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#but lets be honest here we just all change him based on what we want
thejadecount · 1 year
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I like it how with ROTTMNT Leo x Usagi the fandom has either 2 modes: fluffy boys or enemies-to-lovers and I WOULD NOT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY
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thepowerofswayze · 20 days
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demonstration
originally on ao3
based on this post by @fantasylandloser
pairing: art donaldson (challengers, 2024) / afab reader [gender not specified]
word count: 1.9K
warnings & info: 18+, afab reader, college era art AHHH, friends to lovers, first time together, mostly smut, oral sex (reader receiving), art is a munch obviously, reader wears a bra and skirt
summary: Catching Art up on your adventures gets hard when he doesn't get your explanations, or your hand puppet examples. Looks like you just have to show him exactly what went down. Based on this post that i could not stop thinking about. :))
“Oh my god, fuck you!”
Art chuckled from where he stood, watching as you tossed the t-shirt he’d balled up and chucked at you back in his direction. It fell harmlessly to the floor a foot from him, and you glared at him as he snickered, picking it up and putting it away.
You were visiting Art, your close friend from high school, at Stanford. At that moment, you happened to be explaining how an interaction at a party at your university had gone a couple weeks before. Art never really liked listening to you talk about guys- hence, the shirt thrown directly at your face when you’d started describing this particular frat boy to him in detail- but he’d given up complaining a while ago. It was either that or be honest about why he hated it so much, and that was never going to happen. So, he tidied up his room as you explained the lead up, the flirting, the stumbling up the stairs. He fell back parallel to you on the bed as you got to the “good part”, his head by your legs and an arm over his eyes, like he could block out the imagery.
“Anyway, I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, like when we were flirting, but then I was on him, kinda like-” You took a moment to sit up straight, grinning as art groaned and propped himself up on his elbows to see you better. He watched you attempt to mimic the position with your hands, your left hand being the guy you were talking about, your right being you.
To Art, it just looked like you were mashing your hands together. He looked up from your hands to see you raising your eyebrows at him, as if to ask if he was following. “Huh?” He said.
With an exasperated sigh and without another thought, you pushed yourself up on your knees and waddled over to him, swinging a leg over his body and hovering just over his torso. For a moment, Art just watched, bewildered, as you steadied yourself with your hands on either side of his head. He let himself fall back from his elbows, hands sliding up your hips and settling at your waist, catching momentarily on the fabric of your skirt. His fingers peeked just under the hem of your shirt. Your skin tingled where he touched you.
“... Like this,” you said finally, blinking at him for a moment. “Well, uh.” You moved your hands to his chest instead, careful not to push too hard (though with the muscle he’d acquired since he’d started playing tennis for Stanford, you were sure it bothered him much less than you thought). “More like this, I guess.”
Art nodded, quickly licking his lips before asking, “Then?”
You tried not to look at his mouth. “What?”
“Then what did you do?”
It finally hit you then: what the fuck were you doing, climbing all over your best friend to ‘show him’ how you and some guy had been fooling around a couple weeks ago? That would just mean fooling around with him, obviously. That wasn’t really the plan.
But, it was too late for your common sense to kick in now. There you were, your hips hovering over his, not quite touching yet. You watched his eyes dart down to your lips, then drag slowly back up to meet your gaze. You couldn’t wait here and think about what you’d gotten yourself into and how this would change your friendship forever, though you got the feeling he’d let you take as long as you wanted.
Then what did you do?
You steeled yourself, biting your lip and watching his lips part slightly as he tracked the action with his eyes. Then you took that moment to fully sit on his lap.
You could feel his chest expand beneath your hands with his sharp inhale, his eyes snapping down to your hips, then back up to your face.
“This,” you murmured. You’d intended for it to come out cocky, maybe even a little seductive, but you could hear the breathlessness in your own voice. You were trying your best to ignore the growing pressure where your hips met his, though really, it was hopeless. 
Art’s ears were burning a bright shade of pink. The urge to gently nip at them crossed your mind, just for a moment. He cleared his throat. “Then?” His voice was almost a whisper, chest rising and falling unevenly with his nervous breathing. The way he was looking at you, like he wasn’t sure you were real…
Fuck.
You leaned forward, trying not to let your breath stutter at the friction caused by the movement, until your lips hovered just over his. Then you kissed him.
You pressed your lips together gently, lingering for a moment before pulling back by centimeters. His lips chased yours, his grip on your waist tightening ever so slightly, and you were right back on him, lips falling open against each other. A soft sound escaped him as your hips shifted against his, along with a contented sigh from you. You repeated the motion, reveling in the low groan he let out, followed by your name murmured into your mouth.
Art’s lips were soft. And he’d shaved recently, you thought, hands cupping his face. The smooth skin of his cheeks was a stark contrast to the calloused hands he was now raking over your thighs, your skirt pushed up around your hips. You broke away from his lips, kissing down his neck instead, listening to the noises he made whenever you left a mark, whenever you ground against him just right. “Shit,” he gasped. “You’re- You’re sure?”
“Yeah.” You left another kiss just below his ear, before murmuring, “What is it?”
You could feel him all but shudder beneath you. “Fuck,” he groaned, then your name, before he looked you in the eye. You resisted the urge to dive right back in. “Let me eat you out,” he said, suddenly determined, though still flushed and dazed. “Please.”
All you could say was “What?” because, surely, this was one big dream.
“Please.” His hands hadn’t stilled, still rubbing shapes into your thighs, his hips rolling up against yours. “Can I?”
Your entire body was on fire. “Okay, yeah. Yes.”
He wasted no time flipping the both of you over, laying you against the bed so he could kiss down your neck. You barely had a moment to process, your hands moving to tangle in his hair, one of his knees slotted between your legs. He tugged at the bottom of your shirt, prompting you to lift yourself slightly and help him get it off. Your bra came next. “You, too,” you murmured, pulling at his shirt and making him chuckle. He reached behind his head, tugging it off in one swift movement and abandoning it beside your shirt and bra on his freshly cleared floor.
One of his hands slid down your chest from your shoulders, enclosing one of your breasts, the thumb circling your nipple. You bit your lip and sighed, pulling him down for another kiss by the back of his neck.
Art let his hand trail from your chest down the sides of your stomach, then slotted his palm right between your legs, over your underwear. You gasped quietly, pulling away long enough for him to return his lips to your neck, your shoulders, your collar bone. You murmured a couple choice words as he started to move his palm, rubbing at your clit through the fabric. The dulled sensation was almost enough on its own, paired with the kisses he left against your chest. “Arthur,” you whined, tugging at his hair. “Don’t fucking tease me.”
A grin overtook his face at the use of his name, his hands only slowing down, tracing torturously slow circles over you. Art only snickered at your glare before hooking his fingers into the waist band of your underwear, pulling it down and leaving you in your skirt pushed up to your waist. He watched you carefully as he slid further down so that his head was between your legs. His finger only traced a line from your clit to the bottom of your hole before whatever restraint he had was gone, and his mouth was on you.
Art’s tongue flattened against you, the warmth and friction making your head fall back as your eyes fell closed. “Fuck,” you moaned, hands threading into his hair as he answered with an equally obscene noise, muffled against you. ‘Hungry’ didn’t even begin to describe him, his mouth falling into a vague rhythm, eyes closed blissfully, whining into your pussy like it was doing him just as much good as it was you.
You thought about asking him to finger you while he worked, but his tongue prodded at your entrance and almost immediately, words escaped you. You brought one hand up to your face, clasping it over your mouth to muffle your moans, but Art stopped suddenly, watching your face. You whined your confusion, and he reached out to tug at your hand. “I wanna hear you. Let me.”
You blinked at him, chest heaving, and murmured “Alright,” before watching his head dive right back between your thighs, one hand still intertwined with yours. You had no choice but to moan unabashedly, your other hand busy pulling at his hair.  His free hand was wrapped around the outside of your thigh, pushing it in towards his head, so tightly you were sure it couldn’t be comfortable. But there he was, continuing to move his tongue against you like there was nothing else he’d rather do, whining and whimpering like you were his first meal in weeks. “Fuck, Art,” you cried, barely keeping your eyes open so you could watch him move. “You’re gonna make me cum.”
He groaned at that, relenting the pressure of your thighs against his head just long enough to reply: “That’s it, baby, please.” If he had anything else to say, he couldn’t keep himself off of you long enough to finish, already pushing your thighs back against his head, nose bumping against your clit as he bobbed up and down.
It seemed like that was all it took, really. You squeezed his hand and his head embarrassingly tight as you felt yourself tip over the edge, head thrown back and eyes squeezed shut. Art kept up his rhythm as you cried out his name, your hips rolling against his face. He didn’t stop even when you’d come down, chest heaving, until you basically pushed him off, desperate for a moment of relief.
He kept a hand on your thigh, the other untangling from yours to push his blonde hair out of his eyes and look at you. He was breathing as hard as you were, you noticed. His mouth hung open as he panted, the entire bottom half of his face coated in saliva and your arousal. Fuck, he was pretty like this. “‘S good?”
You shook your head, beckoning him toward you and pulling him down by the back of his neck when he was close enough. “You’re unbelievable,” you murmured, lips against his almost before you were even done speaking. You didn’t mind the stickiness. You pulled back to look at him, then glanced down to the tent in his pants. “Lemme return the favor.”
Art let out a breathless chuckle. “I don’t think I’m gonna last that long,” he said, somewhat embarrassed. “Not if you’re the one touching me. Not after this.” He gestured to the shine still on his face, to your thighs beneath him. Your face burned, and your smile was so wide that your cheeks hurt.
You shrugged. “Lemme try anyway,” you said, before bringing his ear down to your lips, nipping at the lobe gently. “Please?”
He couldn’t say no to you.
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multifandomlover01 · 2 months
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Not Some Innocent Kid
Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
Based on @reidswhore post about “innocent” Spencer vs. not so innocent Spencer and fic semi-requested by @reiderrambles
Warnings: 18+ MDNI fairly neutral dynamic but sub!reader and soft!dom Spencer if you wanted to label it, Derek talking about his “conquests”, teasing Spencer about being inexperienced, loss of virginity mention, mention of reader “not being a screamer”, orgasm denial mentioned, overstimulating mentioned, neck nibbling/kissing, orgasm denial depicted, reader screaming, condom mentioned, no birth control mentioned, affectionate sex, lots of terms of endearment used, slightly insecure Spencer, praise kink, slightly OOC Derek, slightly OOC Spencer
Summary: While Derek is talking about a woman he recently slept with, he makes a comment about her and then about Spencer (and his inexperience with women and pleasure), causing Spencer to get lost in a daydream that directly contradicted what Derek just said (Spencer is very capable of bringing a woman pleasure)
WC: ~1.2k
Disclaimer: not the most polished or finished it could be but…here we are lol screw dialogue tags…who needs them? (Me…I need them)
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Gif not necessarily indicative of timeline placement…but it’s an estimate
Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up, Derek.
Spencer thought this but couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. Derek was going on and on about how great he was in bed and took every opportunity to tease Spencer about how virginal he seemed. But Spencer was far from a virgin. Not long after he’d turned 24, he’d lost his virginity to his equally as quiet and reserved team member. No one would have suspected, least of all the two of them, that the dam would break that night for them and they’d be insatiable for each other.
They couldn’t stop. Every private moment was spent together mostly naked with their hands and lips all over each other.
“Yeah, I had her screaming my name. Bet you don’t know what that’s like, do you, kid? Well…your time will come.” Derek teased him.
Spencer suppressed a smirk as he thought of the most recent intimate encounter with his friend with benefits…or lover…or partner (he wasn’t quite sure what they were if he was being honest).
-
“You like that, baby? You like it when I don’t show you mercy? When I use you like a little toy?” Spencer husked into your ear as his hips snapped into you from behind as he had you on your hands and knees on the bed while he supported you with an arm around your middle and his hand on your hip. He had found sexual encounters with you to be rather liberating. You trusted him completely and he cared about you a lot. He’d never hurt you. But this dynamic really allowed him to exercise a degree of control over and with another person that he didn’t really have anywhere else in his life. The degree of control he had over his mother was not voluntary although he took that just as seriously as he took this.
“Y-yes.” You whimpered.
“Say my name, sweetheart. I wanna hear you say it.” The hand on your hip snaked around to rub at your already sensitive clit.
“S-Spencer.” You say breathily.
He gives your clit a little slap.
“Louder, hon. Let me get my first noise complaint from old Mrs. Davis across the hall. She’s always going on about how respectful and quiet I am. Just like Derek goes on about how much of a kid I still am. I’m sick of it. Aren’t I good enough, darling? Can’t I make you scream and cum for me?”
He rubs your clit faster as he snaps his hips faster.
“I dunno…I’m not-”
“A screamer. I know, angel. But maybe we can change that, huh? I’ve made you cum before. I’ll do it again. I’ll do it better. I’ll make you feel so good.” Despite him being slightly dominant right now, he was almost pleading with you to meet him half way.
“I-I’ll try.”
“I know you will, sweetie, I know you will. You’re so good for me.” He buries his face in your neck to press kisses to it, hoping to add to the sensations you were feeling.
He picks up the pace of his hips and his fingers, rubbing your clit in circles.
“I wanna try something, honey. Will you let me try something?” He murmurs against your ear, having kissed his way up to it..
“Y-yeah…what do you wanna try?”
“Can I deny you your orgasm? Can you be my good girl and cum when I tell you to? Not before? Maybe that’ll make it feel better. I know it’s different for every woman but I’ve read that it can make it feel better.” He says, again seeming a bit desperate now, willing to do anything to enhance this experience for himself and for his partner.
“I…I can try. You can try to overstimulate me if you’d like.” You offered, also trying to pitch ideas that could help the experience.
“One thing at a time, love. One thing at a time.”
“Ok…One thing…orgasm denial.”
“One thing…orgasm denial.” He agrees. “If that doesn’t work…then we can try overstimulation.”
“Ok…that sounds good.”
“Yeah? Good.”
Once you two were in agreement, effort was put back into achieving pleasure. Spencer continued to snap his hips against yours (for a skinny guy who didn’t work out, he sure had a good amount of stamina). His fingers continued to work at your clit. Your warm and soft walls suck his cock in like it’s afraid to let it leave the sanctuary.
“Remember, love, you’re not allowed to cum until I say you can. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?” He rasps in your ear.
“Y-yeah…I can do that. I can try.”
“Good girl. Tell me when you’re close so I can delay it just a bit. It won’t be long, I promise.”
With the way his cock is hitting just the right spot inside you, the way his fingers are working your clit, and the way he’s nibbling your neck lightly all combine to help you get close to the edge.
“Spence…I-I’m close, baby.” You pant lightly.
“Hmm…yeah? Don’t cum yet, ok?” He murmurs in your ear.
“Ok…I won’t. I won’t until you tell me to.”
“That’s my good girl. It won’t be too torturous, I promise.” He increases the pace of his fingers on your clit and his thrusts are deep and calculated but not feral. They are a nice even pace that’s not too overwhelmingly fast.
Your whines and whimpers increase as your legs shake. “S-Spencer…I…I can’t…”
“You can. You will, love. You can do it. I believe in you. Just a little longer, ok? Not too much longer.” He lovingly rubs his nose against your neck as he picks up his thrust pace just a bit, going just as deep as he continues to rub your clit at an increased pace.
“Spence…please.” Your voice raises in pitch.
“Few more seconds, hon. Just a few more seconds.”
You could almost cry with how much pleasure you’re feeling.
“Sp-“ you go to say again, your voice slightly increasing in volume.
“Now.” He commands.
Your body obeys him without you having to do anything. It just…lets go.
“Oh my god, Spencer, fuck!” You shout, a lot louder than intended. You cling to him as you shake.
“That’s what I’m doing, sweetness.” You can’t see his smirk but you can feel it against your neck as he continues to work you through your orgasm. It doesn’t take long before he’s emptying his load into the condom. He pants against your neck as he peppers it with kisses.
“Do you know…what you…just did for me, darling?” He slowly pulls out of you.
“Screamed louder than I should’ve?” You chuckle softly.
“Besides that.”
“Besides that?”
“Mhm…besides that.”
“N-no…what?”
“Look at the condom, hon.”
“‘M too…tired.”
He chuckles. “It’s soaked, love. I think you squirted over it a bit.”
“Wha-? Really?”
“Mhm. You did such a great job for me, love.”
-
“Kid…hey, Reid!” Derek waves in front of Spencer’s face.
“You still with us? You looked a little spaced out.” JJ states, chuckling slightly.
“I’m fine. I just zoned out after Morgan related his fifth conquest in a week to us.”
“Do you have something you’d like to talk about, then?” Derek scoffs.
“No.” Spencer says simply, shaking his head.
“You will one day, kid. You will one day.”
“‘M not a kid.” Spencer mutters. You and he share a quick glance and a small smirk.
“Oh? You’re not? You got any spicy stories to tell?”
“Maybe one day…when I think you can handle it.”
“Ooh…ok, ok.”
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cocoa-goat · 8 months
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When they catch a glimpse of you playing in the rain.
Featuring: Venti, Xiao, Wanderer, Kazuha
A/N: Hihi !! I feel like I haven’t posted on Tumblr in so long, so here’s a little update. My term break ends tomorrow and I am definitely not thrilled ( T⌓T) ;;
Warning/s: None
Additional info: Reader is gender neutral
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♡ Venti ♡
The moment he sees you playing out in the rain, he’s awestruck and doesn’t hesitate to join you.
The bard twirls you around as the gentle raindrops begin to wet his hair and clothes, but he doesn’t mind.
He knows that moments like these are worthwhile, even though you’ll both end up getting sick the next day.
Upon hearing your laughter, it’s almost as if he’s fallen in love with you all over again. He can’t say no to you… after all, how could he resist his one and only muse?
It wasn’t long before his laughter begins to blend with your own, creating a wonderful symphony in the downpour.
“I can’t let my windblume have all the fun, now can I? Mind if I join you?”
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♡ Xiao ♡
Xiao is… rendered speechless. He’s never witnessed someone be so carefree, much less under the rain.
Unbeknownst to you, he’s gazing at your joyous figure from Wangshu Inn with what seems to be a smile. Something very rare for someone like him.
He doesn’t seem to mind you playing around in the rain, instead keeping a watchful gaze on you from afar. He wouldn’t want to spoil your fun.
It’s not everyday that someone makes the yaksha smile, but you seemed to have changed that with your little habits.
It was at this moment that Xiao decided to protect you and your happiness. Both of which he deemed as precious. A vow to himself, and an unspoken promise to you.
“How long I’ve been watching you? …That doesn’t matter, just don’t stay outside for too long, alright?”
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♡ Kazuha ♡
The samurai leans onto the doorframe with his arms crossed and his heart melts at the sight.
Kazuha stays like that for a while, only breaking his gaze once you’ve caught him staring at you.
Don’t be shy—tell him to join in! He’d gladly oblige. He rarely ever gets to see this side of you, and he wants to cherish it as much as possible.
He’s probably the type to slow-dance with you in the rain. With his hand on your waist, and the other taking hold of your hand, he guides you into synchronising with his graceful movements.
Oh, how he wishes that time would slow down when it comes to you.
“[name], as much as I adore seeing you like this, the idea of you getting sick pains me… Let’s head inside, shall we?”
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♡ Wanderer / Scaramouche ♡
Okay let’s be honest here, his hat would probably shield him from the rain. 💀 (Seriously, how does he pass through narrow doors with that hat on??)
He’d most likely lecture you about getting sick and how much of a hassle it would be to tend to you. But just as he’s about to, something tells him to stop and just… admire you.
To Scaramouche, it’s as if time had come to a halt, and all noises seemed to have been drowned out. All can see is your smile, and all he can feel is the rapid beating of his heart.
That smile of yours which he’s grown to love so much. Your smile that feels like the first rays of sunshine after a harsh storm.
That still won’t stop him from reprimanding you, though… after he’s snapped out of his star-struck trance, he’ll be quick to wrap you in the warmth of his embrace; shielding you from the incoming storm.
“What were you doing out there? You know better than to—[name]? You’re shivering, come here.”
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Based on an experience I had the other day lol (and now I’m sick 🤧)
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bravo4iscool · 1 month
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Hi! I was wondering if you could write a friends to lovers x reader for any of the 141 (you get to choose) where the reader is plus size and she avoids them touching her? Because she knows she's plus size and doesn't think this super attractive soldier would ever even like her, much less her body, and every time she is touched she kinda pulls away, but our soldiers are so down bad for her? 👀 And ultimately maybe she gets pulled onto a lap and immediately tries to get off? Smut or no smut, it's up to you!
Thank you lovely!! 💞💞
i like this. i like this very very much hehehehe. i chose simon (i always chose him, i really have to change that😭) (i hope you're okay with that tho. it's my personal headcanon that that man is a chubby chaser by heart lol).
as someone who's also plus-size i adore requests like this so much! i hope i could write it the way you imagined it :)
also, sorry this took me so long😭. i had a bit of a slump lol (also, please give me feedback on the smut part, i never really write smut🥲 and im a virgin lmao)
smut, plus-size!reader, unprotected sex, p in v, fem!reader, not proof-read!
(masterlist | join my tag list!)
REQUESTS/ASKS OPEN!!!
tag list - @yazt09 @blackhawkfanatic @bumblebeesfromvenus
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"don't touch me simon," you mumble as you push his hands away. "you know i don't like that..." you shuffle away from him and clutch the little notepad you scribble down your customers orders.
he frowns—as always—and gives you a small smile. “‘m sorry lovie. i forgot.”
you nod and straighten your back. “your usual?” you ask, already knowing that he’ll answer with yes. and he does. then you look at the rest of the team, one eyebrow raised. it was rare that they took something else than their usual.
“positive,” price replies, as well as gaz.
“i’ll take whatever ye gimme,” johnny winks and you feel yourself blush. simon just rolls his eyes. he’s getting fed up with his best friend already.
you give johnny a honest smile and scribble something down. “10 minutes and i will be back with your drinks,” you tell them, turning to leave.
once you were out of reach johnny elbowed simon into the side, a devilish smirk on his face. “have ye told ye lassie that ye like her?” he wants to know, wiggling with his eyebrows.
“zip it johnny,” simon only grumbles, starting to bounce his knee. “i ain’t tellin’er nothin’.”
“but why? ye clearly like her.” johnny frowns. if he were in simon’s position he would’ve shot his shot weeks, if not months ago. you were—you were perfection. those curves, those hips and—god forbid—your stomach.
you were hypnotising and you didn’t even know it. johnny didn’t understand how simon could just sit and watch you. he would’ve done anything to get a taste of you, or even just a glance.
“she ain’t interested n’me johnny,” simon sighs after a moment of silence. “i won’t destroy what we have over my stupid feelings.” and with that the debate was over for simon.
before johnny could answer you return with the drinks, placing them down onto the table. “here ya go,” you smile.
“thanks lassie,” johnny grins, patting your hand. you immediately pull away.
you try to overplay it. “no problem. let me know if you need anything else.” you leave with hurried steps, praying you wouldn’t encounter touch again this evening.
-
‘fuck’ you thought when you realize: all seats were taken. this was not good, nope. you just wanted to turn around and leave without anyone taking a notice of you.
but then soap notices you, “ey lassie. com’ere!” he smiles and waves at you. with hesitant steps you walk in his and simon’s direction. giving a apologetic look to the other people. this was a movie night, not some coffee gossip round. it was rare that you were on base and on most occasions you tried to avoid it but johnny and gaz practically begged you to come so you had no other chance than to say yes.
a few moments later you stood in front of the group of men—your friends—unsure what to do. were you just gonna sit on the ground or… before you can even finish that thought a arm wraps around your waist and someone pulls you into their lap. you can‘t suppress a small yelp, your eyes blow wide.
“‘s j‘st me,“ simon whispers into your ear, sending a cold shiver down your spine. you wanted to leave. now.
“simon,“ you hiss. “let me go. i‘m way too heavy for you—“
but instead of following your request his arm around your waist only tightens. “i‘m a big guy. i can handle it,“ he only says in a low voice. with that the topic was done for him and you knew arguing wouldn‘t make sense. once simon was determined about something there was no way to chance his mind.
so, you sat in his lap the whole movie, squirming from time to time; afraid you were too heavy for him, afraid that you would hurt him in any way. meanwhile, his hands were caressing our waist, pulling you closer to him so you‘d stop wiggling around. if you wouldn‘t stop he‘d some have a problem…
beside simon johnny was throwing side glances at him, smirking when he noticed the struggles his best friend was having. he wished he was in that position… if only he‘d been a tad faster than simon you‘d sit in his lap right now and he knew he wouldn‘t be the same after than.
“y‘alright lassie?“ johnny asks as soon as the movie is over and the lights got turned on. your face was red and your pupils blown wide. you only manage a nod, trying your best to get off simon‘s lap as normal—and fast—as possible.
“i think—i think i‘ll go home now. i have work tomorrow morning,“ you smile, still embarrassed. “i hope i‘ll see you tomorrow or are you shipping out?“
“not for at least two weeks,“ simon answers and you nod and turn to leave but then he gets up too and you stop in your tracks. you raise your eyebrow at him and he shrugs. “‘m gonna get ya home,“ he simply says and you nod again.
“alright. see you soon guys,“ you wave your goodbyes to gaz and johnny.
once you and simon where out of reach johnny started to smirk. “ohhhh, he‘s tryna get laid,“ he laughs, glancing at gaz beside him.
“100%“ the other man agrees, hiding his laughter behind his hand. “the question is if she‘s understanding all the signs…“
-
you unlock your door, simon towering over you from behind, his presence like a burning sensation you couldn‘t seem to ignore. “and we‘re there,“ you chuckle, stepping aside. “you can, uh, leave now,“ you tell him but instead of turning around he takes a step inside your flat, closing the door behind him.
“what if i don‘t want to?“ he asks, slowly coming closer to you. “what…if i want to spend the night with you, mh?“ he‘s looking down at you, his hand itching towards to your face.
you swallow, trying to hold his gaze; it seemed impossible. “why would you want that?“ you want to know, unable to phantom any reason he—out of all men—would want to spend a night with you.
he smiles at your question and lowers his head. “because i like you,“ is his answer before he starts to trails kisses down your throat. your breath gets caught and your hands rush to grip his arms. what was happening right now? this must be a dream…
"if you want t'stop, tell me," he mumbles against your neck, slowly pushing you back until your back hits your drawer. you swallow but turn your head to give him more space. it just felt so good.
your breath hitches when he finds your weak spot. "i don't want to stop," you manage to say and you feel him smirk against your skin.
he scoops you up into his arms and you yelp. "that was what i wanted t'hear," he says and seconds later his lips collide with yours as he makes his way to your bedroom. you feel like a feather in his arms, so light and free.
"been wantin' t'do this f'r a long time," simon breathes against your lips when he gently drops you down onto your bed and he pulls back. "y'look so beautiful..." his eyes admire you and you start to blush. you weren't used to being appreciated like that. especially not by men like simon.
he sits up, kneeling in front of you. then he pulls off his shirt in a smooth motion, tossing it aside. your eyes widen and you swallow again. oh steaming jesus, he looked better than you thought–
and suddenly you get aware of your looks again. you try to hide behind your arms as fast as possible, not wanting simon to see but he beats you to it. with gentle hands he grabs your wrists and pulls them away. "why're you doing that, mh?" he wants to know and you avert your gaze.
"i...don't know..." you mumble. "i just–"
he cuts you off before you can finish, "y'think i don't find ya attractive, do ya?" your blush is answer enough and he bents down. "you're the most attractive woman i've ever laid m'eyes upon..." he tells you in a whisper, placing kisses upon your face.
"you don't–"
"oh, i mean it. with every fiber of my being," he, again, cuts you off, not wanting you to doubt his attraction to you. you were beautiful, etheral even, and he didn't know how other men didn't see it. "let me worship you," he pleads, kissing your lips.
he pulls slightly back again and looks in your eyes. he wanted your consent before continung. if you'd say no, he'd stop. if you'd say yes, he would ravish you.
you hesitate for a second before you drag him back down by his neck and press a kiss to his lips. "please," you choke out, looking at him with hooded eyes.
he smiles, his hands slipping beneath your shirt, pushing it upwards. "your wish is my command love." with gentle hands he starts to undress you, trailing kisses all over your body. he wanted to you to feel good about yourself, to feel attractive.
and with every passing moment he was itching down towards your core, smirking when he feels you twitching and shuddering.
“si—simon,” you moan when his lips ghost over your clothed cunt.
he does it again, looking up at you through hooded eyes. “shhhh,” he coos, his tumb caressing your thigh. “b’good f’r me, will ya?” he was straining himself to not rip your clothes off when he started undressing you piece by piece. he wanted to cherish you, burn the image of you sprawled across your bed—naked—into his mind. who knew when he’d be able to see you like that again?
it felt like a haze, the way he was undressing and worshipping your body, his eyes rarely leaving yours. he wanted to you feel seen, to feel lusted after because that was exactly what he was doing.
he came face to face with you again, his lips finding yours while his hand cupped your pussy. your breath hitched. “so ready for me,” he chuckles, his tumb carefully starting to stimulate your clit.
a whine escapes you when he pulls his hand back after a few moments and he can’t suppress a smirk. “oh, ya needy, aren’t ya?” you only manage a nod, your mouth falling open when you feel him slipping one finger inside. “gon’ work ya well open first, love,” he tells you before he starts to litter you with kisses again.
with a steady rhythm he pumps his finger in and out of you, trying to pay attention to your body’s reaction as best as possible. he wanted to make this about you and you only.
he was sucking bruises onto your skin while moans dripped past your lips. oh, he felt like he was in heaven. “keep makin’ them sounds f’r me love,” he mumbles as he starts to hump your bed. his dick was painfully hard by now and he needed to feel some relief.
you gasp and writhe and whine, grabbing his arm to feel something between your hands. “please simon,” you cry out with your back arching off the mattress. “i wanna—“ he shuts you up with a kiss.
“i know what ya want.” and exactly that is the moment your orgasm ripples through you. a dragged out moan leaves your mouth and your fingernails bore into the flesh of his arms. “j’st like that,” simon coos, carefully removing his hand from your cunt.
you gasp for air as you come down from your high, still not 100% sure if this was real; because it didn’t feel like it. you release simon’s arms from your grip, swallowing when you saw the marks you left.
in the meanwhile simon fully undressed himself, his painfully hard cock finally getting set free. he looked at you and a smirk tugged at his lips when he noticed you staring. he tugged at his cock before he crawled back onto the bed to hover about you.
you look up at him, unsure of what to do. it’s been probably years since you’ve last had sex. it wasn’t that much of a regular thing in your life.
“ya ready?” he asks you after he connects your lips in a gentle kiss. you nod and he carefully starts to open your legs further. “i’ll be gentle, yea?”
simon’s hands caress your thighs before he aligns his cock with your entrance and trains his eyes on you as he starts to push himself inside.
your mouth falls open and your hands find their way back to grip onto his arms. a tear slips past your eye and a loud moan drags past your lips. “simon—oh my god!”
he grunts, doing his best to hold himself back from restlessly pounding into you. he didn’t want to hurt you. “no god ‘ere love. only me.” he bends down to kiss you and one of his hands starts to stimulate your clit again.
when he fully bottomed out it took all of his self control to not come immediately. he’s dreamed of this for months, years even and not it was finally happening.
“takin’ me s’good,” simon whispers in your ear, slowly pulling his hips back, making you whine before he pushes them forward again, pulling another moan out of you. “this pussy was made for me, huh.” a cocky grin was on his face.
you nod and babble, too overwhelmed by that pleasure that was so unknown to you. “wanna be good for you,” you cry, clutching his arm with your hands. “please simon.”
he starts to trail kisses down your throat while he keeps his thrusts in a steady rhythm. he felt his orgasm building but he wouldn’t come before you didn’t. this wasn’t about him and his pleasure, this was about you.
you moan, “oh—oh—“ when you feel the knot in your stomach tightening. “i’m gonna come simon,” your voice trembles.
“i know,” he grits out as he fastens his thrusts and keeps stimulation your clit. the way you were clenching around him had him seeing stars. you were so close.
and then he pushes you over the cliff, your orgasm rippling through you with a force you didn’t know as possible. your vision fades to black and your mouth falls open as simon fucks you through your orgasm.
he’s trying his best to keep his composure when you clench around him, almost milking him but he pushes through, managing a couple sloppy thrusts before he comes with a deep moan, fully burying himself inside you.
his eyes are closed as he tries to take a deep breath, a faint ‘i love you’ leaving his lips.
(i’m sorry the end is like that. i’m terrible at endings🧍🏼. i didn’t know how to properly cut this😭)
153 notes · View notes
starsval · 1 year
Text
honest
tasm!peter parker x f!reader
Summary: being best friends and maybe in love with Peter Parker is nice, until certain spider changes everything
Word couny: 10k
Warnings: mentions of wounds, kissing, hickeys, and I think that's all
A/N: it's based on Honest by The Neighbourhood, It's nice to have a friend, King of my heart and Sweet nothing by Taylor Swift.
Also, thanks to @myriadmoons for helping me write this <33
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Patience, test my patience
If I made it too hard for you, maybe
“What happened?” You ask Peter, approaching him in the hallway. Immediately noticing the bruise on his face, even though he tried to hide it with the hoodie.
“I fell” He tells you, walking to your first class, which, to his displeasure, you had together.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” You ask him as he works as your shield among all the students going to their classes.
“Sometimes” He laughs, trying to change the subject as you both sit in your place.
“Pete, I’m serious. Is it Flash again? I wouldn’t care to threaten him again”
“That only worked because he has a crush on you” He smiles, resting his head on his arms while looking at you.
“Yeah, but it worked, so I take it as a win” He laughs softly, trying to ignore the concerned look you were giving him. “What happened?”
“I fell” He knows by the look in your eyes that you don’t believe him, but he ignores it, just like he ignores your sad expression as you turn your head to the teacher.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
“Are you okay?” You ask him, opening your bedroom door so he can get inside. You notice the new bruises, of course you do, you always notice. 
But you also notice the look in his eyes, telling you to not say anything about it, telling you to just hold him now.
So you do, you hug him. You let him hug you so tight that you’re afraid he might break you.
“I’m better now” He mutters, his voice muffled by your hair.
“I’m glad”
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
You should have changed it
Say it, you should say it
“You don’t even have to tell me” You had told Peter, sitting on the stairs of your porch. “I mean, it’s obvious that I’m not buying the ‘I fell’ bullshit. So just let me help you”
“It’s okay, someone’s- I’m already getting help” And it’s not you. He had told you, getting up and walking away after waving goodbye.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
“You’re ignoring me” You tell Peter, sitting on his bed with your homework on your lap.
“I’m literally doing homework right now” He says, slightly offended.
“Not right now, I mean lately” He hesitates before talking.
“I’ve been busy, I’m sorry” He finally looks up from his homework, looking at you.
“It’s okay, you know I don’t care about that, just, don’t be a stranger”
“I won’t” He assures you. “Talking about that, I didn’t tell you but I’m friends with Gwen” Then he puts his homework away, because, of course, when it’s about her he has to focus completely. “We started talking the other day and she’s really nice… "
So you just sit there, listening to him, because that’s the most he’s talked to you in days. And because you’re a good friend who’ll listen to anything even though it hurts. Because you don’t want to lose him.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Waiting, always waiting
You wait. Even though you shouldn’t. You wait for him, for a text, for a call, for a response, anything. You wait for him to fulfil his promise, that he’d be here to do the work with you. The most important work of the year.
You wait for him to answer all your texts, all your calls. You keep waiting as you do the work, as you start it, as you look up information, as you finish it, as you revise it.
You stop waiting for him to start waiting for an excuse when he opens the door. With new cuts and bruises that had already been taken care of.
“Sorry for being late, I lost track of time” He puts his backpack in the usual place and sits on your bed, behind you. “We can start now”
You turn around in the chair, not waiting anymore since you already got your excuse. You watch the hour on your phone before talking.
“At 11pm?” You ask him, looking at his new bruises, sighing and wishing he told you more about it.
“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just…” He doesn’t continue, because he doesn’t have anything to say.
“I already did it” You inform him, getting up and laying on your bed as you turn on the TV.
“What? But, we were supposed to do it together” He says, offended as he gets up, to discover that, in fact, you already did it.
“It’s due tomorrow” You don’t look at him, instead, you look at the news, talking about the decrease of crime.
“You could’ve waited for me” You look at him now, foolishly hurt by his words. Because that’s all you’ve done lately. Wait for him. “I know I didn’t answer.” ‘I’m sorry’ He doesn’t add. “But it’s like half of the grade” ‘It’s not fair that you had to do it alone’ He forgets to add, again.
“Fuck you Peter” You tell him, eyes again on the TV, refusing to look at him and at his audacity.
“Look, I know that you’re mad, but I was with Gwen, and I lost track of time, and…” He stops talking, either because he realises he mentioned Gwen or because he realises that you don’t care.
“See you tomorrow” You don’t look at him when he mutters a soft ‘good night’. You do look at him when he turns around, picks his backpack and leaves, closing the door behind him.
You don’t go to sleep immediately, even though you should. You add yours and Peter’s names to the work before putting it on your backpack. Then you continue watching the news. Weirdly entertained by the people talking about Spiderman as he swings between buildings. 
You watch his back, just as you watched Peter’s. A back that you know too much, a back that you've scratched, a back that you watched leave earlier. And then it all makes sense, well, you still don’t know why he’s ignoring you. But you know the reason behind the bruises, the cuts, the tiredness in his eyes.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
I wish you could be honest
I wish you could be honest with me
You watch as the teacher corrects the works. Peter watches you. You both watch the teacher walking to your desks. The teacher watches both of you as he talks.
“It’s really good, I still have to correct some things but it’s the better one of the class” He says before walking away, with your work still in his hands.
“You added my name?” Peter asks you, looking at you as you watch the clock, waiting for the class to be over.
“Yes” You answer, now looking at him.
“I didn’t deserve it” He says ‘I didn’t do anything and then made you feel bad about it’ He doesn’t say.
“I know” You keep looking at him, ignoring the shred of hurt in his eyes, and focusing on the exhaustion in them. “Peter, are you honest with me?”
He doesn’t expect the question, but he doesn’t doubt when answering “Of course”
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Why'd you stick around?
Why'd you stay with me?
Why'd you fake it?
You always did this. It was your tradition. But things have changed lately, so you shouldn't be surprised when he doesn't show up. 
You look at the news, waiting to see someone informing you about what Spiderman's doing right now, maybe saving the city again. But nothing. He seems to be sleeping, or ignoring his best friend.
So you give up, put your phone in silence and walk in the cinema. Doing your monthly tradition alone, for the first time. 
When you walk out you don't expect to see him there. Looking weirdly anxious. But you don't acknowledge him, you just continue walking. 
"I'm sorry" He says as he follows you, standing in front of you when he realises you're not going to stop. You don’t say anything, you just look at him, not even bothering to hide the fact that you’re hurt. Hurt by him, by his actions, by his secrets. “I’m really sorry, I was really occupied and I couldn’t make it and…”
“I can’t keep doing this” You try to walk around him to the door so you can walk to your house. But he stands in front of you again.
“I know, and I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I promise” And you want to believe him, you really want to, but you can't let yourself get hurt again.
“You could’ve told me” Just like you can tell me that you’re Spiderman. But you don’t say that, because you want him to trust you, although you don’t know why he doesn’t.
“I- my phone-” He stops, because lying isn’t going to get him anywhere. “I forgot”
You smile, even though all you want to do is cry. He forgot his best friend. And why? Before you can ask him, the answer appears behind you.
“Where were you? Oh, hi Y/n” You turn around, to see Gwen smiling at you. You return her the smile and a wave before turning back to Peter.
“Fuck off Peter, and make sure you don’t forget to talk to her” You mutter as you finally walk around him, reaching the door and start the journey to your house.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
As you walk on the pavement, you notice someone approaching you. You wave at him when you notice who he is. Harry, Peter’s friend. He introduced you two a while ago, and to his surprise, you actually got along.
“Hi” He greets you.
“Hi, I didn’t know you were in town?” You ask him.
“Yeah, I arrived a few days ago. Actually, I was going to Peter’s house, do you want to come?” He asks you, oblivious to the whole situation.
“I was just going to my house, but it was nice to see you again” You tell him, resuming the walk to your house when he starts talking next to you. “You don’t have to.” He cuts you off before you can finish.
“Did something happen? The last time I was here Peter told me that he wouldn’t let you walk home alone, because it’s dangerous, you know?” You sigh, because it’s true, he never did that, until today.
“It’s complicated I guess, but you don’t really have to walk me home, it’s just a ten minutes walk from here”
“It’s okay, I’d like to catch up with you” You give up trying to get him to actually go where he was supposed to and start talking about both of your lifes. “Does Flash still have a crush on you? I don’t think Peter got over the fact that he asked you out”
You laugh, remembering that day. When you’d suggested that maybe he was just jealous, he said that it was because he wanted his best friend to date someone better than Flash.
“He still does, but he hasn’t tried to ask me out again” You stand in front of your porch, turning around to face him. . “Thanks for walking me home, Harry” You smile at him, really thankful that you hadn’t spent the whole walk thinking about Peter.
“It’s okay, I always like talking to you. And about the Peter thing, I’m sure you’ll work it out”
You let out a soft ‘I know’ before saying goodbye to him and walking in your house. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Harry doesn’t bring up the matter when he shows up at Peter’s door. Neither when they both start playing video games. Or when Peter starts talking about Gwen. He talks about it when he says that he went to the mall with Gwen.
“That’s why Y/n was going home alone?” He notices how Peter tenses up immediately.
“What?” Peter asks, like he has no idea what he’s talking about.
“I saw her, and I walked her home, she seemed upset” Peter doesn’t say anything, feeling too bad, knowing that he’s the reason why. “I even asked her if Flash still had a crush on her, maybe the next time I shouldn’t be that discreet”
“What?” Peter turns around, the video game long forgotten as the boys talk.
“Maybe I should ask her on a date while I’m here, the worst she can say is no” Harry keeps talking, and maybe he’s being for real, maybe he just wants Peter to react. But all Peter knows is that he’s getting mad, and he doesn’t know why.
“You shouldn’t” He says dryly. 
“Why? Is she seeing someone?” Harry asks, getting up to pick up his things.
“No” Peter answers, his jaw tightened as he watches his friend move around the room.
“Then? What’s the problem?” Harry stops for a second, looking at him.
“I don’t want you to date her” Then he moves again, giving Peter his back as he closes his backpack, hiding his smile.
“I thought you were with Gwen?” Peter frowns at that.
“What? No, it’s all platonic” He swears. 
“She must be a good friend then. You left Y/n to go with her” Harry can see Peter's face go through all emotions before talking back. 
“It’s not like that” He frowns, again, like it's the most obvious thing. 
“I don’t know the whole story Peter, but I do know that she was walking home alone –something that you swore you’d never do– and she seemed hurt” After that Harry leaves. Leaving a confused Peter considering all the choices he's made, while looking at the pictures you two have together. 
Pictures he took of you when you gave him his new camera for his birthday. Pictures Aunt May insisted on taking one of the first times you went to the cinema together. Pictures you took of him when he was distracted. Pictures he took of you while you were sleeping, because he thought you looked cute, even though you got embarrassed after. Pictures he took of you while falling(and on the floor), after you had assured him that you knew how to skate. 
He remembers that after the last one, you almost made him fall again, he also remembers that your actual words were 'Pete what the fuck??, why didn't you help me?' Like he could’ve done anything to help you
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
I hope you find a way
To be yourself someday
You were doing all you could to avoid Peter. You didn’t know if he was trying to talk to you. But you didn’t care. Maybe he wasn’t trying to find you. It's not like it's something new. But you couldn't known
You couldn't avoid each other in the next class, since you guys sat together(for the next two hours). 
“Do you like Harry?” He asks you, neither of you had anything to do, while the others finished their homework, you do all you can to not look at him.
“What?” You fail, meeting his gaze as you talk.
“I think he likes you” He adds.
“Okay” You say, dryly. 
“Do you like him?” You can’t believe him, it’s the same shit he did with Flash.
“Just leave me alone” You try to ignore his intense gaze.
“I don’t think you should date him” You stop ignoring his eyes now, looking at him and trying to find where his audacity comes from.
“That’s not your problem” You remind him.
He looks at you, because it’s really not. Even if you were still best friends, it wouldn’t be. But then you’d say something like ‘are you jealous?’.
“I know, I know, but he’s-” You cut him off, tired of his shit.
“I don’t care, Peter, why would I?. If I like him or if I don’t, it’s not your problem, so just leave me alone” 
He seems hurt, he really does. But you stop looking at him, because maybe if you don’t see him, you won’t notice. And maybe if he doesn’t look at you, he won’t notice your hurt. Or maybe he does and he just doesn't care. 
You stay like that the rest of the hour, fighting the urge to not turn your head to him, even when you can notice him looking at you. You fight the urge to not ask him for explanations, to ask him to come back to you. 
As soon as the teacher says that you have a free hour, you walk out of the class as soon as you can. 
You walk to the bleachers, waiting for the hour to be over so you can just go home. You’re looking at the sky when Peter approaches you, your immediate response is to get up, to try and run away.
“Please- just…” He stays there, standing in a row in front of you. You sit down again, looking at him.
He doesn’t say anything. He just looks at you, feeling like he hasn't seen you in forever. He doesn’t talk, you don’t talk. Until you get impatient and try to get up before he talks. 
"You don't call me Pete anymore, you know?. You just say Peter, and half of the time is to insult me" You don't know how to react, you don't know what to do with the hurt in his voice. So you just talk, before thinking. 
“Are you Spiderman?” You see him trying to say something, trying to lie. But you both know it wouldn’t work. So he doesn’t say anything. He looks at you, frowning.
You laugh.
“You didn’t even try to deny it” You look at him, questioning him, questioning his friendship with you, his friendship with Gwen.
“How long have you known?” He frowns, looking sad.
“Long enough for me to say that you’re not honest” You fight the urge to walk away.
He doesn’t say anything. You know that he’s mad.
You don’t say anything. He knows that you’re mad.
“You shouldn’t know” He finally speaks, looking at you, clenching his jaw. 
“I know” Because you do. You know that he’s been trying so hard to hide it from you that you almost lose your friendship, or maybe you already lost it.
“It’s dangerous” He adds
“That’s all you’re gonna say?” You ask him. You both know what you want to hear. I’m sorry for not telling you. I’m sorry for ignoring you. I’m sorry for getting you worried. I’m sorry for almost ruining our friendship.
“What else am I supposed to say?” He doesn’t meet your eyes. Not when you get up. Not when you throw the sweatshirt he’d lent you at him. Not when he barely catches it before it touches the floor. Not when you start to walk away.
“Way to go Parker” You mumble, walking down the stairs.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Hesitation, is killing me too
But I couldn't save it
I couldn't save it
"I didn't want her to get involved, it's dangerous, and I-" Peter is sitting in Gween’s bed, his Spiderman suit under his clothes, ready for the night guard. A week after his last conversation with you. 
"So you're just going to lose your friendship because of that?” Gween asks, her eyes going back and forth between Peter and her homework.
“I don’t want to lose her. I thought that if I wasn’t around her that much she wouldn't discover it” He admits, his eyes looking down at the mask in his hands.
“Do you think she’s stupid?” Gwen asks, knowing for a fact, that you aren’t stupid.
“That’s the thing. She’s too smart, and she found out even when I ignored her” He sighs, laying in the bed. “I don’t know what to do now. I can’t just go to her and apologise, can I?”
“You could try, but it better be the apologise of the century” She tells him, focused again on the papers before her.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Peter keeps thinking about that as he climbs out Gwen's window. While he's swinging between buildings. As he fights for his life. 
But, curiously, he doesn't think about it when he goes to your house, when he knocks on the window. He just does it, like you're a magnet who's attracting him, leaving him no choice but to get close to you. He does it as a reflex action. Like he knows that you'll always be there for him. 
And sadly, you will. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Is this the end of all the endings?
Peter used to go to your house when he couldn’t sleep, he just knocked on the window, waiting for you to get up and let him in. But you didn’t expect him to do it right now. Especially no in his Spiderman suit.
“What the fuck happened to you?” You ask him, not even bothering to close the window. Knowing that he’d close it for you. Like always.
He sits on your desk chair as you look for your first aid kit, the one that you’d bought when Peter started to skate.
"I'm hurt" He talks, slowly moving the chair close to the bed, where you're waiting with all the supplies. 
"Yeah no shit" You roll your eyes, carefully cleaning his wounds.
"I'm sorry" He suddenly says, after watching you in silence, admiring you as you healed him. 
You admire him too, his hands as he holds tight to the chair, his chest as he breathes in, as he breathes out. His face as you clean the blood out of it. The look in his eyes as you keep your hands on his face longer than necessary. 
"What are you doing here?" Your eyes go from his wounded chest to his eyes. 
"I missed you" You stop for a bit when he says that, and you're sure he notices, but you quickly bandage the wound and get up to get him some clothes. 
"It's not fair, it's not fucking fair that after everything you're just here. Telling me that you missed me. It's not fair Peter" You swear you can see something change in his eyes as he hears the name. "And I'm here, acting like nothing happened, like it's the fucking same, like my best fri-" You don't finish the word. "Like you aren't Spiderman. It's not fucking fair" 
You finally tell him, looking through your closet, like the fact that you're far from him will help you ignore the attraction you're feeling.
And then it hits you, you've felt like this for a while. You've been attracted to him for a while. And with everything that had happened, you couldn't stop and think about it.
Because maybe the fact that you lost your best friend hurts more than the fact that you're in love with him. Just maybe. 
"I know" He says as he gets up, walking to the bathroom to put on the clothes that you just gave him. He leaves a confused you cleaning your room, feeling your heart shrink a bit when you see all of the tissues covered in blood. 
After going to the kitchen to throw everything that you had used, you come back to Peter sitting in your bed. Looking at his hands, only looking away when you sit next to him.
“I’m sorry” He admits, almost in a whisper. 
“Stop saying that you’re sorry” You ask him. 
“But I really am” He whispers, again
“You should’ve thought of it before you… before everything” You look down, and then at him. 
“I know, but it’s not my fault that I’m Spiderman and I’m really sorry” You look away, slightly hurt by the fact that he thinks you would blame him for that.
“What are you even sorry for?”
“I’m sorry for lying to you, for ignoring you, for making you feel bad, for ruining our friendship” He says the last words like they hurt. “I’m sorry for everything, honestly. For talking the way I did about the Harry thing. For not apologising sooner. For ignoring you because of Gwen, who’s just my friend, by the way. I’m sorry” You don’t look at him, because if you do, you know you’ll do something stupid, like hugging him, or telling him that everything’s fine.
“I think you should go, maybe May is waiting for you” You get up, feeling his gaze on you as you continue to pack your suitcase.
“Why are you saying that after I apologised?” You let out a small laugh, looking through your t-shirts. 
“Do you think an apology solves everything?” You hear him sigh, passing a hand through his hair.
“I- What? No, I thought you’d be more understanding” You stop for a bit, breathing in and breathing out, trying to not get mad at him.
“What?” You turn around slowly.
“You always say that people deserve second chances” He says, afraid of what your reaction will be.
“And how many chances have I given you Peter, I could’ve fucking left you as soon as you started ignoring me. But no, you hug me and everything's okay, I’m your best friend again and we’re fine. Just for you to go and ignore me, again!. What the fuck do you want me to do? Have zero self respect and go back to you just because ‘you’re sorry’?. And don’t even talk about second chances, because you’d had so many fucking chances, and all you do is fuck it up!.” You throw a t-shirt into the suitcase. “If you want me to just forget everything just because you apologised, it better be the bigger apologise anyone has seen, because I’m so fucking tired of everything“ Now you throw a hoodie. “All I ever wanted was for you to be honest, but you couldn’t even do that, so I just, I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Where are you going?” He says, like he just noticed that you're packing your things. Catching a t-shirt before it can land into the suitcase.
“Are you telling me that that’s the part you chose to care about?” You ask him, snatching the t-shirt from his hands and throwing it in the suitcase again. Just for him to catch it.
“Yeah, where are you going?” He raises his arm above his head when you try to steal the fabric from his hands.
"You're fucking unbelievable Peter, I'm going to my aunts" You finally catch your T-shirt and put it on the suitcase. 
"What? You won't be happy there?" He replies. 
“And who says I'm happy here?” You don't look at him as you pick up another T-shirt from your closet. When you turn around, Peter’s emptying your suitcase. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Don’t be immature, just stay here, there’s no need to go there” He pushes your hands when you try to stop him.
“Oh, so I’m being the immature one? Sorry, Mr. I didn’t want my best friend to find out that I’m Spiderman so I just stopped talking to her” You put the clothes that he’s putting on the floor into the suitcase, just as he does the opposite in front of you.
“Oh, I have to get Harry to walk me home because I can’t do it alone” He replies, determined to unpack your suitcase.
“Oh, I can’t even text my best friend to tell her that I ditched her because I was with other girl”
“I already told you we’re just friends. Are you jealous?” He looks at you for a moment, making you take advantage of him and quickly fill up your suitcase.
“You wish I was jealous” You give up, and just watch as Peter empties your suitcase. “Stop being immature and go home”
“Maybe I do wish that you'd be jealous” He drawls, looking down at his work(your clothes on the floor).
“Just go home” You say again, getting up and walking to your closet. He quickly gets up again, and you think is to leave, but he’s next to you immediately.
“I didn’t want you to worry, or be in danger. So it was better to just stop talking to you, because I didn’t have to see your face when you saw the bruises. And I just couldn’t stand the fact that if you knew, you’d be in danger. And I know I fucked up, I’m sorry, I regret it everyday, I just want us to be okay” He admits, looking down at you.
“Are you fucking stupid?” You look at him, confused. “You didn’t want me to worry? So you just ignored me? You’re the dumbest person I’ve ever known. What if something happened to you? What if you fucking died? I’ll be here not knowing that it was because you’re fucking Spiderman –I mean, I would’ve figured it out, but still–. And the ‘being in danger’ shit, I have no fucking words, you think I care about that? You’re so fucking stupid Peter” You turn around and pick your clothes from the floor as you mutter ‘so fucking stupid’.
“You still care about me?” He asks, looking at you, impatiently waiting for your answer.
“You’re actually dumb…” You consider. “Of course I do” His eyes light up.
“Does that mean you forgive me?” He gets closer to you.
“No, I’m still waiting for the biggest apology anyone has ever seen” You start to pack your clothes again.
“You’re still going?” He frowns.
“Yes, I’m leaving tomorrow, so, goodbye Peter” You finish packing and you stay there, looking through the window, where Peter was just minutes ago. 
And you know that he is really sorry, but you couldn't give it to him that easily. You'll forgive him as soon as you see the biggest apology you've ever seen.
Because you miss him, you miss your best friend, the guy you've been pining over for a year, the guy who used to walk you home everyday. You miss the insignificant fights you'd have about the homework, about the movie you'll see. You miss Peter Parker. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
You think about last night as you watch through the window of the taxi, about how close your bodies were for a moment, about everything he said, about the jealous thing. About the fact that you’re still waiting for his apology.
That’s when you see it, the biggest apology you’ve ever seen. Just in front of you everyone, but just for you. After you tell the driver to stop the car you get out of it as soon as possible, looking at the “I’m sorry” made of webs.
Just when you start to look around, Peter grabs you, and you honestly don’t know how but you end up above the words. Looking at him, and hugging him, because, it’s so fucking scary.
“I’m sorry” He says, after taking out his mask. Looking at you with soft eyes.
“I can tell” You say, looking at his eyes, just so you don’t look down, and because you missed his eyes. 
“Is that the biggest apology you’ve ever seen?” He asks, suddenly nervous.
“Yes it is” You talk as you look around you, observing the city. “You’re fucking Spiderman, that’s unbelievable, like, out of all the people, you, that’s so fucking crazy” When you look back at him, he looks like he isn’t breathing. “Yes, Pete, I forgive you, I thought about last night and it was kinda funny, you know? The whole suitcase situation. I missed that, I missed you”
Once the words leave your mouth he smiles like he just won a contest and hugs you. He hugs you like he hasn’t done in a while, and you hug him back, happy to have your best friend back.
“Yeah, I get it, but, um, could we get down? Love the views, but it’s scary” You say, smiling. 
“Shit, yes sure” He seems to remember where you two are and puts the mask on before taking you to the taxi.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
My broken bones are mending
With all these nights we're spending
"I'm sorry" Peter says as he sits on your bed. 
"Don't apologise" You tell him, cleaning the wounds on his neck. 
"I'll buy you another first aid kit" You smile, patching up his face. 
"Well, I hope I won't need it" He chuckles a bit, knowing that you probably will have to. 
"Thank you" 
"I'm your best friend Peter, and I have morals, if Spider-man was on my window dying I'll help him" 
"What if it's a fake Spider-man?" He grins through the pain. 
"You think I won't recognise you?" You ask, indicating him to roll down the top of his suit so you can look at the wounds. "Does it hurt?" You look at the bruises on his side.
"I'm better now" He slowly gets up and grabs the clothes you let out for him. 
"I'm glad" You smile, cleaning and throwing everything you've used. 
When he comes out of the bathroom, already in normal clothes, you're in bed, scrolling down your phone. 
"I should leave" He says as he picks up his backpack. 
"Stay here Peter" You talk, patting the space you left him next to you. 
"Are you sure? I don't want to bother" He says, even though he's smiling. 
"Yes, I'm sure" You don't bother to look up your phone. "There's a lot of gossip we have to discuss"
You do look up your phone when he lays down next to you and covers both of you with the blanket. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Up on the roof with a school girl crush
Drinking beer out of plastic cups
Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff
You notice people staring at you as you enter the house. You follow Peter through the crowd, and wonder if the music and the smell of alcohol are bothering him. 
"I'll get something to drink" Peter talks through the music, once you've found a not so packed corner in one of the rooms. 
"If you insist" You smile back at him as he walks away. 
You're looking at his back when someone approaches you. 
"What are you doing here alone?" Some guy asks you, leaning on the wall behind you.
"Who said I was alone?" You reply, not smiling, rather grimacing from the smell of alcohol he gives off. 
"Well, I don't see anyone around right now" He says, looking around, ignoring the fact that you're not even looking at him. 
"Maybe it's because I don't wanna talk to anyone" You simply answer. 
"You're kicking me out?" He still smiles, even though he wants to look offended. 
"I don't know, am I?" You give him a fake smile, just before Peter appears with two cups, and after you grab one, he passes his arm around your waist, facing that guy. 
"So you weren't alone" The guy mutters, looking at Peter's arm around you. 
"If you wanted to keep her company, you can leave, I'm already here" Peter grinns, oblivious to the look the guy gives him before turning around to bother someone else. 
"What was that?" Peter doesn't answer, instead he pulls away and grabs your hand, leading you upstairs, to one of the balconies of the house. "What was that?" You ask again, seeing that he's too focused on his cup. 
"He was bothering you" He simply answers, smiling at you, as you both sit on the floor, leaning your back on the wall. 
"How did you know that? Maybe I was having a good time" You question, smiling back at him. 
"With that look on your face? I doubt it" He raises an eyebrow before raising the cup to his lips. 
"Maybe that's my way of flirting. Showing no interest. They seem to like that" You shrug, smiling. 
"So you were flirting?" His jaw tightens a bit, looking directly at you. 
"What if I was?" You hold his gaze, waiting for any kind of reaction.
But the only thing he does is take out a bottle of alcohol from under his jacket. "What the fuck?" You smile, taking it from as he hands it to you. 
"Though it'd be nice to have something just for us" He smiles as you pour it in your cups. 
"But you didn't answer" You remind him. 
"I mean, I'm your best friend, I have to approve them first" He jokes. 
"That's the reason?" You half close your eyes. 
"Yes" He looks away, drinking. 
"You sure? No other reason?" You insist, stretching out your arm to poke his cheek. 
"Yes" He moves away, fighting his smile. 
"Are you really sure?" You scoot over to be closer to him, still poking his cheek. 
"Yes, I'm sure, okay?" He finally lets the smile out and grabs your wrist as he pulls away. 
"No, not okay, I don't believe you" You try to get your hand free, but he holds it tighter. 
"Why don't you believe me?" He asks you. 
"You don't seem believable" You smile, looking at him as you drink. 
"Maybe it's you who doesn't want to believe me" He talks back. 
"Maybe" You shrug. 
"But for what reason?" He insists, leaning to see your face. 
"I don't know" You sigh, drinking the rest of your cup. "But it's true that you don't seem believable" 
"So you don't believe me and I don't believe you, we're even" He smiles, knowing there’s no point in trying to get you to talk.
"I guess" You smile back at him.
At some point, maybe when you're talking about the stars or when you finish the bottle. You find yourself on Peter's lap, his lips on yours and his hands on your hair. 
You feel the grip he has on you, and how his lips go to your neck, you also feel him smirking against your skin. 
And you also hear someone knocking on the door, making you pull away immediately. 
You don't talk, not when you get up, or when he holds your hand to lead you through the people. You talk when he's walking you home. 
"Can we not talk about that?" You ask, a hand on your neck to feel the hickey he gave you. 
"Why?" He says, looking at the hand on your neck, and remembering how it felt to do that.
"We were drunk, Peter, it was a mistake" You remind him. 
"Yeah, sure, we won't talk about it" He says, and maybe he means it, because even when he's drunk, he hasn't forgotten about the fact that he's spiderman. 
He tries to not be obvious when he's saying goodbye to you, but you still notice him looking at it. 
"Peter, stop looking" He smiles. 
"I'm not looking" He says, looking directly at your neck. 
"You're drunk" You remind him, giving him your back to open your door. 
"Kinda" He replies, grinning. 
"You should stay" When you turn around, he's still smiling. "Peter if you talk about it i'll kick you out" You remind him as you close the door, both of you already inside. 
"Maybe it's worth it" He stops smiling when you leave him alone and walk to your room, mumbling something about a 'mistake', that's all he could hear. 
But he keeps his promise and doesn't talk about it. He wants to, but he conforms with having you under his arm while you watch a movie. 
He doesn't talk about the next days either, not even when you put makeup on your neck to hide it. And weeks pass, but neither of you have forgotten about it. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
School bell rings, walk me home
Sidewalk chalk covered in snow
Lost my gloves, you give me one
You were walking home from Harry's, after saying goodbye to him, who leaves tomorrow. Peter's walking by your side. He's huffily talking about the fact that some classmate of yours never stops talking. 
"You also talk in class" You remind him, rubbing your hands together to get some warmth in them, you accidentally left your gloves in Harry's house, you already texted him to consider it a parting gift. 
"Yeah, to you, it's not the same" He says, taking the glove of his right hand off. 
"Why not?" You ask when you see what he's doing. "What are you doing, you're gonna get cold" You say, walking away from him when he tries to give you his glove. 
"At least let me give you one" He replies, and he's faster than you, so he quickly grabs your right wrist and puts the glove on. 
"What about your other hand?" You ask, still refusing to make him cold, even though he's Spiderman, so it's not that of a problem. 
"You'll grab it, and then it won't be cold, okay?" He doesn't give you a chance to protest as he grabs your ungloved hand and starts walking to his house. "And it's not the same because you're worth talking to"
"You're biassed" You tell him, smiling.
"Me? I'd never, how dare you say that" He puts the hand you're not holding in his chest, acting offended.
“Of course you’d never, you react the same when I talk and when Flash talks” You remind him, looking at the snow on the floor.
“That’s because you’re not a shitty person” He says, suddenly grumpy when he talks about him.
“You say that ‘cause you’re I’m your best friend” You look at him.
“Everyone can tell that you’re a good person” He says, genuinely,
“You’re still biassed” You remind him.
“Nonsense, even if I wasn’t your best friend I could still tell that you are a good person” He seems ready to defend his argument with his life.
“How could you tell that?” You ask, curious.
“Because of your aura” You look at him, sceptical “And because you’re pretty” You look away, so he doesn’t notice how flustered you are. But of course he notices, and of course he smiles. Because neither of you have forgotten the ‘maybe I wish you were jealous’ thing, or the fact that you made out at that party. 
You don’t say anything, instead, you urge him to walk faster so you can get in his house already. When you walk in, you're greeted by Aunt May, who gives you a big hug. 
"Oh sweetie, I missed you so much, you should've told me and I'd make sure that Peter isn't dumb, you're the best that has ever happened to him, I can't believe he almost lost you. Men are so stupid sometimes" She talks as she gives his nephews a bad look. 
“Thanks Aunt May” He says, taking off his coat before helping you take off your own as soon as May breaks the hug. “My own family is against me, I can’t believe it”
“It’s okay” You assure her “I could handle him on my own. And they’re really dumb sometimes” You agree with her before following Peter to his room.
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Light pink sky up on the roof
Sun sinks down, no curfew
After finishing your homework, gossiping and playing video games, you’re both on Peter’s roof, a blanket around both of you as you watch the sunset.
“What about bug-boy, web-head, spidey?” Peter shakes his head with each nickname. “I don’t care, I like spidey”
“Really? I’d prefer bug-boy honestly” He admits, making you smile before looking at your phone, who just made a notification sound.
“What the fuck?” You mutter.
“What?” Peter asks, leaning over your shoulder to see what you’re talking about.
“Flash just asked me on a date?” You say, still looking at your phone.
“Why does he have your number?” He frowns.
“That’s what you care about, really?” You look at him, and you roll your eyes when you see, that, in fact, that’s what he cares about. “I used to tutor him”
“Oh” He seems to relax, but then he frowns again “Didn’t you reject him once?” 
“Yes, but he quite didn’t believe that I didn’t like him, so as a last resource, I told him I had a boyfriend” You tell him, looking at your phone, thinking about a way to turn him down.
“And he just believed you? He didn’t ask who he was?” He says, asking himself why he didn’t know any of this.
“I mean, yes” You doubt before talking. “I told him I was dating you, and I also told him that if he ever bothered you again then he’d actually never have a chance with me, so, yeah” You rant, and when he doesn’t say anything, you keep talking. “I guess he saw that we weren’t that close anymore and assumed we broke up”
“And he just- he believed it? He didn’t question it?” He frowns again.
“Actually, he said that it made sense and walked away” You shrug, looking at your phone.
“What? Do we look like a couple?” He asks and prays that you don’t look up to see the smile on his face.
“Should I tell him that we’re back together?” You avoid the question.
“That’d work” He waits to talk again after you type your response.“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Something gave you the nerve
To touch my hand
“Didn’t seem important” You don’t look at him, instead, you look at your phone, which seems to make him lose his patience. So he grabs the hand you’re using to grab your phone and puts it down between both of you, with his on top.
“It didn’t seem important that people could think that we’re dating?” He asks, thanking the sound of the birds, because he thinks that if it were silence, you could hear his heartbeat.
“Does it bother you?” He almost jumps with the assumption.
“What?- Are you crazy?, no- Why would that bother me?. Does it bother you? Well I don’t think so because you’re the one that said it. But it definitely doesn’t bother me. Like, I’d be honoured if someone came to me and asked ‘Are you dating Y/n’. Actually, I’d be more honoured if we were dating for real, you know?” He stops his ranting when he notices what he just said, and just closes his eyes, thinking about swinging out of this situation. 
When you don’t say anything, he looks at you, seeing you wide-eyed, fighting a smile.
“Is that your way to ask me to be your girlfriend?” He doesn’t answer, he just looks at your mouth, just as you look at his mouth, who’s fighting to say something.
But the words don’t come out of his mouth, instead, he gets closer to you, and you back down a bit, slightly opening your mouth, looking down at his.
“Easy bug-boy” You smile, reminding the wound you cleaned up just a few hours ago. Also reminding him that you’re supposed to be his best friend.
“What’d you call me?” He whispers, laughing before sighing, so mesmerised by you. You smile, and back away, feeling like you’re in heaven when he sighs again.
“You said you liked that, I could call you Spidey if you wante-” You stop talking, his lips almost touching yours. The hand that was on top of your, goes to one side on your neck. “Peter, we shouldn't” You talk, trying to not lose your breath almost.
“I know” He drawls. And that’s when you give in. His lips go to your neck and you can’t take it anymore. When he’s in front of you again, you stop backing away and lean forward.
When your lips meet you feel like you’re going to die. The cold that you were feeling goes away. And you don’t care anymore about the people that could see you.
You just focus on his mouth, so needy for you. His hands, touching you to make sure you won't go away. His body, practically hovering over you. 
He's fighting so bad his impulses to not bite your lip, because he's been waiting for this for a long time. But he does anyway, and he seems proud of himself when he hears the sound you make. 
His hand moves to the back of your neck, and he moves your head so he can kiss you better. You let him do whatever he wants, and you groan when he stops kissing you. 
He laughs after seeing your face, and his lips go to your neck immediately. His other hand goes to your waist, and while you use one to support your body, the other goes to Peter's hair. Which you keep touching when his lips are touching yours again. 
He's practically on top of you, and he's about to make you lay down, but you hear someone walking down the street. 
So you pull away, and after realising what you just did, both of your hands leave each others body immediately. 
"That was a bad idea" You say, barely breathing. 
"I'm in love with you" The breath you just catched goes away, and his eyes search for your gaze after he rants. "I'm so in love with you I don't think it's normal. Because you're so, perfect, and I know I don't deserve you"
"Don't say that" You frown. 
"You're too nice and I'm so…" He looks at his hands. 
"Peter, don't say that" You repeat. 
"And I know it's selfish for me to tell you, but we just kissed" He smiles. "And I get it if you don't feel the same but-" You don't give him a chance to continue talking, instead. You grab his face with your hands and kiss him again. This time it's softer, and you just wish that he gets what you mean. You hope that he knows that you're also in love with him, that you love him so much you want to die. 
When you pull away, you rest your forehead on his, closing your eyes, because you're sure that the intensity of his gaze might decompose you. 
"I love you so much you don't get it. And don't ever say that you don't deserve me. You're so…" You sigh, not able to express it right now. "I'm in love with you, Peter"
"Are you sure?" You look at him, actually wondering if he's being for real. 
"We just kissed?" You tell him, to make sure if he remembers. 
"You kiss a lot of people that you don't love" He says, thinking about the parties you used to attend every weekend. 
"Did you give me a hickey?" You ask, touching your neck. 
"You're changing the subject" He closes his eyes halfway. You sigh. 
"You're the one changing the subject" You talk back. 
"Why would I change the subject?" He sounds offended, even though he's smiling. 
"Because you don't want to believe that I'm in love with you" He smiles  "Because you think you don't deserve me" He stops smiling "Which is the dumbest thing you've ever said, and it's saying something, because you say a lot of stupid shit" He smiles again. 
"Because it's true, it's dangerous, what would they do knowing that you're Spiderman's girlfriend?" He stops smiling, and looks away, regretting everything. 
"I'm already your best friend" You remind him. 
"It wouldn't be the same, they love that cliche where they get the hero's girlfriend" He scowls. 
"They probably think we're already dating" You see him fighting a smile. 
"But still-" You roll your eyes, tired of this. 
"I'm sure, I'm in love with you" You tell him. And he smiles, he looks so fucking happy, especially when he talks again. 
"I did, in fact, give you a hickey" He looks at it, and grabs your wrist when you try to hit him. He doesn't let it go, instead, he puts it down and grabs your hand. "Does that mean you want to be my girlfriend?" 
"No, we just ate each other's faces and confessed our love but I won't be your girlfriend, idiot" You say, sarcastically. 
"Is that how you talk to the boy you love? No wonder you're single" He rolls his eyes. 
"We aren't even together and you're already leaving me" You frown, but it quickly turns into a smile. 
"I would never" He assures. 
"Yes Peter, I want to be your girlfriend"
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
"Weren't you already dating?" Is what uncle Ben and aunt May ask you when you walk in holding hands a week later. 
"What? No" You both say, at the same time. 
"Oh, congratulations then" May says, having an excuse to hug both of you again. 
"Took you long enough to get the girl" Ben says, but smiles anyway, giving Peter's back a pat. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
It’s nice to have a friend
You were walking around Peter's room, he just came back from his usual duty as Spider-man, and was finishing some homework. 
"This is new" You tell him, taking a book out of the bookcase, and showing it to him. 
"What?" He looks up, and when he sees what's in your hand, his face goes red. Making you frown. 
"What's this?" You ask him, smiling as he gets up slowly, afraid that a sudden move might make you open the book. 
"Nothing" He lies, walking a step forward, making you back away immediately. 
"That's not true, what is it?" You ask again, and before you can look at the book, it flies away from your hand. When you look at Peter, he's taking the webs out of the cover. 
"Nothing" This time you're the one who walks forward, closing your eyes halfway.
“What are you hiding?” You’re getting closer to him, actually afraid that he might jump out of the window.
“What do you mean? I’m not hiding anything” He talks as he hides the book behind his back. Once you’re in front of him, he sticks the book on the ceiling and grabs your face so he can kiss it when you look upward.
“Kisses are not going to get you out of this, why are you so embarrassed of a book?” You don’t move when he continues kissing you.
“I’m not embarrassed” You look at his face, almost as red as his suit. “And how are you going to get it out of there anyway?” 
“I’m sure May would love to see that” You start to walk away when he wraps his arms around you, laughing.
"Promise you won't laugh at me" He talks, with his arms still hugging you. 
"I promise" You assure him, and after he hears it, he jumps and effortlessly sticks to the ceiling, grabbing the book. 
He gives it to you and turns around, muttering something about homework. 
When you open it you see a lot of pictures, professional ones, polaroids, and even printed from his phone. There's photos of both of you together, of you, and of the things that you like. 
Photos of you trying to do your makeup, reading in class, studying, sleeping, crying from laughter. You petting a dog, a cat, running away from a bug. You holding a test that has a 100 written on it. You sitting on a bench while reading a book. 
Selfies that you took when he was distracted, when he was texting Flash to leave you alone, when you arrived at your first party. Photos of him doing homework while you sat in his bed. There's one of May and you trying to bake while Peter and Ben are trying to help. You kissing his cheek, and him kissing yours. 
Photos of the flowers you saw on the street once and said that you like, a certain street that gave you good vibes, some of the drawings you made of both of you in class. Photos of the matching keychains you made for you to share. 
Apart from the date in which the photo was taken, there's annotations under every single photo. Some of them say 'I love you so much', or, 'You fell down right after I took this photo'. 
He put his thoughts under each picture, even when it's just 'You look hot in this one'. And that photo was from when you two were just best friends. He also put 'I made that ;)' under the photo where you can see a hickey on your neck. 
The book is full of every moment of your friendship, even when that moment was you trying to cut Peter's hair. There was everything, sad thoughts, happy thoughts, normal teenager thoughts. 
After you look at every single page, you look up to see Peter watching you. 
"Do you think I'm crazy?" He asks after you two just stare at each other. 
'What? Why would I think that?" You frown, sitting next to him in his bed. 
"Because I made that" He avoids your gaze. 
"And it's beautiful Peter, I love it, it's amazing" You hug his side, leaving the book on the chair. 
"Are you lying?" He asks and you laugh, rolling your eyes
"You're the dumbest person I know" You lay down as you talk, making him lay down next to you, he turns around so you're facing each other. 
"You say that a lot" He frowns, looking almost offended. 
"Because it's true, why would I lie? I love it" You see him fighting a smile. 
"Thank you" He stops fighting and grins. 
"Did you really think I looked hot that day? I remember that you took a lot of photos" He hugs you and hides his face on your neck, and laughs. 
"Really?" He talks with his face still on your neck. 
"Yes, because if I remember well, we were best friends, you know? Do you think it's normal thinking about your best friend that way?" You grab his face in your hands, making him look at you as you talk. 
"Like you're one to talk" He rolls his eyes. 
"I'm sorry? I've never thought that" You add, innocently. 
"Because I didn't see you almost drool when I wore that outfit you bought me" You smile thinking about it, wondering how you got him to accept your gift. 
"You looked hot, you should wear it again" You smile, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. 
"Didn't you say you never thought that?" He closes his eyes halfway, leaning in to kiss you again. 
"But we're already dating, dumbass" You smile
"Right"
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
They said the end is coming
"What if something happens to you because of me?" You see him trying to hold the tears in his eyes. 
"No, listen, listen-" You try to talk, but he doesn't seem to care. 
"No, wait, wait, wait" He cuts you off, not willing to let you talk. "I cannot let that happen"
"Listen to me" You get closer to him, so he has no choice but to lean on the wall behind him. "You're Spider-Man, and I love that. But I love Peter Parker more, I always loved you, with no Spider bite and all, with glasses, contact lenses or whatever, that's not gonna change" You search for his gaze. "That's worth it to me"
"I can't lose you" He says, looking directly into your eyes. 
"If because you can't lose me, we can't be together, who does that work out for, Peter?" You ask, already knowing the answer. 
"I can't, I'm sorry Y/n" You look away, laughing as the tears begin to fill your eyes. 
"Wow. You've done this to me again and again Peter. I can't live like this" You take a step backwards as you talk.
"I know, I'm sorry" He doesn't move, instead, he looks at you. "We should break up" He says, so quietly that you have to lean forwards to make sure you heard him right. 
"What?" You ask him. 
"We should break up" You stare at him, not showing any emotion. 
"No" You simply say, crossing your arms. 
"What?- You can't say no to a break up?" He frowns. 
"I can, and I do, we are not breaking up" You remind him. 
"Y/n… It's for the best" He looks down. 
"No" You cross your arms. He sighs, passing a hand through his hair. 
"Look-"
"I said I can't live like this, but not in that way. You can break up with me when you stop loving me, or when being with me hurts you. But not because of self sabotaging" You don’t talk for a second, letting him process the information. “So, I’m gonna go, talk to me when you don’t want to break up with me”
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
When you open your shared playlist the morning after, you see that the most recent added song is Afterglow-Taylor Swift
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
Everyone’s up to something
You don’t see Peter until the night after your ‘break up’. He is on your door, with flowers in his hands and sorrys on his lips.
“I’m sorry” He talks as you let him in, scanning his body for new bruises.
“Are you okay?” You ask, grabbing the flowers to put them in a vase. 
“You’re too good for me” He mutters as you lead him to the couch, making him sit next to you.
“Stop saying that” You remind him, grabbing his hand.
“I’m sorry” He looks at you, nothing but honesty in his eyes.
“You came here to tell me something, didn’t you?” He nods, still looking for madness in your eyes. “Then do it”
“I don’t want to break up with you, but I don’t want to lose you. If something happened to you because of me, I’d never forgive me. But you make me happy, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, I don’t want to lose you” He hugs you, not sure if you’re the one who’s going to break up with him.
“You won’t lose me Peter, they won’t hurt me, if I survived Flash’s tries to flirt with me, I’ll survive anything. I promise” He stays silent for a moment, chuckling at the Flash's mention. Then, he talks.
“I love you”
“I love you too”
He stays there for the night, giving you nothing but kisses, hugs and sweet nothings. 
🕸   ⊹    ⋆
I find myself running home to your sweet nothings 
“Shut up” Peter says, finally getting up from the chair and walking to his bed, where you're laying. 
“No, I’m being for real, hear me out” He suddenly lies on top of you, leaving you unable to get up, but you keep talking. “We make T-shirts with exclusive pictures, and boom, we’re rich”
“You really want to sell my pictures?” He puts his head on your chest, closing his eyes. 
“What about one with no shirt and the mask, to keep your identity safe-” Even though he’s not looking, he can feel your smile as he covers your mouth with his hand.
“Let’s sleep” You laugh, pulling his hand away from your face.
“We could be rich” You remind him.
“Shut up” He chuckles, lifting his head to look at you.
“Okay, maybe not sell them to the press, but” He waits for you to finish, raising his 
eyebrows.
“Don’t you think Flash would want a T-shirt from the actual Spiderman?”
He doesn’t react for a moment, considering if you’re being serious or not, then, he kisses you, a quick peck, giving you no time to react.
“I’m so in love with you” He says, his head on your chest again.
"I'm so in love with you too" You tell him, with your hand through his hair.
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cherryfennec · 3 months
Text
So this was originally supposed to have a kickass artwork of the bros using the power- up and stuff but then I got sick and then I realised Im out of time and here we are so uh hieee everyone and welcome to my post-
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Happy MAR10 Day! For the occasion, let's go back to the (not discussed in a long time) Power-Up headcanons. This time I'll focus on the Ice Flower (most of the lore under cut like last time)!
This was surprisingly requested by some (3) people. I'm going to be honest, I barely remembered this one at first. I kinda know how it looks and generally what it does, which will have to be enough to base this entire thing on. With that being said, I did some thinking and here's what I've got:
General headcanons;
This one has difficulty surviving outside of it's original environment. If you want to keep a batch in the house your best bet is to use the fridge/freezer, otherwise it looses both it's blue look and the stored energy. See, the Ice Flower originally wasn't (and still technically isn't) it's own flower species. Let me elaborate:
Nowadays the conditions there are not as harsh, however a rather long time ago travelers heading towards places like the Snow Mountain needed to be both be specially trained and very well equipped to even attempt a climb. A heat source was a big must, and it so happens that it often consisted of Fire Flowers. They'd put some in their coats to keep warm, as well as store a few in the backpack just in case they needed to protect themselves from monsters. When setting camp during their journeys these hikers would use the Power-Ups energy to start fires and cook food. After the flowers were depleted of their energy and entered their hibernation stage (I talked about it in my Fire Flower post), they would be simply thrown away like trash. Waiting for them to recharge was often not beneficial, especially in conditions like this, so there was ultimately no point in keeping them. However like I mentioned before, Fire Flowers are very adaptable, which actually wasn't that known at the time. Instead of wilting, these stubborn plants would try gathering energy like the usual, but since it was very cold and direct sunlight was limited, they decided to collect something else. While not all flowers made it, a few managed to amass the eminating frost and turn it into a new kind of energy which proved to be enough for their survival. With time even their petal colour changed to blueish hues. And thus the Fire Flowers in the area became Ice Flowers and over the years started populating the mountains and snowfields.
The Ice Flower is a multiple use Power-Up in theory but more often than not you'll find yourself without a place to freeze it after using one. If it's not placed in a cold environment during it's hibernation it'll either die or, more uncommonly, simply revert back to being a Fire Flower after a long process.
Mario and Luigi specific headcanons;
While the idea of being able to freeze stuff sounded cool it wasn't very fun to learn.
In Marios case imagine: you're good at something, really, REALLY good at something. Okay great, now imagine being told that your knowledge doesn't matter because now you need to do the opposite of what you've learned. Back with the theme of "elements don't mix", Mario absolutely hated how much effort he needed to put into focusing the newfound energy to barely make a tiny projectile. Even before he got the Firebrand he had enough difficulty with it, so it only got worse from there. This was one of the rare times where learning the bare basics instead of mastering a Power-Up was enough for him.
Luigi didn't really mind. The main complications came more from the vague instructions he received during training rather than his own inability. Suprisingly or not the Thunderhand didn't make this one much of a pain either, I guess anomalies attract eachother. While he doesn't consider this Power-Up as a favourite he still finds it pretty fun that he can freeze and walk on water. Did you know, he used to be pretty good at skating in high school. If you didn't he'll make sure to bring it up at a given occasion. Back to ice powers, he definitely outdoes his brother on this one, even if not by much.
There's probably one more thing I should mention. Despite the contrary belief the Ice Flower does NOT increase ones tolerance to cold temperatures. To be frank it might even decrease it by lowering the bodys natural temperature, making the chances of frostbite higher. And so, they learned it the hard way.
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In conclusion, this is more of a situational Power-Up. It's neither easy to find or preserve which can be annoying but despite all this it's hard to deny that it's ultimately a useful tool.
Few bonus headcanons!
I don't know how much sense I conveyed through my broken wording and less than average writing skills but it's not that shabby if I say so myself. Just like last time some details might change in the future but for now that's the general idea that I have considering the Ice Flower. Once again thank you to whoever took the time to read this!
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formulapierre · 7 months
Text
I don't wanna leave just yet | Pierre Gasly
Pairing : Pierre Gasly x Y/N!reader
Prompt : Based off of 'I don't wanna leave just yet' by Thomas Day. Where Pierre suddenly ends your relationship; claiming it was your fault and you have to deal with the fallout.
Warnings: Cheating. I also wrote this in a couple hours so please excuse any grammatical errors. Thanks x
Word Count: 1358
Song: I don't wanna leave just yet - Thomas Day
'The world goes up in flames so fast'
“Y/N,” Pierre says from the kitchen.
“What’s going on P?” You ask, still sitting on the couch. Pierre didn’t sound like himself which concerned you, in the whole almost three years you had been together he had called you by your first name probably a handful of times. You got up and went into the kitchen, knowing that was going to be an important conversation
“I need to be honest with you Y/N; I need to be honest with myself-” He starts to say before you cut him off.
‘What are you saying?” You ask him, very confused by the situation.
“We haven’t been working for a while…and I’ve-” He says pausing, evidently trying to figure out what to say and how to say it.
“-you’ve found someone else…” You say, finishing his sentence for him, tears starting to form in the corners of your eyes, clouding your vision.
“Yes,”
And all I want is all I had But it's too late to take it back
“We can fix this…I can fix this,” You say softly.
“No Y/N,” He says, almost pained.
“Please Pierre, there’s no way this is just it,” You argue, his eyes refusing to meet yours.
“It is, I have found someone else. This isn’t just about me and you anymore…well it never was, was it?” He asks and you roll your eyes.
“You’re still insecure about that?” You asks, lost for words that he was still hung up over it. “ I never slept with him, we both told you that. Stop making things up Pierre. There never was, is, or will be anything between Charles and I.” You argue; He had apparently seen proof of you and Charles leaving a party in Ibiza together.
“The photos Y/N!” He argues back.
“Are of some random girl, who also has blonde hair. Its not that fucking uncommon.” You reason for what felt like the millionth time. “So that's it? That's the reason you’re going to use? End three years of us because of some bullshit rumour?” You ask, the tears starting to roll down your cheeks.
And I can't ask of you to give away the last of you But, selfishly, I'm hoping that you stay
“Please don’t go,” You beg as he silently packed his bags.
“I can’t stay here, can I?” He asks bitterly, sticking to his guns.
“You have to believe me, those rumours are just that, rumours,” You say. “You trust me Pierre, there is no reason I’d lie to you. Fuck me, why would Charles lie to you? He is your oldest friend for Christ's sake?!”
“You tell me Y/N? Is it because you’re still seeing each other behind my back?” He asks and you just laugh.
“Are you hearing yourself right now?” You ask incredulously
Let's lock all the doors and crawl in to bed Just another moment so I don't forget
You were sat, side by side in Pierre’s brand new Porsche; a gift He had bought himself when he signed his contract with Alpine. His hand resting on your thigh as you drove along the southern french coastline. The wind running through your hair as you sang the lyrics to your favourite songs.
As the song came to an end Pierre turned the volume down before looking over at you. Your large sunglasses and woven hat keeping the sun out of your face but bright red smile, smiling right back at him.
“Have I told you today how much I love you Cherie?” He asks sweetly, as soft blush covering your face.
“I don’t think you have,” You reply as he brings your hand up to his lips.
“Well we definitely need to change that,” He says, causing you to laugh softly. “I love you Y/N so much it hurts; it feels like I was made to love you. We are perfect for each other and nothing will ever come between us, because I love you,” He says honestly and jokingly; you both had found the notion of true love to be made up, but people around you had always commented on the fact you were perfect for eachother.
“Yeah right,” You reply teasingly.
“Cherie, it pains me that there may even be a little part of you that doesnt think what I said was true,” He says with a laugh as He comes to park at your next stop. A tiny village surrounded by vineyards, known for their white wine
'Cause it's gonna hurt, and I'm scared to death We have to go but I don't wanna leave just yet
How couldn’t he believe you? 
You had even gotten Charles to speak to him about it; Pierre barely listened to him as He spoke. Neither of you making much difference. That had been a few months ago, you had thought you had moved past it considering you hadn’t actually seen charles since the supposed event. But apparently not.
How were you going to be ok without him? He had been your lifeline, your rock for nearly three years. And how could he throw that all away over rumour?
Of all people to not be affected by rumour, you would have thought it was him. His job and the places he worked were full of speculation, gossip and rumour. There were constant rumours about the latest supermodel He had bedded, but you didn’t let that get to you. Why was the other way around any different?
You were lost.
The truth is written on the walls But we'll lay here and watch them fall
You lay in bed, staring at the framed photos on the walls. 
You and Pierre in Rouen,
You and Pierre at the beach in Monaco with Charles and Charlotte,
Christmas last year that you spent with your family,
The selfie you took on your anniversary date,
The road trip you took around the UK when you first got together, wanting to show him all your favourite places.
The photo Esteban had taken of the two of you kissing in the back of Pierre’s garage only a few months ago.
You thought about taking them down so you didn’t have to look at them, not wanting to face what was reality for so long. You cried, remembering each memory associated with each photo, how much it hurt that he wasn’t here, and wasn’t going to walk through the bedroom door and scoop you up into his arms; telling you everything was going to be ok.
And please forgive me for holding on I'm tryna take it in before you're gone
He had forgotten it when he had packed all his stuff up. A linen shirt. Something so basic, but so important at the same time. That was his signature outfit. The one he wore on your yearly Lake Como trip, or when you go to France to see his family, or when he was just lounging around the apartment. You were surprised when He messaged, you knew for a fact He had a handful of other shirts just like it.
But this would be it; you held it close to you. Inhaling the, now, feint smell of his cologne for what would be the last time before you heard your doorbell ring. You folded the shirt, setting it down before answering the door.
“Hey Pierre,” You said opening it to reveal him standing on the other side.
“Just let me have my shirt Y/N, I don’t want this to be any longer than it has to be,” He says and you have to stifle your emotions, just nodding and grabbing the shirt from the table.
“Here,” You say, handing it to him.
“Thanks,” He says quietly before turning away and heading down the hallway. You watched as he walked away from you for the last time.
'Cause it's gonna hurt, and I'm scared to death We have to go but I don't wanna leave just yet
His clothes were gone,
His toothbrush was gone,
The photos were gone,
His smell was gone,
He was gone.
And you? You were lost.
A/N : I might do a few more of these purely text based fics as they are much quicker to write than my Instagram fics and shorter; though I will continue to do them I just want to be posting more regularly for you all. -E x
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seungkwansphd · 2 years
Text
to boil a frog
pairing: seungcheol x reader wordcount: 15.6k summary: you & cheol go back, like way back. growing up together, you never felt anything more for him than a proximity based fondness, but things are a little different since you moved back to town. genre/themes: tattoo artist!coups, childhood acquaintances to lovers. brother’s best friend (but it’s not so much a theme as it is just a statement of fact). S L O W B U R N. idk that this is even fluff but more like just romance? mention of alcohol, tattoos, needles...cat?
a/n: truly idk what this is and why. it’s so long & self indulgent, but i’m in my soft era i guess, hah!
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“Hi, I’m here for my tattoo with Seungcheol?” you checked in with the unfairly stylish receptionist at the front desk of the tattoo and piercing studio. “I booked for 3pm.”
“Okay, yes, here you are!” they smiled up at you, “If you want to just take a seat, I’ll see how he’s doing with prepping the room.”
“Perfect!” you smiled before moving towards the waiting area.
    Your foot bounced excitedly as you waited. In addition to being excited to get your first tattoo, you were doubly excited because you had history with Seungcheol. He’d been one of your brother’s closest friends growing up and despite not keeping in touch since they’d left for college, you’d really enjoyed following his artistic evolution on social media. You weren’t sure if he’d recognize you anymore, to be honest. It would be funnier if he didn’t.
“YN?” the receptionist returned, greeting you with a smile, “He’s ready if you’d like to follow me!”
“Sure!” you stood, “I love your dermals, by the way! The placement is so good,” you gushed as you followed them through a short hallway.
“Ah, thank you so much! They’re probably the piercing I worry about ripping out the most, but I do love them,” they chuckled before gesturing to an open door. “He’ll be right through here.”
“Awesome, thank you so much!” you grinned before stepping through.
“Hey,” Seungcheol greeted you after hearing your footsteps. His back was still turned to you as he finished wiping down his countertop. “YN, right? You know what’s funny, one of my friends has a sister who shares your exact name. Like last name and everything,” he chuckled before turning to greet you.
“Huh that’s weird,” you mirrored his laugh, trying to hide your curiosity as his eyes finally met yours. His eyes scanned your face for a few moments before he rolled his eyes and let out a loud laugh.
“Oh I’m a fuckin’ idiot,” he laughed, “What the hell are you doing here?” he leaned back in his chair, looking at you with slight disbelief.
“Mm, here to get a tattoo,” you deadpanned.
“Yeah no shit, but why are you home? I thought you were living that big city life now,” Seungcheol rolled his eyes at you again. You had always been a sarcastic scamp as a kid and it didn’t surprise him that this was still true.
“Oh did he not tell you?” you asked, referring to your brother. “I’m moving back. Well closer at least. I got a different job offer out here.”
“Oh no, I hadn’t heard,” Seungcheol shook his head, “To be honest, Jihun and I don’t talk all that much anymore. Not since he moved, at least.”
“Ah,” you nodded, “That makes sense. Time zones and whatnot.”
“But that’s cool! New job and I bet your parents will be glad you’ll be closer.”
“Yeah,” you nodded, “They are verily psyched.”
“Well that’s dope! It’ll be good to have you around again,” Seungcheol laughed before shifting topics, “So this tattoo. Did you have something in mind? You’re my last appointment, so we can take some time drafting and working on things.”
“I was actually planning on just picking something from your available flash,” you confessed, “I’m a big fan of the latest set. But…,” you flashed him a cheesy grin, “If you’re offering, I’m not gonna turn down a custom design from you. And I expect a friends and family discount, of course.”
“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” Seungcheol laughed heartily. You were making the same face you used to make at him in high school when you were in a bind and needed help.
“Not much,” you laughed, eyeing some of the designs up on the walls. “Honestly, I’m down for whatever,” you shrugged.
“How about this? Pick out a few of the flash designs that you like and we can weave something together. I think that’d be fun.”
“Deal,” you grinned, accepting the binder of flash sheets from him. Pursing your lips, you flipped through it in its entirety before going back to the beginning to point out the ones that had caught your eye.
    Seungcheol couldn’t help but approve of the way you reviewed the designs in full before pointing out your favorites. You seemed to gravitate towards botanical, insect, and occultish designs which made sense, given how many times you’d attempted to cast spells on him and Jihun as children. More than a few times at sleepovers, they had woken up to find that rocks, leaves, and twigs had been strategically placed around them while they’d been sleeping. He couldn’t help but chuckle fondly as he recalled a specific incident where you’d snuck up on him to pluck out one of his hairs. When pressed on the issue, you’d calmly explained that you needed it for a spell to make him go bald.
“Okay, those are all the ones I like best,” you nodded at him, waiting for feedback.
“Alright, let me work something up. You can chill in here,” Seungcheol took the binder back from you, flipping between the designs you’d marked with sticky tabs and moving to draft up something new.
“How long’s it gonna take?” you made a face at him, “Can I go look at the piercing portfolios instead?” you asked, not really appealed by the idea of just sitting and waiting.
“I mean sure,” he shrugged, “Ask Wren for them,” he pointed back towards the reception area, “I’ll come get you when I’m ready.”
“Yay!” you popped up excitedly, clapping your hands together as you walked back towards reception.
“Hey Wren, can I take a peek at the piercers’ portfolios? And also can I ask you where you get your hair done? I’m moving back here soon, but I haven’t lived here in a while and could use a stylist rec.”
“Oh of course!” Wren smiled brightly at you, “So do you know Cheol from when you lived here before?” they asked as they pulled out the piercing portfolios to hand to you.
“Yea, we grew up together,” you nodded, flipping the binders open, “I wouldn’t say we were friends? But he was close friends with my brother so he was at our house a lot.”
“That makes a lot more sense,” Wren nodded with understanding, “I was wondering why he was so chatty with you! Usually his room is way more quiet.”
“Oh yeah, we go way back. A lot of shenanigans,” you grinned as a few septums caught your eye.
“So where do you live now?” Wren inquired after giving you the Instagram handle of their current stylist.
“I’m actually in the process of moving back! I got a job in the next town over, but I was thinking I’d move back around here since there’s more to do? This is actually mostly an apartment hunting trip.”
“Oh my goodness, well let’s be friends when you move back! I’ve been trying to get Cheol to come out and do things more with me and my partner, but he’s kind of introverted so he doesn’t bite all that often.”
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to convince him either,” you laughed, “We’re not exactly close. But I would love to be friends! I don’t know too many people who live here anymore.”
“Okay, deal! Let’s exchange phone numbers then. It’ll be good to hang out with someone less grumpy than Seungcheol,” Wren teased, eyes dancing at the man in question as he entered the reception area.
“So grumpy!” you giggled playfully at his expression, “I’m going to leave you a bad review for poor bedside manner,” you couldn’t help but tease him.
“You’d be grumpy too if you had two imps bothering you!” Seungcheol protested with a pout, before beckoning you with his hand, “Now come on, I’m done with my draft.”
“Okay,” you shrugged, following him back to his room.
“What do you think? It might be a little bigger than you had planned, but we can scale down if needed.”
“No, I love it!” you sighed, eyes sparkling as you looked at the design. The final draft was a staghorn beetle with a third eye on its thorax surrounded by a wreath of botanical work that included some of your favorite plants and flowers.
“I had a hard time deciding between a moth or the beetle,” Seungcheol mused, “But you were always a little…unique, so I went with the beetle.”
“Thanks, I think,” you narrowed your eyes at him, unsure if he was sassing you. “I’m a huge fan of this. I think you chose great. Now as far as placement, I am thinking thigh? Left thigh?”
“Do you wanna go this big?” Seungcheol asked. The tattoo artist in him thrilled the idea of the placement, but he wanted to make sure you weren’t overcommitting.
“I mean, I’ll be honest, that wasn’t what I had planned. But don’t you feel like…it deserves it?” you pulled up the leg of your shorts in the mirror to try and envision the placement and it just felt right. “I think at least let’s pop the stencil on so we can see it. But my gut says yeah.”
“Okay,” Seungcheol nodded. That was a good idea.
“Yeah. Yeah, yeah,” you nodded furiously at him after he had placed the stencil on. “She’s just gonna be a big bitch, I don’t know what to tell you, Seungcheol. It just feels right, right?”
“Yeah, I agree,” Seungcheol grinned at you, “We can do this in multiple sittings too, so don’t feel like it needs to all be done in one day.”
“I’ll let you know,” you smiled up at him, “Eee! I’m excited!”
“Alright skippy, let’s get you up on this table and we’ll get started,” Seungcheol patted the tattoo table. He made a few adjustments so that your thigh was positioned at a comfortable working height before getting started. “How’s that?” he asked above the buzzing of the tattoo gun.
“Not too bad, actually,” you were surprised to find out, “It’s just…buzzy?”
“Hah! I mean that’s good, okay I’ll keep going then,” he laughed, ducking his head back down to continue working.
    The time passed surprisingly quickly. You and Seungcheol caught up on a variety of topics until you ran out of things to talk about. After that, he let you choose some music and you simply watched him work quietly. By your math, it had been around two years since you had last seen him and seven since you’d had an actual conversation with him. Somehow he looked both the same and different. He had always been sturdy, especially in the legs, but he seemed to have filled out more in the arms and shoulders in recent years. His face looked exactly the same, but his hair was now longer than you remembered it ever being in the past. It suited him.
“Doing okay?” he checked in as he worked on a section of shading. He had been going over the same area of skin for a while and was wondering how you were holding up.
“Yup,” you nodded. It was starting to get a bit sensitive, but you weren’t ready to tap out just yet. You focused on inhaling deeply through your nostrils and exhaling slowly through your mouth, which helped.
“Good girl,” he murmured approvingly as his left hand moved to grasp you at the knee, turning your inner thigh out to face him a bit more.
    Your eyes flashed to him and your breathing pattern halted as you processed his words. With the soft praise, the somewhat breathy tone of his voice, and the pressure of his fingertips at your inner thigh, you found yourself shivering. Whether Seungcheol was aware of it or not, you found yourself deeply flustered by his praise and wildly confused at your reaction. Swallowing, you tried to gauge whether he even registered what he had just said, but he seemed to still be deeply absorbed in shading.
“Should we take a break?” he looked up suddenly, “You’re getting squirmy, it seems like.”
“I-, uh, yeah,” you did your best to act normal, “Yeah a break would be good, I think,” you managed to answer him.
“Okay,” Seungcheol stood up, “I could stand to stretch my legs anyways.”
“Sounds good,” you gave him a thumbs up as you raised your arms above your head to do some stretching yourself.
    Seungcheol peeled off his gloves and turned to take a sip of water. His expression creased once his back was turned to you. Why the hell had he said that to you? It certainly hadn’t been on purpose, but as soon as it left his mouth, he’d wanted to wince. He could only hope that you hadn’t heard it or registered its weirdness. 
“Do you need any water or a snack? We’ve been at it for a while,” he offered, pulling open a cabinet to reveal a handful of water bottles and a variety of snacks.
“I have water in my bag, if you don’t mind grabbing it for me? I would eat something though.”
“Should we order something? It’s getting to be around dinner time, I wouldn’t mind eating something proper,” he suggested as he handed you a granola bar.
“Oh yeah! Build in another break in a couple of hours, that sounds good. What’s good to eat around here nowadays?” you asked through a mouthful of granola.
“Tomato Pie is actually still open, if you feel like pizza,” Seungcheol chuckled as he scrolled through restaurants on his phone. “Otherwise it just depends on what you want?”
“I’m not feeling pizza. Let’s save TP for another time,” you shook your head, “What about sushi? Something light or fresh.”
“Oh sure! Um, how about this place?” he offered you his phone. You scanned the PDF menu before nodding.
“Yeah that looks good! I’ll do roll 37 in a combo.”
“Cool, I’ll have Wren order for us. They might want to eat too,” he nodded, stepping out of the room momentarily. Before too long, the sound of the tattoo gun was droning and you fell into an easy quiet with Seungcheol again.
“Please tell me more about Cheol as a kid,” Wren asked desperately as they swirled udon around their chopsticks.
“No,” Seungcheol grumbled.
“Of course!” you answered over him.
“Do y’all have a favorite memory together? Or a most distinct one?”
“Favorite?” your brows furrowed in concentration as you tried to think. “Like I said, he and I weren’t really friends? But, oh!” you clapped your hands together suddenly, “But this one stands out! It was the end of summer before Jihun and Seungcheol were leaving for college.”
“Please don’t tell this story,” Seungcheol buried his face into his hands, ears turning pink.
“Oh it’s cute though!” you argued, but you wouldn’t tell it without his consent. You waited a moment for him to lift his head again, eyebrows raising in a way that you knew to mean ‘go ahead’.
    Eyes sparkling, you recalled the night before your brother and Seungcheol moved away for college. You had been nearly inconsolable as you and Jihun really had been close growing up and you simply couldn’t imagine finishing high school without them. He and Seungcheol had tried all manner of things to cheer you up, but nothing worked until they whipped out an emergency dance routine to your then-favorite boy band. They hadn’t really put all that much effort into learning it and mostly tripped over themselves, but it had done the trick and you’d laughed so hard that you cried. That was still an incredibly fond night for you.
“Oh and he was blonde then too! That was an era,” you wrinkled your nose as you finished telling the story.
“He can dance?” Wren looked at you incredulously.
“No, he can’t! But he tried, and that was what was important,” you chuckled heartily. “Honestly, Cheol was kind of just a good person. He was usually nice to me, but generally I just saw glimpses of him around.”
“You’re failing to mention all of the times that I bailed you out when Jihun was busy,” Seungcheol gave you a pointed glance.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” you shook your head playfully at him. “He’s always been an old man like this.”
“He is responsible like that, isn’t he?” Wren nodded at you. “Our Studio Daddy.”
“Eugh yuck!” your skin crawled as you heard Wren refer to Seungcheol as Daddy. “No no no, don’t like that one bit!”
“You and me both,” Seungcheol rolled his eyes at both of you as he finished up his food. “You done? Let’s finish this bitch up. We’re getting close.”
“You good to lock up, boss?” Wren asked as they cleared their dishes.
“Yeah, you’re good! Just turn off the reception lights and lock the door when you leave. Don’t want any randos wandering in.”
“Sure!”
“So are you in charge?” you asked after Seungcheol had settled back into to finish up the last sections of shading on the beetle legs. Wren kept referring to him as ‘boss’, but you couldn’t tell if it was just good natured ribbing.
“Kind of. I hate being called boss, but I do own the studio now. The last owners were ready to retire and move, so they made me a good deal. I don’t feel like the owner yet, but I guess technically I am.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s really impressive, Seungcheol. I’m proud of you,” you smiled genuinely at him.
“This is weird, you’re never this serious,” he raised an eyebrow at you, a little uncomfortable to receive your genuine praise.
“I know, but I am serious!” you laughed, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been following you for a while. I’m proud of how you’ve developed your art form and now you even own the studio! I think that’s super dope.”
“Thanks,” he grinned, ducking his head down to hide his blush under the guise of inspecting his work. It wasn’t too much longer before he was finished and applying tattoo dressing. “So for aftercare. Everyone has their own opinion, but I like Saniderm. Keep this one on for 24 hours and remove and wash. If you want, you can apply another sheet. Try to wear loose clothing as much as you can, but life is life. You can always call if you feel like it looks weird, but basically treat it like a wound cause it is.”
“Cool, sounds good!” you gave him a thumbs up. “What’s the damage, boss?”
“Shut up,” he rolled his eyes at you before working up a number that was on the low end of reasonable.
“That’s too low,” you decided, counting out bills until you reached a number that seemed more fair. “Dinner money’s in there too.”
“I-,” Seungcheol was slightly surprised. Not that he thought you’d be stingy, but because he was still accustomed to the you that begged rides off of him and never had gas money.
“I’ve had a big kid job for years now, don’t look so shocked,” you smiled at him, tucking your things back into your bag. “It was really good to see you, Coups. Maybe Wren and I can talk you into a night out sometime.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he half smiled at the old nickname as he waved you out the door. His lips curled into a full smile after the door swung shut. It had been good to see you.
“Hey boss?” Wren popped into Seungcheol’s office, trying to seem casual.
“I told you don’t call me that,” he looked up from his sketching. “What is it?”
“Do you have any strong friends that could help move some furniture this weekend? They will be paid.”
“You’ve never paid me to move furniture for you,” he narrowed his eyes at Wren, “Also didn’t you just move like a couple months ago? Why are you moving again?”
“Not me, YN. They just texted me. I guess the moving company cancelled at the last minute, so she’s scrambling for options.”
“Oh, shit. That sucks,” Seungcheol crossed his arms, brow furrowing at the situation. “I mean I could probably scrounge up a few friends.”
“Huh, okay!” Wren fixed their boss with an odd glance before plopping into the empty chair across from him. “Did you and YN ever date? Or like…have a thing?”
“What? No,” Seungcheol made a face of slight distaste at his receptionist. “That has never even crossed my mind until now. And I find it unpleasant.”
“Ugh, boo! Friends to lovers is the best trope,” Wren frowned, “I should’ve known you’d be a party pooper about this too. Oh well, I’ll let YN know that she can count on at least one of you meatheads to show up. I’ll get the address and stuff from her too!”
“Sounds good,” Seungcheol nodded, making a quick note on a scrap piece of paper to see whether Mingyu would be free and to exchange phone numbers with you so you could contact him directly.
“Hey Cheol?”
“Huh?” Seungcheol looked up from his desk. He had been very much in the zone, so the interruption had him slightly befuddled. “Oh, YN? What are you doing here?”
“Do you mind if I chill in the lobby and charge my phone? I didn’t see Wren, they must be doing something else, but I didn’t want to just be like a loiterer without someone knowing,” you huffed.
“Yeah, I mean, but you didn’t answer my question. Are you okay?” he asked. You didn’t look completely upended, but you were a little frazzled.
“Oh, yeah I’m fine! I just got lost and my phone battery died so I couldn’t pull up a map,” you grumbled, shuffling back to the waiting area and setting your bag down. You rifled through briefly to pull out a charging cable. “I decided to bus and walk home after work, since I’m still trying to get the layout of the city, but I got super lost. I slightly recognized this neighborhood from when I drove in for the tattoo. So here I am!” you gestured as if to say ‘ta-da’.
“Ah, I see,” Cheol couldn’t help but laugh as he took a seat next to you in the lobby. “How is work going?”
“Pretty good! I’m picking up the quirks of the software that they use, but for the most part, the job is very similar to my old one and I’ll be good at it. I like my coworkers too, which is always good.”
“Good,” he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“How was your day? Busy?” 
“It was okay,” he shrugged, “No tattoos today, I have Wednesdays set aside for bookkeeping, paperwork, and other businessy activities. Not my favorite, but gotta do it.”
“And how’s that?” you grinned at him, “If I remember right, you weren’t the most mathematically inclined.”
“You remember correctly,” Seungcheol grimaced.
“If you ever want help with the bookkeeping stuff, let me know. I can build a mean spreadsheet,” you offered. Despite not having been close with him in years, you felt invested in his success.
“Really?” he cocked his head at you, surprised.
“Of course! We were friendly before, right? We can be friends for real this time,” you scrunched your nose playfully at him. “Plus I definitely owe you for sending me Mingyu and Chan. Lifesavers, those two.”
“Yeah, they’re alright,” Seungcheol chuckled. “I might take you up on that spreadsheet thing, cause doing the math by hand is strange and unusual punishment.”
“Sounds good, just text me,” you nodded, eyes lighting up when your phone had charged enough to power itself back on.
“YN!” Wren called your name excitedly as they returned to the reception desk. “Sorry, I was taking inventory. What are you doing here?”
    Seungcheol returned to his office as you gave Wren the rundown of your unfortunate turn of events. You wanted to be friends this time around, huh? That could be alright.
“I’m starting to regret this whole ‘friends’ thing,” Seungcheol groaned as you dragged him towards the bar. The rest of the studio staff was already there, but he had taken his time closing up, hoping that Wren would’ve run out of patience and just left without him. In the past, this strategy had been successful, but that was before you were part of the equation. You had a longer attention span and just when Seungcheol thought he’d gotten away with it, you’d popped up at his side, asking him if he was ready to go.
“No take backs,” you teased, only releasing the grip on his sleeve after you’d pulled him full inside the establishment. “Wren! We’re here!”
“Finally! Did he do his usual thing of taking way too long?”
“Yes, you were right,” you laughed, hopping onto an empty barstool.
    Cheol narrowed his eyes at you. While he had grown to be able to handle Wren’s brand of shenanigans, he wasn’t sure how to feel about your powers combined. He watched you chat excitedly with Vernon about lizards or something before deciding that he needed a beer.
“Anyone else need drinks?” he asked, glancing across the table.
“If you’re buying, then yes!” Hoshi jumped up excitedly and appeared at Seungcheol’s side.
“YN, what do you want?” Wren tapped on your shoulder gently as they moved to order with Cheol.
“Oh, whiskey soda with a cherry?”
“What?!” Wren’s eyebrows pinched together, “Miss girl, this is a dive bar. Can you please 
order something normal?”
“Hah! Well then just get me a beer or something,” you shrugged, eager to get back to discussing the Galapagos marine iguana’s algae based diet with Vernon.
“What the hell are they even talking about?” Wren did a double take before their boss tugged them towards the bar.
“It’s better that you probably don’t ask,” he chuckled as he hailed the bartender.
“Hey what can I get you?”
    Wren rattled off the group’s order before looking back at you. “Shit, and some sort of beer,” their brow furrowed as they scanned through the options.
“You got cherries back there?” Seungcheol cut through Wren’s thinking.
“Yeah,” the bartender fixed him with a surprised look.
“Okay, then a whiskey soda with a splash of sour and a cherry. Nix that beer.”
“Weird, but sure,” the bartender laughed, moving to fill the order.
“I don’t think she asked for sour?” Wren asked Seungcheol.
“She always forgets to say it. She won’t like it without it,” he shrugged with a wry smile.
Wren watched their boss out of the corner of their eye. In the few weeks of knowing you, Wren had done a little bit of poking and was surprised that you and Seungcheol both independently maintained that nothing had ever happened or even threatened to happen between you two. In fact, you both had such a surprised reaction that made it seem like neither of you had even entertained the possibility. Yet, small things like this happened every so often and would surprise Wren anew that things were just platonic between you two.
“You got it all?” the bartender asked again, watching Cheol and Wren haphazardly gather up the six drinks between them.
“I think we’re good,” Wren finally nodded, leading the way back to the table. “Okay, so…,” they trailed off as they doled out the drinks around the table.
“Oh! I thought I was getting beer?” you were surprised when you received your drink.
“They had cherries,” was all Seungcheol offered up in explanation.
“Oh, well thanks!” you beamed at him before taking a sip.
“So what was the name of that documentary again?” Vernon asked, drawing your attention back, “I might just leave now to watch it,” he mumbled to himself as he pulled out his phone to make a note.
“Oh come on,” you chided him, “We just got here! I’ll give you the name of the documentary at the end of the night, as incentive,” you suggested.
“That’ll work,” he grumbled slightly, slipping his phone into his pocket and turning his attention back to the group’s conversation. Hoshi was regaling the group theatrically about something or the other.
    Seungcheol raised an eyebrow. He was surprised that you’d managed to convince Vernon to stay out. That was something that even he couldn’t pull off sometimes.
“So YN, are you liking your new job?” Hoshi asked after sharing his many personal thoughts and feelings about Tiger King.
“Yes!” you nodded, “I really like everyone at the practice! My trainer is super funny and nice and she said I’m basically ready to fly solo next week,” you grinned, a little nervous now that all eyes were on you.
“Remind me what you do again?” Joshua asked kindly. He was one of the piercers at the studio that you had probably spent the least amount of time with.
“I’m a vet tech! So, you know, helping with exams, running analyses, and giving vaccinations. That kind of thing.”
“Ah, so we have some things in common then,” Joshua quipped about the vaccinations.
“Hey if you’ve got a passion for stabbin’, might as well get paid for it,” you joked, prompting a chorus of laughs.
Eventually, the group broke off, some heading to the dance floor and others moving to play darts. You watched the game of darts until you were ready for a refill. As you waited for the bartender, you fished the cherry out from your melting ice cubes. It was the best part, after all.
“What’re you drinking there?” a voice to your right drew your attention.
“Hm,” you regarded the man with a suspicious glance, “I don’t think I'll tell you. You look like you’d tease me for it.”
“Oh? Well it’ll be tricky to buy you a drink, then,” he chuckled, a little taken aback by your response.
“I-,what?” you blurted out after processing his words.
“I’m Yejun,” he smiled at you, “Can I buy your next drink?”
“Hm, I suppose you can!” you chuckled. You observed his side profile as he flagged down the bartender. “So do you live here, Yejun?”
“I do,” he nodded, “Do you?”
“I do now,” you grinned, “I actually grew up around here and recently moved back for a job. Things are kind of the same, kind of different.”
“Oh really? How long has it been since you lived here? And what’s different?” he asked, smiling charmingly as he leaned against the bar, turning to face you fully.
    Seungcheol watched intently as you chatted with this man. His brow furrowed slightly trying to gauge whether he needed to intervene. For a while, your expression was wary, but eventually you broke out into a teasing smile and he could tell that the attention was welcome. You were more than capable of holding your own, Cheol knew that, and so he returned to watching darts.
    Wren was stumped as they watched Seungcheol watch you. For a moment he’d almost looked jealous, but that tension eventually dissipated and he returned to darts as if nothing had happened. When Wren looked at you again, you were happily chatting with a man at the bar, which was somehow even more confusing.
“Ah, I’m so glad you were free this weekend! You’ve been so wrapped up in Yejun that I feel like I barely see you anymore!” Wren tittered animatedly as they wrapped you up in a hug.
“Wren we hung out on Tuesday,” you laughed, shaking your head.
“Yes, and it’s been far too long between then and now. Speaking of, how are things going with Yejun? If he’s not treating you well, I will bring the boys to beat him up!” Wren threatened.
“There’s no need for that at all,” you shook your head vigorously, “Things are going good! I don’t know that I feel super…serious about him, but it’s been fun so far!”
“Hm. Well if you’d rather just date someone at the studio, I’d prefer that so I could see you all the time! I think Vernon is single, and you both love those damned lizards.”
“Hah! Iguanas,” you corrected them as you scanned down the list of cocktails. An aperol spritzer sounded good in the day’s warm weather. “No, I won’t date anyone at the studio. I don’t date friends, that’s a recipe for disaster.”
“You’re smarter than most,” Wren laughed. Couldn’t fault your logic.
“How are things with the boys? I feel like it’s been a bit since I’ve seen everyone. Anything interesting happen lately?”
“Oh, we might have a stray cat hanging around?” Wren clapped their hands together, “There’s a calico that showed up both yesterday and today.”
“Really? No collar or anything, I assume? Does it have a clipped ear? Is it friendly?”
“No, no, and yes,” Wren answered, “Should we do anything special for it?”
“Honestly, we should try and grab it so that we can take it to a vet to get it checked out. See if it’s microchipped. I can bring some stuff from the office and maybe let’s pick up some wet food after lunch? You can bring that to the studio.”
“Sounds good!” Wren nodded gamely. “Aside from that, nothing new at the studio. We’re a boring bunch these days.”
“You know honestly, that’s not a bad thing,” you smiled.
“We should go out for a happy hour sometime this week,” Wren suggested as your entrees arrived. “Maybe Thursday? You can bring Yejun!”
“Oh sure! Are we going to try and bring Seungcheol? Or not worth the fight?” you scrunched your nose up playfully.
“I mean, I always want the whole gang to be there. But might need your help again.”
“I can be on Coups duty,” you laughed, “It’s light work.”
“Alright, well if you’re in then I’m in,” Wren laughed. You did seem to have a way with Seungcheol that nobody else did.
    The rest of lunch was filled with odds and ends of conversation before you and Wren walked to the supermarket to pick up a few cans of wet cat food. Wren headed back to the studio and you drove to the veterinary office to pick up some supplies. A humane trap, a cat carrier, and a kitty straightjacket accompanied you back to the tattoo studio. 
“I’m here!” you announced as you brought the trap into the reception area.
“Um, what’s happening now?” Minghao, one of the other tattoo artists, looked on curiously as you fiddled with the gate of the humane trap.
“I told YN about our new friend! She’s going to help us trap it so we can take it to the vet.”
“Oh, I see,” Hao chuckled before returning to his room. Since you’d moved back home, you’d clearly established yourself as Wren’s new partner in crime. It was usually entertaining.
“Okay, I think I got it,” you nodded before grabbing a can of food and walking back outside to place the trap against the side of the building. You popped the can open and placed it at the back of the trap. “Now hopefully we catch the stray cat and not some other beastie,” you muttered to yourself as you walked back inside. Last time you’d set up a humane trap, you’d woken up to a livid raccoon instead of the stray you’d set out to capture.
“Hey Wren, can you order more of these supplies please?” Cheol dropped off a list at the receptionist desk, barely registering your presence. Between your help setting up his profit and loss statements and just general shenanigans with Wren, you’d become somewhat of a regular at the studio.
“Sir, yes sir!” Wren saluted playfully before waving you out the door. You had errands to run yet, but you let Wren know to call you if and when the stray showed back up.
“Oh my gosh, she is so so cute! I have named her Sausage Patty, we shall call her Patty and I love her very much,” you gushed over drinks. The studio had organized a staff outing again and Yejun had opted to join, so all of your people were in one place.
“You said this was a cat?” Yejun asked, “I thought your place didn’t allow pets?”
“It doesn’t,” you sighed, “But Cheol can keep her in until I can find a new place, right? It isn’t too terribly long before my lease is up,” you pleaded with him hopefully.
“Ah,” Yejun shifted uncomfortably, “I, um. We should talk later,” he ducked his head to whisper in your ear.
“Oh, okay?” you nodded at this ominous feeling request.
“So Yejun, tell us about yourself,” Wren prompted, eager to get to know the person you’d been dating. “YN has mentioned some things, but I’m nosy.”
    Yejun chuckled good naturedly and shared his age, where he had lived before here, and that he worked as a financial advisor at the local bank.
“Oh interesting, do you enjoy that?” Joshua asked, eyes dancing.
    Seungcheol fixed Joshua and Hoshi with a warning glance as Yejun answered Joshua’s query.  He could tell that the boys did not find Yejun particularly interesting, but they didn’t have to in order to be nice. You were the one dating him, after all.
“It’s alright,” Yejun shrugged, not picking up on Shua’s teasing. “There are things that I like and things that I don’t, but that’s any job, isn’t it?”
“Sure is!” Hoshi chimed in mischievously, “For example, Seungcheol is the thing that I don’t like most about my job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cheol laughed, “If this is where the conversation is going, then I’m going to grab a beer,” he announced. Joshua took the opportunity to join him at the bar.
“My god, our YN is dating a banker? Where did we go wrong, Cheol?” Joshua bemoaned jokingly as he leaned against the bar.
“Joshua,” Cheol warned him, the slightest edge audible in his voice. “Be nice.”
“He’s so dull,” Joshua pressed on, “She can do better.”
“That’s not our business,” Seungcheol shrugged as he accepted a fresh beer from the bartender. “If you can’t be nice, then I suggest you stay away. YN will take it personally if you tell her you don’t like him. Just leave it.”
“Fine,” Joshua ran his tongue over his teeth with displeasure, “A banker of all things. Please.”
“You remember when you dated that flight attendant, right? We all kept it to ourselves until things ended. YN is our friend now, so you can do her the same courtesy.”
“I wish you’d given me your honest feedback then. That was a major waste of my time,” Joshua bristled as he recalled that toxic relationship.
    When they returned to the table they found that Hoshi had wandered off with Vernon to play darts and Wren was doing their best to hold the conversation with Yejun. There really wasn’t anything specifically wrong with Yejun, he just didn’t have much in common with any of them. Seungcheol briefly wondered what you two talked about, but it left his mind just as quickly.
“So what did you want to talk about earlier?” you asked Yejun hesitantly as he walked you to your door. There was a nip in the air and your cheeks were flushed pink as you looked up at him.
“Oh, yeah,” his expression filled with unease, “I guess I should let you know that I’m allergic to cats. It hadn’t really come up before, but it’s relevant now.”
“Oh,” your expression fell at this news. Somehow it was both a big deal and not a big deal. On the one hand, you were still in a very casual stage with Yejun and wouldn’t be able to live with Patty for a while even if you and Seungcheol did manage to work something out. But on the other hand, if this was a deal breaker, you wondered if you were just wasting your time. You loved animals and couldn’t envision a future without them. “Are you allergic to other animals too? Or just cats?”
“Mildly allergic to dogs, but my cat allergy is quite severe,” he answered apologetically.
“I see,” you nodded, “Well…I would say that since I’m still not sure I’ll be able to convince Seungcheol to keep Patty for me in the meantime and I’m at least five months out from being at the end of my lease, I’m not sure this needs to change anything between us? What do you think, though?”
“I agree,” Yejun smiled with a sense of relief.
“Great,” you grinned up at him. “Well, I’m home. Maybe we can do something next week?”
“That sounds great!” Yejun pulled you in for a quick peck before moving to drive himself home.
“Hello?” Seungcheol’s brows furrowed as he read the name on the incoming call. “YN? Are you okay?”
“Hey,” you sniffed, second guessing yourself. You briefly considered hanging up, but decided it would be helpful to have a sounding board. “Are you busy?”
“No, what’s up?” he shook his head, noting that you hadn’t answered his question.
“Can I swing by? I need some advice. Or maybe just to talk, I’m not sure,” you muttered, pressing your palm against your cheek.
“Yeah, of course,” Cheol nodded, “I’m home right now so come by whenever. Patty would like to see you too, I’m sure.”
“Okay, I’ll be over soon then,” you nodded forlornly before ending the call.
    You second guessed yourself the entire way over. Maybe this wasn’t a big enough deal to bother Seungcheol about. Maybe you should’ve called Wren instead. But you knew that Wren would not be impartial and you knew, in your gut, that if it wasn’t a big enough deal to bother Cheol about, then you wouldn’t have called him. Before you knew it, you were parked in front of Seungcheol’s place and you weren’t about to drive right back home.
    You walked up the steps and tried the doorknob. With all of the shared cat custody, he had gotten into the habit of leaving the front door unlocked when he knew you were on the way. Today was no different.
“I’m here,” you announced generally as you slipped off your shoes. Cheol appeared with a beer before you had gotten the second one off.
“You sounded like you needed a drink,” he smiled sympathetically at you.
“You know all about me nowadays, huh?” you laughed, taking the cold beverage from him.
“Little bit,” he grinned, “So what’s up?” he asked after you took a seat at his kitchen table. You gestured for him to sit down next to you before you answered.
“Yejun and I broke up…I guess? Is it even breaking up if you were just kind of dating?” you thought aloud. “Whatever you want to call it, we will no longer be a thing.”
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that,” Seungcheol’s expression creased with worry. “Do you want to talk about what happened? Or what’s helpful?”
“I’m not too torn up about what happened,” you thought for a moment, trying to identify your feelings, “But I am sad. But I don’t feel like I should be sad because it wasn’t that serious? Also he was allergic to cats so was it gonna work out anyways?” you were surprised when you felt the tears pricking at your eyes. You had done such a good job of keeping it together all week, but now talking about it in such clarity really broke something free inside of you and suddenly you were crying.
    Seungcheol froze. He had never seen you cry before and he was at a loss about what to do. He wanted to be supportive, but didn’t really know what that should look like for you. Did you want a hug? Did you hate hugs? It frustrated him deeply that he didn’t already know the answer.
“What would be helpful right now?” he found himself asking.
“It’s silly, but I could use a hug,” you sighed, almost rolling your eyes at yourself. You’d never really been one for physical affection, but the thought of being wrapped up in Cheol’s arms seemed comforting in a way that you needed desperately right now.
    He moved immediately, standing over you with his arms outstretched. You stood up to fit yourself into him and his arms folded around you without thought. You were surprised at how natural it felt. You allowed yourself a few more sobs into his chest before letting yourself just feel warm and secure in his hold.
    Seungcheol experienced the whole gamut of human emotion as he held you. Anger at Yejun for causing you to feel this way. Empathetic sadness. Relief when your crying stopped. And…pride at the feeling of being able to provide you comfort. It was very different and new to Seungcheol to see you in this emotionally vulnerable state, but not unpleasant by any measure.
“Okay, I feel better,” you chuckled sheepishly, pulling away from Cheol and wiping at your cheeks. “I should go home and get some sleep.”
“Okay,” he nodded at you, surprised at the instinct he felt to pull you back in.
“Thanks Cheol. Seriously.”
“I think I’m getting cold feet,” Seungcheol grimaced after seeing you mix up the bleach in a somewhat alarming way.
“No, no take backs!” you frowned, turning your foil-covered head towards him.
    Several days ago, you had bought the largest containers of bleach powder and developer that they sold at the beauty supply store. You kept saying that you weren’t torn up over Yejun, but you figured why not allow yourself to partake in some of the traditional post-break up rituals? An entirely new haircut didn’t appeal to you, but adding some vivid color did seem fun. You weren’t totally sure how Seungcheol had caught wind of this undertaking, but when he’d thought out loud about going blonde again, Wren had been insistent. Whether it turned out looking good or his hair fell off, it didn’t matter too much to Wren. Both outcomes were equally pleasing.
“I-,” he grimaced, “If I end up having to buzz my head, you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Cheol, relax,” you tried to reassure him, “I have done this before. Now just sit still.”
    Seungcheol sucked on his teeth before acquiescing and sitting down on the stool in front of you, allowing you to get started. You grinned happily as you ran your fingers through his hair, sectioning them off and applying the bleach to the foils. The way he enjoyed feeling your hands running through his hair was a little surprising to him, but soon he found himself just watching you and smiling at the way you smiled.
“Are you excited to be blonde again?” you asked around three quarters of the way through. “Was the last time in high school?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Cheol thought for a moment, “Didn’t you help me and Jihun that time too?”
“Probably? Like your guys’ senior year?”
“Yes,” he smiled, “That was a good look, if I do say so myself.”
“I agree,” you nodded as you grabbed a spare grocery bag to pop over his completely foiled head. “Okay, now we can let that process for 30 minutes. It should start to feel warm, mine kind of does already,” you touched your own foils gingerly.
“Okay, you wanna watch something while we wait?” he shrugged, flipping on the television.
“Sure,” you nodded, sitting down on the couch. You giggled happily when Patty hopped onto your lap and you scratched her under the chin.
“She loves you,” he chuckled, watching you interact with the cat.
“She loves you too!” you insisted, “Go see your dad,” you whispered at her playfully, which she ignored.
“No, she’s your cat and your cat alone. I’m just her landlord,” Seungcheol chuckled, unable to keep himself from thinking about the implication of ‘dad’.
“Okay, time to check!” you jumped up when the timer sounded. “Let me check mine first and then I’ll check yours,” you announced as you moved to the bathroom mirror.
“How’s it lookin’?” Cheol asked, leaning against the door jamb.
“I think a little longer, I’ll check again in fifteen. Now come here,” you beckoned him over. He moved to face you and spread his feet apart until you could see the top of his head. You peeled back a few foils and were surprised to see that it had lightened sufficiently. Lucky bastard. “I think you’re good to go, Seungcheol! You can rinse that bleach out and then I’ll tone you.”
“Word,” he nodded, helping you remove the rest of the foils and tuck them into garbage. You massaged your fingers through his hair, evaluating the rest of the strands before confirming he was ready to rinse. Without a word, he tugged his shirt up over his head before moving to grab the shower head.
“What are you doing?!” you almost shouted, alarmed by the shedding of clothes.
“I don’t want to get my shirt wet,” he shrugged, somehow pleased at the way you jumped.
“Let me get out of the bathroom first,” you grumbled, flushed in the cheeks as you made your way back into the living room.
“Okay, I’m done. You wanna check your foils again?” he emerged from the bathroom, rubbing his hair with a towel.
“Yes,” you nodded, trying to look anywhere but at him as he had not put the shirt back on.
After you had also rinsed the bleach out from your ends, you started mixing up toner and color. For a second time, you were applying and massaging solution into his hair.
“This feels nice,” Cheol remarked with his eyes closed, enjoying your touch.
“Does it?” your eyebrows raised, trying to stay composed. You didn’t need to look at his bare chest. You didn’t. “I guess that makes sense, like a scalp massage, right?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, eyes slowly opening again to meet your gaze through the mirror. His lips had curled into a half smile and the way he looked at you made your heart stop for a moment.
“Okay, go pop another bag on your head and let that process for 20-ish minutes?” you glanced away, clearing your throat needlessly. As Seungcheol flopped onto the couch, you applied the tanzanite hair dye to your bleached ends, doing your best to avoid staining his bathroom permanently.
“Okay, my timer’s up!” Cheol announced as he burst into the bathroom again unceremoniously. Apparently you’d zoned out after applying the purple dye and you jumped at his intrusion. “Scoot,” he grabbed you at the waist and relocated you easily. He grabbed the showerhead and leaned over the tub, rinsing the silver toner out of his hair. You intended to leave, you wanted to leave, but when it came down to it you couldn’t do anything but stare at his broad back, mind frazzled at the way he had lifted you up so easily.
“Damn,” Seungcheol whistled appreciatively, regarding himself in the mirror, “This looks good!”
“You’re welcome,” you nodded surely at him, “And you doubted me.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, you killed it,” Cheol grinned at you. Without thinking it through, he pulled you into his chest and gave you a squeeze.
“Cheol, dye!” you panicked, pushing him away. “See, now you’re purple,” you frowned, looking at the splotch of purple on his chest that had transferred from your hair. Without thought, you swiped at it with your fingers, hoping to wipe it off before it stained too badly. It took a few passes, but eventually you gathered it all and rinsed it down the sink drain.
“Thanks,” Seungcheol coughed, nerves alight at the friction of your fingertips woefully close to his nipple. A quick shudder ran through him before he could gather his thoughts and compose himself.
“Okay, now get out, I’m going to rinse out my color. Mine’s gonna be messy, so I’m just gonna take an actual shower,” you shooed him out insistently.
    After you closed and locked the door for good measure, you let out a sigh. What had you been thinking, touching his bare chest like that? You must be out of your mind. Jumping into the shower, you let the water wash the dye from your hair and the thoughts from your mind.
    Seungcheol ruminated while you showered. He had already acknowledged that something in him had shifted after you’d visited him last week. You had always just been Jihun’s sister and that hadn’t really changed much since you’d moved back. However, seeing you in that emotionally vulnerable state last week had started to chip away at the way he thought of you.
“Whew, okay, the ordeal is done!” you laughed as you emerged from the bathroom pointing at the towel wrapped around your head. “I picked a darker one, but I can’t promise that the purple is gonna wash out,” you chuckled sheepishly, skin pink and glowing from the shower.
“I’m not worried about that,” Cheol shrugged, “Now take a rest, stylist,” he teased, patting the couch cushion next to him. Patty chirped in protest at the noisy impact, but settled back into his lap eventually as you finished the show you had started earlier.
“Cheol, Cheol!” Wren beckoned Seungcheol as he was walking through the hallway towards the stockroom.
“What?”
“What do you think about starting a Tiktok account for the studio? People seem to really like them, it could help us drum up some business!”
“I don’t know…,” he rubbed his chin contemplatively, “Are you going to run it? I want no part of it, to be honest.”
“Yes, I will!” Wren nodded furiously, “This looks way more fun and I could definitely do it between my normal job responsibilities.”
“I-, okay. But people have to agree to be in your videos, okay? None of this sneaky filming business,” Seungcheol furrowed his brows at them before returning to his office.
    To Seungcheol’s surprise, Wren really took initiative of the social media management and within a month or so, had amassed a significant number of followers. Wren was always on their phone anyways, and so kept on top of the latest trends and viral sounds. Seungcheol was also surprised at the ways in which the internet seemed to love their ragtag group. Folks found Joshua to be painfully handsome, Vernon and Hoshi to be side bustingly funny, and Wren to be endearing. You had even featured in a handful of videos when you’d happened to be at the studio and commenters the entire week afterwards playfully demanded ‘more YN content’.
“Cheol, have you reconsidered showing your face on Tiktok?” you asked after watching a ‘the art versus the artist’ tiktok.
“No,” he shook his head firmly.
“Aw man, this would’ve been a good video too!” you pouted, turning your phone to show Wren.
“Oh damn it, yeah it would be!” they shouted woefully.
“What is it?” Coups asked, feigning indifference.
“Okay, so the concept is showing art and then the artist that made it. Cheol you’re so talented, I feel like this is such a nice way to showcase your work!” you pleaded with him, though you were not particularly hopeful. When he didn’t reject you outright, you offered him your phone to show an example.
“Hm,” the corner of his lip pulled back as he contemplated. Your heart rose hopefully in your chest, was he genuinely considering this?
“YN can be in the video too! She’s a good example of healed work!” Wren clapped excitedly at the prospect. “We can start the video zoomed in on her thigh tattoo and then zoom out to show you!”
    Seungcheol raised his eyebrows at you in an unspoken question. It seemed that he was in if you were too. Holding back an ecstatic squeal, you nodded, over the moon at finally getting Cheol to agree to be in a Tiktok.
    The first section went smoothly. Wren positioned you in front of the studio window for flattering lighting and then zoomed in on your thigh. The second part where they would zoom out to a video of Seungcheol was not as seamless. First they wanted to try a solo shot, which didn’t pass muster. Then you tried posing next to Cheol, which Wren deemed ‘too stiff’. Finally, they took over full creative control and positioned Seungcheol behind you with his face above your shoulder. After a few more failed takes, he didn’t even register it when he leaned forward to mumble idle threats into your ear. Something about ‘never should have agreed to this’ and ‘I don’t know that we need a receptionist anyways’, which made you chuckle.
    Wren stilled in the midst of filming. Their gaze moved from the screen and lifted over the phone to observe you directly. The sight of Seungcheol with his face tucked into your neck and making you laugh was so tender it made Wren want to scream at the both of you.
“You got it?” Seungcheol looked up suddenly.
“I mean…I got something,” Wren replied, bemused.
    You were excited. Jihun was coming home for Thanksgiving! By your math, it had been well over a year since you’d last seen him, so your parents were going all out. They’d invited all of your friends, but Seungcheol had been the only one to take them up on the offer. It was going to be nostalgic, the five of you together, but holidays were all about nostalgia, right? You’d spent the day with your parents, helping them prepare the house and meals. Seungcheol had been assigned to pick up Jihun from the airport when his flight arrived that afternoon, so you were surprised when you heard a knock on the door a little after noon.
“Oh, who-?” your mom wondered as she opened the door, “Seungcheol, darling, you’re early!”
“I know, but I thought I’d come see if I could help with anything until then,” he shrugged, stepping into the threshold.
    From the kitchen, you did a double take. Seungcheol was wearing an unbuttoned button down with a matching t-shirt underneath and accessorized with a medium weight chain necklace. He looked nice, which made you momentarily self conscious that you were still wearing chores clothes. You threw him a quick smile before returning to finish washing the sheet pans that were no longer needed.
“Can I help?” he offered.
“You wanna dry?” you suggested, pointing out a dry towel. He nodded and settled in next to you, drying off anything you handed to him. “What time does Jihun’s flight get in again?”
“Three, so I’ll probably leave around two. There’s probably airport traffic today.”
    You nodded as you finished up the dishes and set the gloves aside to dry.
“Mom, what else can I help with?” Seungcheol had already wandered off in search of your mother.
    You rolled your eyes. He had called your mom ‘Mom’ since you were kids. The first time had been an accident and you had replied ‘No, she’s my mom!’ quite indignantly. Your mom had chuckled and patted young Seungcheol on the head, reassuring him. At first he continued to call her ‘Mom’ mostly to irritate you, but over time, it sort of just became reality. Seungcheol was over at your house so much that he really did feel like family at times.
“You’re so thoughtful, Cheol,” your mom beamed up at him, “You can come help Dad and I wrap dumplings if you like.”
“Sure,” he nodded, hip checking you away from the kitchen sink so he could wash his hands. You huffed indignantly as you took your seat at the dumpling table as well.
“So Seungcheol,” your dad cleared his throat, “How are things at the shop?”
“Good! Not much has changed since you were last there,” he cocked his head thoughtfully.
“You’ve been to the studio?” you queried, confused at the idea of it.
“Yes, of course! We had to congratulate him once we heard he was taking it over. I’m not sure we’re tattoo people, still, but our Cheol is a business owner now!” your dad laughed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“It’s still a small town, YN,” Seungcheol chuckled, “Not much happens without everyone knowing about it.”
“That’s true,” your mom nodded. For example, she had heard through the grapevine that you often hung out with Seungcheol and his staff at Anne Kim’s bar. Apparently quite an edgy group of youngsters. The Kim’s had long ago given up running the establishment themselves, but it was a good source of passive income and town information.
“That’s so funny, I can’t imagine you there!” you giggled.
“They brought me a cake and everything,” Cheol chuckled, recalling that day fondly. It had taken some explaining to get everyone to understand that they were not, in fact, Seungcheol’s own parents and the cake had done a good job of quieting them all down.
“That’s so cute,” you gushed.
    When you’d been younger, it had sometimes bothered you how easy it was for your mom to love your friends in what felt like the same way that she loved you. Now that you were older, you could appreciate her capacity to love in a different way.
“I should go get Jihun,” Seungcheol announced, placing one more lopsided dumpling onto the tray before standing up.
“Drive safe!”
“Will do,” Seungcheol smiled at your mother, disarmingly charming.
“What a good boy,” she preened happily as you finished wrapping up the dumpling filling. “Have you hung out with Seungcheol much since you’ve moved back?” she asked, even though she knew the answer already.
“Occasionally,” you shrugged, but as you did the math you realized that you’d probably seen him more than anyone else in recent days. “I’ve probably hung out with his receptionist, Wren, more though. They’re nice!”
“Oh, Wren! Yes, I remember from the studio. They’re just cute as a button, aren’t they?” your mom chirped. So you weren’t willing to admit that you were closer with Seungcheol than you’d ever been before. That was okay.
“Yes, they really wanted to come for Thanksgiving too, but they decided to go to their partner’s family’s instead.”
“Well, you know you don’t need an excuse to bring them around. Our house is always open. You too,” she gave you a pointed look. You grinned sheepishly. You knew they always wanted you to visit more.
“I’ll bring them around!” you nodded affirmatively.
“In fact, the rest of the shop can come too! They’ll keep us young,” your dad added suddenly. Your dad had always been quieter than your mom, but every so often he said something that left you absolutely slack jawed. This was one of those times.
“I’ll let them know,” you shook your head with a chuckle. “I’m going to go shower and change now.”
    Your parents waved you off goodnaturedly and you retreated to your childhood bedroom. Everything you needed was in your duffel bag, but you couldn’t help from getting distracted by all of the stuff that your mom had kept exactly the same. Filled with nostalgia, your fingertips skimmed across the figurines, books, and other memorabilia. Your diary caught your eye and you pulled it out by the spine, curious to read some of your old thoughts. It was all cringey as hell, but it made you laugh as you thumbed through. As you reached the end, something fell out from the pages which surprised you. A polaroid of Seungcheol from the night you had told Wren about many months ago at this point. It was from the night before he and Jihun had left for college and the last time you remembered him being blonde prior to this most recent bleach job. You smiled softly as you peered at it in disbelief. Seungcheol looked the same, but different. His roots were a touch more grown out than they were right now and he was wearing that dog tag necklace that he had felt was so cool back then. What a handsome doofus.
“Woof, nostalgia is one hell of a bitch,” you muttered under your breath, surprised at your own reaction.
    Shoving your thoughts aside, you jumped into the shower and focused on getting ready. The warm water soothed you infinitely and you hummed contentedly to yourself as you finished getting ready. You changed into a cute yet comfortable outfit and headed down the stairs to join your parents. You were in the middle of contemplating a cookie when the front door opened dramatically.
“I’m home!” Jihun announced excitedly as he entered the house. To your surprise, not one but two figures followed him inside.
“Jihun-a!” your mom cooed excitedly as she moved towards the door. “Oh who’s this?”
“Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend Hyejin!”
“Oh my goodness, what a surprise!” your mom tittered excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell me so I could have prepared?”
“Mom, you’re always prepared anyways! I wanted to surprise you,” Jihun shook his head.
    Your parents tsked appropriately at Jihun while ushering Hyejin inside. As they tittered over her, you threw a look at Seungcheol.
“Surprise!” he wiggled his hands weakly, which made you burst out laughing. You rolled your eyes before joining the family in the living room.
“Hyejin, this is my sister, YN,” Jihun gestured towards you as you entered.
“Hi,” you grinned excitedly at Hyejin. “I’m very excited to share with you all of Jihun’s most embarrassing stories!” you shook her hand with a little too much vigor for your brother’s tastes.
“I’m so excited to meet you all!” Hyejin smiled. She was so pretty!
“Genuinely, you’re so pretty, what the hell are you doing with Jihun?” you couldn’t help but ask mischievously.
“YN,” Seungcheol furrowed his brow, “Easy.”
“You’re right, I’ll let you settle in. I’ll ask later,” you whispered surreptitiously to her, drawing a small chuckle. Instead you joined Seungcheol as your parents lightly grilled Hyejin and Jihun about their relationship. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell any of us,” you mumbled at Cheol. “Did he share much on the drive with you?”
“No, not much,” he shook his head. “I was surprised too, I haven’t seen her on his socials or anything. Must be recent?”
“Hm,” you shrugged.
    Seungcheol watched you as you looked on with interest. You looked really cute in your holiday cardigan. You could feel Seungcheol’s gaze on you. You kept your eyes facing forward, but you couldn’t help a light shiver before you decided it was time to rejoin the fray. Seungcheol looked on from the kitchen, allowing you this familial moment. Dinner passed quickly, everyone enjoying the opportunity to catch up with or get to know each other. You found that you were a big fan of Hyejin. She was funny, clever, and so easy to talk to. Seungcheol and Jihun caught up easily, like old times. Your parents looked on happily at their lovely little family.
“Okay, time for a movie!” your mom announced once everyone had finished eating.
“Movie?” Hyejin wondered and the rest of you stood.
“Family tradition, movie theater after an early dinner,” Cheol answered with a smile. “Are we playing for right to choose? Or perhaps because we have a guest…?” he gestured to Hyejin.
“Oh I think guest chooses,” you nodded supportively.
“Really?” Hyejin was surprised. “Okay, let me see what’s showing,” she laughed, pulling out her phone.
“Ooh I'm excited, good choice again Hyejin!” you bounced on the balls of your feet as you waited in line for concessions.
“Behave,” Seungcheol grabbed you by the shoulders, pinning you in place. 
    A jolt of heat darted through your chest at his grip. You suddenly flashed back to the day of your tattoo. This was a very similar feeling to when Seungcheol had grasped your upper thigh and murmured ‘good girl’ to you, effectively knocking the wind from your lungs. You stilled, unable to face him.
“Good girl,” he went on to commend you thoughtlessly as he perused snack options.
    You blinked. A sharp exhale left your lungs as you struggled with the effect this was having on you. You wanted to punch Seungcheol, how could he be so careless with his words!
“Popcorn,” you answered the teenager when you got to the front of the line.
“What size?”
“Large,” you answered. You had saved room.
“Should we just share a bucket?” Cheol suggested.
“No! Get your own popcorn,” you scrunched your face at him. The possibility of accidentally brushing hands with him was too much to consider right now.
“Okay, damn,” he chuckled bemusedly as he went to order his own popcorn.
    You knew you were acting odd, but you couldn’t help yourself. In an effort to distance yourself from Seungcheol, you wandered towards Jihun and Hyejin, eavesdropping on their conversation. They were discussing something boring so you wandered towards your parents instead.
“YN-ah,” they beckoned you towards them. “How are things since moving back? I know it was always a little small for you here,” your mom asked genuinely.
“You know,” you thought for a moment, wanting to answer honestly, “I was worried I wouldn’t be happy moving back…but I’ve made some good friends and I’m actually pretty happy!”
“That’s great,” your dad smiled at you.
    Your mom studied your expression closely, but you didn’t give much away. She was curious whether your contentment was tied to Seungcheol as much as she hoped it would be. Your parents had always been big fans of Cheol throughout childhood. Part of it was proximity, of course, as Seungcheol had been at the house almost constantly throughout middle and high school. But the other part of it was that they saw the ways in which Seungcheol complimented both you and Jihun. Seungcheol had always had a calm energy and presence that didn’t hinder you from being yourself, but also tempered your personality when occasionally necessary.
“Movie time!” your parents announced, ushering everyone towards theater six. As everyone paired off, you found yourself sitting next to Seungcheol.
“We should’ve just shared a popcorn, we paid basically double to have the same amount in separate bags,” he pouted at you.
“I want to have my own bag, leave me alone!”  you whisper shouted at him, scrunching your face at him in the dark.
    Hyejin giggled as she watched you and Seungcheol with fascination. Jihun had mentioned that you all had been childhood friends, but not that you two were dating. She wondered how long it’d been since you and Seungcheol had gotten together and whether Jihun even knew. She’d have to ask after the movie was over.
“That was good,” you nodded surely as everyone piled into the car. “I was especially a fan of the scenes where the fruit and vegetable carts were upturned. Love me a good ‘my cabbages’ moment!”
“Me too!” Hyejin giggled
    The ride back was filled with excited discussion, laughter, and some good natured teasing. Your parents helped themselves to a slice of apple pie and let you all know you were welcome to the leftovers if you got peckish before they retired to bed. Eventually Jihun and Seungcheol wandered off to look at something in the basement, which allowed you to visit with Hyejin more.
“So how long have you and Seungcheol been dating?” she asked.
“W-what?” you sputtered. “Me and Cheol? No, we’re not!”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Are you really not?” she flushed, “You two seem so close!”
“No, no, don’t be sorry!” you leaned towards her, not wanting her to feel embarrassed, “We are close! But we’ve known each other for years,” you tried to explain.
“That really surprises me. You two seem very much in step with each other,” she mused. She had literally watched him eat the chestnuts that you’d pulled out of your stuffing and set on a side plate.
“I-, I mean I guess we are closer than before these days. I moved back to town a few months ago and Seungcheol is probably one of my closest friends right now,” you thought out loud. You weren’t sure whether it was just the longevity of the relationship, but there was a deep comfort that you had with Seungcheol that just couldn’t be beat.
“Ah, I see,” Hyejin nodded, tipping the rest of her wine back.
“Do you want another drink? Or maybe we can go bother the boys?”
“Why not both?” she laughed, so you led the way.
“Oy, degenerates! What are you doing down here? Smoking weed?” you teased as you bounced down the stairs.
“I mean we could be,” Jihun’s voice called back.
“Holding out on us,” you rolled your eyes playfully at Hyejin as you rounded the corner.
“Hey,” Hyejin grinned, looping an arm around Jihun’s waist and squeezing affectionately.
“Yo,” you punched Seungcheol awkwardly in the shoulder before flopping onto the futon next to him. “It’s been a damn minute since we were all down here, huh!”
“Yes it has,” Cheol’s eyebrows raised dramatically as he considered the length of time. “Probably haven’t been back since before college started.”
    Jihun nodded in agreement and they both took turns sharing fun stories with Hyejin until your eyes started drifting shut. These beers really took a toll on you these days.
“Hey, YN,” Seungcheol’s voice and shoulder nudged you awake.
“Hm?” you murmured.
“You should go to bed,” he suggested.
“No, I’m fine! I’m just resting my eyes,” you protested, struggling to keep the aforementioned eyes open.
“Oh not this again,” Seungcheol shook his head. He had fallen for the ‘resting my eyes’ line a grand total of twice before he’d learned his lesson. That just meant you had already dozed off and were going to fall asleep again shortly. “YN, if you don’t go to bed now, I’m going to carry you up.”
“Do it, you won’t,” you goaded him sleepily. You managed half a yawn before he had hucked you over his shoulder and carried you up the stairs.
Jihun had been scrolling through his phone, and so looked up with slight confusion to see Hyejin grinning knowingly.
    Seungcheol dumped you onto your bed as gently as he could manage, but you still landed with a loud ‘oof’. He scoffed as you curled into your pillows and comforter like a caterpillar into a cocoon. Why couldn’t you just admit you were tired like a normal person?
    A few weeks after Thanksgiving, you were at Seungcheol’s again spending quality time with Patty when Jihun Facetimed him unexpectedly. Patty was sitting on your chest on the couch when Seungcheol picked up.
“Hey man, what’s up?”
“Not much, I was just calling to check in. Thanksgiving made me realize that I’ve done a shit job of keeping up with you so I want to change that!”
“Oh, for sure,” Cheol laughed, a little surprised. “Oh, YN is here too!” he directed the phone to you and Patty. You waved from underneath her.
“Oh, YN is there?” you heard Hyejin’s voice in the background. “That reminds me, I’m gonna to text her!”
[hyejin]: ‘hey, I saw an ad for this yesterday and it made me think of you!’
    You squealed in excitement at the attached screenshot she sent of a frog stun gun. It even had a little butt on the back! Patty jumped off of your chest in protest of your loud noise, but your excitement was difficult to contain.
[yn]: ‘OMFG. THNEED’
[hyejin]: ‘right?!? when they do their next shop update, i’m ordering for both of us!’
“Coups, look!” you hopped off of the couch excitedly to show Seungcheol, completely derailing his conversation with Jihun. “It’s a frog. And a self defense stun gun. And it has a butt!” you flipped through the pictures excitedly. Seungcheol nodded good naturedly at you before returning to his discussion with Jihun. 
“I didn’t know you had a cat,” your brother's voice floated across the room. Seungcheol explained the situation, to which Hyejin sent you a slew of texts rapidly.
[hyejin]: ‘are you sure you’re not dating seungcheol?!?’
[hyejin]: ‘you can tell me if you are. i wont tell jihun!’ 
[hyejin]: ‘im cool!’
[yn]: ‘im not!’
You furrowed your brows slightly. You and Hyejin had kept in touch since Thanksgiving and she had taken to fussing over you like an older sister. For the most part you loved it, but this probing about Cheol made you feel…confused. It wasn’t the first time that people had mistaken you as a couple and you almost understood why. No, the thing that was difficult to contend with was the fact that you…didn’t hate it?
[hyejin]: ‘okay 👀 im just sayin not many people would let a cat live at their house just for a friend’
[hyejin]: ‘but maybe im wrong!’
You sat up and watched Seungcheol over the back of the sofa as he chatted with Jihun. You didn’t bother to process what they were saying, but you watched the way the corner of his lips lifted into a half side, revealing one of his dimples. You’d seen his dimples a million and one times before, but this time it felt like your heart shot up into your throat, clogging it. It didn’t seem to matter how many times you tried to clear it either, that bitch was stuck. Seungcheol threw you a ‘you good?’ glance before returning his attention to your brother. There was nothing remarkable about it. There was no reason it should make you nervous. And yet, the slight pinch between his brows and the clear concern in his eyes made you squirm.
“I gotta go!” you announced to Seungcheol and Jihun, waving casually at them before pulling on your shoes. Patty gave you a departing headbutt and you were out the door.
“I thought she didn’t have plans today,” Seungcheol’s expression was clearly confused after you left.
While you drove home with all of the windows rolled down in an effort to regain composure, Seungcheol tied up his conversation with Jihun. The house felt quite empty now that he wasn’t on a call and you were also gone. It was a surprising thought for him to have, since he’d long ago gotten accustomed to being alone and in fact quite liked it. But he’d be an idiot to ignore the fact that his life had changed dimensionally since you’d come back into it.
You’d coaxed him into a closer friendship with his staff members, gifted him the furry little gremlin that he now looked forward to coming home to, and you yourself had become someone that he thought of often and cared for deeply. He’d been unsure whether it was the same kind of proximity based fondness that you had shared before, but upon further consideration, he concluded that this was not the case. These days he didn’t just tolerate you. He sought you out. He wanted to fill his time with you. He wondered if you felt the same.
[wren]: ‘come on, please?!’
[yn]: ‘i’m tired 😩’
    You frowned at your phone. You weren’t actually so tired that you didn’t want to go out, but you felt a sort of reluctance to go because you’d been avoiding seeing Seungcheol. It had taken some time to sort through your feelings, but you’d finally accepted that you were struggling with an attraction to him that you needed to get over. You were sure you could, you just needed time.
    Seungcheol ran his hands through his hair as he finished up his profit and loss statements for the month. It had been a good month. In fact, an extraordinarily good month, which also meant that there were many more transactions to account for. In the past, he probably would’ve rather walked off of a bridge than do his P&Ls, but the spreadsheets that you’d help build for him were a genuine lifesaver. You’d even helped with figuring out how to automate data downloads from the PoS system which saved him and Wren a huge amount of headache. He really needed to treat you to dinner or something as a thank you.
[seungcheol]: ‘when are you free?’
    You stared at your phone. What the hell was in the water today? Your heart had jumped when you’d seen Seungcheol’s text. You were of two minds: one wanted to read and respond to it immediately while the other wanted to throw the phone into a garbage chute. As usual, you let both sides percolate before reaching a happy compromise. You read the text but didn’t respond until later.
[yn]: ‘kind of depends. what for?’
[seungcheol]: ‘i want to take you out.’
[seungcheol]: ‘as a thank you for the p&l spreadsheets’
    Your hopes rose and fell just as quickly as you read the texts in sequence. It was a professional matter.
[yn]: ‘that’s not necessary! friends help each other’
    His brow scrunched upon reading the word ‘friend’. It sent such a pang through his chest that he wasn’t expecting, but he felt persistent today.
[seungcheol]: ‘i dont see why that should stop me from showing you that i appreciate you. let me know when you’re free for dinner’
Your heart flip flopped in your chest. How could you get through a dinner with him when just a text affected you like this? And yet you had no valid reason to say no.
    You tapped your toe nervously as you waited for Seungcheol. You had decided on Friday after work and he had insisted on driving you, because he had wanted to keep the restaurant a surprise. So here you were, 6:12 pm on Friday and incredibly, unreasonably nervous about dinner. You wondered if you could still cancel.
[seungcheol]: ‘here’
“So much for that,” you muttered to yourself before stepping out of your apartment. The only indication of dress code that Cheol had given you was ‘don’t look like a hobo’, so you’d chosen a simple black dress with a colorful and fun cardigan. There was a slight chill in the air, so you pulled the cardigan a little tighter around yourself as you climbed into his car.
“Hey,” he broke into a smile as soon as he saw you. “You look nice.”
“Thanks,” you replied as you buckled your seatbelt. You gave him a quick once over as he backed out of the parking space. He was dressed in all black and the visual focal point was a half-pearl, half-chain choker necklace that really stood out. “Oh I like that!”
“I thought you might,” he grinned at you as he leaned back, settling into his seat after getting onto the highway. “It seems your kind of style,” he explained when your brows furrowed.
“Ah,” you nodded, not quite sure what to say. “So where are we eating, will you tell me now?”
“Yes. We’re going to Kyōten, in the city.”
“What?!” you glanced at him, slightly alarmed, “That’s kind of a haul!”
“It’s not too bad. Plus our reservation is at 7:30. I budgeted enough time.”
“Still, you don’t have to drive that far! We could’ve eaten somewhere in town,” you grumbled.
“I’ve been wanting to try this place too. Not everything’s about you, baby,” he teased. This was true in part. Seungcheol was interested in the omakase menu at this restaurant, but he likely wouldn’t have gone by himself. “How’s work been, by the way? I feel like I haven’t seen you around much lately.”
    You flushed at the moniker ‘baby’ before pushing through it to answer him. It was true, you’d been working a handful of extra shifts at work here and there in preparation for the holiday season. But you’d also been making yourself scarce because you still couldn’t control the physical reaction that you sometimes had to Seungcheol. You omitted that part in your answer, but did share a handful of funny stories that had happened at work lately. Seungcheol, in turn, updated you on some of the interesting happenings at the studio as of late. Hoshi had finally been able to do the largest tiger flash that he had available, which had been incredibly exciting to him. Joshua had attended the annual APP conference and made a lot of good contacts. The studio was working out details on a guest piercer spot in the near future. Before you knew it, you had pulled into the parking ramp near the restaurant.
“Oh it’s windy!” you remarked as you stepped out of the car.
“Here,” Seungcheol pulled a spare puffer jacket out of his backseat and handed it to you. You’d wrapped it around yourself gratefully as you completed the short walk to Kyōten.
“We have a reservation for 7:30. Seungcheol,” he informed the hostess. She nodded kindly and led you through the dark space towards the sushi bar. You remarked at the beautiful architecture and decor as you hopped onto the bar stool. “I’ll just stand, if that’s okay?” he asked the hostess, tucking his stool slightly to his left under the bar.
“Have you all done this before?” you asked the people sitting next to you as you waited.
“No, we haven’t!” they shook their heads, “Have you?”
“Oh thank god! No, I definitely haven’t. You haven’t either, right?” you asked Seungcheol, realizing you didn’t know.
“No,” he shook his head.
“Don’t be nervous! Just eat what they give you,” the couple on the other side of the bar from you smiled kindly. “The chefs here are great, they’re very interactive and fun. Just have a good time.”
    Reassured now that the ice was broken, the six of you chatted before the chef came. The pair next to you shared that they were celebrating their second anniversary. They had also driven in and were staying for a long weekend in the city.
“That’s so fun, I love that! We’re just here for the night,” you smiled at them, the sake warming you from the inside out.
“What about you two? Is this a special occasion?”
“Sort of,” Seungcheol answered, draping his arm across the back of your stool as he did so. “It’s a thank you dinner for YN. She’s been a huge help with my business this year, so I thought I ought to show her my appreciation properly.”
“What do you do?” Miseon asked curiously.
“I run a tattoo and piercing studio,” he answered.
    As he explained in more detail, you felt like your back was itching, the way you were hyper aware of his arm draped behind you. Seungcheol had gotten closer and closer to you as he’d engaged in the conversation with Miseon and Nuri. It wasn’t like you weren’t used to physical closeness with him, but the interior of this restaurant was so intimately lit that it tricked you into overthinking the whole situation. Even after the chef arrived and dinner commenced, he didn’t distance himself from you at all.
“Would you like to join us for a few drinks? We’re having such fun with you!” Nuri asked once you were all back on the sidewalk.
    Seungcheol looked to you, indicating that he was game. The way you smiled back at him, flushed in the apples of your cheeks, made his breath hitch.
“Sure!” you nodded excitedly. You’d also really enjoyed Nuri and Miseon and were happy to keep the night going.
    The four of you did some quick googling before settling on a bar a few blocks away. At the second crosswalk, you’d been a little too engaged in the conversation and nearly stepped into oncoming traffic. Without thought, Seungcheol had hooked his arm around your waist to pull you back and simply left it there. Your eyes flew to him at this touch. He was looking straight ahead and you were surprised when the idea of planting a kiss along his jaw popped into your mind. You flushed and shook your head when his head turned to look at you again.
    The bar was cute and the next hours passed quickly as you chatted with Nuri and Miseon and enjoyed the ambiance and music. A few times you had looked up to see Seungcheol’s dark eyes trained on you from across the bar and you’d flushed each time. Before too long you were saying your goodbyes and driving back home. The car was quiet as you and Seugcheol both reflected on the night.
    Even though he had framed it up as a ‘thank you’ dinner, you felt like that label didn’t quite fit. You might have been overthinking it, but Kyōten had been so intimate and the way that Seungcheol’s touches seemed to linger felt different than your usual closeness. You’d also been mistaken as a couple a few times and neither of you had bothered to correct them, which you usually did. Perhaps it was the context of being in a city you didn’t live in, but it just didn’t seem important this time.
    Seungcheol tapped his fingers against the gearshift as he drove. He’d known Kyōten might be a little more romantic than your typical dinner with a friend, but he’d chosen it because he’d overheard you share with Wren that you were really interested in trying omakase style dining. It hadn’t been totally conscious on his part, but he’d found himself finding ways to be closer to you throughout the evening and he’d been surprised at how you’d responded. You hadn’t shied away from his touch and he’d seen you blush a few times throughout the night in ways that made him wonder if his attraction towards you wasn't completely one sided.
“Did you have fun?” he asked, glancing towards you as he drove down the dark roads.
“Yes,” you beamed at him, “Although you spent entirely too much money, Cheol.”
“Hey!” he cut you off with a stern look, “I told you, this is a show of my appreciation. Let me just appreciate you.”
“Hm,” you pursed your lips at him, trying and failing to not imagine those words in a different context.
    Seungcheol pressed his tongue against his cheek. He’d always enjoyed the way you reacted when he teased you.
“Thanks for driving,” you threw him a smile before reaching for the door handle. You were eager to get out of this car, which felt entirely too hot right now.
“I’ll walk you,” he announced, leaving the car as well and stepping to your side.
“Oh?” you were surprised. This was not typical.
“I really enjoyed tonight,” he commented as you stepped onto the front stoop of your apartment building.
“Me too!” you beamed, eyes creasing softly at him.
“I want to tell you something,” he cleared his throat and your heart stopped.
“O-kay,” you nodded a moment later when you were actually able to retrieve your voice.
“I-, uh,” he cleared his throat again when he tried to speak. “You are very important to me, so I want you to know that nothing has to change between us after I say what I say.”
    You blinked at him, heart racing so fast that you were worried you wouldn’t be able to hear him over its beating.
“My life has changed a lot since you moved back. I am closer to my friends, the shop is doing really well, and I have a cat that I guess I love now. And that’s mostly because of you, so thank you for that. But also, I, uh, my feelings about you have changed. I think about you often and my house honestly just feels empty when you’re not there. So I like you,” he felt like he was shouting now, so he tried to reign it in, “I like you and you don’t have to say anything, I just want you to know.”
    Your brain had screeched to a halt and you were frozen throughout most of his confession. The cogs started turning again as he planted a soft kiss on your forehead and let you know he’d text you tomorrow. He was back in his car when you’d gathered yourself enough to run after him.
“Hey!” you practically jumped out in front of his car as he tried to leave the parking spot.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” he shouted, jumping out of the car after slamming on the brakes and putting it back in park.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” You couldn’t explain why, but you were fuming. “You need to be less careless with your words!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Seungcheol threw his hands up, completely caught off guard by the fact that you were…yelling at him?
“You can’t just call me ‘good girl’ while you’re tattooing my inner thigh or tell me you like me and then leave? What about me and my sanity?”
“What?” Seungcheol’s eyebrows raised into his hairline as he processed what you had said. Surely you didn’t mean…?
    He was taking too long to understand so you walked towards him, grabbed him by that damned pearl chain necklace, and pulled him into a kiss. He was surprised for just a moment before he was kissing you back intently.
“Were you doing it on purpose?” you asked between kisses.
“What?” he asked, not totally grasping what you were asking.
“Was it on purpose?” you reiterated, fingers teasing at the hairs on the back of his neck. “Your little touches, grabbing my waist? You were driving me crazy,” you exhaled sharply.
    Seungcheol paused at this confession, drawing back to look at you fully. His eyes raked over you and you grew hot under his gaze.
“It wasn’t, but I guess I couldn’t help myself,” he chuckled, lips curling into a half smile.
“Turn your car off,” you demanded and Seungcheol was more than happy to comply.
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aziraphales-library · 10 days
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Hey y’all! i know its pretty soon after this whole ‘do that again’ quote happened, so i understand if you wanna wait a bit before trying to find any, but id love if you could put together some alternative s2 ending fics based off that quote scenario. thank you in advance!
Here are all the "do it/that again" fics I could find...
insatiable by thechesapeakegripper (NR)
“Words only seem to die on his tongue while he tries over and over to speak, say anything, whatever he can to ease the deep-rooted ache now splattered across Crowley’s features as they part. It’s something that he’s never seen before, but can only be described as hopelessly, painfully human.” obligatory “do it again” fic :3
do it again by luciferfemme (T)
The kiss is electric. A fire burning deep inside of Aziraphale’s soul. One that has been burning for six thousand years. It should scorch him. Incinerate and destroy him. It’s hellfire surely, but he feels more alive than he has ever felt in his entire life. The kiss electrifies him. It’s as shocking as it is enticing and one thought rings true above the others. Do that again. Please.
do it again please right now by penmarks (G)
rob wilkins said on a panel that aziraphale's reaction to the kiss was, in his mind something along the lines of "please do that again right now i am trying to understand what's happening" and we all lost our collective minds on twitter. here's my little take on it
what are we going to do? by punkboiii (G)
A rewrite of the confession/kiss scene at the end of Good Omens season 2. “I for-” he stutters, “I… I fo- I forgive-” Aziraphale stops mid sentence, before holding his head in his hands. “Oh, God!” he sobs, “Oh! Oh, Crowley.” Crowley cautiously takes a step forward. “Crowley, please! Do it again. Right now, please Crowley,” he begs, finally looking up at them.
Please Crowley. Do It Again. by alessiazz (NR)
"Angel, what do you want? Tell me what to do, I can't..." And Aziraphale said it. For one time, he was honest about what he truly wanted. And he wanted... no, that's not the right word, he needed him. All of him. "Do it again. Please, Crowley. Do it again" And he did as he was told. ________ Or: what if Aziraphale actually said "Again. Do it again" after the kiss?
love is going to lead you by the hand by mygalfriday (T)
In all their time together, Aziraphale has grown used to the many and varied ways Crowley looks at him. Mercurial creature that he is, Crowley never runs out of emotions and his face displays them all so clearly. Never, in the whole history of their long acquaintance, has Crowley ever looked at Aziraphale the way he looks at him now.
"This isn't how it was supposed to happen" by Caztiel (E)
What if Aziraphale did change his mind after the kiss? Inspired by Mr. Wilkins saying that Micheal's face meant "do it again".
The Resurrectionnists by CaptainBlou (E)
Do it again. It all started with three words. Aziraphale couldn't resist saying them, and Crowley obliged. Do it again.
Snogging on Heaven's Door by Tetrisbiene (M)
What if Aziraphale actually said, 'Do it again. Please. Right now!'? A Post-Season 2 Fanfic. Aziraphale has to go to Heaven to thwart the Second Coming, and Crowley just can't let him go alone. Follow the pair as they meet old and new faces, go to heavenly meetings, sow mischief, and tempt some angels to fall in love with humanity. May the two find a flat surface to talk things over with each other before this big promotion can tear them apart. This is the story of our ineffable idiots in a roller coaster ride of emotions, heavenly bureaucracy, and stolen kisses against doors. Have some angst, some stupid puns in the chapter titles, and an elevator ride that's basically an excuse for me to write a cheesy alternative ending to help me get over the actual finale.
- Mod D
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alexthetrashyracoon · 10 days
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i desperately need a tf141 beach day episode.
What comes next? A firework episode? A sick episode? The manly males of the masculine franchise Call of Duty becoming members of a 2006 Shojo Anime?
You got it.
CW// Bad attempts at humor, don’t take anything serious, the big boys deserve a break and so do you. Drink water, stay hydrated, eat your favorite snack and pat your pets like I do all the time. Plus, whatever happened in Canon universe, stays in Canon Universe, this is a happy family.
And I hope this was what you meant, just plain old TF141. Not TF141 + Reader. Now I’m having a crisis, not wanting to disappoint :(
Wordcount: 905 Words
A Day at the Beach means a Day away from Base
“That’s it, boys. You need a break.”
If anything Kate was as thick headed and stubborn as a mule, there wasn’t much that could move her from a position she took.
“No, Kate. What we need is finding Makarov and hanging this fucker from the ceiling. He almost killed Soap. I’m not letting this maniac walk around…” Price started, hands still firmly planted on the table where various files about Makarov and his associates were scattered around, before getting cut off by a sharp glance coming from Kate.
Sometimes he wanted to strangle the woman with bare hands.
“It’s a bit like Mom and Dad fighting.” Gaz whispered between Soap and Ghost. “Just missing the bloody popcorn.” He got elbowed by Ghost for that, Gaz knew he deserved it.
“Vacation. Now. MacTavish almost, almost died. This should be enough to give you a reason to start with fresh eyes, which you can’t if you’re as tense as you bunch are right now. Just a few days. A week at max, I’ll keep the operation going, we’ve got enough eyes and ears on the ground and the air… we’ll find Makarov but not if you can’t see the woods for the trees.“
A week later Price sat by the back porch of a small bungalow at the beachside of the Netherlands. It wasn’t like this American movie beaches but damn, it was nice to stretch out his legs, sip his, to be honest very sucky, tea and listen to the annoying screams of the seagulls over their heads.
“Kate was…” Ghost started but got cut off by Prices’ hand in his face.
“Don’t say it.”
“Kate was right.” Ghost snorted and stepped onto the fresh grass, it had rained the night prior and Ghost was barefoot.
A moment later Soap and Gaz sprint out of the bungalow, both dressed in swim shorts, Soap with a water gun in his hands and Gaz carrying a big floaty, both of them looking proud as peacocks. “You two stay where you are. I won’t let any of you madmen out of my sight after last time.” Price reminded them, making them stop in their tracks.
An hour they still sit by the bungalow, this time huddled under the tarp as heavy rain fell down, again. “We could have been swimming in the damn ocean for at least an hour by now!” Soap complained while gripping his mug of coffee. Not even a moment later there is lightning cutting through the sky.
“You would be grilled if you got hit by lightning while swimming in the ocean, Johnny.” Ghost reminded him while watching the rain fall.
For the next three days it was a constant battle between simple rain and heavy storms outside the bungalow.
“Wasn’t this vacation supposed to relax us?” Gaz asked from his spot on the couch, some stupid cartoon running as a background noise. “I am everything but relaxed!”
They had been scooped up for most of the vacation now. It wasn’t any different to when they were out of deployment, just that here they aren’t in the danger of getting shot at. One plus point.
“Blame Laswell.” Price called from the bathroom. “If she hadn’t make us go on a damn vacation we could be back at home, hunting down Makarov and…”
“Sun’s out, clouds are gone. Move your damn asses mates, we gonna drown in the open sea.” Ghost called and pushed the sliding doors open. Within seconds they all had changed.
This was probably the last chance they got to actually relax at the sea, and even if the window for that kind of good weather was a small one, they would use even the smallest chance.
So an hour later Ghost lays on a towel, Price sitting next to him, nursing a bottle of Heineken while keeping an eye on Gaz and Soap who have a water fight with a group of other tourists. And they were pathetically losing right now.
“Sometimes I wonder how they grew up and why they are still alive?” Price snorted between two sips of beer.
“Not everyone can be grumpy assholes like us two when they grow up.” Ghost joked and propped himself up on his elbows, watching Soap getting dunked by Gaz, who in return gets hit with a shot from a water gun.
They clank their bottles against each other while watching Soap and Gaz race through the water, diving under water for a moment or two until the sun started to settle slowly at the horizon and the two Sergeant crawled out of the water and hiding under their towels at the spot on the beach.
“It’s fucking peaceful.” Gaz said after a moment of drying himself and removing algae from his hair, throwing it away and leaned back on his hands.
The sky turned orange, pink and yellow as the sun set, slowly disappearing behind the line of water.
“That’s what Kate had been talking about when she threw us onto this vacation.” Price said as he handed out fresh bottles of beer.
This night they returned real late to their bungalow, enjoying the cloud free sky full of stars over their heads.
A few weeks later a single picture frame decorated Prices office, showing Price, Ghost, Soap and Gaz, all grinning into the cheap camera they had brought for their vacation. A bunch of great memories were made in those few days.
Please don’t hesitate to send in more requests <:
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bgyuus · 1 year
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hear me out... gf who likes to read and always go to the local bookstore for books and her bf who knows nothing about novels yada yada but still accompanies her quietly and patiently.
got the idea based on a tiktok vid i found yesterday. pairings! shidou ryusei x y/n because he defo doesn't read novels. pure fluff with a goofy and a bit ooc shidou?
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"nah y/n, i'm so bored can we go do something together, pleaseeeee?"
shidou whined. you laughed at his childish behaviour. who would've thought this big, scary looking man could act like a total baby. and the best thing about that is that he only acts like this around you and you only.
"where you off to, pretty?" he asked as he sits up on the couch, head tilting to the side with a quizzical look on his face. "to the bookstore. i heard that they have restocked (fav author)'s most latest release!" you said excitedly.
you immediately laughed when you saw how blanked your boyfriend looked. "it's okay if you don't want to go with me though, it'll be a really quick trip-"
"I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!"
shidou immediately changed into his proper clothes in a speed of light. 5 minutes later, you both were already heading down the stairs of your shared apartment, on your way to the nearest bookstore. "you're just making an excuse to spend time with me, don't you?" you side eyed him jokingly.
the taller man laughed. "nah, wanted to tag along so that i can protect my little insect here." you gasped at the nickname. "excuse me, you're the one who's the insect! you and your antenna like hair!" you shoved him playfully as you crossed the road hand-in-hand. "hey now, don't make fun of my hair or you'll be getting sting tonight," he said in a low voice, instantly knowing what he meant. "NOOOO SHUT UP RYUSEI!"
minutes later after walking, you finally reached your desired bookstore. you rushed in, forgetting about your boyfriend who panicked and tried to catch up to you. "let me carry the basket for you, m'lady," he offered as he took the basket from your hands. you smiled as you continued to browse for your favourite author's works. "ohh they're all here oh my god!" you squealed as you put them down into the basket. shidou quietly follows you around the store, not saying a word as he admired how the stars shined in your eyes whenever you saw a novel that fits to your liking.
"do you want anything, ryu? a volume of your favourite manga perhaps?" you asked. to be honest, you felt bad that he has to accompany you to do something that he isn't fond of. "hm? oh, no need i'm good," he said, blandly. you flinched a bit at his tone of voice. is he mad? is he starting to get bored of me? your thoughts ran through your mind as your eyes started to drop to look to the floor.
shidou noticed this of course. as your boyfriend of nearly a year, he'd notice these sudden change of expressions in you. "hey hey, don't be like that. i was quiet the whole time not because i felt bored or anything. i enjoyed seeing you happy and being yourself in your own space that's all. i would never get bored of you," he explained calmly, as he cupped your cheeks. "aww, come 'ere, there's no need to cry now. i'll never leave your side, my love," shidou pulled you into a hug, patting your head along the process. "thanks ryusei," you smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek. you were so grateful to have a boyfriend like him <3
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silver99johnlocked · 7 months
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During season 2, after Jack finally accepts to believe in Will, they plot against Hannibal. Their plot is based on Will gaining Hannibal's trust by getting close to him one more time, but this time having no secrets between the two of them. Will makes it clear to Hannibal that he knows the truth and says that he still wants to be with him.
So basically Will's trying to pass this image to Hannibal: 'I know you're a killer and even though I wanted to turn you in before, it was only because you framed me and I got pissed. But to be honest, now that the anger is gone, I've realised that I'm actually really interested in making killing associations with you, just like you told me about all along. We could go off together and leave this play pretend life behind us so we can be our true selves and I can embrace the new person you made out of me.'
Hannibal is absolutely thrilled about it. He buys it. He fiercely wants it to be true. That's why when he finds out that Will is about to betray him, he gives him little second chances just to be sure. Because he doesn't want to believe Will would do that to him. He couldn't stand that.
The thing is that Will actually really cares about Hannibal. He's not a 'black or white' person. He inhabits the grey area of morality. He knows what's the right thing to do, yet he found in Hannibal the only person who truly understands and respects him. He can't simply betray Hannibal like that. That was never his plan. He chose his own side. He couldn't be 100% on Jack or Hannibal's side. He chose to play by the law but still give Hannibal a chance to escape. He calls and warns Hannibal that the police are coming. He's literally telling him to go and be safe.
What Will didn't predict was how much Hannibal cared about him. He only realizes that when he arrives at his house in 2x13. Abigai is alive. The reason why he never entirely took Hannibal's side, the reason why he couldn't forgive him.
Will asks her about Hannibal and he's right there behind him. The first thing he says: "You were supposed to leave". He's angry. He didn't want all this mess. He knew it would put people he cared about in danger but most of all, he wanted Hannibal free and safe. Even more so now. Maybe he would even join him after. But this isn't right, why would Hannibal risk everything like this? It doesn't make sense.
Hannibal: "We couldn't leave without you"
Will's entire face changes when he hears that. He underestimated the influence he had on Hannibal. He thought he was a pure psychopath, incapable of feelings, yet here he is, putting his own life at risk for the sake of another human being. But that's not everything. The cherry on the top is when Hannibal reveals that he wanted Abigail to be a surprise. He cared about Will so god damn much that he wasn't able to kill her because he knew how important she was to Will. He cared about Will so god damn much that he was willing to leave his entire (loner, detached, successful) life behind in order to flee and live as a family.
But that couldn't happen, because Will betrayed him. He made a place for their family, he actually made a romantic gesture but Will surprised him by choosing not to go with him. He chose Jack's side even if he did warn Hannibal about it. That detail doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that Will didn't choose to be with Hannibal.
Hannibal: I let you know me, see me. I gave you a rare gift, but you didn't want it.
Will: Didn't I?
Hannibal: You would deny me my life.
Will: No. No, not your life. No.
Hannibal: My freedom then, you would take that from me. Confine me to a prison cell. Do you believe you could change me the way I changed you?
Will: I already did.
And that's the moment, my friends. Will really only realized that there and then but he now knows that yes he did change Hannibal. He made Hannibal actually truly care for him. Hannibal made Will see his dark side but Will made Hannibal see his good side. They have blended so much that each internalised a part of the other. And when Will states this, Hannibal can't accept it. He, in all his glory, cannot accept to be changed by anyone, not even Will. He turns to pettiness to prove a point, like a child throwing a tantrum. In an anger attack, he does the unforgivable (by undoing his good deeds) and kills Abigail, simply to try and prove Will wrong. It's low, it's difficult, and that's why he's left heartbroken, because he knows immediately he fucked up. He knows Will will probably never forgive him for it.
At the end of the episode Will is dying next to Abigail and he is still able to see the wounded stag as a representation of how deeply heartbroken Hannibal is by everything that has happened. He's pure empathy after all, he sees through Hannibal's facade right into his heart. And he also aches for their separation because now he understands what it all really meant to Hannibal. He wasn't simply playing catch with the police, he put his body and soul into their escape because he really thought he had found someone with whom he could share his life without having to hide his true self. Will's betrayal cuts deep because it's not on his ego, it's on his very soul.
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mrwavellswaps · 1 month
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Swap, Hypno, TF
Henry Cavill, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal
Another great set of options here! But I think I already know who I’m swapping with.
Jake Gyllenhall. Like come on it’s gotta be. That man is just so fucking gorgeous. I’ll be honest though it’s a very close call between him and Ryan Gosling. I adore both of them and if Jake hadn’t been there I absolutely would’ve swapped with Ryan no question. It’s one of those that’s so close that my mind could change depending on the day but right now I’m dead set on Jake and his incredibly sexy looks.
That said I think I’ve just gotta go with another technology based swap for this. A special pair of headsets perhaps. How I’d get Jake to put it on is the tough part. I’d need to find a way to get close to him first. Maybe I use this device to switch bodies with multiple other people who are close to Jake. Every switch getting me closer to him until finally I’m in the body of someone he trusts deeply. Enough that can convince him to put the device on for a laugh when the two of us are alone. Slipping one headset onto him before slipping the other onto myself and without a second thought, activating the device.
Both my face and Jake’s going slack as the swapping device does its thing. Transferring everything that made us who we were through the currents flowing between the two helmets. Slowly flooding my consciousness into Jake’s mind and vice versa. And of course both of us getting massive erections in the process which seemed to be a common side effect when switching bodies with men.
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It would’ve been a long and tiring process to finally get this far but it’d be well worth it once I finally had Jake’s body. Immediately throwing off the headset as soon as the swap was complete and standing up to get a good look at the body I’d been striving towards. Meanwhile the real Jake would be too confused and dazed by what had just happened to even make sense of the situation. Only looking up at me in horror as I tested out my new voice and felt up the new body I had hidden underneath the suit he’d been wearing. The newfound bulge in my pants threatening to break out at any second as I reach down and rub a hand across the outline of Jake’s thick cock.
Of course I need to take care of the original Jake somehow but I don’t think that’d be too hard. Once he finally processes what’s happened, he’ll probably start to panic at the sight of his imposter feeling himself up and slowly undressing. By this point I’ll have already stamped on the headset to ensure it can’t be used again before letting him know that the swap can’t be undone now. Giving him the choice to either keep quiet and I’ll make sure he has an easy life from now on or I’ll find some other way to keep him quiet. And since I’d just stolen his body, I don’t think he’d doubt my threats.
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Moving on however I then need to hypnotise someone. And I think you all know who I’m going for. Ryan Gosling of course. And now that I’m in Jake’s body it shouldn’t be hard for me to get close to these other high end celebs like myself. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, I’ll lace a drink of his with a hypnotic potion that’s got my new body’s cum mixed into it. And as soon as he drinks it, he’ll become a complete hypno slave to me.
Can you imagine? Ryan Gosling kneeling at the feet of Jake Gyllenhall. Willing to do anything he’s told. A former straight man being turned into a gay slut. Always eager to let me ruin his tight and once virgin hole at any chance we got. Practically begging me to cum inside him every time as each load I bred into him with Jake’s cock only drove him further under my control.
With Ryan being so attached to me I doubt he’d ever want to leave my side for long. Telling the world that the two of us have decided to become a couple would be inevitable in the long game I imagine but that wouldn’t be all bad. The publicity would probably do wonders. I’d have to make sure Ryan acts as normal as possible when we’re in public though… but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let a few of his new slutty elements shine through the cracks from time to time. Maybe with him telling a reporter that I really “opened him up” to a new world of possibilities with a quick wink.
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Lastly though a TF is in order and we still have Henry Cavill on our list. I’ll be honest I had no idea what to go for TF wise at first but I think I’ve finally figured it out.
Once again getting close to Henry at some point or another shouldn’t be too hard thanks to my new body. And as soon as no one is looking I’ll whip out an ancient spell. One that if performed correctly will immediately begin to transform Henry’s body. Or rather force it to shrink away into nothing. Or so you’d think at first glance.
As his body seems to vanish, his clothes would fall to the floor in a heap. But there would be something left underneath those clothes. I’d pull apart the heap and reach into Henry’s crumpled pants only to pull out Henry’s cock and balls!? It was the only thing left of his body though at first glance it would certainly be mistaken for a dildo. However upon closer inspection it looked and felt very real from the way the balls swayed to how the cock reacted to the slightest touch.
Now for the real test though.
Assuming I was alone where nobody could walk in on me, I’d slip the disembodied cock into my mouth and started sucking. Feeling as it swiftly began hardening in my mouth. Being sure to use every dick sucking trick in the book until Henry’s cock finally blew a load in my mouth. And as soon as it did, the suit I was wearing started to rip.
Henry’s body and soul essence had all been trapped inside this dlido-like form of his cock. However this meant that anyone who drank his cum would gain his strength and muscle mass albeit temporarily. Hence my suit tearing a fair bit after I swallowed thanks to my body bulking up quite a fair bit. And naturally I didn’t waste any time checking out the results. Loving the look of an even bigger and buffer Jake Gyllenhall staring back at me.
Needless to say I was gonna be using Henry’s cock a lot. Thankfully it replenishes itself endlessly as far as I know so there isn’t a real limit. I can drink from it as much as I want and bulk Jake’s body up whenever I please. Hell I might even let Ryan drink from it as well. Lord knows it’d be hot to see him hulk out with some extra muscle as well. Giving Ryan and even thicker muscle ass for me to dominate! But I think I can say for certain that I’ll be the one using it’s power most of the time. All the extra muscle is bound to feel addictive. And who know? Maybe my body will start to adapt and hold onto some of that extra size even after the effects wear off. Only one way to find out I guess.
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Now this one was fun to type up! Also wanted to give a quick shout out to an old story by @fantasyvessels called Trading Places With Gyllenhall which definitely inspired me a little here. Glad I was able to track down where they got those images from and make a hot gif outta it. Go check that story out as well if Jake is your thing!
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Which Classic Novel Should You Read Based on Your Fave Snape Pairing
Snily - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847). Let's see, a low class and abused, brooding Byronic leading man? Check. Madly in love with a woman who ends up marrying a snobbish rich man who looks down on our hero? Check. Obsessed with her even decades after her death? Check, check, and check. Oh, and let's not forget that the child the woman has with her husband shares her eyes. Hm, suspicious.
Snames - Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson (1740). So, as a fellow snames fan, let's be honest with ourselves: all of our fics can be boiled down to "I can change him." We want James to be despicable, inhuman, and cruel to Severus, and then we want James to realize how disgusting he is and grovel at Severus's feet, because we are all basic bitches. So basic that one of the earliest novels in the English language is basically this. Pamela originated this trope.
Snirius - Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith (1957). Snirius fans are unafraid of dark, toxic relationships and unhappy endings, and, well, here's a book for you! Deep Water is about as toxic as you can get. It's about a man who murders his wife's lovers.
Snucius - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913). Alright, alright, so this isn't a novel, this is a play, but fans of this pairing definitely seem to be into the whole sugar daddy/"I can turn this feral street child into an elegant gentleman" kind of vibe, and this is what this play is all about. Audrey Hepburn is fantastic in the film adaptation My Fair Lady (1964).
Snupin - Bear by Marian Engle (1976). You Canadians are probably like, "What the fuck? Is my OTP a joke to you?" The answer is yes, but that's beside the point. Hear me out. The main character is an archivist who is very bad at relationships and kind of shuns society in general. Like our Snape. She ends up in the Canadian wilderness on an assignment going through a dead person's belongings. Also, this dead person kept a pet bear that our heroine now has to take care of. Our heroine begins to yearn for something wild, our pet bear is a literal bear, but also incredibly pathetic and docile just like Lupin. Anyway, the two fuck. Literally, she fucks a bear. THIS BOOK WON THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD. THAT'S LIKE CANADA'S PULITZER I THINK. None of you werewolf-fuckers should act shocked and dismayed by this. We all know how you really think Sirius's prank should have gone (in which instead of James rescuing Snape, Moony makes sweet sweet love to him).
Sorry, guys, no Snarry or Snamione. I don't really read those pairings so I can't give an accurate recommendation. But if you've got thoughts, add to this!
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ifwebefriends · 12 days
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TRIGGER WARNING: misogyny and mentions of transphobia and bigotry in the video above
Comic dub of this ace attorney fan comic by @runby2 with permission from the artist
Huge thanks to runby2 for letting me dub their comic! Please go support them, he makes great stuff! This is one of my favorite Ace attorney fan comics. I know the sound quality on my voice is bad and I said the wrong word at one point but I did my best. I hope I did it justice (no pun intended).
[Video ID. A comic by tumblr user runby2 vocally dubbed by tumblr user Ifwebefriends. It is a fancomic based on the ace attorney games featuring Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin, and Kristoph Gavin. Apollo looks determined at the floor with his arms crossed as he says “Klavier, I have to tell Kristoph that I am trans. I know you said if he hired me he already knows but,,, I want to be honest with my mentor!” Klavier, standing next to him and looking worried, waves his hands and says “nein,,,, nein forehead,,,” Apollo looks worriedly at Klavier and says “wait is he ,, transphobic??” Klavier responds “nein,, it’s just,, confusing-“ Apollo says back “then I want to tell him, klav! I made up my mind!” Klavier responds “I’ll,, come with you,,,” The scene changes. Apollo looks determined as he says “Mr. Gavin!!! I have… something to tell you!” Klavier, standing next to Apollo, looks dejected with his arms crossed as he says “ah here we go,” Kristoph is sitting behind his desk and looks concentrated and confident with two fingers to his temple as he says “ah, Justice. There is nothing you can tell me that I do not already know.” Apollo points confidently as he says “well, actually sir, how about THIS?” He then grabs his bicep and looks concerned as he says “I’m transgender” with a voice crack. All three of them are silent for a moment. Kristoph says “but, you ARE a man, yes?” Apollo looks worried as he says “well- yes! … technically -“ Kristoph interrupts “no.” Apollo questions “I- ‘no ‘?” Kristoph clarifies “you ARE a man, Apollo.” Apollo smiles and says “I- !! Oh! Thank you, sir!” Kristoph continues “thank god you’re not a woman. I despise women.” Apollo looks shocked and dumbfounded. Klavier silently puts his hand on Apollo’s shoulder while Apollo looks confused. Kristoph continues “that is why I too, became a man.” Apollo, curious and emboldened, exclaims “wow! Wait! Mr. Gavin, you were born ‘a girl’ too?” Kristoph responds “no. I was born a man. Keep up.” Apollo looks even more confused and Klavier looks away disappointed as Kristoph continues “I chose to become a woman to fully understand what it was like to become a woman. i choose my fate, justice. then when i fully understood what it meant to be a woman, i became a man again. that is why i am the best defense attorney, because i have conquered all gender and i fully understand what it means, to be both a misogynist and hate men. NEVER. assume you know more than me,, justice. i chose you for a reason.” Apollo replies “what abt nonbinary ppl,,” Kristoph looks smugly to the side before saying “‘nonbinary’… hahhah… Justice,,, do you SERIOUSLY think that I am a man, RIGHT NOW?” Kristoph turns to flash a smug smile with two fingers by his eyes as he says “i am more than a man and a woman. I identify as a man solely to fool the idiots who do not understand the spectrum of human existence. i chose YOU, justice, because you understand what it means to become more than what you were born as. I, right now, am a god among men. My gender has evolved past that of a simple male, or a simple female. I understand the binary and I use it to my advantage. I have both joined and fought against the bigots that run this government, yet they could not track me as I did so. I have handled what you understand as the gender binary and distorted it like a fine clay. That is what it means to be a lawyer. Do NOT forget that, Justice.” An endcard comes up that says “comic by @runby2 dub and sound editing by @ifwebefriends End ID]
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