cat which has it's head tilted to the side out of confusion.

It was the norm for you to roam around the city at night either because you couldn't sleep or you just liked the atmosphere. If someone happened to be walking by and you felt a curious sense of playfulness then you'd just go up and show them some cat-like affection. However, out of all the times you had done so this had never happened. "How cute." he muttered, snapping you out of your thoughts. He reached out to pet the spot atop your head.

'No wonder why cats like this.' was your thought. "I don't see any collar or anything signifying you belong to someone." he said aloud placing his forefinger on his chin. "I can't just leave you here alone, hmm and Karl would have a playmate if I took you back with me...oh but do raccoons and cats get along? They could possibly..." as he rambled on you wondered if this was a good time as any to scram or reveal that you're actually a human who has the ability to turn into a cat, specifically a black one.

You slowly backed away and he noticed. "Oh no don't be scared!" he reaches his hands out to you. Ah, he seemed like such a nice person, a gentle person. You couldn't just leave like that, now could you? A ribbon of grey spun around you with various kanji on it. A bright light flashed and Poe freezes with his hands which wanted to reach out to you. His eyes widen once he sees the sight in front of him and questions everything he knows. His mouth agape.

"Hi." you said shyly whilst dusting your attire. "...you..." he still kneeled on the ground, frozen. You felt nervous but thought that after what he just witnessed it'd be necessary to tell him about yourself. "Uhm, okay I know you think this is weird but there's this thing called abilities and my ability is to turn into a black cat..." you sped through your words while fiddling with your thumbs.

Now he understands. Of course he knows what abilities are. "Oh. Ah, don't worry I know what abilities are. I have one myself." he says standing up, now realizing just how short you are. You look up, "Wait, you do as well?" a certain spark of curiosity in your eyes, I guess having a cat ability allows you to have the same characteristics of a cat. His cheeks have a faint red color on them, you look cute when you're curious.

"Y-Yes, it's called Black Cat in the Rue Morgue." "What a coincidence." you giggle. He rubs the back of his neck and sighs contently, "Yes it is. It allows me to transport my readers into my books." "Oh, you're a writer!?" another spark of curiosity in your eyes. He internally smiled at your apparent excitement, "Yes I am. Ah! Excuse my rudeness, my name is Edgar Allan Poe but you can just call me Poe if you'd like."

A smile adorned your face and you introduced yourself too. "I'm sorry about startling you earlier, I promise you I'm no cat burglar." He blinks and after a moment you both laugh at the little pun made and the situation itself. "I don't think such an innocent looking being could ever do such a thing." he blushes as he says those words and you do too.

He takes a look at his surroundings and back at you. "W-Would you...like to uh join me for a stroll? I was planning on going t-to this cafe that's opened til late?" You look up and smile while silently thinking his stuttering is rather cute. "Sure." The walk there was peaceful and enjoyable, every three seconds he would glance at you and a lingering question would be on his mind but he brushes it off. He tries to get to know you despite his nervousness and he succeeds. Even if it's just the little things such as your favorite color, where you live, if you have any pets.

You both finally reached the cafe and took a seat, he was gentleman about pulling your seat out for you and such. The only part he dreaded was ordering, that anxiousness that would bubble up in his chest made his mouth go dry and he's at a loss for words. The barista comes about and asks if you'd both like to order anything, a simple coffee/latte was fine for you. Poe looked pale and tugged on the front of his shirt. You worried if he was okay but he eventually ordered something to drink off the menu and a sigh of relief escaped him once he was done talking.

"You okay?" His eyes widens as he finally looks up at you again, "Yes. Yeah I'm fine, no need to worry. I just..." he looks down again while rubbing the back of his neck, his hair falling over his eyes. "I'm just really shy if you could say that. Or perhaps i just have social anxiety." he let out a nervous chuckle while lifting his head to smile at you. A giggle escapes you, "I think it's cute." He's taken aback but only because he's not used to being complimented and his face turns red.

The orders are served and the barista bows and leaves again. A light-hearted conversation flitters between you two and Karl comes up somewhere in the conversation, Poe saying that he'd love to let you see him. You tilt your cup to take a sip of your drink and the sleeve of your shirt rides up a bit, revealing a portion of your wrist. Poe is taking a sip too and his eyes flutter over your figure.

His eyes widen once he catches sight of the scarlet mark on your wrist and he chokes. "A-Are you okay?" you put your cup down and panic slightly. "Y-Yes I'm fine." he replies adjusting himself.

"Can I ask you something?" curiosity now lacing his voice. "Sure, go ahead."

"Have you always had that red feline-like mark on your wrist?" You look at the mark and reply that it's always been there, indeed. "I think it's because of my ability but I'm not really sure. Perhaps it's a birthmark." He smiles. "Perhaps it is." Is this what he thinks it is? No...he couldn't possibly just jump to conclusions, but certainly what a coincidence it was. The exact same mark on both your wrists and a meeting like this? A beautiful coincidence it was.

"Why do you ask?" you tilt your head to the side much as you did when you were a cat. And if he didn't think you were any cuter now he'd be damned. "Oh no, just asking." he gives a closed eyes smile.

'Soulmates. How fascinating.' he thinks while smiling at you as you take another sip of your coffee/latte. His eyes wander again to the scarlet mark on your wrist.

And the plot thickens.

[imjeralee]

i request that you drink plenty of water and take care of yourself !!! ·o·b after thats done, came i pretty please get headcanons with link, Kaeya and maybe Childe about an s/o who draws them one day as a confession and gives it to them? :) (maybe they already knew and saw them drawing them before ? who knows) thank you in advance!!

Thank you anon! *looks at cup of green tea beside laptop* yep I think i’m doing well in keeping myself hydrated recently hehe but thank you :3

Anyway please see below for the ask! (it’s pretty long)

Link

He was grooming one of the ponies when he saw you standing behind a tent peeking at him curiously and when he turned round properly, you quickly scampered away and he got worried so he followed you to the room you share to see you sitting on the bed with a wine red book propped up in your lap but upon his return, you immediately hid it behind your back, smiling widely at him

He wonders what it was but decides not to pry, but he later discovers it was actually a sketchbook when he’s packing up for tomorrow and you’re taking a bath and the sketchbook drops out of your pack and onto the floor, opening at a random page

He picks it up with the intention to return it to your bag but then he sees the various drawings of him in his Ancient Armour set, Hylian and Snowquill set. They’re fully coloured and it looks like you’ve spent hours on them. He didn’t know you were this artistic and wondered why you hid this from him

The date you wrote on the bottom of the page indicates that you drew all this in one day! He’s super impressed

Then he sees the note you wrote below: “To my Dearest Link, I hope you like my drawings of you. All I can think about is how lucky I am to be able to be by your side, you’ve changed my life for the better and-”

Obv half complete so now he knows why you didn’t want to show him and he respects your privacy, so he puts the sketchbook away 

Outside, he sees Beedle and goes over to see what’s new for sale. Beedle has some cool art stuff (well, it’s more like stuff that can be used for dye but can also be used as paint) so he buys some for you as a present which he will give to you later.

Next day, you get chased by a group of Bokogoblins and the book and all your drawing supplies drops out from your bag. 

You didn’t see it drop and returned to the stable, ransacking your bag like crazy only to find your stuff missing

When you realise everything must have dropped out when you got chased, you quickly leave the stable to go back to the area but it’s thunder and lightning so Link chases after you

“Link, what are you doing? Go back, the weather’s awful.” You tell him but he shakes his head, unable to leave you alone in the rain like this

He helps you with your search and you end up locating your book and your supplies which are lying in the mud

The book has been trampled over and some of the pages have been torn out. The remaining pages are soaked with dirt and grime. Your pencils are snapped in half and your paints have been left to bleed all over the grass. All of your drawings are ruined, too. This is your worst nightmare.

Link observes you silently as tears begins to form in your eyes and you look at him, sniffling slightly.

You’re experiencing a mixture of devastation, frustration, anger and exasperation - from your carelessness to the stupid bokogoblins - and this incident infuriates you so much you throw the book to the ground angrily

Before you can march away, Link grabs your wrist 

Turning round, your gazes meet and he looks at you softly, intently.

‘What’s wrong?’ he is saying. 

“I was going to use those to confess to you!” you end up roaring out by accident. 

Link looks at you, a little stunned

“N-Never mind! Everything’s ruined!!!!” 

You’re about to storm off again when Link suddenly pulls you into his chest and gives you a hug

“!” you’re so shocked you can’t speak

He pulls away though, and leads you to the hollow of a nearby tree trunk where he gestures for you to sit down to shelter from the rain whilst he glances around, then sprints back over to where the ruined sketchbook is

He picks it up and holds it against his chest as if it’s dear to him. That’s not all, you watch as he begins to pick up the remaining pages that were torn out and once he’s collected them all he returns to you, clutching the pages tightly

"Link...” you murmur breathlessly as he he kneels down in front of you before he fishes around in his pockets to reveal a random bunch of paint pots in his hand.

You’re a little confused, but realise he has some spares which he must have bought from a merchant

it’s not much but...

he nudges it to you for your offering

You gawp at him for a few moments before you smile and chuckle and upon seeing you back to your usual self again, Link smiles and helps you back onto your own feet to stand

You thank him as you cradle the paints to yourself. You will need to restart from scratch from somehow it feels ok and something tells you you don’t need to hide it from him anymore

And you return to the stable, sheltering from the rain by sharing a large leaf together

Kaeya

Let’s begin with the fact that alongside you, there is a maid who also likes Kaeya as much as you do and she’s a bit of a sneaky bugger and you don’t show your drawings to anyone or watermark your artwork until they’re complete. You can probably see where this is going

One day, Kaeya finds out you are drawing a picture of him when he comes to your office to inform you that there’s a group of abyss mages outside Mondstadt so you hurry off to dispatch it and leaving Kaeya in your office

He accidentally comes across your drawing when he sees his face on a piece of parchment and his interest is piqued so he heads over to check it out

It’s a really good sketch!!! the amount of detail is insane! he had no idea you possessed such skill and who knew that you could create such beautiful art like this? He also finds some rough doodles and sketches you made earlier on some scrap paper you had also written on so he knows it’s you

Anyway, he puts everything back to join you in battle, but not before passing a maid along the way who is heading to your room to clean up

She comes across your drawing and she’s always fancied Kaeya herself, so for some reason other than just thinking she might be able to get away with it if she’s sneaky enough, she takes your drawing and sets off with it

Meanwhile, you return to your room after the battle, take off your coat and sit comfortably in your chair, reaching for your quill

“Ah, time to get back to my drawing of Kaeya.” you say with a smile, looking at your desk.

Wait a minute.

Something is wrong.

Very wrong.

It’s GONE!

After checking the rest of your office (and its clearly not there), you rush outside, wondering what happened to it when you see Kaeya and a maid talking in the corridor

they didn’t see you, so you quickly hide

“Please accept this, captain Kaeya!” gushes the maid, presenting your drawing to him. “I drew this picture of you to show how much you mean to me.”

What in the Samachurl shit is this? 

You’re about to storm over when Kaeya takes the drawing with a delicate brow raised, studies it intently and goes, “Oh? But I’m not so sure about that.”

“W-what do you mean, Captain Kaeya?”

“There’s no watermark on it,” he points out, “....one could’ve taken anyone’s artwork and claim that it’s theirs.”

“T-That’s - ! Ah, Captain Kaeya, h-how could you think so lowly of me?”

“I’m only just stating some simple facts, that’s all. You won’t hold that against me, will you? And I’m certainly not accusing you of anything...unless you...?”

“Oh....uh....I...I-I’m so sorry, Captain Kaeya, you’re right! I-I....please excuse me!”

The maid’s too embarrassed to proceed any further and leaves, running away.

Indeed, what in the samachurl hell had just happened? 

It goes quiet and you wonder if he’s still there; you step out of your hiding place only to go nose-to-chest with Kaeya.

He greets you with a smirk. “if it isn’t the little kitten, what are you doing here?”

“Um...uh, I....that....that drawing - “

What he said is right, there’s no watermark. How can you prove it’s yours? Would he believe you if you told him?

“Hm? Ah, yes, this drawing. I was going to keep it for myself.”

“No, wait! I mean...er...it’s not finished yet-”

“So you drew this then?”

“Yes, I did. it was me.” Though you wonder if he would believe you after everything you had just heard.

“Why?”

You lamely tell him you really like him and wanted to use it to confess to him.

He watches you for a few seconds, then hands the drawing to you. “I’ll wait until you’ve finished then.”

“Huh?” You gasp. He gave it back to you so easily despite what he said to the maid! “You...you’re not-”

“I knew it was you who drew it. I recognised your style.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“If I said so earlier, how else would I get you to confess to me?”

“KAEYA!!!”

(from then on he’ll want you to draw him more often)

Childe

Saw you sitting on the grassy hill near Qingxu Pool drawing earlier and because he is good at sneaking up on people, you didn’t hear him as he casually leaned over to peek over your shoulder and said, “Hey girlie, what’re you up to?”

You’re like “UWAGH!” and quickly close your sketchbook before turning round to see Childe.

“N-nothing!” you exclaim, before you get up and run down the hill, leaving a very amused Childe on his own

Later, when you’ve finished your masterpiece, you nervously approach Childe and tell him, “Um....this is for you, let me know what you think.” before rushing off in a blushing mess and Childe will open the sketchbook to see that you’ve drawn a very nice portrait of him in a battle stance, wielding his bow, surrounded by his hydro blades

Childe stands, staring at the picture

Then he sees the words ‘do you like me?’ scribbled at the very bottom

Childe staring hard now

He’s used to giving people gifts but now that he’s received something so thoughtful, he’s a bit overwhelmed. he can tell you put so much effort and hardwork into this. Ah, what is this feeling? 

He closes the book without further ado and scrubs a hand over his face

he actually wasn’t expecting you to do this. he knew you were drawing him but the result is really....something else

You don’t hear him from Childe in a few days and you are so nervous and worried.

Is this a rejection? Maybe he didn’t like your picture after all...

You’re walking in the streets and sigh and sit on the stone steps of Liyue, staring at the sea, upset and dejected

But then you hear a whistle from behind and throw a glance over your shoulder to see Childe standing on a higher step, a hand in his pocket

“Hey girlie, heads up,” he tosses a paper plane into the air which makes this little loop before you stand to catch it

Looking up, Childe has gone

You unfold the paper plane to its proper size to reveal that Childe’s drawn a little sketch of you in return and he has written: ‘Yes I do’.

[maddieinwonder]

A Lesson In Romance #3: The Cast

Spencer Reid x Fem!BAU!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.5k

Plot: Reader keeps getting caught in rom-com situations with Spencer Reid. This time, the team figures it out.

A/N: I'm guilty of writing too much Morgan and Garcia but I can't help it — they're so much fun! I think them plus Emily would have the most dramatic reactions to Spencer in a (potential) relationship, though I'm excited to write about the rest too.

(Also, the reference at the end is from Lord of the Rings, because I love Lord of the Rings.)

Masterlist | All chapters here!

-----------

If you've learned anything from rom-coms, it's that every romantic lead needed a supporting cast. Whether they were siblings, parents, or childhood best friends, the main character needed somebody who would drop everything to talk to them — preferably showing up at their doorstep with face masks, nail polish, and a bottle of wine.

In your life right now, you suppose those people would be your teammates from the BAU.

Of course, this hypothetical scenario didn't require your potential love interest to be from work, but let's say for the purposes of the discussion that they were. Then you hoped, at least, that they would have an IQ of 150 or higher and a propensity for wearing mismatched socks.

But you were getting ahead of yourself. You were simply imagining the hypothetical scenario where your life was a rom-com. Hypothetically, you would need a love interest, and hypothetically, you kind of already had one.

“Hey,” Spencer waved you over from across the coffee shop. It wasn’t difficult to spot him when the place was nearly vacant. Everything was slow and quiet this early in the morning, and you weren’t going to make an exception.

“Morning,” you greeted softly as you sat down, relaxing into the smell of freshly roasted coffee and baked goods.

“I already ordered yours.” He smiled, tucking his book away in his messenger bag. “They had bagels this morning. Yours is cream cheese, but mine is strawberry jelly.” He looked overly pleased with himself, and you couldn’t help but crack a sleepy smile.

You eyed the spread in front of you, before lifting your gaze to meet his. “So your theory that you can predict my taste in desserts seems to be getting better.”

"Yes!" He shout-whispered, silently raising his fists in victory. “I knew I was right.”

You giggled at his overexcitement over something as small as getting your dessert order right. Although, he did once spend ten whole minutes explaining to you why dessert for breakfast was an underrated concept, so you couldn't say this was beyond your expectations for Dr. Spencer Reid.

You propped your head up with your arms, a smile plastered over your face. “Have I ever told you that you’re a weirdo, doctor?” You teased.

“Why, yes. Yes you have.” He replied with a smile, gesturing at you to try the bagel. His own was almost-gone, so they must be good.

And it was. Your eyes fluttered shut as the heavenly combination of carbs and cream woke up your taste buds. It was made even better with a sip of the perfect cup of coffee.

"Perfect," you sighed happily, digging into your breakfast further as Spencer quietly caught you up on the latest news in classical art.

Two weeks ago, you wouldn't have guessed that you would talk to Spencer alone, much less spend your mornings together with him. But as it turned out, a lot could change in a few days.

After the initial awkwardness between you had passed, you found that the two of you shared a lot more interests than interdimensional doctors and space opera. You both loved coffee, obviously, but you also had a mutual love for desserts, classical literature, and history.

It didn't take long for these interests to seep into the weekend, resulting in a suspiciously date-like afternoon with Spencer at his favourite museum. But you tried not to think too much into it. After all, the day had ended with a "see you at work", and not a "would you like to come in?"

Still, your dance between friendship and something more continued to grow wilder as days passed, until it reached a point where it inhabited your every waking thought. The only time it didn't, ironically, was when you were spending time with the person in question and every stray thought seemed to fall away.

Your mornings with him brought a necessary reprieve to the dark realities of this job, and some days you almost had to drag yourself out of your seat, knowing that you were straying from the calm of his company straight into the lion's mouth. But duty always called.

Your sudden hesitance to be apart from the resident genius hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of your team either; ever since the two of you walked into office one morning with matching coffee cups and smiles on your faces.

At first you enjoyed Spencer's company too much to care, but you knew that it was going to bite you back one day. And today seemed to be that day.

You could tell, because the lift doors to the BAU opened to one very determined Penelope Garcia with her arms folded across her chest. "Spit it out, you two," she said sharply without any greeting.

You and Spencer looked at each other, confused, before looking back at Penelope. "Spit out what, Pen?" You asked, a frown starting to form between your eyes.

"You know what I mean!" She squeaked, dropping her stern facade for a brief moment. "Are the two of you dating? The entire team has been dying to know, and I mean, d-y-i-n-g because there's a huge pot of money with my name on it if you are."

"Ah— No— I mean, you think—" Spencer stammered, his face instantly turning beet red in embarrassment, while your face began to grow red for another reason entirely.

"I think what he means is 'no', and what I mean to say is— what do you mean the entire team?" You half-yelled the question, while Penelope raised her hands defensively.

"What I mean, sugar, is that the two of you went from avoiding each other completely, to coming into work together everyday — and I know you spent last weekend together too, because you couldn't stop talking about it the next day at work and everybody noticed." She stated, pushing up her glasses.

"Not to mention, Dr. Reid here started wearing brighter colours subconsciously." She continued with her observations. "I know this, because in the almost four years I've worked with this man, I've never seen him wear anything brighter than violet. Or white. Or beige. But those don't count." She shook her head, getting back to her point.

"You get what I mean— and you," she pointed her pen in your direction, causing you to jump slightly. "You finally stopped doubting yourself as a part of this team. I knew this when you started talking more often during briefings — which I have nothing against, B-T-W, I totally support any effort in self-care and personal growth — but you also stopped shifting in your seat which you used to do when you felt nervous."

Penelope took a deep breath, preparing for the climax. "So all I can assume, is either you've been attending one of the 52 self-help classes that happen every weekend in Virginia, or somebody has been helping you find some serious zen."

"And my money's on the latter because every time you think nobody's watching, you're making eyes at Reid. But you're wrong. Garcia is always watching." She concluded triumphantly, raising one finger to point at herself.

"You might make a good profiler yet, doll." Derek remarked, walking up to the group with a smirk firmly affixed to his face.

"Expert at all things romance, and Cupid of the Behavioural Analysis Unit, Penelope Garcia at your service." She smiled, graciously curtseying to your other teammate.

"I know you're smart like that, babygirl," he grinned, draping his arm around her shoulder, "but you also don't know pretty boy as well as I do, because they aren't in a relationship."

He turned to you questioningly. "Are you?"

"No." You replied, glancing hesitantly at Spencer for his response, but his face simply looked blank with shock.

"See? Now it's time to collect my payout." Derek grinned at the tech analyst, making the motion of raining dollar bills.

Penelope tailed behind him grumpily as he walked into the BAU office, surely to share the "good news" with everybody else.

You hesitated to follow, imagining what teasing and looks would follow regardless of the outcome. Then you felt a tap on your shoulder. Turning around, Spencer gestured back at the empty lift with his head and you smiled, realising what he meant.

"That is the best hypothesis you've had all morning," you said. The two of you shared a laugh as you got back into the lift.

Even behind glass doors, you could hear a muffled "What?!" that you guessed came from Emily. "There's absolutely no way those two aren't together already. Have you seen them?"

There was a brief pause, then a loud groan.

"I know, that's what I told him!" Penelope's high-pitched voice was clear. "You know I'm going to be right about them eventually—"

The lift doors finally closed, blocking out the rest of their conversation. You looked up at Spencer, your gaze meeting his clear hazel eyes. He looked at his watch briefly before saying the next words.

"We've got time. Are you up for second breakfast?" He asked, referencing a movie from a conversation two weeks ago. He remembered. Of course he remembered.

You cleared your throat before replying the next line. "What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper?"

He laughed, and you felt a familiar peace return to you.

Whatever your teammates were yelling about, the two of you could deal with it later. Together.

-----------

Tag list:

@blue-space-porgs @nobutalsoyes @lady-loves-a-lot

[lazywonderlvnd]

*hesitantly steps in the box* Umm.. soo.. I was listening to Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift again and that song (is awesome btw if you haven't listened to it already) just gives me such MAJOR drarry vibes .. like -

" And I screamed, 'for whatever it's worth I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?' He looks up grinning like a devil. "

Like if that's not drarry I'd chomp my pillows. So .. *twiddling thumbs* could you pls write something with that line as a prompt?? Pretty please 🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️ maybe use the song as inspiration.. idk? Whatever you like. ALSO, don't forget I STILL LOVE YOU that ain't changing yet and you haven't seen the last of me! Imma tail after you for eternity and you better take that as the threat it is! *throws love at you* BYE!! ❤️❤️ *vaults outside the box*

my sweetest most loved angel!! thank u so much for this prompt based on a BOP i was obsessed w when the album first came out. it got sm longer than it was meant to be, so it can be found on ao3 as well!! i hope u like it ilysm ❤️❤️❤️❤️

warnings for minor drug use (weed) and implied suicide of a minor character (lucius, extremely vague reference but pls be aware!)

rating: e word count: ~5k

When Pansy asked him how it started, Draco discovered that he didn’t know what to tell her.

Technically, though, it had started at Ernie Macmillan’s party in the beginning of summer, with the cloying scent of Freesias and Freedom Roses (“Imported from the States,” Ernie told Draco pompously, when he asked) and all those string-lights dangling from the cedar pergola, perennial balls of fire inside their clear bubbles like tiny trapped suns. Cheap beer in plastic cups, Marlboro cigarettes, and some stupid Muggle game ... darts.

Technically.  

* * * 

“Get off me, Potter,” Draco says in a failed whisper. He’s laughing and drunk and fuzzy warm under a sprawling summer’s night sky that looks like black paint. Potter tastes like Guinness every time he kisses him, and his hands are surprisingly soft. In direct opposition to his own command he pulls Potter in by the face and glues their mouths back together ravenously. The alcohol makes him sloppy (he likes it, though — the sloppiness of it) and Potter’s skin is warm where Draco slides his hand under an ugly Muggle band T-shirt to touch. 

Around the corner, he can hear music coming from the patio where nearly every single one of their former classmates are gathered, drinking and laughing and getting along famously with a much-needed buffer of five years between them and their Hogwarts days.

Much-needed for himself and Potter as well. Apparently.

He sees him sometimes, at get-togethers like this or around the Ministry, once or twice at a dinner party thrown by a mutual friend. They’re always cordial. He hasn’t insulted Potter to his face in five years.

Except for tonight, when he couldn’t help himself loudly drawing attention to the similarities between Potter’s hair and one of the shrubs in the garden. But they’re kissing now round the side of the house and because of that he’s quite glad for his slip. And it’s their five-year reunion, so. What would it be without some bickering between the two of them?

Potter presses him into the bricks and snogs him breathless, only he keeps grinning and laughing and ruining everything just when Draco starts losing himself in it.

“Quit laughing,” he scolds him. “You’re the worst, Potter. No etiquette at all.”

“That’s rude,” Potter says. His breath wafts across Draco’s mouth. His eyes are excessively green behind their round frames, which have not changed since their school days. The scar is mostly hidden beneath his wild fringe, save for the very bottom where it slashes neatly through a dark eyebrow and touches his eyelid. “I can’t help it, I’m pissed good and proper.”

His hand moves to Draco’s hip and even through the thickness of the alcohol coating his brain like a muffler he feels that touch clear and ripe as daybreak.

“So  that’s  why you’ve decided to snog me rather than …” He waves a hand vaguely, in lieu of the proper witticism with which he might normally have trounced Potter. “You know. Beat me to a pulp.”

“I only did that one time,” Potter says, grinning. Grinning and moving his thumb in circles on Draco’s hip. “And it was because you were being a twat. And I didn’t beat you to a pulp. You’re so dramatic.”

“Semantics,” Draco says. “I had a bloody nose.”

“And you deserved it.”

“Now who’s being rude?”

Potter kisses him again.

Guinness and Freesias.

* * * 

“Macmillan’s party,” he told Pansy. “He kissed me.”

“So that’s where you disappeared to.” She looked smug. Her inch-long nails were sharpened to a point and painted a glossy black, and she drummed them against her cheek, the way a cat flicks its tail. “I’m surprised you kept it from me this whole time.”

“Well,” said Draco, lowering his gaze to his glass of wine and watching it flirt dangerously with the lip as he swirled it. His cheeks felt warm, but he wasn’t embarrassed. “We snuck around.”

Right, maybe a little embarrassed. Mostly conflicted.

“Oh?” For a single syllable the laughter underneath was remarkably transparent.

He looked up, eyebrows lifted. “Yes,” he said a little defensively. “For obvious reasons. At first it was just sex. A lot of it, so he usually came here. Apparently Granger and the Weasel are notorious for popping round his place unexpectedly.”

* * *

He feels opened up all over again every time Potter fucks into him, unhurried and so careful. His hand is hot on Draco’s thigh, both of them sticky with sweat and come. This has to be their third round at least, and Draco’s sluggish brain insists it might actually be four.

An open window lets in the late afternoon air, humid and drowsy and perfumed heavily with flowers (a la Macmillan, Draco planted Freesias and Freedom Roses outside his bedroom window and helped them along to full bloom with some careful magic). Potter’s hair is damp with sweat — from exertion and the relentless heat of July — and Draco slides his fingers into it, tangles them and pulls the way he’s learned Potter likes. If he’s honest, he’s harboured a very secret and  very  desperate yearning to touch Potter’s hair since he was quite young. He doesn’t know why.

Well, maybe he knows why.

Potter makes a quiet, whimpered noise that curls Draco’s toes. He speeds up his hips, closing in on his orgasm and putting his face in Draco’s neck even though it’s too fucking hot for it.

“Fuck,” Draco whines. He tries to lift his leg higher, wrap it around Potter’s waist to get that perfect angle, but they’re too slick with sweat and he lets out a frustrated noise when it falls back to the bed. “Potter,” he says helplessly, arching into each thrust and shaking with the effort. This third (fourth?) orgasm is building too slowly, sitting there hard and stubborn and heavy in his gut and refusing to be coaxed to completion. He’s dripping with the effort, muscles quivering. “Please — I need —”

But he seems to have figured it out for himself. He scoots forward, lifting Draco’s arse higher off the bed and bending him nearly in half. The angle helps him go deeper and he’s suddenly nudging Draco’s oversensitive prostate every time he fucks back in.

“Right there,” Draco gasps, tensing as this new angle lights a fire under his elusive orgasm. His cock is leaking but he doesn’t have the strength or energy to get a hand around it. Potter’s grunting with the effort of fucking him, sweat dripping down his temples and making his neck and torso gleam. “Right there, god, right there, please, I’m so close —”

Potter braces himself and redoubles his efforts, and it’s like he’s reached inside Draco and sunk his claws into that building storm in his belly because suddenly it’s ripped right out of him in a colossal wave of euphoria that approaches too much, cock spurting untouched between them  .  Potter keeps moving inside him while he rides it out, and at some point he feels the warm, wet explosion of Potter emptying in him, mumbling incoherent things that include Draco’s name.

They come down together too. Draco is clutching Potter’s arms and trying to catch his breath and Potter is trembling and clutching him back like an anchor in a veritable ocean of sensation. 

It’s like this every time. 

When Potter drops down onto the bed beside him Draco rolls over and kisses him, long and deep and satisfying, and Potter reciprocates with the kind of intensity that is completely unique to him as a person.

“That one was particularly good,” says Potter, and Draco laughs.

When he feels like moving, he knows that Potter will get up and go to Draco’s kitchen and make tea for both of them, and he won’t need to ask what Draco likes, because he remembered after the first time. They’ll drink it naked in bed as the sun sets on another endless summer day and transforms before their eyes into a humid and pungent summer night, in the midst of which they will fuck at least three more times, and Potter will keep smelling like sweat and bergamot and boy, and Draco will keep feeling starved for him.

And they won’t talk about it.

* * *

“And?” Pansy said.

“And what?”

“You said ‘at first,’” she pointed out, and arched a groomed eyebrow. “When did it turn into more than just sex?”

Draco tamped down on a smile, because that would have been more emotion than he cared to show at the moment. To Pansy or to himself.

He swirled his wine again and took a long sip, stalling. He wanted — needed, really — to talk this out with her, but he was becoming aware of an uncomfortable heaviness in his chest which was suggesting to him that he didn’t want to share everything. Not because he was embarrassed, but, well … it was private. It was between him and Harry.

“There was this one night he came over later than he was supposed to because of work,” Draco said. The memory stirred some emotion. He hadn’t thought of it in a while. “He had this bloody huge takeout bag of Thai food.”

 * * *

He sets it down on Draco’s desk, takes out a container, and after toeing off his shoes drops sideways onto Draco’s bed with it and uses chopsticks to shovel in a mouthful of noodles. Draco watches this in awe.

“Want some?” Harry asks once he’s swallowed (small blessings). There’s grease around his mouth. “There’s a million other things in the bag but you have to get it yourself. I’m dead tired.”

Draco thinks of asking what the hell is going on, because they’re supposed to be fucking by now, but something stops him. Harry really does look exhausted but quite content eating his Thai food on Draco’s bed, and he doesn’t have the heart to berate him for it or remind him that they’re fuck buddies, not friends, and that if he’d wanted to eat and lounge about perhaps he should’ve stayed at home.

And the food really does smell good.

He gets up and fishes another container out of the bag that turns out to be some sort of heavenly-smelling marinated beef, which he brings back to the bed. Harry’s rolled onto his back and has the container of noodles balanced on his stomach.

“They thought they found a Horcrux on a raid,” he says. His voice is perfectly casual, but Draco thinks he can see something troubled in his eyes. He has one foot crossed over the other and  it’s bouncing anxiously; he doesn’t think Harry’s aware of doing it. “Wasn’t. Obviously.” 

“But they needed your expert advice to be sure.”

“Yeah.” Harry looks at him, then his food. “Is that the beef?”

“Yes it is.”

“Good?”

“Haven’t tried it yet.”

He opens the container and chooses a piece, but instead of lifting it to his mouth he follows some crazy impulse and hovers it over Harry’s instead.

“Open, Scarhead,” he says. Harry blinks but does it, and Draco drops it in. He smiles, then chews.

“Brilliant.”

* * *

“We ate it instead of fucking. It was the first time I realised something had shifted.”

“And you let it shift?”

The question gave him pause. He didn’t answer right away, mulling it over. It made it sound as if he’d had a choice, and that wasn’t quite right.

“It already had,” he said finally. “It wasn’t a matter of letting it; by the time I noticed, it had already happened. Otherwise he wouldn’t have come over with the food.”

“But you did let it continue,” said Pansy. She wasn’t antagonising him, nor accusing him of anything. She looked amused, but not in a way that was at his expense. Pansy was both a twat and a fiercely good friend, the combination of which meant she would do nothing more or less than hold up a mirror and force you to look at yourself, gruesome as the experience inevitably wound up being. “Even after you realised he had feelings for you.”

Draco swallowed. He’d not heard it said aloud before now.

“Yes,” he said. “It felt good. Knowing he fancied me.”

* * *

Harry’s shameless in his staring.

He stands in the doorway of the ensuite bathroom and watches Draco like he’s been invited to do so. Draco pretends not to notice, stretched out in a tub full of bubbles facing the opposite way. There’s incense burning, and candles. Harry is completely silent, but Draco could feel those eyes on him from across a crowded hall.

They fucked a few hours ago and fell asleep afterwards. Draco pretended not to think about it, but had actually made the conscious decision to let Harry continue sleeping when he woke up and decided he wanted a bath.

When he can’t take it anymore he opens his eyes and tilts his head back and a little to the side, just enough that he gets Potter in his peripherals.

“Well?” he says. 

“Well what?”

“Join me, won’t you?”

Harry snorts. Then there’s a quiver of magic in the air, and a small, utilitarian chair appears out of thin air beside the tub. Harry sits down in it. He’s holding the joint they’d only gotten halfway through earlier. 

He’s in his jeans and nothing else, all limbs and sparse chest hair, and when he crosses a leg over the other one, elbow resting on his knee as he hits the joint, Draco feels a bone-deep attraction to him that’s beyond physical.

“May I?” Draco asks. Harry hands it over and Draco inhales deeply before returning it. The humidity of the room mixes with the smoke and the smell of marijuana, pungent and cloying like the flowers. 

After a length of silence, Draco says, “Will you read me something?”

“Will I what?”

He takes his wand from the floor and Summons a book from the shelf in his room — one of his poetry collections comes sweeping in through the cracked door and into Harry’s lap. Harry sticks the joint between his lips and starts rifling through it with his glasses all fogged up. 

When he starts reading Byron (“I had a dream, which was not all a dream”) Draco smiles and sinks deeper into the hot water and bubbles, letting Harry’s voice lull him into a pleasant stupor. 

 * * *

“So you led him on,” said Pansy. “Because you liked his attention.”

He stared at her, then let his gaze drop to his wine again. Had he?

“It sounds bad when you say it like that.”

“Well,” she said, smiling wryly, “I’m only saying it as you’ve told it to me. Maybe if it sounds bad, it is bad. Some things are that simple, darling. Unless there’s more to it.”

“Like what?” he said, not looking at her. There was a touch of pouty defiance in his voice he knew Pansy would detect instantly. He heard her sigh.

“What exactly happened yesterday, Draco? You didn’t give me any context.”

“What context do you need?” he muttered. “He told me he loved me.”

* * *

They’ve finished an entire bottle of wine between them. He’s not drunk, but he’s pleasantly buzzed. Harry’s sprawled on his back, T-shirt rucked up just below his navel so Draco can see the dark trail of hair leading below his jeans. There’s something implicitly erotic about the movement of his chest when he breathes, his hands folded behind his head, one leg stretched the length of the bed and the other bent at the knee.

He opens his eyes suddenly and grins when he sees Draco looking at him. 

“That wine just made me tired,” he says.

“So go to sleep,” says Draco. He takes a last swig, emptying it, and sets the bottle aside on his night table. He stretches his arms over his head and arches his back, yawning widely, thinking perhaps he’ll give into the tempting allure of sleep as well when Harry says, “I told Hermione about us.”

So he’s not sleeping, then. His stomach clenches hard and a completely irrational sense of panic rises in his throat.

“Us?” he says slowly, sitting up straighter. “What ‘us’?”

Harry looks at him upside-down, then rolls over and rises to his knees. He stares at Draco blankly.

“‘What us?’” he repeats.

“Yes,” says Draco. “What ‘us’?”

“Us,” Harry says. His voice is lower than usual. The word is starting to sound weird and lose meaning. “You and me, Draco.”

“‘You and me?’ Harry, there’s no you and me. We’re just fucking. What do you … what do you mean, you told Granger? Told her what?”

Harry looks … well, he looks fucking crushed. And angry. Draco forces himself not to look away.

“I told her I’d been seeing you,” he says quietly. There’s something … not threatening, but close to it, in his voice.

“Sure,” says Draco. “I see you three times a week, sometimes four. I s’pose if you feel the need to fill Granger in on everything you do with every second of your day —”

“Shut up, Draco,” Harry says. “You know what I meant.”

Draco glares at him. He gets off the bed, slightly lightheaded from the wine, horrified by the emotions welling up inside him right behind the panic, and he points at his bedroom door.

“Get out,” he says. 

“Are you serious?”

“Go!” he says loudly, voice rising. “If you’re gonna start turning this into something it definitely is not then get out of my flat, Potter.” As usual the window is open, but it’s the third of September and getting chilly finally and Draco’s Freesias and Freedom Roses started wilting last week. There’s a chilly breeze coming into that room that is utterly barren of the sweet smells of summer he associates with Harry these days. “It’s time we ended this anyway,” he says. “Summer’s over.”

“So?” From his position kneeling on Draco’s bed Harry shouldn’t feel imposing at all, but he does. There’s no sparkle of humour in his eyes, none of the softness Draco’s gotten used to seeing there. He looks like someone who’s realised they’ve been betrayed.

Worse than that. Someone who’s been betrayed and realises they should have seen it coming.

“What the fuck does summer have to do with anything?”

“Ever heard of a summer fling, Potter? We’re not ‘seeing each other’.”

Harry finally gets off the bed. Draco’s stomach clenches again, more painfully this time. He doesn’t feel bad, he tells himself — this is Harry’s fault. His fault for making a big deal out of something easy and fun and, most of all, temporary. For ruining this with feelings. 

 “That’s not what this was,” Harry says. It’s not an argumentative tone; rather, he sounds disappointed. Devastated, and disappointed. And that look of betrayal, like he’s surprised but not …  that  surprised.

That hurts. 

“This was as real as it gets, Draco,” he says matter-of-factly. “You and I don’t have the capability of doing anything as shallow as a fling.”

“Well, Potter,” says Draco, straining to maintain his level voice, “congratulations, because that is the most disgusting, romanticised, Gryffindorian piece of shit I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah?” He grabs up his wand from the bedside table and stuffs it into his jeans pocket. “Well here’s another: I love you. You complete fucking prick.”

Draco stares after him as he leaves the room, cowed for the moment. He hears Harry take the Floo powder off his mantle, hears the fire start, and then the sound of Potter disappearing. 

And he feels hollow suddenly.

* * *

“And he said it completely out of the blue?” 

Draco set his wine aside. He was suddenly feeling too sick to put anything else in his body.

“Sort of,” he said quietly, avoiding her eyes. “He was trying to make something out of nothing. He was just making a point, trying to guilt me, I don’t even think he meant it.”

Pansy said nothing for so long that Draco finally looked up. She had an eyebrow raised.

“Do you really believe that?” she said.

Draco didn’t answer right away. He glanced at the bottle of wine on the table and thought about the way it always tasted a little sweeter on Harry’s lips.

“I don’t know,” he said. “No. But it doesn’t change anything. It was a summer thing, not a … a relationship, for crying out loud. Like I’d date Potter.”

“Why not?”

Draco scoffed. “Why not? Pansy, please. He’s a …”

“A …?”

“He’s an idiot! He’s Potter!  He’s …” He couldn’t think of the right word, something bad enough to express the audacity, the gall , for Potter to think even for a second  that they could …

“Draco Malfoy,” said Pansy. She was smirking. “You love him too.”

Had he felt sick before?  Now he was going to be sick.

“I never would’ve imagined it,” she went on, seeming to take pleasure from his outrage and humiliation. The bint. “Look at you, you’re blushing! Oh my god,” she laughed. And then she stopped laughing, and instead the weight of her own words appeared to descend on her. “Oh my god. You do, don’t you? You are arse over tits for Harry Potter —”

He was up and out of his chair before she’d finished the last word, absurdly,  embarrassingly on the verge of tears all of a sudden. 

“Draco —”

“I’m glad this can serve as your entertainment for the week, Pansy,” he said. A tear rolled down his cheek — could he be any more histrionic? — and he brushed it away furiously. 

“Draco, no —”

“Call Blaise, tell him!” he shouted. “You two can have a good laugh over it —”

“Draco  —”

“Poor Draco’s  fucked himself over again, what a stupid wanker!” 

Pansy got up. He slapped her hand away when she reached for him, but she only came at him again and grabbed it this time when he swatted at her, enfolding it in both of hers. He closed his eyes and hiccoughed and two more tears came.

“Darling, will you please listen to me?” she said softly. It sounded eerily like his mother, which only made him feel young and childish. He tugged his arm away and she let him go, but he didn’t move any farther away. “I am  not  laughing at you,” she told him. “Blaise might, but that’s because Blaise has a black hole for a heart, Draco, the only emotion he’s ever felt is disdain.” Against his will, Draco chuckled wetly. Pansy smiled and took his hand again, tentatively. He allowed it. “ I think it’s lovely that you have feelings for him. I don’t understand what’s got you so upset, I mean … I know it’s Potter, but we’re not teenagers anymore, right? Who cares?”

Draco exhaled a long sigh.

“He let my father go to Azkaban,” he said softly, looking into her eyes. He saw comprehension dawning. “How can I be with someone who could’ve saved my father’s life and chose not to, Pansy?”

“No one could have saved your father, Draco,” said Pansy gravely. His throat was tight, swollen. He hated that he was hanging on her words, looking for truth in them,  wanting to hear something that would make this okay. “He would have done the same thing if they’d let him go back to the manor. It’s not your fault or your mum’s or Potter’s.”

“But —”

“But what?” she cut him off sharply. “Draco, please don’t let your father keep controlling your life from the grave! My god, you deserve happiness, don’t you see that? Even if it’s Potter! In fact, I … I think that could be really good.”

“What, being with Potter?”

“Yes, being with Potter,” she said. “Darling, I say this because I love you: you need to grow a pair of bollocks and start taking control of your own life. I’m not finished!” she added when he opened his mouth to retort. “I understand that it feels like a betrayal of your father, I do, and I’m not saying you can’t have your cherished memories of him, but Draco … you cannot live your life in his shadow, doing things because it’s what he’d want or wouldn’t want. I think that choosing to explore these feelings you have for Potter is the bravest and healthiest thing you could possibly do for yourself.”

He stared at her for a long moment, eyes wet though the tears had stopped falling. 

“What if it doesn’t last?” he said finally. “What if next week he realises it was a huge mistake?”

“First of all, I doubt that,” said Pansy with a roll of her eyes that was clearly meant to be teasing. “You said you’ve been seeing him all summer, that’s plenty of time to have gotten sick of you. And, even if that did happen, I still think it would be entirely worth that week of being disgustingly in love.”

“Do you?” he drawled.

“Yes! I do!” She picked up his discarded wine glass from before and held it up. “Does the effect of alcohol last forever?”

“No …”

“Of course not! And we don’t expect it to. We expect to have fun while we’re drunk and it’ll last as long as it lasts.”

“Dating someone isn’t like being drunk, Pansy,” Draco said sourly.

“Oh, that’s not the point ,” she huffed. “We don’t do things because we know they’ll last forever, we do them because we want to. In the moment.”

“Sounds irresponsible.”

“Well, of course it is,” she scoffed. “Love is completely irresponsible, that’s the fun of it, Draco. Now take this,” she shoved the glass of wine into his hand, almost spilling it. “Drink up, and then get your arse over to his flat and fix this.”

* * *

Granger opened the door. Draco sighed.

“Hello, Granger,” he said lamely. Her raised eyebrows said she was surprised and thoroughly unimpressed by his appearance.

“Malfoy,” she said.

“Is Potter in?”

“I guess that depends.”

“On?”

She looked at him, dark brown eyes impenetrable. Then she closed the front door behind her.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“To talk to him,” he said tightly. As if this whole thing wasn’t bad enough, now he had to pass a test to get past Granger the bridge troll. “I thought he told you —”

“He did,” she said flatly. “And about yesterday.”

“Well I’m here to apologise,” said Draco. Granger’s eyebrows lifted again. Still unimpressed. “And to tell him …” He sighed again and broke eye contact, willing himself not to give up, not to take this as a sign he should just go home and ream into Pansy for giving him such bad advice.

“Malfoy.” He looked up. Her voice was softer now, and her eyes seemed a little less hard. “What are you doing? You really hurt him, you know.”

“I know,” he said stiffly. “I said I’m here to apologise.”

“Well he doesn’t need an apology,” she said. “If you’re only going to let him down again —”

“I’m not.” He rubbed his forehead and looked at her again, exasperated, defeated. “I’ve … had some sense talked into me.”

She looked like it was the last thing she’d been expecting. 

“Have you?”

“Yes,” he said. “So would you please get him for me before I lose my nerve?”

It was the right thing to say. Her expression melted into something much softer and he fancied he even saw the beginnings of a smile.

“Can I ask who affected this change of heart?”

“Pansy,” he said. And, when Granger seemed taken aback, “She’s very wise when she feels like it.”

“I see. Well …” She still looked a bit conflicted, eyeing him and then putting her hand on the doorknob. “All right. I’ll tell him you’re here, anyway, but he was really hurt, Malfoy. I don’t know if he’ll want to hear it.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said.

Granger eyed him another moment and then went back inside, shutting the door behind her. Draco only had to wait a minute before it was opening again, and this time Harry came out. The sight of him made Draco’s heart feel tender and sore.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi, Potter.”

He waited to see if Harry would say anything else but he didn’t. He only stared at Draco expectantly, arms folded, in all ways closed off.

“I came to apologise,” said Draco.

“Well you can keep it,” said Harry. “I don’t need an apology because you told me the truth.”

“It wasn’t the truth, Potter,” Draco said quietly. “Opposite, really.”

Harry was silent. Then, “You made me feel like shit, Draco.”

“I know. I’m sorry. You freaked me out, springing it on me like that.”

A beat, then two, and then suddenly Harry was dropping his arms and sighing and he looked at Draco with so much vulnerability he nearly had to turn away from it.

“I didn’t mean to tell you …” He licked his lips, scratched his arm. It reminded Draco that beneath everything, Harry was still the same awkward dorky leader-of-the-losers he’d always been, just with a bit more confidence now and the title of Official Saviour of the Wizarding World. “I wouldn’t have said that if … I was just angry.”

He didn’t need to ask what Harry was referring to.

“I know.”

“Not that I didn’t … I mean, I … I do —”

“Please don’t say it again,” Draco said. Harry laughed.

“Right. I just meant … I really do have feelings for you, Draco. Like … mad, crazy feelings, y’know? I don’t want it to be a fling.”

“It wasn’t a fling,” he said. He moved a little closer and Harry watched him carefully, eyes flickering once down to Draco’s mouth. “I didn’t even sleep with anyone else the whole time.”

“Well that’s good to know,” said Harry sardonically. But he was smiling, so Draco found himself smiling tentatively as well.

“I wanna be with you, Potter. Properly. I thought …” But he shakes his head, deciding that now isn’t the time to explain about his father. “I thought it was a stupid idea. Now I realise that it probably is, but that I don’t really care much. I’ve decided to ignore my better judgment this one time.”

“That’s quite Gryffindor of you,” Harry commented drily.

“Yes, well.”

“So I go against your better judgment, then?”

“Potter,” Draco sighed. “Please, I don’t mean it like —”

“I’m taking the piss, Draco,” Harry cut him off. He reached for Draco’s waist and pulled him close, and before Draco could get his breath back from a short, surprised intake of breath Harry’s mouth was on his, warm and familiar and soothing. He brought his hands to Harry’s face and kissed back without bothering to hide his overwhelming relief.

Harry chased his mouth when he pulled away and Draco breathed out a laugh, holding him at bay with a hand on his chest. 

“We have plenty of time,” he said. “D’you wanna come over later tonight, after your friends leave?”

“What? No, come in.” He took Draco’s hand and gestured with his head towards the door. “Please. It’s just Ron and Hermione. They know everything.”

“Really?” Draco drawled. “And you think Weasley won’t try to kill me?”

“I promise not to let him,” Harry grinned. “Please, Draco. You said you wanted to do this properly, right?”

He thought of what Pansy said about being irresponsible, and decided it was worth a try at least.

“Okay,” he said. Harry beamed and tugged him inside.

Towards his ultimate downfall or towards the beginning of the rest of his life, he didn’t know. That, as Pansy would have said, was the fun of it.

[thisisgonnafuxkinkillme]

Now I'm not really sure if you're taking anything like requests but if you are... could you write a small angsty one shot with like all of All Might's toxic traits and you know treating his s/o like his furthest priority? I wanna be hurt for some reason.

Forgotten Memory

Toshinori Yagi x Gn! Reader 

Warnings: Angst and a lil fluff

Toshinori worked hard. You know that.

But...

No. I'm being selfish.

Alot of people needed him. Still need him. People who aren'tF you.

So suck it up.

You sigh, scrubbing your plate at the kitchen sink. It's 9pm on a Wednesday. He came home late, once again, and dinner was cold.

"Don't worry," he assured, "I already ate something before I got home."

It was totally dark aside from a buzzing light above the stove.

It would've been totally quiet, too, if it weren't for the shower from down the hallway.

He took warm showers whenever he was stressed.

That being said, they became a part of his routine.

And yours, too.

As you dried your plate, you looked out the window. It wasn't that long ago when he was out there helping you garden, out on his hands and knees beside you, his fingernails full of dirt.

Just like yours.

Neither of you minded the grunge. You never even thought to bring it up, and neither did he. Not even when he gently cupped your cheek, lovingly looking into your eyes. Not even when you wrapped your fingers around his wrist.

The bathroom door opens. You hold your breath. Maybe he'll come behind you, softly wrapping his arms around your waist and whispering caring words into your ear. Maybe he'd brew some tea and ask to sit with you in the living room. Maybe-

The bedroom door opened, and soon after, was closed back again.

Your heart sank with a pang. A hairline fracture rapidly spread across your chest.

Nothing.

suck it up

suck it up

suck. it. up.

You took a shakey breath. You'd already started the water for him to make his tea.

He used to make it a point to sip out of his favorite mug to allow the warm liquid to relax his tired muscles, his loving partner by his side, each and every night. He'd hold the cup with both hands, warming his chilled fingers.

You rubbed your fingers. They're nearly numb at this point from working under the icy tap water.

You eventually relented yourself to another lonely night, retiring into the bed that you shared, but you didn't share. He had his side and you had yours. Your side was pristine from being made that morning, not even touched, while his was winkled only from his body being under the sheet.

Toshinori was already well into sleep by the time you came into the blackened room. You didn't even bother to give him a gentle kiss before crawling beside him but not beside him.

The bed that you once shared was now miles long. It was as if there was a barbed wire fence dividing it down the middle.

You woke up the next morning like you usually did. Cold and alone.

The first time you woke up this way, your body was still comforted by the residual heat of his cuddles from the night before. On top of that, he'd left a note for you on the stove.

I had to leave early this morning, pumpkin. I am so sorry. I'll make up for it, I promise!

And he did. That night, he smothered you in hugs and kisses, leaving you a giggling mess.

This time, like the others, there was no note. It was just implied that he was sorry for not being there.

For not being there.

While you worked on your computer, you turned on the TV. You couldn't stand the silence anymore.

A news report about a villian who'd just been captured and subdued by the number one hero once again was playing.

See? There's more important things happening out there for him to be dealing with. Don't stress him out with your lonliness crap. Don't be selfish.

You vowed to not mention it to him. Surely, he'd come around for you. He always did. He loved you, right?

Right? Right.

The day came and went silently and uneventfully.

Toshi came home squarely at 6:54 pm. A little late, but not too late for dinner to be cold. In fact, it was still in the oven.

You cut some herbs at the counter. You didn't even stir as he walked in.

He dropped his bag onto the floor, slumping into the kitchen chair with a heavy sigh. You turned around, greeting him.

He was in his small form, which was typical for when he was at home. The yellow suit he wore to work hung off of his limbs, flowing off of his body like a sheet. He was drowning in the fabric that was now fraying and dingy.

Evidently, he'd gotten into a scuffle with a villian somewhere during his day.

He murmured your name as he noticed you staring. Your eyes met his for a breif moment.

Quickly, you reminded yourself to not bring it up.

Don't stress him out. He doesn't need it.

"What's bothering you?" He asked. Your breath hitched at the seemingly innocent question.

"Nothing," you sharply reply.

He took a moment to sit in the silence and collect his thoughts.

"...I know you. Something's not right, and I would like to know what it is. Please, tell me," insisted Toshinori. You shook your head.

"it's fine. You don't need-"

"I do. Tell me. Please, y/n."

His eyes pierced into yours. You wished that he could just see your heart, and that you didn't have to put it into words.

But you did.

"Do you still love me?" You choked out. You slapped your hand over your mouth instantly, cursing yourself for being so blunt. His eyes widened in shock and his body recoiled.

"W-what? You...you know I love you, pumpkin," he frowned.

That name. You instantly broke down at hearing that name.

You used to be his pumpkin, his sweetheart, his baby.

What happened?

Through the tears, you felt him wrap his arms around you. His fingertips grazed your scalp, bringing your head to his chest.

Your cheek rested just below this scar.

"Shhhh, calm down. Breathe, honey...there you go," he coached you through your breakdown. You soon was able to talk, not having to pause between sobs.

"I miss you, Toshi. You're never...you don't...you don't plant flowers with me like you used to, you know?" You sniffled, looking up to meet his concerned gaze.

"We can plant some this weekend-"

"it's not about the flowers. It's about how you never drink tea with me anymore. It's about how you don't leave me sweet notes like you used to, or how you don't give me butterfly kisses on my forehead. It's all of those things. I miss that part of you. I just hope that...maybe you miss me, too."

He listened carefully to everything you had to say, never interuppting or talking over you. He didn't try to give explanations or excuses. He just listened, nodding silently.

"You're...you're right," he conceded, "I guess it's just that I took you for granted, I suppose. I assumed that my love was inherent, something you would just realize was there. I was foolish in thinking that. I shouldn't have assumed you would always be a constant in my life. You deserve so much better."

He caressed your cheek gently.

"I...I hope you know that I haven't forgotten about you. You're one person that gets me through the day. I kept thinking that maybe the work would get easier, and I'd be able to handle it like I used to, but..."

His grip tightened on you. Thoughts ripped through his mind about life without you, filling him with an inescapable fear. Maybe by holding you a little tighter, you'd stay.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured. His apologies were muffled from his teary eyes and his face that he buried into your hair.

You both stood together, one holding the other, both scared to let go, both scared to be alone.

The kitchen light buzzed above you while the stove beeped, signaling that the food was ready.

...

The next morning, you woke up to a tiny kiss on your forehead. You sleepily reached for your boyfriend's hand, to which he gladly took it. It was still dark outside, probably still 6:30am or so. He was fully dressed and ready for another day.

Yet he lingered, his fingers entangled in yours.

After a mental battle, he let go of your comparitively small hand, slipping off his shoes and sliding back under the covers. You stirred, not putting the pieces together with your groggy mind.

All you knew, and all that mattered, was his arms around you, gently warming your core.

He whispered, "I love you, pumpkin."

[imagine-this-fandom]

BNHA x Fem! Reader: The Rescue- Purple Ragdoll

The rescue intro: here

A/N:

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone is staying safe and had a good New Years Eve. Thank you all for your support, I'm really happy to be writing for you. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I hope you all enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*

Inko led you back into the main store and past rows of all sorts of tanks. She paused and tucked Izuku into one of them before she continued along, stopping in front of a door with cute little pawprints running up the side. At the top of the door, the word CATS was in big bold letters. She opened the door and ushered you inside, carefully closing the door behind you.

You took in the chaos of the cat room, eyes following Inko as she expertly dodged cats and weaved through various cat toys on her way to a cat tree in the back. The room was filled with cats of all shapes and sizes.  You decided it would be best if you stayed put. The last thing you needed was to accidentally step on one of the cute animals. That would be a rather unfortunate end to your budding experience as a pet owner. When Inko saw that you were standing alone, she made a tutting noise and went back, grabbing your arm before leading you over to the quiet corner she had scouted earlier.

You followed her curiously, trying not to trip on the felines winding around your legs, which was an intense feat as they seemed to really like you for some reason. You came to a stop in front of one of those hanging cat hammock things. Inside, was a fluffy cat with strangely lilac tinted fur that was ruffled and sticking out at all angles. You searched your limited knowledge about animals before settling on the breed. The cat before you was the sleepiest looking ragdoll cat you had ever seen. The fur under his eyes was darker than the fur around it, giving it the illusion of deep purple eye bags. He looked kind of run down if you were honest as if no amount of naps in the world could make him energetic. He was definitely not what you expected. He reminded you of Grumpy cat but exhausted.

Inko smiled warmly at you while clasping her hands to her chest, watching your reaction closely.

“This is Shinsou! I think he’d be the perfect cat for you.”

Like the black cat from earlier, there was something really intelligent about Shinsou. Either that or the look of confusion he shot Inko was purely coincidental and you were misreading things. Regardless, there was something about him that you gravitated towards.

“You’re sure? He wouldn’t be happier with someone more experienced?” Inko just shook her head and lifted the drowsy cat out of his hammock. He wasn’t too concerned and had accepted his fate at this point in time, not really having the energy to protest anyway. She carefully deposited the cat into your arms and bustled off to gather supplies for you. You looked down at the bundle of fluff in your arms and he, in turn, stared up at you with a bored expression.

Shinsou was vaguely interested in how this would go.  Considering he was not a normal cat by any means, it should prove to be an interesting experience. If all else failed, he was intelligent enough to escape and come back to the store, he mused. But for now, you hadn’t done anything that indicated you were going to be difficult to work with and Inko seemed to approve of you, so he just yawned and settled into your arms, enjoying the change from the flannel hammock to your warm arms.  You were kind of freaked out by the newness of the situation, but Shinsou didn’t seem to care what was going on, and his nonchalant attitude put you more at ease.

While you waited, you began to pet him. A smile tugged on your lips as he basically melted in your arms, face pressed against your collarbone and a contented purr escaping his chest. He was obviously enjoying your soothing touch, more than he wanted to admit to himself even. That was encouraging, and you decided then and there you would die for this animal should the need ever arise.

When inko returned with a cat carrier, you were a bit hesitant to put him inside. You were bonding! As reluctant as you were, the carrier was probably your safest and easiest method of getting him home. You laid him inside on the cat bed and he was out like a light within minutes. He was peacefully sleeping as you latched the carrier shut and listened to the instructions Inko gave you. You were determined to be the best pet owner possible for him.

It wasn’t long before you left the shop, new pet in hand and a strange new warmth settling in your chest at the thought of sharing your home with your sleepy new companion. ~~~~~

You sighed tiredly as you closed the door behind you, happy to be out of the biting cold. You had let Shinsou sleep in his carrier on the way over, so you just popped the door open once you were inside so he could explore when he was ready. You gave his sleeping form a small smile before you retreated to your bedroom for the night.

He was still sleeping when you woke up around 8 the next morning, so you let him be and began your morning routine. You hummed to yourself as you waited for your coffee to brew and scrolled through social media on your phone.

Shinsou roused at the rich scent of coffee filled the air. As a human, he swore it almost ran through his veins. He took after his mentor in his love for coffee, the bitter beverage giving him the energy his training and hero work often stole. Inko always had tea instead when she worked at the pet store, so the familiar scent was quite a shock to his system. He stretched lazily before ambling out of the pet carrier. His purple eyes locked on the mug you held as you made your way to the couch.

You smiled brightly at him as you sat down, not noticing where his intent gaze was directed.

“Hey pretty boy, sleep well?”

He turned his gaze to you, almost disgusted by the fact that you were so awake and perky already. Usually, it took him at least half an hour to fully wake up, so your sunshine smile was absolutely unfair considering how early it was. He gave you a deadpan stare in response that triggered an even wider smile. Good grief.

He hopped up onto the couch beside you, waiting for an opportunity to steal your beverage.

He didn’t have to wait long though, you had just taken a sip before your phone rang. You looked down at the contact name and your expression twisted into one of weary acceptance. You hit the answer button and stood, coffee abandoned as you paced and listened to the voice on the other end of the phone.

Shinsou would smirk to himself if cats could. He made a beeline for the cup and quickly drank his fill. Meanwhile, you were not having nearly as good of a time.

“Sir, please, it’s my first day off in weeks. Are you positive no one else can cover the shift?”

“I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t already know, (y/n). Are you going to show, or not? Need I remind you that you’re on thin ice with your attendance?”

You bit your lip, the tiredness settling into your expression before you took a deep breath and forced your customer service smile.

“Yes sir, I’ll see you in an hour and a half”

“Good. Don’t be late.”

You heard the line go dead on the other side and nearly screamed, hands clenching against the phone as you resisted the urge to throw your device. The job was infuriating, but it was steady and dependable. You didn’t have a quirk, so finding work was a bit of a process, and you couldn't afford to be choosy at the moment. You lamented this fact as you sunk onto the couch beside him, any energy the coffee had given was now sapped away.

Shinsou had only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but he already knew he didn’t care for your boss. He had only known you for a day, but he didn’t like how quickly that sunshine smile disappeared as if covered by stormy clouds. It was disconcerting. He watched your expressions go through the stages of grief before settling on tired acceptance.

You sighed heavily and scratched the top of his head.

“Sorry, buddy. I wanted to spend the day getting to know you, but the big boss says I have to get to work.”

You pouted unhappily before stretching. You hated your job, but you weren’t going to spend time feeling bad for yourself. You had to be strong, this job was what enabled you to have Shinsou too, so at least something good came of it. You scratched behind Shinsou's ears before standing and plastering on a fake smile.

"well, no time to waste if I want to get to work on time. I'll be back before you know it. Try not to wreck the house while I'm gone."

He watched you leave and go to your room to prepare for work. He took this time left alone to look around. The living room was fairly plain but comfortable enough. There weren't any photos or personal touches up on the wall. He wandered the living room, mapping it out in his head and taking careful note of any possible escape routes. By the time he had explored all the open rooms, you had found your way back into the main room. You were holding a few bobby pins in your teeth as you fixed your hair into a high ponytail.

Your uniform was typical of a barista and he could just make out the logo of a local cafe on the corner. Huh. Juniper Glow. He actually recognized the cafe. He frequented the place when he was still human. It was open 24/7 so it was a lifesaver after long patrols. He couldn't remember ever meeting you, but it had been quite some time since he had visited. Maybe you were new?

You grabbed the essentials needed for your job, grimacing as you caught sight of the clock. You crouched down and scratched under Shinsou's chin before you shouldered your purse again.

"Alright Shinsou, I'm heading out. Be good for me, okay? Don't trash the house.  I'll see you in a few hours."

Shinsou stopped himself from nodding, knowing it would only freak you out, and stared at you with a tilted head as if to ask "cause trouble, who, me?"

You gave him one last dazzling smile before dashing out the door.

Shinsou watched the door close and was surprised to find himself a bit disheartened with the quiet now encompassing the house. He supposed he was used to the noise now. From the crowded cat room to the way you spoke to him like a person, he wasn't used to the silence anymore. He wondered how much other things would change as he stayed with you.

~~~~~~

Some things never changed. Despite having no hero work or classes, Shinsou was still tired all the time. You found his tiredness endearing and took every opportunity to cuddle him while he napped.

The first time this happened, he was surprised. He was peacefully napping on the couch while you were occupied with a hero documentary. He was content to snooze next to you when a sudden movement changed his position. You had carefully scooped him up and he was now resting in your lap. He would have moved, but honestly? You were comfortable and warm. Not to mention you were petting him too. The soft strokes and your fingers carding through his fur relaxed him. He melted into your touch and was surprised when he started to purr at the attention. You smiled, your documentary no longer the center of your attention.

He wouldn't admit it, but he was quite enjoying your attention. At first, he thought this whole pet thing was going to be a fun challenge to exploit and then escape. However, he was growing attached to you. That might end up a problem. He was going to be human again, one day. He would make sure of it. And he couldn't let you get too used to him.

Still... this was nice. He liked being held and cared about, even though he was used to being and working alone. He was ostracized for having a villain's quirk, so he was definitely not used to people spending so much time with him. Midoriya and his mentor were his support system, but this was somehow different. He would have to think about this more... But for now, he would enjoy these moments with you.

Fortunately for him, these moments became quite frequent. You loved having Shinsou with you and nearly every moment spent at home was spent with your cat. You talked to him as you cooked, you watched TV with him on your lap, you even let him sit on your bed while you read before heading to bed.

This routine continued for months and you admitted for the first time since you moved to Japan, that you were happy. ~~~~~~~~

You opened the door for Shinsou. The sun shone brightly on the two of you as you waited. Shinsou trotted out and joined you on the porch before you closed the door, being mindful of his tail.

The two of you set off at a leisurely pace. You had decided to take Shinsou with you on your trip to the local farmer’s market. You wanted to get some produce for a fruit dessert you wanted to try and also stop by the bakery that was nearby. You smiled down at Shinsou as he plodded along by your side. He was such a clever cat and you found him fascinating. The few times he had gotten out, he merely followed you to work before going home. Unbeknownst to you, this was his way of making sure you stayed safe. While he couldn't fully protect you in this form, he would do his absolute best to protect you should trouble to arise.  When you took him out on purpose for the first time, he stayed dutifully by your side.  This lead to many walks when the weather was pleasant.

He was secretly pleased now that you trusted him to stay with you as you go places. This also meant he could spend more time with you. Although, he wished he was human for these walks. He had been with you for four months now, and he knew you quite well. He enjoyed his time with you and that simple companionship he shared while living with you had grown to be more than fondness on his end. He started to care for you more than he thought he would. He became more worried about your safety, upset on your behalf whenever your boss inevitably called you in on your few days off. He did his best to remind you of your own health, making sure you went to bed at a semi-decent hour. He cared about you, really cared about you. And it was moments like these he couldn't deny it anymore. He looked up at you as the two of you walked.

He wanted to know what it was like to hold your hand, fingers entwining as you babbled cheerfully about your day, him content to listen to your sweet voice. He wanted to compliment you on the sundress you chose to wear for your trip to the market, he wanted to tease you about how excited you were getting for fruit. But that didn’t seem to be a possibility, so he had to content himself with these small outings and the fact he could still be with you as a friend.

You were chatting about all the delicious things you were going to buy, looking back over at him with a bright sunshine smile that he hadn't expected to adore as much as he did.

"Ooh! And don't think I'm leaving you out, there are a bunch of fruits cats are allowed to eat! I can't just treat myself and leave my best boy hungry!"

He would have smiled, but instead settled on a rumbling meow, purr sneaking into the noise.  Warmth filled his chest as you turned back to face ahead. He walked with you for a while more, the warm feeling of the affection fading but also growing more intense but in a new way.

Shinsou blinked in confusion as a strange sensation started to take over, the warmth shifting, contorting into something different. His head was swimming and his entire body was starting to tingle. He almost tripped over his own paws as he made his way to an alleyway, not wanting you to see him this disoriented. His gaze swimming in front of him. He stumbled into the alleyway, his body felt like it was on fire. Fire spread through his nervous system as his body gave up fighting and the bubbling feeling spreading through his veins surged through him. All at once, there was a pop sound and the feeling disappeared, leaving Shinsou panting on the cold concrete of the alley. He opened his eyes and was quickly struck by the difference in sensations he was feeling as well as the heightened colors. He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes before realizing the change in limbs. He quickly sat up and realized with awe that he was human again. Naked, but human. A grin spread across his face and he wobbled to his feet, getting used to being tall again. He took a few minutes to reorient himself.

He heard your voice calling his name and butterflies took flight in his stomach. You sounded worried and upset, voice frantic as you repeated his name. You were looking for him. Cat him. Well, that was a problem. He looked around for a hiding place and was relieved to spot a fairly out of sight around a corner.

As much as he would love to go out there and sweep you off your feet in his true form, he knew that would be absolutely terrifying and the worst way he could go about this. He peeked out from behind the corner, watching your worried form as you carefully searched the alleyway. He ducked back behind the wall before you saw him and his eyes landed on a convenient clothesline. Huh. How convenient. He’d have to think about the uncanny timing later because he heard male voices floating down the alleyway. He grabbed the clothes and threw them on, making a mental note to compensate the original owner when he gets the chance.

Meanwhile, you were looking between two men in front of you. They had followed you into the alley, insisting they were worthy of your attention and could help you find your cat. However, they didn’t really seem to know what personal space was and were quite insistent. You were obviously uncomfortable, a nervous smile in place, but they didn’t seem to understand. You inched backward until your back met the bricks behind you as you put distance between the men trying to avoid coming off as impolite. You really just wanted to find Shinsou and go home.

“Excuse me gentlemen, but I really should be going…” Your eyes darted around, searching for an opening to escape. Your eyes stopped their search when the man closest to you put his hand on the wall, leaning closer and effectively caging you in.

“Oh come on, we’ll worry about finding your cat later. Besides, you look a little turned around yourself, like a little deer that lost its way.” He smiled in a way that you believed was meant to be charming.

“Oh, no, I'm not lost.” You cringed back and gave him a nervous smile.

“This little deer looks thirsty,” The second man commented, tilting his head as he looked you over appreciatively. “We should take her for a cup of tea.”

You bit your lip, clenching your fists in an effort not to wring them nervously. Or wring their necks, you were undecided at the moment.

“No thanks, my sister's expecting me.” You bluffed, hoping it was enough to deter the two men.

“She's pretty cute for a Deer. How old are you, anyway? You live around here?”

The first man ignored your poor attempt of diversion and continued to press, not giving up.

“Leave me alone.”

You cringed away, dipping your head away as your mind swirled with possible lies and excuses to give to get away from them. You had other things to do, namely finding Shinsou.

The second man rolled his eyes at his friend, nudging his shoulder playfully. “You see? Your mustache scares all the girls.”

The first once chuckled, reaching out a finger to lightly brush against your cheek. “So? She's even cuter when she's scared.”

Tears pricked your eyes as you scrunched them closed, hot embarrassment and anger threatening to spill over. You jolted a little as a hand rested softly on your shoulder from beside you and gently pulled you away from the men and against a warm chest.

“There you are, sweetheart. Sorry I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you.”

A deep voice rumbled from the mystery man behind you. His grip was soft, almost nonexistent to give you the option to escape. But… He felt safe, for some reason.

The first man looked at the stranger, irritated gaze flickering between him and you, prompting you to lean more into the stranger. You were already going with his story, so you were going to make it convincing!

“Hey, we're busy here.” The first man scowled.

You could hear the smirk in the Stranger’s voice with his next words.

“Are you really?”

Both men made sounds of protest before something strange happened. Their limbs went slack, all tension disappearing as a glazed look appeared in their eyes, the words dying on their tongues.

“It looked to me like the two of you were just leaving.”

You watched in awe as the men walked away, just like that. As soon as your would-be tormentors were out of sight you whirled around to face your mysterious hero. Any words of thanks you were thinking of immediately fled your mind upon seeing him.

Oh no, you found him very attractive. He had unruly purple hair that flared out as if he had just been caught in the wind. Striking purple eyes that seemed even more brilliant considering the dark circles under them. You were fairly certain you would have gotten lost in them had you not noticed his bizarre choice of clothes. He was wearing a T-shirt that was a little bit too small for him and sweatpants and was...barefoot? You blinked in confusion at his feet before he cleared his throat and you snapped out of your daze.

“Are you alright?” He regarded you with concern, those dark purple eyes focused on your own.

You nodded quickly.

“I'm alright, thanks to you. What did you do to them, was that your quirk?”

He cringed at the mention of his quirk and one hand went to rub the back of his neck in discomfort as he averted his eyes.

“Yes, my quirk is brainwash. I can control people, but only after they’ve responded to a question of mine.”

He waited for the rejection and distrust that came with telling people about his “Villain” quirk. While people like Midoriya told him it could be used for good, most people still jumped to the criminal conclusion first. And although he hoped you would be different, he knew it would hurt so much more if you found his quirk frightening. He actually cared what you thought of him.

Your eyes widened and you considered the new info you gathered. You noticed he looked apprehensive, he was waiting for you to respond. An excited smile spread across your face.

“That’s an amazing quirk! It’s so useful! You could talk villains into custody, help in hostage situations, and stop fights before they even happen! There are so many possibilities! That’s so cool!”

Shinsou was shocked silent. Your beaming smile was dazzling and his mind refused to form coherent thoughts. The butterflies from earlier came back full force and it took him a second to remember how to breathe.

“You… really think all that?”

His voice was hesitant and hopeful but you misunderstood his quiet for awkwardness.

“I really do! Sorry if I got carried away there, I just think it’s a really cool quirk.”

You gave him a shy smile, trying to tone down your enthusiasm.

“And... Thank you for, you know.”

You gestured awkwardly to the direction the men went.

“I was starting to get really uncomfortable there. You were a lifesaver.”

You shot him another smile and he felt the tips of his ears go hot and his chest fill with warmth but pushed the feeling down and disguised it with a lazy smirk.

“Don’t give me all the credit, I just wanted to prevent their murder. You looked plenty capable. Still, I couldn't pass up my chance to find a smooth way to talk to you."

You grinned, quite taken by his charming words. Still, you had other things to worry about.

"Hmmm, as much as I'd love to continue getting compliments, I'm on a mission."

He raised an amused eyebrow.

"Oh? My apologies for keeping you.  If I can be of any assistance, just say the word."

You looked him up and down before nodding in confirmation.

"Yep. You'll do. You're purple, so I need your help to find my purple cat. Think you can manage it?"

He considered your words before grimacing.

"As much as I'd love to be your knight in shining armor and find him, that's not going to be so easy, all things considering."

Your amused look faded into one of confusion.

"And why is that?"

He avoided looking at you for a moment, his anxious behavior starting to worry you.

"Ask a question only your cat would know."

You stared at him in confusion, starting to wonder if the man was as sane as you had first thoughtAfterall, you had found him in an alleyway without shoes, so your chances weren't the best.

He grimaced and tried again.

"Ask me something only your cat would know, humor me, please. You can decide not to believe me or run or whatever, but please do this for me and listen first."

You were beginning to get scared. His tone was so much more serious than before. Still, something about him was familiar, and felt safe.  Taking a deep breath, you focused on him, scanning his face as you decided on your question.

"What did I call Shinsou when he broke my favorite mug?"

He honestly looked taken aback for a moment, eyes wide before he started cracking up, deep chuckles shaking his shoulders.

"of all things to ask, you chose the moment when I messed up?"

You froze, the implications of his words sinking in. There's no way... You scowled at him, enraged at the idea of someone pretending to be your best friend.  Still, the more you thought about it, the more similarities you saw. He really did look like the human version of your cat, eyebags and all. It was uncanny, but you knew that you wouldn't be able to tell for sure unless he answered.

He stopped laughing a leveled you with an amused smirk. "You called me an emo furbie before flinging yourself onto the couch and proclaiming that love was dead and you had been punished for your addiction to caffeine. "

You felt like you had been sucker-punched. Your brain short-circuited and you inhaled heavily. Shinsou's smirk dropped and he watched you with concern. He reached out to you as if to help you, but hesitated, unsure if you would want him to touch you. He looked at you with panic as your expression morphed between anger and something he couldn't identify.

"Shinsou... It's really you? But how? You're human now, how did that happen?"

He gave a small sigh of relief that you actually believed him.

"It's a really long story, but I was a human first. I'm a pro hero, but I was hit by a quirk that turned me into a cat. I thought I was going to be a cat forever until I met you. Somehow you were the missing piece that countered the quirk"

You nodded tiredly at his explanation, still a bit in shock, but less upset. You sighed and stepped forward, grabbing his hand before yanking him after you as you started walking.

He stumbled after you, confused but also pleased that you were holding onto him.

"uh, where are we going?"

You rolled your eyes before looking back at him.

"First, we're going to go get you some actual clothes. And shoes. Then we, are going home. You're still my Shinsou, and I'm still you're (y/n). Things have just shifted a little."

You flashed him a small smile, some of that sunshine that he loved shining through your eyes and he swore his heart skipped a beat.

"I'd love that. And I can't wait to tell you everything. The story, and how much I care about you."

You blushed as he raised the hand you were holding to his lips and kissed your knuckles, a small smile of his own in place.

Taglist:

@witch-o-memes

[aphroditestummyrolls]

i wrote a fairytale au moment

my country has reached a terrifying level of disarray and i am scared. so i wrote some escapism (literally) for Joe and Nicky. i was even inspired by this to write a whole fairytale au fic!!! it is long-- like, my star wars fics level of long, and im very excited about it. it feels good to be excited about something lol. 

Folks that wanted to be tagggged: @ilostmyothersock, @littlerosetrove, @antukini, @sunriseseance, and @polarcell <3333 i hope you enjoy it! let me know if you do. 

His heart pounded in his chest, the nighttime’s dewy grass sending him slipping and sliding as he darted between the trees. He didn’t dare take his usual, well-trodden path. Not tonight— not if his father had sent anyone after him. 

The gardener’s cottage was on the edge of the palace grounds, where the lush, even lawns, sculpted shrubs and elaborate floral displays gave way to the foothills of the mountains. The ancient groves of chestnut trees were wilder, monuments to the artistry of a natural, unpruned life. Silver blue moonlight shone on their trunks, guiding Yusuf’s frantic steps as he dove deeper into the woods. He had slipped out of his chamber window without a sound that night— just as he had many nights before. There were no guards stationed out this far. He’d left the last of them blissfully ignorant,  back by the last of the rose trellises— he knew it, but the urgency of tonight was twisting him into knots. He had to be sure. He had to take all precautions. 

He couldn’t live with himself if he accidentally exposed this secret. 

Finally, the endless shadowy forest gave way to a familiar clearing. The iron fist clenched around his heart loosened some, and he heaved a deep breath he hadn’t known he was holding. 

The cottage was small. The roof leaked when it stormed, and the front door had gone crooked with age, providing a gale-force draft that rattled the windows on windy nights. The stones used to build it were near as old as the trees around it, starting to crack after weathering centuries of snowy winters and sun-baked summers. 

It was small, yes. But he knew that the bed was warm, that the verdant rows of growing vegetables smelled like earth and honey under the sun’s heat, and that he felt relaxed there. It felt more like a home than the Palace of Genoa, where he was all but trapped under the constant gaze of gossiping strangers. It was even more comforting than the silks and spices of home, across the sea where his family and his people ruled. 

His father had told him that he was accompanying him to Genoa to discuss trade imports between their kingdoms. He had said that they were to spend the year solidifying their connections with the Genoese royal family, drawing up important contracts— it's time you learned a thing or two about compromise, Yusuf. 

That was what he said. 

Yusuf rapped desperately at the door, a ragged half a sob punching out of his throat when he realized that he was finally there, on the flagstone threshold of someplace warm and safe, and— 

“What’s happened? Yusuf?” The door opened to the smoldering orange light of the hearth, the brightest lantern hastily lit by the sleep-ruffled man blinking owlishly at him. “You said it would be too dangerous to meet tonight, while you met with your father…” 

Yusuf would have laughed at his sweet face, if he weren’t about to cry from relief. 

“He means to marry me to her.” He said, shaping the words outside of his panicked head for the first time. They felt too loud in the quiet night, too starkly horrible against the pristine haven of the trees. “The Princess, she—“ Yusuf choked. 

Only now did he notice how his hands trembled, the way his vision was going steadily blurrier— he blinked against the heat building behind his eyes. The summer night was cool, but not cold, yet he still shivered. He shivered until a work-rough hand took pity on him. Nicolo reached out and pulled Yusuf into him, like he had all those months ago, back when everything changed. 

He pulled him through the threshold into the cottage, the floorboards creaking and the door swinging shut behind them as Yusuf spun around to immediately throw his arms around his love’s shoulders. The fog of sleep was gone when Nico’s pale eyes locked on his, suddenly and horribly awake. A hot tear broke ranks and burned a track down Yusuf’s cheek. 

Nico made a sad little noise. It rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest, a hum and a moan, the quiet syllable of no hidden in behind his teeth— like mourning. He cradled Yusuf’s face, his thumb brushing the wetness away. 

“When are you to be betrothed?” He asked, his voice hoarse, like the sentence had to be yanked out of him. 

Yusuf just shook his head, the thought of it flipping his stomach. “They intend to announce the engagement by the end of the summer.” 

Something broke behind Nicolò’s eyes, and Yusuf knew what he was thinking. They had barely a fortnight left. The arm around his waist squeezed tighter, pressing their chests flush. 

He could feel their hearts, pounding in time with each other. Usually it was a comfort, but it was a ticking clock between the two of them now. Their moments together were numbered. 

Nicolo shuffled them around after a few tender seconds— breathing each other’s air, stroking over each other’s backs, existing in shared space— and maneuvered Yusuf to sit on the edge of his bed. It was still warm, the covers rumpled. 

“I’m sorry to wake you. I just… I had to see you.” 

Nico shook his head, “No apologies, Tesoro.” He puttered around the room, stoking the fire from embers to flames before setting the kettle over the highest heat. He settled on his knees, knelt at Yusuf’s feet to study him face to face. 

He brushed Yusuf’s tousled curls off his forehead, and gazed into his eyes. His love’s eyes were a pale, silvery green, but tonight, they looked darker. In the dim glow of the cottage at night, they were bluer than usual, contrasted with the amber firelight. Yusuf leaned into his palm as it traced his hairline, down over his beard and jaw. Nico sat in silence, watching him with the gentleness of someone patient enough to watch the flowers grow. He was waiting. 

“I…” he didn’t know where to start, what to say, “She’s so… She’s so old.” 

Nico’s smile was unmistakably sad, little more than a quirk of lips, but his nod of agreement spurred Yusuf on. 

“It has nothing to do with her looks, really. She’s just so old, and so wasteful, and her gaze on me is so… I just… I understand that I’ve put off marriage as long as my father can take. But she’s 25 years my senior. Her children are my age, Nicolo!” 

He had told these things to his father— he had begged him not to go through with the arrangement, not to agree to the Genoese king’s proposal for his daughter’s hand. It’s already done, he’d said, it was arranged months ago. 

Yusuf had no choice in the matter. 

“I suppose it’s stupid that I was surprised.” He groused, his throat feeling tight and his voice thick. “It’s been so long since any of his children were more than bargaining chips to him— I’m not his son, I’m a new trade route.” 

The kettle on the fire began to whistle, but Nico was sure to take his hands and kiss his knuckles before standing up to fix their tea. 

Left to drift in his mind, Yusuf chewed his lip and floated through his memories, mentally listing the siblings that he’d lost to distant royal families. Only his eldest brother, Farouk, would never leave home. The throne was his, but what about the rest of them? What was the point of having children, of lovingly raising a family, if only to scatter them to the four winds in exchange for trade routes, dowries, and peace treaties? 

It would be different if Mama was alive, he thought with a despairing little whimper. She wouldn’t let him do this…

“Yusuf, breathe.” His love’s voice broke into his thoughts, calling him back from the tangle of his mind. A steaming mug of rosehips, mint and honey was pressed into his palm, and Nico took it on himself to mold his hand around the warm pottery. “D’you have it?” 

“If I say no, will you keep holding my hand like that?” Will you never let me go? he added silently, sure that his eyes were saying it all for him. Nico’s grip was warm and solid, and the calluses felt rough against him. It tethered him to reality, right there on his love’s bed. His pale gaze was soft and glimmering a little. Like he was going to cry. Like he couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to Yusuf anymore than Yusuf could bear the idea of letting Nicolo go. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, reaching out his free hand to card into his long hair. “Don’t let them take me, Nicolo— come away with me.” 

He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. He didn’t mean to spring this half formed, half delirious, half perfect plan on him so soon after waking him up in the middle of the night. The words fell from his lips, unwarranted and chaotic, but suddenly he was desperate to go, run, and be free. 

Before he knew what was happening, the hot mug was lifted from his hand and Nico’s were on him, cupping his cheeks to slam their lips together. His waist was wedged between Yusuf’s thighs, his arms slipping down to wrap around him and tug his hips closer while Yusuf twined both of his hands into his love’s hair,  desperate and trembling with the need to have him as close as he could be. 

He nearly gasped with the need for air by the time they dared to pull away, but he missed his love’s lips the second they weren’t on his. Nico pressed their foreheads together, drinking in deep gulps of air, tear tracks wet on his cheeks and clumping his lashes as he fisted his hands in Yusuf’s tunic. 

Yusuf’s hands in his hair slid down to stroke gently along his cheeks, feeling the wetness and studying how it gleamed in the glow of the hearth. 

He held tight to Yusuf, fingers flexing in the fine fabric of his sleeping clothes. His jaw worked, jumping the way it did when he was holding his tongue. Everything about him was grim and elegant, as still as a statue. 

He was so beautiful, and so sad. 

“Why d’you look at me like that, Hayati?” He sighed, his own heart gripped in a terrible vice. 

Nico swallowed, lips twisted with concern for a moment before he finally sighed and said, “I cannot ask you to leave your life, Yusuf. You are of such importance—“ 

“I am the sixth child of the Tunisian King. Farouk is his heir, and he already has three children of his own. I am nothing more than a mountain pass into the north to my father. My people barely know a thing about me— to them I’m simply the handsome, unmarried oddity of the royal family. My love, you know the wealthy trappings of royal life have never been something I need— but I need a life where I am appreciated and loved for who I am! I need simple comforts and a partner to walk hand and hand with through life. I need you, Nicolo.” 

The fire crackled, and the cottage was quiet. Yusuf’s chest heaved, and tears streamed down Nicolò’s face. His bright eyes shone with a reverent light, like he had in the early days of falling in love— like he still did, in the pale morning hours when Yusuf was still half asleep by his side. It was as if he was falling in love all over again. Awestruck and grateful, his eyes looking like glimmering, full moons as he beheld Yusuf like a fallen star. 

It took a long moment for Nico to find the words. Yusuf stroked his hair, hands still trembling from the adrenaline, even as the knots in his gut began to loosen. 

“Yusuf, you…” he trailed off, rose back up on his knees and kissed him like an act of worship— firm, tender, salty with tears and trembling just as much as Yusuf was. Nico pulled slowly back, just far enough to nuzzle their noses and look him in the eyes. “I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”  

“Will you come with me?” 

“To the ends of the earth. Yes, Tesoro.” He sucked in a breath and let it out long, in a sigh that seemed to clear out all the corners of Yusuf’s cluttered mind. And then, he smiled. 

Nicolo was a man of intricate reactions. There was beauty in each and every one, but it was a private, special thing to see that broad, happy grin. 

“Drink this while it’s still hot— it’ll help your heart calm itself.” He fussed, pressing the mug back into Yusuf’s palm, and this time, he took it gladly. Nico stood to his full height, standing over him where he sat for a brief moment while Yusuf didn’t dare take his eyes off of him. Looking back down at him with the glow of something divine in his eyes, Nico bent himself down to press a soft kiss to Yusuf’s brow. 

“Well, my Prince— where shall we go?” 

Yusuf grinned back, something bright and hopeful growing in his chest. 

They had planning to do. 

********

Yusuf gazed up from where he laid in the glen, soft grass and wildflowers under his feet. The sun dappled the forest floor, streaming down into the parting of the trees where the cottage sat. Nico flickered his lips into one of his barely-there smiles as he gazed down at him where Yusuf had pillowed his head on his thigh. 

Summer was nearly done. The full, green leaves were burnished gold around the edges by the hot sunlight; the garden smelled heavy with ripe harvests and vibrant flowers; and— on the far side of the palace grounds, beyond chestnut groves and manicured lawns, and terraces— the home of the King was glittering with silk flags and banners for the harvest ball. The last days leading up to the festival were certain to be wildly busy— there wouldn’t be a single moment where Yusuf could slip by unnoticed. Nicolo would be fussing about in the palace gardens with last minute preparations from dawn to dusk. 

Usually, Yusuf would be tearing his hair out from the stress. He couldn’t stand the pomp and circumstance, the endless preparations of a ball. He spent hours per day, standing stock still and poked with pins while he was fitted for another itchy, Genoese costume. King Vincenzo was seeking out any opportunity to discipline the palace staff, and the courtiers got particularly insufferable as the long awaited date came to peacock around at the height of their finery. Even back at home, festivals were terrible, but in Genoa, Yusuf’s father had become even more strict. You are representing our kingdom! Act like it! was the most common phrase, hissed into Yusuf’s ear for the most minor infractions. He was constantly watching him, his shrewd eyes looking for any moment to say stand like royalty, Yusuf— shoulders back. 

He hated standing on ceremony and the never-ending scrutiny— but, this time was the last time. His escape was in sight. He didn’t complain a single time about the drapes of scratchy, heavy fabric piled on his shoulders, or the way standing with such rigid posture made his back ache. He took each new indignity with a smile so gracious that even his father was smiling back. 

Thinking of Nicolo made every pinprick more bearable. Lying there in the sun, eyes closed to bask in the warmth, he thought about the expertly packed saddlebags under his love’s bed. He listened to his soft humming— a tune Yusuf had only heard when he was rearing his most delicate seedlings, or on their quietest, gentlest mornings together— and the way it blended into the sounds of the birds. 

Yusuf had never felt so certain of his path. 

He was so content that he didn’t notice that the fingers twining their way through his curls had gone until they must have been missing from him for quite a while. He cracked open one eye, peering up at his love with mild accusation. Nico wasn’t paying attention to his pouting lips, though. 

Sitting up to get a better look at him, Yusuf found Nico’s deft hands full of colorful flowers. He weaved their stems back and forth, his steady gaze flicking over to Yusuf with a sparkle in them. 

“If I didn’t know you like I do, I’d have thought you’d fallen asleep.” He chuckled. 

Yusuf sat close to his side, able to look over his shoulder and study the intricate bouquet. “What a beautiful braid.” He murmured, awe in his voice. 

Some of the blooms were the small, wild ones that grew in the glen, poking out between the wide circles of bright blue coneflowers and puffs of golden orange chrysanthemums that Nico must’ve pulled up from the garden bed beside them. 

“Let me show you how?” Nico replied, phrased as a question even as he handed over his work for Yusuf’s inspection. “It’s not as hard as it looks, I promise.” He said, tiny smile tilting his lips again. 

Perhaps it was his imagination, or his own excitement, but it seemed as if Nicolò’s smiles had gotten wider, his eyes gone softer. The rod of nervous tension that always clung to his spine in the days before a ball wasn’t as unyielding and stiff. 

Nico was more at peace. He weaved the stems of his beloved flowers in, out and under each other, dutifully guiding Yusuf’s hands as he collected his own flowers. He was right— it wasn’t as difficult as it had looked. The rhythm was steady and relaxing, a balm on the last of his nerves as he tucked flower after precious flower into his braid of grass. The crickets chirped, the birds sang, and the sun fed the earth— Yusuf sat side by side with his love, and it felt right. 

“You know, I have been thinking.” Nico murmured, his rich accent nothing more than a purr into the summer breeze. 

Yusuf chuckled, knocking their shoulders together, “Dangerous.” 

Nico huffed an indignant sound, but his eyes rolled playfully when he met his gaze, “Of course, of course— thinking is only for those supremely educated, princely philosophers. How dare I—“ 

“No, no no no!” Yusuf shook out his curls, letting out a full, genuine laugh, “Tell me every thought that has ever passed through your head, Hayati— it is my privilege to be your audience.” He was grinning, laughing, cupping Nico’s sunkissed cheek and basking in the light of his eyes. “What were you thinking about?” 

Nico licked his lips, swallowing like his throat had gone dry as he maneuvered himself to face Yusuf, sitting on his knees like he had not so long ago. Something about it squeezed at Yusuf’s heart, his smile fading into seriousness as he waited. 

He carefully took and set down their braided flowers on the grass, scooping Yusuf’s hands up into his own. 

“If we are to truly leave this place, I want to do this properly.” He said, eyes clear and trained on him with an unwavering focus. “I love you, Yusuf, but I can’t promise any royal comforts, or an easy life. I have no ring or dagger to give,” his breath came out long and slow, intentionally calm even while his fingers squeezed around Yusuf’s hands. He let go, then, picking up his circlet of braided flowers to hold in his lap. “I can only promise you the kinds of beauty I can make grow. Would you…” 

His voice stuttered, his gaze dropping down to his lap and the blue flowers there, as if Yusuf was too blinding to look at. He could feel his smile splitting his cheeks, bright and unabashed, the cry of yes on the tip of his tongue, nearly jumping from his lips.

But he waited, patiently holding space for his love. He reached out and cupped his hand over his wrist, feeling his pulse race under the delicate skin, just to make Nico meet his gaze again. 

“Would you marry me, my Prince?” 

Yes. “Yes, my Gardener. I will marry you.” He replied, whispered like a secret, but more resonant and proud than anything he’d ever said. He was grinning, “Though, I’m not sure how much of a Prince I’ll be by the time we wed.” 

Nico huffed one of his little laughs, meeting Yusuf with one of his rare, open smiles as he lifted the circlet of blue and orange and braided white to rest gently on top of his curls. 

“No, but you will always be mine.” He said, swiping a tear from Yusuf’s cheek, not unlike he had done so recently, for such different reasons. It was more breath than sound, matching Yusuf’s hush. 

I’ve never been so proud to wear a crown, he thought. 

With his chest feeling expansive and warm, his cheeks hot with a pink flush, Yusuf hastily reached out for his own circlet of flowers. Their wide, fragrant petals and little sun-yellow centers felt silky under his fingers as he lifted it to Nico’s brow. 

“If I maintain such royalty, then, my husband must, too.” He replied, voice nearly lost in the birdsong. “King of my heart, my true love.” 

Nico’s face had gone soft and slack with a familiar expression— as if Yusuf was the sun itself, as if his warmth and light had singlehandedly brought him to life. 

Yusuf let himself be held as Nicolo took his face in his hands and leaned in close. He pressed his lips to his tear-stained cheek, and then the other. He peppered the smallest, gentlest kisses across the freckles on his nose, and Yusuf wrapped his hands around his love’s wrists to keep him close. The last kiss was softly, loving left on the crest of his brow bone, tender enough to bring the forest to a standstill. 

[roast-ifs]

January drabble #3

Prompt: “I don’t need anything more from you” IslaxDanny Poly w/basi!mc

Danny’s standing outside of view, leaning against the wall outside of the lamp light, a tray of tea heavy on his wings as he listens, head heavy against the plaster.

They’re arguing. He doesn’t want to say again, but it’s happened more than once and he knows--he has to believe that it’s not out of hate or anger, just fear.

Fear of being known. Of being loved. They’re two people that are rough around the edges and sometimes those edges catch but--but they smooth out eventually, right?

Surely.

They have to.

If… if they loved each other as much as he thinks they love him…

But it keeps happening.

It keeps happening, over and over again and he hates it. He hates it so much but what can he possibly do?

He can’t fix them. He doesn’t want to fix them because, yes, they’re broken, but he loves them, and it’s their job to heal but…

But it feels like some days they don’t want to.

So they fight.

“Why do you keep doing this?” He’s snarling, venom practically dripping down every word, “One moment you’re actually acting like a fucking partner and the next you’re pushing us both away!”

“Oh stop!” Isla spits right back, Danny wincing at the hate poured into their words, making the tea cups shudder on his tray.

But they don’t hear the delicate sound, too caught up in the turmoil of fury they’ve built like a wall between each other.

“You like to act all patient and concerning and decent but you’re always pushing for more aren’t you?” Isla insists, digging their teeth in deeper, “You’re greedy, always wanting more out of me when I don’t want to give it-”

“If you’d just tell me!” Danny sees the cast of shadows as his basilisk lover gesticulates widely, “If you’d just open up for gods damned once!”

“Is what I’ve given you not enough?!” Isla snaps.

I love you. Danny remembers the shared whispers shared in bed, shutting his eyes and clutching the tray to his chest, the cups rattling. They don’t hear.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

“If you’ve given me anything, where is it?” He snaps right back, “Where’s the trust? The truth? You’re nothing but lies, Isla! I don’t need anything more from you since you won’t give me anything to start with!”

I loved you.

It’s quiet.

Isla sniffs, breathing out slowly, “Fine.” Danny can hear movement, the shuffle of fabric.

“Where are you going?”

“Out. Away from here.” Isla retorts and slams the catwalk door shut, away from you.

Silence again.

Lonely, unending, silence.

Danny jerks and looks up in surprise when a shadow overtakes him, straight into the wide-eyed look on his basilisk’s face, whose cheeks are glossy, his tears shining like stars in the dark.

But then his face closes off, and he walks by Danny without a comment, slipping through the back doors without a word.

The tea pot cracks when it hits the ground, the tea seeping into the carpet, mixing with the salt of Danny’s tears as he crumples to the ground in a heap of feathers and wracking sobs. 

I don’t need anything more from you.

I love you.

I loved you.

We loved you.

[nicka-nell]

New prompt! New prompt! N e w p r o m p t! ✪ ω ✪ So I hope I understand rules right, but if not - I'm so sorry. May I request Sawamura Daichi + childhood friends + fluff + 23 + 36 and Aizawa Shota + kiss at midnight + fluff + 1 + 31?

Midnight Kiss (Aizawa x reader)

Childhood friends to lovers (Sawamura x reader)

Oh hiii! ♥ I hope you are fine :)) Ahhh and thank you for the request. You understand the rules right yes :)) So let’s go!

Valentine’s Day - Prompt Event | Masterlist (coming soon)

Pairing: Aizawa x reader (kiss at midnight) Warning: just fluff  Prompts: 1.  “I missed being with you like this.“ 31. “Can I play with your hair?”

Again, you sit here, looking out into the dark sky, into the night full of stars, hoping Aizawa will be fine. Last time you heard from him was four days ago. A good night’s text, a message that he thinks of you and you should try to sleep. Nothing more. 

He is together with other top heroes in a battle against the villains. They work undercover and actually you shouldn’t know about it, but Aizawa could not just leave you in the dark. 

You haven’t seen him for ten days. For ten days you didn’t feel his warmth and sat alone outside on your terrace. Still sitting alone drinking your now-lukewarm tea. Even today he doesn’t come anymore. Admit to yourself, as you look into your empty teacup and change the cold of the night, by the warmth of your apartment to lie down in your shared bed. Without him. 

Another four days pass, in which you sit every evening on your terrace. Drinking tea and going to bed. Over two weeks have passed, the fifteenth night is coming.

Again, you sit in your sleeping clothes on the terrace, the long sleeves of your cardigan lie over your hands, while your tea cup is already empty and is now illuminated by the bright moon. He’s not here again. You sigh, hide your tears and close your eyes. You want to stay in the chilly night air for a minute. Sense the cold air on your skin for another minute. But it suddenly gets warm around your shoulders.

Aizawa is strongly convinced that you are already asleep. After all, it’s midnight. Therefore, he sneaks carefully into your apartment, only to acknowledge that the living room light is on and the bedroom door is still wide open.

Skeptically, he looks into it, finds there only an empty made bed, as he goes into the living room to see if you are not perhaps asleep on the couch. But you’re not there either. Instead, a slight breeze blows a strand of hair out of his face, causing him to look in the door's direction. He can look out into the free where he sees the person who gives him so much comfort.

Quietly you look at the sky, smiling a little while resting on the floor on a seat cushion, next to you an empty cup of tea. He doesn’t notice, but his corners of his mouth have slightly pulled up as he looks at your silhouette.

Again he goes back to the bedroom, fetches your thick blanket and steps together with it outside on the terrace. 

Quietly he sneaks up on you, lays the blanket over his and your body, before he silently pulls you from behind in his embrace. You say nothing either. Let his arms hold you to his body while he gives you a loving kiss on the crown.

Aizawa is not a man of big words. He’s not a person who reveals his emotions, but he would lie if he said he didn’t miss you. Although he never had a photo of you with him, because the fear was too big that the villains could do something to you, should they catch Aizawa. Still, he always had your picture before his eyes.

Your beautiful smile when you greet him with coffee in the morning. Your pouting when Aizawa had once again forgotten to eat the food you lovingly prepared for him. Your embarrassed gaze when you pulled on the zipper of his yellow sleeping bag to ask him to let you in and cuddle. He had really missed all that.

And now he is with you, has you in his arms, can feel your warmth on his skin, perceive your scent, watch you, while you can listen to the crickets chirping in peace. His arms pull you closer to him. Almost steal you the air out to breathe.

“I missed being with you like this.” His voice is serious, yet calm and full of love, as his thumbs caress your arms and he buries his head like a cat purring in the crook of your neck. Tired, Aizawa closes his eyes, enjoys the moment as your hand strolls towards his head and begins to scratch it.

You breathe with joy, smiling at the almost sleeping man on your shoulder as his lips separate and he lures up to you under his long eyelashes. “Can you turn to me, Y/n?” Although you are surprised that he is suddenly so touchy, you are also happy about his affection. After all, you missed him.

So you turn around, get closer to him to sit on his lap. But your smile fades. You gently pat him over his face, the beard stubble that has now almost become a real beard, over the large plaster that adorns his temple and think that he could probably have more injuries.

But your hand does not remain on his skin for long, as Aizawa’s hand wraps around your own and pulls it away from him, only to kiss your ankles afterwards. “Hey, kitten, it’s all right. Don’t look so sad.” 

Brooding, you try to believe him, try to smile as you look into his raven-black eyes. “Only on one condition.” You smile, but Aizawa doesn’t answer. He’s just looking at you, asking you with his gaze to continue.

“Can I play with your hair?” Of course you wanted that. Aizawa could have figured that out himself. You love burying your fingers in his hair, stroking them, playing with them. It always calmed you down, and he has to admit that it calms him down oddly too.

A slim smile spreads out on his lips, followed by a wordless nod which makes your face sparkle. The most beautiful sight for him.

Still on his lap, you braid his hair, humming happily and calming down in no time. You are sure that it will also calm Aizawa down, because his hands are no longer firmly around your body, meanwhile patting your back gently, while he has his eyes closed and tilts his head backwards.

For a while you linger like this until he bends his head slightly forward and looks at you with tired eyes. You notice how his grip gets a little tighter again, but not more tightly due to stress or tension, no more so, whether he is nervous, afraid of what he’s about to say.

“Y/n… You could really do this for hours… You know? I kind of like the way your little fingers glide through my hair.” Briefly he pauses, almost as if he is not sure to pronounce his next words. “If we ever have a daughter, you can both do it as long as you want.” His voice is confident, yet loving, while his gaze lies earnestly in yours.

You’re surprised by his words. He had never talked about own children. Always about his school class. However, it makes you happy, happy that he had thought about such a step. Happy that he apparently wants to make that step with you.

“Sounds good Shouta my love.” You smile happily and want to get up to go back to the warm with him. Since even if you’re clothed in the blanket, it’s cold outside. But his hands stop you, pull you up to him, so that your face is only a few inches away from his.

Embarrassed, he pokes your nose with his, gives you a nose kiss that makes you smile before he seals your quiet giggle with a proper kiss. Full of love, his warm lips press on yours, his beard tickles you a bit, but that doesn’t bother you right now.

For a moment, he loosens from your mouth, looks deep into your eyes, forehead pressed against forehead. “I love you Y/n. Let’s stay like this a little longer.” He whispers softly before closing his eyes to steal another kiss from your lips.

Pairing: Sawamura x reader (childhood friends) Warning: just fluff Prompts: 23. “I’ve been in-love with you since we were kids.” 36. “I like the way your hand fits in mine.”

Like every year, Valentine’s Day is the day you hate the most. These couples in love running through the city, taking photos of themselves and buying themselves completely overpriced gifts they don’t really need. Only love movies run on the TV and there is nothing else but the topic of love.

“Same shit repeatedly!” You curse while sitting on the sofa. You are still wearing your sweatpants, a wide shirt and plush socks while you cuddle up in your blanket and watch the third love film with a large cup of ice cream.

You’re annoyed that the same thing happens in every movie. The two young people know each other from an early age. Fall in love with other people to find out in the end that they only loved one person. And that’s the childhood friend. In the end, they are always a couple and live happily together.

You don’t know why, but you must think directly of Sawamura. About the fact that you two have known each other since the sandbox. Sawamura has always been an incredible man. No wonder some girls are after him. But you and him?

You’ve always been superb friends. The idea of kissing your best friend… Just as you want to think further, your vibrating cell phone gets you out of your mind. Surprised, you look at your display on which the name of Sawamura lights up.

Man of justice: There, there! What’s up with my little couch potato? Are you watching those stupid movies again? What do you say we go out and don’t think about that Valentine’s Day stuff? I’ll be there in 20 minutes?

Even though you were cold through the ice cream, you feel like your entire body is blazing like fire. You’re happy about Sawamura’s message. About him wanting to do something with you. Strangely enough, more than usual.

In a flash, you get up, barely answer him that you are waiting for him and go to your closet to find something to wear. You don’t realize that you grabbed the outfit that Sawamura likes best on you. Where each time he had laid his hand in the neck embarrassed and told you how the color and cut flatters you.

Also, you have your hair as well as he likes it most. All that subconsciously, but now that you’re standing in front of the mirror, you realize it. You want to look good for Sawamura. Your body wasn’t warm because you were under the blanket, no it was warm because you were happy about Sawamura’s message. Are you in love with him...?

No, it’s all just because of Valentine’s Day. Shaking your head, you look at your phone one last time to check the time when you hear the doorbell ringing and run like a happy toddler to the door.

Even though he knows you’re about to open the door, it feels like forever. But when he sees you standing in front of him, he forgets to breathe for a moment. You look incredible. Breathtaking, enchanting, like a real, beautiful woman.

“Daichi? Everything okay with you?” Brings him your voice back to the present, while you wave your hand at him, as if you want to see him react. 

He is sure that his cheeks are red; he is sure that his voice will sound equally strange when he opens his mouth to answer you. “Sure! Anyway, let’s go, huh?” He answers you in an odd bright tone.

But you think nothing of it. Pat him on the shoulder and walk past him. In a funny way you bend forward, stretch one arm in the road's direction and bend the other to signal Sawamura to follow you. 

“Please… After you, my dear sir.” You say in a voice that should imitate a butler, as Sawamura laughs and pulls you along by your hand.

Together you walk through the park. As everywhere else, they set many stalls up for Valentine’s Day. Many couples walk hand in hand through the area. Everyone has roses, teddy bears, chocolate or any other cheesy stuff in their hands, which only makes your eyes roll. But Sawamura only laughs.

“Come on, leave the poor lovebirds alone. They’re all madly in love.” He smiles, which causes your pulse to speed up. If it’s his smile? Or his hand that suddenly touches your back gently? You don’t know, but for some inexplicable reason, you feel strange around him today.

The brown-haired one notices that you do not answer him, just looks at him lost in thought and is not sure if he has not said something wrong. Pondering, he puts his hand down his neck and looks carefully around the park. 

“Say Y/n… Are you maybe hungry? Should I get us two portions of the dumplings over there? They look good, don’t you think?” But you just shake your head. You’re still full of that cup of ice cream you ate at home, but it’s too embarrassing for you to tell Sawamura. So you tell him you’re not very hungry, but you’d like to share a portion with him.

Nodding, he makes his way to the stall, while you wait for him leaning against a wall. You’re watching him from a distance, how he, with his hands in the pocket of his coat, swaying back and forth on his legs, waiting for the line in which he is standing to get smaller.

“That such a pretty girl like you is all alone in this park is really a crime. Don’t you think?” Disgusted, you look aside, where that voice came from, when you look into the face of a young man who has already fixed you as his prey.

“I’m not alone.” You answer only annoyed and go a step further away from him, but that does not interest him, because he has already filled the gap with his body. “Hm, can’t see a person next to you.” Again, this man grins, and again you want to take a step backwards as you feel a hand on your lower back gently hugging your body and pulling you away from the man.

“Are you all right, sweetheart?” Kisses Sawamura’s loving words, your ears and makes your cheeks glow. “Yeah… everything’s alright.” You answer irritated, but play along with him, because you want to get away from this man.

“Good. Then let’s go. If you’ll excuse us.” With these words, Sawamura gives the man a dark look, which you do not notice. You’re too caught up in this brief illusion that Sawamura’s words could be true. 

But even as you turn around, Sawamura looks back at the man who stares at you with tight eyes when your best friend reaches for your hand. It is warm and incredibly soft. Yet, ironically, it’s big and strong wrapped around your little one.

Unconsciously, you bite your lower lip, trying to hide a smile, because this tiny touch makes you so happy. But you don’t seem to be the only one who likes it. Then Sawamura’s gaze is already on your face, walking down to your hands linked.

“I like the way your hand fits in mine.” He smiles as he raises your hand with his, as if he wanted to show you what he meant by that. Puzzled, you just stare at him with your mouth open, not noticing that you are standing in front of a bench where you wanted to sit down to eat your food.

“Come on, sit down and eat before the food gets cold.” He has barely finished his sentence, since his warmth has already left your hand. Smiling, he pats on the empty seat, asking you to sit next to him.

You sit there together now, eating your differently filled dumplings, while you wonder what Sawamura meant by the fact that your hand fits so well into his. 

“I’m really sorry about that guy. But I didn’t want to make a big fuss, so I thought it best to just call you my girlfriend. I’m really sorry if that made you uncomfortable Y/n.” Apologizes Sawamura, who has already eaten half of his dumpling. 

But you’re just mumbling that it’s okay. That you didn’t mind, you even thanked him for pulling you away from that guy. Instead of answering you, he turns back to his bun with a smile which you do too.

It tastes really delicious, is filled with an insanely tasty cream and stimulates your hunger. Sawamura would certainly like this cream, too, you think, as your heart beats a few beats faster. Why do you speculate about him so much suddenly?

“Do you want to try? The stuffing is really delicious!” Now it bubbles out of you, and your cheeks pound with warmth. Even a little overwhelmed by your loud voice, he startles briefly before he smiles again and puts his hand around yours as he leads it to his mouth.

Embarrassed, you watch him clasp your hands and bite off a piece. He chews pleasurably when his hand leaves yours. Sawamura notices that you are still looking at him, sees that your gaze is suddenly different.

“Are you okay, Y/n?” But you don’t answer him. Brooding, he looks down at his dumpling, which is almost eaten when he stretches it out to you and asks you if you want a piece too.

Actually, you are already full, but Sawamura keeps the bun so close to your face that you can not help but take a bite. Although it is quite hearty, it tastes delicious. Sawamura also seems to recognize this by your satisfied face, and by the fact that a bit of the cream filling sticks to your cheek.

He chuckles as he uses his free hand to position it under your chin and uses his thumb to remove the food. Embarrassingly, you freeze by his touch, by the incredible closeness, since Sawamura is now only a few inches away from you.

“What’s wrong with you today, Y/n? You’re acting weird.” His deep voice embeds your body. “Nothing…” You stutter, turn away from him and quietly eat up your dough bag without even looking in Sawamura’s direction once more.

You sit there in silence, with your stomachs full, and look at the giggling, kissing couples. But you want to break this unpleasant calm. Want to ask him if you’d rather do something else than sit in a park, but a whole other question slipping your lips.

“What did you mean earlier? That my hands fit so well into yours?” Frightened by your question, you put your hands on your mouth, but Sawamura scratches his neck awkward when he turns to you and seeks eye contact.

“You know, I kind of had to think about the past. Because I always helped you up when you fell. And back then, I thought it was cute how well your little hand fitted into mine.” Almost a little disappointed, your fingers slide down from your lips to your lap. You don’t understand why your heart suddenly feels so weird. Why it hurts, even though nothing bad has happened.

Again you look forward as Sawamura’s hand sits on your lap. “Earth to Y/n!” He laughs, but you don’t. You just stare at him before you wander at the hand in your lap. Unconsciously, your fingertips are moving towards them. Turn his hand before they tickle his palm.

Instinctively you stroll to the one place where Sawamura always twitches with his little finger when you tickle him there and have to smile unintentionally. Back then, you thought it was lovable. That he was still doing it is really sweet.

“Say Y/n… Can I tell you something without you getting mad at me?” His calm voice gets you out of your mind. Afraid you’ll swallow a giant lump. You’re afraid he’ll tell you something that makes you sad, but you nod.

“Okay, I’ll just say it straight ahead… I like you. No, I mean, I like you more than a normal friend would do. I love you. I’ve been in-love with you since we were kids.”

He… loves you? Sawamura Daichi, your best friend, your childhood friend should love you? Your feelings are no longer in harmony. They are going crazy. They show you at the same time that you feel fear but also joy. Let your heart race.

“I… I don’t know what to say, Daichi… The thing is… I feel really weird around you today. My heart feels odd, my stomach tingles and… And I don’t know why, but somehow I was hoping… You saying that to me…” 

Your last words are so quiet that the brown-haired man hardly understands them.

“But I don’t know if I feel that way just because it’s Valentine’s Day? I don’t know, Daichi… I don’t understand myself right now.” He sees the fear in your eyes. The fear he had before he confessed his feelings to you. The fear he still has, the fear of being rejected. But you don’t reject him.

Because your hands press the hand that lies on your lap so firmly that Sawamura almost senses the feeling of numbness in it. He just smiles, hopes to take away the fear you and bends forward.

He removes the last inches that still separated your face to give you a loving kiss on the cheek. “It’s all right, Y/n.” Take your time, I can tell you all this again in two weeks, when you don’t think about Valentine’s Day anymore.” 

He whispers to you with his eyes closed before he gives you a poke with his nose and moves away from you again.

But you don’t need two weeks. Then, in the evening, you lie on the sofa in Sawamura’s arms, surrounded by silence, listening to him revel in old memories while he plays with your fingertips in a loving way.

[imnotwolverine]

Stay

Henry Cavill x reader one-shot

Disclaimer: NSFW, Angsty nightmarish smut, injury by boiling water, bodily fluids, unprotected sex

Word count: 2.414

Author’s note: I’ve written this fic after a fic request I received from the lovely @wednesdaybraids : “Can I make a fic request, for Henry? Female has many nightmares about Henry leaving for work and ultimately leaving her. One night her nightmares wake Henry, who tries to soothe her and give her "proper" reminder that he's not going anywhere, that he won't return from. Listening to 5 Finger Death Punch's Walk Away, has me in an angsty mood.”

--

‘Please stay.’ You trembled, your voice coarse as you listened to the deafening silence at the other side of the phone line. Was he even there? 

‘H-Henry?’ 

*KGGGGG - beep beep beep*

Did he just..did he just hang up on you? You blinked slowly, eyes burning with anxiety as you removed the phone from your ear, the screen indeed showing that the call had ended. One of many calls. 

Your thumb switched the device back to the main screen, a picture of a shared holiday with him in the background. You, him, laughing like there wasn’t a worry in the world. But there was a worry in the world now. Why wasn’t he answering? Was something wrong? Did something happen? Did YOU do something wrong? Hmmm.. not willing yourself to give in to your anxious, jittery heart, you moved through your small studio apartment to make yourself some tea. 

If anything could calm you when he wasn’t around, it was a nice cuppa cuppa. Keeping your phone close in hand in case he’d manage to call back - which was unlikely as he was super busy with wrapping up filming for his new movie - you flicked on the electric water kettle. 

*Click* 

Strange. Did it just..turn off by itself? Flicking down the little plastic lever again it did indeed shoot back after a second or so. Ugh..darned thing! Pushing your thumb on the lever to keeping it down, you decided to just stay like that until it came to a boil - if electronics failed, manual labour had to step in. 

Talking about electronics. You looked back at your lit up phone screen, your other hand semi-automatically opening Whatsapp to see if he was perhaps shooting a message through there. And, let the devil be speaking, finally you saw the long awaited; Henry is typing…

With your heart beating loudly in your chest, your finger kept on the proverbial trigger, or in this case water kettle, you watched and watched. Waited and waited. 

He removed the message. 

Oh come on! Furrowing your brows slightly, the kettle now coming to a slow boil, you saw it again: Henry is typing… 

Okay, come on now. You just wanted to know when he was going to be back home. That’s all. No difficult question, right? 

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

The microwave started to call for your attention, even though you couldn’t remember ever having turned it on. Keeping your finger on the kettle lever - darned thing - you reached out to open and close the microwave door, the beeping quieting down again. What was it with these machines today? There wasn’t even anything IN the darn microwave. Sighing you returned your attention to the screen. 

Henry is typing… 

*TRRRRRRRRIIIIINGGGGGGGGG*

‘Oh..come on..’ You turned a little, seeing the kitchen timer jitter over the small kitchen table. ‘How..?’ You frowned and reached your free arm out to catch the timer before it walked right off the edge of the white washed wooden surface. And then the freaking microwave started humming like it was heating something up. And..the clock on the wall started to tick real loud. 

Flicking your eyes back and forth between the hellish orchestra that was starting to build up into a crescendo you barely realised when the water in the kettle came to a boil. In fact you could swear the very house was haunted, a soft scratch at the door from a dog that wasn’t there. The clock ticking and ticking. Louder..louder! You felt yourself suffocate as your ears rung, all appliances in your kitchen slowly coming to life. And then there was your phone, stuck in an endless repeat of  “Henry is typing…” 

That was until his message did finally appear. 

And then.. 

Everything became quiet, your eyes rushing over the black little letters that etched the brightly lit screen. 

Henry: Babe. Sorry for hanging up on you. I don’t know how to say this. I wish I could tell you what you want to hear, but I just can’t. It’s too much. I fear I cannot give you what you want ..and need. And that’s not fair. For neither of us. You are such an amazing woman and I love you so much, so terribly much, that I just can’t say these words to you, to your face. I would just give in again, postpone the inevitable, delay what I have to do. I can’t do this any longer. Us. I’m so sorry. I really am. Henry.

W-what? 

You felt every fibre of your being falter, your legs stumbling and your arms grabbing onto anything to hold onto. Anything to keep you upright, to solidify the crumbling ground beneath you. You grasped and grasped and reached and reached, fingertips flailing in the suffocating air. But none could stop the truly inevitable; your crash down from paradise. 

It was then, a moment too late that you realised what you DID take down with you in your fall. The kettle, hot water starting to spill from its snout, a fountain of hell-water spitting evil burning tears, scorching splatters, followed by a wave that melted away what Henry had not taken away. Your shell of skin and bones. The pain that coursed through your nerves but a mere echo of the ache that had broken your heart in a million pieces. 

Wailing you reached up, more so for your phone than to save yourself. You needed him, you needed him! You..

--

‘Sweetheart.’ A tender hand caressed your boiling hot skin, streaks of hair stuck to your clammy face. Shooting up in bed you were out of breath from the mere act of waking up. At least..this was you waking up, right? 

Gasp, gasp, gasp. Your eyes wide with shock, you saw the absolute last thing you thought you’d see next to you. 

Henry. 

‘Hey..are you okay?’ His brows furrowed in worry as he noticed the absolutely bewildered expression on your face. Slowly shaking your head you took a shivery breath, your lungs still tight and your skin tingling with the memory of the scorching traces of the boiling water that had melted you away moments earlier.

‘Fuck.’ You gasped, unwanted tears starting to spill from your eyes. ‘I..I..’ Your lip started to shiver, the tears almost having a cooling effect on your hot skin. ‘Hey..hey hey..Sshhh..shhh. You’re safe. It’s okay. It’s okay.’ Henry also sat up and pulled you into the safety of his chest, large arms wrapping around your trembling frame. 

‘I thought...oh gods..’ You angrily wiped away some of your tears. ‘..I thought you left.’ 

‘What? What do you mean baby?’ He cupped your cheek and turned your face so he could search your eyes, your large watery eyes, the white of your eyes reddened with the prickling of the salt water onslaught. 

‘Mwuuu..’ You bawled, leaning into his chest, your nose starting to run with snot that mingled with the tears as they drowned you slowly. 

‘Sshhh..baby I’m right here. I’m right here.’ He murmured, pulling you into his warm, naked chest, his breath smelling of musky sleep and night flights. 

‘I thought you left me.’ You finally muttered, quietly, your tears slowly dying down as Henry’s warm embrace and deep musky scent calmed you, his lips pressing small kisses into your hair. 

‘And why would I do that?’ He asked gently, pressing another kiss on your temple before pulling back slightly, watching your eyes as they quickly averted away from him. 

‘I don’t know. You were away, shooting a movie. And I tried to c-call you..and..’ Another sob broke through. ‘..and then you texted me that you didn’t want to see m-mu-me anymore.’ 

Henry was quiet for a moment, eyes searching your face but you kept looking away. ‘Sweetie..hey..look at me.’ You shivered at his words and your lip started to tremble again. ‘I would NEVER do that. Okay? And what a fool I’d be to let you go. Look at you! You’re perfect for me. Inside and out. Hey..ssshh..shhh..baby..come on..’ 

‘But what..what if that changes? Hmm?’ You finally looked back into those big blue puppy eyes, a worried storm raging behind them. He wasn’t used to seeing you so upset. 

‘People change.’ You muttered. 

‘And so we will. But we can change together. Grow together. I want that. Okay? Now...’ He used both his hands to cup your face, thumbs brushing away all those angry tears. ‘..it was just a nightmare okay? I love you,’ He pressed a kiss on your brow. ‘I love you.’ He kissed the tip of your nose. ‘I love you.’ He kissed your lips, delicately, your eyes fluttering closed at the sensation of his pillowy lips filling your heart with his tender promise. 

And ugh..there was something about your sweet prince chasing away your concerns like they were just another monster to defeat. Like the hailing sun, Henry would be there, his caressing, warm fingers willing you to surrender to his touch. You sighed softly and leaned into his hands. 

‘Again.’ You whispered quietly. 

‘Again what?’ - ‘The kiss.’ You said shyly, blinking open your eyelids, long lashes sticking together with the remnants of your tears. Henry smiled. 

‘Just a kiss?’ He looked deep into your eyes, searching for the true answer there. 

‘Mmm-maybe a little more. To make the bad thoughts go away?’ 

‘Want me to SHOW you how much I don’t want to leave you? How much I always miss you?’ He smiled softly, then pulled you back to his lips, his stubble delightfully scratching against your skin as he placed another kiss on your lips. 

‘Mhm.’ You hummed, deepening the kiss, so eager to make him do just that. Show you just how much he loved you. Because no nightmare could ever win from the truth that was in Henry’s eyes, hands, heart, as he pushed you back down on the pillows, the crinkled sheets beneath you becoming a whole new ocean to drown in, writhe in, his lips claiming every inch of your skin until your tears had been replaced with soft giggles. 

‘Hen..please.’ You sniffled, wishing him to come back to you. ‘Please what? Hmm?’ He smiled against your belly button, flicking out his tongue and using his hands to spread your legs a little wider, creating space for him to crawl on top of you, right in between your waiting thighs. 

‘Please take me.’ You whispered onto his lips, lips that turned up into such a devilish smile that you just knew how glad he was to hear those words come from your bruised lips. 

‘You want that, hmm?’ He purred.  

‘I need you Hen..’ You sighed, closing your eyes as you felt him rub his groin into your soaking folds, experimentally sliding down to coat himself in your juices. 

Here you were, naked as the day you were born, your sweet prince having slain the beast, now ready to claim his prize. And oh..he was taking far too long, far too… ‘Please.’ You muled, wrapping your legs around his waist and trying your best to pull him closer to you..inside of you. 

Henry breathed into the crook of your neck, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. ‘Do you now believe me?’ He said, rubbing his cock against you once more, your core lighting up with desire as skin rubbed onto skin. You keened softly and writhed underneath his touch. Underneath his groin. 

Mmm..that delicious friction. 

But you needed more. So much more. 

‘Not enough.’ You breathed. 

Which was enough to make Henry squeeze a hand in between your bodies, his expert fingers finding your nub before you could even fully understand what he was doing. You gasped as wild electricity burst through your veins, the tears and terror fast forgotten as your body trembled by a whole new onslaught of feelings and sensations. 

‘Oh gods Henry.’ You gasped, clawing into his back. 

‘And now?’ He smiled, biting gently in the soft tissue of your neck. ‘Almost..almost..’ You shivered. 

‘Mm..’ He growled and shifted his weight up..up...and IN. 

‘OH GODS.’ You gasped, your open mouth captured between his lips before you could let out any more throaty moans and gasps. With a practised jerk of his hips he was snugly sheathed inside your trembling walls, ready to show you just how unwilling he was to let you go. And he was more than eager to show you again..and again...and again..one thrust at a time, his finger keeping up that much desired friction on your nub, until all you could think and feel was Henry. 

Henry, Henry, Henry. 

The sheets were your ocean as you swam in love, no dream quite managing to touch you like this, make you feel like this. Oh, how great this primal dance was, your limbs entangled and your moans a song that were only meant for his ears and his ears only. A dance you practised often, and gladly. Especially after he had been away for just too long. 

Like he had been now. 

Oh, how eager you both were to close the distance between you two until there was no inch more to gain, your bodies practically one. 

‘FUCK.’ He growled, teeth nipping on your jaw as his steady rhythm became more frantic, more alive, more needy. The restraint of your sweet prince could no longer hold back the bear that thundered deep inside Henry’s chest, the beast ready to chase his end of the bargain. 

‘Gods baby.’ He groaned, hips stuttering as the end was so very near now. You couldn’t speak, could barely breathe, his weight pressing you deeper into the mattress with every rough jerk, every flinch of his muscular physique. Until all you could do was give yourself like he gave himself to you. 

‘Gods I missed you baby.’ He breathed, the vague scent of airplane still hanging around him, bringing with it the memory of how many weeks you've had to miss him. How lonely your shared bed had been.

You could only nod, hands clawing into his back as he spasmed, a final war cry leaving his bruised lips. 

For the slightest moment you were truly one. His body collapsed into you, his heavy breath ghosting over your shivering skin. ‘I love you.’ He whispered, pushing himself back on his forearms once he somewhat regained his strength. But you protested. 

‘No.’ You whimpered, begging him to lay back down on you. Cover you like a weighted blanket. He frowned slightly - ever careful, because he truly didn’t want to hurt you. 

‘Please, stay.’ You whispered. 

And so he did. He stayed. 

--

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