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justimajin · 7 months

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The Profit & Love Statement » Pt. 21

↠ Pairing: Seokjin x Reader

↠ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ 4.5k / CEO AU

↠ Summary: Through hours of endless training and hard work, Kim Seokjin is finally the CEO of Kim Electronics. He has everything at his hands - status, money, power. He owes it all to you, his rigid and sarcastic mentor who overseed his entire training. But as he steps into the shoes of becoming the CEO, he can only wonder what it means for your relationship now.

↠ A/N: If anyone would like to see the clip referenced in this chapter for research purposes, here it is.

↠ Next Update: Tuesday, November 21 (series masterpost here)

Jin is hunched over, features screwed shut.

You’re currently inside his office, keeping a hand on his back and watching as he curls up in pain.

A huff leaves you. “I told you not to overdo it.”

“And I told you I had to!” He protests – only to immediately regret it and deeply wince.

A defeated sigh leaves his lips. “I just wonder how long I’ll be like this.”

“By the looks of it, a good week.” You retort, “Why didn’t you just take the day off?”

“I’m the CEO…” He mumbles, opting to plant his face against his desk.

You let out a long drawn-out sigh. In this case, the single person responsible for his dilemma was simply himself.

Planting a hand against your hip and cocking up a brown, you’re extremely blunt with him.

“Well, this is what you get for karaoking so hard.”

Jin glances at you, a pout on his lips from your choice of wording. But you don’t budge, knowing exactly how this all conspired.

The whole concept of the evening came from one person.

“Karaoke?”

“We should go!” Jungkook exclaims, speaking with you as he makes his coffee. “I already asked everybody.”

“I don’t know,” You bite your bottom lip, “I’ve never done it before…”

“It’ll be fun,” He insists, slipping a card out from his suit’s pocket. You peer at it, noticing the words ‘brand new location’ at the top, which happened only a street away from your workplace. “Bring Seokjin along too.”

You snort, “Are you sure the two of you won’t start fighting?”

“No promises.” He says with a sly smile.

You had decided to bring it up to Jin after work – who to your surprise is extremely onboard with the whole idea. He surprises you even more by mentioning that he actually loves doing karaoke and that he even dragged Namjoon down with him one time, to which you could ask him just how talented he is at it.

Ultimately making the decision to go, you’re not quite sure what exactly to expect when you open the door to your assigned room.

Your irises round at the pure chaos.

The very first thing you notice is how cramped the room is, an abundance of both snacks and alcoholic drinks littering the humongous table in front of the karaoke machine. The second thing would be where all your friends are situated – Hoseok and Taehyung are loudly cheering next to the machine as Jimin sits on the bench sheepishly with Yoongi, slowly clapping his hands as the latter holds an amused smile with crossed arms.

The last thing you notice is Jungkook holding one of the mics in his hand, abruptly switching from singing softly to straight up rapping, leaving you astounded.

Behind you, Jin glances around with a huge smile and you slip in next to Yoongi on the bench.

“Having fun, I assume?” You shout a bit loudly over Jungkook’s vocals.

He grins, appearing to have had a drink or two. “You came at the best part.”

Jimin shuffles closer to Yoongi, making eye contact with you. “Jungkook’s pretty good, Y/N!”

You hum in agreement, watching him continue to rap as Hoseok takes the other mic, hyping him up with background sounds. Taehyung reaches over, smiling as he offers you some fries they had previously ordered, something that you gladly take.

Your eyes widen when Jin slips off his suit jacket, tucking it next to you.

“You’re going?”

He cheekily winks. “Of course, I have to show you how talented I am.”

After a couple more lines, the song ends and everyone claps for Jungkook. He wipes some sweat away from his temples and Jin leans over to Hoseok, presumably asking him for the second mic.

Jin smirks, rolling up his sleeves. “I bet I can rap better than you.”

“Is that a challenge?” Jungkook inquires.

Your gaze nervously darts between the two of them, already seeing the brewing tension. However, you fail to acknowledge the playful look in Jin’s eyes as the music begins and Loner by Outsider starts to play.

Your mouth draws wide open when Jin starts rapping.

You’re not the only one with the stunned reaction, the friends surrounding you are all instantly struck with awe with how effortlessly he raps – even Jungkook, who quickly pitches in with hyping him up.

At one point, you, Jimin and Yoongi start bobbing your heads to the beat, fascinated with his good flow. Hoseok chuckles when he skips over some words, but still claps for him nonetheless as he continues.

But then you’re leaning against Yoongi, attempting to stifle your laughter when he starts sounding angry, almost like he was reprimanding someone instead of karaoking.

After speeding through the words but still managing to stay on beat, he draws towards the end of the song and Hoseok quickly encourages him to drop the mic, to which he does.

Everyone practically roars with a cheer, loud enough to alert nearby rooms.

Jin appears absolutely exhausted, but gets tackled by Hoseok and Jungkook, who are still cheering for him. Even Yoongi shouts, clapping his hands with a proud smile.

He stumbles over to you, grabbing a drink from the table. Your eyes are glued to him, still staring in awe.

“I didn’t know you could do that!” You exclaim over the song Taehyung begins to sing.

“Do what? Rap like a genius?” He quirks up a brow, clearly amused from your reaction.

“Well, yeah!” You profess, “You were amazing!”

He grins, leaning down and pecking you on the cheek. “Just wait till you hear me sing.”

Putting his drink down, he heads over to Jungkook for the mic. The latter looks up at him with bright eyes, whispering something along the lines of ‘we need to do a song together!’ to which Jin fondly nods at.

A warm smile stretches on your lips.

***

Jin wasn’t lying. At all.

After Taehyung finishes his song, he takes the microphone and puts on a balled, before handing Jungkook the second mic.

The soft music plays and you are thoroughly shocked for the second time of the day.

His voice is both beautiful and melodious, akin to being angelic. Jungkook joins him after one line, harmonizing effortlessly and their voices mix together, resonating throughout the room.

As Taehyung hugs Jimin who giggles at the action, Hoseok raises his drink and sways side and side while Yoongi hums along, a small smile on his lips.

You are left with simple staring – being impressed once again by him. It’s something he practically thrives on, darting his gaze over at you consistently and fishing for compliments, which you gladly give to him.

The rest of the night flashes by – more songs being added to the queue and empty cartons and bottles scattered all over the table. Everyone ends up being either drunk out of their mind or utterly exhausted with the strain on their vocal cords.

You were forced to wrench off Jin from the karaoke machine once the clock struck midnight, but he had continued to sing, running high on energy as he bounced up and down. Hoseok ended up helping you, turning off the machine as you grabbed Jin’s hand and brought him outside with everyone else.

Which segways into your current dilemma – aka Jin managed to karaoke to the point where his back gave out.

“I’ll need to leave.” You inform Soyou, eyes downcasted. “I have... bit of an emergency.”

“Of course, Y/N.” She immediately responds, “Please keep me posted about it.”

You nod, thoughts running astray.

About my boyfriend’s karaoke condition? Of course.

Turning to head towards your cubicle, Yoongi peeks out from his side.

“Is he alright?”

“Not really.” You mutter, “He’s been in pain all day and refused to call in sick, so I forced him to take the rest of the day off.” Taking your bag, you sling it against your shoulder, “I’m leaving too, he needs someone to look after him.”

“Well, he did put on quite the show yesterday.” He points out, voice soft. “I hope he gets better soon.”

The corners of your mouth lift, and you leave, waving at Yoongi as you do. Heading down on the elevator, you find Jin at the front, still hunched over against the wall and waiting for your arrival.

To your shock, he’s with someone else.

“Your back is giving out?” The man throws his head back, laughing loudly.

Jin scoffs, “How come you’re fine and I’m not?!”

“Because you’re old and I’m still youthful, of course.”

“Yah!”

Jungkook childishly snickers and you’re stunned to see Jin begin to protest more against him.

“Jungkook?” You question, watching him whirl around with crossed arms. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like?” He gestures to Jin, “Someone had to make sure our lovely Ahjussi made it to the elevator.”

Jin’s eyes are boiling in rage and you’re speechless as Jungkook grins, like he knows he’s said something to tick off Jin.

“How dare you call me that?!”

“That’s what you get for being old!” He calls out. “I’ll leave him in your care, Y/N.”

You playfully roll your eyes, “Get back to work already.”

His eyes crinkle and he spins on heels, lightly jogging back.

Leaning down, you take one of Jin’s arms and place it around your neck, letting half of his weight rest on you.

“I didn’t know the two of you were so close.” You sing-song, walking outside with him. Rummaging through your pockets, you locate your phone and call for a cab.

“He’s such a brat.” He remarks, “But I suppose he’s not so bad...”

You chuckle, setting your phone down.

“Says the person that was jealous of him.”

“Hey, that was before I got to know him!” He protests.

You let out a sigh, recognizing and waving the cab driver closer. He stops right in front of the two of you by the curb, and you help Jin inside the car.

“So sorry.” You smile cheekily in his direction. “You’re right, I won’t say anything else about your new best friend.”

A deep pout mars his lips and you giggle, slipping into the car with him.

“You need to stop moving around!”

Jin grimaces, features twisted up. He keeps shifting around, attempting to stagger forward towards your apartment on his own.

A pained huff leaves him, “How else am I supposed to walk then?!”

“I told you already, just lean against me.” You chide, attempting to support his weight. He walks rather lop-sidedly, another wince running through him.

You finally arrive at your door and jam your keys in, turning the lock.

Entering inside, you let the door close behind you and trudge towards your couch, to which Jin plops down on quite dramatically.

You let out a huge exhale of relief, spinning on your heels into the direction of your bedroom. A quick glance at the clock tells you it’s still early in the afternoon and that Yuna wouldn’t be home anytime soon, still being at school.

Returning to your living room, you emerge with a blanket and toss it onto Jin.

“Don’t get up.” You state.

He recoils on the couch with a laugh, “I wasn’t planning to.”

Lightly shaking your head at that, you swiftly pace over to your kitchen and place a heating pad in the microwave. After a couple of minutes pass by, you take it out.

Stepping back over to the couch, you help Jin into a seating position and assist with tugging off the suit jacket he adorns from his broad shoulders.

“Ow.” He loudly winces when you pull too hard on one arm, and you remorsefully grimace.

“Sorry.”

You manage to yank the article of clothing off, much to Jin’s protests. He lies right down on the heating pad you give him, with it positioned underneath his back. You unfold the blanket you had given him earlier, covering him entirely.

“I think that should be okay for now.” You huff, glancing in his direction. “Are you comfortable, Jin?”

Instead of his voice, silence greets you back. Curiously, you get up and peer over at his face, only to see his eyes fluttered shut and small snores already beginning to leave him.

You softly smile, taking that as his response.

***

A deep breath leaves your lungs.

Your eyes are squeezing shut as your heart races in your chest, fingers trembling.

Opening them up, you let the feeble confidence take over.

You take a step into your kitchen.

The plan was simple – Jin had been dozing off on your couch for a couple of hours. In that time, you had gone to the grocery store and picked up a handful of ingredients, arrived back home and checked on him, and then proceeded to change out of your work clothes and into your pajamas.

Jin hasn’t said anything to you yet, but the tension in movements and the fatigue radiating from his eyes are enough to tell you how well work has been going for him. Coupling that with the spiking pain he’s now having to deal with and the deep slumber he’s plunged in, you made the assumption that he would awaken around when it was time for dinner.

To put it in short and simple words, your plan is to essentially make your boyfriend a nice home cooked meal the moment he wakes up.

Sucking in a harsh inhale, you take out the chicken, broth and rice, hoping to make something that is both filing and delicious.

You first begin to preheat the oven for the chicken, before proceeding with taking out two pans. In one, you heat the broth to make soup and in the second, you put the rice into a pot of oil. After that, you douse the chicken with layers of oil and salt, to then begin cutting giant chunks of vegetables for the soup.

You pause for a moment – heavily considering if perhaps consulting a recipe would be the best in this type of situation.

You wave the thought off, firmly believing that your hard work will be enough.

Sweat gathers at your temples as you focus on cutting pieces from the veggies, dunking them straight into the boiling soup. The oiled and generously salted chicken goes into the oven as the rice soaks up all the oil in an instant.

Two hours pass by like seconds. There’s a giant soup filled with broth and floating with humongous vegetables, and chicken that’s simultaneously flaky but oily. It’s accompanied with crispy rice, something you’re especially proud of.

It’s not long before Jin stirs.

“Hey,” You softly call out from the kitchen, “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He blinks his sleepy eyes, grasping onto his shoulder. “I still feel the pain, but it’s less intense.”

“That’s good.” Your eyes avert, landing on the meal displayed on the kitchen counter. “Say, do you have a minute?”

He grins, “I always have time for you.”

You recoil at the mushy statement. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”

“You know the normal response is to call something like that romantic, right?” He stands up from the couch and you hurriedly rush over to him, resting your hand on his arm.

“Don’t strain yourself.”

“I’m not, don’t worry.” He chides, eyes landing right on your display. “What’s all this?”

“I…um, cooked for you.” At his inspecting gaze, you look the other way.

“Wait, what?” He looks touched, voice dropping into a whisper. “You cooked for me?”

You shyly nod, feeling squeamish underneath all the attention. His eager eyes are sweeping all over it, as if trying to memorize the food before him.

He takes a pair of chopsticks right away, digging in.

Your irises are large, attached to his words and surveying every hint of emotion that arises in his expression.

He chokes.

You simply watch as he abruptly bursts out into a chain of coughs, before he’s pounding a hand against his chest, as if forcibly trying to keep the food down.

Once he swallows, you blink.

“W-Wow, it has such…unique flavor…”

His tone is too sweet, unlike his regular humorous one.

You deeply sigh, all too familiar with this type of reaction.

"Is it bad?" You quietly ask.

"N-No, of course not!" He accidentally coughs again, clamping a hand against his mouth.

“Jin…” You sincerely whisper, reaching out and holding onto his other hand, "I'd rather you tell me the truth instead of just letting me poison you."

There’s something that flickers in his expression – the realization dawning that you’ve caught on and he can no longer bluff.

He remorsely looks at you.

"So…I can be completely honest?"

"Yes.” You state, encouraging him.

He sucks in a deep breath, and the Jin you’re very familiar with emerges.

"It's horrible.” He states, before a cord finally snaps and he’s unloading everything, “Like really horrible. It tastes like the rice’s been deep fried and the chicken’s been covered with oil and way too much salt. The soup is also so bland, like it barely has flavor–"

"Hold up!" You snap, "Can’t you be a little nice in giving criticism?! I’m not going to just improve overnight!”

He nods, voice dipping into an overly sweet tone, but somehow the deeply rooted sarcastic bits don’t go unnoticed by you.

"Alright, so rice isn't supposed to be crispy and the chicken doesn't need to be salted so much. It also doesn’t need to be cooked for that long so next time, make sure to set a timer. The soup needs more salt and pepper in it, but don't go crazy with it, okay?"

A pout lines your lips, his words actually being kinder and quite informative. “Okay…”

“Good,” He kisses your cheek, hand already lifting the dish. “Now let me handle this.”

“Wait, no!” You spin around, tugging on his shirt. “Jin, I wanted to do this for you. I just can’t have you cooking again, I–”

You grimace, acknowledging that you would just have to profess your shortcomings and simply ask.

“I-I want to learn.”

He raises a brow at that, and you can see it all unfold.

There’s a huge smug smile on his lips. Almost as if he’s aware of the skills he has.

“If you want to learn,” He taunts, crossing his arms and arching up a brow. “You have to say the following – ‘Kim Seokjin is the best cook in the world.’”

“Are you serious?” You snap, “How childish are you?”

He turns around, beginning to clean up the counter and sweeping the dish away. Your hands shoot out immediately, grasping his wrist.

“W-Wait!” You deeply exhale, willing every fibre in your body to not roll your eyes.

Sarcasm weaves in as you repeat his words. “Kim Seokjin… is the best cook in the world.”

Your voice quiets down in the end and Jin leans in.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Jin!” You whine, and he laughs loudly, squeakiness echoing through the kitchen.

“Okay, I’ll teach you.” He announces. “But listen to me carefully.”

You eagerly nod.

Jin crosses his arms, a heavy gaze to his eyes and a scowl lining his lips.

“You need to measure it out first, Y/N.”

“Measure out the salt and pepper?” You spin around, bewildered by his instructions, “I just dumped it in.”

An annoyed ‘tsk’ leaves him. He scans the contents of the broth, before grabbing a spoon and tasting it.

He cringes.

“Now it’s way too salty.” He offers the spoon to you and your reaction is the same.

A deep exhale leaves you. “I’ll just start over.”

“You don’t need to start over.” He grabs some pepper and a glass of water, “You just need to correct the overseasoning.”

You observe as he pours water and seasons it with pepper, stirring it carefully as it boils. Lowering the heat, he dips the spoon into the mixture and brings it up for you to taste.

You’re stunned. It’s not per say incredible, but it tastes so much better than before.

“Your measurements have to be precise, and that includes your timing too.” He preheats the oven, showcasing the time he was setting it up on, “I think you heated it properly, but you left it in for too long.”

You hum and he moves, filtering around the kitchen as if it was his own.

He brings over a board, knife and vegetables. “We also need to seriously work on your chopping skills.”

Taking up the challenge, you grab an onion and start obliterating the vegetable.

“Woah, woah, hold on!” Jin takes the knife away from you in an instant. He brings it to the board, slowly cutting the vegetable and coming into a natural rhythm with it.

He catches your gaze. “See? Gently. No need to murder the poor onion.”

You scoff as he pauses and hands the knife back.

You attempt to mimic his actions, but he nearly shrieks when a slice of onion goes shooting out and your knife slides against the board.

He latches onto your hand, whispering underneath his breath. “And here I thought no one could be worse than Namjoon…”

You swivel, “What?”

“Nothing!” He sings-songs, chuckling in a high tone. Deciding to come up behind you, Jin’s hands gently reach over to envelope your own shaky ones.

He proceeds to swiftly cut the onion, following a rhythmic motion.

Much to your complete surprise, you’re actually able to cut a few decent chunks. “I-I can’t believe it…”

“It just takes time and practice, Y/N.” Jin smiles, stepping back and letting you continue. He spins around, checking in on the chicken inside the oven.

However, a painful sting abruptly emerges, and you’re forced to set the knife aside.

“Ah–” You rub your eyes, regret filling you in an instant when it burns even more. “Oh my god.”

Jin turns around with a frown at your words, only to see thick tears streaming down your eyes.

He hurriedly abandons the chicken, grabbing onto your hands, “What happened?” His gaze darts all over the cutting board and then back to inspecting your hands, “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I just–” You squeeze your eyes tightly, “I-I think it’s something in the air.”

Puzzlement crosses him at that, but then his field of vision lands onto the cut up onion and suddenly everything makes sense.

“Hold on–” He brings you closer to the sink and turns on the faucet. Reaching over, he helps to splash water onto your eyes until the burn finally begins to subside.

The coolness of the water lets you see again, and you blink in disbelief towards him.

“What was that?”

He smiles lop-sidley, “It's what happens when you cut a lot of onion. You have to be careful about them stinging your eyes.”

You’re flabbergasted at the notion. Not only did you not know crucial information about the blasted vegetable, you hadn’t even cut them properly enough to notice.

It all boils up, the tension merely amplifying your frustrations towards cooking.

“This is so hard!” You proclaim, planting a hand against your temples, “How am I supposed to know all this when I’ve never done it before?”

You huff and Jin leans back, attempting to hold back the amused smile on his lips. He doesn’t do a great job though, and you’re glancing at him perplexed from the reason, but then it dawns on you–

He’s smiling like the once very annoying intern he was.

“It’s okay.” He tenderly pats your back, a presumptuous grin on his features. “I still think you can do it.”

You loudly scoff as he snickers.

***

The hours churn by easily and with Jin’s much needed assistance, you are successfully able to cook the chicken and create a broth that doesn’t want to make your insides recoil. He ends up cooking the rice, deep distrust running through him when you genuinely thought cooking it in oil was the right way to go. However, you observed the way he carefully shimmers it in water until it’s completely soft.

There’s an entire meal presented in front of you and he flops down onto a chair near the kitchen counter, long overdue for his back to act up again.

“Wow.”

You whisper, staring at it all in amazement.

Glancing over, Jin grimaces a bit and you smile gratefully. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I still mean what I said before, you know?” You sway side to side sheepishly, “Cooking isn’t easy, but it’s a good skill to have.”

Jin softly grins at that and you curiously take a bite, eyes widening.

“It tastes so much better!”

“See what happens when you don’t drown stuff in salt and oil?” He teases and you chuckle, “Now next time, make me something like this instead of trying to kill me.”

“I was not trying to kill you.”

“Are you so sure about that?” He glances at the previous dish, the crispy rice meeting his gaze.

He raises a brow and you stare at him silently – before the two of you are bursting out in laughter.

The door to your apartment widens.

Yuna stands by it, throwing intrigued glances at the sounds resonating from the kitchen. She walks in to see you standing by the counter with Jin seated on a chair facing you, alongside the entire buffet displayed on the counter.

At the sound of her footsteps, you swivel. “Yuna!”

You embrace her and she looks around, “What happened here?”

“I cooked!” A shudder runs through her spine immediately, and you quickly try to ease her thoughts, “It wasn’t just me though, Jin helped too!”

Curiosity runs through her at that and you spin around, filling up a plate for her. Yuna sets her bag down, sitting on a chair next to Jin.

“How was school?” He questions, her eyes brightening up.

“It was fun, we’re working on our next play now.”

“I look forward to seeing it.” He grins, and she smiles back at him. There’s a plate of food landing in front of her, and she pokes her fork at it in wonder.

You tightly grasp onto Jin’s hand, breath hitching as you watch her raise the spoon to her lips. As she slowly chews, your heartbeat seems to grow louder and louder.

A deep frown crosses her features – making you tense, but then it’s replaced with utter confusion, and she stares back at the plate you’ve given her.

It’s when she goes for another bite that you freeze.

“I-It’s good…” She whispers, as if she was suspended in disbelief. Her gaze lifts, staring at you in awe.

“It is?” You question in astonishment, despite having already tasted it yourself.

Yuna nods, before breaking out into a wide smile.

You are absolutely ecstatic, watching her eagerly go for more bites and humming in content.

Jin practically yelps when he’s tackled into a hug, surprise flickering onto his features to see your arms wrapped around him.

Although he slightly winces from the sudden weight, he merely just chuckles and hugs you back.

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twilit-tragedy · 6 years

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Being left-handed is really Not A Big Deal when you have your own scissors and guitars, patience for knives and co. and don’t use circular saws or shit like that,

But god fucking damn it, apps and phones are designed with right-handers in mind and I keep hitting the less instinctive/important buttons that were sent off to the left of the screen, while simultaneously having a hard time reaching the main buttons to the right

#(warning:long tags)#and I'm going OUT OF MY MIND #I just noticed last week that I keep switching the order of songs in a playlist when I just want to scroll because-#I hold my phone with my left hand #or starting that search-through-voice google thing which i've /never used/#which is on the bottom left of my locked screen #instead of just fucking unlocking my phone #GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD #(put me out. of my. miseryyyyyyyyy. put me out. of my. miseryyyyyyyyy)#or THAT or fucking unlocking my phone when I want to open the damn camera. which - GUESS - is ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE LOCKED SCREEN #fucking hell #do tell me if there are phones whose buttons I can switch #I doubt it but you never know #I'll campaign for them myself if I have to #since i have to campaign for decent seats at uni too :)#and what about apps? do I just e-mail the developer and go ''hey can you flip your whole app?''#and games??#let me just ask nintendo for a DS with flipped buttons and for a version of skyward sword with Link left-handed - AS HE SHOULD BE -#cuz I'll always move my sword worse with my right hand regardless of how ~relatively good~ I am with it #tbh only right-handers can afford to have their non-dominant completely useless lmao >.<#I might as well but ask an expert electrician on the DS and a game-cracker to flip that shit :P #no but for real - about zelda wii games - twilight princess kind of allows me to have the wiimote on my left hand but then I move like shit #>.<#so i got used to the nunchuk in my left hand. cuz my right hand can at least manage A and B lmao >.<#for more complex buttons I bring the left hand to it #NOW. SKYWARD SWORD. gives me no fucking choice :') I did try using my left hand but since Link is a rightie in it-#(I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT)#he won't do as I say :''''''''''')#mine #twilit posts

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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years

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An Ocean Away - Harry Styles

Sequel to Tastes Like Strawberries 🍓 !

a/n: ahhh! thank you so much for the love you showed TLS! i already had more planned for the story, but all your comments motivated me to do this part 2! it’s an emotional one so brace yourselves! further in the chapter i placed the song that inspired the title and i listened to it while writing so i suggest you do the same!

pairing: professor!Harry x Reader

warning: sexual content

word count: 12.7k

masterlist

You walk down the familiar hallway texting back Eden that you are not spending the night at home again.

Eden: You really need to tell me about the dick that keeps you so busy these days.

Y/N: I never said a thing about any dick.

Eden: Oh please, you surely got yourself a rebound after Harry, you can’t tell me otherwise.

Y/N: Don’t you get a rebound when you broke up with someone? I was never together with Harry, so it doesn’t make sense.

Eden: You had a thing!! Okay, whatever. Keep your little secrets, I guess it’s fine…

Y/N: Love you!

Chuckling to yourself you put the phone away and stop at the door you know all too well, knocking two times before you open it and poke your head inside.

Harry is sitting at his desk, his reading glasses sitting low on the bridge of his nose as he is vigorously scribbling something down into his notebook. He lifts his head at your arrival and you shut the door closed behind you.

“Hello, professor,” you smile at him teasingly, walking around his desk as he pushes himself back a little so you can sit on his lap, pecking his lips gently.

“Hey, done for the day?” he asks, his fingers tenderly stroking your thighs over the fabric of your jeans.

“Yeah. We can leave if you’re done,” you nod.

“Just a few more minutes, alright?”

“Sure,” you nod, standing up from his lap so he can finish his work while you sit on the little loveseat he has in the corner, right under the window.

It’s been six weeks since New Year’s Eve, the new semester has officially started, you’re working your way towards your degree as this is officially your last semester, but what’s more important that you and Harry have been a couple for six weeks following the heated actions of New Year’s Eve.

Harry is still quite anxious about the whole thing, always on high alert and he even asked you to lie to Eden and Nat too. You tried to fight him on that, but you could tell how much he wanted to protect what you had so you decided to feed them this elaborate story about how you and Harry had a fight on New Year’s Eve and realized that it would have never worked out so you agreed to stay just friends. It seems like they believed, because they’ve been keen on trying to set you up with someone while you just keep dodging their attempts, sneaking around with Harry behind their back.

Other than the continuous lying and sneaking around, things have been going well with him. You’ve been spending a lot of time at his place, the only hiding spot where you can be carefree around each other without always watching out for others around you.

Today is Valentine’s day and though your opportunities to celebrate are very slim, having anything that’s slightly public crossed out of the list, that still doesn’t stop the two of you from having a good night in.

You watch him curiously as he is reading the lines of someone’s essay probably, or some test, whatever. Holding the pen ready to use whenever he finds something incorrect, he furrows his eyebrows at something before crossing out a line, mouthing the words he writes to the side of the page. He doesn’t wear his glasses that often, but he’s been complaining about having dry eyes these past days so it’s no surprised he switched to them from his contact lenses.

“You look sexy in your glasses, have I told you that?”

He glances at you, a small smirk tugging on his lips before he returns to the paper in front of him.

“Think they make me look older,” he mumbles under his breath.

“Nah, not more at least than your grandpa sweaters,” you tease him, earning a ‘Really? This again?’ look from him that makes you chuckle.

You busy yourself while Harry finishes his work and then you head out together, strictly keeping the distance between each other. Walking out of the building Harry heads to the left where the car park is while you take a turn to the right. It’s been your usual, since you can’t have anyone see you get into Harry’s car so casually, so you usually walk down to the small café near Building D, because there’s a very narrow little street running behind it where you can get into the car without anyone noticing you. You do the same now too before finally heading back to Harry’s place. Sinking into the comfortable seat, you stare out the window, thinking about how it’s just been six weeks since New Year’s Eve, but it feels like you’ve been together with Harry for months. Despite his many doubts and hesitant act, it was easy to fall into a kind of routine with him, and even more easier to get used to the thought that he is yours and you are his.

During these six weeks you’ve learned quite a few things about him, things women on campus would die to know and they were handed over to you on a silver plate by Harry himself.

One, he is a very touchy person, of course, when he has the chance for it. In the safety of his home or when you have a few minutes for yourselves in his office, he always likes to have his hand on your back or waist, he loves touching your hips or cheeks, caressing the skin wherever it shows from under your clothes. He is also very cuddly, likes to wrap you in his arms when you’re watching TV and when it’s time to sleep the first thing he does is to pull you into his embrace. You usually wake up in the morning with him completely wrapped around you, limbs thrown over you, face buried into your chest or stomach. He is a messy sleeper, but also a fucking adorable one.

Two, he is a good cook but not that good at baking. He says it’s the universe’s sign that he shouldn’t eat as much sweet stuff as he does, but in reality he just sucks at measuring the ingredients. He never follows the recipe, easily goes with things his own way and then he is surprised when it doesn’t turn out as it should.

Three, he notices the smallest things you’d never. Like how you hate it when the Sun is shining right into your face so he always makes sure to draw the blinds in the evening, or that you prefer sleeping with more pillows so he just simply gives you an extra without even asking every time you’re spending the night. He cares so much about you to the smallest details, it always makes your heart flutter.

And four, though he keeps a tough act in school, he is a lovesick puppy when no one is around, likes to be the small spoon when cuddling, absolutely adores it when you cup his face in your palms and kiss it all over. Loves it when you play with his hair or when you hug him from behind, kissing between his shoulder blades. He always tells you how pretty you are and never misses a chance to sneak a kiss from you. You couldn’t imagine him do any of these before you really knew him, but now you see that all these little things are just as much parts of him like the version of him he shows at school. You feel lucky to be able to see him like this and you’ll probably never get bored of it.

Arriving to his place you drop your bag off at the bedroom before you join him in the kitchen, already eyeing the flyer to the nearby Italian place that delivers.

“How about pizza?” he hums, eyebrows knitted together as he scans the menu.

“Sounds good. Can we order dessert too?” Walking past him you kiss his shoulder before grabbing a glass for yourself, filling it with tap water.

“Oh, no need,” he shyly answers, glancing at you. “We… have dessert.”

You watch him with curious eyes as he disappears in his little study before emerging with a plate filled with pink cupcakes. They look wobbly, the cream on top is not the same on either of them, but because you know he made them, they are the most perfect you’ve ever seen.

He places the plate to the counter with a shy smile before turning to you.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he murmurs, hands finding your hips as he pulls you in for a kiss.

“Oh baby, did you stay up last night to make these?” you ask, touched that he took the time and energy to surprise you with something. Harry nods and you kiss his dimples softly.

“Mm, they are strawberry flavored,” he smirks boyishly.

“We are never escaping strawberries,” you chuckle softly as you dip your fingertip into the cream on top of one of the cakes, tasting it. “Hmm, this is actually good,” you tell him.

“Yeah, the cream is kind of okay, dunno about the rest though,” he admits chuckling.

“As long as it’s not poisonous, I’ll love it,” you giggle kissing his lips again softly. “Alright, but I can’t go over the fact that we agreed on no gifts for Valentine’s Day,” you say giving him a look.

“S’not a gift, just… a little gesture,” he shrugs innocently.

“Okay, then you can’t get mad over my little gesture,” you smirk at him, peeling his arms off you before you run into his bedroom to get his gift.

You really weren’t planning to give him anything, but you had a good idea last minute and couldn’t just not do it. Digging into your bag you pull out the little box and join him in the kitchen again, handing it to him.

“It’s not fair if you spent money on it,” he pouts, but you just roll your eyes.

“You spent money on the cupcakes too. But besides, I didn’t spent a penny on it. Open it!” You urge him.

Harry huffs but takes the lid off, revealing a stack of Polaroid photos. In this not too ideal situation the two of you are living in, there’s no chance you can ever post anything about him, even though there are quite a few cute photos of you with Harry. Eden recently bought a Polaroid printer and you borrowed it to print your favorite pictures of the two of you. There’s one from the morning after New Year’s Eve, just a silly selfie you took in bed, then one with the band from Harry’s birthday recently, a photo of the two of you backstage of one of his gigs you took in the mirror, he has his guitar in his hands as you stand next to him smiling widely. There are a few more with Sarah, Mitch, Charlotte and Adam and at the very end of the stack… some special ones.

You watch him go through them smiling warmly until he reaches the last few and freezes. You took the courage to take a few spicy ones of yourself in your favorite lingerie and thought it would be sexy to print them out as well and give them to him.

“I hope you’re not thinking about selling them already,” you chuckle. Harry glances up at you before shaking his head with a playful smirk.

“Was just a little surprised by them,” he admits.

“Do you… like them?”

“Oh baby, I love them, you look… wow,” he breathes out going over the pictures one more time. “But I’m gonna have to lock these away so no one finds them. Adam likes to go over my stuff when he is over, I definitely don’t want him to find them.”

“You better keep them safe because if anyone sees them I’m burying myself,” you snort.

Harry puts the stack of photos back into the box before leaning down he cups your face and kisses you gently.

“Thank you, love the pictures. All of them,” he adds cheekily and you feel yourself blushing.

He leans in to kiss you again, putting the box aside to the counter and this time it’s not just one short kiss, he carries it on, taking his time with your lips, savoring and tasting you without a worry in the world. It grows more and more passionate, tongues clashing and you tug at his hair, lacing your fingers through his locks, a moan escaping his pink lips.

You start inching backwards until your backside meets the edge of the counter. Harry doesn’t hesitate to pull your sweater off of you, throwing it behind before his lips are pressed against yours again. It doesn’t take long for his shirt and pants and your jeans to end up on the floor somewhere behind him, leaving you both in just your underwear. You kiss down his neck and collarbones, your lips gliding across his tattooed chest as you slowly slide down to your knees, hands moving over his growing bulge.

Hooking your fingers into the elastic of his boxers, you tug them down and pull his erection out, already so hard for you and you barely even touched him.

“What does my Valentine deserve for making me cupcakes?” you hum, teasingly pumping him a few times with your hands. Harry whimpers under your touch, but doesn’t answer so you stop your hands and look up at him. “Talk to me, what do you want?”

“Your mouth,” he breathes out, his eyes meeting yours, filled with lust and hunger only for you. Smirking to yourself you lick his length up before gently kissing the head, swirling your tongue around the tip before you slowly take him into your mouth.

“Oh fuck, baby!” he pants when you start bobbing your head, pumping the base in sync with your head’s movements.

His hand comes to the back of your head, fingers lacing through your hair. He doesn’t force you, he never does, just likes to hold onto you. You try to take him deeper and deeper with each movement until you fit his whole cock into your mouth, keeping it there for a few seconds before pulling away and letting him go.

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he mumbles, helping you up from the floor, kissing your lips hard as he is already pulling your panties down your legs. “How do you want it?”

“From behind,” you tell without hesitation, turning around so you can lean onto the counter and push your ass up for him.

You feel one of his hands stroke down your spine while the other one reaches between your legs, his fingers finding your clit, drawing gentle circles on it at first before he goes a little harder, making you moan his name.

“Harry, please!” you beg, the need to feel him growing with each passing second.

He pulls his hand back, grabbing his hard cock as he lines himself up with you, one hand on his shaft, the other one holding your hip firmly to keep you in place. First he pushes just the tip inside and when he is sure you’re ready to take more, he slides all of him inside, filling you up perfectly.

“Shit, you feel so fucking good. Always so good,” he breathes out, both his hands coming to grip your waist as his hips meet your ass from behind.

He starts moving, going a little soft at the beginning before he gets rougher, his hips smacking against your ass with each thrust. You arch your back and push your ass up so you’re angled just perfectly for him, he runs a hand up your back, sliding it under the clasp of your bra and he leaves it there while fucking you from behind oh so well.

“Harry, oh my God!” you groan when he starts hitting that one spot that makes you go crazy.

“Feeling good, baby?”

“Fuck! So good!” you gasp, feeling the pleasure building up with each thrust. “Go harder!” you beg and once he has both hands on your hips again he does as you asked, railing into you hard, making you keep gasping for air.

“Getting close? Tell me when you’re about to cum, baby.”

“I’m close, please don’t stop!” you pant, hands holding onto the counter’s edge for dear life.

He reaches around you, a hand coming between your legs as his fingers find your clit again, adding to the sensation as he starts playing with it just the way you like it.

“Fuck, fuck! I’m gonna cum! Harry!” you moan uncontrollably and he growls deeply from his chest.

“Cum with me, baby. Give it to me,” he breathes out sharply and he just keeps railing you hard, fingers working on your clit until he feels your walls clench around his dick. “Oh fuck, yes, baby! Cum on my cock!” he gasps and at the same time as you go through your orgasm, you feel him twitch inside you, coming hard with you at the same time. “Jesus fuck! I love you, Y/N!”

You gasp at his words, eyes snapping open in the middle of your orgasm and all air pushes out of your lungs for a moment.

He whimpers and moans, thrusting into you a few more times before he comes to a halt, both of you panting like crazy, coming off your high. When he slowly slides his softening cock out of you, you turn around and look into his eyes. For a moment you thought he just said it in the heat of the moment and he didn’t even realize it, but when your eyes meet his, you can tell he is a little afraid of what your reaction is going to be.

“Did you mean that?” you quietly ask as he tucks his dick back into his boxers, pulling them up, but you don’t bother to put your underwear back on, standing there in only your bra.

“I-I did. I didn’t mean to say it now, but I did mean it,” he nods. “Is it… too soon?”

“No,” you smile at him, stepping closer so you can cup his face in your palms, kissing his lips softly. “I love you too.”

“You do?” he asks, surprised at your reaction.

“Of course, silly. I wouldn’t give my nudes to someone I don’t,” you joke making him chuckle, his arms coming to curl around your waist.

“Sorry, this wasn’t too… romantic,” he breathes out and you press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“You said you love me while fucking me on Valentine’s Day after exchanging cute gifts. I think it’s romantic,” you chuckle, finally making him smile. “Besides, I don’t care about the setting, just feels nice to hear you say it.”

“Yeah?” “Mhm, care to say it again so I can see your eyes as well?”

“I love you,” he softly murmurs, his forehead resting against yours.

“Yeah, feels better when I can actually look at you,” you chuckle kissing him softly. “I love you too.”

It’s definitely not just fun and games, being in a secret relationship that no one can know about. It surely adds a lot of tension into the situation, having to be so careful all the time and be reserved to the point where you can’t even be seen too often together.

As the semester carries on you always keep your ears open if there’s anything going on about you and Harry. Though you only limit your time together on campus to the bare minimum, only talking on rare occasions, you still want to make sure no one is getting the wrong (or right) idea about what is going on between the two of you.

The worst part is probably having to lie to Eden and Nat all the time. You spend about three nights at Harry’s every week and you have to lie every time you leave. After a while you tell them that you’re dating this new guy but he wants to keep it low-key because he recently broke up with his previous girlfriend. That gives them enough peace not to nag you all the time but you can tell they really want to meet this new man in your life.

You’ve tried to discuss it with Harry, tell him that they won’t tell anyone but it ended in a fight and you kind of gave up. Harry is way too keen on keeping it a secret and it’s clear he is not gonna make any exceptions. At least it’s the same with his friends, the two of you act like just friends when you’re out with the band though you have a suspicion that Sarah can see through the act. However she chooses not to talk about it so it’s kept hidden.

You don’t fight much with Harry, but when you do, it’s major. You both can get really into the argument and it easily gets way too heated, turning into a screaming match until you both realize you should just talk it out and have a little more understanding for each other. The makeup sex after a fight however… that’s something that makes up for every nasty thing that’s said in the heat of the moment.

Nearing the end of the semester you both start to grow more stressed, you about finishing your last classes, your thesis and studying for your finals, Harry about the growing pile of essays and tests waiting to be graded. A lot of the time when you’re at his place you both are busy with your own stuff and only have the chance to actually be with each other when you go to bed. It takes a toll on the both of you, but you’re determined to make it work. Despite the unfortunate nature of how you are forced to maintain your relationship, it’s the healthiest one you’ve ever head and you definitely won’t give up on it too easily.

Though you, Nat and Eden turn in your thesis works mid-April, the semester is still not done for the three of you, the final exams are threateningly close at this point. Spring has officially kicked in, the weather is mostly clear and sunny, allows you to stay outside again and you take advantage of it.

One particular afternoon the three of you are lounging under the pergola, all three of you buried in a book or your notes when you spot Harry walking towards the building. You keep your eyes on him as he slowly approaches you, his gaze meets yours and he smiles at you shortly. It’s all you can get out in the public, but it’s more than nothing.

“Isn’t it hard to see him?” Eden asks and glancing her way you see that she is looking at Harry who is now busy with his phone.

“Why would it be?”

“I don’t know, you clearly had a thing for him and it wasn’t even just a one-sided flirting like every other women had with him. I couldn’t be around him if it happened to me.”

“It’s not like anything major happened. It was all bad timing and the situation wasn’t good. It’s better this way,” you tell her, trying to sound convincing while the guilt is eating you on the inside. All these lies are clouding over your head and you have a feeling they will come down on you pouring one day.

“Still crazy that you are friends with his friends though,” Nat chimes in, squinting her eyes in the sunshine.

“Yeah, you are literally the only person on campus who gets to see him in his private life,” Eden nods. If only they knew how much you see him privately!

“It’s not that crazy,” you shrug, turning back to your book.

You all get back to work, forgetting about Harry, or at least Nat and Eden does, because you get a text from him shortly after he disappeared in the building.

Harry: You look very pretty today :)

Y/N: Flirting with me on campus, professor?

Harry: Can’t help it.

Y/N: You look handsome too, it’s a shame I can’t kiss you stupid!

Harry: Patience!

“Y/N? Did you hear what I said?” Nat grabs your attention from the phone and you realize she was talking to you.

“What? Uh, sorry.”

“I said that we should go out this weekend. It’s been ages since we last did anything other than studying.”

“I’m not sure…”

“Don’t come with your usual, rambling about how we shouldn’t have any fun before we finish,” Eden rolls her eyes.

“That’s not what I say. I just think that we have priorities.”

“I don’t know about you, but it’s a priority for me to have fun, so I’m down for a night out.

“I think I’m passing,” you mumble. You already made plans for the weekend with Harry, take a hike up the hills since the weather has been nice and it would be great to spend time together outside the house. The hiking routes are far away enough from town that uni students don’t like to take the hustle to drive all the way out so you’ll be fine being together outside.

“If you want to say that you have something planned with your mystery man, don’t even bother. If it’s not his birthday, we are overruling him,” Eden scoffs and you roll your eyes at her.

“Just go without me.”

“That’s not the same!” Nat whines. “Come on, Y/N. For once choose us!”

“That’s rude I choose you guys a lot of times!”

“Not since you’ve been spending half your life with some man and the other half in the library.”

“Yeah, we feel abandoned!” Nat pouts at you, trying to make you feel bad and in all honesty, she is succeeding.

“We can doll ourselves up, have fancy cocktails and all that, it’s gonna be fun! Come on, just one night! I can’t take another Saturday sitting in my room, reading my notes,” Eden growls and you sigh in defeat.

“Alright, I guess I’m in,” you mumble and your friends start cheering as if you just declared that men and women are going to get paid equally from now on.

You can tell Harry is bummed that you have to cancel your weekend plans, but he is also trying to be understanding.

“I couldn’t bring up a relevant argument so they made me say yes,” you growl when later that day you’re cuddling on his couch after dinner.

“S’fine,” he sighs, leaning down he pecks your lips shortly.

“Wish I could just tell them that I had plans with you,” you breathe out.

“Y/N…” “I know!” you roll your eyes. “It’s just that it would be nice if I could at least tell them the truth.”

“We already talked about this,” he sighs.

“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that it bothers me,” you point out. “Am I not allowed to feel that way?”

“You are, I just don’t get why you keep bringing it up when there’s literally nothing I can do about it,” he retorts.

“Well there is, you just choose not to.” And with that, you officially pick another fight with him.

It’s not that you enjoy fighting with him, not at all, but the situation is so not ideal and you find his overprotectiveness a little too much at times. You don’t understand why you can’t share it with your two closest friends. You could at least tell Sarah or the other guys, have anyone know about the two of you, but literally no one on Earth knows that you are a couple and it’s bugging you way more than it probably should.

“Why are you so damn keen on making others know about us? What does that have to do with anything?” he growls throwing his hands into the air, standing in the opposite end of the room as you keep pacing the floor, the urge to keep on moving taking over you.

“Because—“ you snap, but stop yourself. You know if you say it out loud, he’ll think you’re stupid.

“Because what?!”

“Because i-it makes me feel like we are not even real! I can’t talk about us, I can’t touch you outside of this house, no one knows we are a thing and it’s so fucking nerve-wrecking, Harry!” you break down, feeling your throat closing up. You didn’t mean to get emotional over this, but you’ve been bottling it up for a while now.

Harry’s shoulder fall forward as he sees the change in you, the heat of the fight long forgotten. He crosses the room, hands reaching up to cup your face in his palms, his thumbs running across the soft skin under your eyes as he wipes the tears away.

“Baby, I know. You think I don’t want to show you off? I want to hold your hand and just take a walk with you, kiss you whenever I want to, show all the horny fratboys on campus that you’re taken. I know it’s hard, but we really don’t have a choice until the end of the semester.”

He gently kisses the tip of your nose before pulling you to his chest, your arms circle around his waist as you bury your face into the crook of his neck, trying to stop your sobs.

“I’m sorry. I really wish it was all different,” he murmurs, kissing into your hair softly.

“No, I’m sorry for bitching about this all the time. I knew what we were getting into,” you exhale sharply. “It just… really sucks.”

“It does. But we just have to be patient.”

You manage to put the fight behind and move on in peace, but a tiny thought remains buzzing in the very back of your mind. What happens when you finish school? Will it all be different? Harry will still be a professor and if people see you around together, they will know you were one of his students. What’s gonna be the difference? If he is so on edge now, something is telling you he won’t be changing dramatically and it concerns you. A lot.

Not willingly, but you go out with Nat and Eden on Saturday. You go to a place that’s quite popular between students, you can most likely always find familiar faces from lecture halls and classes. It’s close to campus and more on the cheap side, the perfect spot for uni students for a night of fun.

As expected, you run into some people from school and they invite the three of you to sit with them at their table which comes in handy, because there’s no empty place by the time you arrive.

One drink follows the other and you easily get tipsy especially because you skipped on dinner before heading out. Though you weren’t in the mood for tonight, you find yourself enjoying the conversation and the company. It really has been long since the last time you went out with the girls and it’s nice to spend some time with them without the books and notes.

A debate starts about whose course one of the boys, Jace should take next semester.

“Professor Peltz is fucking boring, dude,” Nat growls, taking a sip from her drink. “Had him last semester, I could barely stay awake during his lectures.”

“Yeah, but they say he gives good grades easily,” Jace argues.

“Okay, but who else can you choose from again?” Lydia, a girl who lived a few doors down from you when you lived in a dormitory your first year.

“Um, Professor Makley and Professor Styles.”

You freeze at the mention of Harry, especially upon hearing Lydia’s reaction.

“Jace, choose Professor Styles! He is so fucking hot!”

“Not that it matters to me, Lyd,” Jace chuckles.

“Oh come on, I know even guys think he is hot.”

You feel like an intruder in the conversation, keeping quiet as you listen to her rave about how hot she finds Harry. It’s like you are eavesdropping on something that wasn’t meant for your ears, but it’s just the guilt bubbling inside you once again, because you know you won’t be able to say a word without having to lie.

“She has a point,” another guy, Garrett chimes into the conversation. “The man is handsome and I’m not even ashamed to admit it.”

“See?” Lydia chuckles. “He is sexy and smart, the whole package. I’ve been daydreaming about him since first year.”

You catch Eden’s look, but you just busy yourself with gulping from your vodka cranberry, feeling uncomfortable in the situation but not even for the reason she thinks. Eden must think it’s weird because you had an actual thing with Harry, but the truth is… that thing is still very much ongoing.

“I would let that man do whatever he wants with me,” Lydia adds sighing longingly, and you are having a hard time to hold your tongue. Unfortunately, you don’t succeed.

“Not sure he wants anything to do with you,” you mumble into your drink and though you hoped your comment would stay unnoticed, but you are out of luck.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Lydia slyly replies, a bit too full of herself for your liking. Yes, she is pretty and definitely doesn’t have problem with guys, but she is a little too confident about Harry if you’re being honest.

“I’m sorry?” you ask with a soft, bit annoyed chuckle.

“I’m just saying that we’ll never know who he finds attractive, because we all know he keeps himself so far from his students.”

“Yeah, maybe because he is not interested in any of his students,” you point out.

“As if he would ever make a move on any of us,” she snorts and you are losing your temper. You shouldn’t have had so much to drink, because now you really can’t hold your tongue.

“You can never know, Lydia. You can’t know if he acts the way he does because he is just trying to be professional or because he is, and consider this, not interested in you. Maybe he would actually act up on his feelings but you’re just not his type.”

Your comment is more like just a harsh comeback to Lydia’s words, but Nat and Eden kind of catch on that something is up with you. Ignoring their questioning looks you chug down your drink and soon excuse yourself to get some fresh air. No surprise that they follow you like puppies.

“Girl, what was that inside?” Nat asks as the three of you stand near the entrance of the bar, a few smoking guests littering the area.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” you mumble, clearly avoiding to look at any of them, wrapping your arms around your upper body as if you were trying to keep your shit together physically.

“You snapped at Lydia for saying Professor Styles might have a thing for her,” Eden points out, but you just bite the inside of your cheeks.

“Because it was bullshit.”

“Why does that matter to you? Not that you’re together with him or something,” Nat argues and you roll your lips into your mouth, trying to keep a straight face but they know you way better than that. They gasp at the same time, Eden grabbing your forearm forcefully that makes you scowl.

“Hey! That hurts!” you whine, but she couldn’t care less.

“Are you fucking around with Professor Styles?” Nat whisper yells at you, eyes wider than ever.

“I mean… we’re not fucking around,” you mumble, looking down at your shoes as you kick the dirt around. “We’re kinda serious.”

“Holy fucking shit!” Eden snaps, drawing some attention at her and you let out an awkward chuckle at the glances the three of you get. “Are you fucking joking right now?”

“No, I am… not,” you admit, feeling a little relieved that you finally said it, but you also feel like you let Harry down with it.

“How long?” Nat questions in shock.

“Since New Year’s Eve. So… almost four months.”

“So he is the one you’ve been seeing all this time? The guy you didn’t want to talk about?”

“Um, yeah. It’s not that I didn’t want to talk about him, we just agreed that it’s safer if no one knows.”

“I’m speechless, Y/N,” Eden shakes her head in disbelief. “I can’t fucking believe you kept it from us for this long!”

“I know, I felt so shitty, but it’s such a complicated situation, it’s so risky, we don’t want it to ruin us.”

“Obviously,” Nat nods understandingly. “And now I see why you snapped so harshly at Lydia.”

“I just couldn’t stand her talking like that. You guys have no idea how hard it is to keep every fucking thought to myself.”

“Why do I have a feeling it has a little more to it than to just Lydia drooling over Harry?” Nat arches an eyebrow at you, folding her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, you’ve been oddly tensed lately,” Eden agrees.

“It’s just pretty stressful to have a secret relationship, it causes a lot of tension. And I’ve been… I’m not sure anything is going to change after I graduate, if I’m being honest.”

“What do you mean?” Nat asks.

“I just…” you sigh, all your thoughts you kept to yourself flooding back to you at once, overwhelming you in a situation that’s already a bit too much to handle. “We keep saying that it’s gonna change when I graduate, but I don’t see it. He is so overprotective and even if I graduate, people will find out that I was once his student. And it might not be against the rules anymore, but we’ll be judged. I didn’t think it through before, but it’s now starting to be more and more clear for me and I just… don’t know if we can make it work.”

You feel the tears forming in your eyes, you’ve been keeping this to yourself for way too long now and saying it out loud just broke the dam. When Nat and Eden sees your lips trembling and the watery eyes you’re trying to blink away, they don’t hesitate to pull you into a tight hug.

“Aw, don’t cry! It makes me want to cry too!” Nat chuckles softly as they sandwich you between them.

“It just sucks so much, because I love him, but I feel like we met at the wrong time and place,” you sob, letting them crush you.

“It happens, baby. It happens. You’ll figure it out!” Eden kisses your forehead before they let go of you. “Want to go home?”

“It’s still early, don’t want to kill the party. I think I’ll just… head over to Harry’s for now. Is that okay?”

“Of course, do whatever makes you feel better,” Nat assures you, giving your hand a gentle squeeze.

“I’m sorry I was such a party pooper.”

You call yourself an Uber and text Harry that you are going over. Twenty minutes later you are walking up the stairs to his house and he opens the front door before you could even reach for the doorknob.

“Hey, baby,” he breathes out softly and you don’t say a word, just wrap your arms around his waist, burying your face into the crook of his neck. “Hey, what happened? Didn’t have a good time with your friends?” He delicately caresses your hair, walking the two of you inside so he can close the door before wrapping both his arms around you, holding you close to his chest.

“Don’t really want to talk about it,” you mumble and it’s the truth. You’re tired of these thoughts though you know you should talk to him about how you’ve been feeling about the two of you lately. Part of you is hoping something will just magically solve the whole situation and you won’t have to deal with it yourself.

Harry makes you a tea while you take a shower and once you are both in bed, you cuddle to his side while he reads some. You are just genuinely enjoying his closeness, because despite everything that’s been haunting you in connection with Harry, you really love this man. Like no one else before and the possibility of the two of you not making it long term scares you more than it probably should.

The next few weeks come and go in a sense of numbness. Following your emotional breakdown in front of the bar, you kind of push the whole thing to the back of your mind once again, putting all your focus on finishing school. Neither you nor Harry has the energy to put up more fights though you both can feel there’s a lot to talk about, but the end of the semester is just keeping you both way too busy to acknowledge the problems waiting on the corner.

At least there’s one less weight on your shoulders now that Nat and Eden know about you and Harry. You made them swear to their life they won’t tell anyone and you trust them to keep this heavy secret. They’ve been very supportive of the two of you, interrogated you one evening about everything that happened so far, they wanted to make sure Harry treats you the right way. No surprise, he does.

A few weeks before your state exam Harry extends his contract with the school to have him as a professor for another academic year so he is able to keep his visa as well.

You spend your last two weeks buried in your notes before your state exam and Harry gives you all the time and space you need, knowing well how much it means to you to earn the best grade possible.

When you are finally over your exam, you are celebrating at his place. He has bought a little cake and some champagne and you can’t wait to finally spend some time with him without having to worry about your studies.

“I’m proud of you, baby,” he smiles at you, clinking his glass against yours.

“Thank you, feels nice to be finally free,” you chuckle before taking a sip from the champagne.

“My smart girl, knew you’d kill all your exams.” He kisses your lips shortly before squeezing your hand. “How about I run a bath for us, we eat the cake in the tub and then we can watch a movie?”

“Sounds fantastic,” you smile at him before he disappears in the bathroom to get everything ready.

Finishing your champagne you wash the glass quickly and you’re about to cut the cake when your phone buzzes signaling that you’ve just gotten an email. As pull down the notification bar your lips part reading the first few lines. You open the whole thing and read through it eagerly.

It’s a job offer, but not just some lame one that also sounds sketchy at the same time. This one is from one of the biggest investigation offices in London and they are offering you a trainee position as a forensic document examiner with a possible secured spot on their team after one year. The money sounds amazing, the position is perfect, just what you’ve been dreaming of once you are done with school and they are looking forward to hear back from you about a possible interview in the near future.

“Alright, bath is coming together nicely, want to cut the ca—Wha’s up?” Harry questions upon returning from the bathroom, finding you staring at your phone’s screen with widened eyes.

“I, uhh—I just got a… a job offer,” you stutter, still rereading the lines, trying to find a sign that tells you it’s just a joke, but it seems completely genuine.

“What? Baby, that’s amazing!”

“Yeah,” you nod swallowing hard before you look up at him. “It’s in London.”

You watch his face fall from excited and happy to shocked and kind of panicky. You both know what that means, it doesn’t have to be said out loud. Harry just signed another year with the university that’s gonna tie him here for the next 12 months and if you accept the job you’ll be all the way across the world in the UK. Kind of ironic, him, the British guy stuck in the States while you, the American in the relationship, eager to go to the UK.

“That’s… wow. London.”

“Yeah, London,” you nod biting the inside of your cheeks.

“Are you… Are you gonna take it?”

“Well, they want an interview with me, but this is clearly a huge opportunity for me,” you say, not wanting to say the actual words. You feel like saying them would hit you harder than what you can take.

“It clearly is, it’s just that… You want to leave?” he breathes out, eyebrows knitting together.

“This is my only job offer and probably the best I’ll ever get.”

“So you do want to leave,” he forces and it’s pushing your limits.

“Career-wise, of course!” you finally say out loud, unwillingly.

“And what about everything else?”

“I clearly don’t want to leave everything else here, but I will never get a chance like this, Harry. This is the greatest push for someone like me, fresh out of school. I can have a secured spot in a year at a well-respected place. I’m not really in the position to reject offers like this.”

He exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair, clearly unsure about what to do or say in the situation on his hand. You can tell he has a lot to say, but you’re not sure you want to hear all of them.

“Say something?” you softly plead and his eyes meet yours again, filled with concern.

“I just… It took me by surprise, I guess.”

“I wasn’t expecting it either.”

“No, not the job offer,” he shakes his head.

“Then what?”

“That you are ready to leave so easily. It’s like you never even wanted to discuss a version where you stay here, you just decided that you are leaving and that’s it.”

“Did you hear me? I cannot pass on this opportunity, Harry.”

“I did hear you,” he nods, pressing his lips together. “I heard that you didn’t even think about saying no.”

“Why would I say no?”

“Because I’m here, Y/N!” he snaps. “Good to know that I’m not a factor when it comes to decisions as big as leaving the country!”

“You are, Harry, but I need to think about my future career now. I’m not planning to work at an office for the rest of my life and if I pass on this job I might never get anything as good as this one,” you explain, but it seems like the two of you are having two different conversations.

“But why do I feel like it was never an option for you to stay?”

You give him a confused look. He really doesn’t see your point.

“Okay, why was only I supposed to change plans for us? You coming to London doesn’t feel like an option either, why are you trying to turn this against me?”

“I just extended my contract, you know that.”

“I do, and also, while we are at it, you didn’t ask me about that either. You didn’t even wait for me to figure out what I want to do after school, you just assumed that I would be here, but I never said that.” You can tell it hit him hard in the chest but somehow still, he thinks he is right when he isn’t.

“How could have I known you’d want to move across the globe?” he throws his hands up into the air.

“You’re saying this as if I didn’t just get the email and I’ve been plotting this the whole fucking time!”

“I’m just saying that it’s a huge fucking step and you decided so easily, it says a lot about the nature of our relationship.”

“Why are you saying that?!” you snap at him. “Why are you trying to make me the bad guy?”

“I’m not! I’m just saying that it would have been nice if you at least pretended like it was up for debate. You know what it’ll do to us if you move to London.”

“Then come with me!”

“I can’t!” He raises his voice, clearly losing his temper. “I can’t break my contract and you know that too.”

“Well, I can’t afford to say no to the job either and if I’m being honest, I don’t think we could have made it work even if I stayed.” The words leave your mouth before you could think about them, and the cat is finally out of the bag. It seemingly shocked Harry and he is now staring at you with a blank expression, shoulders falling forward.

“What?” he breathes out and you can actually hear his heart breaking. You take a deep breath and rub your face with your palms, trying to collect your thoughts and not just blurt everything out.

“I’ve been thinking and… Even after I’m officially out of the school, people will know that I was your student if they see us together. And I know how important your reputation is for you so I would never put you through any of the shit we might get for us being together. People would judge, no matter what the situation is. I don’t… I just don’t think we can ever make it work here.”

He stays silent, just stares at you, taking in your words and once again, you wish you could read his mind. You almost start begging him to say something when he finally speaks up.

“So you think we don’t have a chance?”

“Not here… maybe not now. I feel like this has been the perfect example of wrong place, wrong time,” you quietly say, a pang of guilt in your tone, this is not how you planned on making this conversation. To be honest, you wished this never had to come, but you were out of luck.

Harry is awfully silent, it’s all over his face how broken he is and you feel the same. You have so much love for this man, yet fate decided you don’t get to share it with him the way you want.

Walking closer you cup his face in your palms, searching for his eyes until his green irises meet your gaze. You run your thumb across his cheekbones, the pads of your fingers gliding softly over the soft skin. His hands slowly find their way to your waist and he pulls you close to him as you kiss him tenderly, a silent confession about just how much you love him.

“I wanted this to work. I wanted this so badly,” he whispers against your lips, his fingers digging into your back as he keeps you tight in his hold.

“I know. Me too,” you smile at him bitterly.

The rest of the evening passes by silently. You take a bath together, finish the cake anyway though even the sweetness can’t help the pain you both feel. Then you lie in bed for hours, just touching and feeling each other, making the best out of the time you have left. It’s unsaid, but you both know your days together are coming to a close end. Kisses and touches turn into some passionate love making, both of you desperate to feel as close to each other as possible and then you fall asleep in each other’s arms.

If you’re being honest, it’s all a blur following that night. You fix up an interview with London a few days later and they are not shying out of telling you straightforward that they want you there, the job is yours. You have one last short conversation with Harry about you leaving, but it’s more like just a confirmation that yes, it is going to happen and that leaves you with only a few weeks left together before you are packing up to leave the country.

You spend every possible free minute together until graduation where you finally get your degree. Your whole family comes and they cheer on you proudly, Harry standing in the crowd a little farther in the back, but still with a proud smile, a hint of gloominess in his beautiful green eyes. A week later you officially move out of your shared apartment with the girls, it’s a sobbing goodbye since all three of you are leaving in different directions following your graduation. You spend your last two weeks before your departure at home, spending as much time with your family as possible since you won’t be able to see them too often once you leave. Though your mom is dying to take you to the airport to say her final goodbye, you decided to give that time to Harry. He said he would drive to your hometown, pick you up and take you to the airport and you already know it’s gonna turn you into an emotional mess.

Leaving everything behind is hard, but having to say goodbye to Harry is the worst. It’s been a whole emotional rollercoaster for the both of you to get to this point and neither of you are ready to say goodbye, but this is what needs to happen.

That morning, you hug your parents, sister and brother tightly after you load Harry’s car with your two huge suitcases that have your whole life packed in them. You asked your family not to ask any questions about Harry and luckily, they kept quiet the whole time he was there, just treating him as a friend. You couldn’t take having to explain to them who he really is and how you met him, that’s gonna be another conversation for the future when you don’t feel like you’re about to start crying the moment you open your mouth.

The ride to the airport is silent, Harry holds your hand, your glued together palms lying on your lap the whole time. You haven’t even left but you already miss him so much.

Arriving he helps you bring all your stuff inside and patiently waits until you check your baggage in, leaving you with just your carry-on. Standing near the security check, the final moment finally comes and as soon as you look into his eyes you start bawling your eyes out.

“Oh baby, come ‘ere,” he breathes out, pulling you into his arms.

“I’m so sorry, Harry. I told you we would make everything right, but I couldn’t,” you sob into his chest as he holds you tight. You feel like if he let go of you, you’d just turn into a puddle at his feet.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he soothes you, his fingers threading through your hair.

“But it feels like it was,” you choke out. Harry leans back and takes your puffy cheeks between his warm palms, looking deep into your eyes.

“It wasn’t. As you said, it was just a matter of wrong time and place. But I think we brought the best out of it.”

“So… you don’t regret it?” you softly ask, eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“Absolutely not,” he smiles at you kindly. “I loved every moment of it. And I love you.” You notice how he didn’t use past tense when he said he loves you and you can’t decide if it aches your heart more or fills you with joy. A little bit both of them.

“I love you too,” you whisper before pressing your lips against his, savoring them one last time before you leave everything behind.

“Maybe we’ll meet again,” he smiles sweetly when he pulls back, tugging your hair behind your ear with a gentle move.

“I really hope,” you chuckle through your tears. “Take care, Harry,” you tell him, pecking his lips just once more.

“You too, baby,” he smiles, his hands falling to his sides as he lets go of you.

Turning around you walk into security and as you go with the line towards the gates, you glance back one last time. Harry is standing in the exact same spot, eyes glued to you as he watches you disappear from his sight.

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It feels like the meeting is never coming to its end. You exchange a look with Jasmine, who seems just as tired and done with this two hours long discussion as you are. She grabs her phone from the table and you watch her something type out before she eyes at your device, signaling that she just texted you.

Jas: I need alcohol after this day. Want to have a drink with me after work?

Y/N: YES PLEASE!!!!!!!

You see her smile at her screen before both of you return to your boss at the front, talking about a possible upcoming case.

“And last but not least, I want to take a moment to bring light to the excellent work Y/N, our new full-time colleague did on the Santiago case. The police were highly satisfied with the fast and precise work you did. This was your first official case since you’ve decided to accept our offer to become a full member of our team and transferred from your position as a trainee. Congrats!” William, your boss nods in your way with a proud smile as a round of applause cheers for you from your colleagues.

“You go girl!” Jasmine mouths you from across the table and you just chuckle shaking your head.

The meeting finally wraps up and everyone goes on with their day. You are walking back to your office with Jasmine by your side. Your offices are next to each other and you started working here just three weeks apart. She is the same age as you and was approached the same way as well, it’s just that she moved all the way from Australia. The two of you have grown quite close, starting a new life at the same time in a foreign country, it easily brought you together.

“So are we leaving early for those drinks or what?” she asks poking your side.

“How early?”

“I don’t know, like fifteen minutes? Come on, it’s Friday, everyone leaves early!” You shake your head chuckling at her. She can be so restless sometimes, but it’s just the right amount that she can push you out of the comfort zone just enough.

“Alright.”

“Cool, I’ll come banging on your door,” she winks at you before disappearing for her usual coffee break.

It’s two in the afternoon, you still have a few hours ahead of you and some caffeine sounds perfect actually. Though the coffee at the office is excellent, you’ve grown to like this small place nearby, a family owned business that offers the best you’ve ever had.

You grab your bag from your office and head out for a quick coffee run. The walk to the café is freshening, the weather has been treating you well lately, the Sun is beaming and you can only hope you won’t wake up to pouring rain the next morning.

You think back to how lost you were feeling just a year ago, when all of this around you were so new and a little too much at once. One month into your time in London you even thought about quitting and moving back home. You felt alone and broken, yearning after everything you left behind. Your friends, family, loved ones, everything that was so far away from you.

It took you long weeks, even months to get used to your new life and now you can’t even imagine yourself anywhere else. It doesn’t miss you don’t miss terribly the life you had still, but now you have a lot to be happy about here as well.

Waiting at a crossroad, you find yourself twirling around the strawberry ring on your finger, your thumb fidgeting with it like every time you think about your home. You glance down at it and take a deep breath before the lamp turns green and you continue your walk to the café.

It’s not rush hours so there are only a few people lingering around the small place. You don’t have to think about what you are getting, James, the barista already knows your usual and starts making it right away as you swipe your card paying your drink.

You stand at the side, waiting for your coffee, staring out the window, watching people pass by on this lovely afternoon. Your gaze stops on an old lady sitting on a nearby bench, feeding a group of pigeons and you smile as a little girl runs through the birds, making them fly away instantly. The old lady just smiles at the girl, not holding a grudge that she just scared the birds away.

Your eyes move away, watching businessmen come and go, kids going home from school, wearing their school uniforms, everything just feels so… peaceful.

You are almost about to turn away from the window when your gaze falls on a tall figure near the Sainsbury’s across the road and your lips part as you catch a glimpse of a tattooed arm you know all too well. You blink once, twice, three times, waiting for your eyes to make sure it’s the person you think it is.

Harry is standing right there, holding a little bag of groceries, eyes glued to the screen of his phone, oblivious to your shocked gaze on him. Your feet move before your brain could think it through, they take you out of the café and you stand in the middle of the sidewalk as you call out for him.

“Harry!”

His head snaps up at his name, eyes looking around, searching for the source before they finally find you, a shocked, but seemingly joyful expression plastering over his handsome face. He is quick to shove his phone into his pocket before he watches both ways and runs across the road to meet you on the other side. You can’t push your smile down as you watch him approach you, his tall, fit figure getting closer and closer until he is standing right in front of you, watching you in awe.

“Hey,” he breathes out, both of you a little unsure of what to do, how to greet each other.

It’s been months since you last talked. After your departure you kept in contact, you couldn’t just distance yourself from him so abruptly, but the thousands of miles between the two of you made it almost impossible to maintain a working connection, the time zones, all the work you both were buried under and just life itself made you drift away from each other.

But he is now standing in front of you and though he looks slightly different, he is still the Harry you know and love. He is your Harry.

“What… what are you doing here?” you ask, finally finding your voice.

“Did you forget I’m British?” you teases you and you roll your eyes.

“I mean, are you visiting family or something?”

“I uhh…” he glances down at his feet before his eyes meet yours again. “I’m actually back.”

“What do you mean?”

“My contract ended in July and I didn’t… I didn’t extend it. I came back a few weeks ago.”

Your lips part at the information. Harry is in London, he is now in the same city as you, for the first time in a whole year.

“Really? That’s… wow.” There’s too much you want to tell and ask him, yet you stand there, blinking at him, still lost in the feeling of seeing him for the first time again.

“I actually wanted to contact you when I got back, but I wasn’t… I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about that,” he admits with a nervous chuckle and your eyes soften over him.

“What do you mean? I would have loved it if you called.”

“It’s just that we haven’t talked in a while and I didn’t know… I didn’t know where you’re standing about me.”

“Well, seems like fate did it for you,” you smile at him warmly. “I would love to catch up. I have to head back to work now, but maybe later?”

“What about after work? When are you getting off?”

“I finish at 5.”

“I can meet you at your work if you text me the address.”

“That would be great,” you nod smiling. “My number is still the same, so you’ll know it’s me.”

“Great,” he nods, the corners of his mouth curling up in a boyish smirk. You are just now realizing how much you’ve missed him.

“I, um…” You’re trying to find the right words, still feeling overwhelmed about the sudden run-in, but at last you decide to go for a hug.

Your arms wrap around his waist, he hesitates for a moment before wrapping you in his tight embrace, pressing his cheek against the top of your head. A shiver runs down your spine as the sense of home washes over you all at once, the warmth of Harry’s body making your heart flutter. Unfortunately, the moment must come to an end. His arms fall from around you, just like they did at the airport when you said goodbye to each other over a year ago.

“I’ll… see you later then,” he smiles as you are backing towards the entrance of the café.

“Yeah, later,” you nod and turning around you walk inside.

Arriving back to the office you drop by Jasmine’s office to tell her that you have to postpone your plans after work.

“What is more important than getting drunk with me?” she gasps dramatically.

“I ran into… I met Harry,” you tell her. You told her all about Harry one evening when you were out, just a few months into your stay. It was one of those days when you were feeling extremely homesick, or maybe you just missed him terribly.

“What? Your professor ex?” she asks with widened eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you are forgiven. Go and get the man back!”

“What?” you chuckle. “We just met after a year, how do you know I want him back? Maybe I just want to catch up with him,” you say, but it’s an obvious and blatant lie and you both know that. Jasmine gives you a look.

“Please, you are still so obviously in love with the man, don’t even try to convince me otherwise.”

You don’t protest, just bite into your bottom lip. You really are in love with him, or the version you knew a year ago. He could be an entirely different person now so you can’t be sure if your feelings are the same about the man you met today.

“Have fun with him and then tell me all about it after, okay?” she beams and you just nod, leaving her to finish her work.

As time is slowly passing by you find yourself growing nervous about seeing Harry. That short little conversation on the street was not enough to calm your nerves. What is he like now? Is he the same? Does he have new hobbies? Is he as happy to see you as you are to see him? What will he think of you? What if he doesn’t like you after all this time?

You try to push the questions to the back of your mind, not wanting to overwhelm yourself too much to the point where you chicken out of seeing him. When you’re on your way down following his text that he is waiting for you in front of the building, you are trying to keep yourself together and remind yourself that it’s just Harry, he might be a little different, but he is still kind of the same.

Luckily, the moment you spot him waiting a few feet away from the entrance, you forget about everything else, he is the only one to exist. He envelopes you in a hug when you arrive, smiling at you warmly.

“Hi, ready to go?” he kindly asks and you nod.

You settle for a nearby bar you’ve actually been to with Jasmine before. Harry insists on paying for the first round of drinks as the two of you settle in a secluded booth at the back. When he is standing at the bar you catch yourself watching him in awe. The situation is quite odd, could have never happened probably back home, the two of you casually out for a drink.

“What’s gotten you so smiley?” he asks upon returning, sitting across you.

“I was just thinking how this is the first time we are out, just the two of us.”

Harry smiles softly, probably appreciating it just the same.

The next couple of hours you both try to share anything and everything that has happened in the past year. He tells you about his last year as a professor and him not extending his contact. Coming back to London he has joined a research group for a marketing company, using his excellent knowledge to analyze human behavior in connection with different type of ads.

“It’s a lot different from being a college professor ain’t it?” you tease him and he nods chuckling.

“Guess I wanted some change. But it’s been nice, I enjoy doing a lot of research and experiments.”

Then you tell him about your time as a forensic document examiner, all the different cases you worked on and how it has been, living in London on your own. He listens to your tales about everything you’ve done with Jasmine, the concerts and karaoke bars you’ve been to and just generally your life overseas.

“Sounds like you’ve found your place, then,” he says smiling softly.

“I guess. Wasn’t an easy transition, but I’m feeling good now,” you nod. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss my past,” you add.

His eyes wander down to your hands that are fidgeting with your almost empty glass. You see how they stop over the ring and he seems surprised as he reaches out, takes your hand in his and runs his thumb over the little strawberries.

“You’re still wearing the ring,” he states.

“Of course,” you smile and when he is about to let go of your hand, you grab it and hold it, needing to feel his touch.

You wanted to run back home so many times because you were missing him too badly, missed his voice, his eyes, his touch, everything and now, out of nowhere, he is here with you again, far away from the place where it all started and had to end for a while, still making you feel like home, no matter where you are.

At one point, you move to sit beside him in the booth. You just keep sharing and sharing even things you’ve talked about on the phone before. You’re just soaking each other in. His arm soon moves around your shoulders and you gladly lean into his side, placing a hand to his thigh, sparkles running through your body.

“I love this,” you hum to yourself upon finishing your last drink.

“Love what?”

“Being out with you without a worry. I always dreamt of this and it’s just… so natural. I wish we got to experience it before.”

“As you said, that was a wrong time and place. Wasn’t our fault.”

You lift your head, eyes meeting his curious green irises as he smiles down at you kindly. You’ve missed that smile, it still makes your heart skip a beat, just like at the beginning.

“And do you think it’s the right time and place now?” you prompt the question.

“It’s definitely… better,” he chuckles softly. “Unless you are seeing someone, because now would be the best time to tell me.”

“I’m not,” you shake your head smirking. “Tried to go on dates, but truth is… none of them were you. I gave up after a few terrible attempts.”

“I didn’t even try,” he shyly smiles. “I just… knew no one would make me as happy as you did. As you always do.”

Pushing yourself up a bit, you rest your forehead against his as he closes his eyes, his arm around your shoulder tightens and his other hand rests on your thigh, pulling you closer. Your palm slides up his chest and neck until you’re cupping his cheek. You place a soft lingering kiss to the corner of his mouth, testing the waters out, seeing how he reacts though nothing that happened tonight tells you he wants to keep his distance.

He moves his face, nose nudging against you before his lips find yours in a kiss you’ve been longing for since you left him behind at the airport over a year ago. Your fingers lace through his hair, pulling him towards you as if he could escape from your hold any moment, but he is definitely here to stay. Your lips clash again and again, savoring each other, eagerly trying to make up for the time you lost since your departure. You melt into his arms, moving your legs across his lap as he pulls you to his lap in the booth, partially hidden from the rest of the bar, wrapped up in your little bubble. He tastes like home, his kisses feel like the first warm rays of sunshine after a long and cold winter, the only thing you couldn’t really get yourself over this whole year. Because you’ve become good at pushing your feelings down to the point where you could easily carry on, but he was always in the corner of your mind, making you wonder if you’ll ever meet again and if you do, will it be the same as before?

It’s not, because it’s better. The burdens and banters that tied you both down a year ago are now long gone, you have all the time and space in the world, nothing is restricting you. You can touch him and kiss him whenever and wherever you want. There’s no more sneaking around, no one here knows who you are and who Harry used to me to you. Here, you’re just another lovesick couple, so into each other it’s almost insane.

When he pulls back his forehead stays rested against yours as you both are trying to catch your breath. His hand runs up and down your thigh, the warmth of his palm melting your body under his soft touch.

“I love you,” he breathes out, eyes meeting yours.

“You still do?” you ask with a small smile, heart beating in your throat.

“I never stopped loving you,” he admits and you let out a shaky breath, pulling him down for a short kiss.

“Not even when I was an ocean away from you?”

“No,” he chuckles shaking his head. “If that’s possible, I loved you even more when you were away. I realized how much you mean to me and I could only hope you weren’t moving on without me.”

“I could never,” you smile at him softly. “I love you too much to do that.”

“You have no idea how much I missed you say that,” he breathes out with a soft chuckle and you kiss his lips shortly, assuring him that you feel the same way. “So… are we going to try again?”

“Do you want to?”

“There’s nothing I want more, baby,” he truthfully admits, his gaze softening at you as he brushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear. “Do you want to?”

“Of course,” you smile at him widely. “I think it’s settled.”

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

#harry #styles #harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry style fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles au #harry styles oneshot #harry styles one shot #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #professor!harry #professor!harry au #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst

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serenityseventeen · 3 years

Text

♫ Individual Members Masterlist 2:

back to [navigation]/m.list list | individual mb m.list 3

-----------------

This masterlist does not repeat what other masterlists already have

Consists of ONESHOTS, IMAGINES, AND SCENARIOS

Stories with more than one part are in numbered order (from left → right or from top ↑ to bottom ↓)

❥ = my personal favs

-----------------

All members individually:

(1/13 requested) Vampire Boyfriend Series - what vampire!seventeen would be like as your boyfriend & as vampires in general

↳ The Letter Box

Love & Letter: To The Thirteen Boys I've Loved Before - inspired by "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" by Jenny Han.

You find a letter box consisting of thirteen letters you never sent to thirteen boys that you've fallen in love with and reread them.

S.coups:

↳ "Hours"

(request) both of you forget it's your birthday but he finally remembers

↳ "Because I Love You" ❥

(request) you flinch because of an argument with him and he feels guilty, telling you to slap him in return for making you flinch

↳ "Sulky" (ft. Jun & Mingyu)

(request) you visit him during practice and talk with Mingyu and Jun, causing him to get sulky and jealous

↳ "Kkeke" (ft. 1997 liners - Mingyu, DK, The8)

(request) you and Seungcheol like each other. You are friends with the 1997 line and they are always teasing you two about it. When they leave, Seungcheol confesses and asks you to date him.

Jeonghan:

↳ "Reassemble"

(request) after you flinch during an argument, he goes into the bedroom when your friends come; after your friends leave, you go to check up on him

↳ "The Other Side of the Door"

(request) Songfic: "The Other Side of the Door" by Taylor Swift - you two have an argument & you hate him but at the same time, need him so bad

↳ "Love Poem" | "Love Poem 2" (ft. Svt members)

(request) You are the princess of the Caerat Kingdom and Jeonghan is the prince of the Svuentin Kingdom. You two get arranged for marriage since birth but as the wedding day ticks closer, you find yourselves truly falling for each other.

↳ "I'm Jealous" (ft. Joshua)

(request) he gets really jealous when you get partnered up with your coworker for a three-legged race. extremely jealous.

↳ "I want to kiss you" (ft. S.Coups)

↳ "I want to kiss you, because I love you" (ft. S.Coups)

(request) you tell him that you want to kiss him seriously but you two are just friends...

Joshua:

↳ "I Like You" ❥

(request) you two are cafe workers and you like him and you finally confess to him

↳ "Gifted"

(request) you see his large hands and compare them with yours

↳ "Wonder" ❥

(Combined request) song fic: "Wonder" by Shawn Mendes - you two are friends but he keeps wondering what it's like to be loved by you, which leads to him unexpectedly kissing you

↳ "060421"

(request) you are sick and joshua takes care of you

↳ "Flutters" (ft. Svt members) ❥

(request) you and Joshua like each other but are too shy to confess. One day, you two get stuck in an art supply storage closet and slowly confess your long term crushes

↳ "Fine" ❥

(request) you break up with joshua... :(

↳ "A Sweet Winter Night" ❥

(request) it's a cold winter night and you spend it sweetly cuddling with your boyfriend while eating yummy snacks and drinking hot chocolate (ft. Your first kiss w/ him + a bit of teasing the gentle sexy)

Jun:

↳ "Just For Kisses" (ft. Woozi)

(request) because of a collab, you and jihoon have to spend a lot of time together talking about music, making your boyfriend, jun, jealous.

↳ "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" ❥

(half requested) a fluffy break-day with a clingy Moon Junhui.

↳ "From a Small Glance"

(requested) you are exhausted from performing and no one notices except jun and he gets worried

↳ "Brother"

(request) brother!jun helping you with your homework

↳ "Special Boy" (ft. Hoshi & The8)

(request) You go to Jun's dorm and help him unwind after he had a hard and long day at practice (ft. Cuddles)

↳ "It's Okay"

(request) you get into an argument with your dad on the phone and Jun calms you down

Hoshi:

↳ "Horanghae 호랑해" ❥

(request) you two argue because it seems like he likes tigers more than you

↳ "Close To You"

(request) he gets a bit jealous and protective so he becomes clingy, handcuffing you two together

↳ "Dispatch's New Year's Couple"

(request) you are the oldest in your group and care a lot for your members and is afraid of creating a scandal that could harm the group. your members and boyfriend, soonyoung, comfort you.

↳ "Moonstruck" | "Moonstruck 2"

(request) you are a servant, working as the stable girl in the kingdom of Svuentin. You're best friends with prince Chan and one day, his brother, prince Soonyoung, comes into your life and starts to like you.

↳ "Spider" (ft. SVT Perf. Unit)

(request) you are on an idol survival program and for a performance, you decide to perform 'spider' by Hoshi, not knowing that he's a guest judge. (ft. A bit of feelings being developed)

↳ "Human" (ft. The8)

(request) Soonyoung is stressed and practicing really hard so Minghao calls you to go and help calm Soonyoung down.

Wonwoo:

↳ [12:07 am] with Wonwoo

↳ "A Warmer Valentine's" ❥

Because you have no lover, you also have no plans for Valentine's day. Your friend, Wonwoo, reveals that he does have plans for the day though. The next day, on Valentine's, he shows up at your door.

↳ "Heartstrings" | "Heartstrings 2"

(request) It's 1993 and Jeon Wonwoo is forced to study classical music by his parents. He meets you, the orchestra club's double bassist and begins to love music as he learns with you. He also begins to love being with you too.

↳ "UwU"

(request) you always call him 'baby' or by his name so one day you decide to call him something new, something like "oowoo"

↳ "To My Growing Child" (ft. Mingyu) ❥

(request) you two are shopping with Mingyu and his girlfriend and Wonwoo mentions that he's glad you aren't pregnant when you secretly was (this if fluffy)

↳ "Warmth Amidst The Snowy Night" ❥

(request) it's a snowy night and he is staying over. you notice that his hands are shaking from the cold and give him a back hug to warm him up.

↳ "Goal" (ft. S.Coups)

(request) you make a goal to win in an activity but everyone but you wins in an activity so Wonwoo decides to purposely lose so that he could see you happy

↳ "Beauty of Colors" | "Beauty of Love" (ft. Mingyu)❥

(request) soulmate au: everyone is born in a black and white world until they meet their soulmate. You and Wonwoo meet and your worlds burst with color. As you two hang out, you two fall in love.

↳ "Just Friends?" ❥

(request) your friend Wonwoo has never been on a date and asks you to go on a date with him as a friend but you try to make it realistic, causing him to see you differently as a woman

↳ "Starry Sea in a Healing Cocktail" ❥ (1)

↳ "Peachy Romance by the Blossoming Waves" (2)

(request) You're on vacation in the seaside and every morning, you get tea from the lounge bar, being run by the bartender, Wonwoo. He always greets you with sweet words and asks why you aren't smiling. Now, it's your last day on vacation.

Woozi:

↳ "My My My Darling" ❥

(request) while cuddling, you tell him how much you love him

↳ "Bonkers"

(request) you two are idols and are dating; he accidentally posts a photo of you two on his public Instagram account instead of his private one

↳ "Like Father, Like Son?"

(request) dad!jihoon: he takes care of his son alone for the first time

↳ "Muse"

(request) Woozi is staying up late trying to write lyrics while he's in writer's block so you go to the studio and tell him to go to sleep, ending up with you two sleeping on the couch

↳ "Hand-obsessed"

(request) you love Jihoon's hands so you cuddle with them, hold them, kiss them, and compliment them

↳ "Your Choice"

(request) You see your ex-boyfriend again and feel a bit of longing toward him. Your current boyfriend, Jihoon, notices this and decides to tell you something.

↳ "Moonlight in Unit 0526" (1) ❥

↳ "Sunshine in Room 0922" (2) ❥

(request) Jihoon is a ghost hunter, he could see ghosts for an hour and he uses this ability to send ghosts to the spirit realm. One day, in apartment unit 0526, he meets you, a human-like ghost who's been stuck in your lonely and cold home for who knows how long.

The8:

↳ "Faults"

(requested) you and Minghao get into a sort of silent argument and you flinch when he points at your phone + both of you fluffily comforting each other afterward

↳ "Galaxy in his Eyes"

(request) being clingy and fluffy; after two weeks apart, Minghao finally comes home and is clingy and cuddly because he missed you and loves you

DK:

↳ "Crazy"

(request) you and Seokmin are friends (he has a crush on you) and he invites you couple bungee jumping

↳ "Perfect: What It Means To Be A Singer" (1)

↳ "Perfect: The Process of Becoming One" (2)

↳ "Perfect: Imperfection Makes Perfection" (3)

(request) You and Seokmin are always in singing competitions, fighting for the first place. Suddenly, one day, Seokmin asks to sing for you, changing your relationship with him.

↳ "Idyllic" ❥

(request) You and Seokmin met through a mutual friend and enjoy watching musicals together as a hobby. One day, Seokmin invites you to watch "Marie Antoinette" with him but truthfully, he wants to confirm whether or not he likes you romantically.

Mingyu:

↳ "Criminal: Ruthless" ❥

(request) mafia au: you are captured by a mafia family as a hacker and he saves you

↳ "Cool" | "Cure"

(request) mingyu x doctor!reader; he gets injured and you care for him a bit. He likes you and thinks you are cool.

↳ "Reunion"

(request) you go to a high school reunion and see your former school crush and just as you were about to leave out of boredom, he stops you and you two talk.

↳ "Little Bits"

(request) Mingyu is your boyfriend and has never kissed you longer than a peck. You ask him why.

↳ "Off To School"

(request) dad!mingyu sending his twin daughter and son to school

↳ "Do You Know My Heart?" (ft. Hoshi & Dino)

(request) You like Mingyu and you are his makeup artist. You get switched and become Seungkwan's makeup artist, causing Mingyu to realize his feelings.

↳ "Maybe I Love You" (ft. Svt members)

(request) You two are childhood best friends and he is busy with work so you hang out with the members. After promotions, he wants to hang out alone but you two end up hanging out with all of the members...

↳ "I Like You Better"

(request) Mingyu, your boyfriend, sees that you have the vocalist of a rock band you like as your lockscreen instead of him.

Seungkwan:

↳ "Second Life" (ft. Joshua) ❥

↳ "Second Life 2" (ft. Svt members) ❥

(request) reincarnation fic: You and Seungkwan are in love during the great depression but you both die in a house fire. You two get reincarnated and you remember everything but he doesn't.

↳ "Beautiful Night" ❥

(request) you write a suicide letter but stop halfway; your boyfriend, seungkwan, finds the letter and immediately goes to find you

↳ "Thrice is Fate" ❥

(request) You never have a consistent schedule when it comes to visiting the cafe. However, you meet a guy in the front of the cafe by chance, but then you meet him again by coincidence. Would you meet him for the third time?

Vernon:

↳ "Sweetest Thing" ❥| "Sweetest Thing 2" ❥

(half-request) he is being tailed by a journalist and reporter and you help him by offering some strawberries...

↳ "Care"

(request) you are not feeling well after surgery and he comes to try and take care of you but you refuse because you don't want to be a bother

↳ "Just Ask"

(request) you two go on a date and you notice that he wants to hold your hand but doesn't (he's been wanting to for the whole day)

Dino:

↳ "LOVE"

(request) Chan likes you like crazy but you don't want to love him because you think of yourself as a burden and you think that he won't like you anymore once he knows you better

↳ "The Arcade Date" ❥

(request) going on a date with your boyfriend, Chan, to the arcade, competitively playing games, and making sweet, fluffy bets

↳ "Significance" | "Significant"

(request) you never really celebrated your birthday, on your birthday one night, you meet a man who is busking and he asks if it is anyone's birthday today (February 11th).

↳ "Promise for Eternity" ❥

(request) Chan on his wedding day with you.

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This masterlist has reached the maximum number of links available/is finished.

-----------------

-serenityseventeen

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letarasstuff · 3 years

Text

Lil' Reid

(A/N): This was requested by an anon, I had so much fun writing it so I hope you like it :)

Summary: What does Spencer's daughter do while she waits in the car?

Warnings: Mentions of heart attack (just a dramatic teenager 🙄) and mentions of road rage

Wordcount: 0.9k

✨Masterlist✨ ______________________________

Spencer was really nervous about his daughter getting her driver’s permit and later her license. All kinds of statistics about crashes, injuries related to car crashes came to his mind and didn't get him started on the numbers of deaths.

But (Y/N) was adamant that she wanted to be able to travel without being dependent on the metro or her father. So after several discussions and (fake) tears, he gave in and took the time to teach her how to drive a vehicle safely. Her godfather Derek was there for every minute, sometimes chanting for her in the backseat or giving directions sitting in the passenger’s seat.

A few weeks ago the teenager got her license and ever since she loves to play cab driver for her father. Before school she drops him off at work and picks him up after her last class, under the condition they don’t have or get a case. Sometimes (Y/N) goes up to the bullpen to see (annoy) the team, when she is extra early there.

But not today. It’s Saturday afternoon and the BAU was on a case in Georgia, the plane landed an hour ago. And being the good daughter she is, (Y/N) volunteered to drive out to Quantico to meet her father there to get dinner in a diner together, spending some relaxing daddy-daughter-time after an exhausting case.

Usually the teenager is a calm person, some describe her as shy and innocent. Oh boy, there isn’t anything left of that when she gets on the streets. (Y/N) got a severe case of road rage and if it is a bad day, she gets out of the car with a hoarse voice. Knowing her father doesn’t like her screaming at other people, who 100% can’t hear her, she tries to keep it at a minimum when he is with her.

But when (Y/N) is alone she transforms into a murderous animal. Especially today.

The streets are jammed. Every second turn feels like it’s being dragged on because of road work (put the vine here). Suddenly, every single driver forgot how to operate a car. After all, the teenager gets cut off every now and then. She uses her horn more often than in the last month since she has her license.

Fortunately (Y/N) makes it to Quantico without a scratch, though she had to pull several somewhat risky moves to avoid a crash. And there her father says she is an aggressive driver. If she is aggressive on the road, the girl clearly would have insisted on her right. But she is a responsible one, obviously.

As she parks, (Y/N) can’t spot her father. That’s why she kills the engine and tries to listen to calm music in order to slow her pulse. She soon realizes that this is not the type of music that could help her right now.

Quickly she switches her playlist and puts on some rap. A smile spreads on the girl’s face when she hears the familiar tune of Doja Cat’s “Best Friend”.

Without missing a beat (Y/N) begins to rap along. Her group of friends are really into her songs and since she hears them on a nearly basis she knows all the lyrics. The teenager may or may not also have watched several videos about breathing techniques and pronunciation methods when rapping, because a certain musical about a founding father caught her interest on that subject. She is nearly as fast as the fastest rapped lyrics on Broadway.

Now with her being invested in getting her work at hand on the spot, (Y/N) doesn’t notice her father and godfather standing next to the car while the music is blasting loud enough for them to hear it. From an outer perspective it looks like she is trying to chase a fly away with her hands.

Uncertain Spencer knocks at the driver’s window. Not expecting it, (Y/N) lets her phone glide out of her hand while she places her hand on her heart. Upon seeing him and Derek, she lowers the volume and unlocks the car.

“Jesus dad, just tell me you don’t want me anymore. I thought I died of a heart attack”, the teenager gasps dramatically. “Oh shut it, Baby Wonder. It wouldn’t matter what we did, you were way too engrossed in your one woman show to see us. Are you preparing for your big show?” Derek asks as he sits down in the back.

Confused (Y/N) turns to her father. “Are we taking him with us?” Spencer smiles apologetically. “I may or may not have mentioned our plans to Derek and now he wants to follow us like he doesn’t have anything better to do. Maybe he raps with you. I heard Eminem wrote good ones.” A proud smirk appears on his face, knowing he for once said something right on that subject.

“Oh shut it. I think I’ll have to put Beethoven on for you. After all, I’m driving a grandpa’s car”, she retorts while exiting the parking lot.

“Hey, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it isn’t good!” “Speak for yourself, old man.”

Taglist:

All works:

@dindjarinsspouse

Criminal Minds:

@averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x daughter!reader #spencer reid #spencer reid x teen!reader #derek morgan #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #x reader #reader insert #x daughter!reader #x teen!reader #fanfiction

368 notes · View notes

saturnznct · 3 years

Text

finding out you’re pregnant | hrj

➸ request from anon; could you please write a daddy au for renjun when his s/o tells him that she’s pregnant? thank you! hope you’re having a good day :))

➸ note; wowowowowow it’s been a while hello!! i have been SWAMPED. and i mean SWAMPED with schoolwork so there has been no time for me to write unfortunately :( however!! my workload will be a lot less after the next two weeks, so things will hopefully go back to normal <3 i have missed you guys so so much!

ALSO i tried to switch things up a little bit! i hope u guys like this because i do a lot x

➸ word count; 979 words

➸ tengfei; in the womb lol

nct masterlist

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

You’ve been to many many dream shows.

It had been several years in a row at this point, the venues getting gradually bigger and better and louder.

You enthusiastically sang along to Deja Vu, waving your lightstick around at the beat of the song. Naturally, the arena was packed, and despite the fact you were in the stands you were still feeling quite hot.

You were in the sort of ‘friends and family’ section, alongside the rest of dream’s families.

The music was so loud, you thought, much louder than you remember. It was bothering you a bit, the thumping making your head throb and the ground under your feet shake.

‘That was our last song guys! Thank you for coming,’ Mark shouts through the microphone. The seven members take their bows and leave the stage.

Your entire body is practically screaming for water, your insides feeling dry from how much you’ve yelled and sweated.

As the fans leave, you remain seated in the stands, waiting for a staff member to come and collect you and take you backstage.

You’re itching to see Renjun, to give him a hug and tell him how well he performed. You imagine he’s currently downing a litre of water, sweating about ten times more than you are.

You couldn’t wait until you could have a drink of water too. You were sick to your stomach, head still throbbing and stomach turning.

‘Are you ok?’ Renjun’s mother asks carefully, gently placing her hand on your upper arm.

‘Yeah I’m okay, just feeling a bit dizzy, that’s all.’

‘We’ll be able to go home soon, then you can sleep it off.’

You only hum and nod, thinking that if you even opened your mouth again you may projectile vomit all over the floor.

People are still filtering out. In your head you’re begging for them to just hurry up and leave.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The walk backstage is a fight. A fight to stay conscious. Renjun’s mother does seem to notice your illness, holding out a supportive hand for you to grasp in order to keep yourself upright.

The members are in a now relatively empty dressing room, barefaced and in their own clothes.

‘Love,’ Renjun exclaims as you fly into his arms, welcoming all of the forehead kisses and body heat coming from him.

‘You did so well,’ you grinned into his chest, ‘I’m so proud of you.’

‘It was so much better knowing you were here,’ he mumbles, almost as though he didn’t want the others to hear in fear of making fun of him.

‘You’re so… warm,’ his body heat is almost burning you, bringing back up all of the intense nausea you had been feeling.

‘Yeah, I am... baby, are you okay?’ Renjun’s eyebrows are knitted together, hands rubbing your upper arms gently.

‘Yes, yes, I-‘

‘Woah-‘ is the last thing you hear before you pass out.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Your forehead is cold.

The room that you’re in - although you don’t recognise it - is stupidly bright. You blink quite a few times to get used to it, sitting up a lot quicker than you probably should.

Your head and your arm flare up immediately, black spots invading your vision. You lay back down, and as the black spots clear, you realise there is a blue Cinnamoroll band-aid on your forearm.

You also notice a plastic cup of water on your bedside table, and you reach for it with your good arm, taking huge gulps to alleviate your dry throat.

‘Oh!’

You nearly jump out of your skin at the voice, a small amount of water leaping out of the cup and falling onto the bedsheets.

‘Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you,’ Renjun apologises, rushing towards you, ‘I was just surprised to see you awake.’

He gently removes the water cup from your hand and places it back down where it was.

When your head touches the pillow his hand is immediately in your hair, massaging and lightly scratching your scalp the way he knows you like it.

‘What happened?’ The first words that leave your mouth are hoarse.

‘You fainted,’ Renjun explains, a small smile on his face.

‘Oh.’

‘Don’t you remember?’

‘I remember feeling sick.’

Renjun laughs, ‘yeah, my mum/mom told me you weren’t feeling well.’

‘Where are we now?’

‘Oh, I should’ve told you. First aid tried to help you try and regain consciousness, but then they decided you should go to the ER for a blood test.’

’That explains the band-aid.’

‘I thought you’d like a pretty one,’ he smiles, tilting his head and admiring the design, ‘so I gave them the one from my little makeup bag.’ He looks pretty.

’Am I okay?’ You ask, deciding to ask the sensible questions.

‘Hmm, well-‘

‘Oh God, what?’

‘You didn’t let me finish... they ran your blood test just to see your levels, but you ended up having a positive pregnancy test.’

‘A positive what?’ You splutter, eyes widening.

‘You’re pregnant,’ Renjun smiles, continuing to draw circles in your hair.

‘Wow,’ you state plainly, making Renjun laugh lightly.

‘How does that make you feel?’

‘A bit gobsmacked.’

Renjun is acting so gently towards you in this moment, and despite just finding out such life changing news, you feel so utterly relaxed and peaceful.

‘Do you want to? Have a baby, that is?’

‘Of course I do. I’m just surprised,’ you laugh, tears forming in your eyes.

Renjun leans forward, pressing a long and soft kiss on your lips.

‘Are they okay?’ You suddenly have the thought.

‘Yes, they’re fine. You probably fainted because of all of your hormones. It’s normal.’

Your hand instinctively falls on your stomach.

‘Do you feel as though you can get up?’ Renjun asks.

‘Hmm. Probably,’ you hum in response.

‘We can go home whenever you want.’

‘Mmh, let’s go home.’

320 notes · View notes

bnhabadass · 4 years

Text

Pairing: Hawks x Reader Warnings: N/A Genre: Fluff Word Count: 4.5k Synopsis: You're surprised when your best friend tells you she's dating pro hero Hawks. As you get to know him throughout his frequent visits to the tea shop you work at, your uncertain despisal of him may just turn into romance.

When your best friend told you that she was dating the number two hero you laughed in her face. “It’s true!” she pleaded. Her eyes gleamed against the hanging lights in your kitchen. She looked as if she were a lovestruck middle schooler doodling hearts and writing her initials in the margins of her notepad. But you knew her like the back of your hand and you were well aware of her habit of compulsive lying.

You spent the following week teasing her relentlessly for making up such an outlandish lie. Yui Nakamura, your best friend in the world. She was an up-and-coming actress who claimed that she was slowly taking Japan by storm.

“I guess I just caught the number two hero’s heart from my last film,” she told you. It was all she could talk about for a solid week, leaving you rolling your eyes and sticking your tongue out in a fake gagging motion every time his name was brought up.

It wasn’t until she brought him into your place of work that you finally realized she was telling the truth. The small jingle bells tied to the doorknob of the shop rang as you were crouched behind the counter, sorting loose tea leaves into their respective jars.

“This is my favorite place to get an iced tea in this hot weather,” her sickeningly sweet voice cooed.

Your ears perked up. Grabbing one of the jars of tea leaves, you stood up with a big smile on your face, ready to greet your friend. That smile, however, didn’t last long. Instead it was replaced with a punch in your gut and a ringing in your ears as you saw the person standing in front of you holding hands with your best friend was the number two hero in Japan.

You should have known something was off when the few people sitting in the leather chairs and at the counter looking out into the street had gone silent. Everyone’s jaws were slack in amazement at the hero before their eyes. A few people whispered about how much more handsome he looked up close or how they didn’t realize how vibrant his wings actually were.

The only person who didn’t look shocked or happy that he was there was the number two hero himself.

“(Y/n)!” Yui exclaimed. “How’ve you been?”

“Um, good,” you managed to choke out. Your eyes never left the winged hero.

“I see you’ve noticed my boyfriend,” she giggled. Her happy-go-lucky smile never left her face. It seemed as though her biggest wish had come true. It’s no secret that she had been pining after the hero for years, playing back footage of his rescues and showing them to you over and over again. She would always cover her eyes when watching his fights because she “couldn’t bare to see his beautiful face get hurt” and you would have to tell her when the scary parts were over.

“Hawks,” you spat out.

His golden eyes dug daggers into you. “Yes?” His tone was uninterested and very clearly bored. It left a sour taste in your mouth.

“I, um, well I, ya know, I didn’t–”

Yui cut off your stumbling with a fluttering laugh, the kind of laugh they romanticize in a shoujo manga. “(Y/n)-chan didn’t believe me when I told her you were my boyfriend,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Now come on, Hawky, what do you want?”

Hawks visibly cringed at the nickname she had given him. Hawky, like the sport but spelled like the bird. Even you could admit that it was pretty bad.

“I think I’ll have the iced hibiscus tea,” she said. Her hands fumbled for her wallet.

“I’ll take a small sencha.” You never expected the winged hero to drink tea. It seemed so unlike him. He seemed much more of a coffee kind of person, needing the extra energy to fulfill his hectic life.

“All right, your total is 540¥,” you said. As you brewed their tea, you couldn’t help but keep an eye on Hawks and the little things about him. Sure he was attractive, but was that really enough to satisfy your friend? He didn’t seem very interested in her as she tugged on his sleeve like a little kid clinging to their parents.

As you called their names with their orders in hand, you were surprised when neither of them went to grab their drinks. Instead, Hawks sent two of his feathers to grab them out of your hands. They were so delicate yet so strong.

Yui smiled as the feather fluttered around her before presenting her drink in front of her.

“Let’s go,” Hawks said, still with a look of boredom plastered to his face, but maybe there was more to him than you thought.

You got to know Hawks a little more during the next few months. It’s true that when you first met him he was not your cup of tea. He and Yui would come into the shop and as Yui chatted your ear off about all the sweet nothings he would tell her, Hawks always seemed to zone out or lose interest in the conversation relatively fast. From the outside it looked like he didn’t care about her and that made your blood boil. But there had to be more to it, right? You’re sure that Yui wouldn’t bother with someone who didn’t seem to care about her.

It was at the end of summer when Yui told you the exciting news. She was cast as a major role in a new film and would be flown to Yakushima Island for the shoot. As she told you the good news, her smile never faltered. It was as if all her dreams were coming true and the different pieces of her life were being put together like a puzzle.

“I’m really happy for you,” you said while pouring hot water over a tea bag with oolong in it. “I can’t wait to see the film when it’s released.”

“I can’t wait for you to see it too! It’s going to be rough being away from Hawky for so long but I think we’ll both manage.”

You turned around before she could see you rolling your eyes at the ludacris nickname. You’re not sure how it managed to stick throughout the months, and every time you hear the words pass her lips it triggers a shudder to run through you. “When do you leave?”

“Next week. You have no idea how excited I am, (Y/n).”

You were happy for her, you really were. Yet part of you felt like you were being left behind, stuck in the mud. While she had her handsome top pro hero of a boyfriend, you spent your nights alone and as she went off to chase her dreams of being one of the most famous actresses in Japan, you were still pouring hot water over tea leaves as you have been for the past two years. It didn’t seem fair, but you would never let her know that.

The next week went by quicker than you had hoped and Yui was off to the airport. She, of course, stopped by for one last cup of tea before she left.

Once she was gone the leaves began to change. Red, orange and yellow leaves fluttered through the air onto the ground and gusts of wind would push them across town, occasionally dropping them off in front of the tea shop’s door.

This time of year was always your favorite. The smell of cinnamon and spice floating through every tea, pastry and coffee shop always made you smile in delight. A new shipment of pumpkin tea had just arrived and you couldn’t resist ducking down to stick your nose in the box and smell the leaves through their packaging under the counter.

The homey smell ravished your senses. Your mind was instantly filled with wonderful fall memories. Jumping in piles of leaves as a kid, drinking hot tea by the window and watching the rain outside trickle down the gutter of your childhood home. Carving pumpkins and dressing up in inappropriate halloween costumes back in your college days. It all came back.

“Do I even want to know what you’re doing?”

The all too familiar voice of Hawks startled you, and as you leapt up out of shock, you hit your head on the counter top. “Ow,” you croaked. Reaching for the fridge next to one of the display cases of teas, you grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and placed it on your head. “Hi.”

“Hello to you too.” There was a cocky grin on his face, unlike what you’ve seen of him before.

“Yui’s out of town.” Why was he here? There was no reason for him to be if his girlfriend was gone. Since he started showing up with Yui, the shop had gotten much more traction. More people had shown up asking when the pro hero was coming next or which seat he sat in. You were sick of it all.

“I know. Doesn’t mean I can’t get a cup of my favorite tea from my favorite barista.” His cheeky smile grew and you beat yourself up for blushing at him compliment.

“What’ll it be then? A small sencha?” You grabbed one of the small to-go cups in preparation.

“Nah let’s switch it up a bit.” He eyed the list of teas up and down, ogling the glass containers with delicate tea bags placed inside. “What box were you sticking your nose in just now?”

You looked down at your feet in shame, cheeks heating up at the memory. You had hoped he would forget about what he just saw or at least wouldn’t mention it out of pity for you. “Pumpkin tea. It’s a new shipment that just came in.”

“Huh,” he pondered. “Is it good?”

Your head shot up. “Seriously? You’ve never had pumpkin tea before?”

“Nah the commission doesn’t really like it when I eat or drink things that aren’t in my diet.” He wove his hand through his blonde locks, pushing them back out of his face. “They’ve been a bit more chill about things since I started dating Nakamura, but I’m still on a pretty strict food regiment.”

The fact that he referred to your best friend by her last name almost made your heart ache. For how much she doted on him he barely seemed to care. “That sucks,” you said. “Do you want to try it?”

He chuckled a bit. “Yeah, let’s give it a whirl.”

You heated the water and poured it out in a hot stream over the tea bag. “Here you go. That’ll be 280¥.”

He slid the coins over to you and held the piping hot to-go cup up to his nose, breathing in the heat and letting it run through him. A soft smile overcame his features and he pressed the cup to his lips, letting the brew hit his tongue. His eyes shot open. “Wow. That’s incredible.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Isn’t it really good?”

“It is!” He smiled up at you and you couldn’t help but drink in every detail of it. It was a happy and relaxed smile, one that a child would give after tasting candy for the first time. His eyes grew brighter than the sun as the tea coated his taste buds and pulled him into euphoria.

“Um, excuse me?” a small voice croaked from behind Hawks.

He moved to the side, revealing a small young woman holding hands with a little boy. He was chewing on an action figure and as he pulled the head out of his mouth you could see the bright flames of Endeavor coated in a layer of thick saliva.

“Hey there,” Hawks said. “I’m sorry, do you need to order?”

“No no no!” The rosey cheeks of the young woman deepened as chills of embarrassment filled her. “My son here is a really big fan and, well, we were hoping we could get an autograph.”

You weren’t sure how something like this would play out. You’ve seen the stares and the hushed whispers people give when watching Hawks and Yui in the shop. They almost look too scared to approach him, yet this flustered woman came out of nowhere.

“Yeah of course!” Hawks’ cheeky smile widened. He squatted so he was eye level with the boy. “What’s your name, little guy?”

The kid slid behind his mother’s hip, unsure of what to do or say.

“I see you like Endeavor. You have good taste. He’s one of my favorite heroes too.”

You watched in awe, jaw slack as if you had been slapped in the face, as you watched Hawks laugh and ruffle the kid’s hair. He signed a notebook that the kid’s mother gave him and just as he was about to say goodbye, the kid shot his arms up in Hawks’ direction. You could feel yourself melt on the spot as he picked up the giggling boy, spinning him around. It was so unlike him to do that, but at the same time it was everything you had ever imagined in the stories that Yui would tell.

That was the first time that you realized you were beginning to fall for your best friend’s boyfriend, and after that nothing would be the same.

Hawks came in and out of the shop more and more frequently, only now ordering a small pumpkin tea. As the days went by, the weather grew colder. Chilly winds howled past the store and jingled the chimes out front.

Hawks sauntered in, giving you the grin and nod he was now accustomed to.

“Small pumpkin?” you asked, gripping your scarf and holding it closer around your neck.

“You know it,” he winked.

You hated how every time he walked up to the counter your breath would hitch and your heart would skip a beat. The little wink he gave you definitely didn’t go unnoticed by you. You hid the flushed feeling by burying your face up to the tip of your nose in your scarf.

“So what’s been going on in tea land?” he asked. His fingers danced across the display of cup sizes and tea cakes to the side of the register. They stopped, resting on the side of the jar labeled “TIPS” in a fat black marker over bright colorful construction paper.

“Same old,” you replied. “How’s hero work?”

“Same old.” The two of you had grown comfortable with minimal conversation, almost finding it endearing that the two of you could communicate so much with so few words.

“And Yui?”

Hawks took a moment before answering. You looked up from the tea you were preparing but averted your eyes the second you realized he was staring at you. “I’m thinking of breaking up with her.”

You couldn’t pay attention to what he said next. All you could hear was the ringing in your ears at hearing his words. He was breaking up with her. The recent nights you had spent fantasizing what it would be like to be the one held in his arms at night seemed more in your grasp. The thought scared you a little.

“Hey, are you listening?”

“Huh?” He snapped you out of your thoughts. “Sorry, I think I zoned out a little.” You could feel your face heating up. “Why are you breaking up with her?”

“It’s been about four months,” he said, still toying with the rim of the tip jar.

It bothered you a little how he kept looking at it. Either put in a tip or leave it alone, you wanted to yell at him.

“Four months,” he repeated as if he needed to double check. “That’s when our contract is up, at least.”

You were confused. What was he talking about? “What do you mean?” The skepticism on your face made you look like a puppy being taunted with a bone.

“Heh, you’re cute when you’re confused,” he said. “Our relationship,” he trailed off in thought, trying to find the right words. “It was never real, I guess. Never has been.”

As Hawks spoke about the contract the two of them were under, that her agent and the people working at the commission made them sign, your jaw became more and more unhinged.

“Why did they force you to date in the first place?” The shrill of your voice was hard to tame.

“Her agent knows my people well,” he admitted, referring to the commission. “And they thought this would be good for her publicity. They were right since it got her the big movie she’s working on, but they told us if nothing happens after four months we can end it.”

“I see.” You were still trying to put the pieces together in your mind. “So you never really loved her.”

He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “I thought that was pretty obvious,” he admitted. “Look, I know she’s your best friend and all but she’s kinda hard to be around and to get along with at times.”

Deep down you knew he was right, but hearing it come from someone that you knew Yui loved and trusted made your blood boil. What made you feel even worse was the growing hope within you that if Hawks didn’t like someone like her, he could possibly fall for someone like you.

He looked down at his phone to check the time. “Shit, I have training with my intern in ten minutes.” As you slid his drink towards him he fished into his wallet to pay. Taking out an extra bill, he folded it up and put it in the tip jar. “Promise me that when I break things off with her you’ll be there to comfort her?”

The question took you off guard but you nodded anyway.

He smiled a deep and genuine smile that showed so much more emotion than could be understood by the human brain. “Thanks. She’ll need a good friend like you to keep her company.” And with that, he dashed out the door quicker than your eyes could follow.

A week went by and you heard nothing. Hawks didn’t come into the shop to tell you how it went and Yui hadn’t texted you with any of her usual updates for how the movie was going. It wasn’t until you were locking up shop on a Friday night that you received a FaceTime request from Yui. You texted her, assuring her that once you got home you’d call her back. You knew that he did it and she needed to hear from you right now.

Snuggled into the plush fabric of the side-of-the-road sofa in the middle of your living room, you called her back. It only took one ring before she picked up. Her face was blotchy and red and the makeup she wore on set was streaking down her features.

“What happened?” you asked, fully aware of the situation.

She explained in detail everything that had happened, from the warm tea she was holding in her dressing room when he called her to break things off to the way his eyes shimmered with both sadness and relief as he told her what was on his mind.

You tried to reason with her as she blew her snotty nose into tissue after tissue. Phrases like “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you” and “You’re better than him anyway” often came up. Truth be told, you were only paying attention to her side of the story half the time. You slipped in and out, mind wandering over to where Hawks may be and how he must be doing.

“Maybe he had a reason for doing it,” you finally said once she had started to calm down.

“What?”

“Do you think he, I dunno, wasn’t happy?” You shrugged a bit. Your eyes traced the rhombus patterns on your carpet as they avoided Yui’s saddened expression. “Maybe he just wanted to be a free bird is all.”

You looked up from your carpet and came face to face with Yui’s eyes. Once doughy and glossed over with a thick layer of gelatinous tears, they now held a form of anger and hurt that you have never seen from her. “How could you say that?” she asked. “How could you even think of taking his side?”

“I’m not taking a side, I–”

“Yes you are!” Her face was turning red and as much as you wished to defend the man you had caught feelings for you also wanted to be there for Yui. “I don’t know how you could defend him right now, you guys aren’t even friends.”

Hearing her say that hit you deep in the chest. Of course she didn’t know how often Hawks had swung by the shop. Of course he wouldn’t tell her.

“You barely know him, (Y/n), so why are you defending him?”

Why were you defending him? Even with Yui out of the picture, there would still be a slim chance that Hawks actually felt the same way you did. He’s the number two hero, an icon in more ways than one. His fangirls pooled at his feet constantly. Why would you, just a simpleton working at a tea shop, have a chance with him?

“I can’t even talk to you right now.” She was looking down, refusing to make eye contact with you through the small screen.

“Yui, I–”

“No. Just,” she trailed off. “Call me when you know whose side you’re on.”

And with that she hung up and you were left alone. You felt terrible, like the worst friend in existence. You needed something to calm yourself down after the shitshow you had a feeling would be your last conversation with her for a long time.

Your shaky figure got up off the couch and went into the kitchen, putting up the water for a cup of tea. Your hands visibly calmed down once you gripped the hot mug with the pumpkin tea bag swirling inside.

“Hey baby bird.” As you walked into the living room, the person lounging on your sofa startled you. You let out a scream and the hot tea sloshed out of your mug and hit your chest, the thin material of your shirt and the knit sweater you dawned doing little to nothing to stop the burning sensation. “Ah shit.”

Hawks ran up to you and pressed the sleeve of his hero costume against your chest. “I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

The wince you gave him let him know his answer. “What are you doing here?” you managed to croak out once the heat subsided. “And how the hell do you know where I live?”

“Followed you home,” he said like it was nothing.

“So you stalked me.”

“I like to call it stealth training.” The grin on his face resembled a snarky cat and as pissed off and angry you were about him and Yui and everything, you couldn’t help letting out a laugh.

The aura between you two was both friendly and awkward. It seemed as though you both wanted to say something but didn’t know what. As Hawks kept rubbing his sleeve against your damp clothes, his eyes trailed over your face and tried reading into what you were thinking.

“I talked to Yui,” you finally let out. “She’s mad at me.”

“So I heard.” He stopped moving and rested his arm on your shoulder. “You deserve better friends.”

You looked away. “No. She does.”

He let out a laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You, (Y/n), are kind, compassionate, care about your customers and you actually take time to listen to others. And I know Nakamura would say the same thing.”

Somehow the use of your friends last name didn’t bother you as much as it used to. What did cause you to blush was the sound of Hawks saying your own name. The sound of it leaving his lips had an imprint on you like no other.

“And those,” he continued, “are some of the many reasons why I started to fall for you.”

You felt a sting in your cheeks as they grew hot from his words. He liked you? Did you hear that correctly? He fell for you? The same way you fell for him? The only thing you could think to do was let out a “huh?”

And Hawks let out a toe curling laugh. “I like you. Have liked you for a while now.”

You didn’t know what to say. You were so overwhelmed with emotion. All you could even think to do was stare at him with your mouth agape.

“Hello?” he waved his hand in your face. “Earth to (Y/n).”

You shook your head and the rest of your body, getting any jitters out. “Um, yeah.”

He barked out another laugh. “So, do you got something to say to me or are you gonna leave me hanging?”

You took a sharp inhale. “I think that I might also like you,” you said. “A bit.”

“Now was that so hard to say?” He took a step forward, raising a hand to cup your face. He wasn’t ready, however, when you stepped away, shielding yourself from him. “What’s wrong?”

“Yui is what’s wrong.”

It dawned on him how difficult and confused you must’ve been feeling, especially if you’ve liked him for as long as he’s had feelings for you. Yui Nakamura is your best friend so of course having feelings for her boyfriend, her ex boyfriend, would make you fall into a pit of despair.

“I’m sorry.” You turned away, walking back to your kitchen.

Even though you clearly wanted to be left alone, Hawks followed you and stayed in the door frame as you put up water for another cup of tea. “You remember when I caught you sniffing the heck out of that box of Pumpkin tea?”

You made a disgruntled noise of agony as you buried your head in your hands.

He chuckled. “That’s when I realized I had feelings for you. When did you know you had them for me?”

You sighed. “Look, Hawks. I really wish that things were different and that Yui wouldn’t be mad at me, but–”

“It’s a simple question, baby bird.” He reveled in the nickname.

Your eyes wandered over to the kettle and the soft heat that rose from the stove. “I think it was when I saw you give that kid and his mom and autograph and, I don’t know, you’re just...really good with kids is all.”

“Is that really all?” His cocky smirk struck you and you couldn’t help but hit him playfully.

“Shut up, asshole.” The kettle went off and you grabbed two mugs, placing pumpkin tea bags in each. “I like you, but I love Yui.”

“So I’m assuming that it would be inappropriate for me to kiss you right now?”

You handed him one of the now full mugs, your face lowered to hide your subtle embarrassment. “You are correct.” The two of you stood there in the middle of your cramped kitchen, neither darring to take a sip. “But,” you started. “We can maybe cuddle on the couch a bit and talk, if that’s something you want.”

His golden eyes brightened. “Yeah, baby bird. I’d like that.”

#my hero academia #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia #bnha hawks #hawks x reader #mha hawks #autumn #fall collab #sweater weather collab #bnha sanctuary #mha x reader #bnha x reader

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boldlyanxious · 4 years

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Bio-dad Bruce--first meeting

(Apparently telling myself I have to much going on to participate means nothing. I had an idea and it demanded to be written.)

It felt like such a simple assignment. Pretty basic genetics lesson for biology. Blood type was an easy thing to test in class. Their biology teacher had asked that they bring in the known blood types of their immediate family to help with understanding how it would work to pass on the genetic traits. Marinette had no siblings but she knew both her parents were O+.

They had finished with eye color during the last class and that was no concern for Marinette. Genetics could easily explain how the recessive blue eyes could come from the green and grey of her father and mother. But she had never known her blood type before. Just like with the eyes she should have received the recessive o from each of them making her blood type O.

She had already told her parents blood type but when she took the test it wasn't right. She told the teacher the expected answer when she was called upon for her test result and the teacher went on to explain how this was the most likely response with a 1 in 8 chance of having O- instead. Marinette didn't show anyone her test results. She was too confused. There was no way she could have gotten A blood type from her parents.

She knew there were pictures of her mother pregnant with her. Her dad was in the room when she was born and they had been married for 6 years before her mother was pregnant. She didn't want to think that her mother had cheated but there were not many other options. Her parents always seemed so in love, Marinette didn't want to ask them how it was possible.

She was quiet the rest of the week until she came up with a plan. She would simply take a DNA ancestry test and that would make everything make sense. It was probably a faulty blood type test and she was interested in the results she would get anyway. So, that weekend she got everything together and sent off for answers.

---

Tim wasn't paying much attention to the alert from his phone because he was just waiting for his coffee order. He looked down and read it. Then he read it again before he ran out of the shop without the coffee. He headed directly back to Wayne Enterprises to tell Bruce in person what he had learned.

Bruce was not happy to be pulled from his meeting by his son. He seemed to have an issue with a small French subsidiary company that did medical and genetic testing. Tim was talking too fast and he couldn't quite make sense of any of it. His head was already filled with the stock prices and percentages being discussed at the quarterly report meeting he had just left. He wasn't switching gears quickly enough for the science Tim was explaining.

"Are you even listening to me?" Tim asked frustrated "How would you even end up with another child in France?"

"Wait, what? I don't have any children in France." Bruce responded.

"The test was flagged in the system as a match for you. But that isn't all. She appears to be a match with Damian's DNA." Tim said.

"I have a daughter with Talia? I really don't think that is possible."

"It appears that way. I haven't looked into anything on her yet."

"I need to pack a bag."

"You don't think that is a little premature? She could have been trained to kill you."

"We will still do background on her. But if I have another child, I want to meet her."

---

Marinette was frantically gathering things she needed while holding her phone to her ear, talking to Nino. She grabbed her bag, a hanging garment bag and a stack of bakery boxes. She looked over and glared at her bag with the decorations before setting down the boxes and reaching for the straps of the bag.

"Argh, this isn't working right. I need more hands."

"You are trying to carry too much. I knew you would do that. It's why I planned ahead and got you a ride." Nino's voice came through the receiver after he finished laughing at her.

"The hotel is not far away. Who would give me a ride?"

"My buddy Adrien. He should be arriving any minute."

Marinette looked up as the bells on the door chimed. Adrien walked in followed by 2 men in business suits that Marinette couldn't help but admire. She jumped at him with a fierce hug, forgetting all about her phone call. Her phone flew off her shoulder right at the older of the 2 businessmen. His blue eyes danced with amusement at her shocked expression as he caught it easily.

"Oh wow. Thank you so much. I'm sorry for throwing it at you. That was so cool." Her excited voice stilled as she realized she was still against Adrien, having frozen in their hug. She pushed away and reached for her phone.

"Thank you again." She turned back to Adrien. "And thank you for the ride. I have so many things to carry."

Nino's voice came through the phone, "what is happening?"

"Oh, sorry Nino. I kinda threw you away when I saw Adrien."

"Don't I mean anything to you? What about our love?"

"I couldn't help myself. When I saw him with the sun shining in his gorgeous golden locks it was all I could think about."

Adrien raised his eye brow at her but she waved him off with her hand and gave a conspiratorial wink.

"You've gutted me." Nino said.

"I'll set you up with my best girl. She is 16 and I know you have a thing for older women."

"Well I can't have you, baby. I guess I'll meet her."

"Ugh. Too far Nino. Don't ever call me baby again. Even as a joke."

"But you are baby."

I'm hanging up now."

"Don't forget your shoes."

"My shoes!" Marinette ran off, shoving her garment bag and her phone into Adrien's hands, she rushed back to her living room to get her shoes to go with her party dress.

---

Bruce and Tim hadn't been sure that they would see the girl when visiting the patisserie owned by her parents. But when they entered the establishment they quickly recognised the girl buzzing around as the same one they had researched after learning she shared Bruce's DNA. When he met her eyes, in the moment he handed her phone back to her, there was no mistaking that she got his eyes.

They took just enough time deciding what to try so they were able to see her as she went in and out several times collecting all she needed from what they gathered was her best friend's birthday party. She kissed her parents on the cheek and promised to see them tomorrow before she zipped back out the door the last time.

As the men walked back to their hotel they talked about how they should proceed. None in the family seemed to recognize them and they weren't sure how she came to be with them even though she was Bruce and Talia's biological child. When they arrived back at their hotel they were surprised to see the same girl unloading all the things she had packed and giving direction to the others gathered with a confidence she hadn't seemed to possess before.

All those working for her were occupied setting up decorations, sounds equipment, or tables for gifts and treats as she guided the bodyguard of her friend from the bakery in how to carry the massive cake and where to place it. When he finished and was heading out she offered him a small package from the bakery when she thanked him for all his help. Then she was off setting up for her friend's arrival.

It was odd for Bruce to realize he was feeling proud watching her. Then he had to pull himself back when he realized he was watching her. Actually it was Tim who pulled him away so he wouldn't be noticed watching a teenage girl he had never really met. They headed back to the rooms they rented. They both entered Tim's room where his computer was still working on finding information on the couple and their daughter.

---

Marinette was feeling very antsy. She had set up the perfect surprise party with Marlene Cesaire for Alya's 16th birthday. Mostly successful because it wasn't a surprise. Alya was dropping off the twins with her mother at the end of Marlene's shift in the hotel kitchen before she headed to Marinette's house for a small party in the bakery and a sleepover.

Alya had no idea how big her party was going to be. Since the hotel wasn't full and the ballroom hadn't been booked, the mayor allowed his chef to book two rooms and the ballroom and just pay for the staff to clean it rather than the typical rate. He was even allowing the teenagers to stay unaccompanied so long as they didn't destroy the room or disturb other guests (too much).

Marinette had made her a special dress with a matching hero mask and told everyone to dress as a hero or wear a mask. Kitty Section would be playing for a bit and they had a bunch of party games and songs to dance or sing to so Alya could choose the activities. Most of the people coming would be staying in one of the 2 connected hotel rooms so that party could go really late.

She got Nathanael and Marc to sit nearby and watch to warn her when Alya was close. They weren't super close to Alya so it wouldn't raise suspicion if she saw them, she would probably just stop to greet them but let them keep working. That would give them the perfect opportunity to call ahead to make sure everything was ready for her arrival.

Marinette was already regretting inviting Lila. She was not only actively not helping but she was getting in the way of everyone who was helping. She had to explain how it would have been better if the tables had been moved or if the color scheme was different. She thought hotel parties were tacky and the way her last party was was so much better because she only included her closest celebrity friends. But also the party was actually her idea and she was letting Marinette help out and take the credit so she wouldn't feel left out.

---

"I think I found something." Tim said.

Bruce walked over to look at the screen. Tim showed him Sabine's medical records from 16-18 years ago. She and Tom had been seen by a fertility specialist originally almost 18 years ago. A series of appointments after that escalated to several visits at a facility that specialized in in vitro fertilization. As far as they could tell the couple had set it up to have a genetic child but with assistance but the company had logged 2 security issues during the same month they visited. The company kept it quiet because they could find nothing out of place after the breech. One new employee worked there during that time for only 2 months: Nyssa Raatko.

"I don't know what to do'" Bruce paused. "Tell them. I definitely need to tell them."

Bruce has mostly been talking to himself while Tim was in the other room distracted. Tim heard the door latch closed after Bruce left and he had to think about what he had heard while he wasn't paying attention in order to put together why Bruce had left.

"Oh, that is a terrible idea," he said. He worked on getting his key, wallet and phone into his pockets while he slipped his shoes back on. He followed after Bruce planning to catch up with him. He walked a block in the wrong direction before he realized his mistake and back tracked to get back to the patisserie.

---

"Okay, I got the call. Alya will be here in about 1 minute. Places everyone." Marinette called out.

Everyone waited and suddenly the ballroom doors burst open. Etta and Ella had been very excited to be told it was their one chance to run away from Alya and into the ballroom. They usually were scolded for going in there. It was of limits because it might be used for an event and no one wanted them to mess things up.

Alya chased them into the room and shrieked when everyone jumped out and yelled:

"Surprise!"

"Oh, this looks awesome. How did you do all this? There is no way we can afford this." Alya said.

"Honestly, Marinette did most of it." Marlene said. "She cleared it with me and Mayor Bourgeois. I think she had a back up plan but the ballroom and the 2 guest rooms are yours because they didn't sell. He let me just pay the cost for the hotel so long as nothing is destroyed and you don't run off guests."

"Girl, this is amazing!"

"I brought you a dress to wear. I told everyone it was hero classy so there is a mask to match."

Alya pulled her into a hug and then dragged her off to change into the new dress.

---

"Welcome back. We are closed but we will still offer anything we still have available." Tom said.

"I enjoyed what I had here, but that isn't why I came. I need to talk to you about your daughter." Bruce said.

"Marinette? What happened? Is she okay?" Sabine's mind went to all the things that could have gone wrong in the last hour as she looked around for her phone.

"Nothing has happened to her, but she recently sent off for DNA and ancestry results to a company I own."

"We don't know anything about that. Was she supposed to get a parent signature because of her age?" Sabine asked.

"No. It was flagged because her DNA is a match to mine. Also a full match to my biological son. She shares the same mother as him."

The room was silent for several beats before both of them denied that what he said could be possible. He let them continue for a moment before sharing what he had learned. He explained that his genetic material had been stolen by Damian's mother and from there he believed it had been stolen by her sister for an unknown purpose. He told them he found a record of her working at the fertility clinic they had used and the company had noted a couple security breeches during that time. He continued by suggesting she had probably chosen them based on a similar ethnic makeup to himself and the mother.

They listened with increasing agitation. The man before then appeared to be very well off and he mentioned that he owned the company as more of an afterthought. They suspected he had quite a bit more money than them and he said he had custody of the other child he mentioned. They shared a look and thought they might be having the same thought that this man intended to take their child away from them. They weren't sure who legally had the right to a child in such cases. But they had heard of custody issues with couples who needed to use donors during in vitro fertilization. They had been relieved that they were able to get pregnant without using a donor. They all turned as the door opened and Marinette burst in obviously angry.

"Hold me back from that little Italian witch. I am going to rip her weird pseudo pig tails off her head and thrash her with them. Then I'll cram them down her throat so she can never lie again."

All eyes turned to Marinette as she came into the room. Based on her appearance she was probably heading up to her bedroom to change her dress. The bodice of her dress was smeared with icing after Lila 'accidentally' tripped into Marinette. Marinette then accidentally dropped her so she fell but that didn't save her dress.

Marinette looked at her parents as she felt the tension in the room. Her parents had moved to place themselves between her and the stranger in their living room. Marinette looked around but no one spoke. She didn't know how to read the unusual look on the man's face but her parents looked like something between scared and angry.

"Is something wrong?" Marinette asked.

"I was just heading out," the man said. He reached a hand out, smiling. "I'm Bruce."

"Marinette," she responded while shaking his hand. She looked back at her parents and now she couldn't tell what their expressions meant as Bruce walked out.

#maribat #bio dad bruce wayne #biodad au #boldlyanxious

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motherjoel · 4 years

Text

in case (spencer reid x reader)

summary: you and spencer are each others forever, and spencer vowed to make this christmas your best yet.

a/n: the yard sale scene is based off of that moment in the office between michael and holly lol, i just thought it was so cute. also i am just so excited for christmas even though its months away so im sorry in advance. let me know what yall think!

wc: 3.1k

The LaMontagne-Jareau household was having their annual yard sale and as they do every year, they invited the team to sell anything they didn’t want anymore. You and Spencer had just moved in together a few weeks ago after dating for a year and you definitely had some things that you could get rid of, so you jumped at the opportunity to clean house. As you were packing some of your knick knacks into boxes, you noticed your boyfriend sitting in front of your shared bookshelf, closely examining its contents and placing the books into two piles. His brow furrowed when he placed another book into the smaller of the two stacks. You set down the lamp you were holding and walked over to a frustrated Spencer.

“You know Spence, you really don’t have to get rid of any of your books. I promise, I don’t need the shelf space,” you chuckled before examining the piles.

“I know, I just feel bad that you can't put any of your books up there. Besides, I’ve read everything anyway,” he said with a frustrated sigh. You patted him on the back before sorting through his “sell” pile. Picking up one of the hardcover books, you noticed it was one of your favorites.

“‘The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe’? You were getting rid of this?” you asked in slight shock.

“Oops, wrong pile,” he remarked, softly taking the book from your hands. “You remember the first time we read this together?” he asked, flipping his fingers through the pages.

“Um, of course. Last year, before we were an item,” you recalled. “I was at your apartment and we ordered a pizza and opened a bottle of wine, which you proceeded to spill all over me,” you laughed, Spencer blushing profusely at the memory.

“And you were wearing white…” he trailed off.

“And I was wearing white. I know you have an eidetic memory but this must be the dirty side of it because I know full well you saw my bra through that shirt,” you nudged him teasingly.

“Hey, why do you think I asked you out in the first place?” he jokingly asked. You nudged him again and laughed.

“So I changed into your ‘I Heart Vegas’ t-shirt and your FBI sweats and made you read to me as an apology,” you smiled, recalling the memory that you held near and dear.

“And you’ve never looked better,” he laughed, pecking your lips.

You set the books down and left him to his sorting, returning to your own work. Once the two of you were ready to go, you hauled the few boxes into your car and made the drive to JJ’s.

“My favorite lovebirds are here!” Penelope shouted, standing up from her seat on the lawn next to Morgan and making her way over to you and Spence. You gave her a quick hug.

“Hey Pen! I’m surprised to see you here, I know you’re pretty sentimental when it comes to your things,” you asked as she began to help you carry your things onto the lawn.

“Yeah, I’ve had firsthand experience with that when I accidentally knocked over her llama mug. The thing shattered and she refused to call me ‘chocolate thunder’ for days” Derek chimed in, standing to help you with the boxes.

“Okay, in my defense, I like to keep my sacred things sacred. I didn’t want my poor llama to face such violence!” she yelled, and you all laughed. “But you’re right, I’m just here to count the money,” she confessed, and you nodded.

You all chatted about your days as you unpacked your boxes, the rest of the team showing up in the meantime. As you unpacked, you came across your old neon sign that said “boss bitch,” and you couldn’t help but laugh, drawing the attention of your friends.

“Damn Y/N, I never pegged you as someone who’d have a sign like that,” Emily said, walking over to get a closer look.

“How come I’ve never seen that?” Spencer asked, observing the cheesy light.

“Gosh, i’ve had that since college. I found it in the back of my closet today and I don’t really have much of a use for it. I do love it though,” you remarked. Emily left you and Spencer alone after being distracted by Henry.

“You know, if you really like it, you can keep it. If there's a problem with the neon, I can take a look at it,” Spencer said, taking the sign from you.

“Oh no, it's not that. I guess it's just more meant for a ‘bachelorette’ pad,” you said.

“Oh okay. You can save it if you want, just in case,” he said softly. This got your attention as you looked up to him.

“In case? I don’t have an ‘in case’. Do you have an in case?” you asked, wondering if your boyfriend had any doubts about your move in.

“No, I don’t,” he said, as if he was just realizing how real the two of you were. He leaned down and your lips met his. You pulled away from him and continued setting up your table, a smile on your face the entire time.

A couple months had passed since the yard sale and you were absolutely loving the little life you had with Spencer. And as the weather got colder, it was nice to have someone to snuggle next to during the winter. Christmas was coming up and you couldn’t wait for Christmas Eve at the Rossi household. Dave had decided that this year, he would start a tradition for the team, a “night of the seven fishes,” and of course his famous Rossi pasta. Everyone was able to go- this was why you loved this team. You were all “misfits,” especially with your home life- these people had become your family and you theirs, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

You went Christmas shopping every day leading up to the fateful Rossi dinner. One of those days, Spencer came with you and the two of you had finished up pretty late- it was already dark out. Spencer offered to drive home, which was a little out of character, but you were too tired from your day that you didn’t question it. You noticed he was taking a different route then normal, however, so you decided to interject.

“My love, you’re going like the complete opposite direction of home,” you giggled.

“I know, I just thought we’d take a detour to look at the lights,” he said nervously. You just shrugged and went with it.

You turned up the radio when you heard your favorite Christmas song start to play. Spencer began to sing along quietly, and you looked at him surprised- he never sang in front of you. He glanced at you and laughed, before continuing his serenade. You decided to join in, belting out the lyrics to Maria Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You,” turning to Spencer and singing to him on the “you” parts, earning a chuckle.

After you had been driving for a bit, he stopped the car and stepped out. You didn’t recognize your surroundings, but it looked like you were in a park. It was decorated beautifully with countless Christmas lights and ornaments hanging from trees. It truly took your breath away. Before you knew it, Spencer was opening your door and offering his hand. You took it and stepped out, still in awe of your surroundings. While you were looking around, Spencer reached inside the car and cranked the radio up, just as Frank Sinatra’s “White Christmas” began to play. He walked in front of you and bowed his head, extending his hand.

“May I have this dance?” he asked, feigning chivalry. You couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of the man in front of you, bundled in a jacket and a scarf, nose slightly red from the cold air.

“Of course, good sir,” you said with a terrible curtsy. Taking his hand, the two of you began to slow dance in the middle of the empty parking lot, snowflakes slowly falling down.

“You’re amazing,” you told him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“You missed,” he said, before leaning back down and giving you a firm kiss on the lips. You laughed into the kiss, wondering how you scored such an incredible boyfriend. You switched positions to get closer to him, your arms wrapped around his neck and his arms around your waist. You rested your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. The two of you continued to sway as the song changed to “Last Christmas” by Wham! You looked up at him again, missing his face.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love this and I love you for this, but why are we doing this?” you asked, not wanting to ruin the moment.

“I don’t know, actually. I had the thought when we were at the mall, that I just wanted to make this your best Christmas yet. And I know you love those cheesy Hallmark movies, so I figured this was the closest way to bring one of them to life for you,” he laughed and your heart melted.

“Well, my previous statement still stands. You are amazing, Spencer Reid,” you told him, leaning in for another kiss. The two of you swayed for a few songs longer until you both decided that not even you could keep each other warm. The drive back to your shared apartment was pleasant as you closed your eyes, letting the Christmas music and the warm feeling of Spencer's hand on your thigh lull you to sleep.

“Babe can you zip me up?” you asked, putting in your earrings. Spencer adjusted his tie to his satisfaction and made his way over to you in front of the full body mirror to help you with your dress.

It was Christmas Eve and the two of you were getting dressed for the big night at the Rossi house. Spencer seemed a bit more nervous than usual, but you just chalked it up to his occasional social anxiety. Once he finished zipping you up he wrapped his arms around your midsection, kissing you on the cheek. The two of you stood, looking at your reflections, for a few moments. Spencer looked as handsome as ever in his nice sweater, and you were a show stopper in your dark red velvet mini dress. It was moments like these when you stopped to think about how lucky you are to have met him- he was your future and you were his. If only he would put a ring on it.

You pulled yourself from your loving daze and finished getting ready- Spencer was already finished so he was attached at your hip as you pulled on your heels and made some finishing touches to your makeup.

“Ready to go?” he asked, seemingly antsy to get on the road. You giggled at his eagerness and nodded, grabbing your purse and heading out to the car.

On the drive there, you once again cranked up the Christmas music and serenaded him to All I Want For Christmas is You, which was quite a frequent play on the radio. You didn’t mind, however, because it was always a way to get him to blush. Mariah Carey had that effect on people. Before you knew it, you pulled up to the Rossi mansion. Most of the team must have been there already, as it was bustling with life and Christmas joy. The front of the house was completely decked out with lights and decorations- Dave spared no expense when it came to holiday decorating. The two of you made your way up to the door, presents in hand. Garcia was on the other end of the door, apparently a few eggnogs in.

“Oh my gosh, you guys are adorable!” she shouted. You and Spencer shared a knowing look. “Everyone, the lovebirds are here! And looking like the hottest couple since Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively,” she gasped, taking in your dress and feeling the velvet. The confused look on Spencer’s face told you all you needed to know about his knowledge of pop culture, which was none.

Garcia ushered the two of you inside to the living room area, where the rest of the team was settled. Everyone stood up for hugs and assisted you with carrying all of your presents to the tree, which was one of the biggest Christmas trees you had ever seen. You greeted Jack and Henry, who were playing with some toy cars under the tree. You made you way back to the team, and you noticed Spencer talking quietly to Derek and JJ- you decided to let them be and you made your way to the kitchen island to talk to Rossi as he cooked.

“Wow, everything looks so great!” you commented, observing the wide array of food along the table.

“It better, I’ve been busting my ass for hours just so you kids could have a nice meal,” Rossi said, stirring one of the pots on the stove. You laughed at his fatherly comments as Emiy took the seat next to you.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just worried he might be on the naughty list,” Prentiss joked, finishing off her glass of wine and grabbing another bottle.

“Hey, just because I’ve gotten a few divorces doesn’t mean i'm not a good man,” he said, pointing a jokingly accusatory finger towards Prentiss. She lifted her hands in defense and laughed.

“I hear that,” said Derek, who had suddenly appeared in the kitchen. Spencer made his way to the chair on your other side, taking a seat. He nervously fidgeted for a bit, but when you rested a comforting hand on his thigh, his nerves seemed to calm. Soon after you poured yourself a glass of wine, Rossi announced that dinner was served. With a cheer, everyone made their way to the long table, Rossi and Hotch on both ends. You sat between Spencer and Emily, waiting to serve yourself. Once everyone was settled, Rossi stood holding his glass of wine.

“I would like to take a moment to thank you all for coming tonight. There are friends, and there is family. And, there are friends that become family. You are all my family, and I wouldn't want to spend my night of the seven fishes with anyone else. Dig in,” he toasted, and was greeted with a few “salut’s” and pats on the back. With that, you all began to serve yourselves and fill your plates and wine glasses.

Once everyone was full from the delicious dinner spread, you all retired to the living room. Christmas music was playing through Rossi’s amazing sound system, and you were resting your sleepy head on Spencer's shoulder, his arm around you. It had been a perfect night, and you didn’t want it to end. As you were listening to JJ tell a story about Henry’s first Christmas, the song changed to “White Christmas” by Frank Sinatra, and you were flooded with the memory of you and Spencer dancing in the parking lot. You lifted your head from his chest and looked to see he was thinking the same thing.

“It’s our song,” you whispered with a sleepy smile. Spencer nodded and gave you a quick kiss before looking at Derek, who was mouthing “do it now!” As if it were perfect timing, JJ just finished her story and Spencer stood up, gathering the attention from the room.

“Uh, if I could have everyone's attention, please,” he started, nervously clearing his throat. You looked up at him with stars in your eyes, and he returned it. “As many of you know, Y/N and I have been dating for awhile now, and we’ve been living together for a few months,” he began. You looked around the room and made eye contact with Derek, who shot you a wink. You returned focus to your nervous boyfriend, encouraging him with your eyes.

“Living with her has made me realize that I don’t need an ‘in case.’ I normally always have a backup plan for when things go wrong, well, as an FBI agent that comes in handy,” he chuckled nervously. “But with Y/N, I never thought to make a backup plan. I’ve just known that she is my forever,” he turned to you. “Y/N, you are my forever, and I want to make it official- I want the world to know that you mean everything to me,” he shakily got onto one knee, earning a gasp from Garcia and a few tears from JJ. From his sweater pocket, he pulled out a tiny velvet box and opened it. You stood up, hands covering your mouth and tears welling in your eyes.

“Y/N, will you marry me?” he asked, a hopeful glint in his eyes. You were in shock. You almost forgot to answer until you heard a cough from Prentiss.

“Yes, Spence! Yes yes of course!” you shouted, putting the ring on and he stood up as you jumped into his arms, wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist. You barely registered, the whooping cheers from the rest of the team, as everyone embraced each other. Tears were shed by most of them (Hotch tried his best to hold back).

After a minute of spinning, Spencer let you down and you observed the ring. It was one of the most beautiful things you had ever seen.

“I helped pick it out,” JJ told you and you pulled her into a hug and thanked her before embracing Spencer once again, a happy blush across his cheeks.

“Hey, look!” Garcia said, pointing above you and Spencer's heads. Looking up, you saw the mistletoe she was pointing at.

“Did you know that the white berries on mistletoe are actually toxic to humans?” Spencer asked, receiving a few head shakes. You looked up at him in awe, always adoring his facts.

“Come here,” you said, pulling him down by his tie and giving him a passionate (but tasteful) kiss that was greeted with a chorus of “aww’s” and a few “ewwww’s” from Jack and Henry. You both laughed and continued to mingle with the team, showing off your rock. Spencer had made it a Christmas to remember, and you were so eternally grateful to have someone who loved you as much as you loved him.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid/reader #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds reid #Matthew Gray Gubler #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x you #spencer reid/you #penelope garcia #aaron hotchner #hotch #derek morgan #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #david rossi

475 notes · View notes

americancowgirl19 · 3 years

Text

Gladiatrix

Summary: Bucky finds an old ally in his time of need

Warnings: Violence, fluff, angst

Reader: Female Mutant Reader

Pairings: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 2,293

A/n:

Masterlist

You hum your favorite song while dancing in the kitchen making yourself some lunch. Your dog lays by the floor while your cat sits on the counter hoping for some food. You’re just about to give into your cats pleading eyes when your dog suddenly jumps up. You turn towards him and observe his tense figure.

“What’s up, boy?” You question, walking over to the screen door leaving your sandwich vulnerable to your cat. You don’t see anything but after being around for as long as you have you can sense what’s making your dog on edge.

Reaching to the side, you hand wraps around the hilt of your short, double edged sword. Keeping your eyes trained on the tree line, you slide your arm into the leather straps of your scutum shield.

“Stay,” You order your black Molosser. He huffs obviously annoyed but listens to your order.

You slowly approach the tree line. Your trained eyes see nothing out of the ordinary but your gut tells you otherwise. You take a few steps into the woods when a bullet is fired from a gun and finds a home in the back of your shoulder. You groan stumbling a step or two forward.

Your anger begins to raise as you turn towards the shooter. In less than a minute the bullet pops out of your body and your skin reconnects. The shooter lowers his weapon a smidge taken back by the fact that your not showing more signs of pain.

A sly smirk comes to your lips as you launch your Gladius sword through the air. He drops to the ground, your sword sticking up from his forehead. You sense someone behind you and quickly turn. Your body hides behind the shield as more gunshots are fired. You back up to your sword and rip it from the corpse.

Running towards your opponent, using your shield to cover you, you switch from defense to offence. You move the shield to the side and slide his neck open. Another man comes up behind you. You swing your shield around and knock him off his feet. You sword comes down on his neck.

You quickly hide behind the shield once more as another man shoots at you. The bullets bounce off of your shield. When you’re close enough your sword decapitate’s his head.

Once his body falls to the ground, the woods become silent once again. You scan the area around you, especially the trees. No one seems to be around but you whistle for your dog who is almost instantly by your side.

“Search,” You command. He bounces from one body to another and searches for anybody else. While he searches you inspect the closest dead body. All of them are wearing tactical armor with a familiar sigil.

Your snapped out of your thoughts by the deep barking of your dog. You’re quick to jog over to his side. What you see surprises you.

“Bucky?” You whisper. You kneel in front of his unconscious form. He looks different from the 1940′s but you know it’s him. You quickly assess his injuries and know he needs medical attention. “Carry,” You had the sword to your dog, who takes it carefully in his mouth.

Slinging Bucky’s arm over your shoulder, you haul him up. His feet drag along the ground as you take him into your home. Once he’s inside you’re sure to lock down the house, not wanting any intruders to try something stupid.

You take off his vest and shirt. You instantly notice the metal arm and the wounds on his sides. You address everything he needs fixed before cleaning up.

“What has life done to you?” You whisper to yourself. You keep watch as he sleeps. You don’t sense anybody else coming but you know that Hydra doesn’t just give up.

Bucky doesn’t wake up until late at night. It’s near midnight when he groans waking up. You grab him some water and lift his head up. He tiredly sips before pulling away.

It takes a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Eventually, his eyes settle on you.

“Where am I?” He whispers.

“Middle of nowhere, West Virginia,” You tell him.

“What happened?”

“Well, you were bleeding out about half a mile from here. Surrounded by Hydra soldiers,” He instantly tenses. “They’re taken care of,” You assure him.

“More will come,”

“Then we’ll take care of them,” You say, shrugging. “We’ll keep cutting off all their heads till no more wanna grow back,”

Bucky’s quiet for a couple moments.

“Do you know who I am?” You ask, curious if he remembers you.

“Y/n Y/l/n,” He states.

“You know my name... but do you know me?” You question. “We knew each other back in the day, World War Two,” You explain. “I aided you and your Howling Commando’s more than once. More recently I’ve been aiding your pal, Steve,”

“Is he here?”

“No, not entirely sure where he is at the moment,” You answer, curious as to why he seemed to relax at that thought. “Well, you have a couple broken ribs, some nasty bruises on your arm and some deep cuts. I suggest you hang out here until you can get up and moving again,”

“I’ll just put you in danger the longer I stay,” Bucky shakes his head, attempting to sit up. You press a firm hand on his shoulder.

“At this point, danger’s my middle name,” You smirk. Bucky frowns his eyebrows. “You really don’t remember much, do you?” Bucky looks away from you. “I’ve been around for a long time, trouble is going to find me whether you’re here or not,” You explain. “Get some rest. When you’re hungry, I’m in the kitchen,”

You didn’t see Bucky until well into the afternoon the next day. He doesn’t say much but you feed him and give him space.

“You said you knew me in the war... Shouldn’t you be a little older?” Bucky asks after staying with you for about a week.

“I was wondering when you’d ask,” You smirk, sitting across from him in the kitchen. “Do you know what a mutant is?” Bucky nods. “Well, that’s what I am. Immortality, a little bit of extra strength, and a kick ass healing system,”

“How long have you been around?” Bucky asks.

“Ancient Rome,” You tell him. “I was born about 50 years before Christ. I was one of the few Gladiator women. I was a high born that was sick of the politics and the parties and being told how I should live my life the proper way,”

“So, you become a Gladiator?” Bucky arches an eyebrow. You smirk.

“What better way to say ‘screw you’ to your parents than becoming a Gladiator?” Bucky smiles just a bit. “Got good quick, got famous even quicker. Next thing I know I’m not aging. I’m been in just about every war you can think of and in move trouble than you can fathom,”

“What do you do now?”

“Fight,” You shrug. “Don’t have much else. Fighting, war, it’s all I am,” You tell him softly. “It’s the only thing I’m good at, the only thing I’m useful for,” A slightly tense silence falls between the two of you. “What about you? It’s been a while since I last saw you,”

Bucky doesn’t open up right away but he gives you a short summary. Throughout his stay, he opens up more about you as he begins to trust you more. The longer he stays with you, the longer you’re able to jog his memory about the past. It’s obvious he’s experienced horrors since you last saw him.

If there’s one thing you know, it’s how the horrors of the past can haunt you. Even after all these years you’re not an expect in managing them but you try. Being a light sleeper means you wake up every time Bucky does. You’re in his room the instant you hear the screams.

You either help coax him back to sleep or you help him stay awake. You never pressure him to tell you, you go at his pace. More often than not, he refuses to go back to sleep. So, you help him take his frustrations and fear out during sparing matches.

While you have a little bit more strength than a human, thanks to your mutation, Bucky is stronger through the serum. However, after fighting wars for the last 2,000 years, you’re more experienced and have a few more tricks up his sleeve to make the matches interesting.

After being with you for 6 months, spending the night in Bucky’s room becomes the new normal. Neither of you particularly like being alone, Bucky especially. Since you’ve practically moved into the same room, the both of you sleep better.

However, nothing good last forever, and eventually Hydra finds Bucky. The two of your work together to eliminate the threat but at the cost of your home. Knowing you need to get moving, you pack up whatever you can and move on. (Your dog and cat in tow)

By some miracle you convince Bucky to go to Steve. It only took you three month’s on the run to convince him. He was obviously nervous but you refused to leave his side.

Steve was shocked to see not only Bucky but you as well. You explain everything to Steve as Bruce looks over Bucky. Moving in with the Avenger’s wasn’t easy but you both slowly eased into the transition.

You stay by Bucky’s side the entire time. It takes him almost 6 months to slowly become unglued to your side. Once you notice him becoming more comfortable around the other’s you begin to wonder how much longer you’ll stick around.

Fighting on a team isn’t exactly your forte. You could work with a team but you knew you were better on your own. However, you just couldn’t bring yourself to leave Bucky, not until you were positive he didn’t need you anymore.

About a year after you and Bucky come to the Avenger’s, you decide it’s finally time for you to move on. Bucky’s set a routine with the group and you can’t help but to feel extremely out of place.

“Going somewhere?” You glance up and see Natasha standing in the doorway with your cat in her arms. You smirk at the sight before looking back at your packing.

“Somewhere,” You shrug a bit. “Not sure where,”

“Why leave?” Natasha asks.

“Just have too,” You tell her. “I’m not a spy, I’m not an agent, I’m a warrior with no war,” You say. “So, I’m gonna move on until I find somewhere that can use my expertise,”

“You know, the Avenger’s do more than just spy,” Natasha says.

“This place... It isn’t more me, Nat,” You tell her. “I’m going crazy here, I gotta keep moving,”

“Have you told, Barnes?” She asks. You face falls a bit. “He’s not gonna want you to leave,”

“He’s going to be fine,” You tell her. “He’s found his place here, he’s found a family here, he’s home,”

“Are we not your family?” Natasha questions, sitting on the bed.

“I haven’t had a family since I was a little girl and even then I was out of place,” You tell her. “I’m starting to think there isn’t a place on this world for me,”

“Then go off world,” Natasha says. You arch an eyebrow. “Talk to Thor. He fights off world more than he does here. He loves listening to your stories and sparing with you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind having you tag along with him,” You contemplate it. “And on your off time you can come here and see your boyfriend,” Natasha smirks.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” You defend.

“I didn’t say a name,” Natasha winks. “You should talk to Buck and then talk to Thor. We don’t want to lose you, you are family,” You offer a small smile and watch her leave the room, stealing your cat in the process.

“What do you think?” You sigh, glancing at your dog. He simply looks at you and huffs. “That’s what I’m saying,”

You take Natasha’s advice and talk to Thor. You barely finished your question before he was agreeing. He had expressed his want to bring you along knowing you were a fierce warrior.

“So, you’re gonna skip out of here?” Sighing, you slowly turn to Bucky.

“I’m not needed here anymore,” You tell him. “At least with Thor I’ll be of use,” Bucky smiles a bit.

“You still think you’re only good for fighting?” Bucky asks. You shrug a bit. “When are you going to learn your worth more?”

“When are you?” You shoot back. Bucky smiles, stepping closer.

“You are needed, I need you here,” Bucky tells you.

“You’re doing just fine, Buck,” You tell him. “You’re getting better, you’re with Steve, you’re home,”

“I’m home because you’re here,” He tells you. “I’ve only been able to get to this part because of you,”

“And not you’re going to have to continue without me,”

“I don’t want too,” Bucky shakes his head.

“You’re going to have too,” You snip, walking around him. When you pass him, he grabs your arm and turns you to him. Before you can blink, his lips are pressed against yours.

“I don’t want too,” He whispers, to you. “I need you here, with me. We can make this work, just give it a chance,” He mutters, gently caressing the side of your face.

“I’m not good at this, Buck,” You tell him. “I’m only good at-”

“I know,” He nods. “But an old dog can learn some new tricks,” He shrugs. “Stay with me... Please,”

#bucky #james barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x female!reader #winter soldier #x female!reader #x fem!reader #avengers #gladiator #mutant #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #thor odinson #thor #captain america #hydra

207 notes · View notes

moonflms · 3 years

Text

➷｡˚wishes —nct/superm mark lee

requested by anon! note, use of media (twice only dw)

next request: jaehyun

PROLOGUE ༄ — mark takes you out on a friendly date to watch the total lunar eclipse by the park! but oh how we wished the date was real.

PAIRING ༄ - non-idol! mark x fem! reader

GENREs ༄ - fluff, semi-onesided love, stars, eclipse, moongazing, under the night sky, semi-socmed, ed sheeran

W. COUNT ༄ - around 1.5k+

NETWORKS༄ - @multifandomnet

TAGS ༄ - @cupfullofjeno (maddie imy :( ) @jungwon-luv-bot-pt3 (if you wanna be tagged in my stories then feel free to reach out to me ! <3)

➷｡min's letter ༄ - i honestly feel like this one sucked bc i honestly didn't know how to write a cute prompt anon sent kdfhjkdf

do not repost. copyright belongs to @moonflms 2021. reblogs and likes are deeply appreciated! originally posted on my wattpad (@johnsparrot) . enjoy reading!

masterlist

"i get it that you're into astronomy and the likes but mark, it's past six." you reasoned out from the front seat as you talk to your best friend who was by the trunk arranging whatever he packed. "first, i'm not that deep into the study unlike professionals and astrophiles but you already agreed so shut up!" mark looks at you from the back as he smiles at you who was slightly annoyed.

"a pillow or moomin?" mark walked to your side, barricading you to your seat as he slightly leans towards you, a hand on the door keeping the car wide open as the other rested near the headrest. "moomin please" you pushed mark slightly away as you watched him dash into the house for the soft plushie. you chuckled at how he treats you like a kid— what he always does when you're having those rough weeks. you watched him lock the house and come back with the white plush in hand.

he gets settled in the driver's seat as he starts buckles up, royally handing the toy over to you "one moomin m'lady" he slightly bows down while handing it over, another episode of him being goofy. you played along and smiled before mark fully started the drive towards the park.

the drive was not silent as mark kept the atmosphere busy with a few of ed sheeran's songs playing through his stereo. with the songs playing mark felt vague; he felt butterflies yet he felt his chest gradually getting heavier. photograph, thinking out loud and eventually to happier. playing those songs he realized, no, he knew very well that they had something in common.

that they all reminded him of you.

his gallery and even actual photographs always had you beside him, complete attendance from his adorable childhood to his questionable high school era. thinking out loud because he sees you much more as his confidant, his best friend. all the 'i love you's he showered you with from time to time meant much more than how you saught it as. he feels at peace by seeing you smile and his heart never fails to flutter when he feels your head cozied up by his chest.

and to happier as he knows that you were least likely to become his. he hesitated to confess despite all his others friends convinced you felt the same way. he wouldn't want to go through the pain of rejection and turn the years of friendship all awkward of a sudden.

it has been going on for a great while and the only thing mark could do was to show signs without making it obvious, like how he queued the songs in that order.

you had a rough week and it only seems to get rougher. what hurt you hurt mark as well, so he always goes berserk just to make you lighten up from your burdening feelings.

you and mark always had a bucket list of stuff you both wanted to do. and mark felt it was a perfect time to cross one out; a date under the night sky.

a friendly date despite how mark wanted it to be an actual one.

mark felt lucky knowing that same night had a lunar eclipse (and surprisingly a super moon) was supposed to show and he just had to seize the opportunity. he made sure to bring binoculars, comfy blankets to rest on and of course, the requested moomin plush renjun gifted him for christmas.

the park was nearby and mark felt giddy. focused on humming and driving mark overheard a few shutters and felt the gut feeling of a camera pointing at him. "i better look hot in those" he joked as he glanced at you through the mirror. "i was taking pictures of the cherry blossom, dumbass" you chuckled as you proceeded to snap a few pictures of mark. you then moved over to your instagram to spam about the sudden trip. "one last, look" you scooted closer to mark's side to take a pic with him, just before the traffic light switched to green. both of you looking sweet, you smiled to yourself.

you were finally settling down on the blanket sprawled over the grass, the view of the waters from the distance and the moon above continuing its eclipse. mark who was sitting up, set aside the binoculars, and laid beside you. he turned to his side as he watched you. "so, a check on the bucket list?" mark smiled hoping you'd say yes.

"well, my best friend is much better than other than an invisible boyfriend." mark smiled through the stinging pain. 'yeah, best friend' he thought to himself.

"don't you get tired of being by my side?" you looked up to the sky, feeling a bit doubtful.

"and why would you think so?"

"it's more or less two decades of us constantly by each other's side. and the things you'd do just to get me out of my—"

"y/n, if you're hurt, i get hurt too. i'm always here for you, no matter how stupid and annoying you could be at times. if i went through my whole life with you by my side, why would i suddenly stray away?" mark softly patted your cheek, drying off the few tears that rolled down. you came closer to mark and hugged him, nuzzling by his chest and scent. "and you know how much i love you right?" you nodded as you continued to nest under him.

mark would've been jumping in joy. but tracing back a few words, there he reminded himself of the word 'best friend'.

mark hugged you back as he secretly logged into his instagram as well, he distracted himself by viewing a few of the stories. your story came in after a few taps and there showed a picture of him driving, captioned with a black heart. "sure, keep on hoping minhyung." he thought to himself once again.

he finally decided to create his own with the picture he secretly took of you earlier. he thought of the caption for a while until he ended up with "wished you we're mine." he posts storied like these on the daily, he just made sure to set it into the close friends setting to avoid you from seeing it. he quickly tapped the post option as he felt you move and sat up.

"look! it's red!" you pointed at the moon, smiling as you were amazed by the phenomenon. you pulled mark up from his position and continued to look at the dark sky. it indeed was beautiful. mark inserted his phone back into his pocket as he cupped your shoulder, watching you admire the heavenly bodies above.

feeling done, you glanced at mark who was still looking up. you watched your best friend enjoy his own time as you felt a small vibrate off your phone. you quickly checked the notification as it came from... mark?

" [y/nmais_vu] : @onyourm__mark posted a new story ! "

checking it, you wondered when mark was able to snap a quick photo of you, but you wondered more about the caption. you felt your heartbeats go rapid and your stomach starts to churn. "y/n?" mark called as you quickly locked your phone. "you alright?"

"yeah... nothing much, just story notifs." you smiled and sat closer to mark. he hums as he proceeds to wrap his free arm around your shoulders, continuing to watch over the distance. "did you make a wish?" you asked mark who was finally looking back at you with an unsure expression. "we're supposed to wish! go on, " you nudged mark as he spaced out for a moment, staring at a star. "starlight, star bright, the first star i see tonight!" you both burst into laughs "what are we? pre-school?" mark smiled as he continued to stay silent.

"you made me wish on a star now tell me what you asked for," mark turns facing you. you stayed silent for a while as you looked up to the ending eclipse above. "i actually had two wishes" you pulled out a few blades of grass, avoiding his eyes. "first, was for your wish to come true," you fully faced mark as you took the plush into your hands, fiddling with it.

"second, ... i also wished for you to be mine" you smiled at mark whose face was indecipherable. "wait, what?" you noticed how his cheeks were lightly brushed with blush. "it was your notif, mark."

right there, mark realized that he failed to upload the story to the selected option. "i... well, you did suddenly moved and made me panic." mark chuckled as he continues to study your eyes that were glistening under the soft lights of the surroundings. "your turn. what did you wish for?"

mark came closer to you as he tucks some hair behind your ear, "it just came true." he whispered as he quickly diverted his vision towards the tree nearby. you softly held mark's chin as you got him to face you, your body suddenly heating up inside the white crewneck sweatshirt you were wearing. you both felt euphoric as the sudden confession still felt unreal. you both felt rewarded after keeping in the hopes and feelings for one another.

unconsciously, you both started to close in while the background started to seem blurry, and the only things that were clear to your visions were each other. "can i?" granting him permission mark closed the gap in between both of you, feeling his own soft set above yours. you returned the favor as you cautiously mimicked what mark did, creating a slow rhythm for the both of you.

lasting a good few seconds, you both broke away with heated cheeks and pleased hearts. mark pulled you closer as he now has you in between in him, hugging you from behind. he laid you back into his chest and placed one more kiss, smiling afterward. you locked your phone once again after posting another story. (check below) you both were glad that the wishes of becoming each other's pair were finally granted. mark continued to sway you in his arm, looking up at the succeeding eclipse. "hey y/n,"

"the moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

———

(for those who doesn't know it actually means 'i love you' !)

62 notes · View notes

scuttling · 3 years

Text

Vacation (All I Ever Wanted)

Fandom: Criminal Minds Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Latina OFC Sophie Cortes Word Count: 11,425 (Broken into 3 chapters on A03) Tags: SFW, Pre-relationship, Getting together, Vacation, Dancing, Drinking, Flirting, Pining, Minor pre-relationship Morgan/Garcia Summary: The team takes a much needed vacation, and things between Sophie and Aaron heat up. Collection: Sophie Cortes timeline, 1 year-1 year 3 mo at the BAU (See Masterlist for reading order) Link to AO3 or read below!

Friday It’s Garcia’s idea for the team to go to Virginia Beach for the weekend, everyone stressed out from the work week and in desperate need of some fun. Hotch and Gideon initially decline—it sounds like a bit too much fun, a young person’s trip—but Sophie announces “if everyone doesn’t go, no one goes,” and that kind of makes the decision for them.

They pile into two cars—Hotch, Gideon, Reid, and Sophie in one and Morgan, Garcia, Prentiss, and JJ in the other—to make the three hour drive on a Friday afternoon, and Gideon calls in a favor from a friend and gets them a beautiful house on the beach for the weekend.

“So after we get settled in, what’s next?” Prentiss asks as they unload the cars, their usual go-bags abandoned in favor of normal luggage.

“Dinner! Please say dinner,” Sophie pleads, and Emily pats her on the head affectionately.

“Okay, little one, dinner it is.”

“I know a great place down the boardwalk with plenty of options for vegetarians,” Garcia states, heels clicking on the tile of the kitchen, and the plans kind of evolve from there. Everyone heads to their rooms to change from work clothes to more appropriate attire, and soon they’re mostly gathered in the kitchen, just waiting for the stragglers.

Sophie, he notices (can’t help but notice anymore, and he’s come to terms with that,) looks incredibly beautiful in a silky, tropical print sundress and nude heels; she belongs in this kind of environment, salt air blowing her hair, slight flush on her cheeks. She looks like a goddamn supermodel, and it only serves to make his heart ache that much more when he looks at her.

“We should go dancing after dinner,” JJ, the last to join the group, mentions, and almost everyone agrees. Gideon grumbles something like, ‘damn kids’ as they file out of the house, and Hotch can’t help but laugh.

They find an Italian restaurant everyone can agree on that can accommodate them on short notice, and they’re seated quickly; Sophie is swiftly pacified by a basket of bread and a glass of wine, and everyone is happy, laughing, just as intended.

“What is calamari, again? I know it’s some type of disgusting seafood,” Garcia says, looking over the menu with a grimace, and Sophie returns the expression.

“Calamari, my dear, is Italian for squid.” She makes a fake retching noise, then turns to her partner. “Dr. Reid, give us a fun fact about squid.”

“While often confused with the octopus, squid have eight legs plus two tentacles, which actually makes them Decapods. The tentacles are used to grab prey and the legs are used to control it.” He smiles, looking pleased that he was asked to give a piece of trivia about something unrelated to a case, and Sophie grins back.

“Thank you. I didn’t know about the tentacles.” She tilts her head to look back to her menu, but catches Hotch’s eye and smiles.

He’s a little proud that he managed to pick the perfect partner for Reid, even if it meant the position was vacant for longer than he would have liked; he truly can’t imagine the BAU without Sophie, even if he is a bit biased now.

After dinner, Gideon retires back to the house, and the rest of them make their way to a beachside bar JJ finds with good reviews. Everyone is about two drinks in, and everyone but Hotch is dancing: Morgan and Garcia are dancing together, JJ and Prentiss are dancing together, and Sophie is doing her best to teach Reid how to dance.

“Put your right hand here,” she guides, placing his hand on her slim waist, “none of the hand-on-butt most guys prefer.”

“There’s something to be said for hand-on-butt,” Morgan shouts over the noise, and the girls laugh.

“Yes, there is, but time and place. I’m teaching him how to dance; someone else is going to have to teach him that.” She smiles up at him and takes his other hand, clasps their fingers together, and holds their arms out a bit. “Arms like this for now, or a little closer when you get closer to your partner.” She demonstrates by hovering her hand over his chest. “If they do this, they're getting comfortable, you can lean a little closer. Might even be a good time for a kiss, if you think it’s heading that way.”

“How do I know if it’s heading that way?”

“Well, social cues and body language are important. If I were you, I’d observe the other people in this room. Personally, if I want to kiss someone, I can’t take my eyes off of them leading up to it. Either their eyes, or, you know. Their lips.” Her own turn up in a smile. “If they're looking at your lips, you should probably kiss them.”

She rests her hand lightly on his arm, just above his elbow, and they take a few steps, a smile and kind words of encouragement passing her lips. “That’s good. I know you’re nervous now, but when you’re dancing with someone you really like, it will feel more natural. Like you’re the only two people in the whole world.” They take a few turns around the floor, and then switch partners, Garcia with JJ, Morgan with Sophie, Prentiss with Reid.

A bit of time passes—team members have come to the table to rest, hydrate, drink, in shifts—and then Sophie heads toward him, shaking her head with a soft laugh.

“That kid is so smart about most things, and then just hopeless about others,” she tells him as she stands at his side, taking a sip of water. “Don’t you like to dance?”

“I do, but you guys are having your fun. I don’t mind keeping an eye on things.” She raises an eyebrow, takes the beer out of his grasp and then takes his hand, pulling him to the dance floor. She catches Reid’s attention and then points to the table they abandoned.

“Will you keep an eye on the drinks, please? Hotch is off duty.” He nods seriously, hops off the stool he’s perched on and heads for the table; Hotch makes a noise of protest.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“He’s observing, he can do that from over there. You aren’t our unit chief right now, you’re a man on vacation, and if you like dancing, you should dance.” She stops, stands in front of him, looking a little deflated. “I’m sorry. Do you want to dance with me? I’m being overbearing.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he says honestly, with a smile, and she returns the gesture. He places his hand carefully on her waist, takes her hand just like she’d shown Reid earlier; she lays her left arm along his, hand at his shoulder, and they move easily, smoothly across the floor. “Where did you learn how to dance? You seem like a good teacher,” he says softly after a moment, fearful that he’ll break the bubble they’re in if he speaks any louder.

“My aunt owned a dance studio, and my cousin Damian and I were always getting thrown in to demonstrate when she was short handed. I taught a couple classes there while I was putting myself through school.” A couple passes by them, closer than it seems either of them are comfortable with, and they squeeze a little closer together, his hand wrapping across her back, their arms tucking in.

“What kind of dancing do you do?”

“Mostly waltz, rumba, salsa. You?” He’s heard of waltz, salsa, doesn’t know much about rumba, but can imagine she looks graceful, gorgeous, when she dances it.

“Mostly just this. Do you ever go dancing back at home?”

“Sometimes. It’s hard without a partner, because guys can be creeps. They think that dancing means you have to go home with them.” He’s sure his eyes harden, thinking about what men must put her through when she’s just trying to enjoy herself, other women as well. It’s one of many things that irritates him about his gender. “I know dancing with a partner is sexy, but I can separate the dancing from the sexy. When I want to.” She glances up at him, and he’s probably imagining it, but it seems like she might be looking at his lips.

The song ends, transitions into one that’s slower, and they get a little closer, so that her hand presses against his chest, her head almost resting against his shoulder. She feels so good in his arms, smells like heaven, and he would love nothing more than to stay like that all night, but by the end of the song most of the others are back at the table, looking a little faded, and he supposes this good thing must come to an end. As if she senses the shift in his mood, she steps back with a smile.

“Thank you for dancing with me. You’re a great partner.”

“Better than Reid?” he asks with a smile, though it’s all in fun; he’s happy he got to see the youngest agent let loose for once.

“Yes. No offense to him,” she tacks on, and they both laugh softly, “but I like a man who can lead.” He wants to keep her hand in his, to lead her back to the table with their friends, to the house, to her room, but he knows it’s not wise, or even possible, so he lets her walk ahead and tries not to get too caught up in his own mind. They walk back to the house as a group, laughing and bantering as usual, and mostly everyone heads straight to bed—with the exception of Derek and Sophie, who are chatting in the kitchen and making a late-night PB&J.

“I can’t believe you got the boss man dancing,” Derek says, pouring a glass of milk to go with his sandwich, and Sophie laughs softly.

“I practically forced him to, I wouldn’t read that much into it.” He cocks a brow.

“I don’t know, you two looked pretty cozy. Dancing around like you didn’t have a care in the world.” He mimics a waltzing hold, spinning around the kitchen with his eyes closed; she laughs, a little shy, then tries to make a joke of it to hide her emotion.

“What can I say, I’ve got chemistry with everyone; it's a blessing and a curse.” He gestures between them with the hand not holding his glass.

“You and I don’t have that kind of chemistry.”

“That’s because you’re sharing all yours with Penelope,” she teases, taking a bite of her sandwich, and he chuckles.

“That’s just me and my girl. You know how we are.”

“Yes, I do: deeply in denial.” He looks at her with serious eyes, pointing at her, then himself, when he speaks again.

“Pot, kettle.”

“I’m not in denial about anything, trust me,” she replies, looking down at her plate. “I am very aware of my feelings at all times.”

“Okay, so there are feelings.” She rolls her eyes lightly.

“I’m not a robot, I have feelings.”

“For Hotch?” he asks, and the question is far too direct for her liking. She sighs.

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. He’s still my boss. So don’t go trying to play Cupid or something.”

“Me? Interfere with your social life?” She scoffs, and he grins. “I’m just saying. There are ways around the boss thing, if you do have feelings for him.”

“And I’m just saying, it’s totally fine for a special agent to date a technical analyst. You don’t even need a way around it.” She shoots him a toothy, bratty smile, and he messes up her hair, earning a groan.

“Alright, enough of this talk, you’re making me tired.” He rinses his dishes, loads them into the dishwasher. “You wanna get into your feelings later, you let me know.”

“Same goes for you,” she calls as he heads down the hall. She cleans up her dishes too, walks to her room, sighing when she passes Hotch’s door. Saturday “She’s a masochist,” Garcia says the next morning, sipping a cup of coffee and looking out the open kitchen window, and Hotch has no idea what she’s talking about, but he has to find out.

He sighs when he sees, should have known that it would be Sophie, bright eyed and bushy tailed even after their late night, doing yoga in the sun on a patch of grass in front of the house. Her outfit is absolutely minuscule—a partially mesh sports bra, teeny tiny, high-waisted spandex shorts—and she’s getting lots of looks from the men on the beach passing by.

“Bitch,” JJ adds, stepping up beside them, sucking on the straw of an iced coffee. “How is she even functional right now?”

“She operates on a different wavelength than the rest of us,” he supplies, as that’s his only guess so far. He runs to stay fit for work and to relieve stress, sure, but he’s not waking up at 6 AM on vacation to do it for fun.

“I think that she feels inadequate sometimes, for being the smallest of us, and that she overcompensates by never letting herself rest. It’s also why she’s so proficient with firearms. If one of us got hurt because someone overpowered her, she wouldn’t let herself live it down.” That’s Reid, and he may have a little partner insight that the rest don’t, but his opinion is probably correct. Hotch also knows that she’s hard on herself, constantly training her mind and body so she won’t make mistakes; it’s probably something they should discuss more, now that he thinks of it.

“That’s deep,” Garcia says, looking over at Reid, and he nods, sips his coffee too.

“She’s very complex, while somehow also being the simplest person to talk to.”

“What are we lookin’ at?” Gideon asks as he sees the line of agents lined up at the window. When he glances out of it, he chuckles, shakes his head, and keeps walking. “Like the energizer bunny, that one. Makes all the rest of us look bad.”

She shifts into a position that makes it look like she’s sitting with her legs crisscrossed, which might not be difficult, except that she’s balanced on her head; Hotch can’t even marvel at the flexibility that takes, too focused on the effort she must be using to maintain the pose.

“God, what am I even looking at, here?” Morgan asks as he joins the group, protein shaker cup in hand. “And you all thought I was bad.”

“At least she’s not running. If she was running, I’d have to kill her,” JJ mumbles, and Garcia smiles.

“Oh she already ran, honey. Came back in to get the yoga blanket thingy. Said running in the sand is, and I quote, ‘such a fun challenge.’”

There are many sounds of disgust from the group, which seems to draw Prentiss out; she squeezes in between them, reaches out to take JJ’s coffee, sipping through the straw, and exhales.

“Yep, I am definitely gay.” She raps on the window, and Sophie turns her head toward them; she squints her eyes at the group, then tips over so that her feet touch the mat, rising to stand in a way that looks much more effortless than it has to be.

“What the hell are you doing, weirdos?”

“We’re not worthy!” Prentiss teases, mock-bowing in her direction and earning a laugh.

“All right, all right, I’m coming in. Freaking voyeurs,” she mumbles, folding up her blanket. “You too, Hotch?” she asks as she enters the house, walking past him, and all he can do is shrug.

“I was just admiring your form, that’s all.” She gives him a look, partially I doubt it and partially something like, I dare you, and he feels himself get a little hot under the collar.

If one look from her is all it takes, then he’s already in way over his head.

...Then comes the bikini.

It’s nothing outrageous, something simple and sporty enough that she plays volleyball with JJ and Morgan and a couple of other people on the beach, but it’s the least he’s ever seen her wear, so his mouth may water, a little bit.

And is it sad that he wishes she'd have asked him for help putting sunblock on her shoulders? Is it creepy? Regardless, she has Morgan rub it in, and then she does him, because—“as my mama says: just because you’re brown doesn't mean you can clown around.”

“Oh my god, I can already tell I will love your mom. I have to meet her.” She rubs the sunblock into his shoulders, earning playful banter from Garcia about running your hands all over my man, and yes, Hotch is irrationally jealous, and yes, he knows it’s stupid. “Anyone else need some?” She scans the group—Garcia is under an umbrella and clearly plans to stay there, JJ and Prentiss shared some cream that helps you tan faster, Gideon is already fast asleep beneath an umbrella of his own—and shakes the bottle at Reid. “Gonna take off your shirt, doc?”

“I’m gonna pass, but thanks,” he tells her, clearly a little self-conscious, and she just smiles easily.

“Okay, well let me know if you change your mind.” She turns to Hotch, then, smile still broad, runs her eyes up and down his t-shirt before meeting his gaze. “How about you, boss? Do you wanna take that off for me?” Her brow is quirked, her look again sending a flash of arousal through him, and he just shakes his head; he can’t say for certain that he wouldn’t do something very stupid with her hands on his body. “Alright. If you change your mind, my offer stands.” She turns away, and Morgan says something to her, too low for Hotch to hear; it earns him a playful shove.

They stay on the beach until late afternoon, swimming or reading, playing frisbee or sunbathing, and anything and everything in between. He takes a moment to check his work email when he thinks no one is paying attention, but soon feels a cool drop of water land on his arm; he looks behind him, and Sophie is peering over his shoulder with wet hair and a frown.

“Are you incapable of relaxing?” she asks, grabbing for his phone, and he pulls it out of her reach, so she’s forced to either put a hand on his shoulder for balance or fall. She reaches again, and they battle back and forth for it, not because he cares as much as he’s enjoying the attention. It’s childish, he knows. “Damn it, Hotch. I’m trying to… help you.” She has her arms on either side of his neck, trying to cut him off and get the phone out of his grasp, and her mouth is right at his ear when she says, “I’m going to get you to loosen up if it kills me.”

The comment is both very sweet and very tempting, and he catches her wrist, presses his phone into her palm. She disengages her arms from around his neck and sinks down into the sand next to him; she’s flushed from the little bit of exertion, and her eyes are soft when they peer into his.

“I just want you to have a good time and not worry about the BAU for once in your life,” she murmurs, pushing her hand through her wet hair. “Or you’re going to die young from stress and I’ll feel a little bad I didn’t stop it.”

“Just a little bad?” he teases, and she rolls her eyes playfully.

“I’ll feel really bad, so, just. Cut it out. Read your book. People watch. Do anything but work.” With a soft smile, she leans closer, hands him back his phone. “For me?” He looks into her eyes, wants to tell her he would do anything for her, but instead, he nods.

“Okay. For you.” Her returning smile is brilliant, and she rests a hand on his shoulder for a moment before using it to boost herself up to standing. She brushes sand off her butt, and he can’t be blamed for looking, he just can’t.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come swim?” she asks, and he blinks back into focus, shakes his head.

“Maybe later. I think I’m going to people watch,” he says, and if she is the person he chooses to watch, well. No one will be any the wiser.

“Sophie, oh my god.” She turns at the sound of her name, slipping the back onto her earring and staring at Emily with a confused look.

“What did I do?” she asks seriously. All she’s actually done since they came in from the beach was eat a grilled cheese, take a quick shower (daydreaming, just a little, about what it would have been like if Hotch let her rub sunscreen onto his shoulders), and get dressed, so there’s literally no way she’s earned the tone.

“I’m guessing you haven’t seen Hotch since he changed.” Her eyes glaze over as she imagines it—maybe he’s wearing a button-up shirt like last night, the sleeves rolled up, or maybe he opted for another thin, faded t-shirt like the one he wore to the beach…

“Uh, no, I haven’t. But what does that have to do with me?”

“You’ll see,” is all she says, grinning, and Sophie wonders for a moment if she’s actually not being that sneaky about her thing for him, and if everyone knows. Morgan’s inferences are bad enough.

She shakes the thought, because if the whole team did know about her crush, she would know about it. She’d never be able to live it down, and she would definitely know about it.

She finishes getting ready, sees what all the fuss is about when she enters the kitchen and is faced with a broad back with a blue polo stretched across it—the same shade of blue as the patterned dress she’s wearing.

She groans. They’re definitely gonna make a big deal about this.

“I say we make a break for it,” she says, and he turns at the sound of her voice, looks her up and down, and smiles crooked, gorgeous. “They’re going to make us take a picture, and I know how you hate pictures.”

“I do hate pictures, but maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll make it onto your dresser.” She takes a good, long look at his body—the polo is tight, hinting at his pecs, his stomach, and his arms look amazing—and can’t help but flirt a little.

“Are you just trying to get invited back into my bedroom? ‘Cause all you had to do was ask, Hotch.” His eyes get dark, smoldering, and then JJ and Garcia walk in, talking over each other and demanding photographic evidence.

She rolls her eyes lightly, and so does he, but he puts his hand on her back, pulls her close, and they smile for the camera. That night, they go for dinner, and drinks, but no dancing, and Hotch feels at a bit of a loss; it had been so nice to dance with Sophie, to hold her in his arms however briefly. He had kind of been hoping for more of the same.

She wears another lovely dress, light and gauzy, and blue—the same color as his shirt, which makes for a slight moment of hysteria from their coworkers—and he longs to put his hands on her waist, to see her smile, to smell her perfume.

He briefly wonders if he will ever get over wanting what he can’t have.

Hotch goes to the bar to grab a round of drinks when it’s his turn, and an attractive blonde woman about his age makes small talk, which escalates to some mild flirting; she smiles at him in a way that makes him think that, if he had been looking to spend the night with a woman, he wouldn’t have had to look very far. He’s not sure why that makes him uncomfortable.

The bartender is obviously swamped, and he’s thinking about giving up and going back to the table just to get away from the woman’s eyes, her voice, when warm hands wrap around his bicep.

“There you are, honey. I’m glad I found you.” Sophie wedges in between them, not sparing the woman a second glance, all eyes on him. “Drinks going to take a while?”

“Yeah, I think they’re understaffed. I’m sorry I kept you waiting.” He wraps his arm around her back, pulling her close, and she touches his chest softly with her palm.

“No problem. You know I’d wait forever for you.” She smiles brightly up at him, and the woman mumbles something unkind, throws down a few bills, and walks away. Sophie laughs, but doesn’t put any distance between them. “It looked like you needed a save. I hope I didn’t misread the situation.”

“You absolutely did not misread,” he assures with a shake of his head. “She would have eaten me alive if you hadn’t come along.”

“It’s a good thing I’m here, then. To protect your virtue.” She runs both hands down his chest—keeping up appearances in case the woman is watching, he assumes—and it prompts him to lean closer to her.

“I’m glad you’re here for more than that reason,” he says, however foolishly, and she sighs softly, pulls back so she’s not in his easy grasp.

“I’m sorry, I can’t…” She walks away from him quickly, and he doesn’t reach for her arm, knows she doesn't like that, but he does follow her out to the balcony. The night is warm, with a cool breeze, and it blows her hair as she looks out at the water.

“I’m sorry I said that.” He puts his hands on the railing, and she looks over at him, curiously. “I say more than I should around you, and there’s no excuse.” She turns to face him fully, arms crossed, face closed off and hard to read.

“Did you mean it, though? Did you mean it when you kissed my head and told me to let someone into my life? Did you mean it when you said you want to be here for me, and you wiped away my tears? Did you mean it when you were watching me do yoga this morning, when you watched me play volleyball in a bikini?” He opens his mouth to speak, but can’t find the words to deny it, or to help solve this problem.

“Yes, I meant all of that, and I realize now that what I thought was harmless was not so harmless after all.”

“You realize that because you know I felt led on? Or because you were just having fun and you didn’t expect me to pay such close attention?”

“You felt led on? I…” He feels his face scrunch in confusion.

“You told me I was amazing, you held my face in your hands, you pretended to be my boyfriend at the pizza shop. You came upstairs with me on my birthday and you took off my shoes and you looked at me like you wanted to kiss me. And I showed you my family, and you looked at me like you wanted to kiss me. And we danced, closer than I danced with Reid, closer than I would dance with anyone else, and you looked at me like you wanted to kiss me. This morning, I felt your eyes on me; at the beach, I felt your eyes on me. I feel them all the time, and I thought it was wishful thinking, but now I know it’s you looking.” His mouth goes dry, and he pushes a hand through his hair, feels as if walls are crashing down around him.

“Sophie, I can’t apologize enough. I’ve been behaving inappropriately for a while, and this weekend I let my guard down, and I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.” He looks over at her, ready to see rage, or hurt, but all he sees is… hope.

“I’m not uncomfortable, Hotch. I just need you to tell me that you said and did all those things because you want me. Not because you thought I wanted to hear them, or because you felt some... I don’t know, little sister affection for me.”

“I didn’t say anything because I thought you wanted to hear it, and believe me, what I feel for you… It’s not little sister affection.” He looks into her eyes, apologetic. “I should have come to you when I realized my feelings were becoming inappropriate.”

“Hotch, I’m trying to tell you,” she says softly, wrapping her fingers around his wrist, “that it’s not inappropriate for you to want me, because I want you too.” His mind goes blank at that, the potential panic attack falling away and leaving him with just… what?

“You, what?”

“All of those things... I felt you getting closer to me, and I was getting closer to you. I was looking, too. And when you told me I should let someone in, when you told me that I should start dating again, I thought you were saying you wanted it to be us.” He takes a step toward her, wants to take her face in his hands again but resists, for the time being. “Is that what you were saying? Is that what you want?”

“I—yes. That’s what I want.” It’s all he wants, can’t think of a single thing in his life he’s wanted more, and the look on her face makes him think he might actually be able to have it.

“Then kiss me,” she murmurs, taking a step toward him. Her eyes are warm and clear, sparkling in the moonlight. “If you mean it.”

He slips his arm around her waist, caresses her cheek, and pulls her close for a deep, slow, passionate kiss. It’s everything he imagined, everything he’s been wanting, and she wraps her arms around his shoulders, pulls him closer yet. She is soft against his body, beneath his hands, and they kiss for so long he forgets about the world around them, just sinks his fingers in her hair, breathes in the scent of sunscreen and coconut shampoo, relishes the feel of her soft lips against his. It’s absolute heaven.

“I haven’t been able to think of anything but kissing you all night,” she breathes when they break apart, wetting her lips, and her hands run over his chest again. He leans in for a soft, quick kiss, pushing her hair behind her ear, and smiles down at her.

“I don’t think I’ve thought of anything else for months,” he confides, touching her chin. She smiles brightly, just like he’d hoped she would, and she puts her hands on his arms, bites her bottom lip.

“Well, I’ve thought of a lot of things. Some had to do with these arms…” Her eyes rake over his chest and shoulders, and he feels himself heat under her gaze. “Most of them have to do with all of you, though.” He groans, pulls her closer with hands on her hips.

“If we weren’t here with the rest of the team…” Her eyes get wide, and she laughs, a short sound of surprise.

“Oh my god, I forgot. I well and truly forgot about the rest of them for a second.” He thrills at that, bends for another lengthy kiss, and her eyes are dark when he pulls back. “How am I supposed to go the rest of the night pretending I don’t know how well you kiss?” she asks, chest heaving, and all he wants to do is kiss her, repeatedly, learn all the ways her body responds to it. “Oh I know: I’m going to get drunk and hope no one notices me staring at your mouth. Worked on my birthday.”

He grins at the thought of her, then, now, drunk and looking at him across the table, watching him, and presses his lips to hers softly. Now that he’s started, he can’t seem to get enough.

“Okay. I’ll stay sober in case you need me to carry you home.”

“Mmm, why do I love the sound of that so much?” she asks no one in particular, wrapping her arms around him in an embrace. “I feel obligated to say we should get back in there; it’s only a matter of time until someone comes looking for us. But…” She trails off, brings a hand to his face and sighs, content. “I’m happy right here and I don’t want to leave this spot.”

“Me too.” He kisses her, and her fingers glide through his hair, tugging softly, making him moan. “Okay, we really better go in now, because I could lose track of everything if you keep doing that.” She smiles, like she likes the thought of making him lose his mind, and he can’t help but return the expression. “Do you want to go in first?”

“No, we can go in together. I got this, promise.” She takes his hand, presses her lips to it, and then drops it, and they head back to the table.

“Where have you two been?” Prentiss asks as they return, and Sophie smiles happily.

“Needed fresh air. Why, did you miss me?”

“Yes, but we also missed our drinks. Sent Reid for them when we realized you two had run off.” Sophie’s face falls a little, eyes a bit sad.

“I’m sorry, that’s my fault. I was upset about something and Hotch went outside with me, helped me talk through it. I’m okay now,” she adds with a brighter expression when it looks like they want to ask about it. It's not technically a lie, either. “So what are we talking about?”

“We’re talking about the craziest thing we’ve ever done,” Morgan says with a teasing grin. “Let me guess, yours is: returned a library book late.” She shoots him an unamused glare.

“Joke’s on you, I would never return a library book late.” The table erupts in laughter, and she sips at her now watered down gin and tonic. “But you’ve made your point, I’m boring. I’m sure you had a threesome with twins and JJ fought a bear in the woods of Pennsylvania and Emily followed The Cure on tour across the country.”

“I did not do that, but trust me, young Emily wishes she had,” Prentiss says with a grin and a sip of her drink. “Mine was going to a rave in Paris that was busted, running from the cops.”

“Okay I’m sorry, that’s way cooler than the Cure thing. What about you, JJ?”

“I played chicken a lot when I was a teenager. Like in Footloose,” she describes, laughing. “Probably should have died, but the dumb boys always got scared first and I won.”

“Chicken champion,” Morgan calls her, making her dissolve into laughter. “Mine was stealing a car, going on a joyride. Only time I’ve ever broken 100 miles per hour.”

“You’re all criminals, I get it now. No wonder you think I’m so boring,” Sophie teases. “You guys?” she asks Reid and Garcia. Garcia grins.

“I hacked the FBI, remember? Doesn’t get much crazier than that.”

“I went skydiving,” Reid says simply, and Sophie is surprised, to say the least. Hotch is too.

“Skydiving! Spencer Reid, you’re holding out on us. When was this?”

“When I turned 21, I wanted to do something special, so I just decided one day. I went by myself. It was terrifying.”

“Wow, I may never get over this. That is so cool.” She leans across the table, bumps her fist with his. When she leans back in her seat, she looks to Hotch with curious eyes. “Alright, I know you’ve got a story. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

“I haven’t done many crazy things,” he begins honestly. “I guess the craziest would be backpacking in Europe by myself, on a whim. I’d just graduated high school and was feeling… afraid of the future, I suppose. I was only gone two months, but I did feel different when I came back.”

“Okay, that’s crazy to me. I’ve definitely never had the guts.”

“I can totally see young Hotch backpacking through Europe,” Garcia adds, and he smiles.

“It was stupid, but I met a lot of interesting people. You really haven’t done anything crazy?” he asks Sophie, who has seemed a little reserved the last few minutes, so different from the girl on the balcony.

“Nope. No crimes, no drugs, no underage drinking or fights or spontaneous trips anywhere. I went to school, went to work, went home, and when I was done with school, I went to work and went home.” She twirls the straw in her glass for a moment, and then sits up with a smile. “Oh, wait. I have something. This may not seem that cool to you guys, but walking home one day in Chicago, I saw a flyer for a band that needed a singer, so I tried out. That was pretty spontaneous.”

“Did they like you?” Reid asks, and she nods excitedly.

“Yeah, actually. I ended up singing for them for about a year before I left Chicago.”

“Okay, you were in a band for a year and didn’t think you had any fun stories to share,” Prentiss clarifies. “That’s awesome.”

“We need to hear you sing,” Hotch tells her seriously, and she gets shy, blushes, adorable.

“Ah, no. Maybe back home—my friend owns a bar, and I sing there sometimes. Karaoke or open mic.”

“I learned two things about you tonight, Cortes: you sing, and you have a friend besides us.” Sophie smacks Morgan’s shoulder, making him laugh.

“Well I prefer quality over quantity—yourself excluded.” He feigns hurt, puts his hand over his heart. “And on that note, I need a couple shots. I’m not nearly as drunk as I want to be.” She stands, puts her hand on the back of Hotch’s chair. “Want to try again?” He does, if only to spend a few minutes with her away from the group, stands up and walks beside her to the bar.

“You don’t have to do crazy things to be interesting, you know,” he tells her as they lean companionably against the bar, waiting for their drinks. “I find you very interesting exactly the way you are.” She smiles, a tender, private thing.

“Thank you. I’m glad you do. I find you interesting, too. I want to know what makes you tick; I think I spend too much time trying to figure you out, actually. I’m surprised no one has noticed.”

“I’m simple. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“That will be a long conversation for another time, believe me.” She shifts closer, so their arms are pressed together, and it shouldn’t feel as good to him as it does, her warm skin against his. “I want to know everything there is to know about Aaron Hotchner.”

“And I want to tell you,” he assures her, wants to put his arm around her back, but knows their friends are watching them closely this time. He thinks maybe they’ve noticed more than she believes.

Their drinks are ready much faster this time, and when they return to the table she hands out shots to those who want them while he hands out other drinks to those who don’t. She takes two shots in succession, and he smiles to himself, thinking of her earlier plan.

“You’re crazy, I love Julia Roberts,” Prentiss says about an hour later, when those drinking to get drunk have already done so, and then some. “She’s America’s sweetheart, she’s so beautiful.”

“Okay but we’re talking your dream celebrity hook up,” Morgan clarifies. “You’re telling me Julia Roberts is your dream hook up?”

“Yes. She made me feel things in Pretty Woman, with those long legs in the tub?”

“Yes, the tub,” Sophie agrees, and when she gets some curious looks, she sighs. “It’s stupid to assume everyone is straight all the time, and no one ever asked. I swing all ways, as in, even though I don’t date and haven’t had sex with anyone but myself in far too long to admit to, I like to look at everybody.” She’s moved closer to him in the last hour, and her thigh presses purposefully up against his. “Some people more than others.”

“Oh, we know we’ve gotten Sophie drunk if she’s talking about her sex life,” JJ teases.

“I’m never shy about my sex life, it’s my love life I don’t tell you about, because it’s practically non-existent.”

“And whose fault is that? You’ve been hung up on someone we know nothing about for months. Make a move or move on.”

“I’m working on it. Bossy,” she mutters, presses her thigh against his again. He wants to grab it, pull her legs into his lap, but knows he can’t get away with it. “Hotch, tell her to leave me alone.”

“JJ, leave her alone,” he says just to make Sophie smile; she does, and JJ sticks her tongue out at her.

“Okay, boss’s pet.”

That shouldn’t send a thrill through him, but it does, affects Sophie, too, if the straightening of her spine is any indication. As quickly as it happened, she slumps against the table, chin in her hand. He wonders why, but then her other hand moves to his leg, and he thinks maybe she did it to provide some cover. Clever girl.

“I want to be home. Home home, my own private home, not a house I share with all of you,” she murmurs, and Reid frowns.

“Why? Aren’t you having fun?”

“I am having fun! I am. But it would be different fun. I’ll explain it when you’re older.” Hotch can’t help himself, chuckles at that, and Sophie looks over at him, smiles. “Are we calling it a night? If I get any drunker I’m going to get into trouble.” They share eye contact that probably lasts a beat too long, and he covers her hand with his under the table.

“It’s probably for the best. Do you need me to carry you?”

“No, I’m okay,” she says, standing, and as everyone else gathers their stuff, she stoops under the guise of fixing her shoe, presses a hand to his shoulder for support, and speaks into his ear. “But keep in mind that need and want are two very different things.”

She smirks playfully, and he is so enraptured by her, moves his eyes from her lips to her bare shoulder, strap fallen to the side, wants to kiss her there and slip it back into place; he refrains from the kiss but does hook it with his finger and settle it against her skin, earning a heated look, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

He exhales, thinks to himself how silly it is that his heart is racing from just a few looks, a quick comment, the brush of his hand over her shoulder, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Heading back to the house is certainly more eventful than the previous night, as Morgan and Garcia giggle about something as she stumbles in her high heels, as JJ and Prentiss take Reid’s arms and link them with theirs for stability. Sophie walks steady, but slow, and Hotch hangs back with her, presses his hand against her lower back when no one is looking.

“I feel like I’m going to wake up in the morning and this will all have been a dream,” she whispers, glancing up at him; he smooths his palm up and down her back, eyes soft as he gazes down at her.

“It does feel like a dream, but nothing changes tomorrow, I promise.” He smiles softly, touches her face before pulling away altogether. “Except you might have a hangover.”

“No, I have foolproof methods. Lots of water before bed and a cup of ginger tea in the morning. I’ll share my methods with you, because I think you’re so cute,” she says with a smile.

“Lucky for me.”

He wants so badly to kiss her goodnight, but of course, they don’t get a chance, someone always hovering by the time they’re ready for bed. He does text her, though, after they go their separate ways.

AH: I’m really glad things happened the way they did tonight. Who knows how long we would have gone on staring silently at each other.

SC: Yeah, we’re pretty dumb for human behavior experts, aren’t we?

SC: I’m going to try to sneak you away tomorrow.

AH: I’ll be waiting. Goodnight.

SC: Goodnight. Sunday Sophie wakes up Sunday at 8:13 feeling like she could walk on air, she’s so happy. She kissed Hotch, Hotch kissed her, there was flirting and touching and it was all intentional and meaningful and magical… She gets a little carried away when she showers, reliving every moment, never so happy she agreed to come on this vacation despite her initial protests that it was too spontaneous.

She knows she needs to liven up a little, do more spontaneous things like go to the beach and kiss her boss and see Europe, go skydiving.

Maybe not the skydiving, but the beach and the boss she can definitely handle. Europe will probably have to wait.

She throws on a swimsuit with a cropped tank top and denim shorts over it and makes for the kitchen to get a cup of tea, smiles when she sees Emily and Garcia there. “Hi ladies. How did you sleep?”

“Like the dead, and now I feel dead,” Garcia grumbles. Emily nods over her cup of coffee.

“I feel like a truck ran over me, backed up, and ran over me again.” Sophie laughs, walks over to the table and sets down her box of tea.

“Have a cup. Cures any ailment, hangovers included, I promise.” Emily glances up, looking suspicious.

“Why are you so chipper? Why aren’t you dead like we are?” She tries not to grin, to be too obvious, but she hasn't been this excited about something in a long time, so it’s hard.

“Mind over matter. Gotta train those brains.” She adds a bit of honey to her tea, stirs it slowly. “It’s a gorgeous day, we have until late afternoon before we need to head back home, we’re having fun. I’m happy.”

“That’s all great stuff, but I can’t focus on it until my eyeballs stop punishing me,” Garcia groans, grabbing the box of tea and heading for the kettle. “Did you meet somebody or something? This is just extreme happiness, even from you. And it’s me who’s saying that.”

“She was with us all night. Well, she wasn’t, but she was with Hotch, so she may as well have been. She didn’t meet anyone.” Oh sweet, brilliant, clueless Emily, Sophie thinks, sitting across from her. She loves when her friends’ brains aren’t firing on all cylinders so she can feel like she has some secrets from them, instead of feeling so exposed all the time.

“Are we making breakfast or going for breakfast? Breakfast will help you guys feel better.”

“Going for breakfast,” Morgan says when he strides into the kitchen behind her. “No yoga this morning? I guess you’re human after all,” he says with a wink, and she just sips her tea because even his teasing isn’t enough to dampen her good mood.

“Takes one to know one. We both have lazy days, we both have feelings—I think we’re getting soft.”

“I’m not,” he says with a grin, lifting his shirt a little just to make Garcia swoon, she’s pretty sure—and it works. “Doesn’t look like you are either, in your little crop top. Trying to impress someone?”

“No, just letting my tummy out, as we all should on vacation. It’s more fun that way.” She drains the rest of her tea and rinses the cup in the sink. “Anyone need a nudge? I’m starving.”

“Haven’t seen JJ or Hotch yet, if you want to check on them,” Emily tells her, and she does grin at that.

“You got it! Hotch and JJ,” she repeats to herself, and she skips JJ’s room to rap on Hotch’s door. He opens it after a moment, looking hotter than should be allowed in a dark blue polo; his eyes roam slowly over her body, which makes her shiver. “Why, good morning, handsome,” she says, low, and he pulls her into his room, shuts the door, and kisses her deeply.

She moans softly in surprise, then weaves her fingers into his hair, stepping backward so she is pressed between the door and his body, which is the stuff of fantasies. His hands feel hot on her waist, his mouth harder than last night, more insistent; she pants for breath when the kiss breaks, runs her hands over his shoulders, pulls him close. “So glad I offered to check on you,” she murmurs, and he smiles softly, presses his mouth to hers again.

“So am I. You look…” He looks her over again, breasts, stomach, legs, back up to her face, wets his lips. “Beautiful doesn’t cover it.”

“Well I’ll take it anyway.” She brings his mouth down to hers for another soft kiss. “I have to check on JJ, but reserve your approval and hopefully we can get a little alone time today.”

“Just one more kiss,” he bargains, smoothing his palm over her throat, and she practically salivates at his touch, would give him anything he asked for. This time it’s a kiss, which is easy enough, and she stretches up on her toes, takes his face in her hands and plants one on him with a soft smack. They both smile. “See you soon.”

“See you soon.” Peeking out into the empty hall, she slips out the door, no one any the wiser, and heads to JJ’s room, pounding on the door with none of the regard she had for Hotch. “Are you up? We’re hungry, come on!” It takes a minute, but JJ pops her head out, hair a mess, eyes tired.

“Make me a coffee. I’ll be out in five minutes.”

“Sure, okay, five minutes though. Hey, do you want my ginger tea? Proven hangover cure, the other girls had some.” She narrows her eyes.

“Tea for now, coffee for the road. Please.” She slams the door, and Sophie laughs to herself, heads to the kitchen, and gets to work. Breakfast is a fun occasion in that everyone leaves the restaurant at least five times happier than when they arrived. Hotch just shakes his head and laughs, glad that his days of drinking to get drunk are over. The team looks rough.

The beach is on the agenda again, and most everyone opts for sunbathing at first, because they’re too full and tired to do anything else. Sophie and Morgan, the two most lively of the bunch, plan to head straight for the water—it’s an activity in itself to watch her strip out of her clothes, baring a little strapless bikini underneath.

Sophie offers to help Morgan with his sunscreen, but Garcia makes a noise of complaint. “Uh uh, my turn,” she says, squeezing some into her palm and handing back the tube. Sophie sighs, looks at JJ like she’s going to ask for help, but Morgan nods in his direction.

“Have Hotch help,” he tells her, and she narrows her eyes at him, gets a raised eyebrow in return. He makes a note to ask what that’s all about, and she looks a little like a deer in the headlights, but she steps over to him because it would be more awkward if she didn't, now.

“You know who to blame for this,” she mutters as she kneels down next to him, hands back the tube of sunblock, and she lifts her hair so he has access to her neck. He has to hold himself back from pressing his lips there, settles for imagining what she’d sound like if he did.

“Or who to thank, depending on how you look at it,” he counters as he rubs the lotion on. He feels the tension in her shoulders slip away as he works it in, the white cream melting into her smooth, brown skin. It’s like her whole body softens at his touch, and he makes a mental note to rub her shoulders often, when he gets the chance, could stand to see her look a little less tense most days. “At least I get to be close to you.”

“You’re sweet,” she says, humming as his hands move down her back. “I’m happy to be close to you too, just don’t need my coworkers watching me get rubbed down by the guy I like.”

“I do like the sound of that.” He presses his fingers against her neck, behind her ears, and she practically purrs at his touch, head tipping to the side. He’d like to spend more time there, it’s clear she enjoys it, but he knows he can’t milk it for too long. He slides his hands away, wipes them on his towel. “All set. My hands are free when you need to reapply.” She turns to face him, looks soft and relaxed and gorgeous, and shoots him a tender smile.

“Thanks. I’m still working on a plan for us, so I’ll be back soon.” She stands, throws the sunscreen at Morgan, and they chase each other into the water.

“Hey, will someone come up to the house with me?” Sophie asks after a while, and pretty much everyone is half asleep—either napping, in a food coma, or something in between—so it’s easy for him to volunteer himself, for them to slip away together. When they’re far enough away from the team’s line of sight, he scoops her up and throws her over his shoulder, earning laughter so hard it leaves her breathless. They make it inside the house, and he sets her down, her cheeks red and smile bright. “I cannot believe you did that,” she says, grabbing his shirt in her hands, and she pulls him close for a kiss that they laugh through, her hands shifting to come up around his neck.

“You were going too slow, I was getting impatient,” he teases, and she kisses him deeper, less playful, more passionate. He wraps his arms around her body, pulls her close, and they fumble toward the living room, collapse into a heap on the couch. They laugh, straighten out so they’re sitting somewhat normally, though very close.

“You’re so good at that, I think I dreamed about it.” She brushes gentle fingers through his hair, puts her legs in his lap just like he thought of doing at the bar, and kisses him softly a couple of times. “This isn’t just because we’re on vacation, right? I mean, tomorrow, when we wake up in our own beds, we’re not just going to pretend none of this happened?” He takes her hand, brings it to his lips, holds it.

“I couldn’t look at you and pretend none of this happened. Never.” He kisses her hand again, and she shifts so that she’s sitting up on her knees, so they can be closer, kiss better, he has to assume. One hand rests against his chest and the other loops around his neck, and they kiss long, hot, deep, so he has to pull back for breath. “Sophie,” he sighs when they separate, his hand gentle on her face. “I want you to know, I’ve never done this, or even thought about doing this with anyone from work. Not before you.”

“Neither have I. It’s just… you.” She leans in for a softer, sweeter kiss. “What do we do now? I guess, just to clarify: you want to date me, right? You don’t just want sex—I want to be sure we’re on the same page.” He puts his hands on her waist, like he’s holding her steady, looks into her eyes.

“I don’t just want sex. I want to spend time with you outside of the office. I want to take you on dates. I want to learn everything there is to know about you. I want to kiss you…” His eyes drift to her lips, and she leans up, presses them softly to his a couple of times.

“So we’ll need to tell Strauss? Gideon? The team?"

“I’ll tell Strauss, and she’ll change your reporting structure so that you report to Gideon, formally. It won’t change anything in the field, but he will have to be in charge of your performance reviews, psych evals, and future promotions so there’s no conflict of interest.”

“That’s good. I don’t want anyone to think I’ll be treated any differently.” He takes her face in his hands, kisses her slow, and she pulls back periodically to speak. “Not that... I think the team would, but... that’s good.” His lips move down the column of her throat, and she tilts her head, inviting more; her voice gets light and breathy. “Mmm, Hotch.”

He pulls back a little, sure he’s wearing a grimace; something about that, as good as it sounds, just does not rub him the right way.

“I think it might be better if you call me Aaron when we’re not working. It might help, you know, to have a little separation?” She nods, bites at her lip, and leans in for another kiss.

“Yes, that sounds good. I want to call you by your first name, but no one ever does, so I was waiting on you to tell me it was okay.” She brushes the pads of her fingers over his lips, his chin. “Kiss me, Aaron.”

He grins at that, puts his arm behind her and tips them both over so she’s laying under him, soft, sun-kissed, beautiful. She smiles, and he leans in, kisses her throat some more. “You smell so good, always like the beach, but especially now.” He’s pretty much destined to have a Pavlovian response to the smell of coconut and sunscreen, he thinks, but he doesn’t mind at all.

“If only you would take off your shirt and come swimming with us,” she teases, holding tightly to his shoulders, “I could make you smell all beachy too.” She catches his mouth in a kiss, grins against his lips. “Plus it would be nice to ogle you like you’ve been ogling me.” He scoffs, pulling a face.

“I haven’t been ogling you, I’ve been admiring you. There’s a difference.”

“Well in that case, let me admire you,” she coos in his ear, tongue curling over the lobe, and he kisses her deeply.

They are completely lost in each other when someone clears their throat above them, and they freeze; Sophie covers her eyes like it’s not happening if she doesn’t look, but Hotch is resigned to his fate, glances up and sees Gideon not looking very surprised. He doesn’t seem to have an opinion at all, actually, or at least his face doesn’t.

He sits up, pulling her with him, but she still can't look Gideon in the eye. Gideon, for what it’s worth, just nods. “I guess we’ll be going over some things in my office tomorrow,” he says, neutral, and Hotch nods.

“Yes. I’ll—I’ll get with Strauss in the morning.”

“Okay,” is all he says, and he heads down the hall to his room. Sophie groans.

“Okay, so we’ve determined we can’t be sneaky to save our lives.” She looks thoroughly embarrassed, but he just chuckles and pulls her closer, wraps his arms around her in an embrace.

“No, I guess we can’t. You’re too distracting.” She turns back to look at him, nose scrunched adorably.

“I’m too distracting? Compared to you, all on top of me, touching me with those hands?”

“They’re the only hands I’ve got,” he jokes, and she smiles indulgently, like she thinks he’s an idiot but likes him anyway. “We should probably head back anyway. I think we pressed our luck enough for today.” She grins at that, and he feels instantly like he should regret something he said. “What?”

“I’ll go quietly if you come swimming.” She adopts that puppy dog look he’s helpless against, presses her lips to his. “Please. It will be fun.” He sighs like he’s put out, but can’t resist smiling when she breaks into a grin of her own. “Yes! Okay, take off your shirt.”

“Now?” he asks with a laugh. “If we come back from the house and I’m half naked, eyebrows will be raised.”

“Just for a minute,” she explains, tugging at his collar. “I need to admire you before we’re out there so I don’t drool in front of them and embarrass myself.”

“You’re dangerous, you know that,” he says, pulling his polo over his head. “Those eyes could make a man do anything.”

“Well unfortunately for you, you’re the only man I plan to use them on.” She’s smiling, but her expression quickly fades to something more serious, and she flicks her eyes to his, then down his body, back up.

She opens her mouth to speak, decides against it, and leaps at him; he barely gets his arms up in time to catch her, and they almost go crashing back onto the sofa.

“God, you look so good,” she mumbles against his lips, hands in his hair. “I knew you’d be hot under all those suits, and then we got here and you’ve dressed more casually and it’s been just… the best.” She pulls back, runs her hands over all the bare skin she can reach, smiles broadly. “Can’t believe I get to touch you like this.” Slowly, he sweeps his palms over her body, brings her to him for a kiss.

“The feeling is so very mutual.” After another couple of kisses, she jumps out of his arms, hands back his shirt, though it’s clear she doesn’t want to.

“Glad we got that out of the way; I don’t know how the group would have reacted to me tackling you on the beach.”

“With incredulity, I’m sure. I don’t think I exactly fit what people would perceive to be your type.” She rolls her eyes, and they head out the door.

“What people perceive to be my type has nothing to do with me, or you.” She loops her hand loosely around his arm as they walk down to the beach. “And I don’t have a type, so we’re good.” As they get closer to the team, they move farther apart, and he already misses the feel of her skin.

“There you guys are,” JJ says when they approach, holding her hand over her eyes to shield from the sun. “Gideon went back to the house for a while, I’m sure you saw him.”

“We sure did see him,” Sophie says, dropping down onto her towel. “Are you guys alive yet? We’re gonna go swimming.” She scans the group, which is missing a few members. “Where are Morgan and Garcia?”

“Taking a walk,” Prentiss says with a suggestive tone. Hotch sighs, knows that soon enough the suggestive tone will be used at their expense. He wonders if Sophie thought that through, how invasive their friends can actually be. “They’ll be back by lunch, and then I guess it’s back to boring Quantico.”

“And that’s exactly why we’re swimming. Come on.” She stands up, walks backward toward the water with a smile. “Come on, Hotch, you promised.” Reid looks over at him with a curious expression, but he just shrugs and pulls off his shirt.

“I did promise.”

He’s not mad he did, either, because for a while it’s just the two of them, floating companionably in the luxuriously warm water, chatting about nothing, and she’s incredibly gorgeous with wet hair and a smile.

JJ and Prentiss join them eventually, and then there’s splashing, which is less enjoyable, but it’s clear Sophie is happy he agreed to swim, so he can’t find it in himself to be too irritated. They gather back at the house for a quick lunch, and they pack their stuff, load up the cars—this time they are split guys and girls, at JJ’s request.

“Thanks, Gideon, for the house, and Garcia, for the plan,” Prentiss says before they leave. “This was a great idea. Much needed.”

“Best weekend ever,” Sophie agrees, and she smiles softly when he catches her eye.

“That was awesome,” JJ says when they’re on the road. She looks back at Garcia with a grin. “So tell us, did you hook up with Morgan? Is Morcia a thing now?”

“I didn’t hook up with him, but…” She grins, and Sophie finds it infectious. “We talked, and I think we’re going on a date this week, barring any traveling you guys might have to do.”

“Yay for a date,” Sophie says, pulling her into a one armed hug. The women in the front shout their happiness a bit louder. “I’m glad, seriously. You guys are too cute not to be together if you want to be.”

“Thanks, I’m just worried about the whole ‘working together’ thing.” She looks over with a frown. “What if it’s awkward? What if I say something weird?”

“You already answer his phone calls with ‘talk dirty to me’—work phone calls. I don’t think you have to worry about it being awkward,” Prentiss says, looking into the back seat. “You two have chemistry, and he’s head over heels for you.”

“And hot,” JJ says from the driver's seat. “You don’t let a guy that hot go because of a little awkward. You hold on for dear life.” They all laugh, and even Garcia seems happier after the short conversation. She segues into another topic, which makes Sophie feel a little awkward.

“Speaking of hot: Hotch took off his shirt, and I liked what I saw,” Garcia says with a playful grin.

“I know, right?” Prentiss says, glancing back again. “Who knew he’d be so buff under his sad fed suits.” I knew, I knew! Sophie thinks, but she knows she can’t say it without spilling the beans about everything that happened over the weekend, so she just hums in agreement.

“We can thank Sophie for getting him out of his shell this weekend,” JJ adds, looks back at her through the rear view mirror. “First she got him dancing, then swimming… I sense that Reid has competition for BFF.”

“Yep, me and Hotch, best buds,” she says, leaning against the window. Garcia seems to find something in her tone, if the look on her face is any consideration, but says nothing. “I’m sad Reid didn’t play on the beach though. He actually is my best bud, but he’s a tough nut to crack.”

The conversation gets lighter from there, a little more talk about Morgan and Garcia, how good breakfast was, how they’re never drinking again. When Sophie gets a text message, she’s a little too excited to answer it, almost throws her phone across the car when she fumbles it.

AH: Can I call you tonight? I realized we didn’t talk about everything you had questions about. I got distracted.

SC: No worries. I got distracted too.

SC: I’ll let you know when I’m home.

She is just unpacking her suitcase and contemplating what to have for dinner when her phone rings, and she grins. He didn’t even wait for her text, which is cute, and she tries to simmer down so she doesn’t sound like a complete weirdo when she answers.

She picks up her phone, and it’s not Aaron’s name she sees, but JJ’s.

“You don’t know how sorry I am to tell you this, but we have a case.” She sighs down the line. “Los Angeles. It’s bad, or I’d say it can wait until morning.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s your job. And we knew the vacation couldn’t last forever.” She drops her suitcase on the floor and replaces it with her go bag, stuffs it full of durable clothes. “I’ll see you in half an hour, JJ, thanks.”

“See you then.”

Sophie locks her phone and tosses it on the bed, does her best to get into a BAU state of mind.

#aaron hotchner x original female character #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner #criminal minds fanfic

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miserablesme · 3 years

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The Les Miserables Changelog Part 1: Barbican Previews

Hello everyone! I'm starting out a blog which will look at my favorite musical, Les Miserables, and will discuss the various changes it has gone through over time (musically and lyrically). As it turns out, a LOT of edits have been made over the years so this will doubtless be a series with several parts.

This first part may well be the most difficult and will almost certainly be the most incomplete, as previews can be a time of extensive editing and experimentation. At least for the first few weeks or so, it's perfectly possible any one day of previews will be slightly different than any other day. However, I only have access to two audios from the Barbican Theatre previews of Les Miserables, meaning it's likely that lyrical variants exist which I have no way of hearing.

I am aware of the existence of a third audio which is fairly early in the run of previews, as the tape's master has told me that Gavroche's death scene is in its original form (I'll clarify that later). However, that tape has never been traded, and has sadly only been listened to by its master. I am also aware of a video proshot of the Barbican era that exists in the Royal Shakespeare Company library, but currently have no access to it. I plan to inquire about whether I can look at it sometime (though I'm not sure a blog like this is "official" enough to warrant it for research purposes). As such, this comparison only entails the two widely circulated audios from the Barbican run.

Now that we've gotten that cleared up, let's get started!

First, let's look at the opening "Work Song". In the earlier recording I have (let's call it R1), the beginning music (the same tune used, for instance, at the opening of "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More" and for Marius and Cosette's meeting in "The Robbery") stops. Then, a few moments later, the more familiar opening that leads directly into the prologue begins. By the time of the later recording I have (let's call it R2), the scores have been combined so that the first tune directly transitions into the second one.

Meanwhile, in R1 there is a sequence of lines that goes as follows:

I've done no wrong

Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer

Look down, look down

Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I killed a man

He tried to steal my wife

Look down, look down

She wasn't worth your life

I know she'll wait

I know that she'll be true

Look down, look down

She's long forgotten you

Most fans of the musical recognize the middle sequence of lines ("I killed a man" through "She wasn't worth your life") as no longer being lines in the show (for good reason, as we'll get into in a later edition of this blog). However, R2 keeps the lines. Instead, it deletes the third sequence ("I know she'll wait" through "She's long forgotten you"). I have no idea if this lasted only a few performances or made it all the way to the end of the Barbican run, or somewhere in between.

During "On Parole", specifically after Valjean is underpaid for his labor and sings about his frustration, R1 uses a variation of the "Work Song" theme which, to my recollection, is heard nowhere else in the musical. It can be heard here. By R2, it was switched to an in-tune version of the number with a unique opening. The musical retains that version to this day, but in case you can't recall it you can hear it here.

Minus an unintentional line flub in "At the End of the Day" in R2, the two Barbican recordings seem to use the same libretto and score from this point until "The Runaway Cart". At this point, R1 has a rather extensive scene leading up to Valjean saving Fauchelevent, which goes approximately as follows (the dialog is difficult to make out):

(VALJEAN)

Is there anyone here who will rescue the man?

Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart?

I will pay any man thirty louis d’or more

I will do it myself if there’s no one who will

We can’t let him die like that down in the street

Can you all watch him die and do nothing at all?

(FAUCHELEVENT)

Don’t approach me, Monsieur Mayor

The cart’s not gonna be holding

Not my poor mother would care if I should die

(TOWNSPEOPLE)

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

There's nothing at all you can do

The old man's a goner for sure

Leave him alone

Most of that dialog is deleted in R2, so that it goes directly from "Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart" to "Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor". I really like the idea of the original version; it seems reasonable that Valjean, having become a more trusted man, would expect the townspeople to help him. It's more meaningful that Valjean is good enough to do what's right when there's more time to establish that no one else is. Having said that, the original version did take quite a while and didn't really contain any relevant information that wasn't in the final version. I think the cut version as heard in R2 is a good compromise and retains the general mood and pacing to make Valjean's ultimate action satisfying (something that can't be said of later cuts, as will be discussed in a future edition of this blog).

Additionally, at the end of the number Javert refers to "the mark upon his skin" in R1 and "the brand upon his skin in R2 (as well as literally every subsequent performance since then to my knowledge). I have no idea if the "mark" line was a minor flub or was actually the original lyric.

"Who Am I?" is an interesting one. The musical content is identical in R1 and R2, but in R1 after his high note, Valjean shouts "You know where to find me!" with emotion so dramatic it sits right on the border between awesome and campy. By contrast, Valjean is totally silent after his high note in R2. Neither version would see its final day just yet, although the latter certainly has become more traditional over time. More on that in future editions.

From this point until "Master of the House" everything is the same between the two recordings. Roger Allam even comes in slightly late in both "Confrontation" scenes (making his line "-jean, at last...")! However, in the opening to "Master of the House" the following lines occur in R1:

(THENARDIER)

My band of soaks, my den of dissolutes

My dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts

My sons of whores

Spend their lives in my inn

Homing pigeons flying in

They fly through my doors

And their money's good as yours

(CUSTOMERS)

Ain't got a clue what he put into his stew

Must've scraped it off the street

Hell, what a wine

Châteauneuf de Turpentine

Must've pressed it with his feet

Landlord over here

Where's the bloody man

One more for the road

One more slug of gin

Just one more or my old man is gonna do me in

All of those lines would be scrapped in R2. Personally I prefer this shortened variant than the one that would occur much later. Sure, some fun moments get lost, but nothing that actually adds any substance or characterization to the musical (unlike the later cut, which I'll discuss in a later edition of this blog). Some have speculated that this is simply lost dialog due to a tape flip of degrading, given that future performances would retain those lines. However, there is firsthand confirmation that the cuts were in fact part of the performance. To quote Trevor Nunn on page 87 of 1990's The Complete Book of Les Miserables (a page which elaborates that "the cost of overtime incurred after three hours could be crippling at a time when Les Miserables was still trying to find an audience"):

"Cameron wanted major cuts, which would have reduced its length to two and a half hours. I resisted, refusing to discuss things on those terms... Some of the other proposed cuts - like the removal of the "Master of the House" scene-setting preamble - were tried out in previews and then restored as the scenes would not work without them."

From a historical perspective that quote is invaluable. As will be brought up in a later blog post (notice a pattern today?) the musical would in fact be cut much later to avoid overtime charges. When people like myself have expressed the opinion that these cuts come at the expense of artistic integrity, I've seen others defend them by claiming that the overtime costs never were relevant to Cameron and the gang until Broadway sales began to go down, and that if they were taken into account the musical may well be in its shortened form from the beginning. However, this quote proves that argument to be false. Right from day one, the crew was aware that retaining a >3 hour runtime would come with severe financial costs, but this was deemed a worthy sacrifice in order to tell the story they wanted told. Indeed, it sounds like Cameron Mackintosh was waiting quite some time to enact his infamous cuts! (Cameron Mackintosh valuing profit above art?! Crazy, right??)

But I digress. Going back to the musical, the "Waltz of Treachery" number is mostly the same. However, after Valjean's "It won't take you too long to forget" line, R1 has over a minute of wordless vamping which leads right into the rather awkwardly-placed "Stars" song. By contrast, in R2 this vamping (which is still a minute long, mind you) leads into a humming duet between Little Cosette and Valjean, similar to the duet right before the number. A nice little bookend that makes the scene feel all the more resolved. (Much later this duet reprise would ironically be scrapped again, though!) The remaining segment of R1's vamping now plays after this sequence in R2.

Minus some unintentional missed lines at the beginning of "Stars" in R1, the recordings seem to follow the same libretto right up until "One Day More". Here, R1 uses the following lines:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

Was there ever love so true?

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

However, by R2 this scene is in its current form:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

And I swear I will be true

And that closes act one! Going on to the second act, the opening barricade scene has a few changes. First off, following the opening notes, R1 features a rather odd tune bearing resemblance to "Do You Hear the People Sing" (which can be heard here) before transitioning to a more true-to-form instrumental reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" By contrast, R2 goes straight from the opening notes to the true-to-form reprise.

Next, Enjolras proclaims "Have faith in yourself and do not be afraid" in R1, while in R2 he instead states "Every man to his duty and don't be afraid". It's unknown if this was an intentional libretto change or if it simply reflects a flub during R1. A later sequence uses the "Have faith in yourself" line, meaning he may have just sung the wrong line for that particular scene.

Finally, R1 includes the following sequence (at least I think this is how it goes, since the lyrics are a little hard to hear):

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And join with you

Who gives a speech in the square

Fortunately, R2 uses a much less clunky (though still somewhat so) sequence:

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And so they might

Some will bark, some will bite

This isn't quite its current form ("dogs" and "fleas" will soon respectively replace the two usages of "some"), but it's pretty darn close.

I've heard that the very first Barbican preview(s?) didn't have a finalized opening to "On My Own". Sadly there is no known audio record of this, so I cannot comment on what exactly it began as. As such, the next major change takes place during Gavroche's death scene. This honestly is probably the biggest of all the changes between the two recordings. R1 uses the following death scene (in the tune of "Look Down" right up until the "So never kick a dog" verse, which is in the tune of "Little People"):

How do you do, my name’s Gavroche

These are my people, here’s my patch

Not much to look at, nothing posh

Nothing that you’d call up to scratch

Some fool, I bet, whose brains are made of fat

Picks up a gun and shoots me down

Nobody told him who he’s shooting at

He doesn’t know who runs this town

Life’s like that

There’s some folk

Missed the joke

That’s three, that’s three

That one has done for me

Too fast, too fast

They’ve got Gavroche at last

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You better run for cover when the pup grows...

By contrast, R2 uses a much shorter variant which is set entirely to the tune of "Little People":

And little people know

When little people fight

We may look easy picking but we've got some bite

So never kick a dog

Because he's just a pup

You'd better run for cover when the pup grows up

And we'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give...

This is much closer to its current form, although the last two lines are inverted (we'll get to that in a later edition).

We now fast-forward to "Dog Eats Dog", which while recognizable is very different from the number we know today. The chorus of R1 claims that "It's a dirty great sewer that's crawling with rats", which R2 changes it to "stinking great sewer" instead. I'd definitely say the revised lyric better captures Thenardier's and the sewer's grossness.

Additionally, regarding Marius' ring, Thenardier originally exclaims that he "didn't mean to waste it, that would really be a crime". By R2, the line changes to "wouldn't want to waste it", which I'd say makes a lot more sense.

"Javert's Suicide" has changed a lot. R1 features the following remarks following "Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life":

Damned if I live in this caper of grace

Damned if I live in the debt of Valjean

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

Is this the law or has sanity gone?

(I'm a little unsure as to how accurate the final line is.)

By R2, the lines have been replaced with the current ones:

Damned if I live in the debt of a thief

Damned if I yield at the end of the chase

I am the law and the law is not mocked

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

In R1, the "Where's the new world, now the fighting's done" line is absent, and there is nothing but instrumentals in the segment where it is usually sung. By contrast, it is sung as usual in R2. My guess is that an actress simply forgot her line in R1 and it was always supposed to be there, though I can't say for sure.

The final change occurs at the wedding scene. The singing which opens the number is repeated in R1. By contrast, R2 has it sung once and then done with, as it currently is (and as it should be in my opinion, since the music isn't particularly pretty and contributes nothing to the plot).

Later in the same scene, R1 includes approximately this exchange (again, it's quite hard to make out the exact lyrics):

(THENARDIER)

I was there

Never fear

Even got me this fine souvenir

He was there

Her old dad

*indecipherable* and fleecing this lad

Robbed the dead

That's his way

(MME. THENARDIER)

That's worth five hundred any old day

(MARIUS)

I know this...

By R2, everything between "He was there" and "Any old day" were removed, which makes sense given that they essentially just rehash what was already said.

Finally, there's a subtle difference in the epilogue, specifically during the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" reprise. In R1, the ensemble sings "They will live again in glory in the garden of the Lord". R2 replaces the word "glory" with "freedom", and that word remains the one used to this day. I suppose "freedom" is more appropriate for the context of peace and prosperity. To many, I'd guess that "glory" conjures imagery of knights, battles, and the like; just the kind of violence that the characters wish to move away from! I have no idea if this was why the writers changed the lyric, but it's my hypothesis.

Towards the end of the show, the chorus in R1 sings "Even the darkest moon will end and the sun will rise". By R2, this is changed to "the darkest night". Makes more sense to me, since moons aren't known for being particularly dark!

And that just about sums this part up! If I missed anything feel free to let me know, as my goal is to create a changelog as thorough and complete as possible. I plan on making more parts in the near future covering all the changes that have been made in the show up until this day (discounting concerts). Any feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what's commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, I'd love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye...

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sunseteyes · 3 years

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FLUFFVEMBER DAY 30: KENMA KOZUME

prompt: random questions at 1am (prompts are by @jojosmilktea)

word count: 1,414 words | themes: gen!reader. comfort fluff? domestic! pre-established relationship

tags: @kacchanori @chickynn @todominica @sparkleswritings @brinthie @patricia-ceballos @giyuus-wife @bitchtrynafck @astrxrism @animatedarchives @deephasoceanmagic @strawberrysalwa @kawaiinishii @moonlightaangel @mrs-kuroojinguji @meliorist-midoriya @pandabobachan

rv: entirely self-indulgent. this is my routine at nightㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ) plus, i first wrote this at 1am hehehe. also, if you guys want a song inspo listen to dreamy night by lilypichu it fits this fic so well!! also, thank you so much for supporting me all throughout my fluffvember! aaa i’m never doing anything like this again but instead maybe an event that posts every atleast 2 days?? heheh. i may have grew exhausted at least more than once but this was fun! please do look forward to my future events~ i love you all~ although speaking of kenma i’ll have an smau for him comin up!

✒︎ unspoken rule

kenma was sleeping when he heard the muffled noises that eventually became the cause of his consciousness, pulling him into the wake world with his eyes landing on you, your phone held up to your face as the light from the gadget reflected on your irises; eyes wide open, indicating that you have been focusing on whatever you were doing on the screen.

obviously from the sounds though, kenma could rule out that you were playing your favorite game—mobile legends, probably. he wasn't much of a fan of that game since he knows and likes the others more, but since it was the only game you and him mutually could play, he frequently lets you indulge him to play with you. he also knows that the only reason you might be playing as of the moment is because you couldn't sleep, just like usual.

however, his eyes were already giving up and he let the sounds from your game lull him again to sleep, pulling him in the dream world where his unconsciousness settles him in and tucks him in a fantasy that he might not even remember the moment he opens his eyes.

it was 1AM when he was awoken again, which was unlikely of him since he usually wakes up an hour after, and he'll play games from then on. despite that, he forced himself to stay awake when he sees your form, this time in front of your laptop, clearly working on something—probably a schoolwork or a tumblr post you would schedule to be published by tomorrow evening.

he sits up from the bed and he immediately wanted to lay back down again, his body urging him to. still, he raises up a hand to rub on his eyes, hoping to scratch away the sleepiness in his system.

he was half-asleep when he pulls himself to stand and sit on the empty chair next to you—the one he usually occupies whenever he's gaming or doing his livestreams. your chair will only rarely be occupied by you since you do your work outside, where you set-up your laptop and things to do on fresh air, also as a way to not be interrupted by the sounds his switch or keyboard produces whenever he plays.

every night though, is a different story.

kenma knows you are not much of a procastinator and usually does your schoolworks or stuff to do as early as possible—and he actually admires you for that. for him, you were one of the most responsible person he has ever met. however, you have a tendency to pressure yourself to do things as fast as possible, and kenma is here to support you, even if he has to sacrifice one hour of his sleep just to accompany you in your work.

he didn't have to peak on your laptop screen and just pushed his chair next to you, presumably a natural move of his—which it is, anyway. he then raises both of your hand rests so that he can settle himself beside you and lean his head on your shoulder, letting his eyelids close as you merely continued typing away from your laptop.

this is not actually the first time you've attempted to stay up late while doing your schoolworks or other things that could only keep you busy. that's why this is also not the first time he has done this for you and these moments just comes by, as if it was part of your daily routine.

"what are you working on again?" came out kenma's voice, soft and slurred from the drowsiness, but still clear enough for you, who was only inches away from him. he feels you halt your movements, and probably looks at him sideways for a second before continues on with your work.

"i have this event that i'm working on. i was supposed to do this last week but i got piled up by my schoolworks. you should sleep on the bed, ken. aren't you uncomfortable in this position?"

"i'm not," he says almost instantly, situating his head further onto your shoulder. "are you?"

"no, it's fine." there was a pleasantry in your voice that even when his eyes were closed, he knew you were smiling. "this actually feels nice. thanks for accompanying me again."

kenma on the other hand, barely had energy left to form a reaction, but he was still able to speak and mutter out words, nonetheless.

"ask me questions, (y/n). i might fall asleep if you don't."

"hm? isn't it better if you sleep instead? it's alright, y’know. i know you're tired."

"i'm not,” his brows curl and furrow in the slightest, "-just keep me from falling asleep."

"okay, alright, alright." you chuckle lowly, your energy depleted all the same, but seemingly still in a fair mood. he notices you stop your typing and you were humming, as if thinking and pondering deeply.

"what's your moon sign?"

"what's that?" kenma's eyes flufter and he sees you typing away again.

"like-your sun sign in the zodiac is libra right? the moon sign is the sign that you truly are deep inside of you." you say, despite being preoccupied. you're good at multi-tasking like that.

"i don't know what you're talking about." his eyelids closes again as he says the word "next"

"okay, uh-if me and kuroo are drowning, who would you save?"

"you," he says, not even thinking about it. "kuroo knows how to swim and you don't. besides, i'm sure kuroo would be the one saving you before he could even drown."

you let out a chuckle, probably grinning wide despite the straight-up insult he just gave.

"yeah, i think so too. your lazy ass would be ordering kuroo to save me instead, that's what."

he removes himself from your shoulder and opens his eyes to weakly glare at you, a pout on his lips that you had to laugh when you glanced at him sideways.

“what? it’s true.” you giggled and he eventually makes his way back to your shoulder, his silky hair tickling the sides of your face.

"how long are you going to stay up anyway? i'd have to play a game in a few later." he mumbles under his breath, his eyelids probably sliding shut with its desire to sleep.

your typing stops and your head turns his way once again, a hand along its way to reach for his hand, squeezing it ever so gently, "i told you, you could take a nap now. i'd just wake you up later when it's 2 AM."

your reassurance seems to have proven its worth when he lets out a breath that resembles one of a scoff, snuggling a little more on your shoulder, making himself more comfortable.

"head on to the bed, ken. you'll have a stiff neck if you sleep like that."

"i won't."

"hm?" you resumed typing, your focus divided upon kenma and what you were doing previously. you're so used in multitasking, but since you were far more concerned with his well-being, your fingers couldn't even find a way to work out anything with how your mind seemingly can’t form the thoughts you wanted it to do so.

"i won't, i'll stay here. just wake me up on time." he mutters as he drifts off, his breathing stabilizes and his form going slump next to you.

without noticing yourself, a corner of your lip curling up as the words to your work began to come back on your mind, your fingers working its way to type on your computer. you found a little bit of comfort in defiance of the stiffness and exhaustion of your muscles, trying your best not wake the other.

with him there, it was enough. with him beside you, it’s more than just enough.

thus you continued to work, with thoughts of how you’d sleep on kenma’s lap while he’s gaming a little bit later the moment he wakes up. just like usual, even in the difference of your waking states, you two still kept each other company.

despite having no conversation or obligation to do so, it became like an unspoken rule to keep the other from feeling lonely. because even in the darkest of nights and the brightest of days, you're there for him, and he's there for you.

and that alone was enough to go through the day, even at 1AM, where everyone else was sound asleep. at least, you have kenma here, right beside you.

#kenma kozume #kenma x reader #kenma x you #haikyuu x reader #kenma oneshots #fluffvember 2020 #fluffvember

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lustbile-archive · 4 years

Text

Want To Request a Song?

JohnnyxReader

Word Count: 3.5k

Summary/Warning: the third installment of the club x series. Full on public sex and exhibitionism, knife/blood play, and can border on being degrading so read at your own risk. This is also the one best at explaining what tf is going on in club x

Apart of my Club X series: Masterlist

You knew what Club X was way before you even walked through its doors.

A friend of a friend let the details of the gritty part of town spill from her lips when you had gotten together to have drinks and trade gossip in the safety of her apartment. You were equally as guilty of letting your lips loosen from the alcohol swimming in your veins, and you let this girl you knew very little about in on your secret that it had been a while since you had last gotten any. An even longer time since anyone had made you properly come. Why you let her in on such intimate details about your sex life was a mystery, but the advice she shared in response didn’t hurt in the slightest.

“There’s this club you know,” she had said, in a tone that was meant to be a whisper but fell a little short. Her nails that were decorated in chipping polish brushed comfortingly across your shoulder as she wiggled her eyebrows at you, “i’ve only been a few times, but it’s where you need to go if you’re in a desperate need for a fucking.”

You giggled at her choice words, your eyes rolling in disbelief, “so a sex club hm? I don’t know about that.”

“No, no, no,” her words slurred as she returned your laughter, clearly pleased with your doubt, “it’s better than just a sex club. See, you go and it’s like the universe creates the exact person you need right when you walk in.”

“The universe hm?”

“Yeaaaahh. The universe…” her eyes squint as her thoughts drift off momentarily, “like you walk in and they just find you. They find you and it’s like they put this spell on you. It makes you so hot like instantly, and then you’re down to business right then and there.”

“Right then and there?!” you have to admit that you’re humoring her at this point, but you’re still a little scandalized at her words, “like in front of everyone?”

“No! No, no, no,” her hands wave in front of her face like she’s swatting at an invisible bug, “I mean yeah, but it’s like they can’t even see you.”

“What they just ignore the two people just having full on sex in the middle of a club?”

“Yeah, I mean unless you want to be seen,” she explains, her face screwing up in confusion when you don’t seem to understand what she’s saying, “Listen, I can’t explain it the way they do. There’s just something that these people can do that just takes away every worry you have. You’re just there and in the moment. It’s so great you’ll just have to go or you’ll never understand.”

You humor her and let her write the address down in your phone, smiling fondly when she keeps your phone a little longer to add vulgar emojis along side the information.

And for a while that was it. The address remained in your phone, forgotten as it got buried underneath grocery lists and reminders that made little to no sense out of context. All it took for you to finally pay the club a visit was one night.

You found yourself bored out of your mind and far too horny for your own good. You were too frustrated and pissed off at the world to give yourself the satisfaction of masturbating, so instead you just sat on your phone, cleaning out your photos and notepad when you stumbled on the address paired with its mess of emojis.

Without any further thought you were up, getting ready, and calling an uber to take you to the address provided by the bubbly drunk girl. You tried to ignore the wary and judgmental glare from the driver as you pulled up on an old warehouse that was decorated with blaring red neon lights that only read “Club X: Enter at Your Own Risk.”

To say that night was a fluke was an understatement. People approached you of course, but there was no magical hypnosis that you were promised, not that you were really expecting it to actually happen. There were cute people, but no one that cut at your core enough to dull your irritation at the world. Instead you sipped at a drink someone else had graciously paid for, ogled at the pretty man working the DJ booth surrounded by his friends, and then caught another uber home with the personal promise that that would be your first, and last visit to Club X.

Well you told yourself that at least.

It was only about a week later that you found yourself pulling out an outfit and opening your uber app. You chalked it up to needing a good drink, but there was a confused nagging in the back of your mind that told you that you had no good reason for actually returning.

With a different uber driver, but a similar glare, you found yourself back at the dingy club. You sat in the same seat as before, had a new pretty face order you the same drink, as you found your glance being pulled back to the same cute DJ.

You felt some shame finding him so cute. He seemed out of place in the club. Most people here were dressed in party clothes, while he wore neutral toned hoodies, and this time a hat turned backwards. His headphone only left his ears a handful of times so he could laugh and jeer with the men that surrounded him almost like permanent ornaments. Truthfully he was handsome as hell, but other than that what was there to stare at?

You left that night with that thought pulling at your mind, and you returned multiple times after with the same thought nagging you every time.

You were becoming a regular at the club, as embarrassing as it was. Even though you had yet to experience any wild sexual magic like you had been drunkenly promised, it was like the first night your drink was spiked with a magnet that pulled you towards the building almost every weekend at this point. You hadn’t told the girl that had given you the address, and you definitely didn’t tell any of your friends. You just didn’t want them to believe that you were developing an unhealthy dependency on alcohol, even though you would never even finish one glass. And maybe if you were getting shit faced, you would understand why you kept returning, but every time you’d leave so sober that you could convince someone you hadn’t drank at all.

The first few times, you scrambled for an explanation for why you couldn’t stay away, but you always feel short. It was as if your own body was keeping a secret from your mind. It was beginning to be muscle memory they way you’d get dressed and call for an uber every time.

And you’d think with how much time you’d spent at the crowded club, watching random strangers create masses of sexual energy, you’d had seen everything, but you stiffen in confusion when you see it.

A pretty girl hopped up to the dj booth, her wild hair bouncing along with her, as the girl she was making out with only moments before giggled and squirmed in her seat. The look the DJ wears is disinterested, but aware when she leans her hands down on his table to start spilling hiccuped words in his face.

You can only see her mouth moving at a rapid pace, the music and the distance between you making her words impossible to hear. Whatever she asked prompts a gentle nod from the man, and as she prances away he moves his fingers across the knobs and switches until a new song starts to spill out of the speakers tucked into various corners of the room.

Did she request a song change? The questions runs through your mind as your eyes trace her form, your eyes only darting away when she tackles the other girl and shoves her tongue into the space of her mouth.

You had never seen someone request a song from the man, the closest thing maybe being a jab to the back from one of his friends that was a consistent character as he casually suggested something. Realistically, requesting a certain song isn’t incredibly weird, but something about the knowledge that the tall broad man standing on the platform that placed him so highly above the other bodies in the room is actually approachable was frying the nerves in your brain.

A few songs come and go by the time you’re standing up, your legs feeling as if they’re moving on their own. You’re not sure at what point between learning that you were allowed to walk up to him and you actually starting to walk towards him that you decided that you needed to get close, but the time you’re regaining your consciousness, you’re climbing the small set of stairs leading up the stage.

He seems to notice your presence before you reach him, as while you're still a bit away, his head lifts to lock his eyes onto yours. The way he smiles at you makes you stop momentarily and hesitate, one corner of his lips rises higher than the other gives his face a less than good intentioned aura. Instead of making you falter and turn back to return to the drink you had abandoned at the bar, you feel your stomach warm and turn as you pick up your steps.

Your hips bump into the edge of the table as you lean your palms flat on the top, your nails gently digging into the material as you try to form a sentence in your head. Your tongue rolls against your teeth and your lips part before he’s looking down again, but interrupting you with his own words.

“It’s about time you came up here,” he adds a dry laugh when he hears the confused noise that jumps from your chest. He ignores the quiet ‘hm?’ you offer in response before he continues, “I mean I would have made a move first but I can’t really leave my station y’know?”

He shrugs as he returns his eyes to you, clearly entertained by your confusion. Your eyes dart around his face, momentarily moving to glance at the boys that are scattered behind him either holding their own conversations or watching you two in amusement. When you look at him, he looks expectant.

One of the boys jeers at him saying, ‘fuck off John, you know they don’t know what you’re talking about.’ And even though the comment only adds to your confusion, you can’t stop the way your body warms at the spike of embarrassment it puts in you, the man in front of you only responding to the remark by digging his tongue into the inside of his cheek in irritation.

“You came here looking for trouble didn’t you?” it takes you a beat to realize he’s asking you, another moment to realize the question is meant to be suggestive, and one last one to form a response.

“I think I might be,” you feel yourself dumbly nod, as your chest gets fuzzy. Maybe this is when you finally get to experience what that girl had promised so many weeks ago. Could the dj have been your person this whole time?

“Ah ah,” he shakes his head almost disappointedly, “I need a solid yes before I can give you what you need baby. You should know that much at least.”

“I- I mean, okay,” consent you understood, but the way he says it makes your brain swim in confusion. Why wouldn’t you say yes?

“Yes. I’m looking for trouble,” you say, your own confidence finally finding its way into your words, “I’m looking to cause trouble with you.”

The smile he wears is evil, and absolutely giddy with your return of energy. He takes a few steps back from the table and gestures to his side saying, “then please, enter my office.”

You feel a jolt of energy hit you, before you’re rounding the corner of the table. You only have a second to register the sharp pain of where your hip bumped into the corner, before he’s wrapping his large hand around the back of your neck and pulling you to press his mouth against yours.

His warm breath could have been considered an aphrodisiac in the way it fills your mouth and warms your core. His other hand wraps around your waist as he backs you into the table, his hands and lips so suddenly on you is overwhelming, but not enough to distract you from the way his friends begin to start oohing at the spectacle you two put on.

What had that girl said? No one can see you unless you want them to? With the handful of boys surrounding you, you can’t help but to doubt that you can just make yourself vanish from their prying eyes, but even if you could, would you want to? You feel warm in shame, as while his tongue dips behind your teeth and explore the space of your mouth, you start to feel excited at the idea of all his friends watching you get the relief you had been craving for so long.

The moment your subconscious decided you want the boys to see you in such a vulnerable state, one of them lets out a scandalized and excited yelp, before turning to another and exclaiming, “oh shit they want us to see them. Look at that.”

The boys attached to your mouth smiles as he pulls your bottom lip between his teeth, a warm laugh filling the air between you, “hmm so bad aren’t you? You like to be watched?”

You whine in response, as your hands move to claw at his soft t-shirt. Your hips jump and knock into his when his fingers start to grope and squeeze at your flesh. You’re acutely aware at the way he presses his leg between yours and uses his hand to make you start grinding on his thigh.

“How ‘bout you give them a real show and bend over nice a pretty for us,” it’s not a question, but a demand as he lifts you slightly away from the table, and turns you to push your torso down flat. You try to take deep breaths, as his hands run up and down your sides until the tips of his fingers pinch the hem of your skirt.

“There we go,” he sounds overtly proud, when he flips the fabric up to lay against your back, his friends responding to the newly exposed flesh of your ass with appreciative whistles.

He steps to the side of you, his hands slipping between your hips and the table to lift them up. He uses his grip to move you side to side, shamelessly encouraging you to tauntingly move your hips for the many sets of eyes. If it wasn’t for the way your walls softly clench around nothing, you would be ashamed of the way being watched like this makes you drip.

He begins to drag the thin fabric of your underwear down, to tease not only you, but your engaged viewers. Once the fabric hits the floor, there’s a chorus of hisses and groans at the sight of you wet and excited.

You whimper at the feeling of so many eyes tracing your body, even louder when the man grabs onto the flesh of your ass to spread you for them all to see. You don’t know what comes over you when you petulantly kick the floor and let out a demanding ‘please.’

The only response you get in return is his hand running against you to check the severity of your arousal and the jeers from the boys of how, ‘Johnny got a bratty one.’

If it weren’t for the blaring music, you’d hear the metallic sound of his zipper being pulled down, the only thing you get as a warning that he had pulled himself from the restraints of his underwear, is when the leaking tip of his cock begins to dip into you.

You feel the tense strain on your muscles melt away as he presses into you. The size of him stretching you out makes you feel delirious as you’re thankful for the amount he’s managed to make you wet in such a short amount of time, as if he hadn’t you’re not sure he’d be able to fit so easily.

When his hips finally press tightly against you, he lets out a rumbled groan. His hands hold tightly to your hips as he pauses to give you both time to adjust, and you can only somewhat hear the shuffling of the others as they move in an attempt to get a better angle to watch.

His thrusts are lazy and deep as he moves against you, one hand leaves your skin and the fabric of his shirt moves away telling you he’s lifting it in his own attempt to get a better look at where he fucks into you.

Your legs part farther as you begin to desperately shake, the way he digs into every nerve inside you makes you keen, but you want nothing more than to have him move harder.

“Please John,” you beg, trying to see how his name would taste in your mouth, your own hand moving back to wrap tightly around his wrist.

“Shut the fuck up,” you barely register the pain that burns through your skin from where his open palm meets the sensitive skin of you ass. His tone was harsh, but the satisfied chuckle that not only leaves him, but also his friends, makes a dopey grin fill your face as a moan rolls off your tongue.

“Fuck look at how bad they want it,” the voice from your side tells you it’s someone else, the tone excited and bubbly as if they’re watching something a lot more innocent than a stranger get fucked in the middle of a club.

“So bad huh?” Johnny sounds almost proud at the way you and everyone reacts to the pleasure he’s giving you, “such a good little whore, taking everything I’ll give.”

Pleads and begs roll off your tongue as his harsh words fry your brain. His hips only quicken slightly before he’s grabbing your side to pull you up against him. It feels like a flash of time, when he grabs the hem of your shirt, and pulls it over your head. Once you're bare to the stuffy air of the club and your shirt is thrown carelessly over his shoulder, you're just as quickly shoved back onto the table and he’s pistoning fast and harshly into you.

His hand harshly meets you burning skin again and you squeak in response. His voice is rough as he puts all his strength into fucking you deep and he commands to no one in particular, “someone get it for me.”

His words mean nothing as the way he pulls against you starts pushing to the edge of your orgasm. You can only gasp and claw at the table when one of his friends leans closer and taps at your spine right between your shoulder blades and whatever he holds against you begins to cut into your skin.

Once his friend is moved away, he suddenly pulls out making you clench harshly and whine. You feel the trickle of blood that travels down your skin, but the sting of his warm tongue collecting the dripping red and digging into the new wound on your back. The sting is almost unbearable and makes you squirm against him, but the pain is muffled when he reaches down and begins to roll tight circles onto your neglected clit.

His fingers are unrelenting as he rushes you to your finish. The pleasure between your thighs mixing with the sharp pain against your back makes your vision begin to go fuzzy. You can only somewhat register the boyish laughs of excitement that surround you as you finally start to come.

It feels like there’s a monster inside you that claws at you nerves. Every inch of your body set on fire is so distracting, you can only yell into the air when he moves to push back into you. He thrusts only a few times before he stills against you, the warmth of him filling you making your overstimulated nerves scream.

You can only lie there as he starts to fix your clothes, harsh demands of ‘the show is over, go away’ begin thrown over his shoulder as he drags you away and back to the bar.

You sleepily lean against him as he nods at the stoic man handing out drinks. He brings you a glass of water, that Johnny presses against your chapped lips.

“You can come relax behind the booth while I work once you finish the glass,” he reassures as he pets at your damp skin, “the boys are a lot nicer than what you just witnessed I swear.”

You’re too dopey to truly register what he says as you only nod in response before babbling, “so you’re my person?”

The laugh he lets out is soft, a lot sweeter and warming that any he’d offered before, “yeah I’m your person, and you’re wild ass is mine.”

#nct smut #johnny smut #nct #johnny #nct imagines #johnny imagines #nct oneshot #johnny oneshot #johnny suh #club x

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emilia3546 · 3 years

Text

Shadowsinger Part 18 - Gwynriel

ACOSF Spoilers! Do Not read this unless you have finished ACOSF and the Azriel bonus chapter*

Masterlist with all previous chapters

*****

Cassian was still giving Azriel weird looks when they finished training that evening, having missed the usual morning session, and Azriel finally rolled his eyes and glared at him,

"What? You've been weird all day."

"Did something happen?" Cassian narrowed his eyes, leveling a concerned gaze at him,

"No, I'm fine, what are you on about?"

"I know you're fine, you just seem a bit different today, did you sleep last night? I know you don't sleep much at the moment, but you just seem, I don't know, it just seems like something's changed."

"Yes, I slept last night, I've been sleeping properly for about a week now," Azriel muttered, something had changed, but it was nothing that Cassian and his big nose needed to know about just yet.

"And Gwyn was practically glowing when I saw her earlier, not like that," he rolled his eyes, "I'd know if that had happened, she seemed happier than usual, more at peace, the same way that you do."

"Really?" Gwyn seemed happier, because of him? Azriel couldn't help the grin that sprang to his face at the thought of her happy, especially if he had made her that way,

"I knew it. What the hell did I interrupt this morning?"

"Nothing, we were talking, taking a moment of calm before an idiot interrupted, and she decided that she was getting up after all." Cassian snorted, halfheartedly apologized, and seemed to let it go, but turned back to Azriel before he left,

"I'm glad you found her." Azriel almost blinked in surprise, he knew that Cassian would be happy, but it was still difficult to remember that people cared, that anyone would bother to be happy for him. "But," oh gods, there was always a 'but' wasn't there, "I will be returning the favor, 'chaperone', don't you worry." Azriel rolled his eyes, but a spark lit in his chest at Cassian's words, he wasn't just happy because Azriel was, he saw a future between him and Gwyn, he thought that this was a good decision. Something made him chuckle,

"I don't think that'll be an issue for a while, we're not you and Nesta, no matter how much I love her, we're not idiots."

"Oi, that's my mate you're talking about," Cassian joked, forcing a glare at Azriel, but broke down into a laugh moments later, and clapped him on the shoulder, "You are idiots, I'm guessing you told her last night, despite everyone, apparently everyone but her, knowing for ages now." Cassian grinned again when he walked off, leaving Azriel desperately trying to figure out how everyone else could have known for ages when he didn't know himself.

Without Cassian's endless chatter, it seemed that the whole house was sleeping, the hallways were all silent, and dark. Azriel paused as he passed his study, the unfinished plans screaming at him to work until they were ready, but he turned away. Gwyn had been right, he would work better in the morning, when he was rested, but the first step away was still difficult, still felt wrong. Besides, Gwyn would be waiting for him again, and she'd come and fetch him if he didn't show up soon. Azriel slowly shook his head as he walked, chuckling to himself at the thought of the fiery redhead literally dragging him away from his work so that he would sleep,

"What are you laughing about?" Gwyn's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he snapped his gaze up to where she was leaning against the doorframe, hair unbound, already in her nightgown, smiling softly to herself,

"The idea of you dragging me back here if I tried to do any more work."

"Damn right I would, you watch yourself shadowsinger, any funny business, and I'll tell the shadows not to let you out of this room." Azriel chuckled, knowing full well that if she did that, they would obey her, even if he outright ordered them to let him out.

"You're a devious little creature, you know that."

"You wouldn't have it any other way," she chuckled, and dodged him when he moved to kiss the top of her head, "Bath first," he tried again, and she yelped, darting to the side, "No, you get away from me until you've bathed, you smell."

"You wound me! I do not smell." He sniffed the air, "Maybe I do smell, but you still wound me." Gwyn snorted, and pointed to the bathroom,

"I already ran a bath, it should still be warm, I wasn't expecting you to have a gossip session with Cass. That is what you were doing?"

"He might've wanted to discuss a couple things." Azriel muttered, wondering how on earth he'd become this transparent, or maybe it was Gwyn, he'd never really been able to hide from her,

"About us? He gave me a funny look earlier,"

"Yes, he says everyone's known for ages, but I don't know how, I didn't."

"Maybe we didn't have to." Gwyn settled down on the bed, leaning against a pillow set up against the headboard, a book already in her hands as she glanced back at the bathroom, "Bath. Now." Azriel chuckled something about her becoming a tyrant, but obeyed nonetheless.

The water was still warm, and he closed his eyes for a few moments, the rustling of Gwyn turning the pages of her book almost sending him to sleep. This was what he wanted, the safety to relax for a moment, no worries about someone or something trying to kill him all the time, the female he loved safe and content. He'd hadn't noticed how long it had been, but he opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps,

"Are you drowning? Or sleeping?"

"Neither," he chuckled, "Daydreaming," Gwyn perched on the edge of the bath, next to his head, keeping herself turned towards his face, and poured a bucket of water over his head, giving him just enough warning to take a breath and squeeze his eyes shut before the water rushed over his face. Gwyn laughed, and moments later, soft fingers brushed the wet hair out of his face,

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing. And everything. What the world could be, if we can just get some peace."

"It'll be beautiful," she whispered, "I see the way you sometimes get, all of you, I can't wait to see the world that you will build,"

"The world that we will build, Gwyn. You will be there, every step of the way, right with me, with out family," she smiled,

"That world will be the home of the dreamers, the ones who left the world a better place than they found it." She brushed her fingers through his hair again, her gaze slowly switching from contemplative to playful, and she snatched the bottle of shampoo off the edge of the bath, "You use lavender shampoo?"

"It's my mother's favorite flower." She turned the bottle over in her hand, and flipped open the cap,

"Can I wash your hair? Maybe then it'll be less all over the place," she joked, but made to hand the bottle back to Azriel, perhaps worried that he didn't want her touching his hair,

"Yes, of course you can, but,"

"Hush," she muttered, and shifted to sit behind him, careful to step over his wings without touching them, and perched on the little footstool that he'd gotten for her, even if she didn't realize it was for her, he'd never needed one to reach the top shelves, but Gwyn certainly did. She tipped his head back, sliding her fingers into his hair, and Azriel let out a sigh, closing his eyes, his whole being narrowing down to her fingers in his hair, the way she was carefully holding his head just above the hard edge of the bathtub. His breaths slowed, and he could almost see Gwyn's smile, even with his eyes closed, that little knowing smile that she gave him each time she realized that he was calm, happy, mostly when she was around if he was being honest.

Softly, Gwyn started to hum, her fingers in Azriel's hair following the same rhythm, her humming slowly getting louder, until it changed from simple humming to song. He didn't recognize the words, but he would always know a song designed for calming, it had almost the same melody as his mother's lullaby, the notes practically floating around him, stilling his mind and his body as Gwyn rinsed his hair off,

"You sang me your lullaby, now I've sung you mine. This is the one that one of the other priestesses used to sing when I had nightmares. I don't know where it's from, but I still sometimes hum it to myself when I need to calm, or to ground myself when I'm nervous."

"It's beautiful." Azriel murmured, and opened his eyes to find Gwyn wreathed in shadow, to find them encircling her head. A crown, that's what it was, he sang to the shadows, but Gwyn, she was their Queen, and he was blessed to stand beside her. She raised an eyebrow at his contemplative look, but giggled when he reached up to cup the back of her neck, and pulled her down for a kiss, "You're so beautiful." He whispered, blinking in surprise when Gwyn flushed slightly, he hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she was, she was the most beautiful female he'd ever seen.

*****

Gwyn left Azriel alone to dry himself off and put on a pair of pants, but she immediately put her book aside when he emerged, his hair tidier than usual, as if he'd taken pains to make sure it was. The moment he sat down, she ran her hands through it again, and fluffed it up, chuckling at his exasperated sigh,

"I like it like that." She said as he flopped backwards onto the mattress, smirking at him as she swung a leg over his hips, her hands on his shoulders. She wasn't totally sure he was breathing until she leaned down to kiss him and a hand dove into her hair holding her against him. She leaned down and gripped his shoulders, rolling sideways, so that Azriel was leaning on his forearms above her. She took a deep breath, still holding on to him. Azriel, this was Azriel, she loved him, she trusted, she wanted him. He stilled, allowing her to decide what she wanted from him, and she closed her eyes, but opened them the moment a familiar song filled her ears, deep and rich, he clearly didn't know the words, but Azriel was humming her song, her calming song, and she smiled, and nodded, "I'm okay."

"Tell me what you want."

"Kiss me again." He did, slowly, sliding a hand across to the back of her head, grounding her against any remaining fears. It was his touch, his eyes, his voice, everything about him that shoved her fear aside, this was her choice, he was her choice. She had chosen him, and she was never letting go, not now, not ever. She blinked her eyes open when Azriel pulled back, brushing his thumb across her cheek, "I love you," she whispered, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned back down, opening at the first brush of his tongue, savoring the feeling of his body pressed against hers, pushing her down into the mattress, a little of his weight on her, but far from scaring her, it ignited a fire within her. She nipped at his lip, and moaned into his mouth, letting her head fall back, baring her neck to him,

"Tell me to stop and I will. Always." No matter how much he wanted this, wanted her, Gwyn could see in his eyes, even if she hadn't already known that fact, no matter how far down this path they were, the moment she changed her mind, he would stop, and wait for what she wanted.

"Yes." She whispered, her eyes fluttering closed when he kissed along her jaw, working his way from one side to the other before pressing a gentle kiss to the side of her neck. Gwyn slipped a hand up to the back of his neck, not quite holding him still, but just letting him know that she wanted more, that she was okay. When his tongue flicked against her skin she thought that she was going to explode, somehow he had done this, had made her want more, more more. She let out some sort of sound, and tipped her head back further, demanding more, if he could make her feel this good from just kissing, she could hardly imagine what it'd be like when he got between her legs. She opened her eyes when Azriel's weight lifted off her, and found him staring down at her, his head wreathed in a crown of shadow, great dark wings lifted up behind him. He smiled, and brushed a hand through her hair, still splayed across her pillow from when she'd rolled over. He gently brushed a hand up her waist, only her nightgown between them. She wanted him to take it off, but she couldn't quite manage the words to ask him, not yet. Another night then, but she could still touch him, and let him touch her, even a little bit.

Azriel's own eyes flickered shut, and he moaned out her name when she lifted her head to kiss his jaw, gripping onto his shoulders tighter than before, then dropped back down, and ran her hands down his chest, and back up. She never quite worked up the courage to dip her touch below his navel, but that too could come another night. She grinned, and laughed when Azriel gathered her up into his arms, rolling sideways so that she was lying on his chest, his wings wrapped around her. She let her head rest on his chest, his heart thundering next to her ear. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face,

"Thank you for trusting me." Gwyn just snuggled into him, and mumbled that she trusted him with anything and everything he could possibly imagine. No other words were needed as they lay there in silence, Gwyn holding Azriel's shoulders with his arms wrapped tight around her waist, and his wings shielding her from the world, but leaving her room to wriggle. Even the shadows were settling close around them, calm and quiet, but not in the way. Gwyn sighed in contentment, this, this was what they were fighting for, this, and everyone else who had someone they loved, who they wanted to live for. Because she did want to live for him, really live, beyond the library, beyond even her training with the Valkyries, he made her want to see everything the world had to offer, to accept the life she had started to build, to live, not just survive, not any more. True, Nesta and Emerie had opened the door, but it was Azriel who stood on the other side, his hand held out to her, ready to help her find her place, if she only took his hand.

In that moment of quiet, of peace with just the two of them, Gwyn closed her eyes, and smiled, the thought of that door to the future popping up again, with Azriel waiting for her just beyond the open door. Everything she could possibly imagine lay beyond that door, a world where she could be what she wanted, a world where she didn't have to be afraid, a world where she was free to fall in love without thinking that she wasn't enough. She was enough, and she wanted that world, she wanted that world where she could marry the male she loved, where she could have the life that she had always dreamed of as a child. Azriel's chest rose and fell underneath her head, and he was still absentmindedly stroking her hair when she realized that was what she wanted. Forever, she had known that she wanted forever, that she was hopelessly in love with him, and had been for longer than she'd realized, but she'd never considered what that actually meant. She wanted that future, she wanted everything with him, she wanted it all. So she smiled again, and pulled up that image of the door, of Azriel waiting just beyond, but this time she took a step towards him, this time she didn't stop walking. This time she took his hand.

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