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#i don’t want to quit :( it’s a decent job with really great coworkers i’m just the guy who is scared and in pain all the time
infernape · 23 days
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asked if i could go part time due to my work related injury my bosses said no and i cried in front of them a lot :) awesome day👍🏻
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nightlychaotic · 2 years
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Protection and Energy
Thank you @the-witches-you-couldnt-burn for the ideas!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The soft click clack of Marinette’s heels was the only sound as she walked down the hall towards the parking garage, moving at a decent clip as she glanced at her watch. 1:30 am. How the hell had it gotten to be so late? She knew she’d be fine inside but she still wanted to get into her car and home as fast as she could.
“Excuse me?”
She jumped, moving on instinct, pinning the poor soul who had snuck up behind her to the wall, forearm braced against his throat.
He put his hands up in a “I surrender” position as she let go, covering her mouth softly.
“I am so sorry. I’m just a bit jumpy. It’s late and I’m usually home by now. The time just got away from me- I really am.”
He just shook his head with a grin. “You’re Tim’s new secretary aren’t you?”
“And Mr. Wayne’s as well. Tabby just quit. Which is one reason why I am here so late.”
“Well, may I walk you back to your car? For protection of course.”
“I wouldn’t want to be a bother. I can protect myself.”
“I can and it’s not a bother. It’s my job.”
“Well if you’re sure.”
“I am.”
“I’m Marinette.”
“Dick Grayson.”
She smiled as he opened the door for her
—--------------------------------------
Marinette closed the car door, making sure it was locked, before heading in. She was early for once, as she was hoping to, wandering down to find the security offices, heading in with a smile, holding herself with confidence as she looked around the small desks, trying to remember which one she’d been told was Dick Grayson’s.
She grinned as she finally found the small desk belonging to Dick in the security section, she set the container of baked goods down, scribbling a short note and sticking it on top.
She left for the upper levels with a smile, having successfully dropped off her small thank you gift.
Dick was surprised to find the tupperware container on his desk, peeling the sticky note off of the top of it he grinned as he read it.
For energy
Thank you for walking me to my car last week.
~Marinette
Opening it to reveal muffins, scones, and cookies
—--------------------------------------
This became the new routine for the two of them.
Dick would walk Marinette to her car whenever it got late. The idea of it being late slowly becoming earlier and earlier before disappearing all together. He would walk Marinette to her car, always claiming it to be “for protection” with a grin as they talked. He started to suspect Marinette started parking further away to prolong their short nighttime jaunts.
Marinette would bring in tupperwares full of baked goods twice a week “for energy.” A savory one on Mondays full of muffins and scones and a sweet one on Wednesday with cupcakes and cookies, mixing fruits and sweets in on occasion, slowly learning what Dick preferred through trial and error, making sure to keep those in and expand off the newfound knowledge.
The two were slowly getting closer and becoming the couple everyone rooted for. Before they even were a couple.
The two found themselves dragged or brought into rooms by coworkers and friends to be abandoned under a clumsy excuse like a “forgotten pen” or “watering my desk. Plant. I forgot to water my desk plant. Which I have.” That was the most infamous excuse they’d been given.
It was after the twenty-second occurrence Marinette decided to address it with Dick.
“How long do you think it’s going to take for them to realize they aren’t being subtle?” Marinette asked, pouring two cups of coffee, with a soft smile.
He laughed, happily accepting one from her. “I don’t know. I think they really are trying. They just…. not great at it.”
She nodded, raising her mug in a salute. “I’ll drink to that.”
Dick clinked his mug with hers, the two smiling at each other before taking a drink and heading back to their respective work spaces.
—--------------------------------------
Dick had finally gathered the courage to swing by Marinette’s desk with the aim to ask if she’d like to go out at some point. After a few months of flirting, he was hoping to take the next step.
Unfortunately, or actually, fortunately he had the worst timing imaginable getting to her desk only a minute before two armed men burst into the room, immediately training their guns on the security guard. Dick.
Dick tried to push Marinette behind him only for her to duck underneath his arm to stand in front of the short hallway leading to the CEO offices.
"I'm sorry. You can't see the CEOs without an appointment," she informed them with a smile, not even blinking as one of them pointed their gun at her. His partner keeping their gun trained on Dick.
"Out of the way. I'd hate ta shoot a pretty lady."
Her smile grew serious as he said that. "Have it your way."
She grabbed his wrist, twisting the gun out of his hand, quickly turning the safety on and slid it down the hall behind her. She kept her grip on him, swinging him into his partner knocking both of them down, following up by disarming the partner and knocking the two out.
Dick blinked as she turned to face him, straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair out.
"You got it from here?"
“Marry me.”
“I’d love to. I’ve always dreamt of a Spring wedding. Small, just family and close friends. What do you think?”
He had not been expecting that response. “That sounds beautiful. This Spring or next?”
“This Spring as in next week?”
“So next year?”
“Two weeks? My parents and family can be here in that time.”
“Two weeks is perfect. Is Wayne Manor a good place? We have some beautiful grounds out back, and the gardens are starting to bloom.”
She smiled. “You’ll need to show me the grounds first don’t you think?”
“A good idea. And you need to meet Alfred. And rings.”
“Saturday? And Sunday if we run out of time to sort all of that out?”
“I can be free.”
She smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I can’t wait. Now I do believe there are a couple of thugs for my fiance to clean up.”
“That my stunning fiance handled as if it was nothing.”
She blushed slightly making a shooing motion at him. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“See you tonight my love.”
—--------------------------------------
“How’s your desk plant that you definitely have doing, Andy?” Marinette asked as she ran into her coworker in the break room.
“Not my finest excuse I’ll admit but I think the bigger question is how are you doing? You’ve been gone for a month. So has a certain Dick Grayson…. Anything you want to share? A relationship update, perhaps?”
Marinette smiled softly as she looked at him. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? We’re married,” she said before turning to walk away, biting back a small laugh as she heard Andy sputter behind her before hurrying to catch up to her.
“What was that?”
“We’re married. Just got back from our honeymoon in Paris. I showed him around where I grew up-”
“Introduced me to Andre’s ice cream.”
Marinette let out a small squeal of surprise as Dick hugged her from behind, twisting to wrap her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss.
“Good Morning, My Love.”
“Good Morning, Mrs Grayson.”
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sankyeom · 4 years
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the c in ceo stands for cute | k.yh
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pairings: kim younghoon x reader genre: ceo au, secretary!reader x ceo!younghoon, strangers to lovers summary: in which your handsome boss is often mistaken as cold due to his good looks and forward personality, but is actually the sweetest introvert you’ve ever met word count: 7.2k series: sankyeom’s 2k followers celebration
masterlist
“It’s been such a pleasure working for you, Mr Kim,” you told the CEO of the company you worked for, genuinely meaning every word.
Mr Kim beamed at you, eyes bright behind the large frames of his glasses. “The pleasure was all mine, Y/n,” he assured you. “You’re a marvellous help. My son is going to love you,” he was sure.
The heir of the Kim corporation, Kim Younghoon, was returning from getting his Masters degree from Harvard Business School just in time to take over after his father retired. He was a little young to be the CEO of such a large corporation, but Mr Kim had a lot of faith in his son, and spoke very highly of him.
“I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” you smiled, even though you were lying through your teeth.
There had been enough rumours about Kim Younghoon going around for you to know what to expect. His schoolmates said that he was often cold to them, giving blunt answers instead of mingling with his peers, and having an air of superiority around him. You asked some of your older coworkers if they knew much about him, since you had only been Mr Kim’s secretary for a little over two years, and they feared him too much to have ever really approached him.
Of course you knew that it was unfair to judge a person by the rumours surrounding them, especially if you never even had the chance to meet this person, but there seemed to be no positive stories about Kim Younghoon at all. Sure, his face was plastered across billboards for being an excellent businessman and for having great instincts when it came to the stock market, but he never smiled in any pictures; not even the ones on his social media (which had millions of followers).
Mr Kim seemed to know you well, giving you an intentional smile. “He’s not what people expect him to be. You’ll see when he arrives,” he promised. You decided to take Mr Kim’s word for it and give the new CEO a proper chance, despite the fact that Mr Kim was very biased in this situation.
“I think it’s time for me to get home,” Mr Kim admitted, handing you his almost-full champagne flute.
The Seoul division of the corporation’s office had held a farewell party for Mr Kim, celebrating his many years of building up the company and all the people whose lives he impacted while he was CEO. “So soon?” you asked, helping him up from his chair. “You’ve only had one slice of cake.”
Mr Kim laughed. “I’ll take a good night’s sleep over a second slice of cake,” he assured you, taking your arm and letting you walk him to the elevator. “You know that I like you a lot, don’t you Y/n?” he asked you.
You couldn’t help but smile back at the man who was almost like a second father figure, and your most influential mentor. “Yes I do, Mr Kim. It’s been a pleasure.”
“I consider myself quite lucky,” he replied, saying his farewells to you before letting his chauffeur walk him to his car.
You waved as the elevator doors closed and sighed to yourself when Mr Kim was gone, looking around to see what was left of the office party.
You knew you were good at your job. Throughout high school and college, you found it difficult to figure out what you wanted to do with your life. All you knew was that you had good organisational and people skills, and you wanted to do something creative and exciting. At first, the idea of being someone’s secretary sounded dreadfully boring and time-consuming. But as you started to learn more about the profession, you liked the idea of being able to be apart of different projects as well as organising someone’s time.
“Hey, Y/n,” your coworker Kevin called over to you. He was someone you worked with a lot because he was a part of the design department, and no design ever went out without Mr Kim’s direct approval. “Where did Mr Kim go?” he asked.
You smiled, making your way over to him and the group of people he stood with. “Home,” you informed him. “I think he appreciated the party, but when he said he wanted to retire, he really meant it.”
Kevin laughed, raising his champagne flute in the air as a toast. “Fair enough,” he allowed. “Did he give you any details about the new boss?” he wondered, quirking an eyebrow in inquisitiveness.
“Not really,” you admitted. “He said that he thinks we’ll get along, and that he’s not what people expect him to be. But aside from that, he didn’t give me much.”
“Damn,” Kevin sighed. “I just want to know if he’s as scary as people make him out to be. I mean, attending a prestigious business school overseas and not making any friends? That seems kind of weird.”
“A little,” you agreed, accepting the champagne he offered you and sipping it. “I don’t know. I guess if you already have a decent set of friends at home, and your priority is to finish school as quickly as possible, then I can see why he might come across as unfriendly.”
Kevin hummed. “I suppose,” he agreed, downing his champagne. “Now c’mon. We need to dance and actually have fun at the party that you spent weeks planning,” he insisted, letting you finish your drink before dragging you over to where you had pushed chairs and tables away to make room for dancing. “Tomorrow, the new boss arrives. And if he’s half as bad as people say he is, you’re going to wish you had partied.”
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You arrived at the office the next day an hour earlier than you usually did. You weren’t sure what time the new boss would be arriving at, so you just decided to be early. Fidgeting with your clothes, you smoothed them down as best as you could as you waited in front of the CEO’s office for Younghoon to arrive. You had already printed out a plan of things Mr Kim had left him to finish up for the next three months, but you didn’t have any more specific plans after that.
After half an hour of waiting around, hushed whispers rang around the office area. Taking this as a sign that Younghoon was on his way, you stood up tall with all of your papers, planner, and clipboard, and took a deep breath in to calm down. Not long after, Younghoon’s familiar face – which you recognised both from billboards, magazines and articles, as well as Mr Kim’s framed pictures in his office – appeared in front of you with two men trailing after him.
He was handsome in a chic way, with deep set eyes and high brow bones. His cupid’s bow was slightly pointed, and his lips in general were turned down into a sort of passive frown, as if he had a mild case of resting bitch face. All in all, he was intimidating. Tall, handsome, and rich. You dealt with men like this every day, but none of them looked at you as indifferently as Kim Younghoon was.
You put on your best smile. “Good morning Mr Kim,” you greeted. “My name is Y/n. I’m here to assist you with whatever you need. I’d like to go over your schedule for the next few months based on what your father already had planned, if now is a good time,” you told him, wanting to get that over and done with.
“Now is perfect,” Younghoon replied, allowing you to open the door for him before he let himself into his new office. You breathed out a quiet sigh of relief when he was inside, recovering quickly to smile at the two men he came with.
“Nice to meet you both, I’m Y/n. I’ll be Mr Kim’s secretary,” you introduced yourself again.
Both men returned your cheery expressions. “Nice to meet you, Y/n,” the one with the dark brown hair greeted. “My name is Sangyeon. I’m the head of Younghoon’s security, but I’m mostly just an old friend,” he admitted. “This is Juyeon,” the man with the black undercut smiled, which made his otherwise angular face seem soft and cute. “He’s Younghoon’s chauffeur but he’s another old friend.”
“We’ll see each other a lot so I hope we get along,” Juyeon chimed in.
“I’m sure we will,” you promised, already feeling comfortable around them. The two men exuded positive energy and a carefree attitude, which helped to calm your nerves just a little bit. Following them into Younghoon’s office, you motioned for them to sit in the two seats in front of Younghoon’s desk, where he was already sat in his office chair.
“We can talk about redecorating the office after we discuss your schedule, if you’d like,” you suggested to Younghoon, noticing the way his eyes were darting around the office. It was left the same way that Mr Kim had wanted it, only most of the belongings that he cherished had been moved into his personal office at home.
“Don’t bother,” Younghoon replied in a quiet voice, leaving you to smile awkwardly at his friends. “You said something about my father having plans for me?” he added.
“Right,” you nodded, taking out Younghoon’s agenda and placing it down in front of him. “Your father had already agreed to a few things before he retired,” you explained. “As the new CEO, you’re expected to carry out these events. I’ve colour coordinated everything that you have set, as well as given you the time and location of every event,” you pointed to the different coloured sticky tabs. “Since we’re going into the last quarter of the financial year, it’s not as busy as the rest of the year but there are more charity-related events than at the start of the year.”
Younghoon held your gaze, taking in your worried eyes and your shaking hands. “How kind of you,” he decided, sending you a half-smile before thumbing through the rest of his journal.
You thanked him quietly, feeling even more deflated now than when you were waiting for him. “Just so you know, I’m going to be arriving the same time everyday as I did today. You don’t need to arrive before me, we can arrive at the same time. And please don’t call me Mr Kim. Mr Kim is my father, you may call me Younghoon,” he said in his calm drawl, done looking through his schedule and glancing up at you. “Can I keep this?” Younghoon motioned to the planner.
“It’s yours,” you assured him.
“Then that’ll be all for now,” Younghoon gave you another half-smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ll be familiarising myself with my father’s previous system of organisation and then I’ll meet the main teams this afternoon after lunch. Send the word out that I expect an update on what they’re working on right now, but I don’t want any presentations. Just an informal chat.”
“Of course,” you nodded, placing the stack of papers you were holding on his desk. “These are from legal, they need you to sign off on some patents by Thursday. I figured I’d give you some time to read through them and I can collect them from you Thursday morning,” you informed him. “My schedule for the day is always on this,” you tapped his desktop screen. “We have access to each others’ electronic calendars. It has everything that I put in your planner so far in it already. You can add whatever else onto it so I’m up-to-date. You can see my calendar so you know where I am if you ever need something and I’m not around. I’ll call the team managers right away and schedule your meetings with them.”
“Thank you, Y/n,” Younghoon said.
“Can I get you anything to drink or eat?” you offered, extending your words to Sangyeon and Juyeon as well.
“We’re good,” they assured you, Younghoon nodding in agreement.
“If you need lunch reservations, just let me know,” you smiled, exiting the room and almost collapsing onto your chair. After a moment to catch your breath, you picked up your phone and began to dial the number for Kevin’s cubicle.
“What’s he like?” Kevin exclaimed instead of answering.
You rolled your eyes. “Mr Kim wants a meeting with all the main teams. I’m having the design team go first so. How does 1 o’clock sound?”
“Fine,” he agreed, so you opened your laptop and updated Younghoon’s digital calendar. “Seriously, though. What’s he like? Apparently he didn’t smile when he came into the building at all.”
“Sound accurate,” you mumbled quietly. “I don’t know, Kev. I’ve only met him once. He seems like he’s focused and willing to do the job, so there’s not much I can say.”
“Yeah, okay. But is he a jerk? Unsociable?”
“Well, he’s no fairy princess,” you allowed. “That’s all I’ll say. Like I said, I’ve only met him once. And he’s the CEO of a huge corporation. We’ll have to see.”
“I guess so,” Kevin sighed. “Oh my god. He wants a meeting with all the main teams? I don’t have enough time to make a presentation, what am I supposed to do?”
“I think he wants to be caught up on the current projects and put some faces to the names, is all. Don’t worry too much. You’ll do great,” you motivated your friend. “Now I have to make some other calls, so don’t freak out, okay? Bye.”
As you hung up, Juyeon stepped out of Younghoon’s office. Automatically, you stood up to give him a smile. “Do you need anything?” you offered, earning a grateful smile from him.
“No, no, I’m just on my way to do some errands for Younghoon,” Juyeon waved off your concern. “Thank you, though.” You nodded, sitting back down and going back to organising the team meetings. “You seem like you’re good at your job,” Juyeon complimented. “Very organised. Colour-coded, even,” he added.
“That’s me,” you laughed. “Was it too much?” you wondered. “I mostly did it to kill time waiting for him to come into the office.”
“You’re all good,” Juyeon assured you.
“What errands are you running?” you inquired. “If Younghoon needs anything, I can do it for him. It is my job, after all.”
“Just picking up some stuff for his office,” Juyeon said vaguely, giving you a sheepish smile. Recalling the way that Younghoon disregarded your offer to help him redecorate his office, you felt the nervous feeling in your stomach rise up again.
“He doesn’t like me very much, does he?” you said gloomily.
“He doesn’t know you,” Juyeon retorts. “And you’re great, really. If you were my secretary I’d be jumping for joy,” he promises. “You just… need to get to know him. He takes time to get comfortable with people.”
“Okay,” you smiled sadly. “Well, let me know if I can help with your errands. You can call the lobby and ask for me, they’ll forward your call.” Juyeon waved goodbye and you watched him walk out, slightly upset that Younghoon wanted his chauffeur to do your job, even if they were old friends.
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“He’s scary,” Kevin told you when you came to check on him after his meeting with Younghoon. “The new Mr Kim is nothing like the old Mr Kim,” he added.
“What happened?” you asked, wondering what wound Kevin up so much. You knew that Kevin often overthought social interactions, as most socially awkward people do, but you had never seen him so jittery at work before.
“All he did was stare at us and take notes,” Kevin revealed. “He didn’t make any comments or expressions or anything. He just sat there, listened, then dismissed us like we’re school children.”
You winced. “That must have been tough,” you sympathised. “But I mean, it’s only the first meeting,” you tried to find a way to defend Younghoon, giving him the benefit of doubt.
“Sure, but first impressions are kind of important,” Kevin argued. “It’s not like I need to be his best friend the second we meet, but a little communication would have been nice.”
“I’m sorry, Kev,” you sighed. Just as you were about to offer to grab him some coffee, knowing how much he adored the bitter concoction, your phone rang. “Mr Kim,” you answered, seeing that it was forwarded from from your office.
“Younghoon,” he corrected.
You grimace. “Yes, Younghoon. I’m sorry, sir, force of habit,” you said, making Kevin cringe when he realised who you were talking to.
“Where are you?” Younghoon asked, his tone even.
“I’m taking my break,” you explained. “It’s on my schedule.”
“Yes, I see,” Younghoon hummed. “I’m looking at it right now. It doesn’t say where you are, though. I thought it was supposed to say that.”
You cursed silently. “You’re absolutely right, sir. I’m sorry. I can come back immediately,” you offered.
“Please do,” Younghoon said before hanging up the phone without saying goodbye.
“It is Mr Sunshine?” Kevin said sarcastically. “What’s up with you calling him by his first name?”
“He asked me to,” you shrug, putting your phone back in your pocket. “I gotta run. I’ll see you later?” Kevin waved and off you went back to your desk. “Mr- Younghoon,” you corrected yourself, finding Younghoon leaning against your desk waiting for you. “I’m sorry. What did you need me for?”
“You didn’t have lunch,” Younghoon said, tapping your laptop, which was open with your schedule on it.
“Pardon?” you asked.
“You didn’t take your lunch break, which means you haven’t eaten lunch,” your boss elaborated. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to lunch.”
Startled by his offer, you started shaking your head. “That’s alright, sir, I’ll just make a reservation for you.”
“I insist,” Younghoon retorted, taking his phone out of the pocket of his slacks. “Do you feel like eating anything in particular?”
“I’m not picky,” you said quietly, realising that you wouldn’t be able to get out of this.
“I’ll order in,” Younghoon decided, handing you his phone. “Pick whatever you want, it’s on me.”
“That’s really not necessary,” you attempted to argue, but Younghoon insisted.
Half an hour later, you were sat in the plush chair in front of Younghoon’s desk in his office, eating your noodles slowly as you observed your new boss. You weren’t sure if you were just misunderstanding him, or if he really was as blunt and cold as people said he was. However, you respected his father too much to make assumptions based on the first day of meeting him.
“My father speaks very highly of you,” Younghoon broke the silence in between bites of food. “He says that you’re the best secretary he’s ever had. And that you’re one of his favourite people he’s ever worked with.”
“Wow, that’s very high praise,” you said, stunned that Mr Kim even shared his compliments to you with his son. “I’m sure you and I will get along once we get to know each other better, too,” you offered.
Younghoon nodded. “People often misunderstand me,” he began. “I know that people think I’m cold and antisocial. Some people even think I’m arrogant,” a smile graced his face, one that was full and genuine. It lit up his sharp features and softened his entire face, causing him to practically glow. “The truth if that I’m just not very good at what I do yet. A lot of people have expectations of me and I want to meet them. But I’ve always been more reserved and introverted, so expressing that is hard for me.”
Pleased that he was opening up to you, you gave him an encouraging smile. “I understand,” you assured him. “I found this job really scary and hard when I first started. Mr Kim helped me a lot, and he made the office a warm environment where I felt comfortable.”
“I want to do that too,” Younghoon said. “But I also want people to take me seriously. I know I’m taking over much earlier than everyone expected me to, myself included, and I want to make a good impression.”
“You will make a good impression,” you told him. “It will just take some time.”
Younghoon nodded. “I think I scared the design team this afternoon,” he mumbled.
“You did,” you confessed, having just heard Kevin’s experience. Younghoon’s eyes filled with worry, brows furrowing together slightly. “But I think they would’ve been scared no matter what you were like.”
“I have a lot of positive things to say about them,” Younghoon told you, taking out his tablet and handing it to you. You took it, scrolling through the notes he took during the meeting. It was filled with compliments and suggestions to better the project.
“Kevin would love this,” you exclaimed. “These notes are very conceptual and visual, that’s exactly what helps him.” Handing his tablet back, you had to ask. “Why didn’t you say anything? Apparently, that’s what made the meeting the most daunting.”
“I didn’t want them to think that I thought I knew how to do their jobs better than them,” Younghoon confessed. “Because I don’t. That’s why they’re here.” The realisation that Younghoon was truly misunderstood hit you hard, and somehow it made you feel quite relieved. “I must have scared you this morning, too, then.” You nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you,” you said easily. “Everything is still very new. Anytime you need help with this kind of thing, or if you’re unsure about anything, just talk to me. That’s what I’m here for, after all.”
Younghoon smiled again, and you observed how his handsome face could actually look quite cute. “Thank you, Y/n. Now eat your noodles before they get too cold.”
“Yes, boss,” you agreed, grinning before digging back into your lunch.
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You first heard the news that the cost of company shares had plummeted from one of your friends in the finance department. Chanhee was good friends with you and Kevin, and he practically ran to your desk when he first saw the numbers going down.
“What happened?” you wondered, confused as to why the shares were going down in value all of a sudden. “Our most recent project was incredibly successful. Our shares should be going up in value more than anything.”
Chanhee bit his bottom lip, eyes flitting to the large oak door that led to Younghoon’s office. “He’s at a lunch meeting with a prominent fashion designer,” you explained, causing Chanhee to nod in relief.
“It’s Mr Kim,” Chanhee admitted, lowering his voice.
“Mr Kim?” you echoed. “Did he do something before Younghoon took over?”
Chanhee rolled his eyes. “No, I mean the new Mr Kim,” he corrected. “He only lets you call him by his first name,” he added, something that you hadn’t known. “When the news broke that he’s taking over, people started selling their shares at low prices. So, the value went down.”
“Oh,” you breathed out, confused. “But, he hasn’t even been here for a month yet? How can the public make such quick decisions on how he’ll impact the company?”
“Reputation is just as important as skills,” Chanhee reminded you. “You know that well. Mr Kim’s reputation is… Well, you work with him. I’ve been in meetings with him. He seems a little…”
“Cold?” you offered, sighing at the predicament at hand. Chanhee merely smiled, lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Okay. We can fix this. I can talk to Younghoon when he returns from his meeting and-“
“Talk to me about what?” Younghoon called, stepping into the room with Sangyeon and Juyeon in toll.
Juyeon waved. “Hi, Y/n,” he greeted you, Sangyeon nodding in acknowledgement.
“Hi Juyeon, Sangyeon,” you replied, standing up from your chair as Chanhee trembled. “Younghoon, I was just talking to Chanhee about the company’s finances,” you said vaguely, giving Chanhee the chance to bow and duck out of the room.
“I’m assuming you mean the share and stock values,” Younghoon nodded, motioning for you to follow him into his office. “I saw it before heading into my lunch meeting. I don’t think it should be a big deal,” he decided, taking a seat at his desk as you closed the door behind you. “I can just have a meeting with the investors to explain my situation and get things straight. Once they know I’m reliable and competent, the matter will surely be resolved.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” you confessed, causing Younghoon to pause in his action of opening his planner. “It’s just that reputation is very important here. Especially in large companies such as yours,” you added. “I think it would be best if we focused on stimulating your image more. So far, people only have rumours about you from your business school peers, as well as magazine and newspaper interviews to go off of. You’re still a mystery to the public.”
“I like my privacy,” Younghoon explained, a small pout forming on his mouth.
You averted your eyes from his lips. “But image is still important. Your father had the image of a friendly family-oriented man who raised money to build homes for the underprivileged population,” you recalled. “We could have some events to stimulate your own image. Parties, charity events…”
“You really think this will help?” Younghoon asked, eyes resembling those of a scared puppy.
The fact that he had terrified you so much upon your first meeting felt like a hundred years ago to you. Now that you had been working together for almost a month, you had seen how nervous Younghoon was. And how cute he could act. Seeing him around Sangyeon and Juyeon also helped. The pair was hilarious and they always brought out a happier, more relaxed side of Younghoon that you were pleased to see.
You knew that Younghoon just wanted to do well and make his father proud. He was less confident in his abilities than you thought he should be.
You nodded. “What should we do?” Younghoon wondered.
“I think we should find something that you enjoy and promote it,” you began. “What do you like to do, other than work?”
“I don’t have time for much else,” Younghoon thought. Whenever he was deep in thought, his head tilted to the side and and his eyes looked up at the ceiling as he mumbled under his breath. It was a truly cute sight.
“He likes music! He’s actually a pretty decent singer,” Sangyeon supplied for his friend, giving him an encouraging smile when Younghoon stammered a denial,
“That’s great,” you exclaimed. “We could talk to our charity department and look into funding music programs at schools. Arts are always underfunded and could use our help,” you suggested. “And I think that meeting with the investors is a good idea. But instead of talking about your qualifications and experience, you could talk about the direction you want to take the company in. Focus on the fact that you took over from Mr Kim the second he needed you.”
“Does that makes me sound soft and emotional?” Younghoon asked. “I don’t want to look weak in front of the investors.”
You smiled. “The investors are here because they trusted your father’s vision for the company, and they trusted that he was a family man who wanted to do good with the assets his company had.” You recalled the many meetings you sat in on with Mr Kim, and how much everyone adored him. “You take after your father. The fact that you finished business school early to help him with the company, and that you want to do well will please the investors.”
Juyeon laughed. “Your secretary knows this company better than you do,” he teased his friend.
Younghoon managed a smile, meeting your eyes amongst his giggling friends. “That’s why I need her,” he reminded Juyeon, a comment which made you beam.
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“Y/n!” Sunwoo from advertising called out to you as you walked down the hall. He came rushing in your direction, despite the fact that you stood still to wait for him, holding a stack of papers in his hand. “Could you get these to Mr Kim for me?” he asked you, passing the papers on. “They’re the final proposals for the advertising of his charity event,” Sunwoo explained.
Younghoon’s meeting with the investors had gone really well, and he had definitely won their favours and respect. He mentioned wanting to invest in art and music programs because of his own passion for music, and had many ideas for a charity event to promote their program. The investors, always happy to go to a party and excited for the direction Younghoon wanted to take the company in, were overjoyed with his suggestion.
“Um, sure,” you agreed with furrowed brows. “Why don’t you just bring them to him, though? Your office is on the same floor.”
“Oh,” Sunwoo stared at you with large, round eyes. “Can’t,” he stammered. “Meeting. Gotta go. Thanks, Y/n!” he called, waving at you as he darted away in the direction of the elevator.
Ignoring his odd behaviour, you flipped through the pages to make sure everything was there before making your way back to your desk. When you arrived, you sorted out the notes you had photocopied for Younghoon from Sunwoo’s proposals, just as you heard another person call you name.
“Would you be able to give these to Mr Kim?” Changmin from human resources asked, showing you a thick stack of papers, stapled together in the top left corner. “They’re the human resources policies for the next financial year. He wanted to see them before the end of the week so he could sign off on them.”
“I can,” you agreed. “But his office is right there. Why don’t you just go in and give them to him? I’m sure he’d be happy to see you since he’s cooped up in his office all day.”
Changmin gave you a nervous smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks. “I would, but I actually have someone on hold at my desk,” he admitted.
Your eyes widened. “Why did you bring me this while waiting for someone? Go, go! It could be important,” you shooed him away, earning a loud thank you from him before he rushed to get back to his desk.
Sighing, you stacked his papers on top of the ones you were organising and made your way into Younghoon’s office, knocking on the door to let him know you were coming. “Woah,” Younghoon stared at the large pile of papers in your arms as you entered, leaving the door open behind you. “That’s a lot of photocopied notes from your meeting with Mr Park,” he observed.
You laughed at his comment, spreading the papers out in three neat piles in front of him. “I also have Sunwoo from advertising’s final proposal for the charity event ads, and I have Changmin from human resource’s policies for the next financial year.”
At your revelation, Younghoon groaned and buried his face in his hands. “They hate me,” he whined, looking at you from in between his fingers. “They don’t even want to come into my office. I always wonder if people are meeting their deadlines, since nobody ever comes to see me. But they just like you better than me.”
“They don’t like me better than you,” you deny, causing Younghoon to laugh ironically, removing his hands from his face so his pout was visible. “They just know me better than you! You’re still their new, cool, super educated boss. They haven’t gotten to know you yet.”
“You’re probably right,” he mumbled, flipping through your notes. “How do I get them to know me better?”
“Well, it might help if you don’t just stay in your office all day,” you suggested unsurely. “You don’t seem very… accessible to them.”
“But I like being in my office,” Younghoon told you. “It means you’re just a single door away. I like when you’re close by. It makes my day better.”
Your eyes widened at his unexpected compliment, causing Younghoon’s expression to follow suit. He laughed awkwardly, pink dusting his cheeks in embarrassment. “Was that inappropriate? I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” he apologised quickly, clasping his hands together and leaning slightly away from you.
“No, it’s okay,” you reassured him. “I’m glad that you’re comfortable around me.”
“I’m more than comfortable with you,” Younghoon corrected, standing up from his chair to be at eye-level with you. His tall presence used to want to make you cower away, but now that you knew Younghoon personally, you felt secure enough to meet his eyes and lean into him. “I’m… safe. Happy, even.”
The admission made you grin, not minding the way you could feel his breath against your cheek or the fact that you could hear your heart pounding in your ears. “I make you happy?” you whispered teasingly, relishing in the way that Younghoon’s cheeks darkened even further, a nervous laugh leaving his lips.
“Blissful,” Younghoon corrected, his eyes shining with warmth.
“This is cute,” a voice called behind you. You startled, turning to see Juyeon and Sangyeon standing in the doorway of Younghoon’s office, smirking at the two of you. Sangyeon had spoken, looking like he was ready to burst into giggles at any moment. “Do you guys always make fond eyes at each other when we leave you alone?” he teased.
Ignoring his comment, you greeted the two with a smile and excused yourself from Younghoon’s office to go cool off; you could feel your face heating up with embarrassment and wanted a moment to catch your breath.
In the time that Younghoon had taken over as CEO, you had gotten to see many sides of him. On the first day, he was open with you after making a bad first impression on you and you had decided that you would give him a chance. You hadn’t realised how shy and cute Younghoon could be. Of course, he could be loud and carefree around old friends like Sangyeon and Juyeon as well, and he was slowly starting to make jokes with you as well. Now, he was saying that he felt downright blissful when you were around.
The change made you really happy.
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On the night of Younghoon’s charity event, you had arrived early to make sure everything was in order. Dressed to the nines, you had to admit that you were pleased with how you looked that evening, putting in a lot of effort since you knew that the event meant a lot to Younghoon.
After discussing how the dishes should go out with the catering company, you allowed yourself to take in the large ballroom now that it was empty and before it would be overcrowded with rich investors, businessmen, and press. Just as you were going over the schedule for the evening with the event planner, you heard a sharp intake of air behind you.
“Wow,” you turned around, revealing Younghoon standing there breathlessly.
He wore an elegant black suit and tie, topped off by perfectly styled hair and his usual silver watch that his father had given him for getting into Harvard Business School. Younghoon always looked handsome, but in this moment, he was absolutely radiant. He looked like he belonged at this event, like he was the CEO of the Kim corporation.
You smiled. “I could say the same,” you complimented, motioning to Younghoon with your hands. “You clean up pretty nicely.”
“Ah, well, my secretary did get my suit perfectly tailored to fit me,” Younghoon said, smoothing down lapels of his suit jacket with a beam.
“Your secretary must be smart,” you replied, stepping towards Younghoon and adjusting his tie properly. “Because you look great. Dignified, sophisticated-”
“Handsome?” Younghoon asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
“You know you’re handsome,” you retorted with an eye roll.
“Maybe,” Younghoon shrugged, placing a hand on top of yours on his chest. You froze at his action, glancing up at him through your lashes. “But I want to hear what you think.”
“You look very handsome,” you allowed, trying to speak as smoothly as possible without indicating how fast your heart was beating in your chest.
“If I look half as good as you, I’ll be happy,” Younghoon replied, gently releasing your hand and clearing his throat. “You did a really great job arranging this event. It’s exactly what I wanted.”
“Well the event planner organised it, I just told her what you wanted,” you said humbly, denying the large part you had in the event.
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Younghoon told you. “If I know you at all, then you were constantly jotting down details that I mentioned vaguely and made sure that the event planner fixed everything to my preference,” he paused. “And I’d like to think that I know you quite well.”
“Believe me, you do,” you answered. “And thank you. For seeing the work I put in.”
“It’s you,” Younghoon shrugged. “I always see you.”
As the event began and more guests started coming, you were delighted to see Mr Kim enter with Younghoon’s mother on his arm, beaming at all the familiar faces he saw. “Mr Kim!” You called out to him, not having seen your old boss since his farewell party.
“Y/n,” Mr Kim replied, accepting a hug from you and releasing you so you could greet his wife. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”
“I’ve missed you, Mr Kim,” you admitted. Of course you loved working for Younghoon too, but you hadn’t seen Mr Kim in far too long.
“I’ve missed you too, Y/n,” Mr Kim promised. “Although, I’ve heard a lot about you from Younghoon any time we meet. It seems that you’re all he has to talk about, more so than his company,” Mr Kim narrowed his eyes at you playfully, a knowing glint in his eyes. “He seems quite taken with you.”
Taken with you. You could feel the butterflies start to wake up in your stomach as your heart beat a little faster at Mr Kim’s implication. “He’s wonderful to work with,” you told him, brushing off the way Mr and Mrs Kim were both giggling at you. “You’ve raised an amazing man.”
“Well, he certainly make us proud,” Mr Kim allowed. “You look nervous. You should be relaxing, Y/n. You planned a very successful charity event.”
“I’m more nervous about Younghoon behind nervous,” you admitted. “I just want him to know that he’s doing well. He always thinks he’s not doing good enough even though he’s gone above and beyond.”
“He might relax if he sees you have some fun,” Mr Kim said, stopping a passing waiter to get champagne for himself, Mrs Kim, and you. “A toast to Y/n and Younghoon’s partnership,” he proposed, causing the three of you to clink glasses and sip the bubbly beverage.
“Mum, Dad,” Younghoon appeared at your side, greeting his father and then his mother with hugs. “I didn’t know if you two would make it tonight.”
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Mr Kim assured his son, causing Younghoon’s lips to spread into a wide smile. 
“You did great today, Younghoonie. You and Y/n have a lot to be proud of,” Mrs Kim added.
“Thank you, Dad, Mum,” Younghoon was ecstatic to hear praise from his father. “I couldn’t have done it without Y/n, though. I’m grateful that you hired her.”
“I bet you are,” Mr Kim hummed, winking at his son before facing Mrs Kim. “How about a dance?” he offered, excusing themselves and making their way to the dance area.
When you turned to face Younghoon, his face seemed to have reddened. “What did my dad tell you?” he wondered.
You raised an eyebrow. “Um, just that you talk about me to him a lot. And that you’re quite taken with me,” you recalled, realising how romantic Mr Kim’s descriptions were.
Younghoon whined embarrassedly, shutting his eyes as if it would make him disappear. “I told him not to talk to you about any of that, I wanted to tell you all that myself…” he muttered, opening his eyes to see your curious expression.
“All what?” you asked dumbly, hoping that you weren’t just getting your hopes up at Mr Kim’s implications.
“The way I feel about you,” Younghoon explained nervously. “I wanted to tell you… Tell you that I’ve loved working with you these past few months. That you make me nervous and excited and happy whenever I’m around you. How hearing your voice makes my day and how I can barely contain a blush any time we’re alone. That I’m falling in love with you more and more every single day…” he trailed off, gently taking your hands in his. His touch was familiar now. “I didn’t want my declaration to be in such a public place, though,” Younghoon’s eyes flitted around he crowded ballroom.
You laughed, tears blurring your vision just slightly. “It’s fine,” you promised him, lacing your fingers through his. “I don’t care where you tell me, as long as I know.”
Younghoon nodded, taking your comment as permission to pull you closer to him. “This is the part where you tell me that you feel the same,” he whispered, close enough in proximity for you to hear his murmur above the noise in the ballroom.
“You seem confident that I return your feelings,” you mentioned, trailing your hands from his up his arms, across his shoulders and eventually to rest on the back of his neck. “What happened to the sweet, introverted Younghoon that couldn’t even smile at me when we met?”
“Precisely that: I met you,” Younghoon told you. “Now, if you’re not going to tell me that you feel the same, you should at least kiss me,” he added as an afterthought. “It would only be fair.”
“Well, in the name of fairness…” you trailed off, lifting onto the balls of your feet to lean up and press your lips to Younghoon’s. 
The pounding in your heart only intensified, encouraged by the way Younghoon smile against your lips before returning your kiss. In that moment, it didn’t matter that you were in public at all. All you could focus on was the way Younghoon’s lips felt on yours and how he pulled you impossibly closer to him with each bruising kiss.
“Disgusting,” you heard a voice mutter, easily recognising it as Juyeon’s after months of seeing him almost every day. Reluctantly, you pulled away from Younghoon, glancing sideways to where Sangyeon and Juyeon were sipping on champagne to hide their excited smiles.
“You guys know that you’re in public, right?” Sangyeon added.
“It’s my event,” Younghoon shrugged. “If I want to kiss my secretary then I will.”
“I hope you don’t go around kissing all of your secretaries,” you retorted with a laugh.
“Just the one I’m in love with,” he replied, sending you a wink that made your heart flutter.
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note: this was a long one but i hope you still enjoyed it!
1K notes · View notes
whumpmatsus · 3 years
Note
Hmm could do one where one one of boys has rough day, that leads to emotional overeating, and bellyache that they try to hide until they can't. Please and thank.
aaaaaa, lovely!
I went with Totty because it feels like I haven't written him in a while
and there's a tiny bit of Allmatsu, buuuut really it's mostly Cybermatsu :D
hope you like it, I had a lot of fun with it!
-
Most of the time, Totty thinks he does a pretty good job being composed at work.
However, that’s easy to do when the majority of the days are okay. Sometimes there’s a bad moment or two that he can recover from by the time he gets home; never before has it been an entire day full of nothing but bad moments.
Until today, of course.
It’s just been one awful thing after another. One of his brothers accidentally turned off the alarm clock, probably by hitting it or steadying themself against it while going to the bathroom… so he was late to work. When he finally got behind the register, there was already a decent-sized line and the early morning customers were irritable before their coffee. Nearly every single customer during his shift snapped at him in some way even when he was trying to be helpful.
His coworkers were less than pleasant, especially after a couple hours when one of them had to take over for him because he had to go pee. To make things worse, toward the end of the day he managed to smash his fingers in the cash drawer while closing it.
The highlight of the day was when he was on his way out and a customer wanted help. Company policy being that he wasn’t allowed to work in any way while he was off the clock, he told them he was actually heading home and pointed to one of his coworkers. Which apparently wasn’t good enough, as he was accused of being lazy and not wanting to do his job and told that the customer was going to talk to his manager and have him fired.
Is it any wonder he’s spent almost the whole train ride home in tears? It hasn’t been a great day to be Matsuno Todomatsu.
He feels a little better by the time he gets home, but he’s exhausted and overwhelmed by everything that went wrong. Part of him wants to find one of his brothers and bitch his heart out. The other part just wants to shove food into his mouth and pretend none of it ever happened.
Sutabaa allows employees to eat some of the cheap things for free during their break, which Totty doesn’t often take advantage of. He’d rather have a snack at home so he doesn’t have to scarf it down in ten minutes. Today, though, he managed to put away a chocolate croissant plus a couple of cookies, so he shouldn’t be hungry at all when he gets home.
And he’s not… really hungry. He just wants to eat something for the sake of it, so that maybe eating something tasty will make it seem like nothing went wrong today. The food during his break made things seem better for a minute while he ate it. All he wants is more of that feeling, to make believe it wasn’t such a bad day.
He doesn’t know where any of his brothers are, and he doesn’t particularly care. He doesn’t think he’d give half a shit if one of them walked in on him raiding the fridge and pantry as if he’s preparing to hibernate through the winter. They all stuff their faces at any available opportunity, so why would it be surprising to find him doing it, especially after a long day at work which none of the rest of them do?
It doesn’t even really matter to him what he’s eating, either. Just things that don’t require too much time between being in his hand and sliding down his throat.
There’s about a portion’s worth of takoyaki left in the fridge from dinner last night, so he finishes that off. Some daifukumochi that was in the cabinet, along with a packet of konpeitō. A bag of arare disappears pretty quickly, too. He doesn’t really know if the imagawayaki that was sitting on the counter was left for him or if it was a single treat that nobody had fought over yet ― regardless, he eats it anyway.
Each bite is a violent attempt to deny the shittiness of this whole day. It all tastes delicious, so he can lose himself inside it for a moment. What never really occurs to him is that every moment doesn’t last too long, and even though his stomach isn’t built for this kind of eating, he’s reaching for another snack as soon as the last one has dissolved on his tongue.
He throws packaging away as he goes, just to keep things neat. He’s just biting into his latest snack when someone else walks into the kitchen, and looking up, it turns out to be Choromatsu.
“O-oh, hey, Totty, you’re home. How was work?” He starts ducking into the refrigerator, then suddenly straightens up and gives his youngest brother a curious look. “… Uh. That’s my Big Katsu. Why are you eating it??”
Given that his teeth are currently sunk into it, Totty feels a little guilty. So at least he doesn’t have to fake the expression on his face. “Oh… sorry, Choro-nii-san! I’m just really hungry… I’ll buy you another one tomorrow.”
After a moment, Choromatsu sighs, evidently deciding to let Totty off the hook rather than fight with him about it. “Yeah, that’s fine. I was saving it, but if I haven’t craved it this long, I can wait. There’s other stuff I can have for a snack.” He opens the refrigerator door and pulls out a single mini carton of milk, then frowns. “Hey, wasn’t there some leftover takoyaki in here?”
He huffs as he closes the fridge. “Dammit. Osomatsu probably ate the rest of it while I wasn’t paying attention, the douche.”
He shakes his head and gets in the pantry for a bag of potato chips instead. “Guess these’ll do till dinner. Hey, Totty, you’re probably still hungry, right? Why don’t you share with me? I’m not starving or anything… half a bag would do it for me, I think.”
Totty’s stomach twinges suddenly, alerting him that he may have eaten too much. He’s not used to shoveling down this much at one time, though the realization that he’s uncomfortably full doesn’t stop him from hurriedly cramming the rest of the Big Katsu into his mouth.
And, honestly, it’s not like he can say no to the offer. He just told his big brother he was hungry and he’s been gulping down food at an insatiable pace. Thinking about the taste of potato chips sort of makes him want some.
Plus… Choromatsu is being nice by sharing, despite the fact that Totty already took one of his snacks without even asking. It would be mean to turn that down when he’s just trying to make sure Totty gets fed properly.
So he plasters a smile on and tosses the wrapper before stepping toward his older brother. Everything’s fine. “Ah, yeah… sounds good.”
-
Everything is not fine.
Dinner is beginning to be a struggle to get through. Totty hates wasting the food, but his thought is to put it away for later when his stomach isn’t actively trying to kill him. The pain is different to anything he’s ever experienced, a feeling like he’s full all the way up to his chest and so can’t get a decent breath in. He feels cold and clammy even though he knows he’s sweating. In short, it sucks.
The one thing he counted on was his brothers not noticing that he wasn’t eating anything. After sharing the chips with Choromatsu, he started to feel like he was going to burst. Even though the sensation quieted down a little bit, it never quite went away.
Now that he’s been faced with a table full of food, it’s even worse. His stomach is gurgling and swirling and nothing helps. Not taking deep breaths through his nose, not taking tiny sips of his tea, not focusing on any other thoughts. Nothing. It’s all useless. He thinks that as soon as dinner is over, he’s gonna have to go throw up. No ifs, ands, or buts; one way or another, he’s gonna be sick.
His only hope now is that he can ride it out long enough for everyone to head their separate ways so he doesn’t have to face the humiliation of admitting that he ate too much and hurt his stomach.
“U-uh, Totty,” Choromatsu speaks up suddenly, “aren’t you gonna eat anything? You were hungry enough to eat my Big Katsu earlier, I’d have thought you were really looking forward to dinner.”
Ugh. Did he have to???
Totty forces a smile onto his face. “Oh, yeah, I… I guess I’m just not in the mood for this stuff tonight, you know?”
The look on Osomatsu’s face could be mistaken for someone who’d just swallowed a lemon. “What?! But Totty, this is your favorite! You’re not gonna eat any of it? You can’t just skip meals like that, dude.”
“Yeah,” Ichimatsu hums thoughtfully. “You’re not gonna be any more healthy or attractive if you’re starving, you know.”
Geez. His brothers are so fucking embarrassing. Choromatsu is giving him some backhanded concern, Osomatsu is overzealous as usual, and Ichimatsu sounds like a Goddamn after-school special.
Karamatsu, meanwhile, is scrutinizing him just the same. “Yes, Totty, my brother… you look rather pale. You really should eat something!”
“Yeah, yeah!” Jyushimatsu practically launches himself over the table, holding a bite of food from his own plate between chopsticks toward his little brother’s mouth. “Here! Winding up for the pitch… batter uuuuuup!”
“Ughhhhh!” Totty leans back, even though any movement unsettles his stomach further. “You guys are ridiculous! I’m fine! W-what, am I not allowed to have just lost my appetite without every single one of my big brothers making a federal case of it?!”
All the others share a silent look, then there comes a unanimous, “Nope.”
He groans and leans his arm against the table. Shit, it’s getting worse. All he wants to do is run to the bathroom and puke, so that maybe he’ll actually feel better. If he does that, though, everyone will be on his case about how much he ate instead of how little he’s eating right now. He doesn’t need nor want a lecture.
Actually, what he wants more than anything is to just be taken care of and told that it’s okay, he screwed up a bit, it’s not the end of the world. That would require confessing to this stupid mistake, though… and he really doesn’t want to do that. He’s so sure that if he does, he’s just going to get scolded instead of comforted.
When he looks around the table again, he notices that Choromatsu in particular looks worried. “C’mon, Totty. You know we care about you. Osomatsu and Ichimatsu are right; it’s not healthy to skip meals.”
“Dammit, I know that, Fappymatsu! Just because I’m pretty doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” Totty scowls down at the food before lifting his eyes back up. “If I take one bite, will you all get off my back?”
He hates that those words just came out of his mouth. Even if it’s just a single bite, he doesn’t think his stomach will be happy with him. The idea of eating anything isn’t sitting well with him.
What else can he do, though? Just like with literally everything else, his brothers won’t stop bugging him until he caves in and does whatever they want.
The others exchange a look and Osomatsu shrugs. “Yeah, that should do it! Maybe after you take a bite you’ll realize how good it is and how hungry you are.”
Shit. Well, now he doesn’t really have a way out.
He takes as deep a breath as he feels he can, and collects a bite of food with his chopsticks. Although he isn’t sure how noticeable it is, it feels like his hand is shaking as he raises it to his lips.
Maybe it’s better to do it fast and get it over with. So, that’s what he does. The food in his chopsticks disappears in rapid time, and even though it feels like swallowing a spoonful of glue, he manages to get it down.
“Th-there,” he announces as he slams his chopsticks down. A hiccup squeaks out of him, followed by a fist pressed to his mouth, then he glares around the table at his brothers. “Ha… happy now? God, you guys are… you’re such… such…”
His stomach roils aggressively, almost like he’s just been punched in the gut. He cuts himself off with a loud, painful belch… and whines softly, because he knows what’s coming next. There’s no possible way he can stop it, nor can he get up fast enough to make it to the bathroom.
He tries to clap his other hand over his mouth in some childish belief that if he just blocks the exit, so to speak, he won’t be sick. Predictably, it doesn’t work.
Only a second and a couple of retches later, Totty has vomited through his hands into his lap. It’s perhaps more than a little ironic that his attempt to avoid lectures and feeling shameful has led to something incredibly humiliating.
The tears well up almost immediately, and it doesn’t take long for him to be sitting here coughing, not quite knowing what to do except cry.
“A-ah, Totty!!” Someone’s up from their seat, grabbing him gently by the shoulders. It sounds like Choromatsu, he thinks. “Hey… hey, it’s okay. O-oh, no, no, guys, it’s okay ― yeah, Mom, Dad, it’s fine, I-I’ve got him. Totty, hey, c’mon. I’m gonna help you to the bathroom and we’ll get you cleaned up. Okay?”
All he can do is nod, and it seems like even the fact that he leans against Choromatsu, all streaked with puke, doesn’t bother his brother.
It’s a short walk to the bathroom. He thinks he hears one of the others getting up to clean whatever mess he’s left behind. He just concerns himself with getting into the bathroom, then with lifting his arms when told so Choromatsu can help peel the soiled clothes off.
“It’s okay, Totty. E-everything’s alright.” His voice is low and gentle as he manages to also get Totty’s pants off, hanging everything over the side of the bathtub. If he’s lucky, one of the others will come rinse them off so they can go right in the wash while he tries to take care of getting Totty situated on the couch or something. “I’m gonna take care of you. You just cry as much as you need to, as long as you cooperate with me, okay?”
Totty sniffles, doing his best to stop crying. This is so embarrassing. “O-okay…”
Eventually the crying tapers off a bit, to the point that he can breathe normally again. His mouth has a bad taste and his throat hurts; at least his stomach feels a lot better, though. He’s just so mortified that he threw up on himself in front of his entire family after trying to save himself from this fate.
What did you think was gonna happen when you ate something else after already being stuffed and nauseous, dummy?? His mind is exactly no help at all, unfortunately.
Choromatsu is careful as he tries to get his little brother cleaned. As soon as all his dirty clothes are off, he wipes a wet cloth over Totty’s mouth to wash off any remnants of vomit and helps Totty wash his hands in the sink. He holds a couple pieces of toilet paper over Totty’s nose so he can blow, which makes him feel slightly less gross.
Once there’s no more danger of new clothes having leftover puke dripped on them, he darts out to the closet in the other room and comes back with a pair of Totty’s pajamas. It feels somuch better to be in fresh clothes after Choromatsu gingerly tugs them on.
With all of that done, Choromatsu sets a hand against Totty’s forehead and gives a contemplative hum. “Well, you don’t feel warm… you might still be coming down with something, though. I think maybe you should just go right to bed. We’ll get you settled on the couch in the other room so that hopefully the rest of us don’t catch it, and I’ll get you some ginger ale or something, okay?”
The idea of all that sounds nice, sure. He feels a little guilty for not being honest, however, so… “Um, Choromatsu-nii-san… I-I’m not… I’m not sick. I… I think I ate too much today, and… that bite I took out there was just kind of… th-the last straw, you know?”
Choromatsu frowns. “You ate too much? You said you were really hungry when you got home. And all I remember seeing you eat was my Big Katsu and some of the chips.”
“I ate a lot more than that,” he confesses, rubbing at his teary eyes. “There was some stuff I had while I was at work, a-and… and I was the one who ate the last of the takoyaki. I was just going through the fridge and the cupboards for a while before you walked in.”
“Oh… okay, I get that. Why didn’t you just tell us you overate today instead of forcing yourself to eat?”
More tears bubble up and start rolling down his cheeks. “B-because… because I thought if I did, you’d all just lecture me and tell me, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do that, Totty!’ The day was so bad already…”
The more he talks, the more tears fall. “It was just one thing a-after another! Work was shitty, everything that could go wrong did,and I didn’t want you guys harping on me! I-I know I fucked up eating a lot, but doing it just… made me feel better for a minute… like the day wasn’t so crappy, like I could pretend everything was okay because I was eating something good. So I just… d-didn’t wanna tell you guys… I-I know you’d say it’s bad for me…”
Quietly, Choromatsu pulls Totty up off the toilet and into a hug. His hand rubs calmingly between his little brother’s shoulder blades, shortly after switching to a series of pats. “Hey, you learned your lesson. I know you think we’d give you some big speech… and maybe you’re not wrong. But I’m sorry it felt like you had to hide it and suffer on your own. That’s not what we want! We just wanna take care of you. If we lecture like that, it’s just because we love you.”
“I-I know,” Totty mumbles into Choromatsu’s shoulder. “Are you… are you mad at me? For doing it in the first place and for not telling you?”
“Mad? No! No, no, no way. I’m not mad!” Choromatsu presses a brief kiss to the top of Totty’s head. “You’re my baby brother. How could I be mad at you for this? Just… you know… next time, come talk to us instead of going to the food. I’d rather listen to you complain for hours than have you eat yourself sick.”
He gives a cautious squeeze, somewhat reassured when Totty squeezes back. They stay like this for a few minutes, with Totty burying his face against Choromatsu’s shoulder and Choromatsu rubbing Totty’s back.
Finally Choromatsu lets out a sigh. “Just so you know… even if we lecture you a little, we’ll still try to take care of you if there’s anything we can do. But we’ll… also do our best not to lecture as much when you come to us. Do you feel any better?”
“Yeah… it doesn’t hurt that much anymore.” He mirrors the sigh and just sinks into his big brother’s embrace. “Can I still go lie down, though? In the futon?”
Choromatsu nods and pulls Totty up when he gets to his feet. “Yeah, of course. That’s probably a good idea even though you’re not really sick.”
“And… can I still have some ginger ale?”
“Yeah, I’ll get that for you after we get you settled.”
Totty is silent for a few seconds while they walk down the hall, then he speaks up again. “… Will you maybe stay and cuddle with me for a minute, too? Even though I’m not sick?”
Choromatsu glances down before chuckling. Does he really think he has to tack on that condition, as if Choromatsu won’t cuddle just because Totty isn’t actually sick? “I… o-of course, Totty. All you have to do is ask, even if you’re not sick.”
“Okay…” By this time they’ve reached the bedroom, so he stands aside while Choromatsu unrolls the futon. Before too long he’s lying down, and Choromatsu has both arms around him, gently stroking his hair.
He closes his eyes and nuzzles against his brother. “Thank you… you’re the best nii-chan ever.”
He can feel Choromatsu grinning. “Am I even better than leftover takoyaki?”
Totty pouts at the jab, but snuggles closer regardless. “Way better.”
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You’re a Mean One, Mr. Kneef (Part 1)
Part 2 ->
For @thatesqcrush​​​’s Holiday Bingo! Filling the Grinch/Scrooge square
Bryan Kneef x Female Reader
Warnings: NSFW. No smut, just a... situation in which Bryan has zero sense of shame. Honestly it’s straight-up workplace sexual harassment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1,576 words
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Festive lights were strung around the offices of STR Laurie, but their merry glow added no holiday cheer to the hearts of all of those forced to come into work on Christmas Eve. Everyone was supposed to have the day off, or at least get a half-day. However, the sun was setting over the Chicago skyline, and at least a dozen paralegals were still frantically toiling over the enormous workload dumped on them last minute by one Bryan Kneef.
It didn’t seem like a particularly important case or a particularly critical motion, but according to Mr. Kneef, it was worthy of an all-hands-on-deck situation that would make as many employees as possible miss dinner with their families.
In fact, as you glared over the top of your monitor at his office—the curtains drawn and the lights dimmed within—you were pretty sure he wasn’t even working on this “important” case. He was probably fucking napping. This was all some sadistic Scrooge-like tactic to make everyone miserable just because he didn’t have anywhere to be tonight.
As the angled light streaming in through the window turned dusky orange with no end to the work in sight, you’d had enough. You stood up, marched across the office, and barged through Mr. Kneef’s door without knocking, certain you were going to catch him with his eyes closed on the couch.
Instead, you caught him behind his desk, furiously masturbating to porn.
He stopped, but unlike a decent human being who would yelp in surprise and frantically sputter apologies for being caught dick-in-hand, he wasn’t startled by your entrance and made no particular hurry to cover himself. He clicked a button on the keyboard, and the rhythmic sounds of moaning stopped.
His eyebrows raised at you impatiently as if you’d interrupted him on a phone call.
You slammed the door behind you—the rest of the office didn’t need to hear this.
“What the fuck, Mr. Kneef? This case is so important we have to work through fucking Christmas, and you’re in here jerking off?”
“Your point?”
“Fuck you!”
His lips pushed up into an excessive frown that made his beard bristle, and he raised his brows, not disagreeing and seemingly impressed with your audacity.
“Fine. Come here.” He patted his lap, smirking, legs spread wide in his leather chair. His semi-hard cock was still sitting naked and pink outside his deep navy dress pants.
Now he’d crossed the line into making your skin crawl.
“OK, I’m calling HR.”
He scoffed and tucked himself back into his pants. “You said fuck me.”
He wasn’t swayed by your threat to report him—what was important was that you had been the first to blink. You didn’t really look offended, anyway. If you had blushed like a nun and hidden your eyes when you walked in on him, he wouldn’t have been so provocative (he wasn’t a complete monster). If you had fucking knocked, you wouldn’t have walked in on anything. But you had the balls to barge in and dress down your superior. The number-one asshole of the firm was not about to let you challenge him and win.
You closed your eyes and tried to compose yourself, ignoring the flush of heat surging behind your ribs and pooling between your legs from his sleazy request. Ew—body, what? Don’t be gross.
“So. You have a problem with the work I’ve assigned you?” He set his elbow on the table and rested his beard in his hand. His voice was as casually mocking as ever, as if this whole situation was perfectly normal.
“Yeah. It’s bullshit. We’d all like to go home if this motion isn’t so vitally pressing it can’t wait until Monday.”
“I see.”
“Don’t you have anywhere to be?”
There was a twitch in his face at that. He tried to remain as callous and inscrutable as ever, but the question revealed a tension that wasn’t obvious before. Beside his computer was a bottle of Scotch and an almost-empty glass. Next to that was a small rectangular box, neatly wrapped with shiny silver paper and a gold bow. He glanced down at it, and he looked, for a brief instant, sad.
He wasn’t so intimidating when his cold eyes turned pitiful like that. Almost like he was human.
In contrast to his distasteful personality, his eyes were a beautiful, delicate green even in the dim light. It was enough to make you admit how handsome the lawyer was—the dark beard, the flecks of silver streaking through his flawlessly-styled hair. If he turned out to have actual human feelings beneath the swagger, you might even like him.
You sat down in the small chair opposite him at his desk. His eyes had already retaken their cold, mocking air, but you tried appealing to the hypothetical inner-human in him anyway. “Do you have any Christmas traditions? A family you want to see? You must at least remember being a kid—how special the holidays are at that age. Dana has two kids waiting at home, and this is the only time of year Paul gets to see his nephews.”
“You think I give a shit about sob stories? They have a job to do. If they don’t like it, they can quit.”
“Fine”—Screw playing nice—“How about this: I can call HR about the porn on your work computer.”
He glowered back at you, appraising the sincerity of your threat. “The whole HR department is eating turkey right now. So, you can file a complaint on Monday. Maybe I get a warning? Won’t help you tonight. Sorry, sweetheart. Finish the motion, you can go home.” His piercing eyes stared at you, waiting. “Will that be all?”
Instead of retreating in an indignant huff as he full-well expected you to do, you shoved aside a handful of papers and the Scotch bottle to clear a spot on his desk, and sat on it so you were looking down on him, thoroughly invading his personal space. “What do you want? Why are you doing this? Don’t pretend it isn’t out of spite. Let me guess… you didn’t want to spend another Christmas alone getting sad-drunk on expensive whisky, so you decided to do this instead of pick up a hooker?”
He glared harshly but otherwise didn’t react.
“How about this? I’ll take one for the team and go drinking with you—just tell everyone else they can go home, Ebenezer.”
He rolled his eyes contemptuously and explained in no uncertain terms that that was not going to happen. But maybe it was your flirtatious body language, or the stubborn way you refused to back down, or that you weren’t intimidated by him like every other subordinate around here. Maybe he was just lonely. But you were irritating in a way he liked. And just desperate enough to do him a favor.
“If we left together, we would not be going out drinking,” he growled.
You rightly mistook it for an invitation to bed—because he deliberately intoned it as such to rile you up, so when you spat, “Fuck you!” he could feign innocent victimhood.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said. “I do have somewhere to be tonight—a family dinner. If you are serious about wanting to get me out of here, that’s where we’d go.” Of course, if you’d jumped at the offer to fuck him, he would have accepted that, too.
Now you were just confused. “You want… to take me to meet your parents? Why…?”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, already kicking himself for what he was about to tell you. But fuck it. You would have to find out if you were going to help, and he could use you and your massive balls to solve his little dilemma. Ovaries? Yeah. Your big brass ovaries.
“My parents are expecting me to show up with my long-term girlfriend. They have been... annoyingly eager to meet her tonight, and she just fucking dumped me.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry.” Being dumped sucked. Not that you’d ever take it out on a dozen coworkers, but assholes grieve differently. “How long were you together?”
“Three months.”
You blinked. “Oh my god, that is not a long-term relationship. Jesus, what standard are you going by? One-night stands?”
He bristled at the question, and you had a distinct impression that—yeah—the comparison was one-night stands.
“Irrelevant. I don’t want to spend the entire night fielding questions about what happened, sitting through my dad’s relationship advice, and dodging pitying glances.”
“So you invented a work emergency. Classy. Never thought I’d see the great Bryan Kneef, lady killer, on his knees over someone he dated for three months.
“I am not broken up about it,” he snapped. “I just don’t want to deal with the bullshit from my family. So, you want to get out of here? Pretend to be my date for a few hours. You don’t have a problem lying, do you? We can break up after New Year’s. Deal?”
“You’ll let everyone else go home?”
He protested and made a counter-offer, but after much bargaining and negotiation, he finally gave in and agreed to your terms.
And that was how you saved Christmas and became the unsung hero of the entire office. None of your coworkers would know the sacrifice you made for them, the awkward dinner you had to endure, or all of the illuminating secrets you would learn that night about the biggest asshole at the firm.
• ● • ━━━━━─ ••●•• ─━━━━━ • ● •
Tags: 
@beccabarba​ / @caked-crusader​ / @itsjustmyfantasyroom​ / @thatesqcrush​ / @dianilaws​ / @permanentlydizzy​ / @mrsrafaelbarba​ / @madamsnape921​ / @astrangegirlsmind​
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vs-redemption · 4 years
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hi there! could i request an aizawa x female reader oneshot? if you're willing to do angst, could it be him getting jealous when they go out for drinks with a group of friends :o
Ok, so I’m hoping this is angsty enough. I’m still getting used to writing in that style. Also, thank you so much for the request. I wasn’t sure about writing for Aizawa at first, but it was easier to get into his mindset than I thought it would be!
My requests are still open for anyone who is interested. Please check out my rules and masterlist!
A Big Deal:Part One (Jealous!Aizawa x Fem!Reader)
You can find Part Two of this story Here!
Today was kind of a big deal for you. After months of grueling effort and countless hours of overtime, you’d finally been acknowledged by your boss and given a huge promotion in your company. You’d been awarded a new title along with a generous pay raise, effective immediately. In addition to those perks, your new job responsibilities would allow you to finally use the degree you’d put yourself through college to obtain. It was really great news, and you were over the moon with excitement. A few of your colleagues suggested a night out to celebrate the career advancement. You were quick to agree. It was a Friday evening and you saw no reason not to make the most of this incredible day. You sent out a quick text message to invite your boyfriend and a few of your close friends to join in the festivities.
Today was kind of a big deal for Shota Aizawa too. He had always been a bit wary of relationships, both romantic and otherwise. He was a bit of an introvert and socializing often wore him down. He had a couple close friends that had forced their way into his life during high school and that had honestly been enough for him. He had been content to be mostly on his own until he met you and his outlook changed. You were hardworking, which he admired, and he’d noticed right away that you always gave him his space even though you were more outgoing than he was. You never forced him to attend big group outings or gave him a hard time when he was just too tired from work to do anything else besides get take out and have a quiet night in for date night. He appreciated the comfort and peacefulness you brought to his life, which is why he was actually quite excited that today was your one year anniversary together.
Aizawa wasn’t much for big extravagant gestures, but thought it might be nice to invite you over for a nice dinner when you finished work. He managed to get out of his teaching duties a little early so that he could pick up what he needed from the grocery store and get the cooking started. He had a nice evening with just the two of you in mind, so it came as a bit of a shock when he got your text message. He sighs and looks around his kitchen at all the half prepared food. Normally he would decline such an invitation, though he always appreciated you thinking to include him, but this was not a usual circumstance. He knew how hard you worked and was happy to hear that you were finally being recognized for everything you did. He takes out some containers and starts packing up the food, knowing he could always finish cooking it tomorrow.
The Izakaya restaurant where you were having your celebration was already packed with people since it was a Friday, but you’d somehow managed to book a decent sized table. The first round of drinks had been brought out and everyone was calling for you to make a speech. It wasn’t until they started bringing out the food that Aizawa finally arrived.
“Hey! Eraserhead!” Present Mic calls him over from the far end of the table. “You actually showed up! Come over here! I’ll order you a drink!” Aizawa glanced over at you but you were deep in conversation with two of your coworkers. He would have preferred to sit with you, but could settle for attaching himself to Mic since he didn’t know anyone else that well.
“Let’s have another round on me!” one of your coworkers calls to the wait staff. You laugh and nudge his arm with your shoulder.
“Idiot. We paid for ‘all-you-can-drink’!” You give him a teasing grin, “No matter what, we’re all going to be paying the same amount!”
“Aw, come on!” Another one of your male coworkers leans across the table, “You know we’re not letting you anywhere near tonight’s bill! You’ve been working so hard for this day, so let us treat you!”
“You make a good point,” You nod while lifting your glass. “And I’m not one to turn down free drinks!” They all laugh as the waiter disappears to go prepare another round for the table. Aizawa’s eyes linger on the two male coworkers for a moment before turning back to Present Mic.
“I guess she has a pretty good relationship with her coworkers,” he says flatly.
“Yeah! Definitely!” Present Mic declares with a wide grin, “I’ve met them a few times before. They’re fun dudes!”
“Hmm,” Aizawa found himself wondering if those guys knew you had a boyfriend. He trusted that there wasn’t anything deceitful going on, but it was weird for him to see you so open and relaxed around people who were strangers to him. He’d never really thought about what exactly happened when you were out at work parties. Perhaps this was normal. Still, he kept an eye on the people around you as the food and drinks continued to come.
“Shota,” you shuffle over to your boyfriend once last orders had been taken and the rambunctious group was kindly asked to leave the restaurant. “Thank you for coming! You usually don’t.” The words, though said with a lazy smile, struck Aizawa with a pang of guilt. You’d never forced him to go out, but perhaps you’d always wished he would.
“This was a special occasion,” he says while you both head out into the cool night air with everyone else. They were all mingling outside the restaurant, waiting to see what happened next. “You deserved that promotion, and I’m very proud of you.” He wanted to tell you that he’d also come to this party to spend time with you since it was your anniversary, but decided not to ruin your good mood by mentioning it. Perhaps he didn’t deserve to celebrate the milestone in your relationship anyway if letting you go out to these little get-togethers without him made him a bad boyfriend.
“Who’s up for Karaoke?” Present Mic throws his hands into the air, attracting the attention of other drunk groups meandering the streets nearby. A few people declined the offer, saying they needed to catch a taxi home, but a handful of others seemed enthusiastic about continuing the festivities of the night.
“Well we know you’re coming!” One of the coworkers from before slides up next to you and throws an arm around your shoulders. “This party is for you after all!”
“Of course!” You agree before turning to Aizawa. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I know it’s not your thing.”
Aizawa stared blankly at the arm around you that was not his own. He was tired from work, he hated parties, and a night of karaoke was literally his worst nightmare. Were the things he hated the same things that made you happy? It made him wonder why you were even dating him in the first place. Maybe there was a reason why you hadn’t mentioned your one year anniversary, and perhaps this relationship meant something different to each of you. Even if that was true, could he really let you go off to spend the rest of your one year anniversary with a bunch of other guys?
“Hey, come on!” another one of your coworkers comes over and playfully shoves you in the direction of the karaoke bar. “You’re burning moonlight! Don’t think you’re getting out of doing a duet with me like the last time!” You can’t help but giggle at his antics.
Aizawa glared at the men who could not seem to keep their hands to themselves. Part of him wanted to whip out his scarf and knock them on their asses, but another part of him envied their closeness with you. They got to see you all day, every day. Did they know you better than he did? It made him feel ashamed somehow.
“OK! Ok!” You swat your coworkers away so you could focus on your boyfriend. “No pressure, babe!” You tell him, “I won’t be mad if you want to get home and get to bed.” Aizawa was second guessing everything now. Normally he took your words as kindness and understanding, but now he was wondering if it was a dismissal. It made sense if you didn’t want him to come. There was no way he’d join in the singing so he’d just be dragging the mood down by coming and lurking in the corner. It was better for you if he stayed behind.
“Yeah,” he shrugs, “I guess I’m going to call it a night.” He watches your face for signs that he’d made the right choice. Would you be happy that you were finally rid of him for the evening, or disappointed that he wasn’t as fun and outgoing as your coworkers? It was hard to judge your reaction.
“All right,” you tell him. “Go ahead and get some sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” You lean forward to give him a peck on the cheek before finally heading off towards your next stop of the night. Aizawa was left to watch you go off with a group of people he knew could make you happier than he ever could.
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bananxjin · 3 years
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Trophy Wife || 8
↦ Coworker!Seokjin x Reader
↦ WC: 8,729
↦ Drama || Angst || Fluff || Slow Burn
↦ Trigger Warnings: One night stand/Light smut in the beginning, Reader cries a lot, Mentions of past abuse, Swearing
↦ Tagged: @lysannnnaa​, @vanillanjin​
↦ Summary: You thought you knew what you wanted – You were sure you knew what you wanted. You thought the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage with your fiance, Touru Kim; the love of your life, the future father of your children, and the man of your dreams, but things happen. Events begin to unfold, and the relationship falls apart. You see the true colors of your husband-to-be, and you realize that maybe he’s not what you built him up to be. With everything laid out in front of you, you knew the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage.
Just not with Touru.
✨ Masterlist ✨
**
Early November…
Usually, this was Jin’s most favorite time of year.
Usually.
When the time has finally come for the air to cool down and he can break out all his favorite sweaters. The way there were leaves in varying shades of reds and yellows littering the ground. Or how all the delicious holiday foods were back in season and it was finally justifiable for the apartment to smell like cinnamon and toasted marshmallows. In many ways, Jin believed he romanticised this special time of year.
But for now, things would be a little different. A little more stressful. With Yoongi leaving in another year's time, he and Hobi had no choice but to start looking for their own places since this apartment was way too expensive for the two of them, and they weren’t really interested in rooming with someone who wasn’t Yoongi.
Jin was lucky enough to find the place that he did. Sure, he still had nearly an hour's worth of driving to his second job, but this place was perfect in every other aspect. He’d be a fool to pass up on it. Yoongi and Hobi were ecstatic when they’d heard he signed for it earlier this week, and insisted they all went out to celebrate.
It took some convincing, mostly because it meant Jin would be passing up a bartending shift, but he’d caved in the end. There was some unnecessary debate about where they’d be going to celebrate because Jin already knew the one place that’d stand out above all the others.
HI-Lites.
It was HI-Lites everytime no matter what. It seemed to be the only decent bar within a twenty mile radius. He didn’t mean to complain or seem ungrateful. HI-Lites created a lovely atmosphere for all who visited with vibrant music mixed with the softened glow of neon lights. Velvety plush booths and a stainless steel countertop which the bartender always swore up and down was so clean you could eat off it.
Jin never attempted to.
Not to mention, 90% of the patrons were regulars. It might as well have been its own little community with the way everyone practically knew one another. It certainly wasn’t uncommon to run into an old friend or even a colleague some nights. There were plenty of reasons for HI-Lites to be their favorite bar, but Jin just wasn’t in the partying spirit tonight.
In fact, Jin would argue that he’d been going out of his way to ignore this place ever since he ran into you and your friend that night. He couldn’t help but now associate the establishment with the vivid memory of you looking like something that’d just stepped out of a dream. He caught himself a couple times taking glimpses up towards the bar just hoping he’d spot your figure sitting up there once again, but to no avail.
He felt guilty. Here his friends had been hyping him up all week long and made time in their schedules to spend this time with him, but all he could think about was you. His eyes and his heart would only search for you.
Although it wasn’t like Jin’s crush was a secret in this household. No, his friends were quick to pick up on his little crush and seized every opportunity to tease him about it. That was at least until they realized how familiar the situation seemed to his previous one. Then they changed their tune real quick.
They’d talked to him about it on several occasions, reminding how broken up he’d been over Her, and they didn’t want him to make the same mistake twice. He lost count of how many times they’ve had this conversation. How many times he’s stressed to them that it won’t happen this time. Because even if he did have a chance, he knew you’d never be the type to play such twisted games to get one over on your partner. Or rather, an ex-partner.
“Hi boys!”
“Hi, Mina!” Echoed Yoongi and Hobi’s response in a light chorus.
She smiled, eyeing Jin for a moment longer than she did the others. “Haven’t seen you three in awhile! What’s going on?” She asked, sliding into the rounded booth right beside Hobi. Yoongi, having noticed Jin’s spacey stare, gave a sharp kick to his shin beneath the table.
“Why don’t you tell her, Jin?” Yoongi quipped, giving him a sickly sweet smile. Immediately, Mina’s curious eyes found him.
“Oh? Tell me what?” Jin cleared his throat. “Uhm. We’re celebrating.” He responded vaguely, reaching down to rub his still very sore leg.
“I signed a lease for my own apartment, and I’ll be moving in come the new year.” At this, Mina’s face lit up with her full smile and rounded cheeks. “Wow, that sounds wonderful! I’m so happy for you!” She giggled.
“Let me buy your next drink, yeah? Just a little something to congratulate you with?” She offered. “Oooh, we should all do a round of shots!” Hobi added, giddy at the thought of free drinks.
“I don’t know, gang…” Jin shied away. “Shots sound like a great idea! Any preferences?”
After deciding they’d leave the decision up to her, Mina disappeared into the crowd with a promise of bringing back more alcohol.
“Dude!” Hobi blurted once she was out of ear shot. “Are you fucking blind? Why do you always try to push her away?”
“I’m not trying to do anything.” Jin retorted.
Okay. That might’ve been a lie. It’s no secret that Mina liked him. Every Time she’s caught him here, she’d do everything short of throwing herself into his arms. Anything just to get even an ounce of his attention.
This wasn’t even the first time she’s offered to buy his drink, and she was always flirting with him. It’s been this way for as long as he can remember. And while Jin’s flattered, he’s just never been as interested in her as she was him.
“Ya know,” Yoongi interjected, throwing back the rest of his whiskey. “Your personalities actually match really well. I think you two could really hit it off if you’d just give her a chance.”
Jin rolled his eyes and leaned back into the velvet booth, wondering what he should say this time. Which excuse would he use to worm his way out of this conversation? His friends had been trying to push him into Mina’s arms for the last couple of months. Even more-so now that they knew he needed to get over you, but he was more concerned with hurting her. There was no doubt they’d probably have a lovely relationship, if only Jin just felt the same way…
“Maybe a night alone with Mina is just what you need to get over you-know-who.” Hobi winked. “You can say her name.” Jin tsked. “It’s not like talking about her will-”
“Here we are!” Mina interrupted as she haphazardly placed four shots on the table. “Sorry it took so long! I wanted to let the girls know what was going on.”
“Oh, we didn’t mean to take you away from your friends.” Yoongi frowned. “Hey, what if we moved up to the bar instead?”
“Ooh, yeah! Then it’d be a real celebration!” Hobi laughed. Mina hummed, “They’d be more than happy to celebrate with you guys! But I think I’ll leave the decision up to the man of the hour.”
All eyes were on him now, eagerly awaiting his answer. Was Mina offering him a way out? He really didn’t feel like it was fair for Yoongi to make such a suggestion, not like that mattered now.
“C’mon, Jin!” Whaddya say?” Hobi begged. Jin’s nervous gaze shuffled between the three of them until finally locking eye contact with Mina.
A night to forget about (Y/n)…
Your friends are right; you never really did give Mina a chance. And it’s not like you’re locked into anything, just…
Talk to her.
Mina smiled shyly and tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. Obviously feeling flustered from holding Jin’s gaze for so long.
“Okay.”
And so the trio followed Mina back to her spot where three other ladies were waiting. Jin recognized them, but he couldn’t place any names to any faces.
Jin was sat right beside Mina, and it didn’t take long for their conversation to divulge from the others. Mina had finally gotten her wish. With Yoongi and Hobi preoccupied with her friends, she’d finally had Jin to herself. The conversation flowed easily between them. They talked almost like they were friends long ago and were finally getting the chance to catch up.
Jin was nervous at first as memories of you still lingered in the back of his mind, but as the night went on, those memories became nothing more than a fleeting thought. Jin was finally giving himself permission to let loose a little bit.
One beer turned into two. Then three. Another round of shots just for fun. Maybe one more after that because it tasted pretty good and Jin wanted to savor it this time. He was starting to forget why he’d been so depressed when he’d gotten here earlier. Eventually, the two started a drinking game. He couldn’t quite recall why or even what the rules were, but he was having fun nonetheless.
Then Mina was pulling him onto the dance floor. Her arms were around his neck, and his around her waist. Her fingers tousled at the hair on the nape of his neck, and it was turning him on.
Slowly. Ever so slowly, time had begun to escape Jin. He took a small peek over his shoulder just to make sure his friends were still there, but Mina’s warm hands found his cheeks just in time to bring his attention back to her.
The rest of the world felt so far away. Almost like they were in their own little bubble. Even his own voice was beginning to sound like gibberish in his ears, and he wondered if he was actually doing anything or if he was standing off in the background, watching somebody else have fun.
He had to blink a couple of times. No, he was sure every experience he was having was his own. Clearly some part of his brain was still high functioning. He could only see Mina. The way he was making her laugh at something he’d said. The way they were flirting with light touches and eventually closing the small space between them.
He hadn’t felt this good in a long time.
Then he blinked. And he was in the backseat of an Uber with Mina’s tiny frame pressed into his side. Palming him through his jeans and whispering dirty things into his ear. He could hear the soft moan that came from his lips, and he thought he should’ve been ashamed. But all he could focus on was the way her breath tickled his skin.
He blinked. And Mina was underneath him. Moaning his name and tugging him close to kiss him again. Had she already kissed him once? She must have. Or did he kiss her?
It didn’t matter. All he could feel was the way her pussy was squeezing him as he pumped himself in and out.
Her coal black her was splayed out across the pillow, and Jin couldn’t help sweeping one side up into his palm and giving it a light tug. She arched herself into him, crying out in ecstasy when Jin leaned in to suck blooming bruises into her neck.
God she looks fucking gorgeous like this.
And there it was. As if he’d flipped a magic switch, he’d regained some semblance of clarity. Sobriety. Just enough to feel the guilt come creeping in. She was gorgeous, and this is what she’d been wanting. She’d laid everything out for him and waited patiently until he’d finally take the bait.
His head was starting to hurt. He could feel himself inching closer and closer to coming undone with the way her heat was squeezing him. Jin dove in again, sucking more and more hickies into her skin.
He couldn’t stand to look at her anymore. He shouldn’t be doing this. This scene wasn’t meant for his eyes. It shouldn’t be meant for his eyes. He shouldn’t be enjoying her body as much as he was. It was selfish. HE was being selfish. He knew; he’s known this whole time how she’s felt, and he crossed that boundary.
It wasn’t fair to either of them, but especially not to her. Because even though she’d gotten what she wanted. Even if being with him was making her happy in the moment, nothing was going to change.
Tonight wouldn't mean anything to him.
**
“My parents are hosting a little dinner to congratulate my sister on her engagement next weekend.” Her naturally bubbly voice spoke through the receiver. “They’ve been asking about you, you know.”
He couldn’t stand to hurt her. The morning that followed their evening together, they sat in Mina’s kitchen. Had coffee together and tried to come up with ways to talk about what’d happened the night before. The usual routine for any one night stand.
Mina had been the first one to break the silence, admitting to Jin that she had, in fact, liked him for a long time. “I want to give us a chance.” She said earnestly.
Us…
It took Jin a moment to compose himself. Yoongi’s words of encouragement entangled themselves with his pounding migraine, and Jin couldn’t piece any of his thoughts together. “Mina…” He called out softly after a moment.
“I don’t know that I’m emotionally ready for a relationship. I have a lot of baggage--”
“That’s okay!” Mina reassured him. “I mean… We both still have some things we need to figure out; I know that, but…” She shied away from his gaze.
“Wouldn’t you at least like to try?” She whispered.
It broke Jin’s heart. Enough to finally give in. There was a mutual agreement: No labels on the relationship. Less of a chance for either of them to get hurt, but they wanted to make the effort -- Or rather, Mina wanted to make the effort. Because, who knows? Maybe they’d make a great team!
But Jin had been slacking recently. And he knew it. Was painfully aware everytime her name popped up on his phone or she’d shown up on his doorstep.
“They want to know when they’ll get to meet you.” She continued, reminding Jin that he was still on the phone with her. Jin nodded idly despite Mina not being able to see him. She’d been trying to plan another date for weeks now, but Jin’s evaded all attempts in doing so. Each time with the taste of guilt sitting at the back of his throat.
“It’s Saturday evening. I was wondering if you’d be able to make it.” The lilt of false hope in her voice plucked at his heartstrings. Made it that much harder to turn her down.
You should go. Just to make her happy.
“I really want to Mina, but I have my research deadline coming up soon, and I haven’t touched that paper in weeks…” Technically he’s not lying. But he knew damn well he wouldn’t be working on that monster anytime soon.
“You told me that paper’s not even due until April!” She sighed. “C’mon. You can’t spare just one night?”
Jin frowned, completely understanding her frustration with him. Mostly because he wished he could just learn how to tell people no. Or maybe tell Mina what was really going on. How he really felt. That way it wouldn’t feel like he was dragging her along anymore.
“I’m really sorry, Mina.” He apologized. “I promise you’ll see me soon.”
It didn’t take long for her to end the call after that, giving Jin some time to breathe. The phone fell onto the wooden table with a little more force than he’d intended, creating a sharp echo across the breakroom. Thankfully nobody else seemed to be around. He crossed his arms and laid his head down.
It’d been two weeks. Two weeks since he saw the bruises on your arms. Two weeks since he’d heard your voice. Two weeks since you’d been into work.
He texted you a couple times the first week. Called once just to make sure everything was okay, but it sent him straight to your voicemail.
He hung up.
The only thing reassuring him that you were still employed and above all else, alive was knowing Namjoon and Seulgi had both heard from you regarding every shift since then. He tried asking about you, but they simply told him you weren’t feeling well, and left it at that.
He knew they couldn’t share anything with him beyond that; it was common sense. Other associates’ business was strictly confidential, and really they were giving him more information than they needed to just by saying that. But at least it was something.
It wasn’t until he was back on the floor, going through the motions when he felt like he could finally release some of the tension built up in his chest. It was faint. Hardly something that would rouse his attention any other day, but he’d caught wind of your name being called out by one of the cashiers.
His hands stopped whatever they’d been doing. His body stood completely still. He eyed the doorway of the Men's dressing room. Not so much expecting you to walk through, but god he’d hoped.
There was a chill crawling up the back of his spine. A slight tingle in his fingertips, like his body knew what to expect, yet he didn’t. Looking down at his scanner, he tapped on the screen for confirmation.
6:18 PM
Four hours until closing. It would line up perfectly if you’d just clocked on. An unexpected bout of shyness washed over him. His cheeks. His ears. His neck. Everything felt warm at the thought of seeing you. Even if you wouldn’t speak to him; even if you’d told him you wanted nothing to do with him, just knowing you were safe would be enough.
He swallowed, forgetting what he was meant to be doing. Until he heard the telltale echo of timid footsteps on laminate floors approaching the Men’s dressing room.
He continued to stare holes into the backs of his hands until his vision unfocused. Listening intently to the footsteps until they were echoing off the walls of the tiny room he occupied. Until there was a clear indication he was no longer alone.
They faltered for a moment. As if they hadn’t expected anyone else to be here, but he didn’t seem to scare them off, walking closer until there were on the other side; standing shoulder to shoulder with him, staring at the wall of clothes that would need to be sent back out onto the floor. But nothing beyond that.
So it was you…
His mind eventually caught up to him, and all too quickly Jin realized how fucking stupid he must’ve looked right about now. How creepy it must’ve been for him to just be standing there like statue, his gaze burning holes into the wall as if that would somehow make him move. Make him focus on doing his job instead of worrying about you.
But you didn’t make any attempts to move either. Didn’t speak or give any indication you were even there aside from simply existing in the same space as him.
Out of his peripheral, he could tell your head was tilted down, fingers tightly wound together like you were paying your respects at a funeral. Neither of you moved a muscle.
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable. But it certainly wasn’t welcomed either. Jin couldn’t imagine what this scene might look like to a stranger had anybody decided to walk in, but to you and him, this would have to be enough for now. Enough to exist silently in this tiny, enclosed space. Enough to know that there’s no judgement nor urgency to fill the still space between them. Something akin to becoming acquainted with each other again, but for the first time.
There was no animosity. No abundance of energy or need to comfort.
It just Was.
“Hi, stranger.” Finally breaking the silence, your voice melted away any remaining anxiety seizing his bones. Part of that wall had been chipped away, and he could see you again. His lips upturned into the tiniest grin.
“Hi.”
You swallowed, clearly unsure of what to say or how to handle the situation now that it’d been acknowledged. You wren’t even sure there was anything you could say. Now didn’t seem like the right time for it. Like you’d already messed up before you’d been given the chance. Still, you wanted to try.
“I really…”
You cleared your throat. “I really missed you.”
Jin’s stomach lurched up into his throat. He wasn’t expecting that sort of response, but he was relieved to know he wasn’t the only one that’d been hurting for your company.
“I missed you too.” His throat cracked. “How’ve you been?”
You shrugged, tightening your fingers around each other until your knuckles turned bright white. “Not good.” You whispered. “I think…”
Jin finally turned his head in your direction. Just enough to catch your side profile. You didn’t look at him.
“I think I need somebody to hold right now.”
And somehow, that was all it took. Those were the magic words that broke the spell. In one short movement, Jin had your wrapped up in a comforting embrace which you gladly accepted. The glue keeping you together was already thin, and now it was melting away. But Jin’s hug prevented you from crumbling. Instinctively, you held him tighter and he returned the sentiment tenfold.
His chin locked over your shoulder while your face stay buried in the crook of his neck. There were still so many things left unsaid. Unspoken apologies that continued to dangle in the air above you, but they didn’t need to be spoken to be understood.
They’ve always been understood. With patience, the pressure faded away into nothing. Jin could finally breathe again, and so could you. There was never a need for any fear or doubt when it came to your friendship, and you knew. Both of you cherished the other; that much was made clear in the volume of your actions. It was just a matter of time.
Make no mistake, both you and Jin knew there was still so much to be discussed. Understanding that things couldn’t be left like this. Understanding that they couldn’t turn into this every time something went wrong. There needed to be a clear line of communication.
You felt like at this point, you owed it to him. No more keeping him in the dark. No more keeping secrets to protect him. Jin was a grown man. He wouldn’t run away at the first sign of trouble. He’s always been there, and as long as you’d allow it, he’d continue to be there. But all of that would come in due time. There was no need to fill this silence with word vomit.
For now, this was enough. This was more than enough.
And so in the hidden confines of a public dressing room, the two of you continued to share a long, comforting, and much needed hug. Warnth and safety in each other’s embrace.
“Come back to my place tonight.” Jin whispered.
You nodded. You didn’t need to be asked twice.
__
His apartment looked so much more different since the last time you’d been there. Granted, last time you were here, it was completely barren. Unlived for so long until he’d come to make it his own. The futon with the busted leg stuck out like a sore thumb being sat in the middle of the room, but now there was a large tan rug unfolded across the living space with splashes of blue and red, thus creating a deep purple where the two colors met.
Navy curtains adorned the floor to ceiling windows, perfectly shaping around the sliding glass door leading to his balcony. You couldn’t help the low buzz of giddiness in the pit of your stomach. It felt all too intimate standing in his apartment this late at night. Comfortably. Knowing you had nowhere else to be except for Dahyun’s apartment when the night would eventually come to a close.
There was light conversation as Jin led you through the lounge and out onto the balcony. He offered to get you a drink which you were happy to accept. He also grabbed the quilted blanket which lay folded neatly on the back of the couch.
Cool air rushed at your face as you stepped outside, and Jin as quick to wrap the quilt over your shoulders. You quietly thanked him. He flipped on the fairy lights and pulled one chaise lounger just a bit closer to the other. The only thing preventing them from being pushed together was the dark end table between them.
It was a nice little nook cut out just for them. The walls extended away from his apartment, giving them ultimate privacy from his neighbors. Jin handed you a beer before taking a seat on his lounger, facing you. You smiled, mirroring his actions before he handed the bottle opener over to you. The tabs came off with a satisfying pop.
The two of you sipped in silence for a bit. Once again, nothing felt uncomfortable. But rather heavy. You looked out into the night, tracing the silhouette of the city skyline off in the distance. You hadn’t known for sure what would happen when you finally came back to work. How Jin would react or treat you after going radio silent the way you did. Whatever tonight had ended up turning into, you wanted to explain yourself to him. Explain everything to him.
He’s going to run away…
You had to reassure yourself that your anxiety was lying to you. That nothing was going to happen except that you two would sit here for as long as it took. Even if you said absolutely nothing tonight, Jin would sit here with you until he knew you were okay.
You chanced a glance over at him, and he you. A gentle smile adorned his features. “So, are you going to tell me?” He asked softly, setting his bottle on the table.
You smiled back. “I wouldn’t know where to start….” He shrugged, looking back up at you. “I’ve heard the beginning is a great place for that.”
That drew a chuckle out of you. Setting your bottle down beside his, you drew your knees into your chest, and laid your cheek on top of them. You found yourself looking out towards the city once again.
Breathe…
“Touru called off our engagement.” You stated plainly. “He called it off… That last night I saw you.”
Jin nodded in understanding. “We fought really bad. Not just that night, but we’ve… We’ve been fighting a lot these last couple months.” You continued. “He told me… A lot of things the last time I saw him…”
“Like what?” He responded in a hoarse whisper.
You reached for your bottle, taking a long swig of the amber liquid before continuing. “Like how he doesn’t trust me.” You whispered back.
“How he’s been coming in…” You smirked to yourself. “Coming in to check on me.” “At work?”
You nodded. “I think that’s how he recognized you at the restaurant.” Truthfully, Jin had no idea Touru recognized him. Although he recalled Touru giving him dirty looks a couple times back then, he assumed it was because he was blatantly flirting with you in front of him.
“I don’t…” You were choking on your words before you could completely finish your thought. “I don’t want you to think it’s your fault all of this happened.” You coughed. Jin could see the tears clear as day, building up in your eyes. He made quick work moving to your side and taking a seat beside you.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He wrapped his arms around you. You all but clambered right into his lap and he let you. He held you close to him and stroked your hair.
“We have a lot of problems.” You snorted, laying your head on his shoulder. “And we haven’t always agreed on things… Actually, a lot of the disagreements turned into these… These really fucked up arguments.” Your voice cracked under pressure, swallowing around your words so you wouldn’t choke again.
Jin pulled the comforter around your shoulder and held you closer when you began to shiver. “I think this has been a long time coming, and… I don’t know. Maybe I should’ve seen it coming. But I wanted everything to work out.” You bumbled.
“I wanted us to work out. You know, he was my first love, and we’ve been together so long…” Jin’s heart broke for you. He reached out to thumb your tears away. He never wanted to see you like this.
“I just wanted us to work out…” You sniffled, pushing your face against Jin’s chest. Holding onto him like your life depended on it.
Jin frowned deeply, gently rocking you back and forth, hoping to provide any sense of comfort to you. “He’s always been a really jealous person. I don’t want to think he’s done it intentionally, but…” You sniffled again, “He’s run off so many of my friends over the last couple years. I really only talk to Chae and Dahyun now. I mean, I’ve met their friends, too. And I think we get along just fine, but…”
“I don’t have a deep friendship with those girls like I do with Dahyun and Chae. Like I do with you.” You admitted shyly. Jin understood what you meant by those words. Still, his heart jumped at the way you said it.
“And I’m sorry. I feel like these are things I should’ve told you from the beginning, but I guess I was scared.” You mumbled. “I didn’t want Touru running you off next.”
Jin smiled and tightened his hold around you. “Awe, (Y/n),” He cooed into your hair. “Touru would never scare me off. I’m too clingy.”
You snorted. You wiggled around a bit until you were able to free your other arm from the blanket so you could wrap it around his waist, giving him a proper hug.
In the dead of night. The only thing that filled the silence were the crickets and the distance noises of city traffic. Next door, his neighbor was playing an acoustic guitar. It was soft. Faint. But just enough to brighten the otherwise solemn atmosphere. Making the night just a little more comforting.
“Can I ask you something?”
You nodded.
“Did you want to leave nursing school?”
Jin’s voice had barely been above a whisper, and it took a moment for you to respond. He was worried either you didn’t hear him or maybe the question upset you.
“No.” You squeaked. “No, I didn’t want to leave.” You pulled away from him. The tears had calmed down a while ago. Although your cheeks were still puffy and your eyes were pink and bits of your hair were glued to your cheek. Jin couldn’t believe Touru could hurt you like this.
“It was just one more thing for us to argue about. I mean it was vicious the way we fought about my college and everything.” You dug the heel of your hand into your eye, trying to undo the tears dried around your lashes.
Jin nodded in response. “What are you going to do now?” “I’m not sure. Part of me wants my relationship back, but…”
You fell quiet, unable to finish your thought. Your mind had been in such a haze ever since that last night with Touru. No matter how hard you tried, it hurt too much to ever think about. Whether ending the engagement meant ending your relationship. Whether you’d try to pursue something you wanted or wait and see if he wants you back. There was still no clear ending for you.
The familiar lump was forming in your throat once again, but you didn’t want to cry anymore. You’d been messing with a loose thread in the blanket when Jin reached out to take your hands in his.
“Look at me,” He whispered. “You should do what’s going to make you happy. Even if he wants you back, you need to tell him…” He swallowed thickly, his nerves teasing him for staring into your eyes for too long.
“His ambitions aren’t your ambitions, (Y/n).”
You smiled at him, drawing circles into his hands with your thumbs. “Thank you, Jin.”
A smile. A genuine smile from you in who knows how long. And it was just for him. He couldn’t help but think about how beautiful you looked underneath the moonlight like this. Even after just crying over a man who certainly didn’t deserve you. His heart continued to pound against his chest.
He wanted to kiss you. God, he wanted to kiss you so bad, but there couldn’t be a worse time for that. You didn’t need a new relationship or a quick fuck to run to for the night. You needed a friend, and Jin was happy to be that.
The moment was broken all too soon by the light ping from your back pocket. You quickly pulled your phone out to check who was bothering you. “Ah, sorry. It’s just Dahyun checking in on me.” ou sighed, pulling your other hand away from his so you could reply.
“I should probably head out soon. She wants to know when I’m coming back.” You stood into a stretch. The blanket fell away and pooled in Jin’s lap. But he was just as quick to stand up, instinctively taking your hand in his again.
“You don’t have to!” He blurted out. “You can stay the night if you want.”
You frowned for a moment. “I dunno, Jin. Are you sure?” You questioned timidly. “I don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate me being here. Besides, don’t you have classes tomorrow?”
What?
Jin shook his head in confusion. “I only have one class in the afternoon tomorrow.” He sighed. ”As for my non-existent girlfriend, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” He laughed. “What made you think I had a girlfriend?”
Your cheeks were turning bright pink as you took your spot back on the chaise lounger. “Uhm… I guess someone told me about your crush on Seulgi…”
“Kyla.” Jin sighed and pressed his palm into his forehead, eventually brushing his hair away.
Thump. Thump.
“Wow, you figured that one out pretty quick.” You joked lightly. Jin chuckled, “Yeah. Because she’s the only one that found out.” Slowly, the humor faded from his face. And all that was left behind was worry and maybe a sense of guilt.
“Did she…” He cleared his throat. “I mean. Is that all she said?” Too embarrassed to look him in the eye, you focused your gaze on your fidgeting hands. “Ah. She said she thought you two were probably… Well, ya know.”
“Right.” Jin sighed loudly. “And she might’ve mentioned something about Seulgi’s boyfriend…”
He groaned and leaned back into the brick wall. Rubbing a hand down his tired face, “It’s not what you think.” He mumbled into his palm. He shut his eyes. His face scrunched up like he was in pain, but he wanted to tell you.
“I’d already been working there for like… I don’t know. Almost two years, maybe? Seulgi and I would kind of flirt with each other once in awhile, and it didn’t take long for me to develop a crush on her. But she’s my manager, right?”
You nodded in agreement. “I really, really liked her. But I never thought anything would come about until one day, I was ready to go on lunch, and I could hear someone whimpering in the back offices.” He explained softly. You pulled the blanket back up to your chin, and continued watching him with puffy eyes.
“Turns out it was her. I went back there to see what was wrong; maybe comfort her if she needed it. She told me she’d broke things off with her boyfriend a couple days before, and she’d never get back with him -- Ya know, relationship drama.”
“Yeah.”
“And…” Jin’s lips stretched into a shy smile. His cheeks were turning fifty shades of red, and he had no choice but to look away. “I don’t know… I guess in a heat of the moment thing, she kissed me.” He gulped. “I felt bad. Disgusting. It was weird because I didn’t want her to feel like I was taking advantage of her, but she insisted she was the one kissing me. Because she wanted me.” His voice grew weaker. You could tell by the emotion in his face. In his voice, that this was still something that was hurting him.
“She kept telling me she wanted me. That she had wanted me for a long time, and she asked if I wanted her, too. And of course I wanted her; I’d been dreaming of this moment.” He tugged his fingers through his bangs again. One finger got caught on a knot, but he pulled it through.
“It just felt… Off. That that had to be where we started, and it should’ve been a red flag. I should’ve stopped her, but I didn’t.” He chastised himself. “After that, we started seeing each other outside of work. That’s something she was super strict about, and I could never really figure out why: We couldn’t let anybody know. What we were doing was just between us.”
“Eventually I came to the conclusion it was because of the weird power imbalance or whatever, but…” He cleared his throat. “I kept seeing her. For seven months, we had this back and forth and it felt good. It felt wonderful being wanted by someone… Being in love with someone…”
Hearing him admit to being in love with her stung pretty bad for some reason, but you didn’t let it show. Scooting closer, you took one of his hands in both of yours. He finally looked over at you, giving you a small smile. He clamped his hand gently around yours.
“She would talk to me sometimes about her ex, but she’d never mention him by name. Never said anything that would hint at them getting back together; she only ever complained about what was wrong with their relationship, and I was happy to lend an ear.”
“But I think at some point, I started getting too bold. I was flirting with her at work again; even more so than what we were used to. I’d joke around and try to play with her. I think that’s when she started to pull away.” His voice cracked. “Then one morning… She just snapped at me.”
“During the morning huddle…” You finished for him. “Irene filled me in on that much.” You added, recalling what her and Kyla told you on your first day.
So even the other managers didn’t know what was going on.
Jin nodded. “I was humiliated because she usually enjoyed my jokes, but it was like everything had come to a halt. That afternoon before I left, she pulled me into her office…” He took a deep, shaky breath.
“She told me she hadn’t been honest with me. That her and her ex had one of those on again; off again relationships. And she was getting back together wit him.” He continued. “Because despite everything, he was the one she’s in love with. Is in love with.”
Jin stopped to take another deep breath. It’d been so long since he talked about this, but never in this much detail. He hadn’t realized it would be this difficult. “She thought this time, it was really over because she’d caught him with his ex after they’d broken up last. And she thought she wanted to move on, but…” He shrugged. “She also wanted to make it work.”
You frowned and leaned your head against his shoulder. He leaned his head on top of yours. “I’m so sorry, Jin. I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been for you.” You whispered, but he just shrugged again.
“So are they back together now?” Jin nodded. “Yeah. Her and Namjoon--”
“It’s Namjoon!?”
He nodded again. “That’s why she wanted to be discreet at work.” He smirked. “Please don’t tell anybody I told you. Our coworkers aren’t supposed to know.”
You furiously shook your head, making a zipping motion over your lips, and even though it was enough to make Jin smile, he still looked so tired. So exhausted. It was like retelling that story had aged him ten years. To Jin, it surely felt that way, too.
“Did… Did you ever tell him?”
Another nod of confirmation. “I had to. I couldn’t handle the guilt.” He sighed. “He listened to me, and I think he understood that I genuinely had no idea they were a couple. He was still angry, though. Shoved me out the door.” A humorless chuckle escaped his lips.
“Namjoon’s never been a violent guy, but I’m positive he wanted to his me that night. It was just a fucked situation all around.” He scoffed. “We went out to lunch a week later, and he apologized, and so did I. Again. and he told me this was something pretty normal for them -- That they’ll break up and get back together, and they’ve cheated on each other and all this other stuff.”
You immediately looked up at him in shock. Safe to say, his look matched yours pretty closely.
“Jesus.” You breathed. “Have they ever heard of couples therapy?” He laughed, “I know right?!”
The two of you shared a knowing smile, but the mood turned somber once again. “But anyway… He said that breakup was really bad for them for so many reasons. I didn’t want him to go into detail about it; I got the idea. But I swore I’d never get involved again because… I mean, I don’t want to. If I would’ve known they were a thing, I never would’ve gotten involved in the first place.”
Your lips downturned into a small pout. So that’s how it happened. He’s not a homewrecker or a playboy. He got caught up in something he knew nothing about. You couldn’t blame him for that.
You leaned into him again. His bicep felt surprisingly warm against your cheek. His head was resting on top of yours once more. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.” You muttered softly. Jin smiled, “It’s been a long time. I’m over it now.”
“But not over it enough to join the morning huddles anymore?” You snorted. Although you regretted it seconds later.
“I’m sorry, that didn’t--” “No, you’re right!” He laughed. “Ah. I think it’s just the humiliation. If Seulgi’s in the morning huddle, then I’ll skip it. Reminds me too much of how I felt that one time.”
“I understand.”
Your gazed panned over to the open drinks sitting on the nightstand. Right beside each other just like you and Jin, and you frowned. You couldn’t help but wonder if Jin had opened up like this to anyone else. If he’d shared moments like this with Seulgi.
He still misses her.
You could feel yourself sinking into these negative thoughts until you felt a raindrop on the tip of your nose. Then another on your cheek. And another. Until eventually, a few sparse raindrops turned into a light drizzle. That’s when you and Jin decided to turn in for the night.
You were folding the quilt when Jin spoke up. “I’m gonna go grab some spare sheets for myself. Would you like something more comfortable to sleep in?”
You made a face at him. “Spare sheets?”
Jin nodded. “You should take the bed; I don’t mind.” He smiled softly. He turned to head upstairs, but you grabbed his wrist, stopping him suddenly. “Actually…” You interjected in a shy tone.
You turned your face away from him. For a grown woman, you were making an awfully big deal over such an inconsequential question.
“I was wondering… Do you mind sleeping with me?” You were met with silence. Not because your question weirded him out, but because you surprised him.
“I promise I’m not going to do anything weird--” “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” Jin laughed.
You quickly pulled your hand away. “If you don’t feel comfortable, I understand. I just… I really don’t want to be alone right now.”
The heat was quickly returning to his cheeks. Thoughts of you half-naked laying beside him plagued his mind, but he quickly put those thoughts to rest. He reached out to take hold of your hand again.
“I understand.”
He led you up the familiar stairwell, not saying another word. After changing into the clothes he offered you -- And maybe staring at yourself in those clothes for just a little too long -- You finally returned to his room and crawled into bed with him.
You took the side closest to the window while he lay closest to the door. Facing each other, you shoved your hands under the pillow and gave him a small smile. “Well. Goodnight.”
He smiled, shutting his eyes first.
“Goodnight, (Y/n).”
Although hesitant, you followed suit. What you’d forgotten to mention; what you’d hoped would be fixed by having a warm body beside you, were the sleepless nights you’d been experiencing from day one. It took hours of laying there, just waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the intrusive thoughts to fade away. Hours of being on your phone and willing yourself not to look back at old conversations. Anything that would be a distraction to you. Anything that would eventually put you to sleep.
He’s already fallen out of love with you.
What if he has another woman at the house?
Your house…
It’s still your home just as much as it is his. There’s probably another woman laying on your side of the bed right now. Just like you’re laying here with Jin.
You’re no better than he is.
You opened your eyes again as if that would somehow reset your mind. You were surprised though, to find Jin there, watching you.
“What?” You whispered.
“You were making a lot of facial expressions.”
You blushed, shoving your cheek against the pillow. You’ve never been good at hiding how you felt.
“Are you okay?” You asked him, but he furrowed his brows at you.
“Are you okay?” He parroted your question. You shrugged. “As okay as I can be.”
Your eyes shifted down to the sheets. Gently you began scratching your fingernail against the bed, focusing anywhere else so you wouldn’t breakdown again. Judging by the tightness in your throat and behind your eyes, you had a feeling this facade wouldn’t last long.
“Is there anything I can do?” Jin frowned.
After a beat of silence, you finally spoke.
“Will you hold me?”
Immediately, Jin scooted closer and pulled you into his chest. Wrapping one arm around your waist while the other wrapped around your shoulders. “It’s okay.” He whispered into your hair. It felt like you were sucking cold air into your lungs when the sobs finally broke through again. You grasped onto the front of his shirt, feeling pathetic. Why were you crying over someone so selfish? More importantly, why were you crying to one of your coworkers?
Everything Touru said. Not just him calling off the engagement, but from every argument that consequently led up to this. Every mistake you made that pushed him away.
“You’d tell me if you were unhappy, wouldn’t you?”
“I tell you everything, don’t I?”
What a load of shit that turned out to be. How could you not see this coming? Your first sign should’ve been that night he said he didn’t trust you. That should’ve been the first sign things needed to change, but they didn’t.
You didn’t change anything, and now look at where you’re at.
Another sob broke through your chapped lips, causing pain in your chest. “I can’t do anything right, Jin.” You whimpered.
“What are you talking about? You do plenty of things right.” He responded softly, looking down at you. You kept your head buried in his chest, disagreeing with him.
“Hey,” He whispered, stroking the back of your head. You looked up with tears glistening in the moonlight. “You’re doing everything right by just being you, and doing what makes you happy.” He reassured you as he thumbed your tears away. “If he can’t support you, then he doesn’t deserve you. Hell, if he can make you cry like this, then he really doesn’t deserve you.”
A new wave of sadness overcame you and you were shoving your face right back into his chest. “I know you’re right.” You hiccupped. “It just hurts, you know? Realizing it.”
Your speech was broken up between sobs and stuttering between heavy breaths. It killed Jin to see you like this. Seeing the way Touru could tear you apart as easily as he did.
“I know.” He responded, holding you tighter and kissing the top of your head. He lay there quietly, stroking your hair and gently kneading his fingers into your waist while you continued to cry. He wished there was more that he could do. Anything to ease some of your pain, but this was all he could offer.
Ater a minute or so, your crying had subsided. Jin couldn’t tell if you’d fallen asleep or not, but he figured it was worth giving this a try.
“What does a loaf of bread say to his girlfriend before breaking up with her?” The room was silent for a moment, give or take the occasional sniffle.
“You deserve butter.”
At first you didn’t react, and Jin thought you really did fall asleep. Then you pulled away with furrowed brows and a look like he’d just insulted your mother.
“Wh-what?”
He smiled at you. From this angle, you could see his defined double chin. “Sorry. That one was a little crumby, wasn’t it?”
Soon your lips were upturned into a smirk. You let out something between a giggle and a snort. “Jin. Stop it.”
“Wait, wait.” He was giggling to himself before he could even get the next one out. “What did the toast say to the psychic?”
You watched in amusement as he tried not to burst at the seam. “You bread my mind!” He howled with laughter. He was already pulling you back into him so he could laugh into your hair. “What the hell, Jin! That’s so lame!”
“But you’re laughing too!” “I’m only laughing because  you’re laughing!” You argued, clearly laughing along with him. “I’m still sad!”
“Hey.” His giggles came to a halt, and he was pulling away to look you in the eye again.
“What?” You smiled.
“What’s the worst thing about a bread pun?” “Jin, I swear--”
“They tend to get stale!” He squealed. Even in the moonlight, you could see just how pink his cheeks were. The way his eyes creased up before laughing into your hair again.
Seulgi was a fool to give him up.
You playfully smacked at his chest. “What is up with you and bread tonight?” He shook his head. “I dunno; must’ve been something in the beer--”
“Oh my god, shut up!” You laughed, quickly wrapping your arms around his waist so you could hold him too.
Jin watched on in awe at the way you were still giggling at his antics. The way he could feel your arms around him. He knew he was in trouble, but he decided he would put those feelings on the backburner. Kick that can on down the road, if you will. That’s a problem for future Jin to deal with.
“Are you feeling better?” He asked as he rubbed the pad of his thumb over your tears once again. Your gaze waivered a bit. Flickering back and forth between his eyes, to his nose, his lips. Then back up again.
“Yeah, I am.” You sniffled.
“Thank you, Jin.”
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longroadstonowhere · 2 years
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I posted 2,405 times in 2021
810 posts created (34%)
1595 posts reblogged (66%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 2.0 posts.
I added 38 tags in 2021
#hm - 7 posts
#caine - 6 posts
#but still - 5 posts
#bright colors tw - 4 posts
#) - 3 posts
#you know - 3 posts
#that makes sense - 3 posts
#long post - 3 posts
#oh wow this wasn't written even a year ago yet - 2 posts
#nice - 2 posts
Longest Tag: 140 characters
#but anyway because of that i finally looked up tokyo crazy paradise (which i was aware she'd done before skip beat but hadn't looked up yet)
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
so i’m not gonna lie, about forty eight hours ago i assumed i was gonna have a miserable birthday
work is incredibly rough right now (coworker is retiring and therefore the entire department is being reorganized, and probably not in a way i’ll like), it’s been over a year since i’ve been able to hang out with most people in person, and i was hitting a bad patch of depression as well
but events in the last.... thirty two? hours have led it to being a really great one, and it just
it feels real nice, ya know?
7 notes • Posted 2021-04-27 23:55:29 GMT
#4
first vaccine appointment booked!!!!
8 notes • Posted 2021-04-14 14:14:35 GMT
#3
so
things at work have been kinda rough recently for a variety of reasons (short version: parts manager retired in april, one of the techs was brought in to replace him but is functioning eighty percent of the time as a service tech still, and one of two service dispatchers quit about a month ago), and it’s all led me to realize that, even after these difficulties settle down (whenever that happens), i don’t think i’m gonna want to be doing this job for a significant chunk of my future
of course, whenever i think ‘i don’t want to do this’, my immediate thought is ‘what else could i be doing?’, and in regards to job stuff, the only other kind of thing that has remotely interested me (that pays a living wage, at least) is working in a library
there are various factors involved in this thought process, which is why it’s mostly been a hypothetical thus far, but what with how things are going with the current job, i’ve been thinking about it much more seriously the last week or two
basically it boils down to the following pros and cons:
pros: - libraries are non-profit so i wouldn’t have to care about selling things to people ever again - i fucking love books and stories and folks who agree with that sentiment are also likely to work in libraries, so a very decent chance i would get along easily with theoretical new coworkers - i would still be interacting with people but it wouldn’t be about whether or not their icemaker is functioning, so less likely to make me internally judgy about people’s problems (or at least i’d have new problems to be internally judgy about) - decent odds i could find a job with a closer commute, which is always the dream (i miss my fifteen-minute-at-most commute to the newton store) - libraries are probably less high-strung than retail? i’m sure there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, but not on the same level as what i’m currently dealing with - if i get a master’s in library sciences, i stand a good chance of making a decent amount of money, and having a master’s would mean i’m less likely to be on the chopping block when budget concerns start rearing their heads
cons: - job searches suck no matter what, and i have no idea how to navigate the whole ‘leaving one job because i found a better one’ scenario (including all the nitty gritty stuff like ‘what do i do with my retirement fund’ and ‘updating my health care information yet again’) - current job offers a fantastic dental plan and i finally don’t hate going to the dentist, wouldn’t want to lose that if possible - most library positions (definitely higher level ones at least) require a master’s in library sciences, which means taking on student debt (an onus i’ve managed to avoid thus far), and also doing more schooling which i’m not sure i’m up to - if i don’t get a master’s, i’ll have less opportunity for movement within the field and i’ll have less job security - i’ve been with my current company long enough that i’m getting paid a decent wage and i’m likely to get a raise soon, plus the vacation benefits are decent for retail - (i don’t think i can underline enough just how much job searching sucks)
i don’t have any major plans to move on this yet - if nothing else, my sense of honor demands i stay at my current job until after the winter holidays are done - but it’s certainly something i’ve got in the back of my head at all times
11 notes • Posted 2021-09-24 00:33:19 GMT
#2
oh shit, just remembered this is the clock moving forward weekend
don’t forget to change your clocks tomorrow night
15 notes • Posted 2021-03-12 18:47:31 GMT
#1
man
now i’m kinda hoping nuts and dolts kiss before the bees, if only because from now until the end of eternity ruby will use it in every argument she has with yang ever again
‘ruby you left all your dirty dishes in the living room again!’ ‘you’re just mad because i was brave enough to kiss my girlfriend before you confessed to yours’
126 notes • Posted 2021-02-08 20:20:33 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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winryofresembool · 3 years
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Caleo fic: It’s all about the name
Chapter 6 (aka final ch)
Summary: Calypso is a barista at a coffee shop and one day she gets a customer who refuses to give her his real name. At first he seems really annoying but eventually Calypso finds out not all is what it looks like on the surface. (Coffee shop AU!)
a/n: Woop, finally it's time to finish this fic! It took way longer than I anticipated but hey, I'm still pretty happy I did it.
Thank you once again everyone who has supported me both here and on ao3, and special thanks goes to @caldez for the headcanons because without you this fic wouldn't exist!
Once more, I hope you guys enjoy, and please leave a comment if you like this! And keep your eyes open for a twlitf update soon enough because I am continuing to work on it again tomorrow! I've missed that universe a lot.
Words: 1700+
Genre: fluff, humor
Warnings: some slight *ahem* implications (just implications though)
previous chapter / AO3
...
A few weeks later, Leo was leaning against the familiar counter again while he was watching Calypso work. For once he didn’t interrupt her, instead quietly waiting for her to stop her work for the day so he could tell her what he had in his mind. Well, not entirely quietly; his fingers were tapping impatiently against the smooth surface, and eventually Calypso decided that she needed to ask him to stop because she could see some of the other customers giving him dirty looks. Not that she could call him a customer anymore; after the day when Leo had finally revealed his name and she had asked him out, they had been on several dates and things were going pretty well between them.
At first Calypso had been worried that she had been too fast in her decision to ask him out, but after a while she had realized that Leo’s company was exactly what she needed. Not because she /needed/ to have a boyfriend, but because his company made her happy. They could talk about anything and everything between the earth and sky, they had a lot of fun even when they were bickering about whether blueberry cake was better than strawberry cake - which wasn’t a feeling she had known in the past - and most importantly, they understood each other. Both were loners who had some bad experiences with people who were important to them and both were trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. And despite the mischievous surface, Calypso already knew that Leo was someone she could trust to keep his word. She could see it from for example the way he interacted with his work ‘family’ (Calypso had caught Leo calling Georgie his sister the other day when she had quickly dropped by at the garage), how dedicated he was in achieving his goals and how he still showed up at the coffee shop almost every day despite being busy.
“Leonidas,” Calypso had managed to make Leo confess his full first name and now she used it every time she wanted to chastise him. “You may be my boyfriend now…” The b-word made Leo grin widely. “... But I’m still going to have to ask you to try to be quieter because some of our customers don’t like the drumming.”
“Sunshine, not the Leonidas! That’s so cruel,” Leo fake complained. “I was just deep in my thoughts and you know I can’t help it with my random movements while I’m thinking…”
“Fine, then,” Calypso gave in. “What were you thinking?”
“How shiny your hair looks in this light…” Leo said with a low voice.
“Leo… please leave that talk to my off hours,” Calypso scolded him but couldn’t help but blush a bit.
“Okay, Coffee Princess,” he said but suddenly got more serious. “Listen, I do have some actual news for you. I just don’t want to tell it right now that you’re working.”
Calypso checked the clock. “Then you’re going to have to wait maybe 15 more minutes because I still need to take care of a few things once we have closed.”
“No problem. I can wait because Patience is my middle name,” Leo claimed.
“Leonidas Patience Valdez?” Calypso eyed him suspiciously. “Soon you’ll tell me that actually your name is Theophrastus Bombastus or something like that.”
That gave Leo a new idea. “Ooh, should we start a new game? Guess my middle name?” he asked enthusiastically.
“No,” Calypso said immediately. “I think we’ve had enough name games for a while. But maybe some other time.” Her mouth twitched a bit as she said that.
“Oh, alright,” Leo hid his disappointment quickly. “Well, I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be waiting for you outside once you’re done.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. And hey, just to be clear: I wouldn’t care even if your name really was Bad Boy Supreme. You’re still my weird but pretty great boyfriend.” Calypso smiled at him before he raised from his spot and waved her a goodbye.
... A bit later, Calypso joined Leo by a car he had recently obtained. It wasn’t the newest or fanciest but Leo had worked hard to make it function and even Jo had admitted he had done a great job with it. After getting the car Leo had taken a habit to drop Calypso to her apartment after her workshift so they had some extra time to talk - and more - which in Calypso’s opinion was a pretty sweet gesture, even if the make out sessions inside the small car sometimes got a little uncomfortable.
“So, what did you want to tell me?” Calypso asked when she was fastening her seatbelt.
“What… what would you say about working at Waystation?” Leo wanted to know, looking at the road instead of her.
“Huh? Cars aren’t exactly my area of expertise,” Calypso noted, wondering where he was going with his question.
“No, I don’t mean the car side,” he responded, shaking his head a little. “You do know that Emmie has a flower shop in the building as well, right? The thing is, she is getting closer to her retirement and an extra hand wouldn’t hurt her. I know you like gardening, and who knows, you might learn a thing or two from her. She knows a /lot/, trust me. You’ve told me you don’t really like it at the coffee shop so when I heard her talking about hiring someone to Jo… I was like, I gotta let Calie know about this.”
“So… did you already tell her I could be interested?” Calypso asked.
“No, because I didn’t know how you would feel about it. I think it’s better if you contact her personally; Emmie isn’t the kind of person who hires someone just because she happens to be her employee’s girlfriend,” Leo stated, and based on the earlier stories Calypso had heard of her, she could easily imagine that he was right.
“Yeah. That makes sense.” Calypso nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be hired for that reason anyway.”
“You already have a lot of experience in customer service and you’re interested in flowers and stuff so I feel like you could have a good chance,” Leo said, glancing at her briefly. “I mean… if you want to, of course! I don’t know for sure…”
“I’d love to!” Calypso exclaimed before Leo had time to finish his sentence. “At this point anything beats making a thousand cups of coffee per day. And, well, I suppose getting to see a certain someone during the breaks would be an added bonus,” she added sneakily. “I will make sure to contact her soon. Thanks for letting me know!”
“You’re welcome,” Leo replied. “I’ll have my thumbs up for you, babe.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t quite all, though,” Leo said after a while. “I’ve told you about my friend Piper, right? Well, she sings in a band and she knows a lot of people who play and study music as well… They have a gig nearby tomorrow evening and as it happens, I’m not working then so if you happen to have time… would you like to go and see them? And maybe we can meet with Piper and the others afterwards? I just thought, you once said you had enjoyed singing and playing but you had to stop… Well, maybe this could be your chance to get reacquainted with music. She could probably give you some tips too.”
“Do you think she would be OK with it? I mean, helping me out?” Calypso inquired.
“Oh, for sure!” Leo reassured her. “To be honest, she has been quite curious about you ever since I told her I have a girlfriend - it’s almost like she doesn’t actually believe I have one - so I bet she’d be excited to meet you.”
“Um, there’s one small thing, though…” Calypso noted. “You know Reyna, my coworker? From what I’ve gathered, she used to have a major crush on a guy named Jason, who coincidentally is now dating a girl named Piper. And I’m quite sure we are talking about the same Piper now because it’s not that common a name. Maybe I should ask Reyna first how she feels about me hanging out with her before I promise anything...”
“Ouch… Yeah, maybe you should. I don’t wanna cause issues between you and your friend.” Leo agreed.
“But hey, thanks for asking.” Calypso briefly lowered her left hand on Leo’s right one that was resting on the gear stick. “I’d like to meet your friends at some point, for sure. And I’ve never been to a concert so I would definitely love to see one!”
“You’ve never been to a concert?” Leo asked, looking surprised.
“No,” Calypso shrugged. “That was another one of those things that was a waste of time according to my father. But hey, there’s no one to stop me now!”
“That’s my girl. And I can promise that if you decide to go, you would have a decent company too.” Leo grinned at her.
“Hmmm… I still need to be convinced about that…” Calypso teased him. She wondered when she had become someone who flirts and jokes but she assumed that was the effect of the ‘Bad Boy Supreme’.
“Oh, I will convince you, alright,” Leo promised. Calypso couldn’t help but blush when she thought about the implications behind his words.
“OK, as long as we make it to my place first.”
A comfortable silence fell between the couple as Calypso took in everything they had just discussed. The more she thought about it, the more clearly she saw what she wanted to do with her future. She’d save money at a place that she was quite positive she would prefer over the coffee shop, hopefully find a way to get reacquainted with music - maybe with Piper’s help, maybe some other way - and eventually start studying whatever she felt passionate about. Maybe certain things would take a while to happen, but she was on the right path, and why would she have to rush anywhere when she had people like Leo by her side?
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imaginesandideas · 4 years
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roughly 4k words, originally posted on my A3O account. a late summer memoir; NSFW. reblogs, comments, suggestions and all kinds of support are more than welcome ✨
[whispers] y’all should really play Hozier’s “Work song” or “NFWMB” for this one 🖤
It’s been a tough couple weeks. Well, months. And it’s especially hard cause you’re living together, you’re married and yet you’re passing each other by. Not willingly for goodness sake, but you’ve been barely finding time for each other lately and it’s killing you. He’s not dealing great with it either, but he keeps the facade to avoid worrying you more. He’s learnt that at work obviously. The same work that has been keeping him away from you for so long.
You’re not better though. Everything has changed after you finally got your degree. The studying was hell, you were mostly tired and overworked. But Flip? He was by your side through highs and lows and was always super supportive. If not for him you probably wouldn’t have done it at all.
But after that you were met with another bunch of obstacles. Cause despite your earnest efforts, finding a decent job in the Colorado Springs area was a rather difficult task.
You went through successive stages of education but it never meant that someone would be willing to give you a chance. And again Flip was the most supportive husband - he would drive you to your interviews insisting that it’s „no big deal” and that he won’t be late for work, cause the work will wait for him anyway. You found his presence by your side in those moments  extremely comforting. As you were driving around town he would reach out for your hand to hold it and place a kiss at the back of it. Such a simple gesture but for you it meant more than words. You knew that it was an affirmation, it was him reminding you that you’re strong, that you’re capable and that no matter what happens he’ll be there. For you and with you.
And you simply couldn’t help but glance at him lovingly as he was entirely focused on the road, making sure you get there safe and on time.
 And finally, after many unsuccessful attempts, you got the job. It wasn’t a job of your dreams, but it was good for a start. You were earning enough to support your household budget and to take some of the worries off Flip’s shoulders. It was the independence you’ve been seeking, but it also meant that you’d have to get used to your lives continuously not coinciding.
You didn’t even realize when 6-hour shifts have turned into 10 hours. And then those 10 hours turned into a lot of paperwork you’d do during the weekends. But that’s okay, you thought, Flip was also busy at the station or going on missions so you couldn’t really be mad at yourself for doing all this extra work, right? And it was also pretty rewarding cause soon enough you got promoted and had even more complicated tasks to execute. It also came with bigger money, but all of a sudden you realized that you don’t even have the time to go and spend it on something.
Soon enough it dawned to you how little time together with Flip you were actually getting and the thought itself made you feel sick. Cause if you were to count all the moments you two had for each other during the week, it would have to be all the hours asleep and alarming amount of rushed goodbyes and kisses as you pass each other by in the hallway of your home.
Passing each other by - that’s what you were actually doing and it was driving you insane. But what could you do, you were trapped between the current project and all the upcoming ones. You were trapped between Flip’s and your own work schedule. Separated by the obligations that lay with your shoulders.
„That’s wonderful, I’m so proud of you!” His voice is heavy with exhaustion but you can sense that he’s smiling as you’re talking on the phone.
The manager position was more than you could’ve dreamed of, especially after such a long time in your current job, but the offer was so generous and unexpected that it took you a moment to process it. But first, you needed to call Flip. Partially because you wanted to know his opinion but also just so you could hear his voice.
„Well I have yet to agree but yeah I’m pretty excited.” You smile to yourself. „I mean, it’s a big step and I’ll have to get used to the new workplace but yeah…”
„You’ll do great baby. You’ll handle it like a fighter, I’m sure of it.” He’s really so proud of you and no distance could ever hide it. You can practically see his eyes shining with pride. „I love you.”
You sigh sadly.
„I love you too baby.”
„… and miss you.” He adds in a hushed tone.
„I know, I do too, you have no idea how much.” Suddenly you feel glad that you got to talk now, during your break with none of your coworkers around. It’s not like you’re ashamed or anything but you just don’t want people gossiping about the state of your marriage or you in general. It’s your moment, one out of very few you get to spend with your husband, even if it’s on the phone. And you’re just sad, your voice almost breaks as you’re speaking. „I know it’s probably just all the work and stress but I think I’m going crazy sometimes.”
„That bad?” He chuckles and you roll your eyes but you know he’s only teasing. „I know baby, I’m sorry, it’s my fault. All this paperwork from the last case got us locked up here for days. Even Ron had enough of it and left earlier today. Promised he’ll be back tomorrow morning but I wouldn’t bet my money on it.”
You nod mindlessly. Gnawing on your bottom lip you decide to take your shot.
„How much of it do you guys have left?”
„The case data? Uhh, for at least a day or two I think. Why?” You smirk but keep your voice on the same note.
„I might be wrong but I remember that chief once mentioned that you still have that overdue leave?”
He pauses for a moment, most likely trying to recall that conversation but soon enough he’s back on the line.
„Yeah I think there was something. I’ll ask him again but I believe there was a week or two.”
„Okay so, uhm, how about you get the paperwork done and we both take some time off? Just you and me, no work, no phonecalls, no distractions.” At this point you can barely hide the excitement in your voice and you don’t even care. This may be your last chance so you just hope he agrees.
„God yes, that’d be perfect!” He smiles widely and you can’t help but smile too. „What about your new job though?”
„I’ll handle that, don’t worry.”
„That’s my girl.” The smile he has at that moment will stay with him for the rest of the day, he has no doubt about it.
 Time flies when you’ve got loads of work and things to look forward to. Those days flied by like a rocket and there you are, all giddy and excited as you walk towards your home. You decided to buy some groceries on the way and grab your order of italian takeaway from that restaurant you used to visit quite often when you were still only dating. Despite the tiredness and the overwhelming heat of the day you try to keep your mood uplift, the thought of well deserved time off with your husband is making all the work worth it. Cause he is worth, and you know that both of you deserve this more than ever.
The late-summer sun is setting low over the city and the woods and you stop in your tracks to catch that last glimpse of golden light. Who would’ve thought that one day you’d miss small things like this - slowly walking home, admiring the view. But you promise yourself to care more from now on. It’s a brand new chapter of your life and you decide not to waste a single moment that’s worth remembering. And you want to remember this, remember this day.
You set your purchase on the kitchen counter and drop your bag on the couch. Flip did not set the hour precisely but you guessed that he’ll be late, the usual.
After you put the food in the fridge - you specifically ordered pasta to be semi-raw so you could reheat it at home when the right time comes - you grab the bottle of leftover wine that you intentionally didn’t finish the last time. Now that you’ve got a couple days off it won’t matter if it’s not the weekend yet, you’re starting yours early. Besides, it should help you relax a bit, loosen tense muscles. And that icy liquid just feels so right as it reaches your tongue, perfect for a hot evening like this one. With a glass in one hand you step out on the porch but the air is still way too heavy with heat and you return inside.
After yet another sip you set the glass on the table and choose to change into something more comfortable. Ideally something thin, cause even back inside the air was pretty humid. Barefoot, you step inside your wardrobe and the coolness of it makes you close your eyes in bliss. The summers here were great, you loved the sun and the nature flourishing, but if you could trade one thing it would have to be the heat, especially during the night.
By the time you come into your bedroom you don’t even know what time it is, you’re too drowsy to care. Maybe you’d just wait in here, lay on these silky sheets you just recently bought for the summertime sleeps. You’ll keep one eye open in case if he comes back soon. You won’t fall asleep no way. No way…
 Jolting awake you notice that the light is turned off, the whole room is dark and aired but still pretty humid as if someone left the window open. And it’s almost completely silent, except for the steady breathing beside you. There’s warmth spreading over your waist where his arm rests protectively and you smile. Once your vision accommodates to the darkness you see his sprawled out form, so pale in the night shades of your bedroom. He even got rid of the tank top he’s normally wearing to bed and you assume he must have felt just as hot as you.
You also realize that you must have fallen asleep before he even came back, cause you can’t seem to remember anything after changing your clothes in the wardrobe.
His embrace feels better than anything else in the world and you wish you could’ve stayed like that forever but your throat feels so dry that you decide to gently slip out. It’s no surprise that you still feel dizzy as you stand up, suddenly remembering the alcohol and the fatigue of workday. As quietly and carefully as possible you sneak out of the bed and then out of the bedroom, leaving Flip alone underneath the sheets.
One glass of water isn’t enough so you pour yourself another one. It’s been hours since dusk yet the air feels so heavy and hot as if during the day. Your skin feels sticky, like it’s covered in some sort of sweet syrup.
„You minx.”
His raspy voice coming from behind startles you at first, but his hands swiftly sneak around your waist before you get a word out. And you don’t even mind the warmth radiating off his body onto your back, engulfing you as he closes the distance between you both, that closeness is almost relieving. You haven’t been this close in a very long time.
„I thought you were asleep.” You say softly as you reach out to caress his face and he nuzzles his cheek into the crease between your shoulder and neck, kissing along your tense muscles.
„Can’t sleep without you. I need to know where you are.” He mumbles and you smile.
 It’s true, even when away on a mission or an investigation - he always calls. He knows when you’ll be back from work and wants to make sure you got home safe. That’s the protective side of his that you’ve learnt to adore, even if one could consider it an annoying trait.
With his vast work experience, the things he’s seen over the years but also the love he had for you from the very first day, he couldn’t just simply overlook your safety. You were that one string keeping him grounded and sane thorough all the madness in his life, he wouldn’t have forgiven himself if he’d lost you. It was almost like a ritual at this point. Him calling you from the station before you head for bed, sometimes you calling him at the hotel when you know his workday on a mission is over. Not only does it calm both of you down, it’s also a chance to have that much needed time to talk about ordinary things.
„I’m sorry I fell asleep on you. I had some wine, I don’t even remember when I passed out…”
„It’s okay. You work so hard, you deserve some rest.” His voice is soothing in your ears, almost as soothing as his soft lips traveling up along your pulse point. „And I was tired too.”
„Was? Past tense?” You whisper chuckling and his grasp on you tightens, he’s pulling you in even closer almost inhaling you whole. His hands run up your sides, gently cupping your breasts before they retreat, then climb up again, this time underneath your shirt. Ever so slowly, teasingly his fingertips dance over your skin, over your slowly hardening nipples. And despite his bodily warmth it still sends shiver down your back. 
He whispers but it feels like a thunder echoing along your neck.
„You already know.”
Your bodies move in unison as you turn around to face him. His face glows of late summer sweat in the dim light and it only accentuates his rough features, from cheekbones to jaw. He gives you a few seconds, enough to get a good look at his shadow-toned figure - arms,  thighs, collarbones, stomach and that strong chest - at your Flip, before he pulls you in once again. This time his hands are even greedier, his movements are more desperate. But you’re right there to reciprocate, bringing your own needy hands to his dark, sweat-tangled locks. And when his lips finally meet with yours it’s like breathing. It’s natural, it feels necessary. It’s like magic but better, cause there’s nothing realer than this.
„I missed you. So so much. I missed this.” He whispers in between kisses hastily. His voice is hushed but deep, like in a tantric prayer. Like a spell.
„Flip.” You call out quietly, a whisper echoing in the darkness. He hoists you up, you watch his arms flex in the corner of your eyes, hands clutching on your thighs for dear life as he places you ever so gently on the counter. Safe yet so close to the edge.
His movements are sensually slow, so different from the way you’ve remembered him. With lips parted you let him kiss away the tension from your shoulders, arms, neck, wrists…
„Let me.” He half asks half states as he sinks low on his knees. Your eyelids grow heavy with each touch of his plump, warm lips on your ankles, calves, below your knees, along your thighs. „My love, my queen.”
You don’t remember him him like this and you’re hypnotized. He’s like a drug flowing through your veins, heating you from underneath the skin. Like he’s controlling your whole body, its motions, you.
„Baby please.” You’re begging. Flip likes that, a lot.
„Say it again.” It’s the depth of his voice, the booming of it that wakes you up from this trance you’ve been stuck in. And he’s looking at you with those cinnamon-spiced honey eyes of his. The eyes that are now locked with your own hazy gaze.
He kisses your ankle without even looking away and it’s like fire burning you from underneath and that icy breath tingling on your skin.
„Please.” A whine.
„Again.”
„Please…”
It comes out nearly a whimper, but he’s relentless, his face stoical like a cliff. Proud, patient, waiting.
He’s tempting you, testing you as if it is the devil himself kneeling beneath your feet. Encouragingly grazing his fangs along the luscious skin of your thighs. Awaiting your surrender. Your submission.
„Say it like you mean it.”
Your heart is shaking in anticipation. It feels so wrong and yet you give in.
„Phillip, please. I need you.”
And he bites in, sucks in, leaves blooming marks like petals scattered around a bouquet of fresh wild peonies.
He devours you entirely, completely. Trembling, you’re losing control, in fact you’re giving it away, right into his eager hands, lips, hungry eyes.
 By the time his mouth reaches your clit you’re already blissed out, encouraging him with the motion of your hips, quietly gasping, begging for air, begging for more. Begging for no air at all.
It’s like you’re breaking apart, your body and mind conflicted yet something, someone, keeps them tied together, seals them with each caress. Your nerves are tingling but at the same time are so numb, like he’s crawled inside you, slick as a snake. He’s controlling you, the rhythm of your breathing, of your heart.
And your heart feels like a volcano, hot and ready to explode from your heaving chest.
„Y-yes, there, please.”
Your slick and his spit are one. Your inhales are synchronized with his lips. Perfect harmony, only it’s not quiet, it’s loud on his tongue, loud as the gasps leaving your mouth and even louder in your brain.
With your vision clouded you gaze down and that’s when it hits you.
Your limbs involuntarily shake, wave after wave crashing over you and within seconds you can barely breathe. Your mind is filled with light, like sun setting over beach, the sounds  of ocean rustling. You’re divided, both here and out there, not even sure which one is which cause all of these sensations feel so real.
There’s this immense hot heaviness climbing up your torso. It covers your ribs, moves swiftly over your cleavage, rests below your breast, on your heart. His hand reaching out to touch you even more. So gentle and loving yet so delightfully demanding.
„Yours.” You whisper even though he doesn’t question it verbally. It’s in the air and you just repeat it like echo, like a mantra.
Fingers dig into the counter, seeking support. He knows you’re almost there, he can feel it through your uncontrolled trembling, your spasming cunt. And so he catches you, holds you grounded, holds your thighs firmly apart with his strong hands. Somehow it doesn’t even matter that it’s the middle of a hot night, it doesn’t matter where did your underwear go, if the sun is about to hit your faces within the next few minutes, cause all you care about is him. And you keep chanting his name with that haunting promise.
„Yours Flip, yours. Yours.”
If only you could see these honey eyes as they drown in the sound of your voice, the eyes that can’t speak but still reflect his love for you - selfless, filled with adoration and respect. In his eyes you’re a statue, carved and perfected thorough the years, and now he’s bringing it to life.
Your body goes tense one more time, from head to toes, from the crown of your head and along your spine. He slows down, he wants it to last, he wants to feast on you for the rest of his days and even more, but he needs you to be fed.
And gods, he’s feeding you with everything he has, with the twirls of his tongue, with his own spit sticking to your sweat covered body, the tiny bites and that gloriously filthy loud sucking.
 It’s your arms that give in first and you lean back on the counter covered in sweaty bliss. His hands that kept your your thighs apart loosen the pressure, though you’re fairly sure of the bruising that will come out of it. The beauty of pleasure and pain.
Slowly he pushes himself up from his knees. And- fuck, he’s so in love with you he would propose to you the very next day if only that didn’t already belong to the past.
That’s when your eyes open. You catch him staring but he’s staring at you the way no other person ever did. Not like a prize, a plaything, no, he’s fucking mesmerized. All he sees is a goddess and the look in his eyes, his face says it all. It’s that tiny smirk on his stupid-beautiful face that cracks your heart open. You wonder how dare he tongue-fuck you into oblivion just to be so puppy looking seconds later. It’s like he’s testing you again.
„I fucking love you, y’know that right.”
„Phillip Zimmerman, how dare you. I should be the one saying that right now.” You chuckle but soon enough he gently grabs you, sitting you upright, his arms wrap around your waist yet again, eyes glossy with love. You’re speechless cause it feels like falling in love for the first time, this moment, him holding you close like this. You know this, you two have been like this in the past but you thought you’ve lost it somewhere along the way. Life can be rough, can be painful and sometimes just utterly normal, boring even. But here you are, gazing at each other longingly, maybe more in love than ever before because it’s no puppy love anymore, it’s a full-grown one.
His eyes follow the lines he draws with his fingers along your cheekbone, cheek, jaw before stopping at your chin. And he stares. Stares into your eyes.
He’s thinking how perfect you are, your face carved with determination, struggles but also beauty, and this immense love. He’s thinking how fortune must have helped his blind senses in catching you. And how he never wants to let you go.
He’s so lost in thought and so you take over finishing the sentence he meant to make. You seal the confession with your own lips, deepening it, making the words mean something beyond their definition.
With your eyes closed your hands glide over his face. You feel the softness of his skin, but also each of the tiny scars, the moles, the small imperfections that make Flip the person you know. Your person.
Your lips detach and you already miss their fullness, you miss the way they belong together.
„I meant that, you vixen.” He exclaims half-teasingly, but you know he’s sincere. You know him well enough to recognize it, so you just smile.
„I know. And I do love you too, so much. I really missed us.” As you speak he cups your face yet again but allows you to continue, not wanting to interrupt your thoughts. You were always better with words than him. „And I’m so proud of us, super-proud of you. How you grew over the years, how you’ve gotten better at everything you were already great at. And, like, grateful. For everything you do, for being so supportive and for being there for me an-”
„You better cut this sugary bullshit or you’ll make me so soft ’m not gonna be able to fuck you later.”
„Cutting it right now!” You pretty much cry it out and he chuckles flashing that full-blown smile of his, the one that’s reserved only for you.
„Good girl.” He says and you half-expect him to run off with you to the bedroom, but instead he kisses your forehead and pulls your arms over his shoulders. „But first, sleep.”
„What? No, no nonono. Babe, Flip, no, put me down. I can’t leave you hanging like this, let me-”
„No. Sleep. We need some more sleep first. Besides - I caught that small yawn you did 5 minutes ago, and you tried to freakin’ hide it from me so you’re not getting away with this one.”
„B-but…”
„I promise, we’ll catch up after a nap. Look, we woke up in the middle of the night and now it’s almost dawn.”
His words make your head spin in direction of window and you can’t believe he’s right as the first beams of sunlight hit your eyes. And of course you yawn on the spot, cause he’s really just has all the points.
 So you just nuzzle your head in the crook of his marble neck as he carefully hoists you up. You stay there, wrapped in his love through the finishing moments of night, and through couple more hours as both of your bodies rest covered in silky sheets, with limbs tangled together, breathing steady. Even when the air gets humid again covering your bodies with another layer of sweat, you don’t mind. You’re no longer against the heat, not if it’s the heat he covers you with, not if it’s the heat of you together.
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Hoodie Season
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F/M Pairing: Y/N X Hwang Hyunjin
Genre: Married Life AU
Warnings: Smut and Language
Word Count: 7K
Note: Another requested Fic! Enjoyyyy
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It was a Friday morning and I refused to leave the familiar comforts of my bed. With the addition of the sun hitting just right from the low-slanted window, I was prepared to give up on the possibility of moving from my comfortable position, even if that meant missing work today. After all, I endured an endless barrage of tiring conditions throughout the week, listening to adolescent teenagers gossip and complain about every possible topic. Therefore, this type of treatment was certainly warranted, even if the sounds of the traffic outside proved to be an annoying disturbance.
I let out a yawn, turning onto my side to face away from the street, pausing when I realized that there was something beneath my hand. I reluctantly pried open one eye, glancing down to see what I had just discovered. Irritation boiled beneath my skin when I realized several pregnancy magazines were strewn across the sheets. “What the hell?” I groaned, suddenly losing any prior interest in sleeping. I gathered the magazines together before storming into the kitchen where Hyunjin was sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee in hand. I tossed the magazines onto the empty space in front of him. “You’re not exactly subtle these days,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
My husband glanced up at me over the brim of his coffee mug. “What do you mean?” he asked with innocent eyes.
“I don’t want kids right now, Hyunjin,” I said, glowering at him once more. “Isn’t it enough that we deal with students every day at school?”
“But they’d be our kids, Y/N,” he pouted, attempting to hand me a magazine from atop the messy pile.
I ignored his offering, shaking my head while storming into the kitchen. “I don’t care if they’re our kids, I’m not ready!”
“They’re so cute though,” Hyunjin said, opening one of the covers. “Look at how small they are!”
“Yeah? Well, they won’t stay that small forever,” I said. “And then they’ll be just like those horny high school demons we deal with every day.”
“Aren’t you being dramatic?” he asked which was quite ironic coming from the Hwang Hyunjin, AKA, one of the most over-dramatic people I have ever met in my entire life. The same Hyunjin who demanded that they move Mr. Henderson into a new classroom because he was located right next to the library where I worked and Hyunjin was certain he was flirting with me.
“Babe, you can’t even pretend to be serious,” I said, reaching for the cereal from the top shelf. “I think you’re determined to test me today.”
“Our babies would be so beautiful,” Hyunjin went on as if he was refusing to listen to my counter-arguments.
“You’re only acting like this because one of your friends had a kid.”
“Maybe,” Hyunjin shrugged, joining me in the kitchen as I spooned more Fruit Loops into my mouth. “But you can’t tell me that you weren’t enamored with your nieces at my mom’s Christmas party.”
“I was just being nice,” I grumbled, ignoring the way Hyunjin was now clambering for my attention, arms wrapped around my waist. Hyunjin was always clingy in the mornings, fresh-faced with the lingering effects of sleep clouding his eyes. 
“Can you at least pretend to think about it?” Hyunjin whined. 
“Maybe if you’re good,” I said, loosening his hold which allowed me to slip through to the other side of the counter. “Don’t forget that your little PR stunt woke me up early this morning, babe, and I don’t forgive easily.”
“Don’t act like you hated it,” Hyunjin said, reaching for the car keys out of the small dish we kept by the door. “Am I driving?”
“How else will I intake my daily caffeine addiction?” I asked, pouring the remaining coffee into a travel mug. “But slow down in the school zone, I don’t think our bank account can take another traffic violation.”
Hyunjin rolled his eyes. “I was barely over the limit.”
I grinned at the way he tried to defend himself. “Give me twenty minutes to make myself look decent.”
“Wouldn’t want to scare the kids, right Y/N?”
“Thin ice, Hyunjin, you’re very close to sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Hyunjin smirked because he knew my threats were empty. I was weak for my husband and he liked to exploit my affections for him at every opportunity possible. For example, last night he pretended to be super excited for the new season of the Bachelor (even though he hates the show) just because he wanted me sat in his lap while he did his best to decorate my neck with colorful marks.
In conclusion, Hyunjin was my kryptonite, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Hyunjin and I arrived at school fifteen minutes early, parting ways in the mostly full parking lot because the students definitely didn’t need to see the way he liked to grope my ass when we kissed. Despite working together, I rarely saw Hyunjin throughout the day unless he made-up some excuse to come see me in the library. But this was a rare occurrence since Hyunjin, as a dance teacher, really had no valid reason to need library resources.
Speaking of which, the library, at my personal request, was the glorified version of an introvert’s paradise. It was always quiet, thanks to my meticulous monitoring, and was equipped with a small digital lab and self-named “relaxation room” where students (and staff) could enjoy a variety of stuffed couches and reclinable chairs to simply forget about the other horrors of high school. I was especially proud of the library’s progress, updating equipment and technology yearly due to my persistence in applying for a variety of government grants. Yes, I was satisfied with my status as the school’s “cool” librarian who enforced the strict library rules of conduct while also allowing a smidgen of favoritism when one of my students brought in a candy bar to eat during lunch.
Of course, such sanctity was frequently disrupted by my husband and his friends who demonstrated absolutely no regard for silence. Han Jisung was the worst of them all, waltzing into the library in stride to ask for whatever set of books he needed for his English classes. While I prepared the cart, he would talk relentlessly about everything from his ex-girlfriends to the much-dreaded topic of his endless stories about Hyunjin’s wilder days back in college. “I wish you could’ve been there, Y/N,” Jisung would snort. “Hyunjin took shots like they were water.”
“Yes, I know,” I would grumble while ordering him to leave the library before the remaining students were permanently traumatized.
And when Hyunjin would visit me, which seemed unnecessary considering he taught dance classes, he always made sure to completely take over my office, feet propped up on my desk while pouting at me to sit on his lap. Which was the opposite of professional considering the masses of students lingering around the bookshelves. But that never seemed to deter Hyunjin who always found a new and creative excuse to visit the library.
Like begging me to allow him to use my coffee machine.
“Y/N,” Hyunjin said, following me as I navigated the complicated filing system in the backroom. “I’m only asking because Jisung broke the one in the teacher’s lounge! And you know it might take weeks before they purchase a replacement.”
“Interesting,” I said, thumbing across the file tabs. “We have a coffee machine at home, don’t we, babe?”
Hyunjin was quiet for a moment. “But what if I need more coffee later on?”
“One cup should be enough,” I nodded. “Caffeine isn’t good for you.”
“It’s actually great for me,” Hyunjin said. “If I didn’t have coffee, then I would be completely shut down by lunchtime.”
“I seriously doubt that,” I objected with a laugh.
“Y/N,” Hyunjin tried again. “As your husband-”
“- is that supposed to convince me?”
Hyunjin frowned. “I’ll clean the dishes and do the laundry until the machine in the lounge is fixed.”
I perked up instantly. “Well, I suppose I can make an exception for you...”
Hyunjin rolled his eyes, starting for the small kitchen connected to my office. “I should have unlimited access.”
“And I should treat all my coworkers the same.”
“I’m offended, Y/N, please don’t tell me you’re sleeping with the other teachers.”
I glared at him. “For your information, you’re the one who's always touting professionalism in the workplace.”
“But that was before I started to miss you during the day,” Hyunjin said, adjusting the settings on my coffee machine. “You have a safe haven in the library.”
“It gets the job done,” I said, joining him at the machine. “Did you know we had a new student at school?”
“Yang Jeongin?” he asked, pulling back his mug to take a sip. “He’s in my first-period dance class.”
“That’s him,” I nodded. “I noticed that always comes in here during lunch. Do you think he has any friends?”
“I don’t know,” Hyunjin mused. “I don’t see him interacting with his classmates.”
I shivered because the topic at hand reminded me too strongly of my own experiences in high school. “I feel bad for him.”
“I’m sure he’s fine, babe,” Hyunjin reassured me. “If it makes you feel better, then I could talk to him tomorrow?”
“Would you do that for me?” I asked, holding on to his arm. 
“Of course,” Hyunjin said. “Unlike you, I don’t ask for much when I’m doing something nice for my spouse.”
“Who else is going to keep you in check?” I asked him, pushing myself off from the counter. 
Hyunjin gave my ass a polite swat on my way out the door. “Remember that we’re meeting Jisung and his new girlfriend for dinner.”
I groaned at the reminder. “Explain to me again, babe, why do we have to do that?”
“Because he’s my best friend,” Hyunjin said. “And he’s trying to make things less awkward.”
“Are we going to show up for all of his dates?” I asked. “To keep things less awkward?”
“You’re honestly just as dramatic as I am,” Hyunjin commented. “He’s only asking me for a small favor, and...” He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “If you’re a good girl, then I might reward you when we get home later.”
I swallowed hard. “It’s been a while since we’ve been out, hasn’t it?”
Hyunjin grinned at my willing compliance.
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Han Jisung’s new girlfriend was...interesting, to say the least. She arrived with her arm tucked securely around Jisung’s while dressed in a bright pink mini-skirt and lime green crop-top that left very little to the imagination. The moment she walked into the restaurant, every pair of eyes watched as she shimmied through the tables, greeting Hyunjin and I like we had known each other since childhood. “You guys look great!” she exclaimed, leaning across the table to offer my cheek a polite tap. “Girl, you have to tell me who does your hair.”
“Oh...” I trailed off, glancing at Hyunjin anxiously because my husband had forgotten to mention that we were meeting an eccentric child. Because Jisung’s girlfriend didn’t look a day over the legal age.
“I’m Hailey,” she announced, smacking her gum obnoxiously. 
Meanwhile, Jisung was smiling like an idiot. “I hope we’re not late.”
“Of course not,” Hyunjin said and I rolled my eyes since apparently being half an hour late for your reservation was perfectly acceptable.
“Holy shit, you look like a runway model!” Haily declared, pointing at Hyunjin with exaggerated motions. “Honey, you didn’t tell me that you were friends with someone this gorgeous.”
I frowned at the comment while Hyunjin just shifted uncomfortably next to me. “Thank you?”
“Jinnie’s always been a lady killer,” Jisung said, pulling out Hailey’s chair before taking the seat next to Hyunjin.
“But you’re all married now,” Hailey pouted as if she was actually disappointed with Hyunjin’s marital status despite the fact that she had come here with Jisung. 
“2 years,” Hyunjin said with a dramatic flourish of his wrist. “Woohoo!”
“Y’all got kids and stuff right?” Hailey asked, ignoring the waiter who had arrived at our table, clearing his throat to get her attention. Thankfully, Jisung had enough sense to dismiss him with a request for two glasses of water. 
“Not yet,” Hyunjin said, more attentive now that the topic had switched to a topic that he favored. “We’re planning on having two or three.”
I kept my mouth firmly shut because Hyujin was clearly living in an alternate universe. “That’s amazing,” Haily gushed, leaning into Jisung. “Did you hear that, Sungie? Isn’t that like the ultimate dream?”
“Is it?” Jisung questioned, offering Haily a gentle kiss. “Do you want kids someday?”
“A whole house full of them,” Hailey exclaimed and Hyunjin offered me a shit-eating grin like that somehow proved that I was in the wrong for denying him any children.
“We’re still talking about it,” I effectively inserted.
“Sungie tells me that you’re both teachers,” she continued, driving the conversation in an entirely new direction. 
“I’m a librarian technician,” I said. “Hyunjin teaches dance.”
“Wow,” Hailey gushed. “That’s so cool, Hyunjin.”
I grimaced because apparently, Librarians weren’t as qualified to be considered cool. “I’m lucky that I have such willing students,” Hyunjin said, nodding appreciatively. 
Sometimes, Hyunjin loved being the center of attention.
“I’m in like some sort of dance club at my university,” Hailey said and I nearly choked on my wine. 
“You’re in college?” Hyunjin asked, flashing Jisung a reprimanding look that sent the younger into a rapid explanation.
“She’s a Senior,” Jisung said as if that made everything better. “You’re graduating soon, right babe?”
“Supposedly,” Hailey said, making a mess of the breadsticks in the center of the table. “I have to somehow pass this boring math lecture first.”
Hyunjin was not convinced and neither was I considering Jisung’s problematic history of dating younger girlfriends. “How long have you been with Jisung?”
“I don’t know,” Haily shrugged indifferently. “Maybe two weeks.”
“And are you staying on campus, Hailey?” I asked the young girl who nodded affirmatively.
“Jisung wants me to move in though,” Hailey said and that was the last straw for Hyunjin who abruptly stood from the table.
“Jisung,” my husband murmured quietly. “Let’s talk outside for a moment.”
Jisung bowed his head, cheeks flushed because he knew that Hyunjin was moments away from one of his famous lectures. “Okay.”
Hailey was silent until they were out of earshot. “That was weird, right?”
I feigned indifference, even as my mind thought up several creative ways to kick Jisung’s ass for trying things out with someone who was at least ten years younger than him. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if said significant other was employed at some kind of big business as opposed to the salon next to her university. But I didn’t want to let Hailey know that anything was amiss, so I reached across to grab her hand. “Everything’s fine.”
Internally, I was screaming at the top of my lungs.
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I woke up to the feeling of Hyunjin’s hard erection pressing against my ass. “Babe,” I groaned, attempting to fend off the lingering effects of sleep.
Hyunjin grunted from behind me, drawing his hips in methodical circles. “What?”
“Your dick,” was all I could manage before yawning over my words.
“Fuck, I was having a good dream,” Hyunjin whined. “Remember that bathing suit you wore on our honeymoon?”
“The bikini?”
“Yeah, I still think about it a lot.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re hard because of my bathing suit?”
“More precisely, you in the bathing suit.”
“Whatever,” I said, rubbing my face against my pillow. “The alarm hasn’t gone off yet.”
“That gives us time,” Hyunjin said suggestively, drawing a hand along the contour of my hip bone.
“To sleep.”
“No, Y/N,” Hyunjin countered, presence heavy as he drew himself up higher against the headboard. “You don’t even have to do anything.”
“Fine,” I muttered. “But don’t blame me if I fall asleep.”
“You know my dick’s better than that,” Hyunjin said, fussing over my panties as he pulled them down beneath the sheets. His fingers dug into my thigh, lifting my leg to a more comfortable position over his hip. I could feel his cock, thick and prodding, as he adjusted himself behind me.
“Are you ever gonna put it in?” I asked drowsily, wincing at the sudden penetration of his cock inside. “Shit, slow down you animal!”
“Sorry,” he murmured, slowing drawing out before pushing back in at a more acceptable pace.
“Slow is good,” I continued, adrenaline rushing through my sleep-deprived body, reacting to his advances with tentative thrusts back against him. 
“It’s good, right?” Hyunjin asked with a touch of arrogance, reaching around me to play with my clit.
“It’s always good,” I said, deciding to satiate his ego for once, especially now that I was fully aroused, cognizant of the heavy drag of Hyunjin’s cock.
His vacant hand wandered up my shirt, teasing a nipple as he continued to punctuate each heavy drag of his cock with a low grunt of effort. “I feel like it’s been ages since we did this.”
“I guess you’re still horny from the ego boost Jisung’s girlfriend gave you last night.”
“What are you talking about?”
I imitated her voice. “Oh, Hyunjin, you must be in great shape from dancing all the time.”
“She’s right,” Hyunjin said, tightening his hold as he kicked his hips aggressively, slamming into me like he was trying to make a point. “Have you seen my thighs, babe?”
“I like to ride them.”
“Fuck,” Hyunjin cursed, pressing even more insistently at my clit while his cock continued to fill my core. “I feel like a teenager again.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't think I can last much longer either,” I said, panting as Hyunjin started to increase the power of his thrusts, chasing his own orgasm while I focused on the way it felt to be stimulated by his skilled fingers and impressive girth.
“Can I cum inside?” he asked, voice desperate but I remembered that I forgot to take my birth control pill the other day.
“Outside,” I said, reaching back to push against his chest. “I’ll suck your dick.”
“Please,” Hyunjin agreed without hesitation, pulling out with a wince while I tried to steady my shaky legs, straddling his thigh while leaning down for his cock. Hyunjin curled his fingers through my hair, directing my head to the tip, allowing my tongue to get its first taste of his pre-cum. 
I hollowed my cheeks, taking in as much of his cock as I could before I felt the tip barely touch the back of my throat. Still, it was enough to make me gag and I pulled back to avoid the risk of walking around school with a sore throat all day. I took the remainder of his cock into my hand, tightening my grip at the base which rewarded me with a loud moan from Hyunjin. Meanwhile, I had slowly started to rock myself back and forth on his thigh, aiming for my own release while trying to encourage Hyunjin to cum down my throat. 
“Beautiful,” he said, eyes filled with tears and adoration as he watched me take in more of his cock, nose brushing against his skin.
It only took a few more moments for Hyunjin to finally cum, throwing back his head as his hips jolted against the bed. I swallowed him down with a grimace because I still hated the taste of cum no matter how many times I offered him a blowjob. Pulling off his spent cock, I focused on myself, reaching down to give my clit a few more well-placed strokes before I was following him into a hormone-induced coma.
I fell against his chest, allowing him to run his hand up and down my back. “Babe, you’re my hero.”
I snorted at his comment. “What time is it?”
“We still have five minutes.”
“Good,” I groaned. “I’ll need every second to recover.”
Hyunjin chuckled. “Want to take your mind off it?”
“Maybe,” I said, appreciating his warmth. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Jisung,” Hyunjin said. “I gave him a stern lecture last night.”
“You go, babe.”
“Seriously, I can’t believe he’s dating a college student.”
“The Han Jisung? Nothing he does surprises me.”
“He says he really likes this girl.”
“No offense,” I said. “But I hope that was to defend himself because the girl is a nightmare.”
“Might finally put Jisung in his place.”
“Nobody can do that,” I said, using my arms to leverage myself back into a sitting position. “How bad is my hair?”
“My fingers weren’t helpful.”
“A shower then,” I nodded, glancing back at the bathroom. “You wanna join?”
Hyunjin’s breath caught. “I think you’re spoiling me, babe.”
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It had become a recurring pattern, watching Jeongin walk into the library during his scheduled lunch period. Every day, he sat down at one of the computers in the lab to play some kind of online game that I didn’t protest since he wasn’t disturbing the other students. Truthfully, I didn’t really care one way or another, but I was starting to feel like Jeongin was intentionally avoiding his classmates. I understood that it was probably hard to transfer schools, but to attend classes by yourself with no friends to support you?
I shuddered at the thought, making up my mind as I carefully approached him. “Jeongin,” I said, awkwardly leaning against the side of the computer desk. “That was the bell for lunch.”
The younger boy glanced up to me timidly. “Oh, well I thought it was okay for students to spend lunch in the library.”
“It is,” I acknowledged. “But I thought you might want to spend some time with your friends.”
Jeongin ducked his head down, cheeks blushing red. “Not really.”
“Okay,” I said, struggling to finish my thoughts before spotting Hyunjin walking into the library. “I’ll be right back,” I said before practically sprinting to meet Hyunjin in my office. “Come here,” I said, pulling him to the side. “We have a problem.”
“I know,” he said with tired eyes. “I have no coffee.”
“Hyunjin,” I chastised him quietly. “That new kid always spends his lunch period in the library. He says he’s not interested in hanging out with anyone.”
“Well, that’s his choice,” Hyunjin said. “Some kids are really shy.”
“I know,” I grumbled. “But you know I was the same way in high school and I regret it now, hiding in the library during lunch because I had nobody to sit with.”
“You were a nerd too,” Hyunjin giggled.
“Do you want to keep using the coffee machine?”
“Sorry, babe.”
“Anyway,” I continued. “I think we should help Jeongin make some new friends. What about group activities in your dance classes?”
“I guess,” Hyunjin relented. “But I don’t want to force him.”
“You assign the groups then,” I said. “And let me know how he reacts.”
“Well, just based on what I’ve seen so far, he definitely prefers to be alone.”
“Then we have to reach out to him,” I said, holding tight to Hyunjin’s arm. “Nobody should be alone all the time.”
“He may not like it if we try to force him into something.”
“Then we back off if he shows any signs of being uncomfortable,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “A compromise.”
“If you really insist,” Hyunjin said, gliding past me for the coffee machine. “I’ll do my best, and I’ll let Chan and the others know.”
“Oh!” I gasped. “That’s a great idea! I can talk to the other teachers in the lounge!”
Hyunjin chuckled. “I thought you hated the teacher’s lounge?”
“Yeah? Well, I’m making an exception for the betterment of a student,” I proclaimed, waiting until Hyunjin finished refilling his coffee mug before ushering him out into the hallway. “Who’s usually in there?” I asked as we walked together.
“Jisung,” Hyunjin said. “Maybe Chan and Felix.”
“Chan and Jisung might be helpful,” I conceded. “What about Felix? Does Jeongin take art classes?”
“Babe, I don’t have his schedule memorized.”
“That’s first on the list,” I said with a nod.
We both paused outside the lounge as I attempted to listen in on the conversation progressing behind closed doors. “Who is that?”
Hyunjin chuckled, reaching past me for the door handle. He pushed it open wide, allowing us enough room to join the small group of teachers loitering between scheduled classes. “Y/N!” Jisung immediately greeted me, waltzing over to take my arm. “You never come in the lounge.”
“I’m making an exception,” I said, allowing Jisung to pull me to the table where Chan, Felix, and Changbin were all sitting together.
“You guys,” I said, sliding into an available seat. “What’s going on?”
Changbin eyed me suspiciously. “You never come here unless you want something.”
From behind my chair, Hyunjin snorted. “It’s one hell of a mission.”
“I knew it!” Felix declared, leaning back in his chair. “What sort of personal vendetta do you have now?”
“I’m offended,” I said, crossing my arms sternly over my chest. “Aren’t we all friends?”
“Of course we are, Y/N,” Chan said soothingly, ever the voice of reason.
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Which is why I need your help.”
Felix groaned, but I quickly jumped in to assure him. “It’s about that new kid, Yang Jeongin.”
“What about him?” Changbin grunted. “Other than the fact that he hates running exercises.”
“He’s taking gym?”
Changbin nodded, picking at the meager salad in front of him. “I don’t understand why.”
“Because it’s destiny,” I said, holding out my arms. “We’re meant to help guide him down the right path.”
“What path is that?” Changbin asked.
“The path of redemption,” I said, elbowing Hyunjin from behind when I heard him laughing. “He’s always in the library during free periods. I don’t think he’s adjusting to the school.”
“It happens with transfers,” Felix shrugged.
“But we can do something to help him,” I said. “Encourage him to make new friends and meet new classmates.”
“You want us to help with your ‘No Child Left’ behind agenda?” Changbin asked.
“I want you to help me lift a student’s self-confidence,” I said. “Jeongin is a sweet kid. He just needs a good push in the right direction.”
“Basically,” Hyunjin interrupted, leaning over me. “Y/N had no friends in high school and she wishes that there was a kind, sweet librarian with a great ass to help guide her way.”
“Don’t bring my ass into this,” I said, ducking away from his hold. “So what do you guys think?”
Felix sipped at his tea. “He’s not in any of my classes, but I guess it’s worth a shot.”
“Why not?” Jisung suddenly commented. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“You’re just trying to make up for last night’s dinner disaster,” I said, “but I’m willing to let you this time.”
Jisung let out a whoop while Changbin and Chan considered my words. “It’s fine with me,” Chan said. “Changbin?”
“Alright,” Changbin relented. “But this is your fault if the kid turns against us.”
“Trust me, nothing bad is gonna happen.”
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A few days later, I received an urgent notice from the nurse’s office which was surprising considering the fact that I was usually stuck in the library all day. I sighed over my ever-growing stack of paperwork, gathering my cell phone before leaving the sanctity of my quiet office. There was an order form calling my name that I had been neglecting for several weeks now, but I figured that the unexpected notice could prove to be a legitimate distraction. After all, I was quite curious concerning why I was suddenly needed away from the library.
I paused outside the door to the nurse’s office, trying to listen to the sounds of conversation. Faint voices filtered through the barrier, including one that sounded awfully familiar. I held my breath as I walked inside, discovering my husband lying on top of the examination table. Hyunjin winced as the school nurse wrapped an ice pack around his ankle. “Fuck it hurts.”
“Hyunjin,” I said his name and my husband turned around to face me with a start. “What happened?”
“Y/N,” Hyunjin cried while reaching out for me. “Why did you take so long?”
“Really?” I immediately questioned him. “Babe, you’re the one with a bandage on your foot.”
“Well, yeah,” he said. “I twisted my ankle.”
I closed my eyes before releasing a sigh. “How did this happen?”
“Student-teacher race,” Hyunjin replied as if that possibly provided enough context for me to understand.
“A race?”
“Changbin thought it might be fun if the students competed against the teachers,” Hyunjin explained. “Like a reward.”
“You’re rewarding the students by putting your life in danger?”
“My life was never in danger, Y/N,” Hyunjin said with a sigh. 
“Then why are you hurt?” I asked him, reaching over to land a scolding hit to his arm.
“Hey!” Hyunjin complained, holding his bicep now despite the ice packet still resting over his ankle.
“You idiot,” I groaned. “You aren’t 16 anymore. Why are you trying to outrace a bunch of student-athletes anyway?”
“Maybe I did it for you,” Hyunjin announced dramatically, falling rather ungracefully against the table.
“Why is participating in a race so important to me?”
“You said you wanted to get closer to that Jeongin kid,” Hyunjin explained. “He asked me to run with them.”
“Jeongin did?” I asked, suddenly unable to stop myself from laughing, practically slumping over Hyunjin’s lap.
“What’s so funny?”
“I may have told him a funny story about his dance instructor from your college days.”
Hyunjin gasped. “You didn’t!”
I shrugged. “I was trying to make him feel better.”
“By outing my humiliating secrets?”
“It was a worthy sacrifice, babe,” I said with a grin. “Just be glad I wasn’t there to watch it happen.”
“You’re always so supportive,” Hyunjin said, faintly protesting when I leaned down to offer him a gentle kiss. “Is this an apology?”
“I’m really proud of you, Hyunjin,” I said, reaching down to adjust the pillow propping his ankle. 
“Whatever,” Hyunjin grumbled. “The kid was important to you.”
“But you didn’t have to go that far,” I said, gliding my fingers through his hair because I knew he loved the action.
“Maybe you can blow me later and all will be forgiven.”
“Done.”
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The following week, I spotted Jeongin walking through the library on his way to class. He paused at one of the bookshelves, fingers skimming the faded spines. “Hey!” I said, catching his attention. “You weren’t in the library yesterday.”
“I know,” he said with a wide smile. “I was eating with some friends.”
My heart warmed at his words. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he said, eyes trained downward. “They seem pretty cool.”
“Jeongin,” I cooed because it was impossible to resist his adorable smile. “I’m really glad to hear that.”
“I know you had something to do with it,” the younger boy said and my smile instantly disappeared. “But it’s okay, I’m really glad you decided to help me.”
“Jeongin..” I started but broke off when I took a moment to study the crooked aspect to his knowing grin.
The doors to the library interrupted the brief silence that had descended between us, and Chan walked in with his eyes scanning over a folder that he held between his hands. “Ah! I’m interrupting something,” he said, looking back and forth between me and Jeongin.
“Oh, I was on my way out,” Jeongin said, bowing respectfully to Chan as he passed him.
Chan watched him go before looking to me for answers. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” I said, quickly switching the subject. “Did you need something?”
“Just a class copy of these books,” Chan said, holding up his folder. “Do you think you can help me bring them back to my classroom?”
“Why not?” I shrugged, taking the folder from Chan. “I have some free time before I have to file a few things.”
I guided Chan around the library to collect the books on his list, casually talking with him about one of the new teachers in the Science department. “Minho?” I said, vacantly scanning the barcodes of a display with textbooks.
“Yeah, he’s starting next week,” Chan said, grunting as he adjusted his hold on the giant stack of books collecting in his arms.
“Should be interesting,” I said, adding one last textbook to the pile in Chan’s arms. “Is this everything?”
“I hope so,” Chan grumbled. “Do you need my teacher ID?”
“I’ll scan it later,” I said, watching him struggle. “Let’s go before these end up on the floor.”
Chan let out a grateful sigh, and I maintained a careful distance at his side to ensure that my precious books wouldn’t suddenly drop from his hold. Thankfully, Chan seemed to have everything under control, like he was prone to do in most aspects of his life for which I was grateful. “Jeongin’s doing much better,” Chan remarked to me in passing as we walked together to his classroom.
“Yeah, he really seems to be opening up, especially after Hyunjin’s stunt in the gym.”
Chan snorted at the reminder. “I wish you could have been there, Y/N. But, if you’re curious, Changbin has the whole incident on video.”
“I’d love to see that...” I trailed off, spotting Hyunjin approaching on his new crutches.
“You know, I could hear you all the way over here!”
“Hyunjin,” I said, meeting him halfway so that he wouldn’t need to walk as far. “I was planning to come by and see you.”
“My arms hurt constantly,” Hyunjin said, adjusting his stance. “Honestly, I don’t even think these things are necessary.”
“Doctor’s orders,” I said swiftly, directing a quick goodbye to Chan before I was redirecting Hyunjin back to his classroom. “And don’t even try to demonstrate any crazy dance choreographies for these kids.”
“How else are they gonna learn?” Hyunjin demanded, even as he leaned more of his weight against my side for additional support.
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Later that night, after a rather long day of ensuring that Hyunjin didn’t try to do anything too outrageous, the two of us finally returned home. I was rather proud of myself since Hyunjin was still in one piece. I half-expected to receive another call from the nurse’s office because my husband decided he needed to show off his moonwalk to impress his students. 
In any case, what Hyunjin didn’t know was that I had started thinking a lot about the future, especially after everything that he did to help Jeongin. Suddenly, the idea of having kids was a lot less unappealing. This is why I immediately started for the bathroom, a new purpose driving my steps, while Hyunjin carefully made his way across the living room. 
I opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve a familiar box, returning to our shared bedroom to find Hyunjin laying in bed, phone in hand as his eyelids fought to stay open. Gingerly, I handed him my current prescription of birth control, watching as he struggled to focus. “What’s this?”
“Surprise!”
“Isn’t there an easier way to tell me that you’re running low?”
I rolled my eyes at his question. “That’s not what I meant.”
Hyunin frowned, taking the box from me. “It’s almost 9:00, Y/N.”
“You’re really bad at subliminal messages,” I said, kneeling down on the bed. “I’m giving the rest of the prescription to you because I’m not taking it anymore.”
Hyunjin’s eyes slowly widened as he processed my words. “But that means...
“I don’t mind the idea of kids anymore,” I said. “Especially if they turn out like Jeongin.”
“Y/N,” Hyunjin grinned, wordlessly tackling me against the bed. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I am,” I informed him, tracing my fingers across his pretty lips. “I want to have kids with you. Preferably a boy, so we should start eating a ton of potassium.”
“What?”
“To increase our chances, Hyunjin,” I said. “There’s science behind the kind of diet you eat.”
“You’re trying to tell me that if I eat more potassium, then we’ll have a boy?”
“Well, it helps our chances.”
Hyunjin still appeared doubtful, but his eyes were warm. “Whatever you want.”
“That’s right,” I agreed brightly, wrapping my arms around his neck to draw him in closer.
“Y/N, I love you,” Hyunjin said, leaning down for a sweet kiss. “You know how much this means to me.”
“I know,” I agreed, snuggling up against his chest. “For the record, I love you more.”
“Should we put that to the test?”
I closed my eyes as I resisted a smile. “Goodnight, Hyunjin.”
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k-keva · 3 years
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✱ ╱ tessa thompson + cisfemale + she/her ━  if you happen to find yourself stuck in tartarus, make sure you don’t run into KEVA WILSON there. the THIRTY-FIVE year old has made quite the reputation for themselves under their alias as CIRCE, an INTERROGATOR for The SOULS. while their enemies often describe them as stern and feisty , their syndicate would say that they’re quick-witted and careful . deh + 25 + she/her + est.
  hi everyone~ i’m deh! i had redid the bio a little because I typed this out after running on three hours of sleep. so enjoy this slightly better repost <: 
tw mentioned: mental health, drug abuse, bullying, cheating, and violence
Keva didn’t live a shitty life, but she didn’t live an ordinary one.
Early in Keva’s life, she lived in an old school van with her father, stepmother, and brother (who’s hearing impaired). Keva's mother died when she was young. Since her passing, her father suffered from drug abuse and owed people a ton of money. So he sell everything and live lifed on the road, with two small children. Along the way, they met their stepmother, who was a bonafide panhandler, and together they lived this eccentric life together. Oddly enough, Keva recognizes those times as them just living, trying to be this semi-normal family....in a van.
Living in an unstable environment, she had learned how to do two things fight and never go hungry. Fighting was always a part of Keva. Her father would teach her how to throw punches, how to wiggle out of grasps, and other little defense mechanisms. The world was unforgiving, her father would tell her, and was no time to be soft and sensitive. 
She emancipated herself before she turned 18. After coming to her senses about her father's unstable drug addiction, she knew he could not take care of them any longer. Especially, her brother needed more attention than what he was getting. Making the decision to move, she picked up any job she could manage. Keva worked at strip clubs, she was a flag girl for drag races, and she worked as a bartender. Ten plus years of just floating in life, making sure everyone was fine.
Keva's life once again....became another chaotic episode. When she was snatched out of the bar and offered the position as a soldier for The Souls. Exchange for her father's copious amount of debt that he had with them. Keva, who was not shocked about her father's shady business, joined the organization. She started off as a soldier, and she did nothing she hadn't done before. Living with a panhandler and a thief for half of her life came in handy. The position as an interrogator was given. Maybe because of quick learning of how to scare people into submission, or her way of beating someone into submission...she never knows.
The affair with her married ( or were just in a relationship, she could never tell ) ex-partner was unplanned. Never was truly in love with them, and more of friends with benefits type deal. But, getting pregnant by them was definitely was not on her to-do list last year. With tough convincing, she left The Souls for nine months, to have her baby girl. Which she kept her baby, Amina, hidden from the rest of the organization or anyone for that matter. For the rest of the year, she continued as nothing ever happened. 
PERSONALITY & Headcancons
she’s hella monotonous. she literally speaks directly. and has dry-ass humor.
interrogator keva is filled with fierceness. she's the queen of ultimatums when it comes to her victims. and a woman to her word as well.
a hot-head who hates criticism against her. she doesn't deal with insults from anyone, she will tear you down verbally or physically.
she keeps her brother and daughter hidden because as someone who uses other people’s family members as collateral. she doesn’t want it to happen to them. she’s extremely protective of home life and privacy.
keva doesn’t fall in love. it’s almost a deep care for a person she has an interest in. love is complex since she never had experienced herself.
underneath keva’s layered exterior. she’s a good listener when it comes to people. she learned it mostly from hearing her father rant for hours, but she doesn’t mind sitting...talking.
amina is almost a year old! and keva tries to be a great mom and sister to them. although she has this hard front to her around others, she's been showing a lot of compassion lately. she believes it's the baby fault lol  
when Keva decided to join, she joined a boxing class because street fighting and actual fighting skills are different. and now she can take you down professionally.
she's not the judgemental type. as someone was stealing and robbing people at a young age, she knows she has no room to talk. but she never feels any shame about her past, or even her doings now.....it's just living to her.
she's can be manipulative, or use techniques to even get a small answer out of someone. she knows how to push buttons and use little shit to get under the skin.
her brother actually the only person who came out half decent, as he's actually an small artist who draws for an author. she's really proud of him.
WANTED CONNECTION
baby daddy: Keva has a secret child that knows one knows about, even the baby daddy. Due to the child being from an affair, and she keeps their child out of this life.
friends
coworkers
someone she’s sleeping with now
maybe one person who might knows about her kid
anything anything
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enithinggoes · 3 years
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Wanderer’s Refuge, chapter 2: caught red-handed
Agatha and Ursa knew they wouldn’t be able to stay flying for long, by morning they were already starting to feel hungry and thirsty, so Ursa pointed them to a nearby town she’d heard of so they could get supplies and maybe some maps of the country, they brought the train down as they approached and parked it hidden in a small clearing, then the girls went together into town, looking to find some means to get by just for the near future, as luck would have it, a very important opportunity was waiting just around the corner…
A young red haired man who preferred to go just by his first name was leaning against a wall, gathering his thoughts. He had the plan, he had the smarts, he had the stuff, he just needed the extra hands, someone desperate enough to take the risks and not ask about a big cut…
“We’re gonna need a way to make money.” Said Ursa, pushing Agatha’s wheelchair along the busy streets “and I don’t think people are gonna be super keen on hiring two teenagers that came out of nowhere.”
The man reacted instantly upon hearing them, “Perfect!”, and pushed himself off the wall, catching the coin he was flipping with a flourish and quickly turning to the girls and extending a gloved hand, he wore a dapper suit and a cheeky smile. “Good morning, young ladies! Haven’t seen you around here, are you two looking for a quick job?”
Agatha was a bit stunned by this sudden encounter, so it was all she could do to put her hand out, which the young man vigorously shook.
“Who are you and what the hell do you want with us?” said Ursa, clearly on edge.
“The name’s Lawrence, and there’s no need to be so rude. I want to take you two to lunch, my treat; I know this great place downtown. There, we can discuss a way you can both make 100 shillings in less than a week.”
The two girls glanced at each other, this man was twelve kinds of shady, but 200 total pounds was enough for not only basic supplies, but probably a few mattresses and an ice box, maybe even some coal(they hypothesized that maybe giving the train’s engine some steam might make Agatha less tired from flying).
“We’ll talk over lunch, but we do reserve the right to back out even if you pay for us!” Ursa answered, eyeing Lawrence suspiciously
“Of course, of course. Right this way, then!” The redhead did something close to a twirl turning back and leading them quickly down an alley.
At the restaurant, Lawrence had impeccable table manners, even better than Agatha’s, and definitely than Ursa’s, who was scarfing down an expensive cut of beef when he asked “So, I’ve told you ladies my name, it would be rude if you didn’t give me yours.”
“I’m Agatha Clarke, it’s a pleasure to meet you. And this is Ursa Martin,” said the white-haired girl, Ursa just mumbled in agreement while still chewing.
“Now, an illustrious coal baron, mr. Robert Evans, is coming to town with an entourage to visit the local mines, which have been drying up for a few decades. And I’d wager, with proper prestidigitation we can make a deal with him that shall be quite lucrative for us.” Lawrence explained with a devilish smile.
“So you’re a scammer.” Ursa said matter-of-factly.
“I prefer to think of myself as a merchant that really knows how to make a sale.” He said, entirely unperturbed.
“Alright, I’m down to scam a coal baron, what’s the game?”
“I’m glad you’ve asked, partner.”
Over the next few days, Lawrence brought the girls over to where he’d been staying, it was a small hotel room, surprising considering the apparent quality of his suit, Ursa had to carry Agatha’s chair up, since there were only stairs. There, he showed them a few large bags of oddly shaped rocks he’d collected plus some soot-based paint, “made it myself!” he commented with a wink.
They spent their time painting the rocks very thoroughly to look as much like coal as possible, while putting them out to dry, Agatha innocently asked “Sir Lawrence, I hope you don’t mind but why do you keep all your belongings in bags and pouches, is there something wrong with the room’s lockers?”
“Well, you see, I just like to keep my things close at hand.” The red-haired man seemed bashful, like that was only half an answer, still, Agatha didn’t want to pry. “You’re a very wholesome woman, aren’t you? I was actually a bit worried you’d be against my business model.”
“Well, you see, sir, I don’t think a baron of anything is going to be hurting for money anytime soon. And we don’t have many options in the present moment.” Agatha avoided mentioning she was already, by all accounts, a criminal.
 Lawrence put his knuckle to his chin and said “I see, I guess I misjudged you a little. Well, then we’d best get back to work, we have some rehearsing to do!” He felt like he understood her a bit more, but cut the conversation short, he didn’t like getting too attached to his “coworkers”
The three of them slept in Lawrence’s cramped room, Agatha and Ursa wanting to avoid the hassle of moving back to the train and the possibility of revealing their magical artifice, who knows how Lawrence could react?
The guests shared a sleeping bag of his cuddled together on the floor, while Lawrence rested on his bed, never taking off his gloves or turning his back to the door.
When a total of 5 days had passed, the final preparations were made in the morning and the three headed close to the city’s entrance, when they saw a man in a strikingly black suit accompanied by three burly lads, his eyes and nose turned slightly upwards as he strode, Ursa and Lawrence, both wearing dirty overalls, walked down onto the street, shouting at each other.
“Ya can’t sell those, those are all that’s left of Pa!” said Ursa, faking the accent people imagined miners to have.
“Well he worked himself ta death findin’ these so we could live a decent life!” retorted Lawrence, carrying a large, metal bucket full of painted pebbles.
“We could take over this whole town if ya just worked in that mine for a few more weeks!” she grabbed onto Lawrence’s shoulders, shaking him.
“We ain’t gonna be alive for more weeks if Ah don’t sell these!” He pushed her away, purposefully letting the rocks shake and make noise inside the bucket.
The baron’s bodyguards were about to push the two away from his path when, with an elegant, but firm hit of his cane onto the sidewalk, he commanded them to stop. Lawrence and Ursa turned to face him, feigning surprise.
“Now now, there’s no need for such vulgarism. Young man, would you kindly show me what you’re holding there?” He spoke to Lawrence slowly, like one speaks to a child.
As Ursa pretended to hold Lawrence back, he proudly showed the contents of the bucket, saying “This is what Pa used to call ‘charboné eterinow’, said he’d heard of it when he was young like me, burns as long as ya like, it does.”
“’Charbon eternél’, hmm, the eternal coal” Mr. Evans was clearly proud of his french, “could you show it to me in action?”
Lawrence put the bucket on the floor, smiling widely as he bragged “of course, mistah! Let me just get it burnin’ real quick” he took a little flask of moonshine from his pocket and let some drip onto the inside of the bucket, before setting it on fire with a simple tinderbox and quickly removing his hand before the flames flared to life.
“Easy there!” He quickly leaned back, his hands hovering at the sides of the bucket as they watched the flames cover the entirety of the bottom of the bucket, making the rocks hard to even look without feeling pain in one’s eyes.
Ursa was very nervous about this step, in theory, there should be nothing stopping the flame from fizzling out once all the alcohol was consumed, but Lawrence had assured her he “had a plan”. Lo and behold, the fire didn’t go out, instead it flared beautifully up, almost burning the coal baron’s clothes as it seemed to reach towards his eyes before stabilizing inside the bucket.
Whatever it was that Lawrence had done, it seemed that he was quite anxious too, as he stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration and quickly started to sweat, thought that might have been from the heat, while his hands hovered near the bucket for more than two minutes before he quickly turned it upside down, fast enough for none of the rocks to go flying.
  “That should put it out in a few” said Lawrence, holding the bucket while the oxygen from the bucket depleted until he raised it up to reveal the still perfectly intact rocks underneath.
“See! Not one bit a wear n’ tear! Pretty special, right?” Lawrence turned looked up towards Robert Evans.
The coal baron hid his amazement by biting his lip and muttered “Special indeed.”
“Well, waddaya think? Pa told us these would be worth a fortune, how’s 600 sound?” Lawrence named a tall price, all part of negotiations.
“No, no, this is certainly impressive, but 600 is too much for a novelty, I’ll be generous with you and give you 300.”
“That’s a done deal!” The men shook hands, and after the money was exchanged, he paid Ursa and said he still had “some details to deal with really quick” so she and Agatha could go back to the room or wherever they wanted now.
Ursa met up with Agatha nearby, and excitedly told her about how the plan had worked, how they had enough money now to buy the things they would need to live for a while. Agatha asked about Lawrence, but Ursa said they shouldn’t expect him to hang around for long after the job, he was clearly a man with no interest in roots, ready to leave at any time.
“Guess that doesn’t make him very different from us.” Agatha commented with a sympathetic smile.
“huh… guess not.” Commented Ursa, made somewhat aware of her cynicism.
Meanwhile, Lawrence was making the “real” part of this plan come to fruition, he brought mr. Evans(at his request), to the “source” of the “charbon eternél”. A field of bare stone around a dark cave, were he’d half-buried, just conspicuously enough, dozens of painted rocks just like the ones in the bucket he carried, he counted on the baron’s arrogance to make him believe Lawrence wouldn’t see the potential something like a “mine of ever-burning coal” could have to completely destroy the current state of the economy.
“Here it is mister, this is where Pa found ‘em, spent 25 years looking for ‘em, he did.” Lawrence said, pointing around the area on the outskirts of town.
“I see,” said Robert Evans, “the site of such an interesting find should definitely be preserved, would you be willing to sell it to me for about 500 pounds?”
“Fahve hundred! Why that’s too kind, sir! I’d love to give it to you, I’ve been trying to get off this town and make it in the big city.” Lawrence rapidly shook Evans’ hand, keeping up the farce that he was the one being tricked with a lower value than this could really be worth, his plan had worked perfectly.
Lawrence went back to his room, with a score like this, 600 pounds all to himself, he really should take the chance to exit the scene as quick as he could, before anyone caught on and came to ask him for refunds.
He put his suit back on and gathered his things, his clothes, his sleeping bag, his toothbrush, his switchblade, any trace of the time he’d spent here, the only thing he left behind was a note with “good luck out there, don’t look for me.” For the people who had been his roommates for the last week, he pushed a pang of guilt at giving them such a small share of the score and just disappearing without a word away with the thought that this was just “the game”, and he’d just learned to play it well.
Lawrence thought a bit about where he could go now, probably somewhere with a big market and lots of gullible tourists. Yeah, that’d be good for a few more months, maybe even a year and a half.
After picking out a town south of where he was, he bought his ticket and waited inside the station, it would still a few hours until the train he’d booked came, but he didn’t want to risk any unfavorable encounters by walking around outside.
Unfortunately that didn’t stop two burly men, who he recognized as the coal baron’s bodyguards, from coming up to him and telling him to get up and come with them. Ok, a little snag, nowhere to just run away, no trains for a long time, but it’s fine, he can weasel his way out of this.
They brought him into an alleyway, where he met mr. Robert Evans again, he didn’t seem upset, but was definitely not friendly, as soon as Lawrence saw him, he started saying “I can explain,”.
“So,” interrupted the baron, “It appears to me you were not fully honest with your description of this ‘ever-burning coal’, were you?” He showed one of the painted rocks with a part broken off, showing the gray center.
“Alright, you got me, I was trying to pull one over on you, you’ve gotta know it’s a common thing around here, that’s the game, and you won! I’ll pay you back with 50% extra, promise.”
The coal baron took a step forward, smirking at Lawrence dropping the façade he’d adopted when speaking to him. “I see, but I think I have a better idea of how you could… reward me for this “win”. Would you mind telling me how you got that fire to keep burning that long?”
“It was the alcohol!” Lawrence sputtered out, “I-it is mixed with a slower burning substance that kept it bright longer!”
“Seize his hands, please.” The two bodyguards grabbed onto Lawrence’s arms, he was shoved to the ground, bruising his chin and getting his arms held behind his back, his left glove was pulled off, revealing crimson-red fingers.
“Ah, the devil’s hand, I suspected it when I noticed your gloves were the only thing you wore on both occasions where we met, so I think I know a way you can repay me even better:” Evans put his foot on top of Lawrence’s head, pressing it to the floor. “You see, I happen to know there’s a 500 pound reward for capturing your kind, dead or alive, so along with taking back the money you stole from me, I’ll be making quite a big profit.
Lawrence tried to look forward, find something he could do to escape, at the end of the alleyway, he could just barely see two girls in new clothes, one of them in a wheelchair, maybe it was Agatha and Ursa! They could help him, right? No, he left them before, and maybe they even knew he’d lowballed them, why would they risk their lives for someone like him?
“Anything to say for yourself, monster? Aren’t you gonna squirm some more? Or can you at least face death like a man”
He couldn’t find anything, after all, he’d tried everything before, nobody ever listened, ever saw him like a person after knowing what his hands meant, they called him a living timebomb, a danger to society, he’d grown used to it by now, he could try to burn them all to death, become fitting of his description, use this supposed power that had made him a target all his life…
Before he could finish weighing if he’d rather risk trying to escape while they dragged him to the local precinct or give up on trying to subvert their judgment of him by just leaning into the raging fire, the weight over his body suddenly disappeared as Ursa launched her whole body with a burst of steam it into Robert Evans, her elbow connecting with his back and the force throwing him into his bodyguards and knocking them off their feet.
“Can you run?” she crouched down and asked him while untying his wrists.
“Certainly better than the alternative.” Lawrence answered, already getting up onto his knees and putting his gloves back on.
They ran out of the alley and Lawrence followed Ursa as she wheeled Agatha out of town and towards the nearby woods, he didn’t know where they were going but if they had a route to get away from here it certainly beat staying.
When they came to a clearing, the young man had a hard time believing what he saw, a two wagon train in the middle of a forest.
“Get in!” Said Ursa, lifting Agatha’s chair onto the train as Lawrence followed them inside
“I don’t know if I can give it liftoff, last time we were already in the air when it manifested.” Agatha went to the train’s caboose and lifted herself to the conductor’s chair, focusing on visualizing the train in flight as she’d seen before. The train started moving as its tracks began to form, but it couldn’t quite accelerate quick enough to beat the upwards incline, the boiler made a roaring noise, like a starved tiger crying out in rage.
“Shit, I forgot to get any actual coal while we were out!” said Ursa, looking for something flammable she could part with, maybe they’d have enough time before someone came for Lawrence to go out and cut down some trees.
Lawrence clutched his own arms, hesitating a bit to do something he knew would be an unnecessary risk, but he owed at least some help to these people, right? “You’ve already collected the necessary water for the boiler right?”
“Yes, we’ve even already filled it, we just need a flame to light it,” replied Agatha, still concentrating on trying to move the train through her sheer will.
Lawrence pulled back his sleeves, he didn’t want to burn them with an effort this large, he extended his hands into the boiler and flames entirely engulfed the inside of it, barely licking at his forearms. The heat quickly started transforming the water in the boiler into steam, launching the train into motion forwards and upwards.
Agatha and Ursa stared at Lawrence’s hands, marveling at the beauty of the flames and their incredible power before Agatha had to focus on guiding her machine and Ursa had to hold on to avoid falling over from the sudden acceleration.
 After they’d picked up some good altitude and speed, Lawrence pulled his hands out of the boiler and turned to look out the window, seeing the world from above for the first time, right here, it felt like nobody could hurt him, no one could look down or him or hunt him down for a strange birthmark he never asked for, it was beautiful.
“So…” He turned to Agatha, “how long can I stay here, could you at least drop me off at the next town you come to?”
“Oh.” Agatha didn’t turn away from the blue sky she was plowing through, “You may leave if you’d like, sir, but you’re welcome to stay as well.”
Lawrence did a double-take, why would anybody take this risk? Put their own lives at stake sheltering a man who could never not be a target for the rest of his life? “Really”
Ursa came up to him, tapping him on the shoulder, “yeah man, we’re not throwing you back out there.” She pointed at the town, now tiny from the window of the train.
Lawrence smiled, putting his forearm in front of his eyes, maybe to shelter them from the sun, or to shelter himself from showing his watery eyes.
“Thank you.”
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princepestilence · 3 years
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NYR: July in review.
Post-July horoscope: “now my troubles are going to have troubles with me.”
Huge month, although kind of blurred into the last one and I find it hard to remember what happened when, exactly. It’s been over a month in lockdown and it’s at least one more month to go, so every day kind of bleeds into every other. There’s been a lot happening, though. A lot of it good, some of it sad, some of it stressful. In the last month:
started new job. I’m just over two weeks into it and I’m finding my stride. It’s actually working out pretty great, I like my coworkers, I’m good at it and learning a lot, and it’s the kind of thing I can see myself doing sort of indefinitely. I don’t think it’s going to be more than I can manage, although I am getting so tired by the end of the week. Love getting paid a decent wage, though. Feel like the university system could learn something from that. 
submitted a short story for publication. I won’t hear back until the end of the month, but I’m proud that I sent something in. I think there’s a decent chance they’ll accept it, but we’ll see. Either way, I’m pretty stoked that I took a swing at it. Especially given how hard it was to actually get done in the last couple of months, with everything else going on. Stressed out of my mind half the time.
reading a lot. I’ve been reading pretty regularly. Even treated myself to a couple of new books, which I’ve been keen to read for quite a while. 
finished short courses. There’s about one and a half left to go, but two of them are ready to launch, which is exciting. 
been social. It’s kind of exhausting after a week of working from home going back onto technology to be social with friends, but it’s been good to keep in touch with people. Keen to not have to do it over phone or zoom, though. Looking forward to going to a cafe or something. 
regular walks. I’ve tried to go out for a nice walk every day after work, which has been good for me. It’s been hard at points because of lockdown, and also weather and exhaustion, but it feels good to do and I’d like to find some nice walking tracks other than what I’ve been doing lately.
In August, I will:
keep reading. Really been enjoying it and it’s been a good hobby for decompressing after work or before bed. It’s funny how much more excited and able I am to read now that my thesis is on hold. While my thesis is over my head, it feels like any reading that isn’t for my thesis is frivolous and wasting time, and any reading for my thesis is high pressure because I need to be switched on and ready to take important notes. 
possibly apply for a writing festival? There’s a queer festival kicking off locally in the next couple of months and they’re looking for people to be involved. I’ve reached out to them with a few questions, and will probably decide to apply or not this week. Possibly it’ll be better to wait until next year when I’ve got more publications etc. to my name, since that’s what they seem primarily to be looking for. 
finish remaining short courses. Working full-time has really delayed this but I think it should be very doable for this month as a goal. One is really almost done already, and the other should be pretty light as far as work, just a bit time-consuming to work through the recorded content. 
research potential submission sites. There’s a handful I know of but I haven’t kept up with anything because I wasn’t seriously considering it. I feel like I really should tune in properly now and start prepping. There’s one in particular I already know I’m going to apply to with maybe some poetry soon, but I’d really like to make a habit of it. Got to get my name and work out there. 
do nice things for me. I’m not sure what yet, but there’s a slowly forming list of nice things I’d like. Replacing my old, truly dead pair of Docs. New clothes. New nail polish? Bath bombs. Books I want. Massages. Day trips to the city. Put aside some time to play games I like. Maybe get some new games. Perfume and cologne. I think nearly all these things won’t be doable until after lockdown ends, and maybe longer, but some of them I can get every now and then, and that’s something I’m going to do more.  
half an hour for tidying. As of tomorrow, we’re both working full-time, and that’s going to be deeply tiring for us both, I imagine. I’m thinking the way to keep on top of things is picking a room to focus on for half an hour in the evening, so I’m going to try that this month coming and see how it goes. 
take it easy. Not actually easy for a high-strung chronic overachiever with no idea how to relax, but I’m trying. I find it hard to accept I can’t do everything, all of the time, and it would be good for me to actually do nothing more often without trying to maximise my use of time. Got to stay as sane as possible, or it’ll all be for nothing anyway. 
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imaginecorporation · 4 years
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Hi there!! I'm new to your blog and i'm so happy i found it. This is like the first time I requested anything ever but can you do Funeral of the Dead Butterflies romantic fluff with a male or gender neutral reader please? Thank you! ^^
I’m snatching this one because you have great taste, anon!! This is also completely self-indulgent. Thank you. - Mod Finn
Note: I swear this was meant to be short but then I got gay and now it’s this. Under a read more because it’s a long post. - Mod Finn
Lepidopterophilia - Funeral of the Dead Butterflies x Reader
When you were first assigned to work with T-01-68, also known as Funeral of the Dead Butterflies, you had a decent idea on what to expect- after all, it’s not every day you get assigned to an abnormality who’s killed your coworkers before your eyes, but unfortunately for you, today was that day.
At first, you simply followed the manager’s orders; repression work, for the most part, with the occasional insight work done from time to time. It always went with little incident. After all, before you signed onto this hellhole, you used to enjoy watching butterflies and moths on the surface. It also helps that you get to occasionally bring justice to your coworkers with repression work.
As time went on, you started having questions about the Abnormality before you, the main question being: just what sort of butterfly was he, anyways? It took some asking around, but eventually you were able to get your hands on a butterfly and moth encyclopedia, which you used instead of a clipboard from then on during your works with Funeral of the Dead Butterflies- after all, it was technically insight work, right? Plus, the Abnormality seemed to enjoy you flipping through the pages, glancing at him, and going back to reading again, which meant more PE Boxes, and, finally, a raise in your salary!
Really, you started out only trying to figure out what kind of butterfly he was to satisfy your curiosity. At the beginning, your glances were only towards what could be called his face, in an effort to identify what species- if any- he could be. You brought your book with you simply for the function of it- useful research, and a way to hold all of your papers, your pen tucked into one of your jacket pockets.
If you could pinpoint the exact moment your looks went from “inquisitive” to “adoration”, it was during one particularly interesting insight job. He’d done something he’d never done before- he went behind you. Naturally, you feared for your life, of course! At least, until you realized what he was doing. A quick glance over your shoulder revealed that he was bending over slightly, head tilted towards the encyclopedia.
He wanted to research with you, or at least read what you were reading. You supposed it made sense, really- a butterfly reading a book about butterflies. You don’t know how long you kept the new routine for- weeks? Months? You could never tell time in this place. All you could tell was, day by day, he stood closer to you, until his wings brushed against your face, a hand on your shoulder and focus on one of the pages of the newest encyclopedia you managed to snatch- this latest one right from under Yesod’s nose, in fact. Sure, you’d get reprimanded later, but it was all for science, right? On top of that, the manager had long since stopped ordering you to do repression work, seeing as insight now brought with it more energy.
You had grown quite comfortable with the Abnormality, going so far as to read aloud to him. You could tell when he was bored, when he wanted to turn the page (it only took you the two times he turned the page himself, scaring the shit out of you in the process, to learn when he was done reading those particular pages), and even when he expected you to return- it was like clockwork.
What wasn’t like clockwork, however, was the week you fell ill. Your fill-in, when you got well enough to go back to work, did an okay job, but you had to admit to yourself that you missed the butterfly man. A new encyclopedia in hand, you headed to Funeral of the Dead Butterfly’s containment room, relieved- for once- to be back to work.
You never thought he’d set down his coffin, let alone drop it, but you got to witness it as soon as you closed the door to his containment. You had half a second, give or take, to question, as within the heartbeat you were enveloped in a four-armed hug, his fifth arm holding your head close to his chest. There was no heartbeat, no warmth; but there was no coldness, either, nor silence, though you couldn’t describe what you were hearing other than comfort, and the feeling of being safe. It may have taken you twice as long to finish your work, and longer than that to manage yourself out of his grasp (not that you minded, but you did need to use the bathroom eventually).
From then on, he was practically your shadow- when you had exhausted all of the available encyclopedias (listen, nobody could pay you to steal something from Binah, Gebura, or Hod- the former two because that alone was a death wish, the latter because you’d already asked Hod and she came back an hour later with no less than sixteen books stacked in her arms, and you weren’t putting her through that again), you had moved on to your favorite novels, and from there to some lighter reading, and then simply sitting in his lap, talking about your day. Each time he met you with rapt attention, and a decent chance of being hugged, or what you assumed was kissing (I mean, did it count as kissing if he didn’t have lips and put his face up to yours?). He may have never talked, but emotions were clear as day, along with the fact that attachment work was never once recommended for you to do, yet what you did now would almost certainly count as it.
You never did manage to find out what kind of butterfly he was.
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hickorydickkorydoc · 4 years
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You Don’t Know My Name (Tim Drake x Reader)
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Requested: nah HAHAHA just writing for my own pleasure :))
Word Count: 1400
Warnings: None
A/N: so I guess I’m doing a song fic?? I know I’m new here n I’m pretty sure I only said I vibe w DC n Broadway lololol- but one thing many people in my life know about me is that I LOVE Alicia Keys. This is one of my favorite songs from her and the whole “Diary of Alicia Keys” album and I just really love the MV so I wanted to turn it into this. Don’t forget to hit up my asks for requests! 
KEY: Y/N: Your Name Y/H/C: Your Hair Color indent: Lyrics from the song
————————————————————————————————
Baby, baby, baby,  from the day I saw you, I really, really wanted to catch your eye.
You run into your job with minutes to spare before you were considered late, flattening your uniform from the crinkles that were earned from running into the coffee house.
“You’re lucky, (Y/N), with seconds to spare.” 
You hear the comment your boss throws at you, feeling kind of annoyed.
“At least I made it.” You say with a hint of irritation in your voice as you clocked in for your shift.  
You threw on your apron and got ready for work. You took the 9-5 shift here as a way to make extra cash over the break before you headed back to college. This job could have been worse, but you were getting paid a decent amount to support yourself and to do what you wanted. 
 The morning was sluggish, but today the coffee house got a lunch rush. As businessmen and women entered in their expensive suits and leather shoes, you had a bit of hope that you’d get bigger tips than usual. You ran around taking orders and bringing the customers their second coffee of the day, it was normal.
Then, he walked in. 
 A young man with raven colored hair with gleaming blue eyes walked in. You spotted him from the corner of your eye as you brought a cup of coffee to table 12. You’d seen him before, but not up close. You thought he was charming, and he seemed to be your age as well. 
 You don’t know what changed in you. You wanted to say hello, you wanted to ask him how he’s doing, you wanted to ask who he was, you wanted him to notice you.
Something special ‘bout you, I must really like you. Cause not a lot of guys are worth my time.
From that day forward, he came on Wednesdays during his lunch break. He’d always order the coffee which was not a surprise to his coworkers  as he “was fuelled by coffee” as you’d hear it. You learned his name was Tim Drake through the whispers of the other customers as they watched him enter. You always put real milk instead of water even though your boss would call you out on it. This guy was worth more than the cheap instant coffee with just water, you thought he was kind of sweet. 
It was a new feeling, you never really gave much time to guys cause they weren’t worth it, but this guy was. 
“She’s quite pretty.” 
He thought to himself as he watched you converse with the customers with a smile as you laughed at the corny joke the older woman you were attending to cracked. He wanted to chat with you, but the lunch break was short and Wayne Enterprises needed the CEO present for the meetings of the day. 
 “Damn. One day.” He muttered to himself as he had to leave. Before he goes, he spots a glass bowl that was labeled “BUSINESS CARDS” on it. 
 “Eh, why not?” 
 He dropped his in there for the fun of it. Wayne Enterprises didn’t need anymore fame that it already got, so he dropped his own. 
 Oh baby, baby, baby, it’s getting kinda crazy. Cause you are taking over my mind.
 As you watch him walk out the diner, you feel a little sad watching him go. You loved to serve him the special, the short interaction of saying “Here’s your order, sir.” was blissful and receiving the smile and the faint “Thank you.” was enough to make your heart go pounding and making you smile like an idiot for the rest of the lunch rush.
 Every time he left, the rest would follow as their lunch breaks also finished. This let the coffee house go back into its relaxed state with customers coming and going. You watched them eat their burgers and fries whilst you thought about-
 “Tim Drake?” You heard your coworker say. 
 What? now Belinda has mind reading powers and is out here trying to embarrass you?
 “Sorry?” You say feeling a bit flustered with slight fear that maybe Belinda really did have mind reading powers and read through your thoughts.
 “Tim Drake of Wayne Enterprises dropped his card into the bowl. Huh, interesting.” 
 Belinda said as she dropped it back into the bowl. As she walks away, curiosity got the best of you as you grabbed the bowl and took the card.
 “Oh my God.” You thought to yourself. You knew what you were going to do with that card. You saw the number, you had a working cellphone, it was all the components of a crazy plan you were going to pull off.
 “I’m gonna have to just go ahead and call this boy.”  
 *********
 Another day at Wayne Enterprises meant endless meetings, dealing with angry ex lovers of Bruce Wayne at the concierge, and looking at a bunch of new business ventures. Tim was fuelled by coffee and ran on negative hours of sleep.
 As the day paced through slowly, it was finally over. Tim headed back to Wayne Manor to do more work. As he entered and changed into lounging clothes, he expected another evening of writing on excel sheets and attending to his duties as a vigilante.
 His thoughts as to what the next big investment would be paused as he heard his phone ring. An unknown number was displayed across the screen, he answered it.
 “Hello?”
 “Hello? Can I please speak to - to Tim?”
 “This is him speaking, may I help you?”
 “Oh hey, how ya doin’? Uh, I feel kinda silly doing this but uh, this is the waitress from the coffee house across Wayne Enterprises. You know, the one with the (Y/H/C) hair?”
 He smiles to himself as he recognized you by just that hint. 
 “Oh yes, hello! Miss...?”
 “(Y/N). So sorry to bother you but, I found your number in the business cards bowl.”
 “Of course, my bad I slipped for a bit, I just realized I never really caught your name on your tag.” He chuckles through the phone.
 You chuckle along as you would assume someone so young with a top position at a company would be sharper.
 “Yeah, well I see you on Wednesdays all the time. You come in every Wednesday on your lunch break I think. You always order the special, with the coffee. And my manager be tripping and stuff saying that we gotta use water. But I always use some milk and cream for you ‘cause I think you’re kinda sweet.” You mention that to him with the confidence that was erupting within. 
He blushed slightly at your remark and the gesture that you reserved just for him when he ate there. 
 “Why thank you, (Y/N). I really appreciate that.”
 Conversing with you even on the phone was enough to make this boy fall even harder for the girl he didn’t even know the name of at first. You take a glimpse at the time realizing it was getting dark and you probably shouldn’t bother such a busy guy.
 “Look man, I mean I don’t wanna waste your time, but...”
 “Oh no worries, I’m free the rest of the day.” He lies just so he can get a few more minutes of hearing your serene voice. 
 “I know girls don’t usually do this but I was wondering if maybe we could get together outside the restaurant one day? Cause I do look a lot different outside my work clothes.”
 His smile became even bigger with this newfound joy that erupted once you asked him. He chuckled at the last portion of you asking him out. He knew you’d look gorgeous in anything, even in Pajamas.
 “I’d love to, (Y/N). What about Thursday?”
 You smiled like an idiot once he said yes to meeting you. Your blood was rushing and you were filled with excitement.
 “Yes, Thursday’s perfect.” You smiled as you answered.
 “Great! see you on Thursday, (Y/N). Looking forward to it. Gotta get back to doing some work.” Tim answers back to you.
 “Oh yes! See you then!” You hung up the phone and screeched like a giddy child. Unbeknownst to you he was practically doing the same thing. This was gonna be great. 
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