WHO IS A VIRGIN AND WHO IS NOT A VIRGIN.

virgin.

Akira, Herja, Fang, Galdo, Kobato (at least in his TCE2 verse or verses where he is not in love with Kotoko)

not a virgin.

Gin, Sasara, Yngwie, Rana, Ryuto, Kakeru

Something I don't like about a lot of Vox takes I see is that they tend to portray Vox as someone who's unpleasant to work with and has weird ideas about what partnership means when really... he's not? He's not and he doesn't. It's just that two of the most prominent interactions we've seen him have are with Valentino(who is a fucking NIGHTMARE to work with) and Alastor(a man he has undisclosed, deeply emotional history with). But everyone seems to discount his OTHER important relationship: Velvette. Which by all accounts, is INCREDIBLY normal.

Like, yeah, their first interaction opens with her yelling at him, but that's less about Vox himself and more about Valentino. As they keep talking throughout the first bit of the episode, she starts calming down, and they just seem to genuinely get along? She has every right to look upset during Stayed Gone because Vox is being really weird and she's nOT THE ONE WHO ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED HIM TO DO THIS SHIT(staring directly at Val rn), but even then during the meeting after Stayed Gone she does actually. Participate. Unlike s o m e people. Despite being on her phone the whole time(which is literally her job-), she actually pays attention and contributes real ideas! Which tbh she didn't have to do at ALL like she did not have to put up w/ Vox's bs in RKtVS the way she did. There's also their phone call during the overlord meeting which, while I definitely think Vel was playing it up to annoy Carmilla, still sounded like a conversation between two ppl who genuinely like and respect eachother!

No matter what you think their relationship is(romantic, platonic, etc...), Vox and Velvette seem to get along REALLY well(outside of Alastor-related incidents). Like, better than either of them do with literally anybody else in the show. Vox & Val do LIKE eachother, but I find whatever the fuck is going on beneath the after the battles & masterless cattles to be DEEPLY upsetting to think about for too long(ex; any of my other posts abt their relationship), and the only other interactions we've seen either Vox or Vel have are Stayed Gone & Respectless, which are literally just song battles. Both of their only interactions outside of the Vees have been song battles. Aw fuck I'm getting off topic... BACK TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS COLLEAGUES- okay uh basically, I don't think they would get along this well if Vox was a terrible person to work with(note I said WORK WITH. Hate that I need to specify this but I don't think Vox is a good person overall, just a good business partner). I think Velvette is generally a good bench mark for both Vox & Valentino's relationships with other characters because she's their equal, their friend, and isn't in a weird toxic relationship with either of them. Their interactions with her provide a window into how they just generally interact with people. And based off of their interactions, Vox seems to be actually pretty decent to work with when he isn't being Actively Provoked for shits and giggles or trying to sooth the tantrum of a man child. Also when he views you as an equal and doesn't own your soul that helps too.

Edit: Hiiiiiiii just here to say that now, in the light of day, I don't really agree with everything I've said in this post? I wrote it at midnight while like half asleep so my ability to consider the fact that. We barely know anything about either Vox or Velvette at this point in time. Was kind of impaired I think. Cuz we really don't. I do stand by everything I said about their relationship to EACHOTHER, and I stand by the idea that we should take that dynamic into consideration for character analysis more often, but everything else I'm a little iffy on and I just woke up like an hour ago so my brains still a little fuzzy & I can't explain exactly WHY I'm iffy on it, but just know that I think the conclusion I drew is a bit of a leap in logic at the very least and I recognize that now lol

Better Off

Part Three

part three is here! sorry for the long wait, i've been really busy with work, but i have not forgotten about this fic! enjoy!

Series Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June

I was at an end-of-the-year pool party one of the parent’s in Maddison's class was putting on. I didn’t expect an invitation for myself, but it was the dad that stayed to help with Maddie’s birthday party, and after seeing him more at a couple events and talking amicably with him a few times, I thought we had become somewhat friends, so I decided to go.

What I didn’t realize was that there seemed to be a dress code for this party. I showed up in a bikini, one of my old college t-shirts, and denim cut-offs, but when Michael, the dad who was hosting the party with his wife, led me into the backyard, I realized I was terribly underdressed. Not that I would ever own or wear a patterned kaftan or wedge sandals, but I could’ve at least worn one of the few sundresses that I owned. I tried to ignore some of the looks that I got and focused on getting sunscreen on Maddison so she could swim with the other kids. Once she was all set, I shrugged out of my shirt and stuffed everything into the beach bag I brought with me; because of my work schedule, I didn't get much time in the sun, so I was going to make the most of it, judgemental moms in kaftans be damned.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”

Pushing my sunglasses up the bridge of my nose, I smiled and pulled Harry in for a hug.

“Yeah, Maddie wanted her polka dot swimsuit, but we couldn’t find it, so we had to scour the whole house for the stupid thing. But we made it.”

In the three months since Harry and I “started over,” we’d actually become good friends. We realized that aside from becoming parents at nineteen and twenty, we had a lot in common. Like me, Harry was incredibly hard working—though I often joked that I didn’t understand what he did the few times he tried to explain it to me—and he loved his son with everything he had. Over these last few months, he’d told me a little about his situation with his ex, but just enough to explain why he’d been late to pick Devon up from Maddison’s birthday party. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but I got the feeling there weren’t very many people he could talk to about it.

“We never did the whole custody thing when we got divorced. Taylor made it seem like I was lucky enough to be in his life at all. And at the time, I agreed with her, so I went along with everything she said.”

Family law wasn’t my specialty, but I knew enough about it to know that while custody battles could be sticky situations, sometimes they were necessary.

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “That must’ve been difficult.”

“It was alright at first. He stayed with me every other weekend and for Christmas, but then something happened, and it was like Taylor stopped caring. I came to her house to pick him up for the weekend once and he was in front of the television by himself while she was entertaining some guy by the pool.

“That was when I realized things needed to change. That and the day we were called into the principal’s office. When you told me Devon had been bullying Madison, I couldn’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head a little as he recalled the memory. “I knew that being a mother at twenty wasn’t exactly in her plans, but I never thought it would be this bad. So I’ve been trying to get full custody ever since.”

Hearing Harry’s words made me feel terrible for him and Devon. I never thought there would be a worse boat than Maddison’s dad wanting nothing to do with her and leaving us high and dry the second he found out I was pregnant, but now I wasn't so sure. One thing confused me though.

“But if she doesn’t want to be as involved, why not just let you have custody? Why all the trouble?” I realized that while Harry had opened up to me, he might not want to divulge everything all at once. We were friends, but I wasn’t sure we were that close. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you don't want to.”

“It's fine,” he said, but remained quiet as he watched our kids run around the park we decided to meet at. “It’s more her family than Taylor herself. They’re, like, old money rich and very proud. When they found out that their daughter got pregnant from some poor bloke from a small village in England, they weren’t exactly thrilled. But to their credit, they took care of everything—the doctor visits, buying all the necessary stuff, they even bought us a house and set me up with a job at one of the companies they owned.”

“But?” I asked, knowing there was more to the story.

“But,” Harry continued. “Their one stipulation was that we get married. I was alone here in America, my family was on the other side of the world, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so it seemed like an okay deal at the time, but it was a disaster from the start.”

Harry didn’t need to tell me the rest to know why it was a disaster. She and Harry were two kids thrust into a life they weren't ready for. I knew the feeling well. I found myself feeling bad for Taylor too, even if she was dropping the ball as far as Devon was concerned. It wasn't easy being a mom in general. Being one while you were still in college was almost impossible. Still, the situation Harry and Devon were in now was not ideal. And whatever Harry’s ex was feeling shouldn’t have been projected onto her son.

“I’m sorry. This can’t be easy for you, especially when your family isn’t here,” I said. Harry hummed, and I got the feeling he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I know you probably have an excellent lawyer and everything,and it's not exactly my area of expertise, but if you ever want someone to look over anything with you, I’d be happy to.”

Harry turned his head to face me, something in his eyes I couldn't read. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. And so is Devon, obviously,” Harry said now, adding the last bit as an afterthought. We never talked about how we’d slept together on Halloween or kissed in the restroom at the school’s Valentine's Day carnival, and for the most part, it was fine, but we did have our awkward moments.

I smiled and walked with Harry to where a couple of parents were standing around and talking. He grabbed me a juice pouch from the cooler on the ground and one for himself. He’d learned over time that while I liked to drink and have a good time, I normally didn’t do it when I had to drive Maddison anywhere. I never made him do the same, but Harry just smiled and poured himself a glass of apple juice and clinked his glass with mine the first time I told him about my little rule.

“Cheers,” he said, tapping his juice pouch with mine and taking a sip.

I stayed with Harry for a while, the two of us talking about our plans for this summer. Mine were small and not all that elaborate—Maddison’s dance camp in July and going home to see my parents a couple times. Harry told me he was still trying to finagle a trip for him and Devon to go to England and see his family, but with everything going on, he wasn't sure he could make it happen.

“It’s been so long since he’s seen his grandma, Y/n,” he said, but I could hear what he wasn’t saying. I myself wasn’t very close with my parents, but I couldn’t imagine being away from Javi or Sadie for so long. They were my support system, I needed them.

“Well,” I started, walking towards the deep end of the pool so we were alone but could still keep an eye on our kids. “You have a steady paying job, you’ve stepped up where your ex hasn’t, and you don’t live in a total bachelor pad as far as I can tell.”

“Hey,” Harry said, pushing my shoulder. I laughed and shoved him back. 

“What I’m trying to say is that you’re making all the right moves. The judge and the social worker will see that. Just try not to make any drastic, life-altering decisions until after you’ve won your case.”

Harry was quiet for a moment while he considered my words. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close. “Thank you.”

I closed my eyes and smiled, patting him on the knee. When I opened them again, I noticed a couple of the moms at the other end of the pool eyeing us. None of them were ever explicitly rude to me, but I could tell they didn’t like the way I seemed to be closer to Harry than they ever would be. Their obsession with him really put me off, and after spending more time with him, I knew that Harry was uncomfortable with it too, he was just too much of a gentleman to turn them away. I took that mantle upon myself when I could, pulling him away from conversations and diverting his attention from these women. Hopefully he would get a reprieve for a few months until school started back up again.

Still, I often found their narrowed eyes to be unsettling, especially when Harry and I were talking about something serious. Leaning away from him a little, I brought my arms up and with all my might, I pushed him into the pool.

Harry fell in with a yelp and a splash, causing the kids at the shallower end to look over. I quickly got up from my spot sitting at the edge of the pool as I heard fits of giggles erupting from the kids, knowing that Harry would be quick to retaliate. Walking past all the parents, I slipped inside the house in search of a bathroom. When I stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind me, patting dry my hands on my shorts, I ran into Michael.

“There you are,” he said, a smile on his face.

I guess as far as middle-aged dads went, Michael was attractive. He was tall and had what looked like red hair that had slowly lightened with time. He was incredibly nice, always stopping to say hello as he dropped off his daughter and never once looking like he judged me for having a seven year old at my age.

“Here I am,” I said, smiling at him as I walked towards the backyard where everyone else was. 

Before I could get very far, Michael placed a hand on my arm. “Did you get a tour of the house yet?”

When I shook my head at him, he pulled me in the opposite direction. Not wanting to be impolite, I followed. I half paid attention as he explained things to me like where this painting came from, or what photographer he hired for that family portrait. At the base of his staircase, he stopped, leaning an arm against the banister. It felt a little odd that we were talking away from everyone else, and the hand he still had on my arm felt a little too friendly for my taste. It never occurred to me that Michael might have had some sort of attraction towards me, but I was usually so caught up in Maddison’s dance classes and cases at work that I hardly paid those things any mind anymore, especially after the fiasco with Harry. 

“I should probably get back to watching Maddison,” I said lightly, stepping back and away from Michael. He didn't seem phased by my words, just stepped even closer to me than before.

“Come on, Y/n,” he said, his voice low. I had a feeling he was going for sexy, but it didn't come off that way at all. I felt like I was being chided by some kind of father figure. Barf. “You can't expect me to ignore this thing between us. Not when you look like that.”

I felt like thousands of tiny insects were crawling over my body as he looked me up and down, his gaze lingering on my chest. I felt utterly exposed. Bile rose in my throat as Michael raised a hand like he was going to caress my face or tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I choked it down and raised my hand to catch his wrist before he could touch me and squeezed hard enough for him to wince.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I said to him, trying to ignore the way my voice quivered. “But I would think very carefully about your next move.”

Michael had the audacity to smile at me, and it only made my skin crawl even more. He tried to step closer to me, tried leaning in, but I stepped on his foot and hastily backed away from him. I stumbled back into the bathroom and locked it, trying to catch my breath and steady the rapid beating of my heart. I waited for the sound of Michael's footsteps to pass by before opening the door again, taking one last deep breath as I stepped out.

Finding my way outside where everyone was still having a good time, I started collecting my things. The laughter, the music, and the conversation coming from all directions blended together like white noise buzzing in my ears as I put my shirt back on. I felt a lump form in the back of my throat, but I ignored it to look for Maddison in the sea of bobbing heads in the pool.

“Maddie—” I tried to say, but my voice faltered. Taking a breath, I tried again. “Maddison!”

She looked over to me, and seeing the bright smile on her face brought me some comfort amidst the feeling of utter disgust Michael’s actions brought me. I didn't want to interrupt her fun, but I couldn't stay. I could make it up to her somehow, I just had to leave. “Levántase. Nos vamos.”

I didn't always speak Spanish to Maddison in public, usually just around the house, but it came in handy when I didn't want the people around me to know what I was saying. 

Maddie looked upset at having her fun cut short, but she didn't question it. She slowly waded to the steps at the shallowest end of the pool and got out, trudging over to me, her little shoulders slumped and feet making wet footprints on the concrete. 

“Rápido, por favor,” I said, slipping a towel over her shoulders. She nodded, the braids I did for her a couple days ago swinging as she moved. As I helped her get into the shirt she was wearing when we got here, I heard the pitter pattering of feet on concrete coming towards us.

“Miss Y/l/n, can Maddie stay longer, pleeease?” 

Looking up, I smiled at Devon. While watching Maddison today, I noticed that most of the time it was just the two of them doing their own thing. It made me happy to see them becoming such close friends, and I thought it was adorable the way he asked if Maddie could stay, but I couldn't, and I didn't feel comfortable leaving her here without me.

“We can't, but we'll definitely have a beach day soon. How does that sound?” Devon and Maddison nodded enthusiastically at my suggestion, and I stood up from where I was kneeling in front of them. Maddie and I started saying goodbye when Harry walked over.

“Going so soon?” he asked. He'd taken off the black linen button up he had been wearing, most likely letting it dry somewhere. Now he was just in a pair of white shorts, his tattoos stark black in the hot summer sun. 

I smiled weakly at him, trying not to appear as freaked out as I felt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael walk over to where his wife was sitting at one of the patio tables. The disgust I felt earlier returned, and I hoisted my bag over my shoulder. “Yeah, um, something came up at work, so I—we have to go.”

Harry immediately knew something was wrong, I could see the realization on his face. But I didn't want questions, and I didn't want his sympathy right now. I just wanted to leave.

“Well then I guess we're out of here too, little man,” Harry said, ruffling Devon's hair. “Why don't I take Maddie and Devon out for ice cream while you handle work?”

“No, really, that's not necessary—” I started to protest, but Harry cut me off.

“Fear not, Y/n. I will have the miscreants home at a decent hour.” Looking in his eyes, I saw the silent message in them. Go take care of you. I got this. Loosening a breath, I nodded, and Maddie and Devon cheered.

Walking over to where all the other parents were, I thanked Michael's wife for having us, ignoring Michael himself with everything I had. She gave me a big smile and said that Maddie and I were welcome anytime. Her kindness made me feel sick, and I was suddenly grateful that Harry was taking Maddison for a little bit so I could freak out without worrying her. Michael had a wife. And there he was, trying to make a pass at me while she was just outside. I didn't pretend to know what their life was like when people weren't around, but she seemed wonderful. I didn't want to get in the way of that, not to mention I didn't see Michael like that at all. With shaking hands, I walked with Harry, Maddie, and Devon outside.

When we got to Harry's car, I kneeled down to give Madison a kiss. “Be on your very best behavior, okay? Remember to say please and thank you, and you listen to Mr. Styles when he tells you to do something.”

Maddie nodded, and I pulled her in for a hug. It was probably more intense than what the situation called for, but having her in my arms brought me comfort like nothing else did. I squeezed her until she started squirming, standing up and fishing my keys out of my bag.

“Thank you,” I told Harry earnestly. Getting my wallet, I pulled a couple bills out to pay for Maddison's ice cream, but he waved me off. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. Knowing him, I knew that this was nonnegotiable, so I put the money back in my wallet. Turning his head around a bit, he saw that Devon and Maddison were far enough where he could whisper to me. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded, even though everything was not okay. “Yep. Everything's just fine. Don't keep her out too late, please.”

I could tell Harry wasn't buying my nonchalance, but he didn't press the issue any further. Once they all got in his car, I started walking to mine. Now that I was alone, the last twenty minutes started to take its toll on me in full. Part of me felt like an idiot for not seeing the signs that Michael felt the way that he did, but we’d never had more than friendly conversation. He was a nice guy who had a daughter that was in the same class as mine, never did I ever think of him in the way he obviously saw me. Not to mention the fact that he had a wife and was considerably older than me. I felt dirty. Even though nothing really happened, I felt like I could still feel his eyes as he looked me over, like I was his for the taking. 

As I drove home, my thoughts started to have a mind of their own. Did I lead him on somehow? Was this my fault? I tried to think back to any and all interactions with Michael I could recall, but I didn’t think there was a time where I encouraged his behavior today. When I got home, the house was empty and dark. With Javi out at work and Maddie with Devon and Harry, I had the whole house to myself. While I appreciated Harry taking Maddison out, I kind of wished she was here to distract me from this gross feeling that I couldn’t shake. With my skin still crawling from Michael’s gaze, I decided to hop in the shower. I threw my hair up into a bun and stepped in, trying to wash away today.

And the problem with that was, outside of Michael’s advances, I was actually having a good time. I was happily watching Maddie play with Devon and her other classmates while sipping on juice pouches with Harry. Now any time I would think back on this day, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. 

I got out of the shower feeling a little better, more tired than anything, but I didn’t want to be asleep when Harry dropped Maddison off, so I took a couple of my files from my bedroom to the couch to work on while I had a movie playing in the background. My eyes danced over case files without really paying attention to them, but after about half an hour my mind started to shove thoughts about this afternoon away and focus on the work in front of me. Being upset over what happened today wasn’t going to change anything. Maddie didn’t need a frantic mom, she needed a strong one, and the people I helped at the office needed that from me too.

A while later I was on a roll, taking notes and writing down reminders of phone calls I needed to make later this week. With my highlighter in my mouth and a case file open on my lap, the door opened. “I’m home, Mommy!”

With my highlighter still clutched between my teeth, my head turned to where Maddison, Devon, and Harry walked through the entryway of the house. Removing my file from my lap and capping my highlighter, I stood up to greet everyone. “Hi, mija, did you have fun?”

Maddie nodded and gave me a hug and a kiss before taking Devon outside to play in the backyard, leaving me and Harry alone in the living room. Harry raised two paper bags in his hand. “I felt bad for leaving you with a sugar-crazed kid, so I brought dinner. Hope that’s okay.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I told him, but took the bags from him anyway and set them down on the kitchen counter. Deciding to let our kids play for a little bit before sitting down to eat, I brought Harry over to where I was sitting on the couch a couple minutes ago.

He sat on one side, and I sat on the complete opposite, drawing my knees up to my chest. Harry grinned a little as he teased his bottom lip between his fingers. “Well, it was more for me, really. I was quite hungry.”

I laughed quietly with Harry, watching as his eyes crinkled at the sight of my smile. He was still in his clothes from the pool party, his black button up looking a little wrinkly from getting wet earlier. One thing I noticed that he wasn’t wearing before was a tiny little clip that held up some of his hair away from his face. I found it cute the way it created a little tuft of hair on the top of his head, a little surprising that he owned a hair clip at all, but cute all the same.

“What happened today?” he asked me, making my eyes trail from his hair to his face. Harry looked passive, like he was trying to appear casual, but I could see little traces of concern in his features. 

I didn’t answer for a moment, playing with the hem of my shirt as I thought about what I wanted to say. Right now, this afternoon was behind me; I had all of summer to spend with my daughter and away from the parents at her school, Michael included. It was so early into summer that I didn’t want this one incident to put a damper on our two months of freedom. Well, Maddison’s two months, I still had to work, but we were going to make the most of it. 

I was also wary of telling Harry about this at all. Anytime I talked about my “friendship” with Michael, he always got moody. He would cross his arms like a little kid and try to change the subject. I wasn’t sure if Harry was just territorial of his friends by nature, or if he was jealous, but I told myself it was the former, mostly because nothing about my interactions with Michael or how I spoke about him indicated I was interested.  

Quietly, but not weakly, I spoke to Harry. “Nothing really, Michael was just being an ass, and I didn’t want to be there anymore.”

Harry’s reaction was almost instantaneous. His face became angry, morphing into something I hadn’t seen before, not even when Principal Stevens told him Maddie punched Devon. I wasn’t necessarily worried about Harry’s reaction when I told him, but now I wondered if I should’ve said anything at all. He’d proven himself to be a good friend and person in general, but I didn’t need him to fight my battles for me. I could handle Michael on my own. 

“I handled it, so let’s not make a big deal out of it, okay?” I told him, causing his face to soften a little. Harry inched forward carefully, almost like he knew that Michael had done more than just say something to me, even if I didn’t tell him that.

He offered his hand out to me, a question in his eyes. I took it, letting the warmth of his fingers encase mine. What I didn’t expect was to be pulled into his chest. Harry held me close, a little awkwardly because of how I was sitting before, but it still felt nice. His chin rested on top of my head as his hands rubbed soft circles into my back. I couldn’t help the small smile that split my face. Harry really did turn out to be a good friend. 

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Why? You didn’t do anything,” I said, a little confused. Harry wasn’t even there when it happened. “And it’s not like you’re my boyfriend or anything. There wasn’t much you could do.”

I don’t know why I said it. It was a stupid thing to say, especially when Harry was being incredibly kind and comforting. I guess I hadn’t put the frustrations I felt earlier completely behind me. I felt Harry stiffen a little against me, and I immediately felt awful. Pulling away from his embrace, I opened my mouth to apologize, but Harry was already standing up from the couch. Still, I tried anyway.

“Harry, that came out wrong, I’m sorry—”

“No, you’re right, I’m not.” He didn’t turn around, just kept on walking towards the kitchen counter to take out the food he’d brought over.

Sighing, I stood up and followed him into the kitchen. There were things we never talked about since we’d become friends, our feelings for each other being the main one. Despite my best efforts, I really liked him, but I really didn’t want to. My life was so hectic and things were good between us as friends, I didn’t see the need to complicate things further. But that didn’t change the fact that I found him endearing and had grown to love his collection of colorful cardigans and sweaters, or that I would catch him staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. It was a weird place to be in, but most days we ignored it, only now I wasn’t so sure how long we were going to be able to do that.

Leaning against the counter, I watched him pull  to-go boxes out of the paper bags. I was relieved that he stayed because it meant he wasn’t super pissed at me. He would’ve been gone already if he was. Coming around to where he was standing, I wrapped my arms around his torso. “I’m sorry.”

I felt Harry take a deep breath, my arms rising and falling a little as he inhaled and exhaled. “It’s fine.”

“See, you say that, but then I hear you say it and I see the look on your face, which tells me it’s not,” I said, and maybe I was poking around somewhere I maybe shouldn’t have, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

I removed my arms from his waist so he could move around the kitchen counter, placing sushi pieces on paper plates from my cupboard. I raised an eyebrow at his choice of giving sushi to two seven year olds, but didn’t question it. Harry was a pretty down to earth guy, but he had expensive tastes. 

Taking his clip out of his hair, he ran a hand through it and put it back in its place. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Y/n.”

“The truth, preferably,” I said, chancing a little humor.

He rolled his eyes at me, but kept talking anyway. “See, you say that, but I don’t think you really want to hear what I have to say.”

His words scared me a little, but I made this bed, now I had to lie in it. “Try me.”

Harry took another deep breath, his fingers pulling at the paper casing of a set of chopsticks. “I like you. A lot, actually, but you’re afraid of change and letting people in, so I’ve settled for being your friend, which is fine, I just…it’s just difficult to see you get upset over assholes like Michael when—when, you know, I’m here.”

I’d asked for honesty, and that’s what I got. I had an idea that Harry’s feelings went beyond the scope of friendship, but I didn’t know how much. I also took offense to what he said about me, but that was mostly because he was pretty spot on. He was right to say that I didn’t like change and had a hard time letting people in, but history had made me that way, and I was having a hard time changing that.

“Harry,” I said, reaching to grab his hand. He pulled away to continue setting up dinner, but I knew there was more intention behind it than that. It hurt more than I liked to admit to see him blatantly refuse my touch, but I figured it was probably deserved. “I didn’t—I didn’t realize how much…”

“I think about you constantly,” he admitted. He kept his head down as he folded and unfolded napkins, but I could see the nervous tremor in his hands. “I think about the way you laugh at my jokes when no one else does, I think about how good you are to Maddison and how you would do anything for her to make her happy, and I see how much Devon likes you, despite the fact that he’s never taken to strangers so easily before.

“But mostly, I think about that night months ago,” Harry mumbled, like it was a secret. He didn’t need to say which night he was talking about. I knew. “The perfume you wore could’ve gotten me drunk because it was so intoxicating, that red bra-thing you had on was absolutely sinful.”

Harry finally stopped playing with the napkins and walked over to where I was rooted to the floor in the kitchen. Normally I would’ve snorted at him saying “bra-thing,” but I was stunned into silence. 

“I think about how soft your hair was in my hands, how soft you were underneath me, on top of me, how you whispered my name like a prayer.” Harry’s lips ghosted the top of my cheekbone, his hands dancing along my shoulders. I felt hot and cold all at once, goosebumps rising underneath the fabric of my shirt. “I think about how right that night felt. Did you feel it too, Y/n? Do you still think of me?”

Lost in the feeling of his closeness, I nodded, revealing the one thing I’d been trying to ignore in order to maintain the friendship we had. I thought about him too, more than he could ever know, but it wasn’t so simple. We had young kids, I shared a bedroom with Maddison, and Harry was struggling to get custody of Devon. There was just too much going on right now, adding a budding relationship to the mix would only add to that.

Harry’s lips brushed over mine, the barest touch sending sparks shooting up my spine. My body involuntarily moved forward to meet his, the way his nose barely brushed against my cheek almost too much, that one bit of contact making me weak in the knees. My movements became hasty and rushed, but Harry remained languid, his lips pressing against mine and focusing on my bottom lip in a way that had my head spinning. My hands were everywhere, but his left remained by his side, his right lightly cupped against my jaw. It was like he was putting all the power in my hands, how far we took this kiss was up to me.

Craving his touch in a way that was a little embarrassing, I took his hands in mine and brought them to my waist and flattened them against where my hips curved. My movements spurred Harry into action, his hands acting on their own as they moved up and down my sides and his lips moving with more purpose as they opened mine, his tongue sliding against my own with a precision that had me melting in his hands. I fisted his black shirt, then reached underneath the unbuttoned bit to lay my hands flush against the smooth skin of his chest. He was impossibly warm, and I could feel the rumbling of his groan as my hands wandered, spurring me on to travel further.

With great difficulty, I detached my lips from his to press lazy kisses to the base of his throat, smiling against him as I felt him take a shuddering breath. I wasn’t sure that taking things between us further was the best idea, but his kiss and gentle touch made me want to try anyway. Maybe down the line, I would come to regret my choice, but I felt like I might come to regret not trying even more. As I kissed along his neck, though, I could still feel some lingering tension where his shoulders rested underneath my hands, like he was unsure of my intentions right now.

“I think about you too,” I whispered as I placed a kiss to where his ear met his jaw. Harry shook his head slightly.

“Don’t,” he breathed. “Don’t say that unless you mean it. Please.”

Pulling away, I brought my hands up to either side of his face. He looked hopeful and ready to face rejection at the same time. Rubbing my thumb along his cheekbone, I kissed his face.

“I like you,” I whispered, kissing one brow. “And I think about you constantly too.” His other brow. “I think about these beautiful eyes of yours.” A kiss to each of his eyelids. “And I think about your smile.” A kiss to the corner of his mouth. “And that dimple that has no right being as cute as it is.” Harry smiled, and I kissed the indentation in his cheek. “That’s the one.”

I moved so that we were nose to nose, my hands still caressing his face. “I’m cautious because my life runs on a very delicate balance, and just one small change could set everything off course.”

Harry nodded, his shoulders slumping the slightest bit, but I pressed a kiss to his forehead. “But I haven’t felt like this for anyone… ever, I don’t think, despite how much you irritate me.”

He chuckled and I smiled at him, butterflies taking flight in my stomach. “What are you saying?” 

Pursing my lips, I took his hands in mine. “Let’s just take things slow, see where life takes us this summer.”

It was imperative that I stressed the importance of going slow. Maddison and I were a package deal, and I knew Harry and Devon were the same way. Harry had a lot going on in his personal life, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that. And for the sake of everyone involved, I thought it was best to just take our time. We knew that we both liked each other, and for now, that was enough.

Harry grinned, the same smug one that I’ve had a love-hate relationship with over the last few months. I asked him what had him smiling that way, and it just made him grin even more. “You like me. Like, you like me like me.”

“What are you, twelve?” I asked, taking my hands out of his. I backed away from him and went towards the backyard to call Devon and Maddison inside. Halfway there, I felt a hand on my shoulder spin me around, and before I could even take a breath, Harry’s lips were on mine again. This kiss felt different from before, more hungry and needy than the last, and I could feel the message in it as his tongue tangled with mine. I’m not a boy, he seemed to say. And I won’t let you forget it. 

“Alright, alright, I get it. Now can we please feed our children? Remember them? Mine punched yours in the face once?”

Harry tipped his head back, as if he just remembered Devon. “Right, them. I don’t suppose we can just put some kibble and water into bowls and we can have the night all to ourselves?”

I shook my head at him, but talking about Maddie and Devon made me think about how they came into play. I was very conscious of Maddison and what she knew and didn’t know about my meager (until now, I guess) relationships. Maddie already knew Harry, and I didn’t know how to tread this unfamiliar ground. 

“What do we tell them?” I asked, my voice taking on a serious tone. 

“Well, what do you want to tell them?” He replied, and I opened my mouth to tell him that that was a non-answer, but he spoke again. “And before you say something about how I’m passing this off to you, I just genuinely want to know how you feel. This is important to me too.”

It was a little unsettling the way he seemed to know me as well as he did, but he was my friend, and had become quite good at reading me, despite my efforts from trying to keep him from doing so. But if he wanted the truth, I’d give it to him, the same way he had been open and honest with me. “I don’t think we should say anything. Not yet.”

“I agree,” he said. “And I’m not just saying that. I mean it. I think it’s the right thing to do for now.”

I felt relief wash over me, not even realizing that I was worried he wouldn’t agree with me. It was important for me to see if we were serious about this before saying anything to Maddison. “Okay, so, that means you have to let go of me now.”

Harry frowned, pulling me in for another kiss. “I’ll try to keep my longing glances to a minimum.”

“Ha!” I laughed at his antics. I’d seen a lot of sides to Harry over the last few months, and I wondered what he would be like in a relationship. “Please do, now let’s eat.”

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

july 

“Mommy, why didn’t you tell Grandma and Grandpa about Harry?”

In a panic, I whipped my head around to where Maddison was sitting in the backseat. “What are you talking about, kiddo?”

After a month of doing whatever we were doing, Harry and I had yet to say anything to Maddie or Devon. It was still new, and with our constantly conflicting schedules, we’d only gone on a couple dates, if you could call them that. We went out for lunch during work breaks a few times and went out for drinks once when Javi could watch Maddie and Harry’s ex had Devon for the night. It didn’t end the way Halloween did because I had to get Maddison to ballet class early the next morning and then haul my ass to work, but Harry didn’t seem to mind, content to keep taking it day by day.

We were careful around our kids, though. Harry never held my hand while we took them to the park or when we went over to his house for playdates. I didn’t think either of them had caught on, but now I wasn’t so sure, and the constant questioning from my parents didn’t help.

“So, Y/n, anyone new in your life?” my mother asked.

It was the Fourth of July, and Javi, Maddison, and I were at my parents’ house for the holiday. This wasn’t the first time my mother had asked me about my dating life, but this time around, the questions felt more frequent, more incessant. There were many reasons I hardly went home anymore, and while her questions weren’t at the top of the list, they were definitely on there somewhere. 

“No, Mom, there isn’t. It’s just me and Maddie against the world right now, isn’t that right, mija?” I said the last part to Maddison, who happily licked on a red and orange popsicle.

She nodded around her popsicle, the edges of her mouth red from her messy eating. My mother, however, didn’t look as pleased by my answer. “You’re getting a little old, don’t you think? Time’s ticking, Y/n.”

“Rosie, that’s enough,” my dad chided, placing a hand on her arm. 

“It’s fine, Dad,” I told him. “If that’s how she feels, that’s how she feels. That doesn’t mean I have to listen.”

My mother rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so cross, Y/n. You’re always so defensive with me.”

“Because you’re never satisfied with what I’m doing. I could win a case in the Supreme Court and you would still complain that I don’t have a husband.”

My mom set her glass down with more force than was necessary. Before things could really get ugly, though, my brother returned from where he had gone into the house for a moment.

Ah yes, the favorite child. I loved my brother to death, but there was clear favoritism in our family. I knew it had to do with the fact that I had a child at twenty and he didn’t, but I didn’t really care, I had let that go a while ago. I didn’t need my parents’ approval to be successful or happy. 

The rest of the night was tense, but there weren’t any more hiccups or squabbles. I tried not to fight with my parents in front of Maddison, but sometimes my mother really brought it out of me. Looking at my daughter now as I drove her home from dance camp, I wondered what the hell she was talking about. 

“Isn’t Harry your boyfriend?” Maddie asked, and I nearly pressed my foot on the breaks. 

My eyes flicked to my daughter in the rearview mirror. She didn’t look particularly upset, just as curious as always. “What makes you say that, Maddison?”

“He always stares at you while Devon and I are playing. And you have a heart emoji next to his name in your phone.”

I sighed, pulling into the driveway and turning the car off. Getting out, I opened the backseat and grabbed Maddie’s dance bag. She unbuckled her seatbelt and walked up the front steps with me. “You’re too smart for your own good, you know that?”

Maddie giggled and did a pirouette into the kitchen. “And a great dancer.”

“Oh, that goes without question.”

We hung out in the kitchen together as I fixed her up a sandwich for lunch, and I thought about how I wanted to address Harry and me. Maddison obviously picked up on cues and subtleties more than I gave her credit for. What I didn’t know was how she was really feeling about what I clearly had been trying to keep from her for the last month.

I played some music for us while I made her lunch and put Maddie to work making her get out the peanut butter and jelly, spinning her around the kitchen every now and then. When we finished, I sat down with her at the kitchen table while she munched on her sandwich. Opening up my phone, I sent a quick text to Harry, sighing when I saw the little green heart next to his name. I wasn’t even the one to do that, he was, and now it had come back to bite us in the ass. I asked him if we could talk later or the next time he had a moment. He’d finally managed to get him and Devon to England for two weeks. We’d spoken since, obviously, but it was limited because of the time difference. Switching my phone off, I looked over at Maddie.

“So, I know you think Harry is my boyfriend, but he’s just a really good friend.” Harry and I hadn’t put labels on anything yet, and I had no plans on doing so for the time being. This was the moment I wanted to avoid so much, but it had snuck up on me anyway, despite my best efforts. 

“Oh,” Maddie said, licking a little stray peanut butter from her thumb. “Well, does he know that?”

Now that is something I didn't expect. “What do you mean?”

Maddison tilted her head, the little ballerina bun that took an arm and a leg to perfect each morning this week listing to one side. “I don’t know. I just think he really likes you. Devon does too.”

She said it so simply, the only way a seven year old could. In her mind, I suppose it was that easy, but in reality, I knew there was a lot more to consider. These past few weeks with Harry had been great, and I hoped that the coming weeks would also be great, but I still felt like I was walking on a tightrope with this budding relationship. Leaning over, I peppered Maddie’s cheeks with kisses. 

“No, Mommy! No more kisses!” she shouted, but I didn’t stop, tickling her sides too. 

I finally stopped after a few seconds, pulling her up to her feet. “Okay, kiddo, let’s get you showered and then we can figure out what we’re gonna do the rest of the day.”

I helped Maddie take her shower and get her dressed in more comfortable clothes. We spent the rest of the day around the house, me working and Maddison playing in the living room with her mix of dolls and action figures. It was a mellow summer evening for us. Javi came home early and we all watched a movie on the couch together, Maddie falling asleep on my shoulder halfway through. Javi turned in early and carried Maddison to bed while I stayed on the couch to work a little more and text Sadie in between shuffling documents. Like Harry and Devon, she was also on vacation, so it really was just me and Maddison against the world right now.

I also thought about the conversation I had with Maddie today. I wasn’t sure why I expected her to scream and shout and be completely against the idea of me and Harry together, but I did. Maddie had always been a pretty chill kid, and she liked Harry whenever we got together. I think part of me maybe hoped she would hate us together so I could have an excuse to end things if things went south between Harry and me, like a back door or something. I liked Harry, and I liked the time we spent alone together outside of a playdate with our kids, so I didn’t know why I had a self-sabotaging loophole in the back of my mind. We never really finished our conversation at lunch, but from what I could tell, Maddie was unbothered by Harry and I being more than friends. This is a good thing, I told myself, hoping that saying it over and over in my head would make me believe it.

As my thoughts took me away from my work, my phone rang. Speak of the devil. I nearly forgot that I asked to talk to him earlier. Holding my phone up in front of me, I blew a curl out of my face and answered the phone. “Hey. It’s a little early over there, isn’t—Oh, hello.”

Looking at my phone screen, I saw that it was not Harry looking back at me, nor was it Devon, who sometimes answered Harry’s phone when I called. It was a middle aged woman, her hair dark and eyes a similar shape to Harry’s. I had the urge to hang up because I was ninety nine percent sure that this was his mom, but I managed to control myself. 

“Oh, she’s just gorgeous, isn’t she, Harry,” the woman said, and now I really wanted to hang up the phone. She must’ve seen the frantic look in my eyes because she slowly backpedaled. “Heavens, I’ve scared her. Please forgive me, I sometimes forget to shut my mouth. I’ve just heard so much about you.”

I could tell Harry’s mom was trying to make me feel better, but I only felt more flustered. Two days ago, I told my mom that there was no one in my life at the moment, and here was Harry’s mother, talking to me like we were long time friends. Outside my view of the camera, I could hear Harry’s muffled voice. 

“Mum, did you call Y/n?” His voice sounded surprised and exasperated at the same time, his face matching it when he popped onto the screen. Reading the expression on my face, Harry worried his lip between his fingers. “I just want you to know that I didn’t say a word to her. She figured it out on her own.”

I was speechless. I thought I was going to talk to Harry about how his day went, the tap dance Maddie learned today, and the fact that Maddison seemed to put together that there was something going on between us. Meeting his mom while I was in my pajamas wasn’t part of that plan. Something about this situation felt unsettling to me. A lot of things didn’t go to plan today, and this was just the icing on the cake.

Forcing a yawn behind my hand, I blinked at the screen. “I was actually just about to go to bed. But I would love to talk later?”

I didn’t want to sound like a complete bitch, but I was tired, and I didn’t like being put on the spot. Harry’s mother seemed to understand, apologizing for keeping me up and saying how excited she was to speak to me another time. Harry, on the other hand, saw right through me. He asked his mom to let him say goodbye alone, and then it was just the two of us. 

“You’re upset,” he said the minute we were alone. I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it to him anymore. 

“No, I told you, I’m just tired,” I said, but I could tell Harry didn’t buy it at all.

He rubbed a hand across the slight stubble growing on his face. “I’m sorry about my mum. She can be a little overbearing.”

I nodded, but my heart wasn’t in having this conversation. He knew it, I knew it, but neither of us hung up the phone. I missed his stupid face too much. “I miss you.”

His face broke out into a smile, but he hid it behind his hand. “I’ve missed you too. Absolutely dreadful not seeing you and Maddison every day.”

My cheeks warmed, a small smile of my own forming on my lips. I heard Harry mumble, there she is, and it only made my cheeks heat up even more. The truth was, I knew that Harry wasn’t the reason for my sudden change in mood. In fact, he was in the same boat as I was. 

“Now, are you going to tell me what’s got you feeling so blue?”

I shook my head, but it was playful. He grinned a little when he saw that I wasn’t as icy as I was a few minutes ago. He kept jokingly needling me for information about my day, and I kept my mouth shut for a little bit, but I eventually broke the news to him. “Maddie knows too. She figured it out.”

Harry was quiet for a few seconds, dumbstruck. “Wow,” he breathed. “We suck at keeping secrets.”

That made me laugh. “Me? Maddie said she caught you staring at me all the time. And you said your mom figured it out when you got home.”

“Alright, so I’m terrible at keeping secrets,” he said, laughter still in his voice. Sobering up, he looked at me with an earnest eye. “Are you okay with that?”

“I mean, it’s not ideal, but she took it better than I thought, so,” I told him, my voice trailing off. At this point, there wasn't anything I could do about it, and Maddie’s positive reaction should’ve had me doing cartwheels around the house instead of moping to Harry. Maybe I was just tired. “Is this okay? I know this means you might have to have a talk with Devon sooner than expected.”

This was also an issue that itched the back of my mind. I liked taking things slow, and I knew Harry did too. Our plans for seeing how things went flew out the window now that our kids knew, or would know in Devon’s case. Harry also had a lot going on in his personal life. He was still battling for full custody of Devon, and by the looks of it, it was going to be ugly to the very end. I didn’t want to be cause for distraction or unnecessary drama in his life.

“Erm,” he started. “Yeah, I mean, I wished I could’ve planned or prepared for it better, but I don’t think it'll be too bad. He’s grown quite fond of you.”

I felt my face flush again at the compliment. Most of my time spent with Devon was when he and Maddie were on a playdate, but I always went out of my way to ask how he was doing or what he was up to that week. Every time I saw him, I thought of how he looked when he got dropped off for Maddison’s birthday party, and how I never wanted him to look as sad as he did that day. He might have been a punk to my daughter at the beginning of the school year, but the more Maddie and I got to know him, the more I realized how much of a lover he was. He was a sweet boy, and I cared about him as much as I did Harry.

Nodding at the camera, I replied to Harry. “Well, the feeling’s mutual. Now tell me how your mom found out about me.”

The camera quality was bad, but I could see a little pink on Harry’s cheeks. Now that I talked to him about it, I didn’t mind as much that more people knew, I just didn’t like being ambushed. He told me that he didn’t breathe a word to his mom, his mum, he said, but that when they got to her house, she could tell something was different.

It was funny to listen to him explain his mother’s odd sixth sense for sussing out personal information from Harry because I was in a similar situation and my mother had no clue about my life or who was in it outside Javi and Maddison. Not that I cared, I preferred that my mother knew nothing about my personal life, especially where Harry was concerned. Things were good because they were easy. We didn’t see each other as much as we might’ve liked, but there weren’t any expectations right now. It was like we were in a delicate bubble floating through the sky, and my mother was the needle that would pop it, causing Harry and me to scramble for purchase where we could find it before we hit the ground.

“And then of course Devon mentioned you and Maddison, and that pretty much told her everything she needed to know,” Harry said, pulling me from my thoughts. I stayed quiet, thinking. I’m sure Harry's mom was a wonderful person and nothing like mine, but I couldn’t help but think that this was somehow going to change the dynamic of our relationship, solidify it more than I was ready to right now. Harry and I had only been seeing each other for about a month, and to me, that wasn’t a lot of time. Harry spoke again, trying to comfort me, but only making my mind scramble even more. “I’ll talk to her today, explain that we’re not really that serious right now.”

I tried not to visibly cringe. We’re not really that serious. As it usually goes with taking things slow, we decided not to label what we were doing just yet, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t serious about Harry. I wouldn’t have said yes to giving us a try if I wasn’t. And I wasn’t seeing anyone else right now either. I got that Harry was trying to ease my mind, but he only made me feel like what we were doing wasn’t important to him.

What’s his mom going to think when he tells her that? I thought. She’s going to think I'm some girl only out for a good time or something equally horrible. I didn’t really want Harry’s mom to know about us in the first place, but now that she did, I didn’t want her to think ill of me.

My mood was worsening, and I didn’t want Harry to see it. I just needed to go to bed and maybe talk to him later. “Tell her whatever you want, Harry. It's late, so I should probably get to bed.”

His face, which had been calm until this point, became concerned. “Did I say something? Don’t just leave, Y/n, let’s talk about this—”

His voice, still calm but steadily becoming irritated seemed to grate on my nerves even more. “I’ll talk to you later. Good night, Harry.”

I hung up the phone and climbed into bed with Maddie, rubbing a thumb across her cheek. Shutting my eyes, I tried to go to sleep, but it would be a while before I actually did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...

so miss girl is a little dramatic, but 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ i am too low-key. anyway, next part should be up in the next few days!

"but now there's me."

anime: tokyo revengers

character: sano 'mikey' manjiro, mitsuya takashi

summary: mikey's come back home, ready to face the mess he left there, but as soon as he sees his ex he knows that everything has changed.

a/n: afab! reader, she/her pronouns used, third person pov, optional part two of "there will only ever be you", just wanted to show a side of y/n i'm sure some people wanted to see after how the first part ended. spoilers for episode 18 onwards, half canon half fanon. masterlist for series here.

Mikey never expected to see himself back here. Where he ruined so many lives. It's been exactly four years since that day he killed Kazutora in a battle between Toman and Valhalla. But he can't find himself to feel remorseful about the murder. More about the events that happened after.

He will never get the image of Y/N announcing her forever dedication of her heart to him, fist against where his own heart would be. Tears still pricking her eyes from him breaking up with her. Standing outside of Mitsuya's house, realising that if he had just looked up to the windows, he could see Chifuyu and Mitsuya watching the whole scene from their bedrooms.

Stares of unforgiveness, only at the time though. Mikey knows his boys will always follow him through thick and thin. They're loyal. They just didn't agree with how Mikey made Y/N feel that day.

On Y/N's side, she walked back into the house to see the two boys standing there in the entrance hall. She laid her eyes upon them, tears forming once again. Mitsuya was the first to walk towards her, just like at the fight that day. He enveloped her in a hug, much like how he did for when his sisters were upset.

"It's alright, Y/N." He told her, feeling her arms go around him and hold on tight, "Mikey just needs some time to figure things out."

"I know." She responds, voice muffled by his jumper, "Mikey's crazy."

Mitsuya can only shrug his shoulders. He suddenly feels another hand tugging the back of his shirt. Turning around, he sees Chifuyu stand there with his own tears in his eyes. Immediately, Mitsuya opens his arms for him, inviting him into the hug.

The three of them stood like that for a while, Chifuyu mumbling out, "I miss Baji."

Mitsuya smiles at the feeling. "Me too, Chifuyu." He sighs, closing his eyes, "I miss them both."

"I'm sorry, Y/N..." The blonde suddenly says, making Y/N pull away from Mitsuya and wipe her eyes, "I... I know he was your brother, but I can't forgive him for what he did."

She didn't blame him for saying that. This was a vulnerable time for them all. "It's okay, Kazu did everything knowing full well what that would do to those around him." She sighed out, the last part hurting her more than every. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I... I'm kind of mad at him too."

Mitsuya watched the small, sad smile appear on her lips.

Y/N wanted to break down, leave town like how Mikey would. She wanted to be free of everything. But she had to listen to what he said. She had to become better, like Mikey. Be stronger from this. Take all the bad and make good out of it. Like Mikey.

Mikey... he did good, didn't he?

He didn't call or text, not contact anyone, for four years. He was a memory.

Now, Mikey at 18-years-old stood in front of Y/N's old house. His eyes traced the 'FOR SALE' sign, all hope draining from his body. Of course she would've left. She had to go back to her parents at some point, he's not surprised that they moved to get away from this place.

He just hoped that wouldn't have been the case.

Y/N said she'd wait for him. Maybe there came the point where she couldn't anymore. She probably realised that even if she waits a century for someone she loved, she never would've truly be together with them again. For one reason or another.

Mikey continues to drive down the street in the same exact bike he used to lead the gang. It was weird though, he had half-expected to see the Toman members still riding around their bikes and causing/fixing mayhem. But he hadn't seen a single glimpse of any of them. Sure, they weren't exactly friends still after ghosting them for four years, but... wouldn't they want to see their former commander?

And then he hears it. The revving of a bike. He perks up a little at the sound, turning towards it and driving as fast as he could.

It doesn't take him long before he arrives at his destination. He sees the scene at the end of the street. Someone on a black bike, stopping in front of a the mechanics. The same one he used to take his bike to fix. He watches with curious eyes. He doesn't recognise the person coming off of the bike, and he couldn't see the driver since they were wearing a helmet.

The girl standing there was wearing a mask to cover her mouth and nose, nodding at the driver. She's handing him a piece of paper before waving him off. Mikey waits for the bike to drive away, hiding around the corner before following after the girl.

In the shop, he sees the girl talking to the owner, walking over to another bike. It was a model that Mikey didn't recognise, meaning it was personalised. He noticed how the girl only spoke through her mask, never pulling it down and showing her face. Although, she's quick to the point, handing the owner the money before taking the bike.

Mikey hides again. He doesn't know why he's drawn to this person, but maybe if he sticks around long enough, he'll find out. As soon as her bike starts, Mikey is loosely following her. He's further enough so that she won't notice. She takes twists and turns, almost losing Mikey.

And at some point, he's already lost her. He was distracted.

"Draken...?" He mumbles to himself, seeing the said guy down the street, talking to the others in the group. He was carrying a bag over his shoulder, telling the others to hurry up. "What is he doing?"

He decides to follow them. Because he knows who the others are. That's Mitsuya, and that's Chifuyu, and the one trailing further behind them is Takemichi. They were wearing their uniforms. So that must mean that the Tokyo Manji Gang were still in full throttle. They were still alive. Mikey could feel a sigh of relief wash over him.

At least they were safe.

The four lead them to Musashi Temple, the meeting place for the gang. And it confuses Mikey, because it dawns on him. Draken must be the leader now.

The meeting commences, Draken at the front with Takemichi and Mitsuya behind him. Mikey is hiding yet again. He seemed to do that a lot. It bloomed from the night of the Valhalla fight. Most definitely.

"The meeting will begin!" Draken shouts, hands behind his back. Mikey blinked at him, a small grin on his lips. Still with the haircut and the loud booming voice. "Everyone, welcome your captain!"

They all bowed. Is this what it looked like to bow to Mikey? The authority looks so small from here. Unreachable. Superior. Is that what Mikey was to them?

He never wanted that.

He never wanted anyone to feel inferior.

He wondered how Y/N felt.

"Good evening, Captain!" The members all shout. Mikey could add to that thought that there were many more members in the gang. Draken must've rounded up as many delinquents as he could.

But he watched as Draken, Takemichi and Mitsuya all parted a way and bowed.

And through the girl from the workshop walked.

"Fuck off..." Mikey mumbled to himself, not believing what he was seeing.

She wore the Toman overcoat and pants, not buttoning up the jacket and leaving it swaying behind her. She had a white tank top underneath, arms through the sleeves of the coat and in the pockets of the pants. The sides of the jacket staying in between the insides of her wrists and her waist. It became a cape behind her, blowing in the air.

"At ease." She calls out, tugging the mask down, making them all stand up tall again.

And Mikey gets a good look at sixteen-year-old (nearly 17, if Mikey remembered correctly) Hanemiya Y/N.

The girl he dated in middle school, who wanted nothing to do with actually fighting but being by his side the whole time, was now running the gang he abandoned.

She looks over them all, at the pedestal they all put her on. Draken stood a few feet behind her, like how he used to for Mikey. "We're discussing something that has been brought to my attention by the Fourth Division Captains." She claims, voice full of confidence.

Everyone turns to the twins before looking back at Y/N.

"I'll put it simply." She says, dipping her chin, "We have a traitor."

Whispers surround her. Then, someone shouts out, "Who would betray Toman?"

That's when Mikey watches as Draken walks towards a certain boy, grabbing him by the collar of his Toman uniform and dragging him to the front. Y/N stood there with an unimpressed expression, hands still in her pockets.

Draken makes the person kneel in front of Y/N, glaring at him before taking his spot behind the captain. Y/N walks down the few steps, stopping in front of the traitor.

"Anything you'd like to say?" She questions, kneeling down in front of him, "Or have you done enough for the enemy gang already?"

The traitor is scared as shit. He's shaking on the floor, hands on his knees as he faces down. He's made a mistake and he knows it.

But he scowls, "You changed Toman in the four years you became Commander. This shit-hole of a gang is nothing." He glares up to Y/N, clenching jaw. "Things were better when Mikey was here. That's why I ratted Toman out. We need a new leader."

Her eye twitched at the mention of her ex.

"Nothing else?" Y/N huffs out, standing back up. She stares at the guy below her. She tilts her head. For a second, Mikey thinks she's going to let Draken handle it.

But Y/N winds up an axe kick, heel landing on the traitor's head.

Nobody is surprised, only looking away as Y/N stands up straight again. Mikey is gawking. No way that was his Y/N. It couldn't be.

The traitor lifts his head up, bloody from getting kicked into the ground. His nose is definitely broken and there's tears in his eyes. Y/N pushes the sole of her feet against the back of his head.

"I don't have time for this. I've got other things to do, this shitty meeting interrupted it." She grunts, walking back to her spot at the front. She glances over to one of her captains. "I trust you'll take care of things?"

The Fifth Division Captain nods his head.

Y/N sighs out, taking her mask out of her pocket, "Good. Draken, Takemichi, Chifuyu, Mitsuya. With me." She turns to the rest of her crew. "If there are no other points to be made, this meeting is dismissed."

Everybody bows at her. "Good evening, Ma'am!" They shout to her.

Y/N waves her hand, allowing the rest of the Divisions to leave, all scowling at the traitor. The Fifth Division stayed behind to deal with him.

Once the Division took the traitor away from their meeting spot, Draken waited for them to be out of sight. Mikey was careful to keep himself hidden. He couldn't face them yet.

"They're all gone, Commander." Draken calls out.

Once a minute of silence passes, Y/N begins to fall, hand reaching out to Mitsuya beside her. As her knees hit the floor, Mitsuya held onto her arms, kneeling beside her.

"Are you alright, Y/N?" He questions, furrowed brows.

"Mhm." She retorts, nodding her head as Takemichi helps her up, "I hate it when they do that."

Chifuyu raises a brow. "Do what?"

"Talk about Mikey." She grunts, standing up straight as she pats her stomach, "That guy only joined a year ago. Doesn't even know him..."

Mitsuya scans her for a second before stating, "We should fix your—"

"At home." She interrupts, looking distracted. Mitsuya nods his head.

Draken walks towards her, pulling out a phone. He hands it to her. "It's been ringing ever since before the meeting." He claims, letting Y/N take it from him, "It's Emma."

"You sure it's not for you?" She jokes, raising a brow at him. Draken rolls his eyes as Y/N takes the call. "Hey, I told you I was having a meeting. What's wrong?"

She stays quiet for a second before widening her eyes. She sighs out, "You have Draken's number, don't you? Oh? He ignored your texts?" Y/N glares over to Draken, who looks away. "Alright, well, I'm sending him for it. Expect him in a few minutes. See you for dinner."

As she hangs up, she turns to the boys. Her eyes land on Draken. "Buy Emma what she texted you. Be at the house within 20 minutes." She said, pointing to his phone. Draken nods his head, already off and telling Mitsuya to see her home.

"Takemichi, Chifuyu." Y/N speaks out, hands in her pockets again, "I'm going to meet with that gang the traitor is from. Come around to mine at 12 tomorrow afternoon." They nod their heads, walking off.

"You be there too." She tells Mitsuya, who has his arms crossed over his chest, "I know Takemichi is getting lessons from Chifuyu, but we'll need a little extra muscle. Can I count on you?"

Mitsuya nods his head, a smile on his lips. "Always. Does Draken know?" He questions, walking a bit behind her as she went to their bikes.

"I'll tell him later." She inputs, making him shake his head. She rub her side before looking over her shoulder to him. "Wanna' get some dinner? I'm already buying for me, Draken and Emma."

Mitsuya shyly smiles at that, shrugging his shoulders. "Ah, not this time." He chuckles out, hopping onto his bike as she did, "Luna and Mana are probably waiting for me to get home with the materials for their projects. I should be getting started on Sunday."

Y/N begins her bike, sitting back and nodding at him. "Ah, alright. Well, you should head off then. I'll tell Draken you dropped me at my doorstep like a good boy." She chuckles, revving her engine, "See you later. Have a good night."

He grins softly and replies, "Goodnight, Y/N."

She drives off first. Mikey, who is pulling the hood over his head and walking to his own bike, doesn't miss the stare Mitsuya gives her. And he can't blame Mitsuya. But he can't accept it.

Because it's the same look Mikey used to give her.

Mikey's following after Y/N as Mitsuya drives the other way.

He doesn't know where she's going, isn't her house for sale? But once he drives down the streets she's taking, he recognises the street.

That's his house she's in the driveway of.

Y/N removes the mask she put on before she drove off, running fingers through her hair as she goes to close the gate. The dinner is set by the door. But looking up from her phone, she lays her eyes on Mikey, standing there with one hand on the open gate at his hips.

He watches her visibly freeze, eyes staring at him with such a look... He doesn't know whether she's frightened or enraged. Her Toman jacket hangs behind her, her tank top moving as she takes a deep breath in. Mikey swallows silently.

"Hello." He says.

She pulls out a pistol.

...

"I..." He begins, standing up more straighter but trying not to let his emotions show, "Is something wrong?"

"Who the Hell are you?" Y/N questions, voice harsh and cold. Unusual towards Mikey. When he doesn't reply, she pushes the end of the pistol against his shoulder. "Answer me."

He can feel her shaky hands holding the pistol against his clothed shoulder. That means she was nervous. Even though she looks calculated and menacing.

Mikey slowly brings his hand up and holds the pistol. "It's me, Y/N." He sighs out, eyes on the gun for a second. He looks back at her.

She's squinting at him, clenching her jaw. A few seconds later, she drops the gun, pulling it out of his hold and putting it back in its holder. "Fuck..." She groans to herself, turning away from him, "Was hoping it wasn't you."

Mikey lets out a sigh of relief. Even with his hair difference, she knows that it's him. He could tell that she recognised him from the moment they met eyes. But the thick venom in her voice makes him furrow his brows.

He walks through the gate as she goes to close the garage door. "What're you doing here?" She questions.

"What are you doing here?" He interrupts, looking around to his house, "Your place is on sale now?"

She furrows her brows, looking over to him and stopping on her tracks. "What the Hell were you doing at my old home?" She questions, irritated by his past actions.

"I wanted to see you." Mikey admits, hands in his pockets, "You said... you'd be waiting for me, and only me."

Y/N stares at him, expression softening at that. Four years ago, she did say that, didn't she? She also said her heart would be his the whole while. But that was the same night Mikey had killed her older brother. She wasn't in the right mindset.

It's a shame it took her months to figure that out.

"You also said to find someone better."

Mikey stops, seeing her unable to meet his gaze. She's clenching her fists at her sides as she glares at the ground.

He takes a step forward. "Did... Did you?" He whispers out.

She doesn't answer as she looks back at him. "What the Hell are you doing back here?" She grunts, turning to him fully. She points an accusing finger at him. "You went and left us for four fucking years, and now you appear out of the blue and try to talk to me like you didn't ruin my whole life years ago. And you—you're worried about if I found someone new?"

She lifts a hand and roughly wipes her face, unable to come to reality with that fact. She sighs, furrowed brows, "Don't you want to know about Toman? About how the people you abandoned are? You didn't even speak to Draken, and he was going out of his mind. You left us all with nothing, our Second in Command didn't know what to do and the Division Captains were struggling to control their Divisions without a leader."

Mikey looks to the ground. He lets out a breath, "But now you're their Commander..."

"Only because I fucking had to be!" She shouted at him, poking her finger into his chest, "You know how much shit you put on me when you left? My parents had Kazu's funeral the day right before my graduation, and I didn't even realise until I got a text from Hina asking if I was ready to go. Not to mention, Toman was crumbling and I had Draken, Chifuyu, Mitsuya and Takemichi on my doorstep everyday, frustrated and almost unwilling to continue."

She was shouting so loud at this point. All the pent up anger from the past four years, all building up the longer he left her there. Emma was probably in her room, listening to music or watching TV on full blast since that's what she usually did.

"You were supposed to take the middle school graduation photo with me." She states, knit brows as she leans away from him, "You were supposed to walk with me to school and back home, to sneak in for a sleepover and take me out on secret dates. You said you'd stay and you said you loved me—"

"I still love you." He tells her.

She shakes her head, closing her eyes. She laughs out at him, "Yeah, you loved me so much that you made me turn out just like you." She pulls out the pistol from behind her, presenting it to her ex. "I got this for my birthday after joining the gang and being appointed their leader by all the captains. For my fucking birthday. I was turning fifteen, Mikey, and I was already you."

She slouches her shoulders. Almost like her legs were giving out, she sat down on the doorstep. She huffs out, hanging her head, "You always said you hated your life, but I never wanted to experience it. Because you know what you are to me now?"

He doesn't say anything. But she answers anyway.

"You're to me what Kazutora was to you." She tells him quietly.

He can feel his heart ache at that. He still hated Kazutora after these years that passed. He replayed the scene of him killing him in his mind every so often. And he still can't say he regretted it.

"They chose me to be their leader because I was the one telling Mitsuya, Draken, Takemichi and Chifuyu what to do. I was their 'acting leader' and Draken just pretended to be." She explains to Mikey, who stands there shivering, "I didn't know how to fight or anything, I just knew everything about rival gangs because you taught me. Luckily for Toman, Mitsuya and Draken became my teachers."

She put the gun back into the holster, looking up to Mikey from her position sitting down. She gives him a sad grin. "I'm not even very good. If I were to fight any of my men one on one, I'd lose in about 10 minutes, even with the gun." Y/N claimed, closing her eyes tiredly. Mikey saw the dark circles. "But it was enough for Toman, so I had to be more."

Mikey didn't like this. How she looked now, how she acted. It reminded him of how Shinichiro appeared to be in front of other gangs. How...

"Look at me now." She says, turning away from him, "I'm just Sano Manjiro, except with a pistol. Exactly the same." She lifts her shoulders, feeling this feeling bubble within her chest. "Is this what you wanted? What you wanted me to become?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me, Mikey. You don't get to anymore."

He gulps, looking to the floor in guilt, "I wanted you to be better."

"Well, look how well that turned out." She spits out, brushing her hair from her face and standing up. She looks him dead in the eye. "I hate myself. You obviously didn't think it through."

He retorts, his own shoulders stiffening up as he takes a slight step forward, "I just wanted you to grow up."

"So you forced me to?"

"You didn't need him." He sternly informs her, "Not like how I needed my brother. Shinichiro was a good guy, he didn't deserve what Kazutora did to him."

Y/N stares at him. Unbelievable. She wants to raise a hand and slap him, as hard as she can. He has it coming, doesn't he? She really wants to do it.

Instead, she scowls, "Who made you God and choose who lives and who dies? You don't get to tell me that I didn't need Kazutora. My brother was the only one who I could count on 'til the end—"

"That's not true." He pushes on.

"Shut up! It is, Kazutora was my older brother and I wish he was here right now! He could've helped me!" She says back to him, feeling her whole body heat up with such rage.

Mikey shakes his head, getting just as frustrated. "No, you don't get it." He says in response, holding out a hand in gesture, "You didn't need Kazutora. He wasn't in the right state of mind and he was hurting you. No one should be doing that. It's manipulative."

"Oh, like you were any better?" She scoffs out, clicking her tongue in annoyance.

Mikey could've snapped at any moment but he decided to do so at that moment. He takes a step forward, almost chest to chest with Y/N. She glares harder, wanting to take a step back but she can't show weakness. She learnt not to.

"Y/N, you hold onto anyone who seems the least bit interested in being at your side and being there for you." Mikey claims, looking as serious as ever, "The brother you know is the guy before he broke into Shinichiro's shop. He's changed. You need to realise that people do that. You can't hang on to something that doesn't exist anymore."

He takes in a deep breath as Y/N's face falls, "You need to learn to let people go that don't do you anymore good. Not everyone is going to stay, and I'd hope you'd realise that by now." He drops his serious act, relaxing into his shoes. "No one's just a good person. There's always something behind it."

She's crying at this point. A familiar scene to him.

But Mikey finishes off, "I love you, for real. So I didn't want him ruining you. I know I have but... that's the price to pay when the person you rely on goes away."

She slaps him. Tears and all.

As Mikey holds his cheek, she pushes him away from her, staring at the ground. Tears trickle down her cheeks as she shakes. "You should've let me mourn." She cries out, looking frightened, "You don't let the person you love experience all the bad shit you did. That's... That's so terrible. You made me think that I had to grow up and figure everything out as quickly as I could. Your trauma doesn't let you fuck up other people."

She brings her hands up and covers her face. "My parents moved out of town as soon as the funeral was finished, they left me here because I said I wanted to continue my education here, but in reality I just felt like I was tied here." She sobs, voice cracking, "Emma let me move in when that happened. I had people coming after her too. Fuck, I took a a drive-by bat hit for her. I'm lucky I saw it coming after visiting Kazu's grave and covered my head."

She looks defeated. "And I know what you're saying is true but... wouldn't you want to keep the best version of your brother in your head?" She murmurs.

"Y/N." Mikey calls out, looking back to her, "You're bleeding."

She holds her breath, opening her eyes and looking down to her tank top. "S—...Shit." She coughs out, covering her mouth, "Mikey, I know you understand everything I'm saying. So please listen to me when I say, that everything in this town used to belong to you."

She wipes the corner of her mouth, facing him.

Y/N grunts, "But now there's me."

Mikey feels all hope drain. He's never heard her so tired, disappointed, irritated.

And to add onto that, two familiar people.

"Y/N!" Two voices shout out, making Y/N and Mikey turn around. There, Mitsuya and Draken drive their bikes into the driveway.

They both get off their bikes as quickly as they can, eyes on different people. Draken goes for Mikey, tackling him to the ground as Mitsuya holds onto Y/N's shoulders.

"Are you alright? You re-opened your wounds... again?" He whispers to her, pulling her away from the other two. Y/N only hums a noise as she watched.

"Who the Hell are you?" Draken growls out, making Mikey now understand where she learnt to speak like that.

Mikey replies, "You don't recognise your best friend?"

Draken suddenly realises who it is, making him stand back up and away from him. "Mikey...?" He mutters, getting a nod of his head in return, "You're back?"

Mitsuya immediately looks back to Y/N, seeing her wiping her tears away. He doesn't say anything, only opening the door.

Y/N sees that Draken is unable to say anything. She looks to the entrance, sighing out, "I brought enough dinner for everyone, Mikey can just have Draken's extra bento. I'm sure you have time to talk to your friend and sister. I got one for you too, Takashi."

There's no room for argument as Y/N walks inside, as if not hurt. Mitsuya picks up the dinner and follows. Draken, sparing a look to Mikey, is next. The ex-leader is soon inside, closing the door behind him. She immediately sees Emma on the couch, watching her show loudly.

"Ah! Y/N!" She shouts, getting off the couch and rushing over to envelope her in a giant hug. Y/N chuckles, using one arm to hug her and the other to cover her stomach with her jacket. "It's so late! I thought that meeting was only meant to be quick!"

Y/N pulls away, shrugging her shoulders. "Kind of got held up with something. Takashi's putting the dinner on the table. Grab yours before the others take it." She says, secretly hiding her opening wound as she makes her way upstairs. Mitsuya quickly puts the dinner down and follows.

Draken and Mikey walk in, making Emma turn around and her eyes land on her brother. She goes quiet. Y/N doesn't know the rest as she closes her bedroom door.

Mitsuya, who was dropping off the things in his sister's room, gives him a quick heads up that Draken's friend is over, and to not disturb them. His sisters would sleep over at this head for a few days when something with the gang was up. It was easier for Mitsuya.

He enters the bedroom to see Y/N hunched over the bathtub in the bathroom, shoulders shaking as she cries. She's pulled her jacket off and it lays on the bed. This was how it usually was.

After a hard day, Mitsuya would come into this room and see that she's crying. Somewhere. She's crying, breaking down after holding herself up. Growing up too fast is a talent that people shouldn't have.

"Alright, let's get it fixed." Mitsuya says, already taking out the bandage wrap from the cupboard, "After this, change into some night clothes. I want you eating dinner and going straight to sleep."

Y/N huffs out her tension, sitting on the sink bench and lifting her tank top a little, just enough to replace the old bandages. Mitsuya gets to work.

"Did you know?" He asks.

"He just showed up." She retorts, moving a little as Mitsuya pulls the wrapping off her waist.

"What did he say?" He hums, opening the bin and throwing the bloodied wrap away.

Y/N leaned against the mirror. "Nothing I didn't expect." She sighs to him, wiping her face. She gathers some water and splashes her eyes and cheeks as well as cleaning the skin around the cut. It was from an ambush a day ago, which is what the traitor was working for. To kill Y/N.

As Mitsuya fixes the bandage around her waist, Y/N leans forward and lets her forehead rest against his shoulder. "I'm tired, Takashi." She grunts, furrowed brows, "I want to stay. I can't keep doing this."

Mitsuya looks at her in the mirror, the way her shoulders tensed. He fixed the wrapping on her back and gently hugged her. "I know, Y/N. We could always let Draken become leader again." He says.

"I'll die if I don't everything I need to." She states, lifting her head.

Mitsuya gives a small grin, reaching out and gently caressing her cheek, "You might die if you do."

Y/N only stands up, walking out of the bathroom and grabbing some clothes. She throws some to Mitsuya. "I can't even help it, no matter how much I want to stop." She grumbles to herself, changing shirts, "I've already become this person. I can't change it."

She stares at her hands. She can sense Mitsuya's gaze on her, filled with concern. She continues to change. "I can blame him all I want, but in the end, I made all those decisions consciously. I just followed." She tells herself. Her anger for Mikey now aimed at herself. And she hated this girl she became even more.

"I've been fucked up real bad, huh, Mitsuya Takashi?"

let's make babies |

pairing: Harry Styles x Actress!Reader

summary: you and harry are doing a live on instagram, you've drunk a lot of wine and now the world knows that the future Mrs. Styles is ready to make babies.

warnings: mostly cute, but the title tells you what you need to know 🤪

"What is your favorite song from the Fine Line album?" Y/N read aloud, twirling in her right hand the second glass of wine of the evening, the one already halfway through. "Adore You and Watermelon Sugar, of course."

Harry giggled, rolling his eyes upon hearing his fiancée's statement.

"Y/N will always choose Adore You because it was obviously written for her." He accused. "She wouldn't give that answer under different circumstances."

The comments climbed up the screen continuously, most fans gushing about how cute Harry Styles and YN/LN could be while the other part was concerned with wringing even more information out of the slightly inebriated couple who had decided to do a surprise live one early Sunday morning.

As expected after being away for some time to begin filming Don't Worry, Darling in Southern California, Harry enjoyed a lazy weekend in the house he shared with his fiancée and her pets. The days were filled with late naps and relentless Netflix marathons, sublime and ethereal evenings, marked mostly by unexpected declarations and rounds of sex that used to last until the beams of light were shyly coming through the linen curtains. They were not a monotonous couple, so this order could easily be changed.

"Watermelon Sugar is nothing more than about my love for watermelons, don't get too creative." Harry replied to a fan while sporting a corner smile, the message standing out among the rest for its dozens of emojis and large print, questioning the singer about erotic content behind the lyrics of his latest hit. "I really don't know what you guys are talking about."

Y/N laughed, shaking her head before leaning it against her fiancé's chest, propped up on the soft white pillows that were spread practically all over the bed. The air conditioner was on at a minimal temperature and a light rain whipped on the panes of glass camouflaged by the cream-colored curtain, that being the projection of Y/N's favorite nights.

"You can tell them, I'm not shy." She joked, nudging her fiancé's waist.

"You know what it was written about and who it was written for." Harry replied, raising one of his eyebrows. "That's what matters."

It went without saying that much of Harry's newest album, as well as some of his earlier work, had been done in exclusive dedication to his future wife. Y/N had been the muse for a vast repertoire of romantic songs, and even though the singer preferred to keep the story behind his more explicit compositions a "secret", the relationship the two had shared for more than three years was already solid and known enough for the media and fans to distinguish hidden messages in small details.

"It's a song about what usually comes before the act of making babies." Y/N laughed as he pointed at the display. "Honestly, you guys are impossible."

"No, we make babies every day." Harry joked, making a funny motion with his eyebrows. "I would spend my entire career writing just about that."

"Harry!" The actress exclaimed incredulously, slapping her fiancé weakly on the chest. "Children might be watching this."

"You don't want to have babies with me?" He asked falsely offended, accepting the cup that Y/N offered him. "Because I want some babies with you."

Y/N laughed, rolling her eyes as she watched the internet freak out at the dialogue that had suddenly emerged. Since the beginning of the quarantine, it was kind of inevitable that the couple of artists would not become the darlings of all social media; they were fervently active with photos, videos, and lives that depicted step by step daily life in isolation, gaining more and more followers and making the media more and more fascinated by the relationship they both shared.

The wedding was scheduled for the summer of next year and it was perhaps the most anticipated event in the tabloids. Bets about what the model of Y/N's dress would be and lists presuming who would be selected for the short list of guests stood out among countless news stories about the famous people influencing pop culture today.

The possible arrival of a Styles baby was an inevitable topic in interviews. Harry and Niall were the only members of the ex-boyband that had not become fathers yet, and because they had maintained a solid relationship and were seen as one of the most enviable couples during the last four years, Y/N and Harry had gotten used to all this openly asked questions. They didn't mind, they even had fun with the montages and all the anxiety that dominated the whole internet, often mentioning the fandoms' efforts to represent them as such "cool" parents in perfectly edited pictures.

"No, guys, I'm not pregnant." Y/N amusingly clarified the doubt of dozens of new comments. "Please don't believe so many controversial news stories that appear out there. I was on twitter last week and saw several people theorizing about a possible pregnancy, most of the arguments based on a website that used photos from the set of How to Get Away with Murder in the season where I was actually playing a pregnant woman as Laurel." She laughed. "It's so funny! I know you guys love to guess these things, but we won't hide something so special when it actually happen, I promise."

"Especially because Y/N can hide absolutely nothing from anyone." Harry accused, leaving his drink on the corner table before settling into a comfortable position for the two of them. "Anyone who's a Marvel fan knows that. That's one of her most characteristic quirks."

"They gave me a fake script for the last two movies." Y/N agreed, shaking his head. "For me and Tom."

"We agreed to keep the engagement a secret for a while. The plan was to travel to Holmes Chapel to break the news to my family in person, but guess who got a call at ten o'clock at night from an angry Anne because she learned of her son's engagement from an interview Y/N gave the next day?"

Y/N gave a guilty smile, winking gracefully at the camera. "It was all James' fault! I'm sure he already suspected something, those questions were very suspicious."

"Of course the questions were suspicious, babe. You literally said you had a secret that involved both of us but that you couldn't tell because it was important that our families knew first."

"I thought he would think about a pregnancy or something!" The actress defended herself, feeling very convincing in her intonation bordering on obviousness. "That's a mania I can't get rid of, it's in my genes."

"Did you all hear that? Further proof that you guys don't have to worry about guessing when Y/N's pregnancy will be, I'm sure our baby will make sure to tell you everything while still in the womb, mom's genes will make sure of that."

"You are so funny, Harry Styles." Y/N sarcastically stated, holding back a giggle as countless messages with laughing emojis were frantically up. "Yeah, I know I talk a lot and all, but you have annoying quirks too."

It was obvious that live would be news the next day. Although they were completely open about matters concerning their relationship, nothing seemed better than receiving so much exclusive information from a Harry and S/N drunk on expensive wine.

"You wake up in a bad mood and you're dangerously sexy, that should be illegal."

Harry laughed, holding his fiancée's waist a little tighter as he felt her tumble a little further to the side, getting closer and closer to the edge of the bed. Y/N was dangerously weak for drinks, and the singer knew that the actress' body was already near its limit.

"You're the only sexy person here, love." He declared with a corner smile, evidently finding the whole situation funny. "Do you want to go to sleep now?"

"No." Y/N shook her head. "Can we watch some movie? Can we watch Sweet Home?"

"Of course, love." He murmured, giving the woman a quick kiss on the forehead.

Even though Harry knew that his fiancée was unlikely to make it past the five-minute mark of the episode, he made sure to restart the korean series at exactly the scene where she had stopped, the first chapter still halfway through after Y/N realized that it would be impossible to watch such a macabre work without a drop of alcohol in her blood.

She had been so excited by the taste of Argentinian wine and the idea of updating her fans after a few weeks away, that she had forgotten the main purpose of the live. Harry and Y/N had been apart for a few days due to the new movie the Brit was shooting in North America, all happening in an unrestrictedly careful manner due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

He was slowly migrating towards acting and the future Mrs. Styles couldn't be prouder. Y/N had felt on cloud nine when Harry had given her the news of his upcoming job, but her only pronouncement on the subject had been a succinct post on instagram. Just a photo of the couple on a trip to Germany with a simple heart emoji didn't seem enough for the actress' exhibitionist soul, and coming to that conclusion was the main reason she decided to invite him, already relatively changed, for a live appearance. Y/N wanted to go on and on about how much she loved that man and work on that whole honeyed speech that would bring her (once again) the title of "cutest bride of all time," but of course Harry had to come home from his trip with his favorite red wine and poison her with those sweet caresses that took her out of orbit, turning the degree of alcohol content into the least of her problems.

"You're going to kiss Florence." Y/N exclaimed suddenly, as if only now realizing that her fiancé would share the screen with Florence Pugh, one of her closest friends in that industry. "Kiss on the mouth."

The MacBook was still open and hundreds of new comments were going up every second, but Harry didn't bother one bit to warn her about the possibility of her becoming a meme the next day. He was having too much fun with the situation to worry.

"Are you jealous?"

"Yes." She stated with a pout. "I am jealous, I just don't know if I'm more jealous of her or of you."

"But you kiss me every day, babe." Harry laughed. "And you've been kissing other people's men for almost ten years." He joked.

"But I only think about you, I already told you that."

Harry shook his head negatively at the camera, knowing he was sharing with the fans the funniest side of his fiancée.

"I know that, honey." He assured, lightly stroking the actress' back. "I think we'd better turn off the TV and go to sleep now, I'm sure you'll have a terrible headache tomorrow."

The brit planned to bid his audience goodbye and put an end to that recording, but Y/N was drunk and her sense of right and wrong had already gone to space. Harry should have been quicker, however, because his fiancée's speech would be cause for new tags and the only subject for the interviewers for at least the next few months.

"I don't want to sleep, how about we make babies?"

That's what Watermelon Sugar was all about, after all.

Stupid Sorry || Kim Sunwoo

Pairing: Sunwoo x fem reader

Genre: angst, lovers to exes

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: cheating, Sunwoo is an asshole, tiny tiny bit mention of alcohol??

a/n: sunwoo baby i'm so sorry, ily okay? xjwodowndw i got a little too engaged in this one and it may or may not has been based on some personal experiences,,,

masterlist ♡

You should've listened when everyone told you that high school sweethearts not always are meant to last, or that you were too young and naïve to enter a relationship during that time. But you chose to ignore all of it, following what your heart wanted. You were too infatuated with Sunwoo to say 'no' when he asked you out for the first time, fidgeting with his own fingers and trying hard to maintain eye contact with you.

You were part of the same group of friends, even though you didn't talk much to each other back then. But you found yourself head over heels for him since day one. Sunwoo was absolutely handsome and a kind person, his sweet voice echoing in your ears every time he laughed. It was impossible not to fall for him.

And that's how you two ended up dating throughout the years of high school.

Everything was perfect in the beginning; you were always together in between classes and during breaks of his soccer training, sharing small displays of affection and little pecks on the lips. You had lovely dates at cafes, movie theaters and parks whenever it was possible. You felt so happy with him, and he seemed so happy with you too.

All your friends used to gush over how you and Sunwoo were such a cute couple, even daring to say you guys were relationship goals. Everything just felt so right with him, just a simple look into his eyes and it was enough for you to feel just as loved as he was by you.

One year into the relationship already and it was like you were living in a fairytale. But then it happened.

Sunwoo was napping in your bed while you finished a book you were reading; you had come home after your last exam for the semester and Sunwoo promised he'd treat you to some ice cream since you hadn't had much time for each other in the past two weeks. But he said he needed to rest just a little, due to the past late-night trainings with his team. You agreed and offered him your bed.

It wasn't long till his phone started vibrating on your desk, to which you brushed it off at first. But it didn't stop, and then you thought that maybe it could be something important. You grabbed his phone and a female name appeared in the notifications, there were several messages attached to it. Your heart sank. It was the same name as the girl he swore that wasn't his ex but only an old crush of his, and that they didn't even talk anymore.

"Did he lie?" Was all you could think. You couldn't seem to understand if nor even why he would lie about this, you were very open with each other and there wouldn't be a problem for him to tell you about his past lovers, or who they were.

With his phone still on your hand, you glanced at his sleeping figure and back to the screen, wondering if it was okay to take advantage of the fact that you knew each other's passwords. You didn't want to look through his stuff, it was his privacy, you felt bad in doing that but something inside you was screaming to do it. You could already feel the guilt creeping up. His phone vibrated again and it was the last straw for you.

You unlocked the screen and opened the texts, your eyes running through them. She was saying things like "I miss you"; "When are we going to see each other again?"; "It's been such a long time"; and even some suggestive pictures from her. The worst part was that your boyfriend was responding to the girl, flirting back, saying he missed her too.

You didn't even realize when you fell to the floor on your knees, hands shaking almost dropping the cellphone. Putting the item aside, the shock consuming your body, you sat there in the middle of your room, hugging your knees close to your chest while tears were starting to blur your vision, and you let them out. Crying so much but trying hard not to sob loudly so Sunwoo wouldn't wake up. Heart miles per hour and mind a total mess. For how long has this been happening?

It was hurting so bad, like a thousand knives cutting through your chest. You didn't know what to do. You didn't know what to think. Should you break up and end everything after confronting him? And how should you do it? What should you ask exactly? Even though it was painful, part of you didn't want to break up. You knew it was ridiculous to not want to do that, to not want to put yourself in the first place, but you didn't want to be alone. Sunwoo was the first guy who showed any interest in you and you felt like the only girl in the world. And not to mention, you didn't want to have to tell your parents and friends the reason why you two broke up. What would your parents say about it? And your friends? Your family liked Sunwoo so much, he was already part of it, and both you and Sunwoo had mutual friends. You didn't want to go through it.

The young boy eventually woke up to you pacing around with heavy steps, he looked at you confused and called out your name, making you jump startled. You rubbed your eyes wiping the remaining tears and faced him, waiting for him to say anything while you thought of what to say, heart beating fast again. He let out a "Baby, what's wrong?", and you felt sick at the nickname. Tossing the phone on his lap you asked who was that girl and "What the fuck does that mean?", chocked voice trying to sound firm.

Sunwoo immediately approached you dropping to his knees and holding your waist, his teary eyes looking up at you while he mumbled a lot of apologies, saying he didn't know why he was doing that and begging you not to leave him. You could only stare back at the wall in front of you, a blank and expressionless face. He hugged you even tighter burying his crying face in your belly. You wanted to scream, to yell at his face. You wanted to be swallowed by a hole in the ground and just disappear. But you couldn't even move, just listening to his lame excuses and stupid "I'm sorry"s, his voice sounding far away.

After demanding him to go and leave you alone, you let your body fall on the softness of your mattress, where he was just a few minutes earlier and his scent was still there on your pillow, which made your heart hurt even more. You hugged your pillow and cried your eyes out, until your head started to ache and you fell asleep.

On the next day you met Sunwoo and he swore he didn't do anything with the girl, it was just texts, and yes that was his ex. Didn't matter how you looked into it, it still counted as cheating for you. But you decided to give him another chance anyway, because as you stated to yourself, you didn't want to be alone. However, the time that followed wasn't easy, at least not for you. You still felt bittersweet towards all that situation and your stomach almost churned every time he touched you or looked into your eyes saying he loved you. But it was nothing like that to Sunwoo, he never mentioned the occurred and acted as if nothing had happened.

Everything was seemingly back to normal and you were living in your fairytale once again. You could ignore that fact easier now, even though there were still times where you'd catch yourself wondering if you lacked in anything for Sunwoo. He knew very well how insecure you were, how you were afraid of him finding someone better and prettier. You always thought he deserved better and questioned what had he seen in you, and he'd say he loved you to the moon and back, that you were oh so beautiful and you were his only one. You also knew some of his own insecurities, but you just couldn't care less about other guys when you had Sunwoo.

But even though he was aware of your fears, low self-esteem and lack of confidence, it happened again.

You thought of spending the soccer training's break with your boyfriend since your class got dismissed earlier. And there he was, sitting on the side bench with one of his teammates, their backs facing you as you approached them. It seemed like they were arguing and something the other guy said made you stop in your tracks.

"Okay, but if you tell my girlfriend about me, I'm telling Y/N you kissed my sister at my party last week. I don't think she'll like that."

Your world collapsed for the second time; you could almost hear the sound of your own barely mended heart shattering again. Not wanting to believe it. You already knew that feeling but it felt way more painful in the second time.

You were still frozen when Sunwoo looked back and saw you standing there, his eyes widening. You only scoffed at him and turned to get out of there before he could even move towards you. But he was faster and reached you, grabbing your wrist to make you face him.

Silence.

He stared into your eyes for what felt like a whole hour until you snapped and yelled at him to get away from you. You didn't notice the tears rolling down your cheeks as you angrily stared back at him. The boy started weeping trying to hold your hands as he kept on babbling about being drunk at the party and saying he was sorry. "Another stupid sorry", you thought. It was comic how he believed that shedding some tears and mumbling halfhearted apologies were enough to make everything alright.

That night you cried yourself to sleep once more, ignoring all his texts and calls from the moment you stepped into your house. The hurt was so much that even your body experienced physical pain.

You spent the entire following week pretending you were too sick to get out of bed, but the truth was that you didn't want to face Sunwoo and any of your friends. Every day felt like a torture, you woke up with swollen eyes and a massive headache due to crying so much, crying over someone who didn't deserve your tears, let alone any piece of your attention. And you knew that. But you still were too pathetic to let go.

If it was hurting that much, if you knew you should just walk away, then why were you still holding onto it? It wasn't even the first time. Why even bother to stay in an already broken relationship like that? Only because you didn't want to be alone? To feel lonely? To be ashamed by the other's reactions? Especially now that you'd given him another chance before and were planning on giving one more?

Unfortunately, you couldn't deny that you loved Sunwoo. But God was it painful to love him. You didn't know if you could blindly trust him like before, but you were too deep in love with him to care. Even if it hurt.

After a whole week avoiding any and every source of contact with him, you finally sat down to listen, although you shouldn't, already cursing yourself for being in this situation again.

Sunwoo told the same lame excuses, one more time saying he didn't know what he was doing, blaming the alcohol, and that the kiss meant nothing because he still loved you. To be honest you barely even listened, just wishing to go back and pretend you had a beautiful relationship where he was very loyal and honest to you.

And so you did.

You went back to your classes next morning swearing you had a really bad flu the past week and no one seemed to doubt it. Great. You and Sunwoo were acting like lovebirds again and everything looked fine.

This time you were feeling kind of numb and didn't cry every night, but obviously this didn't mean your heart wasn't broken. You wondered how he could be so insecure like you, saying he was also afraid of some more interesting guy getting your attention but still, he was the one who cheated. Twice. Or at least you thought it was twice.

Honestly the time that passed from the second heartbreak was quite okay, Sunwoo did everything you wanted to do, treating you well and telling you sweet things. But it didn't last long.  

It was scary the fact that he never felt distant for you to suspect anything, not even in the two other times and not even now. He could manage this character so well, acting all nice and sweet but doing you dirty behind your back. Apparently, he wasn't that transparent and easy to read as you were, you couldn't see through him. He was like a foggy mirror. Not even a glass window, but a mirror, only reflecting your own image because you just couldn't see his true self. And you realized it a bit too late.

This was what you were thinking right now, seeing Sunwoo seated on a bench in the park both of you used to go to have your favorite ice cream. Under the moonlight, ready to kiss this girl, face too close, hand on her chin just like the way he always did to you. You didn't know your heart could break even more.

This time you were even seeing him shamelessly cheating on you, and you wished you didn't because it hurt so damn much. But in a way you felt thankful you were aware of this trashy behavior of his, or else you wouldn't give much credit when a random guy you've never seen messaged you in your social media saying he believed his girlfriend, which happened to be Sunwoo's classmate, was cheating on him with your boyfriend. And you wanted to see it for yourself even more after the guy told he checked the girl's phone location, went to the park and actually saw them.

"Are you done making a fool of me?"

He pulled away quickly from the girl and got up, looking at you with those fake pleading eyes saying the typical "That's not what you think it is", but you knew it was. You stared at him coldly, chewing on your bottom lip to suppress your tears. The girl quietly got up mumbling something you didn't care to listen and left.

Sunwoo took a step closer and that was when you finally broke into tears, filled with anger and sadness. You pointed a finger at him asking how could he do such a thing. Running your fingers through your hair in frustration, you took a deep breath, tired of dealing with his bullshit.

"Let's break up."

"What? But we're fine." You scoffed at this; he must had been kidding.

"No, Sunwoo, we're not fine. I'm not fine. It's enough, I'm tired." He tried to hold your hand but you pulled it. "Do you even care about how you hurt me? Have you ever been honest with me for once?"

"Oh, you want me to be honest? Fine, I'll be honest with you." He furrowed his brows. "You know that first month we started dating? I cheated on you twice. Why? Because I didn't know if what he had was going to last."

And then it hit you like a truck, more than you've ever imagined. A pain that could dilacerate you. Sure neither of you knew whether or not it'd work out, but the scene of Sunwoo shyly asking you out replayed in your head. And then on your first date he confessed he'd already been in love with you for quite some time, and you felt so happy. If he was that in love, wasn't he supposed to at least give his best and try to make the relationship work?

You looked at him in disbelief. So this was his true self? He wasn't even sorry, never had been.

Glaring into his boba eyes for the last time, your entire relationship flashed in your mind. The shared sweet kisses, shy smiles and lovingly glances, the small dates and slow dances in the quiet of his room. Everything now destroyed.

"Don't ever talk to me again." You gulped feeling a lump in your throat, not having any more strength to argue with him.  

You turned your back and began to walk away, tears falling from your eyes again.

Sunwoo didn't say his stupid sorry this time.

Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you, but could you write for Vincent with a pregnant reader who ran away from her abusive boyfriend and found herself in Ambrose when her car broke down, and Vincent felt protective of her and didn't let Bo hurt her? Maybe after the child is born, she encourages them to call Vincent "daddy"?

Vincent Sinclair with a pregnant future S/O who is escaping from an abusive relationship:

You were heading into the unmapped town for some gas but of course nothing could be so easy for you, since your car broke down just outside of “Ambrose”.

A man had come by in a truck, he was dirty and a little strange but seemed nice in his own way. He had offered to take you into town, said that the man who owned the garage would get your car, fix it up, and set you on your way.

You were cautious but didn’t have much choice, so you let the man drive you into town.

He couldn’t help but glance at your round stomach, his own twisting uncomfortably, knowing you were pregnant. He also couldn’t help but glance up at the bruise under your eye.

“...when are you due?” the man, Lester, asked. There was something strange in his voice, sympathy...guilt?

“...about a month” you answered and the rest of the drive was silent.

You got into town, dropped off at the garage. But instead of leaving town again, you saw Lester’s truck driving up to a house. Obviously, you didn’t think anything of it at the time.

You talked to the man who owned the garage, Bo. He seemed nice, happy to help, even charming. He asked what you were doing in town, squinting suspiciously when you shrugged, avoiding the question.

He told you that he had to get something from the house, so the two of you headed up there. Lester’s truck was there but no sign of the man.

As soon as you stepped into the house with Bo, Vincent was watching. Bo left you in the living room when he went to get whatever it was that he said you needed.

That’s when you caught a glimpse of yourself in a small mirror on the mantle piece. You gently touched the bruise under your eye, tears forming. You sighed, collecting yourself, holding your stomach protectively as you paced the living room.

Bo wasn’t stupid. Your car only had two bags in it. One carrying your things, your essentials, packed in a rush, carrying light. The other filled with baby products. You were bruised, quiet, avoiding small talk type questions. You were running from something.

And Vincent didn’t need to see your bags to know that. He could see what his twin saw. You were running and all three brothers had a feeling they knew what from. 

And so an argument ensued.

Lester stayed out of it, hanging his head and just waiting. Normally Vincent would be quick to give in to Bo, but not this time.

Vincent couldn’t let Bo hurt you. You had been hurt too much already, and you were pregnant. They just couldn’t do this, not this time.

Even Bo was struggling with the morality of killing a pregnant woman.

“She’s due in a month...” Lester spoke up, giving Bo a pleading look, please just let her go...

“And what do you want me to do about that?” Bo asked, uninterested with the information.

“Let her go” Lester sighed. 

“...fine” Bo nodded, he could do that, just this once.

Bo began to leave the room but Vincent grabbed his arm, turning him back to him. Bo only had to look at his town to know what he was thinking.

“No” Bo stated firmly. That was not happening.

“Maybe Vinny has a point...” Lester looked between the twins, also knowing what Vincent was thinking and agreeing with him.

You need somewhere to stay. A town that wasn’t even on maps was a perfect place to hide from whoever you were running from.

“We can’t. She’ll find out about the town, then we can never let her go” Bo reminded them but Vincent tugged on his arm again, harder this time. “...how long do you think we’re going to let her stay here?” he asked sarcastically.

“...” Vincent just gave him a look. Even with the mask, Bo knew what he was thinking. For the foreseeable future, for good if that’s what it took.

“No” Bo said even firmer this time. “...you’re both ridiculous, but fine. But since this was your idea, she and the baby are you’re responsibility, I’m not dealing with that shit. Got it?” he asked, staring his twin down. Vincent nodded.

Bo cursed to himself before leaving the room, going to find you.

It was a long, tense conversation. Bo practically interrogating you about where you came from, where you’re going, and why.

Eventually you broke down and told him. That you’re running from an abusive partner, don’t really know where you’re going. Just trying to get away. 

“My brother...suggested you stay here, if you have nowhere to go” Bo told you.

“Brother?...Lester, right?” you questioned, assuming that’s why the man from the truck came up to the house.

“My other brother, Vincent. You haven’t met him yet but he knows what I know, says you should stay here. Lester said you’re a month away from popping, you can’t be on the road alone when that happens” he explained. 

“No...I mean, thank you but it’s too kind. I couldn’t intrude” you shook your head, eyes wide at the offer.

“Whoever you’re running from won’t find you here. Look, I’ll let you leave now. It’s my brothers that are worried about you, especially Vincent” he shrugged. “Look, I’ll introduce you. But...he ain’t much of a talker” he offered.

Next thing you knew, you were speaking with the three brothers. Bo didn’t seem to care what you chose to do. Lester was eager for you to stay, claiming that Vincent was too. But when you looked at the masked man, he just nodded. Bo was right, he wasn’t much of a talker but that was okay by you.

And, eventually, they talked you into staying.

Bo kept his distance but wasn’t mean to you, that was fine by you.

Lester ended up going home, apparently he lived just outside of town.

Vincent was the one who kept you company, even if he was quiet.

He was always fretting over you, nervous about the pregnancy. He barely knew you but already cared so much. It was a...nice change.

He was quiet and you didn’t understand the mask, but it wasn’t your business. But he kind and gentle. Never touched you unless you told him it was okay, didn’t even stand too close.

But he was always worried about you and you knew that.

The two of you became close quickly.

Something about him just told you that you could trust him. Everything about him was a refreshing change. You liked him a lot, even after only a couple of weeks.

You opened up to Vincent. Telling him everything about your abusive ex and how you finally decided that you had to leave them to protect your child.

A month passed. All your bruises had faded like they were never there, Vincent was always by your side, and your baby was due any day, it was starting to feel like you were getting to start fresh, even after such a short amount of time.

And finally the baby came, sending the four of you into a panic. 

This wasn’t exactly how you had expected to give birth to your first child.

Bo drove you to the hospital and Vincent went with you both. You and Vincent sitting in the back seat, him trying to calm you down while trying to not freak out himself.

Bo couldn’t have complained more when he had to be the one to take you inside while Vincent waited in the car.

After, what felt like, an eternity, you got to leave the hospital and take the baby to their new home in Ambrose. 

As soon as you returned to the house, Vincent was by your side, worrying about you. 

Bo went to grab a beer and Vincent sat you down, you needed rest.

Vincent couldn’t help but stare in awe as you cradled your new born baby to your chest. Over the last month, he had fallen hard for you.

“Do you want to hold them?” your voice broke him out of his trance. His eye widened as he looked at you, hold them? You would let him do that?

He paused before nodding.

He sat down beside you and you carefully passed the baby to him. He held them like they were the most precious thing in existence.

“Their father...he’s a terrible man and I’m glad I had the courage to leave before he had the chance to hurt them. I’m glad I came here, found this place and you. I’m glad they would have had a chance to meet you, Vincent” you told him, making him look at you. In awe again. 

He wanted to tell you that he was glad too, that he would never ever hurt you or your child, that he would be here for you for as long as you allowed him to be.

Thankfully, you already knew that. Because you reached out and took his hand in yours, squeezing it gently.

Vincent completely melted when your baby cooed up at him.

“Hey, they like you” you smiled softly.

Vincent looked back down at your child and just fell in love with them, just like he had with you.

“Look at you, Vincent. You’re a natural” Bo teased as he stepped into the room.

But you just smiled, he was right. Vincent also smiled under the mask, he was okay with being a natural at this...

Time continued to pass, Vincent right by your side.

He as wonderful, more so than he needed to be.

He cared for you and your child more than anything.

If the baby cried, he’d offer to check on them. Even if the baby didn’t cry, they were just sleeping, Vincent would check on them.

So much time passed that you had practically become family. The brothers loved having you and your child around, even Bo did though he wouldn’t admit it.

Eventually you found out the truth of the town and you were rightly horrified. 

Vincent was horrified as well, terrified that you would leave now. Or worse, Bo would have to do something to stop you from telling anyone on the outside.

You needed some time but this had become your home and it was Vincent...you knew that he wouldn’t hurt you. Until now you didn’t think he would hurt anyone.

No matter what he did, you saw the fear in his eye, he was scared to lose you and your child. He wasn’t angry...he was scared and sad. He was still your Vincent.

So...you stayed.

And you didn’t regret it.

Eventually your child began attempting to talk. At the moment, all they could say was “mama”.

But then something incredible happened.

You were playing with your child and Vincent walked into the room.

Your child’s face lit up as they exclaimed “daddy!”

You both froze.

Vincent didn’t know what to do. He could cry from he overwhelming emotion he felt but he was also worried about what you felt. Where you mad about it?

He looked to you for how to respond.

But you relaxed, smiling slightly as you gestured for him to join you. And he did, sitting down beside you.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll try to get them to stop...but I don’t mind, if you don’t mind” you told him.

Vincent had to do something, this was a moment, even he knew that. It was important. 

So, he gently took your hand, squeezing it and nodding. You smiled before leaning into him, pressing a gentle kiss to his masked cheek before leaning against his arm, the two of you playing with his child.

Having your car break down just outside of Ambrose and meeting Vincent was the best thing that ever happened to you, you truly believed that.

Vincent hated that you had to go through so much pain to end up here but he was glad that you found them, that he could help, that he could have even met you and your child. 

Now, the two of you were his world. He would do anything to protect you both. He loved you both.

"KINDRED",6 - Tommy Shelby x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Fluff, Plot(s), Tommy & Reader being bitches

Summary: You're a reconverted ex war-nurse and join forces with Thomas Shelby to cut the head of the Fascist serpent, Oswald Mosley.

Word Count: 4.8K

A/N: This is the end of the Serie guys... The next part is the epilogue. II Gina's family is totally OC & It's Tommy POV.

*Masterlist*

❰ ​Previous Chapter

“I dreamt about a black cat,” Tommy went to sit down next to you, he was so close to you that your shoulders were touching, to his greatest pleasure.

After Polly left him, he stayed in his office for what seemed to be hours. It was his thirst for whiskey that hurried him to leave the room, and after he wandered in Small Heath’s streets & pubs, he conceded to do what he wanted to do since Pol left his office, see Y/N.

She was now in front of him, intently looking into his blue iris while remaining silent, a sign that she was waiting for him to continue.

“Thought it was Michael,” he raised a brow, “You told me it was Gina.” He pointed to her with his hand that was holding his cup of whiskey.

“Now Polly resigned.” He scoffed to himself. He couldn’t believe it was true that she left the company. And the worst part was that she was leaving to be on his enemy's side, Michael’s.

“Resigned?” Y/N raised her brows, quite surprised by the revelation.

Tommy didn’t answer, too occupied looking at the void in front of him. The woman didn’t know the Shelby family for quite long, but they seemed close. It was hard for her to understand the actual situation, and it’s in her head that she was making the additions to fill in the blanks in Thomas’s speech.

“She joined with Michael?” She concluded fast enough to catch Tommy desperately looking at her. It wasn’t simple to read his face, but she was used to him now, and their intimacy made it easier for her to see that Tommy was truly hurt by the event.

Y/N was seated on her knees, turned toward the Peaky head with one elbow at the top of the sofa and her chin in her palm. Her free hand was fidgeting with the tassels of her dress.

It was what Tommy firstly saw when she got out of the car ten minutes ago.

They arrived at her manor at the same time, both of their vehicles facing the other. Tommy got one hand onto his gun that was in his shoulder holster under his suit and Y/N was holding a rifle she kept on the passenger seat.

It was only when they turned off the headlights and that their stare connected that their bodies relaxed, the tension being replaced by the desire to possess the other.

Once out of the car, Tom couldn’t look at anything else other than the dress the Y/E/C eyed woman was wearing, it was a form-hugging grey satin one that reached her knees with a split on one of her legs, revealing some more skin.

At each of her actions, the tassels would move to accompany her figure, which mesmerized Tommy who forgot the reason for his coming.

She lifted her hand to Tom’s arm, squeezing it gently to reassure him. She didn’t want to use words as she knew he didn’t admit to himself that he was hurt. Y/N remained silent a little more before an idea crossed her mind.

“There is going to be a meeting, Tommy. A last one.”

He exhaled deeply and lifted his stare to her, intrigued by the confidence in the woman’s voice. She knew what he was thinking and nodded to him, “A family meeting. I will take the lead. I know exactly where to hit.” Her fingers slide to Tom’s hand as she was brushing the tip of her fingers on his skin.

The blue-eyed man wasn’t saying anything, but unlike any other time, he wasn’t deep in thought, this time, he was trying to read Y/N’s face. He knew she was ready for anything and ready to do everything, but the question remaining was, what?

What did she have in mind this time?

“Did you free Gina?” Tom suddenly asks, with everything that was happening he almost forgot that Y/N abducted his cousin’s wife to get rid of the couple after they treated Tommy’s status in the company.

She shook her head, “I did not do such a thing,” she raised her eyebrows with excitement, “Do you want to know our plan?” She shifted position, straightening back on her knees with both her hands on her thighs.

Tommy knew her, when she was this excited it didn’t presage anything good, and by the fire burning behind her iris, he knew he was right. “Please.” He agreed.

“Michael Gray, Polly Gray, Mr Rice & me, in the family meeting.” A faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips, distracting him a minute from what she just said.

“Mr Rice?” He squinted his eyes, frowning.

“Gina’s father.” The woman began as she poured some liquor into her cup, “He is here, in Birmingham, I’ve met with him today actually.” She sipped on her drink as if everything she was saying was normal.

But the more she was speaking and the more Tom’s brain got filled with questions, and when he was about to open his mouth, Y/N spoke again, well aware that Tommy didn’t understand.

“Remember when I told you that Gina was working with her uncle? Well, her father used to work with his own brother when younger, but he settled down when he met God. So I just twisted his mind into thinking his brother is using his daughter to get to him and... boom. We got another ally.”

“How come you know so much about her family?”

“It’s called socializing, Thomas, you should try it from time to time. When you use the money to get information, I use my pretty eyes.” She winked at him.

He snickered at her remark, did she just criticize his way of dealing with things? No. She proved more than once her benevolence towards Tommy and his business. “So, why do you want my enemies in a family meeting?” The man emphasized the last words to highlight how absurd Y/N’s idea seemed.

“To show ‘em our hand, we got all the cards right there, Tom.” She opened the man’s hand and patted at his palm with her index.

It was still quite peculiar for him to admit that Y/N handled difficult situations ridiculously well, and even more, to admit that she was indeed helping him.

Tommy wasn’t the type to let people get into his business because he was the only one to know how things needed to be handled, but since he met her, she hadn’t done one thing wrong.

She always had the right answers to threats, she always made the right moves, and even if he wouldn’t fully admit it to himself, he wanted to trust her. Even if he was well aware that she wasn’t telling him everything. He respected that, only because her resilience to fight for his business and himself was genuine.

Maybe Polly got it right the other night at the Garrison, he might be loving her.

“What do you say?” The woman’s voice got him out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?”

She chuckled and shifted her position to be closer to him when realizing he wasn’t even listening to her, “Why that serious face?” she asked as the tips of her fingers encountered Tom’s cheek tenderly.

The man didn’t move a bit, paralyzed by the thousands of sparkles running down his spine. He wasn’t used to her being that soft with him, and at the same time, he never wanted to get used to this, from the way her lips were stretched into a smile to the sweet gleam animating her eyes.

“You went out tonight?” He dismissed her previous question. She didn’t need to know that even when being with her he was still thinking about her.

The thing between them was still as fresh as spring wind and he was so used to seeing her being all strategic and untamed, that seeing her smiling and giggling with him ignited something in him.

“It's a women’s night,” She leaned toward him and pecked his lips before getting up. His fingers that were drawing circles on her thigh slid to her hand and she squeezed it before pulling on it, “the night’s still young. Come ‘ere, Sergeant Major.” She mentioned to him as starting to move her hips.

Tommy’s eyes weren’t leaving her figure, he didn't even blink, too afraid she would vanish. Seeing that she was inviting him to join her, he gave her a faint smile.

(...)

Y/N pushed the Garrison’s door and entered, followed by Tommy. The sound of her high heels caught the attention of the people already inside, heads turned to the lovers as they both puffed on their cigs, ignoring the fact they were late.

“Good morning everyone, I’m happy you could all make it. We know there are disagreements between some of you, but business comes first, right?” Y/N took the lead, positioning herself in front of everybody.

In the room we could see Polly, sitting at the same table as her son Michael who kept an empty chair next to him, probably expecting his wife to join the meeting. Arthur was next to the counter, pouring himself some whiskey. Ada was seated by herself, arms crossed, she already looked pissed off for some reason, but when did she not look like that?

To finish, Mr Rice was alone at a table at the back of the room, as if he didn’t want to mix with the people present at this meeting.

The smiles and sweetness that was present on Tommy and Y/N's faces last night was long gone as both of them wore an emotionless cold face now. They stood side by side, but not too close to avoid suspicion about the nature of their relationship.

“Mr Rice, may I introduce you to my partner, Mr Thomas Shelby, OBE.” She waved her hand to the man standing right next to her.

“Michael, this is Gina’s father, but I bet you already met him, didn’t you?” We could sense provocation in her tone, but Michael was too concentrated on wondering why Gina’s father was there to notice it.

“Polly, we informally met each other two nights prior to this day. Nice to meet you officially.” She threw a smirk to Polly before pouring some whiskey into two cups, giving one to Tommy as she sipped on hers.

The man ignored the stares of his family and drank his drink. They discussed strategies before the meeting and he was sure she knew what she was doing, if everything happened as Y/N predicted, he wouldn’t even have to open his mouth this morning.

“Why are we here?” Polly was the one to ask the question that everybody had in mind.

“To inform you about the restructure of the Shelby Company Limited.” The librarian snapped back outrightly. She didn’t miss the face Michael made and the way his chest raised, it wouldn’t last long before opening his mouth, she could tell, and she counted on that.

“According to what I heard, Americans don't want to deal with the Peaky Blinders, so we’re giving them the Bridgehead Corporation instead.”

It was the first time Tommy heard mentioning the name of her own organisation and his side-eye look showed how deep she piqued his interest.

“I got people back in New York that reached to your contacts, Michael, offering them to directly deal with the opium dealer themselves rather than having to have you as the intermediary.” She didn’t even look to the Gray man, despising him for trying to outdo Tommy.

“Mr Rice here,” She spiritedly pointed at the man sitting at the back of the room “...is one of my associates in America, he is here to testify that they will directly link the Chinese to your contacts if you don’t back down your stupid caprice, Michael.”

Tommy’s cousin was looking at the woman with a clenched jaw, and she knew he wouldn’t be able to retort anything because he wasn’t even the brain of his plan, it was his wife, and she wasn’t there.

She smacked her lips, “But we both know that fucking Americans don’t want to deal with Chinese, right, they don’t want to have to talk to them & do all the real job. They want their money fast without dirtying their hands so they can strut around with their big bellies and cigars.” She continued, meeting Polly’s black stare, but she didn’t give in.

She wasn’t scared of any member of this family, she was there to have Tommy’s back which meant she wouldn’t back down. If they wanted to concentrate on the evil things he’s done and be blind to the fact that all he did was for his family to prosper, then she would be the only one standing by his side.

Polly’ eyes reached Tommy’s, breaking eye contact with Y/N. The Shelby's head wasn’t even looking at the crowd, he was looking before him, listening closely to what the Y/H/C haired woman was saying.

“I’m high-society in England, my name’s on the War records. I've worked hand in hand with Emmeline Pankhurst, which make people talk about me even when I’m not there. Add to this that now, I too deal with the Chinese in the name of the Peaky Blinders. If I approach your contacts, Mr Gray, do you think they will refuse me?” She was speaking with a very calm voice, no anger nor pride and no glance thrown his way, she was too occupied lightening up another cigarette.

“Who the fuck are you?” He ultimately let out, to Y/N's greatest pleasure.

“Who the fuck am I? Say the one losing 2$ million in fucking stock market but still think he can lead this company.” She chuckles to herself, and Arthur can only snort at her arrogance.

A freezing silence settled in the room.

“How’s Gina, Michael?” She finally looked at him with a vicious smile, “Oh yeah, you cannot properly take care of her either.” She let out solemnly.

Another silence settled as Polly was once again intently looking at the woman.

She knew from the start she wasn’t a simple “librarian” as Tommy portrayed her, but this was too much of a scene for a high-society person. She was there when Mosley spoke at the Arrow House during the ballet and it was nothing like what just happened.

There was something more about this that she couldn’t quite get.

“Now if you would excuse us, we got a fucking fascist to kill.” She let out before putting one of her hands in her suit’s pocket as she grabbed the bottle of whiskey with her other hands after sticking her cigarette in between her lips.

Tommy watched her leave the room and raised his brows out of surprise, she was something… He couldn’t say otherwise. It was now sure that Michael wouldn’t try something against him, after that speech, he himself never wanted to be an enemy to Y/N.

(...)

*Bingley Hall, 6th*

“What did you mean: damage from the inside?"

“I have a strategy,” Tommy started to pace up and down, overflowed by the number of thoughts in his mind as well as adrenaline filling his veins.

“You always have a strategy,” Jessie Eden continues wiping the dirt off her face in front of the mirror.

“But it’s dangerous, and it can’t be shared without sharing the danger. ” He opened his arms to mimic how dangerous it was while turning to her figure.

“What’s going to happen?” She turned to face him as the Shelby's head began his race again.

He stops right in front of her without breaking eye contact, his head held high, “I’m gonna do a good thing.” He waved his hand as if he was acting. He thought it was funny to put “I” and “doing a good thing” in the same sentence, “When I do a good thing, innocent people get hurt. So go home.” He looked straight at her. “After this evening, we can meet, discuss strategies.” He pointed to the door with his hand that was holding his cap, “That beast… out there he just a beast. He’s like a horse. It’s the rider that decides which direction it takes.” Tommy wasn’t even talking to Eden at this point, it was himself he tried to cheer up.

He was already putting back his hat on as joining the door when she asked, “And who will be the rider?”

“Just go home.”

He opened the door and left, leaving her aghast while staring at the door shutting. She could only fill the blanks in Tommy’s speech by herself. It was him, who would be the rider.

(...)

“Full?”

“To the fucking brim.” McCavern’s strong accent reached his boss’ ears like the most satisfying sound.

He was arranging his collar in front of a glass, concentrating, “Trouble?”

“So far, a few communists. Bowlers helped our boys clear them away.”

“A few hecklers are a good thing. We can demonstrate how we deal with opposition.” Mosley’s voice was calm, not an ounce of nervosity nor anxiety or apprehension in his voice. He was confident, even his usual arrogance could be heard in his tone.

“There’s a rumour a gang of Jews are coming up from Digbeth. No sign of them yet.” The Irish man was watching things laying on the tables as if truly interested in knowing what they were. He behaved as if it was routine for him to stand by the side of a fascist who was about to tell thousands of people it was a minority being the source of all problems in England and preach about how its extinction will bring much fortune to their beloved country.

Mosley was done making arrangements with his clothes, but his eyes were still fixed on his own through the mirror, his head held high, “Well, let them come. Welcome them appropriately” He concluded.

The atmosphere was serene, filled with silence when Jimmy McCavern suddenly felt concerned, finally raising his gaze to the head of the Fascist serpent, “There are a few Peaky boys around.”

Mosley looked at the Irish man through the mirror, tilting his head to the side and clicking his tongue, “They are our allies. There’ll be no rift between us. Keep your powder dry” He exhaled.

McCavern was about to leave when called by his boss, who was now turned to him, standing straight. His vitreous black eyes didn’t blink even once as he abruptly made the Nazi salute toward the Irish near the door, “Perish Judah.”

The Irish scoffed, opening the door.

“No joke, Mr McCavern.” Mosley gave his first and only warning.

McCavern closed the door in a thud and shifted his position to stand straight, making the Nazi salute towards Mosley without any expression on his face, “Perish Judah.”

After that, Mosley came back to look at himself in the mirror, turning his body to the side, a hand on his stomach, probably checking how fit he looked.

The door opened and closed, a dry chuckle filling the silent room, “Shouldn’t you be repeating your speech or something?”

Mosley’s eyes lift to Y/N. A cigarette hanging over her lips. She was wearing a dark suit matching the gleam in her staring iris. His lids closed before snapping open to her long fitted pants that reached her feet over her black high heels.

She clicks her tongue once in front of him, leading him to lift his gaze to hers.

“You shouldn’t be here, I’ll be announced in a minute.”

“Oh, that I know Sir.”

He gave her a faint smile as closing his eyes with satisfaction, he could get used to being called ‘Sir’ by the owner of the suave voice reaching his ears.

He opened his eyes to hers, “Why the black outfit?” He tilted his head to the side, intrigued by the potential answer.

Y/N was smoking her cig, “Preparing for someone’s death.” She offered him a side smile as a heavy silence settled in the tiny room.

He clicked his tongue, not knowing if she was referencing to the people causing a riot or else. He stretched his arm to the door, inviting her to be the first to get out.

Y/N took a step closer, his hand now touching her as she locked the butt of her cigarette in between her lips, her fingers reaching Mosley’s shoulders, swapping the fabrics off of any potential dirt.

She, obviously, knew he didn’t like to be touched and that Mosely would certainly be annoyed by having the smoke of cigarettes so near his face as he despised them, but she also knew how proud he would feel to finally have an intimate contact with her as he loved women.

Mosley grabbed one of her wrists with one hand, stopping her in her tracks. She lifts her eyes to his staring ones, they were devoid of any emotions, as usual. She was quick to slide her fingers in his, the contact-making him drop her hand abruptly with disgust.

Even if her face didn’t show anything, she was internally laughing at how easy it was to play with him and poke him right in his weak points.

“A quick fuck, perhaps?” She teased the man even more.

She knew if it was any other time he would gladly bend her over a table and fuck her while looking at his own reflection, but it wasn’t the time nor the moment. But she also knew he was well aware he wouldn’t have any other occasion with her, which made the torture a little more dramatic.

He broke the stare and by-passed her without even saying anything, slamming the door behind him.

(...)

“Tommy.” Was all she succeeded at saying, her saliva being sticky out of nervousness. She couldn’t believe they were about to do it.

He turned to her, his back facing the mirror. No need to describe how relieved he was to see her radiant face. YN's perfect hair framing her face elegantly as her finger-waves bounced as she took steps further towards him.

The mood immediately shifted, it was light and soft, the sweet exchanges of looks and smiles uncovering their feelings for each other. They couldn’t even hide the fact they were desperate for each other now.

It was obvious to the two, but also to everyone around them, beginning with Lizzie. She refused to see Thomas for days now, hiding in her own house Tommy bought her when Ruby was born.

She wasn’t the only one refusing to see him, Polly never gave news after the last family meeting, but Tommy heard she was now living with Aberama in her house, away from any illegal activities while Aberama still was working with Tommy, looking forward to the time he’d be able to avenge his son by killing McCavern.

Arthur, that was spending way more time than needed at the Bridgehead library, also noticed how close she and Tommy were, and he never ceased to make jokes, which Y/N blocked by slipping in remarks on how he was eyeing her right-hand, Bridget, and how often this latter began to show up late at work.

The insinuation of Arthur having an affair with the employee of Y/N always made Tommy chortle on his drink, while his older brother remained unusually silent. He, that always thought to be so discreet that no one noticed he found a love interest in a feminist, was in fact not so discreet, much to his displeasure. And hearing his brother laughing at him didn’t help.

Y/N inhaled deeply, her heart pounding in her chest that was inflating. Her fingers went fondling the wrinkles at the corner of Tom’s eyes in a tender manner that immediately eased the man, his skin burning under the touch.

He tilted his head, leaning into her caress so her palm would cup his cheek.

He and she knew better than anyone that in this chaotic lifestyle, they needed sweetness. Not that he was okay admitting he found it while being with her, but she hoped it was the case.

“Something’s in the air, Thomas. Be prepared for death.” She patted one of his temples with her free hand.

He opened back his eyes, darkened by something she couldn’t name, his eyebrows furrowed while blinking, searching answers in Y/N’s eyes in vain.

He didn’t understand what the hell she was saying, but it didn’t matter, she was there, by his side, ready to take on the entire world if needed. He was aware of how much she cared and how she was ready to fight till her last breath by his side. And he'll eventually accept he felt the same about her.

The door opened and Arthur’s head picked through.

It wasn’t just Thomas Shelby against the world, it was them against the world. His brother, his lover, and himself.

Tommy coughed and looked at the ground before looking at his brother with squinting eyes. What was so urgent for him to invade their space like that?

Y/N quickly glanced at the reflection in the mirror behind Tommy to see who had entered the room. Seeing the older Shelby brother’s head, she shamelessly closed the gap between Tom’s face and hers, kissing him with strength.

She was surprised to feel Tommy’s rough hands tenderly cupping her face, his thumbs rubbing her soft skin, as he responded to her kiss with as much strength as her.

“We got this, Y/N.” He said in a whisper, without difficulty.

A warm thunderbolt ran down Y/N’s spine as she stepped backwards, her gaze falling on one of her hands gripping tightly onto Tommy’s jacket.

Even if she tried not to show it, the plan was so big and meant so much that it got her nervous.

Her cheeks reddened a bit but the man couldn’t quite grasp at this vision of her as she almost ran out of the room.

Now that he was showing affection, he was making her flee.

Well, he still hadn’t cracked the code to Y/N’s character.

“Come on Y/N, we’ve been there.” Tommy’s deep voice reached her ears in a huff.

“I know but I want you to tell me all over again.” She turned her naked body to him.

He exhaled deeply and lit a cigarette before explaining to her the plan again. He flattened the white sheet on the bed and created a wrinkle on it to show her the stage.

“Mosley and I will be here,” he then put the used matchstick on the sheet in front of the representative stage, “Barney will be up there, waiting for the sign to shoot.”

Y/N frowned and hit his hand along with the matchstick, “get this shit out my bed, this is an expensive sheet, Sergent Major.”

Tom chuckled as he bent over to her to grab her wrists, forcing her to lean all over him, “Come to me reporting for your duty, then.”

She giggled and grabbed his cig, smoking while drowning in his icy blue eyes.

It was routine now for them to share intimate moments late at night. From staying up late in the Shelby Brother Company limited office, looking to the ceiling, Tom upgraded to visit Y/L/N’s manor.

And inevitably, the lust between them eventuated in their bodies intertwining in all different kinds of places.

Tonight was the bed, fortunately for Y/N’s back as their last night’s epic adventure led them outside the house, in the nearby woods.

One of his hands wandered on her bruised body, other marks of their passionate nights along with burn marks caused by her carpets…

His eyes, thirsty of her, followed the path of his hand with as much attention as he would pay to horse racing.

Y/N found the face he made funny. She couldn’t read him, as hard as she would try, but she knew he felt good there, with her, and it was all that mattered at the moment. It was only them in this space. It was their war zone. Here, he wasn’t at the head of a gigantic gang nor the right hand of a fascist, and she wasn’t running a feminist organisation, no.

They were just lovers bearing their soul to each other, as silly as it sounded. And they wouldn’t trade it for nothing.

“Brother,” Arthur called Tommy back to reality. “Know she’s something else,” he raised his brows in understanding, “but Mosley’s been searching you out there.”

Tom ignored his brother’s remark and cleared his throat, by-passing Arthur.

That one didn’t miss the occasion to drop a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, “I’m happy for you, brother.”

And as little as this was, it was enough for Tommy to be relieved of whatever was heavy on his shoulders.

The simple fact he still got his brother meant something deep.

He was ready to make his plan shift from his head to reality. By the end of this day, he’ll be at the head of English fascism, following Oswald Mosley’s death.

He will reach his ambition.

Following Chapter ❱

PEAKY BLINDERS TAG: @retromafia

what if chu's s/o escapes port mafia, leaving chuuya to think she left him like dazai did (but in reality, she was pregnant & didn't want the child to grow up in PM. though she has taken extra measures so her son will not be endangered, PM still managed to kidnap him and hold him hostage in exchange for her to come back to their ranks. it is when she comes to save their son that chu discovers that the child is his. you do your own take if you want, your writing, your choice! 💓💓

HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARDS.      genre. hmmm,, i guess it’s fluffy      synopsis. you reveal a secret you’ve kept to yourself for so long, it’s time you finally come clean.      word count. 2,680      author notes. hi, thank you this was an interesting request, i tried not to make it too long. & i usually don’t put so much dialogue (if at all XD) so i hope you can still enjoy this <33

PRESENT.

“Boss, the VIPs are here to see you, they’re being held down at the lobby. Do you want to send them up here?”

The chair swirls around, revealing the man behind the table, a picture of perfect composure. A curt nod is all it takes for the goon to leave the room, ready to escort the guests up.

Once the doors are closed again, he puts the cigarette out on his ashtray, exhaling that last puff of smoke. Gloved fingers intertwine together as he ponders long and hard about how he should greet them later.

The man eyes the drawer under his table, the bottom leftmost one — the special drawer. He opens it languidly to unveil a stash of letters, too many to count at one glance. That’s not surprising though. After all, it’s twelve years’ worth of letters. He grabs the top one, beady eyes glossing over its contents. He folds it back along the same lines.

They all look the same. Made out to him, but with no return address.

TWELVE YEARS AGO.

“They found someone at the house. We have him right now.”

The man on the other line seems to still have something to say, but the redhead doesn’t allow him. It’s a matter that can’t wait.

“Keep him there, make sure he doesn’t leave.”

Chuuya leaves the rest of the torturing to his colleagues as he exits the premises. He recalls what his subordinate reported earlier. ‘Him’? He scoffs. It’s been six years since you left the mafia and basically vanished into thin air. Which is a considerably long time, but Chuuya still can’t wrap the possibility around there being a new guy in your life.

Besides, the redhead didn’t do anything wrong. Why did you have to leave without a word? Why did you feel the need to leave at all, even? It couldn’t be stress. No way. You worked at the Port Mafia casino, yes. You were in charge of it all, and it did anything but stress you out. You loved working there. You loved the gamble. You absolutely revelled in the risk.

They put you in charge of the casino for more reasons than one. You were very calculative, very meticulous. You always had your moves planned out beforehand and you were always able to tell your opponents’ hand without even having to cheat. The gambling was definitely one of the reasons why you were so good at manipulating people. It was also one of the reasons why even Mori asked for your help in some cases.

But your best quality as a mafioso?

Your unpredictability. Or, as Mori dubbed it, your insanity. In both gambling and in general. You had helped the mafia win favours over more than just a few officials by winning against them — be it in poker or any other games. You weren’t even below playing russian roulette. Sure, Chuuya had been worried at first, but after a while it was pretty clear you’d always make it out of it safe — was it luck or was it pure calculation, or a mixture of both perhaps? Chuuya doesn’t really question it. And when it came to planning missions, your unconventional methods always helped, because no one would ever see it coming.

That blew up in his face though. You left him without any clues pertaining to your whereabouts or why you left in the first place. He thought you left along with his ex-partner, that maybe it had something to do with him. But it was apparent that wasn’t the case. Not when you didn’t surface at all even when Dazai did. He couldn’t help but keep thinking of potential things that happened to you. Did you leave because you met someone else? Doubtful. But given how long it’s been, it’s certainly not out of the question that you already did meet someone else by now.

You’re beautiful, smart, fun. You’re everything anyone could wish for. You’re so understanding that sometimes Chuuya questions where you get your patience from. You were just perfect, in every sense of the word.

Chuuya groans just thinking of everything. Even after being kicked to the curb, why is it that now he is still attracted to you? Lucky he was, though. Because that’s the only reason he agreed with Mori’s plan to put all efforts into seeking you out. You were incredibly elusive, and a pain in the ass because of that. And had it not been for a certain intense war against an enemy organisation, they would’ve let you go on with your life, wherever you ended up. You’ve been very quiet, not spreading anything about the mafia, or else Mori would’ve picked up on it. Very well-behaved, and a pardon would’ve been your reward.

But even the best needs help sometimes. And Mori specifically wants yours. He probably figured Chuuya was the biggest factor that would tilt things in their favour, and he agrees. Which is why he heads this mission in the first place. Not only is he the biggest shot at getting you back, but he wants to see you. Wants to know exactly why you left him the way you did.

Closure. He wants closure.

Life is funny though. Because he ends up with more questions than answers when he opens the door to his office.

Suddenly all the idle chatter he passes by in the hallway makes sense. The ones that just skip past his ears because he’s too deep in thought about you. He remembers the gist of them though. Things like “he’s so cute, like a model,” and “right? I think he looks handsome” (to which Chuuya was slightly annoyed by because he thought it was referring to your new beau).

But no, he wasn’t greeted with a man. He opened his doors to find a boy with eyes as blue as the ocean sitting on his desk, fiddling with his pens. Eyes that remind him of the exact shade he looks at in the mirror everyday. Chuuya hurriedly shuts the door, locks it, and steps hesitantly toward the boy.

This boy… looks roughly about six years old. And Chuuya feels his breath hitching in his throat. That’s around the time you went missing. He feels everything closing in around him, the fear of why you left him finally being made clear to him.

Weirdly enough, the boy isn’t the tiniest bit scared. His head is tilted, fingers still fiddling with Chuuya’s fountain pen, and waiting for Chuuya to reach him. He blinks his little eyes, before finally smiling up at him after a while. He opens his mouth, a simple word leaving his delicate lips.

“Daddy!”

Chuuya isn’t even allowed a further minute to process it before he hears knocking on the ceiling and someone falls through the vent onto the floor; one with an all-too-familiar figure. And who flashes an all-too-familiar grin.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Half an hour later Chuuya finds himself struggling to process all the information you’ve unloaded on him. He observes as his son draws on a random piece of paper he’s found lying around, in the other side of the room.

“You let them think they’ve captured our son, when in reality you were waiting for them to?”

You nod. Chuuya internally facepalms himself. How is it that you’re able to gamble with this, too? With your — and his — son’s life on the line? You basically left him there to be abducted, knowing that they won’t do anything without Chuuya’s permission (who’s to say he wouldn’t have allowed them to torture the kid? Well, he wouldn’t, but still…) and then sneak yourself past security and into his office, all in the hopes of letting him know he has a son?

Then again, you wouldn’t bet something like that if you didn’t believe that things would absolutely go your way. He’s been with you for so long before, he’s familiar with your moves and the way you think. Not completely, but good enough.

It was so brilliantly simple. (Also, you used to sneak into his office through the vents when your relationship was still under wraps, so it really wasn’t a surprise to him that you chose to sneak in through there now.)

“Why now, after all this time? Why tell me now?”

For a moment he catches a brief look of guilt wash over your face. You lie back on the couch on your spot next to him, and close your eyes, as though bracing for an outburst as his response.

“I didn’t want to tell you at all, at first…” you trail off, the guilt completely taking over you now. “I only came now because… I want you to get Mori off my back.”

Now Chuuya understands why.

So, you didn’t even intend to give him a chance to meet his son, let alone let him be involved in any part of your life. But you only appeared because you knew Mori would come after you, demand for your help. The only reason you showed yourself today… was to convince Chuuya to help you. Because if there’s anyone who could convince Mori to back off, Chuuya could. And you understood that all too well.

Chuuya can just laugh at himself right now. How foolish is he, to think that you came back because you still harboured feelings for him. How pathetic of him.

He can sense his expression growing grim. Not that he’ll make any attempts to conceal it. His cerulean eyes travel from his son to you. You seem a little less guilty now, though. You look… at peace, somehow.

“What makes you think I’ll do what you want?”

“Because you want to prove me wrong.”

Your answer catches him off guard, and his anger is replaced by utter confusion. You take his silence as your cue to explain.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t think you’d make a good father and do what’s right for our son. Prove me wrong. Keep our son away from this. Do what a good father would and give him a chance to grow up normal.”

Chuuya scoffs. So that’s why you didn’t tell him anything. Never told him you were pregnant. Never hinted at a goodbye. You’d rather be branded a traitor like Dazai instead of having to make Chuuya choose between you and the mafia. He knows; if you set your mind on something, it’s hard to change it. And in other situations it might’ve been negotiable, but not with your baby.

You know Chuuya would never betray the mafia. That’s why you think he’d never make a good father. Because he can’t put you or the baby first. And now… Now you come with good faith. You’re trying to believe that he can learn to be a good father.

Starting with this choice.

This impossible choice.

Except not really. He knows what he’ll end up choosing anyway. You were right. If he knew you were pregnant he’d have convinced you to stay with the mafia, convinced you that he’d make sure the baby is well-protected. But then he’d be missing the point of your whole argument. You grew up in the mafia, and technically, so did he. You knew how it didn’t allow a chance at normalcy, and you didn’t want to strip your baby of that choice. You wanted your child to at least have a taste of what being normal is like, before you ultimately let them choose what they want.

Now, even if he gives an unfavourable reply, he knows you’d do anything to keep his son away from the mafia. It’s only a question of whether or not you’d have to struggle against Chuuya for it.

Silently, he stretches a hand out to you as he gets up from the couch. He can see the subtle surprise on your face. You’re impressed, aren’t you? He has on the best poker face since you’ve met him. You can’t guess what he’s thinking, this being the first of such instance since you’ve met him. He doesn’t say a thing when you ask him what he’s up to, only continuing to offer his hand to you, keeping mum.

A gamble, a risk you’d have to take. You can either take his hand and see where he leads you, which could lead to you getting your way or it could just lead to total destruction. Or, you can refuse, and then you’d have to figure a way out on your own. Which Chuuya doesn’t doubt you’d already have ingrained in your head.

But he knows you’ll choose the former. Why? It’s the only one where an inherent risk is present. Because you’d be totally in his mercy.

And that’s why you find yourself flown out of the headquarters, onto some random building’s rooftop. A perfect view of the setting sun and an even more perfect view of your old lover, striking crimson locks imitating the beauty of the orange sunset.

Looks like it paid off.

“Will you let me know where you’re staying? A child needs his father,” Chuuya asks you, your fingers intertwined in his, and you forgot just how much you missed this; him.

“And the mafia needs you.”

A swift rejection, but he’s not going to give up so easily.

“I have a right to know. He’s my son too.”

You inch closer to him and he feels like his heart is going to leap out of his chest. It’s been six years since he’s been this close to you, and he can’t believe he has to let you go again. With your son in tow, too. Without so much as a clue as to where you’re going to move to. No way to find out. Given that they only managed to find you in the first place because you wanted to be found.

“Maybe if you’re the boss or something.”

PRESENT.

Now here he is, sitting in the office, new king of the Port Mafia. And his two very important guests are making their way up here. Chuuya hurriedly puts the letters back away. They were how you communicated with him, updated him on you and your son. Though you never put any return address, so Chuuya couldn’t send one back even if he wanted to. Also, you didn’t include any photos, so Chuuya is curious how his son has turned out.

Your timing is impeccable, to choose to visit him just as he’s taken over the office. He suspects maybe you have your ways, what with the vast amount of officials you have wrapped around your finger.

But as the doors open, every other thought he has is thrown out the window. You enter first, and his face lights up, seeing those familiar pair of eyes, so warm, so inviting now. And behind you, your son, now slightly taller than you (and probably Chuuya but he refuses to think of that), greeting him with a polite nod and a smirk on his face.

A wave of understanding washes across his child’s face when he spots something hanging on the wall behind his father.

“Hey! You kept the drawing I did when I first came here!”

He had drawn the three of you together, with himself in the middle, his parents on either side of him, holding his hands and walking in a park.

Chuuya chuckles. “Of course, it was the only thing your mom let me remember you by.” He shifts his gaze over to you as your son gets the hint, moving to admire another far corner of the room.

You let yourself fall into his arms, and Chuuya hugs you tight. Because it’s taken eighteen years. A long, torturous eighteen years apart, which honestly was a run in circles, though it was a necessary one. But now finally, he can be together with you, and his son. Chuuya looks down at you with the warmest gaze you’ve ever seen, wet eyes threatening to spill with tears any moment now.

“Welcome home, my love.”

tags. @yokelish @gogolparadise @fyowyn-writes @animatedarchives

Yours

Request by: Anonymous - Can I do an anonymous request for a Loki x reader where he returns to the reader after a few years and he is surprised to see that she has a child, but it turns out it is his child he didn’t know about.

Thanks for the request! I hope you enjoy it!

Warnings: Mild angst, I guess?

ฯฯฯ

"How was school today, (D/N)?" You asked, carefully looking at your five year old daughter in the rear-view mirror. She looked at you with her bright green eyes and a wide grin. Her front tooth was missing, the beginnings of her new tooth starting to poke out from her gums.

"Good! We read a Curious George book and talked about colors!" Your daughter said enthusiastically.

You smiled, crinkling your tired eyes. "Do you have a favorite color?"

"I like yellow."

"Yellow's a very pretty color."

You turned into your neighborhood, scanning the street signs to find yours. It was a brief moment of quiet before (D/N) spoke again.

"Miss Amy also said Parents Day is soon. She sent this home for you to look at." She said.

You only slightly paled at your daughter's words as you pulled into the driveway and took the envelope from (D/N)'s hands. Parents Day was a day in mid September where the parents could come into the class and their child could show them what they were learning. They could ask questions to the teacher about how the children were being taught.

"It's on Friday? At noon?" You half asked to yourself. Gently, you turned around in your seat to face your daughter with a sad smile. "(D/N), I have to work that day. I don't think I can go."

(D/N) frowned and slightly slumped in her seat.

"You can never go to anything." She sighed. It crushed you to see her so sad.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I've already missed too many days for when you or I get sick. I can take you out for frozen yogurt that afternoon, though. Would that be okay?" You asked, biting your lip.

"I guess. I wish Daddy were here." (D/N) sighed.

"Me too, kiddo." You said, getting out of the car and shutting the door. She followed suit, dragging her Minnie Mouse backpack on the pavement behind her. "Me too."

You had seen the other parents' glances whenever you dropped (D/N) off at kindergarten in the morning. It was mostly mothers who dropped off their kids, so you coming in alone wasn't totally abnormal. Though it was like High School all over again: cliques of girls whispering about you in groups of three or four while glancing at you with pursed lips. Being a single parent was the abnormal thing. Your town was small, so gossip spread like wildfire.

"...Got knocked up by some foreign guy."

"...Left her to pursue an art career."

"...He left town as soon as she told him he was pregnant."

You honestly didn't know how some of those rumors spread. People's imaginations were limitless, you figured. Well, the detail about the father being "some foreign guy" wasn't too far off. But you couldn't really say the father was an actual god, they'd think you were crazy for sure. So, you let the rumors spread and eventually they had less and less effect on you. The side glances didn't exactly make you feel good, though.

You entered the small house, following (D/N) inside. She put her backpack on the hook and sat at the kitchen table.

"Do you want something to eat?" You asked. She nodded and you went to rummage around in the pantry for something. (D/N) wasn't particularly picky about her snacks. You settled on a half empty bag of pretzel sticks and poured some into a bowl. (D/N) took it and started to go up the stairs. "Remember, clean up your crumbs."

Once you heard her door close, you pulled a (favorite soda/seltzer) out of the fridge and sat at the table, resting your head in your hand with a sigh. You wanted to go to the parent night, you really did. But it wasn't worth risking your job over. Your boss already made it hard for you because she knew your situation. She was the type of person who believed in marriage before children and gave you your work with a slightly disgusted glance every day. This was your life, and the sooner you accepted that, the better.

There was a quick knock at the front door that shook you out of your thoughts. Sighting, you stood up to get it. You hoped it wasn't your nosy neighbor, always offering to babysit (D/N) because "there's only one you and I can make it easier." She always asked for a ridiculously high payment that you couldn't afford along with the offer. Luckily, you had most of the weekends off and (D/N) went to full day kindergarten on the weekdays.

"For the last time, Donna, I don't need your charity babysi-" you started as you opened the door, but abruptly cut yourself off. It wasn't your neighbor, or your mom that brought you pies sometimes, or the Amazon guy for that matter.

"Loki?" You asked, eyes wide. Sure enough, there was your estranged ex boyfriend. He nervously picked at the pilling green sweater he wore, barely meeting your eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I... Well..." Loki stuttered, biting his lip. You sighed and opened the door wider.

"Get in and pull yourself together." You said cooly. Loki nodded as he slowly entered the house, sitting on the edge of the sofa like there were needles poking out of the back cushion. You sat down next to him with your arms folded.

"I'm sure you're very angry with me." Loki started.

"What gave you that impression? My folded arms, my tone, or the fact that you've been gone for five years?" You snapped.

"(Y/N), I can explain-"

"You left me, Loki. In the middle of the night, no explanation. Just a note on the pillow saying that you love me and how much it hurt that you just had to leave right then. You didn't think that maybe explaining it to me when I was awake would be a better idea? No, because you just had me wake up the next morning with no you and a half assed note. So, yeah, I'm angry!" You yelled, not even trying to hold back.

"I know, and I'm so sorry. It's just... I was scared-" Loki tried to apologize.

"Scared? Of what? Loving a mortal? I thought that it didn't matter to you." Your tone started to form into a more hurt one than anything.

"No, it's not that." Loki said.

"Well, then what is it?"

"I was scared for you, your safety. I've done wrong in the past, my darling, and I've had people hunting for me, bad people. I didn't want you to get swept up in it. That was part of the reason why I left. But I wanted to figure out how to fix it. I always intended to come back, but not until I was sure we were safe." Loki explained. You sat in silence, considering his words.

"Well, you can't expect to be able to waltz back into my life like nothing happened." You said in a tone that probably didn't fit the words you were saying. A sympathetic tone with harsh words.

"I didn't expect to."

"Mama, I heard you yelling.... Mama, who is that?" You jumped at the sound of your daughter having come back down the stairs. You cleared your throat, trying to find the right words.

"Uh... Well..." You spluttered. "He's..."

"Have I been gone long enough for you to find the comfort of another man?" Loki didn't sound angry, rather he sounded sad.

"No, there's been no one else. (D/N), come here please." You said. Timidly, the little girl climbed into your lap and watched the strange new man intently. "(D/N), this is your daddy."

Both Loki and (D/N) looked at you in surprise.

"I found out a week after you left. She's your daughter. She has your eyes." You said shyly. "She's yours."

(D/N) took a second to process the information before giggling. She lept out of your lap and into Loki's arms. He caught her with an "uff" from the impact. He looked at the little girl carefully and did notice her eyes were the same shade of green as his. He felt a sort of familial bond with her as she hugged him tightly.

"Now that you're here, Mama can go to Parents Night!" She said enthusiastically.

"(D/N), slow down, he just got here." You laughed. "And we still have to figure things out. I still work, you know."

"Oh, right. Well, at least I have a daddy now!"

"If you'll have me back?" Loki asked you. You looked from Loki to the daughter you shared clutching him like a koala bear. You sighed and smiled. (D/N) needed her father, more than you wanted to admit. And you still loved him more than you wanted to admit.

"I can't forgive you right away, but we can build it back up." You agreed. "But in the future, just talk to me, okay?"

"Of course, my darling." Loki said, kissing your temple lightly.

ฯฯฯ

Hope you enjoyed this, Nonnie!

Requests are open! Rules and characters are on the pinned post on my profile!

CRAZY RICH ASIANS -  MOVIE REVIEW

Hi dears! It’s me again. After my tech review, I’m navigated to this 2016 movie -  Crazy Rich Asians which came from the first book of its trilogy novel. This is always at the top of my list and my favourite movie. Hope you’ll enjoy this movie review as it feels like you’re watching it when you’re really just reading. All credits goes to the owner of the photos and GIFs. Thank you so much!! Enjoy it as much as I do. 

- XOXO, Nads <3

New York City - Rachel Chu, a young, lovely, part-timer economic professor who dates for over a year now, a hunk, eye-turner, history professor, Nick Young, at New York University. Rachel already introduced Nick at their family dinners but since Nick's family are from Singapore, he hasn't presented Rachel formally to them.

Nick's closest female cousin, a double - heiress in her family, an icon in the fashion industry, had already chatted with Rachel. She's the only one that has known her cousin's girlfriend. Astrid was always busy with the Paris' fashion week, shopping spree every week, buying ancient jewelries that costs a fortune and building her own family with her only son and her husband who's also busy gaining investors in his technology business. 

(Astrid down below)

Being that it's Araminta and Colin's wedding, Colin, who happens to be Nick's bestfriend and cousin since their diaper days. Colin wants him to come home for he is his bestman in his wedding. He wants to take this chance for Rachel to meet his gigantic family and have her experience his childhood in the country where he grew up. It's also a great opportunity for her to visit her college bestfriend, Peik Lin , who always asks her to come to Singapore where she lives.

Excitedly, Rachel asks his mom for help with what dress will she be wearing when she meets his boyfriend's Ah-ma (grandmother in Chinese) during the family dinner to welcome the guests of the wedding. She forcibly agrees when her mom tries to get her wear the red dress. Her mom says that red is a color of good luck in Chinese traditions and also a little bit more of a plus point from Nick's Ah-ma though she also got a pure Chinese blood but grew up in America which promotes an entirely different culture.

Amazed by their First Class seats and soft silk pair of pj's given by the airlines, Rachel couldn't contain her happiness while sipping on their glass of champagnes on their flight to Singapore. Astonished as she seemed, she nags Nick on why he can afford the First Class tickets to a country miles away from them while Nick uses her Netflix password. He admits that they are living "comfortably" which what exactly a member of a crazy rich family says.

As soon as they land in Singapore, Araminta and Colin, the soon-to-be wedded couple was there at the airport with balloons in their hands and joy in their auras. After introducing them to Rachel, they plan to eat Newton Food Centre, a place where they serve delicious street foods especially laksa curry and satay bowls from street food vendors which gained Michelin stars.

Right before the Nick's family welcome dinner, Rachel visits Peik Lin in her house which everything is brilliantly gold-plated and was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. While catching up over their food for lunch, Peik Lin's mom interrogates her about her coming to Singapore. When she said that it's for the wedding of his boyfriend's bestfriend Colin, Peik Lin's family were shocked, they said that it is the wedding of the year and even them having that rich, they aren't invited to the wedding. It seems like Rachel didn't do a research at his boyfriend's family!

Peik Lin also warned Rachel that the Youngs are kind of snobbish that would belittle a commoner. She would not let Rachel wear that little red dress to the dinner so she gathered all of her fancy clothes and choose the best for Rachel to wear.

The Youngs - migrated in the 1800's to the small island of Singapore from their main land, China  with a vast amount of fortune. They started real-estates business until this family became most probably the landlords of Singapore.

Nick escorted Rachel and Peik Lin to his Ah-ma's house which is the largest, most beautiful house that Rachel didn't expect to see. A house that Nick and Astrid grew up in. A house that has lots of wings that you'll probably get lost once you enter the wrong one.

Finally, Nick introduces Rachel to all of his cousins. Nick's mom, Eleanor, is busy in the kitchen scrutinizing every detail of the food to serve to their guests. When the couple went down to the kitchen, Rachel thrillingly hugs Eleanor which made Eleanor uncomfortable around Rachel. That is why Rachel immediately concluded that Eleanor doesn't want her for his son.

In the middle of the garden, sits a fragrant Tan Hua flower which usually blooms fully once a year, a great opportunity for the guests to see this once in a year. While waiting for it to fully bloom, Nick introduced Rachel to his Ah-ma, surprisingly, she likes Rachel the moment they talked in Chinese. She said that Rachel should come back to the mansion when there are no more craining necks so that she can teach Rachel how to make their family's traditional dumpling recipe which was passed to generations.

The Bachelor and Bachelorette's  Party where Nick and Rachel's love was tested. The Bachelor's party is located literally in the middle of the ocean, filled the cargo-like ship with sexy girls and men that is enjoying the scenery. As they are talking about anything under the sun and with the influence of alcohol, some men questions Nick on Rachel's details. Though the men want to know more about Rachel, Nick went hot-headed as the men start to sexualize his girlfriend. He decides to leave the ship that day with Colin, the bachelor, to an island with a small wooden floating house and a raft.

On the other hand, Rachel met Nick's ex-girlfriend, Amanda, in Araminta's Bachelorette party at a private island. She did not know that Amanda wants to be friends with her so that she and her mean friends can pull off their plans and that Rachel would want to leave. Their plans succeeded, while crying Rachel went to her villa to get her things and leave, she bumped into Astrid. They two found that Rachel's bed was covered in tuna's blood with a tuna head at her headboard.

That incident led to them to the seashore talking about why Amanda is like that. Astrid also opened up to Rachel how she found out that her husband is not really busy going to business trips but rather he is busy having an affair with a woman she doesn't know. It seems like the two found comfort in each other.

Dumpling day comes and also another day to test their relationship. While making dumplings, Rachel found out that Ah-ma doesn't want Eleanor for Nick's father way back then and she doesn't have the heirloom engangement ring of the Youngs since Ah-ma didn't approve of her. Ah-ma arrived at the dining table exactly after Rachel knew the backstory of Eleanor and Nick's father. Ah-ma was pleased after seeing Rachel again. She adoringly expressed her interest in Rachel's face features which made Eleanor jealous of Rachel.

On her way to the toilet, Rachel's lost in the mansion and was shocked that Eleanor found her. Eleanor talked to Rachel and frankly told her that she will never be enough for her son.

(Rachel and Eleanor Scene)

The wedding of the year came, famous business elites and the royalties attended. Rachel wore a pretty blue elegant dress paid respects to Eleanor and Nick's aunties though Eleanor doesn't want her to sit with her.

Princess Inta, who demanded a whole row of the front seats to herself so she would not be bothered by anyone, approached by Rachel who doesn't have seats, she talked about the princess' book about economics and that they have the same stand. They immediately been comfortable with each other. Escorted by Astrid, Ah-ma came and everyone was shocked at her presence. They said that Ah-ma never came to such events.

Not long after Ah-ma arrived, the grand wedding started which left everyone in awe on how beautiful the oriental, Gothic-themed was.

After the ceremony, the program continued at the Gardens by the Bay, a reception for the wedding. It was filled with laughters, everyone is having a great time dancing and enjoying the beat. In contrast with this, stands Rachel and Nick called by Ah-ma and Eleanor for the truth behind Rachel's identity. They said that they cannot let Rachel join their family for the fact that she lied to them about his father after they hired a peivate investigator. Little did they know that Rachel only found out then that her mom's husband, which all throughout her life she believed wa sher father, isnt really her biological father. Rachel walked out for she is deeply hurt by their actions. Ah-ma later then gave Nick an ultimatum. Once he leave, he can't come back. Who will he choose? His family or Rachel?

After a few days of crying, Rachel's mom found her in Peik-Lin's house and not eating. Her mom admitted that she left her husband because she was impregnated by Rachel's father and that her husband was not kind after all. She flew all the way to America to start a new life with her baby, Rachel.

Before leaving Singapore, Rachel wanted to talk to two people; Nick and Eleanor. She ended her relationship with Nick and declined Nick's offer to marry her and start a new life in New York as he will cut his ties with his family.

Rachel meets Eleanor at a Mahjong Parlour where they had a mahjong game along with two deaf players. She told Eleanor everything that had happened before she met with her and that she knew that Nick loves his family so much that even though Nick decided to leave his family for her, she couldn't stand to see Nick away from them. He is the only son that would inherit their wealth. She decides to let him go.

Also broken-hearted with her cousin Nick, Astrid decides to leave his husband for she cannot be blinded by her husband's affair. She decides to take their son with her.

Rachel and her mom are boarding the aircraft when Nick chased her to fly to New York with her.   She don't want to listen to Nick at first but when she realized what Nick's doing, she decided to  clisten to him and is completely speechless when Nick get down on one knee. Her face brightened when she saw the small box with the emerald stone ring embedded in diamonds that Eleanor wore on their engagement with Nick's father is vividly shining right infront of her eyes. She said Yes!

Them three left the aircraft to celebrate their engagement with their friends at the top of Singapore's most popular hotel - Marina Bay Sands. Ended as Eleanor genuinely smiles at Rachel as Rachel shows her engagement ring.

This movie taught me that you can’t choose who you’ll love. If you're looking for someone with the same wealth level as yours or even the same race as yours, you may never find your true love. Given the circumstances of Rachel and Nick, they don’t want their wealth status to be a hindrance in their relationship.

Though family always comes first, if it's a matter of going through what your family wants for you or going through what you want for your future family, always choose the latter. I only get one chance to live and I don’t want any regrets, so for as long as possible, if my decisions don't violate a person's right, i’ll do everything and whatever it takes.

This part below, where Rachel met Eleanor at the Mahjong Place where they talked about why Eleanor didn’t want Rachel for Nick the second she arrived in Singapore. Eleanor said that there is a Hokkien phrase “Ka ki lang” which means “Our own kind of people.” This is why the Chinese people tend to want to marry the same ethnicity as them because they want to preserve their traditions and would want to keep it going for as long as possible, which Rachel is not. Not because she is not wealthy, but because she is a foreigner, an American, although the Chinese blood runs through her, she grew up in America and Eleanor doesn’t want that.

One of the Chinese’s cultures is that they are taught to build things that last and not to feed in what they want, but in what they need. I understand Eleanor in this part because as an Asian, we are taught by these things - to prioritize our needs and build connections that will benefit us in the future. But for me, we should give respect to other cultures and not close our circle entirely. We all have different perspectives regardless of our race, that is why we should not judge one’s personality based on their race.

Rachel said that Nick proposed to him the day before and she turned him down, though Nick stated that he will stay away from his family for good. She said that if Nick would choose Rachel, he would lose his family, and if Nick would choose his family, he might spend the rest of his life resenting Eleanor.

Eleanor shows her Mahjong tiles which she thought she won, but Rachel looks at her, sighs, and says,

“ I’m not leaving because I’m scared, or because I think I’m not enough, because maybe for the first time in my life, I know I am. I just love Nick so much. I don’t want him to lose his mom again, so I just wanted you to know that one day, when he marries another lucky girl, who is enough for you, and you’re playing with your grandkids, while the Tan Hua’s are blooming, and the birds are chirping, that is was because of me. A poor, low-class immigrant nobody.”

Then she showed her Mahjong tiles and she won to Eleanor. She left the table and fetched her mother with a smile at the other table to leave the place. What a queen! Powerful. That is the best scene ever. The feels, the script, the emotions, they are just so perfect.

Astrid, my favorite character, not just she is stunningly beautiful but among all the cousins, she has the purest heart. She doesn’t want the people around her to feel that they are left out when they are with her. She wanted everything to be perfect when it comes to her family. Though her shopping spree every time she’s going to Paris fashion week is a bit overwhelming to commoners, she deserves all of it.

Astrid and I have similarities in our personalities. I’m also calm when there are problems that are coming my way. I can remain composed and I buy my time until I can find solutions to it. I remember the time when the man I loved cheated on me just like when Michael (Astrid’s husband) cheated on Astrid.

I can relate to her when she said that she’s wrong when she’s turning down jobs because Michael might feel lesser than her. I used to lower myself when I’m with him because I worry that he might feel that I’m the superior one between the two of us. But when he cheated, I realized that it shouldn’t be like that. It will be his fault for being insecure in me. Just like what Astrid said,

“It’s not my job to make you feel like a man. I can’t make you something you’re not.”

good thing.

➸ Pairing: Jung Jaehyun | Reader

➸ Summary: For some reason, Jaehyun thinks he could wait a while more. Good things come to those who wait after all, his mother had told him once.

➸ Warning(s): N/A

➸ Word Count: 1.8k

➸ Author's Note: This is my first time posting something here on Tumblr so I hope this one shot was to your liking! I also apologize if there were any grammatical errors or typos! This was not proofread.

• • • • • •

She's late, Jaehyun thinks to himself, checking his phone to look at the time for the umpteenth time.

Jaehyun had his doubts before he agreed to his friend's offer. He knew the blind date Johnny practically begged him to go to wasn't going to end well just like his friend had hoped. In fact, it hasn't even started yet, but he was already feeling disappointed.

It's been almost an hour since he came and had been waiting at the supposed meeting place. And the more he waited, the more he felt hopeless somehow. He wanted to leave already, but he can't seem to find the will to as of yet.

For some reason, Jaehyun thinks he could wait a while more. Good things come to those who wait after all, his mother had told him once. And it's not like it'd hurt him if he waits a bit more. He's got nothing else to do anyway.

He had been drinking his not-so warm coffee when an unfamiliar and feminine voice spoke to him. “Are you Jaehyun?” The voice was sweet and smooth, very pleasing to the ears.

Jaehyun dragged the mug off his face and whirled his head to the side. Standing before him was a girl with [h/l], messy [h/c] hair, [e/c] eyes, and [s/c] complexion.

She's pretty, the male admits to himself, nodding his head to the question.

Jaehyun placed his mug down the table and stood up, wiping his dominant hand on his jeans before holding it out for the girl to take. Thankfully, she took it and shook his hand, promptly letting go after. Her hand was soft and her hold was gentle, Jaehyun noticed.

He gestured for her to sit onto the chair across him, which she gratefully did. Jaehyun watched the girl adjust herself comfortably onto the seat.

“You must be Haewon then?” he asked, looking directly at the girl in front of him.

“Actually, I'm her friend. . .” the girl trailed off, yet Jaehyun heard just fine. She fiddled with her fingers bashfully. “I'm [Y/N] by the way. Haewon sent me here to tell you that she's not coming. I'm sorry about that—her suddenly standing you up, I mean. She got back with her boyfriend yesterday so. . .”

An awkward silence loomed over the two of them. Jaehyun, who has no idea what to feel about the sudden information, only stared at [Y/N] with an unreadable expression.

“I-I'm really sorry about her and for making you wait for nothing to happen,” [Y/N] proceeded to talk. “I assure you my friend didn't agree just to not show up on the actual date. She was actually really eager to meet you! But then her ex-boyfriend kind of wanted to get back with her and after she realized she still loves him, she decided to give him another chance. She's a bit dumb, especially when it comes to love, which is why she did it.”

Then her face erupted into a deep shade of red, something Jaehyun found endearing somehow. She apologized profusely for talking a tad long and this elicited a chuckle from the male, which only seemed to worsen her blush and embarrassment.

“It's fine, I understand,” he reassured. [Y/N] seemed to ease at his statement so she released a sigh in relief. He smiled at the action, his dimples appearing.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind that didn't only shock [Y/N], but himself as well. “Will you stay a while longer?”

She looked at him with wide eyes.

Jaehyun didn't know he had it in him, but he was definitely not this bold. He was usually reserved and observed more than he talked.

“If it's okay with you, of course,” he said afterwards, chuckling sheepishly. Suddenly, he was the one feeling bashful now. “I would like to get to know you. Is that alright?”

Though hesitant at first, [Y/N] still nodded. This made Jaehyun grin broadly.

“Thank you.”

At least it worked out fine.

• • • • • •

A lot of time had passed since then, and Jaehyun learned a lot about the girl who's friend had stood him up.

He learned that [Y/N] attended the same university as he did and that she was taking Engineering as her course. He also learned that she was in one of the elective classes he takes and was absolutely surprised to hear about it. He would've seen her somehow at least once, but he never did.

“You must blend in really well with the crowd,” he said, half amused and half shocked. “I've never seen you in that class before.”

[Y/N] laughed at him. “I'm one of the students who usually comes to the class early. And I always sit at the back so maybe that's why you never see me.”

“I'll be sure look for you next time then,” Jaehyun beamed at her. “You're really cool and nice. I'd like to sit with you some time and talk more. Actually, give me your cell number. I'd love to hangout with you after this or when we're free.”

[Y/N] looked at him in shock, almost in disbelief. “You still want to hangout with me after this?” she asked, sounding incredulous. Jaehyun found this reaction of hers somewhat puzzling.

“Why? You don't want to?” He was hurt. He thought somehow that she felt the same way. Perhaps he thought wrong.

“Ah, no! I'm sorry if you interpreted it that way!” she apologized, waving her hands vigorously. “Hanging out with you would be nice! Truly! I was just surprised, you know? I mean. . . I thought after this you won't talk to me anymore. I'm not exactly the best person to talk to since I babble a lot more than I actually listen and I'm awkward as well, which makes it worse. I'm just confused why you'd hangout with me.”

Then he heard her curse under her breath, making him titter.

“Sorry about that. I know I'm rambling a lot, but I just can't stop myself sometimes!” She flashed him an apologetic smile. “I hope it doesn't bother you. . .”

Jaehyun noticed she tends to apologize all the time and play with her fingers when she was shy, embarrassed, or nervous.

Adorable, he mused.

Jaehyun then smiles warmly. “It's okay. I actually find it endearing and cute.” She seemed to redden at the sudden compliment, something that didn't go unnoticed by the male. “Will you give me your number then?”

She jolted from her seat suddenly, apologizing once again for being absentminded. She hastily grabbed his phone from his hand, their fingers brushing each other the slightest, and typed her digits quickly.

When Jaehyun got his phone back, his eyes lingered a bit too long at the screen. “We're number neighbors,” he blurted out, looking up to stare at the girl across him.

“Sorry?” [Y/N] tilted her head.

This time, it was Jaehyun's turn to blush. He shook his head, smiling reassuringly at her. “Nothing. Nevermind what I said.”

“Alright.” She smiled back at him, too prettily in fact.

Then her phone rang from the table all of a sudden, which both caught their attentions. [Y/N] apologized and excused herself for a while as she got out of her seat and went outside the coffee shop to take the call privately.

While she was out of sight at the moment, Jaehyun took this as an opportunity to assess his thoughts and opinions about the girl. 

[Y/N] was a nice girl, though a bit bashful sometimes, but overall, she was fun to talk to. Although she can be awkward and would chatter a lot frequently, Jaehyun still finds himself charmed by her quirky traits. She was definitely odd, but that only seemed to pull him in.

Jaehyun definitely never felt like this before towards other girls he's met. Despite the fact that this was his first ever blind date, he knew she was different. Though that sounded a bit cliche, it was true anyway.

He wonders though, what if her friend, Haewon, hadn't gotten back with her boyfriend at all? Would he have enjoyed the date as much as he had enjoyed conversing with [Y/N]? Perhaps not, but he doesn't know that.

All he knows is that he is thankful that Haewon got back with her ex-boyfriend.

Jaehyun heard the familiar jingle on the entrance of the cafe, which made him perk up in his seat and sit up straighter as he caught the familiar mop of [h/c] drawing near.

[Y/N] didn't sit back at the chair and stood up besides it instead, an apologetic look plastered on her face.

“I'm so sorry, Jaehyun, but I have to go,” she said, a bashful smile gracing her lips. Jaehyun tried not to frown. “I forgot that my classmates and I were supposed to talk about a project and now they're wondering where I am. I'm really sorry that I have to cut our date—”

Jaehyun's ears turned red at the term. 

“—short. I'll make it up to you sometime, okay? Just text or call me. My phone's always available.” She grabbed her things on the chair. “I'll go now. I'll see you soon again, alright? Bye!”

She waved, and then sprinted off, leaving Jaehyun alone.

Though he's a bit upset that it ended so soon, he can't help but still feel ecstatic. Date, he says to himself, she thought of it as a date.

A smile crept up to his face and he tried his best to cover it with his hand.

She said see you soon, he continued. There's definitely a second date.

• • • • • •

When Jaehyun got back at the dorms, he was immediately greeted by his roommate and best friend, Johnny.

“How was the date?” he asked with a teasing smirk and with one of his eyebrows raised. Jaehyun can't help but let a smile grace his lips as he recalled about what happened earlier. “Seeing you smile like that, it definitely turned out well then?”

Jaehyun hummed. “Not really,” he vaguely responded.

“What do you mean?”

“Haewon didn't come.”

“She stood you up?!” Johnny's mouth hung open in disbelief. “But you're smiling?! You came and waited for nothing!”

Jaehyun shook his head. “Her friend came, called herself [Y/N], and apologized in behalf of her friend. Told me Haewon got back with her ex-boyfriend yesterday, which is why she didn't bother showing up today, and that she sent [Y/N] to tell me about it.”

Johnny raised his eyebrows at his friends. “And?” he urged, suddenly curious.

“I asked [Y/N] if she can stay a bit longer and she did,” Jaehyun resumed. “We talked, we laughed, and I got her number. But she had to leave early because her classmates were calling for her. But guess what, Johnny?”

“What?”

Jaehyun plopped down on a chair with the biggest and proudest grin as he looked up at his friend. “This guy's getting a second date.”

Good things really do come to those who wait.

Can we have the s/o in the old eldritch one get pregnant n stuff

Oh well, it seems like the antichrist will be born-

Well not literally, but kinda.

I think… That maybe I should warn y'all about some possible disasters.

Tags?/Tw??: size difference boo; curious eldritch boy; illusions; apocalyptic world; also mentions of other entities and some of the events that happened in A Bad Dream. Also I'm a dumbass who should have took some medicine instead of writing while having a headache.

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Golden Years [Yandere!Eldritch x Pregnant!Reader - Short Fanfiction and possibly a follow-up story]:

It's been five years since the Earth's sky has been broken apart. The red clouds above form a connection to the other world that creatures like him came from. A portal, in a way.

To humanity, this was the end. But to them, it was the beginning of something.

Something interesting.

Not every single entity on Ibu's home was on Earth of course, it's a really small place for so many cosmic entities. And it is not like all of them have an interest in this small rock, only a few, like Ibu himself.

Always the curious one. Most would consider him naive, and possibly childish, if the "concept" of children was commonly known throughout his "brothers and sisters".

He was only a couple of stars old. 687 stars have been born and have died throughout his entire existence, to be exact. Which was pretty young compared to his "peers".

Not that they really cared about keeping up with their age, it was mostly used to devalue each other's nonsense. Someone around his age would be considered foolish regardless of what his morals and ethics were.

But he doesn't really care, he prefers to take his time and learn than pretend he knows everything in the universe. He enjoys being curious the way he is, is more fun to learn about things if you truthfully explore them.

And learning about humans while interpreting to be one is probably the best form of learning he could have ever found!

It's extremely exciting to him, in five years he has learned so much. He learned that humans fall easily into his illusions, that humans are small and easy to carry, that even if a human is in his illusion they won't notice the odd feelings of being high up or being held by bigger hands, oh! Humans are actually pretty warm, and that their living habitats are tiny but he can kinda squeeze himself in.

Which isn't the most comfortable thing, but he knows how to deal with it.

He learned that humans call each other by names depending on their relationship status and how much a human cares for them. He learned that humans are fragile, and that they like small things, and that they-

Oh, it's just so many things you know? He could keep going on, but it isn't exactly human like to point out obvious things like that.

You told him that. You've been really helpful with helping him understand your kind better.

His companions don't really agree with his actions. While he is playing "dollhouse" (he saw small humans doing this ritual of playing with inanimate objects and pretending to have an "a family", he found that so fascinating), his peers are doing more "fun things".

Like slaving humans, or executing humans, or trapping them in pocket dimensions, or adding them to their ever growing collection (like a friend of his who is obsessed with collecting life forms), or destroying everything and everyone that they meet in the way, like his sister!

She showed him a big wall the other day, it was bigger than any human, or even house. They both didn't understand the point of such obstacle. She said it probably took centuries to put it up. She simply smashed it down like it was nothing.

He doesn't know why she does these types of things, but she still finds enjoyment in doing them, so he would just let her have her fun.

She tried to convince him to give up on understanding you and just let loose, as humans would say.

But, he doesn't find it fun at all. He tried it once on a really annoying human, he thinks it was your mate.

He can't remember for sure. He tries to forget unpleasant things. Yet, he still remembers that day.

Could you stop it please? It's getting annoying.

There he was, the annoying human, and some others trying to… Hurt him? He doesn't understand what they were trying to do, whatever it was it wasn't as effective as they thought it was. They were clearly aiming at his eyes, but it only made them itchy.

You never stop, do you?

At that time he didn't remember that they couldn't understand him. He was getting angry, and it seemed normal to speak in his own language rather than communicating on yours.

"- Hey… What is happening love?" You asked him, poor thing, he wondered what you could possibly be seeing. Considering his illusions were really effective on you, he assumes that you were only seeing your husband and a bunch of pricks trying to hurt him.

In your eyes, he looks like your true husband, and your real husband feels like a stranger. It's all that he can do for now, interpret your old mate.

Also, love, you have some bad taste at picking partners, this little human seems a little too possessive, don't you agree?

Of course there are a couple of rebellious humans, trying to survive and fight for their freedom and what not. He really wishes he could care about them, but honestly, how can they expect to win a "war" that is not even happening?

It's not a fair fight anyway, so why bother so much? And also, they don't even know that the most important part of "killing" one of his kind is completely destroying their mask. Which is close to almost impossible.

Honestly, why even bother…

"- L-love? Are you okay?"

"- Yes, don't worry about it." He learned how to perfectly imitate the other human's voice. It's not exactly a difficult thing to do, especially for the likes of him, but hey, he thinks he deserves some praises for doing it.

Anyway, they thought that they could have a chance against him. And although he wasn't looking for a fight, he almost did kill them out of rage.

While holding you in one hand, he made his way towards the crowd shooting at him. One little slap to the ground was enough to shake it and unbalance them. It's kinda silly from his perspective.

How bothersome, if I take these would you stop?

He took and broke (although accidentally) the guns in his fingers. He was actually planning on studying them but, oh well, he can always ask you later about how they function.

Even when he already lost, your ex partner still tries to pick up a fight. It's taking every fiber of his being to not put this insufferable little creature into an everlasting nightmare in his pocket dimension. He picked the annoying one up, while the others were trying to pick some extra equipment they brought.

It wasn't so difficult to trade places with you, but if you keep acting foolish, I don't think you'll exist for too long.

Yelling, after cursing, after more yelling, some crying in the mix. Ibu can't be bothered right now, you two were just going back home.

Can't a being tall as a building go home with his tiny mate in peace? The world has already ended, so why bother stoping him from living his own immortal life?

"- She doesn't love you, and ya know that."

…

Oh.

…. Oh…

"- Excuse me?"

"- Oh! So you can speak now-" He yelled after hearing Ibu speak in his own language. That prick heard every bit of suffering that he put him through, yet-

"- Repeat." Ibu already knew what he said, he just needed to hear it, again...

"- What?" … Just to be sure…

"- Repeat." … That what he heard was correct...

"- … What if I don't?" … And that he had a free pass...

"- … What would your intestines look like if they were pulled from inside out?" … To lose his patience with this one.

It seemed like he could "let loose" this time around.

If only he had payed better attention at you instead of that insolent pest.

He had closed his hands a little too harshly at that moment. Even if it was unconsciously, the damage was already done.

He closed his hand, and accidentally (he swears it was an accident!) Broke one of your legs.

He dropped the other human at your sudden scream. The low sound of something breaking wasn't really reassuring.

I mean, two legs were broken that day, yours and your ex lover's. But he didn't care about the other one, so let's ignore his screams of agony-

To his sister, breaking one of your bones wasn't exactly the worst possible thing that could happen. Actually, if it was her the one holding you, she would probably do that intentionally.

As to her, it was fun to hurt humans like you. But to Ibu it wasn't, it was terrible! He really didn't mean to.

He was plagued by the sudden feeling of guilty overflowing him. It was probably the first time he ever felt like this. It was probably the first time he ever apologized for something.

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry please shhhh I'm really sorry I'm sorry I'll fix it I'll fix it I'm sorry I'm sorry

Woah, that was… A terrible experience even remembering gives him headaches. And he shouldn't even have headaches! Stress can lead to his mask breaking.

That would be really unfortunate.

You didn't seem to remember what happened the day after, so he had to help you get better slowly. I guess another thing he learned in these five years was how to fix human bones.

But that was in the past, right? It didn't matter now, right?

Yeah… It didn't… Mattered.

Or it shouldn't. He never really relaxed after that incident.

Not only did he feel incapable of taking care of you, as he started thinking a simple blow of wind could make you fall. But he also felt on edge whenever he remembered those words.

" She doesn't love you."

That shouldn't have been so impactful as it was. Maybe he truly was too soft. He knows better than to listen to the delusions of that man.

He knows that you love him. He knows that! He really… He really hopes he knows that.

He really hopes it is true.

You started acting a little weird recently, he doesn't know how you're feeling and what you are thinking, so he started feeling like maybe you don't love him…

You normally made calls to your friends, although the telephone hasn't been functional since four years ago, since if you truly were interacting with other people there could be a chance of you breaking the illusion. You would tell them what was on your mind while you thought he wasn't listening.

You haven't written in your diary, you haven't made any recent notes on your phone or computer, and you haven't told him what you were hiding.

He wouldn't know how to react if you decided to get away from him. He would probably put you inside his pocket dimension, or probably take you to his own world.

No… That place is too dangerous. What can he do??

He was sitting on the sofa contemplating this last few weeks you've been acting differently. And that phrase keeps popping up in his mind, and is starting to make him sick.

And the thought of you being sad or mad at him from when he broke your leg is starting to eat him from inside.

What can he do-

"- Love? Are you okay?"

"- Oh, don't worry about it… I'm just thinking about some stuff."

"- Is it related to work?"

Oh yeah, "work", he kinda hides outside the house whenever you think he is at work. Even if he wanted to experience a job for the first time and know how humans function under social stress twenty two hours a day through five days, each every single week, there weren't any jobs available.

As more than a half of the population was gone or dead.

"- Yeah… It is." He learned how to deal with this type of question. He saw a lot of tv shows with you, and they all mentioned how jobs are essentially torture chambers that suck the energy out of humans in exchange of money.

Those shows weren't lying or exaggerating, right?

"- Well, I… I think you should relax, and maybe take a break, I never saw you taking a vacation, maybe this is a good time, love."

"- Yeah…. I would love to spend more time inside." Although he literally just watches you doing mundane things all day everyday, because to him all of those things are incredible and breathtaking.

"- I… I have something to tell you…" You seemed a little concerned, was something wrong?

"- What is it?"

"- H-here." You were worried that his reaction might be a little negative, or not as excited as you were. He works every single day, you feel like this type of surprise you probably make him worry more.

But then again, there wasn't really a way to keep this a secret. You're still wondering how hasn't he noticed your belly or your morning sickness, but you also didn't think it was because of pregnancy, so, I guess you're both equally naive?

He is looking at the pregnancy test, not knowing it's a pregnancy test or what pregnancy even is. So he doesn't really understand what it is until you say it out loud.

"- I'm going to have a baby, love."

He is still visibly confused.

"- A… Tiny human?"

"- Pfft, yes! Of course it's a tiny human. Oh gosh, how can you be silly in a time like this."

Yeah, he is a riot, isn't he?

Stars, help him understand what is happening, please.

"- That's kinda what I like about you, you know? You're funny, you never take anything too seriously." You tell him, being fully honest.

His presence feels comforting in a world so serious and dull.

He isn't aware of how to feel, he is confused and extremely excited about this revelation.

Would the baby be human? A hybrid of some form? Would it have his own features? Would it have a mask? Would giving birth to them possibly break the illusion?

He should consider all of the possibilities but… He is just, so happy! This the weirdest most confusing experience he ever had, yet he is absolutely delighted by this outcome.

He loves you so much, he really does, and he knows that now. He knows that this is a proof of love, that there is absolutely nothing that can separate you from him.

You two would be spinning around the living room, full cliche style.

Although, again, he doesn't really fit in the living room all that well. So he can't really do that, but you get the sentiment, right?

Stars, this is perfect, absolutely perfect.

"- I love you [Y/N]!"

"- I love you too, Cameron!"

It's been five years, and yet you kept saying the same name over and over again.

At first he didn't mind, it was a nice sounding name. But as time went on, being called by your ex's name is starting to become troublesome.

"- Maybe I can fix that later." Maybe he can drop the charade and give you one of his many names.

Having you call him "Ibu" would be so special to him.

"- Hun? What do you mean?"

Oh nothing, really.

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A Mondo Owada/Kazuichi Soda Fic

Monday: Flowers, Festival, Fireworks

Summary: Mondo has a special plan for the school festival, and only the best mechanic in town can help him.

Kazuichi Soda’s heart sank when he heard some rumbling down the street. He only worked the shop for a few hours after school, but it was always this last hour that had all the worst customers. When he finally saw a Kawasaki motorcycle pull into the shop’s parking lot, he knew he’d landed a last-minute headache. It was mostly the heinous pompadour on the driver. 

Man, ever since I dyed my hair pink I’ve gotten nothing but punks hanging around me at school. Now I gotta deal with em here, too?

Kazuichi grumbled in his head. He’d seen biker gang-types at school before, but he’d done his best to keep his distance. 

People like that...can’t be trusted.

Not wanting to interact any more than necessary, Kazuichi went back to his tinkering and waited for his latest headache to walk into the office next door and order properly. His dad could handle all of the talking. 

Mondo Owada pulled up and parked just outside of the shop. Seeing someone working in the shade of the garage, Mondo took two steps away from his bike before squinting to see inside. He could tell someone was there, but they kept working, instead of greeting him. Instead of looking around for an attendant or sign, Mondo shouted across the parking lot. “HEY ASSHOLE, DOES KAZUICHI SODA WORK HERE?”

Kazuichi jumped at the sudden mention of his name. He started to duck under his work bench, but his hand caught a wrench sitting on top. His head tucked under the top of the bench just in time for the wrench to tip off the edge and onto his head with a light, but dense *thwack.*

"Ow!" whined Kazuichi, standing back up and rubbing his head involuntarily. "Who… who wants to know?"

Mondo had wandered a bit closer by now, and could finally make out the mechanic's face under the shade. "Mondo Owada, and what do you mean who wants to…Oh hey, there you are, you son of a bitch! Pink hair, just like they said," Mondo chuckled. "I've been looking all over for you, you little shit."

Kazuichi picked up his assailant wrench and started fidgeting with some metal pieces strewn about his workspace. He was trying not to make eye contact until he could figure out if he was relieved the larger boy was happy to see him or threatened by his abrasive way of talking. "Look man, I don't know who sent you my way, but my dad handles the orders in the office next door. If you got something you need, take it up with him."

"No man, my business is with you. Special order. My buddies told me no grease monkey in town would take this job, expect you. Sounds to me like you've got what I need. So hear me out, man."

Here we go, another punk buttering me up so he can ask whatever he wants of me. I'll probably say yes too, damn it.

Kazuichi tried to stay focused on the *very important* scraps in front of him. He'd have an easier time keeping his nerve if he didn't look the biker in his eyes. They were...a little distracting. And intense, definitely mostly just intense. "Come on man, not like I don’t have my hands full already, you know?” But the mechanic knew it didn't matter. It’s not like he was going to risk a black eye over one job, and with a sigh, Kazuichi caved. “Alright fine, what do you want? Illegal rewiring or something?"

"No, what? I want rockets on my bike, man."

Kazuichi felt those words fly through his skull and come right out the other side. “Wait, what did you just say,” the boy stammered, barely able to contain his optimism.

“Jesus Christ, I said ‘rockets,’ man. Like fireworks? I’m trying to plan a stunt for fuck’s sake. And I heard you were the guy to go to.”

The young mechanic started seeing stars, and briefly questioned how hard he’d hit his head. “A, a motorcycle stunt?! With fireworks?! That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of!”

The neat but snaggle-toothed grin from the mechanic gave Mondo a pause, before he shot back with a smile of his own. “Well I’ll be damned, so you do have what I need. With a crazy bastard like you with me, I might just pull this off!”

“Yeah, yeah! I can totally think of some ways to rig up some extra gadgets on that ride. This is gonna be so...what, exactly?” The mental image of the muscular biker riding through the sky with streamers and colored smoke trails had become so vivid in the boy’s mind, he’d almost forgotten how little he knew about this plan he was agreeing to. “Sorry, guess I got a little carried away. What’s this all for?”

“You don’t know, man? We go to the same school right?” Mondo shook his head, then sat in an empty stool across from Kazuichi’s workbench. If he was going to have to explain all this, he was going to be comfy. “It’s for the school’s fireworks event in a few weeks. This dipshit in my class got put in charge of the show this year, but he’s got a giant stick up his ass. Said something about how we couldn’t set off anything that was against school regulations. So I say ‘Fuck that.’ If he’s not going to put on a decent show, I’ll do it my-fucking-self. So, are you going to help me, or am I just wasting my fucking time?”

“Are you kidding me? That sounds awesome! No one’s ever asked me to put rockets on something before. Last time I did that, I got smacked for messing with the school’s field striper.”

“That was you? Oh man, that shit was fucking hilarious! All those assholes in the field, running after it and shit? You’re a fucking genius, you goddamn weasel!”

Kazuichi broke eye contact again. This guy had some nerve bringing up one of his mess-ups like that and being so...nice about it. “Well it wasn’t supposed to do that. Not exactly like that anyway. I wasn’t finished yet, okay!”

“Well, I’ll come by a lot to see how it’s going, so there won’t be any doubt from me on how you’re doing,” Mondo said, getting off of the workshop stool he’d helped himself to.

“What, are you nervous I’m going to mess up your bike or something? I know what I’m doing, man! I’m not just some dipshit, you know!”

“No duh, dipshit,” Mondo retorted as he put his hands on his hips, “you wouldn’t be going near my bike if I didn’t think you knew what you were doing. Why do you think I’m all the way out here, talking to your grease-monkey ass? I’m just pumped up, that's all. Shit’s gonna be awesome, you know?”

Does this guy...believe in me? I haven’t even done anything yet, and he’s already excited for my work?

Kazuichi couldn’t help but second-guess his suspicious first impression of the loud, vulgar boy. He was very used to being asked to make and do all kinds of things. But any time he can remember doing something for his father or ex-best friend, any praise for him came much later, much milder, or not at all. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re right! This is gonna be totally awesome! Leave it to me, Mondo!”

Kazuichi stepped out from behind his workbench and stepped closer to Mondo, offering his hand to the other boy. Mondo reciprocated with a smile, and the two boys shook hands enthusiastically. When they stopped shaking, Mondo said, “I can’t wait to see the look on that asshole’s face when we kick the shit out of his lame-ass fireworks show. You’re gonna come with me and watch, right?”

“Of course! No way I’d miss a stunt like that! I gotta make sure it goes off without a hitch.”

“Alright, it’s a promise then!"

With that Kazuichi slunk behind his table again, ready to resume work. To his surprise, Mondo made himself at home on the same stool, rather than making his way out.

After a brief lull in the conversation, Mondo spoke up. "So...uh… what kind of rockets were you thinking? Cuz I got some guys under me that could get us some pretty crazy shit."

"Yeah, you got it!"

"Oh, uh… I'm not quite sure. Honestly I've got some projects to get to before I can work on your bike. You might wanna bring it by tomorrow. I’ll come up with something by then." Kazuichi was a little nervous to be put on the spot, but he wasn't lying. While much of what he'd been nervously tinkering with was junk, he had a pretty sizable to-do list on his clipboard, and only an hour before he'd be reporting in with his dad.

Mondo scratched at the back of his head and said, with less fire than before, “Yeah alright, I’ll get out of your hair then. I’ll see you tomorrow. This Summer Festival is gonna be fucking awesome though!”

“S-Summer Festival?! Wait, your stunt is for the Summer Festival?” Kazuichi began nervously clawing at his beanie. This new realization might have hit his head harder than the wrench did moments ago. 

“Yeah, no shit man. What other school event would have fucking fireworks at it? You seriously just now put that shit together?”

“I usually skip school events, so I wasn’t really paying attention to the schedule. But I had plans for this one. I was going to ask Miss Sonia to go with me...” He hadn’t thought about her in a little while, but with how busy he was about to be, the thought of asking the Ultimate Princess out seemed more daunting than normal.

Mondo had been chuckling at the mechanic losing his cool over a silly mistake, but he wasn’t laughing at this. “Fuck that, man. You should’ve thought of that before you made a promise to me. Tell your girlfriend you’ll catch up with her later or something, I don’t fucking care.” 

Kazuichi felt all of the anxiety pooling in his stomach rise up at this comment. He snapped back at his new friend, “Miss Sonia’s not my girlfriend, okay?! That festival was gonna be our first date, you know? If she...had time...and wanted to go...with me.”

Kazuichi thought he heard Mondo soften his tone just a little as he scolded back, “Look man, if it means that much to you, fine. Ask this girl out if you think you’ve got a chance... I won’t make you go with me if you don’t want to. But don’t fucking promise that quickly like it’s not a big deal, got it?”

The biker’s words hit surprisingly hard when he lowered his voice. Kazuichi muttered remorsefully, his guilt growing. “Look man, it’s not that I don’t care about giving my word or some shit like that. I just...this could be my big chance! A big festival with an awesome fireworks show *I* helped make? This might finally be my big break! She might actually say ‘yes’ this time!” The mechanic did his best to sound optimistic, but... 

God, it sounds so fuckin’ pathetic when I say it out loud.

But what sympathy Mondo had burned away quickly. He leaned forward in his stool and fired off, incredulously, “what the fuck do you mean, ‘this time?’ You mean you already struck out? How many times have you asked this chick out?”

“I don’t know! You think I’d keep track of something like that? Geez, are you trying to make me depressed?”

“Like hell you don’t know! I’ve struck out the past eight fucking times I asked someone out! But you better believe they were eight different people!” 

...people? What’s this guy implying? And what’s his problem, anyway?

“Look Mondo, I just...only have eyes for Miss Sonia. I haven’t fallen for any other girls...er...people, since I first saw her. And besides, she could change her mind, right? You can’t say she won’t!”

“It doesn’t matter if she changes her mind, you dipshit. If she said ‘no,’ there’s your answer. Fucking done. If she has second-thoughts later, that’s her fucking business. Leave her alone man. Go find someone else.”

That’s it? Just give the fuck up?

The mechanic was indignant. “Hey man, she’s not just some school girl, she’s a fucking princess! I’d never find someone like her if I gave up now!”

“I don’t care if she’s a princess or the goddamn Prime Minister! She’s a girl who’s not. Fucking. Into you. Jesus man, have a little self-respect! You’re the most capable mechanic in this city and you’re a fucking high school student! You’ve got the second-in-command of the largest biker gang in history asking around town for your mom-and-pop bike shop. You’re seriously gonna grovel on the ground like a fucking pig for people that don’t even like you? Do you wanna feel like a useless piece of shit? Because I can stomp you into the fucking ground if that’s how you wanna feel.” Mondo sounded angry now, and a little hurt. But he didn’t move toward the mechanic. He just burned his stare into the other boy’s eyes.

The gangster was more intimidating now than he had been the entire time he’d been in Kazuichi’s garage, but just this once, Kazuichi kept Mondo’s intense stare. He didn’t know what to say right away. 

I just met this guy today, and he’s gonna act like he knows me so well? He’s just another asshole here to kick me while I’m down.

But that feeling didn’t stick. It couldn’t stick. The biker had been loud. He’d been vulgar and aggressive and pushy. But he’d...believed in Kazuichi. Seen him as more than a fuck-up, more than a punk, more than...a pig. 

He said he wants to go with me. When has anyone wanted me around, when nothing else needed to be built? Who else has liked me for what I liked or what I was passionate about?

When he did manage to speak, he finally broke Mondo’s stare and looked down at his tools. “What am I...doing, man? You came into my garage, what, twenty minutes ago? And you can already say shit like that to me? How am I supposed to handle another two weeks of you cutting me to my core like that, huh?”

Mondo was ready to snap back, but the slight vulnerability and joking tone of Kazuichi’s words made him rethink speaking too quickly. But eventually he did speak, and his tone hummed with the smile he was forming. “Well, if you can learn to quit being a dipshit, I’ve got no problem easing off of you. You’ve got a lot of good to you, Kazuichi. When you’re not being a dumbass.”

“Well, you’ve got two weeks to help me work on it. Guess it’ll be payback for this special order of yours. And then...we’ll show that festival what the hell the two of us can do.”

“You got yourself a fucking deal, Soda.”

It was a deal neither boy needed to shake hands on or promise to keep.

Over Rejection

Pairing: Jung Hoseok x Barista!Reader

Genre: Fluff, College!AU, mostly flirting lol

Word Count: 1.6k

Request: No, just a Hobi biased girl wanting to dream~

Summary: After fixing his broken heart and having a change of mindset, Hoseok goes back to the coffee shop he used to frequent, and not precisely because of the coffee.

Your eyes lit up the second they focused on the man you hadn't seen in a few months entering the coffee shop. You hadn't realised how much you had missed just seeing him until then – trying your best to conceal the happiness his mere presence had just caused you.

You couldn't help but be a little taken aback by the fact that this time he didn't have his usual companion by his side. Nevertheless, you pushed that thought aside once he was right in front of you, focusing instead on how his hair had grown longer and messier since last time, his face more mature and defined... yet his kind eyes remained the same.

“Hey” Hoseok greeted you with his signature bright smile – another one of his features that remained the same.

“Hey” you repeated, returning the smile. “What are you having today?”

“Uh, just a regular iced americano” he said his usual as he took his wallet out.

You nodded, registering it on the computer. “For the go?” you fixed your eyes on his, recalling that had been his choice for the past year.

“Um… actually” he looked around, noticing there were only two other people besides him inside the place – it did seem like a slow kind of day, “would it be fine if I just had it here by the bar? It's been a while since we've talked”.

You froze there for a second, feeling the heat go up to your cheeks. “I... s-sure” you furrowed your eyebrows, not really knowing where this was coming from yet not complaining at all.

“Great” he smiled again, handing you the money and then going to sit where he said he would.

It wasn't long until you were to his side with his order, placing his coffee in front of him. As Hoseok thanked you and took a sip of it, you rested your hands on the bar to steady yourself, trying to reach a better angle to properly talk to him face to face.

“So what brings you here?” you wondered.

He shrugged. “I missed coming here” he simply stated. “And finals have me in desperate need of some caffeine”.

“Oh my God, you tell me” you huffed, now resting on your elbows so you could be closer to him. “College has killed every ounce of social life I ever had”.

“So I'm guessing no boyfriend?” he mindlessly stirred his beverage with the straw.

“Wow, just rub it in my face, won't you?” you glared at him, earning an amused smile from his end. “What happened to your girlfriend?” you questioned, suddenly remembering he was here alone, sitting with you and having a nice chat like he used to, and not with a girl by his side, having their order for the go instead. “Why didn't she come with you?”

Hoseok abruptly stopped sipping on his cold beverage, putting the cup back down on the table as he had visibly became uncomfortable.

“She, uh… cheated on me” he informed you, making you freeze in your spot, “so yeah, there's that” he raised his cup, giving it another sip.

“Shit. Hobi, I'm so sorry, I didn't–”

“It's okay” he cut you off, smiling reassuringly in an attempt of making you feel less bad about your question. “It's been like five months now, I'm over it”.

And suddenly it clicked, why he hadn't gone back to the coffee shop. He was grieving, and staying away from the place he had introduced to the person who had caused his pain and he used to frequent it with seemed pretty reasonable.

“Oh” you mumbled, “that's good then, that you moved on with your life” he nodded. “I just… I'm speechless, I can't believe it”.

“Why not?”

“Because you guys looked so in love, and… I mean, it's you. She had you, why would she go to anyone else?”

He bit his lip, lowering his head for a second not to show how flustered your statement had made him feel. “You make it sound like being with me is this great thing”.

A small laugh escaped your mouth. “Okay, um...” you cleared your throat – his eyes darting up to you once again, “I'm only saying this now because it's been like two years, but I used to have a huge crush on you”.

Hobi's eyes opened wide, being impossible for him to say anything in reply.

“But I gave it up after seeing you guys together because I honestly thought you looked so cute” you shook your head, suddenly feeling shy. “So yeah, it is kind of a shock to me that anyone would do that to you”.

“I had no idea…” he furrowed his eyebrows, “you never… showed…”

“It's not like we saw each other a lot, did we?” you decided to speak, as he was clearly struggling to do so.

Hoseok nodded quietly. It was true, the only occasions you saw each other were when he came by for some coffee. But he did sit on the same spot he was now every time, and you did talk for hours when the shop wasn't keeping you too busy.

He just wished he would've known back then.

Just as he opened his mouth to finally say something, a customer entered the shop, having you excuse yourself from his side to go take the old man's order.

You didn't take too long, but it was just enough for Hobi to get lost in his own thoughts whilst his eyes remained fixed on the table. It took him three minutes to process the bit of new information you had just given him, and another two to conclude he was not losing his shot a second time.

Which is why he unconsciously fixed his hair as soon as he saw you walking towards him – later eyeing the pie you had just placed in front of him.

“It's on the house” you smiled sweetly.

Hoseok laughed under his breath. “Please tell me this isn't pity food”.

“Oh, no” you denied immediately, “this is more of a ‘you don't deserve what happened to you and I'm sorry you had to go through all that but it's been a while so please consider noticing me now’ kind of cake” you said in a joking tone, but, in all honesty, were you really?

“Now that's my kind of cake” he said in an amused manner, taking the spoon in his hand right after having thanked you. “Although I've always noticed you”.

Yes, he was definitely taking his shot this time.

And you couldn't quite believe the words that had just abandoned his mouth.

“What?”

“I had a crush on you too back then” he confessed.

“Don't play with me, Jung Hoseok” you warned him.

“I'm not. I'm being serious, Y/N”.

“Then why didn't you… do something about it…” you frowned.

Hoseok tilted his head out of nervousness. “Have you seen yourself? I thought you were way out of my league”.

If your heart hadn't stopped by then, it sure as hell had now.

“Let's just say I was too scared to ask” he let out a breathy laugh, “and then I met my ex and…”

“You didn't think she was out of your league then?” you jokingly raised one of your eyebrows. “Since you weren't scared to ask her out and stuff”.

“We met at a party, so the scenario kind of made things easier” he shrugged.

“Oh, so it was a hookup that later turned into something serious” you nodded your head understandingly.

“It was exactly that” he agreed, having a bite of his pie.

“Damn” you rested your hands on the table, leaning slightly over it, “I need to start going to more parties if I want to get a boyfriend then”.

Hoseok put the spoon down on the table as he rushed to swallow – almost desperate to speak. “No, don't start going to parties now” he shook his head.

“Why not?” you pouted. “The love of my life might be at one”.

He chuckled, interlocking his fingers as he leaned over the table to be closer to you. “Y/N, you just told me you used to have a crush on me and I told you I did have one on you, too” he smirked, making goosebumps appear on your skin. “Besides, you don't think I came here just for coffee, do you?”

You bit your lip at both his confident words and his piercing stare on you.

“Well, I do, since this is a coffee shop, you know?” you raised one of your eyebrows, managing to steal another smile from him. “Why else would you be here?”

Hoseok sighed. “You really are making me say it, aren't you?”

You shrugged, your lips coyly curving up. “Wouldn't hurt me to hear it”.

“Okay, so” he cleared his throat, “I'm here for the gorgeous barista right in front of me” he confessed without taking his eyes away from yours.

“And for the company, too, right?” you teased, playing off the wave of emotions you had just felt. “Not everything is about looks, Hoseok”.

Hobi chuckled one more time – the way his eyes lit up making your heart jump.

“What I'm trying to say is” he took a deep breath, sitting up straight, “please don't start partying to look for someone and go out with me instead this Friday night”.

The look on your face gave right away that your answer would be positive, which is why he didn't worry when you stood up straight, crossing your arms over your chest as you suspiciously stared at him.

“Why are you doing this now?” at the clear confusion your words had brought to him, you explained: “You told me you didn't ask me out before because you thought I was out of your league. Am I not anymore?” you joked.

“Oh, no, you still are” he puckered his lips, nodding his head. “But after having reached rock bottom in this whole dating thing, rejection doesn't seem that bad anymore” he sheepishly admitted.

“Well, you wouldn't know what it feels like anyway” your words and the cheeky smile on your face got his heart skipping a beat in a second, “because I'd have to be crazy to ever reject you, Hobi”.

Janis & Grace

Janis: [Let us say that some boys on the bus were going hard with being dicks because duh, shit always goes down on the bus] Janis: 3 of those lads have sent me dick pics Janis: say the word, like Grace: only 3? 💔 Janis: What can I say? Janis: Not got the pull I used to, obvs Grace: yeah same Janis: Yeah Janis: well, there's comfort in knowing you're always one #scandal away from being old news at this school, yeah Grace: mhmm I'm like so comforted rn Janis: Not my forte Janis: I'll work on getting the remaining 2 dicks Janis: revenge porn, I could do Grace: 🤞💜🙏 Janis: I hope the rest of the insults you've heard today have been more creative than that poor showing at least Grace: Duh of course they haven't 🙄 Janis: Gutting Janis: should've paid more attention in English, lads Grace: [sends her some of the quality content] Grace: that'll be easier when I'm not there to be like TOTALLY distracting obvs Janis: 😑 Janis: How dry Janis: 💀 or 👻 Grace: I mean like catch them at 20 still trying to pass Grace: much as I wanna kms Janis: True that Janis: only here past junior cert to get more fingering experience Grace: ugh Janis: I know Janis: romance is dead Janis: is there anything I can actually do though? Grace: get that as a matching tattoo with barista boy? no 👌👌 Grace: idk cos idk what I can even do soooo Grace: my life is just over Janis: I'll float the idea Janis: might be a bit mainstream Janis: yeah but is that such a bad thing Janis: was pretty tragic, right? Grace: can you not Janis: I'm not taking the piss Janis: I'm being real Grace: & I'm not in the mood for a life revamp atm Grace: or your advice Janis: I'm not trying to be a guru either Grace: well you don't know what you're talking about so that's a relief Janis: Alright Janis: not said I do either Janis: sorry I don't, if I knew how to avoid scandals, I could sell that shit for a high price Grace: just stop Grace: I could care less that I'm #cancelled Grace: it's not even Janis: Go on then Janis: I know you aren't upset over that idiot Grace: Duh Grace: he's the WORST but I knew that already Janis: and give a shit about everyone talking shit, apparently Janis: so, what is it? Grace: it's real if I say it Janis: Is that why you're not saying anything Janis: I know it doesn't stop the talk but some people might listen Janis: what don't you want to make real? Grace: I don't want people to listen, I literally don't want anyone to know Grace: I don't even wanna know, I wish I didn't Janis: Grace Janis: what are you talking about? Grace: I'm literally the worst person, I didn't wanna have his baby & now god has like cursed me forever Janis: Babe, God is NOT a subscriber Janis: tell me Grace: if you make me 😂 I will 😭 Janis: That would make things feel more normal Janis: but I'll calm my comedy genius Janis: you haven't grown another head and I don't think our animal have been slaughtered Grace: thanks babes Grace: but I'd rather have another head than this Janis: More to contour, I get it Janis: Kinda Janis: so it must be bad Grace: Yeah Grace: like I said, my life is over Grace: it's not even started & it's done Janis: Did you want the baby Janis: I know you said not HIS but like Janis: it'd be understandable to be in two minds, even after making a decision about it Grace: not now but I didn't know that'd mean not ever Janis: What? Grace: it's not just that I wasn't pregnant this time Grace: I can't be Janis: Ever? Janis: The Doctor told you? Grace: Ever Grace: the doctor said I'm going through the fucking menopause, like is nan even?! Janis: the menopause Janis: is that even possible Janis: fuck Grace: I don't think the doctor is allowed to drop fake news on me Grace: like maybe there's another storytime coming Janis: When did you find this out? Grace: I went to the doctors right after I delivered my fake news to him Janis: Jesus, Grace Janis: How are you in School Janis: why? Grace: I told you, I don't want this to be happening Grace: I'm freaking out, the symptoms are crazy Janis: Is it just pure bad luck Janis: it can't be like..reversed Grace: there's like no way to undo it Janis: Shit Janis: I'm sorry Janis: that is huge Grace: yeah me too Grace: the pity party this fam would throw would be huge Grace: along with the guestlist of all their accidental babies Janis: and we have enough birthdays with all those accidental kids so Janis: Obviously, no need to explain why you're keeping it to yourself Grace: I can't do this Grace: be this Janis: I don't think you have a choice Janis: well, you don't Grace: is it my fault though? all the binging I used to do Grace: Ro got to have a kid Janis: Of course it ain't your fault Janis: this shit is unfair and random Grace: Yeah Janis: and it'll always be shit and unfair Janis: but you can still live your life, just different to how you've imagined Grace: I don't wanna live this life Janis: There's not an alternative Janis: but I can guarantee it's not gonna be as bad as you feel right now Grace: I was just starting to get my shit together, for god's sake Janis: I know Janis: but you still have the rest together Grace: HE'S the last boy that's ever gonna come near me, that alone makes me wanna die Janis: that's bollocks Janis: you've not got the plague Janis: socially, right now Janis: but who gives a fuck, yeah, the lads 'round here are not the be all in any way Grace: I literally live here Grace: what else am I gonna do go online and find boys who are into 👵? Janis: Boys that don't go to our school, would be a start Janis: ones that aren't likely to be fans of that prick, shouldn't be hard Janis: you're not going for 12 year olds, like Grace: I said don't make me 😂 Janis: It can't hurt Janis: except literally, maybe Grace: I've gotta get used to all the fucking aches and pains anyway ugh Janis: Any excuse for a spa day, you Grace: I'll lose your invite, don't even worry Janis: 💔😏 Janis: you should though Janis: do something that doesn't make you feel like 👵 Grace: casual infertility party Janis: not exactly what I was thinking but Janis: interesting take on the baby shower epidemic Janis: I'd come Grace: oh god don't, Rio's gonna have another one soon Janis: It'll be nice to not have to snatch it back from an OTT gay this time Janis: more chill Grace: unless I snatch it cos I go fully mental Janis: I'd recommend a less baby crazy target Grace: maybe I'll start pushing all the 🐈s around in a pram like oh hey this is my new vibe Janis: if you want your face clawed off Janis: they're pretty unsympathetic little bastards Grace: I literally didn't wanna be in this fam before what am I meant to do now?! ugh Janis: As much as it would be a laugh to ask Ri to surrogate again Janis: let's think of something a little less drastic for the time being Grace: like? Janis: like Janis: you can't disown us all, it'd take to long Janis: but you could not be around for a while Grace: 👌👌 except I have nowhere to go Grace: not trying to have a Q&A with my friends about this Janis: You're so lucky I'm the twin with brains Grace: rude Janis: what about going to see Ava for a hot sec Janis: she's not the barrage-you-with-questions type Grace: it's lowkey very unlikely her mum & dad would want me there though Janis: yeah but it's as unlikely they'll be about enough to notice you that hard Janis: everyone knows you're going through it right now, even if they don't actually know what IT really is Grace: okay yeah Grace: mum does, she'd let me go Janis: exactly, who actually gives a shit if you miss a week or so of school Janis: Ava could still go if she so desperately needs, you just need to chill Janis: away from here Grace: not me, school was the worst even before this Janis: One thing we can agree on Grace: don't like tell anyone, okay? Janis: No shit Janis: 'course I won't Grace: Even your boyfriend who you're so 💖😍😘 for & have no secrets from Janis: Even though you're being purposefully antagonizing rn Janis: I won't tell no one Grace: thanks Janis: It ain't even an ask Janis: so don't mention it Grace: 👌💜 Janis: I'll hook it up with her, no stress Grace: I'll handle mum Janis: and your packing Grace: at least I don't have to serve a look as hard when there's only 1 person there I'm avoiding as opposed to like ALL of Dublin Janis: safe to say you can give the #ootds a break too Janis: strictly loungewear, like Grace: mhmmm Janis: bit rude to avoid Ava though Janis: do I need to tell her you're getting in the guestroom and not coming out, like? Grace: oh please, I would never Janis: Who are you avoiding then? Grace: just a boy Janis: unlike you Grace: excuse you Janis: You'd have your exes all back 'round like a family reunion Janis: who's this boy, did you shit in his bed, what's the story Grace: 😱😱😱 Grace: I WOULD NOT Janis: 👌👌 you love a repeat Grace: I'm a hoe reformed 😇🙏 Janis: so that's why you're avoiding Janis: get a wimple, join a convent Grace: literally can't 💍 anyone but god now anyway so Grace: obvs that's what he wanted when he cursed me Janis: #whenbaeisposessive 😍 Janis: and don't talk shit, you don't have to promise you'll have your firstborn within the year when you get married, like Janis: not necessary Grace: whatever we're so off topic rn Janis: the topic of you shitting in some London lad's bed, 'cos you did not deny it Janis: let's get back on that Grace: OMG no! Grace: I'm 👵 not 🤢💀🤒😓💀 Grace: he's just a hookup, no drama Janis: just gonna run for cover if you 👀 him Janis: standard Janis: probably not lurking about her gaff unless you've really one-upped everyone and fucked your uncle 🤢 Grace: EW! Grace: I'm not even gonna 👀 him cos he's her bfs brother but like I didn't know that so Janis: that's funny Janis: soz Janis: 😂 when the incestuousness of it all happens without you even trying Grace: 🙄🙄 Janis: okay 🤐 Janis: but deffo avoid him Grace: duh Grace: the state of me & my life rn Janis: more like the state of that whole situation Janis: getting involved in that is not anyone's idea of relaxing Grace: obvs but that's not anything to do with him Grace: just like none of this #scandal involves you Janis: Think people know better than to imply it was a threesome, yeah Grace: Gross! & you know what I mean, babes Janis: yeah, it's beyond #obvs you don't wanna avoid this boy mhmm Grace: like that matters, he's not gonna hit me up & same Janis: well okay Janis: arranging that goes beyond sisterly duties into pimp territory so Janis: focus on what you're actually gonna do whilst you're there then Grace: 😭😭💀💀😭 then yeah? Grace: 👌💜 Janis: you could do that here Janis: at least go somewhere instagrammable to die Grace: well duh Grace: final livestream for the haters Janis: 🙄😏 Janis: wonder if anyone's killed themselves on stream yet Janis: must've Grace: obvs Grace: but I literally couldn't even if it was original content cos they'd all think it was about him & I'm sooo 💔💔💔 Janis: No one wants that as their legacy Grace: exactly Janis: even if the race to #1 most subscribed when he gets #cancelled would be just riveting Grace: he won't even though his fans are just Janis: sweaty virgins Janis: yeah, figures Grace: 😂 Grace: I'd tell him to hit them with a Q&A but like he's got no answers Grace: literally should've known I wasn't pregnant Janis: thank fuck you ain't Janis: this time anyway Janis: obvs the whole thing is a little more complex but Christ Janis: having to parent with that Janis: and knowing your child was the product of a really shit shag Janis: 💔 Grace: IKR Grace: at least he doesn't know he could blame the menopause for how shit it was Janis: I highly doubt he knows what the menopause is Janis: nevermind the concept of it coming early Janis: though that shouldn't be that unfamiliar Grace: who knew it could come this early though Grace: not his defence squad but like wtf Janis: I hadn't heard of it before, really Janis: like I knew people like Ro and Mia and co can stop getting their period and it might not come back, even if you sort yourself Janis: it's shit luck Grace: yeah Janis: Did you not get your period Janis: on whatever contraception you're on Grace: loads of people don't on the implant so I wasn't freaking out Janis: yeah Janis: s'what I thought Janis: you don't think, I mean that's not why, is it Grace: I'd hope someone would have floated that as a side effect before I got it put in but it's not like I can ask my former squad if they're also going through it Grace: they might've moved on by now anyways it only lasts 3 years Grace: hence my 👶 panic Janis: I don't think even doctors and scientists know what it does to our bodies Janis: we're still guineapigs for all this shit Janis: I know loads of people get fucked up from all the hormones they add to your body, and the ones they take away Janis: again, just bad luck it happened to be permanent, I guess Janis: fun times Grace: at least I won't have to do any of that shit any more Janis: that's true Janis: it's not like there aren't any perks Janis: or that the losses can't be filled with other potentials in the future, when you actually wanna think about all that shit Grace: unless I go bald then I will kms obvs Janis: If you go bald, you can just go for it and superglue a wig on Grace: find me one that doesn't make me look like a weird cartoon character & sure Janis: no 💗 or 💙 Janis: got it Grace: ty 💜 Janis: failing that, you could make Ri transplant you some of hers Janis: like so you won't give me a baby, okay Grace: 😂😂 coming at her with ✂ Grace: I love that you didn't volunteer yourself bitch Grace: 💇 or 👶 tbh Janis: Full horror movie moment that Janis: selfish to a fault me Janis: and final girl, so you can pry 'em off my cold dead head or outta my cold dead womb Grace: my 📽🎞😱 moment is that this is gonna change my skin type to dry so it'll take me at least a full week to find replacements for all my makeup faves Janis: yeah, but think about how hard your spots should disappear Janis: get yourself a decent moisturizer and you won't even need to bother barely Grace: !!! Grace: I didn't even think of that OMG Janis: mhmm 👵 don't get acne Grace: 🙏🙏 Janis: and you can try a new facial over there, yeah Grace: as long as Ava isn't like no thanks bitch Janis: won't give her an option tbh Grace: 📽🎞😱 Janis: 😏 you know I'm scary bitch Grace: oh please Janis: 👊 Grace: 😘