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megalony · 7 months

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Annual Party

This is an Eddie Diaz imagine requested by Anon, I hope you like it. I'm loving all the Dad! Eddie and family Eddie requests coming through and I'm trying to work my way through them all. Enjoy.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@butlegendsneverdie@langdonzvoid@jennyggggrrr@rogmeddows@radiob-l-a-hblah@rogertaylorsbitontheside@chlobo6@rogertaylors-lipgloss@sj-thefanthefan@omgitsearly@luckytrashgooprebel@scarsout@deaky-with-a-c@killer-queen-ofrhye@bluutac@vousmemanqueez-blog@jonesyaddiction@milanosaurus@httpfandxms@saint-hardy@7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls@mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me @hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@noonenuts@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway

911 Masterlist

Summary: (Y/n) is worried when Eddie invites her and Chris to the summer party to meet the 118 for the first time. But her worries are all for nothing.

Enjoy.

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"…Hey, it'll be Eddie's first one."

Eddie paused in the doorway to the gym, letting the towel hang around his neck and catch the droplets of sweat trickling down the side of his face and neck. He had been in the gym for the last half an hour in between callouts but now he wished he hadn't since he had missed out on most of whatever conversation Buck and Chimney were having.

He had been with the 118 for around five months now and it was the quickest that he had ever felt like he fit in with the people he worked with who he could now call his friends. Eddie had never felt so at home with his workmates, not even when he was back in the army. But there were some things that never changed, like Eddie's unease whenever he heard his name being spoken.

It felt like they were unsure about him whenever he heard them mention his name, even just in a passing conversation. Eddie wanted so badly to fit in and feel like this was his family, a safe group of people to work with and get along with and call his friends. He couldn't stop himself from panicking though, little nagging thoughts that he would be the odd one out.

"My first what?" He leaned against the doorframe and looked over at the pair of them.

The way Buck was smiling and how chimney cocked a brow made Eddie relax in himself and manage a smile. Clearly it wasn't anything bad or awkward that they were talking about.

"You sir, are in luck. We were just talking about the annual summer party the station has every year."

"You guys sure do have a lot of parties,"

Removing the towel from around his neck, Eddie threw it in the hamper beside the door before he walked over to them. They had all invited him to a BBQ only a month after he arrived but he had to turn it down, Christopher hadn't been well that week. Buck had been talking about halloween already and how he thought it was mystical and special. Now a summer party was being planned and Eddie knew they were already getting things in motion for Christmas.

Bobby had talked about them always doing a Christmas party and finding a few extra people to cover the shifts so the 118 could go all out and enjoy the festivities.

"That we do, and this year it's my turn to host." Chimney placed a hand on his chest and smiled proudly. He had never hosted one of the station parties before. It was usually Bobby who hosted them or they had the parties here at the station for family and friends to attend.

But a summer party was different, they couldn't have the pinnical of summer inside the station, hidden away from the sun and the sweltering heat.

It was more of an occasion when a party was at someone's house and Chimney had offered to host this one since he hadn't had the chance before.

"You're coming, right?" A smile lit up Buck's face as he tucked his hands into his back pockets. So far everyone had said they were turning up and it looked like it was going to be a big day, they couldn't have a party without the newest member of the team there.

"I guess I could swing by."

"You can bring your family, you know. Parties are for everyone, we're one big family here and that includes you now."

"You have a wife and boy, right?" Buck grinned over at Eddie when he saw the smile start to spread across his face as he looked down at his hands for a moment before he nodded.

"I think they'd love to come along,"

Eddie knew for a fact (Y/n) would be happy to join him at the party, she could see the way he talked about the team and how close he felt to them. She wanted to meet the people who Eddie had grown so fond of and who he spent half his life around now. And he was sure Chris would enjoy a party, he always loved a party whenever someone had a birthday or they went to visit family for Christmas.

This would be a bit different because it would be a new place and new people, it would take Chris a little while to get used to everyone and get to know them. But wherever there was a good atmosphere and a lot of energy, Chris always hyped up and got excited.

"Great! Next Saturday at two o'clock. Cap's already made sure we all have the afternoon off so no excuses."

Looks like Eddie and (Y/n) now had plans for next weekend.

***

"I'm ready," Christopher shuffled into the kitchen and leaned his arms on the kitchen counter next to (Y/n), letting his body fall forward into the counter that kept him upright. His fingers tapped and itched against the counter and he dropped his chin onto (Y/n)'s arm, looking over her to see what she was doing.

"Good, I think I've got everything," (Y/n) leaned down to kiss his forehead as she put the box into Chris's backpack she was getting ready.

She could barely breathe now from the nerves.

All morning (Y/n) had been planning what to take and rethinking how to be ready for any kind of situation or emergency. It felt more like she was going on shift at the fire station rather than out to a festive party to meet the team for the first time.

The backpack was full. (Y/n) had packed Chris's favourite toy monkey, just in case he started to panic and needed something to cuddle. She had his new favourite sensory toy which was a plastic snake that rattled and made a very satisfying clicking sound whenever it was shook.

His noise-cancelling headphones were folded up and packed so if the music or the raised voices got too much, Chris could still stay with everyone and just wear his headphones.

She had a bag of sweets crammed in as well; Eddie had told her that there would be a lot of food and sweets and treats out and they both knew Chris would get upset at that. He was allergic to a lot of things; nuts, milk, latex to name a few and there were only a certain few brands of sweets Chris could tolerate, others he loved but they made him sick.

So (Y/n) thought it was best to bring along a lot of treats so Chris could still enjoy himself. And because he was such a picky eater and had allergies, she had done him a pack up. Save asking Chimney what was in each food and have Chris go into a meltdown when the food didn't taste the same as the brand he always got from the same shop each week. He could always tell the difference.

Then there was his mini-medic kit in the bag too with his EpiPens, painkillers and stomach meds in case he got hold of something he shouldn't and made himself feel sick.

"Come on then, off we go," (Y/n) looped his backpack on her shoulder and hooked her bag on her other shoulder before she reached out to take Chris's hand. His crutches were already in the car from yesterday, he didn't like to use them in the house, only when they went out.

"Daddy?" Chris tilted his head up and leaned his cheek on (Y/n)'s arm as they walked out towards the car.

They had only told Chris yesterday about the party today in case Chris got too overwhelmed or panicked about going or in case he got sick and couldn't go. If he knew in advance, it would be the only thing he would focus on and if for some reason he didn't end up going, he would have a meltdown because of changed or ruined plans. Telling him at the last second was always the easiest way to go.

"He's meeting us there, don't worry," (Y/n) put the bags in the car and lifted Chris up to strap him in his car seat.

Eddie had picked up a shift with Hen at the last minute to cover this morning so the plan was for him to do his shift until dinner time, go wash and change at the station and then Hen would drive them to Chimney's house for the party.

He should be there by now, (Y/n) was praying Eddie was there before she and Chris arrived. She didn't want to walk into a stranger's home and be introduced without Eddie. Chris would be panicked enough and if (Y/n) started to panic too, it wouldn't end well.

Unease washed through (Y/n) in waves when she began to drive. Despite Chris singing and babbling along to the Disney CD in the car, she could feel the panic welling up inside her.

What if Eddie's colleagues didn't like her?

From the way Eddie spoke so highly of everyone he worked with, it would be awful if they didn't like (Y/n). They were practically part of the family now, they worked so closely with Eddie and (Y/n) wanted them to know her and like her and be friends. It would mean she and Eddie could go out with them if they were all close, since they moved here they didn't know many people and the only people Eddie knew well or close were the guys he worked with.

(Y/n) didn't know what Eddie had told them about Chris- or if he had told them anything at all about their son.

It was always a shock when (Y/n) used to introduce her friends to Chris and she could always see their expressions change and their words get stuck in their throat when they realised he had special needs. They didn't know what to say to him or how to act around him.

Some people tried to talk to him as if he was a baby, others ignored him completely and then a few people just tried to ask what was wrong with him and venture into every aspect of their lives.

(Y/n) would hate for Eddie's new colleagues to be like that; they had both lost enough friends back in Texas for how they acted or treated Chris. It would be awful if this new job that Eddie loved and thoroughly enjoyed turned sour if his colleagues didn't take to Chris.

Would they look at (Y/n) differently if they knew she was a stay at home mum and a part-time book editor- which meant she could always work from home and be there for Chris. Would they judge her or laugh at her or think she was silly or lazy?

She didn't have to check the address when she pulled up in the street. The music could be heard from the end of the street and there were at least five cars rammed near the third house on the left. At least she had found the right address and wasn't lost, that was another worry (Y/n) had thought of late last night when she wondered what could and would go wrong. It wasn't very often that (Y/n) got to know and interact with new people and she knew they were all close to her husband. She wanted to be close to them too.

"I think we're here, are you ready?"

"Yep!"

(Y/n) got out and smoothed down the imaginary wrinkles in her dress; it was Eddie's favourite. A strapless white dress with a low cut towards the cleavage, tight at the hips and crinkled and fanned out towards her knees. And it had little strawberries printed all across; the picture of summer.

She had pinned her hair back and matched the outfit with white sandals, whereas Chris had chosen to wear a white pair of shorts and a lime green button up, sleeveless shirt. He even tucked the shirt into his shorts to try and look smart.

(Y/n) looped her bag around her neck and shoulder but when she opened the back door for Chris to hop out, he shook his head. A cheeky grin lit up his face as his eyes creased at the corners and he stretched his arms out towards her while he tilted his head from side to side.

He wanted to be carried.

With a roll of her eyes, (Y/n) held out his backpack towards him, she would carry him but she couldn't hold everything.

He adjusted his backpack on his shoulders and held his arms out, giggly madly when (Y/n) leaned in and picked him up to sit him high on her left hip. He was getting a bit big for her to carry him around, but he was her baby boy and they both knew she could never say no to carrying him around.

Chris nuzzled his face into her cheek and loosely draped his arms around her neck while (Y/n) shut the door with her bum and held him tightly, pinning his crutches underneath her right arm. He would need them when she eventually had to put him down and they both knew he wouldn't sit still for long, he would be snooping and adventuring round soon enough.

"Let's go find daddy," She leaned her cheek on top of Chris's head when he snuggled down against her.

The front door was closed but the back gate at the left side of the house was wide open, connecting the front to the back garden. (Y/n) followed the path and the sound of music round the side of the house towards the voices and the laughter that was drawing them closer.

There were balloons taped to each end of the few tables set out near the fence and there was a BBQ going near the back door.

Quite a lot of people were scattered around the large garden and (Y/n) could see at least three children which made her more relieved than she could comprehend. It would have been awkward if she and Eddie were the only ones to bring their kid along.

"There you are," Eddie's voice was like a Godsend and (Y/n) managed a more relaxed smile when her eyes fell on him and watched him head towards her.

Reaching over, Eddie set down his beer on the table next to Chimney and patted his shoulder before he bypassed him when his eyes set on his girl. They had agreed that (Y/n) would turn up about half two or after so everyone had chance to turn up and be rowdy and catch up before she brought Chris. (Y/n) didn't like being first to parties and Chris would be more settled if everything was in full swing by the time he arrived.

Eddie ran his tongue along his lips and dug his nails into his palms for a second when his eyes latched onto what (Y/n) was wearing. She had done that on purpose.

She had chosen the dress she knew always drove him mad. The one that hugged every curve she had and stopped short of her knees. The dress that looked like summer itself and made everyone's eyes always fall on her whenever she wore it. It was going to prove hard for Eddie to stay away from her when she looked like that.

When he reached them, he curved an arm around Chris's back and moved his other hand to cup the back of (Y/n)'s neck. His thumb brushed up and down her skin, ruffling her hair in the process and causing a shiver to run down her spine.

He loved the radiant smile she gave him when she looked up at him and he just had to kiss those painted red lips that matched the strawberries on her dress.

"Hi," (Y/n) whispered quietly against his lips, grinning at the slight tint of red on Eddie's already pink lips where her lipstick had smudged onto him a little.

"Hey," He kissed her again, biting her lower lip just a pinch before a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and he heard Chris squealing 'daddy' loudly into his ear. Chris eagerly clambered from (Y/n) over to Eddie who lifted him up for a cuddle and pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "I've been waiting for you; God, you can tell you're mine." Eddie grinned and kissed his nose when he looked down at what Chris had decided to wear.

The shorts matched Eddie's light auburn cargo pants and the lime green top looked just like the mint blue t-shirt Eddie had picked for today. If Eddie's hair was slightly more curled, they would be twins.

"Come on, everyone is dying to meet you,"

He swung Chris round before he set him down to his feet and (Y/n) handed over his crutches so he could actually walk for himself for a while.

A tepid smile reached (Y/n)'s eyes when Eddie hooked his arm around her waist and reeled her into his side, where she belonged. She moved her hand up to rest on his chest while his other hand grabbed the handle of Chris's backpack so he didn't stray the wrong way or try and speed off without them.

"(Y/n)," Eddie kissed her temple when they reached the BBQ and glanced his eyes over at a few members of his team. "This is my captain, Bobby and his wife Sargent Athena Grant. And this is Chimney. This is my wife (Y/n) and our boy Christopher."

He let go of Chris's backpack so he could reach over and take back his beer bottle he put down earlier. Eddie could feel himself relaxing already, he could feel the tension melting away when he saw the way the team looked at his family. They didn't frown or look at Chris in pity, they didn't look away or seem unnerved or anxious. Bobby was grinning, Athena had that glint in her narrowed eyes and a wicked smile on her lips and Chimney just looked dazed in a good sort of way.

"Lovely to meet you (Y/n),"

(Y/n) kept her arm curved tight around Eddie's back but happily reached her free hand out to shake Bobby's hand. "And you, Eddie talks very highly of you."

"You know, my son Harry is making some water balloons and I bet he could use some help. What do you think?" Athena looked over at Chris who smiled and lazily tilted his head back until he was looking up at Eddie, silently checking it was alright. And silently making sure both parents would keep an eye on him and not lose him at any point.

"Go ahead," Eddie ruffled his hair as he grinned and walked over to Athena who placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him over to Harry Hen's boy Denny.

Chris loved anything sensory like water or sand or play dough- which was something he always tried to eat. (Y/n) was pleased how sensory Chris was and how relaxed he was with different textures and feels and play toys. Whereas he was sensitive to smells and tastes, it was hard getting him to try new food or watch different movies, visually he was very sensory and didn't like new or different shows or movies.

"Do you want a drink?" Eddie mumbled against (Y/n)'s forehead, smiling and pecking her forehead when she nodded.

She could feel the anxiety bubbling up inside of her when he wandered across the garden to the drinks table. Her eyes flitted between her two boys, smiling shyly when she looked over at Chris. He was sat on the grass, splashing the water and slowly placing the water balloons into the big bowl next to Athena who was introducing and overseeing the job the boys were doing.

"So, what do you do (Y/n)?"

Her gaze fell back on Chimney who started to turn over the burgers on the grill whole Bobby gave him a somewhat disapproving look as he looked between him and the food. Bobby looked at him as if he could do a better job and it made (Y/n) relax, although she wasn't sure why.

"I, I'm a part-time editor for a literacy company so I can work from home and be with Chris,"

"I bet you have to have a good attention span for that,"

"It helps," She smiled up at Bobby, feeling herself relax more and more in their presence.

"Hen's wife works from home, I don't know what she does though, some sort of science shit," Chimney waved the spatula in his hand and shook his head with a smile. He didn't know the specifics of what Rachel did, he just knew she worked from home to be with Denny and she didn't often talk about her work, unless she was drunk. It usually washed over his head.

Maybe her worries had all been for nothing.

Spinning on her heels, (Y/n) held her glass tighter to her chest and smiled shyly up at the man in front of her. She didn't recognise him, Eddie hadn't introduced her to everyone here yet and he had wandered off to check on Chris and see how he was doing.

The man in front of her had a rather cheesy smile, sort of like he was a young boy at heart, a Peter Pan of sorts. He grinned at her and clasped his hands together in front of him, rubbing his knuckles in a way (Y/n) recognised as an anxious movement.

"Hi, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Evan, but everyone calls me Buck."

"Oh, you're Buck, I've heard a lot about you. I'm (Y/n)," She held her hand out for him to shake, smiling a little wider when his eyes narrowed and his head ticked to the side like he somehow didn't believe she was who she said she was.

"You're Eddie's wife?"

"Yeah,"

"Damn, he never said you were beautiful,"

(Y/n) laughed and brushed her hair behind her ear, unsure how to take that comment. It was either him being very sweet or a jibe that Eddie either didn't talk about her at work or said she was something other than pretty. But (Y/n) chose to take it as a compliment.

"Mummy…" Chris let go of one of his crutches so he could reach up and grab (Y/n)'s hand when he walked up behind her. He started to swing their hands between them, smiling gently but saying nothing when she whispered 'what's up baby'. He leaned his temple against her arm and kept pulling on her hand but it was when he started to hum that (Y/n) got the hint.

She bent down beside him and unzipped the bag he had been carrying around dutifully, unable to set it down because he knew all of his things, especially his meds, were inside.

Rattling around, (Y/n) found the dark purple dinosaur toy wedged down beside his lunch box and held it out in front of him. Watching as he started to nod and coiled it quickly to his chest. He wasn't unhappy but he was getting a little anxious, his favourite teddy would calm him down and give him something to concentrate on and ground him.

"This is daddy's friend Buck, wanna say hi?" (Y/n) kissed his temple as she stood up just as Buck bent down to be level with him.

"Don't tell me that's a dinosaur?"

"You like them?"

"I love them! He's impressive, look at those claws, wow." Buck reached a careful hand out to brush the pale yellow claws before he tilted his head to the side. "Do you want a drink? I saw someone make a milkshake for Denny earlier."

"No milk." Chris shook his head and pressed the toy against his mouth, starting to tap the dino head against his lips a few times as both a sign and a stim for the sensation. It was a panic action at first, it was drilled into Chris what he couldn't drink or have and all he could remember all his allergies, they made sure he knew them if he was ever away from them and uncertain or confused.

But the more he tapped the toy against his lips, the more he started to nod his head and hum. Chris was very sensory, he liked the feel of things like water or fluffy blankets or texture books. And his new stimming technique was tapping toys against his lips for the vibrations and tingling sensations it created.

"Oh, he's allergic to milk but he's preferable to cola,"

"Oh, sorry. I'm sure Chimney has a lot of soda here, why don't we go find some? Can he eat stuff from the barbeque?"

Chris pushed forward and took Buck's hand and reached up to hand him the dino toy so he could look at it. He grinned when Buck placed his hand over his heart before he took the toy from him to inspect and marvel at it. Chris had found a true friend here.

"He won't eat anything new, he's brought a pack up. Drinks other than milk are fine… thank you for this," She whispered the last part, watching them head off towards the drinks table while her heart soared. No one usually bothered to try and understand Chris's interests or get to know him or be around him. People thought he was cute and sweet but didn't know how to act around him.

Everyone here was taking an interest in him and treating him like he was already one of them and had been all his life.

A gasp left her lips and her knees buckled when a pair of strong arms bolted around her waist and reeled her into a hard chest. She tilted her head back and tried to catch a proper breath when she felt Eddie grazing his lips against her neck. His fingers dug lovingly into her hips and he growled into her neck and sent shockwaves coursing through her nerves making her grin.

"I see Buck's found a friend," Eddie let his eyes glance over at Buck who was holding a plastic cup out but letting Chris pour his own drink, something not many people did with him. "Means I can have you to myself for a few minutes."

"Oh really?"

(Y/n) gripped Eddie's wrists and turned her head to kiss the top of his hair but she was finding it hard not to close her eyes and melt against him. And when she felt his teeth grazing and nipping at her skin, she knew there would be a bruise there later that she would have to hide from Chris.

"Hmm."

"Everyone seems lovely, Eddie. I can see why you speak to highly of them," She could understand how attached Eddie was to each of his colleagues and she could see why he felt they were part of a new family together. This was much more than co-workers getting along, this was a close knit family that was hard to break.

She tilted her head to the side when Eddie kissed his way up her neck and over her jaw, pecking and nipping at her skin until he finally had her lower lip pulled tight between his teeth.

(Y/n) couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be.

#eddie diaz imagine #eddie diaz x reader #eddie x reader #imagines #911 imagine #911 fox #bobby nash #evan buckley

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songbirdsingingthings · 5 months

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In Love. Actually.

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Kohei Horikoshi

MHA Masterlist - Main Masterlist

WARNINGS: Fluff, Spoilers for the movie Love, Actually.

Request by @luluwiie: how about Y/N helping Shouto (deliberately or not) to discover Christmas magic, and for the first time enjoy some good moments during Christmas time ? As they're still only-close-friends-but-secretely-pining-on-each-other, you know *^* Cause Pining. I love pining. Secret crush FTW

A/N: Oh we're so back. Thank you so much for the request @luluwiie you are the absolute best. I'm so serious about that, you never fail to have the loveliest requests and sweetest words. Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates, and enjoy!!!

Word Count: 1.8K

There seemed to be some kind of energy in the air – one that seemed to have wired every single one of Shouto Todoroki’s classmates into becoming a strangely more happy version of themselves. That was, of course, not to say that his classmates weren’t usually happy, they absolutely were, but during this time of year it was next level.

Taking in the scene before him, all he could really do was people-watch. Iida, if one could believe, was almost relaxed – leaning back in one of the chairs in the dorm living room and reading a book with a calm smile. A group of some of the girls, including Yaoyorozu, Jirou, and Uraraka, were trying their best to construct gingerbread houses. Even with the extra bags of icing Yaoyorozu created with her quirk, the walls kept falling down. But, even with each collapse of the houses, the girls just smiled, shook their heads, and tried again. Even Bakugou, against all odds, almost had a twitch of a genuine smile on his face as he bounced around the kitchen baking cookies, marinating several dishes for the night’s dinner, and prepping produce for the following morning.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. It was what many, if not most, called the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas. Well, to be more specific, Christmas Eve.

“You plan on joining in?” A soft voice sounded next to him. He smiled a bit and turned towards it.

“I’m not so sure.”

“Why’s that?”

“Christmas was never a particularly happy time for me.” Shouto wished he hadn’t really said it like that, because when he did, he had to watch your smile dim. His closest friend since the beginning, the first one he made, was you. You, with your pretty Y/E/C eyes and

“Ah.” You say. “I understand.”

“That’s not to say that you shouldn’t enjoy it. I’m just more at ease looking at all of this from afar.”

“Nah, it’s no fun if not everyone’s having fun. Especially if you, my closest friend, isn’t.” Shouto watch you brush a stray cookie crumb from the alpine sweater you were wearing.

“Baking cookies with Bakugou?” He asked. You snorted and bumped his hip with your own.

“More like stealing away with some of them. He makes a mean snickerdoodle.” Shouto hummed and turned back to his classmates, watching them make merry. He never felt so out of place.

“I may just head back to my dorm, catch up on some things.”

“We’re on break from school, Shouto.” You deadpan. “C’mon. Let’s do something else.”

“I don’t want to pull you away from anything,” he begins.

“You’re not pulling me away. In fact, I think I have a more fun idea in mind. Let’s go back to mine.”

“Just to recap,” Shouto says, sitting criss-crossed on your bead, “you want to checklist your way to making new holiday memories? So that I can enjoy Christmas?”

“Exactly!” You say, pointing towards him with the aforementioned list. “I’m telling you, I think you’ll find at least one of these things fun.” Shouto considered the list before him for a moment. Things like ice-skating, movie marathons, and gift shopping were all included.

“And you’ll do these things with me?” He asked, confirming that he wouldn’t be facing such activities by himself.

“Of course.”

“Then I’m sure everything will be fun.” It almost looked like a flicker of a blush danced on your cheeks, but he must have just been seeing things.

“Alright. Where do you want to start?”

“Well,” he considered, looking outside of his window. The sun had already set and a fair amount of snow was piling up on the ground outside, “seeing as many of our options involve going into the city, which isn’t entirely safe right now, we should probably settle on something a bit more tame.” You jumped to sit next to him on your bed, your hands going to the windowsill.

“Damn,” you say, shooting him a somewhat embarrassed look. Shouto couldn’t help but smile. He loved whenever you had that look on your face. Your nose scrunched a bit and your hands went to your cheeks.

“I’m happy with a movie,” he suggests, taking one of your hands from your cheeks. You pause for a moment, waiting for your breathing to get even after his actions, and then settle in.

“Well, it’s gotta be the perfect movie.” You think, grabbing your computer while Shouto unfurled the blanket at the bottom of your bed. “Nothing too cheesy but nothing too sad. So, probably, no Elf or It’s A Wonderful Life. Although It’s A Wonderful Life is so good.”

“Why don’t we watch it then?”

“It makes me cry. Kinda counterintuitive to me helping you make happy Christmas memories. But we’ll put it on the ‘to watch’ list.”

“And Elf is cheesy?”

“Kinda,” you admit, staring at the blinking line in your search bar. “Although it’s funny.”

“So you want something funny… and heartfelt… and something that helps with the idea of Christmas?”

“That’s it!” You exclaim, your fingers flying across the keys. You pull up a movie and sit back in your pillows with a satisfied smile, waiting for Shouto’s reaction.

“Love Actually?” He says, looking closely at the movie cover. “It doesn’t really sound like a Christmas movie.

“Trust me,” you say, putting a hand on his shoulder, “it is. The best.”

“I always trust you,” he says, giving you another one of those heart bursting smiles. The kind, it seems, he saved only for you. But of course, it was probably you making it up. He was your friend, as you had stated before, your closest friend. You did not want anything to mess that up, even if you had to keep some of your feelings under lock.

“Well then,” you clear your throat, “get ready for Christmas wonder.”

As the finishing notes of God Only Knows by the Beach Boys played from the tiny speakers in your computer, you sighed happily and closed your laptop. You turned to find Shouto, searching his face for any kind of reaction.

“So, thoughts?”

“That was…” he trails off. Immediately, a sense of disappointment in yourself bloomed.

“Oh god, you didn’t like it all did you?” You fret. “It was probably too much, I’m sorry, I should’ve found something else–”

“Y/N.” Shouto says, interrupting your rambling.

“Yeah?”

“I loved it.” Where panic took hold previously, excitement sparkled in your eyes.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, some parts were certainly… interesting,” he says, making you laugh, “but I thought it was really nice. But,”

“Uh-oh,”

“I don’t really understand the whole message in terms of Christmas.”

“Huh?”

“Well,” he says, shifting a bit on your bed to face you more, “I understand that it all takes place during Christmas, but it mostly centered on relationships. Both good and bad. I still can’t believe he cheated on his wife with that girl though. And she forgave him? Just like that?” You laughed and leaned into him

“Well, I don’t think that’s the whole story. And they have kids, so she was putting them first. But, more importantly, it conveys the main message of Christmas.” You say to a dumbfounded Shouto.

“And what’s that?”

“Love, of course. In every situation, love is what remains constant. For a friend, for a family member, for their significant other… love is what Christmas is all about.” Shouto felt his heart speed up as he looked at you.

“I think I may be starting to get it.” Your breathing became short as he looked at you. It was quiet, so quiet, in your dorm room.

“You are?” You whisper.

“Yeah,” he says, bringing his hands to cup your face. You were moments from closing your eyes until someone banged on your door.

“Y/N! Todoroki! You in there?” You squeezed your eyes shut and sighed.

“Yep! What’s up Mina?” Shouto smiles as your frustration becomes evident on your face.

“We’re all gathering in the common room! One last activity before we all go to bed and wake up for Christmas morning!” You glance at Shouto to see him grinning, which makes you roll your eyes in amusement.

“Okay, we’re coming!” Shouto shuffles off of the bed first, helping you to your feet as well. The two of you leave your dorm and make your way down the hallway, only to stop in the doorway as you find all of your classmates face you with smug smiles.

“Is everything okay?” Shouto asks.

“Yeah guys, what’s up with the crowd?”

“Look up!” Uraraka smiles, pointing with one of her hands to whatever was above you. A cold sense of dread courses its way through your body as what you were worried about was confirmed. A seemingly harmless sprig of mistletoe was hung delicately on above the doorway, sitting just above you and Shouto. All of your classmates laugh as they see your face, making Shouto’s twist in confusion.

“Mistletoe?”

“Yeah,” you confirm sheepishly. “It’s this Christmas tradition where two people have to kiss if they walk underneath mistletoe at the same time. We don’t have to do it. It’s stupid, really.”

“On the contrary,” Shouto says, sweeping an arm around the small of your back, making your heart jump in your chest. “I actually kind of like Christmas traditions.” Your anxious smile turns into a wide grin.

“Really?”

“Mmm.” he hums in affirmation, using his other hand to tilt your head up towards him. “In fact, I think I love Christmas traditions.” You didn’t have time to come up with a cheeky response before he pressed his lips to yours. The whoops and cheers from your classmates faded to become background music. You couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, wrapping both of your arms around the nape of his neck. You went up on your tiptoes, leaning further into him and deepening the kiss. The both of you leaned away after a few moments, laughing as the class descended into pure chaos as several other duos, including Kaminari and Jirou as well as Midoriya and Uraraka, were being pushed towards the white-berried plant. Shouto led you back down the hallway to your room's door, pressing another kiss to your lips.

“Merry Christmas, Shouto.” You smile. Opening the door as you bid him goodnight.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N.” He says. He leaves you with one more quick kiss before he says goodnight. All you could do after you closed the door was slide down it, a lovesick smile on your face. You were in love and so was he. Actually.

Taglist:

@luluwiie ~ All-Flora Florist

@maiacroson ~ All-Flora Florist

@nerdypuppytimemachine ~ All-Flora Florist

@softvanlla All-Flora Florist

@catguinsstuff ~ All-Flora Florist

@smallxbunny ~ All-Flora Florist

@the-emo-asgardian ~ Snowbell Florist

@lovers-liability ~ Snowbell Florist

@palenightmarepersona ~ All-Flora Florist, All-Tree Arborist

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happilysmythe · 3 months

Text

❥ 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚

trent frederic.

word count: 7.1k

warning: explicit content

"she can get a taste" — tyga

- - -

ALLISON

Trent Frederic.

Only the most annoying neighbor someone could possibly have. His snarky personality, his cocky demeanor, his massive ego…wildly unpleasant, to put it plainly.

I only know him because of Brady—my best friend. He has been since we were kids. I went to school with him for years, so it was only natural that we ended up gravitating toward one another. Not to mention we lived only one street away from each other.

When I started to go over to his house, I met his older brother, Matthew. I ended up becoming closer with him over the years, as well as their younger sister, Taryn.

Trent was friends with Matthew. They were only a year older than me and Brady, but Trent just loved to act like I was so much younger. He was usually at their house whenever I was, so I had the displeasure of seeing him more often than I would’ve liked to.

He’s the only person I know who calls me “Al”. And boy, do I hate it. I’ve told him countless times that I despise it, but he refuses to call me anything else. He knows it pisses me off—that’s why he does it.

In 2016, Matthew and Trent got drafted into the NHL. I was upset at the time about Matthew leaving—as I said, we had gotten close—but I felt a sense of relief that Trent would eventually be all the way out in Boston after college. I would barely have to see him anymore.

Then, Brady got drafted in 2018, and it was just me and Taryn.

Every year, the Tkachuks would host this big party and invite a bunch of people for Christmas. It was always fun for us, especially as kids. For a few years after the kids got drafted, they would continue the tradition. It’s gotten harder for them, though, and they eventually stopped doing it as a whole.

This year, they did something different. It would just be the kids—Matthew, Brady, Taryn, me, a few other friends…and Trent. I’d be seeing him for the first time in a few years.

Great.

- - -

I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell, then waited for an answer. Not long after, it swung open, and a familiar face stood before me.

“Allison White,” his voice rang from the other side of the doorway. “As I live and breathe.”

He looked…different.

His hair was longer; curlier than it used to be. It was gelled up slightly and a loose strand hung in front of his forehead. He was wearing a suit—a light blue blazer with black pants, and a white collared shirt under it. His tie was red with white polka dots, and a brown belt sat at his waist.

His arms were…bigger. And a thick, titanium ring wrapped snugly around his right index finger.

But his face was the same. It always has been.

“Trent Frederic,” I sighed, folding my arms. “What a pleasure it is to see you again.”

He chuckled and stepped aside. “Come in before I lock you out.”

“Alright, alright.”

I walked past him, my arm brushing against his, then slipped off my jacket and hung it on the coat rack. I flattened my hands over my dress, smoothing it out before turning back around. Upon turning back, I found Trent standing still, his eyes fixated on me. A few moments passed before he looked back up, snapping out of his state, and spoke.

“Come on, Al.”

“Really?” I rolled my eyes, “I told you to stop calling me that. It makes me sound like a guy.”

“Oh no,” he pouted, taking a step forward, his back facing me as he walked away. Completely disregarding my complaint, he shouted, “Al’s here!” to the rest of the bunch and I shook my head, following behind him.

After walking inside, I greeted the others, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a long while. Eventually, the group sectioned off, and I ended up sitting at the kitchen island with Taryn and a few friends, just talking and having drinks. Trent went off with Matt, which wasn’t surprising, but he found a way to keep coming over and bothering me like he always did.

He pushed past me—roughly, at that—as he came into the kitchen to grab another drink.

“Do you mind?”

He turned around, a smug grin shaping his lips. “Me? Not at all,” he winked, then pushed me again as he walked out.

“Isn’t he cute?” one of Taryn’s friends asked, looking at me. “I wish that was me.”

“Hell no,” I shook my head. “He’s a dick. Trust me—no you don’t.”

“Man, I don’t care. Have you seen him? I would let him do whatever he wants to m—”

“Oh my God,” Taryn cut her off, “shut up!”

I laughed, picking up my glass and bringing it to my mouth once more to take a sip. She wasn’t wrong—Trent was good-looking, sure—but he was nothing more than an ass. It wasn’t often that a guy was more irritating than him.

I looked up to see Matt and Trent separating from the rest of their group and wondered where they were off to. But the thought ended up leaving my mind as quickly as it came.

- - -

TRENT

Matt didn’t say anything when he wanted me pulled aside. He just elbowed my arm and nodded his head to motion me out. I stood up and followed him into an empty bedroom down the hall. I crossed my arms as he shut the door behind him, then walked over.

“What’s this about?”

“Listen, man, I’ve gotta talk to you about something,” he spoke, folding his arms as well. “It’s about Allison.”

I was confused when he mentioned her name. There wasn’t much to talk about when it came to her, other than the fact that the two of us never got along. It wasn’t exactly shocking, either. I only knew her in the first place because she was friends with Brady, and she was always over their house. It was like I was forced to see her no matter what. Our personalities clashed, anyway. She’s not all that different from me, so it came to nobody’s surprise that we wouldn’t exactly be fond of each other.

I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. “What about her?”

“Before I say anything, you need to know that I was in the same boat as you before, alright? I didn’t believe it, either.”

“Believe what?”

He took a breath. “Allison’s got the hots for you, man.”

The laugh that came out of my mouth was almost instantaneous. Allison? Please. She’d rather throw herself into oncoming traffic than see me. And sometimes, I could say the same for her.

“Good one,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “Seriously. You almost had me interested for a minute there.”

His expression fell flat with his voice. “I’m not kidding, Fred,” he said. “Taryn’s been talkin’ to me. She’s been telling me about how she mentions you constantly, how she’s all of a sudden taken an interest in the Bruins, all of this crazy shit. I’ve seen her more than you have recently and I’ve noticed it, too. I know you probably think we’re wrong, but even a bat can see it.”

“Oh, come on, dude. There’s no way that you actually believe that bullshit. None of that is even proof, you’re just talking out of your ass.”

There’s no fucking way that they’re right. She just roped him in with nothing to prove it but some speculations and he went with it. If she really felt that way I would’ve known it by now. And it wouldn’t just be Matt and Taryn suspecting it.

“She was watching your games, man,” he said, nodding his head. “She saw it with her own eyes. She went to her house to grab something and she could literally see the game on her TV in the back.”

“I don’t buy it. Just stop trying.”

“Whatever, man,” he sighed. “I just wanted to tell you in case you wanted to do something about it.”

“I’m not going to,” I told him, walking toward the door. “Nice talk.” I walked out of the room and back into the living room, then sat down.

I kept thinking about what Matt told me, though. She always hated me, I always hated her—that’s how it was supposed to be. That’s what it was. It was never anything more than that, and it wasn’t going to be. I continued to tell myself that he was wrong, even as the thought of him being right began to plague my thoughts.

He was wrong, even though she was caught watching games. He was wrong, even though she apparently would always talk about me. He was wrong, even when I would look over and catch a glimpse of her looking my way, then turn back around as if she was never looking at all. He was wrong. That’s what I had to keep telling myself. Keep convincing myself.

But even I didn’t buy it anymore.

- - -

The rest of the night sort of happened in a blur. Matt’s words hadn’t stopped echoing inside of my head, toying with my thoughts since he said them. They only hit me more and more as time progressed, until I was convinced that he really was right the whole time.

So I started to watch her.

It wasn’t often that I would pay attention to her body language—or anything about her, really—but tonight was different. She seemed to tense up when I was around, which would happen years ago, but it makes a little bit more sense if any indication of attraction comes into play. The looks I found her catching, more than once. The way it seemed as though she was trying to avoid me, trying to avoid even making eye contact with me. The simple shit like that just wouldn’t leave my mind, no matter how fucking hard I tried to make it.

And with paying attention to her came intruding thoughts of my own.

Like the way that the black dress she was wearing molded tightly to her body. Or the way that her hair fell down to her collarbones, framing her chest. Or how her legs were completely exposed, leaving me to wonder what they’d feel like wrapped around me.

“Are you listening?”

The sound of Matt’s voice took me out of my thoughts, prompting me to look away from Al and back at him. “Huh?”

“I said,” he leaned in closer, “why don’t you walk Allison home?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” she protested, folding her arms. She shook her head, “I would rather walk home with a gorilla.”

I pouted and brought my hand to my chest. “Aww. That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Al.”

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Matt. “No chance in hell.”

“Oh, come on,” Taryn chimed in. “It’s cold out! Then you don’t have to walk home alone! And it’s nightime. That would be awfully inconsiderate to make her walk alone, Trent.”

“Yeah, I’m with Al on this one. I’m all set.” I turned to her. “You’ll be fine, right?”

“Yup,” she confirmed, nodding her head. “I’ll be fine.”

“Mmm…I don’t know,” Taryn shrugged. “Sounds pretty unsure to me, doesn’t she?”

“You cannot be serious,” Allison exclaimed, then frantically looked around, stopping once she was facing the remaining group of people on the couch. “Brady!”

“Huh?” He whipped his head around. “What?”

“Can you please tell them to stop pestering me about this?”

“About wh—huh?”

Matthew sighed and rolled his eyes. “Y’know, that thing we were talking about earlier?”

“Ohhh,” he nodded slowly. “Just let him walk you, Allison. They aren’t gonna give up.” He turned back around and kept talking to the other guys near him.

“You know what? Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll do it.” I walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed my coat from the rack on the wall, then slipped my arms into the sleeves. “Come on, Al. Let’s just get this over with.”

She sighed as well and grabbed her jacket, then put it on and put her hands in her pockets. “Alright.”

“Thanks for having me,” she spoke as she hugged Matthew, then Taryn. She walked over to Brady and did the same with him. “It was really nice to have everyone here again.”

“Anytime,” Matt replied with a smile. “I’m sure it won’t be the last.” He looked over at me, a cheeky grin plastered on his face, then winked.

“Mhm,” I nodded sharply. “I’m sure. But it was nice, I agree. Thanks, guys.”

“We’ll see you again soon, yeah?” he asked as I walked to the door and opened it.

“Yeah.” I held the door open with my back and watched as she brushed past me, waving as she walked out. “See you guys.”

I shut the door behind me and caught up with Al, who was now waiting by the sidewalk. “You know you don’t have to come with me, right?”

“I do. They’re gonna watch through the window, I swear,” I said, walking beside her. “Better off just going with you and saving a useless argument.”

“I guess,” she shrugged. Her arms were folded as she slowly walked down the sidewalk.

“How have you been?”

She rolled her eyes. “If you actually cared how I’ve been you would’ve come up and talked to me tonight. You’ve had the whole night to do it.”

“Would you just answer the question?”

With a sigh, she replied, “I’ve been fine. There. Happy?”

“Yes.”

The rest of the walk was mostly silent. She didn’t want to talk to me—which was nothing out of the ordinary—so I just kept quiet. But the thoughts from earlier were still swirling through my mind. This could be the last time I see her for a while…So I decided to throw it out there.

“Hey, Al?”

She rummaged through her bag for her keys. “What?”

“So…Matt was talking to me before.”

“Oh, was he now?” she breathed. “I know. I saw.”

“He told me you have the hots for me.”

She stopped dead before the key could even reach the hole, then turned to face me. “What?”

“I didn’t believe him at first. I told him that you hated me.”

“Yeah. I do,” she angrily replied. “Wait—at first?”

“Yeah, well…He started getting to me,” I told her, folding my arms. “He told me things that got me thinking, you know? Even Taryn believes it.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“You were watching my games.”

“You’re fucking insane. I don’t have feelings for you, Trent. So don’t flatter yourself.” She stuck the key in and turned it. “He’s lying.”

“I don’t really think he is,” I argued. “He seemed pretty sure about it. I can tell when he’s lying or when he’s unsure. He wasn’t.”

“Fuck’s sake, Trent, that doesn’t mean he’s right!”

She walked inside to hang up her jacket and I stepped in, propping the door open with my hand. “If he’s so wrong then what’s with you getting all fucking defensive?”

She slammed her purse down on the kitchen counter. “God, do you ever shut up?! I can’t catch a goddamn break with you no matter what, can I?”

“Well, excuse me, princess. Apparently, I’m not allowed to ask you a question.”

“You’re such an asshole,” she shook her head. “I don’t know why I ever—” She fell silent.

“Ever what?”

“Never mind.”

I scoffed. “Seriously? You’re just gonna pretend like you didn’t say anything?”

She chose to ignore me instead of speaking. Silently, she grabbed her bag and put it down on the floor.

“Of course. Now you’re just gonna ignore me.”

She quickly whipped back around to face me and raised her voice. “Fine! You know what, Trent? Fine,” she yelled. “You were right. I have ‘the hots’ for you. I want you. You fucking happy?”

I took a breath as the words angrily came from her mouth. She finally admitted to the one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about the whole night, and yet I was still dissatisfied.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why do you care, Trent? You hate me, remember? And I hate you,” she rebutted. “That’s what this is. That’s what it always was. We’re not close, and we never have been.”

I ran a hand through my hair and scoffed. “So after I left you just kept hating me anyway?”

“Oh, my God,” she raised her voice again. “No, Trent! I didn’t keep fucking hating you!”

“So what, you were pretending?”

God, she was infuriating. So fucking infuriating. But even as I stood there impatiently waiting for an answer I couldn’t stop myself from thinking the same thoughts from earlier.

She was hot when she was angry.

But she didn’t give an answer. She didn’t have to. Because I already knew it.

“Why? What kind of sense does that even make?!”

“Because it was much easier for me to keep hating you than for me to let myself fucking miss you, Trent!”

- - -

ALLISON

Before I could say anything else, he walked toward me and pushed his lips to mine.

I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t. It was nearly impossible when his hand was on my face the way that it was, forcefully pulling me toward him. His other hand was on my waist, gripping it tightly as he kissed me.

I hated how quickly I gave in to him, how my body just seemed to fold without as much as an attempt to resist. My hand reached up and tangled in his hair as the other wrapped around his midsection and kept him close.

A low groan fell from his lips and hummed against mine as I took a handful of his hair and tugged on it. God, it was hot. He was hot. And I wish he didn’t taste so fucking good.

He tore his mouth from mine and moved it to my jaw, trailing kisses up to my ear and down my neck. Heavy breaths escaped my parted lips as the hand he had on my waist tightened its grip.

I felt his hand slide up my back, fingertips grazing the skin that was left exposed between the thin straps of my dress. The feeling of his fingers on my back, paired with his lips as they once again pressed against mine, elicited another moan from me.

Fuck him for listening to Matt. Fuck him for telling me about it. Fuck him for forcing me to admit how I felt.

And fuck him for making me want to do just that.

My hands moved to the zipper on his jacket and quickly pulled it down. He responded to the action and shrugged the sleeves down his arms, then shook it off and tossed it to the floor. A gasp left my lips as he grabbed my waist and walked me backwards, his eyes already having spotted the bed in the room down the hall.

The door slammed behind him and I soon found myself pinned to the wall with Trent’s hand firmly gripping my throat. He leaned down to kiss me again and his tongue brushed against my lips. I allowed it through without a second thought and the muscles in his hand tightened around my neck.

“Trent,” I breathed shakily. “Fuck.”

I felt him grin slightly against me and soon his free hand was on my shoulder, pushing the strap on my dress down my arm. I managed to shrug the other one off without his help and it wasn’t long before I felt him violently tugging the fabric down my body, enough for it to slip off and pool at my feet on the floor. It was almost ironic that I hadn’t worn a bra.

He hungrily eyed my figure and swallowed thickly. The warm skin of his hands grazed the exposed skin of my thigh as it trailed upward and I moaned again softly at the touch.

“Thought you hated me, hm?”

He slowly removed his hand from my neck and moved it under my chin, using a finger to tilt it up. The way that his eyes slightly narrowed and his lips faintly curved into a smirk as he looked down at me rendered me nearly speechless.

“I do,” I breathed heavily as his eyes bored into mine. “God, I hate you.”

“I’m not too fond of you either.” He pressed another soft kiss to my lips. “But you already knew that.”

My fingers curled around the lapels of his blazer and peeled it from his arms, revealing the tightness of the collared shirt under it. The fabric looked as if it was begging to be loosened, to be removed from his body. Or maybe it was just my own head that wanted that to happen.

His eyes never broke contact with mine as he reached up and loosened his tie, then pulled the red fabric from his neck and threw it down with his suit jacket.

When he kissed me again my hand reached for his shirt and untucked it from his trousers, then slipped under it and slid up, stopping at his chest and staying firm in its spot. No matter how much I hated him—or at least claimed to—there was no denying the fact that I couldn’t resist him. He was so fucking hot. And God, it felt so good being pushed against the wall by him and his goddamned frame.

His head craned to the side and aligned with my neck once more as he kissed it, leaving marks in his path. My hand maintained its place on his chest, rubbing it up and down while he coaxed more groans from my lips.

I slipped my arm out of his shirt and brought my free hand up to the collar. It didn’t take long for him to notice what I was trying to do, and he pulled back to allow me to unbutton it. Slowly, I worked my way down, and I was able to feel his burning stare as I looked down at my hands. I gulped as I reached the last button; the shirt finally fell open, revealing the toned stomach underneath.

A chain hung from his neck, which was once covered by the suit. The tag on the chain sat in the valley of his chest, highlighting its definition and heightening my desire even more.

“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever seen him shirtless—that came with being around him so damn much. But it was the first time I had in years, and that meant that it wasn’t the same as it used to be. And boy, was it fucking different.

I pushed the sleeves down his arms, my eyes staying focused on his upper half and barely noticing the fabric as it hit the ground. My fingers wrapped around his biceps and my hands moved up and down slowly, feeling the warmth of his skin under my palms. “God, you’re big.”

“Yeah?” he asked and I nodded in response. “I know.”

“You haven’t changed at all, have you?” I shook my head. “Still the same asshole. And still so damn full of yourself.”

He didn’t come up with a witty reply. Instead, he just kept looking down at me with that filthy grin plastered on his face and I shook my head. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “God, do you ever shut up?”

He reached up and grabbed the back of my head, then pulled me in, forcefully shoving his lips to mine again. By now, it was too late to back out—I already knew what I’d gotten into. No matter how irritating, how rude, how self-centered and dickless he acted, I wanted him. I wanted to keep feeling his hands all over me. To keep feeling his mouth on mine.

To fuck him.

And besides, how could I possibly have backed out when I was standing half-naked between him and the wall?

He moaned into my mouth as my hands roamed his bare back, feeling the hardness of his muscles for myself. The sound was admittedly gorgeous, and I knew it wasn’t hard for him to tell that I thought so when I felt that shit-eating grin spread across his lips against my own. So fucking cocky.

His hand moved downward and I felt his thumb pressing into the soft skin of my inner thigh as he grabbed it. He lifted my leg up in a silent demand to wrap my leg around his waist and I obliged, doing just that almost immediately.

I reached down between us and began to unbuckle his belt. It wasn’t exactly easy to get a firm hold on it while his hand slid up my thigh and rubbed it up and down, effectively distracting me and diverting my attention elsewhere. I finally was able to loosen it and pull it from his waist, but before I knew it his hands were under my legs, lifting me off of the floor.

The leather belt fell to the ground as I wrapped my arms around his neck, still kissing him fervently as ever. He laid me on my back, allowing me to slide up to the pillow and lie flat as he hovered over me. His eyes looked me up and down and he finally spoke, his voice in a rasp.

“God, Allison, you’re so hot.”

My eyes widened at the use of my full name. In all the time I’d known him he’d never done that. Not even in the times that we would get along. Fuck, I wanted him to do it again.

As he lowered himself down, his hand slipped between my legs, his fingers finally making contact with the damp surface of my underwear. He pushed the fabric aside with his fingers and slowly teased the now exposed area with them, dragging them up and down slowly.

“For someone that hates me so much,” he spoke with a low voice, “you’re pretty damn wet.”

Before I could reply, his finger was inside of me, moving at a torturously slow pace, as if he was barely moving it at all. And it was then that I remembered he had that godforsaken ring on; the cold touch of the metal hitting my skin was the reminder.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you wanted to fuck me.” A second finger joined the first as he kept up the crawling pace. “Don’t you think so, Allison?”

A faint moan fell from my lips and I nodded my head, unable to form the words to answer his clearly rhetorical question.

“Mm. That’s what I thought.”

He sped up the pace slightly, but was still denying me the gratification that I desperately needed. I reached for his arms and tightly grasped them as he continued to move his fingers. And I thought that ring was hot before…

“Trent,” I breathed, swallowing hard afterward. “Shit.”

He leaned down and kissed me again, muffling my noises with his mouth as his tongue slipped past my lips and tangled with mine. With each movement of his fingers his pace quickened ever so slightly. And with those movements came moans that spilled from my mouth, mixed with his name, their only purpose being to fuel his ever-growing ego.

He knew I was close. He knew he brought me there himself. And because I knew Trent, I knew that there wasn’t a chance in hell that it would be that easy.

Slowly, he pulled his fingers back and eventually out of me. He flipped his hand over and gently grazed my skin with his knuckles, the ringed finger slightly sticking out from the rest. A quiet whimper left my mouth.

“You like that?”

Of course, I fucking liked it—it was obvious. He just wanted to hear me say it. Under any other circumstance, I wouldn’t have dared to give him that satisfaction, but I knew there would be no benefits to it at that moment. Slowly, I nodded, squirming in his grasp. “Yes.”

Then he took his hand away.

I groaned at the loss of contact. “What…what the hell?”

He let out a laugh and brought his hand up, then used the same motion of grazing my skin with his knuckles, this time on my cheek. “Problem?”

“You know my problem,” I replied through gritted teeth, still holding onto him.

“I’m not sure I do.” He moved his hand to my chest, then slowly slid it down to my stomach, but stopped just before he reached my waist, leaving me on edge again. “What is it that you want, hm? Use your words.”

“God, you’re such a prick.”

A grin spread across his face and he hooked his fingers in my underwear. He tutted and shook his head. “Is that how you ask?”

That did me in.

That filthy fucking attitude of his. As much as I hated to admit it, I was weak. It turned me on. I couldn’t take anymore of the incessant teasing, the way he was doing just about anything to delay my pleasure. To make me squirm. So I gave into him, because I had nothing else to lose.

“Finish what you started, Trent,” I breathed, then reached behind his head and pulled him down to me.

I felt his lips on my neck again, but his fingers remained hooked in the fabric, still brushing against my skin. “You’re missing something.”

A soft moan left my lips again as I felt him flatten his hand under the fabric. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he wanted me to do, but now I was willing to.

“Please.”

The familiar sensation of his fingers—including the ringed one—filling me returned and I groaned as he pushed them in, grinning down at me like a bitch.

He knew exactly how to move them, how to get me right where he wanted me without allowing me to protest. How to bring me to the edge and make me want

to beg for more. The mere thought of letting him control me like that normally wouldn’t dare to cross my mind, yet here he was, fingers deep inside of me, draining every last drop of strength from my body.

Finally my body gave in and let go, his name spilling breathlessly from my mouth as I fell from my high. He kept the movement of his fingers up, his lips trailing kisses down my jaw. My hand wrapped around his neck and my nails dug into his skin, causing him to suck air in through his teeth.

Once my body stilled, he slid his fingers out, then brought his hand up to his face. He parted his lips, and one by one he licked each finger clean, starting with his index. His eyes never left mine as he did so, and the sight of it was enough to bring me back to where I was before. He hummed as he reached the last finger and leaned in closer to me.

“Shit,” I groaned. God, he was hot.

He chuckled to himself and brought his lips to my ear. “Mmm.”

I squirmed in his grasp as he pressed a feather-light kiss to the skin of my ear, then moved to my chest and began kissing a path down to my stomach. He hovered for a moment before continuing down again. He pressed another soft kiss to the waistband of my underwear and he continued to leave more atop the fabric as he moved down.

“Anyone ever done this to you before?”

I nodded my head sharply, looking down at his head between my thighs. Of course, I’d been gone down on. I wasn’t as innocent as I might’ve led on.

“Was it good?”

“No,” I quickly answered, shaking my head.

It was always the guys who claimed to be good that weren’t. And it wasn’t hard to distinguish the difference between good and bad when it came to that. It was just never great. But for some reason, I knew that he’d be the difference.

He nodded and used his fingers to slip the fabric down my legs, then moved back up and used his hands to pry my legs open. I felt his warm breath hitting my skin as he drew in closer, then his lips lightly touched the now exposed area.

God, was I right.

I’d never met a guy who could use his tongue like that. I didn’t even know where he learned to.

All I did know was that the same infuriating person I was practically forced to grow up with now had his face buried between my thighs. And it felt so fucking good.

“Fuck, Trent,” I moaned as my hand snaked into his hair, grabbing a fistful and tugging slightly on it.

A faint moan of appreciation left his mouth and his hands gently rubbed my thighs as his tongue flattened and put pressure down. He placed more feather-light kisses on my skin, sending chills through my body. His tongue parted my folds, sliding up and down slowly. As he moved, his nose grazed the surrounding skin and I moaned breathlessly at the feeling.

My hand pushed his head closer as my body desperately begged for more. My hips writhed against his face and he responded to my movements, squeezing my thighs and grinning against my skin. His lips closed in on my clit, his tongue circling around the flesh as he sucked gently. When he opened his mouth once more, his warm breath hit the wet skin and I groaned in anticipation.

If anyone ever asked me to name one thing Trent Frederic was good at, I never would’ve said giving head.

Until now.

My grip on his hair tightened and his hands slid up and around to my hips, then held them down firmly. My thighs closed, wrapping around his head from the removal of his hands. “Oh, God.”

No guy that I’d ever been with could make me as desperate as I was with him. I felt weaker than ever after giving into him so damn fast. I wanted to stop it—to push him the fuck away from me—but every nerve, every muscle, every bone in my body wanted to keep feeling him. I craved his touch, and there was no denying that fact.

He kissed another path up toward my waist, stopping at my hips and breathing softly.

“No, please,” I breathed, brushing his hair back with my hand.

But he already decided that he was going to stop. His lips disconnected from my skin and he sat up on his knees, looking directly down at me. His fingers reached for the zipper on his pants, pulling it down promptly and starting to slip them down his legs. I watched silently as he pulled them off, his underwear with them, and let them fall to the floor.

I gulped, my jaw clenched as my eyes caught sight of him. There was nothing left to separate us anymore. And I knew that we wouldn’t stay apart for much longer.

He pushed my legs apart and settled between them, breathing heavily as he looked down at me. Soon I felt the familiar pressure as he slowly slid the tip of his cock up and down my folds, the action prying a long, weak moan from my throat. I watched as his eyes began to close and he hissed, sucking air in through his teeth.

“T…Trent,” I sighed, sliding my hands up to his shoulders. “Please.”

He kept moving it against me, depriving me of the gratification I desperately needed. I was already tense—close—and he was making it infinitely worse. The fingers of one hand extended slightly upward and held the back of his head as I took a shaky breath.

“Trent, please, I can’t,” I stuttered, swallowing thickly, “—can’t wait anymore.”

Finally, my pleads were answered as I felt the pressure of him pushing into me. Fuck, he felt incredible. He leaned forward, putting his arms on either side of my head to hold himself up enough to hover over me. I kept my hands where they were, gripping tightly as he found the right position.

He began to move, slowly at first, allowing me to adjust to him. Gradually he picked up speed, his breaths growing heavier as he thrust his hips into mine. Long, soft moans fell from my lips as he moved.

The tag on his chain hung in front of my face, dangling back and forth, taunting me. He noticed my eyes following its path and took it between his teeth, closing his eyes and taking a long breath afterward. He sucked in air, a low groan sounding from his throat after and I tightened my grip on him in response.

“Oh, fuck,” I muttered, whimpering quietly as he lowered himself down toward me.

He opened his mouth and the tag fell. I felt the cold, condensated metal hit the skin of my collarbone as it landed. He moved his head to the side of mine, bringing his ringed hand up to my face and lowering his voice.

“Tell me, Allison,” he spoke quietly, his voice almost a rasp in my ear. His fingers rested below it, pulling my head toward him as his thumb pressed firmly into my cheek.

“Has anyone ever fucked you right?”

“Yes, but,” I slid my hands up and around to his back, my nails pressing into the skin. “Not like this…not in a long time.”

Almost every guy was the same—devoid of any passion whatsoever, just wanting a quick fuck; so why bother caring about how I feel? Selfish. All they did was take and had nothing to give.

But none of that was true with Trent.

He responded to me with a low chuckle and nodded his head teasingly. He continued to move against me, his breath warm on my neck. The distance between our bodies finally closed as he lowered his full weight down onto me, and a single arm wrapped around me, pulling me up to him by his flattened hand on my lower back.

I leaned up and kissed him again, allowing his tongue to slip past my lips again and he groaned softly. What I would give to hear that sound over and over again. Shit, every time he does it I fold.

“Fuck, Trent, I’m close.”

“I know,” he mumbled against my lips, taking a staggered breath. “I can feel it.”

His movements grew faster, driving me up the bed as I gripped him tightly, and it wasn’t long before I felt myself giving in and tightening around him. He hissed, sucking in a breath as I let out one of my own, the noise sounding as a moan of pleasure. His name spilled from my lips—more times than I’d like to admit—and I could feel him twitching inside, on the brink as well.

I reached up and scooped a handful of his hair into my hand, gripping it tight with my fingers. “Trent,” I swallowed, “please.”

Soon, he let out a heavy breath and warmth began to spread in my stomach, eliciting a deep sigh from my throat. The feeling of his release—the sensation of it coating my insides—was nothing short of incredible. I gripped him tighter, my body tense as his thrusts slowed.

“Fuck, Allison.”

The sound of my name flicked a switch in my brain, causing the relentless thoughts from before to resurface and whirl in my head.

He fucked you, the voice inside screamed. You’re supposed to hate him, and you let him fuck you.

But I didn’t care anymore; I was too busy relishing in the feeling of it all—the feeling of him. The way he was prying unstable breaths from my mouth and leaving my body feeling oh, so pleased.

And if that wasn’t enough to make me stop caring, maybe it was the burning feeling of him slowly dripping down my inner thigh.

After pulling himself out, his spent body remained atop mine, his chest visibly heaving above me as his head laid next to my own and his face found itself buried in my neck. He pressed a light kiss to the skin, then another, then a few more in the surrounding area.

“I don’t hate you, Trent.”

The words came out soft—he needed to know I was being sincere. It was the first time I’d ever said it out loud, but I knew that I meant it. It wasn’t until he left St. Louis that I realized the truth.

It’s been a long time since I’ve hated him.

His head lifted and he kissed me gently as his hand rose up to cup my cheek. “I know.”

My hand was still in his hair as I rolled my eyes and shook my head, gently scratching his with my nails. I let out a chuckle and sighed.

“Asshole.”

“I’m not that bad and you know it,” he rebutted teasingly.

A smile tugged at my lips. “Fine,” I gave in, “you’re right.”

There was a brief moment of silence after that. I took the time to look at him. To admire him. His eyes, his nose, his faint little smile—all of the things I refused to get to know before, yet they already had familiarity to me.

Before I could stop myself from saying another word, my mouth opened to speak.

“Stay with me.”

Without missing a beat, he nodded, then rolled off of me and faced me as he laid on his side. His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me in gently. By then, I’d already shifted onto my side as well, so my back pressed up against his chest once he pulled me in far enough.

“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” he finally spoke softly into my ear.

Another sense of warmth—this time from emotion—flooded my stomach. I giggled softly and smiled gently at the words.

It was then that I decided that I was going to stop worrying about what happened and just let myself enjoy it. Enjoy him. I left my distress to be dealt with in the morning. I was satisfied as long as I got to spend this moment with him, free of regret. So I relaxed into him and let my eyes flutter shut as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head.

“Night, Allison,” he practically whispered into my ear.

But even through all of tonight, something still felt off to me. And it didn’t take much longer for me to figure out what.

“Call me Al.”

#fanfic #boston bruins #trent frederic #trent frederic fic #trent frederic smut #bruinshockey #hockey #hockey fanfic #hockey fanfiction

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swimmingismywholelife · 5 months

Text

Goodbye Christmas

Summary: While everyone else is celebrating the holidays, you can't help but wonder if things could've ended differently if you had just taken a chance.

Warnings: SO MUCH ANGST, unrequited love, SUPER heartbroken reader

WC: 2.2K

A/N: 🎶On the fifth day of Ficmas my writer gave to me, unrequited love with Kai🎶 I actually love Kai and Sophia fuCK WHEN IS IT MY TURN

Link to the Song: Goodbye Christmas

"I'm falling, I'm falling down

Everyone's happy now, but I'm alone tonight

Don't let me, don't let me drown

It's too late to say I love you, babe, gooodbye."

~~~

"I'm so happy for you!" Lea squealed as she hung lights on the wall. "You and my brother were basically meant to be together!"

Sophia smiled brightly at her. "I'm so happy with him. Like I really can't believe how lucky I am to have him!"

"The two of you deserve each other," Lea replied. "You bring out the best in one another in a way I've only seen in true love."

"Oh stop," Sophia blushed. "Honestly, it's all thanks to Y/N here anyway. I owe you so much for bringing me to Kai. None of this would even be possible without you."

Now it was your turn to blush as you placed the mistletoe over the door. "I didn't even do anything dude. You guys hit it off all on your own."

"But it was you who introduced the two of us all those years ago!" Sophia protested. "Why do you think I asked you to be my maid of honor? Because you're the best friend ever who brought me so much love in so many different ways. And I love you!"

"I love you too, Soph," you said, tears forming in your eyes.

"GROUP HUG!" Lea shouted gleefully. She forcefully threw herself onto the two of you, squeezing you together.

"Oh God," you said as she squished you together, the three of you giggling together.

Sophia had been your best friend for as long as you could remember. You'd moved to Germany at a very young age into the house right next to hers. Your parents wanted to get to know some of the neighbors, bringing food to show a gesture of goodwill. You shyly complimented Sophia's hair, and she immediately declared you to be her best friend for life. And from that day forward, the two of you became inseparable.

You'd met Kai playing football. He just happened to be playing on the same field as you one day and was thoroughly impressed with your passion despite not wanting to go pro. Eventually, just playing on the field turned into hanging out all the time, leading you to become incredibly close. It was you who convinced him to join Leverkusen and showed him that playing seriously on a professional level was an option. And it was you who he often thanked in interviews for getting him to the level that he was playing at.

While Sophia was your girl best friend, Kai was on a different level. He understood you in ways that no one else could and despite his busy schedule, he was always there whenever you needed him to be. He often brought you food when you were studying, he held you when you cried, and he was always there to listen. He was kind, caring, ambitious, and he was one of the only people who you felt truly being comfortable around. He was everything you could've wanted and more.

You couldn't help but develop feelings for him as you grew into your teenage years. And as more time passed, the stronger your feelings became. You found yourself holding back the urge to hold his hand, to kiss him senseless, to be held in his arms even when you weren't crying. You sensed that maybe he felt it too when sometimes you found him looking at you when you weren't doing anything special, when his hugs lingered longer than usual, when he started bringing your favorite snacks everywhere you went. But you were too afraid to say something. And your friendship was too important for you to ruin. So you just kept quiet, keeping your feelings to yourself.

One day, you'd invited Sophia to watch one of Kai's football games. It was surprising they hadn't met each other considering how often you hung out with both of them separately. So you took matters into your own hands. You were so excited to finally introduce your two best friends to each other, knowing they'd get on well.

You didn't anticipate how well they'd get on, clicking almost instantly. From the moment they locked eyes on one another, you knew something sparked between them whether they knew it themselves or not. They'd starting spending a lot of time together, more than you did with either of them. While they never neglected hanging out with you, you certainly noted that they talked about each other to you quite a lot. Maybe this was the time for you to be honest with the both of them.

But you were still too afraid. Every time you tried to confess, you found a way to change the subject and move on. You didn't wanna ruin anything. So you just kept the feelings to yourself.

You'd never forget the day when Sophia confessed her feelings for Kai.

"Hey Y/N, can I be honest about something?" she asked as you went out for coffee one day.

"Yeah, of course!" you said. "What's up?"

"So you know how Kai and I have been hanging out?" You nodded. "I think I like him, like a lot," she gushed. "We have so much in common! And he's charming, he's funny, and he's just so amazing!"

You could feel your hopes shatter into pieces.

"Oh really?" you asked weakly.

"I know it's kinda stupid of me to ask you, but do you think I have a chance?" she asked. "Do you think he likes me too?"

Your heart felt heavy. Your best friend liked him. Really liked him. And you knew that being honest with her about how you felt would cause a rift. Sophia meant the world to you, and you didn't want to put her in a position where she couldn't be happy with someone for the sake of your friendship. So you kept your feelings to yourself.

"Yeah, I think you do," you replied softly. "And I think you're gonna be great for each other."

The double whammy hit you a few weeks later when Kai also confessed how he felt about Sophia.

"Soooo, I wanna be honest with you about something," he said as he watched you juggle the ball.

"What, that your last game was shit?" you joked.

"Fuck you," he said. "But no, something more like serious I guess."

You kicked the ball up, catching it in your hands. "Alright. What's bothering you?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I don't want this to be weird because I know she's your best friend, but I've been hanging out with Sophia a lot." Your heart dropped for the second time in the span of a few weeks. "And I like her a lot. And if I'm being completely honest with you, I can see myself going really far with her. Like I could really fall in love with her if I let myself."

"That's great," you forced out. "I'm glad you have someone you feel that way about."

"I've been thinking about it a lot, and I think I'm gonna ask her out. But I know she's your friend and I wanted to know how you felt about it," he said.

"Kai-" You stopped yourself. This was your chance. This was it.

"I think you should go for it. You've got a pretty good chance with her," is all you said instead.

And a few weeks later, Kai took his shot.

When they announced their engagement to you, it didn't come as a surprise. After all, Sophia moved with him when he left for London. From the moment they were together, they were always in it for the long haul. You were excited for them of course, but you couldn't show either of them how much pain you were in at the thought of their marriage. Even when Sophia asked you to be her maid of honor, you couldn't tell her. You didn't tell anyone about your true feelings for Kai. You couldn't. You'd ruin the atmosphere and potentially even your friendship with everyone. You couldn't risk it.

So here you were, visiting her and Kai for a Christmas get together with some other friends and family. You and Lea had graciously "volunteered" to help Sophia set everything up. And by volunteered, it really meant Sophia didn't give you a choice. But her giddy attitude was too infectious, so you couldn't help but give into her.

The party, of course, went off without a hitch. It had to be with Sophia in charge. And you thoroughly enjoyed yourself a lot more than you'd initially thought. It was a lot of fun to meet some of Kai's teammates, both old and new. It helped get your mind off your broken heart.

At some point during the night as everyone prepped for midnight, you found yourself sat on one of the windowsills hugging your knees to your chest, staring at the snow gently falling to the ground. You leaned your head against the cold glass feeling the chill run through your body. You sighed wishing you could turn back the clock and took the chance to be honest with your friends.

"What are you doing here all alone?" you heard Kai ask from behind you.

"Just thinking," you said, not bothering to turn around.

"Anything you wanna talk about?"

'I'm in love with you, Kai. I have been since we were kids and it hurts so much watching you marry my best friend,' you thought to yourself.

"Not anything in particular," you'd responded instead. "Just enjoying the snowfall."

"Can I join you?" Kai asked. You nodded, hugging your knees closer to you.

A comfortable silence fell. Words never needed to be exchanged to feel safe with him.

"You know, I wanted to thank you," Kai started. "For bringing Sophia and I together. I know I talk all the time about how she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, but it's really all thanks to you that we're even here to begin with."

"Sophia said that to me earlier too," you said smiling softly, turning your head slightly to look at him. "There's no need to thank me really."

"It's funny," he said. "When I was younger, I always pictured myself with you actually."

Your heart stopped for a moment. "What?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I could've sworn I was in love with you for all of my teenage years, especially while I was at Leverkusen."

"Really?" you said weakly.

"It sounds crazy, I know, because you didn't feel the same way and I was too afraid to say something."

You couldn't have been more heartbroken. Kai had felt the same way. But you were too afraid to say something and kept the feelings to yourself. And now it was too late.

"I thought I knew what real love was, but then you brought me to Sophia," he said. "That's when I understood what it was really like. I just had a really strong crush on you, I guess."

"Oh," is all you said. You didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, I know it's a little strange to bring it up now, but I figured in the Christmas spirit with the new year approaching it was the best time," Kai replied, "since this is my last Christmas before marriage and all."

"Thank you for being honest with me," you said quietly. "I really appreciate it."

"This doesn't make anything weird or anything like that, does it?" he asked.

You forced a smile that you were hoping he couldn't see past. "No, of course not. That was years ago anyway. We're past that now right?"

Kai let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. I mean Sophia knows too. She actually was a bit hesitant when I first asked her out because she was convinced you were in love with me. Weird right?"

"Yeah, weird."

Another silence fell as you tried keeping your emotions in check. You couldn't break down in front of him. Not now.

The grandfather clock chimed, signaling that midnight had arrived. You looked over at Kai, your heart completely shattered.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!" you could hear Sophia screaming, making the two of you laugh.

"We better go before she starts yelling at us," Kai said, gesturing to get up.

"I'm gonna stay here a little longer, but I'll join you guys in a bit," you responded.

"Are you sure you don't wanna join the festivities?" he asked.

You nodded. "I'll be right there. Don't worry about me."

"I always worry about you, dummy. But I'll leave you to it," he said, patting your head. "Don't be too long though."

He stood up, gently dusting himself off. "Merry Christmas, Y/N. I'm so grateful to have you," he said.

"Merry Christmas, Kai," you said. "I'm grateful to have you too."

You watched longingly as Kai walked over to Sophia. The two of them had nothing but pure love as they looked in each other's eyes. He held out his hand for her to take, gently twirling her around before bringing her into a kiss under the mistletoe you'd placed earlier that day.

"I love you," you whispered, only allowing yourself to hear the words you so desperately wanted to say to him. And you kept the feelings to yourself and let the tears finally fall.

Taglist: @thoseboysinblue @neverinadream @chilwellspulisic @lovelynikol16 @lizzypotter14 @pulisicsgirl @notsoattractivearenti @shadowscorch @nyctophilic0vitnir

#kai havertz #kai havertz imagine #kai havertz au #kai havertz one shot #kai havertz fic #kai havertz x reader #footballer au #footballer one shot #footballer x reader #footballer fic #footballer imagine #swimmingismywholelife

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romanestuffsposts · 7 months

Note

Hiii. Can i have a request where daddy stucky and little reader goes to a halloween party and they have matching costume? And little just so happy that she and her daddies matching?

Hi there love! 💜

We’re finally on this time of the year aren’t we ? I’m so excited, I love this special date so much and I absolutely love that I get to write your request for this too! ❤️

Enjoy <33

****

Warnings : Halloween party, danced, costumes, pet names, kisses, fluff

Pairings : Daddies!Stucky ; Daddy!Bucky x Papa!Steve x Little!Reader

Summary : Halloween party at the tower

****

Halloween.

One of your favourite date of the year, with your birthday and Christmas of course. You loved the fact that you can dressed up like you want without being judge. You love that you can be silly with a costume without caring about others.

You also love watching and admiring the costumes of people around you or the decorations people add to their house for this particularly day. The same colors always come back but strangely, nobody get tired of them.

But what you love the most is the party Tony always throw for special occasions. You spend the funniest night ever there with everyone and it feels like an eternity to wait each year a year.

You couldn’t stop asking yourself what your friends will wear for the party. One year Tony dressed up like Hulk just to annoy Bruce so the year after Bruce dressed up like Iron man to annoy Tony too.

Even tho you don’t understand why it annoyed them that much that the other is dressing like him you still found it very funny to watch.

What you don’t know is that they did it on purpose because they saw your smile and heard your laughters and the other’s too when it started so they made it a bigger deal to put on a little show.

Last year you had dressed up in your Daddies, you wore blue clothes with a grey arm and a little sheld that had the star of your Daddy in the middle. You wore the mask of your Daddy and the blue thing your Papa has on his head whenever he is Captain America. You never remember how he calls it tho.

But for this year you wanted to have a matching costume with your Daddies. You wanted to be just like them and how could they not agree ?

You wanted to wear something special, something that meant things to your Daddies. You hadn’t experienced the war but your Daddies did and even tho the end of it was traumatising for them, it was still a special period for them. After all, it was the time they fell in love with each others.

So when you woke up one week before the party, you knew what you will wear. You walked to your Daddies’s room and exposed your wonderful idea.

For the rest of the week, you all had worked on your costumes and it was the funniest week you had since a long time. You couldn’t stop playing and marbling each others with the glue or the strass.

‘’Wow look what fo we have here’’ Scott exclames when you enter the living room. As usual, you were late. You couldn’t find your favorite shoes, your Papa couldn’t find his keys and your Daddy just laughed and watched tou from the couch without helping. So of course you were late.

You laugh at Scott’s costume. He’s dressed up like Harry Styles from the time he was in the group One Direction. You thought they all would dressed up in something scary but apparently you weren’t the only one who had a soft costume.

‘’Are you mocking my costume ?’’ He arches an eyebrow at you. You shake your head while trying to swallow your laughters but failed ‘’yea well at least we can tell what I am. You are just a bowl of green, what are you ? An apple ?’´ he scoffs and crosses his arms against his chest

You narrow your eyes at him ‘’I’m a soldier’’ you defend. He breaks into a smile and learns forward ‘’i know pretty girl. I’ll just messing with you. I really love your costume’’ he winks.

You smile and giggle a little.

‘’Want something to drink, babyd- I mean sergeant’’ your Daddy says with a silly grin. You straight your back and turn around ‘’I want a cola, soldier’’ you answer

‘’Sorry sergeant, we can’t autorise you to drink that’s he answers. Steve watches with a smile at the two of you being postured like real soldiers.

Your straight face immediately fall and you pour ‘’oh please Daddy’’ you walk toward him and climb in his arms, all seriousness forgotten ‘’jus for tonight’’ you give him your most beautiful eyes you could do- even you, are about the break even tho it’s not for you the pouty face

Bucky’s eyes shift to Steve as he tries to not smile at how cute you are. Steve shrugs and Bucky lets out a sigh ‘’you can have half of a full cup. But that’s only because you’re my superior and I don’t want to get fired’’ he jokes on the last part.

Even tho it’s not much, you let out a loud yell of joy and run in the kitchen were you met Natasha and Wanda. Natasha is a beautiful black cat and Wanda is dressing in something weird, you don’t know what is it and you don’t want to hurt her by asking.

So when she asked you if you like her costume you put on your prettier smile and nod your head.

‘’What do you need from her, sweetie pie ?’’ Natasha asks as she finishes preparing some things to eat.

‘’Daddy said that I could have half of a full cup or cola for tonight’’ you proudly and happily say. She chuckles softly and served you your drink ‘’here you go’’

‘’Thank youuu’’ you smile as the cola is now on your hands.

‘’everyone is in the living room, you can go, we’ll be there in a bit’’ Wanda kisses your temple before focusing back on her food.

Once you reach the living room you see everyone on the couches, as expected. You immediately go were your Daddies are and wiggle your little butt in between them.

You take your time to drink your cup so you can enjoying it as you listen to what people around you are saying. Your Papa’s hand is rest on your thigh as he’s in deep conversation with Thor.

You had spend a really good time at this party. You ate all good things that were prepared for dinner, everything at the form of things from Halloween so you enjoyed it a lot more.

When people asked you about your costume you were proud to say that you had matching costume with your Daddies. You said it to everyone who smiled or even looked at your costume, even the people you didn’t know.

You also danced with your Daddies. You were in your Daddy’s arms and danced with him rapid dance and when it was slow and soft you danced with your Papa, forehead against forehead and his hand in yours as he turns you two around.

It was such a special night.

You are already excited for the next year’s party

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marauder-exe · 3 months

Text

Love in the Time of Zombies (1)

Pairing: Glenn Rhee x Reader

Words: 722

Synopsis: Glenn stumbles into a young woman searching for supplies

No warnings. This is part one of a series im creating. Be kind, i havent written in years. Let me know what you think.

The tin can dropped to the floor with a sharp sound. She winced as it echoed through the aisles of the store. She didn't dare to move a muscle, fearing the sound had drawn the attention of walkers. She felt as though this supply run might not end up being worth her while. Just as she slowly moved to pick up the can off of the floor, a figure whipped around the corner of the aisle. She almost shrieked but knew better than to create more noise than she already had. She looked up at the figure, holding a gun right at her head. However, when he noticed all the cans in her hand, he seemed nervous and retracted his gun.

"Oh gosh I'm sorry, I thought you were a walker." He blurted out, his hand grazing the back of his neck. "'s alright, I would've done the same thing if I had heard you" She laughs slightly, trying to calm her racing heart. He chuckled in response, eyeing her arms full of different cans and boxes. "Supply run?" He questions. She looks down at her arms and laughs, she must look so ridiculous right now. This small girl, carrying her own weight in long-life tins of beans. "Yes actually, the house I'm stowed away in doesn't have much left, I thought I'd replenish my stock, are you doing the same?" Although his arms are empty, he carries a large backpack that one could only assume is for supplies.

"Yes, I'm the usual runner for my camp, just outside the city, Are you holed up by yourself in the city?" If he was honest, he was just happy to stumble upon a new face, being around the same people for so long can become grating, but he would never tell them that. "Yeah." She looks down to the floor. "I never found a group to merge with when this all started, so it's just been me and my trusty baseball bat for the past few months." She seemed sad. He thought he would be too if he had been alone for this long. He glances behind her and sees a beaten-up baseball bat lying against one of the shelves. Not the weapon he would choose, but it seems to be working for her. It may have been her big, shining eyes, the way she looked up at him, or just how resourceful she looked. But he soon found himself inviting her to join him on his way back to camp.

"Would you like to come back to our camp?" He questioned nervously. She looked up from what she was searching for on the shelves. Glenn could see immediately how her demeanor changed. Her eyes shined with joy and a newfound hope. Something he hasn't seen in a long time. "Are you being serious?" A smile erupted on her face as she bounced with joy like a child on Christmas. He was slightly taken aback by her immediate change of character, but he welcomed it nonetheless. "Y-Yeah of course! It's always nice to have new faces helping around the camp. Im Glenn, By the way." She put down her belongings and reached out to shake his extended hand. "Well Glenn, consider me your new best friend because I am so in!" She jumped up and down like an excited child. Her happiness was contagious as a smile filled Glenn's face. "Do you want to finish gathering your supplies and we can go on our way?" She nodded in agreement, scrambling the things she had collected into her backpack.

She wandered around the store, picking up a few more things as she went along. This was the first time Glenn fully took her in. She looked rough around the edges, but that was to be expected. Her hair flowed down her shoulders as if she had just washed it yesterday. She was dressed in shorts and a tank top, her waist lined with some sort of tactical belt, adorned with knives and utilities. A well-prepared girl indeed. She bounded back over to him, her backpack full, with a smile on her face. "Are you ready to go?" She questioned, snapping Glenn out of his thoughts. He smiled back at her, holding his arm out for her to grab. "Let's go." And off they went.

#glenn #glenn rhee #glenn rhee x reader #glenn rhee x y/n #glenn rhee fanfiction #the walking dead #twd #daryl dixion x reader #rick grimes x reader

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hwaightme · 1 year

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The Chemistry of Christmas

❄️ pairing: hongjoong x fem!reader (+implied woosan) ❄️ genre: fluff, christmas, opposites attract, mutual pining ❄️ summary: How could two people with such different views hope for the same thing? You, a logical and ambitious professional hiding a torrent of emotion within just to pave your future. Kim Hongjoong, your kindhearted and gentle friend and co-worker, who wants nothing more than to live in the moment. In this battle against time counting down to Christmas, will you be able to find your forever and make your wish come true? ❄️ wordcount: 10.6k ❄️ warnings/tags: language, explicit mention of alcohol, some get drunk, suggestive (very much so at times so minors please be mindful), ateez is a research group, christmas getaway, reader is ambitious and got that powerful energy, shy hongjoong, opposites attract, tension, back and forth, woo tormenting hwa like no tomorrow, hj and reader are nanoscientists, a bit of a work au, lmk if anything else ❄️ a/n: hello everyone! I'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and thank you from the bottom of my heart for the love and support you give. I am wishing for this celebration to bring you joy and adoration! I hope you enjoy this piece, and stay tuned for more to come! Reblogs, likes and follows always welcome <3

Magic in the air.

As though by a mysterious force, the city transformed in unison to a festive wonderland, much to the delight of its dwellers and visitors alike.

From the gorgeous trees to the intricate storefront decorations, to the aroma of sugar and spice travelling in the air from the cosy markets, the season was truly the one that kept on giving.

If that was not enough this year took things up a notch, with impressive snowfall for the majority of December. The quaint suburban neighbourhoods had come to look like miniatures from beloved fairy tale stories, while the high streets and city centre had taken on an astonishing glow. The temperatures kept on dropping, while the hearts of those around kept on getting warmer.

For you, Christmastime was most probably the best time of the year. You adored wishing merriness to the assistants at your favourite shops. Walking past the myriad of houses with wreaths, spotting Christmas trees glowing within and seeing people simply living in the miracle put a pep in your step. The exclusive beverages that were released just this time of year instantly were on your list to try, and never failed to cheer you up, ready for the day ahead.

And that was the secret behind how you came into work, beaming, in the depths of the ‘gloomy winter’, cheeks and nose flushed from the biting cold. The institute, where you were proud to be a fulltime researcher in the nanoscience department, could not escape from the cheer either and as you traversed the many corridors of your second home, the offices and laboratories bore hints of the season, be it in a stray bauble or bell on a door handle, or a bow pinned to a wall.

As you turned the corner, you did your research group’s usual routine of saluting the skeleton you permanently borrowed from the medicine department, now dressed up as Santa Claus. You were careful to not spill the tray of hot drinks you had picked up on the way as you completed the gesture. Noticing a couple more holiday cards set down on the floor under it, you hummed in approval. This was what academia was all about, folks. Slow and steady, you swiped your card on the scanner right above your office’s handle and followed with a practiced push down and shouldering of the door. This space was shared between you, and eight other fantastic researchers – all of you recent graduates, brought together by

The office was fairly large albeit bland, with space for nine desks – all in threes, with one to the far left against the wall, and two rows facing each other in the centre of the room. Each sported an ancient monitor and computer that were left unchanged because they still worked and were the only system that could be trusted with running the expensive and time-consuming simulations. A dramatic irony for any budding scientists-to-be who were all about innovation and equated research to being on a spaceship straight out of a science fiction movie. To the right was the ‘recreation station’ – a line of furniture collected from yard sales and second-hand shops, namely a duo of flimsy terrace chairs under the far window, a couch that had to undergo extensive treatment to get the stench of cigarettes out of it, and one of the better investments: a movable cupboard that housed kitchen paraphernalia and a microwave.

This was where you set down the tray, out of fear that if you were to tempt fate any longer, you were going to bring less than welcome floor decorations to the shared space. Besides, you did not want to be scolded by the resident cleanroom aesthetics activist, who was already giving you concerned glances from across the room. It was still surprisingly empty, given the time. You glanced at the clock on the wall, barely making out a 8:30AM on the dot behind the snowman face that someone taped on. You sure knew how to time your commutes down to a t. Right, time to get started.

“Good morning how is everyone doing?” you called out to the four men who had already arrived and were sleepily checking through their emails.

The chorus of greetings and friendly waves as they got out of what was a near trance was enough to remind you why you were grateful to be working here. Even on days when all of you were busy, or when life was continuously throwing stress tests, all you had to do was call out, and they would be there.

The youngest of the crew, Jongho, was quick to get up and saunter over to you. He looked expectantly at the drinks, while you took off your hat and ruffled your hair.

“Good morn’, Y/N, I see you are starting off early with the celebrations huh?”

“Never too early to pre-game, man, never too early. Here is your americano, by the way.” You turned to pick out the coffee, still piping, and passed it over to your colleague.

“Life saver, thanks.”

You watched in awe as he took a sip with a completely straight face, your own mouth feeling the ghosts of a burn. Fighting the shudder that was about to run down your body, you decided to unpack the carrier tray fully, and leave the rest of the drinks at their respective target desks. While doing so, two of your other close colleagues, Seonghwa and Yunho, approached you, pretending as though they were not about to snatch their beverages and run into hiding. You raised an eyebrow as Yunho did a little crab-like sidestep around you, having spotted his requested latte and wanting to reach for it.

“Go ahead, be my guest.”

“Thanks, and guess what, the Christmas crackers that had been delayed have arrived this morning!” he fist pumped the air as you thanked him for agreeing to sacrifice his apartment for any extra deliveries.

Once more, you turned to Seonghwa, who gave you an appreciative grin once you informed him that he was to receive a hot chocolate. Afterwards, you were quick to position the drinks on the respective four desks closest to you, saving your order and that of the man who was now standing before you, for last.

“Good morning, Y/N, thank you so much for this. Exactly what I needed.” He expressed, his musical voice washing over you.

“Good morning, Hongjoong.” You could not help but drop your voice into a half-whisper, unable to retain the previously more friendly and confident composure upon seeing his glinting eyes. Gazing at you as though, in that moment, you were the only one to exist in this space.

He pointed at the coat that you were yet to take off, inquiring “need help with that?”. You happily obliged.

He had to be the closest thing there was to an embodiment of benevolence. Ever since you had met him in your second year of university, him being your senior and assistant in one of your classes, you noticed just how natural it was for him to connect with others, make them feel seen, understood, and appreciated. He was the type of man to sacrifice time even for the smallest of troubles, and you had seen him staying late again, and again, to help your peers with their work, their projects, and on the odd occasion, life troubles.

You had been amazed his having never treated the evident exploitation in an outwardly aggressive manner, instead independently choosing to sit and answer question after question, treating them all equally and repeating himself without a single inkling of doubt that he was merely doing his job. Initially you decided that this was not for you to inquire into, Hongjoong being fully capable of figuring things out for himself as a hardworking and high-achieving student. But that decision had not lasted even an hour, as in the class you had discovered obvious signs of fatigue. When you had heard your peer question him about his personal life and he fell into an awkward silence, you took it as a green light to steal him away, practically dragging him out of the door and wildly tapping in numbers on the coffee machine. Coincidentally, it was also winter then.

Since that exact moment, you and Hongjoong had become partners in crime. You would never admit it out loud, but he had been at the forefront of your mind when choosing what you were going to do with your life after university, even though you had told yourself time and time again that there was no chance, and that you should reduce your feelings to the nanoparticles that you studied.

As much as Hongjoong was there for you, his altruism and innate ability to bring people together, to lead, had unintentionally put some distance between you. Not that he could notice. He was oblivious to how you yearned for even a minute more of his time. He was likely unaware of how he was making you feel as he helped you take off your coat, hanging it on the rack with indescribable gentleness. How you melted like a snowman in the sunlight at his small gestures, how he took great care to let you walk to your workspace first and followed you with the early morning brews. If you had to describe what he was to you, to put it simply, he was your Christmas.

In a way, he was the opposite of you. You were that loud, heart on your sleeve type, bouncing off the walls if the energy in the room was right and sinking into the darkest brooding if you were to sense it. For the most part, you had figured out how to convert this energy into high octane work fuel, and no matter if you were going up or down on the roller coaster that was life, you found a way to use it. Be it by burning the midnight oil and letting cortisol guide you writing your thesis (which you had scolded Hongjoong for before, but he had graduated by the time the honour was bestowed upon you, so he did not have to know), or by repeating that everything was going to turn out okay like a mantra. You laboured away at bending the natural twists and turns of the ride, which was so unlike Hongjoong, that you could not help but be drawn to him and his inimitable openness.

You were one to feel hard and deeply, no matter how hard you tried to supress it. And this was both a curse and a blessing. To your advantage, you could enjoy the small moments, like you and four of the eight wonderful people who you had the honour of calling your friends after some time working together, sitting in the quietude of a cosy office that acted as your base of operations. Much to your disadvantage, you were very acute to Hongjoong’s presence immediately to your right, as he pushed his seated form closer to you. The rolling chairs hit one another with a soft thud as he leaned further forward to position his elbow securely on the desk and rest his head on the palm of his hand.

“Are you looking forward to the party tonight?” for a split second his voice sounded almost desperate, as though he was searching for something, or seeking confirmation. Any worry that you might have caught on his features quickly dispelled, however, as you mirrored his position and responded, studying him.

“Of course, I am. Getting to celebrate my favourite season with my favourite people, what more could I ask for?” you were not going to mention that you were looking forward to seeing Hongjoong sporting an ugly Christmas sweater, as commanded by the mutually agreed dress code, though you had no doubt that he would be able to pull anything off. On Halloween he managed to make a Despicable Me minion-inspired costume look a bit too good.

“Probably for your secret Santa to have actually taken their job seriously this year around, unlike-”

“Hey, Mingi was… considerate.” You interjected but failed to make a strong point as you recalled the hilarious combination of a nachos packet and a box of tissues, wrapped in paper that insinuated it was suddenly your birthday.

Whilst Hongjoong had been mortified, and Mingi was stock still, ears burning, the rest of the group had a blast breaking down into a laughing fit that had returned many times over the evening. This selection had obviously been made just after an event three days before the exchange, when you had knocked into Hongjoong full force, making him spill distilled water over much of your top.

“If you say so, but I bet this year is going to be much more exciting,” he winked. Luckily, he did not spot you stiffen at the action, as he was momentarily distracted by a notification, alerting him of a meeting he had to attend soon.

“Do you know who my secret Santa is, by any chance?” you tried, fluttering your eyelashes in a playful manner. He hummed, and lightly shook his head in disapproval, though his lips were curling into an adorable smile.

“Ah, I cannot neither confirm nor deny that, besides why would I ruin the anticipation? Patience is a virtue, etcetera, etcetera.”

“Says the guy who literally tried to speed run the preparation of a colloidal solution.” Seonghwa chided, looking over from his seat at the two of you, causing Hongjoong to make a sharp turn in his chair and argue that ‘it was an experiment and that he wanted to see what would happen just once’.

This was the never-ending debate of your office, so intrinsic to its function that you all ended up agreeing to set aside parts of the official group budget and of any new funding for something you had deemed ‘chaos expenses’ or, as once kindly called by Yeosang when someone had tampered with the electron microscope, ‘dipshit insurance’. You laughed at the exchange between the oldest members of your group, an unbeknownst to you, sent a shimmering light into your brunette deskmate’s chest.

He would do anything to hear your melodic laugh, or to watch your features soften as you let go of any stress that had plagued you. Thus, he had taken great pains to work behind the scenes for you, be it intercepting some unnecessary paperwork or figuring out laboratory access times for the entire team so that you could have your favourite slots. Sure, these were acts that benefitted everyone, but only your ‘thank you Joongie’ remained with him. The first thing he had taken note about you was just how valuable time was for you. How you spent it, where you spent it, with whom. So, he did the best he could to try to give you time that, as of late, had become his worst enemy.

In a way, you were the opposite of him. Whilst Hongjoong was one to strive for attempting every single thing in the book that was to do with whatever his passion was at a given point in time, you were one to be highly selective and strategic in your decision-making. As soon as he had spotted you in that one class for which he tutored, you gave off the impression of someone who already had everything figured out, or at least carried themselves very well, head held high and prepared to fight for what you wanted.

On the days when he doubted himself, Hongjoong would refer to himself as a jack of all trades, but master of none. The jack who never quite got why you had asked for his help in tutoring you anyways, but oh how grateful he was. You had appeared beside him, a saving grace, when he was about to collapse after over twenty-four hours of no sleep, vision blurry, struggling to process a single phrase. He could put up a powerful front, sure, and when he had presented his research at conferences, or was a representative of the university, and then the institute at various exhibitions and open days he was commended for his eloquence and ability to draw a crowd in. But that was what it was – a front. As soon as he was back to his and Seonghwa’s shared apartment, he wanted nothing more than to curl up and enjoy a steaming cup of coffee and let his mind wander. Reassess his work, seek unique paths to innovation, imagine what discoveries lied out there, waiting for him. To him, ironically, science was an art.

In his eyes, you were what should be under the word ‘scientist’ or ‘researcher’ in the dictionary. Every bit a logistician, you were the goal setter, the ambitious future leader. Leaving the experimental work to your collaborators, you were one to seek rationality and clear-cut formulas, to describe phenomena once and for all. You were driven to find truth in mystery, and positioned yourself as someone who was patient, strong-willed and would not veer off a path you had your mind set on. He had observed that you were equally as selective with who you were to allow to be part of your closer social circle, and very clearly knew your likes and dislikes.

This was why Hongjoong was confident that his blooming feelings were one sided. It was a dreamer versus grounded realist situation, but the dreamer could not help but fall. And fall deep. If he had to describe you in the spirit of the season, you would be a winter night. Freshly fallen snow, illuminated by fairy lights strung on pines next to whimsical brick houses, from which peered the domesticated fashionistas, adorned by baubles and garlands. You were the silent night, calm and bright.

When he had drawn your name out of the Santa hat that San was approaching everyone with a mere three weeks ago, dread filled him to the brim. It was the first time, since he had come to terms with his not so platonic feelings towards you, that he was being given the chance to give you something. And he was not going to let this slide as a silly tradition that was meant to be there for laughs and eventually, for the gift. No, he wanted something bigger, something that would be valuable to you, or at least make you reminisce.

After a bombardment of your respective inboxes by yet another email chain from one of the seniors, both of you settled down to get to work, pausing only to greet the late comers who had collectively groaned in discontent, comically lamenting the now lukewarm drinks. As you typed you took glances at Hongjoong out of the corner of your eye as he reviewed some notes he stored in a tattered manila folder, delicate ring-adorned hands flicking through the pages. It was easy to fall for the undivided attention he was capable of giving. It was especially easy for you, being someone who could not stop rushing, with a permanent tunnel vision. This was why you loved Christmas, and at this time of year, wanted to believe in miracles.

Hongjoong could sense your intermittent observation with his half-turned body and prayed you would not notice the light nervous tremor he was battling to hide. Albeit it was barely there, like snowflakes ending their dance on warm gloved hands, it was enough to envelop him and make him lose sense, anchoring only to your strong and sanguine being. As he began to gather his belongings and gave you and his friends a light wave to signify his departure to meet with his supervisor, his mind travelled to tonight.

During the year when the entire group had begun working together, and moved into the office, the door of which he had just propped open, by a shared initiative and the lack of desire to drift home to their families earlier than necessary, they had organised a new tradition for themselves. A break from the regular holiday routine in the form of a friendly get-together, with specially curated Christmas playlists, movies, mulled wine (perhaps a little bit too much mulled wine), and every other practice or interpretation that they could think of. So far, there had only been two such events, but not a single one of the large friend group could imagine celebrating in any other fashion.

This year, the festivities were bound to be different for Hongjoong. This year he was finally not foolish enough to deny that all of his wishes were dedicated to you, and that he wanted to be more than background music, more than someone on the side lines to you. Though you sat side by side, saw each other more often than the comfort of your own homes, this type of closeness was not enough for him. Hongjoong could imagine a barrier between you and him, a construction of whosever doing. He was sure you did not need him.

Much as you were sure he had never attributed anything aside from common courtesy and platonic affection to you.

Both you and Hongjoong, unbeknownst to one another, were wishing for the same thing this Christmas.

There was a major change of setting for the party from last year, when the nine of you had been crammed into the apartment that San and Wooyoung shared. By a stroke of pure luck, an uncle of Seonghwa’s had decided to travel abroad for the entire duration of the holidays, and upon hearing that his nephew was to be celebrating with what was presented to him as ‘highly professional company’, offered to give free reign of a cottage outside of the capital to the group. Under Seonghwa’s strict supervision, of course, but that went without mention.

After the clock had striked the mandatory early end to your workday, the group had scrambled to make it in time for the train, arriving at the station with only minutes to spare, and wading through swarms of travellers about to make similar journeys. The near miss had sent you reeling, but you bit back the string of curses and melted into bliss once you had taken in the shared optimistic mood of the crowd. Somehow, even the slow walkers with monstrous suitcases that were ready to burst did not phase you as you sank into your seat by the window.

You glossed over the platform and antique buildings that lined the tracks as the train departed. Previously polluted and unsightly, with soot caking the ventilators and any stone within immediate line of fire from the screeching train brakes, it was now laying under a blanket of glistening white, dormant until the winter chose to retire.

Hongjoong was equally mesmerised, peering over your form while unzipping his hefty bag to take out a camera. It was a vintage number, one he had stumbled across during a trip to an artisan market, and after tinkering with it for what had turned out to be a total of two months, selected it for this trip.

He was adamant, even being questioned repeatedly why he had an affinity for a camera that required film whilst he was working on nano electronics, that this camera was the best way to tell the story of the next couple of days the group was staying at the cottage. And he knew that you would be the first to understand.

As you pressed yourself into your seat to let Hongjoong snap a picture, took his concentration on the scenery behind the viewfinder as amble time to regard and commit the artist behind the camera to memory. How a stubborn lock of rich onyx locks hovered right over his soft brow, having made its escape out of the woolen hat he wore. How his glasses with a delicate golden frame suited his sculpted face perfectly, even tilted down to give way to the apparatus in his steady hands. He was one for keeping memories, snapshots to highlight the priceless instances that others plead for in times of need.

"Stay like that for a second." His dulcet tone took you out of your daze, and you shook your head in embarrassment, realising that he probably caught you ogling him.

"What?"

"Just do it for me, please?" He repeated himself, camera at the ready.

"Oh, come on, don't waste film."

"Who says waste? You'd be the best part." He whispered, unable to return your scrutiny and studying the leather detailing on the body of the camera.

"Cringe, but I'll let it slide." You finally uttered, laughing airily, and striking a pose.

Right when you were in motion, not a thought in mind except about the anticipation of the celebration ahead, Hongjoong snapped a segment of that joy, more satisfied than he let on.

Playful, you shifted in your seat and moved to place your hands over his. You were likely pushing it, but with the seasonal buzz fuelling you, your usual stoicism and preference to influence others with words only, could be stored. Despite the fact that you were of the opinion that you were not right for Hongjoong, and that you did not possess the delicate, nurturing aura he deserved, you were enticed by competition and challenge. Seeing him be friendly to others, going from meeting to meeting to appease even those who had much to learn from him, made you want to fight for his attention. You wanted him to be captivated by you, and you alone.

You took pleasure in his widening eyes and lips parting, as though in longing. It almost made you believe that he too, wanted something more than just the normal chatter about the superficial that you shared, and his avoidance of being in the same room for extended periods of time when it was just the two of you. As his orbs dashed from left to right, up and down, you scanned every part of his oh so irresistible face, and only shared with him a smirk to describe your intentions. In a blink you pried the prized possession out of his slackened grasp and in one swipe got the attached strap over his head. Simultaneously, all hints of the near sadistic taunting evaporated, and you were back to being an upbeat, jolly passenger on her way to indulge in festivities.

"Now you. Pose, Joongie!"

Your transition from an overwhelmingly intense stare down to now giggling and instructing him, singsong and almost childish, drove Hongjoong wild. It was as though under your outwardly collected and amiable demeanour there was a turbulent river, dangerously alluring and intoxicating. Much to his dismay, the moments you let this side of yourself shine through were few and far between, as rare as a blue moon.

It had not been the first time he had encountered this version of you, however. The first, one he did not need photographs of to burn into his retinas, was when he had completely forgotten about his promise to attend the institute-wide New Year's party last year, instead remaining in one of the laboratories, immersed in modelling the design of a nano robot that had been giving him much trouble.

When it was already approaching an hour before the monumental strike of midnight, you had appeared off to his side like a shadow, a lab coat loosely draped over your shoulders and, underneath it, revealing a breathtaking cerulean blue dress that highlighted all of your best features. He gulped. You were beautiful. So beautiful that it left him terrified.

Placing your manicured hands on his stiffened shoulders, you had purred in his ear, demanding he were to join you that instant at the party, adding that it was lonely without him, especially in a sea of tipsy researchers. He had not dared to even try saying anything in response, having become impossibly malleable putty under the challenging, unreadable once-over you gave him that he swore burned his skin.

And when during the party itself you had rapidly disappeared from his company, busying yourself with entertaining far too many of his colleagues for his liking, he came to the revelation that the one who he had considered to be his younger colleague, an ambitious professional who he had enjoyed working with and had a bond with all the way from his evolution through university, had control over his very being.

After that night, all he could envision when you approached him in the laboratories was that New Year’s. Hongjoong was afraid of just how much he yearned for your touch and for your command, directed at him, unintentionally sultry. So, he had made it a point to try use his friends as buffers between him and you, even though it was going against all that he wanted and needed and led to the others figuring out pretty quickly that he was not indifferent.

The first had been Seonghwa, who, admittedly, did well in maintaining his composure when Hongjoong grew undeniably shy around you, but then made the great mistake of mentioning the tension in the lab offhandedly to the resident chaos bringers. And once San and Wooyoung knew, everybody knew. Except you, because what would be the fun in that, right? A couple of times he had been threatened with being locked in a closet with you until he confessed, mainly by Jongho who sat on the other side of him in the office and was fed up with the dynamic that his recently single self did not want to deal with. Every time Hongjoong fought back with promises to confess later, and later, until now, nearing exactly a year since, he felt almost out of time. There was an urgency in his actions in the weeks approaching tonight, and your teasing wasn’t helping at all.

He swallowed his desire to close the space between you, and mimicked how you had posed for him, causing another chuckle. Soon enough, he too, was immortalised in that roll of film, your two photographs as mirror images of one another.

The rest of the journey outside the capital had passed as smoothly as it could, since you did not have to suffer the fate of being sat in front of or behind any of your rowdier friends, namely the discord duo and two of the tallest members of your group, who only needed a small catalyst to turn into hilarious menaces. They had occupied a four-seater with a table on the other side of the carriage and, after Yunho revealed a set of Cards Against Humanity that he had hidden in his mini suitcase, were now cackling uncontrollably at round after round. Eventually, Yeosang, who had previously been fully immersed in daydreaming with his noise-cancelling headphones on, decided to join them, and left the group dumbfounded at his beating San’s five-point lead.

Jongho was right behind you, typing without a minute’s pause on his laptop, and Seonghwa, who had occupied aisle seat behind Hongjoong, was in his own world, disconnected from the turmoil two metres away from him, probably zoning out to ASMR. The entire ride was dedicated to you and your seatmate, and after running out of things that you and him in your positively excited, but nervous states had deemed appropriate to discuss, agreed to share earphones and listen to some festive jams to set the mood. Soon enough, you were both quiet, with Mariah Carey’s hit taking on a slightly different meaning than last season.

“Wooyoung, please be careful and don’t fall down from the table. As much as I do enjoy cleaning I don’t want to clean a crime scene-” Seonghwa’s voice rang out across the house as preparations for the party were in full swing.

“I DO WHAT I WANT, MOM! And I am doing important work here, look at this beauty!” the younger retorted after putting finishing touches on the festive arrangement he decided to do on the living room chandelier, and hopping down from the piece of furniture, spiderman style.

You had to admit, it did not look terrible, though perhaps just a tad garish. At least he tried. You shrugged to yourself and turned back to place the final bauble on the Christmas tree that Jongho had been tasked to find and lug to the cottage as soon as you all had arrived.

The cottage was located on the outskirts of a small town, though even saying outskirts made the settlement appear much larger than it was in reality. It consisted of houses dotted around the wintery landscape and some clusters built up closer to the station and the high street - a single line dedicated to all forms of shopping and recreation now converted into a quaint Christmas market. The residents had not disappointed when it can to decoration either, with their porches and roofs made to look as though the walls were supposed to be made of gingerbread. When the group was making the trek to Seonghwa’s uncle’s vacant abode, you had also spotted a church a little further out, its gothic spires appearing to pierce the rapidly darkening sky and stained glass glowing from what had to be a myriad of candles within. This location looked to be a perfect holiday hallmark movie set.

As soon as you all dropped off your belongings in various rooms, with you being given the honour of having your own one, everyone got to work. The plan of operations, consisting of phases and checkpoints, was under administration of the two eldest, and yourself in the role of what Mingi had called ‘vibe control’, seeing as you were deemed the most festive of the lot considering how overjoyed you were to discover the utter beauty of the place where you were to stay the next few days. Phase one, which was performing a last minute venture to buy up drinks and food and, the crucial element - the tree, had been successful, and transitioned into Seonghwa and a snacking Yeosang cooking up a storm, Jongho and Yunho totally not trying to trip each other up into the deep snow while hanging decorations on the cottage’s façade, and the rest of you running around from room to room, leaving traces of glitter in random nooks and crannies as you tried to not totally ruin the otherwise tasteful interior design with festive visual noise.

For the most part, it ended up looking well put together, and you were proud of the Christmas tree that had been mostly your focus. Aside from the moment when Hongjoong approached you, beaming, a cardboard box in his hands.

“Is this a bomb?”

“Yes, totally, as if Christmas hasn’t already exploded in this house.” He countered, stretching his arms further out to hand the box to you.

“Good point. Then what-” you stopped mid-sentence as you revealed a set of what looked to be homemade tree décor. Test tubes and miniature conical flasks corked up and containing liquids and suspensions of various vivid hues. The creator of the set had to have been skilled, as the corks had very neatly attached metal eyelets, to which the much-needed strings were tied. You hooked one out of the box with your finger and admired how the shade of the contents changed with the flashing lights you had wrapped around the tree.

“Where did you find this?”

“I made it.”

“WHAT?” you shrieked, instantly covering your mouth as you did not want anyone to join in on your conversation just yet. Thankfully, at the same time the front door was flung open and the duo who had been outside ambled in, arguing about something to do with phosphorescence versus fluorescence.

Hongjoong, cheerful, was more than pleased with your reaction. During one of the events hosted in early December by the department head, you had been impressed by an arrangement of clamps that were positioned in a tree-like formation, each one holding a colourful test tube. He had wanted to replicate that moment, that sensation, for you, and so spent a week sprawled on the floor of his bedroom, gluing things together and practically recreating Heisenberg’s lab in his kitchen to make the substances. He had striked exclusively under the cover of night, which had scared Seonghwa out of his wits when he was awoken by the rumble of the kitchen extractor fan and strolled in to discover Hongjoong fully decked out in a face mask, goggles, silicon gloves, and pyjamas with teddy bears on them.

“You are going to take a photo of this beauty after we are done right?” You were ready to give him countless pecks on his cheeks with how adorable he looked blushing.

“Sure.”

“Let’s make this a chemis-tree then. Help?” You passed the test tube you were holding to him and set the box down carefully on the ground between you. In comfortable silence, you two moved around the tree, occasionally handing items across, in a tranquil symbiosis.

Hongjoong savoured the moments you accidentally brushed your hands with his, and inadvertently took in the light scent of your perfume as you snaked around him to re-hang a bauble in the shape of an angel. He wouldn’t be able to guess what brand it was even if he tried, but what he was sure of was just how well it suited you. With white floral top notes giving way to something much deeper and darker, it was your daring magnetism in a bottle. A stark contrast to the sweater you were wearing – a red, grey, and white combination with a design depicting reindeers dashing through the snow, with some hearts and trees dotted around along with ornate bands at the cuffs, base, and collar. You truly embodied a variety of contrasts, an enigma that drew him in.

You hovered for a moment, deep in thought as you spun the angel with your fingers, letting a sigh escape you as you hung it on a not yet overloaded part of the tree.

“What’s up?” Hongjoong was curious, seeing that the little toy had evoked a new emotion in you.

“Just remembered how when I was a kid, I loved to make snow angels. Like, really loved it. Did not care how deep the snow was, just let me lie in it and I was happy.” You recounted fondly while Hongjoong turned his shoulders to completely face you. Standing closer than friends should be.

“Let’s do it, then.” He was feeling courageous, wanting to repay you for your flirtations on the train ride to the cottage. You laughed, lightly tapping his shoulder.

“I think I am too old to do that sober now, need a bit more Dutch courage to go hop in a snowdrift.”

“I’ll make sure to give you a big mug of mulled wine then, angel.” He informed; his expression rather coy. You liked this kind of Hongjoong. Not wanting to drop the tension, you took the tiniest step forward, and murmured, low and slow:

“You go down with me, darling.”

Before Hongjoong could respond to your concealed provocation, a yell from an incredibly vexed Seonghwa near deafened you.

“WHO THE FUCK TURNED ELF ON THE SHELF INTO A STRIPPER? I SWEAR WOO IF IT WAS YOU, I WILL REARRANGE YOU LIKE A LEGO SET-”

“YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!”

Now that sounded about right for a domestic, festive scene. You and Hongjoong immediately began to search for the exhibit, finding it at the top of the stairs, where an innocent elf was made to be wrapped around one of the railings in a suggestive pose, and when a flash of bright red hair zoomed past you with an ashen blonde ball of anger following right behind, you guffawed, not stopping until your ribs began to hurt.

Poor Seonghwa had yet to find the other elves that were set out in unconventional poses and hidden in random places around the house. You personally had spotted one inside the bathroom cabinet and decided to let it be. Out of sight out of mind. An act commended by San who was tiptoeing out of one of the bedrooms, three more elves dangling from his clenched fist. He had simply given you a nod and placed his free index finger to his lips, which you did too in response, tapping a couple of times to show solidarity.

After the wave of life-or-death tag, and the gathering of the entire group in the living room, with Mingi having finally come down after napping through the majority of the prep, you breezed through setting the table, arranging Secret Santa gifts under the tree by transferring them from a grocery store bag that had been hanging on the office door for a week to avoid anyone having any clues, and then, finally, getting to sit down, take a deep breath, and simply enjoy.

Every bit of this was incredible. The food, the company, heck, even the stripper elf that Seonghwa ended up not having the heart to take down because ‘he did not want to be a Scrooge’. It was obvious that with every passing hour, the buzz was getting to you all, as the chatter was getting louder and louder, the jokes more and more ridiculous, and the questions more and more personal.

You were amidst an animated conversation with Yeosang about wanting to try snowboarding sometime and planning an imaginary trip to some mountain range far away when you were suddenly called for by Wooyoung, who was sitting at the far end of the table from you.

“Hey, Y/N,” he slurred a little, having been ‘taste-testing’ the spiced brew since before dinner, “are you dating anyone?” Yeosang grimaced, mouthing a ‘good luck’ to you, knowing that once Wooyoung entered his relationship talk state, he was near unstoppable unless some extreme topic change was made.

“Bro your boyfriend is sitting right next to you, and no thank you I don’t want a threesome.” You quipped, inducing a ripple of chuckles across the group. But Wooyoung would not let up, even though San was repeatedly nudging him under the table.

“Nooo… you know what I mean. Just generally. Like, do you have a designated mistletoe partner?” you did not like where this was going. Not one bit. Hongjoong, who was sitting on the other side of the table, right in front of you, visibly tensed, alarm bells ringing in his head.

“Uh, not at the moment.” You could not exactly lie, nor did you want to, seeing as the person you would not mind taking that role was right there, and for some reason looked oddly fearful.

“Great!” He exclaimed, and in a matter of seconds was standing on his chair, bending over the entire table, holding a mistletoe branch… over the table and not so discreetly changing its angle from you to Hongjoong, and back again.

You locked gazes. Panic rose in your throat. You did not enjoy this feeling; control being taken away from you, your friend toppling you over and shining a spotlight on you. And now a metaphorical knife was being wedged into your heart from having to witness what you perceived to be as total unwillingness in Hongjoong’s every fibre. Did you want this? Yes. Like this? Hell no.

Seconds passed like hours of torture, and each sound seemed to have amplified thousand-fold in volume. Lost, you were unable to decide your next course of action. Logic, your go-to for any situation, had failed. Emotions were a wreck. Oh, how you wanted this to stop. Anything you had hoped for until this moment shattered before you, scattering agonising pieces in all directions.

Was this his chance? It must be. Had he been sitting next to you, the space would have been no more in an instant. But the separation, once again that damn barrier, now also in physical form was preventing him from following through with what he wanted to express. This did not mean that he did not think Wooyoung had pulled a dick move, especially towards you, but Hongjoong had imagined what it would be like kissing you under the mistletoe. Wishful thinking, it seemed. All he could read across the table was discontent, and the recoil unlike that of a cat’s. He was running out of the time that he had wanted to give you.

Before either of you could do anything, Wooyoung gave out a yelp and almost toppled onto the remnants of dinner, saved only by a very quick to react San, who wrapped his arms around the slipping legs and weighed them down. Everyone was quick to turn their heads to the culprit – Jongho who was sitting unperturbed, arms crossed over his chest. Yeosang had been the saving grace, whispering for the youngest to figure something out in ‘Jongho style’. So, taking one of the apples from the fruit bowl, he took aim and hurled it with all his might where the sun did not shine.

“My bad bro, I hit the wrong head.”

Wooyoung was doubled over, and the mistletoe was lying all but forgotten among the randomly arranged side dishes. Seonghwa was failing to stifle a satisfied laugh, while Mingi was quite literally gasping for air, hiding his face in the tablecloth as Yunho was rubbing his back, a grin on his face. You let out a breath you did not know you were holding, and you absent-mindedly picked at your sweater.

“Right!” Hongjoong clapped to get everybody’s attention, wishing for nothing more than to move on from this ordeal. “How about before we get too drunk, we do the gift exchange, yeah? And DJ-Mingi, blast the tunes a little louder, it’s Christmas after all.” He pointed at the taller male, who was currently wiping tears from his eyes, still breathing heavy from the fit of giggles.

“Aye aye, captain!” he saluted and in a couple of strides was at the Bluetooth speakers, which now began blasting Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

As everyone got up and headed to the huge u-shaped sofa, something stopped you. Mystified, you noticed that the mistletoe branch was gone.

The incident was brushed over soon enough, and the group was now losing their minds over each other’s gifts. This year, there was a very interesting mix of both humour gifts and genuinely meaningful statements, but that was to be expected from a Secret Santa where one of the rules was to ‘go ham’.

Yeosang wiped his forehead in mock relief as he was safe from torment: he received a giftcard to his favourite fried chicken delivery place and a t-shape tool for his skateboard – an ode to his most popular complaint being that the wheels did not feel right, or he swore he had to replace something. Yunho wasn’t quite so lucky, on the other hand, having received a tub of Vaseline with a printed note taped onto it that read ‘for the times that your supervisor fucks you over’ – it was a known fact that his supervisor, an elderly and angry man in his sixties, was notoriously hard to impress, and at this point probably made Yunho lose too many nerve cells.

You were Seonghwa’s Santa this year and tried your best not to show your delight at him basically bouncing on the sofa as he unwrapped the set of holiday-themed lint rollers that you had bought. Then, it was your turn and your friends followed your movements as you searched under the Christmas tree to pick out the gift with your name. Sitting back down on the couch, you spun it in your hands. The container was two centimetres thick and square in shape, leaving you perplexed as to what was behind the wrapping. You initially thought it could be an album by an artist you had been raving about recently but had to delete that from your mind considering it would be way over budget. You peeled away the washi tape that was holding the paper together to be met by a wooden box.

Turning it the right way around, you lifted the lid, and gasped. Inside was a necklace – a thin thread-like gold chain, and on it an intricate pendant – a tiny clock, its hands frozen on eight thirty. You were overwhelmed, but from your lips rolled out one word of gratitude after another. You ignored a now tipsy Mingi booing and calling out that it was probably over budget. Maybe you would have agreed seeing as that was technically a rule but shit, you were over the moon. You flipped the pendant around and spotted a message engraved into the back, so small that it was barely there – only for you to cherish and hold close to your heart.

Forever is composed of nows.

Emily Dickinson, you note. A poem you had quoted, time and time again. But not to just any audience. You look up, cautious. The gift unwrapping had moved on, with Jongho currently being the centre of attention, so you use the chance to seek out the one who you were sure was your Secret Santa. And sure enough, his attention was already on you. As you had wished so many times. Kim Hongjoong. Your Christmas.

He was praying that you would like the present. To the point of mumbling to himself and flittering his fingers over the throw on top of which he was seated. The idea had come to him when he had to stay late in the office, waiting for a response from his supervisor, who he had no idea had already left for the night. As minutes turned into an hour, and the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock, with the outdoor noise having been absorbed by yet another snowfall, the pieces came together.

This quote encapsulated you both. On the one hand, you enjoyed it because the notion of ‘now’ being the way to shape the intangible future motivated you to remain organised, diligent, and focused on a specific path. On the other hand, he respected it for the interpretation that this forever had so many parts that it was crucial to not waste them on fixation and if they were to be captured, it was through the lenses of his beloved cameras. This collection of five words stuck a balance between Hongjoong and yourself, and explained that maybe, you were not quite so different after all.

The rest of the guys were tidying up the wrapping paper and some headed to the kitchen to carry the pot of mulled wine and the saucer, along with a champagne bottle Yeosang had produced out of the blue. You and Hongjoong let this particular ‘now’ continue for a little longer, knowing smiles on your faces, and the previous awkwardness over dinner erased. As you held onto the open box containing the invaluable message, you sauntered over to him.

“Thank you.”

He bit his lip as he lifted his head.

“May I?”

“Yes please.”

You turned and exposed your neck to him, moving your luscious hair to the side. Again, those black patchouli base notes that filled his head with only you. Hongjoong could finally pinpoint the rest of the bouquet, having recalled his housemate explaining the terminology after he had splurged on a luxury cologne and was trying to explain himself. He reached to take the necklace from the box, and not so accidentally caressed the sensitive skin as he clasped the lock. You explained that you wanted to see how it looked, so the two of you made a beeline for the full-length mirror at the entrance into the cottage.

You were inspecting the necklace in the mirror, still in shock at how it spoke volumes, nearing an inexplicable divinity. His body moving on its own accord, Hongjoong, who was standing behind you, gently placed his hands on your hips, and breath hot against your ear, complimented:

“I knew it would look brilliant on you.”

Your attention drifted back to Hongjoong, locking gazes with him through the mirror. He was all smiles, but for a split second you spotted something much more passionate. Intrigued, you wanted to test how far you could go before the man would snap. You were never one to back down from a game like this.

“Thank you, though I don’t think these clothes do it justice.”

“Hm?” you felt his grip tighten just a little, as his eyes shifted to your necklace once more.

“You know, maybe without them it would look even better, don’t you think?”

And there it was. The darkness only you could lure out from deep within him. A distant howl turned into a thunder, rolling across his body in waves. A man ready to do anything to drown in the turbulent river that had tantalised him for so long. A man lost in the silent night, at the beck and call of your voice that haunted him wherever he went. Hongjoong let out a shaky breath, his chest almost flush against your back as he held his head over your shoulder, level and mirroring yours.

“Do you know what you do to me?”

You smirked. He was still so heedful of you, navigating your ever-changing maze ever so slowly. But now, unlike before, you had a guarantee that the Hongjoong you had deemed to be attentive to everyone was, in fact, at your feet. You could finally read how he behaved around you. The adorable shyness, the inability to be alone with you for too long… it all made sense. Cute, precious Hongjoong. It was probably not the best conclusion to come to, but you felt powerful. Until the young man suddenly gripped your waist and spun you around, pulling you towards him until his face was so close you could count his beautiful lashes, study the intricate patterns of his irises, clouded over with emotion he had never revealed before, enticing you. He pressed his forehead against yours, eyes half-lidded and lips wet with his saliva.

“I’ll repeat myself, angel. Do you know what you do to me?” the pet name that had stuck with him since when you had decorated the Christmas tree slipped out, making you exhale sharply. You were enjoying this. Boy was getting braver.

You shifted the dynamic once more as you raised the hand that was not loosely holding the box and cupped Hongjoong’s chin, feeling him gulp at your boldness. You pulled away from him slightly, but only to observe as you traced his bottom lip with your thumb. It was so easy to make him melt once, after all these years, you appeared to have figured out the chemistry of Hongjoong. He shuddered under your touch, one hand drifting down back to your hip, attempting to press you against him, which you deny with a teasing poke of the box square in his chest.

“I can make an educated guess, darling.” Two could play the game as you enunciated the words so that each one fuelled his desire. Your index finger trailed under his chin, terminating the sensation with an instantaneous flick.

He groaned, desperate to end this push and pull once and for all, when you completely freed yourself while his mind was still enchanted. You had heard the others, still in the living room, getting louder, with someone loudly asking where you went. As if nothing at all had happened, you gave Hongjoong a lopsided grin and pointed at the doorway, informing him that everyone was waiting. Like hell they were, probably took notice of the absence at random and would have forgotten it then and there. As you ambled away, he bent over, stretching to try easing the unbearable tension under which he had been, thanks to you. Once more, he looked in the mirror, running a hand through his hair a couple of times, and yet the only thing he could see was your reflection.

Much of the rest of the night was dedicated to letting completely loose. Just like that night last year, you were purposefully oblivious to him tracking your every move. Paid no mind to just how attractive you looked, dancing to the pulsating beat of a song by The Weeknd that someone decided to put on. Evidently, champagne had started pouring. The night was turning into a blur for Hongjoong, as he struggled to process his actions. He had to plan something. And that something had to happen sooner rather than later.

He chose to slink away from the room right when now a very drunk San, Wooyoung and Seonghwa were recreating the infamous dance from Mean Girls to Jingle Bell Rock, laughter roaring in his ears and with his departure he finally managed to get you to turn and face him. He beckoned you to come to him with a wave of a hand, and turned to exit into the entrance.

When you followed and joined him, you found he was in the process of zipping up his winter jacket, having already tugged on all the woollen accessories.

“Where are you going? Stuff is wild in there.” You approached him to try and take his hat off, but he sidestepped towards the front door and silently motioned for you to dress up as well. Confused, but too interested to see the outcome of this bewildering proposal, you agreed.

When you signalled that you were ready by giving Hongjoong a double thumbs up, he grabbed the keys from a nearby counter and opened the door letting a chilly breeze hit you. You swore your mind was going through a thousand calculations a picosecond as you were trying to figure out the intentions of the man in front of you. This Christmas was definitely not like any other. As he walked further and further away from the cottage, until the lights emanating from the décor and from within did not hit the snow and you were hidden away from sight by a couple of evergreens, you repeated the quote that was now above your chest to yourself, letting go and trusting the man who was leading you into the landscape.

He stopped, waited until you caught up to him and were standing right next to him. And then, fell right on his back. You squealed in terror, assuming the worst. You peered at him, but were met with a very happy Hongjoong, who spread his limbs into a star shape, and began to wave them around. When you did not move, he stopped and shouted out, disappointment laced through his words.

“Y/N, didn’t you say you were a pro at making snow angels? Show me what you got.”

And just like that, you were also in the snow, giggling like the child you had been when you had done this last. Flailing around, kicking bits up in the air only for it to fall on you or him. You relished in the sensation, since it reminded you of something you had intentionally been repressing for the majority of your life – the ability to enjoy yourself freely, experience things that were not planned ahead and treating your existence as an ongoing work of art.

You were knocked out of your reveries with a snowball landing smack on your nose. You had not realised that Hongjoong had already gotten up and was aiming for another shot. It was on. You skillfully rolled away as he threw the winter weapon, picking up your own ammo as you did so. Once you were on your back again, the snowball was ready, and you got a clean headshot, having aimed for the sowed-on tag on his hat. As he was brushing snowflakes out of his eyes, you rose to your feet, hopping away and throwing two more roughly shaped ones. The game did not continue for long, though, because as you took some return hits you pounced on him, with the plan of attaining payback for the first snowball.

Both of you toppled on the ground and you laughed triumphantly, your body flat against his, nose to nose. While you were trying to push yourself up and get a grip on the ground to either side of Hongjoong, he pulled something out of the breast pocket of his winter jacket, raised it above the two of you, and pointed at it.

“Would you look at that? Guess we have to do something about it. Got any ideas?”

This man was unbelievable. That was one point on the endless list of why you were smitten.

“So that is where the mistletoe went!” you exclaimed, slowly leaning in.

“And this time I am not letting you go.” His promise sounding gruff, he pulled you in by the collar and finally, your lips collided.

The snow that had fallen from your clothing onto him rapidly melted as you sank deeper into the mutual craving. Starting slow, you got to know one another, keen to map out each sigh. You had fantasised about this for so long that it felt like you were in a feverish daydream. But nothing could compare to the real softness of his lush lips, the irresistible nips at yours and how he snaked under your coat and sweater, the coldness sending you into a frenzy.

As you repositioned yourself to gain more closeness, and as such grinded against him, you heard him hiss. He responded to your motion by pulling you closer and, his lips never leaving yours, tilting your head slightly to beg for entrance. You hummed in approval, mouth opening slightly to allow for his tongue to explore your further. Not letting him enjoy all the fun, you joined in the fight for dominance and savoured his addictive taste.

As you pulled away to catch your breath, Hongjoong looked completely at your mercy. Eyes still shut, panting, flushed and filled with want. He was beyond saving, left only as a vessel to be guided by you. There, illuminated by the moon and stars, you were ethereal. Your every angle and shapely curve was one he wanted to adore and worship. Your form, hovering above him, was nothing short of flawless. At the same time, within, you concealed a lethal sin, but one for which he would fall countless times, and willingly sacrifice himself for good. Your melodic laugh rang out over him.

“We are going to freeze out here-” You stated, unable to finish the thought as Hongjoong pulled you in again, growling against your lip and pushing himself against you. You sighed in pleasure as he dragged your scarf down to reveal your neck and planted rough kisses trailing from your jawline, stopping to claim you midway down. As you leaned over and peppered the side of his face with attention and nibbled his ear, sending a shiver through him, you stopped to purr:

“Though it seems you know a way to warm up.”

“You are a devil in disguise, Y/N.”

“Yours truly.”

“Mine?”

“And so are you.”

“Oh, come here.”

This was the kind of Christmas you were willing to enjoy every time of year. Together with the one who completed you in every way imaginable. From your ambition to his artistry, your tendency for timeliness to his tendency for timelessness.

Whilst you were opposites in some ways, you struck an unparalleled balance that made you stronger together. An enciphered, irreplicable chemistry that spelled ‘forever’.

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mexicanarama · 2 years

Note

tell us abt the fork incident please

i did not expect anyone to actually ask, but of course! similar sentiments and thanks to the anon who asked as well!

it is 2016. It is the autumn of my final year of university, and i live in a house with three of my best friends in the world, and Ricky (not his real name). ricky is a friend of a friend but we all try to make him feel welcome when he moves in. I like ricky well enough. time passes and we all spend less and less time with ricky, which happens. we’re all busy, and he starts hanging out mostly in his room. all fine. ricky had his own troubles and hopes and dreams, much like us. He didn’t really cause any trouble, in the grand scheme of things. but he had. a habit.

ricky would take stuff out of the kitchen and into his room, and then he would leave it there. the things he took were from our communal kitchen, and when we needed them, they usually weren’t there. you would have to knock on his door and ask for the cutting board, or the big bowl, or your own goddamned mug back, which he would consistently pretend not to have, i assume more out of embarrassment than spite. you could in fact get your things back, with persistence. most. of. the time.

the only things we could not recover were forks. a little after christmas, i realized we were running low. keep in mind, there were five actual residents of this house, and three of us had partners who basically lived there too. that’s eight people, and simply not enough forks to go around. I bought ten more forks without thinking too hard about it.

around easter, the second time we started to get dangerously low on forks, it became a curiosity, still mostly funny, as we wondered why ricky was taking them, what was actually happening to them, and why they were completely unrecoverable. we had three forks total when my parter at the time bought us fifteen more as a bit. we laughed. we wondered. we had cutlery again.

two months later, may 2017. we only have three forks, AGAIN, and this time i have had enough. the kitchen is my responsibility, i keep it clean, and full of baked goods, and i refuse to spend my money on MORE FORKS three months before we move out, because ricky is, i don’t know. eating them, or something. i do not buy more forks. i let us get down to one single, solitary fork.

and here, we are at an impasse. if ricky takes the last fork, i assume he knows we will all collectively lose it and put him on trial, in the group chat and also in our physical parlor. he can’t abduct that last coveted fork, and i can’t buy more. so we. live. like. that.

for two months, eight adults shared one fork breakfast lunch and dinner. i would be cooking, and have to run upstairs to ask my friend if he was done with ‘the fork’. people would come over for fresh baked pie, and i would happily tell them, let me get you ‘the fork’! “The fork?” they would say. “Yes!”

Eventually my roommate's girlfriend caved and started stealing plastic cutlery from the dining hall, so for the last few weeks we all lived together the situation was marginally improved. but we did in fact leave that house about thirty forks emptier than we found it, that august.

in that time, things deteriorated in other ways between us and ricky (he voted tory in the snap election), so i actually hadn’t seen him for a while by the time i moved out, a few weeks before he did. good BYE and godspeed you son of a bitch, you loved forks.

#storytime

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hollowwrites · 5 months

Text

A Magical Christmas

🎄 Merry Christmas 🎄

Summary - The gang do Secret Santa during sixth year. Just an excuse for all my ships to give gifts to each other

Just a few key points if you havent read anything else of mine: Anne curse is dormant after Rookwood died. Anne and Sebastian haven't spoken after they all confronted him about the Relic.

Warnings - None…very sweet. Sickeningly so…

Word Count - 1897

The Great Hall was, as usual during seasonal events of the year, stunning.

It was quieter than normal what with many of the students already with their families over the holidays. And because of this, the long dining tables, normally adorned with house specific colours and trinkets, sported a new colour scheme. A more festive one.

Each table had a long green and red gingham runners with glimmering gold trim. Fir garlands decorated with pinecones and cinnamon sticks neatly separated the foods from gathered group to group. Where people had gathered, the floating candles descended and floated in little clusters near them giving each cliche their own space. Space that could be afforded to them considering a maximum of thirty students at occupied the room.

Garreth was as usual, sat with the Slytherins, hand flailing widely at the snow to try and capture it. Imelda tugged harshly on his arm to get him to sit, a soft playful smirk cracking the stern crease of her brow.

Anne had managed to join them with her curse settling down significantly. Though her and Sebastian sat at the opposite ends of their friends, exchanging awkward smiles and passing comments. She’d forgiven him for his stupidity in fifth year but wasn’t quite ready to talk to him properly just yet.

Evelyn was the only one who looked like she was having a miserable time. Her eyebrows pinched together in a near constant frown as the soft tinkling of the bells in her hair continued to plague her ears. Anne had, of course, forced them upon her. Those and the little berries that lay neatly tucked in the bun upon her head.

“Ho Ho Ho, Everybody” Ominis said flatly as he sat down alongside Evelyn. His face remained its usual stoic and unbothered mask, despite his mirth filled words. A slight jingle came from him as he sat down and Evelyn noticed the outrageously green jumper Garreth gave him last year.

“Merlin’s Beard…what are you wearing?” Imelda exclaimed as Sebastian rested his head in his hands.

“You look beautiful, Ominis” Anne clapped excitedly.

“Thank you, Anne. Once again you are proving you have awful taste” Ominis teased.

“I’m so confused…” Evelyn mumbled, gently picking at the streamers that littered his jumper. Like he had rolled around on the floor beneath a tree. His Santa hat flopped in front of his face as he turned to her, a smarmy little smirk on his face.

“Ominis goes overboard at Christmas” Sebastian explained from the safety of his hands, covering his eyes.

“It’s a traditional muggle holiday, therefore my family and a bunch of other pretentious pureblood families refuse to celebrate it. I try my very best to be an embarrassment” Ominis grinned

“…why?” Evelyn probed still clearing his jumper of settled fake snow and glittery accoutrement.

“Because why not...” His grin grew wider, if that was even possible, his regular pettiness out in full force “…It’s the only time of the year when I don’t get weekly owls from my family. Tis a time celebrate”

“Speaking of…” Imelda muttered “…can we get this gift giving over with? I need to get the next train home”

“Yes! Me first!” Garreth shouted shuffling under the table, pulling numerous brown paper packages and piling them in the centre between them all, knocking over a plate of mince pies into Anne’s lap.

“Garreth…we each had one name, what’s all this?” Sebastian frowned as he looked over the large parcels. He noticed one had his name hastily scrawled onto the paper and he grabbed it immediately.

“Yes well…these are from Momma Weasley. Ominis is so handsomely demonstrating what they are. And if me and him have to look stupid in these jumpers then so do all of you!” Garreth explained as everyone tore into their presents. A sea of green and black jumpers littered the table each with their owners initials expertly knitted onto the chest.

“Bless your mother for making all of these.” Anne mumbled as she pulled the jumper over her head, tugging the sleeves over her hands.

“Yes this must of taken her months” Evelyn said, her brows raised and meeting in the middle as though she was trying not to cry.

Garreth simply shrugged and pulled another package from under the table.

“We Weasleys are prolific knitters. Example B…” he thrust the small package towards Anne “…Merry Christmas”

As Anne grinned and ripped the paper she rolled her eyes.

“What is this?” She rolled her eyes smirking.

“Well I don’t know if you know this but…the scarves are enchanted to match your house. Any scarf I gave you would’ve change to green so I simply had to knit you a Gryffindor one…” Garreth leaned forward, tugging the end out from the package and showing off the crude embroidery of a lion at the end. It looked as though it had three eyes and was a little cross eyed, but Garreth beamed proudly at it. “…Now I can say I officially converted you”

“Gryfferin…” Anne grinned, wrapping the scarf around her neck

“Slythindor…” Garreth winked pulling one more parcel from under the table, his eyes flicked to Sebastian briefly “…this is also for you”

She tore into the present, opening the box inside to reveal the family brooch she once gave Sebastian.

“What is it?” Imelda asked peering into the box and back at Anne, who looked as though she was going to cry. She looked up at Garreth, smiling sheepishly, then towards Sebastian who desperately tried to avoid eye contact. He looked up finally as Anne spoke.

“Thank you…Garreth” she sniffed, whilst looking towards Sebastian. She nodded softly and looked back at Garreth, who just looked relieved she wasn’t upset with him for meddling. “…I got you” she said sweetly, carefully lifting a box, unwrapped, and placing it on the table. The sound of glass hitting glass tinkled as she pushed it towards him.

“Ooooh…” Garreth immediately ripped off the top, inspecting the contents with a raised brow.

“They’re all the potions I messed around with last year. I thought maybe we could try and replicate them. Or when I’m a little better we could try them out…see what happens” Anne explained quietly

“I don’t think that’s a good ide-“ Evelyn started before being cut off by Garreth slamming his hands down on the table, a wide mischievous grin plastered on his face.

“EXCELLENT!” Garreth screamed, mounting the table to get at her, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug.

“Sorry I didn’t spend any money. I can’t really lea-”Anne choked out as Garreth practically strangled her

“Don’t be silly!” He mumbled giving her another squeeze, opting to take the seat next to her instead of rejoining the other side. They huddled together, head practically touching as they muttered about different potions they had made, why the lion had three eyes, what ingredients she used…

“My turn…” Sebastian exclaimed smacking his hands and rubbing them together. “…Imelda…” he stated, presenting a rectangular box to her and smirking. “…Merry Christmas”

Imelda groaned and took the present, muttering the whole time about how Sebastian had to be the absolute worst person to have buy you a gift. And her suspicions were correct when she peeled back the paper to reveal a copy of ‘Quidditch for Beginners’.

“Sebastian Sallow, you are the absolute worst-“ each word was accompanied with a soft slap to his arm. He chuckled and grabbed her wrist, forcing it back to the table, smiling devilishly.

“What? I just thought you could use some pointers on how to be a better Captain” he said smugly, tapping on a piece of paper sticking out of a page.

With a hard angry brow and an exasperated sigh, she flicked to the marked page. Chapter 5: The Captain and their Responsibilities, underlined with two tickets to the next Quidditch World Cup. Imelda gasped and held the book open, just staring into the pages in disbelief.

“Merry Christmas, Mel” Sebastian whispered leaning into her with a cocky grin.

“Will you go with me?” She blurted out suddenly, her cheeks burning.

“I thought you’d want to go with your father…” Sebastian recoiled in shock.

“No no, I want to go with you…” she muttered “…seems only fair. You bought them…Here. This is for you…” she shoved a rather large box towards him with a gruff sigh.

“Ooh it’s big…” Sebastian said as he removed the lid from the top, looking in on the brand new Keepers uniform. “…Mel, uniforms are expensive…”

“Well…I don’t want my new Keeper looking scruffy in school uniform. Besides, after your last fall you need a little extra protection” …it was her turn to smirk when Sebastian face soured, recalling his knee injury his first week back on the pitch.

“Aww Imelda. Do you…care?” He teased, earning another smack from Imelda.

“Right then, it’s your turn then” Imelda muttered, pointing towards Evelyn, desperate to get any attention from her.

“Okay, well obviously I got Ominis…” Evelyn physically shrank into herself with all of the attention suddenly on her “…and I realise that my wrapping is probably lost on you but…here”

Evelyn had grown accustomed to what Ominis was and wasn’t comfortable with. She gently took his hand and placed it on top of the delicately wrapped stack in front of him.

He smiled lopsidedly upon feeling the elaborate bow in his fingers.

“Not completely lost…” he whispered gently pulling at the bow and feeling the whole present unfold. He could smell old books and could feel pages under his fingers. “What books ar- Is this braille?” He suddenly said upon flicking through the pages and feeling the intricate bumps of the paragraphs across the page.

“Yes…I hope you don’t mind, I’ve been practising transfiguration on a few copies of my old books. They’re the ones we were talking about a couple of months ago. I don’t know if the translation is correct, if it doesn’t make sense you can always ask me…”

Ominis was quiet for a while, his fingers tracing over the tiny intricate constellations of words across the page.

“It’s perfect…” he whispered “…some of your favourites?”

“Yes…I have another four copies of each if these are ruined” she explained, her voice taking on a slightly giddy tone. It may only be a simple muggle tale, but they were her favourite and the thought of having someone else reading them filled her heart with joy

“That won’t be necessary. I’m afraid my gift isn’t as thoughtful…” he lay the book back down with the others and pulled a long thin box from his pocket “…nor is it wrapped but I asked they put it in a nice box for you”

She took it and opened the small hinged box revealing a delicate silver necklace with the skull of a bird at the end. She gasped sweetly, though Imelda scrunched her nose up at the sight.

“The few times I’ve borrowed your wand…it’s hilt is a birds skull is it not? A dove?”

“It is…my mother used to call me her dove…” she breathed wistfully, her hands shaking slightly as she inspected the small metal charm.

“Good…” Ominis smiled “…pulled a few strings with the jewelers in Hogsmeade. And Ollivander had the initial sketch of your wand still…”

“It’s beautiful…” she smiled softly and squeezed his hand. “…Thank you, Ominis”

“You’re Welcome. Merry Christmas…”

Masterlist

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