#we had neighbors when i was a kid where they left the door unlocked and someone came into their house and stole the mom's purse off the

[alliluyevas]

i grew up in a densely populated urban neighborhood so i am obviously speaking from that experience but i think even if you live in a suburb or a small town or whatever and you feel like there's very little crime where you live then it's just objectively dumb to not lock your door. and again it takes 2 actual seconds.

[allthingsfangirl101]

*The Basketball Coach – Steve Harrington

Masterlist

Warnings: sneaking around kink, protected sex, rough sex, public sex, single-mom, teen pregnancy, language

I sat in the stands, my eyes on the coach. My son and I moved to Hawkins for a new start the summer before he started his junior year of high school. We were well aware of what happened here about 10 years ago, but things were back to normal.

During our first week, my son met some of our neighbors' kids and immediately hit it off with them. He ended up spending the night with a few of them and playing basketball. While he did that, I needed to blow off some steam. After a whole week of moving, cleaning, and setting up our new house, I decided to go to a bar on Saturday night.  Usually, when I go to a bar, I drink alone at the counter. That night, I met someone.

I started talking and flirting with a gorgeous guy my age named Steve Harrington. Four drinks later, we were making out in the bathroom. We were interrupted so we finished in his car. Before I left, he asked me for his number.

We spent the next week flirt-texting each other. When I texted the guy from the bar, I felt like a teenager again. That weekend, he practically begged to see me again. Not that I minded. I was dying to see him again.

Things went like that for a month - flirting all week followed by a heavy weekend where we fulfilled everything we promised while sexting. After that month, Steve told me he wanted more than just a hook-up.

I told him about Johnny and my concerns about dating a guy and he was completely understanding. We started dating but kept it "lowkey". I use quotes because nothing was lowkey about what we did when we were together. We just didn't tell anyone.

When the school year started, Johnny joined the basketball team. He came home talking about his awesomely funny coach, Coach Harrington. I was stunned. The guy I've been sleeping with all summer was now coaching my son's basketball team.

I freaked out to him, but he instantly reassured me. He said that we could keep dating without anyone, especially Johnny, finding out. I wasn't sure at first, but after the first game, I realized one very special thing - sneaking around was incredibly hot.

As the team ran into the locker room, I walked over to the sidelines. I waited until he passed me before moaning, "Good game, Coach."

"Fuck," he moaned as he froze. He looked over and bit his bottom lip as he scanned my body. "I want nothing more than to take you under these bleachers and ravish you until they call the cops because of all the screaming."

"Calm down, hot stuff," I smirked. "Can't have one of your players see their coach fucking one of their moms."

The butterflies in my stomach went crazy because of the way he was looking at me. He chewed on his bottom lip and scanned my body. He took a step closer to me, no longer caring about anyone seeing us.

"There's something I need to show you in the back of my car," he said, his voice low and dark.

"You know," I paused, "Johnny did drive himself."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out the side door. I had to jog to keep up with him as he led me through the empty employee parking lot. He unlocked his car and I climbed in. I laid on my back as he crawled in.

I couldn't help but giggle as he closed the door behind him. Unable to wait any longer, I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to me. Steve smirked before crashing his lips onto mine.

We let out moans as we undressed each other. I caused Steve to groan as I tore off his polo. He kept himself as close to me as possible and pulled my shirt over my head. He glanced over my chest and moaned.

He didn't go back to kissing me. Instead, he tore my skirt down to my knees. I smirked as he sat up, letting me kick it the rest of the way off. Without breaking eye contact, Steve yanked my underwear down. As he took off his pants and boxers, I reached into the pouch behind the front seat and pulled out our hidden supply of condoms.

Steve sat back and waited for me to put it on him. He loved it when I put the condom on him. He leaned his head back, moaning as I slipped it on. The second I was done, Steve crashed his lips to mine. I ran my fingers through his hair as our bodies rubbed against each other.

I arched my back as Steve roughly pushed into me. He broke the kiss and smirked when he saw my face all scrunched from the pressure.

"Oh, Steve," I moaned. He cut me off by leaning down and smashing his face between my breasts. I let out a girlish giggle as he slipped his tongue under my bra.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. I gasped when he pulled out of me and sat up, quickly bringing me with him. Steve grabbed me and roughly brought me onto his lap. He guided my hips until he was making me ride him.

"Holy shit, baby," I moaned as I arched my back.

"Why does it feel like it's been forever since we. . ." He cut himself off when I brought my hips down rougher.

Our orgasms built the longer I was on top of him. He pressed his hands to my shoulder blades as he brought my chest to his face. I moaned as he did what I loved - licked me.

"Baby," he growled. I gasped when he laid us down without pulling out of me. He took back control instantly. The longer he had control, the closer we got to finishing. Until my phone started ringing.

"Shit," I gasped. "That's Johnny's ring."

Steve sighed and pulled out of me but didn't pull away from my breast as I answered my phone.

"Hey, sweetie," I greeted, trying to sound normal.

"Hey, Mom," Johnny said. I almost didn't hear him because I was focused on Steve paying extra attention to my chest. "I'm heading over to Mike's house. I just wanted to call you since I didn't see you after the game."

"Sorry," I said, forcing myself to look away from the veins sticking out of Steve's neck as he chewed on the skin peeking out from under my bra. "I needed to run a few errands while I'm out."

"Okay," he said simply. "Well, I'm heading to Mike's."

"Thanks for letting me know, baby. Have fun with Mike and make sure you're home before tomorrow night. Your grandparents want to take us to dinner."

"Will do. Love you."

"Love you too."

I hung up the phone and looked at Steve. "Good news," I smirked.

He hummed as he slowly pulled away from my chest. I moaned as he started rubbing his chest against mine.

"What's the news, baby girl?" He asked under his breath as he started kissing my neck.

"Johnny is spending the night at Mike's house," I said shakily.

"Which means you're going to be all alone," he grunted.

"Mmhmm. Care to accompany me?"

Steve crashed his lips down roughly onto mine. I instantly slipped my tongue into his mouth, exploring as much as I could. He bit my lip and sucked on it before slowly breaking the kiss.

"Can't leave a gorgeous woman like you home all alone."

* * * * *

The second I opened the door, Steve spun me around and pulled me into his chest. We backed into the house, never pulling out of the kiss as we made our way inside. We didn't stop until Steve pushed me up against the handrail that led up the stairs.

With a grunt, Steve broke the kiss and picked me up so my legs were wrapped around his waist. As he carried me to my room, I turned my attention to his neck. He moaned as I chewed on his veins that always poked out when he got turned on.

I smirked when Steve roughly dropped me onto the bed. I chewed on my bottom lip as he instantly climbed on top of me. Steve started chewing on my neck, switching between kissing and licking, as he started grinding his body down onto mine.

In minutes, our clothes were scattered around the room. We tucked under my covers as we wrapped up the foreplay and got into things. Something felt oddly familiar as we switched from him being on top to me being on top. That, of course, didn't last long though. Steve hated not being in control. He could only handle it for so long. And I loved it when he took control.

I gasped as he quickly rolled us over so he was on top again. Steve roughly pushed into me, both of us moaning.

"Fuck, Steve," I moaned. "I love it when you get rough, baby."

"Holy shit, sexy," Steve moaned as he pushed further into me. "This is exactly what I needed."

There it was again - that feeling of familiarity.

I pushed it aside as I focused on moaning his name and doing the other things he liked in bed to help keep him going.

"Give in, baby girl," he groaned through his teeth. "I know you want to."

"Sounds to me like you're the one who wants to. . ." Steve made me choke on my words when he leaned down and wrapped his mouth around my nipple.

"Fuck, Steve," I moaned as I arched my back, pushing my chest further against his face. I felt him smirk as he started to suck on me.

"Moan for me," he growled against my breast.

"Oh, Steve!" I repeated his name as he pushed further and rougher into me. "Keep going, Steve."

"Perfect, baby," he growled. "Do it again."

"Oh, Steve!"

We let out matching moans as we both gave in. Steve leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips before gently pulling out of me and lying next to me. Steve slid his hand under my body and pulled me into his side. I smiled as he fixed the blanket around us. I fell asleep to Steve gently rubbing my bare back.

The next morning, I woke up to the sun shining through the small crack in my curtains. The second I was awake, that familiar feeling came back. I tried to push it away, but it kept bugging me.

For some reason, something about our hook-up last night brought back some memories. I looked over my shoulder to see Steve asleep next to me. I carefully got out of my bed and searched for my clothes. I was slipping on my underwear when all of a sudden, it hit me.

De jà vü.

I quickly got dressed and spent the rest of the morning doing random chores around the house. I was loading the dishwasher when I felt him wrap his arms around my waist. I bit my lip when he started sucking on my neck.

"Last night was fun," he moaned against my shoulder. All I could do was moan in response. "But I'm kinda mad at you."

"Why?" I whispered. Steve grabbed my waist and slowly spun me toward him. We were suddenly in an intense staring contest as he grabbed my thigh and wrapped my leg around his waist.

"I'm mad," he groaned, "because I hate waking up alone."

"Sorry," I gasped as he started nibbling on my ear. "I was. . . I woke up and. . . Fuck."

Steve laughed as he picked me up and carried me to the couch. We spent the rest of the morning in a heavy make-out session. He slid his hand under my shirt and started massaging my breast as our tongues danced.

"Steve," I moaned into his mouth. "Baby."

"What?" He pouted as he broke the kiss.

"Johnny will be home soon," I said, out of breath. The lust in Steve's eyes slowly went away. He reached down and moved some hair out of my face.

"You're right," he whispered. "I should get going."

Steve hesitated before finally climbing off of me. He grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet. Without letting go of my hand, Steve walked to the front door. He turned around and pulled me into his chest. I smiled as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we got into the kiss. Steve finally broke the kiss, both of us breathing heavily.

"I'll call you later," he whispered.

"Not tonight," I said out of breath. "My parents are taking me and Johnny to dinner."

"Okay," he smiled. "What about tomorrow?"

"Johnny and a couple of other boys from the team are going to see that new movie," I smirked.

"That gives us two hours."

"Three, actually."

"Three hours?" He asked.

"They're going to get burgers before the movie."

"Perfect," Steve smirked as he pulled me in closer. "Three hours of privacy for us to do naughty things."

"Naughty things?" I chuckled.

"Adult things," he changed.

"Adult things," I repeated as I struggled not to laugh. "I know you spend your days talking to teenagers, but angsty Harrington isn't really sexy."

"Fine."

I gasped when Steve pushed me up against the door and started kissing my chest. I leaned my head back against the door as he used his tongue.

"Steve," I stuttered. He licked up my chest, across my collarbone, and up my neck.

"Three hours for us to fool around, make out, massage each other," he listed off, "and my personal favorite; fuck."

* * * * *

As much as I tried to resist it, I couldn't. I had to talk to him about this. It was too big.

With it being Monday, I knew that Steve didn't have practice. He wanted his players to start the week off without having practice to distract them from school. I also knew that Johnny went to his lab partner's house after school on Mondays to get a headstart on their weekly chem packet.

I got to the high school right as the bell rang. I didn't bother to wait for the students to clear out. I got out of my car and headed to his office. When I got there, I stopped.

How would he react to this?

It could go really well, but it could also go horribly wrong and I could lose the one person who has made me happier than I've been in years.

"Y/N? Is everything okay? Where's Johnny?"

"He's fine," I stuttered a little taken aback by the panic in Steve's voice. "He doesn't know I'm here."

"Oh?" Steve asked as he stood up. "Then what are you doing here?"

"I need to tell you something," I said under my breath as I stood in his office doorway.

Steve quickly walked over and closed the gap between us. He grabbed my hands, pulling me more into his office, and shutting the door. "What is it, baby?"

"I figured something out."

Steve locked his office door before pulling me over so we were sitting on the couch. "What did you figure out?"

I looked up at him, unable to approach the topic. "I was thinking about the night I got pregnant with Johnny," I started.

"Okay," he said, reaching up and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "What about that night?"

"It was a Halloween party," I explained. "I was drunk and so was Johnny's dad. It turns out. . . He had gotten into a pretty bad fight with his girlfriend that night. So bad they broke up."

My heart beat against my chest as I waited to see if he was figuring it out.

"What umm. . . What costume was he wearing?"

Yep, he was figuring it out. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

"Joel Goodson from Risky Business."

"Oh," he whispered. I bit my lip, trying to stop the tears as Steve focused on something on the other side of his office.

"You're Johnny's dad, Steve," I said, my voice breaking, "I just want to say that you don't have to get involved. In fact, the only reason I'm telling you is because I figured you had the right to know. But, again, I don't expect you to get involved. If you need some time then take it. Call me when you're ready to talk."

I started to get up, but Steve pulled me back. The second I was sitting, he pressed his lips to mine. I moaned as he pushed me back, instantly hovering over me. Our lips and bodies began our usual routine of pleasing each other.

Steve broke the kiss before things could get too heated. He leaned back but stayed close to me.

"I'm glad you told me," he whispered. "I know there are a lot of logistics to figure out, but there is one thing I can say right now to help relieve some of your stress."

"What?" I asked with my stomach basically in my throat.

"I want to be involved."

"You do?" I stuttered, my voice breaking. Steve smiled at me as he moved some hair out of my face.

"Of course I do, baby," he whispered. I let out a small moan as Steve kissed me again.

"There's one more thing," I said, stopping things before they could get started.

"What is it, baby girl?"

"Johnny deserves to know who his father is. All his life, I've said that I didn't know who it was, that it was a one-night stand. But now that I know, now that you know, and now that we're together, he deserves to be involved. I mean. . . We're a family, Steve. I want us to be one. At least, I want us to try."

Steve leaned in and delicately pressed his lips to mine. When he broke the kiss, he pressed his forehead to mine.

"I want us to be one too," he whispered. He smiled as he added with a small chuckle, "He's my son. Johnny is my son. Of course I want to be involved, Y/N. You've done an amazing job but you shouldn't have to do this on your own. Whenever you're ready to tell him about us and me being his father, I will be there."

* * * * *

After a lot of discussion and debate with Steve, we figured that Johnny was old enough to handle his mom sleeping with his coach. He definitely deserved to know that his coach was actually his father. We just needed to be gentle about how we told him. I decided that it was probably best for me to tell him alone. Steve didn't fight me on it. He told me to call him and let him know how it goes.

After a lot more debating with myself, I decided to tell him at dinner. I was going to start by telling him about me and Steve secretly dating. Depending on how he responded to that, then I'd tell him what I figured out about Steve.

"Hey, Mom?" Johnny called from the other room. "What's for dinner?"

I looked up when he walked into the family room. "Actually," I cleared my throat, "I was thinking we'd go out for dinner."

"What?" Johnny laughed. "We never go out unless it's a birthday or something. Are we celebrating something?" I stood up and wrapped my arms around myself. "Mom? Is something wrong?"

"No," I said clearing my throat. I let out a small laugh when my son looked at me like he knew there was something I wasn't telling him. "Alright," I sighed, giving in. "There is something I need to talk to you about. It's nothing bad. We just need to talk about it."

"Okay," he said slowly. "I'll go grab my coat."

Maybe going to Johnny's favorite restaurant was a little overkill. We were halfway through our entrées when Johnny couldn't take it anymore.

"Mom," he sighed, putting his fork down. "Can you just tell me what's going on already? It's. . . It's killing me."

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "There are a couple of things I wanted to. . . Needed to talk to you about. They aren't bad, just. . . Complicated."

"Okay," Johnny said, shifting in his seat. "Can you just blurt it out? Might be easier on both of us."

"I've been seeing your basketball coach," I said quickly. I held my breath waiting for his reaction. He looked down at his food as he processed it. Nervous, I began to explain myself. "Look, I didn't mean. . . When we first got together, I had no idea he was your basketball coach. We met at a bar and immediately hit it off. We dated all summer. At first, I kept it from you because I wasn't sure how you'd react to me dating. And then, when I found out Steve was your coach, I knew how you'd react."

"No, you don't," he said, sounding like he was still thinking.

"What?"

"You don't know how I'd react," he said, finally looking at me.

"I don't?"

"Don't get me wrong," he said with a teasing smile, "it's weird. Like really weird. But can I ask you one question?"

"Of course, baby," I said quickly. "What do you want to know?"

"Does Coach Harrington make you happy?"

My heart jumped into my throat at his question. "He does," I said, my voice dropping. "He has made me feel things I haven't felt in a long time."

"Ew," he teased.

"That's not what I meant," I said quickly.

"I know," he laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Mom. But, honestly, I'm glad he makes you happy. You've spent my entire life taking care of me. If Coach Harrington takes care of you, then I'm okay with it."

"You're amazing," I gushed.

"Mom," he groaned.

"Sorry," I chuckled. "I mean it, Johnny. Most teenagers would hate the idea of their mom dating their coach. It really doesn't bother you?"

"No," he shrugged. "I like Coach Harrington. He's awesome."

That was extremely reassuring.

"That's good to hear," I whispered, "because there is something else I need to tell you."

"Okay," he said as he went back to eating his dinner.

"You know how I wasn't sure who your father is," I started this news slower.

"Yeah," he shrugged.

"Well. . . I know now."

Johnny's head snapped up. "You do?" He stuttered.

"I figured it out," I said, my voice soft.

"Who is it?" He asked, scooting closer to the table. I smiled at him, suddenly nervous to tell him.

"It's Coach Harrington," I whispered.

"What?"

"It was Steve that I met that night at the Halloween party," I further explained.

"Wait," Johnny stuttered. "So you're saying. . . Coach Harrington is. . . My dad?"

"He is."

He cleared his throat before asking, "Does he know?"

"He knows," I smiled, my eyes filling with tears. "In fact, I was with him when I figured it out. He offered to be here when I told you but I thought it would be better. . ."

"Does he want to be involved?" Johnny cut me off. He cleared his throat before asking, "I mean. . . Does he want to be a part of our family?"

I reached over and gently placed my hand on his. He looked up at me and my heart sank when I saw the tears threatening to spill.

"That is exactly what he wants, sweetheart," I whispered. "If you want that too."

* * * * *

I walked into Johnny's basketball practice, my heart jumping into my throat when I saw my son talking to Steve. It felt hard to breathe as I watched them talk. I wrapped my arms around myself, not wanting to interrupt them. Steve caught me over Johnny's shoulder. He said something to him before nodding my way.

"Mom!" Johnny yelled as he ran over to me. I laughed as he wrapped me in a hug.

He's never done this. He's never been affectionate with me. Especially somewhere his friends could see him hugging his mother. Ever since I told him about Steve being his father, he's been like this more with me. He's also been eager to go to practice.

"How was practice?" I asked as I returned the hug.

"Awesome, as always," he laughed. Suddenly, his smile dropped. "Umm. . . Mom?"

"What is it, hun?"

"Can we. . . I was talking to Coach. . . I invited him over for dinner," he finally got out. "Is that okay?"

"Of course, baby," I smiled.

His demeanor changed as he got nervous. "I just thought it would be good for him to join us at dinner a couple of times since he's. . ."

"Your father," I finished for him. "How is that, by the way? I mean, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," he shrugged. "It's a little weird but I've always liked him. It might take me some time before I'm ready to call him Dad."

"You don't have to start calling him that," I said quickly. "At least not right away. Take your time, sweetheart."

"Hey, you two."

"Hi. . . Coach," Johnny said, glancing at me.

"What are you guys talking about?" Steve asked glancing at me.

"Johnny was just telling me that he invited you to dinner tonight," I said. "Anything sound good to either of you?"

"Pizza," Johnny said instantly. Steve and I shared a look.

"Nothing homemade?" I offered.

"Nah," Johnny said before jogging to the locker room. I couldn't help but follow him with my eyes. I gasped when Steve stepped up behind me.

"He's okay," he leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Is he?" I didn't bother to turn around.

Steve grabbed my waist and spun me around. He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. He glanced around the empty gym before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. He broke the kiss and kept his face inches from mine.

"He's fine," he reassured. "I talked to him before practice. Or should I say, he talked to me."

"He did?" I whispered. "What did he say?"

"He told me that you told him about us and about me being his father," Steve explained. "All he said was that he wanted to make sure that I would be around for a while."

"And what did you say?"

Steve smiled as he pulled me closer. He leaned down and pressed his lips delicately to mine. I moaned softly as I deepened the kiss. We broke apart, both of us breathing heavily.

"I said that I would be in his and your life for the rest of mine."

"What did he say?" I asked as I played with the collar of his shirt. I looked up to see him smiling at me.

"He said that he wanted me to be in your life for the rest of his life," Steve whispered. "And he said that he sees how happy I make you and how he would get me fired and destroy my life if I ever broke your heart."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry," I giggled. "He shouldn't have threatened you like that."

"It's okay," he shrugged. "It's kinda sweet how protective he was of you."

"He's a good kid," I blushed.

"He's a fantastic kid," Steve chuckled. His smile softened. "All thanks to you. Y/N, you did an amazing job with him. And I hope you know that I will do everything I can to give you and Johnny a good life. I know I wasn't there to help you through the hard years, but I'm here now and I want to be here for the rest of my life. I love you, Y/N."

My breath got caught in my throat. Overcome with happiness, I grabbed his face and smashed my lips onto his. I felt him smile as he tightened his arms around my waist and deepened the kiss. I broke the kiss, both of us breathing heavily.

"I love you too, Steve."

Part 2

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for stealing two of my neighbors cats?

When we moved into apartment 5, apartment 2 was the first to greet us, and told us they also had cats, we even got to see them a few times, and for about 8 months everything was fine.

They then brought home a puppy, and we noticed their cats getting outside a lot. We would Snapchat them about it, or even stick them back inside if we noticed the door unlocked. We started leaving out water and food occasionally because one of the cats, the 15 year old, was very skinny. After six months we noticed that 2's cats were consistently the ones eating the food we left out, they would try to get into our appartemnt when we were coming and going and the complex's kids had started putting their cats in our (#5) apartment, presumably because we also have cats.

We decided to re-home them when we noticed them living in the bush beside our front door. We caught the 15 year old first and gave her to a friend, where we learned she had no teeth, but on a diet of wet food she started to gain weight until you could no longer feel her ribs so easily. The 5 year old was a little harder to catch, a long haired fellow, who was severely matted and shockingly underweight. We gave him to a friend we are no longer close with, and I don't have updates on him anymore, but we did know he was gaining weight, turned out to have been declawed, and now gets taken to the groomers weekly for his coat.

It took number 2 two weeks to notice they weren't around the complex anymore, they seemed to think the cats got hit by a car, as we live next to a semi busy road. The 15 year old cat lived to be 17 ish, and was 'a sweet cranky old hag' who got wet food and slept on a satin pillow until her passing. The 5 year old is still alive, to my knowledge. The neighbor is moving out now, and while my roommates assure me that we did the right thing, I still feel like an asshole for just rehoming them without telling #2 anything.

Did I do the right thing? Or was i an asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[number1mingyustan]

Bittersweet (Chapter 2—Lesson 1) ||k.mgyu + j.ww

Genre: neighbors to lovers, strangers to lovers, angst, smut

Warnings: mentions of sex, kissing, marking, grinding, sexual tension, mingyu gets hard but nothing extreme happens

Summary: in which mingyu finds out about your crush and he’s determined to teach you something new

Word Count: 2.5k

series masterlist

_______________________________________________

‘mom’s working late, meet me outside the boys locker room @ 4. we can go back to mine after school’

You close your phone, foot tapping rapidly against the ground beneath you.

You’re waiting impatiently outside of the boys locker room. Mingyu texted to meet him there after school so the two of you could drive back to his place.

However, the weather is getting warmer and spring is approaching. Thus, it’s almost baseball season. Mingyu being the star athlete he is, practices during off season to stay in shape and continue to improve his skills.

It’s currently 4:13 and you’ve been waiting since 4 like he told you. You’re about to let out a huff of annoyance when Mingyu appears in front of you.

“Hey kid,” he flashes you a smile.

“You’re late,” you huff.

“Eager to get back to my place are we?” he teases.

You push him softly, to which he lets out a breathy chuckle. “Sorry, I was pitching to Wonwoo and after he got his catcher gear off he wanted a few more to hit off of. Didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

Your heart stops at the sound of his name.

Wonwoo.

Jeon Wonwoo, Mingyu’s best friend since freshman year. The two were your iconic pitcher and catcher duo yet somehow polar opposites. Mingyu was the more loud cocky extroverted type where Wonwoo was the silent observant introvert.

The two of them were inseparable, often spending their time on videos games or in the batting cages. They went everywhere together, it was always Wonwoo and Mingyu.

However what Mingyu didn’t know what that you had the absolute biggest and fattest crush on Wonwoo.

It always shocked you how many girls wanted Mingyu when Wonwoo himself was sculpted by the gods themselves. And when he wore his glasses? You were really done for then.

“Wonwoo?” you squeak.

“Yeah, I was gonna wait up for him before we left but-“

“No!” you cut him off. You grab his arm, pulling him toward the door.

“What the hell Y/n? What has gotten into you?” Mingyu asks.

The two of you exit the school, walking toward his car.

“I can’t let him see me like this, I look bad today.” you say quickly.

“Can’t let him- what? You look fine. Besides I don’t get why it matters. Are you like into Wonwoo or something?” he asks, unlocking his car.

You stay silent, climbing into the passenger seat. He sits in the driver’s seat, turning his head toward you.

“Holy shit you’re totally in love with Wonwoo!” he laughs.

“Shhh!” you shush him loudly. “You can’t tell him! I’m serious Mingyu. I know you guys are really close but he actually can’t find out.”

“Nah,” he says as he starts the car up. “I’m no snitch. I just find it crazy that you’re like in love with him.”

“I’m not in love,” you mumble.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he shrugs before starting the drive home.

“You should leave a love letter in his locker, he loves that kind of stuff,” Mingyu grins.

“Really?” You perk up. There’s a hint of excitement in your voice and Mingyu swears your eyes start twinkling.

“No,” he snorts.

You fall back into the seat with a scoff. “Asshole.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

The drive home isn’t a long one. You usually walk to and from school, but being in Mingyu’s car is way more convenient.

The two of you enter his room. He takes your backpack off your shoulders, placing it on the ground before asking if you want anything to drink.

“Water is fine,” you tell him.

Mingyu can tell you’re nervous. The drive home was comfortable, the two of you talked more than yoder have in years and Mingyu has to admit it was nice. You may be nerdy, but you’re genuinely a cool person to talk to. You’re funny and you make him smile.

He misses being friends with you.

The moment you two entered his front door however, the tension shifted. You were here to hook up with him, not engage in playful conversation like you did in the car. But now, you had anxious written all over you. He finds it cute, but at the same time he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable. “I’ll be right back. Feel free to sit down, make yourself comfortable.”

When Mingyu re-enters his room he lets out a mental sigh of relief when he sees you sitting on his bed. You’re clearly still nervous, but he can tell you’re easing up.

He hands you a water bottle to which you reply with a quiet ‘thank you.’ He pulls up his rolling desk chair, sitting on it backwards and placing himself right in front of you.

“Okay, I wanna set some rules first,” he states.

You nod attentively.

"Rule number one, the absolute most important rule," he spins around in his chair. "Consent is sexy."

"We're gonna be doing a lot of stuff that's probably kind of new to you, some you may be up for and other stuff not so much. It's just really important for me to know what we can and can't do. Understand?"

He looks up at you, a look of shock appearing on his face. Your head is down as you're vigiously scribbling down his words with pen and paper.

"Are you seriously taking notes right now?" he asks.

You look up, briefly making eye contact with him and nodding. "Yeah."

"Jesus Christ Y/n, this isn't school," he chuckles. "I'll let you do you and maybe we can both sign off on it. Make it like an official legal document or something."

You hide your face behind your hands in embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"No it's fine really," he smiles. "It's cute."

You peek through your fingers, meeting his eyes again. "Just finish the rules I'm listening."

"Right," he clears his throat. "Right so rule number one is by far the most important. If you ever want me to stop, I'll stop. I just need you to tell me. Which brings me to rule 2."

"Rule number two: communication is key. If you do like something, if you don't like something, just tell me. I won't be hurt if you don't like something, but I am doing this for you. Just be transparent with me about as much as you can okay?" he asks.

You nod, continuing to jot down notes.

“And rule number 3: no catching feelings. This is simply a friend helping out a friend. So don’t go falling in love with me.”

There’s no way he’s dead serious right now.

You look up at him with disbelief written all over your face. “Your ego is way too big Kim. I’m not falling in love with you any time soon.”

You scribble your signature down on the page.

“Yeah well I just had to make sure. You’re a good girl who follows rules like her life depends on it. It’s like a security measure,” he smirks.

"So what's our cover story?" you ask, handing him the paper.

"Cover story?" Mingyu raises an eyebrow, taking the paper and a pen.

"Well yeah, if people see us talking in the hallways it'll look weird. I thought maybe you'd want to tell people I was just tutoring you or something. I wouldn't want to ruin your reputation or anything," you shrug.

Mingyu feels a pang of guilt in his chest. Why would you assume that? People must have really hurt you.

"We don't tell them anything," he says as he tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear. "What you and I do in our free time is none of their business. If people wanna talk, let them talk. That kind of stuff shouldn't affect you."

He signs his name next to yours before handing the pen and paper back to you. Your hands meet, and his linger.

Your faces have grown dangerously close and you’re almost positive he can hear how loud your heart is beating out your chest.

His gaze falls to your lips as he slowly licks his own before looking you in the eyes. This is really dangerous.

You snap back into your thoughts, quickly putting the notebook and pen back into your bag. Mingyu rolls the chair a few inches away from the bed as he clears his throat.

“Y/n have you ever kissed anyone?” he asks.

“Yeah,” you reply. “I don’t really count it though.”

“Why not?” he muses.

“Um,” you rub the back of your neck awkwardly. “It was in seventh grade and it was kind of bad.”

“Tell me about it,” he smiles.

You look at him briefly, hesitant to talk. “Well um, you were the grade above but do you remember Jinseon? He was pretty popular, you probably talked to him.”

“Yeah I remember him,” Mingyu recalls.

“Yeah well I had a crush on him back in middle school, and I guess he and his friends found out. So they like dared him to make a move on me. Usually it would bother me more if someone did that, but he was a god awful kisser it doesn’t even matter to me.”

Mingyu is holding back a frown. You genuinely seem fine as far as the situation, but just how much shit have people put you through?

“He left a note in my locker saying to meet him after school near the soccer field. And so I want, and he didn’t even say anything! He just kissed me. It was like his tongue was just… everywhere and he bit me once. God it was so bad,” you laugh.

Mingyu laughs with you, agreeing that it was a horrible first kiss experience. “Yeah we’ll definitely need to work on that for you and Wonwoo.”

“Me and Wonwoo?” you question.

“You like him don’t you?” he quirks an eyebrow.

“Yeah but-“

“And he’s my best friend. I could easily set the two of you up, it’s just Wonwoo’s definitely into more… experienced girls. He also likes a bit of a chase with girls. He won’t really want you unless someone else does first. To him, if a girl’s got experience and someone wants her, she’s worth it,” he explains. “Me personally, I let them come to me because it’s much easier. But Wonwoo’s always saying if a girl is super willing to give it up, it’s not worth it blah blah blah. But that’s leads me to our first lesson:”

He shifts his position, sitting down on the chair properly. Unexpectedly, he pulls you onto the chair with him, sitting you on his lap. “Kissing and marking.”

“Kissing and marking?” you question.

He nods. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah,” you breathe out. “It’s okay.”

“Good,” he licks his lips. “I’m gonna mark you up all pretty for Wonwoo to see. Want you to come practice with us tomorrow at 3 okay?”

Your breathing is shaky. The eye contact is heavily and the tension is thick. “Okay.”

His fingers intertwine with your shaky hands. “I’m sorry,” you breathe out. “I’m a little nervous.”

“You’re okay, it’s just me,” he chuckles softly. He rubs his fingers over your knuckles to help calm you down. “I’m gonna kiss you now. Just follow my lead.”

His hand cups your cheek and he pulls your head closer to his. His warm breath tickles your lips before he finally closes the gap.

His lips are soft against yours. The kiss starts off light, progressively growing more passionate as your lips mold against one another. Your lips move together in perfect sync.

You taste so sweet. Mingyu thinks to himself. Your taste is addictive, he doesn’t want to stop kissing you. Never in a million years did he imagine he’d actually end up here with you.

Your hand instinctively comes up to cup his cheek, the other on the side of his neck. He tilts his head back slightly, giving you more access to deepen the kiss.

His hands move confidently, snaking up your shirt. He touches your sides with his soft hands. He traces his fingers along your curves, cautious of his limits.

“Is this okay?“ he asks against your lips.

You nod almost a little too eagerly, nearly moaning into his mouth. His tongue slips into your mouth with ease. His hands have traveled from your sides to your thighs, softly squeezing the flesh. That to which you do let out a moan and Mingyu thinks he’s officially lost it.

He wants to hear it again.

His lips leave yours, immediately attaching themselves to your neck. You’re panting as your head tilts back, inviting him into the flesh of your neck. Your hand tugs at his hair as he bites down. You let out another moan, accidentally grinding your hips against him.

Kissing Mingyu feels so fucking good you think you’re starting to get the hype. Being so inexperienced, you don’t have much to base your judgement on, but Mingyu is an incredible kisser.

He groans into your neck, to which you let out a whimper. He holds you by your hips, somewhat encouraging you to grind against him again. He leaves wet kisses on your skin, occasionally sucking harshly. He smiles to himself as he sees the dark marks appear on your skin.

You move your hips against him slowly, holding your head close to him as your enjoy the pleasure he’s providing you. Your hand is pressed flat against his broad chest.

It’s not until your fourth hickey is forming that you realize just how far you’ve gotten. You pull Mingyu by his hair roughly out of reaction. He gets the memo, detaching his lips from your skin immediately.

He looks up at you with lustful eyes. His lips are swollen and puffy. He’s sure he’s hard right now, but it hardly bothers him right now. You look so pretty above him, marked up with flushed skin and swollen lips.

Yeah he’ll definitely need to rub one out after you leave.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah,” you breathe out. “You were starting you leave a lot, can’t have my mom seeing all of that. You’re like a vampire.

He chuckles. “Sorry, might’ve gone overboard a little bit.

“More than a little,” you smile. “Was I any good though? At least for a virgin loser?”

“Keep looking at me like that and you won’t be much longer,” he mumbles.

You scoff. “Mingyu!” You push yourself off his lap, resituating yourself on his bed. “I cannot believe you just said that.”

“Don’t act like that isn’t the whole reason we’re here right now,” he smirks.

“Whatever,” you roll your eyes. “I’m just gonna take that as a yes.”

Yes absolutely fucking yes. All the girls Mingyu’s ever been with and not a single one of them has kissed him nearly as good as you. Believe me, Mingyu has been with plenty of girls, and never have they gotten him that hard in such a short amount of time. You were truly dangerous.

“Just don’t go falling in love with me now,” you joke.

“You’re beginning to sound like me, kid.” he smirks. “Starting to think you might be the one in love.”

“Very funny,” you say sarcastically. “I’m gonna head home now, my mom is probably waiting.”

“I’ll walk you out,” he says.

You stand up, making your way toward the door. “Sure you wanna walk me out before dealing with your uh… situation.” His eyes follow yours, glancing down at the very obvious bugle in his pants.

He would usually have some witty or sexual remark in a situation like this, but with you, he’s embarrassed. “Just ignore it and let me be a gentleman.”

He practically pushes you out his room. You giggle and he walks you out. He watches from the front door, making sure you enter your house. When you do, he rushes upstairs to his bedroom. He peeks through his blinds, waiting until he can see you in your room, safe and sound. It’s not until then that his mind is at ease.

_______________________________________________

-taglist (closed)- @knucklesdeepmingi @marksflute @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @heidilolxx @listxn @misssugarlips @lizzylovesboo @haogyuslut @taestrwbrry @everyw0nu @luvthatleader-nim @luveveryonewoo @jakecaffe @xeezi @wasteitonserendipity @whyokoa @shapeofgyu @fixonbreakoff @notscoupy @boo-juns @superheros-and-others @mingkis-world @thesmolishbean @bobohumyonlyboo @deekayownsme

[lolitakirstein]

Hey Neighbor

(Previous Chapter)

a/n this one if young megumi heavy sorry

Part 3

Fun for Megumi turned out to be more exhausting than you imagined. The afternoon was spent mostly outdoors. Hide and seek, tossing a Frisbee, and even walking down to the small lake at the end of your street to feed the ducks. Now, sitting under the tree, the sun descending Megumi seems to be slowly losing his energy. Much to your delight. You didn’t know how 2 parents were able to keep up with a child, much less how a single father like Toji could. Which made you curious…where is his mother? Is she still involved? Are she and Toji still together? You don’t remember any mention of another woman either from him, Megumi, or even when your grandmother mentioned him. It was always just Toji and Megumi. As much as you wanted to ask, you knew it wasn’t your business. You don’t really know them. But it didn’t keep you from wondering.

Now, Megs sat up next to you, lazily swishing a cat toy back and forth while Mewsy chased it, your arms casually cradling him against your side.

'`Is your grandmother not coming back?” he softly says. You’re shocked by the question. You didn’t even know he was aware of her not being there.

“No,” you choke out. “No she’s…not coming back.” you didn’t know how to answer it. How do you talk to a child about death…a child that isn’t even your own? It wasn’t your place, so you kept it as ambiguous as possible.

“Oh,” he says, almost sad. “I liked her. She made good food.”

You stroke his dark hair, smiling. “Yes, she did. You know she might have left some recipes behind. I could try to make whatever you liked?”

“Chocolate cake!” he quickly answers.

“I’m sure i can find that for you,” you laugh.

“She let me help her make it one day when I was hiding at her house while dad was gone. She let me lick the spoon but promised not to tell him,” he whispers.

Hiding? Was he serious?

“What do you mean hiding? And where had your dad gone?” you ask, casually.

“His work. He took me over to Miss. Ruth's house and told her I needed to hide out there and not to leave the house til he got back.”

You can't remember ever hearing your grandmother mention Megumi staying at her house. “Who were you hiding from?” He shrugs, “Bad guy. That’s what daddy says.”

You stay silent. Is this factual? Or just the wild imagination of a kid? How could you even approach Toji about it–about something that isn’t even your business. But bad guys? And what did your grandmother think about this?

“I’m hungry can we make dino nuggies,” megumi stands up, shaking you from your thoughts.

You both walk back into the house, using the key Toji provided to unlock the front door. The house is simple, clean, almost like no one lived there, except for the various toys scattered in the living room and a few dishes in the sink.

Once the food is cooked you both sit on the living room floor, the tv showing cartoons, a pile of crispy chicken nuggets on a plate between the two of you. You hated to admit how fun this was. You never thought of yourself as a motherly person, but you were easily becoming attached to Megumi.

Your phone pings with an incoming text

Toji: Has he driven you crazy yet?

You smile before replying

You: Plz, he’s an absolute angel.

Toji: Lol, only bc he’s got a crush.

You blush, unsure how to respond.

Toji: I’ll be home in about an hour.

After finishing dinner and sneaking Megs a cookie from the cabinet, the two of you curl up on the couch underneath a blanket. A movie plays on the tv but his eyes are slowly closing as he curls up against your side. It's a comforting weight, his little body, you can’t help but feel your heart warm, your eyes also struggling to stay open…

You feel a warm hand on your shoulder, gently nudging you.

“Hey I’m home,” a soft voice says.

You finally register where you are, shooting your eyes open. Toji is leaning over the couch, hand still resting on your shoulder and Megumi is not next to you.

“Shit! Where’s—” you start to panic. “Relax, I already took him to his room, I’m sorry I'm so late..I got…busy,” he says hesitantly.

“God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” you apologize, earning a laugh from Toji

“I told you, he’s not an angel. He will tire you out.”

“No, he was great. We had a lot of fun.” You wanted to ask about what Megumi had mentioned earlier–the hiding, the bad guy, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. Not right now anyway.

“I appreciate it,” he says. “Here.” He holds out a thick stack of twenties, a currency strap around it reading 300 dollars.

“Toji! No! This is entirely too much I really didn’t mind.” you say, shocked. Not even daring to touch that much money.

“I insist.” He waves it in front of you.

“No I refuse,” You stand up, heading to the door to put on your shoes. You knew babysitting could come with good cash but never THAT much and just for an afternoon, you’d feel too guilty taking that much from him. You attempt to change the subject. “Uhm he ate dinner and fell asleep not long after you texted. I didn’t let him nap or anything…”

You look up and see toji staring at you with a slightly annoyed expression for not accepting the money. “Uhm, I guess i’ll go–”

“Wait,” toji grasps your upper arm before you can open the door. His big strong hand sends heat down your spine. “Go tell him bye, before you leave.”

“Huh?” you ask confused.

“Go tell him that you are leaving and you'll see him later,” he says, softly. Almost pleading.

“Of course I’ll see him again. Let him sleep.”

“No,” toji shakes his head, his grasp still firm on your arm. “If he wakes up and sees you're suddenly gone and didn’t tell him bye he will freak out…just—please.”

Your heart breaks at the thought of Megumi being upset. In his room, you sit on the bed, his small body curled beneath the covers. You lean over and whisper, “Hey little man, I’m going home.”

He shifts under the covers, a small whine, “no stay.”

“I gotta go feed Mewsy,” you say. “She gets really grumpy if she’s not fed.”

Megumi sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eye before embracing you. You hug him back, now hating that you did indeed have to go. You look at toji, leaning against the doorframe, a soft smile on his lip “I’ll see you later ok?”

He releases you and shakes his head before lying back down. Once you tuck him in, you pass by toji’s looming body by the doorway and walk to the front door. You pause not wanting to leave without asking your questions. Turning back around, Toji is standing behind you. How did you not hear him approaching? You jump back, a little startled at his silent approach.

“I–I should go,” you stammer but don’t move towards the door. Toji removes the stack of money from his pocket and reaches it forward, sliding it into your jacket pocket.

He’s so close you can smell his manly scent, arousal creeping into your veins.

“Thank you.” he whispers.

Before you can do something stupid, you whirl to the door and throw it open. Rushing down the steps without saying goodbye.

[typh0nas]

The Language of Flowers

NijiEN Fantasy Otome AU

_______________

Content Warnings: will be added to each chapter if there are any trigger warnings.

Character(s): GN!Reader(no pronouns mentioned), Vox Akuma, Ike Eveland, Luca Kaneshiro, Shu Yamino, Mysta Rias, Fulgur Ovid, Uki Violeta, Alban Knox, Sonny Brisko, Yugo Asuma

Authors Notes: It’s here, it’s here! Sorry for the long ass wait HAHA. I have a lot of projects for now, so I’ll try and add everyone’s route as time goes on. 

11/14/2023: Currently have Vox and Mysta’s chapter 1 out! Will add everyone else’s when i have time :)

_______________

You, a royal and the crown heir to the Ninisani Empire. You answer to no one and make your own rules. However, war ravages the country, causing chaos and turmoil. Left with little choice and with much urging from your council, you ultimately decide that the best course of action is to ally yourself with the neighboring Luxiem Regency to help strengthen your army. 

Now, what exactly might you do now?

_______________

You stand tall, faced with a less than appealing choice. But the council is unyielding and unwavering and their decision stands firm. 

"Your highness, you must understand that this is what we have determined will help ensure the longevity of the Empire. As the current acting ruler, you must think about what is best for the people...YOUR people.”

You massage your temples feeling a headache coming on. “I don’t understand why I must be wed to Lord Akuma, are we not merely strengthening our army?” Members on the council look around, and you can hear their whispering from where you stand. 

“This is a matter of politics. This alliance will help strengthen our empire and can ensure that we will have the support we need in the coming days of the war. You have seen the effect it has had on the people. Your Highness...they’re terrified, this is for the best. At most, your marriage with Lord Akuma is only on paper. He has already agreed to these arrangements. Must you be so stubborn?” The head councilman shakes his head at you. 

You feel your irritation grow as you stare down the head councilman and he squirms under your gaze. The silence grows in the room as everyone stares at you with bated breath, awaiting your decision. 

“Fine.” Your voice rings loud and clear within the hollow chamber, and you can hear sighs of reliefs from some of the other council members, but you choose to ignore it.

The head councilman rises, a smile on his face, “Oh wonderful Your Highness! We’ll make arrangements for the wedding immediately.” You wave your hand in his direction, tired of his blathering as you turn back towards the door to leave. 

“Do what you must.” You close your eyes, the weight of your situation sinking in. 

_______________

Who will you choose?

_______________

Vox Akuma {👹🧧}

The one you're betrothed to

“As the current acting ruler, you must think about what is best for the people...YOUR people” Those are the words the echo back to you repeatedly, the head councilman’s voice ringing in your head. You weren’t happy with the council’s decision by any means, but if it meant ensuring the safety of your citizens and it truly was for the greater good then you had no choice but to reluctantly go with his decision. Although this arrangement isn’t what you thought you would end up engaged to someone, you find that Vox is gentle and kind. There appears to be more to him then what first meets the eye.

“That blush on your face is absolutely adorable...it makes me want to ravish you. ....I'm kidding! Naturally I wouldn’t do anything unless you were okay with it.”

VOX’S ROUTE: {RED SALVIAS}

{Vox Chapter 1 - [UNLOCKED]} (CW: mentions of being intoxicated)

Mysta Rias {🕵‍♂️🦊}

A lesser lord of the Luxiem Regency, and Vox’s right hand man

It seems that wherever Vox goes, Mysta seems to follow behind him. He’s sort of an odd fellow to you, with the way his gaze lingers on you. But when you catch him staring for a moment too long, he quickly looks away coughing into his fist or brushing his hair back, a faint flush on his face. When asked about it, he deflects with some lame excuse and immediately tries to change the subject. Even with his prickly exterior, Mysta has never seriously pushed you away from him. 

“I guess your company isn’t so bad. Huh? You’re telling Vox about this? N-no wait!”

MYSTA’S ROUTE: {FORGET-ME-NOTS}

{Mysta Chapter 1 - [UNLOCKED]}

Ike Eveland {🖋🔷️}

The court scribe

The ever quiet but meticulous scribe of the court. Ike mainly keeps to himself, whether it’s writing away some important on a piece of paper or his nose stuck into some book. He's can be found in the library copying and translating old texts that practically crumble at your fingertips when picked up. If not there, he could be found seated several seats down from you during council meetings to record each and every word uttered out. Though the two of you haven’t spoken much, you secretly admire how hard he works.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to go through someone’s personal things without asking first?”

{Ike’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - English Ivy}

Shu Yamino {👟☯️}

The powerful sorcerer of the court

The mysterious sorcerer that managed to charm you with his spectacular display of magic. You initially scoffed, thinking it was nothing more than a show of sparkles and nothing more. But to your surprise, he manages to find ways to prove you wrong. On more than one occasion Shu has used his abilities to cure your citizens of what ails them, from an normal everyday fever, to even fixing up an elderly council member’s bad leg. You begrudgingly admit that maybe he is someone that you could rely on.

“Want me to show you something cool? No? Well your loss then.”

{Shu’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - White Jasmine}

Luca Kaneshiro {🦁💰}

Your childhood best friend who has a penchant for getting into trouble

Your ever loyal best friend, a notorious playboy with a string of broken hearts left in his wake, even if it’s unintentional. Maybe it was because of his blinding personality and charming demeanor. You’ve always joked that while Luca is the sun, you’re the moon, the counterbalance to his outgoing nature. 

“Hey hey! I know how much you love the flower fields when they’re blooming, but since you’re so busy and can’t see them yourself, I brought them to you!”

{Luca’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Yellow Acacias}

-----

Fulgur Ovid {⚡️🐏}

The local bounty hunter who comes and goes as he pleases

There isn’t much that you know about him, only the rumors that circulate around the palace grounds, and that he’s one of the empire’s most renowned bounty hunters. From what you’ve gathered, no one knows too much about his personal life. With each lead that you pursue, you find that you’re led on one wild goose chase after another. 

“You’re a strange one. Tell me, why are you so insistent on following me and trying to get to know me?”

{Fulgur’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Edelweiss}

Uki Violeta {🔮🌌}

The peculiar psychic from the market

One of the best fortunetellers in the city, and generally one of the calmest people that you know, with a soft voice and gentle eyes. You’re a regular at his tent every time you sneak down from the palace. He can see things that others can’t and every persons’ future that he’s read seems to have come true in one way or another. Uki can always be found in that same purple tent in the same spot at the market, tarot cards spread over the table. You curiosity to know more and more about him grows with each visit.  

“Come see me again, I’ll show you more about what your future holds~”

{Uki’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Pink Honeysuckle}

Alban Knox {🎭🕒}

The cunning thief you found, trying to steal from Vox's treasury

You couldn’t deny that Vox’s treasury was indeed very vast. You happened to come across him one night while you were trying to deposit some of your own valuables for safekeeping. One step into the massive room and you’re making eye contact with a very smug-looking thief. Before you can yell for help, he leaps across the room without making any noise, coming face to face with you, pressing a gloved finger to your lips, shushing you. You’re left dumbfounded and shocked as you watch him bound back across the room, snatching up a few gems in the process, and then swiftly slipping out the window as if he was never there in the first place. It seemed almost as if that was the last you would see of him. Or so that’s what you thought.

“Hehe you’re an interesting one, maybe I’ll just steal you away instead!”

{Alban’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Morning Glories}

Sonny Brisko {🔗🤲}

The captain of the royal guard

When Sonny became captain of the royal guard, he never expected to become your personal bodyguard, so to speak. But as the acting ruler of the Ninisani Empire, it was only natural that the council would want you to have someone looking out for you at all times, and who better than one of the best guards. And so Sonny would follow you wherever you went, standing silently off to the side. Unassuming until he was required to step in. He would stand guard outside of your room at night keeping an eye out for threats but not daring to step one foot inside for fear of intruding on your privacy. And so he always keeps an eye on you, even if he has to physically restrain himself from chasing after anyone he deems a threat to your safety. 

“It’s my job to protect you and I intend on doing just that. No matter what happens I’ll always be by your side.”

{Sonny’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Coreopsis}

Yugo Asuma {🎧🎶}

The bard at the local tavern

On one of your regular nightly escapades, find yourself seeking shelter at a local tavern to shield yourself from the rain. The bar, although of modest size is lively and it appears to be a hotspot for all sorts of people from the city. Feeling overstimulated and maybe even a bit overwhelmed, you make your way to the back corner where you feel you won’t be bothered. It’s just your luck that you make eye contact with the bard seated on a stool atop the dingy stage.

“I haven’t seen you before. Mind if I play you a song?”

{Yugo’s Route Not Yet Unlocked - Blue Hyacinth}

_______________  

{Tags!}

@hiqhkey @angelkazusstuff @emissaire 

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Back to Navigation {☆}  

[agirlwholovesrockstars]

seasonal colds

☆ EDDIE MUNSON'S MASTERLIST ☆

❣ AGATHA'S MAIN PAGE ❣

Summary : you had a date but your body got other plans, your next door neighbor misses your sweet greetings

Word Count : not that long

Warnings : 18+ Neighbor!Eddie Munson x FEM!reader, language, use of y/n, reader and Eddie are both (21), Eddie kinda sneaked into reader's home but not in a creep way, I don't know how to put this but reader and Eddie are friends but not that close?, establishing a relationship, reader is really unwell (it's literally me on this fic lol- I'm sorry)

What to Expect : strangers to lovers, friends to lovers, set in the 80's, mostly, this is all fluffy goodness

Note To Reader : projecting myself here, please, let me have my indulgence 😭

Author Note : This year's Christmas season is interesting because, I got sick so bad that I had a fever, so, yeah, no worries- now, because after that atrocious event- THIS FIC IS BORN 🤩

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY, HERE'S SOME FLUFFY FIC JUST FOR YOU 🎄💓

"That's odd, Where is she?"

"What'd you say?" Dustin spoke over the phone's receiver

"Uh, it's- Y/N- I didn't saw her earlier and now- the sun's getting low still haven't seen her yet"

Eddie replies as he looks over at his window as he rest his back on the wall while holding the telephone

"Why don't you knock at her door to see her if she's okay?" Dustin suggests

"Dude, we're not that close"

"I mean- there's nothing wrong with checking- like come on- it's normal to care" Dustin scoffs

Eddie can picture his young friend rolling his eyes

"Yeah, yeah, I get it" he sighs

"She looked fine yesterday, I even helped to carry some of her stuff that she bought"

"From what I know is that she has a date"

Oh

"Well....maybe that's the reason why she isn't showing up, she got exhausted"

"Really? Exhausted from a date?"

"I'm just helping you out here, man"

"I'm a little worried- that's all"

"Look, if you really want to know of how she's been doing then just get out of there and see it for yourself"

Eddie went silence for a bit as he listens to his friend

"I know you, Eddie- you're like the epitome of endless worrying"

Dustin's right, like Eddie himself couldn't believe that he would agree on the kid

You're the best neighbor that he had on the building

If you had food, you will gladly offer him some, you always acknowledge him with the fullest and loving smiles ever

You even asked him everytime on how he's day went, Eddie can see the tiredness in your eyes but yet you still managed to be kind and thoughtful

Eddie on the other hand, after finding out that you had a date

He can't help but wonder

How it went?

Was it amazing?

Did you really go to that date?

"She left me a spare key to feed her cat, if she's going away for a couple of months"

"Use it"

"Isn't that like- trespassing?"

"But you knew each other"

"We don't knew each other that much, Henderson"

"Listen to me"

"I'm listening-"

"What if something else happened to her? Inside of her home?- What if she couldn't even bring help herself?"

"Woah, okay- you convince me enough"

Dustin chuckles "Okay, dude, take care"

"You too, bye"

He runs his hands through his face as he thinks his decision carefully

He groans as he picks up his jacket and grab your spare key

He went outside of his room and stop by at your door for a moment

He replays of what he just rehearsed inside of his head

"I'm only going to check on Y/N because it's so weird not seeing her often- I'm just making sure- that is all"

He nods to himself as he unlocks your door

"Hello? Y/N?"

He opens the door and when you didn't answer, he says

"Are you here? Are you home? I'm gonna bring myself inside"

He asks again "Where are you? Y/N? I just wanted to check you- if you're okay"

He closes the door as he puts your spare key on his pocket

He searches the whole place, your dishes are still in the sink, there a bit of trash in the dining table

He is now intrigued at the atmosphere of your home

He walks forward as he looks for you

He saw your bedroom door slightly open

He hesitates for a second, since it's your personal room

He shakes his head as he saw you there laying on your bed, he sighs of relief but you look different

You always looked effortless but something is off about you

He doesn't know if you're awake or just dozing off

He calls out your name again

He clears his throat "Y/N?"

You stirred and by the time you tried to move your body, your face grimaced

He noticed that "You okay?"

You finally started to open your eyes slowly

Your eyes are droopy and your forehead scrunches up

He doesn't even know what it means, is it because of annoyance or in pain?

You're still processing of what's going on

You just groaned and started shivering as you pulled the sheets on you quickly

"I feel cold" your voice is hoarsed

He gasped, his eyes goes wide, he finally realizes that you're sick

So, you didn't go on to that date

A part of him is relieved that you didn't come which is so wrong of him to feel that way because it's literally none of his business like yeah, you could do whatever you want but he hopes that he'll be the one or the first to take you out someday

He runs towards to you, he places his hand on your forehead

"You're burning up!"

You grunted when you complain about your joints hurting and you feel your whole body is on fire like it won't stop being in pain

Now, your ears are ringing and pounding in discomfort

You still haven't looked or even acknowledge the person that is in your room

Your fever is so high that you can't even get out of the bed easily

Your eyes are brimming with tears, you sniffle

Eddie knows what to do

He knows how to deal with this

"I'm gonna help you, Y/N, don't worry" he places his hand on top of yours as he let it linger for a while

He went at the nearest pharmacy and picked-up goodies in the convenience store

He's back at your place as he prepares a basin filled with water and a clean towel as he places the damp cloth on your forehead

He's so concentrated to making sure your fever won't go far enough as it was before, so, he keeps running the other damp cloth to your arms and neck all the important parts to make your fever go down

He shook his head in displeased look earlier when he check your temperature using the thermometer

He puts a cool fever on your forehead

In the middle of the night, sometimes, you sob in agony

"Make it stop, please- I don't want to feel this anymore"

"It's alright, Y/N, you're okay, I got you"

Eddie couldn't sleep properly knowing of how awfully you must've been feel all this time

You're still feel cold even you have loads of blanket that he lays on you

He finds your comforter and he immediately puts it on you

He smiles to himself a little when you get comfortable with your sickening situation

He even panicked when you're not responding, the time you get passed out

You just couldn't take it anymore

You swore to yourself that you really did blackout for a minute

When you moved a little bit, he muttered "oh- thank god"

He's shaking in fear that he thought he lost you

"You gotta fight it, Y/N- you have to"

You still haven't eaten anything yet besides only drinking water, not that you didn't want to- it's just- you're too afraid to eat anything without being specific on what meal because-

You might vomit of how worse you feel right now

Thankfully, you told him to order creamy chicken macaroni soup and burger with fries

He calls for delivery as soon as possible

and nope- you still have no idea of who's taking care of you

He joins you while eating very late dinner

"How you're feeling?"

Your body is in hell- you don't have to energy to even talk

"There's no improvements but finally I can eat"

He gives you a small smile on that as he continues to finish his food

After that you complained of how your head hurts and your chest clenches too much

Out of all the fatigue that you felt for the past couple of years before?

This is literally the worst of them than the New Year's 2022 sickness that you got

Your body literally saying "FUCK YOU"

You can tell the incoming migraine is coming right at your skull to hammer it aggressively

He's been staying here for the whole night, it's his first night at your room

Eddie is sitting right beside you for the first time tonight, he slept peacefully

You unintentionally hold onto his forearm that made him woke up from his slumber, his eyes went to concern automatically as he watches you

"everything it hurts, somebody help me" you cried out as you kept your hold on him

"I know, Y/N- it will be all over soon" he wraps his arms around you

He runs his fingers through your hair as he lulled you to sleep

He woke up and he took a mental note to change your clothes

He goes into your dresser, he picked an easy but comfortable pieces of clothing

"Y/N?"

You hum in response

"You need to change your clothes"

Your face turn crumpled and you let out a whine when you sit up

He gave you the clothes that he picked out for you, he said that he'll be back

Once, you get dressed and check yourself in the bathroom

You look fucking bad, you roll your eyes to yourself

He's back with a glass of water and a medicine on hand

"You have to drink this now, you'll be good since you've already eaten" he murmurs as he hands you the water

You nod in response as you drink the capsules

You went back to bed as you settle your comfortable

You're still struggle to make a decent sleep since you really just can't do it because of how everything feels sucks right now

The medicine and the cool wind from outside helped you to feel drowsy

You can feel your eyes closing on its own as you finally getting a good night's sleep

You woke up drenched in your own sweat and you feel a lot more better than before

But, still there's more ache left but it's more good than not having any progress of healing

The sound of the soft snores from another person caught your attention

You looked around and there you saw him sleeping in your couch with a blanket that is too short for him

Your mind finally registered the things that he has done for you

The basin, the damp towels, the wrappers from the food delivery, the glass and the medicine, everything

Despite, there's still pain left that you're feeling right now, you smile at Eddie

You watch him as you can feel yourself feeling sleepy again

"It's a Wonderful Life!" playing in your television as Eddie watches with a popcorn bowl on his hand

Eddie can hear the rustles from your comforter as saw your eyes fluttering open

"Oh, hey, Y/N! Did you sleep well?"

"Hi, Eddie, yeah- I did" you managed to say as your cheeks blushed

You're so embarrassed that he took care of you for a while, he really didn't have to do that

His eyes go big when he heard you say his name "You- you're okay! You just said my name!" He grins as he goes over to you assisting the pillow as you sit up

"Not really, 100% tho- I still feel like shit"

He tilts his head at you as he puts his hand on your forehead

"Yeah, you still a bit warm but I think you'll be fine sooner!" He claps both of his hands as he returns watching the film

You gasped out of nowhere as you realized something, you removed the comforter off of you as you sit on the edge of your bed

"Woah- woah you have to move easy, what's the sudden rush?" Eddie holds both of your shoulders to steady you as you stumble while standing up too fast

You click your tongue "I was supposed to attend this date, remember?"

He puts his hands inside of the pockets of his jacket "Ah, right- that one"

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion as you groan in frustration

"Fuck, that was yesterday"

"Yuuuuuup!" Eddie says with a "pop!" at the end

You stand awkwardly in front of him as you sigh, he watches you intently

"What am I going to do? I blew it up because of me getting sick" you shake your head to yourself as you sat back down on your bed

"Well...." He sat beside you as he thinks for a few minutes

His hands itches to touch you and hold you

Before he can say anything, you spoke first

"How long I've been sick?"

"One day"

You huffed as you bring your attention back on the TV and then you turn your head back at him as he already been staring at you

"Oh- gosh- I'm sorry that's so rude of me! I just wanna say Thank you, Eddie!" You rambled

A smile grows on his lips "It's nothing really, I mean- I insist and I want to help you" he ducks his head down, he suddenly became shy on your gaze

"I just missed seeing you and not knowing what is happening to you, scared me"

"Really?" Your eyes twinkle and he flustered

"Y-Yeah" He clears his throat, trying to cover up his nervousness

"Don't beat yourself up for not going on to that date, Y/N" he says softly

Your eyes softens as you let him hold your hand

Oh- you like Eddie- that's why the universe didn't let you go on to that date

"I wanna spend my Christmas with you, Eddie"

"You do?" He says in disbelief tone, his eyes shines as he watches you get up

"I'm gonna make hot chocolate with whipped cream- it's my favorite!" You giggled with excitement radiating on your aura

You tug his hand as you went into your kitchen for two mugs

Your heart flutters of how much he cares for you while you're working on the luscious drink, it's really sweet because he knows that you're still not okay, you're still recovering

You taught him how to use the can whipped cream and you mischievously make a dot onto his nose and you laugh

You accidentally smeared the cream on the sides of your lips and Eddie made it even more worse that he exclaimed that he didn't know there's still chocolate on his fingers

Both of your laughter's died down when something in the air has changed

It's started snowing outside, you swear your heart expands three times bigger of how long he stares at you

You feel safe and sound under his presence

Why'd you haven't taken a good look on this before? Sure, he looks attractive but you never thought you could feel something for him

Eddie is ready to take the leap or else he'll miss his chance

You both looked funny having sticky and sweet contents on both of your faces

He runs his thumb on your lips as his eyes darts back at you and down to your lips

You thought stopped breathing but it's only Eddie's lips onto yours

You kissed him back, he deepens it, he pulls you close to him by holding your waist as you cup both of his cheeks

You're shocked and screaming inside

Who would've thought that the one you loved is your next-door neighbor?

You never thought that this would happen

You both pulled back with giggles as he takes you back for another sweet kiss which you gladly accept

"How does it taste?"

You ask while you watch him as he turns on the radio and "The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole" starts playing, a fond smile is sitting on your lips

He literally went down to your mouth to kiss which you laugh because he misunderstood on what you mean but you can't help but to kiss him back

"No! Not that- I mean- the hot chocolate!" You lightly push him on the chest as he chuckles, he pulled you to his side closely

"It's magical" he always exaggerates his words

You're infuriated at him

"Eddie, come on- be serious"

"It's really spectacular, Y/N" he pecks your kiss once more removing your cute little frown on your face

"You know I'm really glad that I checked on you"

"Yeah?"

"I finally got my Christmas wish come true"

You both sipped the warm beverage as you continue to watch the classic Christmas film of all time with both loving hearts and smiles

🎄✨🫶🏻

[blazing-stars21]

Hey guys! Just thought I make a secret neighbor story and stuff (this is in the HN AU, not mine)

Enjoy! (Warning, this has blood and some bad words/language)

The story begins on a rainy night,the day was 13th October 2022 and the town, raven brooks, was having very disturbing problems...or should I say...cases..

"guys! Guys! Calm down!" Shouted Ivan, the inventor kid. "We all just need to focus on today's plan" Enzo replied," So let me get this straight...we are breaking into a man's house and harassing him?" Maritza ask

"no! We are saving our friend Nicky!" Replied Enzo. At the door, a person rang the bell, Ivan went to answer the door but when he opened it, noone was their, well...at least noone but a package on the floor. Maritza was delighted to see the package and she opened it with no worry at all...it was the bat she order online

"WHEN DID YOU ORDER THAT MARITZA!?" shout Ivan as he was shocked to see her holding such a weapon. "It's a way to defend myself from me Peterson!" Maritza replied "what is taking trinity so long? She said she would recruit rina and delroy!" Enzo shouted

Meanwhile Trinity was eating lunch with delroy who had his bag on, rina the scout was handing out cookies to everyone. Once everyone left, Trinity ask both delroy and rina to help her with the mission to save Nicky

Both said yes, considering how they all were friends with nicky

Two hours later and they had finally arrived to Ivan's place.

At first maritza was joking around, but now she wanted to get serious, why? Because delroy was here...her and delroy never like each other one bit so if they had to do the mission, they would have to be friendly

"so here's the plan, we all go and split up so we can find the keys more and more faster!" Trinity explained

Noone really wanted to get caught by Mr Peterson, because well...it wouldn't end well for anyone at all...

They all get ready to break in his house....

Rina got her slingshot ready and Enzo had his camera ready...why was his camera useful? Because the pictures Nicky too also show key locations

Opening the door to his house terrifying because well... anything could happen now...

As the rescue squad walks into the house, they found something....or someone...

"WHAT THE HELL!? THAT IS A....DEAD CAT ON THE FLOOR..." Enzo scream in terror from seeing this..so everyone decided to start splitting up and finding keys to unlock the basement.

"come on rina! Let's go!" Maritza shouted "alright alright!" Rina replied. They walk up the stairs and the gates suddenly closes..."RINA! LOOK BEHIND YOU! HE IS COMING!" Maritza screamed as Mr Peterson came walking to rina and as rina was about to hit him, she missed and then...

Blood started pouring, and as Peterson laughs and starts staring at Maritza, she says "you....killed...her..." Maritza started to run and Peterson let her run...for now....

Delroy sits in the couch and doesn't do anything, in fact! He ate his favourite chocolate. Trinity threw a tin can at his head and said "DELROY! BE USEFUL FOR SOMETHING!" Delroy stood up and said "hey! I'm not useless!"

As he looks for keys, he finds the blue key and then he walks into a room...he screams "WHAT HAPPENED TO RINA!?!??!??!?"

The door closes shut and no light is their to be seen....delroy looks around and sees a flashlight...he turns it on and looks behind him to see....Mr Peterson..."shhh.. it's ok buddy...hehehehehehehe..."

As a loud scream came from a locked room, Trinity breaks the door down and finds delroy... covered in blood...

Trinity starts to cry and she says, "delroy...! I'm so sorry! I'm the worst leader ever...!"

Ivan was with Maritza. Ivan tried to calm Maritza down after what she saw..."I'm telling you! Someone is pretending to be a kid!" Maritza shouted "well how would that be possible Maritza?" Ivan replied

And as he was about to say another word, Enzo comes in the room, "guys! I have like, 2 keys! I'm so hap-"

"wait... where were you Enzo?.." Ivan asks, Enzo looks down...and starts to laugh..."well guys! It's me!" Enzo screamed as he takes of his face.."I'M YOUR NEIGHBOR...."

Ivan and maritza gasps as they were terrified now..."WHAT DID YOU DO TO ENZO!?" Maritza screamed "he is dead.... HEHEHEHE..." Peterson replies

Peterson grabs Ivan and Ivan shouts for help and as Maritza hits Peterson... Peterson takes the pain in and stabs Ivan across the chest and breaks his glasses...

Maritza shouts "IVAN! NO!...." Peterson laughs again and smiles at Maritza...he takes her bat away...and grabs her..Maritza didn't givame up tho...she punched Peterson in the stomach and starts to run...and as Peterson chases her down...she hides and take in the fact that Enzo is dead...

Peterson turns his sonar on and looks for Maritza...when he found her she tried to hit him again but Peterson stoped her...and just like that.... Peterson stabs her in her head and kills her...

Trinity found the last key... opened the door and finally was able to find out what's in Peterson's basement...but as she was about to go in...MR PETERSON WAS THEIR..."WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING!?" Peterson shouted at her as he grabs her and throws her down the long steps of the never ending stairs...at the bottom was a knife...and... Trinity got stab right in the back...

Two days later... Peterson. Still not suspected of murder..was boarding up his doors...letting noone ever come near his house ever again...

This took so long for me to finish and please enjoy it if you can! Sorry for the blood and stuff! Follow me on Tumblr and check out my other account, sunshine blazing Star!

Your all the best! Bye!!

[pollyollie]

Company.

Platonic! Corpse Husband x TEEN! Reader

Gender not specified, They/Them. Reader is assumed 15 years old.

Summary: After another argument with your parent you go to your nice neighbors apartment down the hall. Who would've thought your neighbor happened to be your comfort streamer?

Extra: You don't know Corpse is a streamer. Assume you know Corpse by his actual name and not by his streamer name. (We don't know his actual name therefore he will be referred to as Corpse for simplicity)

Warning(s): Gaslighting, Name calling (lazy, bitch, self absorbed, sensitive, crybaby), arguing, mentions of abandonment. Panic attacks

You and your guardian got into yet another argument. You tried opening up about your feelings with them, telling them how they're treatment towards you is aggressive and it made you feel unappreciated. It started with a fun little family outing until the two of you were alone together while your siblings and other parent were on a ride. The argument resumed the moment you got home and lasted for what felt like hours.

"you're proving my point exactly right now that you don't care about how I feel! All you ever care about is my grades not me!" You said, your voice raising from the pure adrenaline of the argument.

"You think the world will care how you feel? Maybe if you weren't so lazy I wouldn't have to push you so hard! You're missing the big picture over a minor issue!" They yelled back.

You could feel your eyes watering and you know your voice would start shaking. You tried to breathe to relieve the tightening grip in your chest, to no avail. Still, you continued. The last sentence repeating like an echo in your mind.

"You think my feelings are just a minor issue?" You asked. Hurt evident in you voice. You'd hope they'd take it back, realise what they had just said. But again, your hopes were only in vain.

"Oh great here we go again!" They exclaimed, rolling their head dramatically while flailing their arms in the air.

"All you care about is you! Your head is so far up your ass that you just become some self-absorbed bitch! Then when someone gets mad at you, you wanna get all sensitive like a fucking crybaby! Grow the hell up not everything is about you and how you feel nobody gives a shit!"

Your mental barrier collapsed. The air was too thick to breathe in. Your chest tightened. It hurt. Where is all the air? Why the fuck can't you get any air? Your eyes are burning, ears are ringing, throat stinging, something's clamping down on your chest. You can't breathe. You left the apartment. Your guardian let you. Yelling at you to get the fuck out of their face as you left.

_____________________________

You went down a couple doors, hot tears still streaming down your cheeks. Your shakey finger pressing the button right next to it. Past the relentless sniffles you listened to the ring echo throughout the apartment.

No answer.

Desperate, you try again. Knocking this time.

"Uhm, anyone home? It's Y/N" You spoke, shakiness still lingering in your tone

Your phone buzzed with a notification. You hadn't even realized you still had it on you.

Corpse: coming rn one sec

A few seconds later the door unlocked and opened up. You met face to face with a surprised look on Corpse's face.

"Holy shit kid, you're not lookin' so good" He joked. He was worried of course, but he finds humour is the best approach

"Another argument broke out. Really bad one this time. Can I just crash on the couch for a bit, until I calm down?" You asked. Nerves on edge even though he's never said 'no' before.

"Yea sure come in, just ..gimme a sec real quick"

You walked in and closed the door behind you, making sure it was locked. You sat down on his couch, knees to your chest, before turning around to see Corpse walk into the room he never let anyone in. That certainly peaked your curiosity. It sounded like he was talking to someone, muffled sounds came from the room a bit longer before he walked back out. Tugging the ends of his shirt down (a nervous habit he seemed to have, you've noticed)

"Sorry kid, I'm a bit busy. You can turn on the TV just not too loud. You can also text me about it if you want, I'll keep my phone on vibrate." He explained. He felt a bit guilty, but he couldn't leave the stream for too long. People would get suspicious.

"It's alright. I'll just play on my phone for a bit until your done. Just being out of the house with you nearby is enough to calm me down. Thanks for answering the door still" you said, finally being able to breathe. Your body was still sore and you still felt like crying. You just couldn't bring yourself to do so since it would pressure your nice neighbor into abandoning his seemingly very important job for your silly emotions.

"Anytime. When I'm done we can watch a movie or something" He said simply.

You smiled and nodded at him letting out a hum of agreement. He sighed affectionately while reaching down to your spot on the couch. One elbow still propped up to the back of the couch, the other patting your shoulder, rubbing his thumb across once lightly.

His phone buzzed, catching both of you off guard. He opened the notif quickly. You wondered who it was from.

"I've gotta get back in there now" he said gesturing towards the mysterious door. "I'll be back though. Help yourself while I'm gone"

Must've been his boss wondering what's taing so long, you thought. "You make it sound like you'll be hours away instead of a room over" you joked. He laughed, his eyes crinkling in the corners. He then went back into the room, closing the door behind him.

Though he gave you full permission to TV usage, you whipped out your phone. His TV didn't have twitch and you wanted to see if Corpse_Husband was streaming. As though heaven itself finally showed you some pity, he actually was! You found him by chance and noticed he sounded alot like your kind neighbor! Of course you know it's a bit rude to compare people, but since his voice sounded similar it brought you an odd sense of comfort. Often watching the vodds or horror story narrations whenever your neighbor wasn't able to keep you company. Having to be 'somewhere else for a while' he always said.

You sat watching the stream for awhile, being on edge whenever Corpse was the imposter, having to carry the match since his teammate was voted off early. Corpse said he'd be right back on the stream. Your neighbor came outside the door, checking in on you. You thought the timing was funny, somehow lining up. Of course you only thought it was a coincidence and nothing more.

It didn't bother you, as you still watched the stream. Until it happened 2 more times. Corpse leaves, your neighbor comes out of the room, Corpse comes back, your neighbor is inside his secret room. You got skeptical but wanting to keep denying it. Corpse is very secretive and doesn't want anyone, not even his irls knowing about his identity! If you figured it out, and it turned out to be true, wouldn't that be the same as never being allowed to see your neighbor again? He'd also start avoiding you. Then he'd make you delete all of the funny videos/pictures of him for security reasons. Oh my god. What if he can't handle the anxiety so he moves!?

You weren't even upset about not being able to see your comfort streamer, or him keeping it a secret. What scared you was your kind timid neighbor, who you spent so much time with, who you'd text and game with when you couldn't sleep, who would watch movies and shows with you no matter how childish, listened to you with all your family bullshit, leaving you. He'd block your number, un-add you on his videogame friends list, and cut you off. Your chest tightened again. Your eyes burned even more. It's all too much. Way too much. If he leaves you what would you do? At this point you literally thought of him as family. He's the older brother you never got. Much better than your other brothers. Who seemed like they could give less of a shit.

You felt a warm weight on your shoulder, shaking you slightly. The feeling seemingly yanking you out of your thoughts. Your head whipped up looking at your neighbor. His expression filled with concern. It didn't help your situation. Seeing his face made you curl further more into yourself (you didn't realize you were curled up to begin with), and start crying. Full on sobbing like a baby who'd just lost their parents in a public place.

Corpse froze, not knowing what to do. He's seen you in a wreck before, but this is a new level. It's alot, even for him. Not knowing what to do, he just hugs you. You feel his arms wrap around you and you instinctively wrap yours around him. Hugging him tighter than you probably ever have. Corpse was in pain due to how hard you were squeezing with his already sore body (from gaming and sitting too long) but he never told you about his fragile body, only that he'd get sick easily. He sat and endured while he tried calming you down. Pretty ironic

"I'm fucking horrible at this, but hey try to breathe okay? in and out. For 5 seconds each"

He said. Now he's glad he's done a lot of research for calming panic attacks. Granted, it was so he can try to calm himself down but it helped him help you, so that's a bonus.

His mind was racing, seemed like he has to calm himself down too before he goes into a panic attack with you. Why did you start breaking down? Did you get a mean text/call? Were you just building up too much emotion? Wtf?? He curiously glaced at your phone and saw his character. His amongus character on the screen. He panicked even more at his stream being watched by you while he was in the apartment actively doing it. Then he saw chat asking where he was and what was taking so long. Some speculated he was just busy, others were worried his health made him have to pause the game, some joked saying he had a hot goth chick over, others were so lewd he didn't even wanna think about it... His anxiety was off the chart. Between his viewers, his friends and you. Great. Now he was panicking.

"Just give me one second, I'll be right back" He quickly said. He practically ran into the other room, told the viewers to calm down we wasn't dead. Then made up a lie that he was in the kitchen making some food and eating it, since if he didn't eat now he wouldn't have a chance to later. Thankfully most of them bought it. He made sure to re-mute his mic and came back to you. He noticed red flash on your screen and saw that Toast had killed him. 'That fucker. I knew he was the imposter ' Corpse thought to himself. The little distraction helped calm him down a tad, boosting his ego knowing he was right.

"Ok, listen kid tell me what's wrong. If you don't, I can't help, if you don't wanna tell me that's chill too I just uh- I don't know or I can stay here for a minute?"

He spoke out hastily. Yet still the words came out better than he expected them to.

"I-it's-"

you stuttered out. Should you even tell him? No, you should. He has the right to know and make his own choice about what to do with you later

He looked at you patiently. Waiting for you to speak clearly.

You took a big breath and spoke as fast as you could.

"I watch this streamer his name is Corpse except now I think you're Corpse, but I know Corpse doesn't want anyone knowing about his identity and he gets bad anxiety! so I really really hope that this is some giant misunderstanding cause if it's not I might lose you or things would change and-"

Your lungs burned as you heaved in air. Tears pricking the corner of your eyes yet again. This time from lack of oxygen. Also yea, maybe a bit of stress..

Corpse was hella panicking at this rate. You know? How many others knew? Did they just keep it from him to try and give him comfort? He tried not making it obvious. Fuck. Before he could speak you spoke up again, having a decent amount of air in your lungs.

"-And I really don't want you to leave me or feel weird about me being here! I know teens are stupid but I promise I'm not stupid and I won't tell people I know or send them photos of your face or something!"

Your breath slowed, the words coming out on their own.

"just please...please don't cut me off ______."

He was dumbstruck. Utterly dumbstruck... He couldn't be any more clueless. Cut you off? You? You don't need anything else going wrong in your childhood. He himself is barely managing to try and hold it together. Sure he was scared of people figuring out who he is, but he wouldn't cut them out of his life. Especially for something so small. Don't get him wrong it's a big deal but damn. He felt a bit hurt that you'd think he'd do that. Not like he could blame you though. He knows how anxiety takes over all rational thinking. He didn't know what to say, but still he opened up and finally spoke.

"dude, I don't know if I should be offended or not" a small chuckle escaped his lips

"Trust me, I'm not gonna cut you out of my life just 'cause of that. I mean hey, with how often you come over it was gonna happen eventually."

He paused, configuring his next set of words carefully.

"To be fair, it'll probably be easier now that you do know. Now I can finally stop telling chat I ordered pizza. They're probably verryyyy concerned about my food choices" He partially joked

You couldn't help but laugh at that, wiping your tears in the process.

"Aren't you mad? Or like, scared of me leaking your face?" You asked

"oh no, scared shitless. You've got some heavy blackmail, looks like now I'll have to cater to that expensive sweet tooth of yours" He said, putting his hands up in defeat like he was surrendering a fight

That one made you burst out laughing. You couldn't even imagine blackmailing him for sweets! Without even thinking you blurted-

"Yea sure! If I wanted my face plastered over the news and my name in the next amber alert!"

You both started laughing your asses off. All the worries are seemingly forgotten. You stayed like that for a few minutes, just joking back and forth then laughing even more. Your ribs HURT like hell but it was all too funny!

After a while when you two *finally* calmed down Corpse realized he forgot about his stream. I don't think they'll fall for him "eating food" for nearly 30mins.

Panic mode was activated but he pushed it back a bit.

"How about you come in the room. We can handle specifics later but I think chat wants an actual explanation on why I've been gone for so long and I don't think they'll buy the 'I was eating' act. In the meantime I can introduce you to my friends"

Your heart was racing at the thought of going inside his secret room. On top of that talking to chat AND meeting his friends who happened to be streamers you also really admire!

"I'll take you up on that offer! I'll sit on the floor and watch!" You said, practically hopping out of your seat on the (probably tear and snot stained) couch.

You went into the room and everything felt alright again. Some new ground rules would be set of course but you didn't mind. Your kind neighbor wasn't leaving you, he's even letting you be a part of the stream! It's been a rough day but you know by the end of your comfort streamers well--stream you'd be better off than you have been in a while.

_______________________________________________

A/N: This is my first fic for Corpse and my first fic in general for Tumblr! Sorry if Corpse here seems out of character, I tried. I haven't proof read it all the way, I'll re-read it all once I get the chance. That's all <3

______________________________

[anomalyarchives]

chapter 1: the anomaly

Today I woke up and found myself in an unfamiliar reality. In this reality I am human, or at least human-like. I have human tendencies and urges and thoughts and body parts. I check to see if I can move my fingers and toes. They seem to be in working order. I notice a green light source coming from above and tilt my head to find a shiny green diamond floating above me. What is the meaning of this?

I look around and realize I’m in a quaint little house of some description. Is this where I live? Before I could further question my situation I’m in, I hear a knock at the door. I hesitantly unlock the front door, which squeaks when it swings open. Three friendly looking humans stand at my porch, one of them holding a plate of fruitcake.

“Welcome to the neighborhood!” greeted the fruitcake-deliverer.

I invited three neighbors into my home and learned their names. Summer, Liberty, and Travis. I mainly spoke with Liberty, who seemed to be the most awkward of the trio, so she doesn’t feel left out. We shared a salad I had prepared, and fruitcake of course. My paranoia made me wary of these three at first. I thought perhaps the fruitcake was poisoned. But I soon learned they were no threat.

After a few hours of lovely conversation, I said goodbye to the trio. I hastily documented my experiences with them on my computer. I haven’t forgotten my purpose here: to learn all I can about this reality. The people, the locations, everything. And since I’m the Anomaly, I have the power to change and disrupt the natural progression of this reality. The laws of the universe, time, space, logic and reason, they are all at my mercy.

But I’m not like other Anomalies. I don’t wish to disrupt reality unless absolutely necessary. I don’t want to destroy, or cause chaos and ruin. I only wish to learn and observe, and let it be. So I left my house and set out to uncover the secrets of this reality, starting with the local park.

I met a kind young lady, and I regret not getting her name. But we had a lovely chat over a game of chess. Once I felt like I’ve earned her trust, I asked her who are the most influential people around these parts. She seemed put off by my odd question, but responded anyway.

“There’s the Landgraabs, who control just about every business and corporation in the region. The Caliente sisters are notorious for starting relationship scandals. There’s also a new family that moved in, the Navidsons, who claim to come from a long line of singers and musicians. And of course, there’s Bella Goth.”

I waited for her to explain further, but she stopped there. It’s as if she expected me to know who that was.

“Bella Goth?”

The young woman nodded. “Yeah, her family has been around for ages. She’s a people person and a socialite, but somehow, her life is shrouded in mystery. The most we know about her is from gossip. Some say she was abducted by aliens and replaced with a clone. Others claim that Bella Goth isn’t her real identity and that her family is in witness protection.”

My interest is piqued. I think I found my first person of interest in my mission to learn more about this reality.

“Where can I find out more about Bella?”

—

Ophelia Villa is the name of the home in which the Goth family had resided for generations. It’s dark, looms over the other homes, and quite fittingly has a gothic aesthetic. In the kitchen, a woman dressed in red is finishing up dinner for her husband and two kids, the eldest of whom will be turning 18 very soon. But instead of thinking of her daughter’s coming of age, her mind is fixated on her work as a secret agent. What she learned today was troubling, and she can’t figure out what to do about it. She shakes her head, and carries the plate of pasta al limone to the dining room, where her family awaits.

“Bella, my dear,” her husband spoke. “You look like your mind is in the clouds. Is something bothering you?”

The woman chuckles, and takes a bite of her zesty pasta.

“It’s just something work-related.”

Her eldest daughter chimed in with concern. “Did you get in trouble again?”

Bella shook her head. “No dearest. But we discovered something strange happening here in Willow Creek. We don’t know if it’s related to what’s happening in StrangerVille or if this is an isolated case.”

“What happened?” asked the youngest son.

Bella hit her tongue. She knows better than to disclose her findings to her family, as it’s classified information. But she doesn’t want to worry them, or keep them in the dark. They deserve to know what’s happening in their own backyard. She decides to fill them in on the gist of the situation, but she must choose her next words carefully.

“There’s been a… disruption in the neighborhood. An outside force is threatening— I mean, could threaten our daily lives. But don’t worry, we’re trying to find the source of it.”

The youngest son put his fork down. He wasn’t the least bit reassured by his mother’s words.

“Are we all going to die?” he asked bleakly.

Bella cracked a small smile and shook her head. “No, my dear. That’s not going to happen. You don’t have to worry about this outside force, okay?” She stood up from her seat and started to collect everyone’s plates. “Besides, everyone is on the case. The military and even spellcasters are on standby. We’ll be perfectly safe.”

The husband still wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but he knew he had to put on a brave face for the children. “Yes, your mother is as capable as she is beautiful. She won’t let this force disrupt our lives.”

Bella grinned at his compliment. “Of course not. After all, this isn’t my first encounter with an Anomaly.”

NEXT EPISODE —>

[calyxaomphalos]

The Ghosts of Windy Ridge

Turn #42, four components

location #1 - BFS #21 (gas station) (3) neighbor #5 - Hank (5) item #17 - gives me hope event #11 - sudden insight / realization

I skipped over the item part, but feel like there's probably more which could be put into this scene regardless.

11 April 2022, Monday Afternoon

I left Andy at the mine and didn't even have my brunch. It was in the trunk, in my bag, rapidly approaching too many hours of not being refrigerated. The car still had at least half a tank of gas and as I was approaching the gas station, I saw one big rig getting diesel and another big rig refueling the station itself. The station is on the left going this direction, too, which meant it was kind of a pain to stop in there.

The reason I made the effort to take the left turn and pull into the station even with all that going on was Hank. He was trucking along as best he could on foot, walking against traffic and headed toward the underpass. My turn had taken me directly across his path. I waved at him and then pointed at the parking spots over by the little food mart.

As I got to one of the parking spots, I saw Hank had turned into the lot also. I got out of the car and walked over to meet him part way. "Heya, Hank! Did you need a lift? How're ya doing?"

"Don't need, but will accept. Lemme buy you a coffee or something?"

"Sure, the little food mart they have here isn't too bad. I was in here last Friday and the coffee smelled great. Also I haven't eaten a thing today, so a little nosh would be awesome, thanks!"

We went into the food mart and I watched as Hank pulled out a large coffee cup with his left hand, holding it under the spout and pressing the button on top of the carafe with his stump. When the cup was close to full, he said, "Room for cream?"

"No thanks, I'll just add some sugar," I replied.

He gave the carafe another short pump then handed the cup to me. "Here ya go!" he said and then repeated the maneuver for himself. I grabbed a pastry. Hank paid for my pastry and our coffees and then we went to sit outside at a small table over by the pet rest area.

"Hank, I've been meaning to ask you. What's the deal with Thompson Gap Mine?"

"Well, gosh, I dunno where to start with that," Hank said hesitantly.

"Let's start with some history then. When was it last active? How long has it been sealed off?" Then I blushed something fierce. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking about how the memory of what happened would affect you," I said, not able to look him in his remaining eye.

"It's OK. It was a long time ago. A Monday, like today. The 13th of October, 1986. That was when I lost my arm and my eye. Never did walk right since then. A couple'a fellas died in that accident. The mine stayed active another few years, though. It got sealed it up in the early '90s."

Hank paused and we both sipped at our coffees. He put his cup down and tapped the table and made sure to make eye contact. "Some say it was that daemon what caused the accident. I think that daemon causes lots of problems around here. That's why when you were there over a week ago telling me you had an urge to be up there after dark, well, I just had to loan you that amulet. You are still wearing it, right?"

I reached for the chain at my neck and pulled the amulet out from my shirt. "Yes, thanks. I still feel drawn to the mine, though. I was just up there not more than an hour ago. With Andy. Did you know that the door in the grating is unlocked?"

Hank let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, Andy cut the chain off of it last week. He's got some damn fool idea about someone having hidden treasure in the mine. Some new kid out at the Academy was talking to him while getting his horse shod a while back, before you showed up. Seems the kid is here on a Mining Science scholarship and said he read an old newspaper article in the Academy's library about a secret society club being busted with some sort of stolen hoard of riches, I'm not clear on exactly what they were supposed to have had, but ol' Andy, he watches too many of those treasure hunting videos, and he thinks that the bust didn't get it all. He thinks they hid *most* of it in the mine. And he thinks he's gonna find whatever it is and be rich and famous."

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Admin's dream

I myself rarely dream, but last night I had an interesting dream that I remember fairly well, so I thought I should share.

I traveled to another town for a university meeting and I was being hosted by a girl who lived there and went to a similar school to mine. We became fast friends and spent a few days exploring the city with some of her friends, who helped to show me around.

Soon, they revealed to me that they were members of an organization fighting against some shady people living there. They had a mission and took me with them, even though I wasn't fully briefed about what was going on.

It turned out that we were taking infant twins to their grandfather. With the help of my friend who also lived in that town, we got the grandfather's location. We left the twins on his door and went to spend the evening at my friend's flat.

Some of my other friends from Zagreb arrived and they took me out, and we went to a late night book signing and I got a present from a columnist I loved as a teenager. My friends went clubbing, but I kept thinking about the twins.

I went back to the place we left them, and found them to still be there, out in the cold, despite their grandfather allegedly being informed that they were out. I took off my hoodie and covered them in it and rang the door, risking revealing myself, who was already unrelated to the mentioned organization, to the "other side". For some reason, all of this should've been done in secrecy, but I didn't care anymore, because I was worried for the children.

I knew the other side was dangerous, but I thought the kids were much more important than me, as they were innocent. A handsome man arrived at the place where the twins were (which was in front of somebody's front door) and I tried to stop him to get him to take them, but he didn't even notice them.

He bared his fangs at me and I realized that he was a vampire. The street where we were at was so busy and I couldn't understand why nobody noticed the kids nor tried to help them before me, as they were crying before I came.

The man entered the house and I was left there, in the middle of the night, holding the basket with the kids, feeling extremely cold. I decided to take the kids to the police station, which was just down the street.

After I was sure they were safe, I went back to my friend's flat and found the door unlocked. I changed into something warm and went back out, because nobody was answering me and I got worried. I found my friend dead drunk and carried her home on my back.

A neighbor of hers, who was also her coworker, came out to help me. She arranged a place for me to sleep, and I went to bed and woke up early and went to meet my host. I didn't tell her what I did. I realized that none of the people from the organization went to check on the babies and they would likely have died if I didn't save them.

We went to an old aqueduct, sat on an old wall and talked. They explained to me that they were fighting against an organization of vampires and that the grandfather of the babies was also a vampire, but they were on cordial terms with him. They had some sort of a pact to eliminate his son's faction.

We went out again at night and I saw the handsome man again. Our eyes met and he smiled sinisterly, but I knew he didn't recognize me from the day before. Him and his crew were at a club, and my friend tagged along with them. I realized she intentionally gave us the wrong location so we'd give his kids back to him, but didn't bother checking on the babies herself and would've allowed them to pass away because she only cared about the father.

I had a bad feeling. Through one way or another, the father and I met and struck up an unexpected friendship. He kept teasing me like a friend would and I realized that he thought my friend brought back his babies to him.

As we became friends, he revealed to me a shocking truth - his ex was a member of my host's organization and he really loved her but she used him for information and then left him and broke his heart and didn't even tell him she was pregnant. She died on another mission and nobody wanted to take care of her babies, so the organization wanted to give them to their grandfather.

I felt sad for the handsome vampire boss because it was clear he would've forgiven his dead lover anything, if only she said she was sorry and came back to him, but she would've never done that because she didn't care for him nor did she love him.

It felt like he started falling in love with my friend. He was extremely grateful to her for saving his children and brought presents to her all the time and treated her nicely. I sometimes tagged along when they were going out with his crew and I started feeling wrong about the way she was using him. It felt like past was repeating itself, but at least I knew this friend wanted him, even if she was lying to him.

I got ready to go out with them again and I realized I was a bit jealous. That was a weird realization to me, because up until that moment, I didn't think I was falling for the boss, but now it became apparent that I was and that I was angry at my friend for lying to him and wanting him for all the wrong reasons.

The night was windy like the first night I saw him, the cold night when I saved the twins, and I was shivering. He put his coat around me and was closer to me physically than ever before. He took a whiff of me and said he knew my perfume.

I realized it was the same perfume I was wearing on that first night. He realized that I was the one who saved his kids, but didn't say anything. His people finished getting all the surveillance images and background info on all the players involved, including me.

He found out I was an unrelated stranger who decided to help his kids when everyone else abandoned them. He started seeing me in a different light, and my friend realized that. She confronted me and told me that I shouldn't be getting involved with the supernatural and things I knew nothing about and that I should just go home while I still can.

I felt sad, but knew she was right. This wasn't my home, wasn't my place to be. I packed up my things and got ready to go back. I talked to her kind coworker and she told me that I shouldn't be listening to anyone who didn't have my best interest in mind. I also knew she was right and that my friend wasn't really my friend, she didn't really care for me. She just used me. She was the one who set me up with that host, so she could orchestrate everything through them.

I boarded a bus and waited for it to take me home, when it was stopped by a convoy of armed men. I didn't know what was going on. A man entered the bus carrying two babies. It was the man, my vampire man. He told me I was going back with him, and I got up and nodded my head. Everyone else was flabbergasted, but the vampires erased their memories.

I went back to the vampire boss' place and finally learned his real name. He told me his whole story and I realized that he was a good person underneath it all. I started to question my host's organization. The vampires weren't the bad ones in all of this, I was sure.

And I was sure that I loved this man and that he has cared for me from the first time that we met, though he felt he should be grateful to my "friend" for saving his children, and was giving her attention out of that and nothing else, but was inviting me everywhere as well because he was drawn to me as much as I was drawn to him.

I started living with him and we started getting to know one another. The children loved me and took to me right away and I adored them and adored their father as well. We grew closer by the day.

He went on a mission and didn't come back from it and his men told me he was lost in action. I was crushed and started crying and breaking things and shaking in anger, I blamed everybody including myself and was mad at them for leaving him. They went on a recovery mission and could not find any trace of him.

I waited for days and kept hoping for good news. I was sure he was still alive and that I would feel if something had happened to him. Suddenly, he had appeared. He was alive and well. He was hiding until then because he was setting a trap.

I threw myself into his embrace and started yelling at him. I told him he wasn't allowed to do that ever again because his kids loved him and I loved him and we couldn't live without him. He was so happy to hear that, because it was the first time anyone ever told him they loved him and meant it. He told me he loved me as well.

I was so happy.

I knew it was real, our love was real.

Then I woke up.

[randomshyperson]

Wanda x Reader - You’re the only exception

Gif is not mine.

Prompt from anon: “Childhood best friends, and reader is basically a fuckgirl who’s only soft for her childhood best friend wanda, they’re constantly teasing and flirting with each other but they never take each other seriously and then something happens and reader gets jealous and realizes she’s fallen for wanda and then she tries to go for it but wanda doesn’t take her seriously bcs she’s a fuckgirl and a player. “

Words:  4.964k ////// Read on AO3

Warnings: Language, mentions of smut, but its mainly fluffy

You wake up with an arm around your waist. Squinting slightly, you look around the room. You think you are in a warehouse, probably the one near Avenue Two, a few meters from the bar where you were last night. You don't know who the girl next to you is, but she is pretty. You didn't ask her her name when you danced with her, and she didn't ask yours when she dragged you here.

You remove your arm from around your waist and stand up, looking for your clothes. Judging by the brightness entering the room, it is morning. And you groan slightly, thinking that your parents are going to kill you.

Your suspicions are confirmed when you put on your pants and reach for your cell phone. The screen is glowing with several missed calls and voice mails. You roll your eyes impatiently at your parents' controlling mania.

- Were you going to sneak out? - said a female voice startling you slightly. The girl you were lying with woke up, and was sitting up in bed, her tone slightly ironic.

- No, I was going to leave a note. - You lie with a smile. And then you make your best sad expression. - I really have to go.

- My friends told me you were a player, I should have known you'd do that. - She replies without really looking upset.

You let out a dry laugh, finishing buttoning up your shirt and putting on your sneakers. She waves her hand and smiles as you leave the room.

//-//

You definitely need a cup of coffee. So when you leave the unknown girl's apartment, you look for a coffee shop. Entering the place, you sit at the counter, unlocking your cell phone to read your pending messages.

- What can I get you? - Someone asks and you raise your eyes, blinking slightly as you notice the attendant. You smile at her as she says.

- Your number.

She looks surprised, but smiles shyly, and then you tell her your actual order.

When she brings you your pancakes and a coffee, a piece of paper with her number on it is on your plate.

You eat while checking your cell phone, and from your instagram feed you find out that yesterday's party was amazing, and that your best friends had moved the celebration to a parking lot when the police asked them to turn down the music in the house. Yesterday had been Steve Rogers' birthday, but you couldn't make it because you went to a rock concert at a bar, and you actually had plans to join the party, but got involved with a girl and never showed up. You hoped Steve wouldn't mind.

Finishing your coffee, you smiled at the paper with the waitress's number on it before putting it in your pocket, and leaving the place, you probably weren't going to call.

//-//

Your mother is furious when you come home. She screams, and accuses. And you roll your eyes, drop your keys on the counter, and slam your bedroom door as you enter. You shower, and change into more comfortable clothes, and then escape through your bedroom window.

Within two minutes you are at the house of your neighbor and best friend, Wanda Maximoff. You climb up the wall ledge into her room, and tap on the window to get her to let you in.

- Hey, Romeo. - She mocks your position as she opens the window, you laugh lightly as you enter the room.

Wanda sits back in the chair at her study table while you throw yourself on her bed.

- Where were you last night? Steve asked about you at the party. - She says, glancing quickly at you before returning to writing in her notebooks.

- Wanda, darling, I love Steve. - You say. - But between him and a hot girl, which one do you think I'll choose?

Wanda laughs, making a wry expression.

- I should know.

- Is that jealousy? - You scoff slightly, making her laugh again.

- You wish.

And then there was a knock on the door, and Pietro, Wanda's twin brother, entered the room.

- Wanda I need to... Oh hello. - The boy smiled at you charmingly, and you just raised your middle finger at him, making him laugh. 

- What's wrong Pietro? - Wanda asked.

- I need you to give me a ride. - He says. - Daddy won't let me drive because of detention.

You giggled lightly, remembering that Pietro was grounded for fighting at school, and almost got suspended. You know because you spent a lot of time with the twins. Wanda lets out an impatient sigh.

- Where to?

- I have practice today. - He says shrugging, and Wanda frowns.

- It's Sunday. - She replies suspiciously.

- Oh, Wanda, come on. Please. - He asks, and Wanda rolls her eyes.

- You'll owe me.

She says as she gets up and Pietro leaves the room excited. 

- Are you going with us?  - she asks you, but you lazily deny it.

- Thanks, but I'm going to get some sleep.

- Make yourself comfortable, just close the window when you leave. - She tells you, and then leaves the room. 

You decided to sleep in your own bed, the smell of Wanda's shampoo on the pillows was distracting you for some reason.

//-//

Mondays were horrible. You dragged your feet toward the school entrance, wishing you could go back to bed. Your first period was history, and you were already sleepy with anticipation.

You barely stepped onto the school grounds when Tony Stark threw his arm around your shoulders, greeting you.

- You are completely crazy! - he remarked with amusement. You blinked in confusion, and he laughed. - I told you that girl was taken.

You really weren't following the story. You reached your lockers, and Tony let go of you just as Steve and Pietro reached you.

- What girl are we talking about, anyway? - you asked as you searched for your books.

- Romanoff, smartass! - Tony replied leaning on the locker beside him. - Someone saw you go down on her in the outdoor patios, and everyone is talking about it. - He tells you, and you giggle. 

- And this is a problem because why exactly? - you replied with irony.

Tony laughed incredulously. Steve and Pietro listened to the story with amused expressions on their faces.

- I don't know, actually. - He says. - But I don't think her boyfriend will be happy to find out.

- That's really not my problem. - You reply with mock amusement. And then you finish taking your books and close the locker, turning to Pietro. - Where is Wanda, anyway? When I left home, you guys weren't outside.

Pietro chuckles. 

- You were late. - he retorted. - We went ahead, and Wanda is probably talking to the coach.

The bell rings and you grumble, saying goodbye to your friends, since you don't share the same history class. You have been used to going to school with Wanda every day since the first grade, and you don't understand why you missed that brief moment so much this morning. You imagine that it is just the usual.

//-//

You only meet Wanda in the third period of the day. She is distracted, and you are curious.

You walk over to her desk, and she is smiling at her cell phone screen.

- What's with that smile? - You tease, and she immediately blocks the phone, putting it on the table, and making you look at her suspiciously. 

- I don't know what you are talking about. - She replies in a tone of embarrassment and mockery.

- My God, you're sending nudes, aren't you? - You exclaim in shock, and Wanda blushes slightly as she laughs, and you sit down beside her.

- You're the worst. - She retorts, looking forward.

- But I'm hot.

You tease, and Wanda rolls her eyes laughing again. You don't talk anymore because the chemistry teacher walks in next, and he hates talking in his class.

//-//

You are bored while listening to the health presentations from last term. You were the first to present, accompanied by Tony and Pietro, because you really wanted to finish this work soon, and now you were leaning over your desk, trying to stay awake while the other students were talking.

Tony patted you on the shoulder to get your attention, and motioned to your left side. You frowned, and then looked up to where he was talking.

It took you a moment to realize that at the two tables after yours was a student with her hand down the pants of the student next to her. You held back a laugh, looking away immediately. 

- No fucking way. - You commented to Tony, laughing softly. 

The professor asked you to be silent next, but you and Tony lowered your voices as much as possible to continue whispering.

- That's Valkyrie and Thor. - He tells you. - They hang out with the bikers kids.

- They'll be expelled, that's for sure. - You reply with irony.

But then the teacher says he will lower the grade of whoever is speaking and you sigh impatiently as you decide to be quiet.

//-//

Wanda is hiding something from you. And she has disguised it very well, because none of your friends have noticed her strange behavior. But you do notice. You notice her distraction, the way she is even longer on her cell phone, or how she has been sneaking out between cheer practice and class, and when you ask, she just says that she was studying in a quieter place.

But it is Friday, game night, and you will have to find out what this is some other time. You put on the helmet of your uniform and walk onto the field, listening to the excited shouts of the crowd. American football games were very crowded, even if they were not the playoffs.

Tony and Steve greet you with a pat on the shoulder as you join the circle of your teammates along with the coach.

- Are you ready, tigers? - she shouts to you after reviewing the moves one last time.

- Yes, coach! - You and the team shout in unison, and move into position.

When you score the winning touchdown, the team lifts you up in the air as the crowd screams and celebrates. And you are laughing and raising your arms, and your gaze falls to the cheering area, looking for Wanda. And then your stomach drops when you see her, wrapped in a kiss with a boy you don't know.

And you don't understand the feeling that settles in your stomach, so you kiss the first girl who smiles at you, hoping that the feeling will go away. And it doesn't.

//-//

Everyone is saying that Wanda Maximoff kissed a boy at the game on Friday, when you arrive at school on Monday. You didn't come to school with the Maximoffs again, nor did you talk to Wanda all weekend.

You eventually find out that the boy is called Vision, or Vis, and is probably going to become the next millionaire in the country with a genius invention. He is part of the science club, and the debate club, and you have never met him. And then you are putting your books away quite hard on your locker, and Steve looks at you curiously.

- What did the locker do to you? - He teases.

- Bite me. 

Your harsh answer makes Steve laugh, and he doesn't press. And then you're walking toward biology class, and the same girl from the game stops you in the hallway. You think her name is Pepper.

- Hey, can I talk to you? - she asks with mischief in her eyes. You knew that a conversation was not what she wanted. And you took one last glance into the room, catching a quick glimpse of Wanda smiling at the phone screen, before nodding in agreement, letting the girl drag you into the nearest bathroom.

//-//

You don't return until second period, and you wait for the teacher to go to the bathroom before sneaking into the room, and throwing yourself into the chair next to Wanda.

- Shit, you scared me! - She remarks when you suddenly arrive. You laugh lightly, throwing the bag on the desk. And then Wanda looks at you with a mixture of mockery and incredulity. - I was going to ask where you were, but I think I have my answer.

You look at her confused, and then she turns to her backpack and pulls out a small mirror, handing it to you. You giggle when you see your reflection, lipstick marks across your collarbone and cheeks, and your lips slightly swollen. A few open buttons in your shirt too.

You try to fix your appearance quickly, and return Wanda's mirror when you are finished, but she doesn't even look at you.

And then the professor is back, and Wanda is distant, and you ignore the discomfort in your stomach.

//-//

You know that you need to talk to Wanda. You don't understand why she is distant, and why she won't talk about her new relationship. And then you are at her window, shortly after she has come home. She frowns in surprise to see you, but she opens the window and makes room for you to come in.

- Is everything all right? - she asks, sitting down on the bed. You hesitate, standing in the window space.

- Is something happening, Wanda? - you ask. - You are hiding things from me. Have I done anything wrong?

Wanda looks away quickly, moving her hands nervously. And you run your hands through your hair.

- I'm sorry. - She says looking at the floor. - I... I didn't know how to tell you.

- You can tell me anything. - You assured, coming over and sitting next to her on the bed, while entwining your hand in hers.

Wanda smiled, looking up at you.

- I met someone. - She tells you, and you keep your face impassive, ignoring the uneasy feeling growing in your stomach. - And it's recent and all... but it' s good. Vis is sweet, and kind. And I think I'm falling in love with him.

You nod, forcing a smile out. 

- That's amazing, Wanda! - You hear yourself say it, as if it were true. 

And then Wanda hugs you, apologizing for not telling you sooner, and you say it's okay. And when you lie on her bed, and go to watch a TV show, you want to cry. You know what has been bothering you all week. The realization hits you fast and makes your heart soar. You are in love with her.

//-//

Things are going relatively well. It's been two weeks since you realized the real nature of your feelings, and you've been ignoring them just fine. And you've accepted every invitation to parties, dates, and even any walk to think about anything other than Wanda. And even the people who know you are amazed at how many girls you've seen in the last few days.

At this very moment, for example, there was a girl you met in French class giving you oral sex against the gym bleachers. You were trying to concentrate on the feeling, but every time you closed your eyes you kept seeing Wanda. And you didn't want to think about her. 

And then the bell rang, and that was the perfect excuse to leave.

//-//

You are very drunk. You think you should have stopped drinking at least ten drinks ago, but you're pouring another one in your mouth. 

And then Steve takes you home, because you are in no condition to be left at a party. And you swear to him that you are fine, and that you are going to bed.

And then you head toward the backyard of Wanda's house as Steve leaves.

There's no way you can get up to Wanda's room without falling off the roof, and your brilliant idea is to throw pebbles at her window. But then it is Pietro who sticks his head out of the window, and he laughs when he sees your state, and you frown. 

- You crazy fool, that' s the wrong window! - he tells you in a low tone, trying to avoid waking up his parents.

- Call Wanda for me! - You ask in the same tone, he laughs shaking his head before going back inside, closing the window.

You start to look around for more pebbles, but then Wanda comes out the back doors, wrapped in a silk robe and looking at you in annoyance.

- What happened to you? - she asks as soon as she reaches you. You are smiling at her because she looks so pretty. - I called you a million times.

- God, you are beautiful.

Wanda blinks in confusion, frowning.

- You're not even listening to me. - She retorts angrily, but keeps her voice down to keep it down. - How much did you drink? 

- I don't know, Mom. - You mock trying to keep your balance. The surroundings were spinning a bit.

- You are unbelievable. - she grumbled angrily. - What do you want anyway?

And then you're laughing, at what you don't know. And then you walk over to Wanda and hug her, but she doesn't respond. You rest your neck on her shoulders, while whispering in her ear:

- Don't tell Wanda, but I am in love with her.

And then Wanda pushes you away and takes two steps back, an expression of pure shock on her face. You stumble backwards and start to laugh, trying not to fall on the floor.

- What did you say? - she asks incredulously.

- Shush. It's a secret. - You say. - Don't tell anyone.

- You're joking. - She says, and you feel your head hurt. - You're lying.

Your drunken brain has one minute of lucidity when you understand what you have just done. 

- I am not lying. - You tell her with a smile. - I am in love with you.

Wanda denies it with her head, you don't understand why her eyes are filled with tears.

- You're drunk. - She retorts. - And you're being mean. I want you to leave.

You sigh, and stumble to your feet as you turn around, walking in the opposite direction of the yard. You're not thinking clearly, but you think you don't like this conversation.

//-//

When you wake up, your head aches a lot. So does your body, and then you realize that you have slept on the living room carpet. 

- Wow, that is sad. - Your younger sister comments when she comes downstairs to find you on the floor. - I would get up before Mom and Dad saw you like that.

- My sweet God in heaven! - Your mother screams after seeing you lying on the floor. You hear your sister giggle and say "too late". And then your mother is running to you and helping you up. But then she smells your clothes and makes an incredulous expression. - Did you really pass out drunk in my living room?

You are covering your face with your hands in an attempt to lessen your migraine, while your mother starts screaming that you are completely irresponsible, and that you were grounded for the rest of your life, but you're not really paying attention.

You want to understand why your last memory of the night is the image of Wanda's crying face.

- And don't think that you are going to miss school today! - You hear your mother screaming while you are in the kitchen. Your sister listens to the fight with a smile on her lips as she eats cereal. - Get upstairs right now and take a shower! I'm taking you to school today! If you have the audacity to drink so much, you will bear the consequences...

The voice grew more distant as you went up to your room. You looked in the bathroom for an aspirin before stepping into the shower.

//-//

Bruce Banner really wasn't happy when he found out that you had slept with his girlfriend. He approached you as soon as you entered the school, and you had too much of a headache to deal with it now.

- Look, here buddy, it's not my fault that you can't satisfy your girl. - You sneer angrily, and then Bruce advances on you, punching the locker behind you. But then Steve appears and pushes him away.

- Get out of here now, Banner. - He warns with an irritated posture. Bruce hesitates.

- Let's see how you like it when she sleeps with your girlfriend. - He retorts angrily before leaving. 

Steve changes his posture completely when he turns to you, and his eyes are tender.

- Everything okay there, Y/N? - He asks and you nod absentmindedly, you really weren't paying attention to Bruce, you wanted to talk to Wanda. - I guess Tony was right. - Steve comments in a wry tone as you walk down the hall together, many looks at you impressed by the confusion. - Banner really wasn't happy.

- I don't give a fucking shit. - You retort with irony. - Have you seen Wanda anywhere?

The boy shrugs his shoulders in denial, and you let out an impatient sigh. You two have English now, and you're going to try to concentrate in class for a while.

//-//

You finally find Wanda, but you have no chance to talk to her now. She is giving a speech in the school gym. The principal has asked her to present the bullying prevention project, and as the class speaker, she has been selected to open the presentation. This would certainly bring good points for the college.

The presentation took about forty minutes, and even though your gaze was glued on Wanda, she didn't look at you once. 

And then when the presentation was over, all the students were sent back to their classrooms, and you had to wait in hiding until only Wanda and the three audio-visual students were left in the gym.

You walked over to them, and Wanda's eyes widened when she saw you, but she looked away quickly, hurrying to collect the papers that were probably the draft of her speech.

- Can we talk? - You said, and the audiovisual team present looked at you in surprise, but your attention was locked on Wanda. 

- I'm busy. - She replied, finishing picking up the papers and holding them tight against her chest.

- Why don't you tell me what's wrong?

Wanda looked away, but then one of the girls from the audiovisual team approached you with a smile.

- Hey, sorry to intrude. - She said in a mischievous tone of voice, and you blinked in surprise because you weren't even remembering the existence of the other people in the room. - When you're done talking to her, can we do something together?

You frowned, and before you could say no, Wanda let out an impatient sigh, and stormed out of the gym, bumping into you while mumbling "have fun". You were in shock for a few seconds, but by the time you ran after her, you had already lost sight of her.

//-//

Pietro was angry with you. But no one seemed willing to tell you what was going on. You were in the cafeteria, eating lunch at the same circular table as Tony, Steve and Pietro, and the Maximoff twin was treating you harshly.

- What's the matter, Pietro? - you asked mildly irritated when he gave you another judgmental look. But then he looked surprised.

- I don't really know.

You frowned.

- Excuse me?

Pietro let out a sigh and put the can of soda he was holding on the table.

- I don't know what you did. - He tells. - All I know is that Wanda is upset. And then so am I.

You raised your fingers to press them between your eyebrows, feeling a headache forming.

- I swear to God. - You complain. - I don't know what I did! She won't tell me!

- Damn it, don't look at me. I didn't even knew you two had fights! - He grumbles awkwardly. - When was the last time you were even angry with Wanda?

You laughed, tucking your hair back.

- Today I think. - You joked. - I don't really know, I never liked to fight with her.

- Then you must have really fucked up. - He remarks, and you let out a grumble, putting your arms on the table and sinking your head into them. - Maybe it has something to do with you coming over to the house drunk.

You raise your head quickly in surprise.

- What did you say?

Pietro blinks at you in confusion and lets out a short laugh.

- Girl, you showed up in our backyard, completely drunk at two o'clock in the morning. - Pietro tells. - You even went for the wrong window.

You let out a surprised exclamation.

- You're shitting me! 

Pietro laughed and denied it with his head.

- I don't know what you talked about, but when Wanda came back inside she was crying. - he says seriously. - She wouldn't tell me what it was, and I think that if I hadn't gotten up to get some water, she wouldn't have told me.

You let out a grumble and shoved your hands to your face, trying to remember. Too many flashbacks from last night came into your head. The party, the dancing, you in a triple kiss with Thor and Valkyrie, and a lot of drinking. And then you remembered the smell of Wanda's shampoo, and finally you knew.

You stood up abruptly from your chair, and Pietro looked at you in surprise, Tony and Steve who were talking next to you also looked at you and Steve asked if everything was okay, but you just nodded in shock at them and ran out of the cafeteria.

You needed to find Wanda, and clear everything up. She was too important to lose.

//-//

You look all over the school for her, and even after the bell rings, you don't go to class. You end up outside, on the soccer field.

And then you see her, sitting on the bleachers, looking straight ahead.

You smile, because she is in the same place where you met as children. As you walk up to her you remember:

“You were in the first grade, and you were playing hide and seek with the other kids at break time. And when you tried to sneak into the bleachers of the soccer field, you bumped into someone.

- I'm sorry. - you said, and looked at the girl in front of you. She frowned and looked down at her hands. You followed her eyes to notice the small kitten in her hands. - Wow, you brought your cat to school?

- I found him. - She answered, stroking the animal. - He was crying.

You moved closer to pet him too, and smiled when he began to purr.

- Maybe he's cold. - You said. - Where is his mother?

The girl shrugged.

- Do you want to help me find her? - She asked, and you smiled.

- Of course. - You agreed, offering to carry the animal, and the girl accepted. - My name is Y/N by the way. What is your name?

- Wanda.

You walked side by side out of the bleachers.”

You sat down next to Wanda, but she kept looking straight ahead. You bit the inside of her cheek, trying to think of exactly what to say. 

- I guess I have to apologize to you. - You said, and Wanda let out a dry laugh.

- is that so?

- But I'm not sorry for anything.

Wanda blinks in confusion, and looks at you with a frown. You look at her seriously.

- I will not apologize for my feelings.

- I'm not going to do that. - She declares, getting up, and walking off the bleachers onto the field, you follow her.

- You're going to keep running then? - You shout. - I love you! I love you!

- Stop saying that! - She shouts back as she turns around. You notice the tears in her eyes. - Stop it!

You take a deep breath, and try to calm the nervousness that is coursing all over your body.

- Why is this so bad? - You ask almost hurt, and Wanda lets out a wry laugh.

- Because I know you! - she replies, holding back her tears. - I know you don't date anyone! You go out, and you have fun, and then you leave! And I can't do that! - she finally lets the tears flow. - Not when I've been in love with you all my life.

Wanda lets out a shaky sigh at the confession and you lose your breath. 

- W-what...

- I can't do this. - She says turning to leave, you rush to run and get in front of her, and she takes two steps backwards nervously.

- Please listen to me. - You asked with desperation in your voice. - I love you. I do, please, Wanda. 

Wanda shakes her head, covering her ears with her hands and closing her eyes. You sigh, and wipe your own eyes. You take a deep breath, and walk over to her, tenderly touching her wrists to pull her hands away from her ears. At first she is startled by your touch, but she allows it, but doesn't look at you. You swallow dryly.

- Wanda, I've always been in love with you. - You confess, and she looks up in confusion. - From the first moment I saw you, I loved you.

- You...

- I never thought I had a chance with someone as amazing as you. - You tell her with a sad smile. - And then I found ways to distract myself from it. I'm sorry for hurting you. I never meant for that to happen.

Wanda lets out a sigh, and buries her head in your neck as she hugs you. 

- Please don't hurt me. - She whispers against your skin. You press her against you.

- I promise.

You hold each other for long minutes, and then Wanda smiles against your neck. 

- Kiss me. - She asks softly, making your whole body shiver in anticipation. You smile as you pull away only to bring your faces together. Your lips meet in a quiet, soft kiss, and you both smile. 

You think you finally understand all the romantic songs in the world.

[melwilson]

neighbors | b.b

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

rating: fluff, kinda angsty tho

a/n: this gif was made by the wonderful @buckysbarnes thank you for allowing me to use your work, luv.

Not that you’ve been counting, but it’s been exactly four weeks and two days since you’ve seen your handsome neighbor. Four weeks and two days where the sun didn’t seem to shine as bright and the roses on your kitchen table didn’t smell as good.

Bucky Barnes had simply disappeared without a word as to where he was going. You didn’t think much of it at first. It wasn’t uncommon for Bucky to hibernate in his apartment for a few days at a time, but then those few days turned into a week. And so, with the key he had given you, you unlocked the door to his apartment to find it empty. A small layer of dust had settled on the kitchen counter and the blankets that usually inhabited the floor were folded and left neatly on the couch. You assumed that Bucky wouldn’t be gone for too long, considering he was a homebody, but boy were you wrong.

He hadn’t answered a single phone call or text and after two weeks, you just stopped trying. Some would say you were worried, but you opted for anxious and confused. You weren’t Bucky’s babysitter, but you were his friend and you cared for him. You knew who Bucky was and what he did for a living from the moment you laid eyes on him. So naturally, you just wanted to make sure he was okay.

And that leads to now.

Your fingers hovered over the keyboard of your laptop. You had...something due. Something important. Something for work.

A report.

You had a report due at the end of the day, but your mind was focused on something else. Someone else. You let out a frustrated groan, shutting the laptop closed.

He’s probably in Europe with Sam.

I don’t blame him. Europe is so much cooler than New York.

He couldn’t have invited me though?

The thought of Bucky had completely and utterly consumed you. Maybe it was those eyes that were bluer than the Mediterranean or the warmth he brought to the small apartment. Or it could have been that for once you had an actual friend. Someone who listened and made you feel wanted. Bucky Barnes was all you wanted and all you needed. But he was gone and apparently, had no intent on returning to New York soon.

You’re pathetic, Y/n. Get it together.

You rolled your shoulders back before deciding that a trip to the market would help ease your mind. And you were right. It was a beautiful and unusually warm day in downtown Brooklyn. You shuffled through the mass of people; men, women, and children who desired to enjoy the weather. The brief sound of laughing children filled your ears causing a small smile to turn your cheeks. You had always wanted a few of your own- a couple of boys and a little girl. Your family was extremely close. You were the oldest of four. Family was something you valued more than anything.

“I didn’t know you liked plums, Y/n.”

You glanced up at Douglas Simmons or Doug as he told many to call him. He had been running the produce stand since you were a kid. He knew what you came for before you got their each weekend and would always have it ready for you. “I- yeah,” you paused. “It’s new. A friend urged me to try them. They’re actually more for him than for me.”

“Him?” the fair man asked, eyebrows perking up.

You rolled your eyes, a small laugh covering up the heat crawling up your neck. “Yes. Him. Why? You worried about someone stealing me away?”

He scoffed grabbing the package of fresh strawberries for you. “I was actually hoping so. It’s about time you find someone and settle down.”

“I’m twenty-five, Doug. I’ve got time. Plus, he’s...we’re complicated.”

The older man handed you your bag with a small smile. “Complicated or running from each other?”

You sucked in a sharp breath, the cracked concrete beneath you, seemingly more interesting. He had always been too wise for his own good. Doug was someone you confided in a lot during your teenage years. He was easy to talk to and a great listener. He also had an uncanny ability to tell you what you needed to hear when you needed to hear it. “I’ll see you next weekend, Doug. Thanks for this.”

“Anytime, Y/n.” There was a hint of pity laced in his warm, brown eyes and you hated it. You hated how people looked at you when you talked about finding someone else. The way they would all say they were proud of you and how far you’d come since the accident.

Swallowing thickly, your eyes landed on the flower stand a few feet away. A bouquet of blue, white, and purple hydrangeas caused a smile to tug at your cheeks. He used to buy you hydrangeas. A fresh bouquet in front of your apartment door each month. You hadn’t worked up enough courage to buy anymore. Passing them, you waved to the owner of the stand before making your way back home. Doug’s words rang heavy in your mind. Complicated or running from each other. It would be three years to date in a week. Maybe it was time.

Bucky was nervous. He hadn’t seen you in over a month, not to mention not answering your phone calls or texts. He felt awful. He had called you earlier today, but you hadn’t answered, your phone going immediately to voicemail. He could imagine the disappointment that would be laced in your eyes. You were never mad at him. You were never mad at anyone, just disappointed. You could always see the good in people and would never fail to show them their worth. It was one of the things Bucky loved about you. Ignoring the pounding in his chest, he knocked three times on your apartment door. A few moments later, he heard a soft shuffling before his eyes met yours. Your eyes lit up though Bucky could tell something was wrong. Your usually bright eyes were rimmed red and brimmed with tears.

“Bucky, hey.” Your voice was soft, yet scratchy like you hadn’t spoken in awhile. “Come in.”

The taller man stepped inside, immediately overwhelmed by the warmth your presence brought. “Um, I got these for you.” He held out a bouquet of hydrangeas, the same ones you had a seen a week prior.

You let out a quiet gasp taking the flowers from his hand. “Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

“I was hoping you would like them,” Bucky said nervously, “I wasn’t sure what flowers you liked. I got those because they reminded me of you.”

You sent him a small smile as you went around to the kitchen to grab a vase. The sound of tap water filled the silence between you. You could feel Bucky’s lingering stare, and though you didn’t mind, it made you nervous.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call back. I-“

“You don’t have to explain, Buck,” you muttered. “I understand. I’m just glad you’re here. I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” his voice was soft as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. His jacket was long forgotten, arms crossed over his chest, bottom lip tugged between his teeth. “How are you?”

You shrugged grabbing two glasses from the cabinet next to the microwave. “You want something to drink?”

“Y/n.” Bucky’s voice was stern.

You glanced over at him. “Bucky.” There was a look in your eyes that told him you didn’t want to talk about it.

There was a beat of silence. Bucky wanted to question you further, but he didn’t want to ruin what he had with you. “Water...with ice, please.” His blue eyes followed your frame as you shifted around the kitchen. Your body was stiff and rigid, a few sniffles filling the silence. Bucky noticed the way you ducked your head away from his as you handed him his water. As you attempted to slide past him, he gently wrapped his hand around your forearm. A shaky breath fell from your lips as your gaze stayed fixed on the floor beneath you. “Y/n, talk to me, doll. Please. I don’t like seeing you like this. And don’t tell me you’re okay because I know that you’re not.”

When you met his gaze, the tears started to fall faster. “Please don’t look at me like that.”

The break in your voice made Bucky’s heart ache. “Like what, doll?”

“Like you pity me. I don’t- I don’t want your pity.” You shook yourself from Bucky’s grasp, your knees buckling. Before you could meet the ground, Bucky’s hands found themselves weaved around your waist. He eased you to the ground, your sobs breaking his heart piece by piece. He had lived next door to you for nearly a year and had never seen you like this. He had never seen you so vulnerable. So broken. You always carried yourself with such poise and grace, it was hard to believe that anything was able to break and crack you at the seams. But here you were, falling apart in Bucky’s arms proving that you were just as broken and human as he was.

Bucky, feeling the way your body racked with sobs, said, “You gotta breathe for me, darling.” He waited a few moments and after showing no improvement, he took one of your hands and placed it on his chest. His metal hand came to cup your cheek wiping away the tears that fell rapidly and bringing a coolness to your face. “Y/n, you gotta breathe.” Bucky took in deep breath and motioned for you to do the same. It took a few hiccups, but you soon followed after him. With every deep breath he took, you would do the same. Once your breathing was slowed and your tears weren’t falling as fast, you allowed your head to rest on Bucky’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered. You gently pulled away from Bucky’s grasp so that you were sitting next to him knees pulled to your chest. You were beyond embarrassed. You hated crying in front of people. It made you feel weak, but more than that you were always the person to offer their shoulder. It didn’t feel right for it to be the other way around.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, doll.” Bucky’s voice was soft. Warm even. He watched as you fidgeted in your spot, your brain racking with what to say.

“I, um, this is the anniversary of my ex’s death.” Bucky swallowed, his hand reaching out to grab yours in a reassuring squeeze. You sent a weak squeeze back, bringing your intertwined hands to rest on your knee. “He was in the army. We started dating a couple months before he went to basic. We did long distance during basic. After, he was stationed in New York for about three months before we found out he was being deployed to Iraq. The day before he left, he uh, broke up with me. He told me that he didn’t want me to wait for him. A month into his deployment a man from the army showed up at my door with a bouquet of hydrangeas.” Your voice cracked. “He was killed in action. IED. I guess I’m not over it.” You tugged your bottom lip between your teeth turning to face Bucky. “I just wanna be able to get through this day without feeling torn apart. I wanna move on.”

“You can’t just push away your emotions, doll. What you’re feeling right now will pass, but you gotta let it run its course. You lost someone you loved and I don’t know if that pain will ever truly go away. Not like you want it to.”

You exhaled shakily using the back of your hand to wipe away a few stray tears. “Thank you for being here, Buck.”

“I’m always gonna be here for ya’ doll.” He tugged you closer throwing his arm over your shoulders. “Anything you need me to do?”

“I just wanna be held for a little while.”

You allowed your eyes to flutter shut at the soft trail of kisses that Bucky left on your forehead. You’re not sure how long the two of you sat on your kitchen floor, but when Bucky gently shook you awake the sun was making it’s decent along the New York horizon.

“Come on. Let’s get you to bed, doll.” The brunette’s voice was barely above a whisper.

You groaned in protest as he tugged you off the ground. You immediately wrapped your arms around his waist and Bucky visibly shivered at the heat of your breath against the base of his neck. “No. Stay. We can eat the plums I bought for you.”

A surprised chuckle fell from Bucky’s lips, his hands running up and down the length of your back. “You got me plums?”

“Us,” you corrected, “I got us plums and we can eat them if you stay.”

“Okay fine,” Bucky sighed, “But just so you know, I’m only staying for the plums not because I wanna spend time with my favorite girl.”

You raised an eyebrow an amused look covering your features. “Favorite, huh?”

“Always will be,” Bucky said casually. “Now, where are those plums?”

[sambvcks]

crawl home to her, b.b. x reader

chapter one // body’s working on empty

summary: bucky isn’t as receptive to this new life of his as everyone had hoped. he’s cold, sharp-tongued, and closed off. except to the tenant across the hallway from him, who always wears pajamas and bakes a dozen too many of his favorite cookies

warnings: food, nothing too bad this chapter!

word count: 1.5k-ish

author’s note: i thought my marvel phase ended five years ago...here we are again. i haven’t written in awhile so please be kind! title and chapter titles taken from hozier’s ‘work song’.

[ read on ao3 | series masterlist | inbox | join my taglist! ]

[ NEXT ]

Five minutes into their first session, Bucky decided he was going to make Dr. Raynor’s job as difficult as he possibly could.

It wouldn’t be an impossible task, seeing how this whole ordeal depended on him opening up and talking, two things that he had abandoned decades ago. Her unwavering stare was nothing more than a challenge, these fifty-minute sessions once a week were nothing more than a slight inconvenience to his lackluster day to day routine. He would play along, do whatever exercises she asked, and feign stability until he never had to see her again.

“Since this is our first session together, we’ll take it easy.” She promised with a forced upturn of her lips before whipping out her notebook.

Suddenly, it felt like he was encased in bulletproof glass in Berlin again. He remembered that the last time he had been forced into receiving psychiatric help, it hadn’t exactly gone to plan. His chin fell to his chest, hands wringing together as he thought of any excuse to request a different doctor. 

“Let’s begin.”

It was already getting too hot to wear leather gloves and his heavy jacket. New York’s heatwave was supposed to be the highest on record this year and while kids popped open fire hydrants in the street, Bucky would be settled on the hardwood floor in the back corner of his apartment, waiting.

Waiting for what, he wasn’t quite sure.

It was a fairly nice apartment, newly renovated and practically barren. Government issued and funded, of course, and he had spent the first night pulling the furniture from the walls to the center of the room in search of bugs and cameras. He found thirty-four, destroyed them under a rolling pin, and they hadn’t come to replace them. Message received.

The one thing he really liked about the apartment building were his neighbors. The price tag for a one bedroom was substantial to say the least and only older couples could really afford it. No children, no dogs, no outsiders. The only break from his undisturbed routine would be occasionally helping Mrs. Johnson down the hall carry her groceries as she struggled to get the door unlocked with her brittle hands.

They affectionately called him James and the older women were quick to get a hold of his arms, saying things like “They don’t make them like you anymore, James!”. He swallowed the bile prickling at the back of his throat as he nodded, and they moved on to telling him about their single granddaughters.

It was almost nice, his routine. Almost.

Outside of those small encounters, he spent most of his waking hours jogging in the park and cooking the same three meals. He had his appointment every Wednesday with Dr. Raynor, but that was it. He’d take two trains back to his apartment and wouldn’t emerge again until he needed groceries two days later.

It was when he was returning from one of his biweekly grocery trips, a paper bag settled on his hips, that he spotted you outside his door.

He stilled in the hallway, taking a quick step back to peek around the corner without being spotted. His breath stalled, his ears picking up your soft humming and the crinkle of plastic as you set a bundle of cookies at his doorstep, the only one without a mat. His eyes flicked to the other doors, where identical bags of cookies sat propped up, tied with blood red ribbons.

His shoulders relaxed. No threat.

The bottom of his grocery bag suddenly gave way, fruit rolling in every direction. Bucky fell to his knees, glove clad hands snatching up everything he could reach as quickly as he could manage. You were faster, though, and scooped up a plum that had rolled your way, offering it over as he tried to balance the rest of his groceries in his arms.

“Thanks.” He was quick to sweep past you, hand digging in his pockets for his key.

“James, right? Ms. Robinson downstairs is like, in love with you.”

“Yeah, but, uh-“ Dr. Raynor’s instructions from their last session rang in his head, as much as he tried to tune her out: make connections. “You can call me Bucky.” He cleared his throat. “And Mrs. Robinson is far too good for me.”

“Bucky it is then.” You trailed him down the hallway, “Y/N.”

Bucky tried to sneak a glance at you from the corner of his eyes, which was harder to inconspicuously do now that he had gotten a haircut and couldn’t hide his wandering eyes behind long tresses. Young was Bucky’s first thought. much younger than the other renters in the building. Bright was next, followed by much too smiley for a Tuesday morning.

Pretty, he admitted as he turned his back to unlock his door. Maybe in another life he would have lingered in the hall, his so-called effortless charm seeping through as you swooned at the very thought of a date with James Buchanan Barnes. But that life was long gone, and instead he rushed to retreat.

“Oh, don’t forget these.” You swooped down to collect the bundle of cookies you had left at his door, handing them to the hand that wasn’t delicately balancing the pile of groceries he still held against his impossibly broad shoulders. “Oatmeal raisin, super-secret family recipe.”

He was back in the doorway of his ma’s kitchen, watching his little sister balance on a wobbling stool as she struggled to crack and egg with her little fingers. He can so distinctly see the pale green of the cabinets, remember the fight his parents had when she begged for that shade of green while his dad had wanted white. Of course, she won.

“These are your brother’s favorite.” His ma whispered to his sister; her flour covered hands reaching for the age faded index card with their grandmother’s script detailing the ingredients. “Our family’s recipe. One day, you will make these for your children. And your children’s children.”

Rebecca, still so young and with a hatred for smelly boys deep in her bones, giggled at the mere thought as her fingers fished out the bits of eggshell that snuck their way into the bowl. She wiped it away on the spare apron tied twice around her waist, much too big for her. 

Bucky would never see her grow into it. He would be drafted only a few months later.

In the meantime, he would bundle half a dozen of them in a tea towel and split them with Steve on the walk to the movie theater. Steve would begrudgingly admit that Buck’s ma made the best cookies, but his made the best brisket. They’d sneak in through the back door and do it all again the next weekend, until they ran out of weekends together.

“Oatmeal raisin are my favorite.” He admitted, accepting your offering like a stray cat does to the first scrap of food from a stranger.

“I think you’re the only person under the age on one hundred to ever say that.” You teased, backing away to the door adjacent to his, “Anyway, don’t tell me things like that. I’m a stress baker and with finals coming up…” You winced at the image of the dozens of batches you would surely be whipping up in the coming weeks.

“Finals?”

“Law school, one semester left.” You fished your own keys from your back pocket. Bucky barely held in the scoff at the shiny Spider-Man keychain that dangled from your fingers. “You?”

“Oh, no. I haven’t been in school in what feels like…a century.”

“Well, I’m all alone here and as much as I would love to, I can’t eat everything that I bake. So, expect a few dozen muffins and cookies every few days.”

“No arguing from me, doll.”

You both lingered in the small hallway, only a few steps apart, each leaning against your respective doors. Keys in each hand, with no intention of using them any time soon.

“Law school, you said? How do you afford a place like this?” Bucky was sure he was the only recently pardoned fugitive under this room.

“Well, this used to be my grandma’s apartment and it was handed down to me in a maybe no so legal way. If the landlord asks, I’m an eighty-year-old woman who doesn’t know how to work her answering machine.”

He huffed a laugh, mostly because that wasn’t particularly far from how he felt with today’s tech. The flip phone that Dr. Raynor had described as archaic sat heavy in his back pocket with only three names programed into his contacts. Don’t get him started on his television.

“Nice to meet you, Bucky.”

With that, you each stepping into your respective apartments. Bucky stalled at his door for a moment, listening as you locked and dead bolted your door behind you. He sighed, dumping his half-ruined groceries on his barren kitchen island.

The next day, he’d have another appointment with Dr. Raynor. This time when he’d say I’m trying, as he did each week, it wouldn’t be a complete lie. His phone buzzed in his back pocket.

2 New Messages

From: Sam

You coming up this weekend?

Don’t ignore me this time. He’s getting worse, Buck.

[makeste]

literally just another giant post of Bakugou faces.

so I did this last year, but I only got up to chapter 120 before I ran out of steam. happily, though, this left me with an additional 190 chapters’ worth of glorious gremlin faces to choose from for this year’s edition! which I figure I had better do, before tumblr finally pulls the plug on my poor sweet image limit.

so without further ado, happy birthday to Kacchan, and happy birthday to Kacchan’s asymmetrical HAH face where his eyes do the thing like ( ◣益◢).

why I like it: so this is from Kirishima’s flashback in chapter 133, where Kirishima was getting all down on himself because his quirk Only Does One Thing, and Kacchan was all “nah bro don’t worry about it because your One Thing is totally fucking rad, and you’re strong enough to withstand anything.” so that of course was incredibly sweet, and one of the few times we’ve seen him give an actual heartfelt pep talk without so much as a single insult thrown into the mix. but what really puts this scene over the top for me is the fact that you can see the ever-so-subtle hints of guilt and regret when he talks about All Might and Kamino. for just a moment, he gets this distant look in his eyes, and his expression turns soft and contemplative. basically this is a rare collector’s edition Kacchan face you will not find in many other places.

why I like it: because this frankly needs to happen in every damn fight until this kid finally gets it through his thick skull to ditch the mask so we can see every fantastic facial expression in full 4k glory. work with me here please Kacchan.

why I like it: because character growth!! this was our first big moment of post-DvK2 Kacchan development, and the payoff was well worth the wait. it only took him 166 chapters to realize that it’s hard to grow as a person if you’re determined to be a humongous dick to every single person you meet!! lmao, but it’s progress though.

why I like it: these two panels are criminally underrated. the way his face transforms when Deku gets the answer wrong dlkjfldk. this is easily one of the funniest subtle gags in the entire series.

why I like it: “hey Bakugou do you want to play in our band?” “fuck you, no.” “pretty please.” “fine, but I refuse to call it a band.” “well then what do you want to call it -- ” “MURDER.”

why I like it: GONNA MURDER EVERYONE BY PLAYING THE DRUMS!!!! SOMEHOW WE’VE SUCCESSFULLY COMPARTMENTALIZED THIS SCHOOL-SANCTIONED DISPLAY OF PERFORMING ARTS AS A DEATH MATCH. OH TO UNDERSTAND THE INNER WORKINGS OF THIS YOUNG MAN’S MIND.

why I like it: hah?! I love how he has to tilt his neck all the way back every single time he does this. he’s so cute I love him so much.

why I like it: somewhere around this point in the manga Kacchan decided to do away with being handsome and decided to just be a full-time gremlin in every single panel. this persisted for the next 90 chapters or so and he was very dedicated. I’m pretty sure he was going for vulgar and intimidating, but unfortunately for him he’s too inherently adorable and so the end result is just endearing and almost charming in its own way.

why I like it: this was from chapter 194 when Aizawa was announcing that they’d have a special guest for the Joint Training arc, and so Kacchan was all “BOY OH BOY A NEW ASS TO KICK.”

why I like it: more character development! and just look at that confidence! he’s fully recovered from his low point after Kamino and the provisional exam. he knows what he’s about now, and he is THRIVING. and once again you can see how his conviction inspires the people around him and makes them more determined. just, he is going to be such a good number one hero you guys.

why I like it: it’s the three little “!!!” lines hovering in the corner next to his head for me. “oh my god it’s All Might, All Might saw me being cool and Saving To Win and stuff, what’s he gonna say what do I do omg quick act natural.”

why I like it: QUICK HIDE YOUR FEELINGS!! WE CAN’T LET THE NEIGHBORS KNOW WE CARE. fjkdlsjklk

why I like it: this is his expression when he first sees Deku activate Blackwhip for the first time. it’s one of the few unguarded expressions of complete surprise that we’ve gotten from him and I love it thank you.

why I like it: classic asymmetrical HAH face. he truly has perfected this look. look at him, casually clinging to a pole for no reason other than to look dynamic. this boy truly cannot sit or stand or walk or do anything normally. he spent three months working his ass off to catch up to Deku and the others, and now that he finally has he’s filled with so much pent-up energy that he simply cannot hold it back anymore and he’s gotta climb a pole. he’s just gotta.

why I like it: because he is so fucking good at saving people now you guys, he’s like a whole-ass professional and shit, and yet it hasn’t changed who he is one single iota. he will save your life and he will SCREAM AT YOU WHILE DOING IT and you’ll sit there and be grateful goddammit.

why I like it: o noo he was caught unawares. All Might was all “I’m gonna have a dad moment and nobody can stop me” and he walked right up to him and put his hand on his head because he’s All Might and so what is he even gonna do about it. nothing, that’s what. you got played, Kacchan. outmaneuvered and outfoxed. all he can do is stand there and make that grumpy face he makes when he’s receiving unwanted affection (҂⌣̀_⌣́).

why I like it: more unwanted affection. now they’re even feeding him ffs. how could he let this happen. mm chicken.

why I like it: GREATEST ASYMETRICAL HAH?! FACE OF ALL TIME. out of all the people to befriend him against his will, Todoroki is by far the most confusing to him and it’s just so great.

why I like it: this is when Hawks is staring at him in chapter 244 because he fake-killed his mentor and stuff and he feels sorta guilty about it. but meanwhile Kacchan just thinks he’s trying to start some shit, and so he’s all “I WAS FASTER THAN YOU BACK THERE YOU KNOW” and Hawks is all “hahaha okay little buddy you just keep telling yourself that”, because as previously discussed Kacchan is too adorable to ever be intimidating.

why I like it: this is from 246 when he’s in the middle of arguing with Burnin’ and all of a sudden Endeavor calls to him and he’s just like o shit what’d I do.

why I like it: because Endeavor’s mentoring them and shit and he’s just casually sitting there eating his lunch like yeah. with his lil hamster cheeks lulz.

why I like it: the look that instantly became iconic. this panel cured me of the misconception that Bakugou “goes to bed at 8:30pm” Katsuki was a morning person. the truth is he loathes all times of the day equally.

why I like it: this one is a team effort because Deku’s faces are equally as good. I’m genuinely shocked that this family dinner with the Todorokis didn’t prematurely unlock Danger Sense. you can tell that he and Deku have a silent agreement to call a temporary truce on their rivalry for as long as they sit at this table as outsiders in this strange land. this is by far the most hazardous meal Bakugou has ever experienced, and yet the mapo tofu is too good to go to waste, so he’s just shoveling it down his throat trying to finish as much as possible before shit inevitably hits the fan.

why I like it: Kacchan is New Here so he doesn’t yet realize that if the Todorokis are spilling family secrets, there is always inevitably going to be someone listening in the shadows just outside the door.

why I like it: the battle with Ending was probably peak gremlin!Kacchan. like, we’ve had gremlin before and afterwards, but never quite to this same degree. Horikoshi really decided to push the limits of contorting this child’s face in the strangest ways.

why I like it: peak. gremlin.

why I like it: nothing to see here, just Kacchan quietly realizing after 252 chapters that he MIGHT have been just a BIT of a cartoonishly villainous asshole to Deku back at the beginning there ha ha ha oh god oh fuck.

why I like it: because he found the answer to What It Is That He Lacks, and he’s all cool and calm and infuriatingly secretive about it. it’s such a sudden and stark contrast to the gremlin faces he was making only moments earlier, and it makes this moment hit home that much more.

why I like it: because this is him being friends with Deku!! like for real though!! because he’s fucking around and insulting him and making weird faces and stuff, but it’s because in his mind That’s What Friends Do. they clown on each other and help each other train and shit. half an hour after this they’ll go down to the training gym and play Catch-A-Kacchan, and then he’ll quietly confess to All Might that he wants to atone. he may be a gremlin, but he’s a gremlin with layers goddammit.

why I like it: because this is right after TomurAFO shows up out of nowhere and scares the shit out of him and Deku and makes them see a terrifying death vision and stuff, and you can see how shaken up he is by it. he definitely understands how close they came to dying just then and he’s sobered the fuck up. this is the moment when it really sinks in that shit has gotten real. eight minutes from now he’ll move without thinking and save Deku’s life.

why I like it: hydro homies. nothing restores those electrolytes like good old Raquaius Sports Drink.

why I like it: because this panel was when it started to become clear that the real reason he grabbed this sports drink was to pretend like he was busy so he could act like he wasn’t interested in Deku’s training because god forbid the neighbors know that he actually cares.

why I like it: because the sideways glance!! and the fact that he doesn’t deny it!! in fact he does the opposite of denying it, and he basically starts pouring his heart out about how goddamn worried he actually is. he’s guilty and anxious and restless and this entire conversation is amazing.

why I like it: he looks so goddamn young here. when he finally stops scrunching up his face and putting on his usual tough guy act and for once allows his actual emotions to show on his face instead, the result is so damn striking. for once we got an entire conversation with no gremlin faces, because Horikoshi had to drop them completely in order to show just how serious he is here. which was incredibly effective btw.

why I like it: because he’s basically just fidgeting with the bottle now to avoid making eye contact with All Might because he just revealed a deep dark secret to him and he’s precariously vulnerable right now. that’s the body language of a kid who knows how badly he fucked up, and just wants to hear from someone else if it’s going to be okay, if he can still make it okay. he looks so small here.

why I like it: the worry lines under his eyes. the look of uncertainty and wanting to believe that what All Might says is true (“you’ll get a chance to talk eventually”). the hesitance to turn back and look at him, and the way he doesn’t dare until he finally gets that small bit of reassurance. All Might isn’t judging him. All Might understands him and understands where he’s coming from, and he’s giving him his blessing. he’s giving him a thumbs up and reassuring him that he sees the change in him and sees that he’s sincerely trying, and basically saying that he has faith that he and Deku will be able to work it out. and you can see that it means a lot.

why I like it: because this kid spent his entire internship with Jeanist doing nothing but bitching nonstop, and then later on when Jeanist went missing he was all tight-lipped about it because once again NOBODY CAN KNOW THAT WE CARE GODDAMMIT, and it was all very Classic Bakugou. but then Jeanist finally shows up again at Jakku, and we get this little moment of happy, smirky FUCK YEAH, I KNEW YOU WEREN’T DEAD YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE, and it’s just the best.

why I like it: HE’S SO UNABASHEDLY PROUD GOD BLESS HIM.

why I like it: because he nearly died and then he woke up here in the hospital two days later not knowing where anybody else is or whether they’re even still alive, and this, my friends. this is finally the moment. the moment where he was all FUCK IT, MAYBE WE CAN LET THE NEIGHBORS KNOW WE CARE AFTER ALL. character fucking development. you love to see it.

BONUS:

WHAT HAVE I BECOME, MY SWEETEST FRIEND. EVERYONE I KNOW GOES AWAY IN THE END.

happy birthday Katsuki. feel better sweetie. HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER TREAT HIM RIGHT I AM COUNTING ON YOU.