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#its a dark one so i guess ... use your best judgement about what kind of content you're comfy with
allylikethecat · 5 months
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omg yes!! i knew immortal in a strangers lap had to be yours!!
(also dont feel pressured to answer this btw if you want to keep it quiet/only for people who look)
Ok so, I held onto this for way to long because I wasn't totally sure if I was emotionally ready to claim it as mine but then I was like, the information is out there on my tumblr page if you go looking for it, and despite how dark it is, it is a fic I am weirdly proud of 😂 Thank you so much for reading and I'm going to hope this means you enjoyed it! I don't think I'm going to be claiming in on AO3 any time soon because I think it then sends an email to all of your user subscribers? (Unsure at this time) and THAT I'm not sure if I'm ready for- BUT thank you so much for reading and for reaching out! 🥰 I hope you are having a lovely week and a lovely Christmas if you celebrate! Thank you so much again for your support!
❤️Ally
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edenmemes · 3 years
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assassin’s creed valhalla starters
words within ‘()’ are additional, optional choices! more maybe to be added at a later date. some n/sfw present. 
❝ you should see the other man. he got the worst of it. ❞   ❝ and who better to lead us to glory than me? ❞ ❝ i am most at home helping others. ❞       ❝ i’ve waited long enough for you, and you for me. ❞   ❝ thank you for not saying anything about my past. ❞       ❝ know that however far away, you’re always in my thoughts. ❞   ❝ when you see your god, tell them i sent you. ❞   ❝ what you make up in muscles, you’re lacking in spine. ❞   ❝ i almost envy you, to see the world through such a muddy glass and live with such petty concerns. ❞   ❝ i smell the stink of a dozen kingdoms in your beard. ❞   ❝ this feud is not yours, yet you fight it all the same. i find that strange. ❞   ❝ by the look on your face, you have lost your will to live. ❞   ❝ my arms are numb from battle. does it need any dressing?    do you think it is a serious wound? ❞   ❝ oh dear. this is not how i foresaw things. not at all! ❞   ❝ should we take this to your chamber? ❞   ❝ i want this. i want you. ❞   ❝ turn around, walk away, and you keep your insides inside. ❞   ❝ stay back! back! i will fight you! ❞   ❝ you look like reddened shit. what happened? ❞   ❝ i have always wanted to experience the world as you do. ❞   ❝ you come like a valkyrie out of a fog. but i have no dead to give you. ❞   ❝ all right, stay close and do as i do. ❞   ❝ home. or...it was home, once. now it is nothing but bone. ❞   ❝ i’ll have no qualms wiping clean your grin. ❞   ❝ just take care. such hatred can make you careless. ❞   ❝ away from your table for a day and you are already lusting for blood. ❞   ❝ if i did not know any better, i would say you are teasing me. ❞   ❝ the dream of new lands is a powerful lure. ❞   ❝ i love climbing up here. makes me feel as high as a raven. ❞   ❝ if i don’t find your horse, i will steal you a new one. ❞   ❝ i feel somewhat trapped. in this room, in this settlement, in this life. ❞   ❝ you are lost in a sea-storm of your own making. ❞   ❝ the poet in you sings once again. ❞   ❝ tonight, we will eat and drink like gods and wake in a kingdom made new. ❞   ❝ i wish i understood you better. for those i do not understand, i do not trust. (and i cannot stomach a lack of trust.) ❞ ❝ i’ve been called worse. ❞   ❝ you have nothing to fear from me. i bear you no ill will. ❞   ❝ you are a shadow of your father. weak and witless. ❞   ❝ what is this? is this...are we in hell? ❞   ❝ keep company with kings and you will soon have a crown of your own. ❞   ❝ a toothless cub may grow to be a dangerous wolf. ❞   ❝ you are far too young to speak so wise. ❞   ❝ i need clear, sound judgement. i need you. ❞   ❝ kind and courageous people live the best lives, but it can be a difficult path to keep. ❞ ❝ i want to say...i love you. and i have for some time. ❞ ❝ you smell that? the stink of jealousy. (of our budding friendship, i think). ❞   ❝ ah, while i have you, i’m reminded...i have this for you. ❞   ❝ your lies are just like you. big and bold. ❞   ❝ don’t excuse yourself. you enjoy this too much. ❞   ❝ you've come back. why are you wasting your time with me? ❞   ❝ care to sing a song? helps me pass the time. ❞   ❝ that is twice you have earned my admiration. ❞   ❝ you have only the setting sun to tell you when to stop. ❞   ❝ i want to know what you know. name your price. ❞   ❝ people like you deserve something worse than death. ❞   ❝ they called me a lout, a disgrace. they were right. ❞   ❝ i will have to get used to watching the sights of war from afar now. ❞   ❝ there’s no other way. fight or hide. it’s up to you. ❞   ❝ do not think me a coward. i am not afraid of war. ❞   ❝ friendships end. often at the point of a spear. ❞ ❝ i will make you beg as your father begged. ❞   ❝ (until that time,) it would be best to keep all discussions about...    about us to yourself. ❞ ❝ without you i would have lost my way a thousand times. ❞   ❝ you have no other friends. so tread lightly here. ❞   ❝ be it a blessing or a curse, family is always first. ❞   ❝ let’s not walk too far with that idea. i need you right where you are. ❞   ❝ you bested me. yet, i’m the one left standing. ❞   ❝ it’s a pleasure to meet you at least. ❞   ❝ you and your people here have done more for me than i could ever repay. ❞   ❝ you have my highest respect, regard, and trust. ❞   ❝ you’re not shy, are you? ❞   ❝ if we do this, you’ll earn the right to call me friend ten-thousand fold. ❞   ❝ does this have the stench of betrayal to you? ❞ ❝ today has meant so much. we rode, we fought, we drank, we laughed. (you showed me your world.) ❞       ❝ your end was written the moment you came for me. ❞   ❝ i am a sellsword. i ask what i please, and i take what i’m owed. ❞ ❝ you move and i will take your eyes. you hear me? ❞   ❝ i will leap first. on my word, you must follow. ❞   ❝ many times i wished to tell you. wished to say what was in my heart and what i desired. (but duty kept me from it.) ❞   ❝ these wounds will heal quickly. you’re lucky. ❞   ❝ anything to help you feel at home. ❞   ❝ our friendship is the best thing to come from this mess. ❞   ❝ you will be remembered for this, for years to come. ❞   ❝ i thought i had lost you. for good this time. ❞   ❝ you have shown me a great kindness. it is only fitting that i do the same. ❞   ❝ the mess you’re in...you don’t know the half of it. ❞   ❝ you have drawn a dark conclusion about me, haven’t you? (that is all well and good. i’ve drawn some about you as well.) ❞   ❝ you seem...strangely familiar. ❞   ❝ here i am, an upright man who never once learned how to bend the knee. and yet...i shall try. ❞ ❝ that’s a bread knife. do you mean to butter me? ❞   ❝ is that not something you worry over? ❞   ❝ a blind pursuit of vengeance has made you predictable. ❞   ❝ no matter where you are, or how far you travel, i will hunt you down. ❞   ❝ i came for you, looking for a friend and ally. ❞   ❝ people change.    it may be that you change with them, or you go your separate ways. ❞   ❝ i wish you whatever peace you may find in this new life you’ve found. ❞   ❝ i want your word: you will follow my orders. ❞   ❝ the day is new, and the air is bracing. are you ready for the fight ahead? ❞   ❝ er...good to meet you as well? ❞   ❝ what riches are worth so much misery, and the deaths of honorable men and women? ❞   ❝ my destiny is mine to weave. ❞   ❝ my road forward has been a muddy one. slick with blood and tears. (but we can reach its end together.) ❞   ❝ it is a wise leader who considers the needs of others. ❞   ❝ i think my mouth has gotten me in enough trouble today. ❞   ❝ at the end of all things, you will find yourself with nothing but your regrets. ❞   ❝ you saw fit to keep me guessing through your fits of madness. ❞   ❝ by all the gods, what was that? ❞   ❝ i was...restless. a quiet walk alone clears the head. ❞   ❝ when winter is past, summer will come and wind you in a flowered skirt, for you are beauty and shall not wither. ❞   ❝ ...unless you had a more interesting day planned for us? ❞   ❝ i do hope you see it now, for all you have done for me. ❞   ❝ your passion, your strength. i have never met such a burning soul. ❞   ❝ i have no guilt nor regret for what we have done, but we should be careful. ❞   ❝ i see before me a person full of passion, vigor, and a love for their people. ❞   ❝ if i wanted to hear you talk shit, i’d cut out your tongue and shove it up your ass. ❞   ❝ you! you look stronger than most of the others. ❞   ❝ your hatred for me burns bright. i could warm my balls on it. ❞   ❝ you’re quite like your arms: incredibly thick. ❞   ❝ i fought as i do, as hard as i do, to survive. (for i know what awaits us in the end. only darkness.) ❞   ❝ a shameful trick. you are your father’s child. ❞   ❝ you destroyed my life. i will take yours. ❞   ❝ you snore a little, like a wounded bear. ❞   ❝ that’s when i knew i would live and die for you. ❞   ❝ i’m going to pretend your last words were taken by the wind. ❞   ❝ i might still kill you yet, if your prattling doesn’t cease. ❞   ❝ you are weak like your father was weak. (you dance better than you fight.) ❞   ❝ have you ever seen muscles as massive as mine? ❞   ❝ i’m honored by your faith in me. and your confidence. ❞   ❝ after my missteps, i worry what you must think of me. ❞   ❝ with so much blood in the water and death in the air, i’d like to know your name and purpose. ❞ ❝ i have a good feeling about this place. ❞   ❝ you helped me reclaim what i had lost in myself. ❞       ❝ you speak of honor. where’s yours? ❞       ❝ you will throw away all reason to defend what you sworn to. ❞       ❝ you really are like a hero out of folk tales. ❞       ❝ how much would you sacrifice to be freed of fate’s shackles? (would you give your tongue, your hand, your sight?) ❞   ❝ there’s no power strong enough to do what you say. ❞       ❝ please, you must fight for me.    who knows what vile people might come to harm me? ❞   ❝ i have no need to count my kills. they number too many. ❞   ❝ i appreciate you for all of your qualities. ❞ ❝ not even the gods can change fate. ❞       ❝ i think it is time i take my leave. ❞ ❝ you really thought my life was in danger? (and you risked your own life...) ❞ ❝ the path ahead is bright, with glory at its end. ❞ ❝ it is easy to lose one's way on the road to glory. do not let false victories blind you to what is true. ❞ ❝ the act of leaving so beloved a home, there is a sadness to it. ❞       ❝ so there’s nowhere...you call home? ❞   ❝ all things end. ruins are not a warning, they are a testament. ❞   ❝ be nice to sleep in a real bed when this is over. ❞   ❝ in my sleep i dream. and in my dreams i see an end to the doom that will grip the earth once again. ❞   ❝ even when we win, we lose. ❞   ❝ i am as good with my lips, as i am with my tongue. ❞   ❝ is this your idea of a pleasant ride through the country? ❞   ❝ no whispering god brought me here. i brought myself. ❞   ❝ i would like very much to pass some time with you. ❞   ❝ ...and that’s how i got that scar. ❞   ❝ do i now haunt your dreams? ❞   ❝ it was never in their character to lead, it was always within yours. ❞   ❝ so easily wounded by words. imagine the ruin my axe would inflict on your flaccid ego. ❞   ❝ i have felt this way for some time now. i care for you. ❞   ❝ i have not felt safe since then. not really. ❞   ❝ how long have you been chasing me? seventeen winters? eighteen? ❞   ❝ you are not always to be trusted. your passions overcome you. ❞   ❝ i like you. you may help me here or step on me...and by the look of you i’d welcome either. ❞   ❝ it is good to have you in this fight. ❞   ❝ you need only know my impressive scale and flawless build. ❞   ❝ i am better than any man here. ❞   ❝ i can tell by looking at you, you are not a great warrior. (you know it too, there is no reason to deny this.) ❞   ❝ i am looking for honor, and have become lost as a result. ❞   ❝ many apologies. you are no child, simply a frail and fully-grown fool. ❞   ❝ i was stupid, selfish, reckless, blind, boneheaded, and i smell like blood and shit. ❞ ❝ anything to say for the mess you led us to? ❞   ❝ how was your...first kill? ❞   ❝ you squirm like that and my axe will miss your neck! unpleasant for both of us. ❞   ❝ i know you would defy me to the death, fighting for a glorious end.     that i will not allow. ❞   ❝ most men choose to be loud or stupid. impressive, that you managed both. ❞   ❝ you are a great warrior. conquerer of this land and that of your birth. ❞   ❝ you’re chasing shadows like a madman howling at the moon! ❞   ❝ quite a hit you took. how many were lost? ❞   ❝ well fought! even if your wits were somewhat rattled. ❞   ❝ we suffered no losses in this fight, and the men who humiliated us are dead. what is there to say? ❞   ❝ i would like to be close to you. ❞   ❝ if you are a warrior with honor running like sunlight in your veins, then you may help me fulfill my destiny. ❞ ❝ you are a long way from any warm hearth, warrior. Is this where you call home? ❞ ❝ am i to go the rest of my days without love or attention? i think not. ❞   ❝ the gods favor you. they always have. ❞   ❝ the others, they are like clubs. blunt and ungainly, you are nimble, like a knife. ❞   ❝ people with eyes that gleam like yours are always up to something more. ❞   ❝ only a fool stays awake all night worrying. you are tired when you get up, and the problem is still not solved. ❞   ❝ i liked you from the first. i saw something in you that captivated me. (as if a forgotten memory of an old friendship had suddenly resurfaced.) ❞   ❝ you've done nothing but give me your blind word! ❞   ❝ did you bring me any treasure? ❞ ❝ the woodsmoke from your firepit does sting the eyes. but the warmth is welcome. ❞ ❝ it is not something i can speak on. or wish to. ❞ ❝ i'm with you. only say the word. ❞ ❝ until we cut off this serpent's head, it will poison us, day by day, drop by drop. ❞ ❝ get some rest and return here at first light. ❞ ❝ i missed having you at my side. how i wished i could have taken you along on my travels. ❞ ❝ i do not like this, but i will not stop you. ❞ ❝ i have waited too many years for this day. when ___ stands before us, give me the final blow. ❞ ❝ why do you carry such a useless burden? let it go. ❞ ❝ i have waited years for this, but i will not risk losing it through rashness. ❞ ❝ i cannot fathom your game. you are either a young fool...or deceptively wise. ❞ ❝ your confidence blinds you to so much in plain sight. ❞   ❝ it’s good to be here, with you and your people. (i feel my life has found a new road.) ❞   ❝ there has always been war, even among the gods. ❞       ❝ my honor has been stained. until it's wiped clean, i want nothing else. ❞ ❝ i lack the patience for pole fishing. i would have better luck with my bow. ❞   ❝ if we tell all our stories, we’ll be here for a week. ❞ ❝ can you teach me the art of archery? ❞   ❝ bury the past. build the future. ❞       ❝ i missed you. your clear head and your courage. (we have not had enough of both in recent months.)   ❞   ❝ i have a good feeling this war is near its end. ❞ ❝ explain in plain words why you have willfully disobeyed my commands. (do you mock me?) ❞   ❝ the gods favor you. they always have. ❞   ❝ my love for you rises tall and strong, like the tree of life. ❞   ❝ the prize is some of my time. (a walk in nature, maybe more if that is where our conversation takes us.) ❞ ❝ together, we are unstoppable. ❞ ❝ it is natural to fear change. to resist it. (but all things change, and all things end.) ❞ ❝ you said nothing of this to me, not a word. ❞ ❝ so long as men and women fight to secure honor and freedom, their allegiance hardly matters to me. ❞ ❝ i care for you. i do not know how to say it any other way. ❞   ❝ love can burn brighter near death. ❞ ❝ i knew this would be difficult, but sometimes the weight bears down heavily. ❞ ❝ you are young and still foolish, so i will spare you your life. (but cross me again or harm anyone i cherish, and you will join your friends in hell.)   ❞ ❝ if you are as brave as you appear, you will come. ❞ ❝ this is not a natural quiet. it's as if a curse has befallen this place. ❞ ❝ there was a curse here long before i came along. ❞ ❝ we’ll forge a warrior from your softness, hammered on the anvil of war. ❞ ❝ you are different than the kind my flights of fancy attract. burdened, decorated and…delicate. ❞ ❝ i do not know what else to say. m-my memories are faint, hazy. ❞ ❝ how are you doing? you survived a serious blow. ❞   ❝ we’ll weave our sagas together, thread upon thread. ❞ ❝ i try to use my knowledge to help others. i am only a threat to those who fear the unknown. ❞   ❝ slap some moss on that gash and wrap it well. ❞   ❝ a knife to the back is a wound that never heals. ❞       ❝ with me you have wisdom! glory! power! what more do you need? ❞       ❝ if your hell is real, i’m glad you’ll get to see it. ❞   ❝ to fight beside such legends is an honor. (i've only heard tales of your conquests. now i get to live them.) ❞   ❝ i have tried to live well. it is enough that the gods know that. ❞ ❝ a cloud hangs over you. is something wrong? ❞   ❝ you have plunged my city into chaos. ❞   ❝ my sword is gore-greedy. i am ready to fight. ❞   ❝ accept your fate and die a coward, here before your people... and i will spare the rest. ❞   ❝ you would take the rescue for yourself, so the victory song is written about you? ❞   ❝ kneel, and i will spare your life. ❞   ❝ it has been some time. what brings you so far to see me? ❞
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taestefully-in-luv · 3 years
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The Island | KTH (Four)
Summary: You’re just two strangers waking up in a room on a lonely island where a company in the business of love has placed you. They believe that thanks to their in depth research you two are destined soulmates. What happens when your ‘soulmate’ and you want nothing to do with each other but falling in love is the only way to leave?
Pairing: Taehyung x Female reader
Genre: strangers to lovers, very slight enemies to lovers, soulmates au, roommate au, slow burn, fluff, smut, angst, slight crack, and drama.
Word Count: 11k
Warnings: swearing, sexual tension (?) implied sex
Notes: this is not a reflection of Taehyung’s art! Just saying lol But anyway, hope you guys like this chapter. Tae and oc sure have a lot of moments huh. let me know if you want to be added to the taglist, or send an ask if just want to chat about the stories!:)
Taglist: @ggukkieland @707sblog @peacedreamer14 @dopedreamfireparty @everythingnamjoon @taebae19 @typicalgenzworld @mooniyooni @getmemyfries @helenazbmrskai @justinetingball @jpeachytaev
© taestefully-in-luv
Previous --- Next
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Month 4
“What the fuck is that?” You point accusingly towards the paper Taehyung is excitedly holding up.
“What do you mean,” he grins. “It’s you!”
“…throw it away.”
“What?! No! I worked hard on this!”
“I look like a god damn frog.”
“In the painting or in real life becau—"
“THE PAINTING!” You leap towards Taehyung and reach for his atrocious artwork. Can he even call this disaster art? No offense, no actually, full offense but its ugly as hell. Taehyung lifts it high above his head.
“Listen, listen…don’t you think this hurts my feelings a little y/n? I worked hard on th—”
“I swear to God Taehyung…if you don’t burn this—"
“OKAY OKAY! No need to put out threats!” he pouts almost theatrically. You eye him up and down, waiting for him to make a move towards a trashcan but he just stands here.
“Well? Go throw it away.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Yeah, no.”
You close your eyes, pinching the bridge of your nose, “What do you mean no?”
Taehyung narrows his eyes at you and laughs under his breath as he steps closer to you.
“First of all, you don’t tell me what to do. I prefer if it’s the other way around.” He smirks, “And second, I am still going to keep it. For the memories.”
You chew on your lips for a few moments, letting his words sink in. But for the memories?
“For the memories? Why would you want to remember any of this?”
Taehyung frowns at your words, he looks genuinely offended.
“I might not like our situation but…”
“But what?”
“Fuck, don’t make me say it.” He says while turning red. “You know, I still want to make good memories with like, you.” He admits softly.
You finally give in, gently reaching for the awful artwork. Don’t get it wrong, Taehyung’s art is usually so beautiful. He does landscapes and abstract pieces and they absolutely blow you away. But his portraits of people? Disgusting.
“Fine…” You smile down at the painting in your hands then look back at him, “But if I see this hung up anywhere I am burning it myself.” You smirk. “And I will take great pleasure in that.”
“Oooooh please tell me more about your pleasures.” Taehyung wiggles his brows at you.
“You’re the worst.” you smile, “Anyway, do we have a deal?” you stick out your hand for him to shake.
“Deal!” Taehyung cheeses, slapping your hand down and going in for a quick hug instead. You’re surprised to say the least, you kind of guessed Taehyung was the affectionate type but you didn’t expect to be on the receiving end of it. “I’ll be in my art room most the day. Movie night though?”
“Yes, movie night.” you oblige.
“Yay.” He chirps happily, skipping off to his art room down the hall. You can’t help but smile as he disappears from your sight.
But then your heart pinches in your chest. You want to feel happy. Are you just ungrateful? You should be happy. Taehyung is finally being himself around you and you finally feel like you aren’t as alone. But it’s all a façade technically…he’s got no one else, just like you have no one else. In the real world…if you two met would you become friends like this? Or is this all forced? Is your entire friendship fake? You feel your heart sink to the bottom of your stomach, you hate these thoughts.
He’s so different than you thought he would be…he’s lighthearted, he’s funny, he’s silly, he’s talented, he’s human. And don’t even get started on flirty Taehyung…You really thought he was some closed off asshole but as time goes on and he becomes more and more comfortable you see the real him, and you really enjoy it. And you hate that you enjoy it. What are you like? Are you still a brat? Does he still think that? You chuckle to yourself, he probably does. Has he grown so comfortable with you that he’s not as angry about being stuck here with you? No, you imagine he’s still really upset about this whole thing. He just doesn’t voice it to you as much anymore. Maybe he’s avoiding the subject. You can understand why. It’s awkward. This place wants to get you two together but neither of you are interested in the other romantically. You just don’t see it happening.
~~~~~
Taehyung is just relaxing in his room on the verge of a glorious nap, he is finally dozing off, eyes slowly closing when his head snaps up in reaction to a loud crash coming from downstairs. Now what the hell could that be? Panicked, he rushes to his feet. He flies down the stairs in record time trying to find the source of the loud bang. He stands in the living room, glancing around the area for any sign of you. Are you okay? Where are you? Shit. Frustrated, he runs his fingers through his hair and as calmly as possible calls out for you. But nothing. Fuck. Your name slips past his lips in growing panic.
He decides he is going to charge each room in search for you, when he reaches the door to his art studio. He can hear muffled words on the other side of the door.
“Shit. Damn. Fuck.”
He instantly roll his eyes to the back of his head, literally so far back all that’s seen is the white of his eyes.
“Such foul language for such a pretty mouth.” He whispers to himself, slowly creeping the door open, exposing a distracted and distraught you.
“Motherfucker!” you huff, your hands on your hips, eyeing the mess you made. God damn did you make a fucking mess. On the floor is a canvas, brushes scattered and a rainbow of colors splattered all around.
“What. Are. You. Doing.”
Your head whips in his direction, your face turning many shades of reds. He stands at the doorway making his presence known, looking at you expectantly, judgement in his eyes. At least he hopes you can see the judgement in his eyes. Because he is definitely judging like hella hard.
You continue to stand here, your blush deepening. He is too frustrated to find it anything but annoying. You begin to stutter out words he can’t make out. You are trying your best, that much is obvious. You’re trying to explain yourself but he can tell you’re only becoming more and more flustered at the situation. He is sure his annoyed expression doesn’t help your ability to speak. Whoops.
“I-I was…well, you said, well remember you said…” You try. You really try. He almost wants to laugh, but not quite.
“I-I said? I said what?” He keeps his stoic demeanor intact, just stressing you further. He’s almost having fun with this. Almost.
“Well, Taehyung…listen,” you try again. “You said,”
“I said?”
Your eyes scan the room as if there’s something here that will help you.
“Words y/n. I need you to use your words.” He demands, maybe having a little fun stressing you out. He sees your blush become such a deep shade of red that even he feels embarrassed.
Finally, you releases a long breath and words begin spilling out of your mouth.
“You said you wanted to keep that frog picture—“
“Your portrait, you mean.”
“Yes, yes whatever. Anyway, you wanted to keep it for the memories, right? You…you…you’re sentimental like that or whatever.” You pause to take a breath. “And and…”
He raises a brow at you, taking a few steps forward, mindful of the mess you made.
“And?”
You raise your head to look into his eyes. You’re staring so intensely that he wonders where you got this wave of confidence from. He stares back just as seriously. Your eyes are the same as usual, dark, plain, boring. For the most part.
“And…I decided that maybe, that maybe I want to…paint you…too?” you step forward. “You know, for the memories.” You tear your eyes away from him. But he sort of wishes you didn’t.
His brows pinch together at your little idea. You want to paint him ? He studies your face seeing if maybe there’s anything else. You look tense under his gaze, he admits that makes him feel kind of good. Is that mean? You look so incredibly shy, and it is so fucking...something, he doesn’t know what but it’s something. He continues to observe you and your shy expressions.
He looks down at you and breaks into his best shit eating grin, his hand reaches down to ruffle your hair.
“Yes!” he lightly chuckles, “Let’s make lots of memories!”
It looks like you’re in a daze, his reaction catching you off guard, he guesses. Taking a moment to collect yourself, you look up into his eyes again.
“Yeah, lots of ‘em.” your smile slowly begins to fade, “We won’t be here forever, so we have to leave with lots of memories.” you mutter.
Taehyung feels himself go soft at your words.
“y/n…” he slides his fingers down to cup the back of your head, fingers gently massaging your scalp. “When this is all over…we can still be in contact, you know?” Your eyes travel to the floor, eyeing the mess you made. He’s still getting over that.
“I know…but Taehyung, I still feel like I don’t even know basic things about you! Like what even is your favorite, uh, I don’t know, animal? I can’t tell you how long I have been wondering that and—”
“Then let’s have a whole night dedicated to that. Let’s drink some wine, paint some pictures and learn everything there is to know!” he moves his hand forward, his fingers playing at the ends of your hair, “Like, what shampoo did they give you because your hair is soft as fuck.”
You give him an unimpressed look,
“I know you steal my shampoo sometimes, I’m not dumb.”
“Don’t know what you are talking about.” He cheeses.
“But okay,” you grin at him, “Let’s do that.”
“I love Koalas and sloths!” You’re laid out on your stomach, swinging your legs above you while sipping on your red wine.
“You can’t choose two!”
“I just did.”
“Fine. Mine is…drum roll…its…” he pats the floor repeatedly.
“Oh come on! Tell me! I’ve been dying to know!”
“Its…lion!” he lays next to you, resting on his side. He eyes the painting you are working on. It’s supposed to be him…supposed to be.
“I like lions too.” You add more color to the background of the canvas. He can hear the smile in your voice.
“Sheesh…and you think I am bad at drawing people…”
“Stop being a hater!”
“ME?” he stares at you incredulously.
You and Taehyung are a few glasses of wine in already. He can tell its hitting you harder than its hitting him, you’re extra talkative and all giggly. He’s painted a picture of the beach while you’ve worked on a portrait of him, it’s amusing to say the least—the portrait. Pretty quickly glasses turned into bottles. Bottle number 3 has been opened and now he is also talkative and all giggly. He’s a giggly lil thang when he’s drunk, and he is drunk.
“Okay,” he sits up, sitting on his legs. “First impression of me, go!” he laughs, for literally no reason.
“I thought you kidnapped me.” You state plainly, “So like, a creepy person.”
His jaw drops.
“I’m offended!” He lays his hand over his heart. “You thought I was creepy?! And there I was thinking you were just some hot chick I hooked up!” Yes, he called you hot to your face. He is drunk, he is allowed to do that. Yeehaw.
“Okay to be fair, that thought crossed my mind too.”
“That I was some hot chick you hooked up with?”
“I never said hot.”
“But you were thinking it, right right?” he wiggles his eyebrows in the most exaggerated way.
You smirk before chugging back the rest of your wine, reaching for a new bottle.
“Okay, maybe I thought it.” You admit, your sly smile growing.
“Want me to open it?” he gestures towards the wine bottle.
“Please.”
He reaches for the bottle of wine, his hands brushing against yours. He hates that he feels a quiet fire in his insides when he touches you. He hates how when his skin makes contact with your skin there is an automatic heat that lights up and warms him, burns him almost.
“Do you have someone? That you like?” You slur out, curious about Taehyung’s love life.
“…Yes.” Taehyung admits softly.
“I am what they call a ‘Dilf’” Jin states confidently. The rest of the boys share a look of confusion.
“You literally aren’t a dad?” Jimin looks at Jin with a puzzled smile.
“But you can’t tell me I am not a ‘dilf’ though.”
“Okay Jin, you’re a dilf.” Namjoon rolls his eyes, going back to his book.
“I wanna be a dilf too.” Jungkook whines and Taehyung nods his head in agreement. Jin shakes his fingers at the boys and speaks up.
“You have to earn the title.”
“Yeah, by being a dad.” Jimin deadpans.
“Let the man have his dreams.” Yoongi says before putting his ear bud back in his ear and nodding along to whatever song is playing.
“My dream is to finish this assignment.” Hobi groans into his pile of papers on the table.
“This is your fault for going back to school for your masters!” Taehyung teases. He has just recently dropped out of school and he is loving it. He watches as his friend works night after night on paper after paper and Taehyung no longer has to worry about things like that. He can just focus on the music.
“Are you guys using this chair?” Taehyung hears a sweet voice cut off all their chatter. He looks up to see this gorgeous girl with light brown hair that reaches her waist and eyes as bright as the sun.
“Uh, no.” Taehyung clears his throat, “You can take it.”
“Thanks.” She smiles at Taehyung and then at the rest of the boys before she’s dragging the chair to the table next to them.
“Holy shit.” Taehyung whispers to Jungkook, “She’s so pretty.”
“That’s Hana.” Jungkook looks over his shoulder at Hana and her friends. “I have a class with her.”
“Bro, introduce me!” Taehyung begs. “You literally owe me.”
“From what?!”
“I let you fuck that one chick like 2 years ago even though I saw her first.”
“Oh? You let me? Really?” Jungkook rolls his eyes. “But anyway, sure. I’ll introduce you.” He says nonchalantly, picking up his drinking and taking a sip.
“Taehyung?” you wave your hand in front of his blank face. “Taehyung?” “Huh? Yeah?” he starts snapping out of his memories, “what’s up? What did you say?”
“I asked her name.” you smile awkwardly, “The girl you like.”
“Hana.” He quietly clears his throat, “What about you? Do you have someone?”
“After my ex? I am staying away from men for a while.” You laugh, “Like, can you blame me?”
Taehyung can’t help by frown at your words.
“Don’t close yourself off…” Taehyung whispers to you. “You’re too pretty for that.” He slurs out and you blink at him repeatedly.
“I’m pretty?”
Taehyung scoffs and rolls his eyes playfully.
“Like you didn’t know.”
Hours pass you two by, more wine has been drank and you two are giggling like school children. Taehyung is folded over, laughing a storm as you do your best impression of a dolphin. You can’t help but fall over and laugh your head off as well, the alcohol obviously has made you two crazy.
Taehyung finally calms down and looks at you with soft eyes, “So, what’s your biggest fear?” he asks, leaning forward.
“No!” you laugh. Fucking laugh. “Listen, we can go back to our serious convos another day…right now I wanna…” you slur your last words, “wanna talk about fun stuff.” you give him the most sleazy wink he’s ever seen. It kind of works for him though.
“Okay.” He agrees easily, “Tell me the story about how you lost your virginity? Don’t leave anything out”
Your eyebrows shoot up, “Wanna know the dirty details huh?” you part your lips and smile.
“Dirty? I bet it was as vanilla as vanilla gets.”
You frown at his words, “I’m not vanilla. I’m fun, I swear.” you pout.
“I didn’t mean it as boring babe. I just mean you probably lost it to like your high school sweetheart, your first love, blah blah blah. The romantic shit.” You exhale a short breath…babe? You like the new friendly nickname, you admit.
“Actually it’s the opposite.”
“The opposite?”
“First year of college. Random guy from a bar. Total one night stand type of situation. I didn’t even tell him it was my first time. I think he probably just thought I was really inexperienced. “ You laugh to yourself. Sounds like a situation you might regret but there is no bitterness in your tone.
“Oh wow. y/n the cry baby can do one night stands?” he teases.
“I’m full of surprises you know.” The glint in your eye tells him he’s going to find out eventually.
“Well then what are the dirty details?” he pries further, leaning into your space again.
“Hmm, don’t think I am drunk enough for that.”
“Oh, I can grab another bottle of wine.” He teases, “But fine.”
“About your comment about me being vanilla…” you begin but Taehyung is cutting you off with the shake of his head.
“I didn’t mean it bad—”
“Are you into vanilla sex?”
Taehyung’s eyebrows crawl to the top of his forehead and his mouth falls open.
“Why are you asking that?” he breathes out, his eyes darkening.
“They paired us together, you know? We probably have more in common than you think…my guess that means sex too.”
“I know we have that in common.” He smirks, “I’m guessing you never looked in the other room?” he quirks a brow at you. “You might find it interesting.”
“The other room?” you tilt your head to the side, “Oh? The one upstairs next to your bathroom? Yeah, I stuck my head in there once…I saw it’s just another bedroom.”
“Is it really just another bedroom though? You didn’t have a look around?” his sly smile grows on his stupidly handsome face. “Like I said…you might find it interesting.”
“What are you talking about?” you slur, “Why would I…?”
Taehyung rises to his feet, walks towards you and leans down until he’s softly gripping your arm and pulling you up.
“Let’s go explore.” He chuckles, “I want you to see the room.” He’s guiding you out the art room, you two stumbling through the door.
You both begin to make your way upstairs, his hand never leaving your arm as you two walk. You keep bumping into him and he only laughs, squeezing your arm every few moments. You guys walk through the hall until you’re standing outside the bedrooms door.
“Go on.” He looks at you with a smirk, “I want you to explore this bedroom.”
“You’re being weird.” You giggle, opening the door.
And just like you thought, it’s just a bedroom. There’s a large bed in the middle of the room against the wall, and a couple of dressers, a closet, a huge ass mirror and other normal bedroom things.
“And?” You glance at Taehyung.
He looks at you with an amused smile. “Explore.” He commands.
You give him a weird look before walking through the room, your hand slides against the dresser that holds the extra large mirror. You catch your reflection and smile at how drunk you look. Taehyung walks behind you and eyes both of your reflections, he steps close to you and chuckles.
“I like this mirror.” He whispers. “Great view of the bed.”
“Uh yeah?” you look at him through the mirror, “I guess so.”
“Explore the drawers.” His evil grin makes you nervous…you look down at the drawers and open the first one on the left, there’s multiple things inside but you can’t tell what they are. You stick your hand inside and grab the first thing it can find. You pull this object out and bring it closer to your face, your drunken vision making it hard to identify what it is. Then your eyes are expanding and you drop the object in the drawer, the loud thud making you jump.
“What was that?” Taehyung whispers, “Something you know right?”
A dildo. Your eyes scan the rest of the drawer only to see more, along with other toys. You quickly slam the drawer shut and turn around to face Taehyung, who is standing so close behind you.
“What the hell?” you stutter out, turning red.
“That’s not all. Check the closet.” He says quietly, pointing towards the closet. And you listen, you walk forward until you’re standing beside the sliding door. You open it and see various articles of clothing.
Lingerie and outfits. Maid, nurse, etc. You stare at the clothes in disbelief.
“What is all this?” you turn to face Taehyung.
“You tell me.” He says chuckling, “Seems like we like the same stuff.” He shrugs. “Maybe you can,” he walks closer and is touching the maid lingerie, “wear this next you’re cleaning the house.”
He’s teasing you. Your stomach twists and turns, your heart is jumping out of your chest and you feel so fucking warm.
“S-Shut up.” You lean back on the door.
“Oh baby, I think you and I both know who tells who what to do here.” He breathes out, not looking at you as he still plays with the material of more lingerie.
“Taehyung,” you sigh, “The cameras can’t hear you in here.”
“Ah,” he turns to face you, “Right. Should we head back downstairs?”
“Yes.” You slur out, feeling quite dizzy.
Month 5
It’s the bright white screen you know all too well…it has you releasing a shaky breath as you wait for the black letters to eventually appear.
“Hey Taehyung…” you call out for you roommate who is making something to eat in the kitchen. “I think we have an incoming message from our,” You pause, huffing out. “Our little friends.”
“Oh. Oh shit.” You hear Taehyung whine from behind you. “I thought they were finally starting to back off…” he sighs out. “Let’s see what these fuckers want.”
Request:
Skinny dip for 1 hour. Must be within a foot of one another.
Ex-excuse you? Ex-fucking-cuse you? Skinny who what for when what? Your eyes bulge out of your head. This has got to be some sort of joke.
“Hell no!” you yell out, not even sparing Taehyung a glance.
Voice full of panic, Taehyung is quick to bring up the alternative.
“The penalty!” he rushes. “What’s the penalty? We will just do the penalty!”
Penalty:
No power or running water for 3 days.
“No pow—what the fuck?” Taehyung shakes his head, disbelief written all over his face.
“Wait! And no running water? Like, we can’t flush the toilet for 3 days? That’s bullshit!” you drag your hands down your face, “And wont the stuff in our fridge go bad?”
Several long moments pass between you two and not in a cool way. There’s nothing cool about this shit. There’s tension filling the air around you both. Awkward tension.
“Isn’t this too much?” Taehyung finally says, obviously not able to tolerate the silence any longer.
You both exchange worried glances with one another before Taehyung says some shit you don’t like.
“Let’s just do the request.”
Your eyes basically pop out of your head.
“Are you out of your mind—do the requests? How could you say that so easily!” you mumble, feeling your cheeks heat up.
“I feel like it’s the best choice.” He gives his honest answer. “Plus, you’ve never seen a naked man before? We will get over it y/n. Knowing me and you, we will be laughing about it in a couple days.” He finally turns to face you, throwing a wink your way, “You know it’s true.”
You mull over your options and hate that he’s right. You very timidly respond with a quiet ‘okay’ and avoid his eyes. His dark, intimidating eyes.
Your heart is racing, No, that is an understatement; your heart is on the verge of explosion. Your nerves are scattered and pounding from the inside out. You are freaking out. Naked with Taehyung? And he seems cool as a fucking cucumber.
“Let’s meet outside once it’s completely dark out.” You suggest.
“Read my mind.”
“…Of course I did, we’re” you roll your eyes. “Soulmates.” you laugh bitterly to yourself, “anyway, I’ll just see you tonight.”
“So you’re just going to avoid me until tonight?” Taehyung asks, “It’s not like they’re asking us to fuck.” He sways on his feet, “Just keep your eyes on my eyes and we will be fine.”
“Right.” You choke out, “Because it’s that easy.”
“Are you saying it’s impossible not to check me out?” he teases and you feel your cheeks heat up.
“Shut up.”
“Brat.”
Night fall approaches sooner rather than later. You wish it would have taken a million years to appear but nope, here you are. You stand outside with Taehyung in front of you. You’re in an oversized t shirt and loose shorts, keeping it simple since they’re coming off anyway. Taehyung wears his usual sweats and a white tee. You two are standing next to the pool, knowing the time has finally come. After leaving Taehyung earlier this afternoon, you took a much needed nap to clear your head.
“Don’t let your eyes linger.” You mumble, nodding your head in his direction.
“Ha, I was going to say the same thing to you.” He pokes his tongue out. Taehyung looks fucking comfortable as fucking always. Like, this doesn’t bother him in the least.
Luckily, the tension is tolerable. So you decide to make the first move. You begin unbuttoning your shorts—
“Woah! Woah! Woah! Wait!” he yells. His arms flailing, trying to stop you.
You scrunch your nose in annoyance, “What?” you ask, not too pleased since you are just trying to get this over with. If you got told 5 months ago that you would be in a hurry to get naked in front of this guy you would ugly laugh. Yet here you are.
“It’s just-it’s just…we should go at the same time.” Taehyung rushes to say.
“Oh, okay. Pants first, let’s go—”
“No! that’s awkward.” He shakes his head, “shirt first.”
“Okay, okay.” You oblige, “weirdo” You whisper loud enough that he can hear you.
The two of you begin with your tops, you try to focus your eyes elsewhere but they naturally skim the skin of his chest and abdomen as his shirt comes off quickly. Taehyung doesn’t even try to look away as you undress, his dark, intimidating stare causing you to feel chills. You slip off your pink t shirt, exposing your bare torso that is laced with a pretty black bralette. His gaze doesn’t waver.
“Okay, next is our bottoms right?” You gulp. He only nods.
You continue the job on unbuttoning your shorts, letting them fall to your feet exposing your matching black panties. Yes, you wore a sexy matching set on purpose. If he’s going to see you like this why wouldn’t you want to look good? You would do that for anybody. You can feel him eyeing you as he slips off his sweats, leaving him in nothing but a pair of blue briefs.
Finally, you are left in nothing but your underwear. You eye him over, his body is so fucking nice it makes you feel bad for even standing next to him. His briefs are a light blue, leaving little to the imagination. You can literally see the outline of his—you know what. Is he sporting a semi, right now? You do an up and down of your own body when you realize you have more clothes than him!
“Hey this is unfair!” You whisper, covering your chest with your arm. “I have to strip my bra off and you what, just get to watch?”
“Oh? So I am allowed to watch?” he responds playfully. It’s that same teasing tone you’re still trying to get used to.
“Well, you’re obviously going to see…” You grumble, lowering your arm. “Welp, here goes.”
Taehyung swallows rather hard, his eyes trailing your body pretty shamelessly. You reach in front of you, unhooking the bralette and letting the straps fall off your shoulders before letting the whole thing fall to the ground.
“Uh, okay.” Taehyung clears his throat. “Now our underwear.”
“Right.” You say while reaching for the band of your panties, pulling it back a bit and letting it go, the material slapping against your hips. You swear you see his dick move at that.
“Okay.” Taehyung’s breathing is heavier than before, “On 3? 1…2..”
“3!” you shout in unison.
You both begin stripping away your last piece of clothing. You’re the first to be fully undressed. You let your panties drag down leg by leg until they join the pile of clothes at your feet. It’s not that you’re trying to do this in a sexy manner, but if it comes across sexy—then so be it. Taehyung pauses mid action, his eyes scanning your body again. God, you are starting to get really nervous again. His gaze absolutely thrills you, you can admit that. You’d live a life of torture to have him stare at you like this all the time. You see him lick his lips then shake his head. You didn’t just imagine that right?
“Hurry up.” You plead.
Taehyung finally drags off his briefs. By the looks of it he looks mostly hard, as his cock springs free. Holy Fuck. Your last ex—Ben—was not this…blessed. Taehyung has every right to be as cocky as he wants, he’s earned it. His dick is long in length but he also seems to have girth. How is one man blessed this much? You would have to have your hand wrapped around it—or your lips—to really know how thick he is. Jesus fucking Christ, what are you saying? You think your best excuse is that you are dick deprived. Also…how long have you been staring? You will say long enough by the look Taehyung is giving you. It’s that shit eating grin that just screams he is one cocky bastard.
“Okay,” you clear your throat, forcing yourself to look into Taehyung’s eyes. “Let’s get in the pool.”
“You got the timer?” Taehyung chuckles.
“It’s laying on the ledge.” you point at it, walking closer to the pool. “Ready?” you look up at him, waiting for his response.
“You look beautiful by the way.” He says out of nowhere. “I mean, as always.” He winks.
You blush pretty fucking hard at that, you can feel all the heat rush to your cheeks, lighting you on fire.
“Are you-are you ready or what?” you grumble.
“Always.” He grins, reaching for you hand. “Let’s go.”
You two tip toe into the water, pausing every few seconds to get use to the temperature of the water. You stop once the water reaches your collarbones, you walk towards the wall, lean against it and face forward. You turn the timer on and you both exchange a few words but you remain mostly quiet, You don’t think either of you know what to say. Every minute that passes (about 15 to be exact) has your nerves spiking.
You hear Taehyung sigh deeply as he inches closer towards you. Now why would he do that? He inches so close that your shoulders are touching, he sinks a little further into the water and then surprising you, he rests his head on your shoulder. What the fuck is he doing?
“We can have a foot of space between us.” You remind him awkwardly.
Taehyung remains quiet, you only hear his soft breaths.
“Taehyung?”
“You know how hard it is going to be to get the image of you naked out of my head?” He whispers with a chuckle.
“Don’t start using me as masturbation material.” You joke, your eyes looking out at the water. It’s calm and bright from the lights inside the pool.
“Start? You think you haven’t entered my mind before?” he jokes back. At least you think he’s joking.
“Stop playing.” You laugh awkwardly.
Taehyung is quiet again and you can feel the tension that always visits you two starting to build.
“Do you…have you…have you thought about me before?” you manage to slip out, surprising yourself.
“You’re asking if I’ve—”
“If you’ve thought about me when you have ‘alone’ time’ ya know?”
“Do you think I haven’t?” he lifts his head and stares at you. “y/n…I’m a guy. And you’re kind of the only person I see.”
Oh. It’s not like I see anyone else. His last words repeat in your mind. Of course, that makes sense. He’s stuck with you, of course you’ve entered his mind, probably against his will or whatever.
“I see.” You say softly. You step to the side, getting further from him and he frowns.
You two stand here, barely speaking. Maybe another 20-30 minutes pass when Taehyung dramatically huffs out.
“Listen y/n…about earlier.” Right earlier. When you made a fucking fool of yourself. Asking your friend is he has ever jacked off to you before! Before he can continue you slap a finger over his pouting lips, shushing him.
“Do you really think now is the time?”
“We have time to kill—”
“—okay! So let’s talk about something else!” you happily offer.
But you guess Taehyung isn’t having it, he steps closer and rests his head on your shoulder again, his breathing picking up. Why is he breathing so hard?
“Just hear me out, okay?”
You only stare ahead, exhaling deeply. What to do…maybe there’s no harm in hearing him out, right? Oh wait there is harm! The feeling of fucking rejection. Why does it feel like rejection? You don’t know. Why the fuck you care? You don’t know that either. But he’s fucking sulking, like a baby. You thought you were the baby here? You guess he needs to have a turn every now and then…
“fine.”
“You probably,” he sinks in the water just a little deeper, “hate me, right?” you don’t hate him…”Me, your friend, has had dirty thoughts about you, yada yada,” he closes his eyes.
“ wait what—” This is because he has had dirty thoughts about you?
“So about what I said…I’m sorry…”
“Taehyung it’s fine,” you rush to say in embarrassment, “I don’t know why I asked! Seriously, it was stupid. I crossed a li—”
“Wait why did you ask?” That’s when you freeze. Yeah why did you ask?
“Uh…”
“Why?” he stands up straighter, his head tilted towards you.
“I was just curious Taehyung.” you defend. “It’s not that deep.”
“Curious? About me?” he raises he brow, he pauses while thinking over his words. “Like, sexually?” he finishes, caution in his voice.
Fuck. What did you get yourself into?
“Taehyung…I already said it was stupid. Plus,” you decide to be bold again, “Hearing it was only because I’m the only one here or whatever didn’t do great things for my ego.”
“Wait—” you hear him stifle a chuckle. “That’s what you’re mad about?”
“Well…” you drag out the word with a pout. You don’t mean to be such a baby yet here you are.
“Wow! I thought you were mad because I’ve thought about you impurely, not because it wasn’t a good enough reason why…wow.” He laughs! He’s basically laughing at you!
“Well?”
“Oh my God, y/n. You’re joking right? I can’t just say I have the hots for my friend now can I? That’ll just—”
“Do you?” your voice is much smaller and quieter than you anticipated, like it barely escaped. Taehyung stays quiet for a second too long that it makes you ten times as nervous.
“Are you…” Taehyung looks at you with a look on his face you can’t quite place, “I’m naked in a pool with you right now and I am going crazy. Absolutely crazy.” Taehyung sighs out heavily, a frown taking over his face. “You’re ability to be so naïve just…baffles me.” He admits, defeated.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a beautiful girl y/n. Of course my mind has wandered. It doesn’t mean I—fuck. It doesn’t mean anything deep or anything like that. But yes, being with you and your fanfuckingtastic tits is giving me some trouble.” He says darkly. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you checking me out either.” He smirks. “We are human.” He finishes.
A long, deafening silence accompanies you both. Its sitting in the water between your bodies. Just lingering, waiting for one of you to break it in half and drown it in this very pool. But no, it remains. And that person won’t be you. But several minutes have passed by and he is still fucking quiet. Maybe you should be the one to say something? You’re about to you swear , but you hear Taehyung grumble something under his breath.
“What’s that?” you say.
“I said, it’s only fair if I ask too.” Ask what? Oh. Wait. That?
“Ask what?” you ask, pretending you don’t know.
“You know what.”
“Nope.” you say, popping the ‘p’.
“y/n.” “I’m not answering that.”
“Come on.” He leans his face towards your neck, his breaths hitting your wet skin. “It’s only fair.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what?” he pushes on. “Come on y/n, have you thought about me when you get yourself off or not?” he asks, his voice really low. How does he get his voice so deep? Fuck, it sends a shiver down your spine.
“Maybe once or twice I have thought about you too.” You admit, feeling a rush of adrenaline as the words leave your mouth.
“Once or twice?” he repeats lowly, “What did you think about?” his words crawl on the side of your neck as they leave his mouth.
“I’m not answering that.”
“I want you to tell me.” He sounds so breathless while being so demanding.
“Nope.”
“You’re no fun.” He chuckles. “Aren’t you curious about what I think about?”
“Not really.” You lie. “Don’t worry about my imagination. It’s the only action I’m getting anyway.” You laugh.
“When’s the last time you had sex y/n? Please tell me it wasn’t with your ex…”
“Yeah it was.” You admit and Taehyung pushes his head back, not liking you admission.
“Why haven’t you?” he asks.
“I felt so betrayed Taehyung…it’s sort of hard to trust anyone after that.” You sigh, “He hurt me bad. I’m…”
“You’re what?”
“I just don’t feel comfortable.” You say softly, “I don’t think I will for a while.”
“I see…I’m so sorry. I wish that didn’t happen to you.”
“It’s in the past now.”
Ben holds you close as he comes, his hands leaving behind their marks on your body from how tightly he holds you.
“Fuck yes.” He groans, “Did you come?” he asks quickly, breathing hard into your neck.
“It’s okay.” You sigh out, “As long as you feel good.”
“I felt amazing honey.” He kisses the side of your neck over and over. “Shit, we gotta get going. We’ll be late for work.”
“Do we really have to take separate cars?” you whine.
“Just for now babe.” He promises, lifting himself off your body, leaving your pussy aching for more.
“Okay…”
~
“He look so handsome today as usual…” you hear Layla talking to some of the other girls. “I’m telling you…he’s going to ask me out. He’s been eyeing me lately and complimenting me.” She gushes, catching your interest.
“Who?” you ask, setting your belongings down on your desk.
Layla turns to face you, waves her hand and smiles.
“Ben.”
Ben? Like your Ben? Her boss Ben?
“Ben who?” you blink at her and the other girls laugh.
“Obviously the only Ben we know!” Layla giggles and you feel your chest tighten.
“You think he’s going to ask you out?”
“Yes girl! He comes to my desk a few times day, calls me gorgeous, so on and so forth.” Layla says quietly so only you girls can hear. You feel your heart drop.
“I don’t think so.” You speak up. “Ben wouldn’t. He’s already seeing someone.”
“Oh really? Who?” Layla scrunches her brows together, “Because—”
“Me.” You blurt. “He and I are…”
The other girls stop their giggling and look at you with shocked eyes.
“There’s no way.” One of them says.
“y/n, are you serious?” Layla blushes, feeling a little embarrassed now.
“Yes, for months now.” you admit. “But we weren’t telling anyone…yet.”
“Wow! I can’t believe this!” another girl says, her hand coming to her mouth.
You then in a hush hush voice tell the group of girls yours and Bens story. You tell them how he pursued you, you finally agreed and how you two have been dating for over 6 months. They gush and gasp and giggle. It feels good to finally tell people, you think.
But unfortunately for you, it wasn’t good at all.
“y/n?” Taehyung knocks you out of your daze. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Fine.” You sigh, feeling weak. “I’m okay.”
Taehyung looks at you with pity, his eyes full of it. He stands tall and floats until he’s standing in front of you.
“I’m going to hug you.” He states calmly, “I really need to hug you.”
“Taehyung…” you step back until your back hits the ledge. “Now isn’t really appropriate.”
“I don’t care. I’ve already seen you naked.” He says nonchalantly. “C’mere.” He opens his arms wide for you and you shake your head.
“I said, c’mere.” He inches closer and closer. “Or I’m coming to you.”
“Taehyung.” You whine, but you let him get closer to you.
His wet arms reach out for you, he’s gripping your shoulders first before his hands easily slide down your arms until they’re under water holding on to your waist.
“C’mere.” He repeats. And you slowly inch closer towards him, your arms hesitantly circling around his middle. And then he’s pulling you in to his chest…he sighs when he feels your budding nipples graze his skin, he sighs when he feels the fullness of your breasts being pushed into him, he sighs when he feels you.
You release a long breath as you hug him, maybe you needed this. This type of human contact. You pull back and look up into Taehyung’s dark eyes, he’s already gazing at you.
“Thanks.” You mumble.
“I think of you because you’re cool. And really pretty.”
“Huh?” Why is Taehyung suddenly complimenting you?
“When I’m—you know. I think of you because you’re cool and really pretty. I could think of anyone ya know? That’s how an imagination works. But I still think about you.”
You’re sure your face is a dark crimson, with how hard you are blushing. How are you supposed to take this new information?
“W-Well,” You find it hard to look into his eyes. “I guess, same.”
“Because I’m pretty?” his tone is lighter all the sudden, you roll your eyes.
“What do you think? Timer should be going on any minute now.” Taehyung throws a glance over his shoulder towards the timer.
“Hmm…” You turn, reaching for the timer, your wet hands getting ahold of it. “Less than 5 minutes.” You read it.
“Oh.” He sings, “If you have a secret, share it now!” Taehyung chuckles into the water, his lips creating bubbles on the surface.
“You want to know even more about me?” You stand a little taller, the water reaching the tops of your breasts. You see Taehyung’s eyes linger for a second before meeting your eyes again. “If you wanna know anything, just ask.” You reach your arms over your head, releasing a yawn.
“Okay…” He places his fingers on his chin, “It’s about me though.” He stops, his fingers dragging down his neck. “Ah, never mind.”
“What?”
“No, it’s weird.”
“Aren’t we passed weird?” you giggle.
“No, it’s really weird.” He sighs out, sinking down into the water until his head is fully under.
You watch as he rises back up, the water cascading down his golden skin, the water from his hair dripping onto his shoulders.
A few moments pass, Taehyung stands here thinking to himself while you just shamelessly watch. You watch as he chews on the inside of his cheek, his eyes upward, scanning the stars. He hums some tune to himself, deep in thought. Honestly, you love when he does this. He looks so…good. Not in a sexual way, you swear. He just looks so him. So Taehyung. He goes from chewing on his cheek to his bottom lip, his teeth digging into the plump flesh. You gulp, God he has no idea how good he looks like this.
“Well?” You ask impatiently. Trying to wave away any more of those thoughts you were just having.
Taehyung releases his bottom lip from his teeth as his lips form into a pout, his eyes closing.
“I’m thinking…”
“Less thinking, more asking.” You feel way too curious about whatever it is he wants to say. And the minutes are passing you by.
Taehyung opens one eye to look at you, he exhales, and faces you.
“Does it sound like I’m in love with Hana?” he says quietly.
“W-What? You’ve only really brought her up once…”
“But when I talked about her did it seem like I have deep feelings for her?”
“She thinks I only like the idea of her” Taehyung mumbles to Jimin and Namjoon. “She doesn’t think I like her as much as I say? Which is so stupid!”
“Isn’t she right though?” Jimin asks with a frown, “You only ever talk about how pretty she is…”
“Jimin means you don’t really have that much in common with her, do you?” Namjoon questions softly. “You don’t…you don’t seem as into as you have been in the past. Are you sure you actually like her?”
Taehyung stares at his friends in disbelief, not believing his ears for one second.
“What are you guys talking about? I fucking like her.” He grits out.
“Are you sure you aren’t just lonely—”
“I don’t want to hear this.” Taehyung stands up from the couch, “I’m going to go see her.”
~
Taehyung makes it to Hana’s apartment but her roommate answers the door and frowns when she sees Taehyung,
“Yes?”
“Uh, I’m here to see Hana.” He gestures inside the apartment.
“Right…” the roommate stands off to the side and lets Taehyung in. “She’s in her room.”
Taehyung walks through the apartment and down the hall until he’s knocking on Hana’s door. She opens it quickly, hugging him and pulling him inside.
“Hey you.” She smiles at Taehyung and he smiles back with his teeth.
“Hi.”
“What brings you here?”
“Just came to hang out, maybe watch a movie?” Taehyung sways from side to side, trying to not make this awkward.
“Sure, you can choose the movie.” She goes to her desk, grabs her lap top and gestures towards her bed. “We can watch in my bed.” She says shyly.
“G-Good idea.”
~
“So how did you like it?” Taehyung asks excitedly. ‘Castaway on the Moon’ just finished and he is so happy he got to show her his favorite movie.
“Honestly?” she chuckles awkwardly, “I didn’t really like it.” She admits. “it was weird.”
“It’s not weird! It’s amazing,” he pouts and she giggles.
He does feel really disappointed that she doesn’t like his favorite movie…is that a red flag? No, he’s just being dramatic, he thinks.
“Next time I’ll choose the movie.” Hana cuddles closer to Taehyung. “Okay?”
“Sure.”
“Taehyung…” you begin, “Where is this coming from?”
“She doesn’t think—my friends too—don’t think we have a lot of chemistry. That I’m forcing myself to like her, but that’s not true! But sometimes I feel confused. And I thought I could get an outside opinion.” He admits, “But this was stupid you don’t have to answer.”
You can tell him you believe in his feelings or you can tell him you don’t think he’s even talked about her enough that you take his feelings seriously. But will that hurt him?
“I—”
Beep beep beep beep beep beep.
The fire place is turned on, creating a safe and cozy atmosphere. The gas lit flames burn a hole in the tension that fills the room. What sort of tension? Not sure.
Taehyung and you are sat comfortably on the sofa, sitting with crossed legs facing one another, your knees just barely touching. A bowl of popcorn rests between you and blankets wrapped around your bodies. Separate blankets, of course.
Taehyung and you have decided to move the party inside (with clothes: on) and continue talking.
The ringing of the timer didn’t completely ruin your conversation only delaying it.
“And I don’t know,” he takes a handful of popcorn and stuffs it in his mouth. “I think we would make a cute couple.”
“Yeah but like I asked, what sorts of things do you two talk about? Not if you guys are a cute couple.”
“We talk.” He states.
“Okay…about?”
“Stuff.”
“You aren’t helping your case.” You sigh out, biting your lip. “I want to believe in your feelings Taehyung but…”
“I know.” He cuts you off, “I know.”
“So why are you forcing it?” you reach for some popcorn yourself, “Why do you want to like her so bad?”
“I don’t know….” He admits softly, “I really don’t know.”
“You’re unsure of your feelings.” You say bluntly. “That’s what it seems like.”
“Maybe I am.” He wraps the blanket around his shoulders tighter. “I’m like you…I don’t know what love is.”
“And just like me, you’ll find it someday.” You promise him with a sweet smile. “Right?”
“You will for sure.” He breathes out, “I think I’m a ….”
“A?”
“God, I don’t even want to say it.” He throws his head in his hands. “But I think I am a hopeless romantic.”
“I just want some cute love story with a cute girl. And Hana is perfect.”
“But does she thrill you? Challenge you? Make you laugh?”
“She’s…” fuck, he doesn’t even know. Does he even know Hana that well?
“Hey y/n…” Taehyung looks up at you, his eyes finding yours and you shrink in your spot.
“Yes?”
“Can we watch my favorite movie? I’m curious what you might think about it.” He gazes at you and you nod your head slowly.
“Sure Taehyung.”
“Also, you can call me Tae.”
~
“Holy fuck.” You sob into your hands. “The fucking noodles.”
Taehyung looks over at you with a soft smile as he has his own tears falling down his face.
“I know right?”
“He finally felt like he had purpose Tae,” you look at him with a pathetic scrunched up face, tears still leaving your eyes.
“EXACTLY!” Taehyung wails, “EXACTLY!”
“This movie was amazing, and how everything turned out...wow…and how she…and he…my goodness. I’m still crying.”
“I told you!! I am so glad you enjoyed it.” He moves closer to you on the sofa without thinking.
“Only lame people wouldn’t like this movie!” you basically yell out and Taehyung scoots even closer, his shoulder bumping yours. But you barely notice, still too invested in the movie.
“Yeah.” He agrees with a smile. “You really must be my soulmate.” He jokes with an awkward smile. “No one else really likes this movie.”
“Ha-Ha.” You roll your eyes, “But anyway, that’s crazy since it was so good.”
“Stop praising it or I’ll have to marry you.” He jokes again and you start turning a rosy pink.
“Stop.” You whine, swatting his shoulder.
“Let’s call it a night, yeah?”
You and Taehyung clean up the kitchen and living room and head upstairs for the night, he walks you to your bedroom door and lingers.
“Tonight was crazy. I saw you naked.” He brings up the request and you go redder than red.
“We can literally never talk about it again…”
“Am I allowed to think about it at least?” he winks, his voice low and making you feel tense.
“Goodnight Taehyung.”
~~~~~~~~
Month 6
Today is one of those days…Taehyung is in a bad mood and you’re being a brat. He hates how much you’ve been teasing him today…he is sorting through his feelings for Hana but you insist on walking around with small shorts and low cut tank tops, claiming it’s ‘hot’. He finally has you cornered though, he’s finally had enough. He’s got you pushed up against a wall, his face so close that your breaths mingle with one another.
“You’re really pushing me today…” Taehyung leans closer, his warm breath fanning over your face. “Today’s not the day y/n.” he warns.
“How am I pushing you? I’m literally not doing anything.” You jut your bottom lip out and look to the side.
“You’re being…such a fucking tease.” He decides to say, “Which is giving me a real headache.” He leans down, his arms on either side of your body.
“So I give you a headache?” Your eyes look up into his and you smirk. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You are real annoying, you know that?” he can’t help but chuckle, but then he’s exhaling a deep breath and rolling his eyes. “Ask for forgiveness.”
“Ask for forgiveness?” you scoff. “Seriously? And what am I asking forgiveness for?”
“You’re lucky I’m not telling you to beg.”
“Beg?” you scoff again. “Who do you think you—”
“y/n.” his dark eyes gaze into yours. His hand slides down the wall and then it’s at your waist. He pulls you in and leans his head down closer to your face, you feel the lump in your throat grow as you ty to swallow it down.
“Y-Yes?”
“Ask for forgiveness.” He tells you again, this time much more softly.
“And if I don’t?” You stare up at him and he chuckles.
“Do you really want to find out?” his gaze doesn’t waver as he looks at you…the way he stares at you makes you feel bare in front of him, like he’s stripping you of your clothes, of your skin, everything.
“And if I do?” you whisper. “What happens if I do?”
Taehyung narrows his eyes at you as he licks his lips repeatedly…you’re really testing him aren’t you? He can’t tell if you’re toying with him because of the cameras or if it’s because you’re a brat.
“y/n.” he says your name like the sound of a slow breath. It feels intimate, the way he calls out for you. You can’t help but gulp as you blink up at him.
“Y-Yes?”
“You want to beg, don’t you?” he smirks, he pokes his tongue out as he eyes you. You can see the amusement in his eyes. “You want to…” the words are dying on his tongue because what can he say? Everything he wants to say would probably be deemed as inappropriate.
“I want to what?” you tilt your head up, your eyes scanning the entirety of his face and he leans further into your space.
“Just do as I say, tell me you’re sorry and we can move on.”
“Do as you say?” you lean back until your head is lightly hitting the wall, “You think I would really listen to you?”
“Such a brat.” His hand doesn’t let go of your waist as he leans back as well. “Why do I deal with this? And yes,” he rolls his head back. “I think you would very much enjoy listening to me.” He pauses and bites his lip. “If this company really thinks we’re a match made in heaven then I am sure you can assume what I mean.”
You silently gasp, a blush painting itself brightly on your cheeks.
“Ah,” he leans in again, “So you do know what I mean.”
“Taehyung,” you mumble, “Sometimes your flirting for the camera is too much.” You whisper quiet enough the cameras can’t hear.
Taehyung leans down until his mouth is at the shell of your ear and you can hear the smirk.
“Who says it’s for the cameras?” he leans away from you again, he finally drops his hand from your waist and is about to turn to leave when your hand flies to his shirt.
“Wait.” You blurt out, “I’ll…” you look off to the side. “I’ll say sorry”
“Oh?” Taehyung looks amused to say the least, “Go ahead, then.”
“Only if you tell me what’s wrong today.”
“It’s nothing.”
Your hand goes from the middle of his shirt to his shoulder and you look up at him with big, doe eyes as he blinks down at you over and over.
“What?” he whispers.
“Please.” You whisper back, “I’ll be good,” you promise in a low voice.
Taehyung feels his chest get warm, the heat traveling from there to his toes. He looks at you with his serious expression and softens.
“You are good.” He breathes out. His gaze intense as he stares into your eyes.
“Then…” you pause. Taehyung keeps his eyes on your eyes until he’s not. His eyes slowly travel down your face until he’s staring at your lips. He notices how plump they look, how your tongue darts out to wet them. He feels himself being drawn closer to you, leaning in further and further.
“…Taehyung.” You say breathlessly and Taehyung blinks repeatedly, clearing his throat as he leans back again.
“Fine, don’t apologize. Brat.” And he’s stepping away from you and you watch his back as he walks away.
Taehyung. Is. Such. A. tease. And it drives you absolutely insane. You’re sure the company that watches you is having the times of their lives as you suffer. Why does he have to go this far? It only makes you want to challenge him and go even further yourself. There was a moment, right? Where he acted like he was going to kiss you? Of course he wouldn’t actually do that. This is just for show but god, it still drives you nuts.
Taehyung rushes to his bedroom, slamming the door shut as he rests against it. What the hell is wrong with him? He’s just frustrated. He misses Hana. But why do you have to be so infuriating and you know, hot. And it makes him angry. He wasn’t actually going to kiss you, of course. But there was a moment of strange tension that he…he can’t describe. Taehyung slides down the door, falling to the ground. He remembers his first kiss with Hana, it was sweet and nice but like, he doesn’t remember it being intense not like how it feels when he gets close to you.
“Taehyung!” Hana giggles as she pats his back as she’s thrown over his shoulder. “Put me down!”
“Never!” Taehyung laughs just as much as he runs around in circles. “Ugh, so heavy though.” He jokes.
“Hey!” Hana hits his back, “Come on, put me down.” Her giggles softly relax and he’s setting her down back on the ground, her feet finally planted on the ground as she keeps her arms loosely thrown around his neck.
“You really love carrying me.”
“Holding you is fun.” He smiles, “And you’re not actually heavy. Actually you weigh nothing.”
“Yeah, right.” She playfully rolls her eyes.
“So.” Taehyung chuckles awkwardly, looking into Hana’s eyes.
“So…” she steps closer to him, tightening her hold around her neck. “We’ve been hanging out a lot …” she flutters her lashes, “And..”
“And?”
“I kind of want you to kiss me.”
“Oh.” Taehyung’s eyes widen. He was not expecting that. He smiles at her and nods his head. “Yeah, I can do that.” He teases, leaning in until his lips are against hers. He pulls back but she pushes herself forward to kiss him more and he sighs in her mouth, loving the feel of her lips.
“We should do that more often.” Taehyung breathes out and Hana giggles.
Taehyung groans into his hands, recalling his memories. He does miss Hana but he feels like every time he thinks of her…he somehow is also thinking about you too. But it’s not like he’s thinking of you like that but yeah, you’re on his mind. And he’s got to chill out. He stands up from the floor and walks to his bed, throwing himself on it with a bounce. He’s still so frustrated. He recalls dinner yesterday, how he…
“I’m staring at you because you have sauce on your lips.” Taehyung says from across the dining room table.
“Should I get it for you?” he teases, standing up from his chair, the sound of it screeching against the floor makes you flinch.
“No, no.” you shake your head, “I can do it myself.”
“What if I want to help you though?” Taehyung tilts his head with innocent eyes. “I’ll clean you up.”
“Tae—”
Taehyung walks to your side of the table and bends down until his face is level with your face, he smiles at you and raises his thumb up to your lips. His thumb brushes across your bottom lip slowly, the heat of his finger making you sigh out. He leans in closer as he finishes wiping the sauce off your mouth. When he finishes he takes a moment to look into your eyes like he’s searching them for something. He’s not sure what though. You feel yourself being hypnotized by his gaze, you, yourself stare back at him just as deeply…you think he’s going to lean away any second but instead he brings his hand between your faces and brings his thumb to his mouth. His thumb pushes past his lips and he’s licking it clean, the action purposely agonizingly slow.
“There. Got it.” He breathes out, “All clean.”
Your eyes widen just the slightest…he’s a tease. A fucking tease.
Taehyung’s eyes light up in amusement when he watches how you flush under his hard stare and he starts laughing.
“W-What?” you spit out, your embarrassment has you stabbing your food with your fork. “What’s funny?”
“You.” He says with a grin, the air is starting to thin out as he laughs. “You make me laugh.”
“Glad I can entertain.” You roll your eyes.
You’re so…fuck, you’re so sexy. Taehyung has been wanting to admit that for a while, but god, he has to really fucking control himself. But he’s trying to keep these thoughts at bay because he needs to figure out what he’s doing about Hana.
He lays here thinking of all the moments he has flirted with you for the camera, he groans into his pillow when he has the hardest realization. Is it really for the camera? The tension between you two is so fucking thick, the air is suffocating, making it hard to breathe. The intensity…the thrill. You are the only one who makes him feel like his world is burning with a passionate fire. Hana is nice but you? You’re you and he’s realizing how much he likes that.
He’s realizing a lot. It’s been 6 months and he thinks he is ready to admit that this is beyond what he signed up for. He signed on to get along, but this? This is a whole other journey he’s going on.
Taehyung sits up in bed, his face gone pale as he makes his realizations. His mouth hangs open as his mind races. Does Taehyung just want to fuck you? Or….does Taehyung like you?
Suddenly, there’s soft knocking on his bedroom door, his head snaps in that direction and he knows it’s you—well duh, who else would it be? He scrambles off the bed and he’s opening the door. You’re wearing yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt now with an innocent smile on your face.
“I turned the AC down.” You say. “Now I won’t make your life hard by wearing hardly any clothes.” You’re teasing him and he’s going wild for it.
“Oh really?” he breathes out, “Are you going to say sorry?” he teases back, his breathing picking up.
“Should I ask for forgiveness?” you mock him and he raises a brow at you.
“I’m going to make you beg y/n.” he says lowly, “Keep this up and I’ll be carrying you to the other bedroom.”
Your smile drops at his words. What does he mean by that? He’s taking the acting too far…
“You ever begged before baby?” He walks closer to you, making you uneasy. You step backward further into the hall and sigh out.
“Maybe.”
“From now on, you’ll only ever do it for me.” He says so low, that you barely hear him. But you do hear him and you shudder.
“Taehyung.” You warn softly, you push him by the shoulders, backing him into his bedroom. Once inside you close the door and look at him expectantly.
“What?” he rolls his eyes at you.
“You’re being too much…” you whisper. “But fuck, I gotta admit you’re good.” You breathe out roughly, “It almost feels real.”
“I wasn’t kidding earlier.” Taehyung walks towards you, his hand reaching out to touch the ends of you hair, “Who says this is for the cameras?”
You glance up at him, clearly confused.
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh y/n.” Taehyung feels his heart start to race. “This just got a lot more interesting.”
283 notes · View notes
binniesthighs · 3 years
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ANON THIS WAS SO FUN.  Oh my gosh thank you so much for requesting this 😭
bites like bittersweet | reader x minho | 
Pairing: self insert, gender neutral reader x lee minho 
Genre: that good good smut 
Tags: aphrodisiac au, switch!minho, switch!reader, mentions of food, oral (m recieving), unprotected sex (stay safe!), degredation, pet names, dirty talk, accidental exhibitionism 
Word count: 2.4k
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“are you kidding me? I can’t believe that you actually spent money on this!! aren’t you just a tiny bit embarrassed?” 
“what? I thought that it would be fun to try!” 
“if this is your way of seducing me, I hate to tell you, but it isn’t going to work.” 
minho threw the chocolate bars back down on the coffee table. he was right;  they looked fake and you knew it. the giant logo on the front stared up at you and your skeptical friend. it was an obscenely large kiss mark with different icons of couples fucking for each flavor. you really should have had better judgement. right in front of you was $36 dollars that you would never be getting back. 
“and you had to get all the flavors?” 
your defeated arms rang themselves above your head. “what?? I wasn’t going to pass up mint, salted caramel and...what’s this called...yeah, cherri amore!” 
“and why is it again that you’re asking me to try these--” minho snatched up the flavor Salted Caramelicious in Milk Chocolate to read the label.  “--proven aphrodisiac and libido boosters?” 
“I dunno!! you were the only one around I guess...?” 
minho flicked up one of his eyebrows in his suspicion. “really? that’s why? I don’t believe you. you’re trying to get in my pants aren’t you?!” 
“no! Why the hell would I want to get in your pants?” 
“hmmm...dare I bring up the locker room incident from a couple summers ago?” sly as ever, minho punched your arm lightly. “i bet that you’ve been dreaming about it ever since then.” 
“-have not!! you’re ridiculous.” you gifted him a punch back, but this one wasn’t nearly as joking. 
minho rubbed at his arm with a dramatic little “ow” on his lips. 
“I’m bored, you don’t have anything else to do, it’s probably a scam and I don’t feel like wasting my $36.” 
for a moment, minho pondered in silence as you dished him out your best puppy-dog eyes. in all your years of friendship, there was nothing that did him in better than the way you could make your eyes glisten. “that should be illegal” he would gripe. 
“Pleeeese?? ~I know that you like mint chocolate~” you waved the bar gratuitously in front of his nose. 
“fine.” he clawed it from your grasp. “i’m sure that it’s gonna be shitty chocolate anyway.” minho’s fingers hastily tore at the little foil edges and wrappings then cracked it in his hand. 
you teased him, “should I get us some wine to go with this chocolate?” 
minho scoffed and popped a couple chunks in his mouth. “fuck, this is so waxy. I hate you for this.” 
~💋~ 
to your right, your wall clock ticked on as late as it was into the night. you hadn’t expected yourself to get so sleepy, but you and minho had made up the couch into your usual mess of pillows and blankets that would often accompany movie nights. after a while, the two of you had decided to just let netflix autoplay each episode, not really caring that you weren’t quite watching anymore. 
“--you feeling anything?” you asked minho for the hundredth time. 
“...no; its same answer from the last fifty times that you asked me. like I said, it’s a scam. you were swindled. just admit it.” 
“...I don’t think I’m feeling anything either.” 
“we ate the shitty chocolate, and that was that.” minho huffed. “god, you owe me big time.” 
“isn’t it supposed to take a second to kick in...? isn’t that how these things work?” 
“hell if I know.” 
your friend sighed out the same unimpressed sigh he had been repeating for the last 45 minutes or so. he sat up a little straighter upon his realization. 
“wait...so you’re saying that you want me to get turned on???” 
“ah-no!!! don’t misunderstand!! it’s not that I want you to get turned on, i just want to know if it’s a scam or not. you know...for science?” 
“for science? since when was science a part of all this?” 
“i-it always was!” 
“let’s just...finish watching this episode or two and then you’re leaving, got it?
you nodded, “got it!” 
around your shoulder, minho snaked his arm to rest it gently, leaning you into him just a little. this place had always been your favorite spot. nuzzled into him like this, you could nearly hear his heartbeat in his chest. with the tv droning and the muffled “boom-boom” of his heart, you were drawn to sleep with ease, however, as you drifted, there was something different about the pace in which his heart would usually beat close to you. 
~💋~
at first, you were woken by the sound of explosions. in the time that minho had promised, “this episode or two,” netflix had already made it’s way to playing a movie. strangely enough, minho hadn’t bothered changing it; it was his least favorite kind: the kind with car chases and missiles and the end of the world. 
secondly, you were awoken by his voice, urgent and shallow. 
“hey. hey. get up. y/n, get your heavy-ass head off me.” 
“wha-what is it? what time is it? what is this?” you rubbed your blurry vision away with your palms. 
“I...” minho choked down a thick gulp. “I-I think that I’m feeling...something...” 
“what?!” your head snapped to look him in his terrified widened eyes. normally he would make fun of the rat’s nest on your head, but this time, his eyes remained unmoving. 
mortified, minho uttered out again, “I feel...something...” 
“something what? spit it out!!” 
“don’t you dare look but...oh god...” your friend choked in an inhale. 
he didn’t need to finish his sentence before your eyes had drifted down to where the spiderman themed blanket covered his lap. sure enough, he tented the fabric in the most obvious way. 
“shit-this is so embarrassing.” minho steadied his breaths then winced “it kinda...hurts.” 
this time, your eyes widened. “hurts?” 
“yeah it does, okay???? don’t fucking rub it in.” 
you found yourself getting defensive, “well what the hell do we do now???” 
“I don’t know!!!” minho yelled into the dark room incredulously. 
“can’t you just...I don’t know...jerk it away??? ” 
“right here???” 
“NO like in the bathroom or something I mean!!!” 
“greaaat, you broke my dick!! and you’re being of no help at all!” 
“well what would you have be do then huh? suck it off for ya right here and now?? would that be sooooo helpful to you??”
in your frustration, you tore spiderman off of his lap, then there it was: in its full glory. 
yes, the locker room incident had lingered on your mind from time to time but.. you certainly didn’t remember it looking like that. 
in your whole life, you never would have guessed that the thought, “thank-you-god for-blessing-us-with-the-invention of-grey-sweatpants” would grace your stream of consciousness but...here you were. 
“m-minho...I-I think that it’s effecting me too.” your eyes ogled his member: lusciously thick and long, practically fighting the pants that kept it in. it bulged in his pants gorgeously and he had even wet himself a little from his leaking pre-cum.
“Huh!?” 
“wow.” you marveled. 
you really don’t know why you had done it, but suddenly the entire room felt much hotter, and taking off your shirt made much more sense so, you did.
“what the hell are you doing?!” minho attempted to pull up a blanket to cover your chest. 
“does it really hurt?” something must have possessed you: your voice had dropped several octaves and you felt yourself breathing out the words with air. 
as soon as he had heard your voice change, it was like he was enchanted. “A-a little. ‘feels really...trapped.” minho ate up the way that your eyes raked over his hard-on. 
“oooh does it?” you used your index and ring finger to walk your hand over to his thigh where you then grabbed at him in starving handfuls. his muscles felt so beautiful in your hands. 
minho whimpered out the whiniest, most desperate little sound that he could manage as his closed eyelids fluttered. there was no way in this world that you could ever imagine him making such a noise, especially from your touch. 
yeah, you might have dreamt about it a couple times or more. 
your hand tranced the outline of his dick on his pants. 
“oh-shit--” minho keened under your touch, jerking his body viciously. 
“god, you’re fucking gorgeous when you’re hard.” the words left your lips unapologetically and by seeing the way that minho practically melted from the compliment, you felt your whole body swell with that same aching pain. 
“--tou-touch--” 
your hand gave minho’s cock one good hard squeeze and he grunted out so loudly that you were fearful it could have been heard from the next apartment over. shaky breaths trembled from his lips and he rutted into your hand. 
“‘hurts so, so bad.” 
you almost missed it, but single tears fell from both of his eyes. 
“what do you want me to do about it?” 
exasperated, minho threw his head into the crook of your neck, panting, “an-anything. but--I-want your mouth. please...” 
“of course.” you cooed, then snuck your hand under the elastic of his pants, getting another squeeze in. his eyes had glared at your lips long enough, so you decided to grant them their wish. you practically threw your whole weight into him, knocking both of your balances away as you rushed your lips into his. both of your mouths were hot and insatiable: your sloppy kisses were an utter mess: and you had never used so much tongue before in your life. wet kissing sounds filled the space between you both and tangled up with your shameless moans. 
in your own pants, the situation wasn’t much different, but your desire to utterly destroy your needy friend was overwhelming and you could ignore it for a couple seconds more. 
minho rose his hips for you pull his briefs and pants off, then sat back down to display his cock, red, veiny and dripping. your mouth salivated just thinking about how amazing it would feel in your mouth. 
your friend didn’t give you much time to think before he had pulled your head nearer to him, then tapped his tip on your lips. 
“shouldn’t I tease you first? whatever happened to foreplay?” you licked his length up and down. 
“just--I don't care about that, I’m ready now,--fucking--please, please, I’m begging you to take me in your mouth. 
“~ahhhh~ you’re so cute when you beg.” 
minho’s full length was nearly too much for you to handle, but regardless, you swallowed him down using every ounce of your skill. the way that he moaned for you sounded so pathetic and needy, but he only pushed your head down farther. 
“my little cockslut” minho gasped, “taking me in so good with that pretty mouth of yours...you’re so amazing, it’s so...mmph...just like...I always dreamed it would be...” 
he threw his head back to guffaw at himself. “I can’t believe that this is happening.”
“quit talking and let me hear more of those pretty moans of yours.” you demanded of him, switching to jerk him up and down with your hand. your own saliva coated each and every one of your fingers.  
“gonna...make me cum!” minho’s fingers dug into the edge of the sofa. “can-can I?” 
“no.” you answered with a devilish smile. “you’re not gonna let me have any fun?” 
“sorry, sorry...what do you want from me now?” 
you continued jerking him once you had crept your lips up his body, kissing up his chest and stomach. your thumb played with his slit, eliciting even more pre-cum to come dripping out of his adorable tip. you reached his mouth where you let him get a taste. 
just as before, the sofa started feeling too stuffy and warm for you, so your frazzled brain searched the room for the next best place, and there really was only one other. 
“come with me,” you circled minho in your arms, pulling you both down to carpeted floor, taking a couple blankets with you as they tied in your limbs. “fuck me into the ground minho.” 
a fire lit behind minho’s soft brown eyes that you had never seen, and soon he had ridded you of all of your own clothes. 
“oh kitten, there's nothing that I would love to do to you more.” 
for mere moments, yours and minho’s bodies lingered, pressed flush against each other as both of your hips grinded together seeking some kind of relief and your mouths searched for hungry answers. 
“be a good boy for me minho,” you whispered into him, “fuck me so hard I’m dizzy, hmm?” 
“if you insist...” minho buried his head into your neck to bite into the skin, no doubt leaving marks for you later. 
everything reached a certain symphonic climax once he guided himself into your entrance which was nearly twitching to be filled by him. his length and girth stretched you out perfectly, and soon you knew it wouldn’t take too much for him to show you all the stars in the galaxy behind your eyelids. 
he thrust into you with feral sounding grunts, and your back burned a little against the carpet under you. 
“don’t-don’t stop...mmm--” 
body ablaze, the beginnings of your orgasm start to build in your core, begging for more and more. deep inside you, minho grazed your euphoric spot and you moaned out his name with reckless abandon. 
“say it louder for me baby.” your friend would greedily command, adoring the way that his name would bounce off the walls. 
“I’m close, god, minho--” 
ding-ding-ding! 
had you not been cumming with a searing white heat with minho jerking himself wildly over your stomach, you would have seen chan open the door, pretending to sneak his way in. 
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?” chan threw his arms over his eyes. “...AND IN THE OPEN LIVING ROOM???” 
“ch-chan?” minho threw the blankets over both of your gasping bodies, still recovering from your orgasms of seconds ago. 
“ I...oh my god.” chan shielded his eyes the whole walk to his room. 
“I’m sorry!!” Minho called after him, eyes then falling to his white painting on your stomach. “hmm. that looks kinda nice.” 
~💋~
later, when you would be cleaning up, chan would discover your litter of half eaten bars of chocolate, then would turn them over to laugh in your face: 
“uhhhh guys...you know that those are a placebo right?” 
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Text
So I was inspired by @mrpenguinpants (go check out their work I'm referring to below this paragraph) and wanted to do another genshin fic. The interactions here can be anything you want it to mean (besides qiqi ofc). Also this is very self indulgent.
Genre: Fluff, Angst
Warnings: Self hatred, self loathing, blood, depressing thoughts ig(?), momentary oblivion of you squint.
Also I'm on mobile so I'm so sorry for not being able to add a read more option!
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Somehow you knew without knowing. You said things without needing to say it. A vessel of purity and wholeness. You had so much to give.
But how much was too much?
Qiqi called yours name on a rather sunny day. You were just about to head to Bubu Pharmacy when she ran up to them.
"Could you help me pick herbs? We always go together."
You knew what she meant in ways she couldn't convey. You were special to her, to everyone. You weren't aware of it though.
Knowing the worth of others was easier than knowing the worth of yourself.
"Of course, Qiqi, I'll always have time for you."
Qiqi loved your smile. It felt familiar. Qiqi saw you as an older sibling. She loved you in ways she couldn't express.
"I'm only good to be your ladder though! You know I'm not good with naming herbs!"
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On a cooler day, Zhongli called you to have some tea with him. The both of you sat at a teashop watching the harbor through the open window.
The gentle breeze touched all uncovered parts of your skin. The smell of the sea dancing underneath your nose. The sunset painting a melancholic picture.
"The ocean looks sad today."
Zhongli looked at you rather confusedly. After promptly sipping his tea he responded.
"How can an ocean look sad? Something so old shouldn't be humanized."
The last sentence was more for himself than anything. You didn't know, but he sometimes loathed himself for all he'd done. He wondered if all the blood spilt was worth it.
You reminded him of Guizhong, so ready to see things in a new light without judgement. He often hears you sing to glaze lilies around Qingce.
"How could we forget what all the ancients did for us?"
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A day after some much needed rain, you spotted Ganyu. Busy as ever, she was handling the unending work she often received. You decided to help out.
"Good morning, Ganyu. You seem to be someone who'd appreciate and extra pair of hands."
The joking atmosphere seemed to help lift the weight more than your hands. Ganyu giggled a bit.
"Some help would be much appreciated."
The rest of the day didn't feel like work. Ganyu felt the days of her childhood rushing back to her. Days without worry or work. Everything felt warmer, the sun began peeking its head out of the clouds.
"I'll do my best."
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You visited Hu Tao on a gloomy day. The clouds were gray and it looked as if it was about to rain. You entered the doors of the funeral parlor with the permission of the ferrylady.
Unfortunately, Hu Tao wasn't feeling very Hu Tao that day. Walking into her office, she seemed lost in thought.
"Hu Tao?"
The gift of candies laud forgotten on the desk. You moved to place a hand on her shoulder. A gesture of your listening presence.
"They're just pranks, and I'm just trying to get business. Like everyone else, its just...different."
Pulling her in for a hug, just being a strong unbreakable pillar for her sake.
"They don't see all the things you do behind the scenes. That makes them immature, not you. I don't think they know why you do the things you do, and you know what? That's okay. You know what you're doing, and that's the best thing you could do. You're doing so well."
Liyue knew you so so well. An unbreakable pillar. A foundation that so many people needed.
What would happen if you ever crumbled? Well, that could never happen.
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You visited Xiao on a rainy day. No heavy downpour, just a normal pitter-patter kind of rain.
You held a new dish in your hands, thinking that Xiao should try a new dish. Not to 'be more human' but to just try a different taste of life.
"Why are you still coming here? Its a long way from the harbor."
You simply smiled at the ground and put down the dish. Too afraid to sit on the railing, you opted for the floor.
"Being lonely isn't fun."
"As I thought, you're still so blind. Loneliness is my only company."
You laughed for a moment.
"Guess I should change my name to loneliness then."
You dared not to look at the mighty yaksha. You were just a pathetic human after all. Letting the dish sit in your lap, you outstretched your arms behind you.
"And you can't go around telling people they're blind! We all see things differently. You might think you need to spend eternity in loneliness, but we all crave to be loved or appreciated. Xiao, you're stuck with me."
You closed your eyes and turned towards Xiao, giving him a smile.
You felt the dish being taken from your lap and heard him sit next to you.
He began eating the warm soup.
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Today was a bad day to go out. Heavy rain and a dark atmosphere. But you had commissions knocking against your income. You were preoccupied with something else though.
Everyone's busy. I really need some help but everyone's busy and I don't want to bother them.
You admired Qiqi for braving through her life as best as she could.
You admired Zhongli for his wise and comforting views on life.
You admired Ganyu's persistence in her work, but most importantly in herself.
You admired Hu Tao for being herself even when others shamed her for it.
You admired Xiao for living through such mundane life, day after day.
You wanted to be just like them, but you just couldn't do it on some days.
You wanted to hide. You wanted to bitch about your day. You wanted to give up. You wanted to hide yourself to avoid judgement. You wanted something different. Someone different.
Someone who wasn't you.
You never looked as good as everyone else. Your voice never sounded right. Your never seemed to be mentionable or noteworthy. And on some days you were okay with that.
Am I really going to be another grain of salt?
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You trudged through the thick mud, ignoring the blisters on your feet. The rain seemed to taunt you as it settled in your clothes, your bones.
All you could taste was steel. You couldn't remember the last meal you ate. You felt so tired. You wanted to just stop everything.
But how could you? How could you when everyone else went on? It was just one last commission. They all have so much on their plate, you couldn't burden them anymore.
But your lungs burnt, you couldn't feel your fingers on your right hand. Where was your weapon? When did you lose your bag?
Why were your eyes so blurry? Everything sounded so loud. You just wanted to sleep. You were tired. You were trying so hard.
Why was it so fucking hard?
Why couldn't you do it? Why were you always so unsure? Why didn't you work as well as the others? Your feet moved by themselves. They weren't going fast enough. Your body wasn't good enough.
You're not enough.
You think you're at your destination. You don't know. Everything feels so unclear. Everything feels wrong.
Then there was warmth on your back. It was so warm, so comforting. It finally lulled you to sleep.
The millileth pulled the mitachurl's firey axe from the back of your corpse.
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You were confused when you woke up. A girl with brown hair and a hat was frantically calling someone. You were in a lobby of sorts. There were others talking about people who left. They didn't look like people. They were see through.
See through just like you.
"Aiya! Why aren't you listening to me you idiot! You scared us! What happened?"
The girl seemed to be the only normal person here. Suddenly you felt like you've been ripped from that foggy place.
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People were calling the same person's name again. Over and over. You were just trying to continue sleeping when you were violently shaken.
"Hey! Whats your problem!"
You shook the person off of you. A young man with a green tattoo and dark hair. A taller man with amber eyes and brown hair. A woman with horns and silky looking blue hair. That girl from before who wore the hat. A small girl with light purple hair and had a talisman on her hat.
"You're alive! Thank the archons! We were so worried when we heard the news! " The lady with the horns looked as if she was about to cry. You felt bad but the tension was awkward.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."
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Ty for reading! Leave a like and a comment if you enjoyed it! I hope some of yall picked up the hidden meanings hehehe~
Part two here:
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un2-verse · 3 years
Text
BILLY — Kim Taehyung (2)
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pairing: taehyung x f reader
genre: horror au, yandere au, saw/john kramer au
synopsis: News of a Sadistic Serial Killer nicknamed “Jigsaw” is spreading around town like wildfire… the nickname stemming from the puzzle piece he cuts from every victim’s body. No one knows who he’ll trap next but in a town full of delinquents and criminals, it could never be you. Right?
warnings: mentions of suicidal thoughs, abusive relationships, stalking etc. dont read if triggered. there are some ?? fucked up things in this but idk what to word them. but also mentions of self harm/self hating thoughts.
wordcount: 2.2k
a/n: unedited so pls forgive me for any mistakes and lmk if u want to be added to a taglist^^
series masterlist
part one part three
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You’d spent a couple of hours in the café with Taehyung. Jimin popped over every now and then to talk with his best friend and to make sure you had everything you needed while there.
When you left, Jimin wrapped his arms around you as he bid his farewell, “It was lovely to meet you Y/N! Please, don’t be a stranger!” You simply nodded your head as you pulled away from the hug. You grinned back at him as he moved to Taehyung. You opened the door, carefully stepping outside to leave the boys with some privacy.
Once the door shut Jimin’s smile beamed, “so she’s the girl you’re always talking about, Flower? Right?”
“Yeah she is, thanks for that though man but, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later?”
Taehyung smiled as he made his way towards you, you looked up and he swore, he saw a hint of nervousness in your eyes, probably because it’s dark, he thought to himself. “Come on then, let’s get you home.” He held out his hand, you were quick to grab a hold of it. Taehyung intertwined your fingers as he tugged you back across the road, “it’ll take about twenty minutes, you gonna be alright to walk?” he glanced down to you.
Your heart warmed at the way his eyes smiled with him, “I’ll be fine, thank you.” He seemed happy enough with your answer as you fell into a steady rhythm. You felt a little conflicted, you may not know Taehyung well but he had an energy about him that made you wanna spill every secret you knew, you’d shared pointless stories while you were at the café, having learnt Taehyung was a family oriented person, he loved art and he was passionate about little subjects other people would deem small. Yet he had a warmth that you’d not seen in anyone else.
Fuck it, you thought, he’s shown nothing but kindness, you may aswell open upto him… atleast.
“I was in an abusive relationship.” Taehyung felt himself smirk but quickly wiped it from his face, he arched an eyebrow as he looked down to you, “it was my first too. It left me, fucked up, in a way. Not that I wasn’t already fucked up.” Progress. He squeezed your hand in reassurance, go on… “I’ve always been insecure and uh, uncomfortable with the way I look. After that disaster of a relationship, it left me worse for wear.” you kept your eyes on the road, you didn’t want to see the judgement on his face yet it didn’t stop you from carrying on, “I never told my friends or family about it. None of them knew I was struggling before it anyway so I’ve been letting it tear me apart.”
“Why tell me then doll?”
You risked a glance at his face. There were no traces of judgement or pity. Swallowing down your nerves, you added softly, “I had to tell someone. Even if that someone is a random person— who showed me kindness when I needed it.”
Taehyung felt his heart clench, she’s already trusting me… this was easier than I thought. “Don’t feel like you need to tell me anything baby,” I already know it all.
You felt your cheeks burn from the pet name, how could something so simple, affect you this much? God, talk about a schoolgirl crush. “That’s the thing, I don’t feel like I need to. I just, I want to.”
Taehyung presented you with his boxy grin, “Then you can tell me anything you want, whether it's big or small.”
“Thank you Taehyung.” It was like the sun had shone down on you, the simplest gesture meant the world. Here you had a person willing to talk to you about your darkest secrets. A person willing to listen. Someone who had no ties to your family, which made it easier for the words to flow from you, “It’s like, I was this happy, care-free kid. I smiled without forcing it and when I laughed… I felt free. I didn’t feel like I was losing my breath. Not like I do now, everytime I do so much as breathe, it's like these roots have twisted around my lungs and everytime a breath escapes, they crush them tighter. It’s like a reminder. You’re never fully alive. You’re never fully happy. Pain overrides any other emotion. I’ve learned that, after all those years. I used to think, I’d never accept it.” A solemn silence fell over you. The roots squeezed your lungs even tighter as you whispered, “I’m scared of living.”
“Flower, some people are anchored to this world by their feet, others by their fears. You don’t have to voice it, I know you’re scared. You have your fears. Your demons. The thing you were doing at the cafe; is destructive. Anything that harms you, is destructive. Fuck, it may only be something as simple as picking your skin but that can lead into bigger things.”
It already has.
“Taehyung, I know that. I knew when it started but it helps, it lessens my anxiety. You’re the only one to have picked up on it. My friends… they don’t notice. If they do, they don’t mention it.”
Taehyung scoffed, “You really think anyone on this planet is your friend?”
Your mouth was sewn shut. You didn’t want to admit it but, there was some truth to his words.
You walked home in silence.
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That night haunted you. It forced its way into your dreams. It clouded your thoughts when Yoongi and Hoseok were with you. When you’d spent time together, you were vacant. A soulless body. It was like a poison had found its way into your brain, second guessing relationships and people’s motives.
‘You really think anyone on this planet is your friend?’
Why were you letting it get in your head so much? You knew your friends. They were the only ones you felt safe with. They were your friends for a reason, they supported you (albeit sometimes they had a sense of… tough love) but they always had your back.
You didn’t mention Taehyung to Yoongi or Hoseok. You felt as though that was something that should be kept between you and him. Plus, the duo would’ve felt betrayed and upset by the fact you had wandered into foreign territory alone and found company in a complete stranger-- especially after they’d warned you about the whole Jigsaw shit.
To save the arguments, you went about your life as usual. You helped out your Mum with the flower shop, the array of flowers made you realise how the simplest things were beautiful. That of course, didn’t include yourself. Rancid thoughts clouded what was once, a tranquil space. Those god forsaken roots hadn’t lessened. Breathing was still difficult— as was pretending that you were absolutely fine.
You avoided mirrors, a quick glance could wreck your entire mood. You hated people taking photos of you, it made you scrutinise every single thing.
My nose is too big.
My chin is too round.
My face just shouts ugly.
My legs are disgusting.
My stomach is embarrassing.
My boobs are weird.
Not to say, you didn’t have these thoughts on the regular. However, the more you eluded your appearance, the voices lessened. You could ignore the way you looked, forget it completely. Often convinced yourself you were a plain person. The stereotypical norm: someone that no one would look twice at. It helped you get on with everyday tasks, it helped you ease the anxiety.
After all, every flower must grow through dirt.
But how would you react? If you knew, he had all the pictures of you?
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Tuesdays you worked at your Dad’s garage. You didn’t know much about cars but you enjoyed his company. As well as spending time with Hobi and Yoongi. You often found yourself pranking the former with Yoongi, little jokes that luckily, didn’t piss Hobi off too much.
Today though, you were late. You’d had to spend more time trying to find the more appropriate clothing… you didn’t want people to see the slashed lines of red that littered your body.
After you messily threw an outfit together, you made your way down to the garage. You found your eyes trained on the silver Nissan Skyline, mouth agape as you collided into something.
You felt hands grab your shoulders, “Watch where you’re going,” Yoongi brought his hands to ruffle your hair, “gotta be careful while we’ve got that here kidda. That fuckers expensive.” He released a chuckle as you rolled your eyes, softly elbowing him out the way.
Your dad was under the bonnet, a box of tools were scattered around his feet. Organised mess, your Dad was infamous for it.
“Sorry I’m late Pops, what do you want me to do?”
Not even a second later, your Dad turned to face you, “Ah darling, not a lot while we’re working on this. Can you go make us some drinks?”
“Yeah course, I won’t be too long!”
You passed Hoseok on your way to the little kitchen situated at the back, he sent you a wink as he shouted across, “Coffee for me kidda!”
Three cups were spread in front of you. Americano for Yoongi, Coffee for Hobi and Cappuchino for Pops. Just as you were about to shout the guys, a presence had situated itself comfortably behind you. Before you had time to turn around, a deep baritone voice addressed you, “You not gonna ask me if I want a cup baby?”
You felt yourself still. You knew that voice. The voice that was haunting your dreams, even your wake.
You really think anyone on this planet is your friend?
Taehyung watched the way your body tensed, your shoulders stiffened, your breathing altered. Hm, she’s nervous. How cute.
“What are you doing here?” the words passed your lips, delivered as though they were encased in thorns.
A deep chuckle filled the room, “What do you think I’m doing here?” Taehyung inched closer, the atmosphere was almost palpable. You felt the way his chest brushed against your back, a sudden chill shot through you as he brought his hand up— which grazed against your skin whilst he moved your hair from your neck. His eyes turned hungry at the sight of your goosebumps. Your heart raced when he brought his head lower, lips next to your ear, “You think I’m here for you baby?” I am… but you don’t need to know that just yet.
You spun around, squashed between the table and Taehyung. Heat radiated off of him, how can he be so hot? It felt like you were in a furnace (while face to face with the Devil.)
Fear stricken, you tried to fight through it. Don’t show him. Don’t let him see. With a sarcastic smile plastered on your face you retorted, “Of course you are Taehyung. You tracked me down using the information I gave you and figured out which Garage is ours.”
The sarcasm was practically dripping from your tone like venom. Taehyung felt himself stifle a laugh.
You just didn’t know. In all fairness, you didn’t know anything. How would you know that Taehyung had done exactly that, except he’d done it months prior.
He lowered his head to yours, your hands raised to push him away but Taehyung wrapped his fingers around each wrist and tugged them to lay between you before you even had the chance to nudge him. You felt like you were stuck in a Venus fly trap.
“I’m not some type of sicko, doll.”
You were just a naive, misunderstood, little girl.
“I’m getting my car fixed. Your dad’s working on it right now.”
Your body visibly relaxed, releasing a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “Oh, the Skyline? Wait, you have a car and made us walk back to mine the other week?”
“I didn’t make you walk for the fun of it baby, my car is literally in the shop so obviously it was broken.”
Only, the car was perfectly fine when you met him those weeks ago. He had made the pair of you walk so he’d have more of a chance to speak to you and to touch you. The only way he could follow you around without being suspicious, especially at your dads work, was to have a somewhat reasonable excuse (which resulted in him messing with the engine). He knew although you’d shied away from him that night, he could easily win you back around.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry Taehyung. I’m also uh, sorry about how that night ended.”
“Don’t sweat it, I know what I said came off a little... weird but I didn’t mean any harm.”
With an angelic smile on your face in return, Taehyung knew that soon, that smile would morph into a grateful one. After all, he was going to help you.
Until a person is faced with death, it’s impossible to tell whether they have what it takes to survive.
Live or Die.
Your choice.
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He had first seen you out and about last year. However, he had first heard of you when the guys working for him had slammed a file onto his desk, Subject #13 was scrawled on the top. Filled to the brim with pictures of you and everything about your life down to the littlest detail.
L/N Y/N— D.O.B 03.11.02— 19 years old.
Phone number: XXXXX.XXXXX
Female. Lives with parents at: 171 Norm Street, Falfield F91 7DW. Was outcasted at school but befriended a Jeon Jeongguk [19 years, male. 92 Carriers Road, Cressage CY5 3EA. XXXXX.XXXXX].
Ex partner is Kang Jaehyo. [23 years. Male. Abusive and manipulative, laid his hands on Y/N multiple times leaving bruises and scars. Sexual abuse was also discovered. Have been broken up for 4 months. 13 Walkers Drive, Falfield, F73 1DL XXXXX.XXXXX]
Y/N has suicidal ideations (as well as 7 attempts). Self harms by “cutting” “punching” and “scratching”. Diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety Disorder on May 13th 2016. Works at Toret Garage and Letty’s Floral. Both places owned by parents.
The web of lies and deceit had barely scraped the surface.
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machinegunbun · 3 years
Note
Did we ever get the freaky colson fic? Asking for a friend
Yenno what? I’ve been practically starving yall so i think you earned it. Ask (for a friend) and you shall receive. Buckle up kiddos, this ones a doozy.
TW?: Like? everything. everything is a problem here lmao. Just weird. H/A stands for haunted attraction, i had one in mind but it felt disrespectful to mention.
I present to you... The Freaky Fic ™
                                                           ~*~*~
You knew this interviewer had a history of asking personal questions, which meant when you came on you were completely expecting to be asked something or other in regards to you and Colsons sex life, but asking about the freakiest sex you’ve ever had still felt a little forward. You weren’t thirty minutes into what would be an hour-and-forty-three-minute podcast and he was already pulling out what you originally thought to the big guns. Your eyes met Colsons as you silently tried to decide whether or not you should avoid the question.
“I already know what it would be, I'm just not sure we should say.”
“It’s that bad?” The interviewer asks
“Well, it’s more that everyone is gonna say its white people shit. Cause it is.” You took a moment to think about the statement “It wasn’t incest though! Obviously. Just a little weird.”
“What was it?” Colson asked, mind reeling through your personal kama sutra for anything that would stand out as the freakiest. Colson and you were definitely not vanilla, but that was the problem, wasn’t it? When you’ve done so much weird stuff, it’s hard to rank which would be the weirdest.
“The [H/a].” You say, watching as a flash of recognition falls over his face
“Seriously? That’s the worst thing you could think of? Cause I can think of, like, five worse than that, just off the top of my head.”
 “I mean, it’s definitely not the freakiest, but it’s a good story without it being super embarrassing or personal.” Colson nods in agreement, mumbling a small “Right”
“Yeah, go ahead. You can tell it.” He says, turning to face you in his spinny chair.
“Okay, so, I’m very superstitious and, like, paranoid right? I mean, I literally will not sleep in a room that has a mirror facing me. It doesn’t even have to be facing me, it could be facing the wall opposite me, but it has to be covered. I don’t even really trust it when it’s covered, honestly, I prefer it to be face down to the floor. Because mirrors are supposed to be portals to the after life, or whatever, and I remember hearing that if one is facing you while you sleep it’s easier for ghosts to manipulate you. It’s not that I necessarily believe that, or that I think if I slept with a mirror facing me that I’d die or something, but that I respect it. However, I think when places are advertised as haunted they usually aren’t. I mean you see these youtubers go to these places and film all these videos and it’s just- That’s not how hauntings usually are. Ghosts have an ability, to an extent, to manipulate your emotion. Have you ever heard of someone suddenly being overwhelmed by an emotion because they believe a loved one is near? It’s more like that, it’s very spiritual. Being haunted, coming from someone who ghosts seem to love, is nine times out of ten nothing like what Hollywood portrays it to be. It’s not to say that I think every one of these youtubers is lying, I think some of them definitely are, or that they were scared and when you’re scared it’s easy to blow little noises out of the water, but mostly I think it has to do with the places themself.”
Your story was cut off by the interviewer asking a question, 
“Hold on, you aren’t about to make a joke about freaky also meaning spooky, right?”  The interviewer asks
“I mean, you could totally make that joke, but it’s definitely a little kinky. I’m just giving some background.”
“Okay, continue.”
“Where was I? Oh, yes. I think when you go somewhere that is advertised as haunted they are selling you an experience. If you went to the [H/a] and nothing happened, some people would be disappointed by that and would want their money back, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“I think some of these places have audio recordings and mechanised doors, things that they can use to manipulate every room and give you a good scare. This is all theory, by the way, so don’t sue us.”
“You really think it's more plausible that they have a whole control room to scare people and that none of the workers have ever squealed than believe that these places are just… haunted?” The interviewer asked
“I don’t know. Maybe, if they only allowed people with a certain seniority and made them sign an NDA? And if the ones who control it get to give their coworkers a little scare so they come online and say they’ve had their own experiences? Yeah, I think it makes sense, and it's making them money, so why would they stop?”
“Okay, I guess.” He nodded along, entertaining the idea
“But, I also believe that if you talk to ghosts or call on them they will show up, so it’s kinda” you made a scale motion with your hands before continuing.
“Anyway, I went on board with this in mind. We were in our room, cuddled up on the bed and-” you took a moment to recall that night “I don’t remember if we were waiting for something to happen, or if it already had and we were waiting for something else. Anyway, we must’ve gotten bored, because we started making out.”
The crappy old hotel sheets shifted under you as your lips met Colsons, his warm hand reaching over to rest on your lower back. The kiss quickly became heated, your mouths smashing into one another, his tongue swiping across your bottom lip while his hand pulled you closer, your own reaching down to rub his growing bulge.
A short, fast knock came from the wall, breaking both the kiss and the silence.
“Oh, do you like that?” You ask, continuing to massage him through his loose sweatpants. Colson originally thought you had been referring to him, but quickly caught onto the fact that you were addressing the ‘ghost’. 
“Hm, what about this?” You continued, kissing your way down his body, pulling his pants down when you got to them and sliding his tip between your lips. A barely audible creak erupted from the room beside you, the bathroom sink had turned on, a small stream of water pouring aimlessly down into the sink. 
“Does that make you wet?” You ask, sucking one of his balls into your mouth as you stroke him. Colson found the whole act to be a bit odd, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself, so he let you continue. As fucked up as it was, the idea of a third party watching as the two of you were doing your thing was really getting you going. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to some, other than the fact that the supposed third party was a ghost.
“Do you like watching us fuck?” You slid your mouth down the length of his prick, hollowing out your cheeks before coming back up to continue “Tell me what you want me to do to him next.” You offer up, glancing up at Colson who looked equal parts freaked out and turned on.
“You’re crazy. God that’s hot.” He said, throwing his head back while you let out a small laugh. A book slides from the coffee table across the room, falling to the floor and landing on its spine, flipping open to a random page. You weren’t entirely sure what that implied, but the only thing that came to mind was him fucking you on that table. You took a moment to ponder it before deciding if you tried it would break and that you didn’t wanna bother paying the place for a new one.
You began kissing your way back up his body instead, admiring his tattoos as you go. Your lips landed back on his, reaching down to slide the tip of his prick through your folds, gathering your arousal. Stopping the kiss for a moment, you opened your mouth to take a breath. Colson took this opportunity to spit in your mouth, connecting your lips again soon after.
“Think the ghost liked that?” He said, reaching down to grab his hard dick from your hand, teasing your hole. You shrugged, leaning back into the kiss, moving your hips along with his movements. 
After a minute or two of teasing, you swore you felt the bed begin to shake. It started off slow and small, almost as if Colson was shaking under you and it was transferring to the bed, before slowly building to a much more noticeable rumble.
“Oh, I think it wants us to shake the bed.” You say, a smirk playing on your lips, a gasp falling past them as you felt colson slip inside you. You happily obliged, the sound of skin slapping against skin filled the room. You didn’t realise how badly you needed this, you couldn’t help the moans slipping past your lips as you fucked each other as hard as you could manage, trying your best to make sure the bed shook. You were looking down at Colson when suddenly his face disappeared, replaced by impenetrable darkness.
“What the fuck.” The interviewer mentioned, more amused than judgemental “I can't believe you’re telling me this. I can’t believe this isn’t the freakiest shit you’ve ever done.”
“Well, the ghost thing was kind of a joke. I mean, it happened, but it was more about the fact that someone was obviously watching us, or the concept of that.”
“Right, right. You guys like an audience, I see.”
“While it was dark though, I swear I felt a hand slide up the side of my thigh, I know it wasn’t Colsons cause I could-” You cut yourself off “I’m not gonna say how, but I felt both of his hands on me.” 
“Oh shit, forreal? You never told me that part.” Colson said, you gave a small nod in his direction before continuing.
 “But then the lights came back on.”
The lights had only been off for about a minute, small sounds of things moving barely audible over the sounds you two had been making, Colson flipping you over in the dark, pounding away at your hips. When they flicked back on, the room was messy, your eyes scanned the room, falling on the complimentary ouija that sat on the table first. It had fallen out of its box, the lid on the floor next to it. Next, you realized the closet had slid open, it had one of those bendy doors that made it so when you slid it open it bent out towards you, they were called bifold closet doors, if you remembered correctly. 
It was slid halfway open to reveal the empty closet behind it, the only thing adorning the shelf being a couple lone close hangers. As you watched, one looked as if it were smacked off and fell to the floor.
“It wasn’t hot anymore at that point. I didn’t see anything, I think it was my paranoia-- remember when you were a little kid laying in bed and you were like, there is a person crouching beside my bed right now and if I look over the edge at them they will have no more incentive not to kill me?” A silent understanding “It was like that, I don't know how but I know what they look like and I was fully convinced that person was crouching next to us on the bed and if I looked over there I would see him. Because the bed was on the wall, and it’s a big bed, a queen I believe, and colson and I are laying with our head at the foot of it, there was plenty of room to the side of us cause we weren’t exactly in the middle. “Wait, you said that you believed the hauntings were mechanical, so do you think this was a ghost, or a worker?”
“I think it may have been the lady at the front desk, because when we came out she asked us if we were having a good day. I don't know. I don’t think I’ve ever been turned off so fast, I mean at first the idea of a ghost or a worker watching us have sex was hot, but the thought of that… thing being there with us-- That wasn’t hot. We just, kinda, silently put our clothes on and walked out to the lobby. We went back later and got our stuff and checked out early. All I know is it was a dumb fucking idea.”
The day after the interview was released twitter was filled with variations of “If Mgk and his girlfriend wanted an audience they could’ve just asked me.” 
Guess you should’ve expected that one.
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ibijau · 3 years
Text
Jin Rusong Lives pt 13 / On AO3
Nie Huaisang investigates
“What do you mean he was taken?” Nie Huaisang snarled, tightening his grip on his disciple’s collar.
“I don't know, I was just on duty at the gate!" the man said. "They arrived and said to warn you right away while they get checked by Nie Zhilan, I don’t know what happened! They just told me he’s gone, and Jin Yixin too.”
Nie Huaisang pushed the man out of the way and ran toward the infirmary. He thought he heard Lan Xichen call his name, but ignored it, filled with terror over Jin Rusong’s fate.
He should never have allowed the child to leave the Unclean Realm, not even under surveillance, not even to a place so close. Jin Guangyao had left too many enemies behind them, and most of those didn’t have Nie Huaisang’s fondness for his son. Why should they? Jin Guangyao had ordered entire sects killed, people had lost sons, daughters, grandchildren, it was only natural they'd want the same to happen to their enemy's child. Nie Huaisang was the last person with a right to blame others for their dreams of revenge, and yet in this case, he could not allow it. 
Jin Rusong was family, just as surely as his brother, or his sect, or even Lan Xichen. They were all his and he would set the world on fire if anything happened to that child.
On the way to the infirmary, Nie Huaisang spotted Nie Funyu on the training ground. His first disciple looked surprised at first, then concerned when Nie Huaisang barked that lessons for the day were cancelled. He was a smart man though, and when his sect leader ordered that the distress signal Wen Ning had left them be used immediately, Nie Funyu asked no question and ran to obey.
There were four men in the infirmary when Nie Huaisang got there, as well as Nie Zhilan who had a severe look on her face. The first thing that came to Nie Huaisang’s mind when he saw those men was that they were not, and by far, the strongest cultivators to be found in the Unclean Realm. They were good, friendly people, and as large as most Nie disciples were, but their skill was nothing spectacular. Of course, it was Nie Huaisang’s own fault if Jin Yixin hadn’t picked anyone more capable to come with her and her student. If he hadn’t been so distracted, he’d have told her exactly who to take with her instead of leaving that to her own judgement. How could she have known who to trust, when she'd mixed so little with others?
Out of those four men, Qian Zhixian was the one in best shape, though he still had a number of bruises, and appeared to have trouble with one elbow. The others were more seriously injured, with one at least having a bleeding gash on his forehead, and another whose leg might have been broken. Qian Zhixian gave an awkward, one handed bow to his sect leader, and dared not meet Nie Huaisang’s eyes.
“Zongzhu, we have failed you.”
“You have. What happened?”
All four men winced at his tone, but Qian Zhixian started explaining. Everything had gone well at first, they’d reached that little field without trouble, and Jin Yixin had started her lesson. At one point, she had asked the four Nie disciples to walk a little further away, so she could explain certain things that pertained to the Jin sect’s particular way of cultivating. They’d done so without question, respecting the need for secrecy in these things, and had spread out in the field so they could continue keeping an eye on every direction.
As far as they could tell, all four of them had been attacked at the same time, though they were not quite sure who, or what, had attacked them, their opponents shrouded in dark mist to hide their identity. The fight had been too hard for them, and they all went down with shameful speed, losing consciousness for a while. Qian Zhixian had been the first to wake up again, since he hadn’t been hit quite as hard, and he’d quickly woken up his companions as well.
“We’d have sent a signal,” Qian Zhixian said when Nie Huaisang’s glare intensified, “but whoever ambushed us took them from us. So we came back as fast as we could, and gave the alert.”
“What about Jin Yixin? Where was she while you were fighting?”
“We don’t know. Since she was gone too, we think maybe she tried to protect the little boy, and whoever took him had to take her too.”
“Hm. When Nie Zhilan is done healing you, report to Nie Funyu for punishment,” Nie Huaisang ordered. “I will not be disappointed again. Did you look around at all for any clues before returning here?”
“We thought it was more important to give the alarm, zongzhu.”
Nie Huaisang cursed. If he’d been there, he would have sent one man to raise the alarm, and asked the others to search their surroundings, in case whoever took Jin Rusong had left some traces of their identity. Not that he thought those four were the sort who would have noticed anything. Good, kind men, but hardly sharp. If he’d been there, if he hadn’t stupidly trusted others…
“I’ll deal with you four later,” Nie Huaisang decided. “If you remember anything of importance, send someone to warn me. I’m going to inspect that field myself.”
Without another look at his disciples, he stormed out of the infirmary.
That was why he’d worked alone all these years. There were good people in his sect, loyal and strong and most of them kind, but they just weren’t cut out for the sort of world that Jin Guangyao had created, the world they were still dealing with. Everyone around him was just too honest, and stupidly assumed that others were as well. Honesty was all nice and well, but Nie Huaisang couldn’t count on people who didn’t even think to…
“Huaisang!” Lan Xichen called, running up to him just as he was about to reach the main gate. He was breathless and pale, as if the news had undone what several weeks of rest had restored of his health.
“He’s disappeared,” Nie Huaisang coldly said when Lan Xichen had reached him. “Jin Yixin too. I’m going to see if I find any clues.”
Lan Xichen startled, but nodded.
“I’m coming too.”
“In your state?” Nie Huaisang sneered. “What good will you be? It’s my fault if this happened, I’ll deal with it. Go rest, I can do this on my own.”
Lan Xichen grew paler yet, but when Nie Huaisang tried to move, Lan Xichen caught him by the wrist with surprising strength for a man looking so exhausted.
“I’m coming too. If you’re responsible, then so am I. If you’re going to look for him, so am I.”
“That’s not…”
“Don’t push me away again,” Lan Xichen pleaded, tightening his grip. “You don’t have to do it alone this time.”
Years of habit screamed in Nie Huaisang’s mind, telling him not to rely on others, not to get anyone involved in his business, least of all Lan Xichen whose honesty and determination to do things properly could only lead to disaster.
But Lan Xichen was right there, just as worried about what had happened to Jin Rusong, eager to help get their little boy back. And he was theirs now, at least for the time being. Their child, in danger.
Of course Nie Huaisang couldn’t do that alone.
“Then let’s go,” Nie Huaisang said, freeing his wrist so he could hold Lan Xichen’s hand and give him support as they left the Unclean Realm. 
-
Just as Nie Huaisang remembered, the field mentioned by Jin Yixin was quite close to the Unclean Realm, and visible from its walls. The attack might have been noticed if patrols had been more frequent, which told him he’d need to do something about that.
In Nie Mingjue’s days, the walls would have been guarded constantly, in all directions. In Nie Mingjue’s days, something like this could never have happened. 
“There are signs of struggle here,” Wen Ning noted quietly. “Not very strong ones, but it's there anyway, look..”
He had joined them as they were walking toward the field, explaining that he’d sent Lan Sizhui to warn Jin Rulan there was a problem as soon as they’d seen the signal. Hopefully, both boys would be there by morning.
It would not be pleasant to explain to Jin Rulan what had happened, nor what Nie Huaisang was starting to suspect about the situation. But he wouldn't throw accusations until he was sure of himself. The last thing they needed after such a mess was a diplomatic incident.
“There are only those weak signs,” Nie Huaisang remarked, coming closer to Wen Ning to look again. “Jin Rusong, no doubt. Whatever happened, he did not wish to go. But as for Jin Yixin…”
There was no sign of serious fighting in the spot where Jin Yixin and Jin Rusong would have stood when the attack occurred. Aside from the grass being slightly flattened in two places, leaving indents too small to have come from anyone but Jin Rusong, nothing was amiss. Odd, when she'd more than proven she was a very strong fighter.
“They might have knocked her unconscious right away,” Lan Xichen suggested, sitting on a rock, the walk to the field having been a little too much for him.
Nie Huaisang threw him a look. Lan Xichen grimaced, and shook his head.
“I also find it unlikely,” he admitted. “Unless they neutralised her in such a manner that she couldn't fight them off at all, and yet didn't fall either… But if she wasn't attacked, then it means she allowed all this to happen, and either ran away on her own or left with the kidnappers. Why would she do that? Didn’t you say that Jin Rulan vouched for her?”
“People’s trust can be misplaced,” Nie Huaisang retorted bitterly. “And I didn’t get to know her well enough to make an opinion regarding her personality. She made no effort to mix with us, and I was too preoccupied by other matters to go against her wishes. I should have seen something was strange! I should have guessed, there must have been signs…”
With some effort, Lan Xichen rose from his improvised seat and went to join the other two.
“I shouldn’t have let them come here today,” Nie Huaisang said while Lan Xichen took his hand. “I should have been more careful. To make a mistake like that…”
“It’s probably not that bad,” Wen Ning said. “They could have killed him, but they just kidnapped him. Whoever took him might just want to use him as a bargaining chip against you or Jin Rulan.”
“That’s not as reassuring as you think,” Nie Huaisang snapped.
“It should be. A hostage can be freed, a corpse can’t be saved,” Wen Ning pointed out. Then, remembering his own situation, he sheepishly added: “Not usually, anyway.”
Nie Huaisang felt Lan Xichen shiver, while he thought he might faint, clutching too hard at each other's hand, both thinking of the last time Jin Rusong had gone missing. 
It had only been a very short while back then, and he'd been in Jinlin Tai with his family, all of his father's sect, as well as some prestigious guests. Nie Huaisang remembered that nobody had been particularly worried when they realised they hadn't seen the little boy in a while and started looking for him. He couldn't have gone very far, they'd all thought, and with so many people present, he'd be spotted soon. 
They'd been right. They'd found his body very quickly, and very near. Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen had been close by when Qin Su had screamed, and they'd seen that little boy they loved so much, lifeless on the floor of a small room near the hall where they'd been having a banquet. 
They'd all been drinking and laughing, while he died alone. 
Nie Huaisang could not go through that again. It would kill him if it happened again, and under his watch this time. 
"It's getting dark, you two won't be able to do much," Wen Ning remarked. "Go back inside, get some rest. I'll continue looking around in case they left some traces while escaping." 
It was the sensible thing to do, but Nie Huaisang had half a mind to keep looking as well. It just didn't feel right to merely go sleep, not when poor Jin Rusong was among strangers and likely terrified. 
If he had been alone, Nie Huaisang would have continued looking too. But Lan Xichen was there as well, shaken by the shock of that incident, still not fully recovered from his too harsh seclusion. If Nie Huaisang did not care about himself, he worried about Lan Xichen's well-being, and he knew the other man would refuse to return to the Unclean Realm alone. 
That either of them could sleep seemed unlikely, but if they managed to rest they would be of more use, should morning bring any news. 
-
After threats from Nie Zhilan, Lan Xichen reluctantly took some medicine to help him catch some sleep. Nie Zhilan was furious at him for exerting himself beyond what she'd allowed, and equally angry at Nie Huaisang for not preventing it. As Lan Xichen drifted to sleep, in Nie Huaisang’s bed rather than his own so he could be reached quicker if something happened, Nie Zhilan threatened to force feed her sect leader that same medicine as punishment, only dropping the matter when he made it clear he was in no mood for a playful argument. Nie Huaisang even managed to obtain a different medicine to wake Lan Xichen up, in case the first one had not naturally worn off by the time Jin Rulan and Lan Sizhui arrived. 
In the end, it was not necessary. Shortly after Lan Xichen woke up on his own, the two young men were directed to Nie Huaisang's private quarters. 
"You were supposed to look after him!" Jin Rulan exploded as he rushed inside the room. "And now your disciples tell me Rusong's been kidnapped?" 
Coming in after him, Lan Sizhui looked calmer, but equally unhappy. He frowned at the sight of Lan Xichen still laying in Nie Huaisang’s bed, and that hint of judgment, combined with the exhaustion of a sleepless night, and the guilt of failure, got the better of Nie Huaisang. 
"I was supposed to look after him, and Jin zongzhu was supposed to send a trustworthy teacher!" he snapped. "Every sign indicates that Jin Yixin helped his kidnappers, and is probably hiding with them right now." 
"She'd never do that!" Jin Rusong retorted. "Jin Yixin is a well respected elder! Uncle Jiang and me checked her background carefully before selecting her! She's always dedicated herself to teaching, never meddled with politics if she could avoid it. And she had a very good relationship with Qin Su, so she wouldn't hurt her son."
"You'd be surprised what people would do to their friends." 
"They weren't just friends! Jin Yixin and Qin Su are cousins, so she's family, she could never hurt Rusong." 
"I think Jin Guangyao proved well enough that family… wait, cousins ?"
Arms crossed on his chest, Jin Rulan nodded firmly while Nie Huaisang stared, too tired to make sense of that new revelation.
"Something close to that anyway,” Jin Rulan explain. “I think she might actually be Qin Cangye's cousin? But they're related anyway. I'd forgotten about it when we thought of asking her, but she told us she'd be happy to help her family, so obviously she can't have…" 
"Jin Rulan, you're an idiot," Nie Huaisang cut him. "And I'm an imbecile. Qin Cangye! Of course!" 
Lan Xichen slowly sat up on the bed, still groggy from the medicine he’d taken but looking agitated by the news.
"Did anyone warn him about Rusong?" he slurred. 
"I didn't think it concerned him," Jin Rulan said. "Rusong isn't his real grandson, is he? Uncle Jiang agreed, too." 
"You were raised in Lanling, so I'll excuse you for being stupid about family," Nie Huaisang said, starting to pace the room. "But your uncle should have known better, and me as well. Qin Cangye is a proud man, and he’s refused to believe what was revealed about his wife. Of course he’d do something if he learned Rusong is alive!”
Nie Huaisang stopped his pacing, and cursed. That was another reason he’d worked alone all these years. He was too sentimental. Having people he loved close-by made him distracted and stupid. If Jin Rusong hadn’t been living with him, Nie Huaisang would have been less emotional in the instance of a disappearance, and might have guessed right away that the Qin sect could be involved. If Lan Xichen hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have been so careless. Emotions made him weaker, and impulsive to the point of stupidity.
“Qin Cangye is an honest man,” Lan Xichen softly pointed out. “He rarely visited Jinlin Tai because he had a dislike of Jin Guangyao, but I think he was very fond of his grandson. If he has Rusong, at least we know he’s safe.”
“Qin Cangye is a decent enough man, but we can’t be sure he’s the one who orchestrated this,” Nie Huaisang retorted. “His sons might be less than enthusiastic at the news that Jin Rusong is alive. They'd have preferred to see him dead rather than have a living proof of their mother's shame. And if his grandfather insists on treating him as family, then he’ll get a share of inheritance someday. After such a miracle, he might even get preferential treatment over Qin Cangye’s other grandchildren, just because he had the good luck to survive. The Qin sect can be just as cut-throat as Lanling Jin when there’s money involved.”
“I’m right here!” Jin Ling complained.
Nie Huaisang turned to glare at him.
“You are, and I’m furious at you! You should have told me Jin Yixin was related to the Qin!”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“You didn’t think at all!” Nie Huaisang exploded. “You didn’t think when you decided to heal Jin Rusong and revive him! You didn’t think when you let him wake up among strangers, without a single familiar face to comfort him! You didn’t think when you sent him here, and you certainly didn’t think when you trusted that woman! And now Rusong could be in danger, he could come to great harm, he could die again, and I… I can’t… If I have to bury him again…”
A loud sob wracked through his body, leaving him breathless. He could still see Jin Rusong, lifeless and forced to die alone, still see his tomb so small and plain for having died too young. He’d burned incense for that child, and paper toys as well so he wouldn't get bored in the afterlife. He’d pitied Jin Guangyao when he’d thought it impossible to ever do that again, before hating him with renewed passion when he’d thought the man had killed his son. He’d missed Jin Rusong, and if he had to start missing him again…
Nie Huaisang hadn’t even realised that he’d fallen to his knees, not until Lan Xichen came to sit next to him and pulled him in his arms, holding him too tight.
“Nothing will happen to him this time,” Lan Xichen said while Nie Huaisang sobbed against his shoulder. “We’re going to make sure he’s safe, all of us. Do you hear me?” 
Nie Huaisang managed to nod, his tears already calming thanks to Lan Xichen’s soothing presence.
“You and Jin zongzhu are going to Laoling,” Lan Xichen continued. “If I were better, I’d go too, but there’s too much risk that I’ll be unwell and create more problems. So I’ll stay here, and help Nie Funyu if some news reach us, or if Wen Qiongling finds something.”
He paused, and looked at the two young men standing near them.
“Sizhui, how tired are you?”
“I can fly with them to Laoling, zongzhu,” Lan Sizhui immediately replied.
“And if I ask you to go to Yunmeng?” Lan Xichen asked. “I understand that Jiang Wanyin considers himself involved in the wellbeing of Jin Rusong, so he should be told what has happened. If nothing else, his reputation might scare the kidnappers into returning him to us. Everyone knows it is unwise to cross Sandu Shengshou, and he's sure to make a racket once he's aware of this.”
Lan Sizhui sighed at that request, clearly tired by his overnight trip to Lanling, but still nodded and bowed to his sect leader. Calming down at last, Nie Huaisang felt some pity for the young man, and some amount of doubt as well.
"I can send one of my disciples," he offered. “I'm sure I can find a fast flyer.”
"Is there anyone you trust enough for such a mission?" Lan Xichen countered. "Aside from Nie Funyu, who will need to hold the fort while you're gone?" 
"No, I suppose not." 
"I trust Lan Sizhui, and Jiang zongzhu knows him and will listen to him. Can that be enough for you?" 
It wasn't, not quite. Lan Xichen's trust had been misplaced before. But that Lan Sizhui boy was also dear to Lan Wangji, who wouldn't have wasted his affection on someone who wasn't righteous. 
Besides, Nie Huaisang didn't think that Jiang Cheng could be all that helpful, so ultimately it didn't really matter. 
"Fine, send him to Yunmeng," Nie Huaisang agreed, feeling guilty that he wasn't more trusting. But if Lan Xichen noticed his lack of enthusiasm, he said nothing, apparently satisfied that Nie Huaisang would allow this at all. 
With this course of action decided, things moved fast. Nie Funyu was informed of everything, while a light collation was served to everyone. As soon as they were done eating, Jin Rulan and Nie Huaisang left together in direction of Laoling, only taking a pair of Nie disciples with them in case it came to a fight. 
It felt like a longer flight than it was. Nobody would speak, Jin Rulan because he was tired, Nie Huaisang because even something this simple required great focus on his part. 
For once, his low cultivation was on his side. If he'd been able to fly his sabre more easily, Nie Huaisang's thoughts would have drifted to dark memories and pointless worries. Even like that, unwanted images of Jin Rusong's corpse, of the child alone and terrified, still plagued him and threatened to break his concentration more than once. 
When at last they approached the home of Laoling Qin, Nie Huaisang suggested that they try to fly over the sect's dwellings to see if they spotted anything unusual. It was a breach of decorum to spy that way, but Nie Huaisang had learned to be polite only when it suited him, and Jin Rulan was easily convinced. In spite of the errors the young man had made in this whole affair, Nie Huaisang found himself thinking that he liked Jin Rulan, if only because they both loved Jin Rusong. 
When they flew over Laoling Qin, Nie Huaisang did not expect to see much. It would have been foolish to kidnap Jin Rusong and let him wander around for all to see. If it had been him doing this, he'd have taken the little boy somewhere secluded, at least for a few days. If it had been him... And yet when Jin Rulan cried out and pointed down at a tiny shape far below them, Nie Huaisang nearly fainted when he too noticed a small dark green shape among all those wearing Qin colours. 
Without thinking, Nie Huaisang angled his sabre down, descending toward the inner courtyard of that house at greater speed than was wise for such a weak flyer. He only barely managed to avoid crashing and stumbled off his sabre without grace, while Jin Rulan landed just behind him with far more control. 
Around them, a number of Qin disciples, after recovering from the surprise of that intrusion, drew their swords, ready for a fight. Nie Huaisang paid them no mind, all his attention on three figures ahead of him. One was a man well into his seventies, though excellent cultivation made him look barely any older than Nie Huaisang, who looked more annoyed than surprised or angry at this invasion. Next to Qin Cangye stood Jin Yixin, who had changed out of the Jin robes she'd worn during her stay in the Unclean Realm, now favouring Qin colours. And half hidden behind her legs was Jin Rusong, an expression of terror on his face. 
Seeing the little boy so scared, Nie Huaisang acted without thinking. He took one step toward the child, determined to scoop him up in his arms and take him home. But seeing him approach, Jin Rusong clung harder to Jin Yixin's legs, and screamed. 
“Don’t!” Jin Rusong cried out. “I don’t want to see you! You’re bad, uncle Nie! You’re bad and you killed mommy and daddy!”
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fbfh · 3 years
Text
I mean, you did ask - leo x reader
all  characters are aged up to 18+ for smexy subtext
word count: 2k
pairing: leo x gn child of calliope reader
genre: adventure, romance, hints at a lowkey soulmate au
summary: after a bumpy reunion turned interrogation with your friends, you finally prove to Leo that you’re someone worth catching up with
warnings: swearing, friends hold you at knife point (for good reason) memory loss, dimesion/reality travel, the phrase “horrible sexy little goose” not about an actual animal, moderate time difference between worlds, reader is acting like a cocky piece of shit half the time, you call yourself sexy a lot, annabeth slaps reader and reader is unbothered, reader and leo hae very visceral reactions upon seeing each other, piper picks up on this, moderately aggressive face grabbing, discussing personal info with someone somewhat privately, brief mentions of hand holding and hair pulling during sex, you spill tea about the rest of the demisquad, I think that’s it pls tell me if I missed any
song rec: choke - i don’t know how but they found me
a/n: this is from a very vivid daydream I had so er ah if reader seems op coded that’s cause she is uwu
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You were excited to reunite with your friends after so long, but being tied up and held hostage at knifepoint by the people you love who don’t even remember you wasn’t the welcome wagon you were hoping for. Then again, as a child of Calliope, you can’t say you’re surprised. 
Apollo has a lot of kids, but demigod children of the muses are exceptionally less common. They’re volatile, really powerful, extremely engrossed in their art, and usually care more about their latest thesis paper or painting or manuscript than going on quests, and more often than not have very specific powers. You, for example, love quests but feel like you never get to go on any, usually because you’re fighting monsters somewhere else. One fun little power you inherited from your mom is - somewhat involuntary - dimension shifting. 
A lot of times you just get summoned somewhere else, with a little inherent background knowledge and your weapon, set free into the new world like a horrible sexy little goose. There’s usually some kind of objective you need to meet; find this person, set something in motion, give someone support in a time of need, deliver a package. After that, you get sent back to your family at camp half blood. The catch, one of them at least, is that a few days Somewhere Else could be no more than a few minutes in your homeverse. 
Another catch is that because of all that, and the fact that you wouldn’t know how to begin explaining, let alone if anyone would believe you, no one knows you can do this yet. Chiron has an idea, but you’ve never told anyone outright. 
You guess now is as good of a time as any to come clean, as Percy holds his sword threateningly close to your neck. You let out a disbelieving laugh, and bite the inside of your cheek.
“Okay, okay… you want the truth?” he starts to back off, and you continue, leaning forward, “I’m not surprised you’d want to know where someone this sexy-” your words cut off as Annabeth’s hand slaps you across the face. You let out a laugh of disbelief, cheek stinging.
“A cheap shot, Annabeth? Wow, I really didn’t take you for the type,” she grabs your face, leaning in close, knife once again against your throat. 
"How do you know my name." She hisses, and behind her, the door opens. Messy dark curls peek over her head in your vision and you know instantly who it is. Your heart starts pounding, loud and hard, and something heavy starts swirling deep in your gut. Your eyes lock as soon as he enters the room and an instinctive smile blooms on your face, knowing what's inevitably on its way. 
"Hey Sparky…" 
Your voice, slow and drawling (and, he'd be lying if he didn't say kind of very sexy) impales him as soon as he enters the room. He watches your pupils expand, eyes locked, immediately swept away by your magnetic aura. A fox like grin decorates your pretty face, and he gets the feeling you know more than you let on. Way more. He's so drawn to you on a guttural level, way more than he's ever been to someone before. His face is hot, and when you slowly wink at him, he feels flames erupt on his cheeks. It takes him a second to put it out, feeling your white hot gaze on him the entire time. 
Piper, who's been helping with your interrogation, looks back and forth between you two as this progresses, taking in a breath and mumbling a shocked, "Oh," as she begins to understand. 
"How are those repairs coming?" Jason asks, oblivious to everything that's happening between you two. 
"Uh… nearly done…" Leo mutters, watching as you hold back an elated giggle at the sound of his voice. You never forget how good it feels to see him again, but the fresh feeling is always better than you can imagine. Jason glances between you two, and walks over to Leo, suspicious of your interest in him. 
"I'll walk you back," Jason says, glaring at you. Your eyes stay locked with Leo's until the door finally closes again. Piper stares at you, bewildered by the tension turned to frantic energy crackling around both you and Leo. She can sense it on him even after he's out of the room. 
Annabeth finally drops your face, pacing and pinching the bridge of her nose. Percy slams him hands down on the table and levels his face with yours. 
"I'm gonna ask you one last time. How do you know us?" 
You stare at the table for a second, still thinking about him. You have to see him again. You’ve waited for too long, you just can’t do it anymore. 
“H- okay. Um,” You blink a few times, facade falling away almost instantly as you look up in a silent prayer that this doesn’t go as badly as you feel like it will. You sigh, looking back up at the other people in the room, a new, deliberate intention in your eyes that they hadn’t seen before. 
“You want to know why I’m here?” 
Their answer is the silence that follows.
“You’re not gonna believe me.” They look around at each other, collectively thinking about everything they’ve been through in the last year alone.
“Try us.” Annabeth replies. You sigh again, and introduce yourself. “...I’m a child of Calliope, muse of epic poetry, and I know you all because we grew up together. One of the fun - quirks, I inherited from my mom is traveling into different stories, or realities, I guess. It’s hard to control, and sometimes happens involuntarily. I adapt to wherever I am, and the universe sort of auto adjusts to follow the rules that stories have to follow. 
The reason you don’t remember me is because I was gone for a really long time, and your story had to keep going. Trying to find me wouldn’t have moved the plot forward, questioning where I went would have been confusing, so it did the simplest thing and edited me out so you could get closer to meeting your objectives.”
Once again, their silence is your answer. 
“Guys, sidebar.” Annabeth says, pulling Percy, Jason, and Piper out of the room for a moment. The come back in a little while later, and she looks you dead in the eye.
“If you really know us as well as you say you do, prove it. Tell us you’d only know if we were as close as you say we were.” 
You sigh yet again, having lost count at how many times that’s happened today alone. You roll your shoulders and bob your head, irritable that you’re still restrained and itching to move. 
“Is there anything we can do before the whole tell me something really personal thing?” 
Percy looks at you, challenging.
“Can you do it or not?”
Another noise of exasperation leaves you, and you agree, resignation all over your face.
“You know what, yeah. Okay, we’re doing this. Someone go get Leo.” An involuntary smile once again launches onto your face at the mention of his name. Jason starts to object. 
“Hey, I’m not going to spill something personal about someone when they’re not in the room.” They agree reluctantly, and Jason leaves, returning again with Leo. You look at him again, enraptured by his presence. He can’t say he doesn’t like the attention - a hottie like you looking at him like that? Yes, please - but something about it feels different, and he gets the feeling there’s a lot more going on than they’re aware of. 
You nod your head once, indicating for him to come closer. He gets a little closer. You widen your eyes, nodding two more times, and he hesitantly gets within whispering distance. 
You turn your head to your left, dangerously close to his face. He can feel his pulse already speeding up. Heat radiates between your faces, your breath fanning over his neck as you whisper slowly,
“You really… really like holding hands, and when I pull your hair during sex.” 
He pulls away from you quickly, beet red, bewildered expression obvious to everyone in the room. “H-how-”
“How do you think?” You reply calmly, loving everything about him, “Okay, to be fair…” you nod once more, eyes flaring, and he leans in once again, equally hesitant and curious. Your words tickle his ear, seeming to light up his entire nervous system like a firecracker.
“I really really like when you bite that spot on my neck, just below my ear.” 
He pulls away again, trying not to literally and figuratively combust. He stares in your eyes intensely, searching for anything besides the truth. He finds absolutely nothing. He turns around, unable to look his friends in the eye. 
“They’re legit, guys.” 
“Wait, what did you say to him?” Piper asks, unsure if she wants to know the answer. 
“Yeah,” Annabeth agrees, “what if it’s some kind of mind control-” Your deep, burning desire to finally hold Leo after god knows how long is starting to beat your better judgement, and you really, really want to be untied from this stupid chair. “Annabeth! Your favorite show was Cyber Chase growing up, you used to come up with plans on how to defeat Hacker, your best was cutting off his food supply - good strategy, I’ve used it before, myself. 
Percy, you feel like you can’t sing because you were forced to participate in an elementary school recital and some kid called you tonedeaf behind your back, it kicked you right in the RSD balls. 
Piper, you’re a closet weeb, you watched Ouran High School Host club obsessively and still do sometimes, you fell for Jason because he had, quote, 'Tamaki's looks and Kyoya's brains, the ideal man'. 
Jason, that scar on your lip is from biting a stapler as a child-"
"Okay, everyone knows that-"
"-and," you continue, showing no signs of stopping, "the reason you ate the stapler is because you were pretending to be a trash compactor because you saw one on TV. 
Nico is totally not right outside the door keeping guard right now, but if he were and you asked him if he likes the diary of a wimpy kid movies he'll ask how the hell you know that - should I continue."
Again, the answers are in the silence hovering in the room. 
“I think it’s about time to catch me up on what I missed.” 
A beat passes.
“Right,” Annabeth says, blinking and readjusting her ponytail as she sits down across from you, Percy already taking the bindings off of your wrists, “so, about the quest…”
She starts to fill you in on the details you missed, bringing you up to speed. After a little while you all decide to call it a night. Piper senses your energy ramping up in spite of the exhaustion settling in. You finally bid them all good night, but Piper’s not sold by your forced yawns. After what feels like another lifetime, you finally leave the room you’ve been in for hours with one objective. 
You can’t stay away from him anymore, you have to find Leo. 
After navigating a maze of hallways and doors, you finally push open the right one to see him looking up at you, and find yourself saying for the second time tonight,
“Hey, Sparky…” 
His heart is racing, and he gets that heavy, full feeling in his chest again, not having fully shaken it from the last time you saw each other. Looking into your eyes makes him nostalgic for something he can’t quite remember, and he knows with full certainty that you have more history than he’s aware of. He wants more than anything in this moment to remember. He sets down the wrench in his hand, taking a step toward you.
“Hey…”
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classysassy9791 · 3 years
Text
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Fandom: Inuyasha Genre: Romance/Humor/Fluff Pairing: InuKag Rating: T
Originally written for @inukag-week on tumblr circa 2016, now officially being updated. Its been a hot minute, hasn't it?
For InuKag Week - Day 2: Warmth
Part 1 l
Part 2 Word Count: 2,600
Can also be found on FFN and AO3.
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Kagome couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard.
Sometime between the moment she met the arrogant, rude man known as Inuyasha and the three shots she had consumed, they had fallen into a flirtatious banter that she rather enjoyed. Gone was the pompous jerk who had so rudely called her audacious names, replaced by a man who proved to actually be decent company.
No, she hadn't forgotten about their initial meeting, but as she downed another shot of whiskey, she realized she didn't much care. For the first time in months - maybe longer - Kagome found herself enjoying her evening. With her shackles removed and her inhibitions lowered, she relished in the sweet taste of freedom that had been sorely lacking from her life.
"You did not!" she squealed with absurdity in her tone, clamping a hand over her mouth.
Inuyasha chuckled, tilting his glass and giving a half-shrug. "I did," he confessed sheepishly, but not at all ashamed of his actions. "Miroku ran down the dorm hall, completely naked, screaming after me."
Kagome shook her head. "I can honestly say I have never stolen my roommates clothes while they were in the shower. Or pulled any pranks on them, really."
"To be fair," he continued, signaling the bartender for another round. "He actually met his girlfriend that way."
"By running naked down the hallway?"
He nodded. "Knocked her down and stopped to apologize."
"Still want to leave the tab open?" Kouga interrupted.
"Yeah, that's fine." Inuyasha finished off his beer. "Another round of whiskey shots while you're at it."
Flashing Kagome a smile, Kouga took their empty glasses. "You're going to dry me out."
"It's still early," Kagome barbed playfully. "Your bar will last until midnight at the very least."
He chuckled, filling up their shot glasses and handing them another drink. "Oh, thanks. I was afraid I'd have to close up soon."
Leaving with a, "flag me down if you need me," Kouga wandered to the other end of the bar where a busty blonde waved at him.
Typical, Kagome thought sourly. On the one hand, she didn't like the way her thoughts were turning, considering she didn't really know Kouga, and hated grouping him in with the rest of the spineless male population she had become accustomed to - especially since he was a bartender and it was literally his job to tend to the needs of his customers. But on the other hand, she couldn't help but feel bitter about his attention leaving her. Maybe it was because she had so blatantly been deprived of it for so long, that her longing for companionship had been exacerbated ten-fold.
Taking a sip of beer - which she had switched to once they started doing shots - Kagome heard her phone buzz in her purse again; it had already gone off several times during her conversation with Inuyasha. She finally pulled it out and unlocked it, frowning at the array of messages popping up on her screen.
Inuyasha raised a brow at the irritable look that overcame her expression before Kagome sighed and locked her phone. She quickly downed her shot of whiskey, not even bothering to 'cheers' him.
"Everything okay?" Inuyasha questioned, against his better judgement. There was a reason people showed up by themselves at a bar on Friday nights - either to drown their sorrows in whiskey or to find company for a few fleeting, midnight hours.
Kagome pressed her lips together. She didn't come to the bar to talk about her problems. She wasn't some sad case that needed a therapist to pour her drinks. If anything, she wanted to forget about the emotional damage that had been inflicted earlier that day. Her heart had been broken, her ego bruised, and no matter how many times her friends had told her he wasn't worth it, their sympathies didn't make her feel any better.
But, alcohol had a funny habit of turning into truth serum, and she found herself spilling her guts before she could stop herself. "Just my ex-boyfriend - er, fiance - blowing up my phone."
Inuyasha chuckled. "Can't take a hint, huh?"
Kagome shrugged with a bitter smile. "I mean, he broke off the engagement. Not sure why he can't follow through with his decision."
She had expected sympathy, perhaps even empathy. That's what most people offered in a situation like this, when they didn't know what to say or how to react. But Kagome was caught off-guard by Inuyasha's next question.
"How long were you together?"
Kagome eyed him curiously, his honey gaze hiding a wealth of understanding. "Five years," she answered him, twirling a strand of her dark hair around her finger. "Planned our life together, put a ring on it, and even booked the venue. But… I suppose he got cold feet a long time ago."
"His loss. What kind of bastard would put someone through that?"
She hummed thoughtfully, but didn't answer. It wasn't in her best interest to start talking about the past now, and she would rather take the spotlight off of herself all together. "What about you?" she asked her barstool companion as she took another sip of beer. "Any lucky ladies in your life?"
Inuyasha chuckled mirthlessly. "Nah, not anymore."
Kagome arched a brow. "Dare I ask?"
"Not much to tell. Her career and ambitions drove a wedge between us, and she decided they were more important than me. Simple as that."
"Sounds high maintenance."
He grinned. "Something like that. I mean, she knew what she wanted and didn't care what stood in her way. Even me."
Kagome felt an ache beneath her breast for the man beside her. She knew the pain of rejection very well. "Put out in the rain just like a dog. Doesn't that bother you?" she asked, tilting her head.
He frowned at her choice of words, and Kagome knew she may have touched a nerve then, but the alcohol had stripped her of her filter apparently.
"Well, I guess we're all damaged somehow," he replied with a shrug.
She scrunched her nose. "That's a bit thoughtless."
"What can I say? Shit happens. Get over it."
And then Kagome suddenly remembered the arrogant, rude, condescending jerk she had met when she had sat down at the bar earlier in the night. She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you such an ass?"
Inuyasha smirked while bringing his beer to his lips. "You are what you eat?"
Kagome let loose a growl of frustration. She had only known him for a short time, but she had quickly learned that Inuyasha was the most infuriating human being on the planet! "Your immaturity is revolting," she stated matter-of-factly, waving down Kouga for another shot of whiskey. She was definitely not drunk enough to deal with the way the conversation had turned.
"I'm not known for my friendly disposition."
Kagome glared at the man sitting next to her. "Is it fun being a jerk to me? Does it satisfy you?"
Inuyasha chuckled. "Actually, it is pretty entertaining."
She rolled her eyes. "You know, Inuyasha. You can hide behind that fake bravado all you want, but I know you're just a big softie underneath."
"Keh," he grumbled, finishing off his beer.
Kagome threw him a glare. "What? No witty repartee?"
He set down his empty glass with a little more force than usual, grabbing Kagome's attention. "I know your type, wench," he snapped, his amber eyes boring into hers. "I know exactly the kind of person you are; all high and mighty, acting as if you're better than everyone else. You think you can show someone how great life can be and how fantastic it is if I would just try. Well, sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but not everyone is worth saving, all right?"
His words left Kagome stunned into silence for a brief moment. How did their witty banter only a few minutes ago turn into this? This… This denied anger and unadulterated cynicism had Kagome reeling, her thoughts turning to what exactly had penetrated Inuyasha's life so completely that he had such a negative outlook on such.
She pursed her lips. "How much do you think you're worth?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "Like twenty bucks. Or two twinkies." He grinned at his own comment, but Kagome didn't find it very funny.
If anything, Kagome felt pity for him. No matter how bleak her life became, she always managed to find the good in it. If a person couldn't do that… Well, that was a pretty sad way to live. "As much as I would love to hear you divulge all of your secrets, this is a great song and I feel like dancing."
"Look, wench," Inuyasha barked out, his anger palpable. "I'm not looking for your validation. I'm pretty fucking happy with my life of dirty pennies and whiskey bottles. We don't all need to be Barbie."
She looked over at him, the low dim of the bar lights shining off his silver hair, and found she could only nurse one wounded heart at a time. "I just wanted you to leave tonight and think the world is a little less horrible than you thought."
"Hey, pretty lady," Kouga greeted as he appeared at the perfect time with another shot of whiskey for her and a full beer, stealing her full attention away from Inuyasha.
Kagome immediately downed the shot and chased it with her beer, ready to forget half of the night and lose herself in the music pounding through the speakers. As the evening wore on, the bar became busier, and the DJ had started up a round of tunes that had half the customers on the dance floor.
Kouga watched her curiously, arching a brow. "You alright there?"
"Dance with me?" she called over the bass pounding through the speakers. Oh yes, it was now the time of the night in which she had no qualms for asking for what she wanted.
He chuckled and glanced over at the other bartenders who appeared to have things under control. "You can steal me for a few minutes."
Kagome grinned and giggled like a school girl, leaving Inuyasha behind without delay. Kouga met her at the end of the bar and took her hand in his as she pulled him out onto the dance floor.
Some upbeat dance music blasted through the speakers. Kagome moved and swayed through the bodies crowding near the DJ, the vibrations of the music becoming part of her energy, raising her up several levels at once. Gone were her heartbroken wallows and the biting arrogance of her barstool companion. Her mind buzzed with pure joy. She moved in her dress like her hips were made to sway, the black sequins catching the disco ball that twirled above, causing her to glitter on the dance floor.
Kouga pulled her close, his strong hand pressed against the small of her back, his chiseled chest pressed against hers. She ran her fingers through her messy hair and pulled it to the side, feeling the beat of the music pound with each beat of her heart. Bodies pressed in tighter all around them. Kagome felt the part of her that was really her come out to play, to feel the vibe of the music and let her body go free.
"You're beautiful," Kouga's voice whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
His lips looked soft and very kissable, and Kagome knew her decision-making skills were indeed hindered by the alcohol that buzzed through her veins. And then his attention was caught by something else, his royal blue eyes pulling from hers to the outskirts of the dance floor. He said something to her, attempting to shout above the music, but his words were swallowed up by the electric beat that kept her entranced.
Kagome felt his hands slip from around her waist and he disappeared into the crowd. She didn't bother to follow, her hands playing with her hair, her hips moving to the music as she lost herself within it. This was what her heartbroken soul had fiercely needed; a night to forget all the troubles of the day.
Large, meaty hands found her waist, but they were unfamiliar and too warm to the touch. Kagome felt a warm flush find her cheeks as she gazed up to meet a stranger's hazy stare. He pulled her in close - too close - and even in her alcohol-ridden mind, she felt mild panic begin like sparks in her abdomen.
She tried to push him away, first gently and then forcefully, pretending to laugh at his behavior. "Thanks for the dance, but I need some fresh air."
"C'me on, baby," he slurred, pulling her tighter to his sweaty frame, his hot breath rolling over her skin. "We just met. Let's dance s'me more."
Kagome frowned. "I said no." Before she could stomp on his foot and fight her way out of the throng of dancers, the man was forcefully pulled away from her. They became separated by another man, one with very familiar silver hair who had his back to her. She didn't hear the words exchanged, but whatever was said was enough to send the man scampering off to the other side of the bar.
Inuyasha turned around, his piercing honey eyes studying her expression, before his hand gently wrapped around her waist. His grip on her wasn't strong like Kouga's, or possessive like the stranger. Inuyasha's hand was warm against the small of her back, and the anxiety she felt moments ago melted away.
"You okay?" he asked, swaying his hips in tune with hers as they continued to dance to the beat of the music.
She grinned up at him. "Were you worried about me, jerk?"
"Keh," he grumbled, his lips pulling into a smirk. "I despise you more than any other human I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. You're loud and wild and apparently have no sense of self-preservation. You also act like you have the mental capacity of a five year old."
"Are you flirting with me?" she barbed in return.
"Maybe."
His hand found the back of her neck, his fingers finding purchase in her hair, his hips grinding against hers. Warmth pooled into the pit of her stomach, his breath caressing her skin, and she moved her lips to find his.
Kagome barely had a moment to react before he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips and delved inside her mouth. It was a very sloppy kiss with the strong scent of beer being exchanged between their billowing breaths. Her arm reached up and tangled around his strong neck. She pulled away and arched up into his broad chest, letting a moan escape in the contact of body heat against her own, before she drew back into his lips.
She could nearly taste the slight bitterness of the beer as it rolled off her tongue and seeped down her throat with every push of his tongue against hers. The kiss coupled with the beer and whiskey humming through her system obliterated every thought. For the first time that day, her mind was locked into the present. Her usual concerns for her life were suspended, and she had no wish for the kiss to end.
But as the music changed, they pulled apart. Inuyasha's skin shimmered with sweat and his amber eyes flecked with gold held her gaze. The beat of the music consumed them under the crazy neon lights, and Kagome felt alive during a night that was still so young.
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dameronology · 3 years
Text
welcome to the jungle {frankie morales}
summary: after taking a job with the delta guys, you cross paths with frankie morales. even though you’re at each other’s throats at first, it proves to be the start of something beautiful.  (for @what-the--curtains​ - i hope you enjoy!!) - 7k words
warnings: swearing, mentions of ptsd
this is kinda ambiguous in terms of the timeline of the film but i sort of hint to the first half being before the events of t.f and the second half being after -- with that said, you can take it as you would like :D
- jazz
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Your brother had dog sat for a few days.
In exchange, you were flying out to Colombia in the middle of your work week. 
You believed in favours, but these two did not feel like they were equal. 
Still, you were a person of your word - and getting to fly to South America was exciting. The job itself was exciting, if not a little...eyebrow raising. His friend, an ex-Delta soldier, needed somebody to ID a body. That part didn’t bother you - you were a forensic archaeologist after all and it was quite literally your job description. The suspicious bit was the circumstances under which you were doing it; Santiago Garcia hadn’t been entirely clear on the phone, but he’d said something about witnesses and getting the government off of our backs. You’d met Santiago a few times and you knew what kind of work he did - military stuff. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was probably an under-the-radar kind of affair. But, you’d never been one to back down from a challenge. 
So, here you were on a warm Colombian Tuesday afternoon, suitcase trailing behind you as you trekked towards a dusty old air base. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on your back in a way that had initially been comforting, but was now just plain annoying. You didn’t know how long you were going to be here, but packing three jackets now felt like a stupid idea. The one one you’d worn on the plane over had been long discarded and tied around your waist, which only added to the struggle of dragging your case up the steep, sandy hill. In the distance, you could see an ATC tower glinting under the sun - the streams of light bounced right back off of it, causing you to shield your eyes with your forearm. The taxi you’d gotten from the international airport - not like this sandy little place - had only taken you so far. At least, of all things, the boots you’d opted to wear were built for this kind of thing. 
A few hundred meters up the road, you finally saw another sign of human life. A 4x4 was parked outside the abandoned terminal entrance, three men leaning against the side of it. You spotted Santiago standing a few metres away on his phone, thumbs tapping away. He didn’t look any different to the last time you saw him; dark and curly hair, a semi-friendly smile and stubble littering his chin. You hadn’t seen him since your brother’s birthday party a few months ago. 
‘Hey!’ The former soldier offered you a grin when he saw you, holding his arms open. ‘Long time, no see!’
‘Hey, Santi!’ You replied, giving him a pat on the back as he pulled you into a hug. ‘And yeah, it’s been a while. Then again, when was the last time you were in the country for more than five minutes?’
‘I’m in high demand.’ He shot back. 
Pulling back from the embrace, Santi pointed to his colleagues. There was Will and Benny, two blonde boys, both in military gear. It didn’t take much to figure out that they were brothers; same smirk, same stance, same eyes. Even if Santi hadn’t pointed it out, you would have figured as much. You were naturally deductive - came with the job. After the brothers, there was Frankie. He had dark eyes and hair, the latter of which was covered by his hat. Unlike the other three, he was wearing more casual clothes, just with a tac vest over the top. You kind of got the vibe that he didn’t want to be there - that was...comforting. 
‘What’s all this?’ Frankie asked, gesturing to the heavy metal suitcase behind you. 
‘Just...stuff. Tools.’ You replied. ‘Things I need to do my job, I guess.’
‘How heavy is it?’ 
‘Light enough that I was able to get them onto a commercial flight?’ You offered. 
‘The plane is already at max weight.’ He replied, brown eyes flickering up to meet yours. 
‘God, give ‘em a break, Fish!’ Santi slapped him on the shoulder. ‘It’ll be fine.’
‘Remember last time you said it would be fine-’
‘- hey.’ He cut him off with a harsh look. ‘We don’t talk about that.’
‘So I can bring them?’ You raised your eyebrows. ‘Because I can’t do whatever it is you need to do unless I have them.’
‘Yeah, it’ll be fine.’ Santiago gave you a comforting smile. ‘Let’s head to the jet and we’ll talk about the job.’ 
Swinging your duffle bag back over your shoulder, you picked up your suitcase and began to follow the guys further up the hill. There wasn’t anybody else around -- just sand, sun and rusting old jets. There was one in particular that they seemed to be headed towards. It was only mildly less eroded than the damaged ones around you, but the engines were running and the cargo doors were open. Santiago took your bag from your hands as you approached it, tossing it in with the other luggage. 
‘Do not throw that one, Garcia!’ You demanded, flinching slightly as he took your suitcase. 
‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ He shot back. 
‘Sure thing.’ You rolled your eyes at him. ‘You brought a medkit right?’
‘No. Why?’
‘There’s one in my duffle bag.’ You replied. ‘Side pocket. Can you grab it?’
‘We don’t need one, we’ll be fine-’
‘- Santiago Garcia, do you want me to report back to my brother that you took his baby sibling on a jungle-wide expedition without the correct medical supplies?’ You challenged. 
Santi swallowed, mind briefly flashing back to the time he’d almost been decked by said brother for letting you walk home alone. ‘Fine.’
Your triumphant smile only lasted a split second; as soon as your eyes fell on the plane, you realised you still had to get on it. Fuck. 
The engines seemed to be working fine, but it was just...old. And eroding. And making a funny sound. You were by no means an engineer, but even just binging a few episodes of Air Crash Investigations made you feel qualified enough to know that this was not where it was at in terms of air safety. You could have taken it up with Frankie, but he didn’t seem entirely approachable. 
You did trust Santi, however - though sometimes that seemed a little against your better judgement. Every crazy story that your brother had relayed back to you from their time in the military involved him making questionable decisions. Hopefully, opting to fly this hunk of metal wouldn’t be one of them. Here’s to hoping it was aerodynamic. 
‘Are you getting in or…’ Frankie peered down at you from the stairs, eyebrows raised. 
‘Yeah, sorry.’ You blinked in surprise. ‘This thing is safe, right?’
‘What’s it to you?’
‘What is it to me?’ You snorted. ‘Just, y’know, that I’m about to fly a few hundred thousand feet in the air and if it falls out of the sky I’ll die.’
‘I know what I’m doing.’ Frankie shut the door behind you as you climbed aboard, twisting the handle shut. ‘I’ve been flying for years.’
‘I’m not saying it’s you.’ You brushed past him, shoulders bumping as you did. ‘Captain fucking Sully couldn’t fly this thing.’
‘The guy from Monster’s Inc?’ 
‘No, the guy who landed the plane on the Hudson? They made a movie about it, with Tom Hanks-’
‘- you should sit down now.’ Frankie turned away from you. ‘We’re about to take off.’
Your mouth fell open in slight disbelief. What an asshole. 
Santi called your name, signalling for you to sit with him in the cockpit. The seats on the plane hardly looked comfortable, and your brain was mentally working out if it was safer to sit over the wing in a crash, or by the tail. You’d definitely seen it in a documentary once, but you couldn’t remember exactly what they said. Perhaps the best option was to just be less dramatic. 
Taking a seat between Frankie and Santi, you pulled your seatbelt on and shuffled awkwardly. This was fine. Absolutely fine. Frankie was a trained pilot (and a dickhead, but that didn’t take away from his flying skills) and you were going to be fine. Fiiiiine. Maybe if you said it once more, you’d believe yourself. You were going to be fine. Yeah, there we go. 
A few deep breaths and you were certain. Or, at least you’d convinced yourself to be certain. 
‘So.’ Your eyes momentarily flicked over to where Frankie was adjusting some controls. ‘What exactly am I doing here?’
‘A few months ago, the boys and I were involved in the shoot-out.’ Santi began. ‘Pretty standard for the type of operation we were on.’
‘Right. Standard office work.’ You muttered. ‘Do go on.’
‘We thought everyone who had witnessed it had been recorded.’ He continued. ‘And everyone who we spoke to verified that it was a justified shootout. No dirty work, no ulterior motive. All valid, from a legal perspective.’
You thinned your eyes. ‘I don’t think I like where this is going.’
‘We ID’d all the bodies at the time.’ He said. ‘Including a Ricky Martinez. Except now, a guy claiming to also be Ricky Martinez has come forward, claiming that his version of events is a little different. Like, different enough to incriminate us.’
‘He’s lying, right? You guys were the good ones?’ You urged. Santiago’s silence was anything but comforting. ‘Right?’
‘Morals are all a matter of perspective.’ He replied. ‘Our labs ID’d Martinez’ body twice but we need a third party opinion before we can completely dispel the guy pretending to be him.’
‘Guess that’s where I come in?’ You asked, leaning further back into the seat as the jet began to move. 
‘Exactamente.’ Santi nodded. 
That didn’t sound too bad. Between excavating the grave, running tests and returning the body, it would take a few days tops. You could manage that. 
The jet began to pick up speed, making its ascent towards the runway. Frankie did look like he knew what he was doing -- heck, the man looked bored, even.  He barely even had to look at the dash controls as it moved forward, hands moving freely and easily to manoeuvre the plane down the runway. 
‘What are you staring at?’ Frankie glanced over at you. 
‘N-nothing.’ You replied.  ‘Shouldn’t you be focusing on the road-’
‘- that’s a runway.’ He cut you off. 
‘Whatever.’
You were thrown backwards in your chair from the momentum of the take off. The plane angled upwards as it went up in the air, tilting sideways as it balanced out. You felt your stomach drop as the ground disappeared from beneath you, the push of the engines pulling you up higher into the sky. There was a clunk, signalling that the landing gear had retracted. 
Well, the plane had fulfilled its first purpose: taking off. That was a good sign. 
‘So,’ Benny peered over at you. ‘What’s your callsign gonna be?’
‘My name, presumably.’ You quirked a brow at him. 
‘We have Ironhead, Catfish and Pope.’ He continued. ‘But Will and I were talking, and we thought Barbie was gonna fit well.’ 
‘Oh, really?’ You sniffed. ‘And why might that be?’
‘Because you’re young, and pretty hot-’
‘- so your call sign is Benny, right?’ You cut him off. ‘Short for Benjamin? That’s really clever. Did you come up with it yourself?’
‘Maybe Eye Candy will be beter-’
Benny was cut off when you reached across, leaning over Santi to smack him in the chest with your balled up fist. All four of them jumped in surprise at your action - clearly, you weren’t somebody to be fucked with. You hadn’t worked your ass for years to get your degree to get discredited like that. 
‘Make a comment like that again and I’ll drop kick your ass out of this plane.’ You jabbed your finger towards him. 
Benny thinned his eyes at you. ‘Frankie wouldn’t let you do that. Right, Cat?’
‘You heard ‘em.’ Frankie’s eyes didn’t move from the clouds ahead. 
--
To give credit where credit was due, Frankie was good at landing planes. 
Specifically, he was good at landing planes in places where planes should not have been landed. Not that he’d had much of a choice when the engines gave in half way through the journey, a couple hundred miles over the thick Colombian jungle. 
In short, you’d been right the entire time. The damn thing wasn’t safe. Of course, you weren’t going to say I told you so right then, since it felt like a little bit of a sensitive subject. 
Now, the five of you were standing next to a pile of what-used-to-be-a-plane, defeat plastered over every one of your individual faces. You were lucky to all have made it out okay - just about. Santiago had taken a hit to the head, Benny had bitten his tongue pretty hard when you’d collided with the ground (fitting) and Frankie had split his head open. You and Will were the only ones who hadn’t sustained any injuries. He had proven to be much more tolerable than his brother. 
‘Okay, we just gotta…’ you looked around, eyes taking in the debris around you. ‘We just gotta stay calm-’
‘- stay calm?’ Frankie cut you off. ‘You’re the reason the fucking thing went down! If you hadn’t taken all that extra weight-’
‘- do you ever shut up, Morales?’ You snapped. ‘And I’m no genius but I don’t think the engines catching fire was anything to do with me bringing an extra bag onto the plane!’
‘I’m the pilot.’ He reminded you. ‘I know what I’m talking about.’
‘Maybe it was the weight of your ego that made it go down.’ You chided. 
‘Hey - Patrick, Spongebob!’ Will finally yelled. Both your heads snapped in his direction, eyes wide. ‘Can you keep it in your pants for two minutes so we can work out how to make it through the night?’
‘Right, sorry.’ You nodded. 
You glanced around the crash site, brain calculating for a minute as you took in what little was left. The plan had landed on its belly and skidded for a few hundred metres; consequently, most of the luggage had come out on the way. That left you with the one remaining bag, the medkit you’d scared Santi into bringing and the strewn camping kit that had been ditched in the back of the fuselage. 
Pulling your phone out your pocket, you sighed when you realised that you had no signal. What had you expected? Four bars in the middle of the jungle? Probably not realistic. You did, however, have a compass app. That was something. You thought for a moment, glancing between the app and the sun’s position in the sky. It was splintering through the trees, washing heat over you like a bucket of cold water. There was a small stream a few metres away, which was a source of water at least. 
‘It’s just gone four, maybe five in the afternoon.’ You announced. ‘So we have about three hours till the sun starts to set. The water in the stream runs that way so if we follow it, we’ll find the source. People are more likely to set up civilization around a source of water.’ 
All four of them looked at you like kids who had lost their parents in Walmart.  Were they really ex-military? 
‘So, what?’ Benny frowned. ‘We...set up a new civilisation?’
‘Oh my days.’ You muttered under your breath. ‘I am spoon-feeding this to you! It means that there will be a town with people.’ 
‘That’s smart.’ Santi nodded. 
‘But before we do that, we gotta sort this out. Will, d’you know how to check for concussion?’ You asked, to which he nodded. ‘Okay, you check Santi and I’ll clean up Frankie’s head. Then we gotta gather those camping supplies and head east. Best case scenario, we find a town before sundown. Worst case scenario, we camp out for the night.’
‘Who put you in charge?’ Frankie asked.
‘Me.’ You replied. 
Taking the medkit from Santi’s hands, you quietly thanked him and led Frankie over to some rocks. He didn’t seem all that pleased when you forced him to sit on one - and he was even less pleased when you pulled his hat off. It revealed a tangle of dark curls, some of which you had to push back to get to the mark on his head. Some may have debated the importance of mentioning such a detail, but you couldn’t help but notice how soft his hair was. 
You knelt down in front of him, pulling the supplies out of the little medical kit. There weren't many, but there was enough to give him something temporary till you got to a proper hospital. If you got a proper hospital. 
‘It’s not too deep.’ You observed, running your thumb over the creases of his forehead. ‘Just a couple stitches at worst.’
‘Don’t you normally stitch up bodies?’ Frankie asked. His brown eyes were glued to the floor, following the outlines of the boot-prints that you’d left. 
‘Yeah, it’s the same kinda principle though.’ You laughed slightly. ‘Despite your attitude, I’m not gonna give you Y-incision stitches.’
‘Thanks.’
‘At least not in a place people can see them.’
Frankie snorted, but it translated to a hiss of pain as you dabbed an alcohol wipe at his forehead. Despite everything, you had a slight admiration for him. He’d managed to land the plane safely as the situation allowed and despite a few minor injuries, things could have been much worse. You didn’t quite feel like vocalising that to him when you were still stranded in the middle of the jungle, but if you ever got out? You might get Santi to pass the message on. 
‘D’ you think it’ll scar?’ Frankie quietly asked. 
‘Maybe.’ You admitted. ‘Just take a deep breath.’
‘Where did you even learn to do this stuff?’ He asked, letting out another small grunt of discomfort. ‘The stitches and the compass shit.’
You shrugged. ‘I’ve been around the block a few times. You kinda learn to be prepared.’
‘Really? As a morgue worker?’
‘Not a morgue worker.’ You grumbled. ‘Then again, I am stabbing a needle through your skin so I suppose I’ll allow the discrepancy.’ 
‘What is it you do then?’
‘I’m a forensic archaeologist.’ You explained. ‘So it’s my job to retrospectively work out how people died, whether it be because their body was found a long time after they died or because they had to be exhumed from their original resting place.’
Gently pulling the needle back from Frankie’s forehead, you cut the thread and dabbed it again with an alcohol wipe. You brushed his hair back down and placed his hat back on his head, offering him a smile. For the first time since you’d met him, he returned the gesture. 
You dusted off your knees and took a place on the rock beside Frankie, examining your handy work. Considering you’d been in a plane crash not quite an hour ago, it wasn’t too bad. At least if it did scar, it was in a place his hair covered up. And in your defense, scarring wasn’t usually something you had to worry about with your other...patients. They usually went back in the ground not long after you dealt with them. 
‘You’ll wanna sit down for a minute.’ You replied. ‘D’you feel dizzy at all? Sick?’
‘I was just in a plane crash.’
‘Me too, funnily enough.’ You rolled your eyes at him. ‘I s’pose it’s the most interesting job I’ve worked in a while.’
‘Same here.’ Frankie said. ‘I normally work for a flight school, so this is...something else.’
‘It’ll make me grateful when I get back to the office.’ You agreed. ‘Because it has four walls, air conditioner and co-workers who don’t give me ridiculous nicknames.’
‘Right.’ He snorted. ‘Benny can be...Benny. He doesn’t mean to be an asshole.’ 
‘Benny wasn’t the asshole.’ You quipped, nudging him with your elbow.
At least Frankie had proven now that he could talk to you without being insufferable. You couldn’t work out if you’d warmed to him or if he’d warmed to you, but doing somebody’s stitches was unarguably one hell of an icebreaker. He was just a little closed off; quiet and reserved, you figured. You didn’t know what him and the Delta guys had been through, but Santi had mentioned a few things in passing that pointed to a heavy past. That was something you could relate to - your job was no walk in the park either 
‘It’s not...personal.’ Frankie glanced off into the distance.��
Will had managed to salvage the remaining bag from the jet, meaning that Santiago could use it as a seat. Benny was sitting with them, talking amongst themselves. You would have to move soon, in order to find a suitable place to camp before sundown, but taking a minute to recover from the last hour was also important. You’d barely stopped to sit down since the plane had gone down, and now you had, the shock had hit you. Your suspicions about safety had actually been correct. Not that it mattered now, but at least you had a plan to get everyone back to civilization as soon as possible. 
‘So you being an ice cold bitch isn’t to do with me? That’s a relief.’ You joked. Frankie smiled in response; his first genuine one since you’d met. 
‘The witness that you were going to ID was from the last job we all worked together.’ He explained ‘It went bad. Really bad.’
‘From what Santi said, it sure did sound like it.’ You replied. 
‘I hadn’t seen anything as bad as we did then since I was stationed out in the war zones.’ He continued. ‘So being back here, and being with the guys, has just put me on edge. I’m sorry if I was an asshole.’
‘You don’t have to say sorry.’ You shook your head. ‘I mean...actually, yeah, you were an asshole but I get it.’
‘You do?’
‘Forensic archeology is no walk in the park either.’ You replied. ‘It’s my job to work out how people have died. Most of my work is on crime scenes or in war zones so I’ve seen some...dark stuff.’
‘It sticks with you.’ Frankie quietly murmured. 
‘Yeah, it does.’ You said. ‘I know you might not think it on the surface, because it’s the usual sort of job that leaves stuff weighing on your shoulders-’
‘- doesn’t matter.’ He cut you off. ‘Trauma is trauma. Regardless of how you got it or where it came from, it’s valid.’
You gave him a small smile. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. 
---
Later that night -- and after a few hours of walking -- you and the guys had settled down into a makeshift campsite. It was just at the edge of a clearing, not too far from what looked to be a small town glinting in the distance. You did offer to keep going, but between the injuries the group had sustained, it was easier to stop for the night. You had enough of a combined skillset to find some fruit growing to snack on and to start a fire.
Santiago, Will and Benny had long passed out. It wasn’t until after they had done so that you realised there was absolutely no room left in the tent. It was only built for two people, let alone five. Where that left you in terms of sleeping arrangements, you didn’t know, but the chances of even getting to rest felt low. Your brain was on full overdrive, tired eyes darting constantly around the distance. How safe was this place? You’d managed to convince yourself that the plane was secure, and that had gone down like...well, like the fucking plane. 
You were sitting on a log, drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick. It was just something to keep your brain occupied as you fought off the tiredness. The jet-lag from your flight to Colombia had hit in full force and you wanted nothing more than to crawl into your bed -- the bed that wasn’t there. 
‘So, are you keeping a look-out?’ 
You jumped at the sound of Frankie’s voice, twisting around to face him. ‘Something like that.’
‘I can take over if you want.’ He offered. ‘You should get some rest. You’ve saved our asses like three times today.’
‘Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t fit into that tent.’ You replied. ‘I can hear them snoring from here.’
‘Is it worse than the alternative of me keeping you company?’ He softly smiled, taking a seat beside you. ‘I’ll promise not to be an asshole anymore.’
‘We spoke about this.’ You reminded him. ‘I get it. It’s okay.’
‘I still feel bad.’ He sighed. ‘Especially after you stitched me up and led us through the jungle. We woulda eaten something poisonous and died if you hadn’t stopped Benny going near those mushrooms.’
You chuckled. ‘Don’t feel bad, okay? You’ve had bad experiences before and it’s natural to be anxious.’
‘I shouldn’t have taken it out on you-’
‘- Frankie!’ You cut him off with a groan. ‘I’m about to be an asshole if you don’t stop saying sorry.’
‘So we’re good?’ 
‘We’re good.’ You smiled. ‘Thanks for keeping me company.’
‘Santiago, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that he would come for our kneecaps if we left you alone in the dark.’ Frankie admitted. ‘I think he likes you.’
You chuckled, shaking your head. ‘I think you have the wrong idea. Santi is only so protective of me because he’s one of my brother’s best friends, and I guess by extension, that kind of makes him my brother too. They go right back to high school, and then they did the academy together.’
‘That’s a long time.’ Frankie nodded. ‘So you and Santi, that’s...nothing, right?’
‘Absolutely not.’ You snorted derivatively. ‘And if it was, my brother would probably end him.’
‘So,’ He took a stick from the floor, joining in with random doodles you were carving into the ground. ‘Be honest: if these stitches scar, d’you think I’ll look rugged and handsome?’
You peered over at him, eyes creasing as your smile grew wider. ‘Sure. Why not?’
‘Ouch.’ He dramatically grabbed his heart, shaking his head. ‘The correct answer was no Frankie, you already look rugged and handsome.’
‘Okay, it would make you look more rugged and handsome.’ You rolled your eyes. ‘Better?’
‘Better.’ He grinned triumphantly. ‘When was the last time you stitched up a living, breathing human?’
‘College, I think.’ You replied. ‘My roommate got into a fight and didn’t have insurance, so I did some makeshift stitches with a cheap sewing kit we found at a 24/7 corner shop.’
‘We’ve all done it.’ He laughed. ‘I’m glad the stitches you gave me were actual, professional ones...right?’
‘Obviously!’ You exclaimed. ‘You’ll probably want to get them redone when we get back to...y’know, civilisation.’
‘Naturally.’ He nodded. ‘I appreciate you stitching me up. The others would not have been able to do that if it had been just us.’
You shrugged. ‘It’s nothing, really.’
‘What if - and feel free to blatantly reject me for my earlier actions - I took you out for a drink when we got back? Y’know, if we ever get back to civilisation.’
‘Yeah, okay.’ You smiled. 
Normally, Frankie wouldn’t have been that bold -- and you would have absolutely rejected someone who had made such a terrible first impression. But, said impression had changed. He’d been an asshole but you could see why; you could reason with it, even. God knew that you also had a tendency to become withdrawn and irritable when you were retracting back to the darker corners of your mind. Bad days on the job were hard to shake. They stuck with you for a long time. 
The conversation continued, though you couldn’t recall exactly what it was about. Nothing and everything. Growing up and going to college - or for Frankie, the military. You compared stories of Santiago; Frankie’s were better, but yours were pretty good. He told you about how he’d got his piloting license back, and you in return offered a tale of the time that your brother had gotten a DUI. 
Between the warmth of Frankie beside you and the crackling fire in front of you, it became harder and harder to fight off your exhaustion. You would have been tired enough if you were from this timezone, but your body clock was hours out of whack. With your eyelids getting heavier and the dark sky above you, it wasn’t long before you’d flopped into the pilot’s side with defeat. 
‘’M sorry.’ You murmured. 
‘It’s fine, you don’t have to apologise.’ Frankie replied. He moved his arm around your shoulders to support your weight from falling off the log - also to give a sign that he was more than okay with it. 
You rested your chin on his shoulder, peering up at him. Now that his cold facade had slipped away, you could admire him a little bit more. Warm chocolate eyes, a strong jawline, and a face that just felt kind, even despite initial impressions. The warm glow of the fire illuminated his face with a soft hue, making the lighter tones of his eyes a little more visible. 
You were both still lingering from the adrenaline of the plane crash, hearts pounding in your chests and brains wrestling with the idea that you’d both made it out with minor injuries. Was that what had made you bold? The sudden reminder of your mortality? Because you never would have kissed him if it had been a normal night.
He met you halfway, lips gently capturing yours in a soft kiss. They were a little chapped from the humidity of the jungle air, but intoxicating and enchanting all the same. He tasted very, very faintly of tobacco and a little bit of mint -- had the bastard had chewing gum this whole time? Not that it was relevant. Not that anything else in the world was relevant. Not when Frankie Morales was kissing you.
Neither of you said anything after; he simply pulled you into his chest, resting his head on top of yours. Between the mental exhaustion and emotional ping-pong game that you were partaking in, you wanted to sleep. 
And sleep, you did; tangled together on the dirt of the jungle floor, not a worry in the world. 
---
Time passed. 
It passed quickly and slowly all at once. 
Once you’d found a little town and got on a coach to Medellin, you did what you came to do: identified the body, cleared their names and closed the case. Your duties at your actual job called you back home and less than a day later, you were on a plane home. 
After that, everything was a blur. You tried to keep in contact with everyone, but life was demanding as ever. Thanks to a promotion at work, you were being kept busy 24/7. Santiago finally retired from active duty and moved back to your hometown, near to his parents and to the guys. Even with the group chat he’d made - affectionately titled Plane Pals - it was hard to constantly keep up with everyone. 
You and Frankie had texted for a while, but it sort of faded out. Whenever you were able to make it back home to see him and everyone else, he was busy. You’d both tried to make plans a few times but they’d never come to fruition. You still texted each other happy birthday every year, but that was it. Like that night in the jungle, he quickly became a thing of the past. A distant memory that sometimes felt like a dream. 
It made a good dinner table story, especially for first dates. You told it on many actually, actually -- only one ever went well. So well, in fact, that you’d ended up in a four-year-relationship. A marine biologist called Simon; not boring, but not necessarily exciting either. He was nice...enough. Nice enough that you didn’t find a reason to leave. 
Looking back, you probably had a million reasons to leave. He was an asshole, for one. The last time he’d treated you right had been your first anniversary - and for some reason, you’d stuck around to celebrate your second and third and fourth. Everyone around you was settling down, and you felt that pressure too. 
Even Santiago fucking Garcia, the biggest flirt and bachelor you knew, was getting married. You’d RSVP’d a plus one - Simon, obviously - but the week before you were due to fly home for the wedding, things had finally reached a bitter end. You weren’t sad about him; more sad that you’d wasted four years of your life on the Walmart equivalent to Ned Flanders. 
On the brightside, your brother’s respective relationship had also gone through a shitty demise, meaning you could move your seats at the reception next to one another. Like Santiago, he had also retired from the military and was living his best life - even though it had taken six months for him to start speaking to his friend again. He hadn’t taken well to the idea of Santiago taking you on a job that left you in the middle of the jungle. 
‘People are gonna ask where Simon is, aren’t they?’ You muttered. 
‘Cheer up.’ Your brother nudged you. ‘I know what’ll help - let’s make a bet.’
‘What?’ You groaned. 
You were standing outside the church, waiting to be called inside. You’d waved at Benny and Will as they came in. The latter had kids of his own now, but Benny was focusing on his boxing career. He hadn’t called you Barbie again though, so that was something. 
‘I bet you twenty bucks that Santiago is divorced by the end of the year.’ Your brother grinned. 
‘No! That’s horrible.’ You slapped his arm. 
‘Whatever. That’s $20 you’re missing out on.’
‘I hate that we’re related.’
‘Me too.’
‘Shut up!’
‘You said it first!’
The two of you were cut off by someone clearing their throats.
You almost did a double take when you saw Frankie Morales stood in front of you. He didn’t look that different to his six-year-old Whatsapp profile picture; he wasn’t wearing his hat, instead wearing his hair pushed back, and rather than his old tac vest, he had a suit and tie on. You had a sort of vision of him in your head from that night, but it didn’t do him justice. He was even better in person. 
‘Catfish!’ Your brother jeered. ‘Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes!’ 
‘Says you!’ Frankie gave him a slap on the back. His eyes then fell to you, and his demeanour changed a little. ‘Hey.’
‘Frankie fucking Morales.’ You murmured. ‘How’re you?’
‘Thriving.’ He replied. ‘You?’
‘Also thriving.’ You smiled. 
‘I was sorry to hear about the divorce, man.’ Your brother, as clueless as ever, didn’t sense the sudden onset of tension. 
‘Divorce?’ You blinked in surprise. ‘Is that really something you should bring up-’
‘- you brought up your break up at dinner last week-’
‘- only because you brought up yours first-’
‘- guys!’ Frankie cut you off. ‘It’s fine, really. I appreciate you looking out for me but it was a while ago now. Besides, I’ve got Leya. She takes up all my time.’
‘Leya?’ your eyebrows shot up. ‘Is that your girl-’
You were interrupted by a bell ringing, signalling that it was time for the guests to enter the church. Did the universe hate you? What kind of fucking dreadful timing was that? 
‘I’ll see you guys at the reception, right?’ Frankie asked. 
‘Sure thing, dude.’ Your brother waved him off.
The pilot turned on his heel, giving you a smile as he headed for the church. He was the best man after all, and his presence probably was needed. 
‘You asshole!’ You have his shoulder another whack. ‘I was talking to him!’
‘Jesus, calm down! And why do you hit so hard?’ He huffed. ‘What’s so important?’
‘Who’s Leya?’
‘I dunno! Do I look like Gossip Girl?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You’re mean.’ He grabbed you by the arm, dragging you towards the church entrance. ‘And mum made me promise to make sure you wouldn’t play Doodle Jump during the vows.’
‘That was one time!’ You snapped. 
Thankfully, the actual ceremony passed quicker than you thought. Santiago’s new wife was beautiful -- you hadn’t met Yovanna before, but both her and Santi had greeted you with a bright smile as you entered the reception. It was in a large hotel room, decorated with strings of fairy lights and a large dance floor. A lot of thought had clearly got into it. 
It made you a little sad to think about. How many weddings had you been to in the last five years? How many times had people looked at you and your former boyfriend and said you’ll be next. You weren’t even sad about him. If anything, you were mad that you’d let yourself think about marrying him. You could do better. You were going to do better.
‘Is that girl over there eying me up?’ Your brother’s voice pulled you back to reality. ‘I swear she’s been giving me heart eyes since they brought dessert out.’
‘Which one?’
‘The one in the cute dress! Brown hair, dark eyes-’
‘- that’s Santi’s cousin.’ You rolled your eyes. 
‘And?’
‘Santi’s cousin who is a lesbian?’ You tried to suppress a laugh. ‘Who has been with her wife for 11 years and has three children?’
He groaned. ‘Why must you find such joy in my pain?’
‘It’s what siblings are for.’ You grinned. ‘I’m gonna get a drink. D’you want anything?’
He only let out another groan in response - you took that as a no, simply giving him a pat on the head as you stood up. 
You’d tried to ask around with a few mutual friends if they knew who Leya was -- either they hadn’t seen Frankie in a while, or they pushed to know why you were asking. You couldn’t exactly play that one as suave. Nobody took a casual interest in the personal life of somebody they barely knew -- even though you did know Frankie. Quite well, actually. He’d practically recounted his entire life story to you that night. Told you things that not even Santi knew. 
‘What can I get for you?’ The bartender asked. 
‘Uhhh…’ you glanced up at the menu. ‘Is it an open bar?’
‘If I had enough money for every time someone asked me that tonight, I’d be able to pay for all the drinks.’  She shot back. ‘So, no.’
‘Jeez.’ You muttered. ‘How much for a double rum?’
‘Fifteen bucks.’
‘Fifteen?!’ You spluttered. ‘How much is tap water?’
‘Y’know, I still owe you a drink.’
Like earlier, Frankie had suddenly appeared unannounced. You couldn’t help but grin when you saw him leaning against the bar beside you, a goofy smile plastered across his face and his undone tie wrapped around his left hand. Your eyes flickered up to his forehead, examining it for a minute. 
‘So the stitches didn’t scar?’ You asked. 
He pulled back his hair, shaking his head. ‘Nope.’ 
‘You lucky duck.’ You quipped. ‘So. About that drink?’
‘This shit is insanely overpriced.’ Frankie said. ‘I can steal us a bottle of wine if you’re willing to hide and drink it?
You glanced over at your brother, who was now crying to one of Santiago’s great aunts, piling cake into his mouth. 
‘Yeah. I’m down for that.’ 
--
Five minutes later, you and Frankie were out in the gardens of the hotel. It had been raining all day, but there was an undercover patio not too far from the main reception; the walls were made out of white wood, with red roses trailing up the side. The fairly lights tangled beside them illuminated the place in a gentle glow, blue evening sky providing a beautiful contrast. Even though the showers had stopped, you could still smell the rain in the fresh evening air. 
‘Wine?’ Frankie led you to a seat by the edge of the patio. ‘I stole it from the head table so it's the expensive shit.’
He tore the cork off, handing you the bottle. Neither of you had brought glasses, but you didn’t mind drinking from the same bottle. You’d kissed already - what was the point in formalities? 
‘I hate it to break it to you.’ You paused to wipe your mouth, recovering from the bitter taste. ‘But that’s champagne.’
‘Still alcohol, right?’ He took it from your hands, taking a swig. ‘And it’s free!’
‘You’re right.’ You chuckled. ‘So...I believe we have four years worth of catching up to do.’
‘D’you wanna go first?’ Frankie offered. ‘I heard you got a promotion.’
‘I did, yeah.’ You grinned. ‘It’s a thousand times more work but I get more control over what jobs I take, so that’s good.’
‘Anyone special in your life?’ He asked. 
‘Cut the shit, Frankie.’ You groaned. ‘I know that Santi updates you on every second of my life as it happens.’
‘You got me there. He mentioned a...Steven?’
‘A Simon.’ You corrected. ‘But Dickhead or Asshole works just as well.’
‘Damn, I’m sorry.’ Frankie gave your leg a light squeeze. ‘What happened?’
‘He didn’t deserve me and I stayed with him too long.’ You shrugged. ‘I didn’t think I had a reason to leave.’ 
‘Not having a reason to leave isn’t a reason to stay.’ He murmured. 
You didn’t know whether to bring up the D-Word. D-i-v-o-r-c-e. He hadn’t seemed that phase when your sibling had so eloquently and gently brought it up earlier, but you knew Frankie was good at putting on a front. It was why you’d clashed when you first met. 
‘Am I allowed to ask?’ You quietly said. 
‘It’s nothing bad.’ He shrugged. ‘I mean it is bad, terrible actually, but it was two years ago now. We only got married because she got pregnant and then left the minute our daughter was born.’
‘Leya.’ You didn’t mean to say the name out loud, but it made sense now. ‘Leya is your daughter.’
‘Yeah.’ Frankie warmly smiled. ‘I hate what happened but I’d do it all over again ten times if it meant having her in my life.’
He spent the next few minutes telling you about her. She was named Leya after a certain space princess, though Frankie had changed the spelling to make it less obvious (to which you had argued it was still quite obvious, but a cool name nonetheless). She was currently three years old, often got confused between Spanish and English words, and enjoyed Power Rangers. All in all, she sounded like a great kid. Above all, it was obvious how much she meant to Frankie. His whole face lit up when he spoke about her. Her mum was entirely out the picture, meaning he was doing the whole thing by himself. 
‘She sounds amazing.’ You beamed, peering down at the picture on his phone. ‘She looks so much like you.’
‘Thank God.’ Frankie murmured. ‘I dunno if it being a dad has made me more introspective, but I think about that night a lot.’
‘Me too.’ You replied. ‘Not the thing about being a dad. The other part.’
He laughed. ‘I got that.’
‘What do you think about?’
‘You, mostly.’ He admitted. ‘The fact I was an asshole. The fact you basically saved us all. The fact I never got to take you out for that drink.’
You took a swig of champagne, poking his arm. ‘We’re doing it now!’
‘I know.’ He grinned. ‘I just...I know it was only one night but we might not have been around to tell the story if you hadn't been there.’
‘You were the one who landed the plane safely.’
‘Which wouldn’t have mattered if you didn’t do all the stuff after.’ He reminded you. ‘The thing I think about most, though, is that kiss.’
You froze slightly, head slowly turning to look at him. He was peering down at you now, brown eyes intently gazing at you, not unlike they had the first time you’d been in this position. Now, you weren’t both beyond exhausted, or stuck in the middle of the jungle. You were safe and sound, right here with one another. 
‘It was a pretty good kiss.’ You edged slightly closer towards him. 
‘A very good kiss.’
‘Maybe we should do it-’
Frankie cut you off, meeting your demand before you could even finish it. He was just as you remembered; chapped-but-soft lips with a hint of mint. No tobacco this time. He gently placed a hand on the back of your neck, pulling you further up towards him. It was like you were both reliving the memory of that night in a dream - something you’d done many times. Your memory of it had faded over time but this? This was vivid and giddy and entirely consuming all at once. 
‘You know,’ Frankie pulled back for a moment, keeping his hand on the back of your neck and forehead pressed to yours. ‘I asked Santi about you a few years ago, pretty much the minute I realised I was ready to move on from...her.’ 
‘You did?’ You murmured. 
‘That’s when he said you’d been seeing Simon for a few weeks.’ He admitted. ‘I was gutted. Kept wishing I’d got there first.’
‘I wish you had got to me first.’ You lightly chuckled. ‘It would have saved me a lot of pain.’
‘If I were to ask out now, what would you say?’
‘Fuck yes, obviously.’
‘Good.’ He pressed a brief peck to your lips. ‘I admire the enthusiasm.’
That night - well, actually it had probably been the night in Colombia, depending on who you asked - marked the start of a fresh start for you both. What had initially started out as an attempt to seek solace in one another during a difficult time had led you to something more: something whole, something fulfilling. 
If someone had told you the first time you’d met Frankie Morales that the unfriendly pilot was going to become the best thing that ever happened to you, you probably would have slapped them. Or laughed, or cried, or all three. That night you met, you thought the emotions you were feeling were from the plane crash -- adrenaline and warmth and panic. 
As it would turn out, it was simply the feeling of knowing -- knowing that Frankie Morales was it.
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You’re Not So Bad (Isaac Foster x Reader)
A/N: I finished Angels of Death a few weeks back, and it was so good! I just had to write a short story about it. I’m not the best writer, but hopefully my first writing of this anime is somewhat close to Zack’s character.  
Warnings: Cussing, Blood Mention (it’s Zack)
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You never expected to meet someone like Zack until he arrived on Floor B2. You assisted Reverend Gray, acting as another guardian of B2 after he took you in when he found you as a homeless teen, sleeping on the outside steps of his building. He wasn’t the best father figure you could’ve had, but he still treated you better than the streets did. When hearing the elevator on your floor ding, you wanted to see who was there, but Reverend Gray stopped you, warning you to be careful of the people you may meet. When you asked why, he described the people that held the names Isaac Foster and Rachel Gardner. In all honesty, you didn’t think they were actually as bad as he made them sound, considering that he over exaggerates his descriptions of people to you to keep you safe. Also considering the other psychotic people he had as guardians on the other floors, you could trust your own gut when you met the duo. You stayed hidden in the background while you watched Reverend Gray journey with Rachel to Dr. Danny’s floor. Watching them leave from the end of the hall, you saw a man in a dark brown hoodie and a scythe laying on the ground. That must be Isaac Foster. You could tell that he was bleeding out badly, a pang of guilt and empathy coursing through you. You were hesitant to approach him, remembering that the Reverend said he was dangerous to meddle with and there was a high chance he could react violently to you if you dared to try and talk. But seeing him looking on the verge of death, you couldn’t help but walk slowly toward him. It may seem unreasonable to walk right into danger, but you knew you could take care of yourself. Reverend Gray provided you with a weapon of your own, a basket-hilted sword. He helped you to perfect every swing and stab. Not only that, but you weren’t too bad at fighting hand-to-hand either. Luckily, Isaac Foster appears to be too injured to try and fight back anyway. I honestly don’t think my sword would be able to block his scythe well, I hope he doesn’t use it on me, you thought. As you got closer and closer to the strange man, he fidgeted a bit. You paused your movements, clutching the handle of your sword in its scabbard. He weakly turned his head towards you, his eyes opening slowly. 
“Who the fuck are you? You gonna try and kill me?” he questioned, a sharp tone in his voice. You noticed he made no effort to reach for his scythe, so you let go of your sword’s handle. 
“No.....I wouldn’t try to kill someone if they’re already dying,” you responded. He let out a dry laugh. 
“I hate to break it to ya sweetheart, but I’m not dying any time soon. Monsters are hard to kill. Besides, good ‘ol Rachel’s gonna fix me up. But enough of the chitter chatter, you didn’t answer my first question. Who the fuck ARE you? I thought there’s only one guardian on each floor, unless Reverend Shithead cheated,” he spat. You let out a small chuckle, finding his way of talking a throwback to when you were a teen. Although, he seemed to be around the same age as you, twenty or twenty-two years old. His bandaged face looked confused to your lighthearted reaction. He scowled, “Hey, what’s all that laughing for? I didn’t even say anything funny.” 
“Oh nothing, just thinking of my teenage days. But to answer your first question, I am another guardian of this floor. My job is assisting Reverend Gray on this floor, though I’m not really allowed to interact with the people who come here. But I uh, couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for you, seeing you bleed out like that,” you finally confessed. Letting out another dry laugh, he looked at you with a smirk. 
“Feeling bad for me, huh? Not the best decision. Don’t know if you can already tell, but I’m a cold-blooded serial killer. If I wasn’t feeling shitty at the moment, I’d cut that pretty head of yours off. Seeing you this calm around someone like me really pisses me off,” he said. You only let out another small chuckle, which irked him even more. 
“I’m sure you would, Isaac Foster. Although, I don’t think a fight between the two of us would end so quick. My weapon may be smaller than yours, but I can hold my own very well. If I could survive majority of my childhood and teen years being alone in the streets, I think I could survive you,” you calmly said. His temper apparently sky-rocketed because the next moment, he was yelling. 
“The name’s Zack, you bitch! Don’t go being so confident in yourself, it’s sickening to watch. I bet my ass could ruin all that confidence with just one land of my scythe. I’ll have you begging for your life, just you wait ‘til I’m in a better state to kill ya. Ugh, now I have two bitches to kill!” he groaned, then coughed loudly, more blood oozing out of his wound. You felt guilty again, wanting to at least stop the bleeding for a little while. 
“I carry some bandages and patches with me in case there’s a time I ever need to fix myself. If you need some I can-”
“Just leave it alone, will ya? I already got Rachel getting shit for me back on the other floor, I don’t need your damn help! Why the hell does everyone wanna help me?” 
“M’kay, but you’re bleeding pretty badly, by the time she comes back, you’ll most likely be passed out-”
“I said leave it alone! Stop tryna play nurse, your stuff probably won’t even do shit.” 
“But it’s better to stop the bleeding as soon as-”
“Will you shut up? You’re gonna make me go into shock.”
“I just wanna help-” 
“I said I don’t want any damn help!” 
“Well you won’t be much of a monster by bleeding out all over this damn floor! If you wanna at least live long enough to kill that girl Rachel, you could at least be somewhat decent and let me patch you up before you go all out, getting your own self killed instead! Now shut the fuck up and let me help! Geez! How does that blonde girl deal with you?” you shouted. Your yelling got him to close his mouth and shut up, surprised that he got someone as calm as you to get angry. How can I get her angry, but not scared shitless? It’s like she wasn’t even phased by my damn appearance, he thought. There was a short silence in the hallway, until Zack finally spoke up. “Didn’t know you had all that anger in ya. Heh, to be honest you even got my crazy self startled. I have no clue how Rachel deals with me, but all I know is her messed up head wants me to kill her. So I’ll do it. If I want to keep my promise to her.....I guess you should do what ya want. But don’t be a pervert about it.”
A small smile formed on your face as you took out your supplies in the small medical bag you carried around. 
“How the hell are you smiling after all that? Sheesh, I’m starting to think you’re even weirder than Rachel is,” Zack let out noises of disgust. You scoffed, rolling your eyes at his childlike behavior. 
“Tell me something.....,” he began to say, “why haven’t ya mentioned anything about my appearance? I’m literally covered in bandages and burnt underneath. Don’t I freak you out at all? Why aren’t ya scared?” 
“Well, I’ve seen crazier. I also don’t like to make a judgement about someone based on only their appearance. Sure you’re not ordinary looking, but I know there’s more about you than what I see on the outside,” you replied. Everything that you needed to help him was taken out. You didn’t have any type of alcohol or a sewing needle and thread to fully cover what you believed to be a deep gash in his abdomen, but it was all that could be done for now until Rachel got back. You reached over towards his wound, but hesitated. You looked him in the eyes, as if you were silently asking for permission. He nodded slightly, his breathing hitching a bit when he saw the look your eyes held. You looked so genuine, not one hint of fear in you. Was that.....kindness? No, it couldn’t be. Why would anyone show kindness to him? You unzipped his hoodie, a faint blush on your face. Sure he was an asshole, but it still felt.....somewhat intimate? Not in an inappropriate way, just in a trustworthy way. The fact he had so much trust in one stranger to help him like this.....it was odd. You undid the bandages already on him that were worn out. His wound was revealed, and so was his skin. Wow....is all of him burned? You shook your thoughts away. You grabbed a bunch of gauze sponges you had and grouped them together, beginning to apply pressure to his wound. Zack hissed at the pain, saying almost every curse word you think is in the dictionary. You let out a soft “Sorry” as you continued to clean up the big amount of blood on his body. Once you began to bandage him up tightly, Zack started up another conversation. 
“You’re different from the other guardians.....why aren’t ya trying to kill me? Isn’t that what you guardians do?” he asked curiously. You showed him another small smile. That damn smile, why does she smile so easily at me? It’s not like Rachel’s forced ass smile. What’s up with this bitch? Why is her smile so.....familiar? 
“Well, like I said before, I just assist Reverend Gray on this floor. He’s the main guardian. I’m just someone he happened to take in after he found me sleeping on the steps of this building. Heh, teenager me. Homeless after my parents abandoned me as a toddler. I’m not sure what made Reverend Gray want to keep me. Sometimes he acts like a father, but then I remember how self praising he is,” you sighed, “I know the people on the other floors kill so you expect me to be the same, but I don’t want to kill someone if they aren’t totally out of their mind.” 
“So is that why you didn’t try to kill me? Cause ya think I’m not totally out of my mind? Heh, well I’m pretty sure me killing people for fun isn’t sane either. I hate seeing people happy, sooooo I kill ‘em. What’s not psycho about that?” Zack stated. 
“Well for starters, I didn’t try to kill you because you were already injured, so it wouldn’t have been fair. And you can’t be totally out of your mind if you let me help you with your injury.” Zack scowled at your reply, knowing you were right. Even as a serial killer, he had morals. He hated lying, and he himself would never tell a lie. 
“You remind me of him too much,” he grumbled. Your head perked up. 
“Did you say something?”
“I said you talk too much.” 
“No, you definitely said something else.” 
“No I said you talk too much.” 
“Doubt it, tell me what ya really said.” 
“That is what I really said.” 
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Zack.” 
“Ugh, I said you remind me of him too much,” he said softly. 
“Him?” you questioned. Zack sighed. “There was this man I met when I was younger, a blind man. He let me stay at his place for a couple days. Even after I told him I killed a guy, he still had that dumb smile on his face. He always had that smile on his face around me. It was annoying, him being so calm around someone like me. Pissed me off, but I didn’t kill him. He fed me and everything. I mean he already died cause of something else, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Are ya done with my bandages yet? It feels like it’s been hours!” 
You rolled your eyes at his commentary. “Well, whoever that man is, he had quite the patience with you.” 
“Hey! I was giving you a compliment! Geez, way to be rude!” Zack crossed his arms, turning away from you. You only chuckled once more. You finally finished wrapping enough bandages as you could, making sure it was snug enough. 
“Happy now, angry boy? I’m done. They’ll still get bloody, but at least the bandages are fresh and not worn out,” you said, giving him another smile just to annoy him. 
“Thanks,” he mumbled. “I never caught your name. Since I told ya mine, it’s only fair you tell me yours.” 
“It’s (Y/N),” you said. 
“Well (Y/N),” Zack rubbed the back of his head. “You’re not so bad.....maybe I’ll keep ya alive.” 
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subbing-for-clones · 3 years
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The Alpha and The Omega Part 1
Alpha!Maul x Omega!Reader     
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Word Count: 4.5k
Summary: A Jedi Padawan prepares for her trials to become a knight but learns something new about herself that leads to her having to leave the order. With a fear of the large galaxy and a new, unexpected companion she has to learn to live with herself and how to survive an unforgiving environment.
WARNINGS: fear, going into heat (no sex), nudity. A/B/O dynamics
A/N: Maul is not actually in this chapter. He shows up in the next just so everyone is aware. This chapter establishes what my version of an alpha and omega are. No y/n
NEXT         MASTERLIST
       You had never been so hungry in your life. Master Plo Koon, Master Qui Gon Jinn and your fellow padawan Obi Wan all watched you in various levels of amazement and bewilderment as you worked on your third helping of whatever kind of stew the cafeteria had prepared. Your master however, was chuckling under his de-oxygenator.
“Are you alright little one?” Qui Gon asked with a brow quirked. If you paid attention, you’d have guessed he was more impressed than his horrified padawan at the immense amount of food you were consuming. You couldn’t pause between each spoonful long enough to answer him so your master spoke.
“For the last few days, she’s been utterly insatiable.”
“Are you quite sure you don’t have a parasite or something?” Obi Wan asked with a concerned frown. Your only response was shooting him a glaring look before continuing to eat ravenously. Clearing your bowl, you stood and went to drop off your empty dish with the rest of the dirty dishes followed by your friend.
“I am starting to become concerned for my padawan. At first I assumed that the rise in her nerves were caused by her upcoming trials for her knighthood but I’m not so sure.”
“What else is going on with her?” Qui Gon eyed you as you left the cafeteria followed by Obi Wan, no doubt to continue your studies.
“She’s always struggled with controlling some of her stronger emotions but she has made immense improvements over the years under my tutelage. However, the last few days it almost seems like she’s reverted back. She’s not outward with them in the least but I can sense them through our bond. She’s incredibly quick to anger and sadness specifically.”
Qui Gon furrowed his brows and sat pensively for a moment before asking, “you don’t think she could be pregnant, do you?”
“No, that’s not an option. She hasn’t left the temple in months except for her training mission on Hoth and it was just the two of us. Over the last few months, she has been fervently preparing for her trials bouncing back and forth between the archives, the meditation gardens and sparing with various willing masters. Even if she did find the time, with how emotional she’s been I would’ve sensed something but I don’t think she even has any idea what’s going on.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I’ve always liked her and appreciated her friendship with my padawan. Have the healers take a look at her if you can convince her to let them.”
“Yes, that might be a good idea.”
      You had in fact spent the remainder of the evening in the archives with your long-time friend Obi Wan attempting to study while dodging his various inquiries to your condition. At the end of the night, you fought the urge to slam the doors behind you while you urged him for the hundredth time that you were fine. Walking back to your sparse room in the living quarters you realized that you were in fact not fine. You had never felt anything but safe living here at the temple, surrounded by your peers and masters. Now though, a sense of dread formed in the pit of your stomach. You hadn’t the slightest clue as to why. Yes, your trials were approaching in the following months but you felt completely prepared for them.
    Your skin felt hot under your robes and the second you entered your private quarters you stripped out of them, hopping through a quick cold shower. It only granted you a temporary relief and by the time you left the ‘fresher you were burning up and feeling way too exposed, even within the confines of your small room. You watched your hands pull the mattress off of its rails and onto the floor. Gathering up all of your spare blankets and robes you had, you bunched up a makeshift perimeter along the edges before climbing into the center and curling up, not bothering to dress before-hand.
    Rest did not come to you that night. You woke frequently in cold shakes and waves of fear despite your best efforts to push them away, panic always on the edges of your mind and intense cramping in your abdomen.
      The following morning when you had not come down for your first meal Master Plo reached out to you through the force, when he sensed your terror, he practically ran back to the living quarters, banging on your door. When you only answered with chocked whimpers, he unlocked the door with the force and drew his lightsaber. His initial worry was sated momentarily finding that you were alone but was quickly replaced when he saw the state you were it.
    You lay in the center of your clumsily made ‘nest’ naked and covered in a thin sheet of sweat shivering violently. The only sounds that left you were terrified, incoherent mumbles, eyes widened in alarm.
“M- master… help me. I -… I don’t know what.. what’s happening,” you sobbed.
Plo removed his large brown cloak and quickly covered you with it. When you were properly concealed, he lifted you in his arms and rushed to the healers. Utterly confused by your state.
       Hours of examinations and blood tests did nothing to sate your unease but did well to expand it. You had begged your master to stay by your side, clutching onto the one person you felt remotely safe around. He only left when one of the healers came to your bedside and beckoned him away with a worried look in her eye. It took several attempts to assure you that he would be right back, utter panic setting in once again once he left but you could feel the waves of tranquility he sent you through the force.
“What do her blood reports show?” he asked with his arms crossed.
“Well master that’s where it gets kind of tricky. She seems to be exhibiting symptoms of a heat cycle.”
“But, humans don’t go through heat cycles. Wait, do they?” Plo asked.
“No, they don’t. I tested her for exposure to various strains of the sex pollen but they all came up negative. To ease her pain, I gave her a dose of a common suppressant that some of our resident Jedi use to help their own cycles but it didn’t take. That led me to perform a genome test.”
“And did you find anything?”
“Yes, she has the Omega gene.”
“Oh… Oh. Well, that is, unfortunate...”
“She’s terrified and feeling exposed. I wanted to tell you first so you could decide if she should hear it from you or me. She seems to feel safest with you.”
Plo thought for a moment, “I think I should tell her.”
 “What the fuck is an Omega gene?!” you were still shaking, trying to fight off the arousal that had taken root in your belly that swirled with your fright.
“It is an uncommon genome; its sole purpose is to ensure survival of a species. Most commonly men develop the Alpha and women the Omega although there are records of it being the other way around. Almost every species in the galaxy has at least a few Alphas and Omegas.”
“And the suppressants didn’t work because..?”
“Because it is stronger than a common heat cycle. It is a mutation that developed not just to ensure frequent breeding but survival of a species on a grand scale.”
You broke out into uncontrollable sobs; when your master tried to soothe you with a touch to your shoulder you jumped and growled at him, surprising you both before falling back into your distress.
      Over the following weeks you could feel the change in your peers’ attitude towards you. They would snicker if you passed by and taunt you silently behind your back. You could feel the unease the masters felt when you came into close proximity. Even Master Qui Gon was hesitant around you. You did however still have Obi Wan. Still the loyal friend he had always been.
    It took more searching than you thought but with his help you were able to find information cataloged by only one author.
“Did you really build a nest?” he asked, void of any judgement, looking over your shoulder at the writings.
“Yes, I did,” you said without taking your eyes off of the tome. “It says here that its genetic and pops up every few generations…”
“Your birth mother probably had no idea.”
“No, I don’t suppose she did. It says here I have scent glands? On my neck, my wrists, between my breasts and on my hips..” Obi wan leaned in and gave you an undignified sniff, you smacked him away.
“I can’t smell anything, just that minty shampoo you like so much.”
“That’s because you’re not an Alpha bantha brains,” you flustered.
“You don’t need to be rude about it,” he chuckled, “I’m just trying to lighten the mood here. You’ve been so sad since you found out. What, your heat will come once every few months right? It can’t be that bad.”
“It really is terrible; you have no idea. It’s not even the heat that I’m worried about.”
“Well, what has you so worked up then?”
“It says here that being an Omega is dangerous, the Alphas are often times violent and that they can smell me long before they see me… I’m safe here at the temple but what if they kick me out of the Order?”
“You’re not going to be kicked out.”
“I very well could be!” you pushed yourself out from behind the desk and huffed, “being a Jedi means no attachments, be one with the force, calm and collected, rational and compassionate. I am none of those things when the heat comes and no suppressants can stop it. What if it’s enough to pull me to the dark side? What if the council decides I am too big of a risk to everyone here to keep me around? Needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few.”
      Sure enough, it was less than a week before the council called you to stand before them. The room was silent, the faces that painted the members was grave. You could tell that whatever decision they came to was a long argued one. It was the look on your Master’s face that made a sadness ring through your heart.
“Do you know why we called you here?” Master Windu asked.
You inhaled deeply and sighed, “I think I have an idea..”
“Please understand padawan that if we had known you were an Omega, we wouldn’t have recruited you to the Order. We simply can’t have an Omega or an Alpha within our ranks.”
“I…I think I understand Master.”
“Understand how you feel, we do.” The Grandmaster said with a grave tone and a nod.
“Forgive me Master but, no, you don’t. With reason or not, I have had my birth family cast me out into your care because I was force sensitive and now, my second family does the same because of a gene I carry.” Your eyes flashed angrily. Abandoned again because of what you were. “I will gather my things and be gone before nightfall,” you turned on your heel and strode out of the council chambers, leaving the heavy sighs behind you as you fought tears.
    When you finally reached your quarters the dam broke. Fat tears and wailing sobs poured out of you while your heart bled. Fear, pain, self-disgust all swirling in your mind. You had no idea what you were going to do, where you were going to go. You barely heard the knock against your door while you tried to wipe the salty wetness from your eyes. When you composed yourself as much as you could you opened the door to your Master and Obi Wan, both looking solemn.
“May we come it?” your master asked. Standing aside you allowed them entrance. “I voted no. I don’t think the council is making the right choice in this matter.”
“Thank you Master but the result is the same, with all due respect,” you pushed past him and starting shoving your sparse belongings into a travel bag pausing only when your friend stood in your way.
“I-I’m going to miss you..” he looked down at his feet.
“Oh Obi,” fresh tears wet your lashes. “I’m going to miss you to,” you pulled him into a tight hug. “I know you still have a few more years before your trials but; you’re going to make a wonderful knight.” His only response was to hug you tighter.
“The council has allocated a small fund for you young one. Because of the nature of your departure and the fact that you never broke the code or did anything wrong…” Master Plo held out a large purse filled with credits, “I hope it’s enough to get you settled somewhere until you can find something to do..” you took the purse and wrapped your arms around your Master’s waist.
    Thanking him silently for everything. For raising you, teaching you everything you knew and again for advocating for you. You gathered your one personal item aside from your clothes, a holo-pic Obi Wan had taken of you and your Master standing on a cliff overlooking the water on Naboo. At the time he said he took it because you looked like a knight with your straight back and hands clasped behind your back, mirroring Plo perfectly. You thought him silly at the time but now; you felt grateful.
      Months later you found yourself waitressing in a dirty little cantina on one of the lower levels of the city. The credits given to you were enough to pay for a dingy little studio apartment and the owner of the cantina owed Qui Gon a favor for some reason. Giving you a job made them even. You were drifting through your new life. Every night you would show up in your too tight, too short uniform and serve various drunkards and bounty hunters. Every morning you would stumble your way back to your new home utterly exhausted. When your heat hit your boss was understanding enough to give you time off so you could cry and feel the terrible pain and loneliness in peace.
    A few days after your last heat, the third one you had ever experienced; you were back to work. It was a pretty slow night. The atmosphere was surprisingly calm in the run-down little bar. You heard the door creak open while you were in the kitchen grabbing an order for a young starry eyed Rodian obviously new to the city. You looked around the kitchen smelling something strange, something incredibly strong, smokey and musky. It only got stronger when you dropped off the plate. Your eyes met the new customer’s, a lone Duro looked up at you from under the lip of a worn wide brimmed hat. A smile grew across his face as you approached cautiously.
“Hey there little lady. Where’s your Alpha?”
    A serious trepidation squeezed your insides as you realized exactly what it was you were smelling. The man in front of you was an Alpha. There was no doubt about it, if he could smell you, it was true. Your feet moved faster than your brain and carried you out of the bar, ignoring your boss’s bellowing. You pounded into the duracrete until you reached your little room. Opening the door as quickly as you could with trembling fingers you slunk into a shadowy corner. Tears pricked in the corners of your eyes as the cool night breeze drifted through the window.
    Window. As soon as you thought the thought his scent flowed through it, he followed right behind, slinging his lithe body through the opening. Standing silhouetted in the flickering streetlights, you backed up until you hit the door. His long leather trench coat fluttered around his calves. You could hardly process how he lifted his palms up to you and tried to calm you down.
“What in the seven hells’ the matter with you ‘mega?” you lifted your hand and force pulled your light saber into your grasp and ignited the blue blade.
“Whoa whoa whoa there little lady. Calm down I’m not gonna hurt you.. been a while since I seen another one a us. Outside Corellia at least.” His voice was smooth with a rasp to it, his eyes glowed bright red in the low lighting, your saber casting a blue glow over the room.
“Never seen a Jedi ‘mega before,” he started.
“I’m no longer a Jedi,” you spat. It was the first thing you could say to the Alpha before you.
“You gotta calm down girl. I told you I’m not gonna hurt you,” he was inching closer to you.
“What do you want with me?” you tightened your grip and clenched your teeth, causing him to halt again on the stained floor.
“Where’s your Alpha? I can’t smell him.”
“You’re the first one I’ve met.”
“Listen I wanna help. Obviously if you’re here the Jedi gave you the boot. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, they found out when the suppressors didn work on ya.”
You sheathed your blade and lowered your head in sorrow.
“How long you been on your own?”
“A few months,” you looked up and wished you were back in the temple. You missed the gardens, you missed the archives, you missed your friend.. The Duro eyed you carefully like he could read your history just from your face before he scrunched his eyes up in confusion.
“Diddn they even tell you shit or did they just give you a pat and ‘good luck’?”
Your lack of a response was response enough; he sighed and muttered curses under his breath.
“Listen, most of us Alphas aren’t dangerous. We’re leaders, protectors. Omegas aren’t weak, you’re our second in command so to speak.” Your eyes widened at him. “I wanna help you.. I kinda feel like I have to. My mate would’ve if she was still around…” his eyes dimmed, “some of the Alphas can be shitty but it’s the others you gotta worry about. Slavers like buying your kind up and sellin em to the highest bidder. Sometimes they got a paid Alpha to sniff you out, some of em got hounds that can pick out your scent. If you stay here, you’re sittin pretty an ripe for their pickin.”
“What happened to your Omega?” your voice was quiet and cautious. You didn’t know if you could trust him or not but if he found you, others would be able to soon too.
“Trandoshans… I was off on a hunt; left her at home. Thought it was too dangerous for her to come with… I tried to find her, looked everywhere, called in every favor, went broke on bribes… never found her.”
Some primal, instinctual part of your heart broke for him. You had no idea what it was like to have a mate but you thought you’d rather die than lose yours and the look on his face confirmed that, he would too.
“Look, take it or not but this is me reaching my hand out. Tryin to make sure that what happened to her, doesn’t happen to you. Bounty huntings lucrative if you nab the right contracts. I can get you set up… the moving around ‘s safer than sitting still.”
    You thought for a few minutes, pondering the information this man dumped on you all at once. Your Jedi brain told you not to trust him; that this guy was bad news, but you weren’t a Jedi anymore. They were the reason you were sitting here trying to decide if you could trust him or not. So, you listened to your Omega gut and it told you to go with him; and that’s what you did.
      You spent a year with Cad Bane and if you were being honest, it was the best year of your life. He introduced you to the Bounty Hunters Guild by the name ‘Mega. Told you if they found out you were a former Jedi you wouldn’t get contracts so you went with it. There was even a whole house of the guild that was dedicated to Alphas and Omegas a secret little society that you had been welcomed into. He taught you how to use a blaster, damn well too. Your light saber was a hidden last resort to use only if you were about to be killed and you left no survivors. The two of you galivanted across the galaxy bringing in dangerous, high paying bounties.
    He taught you about the sub culture of the Alphas and the Omegas and helped explain some of the odd tendencies you showed but didn’t understand. He was respectful during your heat and let you wait it out locked in the cabin while he slept in the cockpit. Occasionally you’d ask him to put a hand on the back of your neck to cool you down. His cold-blooded hands were the perfect ice pack for your fevered skin.
    Not once did he ever try to scent you. To say he was friendly though would’ve been a lie. You had a companionable silence most of the time. You could count the times you made him smile on one hand. Most of which were when you got extra rough with a difficult quarry. The only other time was when some guy tried to hit on you in a cantina while you and Bane celebrated the largest reward you had ever gotten. You pressed the barrel of your blaster into his balls so hard, without even looking at him, he cried. Life was… good. Life was actually good. After the costs of resupply and fuel he gave you half of whatever was left over.
    That’s how you got to where you were now. On Corellia in a ship yard looking to buy your own transport. Bane had introduced you to the Guild Master on this planet, long having gained membership with him as a sponsor and you got yourself a few of your own pucks. He stood beside you now as you tossed the credits to the seller and loaded up your new; well new to you, ship.
“Better than my first ship that’s for damn sure,” Bane said as he walked around it. It wasn’t large, it wasn’t small either, but it had a kitchenette, a cabin and a carbon-freezing chamber in the small cargo bay below deck. “That freezers gonna let you pick up a few bounties at a time,” he noted, leaning against the doorframe of the cabin, watching you put away your clothes and setting up the holo-pic of you and Plo by the large bed.    
“That’s the plan. Move around as much as possible. Get rich on these dumbasses,” you moved to toss the pucks into your bag.
“Listen ‘Meg,” he straightened up, clenched his jaw and looked at the floor, “it was shitty goin for me for a long time. It’s gonna get shitty again and stay that way for the rest of my life but; well, you made it less shitty,” he was visibly uncomfortable.
“Don’t go getting all warm blooded on me now Bane,” you shot him a sad smile. You had to move on. He wasn’t your Alpha and you weren’t his Omega. You didn’t really think you would find a mate of your own but you could feel it through the force; as much as you relieved some of his stress, you made him miss his mate.
“Don’t get your hopes up sweetheart, I like you but not that much,” he smirked, “you got my commlink channel set up in there right?” his thumb pointed to the cockpit.
“Yeah I got it.”
“Don’t hesitate if you get in over your head kid. I mean it ‘Meg, don’t be so proud you go and get yourself killed.”
“I won’t, I promise Bane.”
“Good,” he walked over to you and for a second you thought he was actually going to hug you; what he did was a bigger shock. He took his hat off and placed it on your head. Your eyes widened to saucers and you looked at him almost confused. A grin cracked your lips when he pulled a new, bigger one out of no where and shrugged his shoulders.
“I like this one better anyway,” he turned to leave the hull but not before rasping out a “see you around ‘Meg, give em all seven hells out there,” over his shoulder.
You made your way to the cockpit, pulling Bane’s hat down tighter on your head and running your finger across the brim; watching him leave the shipyard through the view port with one last swish of his coat. You were sad to watch that gun slinging bastard go but thanked the maker he found you, thanked the maker that you followed him that night.
    You ran through your preflight checklist and started her up ‘The Wolf.’ You liked the way it sounded. Pulling up into the atmosphere and punching in the coordinates for Lothal, the highest priced bounty in your current collection. You pulled back the lever, shooting you into hyperspace. You made your way back to your cabin and picked up the holo-pic of you and your master. You wondered what he was doing right now. If he had taken in a new padawan. You hoped he had; he was a wonderful master; the best you could’ve asked for. You wondered if he thought about you as much as you thought about him. You smiled, probably. He always had trouble not forming attachments. You set the picture back down and pulled another one out of your bag. You had tried to keep it a secret from Bane but you were sure he knew about it.
    It was from the night you almost took off the nuts of the guy who tried flirting with you. You had bought a round for everyone in the small cantina out of your own pocket, you were so excited about taking down the biggest quarry the two of you had seen to date. Several beings of different species all raised a glass of various liquors in your honor while Bane faced the bar not looking at you, the smallest smirk on his face below the rim of the hat you were wearing now. The smile you had on in this picture might be the biggest you’ve ever made. You set it down next to the one of you and Plo and compared the two, hardly believing you were the same person. You weren’t, but they were both you.
    You kicked your boots off and plopped down on the bed, arms crossed behind your head and the hat tilted over your eyes. This was it; this was living.
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ok ok ok ok ok i got a request idea
imagine, ok
lasko after hearing about what kody did ok
he seemed pretty mad pretty angry
what do u think would happen if he confronted kody?
CW: Kody. That pretty much sums it up. In other words, manipulation, gaslighting(?), general unpleasantness
If you asked everyone who knew Lasko to describe him in as many words as they liked, neither angry nor confrontational would be on a single one of those lists. Anger came about as naturally to him as flying. Rarely did he have occasion to get truly mad, but now? What he was feeling right now was the closest to furious he’d ever been. The feeling surged in him with renewed intensity each time he remembered the way the freelancer had looked, small and anxious and ashamed as they told him what the water elemental had done to them. It was the shame in the set of their shoulders and the way they refused to meet his eyes that broke his heart and boiled his blood, like they’d somehow convinced themself that this was on them. He wanted to reach out and wrap his arms around them, offer them all the reassurances he could muster, promise them he’d fix it for them, but that wasn’t his place. He wasn’t even sure they considered him a friend. He hoped they did, wanted to be that for them, but he couldn’t control how they saw him. What he could control, however, was what he did next. The proper thing would be to follow protocol. Talk to his supervisor, report it to the administration, then let them decide on the disciplinary action that would be meted out against the person that had done this. But Lasko wasn’t stupid. He knew the system. He knew what was going to happen-- absolutely nothing. The freelancer was human-born, new to the magical world, and that meant the administration wasn’t going to give two fucks about what happened to them, and this water elemental freak was most likely going to get off with just a minor slap on the wrist and a tiny mark on his record. It wasn’t fair. Lasko wasn’t the type to get angry on his own behalf. Most of the time he just ignored the flaws in the system, pretended he didn’t notice the occasional careless remarks during lectures or the teachers that either over- or underestimated his knowledge and abilities, pretended he had the same shot as anyone else at becoming a professor one day, and the constant need for perfection was his way of trying to live up to his own personal standards instead of trying to prove his worth. But this was different. This was them, and this was important. He couldn’t just ignore it this time. Following proper procedure would’ve been the right thing to do. But, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Lasko had a name. Kody. He didn’t have a last name, but he did know Kody’s magical race, and that was enough. If anyone found out he was using his access to the student database for his personal benefit he would surely be chewed out by his supervisors and most likely fired from being a counsellor, but as he typed Kody’s name and specialty into the appropriate fields and waited. The page loaded and Lasko clicked on the file titled Kody [redacted].
Twenty minutes later, Lasko was glaring across the quad at a dark-haired head bowed a the phone, trying to get up the nerve to approach him. This had seemed like a good idea back in the safety of his office, but following through was an entirely different story, not helped in any way by the fact that he hadn’t actually thought of what he was going to say. What was he going to do, just walk up to Kody and say, “Hey, you bridged with my friend without asking and that was kind of a dick move, so kindly go fuck yourself?” He winced at the thought of how that would play out. He couldn’t do this. This was such a bad idea. He stopped himself before he could turn tail and run, taking a breath and reminding himself of why he was here. The image of the Freelancer’s face flashed in his mind and that was enough to spur him into action, striding determinedly toward the water elemental perched on the picnic table a short distance away. When Lasko stopped in front of him, Kody glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. “Can I help you?” Lasko took a breath. His voice when he spoke came out shaky but sure. “W-what you did...it was wrong.” An abrupt start, but a start nonetheless. He paused, waiting for Kody to reply. Kody’s brows furrowed in momentary confusion before a look of realization spread across his face. He’d seen the freelancer with the man in front of him before, and he could guess what this was about. He shut off his phone, sliding it into his pocket and leaning back, resting an elbow on the table behind him. "‘What I did?’ Oh, is helping someone practise their magic against some academy rule that I wasn’t aware of?” There was the barest hint of a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as he stared coolly up at Lasko, who was trying his best to maintain eye contact. “You- you know what I’m t-talking about. You bridged with them and you knew they d-didn’t know what that meant. You don’t get to- to just pretend that’s okay.” Kody’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t matter. The fact that they didn’t know what it meant doesn’t change the fact that they experienced it. They felt it happen, without all the ideas about its “significance” clouding their judgement, and they were fine with it. If they didn’t have a problem with it, why should you?” “But they did have a problem with it! That’s why they reported it! If they were really “fine” with it, they wouldn’t have felt the need to, but they did.” Anger flared in Lasko’s chest. He knew this was wrong, and so did Kody, but he couldn’t find the words to explain why. "No. No. Don’t try that. We both know they only went crying foul to you because someone else told them they should. And here you are, putting the same idea in their head, like what I did was some crime, instead of the friendly gesture it was. Don’t pretend this is about them.” At Lasko’s bewildered look and lack of response, Kody kept going, talking faster, more forcefully with each word. “They’re the only one that will put up with your incessant babbling, so when I start getting close to them, you help shove this false narrative down their throat that I’m some kind of monster, all so you can keep them to yourself.” Lasko’s eyes widened and he started firing off rapid denials, but Kody continued on like he hadn’t said anything. “You’re manipulating them into turning against me, and they’re too weak-minded and pathetic to even realize it. They’d rather let themself be led along like a mindless sheep than form opinions of their own.” Finally, Lasko had had enough. “Stop it!” he shouted, cutting off Kody’s rant. “If anyone here is being manipulative, it’s you. And for the record? The freelancer is a far stronger, smarter, and better person than you will ever be.” With that he turned on his heel and stalked off, unable to stay there for a second longer. He only hoped that Kody couldn’t see how badly he was shaking as he walked away.
As Lasko rounded the corner of the building, he ran directly into someone else and stumbled backwards, apologies already spilling from his lips. When he looked up at the person, though, he was met with a familiar concerned face. “Lasko? Are you alright?” The freelancer put a hand on his arm to steady him, their eyes filled with worry. “You’re shaking. What happened?” He hesitated for just a moment before the story flooded out in one long breath. He didn’t give them an exact recounting, more of a long summary, but by the time he was finished their eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Before he could say anything else their arms were around him, their face buried in his shoulder. “Thank you, Lasko.” He hugged them tightly in return, his chin resting on their head. As nerve-wracking as the encounter had been, it was worth it. They were worth it. just realized I should probably have a taglist, so uh. tagging a few mutuals. lmk if you wanna be added or un-added!! @daviah @1small-frogs @planticusp @starstruck-strawberry @salad-bar-but-better @teddybasmanov @bug-likes-monsters 
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kissinginkitchens · 3 years
Text
You Bring Me Home—Chapter Ten: When it Rains
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a/n: hi besties!! This one is... tough I’m ngl to y’all. It is the second to the last chapter which is so wild to think about, but alas all good things must come to an end. Hopefully you don’t hate me too much by the end of it but feel free to vent in my inbox :))) much love, Mel <3
Pairing: Hawai’i!Harry x Original Character (Halani <3)
Warnings: swearing, some suggestive humor, ANGST (!!)
Word Count: 7.4 k
catch up on parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine
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“Is that my shirt?”
“No,”
Alani squints at the cartoon bee printed on Harry’s white t-shirt and crosses her arms in disbelief. 
“Yes it is! I’ve been looking for it everywhere,”
“Don’t worry, you can have it back soon,” he admits, crawling back into his bed with an apologetic kiss to her pouting lips. “Doesn’t smell like you anymore,”
“Thief,”
Harry scoffs and props himself up on an elbow. “Don’t act like my Spice World jumper isn’t hanging at the foot of your bed right now,”
“You left it there,” Alani defends. “I was merely being kind and looking after said hoodie because it was abandoned by its owner,”
“Oh yeah and you’ve fought real hard to reunite us,”
“Can we get back to the main issue at hand? Which is that I’m kinda pissed off that you look better in that shirt than I do.”
Harry chuckles to himself and presses an affectionate kiss to her temple. “You’re too kind.”
Alani rests her cheek against his chest and listens to the rain pattering harshly against the window, admiring the flashes of lightning that illuminate the dimly lit room. Harry had convinced her to stay the night, worried about her driving home alone in the storm, and he was met with very little resistance. Secretly, he thanks the rain gods for allowing him another night to hold her close. 
********
“H, you gotta tell her,” Jeff had warned the previous night. “I already pushed the flight back a week—”
“I know,” Harry huffed. “I just need a little more time.”
Jeff sighed, rubbing his tired eyes with the heels of his hands. “You have until this weekend when we go away with the girls. One week in Maui, and then it’s back home. I’m sorry.”
********
Harry’s stomach turns remembering the conversation, but he decides to push all the nagging thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the present. 
“You all packed?” he asks, trailing his fingers up and down her arm. 
Alani drapes her leg over his hip and nods. “Been packed since last week.”
She had been ecstatic the day after Mila and Chad’s wedding when Harry invited her to tag along on the couple’s trip with Jeff, Tom, and their significant others. His eagerness to include her in his friend group was not only reassuring, but exciting. It felt like their lives were coming together, even more so after she had introduced him to her parents. They, of course, had adored him and quickly given their seal of approval. While Alani knew that it was ultimately her choice, it still felt good to have support from the most important people in her life, and she hoped to win his friends over just as easily. Harry, on the other hand, had no doubts that she would fit right into his chosen family. Her name had been cautiously dropped during a weekly FaceTime call with his mother and sister, and he was overjoyed when they enthusiastically grilled him for details. 
What Harry was less sure of, however, was how Alani would react upon hearing that his vacation was up and that he would be headed back to L.A. in a week’s time. It was still early in their relationship and an indeterminate break seemed less than ideal. He had tried to convince both Jeff and the label that he could finish the album in Hawaii, but the same couldn’t be said for Jeff Bhasker, Mitch, Tom, and his new bassist, Adam, who all had families waiting for them back on the mainland. It was too risky personally and financially, so Harry reluctantly negotiated one last week to persuade Alani that a long-distance relationship wouldn’t be a death sentence. 
“What d’you wanna watch?” he asks, sitting up against the headboard to turn on the T.V. 
Alani sighs and settles deeper into his side. “When Harry Met Sally,”
“But it’s not Christmas or New Year’s,”
“So?”
“So,” Harry explains. “We have to wait ‘til the holidays, wouldn’t be right otherwise,”
Alani scoffs and peers up at him with a judgemental look. “So I guess Serendipity is also out of the question?”
“We’ll have all Christmas to get through that list, darlin’,”
Her stomach flips at his suggestion of their future holiday plans. Privately, she had wondered about such things, as well, including what gifts she might get him or where they would spend the holidays. Though still months away, it suddenly felt within reach. 
“Fine,” Alani softens. “The Notebook,”
“And let you drool over what’s-his-face?” Harry pokes. “No fuckin’ way,”
Alani pinches his side and sits up. “Would you stop being insecure about that? I’ve already told you I was just kidding that time,”
“Yeah well, it still stings,”
“Why don’t you tell me your celebrity crush? You know, so I can be totally fine about it because it doesn’t mean anything,”
Harry shrugs, the corners of his lips turning into a playful smirk. “Don’t have one,”
“Liar,”
“M’serious,”
“Why, because you’ve already dated them?”
“Hey,” Harry pouts. “That was a bit snippy,”
Alani’s muscles tighten. She hadn’t realized that his dating history was a sore spot, but she takes a deep breath and plants a sweet kiss to his jaw as an offering of peace. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,”
“S’alright. Truce?”
“Deal,”
“Jennifer Aniston,”
“Huh?”
“My celebrity crush,” Harry explains shyly. “When I was younger,”
Alani giggles lightly. “I see. Good taste, she’s hot,”
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna leave me for her too,”
“I just might,”
“Can’t say that I blame you,”
“Look I know this is a cute little bit we do,” Alani sits up, her gaze dead-set on Harry’s to communicate the seriousness behind her words. “But I just want you to know that I feel so lucky to be with you. I’m not going anywhere any time soon,”
Harry swallows harshly. It was everything he’d ever wanted to hear and it kills him that he can’t return the sentiment with full honesty. A little less than a week is all he has to prove that even though he physically has to go, his heart will remain wherever Alani is. “Me either,”
Another round of thunder booms outside and the lights fizzle out, leaving the room completely dark save for the intermittent flashes of lightning that gently illuminate the room. 
“So much for watching a movie, huh?” Alani sighs. 
“I think I know some other ways we can keep ourselves entertained.”
********
Harry sets a steaming cup of tea down onto the table in front of Alani and she looks up from her tube of nail polish curiously. Harry flashes a dimpled grin in her direction and whistles a familiar tune, one that she had heard in the studio when he was busy doing his Bob Dylan impression. 
“What’re you singing?”
“Hm?”
“The song,” she clarifies. “You were singing it the other day, what is it?”
Harry serves her plate of hash browns and shrugs. “Dunno, just a little tune ‘ve been workin’ on,”
“It’s nice,”
“Thanks, sweets,” he offers, setting her food down and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. 
“Hey Alani,” Jeff interrupts, stepping into the kitchen with his cellphone pressed to his shoulder.
“Glenne wants to know if you’re okay with her setting up a spa thing for you guys,”
"Yeah, definitely,” Alani perks up. 
“Cool, thanks.”
“Look at you,” Harry teases, taking a bite of his toast coated in strawberry jam. “Minglin’ with the girls,”
“They’re not even here yet,” 
He scans over her appearance and his brows furrow, hit with the sudden realization that she’s dressed in formal attire. 
“What’s with the fancy outfit”
“I have a meeting, remember?”
“With?”
Alani blows on her freshly painted nails and holds up her other hand for Harry to do the same. 
“My senior advisor. We’re going over my research project,”
Harry’s brows raise. “Smarty-pants,”
Alani had scheduled her meeting with Dr. Hudson months ago and had, truthfully, forgotten all about it until she had received a courtesy email the day prior. She had been working on her proposal in the spare minutes she had away from Harry, which were few and far between, but she knew the initial meeting would be much more casual. Alani checks the time on her phone and stands quickly when she realizes that she is supposed to meet Dr. Hudson in  less than thirty-minutes. 
“Gotta go,” she offers, shoveling potatoes into her mouth and grabbing her bag. 
Harry ceases blowing on her nails and kisses the back of her hand before sticking out his lips for a kiss of his own. “Good luck, darlin’. Meet me at the studio after?”
“Sure thing, sunshine. See you later.”
********
“How did the Joni Mitchell piece go? You never told me,” Dr. Hudson questions, taking a sip of her coffee. 
Alani offers a shy smile and toys with the hem of her skirt. “A flop,”
“Just one more closer to the winner,”
“Yeah,” Alani sighs, stirring her smoothie. “Maybe it’s time to move on from that,”
The professor shoots her a disapproving look and sets her drink down. “Alani—”
“I just think maybe there’s more realistic—”
“You are not giving up,” Dr. Hudson reassures her. “You’ve come too far and you’re a terrific writer. One of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of teaching. These things take time,”
Alani nods gently, her lips pursed in a tight smile. “Thank you, that really means a lot,”
“What are you working on right now?”
Absolutely nothing, Alani thinks, but then she remembers the half-written article about Harry sitting in her files. 
“A short piece about… a local musician,”
Dr. Hudson’s brows raise, intrigued, and she nods. “That sounds interesting. Definitely more personal,”
You have no idea. “Thanks. I mean, it’s not really anything—”
“I’d love to read it when you’re finished,” the professor continues. “What’s the scope?”
Alani thinks, trying not to give too much incriminating detail about her subject or their relationship. 
“Well,” she starts, hesitant. “He’s writing new music and working on his first album. I guess I kind of want to follow his journey and redefinition of success in the music industry,”
Dr. Hudson hums. “I love it. Send me a draft.”
Alani swallows and takes a minute to consider the offer. Surely there couldn’t be anything wrong about sharing her work privately with her advisor. She had been so excited about the potential of the article when it was first started, but it had since been neglected like so many of her other rejected pieces. Starting again seemed exciting, and she knew that Harry would be pleased to play such an important role in making her dreams come true. That had, after all, been the initial terms of their agreement. 
“Okay,” Alani accepts. “I will.”
********
Harry draws out the last note and Mitch lets the chord ring between them for a moment. 
“I think that’s the one,”
“Yeah, I liked that progression better,”
“Hope you got that, Bhasker,” Mitch calls to Jeff in the sound booth, who gives a thumbs up in response. 
Harry continues humming, his head still bobbing to the tune, when he hears the studio door creak unpleasantly. His eyes shoot up to find Alani wincing and timidly stepping into the room. 
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,”
He softens and beckons her over. “Never an interruption, sweets,”
Alani slots herself between his legs and wraps her arms around his neck, giving a gentle peck to the tip of his nose before pressing their lips together.
“How’s the weather?”
“Just got a lot sunnier,”
“Meeting go well?”
She nods and twists a lock of his chestnut hair between her fingers. “Yeah, actually,”
“Then we should celebrate!” Harry perks up, peppering a kiss to her cheek. “Dinner, wine, movie, the whole shebang,”
Alani frowns, thinking back to the article she promised Dr. Hudson. “Hmmm, raincheck?”
Her boyfriend deflates. “You’re ditching me?”
“Just for one night,” she explains, pulling him closer. “I wanna finish up some school stuff before our trip. Otherwise I won’t be able to give you my full attention,”
Harry pouts, but he nods understandingly. “‘Kay,”
“I’m sorry, sunshine. I’ll miss you tons,”
“Ditto, sweets,”
Alani presses her forehead against his and her fingertips wander through the growing curls at the nape of his neck. “Please don’t be upset,”
Harry smiles warmly and smoothes his hands up and down her back. “Never, m’love. Could never be upset with you,”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he nods, planting a sweet kiss to her lips. “Hey, I wanna play you somethin’,” 
Alani grins and pulls back a bit to read his expression. “Let’s hear it,”
Harry grabs the guitar next to him and slings it over his shoulder before adjusting the capo. The song starts sweet and gentle, his voice light to match the tune. 
And oh we started 
Two hearts in one home 
It’s hard when we argue 
We’re both stubborn I know, but oh
Sweet creature, sweet creature
Wherever I go, you bring me home 
Sweet creature, sweet creature
When I run out of road, you bring me home 
Alani watches in awe as he pours so much emotion behind every word, his vocals effortlessly powerful and rich. She claps when the song finishes and leans in for a kiss. 
“I love it,”
“S’not finished yet,” Harry shrugs, still fiddling with the strings. “Just the chorus right now,”
“Will you teach it to me?”
His brows raise in surprise. “You play?”
“No,” Alani admits. “But I have a feeling you’re a good teacher,”
“Well, let’s see what you got,”
Alani turns and Harry props the guitar in her lap, his arms wrapping around her as he guides her into the right position. His left hand demonstrates the beginning chord and she replaces his fingers on the fretboard to try for herself. She strums and the beginning note resonates in near-perfect pitch. 
“Hey,” Harry beams. “You’re a regular Hendrix,”
He continues positioning her fingers over the right spaces and letting her strum, humming the lyrics softly into the shell of her ear. 
“We don’t argue that much,” Alani defends playfully. 
Harry chuckles and kisses her temple. “Maybe not, but we’re really good at makin’ up.”
“Easy, Styles.”
********
Harry: Hungry?
Alani peels her eyes away from the computer screen and reads the message lighting up her phone. 
Alani: Not really
Harry: …
Harry: oh 
She laughs and pads over to the window. Sure enough, Harry holds up two bags and flashes a cheesy grin down below. 
“Need a study break?”
“I’ll meet you at the door.”
Harry makes himself comfortable in the middle of her bed and unpacks the bags. 
“I’ve got a California and a spicy tuna for my favorite girl,” he announces. “With a side of eel sauce,”
“And the world's best boyfriend goes to Mr. Harry Styles,” Alani grins, taking a seat next to him. 
He smirks and pulls out his own order of miso soup and sushi. “How’s the homework comin’ along?”
“Not too shabby,”
“Glad to hear it,”
“Hey, what time do I meet you at the airport tomorrow?” she asks, dipping her roll in the sauce. 
Harry freezes and turns to her with confusion written all over his face. “I’m sorry, did my girlfriend just insinuate that we’re not leaving for the airport together?”
“I really need to finish this,” Alani explains. “It’s almost there,” 
“Two nights?” he complains. 
Alani nudges him with her shoulder and shakes her head. “We’re gonna be spending an entire week together, non-stop. You’re gonna get sick of me,”
“Never,” Harry rebuts. “Not possible,”
“Just one more night,” Alani bargains. “Then I’m all yours, no interruptions.”
He nods and takes a sip of his soup. “Alright, deal.”
You have to tell her, Jeff’s voice rings in his mind. 
********
The airline stewardess ushers Harry and Alani to their seats while Scott and Miles settle down a few rows behind. She didn’t know exactly what to expect from first-class, but suddenly the perks of having a famous boyfriend increased tenfold by the sight of their luxurious accommodations.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Alani asks while Harry hovers over his chair. 
“Sitting, or I was about to,”
“And you’re not even gonna offer rock-paper-scissors for the window seat?”
Harry shakes his head with an amused chuckle. “No because I already know that you’re gonna get up to pee every five minutes,”
“Not true,”
“It is too true and it’s exactly why we can’t cuddle while we fall asleep,”
“Or maybe the reason is because I’m claustrophobic and I just don’t wanna hurt your feelings,”
Harry frowns. “Really?”
“No,” Alani admits, taking the aisle seat. “I just said that so you’d give me the window,”
“Get up, we’re switching,”
“Thank you, sunshine! You’re the best,”
Harry slumps into his new chair and crosses his arms. “Forty-five minutes and we’re already fighting like an old married couple,”
“Oh really?” Alani smirks. “Is that what old married couples argue about? Who gets the window seat?”
“And leaving the toilet seat up, going antique shopping—” 
“—What old married couples have you been hanging out with—?”
“—Picking up the kids from school,”
Alani presses a kiss to his shoulder and rests her head in the crook of his neck. Her eyelids are still heavy from staying up the night before, but her article was completely finished and sent off to Dr. Hudson just like she’d promised. Now, she could enjoy her vacation free of any worry or obligation, completely focused on the perfect boy still rambling next to her. 
“But, obviously I mean that doesn’t count, right?” Harry asks, craning his neck and smiling softly when he sees that his girlfriend has already dozed off. He kisses the top of her head gently and lets his own eyes flutter close with a deep, contented breath. 
********
“And then I’ll have to repaint it, but I haven’t decided on a color yet,” Glenne explains to Alani as they stroll through the airport. 
Alani hums. “It was your grandmother’s?” 
“Well, it was somebody’s grandmother’s. We picked it up at this little antique shop in Santa Monica.”
Jeff escorts Glenne into the shuttle car while Harry and Alani share a knowing look and stifle their laughter. They shuffle into the back seats as Tom and his wife, Jenny, claim the middle row. 
“So you’re a journalist?” Jenny asks, turning in her seat eagerly to face Alani. 
“Not quite,” she explains with a polite smile. “Still a student, but hopefully someday,”
Jenny nods and twirls the ring around her finger. “Sounds exciting. Maybe you can hitch a ride on tour with this one and do some writing there.”
“Yeah,” Alani smiles, settling further into Harry’s side. “Maybe.”
The idea of traveling the world with Harry and being a part of the excitement of touring the album was something she had considered briefly, but hadn’t allowed herself to fully indulge until this moment. It was already thrilling to see him polish the songs he had begun during his trip, but she could only imagine how much more special it would be to see him perform them for the rest of the world. A twinge of jealousy sparks at the thought of having to share any part of him with the public, but Alani knows that his gifts are much too special to keep all for herself. Harry was golden and he deserved to shine in all of his radiant glory. That was exactly what she had penned in her article, and she said it not because he was her boyfriend and there were clear personal investments, but because she knew it was true even before he had shown any romantic interest in her. 
“What’s tour like?” Alani pipes up as Harry watches the landscape out his window. 
He considers it for a moment and clears his throat. “Fun, mostly. Can be tiring,”
“Lots of partying and adoring fans?”
“No,” he chuckles to himself. “Not so much the partying. Enthusiastic fans, sure,”
Alani narrows her eyes. “No partying?”
“Nope,” Harry reiterates. “Don’t really like to do all that stuff when I’m working. Also just didn’t wanna…”
He trails off and Alani waits a beat to see if he’ll continue. “Didn’t wanna?”
“Fuck it up,” he finishes. “You know, like, be the one who ruined a good thing for a little bit of fun.”
She lets his words settle in, rubbing a reassuring circle on the back of his hand. “Makes sense. Sounds really responsible of you to do that.”
Harry presses a soft kiss to her temple and resumes his study of the scenery. They chat amongst their friends for the remainder of the drive and Alani immediately presses Glenne and Jenny for information about her boyfriend in his younger years. They indulge her inquiries and ask their own questions, deciding privately after a few minutes that her and Harry are a good fit. 
When the group arrives at the resort, Glenne takes charge and instructs them all to meet at the lobby for lunch in twenty minutes. They collect their keys and head up to their respective rooms, which are all located on the very top floor. 
“What a view,” Alani muses as she takes in the sight from their private balcony. 
Harry admires the wonder on her face and nods, his eyes not leaving her side profile. “You’re tellin’ me,”
“Let’s never go home,” she poses, arms snaking around his torso. “Let’s stay here forever, just me and you,”
His throat tightens as he thinks back to the inevitable conversation waiting for them. Harry didn’t know why it was so hard to think about leaving because he had every intention of keeping touch and making their relationship work at all costs. But there was a part of him, a very tiny recess in the back of his mind, that feared the possibility of Alani not feeling the same. 
“Yeah,” he agrees with a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose. “Whatever you want, sweets,”
Alani senses a shift in his demeanor, but she can’t read it. “You okay?”
“Never better,” Harry swallows, mustering up a small smile. “But I am hungry,”
She isn’t entirely convinced that there isn’t something bothering him, but she decides not to push it and tightens her grip around his waist, instead. 
“Race you to the lobby.”
“You’re on.”
********
“You’ve never seen Finding Nemo?”
“Was I s’posed to?”
“My god,” Alani marvels. “You know, I’m starting to believe those rumors that you were grown in a lab,”
Harry’s brow raises and he blinks. “That I was what?”
The restaurant that Glenne and Jeff chose features an aquarium tunnel at the entrance, much to both Harry and Alani’s excitement. Fish, large and small, swim around them and the pair take turns pointing out their favorite colorful species. The Hull’s snap photos for their four year-old daughter, but Jenny also secretly captures one of Harry and Alani with their hands clasped under the mesmerizing blue lighting as a keepsake for her friend. 
“Add Finding Nemo to our movie list,” Alani says, admiring a clownfish that swims close to the glass. 
“S’it  gonna make me cry?”
“Probably,”
“Goddamnit,” 
Alani giggles softly and turns her head away from the glass to silently observe Harry under the lighting of the rippling water. The combination of his serene features and the sound of Billie Holiday’s I’ll Be Seeing You over the sound system creates a perfect image in her mind, one that makes her afraid to blink, lest it be gone forever. Harry glances over at her through the corner of his eye and his lips curl. 
“Checkin’ me out?”
“Always,”
“Like whatcha see?”
“Love it.”
His heart nearly stops at her words, but before he has a chance to process their implication, the hostess calls on their group. 
“And I’ll have the piña colada,” Harry orders once they're seated. 
“Oh my god, H,” Glenne laughs from across the table. “That reminds me, remember your birthday last year when James got trashed and hoarded the karaoke machine for, like, two hours?”
“Ruined that song forever,” Jeff quips, reliving the memory of the Late-Late host drunkenly serenading the entire party with the same song on repeat. 
Harry cringes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I try not to,”
Alani watches as they reminisce on the event, adding their own details and pieces to the puzzle. It’s amusing to watch, but a small part of her also has to fight the pang of exclusion settling into the pit of her stomach. She feels guilty for being affected by it knowing, logically, that it isn’t intentional or malicious in any way. Still, Alani is painfully reminded of the vast differences between their worlds. Harry had gotten to know practically every part of her life, including her family, but there was still so much that she didn’t know about his. It was something she worked hard not to dwell on, given the novelty of their relationship, but she also worried that fear and insecurity would prevent her from investing what little of her heart Harry hadn’t claimed yet. 
“Who was it that started dancing on a table and almost broke a chandelier?” Tom asks, wracking his brain. 
“I think it was Ken—” Jeff hesitates, clearing his throat. “Actually, I don’t remember,”
Harry shifts in his seat beside Alani and reads over the menu, quickly changing the subject. “What’re you gonna get?”
“I don’t know,” Alani admits. “Everything looks so good,”
“Oh look,” Jenny pipes up across from Harry. “They’ve got your fav, the mango sorbet. I wonder if it’s as good as the one in Italy,”
Harry beams and reads over the item. “Oh yeah, that was amazin’,” 
Alani files the detail to the back of her mind. She hadn’t known mango was his favorite flavor of anything, and while it was a trivial detail, she realized that there were so still many little details about him that she wanted to know. Harry had made such an effort to remember everything about her, like her go-to sushi order and the fact that she always saved the kiwis for last in her fruit salad, so it made her feel a touch guilty that she hadn’t made the same effort. 
“Wanna share the coconut shrimp?” Alani asks with a gentle nudge to his shoulder. 
“Oh, uh—”
“He’s allergic,” Glenne says offhandedly, not cold or condescending, but more in the same way that an older sister would. 
“Oh my god,” Alani’s eyes widen. “I’m so sorry,”
Harry laughs lightly and shrugs. “S’okay, I’d let you poison me,”
“I didn’t mean to be rude,” Glenne apologizes, reaching her hand out to Alani. “I thought you knew.”
Alani accepts the hand and waves away her concern. “No, don’t worry about it. I didn’t know, actually.”
“We can stop talking about my defects now,” Harry teases. “‘M not dyin’,”
He leans in closer to Alani and presses a kiss to her temple. “But if I was, it’d be an honor to have my last meal with you.”
She responds with a soft smile before returning her attention back to the menu. His sentiments, however sweet, unfortunately did very little to soothe the embarrassment of her mini faux pas. It was irrational, Alani knew this, but it made her wonder what else she didn’t know and what bigger secrets he was potentially keeping. Whose name had Jeff meant to say earlier to identify the mystery dancer at Harry’s party, and why had it created an awkward shift in the air? She decides not to let the spiraling questions spoil her fun and takes a generous sip of her cocktail to avoid them for the time being. 
********
Harry sets the room key on the nightstand next to their king sized bed and lets himself sink down into the soft mattress. The group had spent the entire day sightseeing, from botanical gardens to scenic beaches, but he was really itching for some quality time alone with Alani. Lately, their time together had been cut frustratingly short by work, school, and life in general. Even when they were seated right next to each other with arms linked or fingers interlocked, she felt far away and he didn’t know why. He hoped that this trip would allow them time to reconnect and solidify their relationship before he had to return to California. 
“Mini bar,” Alani comments, kicking her shoes off and wandering over to the small refrigerator in their suite. “Who’s paying again?”
“The label,”
“Thank you Columbia Records,”
She swipes a few bottles of tequila before climbing into the bed next to Harry. 
“Wanna play a game?”
Harry props himself up on his elbow and nods. “What kinda game?”
“Never have I ever,” Alani explains. “But instead of putting your finger down, you take a shot,”
“Sounds dangerous,”
“It’ll be fun. You can go first if you want,”
He hums and nods in agreement before sitting up to face her. “‘Kay. Never have I ever...named my car after a musician,”
“Cheap shot,” Alani narrows her eyes, taking a sip from the bottle of Jose Cuervo. 
“Your turn,”
She fiddles with the bottle cap, a question already in mind, though she isn’t sure if she should ask it. 
“Never have I ever… dated a model,”
Harry’s brow furrows, but he opens his own bottle slowly and takes a sip. “So it’s that kind of never have I ever,”
“Just trying to keep it interesting,” Alani shrugs innocently. 
“Right. Never have I ever slept with a guy named David,”
Her eyes widen, but she laughs half-heartedly and takes a sip. “Jeez, okay. Never have I ever—”
“Wait, so you two actually…” Harry interrupts, trailing off at the end. 
“I mean,” Alani starts, her eyes wandering to the ceiling. “Yeah, a long time ago,”
“How long ago?”
“Okay, maybe this was a mistake—”
Harry shakes his head. “No, I’m sorry. I’ll play nice,”
“Alright,” Alani accepts. She knows that she should probably steer the game back onto safer territory, but the wound has been re-opened and she can’t resist the urge to keep picking at it. “Never have I ever slept with a fan,”
Harry takes a slow sip. “Never have I ever cheated on my partner,”
The bottle stays put in Alani’s hand. “Never had I ever gone on a vacation with my partner before this trip,”
The tequila washes over his tongue bitterly like the faint memories that it symbolizes. “Never have I ever dated someone just for the publicity,”
The bottle in Alani’s hand doesn’t move, much to Harry’s relief, but her mind is not as tranquil. 
“Never have I ever told someone I loved them when I didn’t,” she says slowly.  
Harry takes another shot and it burns all the way down. “Why are we doin’ this?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t wanna play anymore,”
“Alani,” he starts, springing to his feet when she leaves the bed. “Hey, look at me, please,”
She blinks back the tears that threaten to spill over her lower lashes before turning to him. “I’m sorry, that was a stupid game,”
“S’just all out of context,” Harry offers, reaching for her hands. “Wasn’t the right way to have all of those conversations,”
Alani takes a deep breath and nods. “Yeah, you’re right,”
“What’s really botherin’ you, hm sweets?” He coos, bringing her cold knuckles to his warm lips. “Tell me, please?”
She releases a shaky breath and tries to sift through the fog in her brain for the right answer.
 “I don’t know, really, I just,” Alani hesitates. “Am I a bad girlfriend?”
“No,” Harry says quickly, his hands lifting to cup her face. “God no, you’re the best,”
“Then why didn’t I know that your favorite ice cream flavor was mango? And why didn’t I know that you were allergic to coconut, and why—”
“Hang on, is that what this is all about?” he questions. “Cause I’ll go eat an entire coconut right now,”
Alani laughs lightly and pinches her eyes shut. “No, it’s not about that. I just feel like you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met and you make me feel so fucking special and, God, I just wanna be good enough for you because—”
Harry holds his breath and watches as her eyes gloss over. 
“Because I love you,” she finishes, voice small. “More than I ever thought possible,”
His own eyes sting, but he doesn’t fight the tears that fall as he presses his lips to hers firmly. 
“I love you, too,” Harry murmurs. “I love you so fuckin’ much it drives me crazy,”
Alani chuckles softly. “Ditto,”
“I’ve been wanting to say it for ages, can’t believe you beat me to it.”
“Guess you’re not the only one full of surprises.”
********
The early morning sunlight creeps gently into Harry and Alani’s room, casting a soft, golden glow onto the bare skin that peeks through the white duvet. Harry stirs first, a strand of Alani’s hair tickling his nose and making him smile. He prys his heavy eyelids open and winces at the dull aching of his head aggravated by the light. Alani hears his muffled groan and sighs, willing the sun to go back down and let her sleep a few more hours. 
“Mornin’ sweets,” he rasps with a warm kiss to her bare shoulder. 
She peels her own tired eyes open and flashes a sleepy grin. “Good morning, sunshine,”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Super. You?”
Harry props himself up on his elbow and rests his chin in his palm as he admires the traces of sleep still on her face.
“Just swell.”
Alani chuckles lightly and reaches a hand up to comb through his unruly bedhead. His skin is warm to the touch, and the light from the window casts a heavenly glow around his visage. She pokes her finger into his dimple, which elicits a soft laugh and makes his smile grow wider. They stay intertwined under the sheets as the sun fully rises and soak up their own details to keep as souvenirs from this moment. Alani takes in the scent of vanilla and the juxtaposition of Harry’s inked bicep against the plain, white sheets. He stores away the image of her sleepy, mocha eyes and the pink, manicured fingernails that trail up and down his arm. Neither of them are sure exactly how long they remain in this moment, for all they know it could be hours or days. But whatever the duration, it doesn’t seem to be enough. I need more time, Harry had told Jeff, but there was no more left to give. He had to tell her, and it was now or never. 
“Hey,” he begins carefully. “I need to tell you something,”
Alani sits up to be eye level with him and nods. “Anything,”
Harry waits a beat, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and pressing his lips to her bare shoulder before letting the confession spill out. 
“I have to go back to L.A.,”
 “I kinda figured,”
He draws in a deep sigh of relief. “You did?”
“Yeah,” Alani shrugs. “Hilo isn’t exactly Hollywood,”
“I asked for more time, but the label—”
“No, I get it. So… when? Next month?”
“Friday,”
Alani’s brows furrow. “This Friday?”
“Yeah,” Harry admits with a gulp. 
“The last day of our trip?”
“Yes,”
Her heart drops into her stomach and she feels sick. It all made sense now why Harry’s mood had shifted when she jokingly asked him not to leave, and why he had been so insistent on spending as much time together as possible this week. Their game of never have I ever turned instantly defensive when asked about his dating history. Never had I ever gone on vacation with my partner before this trip. Never have I ever told someone I loved them when I didn’t. He had whisked her away on a farewell trip and God knows who else had been in her place before, or worse, who would be in it next. Harry was saying good-bye. 
“Wait,” Alani says finally, mind still racing too fast to process. “How long have you known?”
“Alani—”
“How long?”
Harry swallows. “Couple of weeks,”
“You knew for weeks and you didn’t tell me?” she questions incredulously.
“I tried—”
“You know that I hate surprises, you know how I feel about plans—”
“I’m sorry,” Harry insists, sitting up straighter. “I wanted to tell you so many times, but it just never felt right,”
Alani rolls her eyes. “So what, you were just gonna leave a fucking sticky note on my pillow and hope for the best?”
“Don’t say that—”
“Is that why you brought me here?” she asks, voice hoarse. “Is that why you gave me this necklace? A souvenir of our little summer fling so you could leave with a clear conscience?”
Harry’s jaw tightens. “How could you even think that?”
“Because maybe it’s true. Why else would you wait until the very last minute to tell me about this?”
“Maybe we should take a minute,” he suggests, the whites of his eyes now bloodshot. “Before we say something we’ll regret,”
“I think I already did.” Alani admits. Never have I ever told someone I loved them when I didn’t. 
Harry’s head pounds and he feels like he’s drowning, treading water in every direction only to be dragged further into the current. He quickly pulls on his clothes from the night before and tries to steady his breathing. 
“M’gonna go wait in the hall,” he offers. “Give you some space to think and then we’ll talk, yeah?”
Alani doesn’t respond or even meet his pleading eyes. She simply tightens the duvet around her body and turns her head to the window, letting a single, bitter tear roll down her cheek. The door closes softly and she is immediately filled with regret and guilt. Had she truly meant all of the things she said? Or was it fear and the instinct to flee taking over her mouth? Alani wanted to believe that she was wrong and that Harry hadn’t intentionally kept her in the dark, but from where she stood, the sun had long disappeared behind the clouds and all that was left was the storm. 
Harry trudges down the hallway and the walls spin, closing in on him slowly. If he had just told Alani sooner, everything would be different. He had avoided doing so for this exact reason and out of fear that their relationship wouldn’t be worth the risk in her mind. It was selfish—he was selfish—to try to make the decision for her, and now the woman he loved was getting ready to walk away because he had broken her trust. What else was there to do? His back meets the wall and he sinks to the floor. 
“Hey H,” Jeff clears his throat from above. “We should talk,”
“She knows. Didn’t go well,”
“So she did approve the article?” 
Harry lifts his head and his brows furrow. “What?”
There’s a harsh knock at the door and Alani jumps. In Harry’s absence, she had managed to cool off and sift through her frantic thoughts. She had been wrong to think that he used her, all it took was a quick stroll down memory lane to prove otherwise. He had never given her any true reason not to trust him, so there had to be some other reason why he hadn’t told her about his plans to leave so soon. Alani pads over to the door and unlocks it gently. 
“Harry, I’m sor—”
“Wanna talk about surprises?” he seethes. “What the fuck is this?”
She squints at the phone screen that he holds up to her face and the title of her unpublished article stares back at her. 
“I don’t know—”
“Well it has your goddamn name on it,” Harry shoots back. 
Alani steps aside and lets him into the room before she closes the door behind her. “I can explain—”
“Did you write it or not?”
“Yes, but—”
He shuts the phone off and slams it face down onto the night stand. “How fucking dare you call me a liar and then pull this shit behind my back,”
“I didn’t lie,” Alani defends, voice weak. “I had no idea it was going to be published, please just listen—”
“A class project,” he interrupts with his back still turned. “That’s what you said,”
“It was never meant to be released,”
“How do I know that? How do I know you’re not just trying to cover your ass?”
“Please,” Alani begs as her vision begins to blur. “I was wrong, I shouldn’t have said all those things,”
Harry runs a hand through his hair and casts his eyes to the ceiling in an attempt to quell the emotion that pools behind his eyes. 
“So why did you?”
“I was scared,”
“Of?”
Alani takes a deep breath. “Of losing you for good. Of falling in l—”
“Don’t,” he interrupts. “Don’t finish that sentence,”
“I don’t know how,” she tries again. “And I don’t know who released it, but I swear—”
“You really expect me to trust a word you say after you accused me of lying about this whole thing, about us?”
Harry’s  gaze lowers back to hers and the bright, green eyes that she has come to love are replaced with a blood-shot, stormy sea that makes her stomach drop. The words get caught in her throat. 
“I fucked up,” he continues. “I know that I should’ve told you. But I’m having a hard time believing that this wasn’t planned, that this random website would just accidentally publish your work without your consent,”
Alani can’t explain it either, she truly had no idea how her writing had ended up in the wrong hands. There was only one other person she had entrusted it with, but surely Dr. Hudson hadn’t betrayed her, had she? Alani didn’t know who to believe anymore. 
“Harry, I’m so sorry,” she tries. “I didn’t mean what I said, and I know I can’t take it back, but you have to at least believe that I never wanted to hurt you,”
Harry is silent for a moment, and Alani decides that it’s her turn to tell the truth. There was nothing left to lose. 
“At first, I did want to publish it,” she explains. “But I changed my mind and I scrapped the whole thing. In the end, the only person I intended to show it to was you,”
“So how did it get onto the internet for the whole fucking world to see?” he presses. 
Alani sighs. “My advisor wanted to know what I was working on, so I sent it to her, but she never had my permission to publish it. Now I realize how stupid it sounds, but it’s the truth,”
“If you had come to me, I would have given you permission,”
“I’m so sorry,”
Harry’s shoulders tense. Every fiber of his being  wants to believe her, but how could he? She had told him herself that things would be messy and warned him that he didn’t know what he was asking by pursuing a relationship with her. Maybe it really was all his fault for not seeing the signs, but that still didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t trust her anymore. And based on her reaction to the news of his departure, it seemed as though Alani didn’t trust him either. 
“Even if you’re telling the truth,” Harry begins, slow and deliberate. “You still thought, after everything, that I would abandon you. And if that’s the kind of person you think I am, if that’s the person you wrote about—”
“Harry—”
“Then I hope you got all the material you wanted.”
“Please, don’t go.” Alani cries but it’s too late. The door slams and her heart falls. 
After a beat, she races to the door and into the hallway but there’s no sign of Harry. As quickly as he had appeared into her life, he had vanished. Gone without a trace.
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seijorhi · 4 years
Note
Lev pretending to be innocent in front of the reader but is actually her stalker with those cat eyes. He asks help from her and they gradually get closer until he gets her all alone in her apartment under his care
Absolutely! Lev is prime stalker material 👀 poor reader
Lev Haiba x Reader
TW stalking, manipulation
Harmless
“Don’t you think he’s just a little… I don’t know, creepy?” your best friend murmurs in a pointed tone, stirring the sugar into her coffee. 
You bite back a sigh - it’s a conversation you’ve had countless times before and it always ends the same way. You defend Lev, chastise your friend for her paranoia and distrustful nature and eventually she relents with an unconvincing ‘if you say so’. 
“He’s harmless, honestly - Lev wouldn’t hurt a fly and he’s actually very sweet once you get to know him. I don’t know why you’re so against him. He’s a good friend.”
She huffs, taking a slow sip of her drink before she replies. “Well for one, he’s like an overgrown shadow. I swear, every time we’re out together we always seem to just magically run into him, all big and looming, and he’s always staring at you like he wants to gobble you up - just you by the way, he outright ignores the rest of us peasants - it’s like he’s obsessed with you or something, and-”
She keeps talking, but honestly you kind of zone out a little bit. You can’t judge her too harshly. She’s always been protective of you, ever since you guys were kids, you suppose it’s only natural for her to be wary of Lev.
And she’s not wrong per se. You do have the strangest habit of running into Lev around town, but it’s how you met, after all - quite literally running into the 6’5” giant as you were exiting the exact same coffee shop you were currently sitting in.
Spilling your piping hot coffee all over somebody else’s sweater doesn’t usually have the makings of a burgeoning friendship but Lev had been so sweet about the whole thing, blushing and bowing, shooting apology after apology (despite the fact that it was mostly your fault) that you couldn’t help but offer to buy his drink in compensation for ruining his morning - and more importantly his clothes.
Lev, grinning brightly, had agreed with a single condition - that you joined him. And really, after pouring hot coffee all over him, it was the least you could do.
“Hey, are you even paying attention to me?!”
You jerk a little, shaking yourself out of your reverie to find your friend glaring at you. It lacks any real heat though, and she just rolls her eyes and gives a long suffering sigh. “I’m worried about you, Y/N. Didn’t you say that some of your stuff has been going missing lately?”
An old picture of you and some friends on vacation, a necklace you used to wear religiously and you could swear that you’re missing one of your favourite bras and some panties, but… sometimes stuff like that just gets misplaced - it’s not like you’re exactly the tidiest person around. 
Still, you can’t help the way that your brows furrow at her implication, “I said I misplaced some things. Are you honestly suggesting that Lev broke into my apartment to steal that stuff?” you ask with a snicker. The very idea of the silver haired giant sneaking around your tiny apartment is ridiculous!
Your friend’s pointed silence speaks volumes. 
“Oh, come on! He’s just a friend - a little excitable maybe,” and very affectionate, always swallowing you up in tight hugs, fingers constantly seeking out yours - but somehow you don’t think that part will help your case, “but he’s just a big softie.”
She scoffs, folding her arms over her chest. She doesn’t speak for a long moment, but when she does, she reaches across the table to grab your hand in hers, squeezing it lightly. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m being a jealous, judgemental bitch because I don’t like the idea of anyone else coming to steal you away from me,” she smiles self deprecatingly, but there’s an real edge of worry in her eyes that makes your stomach twist, “but you’re the most important thing to me. I don’t want you getting hurt, and I get bad vibes from that guy.” 
You open your mouth to retort, but she just shakes her head, “Just… just promise me you’ll be careful around him, alright?”
Wordlessly, you nod.
As much as you try and dismiss her concerns, as days pass you begin to wonder if maybe she isn’t wrong.
Not about Lev of course - he might be a little over exuberant but you know he doesn’t mean any harm by it - but you think, well… you’re starting to think that maybe somebody’s following you.
At first it’s just the tickling sensation on the back of your neck. When you run to the corner store on your lunch break to pick up a snack for the afternoon a shiver runs down your spine as you get the strangest feeling that somebody’s staring at you - you can feel the weight of their gaze burning into your back, but whenever you turn there’s nobody there.
There’s never anybody there.
But… didn’t you shut the door to your closet before you left for work that morning? You could have sworn that the window to your second storey bedroom was locked.
It comes to a head one night after work. You leave later than you normally would, having lost track of time trying to get some last minute emails off and by the time you actually get out the door it’s already dark outside and it’s pouring down with rain.
You’re halfway home when you get that prickling feeling on your skin, and your gut tightens uncomfortably. Tentatively you slow, shooting a furtive glance over your shoulder. The streets of the city are normally busy at this time of the night, but the rain’s driven people away - there’s not a soul in sight, including any wannabe stalkers.
The tight grip on your heart eases and you force yourself to relax. You’re imagining things now, you think with a shake of your head and a breathless laugh. 
Nobody’s out to get you, you’re fine.
Except the prickling sensation on the back of your neck doesn’t go away, and with every step you take the discomfort in your gut becomes harder and harder to ignore. Fingers flit anxiously at your side, your grip tightening on the handle of your umbrella. The rain’s loud as it crashes around you, but as you turn down the music coming from your headphones you swear that you can hear heavy footfalls behind you.
All it would take is another quick glance to confirm your suspicions. It could just be another person out in the rain trying to make their way home, same as you. It could be all your head, paranoia brought about by your friend’s worries. But fear has clawed its way up your spine - it’s late and you’re tired and scared, rational thought has left the building and you don’t think about any of that before dropping your umbrella and taking off into a sprint.
You don’t look back.
You don’t stop until you're back in the safety of your apartment with the door locked, blinds shut and the deadbolt in place.
You’re still trembling twenty minutes later when there’s a knock at your front door.
Your heart leaps into your throat at the sound, your entire body tensing, and for a single moment you debate not answering the door, but… you let out a sigh, shaking your head. You’re being ridiculous.
A quick glance through the peephole sets your heart at ease. Standing in the hallway dressed in a slightly damp black overcoat, his silvery-grey hair dusted with rain, is Lev. 
Relief floods through you as you quickly work at the locks, flicking open the deadbolt.
“Hey, Lev,” you murmur somewhat sheepishly, stepping back to let him come inside.
His green, catlike eyes light up at the sight of you, and he doesn’t waste a moment before leaning down and enveloping you in a tight hug - never mind his wet coat. You let yourself relax into the embrace - the comforting warmth as he wraps himself around you and strokes your back. “Y/N! I’m so glad you’re home! I know I’m kinda stopping by unannounced and all, but I was just on my way…” he trails off as he pulls back slightly, eyes narrowing as they flicker across your face.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he murmurs, his hands still entwined around your waist.
You smile tightly, biting down on your bottom lip. Should you tell him? There’s still some part of you that thinks maybe it’s all in your head, that you’re working yourself up for no good reason, but what if you’re not? What if there is somebody who’s-
There’s an insistent tug at your waist and your eyes dart back up to find Lev’s frown deepening. “Something’s wrong, tell me.”
A blush finds its way to your cheeks as you carefully unwind yourself from his hold and make your way back further into your living room, “I- you’ll think I’m being stupid I guess, or paranoid, but…”
“But?” he prompts.
You take a deep breath, fingers twisting in front of you, “I think that somebody might be… following me?” you phrase it almost as a question, carefully watching his face for any sign that he might start laughing at you. But he doesn’t - Lev’s features are perfectly blank as he stares back at you, and you rush to fill the sudden heavy silence that falls between the two of you. “I know it sounds insane, but my friend got me worried the other day, and things have been going missing from my place and I’m almost positive that somebody followed me home tonight and-”
“Hey,” he says, quickly stepping forward to close the distance between you. He reaches for your hand with a soft smile and you let him take it, offering a shaking smile back when his thumb smooths over the back of your palm. “I believe you. You don’t need to be scared, I’m here for you.”
You nod, swallowing down your nerves once more. 
“Do you… do you want me to stay tonight? Or at least for a few hours, you just look so fragile and frightened, I hate the thought of leaving you like this.”
Lev’s eyes show nothing but earnest concern as he studies you with a pout, and this time when your lips curl into a smile it's with genuine gratitude for your friend.
You should say no - it’s hardly fair for you to impose on him over something you’re not even sure is real, but… “Actually, that sounds good, if you don’t have plans of course - I don’t want to spoil your night or anything,” you mutter with a blush.
Lev just shakes his head with a soft laugh, “Of course not. You’re my only concern tonight, angel.”
You try not to let the relief show on your face too much. You’ll feel better knowing he’s there with you, and if nothing else you know he’ll take your mind off of things. It’s just what you need tonight - a friend. “Thank you,” you say warmly, dropping his hand so you can make your way back into the kitchen. “I was actually just about to start dinner, have you eaten yet? I was thinking pasta, but let me know if you feel like something else.”
He watches you for a moment as you open the fridge and bend over to rummage inside. “Pasta sounds great,” he calls back, shedding his damp jacket and making his way over to hang it off the coat rack by the front door.
Busy in the kitchen, you’re none the wiser to the soft click of locks turning, the deadbolt sliding back into place.
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