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adoringhaikyuu · 3 years

Text

when their teammate has a crush on you

characters: kageyama, kenma, oikawa, tanaka

warnings: nothing, just some pouty boys and possessiveness

notes: i stumbled upon @kageyuji‘s take on this while i was writing! so i thought i might as well give them a shoutout!

kageyama:

you already know this boy speaks up with no shame

and he will glare at anyone who gets in his way or on his nerves, especially when they do anything to you

so when hinata doesn’t even try to hide that he likes you, saying boldly “well why should i lie?”

you could only imagine the rage that kageyama is feeling

he doesn’t even want you in the same room as hinata sjkdfghsdj

he will pick either you or hinata up and take you away, depending on the situation

or he’ll take hinata’s face in his hand and just throw him away

but the boy always bounces right back, somehow unharmed and you’re grateful for that

but anyway it’s not that hinata is necessarily trying to break the two of you up, it’s more that he’s genuinely confused as to why you’re with kageyama

“how could you possibly like this bully? is there something wrong with you?”

he got chased by kageyama immediately after saying that––

your eyes widened as you saw a flash of orange jump in front of you as you walked towards the gym, ready to meet kageyama to go home. “y/n! y/n! could you please throw some balls for us?! yachi had to go home but we really wanna practice some more!”

you stepped back and your boyfriend came out of nowhere, practically smacking the other boy out of the air, leaving him to crouch on the ground, clutching the top of his head as he scowled at the dark-haired boy. “calm down you idiot! y/n doesn’t have to if they don’t want to! they’re probably tired anyway and just wanna go home.” he turned to you and gave you a small smile. “you wanna go?”

you looked between the two. “i mean...i can help you guys practice for a little bit.”

the other boy sprung up again. “oh! thank you! thank you!”

your boyfriend bowed his head quickly. “thank you.”

you smiled up at him and he felt his cheeks redden. “of course, tobio.” a smile spread on his face as well but it was short-lived as hinata spoke up, suddenly inches away from the two of you.

“what’s up with your face? why do you look like that?”

kageyama scowled down at him. “nothing’s wrong with my face! what’s wrong with your face?!”

“why are you yelling at me?!” hinata turned to you, “he’s so mean! how are you with him?” he looked down and mumbled to himself, “i wouldn’t treat you like this...”

kageyama’s eyes widened with rage. “what was that?!”

“n––nothing!” the smaller boy backed up, eyes wide with fear.

“you know what? we’re leaving.” kageyama stormed into the gym and quickly got his things, ignoring hinata’s pleas.

“aw what? why?! come on kageyama!” he turned to you, “y/n please––”

suddenly you were facing your boyfriend’s back as he stood in front of you to glare at the other boy. “don’t even think about it. we’re done for today.” he turned to you and grabbed your hand, tightening his hold when you waved goodbye to a pouting hinata.

when you were almost off the premises you looked up at kageyama. “you know you’re kinda hot when you’re jealous,” you smirked up at him and he stuttered in shock.

“what–i–you––”

you laughed and kissed the back of his hand softly, immediately giving him a nosebleed. you handed him a tissue which he gratefully took, glaring at you weakly.

“you know i’m yours, right?”

he swallowed and blinked a couple times before nodding once.

“then you have nothing to worry about, okay?”

he started muttering to himself, the only words you could make out being “idiot” and “dumbass”. you placed your hands on his cheeks and he stopped and looked down at you, eyes wide.

“okay, tobio?”

he nodded. “okay.” he paused. “but that doesn’t mean i’m going to be nicer to that idiot––”

you laughed. “yeah baby, i know.”

kenma:

let’s say you’d been dating kenma for a while now, a little lowkey

and everything is fine, everything is going really well

kenma likes it when you hang around the team, the team likes you

you’re like a part of the squad

and kenma’s feeling great about it

until lev comes along––

kenma already doesn’t like this boy, he doesn’t even know how to hit a ball properly––

but when kenma notices the way the tall boy blatantly stares at you during practice, the way he always tries to butt into your conversations and show off to you...

kenma’s practically radiating angry chihuahua energy, the air around him red and he looks like he’s two seconds away from biting––

if lev interrupts your convo w him sometimes he’d just stare at the boy deadpanned and go back to his conversation with you, “anyway–”

or he’d take your hand and lead you away

or he’d literally just say “go away, lev.” and the poor boy would just pout and whine, “aww what? why?”

one time lev tried to tag along on one of your dates and you had to step in front of kenma so he wouldn’t kick the boy in the shins or something

lev really wasn’t trying to do any harm, he was just a big lanky puppy who had a little crush on you

but still, kenma wasn’t having any of that

kuroo leaned on the wall next to where kenma was leaning against it, sipping his water during their ten minute break. he smirked down at his friend teasingly, “so what are you gonna do about your new competition?”

kenma wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, putting the bottle on the floor as he practically snarled. “shut up.”

“woah,” kuroo smiled, raising his hands up in mock surrender. “put your claws away, man. i’m just asking.”

kenma simply grumbled in response, making his friend laugh.

“well you should think fast cause it looks like he’s getting real close to y/n right now––”

kenma’s head snapped up immediately and his jaw clenched when he took in the sight across the gym. lev was lying on the bench, practically half his body folded, his legs bent on the ground, his head on your lap, his eyes closed.

kenma huffed and stomped over to you two, some of his other teammates jumping out of his way when they felt the almost deadly aura around him. he stopped right in front of you and you looked up at him.

he blinked. “why is lev on you?”

you shrugged, “he said his head was hurting and then just plopped his head in my lap.”

said boy finally opened his eyes and perked up, “oh hi kenma! my head’s been hurting from all this hard practice so i thought i’d rest a bit.”

your boyfriend’s eye twitched. “on y/n?”

“yeah!” the boy smiled, somehow completely oblivious to the setter’s rage. “they’re real soft, you know––”

“yes.” kenma interrupted, blunt as ever. “i know.”

noticing the increasing tension, you spoke up. “hey lev?” he looked at you happily. “your head’s feeling better now, right?”

“well i guess so...”

“maybe you should go get some water and some fresh air then, yeah?”

he pouted, “but maybe i should stay for just a little longer–” kenma was about to pop a blood vessel.

“trust me,” you guided him up gently. “this is what’s best for your health.”

as soon as he agreed and walked away from you, you looked up at your boyfriend with a smile on your face and pat your thighs. he eagerly took lev’s place and looked up at you with a furrow in his brows that you were quick to smooth out with your thumb, smiling when he visibly melted at your touch. you ran your fingers through his scalp to calm him down and he purred, leaning into your hands.

“stupid lev...” he mumbled to himself and you laughed, leaning down to kiss his forehead, making him blush immediately.

“you have nothing to worry about, okay? i’m yours.”

he blinked, trying to calm his heartbeat, a small smile on his face. “good.”

oikawa:

alright let’s switch things up a lil bit and mention someone i’ve personally like never seen mentioned in this scenario

let’s say mad dog likes you

oh boy

so at first oikawa thinks he’s seeing things

but once he notices how kyoutani opens the door for you, the way his eyes linger on you a little more when you come to practices or to the games, the way he gives you a small smile every now and then––

kyoutani doesn’t smile for anybody!!––

oikawa’s eyes narrow and he gets a bad feeling in his gut

otherwise known as jealousy

now he knows you’d never leave him or anything like that, but the fact that you start getting closer to the walking time bomb and you become the only other person that he listens to besides iwaizumi––

oikawa doesn’t like that at all

he’d get all pouty and would literally drag you away from your conversations with the younger boy, almost whimpering when he glares and practically growls at him

“where is y/n-chan??” oikawa asked to no one in particular, his hands on his hips.

kindaichi stopped and picked up one of the stray balls on the floor, “oh i saw y/n outside with kyoutani.”

“what?!” oikawa pracitcally shrieked, making the younger boy jump. he mumbled to himself, “i swear we need to get mad dog a collar with bells on it––” he stomped over to where the two of you were, a strained smile on his face as he noticed you laughing, kyoutani’s cheeks slightly pink.

“well what do we have here?” he said forceful but cheerful.

you looked to your boyfriend with a smile and kyoutani simply glared at him, but then again, that was just his face. “oh we were just getting some fresh air. are you done practicing your serves?”

“i sure am.” he smiled, pulling you close to him by your waist and pressing an obnoxiously loud and wet kiss to your cheek which you immediately wiped off with a grimace, which he did not appreciate. “y/n-chan!” he whined, “that’s not very nice!”

“well don’t make it so wet next time,” you rolled your eyes.

noticing the other boy still hadn’t made a move to leave, your boyfriend spoke up. “shouldn’t you be leaving now, mad dog?”

you smacked his chest and he yelped. “don’t be so rude, tooru. he was keeping me company while you did your extra practice, you know.”

he pouted and looked to the ground.

“i should be getting home, anyway.” the blond spoke up gruffly. his eyes softened almost imperceptibly as he looked at you. “see you, y/n.”

you smiled, “bye kyou.”

“bye mad-dog!” your boyfriend practically sang, as he looked over his shoulder at the boy leaving. he turned back to you and you pursed your lips at his behavior, making his shoulders droop in shame.

“you’re such a big baby, you know that?” although you insulted him, your voice was soft and he couldn’t help but smile at the way you cooed at him, your hands holding his cheeks. “but you’re my baby, okay? stop worrying so much about kyoutani.”

he nodded. “okay...” his eyes widened hopefully, “can i get a kiss please?”

you smiled and shook your head, before leaning in. he really was a baby sometimes.

tanaka:

you already know this boy is loud

and he likes to show off what’s his because he’s just so proud that you’re his and he loves to fawn over you

so he’ll always have a hand on you, an arm around you and he’ll always shower you in compliments whenever he sees you

a total simp

and that’s just in general

so when his friend likes you ??? bruh

let’s just say nishinoya thinks you’re kinda cute,,, okay really cute and his crush only (unwillingly) grew for you after you started dating tanaka and hanging out with them all the time

he’d be really excited whenever you were around, a pink tint covering his cheeks, a smile glued to his face

he’d try to show off during practice and games, looking to you after he lands a successful rolling thunder

and tanaka would be growling in the corner sdfghj

he’d literally try to one up his friend immediately and would scream to you in the stands “I LOVE YOU BABY THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!!”

after they win he’d pull you into a crushing hug and give you loud kisses all over your face

he’d do the most and then he’d smile all smug making sure everyone including nishinoya saw

you laughed as noya jumped several feet in the air to high five you after winning their game, a bright smile on his face. “did you see that last receive i did y/n? did you?”

you nodded, laughing. “yes i did noya, it was really impressive.”

his cheeks turned pink and he ducked his head, scratching the back of his head nervously as he waved you off. “ah it wasn’t all that...it was pretty good though, huh?”

before you could respond, you saw a flash of movement in front of you before you were suddenly being hoisted into the air. you gasped and wrapped your arms and legs around your boyfriend, “ryu!––”

“hey baby!” he practically yelled, smiling up at you and not so subtly walking away from his best friend with you in his arms. “did you see me hit that last spike? your man looked pretty good out there, huh? better than everyone else right?”

daichi who was walking by the two of you quickly hit the back of tanaka’s head in warning, hearing his words. “watch it––”

tanaka turned his head, “uh i mean you looked great too captain! couldn’t have done this without you––”

“yeah yeah,” he walked away, rolling his eyes and you laughed yet again, grabbing your boyfriend’s attention.

he looked up at you with wide eyes, squeezing his arms around you tighter and you smiled, putting your hand on his cheek. he nuzzled into your touch softly and you pressed a kiss to his lips, making him blush immediately. “of course i was watching you, and yes you looked very very good out there. i’m so proud of you.”

he smiled wide but tried to act oblivious when you went on, “you know you kinda interrupted my conversation earlier with––”

“well anyway! i think we should get going now--” he spoke far too loud, walking faster from the gym, making you shake your head at his adorably possessive behavior.

you leaned your head on his shoulder fondly, “you know you can be ridiculous sometimes ryu...”

he huffed quietly, “well you still love me right?”

you smiled. “always.”

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mintmatcha · 3 years

Text

10 Months

Matsukawa and Hanamaki

Part One

CW: mentions of death and illness, ANGST

Today’s just another day at work. Someone’s dead and someone else is talking about it.

The worst part of the job, Mattsun decides, isn’t consoling the grieving or dealing with the aftermath of death: it’s listening to these shitty, repetitive speeches. There’s only so many times a man can hear about God’s plan and how much better someone is now that they’ve entered the great beyond before he goes numb. Sure, yes, logically, he understands this is all sad, but before all else?

It’s boring.

Has he always been this bitter? Has he always been this good at choking down his feelings? Probably.

Mattsun looks away from the speaker at the front of the room, who's droning on about some shit while practically draped over the coffin. He does a precursory scan across the room, making sure everyone was properly teary eyed and mourning, before pulling out his phone. Maybe it’s unprofessional, but it doesn’t matter. No one’s looking at the funeral director during these things. If they were, it was something for them to discuss later during the reception.

'Did you see that employee?'

'No, I was crying.'

'He was on his phone!'

'How horrible!'

Just before he can open Twitter, a glimpse of unforgettable, bright strawberry blonde hair catches his eye. For a moment, he ignores it off. He’s used to imagining things, used to his brain searching for hints of pink wherever he goes. He's used to turning his head to see it was a trick of the eye.

But this time the color doesn’t fade. Instead, it comes into focus, catching the light that pours through the stained glass windows, rainbows painted across pale skin. All at once, the presence becomes real, and Mattsun feels like he’s seen a ghost.

Not a literal one, but, fuck, he might as well be.

It’s been years since he’s seen Makki, longer since they actually talked, but there he was, standing at the back of the parlor with an obituary in hand. He loathes himself for the way excitement bubbles inside him and his heart gets caught in his throat… and then immediately drops as he processes why Makki would be here. He tries to remember the last name of the deceased, hoping the last name wouldn’t be familiar. Makki’s dad was never in good health, could it be-

No, he definitely would have recognized anyone else with the last name Hanamaki.

That’s when it hits him that Makki isn’t dressed for the funeral. In a sea of black, he’s wearing some raggedy sweatshirt with coffee split down the sleeve and a loose pair of jeans, ripped in all the wrong places. Frankly, he looks like shit, but he’s just leaning against the door frame, standing there like he belongs, with a tiny little grin on his face.

Makki never looks over, too involved in the speech, but he’s aware of Mattsun’s presence. His torso is angled to face his old friend, chest broad and inviting. Mattsun hates that after all these years, he can still read his body language and understand what it means. It’s an invitation to come over.

Mattsun has to stop himself from going over there. Time has passed, he’s made his choices. He can’t just drop his work for an old friend.

No, not a friend. Stranger adjacent.

He’s made his choices.

He stays where he should be, in the corner, for what feels like hours, autopiloting through the rest of the service. By the time it’s all over, and the lights are dimmed, Makki’s already gone.

Mattsun hates that he knows exactly where to find him.

They find each other behind the parlor, wedged between the building and the dumpster. Makki’s sitting on the curb, legs folded up under him and pressed into his chest. That signature smile hasn’t faded, but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes. He pats the empty space next to him, but Mattsun just shakes his head and stays standing.

“Just like high school, huh?” Makki says, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pouch. He taps the bottom four times, then shakes it, hard. Waking up the cancer, making sure it’s out of bed, he used to joke.

“Except we aren’t hiding from teachers anymore.” Mattsun kicks at a crumpled soda can and watches it bounce across the asphalt. “And you’ve changed brands.”

“Now we’re hiding from your boss.” Makki pulls a stick out and waves it, “And Iwaizumi’s not here to bitch about it.”

“Dude,” Mattsun tries not to sigh, but it sneaks out. The casual act was unsettling; Makki was pretending that past 3 years never happened. “I’m happy to see you and all, but I’m working right now.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Makki pats his pockets frantically, then pulls out a small pink lighter. It's not the same pink as his hair, but it's close. He brushes it against his pants, back then forward, opening it and lighting it in one smooth motion. He holds out the cigarette, twirling it between his fingers, “Help me light this, why don’t you?”

Mattsun blanches, scoffing in annoyance at the thought. There's the flash of a memory, Hiro's fingers against his lips, holding the cigarettes for him as he breathes in, skinned knees brushing against each other, but he pushes it down.

“Hanamaki, I-”

“I’ve been demoted to just Hanamaki, huh?” he places it between his teeth and sets it alight, sucking in until the end glows orange. He holds still, savoring the moment, then lets out his breath, smoke seeping out through his teeth. “So, it turns out that I need to plan a funeral.”

Mattsun lets his apathy break, just for a moment. He runs his hands through his hair, completely fucking up the slicked back style as he processes this. “Fuck, dude, I’m sorry.”

“Eh, don’t be.” Makki shrugs, “Not the end of the world.”

Mattsun blinks, trying to shake off the initial shock. He just lets his work persona take over. “Well, we would be happy to help you plan. We can scheduling for next week in my office, if you want-”

“There’s no rush, don’t worry.” Makki leans back and faces the sun. Even though he’s sitting on the ground, no more than 5 feet from garbage, he seems so peaceful.

“Who’s it for?” Mattsun asks the obvious question and Makki grins wider, like he’s been waiting for this moment. He waggles his fingers in the air, like he’s celebrating.

“Me.” Makki says. He rolls his head forward and that pleasant air about him fades. It strikes Mattsun that he’s lost weight since high school; his already sharp features are more sullen, sunken into his face. “I’m dying.”

How hadn’t he noticed earlier? He spent so much time looking at Hiro in high school, so much time studying his features…. How could he miss such a dramatic change? Even now, he can remember exactly how the curve his cheek felt under his thumb, how smooth his skin was. Mattsun doesn’t realize he’s sitting until loose gravel bites into the palms of his hands.

“Fuck, dude.” he can only look straight ahead, focusing on nothing, “Are--- are you sure?”

“As sure as medical science can get,” he has the audacity to laugh, “I got brain cancer.”

Brain cancer. Mattsun knows what that means in a vague sense and yet it means almost nothing to him. Questions bubble up in his mind, all of them swimming around, begging for any sort of information to make this all make sense.

"How long?" He wanted to ask anything else, but that’s the only sentence he could form.

" 'bout 7 inches.” Makki pauses for affect, “Oh, you meant how long do I have left to live?" he's grinning wildly at his own joke, waiting for Mattsun to react. When he doesn't he just takes another drag of his cigarette, smile never fading. "I thought it was funny.”

"It was a little funny." Mattsun relents, gesturing for the butt. It's passed with brushing fingers, knuckle against knuckle. It's been years since he's smoked- since third year of high school- but each pull still burns all the same. "How long?"

"Well, two months ago they told me I had years," he says, like it's nothing, "But the doc did a rescan and it's way worse than they thought.” He taps his temple, “Apparently, three lil fuckers in there."

"How long?" Mattsun can’t stop repeating himself.

"10 months." he wobbles his hand side to side, “Give or take.”

Mattsun takes another drag, harder this time. It’s unfair that he’s this upset about it, that this isn’t just another funeral to him.

“Whoa, don’t hog the whole thing!” Makki grabs for his cigarette, opening and closing his hand like a small child, “You’ll get cancer from these, you know? ”

Mattsun doesn’t laugh. He just watches the ember fall on to his slacks. They flare of a quick moment before dying, leaving little discolored burns in their wake.

“Both of us can’t get cancer- it’d be like wearing the same dress to a party. So embarrassing.” he finally just snatches it out of Mattsun’s hand, “So, are you going to help me?”

“H-help you.” he repeats back. Nothing that’s happening right now feels real.

“With my funeral. Duh.”

“You want me to plan your service?” Mattsun asks.

“Well, us. Not just you. Duh.”

Duh.

“Why?” Mattsun breaths and yet he feels like he’s suffocating, “Why me? After everything I did-”

“I don’t want my dad to worry about it.” Makki kisses his teeth and pulls himself into a ball, “He almost had a heart attack trying to figure out my mom’s and I …. I just don’t want him to worry.” Makki breathes out through his nose- it’s how he dispels negativity in his life, just like how he did in high school. “Besides, if I plan it, it doesn’t have to be some fucking boring ass pity party. We can make it fun. A fun-eral.”

These all just seem like words. There’s meaning behind them, sure, but they don’t seem to mean anything when they’re strung together like this. Mattsun wonders if this is shock, or some weird form of it. He’s seen it before, in the eyes of family’s blindly choosing and planning. He always thought they dumb, not knowing how to react, not knowing if they should be sad or angry or …. Something.

But he gets it now. The news doesn’t always sink in.

“I don’t know what to say,” he admits after a long moment, “I don’t… I don’t think I’m processing this.”

Makki pushes off of the curb and stands, brushing off dust from his pants. “I get it. It’s a lot to hear.” he flashes a peace sign over his shoulder as he starts down the alley, “Think about it and get back to me.” A thin puff of smoke curls into the air, “My number’s the same as it always was.”

Mattsun sits there, hidden between the dumpster and his work, and tries to process as he watches Makki walk out of his life once again.

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deceasedanddesist · 3 years

Text

unrequited ( lily evans )

this is for @strawberrywafer‘s 300 writing challenge

pairing: lily evans x griffyndor!reader

fem! reader ( pronouns are not specified )

warnings: lots of angst, not a happy ending, mentions of homophobia, lots of talk about emotional turmoil and pain.

notes: i love me some angst, especially if its sapphic. i personally have experienced being in love with your straight best friend and I may or may not have cried writing this. enjoy :)

word count: 2.2k

you were in love with your best friend. it was the most gut wrenching form of self sabotage that you could fathom, and the worst part was you couldn’t even be mad at her, or even james potter for that matter.

its not like you couldn’t see the appeal, i mean he was stuck in the same boat as you. almost. if you didn’t see her subtle double takes when he walked into a room or the lingering disappointment in her eyes when he did something ridiculously immature, you probably would have bought the half-hearted glares and demeaning nicknames. if only you hadn’t paid so much attention to her striking emerald eyes as she watched the back of his head at the first feast of seventh year, you probably would have been fooled along with everyone else.

that was when you knew you were royally fucked, because she just didn’t seem into it this year. at first you tricked yourself into thinking it was because she was finally sick of him after all the years of extravagantly expressing his undying love for her, but a few weeks into your final year at hogwarts you knew. you knew it wasn’t because she was tired of him, it was because she was tired of pretending she didn’t love him back.

so no, you weren’t mad at james potter, in all of his arrogant, quidditch all-star glory. and you weren’t mad at lily evans—but who were you kidding, you could never be mad at her. you realized the anger you felt, that burning, self destructive pit in your stomach, was directed at yourself.

how could you let this happen? it had been in fifth year when you realized the feelings you harboured towards your roommate were not something a friend should feel for a friend. you kicked yourself for it then and you do the same thing now, because you always knew the red-head talked about james potter too much for it to just be out of hatred. what was it that you were always telling her, “there’s a thin line between hate and love, lils”, and it felt like you took a stake to the heart when you found out that she began to look at him with something in her eyes that you knew oh-so well. it was the one thing you and potter had in common.

then they were together, it happened faster than you could say quidditch. one minute james potter was professing his love, as per usual, and none of your peers looked twice at the impromptu great hall confessional. well, until people realized lily wasn't yelling and calling him an ‘arrogant toerag’.

you knew it was coming, and as much as you wanted to squeeze your eyes shut until they’d have to be pried opened by marlene, you forced yourself to watch as she finally said yes to the love of her life. you don't know why you did it, looking back, you would’ve walked out as soon as you came to the realization. maybe you felt you deserved it, after all, your parents aren't very supportive of who you love. maybe your mom’s world-crushing passive aggressive comments, or your dad’s suggestion about sending you away to some church town in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere were finally getting to your head.

they found out this summer, unbeknownst to all of your friends and peers. you still aren’t quite sure what happened, all you knew was that they found a more than friendly unsent letter to a beautiful red-head, and you certainly didn’t think your life could get any worse.....until now.

you hadn't realized your head had gone off into space until mary macdonald nudged you back into reality, giving you time to evaluate the situation.

lily had sat back down and began to furiously blush, while james was getting patted on the back by people from numerous houses, even he himself looked quite shocked she actually agreed to go out with him.

you told yourself you tried to listen to what lily was telling the group of girls, but in reality you were accumulating strategies in your head on how to slip away unnoticed to go cry somewhere. you didn't want to hear lily talking about where james was going to take her, and you certainly weren't gonna listen to her go on about how hard it was to keep up her resolve all of these years.

so you left, and when you looked back, she hadn't even glanced your way.

it didn't even come to a surprise to you that you were easily forgotten, and you hated yourself for it. you hated yourself for ignoring the obvious fact that lily evans and james potter were always meant to be together, and you hated that you would ignore factoring it into the equations you imagined in your head.

you hated being out of control, so you focused on the one thing you could. staying away from her.

it was completely selfish. you knew it, and so did marlene, mary, and dorcas. but you didn't give them time to convince you, because in your head this was the only option to help you get over her.

you walked into the dorm after you got confirmation lily was asleep, and you were gone before she woke up. lily didn't have any idea why and you almost felt bad for her, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. why? because she's the one that gets a happy ending, and the absence of one friend ( no matter how important you were to her ) isn’t going to fuck that up.

you were unlucky enough to get the short end of the stick, and it made you want to scream. the pressure of doing good on your n.e.w.t.s so you don't have to spend another suffocating summer with your parents, and now, with all of this unexplained weight on your chest that you have yet to figure out how to get rid of. it was infuriating, and letting it all brew up inside yourself was bound to make a mess later.

you knew that later would come eventually, but you never knew it would be in the form of james potter.

the realization came to you as soon as you saw the look on his face as he walked towards you in the hallway outside of the potions classroom you just walked out of. he looked spooked almost, like he felt a severe sense of dread to have this conversation with you.

“hey.” he dragged it out as the one word left his mouth. yup, definitely dreading this.

“hi.” you matched his awkwardness, he cringed like he was realizing how stupid he sounded. “you’re here about lily.”

you saved him the trouble. both of you didn't want to be here having this conversation, and he looked like he was on the verge of a stroke. not the confrontational type, you noted silently.

“yeah,” he paused and took the time to observe your stance, his brows furrowed almost, like he was wondering why you were so nonchalant about this. “just here to clear up a few things.”

it was your turn to furrow your brows. clear up a few things? why would lily send james to do her bidding?

“I don't know what exactly needs to be cleared between us, potter.” you unintentionally spat his name out like it was poison to you. immediately deflating when you saw his face drop, this wasn’t his fault after all.

“okay, it’s clear that you don't like me, but I don't know what that has to do with lily.” he paused once again before reluctantly continuing, “at first I thought it was because you fancied me-”

his words were cut off by your laugh, “how heteronormative. no offence james, but you’re really far from my type.”

his eyes widened, you nodded.

“if lily wants to ‘clear up a few things’ she can come to me herself.”

you left with the last words, and a bewildered james potter as an added bonus.

it had been a few weeks since that conversation, and you didn’t think lily got the message. well, that was until she somehow bribed mary into telling you she went to sleep early and managed to clear out the room. you guys always joked that she was the weakest link.

you were dissatisfied with yourself when you found that when you looked at her, all you could think about was how beautiful her eyes were. her red tresses appeared to be lazily thrown up into a bun, and she adorned some gryffindor pyjamas that the school provides you with every year.

you let out a breath you’ve been holding ever since the decision to distance yourself from her. it was like the weight you’ve been carrying was replaced with dread, because now you had to tell her, and you weren’t worried for your feelings, you were worried for hers. one think you knew for sure was that lily evans had an enormous heart, and it would be like passing the weight of your unrequited feelings onto her, and who would want someone they loved to deal with that.

“hi.” you decided to initiate the heavy exchange that was about to occur, you don’t know why you did it.

“we need to talk, y/n”

you just nodded. wanting to hear what she had to say first, you gestured to her meekly.

“i know you and james had a conversation, he told me,” she paused, seemingly collecting herself before she addressed the question that you knew she already knew the answer to. “i’m just a tad confused about the context of your side of it.”

“no you’re not lily.” you whispered it so softly you weren’t even sure she heard you, but the bit of breath she took in out of shock let you know she caught the innuendo.

“i-,” she collected herself once again, “i don’t know what to say, y/n.”

you looked down, because the pitying look she was giving you was going to make you mad if you looked at it any longer. with every utterance of your name, you felt a pang in your chest, the congestion of emotions finally clawing their way out. it was thick and it was coming out of you with the speed of a freight train, you broke the silence first.”

“look, you don’t have to say anything. i know you don’t reciprocate, and i’ve accepted it.” you hoped the one conversation you could never control the outcome of was over, and you did try to leave it at that by walking to your trunk and grabbing your night clothes, but something lily said stopped you.

“why did you keep this from me?” she seemed a bit angry, and the shock of it rolled through you as you processed the tone in which she spoke.

but to her surprise you just let out a wet laugh, wishing she would just let it go and let you sob it out in peace, but before you could even open your mouth to speak she did it for you.

“you just ignored me, like i had no business knowing that you feel this way towards me. it could have been different, you know.” she looked like what she said pained her to do so, and you hated it.

the tears were already flowing freely down your cheeks when you turned back around to face her,

“i was right here lily, by your side all along but you never saw me, did you?” you were full on snot nosed crying now, but you continued anyways.

“i know you’re angry because i’ve been ignoring you, but i just want you to be happy, and that can’t happen if you know i’m in love with you.”

“why-”

“because i’m around you constantly, lily. you’d never forgive yourself for not reciprocating, so we’re better off like this.” she looked like she was gonna disagree, so you added “i know you, and you know it’s true too.”

she took one unconscious step closer to you, to which you stepped back.

“just let me go,” you begged, “it’s better this way, i promise.”

she took one good look at your tear stricken face, “how can you know this is better y/n, look at you.”

you wiped your nose on your sleeve, “i’ve been dealing with this for so long. just let me go, if not for your sake, do it for mine.” she wasn’t going to let up until you looked at her and attempted to once again beg, but it just came out as a silent plea overcome by your fresh tears.

you just looked down, waiting until you heard her footsteps out the door to let your knees give out.

you really hoped all this pain would be better for you in the long run.

#harry potter #lily evans #lily evans x reader #jily #angst #not the good kind #sorry #hogwarts #marauders era #tw angst #tw pain #tw homophobic parents #fuck y/n's parents

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bbugyu · 3 years

Text

how jeonghan knew

a journey with yoon jeonghan, lee seokmin, and you.

there was always something about his infectious laugh and his genuine nature that felt like fate to jeonghan, and maybe you were the muse that kept their red thread in tact.

prelude | part one | part two | part three | epilogue

wc.10662 (LMFAO) | fluff, smut, courtship, angsty in the beginning, polyamory, sugar daddy!jeonghan musician!seokmin escort!reader, hi cheol, hi gyu (again), hi boo, hi wonu, gay pining, jk he's pan probably, discovering sexuality, daddy kink, special guest seokmin!!!!!, threesome, lots of mlm, oral, cumpla, handjobs, choking, butt plugs, male penetration, there's a full on reader-less memberxmember sex scene idk, unprotected sex, please use condoms, jeonghan gets overwhelmed, the TEASING, jeonghan being a home improvement freak, don’t mind han jisung he’s just vibing, required listening is positions (2020) by ariana grande because it’s a perfect album

and here we have poly seokhan: the gayening!!! this is going to be the end of my scheduled updates for neverending artistry, but i’ll be posting an epilogue when i finish it - probably after i post a couple of other fics. this chapter.... is my fave......... i think u will see why lol. i went ahead and got a lil carried away with the house stuff but LISTENNNN i watch a lot of architecture videos ok LFJDSJ

thank you all so much for your continued support and incredible feedback on this series! it seriously means so much to me and i love seeing asks and messages from everyone telling me how excited they are to read more. i hope this satisfies you!!!

jeonghan is pretty sure he always loved seokmin. it wasn't something he would ever be able to change about himself, he figured, as he watched his friend date woman after woman in college with varying seriousness. he decidedly ignored any amount of feelings he harbored for the younger, especially after he dropped architecture as his major and he saw less of him.

jeonghan tried to get over the destined musician (he would always be singing or fiddling with his guitar when he was meant to be helping jeonghan with a diorama) with several women, and after decisively focusing on his career for a couple years, he found success in another man. his short lived gym buddy, but lasted quite a bit longer as his boyfriend. they had connected first when jeonghan had offhandedly commented that he liked the logo on his shirt, to which the long lashed, broad shouldered man had said he had gotten it at the brand's store down the street, making jeonghan chew his cheek before he admitted that he had helped design that location. they connected the second time later that night, clumsily but intensely, and jeonghan liked his plush pouty lips and how his messy black hair felt between his fingers.

while that didn't last forever, he found varied success in other men, and he figured this was why dating women had always been so difficult for him. definitely not that he had been given small choice amongst the rotten apples that attended his college.

he was single again, and at an industry party when he reconnected with an old friend from college who happily reminisced about the fun their small group of friends had back then. he asked if jeonghan remembered seokmin, the guy that dropped the program.

"lee seokmin?" he asked, his brows knitting as he tried to react normally to the name, and mingyu hit his shoulder, laughing.

"yeah! guess what? that son of a bitch is teaching my niece piano!"

jeonghan smiled at the idea of seokmin as a piano teacher, nodding along as mingyu talked about how he had volunteered to take her to her lesson one week, only to be put face to face with a long lost friend. jeonghan laughed as mingyu imitated the face the other had made, laughing harder when he recognized it and remembered seeing it on seokmin's face in the past, then telling mingyu about how he had once pranked him by making the poor guy think that he was going to fail a project because seokmin had accidentally destroyed a diorama. it had already been graded, and he was going to take it apart to save on materials anyways, but the younger nearly cried when he thought he had wasted hours of jeonghan's time and cost him the grade by accidentally kicking it off his desk.

he asked how seokmin was doing these days, and mingyu told him he seemed well, and that he takes his niece to her lessons as often as he can spare, just to chat for a while. "i could give you his number," he said, feeling his pockets for his phone. "i'm sure he'd love to hear from you."

mingyu had been right. seokmin did love hearing from him. and he loved the way seokmin made him laugh with his ever joking tone and physical comedy antics. the way his eyebrows creased as he tried to keep a stern face but was unable to hide the smile across his lips. the way he always fought with him for the check despite jeonghan being older and notably better off.

he didn't love, however, how seokmin nodded his head after the waitress and asked him if he thought he had a shot.

maybe he was desperate, or maybe he wanted an excuse to not date seriously, or maybe he just wasn't ready to let go, but jeonghan continued to invite seokmin out, despite the fact that their relationship would never develop past friends who met in college. he enjoyed his company anyways, even if it felt bittersweet.

he poured himself into his work for several months, taking more contracts than usual and keeping himself occupied, only really seeing others for meetings and constructions, or when he was depressed on a friday night and caved, asking seokmin to join him for drinks somewhere. he continued this cycle for too long, his personal assistant noticing his mood changes before most.

"are you taking your vitamins?"

"yes, seungkwan, i'm taking my vitamins," jeonghan bit back, fully aware that he wasn't asking about vitamins at all, but about his state. confirming he was still making an effort to take care of himself rather than spiraling, sat in his living room on a tuesday after being told by a doctor to rest, for god's sake as a solution to him nearly collapsing several hours earlier. seungkwan shifted on his feet, tongue running over his teeth as he stared at the architect, hands folded in front of him.

"you need to stop seeing him. it only hurts you."

jeonghan sighed, staring at the black screen of his television. "i know."

his assistant studied him. "you should come out with the team sometime," he said. "we get drinks on wednesdays, usually. come tomorrow, it could take your mind off things."

jeonghan looked up at seungkwan, who was clearly sucking on his cheek. he knew he was right. more importantly, seungkwan knew he knew, but jeonghan had a hard time wanting to take his mind off this one specific thing, considering the way this one specific thing laughed like a hyena, poured himself over a piano like an ocean wave, and sang along like an angel. his head fell back on the couch, and he had to take a long, conscious breath to lower the ringing in his ears at the silence. "i'll be there next time."

seungkwan exhaled in defeat, eyes flickering around as he excused himself and said goodnight, knowing his boss was lying.

jeonghan found you on accident - put in an uncomfortable corner by an ultimatum from his publicist and the circulating rumor that he sleeps with men because he can't keep a woman around that seemed to pile on top of everything else on his plate - and the second you opened your mouth, he knew you were special.

he remembered the profile he had seen from your broker, and knew you were attending university. he asked you your major, and when you told him you wanted to produce music for a living, something deep in him stirred. you had been sitting in his car for all of twenty minutes, and you nearly had him under your spell already.

he couldn't understand his fascination with you, but he continued to book you for dates, sometimes deciding what event he would be attending by asking what day you were available that week. he figured if he needed to prove to the world that he wasn't gay (which he was, he was pretty sure), you were the only one he was interested in doing it with.

maybe he had a thing for musicians.

he had taken out quite a few escorts before you, but none of them were nearly as fun. you always did an incredible job engaging in whatever event he brought you to, but also hit his chest as you tried to stifle a laugh at something he muttered into your ear, guiding you away. his friends liked you, too, the few he had. the ones that had met you. yongsun had even tugged him aside briefly, asking if he really liked you. you seemed nice, she had said. and good, in general, but also for him. she wanted to make sure he wasn't just leading you along to quiet some stupid rumor. he glanced at you, smiling wide as you excitedly discussed music with one of his other friends (the fifth and last person he liked at this event, the two of you included), and wasn't quite sure why he told her he actually liked you, but didn't feel the need to correct himself.

then you told him you were quitting, and he realized what he would be losing. then you kissed him, and he realized what he had been feeling. then you looked at him with wide eyes, just as shocked as he was by the explosion of fireworks you had both just experienced, and he realized what he had been missing out on all this time.

he figured he must have always loved you as his eyes scanned the hotel bar, confused at how you had managed to get away so quickly. he was running into the hall to see if you had escaped to the lobby when someone caught his arm.

"hey, you seen yongsun?"

jeonghan blinked at his blonde friend, recognizing her play. "have you seen y/n?"

"try the bathroom," she said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder in the direction she had come from.

he looked down the hall at the restroom signs, nodding. "i saw her at the chocolate fountain a minute ago."

byulyi patted his shoulder as she walked past him. "good luck, yoon."

it felt good telling you the truth, while sitting in your well organized and tastefully decorated studio apartment that you had insisted he would hate, even if he was too scared to admit all of it. why he had needed you before, but wanted you now. his heart nearly beat out of his chest when you agreed to his conditions, though he recognized that he had given you just about every advantage in the deal. it would have been near impossible for you to say no, especially after the way you had kissed him before someone had finally tried to enter the bathroom you were hiding in.

for a while, he only kissed you as a farewell, mostly because he enjoyed the old school romanticism of kissing a beautiful woman in the moonlight, her back against the passenger door of his black vehicle parked on the street outside her studio apartment. then, when he had invited you to his home after the two of you had ditched a boring dinner several hours early, you had curled up in his side to watch a movie. at some point, he caught you staring at him, and you put a hand on his cheek and kissed him sweetly. slowly. kissed him in a way that only made him crave more. you smiled, settling back into his side for the rest of the movie, and even though you had done it unconsciously, the back of your hand rested against his thigh in a way he had a hard time ignoring, and he decided he must have just had real shit taste in women before he had met you.

the following sunday, when you mentioned how pitch black the sky seemed at that late hour, having gotten caught up binging some drama, he not-so-vaguely hinted that he'd be okay with you spending the night in his bed. you eyed him, and he shrugged playfully.

"or i have guest rooms. up to you."

"i have class tomorrow," you tested.

"i can take you," he responded. "if you want."

you paused, watching him as he recorked the wine bottle the two of you had opened earlier in the evening but only managed to have one glass of each before abandoning it to cuddle on the couch. he was always so thoughtful, even in his teasing. he cared about your comfort. he wanted to maintain your boundaries. but it had been a really long time since you had gotten laid, and everything in you yearned to say yes. jeonghan's voice in your head reminded you, no expectations. this could be whatever you wanted out of it.

so you went to bed with him.

jeonghan would swear up and down that you were the most beautiful woman in the world, and his beliefs were only confirmed when he pulled your shirt off of you, dragging your pants down your legs, and got a real look at you for the first time. you felt unexplainably embarrassed under his gaze, asking if he was okay.

"yeah," he said breathlessly, a hand running up your side, your back arching slightly to his touch. he curled over you before he whispered "god, yeah, i'm more than okay," against your lips.

not even ten minutes had passed before you told him you loved him between your panting, and he was so ecstatic when he could tell you, wholly and truthfully, that he loved you, too. and after your pulses had died down and you were falling asleep in his arms, he said that if you were staying under his roof, you were not allowed in any guest rooms. that if you needed space, he would find a different bed to sleep in, because this one looked best with you in it, and he refused to have it any other way.

jeonghan never got bored with you. over time, you began going to his place after events and dinners more than he dropped you off at your apartment, becoming an often enough occurrence that he had asked you one night to fill an online shopping cart with clothes for you to keep in his closet, so you could stop this silly packing bags nonsense. he had already bought you a full set of toiletries for his bathroom, started keeping your favorite snacks in the pantry, and even gone as far as to buy you the house slippers you had offhandedly said were cute when the two of you wandered aimlessly around a mall together. you were becoming a part of his home in more ways than one, and he was happy to have you.

he offered you an unused office on the second floor when you started studying for finals on the peninsula of his kitchen counter one monday afternoon, and you asked what was wrong with you doing it where you were.

"because you're not going to clean it up," he pointed out.

"maybe if we had a rewards system," you argued. "if i clean up, i get a prize."

he laughed, rounding the small jut of countertop, thinking about how he would probably need a proper kitchen island if you were going to be sticking around. "just because i give you an allowance, doesn't mean you're a child. you're not supposed to focus on the baby part of sugar baby."

you pouted as you turned on the stool to face him, a hand gently tugging his tie to pull him into you. "what if i focus on the daddy part of sugar daddy?"

a hunger dropped in jeonghan, gazing down at you as you sat at his kitchen counter, surrounded by textbooks and notes. your eyes sparkled under the lights, and his fingers went behind your neck before he kissed you, muttering against your lips to try calling him that again, angel.

the kitchen remodel had gone about as smoothly as it could have, given the fact that it was nearly impossible to transport such a large slab of granite for his dream island without it snapping in half from its own weight, but they managed, and when the light fixture finally turned on for the first time after the new cabinet doors had been installed, he felt justified in remodeling a kitchen that had hardly needed updating. he felt even more justified when he came downstairs to find you, having woken up in an empty bed, only to have you yell at him as you flipped pancakes on the griddle of his new gas range, saying you were going to bring him breakfast in bed and if he didn't cooperate, he wouldn't see you for a week. he laughed at your threatening spatula, putting his hands up in surrender, unable to stop smiling as he made his way back up the stairs.

you had enrolled in online courses for your last year of school, mostly so you didn't have to be anywhere specific for several hours every day, and instead could keep your schedule massively open to cater to jeonghan's needs. this also meant you usually attended your afternoon lectures at his home, waiting for him to get off work and distract you.

then the two of you started attended wednesday drinks with the team. seungkwan had thanked you, though you hadn't realized that you were deserving of a thanks.

"he'll tell you when he wants to, i guess," he said, twirling the beer in his hand. "but he wasn't in a great place before he met you."

you could hear the subject of your exchange laughing further down the bar, and you wondered what kind of place he meant, but tapped your glass against seungkwan's instead of asking the question. "to better places."

he chuckled, bringing the beer to his lips. "cheers to that."

jeonghan enjoyed having you on his lap on the couch, listening to whatever r&b record you had chosen as you worked your lips against his. he nudged several kisses down your neck, and you mentioned offhandedly that there was a perfect place in his living room for a bar, pointing at the wall behind him. he pulled away from you, turning his body with an arm over the back of the sofa, and his head cocked as he stared at the wall that only held a painting. he silently agreed with you, wondering why you seemed to inspire all his recent projects as you nipped at his neck, drawing his attention back to you with a smile on his face.

the bar was finished in time to hire a bartender for a halloween party. he hadn't told the guests that it was an anniversary party, but you had been made aware of the secret arrangement during a conversation the two of you had over a private meal in your favorite restaurant the week before.

"a threesome," you asked, hoping for clarification.

"with a guy, preferably," jeonghan said. "but i could be convinced to approve of a girl if that's what you would like."

"you're being serious?" you seemed to find yourself asking him that a lot. every time he suggested something that he knew you wanted, you wondered if he was pulling your leg. "and you want me to choose?"

"yeah, at the party," he said, watching you shake your head incredulously with a smile on his face. the two of you had discussed the possibility in the past, and he thought it made a fun gift. an unexpected one, from someone who had enough money to comfortably gift you just about anything. "i have to approve, obviously, but you get to pick the candidates."

you thought a moment. "what if we can't agree on anyone?"

"then i take you to bed alone and we have fun anyways."

he laughed when you squinted at him.

"if the opportunity comes up down the line, we can try again later," he said. "but i thought this would give you something fun to do while i'm hosting guests."

and it had, as you sneakily scoped out the guests, flitting around the party of both familiar and unfamiliar faces in your angelic cheerleading costume. visiting and laughing heartily with the team, as well as your uni friends that jeonghan insisted you invite, offering them more drinks, then saying something about having to play hostess so you could continue your search. byulyi and yongsun were there, and you complimented their matching rapunzel and flynn get up, jeonghan catching you for just a second to ask if you needed anything.

you settled in on one target perhaps too quickly, without even really having made an effort to see all the options. you had been struck by the same sharp cheekbones, puppy dog eyes, and crooked smile that jeonghan had once fallen for. when he saw you tucked into lee seokmin's side, recognizing your flirting even from a distance and noticing how receptive the musician was to it, his heart fluttered, and he couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing.

a good thing, he decided, when seokmin had asked him permission before he came in you. because, seemingly, sexuality was much more of a spectrum than jeonghan had once thought, and perhaps his college crush just needed the encouragement of an incredible woman to try something a little beyond his experience, much like he had.

and when you wouldn't stop mentioning the musician the two of you had enjoyed the company of while schmoozing guests at the opening of him and his friend's collaborative art exhibit, he got a slick idea. on the way home, he told you that you weren't allowed to make a noise until he hung up the phone, but you were already writhing in the passenger seat just as the phone rang.

and when he answered, you clamped a hand over your mouth, a bare foot landing on the dashboard as you tried to grind against jeonghan's hand, his voice steady as he talked to the younger.

and when he mentioned you, your walls pulsed around his fingers, a smile finding its way into his lips as he spoke. he tried not to take too much pleasure in the way you looked at him with begging eyes and your fist between your teeth, or in the way seokmin's tone dropped as he confirmed that he would get a cab, but he truly couldn't help himself when he made eye contact with seokmin as you sucked him off, his hips canting into yours recklessly, forcing seokmin to break the contact as he reacted to your moan on his cock.

he noticed the way seokmin's hips began to move on their own, begging for enough control to chase his nearing high in your mouth but having it brought right to his doorstep instead. jeonghan felt your perfect heat cling to him in reaction, and before he could think to stop himself, he pulled you into his chest by your throat, not daring to let you claim it all as he lapped cum from your mouth. you whimpered against him, your orgasm lasting impossibly long as he fucked into you, getting milked by your needy walls.

when he caught seokmin staring directly at him, he grinned and wiped the back of his hand across his chin and lower lip, languidly licking any escaped cum off it, and asked if he wanted to try his, too.

seokmin agreed, nodding shakily before jeonghan massaged at your sides, pumping himself into you a few more times. he told you to give seokmin's mouth a ride. you groaned, his cum dripping down your thighs.

jeonghan watched the younger's cock twitch as you moaned over him, one hand on the wall and the other on his scalp, his fingers digging into your thighs. he stared at how it never lost hardness. he didn't even realize that his hands were on seokmin's hip and thigh before he even asked if he could touch him, but a large hand left your thigh to shakily bring jeonghan's to his thick cock, answering the question despite you occupying his mouth, his fingers lingering over jeonghan's as he pumped his length.

he couldn't deny that how badly he wanted to fuck seokmin, but he could settle for making him cum in his hands until he was ready for something more, especially with the surprising amount he had to give after already having cum once. he let himself indulge in a single lick across seokmin's sensitive slit - though it was hard to stop there - triggering a garbled moan before he left to shower.

a week or so later, jeonghan asked you if you were interested in dating seokmin. you put your phone down and rolled over in bed, propped up on your elbows as you asked him what he meant.

"i love you," jeonghan assured, pulling you to lay closer to him. "and i can tell you like him."

you studied his face. "but i'm with you."

"that doesn't have to stop," he said, smiling at you as he tucked a hand behind his head. you eyed his arm briefly, then refocused on him. "but you know how things get in the winter, and i would be okay with you trying things out with him while i'm busy."

"you're being serious?"

jeonghan laughed at the familiar question. "yes, y/n, i'm being serious. i know you want me, but i also know you want more than me."

you had never told anyone about your desire for multiple partners, not even admitted it out loud to yourself, so his candid assessment caught you off guard. "how did you-"

"just little things you've said," he teased, leaving you to question how much you had revealed about yourself without realizing. "besides, no one can deny the chemistry."

you paused. "boundaries?"

"just tell me," he said, putting his arms around you and tugging you into him. "i just want to know when you're seeing him. and, eventually, i would like to be invited every once in a while."

"invited to dates?" you asked, throwing a leg over his lap to straddle it as you laid over him. "or invited to bed?"

he smiled up at you, hands running over your rear. "either. both. whatever you two want."

you agreed, but only after you made him promise he would tell you if anything changed for him. that he had to tell you about every doubt and worry he had. "i'll always choose you," you stated plainly, lips brushing against his as he gently rolled his growing length up against your clothed heat. "no matter what, i'll choose you."

"i know, sweetheart," he said, a hand on your cheek as he kissed you. "i promise."

after he came back from a business trip in december, you admitted to him that you and seokmin had exchanged i love yous, and he just put an arm over your shoulder and turned down the volume on the tv, telling you that he was pretty sure he loved seokmin, too.

"it was him, wasn't it?" you asked, studying his profile. "he was the guy you couldn't get over?"

jeonghan rubbed his face with one hand, sighing. "yeah, it was him."

"why didn't you say anything?"

he thought a moment. "i didn't want you to feel obligated, i guess."

your fingers straightened the seams of his long sleeved shirt across his shoulder. "obligated to win him over for you?"

"obligated to love him, too."

"jokes on you," you giggled. "he's very easy to fall in love with."

jeonghan supposed that was true, thinking of how quickly he had fallen for him, even back before he had admitted he liked men. how he had fallen into the same spot even years later, just over a shared meal and a few bottles of soju.

but you were easy to fall in love with too, he thought, remembering how he hadn't even understood his feelings towards you until you had kissed him, but he had felt them strong enough to want you to stay by his side anyways. maybe jeonghan just fell easily, but maybe he was lucky enough to have found his people at such a young age.

you settled back into the crook of his arm and asked him what he thought about seokmin coming over to join you two for christmas. while much of the world celebrated with family, it was more of a hallmark holiday in korea, often times spent with a long time sweetheart or a budding romance. or both, in your case, jeonghan supposed, when you were distracted trying to find the third christmas music lp you had specifically gotten for the occasion (out of eight, of course, because you didn't want to run out of christmas music). he was leaning against the tasteful home bar that had been hardly touched since halloween when seokmin shyly admitted that he knew jeonghan was interested in him.

he said nothing for a moment. "she told you?"

"kind of, back when you were in japan, but-" seokmin paused. "i think she was just suspicious, but i should have known. you were always too kind to me."

"not too kind," jeonghan said, hiding behind his wine as he sipped at it, trying not to show his embarrassment.

"i think i'm interested, too."

he looked at seokmin, who was staring down at his hands. "are you sure?"

"i'm-" he paused, catching jeonghan's eyes for only a second before scratching the back of his neck. "i think so. i've never even thought about doing anything with - uh - men. until you."

"that's okay," jeonghan said, looking to where you were flipping through records. "i didn't like women until y/n."

seokmin faltered. "wait, really?"

he nodded, a small smile on his face. "i thought i was gay. turns out i'm not."

"but you-" the musician stretched his jaw. "weren't you kind of a player in college?"

he almost said something about how having sex to meet an end and keep an appearance was different than enjoying it, but stopped himself when you announced that you had found the lost record, switching the lps with a flourish and setting the player again. and while he was curious about the level of seokmin's interest in him, he was happy to leave the conversation where it stood when you excitedly rejoined them at the bar.

"do you think i could be a bartender?" you asked, leaning over the counter and grabbing an unused shaker.

"probably," seokmin said.

"for sure no," jeonghan laughed.

you pouted at the latter, holding the shaker between your hands as you directed your attention to the former. "thank you, seokmin. i appreciate you encouraging my dreams."

"any time," he joked.

jeonghan rolled his eyes. "what about that music degree i'm paying for?" he asked, taking another sip.

"just because you've known what you wanted to do forever, doesn't mean everyone does. maybe i'll change my mind." you tried to spin the shaker in your hand, but the force you used was too little and it stopped on your palm too quickly, clumsily clattering to the counter. you stilled it, exhaling sharply when jeonghan giggled beside you, looking to seokmin. "he might be right."

"it's almost like i know you," jeonghan teased, nudging you. "she was convinced she could become my personal bartender for all of two weeks."

"i tried," you whined. seokmin laughed. "the tricks are harder than they look."

"and you hated shaking drinks."

you put the shaker back, defeated. "the ice made it cold."

"isn't that the point?" seokmin asked.

jeonghan smiled at you. "you're lucky i like wine."

"i'm gonna talk to you now," you announced, turning your body to seokmin. "because you're nicer to me than he is."

"aw," the architect chuckled, and seokmin watched you react to a squeeze at your butt. "did he make you soft? can't take my teasing anymore?"

you ignored him, trying to ask the man in front of you about his lessons, but you yelped when his hand firmly landed on your ass, grabbing seokmin's arm in reaction. he looked at you, seemingly just as shocked, and you tried to continue the conversation, but jeonghan's hand didn't leave, and your entire body was reacting to the way it was slowly hiking up your skirt and running between your thighs.

your eyes fell shut, and you muttered for him to cut it out as your grip on seokmin's arm tightened, but jeonghan just made eye contact with the other male, asking him instead if he should.

without thinking, seokmin shook his head and put his hands on your jaw, pulling you in to kiss him. your moan against his lips was involuntary, and jeonghan grinned as his fingers ran over your core, making you whine.

"did you tell him?" you gasped out, asking seokmin with hooded eyes. he shook his head, saying that he hadn't told him everything.

"told me what?" jeonghan asked, interest piqued as he put down his glass, pulling his hand out from your skirt and placing them on your hips instead, squeezing gently as he stood behind you, and your head fell back into his shoulder without much intention as you licked your lips. "seokmin?"

he pulled his gaze, trained on your mouth, to look at jeonghan, and he felt his breath stop in his throat as he fully processed the sight in front of him. you gasped again, as jeonghan's hand came up to knead at your breast, and you tried to pull seokmin closer, but he didn't stop moving even when he was pressed against you.

jeonghan thought he might faint. he wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but when seokmin's hand found the back of his neck and pulled him over your shoulder, his mind went blank. when his lips found his, his vision went white. when he felt his tongue against the inside of his teeth, he couldn't help but moan, one hand gripping your waist and the other aimlessly tugging on seokmin's shirt, seemingly just to hold something that belonged to him.

"fuck, okay," jeonghan breathed, staring after the musicians lips even when they left. you giggled, recognizing the feeling. "okay," he repeated. "got it. understood."

you spun around, hands on jeonghan's chest. "we prepared something for you," you said, and seokmin's cheeks and ears were bright red when he sheepishly nodded with you.

jeonghan looked between the two of you, swallowing suddenly. "what?"

you tugged on his hand, then grabbed seokmin's, too, when he didn't move right away, leading them both to walk around the couch. you pulled jeonghan onto the cushions with you, kissing him briefly before he realized someone was between his knees. when he saw him, that was when jeonghan's dick woke up, suddenly realizing what was happening.

"be nice," you muttered against the shell of his ear, your hand running down his torso. "it's his first time."

seokmin's hands were strong but gentle, and despite never having touched a dick that wasn't attached to him, he knew what felt good. he needed a bit of guidance from you to begin, less from lack of knowing the process and more because he was nervous, but quickly found a comfortable rhythm. jeonghan sighed when he finally got pulled out of his pants, and you were sucking a mark into his neck, his arm wrapped around you and his hand kneading at your rear. his eyes could hardly stay open when seokmin ran his flattened tongue up the underside of his cock.

"isn't he pretty?" you asked, whispering, a smile on your lips.

he groaned, threading his fingers behind seokmin's ear, desperately trying to hold back his release because he hasn't even put you in his mouth, yet, jeonghan, for god's sake, keep it together. the younger's eyes flickered up to his, and he nearly came just from the feeling of his soft lips around his member, sinking slowly.

"fuck, you're too good at this," jeonghan said, the half chuckle on his lips falling quickly when seokmin's tongue ran over a vein, the warmth of his mouth feeling like heaven. his teeth bit down on his lower lip, watching your hand run through seokmin's hair. he hummed at the contact, his grip tightening slightly, sending a jolt through jeonghan's system. "fuck, i'm gonna cum already."

"there were lessons," you giggled, your hands wrapping casually around his neck. his breathing hitched, eyes falling shut, focusing on the mouth sheathing his cock as he recognized your fidgeting fingers over his pulse. "merry christmas, daddy."

he inhaled sharply right before you squeezed at his throat, and he thought that he should maybe let you lead more often if it was going to feel this good. seokmin seemed surprised by the feeling of jeonghan cumming in his mouth, but he did his best to pump every drop from him, swallowing thickly. you only smiled when jeonghan sat up, leaving you behind as he pulled seokmin's face to his, his hands running up jeonghan's thighs as he kissed him.

jeonghan decided the sunroom extension was all wrong, and that he'd have to redo it.

"you just built that," wonwoo said, having been the contractor that oversaw the construction. "besides, it's snowy season, we can't do outdoor construction. you'll have to wait til spring."

"not outdoor," jeonghan said, rolling out the drafting papers he had drawn up over the course of his new year break, the final pieces being completed in the wee hours of that morning. he had sent wonwoo a text as soon as he thought he would be awake, asking for a meeting despite it only being two days after the new year. "the shell can stay the same, we just need to build indoors. besides, i need this done in february."

wonwoo blinked at him. "when in february?"

"it has to be fully furnished by the 18th."

the contractor laughed at the deadline, only a month and a half out, as he looked over jeonghan's drafts. it would be a tight schedule, considering the structural changes he wanted, but he recognized his long time work partner's determination and knew there was little he could do to argue. "okay. let's get to work."

he turned down a contract for a café to make time for the new home project, but not before recommending they contact a kim mingyu, giving him the vaguest thank you for introducing seokmin back into his life. he didn't have time to draw several attempted variations of every café he had ever designed, he was too busy mapping out the logistics of adding a lofted space to the two story sunroom. too busy planning to tear out the outer wall of your office and picking the right sliding glass doors that would lead to the loft. you had to ask him several days in a row before he finally told you what he had planned.

"a music room?"

he tried to gauge your reaction. "is it crazy?"

you broke out into a smile, studying his design, gripping the mug that held your latté that morning. "absolutely, but i love it."

he asked you to help him pick instruments, saying his wishlist included a white grand piano and three to five guitars that could be displayed together. he also told you to pick out your dream computer setup for production - you were graduating that year, afterall, and it was about time you started using something other than your laptop and a midi controller to make music - and you almost started crying from how fucking excited that made you.

hiding the plans from seokmin was the hardest part, especially when he started spending weekends at the house. he saw the construction area often, and one friday afternoon, he had even asked if he could help, leaving you to usher him away and assure him that jeonghan didn't like help when it came to these things. he believed the white lie, allowing you to distract him with the option of watching shit television in bed, even convincing him that tonight was the night to surprise his new boyfriend. seokmin laid in bed with his arms wrapped around you, trying not to move too much, fully aware that even the slightest movements in his body caused his dick to come to life, until the last of the workers left and jeonghan appeared, asking if there were dinner requests before he went to take a shower.

seokmin had been training with you for over a week. you had bought him some toys, even helped him try them out in the comfort of his loft, and he got increasingly excited - generally, but also in those moments - to show jeonghan what he had learned. the surprise he had been keeping had already made him beg you to cockwarm him as he waited, but you refused on account of knowing him, and by extension, knowing that he would not being able to stop himself. he had a bit more confidence, though it may have only been fueled by horniness, when he pulled the vaguely sweaty architect toward him on the bed. he tried to say something about how he should really wash up, but seokmin just kissed him, hands gripping around his skull in desperation, his dick already hard against jeonghan's pelvis.

jeonghan's hands wandered, as they usually did, and when he reached down to palm at seokmin's ass, he reacted in a way that earned him a questioning glance.

"we - ah-" his eyes shut, jeonghan's hands getting closer to his surprise. "she's been helping me-"

and that was when he felt it. the small, hard handle of a plug, situated between seokmin's perky asscheeks, easy to feel through the loose fabric of his shorts, and jeonghan felt his arousal tenting his pants just from the concept.

jeonghan hadn't even noticed your movement off the bed until a bottle of lube hit his leg, looking down at it briefly before looking to you.

"i'm gonna go clean up," you said, running a hand through your hair as you retreated to the bathroom, leaving jeonghan with an already flustered seokmin.

before long, he had him on his back, naked, and finally got to see how sweet his little ass looked when jeonghan pushed his knees towards his chest. when he saw the black knob fitting tightly into his hole, he groaned, his own bare cock flinching in need. he put a hand on seokmin's dick, gripping it lightly, then put a thumb against the plug.

"nngh- fuck," seokmin stammered, fingers gripping at the bedsheets as his neck stretched out against the pillows, bucking into the hand wrapped around him. "j-jeonghan…"

"this is cute," he said, slowly moving his thumb in a circular motion, the plug's movement making seokmin let out choked moans. "but i really need to play with you now."

seokmin nodded, hurriedly, brows knit together. "please."

he hooked his fingers under the knob of the plug, slowly pulling it out and relishing in the reaction. the younger's back arched in a way that jeonghan wished he could see from every angle, knowing that the way his shoulders and back looked must have been incredible, but satisfied by just watching the way his mouth hung open and his eyes clamped shut, his fingers gripping at jeonghan's hand where it stayed on his dick.

he began to pump the dick in his palm, setting aside the plug and grabbing the lube, popping it open with just his left hand and quickly squirting a healthy amount onto the tip of seokmin's penis, making quick work of spreading it completely over the engorged member, the slickness making him moan even louder and reach out for jeonghan's shoulders.

he let seokmin tug him over him, kissing him briefly before looking down at where the younger's thighs spread over his, wanting nothing more than to just fuck him already.

jeonghan's hand left seokmin's cock, leaving him whining against his lips, but it was short lived as his lubed fingers slid down to his puckered hole.

"seokmin," he muttered, studying his face. "you're sure, right?"

"fuck, i've been wanting this for since christmas, jeonghan," he sputtered out, eyes barely able to focus when there were fingers teasing his entrance. "yes, please, i'm sure."

jeonghan slid a digit into the tight hole, watching seokmin's face as his brows creased and his head fell back, a moan tumbling from his lips. another finger, jeonghan decided, and the reaction was similar, making him smirk.

"god, you're ready, aren't you?"

"please," he begged. "i want you."

jeonghan sat back, and the musician got on his elbows to watch as he readied his cock with lube, putting more on his finger and spreading it around seokmin's hole. he whined when jeonghan placed the head of his dick at his entrance, tugging him over him again.

"i'll go slow, okay?" jeonghan assured him. "tell me if i need to stop."

seokmin just nodded, eyes trained on his, and they locked lips as jeonghan pushed his hips forward slowly, the man under him immediately moaning and huffing against his mouth.

jeonghan really liked sex with seokmin. he also really liked sex with you. but he was pretty sure he liked it the most when you were both present.

seokmin didn't walk right for a day and a half, and while he was slightly embarrassed, you told him it was a badge of honor he should wear proudly. afterall, he had done the same to you on halloween.

"how's your butt?" you asked when he came down the stairs, the sunday morning after they had done the deed without you, making him choke out a laugh as you got his tea out of a cabinet in jeonghan's kitchen.

"better than yesterday," he said, gingerly seating himself at a stool. "but not as good as friday."

you eyed him. "before or during?"

seokmin thought a second. "both."

"good morning," jeonghan said, quickly planting kisses on the man and then you, cheek and lips respectively based on the convenience as he walked past you, making his way to the espresso machine. "i think i'm gonna work on the sunroom today."

"today?" you asked. "wonwoo's gonna say no."

"wonwoo isn't getting invited. i still have to find furniture," he said, rinsing out the espresso shot glass and wiping down the portafilter. "we're getting close to deadline, i need boo to order the upholstery job on tuesday and i have a meeting tomorrow."

"when's deadline?" seokmin asked, wondering why he had one for a home project.

jeonghan blinked at the wall, not even turning towards the younger. "don't worry your pretty head about it."

you pouted, closing the short distance and wrapping your arms around him, your chin on his shoulder. "it's sunday. can't we cuddled puddle?"

"you mean like we do every night?" jeonghan asked, but grinding espresso beans so you couldn't answer the rhetorical question, packing down the grounds. "if you want to cuddle puddle, don't get out of bed so early."

you huffed as you dropped your arms, leaving him to prep a glass for his americano. "whatever. seokmin and i will have fun without you."

"what kind of fun?"

you stick your tongue out at him, using a teasing voice when you said "wouldn't you like to know."

innocent fun, was the truth, but you thought it was a victimless bluff. you spent the morning sitting on the couch with seokmin while a record played, discussing everything from your favorite movies to your weirdest dreams. you had to get up every six songs or so to flip or change the record, but seokmin liked that every time you rejoined him on the couch, you got closer to his side until you were eventually snuggling into his side, arms wrapped around his torso.

the innocence stopped when jeonghan emerged from his study, joining the two of you for a break. he planted himself on the other side of seokmin, under his arm, letting his hand not-so-subtly run over his thigh. you noticed the contact, peeking around to jeonghan.

"what kind of break are you looking for, hannie?"

he adjusted. "an inspiring one."

you giggled, recognizing the euphemism he used whenever he was stuck on something for work as you leaned back again. "that means he's horny."

seokmin sputtered out a laugh, jeonghan chuckling at your direct observation. "it's hard to not think about you two sitting out here, having fun without me."

"you may not believe it," seokmin said. "but i don't think sex was even on the table for us two today."

jeonghan's eyes met his, and he swallowed harshly. "can it be on the table for all three of us?"

the comfort of returning to bed was hard to deny, especially when they had you laid out against seokmin's chest as he was pressed against the headboard, his mouth attached to your neck and his fingers twisting a nipple, all while jeonghan was digging his digits further into you with his tongue flicking against your clit.

seokmin grunted, rutting his hips against your back. "fuck, he looks good there."

you gasped, nodding, biting at your lip as he kneaded your breast, your fingers digging into jeonghan's hair. "you both do."

jeonghan never struggled to pull you apart, his deft fingers and teasing lips making you squirm and moan until you were shaking, mouth hanging open as your vision blurred and he told you you tasted like candy.

"minnie," jeonghan prompted, making the younger sit up with you whining against him to clean your taste off his fingers. his dick throbbed in need, watching the singer's agile tongue against him, wishing it wasn't just on his fingers.

seokmin had to practically beg jeonghan to fuck him again, but his only hesitation was that he may not have recovered yet. seokmin was on his back and gripped at jeonghan's thighs, urging him forward as your hand twisted around his thick, throbbing cock.

jeonghan swallowed, pausing despite being covered in lube and in position. "you're sure?"

"yes," seokmin said, gasping at your hand on him. "jeonghan, i appreciate you asking, but i'm always sure when it comes to you."

you weren't sure you had ever seen jeonghan blush like that in bed, and you smiled against seokmin's neck as he groaned, his cock firming in your grasp as the older pushed into him. you admired seokmin's silent scream, his head lolling to one side at the feeling.

"angel," jeonghan sighed, settling into the way seokmin squeezed around him. "what do you wanna do?"

you teased a thumb over seokmin's slit. "i wanna ride."

"f-fuuck-" seokmin panted, his hips resting against jeonghan's spread thighs as his knees hung to either side. "i'm not- nngh- gonna last."

"you don't have to," you said matter of factly, adjusting to straddle his torso. jeonghan winced, watching your form as he pumped into seokmin. "we're done when daddy says so."

you put your hand, palm up, over your shoulder, and jeonghan chuckled at the recognized motion for him to spit on your fingers - usually, so that you could slick his dick to sit back on it. you worked jeonghan's spit over seokmin's engorged cock, then slowly lowered yourself onto him.

seokmin stared up at you, eyes fluttering and mouth open, suddenly not only feeling impossibly full, but also absolutely stuffed into you. he moaned out loud when jeonghan bumped into his spot, overwhelmed by the simultaneous pleasure. you fell forward onto his chest, holding yourself up with shaky arms as your face hovered over his, both of you trying to hold off your own demises.

then, jeonghan pushed himself deep into seokmin, who whined, his dick pushing up against your cervix. you nearly collapsed, whimpering as your forehead fell to his, gasping into a desperate kiss. jeonghan groaned, his hand running over your hip as he looked at the intersection of you all, staring at the way you barely contained all of seokmin before he leaned forward and kissed your spine.

"you two will kill me," he said, one hand holding you firmly at your waist while the other gripped seokmin's thigh as he picked up his pace. you both moaned, fingernails digging into the plushest part of your thigh when seokmin questioned how much longer he could hold out at jeonghan's unrelenting pace.

a long, high pitched whine fell from his lips. "fuck, i need to cum," he rushed out, bleary eyes barely opening as he looked at you.

"hang on, baby," jeonghan said. "ladies first."

you babbled against seokmin's lips, somehow never being able to get used to the way he filled you, though jeonghan pushing him into you didn't help. you could do nothing but repeat curses in increasing pitch, pushing your face into seokmin's neck as your walls clamped down around him. his mouth gaped, desperately trying to not succumb to your plush insides before he got the okay.

jeonghan smiled at how seokmin tried to focus on him, despite his hands gripping you as you shook against him. "go ahead, baby."

so seokmin went. and god, he went, coating you internally, immediately squeezing out around his stuffed cock and onto his lap, making jeonghan pant as he kept his hips moving, chasing his own end. he leaned forward, chest pressing against your back as he fucked into seokmin, not stopping until his eyes were clamped shut and he was painting his walls white.

there was a long period of time where none of you moved, then another after you had all managed to untangle from each other. jeonghan sat back, leaning against a hand and scratching his brow as he breathed heavily.

"bathtub cuddle puddle?"

you laughed, chest heaving as you looked over to him, but it was seokmin who spoke. "that sounds nice."

he started to get suspicious when his birthday got closer.

jeonghan told you to suggest a dinner outing for that night to divert attention, but he had caught you moving one of the guitars for the music room only a few days before his birthday, and he looked at you with squinted eyes when he asked if it was for him and you hurriedly said no, hiding the guitar behind your back despite him clearly being able to see it.

"i panicked," you told jeonghan, eyes wide. "he saw it in me. he could tell it wasn't just the guitar."

"it'll be fine, y/n," he said, pushing around potted plants until they satisfied him. "he has to think it's weird that we haven't let him see this room yet, anyways."

you chewed your cheek, looking around the almost completed sunroom. the tall windows showed the light snowflakes falling from the sky, not quite thick enough to leave a layer but enough to make the enclosed yard look slightly pastel. despite the open space that looked out into the cold seoul winter, it stayed cozy, heat radiating from the floorboards and the faux fur rugs laid across them. the space near the entrance had a raised floor with a grand piano, along with several guitars hanging upon the wall, while the area partially covered by the balcony had two heavily cushioned, dark heather gray couches and a bright armchair, adorned with pillows and cable knit blankets.

jeonghan had a slight obsessive nature when it came to his home projects. he was meticulous with contracts, too, but he truly wanted this house to be perfect - not just for him, but for the people he loved. so you watched him rearrange pillows about four more times before you ran up the stairs to the loft to see if he had changed anything there since you had looked the day before.

it almost felt as though it was outdoors, with plants hanging off the edge of the railing and the rustic desk he had originally picked for your office placed to one side. you imagined doing schoolwork here, fantasizing slightly about watching seokmin play piano from your vantage point as you wrote essays. you slid open the glass doors to peek into your new office.

he had painted the walls white, taking a hint from the styling in your own apartment when he picked out a neutral toned couch and light wood shelving, your early graduation present of a computer set up spread across an L shaped desk. he had even paid to have your upright piano moved here, and cut into the next room over to give you more space for an electric drumset. you couldn't help but smile, imagining your friends coming over to record stuff with you. you had always felt strange about inviting them to your rich boyfriend's house, despite him insisting they were welcome, but he had really gone through the trouble of making a room so perfect for all of them that you had no choice.

and it was brighter, you thought. you had told him you worked better in bright spaces.

despite jeonghan's promises, the music room renovation felt like it was as much a gift for you as it was for seokmin. though, maybe he couldn't help it, when the reasons he loved you both overlapped so much.

you went to seokmin's apartment the next day with a bagged gift for him, arriving again right as his client was leaving, and you smiled at the same young man you had seen the first time you had come to visit seokmin. you knew his name now, not because you had spoken to him much, but because you had been told about him by his teacher, and you congratulated him on getting a gig the upcoming weekend.

"oh," jisung said, glancing between the two of you. "he talks about me?"

you laughed and gave him a fighting, seokmin looking upwards to hide his embarrassment as he ushered his student toward the door. "have a nice week, jisung! i'll try to be there this weekend," he said, throwing you a look as you giggled.

"it's not for guitar, you don't have to come," the younger assured. "but if you want to, bring your girlfriend!"

"yeah!" you said, putting your fists on your hips. "i'm getting you dinner for your birthday tonight, the least you can do is take me to an underground rap show!"

"okay, both of you, no more talking," seokmin said, trying and failing to prevent jisung from stopping in his tracks at the news that it was his birthday.

"woah, teach, happy birthday!" he laughed. "you weren't gonna say anything?" he kept talking even as his teacher pushed him out of his apartment.

you couldn't stop grinning when the door closed, seokmin turning to you. he pointed at you, trying to hide his smile as he could only get out a vaguely annoyed "you."

"happy birthday, baby," you said, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. he softened against you, smiling as you pulled away, his hands on your waist as he thanked you quietly.

"he asks about you a lot," seokmin said, joining you when you laughed at the fact. "i think he has a crush on you."

you rolled your eyes. "stop bragging about me, then."

"i don't brag," he said, smiling into another kiss. "i just tell the truth. i can't help that you're a dream come true."

you only pulled away from him to grab the two thick paper bags that you had set on his couch. "c'mon, we gotta head out. open your presents."

seokmin's mouth dropped open when he saw the logo on the bag. "wait, you didn't."

"i had to," you said, giggling as he grabbed one and tugged it open, moving to the couch to pull the garment out. "you said you wanted it."

"where did you find one?" he asked, staring at the corduroy parka from the brand you saw him wear constantly. "they've been sold out for weeks!"

"i got it before then, duh." you poked his cheek when he pouted at you, his eyebrows knit. "there's more, stop getting distracted."

seokmin hugged you extra tight as a thank you for his romantic crown haul, and he decisively pulled on the golden yellow shirt with the pizza on the back, making you grin at how perfectly jeonghan had predicted his thought process before you dragged him out of his apartment to go get dinner.

"we're just picking it up," you said, jangling a keychain. he gave you a quirked eyebrow, and you giggled, pulling him over to jeonghan's car. "do you wanna see it self drive?"

you pushed the side door closed with your butt and called out to jeonghan, saying the birthday boy was here. seokmin took the pizza boxes from your arms and put them on the kitchen counter as jeonghan walked around the stairs.

"well one of us has to change," jeonghan said facetiously, and seokmin looked down at the yellow shirt peeking through his half zipped parka, looking back up at jeonghan, who was wearing the same shirt.

"wait wait wait," you giggled, turning around to undo the zipper of your own jacket, pulling it open as you spun around to reveal that you, too, were wearing the shirt.

seokmin looked between you two with wide eyes, his eyebrows creasing. "you got us matching shirts?"

"pizza shirt gang!" you giggled, stripping off your jacket. "do you like them?"

he smiled into a disbelieving laugh. "how did you know i would put it on?"

"because we know you, minnie," jeonghan said, reaching for his hand after he took off his new coat. "before we eat, i finished the sunroom today, wanna see it?"

"hang on," seokmin stopped, making his hand fall from jeonghan's. "that's not the gift, right?" he looked at you. "the sunroom isn't the gift?"

you pursed your lips, looking at the ceiling, and seokmin started to argue, making jeonghan laughed. "who cares if it's for you, i just want you to come look at it."

jeonghan is pretty sure he always loved seokmin. it wasn't something he would ever be able to change about himself, he figured, as he watched his lover cover his face with his hands, sinking to crouch on the floor as his eyes looked around the large room that was lit by fairy light. the first thing he had seen was the piano, which made him gasp, then he saw the guitars, and looked at your smiling face, suddenly connecting dots, unable to stay standing from the shock as he understood why he hadn't been allowed to help.

and then he started crying.

the two of you ushered him to a couch, sitting him down as he sniffed back the tears. you sat beside him, wrapping your arms around his shoulder and cooing, jeonghan crouching on the floor in front of him.

"i'm sorry," jeonghan said, smiling slightly as he gave him an apologetic look. "i didn't mean to overwhelm you."

seokmin choked on a laugh, wiping at his cheeks. "how did you think i'd react?"

"i don't think he thought about it," you whispered, knowing full well jeonghan could hear you.

"i got a little carried away," he admitted, hand rubbing comforting circles on seokmin's leg. "you're special to me, so i wanted to make something special for you."

"this," seokmin said, looking around, gesturing at his surroundings. "this?"

the older huffed out a laugh, almost embarrassed. "yeah, this."

seokmin laughed too, eyes wet as he looked into the other's. "i can't believe you would make something this incredible for me."

"you're incredible," jeonghan said. "i want you to feel welcome in my home."

"i couldn't believe the record wall, either," you offered when seokmin seemed speechless, pressing your cheek against the his shoulder, hand rubbing his back. "jeonghan's love language is a little unique."

seokmin sniffed one more time, studying jeonghan's face, his brow creasing ever so slightly. "holy shit, i'm in love with you."

your heart stopped as you pulled away slightly to look at him, then jeonghan, who was frozen.

"i didn't realize that's what this was," seokmin said, hand gripping the one on his thigh. "i knew i liked you, but this is-"

jeonghan rose quickly, seating himself at seokmin's other side and kissed him. "i love you," he said, thumbs wiping over his slightly damp cheekbones. "it's taken me years to admit it, but i love you."

seokmin kissed him again in response, his face feeling hot from the continued attention. he broke away, only to look around the room again, jeonghan studying his face with a smile as he did.

"i think," seokmin said, clearing his throat when the words came out weak. he looked to you, then to jeonghan. "i think this is the best birthday i've ever had."

jeonghan laughed. "we haven't even had the pizza yet."

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sugar-petals · 4 years

Text

BTS Scenario: Taking Care of Them When They Have a Cold

↳ ♡ NOTE ⇁ time for fluff. autumn season is coming, let me set the mood right here, we’re going cozy 🍂

warnings ⚠️ hurt/comfort, brief mention of sexual tension

⌈jimin⌋ ⇢ Jimin’s cold is unusually subtle. In terms of visible signs, it’d take some time to notice it for someone who doesn’t know him or doesn’t check just how heavy another person’s breath is going. But feedback? You will definitely get. Compared to how he’s pouting about it, which will melt your heart is what I’m saying, the symptoms are understated in comparison to the other members. Taehyung’s cough can shatter an entire neighborhood, Jimin sneezing is as graceful as a gazelle. Mind you, his nose is runny, and the slight fatigue of the first two days isn’t negligible, but the major thing to actively mend is more psychological than physical. In other words, his body does its thing, you don’t have to overextend yourself.

That’s what you have to figure out first to really take care of him properly. After laying him down and bringing both snacks and liquids, talking is what he needs rather than ten thousand types of medications and cool towels all over him. Jimin doesn’t want to see you become sick as well so you don’t sit up close, but at talking range, and you text a lot during the day while you work. He’s worried about not being able to practice and hopes the cold doesn’t show in his appearance. You assure him it takes five days at best and he is okay again and promise a lot of kisses. With that prospect, healing is even sweeter. And, you know the guy, Jimin misses seducing you, so.

⌈taehyung⌋ ⇢ Absolutely enjoys being babied ten times out of ten. Nothing better than you preparing a hot herbal bath. Rosemary, thyme, camomile. The steam spiraling off the water surface looks so relaxing in the candlelight, the classical music you put on sways him into a trance, he lays there for half an hour just motionless. He gets a little tray of coconut cookies on the bed stand, you play the guitar to him, you massage his feet before he sleeps… Which, and he hates admitting it, makes it nice to be sick. By all means not because of the fever, but the extra attentions, the hot chocolate for bed. Taehyung thinks about that twice and concludes something. He doesn’t want to get a cold just to receive this treatment. Not for his own health nor to worry or overwhelm you, he’s not gonna guilt-trip you into being a servant.

So, you agree for later: It’s good to treat him sporadically just because, whenever and wherever, cue Shakira. That Taehyung so enjoys a good healing and mending time and it just explodes when you both have a reason to, that’s rather something to expand to the whole relationship. Taehyung will do the exact spoiling for you, with a romantic twist the way you know him. It doesn’t need a sickness to resort to doing nice things for your partner. At the end of the day, the body will remember it and get sick again because it sees what it gets through being ill. That’s something to squarely avoid doing, a random gesture is good for its own sake, amen.

⌈yoongi⌋ ⇢ Grumpy, murmuring, disgruntled he can’t work without getting a headache, needs a lot of silence to recover so he curls up on his own with earphones in and fifty playlists on repeat. He’s like tch, only thing I need is tiger balm to whip me back into shape. Or… wait. Wait a second. A cup of steaming hot coffee with extra foam he will not reject. Or a plate of fried rice. Anything fried and super crispy, really. Yoongi likes those things, especially when prepared by you. Nothing is more honoring. Actually? I’ll change the initial statement. Yoongi does accept some help. You simply gotta find out his catnip I mean favorite dishes and either know the place to order it from or have some kitchen basics down. Nothing super fancy though, it doesn’t need a God’s Menu. The right seasoning does the trick already.

He wants it mega spicy, sweating out the cold is the way to go said Yoongi’s mom back in the day so he goes by that motto. Love starts in the stomach for felines. If another BTS member drops take-out at the door, even better, that uplifts him greatly. When he munches, that’s the most gratifying thing in the world. Yoongi wants you to eat with him by the bed so that means chili in the bedroom but screw it. All that food and you cranking up the heater distracts Yoongi from his cold and some head pats have him on his way to recovery. And, by the way. He’s kinda turned on by you cooking for him so… the frustration is real, you’re gonna fuck like rabbits once he’s okay again.

★ ⌈namjoon⌋ ⇢ The friendly giant will stay in denial about his cough for at least three days and walk around with way too much medicine in his system. He begs for someone to relieve him, mostly himself, but all those sky-high standards are in the way. Responsibility! Hard work and endurance! Solve it in your head! What is the spiritual reason for colds? How many pills keep you awake for an all-nighter to write an album in one go? What’s next on the schedule? So it goes on, you know the deal with Joonie. You have to kick that leader butt so he finally enters the healing cave under the sheets. Don’t kick too hard though, he doesn’t have Jimin-level cushions. He topples over into his sheets fast anyway, he’s that level of exhausted from his own suppression.

The story goes on, Namjoon feels extremely guilty for getting pampered and still ponders the reasons why he is ill rather than slowing down a minute and closing his laptop for a hot second. It gets a little awkward unless you figure out your secret weapon. What he feels better with is you reading him stories while he rests on the sofa. I’m not kidding. Or if you’re busy or he wants to be alone, audiobooks. That input is like a lullaby to Namjoon who gets knocked out by the soft whispering only to descend into 12 hours of sleep. Ah, he’s namjooning. Yep. His cold will force him into resting, but by the time he recovers, he is six books wiser and has had the pleasure of listening to your voice which he finds soothing. Thankful he is, anticipate an expensive present and flowers.

★ ⌈jungkook⌋ ⇢ Meal and fluid intake: Quantity explosion! Wow, wow, and wow again, the sheer amount that he can snack and turn into what seems even more muscle and more sweetness. Guinness World Record. He knows his system is currently resetting, he wants to hand it the building blocks, he knows the math. Yes, even sick Jungkook is the cutest foodie in the world. Yes, he will eat his veggies. He worries about not being able to work out so you at least help him stretch his legs ever so slightly in bed. He’s missing his boxing gloves like crazy, he wants to see the members in the practice room, he wants his milk. The latter is easy to get for him, and FaceTime comes in handy.

Namjoon does a little motivational speech, and Jungkook feels better almost instantly. Later on, you have to scold him — well, just a little bit — for getting up in all that enthusiasm to do some of his routine on the second day, but he already knows it’s not good for him to get his heart rate up like that. He patiently snuggles in a cocoon of duvets with only his eyes being visible. Until, finally, his red lil’ nose goes back to normal and his lungs feel a lot lighter. Jungkook really hates being dizzy, so it’s a weight off his hunky shoulders all right. Then, he can join you at the dinner table for a double portion of extra Parmesan Spaghetti, and you settle on the couch to bingewatch romantic animes and any Studio Ghibli movie in history.

★ ⌈jin⌋ ⇢ It simply can’t be helped, he even wants to make this funny. Humor really is a never-ending well, Jin is Spongebob’s long lost cousin if you go by his amount of meme talk. He calls himself Rudolph the Red-Nosed Jindeer, stuffs handkerchiefs into his nostrils, draws smileys on his knees with the cream usually meant for a dry philtrum (he now has very hydrated knees, how about that), does impossible contortions to find the right sleeping or reading position. Honestly, you don’t really have to take much care of him nor worry, Jin will cure himself through laughter. The power of positive emotion. Entertainment is nothing to provide for, he’s a one-man show after all. Jin is the least bored when he’s sick among the group, however! It needs someone else to exchange with, you know. No punchline without an audience. Listening is the best thing.

Sit, lean back, see what he has to say. The only thing you gotta actively do is stop him from choking on his own spit after a particularly dead-on joke. Maybe it’s introducing some room for serious time that helps Jin enter a different track. I can imagine that. Some talk about memories, talk about sorrows and issues. Jin is a complete man, but he still has plenty of ’em, demons don’t evade handsome people. And those need to be talked through in a silent minute. Jin also enjoys movie nights with a cup of tea in one hand and syrup in the other, that’s the go-to way to unwind. You can finally go all out and pour him his tea, bake for him, serve some self-made popcorn, extra sticky and sweet, oh yum.

★ ⌈hoseok⌋ ⇢ If Jimin and Hobi ever get colds at the same time, this will be the poutiest contest. They’re the most vocal about it in the group. Hoseok, and that will come to surprise you a little, becomes needy. Not at the beginning where he’s confused and emotional about what’s going on with him (someone who works this hard and needs a fully functioning body is thrown out of their lane even by the slightest symptom), but shortly after. You’ll come to understand how sensitive his body is, almost as perceptive as Jungkook’s actually. His body blows up with a strong fever, a hot man heating up even more is just an explosion of physics.

He needs handkerchiefs, he needs tons of water, he needs music to distract him a little, he needs a heating blanket for his feet once the fever is gone. Granted, every sick person depends on those things, but Hoseok is someone who calls out of the bedroom often because he ran out. He’s not afraid to ask for things unlike Namjoon who would refuse out of overt politeness. You certainly have a lot to do because his cold comes in strong so it’s important you enjoy taking care of him and don’t do it out of obligation. Quality time is what we’re talking about here. It’s not about you doing the things, it’s about the presence. That’s why Hoseok will use his money well and always order proper take-out that’s not just classic fast food, you don’t have to cook or anything.

related: putting bts to sleep after a hard day

#bts headcanons #bts scenarios #bts scenario #bts fluff #bts x reader #bts #bangtan #bts imagine #bts domestic au #bts hurt and comfort

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purble-turble · 3 years

Note

That just makes me think that MK in Red Son's role is a mental breakdown over his constant failures to defeat Mei and her team waiting to happen. AND BOY WOULD IT BE SAD! Like Make-Mei-and-her-team-stop-fighting-and-are-left-stuck-between-obeying-common-sense-and-comforting-him levels of sad.

The first time Monkie Kid Mei and Dragon Red Son defeat MK the son of Demon Bull King, he runs off with tears in his eyes.. the two of them think that’s kind of weird but decide to dismiss it.

But then it happens some more. The weather station was a bit of a fiasco, since Mei accidentally knocked out Red Son with her staff and then flung herself out of the building leaving the rest of them to get captured... MK seemed almost sorry when he tied up a semi-conscious Red Son and even gave him a lil pat on the head saying something about how this was fine.. besides, his father was going to be so proud of him so it’s worth it! Then Mei showed up again and kicked his butt, courtesy of one super convenient lightning button. When MK hit the ground after that long fall he didn’t move for a good couple of moments there, and the gang thinks maybe he’s actually hurt, but then he shudders a bit and Mei thinks she hears a tiny sob?? And then MK is on his feet and shouting that he was SO CLOSE this time!!! Why’d they have to go ruin this for him his dads gonna be so disappointed!! And before anyone can react to that whole situation, MK flees, obviously crying again.

So... two instances of MK running away in tears could just be construed as this demon being a bit of a crybaby. But then the race happens and while Mei and Red Son are bickering over who’s the better driver, DBK and Iron Fan show up and start antagonizing their own son??? That’s weird how they’re being kind of mean to him... anyway, the race actually goes exactly the same as in the show.. Mei and MK crash and Red Son is about to win. Out in the track Mei and MK have an argument, Mei insists that MK is a huge jerk for ruining this race because it’s really important to her and now she’s gonna have to listen to Red Son gloat about it! MK is furious that he’s lost YET ANOTHER chance to impress his father because of her and does she even know how hard it is to get his parents to look twice at him??? But she couldn’t just let him have this!

Mei feels a little bad after hearing that from him.. suddenly it’s starting to come together why this guy seems like an anxious mess all the time. She starts to talk a little about how she kinda gets it because her parents were jerks too, but MK cuts her off saying his parents are NOT jerks.. they just expect a lot from him as they should!! ....Mei just nods and takes out the Monkey King’s staff. He thinks she’s gonna fight him but then she offers him a ride because if they’re quick maybe they can still beat Red Son.. together???

Mei and MK go on an uncontrollable rampage and smash through Red Son’s bike, sending him flying and crossing the finish line together, sharing the 1st place title just like in the show. Red Son comes storming up, demanding to know why Mei has teamed up with MK and is she really gonna let him hold the immortal peach like that is she MAD??

MK laughs, taunting Red Son by going to take a bite out of... what is just a trophy apparently. Mei laughs at both of them for thinking it was a real immortal peach.. and while Red just looks embarrassed and tries to shrug it off, MK freaks out again and runs off shouting at himself about how he’s such an idiot!! ....once he goes off Mei has a word with Red. Maybe they should do something to help that guy, he seems like he needs to get away from his parents too, and Red did help her with that after all....

#ask #blog #traffic light trio #role swap au

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honeyandhondewberries · 4 years

Note

A fic idea for u.... Leon’s got a bit of a wee crush on you, a trainer at Wyndon stadium. One night he uses the group showers at the gym, only for YOU to also be there even tho it’s late. And he’s a dumb himbo and trying not to ogle you and show u how embarrassed and tense he is as you full on get naked and shower with him and try to talk to him all casually . Hoo hoo!

oohoooo steamy yes our good friend tension. Some Spice in the midst of the Sugar. This lil fic isn’t explicit (& still follows my Rules of no NSFW), but i’ll give it an unofficial T+ rating since the imagery is more vivid than some may be comfortable with. If you don’t like reading about non-explicit bein nekked/suggestive themes/or being the focus of some champion fantasies, don’t read past the line :)

Part 2: A Few Degrees Hotter

Steam (LeonxReader)

You.

Wet. Dripping. Panting.

Your eyes, your smile, your body.

Here with him.

What if you were?

He could trail his hands down your body, press you against the shower tiles, corner you between the wall and the translucent partition, then he could kiss and nip and suck everything about you.

All the while wet, dripping, panting.

What if you whispered his name?

What if he kissed you, soft and slow, what if you trembled at his touch? What if he could feel your lips, pressed against his, between his, feel your breath on his skin. He could start at your lips, then trail down. He could drag his lips down your neck, your throat, your collarbone, bare like that. What if you raised your hands over his shoulders, what if he trailed his fingers down your sides? What if he made you shiver, even with the hot water of the showerhead running over you?

Leon slams his knee into a bench, then jolts himself out of his fantasy with a hiss.

Immediately his face flares red with shame at how easily those lewd thoughts of you took over his mind. In a place as public as the public Wyndon Stadium showers… That was not a good risk to take. He tosses his gym bag onto the bench, then his hat, and he runs his fingers through his hair in frustration. He takes a quick glance around.

There’s no one here, and it’s so after hours that even the cleaning crew has gone home.

…It’s late. And he’s alone. Maybe he could just…

No. No. Not in a public shower, at his job no less, what if someone came in?

He thought he was getting better at this, of shoving away those thoughts of you.

And you didn’t even know.

It took a lot for him crush on someone, and yet you waltzed right in like it was your job to make him a stuttering mess. And how you would tease him. No one else had the gall besides his close friends, and yet, you seemed to get away with it every time. Leon was usually quick with banter himself, but the second he met you, you immediately one-upped him, then one-thousand-upped him, and successfully ran him over with your wit and your charm.

Leon sighed, peeled off his sweaty shirt that clung to his body and flung it onto the bench. Maybe a shower would help clear his mind, though his mind seemed awfully fond of the idea of showering with you.

Alright, maybe he could think about Pokemon or something, consider tactics for his training match tomorrow.

You were training earlier.

You had that fire in your eyes, that wild and unabashed smile, that passion that oozed from every pore. He vividly remembers how your chest rose with each breath, how your pupils dilated with adrenaline, how you rushed up to him after your battle to immediately get his advice. Leon shakes his head to the present again.

Stop stop stop stop Leon, think about something else. Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth.

Yeesh.

He doesn’t even talk with you that often, maybe a couple times a week when your schedules align at the gym. He always makes a beeline right to you, only to make it there and realize he has nothing to say. You always say something though, something clever, and he usually laughs and usually thinks of something in return (never as quickly as he would want, though). He always hovers on the edge of caution in his words, though, so he’s sure you don’t know about his little crush on you.

Leon gathers his towel, soap, and shampoo, and heads to the showerhead at the end. Normally he has his private shower and dressing room, but that exhibition match with Raihan left it in dire need of maintenance (along with a few other rooms in Wyndon Stadium), so here he was, using the public ones. It’s late enough, though, so hopefully no one comes in. His staff isn’t starstruck like most fans, but the last thing he wants is an awkward conversation in the gym showers so late at night.

Leon grimaces when he steps into the shower stall. It’s not even a stall, but rather a group shower with flimsy, translucent partitions between showerheads. The partition barely goes up to his shoulders, and only down to his knees. He wonders who he can talk to about the sheer lack of privacy these things provide - really it’s almost a joke, like a smug wink to whoever gets to be on the other side. He reaches his hand over it, waves, and can easily count all of his fingers, though they’re blurry.

He doesn’t give the partitions much thought beyond that, as the shower knob creaks when he turns the water on. It splutters, then runs over him in a steady stream, trailing down his face, neck, chest, all the while collecting the bits of sweat, grime, and dirt from his intense training. Leon lets the water run over him for a few minutes as the steam swirls in his lungs, cleansing him from the inside out. He vaguely wonders what you’re up to at this hour. Probably sleeping.

There’s a rustle, the clang of a locker, and Leon groans inwardly. This is exactly what he didn’t want to happen: forced small talk while being butt-naked. Bathroom etiquette suggests that he doesn’t even make eye-contact, so hopefully whoever just came in follows those unspoken rules too.

“Hey, Leon!”

Leon’s eyes snap open and his blood goes cold.

Oh.

Oh no.

Please.

“Training late tonight too, huh?”

Dear Arceus, please, let this be a dream. Or maybe he’s dead, that’d be even better.

The seconds tick by, but the rustling of clothes doesn’t stop. When he accepts that those sounds aren’t in his imagination, he slowly turns his head.

And his stomach drops, because there you are, sweating, smiling, shining, and you give him a wave.

“I didn’t think anyone else would be in here,” you say. Leon forces a smile.

“Yeah,” he mumbles. He coughs, then clears his throat. “Yeah me either.”

And then, you ask exactly what he wishes you wouldn't ask.

“Mind if I join you?” you ask with a good-natured smile.

Flashes of his fantasies erupt in his brain.

You, asking that same question.

You, biting your lip seductively.

You, trailing your fingers up his stomach.

You, looking him in the eyes with your own hooded and hungry gaze.

Leon lets out a squeak.

“S-sure,” he says as he clears his throat to ensure his voice sounds much manlier than squeaking. “Group showers, couldn’t deny that even if I wanted to.”

“Would you want to?” you tease.

Leon swallows another squeak, and instead lets out a breathy laugh. There you go again, with your relentless teasing. How is he supposed to answer? Yes? No? Maybe? What would be charming and make him look like not a huge pervert? He’s faltering in a response, but you don’t seem to mind. The second he finds one, he looks back over to you, only to choke on his spit.

You’ve already pulled off your pants and folded them on the bench and are in the process of pulling your shirt up over your head. Leon’s eyes zigzag over your frame, unconsciously drinking in every inch of you as quickly as he can. Heat pools deep in his stomach, because you look just like he fantasized you would.

This is getting dangerous.

You finally pull your head out from your shirt and toss it on top of your pants. Leon whips his head back to the shower wall, and squeezes his eyes closed as if to squeeze out that image of you. It’s already ingrained behind his eyelids though, properly stored in his brain so he can access it too easily.

He hears more rustle of cloth, but he doesn’t dare look over again. You’re probably wearing nothing, your skin is probably glowing in the soft yellow light of the mirror lamps, and Leon suddenly wishes he had turned on all the lights when he came in instead of just the moody dim ones. Your bare feet pat against the tiled floor, and Leon holds his breath.

Please stay at the other end.

You pass the end showerhead.

Please stay at the showerhead second to the end.

You pass the showerhead second to the end.

Please stay in the third to the end.

You pass the third to the end, and Leon’s heart is beating in his ears the closer you step.

He squeezes his eyes closed again, though his fantasies push into his mind.

You, stepping in behind him.

You, curving your hands around his hips.

You, pressing yourself against his back.

You, kissing his neck, his shoulders, down his spine.

Leon lets out a shaky breath.

“You okay?” you ask, and he nearly jumps out of his skin. Your voice is close, much too close, and Leon dares to peek as to which shower stall you picked.

Really, he shouldn’t be surprised when he sees you’ve picked the one right next to his.

“Yeah,” Leon says. “Just had a long day of training.”

“Same,” you say as you turn on your own shower. You seem to notice his tension as you set your toiletries on the ground. “Don’t take it personally that I’m right next to you, this is the best shower. The temperature and the water pressure is perfect. If you were in this one I’d probably kick you out.”

Leon lets out another breathy laugh.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that,” he says as he looks everywhere that isn’t you.

“Or I’d ask to share,” you say with a lighthearted chuckle.

Leon’s heart pounds.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that either,” Leon says. His voice is too quiet to be teasing, and in his periphery he sees you furrow your brow.

“I’m wounded,” you say. “I think I’d make a great shower partner. I’d get all the spots on your back that you can’t reach.”

“I can reach all the spots,” Leon says stupidly, even though he can’t.

You switch subjects and start talking about your training, and Leon tries his best to listen. He needs to get his shampoo, but it’s sitting on the floor. Could he just… lean down and grab it? Would that be weird? But then he’d be nose to nose with that translucent partition, and effectively, nose to nose with your blurry and bare figure. He closes his eyes, pats around the ground, finds his shampoo, and stands straight again.

“Oh, can I borrow some of that?” you ask. “I left my shampoo in my other bag.”

Leon turns before he can think when you hold your hand out. He gets a glimpse of your smile, of your hair, wet and dripping, of your cheeks flushed from the steam.

What if your face was flushed from something else?

He slaps that thought away, squeezes some shampoo into your open palm, and turns back to the wall.

Does he even need to shower? Maybe he could just dry off and shower at home and not risk you finding out about his crush in an embarrassing and non-gentlemanly way. He needs to calm down, because the heat that’s pooling in his stomach is getting needier and needier as seconds pass.

“Leon?” you say, and Leon jolts into focus again.

“Huh?” he grunts. “Sorry, what? I was… spacing out.”

“Yeah I can tell,” you say. “I asked why you’re in here and not in your own shower.”

“Oh, mine’s getting fixed,” Leon answers, and when you close your eyes as the water gently hits your face, Leon can’t stop himself from peeking.

There’s your frame, bare and blurry, behind the translucent partition. What if he stepped around it? Or better yet, what if it wasn’t there? What if he could step to you, press his thumbs into your hips, pull you into his chest?

He shakes his head into focus again. Yep, he can shower at his house, maybe take care of this tension at his house too. Leon rinses the shampoo out, rinses himself off, collects his things, ties his towel around his hips, and walks past you as quickly as he can, forcing his eyes forward the entire time. He barely makes it to his bag before he hears your voice again.

“Leon?” you ask.

It’s quiet, much softer than what’s normal for you. He glances to you, brow furrowed at the hesitation in your voice. He can only see above your shoulders and below your knees, and you're backed far enough away from the partition so he can only catch the foggy color of your skin.

“Do you not like me?” you ask. “Did I do something to upset you?”

“What?” Leon breathes. “What makes you say that?”

The only sound is the echo of the water hitting the tiles beneath you when you bite your lip.

“Whenever I talk to you, you barely respond,” you confess. “And I just… I feel like you’re really uncomfortable around me. I want to know what I did so I can properly apologize.”

What you did? How about who you are? Charming and captivating and attractive, always knowing what to say to get him to blush.

“You didn’t do anything, promise,” Leon says quickly. “It’s me. I’m always awkward when I’ve got feelings for someone.”

Your eyebrows raise, and so do his.

Oh.

Oh no.

Because there is that sly smirk, slowly inching onto your face.

“Feelings?” you repeat smugly, and you step forward and rest your chin on your fist and your elbow on the partition. “Little ol’ me? What kind of feelings?”

“W-well,” Leon stutters. “Y’know, like, platonically. A-as a friend, co-worker, u-um, a comrade.”

“Hm,” you hum, and you take a step towards the partition. Your figure is a little less fuzzy the closer you step. Dangerously less fuzzy. “Platonically?”

“Yep,” Leon squeaks as his eyes flick to yours, then to your blurry outline. You catch his slip when he stares for a second, and he meets your eyes, and abruptly turns. “I-I’m going to shower at my house.”

“Why?” you ask. “You don’t want to shower with me?”

His eyes widen again when he realizes what he revealed to you. His face is flaring red.

“The… the water is cold here,” he stutters. Leon steps around the shower wall to pull on his pants and pull on his shirt out of view of you and your blurry figure. He gets tangled, thanks to his damp skin, and he can hear your laugh echo in the room.

“I told you this one is perfect,” you say. “There’s plenty of room for you too.”

“A-and I need to feed my… my oven, since I left it on,” Leon blurts as he collects his things as fast as he can. “See you tomorrow!”

“It’s a date!” you call, and your words echo around in the showers, then down the hall as Leon rushes out.

Your words follow him, and that image of you and those fantasies stay unfortunately prominent in his mind, even when he gets home.

Especially when he gets home.

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stuffedtight · 4 years

Text

Stealing Seconds

Thought I’d get back into the lab and write something up! I kinda want to be more active in this lil community!!! Even though I’m such a big fe head I haven’t played some of the old games so I’ve been playing Sacred Stones on my WiiU! After Sacred Stones I wanna play the Blazing Blade so expect stuff of those characters! I’ve fell in love with sum boys and wanted to write about Colm! Feel free to send in asks about old and new characters and maybe I’ll get around to it? (Sorry for this being so long!!💖) (Also I haven’t finished the game so I don’t know the endings so I guess this is like an au?)

-[ As the clock struck 1, Colm let a sigh of relief come over him, as he knew his castle watching shift is over, and can finally enjoy his lunch with his best friend, Niemi. Colm had seemed to be looking forward to his meals more and more. On top of this, he’s never been known to train. He has a bit of a dad bod thing going on. A bit of chub, but it’s just something to work off, right?

“Colm!” Niemi called, waving her hand up to get his attention. Colm couldn’t help but smile when he saw her. “What’s up, Niemi?” Colm said in a warm tone, a side he doesn’t really expose to anyone but her. He constantly needs to know if Niemi’s in any trouble, but can also get her into trouble with his own schemes. Niemi talked about her shift as they walked to the cafeteria.

Colm loved the smell of the cafe food. The food the cafe served was, to be blunt, fattening. Niemi knew that was the cause of her friend’s weight gain, but she wouldn’t comment on it. She insisted that she make him his own lunches, as she does her herself, but he refused. He gives into his craving to easily and can’t resist a greasy slice of pizza or a juicy burger.

Niemi followed Colm to the cafeteria, as he leaned his arms against the counter and exposed his rather plump behind in his tight trousers unknowlingly to his friend, distracted more by the food. Of course, Niemi tried not to stare at it, but she had to sneak in a few glances. She’s been crushing hard on Colm since they were little. Today, Colm would be served chicken breast. His favorite, despite being more of a fatty, greasy mess. Of course, he asked for extra and recieved a whole nother breast and extra fries. He payed and sat with Niemi.

She couldn’t help but stare at Colm as he devoured his into his belly. “Niemi?” “Y-Yeah!” She got caught, but Colm didn’t seem to care. He kept eating and Niemi slowly dug into her lunch. After the meal, Colm was definetly full. He snuck a hand onto his now expanded belly, but would be too embarrased to give himself a rub. Niemi stood up, and now done with work, they had the day to themselves. Colm let out a hand to Niemi for her too help him up with a smirk. Niemi grabbed his hand, and with a grunt from Colm, got him on two. Now, with his big lunch, you can see his round belly bulge through his shirt. Niemi, not knowing what came over her, started to tease him. “I guess you liked it, Colm?” She giggled. “Whatever...” Colm said, embarrased, as he put his hands over his head. However, doing this, he revealed his under belly and blue happy trail.

Niemi couldn’t contain herself, and had to touch that belly. She reached out to touch and snuck a little rub in before Colm swiftly put her hand away with a “Hey!” She laughed it off but she felt silly. What she didn’t know is that Colm secretly loved the feel of her soft hand on his taut tummy.

Niemi and Colm spent the rest of the day as they normally, playing games, talking about memories, and even a walk out to the market. When dinner rolled around, Colm exclaimed how hungry he was with a pat of his belly. Niemi said he should have a much lighter meal, and grudgingly, Colm agreed. He didn’t want to say no but he did to avoid a crying Niemi. Colm ate one of her meals, and eventually came the night.

Niemi and Colm’s room was an admittally small room, more of a small apartment, with two beds. Sometimes, Niemi daydreams of their room only having one, forcing them to share a bed. Colm undid his belt, looking down at how much his belly had actually grown. And when Niemi wasn’t looking, checked himself out in the mirror and even looked at his ass. He’d definelty grown, and could even see his butt through his usually oversized boxers, now tightly constrained down to his plump thighs, which were usually skinny sticks. He didn’t show any expression on his weight gain, but inside, he kinda liked it. He liked filling his belly with food and having it rubbed and cared for. He liked his new fat ass and how it had the slightest jiggle when he walked, and now his butt pushes out his trousers.

Niemi was in her bed, in much more classy pajamas compared to Colm’s tight boxers. Niemi took quick glances to see Colm’s belly and even his butt when he bent down to grab something. Still, Niemi knew she had to sleep soon, or else she’ll be kept up all night by Colm’s snores. Eventually, she found herself peacefully dreaming.

Untill she was woken up. She was being shaken by Colm. A drozy Niemi responded, “Colm, what time is it?” “I don’t know but I’m sooo hungry.” Colm said, almost whining. His stomach let out a growl. He was a little embarrased. “See? Hear him?” Niemi thought his antics were cute, and didn’t know he was one for midnight snacks. “So?” “So, Niemi, I’m gonna go steal some food from the cafe! Can you come with me?” Niemi knew Colm had always had a habit of stealing, but she would never confront him about it, fearful of an argument, and would let him do as he please. But if Colm got a lot more fat, perhaps he wouldn’t be able to do some sneaking around. She let out a sigh. “Sure, Colm.” They didn’t bother to change clothes, Neimi in her cutesy pjs, and Colm in nothing but his boxers.

Their pantry raid was successful, to say the least. Colm managed to steal fries, chicken wings, pizza, and even a few drinks to bring back. However, their trip was cut short when a flashing light of a gaurd shined upon them. Colm, quickly covering his crotch, wanting to hide his now blown up body, then went back into theif mode, got his loot, and ran with Niemi. They managed to lose the gaurd and safely get back to their room. Colm out of breath, bent down and put his hands on his knees. Niemi even did a little bit of scolding about how dangerous that was. “I know, Niemi, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t put you in any more dangerous stuff like that.” “You too, Colm! We could’ve been kicked out!” “Your right. I promise.”

With that out of the way, Colm dug into his findings. The food already warm, he dug into the chicken wings first. There were about 8 of them and he douvred them. He loved the crunch and the juicy meat inside of them. He took his first bite with a loud “Mhmmmm”. As Niemi and Colm sat on his bed, he dug into the fries and the 3 slices of pizza he managed to grab. The silence of the room with Niemi looking Colm up and down as he filled his belly with food, went away as Colm let out a loud blech. He held his belly with a hand as he let out the pressure of his belly. He let out a short “Excuse me” before he began eating again.

Colm finished his meal with burps and regret. He stuffed all that food inside his poor belly, left with the view of him in his boxers. He rubbed the crumbs of his mouth. “Well, I hope you enjoyed this little midnight ‘snack’, but I seriously need some sleep. But I’ll admit...it was a little fun.” Niemi said. Before Colm began speaking he burped. “Ah, excuse me. It was, but I’m sort of regretting it.” They chatted as they both got into their beds. Colm, laying on his back, could see the shape of his packed belly through his blanket. He gave his belly a rub, feeling the tightness of it, compared to the soft dough of his empty belly. He let out another loud burp. Then, through the pain of his stuffing, put his arm over his head, and not believing what he was about to say.

“Niemi?” “Yeah?” He was interrupted with a small burp. “Could you, uh, maybe, r-rub my belly.” Niemi smiled at the idea. Colm looked over to see her reaction and let out a nervous laugh as he saw her smile. Niemi got up, and went into his bed, and slid her hand under the sheets to his belly. Colm let out moans and groans as he layed there. They could hear his stomach growl in protest. “Settle down, buddy.” Colm said. Niemi didn’t know Colm was a tummy talker. “He’s not to happy with me.” He said, facing down to her. “Haha, I can tell.” Niemi laughed. Through the slight awkwardness and Colm’s discomfort of his full stomach, they enjoyed their intimate moment. After about 10 minutes of Colm letting out burps, he leaned over to Niemi’s forehead and gave her a kiss. “Thanks.”

She was too flustered to say anything. But she didn’t need to. She laid there on his slightly chubby pec and cuddled. In the morning, Niemi was met with more love for Colm and Colm was met with new pounds of fat and a struggle to reach his pants over his butt, a result of his greed from his night before.

#i think i might do some modern fe characters next #or gerik because im obbessed with him #also most of my fics will be mlm im just doing them bc there cute #god my tags are so long #also if anyone wants to be friends my dms are open 🥺#fat emblem #feeder emblem #weight gain #stuffing #colm #neimi #fe8 #fic #oh and dont be afraid to send in asks #idk if ill do a lot of requests bc im picky but send them anyways

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yamithediaperdork · 4 years

Text

It’s a living (Ben 10 omiverse)

it was a nice and peaceful day in Bellwood for a change, though considering it wasn't the main stream universe's Bellwood that made a degree of sense. In fact even as the main verse Ben sat across from his counterpart, enjoying the Mr.smoothies of universe 23 they could both relax as Seven-seven and Tetrax had decided to stay on earth and work as a team with 23, so were out patrolling. "So, not that it's not awesome to see you from time to time..but usually you showing up means something about to go all fucky fucky...Sooo what brings you here?" 23 asked. "things don't ALWAYS go bad when i show up!" Ben protested, huffing a little. "Mmmhmmm..So you showed up and I get attacked by my future team mates..you show up and the Ben war..you show up and Mad Ben.." 23 said, counting off on his fingers. "..Damn uh.. well I promise, no world ending stuff this time." Ben said, sweat dropping. "I uh.. ok so i told you I recently moved out and got my own place right?" "And yet you haven't invited me back once." 23 said and blew a raspberry to show he wasn't really offended. "eheheh well fact of the matter is I mightttta gone a little beyond my means and kinda sorta..I'm like a week from getting kicked out." Ben said, poking his fingers together sheepishly. "Heh, and what, you want a place to crash?" "welll more thinking maybe since I've been helping you and all that jazz, you could spot me a couple of grand to get me in the clear and stuff?" Ben asked hopefully. "eh..I learned the hard way not to loan friends money Ben. it's why me and my Gwen aren't on speaking terms." 23 said, then took a big drink of his smoothie. "however, I AM willing to help you MAKE the money you need, and more." "...Doing what?" Ben asked, confused. "Cuz gotta say, I've tried the retail thing back home and when you have to stop doing stock to fight alien invaders, you don't keep your job for long." "Pffft as if I'd let you work retail! Nah man! You know I've leveraged my frame and endorsed a TON of things right? Part of how I'm rolling in dough? Well I got this one wanna be sponsor who I'm not big on the product, but they are offering a crazy amount of cash. I figure they'll settle for the Ben of anther universe, you do the gig, we split the money 50/50, and everybody wins." 23 said, taking out a note pad and a pen. "Look uh, not to sound ungrateful, but if I'm the one doing the modeling or whatever, shouldn't I get more then half? and what are you writing down?" Ben asked. "That's how much your half of the deal will be, and I think you'll find it more then fair." 23 said and smirked. Ben frowned and picked up the piece of paper, looking down, then did a double take as his eyes went wide. "Holy crap! what am i modeling off? Missiles?!" he asked, his voice going higher then normal. "nah, no weapons of mass destruction in that sense.. though bet you'll still clear rooms." 23 said and gave a impish grin. "You'll be working for huggies." "..Say what?"

After half a hour of back and forth, and Ben admitting he really didn't have a better option, the two took off, transforming into XCLER8 and Speedyquick instead of hailing a cab and made their way to the huggies headquarters. since 23 was used to this sort of thing Ben mostly let him talk over the contract and tried not to get boarded out of his mind as they talked returns and profit margins, only tuning in when the executive they were talking to (who if Ben didn't know better, he'd swear was this universes version of Charmcaster) brought up diaper usage. "Of course seeing your other self in our new line of Lil' stinkers would do wonders for our promotion of them, but if we could show them being used it would really help sell other points. we're taking photo shoots for magazine spreads and of course some tv and internet ad's. the more you and your client can promise us in terms of selling these diapers are for big babies who need to be put in their place, the more zero's we can add to your check." She said, smiling. "Wait..as in..you know.." Ben interrupted before 23 could talk, and unable to say what he was thinking, and blushing badly, he make fart noises with his mouth. "Heh, yes, we want you to go dooty in your diaper." Hope said, smirking and watching the two boys reactions. "N-No way! I mean I'll wear them and crawl around and stuff, but I'm NOT taking a dump in diapers!" Ben huffed and crossed his arms, shaking his head and well, looking just perfect for the target audience. "Maybe I should give you and your client a moment to talk this over. we can make a deal without the diaper usage but it's going to cut into the bottom line." Hope said and got up and left the room. "Can you BE anymore of a brat?" 23 hissed at Ben. "But..but..she wants me to-" "Yes, I know. I was there. Look Ben, I'm putting my neck on the line for you here, if my other sponsors hear about what a crabby brat your being here, it could affect me. Also your the one who came to me for help, so wouldn't like crapping yourself in huggies and making a boat load of cash once be better then doing a bunch more commercials to make the same amount? And who the hell from your universe is gonna see you doing this anyways?" 23 asked. "But I don't wanna poop in a diaper!" Ben whined and shook his head. "and you can't make me! so th-" he started to add, then suddenly he was yanked out of his chair and over 23's laps. "W-what are you doing?! and when the hell did you get so strong!?" "I've been working out since the mad Ben thing. and I'm gonna do what anyone does with a whinny brat.." 23 said and smirked, tugging down the back of Ben's pants. "I'm gonna spank you." Yanking Ben's skid marked stained briefs up and giving the bigger boy a wedgie and exposing those cheeks, 23 paused. "Last chance to be a good boy and let me handle this." he said. "Y-You don't have the balls!" Ben cried out, his voice carrying. "I gave you a chance." 23 said and shrugged, then brought down his hand on Ben's bubble butt over and over, turning the cheeks nice and red as Ben bawled like a baby.

Since the office wasn't sound proofed, and many people knew that both of the Ben's were in the office, it attracted A LOT of attention as the bigger Ben's voice filled the floor with the sounds of wails and there was the unmistakable sound of buns being tanned. Hope smirked as she listened, feeling she had pegged the relationship between the two boys right, and waited till there was just the sound of the bigger Ben sobbing before going back into her office, and fighting back a chuckle as she saw the bigger boy in the corner, his pants in his chair and his undies still hiked up. the boy had his nose to the corner and his hands on his head, and was whimpering and sobbing gently. "I'm sorry for that, somebody needed a attuide adjustment." 23 said. "oh don't be! I just wish we had recorded that! would of been perfect for the set up of a commercial!" Hope said and chuckled. "well I can always spank him again." 23 offered, chuckling to as Ben whined loudly from the corner. "So, may I assume that your both on board with widdle Benny making uh-ohs and tinkles in his diapers?" Hope asked. "I dunno, Ben, are you ok with messing your diapers?" 23 asked. "Y-Yes! No more spankies!" Ben cried out, his hands going from his head to covering his poor buns. "i think that answers your question." "excellent, then I'll draw up the contract, and if we hurry we can have Ben in the studio in about 2 hours. Make sure he gets LOTS to eat, we wanna show off how the Lil' stinkers hold up to even the biggest messes." Hope said. as 23 and Hope chuckled, Ben whimpered and found himself sucking on his thumb having ALL the regrets.

a hour and half later and a semi pot belly Ben was leaning back in his folding chair, in front of the set and belching off and on. He still hadn't been able to reclaim his pants though he'd been allowed to tug the wedgie out at least, though this just got loads of comments about how diapers might be a good full time choice for him. Ben had swallowed back any come backs or threats he had in mind as every time 23 was quick to pat his still sore booty. going on Hope's advice 23 had forced Ben to chow down, though while the catering table was set up with all sorts of awesome snack foods, including Ben's favorite, chilli fries, it was the large pyramid of at least 23 jar's of prune baby food that 23 had directed Ben to, helping the bigger boy and spoon feeding him as the crew setting up the large nursery chuckled. "Come on ben, one jar to go. you can do it." 23 was saying, grabbing the last jar and smirking at Ben's baby food covered face. "D-Dude..I'm not joking..if I eat one more bite I'ma hurl." Ben whined. "that's what you said two jars ago." "by all means, call my bluff, just when your wearing baby food on your shoes, remember i warned you." Ben said with a weak smile then a LOUD and nasty belch. 23 made a face and waved the air in front of him. "Man, if it smells that bad now.. Maybe i should excuse myself to the other room when you crap yourself." he teased. "N-no way..if I'm doing this..you're watching AND smelling!" Ben whined and Belched again. "Can i get something to drink?" he asked. instantly he realized he should of worded his request better as 23 got a large baby bottle filled with what was hopefully milk, and popped it in Ben's mouth. it only took a few sucks on the nipple to realize that of course, it was formula, and Ben scuched up his face. "Hehehe I have to say Ben, you are JUST too cute like this. I might have to try and lock you into a long term agreement here." 23 teased then winced at the glare Ben gave him. "Kidding! Kidding!" pushing the bottle out of his mouth, Ben went to say something but was cut off as Hope strolled onto the set. "Ok people, time to make some magic. baby Ben, we need you in wardore." she said then pasued. "Oh, Do you know how to put a diaper on?" she asked, suddenly looking sheepish. "N-No." ben whined and a loud toot came out his bottom. "Oh er..I don't think we have time to teach you before you unload." Hope said, holding her nose. "it's ok, I'll diaper the big baby." 23 said happily. "of course you will." Ben muttered, but let himself be lead off to a side room where there was star on the door, with his name on it. "great...I'm about to become famous as a diaper boy.." Ben whined. lead inside 23 just chuckled. "Mr.Devil, he's ready for his close up."

The diaper was MASSIVE, and for a second both boys just stared at it, wondering if Ben was gonna be able to even walk in the thing. it was easily the equal to 10 normal diapers layered together and was a soft baby blue (whether that was a marketing choice or just when they had been making these things expect 23 to model them, neither boy was sure) anther loud toot from Ben's back door which sadly filled the small dressing room had both boys holding their noses, and broke them out of their trance. "I..I don't wanna do this. I'm scared." Ben whined, looking at 23 with pleading eyes and starting to squirm in a way that told him their deadline was coming up fast. "Sorry buddy, we signed the contract. but I'll make sure this goes as fast as possible. all you have to do with whimper and cry, and act like you've been acting, and I'll be doing the voice over." 23 said and reached up, patting Ben's head. Ben whined but let himself be laid down on the teddy bear print changing mat on the floor and just lifted his arms to let 23 tug his shirt off. "we're gonna have to enroll you in a exercise program if we need to keep feeding you like this." 23 teased, noting that while Ben wasn't chubby, he had enough pudge on him to look a bit like baby fat, and the baby food in his tummy wasn't helping. Sliding Ben's undies off 23 tossed them in a trash can behind him, then unfolded the massive diaper as Ben whined. "W-why'd you toss out my undies? A-and were are my pants? F-For after?" he asked, feeling so small and helpless as 23 lifted Ben up but his legs to get the diaper under him. "hush, you let me worry about that..though..heh.." 23 paused the look down at Ben's exposed crotch. "Didn't know you shave." "I uh..haven't gotten my pubes yet.." the bigger in so many ways, but not where it counted boy said. "well that explains your cute widdl-" "Watch it!" Ben huffed and for the first time moved to use his Omimatrix. "Ok ok..Sorry." 23 said sweat dropping. "I've had THREE girls interested in me by the way, so it can't be THAT small!" Ben added and 23 smirked and powdered him lots. "And how many of them saw you down there?" 23 asked, as he tugged the diaper up. "and of those that saw, how many stayed interested?" with the diaper tapped up Ben sat up with a bit of effort, but was blushing and wouldn't look 23 in the eyes. "L-Let's just get this over with." Ben huffed and tried to get up on his own, only to keep falling back on his puffy butt. "That's what I thought." 23 chuckled and then held out his hands, Helping Ben get to his feet. the bigger boys BIG diaper had his legs spread and Ben was barley able to waddle, several times needing to stop and take 23's hands as they made their way out onto the set. 'If i make it though this I'm moving to a smaller apartment so i never have to ask this son of a bitch for a favor again.' Ben thought.

Hope grinned ear to ear and had some of the photographers snap shots of Ben needing help with walking, before coming over with a baby blue bonnet and bib that had white text in comic sans, that read BRAT. Ben would of argued about the add ons, since he was pretty sure that hadn't been in the original deal, if it wasn't for the fact he was using every ounce of control NOT to mess himself too soon and have to start all over. "There we go, don't you just look adorable~" Hope teased and tickled Ben's chin. "A-Ah.S-Stop that..w-we hafa hurry up..I..I can't.." Ben whined and rubbed his tummy, a muffled fart coming out and making hope take a step back. As they started to film, Ben for the most part blissfully blacked out, but of course got to watch the commercial after, with everyone praising him on what a good boy he had been.

"Hey everyone, Ben 23 here, and bringing you yet anther great product. So, brats, we all know one and we've all thought about putting them in their place, but where do you even start to get what you need for it?" Came 23's voice, on a screen of black. "Well the answer for that, Is huggies. That's right, the same company you've been trusting to look after your little bundles of joy is here to help you put those same bundles of joy turned into over sized brats back into little baby's." the screen came into focus and there was Ben, a glazed look in his eyes and holding his tummy, in all his big baby glory. "Most of you know about my other universe counterpart, but what you don't know is that he's a grade A BRAT. as a favor to his friends back in his verse, we're giving Baby Ben the punishment he deserves. isn't that right baby ben?" 23's voice asked as Ben whined and pouted. "Pwease, no wanna go poopies! I'm sowwy!" Ben cried out. "now now Ben, you don't want anther spanking do you?" 23's voice asked, and it was the yelp of fear that sold it as Ben totally lost control. the camera zoomed in as the back of Ben's diaper rapidly started to expand, and loud gross farts were heard. Ben for his part was face down ass up, and pounding a fist on the floor as he filled his diapers, crying and howling but really, it only made the shot better. "Lil stinkers is made with a new material that allows for up to 40 times the normal amounts of waste, which means even with 22 jars of baby food in baby Ben's tummy these diapers won't leak, or your money back." 23 said. the diaper only started to take on a dirty stain of brown in the back as the material reached down to Ben's knees. "with our new smell block guards in the diaper, you'll only get the faintest whiff of the the mess the big babies made. Sure it spares the brat but if your brat is anything widdle Benny here, you're gonna be punished enough changing him." with a few last sputtering farts Ben was apparently finished and sucking on his thumb as he got up on his knees, looking to the cameras. "C-Change pwease?" Ben whined. "Oh silly Ben, if we just changed you right away, where would the fun be in that? with added rash protection built into the diaper, along with bratty baby brand powder, Our little Benny can go 12 hours without a change!" hearing that Ben bawled again, both hands coming up to his eyes and there was just no two ways about it, he looked like a giant baby. "See you in 12 hours little guy! enjoy your poopie diaper." 23 said cheerfully. Ben's cries were muted as they went to the last of it. "Lil stinkers by huggies. put your brat back in diapers, and in their place. Available at a super market near you in two weeks."

Ben naturally wasn't actually kept in the poopie diaper for 12 hours, though they did take the chance to get all the pictures they needed for him in his poopie diapers, with 23 posing in some of them with him. Such as having Ben in his arms, Ben over his lap and pretending to give him a messy spanking, and of course 23 pulling the back of the diaper open as Ben sat on his ass, hugging a teddy bear and sucking on a pacifier and 23 holding his nose. If 23 was being truthfully though he was glad he was wearing his baggy pants as the site of Ben like this almost had little hearts in his eyes and he was tempted to try and keep Ben like this. Still a contract was a contract, and once they had enough footage they got Ben changed into a clean diaper but out of the bib and bonnet, and with his t-shirt back on. Ben was actually in the crib that was part of the set up when he came out of it, the staff and Hope and 23 where having a few drinks. "C-Can somebody come let me out? And.. get me big boy undies and pants?" Ben called, using the crib railing to haul himself to his feet but swaying dangerously if he let go, so knowing he couldn't get out. if the crew heard him, they ignored him and kept talking among themselves and laughing, annoying Ben. "I SAID, SOMEBODY LET ME OUT!" Ben yelled and stomped a foot, slipping and falling on his padded rear. "oh great, the baby is awake." 23 said, smirking and winking to the crew who all laughed. "Your not freaking funny! Let me outta here NOW or I'm going way big!" Ben growled and started to fiddle with his watch. "Way big?" a crew member asked. "as in he's gonna be a big boy?" "No! as in the alien who's 100 feet tall!" Ben huffed and got the watch ready to go. "-sigh- I'll handle this." 23 said and walked over, holding his hands up. "heyy heyy..it's OK Benny. we don't need to bring aliens into this. you're all done here and we'll cash your check at the first bank of Ben then you can go home. OK?" "i want outta this diaper, I want outta this crib! and i want big boy undies and pants!" Ben huffed, keeping his hand over his watch. "heh, your terms are agreeable. we only re-diapered you because you were out of it, and I don't really wanna change anther poopie diaper." 23 lied. He would of totally loved to keep changing Ben's diapers but clearly the little guy had been pushed to his limit.

As it turned out they couldn't find pants in the studio for Ben, or a pair of undies so the poor hero ended up standing in line with 23 at the bank in his t-shirt and diapers, which normally would of caused problems but with 23's technically owning the bank, it was brushed over. The first thing they did after getting the check cashed was go shopping and get Ben a pair of sumo slammer boxers, then off to the food court for him to get the taste of the baby food and formula out of his system, though he wasn't able to eat his full order. 23 joked about how they should of gotten him a happy meal as he wiped up the chilli stains off of Ben's face. after that it was time to go home and Ben gave 23's hand a shake. "..ok, you saved my ass from having to move back home..buttt don't expect me to come back here till this ad campaign is over and done." Ben said. "heh, come on, didn't a SMALL part of you have fun?" 23 asked. "hahahaha NO. Today was the most horrible day of my life, and with the shit I've been though, thats saying something. Maybe you can come over to MY universe sometime and be a diaper boy for me though." "heh. or just show up with a diaper bag." "..Shutting up." with that Ben went back to his home universe, very much richer. Or so he thought.

as it turned out their money while looking the same on the outside, was made differently and raised all sorts of flags when Ben went to go and deposit it in his universe. there was a public cry of outrage that a hero like Ben would try and destabilize a local economy like that, and there was talks of official charges of counterfeiting and maybe even jail time. Not even able to get his cash back, and the Plumbers having to give him the cold shoulder publicly to save face, Ben decided to take a little bit of a vacation (2-7 months while the plumbers legal team got him out of the mess) back in universe 23, figuring that 23 owned him, AND wanting to give him a piece of his mind.

"baby Ben! back so soon?" 23 asked, delighted as a red faced Ben made it to his pent house. on the way over Ben had been recognized, teased and scolded for not being in his diapers and had seen billboard with him in all his blacked out diaper baby glory. "ha.Ha. we have a problem." Ben said, and then nodded to 23's couch. "mind if I take a seat?" "Only if you promise not to make a puddle." 23 joked, but moved aside as Ben came in and flopped down. Ben spent the next 10 minutes explaining out what had happened, as 23 looked upset and shook his head. "Man, that sucks. I'm sorry, i didn't know!" 23 said. "well, I need a place to stay for a little while till i get the OK to go back..so I was wondering if y-" "would put you up here for a few months, heh,. that can be arranged. don't think you'll be able to get a place on your own here unless you just did more commercials though, rent in the city has gone up since i live here." "Not like i have a penny to my name anyways, and was gonna ask if you'd rent me a place..Buttt staying here I guess won't be so bad." Ben said with a little smile. "there is a small price I'd like you to pay..But in return for humoring me on this onnnne tiny little thing, I swear you'll want for nothing while staying with me. all the junk food you could want and any video games, the whole nine yards." 23 said, blushing a little now. "..why am i getting a bad feeling about this?" Ben asked. "well see.. they didn't need the stuff they used in your commercial after you left..so they gave it to me for free..and you were just SO god damn cute.." 23 said, getting up and leading Ben to yup, a recreation of the nursery from the set. "FUCK NO!" "oh come on Ben! i promise! no baby food this time and pop in your baby bottles! Pleasssse?" 23 asked, bringing his hands together. "why in the world would i agree to do that for a few months? I could just go do anther commercial, then get my own place here!?" Ben pointed out. "one, because as your agent I control whether you do anther shoot, it's actually part of the contract, two, if I tell my bank not to cash your check who else do you think will cover that much. three, and this is the kicker. where else can you go to with ease to hide out? you really think mad Ben is gonna welcome you with open arms?" "..Fuck my life!"

And so one week after promising himself he'd never be a big baby again, Ben found himself in two of the thick blue diaper's and in a t-shirt top, crawling behind behind 23 and pouting like crazy. "Don't you think top is over kill?" Ben whined. "I'm the one paying for them. so just shush and look adorable." "Not funny." Ben pouted and then realized it would be harder then hell to get off and on the couch's and just sat on his diaper butt in the living room. "So what d-" "I want chilli cheese fires, I want a two liter of coke, and I want the latest sumo slammer game five minutes ago!" Ben huffed then grinned. "..Demanding aren't we?" "and i quote: I swear you'll want for nothing. I want all of that." Ben said smugly. "you know, i could of just spanked you." 23 teased, going to grab the phone and make the food order. instead of Ben telling him off however, the threat had a amusing and smelly effect instead. Ben froze at the memory of that and then well, with him being double diapered it was a little hard to tell since there was no smell, but 23 could of sworn Ben just got a little taller. "heh, Did somebody just make me a present?" "NO!...yes." "Good boy. I'll change you after you eat, if your a good boy." 23 said and winked. "...this is gonna be a long 2 months."

the end?

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cirrius-akiyo · 4 years

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Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV) Additional Tags: Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Fluff, Married Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Established Relationship, Bury me with all my grammatical errors, Not Beta Read, Songfic, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Fluff and Smut, Explicit Sexual Content Series: Part 4 of Love in the Dark Summary:

Buck is going to fight for their love. Sugar, sprinkles and all.

[Finally we reach to the final chapter of the fourth installment ;) Thank you all :)]

Salvation of a Sinner

Eddie can smell his husband first before seeing him when he wakes up that morning. Buck smells like warm sugar and chocolate, with a hint of whipped vanilla.

For the last two and half days, Buck and Chris have been experimenting with the baked goods they supposed to prepare for the upcoming Bake Sale. Chris was quite indecisive and Buck having all the time on his hand now, decided to indulge their son and to try and see what came out the best.

The baked goods were then brought to the 118 with voting papers attached. The station actually looked brighter the moment Buck stepped inside with Carla in tow, all smiles and radiant. Eddie could see the small tension in Buck's shoulder melted away when he chanced a glance towards the locker, seeing his nameplate and gears were still there, loyally waiting for the owner to return.

Eddie himself can't wait for his husband to be cleared for duty, but presently, he needs to get ready for work, which will be long and arduous without Buck besides him.

He shifts towards Buck who is still very much asleep, marveling at the view of the peaceful features. Warm breath puffing in small huff from the parted mouth and Eddie can't resist but to lean down and kiss the edge of the red pouty lips. Buck scrunches his face when Eddie's morning stubble scratches his nose.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Eddie nuzzles into his husband's cheek, deliberately scratching the skin with his stubble knowing that will goad Buck awake.

"Ugh, go away you scratchy devil." Buck croaks, voice thick with sleep as he tries to push Eddie away before snuggling deeper into his pillow.

"Well husband of mine, do I need to remind you that you got 300 batch of Krispy treats and brownies to make today?" Eddie proceeds to scratch Buck's tousled bedhead, feeling the soft hair there, which only cause Buck to melt further in content.

"It's Rainbow Rice Krispies Treats and Cookies-and-Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies." Buck sasses. Those two got the highest vote from 118, much to Chris' delight. Despite being indecisive, Buck knew Chris was leaning towards the two, so if Buck rigged the votes just to give Chris some sense of validation, their son doesn't have to know.

"Which will not get done by themselves, fancy name or not." Eddie sasses back.

"Urgh, you’re so mean." Buck whines while stretching his elongated body like a cat. "Why can't you stay home and help me bake 'em?" Buck then plops his head into Eddie's lap, smacking his face into his husband's stomach, teasingly blowing raspberries like he usually does with Chris.

Eddie just chuckles, reminding himself how much he loves this man not to smack his arse away.

"Because you know I can't bake shit and I don't want to get my feelings hurt when you kick me out of the kitchen later. And also, why I already enlisted Carla's and Abuela's help." Eddie replies.

"You don't have to do that, you know. I can manage myself." Buck curls his hands around Eddie's waist, content with the warmth there.

"And risk Abuela killing me? No thanks." Eddie quips back. He swears even before they got married, Buck is already Abuela's favourite grandson. The man is charming, Eddie can't compete with that. But most of all, Buck is still prone to exhaustion and dizziness. Eddie sometimes caught him trying to steady himself once in a while, and while that obviously worries him, Eddie doesn't want to be condescending or patronising to Buck. Buck will hate him if he was to be treated like an invalid.

His hand then slowly travels to Buck's lower back, nearing the edge of his sweatpants and start to trace meaningless pattern there which only cause Buck to shudder with anticipation.

"Don't start something you can't finish, husband." Buck warns, breathing slightly hitched. He is not to be left alone in wanton if Eddie decides to rile him up before leaving him unsated.

"Who said I can't finish them?" Eddie smirks, bowing down to meet Buck's lips before kissing him causing Buck to grin in delight like a Cheshire cat.

"Prove it." Buck challenges.

Later, Eddie will find himself rushing through their front door trying to get to work on time, but not before leaving a very satiated husband in his wake.

///

Evan: The treats are almost done! >_< *image attached*

Eddie: They look fantastic, sweetheart! Good job! :)

Evan: But this treat *image attached* is far from being done. ;)

Eddie chokes on his freshly brewed afternoon coffee. One moment he was looking at arrays of fancy looking brownies and Krispies Treats cooling on their respective trays, then another moment he was staring at his half-naked husband, covered only in the “Lick the Spoon” apron. Buck was standing against the kitchen counter, flaunting his miles long leg with one hand teasing the gap between the thin material of the apron and the milky skin while licking a chocolate covered spatula held by the other hand. Some chocolate even dripping onto his bare chest. How did he even manage to snap this picture?

Eddie: R you crazy? Carla might see you! Or Abuela or Chris!

Eddie swears he never type that fast in his life before. He’s anxious, slightly furious, nobody is going to tell him otherwise, but he’s still saving the picture for you know, record purposes. But Eddie really wants to save Abuela, Carla and Chris from the nightmare of catching Buck sauntering around in their house naked.

Evan: Why? This treat isn’t that inviting? :(

Eddie: Evan, NO. =_=

Evan: Mean. :(

Eddie puts away his phone, determines to finish up his coffee before another alarm rings. They were having back to back medical calls all morning, so a quiet afternoon is very much appreciated.

When he is halfway through his cup, his phone vibrates again. Eddie rolls his eyes, expecting another antic of Buck sulking.

Evan: How about now? *image attached*

Eddie sputters, immediately stands up and fled downstairs while muttering furious curses under his breath, leaving a very confused Hen and Chim who are throwing each other silent glances, wondering what’s going on with the man.

“What’s up with him?” Chim whispers underneath his magazine. Hen shrugs. “Maybe a stir-crazy Buck is driving his husband out of his mind again.” Chim scoffs. “Glad I’m married to the other Buckley.” Hen smirks deviously. “Don’t be so sure. She’s still early in her pregnancy. Wait until she’s big and swollen, then we can have this conversation again.” She pats his shoulder before standing up to fix her own cup of coffee, leaving a very rattled looking Chim.

Safe in the deepest part of the storage room where nobody can take a peek on his phone screen, Eddie dares to open again the last image Buck has sent to him, slowly releasing his breath that he doesn’t even notice he’s holding. Eddie emits a strangling noise once the image popped up.

Buck is in their bedroom, grinning widely at the mirror while still wearing the damn apron. Only now his bare ass is on full display, with little to nothing left for imagination saves only with the ribbon-loop of the apron loosely tied on his waist.

Buck flaunts his body in a way that he definitely knows is able to wake Eddie’s primal desire and he can’t risk gawking upon the picture in the common area. He has a reputation to hold, a man of principle that is not easily swayed by his sexy and charming husband.

Eddie: Goddammit Evan! I’m at work. >:(

Evan: See you at home, husband. :)

Evan Buckley-Diaz is a menace and a chaos, but Eddie loves him anyway.

///

Later when Eddie return to a quiet home, his mouth water for totally different reason. Buck is no longer in the skimpy apron. Instead he found his husband sleeping on the couch engulfed in Eddie's LAFD hoodie and a very short shorts. Booty shorts short. His bubble butts perfectly filled them in, and it took greater self-restrain than Eddie initially thought he needed to stop himself from groping that ass, hard. From the look of it, Eddie dares to say Buck is trying to entice him when he comes home that night but finally succumb to the grip of sleep.

If Eddie didn't notice how tired Buck looks, Eddie would have him ravished there and then, consequences be damned. Plus, his husband has been riling him all over at work, but Eddie is a sensible man who thinks with his brain and not his dick, and his brain is telling him Buck needs his rest and sleep.

"Let's get you to bed, sweetheart." Eddie pulls Buck hand, trying to tug him into sitting up after he switches off the TV that is still flickering at the background.

"Carry me." Buck whines adorably, now hunching forward into Eddie’s tummy, still half-asleep.

Eddie scratches Buck's scalp before scooping him up in bridal carry. Buck has gained some of the lost weight, but he's still far along from bulking up to how he was before. At least his face is less gaunt, and he has more definition in his cheeks now.

Eddie peeks inside Chris’ room when they passed his slightly ajar door.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Eddie asks once Buck is safely deposited onto their bed. He then drags their duvet to tuck his husband in and fluffing his pillow up, pleased to see how content Buck looks.

"Em hmm." Buck replies albeit inarticulately.

"You're sure you don't need any of us accompanying you? Might be a lil bit late for me to opt out from work, but Carla and Abuela would be glad to do so. I can even cash my shift change with John tomorrow morning." Changing into his night wear, Eddie makes his way to the bathroom to wash up, keeping the door ajar. He already showers at the station beforehand so that he doesn't disturb Buck in case he's already asleep.

"Chris will be there." Buck replies while shifting on the bed to face the bathroom door.

"Chris doesn't count, sweetheart." Eddie leans on the doorframe with toothbrush still in hand.

"Just help me load them into the jeep first thing tomorrow morning and we're good." Buck half mumbles.

"Mmm." Eddie agrees, mouth full of toothpaste. “Are you sure?” He continues after spitting out the foam.

“Positive, Eddie. Now can you come in here faster. I’m cold. Need my human-radiator.”

Finishing up, Eddie proceeds to slide in under the duvet, shutting off the night lamp before pulling Buck into his embrace.

"Alright, your human-radiator is at full service. Go to sleep now. I love you." Eddie whispers to the crown of Buck's tousled head, soft curls tingling his nose.

"I love you more. Sex me." Buck starts to trace lazy patterns on Eddie's abs, nearing more to his happy trails, while trying to grind his groin with Eddie’s thigh together albeit weakly. The thin material of his booty short definitely doesn’t help Eddie’s cause here. While that is very inviting, he doesn't want them to make another hospital trip with Buck in tow. Eddie doesn’t want to be answerable to any of their family and friends as to why Buck is admitted again. Dying by being dicked.

"You're tired. I'll sex you up tomorrow morning if you up to it." Eddie swiftly catches Buck's wandering hand, immediately stopping the man from cupping his dick. If his half-hard dick has eyes, they would be giving Eddie stink eyes at the lost of sensation.

Buck seems to contemplate on the idea. "Sex me up good?" He finally concedes. Buck does feel tired. Exhausted really. If Carla and Abuela didn't help, he's positive Eddie might be coming home to him passed out on the kitchen floor.

Buck feels Eddie's lips pressed against his temple before Eddie brings Buck’s wandering hand up onto his mouth, pressing a kiss to the knuckles.

"The best."

"Promises, promises."

Eddie can feel Buck relax in his hold and melted against his chest. A beat after that, Buck is already snoring softly. While Eddie feels like the weight of the day lifted from his shoulder, the weight of his husband pressing against him grounding him in a very comforting manner. Before long, Eddie finds himself drowsy and sleep comes peacefully to him.

"I thank God for everything

That you showed me, that you showed me, yeah

And I thank God for everything

That you showed me, that you showed me"

///

Buck is not a stranger at Christopher’s school events. Even before they got married, Buck had attended few show-and-tells, few plays and some projects exhibitions. However, when it comes to anything related to Chris’ English Class, Buck tends to avoid them like a plague, worried to collide with one Ana Flores. Buck is a firm believer that no confrontation is the best defense.

Ana Flores who is smart, pretty, lovely and everything nice. Ana Flores who had made Eddie acting like a fool the very first time he met her.

Ana Flores whom in Buck’s drug induced dream, smiling in their annual family Christmas card, who stands beside Eddie on Christopher’s graduation day, who sits at the front row when Christopher standing at the altar, waiting for his spouse-to-be.

So, what if Buck feels threaten by another woman. Hen said his feeling of insecurity is valid when Buck turned to her one day. Even though Ana now is not Chris’ teacher anymore, she is still the teacher responsible for special education kids. So, it was not surprising when Eddie bumped into her during the last parents-teacher meeting that eventually had led to all this mess.

Buck has forgiven Eddie and they’re past that. Even if Eddie still find it hard to believe it, Buck honestly doesn’t hold any anger, what’s more any resentment towards his husband. Eddie has confessed right after he got home that night, and ever since has been trying so hard to make amends. True, the doubt on his self-worth seems to be amplified, but Eddie keep proving to him repeatedly after the aneurysm to not be. Buck takes that as a win.

As for Ana Flores, Buck is not sure about his feeling towards the teacher. It’s not mere resentment, not bitter, not anger but more like insecurity and apprehension. Ana is everything that Buck isn’t. Specifically, Ana has something Buck will never have. A womb. The ability to carry a child. Eddie has created wonderful Christopher with Shannon before. What does Buck have to offer?

And now Buck is sweating buckets under his Henley. Even though Eddie had kept his promise and sexed him up good first thing this morning, they did nothing to calm his nerves when he starts up his jeep.

Buck knows he had come out strong to Eddie, saying he would be fine. But the truth is, he is a nervous wreck. Now Buck is starting to regret denying Eddie’s offer to come along, quoting that the team is already one man down and he did not want to impose Abuela or Carla any more than needed.

Chris is excited, ecstatic to sell the sweet goodness they have baked, and Buck doesn’t want to crash his enthusiasm by being a coward.

So here is Buck standing his ground and staking his claim, fully armored with all the sugary sweetness and one marvelous son (and a slight aching bum).

Arriving at the school, a volunteer leads them towards the registration counter where a teacher is attending eager students and equally eager parents as to their respective booth.

What is the chance that the teacher happens to be none other than Ms. Ana Flores? Well, the chance apparently is 100% for Buck because sitting at the counter, is the Ana Flores, wearing a daffodil hued blouse and sky-blue skirts. There is no denying it, she does look pretty, hair all swaying in the breeze.

Before Buck can collect his nerve, Chris has trudges forward like a man with mission. Well, they do have a mission if 300 brownies and Krispy Treats is anything to go by.

“He - Hello, Ms. Flores.” Chris strides his way towards the teacher, who later smiles brightly upon seeing the little man.

“Hello, Christopher. Are you ready to sell?” Ana greets back, now shifting her whole attention to Chris after another teacher took her place to assist other participants.

“Yeah. We baked – lots – and lots and we gonna sell lots – and lots.” Chris cheers enthusiastically. Watching Chris interacting with his (former?) teacher, Buck has since regains his confidence. You got this, Buck!

Ana looks up and saw Buck, and Buck smiles his thousand-megawatt smile, one that he used to throw around at the crowd of young spectators during their rescue. One that had made Eddie extremely jealous when a young man slipped his phone number into Buck’s pocket after saving his roommate. Here goes nothing.

Buck can’t help to notice Ana’s smile falters a bit after seeing him. Does she had hope Eddie will be the one coming? Alright, time to mark your territory, Buck. Buck braves forward, approaching the two.

“Hi, I’m Buck. I think we have met before.” Buck offers a handshake, still wearing the crowd-pleaser smile of his.

Ana seems to be pulled out from her stupor. “Yeah. Yes. I’m Ana. Umm, yes, we have met before, but we didn’t really introduce ourselves. I’m sorry, I was actually expecting Mr. Diaz. Christopher said his dad will be coming for this Bake Sale.” She replied cautiously while shaking Buck’s hand.

Buck raises his eyebrows. Huh. Cutting straight to the chase, won’t we?

But before Buck is able to open his mouth to cut Ana down a size, Chris chimes in, “Buck – Buck is my other – father, Ms. Flores. He is – my Pops.”

If anything, Buck leers wider. Take that Miss. Oh, Chris is up for a good treat this weekend. “Yeah, the name is Evan Buckley-Diaz, but people usually call me Buck. Eddie is my husband. Technically, I am the other Mr. Diaz. Is there a problem, Ms. Flores?” Buck asks while batting his eyelashes, eyes never leaving Ana’s, feigning innocence rivaling Chris’.

The moment Buck introduced himself, Ana suddenly freezes, breaking the eye contact first. Buck too, freezes because Ana froze, does that make sense? Buck can feel the electrifying tension in the air during the beat of silence between them.

What Buck does not expect is for Ana to blush. “I... well...I am,” Ana is gaping like a fish, trying to collect herself. While Chris giggles as if Ana has grown another set of head, now Buck genuinely pities her. Did he come in too strong? The momentary triumph he felt few minutes ago slowly ebbed out of him. Shaming Ana in public has never been in his plan, because Buck still remember being publicly humiliated after that poor man stole his identity to catfish unsuspecting women.

“Well, Mr Buckley...Diaz...,” Ana stammers.

“Just Buck, please.” Buck offers sympathetically.

“Well, Buck...” Now she is stumbling with the checklist, flipping through the names and stops at ‘E.B.Diaz’ written beside ‘Christopher D. B. Diaz’, oh, ooh, oooh, “your booth’s number is 29. You can unload your goods at the main entryway. Another volunteer will guide you to your booth and help you with the loads.” Ana finally gets her act together, switching into more professional demeanor, albeit a bit tensed.

“Thank you, Ms. Flores.” Buck simply said.

“Sure.” She nods ardently.

“Let’s – g – go Pops. The brow – brownies will get hot in – in the car.” Chris is already tugging Buck to move, blissfully unaware of the tension rising between the two adults.

///

When Ana sets her eyes onto one Edmundo Diaz for the first time, she knew she likes him. After knowing that Eddie's wife is out of picture long time ago, she knew she got a chance. Gathering information from Christopher’s stories, Ana collected that Eddie never tried to date again. The only constant is this guy named Buck whom according to Chris is his and his father's best friend. Chris incorporates Buck into every family-related project or homework.

She saw Buck a few times, picking up Chris from school, and even attended the school play and science fair. Tall, buff, and handsome, but she already got her eyes fixed on Mr. Diaz.

Now that Christopher is not in her class anymore, she finally made her move to convey her feeling to Mr. Diaz. She thought she would be more articulate, but she ended up jump straight to kissing Mr. Diaz after the parent-teacher conference. Which she admits, not her finesse moment, but before she can deepen the kiss, Mr. Diaz pulled back before cursing in long succession of Spanish and English. The man literally dashed across the hallway faster than the school’s track and field’s athlete. Did she feel humiliated? Yes. Will she give up? Absolutely not.

So, Ana waited for her chance to talk to Mr. Diaz privately.

But her chance never came afterwards. Later, she learnt that Buck was in hospital, which might explain the reason Christopher has been skipping schools for few days here and there.

But now, with the Bake Sale is coming, Ana sure her chance is finally here. Chris had confirmed that his father will be joining the Bake Sale and Ana can't wait. She wore her best outfit, dressed to the nine and even had her hair and nails done.

Then Ana met Buck instead of Mr. Diaz, who appears to be the one accompanying Christopher for the Bake Sale. He’s thinner than the last time Ana saw him, but otherwise looked healthy. Oh wait, scratch that. Evan Buckley-Diaz. E.B. Diaz. The E.B. Diaz. And Ana never had wished so hard upon a star for a hole to suddenly swallow her into the deepest pit, never to come up back again. Let her be buried in shame and disgrace.

///

After a very successful sale at the Bake Sale this morning, Buck and Chris return to their home with heads held high, clearly pleased with the outcome. Buck just earns himself the right to gloat to Eddie for the rest of his life. Despite he can see that Ana was actively avoiding their way, Buck didn’t allow it to bother him. What’s important is that Chris is happy, and he had stood his ground, introducing himself as Chris’ other official parent.

What he doesn’t expect is for Ana Flores to stand before their front door that late afternoon.

“I kissed Eddie.” She promptly blurts out.

Now Buck senses like he is experiencing some kind of deja vu.

///

Ana Flores might be a determined woman, but a home wrecker she is not. If confessing her sin is what needed so she can sleep at night, so be it.

And that's how she finds herself standing in front of the Diaz, no, Buckley-Diaz residence, late in the afternoon after the Bake Sale. Mrs. Dolores had given her some serious side eyes when she skipped the cleaning duty, citing family emergency. Well, technically this is an emergency. A family might be torn apart because she did something stupid.

She has drafted a perfect apology speech during her drive to the couple’s residence, but every word flew away the moment Buck opened the front door. “I kissed Eddie.” She blurts out, as finesse as the first time she kissed Mr. Diaz.

She nervously waits for the impending yells, or even slaps, but they never come. Instead she finds Buck doubling over, laughing his heart out. Now she is even more confused than the first time she discovered Mr. Diaz has remarried. Has another of his aneurysm popped?

“Mr. Buckley-Diaz…?” She inquiries, genuinely concern as to Buck’s health.

“I’m sorry. One moment. Oh, and just Buck, please.” Buck gathers his breath, some small chuckles escaping him.

“Mr. Buckley, please… I am so sorry.” Ana pleads, guilty etched on her sullen face.

“It’s okay. I gather that you didn’t know?” Buck asks back. From her demeanor after Chris dropped the bomb, she looked completely blindsided. Buck couldn’t possibly hold that against her.

Ana nodded furiously. “If I had known, I would never… I swear.”

“I believe you.”

///

The smell of rich chocolate still wafts sweetly through the front door when Eddie returns home that evening. He immediately feels at ease the moment he steps into their little house.

“I’m home.” He calls out to his family whose laughter could be heard emanating from the kitchen. To be honest, Eddie has been slightly on edge about the day, and Buck doesn’t really give him much update except from “it’s great” and “see you at home later”.

“Welcome home!” He hears Buck replies (yells) back to him.

Eddie quickly makes his way towards the kitchen. The dinner table is full of the duo’s bounties today. Chris must have convinced Buck to try everything out and Buck must have been indulging their son endlessly.

“How does it go?” Eddie questions tentatively, rounding his way to hug Buck who is sitting beside Chris.

Buck cheekily shows him the stacks of empty trays sitting by sink, waiting to be cleaned by none other than Eddie himself. Eddie can see how Chris’ and Buck’s eyes glimmers and wide grins spread across their faces, both vibrating in eagerness.

Something crossed on to his mind. “Did you guys sell everything?” Eddie exaggerates his surprise, pleased to see how both are smiling even brighter.

“Y – yes – Daddy.” Chris nods keenly, Eddie worries his neck might hurt.

“Good job big man!” Eddie throws a high five.

From the side of his eyes, he can see Buck pouting. “How about me?”

“Well, you did a good job baking, but I am sure Chris here is the selling point.” Eddie smirks teasingly.

Buck huffs. “Well, then please do a good job cleaning up those trays. Abuela wants them to be shiny when we return them later.” Buck quips before walking away with Chris in tow, ready to turn for the night.

///

Buck returns to the kitchen after finishing tucking Chris in.

“He’s asleep?” Eddie asks from the sink, still trying to scrape away the residues that somehow leaked from the baking paper.

“Not even reaching another page of the book.” Now they are on the first one of the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series. Buck then leans against the counter beside Eddie who is still struggling with the mess.

Eddie hums, still focusing hard to scrape the gooey madness that somehow refuse to go away.

“You only answered part of my question just now. How does it go?” Eddie turns towards his husband, already given up on the trays.

Oh.

“Peculiar yet funny things happened, you won’t even believe me.” Buck provides while hands pulling Eddie closer to him.

Eddie’s eyebrows crease in confusion. “Dare to enlighten me?” His hands in turn snakes around Buck’s waist.

“Ana doesn’t know that we are married. Never know that you remarried. Thought E.B. Diaz is Edmundo B. Diaz, Not Evan Buckley-Diaz. Plus, Chris had graduated from her class when we got married, so she doesn’t really get the notice.” Buck explains, patiently waiting for Eddie to wrap his head on the story.

At that very moment, Eddie’s worldview just cleared up even more. Huh.

“Evan, I…” Eddie suddenly sounded a little bit on edge. If Ana didn’t know, then the burden of the guilt shifted onto him totally. Eddie only have himself to blame.

Sensing the tensing in Eddie’s voice and the way he is trying to free himself from their intertwined limbs, Buck just embraced him tighter and start swaying their bodies to the invisible rhythm.

“We’re past all that, Eddie. You didn’t know that she didn’t know. Plus, from what I gather, she’s the one who kissed you first, and you didn’t act upon it. This was all a huge misunderstanding. I love you, Eddie. I love our family. Nothing can take that from me, from you, from us, aneurysm or not. You need to forgive yourself, Eddie.” Buck says intently, sincerity and adoration clear in his bright eyes.

Eddie never thought he can fall deeper in love with Buck, but he does. He whole being just fall in love even more with the man standing in his embrace. Buck is everything good that Eddie never thought he would find again after his first marriage crumbled. Buck just has that kind of power over Eddie, but Buck seems to be oblivious of it. Eddie has never been good with his words, so instead, he pulls Buck closer and press into his husband red lips in a filthy bruising kiss.

“You are my home.” Eddie whispers against Buck’s swollen lips, pressing their bodies even closer with no space left in between them.

“And you are mine.”

#Cirrius-Akiyo's bunkdump #911 fics #911 fanfic #911 fic #buddie fanfiction #buddie fic #buddie #evan buckley #edmundo diaz #eddie x buck #buck x eddie #read on ao3 #Rambler not Writer

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brooklynislandgirl · 4 years

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This One || -

1. Who slowly eases into the pool while complaining about the temperature of the water and who takes a full-force no regrets flying cannonball into the water:

Sometimes Marion runs the dogs out along the creeks, down in the hollows of the bayous, cypress trees overhung with moss. The sounds of crickets and frogs and mosquitoes, a long list of local denizens. Sometimes, she follows along in human skin, keeping Marion company, with a running conversation, questions about the area, what it is like to live here alone, so far away from people, though she knows more about that than she cares to admit. Sometimes Beth follows along in feathers, completely indistinguishable from other birds except that she knows how and where to fly that she isn’t easy prey. Sometimes as a deer, sometimes as a gator. These are silent sojourns are company in her own way. They don’t last nearly as long; while her magick lets her wear whatever skin she wants so long as it is a living thing, too much time spent in an altered form starts to steal away her humanity, and causes her pattern to leak.

This time, she spends too much time as a hummingbird and can only dart out and over the water without warning. Knees tucked to her chest, arms wrapped around her shins, she hits the water’s surface like a boulder. The splash covers the dogs, the long reeds, and eventually Marion. When she comes up sputtering, she grins, covering her bareness with skin and the swamp water. She grins at the other woman sheepishly. “So. Can I...ah...borrow ya plaid, til I get somewhere wi’ clothes?”

2. Who can easily comfort the other when they’re sick and who sprays everything down with Lysol and wears an antimicrobial mask and pats the former with a broom to comfort them when they get sick?

Beth thinks she is going to die. Every smell, every whisper of sound, every touch only makes the nausea worse. Without the covers, she’s too cold. With them, she’s too hot. It’s so bad that even her hair follicles hurt. Not only that but her nose is red and chapped, her sinus passages and her eyes swollen, red, itchy. Her head is pounding, her body aches, she can’t even find a few moments of peace. She doesn’t even understand how people live like this.

And while Zarek is in town picking up supplies because she can’t, Marion is keeping an eye on her. And there’s kind of a curl of her lip and an eye roll that Beth is familiar with, she’s seen it on her brother’s face a half a million times. But for really real this time, she’s dying.

"S'jus' a lil' cold, sha" Reproachfully, Beth glances in the other woman’s direction. And spends the next thirty seconds sneezing. “Need. T’make. Living will.” She’s absolutely sure that next time instead of just a spritz of Lysol in her direction, Marion will feed her the entire can.

3. Who’s the amazing cook and who almost burns the house down trying to microwave a pop tart?

Marion glances over to Beth, a sneer of disdain on her face. Reflected in the dainty Hawai’ian’s demeanour too. They can certainly blame one another for playing a bit of grab-ass with each other. The pan is no longer on fire though the lingering smell of burnt ...whatever... was still thick and heavy, almost more powerful than the smoke drifting out toward the windows. There is only one thing they can do. In unison, their voices rise. “RILEY!” “PANDA!”

He peels himself from the lean against the side of the place, and field strips his cigarette butt into the ashtray. It was like he could see this coming. Heading to his truck, he’s already got the grill loaded up with charcoal, and the cooler he just knew to bring along. 4. Who immediately goes for the can of Raid when they see a bug and who picks it up like “no wait don’t kill it I wanna keep it”?

It’s instinct, Beth can see it in the start of the muscle twitch as Marion’s hand goes to to smack it right off her arm, like she would a mosquito or some other kind of ‘critter’. Thankfully, she is just quick enough to lean in and cup her hands around it. Plucks it free of Marion’s sleeve and pulls her hands apart just enough to peak into the dark space and murmur something unintelligible to it. “...’s jus’ one...da kine. Ya know... make big-big web? Like...Charlotte. Or...” She doesn’t know any other book characters based on Orb-weavers. This one is a particular beauty, green and white and about the size of a dime.

She offers Marion a brilliant smile, all sharp pointed teeth and soft, full lips. “No everybody evah see da beauty in nature, but is always dere, even undah da surface.” She excuses herself and makes her way toward the treeline to set her tiny captive free.

5. Who likes to lean over railings to get a better view and who freaks out and tries to pull the former back away from the rail screaming about how they might fall?

“Jus’ jump, sha.”

Beth squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head vehemently.

“..s’only twelve feet.” But it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like the space between the branch and the ground is a million miles. Worse, she doesn’t know how she even got up here. She doesn’t know how she’s going to get down. “Gotta trust me. I’ll catch ya.” Not if her heart gives out before she makes it. And she stays there, arms wrapped around the tree bark for the better part of the hour, no matter how Marion threatens or cajoles. But she can’t hold on forever. At some point she’s either going to slip or she’s going to have to jump and neither option seems so great. Marion is...six feet. She’s five. That’s almost twelve, right? Carefully she sits down, still holding the trunk for dear life. “K-den. But...don’t drop me....au’rite?” 6. Who acts like they’re brave and fearless but actually gets terrified 15 minutes into a horror movie and who is usually the huge scaredy cat but isn’t fazed at all by most horror movies?

Beth tries to become one with the couch and when that fails, she builds a small wall of pillows and blankets around her. Lifts her forearms up defensively to block sight of the screen. But that doesn’t stave off her other senses. Beth can still hear the screaming. The slick, gushy sounds that are so very realistic she can all but taste the blood on the back of her tongue. The way that one guy is slicing skin off that kid’s face...

She knows it all too well from the ER. And even though she knows it’s movie-magic it still she can’t get over the feel of it all. She buries her face into Marion’s side and wishes it all away.

7. Who constantly criticizes the latter’s wardrobe and who dresses even more outrageously to further annoy the former?

She doesn’t have a thing that would fit Marion, who is a foot taller than she is, and though whip-cord lean, is still a few dress sizes larger too. And for all that she has money and influence, she can’t take Marion to the gala in jeans and a tee shirt, maybe some flannel if she’s dressing up.

She translates what Marion says as “I ain’t wearing this.” though, technically it could have actually been ‘Fight sweater debris,’ just like it sounded. Beth doesn’t know why she hates the sheer black top and the leather skirt. Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t be let out of the house like that, but with Marion’s pale skin and long limbs...it would look stunning. “Okay. How about... black sequin kine dat look like it shot t’rough wi’ lava?”

8.Who likes total darkness when they sleep and who needs a night light?

Despite the rain, despite the fact that Beth was exhausted from the hunt and trying to keep just out of the Rougarou’s reach, despite the fact that she was too slowly for comfort healing up from the jagged chunks of her body having been ripped muscle from bone, she tosses and turns in the moonless dark of Marion’s bed.

She whimpers. Writhes. None of it is alluring when it is paired with the thick scent of frothing-at-the-mouth terror. That she attempts to keep moving, feet kicking under the cool sheets. Sweat soaking into her hair. Goes on for hours until Marion, in her wisdom, sets a candle out. The light falls on Beth, and she starts to calm, her breathing returning to normal.

In the morning, Beth doesn’t talk about it. But over her coffee, she hoarsely whispers, “mahalo f’ dat.”

9. Who loves kids and who scowls at the mere sight of them?

She disappears from everything for more than nine months; it’s more like a year and some. Three months after the birth of the child she finally emerges from her cabin, from out behind her husband, from everything she’s used to put space and silence between them. Has the gall to act like nothing is wrong, that nothing happened. And to make matters worse, she brings the baby with her. He has her skin tone and her eyelashes. Almost takes up all of her available arm space because she’s not that big. A little tuft of black hair, black eyes when he flutters them open. She says his name is Styxx. Like the river of the dead and damned. And though she doesn’t look any different than she did before, except maybe going up a cup-size, there’s something stiff in the way she walks. The ginger way she sits, and tries to cover the wince with a coo at the drowsing baby. She doesn’t see the scowl on Marion’s lips, or the shadow that passes behind her blue, blue eyes. If she had, she’d seen a flicker of pain and annoyance and how much Marion missed her. Misses her still, because the woman sitting on her porch isn’t exactly Beth any more, is she? 10. Who plays games competitively and sucks at them and who plays games casually and is actually really heckin good?

Marion doesn’t care how many rounds of rummy she wins. Or when she insists on the checkers or chess or half a dozen other stupid board games that come out of her bag, all of which seem to have the same goal; time wasting and aggravation. What she likes is how innocent Beth is even when the fires of competition seem to burn bright in her eyes. The little stories she tells about the game pieces, how she’d learned to play, which ones are her favourite. It’s Trivial Pursuit, and the only person who can beat her, she says, is her brother.

There’s the way she dances in place and tosses popcorn at Marion when she actually loses a turn, followed by the trill of her laugh. The games don’t matter, but getting a spark of starlight to keep you company? That’s the miracle, isn’t it? 11. Who can handle spicy foods perfectly and who chugs an entire gallon of milk after accidentally eating one jalapeño?

It starts with a little ground black pepper. Then red pepper flake. There’s pepper sauce, a variety of chillies that would eat through most cooking pots if left long enough. Brewed for three days, if that’s what you want to call it, others would say it was fermented in the Devil’s nut-sack. Either way, it gets strained and heated, then cooled to room temperature before its put into the fridge. Beth swears by her brother’s hot-sauce. She tends to put it on most things, but then, how tasteful can vegetables and even some fruits be? Marion once told her that vegans, like her, tasted better. The meat sweeter, less stringy, less fatty, a whole laundry list of things, will inside the Rougarou made plans on what it would devour first when it finally got teeth into the little witch. It’s experimentation really, what combination of foods brings out the best in her. Marion doesn’t say maybe it’s honey, maybe its just her.

But she doesn’t want to crush Beth’s enthusiasm for the project.

#mahalo!marion <333 #In Murky Moonlight|Marion LaCroix #Songs Should Die Away|Marion and Beth #Reborn on the Bayou|Louisiana #ALSOH #Gris-Gris of a Good Heart|The Rougarou and Beth #tw: cannibalism #tw: blood #tw: phobias

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clansayeed · 4 years

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Bound by Destiny ― Chapter 18: The High Stakes

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny ⥽

Nadya Al Jamil (MC) has been struggling from the day she moved to Manhattan, but her new job as assistant to the mysterious CEO of Raines Corp was supposed to turn her luck around. Until she finds herself caught in the middle of a war involving the Council of Vampires who secretly run the city. An evil from the birth of Vampire-kind stirs beneath, feeding on the conflict, and finds Nadya bound to a destiny she never asked for.

Bound by Destiny and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

With Adrian's execution literally looming on the horizon Nadya enlists Jax, Lily, Maricruz, and Kamilah to put a crazy, life-threatening plan into action.

[READ IT ON AO3]

Nadya’s okay—really she is. Something that Katherine has to assure Lily and Kamilah for her; since they seem blinded by personal attachment. Really, she is!

And it takes a while but the hunter finally gets them to stop fussing over her hand even though she cradles it close to her chest. It still hurts; her fist still stings and there’s a dull throbbing in her shoulder because she threw her arm back a little too enthusiastically. But the pain is nothing compared to the satisfaction.

Satisfaction that she’s sure she’ll feel all over again like it’s for the first time when she’ll go into the office to pack up her desk and see Nicole’s purpling, swollen black eye.

Whatever it takes. Jax was right. And she may not have been able to take on the large vampire guards who dragged Adrian away, or frankly any member of the Council (though in the adrenaline high following Adrian’s sentence she sincerely debated whether the Baron or Lester were the weaker links to start with), or the Trinity if she could have caught up with them in time.

No, she couldn’t fight any of them off. But she sure could cross the chamber and throw the hardest punch of her life right in that traitor’s face.

Whatever it takes.

Cadence and Katherine join them back at the penthouse. They take to the terrace in hushed whispers but no one really notices.

There are more important things to focus on.

Gerard wraps her hand in an ice pack and tea towel. Busies himself by filling the apartment with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee even though what he offers on a silver tray is much darker and thicker than espresso. Lily is somber but takes it hungrily. Kamilah declines with a small shake of her head.

“You need to keep your strength up, Lady Kamilah.” Gerard admonishes. He doesn’t deserve the look she throws his way. “Only trying to help…” He leaves the tray regardless.

No one says anything. Doesn’t know what to say. What to do. The world is at a sort of standstill around them.

Actually it would be easier if it were. Then they wouldn’t know Adrian has twenty-four hours from the approaching dawn to live — wouldn’t know time is still moving around them. Around him.

The terrace door opens and Katherine has the mind to close the floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains behind her companion.

They shuffle awkwardly — an unusual sight from the Nighthunter’s normal confidence — in the middle of the space.

“If we could stay, we would,” Cadence insists. It sounds more sincere coming from him. “But something’s happened back in New Orleans and…”

“It’s okay.” Nadya knows her smile is halfhearted but they get the idea.

Katherine pats her arm softly. “You stay safe, you hear me? Don’t do anything stupid. Well,” she looks at the ice pack, “don’t do anything stupider, I should say.”

Cadence dips his head in an awkward fashion; it takes Nadya a second to realize he’s trying to meet Kamilah’s eyes. But she won’t. Keeps staring down with a thick curtain of hair to help her.

“I wish we could have done more.”

The pair of them make it to the door when Kamilah finally decides to speak. Looks up and stares blankly ahead with her back turned to them both.

“Do not step foot in this city again.”

Cadence hesitates, hand on the doorknob, and throws her back a strange look. “Just because we weren’t enough to save him?”

“No.” There’s a long pause. “Because you court danger, here. Return to your city, to your friends… then take my advice — run. And never stop. They certainly won’t.”

Nadya doesn’t have to ask. The Trinity. But her warning leaves more questions than answers and, judging by the look in Cadence’s eyes before Katherine urges them out, he’s just as clueless.

And just like that the weight of everything resumes crushing them.

“It would be unfair to ask; not only for them to risk their lives but to practically throw them away.”

She looks to Kamilah; who sounds like she’s answering some unheard voice’s questions.

“It would be two clans against four.”

“Kamilah?”

The woman looks at her — through her. Too lost in her own thoughts. “Injustice cannot be combated with justice. Not when everything was stacked against our favor. They walked in there… knew what they were doing when the tribunal was called. Whether the Trinity gave an alibi or not, they were ready to find the smallest shred of doubt and tear it open.”

Whatever it takes.

With Kamilah’s every word an idea starts taking shape in Nadya’s brain. Lumpy, sort of misshapen at first; but the more she takes in Kamilah’s protests the more it starts to grow, and grow, and sharpens itself like a blade.

It’s not a good idea by any means. In fact it’s probably the stupidest idea ever had — not just by Nadya but in the history of the world. No doubt the two-thousand year old vampire would agree.

Just as her idea tops itself with whipped cream and a cherry there’s a kiss to her cheek; Nadya looks to see Lily pulling out an old flip-phone.

“I’m gonna call Mari, ask her where to meet. You should come with me.” She glances sideways at Kamilah. “I trust her, I do, but who knows how long it’ll be once Adrian’s gone until they go after her next? And you, too.”

She doesn’t answer. Lily chocks it up to grief and stands; stops when Nadya grabs her wrist like a vice.

“Don’t make that call just yet.”

“But —”

“Lil’, please.”

She sits, face still scrunched with doubt. Nadya takes her place instead and, still keeping the ice on her hand, rushes through the hall and to her room.

She finds what she’s looking for in a second; her work purse resting on top of the corner desk and her prize right within. Tucks it under her armpit and returns to the vampires but rather than taking her seat she stands before Kamilah to get her attention.

When that doesn’t work she simply drops the stake in her lap. That does the trick.

Kamilah holds it like one might a large jewel; taken aback and slightly confused as to how it came into her possession.

“One down, three to go.”

Their eyes meet. The way Kamilah looks up at her — so lost and out of touch with the reality around her — it makes Nadya think of when she had the same crisis in her apartment. Kamilah hadn’t held her hand and comforted her. She’d picked Nadya up off her butt and pushed her to take a step forward, then another.

And every step since has been easier than the last — no matter what’s happened.

Kamilah’s lips purse before she tries to offer the weapon back. “I appreciate your confidence in my abilities but even I would struggle to confront the entire Council.”

“So we don’t fight the Council —” nope, and Nadya has to be careful in how forcefully she pushes the stake back, “—at least not yet. For now we just fight our way to Adrian and rescue him. We buy ourselves more time.”

“‘More time’ will do nothing to change minds like Vega’s.”

“Oh yeah, that crackpot’s a lost cause. But someone was behind the attack at the Ball — maybe the same person who started the Feral Turnings in the first place. We don’t know who but… we know it’s not Adrian.

“I don’t know what to do, Kamilah. I’m freaking out and kinda numb at this point. And I’m not gonna stand here and say you’re sitting down and taking it — mostly because I value my life — but I want to see the same vampire who scared the ever-loving heck out of me, who threatened me, but who also helped and protected me too.

“I’m mad. And when I’m mad — I’m loud. And I do stupid, stupid stuff.”

“She’s serious,” chimes in Lily behind her; reminds her briefly that she and Kamilah aren’t alone, “like, ‘all aboard the bad life choice express’ serious.”

She shoots Lily a look. Well-meaning, but really? All she gets is a shrug in reply so back to trying to convince Kamilah to join her so-called ‘bad choice express.’

“I don’t have a… a rallying cry here, okay? So let’s — let’s just get up and go kick some ass before I ramble and end up saying something really dumb and irrelevant.”

Not that Nadya anticipates Kamilah to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, donned in golden armor and wielding a sword and shield — a mental image to file away for a less dire time — but she expects, well, something.

Even if that something is just a smirk hiding at the corner of her dark lips.

“I’m afraid that has already come to pass.”

She blinks. “What has?”

“Your rather artful way of promising to run your mouth.”

They look down at the stake together — a nice, polished thing; a gift from Adrian once life attempted to get back to normal — and Nadya smiles when she sees Kamilah close it in her grasp.

“They will be holding him in the safest place they know; the Shrike. Nowhere else has the fortifications, the precautions specifically for our kind. Showing my face will immediately raise alarms, but I doubt I have the time to familiarize myself with the tunnels connected to it.”

That’s exactly what Nadya hoped to hear. Throws a look back to Lily who catches on quick and vanishes towards the kitchen with haste and her phone already up to her ear.

“Oh, and sorry I lied.”

Kamilah frowns. “Pardon?”

“I lied — just a second ago.” She offers her good hand out; doesn’t actually expect Kamilah to take it but the vampire is full of surprises today, apparently. Her grip is cool against the clammy sweat on Nadya’s palm and there’s a certain ‘rightness’ restored to the world when their positions change and she looks up into those endlessly dark eyes.

Realizing she’ll have to prompt an answer, the woman quirks a brow. “About what did you lie?”

Sure, her smile still isn’t that well-meaning. Nadya doesn’t even know if she’d call what she’s feeling hope. But it’s not that gnawing pit of distress and that’s enough.

Because she’ll do whatever it takes to save Adrian. They both will.

“I totally have a plan.”

The familiar ‘NORTHMUN’ van doesn’t pull into a spot; just flashes the brights three times before the engine coughs and takes a well-deserved break.

The back doors swing open and Maricruz leaps out, a predatory animal ready to strike, and immediately she and Lily are in one another’s arms.

Nadya shifts awkwardly on the balls of her feet. Tries not to use the scene in front of them — such a tender kiss despite the longing that fuels it — to give her an excuse to see how Kamilah reacts to public displays of affection.

Lucky(?) her, Jax slams the driver door closed and rounds to join them. Still with his hand on the hilt of his sword and glaring near-literal daggers at Kamilah.

Nadya throws Lily a weary look. “I thought you told him.”

Head resting on her girlfriend’s shoulder, Lily rolls her eyes.

“I did.”

“Like I wouldn’t be ready for a trap when they are involved.” Jax mutters. To Kamilah’s credit his display doesn’t even seem worth a response.

“Good to see you made it out of the frying pan intact, chica.” Mari offers; either doesn’t care about the tension or is so content with Lily returned to her that she can put her hatred of the Council and the Clans aside. If only Jax could do the same.

Nadya can only breathe the barest laugh. “Thanks for joining us in the fire.”

Jax stuffs his hands in his pants pockets. “We haven’t agreed yet.”

“Jax…”

“No, Nadya,” Kamilah steps forward; manages to look down her nose at the leader of the Clanless quite easily, “his wariness is inconvenient — yes — but not unfounded. And if he wishes to treat this like a business deal then I see no harm in complying. So long as he doesn’t waste what precious little time we have.”

Nadya checks her phone—09:09—stifles a yawn and tries not to think that every hour gone is one hour closer to sunset.

They have the bare bones of a plan; and even that’s being generous. Too many variables, too many unknowns… the only thing they can all agree on is the universal fact that what they’re attempting is foolish, risky, and may very well end up in more than just Adrian dead if anything goes wrong.

Now, the only thing stopping them is Jax’s bruised ego.

He steps towards Kamilah with a twitching upper lip. “If you think you can just stand there and talk down to me when it’s my help you need — you can forget it.”

“Jax — no — that’s just how she talks.” Lily supplies helpfully. It isn’t helpful at all.

Nadya feels like she’s going to suffocate under the weight of it. Of the tension, of their time limit, of everything.

“We don’t have time for this.”

“Yeah, well, make time.”

Kamilah snorts. “For a child’s petulant whining?”

“Oh, right. Well how about I take my whining and my van and book it?”

He’s met with silence and considers it a victory. Before Kamilah can clench her fist at her side Nadya slips her hand close ‘on accident’ and immediately the touch goes soft.

“Jax,” she has to swallow down her fear, “please.”

“I thought we’d finally gotten you to listen, to understand a little about what we deal with as Clanless. The risks people like us — people like Lily — have to take to survive because of people like her.” He jabs a finger at Kamilah.

She’s ready to spout out whatever needs to be said to get Jax to change his mind. He’s there, which meant he had to be open to some kind of discussion… right? Why else would he have come — not just to get Lily? Nadya hopes Maricruz might have a solution but the woman shakes her bob of neon blue hair. This is just the way he is.

“I understand your plight.”

All eyes are on Kamilah and with understandable surprise. She continues before Jax has the chance to spit out the insult ready on the tip of his tongue. “You know your worth, your value — your power. You cower in the shadows and watch the creatures in the light — those who think they are better than you by right of passage, birth, both; neither. You wish simply to exist. Regardless of whether you see your new life as a curse or a blessing… there is a part of you that yearns, aches for what you had before: freedom.”

After moments of torturous silence… Jax nods.

“We deserve the right to live without punishment of death.”

“Yes. You do.”

Even Nadya’s a little confused; she’ll admit. Jax’s thoughts race across his face like a film in fast-forward — his emotions on full display in a range. Anger—sadness—confusion… doubt.

Finally he settles on spite. “What game are you playing?”

“None,” she answers, “merely pointing out that we are not so different: you and I, your kind and mine. You are a product of a flawed world; of a failed autocracy and noble intentions that led to ignoble actions. And above all that you are young. So much of your history — our history — is unknown to you.

“Yet I have seen it all: the end of the old regime and the birth of the new one… and how that, too, crumbled to dust. We did not intend to demonize our own. We were placed in a delicate position and at the time our solution was a workable one.

“The populations were drastically uneven. One deviant working alone could destroy the entire system. It didn’t matter if they were Feral or just craved violence. To those of us who lived it, the horrors of what happened in Europe were still fresh in our minds and we promised ‘never again’ because that was our only choice.”

The elder’s words hang over them all; tightening the air and making it hard to breathe. The way she speaks — there are things Kamilah’s holding back. Things she doesn’t want to say… or maybe can’t even after all this time.

But the slow melody of her voice and her careful choice of words works hard to paint a picture in the distance for them all. Just clear enough to let their imaginations fill in the horrible and terrible rest.

Or… that’s probably how it is for Jax, for Lily, for Maricruz.

For Nadya? It’s like a reel — the worst things in eye-stinging clarity. It’s that strange blurry seconds-to-hours right after sleep and just before waking where your dream happens all at once before it fades into nothing.

She doesn’t know how she knows. Feels like she has no right to know; like she’s somehow intruding on the intimacy of Kamilah’s entreating of Jax by knowing — by seeing — what she endured though someone else’s eyes.

Blood in rivers. Brief moments of joy dashed like clouds over the sun. Righteous fire and no bodies to bury. Only ash left on open palms.

But she pushes it down. Shoves it all into a small box inside her already filled to the brim with every other dreamlike memory and sits on the lid praying nothing will get out. Because that’s what needs to be done right now.

For Adrian.

Whatever it takes.

“What do you want from me,” Jax asks with a hard edge, “what do you want me to say? Do you want me to pity you; to comfort you? Because no one was there to comfort the Clanless killed on the Council’s orders — on your orders — when they suffered. No one.”

“For now I want for nothing.”

“Then I think we’re done here.”

“However…” Jax’s hand pauses on the van door; keeps his back turned and tense but he’s not leaving. He’s letting Kamilah finish.

She tries again. “However, I would ask for your help in rescuing Adrian. Not only because he has been the Council’s largest advocate for the Clanless, and should we right this wrong done unto him may find himself dedicated to helping your people — your cause.

“But also because he is a good man — the best of us all. He is good man who suffers now from the same corrupt system which you seek to destroy. And because he is all I have left in this world which gives me hope.”

Yet almost in denial of what she’s saying Kamilah twists her hand and closes her fingers through Nadya’s. Holds her hand delicately; like her bones are as fragile as bird wings. She doesn’t need to say anything.

Jax is struggling. With his conscience, with his code, with his morals and with the thoughts of how this could be turned in his favor. Though his fringe he looks over to Mari. She gives him the least helpful half-shrug in the world.

“We’ve never turned our back on someone in trouble,” she answers his silence, “they just always happened to be one of our own. Maybe we could branch out a bit.”

Lily snort-laughs; kisses her girlfriend’s cheek.

It’s not much… but apparently it’s enough for Jax to take a cautious step towards Kamilah. A breath — and he extends his hand.

She takes it wordlessly. The pact is sealed.

“Fine, get in, We’re wasting daylight.” He barks like a General; rounds back to the driver’s seat while Mari opens up the back. “We gotta swing by a guy I know first — it’d be a good idea to get Lily’s tech, too. Espinoza, do you still have those old schematics of the warehouse district?”

They clamor into the cramped space. Even trying to take up as little room as possible Nadya’s thigh presses up against Kamilah’s intimately. The vampire doesn’t pull away.

“Don’t need ‘em,” Mari taps her temple, “all up here. We gotta use a different lure this time, though.”

“Oh!” Lily bounces in place, “what if we did the Chirp Wireless job, but in reverse?”

The van resists waking once, twice, then heaves to life. Jax revs the engine.

“I like the way you think, kid.”

He peels out of the garage; too fast for Nadya to grab for purchase. But before she can fall she feels something like steel around her waist — looks to see Kamilah’s arm holding her steady.

“Do not worry,” and the affection in her voice sparks more heat inside Nadya than purposeful seduction ever could, “I’ve got you.”

“No need to worry,” Past-Nadya had said, “I’ve never been claustrophobic.”

Past-Nadya was an idiot who thought only of herself and didn’t even take into account how Future-Nadya might feel about things.

And as current Present-Nadya and on the verge of becoming Future-Nadya… she wouldn’t mind giving Past-Nadya a piece of her freakin’ mind.

She shifts her hips; tries to get her knees into a more comfortable position. Her aching joints scream in protest but they, too, want this plan to work so they just let her do what she needs to.

Outside the stale darkness of the shipping crate she strains to hear the conversation — wonders if this is really taking as long as it feels or if time is just moving extremely slowly when she has nothing to do but wait.

She’s about to try a more daring stretch when she finally hears Maricruz off to her left. Freezes in place like that will help.

“Fine evening, ain’t it boys?”

“You’re in the wrong part of town.” Comes a gruff reply. Mari laughs it off with ease.

“Am I really? Stupid me, I guess. But if you know so much why don’t you tell me where I’m supposed to be delivering all this fine-ass hooch because it don’t look illegal if I walk it in through the front door. And we both know el Baron is all about the looks.”

A suspicious silence follows. Nadya strains her ears so hard she can’t hear anything but the blood pumping through her skull.

But Mari plays it cool. This isn’t her first job and it’s not a skill she’s let grow lax with the years. Nadya’s starting to see why Lil’s got it hard for her.

Finally one of the Baron’s men speaks — only his voice is much closer and Nadya has to slap her hand over her mouth to keep from squeaking in surprise.

“So all this is on his orders, huh?”

Mari snorts. “Uh, no shit.”

“Funny, ‘cuz I’m pretty sure after your last little stunt he cut all ties with you smuggler freaks.”

The chorus of ‘oh crap oh crap ohcrap’ in Nadya’s thoughts is so loud she doesn’t know how the vampires can’t hear it through the box.

But Maricruz rolls with the punches — doesn’t even hesitate.

“Not my fault you’re too low on the totem pole to know any better. So low you didn’t even get the night off for his little victory shindig. All that body’a yours and no one to pet it.”

“What’re you harpin’ on about?”

“Wow… you really don’t know.” Mari ticks her tongue. “Shame. All this —” there’s a thud as Mari’s hand just so happens to smack the box Nadya is inside, “— is for el Baron’s victory party after that jackass Clan-whatever-Leader cabrón is fried crispy.”

“Raines?”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t give a shit. I just know I gotta cart over three crates of imported champagne to Lacroix after this and I should’a been there already. So thanks for fucking with my schedule.”

She’s gotta hand it to the woman — even Nadya would be struggling to tell the truths from the lies if she were the one being conned. But that’s what makes her good at what she does.

The tap-tap-tap of Mari’s nail on the lid of her crate stops just short. She probably wouldn’t have heard the vampire’s rebuttal if he wasn’t obviously right in Mari’s space.

“And what about that heartbeat I hear in there, huh? Hooch don’t sound like that.”

“That’s a gift for the doorman, dumbass. But if you don’t want her…” She’s almost sing-song when she seals the deal. But it’s all acting, right? Please dear God let it just be acting.

Then with a lurch Nadya’s moving — too bad her stomach doesn’t follow with.

Lily has strict orders not to talk on the comm. piece in her ear for fear of over-sensitive vampire hearing but she can just imagine how proud she is of Mari. Ten bucks on a full-circle chair spin at the very least.

“You’ll go in through the cellars with a load like that.”

“I know how to do my job.”

“But get in and get out fast. The Boss’ll be coming down to take Raines to his execution soon. If he sees you’re the deliverer I’m gonna lose my neck.”

There’s more thumping, squeaking, and the rattling of metal before something heavy scrapes against the ground. Immediately Nadya’s senses flash back to her first time in these very dungeons — she tries not to let it fill her with hopelessness and fear; all the things she didn’t know and didn’t want to know back then fighting their way to the surface.

Whatever it takes. She tamps them back down firmly.

When the Baron’s henchman speaks again his voice is distant. This is actually working.

“And leave that little snack a’mine in the last cell — you know what, shove a bottle in there with her. If I gotta work I might as well enjoy it.”

“Amen, brother.”

Time slows again in silence. That or maybe she really is in here for hours. No… Adrian doesn’t have hours. She trusts Mari.

Then on muted cue there’s a series of loud thuds and the creak of the wooden lid above her lifting free.

The dim torchlight isn’t much but it’s brighter than the void of the crate so Nadya shields her eyes. Has to blink back bright spots before she can see again.

When her vision clears Maricruz looks down at her with a disapproving frown. “Don’t think I didn’t catch your heartbeat out there, chica,” Nadya takes her extended hand and unfurls herself from the crate with a struggle, “have you no faith?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a conversation for another time.”

“All right, but I’ve got a good long memory.”

While Nadya unkinks every joint in her body Mari lifts one of the crates filled with actual liquor and drops it aside to pry open the one underneath it. Jax claws his way out with straw in his hair and a glower.

“I’m with her on this one,” he jerks his head at Nadya. A piece of straw flutters to the ground. “You took forever with that. Next time just dust them and be done with it.”

“I was prepared for a scenario with more idiots to con, thank you very much.”

“Well I thought you stole the show, baby.”

All three of them jerk at the sudden noise at which Lily speaks in their ears. The signal feedback screeches and threatens to pop her eardrum.

“Too loud, cupcake!” Mari says through clenched teeth. Lily mutters an apology and the second time around she’s at a much more manageable volume. “Better, better.”

“Sorry guys. We were still calibrated for the construction site job.”

Jax looks around with a grim frown. It’s then that Nadya realizes the last time he was in here he, too, was trapped.

“You okay?” she asks quietly. Jax nods.

“Glad I’m on the other side of the bars this time.”

“You and me both.” Mari hauls the cart aside; presses her finger to the piece in her ear. “Ready with the electrics over there?”

Lily’s reply is fuzzy with static. “I think so. This place is pretty dark but back up top the doors have a random passcode generator. They probably flip it with each new rotation.”

“But can you get it for us?”

“If Cleopatra would stop breathing down my ne — OW!”

Her cry makes Mari stop in her stacks, literally. “Lil’? What the fuck?”

There’s shuffling and feedback. Jax doesn’t wait; just grabs the nearest torch out of its sconce and starts dragging the light over the nearest closed cell doors.

“She is mostly unharmed,” comes Kamilah’s drawl in their ears, “and has learned her lesson about pet names. Nadya — you’re well?”

She tries not to blush in Mari’s presence but the smuggler couldn’t care less; muttering likely insults in Spanish under her breath as she passes Nadya up to join Jax.

“Yeah — yeah I’m okay.”

“Good. Then make haste. They’ll be coming to collect Adrian soon and likely assumed there would be resistance from him. We don’t want them to have brought more guards than we prepared for.”

Replying would only waste more of their time, so Nadya grabs a torch wordlessly to help join the search.

“And Nadya?”

“Yeah Kamilah?”

Silence, then: “Be safe.”

“I will.”

How this winding labyrinth of cells was first built is beyond her, but Nadya wouldn’t be surprised in the least if she came to learn that the Cellars were built solely for the Baron’s purposes. The place isn’t at capacity in the slightest — there’s maybe two empty cells for every forlorn soul that she holds her flickering flame over — but it’s not like that’s something she’s happy to see. There are still way too many captives both human and vampire alike.

And she was almost one of them.

She learns not to get too close when a vampire — not Feral in the literal sense, but feral nonetheless — rushes at her and tries to claw for any scrap of her flesh from the rusted bars of her prison.

“I’m so sorry.” Nadya whispers and continues on.

Rounding the corner to a new row she spots Jax’s face in faint orange at a cell near the very end.

“He’s over here!”

She almost drops her torch in her haste — rushes down the damp corridor just as Maricruz appears in a blur at Jax’s side.

“Adrian!”

Maybe expecting Adrian to be leaning against the bars with the relieved delight of a damsel in distress was too much, but he isn’t even awake. “What’s wrong with him?” She looks between the vampires as Maricruz works her crowbar on the lock. “Why isn’t he getting up? Adrian? Adrian!”

“What’s the matter?” Comes Kamilah’s worry over the comms.

“He’s unconscious,” Jax replies, smacks his open palm on one of the bars. “Hey, come on Raines! Get up!”

Nadya’s voice cracks. “Kamilah he—he isn’t waking up. Why isn’t he waking up?”

“Without seeing him myself I —”

“Corwin!”

Lily’s blunt interruption stops Kamilah mid-sentence. “The Corwin chair took, like, a shitton of energy out of him right?”

The heavy noise of the snapped lock echoes through the stone. Maybe they’re too far underground for anyone to have heard them. Or maybe vampires hear better than she thinks. Either way they need to move.

The door swings open and Nadya runs inside. Skids her knees across the dirty floor but pushes the burning pain aside for Adrian’s sake.

“Check his wrists,” instructs Kamilah, “does he still show signs of the chair’s magics?”

“What ‘magic chair’ are you guys talking about?” Jax stands in the middle of the pathway, his eyes darting left and right for sign of attack. “Get him up — we need to go. Now.”

Nadya ignores the man and gingerly pulls up Adrian’s wrists where his suit sags from his position. The smell makes her nose crinkle before she even sees the wounds up close. Really wishes she hadn’t.

“I-It looks like the bleeding’s only just stopped. I need something to bandage him up — oh god — it’s awful.”

It takes all of Nadya’s effort to keep the contents of her stomach inside. She looks around for something—anything—to use but straw isn’t exactly going to do the trick. Instead she focuses on trying to wake him up; shakes his shoulder first with hesitance then almost violent force.

“Adrian? Adrian come on — wake up! We both know I can’t physically carry you out of here you — you jerk!”

“Nadya if you — will someone calm her?”

Then Mari’s hand is pulling her away. No, they need to help him. “Kamilah how do I wake him up?!”

“If he hasn’t yet begun to heal then they have kept him from feeding. Injuries from magic take a great toll on us — and take a great deal of energy to heal. He won’t wake until he is fed.”

Jax gives a grunt of frustration. “Well we didn’t bring any blood bags so he’s gonna have to suck it up.”

“Not funny.” Mari mutters. “But if you want to get technical we did bring a food source…”

The vampires stare at Nadya in silence. The digital feedback from the comms tells Nadya that Lily and Kamilah are listening on bated breath.

Right. Of course they did.

With a frightful look back at Adrian’s unconscious form, prone and almost innocent on the floor-level cot, she swallows her fear.

“Okay.”

“It’s risky.”

“He won’t hurt me.”

“He might not even know it’s you,” Jax argues, “and drain whatever source comes his way regardless.”

“It’s a risk I’m gonna take.”

Mari nods. “One we have to take if we don’t want all this to be for nothing.”

Nadya shoves up her sleeve — fumbles as she tries to debate if her neck would be better — but while she trusts Adrian she also knows it’ll be safer for them both if she isn’t bleeding from the neck in a dungeon full of starving vampires.

“I… have to agree with the stubborn one on this,” Kamilah’s voice makes her hesitate, “the Adrian you know has reformed his hunger — and also feeds in moderation daily. Starvation may bring out a different side of him.”

“We can’t leave him here Kamilah!”

“I did not say I disagree.”

“So agree with me that there’s no other option. They’ll stop him from hurting me… right guys?” Nadya looks back to the others. Mari gives a curt nod.

Over the comm. she can hear the depth and worry in Kamilah’s sigh.

“I trust him.”

“As do I.”

“So trust me.”

Finally; “Very well. Stop him the moment he begins to heal. It should be enough to wake him and get out. He can regain all his strength when you’re out of there.”

Important thoughts initially pushed aside, thoughts like ‘if he’s unconscious how can I make him drink?,’ come back when Nadya holds her wrist just over his mouth. Nothing happens.

“Adrian…” she steels herself and lowers her arm for her pulse to beat between his pale lips, “I know you’re gonna hate yourself for this later. But right now there isn’t gonna be a later if you don’t drink.”

It’s a miracle but he starts to stir. She shudders when the tip of his warm tongue touches her pulse point. But it retreats — his body closes in on itself.

“No no no!” Nadya grasps his forehead with her other palm and practically forces her wrist back into place. “This isn’t a ‘between you and me’ situation, okay? You’re gonna drink, and you’re gonna stop, and we’re gonna get you out of here — get all of us out of here; me included. But we can’t carry you. You’ve gotta stand on your own two feet. So, uh, you know, wakey wakey… eggs and bak-ey. Chop chop! Get with the sucking!”

Judging by the reactions on Mari and Jax’s faces she regrets it… quite a lot. And is suddenly very very glad Kamilah isn’t there in person.

He’s not resisting this time — which is the only good thing. He still refuses to pierce skin. “Adrian… come on, please,” she’s practically whining now; pressured by the way Jax keeps looking back and forth like he’s invested in a sped-up game of ping-pong.

On her last thread Nadya leans in and whispers in Adrian’s ear.

“You wouldn’t let me die at the Ball and I’m not gonna let you die now. So bite, vampire boy, and beat yourself up about it later.”

There’s an unseen pressure on her wrist followed by a piercing pain. She swallows her cry because she has to. Then her skin feels wet, and his tongue presses flat against the wound, and wow that’s the strangest sensation she’s ever felt in her life but, you know, new experiences.

“What you are doing is incredibly generous, Nadya. Just breathe.”

Kamilah talks her through it. Her voice eases the pain somewhat. Keeps her from having a violent reaction when Adrian springs to life like an automaton and holds her arm down in a vice-grip.

It’s hard to tell in the darkness, especially as things start to go a little blurry at the edges of her vision, but Nadya’s so trained on Adrian and the promise of his recovery that she can see the change in him. The sickly translucence leaving his cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes swelling fresh with life.

On his wrists the charred flecks of unsalvageable skin fall off like ash; replaced new — healthy and pinkish in hue.

“Okay he’s healing.” Mari’s voice is fuzzy in her ears. Who shoved cotton balls in there without her permission?

“Then pull her away!”

Kamilah’s panic shakes her out of her stupor. Nadya tries to remove her arm but with each passing second Adrian grows stronger — his hold alongside. “Adrian stop. Seriously — that’s enough.”

“She won’t be able to fight him with reason. Pull her, Clanless, now!”

“Enough, Raines — enough!”

Knives slice over her wrist and Nadya cries out; thrown back from Adrian’s cot-side and to the far wall where she skids the heels of her palms roughly.

When the stars stop spinning in front of her eyes Nadya stares at Maricruz holding Adrian—now sitting up—back with visible effort. His eyes are red but glazed. Nadya can’t look away from the shine of her blood at the corner of his mouth.

“Get it together, Raines,” Mari grunts with a few smacks to his solid chest, “you’d beat yourself dead if you hurt her and you know it.”

Watching Adrian come back to himself is a strange sight. The way he shifts in his own skin like whatever beast was trying to push through is being restrained; put back in its cage. It feels like she’s witnessing the answer to the great mystery asked by horror writers the world over.

What is the appeal of the vampire? This is. The way he goes from monster to man in the blink of an eye. Literally too; one blink and red fades back to the deep dark warmth she’s used to and even knowing what she just witnessed Nadya still feels herself relax around the familiar presence.

Adrian shakes his head, rouses himself from the fog in his mind. “Wh—What…?”

“Thanks for joining us pendejo — better late than never.” Maricruz helps him along with a few (well-meaning, Nadya’s sure) smacks to the face before she’s across the cell in a blur. Grabs Nadya’s injured wrist like she’s holding a tiny porcelain doll and bares her fangs.

“Hold… still…” Sure, Nadya holds, but Mari doesn’t do anything — which is a cause for concern? Maybe? Probably?

“Uh… Maricruz?”

“Huh?”

“What’re you doing?”

“You smell… wow.”

Immediately the human yanks her hand back no matter how much it hurts. Tries to fight off that natural instinct her mind has to conjure up the worst possible scenario that takes into account she’s surrounded by vampires, three uncaged, and one still jonesing for a fix to recover his full strength.

“Heal her… now.”

Adrian’s croaking command works — not gonna argue with that — brings the other vampire back to herself as she swipes the pad of her thumb over a fang like one might strike a match. Quick, efficient; and before the cut can close up she drags her blood over Nadya’s wrist in a smeared circle to close her wounds.

“Thank you.” says Nadya quietly. Maricruz departs without another word.

She stands; brushes herself off before holding out a helping hand for Adrian to take. She can feel him resisting putting all of his weight on her but it’s enough.

He rolls his shoulders, tries to flash his usual devil-may-care smile but when he starts to lean dangerously to the left she grabs him as best she can.

“Whoa whoa… easy there.”

“I — Sorry.”

“I didn’t know vampires could get vertigo.”

He means to shoot a look at her joke but, when met with her smile, returns it. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“Let’s get you out of here.”

“Don’t think I’m not grateful, but we’re going to talk about this crazy stunt later.”

“Nadya, please pass along a message for me.”

Nadya grunts as she helps Adrian with his first hesitant steps. When they duck through the cell doorway he’s able to stand unaided — if winded. “Of course.”

“Tell him he’s a fool to think we would have done nothing.”

She gives a small smile down at her shoes before looking up at Adrian.

“Kamilah says she loves you.”

His expression says ‘I highly doubt that,’ and Kamilah’s protests in her ear aren’t helping. But they take hands and squeeze.

He’s gonna be safe.

“Fully intending to break up the moment here — but I’m pretty sure I just heard a door a few blocks over.”

That’s how Adrian notices Jax for the first time. Looks him up and down and, like most, lingers on the sword now drawn and in a clenched hand.

“Do I have enough time to ask why the Leader of the Clanless is helping rescue me?”

Which is enough to make both Clanless pause — Jax dumbstruck while Maricruz hastily rushes to pick up the long stake she dropped before it hits the ground.

“You know who I am?”

“Of course,” says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “as if I would scour the city to find the source of the Feral attacks without checking into the Shadow Den? What do you take me for?”

Jax’s sword twitches dangerously at his side.

“You know about the Shadow Den?”

Nadya looks for help but it’s clear from Mari’s glare she isn’t going to provide. Stares at Adrian with the exact same wariness; always on the defensive.

“Is now really the time for this? Didn’t you just say —”

“Tell me who ratted us out.”

“I’ve known for years — Kamilah has, too.”

Lily gives a tinny gasp. “The plot thickens!”

“So long as they remained non-threatening we were content to let the Clanless have their space in peace,” explains Kamilah, though her frustration is only thinly veiled, “but perhaps this would be better discussed at a later time?”

Jax looks like his whole world has inverted. Mari, too, struggles with the same sort of stupor but shakes herself out of it at the sound of footsteps and muffled voices bouncing off the walls.

Nadya’s blood runs cold. If she can hear them, then they’ve already run out of time.

Chest puffed out Jax steps forward to confront Adrian with burning eyes. “If you bastards did anything to my people, I swear —”

“Oi! Later, Matsuo!” And his time to protest runs out when the first large shadow is cast on the wall ahead of them. “Time’s up!”

“There they are!”

One shadow becomes two, becomes four, becomes a mass of hulking bodyguards rushing at them so fast the wind they gather almost blows out the torches.

“They’ve got Raines! Kill the others — the boss needs Raines alive!”

Mari and Adrian think the same — push Nadya behind them on both sides where she stumbles and falls behind the liquor crates.

There’s a shout that turns into a wet noise. Nadya looks up just over the rim and sees the nearest body collapse to the ground with the head rolling several feet away before they both crumble into ash. Blood drips from the tip of Jax’s sword, splatters in an uneven pattern on the wall as he readies himself for the next idiot to get too close.

She watches Maricruz vault herself over the cart and slam her boot into another guard’s chest. He goes toppling down, pinned and prone, then turns to dust under her strike.

“Nadya, stay down!” Adrian shouts. It’s just enough distraction for the guard he’s holding back to wrench their bodies against a nearby cell wall. The old metal creaks and bends in protest.

He’s too weak to fight — he can barely stand. Nadya looks around for help but Jax is locked in combat with another vampire, his sword cast aside in the fray, and Mari is too far down the hall to staunch the flow of enemies.

There’s a glint out of the corner of her eye and Nadya catches sight of Jax’s sword peeking out of an empty cell. Straw clings to the blood on the blade but it’s right there.

“Okay,” she breathes, “you can do this.”

“Whatever you’re thinking of —” starts Lily…

“— do not dare!” Kamilah finishes for her. Nadya grits her teeth and yanks the bud out of her ear. She has enough self-doubt as it is and being told not to do something might just be what holds her back.

“You can do this. You can do this. Whatever it takes, right? Right! Go go go!”

Nadya propels herself out from behind safety just in time to see Adrian’s legs give out from underneath him after a punch to the gut. Blood trickles from his temple — the shallow cut too much to heal in his weakened state.

Quickly she fumbles, grabs the katana’s hilt and lifts the surprisingly heavy blade with all her might. “Oh my god oh my god ohmygodohmygod ohmygod OHMYGOD!” She screams the mantra like a battle cry and swings wildly — more dragged along by the weapon than in control of it — in the direction of Adrian’s assailant.

In retrospect squeezing her eyes shut probably isn’t the best idea. Doesn’t stop her. Just like the sudden resistance in her whirlwind of bladed fury doesn’t stop her from yanking as hard as she can — strength is one thing but this is one sharp freakin’ sword.

The resistance doesn’t last long but she’s on a roll. She’s speed, she’s fury; a legendary warrior for the ages. And with battle cry that deafens everything else around her.

“— adya—Nadya! NADYA!”

There’s panic in the voice calling her name and Nadya doesn’t get to stop and register it on her own. Instead feels a strong hand on her elbow and the sword wrenched from her grasp. Her battle cry almost turns into a shriek of terror.

“Nadya. Open your eyes.”

There’s gotta be some logic left rattling up there since she obeys. Even petrified Nadya wouldn’t listen to the bad guys when they told her what to do. But this isn’t a bad guy, its Adrian pulling her into his arms and keeping her from flailing herself to injury.

When she inhales something fills her lungs; makes her pull back choking. Behind her Adrian eases her through it with a hand on her back, his voice soft.

“It’s over now. Hey, hey see? Look around. It’s over.”

The ash of victory blackens Mari’s neon hair as she comes back their way. Jax, too, sweeps the remains of the Baron’s men from his leather jacket.

But Nadya’s still wired; adrenaline coursing through her veins. She’s dizzy, and buzzing, and wants to collapse for a year-long nap but could run a marathon in between.

“We don’t have long before more show up — and round two might not be just a bunch of N-P-Cs.”

“Espinoza’s right,” Jax sheathes his retrieved sword, “run now and talk later.”

Not that no one’s been saying it for the last god-knows-how-long but it’s enough for them to finally get their feet moving. The momentum from the fight blew out most of the torches but Nadya trusts the night-vision of her companions as Adrian pulls her along with a firm grasp.

She’s not sure about a lot in life but one thing she knows for certain is Adrian Raines would use the last of his strength if it meant keeping hold of her hand.

With one last look behind them Nadya trips over her feet. Stares at the floor caked with ash.

Adrian eases her back into running; casts Nadya a worried glance.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing — I…” She tries to wipe the ash from her cheek; smears it instead.

Because he’s Adrian he knows.

“You saved my life. That’s what you did — nothing else matters.”

I killed a vampire.

“You’re sure?”

He leads her up the stairs and into the freedom of the night.

“Damn sure.”

#bloodbound #kamilah sayeed #adrian raines #jax matsuo #kamilah x mc #bloodbound mc #mc: nadya al jamil #lily spencer #oc: maricruz espinoza #katherine nightbound #oc: cadence smith #oblv: bound by destiny #oblv: new chapter #; my fics

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ilovelukey · 5 years

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Preparations

A/N: Here is a lil thing about getting ready for your wedding! I’m planning on doing a whole series with this, next chapter on the wedding and wedding night, and then maybe two little chapters on the honeymoon (next ones will be smuttyyyyyy)

Warnings: Lingerie? Almost sex? Not really anything

Word count: 2.3k

These are the sets I was picturing:

(in white)

(All are from Agent Provocateur)

Ever since Luke had proposed, you felt like you were absolutely walking on cloud nine. Planning a wedding with him was an absolute dream. Everytime you approached him with a question- what flavor cake, your wedding colors, the venue- he gave you actual answers instead of just letting you decide, which was insanely helpful. Not to mention you had the same taste in most of these things. The wedding was scheduled in just a few days. Luke was flying his family from Sydney since most of his friends and your friends were in LA. With everything finally prepared, you and your bridesmaids were going out to pamper yourselves. The girls had offered to take you out for a spa day. Your bachelorette party had been a few nights ago and the hangover had been horrible and it honestly felt like you hadn’t had a full night of sleep since then with all the stress and last minute planning so this was exactly you needed.

You had just left the Ritz- Carlton spa, your nails were freshly done, you’d gotten a face mask, massage, and a body scrub and you had never felt more refreshed.

“Where are we going now?” You asked as you realized you weren’t heading back towards any of your houses.

“This next surprise is actually from Luke.” Crystal winked at you and kept driving.

Finally you pulled up and parked in front of a big black building with pink writing “Agent Provocateur”. Crystal, KayKay, and your four best friends from high school got out of the car, pulling you along behind them.

“What’s going on?” you laugh as they drag you into the store. Black leather lines the walls, crystal whips, gorgeous lingerie, all stacked up on every side. A cute little sales associate in a pink uniform walks up to the seven of you and asked in a chipper voice “Hi! How can I help you?”

“Hi, we have an appointment under Hemmings.” KayKay answered for you.

“Great!” The brunette sales associate answered “you guys are booked for the Bridal Service?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, follow me, please.”

You followed the girl back into the store to a private room with pink walls and long curtains flowing to the ground for the changing rooms. Vases filled with flowers decorated the table tops. The sales associate brought a tray with seven flutes of pink champagne, each of you grabbed one and thanked her.

“My name is Kelly, I’ll be helping you ladies out today. Now, which of you is the bride-to-be?”

The girls pushed you forward,

“Me!” you laughed “I’m y/n.” you stuck your hand out and she shook it.

“Well, congratulations. Have you been to our store before?” You shake your head no. “No worries!” Kelly smiled, “So we normally recommend that our clients forget any notion they had of what they want because we have all sorts of styles and fits and we encourage you to try them all on. I’ll take your measurements and then I’ll grab a few things for you to try out.” You let her wrap the measuring tape around you, marking down each number in her head.

“Great, I’ll be right back.”

You and the girls sit down on the plush pink couch and matching chairs, sipping your champagne.

“So…” Crystal smirked “Luke has some instructions for you.”

“Oh god,” you laughed and took another sip of champagne.

“He wants you to get something for the night of the wedding, and at least two things for the honeymoon.” The girls all laughed.

“Jesus, Crys, isn’t this store, like, really expensive? I can’t afford this.” Crystal put her hand on your knee, shaking her head.

“Girl… you should know Luke well enough to know that he has already paid for it.” You groaned and put your face in your hand.

“That little shit.” You mumbled, jokingly, but the girls could see the way your cheeks turned bright red at the information. They knew that he loved you more than anything and you felt the same way about him. The boys always made fun of Luke, telling him he was pussy whipped, but whenever they did, he just smiled at you and winked, knowing you were just as whipped for him.

Kelly walked back in, her arms carrying at least a dozen hangers with all different shades of white, cream, and beige. Some bras covered in lace, others bedazzled, satin, cotton, all overlapping each other. You and all the girls gasped at the beautiful fabrics in front of you. Kelly started hanging them up on the rack by you.

“So we have a few different styles for the bridal lingerie here. Go ahead and try those on. I understand that our groom-to-be also wants some options for the honeymoon so I’ll grab those and be right back.” She winked and walked out.

“Damn, girl. These are gorgeous.” Your maid of honor, Emma said.

“Try this one!” KayKay gasped, holding up a pink and black set, with a matching garter belt.

“Wow. That’s stunning.” You touched the soft satin material. You took the hanger and closed the curtain behind you, stripping off your own clothes and underwear and putting the new set on. The fabric was soft against your skin as you pulled the curtain back, showing it off to your friends, who all immediately hooted and whistled. You did a little turn for them and posed, jokingly, laughing. You repeated the process with the next set, and Kelly walks back in with more beautiful sets hanging over her arms, this time in bright colors. She placed them on the hangers and looked at the white set you were currently in.

“That’s beautiful on you.” She said. You looked in the mirror at the white lace bra, with little ties crossing the front. A matching waist trainer made your waist look even smaller, and matching white lace panties pulled the look together. You had to admit, you did look really good. You had been hoping for a white set, in the spirit of being somewhat traditional.

“Wow…” the girls all sighed.

“Y/n, you look fucking hot.” Emma laughed. You had to admit that you really did look hot.

“I really like this one.” You said, still admiring yourself in the mirror. You weren’t normally one to stare at yourself like this, but you felt really good in this. You’d been working hard to lose a little bit of weight and get in shape for the wedding and you were proud of how well you’d done.

“I… think this is the one.” The girls all cheered at your revelation and you smiled at Kelly.

“Perfect! You look great. I brought you some stuff to try on for the honeymoon too. Oh! And we have this gorgeous robe that goes with the set you just picked out.” Kelly left the room to grab the robe she mentioned, and you took one last look at yourself before turning to go back into the dressing area, closing the curtain, and trying on some sets for the honeymoon.

You tried on a whole bunch of other looks. Finally, you found two you adored. One red set with a bralette with straps across the front, all in lace. It had a matching garter belt with little frills on the end and you knew it would look perfect with a pair of black heels you had at home. The other set you decided on was a bright pink corset made out of a satin material with lace on the top of the cups of the bra.

You checked out with the three sets and a robe and you and the girls headed out. They dropped you off at home and it was already dark outside. When you walked into you and Luke’s house, you were greeted by Petunia, happily trotting over and licking at you. You put your shopping bags down and got on your knees to give her a hug and a few kisses. You heard some louder footsteps heading towards you and looked up to see your handsome man, his hair pulled back and he was wearing sweatpants and a t shirt. You immediately got up (much to Petunia’s disappointment) and ran over to Luke, jumping in his arms.

“Luke, you shouldn’t have.” He chuckled and squeezed you tight, lifting you off the ground. You wrapped your legs around his hips and gave him a big kiss.

“If we’re being honest, it’s more of a gift for me, isn’t it, love?” He placed you down. “Now show me what you got.” He patted your butt as you walked over and picked up the bag, filled with three pink and black boxes, each wrapped up with a bow.

“Hmm you’ll just have to wait until our wedding.” You grinned, slyly.

“Not fair.”

“It’s very fair!” You argued back, hitting his chest lightly. You walked back and threw your arms around him once again, and he leaned down and kissed your nose.

“Gonna be my wife, baby. I can’t fucking wait.”

“Mmm. Mrs. y/n Hemmings. It sounds good, doesn’t it?”

“It sounds pretty damn perfect.” He grabbed you by your waist and threw you over his shoulder in a fireman carry, while you laughed and kicked your legs and hit his back in protest.

“Luke!” but you could barely get his name out, you were laughing so hard. He carried you up to your room, placed the lingerie boxes in the special “wedding closet” you two had, which was nearly overflowing with all of your stuff for the special night. He threw you on the bed and your face was hurting, you were smiling and laughing so hard. He came back and threw his body over yours, making you laugh more at how heavy he was.

“Lu…” you laughed, “You’re crushing me!”

“You calling me fat?” He poked at you.

“No, but you’re a fucking giant.” You squealed at him, still only partially able to breathe through the laughter and his weight smushing your much smaller body. He giggled and held his body up on his elbows.

“You’re just tiny.” He said and kissed your neck.

“I’m normal sized! You’re like… Hagrid.”

“Okay no sex tonight.” He said as you kept laughing, trying to pull him back to you as he moved his body away from you, jokingly turning his back to you.

“Noooo, Lu!” You whined and laughed, sitting up and grabbing the back of his shirt. You pulled the fabric towards you and finally he turned around and jumped back on the bed, right next to you.

“Only if you take it back.” He smirked and crossed his arms.

“Fine!” You sighed, “I take it back!” You pouted at him, trying to hold back a smile. Luke laughed and went back to kissing you, each kiss making you laugh, because it tickled a little bit with his scruff.

“...Paul Bunyan.” You whispered.

“What did you just call me?” He furrowed his brows at you.

“Paul Bunyan! He’s a famous giant.”

“Okay, that’s it.” And his hands were on your stomach, tickling you. Luke knew all of your most ticklish spots, and hit them all perfectly. He did this until you couldn’t breathe and were begging him to stop.

“Luke! I give up! You win!” You shouted.

“I don’t believe you.” He looked at you suspiciously, barely taking his hands away, just in case. You just smirked at him, and he narrowed his eyes at you.

“Clifford.” You whispered. He immediately brought his fingers back to your sides, picking right back up where he left off.

“Clifford? If anything, Ash is Clifford right now. Or is Michael Clifford?”

“You can all be Clifford!” You yelled, in between laughs. He smiled down at you, his hands finally easing up once he could tell that you couldn’t physically take anymore without running out of oxygen or peeing yourself. He brought his hand up to your cheek, stroking it. His lips lowered down to yours, pressing a sweet kiss on yours. You hummed against him as his hand went down to your neck.

“Such a naughty girl, huh?” He smirked at you, cocking his eyebrow. You just nodded in response.

“Gonna have to teach you to be good when you’re my wife.”

“You could teach me now.” You dared him in a light, raspy whisper.

“I dunno, baby girl. Think you should ponder on your actions.” He chuckled as your mouth dropped open in fake shock.

“I really didn’t do anything wrong, Hemmings.” You pouted. He just smiled at you lazily, his eyes half lidded. He studied your face, just for the sake of doing so, because he loved to look at you.

“Y’know, soon I’ll be calling you Hemmings too.” He mumbled, pressing a kiss to your nose before rolling over back next to you, pulling you into his arms.

“That’s very true.” You turned to him, propping yourself up on an elbow. He was still looking at you dreamily.

“Don’t you fall asleep on me.” You warned him, but it was no use. He just chuckled at you.

“Had a long day. Had to meet the boys so early to work on… stuff.”

“Yeah,” you recalled “I forgot to ask, where were you this morning? When I woke up you weren’t here. And I got up at like… eight.”

“Hm. That’s for me to know and you to find out.” He stated matter of factly. You laughed at him.

“Well, I need to shower, love. If you’re asleep when I’m back… then good night. I love you.” You kissed his forehead and got up.

“Love you. My future wife.” You heard him mumble and you smiled to yourself as you closed the bathroom door and got in the shower. You smiled to yourself as you were drying off, and getting ready for bed. You were probably even smiling to yourself as you were sleeping in bed, curled up next to your own little giant. Your future husband.

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