#but if i see black specks i have no way of avoiding putting my entire foot in my mouth saying it’s one thing and not the other | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hyukmoon · 3 years

Text

moon. | l.sy x gn!reader

lee sangyeon x gn!reader

word count: about 4.01k

to put it short: congrats! Something you should actually say, right? Your best friend and crush is getting married in two days and you feel,... well, not very good about it. So, wait... he's returning the feelings? Damn.

content warning: ANGST in capital letters, I would add lots of exclamation points but im lazy. So yeah, hella angsty. Some good old making out, it's kind of heavy at some point but no smut at this point lol. I don't condone any of the done actions, so yeah, I would've personally handled everything differently, but you know, y/n is kinda wild. Very awkward sometimes, but that's more the situation in itself. ALSO, NOT PROOFREAD

taglist: @loki-in-hogwarts

note: the second thing i wrote and im somewhat excited!!! Yes! Exclamation points. So,... thanks for reading :)

It was a great day. Well, at least seemingly for everyone but you. Your best friend in this world Sangyeon was about to get married to the love of his life, who is notyou and now you just stand in the hotel lobby waiting for it to happen. Funnily enough, the crushing feeling of desperation and fear didn’t seem to set in yet.

The hotel lobby was filled to the brim with acquaintances and other guests possibly confused by the uproar of the wedding guests. So, who were you specifically waiting for? The rest of your friend group, the ones who will most likely clean up after the wedding whatever will be left of you.

A nervous smile swept up to your lips, casually just avoiding every sort of tension that could come across you. Just with the luck of this entire occurrence an older woman started to approach you, demon alike features spreading around her face almost like she knew you were apparently the only single person here. An aunty, that wasn’t even related to you but had all the business to judge.

“Are you here for the bride or the groom?”, her sweet voice rang a familiar feeling in your stomach. Almost too sweet, making you suspicious of her intent. “I’m here for my best friend, Sangyeon. So, yeah, for the groom.”, you hesitated a second, “What about you though? Do you know the bride?”

“She’s my youngest niece, the only one that still visits, her sisters don’t even care anymore…” You nodded politely, not wanting to anger her now and stepped towards a different direction.

“So, my dear, are you here with anybody?” You already feared that question, the same as always. The eyes of yours started with a panicked expression searching through the room a familiar pair. “No, I am here on my own. I kinda wanted to focus on getting Sangyeon through with it, being there for him.” As a friend.

Possibly this was the first part of feeling despair and fear. People at this wedding were really waiting for them to get married. They weren’t joking, this would change everything.

“Ah, I see. You know, get over him. Well, it is time for you at least, you’re not getting younger. There are quite few handsome men here. I remember the names Juyeon and ah yes! Kevin, get over here!” As far as you were concerned, your facial expression couldn’t possibly look more stunned than a moment ago, yet another one of your good friends appeared, seemingly just as confused.

This only held on for a good second, Kevin knew exactly what to do. “Oh hi, I’m so sorry to steal [Y/N] away from you, but I actually need to talk to them on my own over a gift we both prepared for the couple!”, he grinned at the lady, who was obviously smitten with him. “Yes, of course, hun. Take your time.” She finally hushed into a separate direction.

“So, how are we doing? You seem kinda… stressed.”

“You don’t say”, you sighed, “if I have to go through a conversation like this again today, believe me I’ll-. “

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I get the sentiment. Even though I meant more the other situation. Like in, Sangyeon getting married and you sitting here all grumpy because of it.”, Kevin was already aware of your “small” infatuation with your best friend, a man too far out of your reach also funnily enough, the man’s wedding you’re attending. However, your friend in front of you didn’t seem to mind talking about it out loud in a place like the hotel lobby. Your lips tightened up into a fine line.

“I’m not grumpy! I just…I don’t really know what to do. I mean, I know I’m going to be there for him but yeah, okay, I might feel a bit grumpy.” The lobby did clear up a lot now.

“Okay, oof. There’s this dinner with everyone in the evening today, do you think you can get through that?”, Kevin asked hesitantly just as stressed with this additional complication.

“I mean, I probably have to, don’t I? This makes me so sick, ugh. Not gonna lie, my stomach feels like a laundry machine.” You laughed quietly and drifted off again into a place where you didn’t need to think about this.

“What did you really expect though? You know I love you, respectfully, but like, this feels like an incredibly bad move to do.”

“Don’t you think it would be worse if I didn’t show up at all? I’ll just need to go through this weekend and I’m outta here. No one will know anything.” It might feel like a nightmare but at least a nightmare you can actually run away from and not actually have to face at some point.

“Well, I hope you’ll keep your confidence. Because imagine I saw the person, I love getting married to someone else. Oh my, believe me, you wouldn’t find me for the next three weeks.”

“Not very helpful, a good three out of ten. I guess, I’ll just stick to sulking around then.” A dead smile crept up your lips following a stern look from your side at your opposite.

“Seems like a good plan, just stick to me, maybe we will find someone to take your attention away from this, huh?” A sly grin was visible on Kev’s face.

“Ughhh, of course. Let’s do this. It can’t get much worse than that”, you cleared your throat, “thanks, though. You actually make this here somewhat bearable.”

“Awww, come on. We should pack out our suitcases.”

No one can really prepare someone for a moment like this. Most older folk turned into their hotel rooms which left you in a party like situation seeing your closest friends turning it up in a huge pavilion while the future groom sits comfortably on a velvety sofa hand in hand with his fianc��e.

The air was quite warm even at this time of the evening, not humid, just warm enough for everyone to taste the end of this era with nostalgia and a slight feeling of energy to experience what’s to come afterwards.

You as well sat down, continuously processing your environment. With a cup of your favorite drink, you felt invincible, nothing able to shake you down.

Now while this wasn’t a preferred environment, this was manageable; you could look your best friend into his eyes and proudly congratulate him on his wedding. You would be able to get over this and continue to be a great friend. Black hair with an intense facial expression made its way into your viewpoint along with a somewhat tipsy Kevin. Simultaneously the lighter hair of your best friend fought his way through the crowd.

Lee Sangyeon, the man lighting up your mood with simple touch of his fingertips was now signalizing for you to head outside towards the veranda of the pavilion. He exuded patience, yet clearly waiting for a response of you. You nodded and brushed cautiously over your evening attire.

“Hii, [Y/N]! Can I introduce this someone to you? This is Juyeon, he might look a bit intense, but he’s really nice to talk to! So, I’m gone for a sec then!” Kevin started drifting off into a different direction where you stopped him in his tracks.

“Could this wait? Sangyeon needs to talk to me. I think it’s important, I’ll come back though in a bit!” You gifted both of them an apologetic face and made your way around the men towards the going to be groom.

Surely it wasn’t exactly clear why he wanted to speak to you, especially on his own. He was still waiting for you after all.

“[Y/N]! What has it been? Like three? Four months? I missed you so much.”, Sangyeon pulled you into his chest abruptly and sighed softly into your shoulder. Engulfed entirely in his figure you never wanted to wake up from this again. Was it now 10 seconds? 15 seconds? Neither he nor you really seemed to let go, taking in all the scents of his that were formerly familiar to you.

“Yeah, I think so. You were probably busy planning this all and I just had to work, I guess.” Trying to keep it short was your main goal, appearing distant maybe. He didn’t mind at all though. Not discouraged from continuing this conversation Sangyeon pointed at the veranda, showing the only speck of space with little to no crowd.

The veranda was close to closed off to the party. Non distinguishable palm trees in the far distance were playing right into your cards for not having to look into his eyes. Magnetically glowing, that’s how he appeared. All happy and smiley about the obvious luck he was experiencing. Now again, he sat down with you in the beach chairs without loosing a word.

“The palm trees are so pretty. You remember me wanting to buy some new plants?”, you tried to invite him to the conversation.

“You always want to buy new plants, which time do you mean?” Sangyeon grinned to himself. “You know what? It’s so weird. Everything feels still so unreal. This wedding, also you at my wedding… So weird.”

“I am literally your best friend, where else should I be? Your funeral? At home? Who else is going to charm the hotel staff for some free capri suns and new towels?” Your mouth crinkled up and you let out a soft laugh.

“[Y/N] … You know exactly what I mean!”

“Noo, not at all. I’m so confused right now, not gonna lie.” Your face finally moved towards his direction, seeing his gentle gaze resting on you.

“Do you remember when we were still in school, and we promised each other we would marry each other if we didn’t find anybody else?” His gaze got more intense with each sentence.

“Yeahh, kind of. I was probably tired and it’s like ten years ago. I’m not really sure what you’re trying to tell me.”

“I really thought I was going to marry you. For several years, actually.”, he laughed. “I had such a crush on you and then you met your s/o and all that. Ughh, it seemed so complicated back then. Kind of weird to think about what could have happened if I did ask you out or something.”

“True.”, you turned away again standing up and resting against the wooden railing of the pavilion. “But you didn’t so, let’s just drop it there.” The weather as well started rebelling a bit, the wind hugging your figure slightly too tight for your taste.

“Why are you so cold all of a sudden?”, he whispered closely behind you.

“Well, you’re getting married tomorrow. And you’re telling me about a crush you had on me?”, you croaked.

“I was just being nostalgic, I thought this would be fine with you.” Sangyeon appeared now next to you on the railing, waiting for you to face his concerned dark eyes.

“It isn’t for me. It just feels wrong.”

“What feels so wrong about it? It was a long time ago.”

It is here, the bitterness. Bitterness shouldn’t even be the correct term, the pain of your heart going into a slump didn’t feel like a fitting word. Being reminded again that you will never have a chance again.

“Wait or is it not a long time ago for you?”, The voice of his tried to word his next sentence very carefully.

“I went out with them because I thought you were joking. Then when I thought about you, it was always different. It was too late though, you met her.” Only the close ocean along with the wind were hearable, neither you nor he were able to form another thought put into a sentence.

“You could’ve told me. I would’ve-.”

“Broken up with her?”

“No, I-.”

“Then what could you have done?”, you interrupted Sangyeon’s rambling, trembling while speaking. Terribly spiteful with a bite that wasn’t too often dripping down your lips.

“This.” Sangyeon pressed a fluttery kiss against your lips. Slender fingers tapped onto the skin right under your chin, signalizing you to look at him.

The now much calmer atmosphere made you snake your arms around his torso. Heat rose towards your head, longing after a second out in the cold again just to see his lovely facial expression. Your lips broke off and touched once more in an almost hypnotic fashion.

His hot breath started sliding downwards your cheek to your neck, physically making you unable to resist his entrancing presence. Also his hands broached over from your face down to your waist, holding you with the lightest touch.

Sangyeon’s lips darted away from yours, catching you staring deeply into his eyes. The silence felt warm now as well, filled with the slow and recovering breath of the participants.

“[Y/N], I think I still feel that way.”, a rosy blush swept over the man’s face you wanted to hear say these things so many times and so long ago.

“No. No. No. You shouldn’t! I shouldn’t either! I have to go.” The reality of the situation caught up to you. This was bad. Incredibly bad. Still the disgusting feeling of hope within this made its way up to your head. Stinging alongside the feeling of remorse, you didn’t think clearly, especially now, next to him.

You darted in the fastest way possible from the pavilion up to the hotel to your room, leaving him there.

Today should be the final day. The hopes that already should have been buried a long time ago, crawled up again and clawed its way into your mind. What if he leaves her for you today? Like in those unrealistic rom coms. Yes, again, it was unrealistic.

Leaving her at the altar and running after you. While all those thoughts of hope and wishes came together you found yourself with a stomachache. His fiancée was an incredibly nice person, sweet and kind along with being a beauty. You shouldn’t even dare to think about Sangyeon that way anymore, she deserved a lot more. Quite honestly, you felt pathetic. Who were you to run into their possible future?

Just because of a simple brush over the lips, his eyes staring into yours like no one else existed but you and his soft hands delicately touching your waist. A tap on your shoulder put you out of your trance, “[Y/N]? Can you go up to Sangyeon’s room? He asked for you.” Kevin’s eyes glanced at you with uncertainty. Neither you nor he knew why he wanted to see you.

Even more importantly, why did he need to see you alone? This seemed like dangerous territory after, basically yesterday. Agony rose again, what if he really was going to leave her?

“Sure, I don’t know why he wants to see me again though.”, you said and left to see the groom’s room. You stumbled more and more over every step closer to the door of the man who’s going to rip your heart and air out of your lungs. The normally soft laid out carpet felt in this moment like you were stepping barefoot over glass. There was the door, brightly painted in eggshell paired with the digits of the hotel room.

Before you could reach the door to knock on it, light brown waves greeted your overtly surprised face.

“You clean up well.”, Sangyeon’s rang in your ears clearer than freshly hung-up laundry in your nose. His previously concerned face curled up into a faint smile.

“Same goes for you”, you tried your best to hide the very apparent frog in your throat, “So, why do you need me?”

“Just needed to see you before going out there, I guess.”, his voice got a lot quieter. It got silent.

Not sure if a said word was necessary, you plopped down on a small, velvety stool. Every whisper was to be heard. An otherness surrounded Sangyeon, like he wasn’t there anymore, and his thoughts took over his being. You scooted closer towards him, just wanting to see him up close for the last time like this, smelling his earthy cologne from this distance.

“Why are you doing this to me?”, your voice went close to hoarse after the question. He was just as silent as before. No sound, nothing. This torment of a weekend was supposed to end with no gratification, not feeling free from this feeling on your chest? Your hand slid over his, the most desperate attempt to get his attention while also experiencing his touch again. Sangyeon jerked his hand back and returned to his absent posture.

“Why do you want to hurt me like this? I am your best friend, and you use me like I’m nothing.” The lack of power you had now made you sink down to the beige teddy carpet. Small tears started swelling up in your nearly dry eyes, kind of contradictory, yet the more tear drops rolled down your cheeks the rottener and hollow you felt.

“You were my best friend until you-.”, he stopped midsentence, “made me feel things again I didn’t need, I didn’t want.” Also his face was wet, ridden with tears making his usually calm and cheerful persona look like a painful insult.

“You asked me here. It hurts, Sangyeon. I can’t make it stop hurting, I don’t know what to do”, you reached for him again, “Could I ever be enough for you?” He returned your former attempts to stroke your face. Cornering both of you, the air trapped you in the toxins of heartbreak and hopelessness.

Once again, Sangyeon’s hand glid over your soft skin and halted on your face. Glaringly staring into each other’s eyes, you were there again. The day before, yesterday. Close to baring the soul of each person present.

“[Y/N], it’s not about being enough. It never has been. I have made a commitment I already broke, I…I can’t do this”, he sighed, “you know I love her.”

“I thought you loved me as well.” Overwhelming nothingness overruled you, almost scaring you about this reaction. You weren’t crying, yelling nor having any physical reaction at all. It was convincingly numb; the resting hurt would come later. Sangyeon’s head dropped in the dip of your shoulder and neck.

This sort of closeness would never happen again. You feeling him breathing into you while having his comforting heartbeat close to yours.

“I do, but I can’t do this to her. I would never do this to her.”, he whispered into your shoulder. A sigh came from his side.

“Then, please. Kiss me, for the last time.” The last part of the sentence left a disgustingly bitter taste in your mouth. This was over, right? His head, which was formerly resting on your shoulder, drifted up and towards yours. Also his expression blank and hollow, like he didn’t know anything.

For the last time, his hands cupped your face in a comfortable manner. As always, he felt homely, but he surely wasn’t yours ever. Not even waiting a good second or two, the light brunette’s face came closer to yours. With no hesitation both of your lips touched tenderly, releasing every sort of affection that could be expressed at that second. You inhaled again his intoxicating scent, in the hopes of having him all over you. His now reddened lips moved closer towards your jawline making you gasp for air.

Also, you weren’t completely still, constantly shifting your hands up and down over his torso upwards his neck, desperately feeling everything, you can for the last time. Sangyeon’s locks tickled you softly while he suddenly latched his mouth onto your neck right below your ear.

“No. Please, I just want a kiss on my lips.”, you said lowly, closely resembling a whine afterwards. He complied pretty quickly, leaving you with no thought but him tickling your bottom lip with his warm tongue. With him being this fast, you didn’t want to keep him on his toes. Entirely engaged in this moment, hands surprised you again on your waist, wandering closer and closer under the blouse you were wearing. You moaned into the kiss, making him take the opportunity to maneuver his tongue into your mouth.

Similarly to you, he was also stunned for a short moment when you grabbed up onto some strands of hair. A sigh left his now plump lips, a need of fresh air arrived onto both of you. Yet this was short lived, his hands captured your chin and attached his lips again onto yours in a matter of mere seconds. A bell rang, close footsteps to be heard across the floor reminding you of the situation you were in.

“Why am doing this? I am so sorry.”, you broke off his lips and took a step backwards at the door.

“[Y/N], we both did this, and it won’t happen again. We just need some time without each other. I think it would be for the best if we don’t spend time together alone anymore.”

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing? I don’t know what to say. I-.”, His lips captured yours again fast with a lot more force behind his kiss.

A strong arm shut the about to be opened door again and hovered over your head. The other one caught grabbed your chin with an almost contradictory feeling to it, the lightest touch just to shove you into his direction. You sighed into his lips, waiting for him to commit with his tongue one more time. Buttery lips pressed against yours and clang inside your mouth. Fiercely did your tongues meet, ending with him sucking on yours. Wet cheeks batting against each other with no intent of separating, your movement still came to a halt.

“You know what? I hate this. I want you to be happy, then if it is with her, I will just y’know…go or uhm mind my business.”, you slurred the last part. It wasn’t really one of your most prideful moments. Still flushed with tears and embarrassment you dropped again against the room door.

“I ask for one condition though,” incredibly hearse was your voice after the crying and even more so because of your follow up, “I do not not want to see you for some time, I don’t want to have to see your face ever again.” Tears weren’t anymore swelling up in your eyes, they never seemed to stop running down with no chance of leaving this conversation with an ounce of self-respect and pride.

It wasn’t even really much of a problem to leave him behind for a bit, it most likely would be for the best anyway, yet while his words should only leave a small mark and feel like a ripped off band aid, you felt alone. A sense of loneliness crept stealthily into you leaving you with nothing but a severe feeling of dread.

“If that is what you want, I’ll respect that.” The room got quieter till you heard the last of his words: “Of course, I still want you in on my wedding though, you’re still my best friend.” Sangyeon’s usual soft and kind smile appeared on his face, seemingly reaching you an olive branch. The former assertiveness and confidence drained through the conversation; you were nothing but a wreck.

“Alright, I’ll be there.”

The ceremony was beautiful. Fairy like flowers were hung all across the beach space, making the place more surreal than it was to begin with. Everything light with a hint of light green and an even lighter lavender tone. The air seemed to have evaporated all the tension and sadness from your face. All across the seats were relatives and friends sitting with a nervously happy face. Ironically, he really thought it was going to be you someday.

“You’re [Y/N], right? Everyone always tried to introduce me to you. Now we’re sitting next to each other at Sangyeon’s wedding together! I’m Juyeon by the way.”

#lee sangyeon x reader #sangyeon x reader #lee sangyeon #sangyeon #tbz #tbz fic #tbz angst #the boyz fic #the boyz #the boyz au #the boyz scenarios #sangyeon x you #sangyeon x y/n #the boyz x reader #sangyeon tbz #the boyz kevin #the boyz juyeon #moon kevin #lee juyeon

59 notes · View notes

lady-divine-writes · 3 years

Text

Good Omens - A Corpse, Cake, and a Cuppa (Rated NC17)

Summary: Aziraphale is Death and Crowley is the serial killer who keeps murdering to catch a glimpse of the ethereal being he fell in love with. (1714 words)

Notes: Written for the above Halloween prompt from @new-endings/M.A.D.#8943. Human Crowley au. It’s kind of gory, I’m not going to lie.

Read on AO3.

“Jesus Christmas!" Aziraphale yelps, tiptoeing through the thick pool of red coagulating on the concrete. Threads of it cling to the soles of his shoes when he lifts his feet as if trying to drag him down. Aziraphale has seen a great deal of blood in his time. None of it has been pretty. But this is especially gruesome.

He wonders if that’s for his benefit.

"Look at... look at this! Look at all the… !” Aziraphale takes a pause and breathes in deep, pressing the thumb and forefinger of his right hand to his forehead. Tension causes a vein to distend and throb - quite the feat since, as a non-human entity, he shouldn't be able to experience this kind of pain. Or so he thought. In the thousands of years he's roamed earth reaping souls, he's finally found the one mortal who can give him what humans call a migraine. And he doesn't like it. Not one bit. “Could you please just… stop already?"

Crowley grins, thrilled giddy by the arrival of his intended audience. “No,” he replies, shoving the slicked head of his filthy ax deeper into the severed spine of the fresh corpse at his feet.

Aziraphale grimaces as the blade lands with a resounding slap.

That ax of Crowley's gets on every one of Aziraphale's nerves. It's effective for its purpose but positively unsanitary. It makes his skin crawl every time he sees it.

Crowley lifts it slowly, eyes Aziraphale menacingly.

Eyes his nice, clean coat, Aziraphale realizes.

“Crowley!” he warns, putting both hands up in defense. “Don't you dare... !”

But Crowley doesn't let him finish, hoisting his ax higher with part of the dead man's torso attached. He doesn't need to do anything after that. The torso falls from the blade and splashes down in the pool, accomplishing what Crowley set out to do.

“Holy... GAH!” Aziraphale leaps back to avoid the spray. He frowns at his clothes when he sees he wasn't quick enough. "Look what you've done! You’ve made a mess of my coat!”

“Improved it, I’d say,” Crowley snarks. “Given it a pop of color.”

“I've had this coat for ages and hadn't collected a single stain! Not one! And look at your shoes! Ruined!" He gazes down at Crowley's feet in despair. "I actually liked that pair.”

“Really?" Crowley tilts his head, batting his eyes innocently. "You didn't tell me that.”

“Yes, well... " Aziraphale busies himself fishing a handkerchief out of his pocket. Praying he’s swift enough to save the fabric, he pats at the specks on his sleeve "... it’s not my place to tell a homicidal maniac that he looks fetching in snakeskin, is it?”

Crowley pouts, his lower lip jutting out, making him look comically childish despite the streaks of blood running down his cheeks.

Aziraphale’s brows pull together. He glances around, trying to work out what's wrong. "What? What is it?"

"You're being mean."

"How am I being mean?"

"You're calling me names."

"Accurate ones, yes."

"You sound disappointed."

"You think so!?"

“B-but... but why? I took your advice!" Crowley argues. "I changed me m.o.!”

“I didn’t give you advice! I said you should stop killing innocent people!”

“I did! This guy?" Crowley plants the heel of his sopping shoe into the dead man's crooked neck for emphasis. "He weren’t innocent! He was a serial killer, too! He just happened to be shite at it!”

"I can see that." Aziraphale peers into the vacant eyes of the man on the ground, spirit buzzing beneath his skin, waiting to be reaped. But Aziraphale is in no rush. In the choice between filling out paperwork and shooting the shite with Crowley, surprisingly, he chooses Crowley.

Or maybe not so surprising, Aziraphale muses, biting his lower lip and indulging in a private chuckle. He rolls his eyes in disgust at himself right after. What are you doing? Stop that!

"Besides, I'm doin' you a solid!"

Aziraphale scoffs, snapping back to his senses. "How do you figure?"

"You're Death, ain't ya? I'm keeping you in business!"

"I don't know if you've read the papers lately, dear boy, but humans are dropping like flies thanks to their own stubbornness and stupidity. You're slap in the middle of one of the worst pandemics in history, but instead of doing what you can to stay safe, you lot spend your time arguing over petty b.s.! I won't wear a mask! It's against my rights! I'm not taking the vaccine! It'll make me sterile! There is no disease! It's all a big conspiracy! Meanwhile, in the states, some orange lunatic has everyone drinking bleach! Believe me, I hardly need your help doing my job!"

“Oi! Don’t lump me in with those prats!”

“Why not? You’re not wearing a mask, I see.”

“Don’t have to. I got my shot. And I keep me distance.”

“But you’re covered in blood! Did that man you dismembered have the virus!? You don’t know!” Aziraphale cringes at words that sound far more like concern than scolding. Which he should be doing. Scolding and ridiculing, and possibly calling the police.

But he won’t.

If Crowley were thrown in prison, it would be harder for Aziraphale to find an excuse to see him. Aziraphale has yet to decide if that’s something he wants, but either way, he’d prefer it not be at the expense of another life.

"Fine. Whatever. If that's the way you feel about it... " Crowley grumbles, letting what remains of that statement die as embarrassment rises to his cheeks, settling beneath the red already there. He crosses his arms over his chest and turns his face away.

Just like a child, Aziraphale thinks.

And as with a child, Aziraphale should have nipped this in the bud much, much earlier - like when Crowley realized that he could summon Aziraphale whenever he wanted by upping the frequency of his murderous antics.

This, to date, is his twenty-seventh kill.

Aziraphale doesn't know how Crowley spotted him. He's pretty adept at avoiding human detection. But after victim number eight, Aziraphale turned around, scythe in hand, and there he stood: tall, gangly, bizarrely besotted, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses at one in the morning. Aziraphale thought Crowley was a run-of-the-mill psychopath looking for attention, seeing Aziraphale as a hapless dolt to play cat-and-mouse with, not knowing for one second who he was dealing with.

Not only did Crowley know exactly who Aziraphale was, but he had taken a considerable shine to him.

Aziraphale humored the man when their paths crossed so he could get on with his work, never for one minute considering the consequences. Thinking back on their past interactions, Aziraphale can pick out the hints Crowley had been dropping.

Aziraphale played right into them, and he could kick himself over it.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Aziraphale quipped dryly after Crowley had beheaded some poor, down-on-his-luck fool. "I'm going to start thinking that you have a thing for me."

"Finally!" Crowley tossed his arms in the air. "At this rate, I was going to have to murder half of London and spell out the words ’Will you go out with me?’ with their bodies. Do you know how time-consuming that would have been?"

Aziraphale had written that comment off as a morbid attempt at humor.

Now he feels like an imbecile.

He’s going to get an earful from Gabriel if he ever gets wind of this. Aziraphale has been able to cover up the increase in London deaths by blaming the pandemic. But once people get their acts together and things calm down, he’ll have to come clean.

There’s a serial killer roaming the streets that has a serious crush on him.

Aziraphale lets out a heavy sigh as he comes to a decision.

A bad decision.

He's going to regret this. He knows he's going to regret this.

But will he really though?

Aziraphale looks Crowley over, still moping with his nose in the air. He examines him at depth - his sharp features, his debonair style (hiding beneath a litre of blood), his devil-may-care attitude, his rowdy sense of humor. If he were another angel, or even a demon, Aziraphale would have asked him out already, body count or no.

So what is he waiting for?

It’s not entirely unheard of, an angel dating outside their dominion. And as for the moral issues of dating a murderer, well, Aziraphale is an angel. He has a responsibility to bring sinners to the light, help them see the truth. That can be done anywhere, not just in church - on a street corner, in a diner…

Back at his flat.

Besides, he and Crowley have a lot more in common than Aziraphale did with his last paramour, an angel he had dallied with solely for the fact that he was guardian of comestibles.

It seemed like a match made in Heaven, so to speak.

Far from it.

“Look - if I let you take me out for coffee, will you stop the gratuitous bloodshed?”

Crowley all but gasps when that question leaves Aziraphale’s mouth, the grin growing on his face transforming, becoming less maniacal and more… normal if that makes any sense. "One cup of coffee. That's all I ask."

"Then come along. Here… “ Aziraphale snaps his fingers, cleaning Crowley thoroughly before he takes his arm. “If you're good, I'll let you buy me a slice of cake.”

“That’s very generous of you.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’m a very slow eater. And I figure the longer I stay with you, the more I can keep an eye on you."

“Deal. But, you know," Crowley starts, his tone so filled with teasing he’s on the verge of giggles, "if you, say, spent the night at my flat, you could keep an eye on me for hours. Think of all the people I wouldn’t be able to kill.”

Aziraphale smirks, amused that they both had a semblance of the same idea. “You don’t say?”

“I do.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“More so than you bartering human lives against a cuppa and cake?”

Aziraphale shrugs, but he doesn't relinquish Crowley's arm. He does, however, relieve him of his ax so he doesn’t get any ideas along the way. “Fair point.”

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #ineffable husbands #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley

54 notes · View notes

forthehpfanboys · 4 years

Text

Match Already Made

Pair: Draco Malfoy x Reader; he/him.

Summary: Hermione tries to play match maker. She is so determined to see you and Harry get together she's obvious to the fact you're already taken. Even if you’ve kept it a secret.

Warnings: Swears, arguing, sass

Notes: I absolutely adore this holy fu ck

~DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE~

“Drop it!” You slammed your book shut with aggravation, your hands running through your hair as you stared down at the cover. Your friends didn’t even flinch- well, Ron did a little but would never admit it. “There isn’t anything between me and Harry.”

“Harry and I-”

“Do not. Seriously, Hermione. He’s like my brother and this isn’t Alabama.”

“What?”

“Never mind, Ron.” You sighed. Your hands ran through your hair before gripping the locks and tugging. It was far less painful than hearing your best friend talk about how you could be exchanging saliva with your other best friend.

On that note, why in the flying, flip flapping fuck was Hermione so damn determined to get you and her bestie together? Don’t get me wrong, you love Harry, sure, but like a brother, and that’s where it ends. Everyone around you assumed since the two of you were so buddy buddy that you were basically made for each other, but no one knew a specific snake had slithered his way into your heart and was determined to keep it that way.

See, you’d gotten along with Harry and Co. because you were put in Gryffindor and, naturally, that begs the question of how you started dating said snake. Well, one day you decided you had enough of Harry and Ron fighting over the dumb Tri-Wizard Tournament and literally dragged the specks wearing boy by his ear across the dining hall and forced the two friends to apologize.

Instead of focusing on the scene and laughing at the Gryffindor’s embarrassment, Draco was busy falling head over heels for you. The blonde realized just how attractive Harry’s stupid friend was and nothing could stop him from wanting to see you react like that again. Something about you hit him differently than any wizard or witch he’d ever met.

Since then, he made it his daily mission to tease you at least once a day. Whether it was sitting next to you at the library to ask if he could borrow your legs as earmuffs or calling to you across the dining hall asking if you used the stupefy charm or if you were a natural stunner, he did it all. He’d snicker when you’d solute the middle finger in his direction, but he noticed the blush across your cheeks and kept up the game, determined to have you swooning for him.

Eventually, the blonde realized he’d have to make the move first, leading to him approaching you after potions when the class was empty and, much to Snape’s dismay, asked you to a Hogsmead date. What surprised Draco the most was when you actually said yes without making fun of him. Since then, you have been dating the Slytherin. You two would sneak out after curfew, go swimming in the Black Lake together and spend particularly hard nights in his dorm room all while using the hidden passageways the Weasley Twins trusted you with. They were probably the only Gryffindors that knew you were kissing the lips of their little brother's best friend's rival and they kept it to themselves.

When you started dating the blonde, you both made a pact. You would keep the relationship a secret from the residents of Gryffindor tower and he’d cut the ‘mudblood’ bull crap and at least try to be nice to Harry and his friends. He doesn’t have to be their best friend but just, don’t be rude. He kept up his side of the promise easily, as did you. Except you were so close to yelling it from a fucking mountain top- or the astromony tower.

Hermione had this idea stuck in her head and Ron agreed too. See, the idea was that you and Harry would make the best couple for many reasons and she was, once again, trying to get you two to at least try. She would go on and on about how there was a spark, whatever that meant.

“Oh come on, (Y/n)! One date! What harm could it possibly have?” Hermione was basically begging- she had been for weeks. She wasn’t one to go for this but ever since Ginny noticed how you two would bump hips in the hallway or wrap your arms around each other's shoulders, she was convinced there was a spark.

“Mione, I love you, I do, but please, drop it.” You spoke up, shoving your book off to the side to cross your arms over the table. “The spark doesn’t exist.” You and Harry both knew it was true.

“(Y/n). We all know you don’t have eyes on anyone so why not? The spark could form over time.. Right?” Ron added in, his chin resting in his hand as he shrugged his shoulders. You held your breath at his statement. It almost slipped out that you did, in fact, have someone.

“What? Like it did with you and Lavender?” Harry spoke up, causing you to snicker. The male in specks had barely spoken two words since the conversation turned from potions essays and charms homework to love lives.

“I thought we agreed not to bring that up again..” Ron mumbled, looking back down at his book.

“Anyway, I could still see it! I really do think you guys have potential.” Hermione shrugged her shoulders, before going back to her book. You could tell she was tapping her foot against the wooden floor. She must’ve reread the page seven times before looking back up to you. “But seriously! You guys could have quidditch dates! The seeker and the fanboy.”

“Hermione, stop. There’s nothing here. Trust me.” You were rubbing your temples in anguish. You knew she was a determined witch but holy hell. You and Harry let out a collective sigh of physical pain when she went on anyway. Stubborn girl, seriously.

“But there could be, (Y/n)! That’s my point! Could you imagine how amazing this could be for you two? You both need an amazing partner! Someone who cares! Someone who’ll take care of you! Someone who’s willing to themselves on the wire for a chang-” She stopped abruptly, causing you to glance side to side. What caused her to stop like that and how do you keep it around you?

You squealed in surprise and jumped when a hand landed on your chin and the other landed on the back of your chair. You were about to throw a nice right hook, but the hand on your chin directed your gaze upward, showing Draco with a smirk.

“Hello, love.” He planted a hard kiss against your lips, leading the entire library to become, somehow, quieter. Like, before it was drop-a-pin quiet, but now it was like drop-a-hair-follicle quiet. When he pulled away, he chuckled at your confused expression. “How was divination today? I heard you have a test tomorrow. Is that what you’re studying for? I could help.” He removed his hands from you and pulled the empty chair out next to you before sitting down and wrapping his arm around you.

Your eyes stared at your boyfriend in shock, your jaw hanging like you had a broken hinge. When his icy blue eyes met yours, you could see the jealousy burning in his irises. He must’ve heard Hermione talking about how perfect you and Harry would be. Of course he did, everyone in the library heard it.

“What the bloody fuck just happened?!” Ron yelled, earning himself a few glares from studying students. Your head whipped over to your friends, almost forgetting about them. Hermione’s jaw was practically against the floor while Harry didn’t look the slightest bit shocked. “No, I take that back. When did this fucking happen?!”

“Language, Ronald.” Draco spoke up, his arm tightening around your shoulder while his eyebrow raised. The blonde put a curled finger to his lips, counting the time in his head. “About four months ago.”

“Four. Four?” The fuming red-head held up said number of fingers. “Four months and you just.. What? You didn’t tell us? What kind of bloody frie-”

“Godric, Ron! This is why we didn’t say anything.” You kicked the leg of the table and turned to look away from your friends, trying to ignore the soft ache in your chest. It hurt that your friends didn’t really accept the relationship and, why would they? Draco has been a twat to them for years. Suddenly it felt like you were in a sauna as your eyes slowly pricked with tears. Were they ever going to talk to you again? Did you just lose the friends you have? The twins took it so well-

“That and my father would disown me faster than a fire bolt flies.” Draco shrugged casually, a smile coming across his lips when you turned to him.

“Wait, you guys didn’t know?” Harry asked, lifting his head up to turn to his friends, who turned to him quickly. “Oh, come on! It was so obvious!” Harry’s words left Ron, Hermione and yourself struggling to find something to say back.

“What?” Was all you could manage out.

“If Harry noticed, we might have an issue.” Draco snickered out. “I wonder who el-” The blonde was cut off by your hand covering his mouth.

“Wait, Harry, you knew? And you didn’t tell me?” You stared at him.

“Well.. Yeah. I figured it out when you were doodling his name all over your parchment in transfiguration and when you guys were making goo goo eyes at each other that afternoon.” Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes. Right, he.. He sat next to you in that class. Your cheeks turned bright red before you could hide it. “I didn’t wanna say anything in case you guys kept it a secret on purpose, so you’re welcome.”

“Gee, thanks Potter. I’ll keep that in mind.” Draco snickered out, a grin spread across his face when you gently shoved him in his chair.

“So, I still have one question.” Ron grumbled out, raising his hand halfway like he did in all his classes. “Why?”

“Same reason you’re dating Granger.” Draco paused, looking down to avoid anyone's gaze before licking his suddenly dry lips. He cleared his throat and glanced back up, choosing to look Ron right in the eyes. Ron nodded, waving his hand in a circular motion in a ‘go on, spit it out’ kind of way. The blonde could feel your eyes gaze on him, but chose to ignore it. “I love (Y/n). I thought that was obvious.”

Your eyes grew wider somehow. Ron blinked a few times, as if understanding but also not understanding. He’d only seen Draco as a cold, heartless beast and Hermione was in the same boat, but now they were confused. Or maybe it was just Ron. Hermione was smiling at you. This was the first time he’d said it out loud. You looked down at the desk, before looking at Harry, who was hiding a grin behind the now standing book, before turning to Draco.

“Wait, really?”

“Of course. Why do you think I basically ran over here when I heard Hermione speaking about you and Potter going on a quidditch date? No offense to you, Potter, I’m sure you’re a lovely partner.”

“None taken.”

“What universe am I in?”

“Ron, listen, please? We all know Draco has said some shit in his past, ok?” You turned to him. “We know and-and he’s trying to change and Godric, please don’t hate me when I say this. He.. Look, he-” You started stumbling over words, not wanting to put any in Draco’s mouth. He decided to speak up for you, hoping to put you out of your misery.

“I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t fix what I’ve said, how I’ve acted and what not, but a lot has changed in these four months and I’d rather not see my boyfriend lose his best friends over who he’s dating. He deserves the best of the best.”

Now even Harry seemed shocked. Ron looked down at his book before shutting it. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

“You’re lucky you make him happy or else I would throw you off the astronomy tower.” Ron spoke up.

“Oh thank Godric.” You sighed out, your body slumping back in the chair.

“But if you hurt his feelings, I swear to Merlin and who’s.. Who’s that muggle one?” Ron turned to his girl, confusion etched across his features, leading to giggle a tiny bit.

“Jesus?” Hermione grabbed Ron’s hand from the table.

“Yeah, him!” Ron pointed to his girl again for emphasis. “I swear on both of them I will not hesitate to do so.”

“Not if I do it first. If I do hurt him, I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself.” Draco nodded his head a tiny bit and pulled you closer into his side, a grin across his features.

“.. I’m not gonna get used to this.” Ron shook his head. The brunette witch sitting next to him elbowed him in the side gently. “Ow! I’m just being honest!”

“Ronald, you can’t just say stuff like that!” She countered, rolling her eyes.

“Why not? It’s the truth!”

“Because it’s rude..”

The couples arguing faded when Draco leaned into your bubble, whispering under the arguing so only you heard.

“Is this ok?” Draco’s arm was around your waist now, his eyes glancing into yours when you turned to him. You were so close to him, you could feel his tiny puffs of breathing brush across your lips.

“Of course, just not how I expected it to go.” You twiddled your fingers. “But I’m glad we told them.” You smiled, leaning up to brush your nose against his.

“So you feel the same way then?”

“Is it not obvious?”

“Nope. you haven’t said it yet, (Y/n). I must hear you admit it.” Draco smiled at you, his eyes fluttering shut. He smiled wider when you sighed dramatically.

“I love you too, Draco.” You pressed your lips against his and ignored the fake gagging noises from the red-head across the table. When you pulled away, you pressed your forehead against his, a matching smile across your lips.

“So does that mean I get to be the best man at the wedding?”

“Harry!”

“What? I’m just curious!”

#draco malfoy x male reader #Draco Malfoy imagine #draco malfoy #hp x male reader #hp imagine #harry potter #ron weasley #hermione granger #male reader #x male reader #Ronny Writes #fic #hp male fic #hp fic

833 notes · View notes

xreaderbooks · 3 years

Text

Together

Pair: Sirius Black x Reader

Warnings: None

Word count: 1.6k

Summary: Reader remembers Hers and Sirius’ relationship until he gets thrown in Azkaban.

A/N: Hey guys! so I found this in my drafts, I don’t know why I didn't post it but here it is now. It’s unedited but I hope you enjoy either way. Let me know if you have any requests :)

Masterlist

That night y/n knew something was wrong. It felt dark, more eerie as if all the dementors had been let loose into the world. It had been a couple of hours since Sirius had left. Sirius thought it was too dangerous for the both of you to go. So you stayed behind in the flat you both shared. ‘He’ll come’ she thought. She occupied herself by cleaning til there wasn’t a speck of padfoots hair. Then the thought of Sirius came back, ‘He should’ve been back by now’

Back in her hogwarts days y/n was but a shy, introverted (h/h) who didn’t have that many friends and was mainly focused on trying to pass her exams. Back in Sirius Blacks hogwarts days he was a mischevious arsehole that slept with what seemed like the entire female population of hogwarts, and did a lot of pranks with his equally idiotic best friends. Sirius only knew of y/n because she was an acquaintance of Lily and would be the Marauders source of information when it came to literally anything Remus nor Lily wanted to answer. Besides being acquaintances with the group of boys y/n knew Sirius because well he was Sirius Black, who didn’t know him.

They were never close in those years until a moment in forbidden forest. y/n was caring for creatures and Sirius was taking a walk as padfoot because he had gotten news of his brother joining the death eaters. He tried to do everything he could to protect him from that life but to no avail. He saw you when he transformed back into his human self and couldn’t avoid you when you saw him.

“What are you doing here?” y/n asked shocked, she hadn’t heard him, she always tried to be vigilant since the forbidden forest was filled with all kinds of dangerous creatures.

“I could ask you the same thing l/n.”

“I was accompanying the bowtruckles, they get lonely you know?”

“Care to share your thoughts on what you just saw.”

“I don’t know what I just saw.” To that response he raised an eyebrow and turned his head like a dog being confused at what its seen. At that he put a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion while backing away slowly and winking as he transformed into his animagus.

~~~

You saw him again the next day in the great hall during lunch, you two never really talked if it wasn't for one of his schemes so you were a bit nervous coming up to him. Which is exactly what you needed his help with. The idea dawned on you when you say him yesterday. After all, you help him all the time with him pranks. There was a Gryffindor girl that wouldn't stop bothering you and you wanted some payback. Walking in you went to the Gryffindor table you sat beside him.

“Come to talk about your findings yesterday ” He turned around in his seat, a wide grin set on his face.

“Um no, actually I need your help.” You tucked your hair behind your ear. “I wanna prank someone, I wanna make it embarrassing and I want the person to know it was me.”

“Wow y/n, didn't know you had a bad side”

“You wouldn't know any of my sides Black considering you know nothing of me.” You glared.

“No need to be defensive love, besides I know plenty” He said sounding all so confident. “I know Your a (y/h), I know you have a book with you wherever you go, I know you at least answer one question in class because you’d rather answer questions your sure you know of and have the teacher leave you alone for the rest of the class or you’d rather be secretly reading in your corner-”

“I think I get the point, Stalker.” You blushed and hid behind your hair.

“Only for you.” He winked.

“When are you free so we can figure out a schedule.”

“Suddenly my schedules all cleared up, for as long as you need me.” The mischievous glint in his eyes didn’t go un noticed as you rolled your eyes, and beginning to come up with a plan.

~~~

Over the course of the next few days you and Sirius had spent a countless amount of hours together setting up a boggart in the Gryffindor girls dorm, you had set up triggers so that the girls fears could be produced and the boggart could appear.

You and Sirius would be there just in case. Hearing the girls scream was your cue as you burst into the room and shouted ‘Ridikulus’

The fear on the girls faced satisfied you enough and you smirked while she glared at you. “You did this.” She sneered.

“Did what? I just saved your sorry arse.”

She huffed as she shoved passed you.

You celebrated with Sirius after with some pumpkin pasties he stole from the kitchens. He promised to take you out on a real celebratory dinner in Hogsmeade, it sounded more like he was asking you on a date more than what he was suggesting but you liked the last option much better.

Your celebration didn’t last long until McGonnagal summoned you into her office, the Gryffindor told her what you did and Professor McGonnagal gave you detention.

Luckily you weren't alone. A certain raven haired troublemaker got himself caught doing Merlin knows what.

You asked him what he was doing there, when he showed up later than the set time for detention.

“What do you mean? It wouldn’t be fair if you had to deal with this alone, we did this together after all.”

~~~

Those days changed your life. He changed your life. He made you a stronger person and if anything were to happen to him, you would go back to the girl who had no backbone because he was your backbone, he was your everything and you would crumble without him.

That was why, the moment you heard news of Sirius getting arrested you snapped. You pushed all of your closest friends away, got out of the order tired of all the pitied glances they would send your way. The audacity of these people to show you sympathy but not show any towards Sirius who they assumed betrayed them. But you knew he would never.

He’d rather die than betray Lily and James, or anybody in the order for that matter. So you left you told them they could all go to hell. The only person who stuck was Remus. He was a constant, he kept you somewhat grounded, if it wasn't for him you’d probably be dead by alcohol poisoning or something. Although you could tell the faith he had in Sirius’ innocence was fading, you still appreciated him for taking care of you. In days where things were bad he would even shower you. It was bad.

Until one day you saw reports of him escaping Azkaban. You couldn’t believe it, Would he come for you or Harry first. ‘This idiot’ Was all that was running through your head. They’ll be coming for him and maybe you, since most people knew that you and Sirius were close to being married. You hoped he thought this through, and that he would come to you first. Although you did know that he’d want to see his Godson, but it wasn't safe for him. No doubt Harry would be angry. ‘If he even knew.’ that thought angered you and brought back old memories. Petunia and her husband probably didn’t tell him anything.

You had tried to take on the role of Harrys guardian. That was your right entirely considering you were his Godmother and Sirius, his Godfather. However Dumbledore overstepped and said he should be kept hidden in case You-Know-Who came for him. It was bullshit but by the time you got to Godrics Hollow, Hagrid already took him. You argued with Dumbledore on this matter, even going to Little Whinging and once again was interfered by Dumbledore.

In the middle of thinking about what could happen and what has already happened, a scratching sound was heard at your door. Your heart pounded, you knew it was him. You opened the door and there he was in his animagus form. Once he was inside and you closed the door, you used your wand to close the windows and turn on the lights in your house.

“Sirius.” You whispered, He transformed back into his human form and you wrapped your arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“Hello, My love.” He nuzzled his face into your neck.

~~~

After you insisted he showered before you talked about what would happen next, he hugged you once more again breathing in your scent. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you more.” Your eyes were brimming with tears. “It’s been too long.”

He nodded, you noticed his watery eyes. “God we’ve become such saps.”

“12 years of not seeing each other, I say we have a right to be.” He laughed out.

“Did you find Harry?” You asked.

He shook his head no. “I came to find you first, I figured we could find a way to ease him into the truth. I can’t stand him thinking I could betray his parents, you know I would never-”

“Of course not,” You let out a chuckle. “You think I'd let you in if I truly believed that.”

“I knew you would believe me.”

“Always.” You smiled and squeezed his hand. “So how do we deal with this?”

“I don’t know but we’ll find a way we always do.” He looked in your eyes.

“Together.”

253 notes · View notes

joonkorre · 3 years

Text

(love) is a heartache

@drarrymicrofic prompt: hope is a heartache - léon

let it be known that harry goes through life purely on vibes. half of his reasons why for every decision at his big age are “idk imma just hope for the best”

ao3

People’s hearts twinge sometimes. For Draco, he can barely remember the last time he doesn’t have these twinges. It’s pretty normal at this point.

“No, it’s not,” Pansy says. She’s a Healer, so she’s probably right. But Draco prefers to ignore that.

“Leave it be,” Draco murmurs, lips against her scalp, “I’m fine. Say, are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah. You want to go somewhere?”

“Mm. Sleep.”

They go out the next morning, Pansy in thick makeup and Draco practically drunk under nine layers of Charms. The air is a bit humid, which seems to get worse when the bustling street intensifies in volume into a roaring din. Pansy pulls him under an awning, yanking at his sleeve a bit to try out her disgusting sugary coffee. She always does this whenever she wants to take his attention away from something, which means he just has to look at exactly where she’s doesn’t want him to. As his lips wrap around her lipstick-stained straw, he glances up.

Across the street, a couple strolls through a gushing crowd. Fiery red hair, airy laughter, a pale arm wrapped around her fiancé’s waist. Curls of black, sleek spectacles, a protective palm on his fiancee’s shoulder. They make the perfect picture, a vibrant oil painting. Their existence is formed from bold strokes of sunlight and starburst kisses, with the focal point being a shock of phthalo green and cadmium lemon, two minute specks that make all the difference. As all good paintings do, they pin the viewer on the spot, as if the viewer himself is a thing to behold. Then they shift away.

The exhibit moves forward and out of sight. It’s closing time, the viewer has overstayed his welcome.

Something leaps in Draco’s chest and splatters on the floor of his stomach. Placing her hand over his heart, Pansy frowns at him. She doesn’t ask why Potter stared at someone who looked like a stranger to him. Only tells him to start finding answers.

Months later, on the most awaited day in recent Wizarding history, there’s a knock on Draco’s door.

He throws on a sweater, and a throw, too, for good measure. Ambling to the door, he checks the mail slot before peeking through the peephole. Nobody but a package is outside. Draco hums and unlocks his door, crouching down the moment it opens. What feels like soft satin brushes against his cheek, cool and smooth. With a flash, a pair of shiny dress shoes appear before him.

“Draco.”

Draco peers up as he rises, hands around the package. Potter has his maddening Invisibility Cloak slung over his arm, his roguish charm heightened by a perfectly fitted three-piece suit. A tiny posy is pinned on his left lapel, muted green hellebores with a few sprigs of privet berries. He’s dressed like a man in love.

Draco feels something he hasn’t felt in months at the sight. He’s trained himself to suppress it the moment it showed itself and has been relatively successful until now. The sting, without warning, bursts from within his chest, calling forth a slight wince. Potter’s brows furrow.

"How do you know where I live?"

“How long has this been going on?”

Draco frowns. “Pardon?”

“That,” Potter gestures at Draco’s chest. “The heartache.”

He rears back. What the hell is he supposed to say to that? At Potter’s unchanging expression, Draco shoves his hair out of his face with a quiet huff and puts a hand on the doorknob.

“It’s none of your business. Please leave.”

“It is, actually,” Potter stops the closing door with one arm.

“Excuse me? We haven't had a proper conversation in more than a decade and suddenly you want to act like we're friends? Leave, now.”

“Listen to me. How can it not be my business when I feel it, too?”

“Check with a Healer, then. If you can put past grudges aside, I can hand you Pansy Parkinson’s business card,” Draco grits through his teeth, pushing against the door with his entire body, his throw slipping to the ground.

“Draco, stop, I already know, stop.”

“Know what? No, I don't care. Leave at once, else I’d alert the Aurors.”

A rough slam sends Draco staggering back. Potter pants, hard lines on his face. His chest heaves under his crisp white shirt, its top two buttons unclasped, and he steps over the threshold, closing the door.

“You think they’d believe you?”

The pain shoots from his chest to the rest of his body, and for several seconds, his lungs wouldn’t work. He whips his head away from Potter, who groans and sags against the wall.

“I told you to leave.”

“I’m sorry, that was a shitty thing to say,” Potter says immediately, sweat dotting his temples.

After an uncomfortable pause, clearing his throat, he picks up the near-forgotten package from the carpet. His hand feels around the outline of the object within, rectangular and heavy. Glancing at Draco, he says hoarsely. “I know why you bought this book.”

“Know this, know that, you know nothing,” Draco lunges forward, only for Potter to twist out of the way and raise the package out of his reach.

“The Life-long Burden of Dark Curses: A Caution by Elise Arrowlane, limited edition,” he says, unbothered by Draco’s slackened jaw. “You ordered it from the new bookstore on Diagon months ago. You were small and old and grey, but I recognized you. I always could.”

“Okay,” Draco sneers, “so you’re a stalker. Old news. Anything else?”

“There’s no need to order one. I would’ve borrowed it from Hermione if you had only asked,” Potter says. “Instead, I got curious and read it for myself. That’s how I connected the dots about the heartache, how I realized we’ve both had it since that day years ago.”

“Oh, the day you slashed me into ribbons and almost cut through my heart?” Draco clenches his jaw.

Being able to shout this ugly kind of truth into the perpetrator’s face feels oddly liberating. That is, if liberation also comes with a specific kind of agony that makes Draco want to fall to his knees.

“Dark Magic leaves a mark on both the wizard and their victim, doesn’t it? No need for a book to tell us that,” Potter says, the harsh afternoon glow of him gentled by the soft lamplight in Draco’s hallway. “In certain cases, it even leaves a link. A connection.”

Draco bites the inside of his cheek and looks away. The only consequence from that horrid night was his fucked up heart and nothing else, nothing at all. Whatever Potter is insinuating, he hates it. He hates this. He hates him.

“How are you so sure there’s a connection.”

“I wasn’t,” Potter says. “The Healers said it’s a health thing I developed after the War and I just needed to avoid strenuous activity. I didn’t think much of it, but then I read the book and realized that it usually flared up whenever you watched me.”

Scoffing, Draco turns and stalks into the kitchen. Walking past the boiling kettle, he throws a cabinet door open and grabs a mug, his hand trembling.

“Interesting how my health suffers when I see the bastard who quite literally carved me open.”

“I was eating dinner when I thought I was going to die of a heart attack at 23,” Potter continues. Draco pulls the drawers out, unable to find a single bag of tea for several excruciating moments. “The next day, I was reading about your mother’s death on the Daily Prophet. That was the first sign.”

Grabbing a rag and wetting it, Draco wipes the countertop even as he’s just done so last night.

“When Ginny saw you on the street during our date and extended her hand toward you, you shook it. But your heart ached.

“I saw you looking at the picture of Ginny and I kissing on the front page of Witch Weekly. Your hair was brown and your back was curved, but I saw you. Your heart ached.

“When I announced my engagement to her on the Battle of Hogwarts’s 10th Anniversary, you were clapping along with everyone else. But your heart ached.”

Draco throws the rag on the counter. The kettle whistles, a piercing sound. “What’s your point? Are you here purely to flaunt your relationship and imply that I’m in love with Ginevra Weasley? If so, I got it. Thank you so very much, it’s been enlightening. Now get out.”

“The point is,” Potter says, lifting the kettle off the burner to pour it into Draco’s mug, placing his tea bag in, “unless the article about you being gay was wrong, Ginny isn’t the one you’re in love with.”

“What arti—” Draco stops. “That was years ago.”

His sexuality was leaked to some irrelevant gossip rag, not even making the front page. Nobody noticed, nothing changed, and it hasn’t entered his mind in what feels like forever until Potter reminds him.

“I remember.”

“You—” Draco frowns. His eyes strain on the cup of tea until they hurt. He squeezes them shut, sighing. “It doesn’t prove anything. Perhaps I’m jealous of my childhood nemesis having a better life than me, ever thought of that?”

“Yeah,” Potter says, “I’ve thought about this a lot. Which is why I’m here. To make sure.”

Draco takes it in, then, unable to help himself, curls his lips at Potter and his attire. At his artfully gelled hair, his hanging bow tie, the elegant boutonniere on the lapel of his dark blue suit. His empty ring finger.

“Couldn’t you have chosen a better date to make sure? Preferably before your wedding day?”

Potter steps closer. A respectable distance away, but closer.

“I could’ve, but I spent most of those days in denial. Then the dots connected and I couldn’t deny it anymore, so I decided to just go through with the wedding regardless, be with the woman I loved. Hoped that maybe the odd emotions I had would go away,” he shrugs, raising his eyes to meet Draco’s. “Saw Ginny at the end of the aisle and, well, I couldn’t stop thinking that it should’ve been someone else. All this time, I’ve thought that she didn’t feel… right in my arms, but I pushed it down. And there she was in that white dress.

“Seeing that today was the last straw. I had to leave.”

Draco’s breath catches in his throat. Swallowing it down, he grabs his mug, scooping out the tea bag just to have something to do. He takes a sip without blowing, ignoring its scalding heat.

“That was stupid.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re so fucking stupid,” Draco can feel a headache building. “That was a horrible decision. I never imagined you—you!—out of all people, could be this irresponsible. What the fuck.”

“You’re right.”

“Of course I am. Merlin, that poor fucking woman. If your purpose here is to make me feel bad for Ginevra and all 300 of her relatives for once in my life, you’ve succeeded, congratulations.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that to me, say that to—oh, you’d do what you want no matter what I say, wouldn’t you?”

“Depends on the situation.”

“‘Depends on the situation,’ he says,” Draco mocks, getting a carton of milk from the fridge to save his bitter, bitter tea. Potter doesn’t reply. Stirring the milk in, Draco lets out a heavy sigh.

“What do you want me to do about this?” He says. “I didn’t make you run out of your own wedding. If you expect me to take the blame for your inane decisions, the first person I Floo wouldn’t be the Aurors, but Ginevra Weasley herself.”

A small smile graces Potter’s lips. “I don’t expect anything from you but honesty.”

Draco squints.

“And how will you know if what I say is a lie? Will you reject my genuine answer if it’s not what you want to hear?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Potter says. “I trust your heart will speak the truth for us both.”

There’s a pang in Draco’s chest, and judging from the twitch of Potter’s brow, he can feel it too. Not another word is said, the two men merely facing each other from across a tiny kitchen, considering. Draco can feel the warmth of sunlight beaming through the little window and coating his nape as he leans against the sink, earl grey on his tongue. Lovely citric notes of bergamot drift up his nose. He closes his eyes. What to do, what to do.

Weightless oxfords clack against the yellowed tiles, clear and bright in Draco’s ears. Fabric rustles as Potter slips a hand into his pocket only to retrieve it a second later. Draco lets himself be cornered, barely glancing at the wool-clad arms caging either side of his waist. A clink catches his attention, however, and he tilts his head to the left.

Millimeters beside Draco’s hand on the counter, glinting in the sun, is a wedding band. Draco knows Potter and Ginevra’s in and out, has examined the picture on that day’s issue of the Daily Prophet more times than he should have. He knows the marquise droplets of Ginevra’s gems and the chevron curve of her ring, the blankness of Potter’s own band a dream and a question in his mind.

The band that’s resting on the counter is different. Rustic gold and a fissure in the middle, the fertile earth splitting open to reveal a stream of diamonds, a sparkling river. Draco sets his mug to the side and holds the ring up close, his finger smoothing over the grooves of its texture.

“Did you make a stop at a jewelry store before breaking into my home?” He asks.

“No,” Harry murmurs. Draco looks at him in surprise. “I’ve had this with me for months.”

A pause.

“I thought you said you were in denial.”

“I was, but I knew, somewhat, that I wanted someone else,” Harry’s head lowers, slow and careful, until his forehead rests against Draco’s shoulder. “I told myself that I just liked the way it looked, had to get it in case I didn’t want the other ring anymore. But I got it a size smaller. Been carrying it in my pocket ever since.”

Draco’s heart throbs and throbs. Large hands circle his waist, bunching up the back of his sweater and pressing him close, chest to chest. A blanket of pure heat envelops his body as he breathes in the timeless saffron and neroli of cologne, half-lidded eyes pinned on the band he’s given. Oh, dear, he thinks, and again when it settles at the base of his ring finger with ease, as if it belongs there and never left. Oh, dear.

#drarrymicrofic #drarry #drarry fanfiction #drarry fanfic #harry potter #draco malfoy #yeah erm harry isn't the brightest bean in the pod or whatever that saying goes #they'll work it out i promise #draco's idea of a first date would be dragging harry over to the weasleys and forcing him to give ginny a formal apology #like ok he doesn't care about her at all but having this woman's unhappiness on his conscience is unbearable #also i really like the idea of the sectumsempra fucking up draco's bodily functions #the scars are really cool but i especially like it when the consequences are idk more visceral and clearly lower draco's quality of life #im not gonna get into the whole connection thing bc idk either #just know that whenever draco feels something intensely #like grief fear jealousy and ooooh heartbreak #his heart throbs and harry also feels it #in this fic harry's secretly happy that despite the whole shitty heart thing there's an unbreakable connection between the two #he needs some work in this fic but he means well i assure yall #draco seeing harry canoodling w ginny and feeling his heart hurt: that was weird haha #joonkorre writes

57 notes · View notes

timextoxhajima · 3 years

Text

Grounded: Level 4

Level 3 | Level 5

Member: Minho (Lee Know)

Genre: idol minho x idol trainee reader

Taglist: @jaehyvnsvalentine @licorice526 @lolwhatameme @felixn-recs

[A P R I L 2 0 1 9]

The date was the 4th of April, 2019. It’s almost like Yeonjun knew, and that was exactly the reason why he had invited you to go watch TXT’s Inkigayo stage.

They were used to it, being nominated for top two but never winning, even after two years. It sucks to watch them wait nervously for the results to come out, the thought ‘it won’t be us’ floating about in their heads despite those stage smiles and those strong fronts.

You were finally pulled to your feet with your hands over your mouth when the results were finally broadcasted, and Jisung’s face gave it all away. Then, there was your ex-classmate, whose lips were hung agape, and Chan’s eyes that were filled, not with surprise but with the sheer amount of gratitude he had for the job he was finally doing after 7 years of training.

You were here for TXT, but Yeonjun knew you were rooting for Stray Kids.

A frown comes over your face when the desire to just break out into ugly sobs overwhelms your entire respiratory system. The camera pans, and all you see is Seungmin jumping with joy with his arms around Changbin and Minho.

The smile on his face was irreplaceable. The same way Earth’s moon could never be replaced. Not by Jupiter’s Moons, not by Saturn’s moons, nothing. It’s like the stars aligned based off their hard work and God finally said, you all deserve to reap the rewards of your efforts.

The tears tumble over your lower lids when you see Chan cry, then Jisung cannot regain his composure, with Seungmin and Changbin following suit. But your eyes cannot leave Minho.

He is happy.

He is proud.

He is standing where he was born to be.

Each scene plays out like life was running in split seconds, and you could absorb every moment of it, and yet before you know it, TXT comes back to their dressing room where you were waiting.

It is written all across Yeonjun’s face that he’s just satisfied with himself that he didn’t invite you for nothing. But something surprising surges through you, and it motivates you to throw your arms around Yeonjun in a bid to express your gratitude.

“Whoa!” Your weight shoves him back a few steps, and his arms come around your shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Shaking your head, you can hear his racing heart beat from the adrenaline of being on stage. The other members are packing up, so you aren’t really bothered when your tears start to stain his shirt. “Just... thank you, for inviting me today.”

“Aw, come on. It’s nothing. I just had a gut feeling they’d win today, thought you would like to witness that for yourself.”

The panic starts dripping into the warmth he’s providing you. It’s the same feeling you got when Minho had encouraged you to persist on for your performances.

You pull away, eyes tilting upwards to meet his.

It takes you exactly two seconds to realise that you’re more comfortable looking into his eyes than Minho’s, which is alarming.

“But anyway,” He releases you, and the lack of physical contact sucks some disappointment out from you. “It’s time to go, unless you want to wait for Stray Kids.”

“I...” Minho has his career now. I can’t make him choose, right? It’s time to let go. It’s time to move on. It’s time to forget about him. “No, it’s fine. I can text Hyunjin later.”

“What?” There’s a gentle frown on his forehead; you already know what’s running through his head. “What about Lee-”

“I can ask Hyunjin to forward the congratulations to the whole group, it’ll be fine.”

It’s not fine. Because I know how much Hyunjin is going to hate it.

Back in the comfort of your bed (though you would very much prefer the one you have at home), you scroll through your chats, searching for Hyunjin, and unironically noticing that your chat with Minho was almost non-existent anymore.

You stare at the screen for so long, it blacks out, now feeding you with your own dark reflection. The light from the corridor that’s the only thing illuminating your room was a speck white in your irises, even in the reflection.

Shutting your eyes, you let the content of the texts sink in - who was Hyunjin kidding? Who were you kidding?

Had there anything between Minho and I, it would’ve happened, right?

Now that he’s an idol, there’s nothing that could happen between the two of you.

What’s JYP going to do if one of his newly debuted idols get into-

No.

It’s not going to happen. Because Minho doesn’t have feelings for me the same way I had feelings for him.

I don’t need Minho anymore.

You put your phone on airplane mode and await the next day. Training, training, and more training.

It’s not like he ever needed me anyway, right?

[J U L Y 2 0 1 9]

What the fuck am I even looking at?

Just what the fu-

What the fucking-

“y/n,” Soobin wraps his fingers around his phone despite it still being in your hold. “Can I- Can I have my phone back- Please-”

Just who does he think he is? Prancing around in that stupid white top to some deep jazz music-

He finally snatches his phone away from you, and you’re left with the rigidity of your knuckles folded and crumpled like you were still holding it.

[Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER] Lee Know "DAWN(새벽)"

“What, cat got your tongue?” Beomgyu snickers, just missing a harsh swipe of your hand from you.

“Cut it out,” Yeonjun comes from behind and shoves his head forward playfully into a head lock, ruffling his hair. The sight of both Yeonjun and Minho stirs the lazy, but very difficult-to-put-to-sleep creature in your heart. Though one of them was just dancing in a space in a video on the screen, it feels like both are yearning for your attention.

Of course, you’d never admit it to anybody. Not even yourself.

“No, I’m just... Surprised.”

Taehyun’s in a game with Kai, but he still manages that sneaky look at you above his phone. “Surprised that he’s got individual content or surprised that you still get affected by what he does?”

Kai sucks his lips between his teeth, the attempt to hide his cheeky grin futile. Soobin watches you roll your eyes and shake your head to yourself, empathising with you.

“I’ve got an idea-”

“I don’t think I want to hear it, Gyu-” Aggressively shaking your head, you throw him the meanest glare you can conjure from your eyeballs.

“How about you go to JYP and surprise him? Congratulate him on his individual content?”

It piques the members’ interest. Now, even Yeonjun was giving you those eyes that said “hey, that’s not such a bad i--”

“No,” The leather sofa creaks a little when you push yourself off it, removing yourself from the dressing room where they were having rehearsals for KCON 2019.

“Aw, come on,” Yeonjun’s groan sounds like a puppy begging to go on a walk. Ironic that it’s coming from an older boy that much taller than you, that much more respectable than you. “It’ll be fun. They’re going for KCON in LA in August and I’ll be back by then. We can bring them a basket of fruit or something.”

“I might just go with ‘or something’-”

“Let me rephrase that,” Yeonjun points to you with that mischief in his eyes, coming between you and the door of the dressing room. “We can bring them a basket of fruit, you can have a chat with Lee Know, wish them good luck on their trip to LA and we’ll be on our way. All you gotta do is order that basket and by the time we come back from KCON New York, we’ll be good to go.”

You squint at Yeonjun, slightly suspicious of how hard he’s selling you the idea, until you remember that he’s got a heart of gold, the kind that’s making you feel confused and at an absolute loss of words.

“I’ll go with you,” He leans forward a little, hands on your shoulders and slightly shaking your frame. “I’ll ask Changbin for this favour, tell him we’ll be dropping by and keep it a surprise for Lee Know, how does that sound?”

No. I don’t want to be in the same room as you and Minho, God damn it.

Your lungs deflate and your shoulders slump, gaze avoiding his for a split second before they resign and turn back to him.

“Yes!” Yeonjun clenches his fist and holds them before his chest, his head thrown back in triumph. “You’ve all seen it!” Suddenly acting like he was in a play, he wraps an arm around you and gestures out into the air, not engaging any of his members who were all occupied with their own phones. “On the road to redeeming your friendship with Lee Know!”

Finally releasing you, he runs his hand through his hair and struts across the room. The words reach you, despite him walking away and they still somehow sink into your bones, but you can no longer contain the whirlpool of emotions swirling around like a tornado in your gut.

“Man, y’know how frustrating it is to watch that conversation between you and Lee Know go down? Time to set this right...”

And his voice fades out slowly, only because you can’t help but compare the likes of Minho and Yeonjun. Both boys have your heart, but one doesn’t need you, and the other’s trying to push you to the latter.

What a fucking mess.

After TXT leaves for the stage again, you are left to return to BigHit to continue training - you scored an A for dancing the last evaluation round, but a B for rapping and a C for vocals.

Not a great start.

The trainee manager comes to pick you up, updates you on the progress your fellow trainees have made, but none of it gets into your head.

Your phone’s just given you a reminder of your private Instagram’s memories, and all you can process are Minho’s face appearing over and over and over again back when you were both back-up dancers for BTS.

First, the only thing that’s running through your mind was how precious memories are. Grains of sand that fly away in the wind or get washed away by the ocean when it comes by the shore - always existing but never always around. His little bunny teeth that shone under the light of the back-up dancer’s dressing room, and his habit of sticking a napkin to his forehead so his facial oil wouldn’t glisten with the sweat. He’s taking his time to munch on his burrito while scrolling through his Instagram, completely unaware of your mindless zooming in on his face - it’s something his members like to do now too.

When you see a picture of yourself on his back on the last day of being BTS’ backup dancer though, that’s when the tears start to gradually covet the surface of your eyeballs. The pinches in your chest present themselves as deeper breaths when you try to control and maintain your composure. The trainees’ manager probably going to look at you weird when he sees you crying at your phone silently.

But how can you not, when all the memories with Minho seems so far away, they feel unreal? They feel like dreams you had that were forgotten over time; they feel like cotton candy when they melt in your mouth. Sweet, then nothing.

Maybe he’s just another chapter in your life that’s ended. He was just here to show you what you could do, and not stick around to watch you succeed at it.

Maybe this was it.

[A U G U S T 2 0 1 9]

“Is that the one and only Choi Yeonjun standing in JYP territory?!” Changbin’s loud voice echoes down the hallway before your sunbae can complete his request to the lady at the lobby of the building.

“Having fun training for KCON?” Yeonjun pulls back from the counter, previously leaning on it.

“They’re with me, thanks,” Changbin leans over one of the barricades and informs the lady, who presses a button and the barricades whir open. “Tell me about it. It’s been such a busy year. How have you been? You just came back from...”

“New York.”

“Right, right. Ours is in LA so,” Changbin trails off as he presses the lift button before turning to you. “You are... Hyunjin’s classmate, right?”

“The one and only,” You extend your palm to Changbin, who takes it with some slight surprise.

“Do your members know we’re here?” Yeonjun’s innocent question was short of being interrupted by the lift arriving.

“Nah, you wanted it to be a surprise right?” Changbin grins at the both of you through the reflection of the lift doors. The plastic wrap of the gift basket in your hands crinkle under the pressure of your grip.

“Man, isn’t this fun? You get to show up, unannounced, give everybody something and then make up with Lee Know!”

“Lee Know?” The name draws a frown upon Changbin’s face. He looks lost for some moments before you can imagine the lightbulb that brightens above his head. “Ah- You’re that trainee that got casted by BigHit who was in the back-up dancer’s dance crew for BTS.”

A weak smile helps you ease his guess.

“Right, right, right, right,” He nods, eyes slowly gravitating to the ground, then the words are so low, you don’t think you were supposed to hear it. “Ah... so you’re her.”

The lift doors open to a floor where you can hear the booming - though muffled - music from inside a studio, and you can hear the makings of a group of boys trapped in four walls. Changbin had barely gotten the door open when you hear Jisung yelling at someone for pinching Jeongin’s cheeks.

“Oh!” The maknae was the first to see you coming through the door behind Changbin, and before Yeonjun. “Noona-”

“Surprise!” Yeonjun yells from behind you, raising both his arms into the air. “I hope we aren’t interrupting anything important. Changbin said today was just a more chill training day for you guys.”

Chan is the first one to greet Yeonjun. “No worries, we were just having a break.”

“This is y/n, in case you didn’t already know her. We brought something for you,” Yeonjun nods to the gift basket you almost forgot you were holding.

“Oh! Yes, right. This- This is for you to share,” Awkwardly handing the leader the gift basket, Felix and Seungmin come by to help with the gift, thanking both you and Yeonjun at the same time.

“You didn’t have to,” Chan watches his younger members scramble to the pot of gold. “I’m surprised you even have time to come here.”

Yeonjun grins and rubs the back of his neck with some slight exasperation. “No, we had time. It’s fine. Also, do you happen to know where-”

“Yah! I leave for 10 minutes and you guys just sto-”

The entire’s room attention is drawn towards the second door on the far left of the studio, and Minho enters with some bottles of water with Hyunjin trailing behind him. There is a heavy, awkward silence in the air when everybody watches you lock eye contact with Minho, whose feet are slowly but surely inching forward to the crowd.

“Hyung!” Changbin is the first to break the tension, dashing over and throwing an arm around him. “y/n and Yeonjun just dropped by to hand us a gift basket to wish us luck on our LA KCON trip.”

“You,” Hyunjin leaves the bottles of water on the floor and heads for you, pulling you into a head lock and ruffling your hair. “When were you planning on visiting?” He whispers into your head, only loud enough for you to hear.

“I didn’t know I was expected, dipshit,” You struggle a little before you feel his grip around your neck loosen, standing straight up again to comb down your hair.

Hyunjin crosses his arms across his chest and glances at Changbin introducing Yeonjun to Minho whilst Chan was busy handling the younger members.

“Well, for one thing, I know nobody was expecting Yeonjun. I can’t say the same for you.”

Your hair slaps your face when you whip your head to look at Hyunjin, whose attention is now smugly stuck on Minho.

The man did not look happy for some reason.

#lee know scenarios #lee know #stray kids #skz #stray kids lee know #skz lee know #lee know fanfic #skz lee minho #stray kids minho

42 notes · View notes

aethelflaedladyofmercia · 3 years

Text

Absence of Words (Sawdust of Words 12)

At very long last, we have a new "Sawdust of Words" story!

Absence of Words, 13.5k, rated G.

London Sunday after the Apocalypse

They've survived an attempted Armageddon and near-executions, confessed their feelings, and now Aziraphale and Crowley are ready to spend the rest of eternity together.

But thousands of years of abuse are not so easily shrugged off. If this is going to work, if they're going to last longer than a few hours, Aziraphale and Crowley will need to learn to communicate.

It may be their greatest challenge yet. -- This fic takes place immediately after the "love confession" story "Finding the Words," and is my first real exploration in the series of what 6000 years of abuse and unhealthy communication becomes when you're abruptly free of your abusers AND starting a new relationship on the same day. Spoilers: it goes badly.

(However, I assure you all - it does have a happy ending and they will get better in the future!)

I shared the first scenes a few days ago, so the excerpt below is from slightly later, 1.3k of Aziraphale settling his emotions upon returning to the shop after the extreme thrill of walking hand-in-hand with Crowley for almost an hour. Hope you enjoy!

(CW for references to Heaven's emotional abuse/manipulation/gaslighting, and particularly to the fact that Aziraphale is still thinking in the ways they conditioned him to)

Aziraphale pushed the door of his shop closed and breathed a sigh of relief. Home again. His own space, where everything always made a little more sense, felt a little more secure.

Despite the fire, everything was exactly as it should be. Every book, every figurine, every speck of dust perfectly in its place. Even the rug he’d moved aside to contact Heaven lay flat in the center of the floor where it belonged, as if the entire horrid day hadn’t happened.

He paused for a moment, fingers resting on a stack of books, and took another deep breath. He didn’t feel quite settled yet; a cup of tea would really help, though he wasn’t sure if he had the time to make one properly.

Fortunately, as an angel, he had other options.

His favorite tea mug already sat on the desk by his favorite chair. Perfect. A quick miracle filled it with warm black tea, a blend of leaves with a hint of roast chestnut, something a little sweeter but more subtle than sugar, and a few buds of chamomile and safflower petals to help him relax. Then he settled into the chair and took a slow drink, letting the flavors linger on his tongue.

Yes, precisely what he needed. A moment of calm amidst the whirlwind, something Crowley would certainly understand once he’d had a chance to explain properly. Five minutes and he’d be ready for whatever excitement the world threw at him, or that he threw himself into, as that seemed to be something he did now.

He wiggled his shoulders, burrowing more comfortably into his pillows, pleased at his own boldness, wondering what he should try next. He’d played football once, years ago, perhaps they could find some energetic youths and play a match. Or he could learn a musical instrument, spend a day as one of those street-corner musicians. Not that he’d ever really wantedto, but he could if he liked, and the possibility was thrilling.

Or he could do something really audacious, like run his fingers through Crowley’s hair. That possibility made a great deal of heat rise to his face as he eyed the sofa where the demon liked to sprawl.

As he did, Aziraphale noticed a few things out of place. Nothing major. The blanket, usually draped across the sofa, lay neatly folded over the arm. The odds and ends across his desk had been properly stacked. The nearest bookshelf had been re-organized so that the books ran from the smallest on the left to the largest on the right. Even this mug, he realized, hadn’t been used for at least two days and should be sitting spotless in its cupboard.

Several possible explanations came to mind, particularly that in recreating the destroyed shop Adam had put a few items in the wrong spots. But he knew Crowley had spent hours waiting here this morning. Perhaps he’d done a little tidying, then sat and made himself a cup of tea.

That brought another fascinating blend of emotions. A little alarming, to be drinking from the same cup. Not proper at all, in today’s society, though it would have been more acceptable in the past. But in modern society, there was something intimate about it. And he found he didn’t mind that at all.

Not intimate, Aziraphale thought, eyes drifting across the shelf again. Domestic. Now there was an interesting idea. Crowley making himself at home in the shop. Making himself a snack, lounging about and being rude to customers, doing his little cleaning routine when he felt nervous, helping himself to a glass of wine in the evening or padding around in bare feet after waking up in the morning…

Instinctively, Aziraphale clamped down on the whole line of thought, burying it, glancing about to see if someone had somehow noticed.

But…there was no one to notice anything. No one to worry about. Not now, not ever again.

I’m…free.

He set down the mug and pressed his hands together. He’d never really considered himself trapped in the first place. Yes, he’d needed to be careful to avoid notice, judgement, but that was his own fault for not being the right sort of angel, for failing to measure up again and again.

And yet. There was no longer any reason to be careful.

No longer any reason to lie.

That was all Crowley had asked, wasn’t it? That Aziraphale stop lying?

Honesty. Now there was his most audacious idea yet.

“I…” He put his fingers to his lips, not quite sure he dared. But he could. He could. “I…love…”

His voice hitched over the word, his mind filling with caution, with warnings not to go too far.

“I lo-love…” Why was he shaking? He could hardly be reprimanded for it now. “I love…Crowley.”

The name seemed to hang in the air, echo off the walls. This was madness, of course, he had taken no precautions. He had every reason to think Gabriel might come back, for a check-up, for some final business, and Aziraphale would — would disappoint him, and that was worse than any punishment.

Only. Only that didn’t matter, did it? What was Gabriel’s disappointment, compared to a garden, a bright sky, and Crowley leaning down to brush his lips…

“I…I love Crowley!” It came out louder and more defiant than he intended, as warmth and excitement rushed through Aziraphale. “I love him! And he loves me!”

He gasped, just a little, to hear it out loud.

He loves me.

Sinking back into his seat again, Aziraphale rubbed his eyes. The mask of calm that had carried him through the Apocalypse fell away, and now he found himself quite close to actual tears.

He’d wondered for so many years. 78 years, 3 months and 14 days, to be precise. Did Crowley love him? Could Crowley love him? Did he feel even a fraction of that powerful force that Aziraphale often worried would destroy him, destroy them both?

It frightened him, sometimes, the love Aziraphale felt, warm and insistent, brash and bold, at times quite needy. Nothing like the pure love of Heaven, patient and kind, austere and a little distant. Not something to be freely given in exchange for a smile or a box of chocolates, but something to strive for, to inspire one towards improvement, towards one’s best self.

He’d tried, of course, oh how he’d tried. Every assignment, every duty, pouring every last bit of himself into whatever they asked of him with such good intentions, hoping for a sign, a bit of praise, a brush of that loving warmth. He always failed, of course, flawed and imperfect angel that he was.

He couldn’t resent Heaven for holding that love in reserve; that, too, was an expression of love, for how could one grow and develop if everything were simply handed to one?

But it had been lonely. So very lonely for so very long.

Not anymore.

Crowley loved him, right now, with all his faults and flaws. He couldn’t say it — such was the nature of the Fallen — but love wasn’t about words. He could feel it in Crowley’s touch, hear it in his tone of voice, taste it in his kiss. And that was enough.

He treasured it so, that love, that trust that Crowley had shared with so few. It was Aziraphale he found worthy, Aziraphalehe gave them to, and Aziraphale would do anything to show they hadn’t been misplaced.

My best friend, Crowley had said; what could be more precious than that? A greater honor than Aziraphale had ever expected.

He just wished he could hear the words in a different tone of voice, one not laced with all-consuming pain and loss. Wished he could think of them without remembering how he’d sat there stupidly, a corporationless angel floating in a void, unable to offer any reassurance or comfort, unable to even let Crowley see his face. Useless, as he’d always been.

That, at least, ended today. He loved Crowley, he was with Crowley. Nothing would ever come between them again.

He wiped his eyes one last time and went to find Crowley’s surprise. And perhaps some biscuits for the road, one never knew when one’s…companion (even that word made him blush) might get hungry.

Read the rest on AO3!

Or read the whole series here!

As always with Sawdust of Words - mind the tags and CWs.

23 notes · View notes

tae-cup · 3 years

Text

Gouache on Calculators by Kim Taehyung | Calcu-LATER (1)

Pairing: Art Major!Kim Taehyung x Math Major!Reader, Jimin x reader-ish

Summary: Math never fails you. The numbers might not always make sense, but you know there must be a solution. Everything fits together like a perfect puzzle, like your tidy life and solitary living…until Kim Taehyung spills paint all over your notebook. He, quite literally, trips into your life.

Genre: College AU, Fluff, Angst, Angst with happy ending, Light Topics, humor

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Uh, it’s not this dark i swear, slight Internalized homophobia, Drinking, Cheating, uh uh uh it’s going to be a ride.

Word Count: 2.7k Words

A/N: Ah! I’m so excited to present this absolute mess of a story! Let me know your thoughts and if you’d like to be added to the taglist! Also also also, this chapter is short, but I promise the next one is a little over twice this length!

Other:

Series List

Masterlist

Previous (teaser) | Next

Mr. Erich was a slow talker. You could almost understand why Jimin was falling asleep next to you. Almost. Jimin wasn’t someone you really considered a close friend, but then again, you didn’t have many close friends.

The teacher continued droning on about number theory. You placed your head down on the desk, but your hand continued writing your notes. Staying up late last night wasn’t the best idea, but you needed to write an essay on Anaxagoras, a greek philosopher.

You hated philosophy. But you loved your mother and your mother had urged you to take a class that didn’t only involve numbers.

Jimin was snoring peacefully and you glanced over at him. It wasn’t exactly your issue so you looked away and went back to following the lesson. A few minutes later, he jerked awake and groaned audibly.

A few people in the seats around looked at him quizzically. You shrunk lower in your seat. You didn’t want to attend class, too many people and it made your heart race, but you needed to pass this class and so you, sadly, must attend.

Many knew Jimin as the son and heir to BigHit, the large business conglomerate that had wealth that made even the 1% drool, but to you he was just that guy who fell asleep in Calculus and cheated off your notes. Objectively, this was annoying. Subjectively…

You felt him staring out of the corner of your eye. He was looking pointedly at your notes. Subjectively, you didn’t care enough. If he didn’t pay attention in class, that was his problem and you didn’t feel one way or another. At the bottom of your notes, you wrote, Pay attention.

He wrote that down too without a second thought.

You were busy. You were always busy. In fact, you had an extremely important Algebra assignment to do and you knew you could get it done as long as no one bothered you-

“Oh my god.”

A man with blonde hair and a light blue beret stood in front of you. In his hands was a tray of spilled over paints; paints that were now on you. You tilted your head.

“Can you move?” You spoke up after a while.

“I’m so sorry!” He seemed unfrozen and hurried after you as you brushed by.

“Uh, can you go away?”

“I know you’re probably really mad! Do you want money or something? I can buy you new clothes or-wait that sounds weird.”

“Clothes?” You glanced down and then realized the state of your wardrobe.

You were splattered with red, green, and yellow paint. You then glanced at your notebooks, also, helpfully, coated in a thin layer of paint. More importantly, your beautiful TI-84 calculator was ruined.

You opened your mouth, furiously holding up your calculator, but the man continued rambling on. Annoying. But somewhat entertaining, you supposed.

“You got paint on my-”

“Let me take you out! Somewhere nice? I’ll buy you a coffee!” He tore off some notebook paper and scribbled some numbers down. You paused. What was he doing?

“Besides, it’s not paint, it’s Gouache.” He announced proudly, shoving the paper into your already full arms.

“But that- you still got-”

“Taehyung!” Jimin called from behind you. You turned and the man winced. “Oh, Taehyungie has never been too neat, sorry about him. Anyway, we gotta go, Tae. Yoongi just called and Jungkook set fire to the carpet again.”

“He really needs to change his major to something a little less dangerous.”

“What is this, the third time?”

“I don’t know, but we need to go, Tae-”

“What’s his major?” You questioned.

“Philosophy.” They both said in unison.

“Anyway gotta go!” Taehyung grabbed Jimin’s hand and started speed walking away.

“You got paint on my calcu-”

“Later!” Jimin shouted over his shoulder, his eyes lingered on you for a moment.

Did you have something on your face? You swiped at your cheek and he grinned, turning back around and following Taehyung.

Once they were out of sight, you juggled your notebooks around until you could successfully pick up the paper. 278-367-5433 ;). You scoffed at the numbers, something you did often, and crumpled it up.

“Art majors. What a waste of trees” You muttered and trudged back to your dorm.

“I’m so stuck on this problem, Y/N, you’ve gotta help me.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend?”

“I’m not your friend, Jimin.” You moved the phone to your other shoulder and continued working.

“But-”

“Bye.”

You hung up and groaned, massaging your temple. Your room could be seen as lonely. Plain white paint sat on dull gray walls. There wasn’t a speck of trash or clothing littered on the floor. You lived an orderly life. Tidy. Your eyes strayed to your hamper.

Your clothes from earlier were spilling out of the top. A splash of color on a black and white canvas. You scrunched your nose and looked away in disgust. You had never understood the point of art. What did anyone ever see in it? It was meaningless. You looked back to your notes.

These numbers meant something. They meant the height of a ladder leaning against a building, the measurements of a bridge, and where Mary Jane would end up in 400 minutes if she’s going five miles an hour on a circular road. It was pretty deep.

You looked at your watch. Then you moved your attention to the window. Your dorm overlooked the sprawling center of campus. The place was a concrete playground, but with the extensive arts program, it was always covered in colorful murals and art pieces.

You didn’t have a roommate and you liked it that way. You had always preferred to be alone. Others called you anti-social, but, to put it another way, if there was an apocalypse and it was just you and another person alive in the entire world, you would probably leave them for dead. Life was simpler alone.

Besides, you wouldn’t have to deal with people chastising you about not picking up on “social cues” or whatever the hell those were. How were you supposed to know that when someone leans in real close, they want to kiss you? It seemed quite arbitrary in your mind.

Your phone was buzzing again.

“What do you want?”

“Please Y/N! This. Is. Really. Hard.”

“Jimin, figure it out. How are you going to pass midterms if you can’t understand algebra?”

“Ouch.”

“I mean that in the most sincere way.” You relented.

“You’re so mean, Y/N.”

Your eyebrows rose. That certainly wasn’t the first time you’d heard those words.

“I’m honest. You could go ask the teacher or something.”

“He told me to ask you.”

“That doesn’t sound right.”

You heard him let out a dry laugh on the other side and rustling of sheets.

“You’re really good at math, Y/N.”

“I hate number theory.” You objected.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not good at it!”

“Shut up. I’m going to hang up now.”

“Wait no-”

Beep.

People were annoying. That’s what you had decided. You weren’t trying to stick out like a sore thumb, but getting in the flow of other people and understanding all the shit they wanted you to understand was hard.

You put your pencil back down onto the page and continued writing. You reached for your calculator, groaning when you realized the paint had covered the display.

“Great. Just great.”

You set the calculator aside, feeling a little sentimental. After all, you’d had that thing since seventh grade. Your phone buzzed again. Jimin jesus chr-

“Yes?” You picked up.

“What is this So ka toe ah everyone is telling me about.”

“How did you pass trig without sohcahtoa?”

“Tell me!”

“Ask Taehyung.”

“Taehyung is an art major and hasn’t had to be proficient in math since the fifth grade!”

“Sin, cosine, tan. Bye.”

Beep.

You massaged the crease between your eyebrows and your attention got caught by the darkened campus. The gross fluorescent campus lights lit up the concrete. Freshmen were running wild, happy with their newfound freedom, and seniors were leaving for clubs or parties. The lights in the dorm buildings across campus began turning on one by one.

You searched your pockets for the crumpled paper. When you didn’t find any, you made your way to your hamper and dug around the pockets of your paint smothered clothing.

“Aha.” You unfolded the paper and dialed the number. You didn’t feel like talking, but Jimin was driving you up the wall.

“Taehyung, right?” You said as he picked up.

“Yeah? Changed your mind?”

“No. I’m going to make this short and sweet, tell Jimin to stop calling me for math help. Thanks.” You hung up and went back to your work.

So, technically, you were done with work, but being done with work meant that you were free and if you were free, that meant you had no excuse not to go out. And you needed an excuse to avoid people. You opened up your textbook and frowned at the various graphs and equations. You had already done all of them for fun this summer.

“Hey, Y/N, a bunch of us in the dorm are going out, wanna come?” The hall monitor knocked on your door.

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job?” You looked back with a confused expression.

“Charming as ever I see.” She chuckled.

“Come on, Jasmine, Y/N never wants to go out anyway.” Another girl shouted.

“I know! I just wanted to be nice!” Jasmine shouted out, as if you weren’t right there.

“What would be nice is if you left.” You said, your voice monotone and matter of fact.

“Alright then. If you need anything, just text or call.”

“You won’t pick up anyway.” You whispered under your breath, but Jasmine was already gone.

“You forgot that this has to be positive, Jimin.” You leaned over him like an overbearing mother.

“But that doesn’t make sense!”

“You’re dividing two negatives. They cancel out.” You explained, a frown twisting onto your face.

There was a long silence as you watched him scribble down the new numbers. The library was relatively quiet. The giggles of a group in the corner would pierce the peaceful ambience every now and then, but the librarian would always shush them and they’d die down.

Jimin cleared his throat, pulling your attention back to this study session. You moved across the table and sat at your seat again. You just sat and stared at him. He was intriguing. He made silly mistakes that he should honestly understand for being a junior in college. His eyes flicked up to you three times and back to his paper.

“Well, this is awkward.” He said after a while.

“Is it?” You shrugged and continued staring him in the eye. He shifted awkwardly and looked away.

“Why are you staring at me?” He whispered.

“Oh, do you want me to stop?”

His mouth opened and closed then he looked back at his paper, his ears turning red.

“Are you coming on to me?” He murmured.

“What? No, why would I do that?” You said, disgusted, and returned to your work.

To be clear, you weren’t disgusted with him, but you were disgusted at the idea that you would come onto him. After all, you were just here for math and Jimin was just here because he needed help studying, obviously. He looked like you had just slapped him. You honestly didn’t see an issue.

“You know, my parents are pretty traditional and they want me to bring a girl home this holiday season. You’re the only girl I’m really close friends with.” He began. You felt his eyes on you and you looked up.

“Uh, alright? That sounds like a problem. Who are you going to take then?”

“You’re really dense, aren’t you?”

“I’m not dense.” You defended. “You need to expand your friend group.”

“I was wondering if you could come along?”

“What?” Your furrowed your eyebrows. “Absolutely not.”

“It wouldn’t be anything romantic, just-”

A man with mint green hair and a slim build walked past and Jimin’s eyes followed him. You followed his line of sight.

“....We can just go as friends, you know?”

You nodded solemnly. “Just friends, Jimin.”

“You’ll go?”

“Only if you promise me it’s just friends because I really don’t want to have to deal with romance.” You huffed, picking up your pencil and jotting down numbers. “You already have my number, just send me the details.”

“Thank you!”

The librarian shot him a glare and he lowered his voice.

“You’re a real lifesaver.” He whispered.

“I know.” You narrowed your eyes and then began to pack up your things. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. Bye.”

“What, but we just-”

“Yeah I know, but I’m sort of sick of talking to people and I helped you with your work so I’ve got to go work on Philosophy.”

“Philosophy? I didn’t take you as a philosophy person.”

“Me neither.”

Aha! You knew you recognized Taehyung from somewhere. You ran your finger over the screen. The list of student names in your philosophy class was displayed.

“Kim Taehyung. [email protected].” You murmured

“Whatcha doing?” Jasmine leaned against your doorway.

“Just...research.” You explained lamely.

“I see.” The hall monitor came inside and sat on your bed. “You never go out, Y/N. I’m worried about you.”

“Okay, and?” You glanced at her as she sat cross legged on the bed. Great. She’s wrinkling the sheets.

“Well, as a friend-”

“We’re not friends.”

“-and hall monitor, I command that you go out this weekend. Do something with your college life. I think you might regret not doing anything fun later on.” She prodded softly.

“This is fun.” You gestured to the scattered math homework pages across the desk.

“Right… well, just keep it in mind.” She stood and moved to your door.

“Jasmine?”

“Yeah?” She paused, turning to look at you. You read over your philosophy work and then your essay.

“You ever think that there are so many people in your life, but no one is really a part of it?”

“You’ve got to stop with the philosophy, Y/N. It feels weird coming from you.” She laughed.

You didn’t find anything funny in that. She looked awkwardly from you to the door, expecting you to chuckle along, but you remained silent, blinking at her. She shivered and left without another word.

The second she was gone, you stood abruptly and smoothed out the bed sheets, but as you did that, more wrinkles appeared on the other side. You felt the anxiety pouring out of you and you rushed to smooth down the other side, but more and more wrinkles kept appearing like disgusting bugs that wouldn’t die. You let out a frustrated sigh and tore all the sheets off your bed.

You took the ruler off your desk and measured out the width and height, then calculated how much extra cloth is needed on both sides for it to be perfectly centered. Then you marked it off and remade the bed. You felt yourself calming as order was restored.

You thought back to Jasmine’s words. Go out? Absolutely not. Then you looked at the crumpled paper on your desk.

“Fine, Jasmine.” You pursed your lips and dialed the number once more.

“Y-ello?” Taehyung’s voice rumbled through the speaker.

“I want a coffee, but I’d prefer to go somewhere quiet.”

“Straight to the point I see.”

“Polite niceties take up too much time. When are you available?” “Whenever you are, love.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Alright. Uh…” There was a long pause and you heard rustling in the background. “Sorry just grabbing a piece of paper.”

“Why are you apologizing? There’s nothing to apologize for.” You said quickly, eager to get this conversation over with.

“I’m free this Saturday?”

“Works for me.” You said. You didn’t need to check your calendar to know you had nothing to do.

“Great see you then.” He said stiffly.

“Yup.”

“Uh...bye?”

“Alright.”

Beep.

Now it was time to overthink the arrangement until Saturday.

Taglist: N/A

Previous (Teaser) | Next

#heartsforbts #bangtanarmynet #kwritersworldnet #castlebangtan #bangtanuniversity #bts x reader #bts #taehyung x reader #jimin x reader #jimin x yoongi #yoonmin #fluff #angst #calcu-later #v #teen #college au

61 notes · View notes

say-the-name-sebongie · 3 years

Text

No body, No crime

Synopsis: "I think he did it but I just can't prove it."

Pairing: Seungcheol x fem!reader

Genre: crime/mystery, not really romance

Warnings: mentions of blood and dead/dismembered bodies, death, kinda creepy

Word Count: 1.7k words

Part of Evermore Series

The dingy diner was a place she frequented even when Jeonghan was still there. It was a small building near the lake and dock with a red neon sign that said "The Diner". He said he liked the food there better than the famous restaurant near the entrance of town. There weren't a lot of people who came in, especially during dinner time, which made it an ideal place to talk without being overheard. This was also good for her since she and Seulgi were now using the diner as a secret meeting place.

_____ walked towards the diner with her hands in her pockets when she heard footsteps behind her. Careful not to slow down and alert the strange person that she had noticed someone following her, she strained her ears to listen more closely. The footsteps were heavy which would point to the person following her be most likely a man. It didn't sound like the person was wearing normal leather shoes that white-collar workers of the town typically wore. From her intuition, the male behind her was wearing boots, those thick ones that were usually worn by laborers or people who tended to move around a lot.

The mysterious male entered the diner shortly after her which confirmed her suspicion that he had been tailing her. _____ was also right about him wearing thick boots to which he paired with dark jeans and a black leather jacket. His face was splattered with dirt like dark freckles across his face which would have been quite handsome had he not been scowling. The man was staring rather creepily at her, his eyes narrowing when she glared back.

After sending a quick text to Seulgi to inform her of the strange man, _____ ordered her regular set and took her seat on one of the stools by the counter.

"You're _____ right?" the girl turned in her chair to come face to face with the strange man, his face now free of dirt. He took a seat on the stool next to hers. "I'm Seungcheol. Seulgi told me about you."

Seulgi told him about her? What did that even mean? _____ was very sure that her friend would never double-cross her, considering that it was her own brother's disappearance that they were investigating. She didn't know whether to consider this as a betrayal or not.

The diner's door opened, revealing a breathless Seulgi. Her pants were dirty near the shoes as if she had been wading in a dirty river. But it looked like she didn't even notice as her expression clearly said: "I found something."

"Both of you follow me," she said before running out of the diner and not even waiting for their response. _____ and Seungcheol looked at each other then ran after her.

Seulgi led them into the forest near the boat dock. It was a secluded place with the nearest house being the cabin a few hundred meters away. If there was anything here related to Jeonghan then it would be obvious that the person who put it there was trying to cover something up.

As they picked their way through the trees, Seulgi introduced her two friends to each other. Apparently, Seungcheol was one of the detectives in charge of Jeonghan's case. Though it was already ruled out as a suicide, the young detective felt like there was something wrong.

"The investigation seemed too rushed," he told them, pushing away a branch. "So, I started secretly investigating and that's when I found Seulgi."

_____ nodded approvingly, giving her friend the "ohhhhh" look. They trekked a little farther until Seulgi held up her hand for them to stop then pointed towards their left.

As she looked to where her friend was pointing, _____ spotted a suspicious-looking mound in the middle of a circle of trees. Her mouth gaped open when she realized it was a bunch of tires haphazardly piled on top of each other and covered in soil.

"There's more." she pointed once again except this time she pointed up. Seungcheol audibly gasped when he spotted the sack hanging suspended in the air by a rope tied to one of the tree branches. A strange odor was coming from the sack.

Seungcheol dodged the sack and moved towards the mound of tires. He knelt down to examine it as the two girls came towards him. "What's so special about the tires?" he asked.

"The day Jeonghan went missing, I went to visit their house because he wasn't at the diner like he promised he would be." _____ said. "I noticed Mingyu's truck had new tires. That guy has never changed his tires since he bought the car seven years ago."

Silence rang through the forest as the detective thought over this information. They were all so absorbed in the moment that the three of them jumped when Seulgi's phone rang. Seungcheol went back to investigating the tires as Seulgi answered the call.

_____ wandered farther into the forest to look for more leads. The ground was slippery due to the rain from that afternoon so she had to be careful about where she stepped. It was already getting dark out which did nothing to help her see where she was putting her foot. She silently cursed herself for not bringing her flashlight when she left the house.

After a few minutes, the trees thinned out to reveal a part of the lake. A small rowboat was tied to one of the trees and bobbed in the water. _____ could see the lights of the dock in the distance. This must have been the farther side of the lake that was usually covered in fog. Even if this boat had been here for a long time nobody would have noticed. She looked out over the water and saw something that she had never known existed in her entire life of living in that town.

A small island.

"_____! Seulgi went to the police station; got a call that new evidence was found. Where are— oh." Seungcheol's eyes immediately spotted the island and rowboat. He turned to the girl with a fearful look in his eyes. "You don't think...?" he didn't even bother to finish his sentence because it was obvious that _____ was thinking exactly just that.

"Well, his body was never found..." the girl answered him, confirming his suspicions. He looked at her. "Do you think we should go to the island? "

She took a breath and made her way towards the boat. "If I don't go to that island, Jeonghan's ghost will probably haunt me for the rest of my life for letting him die without finding his body."

Grabbing the oars inside, _____ swung a leg into the boat and got in. "You coming?"

The detective chuckled and followed her inside. Together, they rowed towards the island. _____'s heart was thumping in her chest when they reached the shore. Something about the overhanging trees and overgrown foliage made the place look scary. Seungcheol helped her out of the rowing boat and brought out a small emergency light.

"This will only last us 3 hours so we have to hurry if we want to make it back with light."

They walked around, the beam of the emergency light only illuminating a small part of their surroundings. Cobwebs covered most of the trees, stretching across branches. _____ kept a hand clutched onto the detective's sleeve to avoid being separated from him.

A sheet of fog hung over the island and blocked out most of their sight. _____ crashed into several tree branches because it was so hard to see anything around her. The wind whispered in her ears and howled every so often that the beating of her heart only became faster. Seungcheol moved her hand from his sleeve and into his to try to calm her down.

The island didn't seem to have any sign of anyone being there. They were about to give up and return back to the town when _____ found something that suspiciously looked like a t-shirt.

"Seungcheol," she pointed him to the piece of clothing. He let go of her hand and approached it slowly only to stop in his tracks and lower his head to look at something then gasp in surprise and turn back to look at her. It was evident in his face that there was something there other than the shirt.

"We found him."

_____ walked over and saw what he was talking about. Right next to the shirt, covered by a tree which was why she didn't see it first, was Jeonghan's lifeless body.

It was shirtless and pale, with a few cuts and bruises on its skin. There was a particularly large one on his side like he had been hit hard with something big. Specks of dirt dotted its skin and a few bugs were already crawling over the decaying body. But the most disturbing thing was that one of Jeonghan's hands was missing.

She didn't notice she was shaking until Seungcheol draped his leather jacket over her shoulders. Whether it was from fear or the cold, she couldn't tell. "We can come back for him in the morning."

The girl nodded and let Seungcheol pull her back to the boat. As they rowed back towards the town, both were silent but thinking of the same thing. It was the detective that voiced out what was in their heads. "Where did his hand go?"

_____ could only shrug her shoulders. There didn't seem to be any other place where the hand could—

"The sack!" she exclaimed, rocking the boat and almost toppling them into the water. Seungcheol looked back at her, if he was mad about her almost flipping the boat over and drowning them then he didn't show it. Instead, his face lit up at her words.

Neither of them needed to be told to head straight back to the tree where they found the sack after they reached land. Seungcheol managed to find a sharp rock and had _____ climb onto his shoulders to cut the sack down.

Holding their breaths, they slowly opened the sack and were pleased— yet also disgusted— to see what they found.

#seventeen #caratwritersclub #svt #seventeen scenarios #seventeen oneshots #seventeen imagines #seventeen fanfic #seventeen fanfiction #choi seungcheol #seungcheol #scoups #scoups imagines #seungcheol oneshots #seungcheol fanfic #seungcheol scenario #evermore series #evermore

42 notes · View notes

echoes-of-the-clockwork · 3 years

Text

Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XXIV

Prompto drove the snowmobile out of the facility. The vehicle sped across the snow as they tried to find a safe place away from the empire. (Y/n) unwound one of her arms from around him and conjured a few flaming throwing knives. She tossed them at the soldiers that were trying to stop them, knocking them out of the way. "You focus on driving! I'll handle the enemies!" She shouted over the engine.

"Gotcha!" Prompto guided the snowmobile through the opening she created. He tried his best to avoid the paths littered with imperial forces, but some of them he couldn't avoid at all.

(Y/n) continued to use her magic even though it was weak. They didn't make it far before they were being followed by airships. Seeing the incoming bombs, she instructed Prompto on which way to go in order to avoid being blown to smithereens. While giving him directions, she managed to conjure a large fiery vortex that consumed many of the airships. It was weak, but powerful enough to take down the air vessels.

Her body slumped against Prompto's back once they were in the clear for a short while. Her breathing was shallow and he could tell. "Hang in there a little longer, (Y/n)."

"Whatever they drugged me with hasn't completely worn off." She smiled weakly. "But I'll do my best."

As he drove off a ramp and off the cliffside, her grip tightened around his waist. She could feel the extent of her exhaustion and shook her head, trying to stave it off as long as she could. She was pulled from her tiredness the moment she spotted MA Hoplomachuses in the distance. Holding up her hand again, she formed her own fiery missiles and used them to intersect the mechs' projectiles. She saved them from being blown off the snowmobile.

As they sped past the mechs, (Y/n) could see the edges of her vision were turning black. She was beginning to lose consciousness and barely couldn't keep her eyes open. She closed her eyes for a brief second, but they shot open when she heard another MA Hoplomachus. Lifting her head from Prompto's back, she watched as the mech landed in the snow and blocked their path. It fired a barrage of missiles at them, which she was unable to protect them from.

Prompto expertly dodges the first three missile, but the fourth hits the ground just behind the snowmobile as he drove off a cliff. He lost his balance due to the blast from the explosion and wound up losing control of the vehicle. They both flew off the snowmobile and crashed into the snow at the bottom of the cliff. (Y/n) lost consciousness, her body slowly being covered with the fresh snowfall.

On the other hand, Prompto was still conscious. His body was in pain from the crash and he laid in the cold snow for a short while. Then, he slowly rolls onto his back and lays there looking up for a moment at the falling snow. He shuts his eyes for a brief moment. "Catch ya later, Aranea..."

After a quiet moment passes, Prompto pushes himself onto his hands and knees and crawls over to (Y/n). He checked her for injuries before sitting beside her with a heavy sigh once seeing she was uninjured. "At least I'm not alone..." Standing up, he pulled the snowmobile out of the snow and placed it right-side up.

Next, he returned to the spirit and scooped her up into his arms. He carries her over to the vehicle, placing her unconscious form behind him. Patting his pants, he found the bandana that was once tied around his arm. He grabbed her wrists and tied them together with it while they were hooked around his waist. "Hope it isn't too tight, (Y/n)," he whispered. Leaning forward, he grabbed the handles and started the snowmobile.

Carefully, Prompto drove the rest of the way to Decratom Haven. He parked the snowmobile right beside the runic stone before untying (Y/n)'s wrists and carrying her the rest of the way. He placed her down on the cold ground, already missing her warmth.

His next course of action was to start a fire. He managed to locate some sticks and ignited them by striking two rocks together. He tossed the rocks aside, huffing out a grunt. "What I wouldn't do for fire magic right about now..."

With the campfire now burning bright, Prompto searched for any provisions left behind by previous campers. Luckily, he found a single can and a spoon. He sat down beside the curled up (Y/n) and popped open the can to enjoy its contents.

As night fell over Eos, Prompto lowered the can. He wasn't particularly hungry, but he knew he would need sustenance after what all happened and what is to come. He took a few bites before leaving the rest for the spirit. "Almost as good as what Iggy used to make," he chuckled feebly. He sets the can down and looks around. His eyes landed on the unconscious girl. "Well, at least it's quiet for a change and you can get some rest, (Y/n)."

Prompto stared into the bright flames of the campfire for a moment before pulling up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal the barcode on the back of his wrist. He grunts and grits his teeth, then begins frantically trying to scratch the barcode away. "Damnit!" He cursed after seeing it was futile. Looking back into the fire, the boy reaches down and picks up a burning stick. He looks down at his barcode and begins lowering the stick toward it. He holds the burning wood above his barcode and begins breathing heavily.

Just before he could press the burning wood against his skin, it was snatched out of his grasp. His head shot up to see (Y/n) was conscious and had stopped him. He stared into her golden eyes with his turmoil-filled cerulean ones. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came from him.

"What were you planning to do, Prompto?" She demanded, her tone lower than he had ever heard before. She was scolding him like a child.

"I just... I just want this thing to go away," Prompto confessed, eyes looking back at the barcode on his wrist.

Her eyes narrowed. "And you thought burning it would be a good solution?"

"Yes..."

She quickly got to her feet with the burning stick in her grasp. "Let's test that solution then." She combed her (h/c) locks aside and pulled down the collar of her outfit to reveal the barcode on the back of her neck. She brought the burning stick up to it, but she was immediately stopped by Prompto.

"Stop!" He bellowed, flying to his feet and grabbing her wrist. "Please, don't burn yourself, (Y/n). I... I realize how stupid of an idea it was."

"Don't tell me you thought that would work," they heard Aranea say. Prompto releases the spirit's wrist and takes a few steps back from her to look at the ex-mercenary. (Y/n) kept her back to her as the woman addresses them both. ""Prompto" and "(Y/n)," right?"

The guardian turned around with an amused smile, tossing the stick back into the fire. "Wow, you actually used my name."

Aranea guffawed as she sits down by the fire. "Don't get used to it, firefly."

(Y/n) remained standing while Prompto sits down. The blonde didn't say anything and hung his head. This didn't go unnoticed by either woman. The youngest one said nothing while the older one tried to lighten the mood. "You could at least look happy to see me."

The (h/c)-haired girl hugged herself. Not only had the boy learned the truth of his origins, but hers as well. "It's...been a long day, Aranea."

"Hasn't it for all of us," she sighed.

Prompto just continues to look down, saying nothing. Aranea tried to spark up a conversation with him. "I ran into your buddies in Tenebrae." This got his attention and he looked up at her. "You and your girlfriend got 'em worried sick."

Prompto looks back down, his melancholic gaze focusing on the ground. He remained silent.

"You both gonna go see 'em or what?" Aranea questioned.

"I think we should," (Y/n) said, voicing her opinion.

The boy looked up at her for a brief second before hanging his head. "I... I can't."

The spirit's eyes widen in bewilderment. She could tell he was in despair over learning the truth, but she never expected it to stop him from seeing his friends ever again. "Prompto..."

He didn't dare look into her eyes as he explained why he couldn't see the others. "I can't... I'm not like them. I was born here—in Niflheim. All this time and I've never told them. And that's not even the worst part. I wasn't born into a happy family. I was made—created in some laboratory. The entire reason I exist is to make Noct and all of them miserable. How could I possibly see them? They'd never accept the real me."

The same went for (Y/n), but she had come to terms with her origins years ago. Unlike her, Prompto just learned the truth behind his existence. Feeling guilt knew at her heart, she turned and left the haven. She could feel eyes on her back as she trudged through the snow towards the nearby frozen lake.

Prompto and Aranea had both watched her leave, but the boy couldn't tear his eyes away from her until she was a mere speck in the distance. He turned his grief-stricken gaze back to the fire. While his words were meant to describe him, they also described her just as well. However, his emotions were torn asunder unlike hers who seemed to be intact.

Aranea, after a few moments of silence, smiles. "You spent all that time driving around together and you still don't know what kinda guys they really are. In case you forgot, your princely pal and I weren't always on such friendly terms. But you know what? He put all that aside and asked me to make sure you and firefly were safe."

Prompto was taken aback at the news. "He did?"

"Think he'd do that for someone who "makes him miserable"?" She remarked.

Prompto swallowed the lump forming in his throat and asked, "Is everybody okay?"

"All things considered, I guess. Sounds like they've been through a lot since you and firefly left, but they're still dead set on getting to the capital."

"Hope they make it..." He mumbled.

"They'd have a better shot with you two around."

Prompto became even more curious. "Did they say anything else about me or (Y/n)?"

"Not that I can recall," Aranea answered.

"Right..." He clutched his hands together tightly.

"His Highness was so worried about you two that he could barely speak, but don't worry—I whipped him into shape."

"So...he doesn't hate us after all..."

Aranea saw the turmoil of emotions in his eyes, but she could tell what he truly desired. She stood up with a sigh. "Look—I can tell you want to get back together with them. So why not let them know?" She begins walking away.

"You think they'd let me and (Y/n) back? After all this?" Prompto retorted. The ex-mercenary stops and turns back toward him. After a brief silence, he speaks again. "And even if they did let us back, we'd probably cause them nothing but trouble. I don't know how we could live with ourselves."

Aranea exclaims in frustration and begins walking back toward himself. "Because you're doing such a great job of living with yourself and firefly now." She kicks him onto his back and crouches down over him. "What do you want then? You worry so much about what other people want from you that you don't even know what you want anymore! Your life isn't yours to live! You're too busy wallowing in your own self pity that you can't see what's right in front of you! Are you really so blind that you can't see the one person who cares more about you than any other person on Eos is already here?!"

She grabs both sides of his face in her hands. "Forget about what everyone else thinks for a second. Figure out what it is you're really after here and see what you already have." She stands and takes a few steps back. "Now get your ass up and go talk to firefly. If you don't realize how lucky you are to have her, I'll take her off your hands."

Prompto's eyes widen at Aranea's declaration. He pushed himself off the ground and stood up. Looking towards the frozen lake, he saw the guardian was still there. Thanks to Aranea, he finally realized he wasn't truly alone in this world. Even if Noctis and the others didn't accept him, he still had the one person that mattered the most—(Y/n).

Leaving the warmth of the campfire, Prompto went to speak with her. Even with no light source, the snow provided the entire area with a semblance of illumination. When he reached her side, he stared out across the surface of the frozen lake. Before he could even say anything, she spoke up. "I'm so sorry, Prompto," she mumbled sorrowfully. Tears were forming in her eyes, her body shaking slightly. Prompto turned his head, eyes widening when seeing her current state. He reached out to touch her, but his hand froze midair when she continued. "I'm sorry for keeping everything a secret. I didn't want you to find out this way. I wanted to tell you about who we truly were years ago, b-but I could never build up the courage. I was afraid that if you learned the truth, you would want to get rid of me and you'd shut yourself away from the world. I should've told you so you would've been able to sort through your feelings and come to terms with it sooner. This is all my fault..." The floodgates were destroyed and tears streamed down her cheeks. Her body shook with sobs.

Prompto's heart shattered at her words. He felt his own tears forming and took action. He turned her so she was now facing him and cradled her face in his hands. He wiped away her tears, leaning his forehead against hers and staring into her tear-stricken eyes. Taking a couple steps closer, he pressed his body against hers. "None of this is your fault, (Y/n). Even if I did know sooner, there's no way I'd get rid of you. You mean too much to me, even more than the guys. You've been my world since we first met. Aranea's right... I'm the luckiest guy on Eos because I have you. Even if Noct and the others don't want us back after telling them the truth, we'll still have each other."

"Prompto..." (Y/n) whispered his name between sobs.

"I still need time to come to terms with all this and sort through my feelings. Will you help me, (Y/n)?"

She smiled through her tears. "Of course I will." She placed her hands over his.

"And if you don't mind... I'm super curious about you now. Think we could talk?"

"Yeah. Let's head back to the haven."

Back at Decratom Haven, Prompto and (Y/n) sat beside each other near the campfire. The girl hugged her knees to her chest as she listened to the crackling of the firewood. "I am...was the guardian of Verstael Besithia. What you saw was a warped version of the man I once knew. I used to help him with his research until his methods became inhumane. My plan was to betray him and share his secrets with Lucis. Verstael learned about my plan to betray him and...killed the real (Y/n)."

"So, that memory echo the guys and I saw in the quarry..." Prompto's voice trailed off.

"Was of my death. After killing the real (Y/n), Verstael dedicated most of his time to recreating her in his own image. His main goal was to overwrite her memories and have her remain loyal to only him. From what I discovered in the facility, he failed over and over again. For years, he continued to try and recreate her, but he would only make it so far before the clone perished. Even after so many failed attempts, he wouldn't give up. After many years passed, he eventually made an exact copy of (Y/n) with no memories of the past."

"And that's you," Prompto mumbled. "Then how do you remember all this if his experiment was a success?"

"He wasn't able to erase my memories, only lock them away. When I turned twelve, I remembered everything. When I first saw your barcode after I regained my memories, I knew exactly who you were. Of course, I never said anything and look where we are now..."

Prompto hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. "Well, now I understand why you're four years older than. I didn't question it at first until you told me the truth about guardians. If you were supposed to be a fragment of me, how are you four years older than me? But now I know." Remembering what Ardyn said earlier, he chuckled and leaned his head against hers. "Thank the Six both of us were taken away from the facility. I'm not sure what my life would be like without you."

"I wonder the same sometimes," (Y/n) confessed. "A life being raised by Verstael with those horrid memories in my head would've been awful..."

Prompto suddenly yawned. He snuggled closer to her and closed his eyes. Although his emotions were still a mess, he was more composed thanks to his chat with the guardian.

Seeing he was tired, (Y/n) released her knees. "You should get some rest, Prom."

"So should you. I can tell you're still exhausted," he said.

"You've no idea..." She huffed, laying down on her back once he released her. "That drug they injected me with is still kicking my ass..."

Prompto laughed before falling onto his back beside her. Although he was laughing and smiling on the surface, he was still a mess on the inside. He stared up at the cave ceiling for a few minutes, falling into deep thought. It wasn't long until he was brought back to reality when the chill of the snowy landscape gnawed at his bones. Not even his current set of clothes or the campfire could stave off all the cold.

Turning over onto his side, he faced (Y/n). He realized she had curled up on her side, facing away from him. It was the perfect position. Scooting closer, he snuggled up to her with an arm lazily wrapped around her waist. He pulled her closer until her back was flush against his body. Feeling her warmth made him sigh with content. "You're so warm, (Y/n)," he mumbled. When receiving no response, Prompto figured she was already fast asleep. He tucked her head under his chin. Her warmth eventually spread through his entire body, brining him comfort. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep.

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist

#ffxv #ffxv x reader #final fantasy xv #final fantasy xv x reader #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #prompto argentum x reader

7 notes · View notes

howtowhumpyourhiccup · 4 years

Text

Whumptober Day 26: More Then A Simple Headache

Summary: Written for Whumptober Day 26. Post-RttE, Pre-Httyd 2. When ice and snow come to Berk, it means Hiccup's home will be covered in boobytraps he cannot see. And that means the occasional accident cannot be avoided.

Rating: General

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, Stoick

Pairing: Hiccstrid

Words: 1 397

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: Concussion

Whumpee: Hiccup

Author’s Notes: Definitely a lighter Whumptober submission, probably more h/c than actual whump. But I had a lot of fun writing this one.

Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Enjoy

Ao3

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

The hit is instantaneous and so is the pain in his skull. So are the worried rumbling and the gasp that follows his fall. It briefly becomes black before his eyes and Hiccup doesn't make an immediate attempt to get back up.

"Oh no, Hiccup! Are you okay?" Much like Toothless, Astrid is a witness to Hiccup's fall and comes over to help him back up to his feet. There's a smile on her face, though he can't tell if it's out of sympathy or slight amusement or both. Probably both.

"Stupid ice, stupid prosthetic." Hiccup mumbles under his breath as he takes Astrid's hand to get up, rubbing the back of his head as it pounds.

"Wow, I guess your hair isn't as helpful as I thought it'd be." She teases and wipes the snow off his person.

"Oh, making jokes, are we? Didn't think you'd take enjoyment out of my pain." Hiccup responds, dusting himself off. Toothless hovers around him, circling him and crooning.

"I'm-I'm okay, Bud. That was just a little embarrassing, is all." He tells him and pets his nose, though his pounding brain would like to disagree. This is why he doesn't like the cold. Everything freezes over and when you get as much snow as they do, you can't always see the patches of ice until your pegleg slips on them.

And it happened in the middle of the village, too.

"Ah, happens to the best of us, lad." A Berkian man tells him and claps him on the shoulder as he passes. Hiccup gives him a friendly smile, though it does nothing to lessen his embarrassment.

"He's right, this can happen to anyone." Astrid agrees and then watches him appear to taste something funny, his brows knitting together.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I bit on my tongue." Hiccup replies, tasting the uncomfortably metallic tang of blood on his tastebuds.

"Today is not your day, is it?" Astrid wonders out loud.

"Not my day to take a walk, apparently." Hiccup replies, resisting the urge to spit out the blood in his mouth as he continues on his way.

"You don't want to go by Gothi for a second? Have her take a look at that?" Astrid suggests as she follows, Toothless rumbles in agreement as he walks by Hiccup's other side.

"For something as trivial as that? I don't really see the point. Besides, what skull is thicker than a Haddock's?" Attempting to divert their concern elsewhere, Hiccup jokes and pretends like a hellish throbbing isn't currently knocking on the back of his head.

"A Thorston's is. And we don't say that you have thick skulls, we say that you are thickheaded." Hiccup gazes at Astrid in overly exaggerated offense.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hofferson! You can't just go around insulting my entire clan like that! All two of us!" Astrid laughs and Toothless speaks up.

"Toothless, Bud, stop agreeing to everything she says."

As they walk away and push the incident to the back of their minds, a Terror by the name of Sharpshot lands on the spot where he'd just seen his human friend fall. He'd been in the area when he saw it happen and he needed to take a look.

He sees that he's right, that his eyes aren't deceiving him, as he notices tiny specks of red on the frozen ground.

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

Hours later, Hiccup sits at the dinner table with his head in his hands. The pounding inside has gotten worse throughout the day and he's begun to suffer from the light. Every time he just looks at a torch there's a sharp pain behind his eyes.

A block of ice drops on the table, making him jump.

"Ah, sorry, son." Stoick apologizes and comes to sit on the opposite side of the table.

"So what manner of trouble were you in today?" He asks.

"Trouble me? Since when?" Hiccup asks in return, already squinting in the dim light of his home.

Sharpshot jumps down from the rafters and makes a fuss on the table.

"Sharpshot, off the table! Hiccup!"

"Sharpshot, we don't have any leftovers for you, Buddy." Hiccup picks the Terror up like a cat and places him on his lap.

Feeling misunderstood, he starts yipping at Toothless instead, who raises his head in question from his spot by the fire. He murrs back and gets up, understanding the little one's plight. He trods over to Hiccup and starts sniffing his hair.

"Toothless, what're you doing?" Hiccup asks, drawing away and holding the spot he'd hit earlier.

"Hiccup, how hard did you fall this afternoon?" His father asks, probably having heard about it from someone else because why would his son tell him anything?

"I didn't hit the ground that hard." Hiccup tells him, but Sharpshot and Toothless both disagree as they protest.

"Your dragons seem to think otherwise," Stoick states, their reaction not lost on him.

Not finding any way to dispute that, Hiccup instead holds the back of his head quietly.

"And I noticed you've barely eaten. Feeling sick, do we?" So that about the leftovers is clearly a lie and Hiccup hadn't missed the way his stomach churned with nausea.

"It's not a big deal!"

"Clearly it is. Gothi should still be up at this hour, you're paying her a visit." Stoick decides and already gets up from his seat.

"Oh, I don't want to bother her at this hour," Hiccup speaks, watching his dad march towards the door.

"You should've thought of that before you decided to be stubborn." He tells him and grabs his cloak and Hiccup's furs.

"Oh great," Hiccup mutters and leaves his chair.

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

The next day, Hiccup still lies in bed late in the morning on Gothi's orders. He has only just woken up, but still feels just as tired as the evening before. Toothless lies in bed with him and is taking up the majority of the space. The dragon's head rests on his shoulder while Hiccup lies on his side.

He's looking up at Astrid through tired eyes as she leans against the post near the stairs to the ground floor.

"So what did she say?" She asks with a knowing, but still sympathetic, smile.

"Concussion." Hiccup sighs. Astrid nods to show him she heard him, barely fighting the smugness she feels.

"You want to tell me "I told you so"?" Hiccup asks, able to read it off her face.

"I do, but I won't." She says and approaches, sitting on the edge of the bed on what little space he has left. Hiccup watches her sit down, but then he closes his eyes. The candlelight on his bedside table might not be bright enough to hurt, but the pounding still demands that he not see a thing.

"How bad is it?" She asks, leaning on a hand.

"Bad enough that Gothi wants me to stay in bed?" Hiccup attempts to turn onto his back before he answers, but Toothless' size doesn't allow him that much luxury and so he has to settle for this.

"In that case," Astrid says and decides to divide Hiccup's space by half as she comes to lie in front of him.

"Oh come on, Astrid." Hiccup groans in dismay, but does take her in his arms.

"Don't you dare groan, I know you don't entirely oppose of this." She scolds him, pressing her ear against his chest.

"That's a really long way of saying that you see this as an excuse for a nap and you're not taking 'no' for an answer." Hiccup retorts. Doesn't matter if his head pounds or not, the sass must come.

Astrid laughs, but doesn't dispute that. Hiccup opens his eyes again, his concussion not stopping him from gazing at his girlfriend. Toothless' snoring fills the silence.

"Good night, Babe," Astrid tells him, not blind to the fact that it isn't even midday yet, and Hiccup nods to show her that he will in just a second. He takes a lock and puts it behind her ear. He does like having her here.

But then Hiccup closes his eyes to get the sleep that he needs. Not even half an hour later, Hiccup is asleep with his head on Astrid's chest. Astrid is still awake and running her fingers through her boyfriend's hair absentmindedly. She's content staying like this for a little while longer.

#whumptober2020 #no.26 #concussion #httyd #how to train your dragon #fanfics #hiccup haddock #hiccup whump #astrid hofferson #hiccstrid #toothless #hictooth #dragon bros #stoick the vast #the haddocks #my fanfics #more then a simple headache

39 notes · View notes

sleepdeprivedheretic · 4 years

Text

Price for Flight (Ch.2)

Warnings: Still fluff, it’s tarnished with smut, at the end, though (Like, you can read the fic and skip the end and it’d still make sense).

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure fiction taken from real countries, traditions, and gaining citizenship, spun into a story that doesn’t hold these things firmly.

To your surprise, the atmosphere wasn’t much different. The two of you talked, laughed, and joked, but this time, there was flirting, blushing, and talk of planning the two of you meeting again. Of course with busy jobs, one would have to relocate, and find the same one, but in another country.

“I would like to move to Japan with you.” You told him. He looked at you with surprise.

“Ya...ya sure? Chickadee, we can always meet in the middle, ya know? Maybe move to a whole ‘nother place?” He offered, but you shook your head.

“I’m a bit more familiar with Japan, and I can speak and write in the language. I just wanna be there, with you.” You murmured, and you were rewarded with one of his softer looks and a warm smile.

“You’re such a sap. My sap.” He smiled at the thought, and you couldn’t help but replicate it.

“Man, we gotta talk about movin’ your job, things, living arrangements��.anyways, my parents are naggin’ me about how I should’ve confessed years ago.” He huffed.

“I think the timing is perfect, now. We’re both adults with good jobs, and we both know what we want, now.” You admitted as you leaned the phone against the wall, giving him a view of your neat round kitchen table, and you stirring your tea.

“True. Heh, I remembered the first day ya bumped into me, all cryin’-”

“Hey! I wasn’t crying!”

“-an’ cute. I think the part in which I hadda major crush on ya, was when ya hands down just introduced me to yer friends. Didn’ care if I was foreign, fat, or bullied, ya did that shit as if ya owned the place.” He chuckled at your flustered expression.

“Well, I didn’t really care of what others think.” You mumbled, and he leaned in the camera, giving you a dorky grin.

“So?” He egged you on, and you huffed out a laugh.

“I thought that you were cute even before I really knew you.”

“Wait, really?” He looked surprised, and you nodded.

“Yeah. You were pretty shy, and you helped out when you could, giving that boy some of your lunch, or bringing in a spare umbrella just in case if somebody had forgotten theirs. You were always kind of nice, and I thought that was cute.” You rambled on, taking glances at him as he looked at you with wonderment.

“Ya remembered that five years ago?” He murmured, and you flushed.

“Well, yeah.”

“How cute.” He hummed with a genuine smile.

…..

“Oh my lord!” You huffed, pulling your wheeled baggage as you made your way to get off of the plane. It was finally happening. Instead of one year like you originally planned, it took two of them. The two of you spent pining for seven long years, and finally, including the year of the aquarium date, it was three years in total that you two were a couple.

Not only did you had to become a citizen of Japan, but you had to job search, save money, and break it to your family that you’ll be leaving the country. It wasn’t easy, but you’ve done it. Of course, becoming a citizen, you had to go through hoops.

Of course, Taishiro kept offering to move to your own country, but you were adamant in your decision. You had to lose your old nationality, support documents that proved your birth, citizenship, and even driver’s license as you had to hand-write a letter in Japanese stating on why you were leaving your old country.

Amazingly, you’ve gotten accepted to move within a year, stating that although you are able to marry, you cannot leave Japan for at least five years, and will be monitored each year to see if you were capable of following the laws and customs.

Save for the lights from the airport, a pitch black sky hovered over you as you made your way down the platform, luggage in tow as you searched for familiar blond hair and bright orange sweater, avoiding the multiple of humming and loud talk of strangers around you.

“Chickadee!” His voice reached towards your ears, and your attention snapped to the direction of his voice. He was standing there, holding a sign with your name on it as he grinned so brightly, you swore that you could hear it.

“Ah! Gummybear!” You shouted out, waving as the two of you made your way towards each other. Truthfully, the last time you’ve actually seen in each other in person was the day at the aquarium, so you were hyped up and buzzing with pleasant nerves. You were here to stay, you thought. You would move your limited amount of luggage to his house, and the day after, talk to your representative about which jobs are available, and how fast you can start.

Your thoughts were cut short as you were enveloped in a tight hug, him squeezing you as he mimicked the actions of his earlier years, scooping you up as you let out a squeak of surprise, and then twirling you around, except this time, a firm wet kiss was planted on your mouth as he held you up, still.

“Oh, Baby, I missed ya.” He cooed, and your face flushed as you looked down at him warmly, your heartbeat quickened it’s pace as time seemed to still.

“I missed you, too. It’s nice hearing your voice that’s not nullified by the phone’s speakers.” You admitted, and he nodded as he reluctantly settled you down.

“Where’s your parents?” You asked.

“Decided to visit us when it won’t be so late and we’re not busy.” He admitted, and then noticed your flushed face.

“Oh! You pervert!” He huffed.

“You had to word it like that!” You whined in defense, and he rolled his eyes.

“’Twas a normal sentence. Ya just have your mind in the gutter. Then again,” A twinkling gleam shone in his eyes as he leaned down, smirking smugly at you.

“-so do I.” He pecked you on your forehead, leaning away as he grinned at your surprised expression.

“’Come on. Let’s go home, Sweetling.”

You couldn’t have said it better.

…..

He had moved into an actual house while two years in the relationship, stating that not only they were cheaper than some apartments, but you and him could always refurnish some rooms and decorate the way you want to. Of course he had showed you pictures of it, but nothing compared to stepping inside the place.

It was nicely furnished, and built, him saying that he only had a few years left to pay it off, but with his job, and your upcoming one, it should be easier. Of course there was a little doubt, but you believed that the two of you would make this work.

“I know that you’re tired, but are ya hungry? I fixed us somethin’ to eat.” He broke the silence as he set your bags down on the floor, walking into the kitchen. You plopped down on the dark orange couch, curling into the side of the arm as he came back in with a large tray, setting it down on the coffee table in front of you. He sat down next to you, pulling you up to lean into his side as the delicious aroma sifted towards you. He chuckled, noticing that your focus was on the plate, now.

“Made it from scratch. Ya probably remember Ma makin’ it, but I thought I’d start givin’ it a whirl.” He explained as you looked at the different bowls of food on the table. Rice, miso soup, grilled fish, pickled vegetables, and green tea laid out before you. You smiled, remembering his mom telling you to sip the tea slowly, and take small bites, and then turning her attention to scold Taishiro for doing the exact opposite.

“Thank you, it smells amazing.” You said truthfully, and he pleasantly hummed, grabbing his own chopsticks, joining you.

“So?” He asked, breaking the silence when the two of you were done.

“Delicious.” You beamed, and he chuckled as he wiped away a speck of sticky rice off of your face. You weren’t surprised this time when he ate it, but you were a little by the way he stared at you and slowly ran his tongue over his thumb.

“Yeah, it is. Anyway, ya wanna sleep next to me or on the couch? I know it’s kinda sudden, but I won’t force ya to be uncomfortable.” He murmured, and your heart fluttered.

“We can share a bed.” You admitted shyly, and he smiled a little. After putting away the dishes, cleaning them, and brushing your teeth, you let out a surprised yelp as he picked you up, holding you in his arms as if you were a bride.

“T-Taishiro!” You stammered, and he barked out a laugh.

“Heh, I kinda wanted to do this for a while.” He gingerly laid you on the queen-sized bed, heeding you no mind as he took off his shirt, tossing it into the laundry basket. You admit, he had changed a lot since the two of you were kids. He was round and had gained muscle mass from working out at the local gym, and all in all, he was very attractive to you. You batted away your tired thoughts as you buried yourself underneath the blankets, entirely exhausted as he did the same.

You let out a surprised little hum in your throat as he pulled your frame towards him, slotting it against his as you to hear his thundering heartbeat while you soaked in his warmth.

“’M happy that you’re finally here.” He murmured, and you nodded in agreement, looking up at him.

“Me too. It feels as if it’s a dream, you know? Saying goodbye to everyone at home, looking for a new job in a different place with different laws and customs.” You let the sentence slur as you couldn’t help but nod off.

“Go to sleep, Darlin’. You’ve got a big day ahead of ya, tomorrow, and I’ll see ya after work, alright?” He kissed your forehead.

“Goodnight, Tai.” You murmured sleepily, nodding into his chest, arms wrapped around each other as the sound of his heart beat lulled you to sleep.

…………………

It was a long day, you had to admit, but it was successful. You were able to start your job within a week, as well as the representative who monitored you, was more than happy to fill you in with any questions that you might’ve had, and was impressed with your politeness, non-criminal background, and over all, good moral character. You smiled to yourself widely, gripping your spare keys to the house as you began unlocking it. He was home, you knew, but it was always safe to lock your doors.

“Honey, I’m home!” You chirped excitedly, and it didn’t take him long to greet you, smiling at your joyous expression as you hugged him tightly.

“Good day, huh? Ya look way chipper than yesterday.”

“I was happy, yesterday, just tired. I start my job in a week! Plus it’s day shift, so we can have more time for each other when we get home!” You rambled on, and his ears and cheeks flushed.

He leaned down and kissed you, then. It was a little more firm than the other ones that you’ve shared, a little different and heavier. To your surprise, he licked at your bottom lip, holding you rather closely to him as he sucked and bit gently. Taking the hint, you opened your mouth, and he hummed in approval, sweeping his tongue against yours, goading you into a small moan. It ended too fast as it began, as he broke away, grinning in victory at your equally flushed face.

“You hungry, Baby? I made somethin special, this time. Just a lil’ somethin’ to tell ya how proud I am of ya.” He changed the subject, and you looked up at him through your lashes, flustered.

“You didn’t have to do that, Dear.” You spared him a glance.

“Wanted to. Ya...ya made so much sacrifice just to be here, ya know? Goin’ through loops just to be with me...an’ I appreciate you. Tonight…if ya don’t mind, I want to treat you specially.” He cupped your cheek, brushing a stray hair away from your face with his palm as he looked at you tenderly. Heart swelling, you nodded.

“Are we going to-?” You let the sentence hang, and his face bloomed into a fierce red as he glanced at you.

“Only if ya want to. I know, it’s a lil’ sudden, and I will never push ya, ya know. I’m just a lil’…ya know.” He finished lamely into his rambling, and you understood.

“Taishiro, we have all the time in the world. You’re not the only one who’s nervous.” You admitted, and he sighed in relief.

“We can talk about this later.” He murmured, and you nodded.

“After we eat your amazing dish.” You grinned, and he smiled.

…………..

He made the two of you seafood tempura, and each bite was delicious. It was nice, you weren’t too tired, so you indulged into some light joking and table talk, surprising each other by offering a bite from one’s chopsticks, laughing as he had the gall to lean down and lick the sauce from your cheek. It was one of the best nights you’ve ever had, feeling so safe in a familiar setting.

“Hah, I love you.” You told him while the two of you cleaned the dishes. He kissed the corner of your mouth and you let out a beaming smile.

“I love you, too.” He admitted, flushing as you leaned against him.

“Do you know much about sex?” You asked, suddenly, and he stilled.

“Well, uh, I know that porn is highly exaggerated, an’ so…I kinda looked up some information on sites. I wanted to be prepared when we...you know. So I went ahead an’ bought condoms that won’t tear, easily, an’ are compatible with the lube.” He rambled on a bit, nervousness evident in his voice.

“I’m glad you thought things through.” You cooed gently, rubbing his back as you felt him relax a little.

“I didn’t wanna rush ya, but I thought they’d be handy jus’ in case. They’re brand new, so it’ll be a while ‘fore they expire.” He admitted. You smiled.

“You’re more than fine. I’m glad that you took the time to do this. You’re amazing.” You reassured him genuinely, and he gingerly took your hand, kissing the pulse on the inside of your wrist.

“Thank you, Sweetheart. I think the “amazing” title, belongs to you, though.”

“We’ll share it.” You grinned.

………….*Nsfw

It didn’t take the two of you long. After reaching the bedroom, he started getting the stuff ready, placing the condoms, moist towelettes, and lube on the nightstand beside the bed.

“Ya sure about this?” He asked, and you nodded, confirming your decision as you tugged at your shirt. His face bloomed with red as he followed your example, the two of your nervously yet wantonly taking glances at each other. You were already laid out on the bed, knees closed together as your arms rested against your breasts, trying not to let the cool air chill you down as you stared at him through your eyelashes, drinking him in while he returned the favor.

His efforts at his gym routine had shown as he stood before the foot of the bed. He had a thick, burly build, and had gained some weight, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. Of course you couldn’t ignore everything that was bared out for you, and you felt heat churn in your stomach as you seen his member twitch with excitement from your staring. It had more girth than length, but it was an impressive size, straining upwards with a slight curve as the reddened tip oozed out clear precum from the slit, and your throat suddenly had felt dry.

“You’re very handsome.” You admitted, and he let out a soft smile.

“Says the beautiful woman lyin’ on our bed.” He slid on top of the mattress, crawling towards you with a heated stare as he effortlessly positioned himself to hover above you, grinning softly down at you with an almost cocky smirk.

“My woman.” He leaned down and kissed you, and you returned it, cupping his cheeks gently as he hummed.

“Mmh. Been wantin’ to kiss an’ do other things with ya for the longest time.” He murmured, and you smoothed out the ruffles in his hair, looking up at him with a gentle look.

“Me too. Glad we figured this out.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna start, alright? Lemme take care of ya?” He asked, and you found yourself nodding, not minding at all.

It didn’t take too long, he poured a generous amount of strawberry scented lube onto his fingers, rubbing the sticky yet smooth liquid to warm it up, as you slowly but surely widened your knees, letting his heated stare burn at your secretive places.

“So pretty.” He hummed, kissing one of your kneecaps. You almost jumped a little as two of his fingers slipped past your folds, traveling down to the tight muscle of your vaginal opening as he probed it gently, thumbing your clit as you felt the ache be relieved. He was too far away to touch, but he leaned down, kissing you to distract you from your feeble attempts.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Don’t think that I might last long, since it’s…ya know, first time doin’ this.” He admitted sheepishly, but you kissed him in reassurance, letting out a cooing whimper as his fingers had entered you, gently stretching your walls as his thumb rubbed a little firmer at your clit. Of course his fingers were bigger and more calloused than yours, so you let yourself feel the oddity of the familiar feeling be twisted into something almost new.

You couldn’t but let out a few whimpers, him biting his lower lip as his eyes were focusing onto you, drinking in the foreign noises that you were emitting that caused his dick to twitch as he was now four digits in, stretching you thoroughly.

“I’m ready.” You blurted out, and he gave you a once-over.

“I’m bigger than what I’m givin’ ya. Ya sure, though?” He asked, his own patience was admittedly running thin, especially watching you climb up that high, bucking your hips to his shallow movements as your arousal dripped onto his hand and sheets.

“Yeah. I think we’ve both been waiting for a long time.” You pointed out, and he nodded his own need was aching and restrained, and you being eager, didn’t help ease his patience.

“Alright.” He reached for the box of condoms, taking one out as he neatly tore the foil and wrapper. You watched in interest as he let out a needy grunt, tugging the ribbed condom upwards, letting the band settle against the thickness of his girth. He looked as if he was about to cum just from doing that, and you swallowed thickly.

He poured more lube onto the condom, wiping the excess onto the sheets as he positioned himself, gently prodding at your entrance. When the tip was in, he opted to lean down, gripping your hands into his as he kissed your forehead and mouth tenderly while he was neatly seated between your legs.

“I’ll be gentle, okay?” He murmured, and you smiled at the cliché phrase, but it melted your heart on how sweet and genuine it had sounded.

“I love you, you dork.” You grinned as he rolled his eyes rather playfully.

“Love you, too. Hold on, Sweetheart.” He ordered, sliding in inch by inch as your walls stretched to fit the thick girth and size of him. Luckily, you were loosened and stretched, already, so it had surprised you on how easily he had fit. Finally, he bottomed out, but he looked as if he was wrecked, trying his best not to finish so quickly. You thumbed his cheek, poking his nose rather playfully despite the serious atmosphere.

“Ya hurt?” He offered to ask. You shook your head.

“No. I feel full. It’s alright, Tai. You can move.” You said softly, and he did, hardly pulling out as he rutted in small movements, one hand rubbing your clit, as if trying to make you have your release, first.

“Baby, I…I’m tryin’.” He bit out, eyebrows furrowed as you felt the small movements stir your insides, the curved head hitting a certain spot just right, and the ribbed condom helped cause a delicious friction within you. You knew that he wasn’t going to last, long, but you were very close, as well. You wished that it would last a little longer, him panting above you as he squirmed, trying not to cum, as sweat and a bit of tears of frustration clouded his eyes. You in your heightened senses and dizzying mind, couldn’t help but reach up and brush away the wetness, leaning up and kissing the corner of his mouth as you did so.

“I’m getting near, too.” You panted out as your hips bucked into his rutting, legs wrapped around him as if refusing to let him pull farther out. He leaned down, huffing in your ear as the two of your breaths quickened.

“Please? Please cum?” He whined, and the sheer plead had sent fuel to your blazing heat as he continued to rub your clitoris desperately, giving sharper thrusts with an almost feral need. Your brain, as the rest of your body stilled as tendrils of shock shot through you all of a sudden, surprising you as you clamped tightly around him. He cursed, feeling your hot and tight channel grip him ever so tightly all of a sudden, and he couldn’t control his release shooting inside of the condom as his posture mimicked your still form.

It was all too soon, but it quelled the burning and aching inferno that threatened to consume you both. He panted, eyes squeezing shut as your hands had found themselves in his hair, again while you cracked open an eyelid, watching him through the constellation of tears that had mussed into your lashes.

Both of your limbs were trembling, and honestly, you were surprised that he was still holding himself up, refusing to crush you as the two of you floated down from your highs.

“You alright, Honey?” He rasped out, and you nodded, feeling way too sweaty and hot all of a sudden. He surprised you as he gingerly moved out when he felt that you’ve loosened up, again. You felt the weird feeling of him sliding out, making you feel oddly empty as you watched him fumble around, slipping the rubber off, tying it into a knot, and tossing it into the waste basket.

“How are you still even moving?” You asked solemnly, and he chuckled lowly.

“Use to work outs at the gym. This is a little different, though.” He answered, grabbing some of the towelettes, moving towards you. You felt tired, yet warm and safe as he quickly wiped the two of you down, wasting very little time as he threw the used items away. Flicking the table lamp off, he laid next to you, scooping you into his side, resting his chin upon your head as he grabbed the covers and tossed them onto the both of you.

He kissed you tenderly, as you showered him with little bouts of affection, squeezing his hand gently or running your fingers through his hair.

“You’re amazing.” You broke the silence, and he hummed.

“You should meet my future wife, if ya think so.” He winked, and you smiled, and then yawned as he chuckled.

“Go to sleep, Chickadee. I don’t have work, tomorrow, so we can just ignore my parent’s calls an’ make love all day.” He chuckled, and your heart swelled with warmth as you kissed him slowly, catching him a little off guard, but he melted into the kiss, as if receiving your affections.

………………..

End? End. Yeah reader gets a job, and they get married and have a rebel little daughter named Kirin (Rita’s @youtubequeens OC that we’ve plotted, lol) who’s a tough little shit.

#Taishiro Toyomitsu #Fatgum x reader #Fluff #My hands had already written the smut sorry #I'm sleepy lol

29 notes · View notes

half-bakedboy · 3 years

Text

quarantine is a lot sweeter with you on my screen (read on ao3)

Pairing: Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane Rated: Gen Summary: “Daddy, look! Mr. Bane is at Timmy’s house and he already went to Becca’s and Christy’s and he said he’s dropping off treats for all of us!” If Alec wasn’t already in love with Magnus, he would have been at that. The kids had all missed seeing their teacher’s face in person and even through a terrible storm, Magnus was making a visit to each of their doorsteps with gifts.

Magnus was making a visit to each of their doorsteps.

Magnus was going to be at Alec’s home.

For @malecdiscordserver Prompt Advent Event

There were about a million other things Alec could picture himself doing on one of the snowiest days of the season. It might have only been the middle of December, but Alec worked from the safety of his living room and didn’t think he would have to go out in a storm this year. The snow dampened his hair and his fingers were tingling from the sudden onslaught of heat as his daughter, Lil, opened the door to the bakery just down the street.

“The Lightwoods!” The person behind the counter shouted, “I haven’t seen the pair of you in here since before the plague! How is my favorite girl doing?” Lil ran to the counter and jumped excitedly, but Alec rested his hands on her shoulders before she could touch everything in sight.

“Lil, remember what I’ve been teaching you. Hands to yourself and keep a safe distance,” Alec corrected as Lil pouted up at him.

“I know, daddy. I don’t wanna spread germs to Ms. Loss,” Lil resigned, still grinning widely at the baker. Catarina had always been kind to Lil and in the current state of the world, Alec was grateful for the few friendly people he was able to interact with.

“Have you guys been staying safe?” Catarina asked as Lil took a close look through the glass, eyeing every treat she had to choose from.

Alec nodded and said, “I’m working from home so this one can get her remote learning done. She’s pretty self-sufficient for her age so I feel pretty lucky.” He patted Lil’s hair who swatted his hand at the interruption. The adults both laughed as Lil stopped, her eyes widening over what must have been her favorite dessert.

“Daddy, this one! I want this one and Mr. Bane is going to die because it’s his favorite color,” Lil practically shrieked as she bounced on her tiptoes to point it out, careful to keep her finger away from the glass. Alec praised her for it as Catarina took the cupcake out of the display.

“Are you preparing for one of Magnus Bane’s infamous zoom parties?” Catarina asked. The second the name left her lips, Alec felt himself blush. He was grateful for the mask covering his cheeks so that it wasn’t too obvious, but Catarina seemed to take his pause into consideration.

“You know Mr. Bane?” Lil asked with wide eyes. Alec thought it was adorable how much she looked up to her second grade teacher. Couple that with the kind woman who made her delicious treats and Lil probably felt like she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Catarina nodded as she put the cupcake in a special box and said, “I do. He’s been my best friend for about as long as you’ve been alive!” Lil squealed at that, her eyes darting from Alec to Catarina in sheer excitement.

“That is so cool! Is Mr. Bane gonna throw an awesome party today? I was sad when we couldn’t have it in the classroom, but Mr. Bane said it’s gonna be just as fun on the computer and he had a surprise for us!” Alec laughed as he pulled out his wallet to pay Catarina for the cupcake. She winked at him and she threw in a few of his favorite cookies. Alec made sure to tip her extra well.

“Mr. Bane’s virtual parties are the best and you both are gonna have so much fun!” Catarina said, clapping her hands together as Lil did.

“I’ll probably just hang back and let Lil do her thing, you know?” Alec said bashfully as he took the bag from the counter. Catarina stared at him like she had known something he didn’t and the look frightened him only a little.

“I’m sure Magnus would love to see you, Alexander,” she said and Alec noticed it was the first time she had ever used his full name, the name that Magnus called him the few times they had spoken. He briefly wondered - and hoped - if Magnus had mentioned him before but brushed the thought away as quickly as it had come. That would be ridiculous and Alec was nothing if not completely sane and not in love with his kid’s teacher.

“Well,” Alec said as he cleared his throat, “we better head back before the snow gets too bad. Stay safe, okay?” Catarina nodded and saluted to them as they walked away, Lil waving an energetic hand behind her.

“Thank you, Ms. Loss! Stay healthy!” Lil yelled as Alec tugged her out the door. Catarina’s laughter chimed through the air until the door shut behind them, silencing the speck of brightness she gave them.

Unfortunately, that meant that all Alec could think about was seeing Mr. Bane - Magnus - once they arrived back home. He had planned to sneak into the room a few times, out of sight of the camera, to make sure that Lil was behaving appropriately during her party in order to avoid making himself look like a fool in front of Magnus as was inevitable. Social interaction was not Alec’s specialty pre-quarantine and his skills were bound to have dimmed when the only constant contact he had was with an 8-year-old.

Before he had much time to panic, Lil’s voice broke him from his thoughts as she sprinted forward to their door, shouting, “Daddy, hurry up!” He laughed softly as he reached the steps and unlocked the door.

“You’re getting too quick for your old man, kiddo,” Alec teased, running a hand through his hair to melt the snow that had gathered on it. He should have worn a hat but he didn’t think two blocks would accumulate this much of a headache. Lil giggled as she toed off her boots and hung her jacket, hat, and gloves up on the drying rack as if the simple task was a race.

“I’ve always been quicker than you,” she said simply, squealing and dodging Alec’s hands as he reached for her with a growl. She ran toward the dining room where Alec had set up her work station and started booting up her laptop. Alec leaned against the doorframe and watched her consideringly. When he was 8 years old, he could barely make a sandwich, let alone work a laptop. He was pretty impressed with how well she had transitioned into their new way of learning and was once again grateful for having such a bright and competent child.

“Can you tell me how much more time until your party?” Alec asked as Lil started the log in process. She glanced down at the corner of the screen and wrote down the time before consulting with her clock cheat sheet.

“10 minutes!” She squealed, running to Alec to grab the treat from his hand. He pulled it up quickly and raised his eyebrows and Lil knew exactly what that meant. “Can I please have my cupcake, daddy?” She asked sweetly with the puppy dog eyes Izzy had taught her to do at too young an age. Alec rolled his eyes playfully and took the cupcake box out of the bag, handing it to Lil slowly.

“Careful!” He shouted as she sprinted back to her desk. Lil waved him off, sitting on her hands as she waited for the video screen to load.

Alec left her to it, keeping a close ear on the screaming kids and smooth voice he instantly recognized as Magnus’. He sounded almost out of breath and Alec was instantly intrigued as to what could have caused it, so he peeked his head into the dining room to see Lil’s wide grin spreading further on her lips.

When she noticed her dad, she screamed, “Daddy, look! Mr. Bane is at Timmy’s house and he already went to Becca’s and Christy’s and he said he’s dropping off treats for all of us!” If Alec wasn’t already in love with Magnus, he would have been at that. The kids had all missed seeing their teacher’s face in person and even through a terrible storm, Magnus was making a visit to each of their doorsteps with gifts.

Magnus was making a visit to each of their doorsteps.

Magnus was going to be at Alec’s home.

Alec dashed toward the bathroom to make sure his hair wasn’t too messed up from the snowy trek he had taken earlier and sighed when he saw that it was somehow still damp. He ran his hands through it a few times and pretended that it made a lick of difference before patting his rosy cheeks with some warm water.

“He’s coming here next, daddy!” Lil yelled joyfully and when Alec exited the bathroom, she had already started her sprint to the door.

“Put on your mask, sweetie!” Alec said quickly as he grabbed his own from the table in the entryway. Lil threw open the front door and the cold blast of air was enough to have Alec glancing up, but his eyes stayed glued to the beautiful bundled up form that was Magnus.

He had never met the teacher in person but he looked exactly as Alec would have expected him to. His coat was knee length and looked more expensive than Alec’s entire wardrobe. The dark maroon color matched perfectly with black boots and the necessary winter accessories. Magnus didn’t have a hat on and Alec felt weirdly comforted that Magnus had made the same decision as he had earlier, except Magnus’ hair somehow still looked perfect. Alec thought it wasn’t fair how perfect Magnus looked even with half of his face covered by a black mask with a large smile painted on it. The parts of his face that could be seen had his usual makeup that was unsmudged through the inclement weather. If Alec hadn’t known any better, he would think Magnus was made of magic.

“Mr. Bane!” Lil shrieked, jumping up and down, using her small hand on the door handle as leverage. She was giggling and squealing and Alec couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her that happy. He placed his mask over his face and met her at the door as Magnus made his way up the stairs.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite smiling face,” Magnus said as he approached, careful to stay a step down as to not break social distancing rules. Alec was simultaneously impressed and disappointed by it. “I do hope you weren’t too busy enjoying your cupcake, Ms. Lightwood,” Magnus teased as he brought the small gift bag he was holding behind his back in front of him. Lil’s eyes seemed to shine as she reached out for it. When she realized her arms were just a bit too short, she glanced hopelessly back at her father.

Alec chuckled and said, “I got it, Lil,” as he stepped up and reached for the bag on his own. His eyes connected with Magnus’ and he had to tear them away from the golden ones that gleamed back at him.

“I put an extra something special in there for you, Alexander,” Magnus said with a wink, and once again, Alec thanked the current pandemic for his easily hideable blush that spread across his masked cheeks. He leaned down to look at Lil and said, “Thank you for being such a wonderful student during this crazy time, Lil. I’ve been so lucky to have you in my class and I hope you enjoy some time away from your boring old teacher during winter break.”

Lil gasped and said, “You’re not boring, Mr. Bane, you’re the best!” Alec could see Magnus’ grin widen in the way his eyes creased at the corners. Alec loved that Magnus smiled with his entire face and it warmed something inside of him even through the cold breeze of the storm.

“I think that title belongs to you, my dear,” Magnus said as he straightened. “Why don’t you go look through your treats while I talk to your father, yeah?” Lil nodded excitedly and went to turn, but stopped abruptly to look seriously back at Magnus.

“I know I can’t give you a hug, but I am giving you a mental hug and my daddy says that those still make a person feel warm and cozy. Do you feel warm and cozy?” Lil asked, widening her eyes at her teacher. Magnus’s visible features softened as he nodded back.

“I feel the warmest and coziest I’ve felt in weeks, Lil.”

As his daughter pranced back to her chair, Alec laughed and said, “You really made her day by coming here. I’m sure all the kids have been excited to see you.” He rocked back and forth on his feet, suddenly nervous to be left alone and in person with Magnus for the first time.

“They have been. I know this time has been difficult for the little ones so I wanted to give them as much joy as I could,” Magnus said as if it was simple. Alec had known that Magnus had always gone above and beyond for his students but walking the streets of New York in a blizzard was more than anyone had probably expected.

“I wish you would have let me know!” Alec said quickly, playing with his fingers anxiously. “I would’ve made you a cup of coffee to take with you or given you a gift of your own,” he added when Magnus looked at him in confusion.

Magnus chuckled and said, “Well, I got the gift of seeing my favorite student and I have to admit,” he paused as if considering his next words, “getting to finally lay my eyes on her handsome father in person was my own little treat for the day.” Alec’s blush darkened and he ran a hand through his hair before scratching at his scalp.

“What do you think about getting a socially distanced cup of coffee after you’re done for the day?” Alec asked quickly before he could change his mind. He was sure then that Magnus was at least interested in him and he wasn’t about to let the opportunity of a date with the teacher pass him by.

“I’ll meet you here at 3?” Magnus answered as he backed down the steps toward the car that awaited him. Alec nodded and waved, fully aware that the wide smile on his face couldn’t be hidden by his mask.

“It’s a date!” He shouted, just to make sure they were on the same page. When Magnus waved back, Alec closed the door and leaned against it, sighing happily.

“Daddy, look what Magnus got you!” Lil yelled as she ran into the entryway, a cookie in hand. Alec recognized it immediately; it was the same kind Catarina had snuck into their order a few hours prior and happened to be his favorite flavor.

There was a note stuck on the bag and as Alec read it, he smiled brightly and couldn’t help but laugh.

“What does it say?” Lil asked, standing on her tiptoes to try and read it. Alec decided to keep it to himself.

Alexander, Quarantine is a lot sweeter with you on my screen.

#malec #malec fic #shadowhunters #magnus bane #alec lightwood #magnus x alec #alec x magnus #my writing #mdsevent #this is so CHEESY #but i wanted to write quarantine fluff #and this is what you get #as;ldkfjals;df #I hope you like it #<3 <3 <3 <3

20 notes · View notes

ateezmakemeweep · 4 years

Photo

richboy!seonghwa (part 20)

word count: 5k

slight angst, fluff

(part 19) (series masterlist)

a week after yeosang's conversation with seonghwa, you both had your first official date. and in true fashion, he hadn't given you any warning about it.

because when you plopped down in his passenger seat that friday afternoon, you were ready for him to drop you home so you could spend the night in bed and finish your drama.

you made sure to tell him all about the absurd developments that had happened thus far: a car accident, two comas, followed by inevitable amnesia, a kidnapping and now a potential long-lost brother.

"we don't really know if they're actually brothers or if he's just pretending to be so he can get close to-"

and it's because of your rambling that you don't notice he passed your house, that he'd been going in the very opposite direction for about fifteen minutes, until he pulled into a random parking lot full of retail stores.

"where are we?" you suddenly squeak in confusion.

"no, please, go on about that ridiculous soap opera," he says dryly, "i've been so intrigued."

you narrow your eyes at his sarcastic tone, bending down to look around at the stores before back to him.

"i'm serious, yeosang!"

"so am i!" he quips, "but i think i'm more interested in the love triangle, because i know there's one. let me guess, the main lead is a good boy, handsome and probably pretty perfect while the other one is-"

"a giant asshole? dark? tortured? and the one who kidnapped her? yes," you snap, "so it's all feeling very familiar right about now."

he turns off the engine with a snort, jumping out of the car before going around to open your passenger side door. but despite his act of chivalry, you stay inside belligerently while keeping your eyes narrowed at him.

"why do you have to be like this?" he asks, letting out a heavy sigh.

"why can't you just tell me why we're here? you were supposed to bring me home," you whine.

"and now we have a date tonight, so let's go."

your mouth falling open causes a smirk to cross his face before he promptly turns around and makes his way toward the strip of stores. you let out an annoyed huff watching him cockily walk away from his car, not once turning around to see if you're following him.

and why would he when he knows you're going too? because you're quick to get out and follow after him out of pure confusion and interest, the sound of his door slamming and your yelp of "wait!" causing a content smile to cross his face.

"we're gonna paint your entire house?!" you squeal in the aisle five minutes later, eyes roaming over what seems like hundreds of cans of paint and color options on the wall.

"the pool-house," he corrects gently, arms folded over the front of the cart as he watches you have a slight mental breakdown in the middle of the store.

"ugh, what a rich boy thing to say," you scoff before adding, "and are you really trying to pass off making us do manual labor as a first date?"

"oh, i'm sorry, were you expecting a helicopter ride to a rooftop dinner in paris?" he asks, arms bumping as you walk next to each other. "and here i thought you were a humble girl."

you scoff at him again and he bites his lip so he doesn't burst out laughing at your disgusted face. "that doesn't even deserve a response and you know it."

"okay, then how about you shut your mouth and pick a color."

and apparently your complaints of 'manual labor' from just ten seconds ago are long forgotten because he watches your whole face brighten, an excited gasp of "i get to choose?!" escaping your mouth before you excitedly flip through the color splotches.

now that you think about it, it's actually quite a humble thing for a person with money to do. you had always assumed one would hire professionals to paint their homes, not wanting to put in the time and tedious work themselves.

because when you and your parents moved into your new house, you painted all the walls yourselves and it's clear by the numerous drip marks and laughable areas of uneven color. but it had been a fun bonding experience that you never thought in a million years you'd be sharing with the boy next to you.

"this is pretty," you say quietly, tapping your finger on a light yellow that has his face falling into a grimace.

"it's not for a nursery, y/n," he mumbles from behind you, the close proximity of his voice causing you to jump. you hadn't realized he had moved closer to you as you browsed, his chest now pressed up right against your back. you feel the breath of his words grazing your skin as he looks over your shoulder.

"how 'bout that?" he asks, his arm brushing yours as he points to the most hideous shade of brown you'd ever seen.

"that is so ugly," you bluntly state, his deep chuckle rumbling in your ear as he pulls his arm back to rest on your shoulder. you try not to jump at the open affection and touch he's giving you, his hand ever so often squeezing gently.

"oooh, what about this?" you ask, craning your neck up to show him the color sample. your cheeks nearly touch from how close your faces are now, holding your breath as you watch him look at it before meeting your gaze. you resist the urge to swallow nervously, his teasing eyes now looking right into yours.

"pretty," he mumbles, "it'll do."

you snap yourself out of it and nod, moving yourself in front of the cart and pretending to read all about what sheen to buy. because "flat? semi-gloss? matte? how are we to know?" you awkwardly choke out.

your cheeks warm when your hear his chuckle, his footsteps moving toward you until his arms reach around you to grasp the bar of the cart.

"you know, you talk a lot of shit one minute and then get unbelievably nervous the next," he lowly mumbles in your ear. "quite easily, might i add."

"i'm not nervous," you snap, placing your hands in the middle of the bar as you to start to push it down the aisle. "what gave you that impression?"

but nervous, you are. because how could you not be, with your body trapped between him and the cart? feeling his steady heartbeat against your back and the breath of his laughter in your ear.

"nothing," he hums, grateful you're in front of him so you don't see his smirk. you two walk through the store like that, his arms around you as you both clumsily push the cart and buy the rest of the supplies for your 'date.'

"oh, my god and why are you using so much!" yeosang complains an hour later; he made sure to cover the floor that morning and felt very grateful for it since you were, apparently, quite the messy painter.

"okay, weren't you supposed to be doing that wall!" you squeal, shoving him away before continuing to roll on the light blue paint. the both of you were happy with the choice, a nice, very much needed contrast to the black, modern furniture in the pool house.

it was overwhelmingly obvious it was the space of a boy who lived alone, walls bare of photos and the only pop of color coming from the extra set of red towels his mom had left in the kitchen. you had been refraining from asking more about the situation, curious if he ever ventured out into the main house or made it a point to avoid it at all costs.

"if you somehow manage to destroy this floor, i will-"

and that's how the first tragedy started, you so boldly dipping your finger in the tray and poking two blue dots on his face. he stared at you in shock for a second, like he was trying to decipher if you really just did that, while you held back the laugh desperate to bubble out of your chest.

"you didn't."

"i did," you say playfully, "and it shut you up for a few seconds so i just might do it-"

roller in hand, he's quick to smear it over your entire cheek, wet paint grazing your skin and the stray hairs that have fallen out of your bun. your gasp and open-mouthed stare causes his deep chuckle to echo through the pool-house, a sound so foreign to those walls.

"you got my whole face!" you yelp, holding your own roller out like it's a weapon. "i did two little specks on your cheek."

"two specks too many and now you look ridiculous. so i hope you're hap-"

you quickly roll the paint over both his cheeks now, first the right then the left, before dropping it in the pan and running over to the safe zone in the kitchen.

a smile crosses your face as you look at him with a giggle, the boy just standing there in disbelief before his neck snaps up to look at you.

"you're done," is all you hear his deep voice say, the dark teasing causing excitement to run through you until you see him going over to pick up the roller you dropped.

"yeosang, no," you get out, watching his figure stomp towards you, both paint weapons in hand before a nervous laugh erupts. "yeosang, no! the floor isn't-"

you run to lock yourself into the bathroom when you feel paint cover the back of your neck, a scream leaving your mouth as his arm wraps around your waist. "stop it," you squeal, wriggling against him but it only causes him to tighten his hold.

"no way, you started this!" he says, smiling at the giggles that leave your mouth despite the messy paint covering your bodies. your hands fly to his arms, attempting to pry them off as you move against him before the roller blindly swipes over the other side of your face.

"yeosang! my eye!" you gasp, hand flying up to cover it. he immediately drops the rollers onto the hardwood floor, quickly turning you in his hold and bringing his hands to your face.

"shit," he grunts out, his hand on your cheeks as he assess your face. "did i get a lot in?"

"yes!" you whine, "i'm gonna be blind now! what the hell!"

"i'm sorry," he says, "let me see it." his touch is soft on your face, his finger grazing your cheek in an attempt to knock your hold off. but you refuse, head turning to the side causing him to huff.

"c'mon, y/n, let me see."

a small whine leaves your mouth as you rub at your eye, a soft deep beg of "please," leaving his lips as he watches your face twist into a grimace.

and the gentleness in his voice almost makes you feel bad for your next move, skirting around him to take a hold of both the rollers with your unharmed eyes popped open.

your innocent giggle only heightens when you see the look that crosses his face, a hint of disbelief and anger with maybe even the tiniest inkling of pride; because perhaps he can even appreciate a sneaky move like that.

"that was dirty," he says lowly, shaking his head as a smile pulls at his lips.

"you're dirty!" you yelp, walking backwards with the rollers outstretched. "now, i will give this back if you stop talking shit and just paint your side.

"but there's no reason for you to use-"

you push the roller towards him threateningly, hoping to see him draw back in fear but per usual he just looks at you in amusement, eyebrow raised with a smirk.

"okay, fine," he says, throwing his hands up defensively because cute. "i won't talk shit about how you waste gallons of paint and drip it down the walls when you could just-"

"shh, all you needed to say was i won't talk shit," you say, sending him a teasing smile before politely putting down the roller on his side. "now i will be minding my own business over there."

he watches you prance over to the other side of the room, rolling over the blue paint far too many times before smearing it carelessly on the walls. he resists the urge to groan until you turn around and look at him, nodding your head at him excitedly.

because even though he'll have to go over it with extra diligence tomorrow, he can't quite find it in himself to care. not when he looks over to see you wiggling happily as you paint, humming under your breath before a shy look crosses your face when you catch his gaze.

he bites his lip so he doesn't chuckle, snapping his head back to the wall to paint. and it goes pretty smoothly for both of you, minimal arguing and instead falling into an accidental game of 21 questions.

"okay, i have another one," you say, hands on your hips as you look up at the rest of the wall, "how are we supposed to get up there?" because while you were able to get most of it, there was still a hint of the original white wall at the top.

you eye the ladder he brings out warily, testing it out and shaking on it. "okay, well obviously you should be staying still," he says with a roll of his eyes. you side-eye him coldly, asking him if he really knows how many injuries are caused by these death traps before shooing him away with the roller.

and you're almost done with the wall when your own impending ladder doom comes. paintbrush exchanged for the roller, you stretch up to cover the wall with one final swipe when you feel the shaky, metal clatter beneath you.

you quickly grab onto the side, letting out a silent gasp before taking a few seconds to steady yourself. and you only try again because you feel steady enough, rising up on your tippy toes to get one last swipe when the clattering is back.

your foot wobbles unsteadily first, the metal plank noisy and trembling beneath you before you completely lose your footing. your arm desperately reaches out to grab the side but you miss, letting out a squeal of yeosang's name before you feel two strong hands on your waist.

his arm wraps around you before plopping you down on the ground safely, spinning you in his hold with a blank look in his eyes.

"you gotta be kidding me," he says, humor lacing in his tone. you look up to see his eyes on you, the warm teasing look causing your cheeks to flush in embarrassment and maybe something else.

"that wasn't my fault," you say, poking his chest lightly.

"oh no?" he hums, "because i think that's what you get for making me think i made you blind for a minute."

you cover your mouth with a giggle, both of you looking around at the light blue walls as his hands still rest on you. "i think we did a good job."

"we did, right?" he hums, his hand coming up to scratch some of the dry paint off your face. "i think we're done for the day. even though half of it is on your face and the other half is still soaked onto your roller."

he sees the fire in your eyes before your hand comes up to smack him, gently grabbing your wrist to halt it. "i'm kidding, i'm kidding," he says, resisting the urge to laugh at you.

you let out a tiny huff, your hand coming up to the back of your neck covered with the uncomfortable stiffness of dried paint.

"you wanna take a shower?" and whether it's because of his deep, smooth voice or the idea of him asking you that, your eyes widen.

"alone. do you wanna take a shower alone, you sicko," he says, moving a dried, blue strand of a hair out of your face before smirking. "unless..."

another resounding smack on his arm echoes through the house, a chuckle leaving his mouth before he takes your hand in his and leads you into the bathroom.

astounded by just how long his hot water lasts, you probably spent far too much time in there. rinsing your hair and body as clumps of blue swirl down the drain. you put on the sweatpants and t-shirt he left folded on the sink for you, inhaling the scent of detergent and his natural scent before being greeted by the sight of him standing over the oven.

the smell of spices fill the small space, the evening breeze coming through the opened windows so you guys don't get gassed out by paint fumes. you pad over to see him stirring noodles, peeking over his shoulder on your tippy toes.

"i didn't know you could cook."

"of course i can," he says cockily, "a guy's gotta eat, right?"

he scoops a noodle out of the pot to feed it to you when he turns to see a slight pout on your face, his words making something tug at your heart.

"what happened now?" he huffs, pushing the spoon between your lips with a concerned look on his face. he watches you furrow your eyebrows at him but chew nonetheless, giving him a thumbs up before you lean back on the counter.

"nothing," you squeak after swallowing, "i just..." you notice now his hair is damp and his body's void of paint. "wait, did you shower also?"

"yes," he says, raising his eyebrow at your confusion. "in case you forgot, the real house is just a few feet away."

"oh..." so that answers your question from before. "i wasn't sure if you..."

"went in there?" he offers with a smirk. you shyly nod, your lips pursing into one another nervously. because nothing could ruin a date more than mentioning a possibly strained relationship with his only remaining parent.

"i usually don't, my step-dad's a bit of dick," he grumbles before his eyebrows raise sarcastically, "so naturally, we don't get along."

"but you're not a dick," you mumble.

because he can be, you'll be the first to admit it, but at his core it's becoming more and more obvious he's just a little damaged. horrific childhood experiences and the effects of needing to grow up quickly shaping him into a person whose first instinct is to hurt people so they can't hurt him first.

he turns to look at you with a smirk, his hands gripping your hips suddenly and lifting you to sit on the counter with a squeal. "did hell just freeze over?"

an exasperated look crosses your face, letting out a tiny sigh that causes his lips to turn into a soft smile.

"you can be a dick, more often than not," you make sure to clarify, "but you're not a dick. or a bad person."

his eyes roam over your face, a strange feeling shooting through his heart before he leans forward to peck your lips. your eyes widen at the easy, casual way in which he does it, before his warm mouth is on yours. he smiles against your lips when he feels them part, his hand moving to rest on your thigh as he slips his tongue in cheekily.

you bite down on his lower lip thinking you'll have the upper-hand now until a squeal leaves your mouth at his hand tightening on your thigh.

"stop it," you mumble against his lips.

"you stop it," he counters, dipping his head to place a lingering kiss on your neck. "getting so brave like you won't be a shy mess in three seconds."

the hissing sound of water overflowing has yeosang pulling himself away from you, turning down the heat as you watch him stir with a smile. your eyes roam over his face, chiseled jaw and perfect cheekbones and his damp, dark hair falling into natural waves.

you ask if you can help do anything and even though he says no, you take it upon yourself to set the small table for two. he shakes his head at you so brazenly going through his cabinets for cups and bowls but a part of him loves seeing you that comfortable. because the whole thing is really so domestic, a day of shopping and painting completed with dinner and a movie at home.

yeosang watches you take the first bite, anticipation written all over his face as you swirl the noodles and messily plop them in your mouth. his smile widens when you exclaim how good it is, the shyest "thanks" leaving him as he dabs at your mouth with a napkin.

he pulls back to see a blush creeping up on your face and has the balls to laugh, like you're not supposed to be flustered by him being like this.

"stop laughing," you whine, throwing your hands over your cheeks.

"i can't help it," he smiles, that uncharacteristic softness slipping back into his tone. "you're cute."

an awkward giggle leaves your mouth, shaking your head at him.

"what?" he asks, nodding his head toward you with a smirk.

"what do you mean, what?!" you squeak, "who are you to make me feel this flustered?"

his loud chuckle booms through the pool-house, turning his head to the side so you don't see just how wide his smile could get. and it's brewing in him to blurt out that you're his, that you've been his for quite some time and now he hopes to make it official.

but he waits for dinner to finish, poking fun at your messy eating habits and pink cheeks while you scoff at him and kick his legs under the table. you quickly gather the dishes as he goes to set the living room up with a movie and an array of blankets and pillows on the couch.

"yeosang, no, wait, i'm almost-"

his arm tightly wraps around your waist while the other one reaches out to turn off the faucet before he dragging you towards the couch. he throws himself down, your body falling right onto his and if your arms didn't reach out to stop yourself you probably would've face planted right onto him.

"that isn't fair, you cooked," you whine with a pout, "the least i could've done was clean up."

"well, i can think of other ways for you to make it up to me," he mumbles, pulling your face down till your lips are only a few inches away.

"wow, aren't you so smooth," you say back, words sarcastic and biting despite your heated gaze falling to his lips.

his confident assertion of "yes" causes you to giggle until your lips meet again tonight, mouths parting on one another as you quickly fall into the steady, natural movements. because kissing him shouldn't be this easy, your lips shouldn't fit and melt into each other so perfectly.

but it is, tongues clashing and breathy sighs leaving your mouths as you both feel yourselves quickly getting more heated. his hands grip your hips roughly, your own coming up to rest on the arm of the couch to give you more leverage.

and then in a daring move, you plop yourself down a little more on his lap, smirking against his lips when you hear a harsh hiss leave his mouth.

"careful," he warns lowly, feeling his adam's apple bob when you start to slowly kiss and lick and bite down his neck.

but because you wanna do the exact opposite, because you wanna see him close to losing his control and composure, you suddenly lean yourself back and pull him up just to straddle his hips with a playful wiggle of your eyebrows.

"now why would i wanna do that?" you mumble, turning your head to the side coyly, "when i could just get you-"

he pulls your face down you meet his again, mouths crashing as he completely dominates the kiss. his tongue pushing past your lips as he swallows your surprised groans and squeaks, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist.

"yeosang," you whine when he pulls away, taking a fist full of your hair and tugging your neck back ever so slightly. his hot, wet tongue trails down your skin before he bites down, sucking that sensitive spot right above your collar bone causing a strangled, extremely obvious moan to leave your mouth.

"so that's what you sound like," he hums against your skin. your head snaps back up when he pulls your hair again, your overwhelmed heated gazes meeting.

"what do you sound like?" you ask, attempting to grind yourself down on his lap before his hands fly to your waist to halt it.

"we're not talking about me, baby," he hums. "we're talking about you."

your wide eyes stare back at him, like you're already completely trapped under the spell he's about to put on you.

"you're mine now. you know that, right?"

and despite the lust and desire creeping through your veins, the slight building of pressure between your legs, your heart still jumps and flutters and your glossy eyes widen. because you shouldn't like that so much. like the sound of him telling you your his.

"hm?" he hums, pulling your head down to peck your lips. you try to deepen the kiss but he quickly pulls away, leaned back cockily as he roams over your flushed face. "do you like that? do you want that?"

"to be...yours?" you ask breathily, turning your head to the side questioningly. "like...your girlfriend?"

he smirks at the title, watching your chest heave up and down and trying to control his own. because the feeling of you under him is killing him, especially when you've been moving back and forth so teasingly. but he has to make sure this is done tonight, right now, at this very moment.

"if you want that," he hums.

"i want to," you say and it's surprisingly sweet despite the compromising position. so maybe that's why he asks you for clarification, asks to hear you say "i wanna be yours" fully as you stare at him with want and need and desire.

"good," he says with finality.

and something about the whole situation then causes you to giggle, your head throw back in laughter as your hazy mind thinks back to the first time you had the (dis)pleasure of meeting this man.

"um...i'm y/n, by the way," you tell the boy quietly causing him to stop short and you nearly bump into him. he turns around, looking at you with a quizzical expression and you swallow the panic rising in your throat. "thank you...i know this is probably the last thing you wanna do during your lunch period so i really appreciate-"

"yeah, you're right," he snaps, rolling his eyes, "so why don't you just shut up and follow me?"

"oh god, what has you laughing now?" he asks, tone dripping with annoyance despite the humor laced in it.

"nothing," you say innocently, smiling brightly at him. "but you know, i've been having some trouble with my work, maybe you can like tutor me or-"

your words are quickly cut off by his lips crashing on to yours one final time, giggling against his mouth as you wrap your arms around his shoulders to deepen the kiss.

and it's your very giggles and sighs that can be heard through the backyard later that night, hongjoong and seonghwa deciding to creep through their friend's yard and inform him of their plan to go to the amusement park tomorrow.

"was it san's idea?" seonghwa asks as they open the gate quietly, the automatic light shining down on them in the dark night.

"of course, the giant baby," hongjoong quips causing seonghwa to laugh quietly. they make their way towards the pool house when the smaller boy hesitantly speaks up again. "how are you with y/n? should we invite her too?"

a small sigh leaves the boy as he shrugs, watching the water ripple through yeosang's heated pool from the chilly breeze. because he's been trying to slowly talk to you again, refusing to go back to his seat in 4th period but at least acknowledging you know with polite smiles and waves.

"we're fine, i guess...i just feel so stupid to be...upset about it still. because we were never anything," he explains, "and now i feel bad because i can barely talk to her in class but here i am being friend's with yeosang again."

"well yeah," hongjoong says, "but you didn't have, like, crazy feelings for him and want to kiss him."

seonghwa quietly chuckles as he nods his head because "that's true, i definitely don't wanna kiss yeosang."

hongjoong squints as he makes his way closer to the pool house door, seeing what looks like two figures on the couch lit up the flashing television. he only needs to take three steps closer to see it's you straddling yeosang's lap in a heated make-out session.

his eyes widen before he throws out his arm to stop seonghwa, the boy nearly falling forward.

"what are you doing?"

"he's busy," is the only thing hongjoong says, "let's go. we'll just text him."

"wait, what? how do you know?" seonghwa questions, something about his friend's tone unnerving him.

"i can just tell, c'mon," hongjoong says, attempting to push seonghwa back towards the pool. but it only heightens the boy's suspicions, moving his friends arm out of the way before his eyes look through the glass door into the pool house.

and it's at that exact moment you pull back from yeosang's lips with a giggle, your head thrown back in laughter before your squeal rings through the open window as he pushes you back down onto the couch.

seonghwa's quick to snap his gaze away, mumbling "oh," under his breath and trying to ignore the awful pang in his chest. because he's been working not to be angry or upset, understanding just how important you must be to his best friend for him to open up to you and form some sort of bond.

but that doesn't mean he wanted to see that, see you both so happy and giggly as you sit there on his lap and he gets to hold you. he stomps out of the backyard, ignoring the conflicting emotions of pain and anger and resentment swirling in his body.

hongjoong follows the boy with a sigh, grateful he was able to catch the gate before it swung back with a bang.

"are you okay?" the smaller boy asks stupidly; but what else can one say after seeing that?

"yeah."

but both the boys can hear that he's not okay, that maybe dealing with this is gonna be a lot harder than he thought.

(part 21)

#seonghwa #yeosang #seonghwa fluff #yeosang fluff #seonghwa angst #yeosang angst #ateez fic #seonghwa fic #yeosang fic #ateez fluff #ateez angst

294 notes · View notes

ninja-go-to-therapy · 4 years

Text

Falter

In the duel against the Munce Queen, Nya loses.

1453 words

Nya lost.

She was trying, fuck she was trying, but it was getting harder and harder to stand, harder to fight.

She was giving her all. She had to win.

She was beaten to the ground.

“You lose.”

The crowd erupted in cheers. Nya struggled to get up, but her entire body was numb. Her ears were ringing.

“Nya!”

The noise echoed; the only thing she could hear.

“Jay…” she breathed, reaching for him weakly.

He was running to her. Jay would help her. He would make it all alright.

But then Jay was being dragged away. She heard screaming. Her vision was filling with black specks.

She needed Jay. She needed…

———

Jay woke with a start.

He vaguely remembered being knocked in the head when he tried to get to Nya. He didn’t think it had been purposeful, as he didn’t think Murtessa would want him hurt.

But that didn’t change that Nya had lost.

He shivered. What would happen to him? What would happen to the others?

He sat up cautiously. He was in a lavish bedroom — well, as lavish as it could get with the munce, he supposed. The bed he was in was surprisingly soft, piled with pillows and blankets.

He was alone.

Though his head was pounding, he rolled out of the bed, stumbling to the door. He had to find Nya and Lloyd.

He gripped the stone walls to keep himself upright, making his way down the hallway. They could be anywhere.

“My love, you wake!”

Murtessa was by his side in an instant.

“You shouldn’t be up. You took a hard hit to the head,” she said, snaking an arm around him and helping him to stand.

“I gotta find Nya,” Jay insisted.

Murtessa frowned. “That girl is none of your concern anymore. You are betrothed to me now.”

“That’s not—�� Jay cut himself off. He needed to explain to her, he needed to make her see that this was crazy. “Listen to me, Murtessa. You’re… nice, I guess, but you just… you just don’t understand! We barely know each other!”

“And yet,” Murtessa said, cupping his cheek gently, “I feel as if I have known you for a thousand years.”

Jay laughed awkwardly. “That’s very nice, but Nya is my yang. We belong together. A duel doesn’t change that!”

“The terms of the duel were agreed upon by all involved. She is your “yang” no longer.” Murtessa said, her eyes dark. Jay had a bad feeling that if he argued further, it wouldn’t be pretty.

He fell silent, allowing her to lead him back to the room he’d woken in.

“Don’t worry, my love,” she said, gently pushing him back into the bed. “You’ll be very comfortable here.”

“But—”

The words died in his throat with the shut of the door.

———

Nya groaned as consciousness came back to her. She didn’t remember falling asleep.

“You’re awake,” Lloyd said, his voice sad.

“Where’s Jay?” Nya asked, sitting up with great difficulty. The fight had left her sore.

“They took him. Murtessa said there would be a wedding ceremony tomorrow. She said we were welcome to attend as long as we didn’t stir up any trouble.” Lloyd’s voice was numb as he said it.

“Oh hell no,” Nya growled. She had dealt with this before, and she’d do it again. If Jay could save her from a marriage then she would do the same. But Jay had so many people on his side. Nya had only Lloyd. The others were elsewhere, lost in the caves. It would be two — three if Jay was able to fight — of them against an entire army. Still, she couldn’t lose hope so soon. “I’m not letting this happen again.”

“Again?” Lloyd asked.

In her anger, she’d forgotten he didn’t know. This would be Lloyd’s first time dealing with such a situation.

She looked up to tell him that it was nothing, but stopped short when she saw how red and puffy his eyes were. He was crying.

“Oh, Lloyd,” she muttered, gesturing for Lloyd to sit beside her on the bed.

He settled next to her, sniffling quietly. Nya waited patiently for him to speak.

“I don’t know what to do,” Lloyd finally said, his voice high pitched and obviously straining in an attempt not to sob. “I was so sure you’d win and—and then she hurt you, she hurt you, and now Jay is gone and the others are gone too and they could be dead! We could be the only ones left,” he said, tears streaming down his face. “I’m so scared and I should have — I should have done something! But I didn’t and now Jay is going to be married and — and — and—” he trailed off into a fit of sobs, breathing erratically.

Nya pulled him close, letting him cry into her shoulder and rubbing his back comfortingly.

“I know you’re scared,” Nya said once his cries had softened, “I am too. I’m terrified. You may not remember, but we’ve been through this before. If we’ve done it once, we can do it again. We’ll save Jay, and we’ll find the others. We have to.”

She was grateful that Lloyd’s face was still pressed into her sleeve, because she didn’t want him seeing just how scared she was.

———

“You’re going to make a wonderful king,” Murtessa purred, stroking Jay’s hair lightly as he ate… whatever it was that he’d been given to eat.

Jay cringed, scooting away as best he could. Murtessa didn’t seem to notice.

“Your hair is so soft,” she hummed, continuing to play with his curls.

“Listen,” Jay said, steeling himself for yet another argument. “I can’t stay down here. I’m a human, I need the sun, and… and my friends!” He purposefully avoided mentioning Nya for fear of angering the Queen. “And I need to help them defeat the Skull Sorcerer!”

Murtessa’s hand stopped, her fingers still tangled in Jay’s curls. “You will do no such thing!” She demanded. “Many have tried, and none have succeeded. I couldn’t allow my king to perish so soon after we wed.”

“Wed?” Jay squeaked.

“The ceremony will be tomorrow,” Murtessa explained, her soft tone returning. “Oh, you’ll love it. We’ll be bound forever.”

“Forever?”

Oh this was bad. This was so very bad. Jay couldn’t allow this to happen, he needed to find the others and get back to the surface immediately.

“Yes,” she said, far too happy about the entire situation. “Forever.”

Jay was beginning to understand how Nya must have felt when Nadakhan decided he would marry her. It wasn’t a fun situation to be in.

Murtessa’s intentions seemed nowhere near as malicious as that rotten djin’s had been, but that didn’t make it much better. It certainly didn’t help his situation.

He needed to come up with a plan, and fast.

———

Lloyd ended up crying himself to sleep. Nya was relieved that he was at least getting some rest.

Being a ninja came with so much stress, but this, this may have just been Nya’s breaking point.

Jay was all alone, and it was Nya’s fault. If only she had been stronger. If only she had tried a little harder. If, if, if.

She wondered if Jay was scared. Scared that he would be trapped down here, scared that he would never see the others again, scared that he would never get to marry Nya.

Nya could relate.

When this was all over, if they even got out of it, she wasn’t letting Jay leave her side ever again.

She shifted slightly, hissing in pain. She hadn’t expected the queen to be such a strong fighter. It wasn’t a mistake she would make again.

Lloyd groaned, but didn’t stir other than that. In his sleep, he cuddled against Nya’s arm.

She almost wanted to cry too. But she knew that if she let herself, she wouldn’t be able to pull herself together enough to save Jay. She needed to put off her emotions until they were all safe.

“I bring you food,” Murt said, entering the room with two bowls of food balanced in his hands.

Nya shushed him, but accepted the bowl gratefully.

“Murt,” she said, fiddling with the spoon aimlessly. “What are weddings down here like?”

“We do not have many,” Murt said, pausing to think for a moment. “Very nice ceremonies, very official.”

Well, that was helpful.

“I am sorry you lost,” Murt said. “I was rooting for you.”

That was the last he said before he turned and hurried out of the room.

Nya sighed, dropping the spoon into the bowl of glop. Maybe she would be hungry later.

88 notes · View notes