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#((people don’t give a shit about handmade anymore))
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❄️🍉💖
🍉 Are you a planner, or are you more of a “eh we’ll see how this one goes” -type of crafter?
I’m more of a “how hard can it be” type of crafter. I think of something and go “well, how hard could that be?” and then I either crush it or learn “much harder than expected, actually”. I have done that for literally EVERYTHING I currently make. Cricut? How hard can it be? Punch needle? How hard can it be? Resin? How hard can it be? Polymer clay? How hard can it be? Stained glass? [I am forcibly yanked off the stage]
💖 Which one of your creations are you the proudest of? Show off!
This fucking shadow box from hell that took like 20 working hours to make and STILL hasn’t sold but is one of THE most gorgeous pieces I’ve ever made in my entire life
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❄️ Do you have any crafting (either craft or community related) pet peeves?
(Saving the best because im a petty bitch and have Many)
- This is really vendor specific but I HATE event vendor group chats So Fucking Much. They are full of the absolute dumbest people on God’s green earth made specifically to annoy ME. Just a laundry list of “your reading comprehension is piss poor / how dare you say I piss on the poor” ass people. I have so many examples but the worst most recent one was the day before Easter we had an event in town that had been discussed for MONTHS beforehand. The event coordinator had sent us the set up info on multiple occasions, like I’ve actually never done a more organized event. So we’ve been told many times the set up time was 9am, show time was 11am, okay? The night before the event coordinator sends a message saying basically “hey yall I need you to park on x side of the building and at 10:30am we’re gonna lock the x side entrance doors” and people fucking LOST IT. Like there were IMMEDIATELY ten messages being like “so we only have thirty minutes of set up??????” I hate vendor chats. These people are so fucking stupid.
- I’m in a bunch of Facebook groups for beginners to ask questions in and the thing that just drives me insane is when people are like “hey I bought x thing at the store, how do i decorate it?” like????? However you want?? It’s for you?? What are you even talking about
- Also Facebook related but anyone who can’t read directions on shit and then asks why their resin piece fucked up make me so annoyed
- Also also people who just post a picture and then say “what’d i do wrong” with no further elaboration?? Idk man, what am I looking at??
- craft specific: pet peeve when I get poked by wire when making ribbon wreaths
- also when I misjudge where my finger is when deburring resin and nick my finger 😠
- when fabric won’t lay flat for a fucking iron on
- when the transfer tape gets a crinkle on top of a decal and makes the decal go a little wonky is my fucking 9/11
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auteurdelabre · 4 months
Text
CODE BROKEN (part 5/5) dark!Joel x f!Reader
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pairings: dark!Joelxf!Reader (she's you!)
rating: 18+ (scram youngins!)
Words: 12.0k (wtf how?)
Warnings: femdom (if you squint), hands off, cockwarming, sweet dirty talk, Joel whimpers, sweet!Joel, fluff and angst, protected p in v.
a/n: Y’all this was one of those weird stories that I wrote and posted to A03 that no one commented on. Then just as I was giving up all these people on tumblr and then A03 started being like “we want more dark!joel!” and because I can’t deny you anything, I kept going. And now we’re here and I’m actually kinda heartbroken I won’t be writing about these two anymore. Anyway, I thought this concluded things nicely and if you agree (and even if you don’t) please leave me a comment because I don’t make shit on these. It’s all for the love of writing (and getting’ comments).
Code Broken Parts 1 - 4
==========================================
Code Broken: Total Eclipse of the Heart
Trish's wedding is beautiful and sentimental and everything you knew it would be. Seeing her in the dress you spent months making, beaming as she kisses her husband Cliff makes your heart swell.  
When the group throws the multicolored confetti and it lands like snow in her rust colored hair you think it's the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen. 
They've decorated the old church basement beautifully. Handmade bunting hangs from rafters; lopsided cakes made from whatever could be spared from the kitchen line the tables. The children of Jackson are shrieking and laughing as they spin around the crowd of people, darting between legs with icing smeared over their mouths.  
You're tired after all the lead up to this event. Exhausted after the preparation, the decorating, and the assurances to Trish that it was no trouble to do it all. Trish holds her son in her arms, smiling up at her husband who presses a kiss to her forehead.  
You sit back in your chair at one of the tables watching the crowds drinking and dancing as a few of the locals play a surprisingly in-tune melody with the instruments they possess. 
"You did a wonderful job," Maria tells you as she walks by. "Wish I'd had you around for my wedding."
You smile and thank her before you lean back; eyes sleepily half-open as you watch the couple nearest to you spin together.
Mark gives you a wave from across the room, his arm around the waist of Jenny, one of the newer people to have moved here. She gazes are him adoringly and this makes you smile as you return the wave. 
You’d never say it, but it makes you feel a bit like an outsider seeing all your friends coupled up. Even though you never needed anyone else, the thought of another person sharing in your life has its appeal. 
"Hi there." 
The husky voice behind you is quiet and careful. Low enough for only you to hear. You crane your neck to look over your shoulder. Joel is standing there looking down at you seated at the table. 
Joel is dressed like most of the men here in jeans and a button up. His hair is combed back and he smells good. Spicy like cologne, a rare commodity in Jackson.  
The sight of him pulls at your lower belly. Despite the weeks that have passed since you saw him last, that desire you carry around for him hidden behind your ribs seeps through. 
He's staring at you similar to how he was the last time you saw him, dark and heated and you momentarily shrink from his intense gaze. 
You haven't seen him since that day in the stables when you rushed off and you expected to be more furious with him. Instead you just feel gentle irritation mixed with a lust you wish you could will away. 
"Hi."
He's got his hands in his pockets, standing awkwardly like he's nervous. Joel nervous? You think you must be misunderstanding because Joel Miller is never* nervous.
You've seen him break unruly horses, heard stories of him taking down clickers and Raiders. Why would he be nervous talking to you?
"You look beautiful tonight," he murmurs.
What the fuck?
You blink up at him confusedly. Did Joel Miller just call you beautiful? When you don't answer you see him swallow, eyes going to your shoulder before coming back to your gaze. He looks like he's about to say something but then another voice breaks in between you like a knife slicing through the air. 
"Hey come dance with me!"
You both look over to see Mark approaching you with an expectant look on his face, hand held out towards you. His girlfriend Jenny is dancing with some of her friends to the music the band is playing and she gives a cheery wave in your direction followed by a mouthed: "come dance!". 
You feel Joel's eyes boring into your profile as you look up to Mark. 
"Sure!"
You stand, taking his hand as he tugs you to him. He must notice Joel standing there, half encased in shadows because he starts. 
"Oh hey Joel," Mark says with a broad smile. "I didn't see ya there. Just gonna steal this one for a dance."
You can see Joel's cheek tic as Mark spins you away, Joel's dark eyes fixed on you as Mark tugs you around in his arms on the dance floor. You feel strangely giddy at the moment. Almost delighted that Joel is watching you being swept away by another man, even if it is platonic. 
You want Joel uncomfortable. You want him to be just as miserable as you've been these past few weeks. Because you can't get him out of your head, you can't stop thinking about it. Can't stop thinking about the softness of your last interaction. 
Mark is a very bad dancer, but not as bad as you. He does goofy over exaggerated facial expressions as he kicks out his legs. You laugh breathlessly, clutching onto him when he twirls you around in his arms.  
You catch Joel's eyes on you a few times, but resolutely turn your attention anywhere else. You notice Tommy comes up to talk to him, but Joel's eyes never leave Mark's hands on your body. They skim over your hips and you can see Joel's fingers tighten around his drink glass. 
Mark guides you towards Jenny and the rest of the group. Trish and Cliff are dancing up a storm and Cliff surprises you by grabbing you by the waist and raising you into a spin that lifts your feet off the ground. You give a shriek of laughter, clutching to his shoulders before he sets you down again.  Finally the song is over and you are breathless and sweaty at the temples. 
"Thanks, I needed that!"
Mark flashes you a grin before waving you off and going to pull Jenny into a tight embrace from behind. 
The music slows and you watch as everyone begins to pair up on the dance floor, hands slinging around waists, heads balanced on shoulders. It makes a tear go through your heart, a sudden feeling of awkward isolation.
You're about to leave the dance floor when you feel the heat of another body behind you. You smell him, wood shavings and leather. 
"You wanna dance?"
You turn to see Joel standing there, mouth fixed sternly as he gazes down at you. 
Shock floods your system at his words. Is he really asking you to dance with him? He wants to hold you and spin you around on the dance floor in front of all these people? He wants to publically be seen with you?
Joel doesn't dance. He barely attends events like this. You've never seen him at the summer dance party. If he is dragged to an event along with Tommy he sticks to the wall, arms crossed nursing a drink. What kind of game is this?
"Are you serious?"
He allows this insult, amusement clear in his eyes but not the rest of his features.
"I was, yeah."
You think of how shitty he's treated you over the past year. The way he's fucked you every which way and never kissed you. You think of how he's taken you and used you and you sneer up at him, feeling prickly. 
"Never."
Joel's mouth twitches into a deep frown and you can see red creeping up his neck. You've embarrassed him. 
Good.
Nearby couples are watching this exchange with curious looks. Both of you seem to notice this at the same time. 
"G'night then."
Joel gives a sharp nod, backing away from you slowly before his long muscled legs are carrying him out of the church. You watch him leave, your stomach twisting before you throw yourself into a nearby chair, head spinning. 
What just happened? 
You spend the next hour making polite conversation with the people who pass you, giving Trish a hug when she comes to thank you for the twentieth time for everything.
"I want to have you over for dinner next week," she says, eyes filled with thankful tears. 
"You're on."
You make your way back to your house, passing by the still partying group smiling and waving. 
When you round on Rancher Street you think about Joel tonight. Of his nervousness and his calling you beautiful. Of asking you to dance in front of everyone. Didn't he care about the gossip? He’s notoriously private.
You can see a light is on in his house and this gives you pause. You consider going home and forgetting everything. Ignoring him for the rest of your days. But then something unknown sends your pulse spiking, something that leads your feet to his door and commands you to knock loudly. 
You hear his footsteps pad slowly to the door, opening it and looking at you with surprise. He looks tired and you wonder if you’ve woken him. He’s wearing the same clothes though so you assume you caught him napping on the couch.  
"What're -"
You push your way inside, not waiting to be invited. Joel allows this, watching you in confusion as you go to his sofa and shrug off your jacket. 
You're looking around at his place, at the empty fireplace and the cracked mug on the coffee table, the book tented beside it. Your fingers absently strum his guitar as you pass it, a small smirk on your lips. 
Joel walks towards you slowly, footfalls heavy as he regards you from behind curious eyes.
"Take a seat," you say casually motioning to the sofa as he approaches. 
Joel doesn't move, doesn't indicate he hears you. You watch his wide hands twitch at his sides, his dark eyes set on you. You tilt your head back, face serious. 
"You owe me this much, Joel."
Joel's tongue goes to one side of his cheek as he considers this. This feels like a standoff, a battle of wills. You wait until he finally gives a nod and lowers himself to his sofa, eyes never leaving yours. 
You feel such a mixing confusion of emotions for the man looking at you. No, he's gazing at you. Eyes that were always cold and peering now seem softer around the edges. It confuses you. 
You're still standing by the empty fireplace, holding your trembling fingers against the mantle. You take a sharp breath in, quietly.
"Take yourself out of your pants."
Irritation flares there in Joel's features. You've pushed too far. 
"N-"
"Joel if you ever want to see me again you'll do this," you say sharply. "I mean it."
You hope that it doesn't come out as breathless as you feel because right now you can barely breathe. This is a big gamble. There's a very good chance he's going to kick you out as he's always done.
But then you think of him calling you beautiful and asking you to dance. You think of the looks he gives you when he thinks you're not looking and you consider that perhaps he might acquiesce.  
You school your features, sure not to look shocked when Joel's hand finally goes to his belt, undoing it with one jerked movement of his hand. Then he stills as if waiting for you to admit that this is a game that he doesn't have to continue.
But you square your jaw and cross your arms in front of you. You raise a brow and find yourself getting aroused at the power shift. For once you're telling Joel what to do and much like you were that night in his house, kneeled in front of him, he wants it just as badly as you do. 
Slowly his zipper is lowered, his jeans shifted and you watch as he brings his cock from underneath his boxers. You blink slowly.
"Already hard," you say approvingly as your eyes scan his already weeping cock. "Good."
Joel isn't smiling, but he isn't furious either. He's just sitting there, arms moving to either side of him on the back of his sofa. It's as if he's relaxing, about to watch the TV he doesn’t own. He continues looking up at you with big brown eyes, his cock rosy and resting on his lower belly. 
He isn't trying to look intimidating. He just naturally is.  
He watches you tug down the panties from under your dress, stepping out of them and shoving them into your dress pocket. His eyes move from your pocket to your face as you move to the sofa on trembling legs. He watches as you stand in front of him, knees touching. You take a deep breath, lifting one leg over his until you bracket his thighs. 
"What is this?" Joel asks tone icy even as he shifts to accommodate you. 
"I need something to come on tonight," you tell him. "And I've decided your cock will do nicely."
He says nothing. He doesn't move, doesn't deny this request. He simply continues to stare up at you. His lack of reaction unnerves you, but you plunge ahead regardless. 
"You got a condom?"
Joel reacts slowly, tongue pushing into the side of his cheek once more. He considers your question before his hips shift up as he reaches in and pulls the square foil from his back pocket. He holds it out to you.
"Expecting to get lucky tonight, Joel?" 
 "Nope." 
You raise a brow in disbelief. Joel sighs through his nose irritably.
"Was hopin', not expectin'." 
You make a scoffing noise in the back of your throat before you motion to the condom with your hand. You expect defiance from him but he slips it on without question, his movements slow and measured as you watch. 
You've always thought his hands were beautiful in a large, masculine way. Tonight is no different watching him hold his thick cock as he pinches the end of the condom before rolling it down. 
When he's finished you move him to your entrance, eyes fixed on his face. He continues to stare in silence until you slide your already dripping cunt down his cock. 
Then he reacts.
"Fuuuck," Joel groans, head tilted back and eyes slammed shut. You work your way down him, humming as his ridges bump inside, creating delicious friction before you come to rest against his hips. 
You can tell he's waiting for you to move, to make noise, to do something. But you just sit there with your legs on either side of him, wrists balanced lightly on his shoulders. For once you'll be the one watching him unravel. 
You peer into his face, your eyes sliding along the strong nose, the creases at the corner of his eyes, the fullness of his lower lip. You long to reach out and nibble it. It's sinful to have a mouth that kissable on a man so recalcitrant. 
Joel's eyes remain closed, his pulse ticking away in his neck. You see his throat bobbing and then he groans. His broad hands rest gently against your waist, urging you against him. His hips shifting upwards to fuck into you. Your hands go to his chest and you push back from him. 
"You don't move. You don't touch."
Joel's eyes snap open, head lifting to stare into your face. You're on his lap, almost at eye level now. You see the fire starting, burning in the dark coals of his eyes. The air is thick with tension, his body almost vibrating against yours. 
"And if I do?"
"I'll jump off your lap so quick it'll make your head spin," you tell him sharply. "Then I'll leave and never come back. And I'll make sure my bedroom window stays locked." 
This heavy threat hangs between you. To your credit you say it all without trembling. You sound self assured, confident. Even with Joel buried to the hilt inside you, his thick cock pulsing, you manage to stay composed. 
Joel considers your proposal but not for long when he feels you begin to rise up off of him. His hands remove themselves from around your waist, returning to the back of the threadbare sofa. 
You watch him tense before nodding, his mouth in a grim line of frustration. 
Good. He fucking deserves it.
You lower yourself slowly back fully onto his lap, his cock warm and thick as you welcome it between your thighs once more. You sigh softly as it nestles there, filling you deliciously. He always feels so good. 
"So I just sit here?" Joel murmurs; his eyes shuttering as he forces his hips to remain still.  
You find that his voice is just as potent as his cock, your head tilting forward in order to catch every syllable that passes between those pouty lips of his. 
"Uh huh," you say plainly.
Joel gives a solemn nod at this, his eyes not leaving your mouth. His arms are still hanging along the back of the sofa but his hands are tightening against the ridge of it. He braces himself, watching with hawk-like focus as your hips begin to shift again. 
You smile at the way he struggles to remain still when your thighs spread over him, flashing the glossy sheen of your inner thighs and cunt. You're already drenched with arousal. 
You groan as his length grazes your clit when you move. Your wrists once more go to his broad shoulders for purchase as you begin to bounce slowly in his lap. Your head falls forward slightly, your back arching as you slide along his slick cock. You feel his mouth at your ear, husky and deep. 
"M'I allowed to ask for anythin'?"
You pause your motions in surprise by this soft utterance by Joel. You shift your head slightly to find his face inches from yours. He doesn't let anything show in his eyes good or bad. You regard him, body stilled atop his, almost breathing into his mouth when you speak.  
"What do you want?"
"A kiss."
The sibilant sound of his request echoes in the following silence. Joel's eyes register hope now, a subtle kind of need that you haven't seen before in him. 
You find you can't answer him. 
Instead you take him deeper into you and Joel makes a soft humming noise, it seems like it slips past his lips unwillingly. He bites down on his full lower lip, stopping himself. 
You can see he's trying not to give in, not to make a sound as you slide up and down on his hips in achingly slow movements. His eyes are closed and his jaw is clenched so tightly you're shocked he doesn't break a tooth.
Your head moves forward, lips grazing his temple. 
"You like that, Joel?" You huff against his ear. "You like me using this cock of yours to come on?"
He lets out a shuddering sigh, chest heaving. 
"F-f..fuck. Yeah."
Then you feel it, his hand creeping between where you join. His fingers desperately sliding over your clit.
You stand abruptly and he slides out of you so rapidly his hips stutter midair. 
"What are you---"
"I told you. Tonight you don't move and you don't touch."
Joel's neck is a blotchy red, his forehead is dotted with perspiration and he looks absolutely wrecked. 
When you step back towards him he inhales sharply, eyes on the glistening vee of your legs. You align him to the entrance of your cunt and then slide back down the length of his shaft almost angrily. 
"Fuck.... Fuck ... " Joel groans helplessly, doing everything in his power to keep still. You hear the squelch of your cunt as you ride him.  
You grip the back of Joel's neck, fingers harshly digging there and forcing his gaze down to where your bodies join. 
"You fucking watch," you tell him, cunt squeezing him as you rock against his hips. "You watch and you don't touch."
Joel watches the slick of your cunt drooling down his cock and he almost whimpers, but it's overtaken by a groan. 
"Why are you punishin' me?" Joel asks through clenched teeth, eyes fixated on your clit dragging along the hairs at the base of his cock.
"I'm giving you everything you gave me," you tell him with poison dripping from every word, sliding up and down. "Using you to make myself come."
"I never did that," Joel says breathing heavily, eyes now fixed on yours. You can see how they roll slightly back with every twist of your hips. 
"Never, Joel?"
"Once," he relents. "Only once. Rest of itttt---"
He breaks off into a guttural grunt as your hips swivel. You feel his cock nudge that sweet spot deep within you and your hips rut against him. You make a whining sound of surprise that you think goes down his spine because he quivers. 
"The minute you come I'm fucking you over this sofa," Joel warns, mouth at your throat, lips grazing your jugular.
"I don't think so," you tell him, fingers laced behind his neck. "Once I come I'm going home and going to bed."
Joel's head is heavy against the back of the sofa, his lidded eyes on your face. You move slower over him, wanting extend this. Needing to watch the flicker of his eyes when you hit a good spot, needing to relish the moans that turns into deep pants. When you ease off a moment, your cunt slippery with want his voice drops an octave rumbling through his chest. 
"You ever think about me fucking you in your bed, pretty eyes?"
"Yeah," you admit after a pause. "Sometimes."
"I can do it now," Joel purrs up at you. "Make you feel so good."
"Nice try."
You've started to swirl back around his cock and he moans lowly. Your thighs are starting to burn with the effort of bobbing up and down on him. Joel's eyes snap to your mouth, watching it part as you pant and give soft little whines of pleasure. 
Joel's eyes blow wide, desperation and hope mingled there. His hairline is damp, his restraint obviously hanging by a thread. 
"Wanna come for you," he says, voice quiet. 
Having Joel at your mercy feels good. Having him looking at you in the same way you looked at him over the passing months feels like vindication. All too soon you've pulled back, only allowing the tip of his cock to graze your clit. 
"Beg for it," you tell him as your hips roll, making him grunt and pitch forward. His hips rise, plunging deeply into you, his body unable to stop itself. You allow it, jolting from his thrust a few moments before you pull yourself off of him, scowling.
"I'm not saying it again, Joel."
Joel groans and his body trembles, actually physically trembles. His head is sagging forward, his eyes looking up at you through his dark lashes. 
"I don't ... I can't keep goin'," he says raggedly. "I'm gonna come."
"You’d better not." 
Now you turn and face away from him, lifting your dress to bunch at your waist. You look down over your shoulder at him, seeing him looking over your exposed ass with awe. With your back to him you slowly back up and your legs bracket his again. 
Joel whispers something urgent under his breath as you lower yourself onto his cock, sitting in his lap. Your legs spread widely, hinging over each of Joel's thighs.
His cock hits you different now, tighter, nudging that pleasured core inside that makes you cry out. Your hands go to Joel's knees, bracing there as you urge his cock deeper into your slippery cunt. 
"Please," Joel says through gritted teeth. He's panting now, breath sweet like peppermint huffing against the back of your neck. You twist, eyes cast over your shoulder at him. 
"Please what?"
Joel's head lolls forward, eyes slowly cracking open. You looks absolutely ruined and to you, Joel Miller has never looked sexier. 
"Please lemme make you come," Joel all but whimpers. You can hear the desperation creeping into his voice. "Then let me fuck you properly."
There is a wild moment where you consider denying him. Where you think of pulling yourself off of him and never seeing him again. Making him ache for you the way you ache for him in those dark, quiet times.
"Please baby," Joel whispers, his fists clenched so tightly at his sides his knuckles are almost translucent. "Fucking need to make you come. Please."
Joel Miller is begging you.
 Begging.
Something snaps in you, desire licking between your legs. You tilt back until your spine is flush with his front, his cock still buried in your cunt. 
He's gazing down at you, steady and dark and if you didn't know better you'd say your pose could almost appear loving. Your head balanced back on his shoulder, your palm going to stroke his cheek. He swallows at the contact, his mouth drifting towards yours. 
"Go on then," you tell him, lips nearly grazing his. "Make me come, Joel."
The words aren't even out of your mouth before he thrusts his thighs apart. Your legs are slung over his, so you feel them parting luridly, exposing your glistening sex to the night air. 
One of Joel's hands is sliding up your dress to cup your breast, the other slipping over your thigh to thumb your slick clit between your puffy pussy lips. You quiver at the immediate pleasure of the sensation his touch brings, your cunt tightening around his cock. 
"Goddam you feel like heaven," he groans into the back of your neck making you preen. 
His hips begin a slow but deepened pace, jostling you in his lap. You groan against his neck, eyes closed languidly. 
"That's right," Joel croons when you gasp deeply. "Fucking go on, baby. Take it. S'all for you."
You begin to whimper, shaky needful sounds as your hand clutches at his neck, your forehead braced against the side of his jaw as he fucks into you from behind, holding you there in his lap.
"So good," Joel says in that husky drawl of his. "You're so fucking gorgeous like this."
All too soon you feel that heavy thump between your legs, the building crescendo. Joel groans as he feels you edge your climax, his body quaking under you. He holds you against him tighter, his rumbling moans vibrating against your spine. 
"Wanna make you feel so good," Joel rasps in the shell of your ear. "Wanna give you everything. Please come for me, baby. Lemme hear you."
At his last words you begin to shatter against him, an unholy sound breaking from your throat. 
"Oh yeah- just like that pretty eyes," Joel says grinding deeply into you, his voice husky in your ear. "Fuck, just like that, yeah. Yeah, fucking use me, baby. Take what you need."
Your hands grip his tightly against your front and you both move together in some carnal dance. Him thrusting deeply into you as you arch back into him. Your throat is exposed and your mouth parts, an inchoate cry on your lips. 
"That's my girl," he groans in your ear before pressing sloppy kisses to the side of your bared neck. "That's right baby, you keep goin' just like that."
It's cathartic and overwhelming as everything that has been tensed in your body suddenly releases. It momentarily frightens you in its severity and you cry out. 
"Joel!"
"I've got you," Joel soothes, arms holding you tightly against him almost in a bear hug. "Just ride it out. There you go, there you go. Feel all of it, c'mon baby. I've got you."
You do. You ride it out, body shaking against him as you chase your pleasure chanting his name over and over as he murmurs gentle praise against your temple. 
"So good....so fucking beautiful... All for you..."
Finally the trembling ceases and you sag in his arms breathing deeply. You feel wrung out, totally exhausted in both body and mind. Joel's soft mouth is on your shoulder blade pressing a long kiss to it. You melt into the sensation, warmed by the feel of his lips on your body. 
"Mine."
It's whispered, not meant for you to hear, but you do. It makes your spine straighten and your body lurch from him. 
On jellied legs you struggle to a stand, tripping over your own feet as Joel tucks himself back into his jeans, cock still hard when he pulls off the condom. 
"Baby, wait -"
But you don't. You're not his baby. This isn't love. This was payment, this was retribution. This wasn't an act between partners or even friends. You're practically strangers to one another. 
You push his door open and stagger home, muscles tight. You still can't believe what you just did. The way you just demanded pleasure from Joel. The power you'd felt when he begged to come. You feel heady, you feel...
Empty.
Empty because now as you collapse onto your own sofa you feel tears prick your eyes. Yeah, you fucked Joel Miller. But it doesn't change anything. You're still here in your house alone.
All alone. 
You go to the bookshelf, bringing down the album you so often flip through. You open it to the photo of you and your sister at age eight, arms linked as you squint in the sunshine, gap-toothed smiles on display. 
You love that photo because you can sometimes remember that day. Remember how the sunshine felt on your bare shoulders, how your sisters arm linked in yours was coated in coconut-scented suntan lotion. 
You flip to a photo of you both bent over a pink frosted cake, your sister's sixteenth birthday party. The last photo you took before the outbreak. You think of that night spent laying on the trampoline out back, looking up at the stars.
"I wanna marry a man that looks just like Johnny Depp," your sister said, cheeks red from the days sun. "But he'll be a model too. And he'll take me all over the world."
Your sister had always been about flash, just like your mother. You were so different from them, more serious, more thoughtful. 
"What about you?" She asked, candy-scented breath next to your face.
"I want someone who reads and likes the same music, as me," you replied, eyes trailing dreamily over the night sky. "Someone more serious…Someone like Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre."
"You're so weird," your sister had announced, giggling in your ear. 
You look at the album; your sister’s laugh still ringing in your ear. You look at the empty house around you. You think of how much you lost in the outbreak, how little you have now and then you allow yourself to cry. 
///
Later that week you go to work, mechanical and distracted. You work only half your shift before telling your co-workers that you'll finish up the rest at home. That you're feeling a bit under the weather. 
You gather the fabric into your arms, bidding farewell. Your mind is full, stuffed to the brim with thoughts of Joel Joel Joel as you wander the streets back to your house. 
You're so distracted that you don't notice the tall woman in front of you until she calls your name. When you see who it is you stop abruptly, eyes wide. 
"Hey," Tess says giving you an awkward wave as she saunters over to you, a bag of bread in her arms.
"Hey," you say equally uncomfortable. You struggle to find something to say, terrified that she's going to start a scene. Does she know about you and Joel in his house?
She can't. There's no anger in her expression or disgust. Just a polite smile that you yourself would use on any other member of Jackson City. You shift the fabric awkwardly in the crook of your arm. 
"You uh, you weren't at the wedding."
 Her light eyes drop to the ground before slowly making their way back to your face. 
My guy was on patrol," Tess shrugs, blushing prettily. "Wanted to be there for him when he got back."
You smile at this, recalling what Trish told you about Tess. Her new partner. 
"Besides I still don't know many people actually," Tess forces a smile. "So it seemed weird to go."
A new kind of guilt assaults you. The kind that reminds you all the time she invited you over for drinks, all the walks that you declined with her. The desperate bids for friendship that she threw your way and that you continually ignored. 
"Everyone's invited to everything around here," you say, shifting the fabric to your other arm. "Next event we'll go together. I'll introduce you to the group."
"Yeah sure," Tess says with a real smile. "I'd like that."
"Good."
Tess looks momentarily uncomfortable licking her dry lips before fixing you with a serious expression. 
"You know you and Joel don't have to hide that you're together for my sake," she tells you with an earnestness that makes you feel choked up. "I'm happy for you both. That's what I keep telling him! But he keeps telling me to mind my own business."
It's like a bucket of ice cold water has been thrown over your head. Tess seems to want to say more when she registers your reaction but she stops, wan smile on her face.
"There is no me and Joel," you finally tell her flatly. "Never was, never will be."
Tess, looks completely flummoxed. Her hands stem at her hips as she looks at you, her brows heavy. 
"You sure about that?"
You open your mouth to say something but then pause. Tess waits, head tilted. You find your voice, but it's quieter than before, less certain.
"I barely know him, Tess."
"He's worth getting to know," Tess says simply, no guile in her eyes. "Even if he doesn't agree. He'll show you though if you give him the chance."
You're struck by the woman's sincerity. Guilty about what went on with Joel, ashamed that you could have done it. Confused because it's like Joel is tattooed on your insides, a continual reminder that he exists every time you draw a breath. 
"Joel doesn't let a lot of people in," she adds when she sees the conflicted feelings clear in your face. "When the old world ended it changed how we all saw the future. I don't think Joel ever really saw one where he was gonna be happy again. Makes it hard to be pleasant sometimes."
You don't say anything further, unable to come up with a worthwhile end to the conversation. 
Tess decides that she'll be the one to end things with a nod and a murmured goodbye. You watch her leave, amazed that Joel could ever let her go. 
///
That evening you watch the sun set outside your window. It's a beautiful light orange that sets everything it touches in golden rays.  
It's the kind of night where you want to curl in bed and read with the window open. But you haven't unlocked that window in months. 
You won't. You can't. 
But you think about heading down to the river in the back lots. It's a trek but maybe you need to clear your head. Everything that test told you this afternoon is replaying in your mind over and over. 
Did Joel say something to Tess about caring for you? Why did she assume that you were together? 
A knock at the door draws your attention. You towel off your hands and stride over to it, pulling the door open slowly. 
Joel stands there on your doorstep, a nervous look on his face.
"Can we talk?"
His hands are thrust deep into his pockets. You can only assume that he's here to pay you back for your visit to his and the thought sours your stomach.
"I'm not fucking you, Joel."
"S'not why I'm here."
He seems earnest when he says this and it gives you pause. You see the sweat dotting his forehead, the strain in his expression. This isn't the face of a man who wants to demand something from you. 
Silently you open the door further, signaling with your tilted head for him to enter. He does, shooting you a quick, thin-lipped smile and nod before his broad-shoulder-ed frame is inside.
You watch him enter into your home, his tall frame loping towards your fireplace. He glances at books resting on your mantle. His forefinger goes to touch one, the spine of one before he moves on. 
He moves around this place casually as if he belongs here. As if he isn't an interloper in your home. 
His eyes dart down to your coffee table.
He points at the album opened up to the page you had paused over last night.
"Family photos?"
"Yeah."
"You're lucky you have so many," Joel murmurs, his dark eyes roaming over the many faces of your family.
"My mom grabbed the album before we left," you shrug. "The only thing I still have from before."
You don't know why but you allow Joel to flip through your family album. He smiles gently when he gets to a picture of two girls with missing front teeth holding ice cream cones on the beach. 
"You and your sister?"
"Yeah."
He nods, brows heavy. He doesn't ask but he seems to know all the same. 
"Watched her turn," you tell him regardless. "Watched my mom kill her."
Joel is staring at you, eyes wide. His hands twitch at his side. If this was the world before, he would offer condolences but on this utterly broken earth they serve no purpose. Instead he stares at you looking both uncomfortable and overwhelmingly sad. 
But you don't care how Joel feels. You're tired and you want to go to bed. 
"What do you want Joel? Why are you here? You wanna learn about my family? You wanna hear how after my mom killed my sister she killed herself?" You shake your head. "Is this some new game for you?" 
Joel shakes his head. "Was never a game to me." 
"Right."
Joel can tell you don't believe him. He frowns deeply before lowering himself onto your sofa. He looks expectantly at you, tilting his head to the empty seat next to him. 
"I'll stand thanks."
"Suit yourself," Joel says tightly and you can see that familiar need for control in his features. It pleases you to upend it. 
"S'never a game to me," Joel repeats. "Can't say the same for you, though, sneakin' into my house to move my shit around. Why'd you start that by the way?"
Now it's your turn to look sheepish. You consider sending him away just so you don't have to answer. But then you think of him coming here after everything that’s gone on the last few days and you relent.
"You hurt my feelings and…I wanted your attention, I think."
"You already had it."
"Not that kind of attention with you being all grumpy," you roll your eyes. "I wanted you to look at me without scowling. I wanted to be friends. The first time you ever noticed me you were so rude!"
"Noticed you long before that," Joel promises. "Noticed you the first week I moved in."
"Huh?"
Joel sighs, as if what he has to say physically pains him. His foot absently taps against your wood floors, giving him time to collect his thoughts. 
"I was carrying boxes upstairs to the bedroom. Your window was open I think. I just glanced over cuz something caught my eye. Maybe your curtains or somethin' moving in the breeze." Joel looks almost embarrassed at all the ancillary information he's offered. 
"Anyway I saw you sittin' on your bed and you were readin'. Totally focused, didn't even notice me watchin' you while I unloaded boxes."
You narrow your eyes on him with suspicion. "Why would you watch me read?"
"Was relaxin'," Joel shrugs briefly, honestly. "Whenever I caught sight of you, you were just so comforting. I can't explain it properly. . . But then time went on and I happened to see you when you were readin' or cookin' or just out walkin', you were just so calm to look at." 
You feel your mouth parting. Joel had been watching you for so long. Much longer than you even had begun to watch him. 
"And it wasn't just calm I felt. It was happy. It made me happy to watch you, especially when you smiled," Joel's mouth curves into a small grin as if recalling a specific memory. "You got such a gorgeous smile. Makes your whole face light up."
You're openly gaping at him now. Shocked at these ready admissions of a truth hidden for so long. Confused at this softness, this tenderness. 
"I've never seen someone smile so fucking much. Sarah would have just loved you. You and that friend, you smiled and laughed all the time." Joel grows somber, brows saddling. "But you don't smile half as much anymore.. is it cuz of me?"
Yes.
Because I hate that I want you.
"If it is... Tell me," Joel insists. "I don't wanna be the reason you stop smiling, pretty eyes. I'll leave you alone forever if it gets you smilin' again." 
He's got puppy dog eyes now. Wide and sorrowful looking. They almost don't fit with the harsh planes of the rest of his face. 
"Why do you call me that?" you ask exasperatedly. "Do you not remember my name or something?"
"Course I know your name," Joel says, whispering it now. The sound of it slides over your body like a silk sheet. "S'a beautiful name."
"So then why-"
"I call you pretty eyes because you see beauty in everything. Nature, animals, people. You always wanna help. You want the whole shitty world to be a better place," Joel is shaking his head. "You know how terrifying that is to someone who's given up?"
You don't know what to say.
Joel stands, reaching into his back pocket. He closes his eyes, wincing before he crosses over to you and forces something into your hands. You hold it to your face. It's a photograph, a small one, the kind you yourself used to get in school, sent home glossy and overpriced for your mom to purchase. 
It's been folded, creased, lovingly looked at thousands of times, you can tell. It's of a young girl with bright eyes and a brighter smile. A girl with a dimple in her cheek that matches her father. Your finger traces the sweet curve of her face. 
"That's Sarah," Joel tells you after a beat. "My daughter." 
"She's beautiful."
“She was, yeah.”
Joel's face holds a myriad of emotions all at once. The most prominent of them all however is regret. There's a story there likely similar to your own. You hand him back the photo and he places it back in his pocket.
"I kept going after she was... Taken from me," Joel explains, obviously not wanting to use the real word. "I didn't wanna keep going. But I felt like I had to. I did what I thought I had to and I survived. And when I got here to Jackson I was all alone and all I could think was what was the point? What did I do all this for?"
You nod. Understanding more than you think he'll ever realize. Joel moves back to sit on the sofa, his body tense. 
"I thought existing was enough. But then that night I caught you in my closet.... It's like I felt alive again. The good kind of alive- not just needing to live for survival. The kind of alive that has my heart hammerin' and my blood pounding. Makes food taste better for Christ's sake, I don't know how, but it does," Joel is going pink at his neck and cheeks.
"S'like you brought me back from the dead."
You feel the tension, the animosity, the agitation that has been tightening your muscles suddenly release at his words.  
"I did?"
Joel nods and he doesn't move closer to you but you have a feeling he'd like to.
"The day after we... The first time," Joel has the good graces to look embarrassedly down at his shoes. "I thought it was better if I stayed away from you."
"Why?"
"Because I was ashamed of myself for how I'd treated you," Joel looks sick as he remembers it, eyes lowered. "But then I saw you that day in the shop lookin' at books and...I just... I was shaking when you walked by me but I just wanted to be near you. I just couldn't stop thinking about you." 
You feel like your stomach is doing somersaults. You've never heard Joel talk so much. It makes your head spin. It makes the world feel tilted. Joel is looking at you, concern clear in his features. 
"You okay?"
"Yeah," you croak, feeling your legs growing wobbly. You slowly lower yourself to the sofa. Joel joins you and you swallow when his knee brushes yours. 
"I've done a lot of things," Joel says. "Things I'm not proud of. Things that someone like you shouldn't have to be around. But I wanted to be around you." 
Joel takes a deep breath and you're surprised to see the sheen to his dark eyes. You allow his hand to slowly cover your knee, his thumb giving you soothing rubs. 
"I thought about you every day." 
Your heart is pounding at his husky admission. But then as those words settle within your mind you grow sullen. 
"What about Tess?"
"You were suddenly all chummy with that Markus. The two of you looked like a couple n' you were always with your friend and her husband. You seemed happy and I didn't wanna interfere." Joel frowns. "I knew Tess from way back. Thought it made sense. Wanted it to work. But I couldn't stop thinkin' about you." 
You make a scoffing sound. 
"I really couldn't," Joel insists, his voice pained. "The night you left my place? I told her I was..." Joel swallows. "I told her there was someone else. She said she'd figured." 
"Did you tell her we-"
"No," Joel shakes his head. "You can call me a coward if you want. But it seemed cruel to tell her. Almost as cruel as doin' it in the first place." 
You nod in agreement. 
"I was terrified when you weren't at home after that. Took a lot of askin' around to find out you were staying with your friend." Joel frowns, eyes limpid. "Was it cuz you didn't wanna see me?"
You can see real fear there in his eyes at your answer and you know that what you say next could potentially devastate him. But the anger you've been carrying around with you like a second skin has fled. Right now you want to be honest like him. 
"Not completely," you answer truthfully, shifting uncomfortably on the sofa. "I was also scared I was pregnant." 
Joel's head ducks slightly and his voice drops so lowly you don't hear what he mumbles. You ask him to repeat it and Joel exhales slowly. 
"I was hopin' you were."
What. The. Fuck.
That was about the last thing you ever thought you'd hear from Joel Miller. You stare at him unblinking, unsure that you've heard him correctly. The entire lower half of his face is flushed, like he's just exposed his biggest secret. Which in a way, you suppose he has. 
You think back to that night. Of Joel emptying himself into you with a groan and disgust crosses your features.
"Did you mean to-"
"Fuck no!" Joel answers, the truth immediately apparent in his horrified expression. "Just got carried away that night. No fuck, I would never ... No. Not on purpose. Not without talking to.. Was just after... when I was thinking about it that the idea just .. If it did happen... It maybe didn't seem so awful to me..." 
"Jesus, Joel."
Joel nods, grimacing. "I know. I just. . . Thinking of you carrying my baby? Belly swollen and everyone knowing you were mine? That I made you a mama? I wanted it. Wanted that life. I know it was selfish, I know it's fucked up, but it's the truth. I'm trying to be as honest as possible here. No lyin'." 
You hate the way this pulls at your lower belly. The desire that licks there. Joel wanting to put his claim on you in the most permanent way possible has you slick between your legs. Despite how fucked up it is, despite how wrong, you can't help but feel turned on. 
What is wrong with me?
Logic and reason prevails and you feel your resolve strengthening. You tilt back from his hand on your knee, pulling your legs against your chest as you press against the arm at the other end of the sofa. Joel watches you retreat from him, face falling.
"Joel you just like fucking me." You spread your arms wide. "That's all this has ever been."
"For you maybe," Joel shakes his head. "S'not just that. Not for me."
"How would you know?" 
"Cuz I wanna spend time with you," Joel explains, bright eyes on yours. "Be near you. Not just fucking."
You don't know what else to say. How would you ever know if that was true? Too much has happened between the two of you. 
"Can I show you?" 
You glance up at Joel, brows raised. Show you? 
"Show me what?"
"What I wanted more than anything since the last time I saw you?"
It's a trick. A way to let him further into your home. Payback for what you did to him. 
No no no. Don't let this happen again you fool.
And yet you barely hesitate. After everything he's confessed to you there is no ire left in you. 
"Okay."
Joel's sudden smile is wide and warm and so damn grateful that it pulls at your heartstrings. He stands, holding his hand out to you. You look at his palm briefly before you take it, feeling as his large, warm hand wraps around yours. 
He holds you tightly and the both of you pad upstairs. The stairs creak under your combined weight but you barely hear it over the rush of blood roaring in your ears. 
Joel is in your house. Joel is touching you. Joel is being tender. Joel Joel Joel. The man you couldn't stop thinking about. The man you hate yourself for wanting because he’s so cold. But tonight he’s so warm.
You reach the threshold of your bedroom and stop, looking at him curiously. He gives a nod, silently asking for your trust. 
Despite everything you give it, walking into your bedroom and waiting as he follows you.
"Where's your nightclothes?"
You point to a dresser drawer. He nods, going over to it and pulling it open. You watch in quiet fascination as he pulls out a pale yellow nightdress with ruffles at the shoulders. 
"S'pretty," he murmurs looking at it. "You like this one?"
"Yeah."
You're confused when he takes your hand in his again and walks you to the bathroom. The wide, aged tub in there is turned on. A luxury you don't often take advantage of because you prefer showers. 
While the warm water is filling, Joel places the nightgown beside the sink. He turns to you and you can see him take a nervous inhale.
"Can I undress you?"
Again you barely hesitate. You nod and he closes the distance between you.
His blunted fingers move slowly over the buttons of your cardigan, your skirt. You watch Joel's face the entire time, taking in the way his mouth twists lightly to the side as he concentrates. He undresses you with quiet patience, his eyes warm and soft. Your clothes are slipped gently from your body, folded (much to your gentle amusement) and placed on the counter next to the nightdress. 
You watch him take a deep inhale before his hands skim around your bra to unhook it. Your breasts fall, released from the cotton fabric. Joel looks at your flushed face, his breathing shuddering. But he slips the bra off your shoulders and places it with the rest. 
Your heart is thundering in your chest. You feel your nipples tightening as his eyes fall over them, a look of reverence in his features. You wait for his mouth to descend, or his hands to knead them.
But instead his fingers come to rest on your hips, thumbs curling around the band of your panties. You feel your breath growing uneven at the thought of being completely bared to him. He hears it, registers it and his dark eyes flit to yours. 
"This still okay?"
You nod, trying to steady your breath. Joel smiles, eyes going to your mouth. You know he wants to kiss you but instead he blinks and lowers himself to kneel in front of you.
There on his knees before you, like you're his own personal altar, Joel slowly begins slipping your panties down your thighs, your calves, until you step out of them with your hand on his shoulder for balance. 
Finally you stand there in front of him naked. You feel vulnerable and turned on all at once. He's still kneeling, eyes drifting everywhere as if he's trying to memorize you. Your face heats as his wide eyes slide over every piece of exposed flesh. 
His finger trails over the scar at your ribs, unseen to him before now. His eyes go to your face as he stands, hand coming to drift over your cheek.  
"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he murmurs huskily. But he doesn't make any further move to touch you. 
You think that this is what he's been after since you arrived back home. That he's just wanting to fuck somewhere new. That this was an elaborate way to break down your barriers. You fold your arms over your breasts, hand coming to hide your sex. 
You watch in confused silence as Joel strips as well, tugging off his shirt and jeans and boxers until he's standing there in front of you naked, his cock semi hard. He stands waiting, letting you have your turn at gawking. Despite the vulnerability of his nakedness, be excudes a powerful dominance, his frame large.
His masculine body is beautiful, his shoulders broad and the skin golden and littered with pale scars. You can't help but touch the swell of his biceps, fingers trailing over and down to his wrist. He shivers when you touch him and you see his cock hardening. He goes to cover himself. 
"You're gorgeous," you blurt, heart swelling when you see him give a shy grin at your words. He tilts his head away from you, his face pinking. Shy. 
Joel Miller is shy.
The tub is full now and Joel turns the tap to stop. He steps in first, testing the heat before holding a beckoning hand to you. With a quirked brow you take it, allowing him to lower you both to sit in the tub. You go in front and his long legs go to either side of you. 
You marvel at the gold skin of his legs and the dark hair that grows there. This skin, previously a mystery shown to you up close. You can't stop yourself from reaching a hand to his ankle and brushing the delicate bone there. His damp hand skims up your spine, he too marveling at this new piece of you exposed to him. 
Eventually he urges your back against his chest and you let out a small whisper of a groan his fingers come to your neck and begin to massage. 
"This okay?"
"Mhmmm."
You go boneless as Joel's hands work your neck and shoulders as the water surrounds you. The warm bath feels so good and Joel's touch is so comforting. 
Finally his hands are removed, once more going to urge your back against his front. He holds you loosely, fingers trailing over your forearm. 
You sit for several moments in the quietly lapping water, feeling Joel's chest constrict and expand as he breathes behind you. Your eyes fall shut, lulled by your surroundings and you hear him fumbling with a bottle before you hear the squeeze of your shampoo bottle.
His wide hands go to drag the shampoo through your hair. The sensation of his fingers carding through your tresses makes every hair on your body stand on end in pleasure. 
"You've got beautiful hair," Joel says softly, marveling at it as he rubs your scalp. "Thought so the first time I saw you."
You think of that day with the book when Joel had approached you, when he had smoothed a wayward strand of your hair between his fingers. 
"Thanks."
You go limp against him, body melting into his light touch. When he talks it reverberates through your back. You muse that you could fall asleep like this. His chin grazes the top of your head. 
"You enjoy that Jane Eyre book?"
He speaks gently as if he doesn't want to disturb your serenity. 
"Yeah I did," you say smiling genuinely. "It was one of my favorite books from before."
"Mine too."
This surprises you a moment that he remembered until you recall the books he was going to lend you months ago. He'd had so many that you yourself had loved. 
Joel seems so closed off, a hermit, almost a luddite in your mind. But he plays beautiful music and he reads wonderful books. There's so much to uncover about him. 
"What do you think is Bradbury's best work?"
"Easy," you can feel Joel smiling behind you as he continues lathering. "Fahrenheit 451."
"You're crazy," you insist with an amused laugh. "It's the Martian Chronicles!"
"Never," Joel insists with a playful tug of your hair. "I bet you'll say Dandelion Wine was good."
"It was!" You insist, craning your head to face him with a faux outraged expression. He's grinning back down at you, his face glowing in the gentle light of the sunset outside the window. 
"S'okay," he murmurs with his soft eyes sweeping over your face. "We don't have to agree on everything." 
You nod, and he turns his attention to the pitcher next to the bathtub.
"Tilt your head back, pretty eyes."
You do so, eyes closing as Joel scoops water up into the jug and rinses the shampoo from your hair. 
You feel at ease here in the water with Joel, you both just existing in the gentle warmth. You wish you could straighten your body out over him. You feel like a cat longing to stretch out in a sunbeam. 
It makes you feel soft and gentle towards Joel. You find yourself wanting to know more about him, about the life he had before everything went to shit. 
"What did you do before everything?"
"Contractor." His fingers make sure not to miss a strand of your hair with the water. "Tommy n' I had our own company."
He tells you a bit about the construction company, about how it was fun and exhausting being his own boss. It's easy to imagine Joel hammering away at wood planking, driving a beat up old truck down some winding streets. 
He asks you about yours and you muse that the only job you had before the outbreak was working at a video store. 
"Must be why you like those movie nights here," Joel muses. You look up at him, grinning, delighted that he remembers this fact about you. 
"Yeah." 
His eyes drift lazily down from your eyes to your mouth and you know what he wants because now you want it too. Desperately. 
He won't make the first move, you can tell. So it's you that tilts up to press your lips against his. You feel your entire body tingle as he sighs against you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders from behind. 
It's a sweet, soft thing that ends with him pulling back and pressing another gentle kiss to your cheek and forehead before he moves back to working on your hair.  
You talk quietly back and forth about life before the outbreak. He tells you that Sarah always fell asleep during movies, even the ones she picked out. He tells you that he was almost married but then his fiancée backed out and left him with his infant daughter. You tell him that your sister was your favorite person. You tell him that your first kiss was under the bleachers at school. 
When he begins to massage the conditioner into your scalp your head falls back and you let out a whimpered moan. It feels heavenly to be cared for like this. You've never had this. 
At the first strains of your cry you feel Joel's cock hardening further against your lower back. Arousal pools in your belly and your hand moves under the water, instinctively going to grip him. He twitches at the contact. 
"Not tonight, pretty eyes," Joel murmurs, gently urging your hand off of him and pressing a gentle kiss to your temple. 
You continue sitting there between his legs confused as he rinses the last of the conditioner from your hair, his hardened cock pressed between your bodies.  
He's hard and he doesn't want you to touch him? 
He shampoos and rinses his own hair before he stands, pulling you from the water tenderly by the hand. He drains the tub, moving to grab your towel from the hook by the door. 
With a softness you didn't expect from him, Joel gently towels you off, drying each inch of your flesh before tugging your nightdress on over your body. 
He pulls on his boxers before you both pad back to your bedroom. He pulls back the covers of the bed, urging you to crawl in. You do so and you look expectantly up at him, noticing his hesitation as he lowers the blankets around you, tucking you in. He takes a moment to look at you, cheeks pink from the steam of the bath, eyes sleepy.
He leans over, kissing you full on the mouth in a way that's all sweet. It's a kiss of tenderness that has you exhaling into his mouth. 
This version of Joel is so fucking appealing. This open, soft Joel that talks to you about everything. This Joel that touches you with no aim other than to make you feel good and cherished.
"I'm gonna get dressed and go," he says in a whisper as he pulls back from your lips. His knuckles trace your cheek as he smiles serenely down at you. "Can I see you tomorrow?"
You realize that the bath, that tenderness is what he'd wanted. He hadn't been expecting sex at all and for that reason alongside many others, you want him to stay. You reach out from under the covers, grabbing his wrist. 
"I don't want you to go." 
He pauses, his dark eyes scanning yours. He's hesitant and you know that he's worried you'll see this evening as transactional when you know it's been anything but. 
"I want you to stay, Joel."
Joel contemplates a while longer before he finally nods. He pulls back the covers, climbing between the sheets beside you. He's warm from the bath and you instinctively snuggle back against him. His arms eagerly wrap around you and in them you feel a security you haven’t felt in decades.
Joel strokes your arm absently, kissing your shoulder only once before his head is back on the pillow, the two of you watching the moon hanging low in the sky. From where you lay you can see the roof of Joel's house. You think of how this started and you hold in a laugh. 
"Sometimes I'd watch your house as I was falling asleep," he tells you, feeling bold in the darkness. "If your light was on I felt like everything was okay in the world. S'like your light was my moon." 
You smile at that. Under the covers you're both warm, your hair damp. It feels domestic, not rushed or dirty. It makes you feel vulnerable as your bodies press next to one another in the bed. 
You look behind you at Joel in the blue darkness, your hand brushing an errant curl from his forehead as you twist to face him. Your mouth finds his again and you sigh as your lips move against one another. 
You assume that this is when he'll fuck you or at least make gentle love to you, but he does neither. He just holds you, bringing you against his body and curling around you, as if he's protecting you from the elements. It seems natural to him, to be a protector. 
"You told me you weren't a good man," you whisper to him in the darkness. "But I think you might be."
"I'm not. I've done terrible things," Joel grimaces. "You know firsthand." 
He strokes your hair, hand heavy before he continues. 
"I'm so sorry for how I treated you. I.... I didn't know how to act. I'd wanted you so fucking long and you were there and I couldn't help myself. But s'not a good reason. I was a fucking asshole. I don't blame you for hating me."
"I don't hate you Joel," you say with honesty. "Don't hate anyone, really."
"That's what I lo- like about you," Joel says, voice catching. "Not a mean bone in your body."
"I dunno about that," you shrug. "Took great pleasure in refusing to dance with you the other night." 
You can hear Joel smile at that behind you. "S'okay. I deserved it." 
The silence stretches on a little longer. 
"I'd say yes," you say in a quiet voice. "If you asked me again."
Joel doesn't reply, but he pulls you tighter against him, burying his face in your damp hair. 
You've never slept with someone in this bed. You think that it will be a hardship and you're shocked at how easily you fold into his embrace, how calm you feel and you drift into a peaceful slumber. 
When you wake up the next morning he's still asleep, dark lashes fanned over caramel cheeks. His arm is slung over your waist, as if in sleep he's worried about you leaving. 
You watch him breathing slowly, his full mouth parted. You think that he looks so peaceful like this, so open. You can't help yourself and you graze a kiss against his lips. 
Joel's eyes flutter open to see you staring at him with glossy eyes. His mouth curls into a sleepy smile and he brushes his knuckles against the curve of your cheek. 
"Mornin' pretty eyes." 
His voice is low and rumbling with sleep. It's a sound that feels good in your ear. A sound that travels down between your legs and pulses.
You kiss him again, a little longer this time. His hand is at your jaw, holding you lightly. There's no harshness in how he touches you now. You pull back, resting your head on the pillow next to his. 
You both gaze at one another, eyes locked. You think you can see eternity in the dark galaxy of his gaze. 
There's something about this moment that feels safe to you. Safety. And something else. Something that feels too early to speak aloud. A feeling that eluded you for so long. Tears spring along your waterline.
"Joel .. I-" you don't know what to say or how to say it. But Joel understands because he feels the same. His smile turns serious and you watch as his own dark eyes begin to grow damp. 
"I know, baby," Joel rumbles. "I know."
With tears in your eyes your mouth seeks his out again, your hands going to his bare shoulders and gripping.
He holds you against his chest, both of you kissing for what feels like hours. He holds your face, thumbs brushing your cheeks. As if he's trying to atone for all those times he never kissed you, never cherished you properly. 
"I want you," Joel murmurs against your ear as you nestle against him. "Want you to read with me on my couch in front of the fire and sit next to me at those movie nights. I want everyone to know you're my girl. Wanna make up for all those times I was an idiot. Wanna make you laugh and smile like you used to. Can I?”
Your heart expands, your own hands cupping his cheeks. This man that you've wanted, that you've denied yourself wanting. He's looking at you with those big eyes, the ones that often seem so sad and so serious. 
"I want that too," you murmur. "Want you to teach me guitar too. Promise I won't hide it anymore."
Joel grins against your lips, recalling how all of this first began. He licks into your mouth as you whimper, the desire for him overwhelming you. There will be more discussions, more moments where Joel will fight to prove himself worthy of you. But for right now you simply want him.
Languid movements against each other turn into both sets of hands seeking bare flesh and moments later after your gentle urging of a condom into his hand, Joel raises himself above you, mouth on yours as he slides between your thighs slow and sweet, murmuring how much he wants you, adores you. His voice holds you, warms you as you keen, arching against him.
He takes his time, brushing the thankful tears from your eyes with his lips. You kiss his away from the corner of his eyes. He watches your body move underneath his with awe, as if he's actually seeing you for the first time. In a way it's like you both are.
And much like the bath last night Joel holds you tenderly, makes you feel beloved. He doesn't take, he just gives, over and over kissing praises into your skin, pressing devotion between your legs. 
"I want you to take it," he whispers against your neck as your thighs bracketing his hips begin to tremble. "It's all for you, pretty eyes. Everything."
You know what he means. 
When you two fall back against your pillow breathing unsteadily a short while later you can't help but smile in disbelief. You tilt your head to see that Joel is doing the same and you roll into his waiting arms, giggling. 
Your window stays unlocked after that. 
290 notes · View notes
happy-beeeps · 5 months
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Day 6/7: Gifts and Stars
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Summary: After educating Din on the holidays of your home system, you realize you forgot to get him a gift for one of the most important.
WC: 3.4k oops
Warnings: 18+ CONTENT NSFW MINORS DNI!!!!! Massage, fingering, handjob, p-in-v sex, reader is afab. Unprotected sex, wrap it before you tap it! Soft smut!!!
A/N: okok so I've alreaady lost the plot but my goal is to get 8 AND 9 out tomorrow so I'm back on track. As an apology, please expect 3.5k words of gratituots Din smut and feelings.
18+ Only Below the Cut
Din had been incredibly receptive the first time you told him about the holidays of your home system. He had celebrated your family and home together during the festival of the hearth, had cooked local foods during the independence celebration. Now, it was time for your favorite holiday, and the one you were most anxious about.
Amordi wasn’t, like, entirely a holiday built around sex. It wasn’t not that but, like any good holiday, there was a fable behind it.
Of course, no one really knew the fable anymore but, there was a point—at some point.
What Amordi was now was an excuse to be in love, or to celebrate being in love. Little kids would pick each other flowers, or shower their parents in handmade gifts. Friends would spend the day together, gushing over one another with platonic love and declarations of a friendly devotion.
Couples… did a number of things.
The hip, young people were taking spice, claiming that the drug made them connect with their partners and made getting physical all the more sensational. Older couples spent the day holding hands, looking at holovids of their weddings, pampering each other with the kind of devotion only decades can bring.
You hadn’t really thought about you and Din—didn’t even tell him about it. How do you tell your partner, “Hey, there’s a holiday coming up, and it’s expected you’re going to give me a shit ton of gifts and also the fucking of a lifetime?” You just decided to avoid it altogether.
That is, until the early evening of Amordi, when Din placed a small, wooden box on the table in front of you, while you were busy trying to spoon feed an incredibly angry 50-year-old baby.
“Happy Amordi.” He said, sitting down beside you and tapping his thumb on your chin. “I hope you like it.”
You nearly dropped the spoon in shock. Fuckkriffdankferrik how had he found out? How had he known-
“I can use the holonet too, you know?” Was his response to what must have been a look of sheer terror, and he laughed at the blush that now painted your face.
“Figured you were too old for that.”
He placed a hand on his chest and rocked back in a gesture of fake wounding. “Just open the present.”
You did as you were told, opening the small wooden box to reveal a beautiful, thin bangle of shiny metal. Along the side was a carefully inscribed mudhorn surrounded by a collection of small stars, and the realization hit you.
“Din, this is beskar.”
“I know.”
“This must have cost you a fortune,”
“It didn’t, she owed me a favor.” He picked up the delicate bracelet, how it sent a flutter down your stomach to see how delicate things looked in his hands, and showed you how to open and close it; a small clasp on the side. “It would’ve been worth it anyways.”
The she was not lost on you, and the implications of the armorer standing over her forge, making you a bracelet? It was enough to bring tears to your eyes. “Din, really, this is too much.”
“But look how well you wear our crest.”
It’s the softness in his voice when he says “our” that gets you, and you place a hand on the cheek of his helmet, kicking yourself for not shutting the windows already. “It’s beautiful, Din. I can’t thank you enough.”
An hour later, and you’re trying to find a way to thank him enough. You don’t have time to go into town, it’s at least a half hour each way on the speeder, and you are not an efficient shopper. His birthday isn’t for a few months, so you haven’t gotten his gift yet. In fact, the two of you decided to forgo Life Day gifts, choosing instead to deck out Grogu’s nursery with all the bits and bobs he could ever need. Now, as Din settles the baby to sleep in the other room, you’re panicking.
Your closet is a nightmare, and you don’t even know how you acquired so much shit. Like, truly, there is so much shit in here. And none of it is helpful. At the very bottom of a pile of your things, you find a small, black wrapped package you remember picking up the one time Din took you on to a quarry on Canto Bight. An idea pops into your head. It’s a little tacky, and admittedly a cop out, but you’ll make it up to him tomorrow with a nice breakfast and something from town. For now, this will have to do.
When Din walks into the room, you’re smitten by the way the soft candlelight reflects off of his armor. You’re perched on the edge of the bed in a short, satin robe, a deep blue with shimmering stars sprayed across it. Next to you is a bottle of oil, something fancy he had gotten you on Naboo once, and you gesture to your bed. “It’s time for your gift.”
If you could see his eyebrows, you know they’d be cocked. One hand falls to his hip as the other lifts his helmet off his head, freeing his face to you at last. His expression is skeptical, but he’s grinning. “Are you the gift?”
“Please,” you scoff, motioning him to sit down and guiding him by the shoulders. The house Karga had gifted you was the perfect size for your family but, you and Din being the selfless parents you were, had chosen the smaller room. There was something so domestic about his form, large and demanding, in the small space, made even smaller by the fact that you refused to compromise on the size of the bed. “I’m giving you a massage.”
Din doesn’t say anything at first, but he does move to help you with all the buckles and clasps of his armor. Soon enough, he’s clad in just his underlayers, and you’re quick to help him out of his shirt, exposing his tanned, scarred skin to you.
“Stop oogling me,” he says, but there’s no venom in his words. Instead, his barb lands exactly where it should, and you gently push him backwards onto your bed, and poke at his hips.
“Move, flip over.”
“This is so romantic,” he says, deadpan, “I love when you prod me like a bluurg.” He listens, of course, and moves to lay tummy down on the bed.
Now it’s your turn to roll your eyes, and you hoist yourself up and perch yourself on the squishy part of his ass. You reach off too the side (earning a grunt from Din) and drip some of the oil onto your hands, rubbing them together to warm it up. Once you feel it’s been adequately warmed, you drag your hands from his lower back up to his shoulders and press. 
The groan Din lets out is genuinely orgasmic. You’re not sure he’s ever made a sound like that before, and to hear it at the result of your hands is… a little enticing. You work the tense muscles there, pushing your knuckles and the pads of your fingers into the knots so tense they feel like they’re made of duracrete.
“Kriff, what do you do all day, carry around bricks?”
“No, just you and the kid.” 
You send a poke to his side and his laugh rumbles through the mattress. You work him slowly, hands coming up his neck to rub at the tender spots you know his helmet digs. They drag down, along his lower back and the base of his underwear, rubbing the sore expanse of skin there. Din says little, save for “that feels good,” or “kriff, there’s a spot.” His voice is muffled into your bed, and you don’t miss the way he slowly melts like butter beneath your hands.
You figured when it was all said and done, you’d make out, fuck, and go to sleep. You know, like adults. It’s Din, it takes very little for you to want to jump his bones, and today wasn’t an exception. What you don’t expect is for the heat in your belly to grow with every tender press of your hand, or the way his groans sound deeper, more guttural with each push. You relish in the sweet joy of caring for a man who has made it his soul purpose to care for you, to protect you.
You often forget this is a man who has killed, killed for you before. You often forget how little you’ve grown to mind it.
You treat him so softly it makes your heart throb. Din deserves every good thing in this world, every buttery breakfast pastry from the cafe that just opened in town to the freshest pot of caf in the morning. You’re almost at the brink of moving beyond turned on and into pure, uncorrupted adoration when Din groans and unexpectedly pushes backwards against you, causing you to fall off of his back and onto the other side of the bed.
He sits up, then moves off the bed, standing at its foot. You simply stare up at him, his tall form, completely armorless in front of you, heart fluttering at the way his eyes rake the rest of your body.
He reaches to grab you, his hands fitting under the crooks of your arms and hoists you towards him, pulling you up off the bed and standing in front of him. His fingers fall to the soft silk of your robe, and drip down to the thin tie, dangling limply in front of your now aching core.
“Wanna give you another gift.”
“Din, I’ve hardly even given you a gift.”
“You’ve given me plenty, cyar’ika.”
His hand is tugging at the tie in an instant, and the traitorous bow falls loose almost immediately. You stand before him in the rest of the set, the lacy little thing you’d bought when you were waiting around for him in Canto Bight. It matches the robe, and his eyes water at the sight.
“The stars match my bracelet.” Is all you can offer him, feeling suddenly so exposed and so incredibly turned on. You need him now, and need him bad, more than you think you’ve needed him since the day you two got married.
“Sweet–I can’t even say the things I want to say to you now when you act so sweet.” His voice is flustered, deep. His eyes are darkened with lust and he snakes one hand around your waist, the other playing with a piece of hair that dangles dangerously close to your breast. “Want to do so much for you, mesh’la. Want to make the rest of your life so easy.”
“I don’t need easy, I just need you.” You whisper, and the sound he makes in response sends a shockwave to your core.
He’s on you in an instant, lips crashing onto yours in a kiss equal parts passionate and longing, like he’s been waiting to devour you for a lifetime. You can taste the wine you shared at dinner on his breath, and it shoots a spark in your brain. You will love this man for the rest of time and even then you’d find a way to come back to him.
His lips move to your neck as his arms guide you softly to the bed, your back flush with the mattress. It’s warm from where he was laying earlier, and he moves his body on top of yours, caging you in. You’re completely surrounded by Din–his scent, his body. You’re completely in bliss.
He kisses you further, dropping his lips from your neck, to your collarbone, to the soft curve of your breast, his hand snaking underneath you to shimmy your bra open. He breaks for a moment when he does to give you a moment to shimmy the garment off, and runs a hand through his hair.
“I will never get enough of you.” He says, thumb rubbing a soft circle against your peaked nipple. He launches back down to you a moment later, his tongue replacing his hand. He sucks at the tender flesh of your breast, nipping at the soft bud, and his hands begin to snake down your hips, hooking under your panties and you shimmy a bit so he can pull them clean off. One hand presses your hip firmly into the mattress, while the other makes soft, circular motions along your inner thigh. You try to buck into his touch but his hand presses harder, and you can feel him laugh against your breast.
“Din, please,” you beg, and he breaks away for a moment, his hand sending a soft, teasing touch against your slit. When he finds it nearly completely soaked, he groans, his head burying itself in your neck. 
“You are so good to me, so soft and perfect.”
He sucks at your neck then moves back to kiss you, a finger moving to make slow languid circles against your clit.
The sensation makes you cry out into his mouth, and he quickens his pace just slightly before pushing a digit inside of you. The sensation of being filled at all has you near begging him to do something, anything, for how bad you need him. 
“Din, please, need you,”
“I haven’t given you your gift yet,” is all he says when he breaks your kiss, smirking at you slightly. Din is quiet, never too chatty, and you’re always surprised by the sudden bold streak he gets in bed. 
He slips another finger in and hooks justright, and quickens his pace along your clit, his movements eager. He knows how to work your body, knows each spot to press, each motion to do. It’s one of the blissful things about him, how easily the two of you can read each other.
It also means he can read that the coil in your belly has tightened rather dramatically, and you’re just about to snap.
“Come on baby, let me feel you,” he murmurs as presses at just the right spot on your clit, hooks just the right spot inside that you swear only he can reach. You’re cumming around his fingers near instantly, your orgasm sending tingles down your spine, through your fingers. 
Instead of breaking away and immediately moving to remove his pants, as you’d hoped, he shifts down, moving himself so his face is right in front of your core, pressing slow, sloppy kisses to your thigh.
No, no no. You wanted to treat him this was supposed to be his gift. You’re already one orgasm in the whole, and you won’t last long with his mouth on you.
“No, Din, wait,” you start, and he backs up immediately.
“What’s wrong, do you want to stop?”
“Yes, but it’s because I need you in my mouth,” you start, moving towards him as he backs up onto his knees, and you push the waistband of both his pants and boxers down. You see the slight panic in his eyes calm at this, and he helps you remove his clothes, but he pauses when you reach for his cock, throbbing and already leaking precum.
“But what if I need you on my mouth?” He replies, and you groan, trying again to reach for him. He’s soclose and looks so good from here, you can’t resist him. 
“Din, seriously, this is your gift,”
“I feel like we’re past that, let me,”
“How about,” you pause, finally catching him and begin slowly pumping his cock in your hand. You can see him fight the groan that threatens to come out of his mouth, “We call it even and you just fuck me?”
He takes no time in considering your offer, replying with a short “deal.” Before picking you up and flipping you on your stomach.
Oh fuck, you’re in for it, you’ve taunted him and now you’re in for it. You had him facedown on this bed earlier, you should’ve know he’d be waiting for it. One of his calloused hands moves itself under your hips and brings you up, and you can feel his tip pressing against your soaked entrance as you rise.
“Are you ready for me, gorgeous girl?” He murmurs, taking a moment to press a kiss between your shoulder blades and bring your hair out from your face.
It’s cute, it’s romantic, but you need to be fucked immediately. You try and respond in a way that seems sultry, but you swear it comes out more like a yelp when you respond, “Fuck yes oh my gods.”
He pushes into you slowly, cursing the entire way. You try to fight the moan that comes on but you relent as he pushes deeper, his length once again finding every single spot inside you that threatens to have you undone after one push.
He starts his strokes slowly, hands grabbing tenderly at the flesh of your ass. He feels so good like this, pressed against you fully to the hilt, and you quite literally cannot even fathom the concept of ever feeling this good ever again, even though you know each time is better than the last.
He begins to quicken his thrusts, moving at a fast, hard speed that has you being pushed forward into the mattress with every motion. His grip on your ass tightens, and you relish in the small pinpricks of pain and the knowledge that you know there’ll be a bruise there tomorrow.
You’re getting wetter by the second, and one of his hands moves itself downwards to make a sloppy, but phenomenal, move to your clit.
“You’re, so good to me.” You pant out in response, and he groans. You can see his head dipped back over your shoulder, his adams apple bobbing.
“You’re so good to me. Wanna marry you over and over again, too perfect, too good.”
His words have that all too familiar rush of pleasure start to surge through you, and you gasp as his thrusts become deeper, harder. He starts back up again. “Won’t ever leave, can’t ever leave. There’s nowhere in this galaxy I’d rather be than right here, love you, love you so much.”
Those words enough, mixed with his quickening and brutal pace, having you clamping down on his cock, cumming harder than you think you ever have. Din’s romantic, passionate, and dare you say emotional. That being said, you can count on maybe two hands the amount of times he’s ever said the words “I love you.” A few more in mando’a, but the words “I love you,” have struggled to be said. You’ve never not felt them, he says it in ways so specific to him, but the raw emotion in his voice, the way it cracks a bit at the words “so much,” has you cumming hard.
He responds immediately, and you feel him quicken and then falter, as he cums deep inside you. There’s a moment, a breath, where the two of you bask in one another, in the heat of the moment, before he pulls away and out of you.
You’re happy to flop down onto the bed, and a look over your shoulder shows you Din in the tiny fresher attached to the bedroom, running a towel under the warm water of the sink and returning to run it along your folds. He presses a kiss to your shoulder blade before tossing the towel in the laundry and climbing in bed, moving to sit on top of you.
“You’re gonna suffocate me,” you grumble, trapped beneath his weight.
“Are you calling me heavy?”
“Yes.”
He laughs, uninhibitedly, and you wonder what he’s doing before you smell the familiar, floral aroma of your body oil, and feel his hands rub along your back. You happily melt into him, mumbling, “this was a pretty good gift, right?”
He says nothing, but runs a ticklish touch across your ribs, so you know he agrees. You lay there, happy to be molded by him, and bask in the warm silence of the room. After a moment, he speaks up, quietly but assuredly.
“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.”
Your breath catches from his words and the well timed push on your ribs, but you do your best to shift beneath him, and catch a glimpse of his brown eyes, illuminated in the warm candle light.
“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.”
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File under: 'hope this helps reduce some stress and anxiety over this holiday'...
1. Be grateful. It really does start and end with that.
2. Do nothing. No, for reals. Just sit. Just be. Drown out all the clanking and clatter of your day and just connect with yourself. Even it’s only sixty seconds.
3. Never put all your happiness in another person. People change. People leave. And it’s not their burden to carry anyway.
4. Being open about your problems is healthy, but there comes a point when it becomes simply dwelling on the past and it drains everyone around you. Acknowledge when you’ve reached this point.
5. Put some time away to go outside. Netflix, shortbread, eggnog, visiting, shopping, and on and on is killing us. Find balance. Go outside.
6. Don’t be so intense all the time. We all eventually get tired of swimming against the current, sometimes you need to just float. Lighten the eff up!
7. Stop avoiding everything. Avoidance is just a long drawn out suicide.
8. Never underestimate the power of honest words and a handmade gift, money isn’t the only way to tell someone you value them this holiday. Get crafty muthafugga.
9. Boundaries are mandatory. Set ‘em and expect ‘em.
10. Try and understand intentions and situations before you get fed up with someone. Death from assumicide is an awful way to go.
11. Tough love is necessary sometimes. Be a parent, not another one of their friends.
12. Be open to anything and everything. Life is short and definitely not fun when you’re a closed off. Live life not endure it.
13. If you’re still checking their Facebook/Instagram, you’re never going to get over them. Let that shit go.
14. Always give priority to the ones that make you a priority in their lives. It’s that whole tit for tat thing. I think? I've never eally been sure of that expression.
15. Struggle is good. Choose “bring it on!” over “I can’t take it anymore.”
16. Drink more water, dummy.
17. Try to be kind as often as you can. It’s difficult, but honey something something vinegar something something.
18. Shut your mouth, stop thinking you know everything, and listen. Most people are a hell of a lot smart than you think. Make it a goal to learn one new thing today.
19. Everything seems worse first thing in the morning and right before you fall asleep. Recognize this and adjust accordingly.
20. Appropriate footwear is always a smart choice. Winter is not a time for fashion over function.
(Holiday Tidbits or How I’m Trying To Be Less Grinchy This December and Embrace a Better Version of Me)
@daily-esprit-descalier
45 notes · View notes
sor-vette · 2 years
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#5 Tiresome Tuesday
“It’s a refurbished student housing,” you explain as they trail after you like ducks in a row. Even if they don’t understand what you’re saying, they seem to be clinging to every word. Wherever you look there’s always at least one pair of doe eyes staring expectantly back at you a.k.a. what do you do when you open your doors and find a certain retired boyband for some reason wants to move in
▶type: ot7 x fem! reader (poly)
▶ word count: 2.5.k
▶ series’ masterlist
▶ other works
▶a/n: Turns out I'm incapable of writing things without angst. Next up is Namjoon's birthday, it will be a fluff fest, I promise.
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Jungkook sits splayed like an asshole. He woke up and chose to commit to being desperate. Namjoon and the rest, the so-called congregation of maturity, insisted that they should wait and be patient. Patience after all was a virtue but not one Jungkook planned on having. He’s been waiting, he’s been patient, arguably more so than the rest of them, and it has given him the shits. So he woke up and jumped straight into having four buttons popped open, instead of the usual two.
He reached to run his finger through his hair only to stop when receiving Jimin’s infamous glare from the kitchen counters. It looked mussed and fluff as though he just happened to look like this when in reality it had taken three and a half hours of immense effort and hairdryer power, fought amidst catty, merciless bickering, squeezed into the tiny of your bathroom.
"Our bathroom, to be exact," Jungkook thinks, vibrating at the idea.
It’s 19:15 and you’re still not home which puts them in yet a muffled state of panic. You’d been coming home later and later this week and they’re well determined to make you feel better. Though how exactly Jungkook’s manspreading is supposed to help even he himself had questions . Still, he tries his little impatient, hopelessly romantic heart out, greedily stretching his thighs over the whole of furniture so if you wanted to sit, which you often did, you at the very least would have to ask him to move.
Jungkook groans at the thought of you pronouncing his name. He knew that along with looking pathetic, he looked good (he published a poll on his fake Twitter profile to see which outfit the People™️ liked better) and he knew that the hints he’s been dropping were about as subtle as the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. He still remembers “The Land Before Time”. Man, that movie was sad.
Back to the point. Jungkook looks good, he’s clear that he likes you in such a shameless way that it could only be beaten by Taehyung who stopped giving a shit altogether ever since turning 24. Now Taehyung had straight-up proposed to you during dinner while eagerly trying to show a handmade chart on why having five kids was not at all insane. And had Namjoon not choked him out with a spoonful of rice, you’d actually be subjected to the sight of that ungodly thing.
They all wait in bored silence until finally there is a rattle on the door. Jimin and Taehyung who were seated by the counter next to the microwave straightened like a pair of BBC Earth cameramen would in front of an unorthodox mating ritual.
To be even more of a casual bastard, Jungkook throws an arm over the cushions trying to appear as inviting as possible. He gathered that you were a more reserved type but surely you had not entered nunhood and would not turn a blind eye - !
“Hey, Jungkook,” you greet, not bothering to raise your head from the folder in your hands. You drop the tote bag with milk and cereal onto the table and leave just as absent-mindedly. Jimin and Taehyung might as well not even exist in the same universe as they got thoroughly ignored.
Jungkook closes his legs. Rolls on the carpet. Lays there - defeated.
“Mark that down,” Jimin sullenly mutters and Taehyung, just as grim, scrabbles another line in his notebook.
“Attempt #38 - failed.”
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You’re so tired that it even isn’t the correct word anymore. You’re exhausted. Drained. When you close your eyes it is a jumble between that disgusting beige and graph of electrical outlets.
It was always like this before finishing a project. Some relished and enjoyed the finished work in a mentally healthy way, you on the other hand had the predisposition to literally run yourself below the ground. Suddenly every decision became unstable and hard for you to understand. Was it always like this, had you put that colour here deliberately or was it just a draft you forgot to delete?
You just couldn’t stop winding yourself tighter and tighter, anxiety squeezing the life out of your brain like a boa snake. But it had made you marginally successful, it made sure, to the most brutal of degrees, that there were no mistakes. And in your line of work, that sort of quality was the building block of employment.
You fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow only to be awoken by something tugging on your wrist. In your disoriented state, you assume that it's Molly, your childhood Border Collie before it sunk in, that you were in fact not eight years old anymore and Molly had moved to better pastures already long ago. You blink, turning round and while the eyes peering back at you are brown and just as pleading as Molly's, they were decidedly owned by a member of Homo Sapiens.
Kim Taehyung is squatting next to your bed, throwing the most miserable, empathy inducing pout a human could ever muster while holding your wrist in two, warm hands. You close your eyes, not wanting to see. Having seen enough.
“Cook, please,” he whines.
It takes a moment for your addled mind to put together words with meaning and when you do, you yank your wrist away, rustling deeper underneath the blanket. Not a second later it is taken hostage again.
“I’m hungry, please cook,” he rubs his head against your mattress, curls flopping left and right.
“You’re a grown man,” you hiss, “if you can’t cook, then there’s something wrong with you.”
“I know,” he admits, tugging at your fingers almost desperately, “please.”
“Ask Jin.”
“Jin threw shoe.”
“Yoongi, then.”
“Yoongi threw other shoe.”
You let out a loud growl at which point Taehyung just floods the previously quiet room with an obnoxious “please, please, please”. You kick a leg out and happily, Taehyung pulls you by the elbow to the kitchen. He wrenches away his grubby little hands and with a grin that was far too satisfied, plopped down on the counter barstool, swinging bare feet back and forth.
Absolutely cold-blooded you pour milk into a bowl, set down a bag of cereal and leave the Soompi Award Winner for Best Idol Actor of 2018 to deflate like a burst balloon.
“Mark it down,” Jimin shakes his head behind the couch and Jungkook etches in a bold, black stroke -
“Attempt #39 - failed.”
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Jimin knows that the fault lies in the complicated nature of the previous plants. A lot of just so happened’s, a lot of excuses thrown in the air. You’re a straightforward woman, you like honesty so he comes to you, intentions bared.
Too much bared, anyone would tell but Jimin is not anyone.
You practically crawl out of the boiling shower, limp and ready to crash. The reveal was in two days and you were running on less than fumes, on petrol smell alone if you will. All you want is to detach your aching bones from your body, so you’re very displeased when those bones find themselves squished together.
But it’s even worse. There’s no other way around than to just state - you were touch starved. Hard. It was years since the last time someone hugged you and the warm, entirely unexpected hug punts you straight into a physical recreation of multiple Windows error noises. Your heart leaps outside of your chest and on instinct, stemming from darkened days of high - school, you elbow the affectionate attacker into the ribs.
Jimin stumbles backwards, taken off the consensus of thinking beings as he watches your expression with wide, terrified eyes, mouth flapping open and closed like fish in the dry.
You’re angry. Not annoyed, not disgruntled, actually angry. It’s an expression that makes Jimin want to seek penance away from civilization.
“Piss off of me,” you growl and storm off.
The little conflict elicited the interest of others and as you push past Yoongi, he automatically reaches out to comfort but tucks his hands away. He had a working brain and more importantly a complete set of understanding that boundaries existed for a reason.
As Jimin feels a sting forming on his side, he carefully considers that maybe the fault in their plans lay in the fact that they were idiots.
They all become deathly quiet and in the befallen horror the sound of your doors rings like a cannon shot.
Yoongi turns. Jin turns. Namjoon turns. And Hoseok turns. All three shrink smaller underneath the growing fury.
There is no red in the room and yet Jimin can swear that it pours from Hoseok’s inhumane eyes. Where did his lovely Hobi go? He ventures a guess - the same place where Yoongi, Namjoon and Jin disappeared off to. Somewhere entirely unreachable.
What happens in the subsequent two-hour meeting cannot be relayed as the events that transpired would be in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. All that can be revealed is that this was the moment when the written letter was drafted, an idea that at most they played with but never thought of executing. And that neither Jimin, nor Taehyung, nor Jungkook ever recovered their full heights that were lost upon bending down in apology.
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It’s the last day and you have nothing left to give. You drove through the day with as much vigour as a twice squashed snail would possess. There’s nothing even left for you to fix or do. The checkup about the checkup about the checkup that you’ve already done ten times was exhausted of any conceivable or inconceivable errors. All that remains is just waiting. Banal, helpless waiting. Monotonous, you wait until the clock chimes five, push the chair to your table and wander the streets looking every bit as ghostly as you felt.
You push open the white doors with a golden 27 nailed to the top and are greeted with three figures. Instantaneously, you itch back, not wanting to offend or be offended.
They stay a respectable distance away before lowering their eyes down and with a synchronicity that exposed the many years of rigorous training, declared-
“I’m sorry.”
You close the doors, needing something to do but alas also cutting off your exit point.
“We’re sorry that we imposed on you and disrespected your boundaries. It will never happen again, we promise.”
Without flaws, without hesitation or stumbling on pronunciation. The kind of speech that clearly was rehearsed dozens if not hundreds of times. Still, they appear sincere. Actually, they look scared and as you forget that you should respond something as well, the fear doubles.
“I’m very sorry,” Jimin asserts, the only one daring to remotely look at you, “I don’t...not want to hurt you.”
“I’m not hurt,” you amend simply. Clearly, they put themselves through the wringer. “I was just...shocked.”
Loneliness was only more bitter when in the crowd and loss of friends was only more painful at the reminder of someone’s else's hug.
Though you hadn’t lost them did you. They just left you. Tossed you aside without saying a word, like an apple core thrown out of the moving car. Left alone, to decay in your own time. What Jimin unwittingly drenched up was a rot you’d never wipe your soul clean from. People could joke all they wanted about being pathetic, being some kind of child lacking the mentality of “wEll I mAnAGEd tO leARn SeLf lOvE uSIng theSe tOp 10 sELf hELp TiPs” it didn’t change the fact that if you were that naive idiot that offers their heart to the wrong people, that idiot that put the effort of writing one hopeful text after another only to be met with grey, unread checkmarks, that idiot that finally realized that they were the troupe-less clown performing in an empty circus... It made you not want friends for the rest of your life.
“I understand you’re all very,” you gesture vaguely around, “touchy-feely but.” The words choke upon your tongue.
“I’m sorry has no one else asked about this apartment? There were four of us that wanted to move in.”
“No, you’re the only one. I’m sure.”
You swallow the lump in your throat, peering at the details of the entryway shelf. You needed a good painting to hang above there.
Jimin observed that look, face contorted in worry. He knew that look. He remembered it being thrown into the mirror of the bathroom after he was done crying, bucking underneath the weight of abandonment, of stress, of sheer fucking pain of feeling unloved.
How many years have you gone feeling the same thing he did? More than enough. Suddenly, fear drops his heart into the abyss. You’d never forgive them. If you ever found out, you’d never ever forgive or understand. And even though all the things he previously knew turned out to be wrong, he knows he’s not making a mistake here, because if the roles were reversed - he’d never forgive himself too.
“I’m not good with friends,” you conclude, straight to the point, a fact, brushing away all feelings underneath the carpet. To stay there.
They all nod, except for Jimin who seems either unconvinced or deep in thought, you can’t tell.
“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have elbowed you, it’s not a proper way to uh...express my emotions.”
Finally, he shakes off the daze and extends his hand, with a smile perhaps too tight-lipped to rest easy. You shake his hand nonetheless and a peace treaty is signed.
A muffled cough interrupt the moment, along with a suspicious shuffling in the further hallway.
So much so for being older.
“You want to go eat with me?” you offer and predictably as the apologetic trio inch closer in twinkling excitement, the rest come barreling through.
“Wonderful, where are we going?” Namjoon greets you smoothly like he didn’t just shove Jin out of his way as if he was a wayward carton box. Jin peels himself off the grey wallpaper and kicks Namjoon in the shin. You bite the inside of your cheek to stop smiling.
You had two options really. Either stay at home, stew in anxiety until your head pops similar to a ripened tomato or try to distract yourself. Something said these seven would provide enough chaos to take your mind off things.
“You want to join?”
“Our other plans fell through. We all lead very eventful, exciting lives. So where are we going?” Namjoon replies disinterestedly already throwing a jacket over his shoulders. In a second there is a flurry of movement for shoes and in some cases for proper pants.
“I don’t know yet. Wherever it is, you’re paying, please. I’m broke right now. ”
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429 notes · View notes
thunderheadfred · 3 years
Text
🦅Hawks HC’s🦅
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This is SO unnecessarily long. Some NSFW. Minors do not interact.
- - - - -
General
Has zero social life or hobbies outside of work. He knows it’s unhealthy, but like, who has the time?? Oh? Lots of people do?? Haha what are healthy work/home boundaries? He desperately wants to retire and always talks about a world without heroes, but the truth is he would have no idea what to do with himself if he got his way. Take him to a park at midnight and watch him turn into a giant repressed child on a swing. He’ll do a standing-360 and it will be terrifying.
Listens to music way too loud in his headphones to drown out wind noise. Probably half deaf at this point. His musical taste is wild; listening history all over the fucking place. Algorithms have no idea what to do with him.
That visor? It’s prescription. Wow is he far-sighted. He wears glasses. He’s not blind without them (rather the opposite) but they help him see things directly in front of him without massive eye strain. Yeah, he looks really hot in glasses.
Prefers communicating via text. Sometimes it’s a lot of dumb memes, but mostly it’s sincere. He can say what he means when he doesn’t have to put on a public front.
Smokes like a chimney. Self medicates with stimulants. Coffee, tobacco, sugar. Fidgety, likes things in his mouth or hands. Gnashes on toothpicks and popsicle sticks. He really should go back to therapy, huh? His teeth are sparkling white for the cameras but his breath could use some work. Chews gum a lot to compensate, and always does it really loudly with a big shit-eating grin.
Impatient as fuuuuuck. Rude about it. If you take too long doing anything, you’re going to hear a foot tapping. He’ll smile and laugh it off, never ever directly criticize you about it. But lord, the dramatic sighs. He WILL nudge you out of the way and take over in order to finish a task faster, and it’s truly fucking annoying.
LOVES food. Has the metabolism of an actual bird. Will seize upon any excuse to eat. No need to be self-conscious about eating in front of him; he wants you to enjoy it. Steals bites from you and talks with his mouth full. Prefers street food and take-out, usually eats while walking or flying. Sit-down restaurants are an invitation for gawkers.
He’s one of those celebrities that looks way taller on TV. In real life, he’s small and compact. So you’re surprised the first time you see him in person. He has a big head. Literally.
If you’re taller or bigger than him, he does Not Care. He treats everyone like they’re four feet tall, even Endeavor. Everything you do is cute. If you’re actually short, he’s going to carry you around all the time, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Collects big chunky overpriced watches. All the better to tell you you’re late.
Half his clothes are brand fucking new. Sometimes he forgets to take off the tags. (Don’t look at the prices, do NOT) He never seems to wear the same thing twice. He also never seems to go shopping. Brands just give him stuff, and he shrugs and goes “yeah okay.”
The other half of his clothes are old, faded, and patched up. Every item he acquires for himself has deep sentimental value. If you tell him to throw away that nasty ten-year-old pair of frayed cargo pants, be prepared to find out how wrong and evil you are for even suggesting it.
He doesn’t snore; he coos. Loudly. Like a fucking pigeon trapped in a megaphone.
- - - - -
Dating
Gift-giving is his love language. Bringing your favorite snacks. Leaving novelty magnets on your fridge. He found a copy of that book/game/movie you mentioned like a month ago, don’t you remember? If he has to go out of town on a job, he’ll bring back the ugliest possible souvenir, just to annoy you.
He likes gifting jewelry especially. Covering you in shiny baubles, little golden things. Not expensive, but unusual. Antiques or handmade, even bizarre vending machine crap. Gets really handsy if you wear or show off his gifts.
Since you’re the first person who has given him The Feels, if you are resistant to his advances (like, say, because he’s way too famous and you’re terrified he’s gonna break your heart) he’s going to go fucking nuts trying to woo you. Doesn’t have a single patient bone in his body but will wait as long as it takes for you to come around. He’ll act like he’s cool with just being friends at first, just hanging out, haha. Oh you’re busy today? That’s cool. Inside he’s shrieking like a tea kettle. Go ahead, make him wait.
Don’t bother giving him a key to your place. He’s coming in through the bedroom window or patio door. Just put out a damn welcome mat on your balcony... or a bird feeder.
A bit of a voyeur. He likes to watch you do your normal routine without interruption. He can see from miles away so if you’ve got your lights on at night, he’ll creep for a while before he comes in. It comforts him immensely, seeing a little slice of the world that isn’t constantly in need of saving.
Is super talkative and funny but a terrible communicator. Makes more jokes the worse he feels. Will almost never tell you what he needs. Most of the time, he doesn’t even know. You will learn to read between the lines and gradually notice his tiny unconscious cries for help. Back rubs make him emotional.
He shows up at your place at the weirdest times. All hours. You’re never ready. At first it was infuriating, because you wanted to look your best and have time to prepare, but you figure out pretty quickly that seeing you in your natural state is his favorite thing. He never gets to be around normal people, doing normal things. A boring, lazy afternoon is his idea of paradise.
He’ll pick through your things and ask a world of invasive questions. A medicine cabinet raider. He wants to know every fucking tiny thing about you, live vicariously through you.
He actually lives in a top floor penthouse. Because I mean, where else? Never spends any time there; mostly he seems to roost on the balcony. He has used the front door maybe once. He much prefers your place, and will only take you back to his after months of dating. It’ll take like, an entire emergency. You’ll end up in his bed by mistake.
Because when you finally come over, he’s embarrassed. Its sparse. White. Things in boxes. A new furniture smell. Like he’s not done moving in, though he’s lived there for years. He wants you to move in So Bad but doesn’t want to be pushy. If you don’t start leaving your stuff there, he’ll steal things from your apartment. Where the hell is your favorite t-shirt? Or that pillowcase you like? Dammit Keigo.
He’s a decent cook, a habit he made himself pick up because he thought it might make him feel more normal. It... didn’t. He never actually cooks until you give him an excuse. He’ll bring you breakfast in bed and watch you eat every bite with big hungry eyes.
He’s got a separate wardrobe for his hero costume and all his feathers. Yeah. His feathers. Because he can detach and control his feathers at will, when he’s alone at home he kind of just... shucks off his wings. The first time you see him do it, your eyes fall out of your head. He walks around in a tee shirt and boxers with these ugly little stumps covered in brownish, blood-red down. It actually looks kind of gnarly, like he got mauled by a bear.
He’s never dated until you. No one has ever been in his apartment until you. No one has called him Keigo until you. He has some bigass intimacy issues. Because. Y’know. The trauma. But god, he wants you in his life so bad, even if he has no idea how to make time for your relationship.
He’ll want to keep you to himself for a while. Once you go public he’s going to have an arm around your shoulders at all times. Publicly Displays his Affection way more than is socially acceptable in Japan, and gives precisely -100,000 fucks.
His fans either love you or hate you. There is no in between. He will immediately take your phone and threaten to drop it from a great height if he catches you reading shitty gossip about the two of you. Does NOT care about his public image anymore, doesn’t want YOU to care about it either. He’s gonna retire soon anyway, remember? That’s a lie.
Being a charming motherfucker is the core of his public persona, so you will get jealous. A lot. He will flirt shamelessly without realizing it. He will get photographed in compromising positions with gorgeous people.
Once you accept that he’s basically an actor 80% of the time and that Hawks and Keigo are separate identities, you’ll both feel better. When he comes home (to YOU) and falls over exhausted and stops being Hawks(tm), when he scratches his ass or burps in front of you, when he yells to you from the bathroom, when he groans childishly about his shitty day while laying face-down in your lap, you’ll know you have nothing to worry about. Keigo is all yours.
Boundaries? Never heard of ‘em. He’s either a million lightyears away or he’s glued to your hip. The whiplash is astounding.
Absolutely says “I love you” wayyyyyy to soon. It thrills you but scares you off at the same time, because there’s no way Hawks - The Hawks - can actually mean it, right? (He does)
Rings? Nah. When things get serious, he will make a necklace out of a feather for you, and if you ever take it off, you better be asleep or in the shower. Even then you’re on thin fuckin ice. If you’re not wearing it he knows. He’s never mean about making you put it back on, it just makes him nervous if he can’t feel your heartbeat.
- - - - -
SPICY CHICKEN NUGGETS
High sex drive. Horny like 25/7. Probably a symptom of having way too much pent up stress.
Often takes care of it himself when he doesn’t have the emotional resources for anyone else, even his S.O. Figures you don’t want him coming on to you as often as he would like to, but he’s too stupid to talk to you about it first. Morning masturbator.
Yes he’s fucked around a lot but he’s not exactly a playboy either. People have always thrown themselves at him, and before he met you he let them do it. Especially when out of town and staying in a hotel. Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, etc.
He’d never be unfaithful to you though; his loyalty and dedication are frankly a little unsettling. Sometimes you feel like the only thing in his life other than hero work. Teach this man to knit. Make him join a book club. Christ. Anything.
Does in fact have seasonal mating patterns and it’s super embarrassing.
An underwear-sniffing perv. He’ll definitely hump your pillow.
Gets a sick thrill out of breaking in and startling you. Coming up behind you in the dark, sneaking into your bed. It’s probably his worst habit, and even he hates that he does it. If you get better at detecting him he’ll be so proud. Land a slap on him and he’ll be a horny mess.
Dog-whistles at you. Often from rooftops, and you have no idea where he is but you know he’s leering.
He will call you a lot of really stupid pet names. He likes the way you blush when he finds a newer, stupider one. Calls you angel when he’s really far gone.
Likes to scratch you with his stubble until your skin turns raw and sensitive. If it annoys you or hurts a little? Even better. Making you squirm is his new favorite thing. Especially when going down on you. Your inner thighs are always exfoliated.
His cock is average in every respect. This is not a bad thing. He knows how to please you with every totally normal inch of that cock. He has some kind of homing beacon installed on your sensitive spots.
Goes absolutely insane for blowjobs. Any time, any place.
Likes to bend you around in all kinds of positions with an assist from his feathers to hold up an ankle here, an arm there. Get used to floating mid-coitus. It just seems to happen.
Spanky.
His number one priority is making you feel adored and at home in his bed. Ohhhhh he likes to make you smile. But if you encourage him to get pushy and dominant with you, you will have a good, good time.
He’s switchy, and will lose his shit if you initiate or take control. Again, he’s always horny for you, because he can finally let go. Breathe in his direction and he’s hard.
Doesn’t moan much, but Babe, he’s a dirty talker. He’s not smooth or deliberate about it, it’s more like he can’t fucking believe you let him do whatever he wants to you. You like that huh? Like he’s in stages of shock. He’s singing your praises to high Heaven and muttering oh shit oh shit oh shittttttt and laugh-crying as he cums. He never talks about his feelings; he fucks about them.
After. Care. King. He loves pampering and clucking over you anyway, this is simply another excuse to do it. He knows exactly how much water you drink in a day. Can’t take care of himself for shit, but you? You’ll never have a need he won’t try to fill. What’s all that hero work for if not this? Yeah, soak it up. You deserve it.
679 notes · View notes
makeste · 3 years
Text
BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain
Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.
Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.
lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then
“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh
so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down
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his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch
(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)
side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”
ha ha ha, fucking ouch
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are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??
huh
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you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you
(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)
also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice
fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two
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All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you
is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist
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look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is
ffkdjslk
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“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what
-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol
okay fuck this
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see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight
just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up
oh my god
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“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob
omg why am I laughing. shit
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this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it
lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao
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just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me
adsfklwkfsdwgkj
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ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg
STAIN: heard you talking shit old man
ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain
STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way
ME: gljfljgk
(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)
sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”
good thing he still knows how to do this party trick
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A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything
lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone
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way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one
oh wait
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Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride
oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this
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(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)
Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony
dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue
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oh my god my heart
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shit
why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters
“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit
and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could
so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might
“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks
wtf
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are you dead All Might
um
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I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol
oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??
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hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??
oh my godddd
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and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much
FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING
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DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON
holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol
OH ARE WE STILL GOING
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my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think
...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time
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I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma
YAYYY
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it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit
anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech
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I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place
-- okay LISTEN
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YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this
holy fucking shit
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“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”
so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then
“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”
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it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip
anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol
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“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort
so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol
mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit
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inkskinned · 4 years
Text
When the honey showed up, we all just took it inside. That was one of the things about it - it was always a little warm, always in the same simple jar and the nice plaid bow. Handmade-like. Most of us put it in our pantries or in the back of our cabinets, some put it in the fridge. we just thought to ourselves: gee, what a wonderful present.
I don’t know how long it took before we all had one. For a while, the most that would happen was two-minute feel-good op ed pieces in local newspapers. People would run little letters to the editor to find out the “culprit”. Sometimes there were faux-serious “investigations” when that parent freaked out about the possibility of drugs in honey. Most of the time, it ended quickly. After all, it was a nice gift from a neighbor, and it was yours. that was another thing. A house could be 122 people, and we’d all find our own jar on the doorstep, one at a time. we would know when it was ours and when it wasn’t, no matter how alike they looked. nobody ate it, at first. It was yours, and you wouldn’t eat it, and you couldn’t eat another person’s. it just wasn’t done. and the thing is - in that imaginary house, of 122 people? we’d all buy other honey. it was both there and took up space - but none of us thought of it as actually existing. we’d put down our storebought honey right next to it and think - why did i buy another? i’ve wanted to try this one for a while. and then the thought would simply be out of our head, because this is our third bag of baby carrots we have bought to let spoil again.
it was that one person who mentioned it on youtube. actually i think it was a vimeo “urban legends” series. some person with 6 followers who deleted like instantly. but then 6 people said something similar: everyone they knew had this one specific honey story. and then 12. and then all of a sudden we all woke up to “#honeyonthedoorstep” globally trending. we all posted our pictures of our honey and called each other liars and got into discourse fights with vegans and people without a sweet tooth. In 24 hours, it was running the media. 9-at-night serious news anchors leaned over to each other and said “now john, did you hear about this?” and despite their disbelief, they’d admit: i got the honey too. I think somewhere in march. maybe around the 5th. but i never ate it or thought anything of it. i just thought - what a nice gift. 
By the end of the week, there were YouTube challenges and instagram memes and a netflix miniseries in the works. Lots of people tried to eat their honey, and most who “succeeded” were deemed a hoax - but truth be told? it’s not good tv to watch someone pick up honey and say “actually it’s not ready” or something similar and just decide to go do something else. i tried once, winedrunk and thinking i could be famous because it’s just honey. and i remember thinking that exact thing - it’s not ready. i realized i needed to go do dishes, this was stupid and kind of cringey. 
and people freaked out, of course. outside of the jokes were parents who were asking if their children would get a jar one day, if this was a one-time thing. there were so many conspiracy theories the government finally had to say something (not that any of us were actually listening), there were massive hunts to find “the team of honey dispatchers”, there were plenty of false confessions, there were rallies to destroy the things. i don’t know if anyone actually did, because in the end? it was just a jar of honey, and it was yours, and it would be a shame to throw it at the floor just because the internet told you so. I moved three times that year - grad school, job, other better job. i always took mine with me. it wasn’t a real choice, it was just... like taking a plate that belonged to your grandmother, or carrying a song stuck in your head. it was just something that was going to come with, but it bore no special attention. and then back into the pantry it went.
two weeks later? we all just... moved on from talking about honey. it was in some memes, it was in BuzzFeed’s “top 5 weirdest stories (that are actually true)”, it was going to be the central plot of books and horror movies. but it wasn’t interesting, not really, anymore. it was like saying “all people need food”. it was just true, and not really changing. every consecutive conspiracy video got less likes, and by the end of the year, it was old enough to be a staple in bad stand-up comedy and in coming-of-age children’s shows.
nobody believed the first ones who ate it. the most traction that those posts got were from friends and family who barely remembered the whole fad. we all just figured it was a weird annual resurgence kind of thing. 
but then people were definitely, absolutely, 100% eating their honey. i think i heard about one of my coworkers first. i didn’t know her; she was in another department. she told everyone it was very similar to “normal” honey. just a little tarter than she’d expected.
twitter was in an uproar. the honey was sweet to some. spicy to others. horrible, bitter, like a thousand stingers. it was perfect, it tasted like summer. most people said: it’s just honey, and absolutely regular.
those of us who weren’t ready were biting our fingernails for a while, going to our pantries, wondering - what the fuck do i mean it’s not ready? but it wasn’t ready.  
like i said, it’s warm, always. But you just... know. one day you realize you really want honey on toast. or honey on tea, honey on a banana, just... honey. i remember opening it, but it didn’t feel like any more interesting than going to the cabinet for honey ever feels. i pour mine, usually, skipping a spoon because i’m usually too lazy. i was already in the middle of my meal before i realized - this is the honey. it’s not just a normal breakfast, it’s the breakfast, holy shit. 
mine is just, you know. honey. it has a little hint of spice and sweet to it, which i actually quite like. it reminds me of this red pepper jelly my family used to get, and it makes me happy. but in the end? it’s honey. i don’t feel like i’m connected to a seventh realm. it’s good on oatmeal and bad in coffee no matter what some of you will tell me.
it’s just, you know. once you get your jar, and it’s ready, you have a little honey roughly every 24ish hours. it’s nothing absurd. it’s just honey, i mean - it’s like saying “you’re alive, so at some point, you should probably eat.” Most of us, it hasn’t really changed our schedules. it doesn’t seem to ever run out, which is good, because we’re always forgetting to check to see if we need more before we go shopping. for most of us? you don’t die if you miss a few days, even a few weeks, you don’t go crazy trying to get it back. sure, there’s weirdass cultists who worship it, but most of us just seem to think - it’s nice to have, and it’s okay to want this thing.
now, there’s some stuff out there, you know, about what it all “means”. and honestly, we all notice things. i’m not the only one who has seen that good people tend to think their honey tastes good and eat it normally. bad people tend to eat their honey frequently but hate every second of the eating. there are plenty who will snort and say “i’m a good person and i think it tastes like dirt” and plenty who will say “i’m a shit person and i think it tastes like the summer i finally kissed her”. and i don’t know, not the way i knew if it was ready, but it feels like a simple thing amidst all the messy. and it’s probably helpful that i think mine is, like most people’s, just a nice in-the-middle. i mean, the other day i heard it asked like a star sign - what’s your honey like?
there’s this one thing, though, you know. i choose to believe, because it might make me secretly happy. it’s like believing in nessie. i know realistically it’s probably just hearsay. but there’s this underground rumbling that, over time, the honey changes. just a little, every day, unnoticeable to most of us who go to work and do our best by others but still sometimes steal toilet paper. there’s these stories of people who made it rich by selling out their friends, who stole patents, who argue that others should charge for insulin - that they liked the honey, at first, but over time, it’s gone rotten. and similarly, every so often, there’s these stories of people who were normal “regular” honey people, who helped someone out of the bottom. who chose to be just a little bit better than they were the day before. who had moments of decisive kindness that changed them. they all say the same thing: since then, the honey has been amazing, and they work to keep it that way. 
my grandmother and my mother were never surprised. they have this saying about bees and their secrets. my mother said to me: we have always had these tiny angels. they’re just giving us each a taste of the world we are making.
my grandmother later tells me, while watering the flowers, almost the exact same thing: they will haunt us when they go, because they keep books in their combs. and they see us giants, and no matter who we lie to? the world of bees will know.
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babymetaldoll · 3 years
Text
Danger Days - Chapter seventeen: “Falling into pieces”
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Word count: 7,8K
Summary: Joey talks with Matthew for the first time ever since breaking up. Gerard opens up with Mikey about his true feelings for Joey.
Warnings: Cursing, angst, mention of sexual assault.
A/N: Do you think Matthew is gonna be excited to be a dad?
Masterlist
Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen | Chapter sixteen | Chapter seventeen | Chapter eighteen | Chapter nineteen | Chapter twenty | Chapter twenty one | Chapter twenty-two | Chapter twenty-three | Chapter twenty-four |
--
Matthew kept asking his mom what time it was. He had been doing the same ever since he woke up around ten in the morning. He was anxious. His whole body hurt; he was suffering from several wounds, but still, what hurt him the most was not being able to talk to his girl.
- "Hey"- Paget whispered as she walked into the room with two cups of coffee- "Hello Marilyn, I brought you this."
- "Thank you, honey"- the two women hugged for a second, then the actress walked to her friend.
- "How do you feel?"
- "Like I was in a car crash, literally"- he answered and smiled- "I'm ok. My knee is still in place, which is amazing. I thought I was going to return to the crutches for another six months."
- "You are very lucky, your car is smashed... I can't believe you don't have a scratch."
- "I have many, many bruises, doesn't that count?"- Matthew whispered, still in pain.
- "I think it does"- his friend joked- "I got you these"- Paget opened a bag and put on the bed all the stuffed animals the young man had made- "I took all the stuff from your car, I had the feeling you might need these."
- "Thank you"- he softly smiled and looked at the handmade toys.
- "Everybody says hi"- Paget tried to take Matthew away from any sad thoughts he had- "Do you know when you will be discharged?"
- "No, the doctor said a couple more days."
- "Again, a car crash."
- "Yeah..."- Matthew smiled at his friend, and she smiled back- "Thank you for being here."
- "That's what friends do... hey, can I get you something to eat?"
- "I'm ok."
- "I'm not coming until tomorrow, so I'm gonna go get you some candy for later"- Paget turned around and left the room for a few minutes.
- "What time is it, mom?"
- "It's noon, baby"- she answered and walked to him, kissing his forehead- "Try to sleep a little more, I'll wake you up when she calls, ok?"- he nodded and closed his eyes. He really couldn't wait anymore.
Gerard looked at Joey warming up at the other side of the room, her eyes closed, her headphones on. He sighed, thinking she wasn't in love with him. She had never been. Not like he was, at least. She wasn't going to be his. Not without a fight. Could he win a battle against Matthew? He was a cheater, but Gerard was married. That made him a cheater too.
- "Hey!"- Mikey's hand smacking his arm took him from his thoughts- "Why are you staring at her?"
- "I was just... thinking about... nothing, I guess."
- "I'm starting to think maybe Frank is right"- and Gerard turned to his younger brother pretending to be insulted.
- "Don't be stupid."
- "Then stop drooling. You are not fooling anyone!"
- "Come on, kids! It's showtime!"- Jeffrey walked in clapping his hands- "Joey! You too!"- he yelled, and the girl took out her headphones.
- "What?"
- "Show, now! Come on!"
- "Sorry"- the girl smiled and sprinted over the band. Frank's arms locked around her as he stood in the hallway next to the stage and kissed her shoulder upon her Megadeth t-shirt.
- "Take care"- and the drummer rolled her eyes.
- "I'm gonna be sitting moving my arms. I don't see the danger."
- "I'm just saying"- she smiled, and she leaned to kiss his cheek.
- "You make it so hard to hate you, Jersey."
- "That's what my wife always says."
- "I love your wife so fucking much."
- "I love her too"- he chuckled- "Have you ever noticed our conversations always end up being weird?"- and she smiled.
- "That's 'cos you are so fucking weird, Frank"
Joey couldn't help but laugh in deep joy for a second. She loved her job and her bandmates. She was finally where she always wanted to get as a drummer. Her personal life was a mess, though. Was that the price to pay to be successful? Getting a shitty love life and a whole mess in your head?
- "I finally get what happened with Andy, in Devil Wears Prada... I hated that fucking movie, but shit, I feel just like her now."
The kids at that show were on fire, which helped the weary band perform better. It was getting harder and harder to keep on playing after all those months of touring. They all needed to get a few days off to sleep and do nothing. Traveling was exhausting. Joey had never thought about that until this leg of the tour.
- "Danke Germany!"- Gerard yelled, and the crowd yelled right away. Mikey turned his back to the kids and looked at Joey smiling. She looked happy when they were on stage. That's why he always kept an eye on her when they were performing.
- "Give me all your fucking money!"- Gerard shouted, announcing the next song- Well, are you ready, Ray?
- "Yeah!"
- "How about you, Frank?"- and Iero made the weirdest noises on the mic
- "How about you, Joey?"- and the girl widened her eyes smiling as Gerard stood in front of the drum, reaching out the mic to her.
- "Yeah!"- and Gerard grinned.
- "How about you, Mikey?"
- "Fucking ready!"
- "I think I'm alright! One, two, three, four!!"
It felt for a minute like she wasn't the supporting drummer but one of the band. And it felt incredible.
The hospital was busy. Nurses and doctors walked outside in the hallways. Matthew was trying to concentrate on anything, but he couldn't take his eyes off his phone. They had brought him lunch already, but he wasn't hungry- and Paget had left him an obscene amount of candy- so he left the tray untouched. He only had the jelly. And only because his mother forced him.
He was weary though, he felt hurt, physically beaten. He was taking it like a champ 'cos he didn't want to scare his mom, but in reality, he was shocked. He had never realized how short life could be. He had never had any kind of experience like this before, and this one showed him one thing: the important things in life are the simplest. The ones you take for granted.
- "What do I love the most in life? My family, watching my nephews grow up, my mom... Yami, my Yami's smile, her voice... everything about her"- Matthew's eyes were stuck in his cellphone's screen as he thought about everything that had happened in the last days- "If there is one thing I need every day for the rest of my life is having her next to me. I'm not gonna let her go, no matter what".
If he could travel in time and slap himself, he would. He would also kick himself in the nuts and never go to that party at all. But he couldn't. And he had to live with it. Somehow.
Joey yelled goodnight to her friends and ran out of the van to her room before anyone could say anything to her. On the ride back to the hotel, they had all been briefed about the next day. They were leaving at seven in the morning. They had to meet in the lobby. They had press and a radio interview in Copenhagen at one. And Joey had the chance to stay at the hotel and rest. Everybody told her to do so. And she didn't argue with that, she wanted to rest, and most of all, she didn't want to be at any interview or close to Gerard.
- "Goodnight, kids!"- she yelled and waved as she ran to the elevator. Gerard looked at her with a sorry glance, and his brother caught it right away.
- "Are you ok?"- Mikey asked and raised an eyebrow.
- "What? Yeah, I'm just tired"- the Way brothers looked at each other, both of them knowing the oldest was lying.
- "Sure... just don't let your exhaustion get in the way"- Mikey stated and walked away.
- "Wait, what the fuck?"- Gerard asked, making the, most likely, wrong decision to follow his younger brother.
- "Come on, Gerard! Stop denying it! You have a crush on her"- and Gerard groaned, exhausted from the same conversation. Mainly because he was running out of excuses to prove people wrong.
- "So do you! So does everybody! 'Cos you are all telling me the same shit over and over again when I don't!"- the brothers got into the elevator on their own and continued arguing.
- "I fucking know you! And I can't believe I didn't see it before! You are fucking drooling all the time! You look like a fucking teenager!"
- "Oh! shut up!"- Gerard frowned and crossed his arms on his chest- "I don't have a crush on her. I am a happily married man! Just because you have been obsessed with her ever since you met her doesn't mean so am I!" They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes until the door opened on their floor, and both stepped out of the elevator.
- "Have you tried to get anything with her?"- Mikey asked and followed his brother to his room.
- "I don't wanna talk about this"- Gerard simply answered.
- "Which means yes."
- "No, I haven't 'cos I don't like her! I have no feelings for her!"- stains of red  hair dye were on Gerard's neck as he scratched it, tired of the conversation, and at the same time tired of denying the truth. One part of him wanted to tell his brother, to have someone to finally open up.
- "I don't want you to hurt her, Gerard."
- "Thank you for being concerned about her the most, instead of your brother"- Gerard snorted and opened his door, followed by his brother. He took out his shoes and laid on his bed like a dead man.
- "I care about her, and if you have feelings for her, you are fucked up!"
And suddenly, it was just too much for Gerard.
- "I know"- the singer whispered, and his brother's chest tightened at those words- "Do you think I want this? It's fucking agony! She stays as far away from me as possible, and she rejected me when I told her how I feel"- Gerard chuckled at his words- "Can you believe that? It's high school all over again! She keeps pushing me away each time I try to get closer to her, ever since the beginning."
Mikey widened his eyes, listening to his brother's confession, as he stood in front of him in shock.
- "You told her you like her?"
- "Yeah"- Gerard whispered and sighed, defeated. It was useless to deny the truth anymore- "I told her I loved her from day one."
- "Did you try to... kiss her?"
- "I succeeded, actually. After months of longing and thinking about it, I kissed her...."
- "What did she do?"- Mikey was whispering, not believing a word. Had Joey kissed his brother?
- "She stopped, told me to get away from her... and when I tried again, and she kissed me back. I thought, "Shit Gerard, you nailed it, she likes you too!" but then she called me Matthew"- Gerard's voice shook, and his brother looked at him, nearly shocked. Was he going to cry? Was he that affected by the drummer?
- "When did you..."
- "After the show in Valencia."
- "You sick bastard! She was drunk!!"- the youngest Way nearly yelled and kept walking across the room, brushing his hands against his face and making a serious effort not to hit his brother- "What the fuck Gerard?! She was intoxicated, and you tried to kiss her?"
- "I didn't try. I told you I succeeded! It was so good, it felt so fucking right"- the singer made a pause and wiped off the few tears that fell from his eyes.
- "I can't believe it! You abused her when she was drunk!" - but Gerard ignored the accusation and continued talking.
- "She wasn't drunk the first time, by the way"- and Mikey frowned.
- "You kissed her more than once!"
- "Yeah, that day you left me alone with her... it was so sweet, so tender..."
- "She was fucking depressed, crying, and affected by her boyfriend!! Gerard! What the fuck is your problem!! It's the sickest shit I've ever heard you do!"
- "Don't you think I feel like the shit too? I know I fucked it up! I just couldn't help it! I love her! I can't stand the fact she is suffering for an asshole who cheated on her! I need to fix her! I needed to..."- but Mikey didn't let him finish.
- "You are married. You don't have the moral to judge Gubler for cheating!"
- "I know"
- "And you love her? You are married! Don't you love Lynz anymore?"
- "I love her so much, Mikey! That's what's killing me too! 'Cos I love both of them! I wanna be with both! I need to have them both!"
- "Dude... that shit is sick!"- Mikey was shaken.
- "I know! That's the worst part. I know what I feel is wrong! I can't love Joey. I can't mess things with her 'cos she works with us and is fantastic as our drummer. But at the same time, it's like she is a magnet I can't keep away from! Like she is my earth, and I'm her moon, orbiting around her!"
Gerard sat down and started crying.
- "I don't know what's wrong with me! From day fucking one! I looked at her, and I knew she was going to be the end of me! And I've been dealing with this all along..."
Mikey had no idea what to do. He was in shock. Sure, he knew Gerard was weird around Joey, but he never thought it would be this bad. He always thought he didn't like her. And it turned out to be the complete opposite.
- "Until this morning, I was sure she was going to leave, not only for her stupid boyfriend but because of what happened..."
- "That's why she had been giving you the cold shoulder"- Mikey whispered, thinking out loud.
- "And I deserve it, I guess. I kissed her and told her I loved her... what the fuck is my problem?"
- "I don't know, but you really fucked it up"- Mikey nodded in silence at his statement and finally sat next to Gerard. His older brother brushed his hands against his face and wiped off the tears.
- "I feel I love her, you know? Like... a fucking piece of my heart I never knew was missing just appeared, and I need to keep her close, no matter what, 'cos if I don't, I'm gonna die."
- "Well, you are gonna have to learn to let that part go, 'cos there is no way, and I mean it, no way she is ever going to be with you."
Mikey was brutally honest, in part 'cos he was mad at Gerard, but mostly because he knew it was the truth. Joey wasn't in love with him. And even if she was, she would never let him leave his wife for her.
- "I know... and yet, I can't stop trying"- Gerard made a pause- "I hated you so bad for being so close to her... you are all so fucking close to her."
- "I always thought it was weird you were so distant."
- "I didn't know how to act around her. She smiles, and I have no fucking clue what to say."
- "You are fucked."
- "Yeah"- the two of them made a long pause.
- "You are gonna have to get rid of your feelings, Gerard."
- "I know... any clue how?"
- "No..."
- "And knowing right now she is talking to him, that shit kills me"- Mikey sighed. That was killing him too. But he didn't say a word.
The computer was on the bed. Joey sat in front of it, FaceTime was open, but she still couldn't find the guts to press "call." She just stared at the screen and sighed. She wanted to know about him, she was worried about his health after the accident. But she didn't know how to deal with it. With the whole "you broke my heart" part of the conversation.
- "Ok, let's do this. And you are not talking about any feeling, just about his health. It's gonna be a short call."
And not thinking about it again, she started the video call.
- "Hello baby!"- Marilyn's face filled the screen, and Joey's body shook with fear, anxiety, and excitement.
- "Hi! How are you?"
- "Great! How was the show?"
- "It was amazing! The kids were nuts today!"- and Joey yawned- "But I am dead, sorry. I just showered and put on my pajamas."
- "That's ok..."- there was a silence, Joey knew what was gonna happen, and she decided to treat it like a band-aid
- "And how's Matthew?"- she just ripped it off, pretending it didn't hurt
- "He is right here. He has been waiting for your call all day."
- "Mom!"- he whined, embarrassed. Joey had to bite her lips not to smile as she heard his voice somewhere near the phone. She felt her body shaking at that sound.
- "I'm gonna let you two kids talk. I'll be outside, bye honey!"
- "Bye Marilyn!"
Joey waved at the screen and noticed all the movements when the phone left the woman's hand. Two seconds later, Matthew's face filled the screen, and her heart stopped. He was bruised. He looked severely hurt. And yet, he had a massive smile on her lips as soon as he saw her.
His heart started beating so fast on his chest as soon as he laid eyes on her, he was sure one of the machines around him was going to start beeping. Neither of them said a word for a moment. They just stared.
- "FaceTiming him was a mistake. A normal call would have been so much better,"- Joey thought and took a deep breath before saying- "Hey, how do you feel?"
- "Good... I'm good. It looks worse than it is, maybe 'cos I get bruised a lot... 'cos I'm so white and... I'm a peach"- Matthew started rambling.
- "What happened?"- Joey stopped his rambling 'cos she knew he could go for hours.
- "A truck missed a red light and hit my car, but I'm ok, really... not even a broken bone."
- "What about your knee?"
- "It's still in place."
- "Now that's a miracle!"- Joey chuckled and regretted it right away, she was melting, and hearing Matthew's laughter like a cascade of joy didn't help either. Her heart kept racing, and her palms were sweating.
- "Yeah! I thought I was gonna have to spend another year in those crutches."
- "It's a good thing they are still in your closet."
- "A part of me knew I was stupid enough to injure myself again"- the actor smiled and shrugged. However, that movement hurt, and he involuntarily winced in pain.
- "Are you ok?"
- "Yeah, I just... forgot that hurts"- Joey nodded and looked at him. She wanted to end that call before she would burst into tears, which was about to happen any second now.
He was the father of her child. They were having a baby together, and he had no idea. All the thoughts spinning around her head were too much. It scared her to think about how everything was going to be when it came to the moment to talk about it, and she was sure that the moment wasn't that one.
- "Well, you should rest. I just wanted to know if you were ok, and..."- the girl started saying, but Matthew stopped her.
- "Wait, no... don't hang up yet"- his voice was a plea, and desperation came from each word he spoke, even his eyes looked at her with sadness and longing- "Please talk to me."
- "We are talking. You are clearly in pain. Maybe you should rest."
- "Please, don't go. I needed to talk to you for so long."
- "No, Matthew."
- "I need you to listen. I need you to forgive me."
- "No, Matthew, I'm tired; I don't wanna do this, not now, not ever. I just called to know if you were ok. I can see you are not half as bad as I imagined, which makes me happy. But I don't wanna talk about us."
- "Fine, that's ok, we don't have to talk about us, let's talk about anything else."
- "Matthew"- Joey knew just talking to him about the weather was a threat. Why? 'Cos he was charming, and she loved him. She didn't want to forgive him, and seeing his face wasn't helping in keeping that resolution.
- "Please, tell me, how was your day?"- she sighed and looked away, locking her eyes in her nails- "How was the show?"
- "It was good"
- "When do you leave for Denmark?"
- "Tomorrow at seven."
- "It should be a long drive from Hamburg"- Matthew was honestly desperate to make conversation, and the subject made it obvious.
- "Jeffrey said four hours, time I plan to spend sleeping."
- "Are you doing any more press with the band?"- at that minute, anything that came through Gubler's head that could help him keep her in line was a good subject.
- "I hope not, at least not tomorrow"- Joey kept staring at her nails, avoiding his eyes. Matthew couldn't stop staring at her, sitting on her bed, in pajama, obviously exhausted but still talking to him. That was a good sign, right?
- "You looked gorgeous at the Valencia show"- he sort of whispered and saw her cheeks turning red of embarrassment- "I told you that was a great outfit."
- "Yeah... I remember"- she sighed and looked at him, raising an eyebrow- "So, did you actually watch it? I thought you would be working at the time."
- "I stopped everything and forced them to watch you play"- Joey chuckled at those words, and Matthew felt he was a tiny baby step closer to win her back- "I wasn't going to miss it. It was my chance to see you live, and you kicked ass." The girl felt the blush in her cheeks as she looked at her fingers again, playing with them on the blanket of the bed.
- "Thanks..."- Matthew stayed quiet for a moment, just looking at her.
- "You look so beautiful tonight"- but she raised her eyes and frowned
- "Don't"
- "Sorry"- he whispered and sighed- "So... Paget came to see me today"- that was the only thing that came to his mind
- "How is she?"
- "Good, she bought me so many candies I'm gonna have a sugar rush until Halloween"- and he chuckled.
- "I'm jealous. Mikey took away all my candy today."
- "Why?"- the boy frowned.
- "He said I can't have that much sugar"- and Joey bit her tongue. She couldn't eat that much sugar being pregnant. She was pregnant with Matthew's baby.
- "What is he? The sugar police?"- and the girl slightly smiled.
- "Yeah, I guess he is."
- "How is he?"
- "He hates you."
- "I guess everybody hates me, I hate me... mom hates me."
- "I surely doubt it."
- "Believe me, she does."
- "Anyway, we are not talking about that..."
- "Are we ever going to talk about that?"- and Joey knew the answer to that - "Yes, I guess we will... we have to talk, "But not about what you are thinking, cheater."
- "Good, great, yeah, awesome, we have to talk, I need to..."- but Joey stopped him again.
- "Not now, not today. When I come back to Los Angeles, we can meet, have a coffee and talk about it." Matthew nodded. He didn't have another choice but to agree with her terms. He wanted to talk to her, and he had to go along with her flow to win her back. Not along with his desires.
- "Do you want me to pick you from the airport?"
- "No thanks, I can take a cab."
- "You are gonna bring a million bags..."
- "I can handle it, don't worry"- her voice was so serious. Matthew knew he shouldn't insist.
- "Ok... how's your mom and dad?"
- "They are ok. They miss me."
- "I miss you too, so fucking much."
- "Ok, gonna hung up now."
- "I'm sorry, I just.... needed to see you."
- "And you saw me, and I wanted to know if you are ok, and now I know you are, so... I guess we are both..."- but no word came from Joey's lips for a second. She just zoned out, looking at Matthew- "I guess I should go, I have to get up real early, and I'm tired."
- "Of course, I don't wanna keep you up."
- "I'll call you when I get to Los Angeles."
- "Yes, please, let me know you are ok."
- "Do you know when you'll be discharged?"
- "In two days."
- "Good"- she nodded and bit her lips- "Ok, so, talk to you in a few days."
- "Yes... well... would it be ok if I called you sometime?"- she didn't know what to say- "Or text you, or something... just to make sure you are alright."
- "I'm alright."
- "I still get worried about you... traveling and all"- she looked at him, there was so much sorrow in his eyes, in his words.
- "You can text me if you want"- and a sigh of relief left his lips.
- "Thanks... now go to sleep."
- "Yeah, I will."
- "I love you"- he said, knowing those words might upset her, but he wasn't able to keep them in his chest any longer- "And I swear I'm gonna do whatever it takes to show you how sorry I am for fucking things up."
- "Bye, Matthew. Take care and say hello to your mom from me"- Joey ignored his last words and watched him for a few more seconds.
- "Talk to you later"- he murmured, fighting the tears that kept coming to his eyes
- "Bye"- Joey hung up and shut down the computer. In less than a second, she started crying, her heartbreaking and beating filled with love at the same time. Seeing him, hearing him. It was all too much.
- "How can I stop fucking loving you?! How on earth can you stop loving someone?!"
And as odd as it might be, Gerard was asking himself the very same question a few rooms away from her.
::: Denmark, March 15th, 2011 :::
Ray's arm felt numb underneath Joey's neck. But he didn't want to move it and wake her up. They were at the back of the bus, probably an hour away from Copenhagen. The girl had slept most of the trip after puking breakfast. The two of them had spent the whole journey there, with Mikey, mostly sleeping. They were all exhausted.
- "Hey guys!"- until Frank walked in and woke Mikey and Joey up- "Sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping"- he stood at the door with a sorry glance- "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to do the setlist now, 'cos we have been playing the same one for the last three shows, and it would be nice to make a few changes"- Ray nodded as Joey sat down, yawning.
- "Are we there yet?"
- "Not yet, Bug"- Ray smiled and moved his arm, feeling numbness and tingling- "Do you feel ok?"
- "Yeah, I'm hungry."
- "Here"- Mikey quickly grabbed a bag and gave her a cereal bar- "I got you healthy snacks when we stopped a while ago"- and he smiled, showing her a paper bag- "We've got everything you need to keep my nephew growing healthy."
- "Thanks"- she whispered, feeling awkward still just talking about her pregnancy like a common thing. She still didn't (or couldn't) believe she was pregnant.
- "So, setlist"- Frank sat next to his friends and started writing. They were halfway there when Iero turned to Joey and smiled- "Bug, pick a song"- and she frowned.
- "Why?"
- "We've been shitty friends. We never ask you what you wanna play."
- "That's 'cos I... you know, that's not my job, you are the band, you choose your songs."
- "And I choose you, like a Pokemon"- Frank grinned- "What would you like to play?"- Joey scratched her eyes and yawned again.
- "Vampires."
- "Done!"- and Frank wrote it down- "What else?"- the girl thought about it for a second
- "House of Wolves"- Ray smiled.
- "Loving your choices."
- "Thank you"- Joey finished her cereal bar and smiled- "Thank you, Mikey."
- "You are welcome, Bug"- a hum on the girl's phone caught her attention. It was a text from Matthew.
- "Hope you are having a nice trip"- and her heart raced, her cheek blushed, and her friends frowned.
- "Are you two in better terms?"- Ray asked, knowing neither Mikey nor Frank was going to ask without insulting Matthew.
- "Let's say I'm wrapping my mind around the fact I have to tell him he will be a father. I talked to him about his health, and that was it... nothing about us."
- "But he is texting you"- Mikey pointed out the obvious.
- "Yeah... but we are not back together. And I don't want to forgive him, so I'm ok"- the all nodded- "I just know I'm gonna have to deal with the whole baby thing with him, and I don't know if I wanna be mad at him the whole time"- they all nodded again- "I don't know what I'm doing"- she whispered.
- "If you want, we can say it's my baby"- Frank said with an honest smile- "I give them my last name. Matthew won't have a reason to be close to you, and everything will be awesome"- Joey chuckled at the idea.
- "You are so funny, Iero."
- "I wasn't joking. I can convince Jamia to go through the whole thing."
- "Shut up!"- Joey punched softly Frank's arm and smiled.
- "She wants to talk to you, by the way. Jamia"- the guitarist said and kept writing down in his notebook, avoiding making eye contact with the girl, just in case she would get upset.
- "That's cool."
- "I mean about your baby, in case you need any help... if you want to ask her things... she is there"- Frank finally looked at Joey and bit his lips- "I'm sorry I told her about that"- he made a pause, and Joey shook her head.
- "It's ok. I love Jamia... and I'm sure I'm gonna text her with a million questions in the next nine months, so... thanks"- the girl smiled and messed with Frank's hair. The four of them stayed quiet. Mikey was stuck at his book, Frank looked at the setlist and Ray at their schedule for the day.
- "Where's Gerard?"- Toro asked and looked around. Joey turned to the window, Mikey's eyes stuck at her. He was dying to talk to her about what had happened with his brother. He wanted to know her side of the story.
- "He is at his bunk"- Frank simply replied- "He has been there since we got into the bus."
- "Good, stay away from her,"- Mikey thought and went back to his book. Maybe his brother was doing the right thing for once.
It was three in the morning, and Matthew woke up for the hundredth time that night. It was hard to sleep at the hospital. There were many noises all night long, and nurses that came to put an eye on him. Just two more days, and he could go home. That idea made him happy. Six more days and Joey was going to be back in Los Angeles. The hum of his phone took him from his thoughts, and a smile lodged on his lips immediately.
- "Already in Denmark"- Joey had answered his earlier message.
- "How was the trip?"- he quickly typed and waited, staring at the screen. Joey looked at her phone and held her breath. She was lying on her bed, knowing she wasn't going to get any sleep. The tv was on, the sound in the background of her room made her feel a little less alone.
- "I slept most of the way"- she simply replied and closed her eyes. She felt like a schoolgirl talking with her crush. Decided to avoid her phone, the girl surfed channels for a while. But an incoming text took her complete attention. She wanted to read it so badly, but she didn't want to want to read it. If that made any sense at all.
- "I'm jealous. I can't sleep in this hospital,"- Matthew wrote and sighed. He looked around his room and his eyes laid on the stuffed animals still on the couch by his bed. The ones he had made for her. He just hoped she would like them.
- "Hospitals sucks,"- Matthew chuckled. He could almost listen to her voice saying that as he read it.
- "Food is the worst. I've been living on Paget's candies,"- but that message, Joey didn't reply. He waited for at least ten minutes, but no answer appeared on the screen. He closed his eyes and sighed. He didn't want to push things too fast, but at the same time, he couldn't help it, he needed to talk to her for hours, like before.
Joey was curled in bed, surfing channels, her phone hidden underneath a pillow. She knew talking to Gubler was a bad idea 'cos she loved him. So instead, she hid her phone from her and glued her eyes to the screen. Bad luck for her, "The Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou" was on. It was like life wasn't helping her at all. Matthew was everywhere. Including the movie she watched.
- "I should go get something to eat,"- she typed, giving up at the temptation. Gubler opened his eyes. It took the girl over half an hour to reply.
- "With the guys?"- he wrote quickly
- "No, I'm alone today, they are doing their band shit"- she sat on the bed and put on her shoes- "Talk to you later"- and finished the conversation.
- "Take care,"- Matthew answered quickly. He smiled and closed his eyes, sighing- "Baby steps, Gubler. Baby steps."
- "What the fuck are you doing, asshole?!"- Joey slapped herself mentally- "Stop giving him hopes. You are not getting back together."
Mikey wasn't himself that day. He wasn't mentally there at any of the interviews. His brother was in love with Joey. The thought of Gerard trying to kiss her was hunting him. It was sick. And when she was drunk, when she was sad. He even felt guilty for leaving her with him. Like he was responsible for his mistake.
- "And why the fuck didn't she tell me?! This is huge?! Doesn't she trust me? Isn't this important? I thought we were brother and sister! This is something you share with your brother!"
- "Mikey?"- Frank moved his hand in front of the bassist's face and frowned- "Are you here?"
- "Sorry, I spaced out... what is it?"
- "The interview is over; we can go"- Mikey looked around. He was the only one still sitting at the radio studio.
- "Right."
- "Are you ok?"
- "Yeah."
- "You are quiet."
- "I don't usually talk a lot in interviews."
- "Touché"- Iero chuckled and tapped on his friend's back- "Tired?"
- "Weary"
- "Just a few more days, hang in there"- Mikey nodded and walked with his friend. Gerard looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He didn't reply, not even with a gesture. Mikey just continued walking. He knew what he had to do. He just found it weird.
- "Hey"- he whispered, making sure his brother wasn't going to overhear his conversation and held his cellphone close- "Are you feeling good?"
- "Yeah"- Joey rolled in bed and sighed- "I already had lunch half hour ago, and it's still in my stomach, so I guess I'm awesome"- Mikey smiled.
- "Were you sleeping?"
- "No, just rolling in bed and coloring mandalas from time to time, watching tv."
- "We are going to the hotel now."
- "Great! Are you gonna nap?"
- "I wanted to hang out with you."
- "Great! Bring candies."
- "I'll bring healthy snacks for my nephew"- Joey sighed at those words. She wasn't ready to start talking about her baby.
- "A tiny little Snicker, for Christ Sakes. For your niece."
- "I'll think about it."
Joey watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, trying to wrap her head around the fact she was going to have a baby. Sure, she always thought about it, but not at twenty-six. Yes, she wanted to have a baby with Matthew, but not under those circumstances.
- "I guess I'll have to make the best of it"- she sighed, rubbing her belly sweetly- "You are gonna have Halloween every day, I swear"- Joey whispered- "I'm gonna make sure you've got everything I never had. Your dad is gonna go nuts when we tell him... I still don't know what kind of nuts, but I guess we'll have to figure it out."
She made a pause, thinking about Matthew telling her he wanted to fill their house with babies. Maybe he was going to be excited after all. Maybe.
- "Your uncle Mikey is gonna spoil you, that I am sure about"- the knock on the door took Joey from her conversation with her belly. Mikey stood at the other side, smiling and holding a fun size Snicker bag.
- "I'm going to give you one every day. That's gonna be your only candy, ok?"
- "Thank you!!"- Joey walked in, jumping in excitement, making her friend chuckle. He was slightly mad at her, but still, he couldn't be mean to her- "How was work?"
- "Boring, I think I fell asleep during most of the interviews"- the girl chuckled and sat indian style on her bed- "I can see you are watching kids movies already"- the bassist raised an eyebrow staring at the screen.
- "I happen to love this movie... I'm a Halloween kind of girl."
- "Yeah, I know"- Mikey stood in front of Joey, chewing a Snicker.
- "Aren't you going to sit down and watch this masterpiece with me?"
- "I need to talk to you about something first."
- "Shoot"- but Way didn't know how to start that conversation. He thought about it the whole morning, but he still had no clue. So instead, he mumbled some unintelligible words- "What is it?"
- "I just..."
- "Is it because I've been wearing a lot of your hoodies? I'm sorry, the ones I brought are Matthew's, and I don't feel like wearing his clothes."
- "No Bug, it's not that."
- "'Cos I'm wearing Frank's too... which is pretty weird 'cos he is my size..."
- "No, Joey. It's not about that."
- "Then why are you so serious?"
- "'Cos you never told me you kissed my brother"- and Joey's face fell.
- "Did he tell you?"
- "Clearly... what the fuck?"
- "I don't know!!"
- "Why didn't you tell me?!"
- "'Cos if I never told anyone, I could pretend it never happened! And I wish that never happened!"
- "What the fuck was that about?!"
- "I don't know, I felt like the shit, he kissed me, I didn't stop him right away..."
- "Do you like him?"
- "No!"
- "Do you love him?"- Mikey was serious about his questions- "'Cos he is sure he loves you."
- "I don't love him, Mikey. We both know there is only one shitty person I love"- Joey laid back on the bed and covered her face with her hands.
- "Do you think I'm proud? I should have never done that! and I definitely shouldn't have let him get to the point he got"- Mikey frowned.
- "What?"
- "So he didn't tell you he wanted to fuck?"- the girl simply replied- "When I was drunk... we kissed, at a certain point we made out, but I wasn't very conscious of what he was doing... I just... in my intoxication... I thought he was Matthew."
- "What the fuck?"- Way wide opened his eyes and turned to his friend in shock.
- "Yeah, it was sick..."- she whispered, embarrassed.
- "Joey, that's abuse!"
- "What? no!"- the girl gasped.
- "Joey, my brother tried to abuse you"- Mikey yelled- "You were drunk!"
- "Yeah, but..."
- "You were nearly unconscious, and he tried to make out with you?"
- "No! No! I mean, a part of me knew what I was doing. I just... didn't know who I was doing it with."
Honestly, that didn't sound like an excellent explanation of the facts. Joey was in denial of how bad things had gotten with Gerard.
- "Bug, that's not right! He knew exactly what he was doing, and he shouldn't have done that to you if you were drunk!"- Mikey's words resonated in Joey's head.
- "He didn't try to rape me. I mean, he stopped when I realized he wasn't Matthew... and honestly, I'm not trying to defend him, but I was pretty disgusted by my actions right away!"
Joey stood up and looked at her friend right in the eyes. At that moment, she decided the best she could do was take the pushy scene from the story, when Gerard didn't want to let her go. It was better to forget that moment and pretended it never really happened.
- "The first time he kissed me, I thought making out with your brother was the perfect revenge against Matthew, mostly 'cos he was always saying Gerard had a thing for me"- the girl sighed and pouted at her friend- "Who was ever going to think he was right?"- Mikey wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of your head- "I just didn't know that one kiss made him think we could do it again when I was drunk."
- "Please don't do stupid shit like this again"- she nodded
- "Your shirt stinks"- she joked, making her best to stop the serious conversation 'cos she couldn't stand arguing with Mikey, and less talking about that subject.
- "Sorry, I ran out of clean clothing 'cos I've got a friend who keeps wearing everything I own"- he chuckled, and Joey smiled, letting him go slowly to go back to the bag of candies- "I said just one a day."
- "Can I get an extra one today? Please?"
- "No, you are grounded, 'cos you did something incredibly stupid"- they stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, until Mikey smiled- "Fine, but only today"- she girl smiled and landed a kiss on Mikey's cheek.
- "Thank you. Besides, Ray is the only one who can ground me around here."
- "Right"- Joey chewed her Snicker and laid back in bed, tapping the spot next to her- "There's still one more thing."
- "Oh shit! I don't want to have more serious conversations. We've had enough of those already."
- "He claims to love you"- Mikey just said, and Joey closed her eyes, wincing.
- "I know! And I find it as stupid as false! We've barely talked this whole time! He has no idea who I am, what I like, or anything! He is just talking with his cock!"
- "And what are you gonna do about it?"
- "Stay as far from him as possible"- Mikey laid next to Joey and held her hand- "Do you think the others suspect anything?"
- "Frank, for sure. He has been arguing about it for days now."
- "Shit!"
- "But hey, hey, don't worry"- Mikey tapped on Joey's hand- "It's gonna be ok."
- "Bróðir"- the girl made a pause and never unglued her eyes from the screen- "I'm gonna have to leave."
- "No!"- his voice sounded serious and certain- "You don't have to!"
- "I'm nothing but trouble! This tour is more a soap opera than a job at this point! Breaking up with Matthew and having all of you taking care of me, now I'm pregnant, your brother claims to love me." Joey turned to Mikey and cut him a shy smile. - "Face it, if you had hired a male drummer, you would have had a quiet tour. Nothing to worry about, not all this fucking drama to deal with."
- "If we had hired anyone else, I would have had a miserable tour"- Mikey simply replied and messed with Joey's hair as the two of them returned to watch the movie- "So stop saying nonsenses."
- "I'm so sorry..."
- "Knock it off"
- "And I don't want you to be mad at your brother."
- "I'm not mad"- Joey raised an eyebrow and looked at Mikey- "Fine, I hate him right now, 'cos he has been acting like a fucking crazy jerk, and honestly, he nearly abused you, Joey!"
- "Don't hate him... let's pretend none of that weird shit ever happened, which is what I'm planning to do."
- "Fine"
- "And don't get all weird."
- "Fine"- Mikey sounded a little annoyed.
- "And don't make a fuzz if I stay away from him."
- "I'll support you, I'll even stay away from him myself."
- "Don't. He is fucked up. Maybe if he opened up with you, it's because he needs company or someone to help him overcome this... madness."
Mikey turned to Joey again and sighed. He disagreed with her, and he was planning to stay away from his brother and keep him away from Joey as well.
- "And how was your talk with Matthew?"- Joey's heart raced just by hearing his name- "The red cheeks are giving you away."
- "It was... ok, I guess."
- "And now you are texting"- she sighed and huffed.
- "I'm gonna have a baby with him, Mikey. It's hard."
- "And you love him."
- "Not the point... and that's all I'm saying about that subject."
- "Ok"- Mikey wrapped an arm around Joey's neck, and she rested her head on him- "Let's watch the movie before we have to leave for the arena."
Mikey wasn't mad at Joey. He was scared she might consider leaving the band. He loved having her there. She was honestly his anxiety shield, and he couldn't deal with that tour without her. Not at the moment. He was alone. He felt alone, and she was the one with him always. Ray had Christa, Frank had Jamia, Gerard had Lynz (and it was now obvious: he also had a stalking problem).
Mikey had Joey. At least when they were on the road. Hiding in their friendship and brotherhood was the only way he could handle loneliness. Or to avoid it.
**
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genesisrose74 · 3 years
Text
Christmas With the Karasuno Boys (HC’s)!!
Part 2: Kageyama, Hinata, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, & Narita
Part 1 (Daichi, Suga, Asahi, Nishinoya, Tanaka, & Ennoshita) here!
A/n: Tumblr said my word count was too much so I’m splitting this bad boi up into two parts :p Enjoy!!
*****
Kageyama
This boy has a secret soft side for Christmas istg
He HATES showing it to other people on his team and shit
But holy bejeezus he is mesmerized by the holiday in every way possible
Lights, sweets, snow, just like,,, the general magic of December is the most awe-inspiring thing to him
Since he is still a sporty and pretty active mofo, you decided to fuel that on your holiday-themed date as Kags had noted that he’d never gone sledding before
Your jaw was on the FLOOR when he first told you because he would 10000% enjoy the hell out of it
And so you dragged him out to this popular sledding hill that you frequented as a child and taught him what to do
Not gonna lie, he was kind of nervous
“Well you’re experienced at it. I don’t wanna mess up”
🥺🥺🥺 bubby
“You won’t, Tobio! I can already tell you’re gonna be a sledding pro”
Feels a little better after that, but he asks you to help him out for his first run down the hill
He sits behind you with his arms secured snugly around your waist and his head nestled on top of your shoulder
Which would probably seem really funny to passerby because this boy is tol and intimidating in most other situations
As soon as the sled started down, Kags tightened his grip and made this cute little yelp of surprise
But you were laughing insanely hard at the combination of going really fast downhill whilst also having your boyfriend cling to you for dear life
And then when the sled stopped safely at the bottom he started to chuckle
FULL ON, GENUINE SOUND OF ENJOYMENT
That shit is rare
Y’all stayed at that hill for half the day because it was so fun
You got him a new, very high quality athletic roller for Christmas because his old one was just not cutting it anymore
And you also gave him this really cute bracelet with a volleyball, his jersey number, and a little strawberry milk set of charms attached to it
It matched this really pretty and subtle chain he’d bought for your birthday
His blueberry eyes got all wide with affection dfjdskfjsdk—
Got super blushy and couldn’t get a handle on his speech for a fat minute
He thinks you’re the coolest person ever no I do not take criticism
Geez you’re both adorable together, ideal “stoic boy becomes warmer during the holidays around his love” movie plot and I love it
Hinata
He is all in on Christmas. Not a chance this boy doesn’t get excited as hell
Will openly go into holiday mode as soon as November is over
Was secretly already listening to his Christmas playlist before then
He is one of the sweetest gift givers, that is FACTUAL
If you want something really badly, he will take notice and get it as your present immediately
He’ll also gift you an extra thing that’s handmade 🥺
Like some pastries that his mom helped him make, or a specially made basket of soaps with your favorite scents in it
It’s absolutely adorable and you cherish those ones especially
Is happy if you simply get him something; mans doesn’t care what it is
New practice volleyball? A brand new sweatshirt? Elated either way
You had seen an advertisement for a friendly match between Japan and Poland’s men’s volleyball teams, so you waited online on the ticket sales website until the minute it opened
Spoiler alert: you got some banger seats 😌✨
Shoyo may or may not have tackled you when he read the ticket details, letting out his excited giggle (you know the one)
“I can’t believe you got these, angel! You’re coming with me, right? You’ve gotta! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Gives you sweet little kisses between each individual ‘thank you’
“Of course I’ll go with you, Sho! I’m really glad you like it!”
He will give you the brightest smile of all time — that shit makes Christmas lights pale in comparison
“Have I told you how much I love you?”
RIGHT BACK AT YOU BBY
Hold his hands to warm up together when temperatures drop pls :)))
It’s become a weekly December tradition to watch a Christmas movie with Natsu at the Hinata household
She’ll sit in your lap while the three of you are cuddled under a blanket together, and Shoyo will lace his fingers with yours all discreetly
In conclusion, I am a sucker for holiday Hinata 🥺🥺🥺
Tsukishima
His room is decorated to the very minimum simply because his mom and brother had insisted on him being festive
You know those holiday instrumentals that are really calming and jazzy and stuff? Yeah, that’s the only Christmas music he will tolerate in his house
While he’s still got his usual icy demeanor, this blond bitch does get slightly less snippy with the Karasuno boys
Is always on the nose with getting you the exact thing you wanted for a present
Like,,, TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL
You don’t even have to bring that shit up beforehand, he just KNOWS
“Tsukki, how did you—?”
“It’s pretty obvious, with the way that one ad kept showing up on your phone.”
b r u h
How does he pay such good attention without even letting on??
As for his own present, you’ll usually get him two: one gag gift and one more serious gift
His dino plush collection size is partly due to the former’s contributions this time of year
Yes the dinos have names
You exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve with all the team (you made him go) and he saved your more serious one for last
It was a scarf that you’d gotten custom made, which had a Spotify code knitted into the fabric
Scanning the code opened the app to a playlist you’d created especially for him
He got pretty quiet when figuring it out and scrolling through the playlist
Would let out a certified Tsukki Nose Exhale™ when he came across certain songs
The more subdued reaction was expected because it’s Tsukishima
His little chuckles and warmer eyes were enough of a giveaway to tell you he very much enjoyed your gift
But on the walk home, he took the scarf and wrapped it around you both, and then brought his arm around your waist
“Thank you.”
You deadass almost combusted because it was so unexpected??
“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas, Kei”
Way to respond calm and collected 😌👍
But on the inside your body was in freak out mode
He wears the scarf all the time jdfsklfjdsk
Yamaguchi
Take the most tooth rotting fluff you could imagine
And then double that and put a fucking cherry on top
That’s the equivalent of what Christmas is like with Yama Yama
Y’all are like kids in a candy store — literally
For your Christmas dates it’s all about sweets and shared giggles, so frequent trips to the candy and baking isles of the grocery store is a must
Making gingerbread houses, peppermint tasting (mostly trying those different and wild ass candy cane flavors), you name it and it’s there
Stomach aches? I don’t know her
Yeah you do but they go away with enough butterfly kisses 🥰
Tadashi is exceptionally good at decorating gingerbread houses for whatever reason
He put a poll on his instagram between yours and his final products and he won by a landslide
It’s not like yours was necessarily bad, more like he’s just an icing master
You also might have eaten too many gumdrops which left your rooftop lacking in ✨spice✨
But it’s okay because Tadashi donated some of his leftovers to you
He’s such a sweetheart uwu
Please for the love of everything get him something heartfelt as his present
You know those long distance bracelets for couples?
Basically if your s/o taps the icon on the bracelet it’ll send a little vibration to the other person’s as a notice that you’re thinking about them
This boy seeks constant reassurance, and you love to give him his deserved love and validation, so it was the perfect present
It takes a second for him to figure out what it is, but after reading the directions and testing it out, the most adorable smile erupted on his face
And then since you already had yours on, he tapped the little icon again with a giggle
“Hey there”
It becomes common habit to tap it at least once every couple hours
GOD HE IS SO CUTE
He is just so soft this time of year, give him all the love and he will return it tenfold ☺️
Kinoshita
This boy is absolutely an awkward cutie and an avid romantic
Give him the cliches and he will eat em up, no doubt
It naturally gets more apparent around the holidays
He’ll take you on pretty winter walks, give you lots of little gifts (while blushing a hell of a lot), and is just a professional at stumbling upon some mistletoe
Wow wonder how it got there, Hisashi
He’s quite a bit more confident when simply alone with you than in a crowded space
And that definitely shows when he takes you out on a secluded sleigh ride around town
Yeah you heard me
A fuckin’ sleigh ride
Horses and blankets and everything
Don’t even ask how he managed to pull it off, because he loves watching the cogs turn in your head and simply will not give you a straight answer
Of course there’s the nice driver guy who’s there, but in the back alone Kinoshita’s confidence goes 📈📈
Lots of flirting, tons of skimmed touches and shared giggles throughout the ride
I legitimately simp really hard for him
Anyways it was a gorgeous ride through town and super fun
On Christmas Eve you both exchange gifts together and tbh whatever you got him will leave him happy and flustered regardless
But when he opens the wrapping paper to find an entire set of vintage VHS tapes, he’s stunned
He owns a VHS (actually canon!) and honestly loves it to death, and the fact that you’d get him tapes of pretty high quality for his collection meant a lot
Gosh he’s so underrated but a definite sweetheart, give him all the holiday love
Narita
Another underrated bby 🥺
He’s so chill and is pretty open to anything during the holidays, so long as he gets to spend ample time with you, his friends, and his family
Definitely more of an indoor person despite being accepting of most situations
Hence why you thought a cute little indoor winter picnic would be right up his alley
Which it absolutely was 😌✨ nice work
You’d made plans while in secret communications with his family members about the whole thing
He’d been pretty stressed lately with trying to handle his schoolwork, while also helping out others with theirs
Despite being a wonderful tutor, it was clearly becoming a bit overwhelming as he tried to grapple with so much at once
So when he came home one day to find a pristine house with you settled on a blanket in his living room, he was quite surprised
There’s a cheese plate, soda cans in a cute ice box, sandwiches, snacks, a presparked fireplace — you and his family went all out
Really adorable I cannot lie
“I thought you said you were going gift shopping today?”
“I might have maybe lied :P”
So he gives the sweetest little smile and sits across from you
Y’all stay there and talk for hours
After finally getting through everything previously laid out on the blanket spread, you slid him a little rectangular box that he looked at curiously
“Already? I haven’t wrapped yours yet!”
“Mine can wait a bit! Just open yours”
And so he does, and you watch with a face-splitting grin as he looks down in awe
You got tickets to see his favorite rock band in concert while they were on tour
He sprung onto you and pulled you into the tightest hug ever
“Holy shit you’re the best I love you so much how do you get even more loveable every day—!?!l”
It’s a jumble of words but you’re able to put it together and it makes you giggle
He deadass sprints upstairs to go get your gift and make sure that you feel as equally appreciated as he does
In simple words: wholesome holiday sweetness 🥰
146 notes · View notes
beelsnack · 4 years
Text
Obey Me! Boys and the Hidden Talent You Wouldn’t Expect Them To Have
Lucifer: Honestly, they had thought it was just for decoration.
Considering how little the brothers actually used anything in the music room, they had just assumed most of the instruments in there were just for show. The only reason they were proved wrong was by sheer accident.
Their insomnia had been a hindrance back in the human realm, but now that the constant darkness of the Devildom had taken a hammer to their circadian rhythm, they found themselves wandering the halls of the House of Lamentation more and more frequently in the middle of the night. While they knew they weren’t the only one awake at this hour (they had made the mistake of wandering too close to Asmo’s room and discovered that his nights were very active) they typically were the only one out of their room.
It was their second pass around the first floor when they heard it. A faint, unfamiliar melody ringing softly down the hall. Before they realized what they were doing, their feet had brought them to the music room. When they peeked through the doorway, the sight made them freeze.
Lucifer was seated on a bench, eyes closed in an uncharacteristically serene expression. The soft candlelight shone behind him, making him look every bit like the angel he once was as his long, graceful fingers plucked skillfully at the strings of the harp. The song was hauntingly beautiful, much like Lucifer himself, and something about it made the human’s breath catch in their throat.
They hadn’t thought they made a noise, but demon hearing was something else. Lucifer’s eyes snapped open, hands halting over the strings as the two of them made eye contact. 
At first, it seemed like Lucifer was preparing to scold them, and they felt themself reflexively tensing. Instead, Lucifer’s expression softened.
“You should be in bed.” his voice betrayed how tired he was, even if he appeared just fine.
“I couldn’t sleep.” they murmured. Speaking too loudly might break the spell, and this gentle illusion would shatter.
“Hm.” he motioned them forward, patting the spot next to him. The bench was small enough to when they sat down, they were shoulder-to-shoulder with Lucifer. “I couldn’t sleep either.”
“I didn’t know you could play the harp.” they blurted out. Lucifer, caught off guard by their bluntness, stared down at them for a moment before sighing. A nostalgic smile pulled at his lips, and they found themself wishing he would smile like that more often. 
“A skill left over from the Celestial Realm. Playing always put me at ease.”
“Will you keep playing for me?”
He chuckled softly. “Of course. Shall I play a lullaby for the two of us?”
Mammon: “Are we done studying yet? This sucks!”
They didn’t even bother looking up from their textbook. Mammon had done more complaining than studying at this point, and they were honestly too worked up about passing this test tomorrow to worry about entertaining him.
“You can be done if you want, I’m going to keep going.” they mumbled. They talked big, but they had been reading the same sentence over and over again without taking in a single letter. They knew that it wasn’t really helping, but they were convinced that if they didn’t spend every last second studying the material, they were going to fail spectacularly. Honestly, after one semester of Potions, they were never going to complain about chemistry every again.
“You’re gonna ruin your eyes, at this rate.”
They nearly jumped out of their skin. When had Mammon gotten up? How had he gotten behind them without them noticing? Shit, maybe they did need to give it a rest.
“Alright, alright,” they sighed. “I’m not retaining any of this stuff anymore anyway - ow, fuck!” 
“What’s wrong?” Mammon sounded unnecessarily terrified, the big worrier.
“Nothing, nothing, sorry.” they brought a hand up to the back of their neck. “Been hunched over for too long, my neck and shoulders are mad at me.”
“Damn, human, you had me thinkin’ you were dyin’ or something.” he breathed out. “Here.”
“What are - “ they cut themselves off as Mammon’s warm hands settled on their shoulders. His thumbs worked soothing circles on the column of their neck before sliding down to work on their shoulder blades.
They felt their eyes slipping close without their consent. “Holy shit, Mammon.” they probably should be a bit more concerned with how breathy their voice sounded, but he was working wonders on their stiff muscles.
He knew just how much pressure to apply, just how to move his hands. The warmth of his palms seeped through their shirt, and they let out a sigh that might have sounded a bit like a moan.
“Hey, you can’t go makin’ those noises while I’m doin’ this.” his voice had gone just a bit lower. “You’re gonna make it awkward.”
“Sorry.” they muttered. “But you’re really good at this. You should open up a massage parlor. You would make a killing.”
“Heh, I thought about it.” he pulled his hands away, and they almost whined at the loss of contact. “But I don’t want to have to rub my hands over some crusty old bastard.”
“Oh well,” they shrugged. “Guess I’ll have to just keep you to myself then.”
Leviathan: “Hey, normie, open up!”
They considered ignoring him in favor of finishing up this very intense Pokemon battle, but it was pretty rare that Levi came to their room without texting them first. With a sigh, they shut their DS and hopped off of their bed to let him in.
“What’s up?” they leaned against the doorway.
“Didn’t you hear? That new MMO is having an exclusive pre-release event. Only the first 300 can get in! Go get set up, people have been talking about this new totally OP armor they’re going to - “
Levi cut himself, peering over their shoulder and wrinkling his nose. “What’s that?”
At first, they thought he was talking about their DS, but when they looked behind them, they realized what he meant.
“Ah, yeah.” the walked over to their bed and picked up the old stuffed dragon toy. They creadled him gently to their chest and frowned a little. “He got a little roughed up on his way to the Devildom. I had to get creative.”
The toy was clearly well loved, but the real attention-grabber was the piece of duct tape holding its front left leg to the rest of it. Little bits of fluff could be seen beneath the tape and it was clear that the repair job wasn’t going to last for much longer.
Leviathan clicked his tongue. “That’s never going to hold. Bring him over after the event tonight.”
“Why?” the human tilted their head, clutching the dragon tighter like they were afraid Levi was going to mercy-kill him.
“I’m going to fix him for you, duh.” there was a faint dusting of pink high on his cheekbones, and he looked away quickly. “I don’t like to bring my sewing stuff out of my room, I’ll lose it for sure.”
“You can sew?” they sounded incredulous. “Since when?”
“Th-there was a contest a while back. Whoever made the best TSL cosplay got to have a meet and greet with the cast of the movie.” Levi looked like he was about to catch fire now. “Of-of course, I couldn’t just go buy stuff, everyone knows the handmade stuff is better, so I learned how to sew.”
“Levi, that’s amazing!”
Levi blinked. “I-It is?”
“Duh!” they beamed up at him. “I could never do anything like that! I definitely owe you one if you can fix him up for me!”
“It’s not that big of a deal,” he muttered, staring down at his feet. How was he supposed to handle getting compliments like that?
“It is!” they placed their toy back on their bed in favor of wrapping their arms around Levi’s middle. “Thank you so much!”
“Whoa, hey! You can’t just d-do that all of a sudden!”
Satan: They quite enjoyed their study dates with Satan. The two of them could sit in amiable silence for hours and just focus on getting their work done. It was peaceful, and Satan never minded if they took a rest on his shoulder
As they struggled to keep their eyes open (a coffee break might be in order soon) they caught sight of something in the margins of Satan’s notebook.
It started as idle pencil marks in the corner of the page. Little spirals that slowly transformed into vines  winding their way down the side. Delicate little flowers soon began to bloom at random intervals until finally, in the bottom corner, Satan was in the middle of doodling a lotus flower.
“That’s so pretty.” they felt Satan jump as they broke the silence.
“What?” he blinked, refocusing. “Oh. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it.”
“I should have known you were a doodler.” they laughed. “I read somewhere that people who doodle in class actually retain more information.”
“Is that right?” Satan muttered, more to himself than anything. “That explains my notes in class. I wonder if there’s a reason I enjoy drawing outside of a learning environment?”
They nudged him before he got too deep in his own thoughts. “You’re allowed to just have a hobby, Satan. There’s no need to psychoanalyze it so much.”
Asmo: When they had admitted that they had never gotten their nails done, Asmo had wasted no time in whisking them away to his room. He insisted that everyone should have a manicure at least once in their life, sat them down on the chaise lounge in his bedroom and set to work.
Admittedly, they probably should be taking care of their nails better, and it was nice to have someone pamper them a little bit. They hadn’t really been expecting the hand massage at the end.
“Oh, you have earth hands, darling.” Asmo said as he worked his thumb into the center of their palm. “Reliable, stubborn, practical. Fits you to a T!”
“Huh?”
Asmo ignored them, continuing to analyze their hand. “Your love line starts under your index finger. Well, with seven partners, I should hope you’re content with your love life.”
“Asmo, what the hell?”
“Hm? Oh, sorry, darling.” Asmo laughed, tracing his finger in a circle in the center of their hand. “I suppose I should ask before I read your palm.”
“Is that what that was?” they asked. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Mm, there’s plenty of things I can do, my dear.” he practically purred. “An old lover of mine was a practiced chiromancer. I always thought it was fascinating, being able to read a person just by the lines on their hands, so I had them teach me. If nothing else, it’s a neat party trick.”
“Wow...” the human murmured, staring at their hand. “What else can you tell?”
Beelzebub and Belphegor: It had been decided long ago that Beel could not be trusted with cooking duty on his own. So the twins always had joint cooking duty.
It had also been decided that Belphegor couldn’t be trusted with waking up for cooking duty, so Lucifer tacked the human on as well.
None of them particularly minded it. Well, Belphie minded it a little, seeing as Beel had to literally fireman carry him to the kitchen. But all three of them worked well as a team.
It wasn’t terribly uncommon for Beel to hum to himself when he cooked. The kitchen was his element, and cooking always seemed to put him in a cheerful mood. It was uncommon, however, for Belphie to join in.
They hadn’t really been paying attention, simply registering the twins as background noise while they focused on their task. But soon, Beel’s humming turned to lyrics in a language that the human didn’t understand, but sent a shiver up their spine anyway.
Beel sang in a smooth baritone voice that they could feel thrumming through their chest. The human found themself closing their eyes and listening, nearly forgetting that they were supposed to be chopping up mandrake root.
They almost chopped their finger off when Belphie joined in.
When they turned around, the twins had their backs facing either other, but they had paused in their work. Both of them wore identical expressions of nostalgia - eyes closed, lips tugged upwards in a soft smile. Belphie’s soft, clear tenor mixed with Beel’s low timbre, and, despite not understanding a single word, the human felt goosebumps rise up their arms.
When they finished the song, the twins opened their eyes and looked at each other over their shoulder. Beel honestly looked like he was going to cry out of sheer joy. 
“It’s been a while since we sang together.” Beel grinned.
“At least a century.” Belphie nodded, shaking his head. “I’m surprised my voice hasn’t broken.”
“I feel like I’m intruding on a family moment, here.” the human muttered. They honestly hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but by the time they realized, it was too late. The twins had turned their gazes on them like they had just stood on the table and started screaming.
“What’re you talking about?” Belphie drawled.
“You are family.” Beel smiled, crossing the kitchen in three strides to ruffle their hair. “So you can’t be intruding.”
They stuck their tongue out at Beel, ducking out from underneath his hand. “Can you two teach me that song?”
452 notes · View notes
jeonggukkiepabo · 4 years
Text
MOONCHILD 🌙  2
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SUMMARY: Soulmates are a common thing. Everyone has one. Some people think soulmates are the greatest gift fate could give, others are envious about happy couples that were lucky enough to receive a wonderful partner. One of them was Min Yoongi. Your time to meet your significant other hasn’t come yet, stumbling into the tattoo parlor with a simple idea in mind, not knowing that you will be bound to step by more often. When you leave for the first time, you’ll go home with your masterpiece of a tattoo.
When you leave for the second time, you’ll go home with not only one, but two soulmates.
The man that was supposed to be your only soulmate, the one that never wanted to tell you that he woke up with the exact same koi karp tattoo just sits and watches - until he can’t take the pain anymore.
PAIRINGS: Y/N x ?? / Taehyung x Jungkook
WARNINGS: angst, fluff, mentions of anxiety / depression / unrequited love, there’s one small mention of a quickie in the storage room but no actual smut (yet), swearing, mentions of homosexual relationships (member x member)
WORD COUNT: ~ 6k
NOTE: Now from my side, I’d love to welcome you to our baby as well. It took us quite some time to plan this fic before we even started writing, but I think we did a great job and I am really proud that we came to the part of actually uploading this fic. I think I can speak for Dolly as well when I say that we were surprised by the amount of people asking to be tagged in the upcoming party, thank you so much! Now I don’t want to get simpy and stuff, so please enjoy chapter 2 of Moonchild!
PART 01 ~ MASTERLIST  
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Yoongi can’t believe it, everything is too ridiculous to be real. It’s one of those disgusting pranks you usually just see on TV, isn’t it? This isn’t supposed to be real… right? But then again, why would anyone pull a prank on him like that?
To begin with, he’s utterly pissed because of the cupcake incident. It’s pitiful; Yoongi knows it all too well, but nevertheless: he can’t help but feel like an asshole and he hates the way you indirectly and unknowingly called him one as well. The douchebag that couldn’t come to grab the cupcake that was handmade by Hoseok? That was no other than Yoongi himself - and knowing that you, out of all the people that step into the shop to get some pastries, got it instead of him makes him think that maybe the cupcake-ritual isn’t as special and important to Hoseok as it is to Yoongi. 
He goes to this specific bakery religiously, always grabbing some coffee and this disgustingly sweet pastry that he doesn’t even like. At least that’s what Yoongi tends to say when people ask him about it. 
But fuck, who could say no to Hoseok who endearingly prepares those cupcakes by hand, just to make a different flavor for Yoongi every day? The little batch of batter he whips up every morning for one single cupcake? Yoongi could never refuse such a gesture. And why would he? Hoseok pours all his heart into baking, into decorating and it’s the cutest shit anyone has ever done for Yoongi, of course he accepts them. He even eats every single one, even though his teeth hurt due the amount of sugar in them.
So, why the hell did Hoseok just give it out to you? Wasn’t their ritual as special to him as to Yoongi? How could Hoseok know that Yoongi wasn’t planning to grab it during his lunch break? Or after his shift? Right, Hoseok couldn’t know, he just assumed Yoongi wouldn’t go and get it. Great. That makes him feel like shit even more than before. 
But, it wasn’t just that. It would have been way too easy for Yoongi to let his anger consume him throughout the day. He knows that he could simply go to Hoseok later that day to get a coffee and calm himself down (not to talk about his jealousy, obviously) - that would have been it, no stubborn behavior from his side, no self destructive thoughts that will probably hunt him in his sleep tonight. But Yoongi wouldn’t be Yoongi if he’d do that, if he’d just forget about his ego once. He’s so fucking naive. 
Yoongi had obviously noticed the slight discomfort in his neck as he had been tattooing you, but even though he probably should have, he didn’t think anything of it. He just felt like it was phantom pain.
Yet, your tattoo is there, inked into his own skin, permanently reminding him what he just had to realize. He shivers at the thought, but not in a good way. He hates it, he hates himself for pulling you into the shop that day and he hates you for being who you are.
The exact same design he just tattooed onto your lower neck is proudly showing up on the same spot, covering the exact same spot on his body as well now.
But that’s not possible, you can’t be his soulmate. There’s nobody in the world that could be mated to Yoongi and he knows that. He doesn’t deserve a soulmate.
Yoongi doesn't even have the strength to stop his own hands from shaking so much, what on earth is happening to him right now? Isn’t his life complicated enough the way it already is? He wants- he needs to break something, anything really. He feels the urge to just punch into his mirror, but he can’t hurt his hands, those are the only good things about himself - those hands that create such amazing art on human bodies. But today, those hands deceived him. 
Yoongi needs a break. 
He needs to think of something else, to silence his own thoughts because his brain feels crowded, 
his breaths get shorter and shorter, he’s breathing in a more hectic way now as the panic rushes over him. It feels like Yoongi is underwater, his throat burning with the desire to fill his lungs with more air, but it feels like there’s no oxygen around him.
He’s used to his anxiety, panic attacks are more usual than he’d like them to be, but the anger that is added into the mix causes his emotions to feel unbearable. 
He even wonders for a second if he shouldn’t just go outside as quickly as possible, leaving the suffocating room, before he actually breaks something out of anger. It’s overwhelming, too much for him to manage by himself. 
Yoongi needs air, he needs to stop thinking, at least for a minute. Feeling his newly inked skin burning, he wants to scream until his voice disappears because he should not feel this pain and discomfort. This isn’t his own tattoo, and he doesn’t want it to be on his neck. He doesn’t want to share anything with you or with anyone else. Actually, he hates the thought of it. 
He hates everything: from the burning pain inside his heart to the tattoo that he wants to tear off with his nails if needed. The fresh lines of ink feel wrong under his touch knowing how precious and personal it is to you.
 It feels like Yoongi stole something from you even though you were the one that did exactly that to him. You stole his freedom, the freedom of meeting his true soulmate. Because you weren’t that for him. You weren’t his true soulmate. You stole the hopes he had to ever end up with the love of his life. He hates you. 
Breathe, he has to breathe, but it gets harder each time he tries. The air is stuck inside his lungs, aching to be released in some sort of way, but it’s hard. Yoongi feels like he just lost the ability to breathe out, just collecting his used air inside his lungs and by now, he feels like they’re going to explode soon. Maybe that would change something, maybe he could lose you like that.
He is somewhat frightened by his own thoughts, but he chuckles darkly, noticing how much his body is shivering. He can’t even open his fists, his nails digging into his palms, but he feels no pain. Yoongi is so easily falling apart because of you, and even that makes him angry. He feels pitiful, even for himself, and god knows how much he hates to see any kind of pity in the eyes of anyone looking at him. That’s until his knees suddenly hit the ground, the shock sobering him a little bit, eyes widening because of the abrupt pain. The pain of not accepting his soulmate, the pain of not giving into the bond. Instead, he gives up on both you and himself. Giving in to the pain, allowing himself to feel it all. There is a little voice in the back of his head that tells him that he needs to stop trying so hard not to see the truth, that he is preventing you from feeling this pain that you can’t control. He shakes his head violently, trying to get rid of this annoying voice.  
He refuses. You can’t be his soulmate, you can’t and you won’t. 
You won’t if he doesn’t let you know, right? You probably don’t feel it, it was him that got bonded to you, not the other way around. He has your tattoo, he’s the one that’s supposed to go and talk to you, to show you how he feels and kiss you to seal the bond. But Yoongi won’t.
He already feels awful about the decision he has to make right now, because in the back of his mind he knows that he is taking the choice away from you, he knows that it’s awful and that you will probably hate him if you find out, but what else is he supposed to do? There’s only one man he would accept as his soulmate - and you weren’t him. You weren’t Hoseok and you will never be like him.
He never believed in this soulmate fantasy anyway. He never understood how people could randomly follow those kinds of things, as if the universe would choose people to be destined for each other. The man he loves is in love with someone else, isn’t that proof enough that the whole thing about the universe putting souls together is completely fucked up? Fate doesn’t exist. Not for Yoongi. Not for his broken soul.
Ugly tears are threatening to spill, the salty drops burning in his eyes and Yoongi doesn’t know if they are meant to be shed for his newly found soulmate that his body seems to be aching for, or if it’s the pain of losing someone he never had, the one that remains in his heart, the one that proves him that love isn’t something that he can handle. He keeps on being the one who’s left out, the short straw, the one who stays on the side, never picked first. Maybe he wasn’t made for love, neither to give nor to receive.
Hoseok didn’t choose him first. He chose Seokjin. And god, that shit hurts. It hurts each time he sees them together and he quickly found himself hating the man who’s giving Hoseok everything. 
He can feel Seokjin’s confusion about his cold shoulder, with his thoughtful and gentle looks. But he doesn’t know. He shouldn’t know, because Yoongi knows that fate isn't about choosing, it’s not about who you want to be mated with, it’s about having the same souls, the same interests and the same needs. Hoseok and Seokjin are perfect together, they share the same sense of humor, they even finish each other's sentences. They’re a couple right out of the schoolbook.
Who is he kidding, Yoongi can’t bring himself to hate Seokjin and that’s what annoys him the most. Why can’t he even hate the man who stole the love of his life? Yoongi tries to tell himself that he really does hate Seokjin, that the eldest deserves his hatred, his envy and jealousy. But he can’t, he just can’t hate the kind man that seems to try his best to leave Yoongi in peace when he comes to their coffee shop. He hates the kindness that is shown to him each time he steps inside to grab a coffee. But what he hates the most is that he treats Hoseok like he deserves to be treated. Something that he wishes he had gotten the opportunity, but he didn’t, and he won’t. 
Yoongi isn’t stupid. He knows that he is nothing more than a good friend to Hoseok, they may have been more than that in the past, but that was before fate decided to step in between them. Though, Seokjin and Hoseok will never treat him with anything but kindness. 
But, oh, how he wishes that it wasn’t as forced as it is. Yoongi just wants to be loved, but he knows he probably doesn’t deserve it. What could he offer Hoseok when a full Kim Seokjin exists? 
Right. Nothing. 
The tears are doubling up and Yoongi closes his eyes to not see the blurry room anymore, tired of everything. He doesn’t care about the hot droplets that roll down his cheeks, about the ugly sob that finally leaves his lips. Suddenly, even the air in his lungs is gone and he feels empty once again.
A shaky sigh leaves his lips, the craving for more than just a cigarette boiling under his skin.
What kind of soulmate could he ever be anyway, if not a pitiful and horrible one? Would he treat anybody else different to how he treats himself? Is that why fate chose you for him? Are you just as broken, just as anxious and wrecked as Yoongi is? Are you hiding something under your soft features?
How is he supposed to develop feelings for someone as long as he’s in love with another man? He hates it. Somehow he hates it because he knows he wouldn’t be enough as a soulmate for you. Why would you pick him anyway? Does… he even like girls?
Suddenly, Yoongi is laughing. He must have lost it, truly. He’s still crying even though he can’t help but feel how ridiculous his situation is. His plan is to avoid you because honestly, he has no other choice. 
You won’t be his soulmate and he couldn’t care any less. He has to find a way to make you disappear from his life, he has to forget about you. Maybe that’s why fate sent you - to test him, to test if he is really meant for Hoseok, if his love for him is real.
If only he had never met you, he wishes he could just forget about it, never going out to bring you into the parlour and just go back to his useless crush on Hoseok. 
Yoongi’s throat is tightening again but he won’t allow himself to suffer even more. He is going to ignore everything. His life has to go on - and it will. Without you.
He is going to hate you, even if it takes years, maybe his entire life. Because as much as he just tries to believe that he hates you, he knows that he does not. It’s impossible.
He hates fate maybe even more than you. This stupid attraction. You’re his... no. You’re nothing. You’re not his soulmate. He’ll never let you be.
You won’t be his soulmate whether you accept it or not, because he does not want you in his life.
He does not, and if you ever understand who he is supposed to be for you, he is going to make you understand that he doesn’t want you, as cruel and horrible as it sounds, even to him. And that’s it.
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You come back for the check up two weeks later, just like Taehyung scheduled you. It had been pretty hard to adapt too your new tattoo for the first few days. You had to turn around every time you walked past a mirror because you just had to look at it over and over again. Sleeping has been torture, though. Each time you tossed and turned in bed, laying on your back or simply move your shoulders in an unusual way was hurting your damaged skin. After that, the itch started - and it was horrible because you knew that you were supposed to leave it alone, not removing the healing skin because your ink will fade, but it was itching so bad. 
The last few days were obviously way easier than the beginning, even though the permanent itchiness of healing skin was driving you insane. Though, that beautiful masterpiece was worth every second of it.
You had indeed thought about what Taehyung told you that day - that he wanted to leave something on your skin as well. In the beginning, the thought had been slightly overwhelming. You didn’t even know why, you had felt joyful but anxious at the same time. 
You would’ve thought that the reason behind that was your fear of needles, but you did survive the tattoo you just got perfectly fine, which left you wondering why you were feeling so anxious about it. 
As time passed, you grew fonder of the idea of getting a tattoo from Taehyung. 
And to be honest, you don’t think you would oppose Jungkook doing one either, as weird as it sounds. Even to you, it sounds pretty odd. You’re not one to let anyone near you easily, especially to get a tattoo that will be on your skin forever. 
You now start to understand why people say getting tattoos is addictive.
Because strangely, the idea does not sound as frightening or dangerous if you think about Taehyung or Jungkook tattooing you. You feel somewhat safe with them and you know that the both of them would probably take good care of you. 
However, now that you’re back in the parlour, you’re not so sure anymore. 
“What do you mean, Yoongi is full? Didn’t you schedule an appointment for me last time?” You ask incredulously, because it doesn’t make any sense to you. You even noted that date in your phone, there’s no way that you accidentally wrote down something wrong.
“I’m very sorry Y/N. I don’t know what happened to the schedule either, a lot of things got changed, Yoongi switched many time slots, I’m pretty confused at his schedule myself, especially since he rescheduled you, like, in two weeks. I can’t really let that happen, you need your check up pretty soon, not in a month.” Taehyung sighs and you’re feeling confused. What happened? 
Yoongi had asked Taehyung to book you a check up session, why did he change everything without telling anyone? Especially the fact that Taehyung, the freaking co-owner, doesn’t know why is making everything even more weird.
“I mean, it’s okay, I can always come back in two weeks, it’s alright, no big deal.” You try to smile, but Taehyung sees right through it. He thinks about calling Yoongi for a few seconds, asking him why the hell he changed it all, but he knows better than to interrupt him in the middle of an appointment.
 “You know what? I don’t have any appointments right now. I’m going to call Jungkook to the front and I’m going to make sure that you have your check up session just like we promised you would. He’s probably eating his third bowl of ramen right now.” Taehyung smiles soothingly, but you’re not very sure of his words right now.
“Are you sure? Really it’s okay, I can come back in two weeks, I wouldn’t want to be a pro-”
“You’re not a bother Y/N. Don’t even think about that word. I’m going to take a look at you, it shouldn’t be long anyway, so don’t worry about it, yeah?”, his smile slowly transfers onto your face once again and you feel yourself nodding at his words, somewhat comforted. That man has some sort of power over you, as weird as it sounds. 
“Okay, then we’re going in the room just right there, the left one. That’s mine. Jungkook! Could you come to the desk? I’m taking Y/N for her check up.” He yells, still not too loud to make sure that he does not startle Yoongi while he’s working on someone’s skin. Even though you’re not sure if he’d actually hear anything that happens outside, when Yoongi was tattooing you he seemed pretty concentrated and didn’t even talk to Jungkook or you. But maybe he just felt weird around you. 
“Oh! Y/N is back? Hola! How have you been?” You can hear Jungkook running towards you, excitedly bouncing on his heels and you laugh at how fast he arrives. 
“Hi! I’ve been quite good, thanks. How about you?” He smiles widely, excited about something.
“I’m very good! I’ve been told that I was improving on the fake skin I had to tattoo all the time, so I’m determined to prove myself when I’ll get the occasion. Yoongi told me that I should be able to work on real skin soon if I get to find someone that actually ag- Y/N!” he suddenly shouts, causing you jump in shock. “Would you let me tattoo you? Please! I’d do anything, I’d even do it for free. I really need someone to let me do it. I mean, I already did bits and pieces on Taehyung, but Yoongi says that this doesn’t count”, he asks with his big doe eyes, a pout forming on his lips and you’re way too close to just recklessly say yes. 
“Not that I’m against the idea of you tattooing me, because I’m pretty sure that you must be damn good to be able to even work here, but I’m not sure when and if I decide to get another one...” You try to soothe him down but Jungkook just gets even more excited, already bouncy on his heels again.
“But then, when you’ll be ready, could I? Pretty please? I think I could come something pretty-, no I know that I can come up with something pretty. You have perfect skin and your design that you got inspired me a little bit. I’m sure I could do well, please?” 
You almost feel yourself blush because of his weird compliment, but you both are interrupted by Taehyung.
“Get in the line, Kook. I asked her first.” It’s childish, really, but Jungkook can’t help but pout at his hyung. 
“You get to tattoo people everyday, Tae! Let me have my turn!” 
You can’t help but laugh at the two of them, their friendship must be very special and it’s endearing to look at them. Jungkook must have forgotten that he’s going to tattoo people everyday soon enough as well.
“Okay, okay, Jungkook I’ll think about it, I promise. Now, I need my check up first.”
Jungkook nods with a big smile on his face, eyes crinkling a bit and front teeth showing, causing you to giggle at his adorableness. 
“He’s very persuasive when he wants to. Be careful, his cuteness is his main weapon. He uses it whenever he can at home.” Taehyung sighs quietly, a fond smile decorating his lips when you suddenly realize something.
“Oh! Are you two living together?”, you ask, genuinely curious about the two men. 
“Ah, yes. We’re in a relationship. Soulmates as they say. Bonded for life. Till death does us apart and all that romantic stuff. In the end, Jungkook can be a pain in the ass.” 
Your eyes widen at his confession. “You’re soulmates?” 
You sound so surprised that Taehyung chuckles. You obviously didn’t mean to sound rude,  you just genuinely didn’t expect that chaotic duo to be soulmates. 
Taehyung’s weirdly eased not to hear any judgement from you, even though he usually doesn’t care about the thoughts other people have about his relationship. On the other hand, he would probably be somewhat upset if you were one to judge his relationship - he really likes you, he’d even consider spending more time with you, even though he doesn’t know why. Something about you is just… interesting to him.
Taehyung’s still thinking whether or not he should include the fact that his relationship doesn’t only consist of Jungkook and himself, but on the other hand, maybe it’s not really needed at this point. He is pretty sure you wouldn’t judge him because of that, but as much as it feels like he knows you since forever, you’re strangers, barely even friends. He will keep this story for another time, maybe when the three of you get to know each other a little bit better. 
“Yeah we are. It was weird in the beginning, working together is very different from what we’re used to from our private life, but we just get to see each other more, neither of us is complaining about that. Yoongi doesn’t mind that either as long as we stay professionals - all in all: if we don’t fuck in the storage room again, we’re good!” Taehyung smiles and you can just feel his beaming happiness. 
Wait- the… the storage room? You can’t hide your chuckle because, yes, somehow, it sounds like something they would do, as weird as it sounds.
Taehyung makes it look effortless to be happy, you almost wonder if you could ever be that happy once you  meet your own soulmate. You try not to think of it too much though, it always leaves a bitter aftertaste. Many of the people that surround you have found their soulmates already while you’re one of the few to still be looking for them. You wonder if they are searching for you too and try not to imagine too many things like their gender, skin color or looks. None of that matters anyway. It’s all up to fate.
You know that you will love them for who they are. Because you do feel it sometimes, the loneliness. It’s suffocating, even oppressing but yet, you try your best not to think about it too much, to overcome it. You just have to hope that you will find the lost part of your soul soon, because you cannot wait to finally feel whole.
“Anyway! Any recent pain, something that I should be wary of, or worried about?” Taehyung asks as you remove your shirt, letting him see the healing ink on your skin. 
“Can I touch you?”  You nod as you answer. “Nothing really, I’m just always worried about accidentally hurting myself and destroying that masterpiece. But otherwise, I’ve been pretty good the last few days.” You try not to overthink his cold finger on your back that felt.. strangely good.
“Ah, I’m sorry, my hands are quite cold, I should have warned you. Well, it seems to be healing pretty well. The crust on it looks good too, I’m glad you didn’t peel it off. Have you been able to sleep correctly? Back tattoos are sometimes a pain in the ass during nighttime.” 
It almost feels as if he tries to ask trivial questions for you to loosen up, which you really do.
“I kind of figured it out, I thought it would be hell but it’s really fine. The first few days were eventful but otherwise, everything has been good, I’m not a back-sleeper anyways.” 
His fingers are gently following the black ink, featherly touching your skin, making sure that everything is alright. 
“That’s good. No weird discomfort, you didn’t faint back at home or anything? I remember my first tattoo and how horrible my blood sugar was afterwards.” You almost chuckle even though you know he’s serious, so you stop yourself right in time to answer instead. 
“Nope. I’ve been great. I thought the aftermath would be hard but it was surprisingly okay.” Taehyung smiles at that.
“That’s good news then. Some people look like they are big, buff men, able to get through it, but they call us the next day to tell us that they can’t get up without having a headache. For the majority of them, it’s only them stressing and their anxiety coming down after getting the tattoo. We still need to check on them, because it obviously could be something else, but it’s never happened so far. Getting a tattoo is pretty intense, it’s not something that everyone can handle, and that’s fine. We’re also here to make sure that everything heals without a problem. The aftercare is almost as important as the actual tattooing.” 
His statement makes total sense, keeping your anxiety and stress at bay can come back in a less comfortable way - you’ve already experienced that in the past. 
“Anyway, I don’t think you were too stressed before getting the actual tattoo to get any of those side effects. I’ve heard from people that have to vomit before their appointment.” Taehyung laughs while you feel a blush creeping on your cheeks. Is he referring to the week where you stood in front of the shop, before running away because you were freaking out? 
“Ah please that’s embarrassing.” His laugh is the only hint that he is indeed thinking of what you’re thinking too. 
“Well then, it looks like everything is healing just fine! You’re basically free from now on, even though we can always schedule another check up in a few months if you really want to make sure everything is fine, which I can probably tell you will be the case, but it’s up to you. I know that the first tattoo is a stressful experience, so I would understand if you want to come back. You can get a free touch-up as well, just call within the next six months and Yoongi will be there to do it for you.” His soothing voice is empty of judgement and you feel secure, able to ask for anything. 
“I should be fine, thank you for telling me, though. I appreciate it a lot.” You believe every word he says and it's comforting. You feel at ease, Taehyung is an easy person to talk to and you feel yourself loosen up more and more. 
“I’m glad.” His eyes are gentle, accompanying you as he watches you walk out of the room, going back to Jungkook, who seems equally enthralled when he sees you. 
“So, when should I schedule the next one?” Jungkook smirks cheekily, knowing that he is pushing it, but he really wants to see you again. For tattooing, obviously. Right. For the tattoo. No other reasons. Because there weren’t any.
“Jungkook stop trying to convince her to get another tattoo. She only gets one if she wants to. Go back on working on your fake skin if you’re that desperate.” Taehyung is quick at reprimanding him, even though it’s more playful than really upset. 
“Tae, let me convince her, will you? She just needs a little push. I know she wants another one. I see it in her eyes.” Jungkook wiggles his eyebrows, playfully looking at you, making you laugh as you see his wide smile. 
“Don’t be a brat about it, Guk.” Taehyung is doing some paperwork while you're trying to get yourself together. 
“Yes, Daddy”, Jungkook mumbles with a smirk. It takes a lot of strength from you not to laugh again.
“It’s alright Taehyung, don’t worry. Jungkook is probably right, though. I wouldn’t mind getting another tattoo. I'm just not sure what or when.” You grin when you see Taehyung’s surprised face. 
“See? I told you! I can totally draw you something Y/N, you can choose from any of my designs if you want.” Jungkook seems overly excited and you find yourself not being able to not think about getting another piece inked into your skin. God, what is he doing to you? 
“Y/N, are you sure? You don't have to, you know? You can always come back later.” Taehyung  smiles gently, giving you the chance to make your own choice again. A wave of comfort hits you and you start to wonder what it is about this man that makes you feel so at ease.
“I'm positive, Tae. Sure, it seems rushed and like I didn't think enough about it, which might be true. But, I really like Jungkook’s idea. If I like none of his designs, I can always say no, right?” You still ask, just in case, because you’d be crazy to sign up without any withdrawal possibility. 
“Of course you can. Anything else would be illegal. I'm pretty sure Jungkook will spend hours on it, making sure that you’ll find something that you like, but you can always refuse.” Jungkook is already mumbling his ideas, making a list on a piece of paper that he found on the desk. You both lost him already and the realisation makes you both chuckle. He is endearing as well. 
“When should I come back then?” You ask curiously, tiptoeing, trying to see his schedule as he checks when he could book you. 
“Well, would you like both Jungkook and I to work on it? Jungkook is not an official artist here, so he needs either mine or Yoongi’s approval before tattooing, but we also need yours, obviously. Let me reformulate that, it sounded like Jungkook was not pro enough to tattoo you on his own. The actual question is, do you trust Jungkook enough for him to have a part of the tattoo, more than just the design? He definitely can, but only if you agree. It would be the best for him to practise, though. I’ll be on his side all the time, making sure he doesn’t mess anything up. He has practised on fake skin a lot, he knows what he’s doing.” You hear Jungkook mumbling again that you already agreed on it. But you know that Taehyung is asking because Jungkook is only an apprentice, and as talented as he is, he still needs your consent before anything. 
“I’m 100% positive, no worries about that. That’s the whole point of it, him actually having real skin to work on, right?” 
Taehyung smiles happily, he knew that you would say so, but hearing it directly from you is reassuring.  “Good. Then, I have some free space in three weeks. It's a Saturday at 11 AM, are you free for us?” He shows you the time slot that is available and you mindlessly nod, noting it down in your phone as well. 
“So, I'll see you both in three weeks?” You look at them, silently waiting for one last smile, you wonder why you crave to see one on both of their faces before leaving, but you brush away the thought quickly.
“For sure! Take care of yourself Y/N, we’ll see you in a bit!” They both smile and you suddenly feel accomplished, you don't even know why, but it feels right. And you can't wait to be back, glad about the fact that your bank account won’t hate you this time. 
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can you write something to rowaelin based on the song lost without you by freya ridings please 🥺 i love ur fanfics
This was supposed to be angst but it ended up being only a it angsty and a little fluffy? Idk, it’s quick and I think it’s cute. I would have posted earlier but I wanted my friend’s opinion first. Hope you like it!
Lost without you
--
Rowan knew he and his girlfriend were different.
He had known since the moment they had met, and every second after it.
Rowan was quiet, usually kept to himself. He liked nothing more than to study anything related to law and spend time with his girlfriend. Aelin, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She was lively, cheerful. She was constantly dirty with paint, constantly sweaty after working with her sculptures. They had started dating in the beginning of junior year in high school, and the difference had never been something bad.
Until that Friday.
That day, as Rowan stared at his acceptance letter into Orynth College— the best college he could go to if he wanted to do pre law—, the difference weighted on him.
Weighted on him because Aelin wasn’t going with him.
She had gotten her acceptance letter the same day he had, but it had been a different one. A program, she had been offered, to travel the world and learn from some of the best artists alive. It was an extremely rare and exclusive program, and the fact that Aelin had gotten in made him so, so proud. He knew she wouldn’t—couldn’t— let it pass.
And that broke him.
Broke him because his girlfriend was going to leave for four years, and he didn’t know what to do. Neither of them liked the idea of a distance relationship, and there was only one other alternative then.
Breaking up.
Rowan loved Aelin like he had never loved anyone else, and he knew she loved him just as much. He thought it would have been easier if they didn’t love each other as much, thought it would have been easier if it was just a high school fling, but imagining his life without Aelin’s cheerfulness and mirth made his chest crack. Imagining his life not loving Aelin was brutal.
The following days had been hard. As both of them accepted the entrance, it looked like they were drifting apart more and more everyday. They tried to desperately hold onto each other, savor the last weeks together for the next four years. Rowan took her to every place they had ever been in a date, and Aelin drew hundreds of sketches of them. They tried to act like the loving couple they were, tried to joke around as if she wasn’t about to leave in two weeks. But it weighted on both of them, and they only let it show during the nights when they held onto each other so strongly sometimes it left bruising marks.
Now, standing on the platform Aelin was going to catch the train to Banjali, he wished he had held her a little while longer. She was hugging her parents and Aedion. She had already said goodbye to Lysandra, the brunette smiling at her best friend but tears rimming her green eyes.
“If you stop calling, we will hunt you down, fireheart.” Rhoe said, only half jokingly. He gave one last kiss on his daughter head and jerked his chin in Rowan’s direction.
The moment Aelin turned to him, her face crumpled a little, tears rolling down her cheeks. Wordlessly, he pulled her into a hug, peppering her head with kisses as she buried her face on his chest. “I will miss you so much, Ro.”
“I’ll miss you, too, fireheart.” He said, the words feeling too big in his tight throat. “I’ll miss you so, so much.”
“I’ll come back, you know? In four years.” She sniffled. Face still on his chest. “And I would never ask you to wait for me, but please don’t forget me. Or treat me like a stranger when I come back.”
“I would never, Ace.” He said and she cried harder. Aelin had always been close to her family and to Rowan and Lysandra. To be letting all of them go at the same time must have been brutal for her. Rowan wished he could do something, make her feel better in some way. But he also knew Aelin was strong and even though she was hurt right now, she would be happy eventually.
“I would stay. If you asked me, I would stay.” She said quickly through the tears. Rowan’s chest constricted, and a selfish part of him wanted to ask. Wanted it so bad. He wanted to have his girlfriend in the same college as him, doing all college shit together. He didn’t want things to change, and he knew that in that moment, if he asked, she would stay.
But he also knew that she was saying that because it was hurting, and also knew she would regret it later. And she wouldn’t regret Rowan, but herself. And Rowan wouldn’t be able to live seeing her regret the past everyday because he had been selfish.
“Do you wanna see the world, Ace?” He asked softly, his voice not that sad anymore.
She raised her face to look at him. It was pinkish, a few strands of her golden hair stuck on her cheeks because of her crying. Gently and smiling, Rowan rubbed his thumbs on her cheeks, taking away the strands. She closed her eyes, savoring his touch. Even crying, Aelin was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“I want to see the world.” She said opening her turquoise and gold eyes, voice firm.
“Then go.” He smiled at her again, leaving her embrace. She smiled sadly at him, but five minutes later she raised her chin, puffed her chest and got into the train.
And then she left, Rowan watching her go to conquer her dreams. The whole world if she wished.
And Rowan felt so, so lost in that instant.
————————
It had hurt like a bitch.
Rowan had never felt so lonely and cold. Had never felt so lost without her.
Aelin was a walking flame, burning wherever she went. And now that she had left, Rowan realized how used he had gotten to her presence, how much he loved her.
Much more than he had realized before.
Rhoe put an arm around his shoulders, taking Rowan away from the platform. Rowan was glad Rhoe was there as they walked home. If not, Rowan might have bumped into so many pedestrians, normal people just wanting to go home to their own lives, completely unaware of the girl who had left minutes ago in a train.
“She’ll come back.” Evalin, Aelin’s mom, said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“And she’ll be pissed if you spend four years single and moping.” Aedion muttered, and Rowan scoffed.
“I know that too.”
When Rhoe and Evelin dropped him off at home, he went straight to his room. His fingers itched to call her, but they had agreed that for their break up to be effective, they had to distance themselves a little, at least in the beginning.
He just stared at his ceiling. And stared, and stared and stared.
He loved her so much, and missed her just the same. Rowan knew he was in love with Ace, but missing her made him realize just how much.
He had been quiet and sad for the next few days. A little bit better the next week.
And slowly, Rowan learned how to live without her.
He would go out, he would laugh and joke with his friends. He busted his ass off studying for the next four years, always thinking about the LSAT.
He went on a few dates. Dated a girl named Lyria for a few months, a girl named Remelle for a few weeks.
Even when his life was back at normal, when it had been years since Aelin had left, a part of him still held on to that love he had felt when they were younger. It was hidden in the deep of his mind, a dormant part of it. He would think of her from time to time, smile at their memories and even feel a pang of sadness, but it didn’t feel like it was going to consume him.
Rowan had never forgotten her, and she made sure of it. They didn’t call, not once in four years, and she had never come to visit. But to every city Aelin went, to every beautiful place she visited, she would sketch a small postcard and send it to him. Never with a message, no pictures of her or whatever she was working on. Just the sketches and the name of the place in the back.
A reminder. She hadn’t forgotten him either.
By now, Rowan had hundreds of sketches, all inside a box under his bed. He would sometimes look through them, seeing how her drawing was improving. He remembered that sculpting had always been her area of expertise, and to see her drawings become so flawless made his chest burst in pride. He would smile every time a new handmade postcard arrived, and would eagerly wait for the next one.
Rowan would have never forgotten Aelin, even if she disappeared for ten years and didn’t give him any news.
But he had to admit, he loved to know that she was thinking of him from time to time, too.
—————————
“Rowan Whitethorn, future lawyer.” Aedion smiled, clapping his best friend on his shoulder. “Sounds rather adult-y, doesn’t it?”
Rowan laughed, taking off his green cap. Today had been their graduation day, all his friends receiving their diplomas in different areas. Some of them were ready to go to work, like Lorcan and Vaughan. But he was going to law school now, the same way Fenrys and Aedon were going to med school.
“We are adults, Aedion.”
“Don’t you ever repeat those cursed words!” He said, and Rowan laughed again. “I have the soul of a dumb eighteen year old. Forever. End of story.”
“I’m sure Lysandra is delighted by the fact.” Lorcan said, and Rowan almost laughed at the vision of his friend. It was probably the first time Rowan had seen Lorcan in something that wasn’t black, and bright green and silver silk weren’t really his thing.
“Even if he acted like an adult, Lysandra would still be miserable.” Fenrys added, a smile on his lips as Aedion tried to smack him. Vaughan and Connall only shook their heads, laughing quietly.
“Ok, ok. Now the present for the grad.” Aedion said, and all of them turned to Rowan, almost scary smiles on their faces.
“We already gave out presents. And they were terrible, by the way.” Rowan said, confused. “Who the fuck needs a bright red silk underwear, Fenrys?”
Fenrys smile became more sarcastic as the others laughed. “I thought it would bring out the green in your eyes, Roro.”
“I don’t want any more presents from the five of you.” Rowan said, almost pleading.
All their smiles widened further, even Lorcan’s. Fenrys was almost hopping on his feet. Aedion was the one with the biggest smile, excitement almost pouring off of him.
“It’s not our present.” Aedion replied, and his blue eyes shifted for something over Rowan’s shoulder.
Rowan’s brows furrowed and he turned around.
The sight almost made him drop to his knees. There, standing in a plain spaghetti strap black top, tight dark jeans hugging every curve and black heels, was the girl who remained the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Thick golden blonde hair falling in waves until her waist, creamy white skin tanned from her years of travel, pinkish full lips pulled into a huge smile and turquoise and gold eyes gleaming with mirth.
Aelin winked at him, and Rowan’s mouth pulled into an equally big smile.
She held up her fingers, a handmade postcard with the word home in it between them. She flicked her wrist, showing the other side with a sketch of Orynth. “I thought it would be better if I gave this one in person.”
Rowan laughed with so much happiness as he walked back to Aelin.
And Rowan felt as if he had found himself in that instant.
Tags:
@abookishfreak @faerie-queen-fireheart @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @maastrash @morganofthewildfire @queen-of-glass @lexflame
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bbaronpiper · 4 years
Text
Other side of him
I wrote another fluff/smut for you guys. it’s nothing much but I just wanted to post something out. Hope u like it thooo. some parts were @fullweaselbandithero​ ‘s idea. Thank you bb! <3
19. “God, you are so fucking cute.”
32. “No one has a romantic bone in their body anymore! What happened to playing songs outside windows, glitter and sparkles on handmade Valentine’s cards, dancing in the rain!? What happened?!”
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gif not mine. credits to the owner
Arón x reader
Standing in front of the mirror, your hands run from the curves of your waist to your hips, you wore a simple black strappy straight neck bodycon dress, examining yourself, quite undecided weather to wear this or the one hanging on the side of the mirror.
“Which one do you like?” you asked your boyfriend who’s about to lose his shit, growing impatient. You can tell by the way his leg bounced up and down, looking at you sternly while you get dressed. He was supposed to pick you up at 7pm to attend his friend’s party. It was now 7:15pm and you haven’t decided what to wear yet.
“Arón?” waving at him holding the spare dress on your other hand.
He hummed. Confused look plastered across his face, not a single clue on what you calling him out for.
“This one?” you pointed on the one you’re already wearing. “or this one?” you waved the dress you were holding.
He didn’t answer. He just kept on looking at you with his chin on top of his fist and his elbow rests on his knee.
You laughed a little. What is up with this idiot. “Baby, if you don’t help me choose, by the time we get to the club, all your friends would be drunk as fuck”
He then stood up and walked closer to you. his gaze never leaving you. “Try this one. Let’s see what it would look like on you” he pointed to the dress hanging on your hand.
You let out a small “okay” as you turn around to face the mirror again, hanging up the spare dress just to take off the one you’re currently wearing. Your innocence never once questioned his reasons even the looks he was giving you until you grab the hem of your dress and pull it up over your head. Exposing your black lacy underwear. You then saw Arón from the reflection on the mirror, bit his lower lip trying to stop a smile.
“You little shit!” you exclaimed as it all hit you. The silence and the looks he was giving you had a reason. You turned back around to face him and threw the dress you just took off right on his face. He wanted you to try the other dress just so he can see you naked.
He burst out laughing now. Unable to control the laughter he’s been holding the second you grabbed the hem of your dress.
“hmm. I like this better” he was still laughing but the look on his eyes gave it away. Your boy is horny. Again. He walked closer to you and pulled you to him by the waist. You were pressed against his body now. You weren’t wearing a bra and you were lying if you say the feeling of your boobs touching directly against his shirt didn’t turn you on because it definitely did specially if you can feel his cold silver chain necklace hanging around his neck against your skin.
“Umm Piper, just in case you forgot, we have a party to attend” you cleared your throat. Getting nervous as the tension built up not that you didn’t want to fuck him. You do, but you’re also dying to get some alcohol down your system. You then pushed him off of you and proceed to wear the black dress you were wearing moments ago. You liked it anyways.
“Such a tease” he murmured while smirking.
“Horny avatar!” you spat back as you finished getting dress and put on your heels. You and Aron loved teasing each other, throwing comments and insults like little kids. You didn’t mind it since you both knew your limitations when it comes to the insults.
“Take that back Y/N!” he then slapped your ass and grabbed your hand as he led you out the door. You just gasped in return at the sudden feeling of his hand colliding on your ass.
“Really? You gotta touch a fine lady on her bumbum?” giving him a sad look that’s obviously fake. “No one has a romantic bone in their body anymore! What happened to playing songs outside windows, glitter and sparkles on handmade Valentine’s cards, dancing in the rain!? What happened?!” you continued to half rant.
Arón on the other hand, being Arón, he didn’t say a word he just chuckled. He slipped his hand on your back gliding up until your neck which by the way sent you chills all over your body, and stopped when he reached the side of your head, pushing it closer to him so he could give you a kiss on the side of your head.
“That’s all I get? Really, Arón?” Now, you really are sad. Not to sound clingy but you missed your man. You both quarantined away from each other but facetime everyday and once the quarantine is lifted, he starts going to clubs and beaches. Of course, he had asked you to come but you refused saying there’s still a virus and it isn’t safe. Arón on the other hand being the stubborn ass that he is, still went and you were never the type to restrict your boyfriend on things he wanted to do but now that he’s back, all you wanted is to spend time with him.
Just before you both reached the door, he stopped, leaned his head down to your level and gave you a kiss on the lips. It was one of his passionate kisses. He was never the one who gave little pecks. The man mastered the art of kissing like he’s making up for the time you weren’t together, a reminder that you’re his home and a promise that it’s you who he loves dearly. He pulled away smiling down on you while you smile back at him with cheeks blushing. You were so happy you skipped away to the door until the parking lot like a little school girl, his hand intertwined with yours. He laughed at the sight of this and shook his head. Probably regretting the fact that he’s dating a grown ass woman with a 10 year old child inside of her.
The second he starts to drive away, you zoomed out. You always loved car rides more than the destination itself. The feeling of sitting comfortable on the passenger’s seat while your boyfriend plays his jam and softly sing along to it gives you the happiest feeling. Not to mention your amusement every time you look out the window and enjoy the view; the streets, the people walking around and the sky. The smile you had on your face slowly disappeared as you heard Arón announced that you arrived to your destination.
You frown a little, confused. It didn’t look like a bar. You turned your head around to the driver’s seat only to see it empty. He was already walking around the car to open up the car door for you. damn this boy for making your heart flutter every time he gets the chance. You happily got out of the car and he immediately took your hand in his.
“Where are we? I thought you said-?
“Shush. You’ll see” he cut you off and shoot you a wink.  
He then led you inside the building into the elevator and pushed the button for the very top floor. Only to reveal this (see photo below)
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photo not mine. got it from pinterest.
Your mouth hung open once you had a glimpse of it. On your mind, it was still his friend’s party you’re going to and not to this, leaving you confused. First of all, how can a fancy building have this garden set up in its rooftop, second, where is everybody? And lastly, Arón really did this for you? you love the boy dearly, and surely, he does love you as well but he was never the romantic type. Your dates are mostly just dinners or drinking at the bar or staying home for a long cozy night but never this.
“Close your mouth, baby I just saw a flying insect flew in.” he laughed while he touched your chin with his thumb. He then led you further and into one of the seat. “Sit” he demanded
“Asshole!” you muttered. Tears of joy starts to build up in your eyes. You felt like you were the luckiest woman ever. “You didn’t tell me you were setting me up with your friend for a romantic dinner” you joked.
He laughed loudly this time. “You’re crazy! Why would I give you away to somebody else. Huh?” He grabbed the remote on the nearby table and play the movie he chose the night before.
“So, no? Damn, I’ve been eyeing Marco for a while now” He quickly snapped his head back at you, glaring. The look on his face made you burst out laughing. It was a mix of shocked and jealousy. You can’t believe he bought what you said. “Gosh Arón, I was just kidding. I’m yours” And pecked him on the cheek which seemed to work since his facial expressions softened. “But really, No Marco tonight?”
He rolled his eyes at you “Not funny” and exhaled a little “hmpf” then pouted at you. Pouting men should be automatically kissed right? And so you did. He refused to return the kiss at first, cos you know people with Aries star signs are fucking stubborn but not for long as you tried to deepen the kiss by licking his lower lips and that’s when he finally gave in. He parted his lips slightly enough for you to insert your tongue in his mouth as his danced along with yours. His hand traveled down your thigh caressing it with his thumb. He was about to slide his hand inside your dress when you heard the elevator open and made you both pull away.
You watched as the waiters served your food along with your favorite wine. You both giggled at each other embarrassed that someone caught you during an intimate moment.
“Did you like it?” Arón asked you referring to his surprise.
“I loved it” you grin back at him “You rented the whole floor?”
“Yeah, so you wouldn’t whine about the virus. I can’t have you spraying alcohol at random people!” he said shaking his head before taking a bite on his food.
You spent the whole dinner talking about random stuff trying to catch up on each other’s lives these past few months. You love listening to Arón’s stories, your favorite part is when he’s telling you something funny and he couldn’t even finish the sentence ‘cos he’s laughing too much which cause you to laugh as well. The sound of his laughter completes your day, you love making him happy and he sure does make you happy as well.
“Did I tell you, you looked beautiful tonight?” he said while wiping the side of his mouth with a napkin. “god, you are so fucking cute.” He shot you a cheeky grin.
“Did I tell you, thank you for this” motioning around the place “and that I love you so much?” you challenged back.
“Yeah, you did. But I believed the word you used was ‘asshole’” He laughed to himself as he stood up and walked over to you side asking for your hand. “and I love you more”
“What, now?” you looked up at him, not sure what he wanted you to do.
He scrunched his face at you trying to suppress another laugh. “Y/N, has no one ever asked you to dance before?” this sassy ass will be the death of you. He wiggled his hand in front of you asking you to take it. you did. He led you to the middle of the floor, his hands on your hips and yours around his neck. You both swayed slowly, enjoying each other’s company while the cold air of the night softly blew into your skin. There’s no music playing, all you can hear is the sound of your breaths, your thumping hearts and the faint sound of the movie playing on the background. This was all new to you and it kept you wondering what has gotten into him to do something this special. You’ve been with Arón for more than a year now but you never seen this other side of him before.  
“What’s up with you? are you breaking up with me?” you blurted out of nowhere. His gestures tonight made you overthink. Is he doing this like a goodbye thing? Just to leave a good memory?
He looked down at you with eyebrows furrowed. “No, where did that come from?”
“uhh, nothin’.. it’s just.. you’ve never done something like this before. It makes me wonder” you shrugged. Your arms tightened around his neck afraid he’ll slip away.
“Exactly. That’s why I’m doing this” He gave you a reassuring smile. “’’cos I’ve never done it before.” He caress your cheek with the back of his fingers, staring deep into your eyes. “I feel like I haven’t done enough for you yet.”  He brushed the tip of his nose on your forehead first before placing a kiss on it.
Your heart was beating so fast and hard you feel like Arón can feel it through his chest too. Butterflies in your stomach are too much for you to handle. This man makes you feel so much emotions to the point that your knees get so weak and you suddenly forgot how to breathe. You stared into each other’s eyes for a while before you tip toed and reach for his lips, giving his pouty ones a kiss it deserved.
Arón pulled away after a while just to press his face at the side of your head and whispered “Let me show you how much I love you” before kissing your exposed neck, his fingers played with the strap of your dress while waiting for your answer. This simple gesture was enough to make you wet.
It took him a soft nod from you to pull down the strap from your shoulders and kissed the skin below it. your hand gripped tightly at the back of his neck as he lightly sucked the skin on your shoulder and giving it a kiss before moving to another spot and repeat the same step, earning soft moans from you.
His huge hands traveled from your hips to your ass and taps it lightly. It was a signal for you to jump onto him. You obeyed. He walked toward the nearest couch and laid you there. He kissed you in every part of your skin that’s exposed; your face, your neck, your shoulders, your arms, your hands up to your legs. Arón lifted your dress up but you stopped him once the cloth reached your stomach.
“Someone might walk in on us, baby.” He nodded in understanding and let the dress sit up to your stomach before discarding your panties. Revealing your already dripping pussy.
“Fuck, you’re so wet for me” Arón muttered at the sight. The feeling of his hand touching your thighs is enough for you to moan out his name.  you reached for his shirt’s button one by one opening it. your hand automatically went to touch his chest, your fingers tracing his sun and moon tattoo.
“Arón, baby please” he smirked knowing you’re just eager as him. Reaching for his pants button, he quickly opened it and pull his trousers down along with his boxers. He went back to hover over you pressing his lips on yours leaving wet and hard kisses.
“Arón, please.. please..” he always make you beg when making love. Fucking Aries. Always the dominant one. You tried to thrust upward to meet his rock hard dick but he moved slightly away from you.
“Not yet baby” he said in between kisses. You of course didn’t like this and whined. Once he heard this. He covered your mouth and quickly slammed into you making you scream. Thankfully, Arón’s hand was on your mouth making the sounds muffled. He didn’t move an inch until you moaned. It was his way of knowing that you had adjusted on his size already.
He started slow movements, pushing in and out of you gently making you both moan in unison. Arón was now thrusting at a steady pace. You loved it. it’s been a while since he fucked you like this. It was always hard sex or the needy sex. Soft Arón  turned you even more than the wild version of him. He thrusts into you a few more times before sitting up. He was still inside you when he snuck his arms under your back pulling you into sitting position in a swift. The sudden movements made you moan out loud as he shot a cocky smile towards you.
His smile was replaced with an O shape and pulled his head back, grunting as he felt you clenched around him. “Ride me Y/N”
You did as you were told. You moved up and down on him slowly like he did to you. his name rolled out of your tongue over and over again getting louder in every thrust. He pulled down your dress a bit further to reveal your right boob. He then wasted no time and put it in his mouth. Nipping and sucking on it. while his other hand reached to grab your left boob. You felt your orgasm building up. Arón must’ve felt it too ‘cos your thrust are getting sloppy.
He stopped what he was doing and left you a wet kiss on your lips. “I’ve got you baby” he then lied you back down on the couch again. He positioned himself and pushed your legs wider apart before gripping on your waist and start pounding into you. hard and fast. You held tightly on his forearms like your life depended on it. your moans turned into screams not once caring if someone heard you.
“I’m so close, Arón” you reached for your clit and starts rubbing it in circles. Arón saw this and slaps your hand away, taking over for you so you can go back to gripping on his arm.
“That’s it baby, come for me” Arón grunts and pursed his lips together. Quickening his pace. The sight of him with little beads of sweat forming in his forehead, grunting and moaning your name drove you straight to orgasm. You came. Arón not long after you. screaming each other’s name.
He collapsed on top of you, careful not to crush you with his weight. His head laid on your chest as you both catch breaths. Both of your chest heaving. You rest your chin on top of his head, your hand running softly against his hair just above his neck. Enjoying the view. It was nice to make love under the night sky with the boy you love with all your heart.
“Let’s go home, princesa. Let me fuck you properly.”
Ohhh and the night is not yet over.
“so, more surprises for me huh?”
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honeypirate · 3 years
Text
Chocolate Jinx
Tendou x f!reader
So I know time skip he’s a chocolatier in paris. But in this fic he’s in Sendai. It’s how I wrote it before I even remembered he’s in Paris and I don’t feel like changing the whole story now.
Your breaths came out in puffs, each inhale and exhale lasting four of your steps as you ran down the sidewalk, counting as you ran so you could focus on your stamina, inhale one two exhale one two. Towards the chocolate shop that you had an appointment at, an appointment that you are currently late for. "shit shit shit" ran through your head like a prayer that would somehow make you run faster. You knew that you would be late, your mom had asked you to help her with her grocery shopping since your father wouldn't be able to do it for her today, you couldn't say no, you couldn't tell her about this appointment because it was a secret, a surprise for her that will be special goddam it!
You open the door and step into the air conditioned shop, the scent of chocolate hitting your nose making you smile "y/n?" a voice asks, when you finally make eye contact with the man behind the counter you smile "Tendou?" you ask with a breathless chuckle "I’m so sorry I’m late I know it‘s not very professional and I can explain" he chuckles and cocks his head "but? you're not late? Our lesson isn’t for another twenty minutes” "what?!" you exclaim and then laugh, still breathless, as you place your hands on your knees and bending over a little to catch your breath. "This whole time I thought Iwas ten minutes late. I have it written down that it’s 3 but now that you said that I remember" he laughs and walks around the counter holding out a bottle of water "no worries, we can start early if you would like, water?" you nod and take the bottle from him "thank you! I’m glad I’m not late but don't let me bother you if you have other things to do before our lesson." you take a drink and your throat thanks you for the relief.
Tendou turns the shop sign to closed, then locks the door. "it's no issue. when you’ve caught your breath from your run" he chuckles "we can start. Come with me and I will show you where to put your things and give you an apron. did you bring a hat?" you nod and pull one out of your back pocket as you walk behind him, following him into the kitchen. its an old black Yankies baseball cap, you hold the bottle under your arm as you pull your (h/c) back into a low pony before putting the hat on.
"You can put your jacket and things in the office here, there’s a bathroom in the back to the right, aaand.." he reaches up on a shelf and gets down a white apron "here is this, i'll wait for you in the kitchen whenever you're ready" you take off your hoodie, leaving you in a black blouse with flowy long sleeves that you roll up along with your black skinny jeans with the ankles tightly rolled and a pair of checkered vans, you leave your things on the seat of the chair in the office before making your way out to the kitchen again.
You put the apron around your neck with a smile, tying it around your back as you stood next to him at a counter top. In front of you were a few ingredients, cocoa, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, sugar, as well as a few others and multiple tools. “Ready?” He asks with a smile and you nod “ready!”
“So since you booked the premium one on one lesson, instead of just teaching you to be a chocolatier and just making things out of chocolate, I will also show you how to make the chocolate, so mixing the ingredients, heating, and tempering. I’ve laid out all of the ingredients so we’re ready to go. We will both be doing the same things together so you can see what it’s supposed to look like.” You nod and bounce a little excitedly in your toes “let’s do this!” He gets you set up in your station across from his and goes through the tools with you and after that he talks about how you get from cocoa nuts to chocolate.
He starts his speech that you can tell he’s said hundreds of times “Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting coca, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding.” You’re watching him as he speaks, how he moves his hands while he talks, you’re trying to pay attention to the history of your favorite candy that fascinated you as well as admire the handsome man in front of you. His long fingers and expressive eyes, the way he obviously loved his job, he was beautiful. You realize you weren’t paying attention and zone back into his speech and hope he didn’t notice you zone out.
“needs to be harvested manually in the forest. The seed pods of coca are first be collected; they will be selected and placed in piles. These cocoa beans will then be ready to be shipped to the manufacturer for mass production.” You raise your hand a little and he chuckles before nodding at you “Why picked by hand?” he smiles brightly at you, like you’re the first to actually care about the history and ask questions, “good question! The answer is that machines could damage the tree or the clusters of flowers and pods that grow from the trunk, so workers must harvest the pods by hand, using short, hooked blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit.” You smile “what comes next?” He looks so much more passionate about this now that you asked a question, now that you’ve truly shown your interest, before he was going through the motions of the many classes he has taught before to the same people who don’t ask anything just zone out until the cooking starts.
“Well after the cocoa pods are collected into baskets, they are taken to a processing house. Here they are split open and the cocoa beans are removed. Pods can contain upwards of 50 cocoa beans each!” He’s gets more animated as he goes along, you found him to be the most adorable man you’ve ever met. “then the beans undergo the fermentation processes. They are either placed in large, shallow, heated trays or covered with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented.” “How long does that usually take?” You notice him get ever more excited with another question asked “usually 5-8 days” his smile is so gorgeous it makes your stomach flip.
"Chocolate factories take these cocoa beans and use machinery to break down the cocoa beans into cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and cocoa powder. All which we will be using today.” You match his energy now, excited to be able to learn this today. “Amazing!” Your smile mirroring his. He tells you how much of the ingredients to add to the bowl to double boil and you’re whisking it together as it melts, talking with him was easy as you followed his directions. “So why have you wanted to learn about chocolate?” His eyes are on his bowl as he asks and you flick your eyes up to his face, studying his handsome features as you whisk in the same pace as he is, you’re admiring his fingers as he holds his whisk, his other hand resting the counter, when you look back to his eyes you find him looking at you with a smirk, you blush a little embarrassed as you respond “My grandpa used to be a chocolatier but since he’s in America and unable to make it now, I can’t have him teach me. My mom's birthday is coming up and I thought it would be a nice gift, to give her some handmade chocolate” he smiles wide “that’s so nice of you! I’m sure your mom will really love that” he says “Now we should be ready to temper it so grab your pot and follow me over to the marble counter”
“So to temper, you need to cool it by spreading it out and then folding it into itself to build the right kind of proteins, after it gets thicker we will warm it back up and it should be ready to mold” you nod and reach up to turn your hat backwards so you can see better before taking a spatula from him. “Follow my lead” he begins to pour two thirds of his chocolate out on one side of the marble countertop which was about six feet in length giving you both enough space to work side by side. You pour yours like he does and begin to work it back and forth, copying him. “That’s good!” He points out and you blush “thank you!” You chuckle “I have an amazing teacher” you wink at him, the blush rising to his cheeks makes your heart race so you turn your attention back to spreading the chocolate.
You finish tempering the chocolate and adding it back to the pot, using the still hot water underneath with the third of still warm chocolate to raise the temperature to the right consistency. “I thiiink” you stretch out the word, a little embarrassed to admit what you’re about to admit, “Tendou I think I screwed something up” your eyebrows are furrowed looking into your mixture that has now began to look grainy. He comes closer and looks over your shoulder “hmmm” he says and you look up into his eyes, your expression a little anxious “it’s seized a bit, but don’t worry we can probably fix it and if we can’t we can start over!” He smiles and you and you feel some tension drain from you, for some reason you felt like this would be easy and now that you’re having a hard time, you felt tense. if you ruin this you will just buy some chocolate from here but it wouldn't be the same.
He grabs some of the cocoa butter from the other counter and brings it over to you, "lets add a little more cocoa butter and mix it together, it should come back-" you stir and it incorporates but it doesn't get better "ahh I guess not." he laughs "must have been too hot still and too much steam, no worries, let's start over!" his cheery attitude made you smile. It’s like he doesn’t really mind that you just wasted these ingredients. That he’s just happy to be teaching you and helping you. "If I fail again, I don't want to waste anymore of your ingredients, okay?" he quirks his eyebrows as he throws away your ruined chcolate " I think I should be the one to decide what to do with the ingredients y/n" he cocks his head and smiles brightly "we will make it until it's perfect! for your dear mom!" your heart beats quickly in your chest, this sweet man, you felt butterflies flood your stomach "thank you Tendou" you smile with your eyes closed and he about dies with how cute you are.
After four more tries you sigh and throw your arms in the air "Tendou I think I'm a chocoalte makers jinx! You are a superb teacher and you make amazing choclate, even with your help at the end it still siezes" your voice is frustrated and overwhelmed as you place your hands on your hips and stare at the, once again, siezed chcocolate. "lets go through it one more time, I'm sure you can get it this time!" he says with the same amount of energy he had in the beginning. you look at him with wide eyes for a second before they soften and you smile at him "you are the sweetest guy, do you know that? okay. one more time, but if I dont get it then I’m paying you for all these ingredients" he laughs, his cheeks blushing, as he cleans out your bowl for the fifth time "ya know what they say y/n! a sixth time is a charm!" you chuckle and shake your head before finding yourself back next to him by the stove.
"you have the ingredients and steps memorized now huh?" he laughs as you add the right ingredients to the bowl of the double boiler."I will most likely always remember these ingredients and this experience" you laugh with him and slowly whisk the mixture together as it melts. "wait" he says just now noticing how youre whisking "try it like this" he walks around you and places his hand on yours, holding the whisk and your hand, slowing down your stirring so it was more gentle and smooth, your heart racing as you feel his strong hand on the back of yours "o-okay. thanks Tendou'' your voice is quiet since he's so close. "yes, this is perfect now, lets temper it" his voice was soft and right by your ear, your cheeks get warm and your voice stutters again when you respond "o-okay"
He lets go of your hand and you go over to the marble slab again, pouring out two thirds again, and using a spatula to smooth it out, again. "is.. is this right? I'm doing this right?" you’re secretly hoping he grabs your hand again to help you but you don't think he'll take the bait, how wrong you were. When his hand covers yours once more you gasp softly and smile as he guides your hand back and forth through the chocolate "like this, it’s close. usually people use a thermometer but since I've done this so long it's by feel for me" you're looking at him from the side of your eye with a smile on your lips, his eyes are hooded as he smiles wistfully at the chocolate, his cheeks are dusted pink and his hand on yours is slightly clammy like he's nervous.
To be honest he was nervous, here’s this beautiful woman who he's been teaching for the last two almost three hours now, who's flirting with him and who is kind and funny, and who is so incredibly bad at making chocolate. If this fails he’ll never let you pay for ingredients. He will just offer you another class and hope you accept. "it’s perfect, now" he lets go of your hand and studies your sweet face as you scrape the tempered chocolate into your bowl, you hope your face wasn't as red as it felt.
You go to stir it all together slowly before pausing and looking up at him with a shy smile, "maybe.. you could.. help me with this too?" his eyes widen and his cheeks flush "of course" he moves to stand behind you, looking down at the bowl over your shoulder, his left hand over yours holding the whisk and his right arm around you, his hand holding the bowl halfway over yours, he whisks slow and smooth, his breath hitting above your ear, your voice quiet with his proximity "have you always been good at this?" his chuckles quietly "no I actually struggled a lot in culinary school. I fell in love with chocolate though so I never gave up." your cheeks are so warm you're sure you looked like a tomato "I like that determination, plus you ended up with the most popular and delicious chocolate shop so you're definitely in the right line of work." he blushes with your praise "thank you." he goes quiet as the chocolate finally looks correct "look!" you exclaim "look Tendou! it's perfect! it's shiny and amazing! I did it! I’m a chocolatier!" you’re bouncing on your toes and in his arms as you dance in excitement "time for the molds!" he exclaims and lets you go, moving away so you could go pour your batch into the already set up molds, the only empty ones on the row, the ones he used for his batches already set up.
You pour the chocolate slowly into the heart shaped molds that already have macadamia nuts in each one, after they are full you scrape the top like he showed you when he made his last four batches and put the excess back in the bowl. "these should be set in about an hour if we put them in the fridge but that will be pretty late, you could come back tomorrow to pick them up if you would rather that" he says and takes your bowl, putting the excess in a random mold and then putting the bow and utensils in the sink.
You pull your phone from your back pocket and gasp at the missed texts “oh no. yeah that would be better. I'm supposed to walk home with my brother from his volleyball practise but I lost track of time here with you. shit. i'm sorry i really wanted to stay and help clean up and talk but i have to go" you frown until you meet his eye, they're looking at you inquisitively with a huge smile, "volleyball? what school does he go to?" he asks not even caring about cleaning up alone "oh! he goes to Shiritorizowa. he’s a second year middle blocker! hes quite good although I’m not very knowledgeable about it" you chuckle and then full laugh when he gets extremely excited "that was my school and my position! whats his number?" you raise your eyebrows and get as excited as him, steping towards each other at the same time "hes number 5" "NO WAY!" he shouts and laughs "that was my number! what a small world!" you gaze into his eyes and smile softly "this is so cool. you have no idea how much i want to continue this conversaton but i really have to go" you frown and look back to your phone "how long will you be here tonight?" you look back up into his eyes and he’s cocked his head "probably a while, have to make tomorrow's candies. why?" you grin "can I come back? I’ll walk my brother home and then would you mind if I came back? I could help you and I could get my chocolates for my mom" he grins "that would be great. I would love that" he says, your butterflies return to your stomach "perfect!" you take off your apron and hand it to him "i really had an amazing time here. you’re a great teacher even if i was a jinx five times. i'll see you in like forty minutes max!" you exclaim before running out of the kitchen, unlocking the front door, and running down towards the school, your phone already ringing calling your brother. Tendou walked up front and locked the door again, chuckling softly and thinking about how cute you are. he cant wait to see you again when you return.
when you and your brother get home you stop at the door "do you mind if i bring a friend to your next game?" he shrugs "yeah sure I don't care. wait. do you mean a friend or a boyfriend?” you laugh at his accusatory look "it's a boy but he's not my boyfriend. He used to play the same position and team when he was in high school. I thought it would be nice" your brother lights up "yeah that's so cool! bring him so I can ask him tips! are you coming in?" he has the door open halfway and you shake your head "i have to go finish mom's birthday project" he nods "okay i'll cover for you" you thank him and make your way back to the handsome redhead.
You take off your hat and run your fingers through your hair, shoving the hat in your back pocket again before you knock softly.
A soft knock to the door catches his attention and his heart races "finally" he says softly before walking out to the front, surely enough there you stand, with a smile on your lips and your arms around your body hugging yourself in the cold he smiles bigger when you wave at him, you were sooo cute. he unlocked the door and let you in, locking it again behind you "welcome back y/n" "glad to be back" he chuckles as he gazes down at you, your cheeks flushed and nose red from the cold. "i forgot my hoodie" you shiver and he reaches out, placing his hands on your arms and rubbing them up and down to create friction "do you want some hot chocolate?" you nod excitedly and he chuckles again, your cuteness will be the death of him, "come, sit, i'll make us some" he leads you to a table by the counter and begins to prepare two cups of cocoa.
Now that you have more time since you’re not focused on seizing chocolate, you study his face as he works. he had sharp features that made him so beautiful, beautiful red eyes, he had his hat off now, his red hair disheveled and all over the place but you loved it, you wanted to play with it. His uniform jacket was off, leaving him in a black t-shirt, he had long arms that were lithe and strong. "Do you want to come to my brother's volleyball game with me?" your eyes widen, a little shocked that it just came flying out, you didn’t mean to ask him now. He chuckles at your expression, he's been able to read you so well, you keep everything on the surface and he really likes that. "like a date?" he asks as he returns his attention to pouring the hot chocolate mixture in the cups. you laugh "I don't know if it qualifies as a date, just meaning like, it's not very romantic. maybe we can have a real date after that" you say and his smile widens "you have no idea how much I’d love that" he makes his way over to sit by you, placing a saucer with a cup of hot chocalte and a biscotti in front of you "i'm glad! I was really hoping you would say yes" you chuckle and then hum in delight as you bring the cup to your lips, the smell enveloping you even more than it does just being inside the shop.
You take a sip and find the chocolate to be perfectly sweetened with a touch of cinnamon and chilli, it was perfect, not too hot not too cold. "this is so amazing Tendou. thank you so much" you take another sip, feeling it warm you from the inside out, he smiles warmly "you're welcome. i'm glad you like it!” He wiggles his eyebrows at you “so about this date you're taking me on'' he takes a sip of his own while maintaining eye contact over the rim of the glass "when is it happening?" he smiles as he watches your cheeks blush "oh! his game is in a week. the preliminaries for nationals" the look of excitment in his eyes makes you laugh, makes your heart race and your stomach feel the familiar butterflies that seem to be constantly around when you’re with him. "the prelims! I am so there!" his excitement causes his leg to bump into yours, causing you to spill some of your hot chcolate "oh my god I’m so sorry! I get a little excited and don’t realize sometimes. i've been told its annoying" you shake your head and reach out, grabbing his hand from the air "no. it's not annoying. I like it. you're like a breath of fresh air to me" you smile warmly looking into his eyes. his heartbeat is rapid and his breath hitches. "you’re so sweet, do you know that?" his voice is a whisper and you blush, recognizing your words you used earlier. "I do know that. Doesn't it make sense then that someone as sweet as me would date a chocolatier?" you cock your head as you tease him, smiling warmly watching his cheeks flush, your hand is still in his and he brings it gently to the table, brushing his thumb over your knuckles, your breath hitches and you feel your cheeks flush “saturday, their game is at 1 but i'll be there from the beginning in the morning. do you wanna meet me there for just his game or..?" he finishes off his drink "I’ll be there in the morning! if you dont mind! We can spend the whole day together and after that we can get dinner together at this new italian place downtown. I think you’ll love it.” He stands and takes your empty cup from you "that sounds amazing, Tendou. I know my brother will want to ask you questions and ask for tips so it's perfect. Plus pasta is my favorite” you chuckle and stand from the table to follow him over to the sink “what can I help you with tonight?" he smiles at you and shakes his head "I actually finished everything quickly, considering I did make five batches of chocolate earlier” he chuckles ”other than these dishes I am done for the night. maybe I could walk you home?" he’s turned to put the cups and saucers away, his back is to you when he asks and you're grateful he cant see the crazed happy smile on your lips "yes please!" you get a little embarrassed with your excitment and feel your cheeks flush even more "let me just go grab your hoodie and chocolate from the back and we can head out" he says and dissapears in the back again.
You pull out your phone and send a quick text to your best friends that consisted of many exclamations. When he returned you beamed up at him "ready?" he asks "ready" you put on the hoodie he hands you and exit the shop with him, he locks the door and then turns to you "uhh where do you live?" he chuckles and scratches the back of his neck "I live in the new apartments that are down near the school" he laughs "no way. That's where I live too! this is so.. cool" his voice is soft, completely blown away by how perfect everything has been. how completely meant to be it seems. a feeling he would have many times as he gets to know you, many times as your relationship grows. a feeling that warms his bones and makes him realize what he's been missing for so long. He'd give your brother all the tips he has and train with him whenever he needed. he’d make you chocolate surprises every day, ultimately finding your all time favorite, white chocolate raspberry bonbons. he’d make them for you for every special occasion and make your mom anything she ever wants. It’s like in this moment he could see every possibility with you, he couldn’t wait to get to know every part of you.
But for tonight, he’ll wait for the right moment to hold your hand on this walk, he’ll ask you questions about your family and your job, he’ll get your number and kiss your cheek at your door, and he’ll think about you every second until he gets to see you again.
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twistedtranslations · 4 years
Text
Cater Diamond - Okay, pose!
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You can unlock this story by getting Cater’s SSR Dorm Uniform.
Translation under the cut
Heartslabyul Dorm - Lounge
Cater: Heartslabyul's 2nd and 3rd years! Please gather around Trey~!!
Heartslabyul Student C: Yes! All the 2nd years are here.
Heartslabyul Student D: The 3rd years have gathered as well.
Trey: As I assume everyone knows already, the day of the "Unbirthday party" is nearing.
Heartslabyul Student A: Yay, it's time for the Unbirthday party!
Heartslabyul Student B: The sweet cakes, the high quality teas and the croquet tournament!
Cater: Come on, calm down everyone~ Pay attention to Trey!
Trey: Ever since "That incident", it seems people have gotten quite lenient at following the laws of the Queen of Hearts… The "Unbirthday party" is an important traditional event for the Heartslabyul dorm.
Cater: Let's properly prepare so we can have a happy and lively party. If we happened to arrive exhausted at the main event… Riddle will have your head~
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Trey: Haha, yeah, that's true. Brace yourself and look forward to the "Unbirthday party".
Heartslabyul Students: Yes, vice dorm leader!!
Cater: Now we shall announce the division of our roles. The 1st years will paint the roses as usual.  We will also have them maintain the venue and equipment of our traditional sport croquet.
Trey: Us 2nd and 3rd years, will be divided in three groups. The Trey group will stand in for the cooking. The dorm leader is especially picky about the cake. I will choose the members.
Cater: And the Cay group will be in charge for setting the tea venue. Let's make it cute and photogenic, and the tables chaotic and edgy.
Trey: The last group, the Riddle group, will manage the overall budget and management.
Cater: Me and Trey are also part of the Riddle group…boohoo.
Trey: Anyway, let's divide into groups and start our work.
Cater: Do your best everyone~
Heartslabyul Dorm - Tea Garden
Cater: Anyway, tomorrow's "Unbirthday party" is approaching. Let's start setting up the venue!
Heartslabyul Student A: Diamond, I brought the cutlery, like the knifes and the forks from the storehouse.
Cater: Thank you. Let's take a pic, you hard working 2nd year! Okay, pose! And upload to MagiCam without a delay! #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #Cutlery #NRC #TheDayBeforeTheUnbirthdayAnythingCanHappen
Heartslabyul Student A: Uhm… senior, is it okay to upload pictures of the venue…?
Heartslabyul Student B: Diamond, I brought the tea sets.
Cater: Nice!!! This is the box with the authentic "teapots without pouring hole" .
/Snap
Cater:  #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #ChaoticTeaset #NRC #IsItAnyonesBirthdayRightBeforeTheUnbirthday
Heartslabyul Student C: Cater, I finished washing the tablecloths. I will start ironing them now!
Cater: Good job! How many clothes were there again?
/Snap
Cater: #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #Tablecloth #NRC #CongratulationsToEveryoneWhoseBirthdayIsRightBeforeTheUnbirthday
Heartslabyul Student A: ….Hey, isn't Cater just nodding? The only thing he's doing is being happy?
Heartslabyul Student B: Honestly, he's not even doing anything?
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Heartslabyul Student C: Ah. While we're carrying heavy luggage, he's just on his smartphone…
Riddle: You guys. How do the preparations of the party fare.
Heartslabyul Student A: Ah, dorm leader Rosehearts!
Heartslabyul Student B: Did you came to check on our group?
Heartslabyul Student C: Uhm…I regret to say it but…please look at Cater.
/Snap
Cater: Marvelous!!
/Snap
Cater: Excellent!
/Snap
Heartslabyul Student A: The party is still being prepared for, yet he's already in full swing. Is that alright?
Riddle: Hm…
/Walks over
Riddle: Cater!
Cater: Riddle…!?
Heartslabyul student A: Hehe…he's gonna get mad, he's gonna get mad.
Riddle: Cater, how is the preparation for the venue going?
Cater: Did you come to help me? How nice!! Let's make a memory with our dorm leader.
/Snap
Heartslabyul Student B: Huuuh!!
Heartslabyul Student C: Cater is so brave…!!
Riddle: The beauty of style is important for a tea party. I entrusted this to you, so please stay careful until  the end. Then, I shall go and check up on Trey's group.
Cater: Understood. Say hi to Trey for me~
Heartslabyul Student A: The dorm leader is so… severe with seniors that procrastinate… Why was he not beheaded?
Heartslabyul Student B: Tch, to think that our strict dorm leader Riddle also partakes in friendship politics.
Heartslabyul Student C: Ah~ I don't care anymore~ It's fine if this playing house just falls apart…
Cater: Oh, the boxes you brought over contained jars designated for the jam. Those are super important! Then, everyone. Let's keep it up and have the best "Unbirthday party"!
Chapter 2
Heartslabyul Dorm - Tea Garden
The day of the "Unbirthday" party
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Cater: Okay, all the preparations are ready. Let's start the "Unbirthday party"!!
Everyone: Congratulations!!!!!
Deuce: Pf~ We finally finished eating our quota. We can finally partake in Clover's cake.
Ace: Deuce, you have a quite the appetite~ I'm full after cleaning the failed cake of the 1st years.
Cater: Yay! 1st years, are you guys excited?
Deuce/Ace: Diamond/Cater.
Cater: Ace, is it your birthday today?
Ace: Mine? No, it's the 23th of september.
Cater: And Deuce?
Deuce: Mine? No, it's the third of june.
Cater: And my birthday is the fourth of february. Summarized, not today~ Congratulations on your "Unbirthday"!!!
Ace: Ah…uhm… yay to the "Unbirthday"…
Deuce: Y-You're not excited at all. Put more of your feelings in it.
Cater: Hey hey, why so down~ I came to thank you two for all your efforts behind the scene for the party. You guys had a lot of trouble until the opening.
Ace: The hedgehogs used for the corquet tournament escaped.
Deuce: Coincidentally, the flamingos also ran away.
Cater: And then there's the case where you first years expelled Trey from cake duties. On top of that, the handmade cake from the first years made Riddle explode.
Deuce: The whole cake thing started because of Ace.
Ace: It wasn't my fault. I just stated my opinoin that I wanted to see a bigger variety of cakes.
Cater: Okay guys. We will have a meeting in the evening with Trey where you can reflect over all the troubles… For now, let's enjoy our selfmade tea!
Deuca/Ace: Yes.
Deuce: In any case, this party sure has some strange rules.
Ace: When I tried to pour tea from the pot before me, a mouse was inside…
Cater: Sh. It's the etiquette for the mouse to sleep.
Deuce: There's a wide hole in the bottom of my teacup.  
???: Then you should stack the cups and drink nya~
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Che'nya: Actually the big one is the pot, the smaller is the cup. Who decided that?
Ace: Huh! A head is floating in the air! You are…
Deuce: Che'nya! Is it fine for anyone but the Heartslabyul students to be here?
Cater: Hey, Che'nyan. Your pants look like a cuttlefish as always!
Che'nya: I hate cuttlefish though. I’d rather eat mice nya~
Mouse: !!!!!??? Chuchu~~~~A cat!
Cater: Shit! Che'nya woke up the mouse in the pot.
Ace: Hey! Come here! Don't run and jump on the table! Ah, darn, that's so messy!
Deuce: Uh, according to the rules of the "Unbirthday party", we should paint the nose of the mouse in jam if he wakes up!?
Cater: You can get the jam later, you should first catch the mouse~~~!!
Che'nya: I'm a human that's like a cat. I don't eat mice nya~ That's why I'm dispersing now to eat Trey's cake~ Funfufu~~~!
Riddle: Well, then, it's finally time. Vice dorm leader.
Cater: Everyone, please listen to Trey.
Trey: With this, today's "Unbirthday party" has concluded! After the party, we'll clean up. Try to finish it by today.
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Cater: The 1st years will clean the croquet venue and throw out the trash. The 2nd and 3rd years will wash the cutlery, and will dismantle the tea party's venue.
Riddle: The way you clean also has to adhere to the "Laws of the Queen of Hearts". The order to put especially the tea sets and the croquet tools in the boxes is fixed. Definitely store them away properly! Understood!
Everyone: Yes, dorm leader!!
Trey: The Trey group has finished washing the tableware and cutlery. I'll give them to the Cater group who are in charge of the storage.
Cater: Thank you, Trey. Cay group~ Let's follow the rules and properly store these things~
Heartslabyul Student A: Cater, we have a problem! We can't find the memo that explained how to storage the tea utensils.
Heartslabyul Student B: Is it fine to just put any tableware in any box…
Heartslabyul Student C: Furthermore, it's unclear if we even have all the cutlery and linen.
Riddle: What is this!? What are you doing with Heartslabyul's equipment that has an important lineage…Hnnnn…
Heartslabyul Student B: We apologize dorm leader, it was our mistake.
Heartslabyul Student C: However… the person in charge of us, Cater, was playing the whole time during the preparation.
Deuce: Those guys…
Ace: They're pushing away their own mistakes.
Heartslabyul Student A: Can you say that you properly managed everything?
Heartslabyul Student B: Cater, please answer!!
Heartslabyul Student C: Yeah, yeah!
Cater: …
Chapter 3
Heartslabyul Student A: The "Unbirthday party". The one who neglected his duty to manage the traditional tea utensils used for it…
Heartslabyul Student B: Cater, you're the one responsible.
Cater: …Right.
Heartslabyul Student C: Huh!?
Cater: Sorry. Sorry to everyone on the Cater group. It's a rare party. That's why I wanted to have fun without following some nagging orders. It does seem that I'm unsuitable to be a group leader. I'm very sorry.
Ace: Cater…
Deuce: …
Cater: And that was the inadequate Cay. Let's take one to remember this blue moment!
/Snap
Everyone: Huuuuh!!
Heartslabyul Student A: You're taking a selfie in this stiff atmosphere!?
Heartslabyul Student B: And uploading it to SNS!?
Deuce: He's of no use… He's at the terminal stage of a smartphone addiction…
Cater: I will post my feelings of regret on MagiCam later, so please check it out~
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Heartslabyul Student A: Dorm leader Rosehearts, this doesn't comply with the "Laws of the Queen of Hearts", does it!?
Heartslabyul Student B: You should behead Diamond as soon as possible.
Riddle: …
Ace: Huh, wait.
Deuce: What is it, Ace?
Ace: Cater's MagiCam is amazing!!
Deuce: Huh!? What's up with you? This dorm has nothing but weirdos huh?
Ace: Listen till I'm done talking. Cater's MagiCam… He recorded all the preparations for the party.
Deuce: Huh? He didn't record the party itself, but the preparations? When I search through his MagiCam account…
Cater: A tea party until we have to clean up (> A <;) #NRC #Silverware #ChaoticTeaset #Tablecloth
Ace: You should try clicking on the # that separate each tag.
Deuce: Tag? Those things were the # is placed in front.
Cater: #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #Cutlery #NRC #TheDayBeforeTheUnbirthdayAnythingCanHappen
Deuce: It has an image of how the preparations for the silverware were going attached!
Ace: And not only the cutlery.
Cater: #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #ChaoticTeaset #NRC #IsItAnyonesBirthdayRightBeforeTheUnbirthday
Cater: #RightBeforeTheUnbirthday #Tablecloth #NRC #CongratulationsToEveryoneWhoseBirthdayIsRightBeforeTheUnbirthday
Deuce: In regards to the utensils, he has posted about them from opening the boxes until the setting.
Ace: You can check the amount and type of utensils, and their storage method by looking at this MagiCam, right?
Cater: Ace, what a nice idea! You really saved me~ Everyone at Hearstlabyul!!
Heartslabyul Students: Yes?
Cater: Won't you lend me a hand? Please confirm the amount of cups, pots and exclusive cases using my account as a reference! Please!!
Deuce: Understood!!
Ace: Treasure hunting like this became kinda fun.
Heartslabyul Student A: Tch… He was saved by luck. Cater….
Ace: Cater, I have all the types of silverware and the storage cases.
Deuce: Diamond, I'm done with sorting the strange-shaped teapots.
Cater: Thank you everyone! Now we just have to store each of them in the correct container and we're done. Now you can just leave it to me. If I remember correctly the automatic magic went like this… There!
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Ace: Wow! The cups and saucers are flying!!
Deuce: And they're lining up so neatly!!
Cater: Tableware, thank you for today's service at the "Unbirthday party". Go back to your place without getting lost and rest peacefully.
Trey: Haha… that Cater. And to think that until just now he was bad at practical magic. He really has a talent for being efficient at everything if it's for his own sake.
Riddle: Good grief. What a self-interested guy.
Ace: Dorm leader, dorm leader, please don't forget that I helped Cater out in a pinch.
Riddle: Heh. Ace, don't you get carried away too easily?
Ace: Huh?
Trey: Perhaps it was Cater's intention to make a list of the tableware and upload it to MagiCam, don't you think?
Riddle: He just took advantage of the trouble and used people not in his group.
Trey: Not only that. Look at his follower count.
Ace: Ah! More than 100 people started following him! Students besides those from our year started following him at once…
Deuce: We got duped, Ace.
Trey: Haha. He's really… a self-interested guy. That one.
Cater: Hey, Ace~ Take a picture of me in full magic mode! I'll upload it to MagiCam later. Upping the output. One, two!
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/Snap
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