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redhead-batgal · 3 years

Note

Hi 😁 Could I request either (31.} “Good morning gorgeous,” “Fuck off I’m trying to sleep.” 8.} “Why do you have to be so cute?” “Why do you have to be so hot?” 27.} “I love every damned piece of you no matter what anyone else says.”) Or ( 21.} “If anything happened to you, it would utterly ruin me.” & 1.} “I honestly don’t think there’s anyone I ever loved as much as I love you.”) with Dick Grayson?

Type: Two-Shot

Pairing: Fem! and Librarian! Reader x Dick Grayson/Nightwing

Part One: Here

Prompts: ☙1: “I honestly don’t think there’s anyone I ever loved as much as I love you.” ☙8: “Why do you have to be so cute?” “Why do you have to be so hot?”☙21:“If anything happened to you, it would utterly ruin me.” ☙27: “I love every damned piece of you no matter what anyone else says.” ☙31:“Good morning gorgeous,” “Fuck off I’m trying to sleep.”

Content: Cursing, mentions of abuse, implied sickness, a minor curses, depressive thoughts (the negative Nancy’s may suck y’all but they bring in the fluffiest fluff), flashbacks, little bit of angst, FLUFFY so freaking fluffy, heavily reader x Nightwing, good luck 😂

Word Count ([Mama Mia] Here we go again!): 10,108 words

(P.S. I saw these prompts and thought hmm what could I do and the idea for a part two popped in my head. Hope you guys enjoy it!)

(P.P.S So I’ve recently decided that I’m gonna do OC stuff so like two of my OC’s with stories are going to make an appearance. Let me know what you guys think of them. 😉)

(P.P.P.S I’m putting an author’s note at the end so if ya wanna read it it’ll be there. And don’t worry I won’t count the author’s note in the words count.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The unexpected tends to hit you when you don’t expect it, obviously, however sometimes the unexpected hits you literally at the worst times. Things from your past can come back to punch you in the gut, things you had forgotten about can return and bring a host of memories with them, good or bad.

The unexpected can cause revelations to come to you, for you to realize things you should have thought of, things you should have seen before. It can cause you to realize certain feelings and certain people are more important than you ever thought.

The unexpected can be kind, but it can also be ruthless. It can give you new relationships but it can also cause you to remember things better left forgotten. Things like past relationships and mistakes you wish you never made.

The unexpected is... well unexpected.

It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since Dick Grayson asked you out when literally everything went to shit.

It had all started when you began to receive texts from old friends telling you to lay low. They were very vague and it made your stomach shift due to nervousness. There was a number of reasons why they could have texted you, they could have been joking, they could have been referring to anything really.

The longer you thought about it the worse your stomach swirled. So when you got a call telling you to come to a meeting with a detective right after your shift at the police station you felt like you were going to puke. The more time that passed the worse you felt however right before you left you ran into Mira.

“Hi, Y/N.” She said with a bright smile, “Are you excited for your date later today?”

She wiggled her eyebrows at you and you gave her a nervous smile. She hadn’t meant to, but you were even more nervous now then before. Nodding you let out a sigh trying your hardest to push the nerves swirling in your stomach back.

“Yeah, yeah I am...” You paused for a moment noting how her hair was much shorter than before.

She noticed your look of surprise and grinned in almost a wicked kind of way, her hazel eyes glittering.

“I got my hair cut and now I feel like a woodland pixie!”

You laughed and Mira raised a hand to the end of her hair fiddling with it before shifting slightly as if something was bothering her. And it was then that it occurred to you, you hadn’t asked her how things with Jason were going.

“So,” You began, feeling a mischievous smile working its way onto your face, “how are things going with Jason?”

Mira’s let go of her hair and shrugged a look of almost disinterest on her face. She leaned against the wall before looking over her shoulder and sighing.

“Well for one, after hanging out with him I’m like ninety percent sure we’re just better as friends.”

You nodded in understanding, it was common for that to happen and it pained you to see how many times people had told you or Mira to just go for the relationship just because it would give you experience.

“I get that-” Before you could finish however she continued.

“And there’s this girl...”

Girl, there’s a girl? You couldn’t believe it! Not because Mira didn’t seem like the type but because she didn’t really get out enough to meet people.

“Ooo really? Where did you meet?”

A blush appeared on Mira’s face and she straightened out before the blush darkened and she averted your gaze.

“She’s new to my apartment complex.”

You smiled widely trying not to giggle in excitement. Mira had been rambling to you for months about wanting a relationship even if it was just a fling, she wanted love and was angry at the gods she believed in for not sending any her way.

“Ooo, very cool. I hope things work out better than with Jason.”

Mira’s blush dimmed slightly and she got a frustrated look on her face before she pushed away from the wall and the two of you began to walk again. Tucking her much shorter hair behind her ear she bit her lip before giving you a look.

“I think that it wouldn’t have matter if we were just better as friends or if Rosemary was in the picture-”

You couldn’t help yourself, “Rosemary? Is that her name?”

Mira’s blush returned to her face making it red as she waved a hand at you almost as if to stop you from asking questions about her possible crush. You moved out of the way of her hands and you realized you hadn’t been thinking about your nerves. And the second you thought of them they came crashing back down on you.

“I’ll tell you everything later I promise!” Mira remarks with a sigh, “Anyways, I’m pretty sure Jason has a thing for someone else.”

You froze for a moment blinking a few times in surprise, looking at Mira you raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Really? I could have sworn he liked you.”

She shrugs before crossing her arms, tilting her head she gives you a look before smiling slightly.

“I’m a psychology major at Gotham U Y/N. I noticed somethings and I don’t know I’m pretty sure he likes someone else... and in case you were worried it isn’t you.”

You blinked a few times processing her words, Jason like you? Have a thing for you? Of course that couldn’t be true. Why would Mira think that you might think Jason might like you? He was like your brother!

Mira laughed and you realized all your emotions were crossing your face in that moment. Blinking again you furrowed your brow in confusion. Shaking your head you couldn’t quite grasp the idea of Jason liking someone else.

“I just thought he liked you.”

“He likes the parts of me that remind him of this other girl. I mean like... we sorta talked about it, so it’s more as I know he likes someone else.”

You gave her an exasperated look and Mira laughed nervously before taking a step back. She waved her hands smiling somewhat before saying,

“Listen I don’t know who, and he didn’t outright say it, but he might as well have. He said there’s this one girl he doesn’t think he’ll ever get over. Something about them being childhood friends and thinking she was dead.”

Shaking your head you sighed, you hadn’t heard anything about this then again you and Jason both agreed to not talk about your pasts. Even thinking of it now makes you feel sick. Swallowing you pushed away the memories as Mira gave you a concerned look.

“You okay Y/N? You got a little pale just now...”

Mira trailed off and you nodded brushing off her concern. Pulling your phone out of your pocket you noted the time and how you were supposed to be meeting the detective soon. Shoving it back into your pocket you hurried to say goodbye to Mira, you really didn’t want to be late to this meeting.

“I’m fine. I promise, I’ve just got a meeting with some cop soon-”

“Do you think it’s about Daniel?”

You flinched at the sound of his name. Closing your eyes you took in a breath. You could think about him now... well briefly think about him, without feeling scared or panicking. However now that Mira said it, it made a whole lot more sense. All your friends telling you to lay low and the meeting with the detective.

The room seemed to spin a bit and you felt hands on your arms.

“Woah, woah Y/N. It could just be Dick wanting to meet with you about your date, you said he doesn’t have your number right?” Mira remarked, scrambling to get you back to your senses.

You pressed a hand to your head and nodded even though you felt like you were going to puke. Mira began guiding you towards the door with a very concerned look on her face.

“How about I drive you there? I don’t like the idea of you being alone right now.”

You must have nodded because the next thing you knew you were in the passenger seat of Mira’s car as the world seemed to go in slow motion. Things passed by your eyes but for some reason the only thing your brain could focus on was the fact that Daniel was more than likely back.

Your throat felt tight and you tried to breathe but it got harder the longer you tried. Biting your lip, you forced air through your lungs. There was a faint sound in the background almost like a humming as you heard Daniel’s voice yelling at you. Dozens of phrases all at once, insults, accusations, anger in general. You felt your heart beat pick up when suddenly your lip felt warm and a sharp pain went through it.

Blinking back into reality you realized that Mira had been talking to you and that you were pulling up to the station. The car stopped and Mira turned towards you, her eyes going wide automatically.

“Y/n you’re bleeding. Did you bust your lip or something?”

Raising a hand to your face you pressed a finger to your mouth only to pull it away and find red. For a moment you weren’t in the passenger seat of Mira’s car but on the floor of that apartment. With him looming over you. Your breath caught and Mira was shaking you back into reality.

“Y/n? Y/n are you okay?”

You nodded somewhat slowly before opening the door. Looking up you shot Mira a weak smile as worries about all the trouble you were causing her hit you like a train.

“Yeah, sorry I’m fine. Thanks for taking me here... I’ll get a ride back to the library... you should go home.”

“Y/n-” Mira began when you cut her off by climbing out of the car.

“I’ll be okay Mira. I promise.”

Mira sighed and you turned back towards her. She nodded and you closed the door waving goodbye as she drove off. Turning back to the station you let out a sigh and straightened your posture before walking in.

Inside a woman at a desk directed you to a Detective Brooklyn’s desk. Something about that name tickled the back of your mind but you pushed it back and walked towards where she directed before stopping in front of a woman’s desk. She looked to be a year or two younger than you and tired. She had a phone in her hands and you could faintly hear a little girl’s voice on the other end.

“No Flori you cannot give Ace frosting. I don’t care if he really wants it... What do you mean Ria’s climbing on top of the cabinets? Flori I swear if you don’t- ... Tim, if you don’t get Alfred in there soon I’m going to- Hi Steph, yes it is so good to talk to you but can you please.... ugh. Duke hi... oh Alfred is handling everything? That’s fantastic. Could you please tell him thank you for me? Awesome!” Her dark red-brown hair was pulled into a tight bun and she looked up to you, her deep brown eyes lined with exhaustion.

However upon seeing you her eyes flickered for a moment before she held up a finger. Motioning for you to sit down. She nodded her mouth slightly open as if she wanted to say something to the other person on the line.

“Yeah, yeah I know Ria. Frosting tastes really good. I hav- Hello Damian. I would love to come over and play with Titus, Ace, Ria, Flori and you but I’m at work right now- sorry your right I didn’t mean play, I meant I was going to help you guys exercise Titus and Ace... no we are not keeping William Snakespeare Ria, I don’t care that you named him- I have to go okay? I will handle this later. Yes I mean later, I have work to do- Hi. Yeah I’m still at the station. No, I’m meeting with her right now. Yes please. Thank you so much Babs. You are a lifesaver! Bye.”

Placing the phone on the receiver she sighed before looking at you. She smiled slightly almost weakly before she pulled a file off of her desk and opened it.

“Hello Miss L/N. I’m Edelynne Brooklyn. Most people around here and in general call me Eddie.”

You blinked twice as an image of the past hit you hard.

You and your friend Elysa were sitting on the chairs at the station. You didn’t want to be there, your stomach churred at the thought, but Elysa had insisted saying how your relationship with Daniel had gotten too far. That he had taken it too far. You couldn’t fully see out of the black eye, but you knew it was better than not seeing at all and really it was your fault, if you had just made the food he wanted it never would have happened.

“Hi, I’m Officer Brooklyn.”

You looked up and saw a girl no more than nineteen with hair just below her ears, she had a fresh scar on her neck and something in her eyes reminded you of yourself.

You had blinked and she had given you a look before offering you a smile of sorts. Gesturing with her head she began walking towards the dozens of desks.

“This way please.”

You stood up, not fully understanding why and Elysa gave you a look of surprise but followed after you and Officer Brooklyn. She stopped in front of a desk and gestured to a seat. You sat down not even looking at who was in front of you.

“Eddie what is this about-”

Something about that voice was familiar to you and you looked up, however instead of seeing someone familiar you saw a dark haired man with bright blue eyes in a uniform.

The man in front of you blinked twice before holding out his hand and you flinched almost instinctively. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Eddie flinch as well.

“I’m Detective Richard Grayson, it’s nice to meet you...?”

“I’m Elysa Aidenson. And I’m here because my friend needs help.” Elysa said instantly.

You shook your head in protest however Elysa ignored you. Detective Grayson did not, he instead looked at you and you felt like shrinking down in your chair. If Daniel knew you were here he’d kill you. Not only were you going to talk to the police, forced or not, about personal matters, you were without him in front of another man.

“Why do you need help?”

“I don’t-” You began when Elysa scoffed.

You sighed in almost frustration before remarking, “I don’t need help. He just got a little mad! He said it won’t happen again besides it’s more my fault then anything....”

Detective Grayson gave you a look almost as if what you said pained him and Officer Brooklyn had a strange look on her face almost as if what she was hearing was familiar. Detective Grayson leaned forward to say something but Officer Brooklyn stopped him before he could.

“What’s your name?” She asked, her voice soft.

You looked at her and you didn’t see pity in her eyes but understanding, a recognition of some sort. You swallowed and looked at her for a moment more before turning back to Detective Grayson.

“I’m Y/N. Y/n L/N.”

You blinked back into reality and found Detective Brooklyn writing something down in the file. Shaking your head slightly you blinked again.

“You know,” Detective Brooklyn began not looking up from the file, “every time I see you come in here, you’re injured.”

She looked up slowly from the file, a strange look on her face, almost worried.

“Though last time it was much worse.”

You nodded somewhat slowly before clearing your throat. You had to figure out why you were here before the memories overcame you and you had a panic attack.

“Why am I here again Detective?”

Detective Brooklyn tilted her head before raising an eyebrow at you, “You already know Y/n. He’s back. And he wants you.”

The air caught in your throat and you choked out a breath staring at her in disbelief.

“You didn’t even try to sugar coat it!” Was the only thing you could find yourself saying.

Detective Brooklyn sighed, setting the file down before she shrugged, “Seemed to me that it wouldn’t help since you had already guessed. It’s why your lip is busted. You were biting your lip, I assume, and bit too hard... I would know. It’s happened to me before.”

Something about her words seemed to have a double meaning and you stared at her nose, it was a bit longer and a tad bigger then you remembered but it had been almost three years.

“I just wanted to let you know because I’m going to be assigning you a protection detail starting tomorrow. Daniel Natalonie is one of the biggest players in the Gotham Underworld these days. Well him and Caleb Brooklyn.”

She said the words as if she hadn’t just revealed something astronomical about herself. And that Daniel.. well he had gotten what he always wanted, power. You swallowed and Detective Brooklyn sighed.

“Yes, Caleb Brooklyn is my father. No, I have no contact with him. However I do know that Daniel has a price on your head... well sort of. He is willing to pay big bucks to anyone that brings him you.”

You flinched and then watched her clench her fist regret flashing in her eyes before she shrugged and leaned back in her chair.

“You have a choice here Y/N. You can have the protection detail... or well I have a few off the record friends who would be happy to help.”

You couldn’t help but think of Nightwing. In his black and blue suit smiling at you and your stomach flipped. Your memories were mixing, you knew because instead of seeing him sitting on your couch, he was on the fire escape smiling that same smile at you.

“But if you want you can just have the normal protection detail.”

You shifted in your seat and avoided her gaze. For a moment your eyes darted to her neck and the scar was still there. Isn’t wasn’t as fresh as it was almost three years ago, but it was still there.

“I-”You began not fully sure of what you wanted to say, “I’ll do whatever works easiest for you.”

Detective Brooklyn sighed slightly, shooting you a strange kind of smile. She then hesitated before holding up a hand and picking up the phone. She quickly punched in a number and held the receiver to her face.

“Hi, It’s Eddie. Yeah I was wondering what the word about the protective detail for Y/N L/N was? ... They what? Okay, No, no I can handle it. Yeah. Thanks bye.”

Rubbing her forehead she hung up the phone and gave you an apologetic look. Leaning back in her chair she opened her mouth to speak only to close it. Sighing once again she finally spoke.

“For some reason they decided you don’t need a protective detail. Some jackass who is probably in Natalonie’s pocket planted the idea in some upper management's heads that you’ll be fine on your own and it’s not our job to keep you safe from ‘non-existent ’ threats.”

You sank into your chair slightly giving her a nervous look when the phone suddenly rang. Detective Brooklyn picked it up running a hand across her forehead, as stray pieces of hair slipped out.

“Eddie Brooklyn- oh hi Bruce.... they WHAT?” Standing up suddenly she got an alarmed look on her face before her voice cracked as she said, “I am so sorry about that! Oh so the kitchen didn’t catch fire? Alfred caught it? Oh thank goodness... so no one’s hurt? They’re on their way right now? Alright well thank you so much for allowing them to spend the day there. It was a big help.”

She nodded, slowly sinking back into her chair and it was then that you realized Detective Brooklyn was talking about the Wayne family. Alfred, Bruce, Tim? Definitely the Wayne’s what confused you was who Ria and Flori were. Judging by the way she was acting you assumed it was Detective Brooklyn’s children. Though if they were playing with Damian they would have to be a bit older and unless she had kids at like fourteen that was highly unlikely.

“Of course, yes... he’s on his way? Okay. Thank you again.”

Hanging up the phone Detective Brooklyn stood up, yanking her coat on. You followed her to your feet and she grabbed a bag along with keys before moving away from her desk.

“My shift is just about over, so I’m about to head out. Come with me would you? I have a few more questions I want to ask.”

You followed Detective Brooklyn outside and just off to the side of the station was what looked like a fairly nice car. Two girls no more than eleven dashed from it towards you and Detective Brooklyn.

“EDDIE!” The girl with bright red hair squealed as she ran towards her.

Instead of smiling and moving towards the girl with the same excitement Detective Brooklyn gave the girl a reprimanding look. But it didn’t stop her from slamming into Detective Brooklyn, wrapping her into a hug.

“Ria!”

A girl with a more sandy red-blonde hair who looked almost exactly like the redhead stopped right next to Detective Brooklyn and the first girl.

Twins.

The word was at the front of your mind before you could stop it. The two girls looked at you; the redhead had bright green eyes and a wide smile. She pulled away from Detective Brooklyn and held out her hand.

“I’m Ria!”

“Ria!” The other one remarked pulling on her arm, her dark blue eyes clouded.

The redhead- Ria, looked to the other and smiled brighter. She grabbed onto her sister’s arm and pulled her forwards.

“Come on Flori! We need to be more friendly. This is the librarian I was telling you about.”

You blinked twice before realizing the little girl you have given a book to right before panicking and cursing at Dick the other day was none other than the girl in front of you.

The other girl, Flori, gave Ria a look of surprise and asked, “When did you have time to go to the library?”

“When you were playing with Steph. Cass told me where to go.”

Flori gave Ria a look of shock and Detective Brooklyn snorted. You took a step back for a moment. Something about the three of them made you want to smile, but it also made you want to get as far away as you possibly could. If Daniel was after you, he’d go through anyone... anyone to get to you. And you couldn’t put these girls in harm’s way.

Turning to leave you noted the dark sky and remembered that you had no way to get home. Closing your eyes you let out a sigh however before you could even take another step you heard the sound of feet hitting the ground. Opening your eyes you saw Nightwing standing in front of you.

However instead of his usual smile you found a concerned look on his face. He took a step forward looking at you almost as if he was checking you over for injuries.

“Hey Nightwing,” Detective Brooklyn remarked, capturing his attention.

The concern looked slipped away from his face and he quickly replaced it with a smile.

“Detective... girls.”

Ria laughed in what you could only call a maniacal way and Flori snorted. Smiling slightly you looked over to them and saw Ria looking between you and Nightwing a strange look on her face. Flori had a gleam in her eye and she and Ria shared a look before grinning in an evil kind of way. However before you could even think to question it Nightwing was asking you a question.

“Huh?” You asked since you didn’t hear him.

“Where do you think you are going?” He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

You give him a confused look. Fiddling with your fingers you looked at him and he looked you in the eyes. Your cheeks flushed and you took a step back as the feelings wrapped around your throat.

“A-hot-ment- I mena- mean. I mean, I’m going back to my apartment why?”

Nightwing raised an eyebrow at your comment before remarking, “Alone?”

You nodded and he sighed. Shaking his head he placed his hands on his hips and gave you an almost reprimanding look and you gave him a confused one.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t really go home any other way.” You replied feeling even more confused than before.

“With your psycho ex on the loose?”

You froze for a moment and you could swear you heard his footsteps. Swallowing you pushed the thought away and took a step back from Nightwing. A slightly surprised expression crossed his face and then he winced, dropping his arms.

Shifting slightly you shrugged not wanting to meet his gaze. Rubbing on your arm you sighed trying your hardest to pick up the courage to look him in the eyes. However the thoughts hit you so hard you had to choke back tears.

Now look what you’ve done, you’ve upset him. Maybe it’s a good thing that Daniel’s back, maybe it’s a good thing he wants you again. After all you deserved everything that happened to you

You sunk into yourself a bit, parts of you tried to tell yourself that the thoughts were wrong but you didn’t truly believe it. Why did you always have to go and fuck everything up.

“I’ll be okay.” You finally forced out.

Part of you wanted to assure Nightwing that it wouldn’t matter if you ended up dead because it would be for the best. However the thoughts weren’t through with you yet.

You’re just phishing for sympathy for him to tell you you’re wrong because you know he will

But really you weren’t you just wanted him to stop caring because you weren’t ever going to change. You were terrible. Horrible. Awful really.

“Hey, I know what you’re doing. Don’t do that. Don’t do it, don’t you dare!” Nightwing suddenly said.

Before you could even react he had your face in his hands and was looking you dead in the eye. Cupping your cheeks he leaned in slightly.

“You are amazing Y/N. Completely and totally incredible honestly. You don’t deserve a single damn thing that happened to you. You are one of the funniest, kindest and honest to god prettiest women I ever met. You radiate this kind of light I haven’t seen anyone else radiate. You make my darkest days bright so don’t you dare think you are anything less than spectacular.”

Your cheeks flushed and you gave him a surprised look as the feelings you’d been trying so hard to push back jumped straight into your throat and you had a violent urge to kiss him.

However, you knew better. Mainly because as soon as he saw your bright red cheeks Nightwing let you go, his cheeks flushing slightly. He cleared his throat and you held a hand to your chest as if to catch the heart that was about to beat out of it.

Of course you knew people cared about you but something as blunt as that... something so direct hit you hard. You swallowed again, your heart beating rapidly pushing all your nerves away.

“... If I can’t go home what am I going to do?”

Nightwing looked at you for a moment and you felt flustered. Your feelings were thrumming in your chest and lungs along with the beating of your heart. However instead of saying anything he just looked at you.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and you looked to see a slightly smug looking Detective Brooklyn with the twins clinging to her sides. She raised an eyebrow at Nightwing, who then took a step away from you.

“Y/N can always crash with me if she wants... I mean if she doesn’t wanna have a sleepover with you, Blue.”

You froze for a moment and the thought of Nightwing staying over at your apartment, of you talking to him early into the next morning... of you sleepily confessing your feelings to him. Heat flushed your cheeks again and you shook your head.

“I uh,” You began causing both Nightwing and Detective Brooklyn to look at you, “I’ll stay with Detective Brooklyn tonight.... I mean for all we know Daniel’s waiting at my apartment to ambush me.”

You had stammered slightly but Nightwing nodded and a slight smile appeared on his face. The twins were looking at you, Ria’s green eyes were almost glowing and she blinked once then twice.

“Why are you so pretty miss?” She asked bluntly.

Your blush intensified and you scrambled to answer her as you watched her sister nod in agreement, as if she had the exact same question.

You wanted to reply but only gibberish came out. When the gibberish escaped you, Ria pointed a finger at you, her jaw dropping. Detective Brooklyn leaned forward and pushed Ria’s arm down. However a grin exploded onto Ria’s face and she began jumping up and down.

“The nice and pretty librarian does what I do!”

She squealed with delight and all the worry about embarrassing yourself slipped away from you. Ria turned towards Flori and stuck her tongue out at her before blowing a raspberry.

“I told you pretty people could do that!”

Flori smiled slightly before rolling her eyes, “I’m still the attractive twin.” She remarked.

She then used her finger to pull her nose up and she snorted a few times continuing, “Miss Piggy.”

“Liking food does not make me a pig.”

“Naming your stomach does make you a loser though.” Flori retorted.

Ria gasped in a clear dramatic fashion as she pressed her hand to her chest, “Marshmallow and I are both offended, that was very rude Flori.”

Detective Brooklyn snorted, then tried to cover it up by coughing and looking away as she smiled fondly. Catching you staring at her, her smile widened and she laughed slightly. Then she turned to the girls and sighed.

“Alright ladies, it’s time to head home.”

“But Eddie!” They said in unison.

“If we go home we can have a movie night and eat those cupcakes I’ve been hiding for you guys.”

“CUPCAKES?” Ria squealed as Flori’s jaw dropped.

It was then a hand came down on your shoulder and you flinched slightly. Looking you found Nightwing giving you a concerned look again. You blinked at him almost asking what was wrong.

“You gonna be okay?”

Turning back towards the girls who were now having a poke war, you smiled and nodded.

“I think I’m going to be just fine.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Nightmares of the past, memories so clear you could even taste them, yanked you from your sleep.

Ghost touches raced across your skin and you shuttered, pulling your legs to your chest, you took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. However it was a bit difficult. Your breathing was erratic and no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t calm yourself down. However, when you heard the small soft voices you began to come back into reality.

“Do you think a hug will help?”

“It doesn’t help me when I get like that. But it might, I think she’s just scared not... Should we ask Eddie?”

“Maybe Ria. Maybe.”

You took a deep breath in and your breathing slowed down, closing your eyes, you took in another breath. As you let it out you felt someone sit down next to you. Peeking an eye open you saw Flori looking up at you with concern and curiosity mixed on her face.

“Are you okay, miss?”

You nodded slowly, taking another breath in you nodded a bit more firmly and looked at her. Accidentally you met her eyes and her dark blue eyes reminded you of the color of the sky right before night fully took over. She blinked and raised an eyebrow at you slightly confused.

“Are you sure? Do you want a hug?”

Before you knew what you were doing you replied, “I’m fine... but a hug would be nice.”

Flori’s face brightened and she wrapped her small arms around you. You returned her hug and saw over Flori’s shoulder, Ria lurking in the darkness a blanket wrapped around her shoulder. She stepped forwards into the light and blinked. Her face was paler than earlier, she looked empty for a moment before she blinked and a smile was on her face.

It, being around Ria and Flori, reminded you of your childhood. Of your busy household and the noise, the laughter that it always held.

When you heard the sound of angry whispering you blinked and Flori pulled away from you. She looked back to Ria and the two got excited looks on their faces. Suddenly Flori was off the couch and Ria was running down the hall. Flori froze and turned back towards you. She held out her hand and smiled.

“Come on.”

You didn’t exactly know how you felt about a ten year old telling you what to do but you stood up and took her hand. Curiosity was burning through you, what could get the girls this excited?

You turned the corner and Ria was leaning around another corner smiling brightly. She saw the two of you and motioned for you to come towards her. You did and stopped before peering around the corner as well.

What you saw was... well incredibly surprising.

The window was open and Detective Brooklyn- Eddie was trying to shove Red Hood out it.

“Aw come on doll.”

“Y/n is here Hood. She knows I’m a cop and that you have a warrant out for your arrest!”

“Commissioner Gordon told me if I turn enough criminals in to him that would go away.”

“He did not! He would never.”

Red Hood shrugged before throwing his hands out in a I guess so motion. Eddie took this opportunity to get him mostly out of the window before he realized what she was doing and grabbed onto the window frame, pulling himself back in and undoing her work. Flori and Ria giggled, catching his attention. He turned towards you, poking his head back into the apartment.

“Girls! Come on out and help me, will ya?”

Flori snorted but moved out from the corner, Ria went to do so but paused first rubbing at her chest slightly before shaking her head and following after her sister.

You watched from around the corner as the girls stopped at Eddie’s side. She gave them a stink eye as she continued to try and push Red Hood out the window.

“You two shouldn’t be up. Especially you Ria.”

Taking the opportunity, due to Eddie being distracted, Red Hood pushed himself back into the apartment. Eddie wobbled and then fell on her butt cursing.

“Hood!” She snapped her face flushing.

Red Hood sighed before climbing back through the window. He looked at the girls and they laughed in a maniacal way. He laughed slightly before sighing again.

“You guys wanna try and convince her to let me in?”

The girls looked at each other then at Eddie and shook their heads. At least they’re loyal, you thought with a smile.

“I have a front door and you have normal clothes. If you had done this the normal way, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.” Eddie replied as she stood up.

“What would we be doing if I did it the normal way?”

You had to stop yourself from snorting. Eddie’s face was still flushed from when she hit the floor however you caught her eye roll and the hand gesture she showed him but not the girls.

Putting up his hands in defeat he nodded, “Fine, fine you win. Can I at least have a kiss goodbye?”

Eddie froze for a moment, you saw her tilt her head to the side before she blinked and shook her head.

“No.”

Red Hood crossed his arms and you were sure though you didn’t know him very well that under his helmet he was pouting, “Why not?”

“Because I know you Ja-. I know you Hood and if you can convince me to kiss you, you’re going to think you can convince me to let you in.”

Instead of replying Red Hood was silent which seemed strange. Looking towards him you saw him facing the girls and Ria’s wobbling slightly.

“Hood what’s-”

“You alright Squirt?” Red Hood asked, hopping in through the window and moving towards Ria.

“Ugh,” She muttered, her voice weak, “my chest hurts.”

It was then she dropped towards the ground. However instead of hitting the ground Red Hood caught her and pulled her up slightly.

“Ria!” Both Eddie and Flori exclaimed.

The two of them rushed towards her and Flori grabbed onto Ria’s arm as Eddie looked her over.

“Did you take your medicine Ria?”

The girl shook her head and Eddie glared at her.

“I don’t like them.” Ria mumbled as she leaned against Red Hood.

“I don’t care if you don’t like them, Ria, you need them... Flori would go and-” Eddie began but before she could even finish Flori was up and out of sight.

Before you knew it your found yourself in front of Eddie and Red Hood. You heard Flori’s footsteps racing around the apartment.

“Is-” You began hearing your voice crack, “is she gonna be okay?”

Eddie looked at you and for a moment you saw her gaze jump to Red Hood in a kind of nervous way. However, Red Hood answered your question.

“If she takes her meds, she’ll be fine. But the stubborn little squirt doesn’t like to.”

“They taste like shit.” Ria mumbled.

There was a pause of silence and Eddie glaring at Red Hood. She gave him a I told you so look. And he sighed.

“This is why I don’t like you cursing around them.”

“She cursed the bat brat out the other day. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with me.”

“She did what?”

“Curse the bat brat out. It was amazing. He couldn't even say a reply, he was stunned by Squirt’s colorful and creative wit.”

Ria laughed slightly before wincing and Eddie sighed. She rubbed her face looking even more exhausted than before and Flori came dashing back into the room, carrying a medicine bottle and a water bottle.

Flori passed them to Eddie who gestured to Red Hood to hold Ria up a bit more before looking at you. Flori passed you her head hanging down slightly.

“Would you,” Eddie began after Flori turned around the corner, “watch Flori for me? She always has a hard time when Ria has her fits.”

You nodded without thinking and turned to follow after her. Walking a bit quicker you made it in front of Flori and Ria’s room just as the door shut. You raised a hand and your heart began pumping your chest.

You shouldn’t bother her-

If she freaks out whenever her sister has fits she probably needs someone to talk to, if you don’t talk to her she’ll be alone and afraid

Knocking on the door you waited for a moment before hearing a very quiet, “Come in.”

Opening the door you peeked your head in to see Flori sitting on one of the beds in the room. In one corner was a bed up against the wall with art and posters of musicals and ballets on it. In the other corner was a bed with nothing on the wall. Flori sat on the bed against the wall with the posters and art.

She stared at the other bed, her knees against her chest and her head resting on the tops of her knees. Walking into the room, you closed the door behind you and moved to sit on the bed next to Flori.

“Her room is like this back home too.” She whispered as you sat down.

You pulled your legs onto her bed into a crisscross. Resting one arm by your stomach you set your other arm on top of the resting one’s fist and leaned your head against your free hand.

“What do you mean?” You dared to ask.

Flori sighed and pulled her legs tighter against her chest.

“Ria’s bedroom walls. They’re blank. She has no dreams, no ambitions, nothing. She refuses too... Did you know she loves to dance? Nearly as much as I do. She knows every move I know, her favorite ballet is Giselle because she believes she can relate. But she refuses to tell our parents how much she loves to dance. Did you know Ria has the voice of an angel when she sings? She loves to sing too... she loves to do all the things she shouldn’t.”

Your brow furrowed in confusion as Flori’s voice turned bitter and sharp.

“She is so full of life to be... to be dying.”

You blinked twice and released a breath as you began to understand what was going on.

“Why- is she-” You began struggling on how to word it.

“She’s sick.” Was all Flori said.

“Oh,”

“Yeah.”

You let out a sigh, for a moment you saw your mother in a hospital bed smiling at you softly. Fiddling with your hands you began to debate on whether or not to tell her your story.

“My mother... she had breast cancer. It tore her apart, seeing her in the hospital bed... slowly wasting away,” You remarked, sighing softly, “it nearly killed my father. It hurt me even though I was a little too young to fully understand. But... she got better, she recovered. She made it though it, Ria can too-”

“Ria’s sickness isn’t something she can recover from or get over. It isn’t cancer, it isn’t a cold, it isn’t the flu. Her sickness isn’t something you can catch and then get over. It’s been consuming her life since the day we were born! She’s going to die, she knows it too. It’s why she tries so hard to be bright, to be bubbly and nice despite- despite all she’s going through.” Flori snapped tears appearing in her eyes, “Our parents have kept her locked in the house for most of our lives... she has never seen a beach or even snow. Ria has no idea the thrill of tumbling down a hill or what it’s like to ride a bike because- because they never let her. Ria is going to die never having truly lived and it kills me.”

You had no idea what to say to her, or even how to begin to comfort her. Wringing your hands you bit your lip as you looked the girl over. She turned to you, tears in her eyes.

“Why? Why did it just have to be her? Why couldn’t it be me too? She’s so alone in this and- and I don’t know what to do! She has no friends, she has me, our parents and Eddie and that’s it! I have friends, I have so many people but- but it just doesn’t seem right. We are twins, we are supposed to share everything, why couldn’t we share this?”

You blinked twice, Flori really wanted to make sure her sister knew she wasn’t alone but she didn’t seem to realize lamenting over the fact that it was only Ria was the one who was sick.

“How about instead of trying to pin blame on someone for being sick you try to make her feel like her sickness isn’t the only thing about her.” You tried waving your hands, “I mean it’s clear you love her. But it isn’t your fault that she’s sick. It’s not like you wanted her to be born like this. And it seems like your parents are treating her like the only thing she is, is sick. Treat like she’s... well Ria. And I think it will make things easier for both of you.”

Out of the corner of your eyes you saw Flori lower her legs away from her chest and she sat up straight. Rubbing her nose she nodded somewhat slowly.

“You’re right.”

You turned towards her and she smiled at you slightly before leaning forwards and hugging you.

“Thank you Miss L/N.”

Pulling apart you gently patted Flori’s head and shot her a soft smile, “How about you get to bed. I bet Ria will be fine in the morning.”

Flori nodded and you got up to leave. However she grabbed onto your arm stopping you in your tracks.

You looked down at her slightly confused.

“Uh, Would you stay?” She asked looking up at you.

You sighed and smiled. Nodding she quickly pulled back the covers on her bed and patted a side of it. You climbed into the bed and Flori smiled at you.

“Thank you,” She whispered with a yawn before closing her eyes, “thank you.”

You looked at her for a moment before nestling into the pillow and closing your eyes with one thought in your head.

It’s nice to be wanted.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

It had been almost two weeks since you crashed at Edelynne Brooklyn’s apartment. Two weeks since Daniel returned to town and put a price on you, two weeks since Nightwing became your personal “bodyguard.”

You would be lying if you were to say you weren’t surprised when you arrived back at your apartment, accompanied by Detective Brooklyn or Eddie. There seemed to be no sign of Daniel or any of his goons. So you settled back into your apartment.

However, Eddie informed you, for your safety it would be better for you to stay at your apartment. Not only due to the fact that she and the vigilante’s could easily surveille it, but due to the fact that Daniel could very easily convince someone to lead you away from the library to grab you.

At first you were a little bummed and it occurred to you that you had missed your date with Dick, however he didn’t try to contact you nor did Jason. Instead of worry about it you were actually having a lot of fun with Nightwing

And while Nightwing was fun to hang around and the longer you spent around him the stronger your feelings got, sometimes he was really fucking annoying.

After a late night working on library business from home you decided to sleep in the next morning, Nightwing it seemed, decided that wasn’t going to happen.

At seven in the morning while you were blissfully asleep you felt something gently tap your shoulder, then your face. Blinking blearily you sat up.

“Good morning Gorgeous.”

Standing over your in his classic black and blue costume was Nightwing. Grumbling, you flopped back onto your bed and pulled your covers over your head.

“Fuck off,” You stated loud enough he could still hear you, “I’m trying to sleep.”

You heard a slight snort, then suddenly your blanket was gone and you were lying on your bed shivering. Sitting up you glared at Nightwing who held your stolen blanket in his gloved hands.

Readying yourself into a crouched position you waited for a moment before jumping towards the blanket. Just as you were about to grab it Nightwing yanked it out of your reach and caught you in his arms.

He laughed at your frustrated expression and as you crossed your arms and pouted. Setting you on the ground he smiled broadly at you and remarked.

“Why do you have to be so cute?”

Without thinking you replied looking him dead in the eyes, “Why do you have to be so hot?”

Nightwing blinked a few times, looking slightly shocked, he lowered your blanket closer to the floor and looked at you almost as if he didn’t believe it.

“What did you say?”

You froze as you realized what you said. Your face flushed and you shifted slightly, breaking his gaze before looking to the floor.

“Nothing, it was nothing.”

Nightwing gave you a skeptical look before he leaned towards you a suggestive smile on his face. Your face turned a brighter shade of red and you realized this was a perfect opportunity to grab the blanket from his hands.

Lunging forwards you yanked the blanket from him. You had just grasped it and began to pull away when Nightwing began to pull back until he didn’t. The blanket went limp in your hands and you fell onto your butt.

Nightwing blinked twice and shook his head. Running his hand through his hair he let out a frustrated grunt before sighing.

“I’ve- I’ve got to go. But I’ll be right back.”

He headed towards the window and you blinked in surprise. Scrambling to your feet you chased after him grabbing onto his arm. He turns back towards you, a clearly torn expression on his face.

“Wait,” You said, giving him a confused look as the thoughts descended upon you.

He’s leaving, he’ll never come back, it’s because you’re a mistake a problem a beast-

“Where are you going?”

Nightwing looked at you and sighed, he then stroked the side of your face with one of his hands. You leaned into his touch and then he pulled away.

“I’ve got to go, the other vigilante’s need my help with something but I’ll be right back.”

You blinked and realized while it had been fun with Nightwing being here and hanging out with him you could finally get out of your apartment. You smiled at him and then he gave you a suspicious look.

“You, “ he began looking at you, “are going to stay here, Okay?”

“But-” You protested for a moment throwing your hands up before he cut you off taking your face into his hands.

“If anything happened to you, it would utterly ruin me.” He said somewhat slowly as he rested his head against yours.

Your cheeks flushed once again and you blinked a few times. Pulling away from you he sighed and slowly pulled his hands away from your cheeks. He probably said goodbye but you were in too much shock to realize it and before you knew he was on your window sill and then gone.

You sighed feeling the temptation to leave however his words echoed in your ears and you shook your head.

“If anything happened to you, it would utterly ruin me.”

Your heart fluttered in your chest and you sat down by the window resting your chin in your hand and you waited. And waited. And waited. You waited even when the storm clouds rolled in, even when they split open and rain began to pour down. You waited for hours. It was only when the night was turning day again as the rain continued to pour from the heavens that he returned.

Your window swung open and your stomach swirled, however it was a soaked Nightwing that came through the window and not Daniel or some random thug.

You rushed towards him and quickly wrapped him in a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried about you. I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. I mean like I don’t really think my feelings matter since your a hero and whatever and people would say so much shit to you if anything started between us- not that it would. But it’s just I care about you a lot.” You rambled as you pressed your face into his chest.

Oh gosh, you couldn’t believe you just blurted all of that out. Maybe he didn’t hear all of it. Maybe some of it was muffled. Maybe, you hoped, maybe.

For a moment the world seemed to stop and everything was right. Then Nightwing had his hands on your shoulders and pulled you away from him. He gave you a slightly angry look and you instantly regretted your little ramble.

“What is this nonsense about other people? I love every damned piece of you no matter what anyone else says.”

You blinked once, then twice, then three times before you fully understood what he said.

“I love every damned piece of you ”

“No matter what anyone else says.”

Your heart skipped a beat and you gave him a wide-eyed look. Your pretty sure your jaw had dropped and your stomach swirled as you replayed his words over and over and over again in your head.

“You,” You began your voice almost squeaking, “love me?”

Nightwing smiled and nodded, pressing his head against yours.

“Of course I love you. I’d be an idiot not to.”

You blushed and flushed and tried to stutter out a reply but unfortunately you couldn’t. Your cheeks were heated and you felt your heart racing in your chest.

For some reason the first thing your mind jumped to was Dick Grayson, how you had a crush on him no matter your feelings- your love for Nightwing.

“But-” You began taking a step back from him, “I- I have a crush.”

A smile slowly formed on Nightwing’ s face as you took another step back from him.

“I mean I love- like. LIKE! I like you but, I do have a crush and - and” You rambled shaking your hands very confused.

Nightwing laughed, he actually laughed and you felt your cheeks flushing an even darker color. He took a step towards you and you took a step away from him. He raised his hands almost in defense and remarked,

“About that...”

“About what?” You asked, suddenly feeling suspicious.

“About the whole crush and me thing, I know who your crush is.”

You gave him a confused look and shook your head. there was no way he knew who your crush was, there wasn’t!

“It’s Dick Grayson.”

You looked at him in surprise, your jaw dropping nearly in shock. He laughed slightly at your face before taking a step towards you. This time you didn’t take a step back. He got closer until he was right in front of you.

“And I,” Nightwing began, reaching up for his eye mask, “Am Dick Grayson.”

He took off his eye mask and looked at you. You blinked your eyes going wide as you saw his face. His very much Dick Grayson face.

Nightwing is Dick Grayson. Dick Grayson is Nightwing......

You talked about your crush to your crush.........

As your mind exploded in on itself Nightson- Dickwing- the man in front of you held out his hands as if he was going to catch you were you to faint.

You laughed slightly then proceeded to place your face in your hands and let out moans of despair.

He knew.

He knew every little thing that you thought- well most of the things that you thought. He knew of your side of the situation- wait. Wait, why did he ask that? Why did he-

“Why did you ask me if my anxiety tends to make me tune people out?” You found yourself questioning.

Dickwing- or whoever he was smiled at you and laughed slightly before replying,

“Well, because when we were in the aisle at the library and you asked what I liked I said I like you.”

You froze once again blinking in surprise. So he tried to ask you out previously. That’s why Jason and Damian were laughing.

Jason and Damian.... if Dick was Nightwing that meant they were probably vigilante’s too. Red Robin.... definitely Tim.

Bruce must be Batman which would mean Damian is Robin. That just left Jason.

However, before you could try and figure out which vigilante Jason was, your phone buzzed. Pulling it out of your pocket you looked at your phone to see a text from Eddie.

Eddie: Come to the station, now, you need to see this.

You showed ... Dick your phone. He hummed slightly and gave you a look.

“We might as well go... but first let me change”

You nodded with a sigh and went and got your coat.

Before you knew it you were walking up to the station. On the roof of the station was a flash of red. As you got closer you realized it wasn’t a flash but a helmet. Sitting on the roof of the Gotham City police department was Red Hood.

He spotted you and Dick and waved. You blinked as you noticed the other man tied up on the roof looking fairly angry. It was Daniel. Your breathing stopped for just a moment until he tried to wriggled only for Red Hood to kick him and for Daniel to stop moving.

“Oh would you look at that, it’s a pretty librarian. How ya doin sweetheart?” Red Hood remarked getting just a bit closer to you.

You heard Dick sigh and gave Red Hood a confused look. Slowly the gear in your mind began to turn.

“I assume,” Red Hood mused since he didn’t get an answer from you, “You’re doing much better now that scum like Natalonie’s off the streets am I right?”

Before you could reply Eddie walked out of the station looking at her phone. She looked up at you and waved before walking towards you. She stopped at your side and gestured towards Red Hood.

“See what I mean?” She remarked.

“Detective, Detective, Detective,” Red Hood whistled looking at Eddie, “where can I get your number?”

Eddie replied in a sweet tone, “Up your ass maybe?”

Red Hood laughed before getting even closer to the edge of the roof, “Come on doll that’s no way to be.”

“Fuck off to some one who care Hood.” Eddie replied, flipping him the bird.

You heard Red Hood laugh again but before he could say anything else he looked in a different direction and his shoulders sank a little. Looking back to Eddie, had he not been wearing a helmet you swear he would be smiling.

“I guess I’ll have to try you again later Detective.”

Eddie rolled her eyes, the semblance of a smile starting to form on her face, she shook her head and flipped him off again, “In your dreams Hood.”

“Where else would they be doll?” Red Hood remarked before giving a quick salute and taking off.

It took you a moment to realize it but the puzzle piece began to fit together. How Eddie nearly called Red Hood by his name, why he seemed to know who you were, why he talked to you so casually when you met him when you were staying with Eddie.

Red Hood was Jason... which meant Eddie was the girl. The one he couldn’t get over. It all made sense... well sort of.

“Oh my gosh.” You muttered pressing a hand to your face as you realized that Eddie shoved Jason out a window.

“You just connected it didn’t you?” Dick asked with a smile.

You looked at him slightly confused, raising an eyebrow almost in question, you give him a confused look.

“Daniel’s going to prison for a very long time.” Eddie informed you as she looked at her phone again shaking her head, she looked up and smiled at you.

“Have fun you two,” She then said with a wink before turning to walk away.

You flushed slightly before turning to Dick. He smiled at you and you took in a breath.

He was the only man who had your affections. Basically All the Man that you needed. So you should probably tell him how you feel.

“I honestly don’t think there’s anyone I ever loved as much as I love you.” You said slowly, not exactly meeting his eyes.

He laughed slightly before pressing his head to yours, “Neither do I.”

You smiled and looked up, looking at him in his bright blue eyes.

“So, how about a rain-check on that date?”

You smiled slyly and then the both of you burst into laughter.

“I’ve got time,” He replied, “for you, I’ve got all the time in the world.”

Blushing slightly, you smiled at him and sighed, “Awesome.”

=============================================================

AUTHOR’S NOTE!!!!

Okay first thing’s first I just wanna let you guys know my original idea of all the man that I need was like gonna be a full on fic. I told my friend all about it and like it had a lot details and everything, but then I got to college and even thought I really love doing these, it was super difficult to write. Not because I don't’ have tome because I actually have a surprising amount of free time but because I just couldn’t find any inspiration. So a few days ago I decided I was going to start spooky season a little early and try writing to some Halloween music.... and it worked! I was able to get moving with this two-shot! So yeah Halloween music is my muse right now 😂.

But yeah, anyways my OC’s... technically there was a lot of them in this but only two are going to have stories, the others will be either background characters or part of their past. I’ll tell you one because it’s actually the first idea I and for a batfam fanfic. It’s Eddie and her story. I’m not gonna lie it’s kinda sad but not nearly has sad as the other one because I have a lot of issues🤣.

Back to the point if y’all wanna see more of certain OC’s just let me know I can find a way to include them into the one-shots, two-shots or fics. But yeah.

Finally I might be a little slower on the posting just because I’m in school and finding enough time to get inspiration and write, edit and have a friend proof-read it will take a while. But I will definitely have some done. Anyway thanks so much for being sooo patient with me!

Lots of love!

-Redhead-batgirl

Tag List:

@andromedaj2003, @battlenix, @sol-the-salmon

110 notes · View notes

writerman · 3 years

Note

Prompt: Thranduil and Bard went to college together but yearned from afar. Some 20ish years later they see each other again bc their kids go to college together. They weren't even aware that they lived in the same town until Legolas and Sigrid come back for vacation. Kind of like the last prompt I sent you.

Hallo, friend!

Please find my response to your prompt below. Thank you for supporting my stories by sending in prompts for me to respond to.

Please enjoy!

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

It was 5am the airport was deserted and Bard really, really wished he’d filled his travel cup with coffee before he had left the house to collect Sigrid from her flight home.

It was freezing inside and outside with winter well and truly settled in for the holidays, the snow had finally stopped and Sigrid had assured her father their flight had not been cancelled but her friend she was travelling with had booked an earlier flight to be sure they’d get back the day they wanted.

The blast of colder air from behind him and the sound of the automatic doors meant he was now not the only one in the airport and when he turned around he was greeted with someone bundled up in a long black fur coat and deep green scarf that covered half of their face. Though they wore no hat and their long white-blond hair was dusted with snow that had started lightly falling again outside.

They stood a few feet away from him and gazed up at the arrivals screen which wasn’t even switched on before they huffed with irritation and turned to Bard tugging down their scarf so they could speak to him.

Though, Bard was not ready for 1) how maddeningly gorgeous the man was and 2) how it appeared to be his old crush and roommate Thranduil from university some 20 years ago. This did not go unnoticed by the blond who broke into a bright smile as his expression changed from cold indifference to joyful recognition.

“Bard!” He moved forward without prompting and slung his arms around Bard’s shoulders in a tight embrace. “Ah, how long has it been since we last saw one another?”

It had definitely been at least 20 years since they parted ways in University to chase their dreams with a youthful exuberance that no longer existed within them. That boundless energy at the prospect of seeing the world, true blue-sky thinking with their hopes tripping from their tongues regaling all who would listen regarding their futures.

What had Thranduil done with his life?

What had happened to have the man come back to Dale of all the places in the world to settle?

“I had no idea you were in town, what brings you here?” Bard asks as they broke the embrace, he tried to hide the fact his face had flushed pink the second Thranduil had thrown his arms around him.

“I’ve lived here for years, what about you?”

How strange it was, Bard had never seen him wandering the streets, not even once in the 10 years he had been settled there in Dale.

Flight 206 Arriving from Mirkwood Intl at 5:30 am has been delayed.

The booming yet cheery voice over the tannoy gave Bard heart failure but the dismay at hearing Sigs flight had been cancelled was enough to cover the thundering of his heart.

When he looked to Thranduil he looked equally upset and he turned on his heel and headed towards the door.

“Come on, let’s not hang about, while I loathe the place, MacDonalds is open and they serve semi-decent coffee. It’s better than hanging about here.” Thranduil looked over his shoulder with a small smile and Bard, O, he followed behind the blond like a puppy, the same as he had all those years ago.

He was still a puppy, and still absolutely harbouring a ridiculous crush and still terrified of confronting those feelings. Somethings just never changed, not even after 20 years, a marriage and children.

And so, that was how Bard found himself sat in the plastic chairs of a booth in the fast-food restaurant catching Thran up on his life, the loss of his wife and the kids. It seemed the blond had a similar story just with one less child and they sat in tense silence for a few moments before Thranduil leaned over the table and put his hand over Bard’s with a coy smile.

“As inappropriate as this may sound after our conversation,” He glanced around the empty restaurant lobby before continuing. “I had such an infatuation with you when we were at university. Gods it took over my life at one point, nothing obsessive, I promise but I was absolutely in love with you,” He sat back almost immediately after he’d finished speaking, clearly feeling better now he had admitted his secret.

The information did not help Bard in the slightest.

“What about now?” Bard ventured feeling brave for literally no reason other than perhaps he was over-caffeinated and it was now just after 6 in the morning. “Ahah, I don’t know why I asked that. Gods, it’s too early, who books a flight this early?” Bard tried to cover his embarrassment with an inane question but Thranduil waved that away looking so serious suddenly.

“What about now?” Thranduil mirrored the words, but the emphasis was solely on the last word and Bard couldn’t hold his gaze to the blond any longer and instead stared at the plastic lid of his coffee cup.

“Aren’t we too old to be working through ancient crushes?” Bard asks quietly, he lifts his drink to his lips and feels the still scalding liquid slide down his throat. It was the only distraction at his disposal and being unable to talk due to it sounded like the best thing for him and his mouth that seemed to run off without engaging his mind.

“You think now you’ve hit your 40s you cannot go in search of love?” Thranduil asked, arching an eyebrow and still managing to look elegant even when unimpressed. “Don’t age yourself in such a way. Personally, yes, I struggled with the loneliness and finding new relationships for the longest time but I always knew I deserved to love again and again.”

Surely it as easier for Thranduil to find someone to adore him. No that wasn’t fair, adoration wasn’t love.

“Did you find love again, you didn’t mention you married again.” Bard cast his gaze to Thranduil’s hands, long fingers still smooth and as pale as he remembered… musicians hand he had always said and Thranduil had always enjoyed playing the piano when they had any sort of downtime from studying.

There was no ring though.

“Ah, no. It is difficult to find love and raise children at the same time. But now that Legolas is in university and Tauriel is in high school, perhaps I can try again. What about yourself?”

There is no time for a reply as Bard’s phone begins to play the Coca Cola Christmas music signalling a call from one of his kids.

It is Sigrid, their flight had just landed and she was currently waiting for her luggage and was he at the airport?

Both men spring from their seats and exit hastily in a bid to get to the airport before their children realise they had been sat cosied up in a MacDonalds trying their hardest not to flirt with one another.

They had failed, of course.

Again, they went their separate ways, collecting their children and bidding one another happy holidays before heading to their separate cars likely not seeing another again.

That was until the next day and Bard is sat on the sofa struggling to wrap Tilda’s Christmas gifts while she was out, Sigrid wanders in and hands him a piece of paper with a contact number written out neatly in her own handwriting.

“Legolas said his dad wanted you to have his number in case of a flight delay like the last time.” A flimsy excuse and she saw right through it, Bard knew that when she grinned and plucked the half-wrapped gift from his hands to finish for him.

“I think you should probably go call him.” It wasn’t a hint, it was an order and Bard wasn’t sure he enjoyed his children knowing anything about his love life, not like this anyway… but, rather than argue with her about anything to do with Thranduil, he merely nodded and headed to the kitchen dialling the number into his phone’s keypad as he did so.

Thranduil answered on the second ring with a very smooth and professional greeting which melted away into a warm and friendly tone as soon as he realised it was Bard on the other end of the line.

That was nice.

It was nice that Thranduil seemed excited to hear from him.

“I want to get straight to the point, Thran.” Bard began realising it was far easier to talk about his feelings when the icy blue of Thranduil’s eyes weren’t rooting him to the spot speechless like they had all those years ago. “I had a crush on you in university and I hate saying crush because I’m 40 fucking years old but it never went away and I was hoping I could take you out for dinner sometime?”

There was a sigh of relief from Thranduil’s side of the line and when he spoke Bard could hear the smile in his voice.

“Look who is being so brave. You garnered the courage before I could- you win this time. I’d love to have dinner with you. I admit, being wined and dined by Bard Bowman sounds like a dream.” That was a rather big statement to make and Bard forced the oddly youthful giddiness forced down back inside himself before he said something to ruin it all.

“A dream? How am I a dream date?” He didn’t really want to know, he was afraid Thranduil would tell him he was the perfect kind of dull for a man his age, even if that sounded out of character for the blond it was still a fear.

“Oh come on, you just want me to stroke your ego. But, fine, I suppose you deserve it after all these years.” Thranduil sounded like he was shifting to get comfortable before he spoke again, “You’re incredibly handsome, and you seemed to have gotten even better with age. You’re kind and gentle and you’re funny. I like a man that can make me laugh.”

Funny?

He’d never been called funny before, perhaps he had been a comedian in university but he couldn’t recall, however, if Thranduil thought he was that was enough for him.

“Ok, ok, you’ve made your point, I’m your dream man. That works well for me, so if I stuff this up I still have a chance?”

There was laughter from Thranduil and the deep rumble of it made Bard lightheaded for a second before he brought himself firmly back to planet earth to ask the most important question.

“So, when would you like to meet?”

“Hmm, is tonight too soon?” No, no it was not, even if Thranduil had asked to meet him an hour from then he would agree.

After all, hadn’t they spent enough time apart already?

There was no need for him to play hard to get or even casual.

“Tonight is fine, I will pick you up at 8. Text me your address and I will see you then.”

“I am looking forward to it.”

When the call disconnected Bard wandered past the living room where Sigrid was sat talking quietly on the phone, she spotted her dad and grinned knowingly giving him a thumbs up.

He received a text later that day from Thranduil containing his address and then another right after simply saying:

I have the house to myself tonight ;)

The night would be an eventful one but who was Bard to complain?

This year was going to have a very different ending to all those he had spent in the past alone. Even if he was terrified of this whole new adventure, at least he was doing it with someone who wanted to be by his side for the entire ride.

#Barduil #Bard the bowman #Thranduil #The Hobbit #Writing prompt #morticia-butler

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rankdisasster · 5 years

Text

naive

Billy Hargrove x fem reader

“what about a billy x reader fic wherein the reader is kind of naive to his flirting so after quite some time he ends up having to be really blunt and almost literally BEGS for a date” requested by anonymous.

word count: 2,454

warning(s): swearing

a/n: cutest. idea. ever. I hope I did it justice, thanks for sending a request in!!! had to repost cause I messed up

—

Safe to say that at this point Billy’s been a little frustrated.

Nothing worked for this girl.

He’s never been so conflicted over something that in his eyes seemed to be a pretty black and white thing. When he sees a girl he thinks he could have a good time with, he tells her clearly and honestly and they become putty in his hands he can play with, until he finds something new, some might say akin to how a child goes about with toys. Never just the one will satisfy him. Y/N was meant to be one of his so-called “toys” and he sought after her the day of meeting her at the pool when his shift at the Lifeguard Tower was starting.

Y/N was — she was just something else. Billy went through the plan in his head about how he’d go about pursuing her, slowly reeling her in until hook, line and sinker. But the boy has never met a girl that was in some parts a total Einstein, a real genius. For instance, she aced all her SATs, passed all her classes with flying colors, even; but she was so goddamn stupid. Billy wouldn’t even call that an exaggeration, and he wasn’t trying to be mean. He didn’t know what it was, but she couldn’t pick up what he was putting down if he wrote “I WANT TO DATE YOU” on a baseball then threw it in her face. The poor thing still always excused it as something else. As a compliment, or he’s just a real nice guy, or he’s just kidding her. Playing a joke on her because she’s so gullible.

But he wasn’t a nice guy, and he certainly does not joke around when it comes to getting what he wants. Y/N just never had a clue, and it’s almost like it backfired in his fucking face.

The first time he tried hitting on her he was doing his boring routine at work, aviators shielding his eyes from the sizzling sun, whistle around his neck paired with the little red swim trunks being the uniform. The teen saw the herd of unsatisfied desperate housewives first, deciding to take a pass on that. Also passing by Heather, who he liked to get with in the ladies’ locker room if he was really in the mood while at work, and she shot him a smile with a suggestive wave and he winked right back at her. After all, he was getting hungry for a new chase and although Heather wasn’t that, she was something at least.

Billy did his usual rounds circling the pool, making sure everything was in order before someone wasn’t watching where they were going and slammed into him.

“The hell?” Billy looks down at the source that he collided with, seeing her for the first time. She scrambles to apologize profusely, stammering about not looking where she was going and that she was “super incredibly sorry.” Billy recovers quickly, not quite hurt and thankfully neither was she. He looked her up and down and knew what he wanted right away.

“It’s alright, don’t sweat it. How are you? You okay?” Billy asks genuinely, happy to have an excuse to touch her by helping her keep balance with his hands on her bare shoulders.

“I’m fine! I’m fine, I swear. I’m just not good at being aware of my surroundings I guess,” she says sheepishly, looking down at the ground. She really did look guilty for what she had done, but he’s immedietely glad it happened, seeing as though she looked like a girl in one of his fantasies in her red one piece swimsuit.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Billy inquires, turning the charm on and keeping eye contact with her while he nibbles on his peppermint gum. She looks back up at him then actually laughs at the pet name, holding her hand out to shake.

“Y/N L/N. I went to Hawkins High, s’not like I’m new or anything.”

“Really? Cause I think I’d definetely remember a pretty face like yours,” he slowly gets closer to Y/N’s face in strides, secretly loving the height difference as she looks up at him with her innocent eyes. He notes that she even smells good, and he’s grown to hate the chlorine stench since he started working.

Y/N playfully shoos him away, laughing at him once again as if he’s a comedian or something. He doesn’t remember saying anything funny. “Whatever, man. Do you — oh wait, stupid question. I see your whistle. So you do work here, um...?”

“Billy. Billy Hargrove,” he licks his lips before taking off his sunglasses before seeing a stray piece of wet hair in her face and decides that he’s gonna go for it, as cheesy as it is, but since she can’t take the hint at the compliment he payed, he makes as much contact with her as he can get away with and gently tucks it behind her ear. She reacts with a smile before putting her hair back behind both ears, mumbling something about forgetting her scrunchie before her name is being called by a house mom from the corner.

“That’s my mom, ugh I gotta go. Nice meeting you though, Billy,” she called as she was already walking away from him.

“Hey! Hey, wait—“

Y/N was already gone. No phone number, not even the slightest hint of any plans to come in the future.

The teenage boy shrugs, knowing some days are just gonna be a swing and a miss around here.

—

Y/N becomes almost a regular at Hawkins Pool, dressed in the same daring red swimsuit and always tempting Billy with her greetings and little smiles. Sometimes he doesn’t get a chance to go over and talk because of shitty work, or a kid dives off the “No Diving” end, or eats while swimming. It can get hectic, but the lifeguard doesn’t let that stop him. Using any excuse he has to touch her (without any protests on her end) and any opportunity to compliment her on something she did or her appearance, he’s starting to feel like it’s a dud, and she’s immune to horny teenage boys sweet talk.

“Hey Y/N!”

She turns her head and sees Billy jogging up to see her. He automatically comes in for a hug, and her face warms up at the feeling of his big arms wrapping around her frame. He holds her for a second too long, then let’s her go before taking her hand and asking her to twirl for him. Y/N nearly snorts before doing as she was told, making a show of spinning not too fast while he still has his hand grasping hers.

“Beautiful,” he marvels at her aloud under his breath. Y/N scoffs once again at his words, and it seems as though that’s the only thing she ever responds with when it’s not even a joke.

“You’re joshing me, right? I just got this awkward sunburn because I fell asleep on the lawn chairs at the pool. With my arm on half of my face,” she gestures to her cheeks where her forehead is significantly darker than her chin. “It’s so humiliating especially out in public, dude,” she cracks up, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. Billy gives in and laughs along with her.

“And why is it that you go to my work everyday? Oh, right. To see my pretty face right here,” he teases, putting out the bait and waiting for her to take it.

“Oh please. Your ugly mug?”

“C’mon, it’s okay. You don’t have to lie.”

“Nah, I go cause my mom thinks it’s good for me to be active, get outta the house and all,” she answers his previous question, ignoring his banter. “Speaking of which, she left me stranded here because she had errands and I wanted to stay longer to get rid of this ugly tan, so I’m screwed.” Thank God. Finally, he has something to thank Y/N’s mother for.

“I could give you a ride, no biggie,” Billy tried hiding his excitement in portraying nonchalance, barely meeting her eyes and praying she says yes so he can spend more fucking time with her outside of stupid work.

“Would you? I really don’t wanna cause trouble, it’s just—“ he silenced her before she starts rambling again then takes ahold of her hand

“Say no more. I’ve always got your back. And hey, I scratch your back, you scratch mine?” He asks with a devilish grin, raising one brow.

“That’s what she said,” Y/N fires a shit eating grin back, and then starts heading to the parking lot of the pool. “Meet you at your flashy car!”

Billy sighs as he hangs his head in defeat before regaining his composure, calling out a confirmation before going to lock up.

—

The blonde boy still foolishly keeps his hopes up for the car ride back to her place and to fill the quiet, he asks her if she wants to play twenty questions. As much as he knows the little things about Y/N, there’s still lots of simple details he’d like to know because he’s curious.

“Uh, alright. Twenty questions sounds g—“

“Great. Do you have a boyfriend?” He rushes to interject, eager and not hiding it.

“Nope, no boyfriend.”

“And why not?”

“Woah, right to the punchline, aren’t we?”

Y/N boasted as she runs a hand through her hair and for comfort spreads out a little wider in the passengers seat.

“Well, why don’t you?” Billy grows agitated, white knuckling the steering wheel as they wait at a red light, he turns to her. She still looks on ahead at the road, only meeting his gaze for a split second before she asks him if he has any gum. “Jesus Christ. I am so tired of this,” Billy lays his head on the wheel. Y/N inspects him for making sure he’s good before repeatedly calling out his name.

“Billy.”

Nothing. He has nothing.

“Billy, seriously. It’s a fucking green light, go already!” She shakes him before he suddenly presses the gas, speeding down the road.

“What is up with you, man? What was that!”

“In my glovebox.” Billy sighs, still eyeing the road. “My gum. It’s in there,” he answers her silent bewilderment before recognizing that it isn’t important anymore, then prepares to give the most painful explanation to a girl he’s almost ever had to do. Other women he’s been with or hit on either rejected him right off the bat or got with him right off the bat, it’s never been this in between before, this awkward gray area that’s driven his mad. He doesn’t know what he’s trying so hard for anymore, maybe it’s her attention, or something else. But it’s not just one night, not anymore.

Billy recalls the directions she had given to him before all this, and he pulls up to her house at the correct address and stops the engine.

“I want to know why you don’t have a boyfriend because I think you’re great, like really great and -“

“I think you’re great too, though.” She intervenes, as if she’s challenging him once again. Billy has nothing left to do except almost literally write it out for her.

“No! Fuck, dammit. Just... will you go on a date with me? Like, together. Not as friends or whatever, but an actual date that not friends do,” he overly explains hoping that this time that covers it.

Y/N stares at him like he told her that planet earth is fucking flat, then has the audacity to mutter “I don’t understand”.

“What don’t you get here?! What could you POSSIBLY not understand this time!” He’s raising his voice, and it’s coming out all wrong, and he just doesn’t want her misinterpreting what he’s been trying to say all along.

“Billy, what I’ve been trying to say is that I don’t get why you would like me.” Y/N looks like her dog just died, defensively crossing her arms over her chest and stares at her lap.

“What?”

“Guys don’t look at me. They don’t even know I exist,” she sighs and it makes him just feel so bad.

“Sweetheart, I think they look your way, you just don’t have a clue when they do.” Billy hesitantly reaches for her hand and holds it in both of his, begging her to look at him and communicate with him.

Y/N giggles again then looks up, meeting his eyes before leaning in further and further until their lips touch. She tastes like honey and mouthwash, and she kisses like she’s so scared to but wants it so badly. He leads them, cupping her cheek and not stopping until they both need a breath. The blonde boy can’t get enough, trailing little ticklish kisses around her jaw then down her throat, now turned awkwardly to get a better angle and not caring if his car is jabbing him in the stomach while he leans further in.

“I’ve wanted you all this time,” he whispers.

Y/N whimpers quietly before turning his head to meet hers again.

“You’ve had me. I’m just, I don’t know. I don’t do this very much and I didn’t ever think a guy like you would go for me, so I—“

“Shh. It’s fine now. You’re okay. Oh and just so we’re making sure, I don’t kiss my friends like this,” Billy reassures her as she laughs and shoved him away.

“Do you wanna maybe watch a movie sometime? There’s this cool futuristic-y one that’s coming out, the main guy is really cute,” Billy rolls his eyes at her before putting a possessive arm around her and going in for more kisses. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t even come close to comparing to you. But that isn’t the point,” she trails her fingertips over his cheek softly, and he’s never felt something so soft.

“I’d love to. What a train wreck, huh? You’re just a naive little thing,” Billy runs his fingers through her hair, before she lets him know that he’s an idiot and has to get home before her parents notice the flashy car in the driveway and wonder what’s up.

“Fine. I’ll let you go. But how ‘bout this weekend, that movie?”

She nods, kissing his cheek then opens the passenger’s door to get out. His eyes never leave her figure as she skips up to her front door, then catches the kiss she playfully blows and drives off, wondering what he should wear for their movie date that Friday.

#stranger things #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove #billy x reader #my writing #request #stranger things fanfic

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minhothebighoe · 4 years

Text

2:03 pm I Love You

Requested: yes: “Hey babes, hope your doing swell❤ What about Felix ( stray kids ) with a self conscious s/o? Like, she just doesn't thing she's good enough for him + so he hard core comforts her. Cuddles her until she gives up type thing. Possibly smut but if you don't write smut for him just fluff is fine.”

Word Count: 3.1 k

Summary: Your relationship with Felix was great at first, but when you two got caught in public it changed your life for the worst.

Warnings: mentions of feeling depressed, mentions of sex, small amounts of smut (just don’t blink), a mention of degradation kink (AGAIN DONT BLINK). And a cute/ sexy Felix

**also I haven’t proofread yet so hope it’s not too bad lololol, also maybe pt. 2 ???***

“Babe please tell me what’s wrong”

Felix sighed deeply, before laying a hand on my bare shoulder, gripping tightly at the exposed skin that poked out of my sweater. He looked and concentrated on me with worry and sadness that was clearly displaying on his soft features; his eyes showing nothing but pure and utter remorse. I turned away and stared at the floor silently with pure guilt and anxiety that was building and starting to weigh heavily on my chest. I hated myself for the fact that I was the one causing him to feel this way.

Things have been shitty for a while now, and I’m not talking about Felix or anything about him. Felix is literally the light of my life, and it’s not an understatement when I say I would literally take a bullet for the boy or give up my life to save his. Everything that is wrong is because of me, myself, and I.

Things were more than amazing in the beginning when no one knew of us together. When Felix could visit or hang out we would mostly just Sneak around and hide the fact we were an item. It was definitely hard most times,especially for him; he wanted nothing more than to show me off to the world, but at the same time it was oh so exciting. Even though Felix wanted to come out to the world as more than close friends he also loved concealing our relationship. He being the dirty Aussie boy he is admittedly ached to fuck me in public anywhere that he could get his hands on me, and shit, it was our dirty little secret.

However, things mostly took a toll for the worst when dispatch caught us together, and stays all over found out about the relationship.

It was late at night, Felix and I were at a park close to my home, and me being the dumb ass I am, was not thinking coherently. All I was thinking of was the lovely night me and my beautiful boyfriend were having, and the fact that he was physically there with me. At no time did it occur to me to think that other people would be up at the god awful hour.

In the moment, Felix was chasing me on the open grass field, and we were both happy and content. We didn’t need much more than each other to have a good time or have fun.

“You’ll never catch me!” I laughed, running faster away from my playful boyfriend who was right on my tail. I however, knew for fucking sure he was definitely gonna get me, I just wanted to tease the poor lad and get him all worked up.

Not even 10 seconds later he caught a hold of my hand and before I knew it, we both came to a dead halt. I turned around to face him and capture him at the moment, it almost felt like one of those cheesy kdrama moments where everything is in slow motion. His beautiful dark eyes stared lovingly and deep into my own. His chest was heaving up and down and all I could hear was the sound of his heavy breaths parting from those big beautiful pouty lips. He leaned his forehead onto mine before speaking with that sinful voice of his,

“God you have no idea what the fuck you do to me.”

That beautiful playful smile was now a wicked and sexy smirk, and god did I love it.

He pulled me closer to where my chest was touching his long lean frame; I felt his hands slowly travel and make their way down to my hips, it was almost teasingly unhurried. I felt a soft squeeze on the flesh, and a painful chill make its way up throughout my body. I thought I forgot how to breathe at that very moment.

Meanwhile felix’s eyes had never left mine, causing a certain feeling make its way through out my core deep within. I was aching for him to touch me, and I could tell he couldn’t wait any longer as well.

God you have no idea what you do to me, Felix.

He continued to smirk at me before impulsively bringing his lips down to my neck with such vigor and pure lust. I brought my hands instantly from his chest and placed them at the back of his head running them through and tugging on his sexy red locks. I gasped for air as I felt his teeth nip slightly at my flesh, hitting that sweet spot just right below my earlobe. He slowly proceeded to run his tongue over the bite mark before sucking ever so mercilessly. I could feel the heat rapidly making a pool in my underwear, and I didn’t know how much longer I could wait for him to touch me.

“F-Felix please.” I pleaded.

He detached his lips from my neck, and I could instantly feel a cool breeze attack the spot where his mouth once was.

He stared devilishly at me, his pupils getting blacker, before speaking

“Awe is my baby girl getting impatient…. don’t worry darling I’ll fuck you right.” I gulped; He leaned in again, and I could feel his hot breath hit the inside of my ear causing goosebumps to arise and my complexion go pale.

“I just wanna play with you first.”

I stared at Felix as my mouth went dry and my mind buzzed. His words alone were enough to get me off, and all I wanted was for him to rip my skirt off and fuck me right then and there.

But Then…..that’s when I heard it.

**click**

I snapped out of the trance like state, and forcefully pulled myself away from Felix’s body. I automatically knew exactly what that sound was and it was almost an instant shock of anxiety that rolled throughout my body. I looked over to Felix and I could tell he felt the exact same way.

“C’mon babe we have to go.” Even though he was trying to rush me, he said it as calminglyas possible.

** click **

As we moved quicker away, the more rapid the noise was becoming. Felix and I moved speedily, giving even Usain Bolt a run for his money, trying to get away from the situation. However, we both knew it was too late and the damage was most likely done. We were already caught and red handed at that.

“People are going to find out” I thought, anxiety filled my entire being with the thought. What will they think? This wasn’t no ordinary fan base I was going up against, these are kpop stans the most frightening yet loyal fans to ever exist. They were going to completely and utterly judge me.

and that they did.

It had only been 1 month since the pictures had come out of Felix and I embracing each other at the park, and let’s just say the backlash was worse than what I was expecting. Each day was more shoddy than the last, it seemed as each hour passed the more shit I was getting and the more comments filled my Social media telling me I wasn’t good enough, or that I was too ugly, too fat, and so on. At first it didn’t really bother me, I had hoped changing my profiles to private would help, and get people to calm down about the situation, and it did for a while. However me being me, I couldn’t help myself to search and see what the fans were saying,and as much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn’t fucking do it.

“Ugly bitch, Felix deserves so much better.”

ugh.

“Where the hell did he find her? Probably some whore.”

Woah.

“Fat ugly bitch should lose some weight, she’s going to crush our poor Felix.”

Ow.

“They’ll never last SHE'S just another slut I mean look how short her skirt is in that picture, such a sleeze”

Okay then.

A couple more months had passed and I thought it would die down but for some reason it never did and as the number of comments and articles grew, I felt my deepest insecurities grow as well, drowning out any ounce of confidence I once had.

The fat comments were an especially hard pill to swallow as I had always been insecure about my weight. Even though deep down I knew I wasn’t “fat” I still had trouble looking at a mirror and being happy with the way I looked. And having a boyfriend who is an international heart throb did not make things easier to say the least.

“Why aren’t you eating babe?”

“You‘ve lost some weight love since the last time I saw you, I’m a little concerned”

“Babe please eat something, are you okay?”

Felix had seemed to have asked these questions quite a few times in the past months, and I would always reply with the same short answers along with a fake smile.

“Lixie I’m fine, I promise.”

“I’m just not hungry.”

“Ohh I just ate I’m okay.”

It wasn’t just the fat comments not causing me to eat, it was everything that was sending me into a spiral of self hatred and let’s just say: my very own demise. I had lost all appetite because all I could think of were those millions of fans telling me how ugly and disgusting I was, and, oh yeah, that I should do Felix a favor and just kill myself. And the most annoying thing was, I had no idea why it was even getting to me so much. It just hurt knowing that practically a whole fan base hated you because you loved someone so unconditionally, and you couldn’t do a thing about it or change their mind.

And I started to believe every damn word that was thrown at me.

I was too scared to even leave my home knowing that people knew who I was and how I looked. I didn’t want to risk it. I was scared, point, blank, and period. Sadly, I didn’t have anyone to confide in. I had always been mostly independent and an introvert so friends were very few and far inbetween;I didn’t want to worry my poor parents, as they would be devastated and heartbroken to know their little girl was feeling this broken. And, I couldn’t tell my boyfriend because he was busy most of the time getting ready for a fucking world tour to notice, and there was no way in hell I was going to distract him from that, so me being very discouraged to bring this up to anyone, kept to myself and thought being alone was the best option.

At least that’s what I thought I could do.

I guess I was naive thinking I could hide and push away my own feelings, but every negative thought, moment of regret, and all my insecurities were starting to show and make their way from the dark abyss and pile to the surface. I wanted anything but to worry Felix with my issues, however everything was becoming way too hard to mentally bare and I was reaching above my boiling point.

“Y/N, please for fucks sake talk to me, don’t you understand I’m here for you? Don’t you understand I can tell when something is wrong?”

Felix, who was sitting next to me, quickly got down on his knees in front of me. He placed a hand lovingly on my cheek, softly rubbing soothing circles with the pad of his thumb on the skin, causing me to feel somewhat calm.

I didn’t want to tell him how I was feeling partially because I didn’t know how to explain it. There’s just so much going on inside my head that it feels as if I’m at war with my own consciousness.

“I-I’m fine baby I p-promise I ju-“ tears were threatening to spill and I couldn’t even look him in the eyes.

“Bull fucking shit (y/n). You for the past 8 months have been anything but yourself, you’ve lost so much fuckin weight to the point where you’re skin and bones, you’re not eating, and I- I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, and it fucking hurts to see you like this and I-“ tears streamed down Felix’s face, and he cupped my chin and forced me to look into him.

Everything was accumulating and it was starting to reach a point where hiding these demons was not in the question anymore. Seeing Felix in this much pain because of me, tipped me beyond off the scale and I felt almost angry that all this bullshit had happened. Am I weak for wanting to tell him?

Would he be able to handle it?

As I was building the courage to speak, I turned my head away again hearing my phone vibrate. I could see the notifications building up from Twitter on the screen from the previous hour; Felix noticed too and instantly shot out his hand to grab my device.

“Felix baby no do-.”

I tried to grab the annoying hardware before Felix could see anything, it it was too late. His eyes widened.

“Kill yourself you stupid bitch,

you’re so unworthy of a man like Felix like actual filth lmao,

You’re an ugly fat whore who will never amount to anything ,

Watch out Felix, she’s only with you for your money”

As Felix read the words aloud it felt as if thousands of knives were being stabbed into my body over and over again, but all I could do was stare at the floor in front of me, and not dare to look at Felix. I didn’t want him to know things were this bad, I tried to shield him from the pain I was feeling because he didn’t deserve to be included in the affliction. My heart hurt but I wasn’t going to let him be included in that agony.

I loved him too much.

“Baby….” I could feel his eyes bore into my figure and at that moment I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Everything that had pent up over the past months finally spilled out into the open atmosphere, and holy shit I was a sopping mess to say the very least. I huddled over as the sobs poured out of my mouth, they were mixed with so much vexation, sorrow, and panic as I didn’t know how to feel. Felix quickly sat next to me and put an arm over my physique, pulling me in closer to his broad frame. My head lay atop his lap while I cried as much as I could. He peacefully stroked my hair with his fingers, and every once in a while layed some soft kisses atop my head.

I leaned my head to fit in the crook of his neck,taking in the scent of his cologne. He held onto me tight, as if he was never going to let me go again.

“Baby, all this time…. why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was almost quivering but I knew he wasn’t going to cry.

“I- I didn’t want to worry you, you had so much to do for the tour and I thought it was dumb an-“ he stopped me.

“(Y/N) it’s not dumb that people are harassing you and making you feel this way. Listen, I love my fans each and every single one of them. However, you have to realize that in every good person there are another 5 evil ones who don’t respect mine or your feelings for one another, and those people are not true fans.”

He brought my face to look at his.

“Listen darling, I love you and if some people can’t respect that then, that’s their problem. Our love is stronger than this and I know we will overcome this hurdle. That’s all it is, these comments don’t matter they’re just people who have no respect or no life to worry about and all they want to do is take that anger and hurt into other people. But holy shit, I just thank god nobody hurt you or physically or came after you….I don’t know what I would do.” Felix kissed my nose and stroked the top of my hand with his very own sending small impulses of electricity up my body. The heat of his body comforted me and I had never felt more love for him than in that very moment. For once I could finally breathe again and smile.

Felix brought a hand to cup my cheek, the palm of his hand felt so reassuring as he brought his soft lips down to mine gently and with such passion. He kissed me as if we had all the time in the world yet it also felt as if it was our last moment together. The world could’ve ended right then and there and I would’ve felt content being in his arms.

I guess I learned it’s not good to hold things in, and now I know if I’m ever feeling sad or hurt that there are people who love me and are willing to listen. And as much as I wanted them to be, my problems were not small especially if they had me feeling the way I did. I don’t have to be alone even in my darkest thoughts or weakest moments.

All I know is Felix lifted a weight off my chest that was too heavy for me to even nudge. And for him I am more than thankful.

“Also those comments are bullshit because if anything darling you’re to good for me princess .”

I smirked at him.

“Oh really now.”

“Yeah but let’s get one thing straight.” I eyed him as he bit his lip, he coyly took the soft skin in between his teeth as his eyes went dark.

“ the only person who can call you a filthy whore is me. Got it?”

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eastasianfeelings · 4 years

Text

falling into the sky: chapter nine — number

← chapter eight: driving

Summary: Your dance crew is backing up 5Vixx’s comeback. You happen to have a big crush on Ken. It’s kind of not an ideal situation for you, but your dance crew and the rest of Vixx make up for it.

Words: 2.7k

Warnings: none

“Why?” you blurt.

“So I can text you,” Ken says, easy-breezy.

“Why… would you text me?”

He looks momentarily stumped before brightening. “Oh, it wouldn’t be for work! I’m not gonna make you do overtime.” His smile returns. “It’s just so we have each other’s information~.”

“Um.” Your gaze flickers around the van. Nobody else is paying any attention to what feels like a transgressive conversation. Are you even allowed to accept an idol’s personal contact information?

“You don’t want to?”

The forlorn dimming of his smile makes you panic a little. “Jaeeun-ssaem!” you squawk.

She twists in her seat, still holding your phone. “Huh? What is it?”

“Um, uh, is Ken allowed to have my phone number?”

“Eh?” She tilts her head. “I don’t see why not.”

“Yeah, why not?” Ken echoes. “The manager hyungs won’t mind.”

You feel like sweating under his inquiring gaze. “It’s not, like, a risk or anything?”

Jaeeun turns her attention to the phone. “Soonil-ah, can you check with Kang-manager whether the kids can exchange numbers with your crew?” She pauses to listen, then looks back to you and nods. “He says Kang-manager says yes.”

Ken beams and promptly hands you his phone.

With uncertain fingers, you type in your number and hand it back to him. Immediately, he opens up a new text window and sends you a message. “I texted you, noona, so you’ll have my number, too.”

“Ah, yes.” You nod, look straight ahead and try not to think too hard about the fact that you literally have your celebrity crush’s number now.

“Saem! Give noona her phone back so she can save my number.”

“All right. Soonil-ah, I’m hanging up.” Jaeeun ends the call with the other van.

Ken grabs the phone almost before she offers it back and pushes it into your hands. “Here, save it.”

Just as you open your texts, Jaeeun tells you, “Gyuseok-ssi sent you his number too, Y/N-ah.”

“WHAT,” says Ken.

You nearly jump right out of your skin. Hyuk looks up from his phone, and even Hongbin and Ravi glance back.

Jaeeun clucks her tongue. “Yah, Jaehwan, what are you yelling for?”

Ken pulls himself up ramrod straight. “I’m not, I—what did you say about Gyuseok-ssi?”

“I said he sent his number to Y/N-ah.”

“Why?!” he cries, making you jump again. “Sorry, sorry noona. But—why?”

“What do you mean why?” Jaeeun says. “He’s our new dancer, why shouldn’t they exchange numbers?”

“But…” Ken trails off into a whine. “I mean, I only just…”

“You only just what?” Hyuk asks loudly.

“Nothing!” Ken snaps, before turning his back to the maknae to face you. “Noona, here, please save my number before you forget.” He whips out a smile to go with the anxious pats of his fingers against your phone.

“Ah, yes.” You finally focus your attention on the screen to see two messages from new numbers. One says Hi noona~, and the other says Hello, this is Gyuseok-ssi.

No mistaking which one’s which, that’s for sure.

“You saved it?” Ken is nearly craning his neck to view your phone screen.

“Er—” It’s a little hard to focus with him peering over your shoulder; your mind whirls as you struggle to decide what to enter as the contact name.

Fortunately, at that moment Ken’s own phone pings, and he moves his attention off you to check it. Breathing a little easier, you input “켄”, save his number and then push your phone deep into your pocket.

Surreal. Seriously.

…There’s a gentle rustling; whispers of movement; the dampened rushing sound of wind.

Blearily, you open your eyes from the doze you hadn’t realized you’d drifted off into. The van’s dim in the evening light, and your eyelids flutter as sleep leaves you.

“Sorry, noona.” A soft whisper. “Did I wake you?”

You look up to see Ken, right there beside you, with a sweet smile to match his gentle words. What an unusual sensation, you think fuzzily to yourself, to see his face now, while you’re in this space between sleeping and waking.

“…It’s okay.” You push yourself upright in your seat, but there’s something covering your body that restricts your movement. You look down: an unfamiliar padded jacket is draped over your torso and arms.

“Sorry, I just wanted to adjust this.” Ken reaches in to pull the jacket more fully over you. He’s close, close in the navy darkness of the evening.

“Ah,” you say, eloquently.

“You’re not cold?”

“No. Thank you.”

“Of course.” He smiles again.

The van’s quiet, and looking around you see the others dozing or resting as well. Ken’s proximity feels halfway to intimate in the hushed atmosphere; you swallow, wriggle upright a little more and search for a suitable conversation topic.

“Are we almost there?”

“Yes, I think so.” He leans forward to peer toward the front of the car. “The GPS says thirty minutes.” He sits back and turns to you once more. “Did Changyeon-hyung tell you much about where we’re staying?”

“Ah, he shared the hotel, yes.” You pull out your phone. The motion causes the jacket to slip, and again Ken reaches in to adjust it.

You look up. There he is, a few centimetres away.

His gaze flicks up from the jacket to your face. His arms pause their movements.

Your breath catches.

Then your phone rings.

Both of you startle; you quickly sit upright and Ken pulls back, giving up on the jacket. You drop your eyes to your phone, see Ahwon’s name and swipe to pick up.

“Hello?”

The amount of noise coming through your phone sounds like a near-explosion compared to the quiet van. “Y/N-ah!” comes Ahwon’s loud voice.

“Oh, Ahwon, hi.” You press the volume-down button a few times.

“Kang-manager says he can’t reach anyone in your van. Do you mind sharing your phone’s GPS location with us?” Her voice is half-swallowed by the music in the background as well as at least three people singing along.

“Sure. Why?”

“Apparently we’re—”

Ahwon is abruptly cut off:

“YEAAAAAAAH~!”

You jerk your phone away from your ear, stare at it for a second and then put it back.

“Hyeomi-yah!” Ahwon’s shouting. “What was that for?”

“Eh? I was just singing along!” you hear Hyeomi respond. “You know, it’s that part where Baekhyun has the really high ad-lib.”

“Was that singing? I thought you were just screaming,” Daesuk says.

Ahh. “Are you guys listening to ‘Jopping’?” you ask Ahwon.

She sighs. “Yeah.”

“Excuse you, I sang it exactly how it is in the song,” Hyeomi says to Daesuk in the background.

“It does kind of sound like a scream,” Soonil offers.

“See? Soonil-oppa agrees too,” Hyeomi says.

“He’s just trying to win his way back into your good graces,” says Daesuk.

“Still,” Changyeon speaks up, “let’s refrain from singing at any decibel which might impact the managers’ driving, all right?”

“So we should probably take ‘Mirotic’ off the playlist,” Ahwon contributes.

“That’s Kang-manager’s favourite, though!” Hyeomi says.

You’re grinning by this point. “What did you want to ask me, Ahwon-ah?”

“Oh—can you share your GPS location with us? Apparently you guys are way behind us. The managers are trying to figure out where you are, but none of the members are picking up their phones.”

“Ah, yeah…” You drop your voice a little, perhaps a bit late. “Everyone’s sleeping here. Give me two seconds.”

“Hyeomi’s ad-lib didn’t wake anybody up?” Ahwon jokes.

“No, our whole van’s out like a light.”

“Sounds peaceful.”

“But less interesting.” You tap through your GPS settings. “Okay, I’m sharing with you.”

“Awesome, thanks. I’ll hang up now, okay?”

“Okay. Save me one of the good rooms when you get there.”

“No promises,” Ahwon says cheerfully. “Kang-manager, here you go!”

There’s some shuffling as her phone exchanges hands before a beep signals the call’s end.

You lower your phone and smile down at the screen.

“But less interesting?”

Your head jerks up at Ken’s soft words.

“Sorry?” You feel the smile slipping off your face. Was he eavesdropping?

“No, wait.” He leans forward, a little crease appearing on his brow. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” You lean back.

“You…” He lets out a small, frustrated huff. “You always stop smiling. When you talk to me.”

“What?” You’re lost.

“Why don’t you smile like that with me?” he says, voice low.

“…Like what?”

“Like you do whenever you’re with the rest of the dance crew.” His eyes move over your face. “Whenever you lower your guard.”

Your words get stuck in your throat. Why is he saying this?

Quietly, quietly, he says, “We are friends, aren’t we, noona?”

He’s searching your gaze, looking for something.

“Yes,” you manage.

“Yes?”

He’s so close, you realize. Your hands come up automatically to press against his torso, to keep some semblance of space between you.

He looks down and, almost without hesitation, covers your hands with his. Now your hands are clasped in his and he’s still this close, so close.

“Ken-ssi,” you whisper.

“Jaehwan,” he corrects, just as softly.

“…Jaehwan.”

“Yes,” he replies readily. “Tell me. Tell me what to do to lower your guard.”

His gaze is steady, earnest, dizzying enough to make you speak a little bit of truth:

“I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to?” he repeats.

“Mm. I… don’t want to lower my guard around you.”

“Why?” His hands tighten around yours, like he’s about to tug you closer. “Why don’t you want to?”

“I—” You swallow, struggling to keep the words in. But he’s right there in front of you, surrounding you, breath touching yours, and you can’t help but say it:

“I like you too much.”

For a moment, he doesn’t move. Then his lips part. His eyes widen. And all your fleeting hopes that he might have interpreted your catastrophic statement in a platonic way are dashed.

At that moment, the van brakes particularly hard. Both of you jerk forward with the momentum, while all of the van’s sleeping parties are rudely awakened.

“Ow.” Hyuk grumbles and yawns on Ken’s other side. “Are we there yet?”

You yank your hands out of Ken’s so hard that you hit yourself in the chest. Heart hammering, you turn away from him and glue your gaze out the window. Please let nobody have heard what you said, please let nobody have heard what you said…

“Whoa, it’s dark out,” says Ravi, sleep making his voice even deeper than usual.

“I have three messages from Taehun-hyung,” Leo says from up front, referencing Kang-manager. “He’s asking us where we are.”

Hongbin stretches before addressing the manager who’s in the driver’s seat. “Homyeon-hyung, did we get lost again?”

In a general hubbub of noise, the members and managers get the van heading in the right direction, while in the back seat you scrunch yourself into the corner and keep your eyes fixed forward. You’re hyper-aware of Ken’s every shift and fidget beside you, but fortunately he doesn’t try to start a conversation again. In fact, he stays quiet the whole rest of the way.

Fifteen minutes later, your van pulls into the mostly empty parking lot of a small building. As soon as Hongbin, Jaeeun and Ravi vacate the middle seat, you hurry to exit the van. But your feet catch on the forgotten padded jacket that’s now tangled around your calves, and you start to tumble headfirst onto the concrete.

“Noona—!”

Someone’s chest breaks your fall. You clutch wildly at their arms as you struggle to get your feet underneath you, heart racing from the close call.

“Are you okay, Y/N-ah?” Jaeeun’s worried voice comes from nearby.

You shake your hair back and look up to see her peering at you beside Ravi, whose body was apparently the buffer between you and the cold hard ground. “Ah—yes, yes. Sorry, Ravi-ssi.”

“Careful, noona.” Ravi quickly scoops the jacket from around your legs as you wobble upright.

“Thank you.” You step back and give him a quick bow of thanks.

“Keep the jacket on, Y/N-ah, it’s cold out,” Jaeeun advises, taking the jacket from Ravi and draping it around you.

You’re about to say it isn’t yours, but then Ken comes over, eyes fixed on you, and you quickly clamp your mouth shut.

“Here you are!” Changyeon calls as he approaches from the other van, everyone else following behind. “Finally made it, eh?”

“Our vans must have different GPS systems,” says Homyeon-manager goodnaturedly.

“Thank goodness Y/N-ah stayed awake, unlike these sleepyheads,” says Jaeeun, reaching up to half-toss an arm around Ravi.

“Ssaem, you slept too!” he defends.

“I was getting my beauty sleep,” she says. “You’re already so beautiful, what’s your excuse?”

“Aish, ssaem…” Ravi ducks his head, neck turning red, while the other members react with similar embarrassment.

Movement draws your attention to Soonil, who’s drifted over beside you to watch Jaeeun rib the members with a fond smile on his face.

“I missed this,” he murmurs to you.

“Mm.” You reach out and link your pinky with his. “We missed you.”

“Even though you forgot our birthdays,” Daesuk adds as he joins the two of you.

“Even though you forgot our birthdays,” you agree.

Soonil chuckles. “Blame it on the—” He drops his voice. “—new-parent brain.”

“Speaking of.” Ahwon pops up behind you with Hyeomi beside her. “We’re getting together in Soonil’s room after dinner, got it?”

“We are?” you say.

Hyeomi gives you a meaningful look. “Don’t you want to see pictures?”

“And video-call with Dagun?” Ahwon says.

“Oh!” You get it. “Yes, definitely!”

“We don’t know who’s rooming with who yet, though,” Daesuk cautions.

Soonil nods toward Changyeon. “Hyung’s going over that now, so let’s listen up.”

“…We’ve got ten rooms,” Changyeon is saying as he hands out key cards, “so the managers and Soonil will each get their own room, and everyone else will double up.”

“Wait,” Soonil speaks up, “you should take the single room, hyung, I don’t need a room to myself.”

“Well, you’re getting one anyway,” Changyeon says, and then moves on before anyone can protest. “So, Taekwoon with me, Jaehwan with Wonshik and Hongbin with Hyuk, and then Jaeeun with Y/N, Daesuk with Gyuseok and Ahwon with Hyeomi,” he reels off. “Any questions?”

You exchange a quick grin with Daesuk. Soonil getting his own room just makes it that much easier for your crew to get together.

“Do we have dinner plans for today?” Jaeeun asks.

Kang-manager nods. “Let’s meet up here after everyone drops off their luggage, and we’ll head into town together to find a restaurant.”

Everyone breaks up into smaller groups as they find their pairs, and Jaeeun heads over to you. “Looks like we’ve got an end room,” she says, flashing the key card labelled 101.

You fall into step beside her toward the small building, fiddling with the jacket around your shoulders. “Er, ssaem, do you happen to know who this belongs to?”

She scrunches her brow in confusion. “What, it’s not yours?”

“No… when I woke up in the van, someone had covered me with it.” That someone being Ken, who you’d prefer not to speak to for the next century or so. If Jaeeun can help you return it to its rightful owner, then that’s a happy ending for all parties as far as you’re concerned.

But she shakes her head: “No idea, sorry.”

“It’s mine, noona.”

Ken’s voice, from behind you.

With dread, you slowly turn back to see him approaching, eyes fixed on you like he’s never looked away since the two of you left the van.

“Oh,” you manage, sidling closer to Jaeeun as he nears. “Thank you.” You move to slip it off, but he shakes his head firmly.

“Keep it for now,” he says, and the absence of his usual trademark smile makes his face look so serious that your protest dies in your throat.

“Swing by our room after dinner to pick it up,” Jaeeun suggests.

“I will.” Ken’s still looking at you. “I’ll text you, noona.”

“Okay,” is all you can say. Really, how else are you supposed to answer?

As long as Jaeeun sticks around as a sort of chaperone, you might be lucky enough to get away with never talking about your van confession again. After all, this surely isn’t the first time Ken’s heard this kind of thing.

You might be lucky enough. Right?

Right??

#vixx #vixx ken #ken x reader #vixx fanfic #vixx fic #eaf writes vixx #eaf: falling into the sky #eaf original

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starcourtsteves · 5 years

Text

The Aftermath

Request: After the Battle of Starcourt, Steve and the Henderson siblings go back to the Henderson house for a sleepover so Steve and the reader are catching up/finally relaxing in bed (she was with the Kids and Steve in the Russian base). Dustin eventually crashes in his sister’s room for mutual comfort.

Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader

Warnings: sweet Steve, a bit of scared Dustin, morning laughs

Officer Callahan rubbed his ear periodically, a remnant of Joyce Byers’ painful grip as she told him to take those kids home.

Those kids were now piled in his squad car — Steve in the passenger seat and you and Dustin in the back. The clamor of ambulance sirens and flashing lights in the Starcourt parking lot gave way to the occasional street lamp and sixties crooners on the radio. Every time a pothole made the car lurch reminded you of that godforsaken Russian elevator plummeting deep below the mall, but Steve’s gaze in the side mirror brought you back to ground level.

Dustin was nestled under your arm but determined to stay awake to give Callahan street-by-street directions.

“It’s on the right. Yeah, right here, don’t blow past it.”

“I got it, champ.”

The car hadn’t rolled to a full stop before the three of you were up and out, desperate for a sense of normalcy from the Henderson home. Steve’s hand found yours like clockwork and Dustin let you ruffle his hair as he fell in step toward the back porch light, that single bulb left on in case either of you ever came home late. Which was all the time.

Callahan cleared his throat loudly. “Harrington, you need a ride home?”

He was met with three judgemental stares. Steve held up his hand clasped with yours for emphasis, because apparently Callahan was the only person in Hawkins who hadn’t seen Steve constantly at your side.

“Alright, well don’t forget to tell Mrs. Henderson that you’re home safe. And she can call the police station in the morning if she has any questions.”

“We got it, champ,” Dustin quipped.

Steve muttered in disbelief, “Pretty sure it was us who fought the Russians. We don’t need babying.” His bruising eye twitched at the memory.

You and Dustin shared a look as the squad car pulled away.

“We’re not telling Mom anything till morning.”

“Obviously.”

Stillness and quiet enveloped you as soon as the door was shut. Chaotic Russians and flayed monsters were worlds away from carpeted floors and La-Z-Boys and it was tempting to lay down then and there.

Dustin snapped out of the trance first and headed for the bathroom.“Alright, I gotta get this grossness off of me.”

Steve didn’t even have to speak before you leaned into his waiting arms. You shifted after a moment, wrapping your arms tighter around him and breathing deeply into the hug. The two of you hadn’t had a second alone since the whole ordeal began, though Steve tried to make up for it by asking if you were okay dozens of times.

And he was still in that habit, apparently.

“You alright?

“Better now.”

Steve pulled back with a tired grin that grew wider when he saw a smear of blood on your cheek. “Whoops, let’s get that off of you.”

He brushed it away and you almost relaxed into the touch until you saw the blood again.

“Shit, we gotta get you cleaned up.”

“It doesn’t even hurt that bad anymore —“

“Shut up, Harrington.”

“Uh, okay, that hurt more than this does, Henderson.”

You swiveled back around, knowing you’d find that smirk on his face. Steve being playful was as constant as the rising sun and after a few days of having other things on your minds, you needed this. Needed to keep the mood normal and light.

You took him by the arm, giving a gentle squeeze that he couldn’t resist. “Steve, will you let me clean your face up?”

“I guess it’s not a bad idea.”

It took awhile because Steve’s wincing had you pausing with pity, but the white kitchen rag was soon dyed pink. You dampened a fresh one and held it out to him.

“I’ll let you take it from here, sailor. I don’t wanna press too hard.”

He fiddled with the knot on his uniform, a reminder that he was still wearing that ridiculous outfit, but the grin never left his face. Hopping down off the counter, he took the rag and used his other hand to tug you close.

“Hey, thanks.” The kiss was short and sweet but your nose still bumped a cut on his cheek. “Ow…”

“Yeah, there might not be much of that for awhile.”

“Ha, wrong. I’m not gonna let some stupid Russians stop me from kissing my girlfriend.”

Your head tilted endearingly as he stole another, more gentle kiss. A simple nod down the hallway led both of you to tiptoe toward your room and Steve closed the door with cartoonish caution. Your bed was barely made but you didn’t bother to move the covers before collapsing on it upside down, crossing your shoes over your pillows.

Steve followed suit, thumb automatically brushing over yours when he intertwined your fingers. A deep breath rocked his chest.

“I haven’t laid down in awhile without being tied to a chair.”

“They definitely weren’t the most accommodating hosts.”

A beat of silence. Another few breaths. You squeezed Steve’s hand with your eyes still glued to the ceiling.

“I was worried the whole time, you know. Didn’t show it around Dustin and Erica but then that stupid general guy took you away and...” You stopped before you could get too choked up. Shifting to your side, you gingerly touched a gash on Steve’s forehead. “God, they really did a number on you.”

He gave a wry smile. “Not the first bad guys to use a mouthy idiot as a punching bag.”

Your fingers idly brushed through his hair. “I just wish they wouldn’t use my mouthy idiot.”

“Better me than you or Robin.”

“Believe me, that isn’t how we felt.”

You winced at the memory of hearing his pained groans echoing down that metallic hall and leaned away again. Too far for Steve’s comfort.

“So I was wondering, is it sexist that they didn’t hit girls?”

Laughter peeled from both of you, just like he wanted. He knew you’d been scared just as bad as he was, but seeing you still upset made his chest ache. So he rolled toward you and basked in the smile that his silly question brought to your lips.

“Robin and I were debating that, actually,” you replied. “We haven’t decided yet.”

Quieting down after a few more giggles escaped, you kissed an unbruised spot on his cheek and snuggled down against his shoulder. As if you were just two young lovebirds hanging out on a Friday night. As if you hadn’t just defeated an interdimensional evil.

“Hey, I’m glad we’re home.”

“Me, too.”

Just when exhaustion threatened to drag both of you to sleep, there was a quiet knocking on your door that felt as loud as a train whistle. Steve froze and a dozen explanations raced through your mind, none of them plausible enough for your mother at the moment.

But it was Dustin’s voice that came from the hallway. “Are you guys naked?”

“Dude, seriously?” you groaned.

“Hey, I gotta make sure my innocent little eyes don’t see anything disgusting.”

“We’re fully clothed, Dustin,” Steve whisper-yelled. “Jesus.”

Dustin opened the door a sliver to peek in. Steve gestured to his uniform and gave your sleeve a tug for good measure before a satisfied Dustin finally stepped into the room. The Star Wars pajama shirt swallowing his frame made you smile. Some things never change. Thank god.

“What’s up?” you chirped.

“I just...uh, I wanted to make sure you guys were okay. With all the shit that happened, you know.” He got quieter and looked at the floor. “I’m sure it was scary.”

Your heart nearly cracked in two and Steve nodded when you glanced at him. Pushing a middle schooler to admit he was scared never worked so you had to take matters into your own hands. Literally.

“C’mere, Dusty.”

Steve chimed in and patted the bed between you. “Yeah, your sister here could use some comforting.”

Dustin sniffled and gratefully clambered over you to that middle spot. His wet curls were plastered on your arm but you didn’t care, not when you had your two favorite boys safe and sound. You smiled softly at Steve, sending a silent thank you for letting Dustin crash.

He beamed right back and you fell asleep to that sweet view.

…

By the next morning, shoes and bloodstained rags were carelessly tossed on the floor and your neck was cramping in a number of spots. As you lifted your head to stretch it out, you had to stifle a laugh at the heartwarming sight next to you.

Steve was splayed on his back and Dustin was curled into Steve’s chest, both occasionally snoring.

Tired muscles implored you to stand and stretch, which also gave you a better vantage point on the two sleeping forms. A particularly loud snore made Dustin stir and as soon as he got his bearings, he cried out and nearly shoved Steve off the bed.

“Gross! Get off me.”

Poor Steve jolted awake, eyes wide with terror. “Dude, what?!”

“You two sleeping beauties were cuddled up together,” you offered. “I wish I’d had a camera to capture it.”

Steve socked Dustin in the shoulder and followed with an accusatory finger. “Hey man, you’re the one who crawled in right there.”

“Yeah, because you gestured to that spot!”

“Boys, don’t worry, I’m not gonna ruin anyone’s reputation by tattling.”

“I was...ugh, right there with Steve frickin’ Harrington.” Dustin’s head fell into his hands, then snapped up to glare daggers at the culprit. “Pick the right Henderson to get cozy with next time!”

“Don’t think I won’t.”

Steve followed through with his declaration by marching over to you for a hug and dramatic kiss and you played along, laughing into it when Dustin gagged.

Just when more threats were gonna go flying, Claudia Henderson’s voice rang out down the hallway.

“Dusty? Where are you, honey?”

“Oh shit.”

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington imagine #stranger things imagine

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demaury · 5 years

Photo

boys online. chapter 1. (social media influencers au)

7916. 124. 10. These are the numbers that define Eliott and Lucas’ relationship, either they want it or not. 7916 kilometers between them, from Paris to Vancouver. 124 days since they first said ‘I love you’ last spring. And nearly 10 hours, until… well, until they meet for the first time. (ao3)

It’s around 8 at night, and Lucas is already halfway done packing when the truth hits him square in the face with the strength of a truck launched at full speed. “I’m going to be sick,” he stammers, wide eyes falling on the two folded pairs of boxers he’s holding.

Oh boy. He’s so going to be sick. He can feel it, the way his stomach is churning painfully and his eyes are flickering from one corner of his vision field to the other. The worst part is that he has no idea why it’s hitting him now, but all of a sudden there’s a fucking precipice opening in the middle of his bedroom and threatening to swallow him for good.

From the bed, Manon peers above her phone. She’s sitting on a pile of wrinkled clothes that he was absolutely sure he had already packed up. “I already told you there’s nothing to worry about taking a plane. You’ve done it before.”

Lucas’ eyes snap up at her. “I’m not scared about taking a plane,” he huffs, trying to ignore the way his heartbeat is suddenly thrumming behind his ribcage. He’s taken tons of planes before, and he never gave it so much as a second thought. “I’m scared shitless about Eliott.”

Manon quirks a brow. “Eliott,” she repeats flatly, almost in a deadpan, “the guy you’ve been in love with for at least six months and that you’ve been dating for three of them.”

Lucas glares, throwing his pair of boxers in the mess that is already his suitcase. “Eliott, the guy who’s seen me in person only fucking once.”

Fuck he thought he was handling it well, the whole ‘I’m meeting my boyfriend for the first time’ thing, but apparently he isn’t, and it had to dawn on him the night before he’s set to leave for the other side of the ocean to spend two amazing weeks with the one person on Earth he’s been dying to touch and kiss and hug for six fucking months.

“You’re facetiming like, six times a day, and you guys met once already, as you said,” Manon waves. “He knows what you look like, relax.”

“It’s not about-,” he snorts, but his voice trails off.

It isn’t about what he looks like. He’s not self-conscious, he knows he’s cute and he knows he can be hot when he sets his mind to it — even back when he was in the closet he had more game with girls than his straight friends. It’s just that he’s suddenly terrified. Terrified that maybe, justmaybe, they might not be as compatible as they think they are.

“What if I’m a bad lay,” he blurts out, hands falling to his hips.

“Did you ever get any complaint?” Manon asks bluntly.

“No,” he scoffs.

“Then you’re not a bad lay,” she shrugs. It’s a fucked-up logic and he’s dying to speak his mind about it, but she’s already leaning forward to glance at the content of his suitcase, her phone dropping between her crossed legs. “Honestly, it sounds like you’re just trying to find excuses to worry at this point.”

“Like you weren’t a mess when you met Charles after IFYE last year,” Lucas retorted, “and you guys were just hanging out back then.”

Their manager had shipped him and Manon to Toronto the year before to attend IFYE (the International Forum for Young Entrepreneurs) and they had met a bunch of people there, including Charles and his buddy Alex who had launched an app putting together companies and students looking for summer jobs. Manon had immediately awarded Charles the ‘biggest self-entitled jerk’ title, only for them to start dating six months later — something that Lucas isn’t anywhere near to let die down.

Manon squints her eyes at him but doesn’t bother replying, settling for rummaging through his suitcase instead. She exhumes one of the pair of boxers he stashed there two minutes before, a camouflage-patterned one he hasn’t even meant to take with him in the first place. “I don’t think there will be any problem with him peeling the clothes off you,” she says, “but let’s put all chances on our side.”

Lucas gives her a look and snatches the underwear from her hands, before shoving it back in the safety of his underwear drawer. “You’re not helping,” he grits out, scowling, as Manon laughs entirely too long at her own joke. “I’m freaking out because, like, what if he doesn’t like who I am? Or what it’s like being with me? What if he’s just too cool for me?”

Manon rests her elbows on the edge of his suitcase. “It’s going to be just fine. You’re freaking out, and it’s okay, but I can assure you it’s going to be alright. Eliott loves you, the real you, and you’ve been sharing stuff and caring for each other for months now.” She tilts her head. “So what if you two never kissed yet? You guys want to be with each other, and trust me, plenty of people who do kiss and do tons of other stuff beside kissing don’t want to be in a relationship nearly as much as you.”

Lucas purses his lips, running a hand through his hair. “Damn, what is it like when you don’t take it seriously,” he mutters.

Manon huffs a laugh. “Alright. You know what? You’ll want to do a lot of things when you’re there and none of them is ironing your wrinkled clothes,” she says, frowning at the amount of clothes he shoved haphazardly in his luggage. “Bring me something to drink and I’ll see what I can do with your pathological inability to fold clothing items.”

It takes him a second to nod and decipher whether he can trust her with his stuff, then he goes to the kitchen. It’s not like he’s got something to hide from her, they’ve known each other for four years now — as long as he’s been in Vancouver, give or take three months — but he blames it on the everlasting side-effect of being in the closet for a bunch of time and having to watch his every move even at home. To this day he still isn’t sure if his dad is okay with his sexuality and just doesn’t speak about it with him because they are an emotionally constipated single-parent home, or if he’s just acting like nothing happened — like Lucas never came out to him — out of sheer denial. Even the fact that his dad’s the reason he hasn’t been able to fly to France sooner doesn’t quite provide a defined answer.

“You’re not flying to the other side of the world just because you met someone on the internet a month ago,” his dad had decreed when Lucas had first brought it up, last spring, and that’s when Lucas had been reminded how bad being 17 sucks. He’d been making money, meeting people, flying for business purposes, signing contracts, and yet up until last July and his 18th birthday he was unable to meet with his very own boyfriend simply because his dad wasn’t willing to allow him to leave the fucking country.

No need to say he wasn’t thrilled when Lucas told him he was leaving a few days ago, but he didn’t make an attempt to prevent it either. “Just promise me you won’t see your mother without me,” he had said. “If you want to go, I’ll go with you, but I’ve got too much work right now to leave everyone hanging, so we’ll see about that next Christmas.”

Lucas had shrugged, because going to see his mom wasn’t really a part of the plan, but he had promised anyway and that was left to that. His dad is a notoriously very busy man and so the amount of time Lucas is spending with him in a week is generally narrowed down to a quick hello and a quick goodbye every now and then, so he can’t say living with him is terrible by any means. He mostly lets him do the things Lucas wants to do, and in exchange Lucas doesn’t ask him too many stuff and certainly not to be overly present at home — it’s a good compromise, and certainly better than Manon’s parents not giving two shits about her.

Since he’s good at multitasking, he dedicates his right hand to opening the fridge and picking up a soda can for Manon, while the left one automatically reaches up in his back pocket to retrieve his phone. There are loads of notifications from Instagram and several from YouTube, but he ignores them and goes for the whatsapp conversation he has with his boyfriend instead. Eliott went to bed about an hour ago and up until now he wasn’t even angry at their six-hour time difference (like he usually is), because for once it allowed him to focus on the matter at hand (packing everything), and not on his (incredible, amazing, adorable) boyfriend.

Yeah. That was ten minutes ago, before he started getting fucking anxious. He sets the soda can on the kitchen island and starts typing.

you're just going to make fun of me, but, like, i’m panicking

He looks up and nibbles on his bottom lip, eyes trailing around in the kitchen as if the pieces of furniture could give him answers. All of a sudden he’s glad he didn’t start packing up before, because otherwise the freak-out would have happened much sooner and the last thing he wants is to make Eliott feel guilty or concerned or whatever emotion that is not happy for too long at a time. Maintaining their relationship through the last couple of months wasn’t the easiest thing to manage, but they resolved early on to be honest towards each other. Is that something that is worth getting Eliott concerned about?

Nah, he decides as he erases the text. Instead he sends a few heart emojis, because that’s something Eliott deserves to wake up to — and certainly not his boyfriend freaking out —, grabs Manon’s drink and goes back to his bedroom.

Fifteen more hours.

He’s got this.

Thirty minutes already.

It’s a fucking nightmare.

It’s not like Eliott is throwing the words at any given opportunity, but he’s literally running in the airport like a lunatic, slowing down and slightly ducking his head every time a member of the security or the staff is squinting at him a little weirdly. It takes forever to make his way through the crowds of people coming back from vacation, and he nearly loses his calm behind an old lady babbling with her husband after she stops for the third time to fish god knows what in her purse.

It all started wrong, in complete honesty.

Thing is, he’s had trouble sleeping for weeks now, mostly because his mind is constantly racing with project ideas, and editing has been taking so much time lately that he always ends up going to sleep at ungodly hours. It’s already a problem in itself most days because he’s getting up at 6.30 to get to work at 7.30 — not to mention that he’s been trying to hide it from Lucas not to worry him —, but when he ends up oversleeping because he forgot to plug his phone in before falling asleep, it’s an even bigger mess.

Truly, waking up to Idriss slamming his flat hand on his front door until he wakes up isn’t how he envisioned one of the most exciting days of his life to begin — not that the follow-up has been any more exciting so far. Six hours a day, five days a week, for four months now, he’s been selling frozen yoghurts in the same restaurant where Idriss is waiting tables, and after a few weeks of freezing cold AC and rude people, word spread out that Eliott, aka srodulv on YouTube, was apparently available for a chat during his work hours — after that it had been three more months of tiny skirts and cheeky doe-eyed customers refusing to take no for an answer, Idriss making too many jokes and his boss being entirely too satisfied with the idea of whoring him out in order to get more customers.

His contract ended two hours ago, and the prospect of being able to squeeze in two weeks between that moment and the schoolyear starting off at the Fémis school, two weeks with his long-distance boyfriend, has been enough to survive one last day selling stupid banana flavored frozen yoghurts —until Idriss whined enough to drag him home to celebrate with a beer, that is.

“No plane ever landed on time, relax,” Idriss huffed when he said that Lucas’ flight was supposed to land in two hours.

Well, Idriss would fucking hear from him, because not only Lucas’ flight is on time, but the asshole who refused to buy a fucking bus ticket and insisted on walking by the front door anyway well and truly delayed Eliott more than what his nerves could handle at the moment. Hence the running. You’d think that reaching the airport would be the end of the nightmare, but no, he found out exactly five minutes ago that he can’t get a wifi signal for the life of him, and that the flickering crumbs of 3G (3G for god’s sake!) aren’t enough to send Lucas a whatsapp text to tell him he’s on his way.

He stops running as soon as his phone dings, relief washing over him when he reads Lucas’ name on the notification.

i'm waiting at starbucks 💖💗

Eliott looks around. He’s in the hall K. If he’s guessing right, Lucas is probably not gone wandering in another hall just for the sake of it, so he scrupulously follows the signs indicating various newsstands and airport shops until he spots the familiar logo, in all its green glory. There are a few customers waiting in line and others spread out, sitting at small tables. His eyes are trailing over the unknown faces a couple of times before he has to admit Lucas isn’t one of them.

It’s a mess. Last time, when Eliott went to Vancouver, Lucas had been waiting for him right after the customs area and they didn’t even have to text each other — it was literally that simple. And, alright, he indeed was pretty excited to meet Lucas for the first time back then, even though they were just friends, but it wasn’t anywhere near as exciting and stressful as it is now. He turns around, ready to get worried and upset, and starts searching the crowd of passing strangers. A family of four eventually leaves his visual field at a snail’s pace, and that’s when his eyes stumble on him, almost on accident.

Him.

Lucas.

Eliott’s left paralyzed for a solid minute, drinking in the sight of his boyfriend, his Levi’s shirt, his skinny-jeans, his messy hair, and he feels shy, almost too shy, to make the four or five steps separating them. Too shy, to get over the way his heart is beating and his teeth are digging into his bottom lip long enough to call out the only name he thought about for the last few months, to everyone else’s dismay.

Turns out, he doesn’t need to. Lucas looks up, a little blankly at first, then they make eye contact, and his eyes widen comically, and fuck if they aren’t the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen-

Before he can even think about it his feet are surging forward, without a single care if he bumps into other people on the way. Lucas’ jacket drops from his hands, falling half on the ground and half on his suitcase, and it lasts a second, barely, between the moment Eliott finally started moving and the moment Lucas jumps in his arms, but it’s both the shortest and the longest second of his life. Lucas throws his arms around his neck, and Eliott lets out small laugh as he’s forced to take a step backwards not to drag them both to the ground, hunching a little forward so that Lucas can stop tiptoeing despite it being the most endearing thing in the world.

He can’t even remember how many times he’s been thinking about this, the simple feeling of Lucas’ weight in his arms, and he isn’t sure if he’s ever going to find the right words for that — but he doesn’t care, Eliott decides as he buries his face in Lucas’ neck, not when his boyfriend is here. He allows himself one last sniff of his new favorite drug, taking one more second to breathe Lucas in, before he pulls away, and reaches up to cup Lucas’ face with his hand — he’s not sure, but he thinks Lucas’ eyes are suspiciously bright.

“Damn,” Lucas whispers, voice rough, letting his hands rest on his chest as he relapses his embrace, “I forgot you’re so tall.”

Eliott smiles, chuckling a little, and lets his thumb graze over the sharp edge of his cheekbone. “And I almost forgot how beautiful you are.”

“Aren’t you the cheesiest,” Lucas huffs, grinning.

A few months ago, when Lucas started planning this trip to Paris, they briefly discussed the fact that plenty of influencers took opportunities like these to make some views out of meeting their loved ones in tearful reunions. Frankly, putting himself out there wasn’t Eliott’s strong-suit and he was relieved when Lucas said he wasn’t planning on making someone film them.

“You aren’t going to regret it, right?” he had asked, a bit nervous.

“Nothing about it is worth making you feel uncomfortable,” Lucas had replied with a casual shrug.

Yeah. Now he regrets it though. He wishes he could have recorded it somewhere, just to replay it whenever the distance gets too much. He, the cinema student, in the most prestigious cinema school in France, didn’t think one second to put his embarrassment aside for the sake of filming.

The irony.

Lucas is staring up at him, blue eyes a shade as deep and dark as the ocean, and Eliott feels his heart swell. He doesn’t quite know who leans in first, and if they both did, how on Earth they knew it was the right moment, the perfect second even, but they do. They lean in and Lucas’ lips meet his own in the softest manner, gentle and warm, somewhat cautious in the pressure he puts into them, but it’s more than enough to make Eliott’s heart burst and the last couple of months seem more bearable.

He’s right.

He’s in love, and he’s right, and nothing else matters — not even the sick pleasure of knowing how fucking wrong they all are.

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apriorisea · 5 years

Text

“I Signed Up For It All”

You x Jungkook

You get the phone call at 11:52pm. It’s about your cousin, the troubled one addicted to painkillers. Overdose. Not sure he’ll make it. Your mom is crying with you. “No,” she says, sniffling, “Don’t worry, ok? Try not to worry. I just thought you should know. I’ll keep you updated. What time is it there?” You glance at your watch, having a hard time reading the numbers through your tears. “Almost midnight. Mom--??” “I know, sweetie,” she says, taking a deep breath. “I promise I’ll keep you updated.” She pauses. “Oh, that’s your aunt. I’ll text you. Try to get some sleep, okay?” You give your word, but as soon as you hang up the phone, you feel the first sob creep up your throat, and you sink to the couch. Living literally across the world from your family didn’t usually get to you, but right now....You felt alone and scared. You bury your face in your hands and cry, wishing you were back home with your family, wishing you could do something to help. Trying to get yourself together, you send a few texts: one to your siblings, one to your mom, a few to your favorite and closest cousins, and chew on your thumbnail while you wait for any answers. Your younger sister texts back immediately, obviously upset, and you feel the tears splash down your face again. After attempting to reassure her, you scan back through your other messages until you find Jungkook’s name. You open the conversation, but hesitate: the two of you had only been officially-dating for a week and a half. Things were still new, and, after all, he worked so hard, you felt guilty bothering him at this time of night. MOM: Sounds like Jesse is the one that found him. Wasn’t a pretty scene. Your stomach aches. Hey, are you awake? You sit back against the couch, still crying, not really expecting a reply and starting to feel silly for even trying. He’s going to decide I’m too high-maintenance, you think, trying to make light of the situation. But all you can think about is your cousin, your family, the “accident.” You press one hand to your mouth, shutting your eyes tight as more tears come. JK: hi babygirl! i’m always awake for you ;) JK: Is everything ok? You wipe at your tears with the sleeve of your sweater and try to figure out what to say next. You really hadn’t expected him to answer you. Before you can decide, you feel your phone start buzzing with an incoming call. You hit ANSWER. “Hey,” you say hoarsely, turning your head away from the phone to sniffle. “I’m sorry.” “What’s wrong?” he asks immediately. “Are you okay?” At his genuine concern, you lose it again, breaking down into tears. “No,” you manage between sobs. “My---my cousin.” You can hear the sound of commotion on his end, but his voice is incredibly calm still. “Your cousin? What happened to your cousin?” “He overdosed,” you cry. “They’re not sure--not sure he’s going to make it. I’m...I’m so sorry, Jungkook, I know it’s late, I just...I didn’t know...” You’re not even sure how you want to finish that phrase. “I’m just really worried and upset.” “I know,” he says gently. “It’s okay, darling. When did this happen?” “Just a little bit ago,” you say, feeling better hearing his voice. “My mom just called. I guess his little brother is the one that found him.” At this reminder, you remember how alone you are and cry even harder. “I don’t...I don’t know what to do? I can’t be there, and everyone’s really upset, and....my cousin could be dead,” you admit in a tiny voice. “He’s probably dead. Or, at best, brain dead. My cousin is probably dead and I am halfway across the world.” He sounds strangely out of breath. “Try to think positively, okay? He’s going to be okay. Is this the first time something like this has happened?” You take a deep, shaky breath through your nose. “I don’t.....I mean, probably not, but this was a really bad one. And I think---” The words get caught in your throat and you have to force them out. “I think it was ...intentional.” “Oh, babygirl,” he says softly, and he sounds sort of distracted. “Okay. Take a deep breath, ok?” You nod to yourself, following his instructions. You reach for something else to say, unsure of how he’s feeling about the whole situation. “Um....Were---were you asleep?” you ask, rubbing your nose on the edge of your sleeve. “I’m sorry I woke you up, I really am, I just needed...” “Me,” he finishes for you, and then there’s a knock at your door. You get to your feet. “Wait, are you---?” Through your door-cam, you can see him standing on your welcome mat: he’s wrapped in an oversized hoodie and sweats and wearing a baseball cap, but it’s definitely him. The tears bubble up again and you fumble to open the door. He steps inside and closes the door behind him before reaching to take your face gently in his hands. “It’s all right, babygirl,” he says softly, brushing away a few of your tears with his thumbs. “I’m here.” Your lip trembles and he makes a soft click with his tongue, releasing your face to pull you against him. You let him, burying your face in his chest and crying even harder. “Shh, it’s okay.” He holds you as tight as possible, his hands extra-gentle on your back. “I’m here.” He leans his head against yours. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” With his arms around you, you feel some of the ache start to ease away. After a while, you pull back, feeling embarrassed. “I’m s-sorry,” you say through a hiccup. “You didn’t have to come all the way over here right now, I know you’ve had a long day.” He’s cradling your face in his hands again. “Don’t apologize,” he murmurs; the tips of his fingers are incredibly gentle on your face as he wipes your tears away. “Just take a deep breath for me, okay? I’m right here.” He is. He’s here. You fall in love just a tiny bit more and take as deep a breath as you can. You’re rewarded with a small smile. “There you go,” he says, his tone slightly relieved. He tucks a piece of hair behind your ear. “You look exhausted.” He smooths the same strand back a few times, his other hand still resting on the side of your face. “Come on, let’s sit.” He slips his arm around your waist and guides you to the couch, helping you sit like you’re something precious. Still standing in front of you, he looks towards the kitchen. “Do you need some water?” Every part of you is missing his warmth already, even though he’s still there, standing right in front of you. The wild, still-panicked part of you starts to worry that he’s going to leave, and you feel a few more tears bubble up. “I’m good, thank you.” You brush at your face, trying to steel yourself for his inevitable departure. “I’m sorry I bugged you so late, I was just...I’d just barely gotten the call from my mom and I was freaking out.” “Please,” he says, meeting your eyes gently, “Please don’t apologize.” Without another thought, he sinks onto the couch next to you, his hand seeking yours automatically. You feel your breath catch, the relief coursing through you at his touch. “So what’s the latest news?” he asks, his thumb rubbing the back of your hand softly. “What happened? Talk to me.” His invitation relieves some of the weight that’s been sitting over your chest. You’re dying to talk about it, dying to say out loud the millions of thoughts in your head, dying to have someone else to bounce ideas off and get feedback from. At his reminder, you look back at your phone: you scan through the messages, feeling a lot more panic and not getting a lot more information. “Nothing...n-nothing new,” you say, stumbling over your words as you read through your sister’s text. “I.....It...” You’re having a hard time finding the words. You look over at him in desperation, and feel your heart slow a little at the calm, patient look you find there. “Start at the beginning,” he says slowly, pulling your conjoined hands onto his lap. “It’s okay, baby, just talk to me.” You nod. Thank you. “My cousin has been struggling for a while,” you begin, staring at your hand in his. “I guess he went missing for a while today, and a bunch of people went looking for him...His little brother found him unresponsive in his room.” You feel the tears slip down your face again at the thought. “My mom called to tell me, but no one is sure what’s going to happen now. He’s...” Your breath catches, and you move to take your hand out of his so you can cover your face. He relinquishes your hand, but immediately wraps his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into him. You let your hands drop, preferring to bury your face in his chest. “And I’m...I’m here.” He presses his lips to the side of your head gently. “You feel bad because you’re so far away,” he summarizes, rubbing your shoulder. “You wish you could be with your family right now.” You nod against him. There’s a moment of quiet and then he wraps his other arm around you in a tight hug. “You’re not alone, darling,” he says quietly. “I know I’m not much,” he adds with a half-smile, “But I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.” This only makes you cry a little harder, and he practically pulls you into his lap at this. You think of how long his day has been, how late it is, how early he probably has to get up tomorrow---I’m not going anywhere. You’re more grateful than you can say. “I know you’re upset,” he says after a while, one hand stroking your hair, “But you’re going to make yourself sick, crying so much. What can I do?” You shake your head and pull away from him, a little more calm now. “I’m really s--” He cuts you off with a look and you shake your head. “I mean...” You study his face for a moment, enjoying the feel of his hand on your hair. “Thank you,” you whisper. “Always.” He’s serious, but he gives you a little smile that makes your heart flutter. “I am always going to be here, no matter the time or distance or whatever.” He gets a little self-conscious, but pushes through. “You’ve got me, babygirl. Don’t worry.” You’ve finally stopped crying, feeling exhausted but better, and you know it’s mostly because of him. Without second-guessing yourself, you reach up to kiss his cheek. “I’m so lucky,” you say softly, smiling as you see the faint blush creeping over his face. He hugs you a little closer and leans down to kiss you: just once, softly, chastely, sweetly. “Now,” he says, brushing the final tear from your face. “Let’s get your mind off this a little, yeah? Until we hear back from your family.” Readjusting, he grabs the TV remote and then places one of the thin couch pillows in his lap, gesturing for you to relax. When you’re lying with your head in his lap, he starts stroking your hair again. “Anything look good?” he asks, surfing the channels. “Whatever,” you say softly, but you let your swollen eyes close at his presence and touch. He notices. Bending down to kiss your temple, he says, “Sleep, baby: I’ll get you up if there’s any more news.” You’re not actually that close to sleep, but his promise loosens the final ball of anxiety in your chest: no matter what happened, he would be there, you didn’t have to do it alone. You take a genuine deep breath and snuggle a little closer against him. For the first half hour, every time your phone goes off, you grab it and hungrily read each message, hoping to get more information, but each time you’re disappointed. After the 9th false alarm, you feel a few more tears slip down your face. “Here,” he says softly, and works the phone out of your hand. “I’ve got it.” You nod and relax again, and without the distraction of your phone, you immediately feel the exhaustion creep over you. You vaguely wonder if you should be concerned about giving him such personal access to your life, unguarded---but then you feel him brush his fingers through your hair and you realize that you trust him more than almost anyone else in your life so far. You let your eyes drift shut. It’s 1:32am when you feel him gently wake you up. “Hey darling,” he says softly. “It’s okay, just take a second,” he adds as you sit up sharply, feeling dizzy. “What happened?” you ask hoarsely. “What---what time is it?” He shows you the time and then tries to hand you the phone. “Your mom just texted you.” You freeze, your eyes stuck on the phone. “What....what did she say?” He hesitates, giving you another chance to decide whether you wanted to read it for yourself or not. When you don’t move, he sets the phone on the other side of him and reaches for your hands. Slowly, he begins, “Your cousin pulled through for now. She thinks he’s gotten over the worst part.” A huge amount of anxiety lifts off your chest and you exhale explosively, gripping his hands tightly. “That’s....That’s great. And the brain---?” “It’s going to take a little more time to figure that out,” he says gently, watching your face carefully. “The most important thing is that he’s still fighting.” He releases one of your hands and tucks some hair back behind your ear. “Breathe, baby, it’s good news.” You nod, but now you feel the tears swallow you up for a different reason. Seeing this, he pulls you against him and lets you cry against his shoulder. “It is,” you blubber. “It’s great news, I’m just...I’m so sorry.” You sit up, wiping at your face fiercely. “You’re going to decide this is too much work,” you say self-consciously, trying to laugh. “You didn’t sign up for this when you asked me out, did you?” “Yes, I did.” His answer is quick, steady, and sure. He fixes another strand of your hair, then lets his hand rest on the side of your face. He studies your expression for a moment. “I signed up for all of it. I’m here for all of it.” He meets your eyes pointedly. “For all of you.” The blush explodes across your cheeks. “I’m so lucky to have you,” you admit, feeling your face grow even hotter. He smiles, but simply leans in and kisses your cheek. You’re glowing a little when he pulls away and to distract from it, you look for the time again. “It’s so late,” you say, sniffling one more time. “You probably need to get home, right? I’m sure you’ve got lots of stuff---” “Nope, I’m good.” He sits forward and then gets to his feet. “But I do think it’s time for you to get some good rest. Come on,” he says, extending his hand. “Let’s get you ready for bed.” You put your hand in his, and before you know it, he’s taken care of everything: he leads you to the bathroom and turns on the perfect temperature of warm water to wash your face, he waits while you change into comfortable pajamas, and as soon as you’re ready, he has a glass of water waiting for you and the covers turned down. There’s a part of you that feels like you should be more self-conscious about the whole situation---but it’s getting drowned out by the rest of you that feels so at home with Jungkook, so comfortable, so peaceful. You’re also so unbelievably exhausted that it’s hard to think straight. “This is.....thank you,” you say, blinking slowly. He comes to you, concerned by how tired you look and how pale your face is, and carefully wraps his arm around your waist. “Here,” he says, helping you to the bed. He tucks you in, pulls the blanket up over you, and then sits on the edge of the bed. “Do you need anything?” When you shake your head, he smiles and leans down to kiss your forehead. “Can I....” he hesitates. “Would you mind if I stayed with you tonight?” Yes, please!! You take a small breath. “You really don’t have to. I know you’ve got stuff to do tomorrow....” “That’s tomorrow,” he says calmly. “But right now, can I stay?” You don’t trust your voice, so you nod. “Okay. I plugged your phone in,” he says, gesturing towards your bedside table. “But your mom said unless something crucial happens, she’ll wait to contact you until tomorrow.” He caresses the side of your face. “So you can get some good rest tonight.” Getting to his feet, he pulls the plush armchair from the corner of the room next to the bed and settles in, reaching out to take your hand. “Just relax. I’m right here.” He smiles as your eyes flutter shut, and rubs his thumb against the back of your hand. “Just get some sleep, babygirl. Everything is going to be fine.” Every time you wake up that night, groggy and panicked, he’s there. Even when he finally drifts off himself, he wakes up with you, completely selfless though he’s exhausted, too. At 4:58am, you’re startled awake by a nightmare that leaves you sobbing, and without hesitation, he climbs onto the bed next to you, wrapping you in his arms and holding you until the shaking he stops. You cling to the front of his sweatshirt, holding on for dear life until the residual terror eventually fades. He kisses your forehead repeatedly until you both drift off again. Your alarm for work goes off at 7:30am and you twist to turn it off quickly, hoping not to disturb him, but when you roll back to face him, he’s awake, smiling faintly at you. “Hi babygirl,” he says softly, reaching out to touch a strand of your hair. “You okay?” You nod. The gratitude bubbles up and you say impulsively: “Thank you. Thank you for staying, thank you for...for everything.” He leans forward and kisses your forehead. Lingering there, he adds against your skin, “Of course.” When he finally pulls away, he sits up and stretches, his hair standing up in wild directions. “You need to go?” He turns to look down at you, his expression uncertain. “I do...I need to be at work in an hour. But I’ll be back at lunch?” You get up, too. “You don’t have to do that. You’re probably sick of me.” A strange blush creeps over his face, and he shakes his head. “Not at all.” Almost like a distraction, he looks over at your phone. “Do you want to check for news?” Your breath catches, but you nod. Reaching for your phone with one hand, you reach for him with the other, feeling immediately better when he interlocks his fingers with yours. It only takes a second to scan through your messages. You release the breath you’d been holding. “Nothing new. Which is probably good news?” “Definitely good news,” he says, bringing your hand up to his lips. “Will you keep me updated today?” “I will. Thank you, again, Jungkook. I...I don’t know how I can ever repay you for all of this.” He rolls out of the bed and kisses your cheek again. “Don’t even think of it.” While he takes a moment in the bathroom, you wander to the kitchen and peruse your breakfast options. Normally, you’d be overthinking every single little detail about the last 12 hours, but you’re so spent that you can barely focus on one thing at a time. He appears in the kitchen, his hair tamed and his face freshly washed. He turns down your offer of breakfast, but willingly takes you into his arms for another hug. “If you need anything,” he says in your ear, “Call me. Text me. I’ll be here as soon I as can.” “I know,” you laugh lightly. “I’ll never doubt that again after last night.” He releases you a little. “That’s good.” He looks like he might say something else, but when it dies on his tongue, he just smiles down at you. “I know you’ve got to go,” you say, and you wrap an arm around his waist to walk him to the door. “I don’t want to make you late.” He shakes his head again as he puts on his shoes, and when he straightens, he puts his hand on the door handle but hesitates. Studying your face for a moment, he clears his throat and then says, “You know....I....I just want you to know....” Losing his nerve, he tries to turn away, shaking it off. “Hey---” you catch his arm curiously. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing. I just....I love you,” he says softly, his eyes locked on yours even though his face is on fire. “And I’m here for you, forever, and you never have to say thank you or anything else because I love you.” There aren’t words to describe how much joy courses through you in that moment. Instead of thinking, you act on instinct, cradling his face in your hands and reaching up to kiss him. His hands snake around you automatically, and it’s a long time before you break apart. “I know it might seem soon,” he adds nervously, his hand still on the small of your back. “And I don’t expect you to say it back right away, I just...I needed you to know.” You’re smiling, absolutely giddy, and you shake your head quickly. “No, not at all, I just...I’m pretty sure I love you, too. I can’t imagine how I would’ve made it through last night without you here.” You brush some hair out of his face. “You’re amazing. Thank you.” He kisses you again. “I have to go,” he says reluctantly, “But I swear I’ll see you later, okay?” Just before he slips out the door, he says again: “I love you, babygirl.” You close the door behind him and sit in perfect, stunned, happy quiet. From down the hall, you hear your phone go off, and even though your initial reaction is panic, you think of him and his words, his promise, his solidarity, and you know, without a doubt, that you’re going to get through this. With him.

#bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts clean imagines #bts #non-smut #bts fluffy imiagines #fluff #angst #bts imagine jungkook #jungkook #jk #i signed up for it all

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agustdef · 5 years

Text

Here & Now - Chapter 14

Pairing: Yoongi x OC

Genre: Fluff; Chill romance

Word Count: 2,240

Warning: None.

Banner Marker: @dee-ehn

For the twentieth time that afternoon I opened Twitter up and began to type up a post, but halfway through stopped myself and threw the phone to the side. The urge to respond to people being dumbasses was so strong.

"Do I need to take your phone away?" Yoongi asked.

He wasn't looking at me, just typing away in the notes app on his phone. Something about lyrics he needed to get out and not being in the mood to go look for his notebook.

"Maybe."

Without missing a beat or stopping his typing he extended on of his hand out to me. I picked up the phone and was going to place it in his hand, but snatched it back at the last moment.

"Wait, no. I'll just lurk on Instagram. I'm sure making myself hungry looking at food pics will make me forget the antis and the fans defending your virtue against me."

He scoffed, eyes flickering over to me finally. "Defending my what? There is nothing to defend. I'm an adult who can live their life how I please. I'm allowed to whisper to my friends and not automatically be in some secret relationship."

'Tell them that' is what I wanted to say out loud in a very snarky voice, but refrained. Instead, I just went to Instagram and scrolled through the posts. Nothing to piss me off, because I refused to look at the comments under my most recent posts. I'd done that like an idiot the day the news dropped.

And it was so annoying because it wasn't news. It was some "fan" sneaking a high-quality camera into the show and finding the right angle to snap pictures. They'd gotten quite a few, mostly of the boys. Some of Halsey. Some of me talking and laughing with the boys and Halsey. But that hadn't mattered at all, because even though I'd had Joon and Jungkook whisper things to me at different times, it only mattered that Yoongi did. Because goodness forbid we be seen together being comfortable twice in the span of months.

Most didn't care, but the vicious little circle of toxics that always tried to start shit were laying it on thick. And they easily roped in the trolls of who gave a shit about piling onto k-pop drama and not the music itself. Even worse were the newer and naive fans who just listened to what they were told with no fact-checking.

It was annoying and less stressful than I thought a "scandal" would be. Probably because they were stupid rumors and most were telling them to lay off. Most ARMY, other fandoms, and multis seemed to get it.

But I had to admit the racism and comments about my appearance or quality of work were pissing me off. And were the main reason I was ready to go on a rant, but I didn't want to make things crazier because I went on a rampage.

"So...," Joon said as he entered the room.

He'd been sitting on the couch beside me, but then vanished for twenty minutes when he got a phone call. When he left he'd looked stressed, but now he seemed calmer; though the phone was still clutched in his hand.

"What's up?" I asked.

"So, I know you've wanted to rage at the world for the past day and a half. And you are also free to do whatever you please, no matter what anyone says. And that you haven't for our sake, but Bang PDnim said he wouldn't be upset at all if you addressed it. He welcomes it, actually." He spoke so slowly, as if testing the waters, that I'd gotten annoyed halfway through.

For a moment I weighed my options because I'd honestly been more worried about the backlash on them and Bang being upset with me more than them being trash to me. They wouldn't affect my job as a producer at all, they didn't have that power. And if they hate bought my books to do whatever with them it would just be more money towards me getting royalties.

In the end, the energy didn't seem worth it, but then the option to go live on Insta presented itself and a smile formed. "How does a live sound? Haven't done one in a while for my normal few people who care. I know they'll be lurking there."

Joon put the phone back to his hair and asked, after a few seconds he said his goodbyes and hung up.

"Go ahead," he said.

Without a word, I got up and headed to the kitchen, it was where I did most of my lives. Which made me happy that we'd (Hals) had chosen my place to hang out, I didn't want those questions about where I was for the first half an hour as people appeared.

Propping my phone in its usual spot I got the live started and moved off-camera to grab a can of pop from the fridge. When I returned there were about thirty people present and the number was steadily climbing.

"Yeah, I think the last live was like a month ago. Probably something book-related too," I said in response to a question.

A few more minutes ticked by and the number reached several hundred and then I knew it was time.

"Hello, my people. How are you? I hope you're good or not as shitty as you were the day before. Thought I'd do a live because it's overdo and for another reason. Though today won't be music or writing focused, just us talking. And then me going into a monologue at some point."

The chat flooded with responses and asking me how I was. A second later came the first asshole, which didn't surprise me. In fact, I'd expected they'd appear faster than ten minutes in, they were slipping.

"I'm good. Tired, but I'm on a tiny break from all my work. No music to make and ahead of writing-related deadlines. This weekend has been me being forced to relax until things ramp up again next weekend."

Where is the music? It's so quiet. Someone commented.

"Oh, shit you're right. I've been around people all day and can still hear them in another room, so it seems louder to me. Alexa play Always and Forever playlist."

A few seconds later and the sound of Missy Elliot's Lose Control was filling the space.

The number had climbed to the thousands in the blink of an eye and there were more people with k-pop profile pics. Some of them were familiar from other streams, some of them asking me a thousand and one BTS questions. The few were those that were obviously by trash and or trolls; who were the ones I wanted there the most.

What are you working on music wise?

"Well, I'm mostly finishing up projects. I'm going on a half forced, half chosen break for a month. So no new projects as of last week. I'll be finishing up most of my stuff in a week or two and then I'll still have other things, but they aren't as pressing."

But what specifically?

"You know I'm not answering that one. I never do."

There were a few requests for a tiny hint and some all capped ones about if any of those projects were SUGA related stuff.

"Maybe," I said, giving no context to what I was answering.

In my teasing, I hadn't noticed Yoongi until he came in and bumped me to the side with his hip. He took up half the screen and his head blocked me from being able to read the screen at first. I had to lightly shove him to the side.

But even without looking I knew that chat was losing its shit.

"So, you do have a break after all?" He asked in English, his tone accusing.

I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on finding the questions where people weren't excited. His appearance was sending the viewers into numbers I'd never hit before, I should have started the live with him there.

"I never said I didn't have a break coming up. All of you just started scolding me without asking other questions."

WHAT IS YOONGI DOING THERE?!!??!!!!

SHSJSKSKSKA

She said all. Is all of BTS there?

skskskksks what is goign on?

Told you they were dating.

I made a face at the last one, turning to him with a 'what the fuck' face, one he also returned.

Then I turned my attention to the screen. "We aren't dating. We're working together. We're friends. That's it. You all have literally seen pictures with Hals so in my face we're almost kissing and not one dating rumor has appeared. And that would also be false."

"Why didn't we get any dating scandals when we worked together?" Joon asked in Korean off-camera, slowly moving closer.

"Because we obviously radiated big sibling energy," I responded.

Yoongi chuckled beside me, a smirk on his face.

"See, even Yoon agrees."

Joon opened and closed his mouth, probably trying to find a response to that. But then he just huffed. I thought it was over after that, but then he mumbled something.

"I don't give off sibling energy."

From there on it just the three of thus talking about how he does, reassuring him that it's only with certain people and just otherwise talking shit.

"Pay attention to you live people. You have everyone confused and only like 20 people understand what you're saying," Halsey shouted from wherever she was.

We'd gotten so caught up I had forgotten about the live and didn't realize we'd speaking purely in Korean. Turning back to the screen I read the comments that were now zooming by faster than I could read.

what are they saying?

She speaks Korean?

HELLO PAY ATTENTION TO US

Was that Halsey?!??!?!

"Yes, that was Halsey." I turned towards the doorway and yelled, "Bring your butt out here."

There was shuffling and one set of footsteps turned into multiple and soon the kitchen was flooded with people. The space felt smaller as they all tried to bunch in where we stood at the island. At some point, I just picked up the phone and moved it around so they all could look and or wave.

"They have invaded my home and I don't know how to get them to leave," I teased.

"You love us," Hals said.

She'd worked her way up next to me, knocking Joon to the side a little. Her eyes were trained on the phone, now propped up where it had been before.

"Hey, guys. We're all tired and decided to hang out indoors instead of going out. Jungkook and Tae are teaching me how to play Overwatch. Ken tried months ago, but said I was a lost cause."

I scoffed. "The lies you tell."

Before anything else could be said the doorbell went off, but Jin stopped me and went to go check himself. A few seconds passed and then there was a shout.

"Food's here!"

That's all it took for everyone to scramble out of the room, leaving me with Yoongi who was standing off to the side and kind of out of sight.

My stomach grumbled and I sighed. "Okay. This did not go down the path I meant it to, but whatever. I'm going to eat and then I might just post what I wanted to say on Twitter or something."

Just as my finger moved to the button that would end the live so I could say bye, it was snatched out of my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked Yoongi.

He held up a finger to me and continued to stare into the camera. After a moment he spoke in English, taking a moment to get the right words out.

"Recently rumors about Kendall and I have happened. This is the second time and the rumors while not true would be fine, but attacking her is not. We are not dating. We are friends. And ARMY or trolls attacking her based on her race, appearance or in general are not cool. She's a great person and friend who I've grown to know over the months. We met because we are working together and our friendship grew from there. I would hate for this fun time we have creating music together to be ruined by people being rude. So stop. If you consider yourself my fan and ARMY and treat her this way then you are not my fan or a real ARMY."

Yoongi then proceeded to hand me the phone, which I almost dropped in shock of his little speech. I had not expected him to deliver the message himself, but it was nice.

After a moment of the camera facing the ground, I pulled it together and readjusted so I was looking into the camera.

"Uh... maybe I don't need to post that thing after all, but I still might." My words were slow as I was still recovering from shock.

"Come get food before someone else tries to take it," Jungkook yelled.

"So, yeah. Gotta go. Have a nice day. Bye."

With that, I ended the live and turned off my Instagram notifications, because I knew they'd be a shit show. Yoongi who was smirking simply grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the living room with the others.

#min yoongi #yoongi #suga #min suga #original character #oc #sugaxoc #yoongixoc #producer!oc #writer!oc #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #yoongi fanfic #suga fanfic #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic

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smoaking-greenarrow · 6 years

Note

Arrow Out of Context Part 3!

Send me a number!

Read on AO3.

“I’ve already seen you shirtless. Multiple times. Shirtless all the time.”

When your brother happened to play major league baseball, you automatically won cool mom points by default.

Felicity glanced down at her son, dressed in an over-sized Blue Jays jersey with a ball cap that he had to tilt his head up to see out from under, a hot dog in one hand and a baseball in the other. Adjusting her purse, she kept a grip on his shirt, finding their way through the empty stadium to their seats at the edge of the field.

It wasn’t every day that Jason was able to score them seats right behind home plate, but she and her brother had jumped through plenty of hoops to make sure that Lincoln’s first game was special.

His feet shuffled beside her into the row, and she took his hot dog so he could climb up onto the seat. “Right here, baby,” Felicity told him, pointing out his numbered chair. Lincoln nodded, getting to work on making himself comfortable. She bit her lip as she watched him because he was just so damn cute.

She took the ball out of his tiny fist and set it in his cup holder. Then she rested his hot dog in his lap and reminded him to be careful not to drop it. Felicity squatted in front of him, lifting the hat up until she could see his eyes. She grinned at him as he glanced around the giant stadium, taking it all in. “Hi,”

Lincoln’s eyes drifted back to her, “hi, momma,” he offered with a sweet smile.

“Ah,” Felicity’s heart melted for him just as it always did, and she leaned forward to kiss his little chubby cheek a few times. “You’re so stinking cute.”

Her son gasped suddenly, and Felicity turned to see the team coming out to warm up. Jason noticed them immediately, jogging over as Lincoln wiggled in his chair. He waved excitedly to the team as they jogged by home plate, and a few of them waved back, chuckling at him, offering him hello’s.

“Look buddy,” Felicity nudged him as her brother stopped at the wall in front of them. “Uncle Jason came to say hi to you.”

Giving his uncle a wave, Lincoln strained to look around them, his eyes scanning the field with interest. Jason laughed as the toddler blew him off, “what? Am I not cool enough for you anymore?”

Felicity pushed her son’s hair back, out of his face, then she sighed and stood, taking a few steps over to the wall so she could talk to her brother. “He’s grown out of his Uncle Jason phase. You’ve been replaced by Queen.”

Jason frowned, glancing over at his nephew, “hey kid,” his eyes narrowed at the numbers on Lincoln’s chest, “that doesn’t look like my jersey.”

“S’not,” Lincoln wiggled, pulling at his shirt but keeping his eyes on the players. “I wanted Ol’ver Queen’s shirt.”

Pressing her lips together, Felicity met Jason’s eyes, mock betrayal written all over his face. “You actually bought him Queen’s jersey?” he accused, reaching over the wall to shove her shoulder.

“It’s what he wanted!” Felicity defended herself, “this whole thing is to make him happy, it’s not my fault you’ve been replaced.”

“Oh please,” Jason scoffed, “I’ve seen the way you stare at Queen whenever you come to watch practice. He’s not even that great. Clearly Lincoln only notices him because mommy does.”

“Hey!” Felicity reached over to smack his arm, but he danced away, laughing as he teased her some more about having a crush on his teammate. “First of all, he’s your best player and you know it. And second of all, the man insists on practicing shirtless. Of course I’m going to notice.”

Jason rolled his eyes, “the guys take their shirts off all the time.”

“Yeah, well, they don’t all look like that. Besides,” Felicity shrugged, “Lincoln is obsessed with him because he’s been hitting home runs every game. So you start doing that, and I’m sure your nephew will love you again.” She flashed him a sarcastic smile.

Jason rolled his eyes, leaning around her to speak to Lincoln, but then his face dropped. Felicity swung around, her heart immediately sinking at whatever caused the look on her brother’s face.

Instead of finding her son covered in a ketchup mess or squirming to get down like she’d expected…he was gone.

Felicity’s heart sunk even lower, making her feel instantly nauseous; a mother’s worst nightmare coming true.

“Lincoln?” Jason called his name first, easily hopping over the wall and scanning the seats. Felicity followed after her brother, both of them running up the steps and looking through the empty rows, hoping they’d find him playing on the ground somewhere in the stands.

“Lincoln!” Felicity began to panic as she realized that fans would start showing up soon, making the giant stadium crowded and even more intimidating to a four year old. “Where could he have gone?” Her voice cracked as her eyes searched wildly.

Jason shook his head, responding to her anxiety with calmness, just as he’d been doing ever since they were kids. “It’s okay, Felicity. He’s around here somewhere.”

As she glanced up, she noticed a little blue blob barreling across the outfield, “oh!” she cried, her voice catching, flooded with relief at the sight of him. Jason’s eyes followed just as Lincoln reached Oliver Queen, who was warming up, throwing a ball back and forth with a teammate. “Oh, frack,” Felicity mumbled, cringing as her son literally flung himself onto the stranger’s leg.

Jason began to laugh, but Felicity was already moving, keeping her eyes on Lincoln as she jogged down the steps. She watched Lincoln hug Oliver’s leg, and the poor guy stiffened, looking at his teammate in confusion and then back down at the toddler.

Oliver bent down, carefully starting to pull Lincoln off of him. And as soon as Oliver managed to get Lincoln’s little hands unlatched from his pant leg, Lincoln reached for his neck, wrapping both arms around the stranger. “Oh, Lincoln,” Felicity grumbled, jogging to the wall behind home plate. She glanced around for a door that would let her onto the field. Clearly Lincoln must have found one.

Luckily, Oliver seemed amused by the clingy child. She swore she could her him laughing as Lincoln’s forceful hug knocked Oliver’s hat off his head. His hand rubbed her son’s back, keeping them both steady. Felicity stopped when Oliver hugged Lincoln back, mumbling to her son with a friendly smile on his face.

Of course he was good with kids. And gorgeous. Of course.

Standing, Oliver scooped Lincoln up with him. His eyes began to search the stands as Lincoln rested his head on his shoulder like it was a natural thing to do.

Before she could decide whether or not to try scrambling over the wall, risking her own life and limb with her clumsiness, Jason was hopping it easily. He jogged across the field towards Oliver.

Felicity pressed her fingers against her lips, just wanting to hold her son after the panic attack she’d nearly had. And she needed to have a very serious conversation with her four year old about not running off to talk to strangers.

She watched as Jason pointed her out to Oliver, reaching for his nephew. But Oliver held on to Lincoln a little tighter, meeting Felicity’s eyes across the field. “I got it,” he seemed to tell Jason.

And then he was walking over to her, Lincoln in his arms. Her heart sped up, hammering in her chest. Oliver smiled easily at her when he reached home plate. “I think this might belong to you.”

She breathed out a laugh, “yep,” Felicity shook her head, “that’s definitely mine. I’m so sorry,”

Oliver just shrugged, his hand still smoothed against Lincoln’s back, almost the same size. “He’s very cute.”

Snorting, Felicity nodded in agreement, “tell me about it. Especially when you’re saying ‘no’ but he wants you to be saying ‘yes.’”

Chuckling, Oliver stepped closer to her, rocking the toddler slightly. “Lincoln, right?” he asked, and she nodded. “He grabbed right on to my leg and said ‘my name’s Lincoln and I love you,’” Oliver grinned at her, “how could that not melt my heart a little?”

She laughed too, biting her lip. Oliver seemed a little hesitant to let him go, shaking his head as he gently attempted to remove the clinger. Felicity closed her eyes in embarrassment when Lincoln tightened his grip, “I want to stay with you!”

“Lincoln,” she warned, her voice taking on that special mom tone.

Before she had a chance to make any threats, Oliver rubbed his back again, mumbling something into his ear. And Lincoln picked his head up from Oliver’s shoulder, turning to look at her. “Can we really see him Sunday, momma?”

“What?” Felicity asked, glancing from Oliver to Lincoln, trying to think if Jason mentioned practice on Sunday. But she didn’t think they had one, and even if they did, she hadn’t planned on going.

Her eyes widened a bit when Oliver smiled at her, leaning in to whisper to Lincoln again. Then her son rocked back and forth excitedly, keeping a grip on Oliver while he whipped around to look at her again, “can we go mini-golfing with him, momma!?” Her son yelled as if she had any idea what he was talking about. “Please, please, please, please,” Lincoln groaned, making Oliver chuckle, charmed by the adorable lisp that always made her smile, too.

She met Oliver’s eyes, cocking her head to the side, “are you manipulating my child into hanging out with you?”

Oliver smirked, “not exactly,” he told her before mumbling something quietly to Lincoln.

Her son glanced at her while Oliver spoke, his little eyebrows shooting up as he pulled his lips to the side. Then he leaned towards her, pulling her in to share the secret as if Oliver couldn’t hear. “Momma,” he whispered loudly, “Ol’ver Queen thinks you’re very, very, very, very, very, very pretty and he wants to see you on Sunday.”

“Oh,” her eyes widened; a little slow, but it finally clicked. It’d been years since anyone asked her out, let alone asked her son along, too. Toddlers were usually intimidating. Or at least a turn off.

“I think you forgot a few very’s,” Oliver informed Lincoln, who laughed in that adorable, belly giggling kind of way.

“Like a date?” Felicity blurted.

Oliver bit his lip, whispering to Lincoln again. Her son nodded once in acknowledgement before tapping Felicity on the cheek, “Yes, momma.”

“We don’t really know each other,” she breathed,

Raising an eyebrow, Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but her four year old answered for him. “That’s why people date, momma.”

Oliver laughed, shaking his head at the tiny kid who she could tell was already winning him over. For whatever it was worth. “What he said.”

Felicity huffed, “oh, well, I guess my son already loves you, so that’s not an issue. And I mean… I’ve already seen you shirtless. Multiple times. Shirtless all the time.” Felicity swallowed, “so uh, no problem there,” Oliver stared at her as she babbled, and she wondered why he wasn’t stopping her. She squeezed her eyes shut, “not that I’d see you shirtless on our first date.” Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. “I’ll just give you an opportunity here to turn back time and forget this ever happened. Get out while you still can and all that.”

He raised his eyebrows, watching her. “Nope,” Oliver adjusted Lincoln on his hip, keeping his eyes on Felicity. “Offer still stands.”

“Yes,” she nodded quickly.

Oliver smiled at her, holding his hand up for a high five from her son. “You make a good wing man,” he said. Lincoln looked like he had no idea what that meant but he smiled anyway, giving him the high five. “All right, Lincoln,” Oliver sighed, knowing that Felicity could hear him. “You watch the game with your mom, and tell her I’ll be back after to get her phone number.”

She felt her cheeks flush as Oliver looked back at her.

Then he moved to pass Lincoln over the wall, placing the boy in her arms without complaint this time.

Oliver winked at her before he jogged off, returning to his place in the outfield and picking up his glove. He threw her a couple more looks as she sunk into her chair with a sigh, hugging Lincoln tight and settling him onto her lap.

“Momma,”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Ol’ver Queen wants your numbers after the baseball game.”

“I know,” she breathed, pressing her lips to the side of his forehead as they both watched Oliver.

#arrow #olicity #arrow out of context #arrow out of context season 3 #olicity fic #prompts

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thenickelportrust · 6 years

Note

would it be too bold of me to ask for a scenario based on The Spider Patrol? 👀

You know I gotta do it now. (under the cut for length.)

(ft. Vega because I had google run a random number 1-3 and Vega was 2.)

There’s a common saying- ‘dead end job’- that’s normally used to describe when someone is in a bit of a occupational rut. For you, however, this saying has a couple of different meanings. One is the same as the common usage- working for The Rust doesn’t exactly do much more than pay the bills and it’s not going to get you anywhere fantastic in life anytime soon. The second is a bit more literal, in that there’s a pretty high likelihood that job might just end up killing you one day. The third ties into the second, which is that there’s been many a time when you find yourself at a dead end, back pressed up against the wall, waiting and trying to think your way out of a potentially lethal situation.

Normally, though, the dead end you have your back pressed up against isn’t your own home. And normally the terrors you face aren’t quite as demonic, nor as multi-limbed, as the nightmare that’s crawling towards you, agonizingly slow, with each wiry limb tracing slow gashes down the air as tiny, beady eyes stare at you from where it hangs, lowering itself by a single, silken strand. You hold the lamp to your chest, which had almost fallen off the nightstand when your back slammed up against it, wielding your only weapon- your only protection- from that creature of hell which has invaded your sacred home.

The Spider stares you down, swinging menacingly back and forth in a dastardly draft that dares to bring it closer to you.

You hop onto the bed, not trusting that this… this… beast isn’t going to make a lunge for your way. The very thought sends a chill of terror down your spine- those hairy little legs crawling across your skin, clipper-mouth snapping into flesh- nope. Nope, nope, nope. Nope.

You need out. You need that thing to get out. This is your house and you’re not about to be taken over by an invader like this!

Hell, you’re a Rust reporter! You tackle villains and heroes with powers beyond imagination every single damn day! You’ve brought humans with the power of gods to their knees all by the flash of your camera! You are not going to bow. Not. To. A. Spider.

You lift the light, taking a deep breath. The bed squeaks when you step forward, bringing your lamplight weapon above your head like a baseball bat as the spider clambers up its web and-

You drop the lamp, it hits the bed and then rolls to floor as you scutter back to the wall, hands pressed against it as if you could somehow push it down and make your escape. The spider moved towards you- it moved towards you! Now it slowly lowers itself to the bed, sitting on the edge cockily as if daring you to try and take it on once more.

It’s too strong. You can’t take this thing alone. You need help. You need… backup.

The phone! The phone is on the nightstand, where the vase once was, if you can just reach the phone then…

You scoot an inch, keeping an eye on the little black dot of death in your peripheral, the springs of the cheap bed squeak loudly, and the spider lifts one leg- daring to match you step for step. You can’t risk it. Leaning forward, you keep your feet in place, sinking into the covers, fingers just brushing the edge of the blocky phone, wiggling it forward… just… just a tiny bit more…

Aha! Scraping it from the table triumphantly you hold it aloft in the air with a cheer- then immediately snap your mouth shut when you see the spider scurry onto the side of the bedpost- and down onto the covers.

Thinking quickly you jump off the bed, slamming your leg against the nightstand as you sprint to the corner of the room, fingers flying and texting the first few people that come to mind. You copy-paste the same message over and over again- there’s no telling how many you’ll need for this, so you text everyone you know can deal with a problem as severe as this.

It takes a while, too long a while, for the first of your backup to arrive. You’re not entirely surprised by who it is- Finley is always a quick respondent when it comes to their reporters asking for help, part of their training, you suppose.

“Finn!” You haven’t budged from your corner, and the spider hasn’t moved a single too-long limb from its spot either. It’s a standoff if you’ve ever seen one. “Thank god you’re here, Finn.”

Finley glances around the room once. Then they open up their phone, giving it a glance and then looking back at you, “Yeah… mind explaining what it is you meant by ‘come quick, emergency, help me, please’’?” They then seem to notice your defense crouch, “… and what exactly it is you’re doing?”

“Hiding.” You explain, “Everytime I move it tries to kill me.”

“What does?”

“That.” You point an accusatory finger to your nemesis. Finley squints at the bed.

“Is that a-”

“Ah, a spider!” Both of you jump- er, you would jump, if you had anywhere to jump to, instead you just kinda slam your head against the wall in surprise while Finley jumps to the side, Vega grinning wildly behind them. “It would seem our dear friend has been confined by a vicious arachnid captor. How terrible!”

“Ok, well. The sarcasm is not needed.” You whine.

“Perhaps not necessary,” Vega winks to you, and bravely strides towards the spider, “But certainly a requirement.”

“Those are synonyms.” Finley deadpans, hands shoved deep into their pockets. They pass you a look that reads, clearly, ‘What the are they doing here?’

You return it with a kind of helpless shrug that you hope says ‘We might’ve needed backup.’

Vega is examining the spider with (frighteningly) keen interest, and a (frighteningly) coy smile.

Finley heaves a heavy sigh, “You got a paper towel in here somewhere? I can just flush it down the toilet.”

“Oh no no no!” Vega hops up from where they were testing the patience of spidery death, “You can’t just flush it down the toilet!”

You can see Finley take a deep breath, holding it for a moment as they gather up all the patience they have left and speaking in a slow exhale, “And why can’t I?”

“It’s much too boring, of course!”

“I’m not sure we’re going for the eventful here.”

“Oh, you poor dear,” Vega clasps their hands in front of a pitying frown, “You must live such a dreary life…”

“Look,” You interject yourself into the conversation again. Waiting any longer just gives the spider more time to consider a plan of attack, and the only thing worse than having an enemy in your home is having an enemy in your home figure out your weakness… Which is itself… So you’re already fairly fucked. “I don’t give a damn how the hell you get rid of it but I want it out.” The spider crawls taunting back to the bedpost- feigning a retreat, “And preferably dead.”

“How about flambé?” Vega suggests with a wolfish smile.

“No.” Finley doesn’t skip a beat, a frown creasing their face,“We’re not setting the spider on fire.”

“Why not?” Vega, hands still shoved into their coat pockets, opens their arms in a shrug, “It’s easy. All we need is hairspray, and I have a lighter so-”

“Our goal is not to burn down this apartment building.”

“A little collateral damage never hurt anybody.”

A knock at the door draws your attention, Vega and Finley both seem to hesitate, glancing at you, but there’s no way in hell you’re leaving your barricade until the spider is gone. Eventually Vega wanders off to greet the rest of your backup, while Finley gives you a curious look, “How many people did you ask for help?”

“Uh, well, there was you, Vega, Raf, Ash… Jacob… and, um, Lucy?”

“Boss!” Both you and Finley respond almost automatically, looking to the door, where a rather frazzled Daisy stands, her face flushed red and chest heaving as if she ran up the stairs to get to your apartment. And, well, knowing just how reliable the elevators here are… she probably did.

“Oh, yeah, Daisy, too.”

“Boss are you o-ohhhhh,” Daisy, who had run into your room, skids to a stop when her eyes catch sight of the spider. “Ohhhhhhhh…” She stumbles back, until she’s wedged herself in the corner on the other side of the room. “Ohhhhh…”

“How aptly stated!” Vega swaggers back into the room, “I do believe we’ve a grand wordsmith in our midst, friends!”

Daisy shakes herself off, hopping back onto her feet, then backing away again as she hopped a tad too close to the spider for her comfort. “Uh, don’t worry Boss! I see the problem, I’ll help! I just… uh… you wouldn’t… happen to have any, um… gloves… would you? Maybe, uh, ones that go up the elbow? Or… you know… further if that’s at all possible.” She slides carefully to the side, placing Finley, who still stands closest to the bed with their arms crossed, strategically between herself and the spider.

“I-”

“Hello?” You hear a voice float in from the open door, “The door’s open should we just- hey wait!”

Before it can finish talking though, you hear footsteps trot down the hall, Ayesha’s head pops around the corner, a broad smile flashing over her face, “Hey! Lookit this! There’s a whole party in here! Raf, c’mon!”

“This isn’t really a party…” Finley’s mumblings go ignored as Ayesha strides into the room, followed just moments later by Raf.

“You shouldn’t just barge in…” He reprimands her with a quiet frown, then his eyes sweep across the gathered anti-spider army, “Oh, uh…” Eventually spotting you, still curled in the corner, “What happened? Are you ok?”

“No I’m not ok!” You can’t help but wail, “I asked all of you here to get rid of that and so far nobody’s done anything!”

Raf follows your accusational point, “A… spider?”

“An arachnid assailant!” Vega declares.

“It’s a bug.” Finley shrugs. “Vega wants to burn it.”

“I do have a lighter.”

“No.”

“Why do we have to kill it?” Raf interjects, “I can just take it outside if it’s bothering you…”

“But mercy is boring!”

“I just want it gone.” You’re on the verge of sobbing, not even out of fear anymore, but frustration that this is taking so long to get done. “I don’t care how you do it anymore, just get rid of it. Please.”

“I hear voices!” Blinking away the tears of annoyance, you look up into the doorway just as Lucy bursts through it, nearly taking Finley down with her as she runs into the room. Jacob hops to a halt just behind her, skidding on the carpet as he tries to avoid the collision in front of him as she tackles Finn from the back, catching herself and them quickly as she flashes an arm out and grabs Finley’s shoulder. “Sorry!”

“This really is a party!” Ayesha laughs to herself, leaning against the back wall, watching everything with an amused that just barely contains her laughter.

Lucy and Jacob both look ruffled and out of breath, both of their faces flushed with the same tell-tale red that Daisy had after running up the stairs. “We got… your text…” Jacob seems a little worse for wear than Lucy, who takes over as he leans on his knees and catches his breath again.

“I thought something bad had happened- ran into Jacob here who was also on the way, we figured since you texted us both it had to be serious. So we sprinted here.” She looks around, eyeing the snickering Vega, the now mildly annoyed Finley, the more surprised-than-she-was-fearful Daisy, the barely-contained Ayesha, concerned Raf, and, of course, you, still curled in the corner defensively. “Uh… What’s… the emergency?”

“There’s a spider.” Finley nods to the bed once.

“A spider?” Jacob’s head swings up, a bit of the red drained from his face, no longer panting between words. “Oh! That’s no problem, I can just-…” He trails off when he looks to the bed. Now, all the red is gone from his face. Instead, it’s deeply pale. “That’s a big spider.”

You watch as Jacob backs away, until soon he, too, is behind Finley- and now also Lucy- with Daisy. She pulls him into her own barricade quickly, one hand clasped to his shoulder… You’re not sure if she’s ready to throw him to the spider as sacrifice of if she’s trying to bring him into her safe area, too.

“Look,” Finley steps towards the bed, to which Daisy, Jacob, and even yourself all let out a weak warning. They stop, and sigh. “Let me just kill it, ok? I’ll just grab a paper towel and-”

Raf frowns, “-we could just let it go-”

So does Vega, “-but fire is a much better-”

Lucy shakes her head, “-we’re wasting time, I don’t need a paper towel just let me-”

Daisy jumps to action, almost pushing Jacob back- who lets out a protest of “Hey!”- as she takes a shaking step forward, “-I should prove myself-”

Ayesha is laughing in the corner, too much for her to join the mass of voices. All of which blur together incomprehensibly.

You find yourself looking from person to person- each one raising their voice margin by margin to get an inch over the others. Each one becoming more and more intelligible as they do. Soon, it’s little more than a roar of unknowable words and mashed-together voices, sprinkled with laughter. It makes you almost dizzy to listen to.

That is, until Jacob, who had remained mostly silent throughout all of this, speaks above the noise, “Hey!”

As if choreographed, he draws the attention of every eye in the room, including yours. But Jacob isn’t returning any of the many looks. No. His gaze is locked solely on the bed. “… Where’d the spider go?”

You’re on your feet in a second, pushing bodies aside as you shoulder your way to the bedpost. Now disturbingly spider free.

“Vega…?” Your voice is a whisper, eyes unmoving as if you might spook it back into existence.

“Yes?” They draw out the word, you can see a devilish grin pull back their lips as if they know exactly what you’re about to say.

“The hairspray is in the medicine cabinet,” You incline your head their way, still not glancing away from the spot, “Burn down the apartment, please.”

#tonight on: i write over 2000 words about a spider #but it was fun #i have zero regrets #answers #shorts #v bayer #jacob greenhill #lucille pinchette #finley 'im too tired for this shit' burke #aka #finley burke #rafael darzi #ayesha darzi #daisy kiddens #the spider patrol

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robertkstone · 6 years

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2018 Acura TLX A-Spec First Test Review: Actually Sort of Sporty

All the way back in 2004, Acura launched one of its most beloved models: the third-generation TL. The new TL paired an attractive design with a powerful 270-hp V-6, a premium interior, and an abundance of standard features at a price that significantly undercut its German competitors. But as we found in our long-term test, the front-wheel-drive TL was undertired, and torque steered way more than we would have liked.

Acura’s solution? The A-Spec package. It didn’t give the TL any additional power, but it did include an aero kit, bigger wheels, stickier tires, and a suspension tuned by one of the engineers responsible for the first-generation NSX. It practically eliminated both torque steer and understeer, turning the front-wheel drive TL into a legitimate sport sedan.

Acura’s subsequent sedans, however, have struggled to recreate that same magic. The cars themselves haven’t been bad, but the styling has been off, and it hasn’t felt like Honda knows exactly what it wants its luxury brand to be. With the much-hated “Power Plenum” grille officially dead, Acura would like us to believe it’s ready to reinvent itself. And part of that reinvention involves bringing back the A-Spec badge, this time on the TLX—the car that replaced both the TL and the TSX.

The question is, though, does the A-Spec treatment turn the TLX into a legitimate sport sedan, or has it been wasted on a car that’s a little too ho-hum to wear the badge? To find out, we ran a 2018 Acura TLX A-Spec through our full battery of tests to see just how competent it really is.

But first, what do you get for your money? Under the hood, there’s a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V-6 that sends its 290 hp to all four wheels with the help of a nine-speed automatic transmission. The A-Spec package also adds 19-inch “Shark Gray” wheels, a more aggressive appearance package, a sportier suspension, heated and ventilated sports seats, faux suede seat and door inserts, metallic trim, sportier gauges, wireless charging, and a few A-Spec badges.

Every A-Spec-equipped car also comes with the Technology package, which adds rain-sensing wipers, navigation, a premium 10-speaker audio system, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert.

In our acceleration tests, the TLX hit 60 mph in 6 seconds flat and did the quarter mile in 14.5 seconds at 96.6 mph. That’s slower than the all-wheel-drive Audi A4 we last tested but ahead of the all-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz C300. What’s impressive, though, is that the TLX laid down those exact same numbers no matter how many times we ran our tests.

“No matter what I did, it kept making the same numbers: In drive, in manual (where it still auto upshifts), with pedal overlap, without pedal overlap, it did the same run, time after time. Engine seems powerful, but the gear spacing doesn’t help it. If the gears were closer, it could use the power better,” wrote road test editor Chris Walton.

Braking, however, was a different story. “Four stops, and typical Honda/Acura, each one grew longer,” Walton wrote. “Brake pedal is medium-firm, and the body is well controlled and straight with no ABS pulses. However, after four quarter-mile passes, the brakes faded very much and the pedal went nearly to the floor. It needs more brakes.”

Even the TLX’s first 60-0 stopping distance of 118 feet was well behind the 108 feet we got from the Mercedes C-Class and the 105 feet we got from the Audi A4.

On the figure eight, testing director Kim Reynolds also had complaints about the gearing and the brakes. “I wasn’t able to completely turn off SC, but I don’t think it mattered too much. This cars gearing is sort of in-between—it wants to jump to third at the exits, which doesn’t help acceleration at all,” he wrote. “I was really having to use a lot of brake pedal force—harder pads? Anyway, it was noticeable.”

As for the handling, he found an interesting mix of understeer and oversteer: “Basically understeers but turns-in rather crisply. Some slight drift on exit. Could use a little more lateral seat support.” Still, it managed a commendable 0.92 g of lateral acceleration and a 25.8-second figure-eight time.

Although those comments might paint a picture of a pretty underwhelming sport sedan, on winding back roads, the TLX proved to be more fun than expected. For one, the exhaust note sounds surprisingly good in Sport+ mode (the mode we left the car in 99 percent of the time). And although other cars in its class offer more power and torque, 290 hp is still plenty.

Plus, unlike the refreshed RLX we drove recently, the TLX didn’t feel out of place in the corners. Driving the canyon roads near Los Angeles was actually enjoyable even if the TLX didn’t quite have the Alfa Romeo Giulia’s razor sharp reflexes.

Unfortunately, the brake fade that Walton experienced in testing was also an issue in the canyons. The bigger issue, however, was the tires. Acura sells the TLX A-Spec with Michelin Green-X tires that simply didn’t offer enough grip to encourage driving the car hard. Swap those out, and the TLX would probably be more fun.

Unfortunately, neither the refresh nor the A-Spec package can completely overhaul the TLX’s lackluster interior. For $45,765, most buyers will expect more. And although there’s always strong competition in this segment, the Genesis G70 is about to go on sale in the U.S., making the choice even harder. Based on our initial driving impressions, we suspect it will be hard to pick the TLX over the all-wheel-drive version of the G70.

It’s also impossible to talk about the TLX without bringing up its corporate sibling, the Honda Accord. The new Accord might not offer all-wheel drive or a V-6, but the 2.0T is remarkably sporty and can be had with an optional manual transmission. The Accord can’t quite hang with the TLX in the corners, but the 2.0T proved quicker to 60 mph and through the quarter mile. Plus, even without the premium nameplate, the redesigned Accord Touring actually felt more luxurious inside than the TLX. As long as all-wheel drive isn’t a necessity, a loaded Accord offers a more compelling overall package.

Still, even though the A-Spec package doesn’t quite turn the TLX into a true sport sedan, it’s not a total loss. It’s a commendable improvement over the original, especially when you consider that it’s been introduced as part of a midcycle refresh and not a full redesign. Anyone looking for a reliable all-wheel-drive sedan that offers a good number of features for the money will probably be happy with the TLX A-Spec.

2018 Acura TLX SH-AWD A-Spec BASE PRICE $45,765 PRICE AS TESTED $45,765 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINE 3.5L/290-hp/267-lb-ft SOHC 24-valve V-6 TRANSMISSION 9-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 3,804 lb (60/40%) WHEELBASE 109.3 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 191.5 x 73.0 x 57.0 in 0-60 MPH 6.0 sec QUARTER MILE 14.5 sec @ 96.6 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 118 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.92 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 25.8 sec @ 0.71 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 20/29/23 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 169/116 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.83 lb/mile

IFTTT

#IFTTT #PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3

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maybejustlaurie · 7 years

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Daddy

Well, fuck. I’m getting old and I haven’t mentally dealt with something that I fear has undermined me, and will continue to undermine me if I don’t address it.

I have an issue with feeling rejected. If I feel I’m not loved completely and unwaveringly, I have historically pushed people away and sought love and / or attention elsewhere.

My first memory of this is in primary school, year 4 or year 5. There was a girl in a grade above me who saw through the little shit I had become by that age (7 primary schools by that age, i had learned to NOT bother making friends) Sharn Skinner. Bless your sweet soul, I still remember clearly you playing cricket with me using a wooden ruler and a barbie shoe, while you took time to write to my mother telling her how sweet I was.

And of course, given the feeling I had but was not yet conscious enough to identify or articulate: that I was not loved / cherished / cared for, I crushed hard on this girl. Massively. Made a right 11yo tool of myself. But I see now that I was just reaching out for the care I had felt, and wanted more of.

I’ve rationalised certain things to myself over time: that my single mother had me at 18, no partner, and she did her best. That she struggled with an undiagnosed mental illness, and self medicated smoking pot. That she truly grew and filled her role of mother over time. But honestly: she was a flawed human like the rest of us, and some of her failings were just what they were. There were highlights and lowlights. Some of the lowlights will feature here, but that’s not to say she was a bad person, bad mother, or that I don’t miss her sincerely today, nearly 2 years after her passing.

I remember when I was 4 & 5 years old, playing in my room in a sydney suburb alone often, due to the low-hanging cloud of pot smoke due to mum & her friends smoking it up. She was smart enough to not want me breathing that.

There are swings and roundabouts with some things. I became smart. I learned to read early (credit to mum on that one), and would read to myself getting lost in fantasy when I was alone. Later in life I would read the Brittanica Children’s Encyclopaedia from cover to cover. To this day I have a broad general knowledge!

When I look back at my childhood behaviour I can’t spot any serious misbehaviour until we moved to Northern NSW.

In Sydney, where I was born and raised until I started year 2 at school, I had friends on the block who I could go outside and play with. We would ride our small bikes up and down the street as fast as we could. I still remember one of those boys had a ‘70’s style Harley-handlebar bike, it was slow off the line, but boy could be motor once he had some speed.

I had my grandparents, 2 uncles and an aunt (none all that much older than me) in the same suburb. Great grandmother and grandfather just a couple of suburbs over. I would even visit my paternal grandparents, I remember their harsh cockney accents, my aunt Dy being a complete sweetheart.

Then we were up there, first on a cattle farm my uncle was managing, then in our own house in the closest town, which had maybe 300 people. That was… ok. Not a lot of kids my age, but really only a few streets in size, so easy enough to play with other kids when I wanted. Evenings, the younger/more social adults went to the sole town pub. Mum made friends with the kitchen staff, and I remember I used to get raspberry lemonade for free. There was also a cocktail arcade machine (the low ones you’d sit on a stool at) and I remember playing pacman or galaga until I ran out of 20c pieces, and drifting off into daydreams until it was time to go home.

It was in this town mum met my future stepdad. Clearly something went on, because we suddenly moved out of town first to a caravan on a friend’s property, the to an old wooden farmhouse in the middle of a cane field. No car, I remember mum meeting me at school, and walking the 7km back to the farmhouse with her. I remember times being poor and mum fretting about food. I was young, but I didn’t miss the fact that money was tight.

Then we moved, moved, moved. Many places I’d go to more than 1 school as I first went to a public school, and once my great grandmother (a devout catholic) kicked up a fuss, then to a catholic school.

My Stepdad was an alcoholic at this time, and physically abusive. He hit mum, he hit me, he played favourites with the children he had previously. I remember one time when I was around 12 or 13, lending my BMX to his son, a few years younger. Now, I didn’t really want to, because he wasn’t great on a bike, but I knew I’d get hit if he went inside and created a fuss because I wasn’t playing nice. So I let him have a ride, he stacked it, hurt himself, and my stepdad came at me, fist swinging. He must have realised mid swing and pulled the punch, as I didn’t go flying across the yard. But the message was clear: that boy was more important than I was. I think it was about this time I really started acting out. Ran away from home (yawn), started stealing anything that wasn’t nailed down. Shit, I remember going on a rampage in town with my neighbours (from a km down the road) one day and literally stealing a remote control car, and even a ladies pay packet out of her car. I’m sorry, lady. If I knew who you were, I’d send you a large sum today to make up for the terrible time I’m sure you had without your pay. :(

There were a number of notable lowlights: getting cast as the secondary lead in a school play only to miss rehearsals due to whatever level of intoxication they had, getting busted down to a small role, and eventually not even taking part. Missing soccer matches due to people being too drunk or too busy socialising to take me the 12km to the field. I only ever played home games, away was just out of the question. On the many house moves we made in that time, one was to a women’s refuge, one was to government provided housing for abused women.

As it stands, at the end of year 10 as mum & stepdad were separating (triggered in large due to a government intervention over his physical abuse of one of my sisters) I asked to be sent to boarding school. I tell the story to people that it was an academic choice, as I was doing well at school and my young siblings made it hard to study. But in reality, I was desperately lonely, and I disliked spending time around the adults in the household. It wasn’t my young siblings’ fault I was distracted. It was the fact I was used as a babysitter and had to keep them quiet as best as I could. Impossible to focus on schoolwork while keeping 3 children between early primary school and toddler happy.

As an adult I’ve had a better time. I’ve been free to move back to Sydney, which I always viewed as home. It was the place things felt normal, the place I had friends and felt loved. I’ve made friends who are smart weirdos like I am, with dark humour but genuine and caring sides to them. They are few and far between, but I love them wholeheartedly, and I feel that in return from them. Never judgement; always understanding and care.

Romantic relations have not been as easy. Anyone who has shown a sign or a period of not being fully into me, I’ve pushed away. I’ve been so sensitive to not being a focus as a child that I can’t handle not being a focus as an adult. I’ve dated some absolute sweethearts and still been a horrid person pushing them away because I’ve dwelled on some item that I felt didn’t show me what I wanted and used that as an excuse to ditch them. Now, I’m not saying all were saints, some truly did treat me poorly, but I know there are examples of amazing people I just didn’t jump in with both feet with because I’m STILL, TODAY so damn scared of being treated as unimportant, as second best, of reliving some of that childhood trauma.

It’s ok, I tell myself. You’re an adult now, it’s all in the past. Except it’s not, that shit is still in my head, and it was there for so much of my childhood that it’s part of me. It defines many aspects of who I am. Smart loner with attachment issues. Great worker until he develops an issue with his boss (parent/power figure) and makes waves. I mean, fuck. It’s there to see, I see it.

So out of all this I’m left with a question: WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU, DAD?

I know my mum could be a right bitch to deal with. Trust me. I had to deal with it. For years, many times alone.

But we had times of being nearly homeless. We lived in a refuge! We had times of being hungry. There was no housing stability. There was abuse. There was so much questionable activity and there was drug haze in our loungeroom for a solid 12 years.

I’m sure if my mother felt she had an option, there were many occasions on which she’d have left my worthless POS stepdad. But she had no money, no family nearby, she was abused. There was no fallback, no safety net. She first had a son to provide for, and later several children to worry about.

Shit, even if you hadn’t fulfilled YOUR RESPONSIBILTY in paying child support, I’m certain there was a time when I was maybe 13 when mum called Joan and Sid to reach out for help. I remember because she was too ashamed to call herself and made me place the call. I remember someone picking up, and I responded automatically “nan-dad” - which is what I remembered calling my grandfather when I was younger. It was Dy on the phone, and she laughed when I said that. I didn’t hear the conversation once mum took the handset, but as an adult I know exactly what that call would have been… and yet our situation remained the same.

For that absence when it counted; I’m not sure I’ve ever forgiven you.

Now, I know full well that forgiveness is for the self, not for the other person.

But it’s so hard to reconcile my childhood with the fact that, even if not as a constant, you weren’t even there when it counted.

What kind of human being does that to their own?

I recently reached out to some of my siblings; the children you had after me, and I was shocked to find that they’ve heard a lot about me. When you weren’t there, when I never got to speak to you, even though I asked for you by name. (I remember knowing you as Keith, not “dad”)

I’ve honestly found it difficult to progress the conversation after reaching out to my siblings, I’m so scared that I’ll just say something like “oh, so he was a dad to you? What was that like?”

I need to deal with this. To eliminate the issues it creates in my personal and professional lives.

But I also need to say a sincere FUCK YOU. Life was hard without you around, and it’s sincerely un-fucking-cool to know that some of the darker periods would have been better if you’d just stepped up to the responsibility you had. You fucking coward. Mum could be horrible, but you had a son. Becoming a parent means that person is more important than you. End of story.

Even if I didn’t have an “always dad” a “sometimes dad” would have really changed things. It would have allowed my mother to escape some of her worst situations (regardless of how how much she’d created them herself). It would have given me a voice of reason in some traumatic times where I had no real adults to turn to. It would have given me more stability when that’s what any child needs in life. Learning to NOT make friends is not a lesson any child should learn. Stealing not just because you’re acting out, but because you’re truly going without is not a lesson any child should learn.

*sigh*

It’s good to get that out, but now I know I need to dismantle this anger, this disappointment, and the end results of the maelstrom this creates in my mind.

And to any partner I’ve hurt by pushing them away unnecessarily: I’m truly sorry. I know it’s a massive movie cliche, but I can say with certainty: it wasn’t you, it was me.

I’ll try, really try, to accept the love that I see and not judge everything through the lens of missing (physically or metaphorically) love.

#fuck #personal #daddy #dad #abuse #abuse tw #childhood #parents

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