#we all wanna hug roach

[youredyingthatsallthereis]

entomologist roach who has been applying for grants left and right to try and get money to study endangered & rare insect species around the world and museum owner soap who decides to fund him so that he can ID and collect specimens for his collections on one condition: soap travel everywhere around the world with him so that they can sightsee together

[nostalgiclittlespace]

hihi! if ur taking requests…

her main cg: husk (and or) angel, whatever floats ur boat !!

little: niffty

plot: maybe niffty regresses to abt 2-3 and she’s really hyper ? like maybe they need to get her to nap or something?

thank you if you do this! don’t feel pressured if u don wanna :>

Hi!!! I honestly had a lot of fun with this one; I wrote both Angel and Husk as her CGs btw. Niffty is so chaotic when little, she’d absolutely need them both XD. I hope you enjoy!

SFW AGE REGRESSION FIC. DNI IF NSFW, K!NK, MAP, PROSHIP OR SIMILAR. DO NOT REPOST TO OTHER SITES.

Title: Sugar Rush and Storytime

Word count: 1477

Pairing: CG! Husk & CG! Angel Dust x Little! Niffty. Background Huskerdust

Description: Despite a long day of endless adventures and play, Niffty still isn’t tired. Maybe giving her so many sweet treats wasn’t a good idea after all…Good thing Husk’s storytimes a can come to the rescue! AKA, Husk and Angel are exhausted parents. (Fluff)

Sugar Rush and Storytime

“Oh, come on, Nif!” Angel exclaimed in exasperation as the little cyclops climbed up the lobby’s bookshelf.  

It was as if she were trying out for his part as resident spider.  She had been running and climbing frantically for the past ten minutes.  Husk and Angel’s team efforts to catch her had proved unsuccessful.  Even with the cat’s wings and the latter’s many arms, Nifty always evaded their grasp.  Her wiggling and teasing giggles showed just how much of a game she considered it.  Not that her caretakers were the least bit amused.

Before this, Angel and Husk’s playtime with Niffty had been a positive experience actually!  Tea parties, getting introduced to all her roaches, endless hours of games, and exploring the Hazbin Hotel…One would have assumed the girl would be ready for a break by now.  

“Snacktime, then nap,” Husk had said half an hour ago.  “She’ll settle down.”

As if the fates controlling Hell had a rather sadistic sense of humor, Niffty had not in fact settled down.

Despite their usual routine, despite all their adventures that had certainly left Angel and Husk exhausted, Niffty had no interest in taking her usual nap.

“I told you not to give her so many cupcakes!” Husk growled, trying and failing to catch her.

Right.  Niffty’s newfound energy rush might have been caused by all the sweet treats Angel Dust had given her for a snack.  But she had asked so nicely!  Looked up at him with that enormous eye and blinked so innocently, and hugged his leg happily when he agreed?  Did Husk actually expect Angel to deny the little one?  He wasn’t cold and heartless! 

“I only gave her three!” Angel argued, but broke off the argument with an abrupt,  “Aha!”

Just then, Angel snatched Niffty from the top bookshelf she had managed to climb up.  She pouted a little, exclaiming and babbling something unintelligible.  

“Gotcha, Nif!” Angel cheered, pulling her close. 

“Finally,” Husk huffed.  “Alright, Nif, naptime.”

“No!” Nifty half whined, half giggled.

Already, she tried worming out of Angel Dust’s grip.  She likely would have succeeded if the arachnid didn’t use all six of his arms to hold her steady.  Angel and Husk shared a glance, silently communicating their predicament.

It was naptime.  Niffty wasn’t tired.  Do they let her stay up, choose their battles?  Or put their foot down?

“Maybe we could let her stay up for ten more minutes?” Angel suggested quietly.  “She could let the rest of her energy out and–”

“Yeah!  A hundred more minutes!” Nifty declared, then breaking free of Angel’s hold.

The cyclops landed on the ground, and sprung up to her feet immediately.  In inimaginable speeds, she took off running.  Delightedly, she darted laps around the lobby and squealed and screamed childishly.

“No, no, no!  I said ten minutes!” Angel tried to protest before sheepishly turning to Husk.  The cat had not raised his head from a face palm.  “Uh, oops?” Angel laughed nervously.

“Next time she’s regressed, I’m kicking you off the shift,” Husk grumbled as they watched the chaos unfolding before them.

“Aw, you don’t mean that,” Angel grinned.  “No way you could stand all the tea parties and dress up without me to keep you company.  You might do some fine drag–the pink dress Nif had you in today was real pretty on you–but its hardly a show with only one dressing up.”

“Not everything is a show,” Husk grumbled as he and Angel wandered over the couch Niffty was currently launching herself from, jumping from furniture to furniture.

“You in a dress sure is though, Husky.”

Before Husk could retort, Niffty came barreling around the couch again, this time running at full speed towards the cat.  She careened into him, wrapping her arms around one leg.  If years under Alastor’s, and thus Niffty’s shenanigans, he surely would have toppled over from the strength.  However, the cat was sturdier than he looked, and managed to keep complete balance as the little cyclops clung onto him.

“Husker!” she shrieked excitedly.

“Hey there, kiddo.  You feeling tired at all yet?”

“No!  Let’s play a game!”

“We’re supposed to be having quiet time right now, Nif,” Husk reminded her, arching an eyebrow.

“Noooo,” Niffty insisted.  “No nap!”

“You don’t have to nap during quiet time,” Angel remarked slyly, clearly having something in mind.  “It just means you have to do some calm activities.  How about that?”

Tapping her chin in thought, Niffty considered the possibility.  Angel and Husk exchanged pleading, hopeful eyes.  Surely, if they could convince her to just settle down, then she would inevitably fall asleep on her own.  All that playing had to have worn her down, right?

“Only if Husker reads a story!” Niffty declared.  “Then we play tag!  And hide and seek!  Then another tea party!”

“Oh, fine,” Husk sighed, as if the request bothered him at all.

It really didn’t.  Angel knew full and well that storytime was one of Husk’s favorite activities.  Something quiet and calm, something he did well.  After all, his low, comforting voice calmed anyone who heard it.  Niffty was no exception.

The girl snatched Angel’s and Husk’s hands, already pulling them towards the couch.  Determined, she directed Husk to the center cushion before running over to the lobby bookshelf.  As she shuffled through the picture book titles, both caregivers said their silent prayers that storytime would effectively send her off to dreamland.  

If it failed, they’d inevitably be stuck chasing her around the Hotel for who knows how long…

A moment later, Niffty ran back to the couch, a large picture book in her hands and her eye glowing with excitement.  Shoving it into Husk’s paws, she then scrambled into the seat beside him.  Charlotte’s Web, Husk noted with faint amusement.  Briefly, he pondered if Niffty’s arachnid caregiver influenced the choice.  He kept the thought to himself, however, flipping it to the first page.

“Chapter one, Before Breakfast…” Husk began.

Minutes passed by.  Serenity filled the air as Husk’s voice carried through the lobby.  Miraculously, Niffty actually quieted down to listen.  Peering over his arm, she viewed the illustrations with interest.  

As the time passed, her eye grew noticeably heavier, taking longer and slower blinks.  Perhaps only a few more minutes until she fell asleep completely then…

“You may have redeemed yourself by convincing her to take the quiet time,” Husk muttered to Angel as he turned the page.  However, he received no reply.  Glancing over, he saw the Angel had his eyes closed too.

“Angel, are you asleep?” Husk hissed.  

“Hm?  Oh, no…” the spider hummed, though he sure sounded close to dreamland.  “Keep reading.”

Sighing, Husk resumed his reading.  His low voice carried through the otherwise silent lobby.  The occasional page turn or a yawn would add onto the serenity every few minutes.  

As Husk read, he felt Niffty go slack in his lap, and her breathing even out to slow, deep breaths.  On his other side, Angel was sure feeling pretty limp too; his floof of head fur tickled and teased Husk’s shoulder, and the spider made no move to sit up, even after Husk had closed the book.

“Angel?” Husk inquired quietly, in case he had indeed fallen asleep.

But, the spider only mumbled something sleepily and shrugged a little before his soft, snoozing snores resumed.

Guess I’m stuck here, Husk mused.

As he waited for Niffty and Angel to awaken again, he mused what the hell he’d do with his not-so-free time.  The TV remote was too far away to get without disturbing one or both of the sinners asleep on him.  He could read the newspaper Alastor had abandoned on the coffee table?  

Yes, that sounded like a good plan.  But, he’d just sit here for a moment too.  Just take some deep breaths to recover from the eventful afternoon he had just experienced.  Besides, the weight of Angel and Niffty on either side of him was admittedly rather relaxing…

Husk fought off a yawn of his own as he mindlessly stroked Niffty’s hair.  Somewhere along the way, he convinced himself to rest his eyelids.  Not to fall asleep of course, just to relax…

But, as if Hell found humor in turning the cat even softer, he too fell into a peaceful sleep only a minute later.  

***

It was hours later before any of them woke up.  Further proof of her endless energy, Nifty arose before Angel or Husk.  She opened her eye blearily, and looked around the empty lobby, then at the clock.  Seeing it was time to help Alastor make dinner, she slipped off the couch before snatching a cozy blanket and creeping towards Husk and Angel again.   Carefully, she tucked the blanket around her exhausted caregivers.  

Her gesture was simple compared to the endless care they showed her, but that didn’t mean it contained any less love.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

03/09/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

Alright luvs. This recaps gonna be bloody short and interesting because I'm drunk as a fish. Seriously, doing the accents and everything while writing this. Just warning you! Please forgive me for minor issues in grammar. I am not going to be able to cover everything because my brain just doesn't have the capacity, so I promise tomorrow will catch up on Saturday's news as well. I will try to catch the highlights though.

== #ThankYouOFMD ==

The big event today was the #ThankYouOFMD event going on on Twitter, hosted by @OFMDFanCrew. Everyone shared so much love for Cast & Crew as well as fellow fan crews. @OFMDFanCrew asked for us to use #ThankYouOFMD.

Here are some of the prompts:

By the time I logged off after Midnight MST, we were at:

== Cast & Crew SIghtings ==

== Samba Schutte ==

The Roach's Rascal's have commissioned a Cameo from our beloved Samba Schutte!

Samba Cameo

= Erroll Shand =

Our friend @errollshand popped in during our #ThankYouOFMD Event and said some very kind words.

= Lindsey Cantrell =

@linds_cantrell sent so much love back at us and our dear friend @smurfsm00.

== Taika ==

Just a random peak of Taika and Rita

== Watch Party Reminders ==

Mar 10: Yes Man Watch Party

Celebrate our Captain in his first movie!

Time/Date: March 10, 2024, 12 Noon PT / 3pm EST / 8pm GMT

Watch Party Hashtags:

#HellYesRhys

#RhysDarbyFaction

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

Graphic by @ICouldBeFamily

== Wrecked ==

There are sources being passed around. If access is an issue, DM @iamadequate1 on Twitter or Tumblr

Season 2 watch from March 11th to March 15th. 

Season 3 watch from March 18th to March 22nd. 

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST. Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each. Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags: 

#WreckedPirates

#SaveOFMD

#RhysDarbyFaction

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies. Sorry that this is all I can give you tonight. I'll try to catch up on everything tomorrow. I took my own advise and took a break tonight, which meant not getting to everything I should of. I hope it's not too disappointing. You did amazing today showing just how much love we have out there for each other, and for our cast and crew. The amount of love swarming the internet is stifling. This isn't the end. We're all still here. We'll still be annoyingly optimistic, and loving, and full of meta, and art and words. Go and enjoy yourself loves. Take a break, give yourself the hugest hug, you deserve it.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

I'm drunk, this is whatcha get. Sorry loves. I dont think it's too bad. Makes me wanna have a drink with Taika.. and... whatever stick Rhys is into there.

Rhys Courtesy of @ofmd-ann

Taika Courtesy of @caribbean1989

[hunterbunter3000]

i’m curious on what would happen if sweetheart actually flirted back with the boys, im just wondering how’d they react to it. same with if she did flirt back sexually

OOOOUUUUU THIS IS A GOOD ONE

(I have never flirted in my life at all-- you'll see that throughout this whole thing)

She's never really seen any of them in a romantic or even a sexual light. But after what happened with Alex kneeling and Soap pinning her down, her feelings are kinda starting to change 👀👀

Like with Alex, we was surprised about it, but he immediately goes with it and thinks he has a chance (She's drunk and forgets about it the next day AJAHA)

And with Soap, he just short-circuits LOL like especially when she has him pinned, she'll just look at him for the longest and say "I like you under me." HE'LL BE SO SHOCKED AND TURNED ON

With Ghost, he doesn't really flirt. He shows his romantic ways in his jokes and just taking care of Sweetheart. In my mind, they flirt by just telling each other jokes. And Simon always feels warm everytime

Price? I can't really see him flirt either, he shows his love through his actions (I honestly think that he'll be too rusty to flirt) maybe he'll say something cheeky 🤭

Krueger tries to flirt-- he can tease, but flirt? Why flirt just say that you wanna FUCK (bruh and he has. So many times to Sweetheart. I got a fucking drabble for that shit good lord)

Alejandro is shocked but he immediately likes it. He goes farther more, see where the line ends (hopefully never)

Rudy flirts with his poems, but Sweetheart flirts with him anyway because he's so easy to tease with. He just goes red and starts stuttering over his words, it's so cute to Sweetheart

Roach flirts by physical touch, he's always in Sweetheart's personal space, climbing on her, hugging her, booping her nose. And she does it back-- HE JUST FALLS ON THE FLOOR

Graves doesn't get to flirt with Sweetheart because she doesn't give him a chance to (she either kicks him in the shin or gives him the bird)

Gaz would probably laugh it off, since he's also a teasing flirt. But on the inside he is SCREAMING AND YELLING-- HE IS BANGING ON THE WALLS IN AGONY BECAUSE HE JUST LAUGHED IT OFF INSTEAD OF SAYING SOMETHING ELSE

Horangi wouldn't know what to do with himself. He also flirts through his poems, maybe let a Lil thing slide out here and there but really says how he feels about Sweetheart in his writing (and diary) but if she whispers something in his ear, all low and shit-- bitch we're going to his room.

König? Idk if he would flirt. He would be a playful tease, like "jokey joke haha" but if she would do more than that? If Sweetheart legit flirted with him? He honestly wouldn't even notice if she did. He would think she's joking and then go back to playful. It would take all day until he's laying down in bed thinking about, and then it clicks like "OOOHHHHHHH SHE WAS FUCKING FLIRTING ME FUCK"

[funkygroovejam]

Finally! After a very long time, I had a heart dream last night, which I'm going to tell you about. The dream was brief, but that’s OK. I’m guessing the dream was brought about by the concert I had just attended, and my sizzling brain state of mind. Also, I had recently commented on couple of heart files, in which I mentioned a heart hug. This pic was taken last night at Fete, in Providence, for a Papadosio concert. No, not Papa Roach. No, not Mr. Papagiorgio.

The dream took place in my basement. Three of us were down there: me, a guy, and a lady. We went down there after arriving at my house after a concert. There was a bed that the two of them were chilling on. I was chilling in a chair. The guy stands, and then walks to the bathroom. After he closes the door, I look at her, and her at me. I jump up and scamper over to her. I grab her and give her a huge hug. I tell her that I want to feel her heart pounding. I dig my hands into her back as I press her tight against me. I can feel her heart hammering against me. I kiss all about her neck as I move my hands all about her shoulders and back, squeezing and caressing. I look into her eyes as I tell her how wonderful her heart feels. I peel her way from me just enough so that I can press my hand to her chest. Her heart pounds beneath my hand. I tell her how fast it is beating and how easily I can feel it. She looks at me with a worried face because the guy is making noise in the bathroom, and she fears he may walk out at any moment. She tells me to hug her tightly again, so I do, but this time tighter and more passionately. She says she wishes I didn’t have to let go. She wants me to keep feeling her heart pounding, but I break away, and hurry back to the seat just as the guy opens the door.

I am sooooo craving a heart hug. I wanna feel that pump hammering against me. Next concert, next Sunday, on the waterfront. I wonder if the situation might occur where I’m at a concert, giving out greetings, in the form of hugs, to my fellow concert peeps, and I ask one of the ladies I’m greeting if I can hug her in such a way that I might feel her heart thumping.

[izzy-b-hands]

"Roach."

"Hm?"

"Roach, it's been fifteen minutes."

Roach waves away Izzy's words and stares down the lobsters in the tank. "I'll know when I know."

"I know, but they do close soon."

"How soon?"

"I was supposed to have my section closed and clean by now," the exhausted looking seafood counter worker interjects. "Sir, I'm not trying to be rude but-"

"Both," Roach decides, biting back a smile because he can feel Izzy wanting to say something about it.

He tips the counter worker (not allowed, but done out of sight of any cameras or managers), thanks them for their patience, and jogs after Izzy to reach the last open checkout.

--

"You seriously got both because they reminded you of us?"

Roach nods and swallows a mouthful of salad.

"...But now we're eating them," Izzy continues.

"I like getting my mouth around you, don't I?"

Izzy blushes redder than the lobsters. "You do."

Roach looks over the nonperishable groceries yet unpacked in the kitchen. He's never cooked for the entire staff before, let alone had that many people in their apartment.

Oh. Their tiny, tiny, apartment.

"Izzy," Roach peers around the apartment as if seeing it for the first time. "How many people total will we have here on The Day?"

Izzy thinks. "Counting us..."

He sets his fork down slowly, and looks with Roach to the living room not more than a few feet from them. With its cozy chaise lounge, multiple floor cushions, and loveseat.

"Twenty," Izzy says weakly. "Heh. Twenty people, in here?"

They sit in the panicked silence together for a moment.

"Holy fuck why didn't I think of that?" Izzy grumbles and stabs at his innocent lobster. "We'll figure it out."

"No," Roach sighs. "They must know we don't live somewhere huge. There's only two of us and the snakes!"

"Stede put together the email announcement for it," Izzy says with another solemn bite of lobster. "Do you think he mentioned that?"

Roach frowns. "No. He almost definitely did not."

"We could rent some chairs," Izzy hesitates, and Roach can't help but laugh.

--

"This is way too much," Roach breathes, looking over the high and ornate ceiling of the ballroom. "How much did this cost, exactly?"

"I have my savings," Izzy replies in a rush. "Don't worry about it. Besides, Bonnet will probably toss some money towards this too. You know how excited he is."

Roach nods. That is very true. There's been an email daily about The Day and how Stede simply can't wait to see what Roach makes because his food on potluck days are always amazing and-

"Breathe," Izzy taps Roach's arm, then grasps it. "Love, hey. Come back from whatever waking nightmare you're imagining."

"How do you always know?"

Izzy scoffs. "What do you think I'm doing myself?"

--

"You look lovely," Izzy kisses him softly. "This will go well. If it doesn't, I'll kill someone. Whoever you want, no restrictions."

Roach giggles and wraps Izzy in a hug, damn the wrinkles to his fancy suit (purchased to match the fanciness of the rented historical house.)

"See?" Izzy rubs his back. "We're good."

They take the bus there, though Izzy insists he could afford a cab at least.

And maybe he could, with the money he's saved since starting to work for Stede and Ed. They pay well, almost too well, not that anyone would complain about that.

But Roach relishes the way Izzy rests his head on him while the bus makes its way downtown, to the historical district, where it's almost glowing.

"Oh fuck," Roach shakes Izzy. "Look."

Out the bus window, the historic house is in flames. Along with all the groceries and other supplies they'd taken to it the day before.

"Um," the bus driver leans back in their seat. "I know y'all mentioned this was your destination, but like...in light of the circumstances, maybe you just wanna stay on until I circle back to your stop?"

Roach nods. "Thank you."

The bus jerks to a start, and Roach drops his head into his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

He just wanted to make his friends a nice fucking dinner.

"Okay," Izzy says, phone already out of his suit pocket. "We've got this-"

"Do we?" Roach scoffs. "I should have just bought pizza for lunch at the office."

Izzy lays a hand on his back. "If that's what you'd prefer, then we can do that."

"I feel like an idiot."

"Well, unfortunately for you, you aren't," Izzy says. "You'd have to do something like Bonnet for that to apply."

"He didn't mean to set the copier on fire," Roach leans back in his seat.

"He was supposed to be changing the toner!"

"He'd never done it before!"

"Yeah, but even so," the bus driver pipes up, clearly bored with only two passengers on for the last nightly route. "That's a big fuck up. How'd he even do that?"

Izzy gestures to the driver. "See? You aren't an idiot for trying to do something nice. Had you been the one to set the house on fire while cooking, then maybe, but-"

Roach laughs. "Okay, alright. I get your point. But seriously, this is a fucking mess. At best, we call them all and what, tell them to come to our place?"

--

"I like the cushions," Louis says, sitting down carefully in front of the TV tray. "Thank you for dinner!"

"Thank you for coming to dinner," Roach says, setting Louis' plate on the tray. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Roach," Mary says gently, perched in Doug's lap on part of the loveseat. "Sit down and eat! We can get up and grab things as needed too."

"You're my guests!" Roach protests. "It's the least I can do to make up for this mess."

"I don't see a mess," Ed says. He and Stede mirror Mary and Doug, with Ed snuggled on Stede's lap. "I see gorgeous interior decorating and good food."

"Sit," Izzy moves past him and plants a kiss on his temple. "Or I'll make you."

"And what, sit on me?"

"Whatever it takes."

[anniezsecretz]

Replacement ★ (Ch 3) OC x Simon "Ghost" Riley

HELLO! I AM BACK! :D I had to take a short break due to school, but I have chapter 3 hot and ready for y'all! I'm SO sorry I disappeared, but I should be staying. :) thank you for reading as always!

you can find this chapter of replacement on ao3 here first chapter ★ prev ★ next

★★★★★★★★★

chapter tags:// anxiety, older brother price, captain OC, OC x Simon “Ghost” Riley, light trauma mentions, emotional support pup, OOC Ghost (for a reason), spiteful Ghost, enemies to lovers (enemies), vague mentions of death, canon deviation, angst/comfort, alcohol mentions, drunk squad, bonding

★★★★★★★★★

bite-sized synopsis: trick is finally starting to feel like part of the squad after a mission success and goes out to celebrate

                                           ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・ A knock on my office door, and I invited whoever was there in with a, “Get your butt in here if you wanna talk.” I was busy filling out some of the mountain of paperwork we were given after our missions every time. But hell, it seems like these documents are double what I’d have to fill out with my old squad. Well, John and I decided to just call them the 1-4-2 instead of my old squad. It fits in more than I thought it would.

But I had an unexpected visitor at my door: Gaz, with Soap and Roach at my door frame. “Hey Trick! The mission went well soooo…” he drew that out like he expected me to know. Instead, I gave him a blank stare from behind my slightly tinted goggles with a shrug.

He huffed. “We’re heading to a pub to celebrate, all of us. Even Price. We also have a spare seat ‘n were wondering if you’d wanna come with?” Gaz’s invitation was unexpected, and I felt myself practically light up. Light up into a million fireworks that go off in my office like the Fourth of July, probably burning everything around me.

I bit my bottom lip underneath my mask, a bad habit of mine to help me think. “Y’know what? Sure. I can see if y’all can handle yer alcohol like I can,” I said with a slight muse in my voice. “I’ll be there in 5, lemme do these papers real quick. Parking lot?”

Gaz gave me a thumbs up with that smile of his before dragging the boys with him away. I could hear Soap’s excitement about going to a pub and Roach’s small question about it. A laugh escaped my mouth while I moved my fountain pen on the papers I was signing, being very careful with my writing.

I haven’t done these kinds of papers in so long. Usually, I’d be working on them with my 1-4-2 officer— who was surprisingly not Xiomara but instead Jackson, Callsign Falcon.

Jackson would critique me for my messy writing and leave me laughing about it, then letting him rewrite it in nice legible cursive. He was my most trusted officer; he’s saved my life a few times too. He and I were both heartbroken by Xiomara’s… loss. The entire squad was, we all wanted to pack up and run away.

I heard he’s still on recovery leave. That’s what John had told me, at least.

Speaking of the devil, John’s knuckles wrapped on my office door frame and invited himself in, standing in front of my desk with a light smile overshadowed by his mustache. “You ready, Ver?” He asked in his usual father-like voice, but I think that’s just the oldness in him really showing at this point.

“Mm. Yeah, I think I’m ready. I got a good chunk down; I’ll get the rest done later in the evening.” I stood up and went around my desk to John. But I felt compelled to do something. I just stood in front of him awkwardly, looking right up at him with my hands awkwardly down at my sides. I lifted up my goggles on top of my hat to look at him properly.

I wrapped my arms around John and hugged him. Shit, I could barely wrap my arms around him but I managed to still, barely. He stood in shock momentarily before hugging me back and gently patting me on the back. “I’m proud o’ you, Ver. You’ve been through so much, ‘n here you are. As strong as a boulder, eh?”

The words coming from his mouth made me tear up. Fuck.

I have been told “you’ve been through so much” as a pitying phrase. As a “oh you poor thing” phrase. But never in the way John told me, he told me he was proud of me. And not even my own brothers would say that they’re proud of me. They’d say I’m just getting the short end and eventually, it’ll get better, but John is acknowledging more than just the past. He’s acknowledging my strength.

I’ve never squeezed someone harder while he pats my back. “Thanks, John. You know how to tug heartstrings.” I pulled away from the hug and crossed my arms, straightening my back again. “Now let’s go ‘n shotgun some coldies; maybe I’ll make you take a shoey from Soap’s boot.” I gently nudged him with an elbow while wiping my cheeks of my tears with my other hand.

“Yeah, let’s go ‘n get shitfaced,” he joked as he gave me a pat on my shoulder and led me out to the parking lot. Everybody was there before us and about to pile into John’s truck before I noticed that I… wouldn’t be able to fit in.

John caught on soon after me and started counting everyone, then the seats. “Okay! We need volunteers on who’s gonna go in the truck bed.”

“What?” I nearly broke my neck when turning to look at John. “What the fuck do you mean by goin’ in the truck bed? It’s bad if all of us are piss drunk ‘xcept one, but worse if we have someone in the bed o’ the truck vomiting all over themselves.” I shook my head a bit while considering what we can do.

“We can put Trick in the front, then have Roach share a seat with Gaz.” Ghost hasn’t spoken to me much since the fight he had with Price over me during training, even if we sleep in the same room together. He always sneaks in after he thinks I’m asleep.

Price nods with a grunt of agreement. “Well, everybody pile in. We don’t have all night.” I could feel the stare in the back of my head from Ghost while I got into the front passenger seat, scooting the seat up to give the boys in the back some legroom. Price got in next to me in the driver’s seat, and instantly stared at me for no discernible reason.

He blankly stared at me with his mustache slightly twitching.

“Whuh- what? Do I have something on my face?” I lightheartedly joked while brushing my mask with my glove, eventually bringing my goggles over my eyes.

Price gave me that condescending stare with both of his brows furrowed at me. “Is the first thing you do ev’ry time yer in my truck, you mess my seats?”

I rolled my eyes at him while the boys got rowdy in the back, Price pulling out of the parking lot to get to the pub. I got off first and opened the back doors of the truck for the boys, letting them practically fight amongst themselves to get out of the truck.                                            ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

Inside the pub, it was cozy, I guess. I felt like it was a bit too rowdy with some guys watching American Football. Eugh. Why’d we have to be in America of all places?

Price hands me a dirty shirley temple with a straw in it. “Thanks, mate. I’ll pay tonight, a’ight?” I told him, but he just shook his head.

“Nah, it’s on me. You proved yourself to be a good leader so far, I’m glad.” He pats me on my back as I grab my drink and feed the straw underneath my

 mask to drink. Yet when I looked up, I noticed a dirty look from the bartender. Oh shit, I need to pull out my ID.

I give my military ID to the bartender. “Sorry, forgot to give this to you.” I even have my mask on in the photo, my identifiable mark being my mask I guess. I don’t know how I was legally allowed to keep anybody from seeing my face; I guess it was some of Price’s doing, knowing how he constantly saves the country from destruction here and there.

I got my ID back pretty soon after him staring at it. “Wow Price, naughty ain’t cha? You didn’t show the bloke my ID, eh?”

Price stared at the bartender then back to me with confusion. “I thought I did; I swear I did. I think he mighta been caught off by the mask; he was the same with Ghost.”

The acid building in my throat and my mouth salivating was the worst feeling. The thought of being compared to Ghost was the worst, just because we both have masks on and hide our faces constantly. I mean, Roach does it too, but he only ever has a surgical mask on. I just have my cat-skull print bandana, how is it that different?

Now I’m overthinking. But that bartender is definitely still staring at me like I was a criminal. Eugh.                                            ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

I sat with the boys again while they talked and reminisced about missions.

“Say, cap’n. What’s a mission you went on that you like talkin’ ‘bout?” Soap’s voice hit my eardrums like a balloon popping, my attention going straight to him as I realized what was happening.

“Eh? What?” It takes me a second of thinking to get my bearings on what was happening around me. “Oh, uh… missions. Uhm.” I tap my glass with my nails while I think. “My old squad, Taskforce 142,” I look at Price with a grin, “we had a few rodeos. We were put in Limmen; we called it Operation Down Under, ‘n people said that Task Force Boomerang was in town.” I laughed while looking up at the rest of the squad. Soap was listening intently while doodling in his leather journal, Gaz leaned in while listening, while Roach was tilting his head when listening. Ghost refused to hear or look at me, as usual.

“I thunk Price would remember this operation too. Paramilitary group with military weapons, the usual. Some cringey name like Crimson Vipers, remember?” I looked at Price laughing at the name. “There were hostages bein’ held, ‘n a few were military personnel as well. But when we dropped in, Xio accidentally landed on another soldier ‘n nearly compromised us, if she wasn’t sneaky with the takedown.” I had to think back a lot to remember what happened on that mission.

“Diaz! Get your fucken head in the game, you nearly got us compromised,” I yelled at Xiomara as she yanked her parachute down, but I couldn’t help lingering my eyes on her face a few more seconds than I should’ve. I shot up and fixed my vest and nodded towards Jackson. “Approach silently; Chen is taking care of the video systems.” I hold my M-tar in both hands.

We maneuver through the unlocked emergency exits, but there were a dozen more than I would have ever thought there were. Who the hell has the time to be in a shitty wannabe military group? I direct forward, being the first to silently take their soldiers down and into the dark. Jackson assisted me by taking down a few others whilst we covered Xio to start some controlled explosions on their vault door.

I hear the vault door popping open. I always trust Xio to do a good job at getting the vaults open fast. But, I wasn’t predicting the alarm blasting the second Jackson fully opened it. “Chen? Mind getting on that?”

“I know, Captain! Alarms going down in a few seconds, prepare for a few soldiers coming to check,” I hear Chen say over our wires while reassuring me. Chen was one of my second lieutenants, helping Diaz with her platoons whenever needed whilst I oversaw them. But now, she was the one going to save our lives.

Jackson and I take out some of the stragglers that come to investigate, the alarm turning off quickly enough and Chen’s voice coming over the intercom.

False alarm, soldiers. Return to your stations. She says to all the soldiers trying to get to us.

“Diaz, Winny, infiltrate. I will watch ahead.” I stand guard at the vault with my silencer on, watching over them. There were only a few on their rounds to grab before they talk to their walkie-talkies, fairly easy.

“ANNIE!” Yelled Xio’s voice from inside of the vault.

I turned around whilst reloading my pistol and saw Xiomara and Jackson compromised, the Crimsons’ soldiers trying to wrap tape around their mouths. After that, I kind of don’t remember anything except when we had to return months later.

I had to be in the infirmary for a few days for a few bullet grazes; Xio and Jackson were prisoners of the Crimsons. And when I returned with a whole brigade, they would never have stood a chance in a million years. I brought the weapons but when Xio saw me, she said I had “hell flames” in my eyes for how they took my best soldiers from me.

I look up from my glass to the boys all looking at me. Not Ghost, of course. “And well, we took the group down ‘n got Xio ‘n Jackson back. When we were at the extraction point, Xio handed me the laptop rigged to the explosives and told me ‘your call, captain.’ And that’s kinda what kept me in the ADF and Royal Strayan Air Force for so long.” I lean back in my chair to gauge the boys’ reactions better.

Price was proud and grinning, nodding with familiarity like when I told him the story. Soap was amazed, I could practically see stars in the man’s eyes. Gaz was intrigued, his body language being much more open than before. Then Roach was just listening intently while fidgeting with his hands.

I kinda laughed at their reactions. “Any questions?” Price raised his hand. “Yes, Price?”

He stifled a laugh before asking. “Wasn’t your callsign then Viper, Annes? Instead of fucken Trick?” Then he let it rip, knowing how much that callsign haunts me to this day.

“Shit yourself, Price.”                                            ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

We were all a few drinks in when I leaned against a pool table, playing a game of 8ball with Soap. “Soooo, bonnie, what do ya think of yer new Taskforce so far? Sure, we ain't Taskforce Boomerang, but I'd think we're close.” I laughed at his joke while looking up at him.

“Thas sweet, Johnny. You guys come quite close, y’know. Some of the best I’ve seen in action, except Ghost when listening to my instructions.” I lined up my cue stick with the white ball, not paying much attention to which ones I was hitting. I was more focused on the smile on Soap’s face.

“L.t is rough, y’know. He’ll warm up; he always does.” Soap got off the pool table and patted me on my shoulder. “I don’ see why he wouldn’t be so intrigued by the great Captain Ver, y’know. You’re an amazing leader.” I watched him line up his cue with the ball as well.

I chuckled, feeling a bit of blood rush to my face. “Oh hush with yer flattery; you just wanna try ‘n make me blush, eh?”

“Oh please, if I were tryin’, you’d be as red as a cherry tomato!” He leaned against the table while I lined my shot up, of course, missing the ball I was going for completely.

I raised a brow at Soap before chuckling. “I have no doubt, sarge. I’m sure ladies think yer a catch,” I complimented. “I know plenty o’ old ladies who would love a young guy like you flirting with them like they’re 20.”

He laughed while hitting a full red in the pocket, then lightly jabbed me with the cue stick. “Would love to meet ‘em! I’m sure they’re sweet.”                                            ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

Midnight.

God, I love midnight; it’s so gorgeous seeing everything around us. But they were all kicked out of the bar for being rowdy, except me. I sobered up a while ago because I was expecting that I was going to drive once I saw Price taking shots.

I shoved the boys into the truck slowly, Price in the passenger with the boys toppling over each other in the back. Everybody was knocked out the second they were all in the car, leaving me laughing at their dumbass sleeping faces. I got in the front seat and adjusted the seat again.

“Don’ touch muh fucken… seats…” Price mumbled in his sleep as he passed back out in a matter of seconds.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Pendejo.”                                            ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

The drive back home was peaceful, all the boys sleeping until I hit a pothole right by the base, when all of them startled awake.

We all got to our rooms safe and sound though, which I’m glad happened. I wasn’t sure if Ghost would even get in the same truck as me when he was drunk, but somehow he was compliant when I shoved him in. I had to help him get back to our room though; he was heavier than I would’ve ever anticipated when he leaned onto me.

“I don’t need helpff… you fucken… bloody bastard.” I was shocked at him drinking himself into a stupor; he didn’t seem like the type.

“Don’t get your panties inna knot, I’m just makin’ sure yer fine.” I dropped him down onto his bed. “Just don’ fall off yer bed ‘n we’re fine.” I turned away from him to the bathroom, changing real quick and brushing my teeth.

When I got curled up into my bed all comfy and cozy, I heard Ghost’s slurred sleep mumbling.

“I fucken… hate you… Captain Ver.”

“I fucken hate you too, Lieutenant Riley.”

“Shithead.”

                                           ・┆✦ʚ★ɞ✦ ┆・

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! RAAA! Also, I'm going to open requests soon :) Thank you for reading this chapter! and if you'd like to help me beta-read this story send me a note! pls

[kitjosten13]

10 ships and lyrics you associate with them

Tagged by @disasterpenguin

1) Andriel: Look After You-The Fray, Just one yesterday- Fall Out Boy, St. Patrick- PVRIS

"It's always have and never hold,You've begun to feel like home"

"I know I'm bad news, i saved it all for you"

"I need a miracle to bring me back to you, i know youre gone now but i still wait for you"

2) LaurKier: No matter what- Papa Roach, Arms- Christina Perri

"We're indestructible, we are untouchable, Nothing can take us down tonight" "No matter what,I got your back, I'll take a bullet for you if it comes to that, I swear to god ,That in the bitter end, We're gonna be the last ones standing."

"I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth, And I've never opened up, I've never truly loved 'till you put your arms around me, And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go" "You put your arms around me and I'm home" "The world is coming down on me, And I can't find a reason to be loved, I never wanna leave you, But I can't make you bleed if I'm alone"

3) SoRiku: Kiss me slowly-Parachute, Vanilla Twilight- Owl City, Love like you- Rebecca Sugar

"Well, I'm not sure what this is gonna be, But with my eyes closed all I see. Is the skyline, through the window, The moon above you and the streets below. Hold my breath as you're moving in, Taste your lips and feel your skin. When the time comes, baby don't run, just kiss me slowly." "Stay with me, baby stay with me, Tonight don't leave me alone."

"The silence isn't so bad 'Til I look at my hands and feel sad 'Cause the spaces between my fingers Are right where yours fit perfectly" "Waist deep in thought because when I think of you, I don't feel so alone, I don't feel so alone, I don't feel so alone, As many times as I blink I'll think of you tonight"

"I always thought I might be bad Now I'm sure that it's true 'Cause I think you're so good And I'm nothing like you" "look at you go i just adore you, i wish that i knew, what made you think im so special"

4) Soukoku: Turbulent- Waterparks, I cant get high- Royal and the serpent, Like Real People Do- Hozier

"Id unfuck you if could, id unlove you like i should've, months before i did, in the months before i split its turbulent"

"It fucking hurts, these drugs don't work, I don't know why, Excuse me if I overdose, It happens every time you go,Hard as I try, I can't get high"

"So I will not ask you Why you were creeping In some sad way I already know I will not ask you where you came from I will not ask you and neither would you" "Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips, We should just kiss like real people do"

5) Shin Soukoku: Love like you- Rebecca Sugar, Video Games- The Young professionals

"I always thought I might be bad Now I'm sure that it's true'Cause I think you're so good And I'm nothing like you" "Love like you Love me like you"

"I tell you all the time, heaven is a place on earth with you"

6)VanXi: prove you wrong-He is We, When he sees me- Kimiko Glenn, King- Lauren Aquillina

"Give me your heart, I don't want a piece or a part, I want it all. I want you to fall,Just a little bit." "Take that leap of faith, If you want to, Don't let that broken heart haunt you. Can you let me try?" "I can be that part of you, Let me be that part of you. I see that you're breaking, Your heart is breaking. Here's my hand if you'll take it, We can make it out, Of all this mess." Are you giving up and done? "Are you through with all this? Are you tired of the pain? Torn to pieces." "Can you let me try? Tell me it's all right, Just for one night. Show you how to feel like, What it feels like. To be hugged, to be kissed. Yes I can be that part of you. I'll try my best."

"Or even worse, he could be very nice, have lovely eyes, And make me laugh, come out of hiding What do I do with that?" "What if when he sees me I like him and he knows it? What if he opens up a door And I can't close it? What happens then? If when he holds me My heart is set in motion, I'm not prepared for that,I'm scared of breaking open, But still I can't help from hoping, To find someone to talk to Who likes the way I am Someone who when he sees me Wants to again"

"You've got it all You lost your mind in the sound There's so much more, you can reclaim your crown You're in control Rid of the monsters inside your head Put all your faults to bed You can be king again"

7) Thiam: Hatef--ck- The Bravery, Fuck about it- Waterparks

"If I put my hands around your wrists, would you fight them? If I put my fingers in your mouth, would you bite them? So many things that I would do if I had my way with you"

"sometimes, when we fight It's like scars on my wrist When I think about the shit that we did to one another," "We can fuck about it later, if you want Because we never fix the problems that we've got, baby You don't seem to like it when we talk I guess I'll see you later" "But when we fight, it's like a marathon" "I like you but I need some space I like you kinda far away It's not hard to kill a day Lookin' at your face"

8) Sterek: Sleepwalking- All Time Low, Love bites- Ice nine kills, The edge of tonight- All Time Low

"Feel like I'm sleepwalking when you're gone, Wide awake but it just feels wrong, stay in bed til the whole years gone"

"You bit off more than you could chew But you taste too good to be true Safe in my arms you will lay, 'cause every dog has its day" "So howl at the moon, oh how can it be? (Oh how can it be?) The softer the skin the sharper the teeth With nowhere to go, nothing to believe, I'm counting on beauty to kill off the beast, So just put me down"

"It's a long way home When you're on your own And your only friends Are traffic lights Speaking in morse code... Yeah, the road is long And I am tired... But with you on my horizon I will drive until it all breaks down... 'Cause I can't breathe Without you near... You keep me safe Keep me sane Keep me honest, yeah... You keep me alive On the edge of tonight!"

9) SnowBaz: Flaws-Bastille, Dirty Laundry-All Time Low, I wouldnt mind-He is we

"All of your flaws and all of my flaws Are laid out one by one Look at the wonderful mess that we made" "You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground Dig them up; let's finish what we've started Dig them up, so nothing's left untouched" "There's a hole in my soul I can't fill it, I can't fill it There's a hole in my soul Can you fill it? Can you fill it?"

"Her closet's such a mess Filled up with all the skeletons she's kept Nobody's perfect I confess But she's perfect enough without ever dressing up, yeah" "Dirty laundry is piling in her room She's got her secrets, yeah I got mine too I don't care about what you did Only care about what we do Dirty laundry Looks good on you"

"Carefully we'll place for our destiny You came and you took this heart and set it free Every word you write and sing is so warm to me So warm to me, I'm torn, I'm torn, To be right where you are I'm not afraid anymore I'm not afraid"

10) Fax: Pompeii- Bastille, Distance-Christina Perri, Home- Phillip Phillips

"But if you close your eyes Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? And if you close your eyes Does it almost feel like you've been here before? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? How am I gonna be an optimist about this?"

"I wish we would just give up, 'Cause the best part is falling. Call it anything but love. And I will make sure to keep my distance, Say I love you when you're not listening, How long, can we keep this up, up, up?" "Please don't stand so close to me I'm having trouble breathing. I'm afraid of what you'll see, right now." "I'll give you everything I am, All my broken heartbeats. Until I know you'll understand." "And I will make sure to keep my distance, Say I love you when you're not listening, How long, can we keep this up, up, up?"

"Settle down, it'll all be clear Don't pay no mind to the demons They fill you with fear The trouble, it might drag you down If you get lost, you can always be found Just know you're not alone 'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home"

I have no one to tag lmao i just wanted to do it so anyone who wants to can

[mioons]

phone is back again ~ yesterday for kitchen duties i was stuck washing dishes and potatoes lol. today we had biology, which is probably my favourite science subjects out of bio, chem and physics (it’s just that it’s the easiest) and i read some of my leo tolstoy book and i don’t think i’m ever gonna get to the end of that book :/ but for now, i got to the part where this ship arrived and the crew announced the captain had died at sea before i had to put the book down for my own sanity. i also asked my parents when i’ll be going back home and they said they don’t know lmfao. i don’t think they really have a plan (am i going to be stuck here forever..?) oh, and i also saw this nasty roach today omg it was like so gigantic TT.

also, i feel like i’m complaining a lot here and it might come off as ungrateful. even though summer camp is hard, i’m forever grateful for everything i have and the things i’m privileged enough to experience!

i hope your day has been good xuan! i love reading your replies to my asks, you seem like such a fun person to talk to ^^

- 🫧

i hate washing dishes 😞😞😞 that shi gross… BUT ANYWAYS I LOVE BIO TOO!! it’s genuinely one of the only subjects in school i like and i understand. i wish u all the best in reading that book bc if i were u, i would’ve just went online to find the summary to save my ass the trouble of reading through 1.3k PAGES. neow why is that book so silly AND RANDOM HELP?? bless the author or smth 😭🙏also wdym U DONT KNOW WHEN UR GOING BACK HELPPP. thats so scary i wld shart bricks 😭 (if u do get stuck i’ll help u call the police) AND ALSO WTF ROACHES.. i litch hate all insects like i hate when people say “the bug is more scared of you.” like?? did the bug tell u that 🤨🤨

naur don’t worry, it’s good to let out your frustrations instead of bottling them all up! i know u don’t mean any harm and just wanna talk about the things that happened. plus it’s fun to hear about ur day too <33 mwah mwah! i hope i can be one lf the good things while you’re going thru summer camp!!

my day currently has been good! i ate burgers for dinner today! my mom made them hehe. it’s fun receiving your asks too nonnie! i love hearing u talk about your day. hugs and kisses xx 💋 love ya

[skylordgrey]

Asker from the other blog. Why do you like them?

I'll put this as a long post since well, it's gonna be long. You don't have to agree with how i word things. I struggle a lot at it, especially since im sick rn :') Contains spoilers for newer MW, or just MW in general

MW SECTION

Price - I thought he was pretty cool. Obviously he aint changed much between Classic and Modern, maybe a bit more humanity between the two, but I genuinely liked his character! He seems like the guy who tries not to care, but is the most caring of them all. A captain who wants to bring everyone back home if he can. (Made me sad when he was upset he couldn't bring Sandman and his crew back after rescuing the russian president)

Soap - He's a dork, and a smart one at that. I love how in the Classic he's like "im a hard man >:(" but god damn he cared, and in the Modern he's more care free, but still capable of his work. I love he's the go-to for explosives, and I hate how he was done dirty TWICE! He better be alive in the newer one, just saying. I also love his relationship with everyone. Just the guy you look up to.

Ghost- First of all, who doesn't love Ghost? He's adorable! Just wanna give him lots of comfort hugs. Like price, he doesn't seem like he cares, but is also the most caring of them all (The fact he could have left Roach behind but kept him going is just HFGHDGH). I hate how he and Roach died, but I'm glad Ghost got another shot in the newer game, and he's extra bad-ass (and tall, holy shit dude, cut those shins off).

Roach - The little bug is my favourite. I love how theres so many headcanons of how he looks (In my eyes, he's short, but to each their own. I love every version of him!) Though we don't know fuck all about him, I like that he was featured in that one live action movie with the fellas! I'm annoyed they never added him to Modern MW, but there's still time I suppose? I would have loved to see him in action. Not much to speak about with this guy besides the head-canons, and how he (we make him) act in the games, the guy who goes in first.

Nikolai - I liked him in both games, but I love how he was more active in MW1, and that he just went "nah Gaz is dead" in MW2 like, sir, have faith in him. He was pretty cool in the Classic games too, giving pointers, and helping Yuri and Price as much as he could in the endgame of the classic.

Yuri - Despite his rocky start, I actually liked him. He deserved so much better, but I'm glad he died doing what he thought was right, though I wish he had survived. He didn't have to help the team, but he did his best despite being looked down on by Price. I'm glad he had a friend in Nikolai, and I assume Soap as well.

Sandman - Dude was fucking cool. I love how he genuinely cared for his team. When Frost and the others in the truck fell into the hole that opened up in the parking lot, he didn't need to come down to check on them, but he did, and stuck with them. I'm so mad about the way he died. He deserved to see it through until the end, but he was more worried about getting Yuri, Price, and the President out than himself, and his team stayed by his side. That man is a damn hero.

Frost - I love the headcanons about this guy too (especially being mute). Not much to say about him since he's less fleshed out unlike Roach, but I just think he's neat

Farah - Fucking boss lady who deserves all the help in the world. I absolutely love her and she's just so bad-ass. I hyped when I played MW2 and saw her on the motorbike. Like damn girl, you go get Laswell. Brain can't think much for her, but I just like her a lot!

Alex - Absolute badass of a man, sad he didn't appear much after MW1, but he was just so cool, and the fact he was willing to sacrifice himself? (Glad he did survive). Just, absolute cool fella.

Laswell - Another boss lady who, god damn, I bet she could fight an entire room by herself if you annoy her enough. I love how she has an air of authority, but god damn, she loves that little 141 team and their silliness.

AW SECTION

Mitchell - An absolute dork, not too smart, but he's super loyal and I love that about him. The fact he kept fighting for what his friend believed in despite losing his arm, and then being betrayed by his boss. Like, damn? At least he got to work with the people he worked with before.

Gideon - Dude is a badass, and I adore him. When I first played the game, I loved his name, and his arrogance. But god damn, if he ain't leader material. A lot of headcanons out there were about him being a descendant of Price, and if it were true, I would not be surprised. He's like, the nicer version of Price. The fact he risked everything to betray Irons and join Mitchell and co, just because he did begin to have doubts but needed extra proof. He's rescued Mitchell on so many occassions, and I just love it dhgfdugh. Fun fact: There's only one mission he isn't in, and that's when you infiltrate the party at Irons' home.

Ilona - She's so cool! She's always got a plan until things go haywire, then she looks to Cormack or Gideon for advice, because she trusts them both wholeheartedly. I'm sad she wasn't part of the final mission, but I like she was the one guiding them.

Cormack - He deserved better, and so did Knox. They died horribly for what they believed in. Even his death upset Gideon, and that goes to show how much this man meant to everyone. He didn't like Gideon at first, but I'm happy he grew to respect him, and vice versa. I love how he sincerely cared for his crew and tried to keep them safe, and he wasn't afraid to tell Irons what he thought.

Joker - Dude only appears for a few missions, but his name absolutely fits him. He's hilarious, and I love that he listened to Gideon when being told to stand down. I do wonder what happened to him when Gideon left, though I love to think he joined too, and worked in the background to find loopholes in Irons' work.

IW SECTION

Reyes - Dudes cool, and I like he had an idea for everything. He might not have been the best captain of the Ret, but he was the best captain for the crew on board. He wanted to bring everyone home, and he was going to die trying, and I love that about him. The way he went out was sad tbh.

Ethan - Who doesn't love a sassy sentient robot who thinks of his captain as a brother? I love that he didn't mind being used a few times, because he's a robot, near indestructible. The fact he tried to keep Reyes safe while in space was really sweet, and that his joints locked so he wouldn't let Reyes go until they were both found. The way he died was bittersweet, and I'm glad it was Reyes that sent him off.

Salter - She doesn't get enough recognition, and I'm mad. She was the same rank as Reyes, and basically became second in command for Reyes. Like Ethan, she wanted to keep Reyes alive, and hell, she got on with Ethan too. I'm sad she didn't get much extra in the game.

Mac - She was stern and definitely brutal, but that's what makes her special. She tried to get Reyes to see her point of view, and the fact she was a Captain before? But I'm glad she learnt to see his way slightly in the way, even if she didn't like it. The fact she sacrificed herself to protect the people in the hallway while also destroying the drone dropper was badass, but sad. Also cried during her little speech you get at the credit scene.

Gator - Absolute dork. Dorkiest dork. and I fucking love him. He didn't get much either, but he was so brave in the final few missions. He died horribly, and I hate it. His end credit speech made me cry too. He seemed so proud.

Griff - Dude has a mix of Alex and Soap vibes. Love his name, love his attitude. We didn't get to see his death, but his end credit speech was depressing but sweet. Just a guy who wanted his dad to know he was happy to join up and hoped his dad was proud. He sounded so awkward, but who wouldn't? I love he always gave Reyes weapon recommendations.

A lot of these repeat themselves, but that's how I feel. All in all, all of them are badasses, and a lot of them deserved better. I work on Au's a lot, so you bet your ass all of these guys are still alive and well.

[sonnetthebard]

Seriously though anyone else think Starkid is missing out on their market for Roach stuffies? Like, stuffed anumals. Of Roach. Am I the only one who would buy the hell out of those?

[boldlyvoid]

Head Over Heels | E.M

18+

Summary: 2 best friends on their 2nd and 3rd retake of Senior Year finally admit their feelings for each other

warnings: friends to lovers, drug use, making out, oral (fem receiving) fingering, hand jobs, losing their virginities together, condom use, lots of teasing, love confessions

word count: 4.4k

Every day they skipped free period, ran to his van in the parking lot and got the hell out of Hawkins High as fast as they could. They didn’t want to be there a second longer than they had to. Especially after the last year they’ve had. 

She sighs, resting her head against the headrest, she turns to him with a smile. “What are the plans for today, Mr. Munson?” 

“First of all, ew,” he turns to her quickly with a disgusted face and then back to the road. “That’s my uncle. Second of all, I was thinking we could get high and chill, 'cause you don't work later…” 

She nods along, “yeah, sounds good… and maybe you can finally show me that song you’ve been working on?” 

He shakes his head, “no can do, sorry, it’s not ready yet.” 

“Come on,” she whines, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket and leaning her head on his shoulder, “puh-leeeease?” She begs.

“No,” he laughs as he swats her away, “can’t you see I’m driving here? That’s so dangerous!” 

She huffs and crosses her arms, leaning back in her seat again, “fine. But if you can’t show me, how do you expect to be a famous rock star?” 

“Most rock stars aren’t singing to a crowd of their muse,” he remarks, not looking over to her at all to see the way her eyes sparkle. 

“What?” 

“nothing—

“No, not nothing, you clearly just said I was your muse! Eddie!!” A million thoughts racked her brain, she couldn’t believe the words he said… it all felt like a dream. “Did we get hit by a truck? Am I dreaming? Or did you just admit this song is about me?” 

He doesn’t answer, he just takes a sharp lefthand turn into the trailer park and speeds up to his place. He throws the van into park and finally turns to her. “You wanna get high or not?” 

She nods, suddenly feeling bad as she notices this was a sore spot. “I get it, if it’s about me it’s probably not a good song anyway…” 

He stares at her with a look she’s never seen before, “yeah, okay, I wrote a song about you. I’m still working on the cords and I will show you eventually, but it’s embarrassing right now…”

She ran over to him and wrapped him up in a big hug, “you know I’d love it even if it was a silly little commercial jingle, all because you made it.” 

He kisses the top of her head before pulling away, “come on, let’s go get baked before my uncle gets home.” 

He pulls her inside, into his room and onto his bed. The two of them sit cross-legged across from each other with matching smiles as he rolls them a joint. 

“Care to do the honours, my lady?” He passes her the joint with a curtsy, making her laugh. 

“Don’t mind if I do,” she plays into his games as she takes it from him. 

He always let her go first, she didn’t know if it was him wanting to be a gentleman or him enjoying the view of something in her mouth. She hopes for the latter as she seductively places the joint between her lips and lights a match. 

Eddie just watches with a smirk, proud of how far she’s come since they started smoking weed together when she was 17. She coughed so hard the first time he thought he was going to have to take her to the hospital. 

Now she blows the smoke back in his direction with a smile, “is this from Rick or the stuff you’ve been growing in the back?” 

“Mine,” he smiles as he takes the joint from her. “I wouldn’t waste the good stuff on anyone else.” 

That made her feel good, better than the weed was already starting to make her feel as they kept passing the joint back and forth until it was nothing but a roach.

“You’ll never guess what else I did this winter…” he bites his lip in anticipation. 

She’s worried, “please don't be anything that can send you back to jail…” 

“No,” he shoves her lightly, causing her to fall back against his pillow, she pulls him down with her so they’re lying face to face in his bed. “You know how theres natural growing shrooms up by skull rock?”

She nods, “what about them?” 

“I harvested some of them, I put them on bottle caps and wrapped ‘em up in cling-wrap so keep them fresh and waited till they were out of season, I sold them for $20 a pop and I kinda saved up all the money for if we graduate…” 

Her eyes grow 3 times their normal size, and not just from the weed, “how much do you have?” 

He shrugs, “like two grand…” 

“Eddie!” She can’t believe it. 

The first time he didn’t graduate it was because he wanted to spend his senior year with her, but she's always been a grade behind him. The second time was because she didn’t graduate and he didn’t want to move on to the real world without her. Having lost a friend to the Mall Fire™, she couldn’t find a way to move on from the loss enough to pass all 8 classes, so she had to go back. 

She had the full intention of graduating that time, and then some magic sorcerer from a secret underworld dimension stepped in and all hell broke loose. literally. 

But this year, this year they were finally going to do it. 

“I’m actually going to graduate this year,” she announces, “which means you need to graduate too.”

Eddie sighs and sits up, “that means we need to get real jobs and go to college and be boring adults… if you think I’m cutting my hair and wearing ties for the rest of my life, you’re sorely mistaken.” 

“You don’t have to,” she looks up at him with a smile. “I was thinking me and you could just hop in the van and see where it takes us? Maybe we’ll find a town where we’re normal…”

He laughs, “us? Normal? Y/N have you lost your mind?” 

She shrugs, “we could be happy… and with the money you made, maybe we can be?”

“I don’t care where we go, I’m happy as long as I’m with you,” he admits, getting sappy on her for a change. He was a sweetheart, no matter how stoic he pretended to be, he was too sweet on her to keep the act up. 

She sits up and crawls into his lap, holding his face in her hands, cautiously, it wasn’t unusual for them to be this close, but it was different for them to be this honest, “you make me happy, too. But this town is holding us back. We should go to California, you can bring your guitar and we can hit open mic nights together, you can start a good band and build a reputation and be The Eddie Munson that I know is in there.” 

“The kids are gonna miss me,” he teases with a fictitious sigh, referencing to Dustin and the gang. 

She smacks his arm slightly, “I’m serious. I think we could make a good life there.” 

“Then you’ve gotta audition for some stuff,” he insists. “Just because you never got any lead roles here in Hawkins doesn’t mean Jack shit, you’re an incredible actress. Those idiots just couldn’t see it.” 

She nods, moving her hands to rest on his shoulders, “we can do it. I’ll help you pass English, you can help me pass math, and together we’ll get our diplomas and say goodbye to this hell hole.”

He nods, but he still looks unsure. 

“What?” 

“I can’t go with you unless you know something about me… it might change everything between us, but I can’t keep this a secret anymore,” he can barely look at her, nervous as ever, and he sighs. “I’m in love with you. I have been since that mixed art class we took 6 years ago… like absolutely, 100% head over heels, in love with you.”

“Eddie?” She can’t believe his words. 

“I know, I know,” he’s so ashamed he looks away from her, off into the corner of the room. “I get it if you don’t want to go with me anymore…”

She places a hand on his cheek and guides his attention back to her eyes, “sweetheart, I’ve loved you for just as long. Even with all the drama and the murders and everything we’ve gone through together here, I love you, so very much.” 

He doesn’t hesitate to kiss her, lunging for her lips with his own, it’s a perfect fit. With his hands on her hips, he pulls her in close so they’re chest to chest. Swiping his tongue against her bottom lip, she greets him with her own tongue, in a make-out session that should’ve happened years ago. She can’t believe they waited this long to do this. 

“Wait, wait,” he pulls back, stopping her from kissing him so she can just look at him. “There’s something else…” 

“What?” 

“I lied to you… back when I said I lost my virginity at camp in Junior year—

“Why would you lie?” 

“Cause I wanted you to think I was cool,” he admits with a shrug. “I know, I know, it’s stupid.” 

She nods, “Yeah, cause it made me terrified that I wouldn’t be experienced enough if you ever wanted to one day.” It took a lot of guts for her to admit that, but since they were letting things out, she had to do it. 

He shakes his head, a concerned look cascading over his face. “No, oh my god, I’m so sorry…” 

“It’s okay,” she smiles, “now at least we’re on the same level.” 

“Seriously?” He’s taken aback, blushing as the smirk on his face grows. “you want to have sex with me one day?” 

She nods with a small giggle, “I’ve been thinking about it for years.” 

“Me too,” he looks at her lips again, “don’t take this the wrong way, but I think I have some condoms here if you want to try?” 

She raises a brow, “why do you have condoms?” 

“My uncle gives me 2 every time he buys a new pack, he says we don’t have space in here for another mouth to feed,” he explains. “But I’ve never used them…” 

“Um, y-yeah,” she nods, nervous but thankfully the weed kept her calm. 

His big brown doe eyes lock on to hers, “we’re only doing this if you’re 100% certain. I’ll wait a million moons to finally get to make you mine, all that matters to me is you don’t regret it when we do. I couldn’t live with myself if I was taking something thats not mine…” 

She swoons, melting right into his embrace, “oh, Eddie…”

“I need more words than that, princess,” he holds her cheeks in his hands and kisses the tip of his nose. “Do you want to?” 

“Yes,” she says while nodding like mad. “100 million times yes, I want to do this with you and no one else… I just have one problem.” 

“What?” He looks worried. 

“How certain are you that condoms work… I just don’t think we’re ready to handle a baby on the road,” she lets her worries free. 

He laughs, shaking his head with a smile, “really? Half the kids in our high school are fucking like rabbits and there’s not a single baby in site—

“well—

“Loraine Patterson’s doesn’t count, that was her cousin,” Eddie cuts her back off but they both end up laughing. “At least, that’s what they say.” 

She shakes her head and clicks her tongue, “you’re unbelievable, Eddie Munson.” 

“You’re unbelievably beautiful,” he muses, leaning back in for another kiss. 

She runs her hands down his chest, heading under his jacket and behind his back so she could hold him even closer. His tongue on her’s is soft, wet and inviting and she can’t help but think of it elsewhere. She grinds against him, the friction from their jeans is an added bonus but she wants more. 

She kisses his jaw and down his neck, she pushes his jacket off his shoulders and reaches for the hem of his shirt, “take it off…” he whispers, looking up at her softly, he lifts his arms into the air and lets her pull it over his head. 

She’s seen him shirtless a million times, hell she was even there with him when he got a couple of his chest tattoos, but this was so much different. She ran her fingers down his chest lightly, playing with the slight gathering of chest hair and teasing his nipples slightly. “You’re so cute.” 

“Thank you,” he blushes, “can I take your shirt off, too?” 

She nods, raising her arms the same way he did before, and then her shirt is gone. “But we have to make it even,” she smirks, reaching behind her back she unclips her bra and lets the straps fall off her shoulders. 

He watches intently as her breasts become free, his breathing picks up a bit, and he tilts his head to the side with a please sigh. “Sweet Jesus I’ve been dreaming of what they look like for years now…” 

“All you had to do was ask,” she teases him. “I’m not kidding.” 

He clicks his tongue in shame, placing both his hands on her back for support, he flips them over so she’s laying on her back with her head on the pillow, him on top of her. She wraps one of her legs around him as he rests between them, holding him close as he looks down at her. 

His hair falls down into her face, so she takes one of her ponytails on her wrist and puts his hair back for him, “better?” 

“Much,” he smiles and then looks down at her boobs again. “… can I?” 

“Touch them?” 

He nods, “with my mouth.” 

She moans right then and there and he takes that as a yes, he cups her boobs in his hands and makes a b-line for the right one. He sucks the nipple into his mouth automatically, “oh my god!” She can’t help herself, it feels so wonderful. 

She wraps both her legs around him, cradling his face in her hands as he made out with her tits, they kept grinding together while he had his fun. She was high, on cloud nine, this was the best day of her life and it was the first of many. 

He kept kissing lower, making her stomach drop and her breathing still. She took a deep breath, sucking in her stomach at the same time, suddenly terrified. 

He kisses right to the button of her jeans and then looks up at her, “what’s wrong?” 

She shakes her head, lying, “nothing.” 

He tilts his head to the side, giving her the classing All Knowing Eddie look. “Fine,” she gives in. “It’s just no one’s ever seen me naked.”

“Me either,” he reminds her. “And think of it this way, no matter what you think of yourself, I think you’re gorgeous,” he assures her with a sweet smile. “I’m blessed to get to see you like this, and even more so as the first…” 

She nods, lifting her hips up, “take them off.” 

He undoes the button, pushes the zip down and then pulls her jeans off. This was the last thing she expected when she put on care bear underwear that morning, and instantly she was embarrassed again. Closing her eyes in the hopes that this was actually a dream and she could wake up from it. 

Instead, he just presses a kiss to the centre of her panties, right in the middle of the heart on the pink care bear chest, his lips in the shape of a smile. “You’re the cute one.” 

“Shut up,” she covers her face with her hands, “I forgot I put those on this morning.” 

“How long have you had these?” 

“too long,” she sighs, “can you just take them off so I don’t have to be embarrassed anymore?” 

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not embarrassing, it’s cute,” he loops his fingers under the band and pulls them down slowly. Mesmerized by the fact this was real and happening right in front of him. 

He spreads her legs, trailing his hands down her inner thighs, his rings are so cold they make her shiver, cooling down the heat that was building inside of her. 

“You’re in too many clothes now,” she teases him, making his eyes dart back up to her, snapping him back into the moment. 

“What?” 

“Get naked,” she orders with a giggle, shaking her head with a smirk. It was a lot easier to do this when she realized she was just as cautious, fumble-y and overwhelmed with lust for her as she was with him. 

He gets off the bed quickly, pushing himself out of his jeans and fruit of the loom undies, not as embarrassing as hers, but he still turned a cute shade of pink when she saw them. 

He stood there beside the bed, naked and nervous as she looked him up and down with her jaw slack. “Wow…” she whispers, more to herself than anything. 

She sits up and moves to the edge of the bed, reaching forward and taking his hard cock in her hand gently. He sucks in a sharp breath, watching her work her hand up and down the shaft of his cock. She’s mesmerized by how big he is, how soft the skin is, it’s remarkable. She can’t help but smile, proud of herself. Proud of them. 

“Fuck,” he whispers under his breath, causing her to look up at him. “Sorry, it’s just— fuck you’re so hot…”

She gets up and stands in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders before running them along his arms, down past his wrists, she interlocks their fingers on both hands and stares up into his eyes. 

“I wish you told me you liked me years ago,” she admits. “Imagine all the sex we could’ve been having… the amount of alone time we’ve had in this tailer over the last 6 years is crazy, and everyone thought we were fucking anyway.” 

“They did,” he thinks back to it. “I mean, I always just thought they could see my crush on you and were teasing me.” 

“I’m surprised you couldn’t tell I had a crush on you?” 

“I couldn’t risk losing you,” he admits. “I couldn’t ask, I couldn’t assume and definitely wasn’t going to make a move and risk having you hate me…”

She leans in for a quick kiss, “well, you never have to worry about that again.” 

He kisses her again, deeper this time. Letting go of her hands, he explores her back, pulling her in closer so their chests are flush together. He’s so warm and soft, he smells like home and he tastes like forever. 

“Find that condom,” she whispers against his lips, “please?” 

He pulls back and nods, “yeah,” he turns around and searches through his underwear drawer, he comes back with a shiny silver package and a smile. 

She looks around the room, finding the towel he normally keeps on the back of his door to lay on the bed. “If we’re sleeping here tonight you won’t want a wet spot…” 

His brow raises, “seriously?” 

She nods with a smirk, “I know myself… if thoughts of you make me wet I can’t imagine what you’re going to actually do to me.” 

“I want you on top at some point,” he admits, “I think about that all the time.” 

She pulls him over to the bed, getting in first and pulling him back on top of her. “What else do you think about?” He blushes, a deep magenta taking over all his features, spreading down to his chest. “Oh, now you have to tell me.”

He bites his lip, staring off and then shrugging, “fine. Okay, I think about eating you out like… 3 times a day maybe.”

Her brows shoot up, and her eyes grow huge, “you’re kidding?”

He shakes his head, “I’m completely serious.”

She spreads her legs, letting him settle between them, with a small chuckle she places her hand on his face and pushes him down but she doesn’t need to, with that non-verbal consent, he’s more than ready to do this. 

He takes a minute to just look, to admire her the same way she did to him. “You ready?” 

She nods, “don’t hold back…” 

And he doesn’t. She thought making out with him was the most pleasurable experience she’d have with his tongue… 

She thanks God his uncle isn’t home as she melts into the bed and gets lost in the feeling. She doesn’t care how loud she gets, actually the louder she is the better it feels like he was trying to get that from her. She tugged on his hair, causing him to moan against her, the octave of his voice making her clit vibrate, she was over the moon with feelings. 

Right there on the edge, she savoured it. Arching her back, she closed her eyes and relaxed into the overwhelming high of her orgasm as it began to rip through her. “Fuck, Eddie!” 

Without warning he adds two fingers, figuring she’d be at her most relaxed and elasticated enough to stretch. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her, this wasn’t supposed to hurt. 

He kisses the inside of her thigh lightly, then her hip, her stomach, through the middle of her breasts and then he hovers. “You okay?” 

She nods, “fantastic, holy fuck, dude?” 

He smirks, that beautiful Eddie smirk she’s been in love with for years. She threads her fingers through his hair and brings him in for a kiss, all while he keeps pumping his fingers in and out of her. 

She gets lost in his mouth, high on feelings and overflowing with euphoria. She reaches between them, stroking his cock, making him moan into her mouth. She kisses him one last time before smiling, “I’m ready, please?” 

He pulls out, wipes his fingers on the towel under her and nods, trying to act cool but he was beyond excited. He sits back on his knees, fumbling with the condom in his hands, she sits up and takes it from him, “lay down, I want to be on top.” 

“Really?” He doesn’t hesitate to lay back, letting her climb onto his thighs and take her seat. 

She opens the condom, takes his cock in her hands and rolls it over his length. She positions herself on top of him and slowly, very slowly, begins to sit down on it. He’s thick, she’s not going to lie, it hurts a tiny bit and he can tell by the look on her face. To help, he rubs her clit, helping her relax and open again so she can slide right down. 

He bottoms out with a sigh, never feeling something so incredible before. He tosses his head back, “sweet fucking Christ.” 

She smirks, it’s surreal to be in this moment with him, even crazier that they’re actually kinda good at it… she begins to rock her hips, finding her own rhythm and comfort, and she starts to buck her hips a bit faster. The feeling of his thumb on her clit and his cock deep inside her was more than she expected, she feels so close again, but she wants to just stay there. 

She doesn’t want it to end.

He sits up then, pulling her in close so they’re chest to chest, her legs wrap around his waist, locking them in place like that. She places her hands on the bed, using it as leverage to lift herself off his cock and push back down against it just hard enough to send tingles down her legs. 

He looks her in the eyes, big brown and blown out, dark black holes she could get lost in forever… her’s most likely were the same. She could devour him whole if she wanted to. 

“I love you,” he whispers, reminding her why they were finally just now doing this. 

She whines, tossing her head back, “fuck, I love you, more.” 

“That so, princess?” He grips her hips tighter, fucking into her with more passion and heat. 

She leans back, even more, legs going limp, giving him the chance to toss her back against the bed, spread her legs and fuck into her with vigour. She releases a string of incomprehensible moans and chants of the lord's name in vain… she just adds that to the list of sins she’s committed with Eddie Munson. And she’s sure it wouldn’t be the last. 

The way he kisses her as he fucks her, his hand between their bodies working on her clit, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her as another orgasm teeters on the edge of destruction. 

“Please… please? Please?” She can’t for any sentences, too fuck out to even think.

“Wanna cum, sweetheart?” He teases her, rubbing her clit faster. “Go one, cum. I want to feel you pulse around my cock the way you did on my tongue.” 

That does it for her. 

Her body goes limp, her arms spread out flat on the mattress as she lets the pleasure attack her. Almost too out of it to feel him chance pace, but not enough to miss the fantastic feeling of him thrusting into her one last time and then falling onto her. Burying his face in the crook of her neck. Panting. Fucked out too. 

“Holy fuck…” she whispers, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing his back gently. He was sweaty and hot but she didn’t care. Being this close to him was perfect. 

“Yeah,” he agrees, snuggling in closer and kissing the side of her neck. “That was amazing…” 

“No one’s going to see us ever again,” she teases, never wanting to leave his bed now that they’ve christened it. 

“I’m going to need to buy more condoms,” he teases right back. “But seriously, that was everything. I’m really glad I waited.” 

She smiles, “me too, Munson. Me too.” 

stranger things taglist:

@fightingdragonswithreid @mrs-dr-reid @kyomito @reidselle

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[fezcosbluntroller]

Bruises - Fezco x reader/ past nate x reader

summary: After ending up at your dealer's store after a fight with your boyfriend, Nate it ends up being the best night of your life

warnings: The usual euphoria things, drugs, smoking, cussing, fighting, blood, mentions of mental abuse, mentions of past physical abuse. please read with caution

You slowly approached the dimly lit convenience store, Fezco outside smoking a blunt, smiling and motioning for a hug whenever you finally get about arms length. You gently hugged your friend/weed dealer, taking a hit off of his blunt whenever he held it out for you. Fezco and Ashtray knew about you and Nate, but only Fez knew about what Nate did in his free time, so whenever he saw bruises he wouldn't really ask about it, just make sure your okay and offer you a space at his house, but to his unfortune you always just nodded with a smile before leaving with the asshole. "Fez?..." You whispered looking up at him, he hummed inhaling some smoke before looking down at you "What's up?..." He asked before going quiet, under the dim led lights he could see where your skin was bruised, just a faint one under your cheekbone, but your arms and legs littered them, some new, some old, some still forming "Can I stay with you?.." You whispered, there was a reason you never left Nate, he was in your head, manipulating you in every way possible, not having any family other than Nate at the time meant you would have nowhere to go, and you believed it, believing that Fez would quickly grow tired of you and leave you out in the cold, but after a long long talk with Cassie and Lexi you finally decided enough was enough, that you had more people than you ever thought willing to let you stay with them.

"Shit..." Fez sighed under his breath hugging you again resting his head on top of yours, you hugged him back, tighter this time, with more effort "Of course you can...My doors always open for you" He whispered waddling a bit trying to lighten the mood the best he could "You done with him?.." Fez added on finishing his smoke putting the roach out and in his pocket, he lead you inside towards the cooler leaning down behind you putting his head on your shoulder "Ash, Y/n/n is gonna stay with us" He announced, Ash smirked looking at her "That's wassup, Was wondering whenever you'd finally take the offer" He smirked placing the money he got inside of a small safe to his right, You just shrugged smiling to yourself slightly "Got any weed?" You asked softly holding your arms nervously, what if Nate found you? What if he tried to fight fez? or worse, knowing how Fez was towards people like Nate you all know if he tried to hit you in any way he'd be dead before his hand ever touched you. "Sure, How much you wantin?" Ashtray asked picking up a smaller bag off the ground opening it and reaching in "Eh?" You questioned handing him the last amount of cash you had, about $80. He tossed you your bag sliding the money in the safe nodding at Fez "You gonna take her back to the house?" Ashtray asked leaning back "With Faye's ass? nah..Figured she'd chill in the office until we lock up" You could feel the vibrations from Fez talking, you couldn't tell if it was that Fez already kicked Nate's ass once before, or if it was just that fact he towered over you, but you felt safe around Fez, always feeling safe around Ashtray because of his guns, obviously.

Ashtray nodded before the both of you left, Fez leading you to the back office motioning to the two chairs in the room "The blue one is the comfiest" You heard him whispered making you break out in giggles and laughs "Why'd you need to whisper that in my ear?" You giggled watching him chuckle and shake his head "You fuckin trippin" He chuckled handing you his laptop "Incase you wanna watch a movie or somethin" Fez suggested scratching the back of his neck "What if...what if Nate comes to find me?" You asked looking at Fez "I-I don't wanna get you or Ash hurt a-and he won't leave with a fight" You rambled holding onto his hand, in return he squeezed your hand pressing a few buttons on the old keyboard that sat on the desk, the monitors lit up showing different angles of the inside and outside of the store "Only room you can't see is the cooler" He explained to you holding your shoulders "I need to know though..cause if you for real Imma fight for you to stay here..but ion wanna start a fight and you go back" He explained cringing at the question, he felt like an asshole asking it but he was going to fight for you to stay if Nate ended up coming in which he'd end up getting bitched out for fighting someone and hospitalizing them on store property. "I don't wanna go back.." You whispered chewing on your lip nervously "If he come in here...press that button, just keep pressing it" He said motioning to the small delete button on the old keyboard, you just nodded watching him walk back out to go back to work. You just sat on the chair holding onto your phone watching the cameras, minutes turned into hours, then you saw it, out of the corner of your eye, Nate and Fez talking at the counter, you pressed the delete button walking out peeking at Fez overhearing their hushed whispers "You ever...mess with Y/n...or anybody around her...imma kill you Nate Jacobs" Fez threatened handing him his bad full of drinks. Nate turned to the right immediately hearing the door click behind you as you hid in the office

"Is she back there?" He laughed "WOW Y/N!" He yelled, you fought the urge to get up and protect Fez, and almost immediately you failed, opening the door and standing in the hall "Y/n/n get back in the office! I don' want chu to see this" Fez called, somehow even yelling his voice was soft and gentle, you shook your head watching closely "I don't want him hurting you" You mumbled looking at Fez avoiding Nate's gaze "what? You're fucking him now? Trust me he-" Fez cut Nate off "Nah. None of that shit is gonna fly here. Shut the fuck up" he snapped, Ashtray coming out standing in the doorway holding his gun that was in his waistband ready to shoot Nate on the spot. "I'm not gonna let you treat me like shit anymore, Nate, You are nothing but a toxic little virus spreading your unhappiness into the world" You snapped walking closer standing alot closer to Nate now "Looking at your ugly ass face physically makes me sick" You growled, Nate leaned closer, almost touching his nose to yours, Fez already getting ready to knock him the fuck out "Go Fuck yourself" Nate laughed before spitting in your face, that set Fez off, almost in a blur he lunged, repeatedly slamming his fist into Nate's face, every hit Fez landed the more blood appeared on Nate's face, You were stuck in a trance watching Fez beat Nate almost to death, once you realized the shallow breathing of Nate, almost like a wheeze, your body started screaming, you didn't understand why, you could care less if Nate died, he deserved it, Ashtray ran over yanking Fez off, almost getting himself punched in the process. Ash took Nate around back putting him in the car ready to dump him in a random alley, letting fate decide if he lived or not.

Meanwhile while Ashtray ditched Nate, Fez was walking you home, after locking the store and cleaning up the mess he wanted to get you back to his house and cleaned up. His arm around your back, yours around his supporting each other "You shouldn'a saw that shit.." Fez was first to break the silence as you approached the front porch of his house, Ashtray grabbing the bags and safe from the store before heading back to home. "He deserved it.." You whispered sitting on the couch as he shut the door heading to the kitchen to grab a wash cloth, wetting it with warm water before sitting in front of you reaching the cloth off wiping your face off, careful around the bruise on your cheek. You just stared off into space, all in one night, twelve hours, your life changed drastically "I'mma grab you some clothes...that way you can take a shower" He whispered kissing your head before leaving you to your thoughts.

Whenever you were snapped back to reality you were laying in bed, Fezco's bed, his arm stretched cupping your cheek "Hey...don't listen to what that asshole says...Ash and I want you here..You like a little sunray, it's nice" He mumbled looking at you, you let out a deep breath smiling at him "Thank you....I-i'm sorry if you have to remind me that.." You whispered looking away "We all got fucked up shit goin on..nobody here gonna get mad at chu for that, mama" Fez whispered looking at you "I like you fez..alot..but I dunno if I can get back into dating this quick" You mumbled biting the inside of your cheek "I like you too...and I ain't gonna make a move till your ready...ion care if we're like...eighty..and like...daaaamn fez...you lookinn good with your...wrinkles?" Fez questioned giggling, you gasped looking at him "You smoked the blunt without me didn't you!?"

[avenging-fandoms]

oh my god. that's all i wanna do with rafe. shotgunning. pls especially if like you're enemies and someone dared y'all to do that together. pls.

the annual bonfire was something you loved doing in outer banks. it didn't matter if you liked the people going or not, you had fun with your friends and that was all that mattered to you.

you wore jeans and one of pope's button up vacation shirts with a bathing suit top underneath the one button. you held onto pope's arm and waved hello to some of your other friends as you all walked in.

"yln! you want a beer?" jj yelled and you yelled at him not to get too drunk and end up in fights. you look at pope and he smiles, telling you he was going to go get a drink and keep an eye on jj.

"be safe" he salutes and you stuff your hands in your back pockets, sitting in an empty chair around the fire. you rested your elbow on the arm of the plastic, biting your nail as you stared into the flames.

suddenly the leg of the chair was kicked out from under you and someone caught the chair before it fell to the ground. you panicked and huffed, widened eyes as you look up at rafe, who smirked down at you.

"you're in my chair, princess" you roll your eyes and jump off the chair, pushing it to the ground and stepping close to rafe.

"well now it can't be yours because you broke the chair, princess" you cross your arms over your chest and rafe smirks, and his height towering over you really did intimidate you, but you couldn't let him know that.

rafe bent down, face in front of yours and you narrowed your eyes. "it was funny watching you panic under me, honestly. you're lucky i was feeling nice and caught you. next time you're in my chair, i'm not going to catch you"

"back away, kook" you push his chest and he stumbles back, smirking at you. you walked past him, finding pope and he hugged you. "i hate that asshole"

"i think we all do, yn. don't worry, i got you" pope smiled at you and you calmed down a bit.

"thanks pope" you kissed his cheek and a whole group of people sat down around the fire, you and rafe sitting across from one another through the flame.

everyone started to play truth or dare, some people making out, stripping, jumping in the water. it was your turn, and it was kelce's turn to ask a question. "truth or dare, yn?" kelce smirked behind his beer bottle.

"dare" you drank the last of your beer and looked at kelce, who had a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

"i dare you to take that joint and shotgun with rafe cameron" he smirked and both you and rafe looked at him. "while sitting on his lap"

"no, no way" you refused and everyone booed.

"fine, then we throw you in the water in nothing but your bra and underwear" kelce took a swig of his beer and you huff, standing up. you walk over in front of rafe, who looked like he didn't want any part of this either.

you slowly straddled his waist, and he instinctively held your waist. you held the joint in between his lips and he inhaled deeply, keeping eye contact with you as he blew the smoke into your mouth. you inhaled and smile, leaning back and grinning at everyone who applauded.

you sat up and inhaled yourself, blowing the smoke into rafe's face. "if you wanted to kiss me so bad, cameron, you could've asked" you wink and let the blunt hang from your lips, moving your hips a bit before getting off his lap.

"oohh, rafe's got a boner for the pogue!" someone yelled and you look back, giggling at him and sitting next to pope again who hugged you into him. you looked at rafe through the fire, winking as you threw the roach of the blunt into the fire.

the night continued with truth or dare, dancing, drinking and smoking. you felt eyes on you the whole time, and you were right. you caught rafe staring at you from time to time, and really, you honestly wanted him to stare.

[heyheyloki]

U&I

Summary: The reader begins to realize his feelings for Saiki.

Saiki x M!Reader

Word Count: 8711

1. The Best Friends

Being friends with a psychic definitely had its ups and downs. At first, you didn’t notice a thing out of the ordinary with Saiki, well, granted you were kids when the both of you met so naturally you just wanted to be friends and thought nothing more. However, he noticed something odd with you the moment you two met.

He couldn’t read your mind.

Actually forget being about to read your mind, none of his psychic abilities worked on you. He couldn’t see through you and when he touched you without his super thin transparent gloves on nothing happened. You were basically immune to him.

At first, he thought something was wrong with you, or that maybe you had some psychic powers as well. That wasn’t the case at all. In reality, you were a normal human without any powers or tricks. That stumped Saiki even more, but it also became the soul reason he wanted to be your friend as well.

For one, he didn’t have to deal with your thoughts. Two, his image of you wasn’t ruined because he can’t see under your skin. Three, your calmer personality made him relax. And of course all those other things like your kindness and stuff, but those were irrelevant the moment he knew he couldn’t read your mind.

It’s been years since he met you in the park during recess, and now here you guys were, 16 years later and still friends. Oh, there was one thing that bothered him about you.

“What to hang out today?” You asked as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Sure.” Saiki said. Yep. That’s right, since he can’t get in your mind, he actually has to move his mouth when he talks to you.

It was a bit weird to others that he never did it with anyone else other than you, but he didn’t care.

On the way home he couldn’t help but notice you eyeing his antennas, the things that keep his powers stable. He turned his head towards you and gave you a curiosity look.

“Do those things poke at your head at all?” You asked, moving you hand up to poke at the top of the pink ball. “Like, does it make your head ichy?”

Saiki shook his head. He knew he had to talk to you at some points, but times like these he didn’t. He enjoyed that about you too, that you don’t force him to talk all the time. You knew it was a bit weird for him to talk, he explained it to you when he told you all about his powers.

“Hm,” you hummed out. Your hands going back at your side and into your pant pockets. “It would for me, if I was you. They just look painful, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do if you don’t wanna blow up the world.”

Saiki nodded his head, his eyes continuing to linger on you. It was one days like these when he saw you thinking so hard about something that he wished he could just take a peak. At some points, he loved the silence, especially when the both of you were watching movies, but right now, especially in this moment, he’d give anything to know. It was mostly prominent when he’d stare at you during class and you’d have this far out look in your orbs, you drew him in, and perhaps that’s why he fell for you.

Though, there were other factors that won his favor. Mostly the fact that, unlike everyone else, he can’t stare right through you and just see your raw muscles and pumping organs. Instead, he was able to focus on your handsome face and not get side tracked about your racing thoughts. You were the only person in the world that make him feel somewhat normal. That was a love-hate relationship at times.

“Think I could sleep over tonight?” You suddenly asked, “we don’t have school tomorrow.”

Saiki stared at you for a moment just to relish in that fact that nothing worked on you. No telekinesis, mind control, no nothing. He was going to have to win your favor just like everyone else. To him, it wasn’t normal, but looking at you, he didn’t seem to mind the extra work.

“Sure,” Saiki said. He still had trouble talking aloud, hell, sometimes he will actually use telekinesis and wait for your response only to have pure silence. “My parents are leaving for a wedding, so the house should be free for a while.”

When the two of you got to Saiki’s house, it was a bit peaceful until his parents had to head out. You liked his mom and dad a lot, they were like your second family, so you wanted to wish them a good time. It was for one Saiki’s dad’s coworkers.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us?” Saiki’s dad asked his son. “You’ve met Kirishima before, and you can bring [Name] as your plus one date.”

You knew Saiki wasn’t going to be interested in a wedding. He always told you normal happy events for others is misery for him since he can hear the jealousy and pity that the crowd is thinking. You felt sorry that he couldn’t turn it off, but you were glad that you were the only person he could catch a break with. However, when you looking over at Saiki, he seemed to entertain the thought.

It was a new side to Saiki, one that made you confused. It was always either you or no one. You could tell the way he wanted to get away from many of the people in his class that seemed to have declared themselves his friends from a small interaction. Sure, you felt their interest, but it was just a bit sad to you that Saiki could never actually enjoy friends unless they were pure. Otherwise, he could hear all the backstabbing thoughts or otherwise stupid comments that go around in their brain that was thought to be private to them.

“I’m going to have to pass,” you commented. “I don’t have a suit, besides, you two should enjoy the night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you both go out alone.”

Saiki’s mom smiled widely at you. Her eyes clouding over with a wet film before wrapping her arms around you for a tight hug. “Ah, thank you, [Name]! What would we do without you?”

You chuckled softy at the comment before saying, “Who knows, I rather not think about that.”

When she finally let you go, you and Saiki waved the both of them off as they left. Honestly, you weren’t sure if they’d even make it back at a reasonable time. It was a wedding, after all. Oh well, as long as they make it back drunk and safe rather than drunk and not safe, you didn’t mind. You were sleeping over anyway, so right now, you just wanted to hang out with your childhood best friend.

“What do you wanna do?” You asked with a calming tone.

Saiki turned his head to you. “TV?”

“Sure,” you smiled. However, as soon as you turned to the living room, you noticed the absolute mess his parents left behind. So, out of the goodness of your heart, you said, “How about you find something and all clean up this in the meantime. Sound good?”

Saiki nodded once more. He truly thought your actions were kind, but he rather have you watching TV with him than picking up his dad’s dirty clothes. He knew his father tended to be sloppy, but this was just a mess.

As you were about to pick up a pair of jeans, all the clothes that were strewn about the floor suddenly started to float in the air and shoot into the open washing machine. The trash floated itself into the garage while everything else was moved around to make it look clean until otherwise.

You pressed your lips together as your brows furrowed in annoyance. Once you turned to Saiki and saw his innocence face, you knew you couldn’t be angry but you had to ask, “Do you really want me to watch TV with you that bad?”

“Yes,” Saiki stated.

You sighed, your lips parting as you left the oxygen leave your lungs. “Fine, but let’s both clean up a bit before than. It’ll be a nice surprise and a way to thank your parents for letting me stay the night.”

Saiki nodded. “Okay.”

It took a bit of convincing on your end to let him let you help out. You may not have powers, but you didn’t want to take advantage of his. You knew it was effortless and he made it seem like it didn’t affect him whatsoever, but you knew every time he does something it takes a toll. His powers aren’t perfect.

You both ended up cleaning the living room, Saiki’s room, and now you were in the kitchen sorting the trash. Saiki was using his powers to sort while you whipped down the countertops.

“Good grief,” Saiki said aloud, his voice drawing your eyes to him. He was crouched down with two bags in front of him and the garage floating upside down, it’s contents was either going in the first or second bag.

“What?” You asked curiosity. It wasn’t all the time that he speaks from his mouth without you talking first.

“How could anyone have let it get this dirty in here?” He asked aloud. “I mean, really it’s a wonder we don’t have bugs.”

You were going to respond. That was until he suddenly shut his mouth, a chest deep grunt leaving him as you notice him stare at something on the furniture next to him.

It was a cockroach.

Mind you, the moment you realized what it was you weren’t the least bit surprised when he suddenly teleported. Saiki hates bugs. He could read the minds of humans, as well as animals, but he couldn’t with bugs. He thought they were small minded icky things. Hell, he couldn’t even let his powers touch the thing.

You counted down the seconds before he came back. It was around ten, maybe fifteen. He also teleported right behind you.

“Welcome back,” you greeted and watched as his eyes dart towards the floor.

“Sorry, I may have overreacted.” He muttered. “I just hate them.”

“I know,” you hummed out before looking around and grabbing a cup and piece of paper. Saiki watched you as you let the roach crawl on the piece of paper before placing the cup over it so it didn’t run away. You were quick to put it outside and close the window after so Saiki didn’t worry about it coming back in.

“All gone,” you cheered with a smile. “Now, let’s watch TV, ya?”

2. Saiki’s Pushy Friends

PK Academy was a school were many different personalities and people collided. It was always fun to meet new people in this school, yet on the other side of the coin, sometimes they were more than a little odd. Not like you can speak, your best friend was a psychic. Though, he wasn’t delusional like this one guy in your class that declared himself Saiki’s friend. His name was Kaido. He thinks he has powers and has an evil organization following him around.

Then, you have Nendou. Basically, he’s stupid. Not that you minded, but sometimes being stupid isn’t the best thing in the world, especially now.

It was the sports festival at PK and Saiki and you had to participate in it. You both were on the same team since all the teams were decided by class. This also gave you a good idea of the friends Saiki has made. It was safe to say that Kaido was growing on you. You felt a little bad for the guy, what can you say.

Let’s not forget about Hairo as well. You knew him a bit more from hearsay than the others, plus he was class rep. Though, you had to say, he was a little too overly enthusiastic.

It was kind of a surprise to see Teruhashi, the most popular girl in school, try and interact with Saiki. Though, it was a bit amusing since to him, she’s nothing more than walking muscle. However, you did think he would swoon over her like all the other guys in your school if she was like you. However, you knew Saiki had no interest in romance so you don’t care either way.

Finally, Nendou. You were originally going to say that you didn’t mind the guy that much and thought maybe he would be a good thing for Saiki. However, after just watching him take out one of the antennas from Saiki’s head, you started to wonder how much of a danger his stupidity is to Saiki.

You watched that pink haired friend of yours collapse to the ground with a hard thud as soon as Nendou pull the thing out of his head. You were quick to rush over to him and sit by his side. When you flipped him over, since he fell face forward, worry grew about your body and infected your bloodstream.

You heard protests about turning him over, but at this point all the worried voices drowned before they were even audible to you. His lips were parted as drool leaked from his mouth and went down his chin, his eyes dead and without life as darkness surrounded them. It didn’t take you long to recover and swipe the antenna Nendou was holding and pop it back in its rightful place in his pink locks.

You didn’t know how long it would take for him to wake up, or if he’d wake up at all. All you knew was to sit and wait for him to wake up. To your surprise, he woke up rather quickly. Maybe a mere minute or so after you fixed him up. When his eyes opened, you felt yourself suddenly get surrounded as Saiki’s friends crowed over him to ask how he was.

You noticed him using telepathy to talk to everyone when Hairo said, “You passed out after Nendou took that think out of your head, lucky for you, [Name] put it back right away!”

“Yeah, he saved your life!” Kaido spit out next, their hands placing on my shoulder out of respect and gratitude. 

Saiki’s eye then direct to you, his voice never leaving his lips for a moment before you noticed him flinch.

‘Ah,’ you thought. ‘He tried to use telepathy with me again.’

When he noticed, Saiki just nodded in your direction. You knew he was thanking you, he didn’t need to word it out to you. The look in his eyes was enough.

Lunch came immediately after Saiki ended up waking up, and it was understatement to say he didn’t want to be bother with anyone else besides you. He was quick to drag you to the roof of the school to eat.

The both of you sat against the railing, lunch in your laps. You wanted I just forget about the scare that Saiki gave you, but the after effects he was having wasn’t making that easy. He was having trouble, and it was easy to see when his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even pick up his food without it falling back in the box.

You side eyed him, his expression one of concentration as he tried to pick up his food again. Though, he dropped it again.

He sighed quickly after that, only looking down at his food as you saw his mind wonder off.

Once you finished chewing whatever food you had in your mouth, you placed your food to the side and moved so that you weren’t side to side, but rather across from Saiki’s body now. He didn’t register your movements until he saw a hand come into his view and pick up an item of food with his chopsticks.

When he turned to you, you had the chopsticks in your dominant hand and your other under the food so it didn’t drop to the filthy ground.

“C’mon, lemme help,” you said. It was easy for Saiki to pick up the worry in your tone, however he knew not to address it or else you’ll just either deny it or baby him. “Open up.”

He obeyed your command after a moment, opening his mouth wide enough for you to place his food in his mouth. The hand that was meant to catch the food if it fell made sure Saiki closed his mouth, his fingers placed a bit of pressure under his chin to shut his jaws before slowly trailing away. The food wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the chill that ran down his spine at your lingering touch that crawled on his skin.

“I could hurt you.” He suddenly spit out. It was pained. “Having my antenna taken out messed up my powers.”

You leaned your head to the side, your eyes never falling from his. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

“You should go.” He stated.

“Why?”

“I just told you.”

You smiled. “Saiki, you could never hurt me.”

He looked at you like you had something stuck in your teeth. “You don’t know that, I may not be able to read your mind, but I don’t know how my other powers react to you.”

You remained quiet for a moment before shuffling your body side by side again, your head falling to rest of Saiki’s shoulder. You felt him flinch at the contact, his muscles even began to tighten just out of fear.

“Yanno,” you started out saying, your hand coming up to play the antenna that you could reach. “It’s odd to me how these things are the only thing keeping you stable.”

“Is it?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Small things like these verses your powers. The thing that gets me is that these things actually win in that fight. Though, I suppose it does complete the look you have.”

“And what look is that?” Saiki asked as he gazed down at you to see your eyes already on him. He could feel his fingers twitch as he watched you say shamelessly, “The cute, mysterious loner type.”

Saiki’s lips parted as he gazed at you. He quickly recomposed himself when he noticed you waiting patiently for him to respond. He sighed before asking, “Mysterious loner? Where’d you get that?”

You laughed before sarcastically questioning, “yep, I wonder where.”

3. Your friends are my friends

You don’t know how you got wrapped into this, but perhaps it’ll allow you to know Saiki’s friends better.

Currently, you were walking with Kaido, Nendou, and Saiki to a good ramen shop Nendou suggested. You were dragged along when Nendou remembered you from the Sports Festival and as Saiki’s friend. They never really got the chance to speak to you since you’re usually out the door as soon as the bell rings, but today they finally caught you.

At some point Teruhashi joined the group, though you feel like she kinda took over since now the boys, except for Saiki and you, were fawning over her. Saiki and you took it upon yourselves to give them all room to talk to her, so you both sorts trailed behind.

It was silent for a while, the only noise was Nendou or Kaido talking to Teruhashi. However, you caught the, “what does that even mean,” that Saiki mumbled under his breath.

“Hm?” You hummed. “What does what mean?”

It was obvious to you he didn’t realize he said that aloud. But he just seemed to be glad that only you heard that.

“Teruhashi wants me to go ‘oh wow’ or something to her.” Saiki revealed. “I don’t even know what that means.”

You kept your gaze on Saiki for a moment. “So, she likes you?”

“I guess,” he muttered. “I think it’s more that I’m the only guy that isn’t kissing her feet.”

You watched Teruhashi interact with Nendou and Kaido. You know that, normally, she wouldn’t take time to hang out with these guys. However, because of her crush on Saiki, she bares with them. In all honesty, she seems a bit perfect. Being able to deal with them just for the person she adores. It’s easy for anyone to do, and not a lot of people would even bother.

“She seems like a good fit for you.” You suddenly uttered out.

When Saiki heard that, he felt his hands twitch. He didn’t like that, not one bit. What irked him the most was that it seemed natural, like you actually meant it. And, of course, he had no way of knowing if those words were genuine or actually forced.

“No way,” Saiki stated coldly. “Never in a million years.”

“Damn, that’s cold, Saiki.” He heard you say, a teasing tone wedged in your voice.

“Why do you keep calling me Saiki, anyway? We aren’t acquaintances.”

“Hm?” You questioned. “I thought you don’t like me calling you by your first name in public?”

Saiki sighed. “Well now I’m telling you I don’t care.”

Saiki knew this way of showing that you were closer to him than anyone would ever be may have been childish on his part, but when he heard his first name come from your lips in front of his other ‘friends’, he felt more than satisfied. 

4. Friendship Can Bring Romance

Being able to rest during class was one of your guilty pleasures. Even if you got called out by your teacher, you didn’t mind. It was better when it was raining outside, the patter of rain when it hit the window made you want to nap.

“Hey,” a voice called out to you. You didn’t listen though, it wasn’t important.

“Hey, [Name],” it called out again. Okay, maybe you should wake up. Then again, sleep. You could always sleep later though.

You fluttered your eyes open as you felt your body being pushed around. When your sight became focused, the blurry figure in front of you showed a blue hair kid. You knew him, but from where?

“Saiki asked me to wake you up, sorry,” he confessed.

Oh, right. That’s Kaido, Saiki’s friend.

“Hm? Where is Kusuo?” You asked in a groggy voice, your hand coming up to wipe your eyes.

“Oh, he went home.” Kaido informed you. “Something just came up, I guess.”

“Alright,” you hummed before the end of your lips pulled upward. “Thank you, Kaido.”

It wasn’t easy for Kaido to wake up the quiet kid. Kaido only met the guy once or twice, and when he was hanging with him, you only stayed close to Saiki. It was kinda odd, but Kaido understood your attachment to the pink haired man. Saiki was Kaido’s first friend, after all, so he knew how awesome the guy was.

Though, he’s never got the chance to speak to you. He knows Saiki never really goes anywhere with you, and somehow you always end up by his side. He just always seemed to miss you when it came to getting the chance to introduce himself so Kaido was pretty glad when you came along the trip to that ramen place, even if it was a dumb and he got distracted by Teruhashi.

Kaido knew you were the closest person to Saiki. He’s pretty sure that not even Nendou is as close to Saiki as you are. And those two are best friends. Kaido didn’t know the extend of how long you two have been friends, but he does know from watching that Saiki has respect for you. So, it was critical that he makes a great impression with you so that he can become closer to Saiki and maybe you as well.

“S-Sure, no problem!” He stuttered, his bandaged hand retracting from your shoulder and holding them up in the air in a surrendered notion.

“Do you live around here at all? I’ll walk you home as a thank you.” You said as you stood from your seat and began to search for your bag.

“What? You don’t have to do that, really, it isn’t necessary!” Kaido spit out quickly, his words jumping all over the place.

“It’s really no trouble at all,” you stated as you put your bag over your shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get going before the rain gets worse.”

The rain eventually stopped when both teens got closer to your house. Kaido’s was further ahead, so he thought it would be better if he just walked you home instead so you didn’t have to walk more than you have to already.

“So, you’ve been friends with Saiki since he was little, huh?” Kaido asked as you explained why Saiki trusts you so much. “That’s pretty awesome! What was he like back then?”

“Pretty much the same.” You answered. “Though he did get more handsome throughout the years, and he used to be kinda sweet. Now, not so much.”

“I see, so you guys have been through it all together.” Kaido replied.

“Basically, though, he did start to worry me a bit since I was his only friend for a really long time,” you confessed. You paused as you looked up at Kaido and gave him a smile, “But I’m glad he finally made a friend like you.”

Kaido could feel his heart beat a million miles an hour just at the words you strung together. He never heard kinder words than those, and he was even more thrilled that he succeeded in making a good impression on Saiki’s childhood friend!

“It’s, uh, n-no problem, really!” Kaido muttered out as his whole face began to fluster, his hands going everywhere.

“Oh,” you hummed out.

“Hm?” Kaido questioned. His nerves going down. “What is it?”

“Did you know you were dragging your scarf the whole time?” You asked curiosity as your hands started to real in the extra fabric.

“What?” He asked out of pure shock. Though, realizing that he doesn’t make a fool out of himself he said, “O-Of course I did! It’s a fashion choice.”

“Not the best one,” you stated as you stepped closer to the blue haired male.

Kaido’s eyes widened as he stated directly into your colored orbs, watching them dance solely for him. It was like getting attention from a loved one, but this attention make him nervous to the point where he thought his face was going to explode with red. Kaido’s lips slowly started to disappear as the scarf started to build up around his shoulders and neck.

“There you go,” you said, “much better. Now your scarf doesn’t get more dirty and you look even better.”

‘Even better? What’s that supposed to mean? Does it.. does it mean he thought I looked good before?!’ Kaido thought.

Kaido let out an awkward laugh as he played with the end of the scarf. “O-Oh, haha, thank you.”

“Sure,” you hummed. “Now let’s get going.”

5. Blessing Turned On Jealousy

What’s that saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Yeah, that’s it. See, that could apply to this yet at the same time it would go a little different.

More like, the enemy of my best friend is my friend. At least for your situation. You see, walking home with Saiki has now turned into walking home with Saiki, Nendou, and Kaido. Not that you mind, but sometimes you really do wish it was back to when Saiki and you got to spend time alone together. However, being friends with Saiki and then having his friends automatically become your friends may have some perks.

Like now. Bumping into Kaido’s mom was totally accidental. But, in the end it payed off. Why?

Because coffee jelly.

“I know it’s not easy being friends with my son because he’s so shy, but please be patient.” Kaido’s mom announced as she placed the coffee jelly down in front of Saiki and you.

“Please don’t say that mama—I mean—mother.” Kaido pleased, his voice cracking as it got higher with embarrassment.

Overall, the beginning was a very nice. Hell, it was damn near perfect. Although, you just had to snoop around. Well, it was more like exploring Kaido’s room.

Your fingertips brushed along the spines of the many books Kaido had stacked up in his bookcase. It was seriously amazing how many books he had, he even had some original copies of some famous old books.

“This is pretty awesome,” you muttered to yourself before your eyes spotted something that didn’t quite match with the others. In all honesty, you were simply curious. However, curiosity did kill the cat. In your case, more like awakened the Saiki K.

“Hey, Kaido, what is the Jet Black Wings?” You asked aloud as the group sat down eating whatever snacks were about. You would always hear either chewing or at least some conversation, but after that question left your mouth it was dead silent. You felt like you killed something, but when you looked over you noticed Kaido’s face beat red. Seriously, his entire face was as red as a blood moon.

“P-Put that back!” He stuttered out, the blue haired boy suddenly running up to you to snatch the book from your hand.

As he reached for it, you held it higher. Even if he was about the same height or maybe a inch or so taller, you just needed to make him miss his hand from grabbing it.

“Don’t be embarrassed, I’m just curious.” You calmly said. “Is it bad or something?”

“N-No! It’s nothing, uh, bad! Just give me it back!” Kaido begged this time around, his hands trying desperately to grab it from you. Okay, maybe you were being a little mean at this point, but it was kinda fun to tease him.

You began to back up as Kaido trying to nab the book in your hand. “Just explain it!”

“No! Never!” He shouted.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little, though, that was your fatal mistake. Having yourself distracted by your own humor, your mind didn’t take into account the pile of prep books scattered about until it was too late. You quickly lost your voice, as well as your balance before slamming your head hard against the wood floors.

“Woah! You guys okay?” Nendou asked out of genuine concern.

As much as you would have liked to answer him, you were too concerned with the pain pounding into your skull like a jackhammer. Seriously, this is gonna give you one massive headache.

You scrunched your nose as your finally gave effort to open your eyes, though, they permanently remained open when you noticed a face staring down at you, a body on top of yours. You guessed that during the fall Kaido tried to save you, but only got dragged along instead.

“H-Hey, um, are you okay?” He asked under his shaky breath.

You only nodded before trying to avoid his gaze in any possible way. The position you were in didn’t help whatsoever in that department. Instead, you hoped that Kaido would take the hint and get off. That plan wasn’t looking too good cause all that was running through his mind was how you looked under him. Let’s say, the thoughts he had left a distaste in Saiki’s mouth.

Originally, he was just gonna let you handle it, but after hearing Kaido’s perverted thoughts about you, that plan blew up.

Saiki stood up, leaving his coffee jelly half eaten before grabbing Kaido by the back of his shirt and yanking him off of you. Saiki gave some strength into that but not enough to launch him into the bookshelf like he wanted too. He knelt down to come to your level and help you up, your massive headache being noticeable when you held onto the back of your head.

“Damnit, that really hurt,” you muttered to yourself but Saiki heard it clear as day.

It wasn’t long after that he took you home as well as the left over coffee jelly. Saiki advised you to stay home a day just to let the pain die down a bit before going back to school, so, the pink haired boy was all alone today. And all alone to everyone else meant to bother him more than usual.

Teruhashi, Nendou, Hairo. All of them. Though, it was a bit weird that Kaido wasn’t bothering with him today. Not that he was complaining, but he couldn’t pinpoint the answer until he heard Kaido’s thoughts, ‘I need to ask Saiki for permission. They’re best friends, it would be rude if I didn’t ask permission to ask out [Name].’

Never mind. He didn’t need to know that.

It was around lunch time that Kaido walked up to Saiki for the first one, the blush that littered his cheeks made Saiki want to gag for a moment.

“So, uh, Saiki, I have to ask you something.” Kaido uttered out lowly. Clearly, this was nerve wracking for him.

“What is it?” Saiki asked telepathically.

“Well, it’s about [Name], yanno, our [Name]?”

‘What other person has that name?’ Saiki thought. ‘And don’t say our, it’s creepy.’

“You see, I, well, I think I like him and I’d like your blessing to ask him out!” Kaido shouted, his body bowing at an almost 90 degree angle.

Normally, Saiki would just say to do whatever since he could read [Name]’s thoughts and see that he doesn’t like Kaido in that way. However, the one person in the world that Saiki actually wants is immune to his powers. He knew he needed to shut this down fast.

‘No way.’ Saiki responded.

“Thank you so much, Saiki, you won’t—wait—why not?” Kaido asked aloud, his voice getting higher the more he freaked out. He thought this would be easy, he means, it was Saiki. The most chill guy ever actually gave him a hard ‘no’ to asking out his best friend. Kaido shouldn’t be surprised, even though he is.

‘Because I said so,’ Saiki strictly put. He knew it was wrong to say this, who was he to say no to something that isn’t his business. Though, the feeling of relief that he still had a chance was more satisfying in the end.

By the time Saiki got to your house it was basically as soon as school ended. He used teleportation to get here as fast as he could, as well as just appear in your room. He wasn’t expecting you to still be asleep, though, he supposed this wasn’t too bad.

The pink haired male carefully walking up to the bedside of his best friend. It was odd to see your hair going in one direction instead of all over the place like normal, and don’t even get him started on the soft snores that came from your nose. Snoring isn’t usually the most attractive thing in the world, but this light snores from you made him think of the habit as cute.

Now, he would normally wake you up. But, just allowing himself to look at you for a moment longer without any consequences never hurt anybody. Saiki sat himself down on your floor, his eyes keeping to your closed ones as they slowly began to travel down to your lips. He doesn’t know what came over him, but it seriously began to freak him out when he started think about Kaido touching his lips with yours. After the freak out, jealousy was spiraling around in the psychic. He never knew that Kaido, of all people, would actually develop romantic feelings for you. If he did, he would have never allowed the both of you to interact the way you did at his house the other day.

Saiki let out a sigh before standing up once more, his hand came up to your shoulder slowly and began to shake it. It wasn’t long after that your eyes fluttered open and gave him that soft smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.

6. School Trip

The school trip was always the most looked forward to activity in high school. This year it was a three day trip to Okinawa. While you were excited to spend some time at a gorgeous place like Okinawa, Saiki was definitely less excited.

As kids talked with their friends in a group or just at their desks, you were currently sitting on top of Saiki’s desk with the pink haired boy sitting in the chair. This wasn’t something you always do, especially since at times Saiki has pushed you off out of retaliation, but after a moment or two of still being there, you knew he didn’t mind today.

“You excited?” You asked him.

“No. I don’t get the appeal.” He spit out, his eyes closing as he moved his head down. “I could get to Okinawa in three minutes.”

“Kusuo, not everyone is like you.” You explained. “So don’t go getting moody on this trip, I’m not letting you ruin it for me.”

“I won’t, I’m just saying a fact.” He replied.

You were about to continue with things you’re excited to do during the trip before Hairo came around to the both of you with a clip board in hand. He was responsible for dividing rooms.

“Saiki, [Name], did you guys decide on your group for the class trip?” He asked politely. “You should have three boys and three girls in your group.”

Saiki didn’t say anything, instead he just rested his head against your forearm. Perhaps he wanted Hairo to think he fell asleep and leave it to you, or maybe he was actually saying that he didn’t care as long as he was with you. Either way, you smiled at the contact and said to Hairo, “Kusuo and I will be rooming, it doesn’t matter who else is in our group.”

“Okay, great!” Hairo exclaimed as he wrote it down. “Kaido and Nendou are still available so I’ll just place Kaido with your group, and then randomly place you guys with a girls group.”

“Thanks, Hairo,” you hummed out as he walked away to probably inform Kaido about the rooming.

You never minded contact with Saiki, in fact, you sort of enjoyed it. However, seeing him still like this, even with Hario now gone, you worried.

“Hey, Kusuo,” you called out.

No answer.

“Kusuo?” You asked this time. And when he didn’t answer again you unconsciously moved your hand up to his head and moved it back to where you could look him in the eyes. Saiki’s face was still without expression, though, those eyes worried you. He seemed, almost, upset.

“Kusuo?” You asked. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, signaling that nothing was wrong. You knew he was lying.

You tilted your head, some of your hair moving with gravity to expose part of your forehead. “Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.” He said, his voice was steady and yet, that look in his eyes still bothered you.

You knew he wasn’t going to budge but still, just because you’re going to let it go now doesn’t mean that you weren’t about to keep an eye on him.

Throughout the beginning and the first day of the trip, you kept an eye on Saiki. He seemed way more tired than usual, but that didn’t startle you. Instead, it was how he was by your side more often now when Kaido was around. You weren’t an idiot, it was pretty obvious. You didn’t mind Saiki’s attention, but you didn’t want him to think just because you were friends with Kaido that he’d be put second.

“Kusuo, can we talk?” You asked him as the two of you had the room to yourselves. The others were out and about, but the two of you decided on an early night.

“About what?” He asked as he set up his sleeping area.

“Today.” You started out. “You’ve been acting weird around Kaido. Did something happen?”

You watched Saiki carefully, so carefully that you noticed his fingers lightly curl around the blanket. You didn’t want to push him, so instead of pushing him to speak, you allowed yourself to be silent and let him take his time. You don’t remember how many minutes pasted, but you swear it felt like decades.

“Nothing happened.” He informed you. “His thoughts just aren’t for my taste at the moment.”

“His thoughts?” You questioned as you slowly approached Saiki on his blanket until you were right in front of him. “Okay, then, what’s got you all bothered? Let me guess, he’s thinking dirty things, right?”

“Sort of.” He replied.

“I bet it’s about Teruhashi,” you theorized. “Is that why you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not about Teruhashi.”

“Really? Then who?”

Saiki went quiet once more.

You sighed. Your head moving down to get a glimpse at his face. It wasn’t until you moved your hand over by his, your finger tips brushing with his accidentally to get more stability as you leaned in did you hear him finally confess.

“It was about you.”

To say that you needed a minute to take that in was an understatement. Kaido was a good guy and all, but it was kinda startling to realize he liked guys, as well as girls, since you didn’t suspect that even for a minute with him.

“Seriously?” You asked once more.

Saiki nodded. “He asked me if he could ask you out.”

“And what did you say?”

“No.”

You couldn’t help a smile crawl upon your face with that one. You knew it was a bit hard to read Saiki, especially when it came to you, but you were just beyond happy to hear that.

“Good,” you suddenly shot out. Saiki’s head moving back up in an instant to see your happy features. “I don’t like Kaido like that anyway, saves me from breaking his heart.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.” You hummed out. You knew this may backfire on you in more ways than one, but right now, you didn’t care. The happiness you felt told you to take a chance and throw out the bait. “I know you can’t read my mind, but I actually do have someone I like.”

Saiki aimlessly stared at you for a moment and took in the words you confessed to him. It was an odd feeling, the rapid beating of his heart, but perhaps this was finally the start of things going his way for once.

On the second day of the trip, everyone went to Emerald Beach. It was one of the many places were people could stare at others and no one would think anything of it. A perverts dream. Though, for Saiki, he just wanted to hang out with you.

“Where’s [Name]?” Kaido asked Nendou as Saiki stood behind the two.

“He said he had to go buy a swimsuit. The one he brought apparently went missing.” Nendou told the blue haired boy.

Now, that want a mistake. Sure, it may have been a dirty trick but Saiki rather die than see you in the swimsuit you brought. After all, you bought a shirt with it. He knew you didn’t take off your shirt often, even at the beach, but he was determined to see you with just a pair of shorts.

Much like how all the guys that crowded around the girls changing house waited patiently to see Teruhashi in a two piece swim suit.

It was a while after Teruhashi came out, and when everyone was in the water that you made your appearance. You had your hands wedged into your swim shirt pockets as you allowed your feet to take in the hot sand that felt magical between your toes. You gazed around for a moment before noticing pink hair sitting under an umbrella.

A devilish smirk crawled on your features as you began to slowly approach the male. This may give Saiki a heart attack, but it was worth it. As you stood over him from behind, you attacked. Your body shot down as your arms wrapped aruund his neck and pushed your chest into his bare back.

“Hey, what’s a cute guy like you doing all alone at a place like this?” You teased, allowing your voice to go on for some time so that he realized it was just you.

Saiki immediately flinched at the contact before noticing it was just you. However, when he noticed the touch of your skin against his, he could feel his entire body heat up. The sensation was new, he’s felt his face go hot before, but his entire body was a new one.

“What took you so long?” Saiki tried to play off.

You just sighed and got a tighter grip on the male, your chest pushing more into his back. “Someone stole my swimsuit. Sadly, I didn’t have enough money to replace the whole thing, so I had to go by some swim shorts.”

“Hm, as least you’re here.” Saiki stated, making sure not to comment on the ‘stolen swimsuit’.

“Yeah,” you uttered as you released Saiki from your grasp and sat down next to him. You gazed out at the beautiful ocean that was filled with laughing people with this loving look in your eyes, all the while not realizing Saiki’s held that same gaze as he stared at you.

When you did turn to him, he completely lost himself in his mind as his eyes wondered about your figure. You weren’t the most fit guy in the world, but you did have these subtle yet enchanting muscle lines along your upper body that made Saiki lose himself.

“I saw that.” You suddenly said. Saiki’s eyes now darting back to yours. “You just checked me out.”

Saiki saw no way out of this one. So, he just confessed it. “So what if I was?”

In all honesty, he just expected you to laugh and tell him that it’s only fair if he does the same. However, the twist was unexpected and, well, definitely appreciated. He watched as you gazed down, this bashful look in your eyes as you did everything to avoid his gaze. Your body language wasn’t helping either. Your fingers were tapping against the towel and the heel of your foot was moving back and forth.

Maybe this trip wasn’t totally for nothing.

7. All That Was A Secret

Spring break. It was one of those weeks that Saiki went to go visit his grandparents all the way in the middle fo nowhere. So, for the most of this break, you were home alone. 

It was kind of boring. This break was definitely not one that you looked forward to, more now then before, especially after the beach during the class trip. Those words always ended up repeating in your mind, way too much then you thought they would. Then again, you shouldn’t be surprised. All those days that you’d try to subtly touch him, tease him, it was just a way to relieve yourself of the pent up emotions you’ve had for him for a few years now. 

Currently, you were in your room upon your bed, hugging one of your pillows close to your chest. You never tried to dwell on if Saiki felt the same or not, but recently, it’s been clawing at you more and more. It wasn’t like you didn’t think you had a chance, but more if Saiki was more comfortable just staying friends. You would understand, even if it would hurt, you’d do it for him. You’d do anything for that guy. 

You sighed before slowly lifting your body off the bed. Today wasn’t a good day for being sad, it was summer break, after all. You knew you had to get your mind off Saiki, and him being away made it a bit easier. So, you grabbed some clothes from your closet and laid them on the bed. You weren’t sure what you were going to do, but you were determined to fine something to take your mind off him. 

You let your pants drop to the ground before taking the ones on your bed and letting your legs slip through each of the pant legs. Next, you stripped your shirt off and took in a deep breath. You paused for a moment before dropping the dirty shirt on the ground and grabbing the new one. In all honestly, you never really pay attention to your surroundings when changing. But, does anyone? It wasn’t until your head went through the hole on the top of the shirt did you realize that the bed in front of you was now missing and the wall you were staring at was not the wall of your bed room. When you turned your head, you locked eyes with Saiki in an unfamiliar room. 

“Huh?” You uttered under your breath before your eyes widened, your face felling hotter than usual before frantically pulling your shirt all the way down. Once down, you opened your mouth and said, “You can’t do that without me knowing! What if I was in the middle of a shower or something and not just changing?”

“I would have given you some of my clothes.” He replied nonchalantly.

You bit the inside of your cheek before crossing your arms over your chest. “Why did you teleport me anyway?”

“I can’t stand it here.” Saiki confessed. Of course, you knew he didn’t exactly enjoying visiting his grandparents but he has never done this before. “Just hang out with me. I’ll send you back after.”

You sighed. You can’t exactly say no after that, so, with that Saiki and you began to watch a movie. It wasn’t one you two watched before so it was easy to get lost in it. Though, it was also easy to focus on Saiki when he suddenly placed his hand on top of yours as you guys watched. You weren’t too sure if he thought you wouldn’t notice, but there was no way you were going to pull away. After all, it’s not like he placed his fingers between yours, if he did that, you don’t know if you could handle it. 

After a half an hour into the movie you finally got the plot of it, and you weren’t amused at all. It was a best friends to lovers troupe. More specifically, childhood friends that drifted apart only to be brought back together by work and now slowly are developing feelings for one another. Let’s just say now, you were a little more than nervous. 

Thank god Saiki couldn’t read your mind, because now, you feel like you’d give him a headache. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if he knows and is only doing this to taunt you, or maybe this was all just a big coincident. Yeah, one massive coincident. In reality though, Saiki was just teasing you. He had no idea of your feelings but he wanted to watch the movie with you to implant the idea in his mind of the possibility.

Well, his plan was working. Maybe a little too much. Though, as you were about to spit something out, your eyes suddenly shot down to the floor in embarrassment. Yep, a make out scene. Of course, Saiki had no idea about that, but it was better than just the sappy stuff cause now it was really ingrained in your head. 

Once it was over and you had somewhat of your cool back you couldn’t help it. You needed to ask. If it blew up in flames, then so be it. 

“Hey, Saiki,” you uttered out lowly. Saiki caught it immediately and turned his gaze on you. “I have a.. question.”

“What?” He asked.

“Well,” your voice trailed off as you moved your eyes down to where both of your hands connected. “We’ve been best friends for a long time now but, have you ever, um, thought about doing...that?

Saiki remained quiet for a moment, his thoughts going everywhere before thinking to himself, ‘All the time, actually.’

As much as he wish he could have said that telepathically, he could never try to say that vocally. So, he just opted for a nod and watched your body flinch. The hand he touched growing warm.

“You’re hot.” Saiki suddenly spit out. This time, you brought your hand back to your body so he couldn’t tell anymore. 

“S-So what?” You stuttered out.

To say that Saiki didn’t like this side of you was an understatement. He’s never never seen you so flustered before, and it was really adorable to look at.

“It’s cute.” Saiki commented, his body leaning in just to see your face closer.

You turned your head to the side, eyes darting to the tv just to look away for a moment to compose yourself. You knew that there wasn’t gonna be another perfect moment like this so, you slowly reached over to place your hand on the back of Saiki’s neck. It was warm. When he noticed what you wanted as you started to lean back and gently pull him with you, he complied quickly until he gazed at you from above. Suddenly, he was jealous at the fact that Kaido got to see this view before him. 

He stared at you for a moment before watching you bite down on your bottom lip, his mind doing backflips at the want to read your mind, but also at how good you looked under him. 

“Kiss me.” You whispered under your breath, just loud enough for him to hear. 

“If I do,” Saiki uttered lowly. “I might not be able to stop.”

“That’s okay.”

[myelocin]

synopsis: sakusa, the only constant in your life was the love that taught you two was enough. life, on the other hand, teaches you that in the unpredictability of things, a serendipity is bound to redefine the things you’ve considered as truth your whole life. 

characters: sakusa kiyoomi, you, +bonus character!

genre: fluff, a little bit of hurt/comfort, domestic/firstlove to marriage au, parenting!au, mentions of adoption, tw//mentions of abandonment & death

wc: 6.5k

a/n: um so this was a plot for makki but i am a joke, so here we have sakusa once again, and no, for once this isn’t an angst. | playlist: symmetry (JT Roach) ((atm not that edited lol))

-

“It’s cold,” you say and Sakusa’s quick to wrap his scarf around your neck.

Each time he does, you consider it as a win. Sakusa was never one to particularly prefer excessive public displays of affection, but more often times than he’d like, you always manage to catch him in moments he was feeling a little more relaxed.

Autumn, Sakusa thinks just may be his most favorite season by far. Something about the chill in the air, slightly emptier streets, and the changing colors of the leaves did just the trick to make the lengthy walks from school to train station a little more bearable.

And of course, Sakusa smiles, another reason was you.

“It’s cold,” you’d tell him time and time again, especially during the final weeks of November where the last few leaves were threatening to fall as winter slowly rolled around. He knew you kept your own scarf tucked deep inside your school bag, under the notebooks where you scrawl some notes from the board in the margins at best, and beside the empty bento box that you always share with him during lunch.

But despite that, he’d only sigh before looping the dark green scarf he washes multiple times a week snug around your neck.

“You really need to start bringing your scarf,” he’d tell you, adding some comments as an afterthought that sounded more muffled under his mask, but you’d only beam at him in response.

You know he never minded.

And you’re glad he doesn’t—because after school walks with Sakusa Kiyoomi in the late autumn, who also happened to be your first friend and your first love, was your favorite perk in the season.

Sakusa, who you’ve known for most of your life. The kid from down the block who chose to walk around the rain puddles when everyone else around his age—at the time—only sought to hop straight into them.

“Why don’t you play in the rain puddles?” you remember yourself asking, opting to stand across him from the other side of the puddle as you watched him furrow his brows together and step away from the edge where water met concrete.

“I don’t want my grandma to spend extra time cleaning my rain boots,” was his reply, and you can still—to this day—recall the determined look on Sakusa Kiyoomi’s eight year old face as nodded his head at his own answer and moved even further away from the puddle.

The two little moles above his eyebrow looked like the connect the dots, well, dots, from your activity book back home and it was then that you decided to make it your mission to befriend the cautious boy who avoided puddles because he loved his grandmother.

And it worked, you suppose, because more than ten years down the road, instead of walking around the puddles on the pavement, you spend your afternoons either watching him spike through blocks after school, or like now—tell him that you’re cold, when in truth all you wanted to do was just be warm in his warmth.

“Did you change the fabric softener?” you ask him, smelling something like peaches and cream instead of his usual scent of fresh linen.

“I did,” Sakusa hums. “Do you not like it?” he asks, but doesn’t really face you. He faces forward and watches for the pedestrian light to flicker back to green, so he watches the number count down as he waits for your response to his question.

“I like it,” you smile, pushing the fabric up against your face as you hide your smile behind the scent of peaches.

“Ah, that’s good to know,” Sakusa replies, almost immediately. He thinks about the crinkled receipt from your favorite boutique at the mall sitting between the pages of his textbook and decides that going through the awkward conversation with the salesladies gushing about how sweet of a boyfriend he is, was completely worth it.

But more so, he’s almost glad that like the receipt you didn’t see—you also don’t notice the way he’s already smiling under the mask.

-

“It’s cold,” you tell him almost seven years later, the smile on your face still as teasing as before, as you wait for him to open his arms for an embrace this time instead of just the scarf from before.

Peaches, Sakusa thinks. Your hair still smells like peaches after all these years. On the other hand, he can’t really bring himself to mind; he thinks he’s come around to realize that peaches are his favorite flavor now.

“When are you not cold?” Sakusa comments, the tone of his voice sounding a little clipped, but you only laugh in return. Despite the bark in his voice, he tightens his arms around you as you glance up, peeking at him huffing clouds into the winter air.

“What time’s the bus coming?” you ask, breaking away from him and opting to hug him from the side instead. He still feels warm, so you smile and press your cheek against the sleeve of his jacket.

“In about ten minutes,” he answers. “Could be a while though, if there’s a lot coming on and off depending on the stop.”

“Wanna wait inside the café?” he suggests, motioning towards the one right across the street.

You shake your head, letting go of his arm and wrapping your hands around his midriff instead, saying, “I’m warm right now so it’s okay.”

Beneath his mask, he smiles—and looking at him, this time you could tell. You’ve been with him long enough to notice the way the corners of his eyes crinkle every time he smiles.

Sakusa realizes he likes looking at you like that, and the moments he shares with you after every time you say you’re cold are quick to become his favorite.

You, with your sheepish smiles, fruit themed keychains, and love for the autumn weather.

He smiles, watching you as you take the seat closest to the window first before quickly wiping the seat he’s meant to take with the disinfectant wipes you keep in your bag.

“Thanks,” he murmurs, feeling his heart warm even more when you smile at him.

For him, it’s not the way you remember the little things about him, but rather, it’s the unspoken way you go on about it. The almost natural flow you pulled him into, that he just knows you outlined with nothing but consideration.

You liked jumping straight for the puddles, but he preferred watching you smile with his rain boots dry. He knew you preferred to drink your coffee with a little more cream and sugar than he did, and even if he didn’t mind sweeter drinks from time to time—he always appreciates you asking how much cream and sugar he’d like for his regardless.

And it worked the same for you, you realize.

In silence, you notice how Sakusa always spends a second longer to look at you every time you pull out the wipes you keep in your bag just for him, and feel your heart warm when he laces your hand together afterwards.

You knew well enough that he preferred to keep his hands to himself, but the exceptions he makes for you were always appreciated on your end.

“I know I can be a little much sometimes,” he told you once, some years ago, when you were at the stage in your relationship where it felt safe to be with each other in complete vulnerability.

“I don’t mind,” you told him, because the truth was you really didn’t—and still don’t—mind. “You’re just a little more cautious than some, and that’s okay.”

“You being a little more on the cautious side isn’t all there is to you, Omi,” was the last thing you said as you cupped his face in between your hands.

And to this day, you don’t forget the way his eyes soften with the thanks he whispers as he turns his head and kisses you on the palm of your hand that night.

“We should make something for dinner tonight instead of eating out,” you quip next to him. You watch the people on the streets walk when the bus slows, and blur when it picks up momentum again. You hold Sakusa’s hand in between yours, absentmindedly playing with his fingers and the sleeve of his coat.

“Sounds good,” you hear him answer, before adding, “do we need to stop by the grocery store?”

You think about it, your eyes focusing on the child outside your window, lollipop in hand and a Totoro backpack behind him, as you mentally go over what you remembered what you saw in your refrigerator that morning.

“I think we’re all good,” you say. “But we can pick up some fruit for dessert?”

Sakusa doesn’t really think about it; he just nods. He could always go for some peaches, he supposes.

When the scenery outside begins to blur again, you turn to face his hand outstretched on your lap and begin to lightly scratch his open palm, then slyly look to the side where he’s facing you, watching for a change in his expression.

There isn’t one; if anything, he stares at you with his brow raised.

“Does it not tickle?” you huff, holding his palm open and tracing over the middle with the tip of your nails instead.

“No,” he answers and you huff, pursing your lips before you ultimately decide to just lace your fingers through his instead. Sakusa squeezes your hand when you slot yours on top of his, and you turn to him, smiling.

“Love you,” you say, and even if you do so out of the blue, Sakusa chooses to smile. With his other hand, he pulls his mask down and leans towards you to press a kiss on your cheek, noticing how the skin’s a little cold compared to his lips.

“Love you too,” he murmurs and when you turn to him and give him another smile—the one that’s wide enough for him to make out the crinkling lines on the corners of your eyes, an epiphany strikes him.

He loves you.

Sakusa’s struck with the epiphany that he’s never been more in love with you than how he feels in this very moment.

But he realizes a second later, that he’s had this thought before too.

Yesterday, when he woke up before you and the alarm and spent the seven minutes before 07:30 admiring how beautiful you looked with the spilled light highlighting the plains of your face. Last month, when he came home early from practice and watched you slightly dance off beat in the kitchen to the tune of a song he recalls you singing in the shower that same morning. Seven years ago, when he noticed you always packing an extra pair of chopsticks and pieces of fruit in your bento box for you to share with him during lunch.

Sakusa Kiyoomi realizes that even if the two of you were nothing short of being the personification of oil and water, as time moves forward, he only spends the twenty four hours of his day unearthing moments with you where he feels his heart so full that it seems like he can’t love you any more than he does in the moment.

Looking down at your hands where your left is intertwined with his right, he smiles. Sakusa thinks of the ring he remembers you commenting was pretty when you were at the mall a few weeks ago. He imagines how your hand would look with the ring he knows he’ll buy for you.

Then when you squeeze his hand, briefly turning at him with a smile as you point at the child outside with raccoon-themed backpack, Sakusa feels a familiar warmth flood his chest as his eyes zeroes in on you as he feels himself smile.

He wonders if the smile you have now would look the same when you see the ring he’ll hold out for you when he does so with one knee on the ground.

And even if the ground were to have puddles that day, he supposes it would be worth it.

-

It’s three years later, after a breathless “yes,” tearful “I do,” and keys to your first house where he hears you say “It’s too cold,” again.

It’s the middle of the winter when you walk out the door, meaning to stop by the convenience store nearby when you make it outside the gate of your home and see a child standing outside with a dull gray backpack and while he wears a too thin cardigan.

Sakusa sets his cup down, looks at you frantically calling him to come to the door, and grabs his coat and scarf as he makes his way to you.

When he walks out of the door and makes it in front of the gate, he sees you, squatting a little awkwardly in front of the child—who doesn’t look to be more than the age of even five— stare at you with the grey backpack pressed to his chest and a slight tremble to his form.

He recognizes the look on your face—and he knows that right at this moment your heart is already clenching.

“Where’s your mama?” you ask with a voice as gentle as your approach, and Sakusa decides to sit this one out as he stands behind you instead, leaning against the opened corner of the gate.

“She said I have to stay here,” he murmurs quietly, and when his body trembles again, Sakusa feels his fingers itch to wrap the scarf around him. You’re right—it is too cold for a child to be out in a weather like this.

“Did she go somewhere? What about your papa?” you ask again, deciding to maintain your distance when the child in front of you begins to sniffle and tear up.

“I don’t have a papa,” he whispers, then sniffles again. “But I have a mama and she said she’ll be back so I’ll stay right here!”  he finishes, puffing his cheeks in what you think is an attempt to keep the tears together.

You look at Sakusa, who stares at you looking equally unsure with what to do with the situation, but when he notices that you’re at a point where you’re at a loss of words, he chimes in for you. “How long have you been out here?”

Smiling, you shift to the side and listen as Sakusa’s voice softens when he addresses the child again. He’d make a great father, you think.

“Here since…” the child trails off, then looks up when he remembers something. “—since after breakfast!”

Your brows furrow, and when you look at Sakusa, you notice that his expression mirrors yours. “Breakfast?” you hear Sakusa repeat, then look at the watch on your wrist. “It’s already five pm.”

“Have you eaten at all?” Sakusa instead asks him, and your heart can only squeeze again when he shakes his head no.

“You said your mama just went to the convenience store, right? I’m on my way to go there so if I see someone maybe it’s her,” you say and the boy finally looks at you like he isn’t scared.

“Can you tell me your name? So she can recognize who I’m talking about,” you ask him again and he nods his head slowly before replying, “Arai Kazue,” with a small bow afterwards.

You smile; he’s still polite despite being scared.

“Do you wanna wait inside? It’s warm, and this uncle—“ you pause, gesturing towards Sakusa, “—can cook something so you can eat.”

His eyes brighten for a second, before he looked back down towards his shoes. “What if mama is on her way back, I don’t want her to worry.”

You check the time, glancing up towards Sakusa who only shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll be quick then,” you reassure him, and he bows again after a quiet thank you.

Kazue shivers again, and before you could unwrap your own scarf, Sakusa is already squatting down next to you, wrapping the boy in familiar fabric.

“It’s cold,” Sakusa says, and bundles up the boy under more layers.

-

“She’s not at the 7/11, or the two Family Marts on the other street,” you tell Sakusa when you made it home.

It’s a little past six pm by now, and you’re at least thankful that your husband had managed to convince Kazue to wait for her inside after sticking a note outside their gate that would tell the mother—if she came—that he was inside waiting for her.

“Has he said anything?” you ask, and sigh when Sakusa shakes his head no.

“Do you think….?” you ask, trailing off and lowering the volume of your voice even more when you look at Kazue sitting in the living room, a bowl of ramen in front of him as he watches the television play a show you only skipped past in that respective channel.

“That she left him there on purpose?” he finishes for you, and you sigh, suddenly feeling like your shoulders are as heavy as the weight of the possibility in your husband’s words.

“Maybe,” you sigh, not really looking forward to uncover the truth because of all the red flags already popping up in the situation. “We should just call the police,” he suggests and you nod in agreement, deciding that for the moment that really was just your only option.

The maybe, you referred to moments ago was later confirmed to just be the case because when Kazue later opens his backpack to show you the superhero he drew last night in his drawing book, a letter tumbles out before the book.

“Can I take a look at this?” you ask him, holding up the folded piece of paper with writing that clearly didn’t look like his, and he nods, before turning to face Sakusa as he flips through the pages of his drawing book.

You meet Sakusa’s eyes midway, and he nods for you to read the contents of the letter before he faces Kazue again, expression knit together like he was leaning something new.

“I’m sorry,” it reads, and it isn’t specifically addressed to anybody. “I can’t take care of him anymore,” it continues and your heart practically drops as you continue to skim through the sentences forming one after the other.

You notice the lines on the paper are smooth instead of soft; not a crinkle in the edges, or smudges on the ink. She’s been planning this, you notice, and when you look at Kazue who beams at Sakusa’s patient smile, your heart clenches even more.

“I know you and your husband haven’t had a child yet, and I don’t know if you’re even trying for one, but I know the both of you will be well enough to take care of Kazue.”

“I have no one else, and when I leave, he will have no one else.”

“He’s a kind boy,” it reads towards the end, and this is where you notice the strokes of the letters beginning to look a little more inconsistent.

“He eats his vegetables well, and he listens to his elders.”

You think about the empty bowl on your sink and remember Sakusa’s comment about how surprised he was that a child at his age actually managed to finish the variety of vegetables he knows even adults have trouble keeping down.

“I know I’m not in a good space to take care of him like he deserves, and I’m at a point in my life where I can’t continue,” you further read and your stomach drops when the next line ends.

“If you accept him, thank you, but if this situation just happened to burden you, then I’m sorry.”

Sakusa looks at you when you fold the letter back and choose to keep it in your hand instead of tucking it back into Kazue’s backpack. The zipper’s ripped off, you notice, and the straps look as worn as the scratches on the front pocket.

They must have had a tougher life, you think, and when Sakusa looks at you looking like he’s waiting for answers, you stay quiet because you don’t really know what to say.

By the time Kazue’s asleep in the guest room of your house, first you think about how plain the covers of the guest bed look next to the opened drawing book laid at the foot of the bed, all the colors of the rainbow looking like life against the white sheets behind it.

Then second, you think about the officer’s words that’s still ringing in your ear.

“We found a body by the river,” he said. “We recovered a wallet with a photo of that boy inside,” he continues, and it’s 01:09 in the morning when the weight in your heart overwhelms you and you finally begin to cry.  

-

Much like the both of you expected, the weeks after that day didn’t come easy. Kazue, much like his mother said in the letter, really is a kind boy. He listened to his elders and patiently waited for them to finish speaking before he added some comments of his own.

Even as you watched him listen to the officer scramble for words to explain the reality of his situation, he told them thank you for finding his mama before turning around and crying.

The investigation happened quickly, and it surprised you when Sakusa was quick to offer that Kazue was welcome to stay in the house during the process, seeing as none of the extended family members the police reached out to bother to respond.

“Are you looking to adopt?” was a question the officer automatically asked, and you could feel Kazue’s form stiffen in between you and Sakusa.

“We can take care of the costs for her funeral,” Sakusa instead replies, and when the officer looks at you in shock at the offer, you only nod your head.

“Thank you,” Kazue later says in the car ride home. He’s quiet afterwards, and Sakusa chooses to leave the car in silence as you continue to drive through the city, choosing to stop by the bakery on the way home to buy the cupcakes you saw doodled in the margin of Kazue’s sketchbook.

“What kind of cupcake would you like, Kazue?” you ask, turning around as you unbuckle your seatbelt.

He perks up in his seat behind you, fiddling with the buckle of his seatbelt as he puffs his cheeks and tells you, “It’s okay, I can eat whatever you pick.”

Sakusa beside you softens, then says, “You should go in with her so you can see what they have and pick out the one you like the most.”

“Can I?” he asks, looking at you, and you smile, slipping on your scarf as you push the car open. “Let’s go,” you call and Kazue clicks the buckle of his seatbelt, following in your suit.

“Make sure to put your scarf on,” Sakusa reminds, gesturing to the scarf he bought for him that morning. Sakusa smiles when he loops it around his neck, counting to three just like he taught him earlier, and tells him thank you, before opening the door and grabbing your hand as you walk to the entrance.

Despite the heaviness of the situation, Sakusa lets himself sit for a while in the moment. For now, the heater in the car feels warm against his skin, and the smile on Kazue’s face as he grabs your hand and walks into the adequately lit bakery is bright. Then he looks at you, soft smiles and patient eyes as you hold the door open for him to walk through.

Sakusa thinks it kind of looks like home.

-

“What’s gonna happen to him?” you ask Sakusa a week after Kazue’s mother was laid to rest.

You sit in your side of the bed, keeping your voice hushed despite Kazue staying in the room on the other side of the house. Sakusa walks out of the bathroom, grey sweatpants and a plain blue tee on, before he takes a seat on his side.

He thinks back to the boy, at how red his face looked as he cried into your shoulder while you carried him back to the car after the burial. Then, at the drawing of the three of you Kazue shyly presented during dinner earlier that night.  

“The police are probably coordinating with the people that will take him in,” he answers you after taking some time to think about your question.

“Didn’t none of the relatives call back? And isn’t his father already gone too?”

“Yeah,” Sakusa sighs, pressing his fingers to his temple, choosing not to look at you when he notices the urgency your tone gives away. In a way, he already knew of the question you were unintentionally leading up to.

“Kazue will probably be in foster care or the orphanage,” Sakusa finishes and beside him, you feel your heart already drop.

“Is the system going to be good for him?” you ask, turning your head so that your eyes meet Sakusa’s profile.

“I don’t know,” Sakusa answers, and truthfully, you aren’t even certain yourself if you want to know the answer.

“He’s just a child,” you say and Sakusa looks at you, sighing before he nods his head.

“Too young,” he murmurs and with that you put the book down and shuffle closer to him, watching with baited breath as you spill the thoughts in your head.

“Should we take him in?” you say quietly, and Sakusa’s eyes are quick to meet yours upon yours words.

“You mean adopt him?” he says a little quietly, the hesitation in his voice being the first tone you automatically pick up.

“I don’t want him to feel like he’s going to be left behind again,” you answer, truthfully, sighing as you recognize the undertone in your husband’s voice. Sakusa, for as long as you knew him was a man who practiced caution.

He was, is, and judging from this moment, will always be the one in the relationship to heed to practicality and reason instead of just flowing with the current. Like you’re doing now, you suppose.

“He’s been with us for less than a month, (y/n),” Sakusa tells you, his reminder not more than a whisper and it’s the softness and truth in them that finally gets you to see things from his perspective.

“The world is going to break him,” you say, and when you think back to Kazue smiling at you as he tells you thank you for the cupcakes you buy every other night—that’s when you finally feel the sadness spill from your eyes.

“He’s a kind boy,” Sakusa whispers when he opens his arms and lets you crawl into his side. “He’s tough enough to get through things.”

“The world isn’t kind,” you mutter against his chest, and despite Sakusa rubbing circles on your back to soothe the cries, he feels like he’s still at a loss for words.

Then when he goes to sleep that night, Sakusa dreams of empty sketchbooks and thin cardigans in winter weather.

He ceases to find rest that night.

-

“Why don’t you go out and play with the others?” you suggest, leaning down to Kazue’s height as you point to the playground not too far off. “Uncle Omi and I will be able to watch you from here.”

Kazue looks at you like he’s unsure of what to respond, then for a second lets go of your hand before deciding to reach forward and grasp it again.

“Last night was too rainy,” he says and you look at him, confused. Sakusa, beside you, does the same.

“Too many puddles on the ground,” Kazue explains, then looks down as he rocks himself to and fro with the balls of his feet. You smile; Kazue looks as cute in the yellow raincoat and matching rain boots Sakusa bought for him as he does wearing the raccoon themed backpack he shyly pointed to at the mall some days ago.

“Of course there are puddles, Kazue, it was raining last night,” you smile, letting go of his hand as you walk forward and lightly hop in the puddle.

Sakusa smiles as he watches you—it kind of feels like he’s looking at a page in the past.

But beside him, Kazue isn’t. Instead, he walks towards Sakusa and holds onto the edge of his coat as he continues to shake his head no.

“I know that Uncle doesn’t like when the things you have are too dirty,” Kazue begins; beside him, Sakusa looks down, eyebrows drawn together.

“He bought me these nice clothes so I don’t wan’ to get them dirty,” he finishes, smiling at Sakusa when he looks up at catches his eye.

“Thank you!” he says again, and you watch, with your heart somewhere between bursting and melting as your husband wordlessly ruffles Kazue’s hair and holds out his hand for him to take.

Your heart hurts, you realize. Because after today, Kazue would only be a name you’ll relate to your past.

“You’re going to a new home,” you had to explain to him slowly, and it hurt to tell him that because in the guest room—no his room—that he’d been staying at, were the drawings of the superheroes you’d listen to him talk about night after night, portraits of smiling faces he said were of you, Sakusa, and his mother stuck to the wall behind his bed.

For the month he’d been staying with you, the “Tadaima,” you or Sakusa would call out when you arrived would be answered by Kazue’s quiet “Okaeri,” as he met you by the genkan.

“A new home?” he’d asked, and while you excused yourself to allow for Sakusa to explain the situation, you listened from the other side of the door with your hand shaking over your mouth.

“You’ll meet your new parents that way,” Sakusa explained, his voice sounding like he was in between uncertainty and despair.

It wasn’t easy, you think, telling a child who was abandoned and lost his mother in the same day that he’d be going back somewhere unfamiliar again—but you suppose between you and your husband, Sakusa was the one better suited to explain the situation.

“I know they won’t be new parents,” Kazue replied and as you peeked back in the room you see Sakusa staring at him with wide eyes as a silent response.

“They’ll just take care of me for now, and that’s okay. I’m still lucky,” he finishes and the conversation ended just like that.

“He’s gonna be okay,” this time you tell Sakusa as you notice his expression shift in time with his hand ever so slightly tightening around Kazue’s.

You notice everything. Sakusa’s conflicted, much like you were—still are—but this, this was the best you could do for him.

Having kids was never included in you and Sakusa’s plan from the start. Life before, with the two of you had always been enough, and while the two of you never let go of the insatiable hunger for life—you knew that your thirst for it would be quenched with just the two of you.

Until life, ironically the very thing you were chasing, decided to give the both of you something it knew you would flow with.

“Always remember to bundle up, okay?” you remind Kazue when you make it in front of the entrance with who you assumed to be the caretaker standing by the door. Sakusa watches Kazue watch you, the boy’s happiness spilling as warmth into his cheeks as his lips break out into a smile as he nods along to your reminders.

“Thank you,” Kazue says again—and Sakusa internally tries to recall the amount of times he’s said his thanks to the both of you that day. He loses count after he hit fifteen.

“I won’t get these dirty because I’ll take care of them,” He tells Sakusa, gesturing to the things he has with him then gives him a smile when he squats down and faces him eye to eye.

Then when Kazue puffs his cheeks and leans forward wrapping his arms around Sakusa’s neck for an embrace, you watch, feeling the familiar throb of your heart return tenfold. You meet his smiling eyes as he opens them, and when he stretches his hand out for you, you squat down behind Sakusa and kiss Kazue’s forehead.

“Be kind, okay?” you tell him and he nods his head, the smile on his face never leaving.

Sakusa stays still, only moving when he feels Kazue part with him.

Cold, Sakusa thinks, he feels a little cold.

And it’s only thirty minutes after walking into Kazue’s new “home” where Sakusa feels the chills run through him again. He’s watching Kazue be introduced to the new children in the living room with you beside him, the caretaker’s words coming in one ear and floating out the other in seconds.

The guest room, or Kazue’s room as he thinks of it, will still have the drawings he pinned to the wall behind his bed when he comes home. He thinks of the totoro themed comforter you bought for him and the fact that it will still look as neat as Kazue left it earlier that morning.

His mind plays back dinner from the night before, and how warm his home felt when the three of you ate the dinner he cooked with the too many vegetables on the side, then laughed over the smudged chocolate frosting that you wiped on the corner of his lips as Kazue smiled at you both.

The room he sees him standing in now feels cold, and when he sees Kazue shiver and clutch the raccoon backpack to his chest he feels like the very same scene from the month before is replaying right in front of him.

Sakusa thinks he hears your voice, when you tell the woman that’s been explaining the process next to you for a little over twenty minutes now say “thank you,” and “we’ll get going now,” register in his head before he feels his feet already taking strides for him.

“Kazue,” Sakusa says, and when the boy turns and looks at him, that’s when he notices how quiet the room’s gotten.

From your spot, you look at him, unsure of exactly how to proceed because Sakusa—if anything, was never as unpredictable as this.

“We’re going home,” you hear him say, and your grip on the strap of your bag tightens.

“Home?” Kazue echoes and Sakusa’s heart clenches when he hears the yearning in the boy’s voice.

“Yeah, we can have dinner again, like last night,” you listen to Sakusa say, and your heart is suddenly overflowing with everything you’ve held back. Sakusa’s smiling again—and you know his heart is in the same state, because his voice softens even more.

“Just for tonight?” Kazue asks, a little unsure.

“Every night,” Sakusa answers, and just like that you know that when you go home that night—you truly will be home.

- “Mama, you really need to wear a scarf,” Kazue huffs as you walk with him to the entrance of your front door.

You nod at his words and wave him off with the yes, you’ve been responding to his every reminder for the past twelve years now. Kazue—your son—looks at you with the same softness in his eyes as ten years ago when he finally made it home.

“I’m serious,” he laughs, before leaning forward and letting you fasten the buttons on his winter coat.

Kazue grew up, with the roots of his personality remaining unchanged. He’s a kind boy, you think to yourself every day. When he turned seven and made Sakusa wait in the car so he could help the grandmother cross the street. When he was ten, and somehow persuaded your husband to let him keep and nurse the stray cat from your neighborhood back to health. And at seventeen—the now, as you listened to him talk about how he was going to lead his team into nationals.

“You remember what your dad told you?” you ask, smiling as he nods and points to Sakusa from inside, hollering “thanks dad!” with a laugh.

“I’d say I have the perks of having a national athlete as a father, but really, dad’s just that good of a coach.”

You smile, leaning to the side as you hear Sakusa’s footsteps grow closer and closer until you felt his presence right behind you. Leaning back to his chest, you kiss his jaw as a hello, laughing when Kazue groans at the “PDA”.

“We’ll make it to your game later, but have a good time in school,” you hear him say and Kazue nods as he fastens the zipper of his bag and waves at the both of you.

“Love you!” he calls out, walking down the steps and out the gate.

“We love you,” you murmur, your heart filling with the familiar sense of pride as you watch him leave, his dad’s jersey number on his back.

“It’s cold,” Sakusa says, then kisses the crown of your head when you turn to face him. “We should head back inside.”

Smiling, you tug the blanket closer to yourself as you answer, “It’s alright. I think I’ll stay here a bit.”

“Something on your mind?” Sakusa asks, closing the door behind him and taking a seat on the bench beside you in your front porch. Like habit, he takes the scarf from around his neck and loops it around you with a smile, ignoring the way you pat his wrist as if to tell him don’t bother.

“It’s cold,” he laughs, and you roll your eyes knowing that he mostly does it now because of the sentiment it holds for the both of you.

“Home always feels warm, though,” you answer, and Sakusa only nods at your words, the corners of his own lips stretching into a smile like yours.

“We kind of went off the plan we originally had,” you laugh after some silence passed.

“Do you regret it?” he asks, tone even because he already knows the answer to the very question he posed.

“Of course not,” you smile. “I knew we never planned on having kids of our own, but Kazue’s a blessing.”

“He is,” Sakusa replies, smiling at the thought of his son.

His son, he likes to think of it. The memory of Kazue calling him dad for the first time never fails to make warmth spill from his heart.

Watching the smile bloom wider from his profile, you clasp your hand over his and watch as the light from the winter sun catches the band on his left ring finger.

His ring—the one matching the one on your left remained the same, and while your thoughts of the future are completely opposite to the ones you envisioned from before—you realize that this was the grand plan from the heavens all along.

And there isn’t one thing that you’d change about it.

So when Sakusa looks at you, saying, “We did good,” the happiness in your heart overflows and spills into your cheeks as tears.

“We did,” you respond, the sincerity in your voice assuring Sakusa that you really, truly do mean it.

-