#we developed a running joke where he guesses my birthday to make him look so smart to other people

[elibeeline]

Pos: ian is no longer fighting for front

Neg: kinda wish he was back because there's a guy making moves on me at work

[whaleofatjme1920]

Aaaaa this is a fic request, where kondraki is with an s/o where they are a normal civilian and is completely oblivious to whatever is going on, until she got curious and snooped around, found out about the foundation and confronted kondraki about it, now he has too make her forget and give her anesthetics and it might lead to some really good angst >:)

‘With All My Love, Kondraki.’

[Dr. Kondraki X F!Reader]

[Warnings: language, angst]

[AN: it's 4.1K words. lots of love and the pacing is weird]

When you first met Benjamin Kondraki, you had never been so confused on how a peach so sweet could be related to a lemon so sour.

“Miss Reader, Miss Reader!” The buzzling little boy at the dining room table began to prod. He jumps excitedly, almost spilling his orange juice as one of his mothers packs her bag up, getting ready for her long work day. She continues to move, currently looking for things she may need when her front door opens, revealing a woman dressed appropriately for the warm summer day.

“Hi Mrs. Wei,” you greet, kicking your shoes off at the door, and placing the keys back into your bag. You notice she’s searching - probably for her car keys.

The black haired woman looks up from her current task and beams. “Reader! I’m so glad you could make it. Thank you so much for coming on such short notice,” she says as she briefly waves at you. “Nia originally had the day off but something went wrong at the lab and she has to go in, and I have to be at the salon today-”

You smile and wave her off, reaching over on the sofa for her car keys. You cross the distance and hold the keys out to her. “Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t miss spending time with this special little guy for the world,” you chuckle, looking over to the happy little boy as he scarfs up his breakfast. Looks like today was waffles.

Mrs. Wei takes her keys and heads over to her son, pressing her lips to the crown of his head. “You be good for Miss Reader, okay?” She reminds him with a small smile as he happily gazes up at her. “Again, thank you for coming on short notice.”

You wave her off with a small chuckle. “It’s nothing. Have a good day at work.”

Mrs. Wei opens the front door of her house, once again waving to her son before nodding at you. “Nia will text you when she’s coming home. You two have fun,” she says, the door closing after her with a soft click.

Shortly after that as you sit down at the table with Markl, you hear her car come to life and peel out of the driveway. Your attention is now on this special little boy. “So, are you ready for a fun day?” You inquire, pouring yourself a glass of orange juice.

Markl nods, his dark eyes shimmering in the light. “Super ready!” He exclaims with a wide smile.

You can’t help but giggle. “What do you wanna do today?” You hum. “We could go to the beach, or the mall-”

“I wanna go to the park,” he interjects in a way that only five year olds can. “There’s a boy I’m really good friends with and I want to see him again.” Markl begins to rattle off, excitedly telling you about all his adventures only pausing to finish up his food or drink some more orange juice. He’s beaming.

You listen to him with such a large smile, every now and then reminding him to finish. When he’s done, it’s barely 10 in the morning. Markl wanted to watch some TV and then get dressed and ready for the park. He’s a big boy, so you trusted him to get ready by himself without your help - and he’s developing a quick sense of style. Right now, tiaras and t-rexes are all the rage.

In the meantime, you check the weather. Looks like today is going to be a really nice day. “Hey, Markl?”

“Yeah?”

“Which park are we going to in order to see your friend?”

“The one with the really big rocketship,” he calls out.

You hum. Okay, that’s the one by the beach. “Sweetie, you want me to pack a beach bag? Planning on going in the water?”

A slight pause before you can hear the little boy go ‘uh-huh!’

You turn off the TV and begin to pack, quickly moving through some of the rooms for some beach things. Luckily, you already have some of your own beach things in your car. Markl finally comes down the stairs right when you finish packing and you see he’s got a dinosaur swim top on, some shorts, and his favorite flip flops paired with a plastic tiara he won on the last day of school. “Lookin’ good,” you compliment as you glance over the house, once again fishing around for your keys.

Markl beams and hops down the stairs to be at your side. “Time to go?”

“Time to go,” you answer, opening the front door.

Markl practically hops out of your car once you make it to the beach side park. You have to tell him to hold his horses and he pouts for a moment because apparently, his friend is waiting for him. You lean in the backseat and get out the beach bag. “Okay, okay, we can go now,” you say as you sling it over your shoulder. It’s warm, almost impossibly warm. Thank goodness you’re by the sea.

You watch as Markl speeds off towards the giant rocketship, kicking up sand as he does so. He’s calling out for another little boy - “Draven? Where are you?” He calls out.

You watch with curiosity as Markl runs about the playground, moving past the other kids. You tilt your head slightly and take a seat on the bench, watching as Markl runs around.

“There you are!” He finally cries out happily, running up and smacking into another boy similar in height. He’s got curly black hair, much like Markl, but much lighter skin. They instantly wrap arms around each other before running off to play on the giant rocketship.

Smiling, you pull out a book from your bag and begin to read, listening every now and then to the boys as they play. You’re glad Markl has a friend.

The warm summer day begins to tick by and around noon, you hear small steps padding up against the sand to come see you.

“Miss Reader,” Markl starts, peering over your book. “Can we go play in the water?” He asks, eyes akin to that of a puppy.

You bookmark your page and nod before pausing. “Oh, what about Draven? Does his mom say it’s okay?” You ask, not wanting to run off with some other person’s kid.

Markl and Draven share a look at each other before pulling at you. “Let’s go ask!”

You raise your brows and hurriedly get your things together, crossing the sandy playground to the other side where some man sits. He’s got dark black hair, slightly curled, and looks exhausted.

“Daddy, daddy!” Draven calls out, happily bounding up to the man you now recognize as his father. “Can I go play in the water?”

The man raises a brow, looking at his son and the boy he recognizes as his son’s friend. “She gonna be watching you?”

You bristle slightly. ‘She’? You press your lips into a tight line. “You do realize I have a name, right?” You say, resting your hands on your hips.

The man blinks, a huff escaping his lips. “Apologies.” It’s said in such a hollow tone. “I’m Benjamin Kondraki, most people call me by my last name.” He holds his hand out to you.

You narrow your eyes and center yourself. “Reader, Reader Last,” you reply, taking his hand. You put on a smile and then let him go. “I’ll watch Draven,” you say.”

“Don’t you wanna go in the water with them?”

You blink. “I guess?” It was an awfully hot day. Maybe he has a point.

“And you can’t do that while you’re holding all of these things, right?”

You nod.

Kondraki stands up, stretching his limbs before he ruffles his son’s hair, and then Markl’s who laughs loudly and joyously. “I’ll take a seat on the beach, watch your stuff.”

You spent the rest of the day swimming with the two boys, tossing them into the water and playing with them. Markl was happy you were able to play, and Draven was just pleased he was able to go in the water. Normally, Kondraki didn’t let him go in! At one point, Kondraki became the judge over a sandcastle contest between the three of you and Markl ended up winning!

“You did put in good effort,” he said, a sly grin on his lips as you flicked the water droplets off your hand at him. He laughed.

Draven and Markl hugged each other tight, trying hard to spend more time with each other when it’s time to go. Both you and Kondraki struggled to get the boys apart from each other. But, sleepiness from a long day affects even the strongest of bonds and the two were peeled away once the yawning commenced.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon,” you say over your shoulder as Kondraki rests a tired Draven in his arms.

“Sure,” he hummed. “Have a nice evening.”

You warmly smile, almost displeased he’s not returning the gesture.

What an odd man.

Shortly after coming back to Markl’s place, Nia had texted she’d be home soon and right when you were cuddling with Markl on the couch to a fun movie (he’d insisted on watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron).

“You two look like you’ve had an eventful day,” she smiles, kicking off her shoes and getting ready to relax in her home. She brushes her fingers upwards and takes out the hair tie, letting her braids fall down her back.

“We did,” you say as Nia sits down on the couch next to her son, her gentle arms taking him into her arms. “Met Draven’s dad.”

“Konny?” Nia perks up. “He’s a good friend of mine.”

Your eyes widen in surprise. “He is? But he’s such a d-”

Nia laughs, her smile widening. “I know,” she giggles. She brushes her fingers through Markl’s hair. “He’s not a bag guy, promise.”

You roll your eyes and relax against the couch. “Sure.”

Nia only snickers in response.

The next time you see Kondraki is at Markl’s birthday party. And it’s safe to say that this time, you and Kondraki got along just fine. There were a few shifty glances thrown, but ultimately? Ultimately, the two of you sat at the table, had some cake, and poked fun at certain things. He made you laugh, and seeing him with Draven made you admittedly more friendly than you were expecting to be.

“Y’know, you’re not too bad,” you say, a small smile on your lips.

Kondraki chuckles under his breath as he hands you another glass of iced tea. “Should I be offended?” He jokes.

You lightly slap his shoulder and take the tea from him, sipping at it slowly. “Are you a dick to everyone you meet?”

Kondraki laughs this time, it bubbles up from his throat and exits like bubbles. His eyes crinkle slightly. “When am I not like that?” He grins.

“For work?” You hum, eyes shifting to Markl and Draven running around the backyard with other kids. You fail to notice how Kondraki freezes, a slight fear washing over his system before he clears his throat.

“Yeah, for work,” he says, attempting to keep up the light tone.

You sigh slightly in response, that same smile on your lips as you look back over to him. “I get it,” you say. “I can be a bit of a witch too.”

Kondraki playfully rolls his eyes. “Sure, like you have a mean bone in your body.” He takes a long sip at his drink.

“Could always change that if you leant me yours,” you absentmindedly say, not even realizing the implications until Kondraki practically chokes. A heat rises over your cheeks as Kondraki struggles to compose himself. “Oh my gods, I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be!” He laughs, practically doubled over as your face heats up even more.

You pout and cross your arms over your chest, heart beating like a drum. You rake \your fingers across your face and take in a deep breath.

Kondraki grins wildly as he comes back up, brushing his fingers through his hair, his emerald colored eyes shining in the remaining sunlight. “So, what are you doing next Friday?”

You’ve been dating the man for three years now. A simple Friday date turned into another, and then another, and after that, it was breaking the news to Draven who was more than excited to have you in his life. Now? Now you’re about to make the biggest step in your relationship so far.

“And you’re sure you’re comfortable with this?” Kondraki asks as he rests his arm over your shoulders, looking at your cleared out apartment save for the plethora of brown boxes that litter the room. It looks so empty, and the echoes of both your voices is the clearest reminder. “Because like, I don’t want to force you into-”

You turn your head to the side and press your lips warmly to the corner of Kondraki’s mouth, making him melt into the simple touch. “We’re gonna be just fine,” you begin. “I am going to be just fine. You’ve been asking me this question ever since you first proposed that I move in with you,” you tease as Kondraki shifts, his hands resting warmly on your waist. Your fingers reach up to thread through his dark locks, eyes getting lost in his. “I hate being apart from you,” you murmur into his chest.

Kondraki hums warmly, his lips pressing to the crown of your head as he swats the two of you. “I know, I know,” he murmurs. “I just don’t want you to be overwhelmed or like I’m forcing you, y’know?” He attempts to explain as he averts his gaze for a moment.

You furrow your brows and flash him a knowing smile. “You don’t need to worry about me like you did-” her “it’s nothing. I’m a big girl, I can handle it,” you giggle, once again tilting your head upwards to press your lips to Kondraki’s.

He chuckles deeply, thankful you didn’t mention her name and squeezes you against him. He revels in the feeling of your hearts beating in sync before gently and reluctantly peeling away from you. “C’mon, last of these boxes?”

You grin. “Last of these boxes.”

“Is that the last of it?” You huff, dropping the box onto the living room floor.

Kondraki wipes back the hair that’s fallen over his brow and nods. “Yeah, I think we’re in the clear.” He stretches his arms a bit, then his back, and takes in a few deep breaths. “Who knew such a small apartment could hold so much stuff.”

You chuckle heartily, “I know, right?” You check your watch. “Oh! Your turn to pick up Draven,” you say as Kondraki glances to his own watch, brows shooting up in surprise.

“Shit, you’re right,” he says as he pulls open the front door again. “Be back in a bit, love you,” he says as he rushes out the door.

“Love you too,” you call back, watching as a sly smile spreads onto Kondraki’s lips, listening to the car start off in the distance. You hum as you get to work, already familiar with the house as you begin to move things around.

It’s honestly relatively mindless work considering a good portion of your things have already been moved to the house in preparation for this day. You’re about halfway through getting your clothes into the drawers Kondraki cleared out for you when you hear a ping. Curiosity gets the better of you and you stand up, looking for the pings. Multiple of them. Sounds like an instant messenger go off, but you’ve never heard that type of notification sound before.

You begin to search the room, crouching down and playing an odd sort of “marco polo” with the thing until you check the closet. There, hidden behind piles of out of commission sweaters is a laptop. Weird, how have you never noticed that before, especially with all the times you’ve spent in this specific room? You shake the thought off and begin to move the sweaters aside and grasp for the laptop. It looks new, like, really, really new. There’s no company mark on it either. Silver chrome, in good condition, you raise a brow.

‘Should I really be doing this?’ You ask yourself as you debate on prying open the laptop or not. You bite your lip and sigh before deciding that yes, you’re going to be nosy even if your boyfriend might not appreciate it. You’ve never gone through his things without his permission prior to, and this was just to stop the notifications that kept incessantly going on. You pry open the laptop, pupils constricting slightly with how bright the screen is.

Of course, it’s locked.

Curiously, the little chat bubble is still open, and you’re able to read the correspondence. You read over the names, there’s three. Gears, Bright, and Clef. Must be coworkers? They seem a tad worried.

Gears: You cannot keep spamming him in hopes it will work.

Clef: the hell I can’t?? He needs to get his ass over here

Bright: I’ve tried call him and it’s not working

Bright: which is weird because when was the last time you saw him off his phone

Gears: Dr. Kondraki, you are needed almost immediately.

Dr? You raise a brow and scroll upwards in the chat, hoping to get some type of answer. And it keeps going, hundreds of messages about work and things you’re just barely piecing together. Luckily, there’s a little button that allows you to go all the way to the top - or at least how far the logs go.

What is all of this? Images are sometimes shown about files or strange creatures. How is this even allowed out? Your mind begins to spin.

While you scroll through the chat, you look up things through your phone, whispers of things called ‘SCPs’ and containment procedures, and of course, you find next to nothing. Is this just some elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaign? Your head is spinning further and further as you go down the rabbit hole.

Apparently, Gears, Bright and Clef need Kondraki for something in regards to SCP 239, and it may or may not break ethics code. The things they’re planning on doing… You’re not sure what to make of it. You’re so immensely confused, head practically tearing apart at the seams when the front door opens and you hear Kondraki step back inside, a long sigh on his lips.

“Reader? You in?” He calls out. “Sorry for coming back so late, Draven’s mom, she uh,” he chuckles uncomfortably under his breath, “Draven’s not gonna be with us this weekend.”

You panic and slam the laptop shut, struggling to get the room back in order as Kondraki makes his way to the bedroom.

“Baby, what are you doing?” He asks, brow raised as he leans in the bedroom doorway, arms slightly crossed.

“I was just putting away my clothes!” You rush out, smiling at him.

“Sure,” he says with a small chuckle. His eyes scan over you before he realizes you’re sitting in front of the closet. His heart begins to sink. “Reader…”

“Konny-”

“How much did you see?”

You bite your lip. “I didn’t see anything,” you say. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kondraki can practically feel the lie radiating off of you. “What did you see?” He asks again.

You feel shivers running up and down your spine, your heart is constricting. “...What is SCP 239?”

A long sigh leaves Kondraki’s lips, his eyes slowly moving from you to his wardrobe. The top drawer, the one you can’t reach, the one he’s told you is nothing more than a coin holder… It has the amnestics. He blinks a few times, heavily walking over to the bed and plopping down on it. “C’mere, I’ll explain it to you,” he says, patting the space beside him.

You hesitantly stand, hand resting in his.

Kondraki rests his arm around you, pulling you into his side as he begins to weave to you the tale of everything you should have never known. Like the first humans in the garden, you were tempted by the snake and ate of the fruit that should have not been eaten. Knowledge is your damnation.

It’s exhausting, entirely exhausting. The weight of all this knowledge - you can’t help but lay back on the bed and listen to Kondraki’s heart, your eyes feeling heavier and heavier.

“Are you tired?” He asks softly, his nose buried into your hair.

You nod ever so slightly.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?”

You feel tears welling in your eyes as Kondraki’s grip around you tightens. “Are you going to be here when I wake up?”

He hums deeply, lips peppering kisses to the crown of your head. “Of course I will.”

“You promise?”

A slightly prick snaps at the base of your skull.

“Yeah baby, I promise.”

You wake up the next morning with tired eyes and a heavy body. You yawn, stretch, and crack your back, eyes narrowing at the sound. Crisp. With another small yawn, you sit up and look out your window, pleased to see that there’s little to no traffic outside. You wonder if you’ll see Sophie soon. Her fathers would be pleased to have the day off, after all. You reach over for your phone.

10 AM on a Saturday? You briefly panic, wondering if you’re missed any baby sitting appointment with your favorite gal when you see a text from Dylan.

Philip: hey sugar cube, Dylan’s mother cancelled the visit for this weekend. Won’t be needing to watch Sophie this weekend. Have a good one

Came in at 7 AM. You let out a breathy sigh before falling back onto your bed. Thank goodness, you would’ve felt awful for leaving them hanging! You sit back up again, thankful you can spend a Saturday to yourself.

Has work really been that hard? Blank spaces begin to make themselves known in the back of your head, a mosaic that you can’t quite place together, but it’s not blatant. Why would it matter?

You brush off the strange, bubbling thoughts before swinging your legs over the bed, sleepily heading to your kitchen. Same tiny apartment, same shitty walls. You run your fingers over your scalp before finally entering your kitchen. Why does it feel so… strange? You blink the feeling back.

There, on the countertop, is a cup of your favorite breakfast drink. It’s resting on top of a slip of paper in a handwriting that feels so familiar, yet hazy.

You try to bite back the horror that someone was in your apartment when you were asleep but shakily reach out to the note anyways, not realizing that your eyes are beginning to water as a response.

‘Nice to see you’re up, Reader. Always were a late riser. Look, I’m not supposed to be writing this to you, not after what happened, but I know you’re going to be confused to hell and back. Our use of ‘medicine’ can only go so far, and you’re bound to go spotty now, and a few months from now. You’re going to be confused, and you’re going to feel things that you aren’t supposed to because at one point, you really did feel them. When that happens, I need you to call this number - XXX-XXX-XXXX.

You’re really confused now, huh? Wouldn’t expect anything less, you never should’ve found out about this in the first place.

I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. For failing to protect you, for taking away so much and not even being allowed to tell you what it is I’ve taken away. Perhaps if that day had gone differently, if I didn’t spend that time talking to her, I would’ve made it back in time to stop you.

You deserve better than this, truly. I wish I could have been that for you, and I’m so, so sorry that it had to come to this. Our protocol is strict, and I couldn’t bear to put you through what I’ve-... Some things are better left unwritten, but just know that it was better this than putting you through what we’d call hell on earth.

I’ve never broken a promise to you, not in the four wonderful years I’ve known you and the three I’ve loved you. I’ve managed to keep them all, but I fear this is the first I will break.

Call the number when things get weird, maybe we'll meet again.

With all my love, Kondraki.’

[leejungchans]

— dance with me?

word count: 1.7k

pairing: dino (svt) x ateez oc (juliet)

warning(s): none!!

genre: an overwhelming amount of fluff bc i love lee chan

set on february 11, 2021

summary: during a late-night date on dino’s birthday, he asks juliet a special question.

juliet’s masterlist

minnie 🐭❤️ [22:16] i’m heading down now!! (◕‿◕) don’t drive off without me please ur so sexc 😩😩

From where he is, parked a street down from the building where ATEEZ’s dorm is in, Chan shakes his head fondly, looking out the window from the driver’s seat for any sign of his girlfriend.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, Juliet emerges from the building’s entrance, glancing down the mostly empty street before spotting the familiar car.

Under the light of the street lamps, he can see that she’s wearing a huge puffer jacket with a scarf wrapped around her neck, purple hair stuffed under her beanie to avoid catching the attention of prying eyes. With all the layers she has on, she reminds him of a waddling penguin as she speed-walks towards the car.

Cute.

Chan unlocks the door as Juliet approaches, her eyes smiling while she settles into the passenger’s seat before leaning over the console to hug him. “Happy birthday, Channie,” she beams, taking off her mask to nuzzle the bottom half of her face into the thick material of her scarf.

“You already said that,” Chan teases, also smiling as he watches her fumble with the seatbelt for a bit.

“That was from almost twelve hours ago at 12 am! I think it’s illegal if I didn’t wish you a happy birthday again,” Juliet protests. “Sorry for being late, by the way. Have you been waiting long?”

“It’s only a few minutes, don’t sweat it.”

“Okay, but there’s actually a good reason! I was about to leave the building when Mingi-oppa called me because I left your present on the table, and I had to go back up to grab it! So you have him to thank that you have a birthday present.”

Juliet takes out a small gift bag, its handles tied together with ribbon so he can’t look into it, and hands it to him with a sweet grin. “Don’t open it now, though,” she warns half-jokingly.

“What? Why?” Chan whines. “I can’t even open my own present on my birthday?”

“No, because if you open it now then I’ll have to explain the meaning behind your gift, and if I do that I might actually cry. There’s a card inside explaining it.”

“What if I want to hear it from you?”

“Then you can call me when you get home,” she responds cheekily.

Chan relents. “Fine, you win. But you didn’t have to get me anything, I hope you know that,” he adds the last part seriously.

Juliet smiles reassuringly. “I know, but I wanted to. I hope you’ll like it, though.”

“I know I will.” It’s at that moment when he finally gets a good look at her face, the light from the street lamps hitting it just enough for him to note the dark circles under her eyes. “You look tired, baby. Don’t get me wrong, you’re beautiful no matter what, but is everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” As though on cue, Juliet brings a hand up to cover her mouth as she yawns. “Just a little tired from comeback preparations and practising for Kingdom. I’ll be fine, though, don’t worry.”

“I’ll always worry about you,” Chan admits. “You shouldn’t have come so you can rest.”

Juliet frowns. “No, I wanted to see you. Plus, it’s your birthday.”

“Okay, but you have to promise that you’ll take care of yourself.”

“I always do!” A pause. “Okay, sometimes I don’t, but I’ll try,” she promises genuinely.

Chan smiles. “Good. Let’s go, then. Seatbelt on?”

“Mhm!”

“Um, where exactly are you taking me?” Juliet asks suspiciously, noting that they’re currently driving up a hill away from central Seoul.

“Patience, Minnie. You’ll find out soon,” Chan says with a mischievous smirk. “We’re almost there.”

She feigns an offended gasp. “I am always patient! I’m just asking because I’m too pretty to meet my end now.”

“If something happens, I’ll protect you.”

“Nice try, but don’t think I haven’t watched that episode of GOING SEVENTEEN with you guys in the haunted house,” Juliet teases with a raised brow. “If anything, we probably need to call Wonwoo-ssi or Minghao-ssi.”

Chan groans. “Can we not talk about my members when we’re on a date?”

This only earns a laugh from Juliet. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“You’re going to tease me even on my birthday?”

“It’s how I show affection!” she defends while the car comes to a stop at the side of a dimly lit road. “Are we here?”

Upon his nod, she unbuckles her seatbelt to hop out the car, snow crunching under her boots. Immediately, harsh winds whip at her face and she shivers, the temperature even lower due to the higher elevation.

She hears a lighthearted tsk from behind her before feeling her jacket being draped over her shoulders. “You left it in the backseat, silly,” Chan says softly while he helps her into it, referring to when she took it off during the car ride. “You’re going to catch a cold.”

“No, I won’t. I have you to remind me,” Juliet says cheekily, earning herself a light flick on the forehead. She follows Chan to a clearing a few paces away from where they parked and immediately realises why he took her here.

Seoul, with its sparkling lights, is captivating at night when you’re in the heart of the city, but perhaps even more so when you’re looking at it from afar. She can’t help but admire the stark contrast between the tranquil hillside they’re at that compared to the vibrant city centre it overlooks.

“I sometimes come here with the members when we want to be away from... the loudness of it all,” Chan explains quietly as they move closer to the railing. “To think. Or just to take our mind off certain things.”

Juliet leans closer to his side to link their arms, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. “It’s beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Don’t come to places like here often?”

She snorts. “I don’t just let anyone drive me to a dark hill in the middle of the night.”

Chan laughs, gently resting his head on hers. “You have a point. Does this mean I’m the only person allowed to take you here?”

“I’d like that. I also have a horrible sense of direction, so I don’t think I can remember the way here even if I tried.” Despite her quip, something in Juliet feels fuzzy and warm at the thought of this place being one only they know of.

It brings a sense of giddiness, the same one she felt when she was much, much younger; when she and her friends first decided on a secret hideout at their school back home in Sydney. Only this time, there’s more to it than just childhood innocence.

Juliet doesn’t know much about love. She’s had crushes here and there throughout her life, but none of them ever developed into something further. Of course, until she met Chan.

She doesn’t know much about love. But this feels like it.

And that’s more than enough for her.

His voice cuts through her thoughts. “I actually have something to ask you.”

At her hum, he continues.

“I was wondering if you’d want to be on Danceology. You know, like for a collaboration. We can choreograph and dance it together... anything you want, really.”

Juliet looks up at the boy with wide eyes, not knowing if she heard him correctly. “You’re sure?”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. Or you don’t have to decide now, I know you’re really busy these days. No pressure at all.”

“No, no,” she clarifies. “I meant if you’re sure you want to do one with me?”

The look in his eyes is so tender that she feels like crying. “I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

Something tells her he’s not only referring to Danceology.

Juliet leans her forehead on Chan’s shoulder to hide her face from him. “You’re going to make me cry on your own birthday,” she mutters.

“Is that a yes?”

She nods against him while blinking away the hot tears prickling at her eyes, feeling his lips press against her temple.

“That’s the best present you could’ve given me.”

“Yah, you can’t say that!” Juliet says, somehow finding it in her to crack a joke. What can she say? Humour is one of her many coping mechanisms. “You’re only supposed to say that if I didn’t give you anything! What does that make the gift I got you?”

“Best of the best?” At her laugh, Chan presses again, “am I still not allowed to open it?”

“No, you’re not.”

[00:05—Outside ATEEZ’s dorm]

“Okay, fine, you can open it.”

“What made you change your mind?” Chan grins, already reaching for the small bag in the backseat.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Juliet admits, smiling as she uses the dimmest setting of her phone’s flashlight to illuminate the dark interior, the overhead light being too risky to turn on at this hour lest they want to draw unwanted attention to themselves. “I guess I want to see your reaction.”

She stares quietly as he undos the ribbon tying the handles together before looking into the bag and taking out a small box. Despite her shyness and the sudden urge to jump out of the car and run back up to the dorm, Juliet continues to hold up her phone as he takes out the silver band within it.

It’s simple, minimalist, inconspicuous enough to wear during the day but at the same time uniquely his due to the custom engraving on the outside of the band. A snowflake.

She bites the inside of her cheek from nervousness as Chan silently reads the small card that came along in the bag, subconsciously tracing over her neat handwriting with his finger.

“Like a snowflake, I fell for you hahahaha (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) You asked me to be yours during the first snow of the year. I hope that is only the start of many more years to come. Happy Birthday, always be happy and healthy ❤️ And don’t forget to take care of yourself!! (♡`Д´) If you forget I’ll come over and nag you, but maybe you’d like that more than not ㅋㅋㅋ — 🐭❤️”

Chan’s eyes are glossy when he finally meets her curious and worried gaze, trying to gauge his reaction. He beams brightly.

“Told you I’d like it.”

find their collaboration here!! 😼

a/n: blessing you guys with this gif bc look at him go!! ;-; stream dino’s dancelogy to be sexcie 😼 pls don’t let juno flop </3 also i thought it’d be too mean if i didn’t tell you what the present was bc i definitely considered not saying anything about it 👀👀 anyways let me know what you think about this chapter 🥺 personally i am <///3 bc bwhehwhs i want what they have but also i’m not very good at writing fluff whjehdhw i cringe at myself sm when writing it 🤡

thank you so much for reading 💕 please do consider leaving feedback whether it’s a reblog, a reply or an ask, it would mean the absolute world to me as feedback really motivates and supports creators 🥺 and feel free to chat with me about juliet or anything else through my asks!! as always, take care and have a good day!!

[dreamescapeswriting]

The First Punch ~ JJK, PJM [Request]

WORD COUNT: 1.9K

GENRE: Non idol AU, Soulmate AU, fluffy

PAIRING: Jungkook x GN!Reader x Jimin

A/N: I hope this is okay for you sweetie! I tried to make it a little different from most soulmate AU’s! Also I’m sorry it’s not spicy!!!😬🥺

Around you was nothing but darkness, the only thing that was lighting up the small area you were sitting in were some candles that Jungkook had brought along and your phone torches, that were leaning on the picnic basket. The idea had been good in thought but practically tonight wasn't working out all too well, but despite that, you weren't going to ruin the evening. The entire park was empty except for Jimin, yourself and Jungkook was you enjoyed your four-year anniversary evening together, of course, the park was empty though since it was almost 1 am. No one in their right minds would be out in a park in the middle of the night...No one except you three that was anyway. 

Jimin chuckled softly to himself as he began pouring the bubbling liquid into the three glasses that were sitting on a small piece of wood on the picnic blanket. Frowning you looked at him wondering what was so funny about pouring some wine into a glass,

"What's so funny?" You questioned as you slipped the first glass of wine from him and handed it to Jungkook beside you who was also starting to chuckle softly to himself as well, you felt as though you were missing the entire joke. 

"What?" You whined out, scrunching your eyes together as your focus kept shifting between each of them. Both of them only began to laugh harder as they thought back on what this park meant to all three of you.

"This is why I hate having two soulmates, you both laugh about me all the time, and bully me." This caused them to laugh harder, Jungkook snorting as he thought about the way you began pouting your lips out at them folding your arms over your chest like you were a child. Jimin tried to stop himself from laughing but as soon as he looked at you he started up again.

"You don't hate having two of us and you know it," Jungkook whispered in your ear kissing softly as Jimin put the bottle of wine back into the cooler, his shoulders shaking up and down as he tried to contain his laughter. 

"This park where it all started," Jimin explained as he held up his glass as he began to try and give a small speech about it but you were still pouting at him waiting to hear what was so funny from them.

"I know this is where it all started, I'm still not seeing the funny side to this," Jungkook moved closer to you, wrapping his arms around your shoulder as he tried to get you to calm down a little bit.

"I'm getting to the funny part, this is why we're sitting in the park at almost 1 am Y/n," Jimin told you as he nodded to your glass, waiting for you to join him and Jungkook in raising a toast. Rolling your eyes and scoffing to yourself you held your glass up waiting for some kind of story to come from him when an alarm went off on Jungkook's phone. Giant smiles took over their faces as they seemed to relax a little more looking at you.

"Now! It was exactly five years ago today, right here, right this second that we met..." They said in unison together before sipping on their drinks, you stared down into your glass as a smile began to form on the corners of your lips. Looking back on it now you could laugh at how you had come to meet your soulmates but back then it never seemed funny to you. Never in a million years would you have thought you could have two soulmates, then how you met them was even weirder to you. 

Everyone in the world on their 16th birthday would have a dark blue mark develop on their skin where their soulmate would touch them or come into contact with them, everyone got this and there were no exceptions to it. Most people had them in fairly normal places like the top of their arms or where a simple handshake could happen but when you reached 16 you had two marks. One on the palm of your dominant hand and then the same mark along your knuckles on the same hand so you assumed it was because of how clumsy you were. You thought you'd trip and fall into your soulmate but you couldn't have been more wrong about it if you'd tried. 

"Come on, you have to laugh about it..." Jungkook clicked your glasses together as he leant down to kiss your cheek while your mind went back to that night. 

You were running late home from work but what was new, you'd spent your entire night cramped up in a small office with your two idiot co-workers who weren't attempting to help you with any of the reports. The benefits of sleeping with the boss you guessed. 

"Fucking piece of shit," You mumbled as you dropped your bag onto the floor spilling the contents of everything inside onto the floor, the part was the only shortcut that would get you home faster and be the safest route. There was another one down a bunch of back lanes but your choice to keep your chances with life and stay in at least some public view. At least this way if you went missing someone would have caught it on cameras, or at least that was what your roommate told you.

"Want some help?" You looked up to see a blonde guy covered in tattoos walking towards you with a dark blue mark on his cheek, he stopped walking when he saw how uncomfortable you looked and he held his hands up to show he meant no harm to you. He smiled softly as he tried to make himself seem friendly.

"I'm Jungkook." He introduced himself before nodding behind you to let you know that there was someone coming up behind you, 

"That's Jimin...We were just walking home." He knew how this must have looked to someone who was alone in a park in the middle of the night so he wanted to make sure you felt as comfortable as possible. 

"Thanks. I can pick up my own stuff. I'm not drunk." You told him as you picked up the keys and smiled at him, you knew that this was a route most of the drunks took to get home.

"Oh. Why are you in the park at 12:56 pm?" Jimin asked from behind you, walking around to stand beside Jungkook in front of you, you laughed at his questioning. 

"I could ask you the same thing..." You challenged, raising your eyebrows as you waited for some kind of response from either of them but they stayed silent until Jungkook realised you were serious. 

"Shortcut, your turn." Jungkook copied your eyebrow action and you nodded in agreement with him, 

"Shortcut to my apartment building." You nodded in the direction you were heading and the boys nodded at you, pointing behind you in the direction of their apartment building. 

"Alright then. I'm gonna go." You began walking towards the park gates exit when you heard footsteps coming up behind you with some speed. The panic inside of you took over and without a second thought, you turned around slapping Jungkook across the face and then punching Jimin in the side both of them grunting loudly as they curled over sitting down on the floor in shock. You let out a groan as you held your hand when your eyes widened,

"What the fuck!?" You called out as you looked down at your hand, the palm and knuckle print changing into a bunch of different colours before it finally disappeared from your skin. The one thing everyone had in common when their soulmates finally came into their lives, the marks would vanish.

"Soulmates then?" Jungkook grunted as he looked up at you, his cheek mark just fading away as you looked at him. Jimin sat up from the floor rolling up his shirt to show the fading of a knuckle prunt on his rib cage. 

"Shit...I-I'm sorry, I thought you were trying to grab me and kidnap me or something." You laughed softly trying to make it seem lighthearted but you didn't find it funny. It was scary thinking that something was going to happen to you, you looked at them both nervously wondering what they had been doing walking up behind you. 

"You dropped this-" Jimin held up your purse that had fallen from your bag when you dropped it and you felt the heat raise up around your body from embarrassed, your head sunk down to your shoulders and you scratched the back of your head, 

"I didn't mean to punch you and s-slap you," You mumbled to them as you felt bad for hurting them but they were already starting to laugh softly about it as they exchanged looks. 

"I mean, it was meant to be since it was both of our marks and yours," Jimin said as he got up from the floor to look at you shaking his head as he thought about how well the stories would be in the future.

"I'll buy you a drink, there's an all-night cafe down the road. Let me make it up to you?" They both nodded at you and you smiled in relief taking them down to the cafe you knew all too well. Spending the night getting to know one another on a deeper level.

"Sometimes I swear I can still feel your punch," Jimin joked as he held onto his rib making you shake your head at him, he was serious though. Whenever he missed you at work or you were busy with your job his rib where the mark had been would tingle or hurt a little something a lot of other soulmates found happened when they were apart. In the start, the relationship had been a little strange since you were their soulmates but they weren't each other's but you managed to make it work. Not that many people had two soulmates, there were some rare cases but mostly everyone only had one person. Some people around you thought it was odd that you had two soulmates but whenever you felt down about it Jungkook and Jimin would do whatever they could in their power to make you feel better about it. There'd been the day you had to introduce them to your family as both of your soulmates and your family was less than inviting to the idea of you having two boyfriends at the same time but after getting to know the boys. Hearing the story on how you met they began to warm up to it all.

"Trust me, sometimes I feel it in my fist and hand," You told them as you rubbed your fingers into the palm of your hand. Jungkook worked away from home a lot so whenever he was too far or away for too long you would get the palm in the palm of your hand. The same went for your knuckles whenever you'd work too late at work you would feel the pain where you missed Jimin back home. You shifted a little on the blanket so that you could lay your head on Jimin's shoulder giving him a kiss on his skin as you smiled to yourself. Linking your hand with Jungkook as you just enjoyed being in their company all of you just sitting there and thinking back happily on the last four years together nad many more in the future.

Tagline: @jikooksgirl19 @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @kneel-begyourpardon @fan-ati--c @taestannie​ @rjsmochii​ @bisexualmess007​ @sw33tnight​ @sweeneyblue1​ @jin-from-the-block​

[miraculouscontent]

“Truth”-related asks:

Anonymous said:

I just watched truth and man, we didn't need any of that... I'm so tired...

Anonymous said:

Me after reading that summary: We coulda had it aaaaaaaaaaallllllll, decent wri-itiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggggg

Anonymous said:

oh. lukanette breakup. how surpri— oh wait, no it wasn't.

bunnybunblitz said:

Me, skimming your summary of truth: life is a nightmare life is a nightmare life is a nightmare abort abort

Anonymous said:

Truth was a living nightmare, and that's the truth!

*defeated sigh*

Anonymous said:

The way all that just make me start disliking Adrien so hard wow I have enough of him so hard can they get ride of him for one damn episode?

Anonymous said:

Wow! Writers got on completely new level. They somehow made people to be annoyed with Adrien, even without putting him in episode.

My meme image of “I’ve had enough of this dude,” about sums it up.

It’s almost impressive???

Anonymous said:

I have the impression that you should slowly gather materials for "Treatment of Marinette S4"

You know, when you’re right, you’re right.

Anonymous said:

Hey there... Got a lil rant, I hope you don't mind in sea of anons you're probably getting. I guess if show didn't treat Marinette as their favorite punching bag and lukanette as a thing to get over with to be back on love square bullshit I wouldn't be this salty. We all knew lukanette isn't a endgame, but we actually care about Luka ans Marinette as characters and as a couple, and we knew there was a break up brewing.

But I mlb writers for setting things up, canonizing them over provocative tweet and leave them to dust right at the beginning of s4. And, oh sweet irony as they kinda accidentally made Lukanette totally better than love square (let's be honest if they knew what they were doing we wouldn't get any breakup from narrative and character development standpoint),,, because their heroine for once is loved and appreciated but that's another discussion and they hate that for her. Also, thomas arstruck can suck my toe.

I don't know what's your opinion on soulmate and destiny thing, but I'm totally in opposite. I remember The Good Place (love the series btw!) quote about how soulmates are made with love and nurture of people and not some cosmic forces. And to see how show is pushing for Destiny ™️ I'm kinda disheartened. But I guess I never really liked love square execution in the first place when it turned out that Marinette is butt of the crush joke for 3 seasons and there's 0 development from that. Like Thomas, that's not funny running gag. Thanks for reading! Hope you're doing well!

Thank you for the rant, and I agree!

It’s so strange how all their attempts to push for the love square just push me more towards Lukanette. How do the writers do that???

Anonymous said:

Yeah that point where she exclaims Luka in shock just angered and confused me. She LITERALLY transformed because Luka was akumatized. And her being shocked is only there to get her under the truth spell.

This episode is held together by knots and strings at this point.

Anonymous said:

Wow, "Ladybug likes Chat Noir humor." Then why every time Chat Noir makes puns, Ladybug looks like she wanted to strangle him on spot.

Ladybug = us

At that point, they should’ve just said, “[The writers] like Chat Noir’s humor.” Like--writers, please don’t use Ladybug as a tool to simp for your sunshine boy, it looks really pathetic.

Anonymous said:

Based on the ellipses you used I'm guessing you're not a fan of Jagged talking about the "Guitar is my only family" song.

Oh, no actually... I mean, I do because it’s there to torment Luka, but the ellipses was because of the intentional pause in the episode. Jagged was looking sympathetic

Anonymous said:

Truth was awful, the only good thing we got out of it was a Lukanette date (yay :'D) and we got to know Luka's father (although we all been knew).

Honestly if we could find a way to edit it so Luka and Marinette properly kissed then we’d just chop it out of the episode and call it the only canon thing.

asexual-individual said:

So, given that "Truth" didn't introduce the protection charms, I'm going to take a wild guess that they're not introduced until after "Gang of Secrets", meaning that Marinette won't get any close friends that it's safe to tell her secret to.

I was legit so sure that it was a guardian benefit and now I’m just left confused/curious about what causes CharmBug. Like, what, do you get CharmBug by purifying your one thousandth akuma???

Anonymous said:

I am absolutely positive no one quality checks these episodes before they’re sent out. Ladybug getting caught off guard on Luka being Truth even though she knows he was akumatised, and the horribly upbeat music playing as Marinette lies in bed absolutely defeated is so bad there’s no way this was double checked before it was sent out to TV stations

At this point, I’m convinced that they don’t care and are jamming through episodes as fast as they possible can.

cobraonthecob said:

I'm willing to bet that the writers go through critical and salt blogs just to see what the fandom's thinking, and then they think we're serious and they sprint with whatever we say.

guys please reconsider and also lower your alcohol levels

Anonymous said:

It was awful in general, but why add the paternity thing in the break-up ep? It detracts from, well, everything else and makes obvious they are copypasting fan theories instead of thinking of plot points.

I really do think they knew that Luka being upset over Marinette’s secret wasn’t enough to akumatize him so he needed something else.

Anonymous said:

Let me get something straight: The episode was explicitly about Marinette going on dates with Luka and that they were together. Yet Juleka is once again part of the shipping squad with obligatory "Marinette is only weird because she's with Adrien"-theories, and she's totally cool with that?

Yup! :3

guys I just adore mob mentality, did you know.

guys--

Anonymous said:

Ok, but the fact that everyone considers Marinette’s crush on Adrien to be her big secret is stupidly unrealistic. They KNOW they’re all aware of it - the girl squad even figured it out by themselves before they were told and think it’s totally obvious (as long as you’re a girl cause guys are clueless about feelings right). As far as they’re concerned it’s not actually a secret so they SHOULD be spilling the things they think only they and Marinette know. I mean, I can think of dozens of possibilities for Tom and the rest of the girls already, but Alya?

We had a front row seat to the damning secret Alya knows from back in season 1, but I guess asking this show to acknowledge continuity is too much. Still, the episode could have been so much more interesting if Alya had said, “Marinette’s the one who really gave Adrien the scarf for his birthday, but he looked so happy thinking it was from his father that she couldn’t bear to tell him that Gabriel hadn’t actually gotten him anything.” (I suppose reminding people of that wouldn’t fit into the writers’ poor attempts to make Gabriel sympathetic though 🙄).

Lol, just imagine the entire battle being sidetracked by Luka being brought to tears by how selfless and sweet his girlfriend is while Shadow Moth is too distracted by how this will ruin his reputation to get him back on track.

JKHJDSKGFSG

YES.

ALL OF THIIIIIS.

THIS IS AMAZING.

Anonymous said:

Marinette deserves to tell Luka she's Ladybug and have some support on her side tbh, it's disgusting to see the writers breaking up clearly the only thing that brings her joy and peace currently

HONESTLY.

And judging from that one trailer, she IS going to tell someone her secret and it’ll probably be freaking Alya; you know, the girl who blabbed about her Adrien crush to Nino and is thus THE LEAST TRUTHWORTHY PERSON. (”bonus” if it’s before the amulets)

I’m having nightmares already about Alya distrusting Lila because Marinette is Ladybug and not because Alya believes in Marinette. DX

Anonymous said:

Now that it’s been confirmed (in the worst way possible) that Jagged Stone is in fact Luka’s (and possibly Juleka’s?) father, how would you handle the whole mixed family aspect considering Jagged and Anarka’s relationship, Jagged and Penny’s, Anarka and Penny’s, Jagged and Luka’s (and Juleka’s?), and Penny and Luka’s (and Juleka’s?)? Topics like mixed families and family relationships are something that needs to be handled sensibly and sensitively given how it hits home for a lot of real-world people. Since we obviously can’t trust the ML writers to handle such topics the way that they deserve to be, how would you go about it knowing what we know up to this point about each character on their own and how they interact with one another?

Luka and Juleka were “accidents,” but Anarka kept it a secret from Jagged since Jagged was already hyped up to go on his next tour and Anarka knew their relationship was crumbling (possibly he already dumped her as his guitarist and she was annoyed about it). Jagged eventually learns that he has kids and is hesitant towards the idea, but because of him doting on Marinette (who’s the same age as his kids), he opens up to the idea.

Anarka and Jagged in present are mixed between tolerating each other for the sake of their kids and being chaotic best friends. The bad blood died out a while ago and there’s occasional tension but because Anarka is a single woman not interested in Jagged and Jagged is single with a possible thing for Penny, they make it work

Anarka and Penny have an awkward relationship. Penny wants to schedule time for Jagged to hang with Luka and Juleka and Anarka is confused at the very concept of a schedule, like just take them whenever okay??? isn’t it easier that way??? and Penny is like, “...oh, I guess so?”

Jagged and Penny, it depends on if they’re in any sort of relationship. If they’re in a relationship, Penny is either open to the idea of him learning to be good with kids if she’ll eventually want kids with him, or mixed because these are another woman’s kids and it’s really awkward. If they’re not in a relationship, then Penny could also be mixed since she’s crushing on him but I could also see her either finding it sweet that Jagged wants to hang out with his kids or finding it a hassle to schedule them in.

Jagged and Luka is rough. Luka has so many conflicting feelings on his idol ending up being his father. Jagged will probably even comment on Luka’s shirt + necklace and all of Luka’s merch in an attempt to bond but that kind of comes off desperate/awkward and Luka’s not about that life. I could also see Luka taking all the stuff down and swapping out his shirt, but being hesitant to remove the necklace because it’s a gift from Marinette. He might try to wash off the signature. He knows it’s not Jagged’s fault exactly but Anarka seemed to have bad blood with him and even if they get along now, Luka’s bitter. Jagged meanwhile wants to connect with Luka because hey musician energy!! but is gonna mess up a lot and say a lot of awkward things. Marinette will probably have to be a middle man between the two because it’s easier for them to talk with her around.

Jagged and Juleka don’t have a significant relationship at first. Juleka never care who her father was and she wasn’t crazy about Jagged Stone like Luka was. Jagged does try to connect with her but they clash majorly due to Jagged being so “loud” and Juleka being so quiet. Jagged will see it as a huge accomplishment the day where Juleka says something coherent (i.e: not a mumble) to him.

Yeah though, keep in mind for all of this that I’m not a family relationship kinda girl, so this isn’t my forte (I’m probably the most sympathetic to Jagged out of the whole fandom; not to say I agree with his actions but I have a history of hating babies and children, so not cool of him if he ditched Anarka but like, I get it, doesn’t make him better but I get it from a non-realistic standpoint of “ew, parenting”).

Anonymous said:

You know what? Imma gonna ignore canon for a bit more than I’ve been doing. The only thing I take away from “Truth” is that Marinette loves Luka and Tikki looks adorable in hats. That’s it have a good Saturday! 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

Anonymous said:

If there’s one small detail that I thought was genuinely cute this episode, it’s Tikki posing in the mirror with her little hat collection.

Ahaha, those are good takeaways!

And yes, Tikki looked good in hats, but at what cost. (guys, where’s our jealous Tikki episode where Tikki is jealous of the attention Marinette has to give the other kwami wait no they’d just make it Marinette’s fault go back go ba--)

Anonymous asked:

Am I the only on squicked out by how Adrien acts all noble and claims he would never force Ladybug to tell him anything, but when it becomes apparent that he has to ask her a question before the akuma can he goes all ‘what are your three favorite things about me?’ :3c I mean, he had decent amount of time to think up a bunch of innocent questions that couldn’t hurt her in any way like ‘what is your favorite color?’ or ‘do you like cookies?’ or even ‘what’s the capitol of France?’ But instead he basically demands she compliment him. Coming from a guy who spent most of the last two seasons refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer that’s a bit… icky.

THIS

He could’ve phrased it in any way and he used it to get compliments from her. :|

At least Ladybug asked a legitimate question about how he felt about her guardian status.

Anonymous said:

I had this idea for an episode: Luka finds out that Marinette is LB because he is in danger. Let's say he gets yeeted off a building by an akuma and Marinette (in her civilian form) jumps after him, transforms while Luka sees it (he's shook, obviously), she grabs him and saves him from falling. I think that would be pretty epic, do you think you could write a one-shot based on that idea if you feel like that? I would forever be thankful. Have a nice day!

I like the idea, though I feel like that’s been done a lot before in identity reveal fanfics.

Anonymous said:

You know, despite them all getting interrupted, I thought the attempts at Lukanette dates was really cute. Luka picking up Marinette from school, the two trying to see who is the biggest jagged fan, getting ice cream at Andre's, it's really cute! I only wish Hawkmoth and the writers weren't such dickheads.

It’s so adorable!

Like--show, you aren’t doing a good job at getting me off the Lukanette train.

Anonymous said:

Are you sure the Lukanette breakup wasn't Marinette's fault? I mean, the episode frames it like she's refusing to tell the truth, even if it's for a good reason.

I’m not sure when I said that the episode didn’t frame it as her fault?

Things are ALWAYS Marinette’s fault, it’s literally a rule of the show.

Anonymous said:

You know the truth episode actually gives more reasons for lukanette in my opinion based of its description you said. Luka is ridiculously understanding and also almost manages to fight off hawk moth as well as taking probably a week at least for him to get to that and yet he, while he’s upset, still tries to be there for marinette. Also makes the relationships she has with her friends and family worse if the secret they think she has is that she likes adrien while dating Luka.

YES!!

And oh my gosh, I feel the friends and family comment so badly. Just throwing it out there, maybe you guys don’t actually support her???

Anonymous said:

How do you feel about Luka having no negative reaction to this whole "Marinette loves Adrien" thing? I understand that he isn't exactly the jealous type, but still, it seems weird to me that he just accepts it while Marinette is dating him. I love Luka a lot, but in this situation his reaction was just so unrealistic...

Honestly, I find it really interesting. Plus, it’s Truth who’s being told those things, not Luka, and Truth has other priorities.

And--I mean, I’m positive that Luka got into the relationship knowing that Marinette wasn’t completely over Adrien. She wanted to see if they’d work and he wanted to date her. It’s both of them being a little selfish in a way and I like that.

That’s why I think he doesn’t have a big reaction to the Adrien call. He seems amused more than anything, and Luka is empathetic also so he knows not to take Marinette’s stammering/mistakes to heart because she doesn’t mean them. We already had evidence of that in “Desperada.”

writingamongther0ses said:

Even if Lukanette had stayed together, I have a feeling Alya would complain that it's not Adrien...which could lead to a character growth opportunity for her when her complaining leads to Luka getting hurt when he overhears and becomes an akuma. But that's too interesting.

Interesting character relationships??? In THIS show???

never

Anonymous said:

After watching Truth the only thing I can feel at the moment is bitter. Not angry, not sad, not disappointed. Just bitter.

Bitter’s a good way of putting it, yeah. *sigh*

Anonymous said:

The fact that the second episode released managed to get a bingo really says a lot about how predictable the show's garbage fire writing.

I KNOW, RIGHT??

I knew the Lukanette episode would be a big card filler but DAMN.

Anonymous said:

I hated all of Truth, but perhaps the worst part was how hard they tried to remind you that, no matter how much of a good time Marinette and Luka have together, it's Adrien who Marinette will end up with in the end. From Alya rudely insinuating "girl, you're acting stupid, is Adrien at your house?", to Luka receiving a PICTURE of Adrien from a kwami, to Marinette talking on the phone with Luka while her Adrien pictures are in the background, to Marinette CALLING LUKA ADRIEN, to Truth demanding that people tell him Marinette's secret, only for them ALL to say "She's in love with Adrien Agreste.".

It's absolutely anger-inducing because it tries too hard to let the audience know to forget about Luka because Adrien is lurking in the corner and he and Marinette are endgame. The fans are right, Luka IS a second choice, but not in the way they think. Luka's a second choice, not for Marinette, but for the Miraculous Ladybug world. for the WRITERS!!!

But what bothers me the most is that everyone saying that Marinette loves Adrien is accepted as truth even when Marinette herself says she's over Adrien. Her words are ignored, how she feels is ignored, because everyone else(including the girl squad, when they're supposed to be her "friends") tells her that she's supposed to be in love with Adrien, and so she "has" to go along with it because ENDGAME. It's the show saying "stupid naive Marinette, you're too immature and dumb to know how you really feel, let someone else do the thinking for you!"

Meanwhile Adrien moving on with Kagami is accepted even when he still flirts with Ladybug(and forces her to build up his ego when he asks her what she admires most about him; I know it was a spur of the moment thing, but meta-wise, it was obvious love square pushing.), because "he's trying to respect her feelings and date someone else!" It's one of the main gripes I have with the show: that teenage girls are too emotional and confused to know what they really want, but teenage boys are mature and rational enough to make up their minds about who they love without holding any animosity towards anyone.

The all-white, all-male writing team pushes the Chinese girl's feelings aside and forces her to hide and erase them if they're not want they want her to feel, while the white boy gets congratulated with a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum and always, ALWAYS, takes the moral high ground(even in superhero form when he's supposedly goofy.). When she's the lead.

"Luka's a second choice, not for Marinette, but for the Miraculous Ladybug world. for the WRITERS!!!“

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

It’s just tiring. It’s not even me being sick of the love square, but it being forced into everything when it’s not even relevant. The episode strategically throws more and more of Marinette’s Adrien crush (I did the math, I know this) into the mix and it provides nothing but the same tired jokes. Heck, they keep leaning on the lucky charm Marinette let him borrow (not GAVE, let him BORROW) back in Season 1 because they basically have nothing else to go off of.

[teddy-bear-surprise]

hi!! how are you? i seen your post about wanting to write headcannons or blurbs and i didn't know if you wanted them to be birthday related but osbddkndjdd staying up until exactly 12 am with peter and once it hits, the reader gives him a bunch of kisses & let's him now how happy she is to be with him!!!

This story is also available on AO3 and Wattpad!

Hi! Thank you so much for the request, I'm doing great today and I hope you are too <3

MASTERLIST

Title: Midnight Birthday

Word Count: ~2.4k

Warnings: None (they joke around about poop and farts, which makes me sound immature, but I promise it’s funny and not like serious)

Context needed: Y/N

I deviated slightly from the prompt on accident, but I hope you enjoy it :)

Your phone rang loudly for the third time, prompting you to finally pick up. Normally, you would ignore everyone’s phone calls, but you realized that Peter was the one calling you. You had set a special ringtone for him, just so this wouldn’t happen, yet he still had to call multiple times just to get your attention.

“Hey, Peter! Sorry I didn’t pick up before… You know how it is, right?”

Peter chuckled on the other end of the line, “Yeah, I know. We should really come up with a better system for you. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if there was an emergency and they had to call you. I know you can’t see me right now, but just the thought gave me goosebumps.”

You heard him shudder, “I’m sure you’re very goosebumpy, Spider-Kid.”

“Hey!” He asserted jokingly, “You know that I prefer ‘Spider-Man’, you know that. And don’t be mean to me! I’m over here calling to invite you out to dinner and this is what I get? I am beyond hurt. I will never recover.” Peter emphasized each word as sarcastically as he possibly could.

“Oh, get over yourself drama queen. Spider-Boy, Spider-Kid, Spider-Man, it’s all the same thiiinnggggg. Just take the compliment, hun. In thirty years– when you’re all old, wrinkly, and a Spider-Senior –you’ll be missing the days when people called you Spider-Kid. Now, what were you saying about dinner?”

“I said I wanted to invite you out to dinner! Were you not listening?”

You rolled your eyes and wished he could see your face right now. “I got that part, genius. I meant like what kind of dinner… Y’know, Where? When? The details, Pete, the details.”

“Oohhhh, that would make sense.” He laughed quietly, shaking his head at his own stupidity. “I was thinking that we could go to that restaurant you love, you know the one you were talking about the other day… Ummmm I think it was called Sveleka? Right? So we could go there around 7…”

Peter’s voice trailed off as he tried to remember the details of his plan and you cut in. “It’s Veselka, but that would be great, Pete. I’ll see you there at 7, love you.”

You hung up the phone before Peter even got a chance to reply. Your phone skills were rudimentary, to say the least, and it always got you into trouble. Luckily, Peter understood your bizarre hatred of phones and phone calls, allowing you to talk to him without worrying too much.

You knew that his birthday was tomorrow and you had developed a plan of your own. It was supposed to be a surprise, and the last thing you were expecting was for him to ask you out to dinner the night before his own birthday. In a way, it made you appreciate him even more, knowing that he loved you enough to randomly call you and ask you out to dinner. But now, thanks to his unexpected decision, you only had two hours to rearrange everything before meeting up with him for dinner. You stared at the giant teddy bear sitting on your bed and sighed. Even though your plan was technically easier to carry out now, you felt a twinge of annoyance about having to modify your schedule.

Originally, you wanted to sneak into Peter’s apartment, along with May’s help, and surprise him with a giant teddy bear that said “I love you” when you hugged it. Ideally, you would get there right at midnight, as the night turned from August 9th to 10th, and show him that you cared. That you cared about his birthday, his happiness, and his wellbeing.

You shook away the thought and positioned the teddy bear so that it looked like it wanted to give you a hug. In between its warm, fluffy arms, you placed a small box. This box was technically Peter’s real present. It contained a small, circular locket with one half of a glass spider and a key. In the very same box, you included a long handwritten note telling Peter how much you loved him and how proud you were of him. Once you rearranged the box and bear to your liking, you began to get ready.

The closet of your apartment was minuscule, as was the whole place, and the limited space had led you to develop a very limited wardrobe. Your outfits only consisting of basic black pieces, one dark green jacket, and three pairs of shoes. Peter always joked that he loved how your closet all looked the same, claiming that it made it easier to find you if you ever got lost in a crowd. You both knew that was far from true since everyone in Manhattan loves wearing black, but you appreciated that he was so kind about your unconventional fashion decision.

You grabbed a simple, long black skirt and a silky black tank top, changing out of your pajamas. It might have been five o’clock in the afternoon, but pajamas stayed on until you left the house. That was just the rule. While you fixed your hair and makeup, you began to worry that Peter would figure out your plan. It was a slightly irrational thought, especially since he was socially inept and on multiple occasions forgot when his birthday was. Still, the thought plagued your mind until the moment you were ready to leave.

As you walked to Grand Central station, you texted Aunt May, letting her know that the plan had changed. May had been the biggest supporter of you and Peter’s relationship from the start. Honestly, she was the only one you could trust because she was the only one who could keep both your and Peter’s identities a secret. You hopped onto the Six heading downtown, hoping that she would reply before your service completely cut out.

You: Hi, May. Peter invited me out for dinner at the last minute so we might have to rearrange a bit.

May: This is why I told you to make plans with him ahead of time, so we wouldn’t run into any bumps like this.

You: I know, sorry. I wasn’t expecting him to do this.

May: I was kind of expecting it… I made a bet with myself that he would do this and it looks like I won!

You: You bet on us?? Is this like a reoccurring thing???

May: Definitely not. That would be immature. I’d never do that.

You shook your head at your phone, laughing at how obvious it was that May bet on your and Peter’s relationship. To you, May was like a second mother, or just a really cool aunt. She seemed to understand how to be just serious enough, but not stiff. Not to mention that she was ten times nicer and more supportive of you than your actual mom.

You: I’m gonna pretend that the last part of the conversation never happened. But what I wanted to tell you was that I’m going to meet Peter for dinner around 7 at Veselka so I won’t be able to go back to my apartment and then to Peter’s in time. I just left the bear at my apartment and I’m thinking of asking Peter to go home with me after we eat, what do you think?

May: Sounds like a solid plan, kiddo. Good luck, and please don’t let Peter eat too many of those sauerkraut pierogies this time, he was gassy for two days. It wasn’t fun.

You: Thanks for the gross heads-up, May. Byeeee

You got off at Astor Place and walked in silence towards the restaurant. You were looking at the ground, head hanging low, when Peter called out to you from across the street.

“Y/N, hi!”

You looked up at him and smiled at the goofy boy waving at you. “Hi, Peter!”

Jogging across the street, you made eye contact with him. He held out a hand towards you, helping you onto the sidewalk, and embraced you. Peter kissed the top of your head softly and gave you one last squeeze before letting go.

“So, I guess we’re both early then. I gotta say that I’m shocked, Parker. I wasn’t expecting you to get here before me.”

“What can I say, I’m full of surprises.” Peter winked at you.

---

The two of you merrily ate your dinner, with Peter threatening to instigate a food fight more than once. You talked about anything and everything, by the time you two were ready to pay the bill, it was almost 11 and you were stuffed.

Peter rubbed his hand on his stomach, poking at it, “I think it would be physically impossible for me to eat any more. Like I would just spchwoooo,” he mimicked an explosion with his hands, “explode.”

“I’m just glad we didn’t order any of those sauerkraut pierogies, May said they made you all gassy last time. I don’t even want to know what would have happened if you ate those and the stuffed cabbage.”

“What?! May said that? I never get gassy. Ever.” Peter lowered his voice, “I’m literally superhuman, it takes more than some sauerkraut and cabbage to mess with this iron stomach.”

“That’s not even close to being true. You had explosive diarrhea after that burrito two weeks ago, and don’t blame the food, you were the only one out of the three of us who got sick. Did you forget that May and I had to take you to the hospital? Because I don’t think that counts as an ‘iron stomach’.”

The two of you argued about stomachs, diarrhea, and food the rest of the way to your apartment, stopping every few minutes to point out airplanes flying overhead. You insisted on walking home so you could arrive almost exactly at midnight. Plus having Spider-Man by your side was basically a guarantee of safety, even in Manhattan. Peter held your hand the whole time, swinging it like a smitten teenager. After walking nearly fifty blocks, you arrived at your apartment. You noticed that Peter seemed hesitant, only lightly resting his foot on the first step leading up the building.

“C’mon, let’s watch a movie or something. I don’t want you to leave yet.” You pouted and tugged on Peter’s hand, pulling him up into the doorway.

“Well then, I guess I’m not leaving.”

---

The two of you were cuddled on your small couch watching Buzzfeed Unsolved, Peter’s favorite show, but you weren’t paying attention. Every few seconds your eyes would dart up at the clock, waiting for the hour hand to strike 12. Peter was entranced, never letting his attention deviate from the screen, and he didn’t even notice that you weren’t looking at the TV. The minutes went by slowly and you were counting down the seconds until midnight, gripping onto Peter’s arm. He thought that you were just scared by the prospect of unsolved murders, not that you were anxiously waiting for his birthday.

The last second passed and the clock struck 12, you immediately jumped out of Peter’s embrace and turned to him. Peter sat up in shock, confused by your sudden movement. You took the opportunity to straddle him and grab his face.

“Happy birthday, My Love.”

You peppered his face with sweet kisses and his eyes widened. His body softened under your touch as a feeling of love and happiness filled his heart. Peter snaked his hands up your thighs, letting them rest on your hips, and squeezed softly. You gave him one last kiss on the lips and rested your forhead against his.

“I have a surprise for you, Birthday Boy.” You lifted yourself off of his lap and held your hand out to him.

Peter took your hand and followed you obediently, curious to see what his surprise was. You opened the door to your room, revealing the large stuffed bear and its matching box. Peter let go of your hand and excitedly ran towards your bed.

Before he could say anything, you began speaking, “I know it’s not much, and I know you probably thought that I’d have like a trail of rose petals in here or something like that. But I wanted to show you that my love for you isn’t just about our physical relationship, my love for you i-is emotional and wholesome. I love you, Peter Parker. I truly love you and I’m so happy that you’re mine. I mean, every morning I wake up, I remember that I’m dating you, and that makes me the happiest person in the world.” You reached over to the box in Peter’s hands, “So, Peter Parker, will you accept this key?”

You opened the box and Peter’s cheeks glowed red. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he nodded his head.

“Yes! I love you so much too. I- Thank you,” He paused, “Oh no. Wait, I don’t have a key for yo–”

“Pete, this is your birthday present. I wouldn’t expect you to give me a gift on your birthday, silly.”

He rambled energetically, “You’re right… I’m still going to get you a copy though. Oh my gosh. I love this so much, and is this a spider because I’m Spider-Man?! Where’s the other half? This is so cool!”

You held up your matching locket, opening it to reveal the other half. “Yep, it is because you’re Spider-Boy. The best superhero in town. And, don’t throw away the little note at the bottom. Well, don’t open it now, but if you ever need a reminder of how much I love you, just read that note.”

Peter held your hands in his and pulled you down, both of you crashing into the giant teddy bear. The second you fell onto it, it blurted a freakish, distorted “I love you”, scaring both of you. You jumped up and looked at a wide-eyed Peter.

“Y’know, maybe we don’t need the bear. I don’t really want to be on the next episode of Unsolved.”

You laughed at Peter’s joke, pushing the bear onto the ground and kissed him. His soft lips tasted like the blueberry dessert you shared and his skin was as soft as butter.

You pulled away, foreheads resting together once more. Peter whispered, “Thank you for giving me the happiest midnight birthday, darling.”

[wallgirl]

The Little Nereid Part 9

Record of Ragnarok fanfiction

Poseidon x OC

Word count: 2,800

Dynamene, youngest of the 50 Nereids, has lived most of her adolescence as a servant alongside her sisters at Poseidon’s palace. But with her coming-of-age birthday and other developments, what she initially thought was just admiration of her master blossoms into something stronger and more passionate… and painful.

Categories and warnings: Romance, angst, unrequited love, coming-of-age, earn-your-happy-ending, slow-burn (ish); no sexual content. There will be some graphic violence in the future.

Updated regularly, multiple times a week; will have about ?15? parts total.

---

"Dynamene," a soft voice nudged her hours later. "Dynamene, wake up, we're almost there."

Dynamene opened her eyes groggily and looked up at Eione, whose shoulder she was still leaning against. "Huh?"

"Home; we're almost home." Eione smiled and drew back the carriage curtains to show her, letting in the bright sunshine. Dynamene sat up, quickly awoken by the warmth of the sunlight, and pressed herself to the window.

The rocky terrain and stormy weather had completely disappeared, giving way to rolling green hills lined with thick forest and sandy bluffs. The sky was clear without a cloud in sight, and Dynamene drank in the view of the pristine ocean under the bright blue sky. The gentle waves broke with crests like diamonds in the bright sun, before fading back into the cerulean waters. Dynamene's face lit up and she turned back to Eione, beaming. "It's just as beautiful as I remember."

"Isn't it?" Eione grinned. "We're nearly there. Just around this bend..."

The line of carriages rattled down the well-worn dirt road, turning around a thick grove of fig trees before beginning the final descent down a steep hill.

At the bottom was a sandy delta, flanked on the far side by a gorgeous palace made of sandstone and marble. The palace looked as if it had grown out of the bluffs as a natural extension of it, the exterior asymmetrical and rough but pleasing in a busy way. Sea glass in every color wrapped in whimsical patterns around the pillars and windows before winding down to the ground and forming a mosaic walkway to the entrance.

The ocean flowed into a cerulean lagoon before the palace, where the mouths of several small rivers met. Around the lagoon were large tide pools in which Dynamene could spot people and merfolk playing and basking.

There was a sudden shout from the distance, and the people began to stop what they were doing, looking towards the carriages. Then there was a loud chorus of calls and cheer, and the people scrambled in every which way. A trumpet sounded; now everyone knew that the Nereids were nearly home.

Before Dynamene could say anything, a booming voice came from the oceanside. "Greetings, Nereids!" She turned towards the other window to see a parade of merpeople headed by a handsome merman keeping pace with the carriage, leisurely leaping out of the water to speak to them. "Welcome home!"

Eione leaned over Dynamene and threw the window up. "Aye, merfolk! I thought I smelled fish!"

"Nay, Nereid," the merman replied smoothly. "It is yourself, I reckon." He gave Eione a mischievous wink.

Eione feigned a gasp of offense and flicked her hand. A spray of ocean water splashed the merman's face, but he laughed easily. "We will tell your parents of your arrival. Welcome home!" With that, he and the rest of the group sped ahead down along the beach, their tails glimmering in reds and greens under the surface of the water.

"Ah, that slimy fish," Eione tutted, but she tossed her hair in amusement. "It's so good to be back." She took in a deep breath before exhaling dramatically. "I can breathe here, you know?"

"Yes. Yes, I do," Dynamene whispered, unpinning her travel cloak. It was if the weight of the world had fallen off her shoulders with the fabric, and she began to help Eione get their bags sorted.

Minutes later, they had arrived before the palace. Beings of all sorts had gathered to greet their arrival with much a-do; fresh-water nymphs, dryads, fauns, satyrs, and merfolk. Familiar faces were on every side, and Dynamene lost track of the number of hugs she'd clasped with people she hadn't seen since goodness knows when. Old jokes were exchanged, and new ones made, as the crowd helped the Nereids unload their luggage from the carriages.

"Dynamene!" Actaea called from where a dryad was helping her lift down a trunk. "Look who it is!"

Dynamene turned and erupted once again into a wide smile. A boy with messy chestnut hair and freckles like hers was running down the path from the palace towards the group. "Dynamene!" He shouted. "Actaea! Eione! Everyone!" He flung himself into Dynamene's arms, and she squeezed him tight, rocking from side to side.

"Nerites," she whispered happily, taking the scent of seawater in her little brother's hair. "It's so good to see you again."

He pulled back to look at her with a frown. "You've gotten taller again. But I thought I would get taller than you someday?"

Dynamene laughed and ruffled his hair lovingly. "I think you have a few more centuries yet, little brother."

"That's fine," he replied. "As long as it happens someday." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards one of the inlets. "I can't believe you're finally here! Even Elasippus came to greet you all today, too!"

Dynamene knelt down at the edge of the small bluff. Basking in the shallow water of the pool was a young merman, barely out of boyhood, with strawberry blond hair strung with ocean droplets and a shimmering green tail. He looked up in surprise at Dynamene. "Hello, Dynamene."

"Elasippus!" She smiled at her brother's friend warmly. "It's been too long. Your tail's gotten longer, hasn't it?"

"Um, yes," he answered shyly, fins curling back and forth. "I just thought I'd come and say hello, since I've known you all for so long..."

"Don't be awkward, Elas," Nerites sighed. "We've been best friends for ages; it's okay to talk to my sisters."

Dynamene laughed. "It's okay, it's been a few years. It's still weird to see that you two have gotten bigger, though," she sighed. "I guess I still remember when you were both little tadpoles, crying when the sand got in your eyes."

"Hey, we're not crybabies anymore!" Nerites protested. "Actually, me and Elas have been exploring a lot recently. We found this underwater cave that's full of oysters, and we've been collecting them to harvest. Some of them even have pearls. We're gonna go again today, actually. If you want, you should come with us!"

"When? Now?" She asked in disbelief as Nerites pulled on her hand.

"Yeah! Come on!"

"Well..." She looked back at her other sisters, who were still bringing the luggage in.

"Go ahead, Dyna," Ianeira called. "We'll join you in a little bit."

"Scratch that," Eione jumped in, boldly tossing off her peplos and chiton. "I'm going with now. Come on, Dynamene! Last one into the water is rotten caviar!" She took a running start and dove head-first into the rippling water.

"Well, if it's alright with everyone else," Dynamene sighed dramatically, undoing her own peplos. "I suppose..."

And bolstered on by the happy exclamations of her brother, she dove in.

---

Hours later, Dynamene pulled herself back up onto shore, breathless from laughter. "Here," she tossed a pearl to Nerites. "Almost dropped that one."

The other Nereids broke the surface close-by, laughing and wringing out their hair. "Did you see how fast Thoe dissipated when that ray went by?" Eione teased. "I thought she was a cloud of silt for a moment."

"Hey, those things have barbs, you know," Thoe sniffed as she smoothed her wet bangs away from her forehead.

"I wish we could've seen some whales," Callianassa sighed as she finished reforming her hands. She gave her fingers a graceful wiggle. "It's been forever since I've heard a whale call."

"There are a lot of whales at the next cove down. They came here for the birthing season," Elasippus told her as he carefully pulled a strand of seaweed from his hair. "We can show you later if you want."

"We gave a few of them nicknames," Nerites added, looking up from where he was admiring his satchel full of freshly harvested pearls. "Two babies have been born so far; we named one Fig and the other Olive."

"That's so... unimaginative," Dynamene teased him good-naturedly, and he splashed her with water.

"You come up with better names, then!"

"I will," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I bet I can come up with better names than both of you," Ianeira said, splashing them both. "Just give me until after supper."

"Speaking of supper, I'm starving," Eione groaned. She pulled her sandy chiton back on over her head before giving her hair one last shake. "What's on the menu?"

"Why don't we go inside and find out?" Ianeira said. "It must be nearly time to eat, anyways."

"Sounds good to me," Dynamene affirmed, gathering her clothes back up to get dressed. She paused for a moment, scouring the sand.

"Looking for something, Dynamene?" Elasippus asked.

"No, it's fine, just found it!" Dynamene sighed with relief. She brushed the sand away from where it had lightly blown over her bracelet. "False alarm." She quickly drew it back onto her wrist, carefully dusting any remaining sand off.

"That's pretty," Nerites said in awe. "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, um," Dynamene blushed, smoothing her wet hair away from where it clung to her neck. "Lord... Lord Poseidon gave it to me not long ago, as a birthday present."

"Really?" He asked in surprise. "Wow. He didn't get you guys jewelry, did he?" He asked the other sisters tactlessly.

The sisters exchanged a silent look for half a moment before Ianeira cleared her throat. "Come on, everyone! I'm sure Mother and Father would like to see us at long last as well."

The rest of the girls finished dressing and began to make their way up the beach towards the glittering palace. Nerites said goodbye to Elasippus and ran after them.

"Dynamene, are you coming?" Actaea asked, pausing to look back at her younger sister. Dynamene was still carefully braiding her hair.

"I'll be there in a moment!" Dynamene called back, waving her on. "I just want to finish braiding my hair before it dries again. I'll meet up with you guys at the palace."

"Alright, don't be too long!" Actaea disappeared over the sandy hill, leaving Dynamene alone with Elasippus.

Elasippus remained for a moment, watching in fascination as Dynamene wove her hair back into two braids. "Beautiful," he whispered.

"Mm?" Dynamene looked up.

"The bracelet," he said hastily. "Lord Poseidon was very thoughtful. It's gorgeous."

"Isn't it?" Dynamene sighed and held out her hand so the merman could take a better look. "It's mother-of-pearl, my favorite."

"So it sounds like you get along with him, huh?" Elasippus swam in an idle circle. "That's good. I hear he's not so easy to be around."

"No, he's not," Dynamene admitted. "But, you know..." She remembered the times on the beach with him, and the way he had brushed her hair back. "He's not so bad, deep down." She began to blush.

"I see," Elasippus said slowly, watching Dynamene's face turn pink. "If you say so." He turned to look at the setting sun. "You and your sisters are really brave, you know. I don't think I could ever live with him. Not after what happened with his brother."

Dynamene stared at him for a moment blankly. Then she realized what he was referring to - Poseidon's killing of Adamas.

She stared back down at the ocean. "I suppose so. I guess I can see how that would make people... uncomfortable."

"Does it bother you?" Elasippus asked earnestly, tail flicking.

Dynamene bit her lower lip. What happened with Adamas was justified, wasn't it? I don't know all that was said between them, but Adamas did want to start a civil war, right? So... Is Poseidon really in the wrong for what he did? "No. I... I think he did the right thing," she said, but her voice was shaky.

Elasippus sensed her discomfort and frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things awkward. It's none of my business. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's alright," Dynamene said quickly. "It's an honest question. I suppose I just don't really think about it much. We'd only been at the palace for a century when it happened, and I was still just a child, so my sisters didn't say much about it around me." Her thoughts went back to that day; what little she remembered of it, that was.

The Nereids had left the palace to picnic on the beach that fateful afternoon. They didn't want any part of Adamas's visit; he was nothing but a jealous troublemaker, and they wanted no part of whatever ill-will he brought.

But when the sound of marble breaking echoed out from the palace, they had rushed back out of concern for their master. Dynamene remembered tagging along behind Actaea, barely able to see past the rest of her sisters as they crowded into the great hall where Poseidon had received Adamas...

"No, don't look," Actaea had said suddenly, covering Dynamene's eyes with her hands. "Don't look, Dynamene." Her sister's voice had wavered in horror. She had immediately steered Dynamene back out of the room, rushing her as fast as she could go. But Dynamene's ears were free, and she heard the rest of her sisters gasp and scream at the sight that greeted them in the great hall.

They hadn't been expected to clean up the mess. Poseidon had ordered them to leave the body where it lay, and continue on with their day as if nothing had happened. The other unseen servants of the palace took care of Adamas's body and the wreckage, and the following day, the great hall was spotless. The wall had been repaired, the table replaced, and no sign remained of the gory mess that Poseidon had made out of his older brother.

Dynamene shuddered at the memories. "Even now, no one speaks of it, especially at Lord Poseidon's palace. That's what he wanted, so we must obey. I don't think we would talk about it even if we could, though. It was so brutal." She swallowed. No one likes remembering that day. That was the first time we truly realized how powerful, and dangerous, Poseidon was.

"That's awful," Elasippus sympathized. "I hope it doesn't haunt you too much."

"No," Dynamene sighed. "No, I guess I owe Actaea for that. I never saw the... aftermath of Poseidon and Adamas's argument. I hear it was a horrible sight."

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer, neither of them knowing what to say. "I'm sorry," Dynamene said finally, getting to her feet. "I didn't mean to make things so dreary."

"No, not at all," Elasippus said quickly. "It's good to talk about things like that sometimes, right? If you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen. It doesn't bother me too much."

Dynamene smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you, Elas. I'm glad my brother is friends with you."

Now it was Elasippus whose face was pink. "It's... It's nothing much, we just have fun together. I'm glad I got to see you all again today."

"Me too. We should all meet again before we go back to the palace," Dynamene beamed. "I had a lot of fun today."

"I'm glad," Elasippus smiled back. "See you later." He sank back under the amber waves.

"Bye," Dynamene called after him. She watched his tail splash through the surface for a ways before he dove deeper into the water, returning to his underwater home. Left alone with her thoughts once more, she sighed.

I'm sure what Poseidon did was justified, even if it was violent. Over the top, even. Terrifying. But I guess that's just how Poseidon is; why would someone like him hold back? I know he'd never hurt us, at the very least.

She stared out at the setting sun, lost in thought, twisting the bracelet around her wrist.

Poseidon... I hope things are okay back at the palace. I hope the visit with Hades went as well as can be expected.

If you were here, I wonder... What would you say to me? She looked away from the sun's burning orange rays to the ocean. The dark hue of the water brought to mind Poseidon's eyes, so beautiful, yet so often cold and empty. Lately, though... Was it just her imagination, or was there truly life in them when he looked back at her?

 Would you tell me that you don't regret what you did? Even if you'd never harm me, surely there are still times that you hurt others. Or was Adamas an isolated event?

 She sighed before turning to make the journey back to the palace. This trip was meant to be relaxing, and worrying over the past did no good. Surely everyone was wondering where she was by now.

---

Author’s Notes: Another chapter that took on a life of its own. I think it'll work okay, though.

Next chapter is one I've been waiting to write almost since I started this fanfic. So much angst. I can't wait.

[krysphycookiez]

bts | you as the female maknae

synopsis: you’ve become the female maknae of the famous worldwide sensation bts! let’s see how well you get along with these crackhead boys

genre: fluff, platonic, imagines

pairing: bts x maknae!reader

a/n: nothing much to be said except i pulled this out of my ass to make content for all y’all

❣︎

the moment seokjin saw you he already claimed you as his child, no questions asked

even though you’re only like- a year younger than jungkook, he babies you WAY more than him, and you don’t mind really

he would take you to do some of his favorite things with him like cook or even clean the dorms

also if anyone hurts you in any way, shape or form they are getting their shit rocked by seokjin’s- rather colorful vocabulary

also nags you a lot, especially during your early debut days when you were still in school

he just doesn’t want you to be lost in life that’s all, and he shows that really well

he raised you very well since your debut with him and the boys and he just wants you to be happy

definitely favors you a lot more than the others and the bias is super obvious. he once bought you a shit ton of snacks for your birthday and the rest of the members were shocked af

this of course means you bicker a lot with him like jungkook, the two of you even sometimes team up to go against your hyung

but he also knows when you’re feeling down because his parent instincts kick in, he knows when you’re feeling down the dumps so he does something to cheer you up

whether it’s make you crack up with a stupid dad joke or buy your favorite drink, he’d do anything for his baby

definitely screams a lot when he’s with you too

like- y’all can’t hide how much of a pissbaby the two of you are, that’s easily demonstrated in that one run bts episode with the zombies

overall he’s like an older brother to you and despite the bickering, he still luvs you so much

yoongi is soft for you and you only

definitely let’s you sleep with him in his bed when you have a nightmare, because he’s an expert at bedtime cuddles

also let’s you mess around in his production studio, and maybe even lets you help him compose a few tracks

if you aren’t a rapper he probably teaches you some basics about rapping and later on becomes a proud dad when you show off in front of the other members

he also probably makes tae jealous too lmao, give the boy some love

if you’re upset or angry at the other members he’s one of two members that can calm you down, just because he’s really calm and knows how to handle your emotions

also definitely spoils you with snacks and drinks too

and he’s also the reason why you develop led your evil maknae side

back then you were so shy and pure but then he came into your life with his savage ways and sarcastic remarks. he rubbed off of you too much

also if anyone dares to hurt you he’s throwing hands. this bitch is really scary, he will give haters a death glare if they even LOOK at you

you definitely cling onto him like a baby sloth at times when you’re in the clingy mood, and he just kinda lets you hang onto him until you go to another member

and he also teases you at times to when he’s feeling pretty bold

such as your height or your age and this sometimes leads to insult battles, it’s a 50/50 win for the most part

for the most part, yoongi is like your cool uncle and he will cut a bitch if someone even lays a finger on you in a threatening way

when you and hoseok are put together in the same room, nothing but sunshine and happiness radiates form the two of you

both of you are the residential mood makers of bts, and it really shows

back then when you were really shy, hoseok was the first to approach you and ever since then you’ve become a happy ball of fluff

he definitely hugs you a lot and does a lot of aegyo with you, or even hug you to show that you’re not alone

if you buy him sprite he’ll go nuts

this man loves his energetic drink and he will forever love someone who gets him that monstrous drink

you probably tried to give him monster energy at one point but he complained about the battery acid taste

LOVES spoiling you with gifts, try not to let him spoil you too much or the other members might get jealous

when you’re feeling under the weather he will be there in a flash to make sure you’re well enough and give you some chocolate to make you a bit happier

will shower you with love and affection at all times- especially on vlive cause he wants to make sure you’re loved

and you are trust me

you remind him of a happy little puppy and he just thinks it’s the most adorable thing ever cause he likes animals

and also he definitely will throw hands at haters- this man is scary when he’s mad

he’s like an equivalent to an older brother to you and it’s so endearing

take namjoon’s being done with the members bullshit 24/7 tendencies and mutiply that by 100 when he’s with you

you always do the most random shit around him its hilarious. whether it’s playing with his hair or just clinging onto him a lot

of course he still loves you he just always looks tired when you start being you

also definitely has helped you with your homework in the past cause he’s too smart for his own good

you once asked him to help you help with a cell mode project cause it was supposed to be big but yours just looked like an oversized bean

he thought it was adorable and funny so he helped you

also you go on beach walks with him when in a country with beaches, prolly looking for crabs too lol

you have definitely crashed one of his studio vlives and did something random, like how tae did

when you’re feeling sick he along with seokjin will nurture you back to health. he gets the medicine and stuff while seokjin makes you a nice warm meal

you have definitely made jokes where you are their child and they are the parents at it always results in a hell from the older male

you have probably given him a few ideas on some of the popular tracks like pied piper and black swan

you have a creative mind so when namjoon is feeling blank he turns to you for help, hell you even helped a lot with the hyyh era

and he’s also at ease when he’s around you because you smell like roses- sounds a little weird but it’s the smell of a lovely flower

namjoon would like to care for you like your a kid or his own little sister and be your guardian angel

first thoughts when you both saw each other; omg so cute

you and jimin are such sofies for each other it’s so adorable, always clinging onto each other and just being two puppies

of course that can always switch and the two of you can become such a petty and savage duo

the members definitely tease you two the most due to your smaller heights, which the worked the two of you to prank them a lot

never yoongi though, he’s scary asf

you two also have a lot of movie marathons, especially the avengers movies cause they are some of the best

if you’re a main dancer you two probably do a lot of dancing together in your free time, maybe even some crack dances as well

a little bit of playful flirting here and there, he’s so shameless when he’s around you it’s unreal

has also picked you up at one point and threw you over his shoulder just cause he wanted to prove to jk he’s not a weak midget

CUDDLES 24/7! both of you initiate a lot of platonic skinship it’s just become a habit at this point. also you two have definitely slept in the same bed before while cuddling

jimin is very emotionally intelligent, so he automatically knows when you’re in a bad mood or when you just feel sad. he’s the member trusted the most too to take care of you during- uh- your time of the month

he just wants you to be happy so he’ll gladly help you with any of your needs, even if it’s kinda unpleasant

seeing that both of you both had a lot of struggles, you two were very close and i guess that’s what made you guys click

jimin would be the shoulder you can cry on and your lovable squishy best friend

taehyung would be one of your bestest friends, even during trainee days

expect he was shy to you at first cause you were very young and he didn’t want to give the wrong impression on you

but overtime he grew to be his childish and weird self that we all love, and the two of you always lighten up the mood along with hoseok

definitely takes you on shopping dates when he gets the chance and probably makes you try on 1000 gucci clothes

sometimes you end up buying them but it’s a relatively small amount

also you like going to the food courts with him because you guys just have very light-hearted conversations while enjoying yourselves some delicious food

if he knows something is up with you but the others don’t notice, he would go and tell them to take care of it cause he doesn’t think he can’t comfort you well enough

but in reality he’s really good at talking with you, that 10% of genius shines in him and he manages to figure out what made you upset and help you

yeontan probably likes you a bit more than the other members cause of taehyung, and that’s a feat he’s proud of

both you and him also play a lot of games together with jungkook, and a lot of screaming to

the others think you’re getting murdered at times it’s funny

tae would also initiate skinship with you, though not as much as jimin, he prefers to just hug you and hold your hand

also if you’re a rapper he definitely asks you to teach him how to rap and sometimes it can be so chaotic

taehyung would be a really good friend to you and like a warm older brother

you and jungkook are the maknaes on top, even though there’s a one year difference

despite your close relationship, you two didn’t get along at first due to different views on certain things

but overtime your relationship mended and now the two of you are the closest friends can get

due to your young ages you use this to your advantage to get anything you want from the members

also, take your pranking with jimin and multiply that by a million cause hoo boy you two cause A LOT of chaos

skinship and platonic kisses for days off camera. he really loves you a lot and just prefers to show it off camera cause he’s a shy baby

you steal his hoodies and shirts a lot cause they are comfy and he either complains or just lets you take them

both of you have friendly competitions whenever you are competing for the members love and affection

which can lead to rather intense insult battles and the others watch in amusement

both of you are so close you two can just tell how you’re feeling with just one look in the eyes, and even communicate through facial expressions

yeah you guys are that close, and the other members haven’t fully accomplished a feat like that yet so they are amazed

jungkook also is pretty possessive of your guy’s friendships and often scares off others, even his fellow 97 liners

but in reality he’s just a soft bunny baby that doesn’t want you to leave him

you two probably had some dating rumors surrounding you, but at the end of the day nothing will change your guy’s amazing friendship

❣︎

wooooo we got another female maknae au! with bts, sorry i don’t have anything else, i have a one shot idea planned with yeonjun, taehyun and hyuka so please stick around for that!

this is @/krysphycookiez logging off... ♡︎

[radiorenjun]

 I Don't Need It

• Pairing: Na Jaemin x Reader

• Genre: Angst, Comedy, Fluff

• Na Jaemin despised the idea of soulmates, he wanted to fight against fate for choosing his soulmate for him. Even if it means his stubborn childhood best friend wouldn't stop trying to make him accept about the similar tattoos on their wrists.

• Warnings: mental breakdowns, heartbreak, mentions of blood, science (ew), mentions of death, major angst, arguments, flashbacks, physical injuries, fighting.

• Wordcount : 9.4 k

• Masterlist here!

• Chapters: IX, X

• Song rec of the chapter : Start Over Again - New Hope Club

“Shit, I didn’t think it would be this bad.” Hyuck exclaimed as they finally managed to drag Jaemin out of the arcade. “Why was his wrist glowing like that?!” Chenle exclaimed as Jaemin gripped his wrist tightly, trying to make the burning sensation subside. “Idiot, didn’t you pay attention to Science class?” Hyuck replied as they watched Jeno (who had ran off to the nearest  run towards them with a small packet of ice cream mochi in his hand.

“This was the only thing nearby, put this on.” Jeno handed Jaemin the cold packet, who thanked him softly and carefully placed the packet on the burning skin. “What’s happening to him?” Jisung asked, looking at his seniors as Jaemin leaned his back against the wall, slumping against it with a heavy sigh, trying to ignore the searing pain.

“I’m fine, really. It’s just a little wrist pain. It’ll go away sooner or later. I-” Jaemin muttered under his breath before Jeno cuts him off with a strict tone. “Shut up, Jaemin. You’re not okay,” he spoke sternly before running a hand through his hair in distress. “Hyung, what’s going on?” Jisung asked, in a more serious tone, truly concerned for their dear friend.

“It’s his tattoo. It’s burning his blood.” Hyuck explained, his usual teasing tone was now replaced with a serious one. His eyes staring straight at the glowing red skin as the younger boys stared at him in shock, Jaemin’s head shot up in surprise, eyes wide to see if Hyuck was messing him or not. “Hyuck, that’s not funny.” Jaemin let out a strained laugh, letting out a sharp hiss when Jeno pressed the cold pack harder onto his skin. “It’s not a joke, Jaems.” Jeno scolded softly.

“How is that even possible?” Chenle asked, baffled. Jeno rolled his eyes as he released his tight grip on Jaemin’s wrist, causing the younger boy to glare at him, pressing the ice pack against his wrist gently. “Guess someone never payed attention to Science class,” Hyuck muttered under his breath, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Jisung. “Get to the point, hyung.” he frowned.

“From what I remembered, that tattoo is connected to your emotions. It’s like the old red string soulmate theory. It’s the only thing that connects you with your soulmate. if you found your soulmate but they reject you or hurt you in any shape or form, the brain registers emotional pain of heartbreak in the same way as physical pain.” Jeno explains briefly, as Jaemin’s eyes widened at the new information. How come he’s never heard of this before?

“When the tattoo appears, it turns into some kind of blood vessel that connects to the emotional part of your body. And when you experience some form of heartbreak that’s caused by your soulmate, the tattoo somehow produces bacteria that burns your blood on your left wrist, hence the bright glow.” Jeno adds on, sighing, a hand going back to scratch the back of his neck. Hyuck nodded, “I knew this because Jeno gave me his science notes when we had that science test,” Hyuck exclaimed, putting a hand on Jeno’s shoulder who gave him a deadpanned look.

“There are some cases that the pains were so bad that they had to be removed.” Hyuck added on. “And let me tell you, it’s not a fun process to do so. It’s pretty rare, but they say if you’re not careful, removing it might mentally break them.” Hyuck unconsciously rubbed his own wrist, wincing at the mere thought of getting a part of his skin peeled off.

“So all this time. All the chest pains, all the wrist pains I’ve been enduring, was because I was feeling emotionally hurt by my own soulmate?” Jaemin asked in a rather hesitant tone, his pupils filled with disbelief. “Not hurt, per say. More like jealousy.” Hyuck concluded with soft shrug. “Jealousy?” Jaemin gaped, his mouth opened in disbelief. He didn’t know what to say. Or if he could say anything at all. It was all too much to take in.

“Yep. I don’t know if you noticed, but every time you see Renjun and Y/N together these days, you often glare at them as if you were going to have lasers shooting out of your eyeballs into Renjun’s skull.” Jisung joked, a small smile appearing on his face, trying to ease the awkward tension around them. “You need to seriously stop lying to yourself. If the world set you up together, you’re bound to develop feelings whether you like it or not, that’s how this fucked up soulmate system works.” Hyuck groaned in annoyance.

“You’re more stubborn than Jeno when his mom told him to not get a cat because he’s allergic to fur.” Jisung nodded in agreement. Jeno turned his head to the younger boy, letting out a soft, “what?” 

“Very funny, you two.” Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“Honestly, hyung, this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so stubborn bout going against fate.” Chenle huffed, leaning his arm against Jaemin’s left shoulder, looking at the older boy with sympathy in his eyes. “Wait, does this mean,” Jaemin paused as his mind drifted back to you, his brows furrowed in confusion and a slight tint of horror.

“All this time, y/n felt this excruciating sensation for two whole years?” Jaemin gulped. By the way Jisung and Chenle gazed at their older friends curiously, he assumed they didn’t know any of this. A part of him didn’t want to talk bout this in front of them. Yet, another part of him was too curious yet nervous to find out the answer, for his friends’ reactions had said it all. The two boys looked away sadly, bowing their heads to avoid eye contact with their best friend. Jaemin felt his heart drop into his stomach, your innocent smile flashing through his mind, causing his guilt to fill him up even more.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jaemin asked, guilt filling his veins like a running tap filling up a jug with water.

“We wanted to. At first, we thought you knew. That’s why we were rather hesitant when talking to you since that day,” Hyuck exclaimed with an exhausted sigh, biting his lip nervously, referring to your birthday. “Then when you said you almost failed science back then because you didn’t bother reading the notes we shared, we were about to tell you,” Jeno continued hesitantly, his own eyes filled with guilt, remembering how Jaemin hated the ideas of soulmates so much, he didn’t even want to listen to the teachers explanations when it comes to the soulmate system that he purposely didn’t study for the soulmate part of the topic for the test.

“But then,” Hyuck cut him off.

2 years ago

“Dude, you barely passed Science, what’s up with that?” Jeno gaped, seeing Jaemin’s low score displayed on the pin board their school had set up beside every entrance to each class for event posters and test scores. Jaemin shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes filled with disinterest. “This was like the easiest topic of the whole semester, how in hell did you get a 72?” Hyuck exclaimed in disbelief.

“I didn’t bother to study with this one,” Jaemin shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Dude, it’s about the soulmate system. The only interesting topic in the whole school year, it’s all basic knowledge.” Hyuck deadpanned, nudging Jaemin’s arm with his elbow. Jaemin rolled his eyes, groaning in annoyance. “So? I don’t want to know shit bout that lousy system.” Jaemin replied with pursed lips.

“Shit, man. That’s kind of mean. I bet you didn’t even know that if you hurt your soulmate you’ll-” 

“Haechan! Jeno!” 

The three boys turned to see you smiling widely at them, though the smile didn’t reach your eyes. You quickly jogged up to the two boys, grabbing the, by the elbows in each hand, gripping onto them tightly. “Hey Nana!” you greeted, giving your soulmate a loving smile who just sent you a small friendly smile and a small wave. “Sorry, do you mind if I borrow your friends for a bit? I got something to say to them,” you giggled nervously, tugging them backwards to say it’s urgent so that Jaemin couldn’t catch on.

“Where did you come from?” Jeno asked, raising a brow at you. You frowned slightly, “through the wall.” You replied in a sarcastic tone, causing Hyuck to let out a soft chuckle. “It’s really urgent. I really need to talk to you guys,” you spoke seriously, tugging them back as Jaemin raised his brow at you suspiciously. “What’s so urgent that you got to take my friends away from me, huh?” Jaemin teased, causing you to let out a soft laugh.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” you winked, giggling. “But we have class in less than-” Jeno was immediately cut off by your desperate tone as you tugged them back quite roughly. “It’ll just take a second!” you said nervously, eyes pleading at them to go with the flow. Hyuck and Jeno shared perplexed looks before letting you tug them away from Jaemin.

“See you in Chemistry, Jaemin!” Jeno waved at his friend, who waved back with a soft smile before turning to the other direction to get to his locker. You pulled Hyuck and Jeno around the corner, looking back to see if you were far enough from Jaemin. “What’s up with you Y/N? You look like my little sister when she told her teacher that I ate her homework.” Hyuck asked in a concerned tone.

Your smile from before dissipated into a rather exhausted expression, sighing as you leaned back against some random student’s locker. “You guys have to promise me to not talk to Jaemin anything related to the soulmate system.” you frowned, eyes boring onto theirs seriously. Jeno frowned, confused. “Okay. Why though?” he asked questioningly.

You looked back, making sure Jaemin was nowhere to be seen before hesitantly speaking. “He doesn’t know anything bout the soulmate system. Like, literally nothing.” you started, rubbing the back of your neck in distress, letting out a pained sigh. “He’s been that way ever since we were kids, you know that, Jeno. And it’s best if we keep it that way,” you explained.

“Y/n, no. You know full well what’s going to happen. You’re gonna get hurt, like physically hurt, y/n. We need to tell him,” Jeno shook his head, refusing boldly with Hyuck nodding in agreement. You sighed, smiling softly. “I knew you were going to say that. But really, I’m going to be fine. It’s nothing I can’t handle.” you waved it off with a light smile.

Hyuck and Jeno gave you uncertain looks. “I’m serious.” you huffed with a slight pout, “I appreciate you two caring bout my well being but I’m really going to be okay. Trust me,” you held up two crossed fingers from your left hand, grinning sheepishly. Hyuck and Jeno eyed the sore mark around the tattoo on your wrist, identical to Jaemin’s which was red as if it had been gripped tightly by someone. 

“Y/n, you’re gonna get even more hurt. You need to tell Jaemin, what if he stops being stubborn if you just tell him?” Hyuck tried to reason, feeling his own wrist sting by the sight of yours, wondering how painful it could be to feel such an awful sensation. You let out a soft shrug, “I don’t want to see him sad like that. I am his soulmate after all, soulmates are suppose to keep each other happy.” you smiled, though Jeno and Hyuck could see the sadness through your pupils.

“What’s the point in that? You’re just gonna keep him in the dark so he can be happy while you suffer in pain every day? That isn’t fair, y/n. It isn’t fair to you nor to Jaemin,” Jeno furrowed his brows, feeling frustrated with his stubborn friend. Why couldn’t he just get over the whole ‘I’m going against fate because this whole soulmate system sucks’ bullshit?

You gigged softly, looking down at the sore mark around your tattoo, caressing the balloon doodle with your thumb. “You two don’t fully understand. I want him to love me, but I don’t want him to love me just because he’s forced to.” you sighed, taking your two friends aback slightly. “Maybe one day-” you shook your head profusely, trying to shake the negativity out of your head.

“No, I know one day, he’ll love me back the way I love him. I just need to be patient with his stubborn ass. I’ll never stop trying until that happens. And when that happens, maybe none of us will be sad anymore.” the sad yet hopeful smile you plastered across your lips was enough to break Jeno and Hyuck’s heart. They wished you and Jaemin could have an easier plot to your story, wishing that you wouldn’t have to go through such a painful process just to make your soulmate happy. But love makes you do crazy things, and they knew they should respect your decision.

“How are you so sure? It’s been months, y/n.” Jeno asked rather hesitantly. But he needed an answer why you couldn’t just tell him. Hyuck nodded, he couldn’t find the courage to speak. Hell, Hyuck didn’t even know what to say to you, not when you were looking at him as if you were clinging on to your last hope of life. You gave him those sad smiles you only see in movies when a main character knows they’re in for a long painful ride through life.

“I’m actually not.” you replied shortly, putting your hands into the pockets of your jacket, “But this is what love does to me. It makes me feel as if I gave up on this, I’m going to have the whole world turned upside down. I guess I’m just that whipped.” you shrugged simply, kicking a crumpled ball of paper someone dropped earlier. “Love? What is love, really?” Hyuck asked in a rather bitter tone, recalling the hurt expressions you would always have whenever Jaemin wasn’t looking.

You paused to think bout it for a moment before looking at the two boys with a knowing look, “I don’t know myself. But it feels amazing to be in love, I want it to last as long as possible. Even if it might not work out for me in the end, I just want to at least cherish it while I can,” you grinned, giving them enthusiastic jazz hands.

“So, can you promise me that you’ll both keep this between the three of us?” 

“So you both actually kept it from me all these years?” Jaemin exclaimed, feeling anger overwhelm his whole body. Hyuck’s head shot up, “she looked tired enough, we couldn’t say no, you asshole!” he shot back defensively, jaw clenching tightly. “Telling you would be like taking her last bit of hope, she didn’t want to burden you with the thought, so she kept it to herself, you ungrateful douchebag!” he spat, his face red with anger as he stared back at his friend in disbelief.

“Oh, so you decided to let her suffer internally so I can feel like shit about it later on? Sure, Donghyuck!” Jaemin shot back, pulling the frozen pack to clench his fists by his sides. “Oh, so it’s y/n’s fault now, is it? That’s what you’re implying?!” Hyuck growled, letting out a groan of annoyance at his best friend’s stubborn self.

“You ass, you really can’t see how fucking stupid you’re being? She’s your fucking soulmate, for fucks sakes! Get your head out of your ass and wake up, if you just showed a bit of interest with the whole soulmate system then this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!” 

At this point, things were getting a bit too intense for the two boys, Jisung had to step forward and grip his senior’s shoulder, in case Hyuck tried to do something to Jaemin. “Shut up, Hyuck. You don’t even know what you’re talking about! You’re just one of those people who follows this fucked up soulmate system, you just don’t get it!” Jaemin took a step forward towards the older boy, jaw clenched tightly in anger.

“Yeah, sure, if this system is so fucked up, then what bout you, huh? What about you, Na Jaemin?” 

“What about me?”

“If this whole system is fucked up, like you say it is. Then what about you? Don’t you think it’s fucked up that you keep hurting your own childhood best friend for your own selfish purposes, you prick?”

“Hyung, I think thats-” Jisung attempted to coax Hyuck to stop before he did some permanent damage to their whole friendship, only for the older boy to shrug his hand away with a harsh scowl on his lips. “Shut up, Jisung. I’ve had it with this bullshit, it’s time he opens his fucking eyes and stop acting like a fucking brat.” Hyuck spat back at the younger, causing the poor boy to sigh in defeat.

“What the fuck is that suppose to mean?” Jaemin felt his heart ache, not in the way whenever he would see you or Renjun. It was a different kind of ache, it felt as if tiny sharp objects were slowly piercing through his heart. And Jaemin was afraid that he didn’t know how to make it stop.

“It’s funny how you just tossed away her feelings for your own for two whole years. You didn’t even know that she was hurting, right? You treated her like shit for two years: throwing away her cookies, her gifts. Taking her kindness for granted, rolling your eyes at her whenever she was in the room. Not to mention talking shit bout her behind her back.”

“I do not talk shit about her behind her back-”

“Oh, really? What about those times you complained how clingy she was? How she was suffocating you with her presence? How she was getting annoying day by day, huh? What do you call that?”

“I was just-”

“You were just what, Jaemin? You were just pissed off? Or was it because you didn’t think she was right behind you listening? Or is it gonna be another of your petty excuses?”

Jaemin couldn’t respond, he didn’t know want to say. He admits that what he’s done in the past wasn’t the nicest things, but he was just upset whenever he said those things. He froze in his place, unable to find the right words to respond. Or rather, he couldn’t respond at all.

“Oh, so now you have nothing to say? Just admit that you’re being irrational about this whole situation, Jaemin. It’s not that hard to admit that you’re wrong, you bastard. No wonder Y/n replaced yo-”

Before Donghyuck could finish his sentence, Jaemin pushed Donghyuck by the chest harshly in anger. Hyuck took a few steps back at the harsh impact, his scowl turning into a smug grin. “Shut up, Donghyuck.” Jaemin growled, shrugging off Jeno’s hand when Jeno stepped forward to gently coax Jaemin to let it go before they both do something that’ll get them in trouble.

“Did I hit a nerve? You know it’s true, Na. You just won’t admit it!” Hyuck growled, causing Jaemin’s blood to boil under his skin. Both of his fists were clenched tightly, ready to punch something. Or rather, someone.

“Stop it, Hyuck.” Jeno barked, his tone getting an octave lower. At this point, Jisung and Chenle were eyeing their elders cautiously, ready to drop their snacks to the floor in case a fight breaks out. “What? I’m not lying, aren’t I? It wouldn’t take a genius to know that Y/n basically replaced him with someone clearly better for her. I mean, Renjun’s would be a way better soulmate than your selfish ass, anyways.” Hyuck taunted with a proud glint in his pupils.

“Hyuck, stop it before you’re gonna regret something,” Jeno barked once again as Jaemin clicked his tongue, his jaw clenching tightly as the atmosphere thickens between the three boys. “If only Y/n wasn’t cursed to be soulmate with an asshole like you, then she didn’t have to put up with your ungrateful ass for all these years!” Hyuck exclaimed, raising his hands up dramatically to rile Jaemin up even more.

It all happened so fast.

In a split second, Jaemin launched himself onto Hyuck, grabbing the younger boy by the collar. “Take it back,” Jaemin spat in his face, tone laced with anger. Hyuck still had a proud smirk on his face, provoking the boy even more by his smug expression. “I’m happy she didn’t have to get stuck with you for the rest of her life despite being cursed for having the same tat-” 

Hyuck didn’t get to finish his sentence when Jaemin’s fist collided against the side of his face. “Jaemin! Hyuck!” Jeno ripped the two boys apart, holding Jaemin back before he causes a ruckus. Jisung and Chenle held Hyuck back as Jeno began to scold the younger boys, “Fuck off, Jeno!” Jaemin tried to shove Jeno off of him, but Jeno tightened his grip on Jaemin’s shoulder, holding him back tightly.

“Jaemin, stop it you’re making a scene.” Jeno hissed as Hyuck let out a cocky “Ha!”, getting out of Jisung and Chenle’s grip. “No, Jen. Let him go, maybe if he beats me up, he’s gonna realize how shitty of a human being he’s been.” Hyuck taunted with a sinister laugh, causing Jaemin to let out a harsh growl at his friend. “You little-”

“Hyuck, stop provoking him. Jaemin, calm down before someone calls security!” Jeno struggled to keep Jaemin at arms length from Hyuck, Jaemin’s pupils darted at the people around them staring, whispering and crying out for someone to get security. He felt anxiety crawl up his skin at the countless of eyes glaring at them, but one that truly caught his eye was your own figure walking out of the arcade.

You had a skip in your step with an enthusiastic smile on your face as you stared back at your friends, pointing at the nearest food court as you looked back at your friends. His eyes widened slightly when he saw one of your friends pointing towards the crowd around them, anger soon being replaced with a strong surge of panic.

Jaemin masked his panic with an incredulous scoff, shoving Jeno’s hand off of him with an annoyed huff before bumping his shoulder against Donghyuck who gave him a death glare as he stomped off to the parking lot as fast as he could, ignoring the eyes of strangers as he leaves his friends behind. 

“Son of a bitch!”

Jaemin couldn’t be anymore thankful that his parents were away on a business trip for two weeks, they didn’t have to see their son experiencing a mental breakdown right before their eyes. Jaemin slammed the door shut as hard as he could, hitting his fist against the door in anger, swearing loudly as he vents his anger out on the white wooden door.

His fists were red with pain, but at that moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care. All he wanted was to block out the pain he was feeling deep down inside of him and let it out before it exploded inside him. Before the pressure broke him inside and outside.  

Eventually, the sound of his fists hitting the wooden door stopped. Jaemin took a step back, panting, his hair messy, his blood boiling, his heart racing in his chest, exhaustion filling his entire body. He collapsed onto the mattress of his bed, sighing out. Jaemin felt exhausted, mentally and physically. He felt like being stuck in his room for the rest of his life. He felt like he wanted to just disappear.

Jaemin turned over to his stomach, burying his face against the soft fabric of his pillows. His heart ached even more, his wrist wasn’t burning anymore but it still left a dull ache in it’s wake. And for once in his life he wasn’t covering his soulmate tattoo with his watch or wristbands. Jaemin’s glassy eyes stared at the small tattoo that got him into this big of a mess in the first place as his mind keeps spinning in his head.

The tattoo that was once a bright doodle of a small red balloon floating in the middle of two clouds had now transitioned into  a dim crimson red, the white color in the clouds and the bright red color in the balloon were barely visible. Jaemin assumed that was probably the side effects of either the pain killers he took or the tattoo releasing bacteria from the emotional pain in his chest.

Jaemin chuckled to himself, turning his head to see the half empty bottle of pain killers standing innocently on his desk. Laughing lightly to himself at how frustrated he gets whenever the pain wouldn’t stop despite taking the maximum dosage. “I’m so stupid.” he mumbled to himself, rubbing his face with his palms in frustration.

On second thought, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw your tattoo. Jaemin’s brows furrowed, at the thought. Come to think of it, you had been covering your own tattoo up these past couple months. Either with the matching friendship bracelet he got you for your 16th birthday, joking how you should cover your tattoo with it, hours prior to when your tattoo appeared. 

You wore it all the time since then. The charms on the bracelet were large enough to cover the small tattoo on your wrist. Were you using the bracelet as an excuse to cover the marks your tattoo left on your skin from everyone else? Was your cheerful demeanor a facade all this time to cover your pain from Jaemin so that Jaemin wouldn’t feel guilty for hurting you?

Everything was a mess.

Jaemin wanted this whole problem to just disappear.

He groaned as he sat up from his bed, eyes examining his bedroom. The distant nostalgic sound of both of your laughter echoing in his mind as he recalled the times when you two used to joke around and make each other laugh so hard you had to hold your stomachs. The memory of him flicking your forehead whenever you do something annoying to make him laugh. Pupils staring at the small pebble that sat at the corner of his desk, his mind fluttering back to the time when you were 15.

 “So I have a present for you.” you giggled, barging into his room and dropping your bag carelessly in the middle of the room. Jaemin looks up from his phone, raising his brow as a smile stretched across his face. “Is it food?” he asked, an eager smile stretching across his face as he watched you pounce on his bed with your arms stretched out like a starfish. 

You turned to your best friend, giving him a bittersweet smile before letting out an evil, loud, maniac laugh, leaning you head back for a dramatic effect, abruptly turning to Jaemin with a deadpanned expression before letting out a cold emotionless, “no.” 

Jaemin frowned, his bottom lip jutting out as he whined. “And here I thought you’d finally pay me back for all the peanut butter sandwiches I sacrificed every recess.” he complained under his breath, smacking your backside with one of the pillows behind him. You giggled, sitting up as you watched your best friend pursed his lips at you.

“You wish, Na Jaemin. That’s never going to happen, that I can assure.” you giggled, shaking your head as you snatched the pillow from his hands to lay it on top of your lap. “Then what did you get me?” he asked, a confused frown forming on his lips, leaning his head to the side in curiosity. You smiled simply at him, “close your eyes, first.”

“Why?” he eyed you suspiciously, watching as your right arm reached for something inside the pocket of the peach coloured hoodie you were wearing. “I swear if you get me one of those strawberry infused tea that the 6 year old girl from across the street constantly forces innocent bystanders to buy, I’m going to-”

You let out an incredulous scoff, putting your hand on your chest with an offended frown. “Preposterous!” You gasped dramatically. “I would never make my best friend suffer by buying him a disgusting drink made by a 6 year old who eats play doh for a living!” you exclaimed with an offended tone.

Jaemin gave you an incredulous look, leaning back on the bed with his arms supporting him as he raised a brow a you. “You literally made me try her special oreo, milo, peanut butter and jam, ‘expresso’ a few weeks ago.” he said, wiggling his index and middle fingers when he said ‘expresso’. 

You gave him an innocent dorky grin in response, “no regrets.” You hissed with a smug smile. Jaemin rolled his eyes at you, “I’m serious, I’m actually concerned. Knowing you, you probably hired some weird psychic witch to make a voodoo doll of me.” he frowned jokingly. Actually, he was half joking considering you were weird enough to convince him that you were secretly a witch from another dimension.

You giggled, putting the back of your hand on the top of your head as you wailed out dramatically like those people in theaters and soap operas. “Oh dear God, Na Jaemin has no faith in his oh-so-amazing best friend! What have their friendship become!” you cried out, scrunching your face as you pretended to cry in front of him, causing Jaemin to reach his hand out to pinch your cheek gingerly.

“I don’t think ‘amazing’ is a word I would use to describe this whole experience of being your friend since diapers.”

Now it was your turn to purse your lips, causing Jaemin to send you a charming wink, rolling your eyes in response. “Is that so? I think it’s time to finally terminate our friendship.” you sniffled, wiping an invisible tear as Jaemin let out a laugh your statement. “I’m kidding, Y/n.” he cooed in a high pitched voice, putting both his palms against you cheek and squishing them together to pucker your lips.

He snickered as you smacked his hands away from your face, “get your hands off of my face, you peasant.” you giggled before sitting up straight and giving him a serious look. “Now. Close your eyes!” you frowned, booping his nose jokingly. Jaemin raised his brow at you, pushing your finger away from the tip of his nose. “Fine,” he sighed, closing his eyes slowly.

He felt you tug down the hood of the jacket he was wearing over his head, feeling your palm pat against the fabric against his eyelids .”No peeking, Jaemin!” you exclaimed eagerly, your hands moving to pull his hands out from behind him. He rolled his eyes with a small chuckle when he felt your fingers pry his own open to spread out his palms. 

“Did you get me those old squishy stress balls you keep gazing at whenever we go to the mall?” he asked with a soft giggle when he feels you place something small and smooth in his palm. “I’m too broke for that, you know that, Jaemin. Now, open your eyes!” you giggled, he felt the bed sink, signalling you probably moved to lay down.

Jaemin placed the object in his hands in his left hand, his right moving to pull the hood over to the back of his head as he slowly opened his eyes and looks down at what you have placed in his palm. His brows furrowed in confusion at the grey object you had placed in his palm, his head shooting up to look at the cheeky grin displayed on your face. 

In his palms was a small pebble.

A fucking pebble.

He squinted his eyes at you to see if you were joking, but you just kept giving him the same cheeky grin. You weren’t joking in the slightest. You two stared at each other for the next 15 seconds. Your eyes wide as if daring him to speak and complain while his dared yours to explain what level of degeneracy your weirdness has come to. 

Jaemin clicked his tongue at you. 

“You got me a rock?” he deadpanned after a pregnant pause. You were on your stomach, gazing up at him with your face in your palms with a chesire grin spread across your face. “First of all, it’s a pebble. Second, it’s not just a pebble, it’s a pebble with-” Jaemin watched you lean over to flip the pebble in his hands around. 

“A picture of Doraemon!” you exclaimed cheerfully. Jaemin stared at the small cheap sticker of Doraemon winking at him, then stared back at you with a blank expression. He bit his lip to keep himself from bursting out laughing, watching you bite back your own laughs. “You got to be joking me. Please tell me you’re joking,” Jaemin threw his head back laughing, placing the pebble on his bedsheets in front of him as he applauded and laughed at the same time.

You shook your head as you wheezed, laughing loudly as you smacked your fists against the pillow you were laying on. “Oh you WISH I was joking. Hell no, dude, you’re gonna keep a rock as a momento of my iconic existence.” you shook your head, wiping the tears from your eyes as Jaemin stared at you incredulously.

“What the hell am I suppose to do with a rock? Also what’s with the sticker? It looks like some weird omen.” Jaemin snickered, he really couldn’t stop laughing at how stupid this situation looks. You shrugged innocently, giving him a teasing grin. “The sticker adds flavor to the pebble. I couldn’t find any permanent markers to decorate it with.” you shrugged, causing Jaemin to bawl out laughing, throwing his head back.

“Remind me why I’m still friends with you?” he chuckled. You puckered up your lips gingerly, “because you just married me.” you winked, causing Jaemin to furrow his brows in confusion. “Have you been eating to many candies again, y/n?” he asked, placing the back of his palm against your forehead. You huffed, slapping his hand away, eliciting soft giggles from your best friend.

“You accepted my gift, that means we’re married!”

“How so? What kind of weird nonsense have you discovered this time?”

“Hush, this is actually a really cute fact.”

Jaemin sighed, nodding his head as he gestured you to continue on. You grinned gingerly, “Did you know that when penguins propose to their mates, they give their mates a pebble? Like some sort of wedding ring!” 

There was a pregnant pause. Jaemin just giving you an incredulous smile, his cheeks flushed pink as he wonders how adorable this moment could possibly get. “Is this your way of saying you want to marry me or is this your way of calling me short?” Jaemin teased, his sweet wide smile never leaving his face as he leaned over towards you.

You raised your brows in surprise, a bright pink tint appearing on the soft skin of your cheeks. “Welp, this clearly backfired.” you muttered under your breath, causing Jaemin to let out an amused laugh. “What were you even trying to do here?” he exclaimed, stretching his arm out to gingerly pinch both of your pink cheeks as you whined out in embarrassment.

“I just want to pull a little harmless prank to make you blush. I clearly didn’t think this through.” you said, gripping his wrist as you try to pry his hands off of your cheeks. Jaemin giggled, his heart fluttering. “You’re getting weirder day by day.” He mumbled to himself, shaking his head profusely at you.

“Shut up, I thought it was cute and funny at the same time.” 

“Would you marry me though?”

“What?”

Jaemin gulped, shaking his head when he realised he said that out loud. “Would you marry me though if we had the chance?” he asked shyly, rubbing the back of his neck shyly with a bashful smile. You leaned your head to the side, pondering for a small moment, attempting to ignore the heat rushing through your cheeks. “Would you?” you mused, chuckling at your best friend who just gave you a dopey grin.

Jaemin shrugged, “I don’t see why not. It’s better than marrying someone you met because of a stupid birthmark.” he smiled innocently. You rolled your eyes at this. “Your resentment towards the soulmate system will always be an unattractive point. I hate to be the person who blows a candle, only to have the same lame soulmate mark as you.” you joked, causing Jaemin to smack you with the pillow beside him.

“Rude!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “What if you were that unfortunate soul?” he asked with a giggle, causing you to frown. “Well screw that, I’ll peel the damn mark off of my skin.” you shot back, giggling in between words as Jaemin pouted at your words, pursing his lips in response. “Wouldn’t that be ironic, though? We’ve been friends since diapers, I’d be damned if I have to spend the rest of my life with you.” you commented.

Jaemin stopped laughing, leaning back on his arms as he took a moment to think about it. “But wouldn’t it be better that way though? Like, you wouldn’t have to go through that awkward introduction phase when we could just move on to the honeymoon phase.”

You scoffed. “I’d rather barf in my cereal.”

You let out a loud ‘oof’ when Jaemin tackled you against the sheets to smack you with his pillow repeatedly.

Jaemin chuckled to himself at the memory, smiling sadly at how ironic yet cliche this whole ordeal was. He walked over to his desk, picking up the pebble from the space in between his books and stationary. He tossed the pebble in the air, catching it in his other hand. His eyes pausing at the old Doraemon sticker on the pebble, half of Doraemon’s face had disappeared. (Jaemin’s weird desires to peel things off had kicked it when he was tossing around the pebble in boredom)

His thumb glazed over the sticker, causing it to fall off of the pebble and to the carpet floor. “Shit!” Jaemin cursed, kneeling down to find the Doraemon sticker. ‘Y/N’s gonna kill me,’ he thought to himself with a chuckle as he picked up the sticker, it took him a few seconds for him to realize that you two weren’t friends anymore. ‘Right, she probably doesn’t care about some stupid sticker anymore.’ he frowned, sighing heavily.

He gently placed the sticker back on the pebble despite the fact that it couldn’t stick anymore, placing the pebble back on his desk as he stood back up on his feet, He looks back down when he felt his wallet slip out of the pocket of his jacket when he stood up. His heavy heart weighing down on him when he looks down at his wallet.

His wallet had fallen open, revealing the photo of you two when you were still kids slipped into the transparent pocket of his wallet. Jaemin picked up his wallet in between his fingers, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach as he collapsed back on the mattress of his bed. He tucked his arm under his head as he turned over to his side, never keeping his eyes off of the picture in his wallet.

The picture was slightly blurry. Baby Jaemin was attacking you with his latest transformers action figure, his lips puckered to make dramatic sound effects. Baby you had your face scrunched in laughter, a hand outstretched to shove him away by his shoulder. You had a barbie doll in your free hand, protecting your barbie from his transformers figure.

Baby Jaemin’s cap was floating in mid air, having been knocked off of his head when you threw your doll’s hairbrush at the perfect moment. The one who took the picture was your grandmother, who truly believed that you two were soulmates since the dawn of time. Jaemin’s frown deepened at the thought of your beloved grandma. How she would use any given time to take at least one picture of the two of you together. How she would walk in the middle of your play time to five you two some cookies or treats she made.

 “Grandma, what’s a soulmate?” you asked in the middle of your play date with Jaemin. Your grandma smiled simply, sighing as she leaned her cheek against her palm. “Soulmate, huh?” she repeated as Jaemin sat beside you in front of her with a cookie in his between hands. “A soulmate is like..” your grandmother paused, eyeing the two of you as you sat side by side with cookies in your hands as you obediently listened to your grandmother’s words.

“To me, a soulmate is like a best friend. It’s the one person who knows you better than anyone else.” she explained briefly. “More than your own family?” Jaemin asked, chewing in between words, causing your grandma to chuckle. “Almost more than your own family,” she winked, grabbing a cookie of her own out of the container filled with chocolate chip cookies.

“It’s also someone who makes you a better person in life, because most of the times, they inspire you to be a better person. A soulmate is someone you can carry with you forever.” 

“Forever? Wouldn’t they get bored?” You asked with an innocent tilt of your head. Your grandmother smiled briefly, “well, would you get bored of playing with Jaemin, Y/n?” she asked, causing the both of you to look at each other. You shook your head with a bright smile, “never! Jaemin is my best friend!” you exclaimed, causing Jaemin to let out a loud cheer. “And y/n is mine!” he exclaimed, wrapping his tiny arms around your figure as he gingerly pressed his cheek against yours, causing you to giggle. 

“That’s good. Though, a soulmate will always support you and believe in you. They will stay by your side no matter what. They’ll always be there to make you smile.” your grandmother explained. “Does that mean a soulmate is someone who can make you happy all the time?” y/n asked, eliciting a soft chuckle from your grandma who just nodded simply. 

“Exactly my dear!” she exclaimed. “Gross,” Jaemin teased, scrunching his face in disgust at the thought. Your grandma chuckled, leaning down to fondly ruffle Jaemin’s hair. “Jae, you shouldn’t say things like that. I’m sure you’ll understand and change your mind when you’re older and more mature.” she spoke gently, making Jaemin scoff lightly, crossing his arms stubbornly.

“No I won’t! Just you watch, Grandma! I’m not going to have a soulmate when I grow up!” he exclaimed with a huff. You giggled as you hugged your barbie doll to your chest, “well I do! It sounds like a forever friend!” 

Jaemin raised a brow at you, tilting his head in confusion. “A forever friend?” he asked. You nodded eagerly, pulling your barbie doll away from your chest to play with it’s bendable arms as you continued to explain. “A friend that’s going to be with you forever and ever like Mr. Snuggles!” you exclaimed, pointing at the big teddy bear leaning against Jaemin’s power ranger action figure.

“I wish I could meet my soulmate now!” you exclaimed with a bright giggle. “I’m sure they’ll be the nicest person ever!”

At this point, Jaemin couldn’t hold back his tears. His heart aching like never before, but this time he didn’t bother grabbing the bottle of pain killers near him. He puts his wallet on his nightstand as he sniffled, his heart overwhelmed with different emotions all at one. Guilt. Anger. Regret.

Jaemin furiously wiped the tears from his face, his frustration growing by the second. “Fuck!” he cried out, sobs coming out of his throat as tears continuously cascade down his cheeks. He turned over to his stomach, burying his face in the soft fabric to muffle his cries and sobs.

They say karma hits back at the best of times. It was no different with Na Jaemin. Like what your grandma had said, he’d change his mind of his perception of this whole soulmate system. There was no point in fighting against fate. How could he be so selfish as to let the people he cared about get hurt? How could he be so foolish to take your kindness for granted?

Jaemin’s eyes screw shut tightly, trying to stop the flashbacks going through his head. He knew he couldn’t stop the nostalgic memories from flooding through his mind. After all, you two shared every moment of your lives with each other that it would be preposterous for the world to not make you two soulmates. This is what he wanted right? He wanted you to go away.

Now, he just wanted his best friend back. He wanted you to give him cookies again every week. He wanted you to sit next to him during every class you had together and make weird jokes or express abstract opinions of a certain topic. He missed those times when you two would go to the arcade to get the biggest stuffed animal in all the crane games you could find and play some Mario Kart afterwards.

He missed how you would sneakily wear his hoodie in the middle of class because you ‘were cold’ or ‘forgot to bring yours’. He missed blasting music loudly from his car radio as he drives you both to school, headbanging aggressively to the beat of whatever song was playing on the radio. The way you would comfort him by buying him desserts or cookies from the nearest bakery whenever he received a scolding from Coach or the former Team Captain.

Jaemin paused, remembering your bright smile when you stood in front of Renjun. That genuine smile you always used whenever he was in your line of vision. He sighed at the vivid memory, He moved so he was laying on his back, sniffling back his tears as his mind spun even more as he couldn’t help but think that maybe Donghyuck was right.

Whenever he was a jerk, Renjun was always there to comfort you. He was always there to help you whenever you were on the brink of failing a certain subject while Jaemin would always ditch you for practice or to hang out with Jeno and Haechan. Maybe it would be better if Renjun was your soulmate instead of Jaemin.

He’ll make you way more happier than he ever could. Jaemin’s heart clenched against his chest at the thought of you being in a romantic relationship with someone else. Though, who was he to complain if you and Renjun were secretly into each other? He knew it was very unlikely for a someone to fall for someone else that’s not their soulmate, but it wasn’t completely impossible for one to do so.

All that you ever wanted was to have someone by your side for the rest of your life to make you smile when you’re at your worst. Jaemin couldn’t even do that back when he broke your music box. What was the point in asking you to forgive him now if you wouldn’t even look him in the eyes without giving him an expression equivalent to what an injured puppy would at their owner?

You deserved someone like Renjun. 

Maybe Hyuck was right. You were cursed to be born with a soulmate like him. You were cursed to have the same stupid tattoo as he did on your wrist. You didn’t deserve to suffer that much emotional pain for such a long time for his sake. You didn’t deserve all the pain he put you through. And he knew he didn’t deserve to have you in his life.

Jaemin spent the rest of his day crying his eyes out. Finally letting out the pent up emotions that his actions had caused him, letting his heart scream out in pain as it tries to release the tension that came with longing for the feeling of holding your delicate heart in the palms of his hands. At that single moment, he never wished for anything so bad as he did when he wished he could start this whole soulmate ordeal over again.  

T A G L I S T : @candiednickles​ @itlittlefangirl​ @cherrym4rk​ @gotoartistprofile @d-nghyck​ @kingjvngins​ @aconeptun​ @chaeshii @lixseu​ @morks-watermelon​ @12am-musings​ @cherrystay​ @lowkeyviv​ @btm-taeyong​ @gothmingguk​ @luvlyjaemin​ @cowward​ @smileyyuta​ @cakelyn @uncovermenow666 @comically-sleep-deprived​ @wtfhaechan​ 

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[kyber-crystal]

fluff alphabet || poe dameron

a/n: for @jangohshit​!! sorry this was so late—i thought it was queued already but oh welp ,.,.,., thank u for being literally one of the best mutuals anyone could ever ask for <3 also leia is peak mom material in this friendly warning :) angst to fluff thrown in, as well

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

we all know he’s the most affectionate person ever despite his seemingly intimidating persona—he loves giving you forehead kisses, back hugs, and picking you up and spinning you around when he gets the chance. 

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

the friendship started because leia had introduced you to him. you ended up clicking right away and spent nearly every waking moment you had together to the point that the entire black squadron would joke about how you and poe shared one functional braincell (i mean, they weren’t entirely wrong). he’s very overprotective—one time you tripped and fell off a ladder while helping rey fix something and he was freaking out about it more than you were. and you were completely fine, asides from a few scratches. again, the squadron loves teasing him about his ‘mama bear’ persona that he develops when he’s around you

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

YES. poe absolutely loves cuddling. he’ll take any chance he gets to hug you—whether that’s hugging you from behind during meetings, running into your arms when reuniting after a mission, or wrapping his arms around you as you relaxed with him and the others by the campfire several nights. you rarely ever slept alone, it was always you sleeping together in yours or his room, and jessika or finn would have to run in and wake you up several times in a row because you got too comfortable and nearly overslept. in short, you and him are attached at the hip

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

it was a mutual agreement between you two that you’d settle down and get married once the war was finally over. you hadn’t had many opportunities to actually sit and talk about it so the conversation was often brought up late at night when nobody else was awake.

poe isn’t the greatest ever at being tidy, but he isn’t bad at cleaning up stuff when he needs to—and any messiness is made up for with his beyond amazing cooking skills. he’s constantly pressured week after week to cook for everyone because the first time he’d made something it was love at first taste. now he’s dubbed the ultimate pilot and sous chef of the resistance

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

if you had to break it off with each other, it would be because of the war. getting into a relationship while trying to fight for your lives could put you into a compromising position and poe hated knowing that he could lose you at any point. this ultimately led to a huge argument—coincidentally, right before you left for an eight week-long mission. there were many tears involved.

you wouldn’t get together right after you claimed victory, but instead, took time building your relationship back up again before finally doing so. there were no real hard feelings involved—it was just a matter of reconstruction :3

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

once poe is committed to something, he’s committed—he’s in it for the long run. of course, he wants to make sure you’re comfortable first before anything else—and in terms of marriage, he’ll probably wait about a year or two. nothing too fancy. 

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

even though poe knows that you’re one hell of a fighter and can take practically anything that’s thrown at you, he’s very very gentle with you—same goes emotionally. he knows you’ve also been through a lot and makes sure to constantly remind you that you’re not alone and that if you ever needed someone to turn to, he’d always be here. 

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

alright, this man NEVER misses an opportunity to hug you. hugs from behind, picking you up and spinning you around until both of you got dizzy, surprising you and then hugging you, holding you in his arms to help you fall asleep after a nightmare, you name it. you joke around about how you don’t need therapy when you have his arms within reach :)

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

he says it first. you recalled it being after you returned from a quick little recon with a few other pilots and ran straight into his arms (as always, because mans loves getting hugs from you yk). 

“I love you.”

“I know,” you responded.

“I taught her that!” -han, shouting as he approached. “You really didn’t think to say hi to me first?”

“Dad.”

poe only laughs and kisses you again.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

ooooof so when poe’s jealous, he doesn’t like to show it but you can tell when he is. it’ll be little death stares from across the room or tightening his arm around your waist, even if it’s another squadron member jokingly flirting with you

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

poe’s kisses are either very gentle or very passionate—it depends. he likes kissing you on the lips but he loves forehead kisses the most. it gives him a sense of protection over you and he loves knowing you’re his special person :3

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

the kids absolutely LOVE him. you always get this warm & fuzzy feeling inside whenever you see him interacting with the younger ones on base; sometimes he’ll catch you staring and just winks at you in response (this little shit KNOWS how he makes you feel and loves it)

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

it’s pretty relaxed most of the time (that is, if it’s the weekend or you’re on break) and poe likes to stay in and cuddle for a little bit before you actually get out of bed. if not, both of you are up at the crack of dawn LOL. you often start off the day with a relaxing morning walk around the base before settling down to eat :)

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

on nights that neither of you can fall asleep, you’ll go outside and stargaze. it’s a very soothing habit you’ve learned to develop and 9/10 times it has one of you (it’s usually you) nearly knocked out cold after just an hour or two. (poe also sees this as an excuse to carry you back inside in his arms)

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

poe’s naturally a very open person but there are some things he prefers to keep to himself. but once he fully trusts you he tells you everything—though this takes maybe a couple months or so. 

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

both of you are aware he’s the more impatient of the pair, although when it comes to you he doesn’t mind waiting. when putting that aside, his patience runs a little bit more thin.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

alright mans knows you like the back of his hand. literally. like. the back. of your hand. everyone on base knows it, too—he remembers the smallest of things about you that even you don’t remember sometimes. this was the biggest giveaway for him that told everyone he was most certainly in love with you. you can guess who hosted your surprise birthday that one night after exegol : ‘)

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

your first kiss—not just because it was a first, but because of how it happened. it started pouring heavily as soon as you returned from a mission and everyone ended staying outside and having a giant water fight. while high on adrenaline, you jumped straight into his arms and before either of you had the chance to think, his lips were on yours and you were kissing underneath the stormy sky. everyone stopped what they were doing halfway and noticed, lowkey it looked like some scene from the notebook (arguably more romantic)

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

even though the two of you claim to share one braincell, poe is very very protective over you no matter how much you protest and claim you were capable of taking care of yourself. usually he’s the one who’s more freaked out about any injuries you get. other than you understood that you had to look out for each other and stick by each other no matter the cost—a promise you two intended to keep for as long as you possibly could.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

a lot. he’s very, very extra. very. han pokes fun at him sometimes for it but he too, was initially like that with leia so he can’t really argue—so instead, whenever poe’s in need of help with planning stuff he’s off to the rescue : ‘) fam rlly went from “no, you are NOT dating my daughter” to “why haven’t you guys gotten married yet?” one time for your birthday, with the help of your parents and the entire black squadron, he put on an entire air show for you complete with firework displays, and needless to say you were head over heels that night. 

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

he doesn’t sleep. poe has a very fucked up sleep schedule and often counts on you to remind him to get some rest—you found him working on his x wing one night and he told you he hadn’t slept in the past thirty-six hours—after which you scolded him and dragged him to bed. he ended up dozing off until noon 0_0

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

he’s not very concerned. though when he notices you staring or whenever you compliment him about his looks it does boost his ego :)

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

oh definitely. so much to the point that it has also become a joke among fellow rebels, even your parents (leia often tells you that she’s worried he won’t function properly unless you’re around and tbh she isn’t wrong lol). you’re his soulmate and other half whom he wouldn’t trade for the world

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

poe has the best taste in music. straight up. nobody argues nor complains when he’s in charge of music for the day, they’re always satisfied with whatever tunes he’s playing throughout the base and it puts everyone into a good mood

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

lack of respect. being inconsiderate. coldhearted. you’re thankfully none of these and for that very reason he’d chosen you—you’re everything he could ever ask for in a person

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

poe doesn’t snore, but he has a SOLID iron grip when fast asleep. “best friends always sleep in each other’s beds!” he’d claim as he crawled in next to you many nights and fell asleep hugging you very tightly. everyone knew it was again, an excuse to get closer to you. but you didn’t mind : ‘)

[smutbymia]

Omg can u pls make another nipple sucking fic but w jeno 🥺

You sat on the floor of Jenos dorm room in a fit of soft giggles as the two of you passed your third bottle of soju between each other.

The moonlight bore through the only open window in the little room and you tried your hardest to stifle your laughter since you had already gotten noise complaints from the other dreamies after returning from the barbecue place that you and Jeno had gone to for dinner.

Jeno loved moments like this more than anything in the world. Lately it seemed as though he was happiest around you and it wasn’t until his group members pointed it out that he realized that he may have possibly found what the rest of the boys often joked about and called — the “girl” best friend.

Basically it was a running jokes among idols that at some point during their career they’d stumble across a girl. A perfect girl who seemed to lift your spirits despite the hectic routine of your career. Jaemin had found and then lost his girl best friend all within the span of a couple of months as their friendship progressed into a whirlwind romance that was doomed from the start; another trait of the dreaded “girl” best friend.

The legend stated that the idol and the girl would always teeter between a platonic and romantic relationship, eventually causing conflict between the two and thus dooming the perfect relationship. The only way things seemed to work with these relationships was if the idol was to give up their career and dream to lead a normal life with their partner.

You and Jeno started hanging out quite frequently about 5 months prior to this very night on the bedroom floor. Usually when you hung out it was late at night, after practice or on his days off when you’d take walks by the Han river at 6am to stay discrete and watch the sun rise. Of course these could be seen as dates but the energy between you two wasn’t that heavy. It felt easy — for you.

Jeno was a bit of a nervous wreck. He didn’t think it would be so easy. He really did see you as a friend at first but he messed up. He started seeing you way too often and it was only inevitable that his feelings for you would develop just as quickly. It didn’t fully register until he found himself doing things boyfriends did, like taking you out on frequent dinner dates, or the ease of roping his hands in yours whenever you guys took your morning walks. It all seemed quite normal and natural for him until the rest of his members had grilled him about your situationship after the night of Chenles birthday party.

The two of you had lots to drink (as usual) and were carrying on like your normal selves — which apparently wasn’t very normal at all. Jeno leaned back in his seat with his hand stretched across your bare thigh. You sat next to him with your legs crossed as you sat silently, nursing at the drink in your hand while the boys engaged in an animated conversation about some drama they were binge watching back at the dorm.

Jeno rubbed circles against your leg with his thumb as the rest of his fingers gripped at your thighs. The other members certainly took notice of their friends hand placement but ignored it as they continued speaking. It wasn’t until you leaned over to rest your head against Jeno’s shoulder and he turned his head to plant a quick kiss on your forehead that the conversation at the table went quiet, momentarily.

Needless to say, Jeno was bombarded with questions that night after the boys had come to the conclusion that he was being far too reckless in public, and above all else — he had fallen for you.

Ever since then he struggled to keep from crossing the line drawn between the two of you but that line always became far too blurry when he was drunk. And boy was he drunk tonight.

The boys had warned him against it but he couldn’t resist inviting you over to spend the night. He wanted to hang out longer than you usually got to, and wanted to be able to let loose somewhere where he knew you’d be away from prying eyes.

Now here you were, a drunk and giggly mess on Jenos floor. The other members were hanging out with the two of you before but they had retreated to their rooms for the night to get rest — which apparently you were stopping them from doing with your laughing over the last hour. For you and Jeno the party was only just starting.

“Hide and seek?” Jeno suggested.

You shook your head vigorously before shutting him down, “too drunk and definitely too loud!”

Jeno covered his hand with his mouth as he muffled a laugh at your shaking head and rosy cheeks.

“Truth or dare!” said Jeno after uncovering his mouth and not even attempting to keep his voice down. Your hand flew over his lips as you shushed him, tumbling forward a bit as his arm flew out to your waist as he steadied you infront of him on the floor again. You felt his warm breath tickle your skin as he giggled against your palm.

“Fine but we have to be quiet!” you whispered, your faces inches from his as you carefully removed your hand from over his mouth.

“Okay, y/n... you first. Truth or dare?” asked Jeno. You hesitated before speaking. “Dare... no truth!” you squeaked. This time it was Jenos turn to cover your mouth is he pressed forward into you, sending the two of you slipping onto the floor.

His body was directly on top of yours as you felt the cool wood of the floor against your back. He winced as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

A soft ping filled the room and you and Jeno both turned your heads to peer at the phone that was on the ground next to you. The first ping was followed by 4 more as messages from the NCT Dream group chat spilled in — complaining again.

Jeno texted the group back to apologize, with only one hand because he still needed to muffle your laugh with his other. When he was finished he turned back to you with a stern expression on his drunken face.

“Truth— what are you thinking of right now?” he whispered, still above you.

“You’re not as heavy as I thought you’d be,” you answered without missing a beat.

“Truth or dare?” you asked Jeno.

“Truth,” he responded.

“What’s your biggest secret?” you asked.

“Honestly, you. You’re my biggest secret,” he said. He was right. If fans knew about the two of you spending so much time together he really could be in trouble.

“Truth or dare?” he said, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Truth again,” you answered.

“How many people have you slept with?” Jeno asked carefully... his eyes narrowed and his lips pouty.

“Jeno!” you gasped quietly. He raised his eyebrows, challenging you and letting you know that he was expecting an honest reply.

“Fine,” you said before confessing, “just one!”

Your cheeks flushed red as you shifted your gaze away from him but you could see a small smile dance on his lips before it disappeared. “Wait, do I know them?” he asked suddenly.

“You only get one question each turn,” you teased, “now truth or dare!”

“Truth again!” he said.

“Uh... okay,” you pondered for a while, “what’s your biggest kink?”

Jeno’s eyes went wide as you watched the heat rush to his face. You were almost certain that you felt him begin to harden before he shifted above you in a position that allowed him to be a bit more discrete about his excitement.

“Ah, y/n... don’t be so shameless,” he scolded. Your mouth dropped open as the shock set in. How dare he make up such and excuse to avoid your question when he had asked you a personal one first.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that! Give me a dare instead” he said as he flashed a smile down at you before finally moving and drawing you up into a sitting position as he poured the final shots of soju for the night.

You cheersed and downed them quickly before you stacked the shot glasses and pushed them aside. The alcohol was flowing through your system and you were beginning to feel a little mischievous so you decided to challenge your friend once more.

You watched as Jeno ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked at you expectantly, thinking he was off the hook. Inside, he was feeling a little overwhelmed. He had just narrowly escaped popping a boner with you right under him and the alcohol was starting to cause words to slip from his mouth carelessly. And you. You looked so beautiful that he could barely keep away from you.

“I dare you to show me,” you said. Jeno could have sworn your lips had began moving in slow motion as his own fell open.

“Wh-what do you mean?” he stammered.

“If you won’t tell me then show me. What’s your biggest kink?” you asked as you moved closer to sit directly in front of him. Your voices had dropped to a whisper lower than any volume you had been in speaking all night.

“Y/n... you dont know what you’re saying,” he warned.

“Truth,” you said randomly.

“What?”Jeno said, confused by your sudden interruption.

“Truth,” you repeated before continuing, “you look really handsome tonight.”

Jeno opened his mouth to respond as a smile spread across his lips but you cut him off before he could get a word out.

“Another truth,” you began, “I’m not sure if it’s just the alcohol but having you on top of me like that made me... feel things.”

“So,” you continued, “I’m just a little curious. I want to know what your biggest kink is. What turns you on?”

Jenos eyes were locked with yours. Even in the dark room, he held your gaze before letting out a deep breath. “So I guess this is it then,” he said under his breath.

You cocked your head to one side, waiting for him to elaborate on that random thought, but he never did. Jeno thought to himself, this was the moment where he’d have to choose wether or not to cross the line. He was nervous. Nervous about what you’d think of him but the more his eyes trailed across your body, the harder it was for him to hold back.

He watched as your chest rose and fell in anticipation for his next words — hoping to learn a dirty little secret about your best friend. He watched as your nipples pressed against the cotton fabric of your white shirt, as he caught sight of the faint outline of your areoles.

“Y/n... I don’t know,” he said as he tore his eyes away from your skin and shut them.

“I-it won’t change anything. I promise,” you said. “I know. I know all about that stupid story about having girls as friends that you all keep spreading around the company!”

Jeno froze as he opened his eyes again. You had reached out and landed your hand on his crossed legs. He reached out, slowly wrapping his hand around your wrist before jerking your arm forward, and pulling you closer to him so your faces nearly touched.

“Promise me. Promise me that you’ll still be my best friend no matter what,” he said as the words spilled quickly from his mouth.

You nodded your head and before you could register what was happening, your best friends lips were pressed firmly against yours.

“Truth,” he said as he broke the kiss. “I’m in love with you.”

You froze in front of him as he drew your bottom lip between his teeth before releasing it and planting a peck on your lips. You roped your hands around his neck as you climbed into his lap, deepening the kiss.

Jenos hands rubbed along your sides, down to your waist and across your butt until he squeezed at your ass through the fabric of your shorts. You could feel him grow hard under you as you let soft moans escape from your lips.

Jeno brushed a finger across your lips.

“Shhh..” he whispered under hooded eyes. You nodded silently as you pressed your lips back together.

“So what is it then? Your kink,” you whispered.

Jeno scratched at the nape of his neck, still feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Come on, you can’t go back on your dares!” you warned.

He sighed before signalling for you to get on the bed as he followed. He ran his thumb across your cheek before lifting at the hem of you shirt and leaning you back onto the bed so you were laying flat against the pillows, topless.

Jeno snuggled into your side before looking up to meet your gaze — not saying anything. You watched as he opened his mouth, allowing his tongue to dart across his lips, wetting them, before planting kisses across your chest and drawing a nipple into his mouth.

“Oh —“ you said as the sensitive bud met the warmth of his tongue while he suckled away. You could hear Jeno’s breathing increase slightly as he grew hard against your leg. This time he pulled his pants down and jerked at his length softly, whining against your skin.

You wrapped an arm around him, supporting his neck as continued to work at your flesh as you ran your fingers through his hair — soothing him as he pumped at his length.

You could feel the pre-crum that had gathered at the head of his penis drip against your leg. Your arousal became too much for you to ignore but you couldn’t interrupt Jeno.

This was it, clearly. He had shown you his vulnerable side and now the pretty boy was fucking himself right infront of your eyes while he nursed at your nipple. You watched as the pretty pink head of his member disappeared between the fist he had formed with his slender and pale fingers.

You couldn’t take it anymore as you allowed your free hand to trail down your body and settle between your legs. You circled at your clit, groaning at the contact that you had been yearning for.

You whimpered as your fingers massaged at your center, causing wetness to pool against your fingers. Jeno suckled harder against your skin as you slipped your fingers inside of yourself. He jerked at himself faster this time, aroused at the sight of you playing with yourself while he was occupied with your soft nipples.

Your orgasm ripped through you as your insides throbbed against your fingers. You bit down on your lip to stop yourself from crying out as Jeno gazed up at you, loving every second of the show you were putting on. He loved the sight of your face as you finally reached your climax. He himself was close but it wasn’t until you slipped your fingers out of yourself and into his mouth in place of your nipple, that he was able to finally cum. His lips circled your fingers as he sucked at the juices that coated them while warm spurts of cum splattered across your thighs.

Jeno collapsed at your side, lifting his fingers up to your lips where you drew them into your mouth to have a taste of him. When you were done licking his fingers clean, he planted a soft kiss on your lips before snuggling back into your chest and licking at your nipples in silence.

“You really like doing that, don’t you baby?” you whispered against his hair as you combed your fingers through.

Jeno hummed against your skin. “It’s my favourite thing in the world,” he whispered as he lulled off to sleep, shortly followed by you.

The next morning, the two of you woke up tangled together beneath the sheets. Jeno was the first one up, and drew circles softly along your back as your eyes began to flutter open.

He paused his movements before nervously speaking. “G-good morning,” he said. “I didn’t mean to sit here and watch you or anything I just didn’t want to leave you alone on your first morning here,” he stammered.

You groaned as you snuggled up closer to him, feeling his body relax at the contact. “How are you feeling,” he asked you.

“Frustrated,” you responded before dropping your voice to a whisper, “someone spent hours sucking on my nipples and I’m almost certain it’s the reason why I’ve been dripping wet all night long!”

Jeno giggled while he planted kisses down your neck as you rubbed softly at your eyes, trying your best to fully wake up.

“I’m sorry,” said Jeno as he flipped you over onto you side to spoon you. He drew your body close against his before slipping his hands back down to your hips and pulling them against his front so you could feel the erection that had grown in his pants.

“Let me make it up to you,” he cooed in your ear as he touched at your body. And he did. He made it up to you all morning long.

thank you to the anon that came up with the truth or dare concept for this mini blurb! ❤️ I haven’t written in so long so forgive me if it takes a while to get into the swing of things again. I feel a bit rusty haha.

[hiro-gari]

In the meantime of me running out of new ideas to write for, I'm gonna share this older headcanon that I have in my draft to you:

Do we have an AU where Garou and Badd are neighbours who hated eachother but eventually become friends or more because their pets are bonded first? Despite their houses are practically side-by-side, they're always get into petty fights over something silly. Zenko guessed it was just them having secret crush on eachother but totally in denial over their feelings.

Until each of their respective pet start getting along with eachother first.

Badd has a second cat, one of Tama's kitten which Badd still keep while the others had already adopted by his classmates, a tuxedo cat who likes to intrude into Garou's house through his window and steal his breakfast or napping on top of Garou's dog.

Garou has a big white fluffy malamute dog, a puppy he got from his father Bang as a birthday gift years ago so Garou wont feels lonely in his new home, who likes to jump over Badd's -unfortunately short- fence and playing with Badd's cat on his front porch.

Although the tuxedo cat somehow really looks alike and acting just like Badd, and the giant white malamute is basically Garou's doppelganger in a dog form, they're affectionate to eachother everytime they play together.

The tuxedo cat almost never shown his adorable side of him except for Badd's family, as he would be the crankiest cat ever with any strangers. But the kitty strangely becomes attached with the fluffy dog since their first met. He always trying to get outside to see his favorite puppy friend and spend more time with the doggo, no matter what and how. The kitty just likes to be near the warm presence of that fluffy and charming dog, 3rd place after Zenko's and Badd's. Thus the tuxedo cat often caught on loitering around Garou's house, making Badd must come to his -hated- neighbour to collect the cat back.

On the other hand, at the first time coming into Garou's house, the white malamute felt a bit lonely. He was happy to have such caring hooman butler who adores him, but he wanted more friend to play with. Until the dog saw an adorable tuxedo cat chilling out in the middle of small garden on the next house across the fence. He fell in love instantly and wanna knows more about this little kitty. Cue the malamute often caught on peeking from the fence or even jumping over it, ruining Badd's small garden after it got trampled on by the dog's big paws.

Surprisingly, the cat and the dog are becomes bestfurrends much faster than their hooman butlers, putting Garou and Badd in a big shame, courtesy by the exasperated Zenko. How come two animals who are supposed to be sworn enemies, cat and dog, could be more friendly to eachother than them??

If only Garou and Badd could be more honest for their hidden feelings, maybe their relationship would improved alot. Ironically, it was their pets who helped them out.

Since their look-alike animal counterparts love eachother so much, sometimes Garou and Badd went for a play date for them on the local park, or visiting eachother's house when their pets are playing in one's house. After many friendly interactions, slowly they developed new feelings and realizing they're not frenemies anymore.

On several occasions when Garou let Badd's tuxedo cat have sleepover on his house, he was witnessing how affectionate the "so-called crankiest cat in the world" towards his malamute dog could be.

The cat always grooming the dog's fluffy fur or his head not caring about their size difference, snuggling with the dog and trying to fit himself into the dog's space as close as possible asking for a cuddle time together, letting out those rare sweet meows everytime he tried to get attention from the dog, giving those slow-blinks kitty kisses whenever they're gazing on eachother or gentle headbutts whenever the dog feels sad, etc.

Garou often wished if it was Badd and him in those positions, feeling pathetic for getting so envious for their pets' lovey dovey moments. He admitted to himself that secretly he fell in love with Badd, especially after they're finally get along after spending more time with him nowadays.

But Garou still couldn't confess his feeling he has for Badd since he doesn't know if Badd likes him enough or not. It would be very awkward moment if Badd rejected him and they ended up back into square one, ruining whatever friendship they have built together before.

Unbeknown by Garou, Badd was also experiencing the same thing. Everytime Badd pet-sitting Garou's dog for awhile whenever Garou wasn't home to visit his father's house, or watching over his cat playing with the big white malamute at his front yard, he couldn't deny that the relationship their pets were having together was very sweet, actually.

The malamute always so playful and becomes such an attention seeker around his cat, also being all goof and adorkable despite most of the time the dog was just like his owner: chaotic cocky bastard (at least in Badd's eyes). Successfully turning his own grumpy cranky cat into a cuddly soft kitty.

Especially when they both were chilling out on the front porch, Badd would find them curling up together with his cat buried himself into the malamute's fluffy fur, sleeping between the dog's front paws, or peacefully loafing on his back.

One time the malamute also protecting his cat from a gang of neighbourhood feral cats, Badd totally didn't expect that goofy cloud of fur could be looking so terrifying like a wolf when he was in protective mode. Fortunately there's no actual fight happening between them and those feral cats, though. But Badd could see his kitty becomes much more affectionate than before towards Garou's dog as an appreciation.

Badd knows he shouldn't be envious for his own pet because the kitty has a better relationship than himself, yet he couldn't help but longing for Garou's love.

At that time, they have already managed to form a good friendship and Badd was glad they're not fighting out of pettiness anymore. It was just, Badd starting to see Garou as more than a friend. Since they become closer, he has discovered Garou's softer side and Badd was fallen so hard for him because of it.

The problem is only how to confess to Garou without ended up being awkward. He didn't want to misinterpreted Garou's flirty acts towards him during those "play date" time. Did Garou really means his flirtateous attempts as a serious thing or just a joke? If he misinterpret it, Badd was afraid he would be a laughing stock for Garou while he suffered a broken heart alone.

So, in the end, Garou and Badd were still being so oblivious to the other's very OBVIOUS feeling. Everyone around them could see the former hating neighbours slowly falling in love with eachother, yet never make a move. Very frustating to watch, honestly.

But at one night, when the exhausted-from-working Badd visiting Garou's house to retrieve his cat back home, he decided to take a brief nap on the living room. Garou asked if he wanna have sleepover over there since it was weekend, and he would let Zenko knows that her big brother was staying overnight at his home. Badd just nodded weakly, already feels the sleepiness coming for him.

Looking at how uncomfortable Badd's sleeping position on the couch, Garou carefully lifted Badd up in bridal style, before walking towards his bedroom so Badd could sleep on his cozy bed while Garou sleeps on the couch. But before he could leave, Badd grabbed Garou's hand to prevent him from leaving him alone. He told Garou that they could sleep together on the bed, since it was Garou's own bed and it's big enough for two people.

At first, Garou was hesitated because what if Badd just sleep-talking in half-sleep and would regret any of his words in the morning? But seeing Badd's reddened face yet still persistent on making Garou stay based on the strong grip of Badd's hand on his wrist, Garou was grinning happily. That means Badd was fully conscious of what he had said and taking it serious.

Hence Garou immediately scooting over beside Badd on the bed, taking a warm blanket and covered their bodies with it. Then Badd shifted closer until he was practically curling up against Garou's body like a cat, seeking warmth from the wolfy man. Even purring and snuggling on Garou's chest when Garou put his arm on Badd's back, embracing the smaller man which made Badd gets comfortable sleep. Soon enough Garou also followed Badd to the dreamland.

Meanwhile..

Both were oblivious that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the opened door. The kitty and the dog felt happy that their butlers finally having sweet moment of their own, too. They wished the hoomans would keep being lovey-dovey so the four of them could have double date together soon. Like, a real date and not the "play date" anymore.

It was so tiring to see the butlers' mutual pining, in which it took forever to make them realized their own feelings. But now that the mutual pining era was over, they feel relieved.

The malamute dog entered Garou's bedroom, then laid on a fluffy carpet beside the bed while staring at the cat, as if he was inviting the cat to join him. The tuxedo cat quietly following him and plopped on the dog's belly, curling up into a small ball of fur before closing his eyes.

The cat was purring in joy when the dog gave kisses to him (or more like muzzle nudging), before putting his front paw around kitty's body in a protective manner. The fluffy duo then also following their butlers into dreamland, too.

Now, both of the sleeping couples looked the same: Badd and the kitty were sleeping in their respective lover's warm embrace..

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----- THE END ----

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Notes:

Aaaah finally I can finish this! I was almost getting writer's block again but still struggling to fight against it, and here we are we got one writing finished so yayyy 😅💦

I hope this silly headcanon could entertain you all, but I apologized if this looks very low quality as always I'm so sorry please forgive me 🙇

@hiro-gari @the-goddessfighter @garous-nipple

Thank you so much for willing to write this lowly writing of mine, I always grateful for you.. 😭🙏💕💖 Have a nice weekend, everyone! 😉👍🌸🌺🌼🌻💐

-Little1993lamb-

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THIS IS SO CUTE I CAN’T- 💗💕

First of all, I love their respective animal counterparts, they fit so well for both of them 🥰 Angery tuxedo cat for Badd, and a giant floofy malamute for Garou omggg

I love how, of all things, they gotta have their PETS lay it out for them before they finally start to Get It™️. Like everyone around them sees it but nope 😤 they’re wrong, they’re meant to hate each other.

But when their pets become bff’s despite the obvious size difference and being entirely different SPECIES... Oh ok maybe we can get along 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Ghhhhsksk the END SCENE is so sweeet I have cavities 😩💗 I rlly liked how Garou was like, oh no, he’s delusional :’) That’s so him oh my god, I love them sm, this is so precious!!

Thank you for putting so much work into writing these for us, it is so appreciated, we love to see it!! 😘💗

[angst-fairygodmother]

“Are you planning to stay glued to my side this whole evening?” with diego alsooooo i love youuuuu

A/N: Thank you for choosing Fic Flash Pass (happy much-belated birthday). I would like to express through the following series of emojis how excited I am to finally write a fic for you: 😁💙💙🎉🎈😁 Word Count: 2517

Being close friends with Diego Hargreeves meant putting up with a lot of weird shit over the years. It meant late nights where he showed up injured or exhausted and needing your help. It meant occasional knives flying past your head when you startled him. It meant his paranoia and lectures about how it wasn’t safe to walk home alone at night, even though he had taken the time to teach you self-defense early on in your friendship. For a while it meant repeated “just for one night” instances of his strung-out brother sleeping on your couch (because he was refusing treatment, and even though he wouldn’t admit it Diego cared enough about him to want to make sure he’d be okay). And you put up with all of it, without complaint, because Diego was worth it. 

You thought at this point that nothing he asked of you could surprise you anymore. And then he asked you to attend his sister’s wedding. Or really, practically begged you to be his date.

You were pulling a bullet out of his shoulder, lecturing him about how he was taking too many unnecessary risks, and if he was going to keep going after bad guys then he needed to start wearing better protective gear and he was damn lucky that his knife-harness was there to mitigate the wound. 

“Allison’s getting married,” he blurted out, cutting you off before you could start in on the second, familiar branch of your lecture (that he should really be getting his wounds treated by someone with actual medical expertise, not just a little first aid training). 

“Oh,” you said, not quite a question but also not quite not. You weren’t sure what he wanted you to do with that information.

“I have to go to the wedding,” he continued stiffly. 

“That makes sense. She is your sister.” You raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t asking me to muck up this bullet removal so you have an excuse not to, are you?”

You were loath to admit that if that was indeed what he was asking, you might just do it. There wasn’t a lot you wouldn’t do if he asked, and after all this time you knew how to do it in a way that wouldn’t actually cause him worse harm. 

“I can’t go alone!” His eyes were wide and frightened, as if attending Allison’s wedding was a fate less than death that he had been asked to undertake. You couldn’t help but laugh at the expression. 

“I’m sure you can find a date, handsome guy like you. And Patch is still a friend, so she’d go. If only out of pity.” You smiled teasingly. 

“Will you…” he mumbled. “W-w-will you go with me?”

Your breath caught in your throat. Part of you questioned if you heard him correctly. But if anything, his stutter made it more sure than less. He only stuttered when something was really emotional for him, when his mind was fighting itself. But you didn’t understand why (or maybe you did and just didn’t want to admit it). 

“If you still want me to after the next five minutes,” you said, trying to calm your racing heart by collecting the supplies for the next part of his care. “Then I would be happy to go to your sister’s wedding with you, Diego. What else are friends for?”

“Why wouldn’t I--” his question was cut off with a shout of pain as you pressed a cloth soaked in antiseptic to the wound.

“Because of that,” you smirked, quickly cleaning the area and covering it over with gauze and binding.

~

The ballroom where the reception was held was beyond opulent: towering flower arrangements, crystal chandeliers and gleaming golden candelabras, and every spare inch draped in ivory silk. You could practically see yourself reflected in the polished surface of the floors. 

“Wow,” you breathed. “Your sister really spared no expense…”

Diego shrugged uncomfortably. “Allison’s always been a little dramatic,” he mumbled.

“It’s pretty,” you turned to smile at him. “Anyway, you should go mingle and at least say hello to her. I’m going to find our table.”

Diego followed you as you wandered off into the dining portion of the reception hall. When you raised a questioning eyebrow, he mumbled something about it making sense for him to know where the table was too, so he didn’t have to hunt later. You shrugged. 

After setting down your purse and shawl, you decided to mingle, maybe pick at a few of the hors d'oeuvres laid out on long, extravagant table displays. Once again, Diego trailed just behind you. You tried to ignore the oddity of the behavior as you picked up a shrimp puff and set it on one of the heavy little china plates. The fact that he wasn’t saying anything as he hovered annoyed you most of all. 

After the third conversation that you tried to have with other guests that ended in an awkward glance over your shoulder at a glowering Diego and a hasty retreat with a half-assed excuse, you decided you’d had enough. He hadn’t gone to offer his congratulations to Allison and Patrick. He hadn’t so much as looked around for his other siblings or anyone else he might know. He hadn’t eaten anything. He just...followed you. It was very odd behavior and it was getting on your last nerve.

Setting your empty dish down heavily on an empty table space, not even caring whose it was, you turned to him, arms folded over your chest.

“Alright, that’s it,” you snapped, not caring who might overhear. “What is going on with you?”

He frowned, puzzled and tried to deny that there was anything going on. 

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit. You have been looming and lurking and following me around like a lost puppy since we got here. Are you planning to stay glued to my side this whole evening?”

His frown deepened, and he opened his mouth to speak, only to snap it shut again with an audible click. 

“Because if you are, the least you can do is dance with me.” You held out a hand. “It is a wedding after all.”

Hesitantly, he took your hand and let you lead him out onto the dance floor. He pulled you close to him, one hand in yours and the other wrapped around his waist. You placed your free one on his shoulder, his suit jacket soft and warm beneath your palm. You felt your face heat under his gaze, now focused down on you and you tried not to let it faze you, focusing on a slight crease in his lapel as if that would let you escape it. 

The two of you twirled across the floor, falling into easy step together, each surprised at the other’s dancing abilities. 

You licked your lips nervously. Something about being here like this with him was making you think about things you had pushed aside (namely the crush on him that you had developed and decided early on in your friendship wasn’t worth the risk of losing him in your life, fearing that you could never compare to his detective) and you wanted it to stop. But at the same time, for a moment everything was perfect, and you didn’t want to ruin it. 

“So…” you said eventually as the two of you slowed and the song changed. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

His hand shifted slightly, tugging you a little closer to him, your face practically pressed to his chest, as the next song began. As you danced and he avoided answering your question, you decided to find the answer on your own. You knew him well enough. 

There was a slight tremor in his hand which gripped yours a little tighter than necessary. His jaw is set tightly, twitching just enough for you to suspect he’s grinding his teeth together. His breath is a little short. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was...afraid?

“Seriously, Diego, are you alright?” you murmured, trying to catch his eye. 

He startled at the sound of your voice. “What?”

“You’re acting really strangely and you seem...upset. You haven’t spoken to your sister at all even though it’s her wedding.”

“I’m not upset. And I’ll talk to Allison later, she’s busy with all her other guests,” he argued, eyebrows knitting in a frown. 

“You’re not upset? Okay, then explain to me why you’re holding my hand so tightly you’ll be getting a bill from my physical therapist on Monday.”

He dropped your hand like it had burned him and stuttered out an apology. 

“Relax, it was a joke.” You frowned. “Let’s go out to the balcony. I feel like we both could use some air.” 

Without waiting for an answer you grabbed his arm and dragged him in the direction of the double doors and the candle-lit, if slightly chilly, night. As soon as you passed out of the crowded room, you could feel the tension pour off of Diego and you breathed a sigh of relief. The pair of you moved to lean on the rail, shoulders just barely brushing. 

“I...don’t belong here,” he sighed. “I’m just going to screw something up.”

“What are you talking about Diego?”

He shook his head. “Allison has this grand life. Big movie star L.A. life, and if I talk to her I’ll...what would we even talk about? We haven’t seen each other in years. I haven’t seen any of them in years.”

“That’s not true, you saw Klaus six months ago,” you joked, not sure how else to comfort him. 

You knew what he was trying to say. He felt like Allison had moved on, and built a new life where her siblings were unwelcome, the invitation to her wedding a mere formality that for some reason all of them, save, thankfully, their father, had accepted. And on some level, you thought, he was probably right. 

“Is that why you were nervous to ask me to be your date? Not that I’m a date-date, but I can imagine why having a real date would make things weirder and that’s really not the point, anyway...Because you don’t think you should have come at all?” you asked.

He shrugged. 

“No,” you said, turning to face him and taking one of his hands in both of yours. “Please talk to me Diego. Maybe I can help?”

“How could you possibly help, Y/N?” he snapped, running his free hand through his short-cropped hair. 

“I don’t know! You’ve got me playing damn guessing games when I came to this wedding where all I know is you and the junkie in the corner talking to the air,” you gestured back through the doors at Klaus who was doing exactly that, “for you. Because I care about you, and I thought maybe you needed, maybe you wanted me here. So you tell me Diego. Or maybe I should just leave.”

“No!” his eyes widened at the threat. “Please don’t leave.”

You pressed your lips together, feeling tears well up in your eyes and praying that no one thought to glance outside to where the two of you were arguing. If there was a way to ruin a wedding it was the bride’s brother and his date having a screaming match. You had said your piece, so now you watched him expectantly, waiting for him. 

He sighed deeply and turned away from you, eyes seeming to focus on a point off in the gardens below somewhere. 

“I knew this whole thing was going to be uncomfortable,” he explained very slowly, and you instinctively reached over again to cover one of his hands with yours where it gripped the bannister tightly. 

“But I thought it would be worse not to come at all.”

You nodded in understanding, leaning closer to hear him better over the wind and the din from inside. 

“And everything’s easier when...with you So I thought...”

Your heart skipped a beat. In all the years of your friendship, he had never said anything like that before. You knew that you counted him among your best friends, and that he didn’t have very many friends in general, making you one of a rare and exclusive caliber, but to hear him come this close to admitting it was strange and new and oddly thrilling.

“But,” he glanced back at you before returning to his vigil, “you looked so beautiful tonight that,” he shook his head, “instead it reminded me of how incredible you are, and how it’s just one more thing for me to ruin.”

“Diego,” you frowned. “I don’t understand. What’s one more thing for you to ruin? My outfit? I would be pretty pissed if I was dressed like this and you pulled your usual superhero nonsense and bled all over me or something but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem here.”

“Don’t joke, Y/N. Not when I’m trying to be serious.”

“I’m not joking Diego. Okay maybe I am a bit, but only because I’m not following you. What don’t you want to ruin?”

“You!” he cried, throwing himself back around to face you. “I don’t want to ruin you!”

You resisted the urge to call attention to the innuendo there, especially since doing so would probably include admitting that you would not mind it a wink. Instead you bit your lip, thinking fast and trying to piece together what he was saying to you, about you.

“How could you possibly ruin me Diego?” you blurted out. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“I’ve already started you know,” he mused softly. “You don’t even flinch anymore when I show up injured and need you to stitch a wound or dig out shrapnel or glass. You have such a good heart and care so much, I don’t want you to end up...like me.” 

“There is nothing in the world that could get me to dress in leather and fight bad guys and get punched a lot. And the rest of you, I don’t see how it would be a bad thing to be like.”

He scoffed. 

“I’m serious Diego. After all, you have the biggest, sweetest heart and soul in the city. Or you wouldn’t be out there every night saving people. It’s what I love most about you.”

Your hand came up to cup his jaw instinctively, marveling at the feel of his stubble against your palm and how perfectly fit it seemed to be to rest there. He looked beautiful in the dim lights, like an artist’s painting of a hero or a god. You breath caught in your throat as he leaned into your touch, his eyes fluttering shut. 

“Y/N, I…” he reached blindly out for you, catching your other wrist in his hand, sliding down hesitantly to lace his fingers through yours. 

“Diego, unless I’ve read the room completely wrong, there’s nothing more that needs to be said,” you chuckled. “So just shut up and kiss me, already?”

[domesticmail]

happy new year || vince dunn

AUTHOR’S NOTE: happy new year to everyone!!! i hope you’re all ringing in this year with love & kindness! this is a fic for @hockeynetwork​ ‘s fic exchange, particularly for @pucksnsticksnhockeyboys​ !! 

i think you’re officially the last fic recipient of 2020, so congratulations!! i hope you like the fic <33

lots of thanks to @makarsy​ for beta-ing this for me!! <3

WORD COUNT: 5.7k

WARNINGS: dysfunctional family, divorce, alcohol !

SUMMARY: going back to your hometown to visit your family for the holidays is supposed to be fun. accidentally running into your childhood best friend is supposed to be nostalgic. love is supposed to have a happy ending. nothing disappoints more than high expectations.

She’d hung the mistletoe right under the hallway arch. The gray-green leaves, attached to stems that seemed to sink with the gravity, dangled from the red ribbon holding them together, tied to a hook hanging from the highest point of the arch. Small berries, white in color, caught your eye as you stood, frozen, in the living room. 

The familiar feeling of dread and terror floods your veins. Your chest begins to freeze over as your heart picks up pace. It’s like someone lit a bonfire in the middle of a glacier, and it’s melting you. If you were a little less aware, you’d think you were sinking to your knees, weakness invading and settling deep in the bones of your legs like the mere memory of him saps you of all your willpower.

There’s a strange floating feeling in the gravity you feel. It’s like you’re being pulled up and down simultaneously, and for a moment you feel so confused, and it scares you, this feeling of anxiety and fear.

A familiar hand settles on your shoulder, pulling you out of the spiral. “I thought maybe it’d be a...cute little touch.” From the way the deep voice is straining to hit a higher octave, you’re guessing it’s your brother, mimicking your mom.

You turn, and you’re right. He’s rolling his eyes, saying some smartass comment or another. Something about how she has no regard for anyone but herself. You nod noncommittally as he downs a glass of champagne. You raise an eyebrow. “Don’t you think you should pace yourself? It’s just more fuel for Aunt Cindy.”

“Y/N, I’ve never cared about what she thinks, and I sure as hell am not gonna start now.”

You shrug as he looks you up and down. Your shitty christmas sweater is the only one you own, but it’s the perfect mixture of funny and definitely going to offend Mom. It’s a knitted, ugly green, and the front has Jesus with a party blower in his mouth. He’s wearing a birthday hat, one of the pointy cone ones, and is holding a white, circular balloon that has “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” written on it in red. He’s wearing a shirt that says “BIRTHDAY BOY”.

She nearly had a heart attack when she saw you wearing it last week. The mistletoe, then, is payback, presumably.

“Danny?”

He turns back to you, eyebrows raised.

“Are you getting more champagne?” You ask. He nods. “I want some too,” you sigh, joining him at the kitchen island. He smiles conspiratorially.

While he pours you a glass, you inquire about his life. You don’t see each other often, with you up in New York and him traveling over 300 days out of the year. “It’s a miracle you’re even here,” you joke.

Danny snorts, taking a sip of his own drink. “Couldn’t miss another family event, especially not since last month.”

Last month was his 10-year anniversary of joining the Bureau, a week after he turned 33. Your mother’s pride and joy, she’d gone all out, and had been infuriated when an hour into the party he’d been called to the office. And even while she was annoyed with his duties, she still took the time to go out of her way and inform both you and your sister, Jo, that “at least he has an important job.”

You laugh. “She was pissed.”

“Yeah, she called me later that day.”

“She called you? While you were at work?”

“Do you think she has any respect for my time?”

You raised your eyebrows, eyes wide in shock. “How can she possibly be so….not self-aware?”

“I have no clue.”

As though summoned by the mention of your mother, Jo enters the room, long blonde hair a mess around her face, red and puffy. She takes the spot next to you, grabs your champagne glass, and downs it. 

“Hi, Jo,” you and Danny say in unison, neither of you surprised.

“Mom’s being such a bitch,” she spits, wiping her eyes. On her left hand, you spot something shiny, and it takes a moment for you to register the huge diamond ring on her finger. Like you can read each other’s minds, you and Danny look at each other, back to the ring, and then back to each other. Danny’s mouth is wide open in an ‘O’, and Jo squints at him. “What, Danny?”

She notices you staring at her, too. “Guys. What? Can’t you see I’m obviously in distress?”

“With that ring? You should be the happiest woman on the planet, Jo,” Danny replies.

“Ugh.” Jo sniffles aggressively. “I can’t be happy when Mom is being so...judgemental! I mean, can’t she just be happy for me?”

“Wait, wait,” you interrupt, hands up in a ‘slow down’ motion. “Who gave you that ring?”

Your sister looks at you like that’s the dumbest question you’ve ever heard. Her face in this expression looks almost exactly like your mother’s, and it strikes a nerve deep down. “You don’t remember?”

“No.”

“Peter. From - “

“The guy from the coffee shop?” You’re completely surprised. Jo makes impulsive decisions, yes, but getting engaged to a guy she’s been on four dates with? That’s just plain reckless.

“Yes. He proposed last week.” She sniffles again, this time trying to seem at least a little more dignified. Chin high, she proclaims, “We’re in love.”

Danny sips his champagne, still completely caught off-guard. He has a small smile as he watches you say, “Jo, that’s fucking insane.”

Jo rolls her eyes. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re too young.”

Your brother laughs. “She’s only two years younger than you.”

“That’s two whole years of experience she doesn’t have.”

“You realize I’m not seventeen anymore, right, Jo? I’m an actual adult.”

“An adult with an actual job,” Danny points out.

“I have a job!” Your sister protests.

“What job? Oh, wait, you mean being a sugar baby, right? That’s your job?”

Jo glares at you. “That’s not fair, and you know it.”

You shrug and drink some more champagne. “I’m being honest.”

“You’re being mean.” “Oh my god, Jo. You’re the one getting married to a guy you’ve known for two months.”

“We’re in love!”

“You can’t possibly be in love!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was talking to the expert of all things romantic! Please, O Great One, give me your opinion!”

You pressed your lips together tightly. “You’re not funny.”

“Oh, wait! I forgot,” Jo continues. “The Master of Love has a boyfriend.”

Your face heats up. You’d only told your mom you had a boyfriend so she would stop badgering you with questions about your love life. You hadn’t been thinking about the consequences, you’d just wanted to stop the questioning, and that had clearly backfired. “Mom told you that?”

Your sister smiles, seemingly satisfied with this secret knowledge. Danny, who’s been listening to the conversation with wide eyes, is grinning like a maniac behind his champagne flute. 

“Yes,” Jo says. “So, where is he?”

Scrambling internally, you frown. “He’s busy.”

“Probably spending Christmas with his family,” Danny cuts in. That is surprising - usually he’ll let Jo beat you down, and then show support later. And anyway, he doesn’t even know you’re lying about the boyfriend. “They’re probably ten times less dysfunctional.”

At the last word, Jo switches gears completely, snapping her head to look at Danny. “We’re not dysfunctional,” she hisses.

Your brother laughs in her face. “Yes, we are.”

As they begin to argue, you take this as your chance to escape. You leave your champagne on the island - alcohol will only make this worse, and you want to be somewhat lucid for dinner. On the bright side, the less you drink now, the more you can drink later. You make your way down the hall, stopping to look at the photos framed on the walls in a remarkably perfect design. Every Christmas card photo meticulously arranged from oldest to newest, below the childhood pictures. There are a few of Jo, with her beautiful curls and pearly-white teeth, playing lacrosse. Everyone’s high school graduation photos. Lots of photos of Danny, the eldest and golden child. His first birthday, his eighteenth birthday, first day in college, first Christmas back home, various pictures of him and your parents. Any picture including your dad is small and inconspicuously placed, so as not to draw attention to it.

Scattered between pictures of your siblings are the ones of you. They’re all smaller; the only large one is your high school cap and gown picture. And the others aren’t of your accomplishments - they’re of you at home, smiling, with a book, or building a snowman with your dad in the backyard. Tucked below a picture of Danny and one of his ex-girlfriends (Sandy, your mother’s favorite) and above Jo’s first varsity photo is your favorite. Your dad took it when you were fourteen, on an old camera, one that used film, and had developed it himself. You had gone to visit him in Oregon, the only one who’d wanted to go, and as a surprise, he’d taken you to the beach. Your hair is wet and sticking to your face, and you’re making a silly face - lips puckered, eyes crossed, hands at either side of your face like fish gills. It’s a decade old, and the memory has faded a bit in your mind, but you can still remember the way he laughed at you when he took the photo. “That’ll be a good one,” he’d proclaimed. “I’ll send it to you.”

That’s how it was every summer since then. You went off to stay with him in Oregon, and Jo stayed at home with your mother. Danny, seven years older than Jo and nine older than you, wasn’t involved, at that point - he was just joining the bureau. Nobody had batted an eye when your dad didn’t show up to the party last month. Him and Danny had never quite gotten along.So you spend June through August with him at Gold Beach. Just the picture brings to mind memories from the cottage; the summer your dad grew a beard; him bringing you to the touristy area, to a struggling record shop to let you pick out your first album. You still had it, tucked away in an old box of vinyls in the back of your closet at home. The Chain, Fleetwood Mac.

There was something surprising about your mom keeping this picture. She hated that you spent your summers with him. It wasn’t uncommon for her to blame your personality as an adult on those vacations with your dad, as though he was the reason you were a journalist, and not that he’d simply loved you for who you were, and given you the love and affection you’d needed. So the picture here, that was confusing. In fact, you’d thought for years she’d thrown it out, because she talked so often about how deeply she wishes she’d fought for full custody in the divorce. Why would she keep the picture?

There’s no way she kept it as a reminder of him. She’d never voluntarily keep something like that around.

So then, why does she have it?

“Do you have to wear that horribly offensive sweater?”

And there she is, the devil herself, shrill as ever. You turn to the end of the hall and find your mother there, in her favorite cream-colored dress. Her hair was in a bun, and you knew without even being close to her that she had wasted an incredible amount of hairspray on keeping it in place. She’s wearing the pearl earrings and necklace set Danny gave her for her birthday last year, and on her wrist was a surprise - the white watch you’d gifted her. 

“Hey to you too, Mom,” you greet, not dignifying the question with an answer. The best way to deal with her was to pretend you didn’t hear her little jabs.

“Honestly, Y/N, how do you expect us to have a peaceful dinner with my family when you’re wearing such blatantly tasteless clothing?” She approaches you and seems to be picking apart your appearance piece by piece. You expected no different. “Our family. And I know Leah and Mark will think it’s funny.” The only two cousins of thirteen that you can stand, Leah is Aunt Cindy’s only daughter, and Mark is her eldest son.

“What?” Genuine confusion etches itself into her features.

You raise an eyebrow. “Our family. I’m related to them, too.”

She snorts. “No, you take too much after Ryan’s family to be a Benson.” The mention of her last name, once her maiden name, presses a button for you. When they got divorced, Danny took your mom’s last name, and when Jo asked, she took her to city hall so she could change it back to Benson.You were the only child who kept your father’s last name.

“Technically, I’m half Benson, half L/N.”

“Mmm,” she hums noncommittally. “Sure. If that’s what you believe.”

You furrow your brows. “You gave birth to me.”

Smiling tightly, she says, “Babies have been switched at hospitals before.”

Completely taken aback, your jaw drops open, and she takes this chance to survey your teeth. “I see you’ve had dental work done since last month.”

You close your mouth tightly and frown. “Just a cleaning.”

She looks you up and down and once again offers nothing but a disingenuous “Sure.”

There’s a moment of awkward silence before your mother inhales sharply and asks, “Has Jo told you yet?”

“About the engagement?”

“Yes.” She is gritting her teeth so hard you’re sure she’s going to crack a molar.

“Yeah.”

“And your opinion?”

You shrug. “I think it’s royally stupid, but it’s her decision.”

This seems to satisfy her, because she nods and, after looking you up and down once more and confirming that you are not going to change your outfit, she heads past you, her heels clicking forcibly against the hardwood.

You exhale audibly when she is gone, the tension in your chest and back releasing slowly. Conversations with her are so tense you can hardly breathe, she takes up so much air.

Raised voices echo down the hall from the kitchen. You look uncomfortably in the direction the chaos is coming from. Forcing yourself to walk towards the room, you find yourself standing quietly in the entryway to the kitchen.

Jo and your mother are going at it again. Your sister’s face is red and puffy, she’s clearly been crying the entire time. Danny is sitting down at the dining room table, pouring himself yet another glass. You sigh, and there’s only one thing that comes to mind as you watch this scene unfold, your mother talking loudly and sternly to Jo, who is yelling and sobbing.

God, you hate it here.

---

You’ve been banished (read: released) to the store, to pick up eggs. And milk. But only almond milk, the soy kind. You’re not sure that exists, but whatever. Any chance to escape your mother’s house is a chance you’ll take.

This grocery store has been standing since before you were born. Your parents went to it, their parents went to it, and even their parents went to it. O’Malley’s General is over five decades old, and even worse -

As you enter through the old wooden door, you peer around at the inside of the store. Fruit and veggies are still on your left, the over-the-counter pharmaceuticals to your right. No different from when you were five.

“Y/N!” The man sitting at one of the two checkout desks to your left offers you a wide grin.

- it’s a family business. When you were younger, it was run by Dennis O’Malley, a charmer in every sense of the word. You, Danny, and Jo used to make fun of your mother every time she blushed at one of Dennis’ not-quite-well-meaning flirts.In the time you’ve been gone, Dennis must’ve died, because his usual spot at the foremost checkout counter, his rickety metal stool, is occupied by his son, Ryan. He’s your age, and it appears he never grew into his big front teeth. You offer him a wave as he sets down his magazine and makes his way over to you.

“Hi, Ryan,” you say, picking up a basket from the stack near the door.

He takes a place next to you as you head for the small refrigerators at the back of the produce section, where you know the milk and eggs are. “How are you? Feels like I haven’t seen you in years!”

You laugh politely, smile stretching thin. “Yeah, it’s been a little bit. I’m good.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

The awkward quiet stretches on. You open the glass door and look for the milk your mom asked for, almond soy milk, you’re sure that isn’t real but nonetheless -

“You look just as pretty as when I last saw you,” Ryan compliments, and you feel your stomach turn at the words. Even in high school he’d been this way, interested in you, watching you from across the cafeteria and sticking notes to your locker in passing periods. He’s a little too close, you realize as you turn to him. You can feel his hot breath on your face, and instantly you smell that he didn’t brush his teeth this morning. Your flesh crawls as you meet his eyes. “Thanks,” you offer slowly. Your eyes dart to find a way around him as you say, “Ryan, you’re a little too close to me.”

He doesn’t make an effort to give you any space - in fact, quite the opposite. He steps his right foot forward, moving at nearly the pace of molasses, and you feel your adrenaline spike when he reaches his hand out to feel the cloth of your ugly sweater, his touch suddenly turning to a death grip on the cotton. “We’ve been this close before,” he murmurs, and you panic.

Your hands come up to his shoulders and shove him away as hard as you possibly can. You succeed in pushing him away, partly, but his right hand is still gripping your sweater, anchoring him to you. His quiet demeanor dissolves into something resembling hurt as he pulls you closer to him, grabbing your other shoulder with his free hand -

The front door squeaks open. Ryan, distracted, turns to look at the door. You take this moment to finally shove him off of you, running around him. There’s another man standing at the front door, eyes flicking back and forth from you and Ryan. When you move to get past him, he appears to regain his senses, following you out of the store. 

“Wait! Are you okay?” He yells, and the sound of his voice stops you in your tracks.

You freeze in the middle of the sidewalk. There’s no way. There’s no way. You’re delusional. “Excuse me?” He asks again.

You turn slowly on your heels. He looks so concerned, his face contorted in the same way he used to frown when you’d fail a turn on the ice while practicing your routine. That worry, reminiscent of how he’d skate over and offer you a hand, pulling you up with a simple “Are you alright?”

You exhale, hard. There’s no sign of recognition on his face, no nostalgia, no recovered memories of an old friend. You’re having a freak coincidence right now, and the only other person who would understand has no idea who you are.

He walks over, his boots crunching rock salt as he surveys your face for wounds. “Can you hear me?”

Snap out of it.

You blink a couple times. Nod. Twice. “Yes, I’m sorry, yes, I’m okay.”

The friend smiles, but it’s confused, worried. “Do you need me to call 911, or…?”

“No,” you laugh. The noise catches both of you by surprise, but you can’t stop, dropping the basket, giggles shaking your body. The situation is a little comical, in all honesty - you’re stuck in your hometown with your dysfunctional family, you were practically just assaulted by someone who’s been in love with you since the eighth grade, and the boy you were once in love with doesn’t remember you. It’s like the plot of a Hallmark movie, if Hallmark movies were written by whoever writes Grey’s Anatomy.

You look up at him, and there’s that little chuckle of his, the one that lights up his whole face. He’s confused, yeah, but he’s got the right spirit. You clear your throat and extend your hand to him. “Thank you, really.”

He takes it gently. “Sure. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, definitely, thank you.” Releasing his hand, you pick up the basket from the ground. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m good.”

“Okay.” He’s still watching your face carefully. “You know what? Why don’t I accompany you home?”

Oh, no. No thank you. Not today. Not in my Hallmark movie.

“No thanks. I’ll be fine.”“Can I at least give you my number?”

You look at him incredulously. “Why?”

He shrugs. “So you can text me to make sure you got home okay.”

Your laugh is cold, abrupt. “Why would you care?”

“Because I just saw you get assaulted! Is it a crime to care about people?”

“No, but it’s weird to give your number to a stranger.”

“People do it all the time.”

“Oh, do they, really? Where?”

“Bars. Clubs. Parties.”

“We’re not in any of those places.”

He rolls his eyes with a smile, already whipping out his phone. “I’m Vince. Dunn.”

You laugh a little self-consciously. “Yeah, I know.”

Vince looks up from tapping his screen to raise his eyebrow at you. “You’re into hockey?”

“No. We went to school together.”

His eyes widen, first with shock. You see the initial confusion pass and become replaced by intense, sudden recognition. “Y/N?”

You grin broadly. “Long time no see.”

---

This absolutely wasn’t your fault.

You hadn’t ever expected him to go along with it, let alone offer himself up to help you. You’d merely been commiserating. Right, sharing your troubles with a friend. 

Vince takes you to brunch the next day, a welcome reprieve from your family. Your mother protests, but you’re only half-listening to her while you watch the read 9:13 am appear below your most recent text to him.

vince

La Fontaine is way overpriced. Let me show you a place

You smile and type back, what? so you can get me alone?

vince

Is it really so bad to want to spend time alone with an old friend?

vince

We haven’t seen each other in years, there’s no way you know any good breakfast places here

you

you remember that i grew up here, right?

vince

Sorry, how long’s it been since you’ve been here?

you

touche

you 

bastard

Vince

It’s within walking distance. I’ll meet you at Bailey’s at 10?

you

sounds like a plan

It’s good, to see him again. Your breath fogs the space in front of you, dissipating when you walk through it, your steps in perfect synchronization with Vince’s. He leads you down a back road that hadn’t existed when you were little and entertains you the whole walk with tales of his hockey shenanigans. You find yourself shocked that the Vince you knew as a child, the goofy kid that never quite fit in, is now a famous professional athlete. Time has changed him, too; he’s so mature now, with his good posture and manners. He holds the door open to a small diner off Quincy and Arlette, and you find yourself wondering if an alien kidnapped your childhood best friend and possessed his body.

When he starts talking is when you feel your heart begin to slip. The way he grins when he’s talking about his friends or his family or something stupid he’s done is breathtaking, his lips reaching his eyes. The way he throws his head back when he laughs, a deep, shaky noise, like if he’s too loud he’s going to break something.

So when he asks about your love life, you can’t help it. You open your mouth and words materialize on your lips without you even consciously forming them. You tell him everything, about your tragic love history and the way you felt when your mother asked snidely if you were going to bring a boy home for Christmas and the panic in your chest when you blurted “yes.”

And when your lip wobbles after you finish, he swears he can see tears beginning to prick at your eyes. Baby, he thinks - no, he feels the word in his heart, looking at you like this.It’s not your fault he offered himself up. He’s a grown man, he makes his own decisions, and he is the one who decided to pretend to be your boyfriend at Christmastime. In front of your family.

You’re just the one who’s going along with it.

---

“We should probably hold hands.”

The skin of his hands is rough, calloused, a sharp contrast to your soft touch. His palm feels so big against yours, the flat surface nearly dwarfing your whole hand, long fingers enclosed around yours. He bites his nails - you know from one glance at the chewed nubs of calcium.

“And hug,” he adds. “Couples hug.”

“Okay, fine, hugging, too.”

When his arms snake their way around your torso from behind, you become acutely aware of just how touch-starved you are. Every nerve ending is on fire, rocketing signals lightning-fast to your brain, adrenaline flooding your system. Your heartbeat quickens, and you know he feels it, the bastard, because your mother asks him what he’s smiling about, and he says “Nothing.”

You turn in his arms when she leaves, taking a step away from him. He looks mildly dismayed at the loss of your warmth but doesn’t comment on it. You lead the topic of conversation away from the hug.

“What about kissing?” Vince points out. “Couples kiss.”

Five.

That line has been ringing through his head all night. Every glimpse he catches of you, every tiny little look, makes the phrase rattle around his skull like a maraca of that one phrase.

When you catch his eye across the kitchen and make a funny face at him, a small gesture of togetherness in an atmosphere so cold and distancing.

“Couples kiss.”

Four.

When he rounds the corner to find the bathroom. You come around the opposite side at the same time and smack your face right against his chest, and when you pull back frantically you look up at Vince with a look of such pure apology he can’t help it.

“Couples kiss.”

Three.

You take his hand under the table at dinner. You don’t even really know why - it’s a strangely intimate gesture - but you see it through, your small hand resting gently on top of his.He flips his hand over so you can lace your fingers through his.

“Couples kiss.”

Two.

You huff, considering him.

“Only if it’s an absolute emergency.”

New Year’s isn’t an emergency, Vince knows. He knows New Year’s is actually the exact opposite of an emergency, nothing important, and if he could, he’d walk away. At least, he pretends he would.

But he can’t, because your siblings are egging him on, face-to-face with you. 

“Couples kiss.”

“Only if it’s an absolute emergency.”

“An absolute emergency.”

“Couples kiss.”

“Emergency.”

“Only if it’s an absolute emergency.”

He knows New Year’s isn’t an emergency and he knows he could just brush Danny and Jo off but the light is framing you so perfectly, and the way you smile at him so earnestly - his brain is shaking like a pinball machine but he doesn’t have time to consider that so he kisses you.

One.

He kisses you.

Your lips are sweet against his. You taste like sugar, he notices.

And then you pull away and make an excuse to use the restroom again and while Jo and Danny screech congratulations and celebrations at him. The champagne glass in his hand feels empty, and the hand he had tangled in your hair only seconds ago feels like it’s burning.

Couples kiss.

---

When you press the hastily-wrapped present into his hands, you won’t meet his eyes. It’s days after that kiss, that goddamned mistake, and you’re so shaky you can barely keep it together. The sight of you in such an uncomfortable state in Vince’s presence hits him in the heart and causes a deep knot to settle in his stomach. 

Idiot.

“I know we said no presents,”

“We’re not a couple,” you said. “You don’t have to get me anything.”

“But I think you deserve at least one. For putting up with my family.”

“What if I want to get you something? As friends?”

He offers his best normal smile. “You didn’t have to,” he says. A car horn blasts from somewhere near.

You scowled at him, but he just continued. “I can get presents for my friends.”

It’s ironic that he’s the one who asked to give presents but here you are, with a present, and here he is, empty-handed.

The silence is awkward.“Well,” you say. “Have a good trip.”

You’re turning to leave when his hand grips your upper arm, holding you in place. You move your gaze to meet his, and before you can say anything, he says,

“Hey.” His eyes are boring holes into yours. You feel goosebumps litter your skin when he says, “Happy New Year.”

“Thank you,” you murmur, and he lets you go.

He lets you go.

---

The box weighs heavy in his lap. The car moves with every bump in the road, and with each jolt he feels the cardboard corners, wrapped in patterns of reindeer faces and Santa’s smile, pressing into his legs. The sharp, quick pain is a constant reminder, and it makes him think of you. Even the wrapping paper is so stereotypically you, obviously something you grabbed from the back of your closet or (more likely) borrowed from a neighbor or classmate. He could see it now, the way you asked with a smile if they had any ugly wrapping paper, the confusion on their face as you lit up when they said, yeah, why? You delighted in the stupid pattern, so busy that he could barely focus on just one aspect. And you’d certainly picked a black Sharpie to write his name, knowing full well it’d easily be lost in the mottled colors and insane patterns. The way you wrote Vince, in that unique combination of print and cursive, like you couldn’t decide - again, so predictably you. He traces the big V with his index finger, picturing you in your apartment, on the floor, taking special care to write his name this way, on the top where he would at least have a chance of seeing it. Your hair falling into your face, hand gripping the pen and being oh-so-meticulous about the way you wrote it, his name, not wanting it to be too big, but not too small either. Just the right size to grab his attention.

Of course you would.

And you’d have known that he would hate to tear open the paper, to rip something with so much significance to him. He flips the box over and finds the taped-over seam. There has to be a way to undo this without ruining the wrapping, he knows, so he picks at the tape gently, taking care not to destroy the delicate paper. The taping is perfect, because you, obviously, couldn’t handle anything else. It spans the exact length of the box, no more, no less; you’ve always been a perfectionist.

He manages to unwrap the box with only one or two tiny tears and feels a tiny moment of pride immediately eclipsed by the desire to know what, exactly, you’ve given him for Christmas. He flips it over to find the top once more and does so successfully. The top flaps of cardboard are folded over each other without any tape, and he remembers begging you to teach him how to do this when you were kids, making presents for the teachers at your school. You never did.

He pulls one of the tabs and, like magic, the whole top undoes itself. Inside, there’s another small box with what he assumes are polaroids, two tiny boxes next to each other, a wrapped present in the shape of a book, all placed meticulously on shredded filler paper. Delicately taped on top of the book-shaped item is an envelope.

On the front, Vince, in your script. Of course.

Something about the box smells familiar, so he brings the envelope to his nose, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. The scent of your favorite perfume, the one you wear constantly, your lucky charm (as you’ve informed him several times), floods his senses, and he nearly cries at the nostalgia that fills his heart. His whole body aches with pain, begging him, make the Uber driver turn the car around, run back.

He doesn’t.

Instead, he opens the envelope carefully. Inside is a stack of papers folded together several times, small enough to fit the package. He can’t help but smile at the long, flowing script you use when you write on loose-leaf, when you’re feeling emotional. Again the way you write has his heartstrings tugging. He isn’t a crier, usually, but for you he makes an exception. For you tears gather in his eyes, threatening to break and bury him. For you he feels, feels so deeply and painfully he doesn’t know if he can manage to read more than Dear Vince because it might kill him, the aching in his heart and the begging in his hands. The memory of you is poised for destruction in his mind and he can’t help but wonder if you’d known this is what you could do to him, this was the power you held over his life.

Dear Vince, that fatal first line reads.

Dear Vince.

[kazuharem]

“One Less Star” ↠ Lucien [ANGST]

Requested by @kazuko-stuff​

This story contains an image not yet released in EN server as well as possible triggering content. Read at your own risk.

Characters: Lucien, mentions of Victor and MC (Female)

Genre: Angst ツ, Song-fic

Word Count: 1,733

Warnings: spoiler warnings for Ch. 25 (some canon details), mentions of drug use (don’t do drugs, kids), mentions of a major character death I guess...

A/N: Uh.... I know I said Lucien angst was addictive.... but I didn’t realize it hurt this much. I also know I promised Lucien fluff, but this was too good to pass up. I’m so so sorry that I haven’t published anything in well over a month. Things have been so stressful for me and I’ve had the worst case of writer’s block. However! I am writing Helios and Lucien smut to make up for that! I also don’t know if the depictions are accurate cuz.... never done drugs.... so this was based off lots of research. Also inspired by this fanart.

Part II of this: story

Summary: The light of Lucien’s life, his little butterfly, was no longer part of his world.

Picture and story under the cut since it contains spoilers and possible triggering content.

[I wished upon a star last night and thought of you

But must have been a dream cause you're not here

I've never been one to believe in fairy tales or fantasy

But perhaps it's time for a change of mind.

I guess there's a first for everything]

The ticking of the clock was abnormally loud in the silence. Lucien sat in the darkness, breathing ragged as he tried his best to ease the dull roar coursing through his ears. A sharp gasp broke the air as he doubled over, hunching over as he pressed a hand to his chest where stabbing pains could be felt. He fumbled with a shaking hand to reach out to the bottle of pills sitting in front of him and missed, sending them scattering across the floor. “Ugh…” Lucien’s chin dropped to his chest as he panted. Without looking, he grabbed haphazardly what he could and slammed the pills into his mouth, swallowing them dry. Not enough, Lucien thought as he leaned against his bookcase, closing his eyes. Nothing eased the sensation of the pressing pain that robbed him of breath. His pants came out, choked and stuttered.

[We fell in love, we had our fun

You always had enough dreams for both of us

I wonder what would come of us

If we could trade these ends for beginnings]

Memories ran across his closed eyes. Those of her. Black and white, like photo negatives that had no time to be developed. Unwanted. Forgotten.

Cheerful laughter rang in his ears. “Lucien, thank you so much for your help!” He could see her beam at him, her smile bright and sweet. “I couldn’t have done it without you!”

Another vision of her popped up unbidden before him, but Lucien welcomed it eagerly like a man starved. He drank in the sight of her greedily. “Okay, I will wait for you,” she spoke, eyes teary and voice trembling. “I will take care of myself...and disturb you whenever I want. You have to do the same! Take good care of yourself!”

He was suddenly bombarded with various versions of her. The her wearing his sweater curled up on the couch as she typed feverishly on her laptop. The her awashed in a blue tint as she reached up to press her lips against his even when he had warned her that he was dangerous. The her running out into the pouring rain to hug him when she had followed him to Copenhagen. The her gazing adoringly up at him, flashes of bright light dancing across her face from the sparkler that she held between them. The her dusted in flour as she dropped a dumpling into his bowl wishing him happiness and health for the new year. The her with a smile as pure and untainted and beautiful as the fresh snow as she wished that she could celebrate his birthday with him every year in the future.

The beautiful images morphed together into one of her bathed in a warm light. “I wish our love will last forever,” she whispered to him, eyes aglow with the dazzling love solely reserved for him and only him.

Lucien lurched forward, eyes flying open. He looked around wildly, but there was no sign of any comfort in his dark and desolate apartment.

He was sure that she had been there just a second ago. Hadn’t she just been whispering in his ear about taking good care of himself?

A dry sob broke out from his throat, grating and rough, when he realized that he was alone. Like he always had been.

Lucien grabbed more pills and swallowed. Not enough, not enough. The voices in his head became disembodied, haunting.

With some effort, he staggered to his feet using the bookshelf for support.

He needed more. He needed to see her, needed to hear her voice.

He panted desperately as he clung onto the wooden shelf, cold sweat pouring down his back. She couldn’t be gone, Lucien told himself as he tried to gain back some semblance of control over the swirling visions, she’s not gone. The reassurances he gave himself were instantly shattered the moment his eyes landed on the film calendar she had gifted him as a birthday present.

No.

Lucien began to tremble violently. The date served as an unwelcome reminder for exactly what had occurred a month ago.

No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t…couldn’t be gone.

“No,” the word left his mouth in a cracked whimper. “Please…”

No one was there to hear his broken plea.

[I'm drinking from an empty cup

The hardest part of young love was growing up

It's not enough to fill me up

Cause now there's one less star in the city]

“You…did what…?” Lucien stared at the man before him, feeling like there was no longer strength left in his body at the words that left the man’s mouth. “She…she’s-” He was physically unable to say the next words.

He wanted to grab Victor’s collar, wanted to shake him. Wanted to ask why he did what he did. Why he couldn’t fulfill such a simple request. 

“Keep her safe...and please let her be happy.”

“I trusted you,” Lucien wanted to say. “I entrusted her safety to you. You were supposed to protect her.”

“You cared for her as well. You loved her too,” Lucien wanted to accuse, wanted something-someone to blame.

But upon looking at the gaunt man in front of him, eyes sunken with pain that reflected Lucien’s own, Lucien knew that Victor had been hurting just as much as he had. The usually impeccably dressed CEO looked haggard.

Lucien swallowed hard. “Our partnership ends then. There’s no reason for us to collaborate anymore,” he was surprised his voice was still steady. “I bid you farewell, Victor.”

He reached the door of Victor’s office when Victor spoke up.

“Lucien.” Lucien paused but did not turn back. “For what it’s worth,” There was a pause. “I am sorry.”

Lucien’s hands trembled and he curled them into tight fists. “I understand why you had to do so,” he said to the door. His voice sounded like it was on the verge of cracking. He reached for the door.

“There’s a chance,” Victor stopped him again before he could leave. “There might be a chance she…could still be…alive.”

Lucien closed his eyes. Would it be foolish to cling onto this useless hope? “I’ll take my leave-”

“I’ll bring her back,” Victor’s voice had its usual determination, “I’ll do everything in my power to bring her back.”

“Goodbye, Victor,” Lucien said quietly, dismissing the other man’s words. He left before Victor could say anything else.

Lucien passed through the halls of LFG in a numb daze. He wandered the streets, not knowing where his feet were taking him.

When he arrived in front of a familiar apartment, he blinked. Pulling the keys from his pocket shakily, he unlocked the apartment he had vacated. Part of him hoping that Victor’s words were just part of a cruel joke.

Nothing greeted him. No bright smile that rivaled that of the sun. No pattering of eager footsteps rushing to hug him. Nothing but dust motes dancing in the air.

“No,” Lucien’s chest felt constrictive. “No, no,” He gasped for breath, his legs giving out on him as he collapsed against the door. “Please…no,” the words came out in a broken sob.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” his whispers hitched as sharp stabbing pains robbed him of breath. “I’m sorry…” Lucien grabbed at his chest, fingers digging into the skin. “No…” Tears slid down his cheeks, hot and scalding. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he choked out, “I’m so sorry…”

[I can't keep living without you

But I'll wait and someday, I'll join you in the stars

But for now I can't keep thinking about you

Cause I can't find my way

Cause now there's one less star in the city]

Lucien staggered, the memory of that day leaving him reeling. “No,” he gasped, shaking his head weakly. He refused to believe the pathetic scene he had just witnessed. “No….she’s not…I’m…no…”

He stumbled across the room to his coffee table and grabbed a syringe, almost dropping it as his shaking hand fumbled desperately. Lucien reached for the tiny glass bottle next to it and plunged the needle into the bottle. Please, an inner voice begged. Please let me see her again. He took a deep breath as he stabbed the needle into his arm. Releasing a hiss, Lucien pushed down slowly on the syringe. He relished in the spread of warmth as he cast away the syringe, breathing finally slowing down.

Lucien collapsed against the window, his shuddering pants easing into deep and languid breaths. I’ll see her again, he thought dazedly as his vision started to blur. I’ll see her again in my dreams.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the gleam of the dark window.

“Look at yourself, Ares,” his reflection seemed to taunt. “Look at how weak you’ve become.”

“Be…quiet,” Lucien spat, his voice nearing a growl.

“You were foolish to think you had a future with her. Foolish to believe that she would still choose to give you trust and love even after you betrayed her. Love? Happiness? Wake up, Ares, there is no love or happiness for you,” the face in the window sneered.

There was the sound of shattering glass and Lucien watched with numb fascination as a dark liquid seemingly blossomed from his clenched fist. There was silence. Blissful and soothing.

Suddenly, there was the sound of light footsteps. He raised his head slowly and his breath caught in his throat.

It was her.

She was here.

“Lucien,” she smiled, and Lucien felt his heart swell at the sheer beauty of it, blinding and brilliant. “Did you miss me?” She stepped delicately towards him and spread open her arms.

Lucien pulled her into his arms desperately, his movements eager and clumsy. “I…missed you so much,” he croaked as his arms enveloped her. “I missed you so much that I was going crazy,” he admitted as he buried his nose into her hair, inhaling her familiar scent.

“Well, I’m here now,” She whispered, and Lucien could feel every fiber of his entire being sing with relief.

“Yes, don’t leave me, my love. Stay here with me forever, my little butterfly. I love you.”

───── ⋆⋅ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ⋅⋆ ─────

A/N Part II: I am not okay right now. I hate myself. Goodbye

Part I: Here

Part III: Here

For more of my work: 📖

[leafs-lover]

Because Two People Got Drunk: 34

Chapter 34

Series Masterlist

A/N: Sorry for the delay. As this is set somewhat in the future, Connor is a character/player I introduced as a rookie in a previous chapter. He isn’t based off of anyone.

Warnings: Swearing, smut (oral male receiving), hockey injuries

Word Count: 7700

“Babe how did we get here?” you ask lying on your back staring up at the ceiling. Fred is a few feet away on his phone, distracted by whatever he is reading. A light hmm leaves his mouth but you can tell he isn’t fully paying attention.

“We have three kids. How haven’t we figured out how to use birth control? We’re not teenagers” you groan rising onto your elbows to look at him.

Fred laughs at that and puts his phone in his pocket bringing his eyes up to yours “we just have so much love for each other we want to share it and watch it grow.”

“Please” you scoff looking rolling your eyes at him from him wondering what hallmark crap he has been reading. “You just like seeing me naked.”

“That’s a two way street smuk” he laughs taking a sip from his coffee. You fall onto your back with a loud exaggerated groan.

“How are we going to teach our kids to use birth control when we can’t?” you ask.

He smiles “my mom used to say do as I say not as I do, I feel like that applies here” he laughs and you shake your head in response, the paper liner crinkling under you. Before you can respond Dr. Morris walks in “didn’t expect to see you back so soon” she says taking a seat at her desk. You sit up with a large sigh leaving your lips.

“Definitely didn’t plan on being back” Fred jokes.

“Speaking of, the second this baby comes out I want an IUD in” you explain not giving the doctor a chance to ask any more questions. Fred shakes his head shooting you a smirk and Dr. Morris just laughs from her desk.

“This isn’t a joke; I want everyone aware of the plan from the start. This way there is no confusion or discussion. I don’t care if it’s a C-section or a natural birth; either way baby comes out in goes IUD. We are NOT having any more babies after this one. And you better only find one in there this time” you mumble while Fred tries to hold back his laughter. The past few weeks you have repeatedly said these things to Fred, and his response has always been “yes dear” followed by a soft kiss on your cheek while he holds in some laughter.

While he is fully on board with this being your last pregnancy, he knows that there is a possibility of twins; as do you. It is just something that both of you are hoping doesn’t happen again; because what are the chances?

“Well let’s see what we see okay?” she asks before diving in to questions on the pregnancy.

You explain how you have been tired some days but not nearly as bad as with the twins, and you have had very little morning sickness. She takes your weight and various other measurements all while Fred sits quietly in his chair.

You see small smirks and half grins spread on Fred’s face hearing you talk about the pregnancy. This pregnancy was very unexpected for you, and Fred has sensed some hesitation on your part. Because of this he doesn’t ask about it much, and waits for you to bring it up first. Once it’s brought up he will ask, but sometimes you brush off his questions.

You don’t know if it’s the lack of symptoms or the unexpected nature but you don’t feel pregnant. And not feeling pregnant has made it hard for you to embrace the pregnancy like in the past. While Fred wants to stay up late naming off baby names and keep his had constantly on your stomach he isn’t trying to do too much right now. He knows there will be a moment, when the switch will flip and he can ask a million questions so he is just waiting for that to happen.

“Alright well that’s all I need right now, I’ll let you get changed for the ultrasound.”

A few minutes later you are lying on the table, clothes stripped from the bottom down, Fred is waiting patiently beside you. He softly brushes your hair behind your ear creating space for him to press his lips to your forehead; your eyes fluttering shut. No matter how stressed you might be this simple action always grounds you, makes you feel at ease.

“Jeg elsker dig” you whisper melting into his touch. You feel Fred’s lips gently press against yours “love you too” he whispers but you are pulled apart by a knocking at the door.

“Ready?” Dr. Morris asks picking up the jelly. Your eyes are glued on Fred’s, a soft smirk pressed between your lips “yeah” you whisper. You shift your attention to the screen, your hand reaching out resting on Fred’s while you nervously wait.

The doctor moves the wand around taking some measurements “looks like you’re 7 weeks or so” she says almost to herself. She continues to move around the screen, you can feel your hand begin to tremble as you are wrecked with nerves.

“Looks like it’s just one” she says and you let out the air in your lungs.

“Heard that before” Fred laughs placing his other hand on yours, gently squeezing it. Without even looking he can sense your nerves and does what he can to calm you. Finally the doctor turns the monitor towards you, and points “there it is” she says about the blob on the screen.

“It might be too early, but let’s see if we can get the heartbeat” she says hitting a few switches. She adjusts the wand around and suddenly the little thumps echoes through the room. You and Fred both grip each other’s hand listening to the beating while the doctor explain some of the risks associated with your pregnancies being so close together. You’d like to say you’re listening to what she has to say, but at this point everything she is saying turns into white noise.

When you took the test you honestly didn’t think you were pregnant; you really just wanted to prove Fred wrong. And once the “pregnant” was displayed on the screen, you went into a state of denial for a few days followed by panic.

During that time Fred patiently waited for you to get to a point where you had accepted it. Since he was the one who first saw the pregnancy signs, he was a little further ahead with that. The stress of having 4 kids under the age of four; three of them just 14 months apart. This would be stressful for any couple, but you add in planning a wedding and the fact that your fiancé is a professional athlete who travels a lot and it is a lot to deal with it.

And it’s not that you aren’t excited for another child, you know you will love this child unconditionally, it is the shock value that is coming along with it. You fully planned on no more kids after the twins, you were going to raise your three boys and plan a wedding. And your life is not going as planned. Through the denial you haven’t allowed yourself to feel much about it beside panic. If it wasn’t for the occasional bought of exhaustion or the really gross smoothies Fred makes you every morning, that he claims are full of nutrients, you wouldn’t know you are pregnant.

But this moment, hearing the heartbeat, it finally hits you. This is what you needed; the switch. You finally feel pregnant. The doctors voice fades into the background, you’re unable to pull your eyes from the screen.

“You okay?” Fred asks wiping a tear from the corner of your eye. You finally turn your head and adjust in the bed to look at him. You realize the doctor left, and you honestly have no idea how long she has been gone for.

“Yeah” you whisper softly a slight smile pricking the edges of your lips. Fred’s thumb brushes your cheek; his eyes are soft while he waits for you to continue.

“I guess I didn’t believe I was pregnant until now and–“ you trail off.

“And?” he asks shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

“I’m happy” you laugh through your tears “I’m really happy.”

He lets out a sigh of relief and brings his face down to yours and presses his lips against yours. “Good” he says pulling back briefly before pressing his lips back to yours.

“I’m sorry I –“ you stammer out finally pulling away. You become wracked with guilt with how you have been addressing this pregnancy the past few weeks.

“No need” he gently places his hand on your stomach, feeling the practically non-existent bump. His touch while soft and gentle are all you need in this moment. “It’s a lot babe, but nobody else I’d want to do this with.”

“Same” you smile pulling him back down for another kiss. The kiss starts soft but your hands slowly rake through his beard. They run further into his hair holding him close while your mouth opens allowing him entrance, but instead he pulls away.

“We’re in a doctor’s office, anyone could walk in” he murmurs forehead lightly pressed on yours. He quickly leans down and places on more on your lips before helping you to sit up in the bed.

A few minutes later you stand up pulling your pants back up your legs when Fred picks you up putting you on the table. He reaches over and grabs your shoes putting one on your foot and begins to tie the laces.

“You know I’m not that pregnant yet” you laugh “I can put my own shoes on.”

“I like taking care of you” he smiles grabbing your second shoe.

“Mommy, daddy” you hear Oliver squeal as soon as the door opens. You have barely got your shoes off when he comes barrelling forward almost knocking you over. Fred’s hands quickly grip your hips to steady you while you pick him up.

“Hey birthday boy” you smile at him “ready for today?”

“Mhm” he nods.

“You need a haircut eh bud” Fred laughs brushing his curls away from his eyes.

“No!” he quickly whines having developed a fear of haircuts early on. You and Fred both laugh “you can barely see” Fred responds. He begins to squirm in your grip so you set him on the floor.

“Uncle Auston says it’s my hockey flow” he calls over his shoulder taking off towards the kitchen. You groan shaking your head while Fred pulls your coat off; the last thing he needs is another reason to not get a haircut.

“He does have good hockey hair” Fred chuckles following him down the hall.

“Hey big buy” Fred smiles walking over to Noah who is in his baby swing. Noah’s face immediately lights up as Fred picks him up when Christie walks into the room with Lucas. After a few minutes she leaves; you and Fred take the twins to the playroom, watching Oliver play with his dinosaurs.

The two of you shift getting comfortable on the couch each of you holding one of the twins; his hand gently landing on your thigh. Your head finds his shoulder when Noah fuses in Fred’s arm. He bounces him a little bit as ucas begins to whine in yours.

You groan slightly sitting up “we already don’t have enough hands, how will we manage another baby?”

“Another baby” Oliver asks from his toys. Both of your heads snap up, you had no intention of telling him for a few more weeks.

“Umm” Fred shifts laughing uncomfortably beside you. You shift Lucas to press him against your chest.

“Yeah” you trail of a bit, Fred smirking towards you.

“Come here for a sec” Fred says patting the couch. He makes his way to the couch and hops up, Fred pulling him onto his lap, his legs swinging back and forth.

“Daddy and I are going to have another baby” you say. “It will be here in about seven months.”

“I’m gonna have another brother” he says smiling.

Fred laughs a little shaking his head “maybe, could be a girl. Could have a little sister” Fred replies.

“A sister” his eyes light up. “I want a sister!”

Both you and Fred laugh slightly at his excitement. “We won’t know that for a little bit” you reply. “But how do you feel about another baby?”

He ponders for a minute “okay” he shrugs.

“Yeah? You sure?” you ask and he eagerly nods at you.

“Okay but you have to keep it a secret” you say to him. “Can’t tell anybody.”

“Okay mommy” he replies. “When is it time for my party?”

“A half hour” Fred laughs “why don’t you go get dressed.”

He eagerly jumps off the couch his dinosaur clatters on the floor while he skips down the hall. Before long you are pulling into the parking lot at Planet Bounce. It is a large indoor jumping castle playground complete with obstacle courses, slides and activities to keep the kids occupied. Being an off day, a lot of the team is coming even those without kids, and a part of you thinks the players will have more fun than the kids.

You arrive about a half hour before everyone else, the space comes decorated but you are setting up the finishing touches. Pretty quickly people begin to filter in and the space is filled with the laughter of children. You haven’t seen Oliver in almost a half hour, but you can hear him running through the tunnels.

“Where are the twins?” Anna asks coming up beside you.

You nod your head toward Fred and Sidney, each of them have a baby and are holding them over a portion of the jumping castle, helping them jump up and down. Their laughter erupts sending huge smiles to Fred and Sidney’s faces. Next you watch as the two of them crawl into the castle and begin to jump, holding them against their chests.

Your eyes go wide, not for the twins but for the men as they start bouncing. When they grabbed them from the stroller you warned them they had just been fed but Sid said they had steel stomachs and would be fine.

“Mommy watch” you hear from across the room. You begin looking around hearing him repeatedly call out to you and find him at the top of a 30 foot bouncy slide. He is sitting beside Connor and as soon as you find them they push off and bounce down the slide, Connor waiting to give Oliver a small head start. “I won” he cheers reaching the bottom first. Before you can respond Sidney is shoving Lucas into your arms, a trail of vomit down his chest.

You just shake your head giving him a knowing glance that says I told you so. “Good thing your cute” he jokes poking Lucas’s side.

“You see me mommy” Oliver asks running over to you.

“Yeah I did, you were so fast” you respond excitedly.

“I’m going to go again” he says running off back to the slide.

“I think the adults are having more fun than the kids” Anna laughs walking away. You watch as Oliver climbs back up the slide, waiting his turn behind some of the players who are almost wrestling at the top. Tyler a boy his age comes up behind him and the two of them begin taking turns on the slide. You don’t know how long you stand there watching as they run up the slide and back down, sitting, lying on their back, to their stomachs.

Finally you feel Fred gently nudge your elbow, pulling you from your gaze. You turn to him, seeing Noah pressed against his chest “hey.”

“Hey” you grin to him.

“What’s going through your head momma?”

A light chuckle escapes you but before you can answer Oliver interrupts you. “Daddy can I have a drink” Oliver asks sweat on his forehead and a huge smile on his face.

“Yeah I think we’re going to do cake and presents now anyways” Fred responds guiding him to the table. He eagerly climbs onto his chair, eyes lighting up when he the cake is brought into his gaze.

You stand across from him taking some pictures while everyone sings. Finally he blows the three candles off his cake “what’d you wish for Ollie?” someone calls out while Fred pulls the candles from the cake.

“A sister” he answers nonchalantly bouncing in his seat waiting for Fred to cut him a piece cake. You hear some murmuring and confusion around you. You begin to shift on your feet feeling heat hit your cheeks as the eyes begin to find you in the room.

“Why does Ollie want a sister?” Kathy asks walking up nudging your arm.

“You know kids” you brush off eyes finding Fred “crazy imaginations.” He has a large smirk, focusing on cutting the cake. His head doesn’t look up; a ploy to avoid the suspecting glances.

“Right” she responds next to you. “and you didn’t drink today, or on Halloween because…”

She trails off waiting for your response, although everyone already knows the answer. Someone takes over for Fred and he joins you, putting an arm around your shoulder. He leans in, pressing his mouth to the side of your head.

“Three hours, couldn’t even keep the secret for three hours” you chuckle slightly but are immediately pulled into celebratory hugs from the team.

“Four kids eh” Sid says wrapping his arms around you.

“Yeah Fred wanted an even number for roller coasters” you laugh.

“Congrats guys” Kathy says wrapping her arms around you. “You know I’m surprised that you’re having a fourth, but not all that surprised.”

“Yeah that’s kind of the general feeling” Fred laughs walking back over to Oliver.

The rest of the party is spent with you being congratulated or pulled into conversations about the wedding or the baby. Fred mouths the words “sorry” from across the room as he plays with Oliver.

You aren’t sure when but you wake up and take a look around the room. You realize you aren’t in your room, but instead are curled up next to Oliver. You remember lying beside him while you read a story to him and you must have fallen asleep. You are under the blankets indicating Fred came in and tucked you in next to him.

You chuckle slightly and place a kiss on his forehead. You lie there for a few minutes toying with the idea of just spending the night with your son curled up beside you. As exciting as today was for you, it also has been hard watching your first born grow up and turn three.

Finally you decide to join Fred in your bed. If it wasn’t for the fact you were still in your jeans you probably would have stayed snuggled up to him. You have no idea what time it is, all you know is you took Oliver to bed around 8:30. You fumble your way down the hall through the dark when you make it to the room.

You see Fred lying in bed on his phone, the clock reading 10:26. The light of his phone illuminates his face and you see Fred smile at you. You strip out of your clothes, not bothering to find some pyjamas and crawl in beside him in your underwear.

“How you doing momma?” a chill running through your body from the lack of clothing.

“I’m sleepy” you yawn. Fred wraps his arm around you, his hand resting on your bump. He scooches closer, his body heat warming your naked body. His thumb gently rubs your stomach as he throws one of his large thighs over your legs; you feel his breath on the back of your head and slowly begin to doze off.

***

“Hey babe” you call answering your facetime.

“Hey how’s it going?”

“Good just making lunch” you respond opening the fridge.

“Daddy!” Oliver calls our running over to the island. You turn your phone around so he can talk to Fred while you prepare lunch.

“How was hockey?” Fred asks. Today was the third game of his season and with Fred’s season he has only managed to get to one practice and one game. You take lots of video’s and send them to Fred, and Oliver could spend hours telling Fred every detail of his hockey.

Fred wanted him to start as a player for a couple seasons, work on developing his skating and stick handling before going in net; assuming at that point he wanted to be a goalie. But Oliver would have none of it. He wanted to be a goalie just like his daddy.

Fred even explained that he was a player for a couple years but Oliver didn’t care. This resulted in Fred spending a few hours at a hockey store helping to get him everything he needed. When Oliver came back from the store he was grinning from ear to ear and was so excited he had to try everything on for you as soon as he got home.

“It was good I had so many saves, and my coach said I have been getting good at getting up” he replies before diving into the details of the game. While he has been skating for a bit, skating with all the equipment is different, and when he falls or goes down to make a save he has a hard time getting back up.

Because most of his hockey exposure has been NHL games, he thinks he should be an NHL caliber player to start. Fred asked his mom to send some videos of him as a kid, showing him that even his dad fell down and it wasn’t always easy to get up. You know with time he will realize that it takes practice to get better, but for now you think it’s cute.

“I even caught one in my glove” Oliver calls out when you put a grilled cheese in front of him.

“You have fun?” Fred asks.

“Mhm daddy, so much fun!” he screams taking a bite.

“Good that’s all that matters”

“I have a practice Wednesday, can you come?” he asks.

“Sorry bud I’ll still be on my road trip then”

“Oh okay” he says slightly disappointed. “Can I eat in front of the TV?” Oliver asks switching his attention to you.

“Yeah of course bud” you say and he jumps down taking his plate with him.

“You know you’re super woman?” Fred says to you. “Getting him ready for hockey while pregnant and watching the twins. I don’t know how you do it.”

You smile at his words “Kathy stayed over last night and came with us this morning. She watched the twins while I got him changed.”

“I know but most of the time it’s just you and the boys. I don’t know if I tell you enough how lucky I am to have you”

“Yeah you are pretty lucky” you joke sending a smile to Fred’s face. “Are you starting tonight?”

“Yeah Jarry wasn’t feeling too good yesterday so I’m going in tonight” he replies checking his watch. “I actually have to go and start my game day stuff; I just wanted to see you in case you’re too tired after the game to talk.”

“Okay, I love you”

**

“How is Noah still awake?” Oliver asks skipping down the hall to the couch. While Lucas fell asleep almost an hour ago, Noah is still awake, sitting on the couch with a bottle in his hand. His eyes are heavy, and you feel as if he will fall asleep soon, which is part of the reason you have left him alone. You figure if you leave him be eventually he will fall asleep.

“I don’t know” you reply.

“He must be excited watching Daddy make all the good saves” Oliver says placing a kiss on his head which causes the edges of your lips to curve up.

“Mhm” you hum. While Oliver loves his brothers, he sometimes isn’t all that excited by them. You know once they are a little bit bigger and they can play together they will become best friends, but for now his interactions can be limited. But you think it makes it all the more special when you see him making silly faces at them, or trying to read to them.

The second period of the game is underway and the team hasn’t shown up in front of Fred. They have been held to 9 shots while the Bruins have 24, but Fred has stopped them all. Even the shots he shouldn’t have stopped he has. You can feel the frustrations coming off the Bruins as they are down by one and should be winning but just can’t get anything by Freddie. This has led to a couple scrums and shoving matches after the whistle and you’re pretty sure it’s going to get worse.

You turn your attention from your boys to the game. A few minutes go by when there is an odd man rush. Oliver slides forward on the couch with excitement. Marchand has the puck and cross the blue line, McAvoy right with him. Fred leaves his crease in an attempt to limit the net space for the shooter, put more pressure on Marchand.

The Penguins defenseman tries to pull the puck away, hooking his stick in. The two get tangled up in the battle for the puck and tumble forward landing on Fred as the three slide into the net. The play is blown down, the puck somewhere under the three men.

“Daddy stopped the puck” Oliver calls out jumping onto his feet.

You feel your heart rate rise watching the men slide into Fred. Collisions aren’t uncommon in hockey but your heart always skips a beat. That is until Fred is back on his feet, pulls his helmet back and shakes it off. Once you see his red hair and brown eyes as he takes a drink you relax knowing he is fine.

The other two players untangle themselves slowly and rise to their feet, a small scrum erupts off to the side of the play. Fred is lying on his back and he rolls onto his stomach slowly; you can tell he is shaken a bit. He presses himself on his knees but instead of getting up he falls onto his stomach. Tears instantly prick your eyes and your chest tightens knowing something is wrong. They show a trainer come out to talk to Fred and the feed cuts to commercials.

“Is daddy okay?” Oliver asks you concern laced in his voice.

“Yeah buddy he’s fine” you whisper and pull him up on your lap.

“Why didn’t he get up?” he asks and you can hear the concern etched in his voice. You gently brush the hair from his head and kiss his forehead “sometimes it hurts a little bit and he just needs a minute” you reassure him “he’s okay.” You want to believe your words, knowing it was a hard hit and he likely will be fine; but something in your gut tells you otherwise.

When the feed returns Fred is still lying on the ice, but the stretcher has been brought out. You pull Oliver tight to your chest muttering a fuck, not caring about swearing in front of your toddler in this moment. You find the remote and turn the TV off, not wanting Oliver to watch.

“Mommy” Oliver whines and you can hear the fear in his voice.

“He’s going to be fine” you say hugging him gently pressing your lips to his forehead. You let out a sigh rubbing your hands on his back. You blink back a few tears trying to keep your composure knowing it isn’t good. Stretchers are never a good thing, and it’s not something they bring out unless necessary; the player will typically do anything to skate off the ice on their own no matter how bad the injury is.

“I want to watch the game” he cries but you know he wants to see his Dad, and see if there is an update. You see some tears run down his cheeks and you gently wipe them away.

“I know bud but it’s getting late, it’s time for your bedtime” you lie. While it’s almost nine, on Saturdays you always let him stay up and watch the game in its entirety. You look to Noah, and he has fallen asleep beside you. “How about we go to mommies bed and watch a movie?” you ask him. He sniffles against you but you feel him nod slightly “okay” you whisper.

You rise to your feet and Oliver clings to your neck, you somehow manage to pull Noah into your other arm. You carry the two of them upstairs and you set Oliver down at your door. You get Noah into his crib and find Oliver lying in the middle of your bed. He looks so tiny lying in your king sized bed but his eyes are wide awake. You turn on the TV and crawl in next to him, pulling him into your arms. After setting up Toy Story you grab your phone.

You send Fred a text, though you know you won’t hear from him until after his evaluation at the hospital. You have messages from all the other WAG’s. Some asking if you’ve heard anything, others just telling you they are thinking of you. Injuries are common in hockey but stretchers and hospitals aren’t; and it’s something nobody likes to see.

You ignore the texts and type his name in google and on twitter. But the only update is he was sent to the hospital for evaluation. You aren’t surprised you know that you’ll hear from the team or Fred long before any update is released on social media.

Oliver is quiet throughout the movie, never saying anything. After about twenty minutes you set your phone down on the bed and pull him closer, pressing your lips to the side of his forehead. You try to relax in hopes you can calm Oliver and he will fall asleep, but also because you know there is nothing you can do.

About halfway through the movie you hear Oliver’s breathing shift. You brush some hair from his head and turn the movie off darkness filling your room. The darkness leads to your mind wandering; countless bad thoughts and worst case scenarios entering your mind.

You unlock your phone and check the text you sent, message still unread. You set it back down and close your eyes trying to sleep though you know it’s unlikely. You feel Oliver’s chest rise and fall beside you, and it helps to keep you calm. If it wasn’t for Oliver you would be pacing back and forth in the bedroom, maybe stress cleaning the kitchen. But him needing you is the only reason you haven’t left the bed.

You end up falling asleep, though only for short periods of time. Every time you start to get into a sleep you are startled awake by Oliver stirring or cooing from the twins over the baby monitor. You hear every crack in the floor, and jump at the wind rattling the windows. At some point you feel your phone vibrate and you jump out of the bed.

“Fred” you answer.

“Hey baby” he says through a raspy voice.

“Oh my god” you exhale. “How are you?”

“Been better” he laughs “but I’m alright.”

“That’s good” you whisper, tears catching in your throat.

“Hey don’t cry babe, I’m okay” he soothes hearing your soft sobs through the phone. “(Y/N) I promise I’m fine, it was precaution. The neck brace is off.”

“What…why did you…why did” you ramble unable to get the question out as warm tears barrel down your cheeks.

“I have a concussion and when I tried to get up it was too much and I lost consciousness. When I came back I told them my neck hurt so they brought out the stretcher” he explains sighing.

“But you’re okay?” you ask through strangled sobs.

“Yeah babe. I have a concussion and will be out for a bit but otherwise I’m okay. MRI came back fine” he says and you exhale feeling a sense of relief. You take a deep exhale and the two of you sit in silence for a minute while Fred waits until he knows you are doing okay.

“Did Ollie see?” he finally asks. You don’t respond and Fred knows what your silence means. “How is he doing?”

“Okay, a little scared” you respond wiping away your tears. You look over at your son, the miniature version of Fred barely noticeable under the pillows and blankets on your bed. You can see some red hairs sticking out but beyond that you can hardly tell he is in the bed. You crawl back in beside him and pull his body against you, you feel him stir a bit but eventually you feel him relax into your embrace. “He’ll be better when he finds out you’re okay. I turned the game off pretty quickly so he didn’t see much.”

“That’s good” he replies sadness in his voice. The two of you talk a little longer and apart from being tired he seems to be okay. You attempt to hide the fear and concern in your voice but most of your conversation is spent with him reassuring you he is fine. You try to hang up but Fred refuses to hang up until you stop crying and are okay. He stays on the line long after you stop crying, waiting until he hears your breathing steady indicating you’re sleeping before he hangs up.

The next morning is mostly a blur; you wake up early and wait for the boys. You make them breakfast and lunch though you can barely keep food down. Your stomach is doing backflips, not because of morning sickness but because of your nerves. The twins have no idea what is going on so they are babbling away and playing on their activity mats.

But Oliver is a different story he doesn’t do anything except watch a movie and constantly ask you the time. He knows Fred is okay, as soon as he woke up he wanted to talk to him. He had a meltdown when you told him Fred couldn’t look at his phone, and he had another when you told him he was staying home with Christie while you pick him up.

But at 3 pm it’s finally time for you to go get Fred. He flew back on a private plane and won’t be going to the rink for at least a week if not longer, and he won’t start practicing for a bit after that. When you told Oliver Fred would be home for a couple days he calmed down slightly, but he blocked out the part where you said he would be resting for most of it.

You finally see Fred come into the parking garage sunglasses on his face. You immediately get out and run to him wrapping your arms around his neck. You hear him groan as his body coils away from you.

“Sorry” you say pulling away from him and see him wincing in pain. “I thought your neck was fine.” You say taking his bag from him.

“I downplayed a bit so you wouldn’t worry” he says shifting on his feet. “Doctors said its fine, but it definitely hurts.”  

You shake your head at him “Fred” your voice catches in your throat. He pulls you into his chest wrapping his arms around you. You hear the soft beating of his chest through his sweater as he gently places his chin on your head.

“You were worried” he sighs “and I knew if I was 100% honest about it you wouldn’t have slept and would stress all night. The last thing the boys or the little nugget need is a stressed and tired mom when I’m not there.”

You open your mouth to scold him for lying but you know he was only thinking of you so instead you smile against his chest. The two of you stand wrapped in one another for a minute before you and lead him to the car. Fred reclines his seat, pulling his hood up while the two of you drive home in silence. As soon as you open the door Oliver almost tackles him, you try to tell him to be careful but Fred bends down to pick him up through his pain.

The next few days are relatively quiet; Fred spends most of his time in bed with the blinds down. He comes down for meals but the lights and television are often too much for him. Even though you told Oliver he needs his rest, you have often found Oliver curled up in bed with him; sometimes while Fred sleeps unaware of his presence.

One time he even snuck up with a book and was “reading” him the story, though it was actually him going off memory and the pictures. Fred was completely asleep during all of it; you actually took a video to show Fred later once he is better. And every day during the twins nap time Fred has wandered down to their room to pull them out of their cribs to nap with him. On day three you actually gave up and just started taking them to Fred to save him from getting out of bed.

“How was his practice” Fred asks when you crawl into bed.

“It was good” you reply rolling onto your side to face him. You can tell from his face he is drained, but not from a lack of sleep, from being locked away in a quiet space while he recovers. The things he wants so close to him yet he can’t spend much time with because of the mayhem and noise. That’s part of the reason he has been bringing the twins in for nap time, to try and get some quiet time in with them.

You softly brush some of his locks away from his dark eyes “how are you doing babe?”

“My heads a little sore” he replies “my neck is stiff though.”

“You want a massage?” you ask and he chuckles lightly.

“I should be giving my pregnant fiancé massages not the other way around.”

“We take care of each other babe” you smile “come on roll over.”

Fred pulls his shirt off and rolls over and places his hands under his pillow. You straddle him legs on either side of his body; you sit on his ass and begin applying light pressure on his neck.

“That okay?” you ask not wanting to press too hard.

“You can go a little harder” he responds “I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”

You increase the pressure gently working on the knots on his neck. Soft moans leave his mouth while your fingers work his muscles. Your hands continue to work along his neck before moving to his shoulders. He shifts slightly under you, his moans getting louder as you apply more pressure.

While giving him massages are nothing new, normally they all lead to one place. In fact the baby growing inside you is a result of a massage you were giving Fred during the pre-season. Normally you start on his shoulders, slowly working your way down his back, until you reach the top of his glutes. You sometimes get a couple minutes of a glute massage in, sometimes its mere seconds before Fred has you on your back, his large body pinning you to the mattress.

But tonight is different. While you doubt Fred has it in him due to his injury you wouldn’t even try; not wanting to possibly agitate him or make something worse. Tonight is 100% about helping to alleviate his pain, help him sleep comfortably.

Your fingers begin to let up and you lean forward and press a few soft kisses on his shoulder. You hear a light moan leave his lips at the contact and you crawl off him. He has a big smile on his face “thanks smuk that helped.” He pulls you closer and presses a kiss to your lips.

His hand rests on your hip while you lean into the kiss, your hand resting on his chest. His thumb slides under your shirt, finding your small bump as he rolls onto his side.

“You’re really showing this time eh” he smiles rubbing his hand over you. While you do have a slight bump, bigger than either of your previous pregnancies at this point; Fred’s large hand easily covers it.  He playfully kisses your cheek, you blood reaching your skin in response.

Fred notices the slight blush on your cheeks and pulls you in closer, placing a few sift kisses on your collarbone. Your head tilts slightly in response and his lips find yours again. He falls onto his back pulling you on top of him.

His hand tangles into your hair groaning as you pull away. “You’re hurt babe” you respond smirking at the pout on his face.

“Kissing never hurt anyone” he responds pulling you back down. His other hand rests low on your hips, stroking the curves of your body. You hesitantly deepen the kiss, allowing him to guide it. He smirks slightly before sliding hid tongue in your mouth, as he holds your body against his.

His hand slides down your body reaching for the back of your thigh; he grips it tightly pulling you closer to him.

His hand caresses your ass while you rest on your forearms, your nails gently raking his beard. “You know some studies say orgasms help with headaches” he smirks.

“Oh yeah who says that?” you joke raising an eyebrow to him.

“Doctors. Scientists” he trails off kissing you again “people.”

“Uh huh” you say a hand trailing down his bare chest while you gently palm over his boxers “doctors eh.”

You feel his dick twitch under you as you continue to apply more pressure, him beginning to get hard under you. You pull away and see him smirking under you; you shake your head and begin placing kisses on his chest. You gently suck marks on his chest leaving a trail down his muscular body.

Normally you would be worried about marking his chest, not wanting the team to see. Given the fact he won’t be at the rink for a bit you allow yourself to slowly tease your way down. Some kisses are soft and brief; others are hard with your teeth grazing against him. Your hand continues to gently stroke him over his boxers as he groans above you, patience wearing thin.

His hips buck up at your touch, trying to get more. His hands find your biceps and he gently tries to push your down farther, instead you bite his skin. Muttered Danish spills from his lips, knowing you aren’t done teasing him.

Your hand slides under the elastic band and you push it down his large thighs. With the fabric out of the way you run your hands up and down his shaft while you nip his pelvic bone. He groans above you, your hand continuing to work his hard member. You feel the warm pre-cum that has leaked from the tip and spread it around with your thumb.

You finally give him what he wants and start placing soft kisses on his hard member. He twitches slightly feeling your mouth finally touch him. You lick a long stripe up the underside of him and swirl your tongue around the tip tasting his familiar flavour.

You gently lift him up wrapping your lips around his tip before dropping your head down. You hear him swear above you, watching as he stares down at you. You set a lazy pace knowing he won’t last long, relaxing your throat for him. Your fingers dance along his large thighs you feel his hips involuntarily jerk, pushing himself against your tonsils.

His hands find your hair pulling it out of your face. You continue to take him in your mouth while a slew of curse words spill from Fred’s. You hollow your cheek taking him fully in, you hear Fred’s voice catch in his throat.

Normally his hips would buck up causing you to gag on him slightly. You would set a hungry pace as his hands tangle into your hair holding you on him; but tonight is more relaxed. It’s you taking care of him, doing what you can to help with his injury.

Fuck,” his hips jerk, his thick member hitting the back of your throat while you hum around him. Your nails rake up his bare thighs; your spit dripping down your chin. Your hand cups his balls and gently massages him while you continue to suck on him Your tongue swirls around him a few more times when you feel his dick twitch and warm spurts of cum are shot down your throat.

You continue to work him through his high, sucking on him until he stops. You feel him still as your mouth stops. You pull off him with a pop and help him shimmy back into his boxers. You crawl back up his body and Fred pulls you into his side, wrapping his arm around you.

“You’re a pretty good nurse babe” he mumbles pressing a soft kiss to your forehead.

“You’ve been a good patient” you chuckle slight resting your hand on his chest.

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