#which worked but i forgot to grease the pan so they just fell apart

[justfrozenthings]

A Summer to Remember

Paring: Anna/Kristoff

Rating: T

Word: 5,335

Notes: My piece for the Volume 5 Summer Lovin’ Frozine. To find the complete zine visit the @frozines blog. Huge thank you to @punkpoemprose for putting together another wonderful zine!

Summary: Kristoff and Anna are ready to go on their annual summer vacation to the beach at Ahtohallan. Little does Anna know, Kristoff has a big surprise for her, well...more of a big question really.

Ao3

 “Kris!” Anna Arendelle was currently packing for her and her boyfriend’s annual summer vacation to Ahtohallan. It had become an annual thing they have been doing for the past five years since they started dating. It was the first place they went on vacation as a couple and they had fallen so in love with the charming little town that they had decided to visit every year. And while each trip was a little different, it consisted of at least three things that had remained the same: spending as much time as possible at the beach, going to their favorite diner Reindeer Circle as their special dinner, and staying at the charming The Crocus beachside hotel. Little did Anna know, however, that Kristoff had a surprise that would make this trip more than a little bit different.

 “Which dress do you think I should wear to the diner?” Anna hollered from their bedroom.

 Kristoff stopped what he was doing and sauntered over to their bedroom. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed as he admired his girlfriend examining herself in the Rococo style mirror with the two dresses. One was the white sunflower shirtdress that he had gotten her for her twenty-third birthday, because at the time she had an obsession with the 50’s setting movie Grease. The other was a forest green sundress that had lace trimming, he has actually seen her wear this one before, when they went out to eat for his birthday, and he remembered how it hugged her in all the right places and showed off her scattering of freckles.

 “I don’t know. You decide. I’m not the one who will be wearing it,” Kristoff said.

 Anna pursed her lips. “I know, but I just want to look beautiful enough for you,” she pouted.

 A soft smile graced Kristoff’s lips and he walked over to where Anna stood, enveloping her in a loving embrace. He leaned his forehead head against hers causing a small hum to escape her delicate lips.

 “Anna, you always look beautiful. Whether you're wearing clothes or not.”

  Kristoff pushed back her bangs so that he could get a better look at her bluebell eyes, not unaware of the blush that began to tint her cheeks.

 Seeing this as a challenge he leaned down and whispered, “Especially when you’re not.”

 Anna’s blush went from a soft pink to a beat red. Successful with what he wanted to accomplish, Kristoff grinned with pride.

 “Kristoff!” Anna whined. “I’m being serious.”

 “So am I.”

 Anna let out a small huff before standing on her toes so she could entwine her hands behind his neck to give him a small peck on the lips.

 “You know, sometimes you can be very frustrating.”

 “But that’s why you love me.”

 “That, and so many other reasons,” Anna smiled.

 “Oh yeah?” he chuckled, bumping her nose with his. “And what would those be?”

 “Hmm?” Anna tapped her lips with her finger, which should still not be doing things to him.

 She put her arms behind her back and gave him a cheeky little grin.

 “Not telling.”

 “You little minx.”

 Anna picked up the dresses she had dropped on the floor during their embrace and held the sunflower one out in front of her.

 “You know,” she said, “I think I’ll wear this one. Besides, you gave this to me so that makes it special.”

 It was Kristoff’s turn to blush now. She giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek leaving him standing there dumbfounded as she went to put up the other dress.

 Later that night, after dinner they snuggled up on the couch watching reruns of The Office. Kristoff ran his fingers through Anna’s fiery hair, and eventually, she nodded off to sleep. He soon joined her in slumber, allowing his mind to drift to a very important tiny box he had hidden in the top shelf of his dresser.

 ***

 Kristoff had woken up from where he fell asleep on the couch last night, careful not to disrupt Anna as he got up to go make breakfast. He knew she liked to sleep in late and the last thing he needed was upsetting the snoring redhead. While Anna was the kindest person she had ever met, she was also scary as hell. Plus, they wouldn’t be leaving for Ahtohallan till a little after noon anyway, so they weren’t in any kind of rush.

 He raised his arms above his head and stretched, his shirt rising up a bit to reveal some of his toned stomach.

 Turning on the stove, he cracked a few eggs into the frying pan. He made them scrambled, just how Anna liked them. He added an assortment of other things as well like chives and cheese. Early on in their relationship, he had learned that Anna would eat just about anything as long as it had either two things: cheese or chocolate.

 The scent of the delicious concoction of eggs, bacon, and biscuits Kristoff whipped up swirled in the air causing Anna to stir in her sleep. She had tried with all her might to not give in to the delectable aroma, but eventually the mouse had fallen for the trap. Her button nose stuck up to get a better whiff. She looked like a little woodland creature in search of food.

 She followed the scent all the way into the kitchen to where Kristoff had begun serving everything on their plates.

 “You’re up early?” Kristoff teased, knowing very well that this was a rare occurrence.

 Anna gave him a small swat on the shoulder. “Oh shush you.” She opened the fridge door to grab the jelly for their biscuits, strawberry for her and grape for him, and set them on the little round table right outside the kitchen.

 “Your breakfast m’lady,” Kristoff said, putting on the best posh accent he could muster and giving a small bowl as he placed the dish in front of her.

 “Why thank you kind sir,” Anna replied back with a fancy accent of her own.

 “So,” Kristoff said, getting Anna to meet her eyes with his. “Are you excited for our trip?”

 Anna nodded before shoving a forkful of eggs into her mouth.

 “I’m always excited, because it means I get to spend a whole day with you.”

 “You see me every day,” Kristoff chuckled, feeling light and happy in his chest. It was a feeling that only Anna was able to give him.

 “True, but with work keeping us on our feet and having completely different schedules from one another, we hardly ever get to spend quality time together.”

 Anna spread some strawberry jam on her biscuit. Some dripped down the side of her finger and when she licked it, Kristoff could do nothing but stare. It seemed as if with every move she took, made him lose his breath every time.

 He must have been staring for quite a while too because suddenly Anna was in his lap with her arms wound around his neck, snapping him out of his reverie. He glanced over to where she was previously sitting across from him and saw that her plate was empty.

 She put both her small hands on the side of his face and turned his head so that he was looking at her once again. And when she smashed her lips all he could taste was strawberry jam and Anna, and he would be perfectly fine if time froze in that moment and they stayed that way forever.

 “You know strawberry jam may be delicious, but kissing you is always so much sweeter,” Anna sighed.

 “You flatter me too much,” Kristoff grinned.

 Anna returned the smile before giving him a peck on the lips and leaving to go finish packing any last-minute things.

 Kristoff laughed to himself, wondering how he, who came from nothing, had been blessed with Anna, who came from everything.

 Anna was the heiress of her father’s manufacturing company, Arendelle Incorporated. Her family had also founded the town they lived in so saying she was popular was a little bit of an understatement. While  he was adopted into a family that couldn’t offer much except their love.

 Whenever they were out in public people would always whisper. Many believed they didn’t belong together due to their different backgrounds, that Anna was too good for him. But despite all the harsh words and criticism they have received, Anna refused to believe any of it. She said that it doesn’t matter that they come from two different worlds, because she loved him, and love is the strongest thing there is.

 With a smile, Kristoff got up from his seat and went into the kitchen to wash his dishes.

 ***

 “Krissss,” Anna groaned, “Are we there yet?”

 “We just left the apartment feisty,” he said laughing at his girlfriend’s impatience.

 It was a six-and-a-half-hour drive to Ahotohallan, and every single time, no matter how many times they did it, Anna never forgot to show her displeasure for the small road trip. It was rather adorable if Kristoff was being honest.

 “But I’m so bored.”

 “Turn on the radio.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it before rubbing little circles on it with his thumb. “Besides,…I like it when you sing.”

 With a blush, Anna pressed the radio button, flipping through the stations until she settled on one she liked.

 A few minutes later she had become lost in the music, singing and doing little dances in her seat as if there was nobody watching. Kristoff loved this view of her. He loved seeing her in her natural element, because it was so Anna and there was nothing better in the world than that. Her voice sounded like birds singing their morning songs when the first light of day appeared over the horizon. She had rolled her window down and her hair looked like a wildfire the way the wind blew through it, making it go in different directions. And Kristoff hoped that he would get to see her like this for the rest of eternity. If Anna accepted the question he had prepared, then that dream would become a reality.

 About halfway they had stopped at a burger place to grab some lunch then headed to the nearest gas station to fill up the tank. Anna, of course, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go inside and grab a few chocolate bars for the road. Kristoff would never understand how someone so small could consume so much of the sweet treat. He was convinced that it wasn’t blood but chocolate sauce that flowed through her veins.

 He laughed when she came out holding twelve chocolate bars, saying that there were too many to choose from and that she didn’t want the other chocolate bars to feel bad for not choosing them so the only logical thing to do was to buy one of each. She also said that she would space them out during their trip, but he just shook his head and smiled knowing fully well that all twelve candy bars would not make it by the time they arrived at the hotel.

 ***

 Unfortunately, it took a little longer than usual to arrive at the hotel due to some heavy traffic. Neither of them minded though, because it just meant Anna had more time to sing at the top of her lungs and having little conversations that usually ended with them saying how much they loved one another.

 Anna hopped out of the car, “Finally! We’re here!” She hopped up and down on the tips of her toes and clapped her hands together. She looked like a little kid who was about to receive their ice cream cone. “Now we can finally relax and get our vacation started!” She squealed with excitement.

 “Don’t get too worked up just yet feistypants. I still have to check-in,” Kristoff chuckled as he made his way over to her with their bags.

     The Crocus may not have been five stars, but it was affordable and convenient because it was right on the beach. Kristoff and Anna had never been ones for fancy things anyway.

 Anna sat in the lobby admiring the coziness of it all while she waited for Kristoff to return with their room keys. Though she had been here many a time, the homey little hotel never failed to take her breath away.

 Speaking of things that took her breath away, Anna was getting a rather pleasant view of Kristoff’s butt from where he stood at the front desk. Those jeans were definitely doing his ass a lot of favors.

 The scene had put Anna in such a deep trance that she didn’t even notice that Kristoff had left and made his way over to her.

 “Room 209.”

 Anna shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. “Hm?”

 “Our room,” Kristoff said. “It’s 209.”

 “Oh! Um.Our room.209. Got it!” Anna stuttered hoping that he didn’t catch her ogling his butt a few minutes ago.

 “Are you okay?” Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

 Blood rushed up to her cheeks. “Never better!” She got up and grabbed the handle of her suitcase, staring there awkwardly as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and bit her lip. “Let’s head up shall we.”

 She rushed past Kristoff leaving him standing there dumbfounded as to what had just happened before he followed her towards the elevator.

 Anna threw herself on the bed sighing with contentment. “Finally!,” she exclaimed. “We can relax and begin our vacation.”

 Kristoff joined his girlfriend on the bed grinning at the image of her snuggled up into the pillow with her eyes peering at him. She looked like a kitten curled up in a blanket.

 Kristoff pressed her frame against his, his large arms swallowing her in a tight hug. “Just a whole week of just you, me, and spending quality time at one of our favorite places together.”

 Anna hummed in agreement. He kissed the top of her head and relished in her soft honeysuckle-scented hair.

 They stayed curled up with one another for hours it seemed, one never wanting to let the other go. The peacefulness of the moment, eventually bringing both to a deep slumber.

 It was around 5:00 when Kristoff woke up. He figured he would let Anna sleep in a little more before then went and grabbed some dinner.

 Carefully unwinding himself from Anna he silently walked over to his suitcase. Unzipping the front pocket he took out the tiny box containing the ring. It glimmered back at him and he looked over his shoulder to make sure Anna hadn’t woken up; if she had seen him the jig would be up.

 He ever so quietly put the box back in the small corner of his front bag pocket. He had decided to wake Anna up at 6:00, and for the time being he made himself a cup of tea and got out the chapter book he had currently been reading.

 When 6:00 rolled around Kristoff had woken Anna up just as he had planned. Anna quickly fixed her lion's mane that she always got after a good rest and looked up restaurants nearby on her phone to find a place to eat. Settling on an Italian place they headed out the door and down to the lobby.

 For dinner they shared a plain cheese pizza, Anna never cared much for toppings. They laughed over stories about moments shared together in their past, with dreams of creating more in the future. And every time Anna’s soft lips wrapped around the straw to take a sip of her Coke she would lick the droplets off her lips causing a pulse to surge through Kristoff’s body. The simple things that woman could do to him was uncanny.

 When the check came they had both blushed when the waitress deemed them “The Cutest Couple Ever.”

 Now, after a quick stroll through the park, they found themselves back in their bed tangled up in their sheets as they held one another.

 Anna absentmindedly twirled the hair on his chest with her index finger, breathing in his woodsy aroma and listening to the beating of his heart. She placed a soft kiss there, “I love it when we get to share moments like this,” she sighed. “Moments where we can let all our worries run free and sunker down into each other's embrace.”

 “Yeah. Me too.” Kristoff stroked his fingers through her unruly hair.

 “I was always alone when I was little, so I thought I’d never get to have anything like this. I never thought I’d feel as loved as I do now. But then you happened Kristoff Bjorgman. You crashed into my life and changed it for the better.” She propped herself up on her elbows and stared down at him. “I love you, and I will always love you forever and always.”

 Kristoff pushed a strand of hair behind her ears, tears welling in his from the sweet words that had just left Anna’s mouth. “I love you too. To the ends of the earth and back.”

 Wrapped up in each other’s love, all that could be heard that night were Anna’s soft snores and the heartbeats of two people who were madly in love.

 ***

 Anna woke up, her head still resting on Kristoff’s chest. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared at Kristoff’s sleeping form. He looked like an angel. A very tall blonde muscular angel.

 She stroked his hair and he looked up at her drowsily, cracking a lopsided grin.

 “Hey beautiful,” he said, bringing her fingers up to his lips for a kiss.

 “Hey yourself.” She smiled back at him and he was lost again.

 “So?,” he pulled her tighter to his chest. “What would you like to do today?”

 Anna tapped her pursed lips. “Hmm…how about we go to the beach? We had a long day of traveling yesterday so I would just kind of like to have a chill day. Know what I mean?”

 He pressed a line of kisses from her cheekbone down to the base of her neck and stayed there for a while. “Sounds perfect.”

 Anna went to her suitcase to pull out her swimsuit while Kristoff got ready in the bathroom (which didn’t take long at all). Kristoff, unlike Anna, was never really one who cared much about his looks. Of course he made sure he kept up with his hygiene, but for everyday wear, he usually rocked some sort of simple T-shirt and let his hair go wild and free. Oftentimes, people would give him nasty for how unkempt and long his hair was, but Anna liked it that way and to him, that was all that mattered.

 When he stepped out of the bathroom his girlfriend looked at him with hungry eyes and he almost had half a mind to strip them both down of any article of clothing and go back to being wrapped up in the sheets. It also didn’t help that Anna gave him a seductive wink when she passed him to go into the bathroom.

 It was Anna’s turn to walk out of the bathroom and Kristoff had given her the same look she gave him just a few moments ago.

 She wore a black 50’s style one-piece bathing suit with white polka dots. Her hair was put up in a messy bun, the little whispys that had escaped it framing her angelic face with perfection.

 His eyes were wild with lust as he looked at the goddess that was his girlfriend.

 Anna must have known that the sight of her was making him swoon too because she rubbed her pale star scattered freckled thighs together as she bit her lip peering up at him with shy yet mischievous eyes.

 “What do you think?”

 He lost all control over his body as he sauntered towards smashing his lips against hers.

 “I think,” he whispered into her and her butt a little squeeze, “that I must have the sexiest girlfriend on the planet.”

 “Kristoff!” She swatted his chest. “You can’t say things like that.” A blush rose to her cheeks which only made him more confident to tease her a bit more.

 “In fact, you're so sexy that I think we should skip going to the beach and hop right back in bed.” He nibbled behind her ear.

 “Besides,” he smirked, “I don’t want other guys drooling all over you.”

 “Ah, ah, ah,” Anna tsked, wagging her finger. “We only get to come here once a year, mister. We’re going to the beach.”

 “Fine,” he groaned. “But, don’t get mad at me if I have to fight someone for flirting with you.”

 Anna threw her head back and laughed. “I don’t think you need to worry about that. I highly doubt anybody is going to hit on me.You? Yes. People will for sure be wanting a piece of you. But me? No way in hell.”

 “You know I really wish you wouldn’t talk that way. You make it sound as if you're not attractive.”

 “That’s because I’m not.”

 She started to turn the door handle before Kristoff shoved her up against the wood and pressed his mouth over hers in a firm kiss.

 “Don’t,” Kristoff breathed across her lips, “you dare say that. You are the most beautiful being on the planet and I pity anyone who doesn’t agree with me.”

 Tears gleamed in Anna’s, making her blue orbs sparkle like the ocean right outside of their hotel. Words got caught in her throat and the only thing she could do was reply back with a kiss.

 ***

 Anna couldn’t believe it, but Kristoff had been right. They were lounging in their beach chairs when Anna decided to go grab them drinks from the bar. After placing her order and taking a seat at the countertop while she waited for them, a tall skinny man with eyes of emerald green and dark auburn hair with sideburns took a seat right next to her. He pulled his stool closer, and when Anna had tried moving away he would scoot right next to her again.

 Anna stood up to move down to another stool, but as she started to walk away a slender hand gently gripped her tiny wrist.

 Anna’s heart dropped as she slowly turned her head to look at the stranger with frightened eyes.

 “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable miss. It’s just that, when I see a woman as beautiful as you I can’t help but wanna introduce myself.”

 “That’s very flattering of you to say-I think-but I do have a boyfriend.” Anna made sure to elaborate on the word “boyfriend” to make it clear that she was unavailable and that hopefully the guy would leave her alone.

 “Well, that’s too bad.” He gave her a sweet sinister smile and fear washed over her.

 He still held her wrist and when she tried to break free he pulled her to him.

 “However,” he paused to kiss her hand. “I’m sure he won’t mind if I borrow you for a little while.”

 Anna looked over his shoulder with frantic eyes, hoping to find a bartender or some other beach guest who would notice her discomfort. Kristoff was on the other side of the bar and out of sight from her so she couldn’t rely on him either, though if he were to have seen the situation Anna had no doubt he would be here in a heartbeat.

 She would have to deal with the problem on her own.

 “Actually,” Anna furrowed her brow trying to put on the sternest look possible. “I don’t think he would. And quite frankly I wouldn’t appreciate it very much either. Now I already told you I am not interested so please respect my wishes and leave me alone,” she huffed.

 She pushed him away before he grabbed hold of her waist and pressed her body against his once more.

 “Come on darling, don't be that way. I promise to show you a good time.”

 Anna tried to wriggle from his grasp, but he was surprisingly strong for such a scrawny man.

 “No!,” she screamed, finally turning the heads of those around them. “Let me go! Leave me alone!”

 She twisted and turned but to no avail could she break free; that was until a fist had collided with her aggressor’s face.

 Screams and gasps spread throughout the beach like a tidal wave.

 Looking up to see her hero’s face, she cried a breath of relief to find Kristoff standing over the man’s limp body, seething with anger.

 Kristoff grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pressed him up against the countertop. “If I ever catch you near my girlfriend again you can be sure I’ll do more than just punch you.”

 Kristoff threw him back onto the ground standing tall and brooding, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched him skimper away like a scared dog.

 He turned to Anna, his face softening as he brought her into a warm hug.

 She rested her head against his shoulder, her small frame small trembling against his large one. He placed a kiss there as he gently caressed her hair.

 He pulled back to look at her, “You okay?”

 “I am now, thanks to you.” She smiled softly at him and he kissed her forehead.

 “Were you scared?”

 “Only a little, but I’m glad you came to my rescue.”

 He gave her one of his iconic sappy grins and it made her heart flutter.

 “Always.” He rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Even though I know you could have totally kicked his ass.”

 “Damn right I could have.”

 Kristoff gave a whole-hearted laugh and Anna joined in, her giggles creating a symphony with his chuckles.

 The rest of the day was spent splashing each other in the salty waters of the ocean, buried each other in the sand, held a sandcastle contest-which Anna had won- and ended with them holding each other close as they watched the sunset beneath the horizon.

 When they arrived back at the room they hopped in the shower helping one another wash the salt out of their hair.

 Once more they were now tangled in the sheets of their love, drifting off to sleep with the sound of the other’s heartbeat.

 ***

 For the next few days, Anna and Kristoff spent their time going on hikes, shopping at their favorite local stores, visiting the town’s attractions, and so on.

 Now, on their last night here, Kristoff sat at the foot of their bed dressed in the best casual clothes he had, fumbling with the small box he held in his hands. Anna was still in the bathroom “making herself pretty,” as she called it even though he told her that she was beautiful just the way she was.

 Taking one last deep breath he put the ring in the little gift bag he bought to carry it in. Since he wasn’t wearing a suit he didn’t have a pocket to hide it in except for his jeans, but Anna would for sure be able to make out the outline of the box if he did that.

 “Whatcha got there?”

 Kristoff jumped at the sound of Anna’s voice behind him. He was so deep in thought that he hadn’t heard her come out of the bathroom and accidentally run into the dresser cursing, as she walked up to him.

 “Oh! Uh…it’s nothing!,” he stuttered.

 “Kristoff I love you I really do, but please don’t take this the wrong way when I say you have never been a very good liar.”

 Caving into Anna’s persistence he picked the bag off the ground and showed it to her. He had wanted to keep it a secret, but knew his nosy girlfriend wouldn’t stop pestering him until she got what she wanted.

 “I got you a gift. You know just a little something to show how much I love you.” He gave her a dopey smile before adding, “But, it’s for after dinner. So no peeking.”

 “Aww, Kristoff! That’s very sweet of you, but you don’t need to get me a gift to prove that you love me. I know that by heart.”

 Her words made his heart flutter and he took her hand rubbing small circles over before kidding each one of her fingers.

 “You ready?,” she said, breaking the silence.

 “Ready as I’ll ever be,” he said more to himself than to her.

 Together they walked the quiet streets that guided them to their destination and before long they had arrived at a familiar little diner with a big retro light-up sign that said Reindeer Circle.

 They preferred their usuals, for Anna a large chocolate shake with extra whip cream and a plate of chicken fingers with curly fries, and for Kristoff a hamburger with regular fries-though he knew Anna would probably eat some of them-and a glass of water.

 They chatted and laughed as they enjoyed their meals, the time encroaching ever so closer for Kristoff to pop his big question.  And as the waitress had taken their dishes away, he decided that it was now or never.

 “Anna?”

 She had turned her attention away from the window and back to him. “Hm?,” she sighed dreamily, gently squeezing their clasped hands in the middle of the table.

 “I think it may be time for me to give you your present.”

 Interest piqued in her eyes and she lifted her head from where it rested in the palm of her hand.

 “Oh? Really?!” She clapped her hands together, unable to contain her excitement.

 “Um? Yeah…just let me,” he cleared his throat, “let me prepare myself right quick.”

 “Prepare yourself? Kristoff what are you-”

 She was cut off mid-sentence at the sight of Kristoff, down on one knee holding open a box with a ring, in front of her.

 “Anna Arendelle you are the most extraordinary person I ever had the pleasure of meeting. Before you, I thought my destiny was to just live on my own for the rest of my life. But, you came crashing into it with your infectious love and proved me wrong. They say everyone has an angel, and you are mine. Will make me that happiest man on earth, and marry me?”

 Tears formed in Anna’s eyes and she threw herself into Kristoff’s arms, peppering kisses all over his face.

 “Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!”

 Applause spread through the diner and Kristoff spun Anna in the air, kissing her deeply as he slid the ring in her finger.

 Anna admired it. In the middle was a stone of amber on a gold band with intricate petal designs that had made it look like a sunflower. It was so perfect and knowing that it was Kristoff who picked it out caused her heart to overflow with overwhelming love and desire for him.

 After the excitement had settled, they had already begun discussing wedding plans.

 “I think we should have it here, in Ahotohallan. On the beach,” Anna said with a smile.

 “Unless…you know…you would rather have it somewhere else. I just thought it would be cute to have it at a place we both loved, and I always dreamed of having a beach wedding since I was a little girl. I always thought it was romantic. But, if you don’t think it’s a good idea I totally understand! You know what, forget I said anything it’s stupid.”

 “Hey! Hey! Anna!,” he cradled her face in his calloused palms and brushed a thumb across her ivory freckled cheek. “I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

 That night as Anna lay in the comfort of Kristoff’s arms, she stared at the ring glistening in the moonlight that shone through the window with visions of many more summer vacations to come.

#kristanna #kristanna fanfiction #my fanfiction #frozine #summer lovin frozine #fanfiction

[themoonandotherslikeit]

Breathe - Chapter Three

After the biggest meeting of her career, Y/N went for a drink and met him. Dean Winchester, the handsome bartender at The Shop, who managed to say all of the right things to soften her hard shell. Was it possible that Y/N was wrong all of this time? Had she spent the better part of 2 decades focusing on her career when there was one man in a city of 18 million that could make her feel more alive than any job ever could? Will she be able to slow down long enough to let herself fall in love with a man that was never a part of the plan? After years of holding her breath, will she finally let herself breathe again?

This story is written for my beautiful and talented friend and beta @dean-winchesters-bacon, thanks for always inspiring me and supporting my whims. Love you always.

Banner by the talented @talesmaniac89

Chapter Three

Her

Y/N woke up groggy with a pressure on the inside of her skull threatening to crack her head open and spill everything out. Her temples throbbed insistently and a wave of nausea hit her as soon as she opened her eyes. The gloomy, dark skies hid the sun from bleeding in through the open curtains, but it still felt too bright for her hangover. Everything felt slow and sluggish, like she was trying to walk under water. 

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and a streak of mascara darkened her skin. She rarely forgot to take off her makeup, and she knew her skin would punish her for it later. She yawned and squinted at the window. She didn’t usually leave her black out curtains up… in fact, she never opened them. 

There are moments that are subtle, brief and fleeting like the first flake of snow of the season. Sometimes they go completely unnoticed and unremembered. Other moments are big, grand, powerful enough to move mountains and change a person’s life forever.

As Y/N looked around the apartment, her surroundings coming together like a puzzle that finally clicked together seamlessly, she experienced one of those astronomical, mounting moving moments. 

This was not her apartment.

“The fuck…” 

Quickly orienting herself, she tried to find any kind of identifying information to tell her where she ended up and who she may have gone home with. It was not like her to be so reckless. 

The apartment was tidy, but, by the simple decor and smell of the sheets she was able to discern that the apartment definitely belonged to a man. She pinched the bridge of her nose to quiet an oncoming headache. She didn’t even remember a man from the night before that she could’ve gone home with. Oh how the mighty have fallen, she thought solemnly. 

She glanced under the blanket that was hiding her bottom half, happy to find that she still had her dress and panties in place. She had to admit, though, that the situation was confusing. She didn’t have sex last night, that she was fairly sure of, but in that case… Why was she in a strangers apartment? It didn’t make any sense. 

She slipped out of bed, finding her heels resting neatly on the floor next to the bed, placed with care. 

Who would take her home and just tuck her into bed? That was something a friend did, or a boyfriend. Her stomach twisted as Sam’s face flashed in her mind. His kind hazel eyes wrinkling at the edges as he smiled at her. He would take care of her in that way without question, and that thought terrified her. She’d avoided his apartment for so long for that exact reason. She couldn’t risk him getting the wrong idea. 

She picked up her shoes, not wanting to risk clicking on the hardwood floors and alerting the mystery man. As she poked her head around the room separator she was hit with the smell of cooking. Her mouth watered immediately at the savory smell of meat sizzling on the stove and something sweet that she couldn't quite place. Y/N did not cook. Her kitchen was purely aesthetic. She wouldn't even know how to turn her oven on, let alone use it, so the smells were new and warming. If the food tasted as good as it smelled, she may have a reason not to sneak out after all. Her stomach growled in agreement, and she resisted the urge to shush it. 

“Oh good, you’re awake,” a voice said, gruffly and familiar. Her eyes followed the sound of the voice and caught his green eyes from across the apartment. 

The bartender! You went home with the goddamn bartender?! You’re better than this, Y/N. You aren’t twenty anymore. 

“Yes. Thank you for your hospitality,” she said, her voice strained and awkward. 

A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth and his eyebrow quirked in response. “I’m almost done with breakfast. Do you have time to have a seat?” 

She shifted her weight awkwardly. The mix of her own vulnerability, the smell of bacon grease, a hangover, and how undeniably attractive he was had her reeling. The answer should’ve been no immediately. She had enough problems without adding a man to the mix, but yet there she was, considering it. 

“You good, Y/N?” 

The sound of her name snapped her out in an instant. Her shoulders rolled back, and her grip tightened on her heels. “I’m fine. I should get going.”

“Big day?” he asked, his eyes flashing with something mischievous. 

“Every day is a big day if you make it big.” 

“That sounds exhausting.” He pulled a pan off the stove. “Do you ever have days where you do nothing?” 

She squinted at him. This guy is kidding, right? “That doesn’t sound very productive.” 

“So I guess that’s a no,” he said with a chuckle. “You should try it. No plans. Just relax and go with the flow.” 

“Don’t you have to plan to have a day like that? So it’s not really without a plan.”

“You got me there.” Dean laughed, crossing his arms. “Do you always plan out your own days?” 

“Yes. What kind of question is that?” 

“I was just wonderin’ if you ever let anyone else plan things for you.” He shrugged. 

“Absolutely not.” 

He walked toward her, his height overcoming her as he approached. He wore a pair of jeans, socked feet, and a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt. His hair was messy from sleep, but his eyes were wide, awake, and engaged. “Are you afraid to lose control?” 

“No.” Yes. 

“Let me plan a day for you, Y/N.” His voice was silky and thick like honey, tickling her cheeks as he brushed her hair behind her ear. Her eyes flickered up to meet his, feeling taken aback from his sudden intensity. She half expected her skin to catch fire from the electricity bouncing between their chests to the beat of her racing heart. 

“Dean I…” 

“Hey, before you say anything hear me out,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender. Her lips pressed together, giving him only a moment to make his case - which was more than she allowed most people. “I know you’ve got all the reasons in the world to say no. You don’t know me, you have no reason to trust me, but you’re a professional. I can see that, hell anyone can see it just by lookin’ at you. Y/N, you should know that there is risk in the world, and you could miss out on some of the best things in life if you don’t take it. Someone took a chance on you once, didn’t they?” 

He was breathing heavily, obviously a little worked up, and the sight of his body twisted up in ragged breaths sent a chill up her spine. The risk he was talking about was not the same thing as her job, as law school, as every tough case she had ever taken. He was out of line trying to make it seem like they were even on the same plane of reality. Even though she knew all of that, she still found herself wanting the impossible, the outrageous. 

“Take a risk on me, Y/N.”

She wanted a life that could move mountains. She always had. She wanted to say yes. 

Dean

Later

“Hold up, hold up. You’re going on a date?” 

Dean shrugged, running his fingers through his hair in the bathroom mirror, unable to keep one spot from sticking straight up. “I don’t know if it’s a date or not. I’m just gonna give her some fun. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” 

“So it is a date.” 

“Sammy, you need to relax,” Dean said, waving his younger, half brother away. Dean’s parents had divorced after he was born, and a year later Dean’s mom fell in love with Sam’s dad, and the boys had been together ever since. “My romantic life isn’t your concern.” 

“Sure it is,” Sam said with a laugh, sitting on Dean’s bed. He moved the room divider when he’d entered the apartment to give himself somewhere comfortable to sit, and was currently lounging across the large mattress. “I don’t want you to die alone.” 

“Nobody is dyin’.” 

“We are all dying, Dean. Technically.” 

“You’re insufferable.” 

“I don’t see your point,” Sam said with a frown, his eyebrows coming together. 

“How’s mom?” 

“She’d like to see you.” 

Dean exhaled sharply from his nose. He didn’t see Mary nearly enough. She lived out in New Jersey and it still felt like a betrayal to his dad going out to visit her frequently. Plus, he spent most of his days in The Shop. There was always an excuse, even though none of them seemed good enough. “Miss her too.” 

“You should call her.” 

Dean poked his head out of the bathroom to eye his brother. “I don’t need a lecture, Sammy.” 

“Hey you asked.” His brother was quiet for a beat before sitting up. “So… I got the case.” 

“What?! Why didn’t you lead with that! I would’ve taken the night off to take you out to celebrate. This is huge news!”

“Wait, you’re going to work? I thought you were going on a date?”

Dean shrugged, “She said I could have her time Sunday morning. From eight to ten thirty.” 

Sam’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want to go out with someone that stringent?” 

Dean shoulders lifted again, “Guess so.” He walked out and sat next to his brother. “But this isn’t about me. I’m really proud of you, brother. You’ve worked really hard for this.” 

Sam’s cheeks reddened a bit, and he reached behind his head, scratching his neck awkwardly. “Thanks. I’ve really been trying, and I’m excited for the opportunity. I know they’re taking a chance on me and it means a lot.” 

“They’re making the right choice, Sammy. You’re damn good at your job. It’s too late for me to get a replacement, but come by, and I’ll get you dinner and drinks on the house.” 

“I’ll just ride with you then. We can split a cab.” 

Dean grinned at his brother, squeezing his shoulder. “You got it, kid.” 

He could still see little Sammy with his bright eyes staring up at him. He had all of these grand dreams that were so big. For a while he wanted to be president, and Dean believed that he could do it. Sam had the heart and the drive to do anything he put his mind to, maybe that was the draw Dean  had to Y/N. She reminded him of the same fire he saw in his brother. 

“What about the woman you’re talking to?” 

Sam let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. “I dunno Dean. She might hate me.” 

“She’d be stupid to hate you, kid. You’re a goddamned catch.” He slid his wallet and phone in his pocket, and offered a hand to Sammy so he could pull him up. “Fight for her. That’s all you can do.” 

His little brother looked up at him knowingly and nodded, clasping their hands together. He pulled Sam up, looking up at his younger brother who towered over him by at least three inches. “I will,” Sam agreed, “I’ll fight for her. 

“Good. Now let's go get you a drink.” 

“Or five.”

“Or five.” 

Her

“Give me your hand.” 

Y/N raised her eyebrow before offering her palm. 

The fiery red head in front of her consisted of her one guilty pleasure in this world. Rowena McCloud. The self proclaimed witch was cheaper than a therapist any day of the week, and she provided tea leaves that were usually the only thing, other than two fingers of whiskey, that put Y/N to sleep after a long, stressful day. 

Rowena ran her long manicured nails along the lines of Y/N’s palms. “You’ve met someone.” 

Here she goes again. Why did I even come here? Y/N asked herself every time that she came to the tea shop for a visit. Why did she come? She knew the answer, but saying it out loud was too fucking pathetic for words. 

She had no friends, and her relationship with her mother was strained at best. So who else was she supposed to talk to about her issues? She could always ignore them, but that was like cutting wires at random, just hoping the one she was cutting wasn’t the trip wire that would explode her entire life. Bottling up emotions caused frown lines and acne break-outs, and she was too damn old for pimples. So she’d ended up with a Scottish witch examining her love line a little too closely. 

“Have not.” 

“Oh come on, Y/N, you have.” Her green eyes flickered up to meet Y/N’s, her red painted lips curled into an ornery smirk. “I can tell. You’re flushed. What’s his name.” 

“There is no him.”

“Fine. Then what’s her name.” 

Y/N pulled her hand away and crossed her arms in annoyance. “Give me a break, Rowena.”

“I cannot, I'm afraid, but I can make you tea.” 

“Fine.” She couldn’t help but smile as the woman turned away. Even twenty-plus years her senior, they still meshed well together. She looked at her as a second mother, or even better, a friend. If she knew how to have those, of course. 

“Why did you come here?” 

“I didn’t get the promotion.” 

“Ah.” 

“You don’t seem surprised,” Y/N said, a bite to her words. “I deserved it.” 

“Of course you did,” Rowena said smoothly as she poured a dark, steeped liquid into the small tea cup. “But you’ll have something better.” 

“If you say love I’m going to come across this table and smack you.”

The witch laughed at that, the skin crinkling around her eyes in amusement. “I was going to say sex.” 

“I am having sex,” she said with a huff. 

“Not sex that you enjoy.” 

It was a bold statement. A bold statement that Y/N wasn’t confident that she could disagree with. She thought she enjoyed it, but she never had anything outside of other meaningless connections to compare it to. She’d never wanted more, though. Her one love was her job and that’s how it was always supposed to be. At least before her job royally fucked her. Maybe it was time she started thinking about herself, instead of the firm. 

“I enjoy sleeping with him.” 

“You hesitated, love. It’s mighty okay to be unsatisfied. Well, it isn’t okay, but it’s normal. You don’t have to stand for it.” 

She waved Rowena off dismissively, “It’s fine.” 

Rowena shook her head, her deep red curls bouncing. “Oh sweetie. It shouldn't be fine. It should be electric, hot, passionate. You aren’t living your best life if your sex is just fine.” Her green eyes flashed as she grinned. “You must’ve not slept with him yet, or you wouldn’t be so casual.” 

“You’re obsessed.” 

“Aren’t you? You said yes to him, after all.”

“I had to get him off my back. He was persistent. He wouldn’t take no as an answer.” 

Take a risk on me, Y/N.

“You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t lie to me.” Rowena tapped the lip of the cup with her index finger. “It’s all in the leaves.” 

Y/N looked down into the cup that she hadn’t even noticed she’d been sipping. The mushed, wet leaves were at the bottom of her cup, and maybe she just had it on the mind or maybe Rowena was right and magic was in the air, but she could’ve sworn that they looked just like a heart. Lumpy, misshapen, but like one nonetheless. 

Dean

Part of Dean worried that she wouldn’t show. That would be his luck. Maybe he would deserve it after being a little too intense. Take a chance on me. Who the fuck did he think he was? He didn’t normally come off that strong. 

She wouldn’t let him pick her up. “What if you’re a serial killer?” Evidently he hadn’t earned her trust yet, even though he was a perfect gentleman the night before. “A woman can’t be too safe, Dean.” He liked the way she said his name. She sounded annoyed, but amused at the same time. She couldn’t quite keep up the unimpressed expression. He made it a personal goal to make her smile more than she frowned. She’d look amazing with laugh lines. Everyone should have them. 

Lisa often complained about the lines on her face, and she painted makeup over them to hide the creases and curves. Dean had loved them. They told the story of her life. Laugh lines showed a long, happy life full of laughter and joy. He could never understand why she would want to hide them. It was beyond him. 

He was meeting Y/N in front of the restaurant.  He held two disposable cups in one hand and a paper bag in the other, leaning against the building. He watched people stroll past. They weren’t watching their surroundings, constantly staring straight forward. That was the downside to New York City, no one was interested in the now. All they cared about was the next thing. He supposed it made sense that no one stopped to smell the roses in a city made of steel and concrete. There were no flowers to smell, only exhaust. 

Dean, on the other hand, believed in things that were beautiful. There was always something good to see.

In front of him, a woman bundled her baby in a ball of blue, fluffy blanket to keep him protected from the autumn chill. A man jogged with his dog, whose tongue was out, having the time of his life. A man in a suit, who kissed a woman goodbye as he stepped out of a cab. And her. 

Y/N stood across the street, fumbling around her purse for something. He could see her eyebrows furrow even from that distance. She wore a pair of black pants tucked into black boots and a long burgundy sweater. A curl fell into her eye, the rest of her hair tucked into a wide-brimmed hat. She looked different than she had the day before, and he took note of everything about her to add to his mental collection right next to the way she looked first thing in the morning, how she looked when she was angry, and the way her voice sounded when she was drunk. He was excited to learn all he could about her. What was her favorite food? What was her ideal temperature? How did she like her coffee? 

He wanted to know her, even with the high probability that she would hurt him. He figured that pain was something, and something had to be better than the emptiness he’d been feeling. Pain at least meant that he was still alive. 

—————————————

Chapter Four

Masterlist

Read on A03 Here

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[viastro]

three times a charm | lee jihoon

ミ★ synopsis: in which it takes three attempts for jihoon to finally tell you he loves you.

ミ★ genre: fluff, humor, first confessions!

ミ★ warnings: none!

ミ★ word count: 3,713

ミ★ pairings: jihoon x female reader

ミ★ notes: hi! finally wrote something for my love woozi! i wrote this while sobbing listening to sweet night on repeat so I hope you enjoy it LMAFKPWNG also! change up woozi,,, truly a cultural reset luv x

You know how they say three times a charm? Well, I suppose you could say that in this circumstance, it wasn’t true at all. It took three attempts for Jihoon to finally confess and tell you that he loves you. Yes, that’s right.

Three attempts.

Three. Fucking. Attempts.

You and Jihoon have been friends for a while, both having an intense love for music. You actually met through a performance class you each had to take due to your major. You noticed how serious he was when it came to his work, and how much passion and energy he put into each performance. It truly amazed you.

Unlike Jihoon, who didn’t notice you until you sang for your performance test. He could say that right then and there, is when he first fell in love with something about you. He fell in love with your voice that day, and that’s when his interest in you began. You both didn’t speak until a few weeks later when you mustered up the courage to ask him to go get a coffee with you. That day, you discussed your passions, what inspires you, why you both chose Seoul University. A beautiful friendship began that day.

However, Jihoon was slowly falling in love with you the closer you both got. He would take notice in the way you’d cover your mouth as you’d laugh, afraid that there’s food in your teeth. The way you’d continuously run your hand through your hair when it’d fall in your face rather than put it in a ponytail. The way you’d offer him the first bite of whatever food you guys would order, or how you would always give him small gifts simply because you thought he’d like it.

Lee Jihoon, the man who rejects hugs when he doesn't initiate them, the man who hates skinship in general, would let you cling to him like a small koala. Whenever you two were together, you’re either holding his arm, squishing his face in your hands, or wrapping your arms around him from behind. There is no in between. 

The moment he knew he was in love with you was the day you cried on his lap at three in the morning. You were crying over a dog dying in the movie you both watched. Earlier in your guys’ friendship, he would’ve laughed at you. However, he just pat your head, giving you a small smile, but his heart was pounding against his chest. It was when you wiped your tears away and rolled over so that you were looking up at him, that he took notice of the way your eyes were sparkling. 

Jihoon fell in love with you that night because you held the whole galaxy in your eyes.

Here comes the mentally and physically exhausting part to this. Jihoon’s confession of his love for you. The first attempt was the most casual out of the three, but it failed rather horribly.

━━━━━━ ☁️━━━━━━

“You’re crazy.” You giggle as you fold the chocolate chips into the batter. Jihoon rolls his eyes playfully, feeling his heart twinge at the thought of what he’s planning to tell you today.

Jihoon is gonna tell you he loves you today. He’s gonna fucking do it. 

“Oh yeah? Says the one who thinks it’d be cool to conduct a heist.” He retaliates, making you nudge him with your shoulder.

“And what of it? It’d be pretty epic. I watched Buzzfeed Unsolved’s episode on the museum heist, and I’ve watched plenty of the show Money Heist.” You explain, stealing a chocolate chip and placing it into your mouth. You take out another one, poking Jihoon so that he’d look at you. Jihoon looks up from rolling the second batch of cookies, glancing at you.

“Aahh..” You sound out, opening your mouth for Jihoon to copy. He rolls his eyes, opening his mouth for you to place a chocolate chip right on his tongue. 

“You watched like, one episode of Money Heist, and you fell asleep in the second half of that episode. I wouldn’t say you’ve watched plenty.” Jihoon tells you as he gets back to placing the balls of cookie dough onto the greased pan. 

“Okay first of all, I watched three episodes. Second of all, I was really tired that day cause you made me go on a run at six am.” Jihoon giggles at the memory, making you giggle back at him. He turns so that he’s facing you, and you look at him. His expression is a bit serious now, making you raise an eyebrow.

Now’s the time. Tell her you love her. 

“Yn, I l-”

“What’s that smell?” You interrupt, sniffing the air as you smell something… burning?

“Oh my god yn, the COOKIES ARE BURNING!” Jihoon shouts, turning off the oven immediately. You screech, grabbing the oven mitts and taking out your first batch of now black chocolate chip cookies that are emitting smoke. Jihoon grabs the other set of oven mitts, taking the pan out of your hands and rushing to your balcony and leaving it on the ground. 

He lets out a small sigh, now unable to go through with his plan because your house smells like smoke. 

“Sorry Ji, forgot to set a timer.” You apologize, poking your head out the balcony door. Jihoon looks up at you, feeling himself calm down at the sight of your smile.

“Just make sure to set the timer for the two other batches or else we won’t have a movie night snack.” He responds, stepping back into your apartment to roll the other batches.

Safe to say, he did not end up confessing to you that night. With your apartment smelling like burnt chocolate chips, he decided it’s best to do it another day with a set plan. You both just watched Itaewon Class for the rest of the night, snacking on the two successful batches of cookies.

The second time Jihoon tried to confess, he had a plan. It was a simple plan, but he couldn’t see where it could fail. Alas, we must remember that it took three tries before he finally was able to tell you his true feelings. 

━━━━━━ ☁️━━━━━━

“Where did Hoshi go?” You ask Jihoon as you walk around the mall, looking through shop windows to see what could potentially be a good gift. The three of you planned to go to the mall to go Christmas shopping, but what you don’t know is that Jihoon secretly planned to confess to you today. 

“He told me he had to go to the restroom and will catch up with us later. You know how his stomach gets when he eats pretzels.” Jihoon responds, making you giggle at the thought. You fail to notice the affectionate look in your best friend’s eyes as he watches you smile, but you’ve always been incredibly oblivious.

In reality, Hoshi ran off to go and pick up the bouquet of chrysanthemums at the flower shop, but of course you don’t know that. Jihoon’s plan is to go to the section of the mall where the christmas lights are up, and tell you he loves you, holding out the chrysanthemums to you. You’re both almost to the Christmas lights, when Jihoon’s phone rings. 

“Ah, give me a sec yn.” Jihoon tells you and you nod, waiting by the wall as he walks off to answer his phone. You look into the shopping bag you’re holding, taking a glance at Jihoon’s gift you sneakily picked up. You ordered it a week earlier, deciding that today was a good day to get it since the three of you were going to the mall. It’s a silver band with his initials in it, you knew how much he loved rings so you decided to get him a special one. 

“What do you mean the flower shop is closed?” Jihoon whisper-shouts into the phone, to which Soonyoung flinches on the other end.

“They’re not open! They closed at 12 in the afternoon.” Soonyoung says, and Jihoon lets out a loud sigh. He checks his watch, seeing that it’s literally 8:00 at night. 

“I fucking hate it here, okay. I’ll just confess without the flowers and give her them tomorrow or something.” Jihoon says, and Soonyoung agrees on the other end. Only for all the lights to shut off a second later. Those in the mall let out a loud scream, making Jihoon cringe.

“EEK! There’s a blackout!” Soonyoung yells, and Jihoon’s eyes widen once he remembers that he left you alone.

You’re scared of being alone in the dark.

“I need to go back to yn, turn on your flashlight. I’ll find you in a sec.” Jihoon says quickly, ending the call and turning on his flashlight. He walks over to where he last saw you, only for you to not be there. His eyes widen, not caring about the chaos that’s going on around him. He walks a bit further, only to see you sitting in the corner, face hidden in your arms. You’re not moving or flinching at the sound of those freaking out around you, but he can see the way your shoulders are shaking that you’re crying.

“Yn.” Jihoon breathes out, and you look up at the sound of his voice.

“Ji.” You mutter, standing up and running to him, wrapping your arms around his middle.

“You stinky bitch, how could you leave me alone like that.” You cry, making him tighten his hold around you.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. It’s okay, I’m here.” Jihoon reassures you, making you squeeze him tighter, shutting your eyes and breathing him in, letting his presence calm you down.

Jihoon did not confess that night either, knowing you were too frightened by the mall blackout. Instead, you both found Soonyoung when the lights turned back on, and went and got boba. Jihoon was feeling discouraged at this point, but he knew the third try would work. As the saying goes, three times a charm! Incorrect lee jihoon.

Incorrect.

━━━━━━ ☁️━━━━━━

Jihoon had your favorite boba in hand, along with a bouquet of strawberries that he spent the time making with Soonyoung and Seokmin. He knows how much you love strawberries, and he saw the idea on Instagram, so he thought this was the move. It took one day to complete, but it looks great now. Today is the day he will tell you he loves you, today is the goddamn motherfucking DAY.

There’s no way I’ll fail a third time, three times a charm bitch! Jihoon tells himself as he enters the elevator of your apartment building. His hands are shaking as the elevator climbs up to the eighth floor. Once the elevator makes it to your floor, he steps out, making his way to your apartment only to freeze. There’s a man standing in front of your door, handing you a bouquet of pink roses. You smile widely, accepting them with a bow. 

The man is tall, much taller than Jihoon. He’s also handsome, hair slicked back, showing off his perfect eyebrows god damn it. Jihoon feels his heart sink, realizing that he’s too late. He slowly inches back, walking towards the elevator with a broken heart and a stupid strawberry bouquet that he’s gonna force Soonyoung to eat. 

What he fails to hear though, is you thanking your neighbor for bringing you the roses you ordered for your sister’s birthday. “Thank you so much for bringing them to me Mingyu! You know I could’ve just gone and picked them up at your shop.” You tell him, smiling widely at the flowers you bought.

“It’s no biggie, you’re my neighbor anyways. I don’t have a problem with it, it’s easier this way. I hope your sister likes them by the way! Make sure to keep them in your fridge until the day you drop them off.” He instructs and you nod, waving bye happily as he walks off in the direction of his apartment.

“These are so pretty, she’s gonna love them.” You mutter as you close the door, letting out a smile. You take a photo of the flowers, sending them to Jihoon.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Hey! How’d it go-” Soonyoung stops once he sees Jihoon slouching as he steps through the door. He places the strawberry bouquet on the table, along with the now half-empty boba. He walks into his room, locking the door behind him. 

“Awe man..” Soonyoung says disappointedly, sitting back down at the dining table. 

Jihoon belly flops onto his bed, curling up and forcing himself to fall asleep.

Now obviously, the third attempt did not work because Jihoon is stupid and just assumed what the situation was without asking. It could’ve worked out if he stayed for a second longer, but he didn’t. Instead, he spent the rest of his day taking a depression nap, with Soonyoung peeking his head in to place food inside.

The fourth, and final attempt, was successful.

━━━━━━ ☁️━━━━━━

Jihoon wakes up the next day, groaning at the light pouring in through his curtains. He reaches out, grabbing his phone from his dresser. He sees the unread message you left him the day before, feeling his heart break a little more once he realizes there’s an image attached. He opens the message, seeing the pink bouquet in a vase in your fridge. 

“She doesn’t have to rub it in my face-”

Yn: look how pretty the roses are! Mina is gonna love them!! If you’re ever gonna buy flowers, go and check out Mingyu’s flower shop, he’s my neighbor! 

Jihoon sits up in bed immediately, eyes widening at the message, heart filling up with hope.

“Oh my fucking God. They’re for her sister.” Jihoon mutters, getting out of bed and walking out of his room.

“Hey Ji, I’m sorry about-”

“The flowers weren’t for her, they’re for her sister. I forgot she buys her flowers every Christmas.” Jihoon mumbles quickly, currently preoccupied with the fact that he no longer has boba for you and the strawberries are already turning bad. Well he did leave the strawberry bouquet on the table. 

“Fuck. How am I supposed to give her this?!” Jihoon yells, running a hand frustratedly through his hair. 

“I mean, you don’t have to? You can just give her that bracelet you bought-” Jihoon shoots Soonyoung a death glare, making him stop.

“Or not.” He says, slowly retracting himself from the situation. Jihoon’s phone rings, and he reaches into his pocket, taking it out to see you’re calling him.

“Hey yn.” Jihoon greets into the phone, and he hears you giggle excitedly.

“Let’s hangout! I have a gift for you.” You say, staring at the small box you wrapped. Jihoon feels himself freeze once he realizes he’ll have to give you the bracelet he got for you earlier than expected.

He was hoping to give you the bracelet on your birthday, which is in a couple weeks, but this will have to do.

“Me too, I’ll head over after my shower.” Jihoon motions for Soonyoung to go and grab the bracelet from his room. Soonyoung nods, rushing over into Jihoon’s room to snatch the gift.

“Okey! Be safe Ji.” You end the call, heading over to take out the brownies you made in the oven.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Merry Christmas!” You squeal once Jihoon enters your apartment, making him laugh.

“Merry Christmas Eve yn.” Jihoon corrects, giving you a pat on the head. He sniffs the air, heading straight to your kitchen once the scent of brownies hits his nostrils. He takes the corner piece, shoving it into his mouth.

“Hey! I wanted to have that one.” You pout, hitting his shoulder. Jihoon chuckles, taking the other corner piece and placing it in your hand.

“That’s why there’s four corner pieces, duh.” You roll your eyes, eating the brownie in one bite. 

“You wanna order chicken for dinner?” You ask as you and Jihoon head over to your living room, sitting down by your small christmas tree.

“Chicken and beer? The classic duo.” Jihoon says, which you take as a yes, I would like fried chicken for dinner. 

You fail to notice how nervous Jihoon is, but he’s currently shitting fucking bricks right now. He’s fumbling with the small box in the pocket of his sweatshirt, wondering when would be a good time to give it to you.

“Alright! The food is ordered, let’s watch Christmas movies until it arrives.” You take the remote, turning on the TV and going onto Netflix. 

I’ll do it after we eat, Jihoon thinks to himself.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Ah, I’m full.” You mumble, letting a burp escape your mouth as you lean back into the couch. Jihoon chuckles, letting out a small burp himself. 

“Okay so Ji, I have a gift for you.” You tell him after a beat of silence. You walk over to your small christmas tree and pick up the tiny box. You sit back down on the couch, and turn towards Jihoon.

His black hair is a bit messy, and his cheeks are tinged a pretty shade of pink. You’re curious as to whether he’s tipsy already, but he only had a sip of his beer. His mouth is partially open, and you glance down at your hands once you realize you’ve been staring for too long.

“I have a gift for you too yn.” Jihoon tells you and you look back up to see him reach into his sweatshirt pocket, now holding a small box in his hand. You both look into each other's eyes, and smile, handing each other your gifts.

“I have to tell you something-” You both start, bursting out into a fit of giggles after.

“You go first.” You say, pretending to pass him the mic. 

“I’ve tried to tell you this three times already.” Jihoon says with a nervous laugh, refusing to look into your eyes. You cock your head to the side, a small smile popping up on your face.

“Yn, you’re so precious to me.” You bite the inside of your cheek to try and stop yourself from audibly awe-ing out loud. 

“I uh, oh God I’m so nervous.” Jihoon laughs, looking up into your eyes. Your cheeks turn red at the intense stare he gives you, and he wants to reach up and cup your face, but he holds back.

“I love you yn, I really do.” Jihoon confesses, and you smile.

“I know, I love you too Ji.” You say casually, glancing back down at your hands, and Jihoon almost slaps himself in the face at the realization that you thought it was just him saying it in a friendly way.

“No, yn.” Jihoon reaches up and rests his hand on your cheek, making you suck in a breath. “Look at me, please?” You look back up into his eyes to see him staring at you with an expression you’ve seen before, but never was able to tell what it meant. 

It’s the look he’d give you when he thought you weren’t looking. The way he stares at you when you dance in the kitchen as you wait for the food to bake. The one he’d give you when you laugh and turn to glance at him.

“I’m in love with you, yn. I’ve been trying to tell you this for a month.” Jihoon says quietly, and you look down at your hands. You remove his hand from your cheek, picking up the gift from your lap and his, placing it onto the coffee table so that you don’t ruin it with what you’re about to do next. 

“Excuse me.” You mumble, cheeks burning with warmth, you climb onto his lap. Jihoon stares at you with wide eyes, leaving his hands resting by his sides, he notes the incredibly close proximity between you two.

“I never thought you’d finally confess.” You mutter, leaning in and pressing a short kiss to his lips. It’s like a switch goes off, and Jihoon finally wraps his arms around your waist, returning the kiss gratefully. You feel your stomach flip because woah. You end up smiling during the kiss, making Jihoon giggle against your lips. He pulls away to look at you with a big silly smile.

“Does that mean you feel the same way? I mean, you are on my lap right now.” Jihoon teases and you feel your cheeks turn bright red again, choosing to slap his shoulder as your answer. 

“Open your gift Ji, I think you’ll like it.” You whisper, getting ready to move off his lap, only for him to pull you closer with one arm as he reaches over to grab his gift off the coffee table with the other. 

“Small box, did you get me another flash drive for my songs again?” He asks and you giggle, shaking your head no. He opens the box, his eyes widening as the silver band reflects back at him. 

“I know how much you like rings, so I got this for you. It has your initials on the inside.” You explain as he lifts the ring carefully out of the box. Jihoon smiles at you, placing the ring on his pointer finger. 

“I love it, thank you yn.” He says, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek. You squeak, feeling shy all of a sudden and he laughs.

“You’re the one who climbed onto my lap after my confession!” He exclaims and you laugh, hitting his shoulder again. “Stop, I’m shy now.” You tell him, reaching over and grabbing his gift. 

He watches you as you open it, and you let out a small gasp. It’s a silver bracelet with a heart charm in the middle. It also has your initials in it, and you smile widely. “So you copied my gift, huh?” You ask and he gasps.

“How dare you! I ordered that gift for you last month so technically, you copied me.” Jihoon fake argues with you, and you roll your eyes. 

“I love you, even though you did copy me.” Jihoon says and you giggle, nuzzling your head into his neck. 

“I love you too Ji, I’ve loved you for a long time.”

━━━━━━ ☁️━━━━━━

And that is how our dear Lee Jihoon finally confessed his love for you after three attempts. I guess we could say...

third time’s the charm ?

eh.

#lee jihoon x reader #jihoon x reader #woozi x reader #seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #woozi #woozi scenarios #woozi seventeen #woozi fluff #seventeen x reader #woozi au #woozi oneshot #jihoon fluff #jihoon scenarios #lee jihoon #lee jihoon scenarios

[erisbaek]

Stucky Fic Rec [Part One]

So I decided to split the fic recs up into parts because they will be too long otherwise. In each part I will link the Google Doc that I am typing them up in, which is where I will constantly update as I read.  Within these fic recs, they’re mostly my preferences, so very few (if any) Shrinkyclinks, and ABO fics will be within them, as well as shorter fics, since I actively seek fics out that are longer than 10k (and completed)!!

The Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10wqr5s-CzkFzLidQgt-y4-cjudHWwVeVPWCedMjK7t0/edit?usp=sharing

The first part is formatted under the cut, if you’d prefer to stay out of the doc!

Lightning in a Bottle 

    Word Count: 63k     Rating: Explicit     Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Road Trip!AU, Angst with Happy Ending     Warnings: Smut, Smoking     Synopsis: The problem, Steve thinks, isn’t so much his motorcycle giving up the ghost on a lonely stretch of highway through a lonely stretch of the country. He doesn’t mind stretching his legs or the prospect of hitchhiking. The problem is the roiling black blanket of storm clouds slowly spreading itself over the landscape headed his direction… Steve Rogers is looking to hitch on a highway abandoned by everyone smart enough to avoid a looming storm. Bucky Barnes is the professional storm chaser who offers him a ride.

It gets more complicated from there.

Perspective and Truth

        Word Count: 16.7k          Rating: Teen and Up         Notable Tags: Bodyswap!AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort        Warnings: None        Synopsis: Bucky and Steve end up swapping bodies and learning a lot more about each other in the process

Carbs and Conversations

         Word Count: 48k          Rating: Teen and Up          Notable Tags: Hockey!AU, No Powers          Warnings: None          Synopsis: Bucky was just looking for a chance. A chance to get on the ice and play. A chance to escape from Hydra. A chance to redeem himself. He didn't include 'A chance to be friends with Steve Rogers' on the list. That would be ridiculous. Lucky for him, Steve seemed determined to be ridiculous.

So Loud and So Clear

           Word Count: 26.6k            Rating: Mature            Notable Tags: Get Together, Slow Build            Warnings: None           Synopsis: Bucky had been careful, after all, leaving no trace of his comings and goings. It was horrendously disappointing to know that Rogers had found him. Bucky was a lot better than getting caught by a guy who wore the American flag as a onesie. He just really was. “Don’t you – Bucky – Bucky,” Rogers started, and to Bucky’s growing horror, it looked like Rogers was on the verge of some type of emotional eclipse. Anger, sadness, something, and Bucky wanted nothing to do with it. “Hate to break it to you, bud, but I don’t remember ever living here and I don’t remember you.”

A Loyal Viewer 

           Word Count: 36.1k            Rating: Explicit             Notable Tags: Camboy!Steve, Punk!Bucky, No Powers, Long Distance            Relationship            Warnings: Smut            Synopsis: At almost exactly eight thirty in the evening, Steve settles on the bed before his camera and the computer. He signs into his account on Chaturbate and clicks the button that starts his stream.

In My Conditions, Love’s the Best Physician

             Word Count: 9.1k              Rating: Not Rated              Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Pharmacist!Bucky, Russian!Bucky              Warnings: None              Synopsis: ”This situation is a little more delicate because I don't even know if he speaks English and I'm tired of going down to the pharmacy for constipation medication and allergy pills when I haven't sneezed since 1941.” Steve shouts. The room falls silent, and he turns back around to find four pairs of stunned eyes watching him. Tony, as always, speaks first. “He?” - Or the one where Bucky is a hot pharmacist and Steve keeps making up bullshit reasons to go see him.

Rare Is This Love (Keep It Covered) 

               Word Count: 66.7k                Rating: Explicit                 Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Mechanic!Bucky, Slow Burn                Warnings: Smut, Canonical Character Death                Synopsis: It's 2014. Captain America has been out of the ice for three years and is trudging along, saving the world and trying to get used to living in the future. Steve thinks he knows how the rest of his life is going to pan out – a life of duty, which he chose when he signed up to be Erskine’s science experiment. But then, he meets Bucky Barnes: the out-of-this-world-gorgeous mechanic and war vet, who turns Steve’s life upside down and makes him question everything he thought he knew. Slowly, Steve comes to realize there is more to life than duty and punching Nazis. Just one problem though: how on earth does a 96-year-old virgin who only just realized he may not be entirely straight make the transition from crush to relationship? Cue healthy amounts of self-doubt, awkward flirting, pretty blushing, existential crises, emotional growth, and maybe, possibly, a sexual awakening.

Looking For A Place To Hide

                Word Count: 33.3k                 Rating: Explicit                 Notable Tags: Endgame Fix-It, 2012!Steve                 Warnings: Smut                 Synopsis:  It's 2012 and all Steve knows is that another version of himself said Bucky is alive. Steve will do anything to get his friend back, even if it means time traveling to 2023. He expects Bucky to be happy to see him, but instead he's wary, hurt. Turns out his Steve had left him for Peggy. How? Why? Steve can't believe it. Now he'll have to find a way to make sense of it all, and convince Bucky that it's the two of them to the end of the line.

The Wolf and the Sheep

               Word Count: 50.5k                Rating: Teen and Up                Notable Tags: Shield Agent!Steve, Winter Soldier!Bucky                 Warnings: None                Synopsis: Steve Rogers is a SHIELD agent who is recruited for a secret project: Becoming a handler for the Asset. Steve’s world is thrown for a loop when he discovers the Asset is an actual person and he needs to figure out who he is and what he’s going to do.

All Those Little Pieces

                 Word Count: 40.5k                  Rating: Mature                  Notable Tags: Alternating POV, Post CATW                  Warnings: Smut, Panic Attacks                  Synopsis: Steve has never forgotten Bucky Barnes. Not their childhood together, not the horror of the moment Bucky fell too far for him to reach, and not the way he's loved him all the while. Bucky has forgotten everything about Steve, at least at first. But there's still a feeling there, warm in his chest—and maybe now that he's found his way back to Steve Rogers and his sunny apartment, there's a chance it might turn into something more.

My Dear

                   Word Count: 29.9k                    Rating: Explicit                     Notable Tags: Post CATWS, Recovery                    Warnings: Smut                    Synopsis: The Soldier stares down at the floor, breathing hard through his nose. “And you still wanna fix me,” he says. Steve shakes his head. “There’s nothing to fix, Buck. I just want to bring you home.”

Living On My Own

                    Word Count: 26.1k                     Rating: Mature                     Notable Tags: Vigilante!Bucky                      Warnings: Blood and Gore                     Synopsis: James Barnes is back in the world and finds that not only has there been 1) an alien invasion, but 2) Howard Stark had a kid. One that dispenses unsolicited life advice, no less. Oh, and 3) Captain America is alive again, after getting himself killed by his own recklessness in a move so stupid only Steve could have come up with it. In which James learns to do laundry, turns into an accidental neighborhood vigilante and makes Tony Stark a happy grease monkey, all while he figures out where to stake his claim.

Chase the Lighting From the Sky

  ��                   Word Count: 39.4k                       Rating: Explicit                        Notable Tags: No Powers, Age Gap, Farm!AU                        Warnings: Smut, Past Character Death, Animal Death                       Synopsis: If Bucky has to be stuck doing this ridiculous summer work program before his senior year of college, on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, then at least he’s got a hot as hell cowboy for a boss and host. Steve Rogers, owner of the Truth & Justice Ranch, is what Bucky’s completely theoretical but very imaginative bisexual fantasies are made of. Steve’s a widower though, and a nice guy in need of help, and no doubt 100% straight… so Bucky’s gonna work his ass off and keep his head down. But neither Bucky nor Steve are prepared for the friendship that forms between them as they work side by side. And they certainly aren’t expecting the budding feelings, confessions, and passions that summer heat and the loneliness of the great open plains stirs in each of them. What rages to life between them will shake each man to his core and will linger long after the storms and the summer have passed.

Cinder and Smoke

                       Word Count: 51.7k                        Rating: Explicit                        Notable Tags: Sheriff!Steve, Blacksmith!Bucky, Old Western                        Warnings: Smut, Period-Typical Homophobia, OC Death                        Synopsis: “They say there’s no law in Parasapa. Is that true?”

Art Thief, Heart Thief

                       Word Count: 58.8k                        Rating: Mature                        Notable Tags: FBI!Steve, Thief!Bucky Barnes                        Warnings: Smut                        Synopsis: Agent Steve Rogers is facing a series of art thefts that has him stumped, and looking for a break in the case. Convicted art thief and general high end criminal Bucky Barnes wants to make parole and happens to know all of the right people who could make Steve's job easier. So they strike a deal, mutually beneficial and entirely business. But a few days undercover, an undeniable growing chemistry, and some ill-timed Feelings entering the mix, and all bets are off.

Laws of Thermodynamics 

                       Word Count: 14.6k                        Rating: Explicit                         Notable Tags: Post CATWS, Recovery                         Warnings: Smut                        Synopsis: He never had to relearn how to love Steve Rogers. It might be the one thing he never forgot.

Abstract Art

                       Word Count: 26.6k                        Rating: Teen and Up                        Notable Tags: Friends to Lovers, Artist!Steve, Ex Sniper!Bucky                        Warnings: None                        Synopsis: They survive almost a year of torture together, cells side by side, banter and teasing and stories. They keep each other alive. Then everything changes. They tell Bucky that Rogers's been killed. He tries to piece his life together, to move on. Steve owns an art store. He's given up looking. It's over. Except it's really not.

We Discovered Gold

                       Word Count: 18.7k                        Rating: Explicit                        Notable Tags: Post CACW, Fix-It, Wakanda                         Warnings: Smut                        Synopsis: “So you got these safe houses scattered all over Russia?” Steve jokes into the soft hair over Bucky's temple, not pulling away, “Or did we just get lucky?” Bucky shakes his head and then replies, “Got myself a few. It’s been a long two years.” “Yeah pal,” Steve nods, burrowing further, “I hear that.”

Never Mind to Hold 

                      Word Count: 21.6k                       Rating: Mature                       Notable Tags: Soulmate!AU, Not CACW Compliant, Soulmarks                       Warnings: Brief Suicidal Ideation                       Synopsis: Steve didn't know the name of Bucky's soulmate. He wasn't even sure when it had appeared across Bucky's heart. But Steve knew it wasn't his name hidden under that patch.

Where There’s Smoke 

                      Word Count: 95.1k                       Rating: Explicit                        Notable Tags: Firefighter!AU                       Warnings: Smut                       Synopsis: Steve is a Brooklyn firefighter who is about to be saddled with a new, rookie crewmate. James Barnes is that rookie, just looking for a fresh start at a new station. Steve's friends think they know what's best for him...start dating his new crewmate. Steve thinks they're crazy...or possibly right. But events from James's recent past may pose a threat to any designs they have on each other.

Let Them Eat Cake

                    Word Count: 31k                     Rating: Explicit                      Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Pastry Chef!Steve, Sommelier!Bucky                     Warnings: Smut, Drug Use                     Synopsis: Steve picked up the piping bag and returned to the ramekins. Bucky left, though not without shooting one last look at Steve's wide back. Bucky could already tell Steve Rogers was trouble, not even counting the near-religious experiences he inspired among the staff. It wasn’t that Bucky didn’t appreciate him as well; he did. He just tended to appreciate people he found attractive from afar, because explaining the metal arm was hard, and because he didn’t really know how to handle letting someone in close. But that wasn’t why Steve was trouble, not really. Bucky wanted to know why their new pastry chef had gun calluses on his right hand.

Adrenalize Me 

                  Word Count: 58.5k                   Rating: Explicit                    Notable Tags: Vampire!Steve                   Warnings: Smut, Blood                   Synopsis: Leaning against the side of a wall, taking an indolent drag of a cigarette, there he stood. Watching Bucky with an inscrutable gaze. Staring at Bucky for long seconds, the blond seemed to consider him before breaking the silence. “You know, nice guy like you walking alone at this hour – people might think you were looking for trouble.” Trying not to shudder at the sound of that voice, which wrapped around him like smoke, Bucky managed a smirk, lifted a brow. “Well, if I was, it looks like I found it.” Two strangers meet in a dark club. One just happens to be a vampire.

The Change in Us 

                 Word Count: 23.4k                  Rating: Explicit                  Notable Tags: N/A                  Warnings: Smut                  Synopsis: “I’ve found your BFF,” Stark says without preamble. “My… what?” “James Barnes. Winter Soldier. Bucky. I don’t know, I don’t care, but right now he’s perched on the roof of the next building with a gun on me, and it’s not so much my idea of a relaxing afternoon, so could you get down here?” Steve hangs up and starts running.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

                  Word Count: 38.2k                   Rating: Explicit                   Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Ex Army!Bucky                   Warnings: Minor Smut                    Synopsis: Many an odd critter and item have ended up on the front porch of the property Bucky house-sits in the Middle Of Nowhere, but a bleeding blond man is a first. A short inspection reveals the man to be none other than Steve Rogers; ex-Captain America, vigilante, and a wanted fugitive. Steve’s stay of a few days of recovery is prolonged, under instructions for him to lie low until the Avengers can sort out the mess that has become the Sokovia Accords. Bucky is pretty sure that he’s committing an act of treason by providing Steve a place to stay. He is also pretty sure that lengthy interaction with Steve makes one prone to impending headaches and possibly ulcers. And he is certain that he is, very assuredly, in danger of falling in love with Steve.

The Soldier’s Revenge

                 Word Count: 76.4k                  Rating: Explicit                   Notable Tags: Canon Divergence, Enemies To Lovers, Slow Burn                  Warnings: Smut                  Synopsis: Bucky Barnes turns himself in to SHIELD two years after dragging Captain America out of the Potomac River. He was deprogrammed in Wakanda and has been hunting down Hydra ever since, but he needs help if he wants to take proper revenge on his captors. He turns to his old enemies: SHIELD and the Avengers, but it'll take more than a few words to win their trust after the Winter Soldier brought SHIELD to its knees not long before. Now at SHIELD's mercy, the only thing that stands between Bucky and his revenge is the approval of Captain Rogers: a self-righteous asshole that Bucky barely knows.

The Best Way to Wake

                  Word Count: 42.2k                   Rating: Explicit                   Notable Tags: Canon Divergence, Slow Burn                   Warnings: Smut                   Synopsis: James Buchanan Barnes lay in a glass pod in the middle of the table, frozen since he fell. Steve’s hands were on the glass before he realized he’d moved. “Wait, Captain!” “Get him out,” Steve whispered, his hands searching for a clasp, a keypad, something. “Captain, we need to keep him in stasis—“ “I said get him out!” In which Bucky Barnes lay frozen in the Alps for seventy years only to be woken up a year after Steve Rogers was uncovered from the Arctic.

Latte Art and Slow Dancing in the Dark

                    Word Count: 89.5k                     Rating: Explicit                      Notable Tags: Age Difference, CIA!Steve, Barista!Bucky, Sugar                            Daddy!Steve                     Warnings: Smut                     Synopsis: Bucky is a somewhat well-adjusted former army sniper that got his shoulder blown out. He took his discharge and went home to finish school and is working on his international relations masters. His best friends and roommates (Nat & Clint) are CIA agents and tip him off that their local Sbux is hiring. He gets a job there and meets none other than the hottest guy on earth. So how does one get a date in the most top secret government location in the US? What happens when that guy is more than just a hot dorito and wants to give Bucky everything he wants? Bucky is going to have to figure out his shit and fast. That's what's up.

Laughter Lines

                   Word Count: 100.2k                    Rating: Mature                    Notable Tags: Bodyguard!AU, Slow Burn                    Warnings: None                    Synopsis: Bucky Barnes is a rising Hollywood star with a tragic past and a reputation for driving his bodyguards away. Steve Rogers is a veteran with the same tragic past and the need to get back out in the world. The two of them have been estranged since they were teenagers, so when Steve joins SHIELD as a bodyguard, he is less than thrilled when he finds out that Bucky is his first assignment. But how bad can it be? They're both professional adults, right?Wrong.

From Hydra with Love

                   Word Count: 21.2k                    Rating: Mature                    Notable Tags: Spies!Steve and Bucky                    Warnings: Smut                    Synopsis: Captain Steve Rogers is one of the best spies in the world - a marksman, a martial artist, an expert in strategy and tactics. There's not a lot he can't handle. Heck, he's even saved the world once or twice. So why does every run in with the mysterious Winter Soldier leave him feeling like the Bond Girl?

Goddamn Electric

                Word Count: 67.8k                 Rating: Explicit                 Notable Tags: Bodyguard!Steve, Musician!Bucky                 Warnings: Drug Use, Alcohol Use, Smut                 Synopsis: Steve Rogers works for a discreet private security company and gets assigned to James Barnes, a musician who takes the idea of 'sex, drugs & rock 'n roll' just a little too seriously.

There Was Something About Steve Rogers

                Word Count: 46.7k                 Rating: Explicit                 Notable Tags: Post CATWS                 Warnings: Smut, Panic Attacks                 Synopsis: The Winter Soldier knows Steve Rogers has deep feelings for Bucky Barnes, and decides that he can use that to his advantage to gain protection from the Hydra agents still trying to find him. What he didn't bargain for was actually starting to care about the man they call Captain America, or the strength of Bucky Barnes' memories as they begin to resurface.

Through the Mist

                Word Count: 14.5k                 Rating: Teen and Up                 Notable Tags: Soulmate!AU, Post CATWS                 Warnings: None                 Synopsis: He usually kept it covered. Whether it be with long sleeves, a cuff of some sort, or make up Natasha skillfully showed him how to apply. He didn’t cover it up because he was ashamed or because he was one of those people who didn’t like others knowing who his soulmate was- no. He covered it up out of respect. Respect for his fallen partner, and respect for himself because he knew looking at those swoopy lines of James B. Barnes on his wrist always made him crumble like his legs were kicked down. When he crashed into the ice all those years ago he thought he was going to see Bucky again- he thought he was finally going to be with Bucky without people giving them ugly looks and throwing slurs their way. He thought he was going to be happy again.

Take Me Home 

              Word Count: 78.1k               Rating: Mature               Notable Tags: Shrunkyclunks, Veteran!Bucky               Warnings: Smut, Torture, Referenced Suicide               Synopsis: “I’m so sorry, I’m gonna help you I promise, just don’t move, fuck, I ran over Captain America–” the man apologized, over and over, and all Steve managed to say was, “You’re really attractive,” before passing out on the guy’s lap in the middle of the road.

Where the Circle Ends

               Word Count: 29.8k                Rating: Mature                Notable Tags: Zombie Apocalypse!AU                 Warnings: Smut, Gore                Synopsis: In which the world has gone to hell in a zombie apocalypse handbasket and, in the middle of it all, Steve finds the one person he never thought he'd see again. Angst and feelings (amongst other things) ensue.

Our Souls (They Were Made to Last) 

               Word Count: 53.8k                Rating: Mature                Notable Tags: No Powers, Veteran!Steve, Doctor!Bucky, Ghost!Bucky                Warnings: None                Synopsis: Dr. James Barnes is too busy saving lives to actually have one of his own. When he finally agrees to go on a blind date, he gets into an accident that will change his life forever. Retired Army Captain Steve Rogers is depressed, and when he moves into his new apartment he finds it already occupied....with the ghost of its last tenant. To make matters worse, the ghost is adamant that he's not dead. As they navigate their way through their new living arrangements, can they save each other, before it’s too late? Or have they missed their one shot at a happy ending?

By Any Other Name

                 Word Count: 36.9k                  Rating: Explicit                  Notable Tags: Assassins and Hitmen!AU, Spies and Agents!AU                  Warning: Smut                 Synopsis: Steve was a good spy. It turned out one good spy didn't stand a chance against a rival security firm, a contract killer, and his own heart.

#stucky #stucky fic rec #stucky fic #stevebucky #stevebucky fic #starbucks #wintershield #steve rogers #james barnes #bucky barnes #the winter soldier #captain america #marvel

[xswestallen]

‘Morning After’ Pancakes

WestAllen oneshot      Rated M     1896 words

Summary: Barry and Iris make breakfast together. Set early on in their romantic relationship, before they move into the loft together.

A/N: Just a fluffy oneshot I wrote real quick. Hope you enjoy!

“Is that the sun?” Iris asked, rolling over in bed to look out the window.

“It is.” Barry said, rubbing his neck. “I think we stayed up all night.”

Iris laughed. “I didn’t even notice the time.”

Barry blushed. “Me neither.”

Iris could tell Barry wanted to say more, the words were on the tip of his tongue, and she was determined to hear them. Iris put her finger on Barry’s bottom lip and dragged it down. He moved forward and kissed her lips. Not wanting to get distracted by Barry’s velvet, tender kiss, Iris put a hand on his pec and pushed him off her.

“You were going to say something, but then you stopped yourself. What was it?”

Barry smiled in embarrassment. He hid his grin with the bed sheet.

Iris pulled the sheet away. Barry wrestled her down and pressed her body into the mattress, concealing his face in the pillow beside her head.

“Come on!” Iris insisted. “Please tell me!”

Barry shook his head. Iris could only see his wavy brown locks shaking back and forth. She giggled at how one piece stuck straight up in the air.

“Tell me what’s so funny first.” Barry said, lifting his head up and looking at Iris now that the rose hue had faded from his cheeks.

“Your hair.” Iris told him. She reached out to smooth it, but Barry’s hair was even more stubborn than his personality.

“You’re not used to seeing me first thing in the morning. I usually put some gel in it before I go out.”

“No, I remembered how your hair would always look like this is the morning back when we shared a bathroom at my dad’s house.”

Barry smirked. “But, you’re not used to laying next to me in bed with hair like this.”

“I can definitely get used to it though.” Iris teased.

Iris and Barry had officially started a few weeks ago. Thing were going well. Iris was really happy, happier than she’d ever been. Transition from friendship to something more had been easier than Iris expected. While going on a first date with someone she knew she was already in love with was kind of awkward, the rest came instinctively. It felt natural. It felt like their friendship always had: comforting, fun, safe, but even better now that they didn’t have to hold back their shows of affection or their deepest feelings.

Barry had spent the night at Iris’ apartment (again). They went to bed around midnight after watching a movie, but apparently never went to sleep. Iris remembered putting on her red pj’s and Barry remarking how red is his favorite color. He slid her pj’s off and they made love.

After that, Iris remembered snuggling against Barry’s chest as they talked about movies. Barry told her how he used to imagine himself doing big romantic gestures for Iris like guys in romantic films do for their love interests. He described one day when they were in college, and Iris called him to tell him about the horrible day she’d had, that made Barry consider buying every peony flower in Central City, filling the field outside her dormitory with them, and surprising her, like the protagonist in Big Fish does. That lead to them making love again. Iris lost track of the conversations and the number of times she came after that point.

“Come on!” Barry said, giving Iris a few light spanks on her butt. “I’m hungry. Let’s make breakfast.” He hopped out of the bed and stretched. Iris admired the view of his muscles flexing.

“I’m feeling like pancakes.” He said as he put a pair of CCPD sweatpants on.

“Mmm.” Iris hummed. She was still laying in the same spot in bed.

“Iris! Come on!”

“Babe!” Iris scoffed. “I can’t up. I don’t think I can walk.”

She batted her eyes at Barry. He should understand why her legs felt like jelly and her center was sore, he was the reason for it. Iris slowly and seductivly moved her hand down her breast, stomach, and pelvis. She kicked the sheet off her so that Barry could see her hand continue to travel to her vulva, which she gently massaged with a feather light touch.

“It felt SO good.” Iris moaned. “But, I think you broke me.”

Barry leaned over Iris in bed. His big arms supporting himself as he lowered his lips to hers. When they touched, Iris felt a spark of electricity as strong as the ones she felt that night in Star Labs when Barry was in a coma and the night on the bridge when she found out Barry is The Flash. Now, instead of surprising her, it excited her. Iris felt her entire body tingle. She moved her hands across Barry’s back, digging her nails into his skin as he deepened their kiss.

All of a sudden, Barry moved away. He was equally breathless as Iris. They looked at each other, dumb smiling lighting up their faces.

“I want to feel you again, be inside you again, make you cum again. But, I really am hungry. Let’s eat first.” Barry straightened up and held out his hand to help Iris out of bed.

“Uh, I wasn’t kidding about the not being able to walk thing.” Iris informed him. She flopped her leg around to show how weak it was.

Barry smiled. “Then I’ll carry you.”

Iris didn’t think he meant it, but Barry put his arms under Iris’ back and knees. He lifted her out of bed and held her, bridal style, in his arm. Iris linked her arms around him for extra support. For a minute, Barry just stood there holding her, gazing at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

“Don’t you want to go to the kitchen?” Iris whispered. “I thought you were hungry.”

“I am. I just wanted to slow down and take in the moment.”

Iris caressed Barry’s cheek. “That’s ok.”

He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes. Iris pressed a soft kiss to his neck.

“Barry, you don’t have to run when you’re with me.”

Barry smiled. He opened his eyes and walked with Iris into the kitchen at a normal human speed.

Iris’ kitchen was small, consisting of only one wall of counter space and an island that doubled as a table. iris didn’t mind the tight squeeze since she didn’t do much cooking in it. When she was cooking, it was usually at her dad’s house. The small space in the kitchen meant that if Barry and Iris were going to cook together this morning, they’d be very close, which made Iris all the more excited to meet some pancakes.

Barry sat Iris down on a barstool at the island. When hit with a 200 mile per hour wind Barry created with his movement, Iris’ hair blew in her face, but she was still able to see the red streak moving around her kitchen. A second later, Barry had all the ingredients for pancakes mixed together in a bowl, chopped fruits and chocolate chips on the side, and a greased pan on the stove.

“Do you want bananas, blueberries, strawberries, or chocolate ships?” Barry asked, gesturing to the various options.

“Bananas and chocolate chips.” Iris requested.

“Coming right up!”

Barry poured the extra ingredients into the bowl and moved his arm at super speed to mix it.

“Did you remember to add the milk?” Iris asked.

Barry nodded.

“And,” Iris continued. “You used flour instead of baking soda, right?”

“Hey, I only did that one time.” Barry said defensively.

“Yeah, the only time you ever made pancakes!”

“That was 10 years ago. I’ve made pancakes for myself since then?”

Iris looked skeptically at him. “Putting a frozen Eggo pancake in the toaster doesn’t count.”

Barry nudged her with his arm. He stopped mixing and poured the batter onto the pan. “You’ll see when your tasting the proof. I’m a much better cook than I was as a teenager.”

“Oh?”

“When I went away to college and had to live without your and Joe’s cooking, I forced myself to learn how to cook so I wouldn’t have a 100% ramen noodle diet.” Barry explained. He slid the pancake around the pan before flicking it into the air. When it landed safely, he grinned.

Iris got up to make some coffee with her French press. She didn’t need to ask Barry how he liked his, because she was still so used to making it for him after working at Jitters.

“Viola!” Barry cheered. He passed a plate with a pancake on it to Iris. “Honey, maple syrup, or whipped creamed?”

“Well, honey is the traditional pet name for a lover. But, I like the sound the sound of maple syrup.” Iris joked.

Barry rolled his eyes. “Haha cute. You better not ever call me whipped cream.”

Iris took a bite of the pancake. Her eyes widened and the world froze.

“Oh my god!”

Barry looked smug. “Good, isn’t it?”

“So good!” Iris mumbled as she took another bite.

Barry threw his fists in the air.

A realization hit Iris. She put the plate down glared at Barry.

“Hey, wait a second.”

Barry raised his brows.

“You learned how to cook but you never told me or my dad till now?!”

Barry’s grin fell. His eyes diverted to the floor. He looked guilty.

“I uh- Forgot to mention it.” He squeaked.

Iris didn’t buy it. “You were just getting out of having to make dinner for us one night a week!”

Barry became very focused on flipping the pancake.

“Shame on you, Bartholomew!” Iris scolded. “If you didn’t look so cute making pancakes shirtless, I’d be really mad.”

Barry smiled again. Iris could see his body relax.

“Here,” Iris offered Barry a forkful of pancake. “Enjoy your culinary genius.”

Barry opened his mouth and Iris fed him. The pancake was so drenched in syrup, that some ran out of Barry’s mouth and dribbled onto his chest.

When Barry reached for a paper towel, Iris stopped him.

“I’ll get that.”

She used her finger to wipe the spill of Barry’s chest, then sucked the syrup off her finger. The whole time, Iris made eye contact with Barry. As she took her flinger out of her mouth, she made a ‘pop’ sound.

Barry grabbed Iris by the waist and pushed her up against the cabinets, kissing her with urgency. Iris felt his dick starting to harden against her inner thigh as they kissed. As much as Iris wanted to keep going, she was now thinking Barry’s original plan was better. She slipped out of his arms and went back to cooking the pancakes.

Barry looked at her in confusion.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Iris said. “And, you’re going to need a lot of energy for the day we have planned. You had no trouble going all night, but I don’t want to drop your blood sugar.”

Barry sighed, but helped finish cooking the pancakes.

“These are really good.” Iris reiterated. “You have to make them for me more often. Please?”

“Ok.” Barry agreed. He stroked her hair and looked lovingly at her. “If you keeping having me over for the night, I’ll make you pancakes every morning!”

Iris smirked. “That’s a win win!”

#westallen #westallen fic #westallen fanfiction #westallen fluff #westallen dating #westallen smut #barry allen x iris west #barry x iris #iris x barry #the flash fanfiction #westallen oneshot #westallen drabble #barry allen #iris west #iris west-allen #iris west allen

[randomwoohoo]

Judy: Previously on Zoomorphia!

Nick: Right now, apart from John Silver, we at the ZPD have a new suspect in mammals’ disappearance, Peter Pan, a notorious abductor who terrorized Zootopia more than a decade ago. By the way, is it just me, or are Savages the monsters getting weirder and weirder each passing day?

Judy: Point taken, the one from last chapter was sure uncanny.

Nick: They’re all purple, glowing eyes, drooling everywhere. Some are so mutated like they leapt off the Cownenberg’s films.

Judy: Not that kind of uncanniness! But rather its demeanor… Why in the world that bear Savage hadn’t attacked nearby bank robbers until it mutated, then started targeting them?

Nick: But more importantly, let’s pick up where we left off! The wolf who helped us beat the monster went too far and killed one of the robbers. That’s not cool, especially for a hero. Shall we show him how a true hero should be, Carrots?

Judy: I wouldn’t say I deserve the ‘hero’ title yet. Nevertheless, we need to stop him.

Nick & Judy: Now the chapter 11!

Fanfiction link

.-.. . - .----. ... / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- .

A breeze stirred dust into the tense atmosphere in Savanna Central as one of the escaping criminals that robbed the bank was killed by the silver chrome wolf, Bolt.

“Who’s next? Better not lie or waste my time~” Right fist bopping left palm repeatedly, Bolt targeted the remaining three robbery criminals.

“Mind stepping aside?” He asked when Hybrid came to stand in his way.

“We won’t let you harm anyone anymore.” Hybrid struck a fighting pose.

“Is that so?” Bolt, stepping back, distanced himself from the armored cross-bred mammal slowly. Subsequently, Nick and Judy, sharing one body, lowered Hybrid’s guard in a slightly confused manner.

Abruptly, Bolt sprinted, then jumped over Hybrid, giving a mock salute while passing above the united duo.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Nick exclaimed.

Hybrid reached upward to grab Bolt’s ankle in the air and then flung him forward. The fallen wolf rolled twice on the ground to decrease the force of the throw before crouching down firmly.

The robbers considered the situation quite dangerous; hence, they aimed to abscond, walking away furtively.

“Stop right there! You’re not going anywhere!” Judy turned around and shouted at them.

They promptly came to a halt. “Under dangerous circumstances, isn’t a hero like you supposed to let us civilians get out?” The brown ferret robber protested.

“First! I’m not a hero. Second! You three are all criminals! Not merely civilians! So drop the money bags and stay put till the police come!” She fulminated, pointing the flamingo red armored right index finger at the ferret.

“Watch it, bunny~” Bolt, still crouching down, told Hybrid… Actually, he specified Judy. “Dang~ Getting chatty all the sudden… adds another reason why I can’t let those guys go.” The wolf dashed forwards. It looked like he was going after those three robbers again.

Hybrid hopped in front of Bolt to block his way. Strong rabbit legs allowed the armored mammal to jump high enough to the wolf’s eye level with ease.

Unfortunately, it seemed that he predicted it. Bolt stretched his left arm out and took hold of Hybrid’s face in one paw in mid air. The two amethyst stylish headlamps for eyes of Hybrid were covered by the big silver chrome palm.

Bolt then slammed Hybrid on the ground but before the doe rabbit body hit the concrete floor, Hybrid, paws extended, pushed the floor. Judy, taking control of the body, leglocked around the wolf’s left arm, which made him lose his balance for a moment. Next, she, exerting a force to pull the legs along with the wolf downward, quickly threw him sprawling on the ground.

Hybrid unwrapped the legs around Bolt’s arm, rolling away from him to put some distance before standing up.

“I see.” Bolt raised himself gradually, “When it comes to pure strength, I’m no match for Hybrid light green form.” brushing dirt on him off. “But I know just a thing to make up for it~” He sounded amused, then “Accel” uttered calmly.

Following that, the united duo saw Bolt briefly becoming a blur before they, facing up to the sky, flew away as if Hybrid had just got hit… Not as if… In reality, Hybrid had just unpreparedly got kicked in the front so hard that the armored mammal flew away and fell down on the ground.

Hybrid hastily kicked up. When the duo regained Hybrid’s feet, they caught sight of the silver flash, Bolt approaching the armored mammal in a split second. Hybrid hurriedly backed away from Bolt by a jump. However, the wolf closed in like greased lightning, throwing a right hook punch at Hybrid who was still floating above the ground from jumping. The partners as one instinctively blocked his punch with the left arm.

As the punching force sent Hybrid to land on feet not far away, the armored rabbit feet rubbed against the concrete floor, leaving visible marks of friction. The left arm was shaking even though they did not feel the punch impact was that strong.

Not having time to take a breath, Hybrid was pursued by Bolt battering the armored mammal with fists. No time for thinking at all, the duo could only rely on the reflex to block the attack, waiting for a perfect opportunity to “ ACTIVATE” press the syringe with the right paw in order to activate super strength and counterpunch the silver wolf.

Nevertheless, Bolt took a step back in time to avoid a blow. At that particular moment, Nick and Judy got a glimpse of electric sparks coming off from his paws. Simultaneously, they found that the left arm they used to block previous attacks turned numb.

“That wolf used electricity to attack…?” Nick murmured.

“Pretty much explain how he killed those Savages and the robber over there.” Judy casted a glance at the jackal criminal lying lifelessly.

In the jackal’s case, Bolt could send electricity running through the jackal’s heart, resulting in it beating irregularly, which led to heart failure.

Hybrid’s arm eventually recovered after shaking off. Subsequently, Bolt came at Hybrid again. This time however, Nick “ACTIVATE” teleported Hybrid. He merely responded to the thought that it was unacceptable to let his partner’s body keep on taking damages despite rapid healing.

When Hybrid instantly moved to behind the silver chrome wolf, “Double Accel” he, uttering calmly, turned back and jumped like blazes on the armored mammal. The cross-breed was kicked in the side. The momentum sent Hybrid flying to fall down nearby the robbery criminals.

Dumbfounded, both Nick and Judy could not believe that the wolf was able to react to an instant transmission almost at once. At that point, Bolt leapt towards Hybrid, taking Judy’s breath away. She was quite freaking out, so Nick decided to take a full control of the body “ACTIVATE” to activate enhanced speed, skedaddling like a scared rabbit.

He came to a stop several feet away from Bolt, who was in fact not after Hybrid but the remaining three criminals instead. “I’m not done with these guys yet~ Wouldn’t mind if I take them with me, right?” The silver wolf carried them by force, sending non-fatal electric current through their brains to knock them out in order to prevent struggling. They dropped the money bags while losing consciousness.

A few moments later, a SUV car for rhino species arrived close by the wolf carrying the passed out mammals. “Ciao~” Bolt exclaimed. He got in a car, dragging others including the jackal dead body in, before the car left.

Afterwards, Hybrid’s long rabbit ears picked up sound, Nick guessing that police and SCU team were heading towards them because they were not far from the scene of bank robbery, which it would be strange if those officers and agents did not hear the noise of battle.

“Carrots, we need to move now.”

“M-mhm” Judy got hold of herself, running off into a community building area.

Hybrid detransformed, Nick and Judy then sneaked into trucks of two separated police cruisers. They returned to ZPD station before Judy decided to leave work early…, leaving Nick alone at the station.

-.. . ..-. . .- - . -..

Since the previous day, the doe rabbit officer had barely talked. When the tod fox arrived at their cubicle in the morning, she was already there…, sitting quietly all by herself.

Nick sat down on a office chair next to her with an intention to initiate conversation. In spite of that, “Back then...” Judy was the one who broke the awkward silence.

“I was so scared… felt completely at a loss.” She, trembling, referred to the fight with Bolt the silver chrome wolf.

“I totally forgot about those three mammals… If they end up with the same fate as that jackal, it’s… it’s my fault.” She raised her legs, hugging her knees up to the chest.

“Judy...” Nick called his partner worriedly by her real name… not a nickname as usual.

The fox thought to himself. Although the mammal who ran away without second thought like a coward was me, she blames herself… He did not wish to see his bunny suffer… He reached his right paw out to the bunny with a desire to comfort her.

Before Nick could lay his paw on Judy, his stomach rumbled loud enough to attract her attention.

“Haven’t eaten breakfast yet?” Cracking an awkward smile, she turned to her fox partner covering his tummy embarrassedly. “Let’s feed the beast in your belly.” She hopped off her chair.

“Way to go, dumb tum” He, sarcastically mumbling at his tummy, got off his chair as well, following the doe out of their small work area.

At the reception desk, Clawhauser the chubby cheetah officer had been concerned about Judy since he saw her drooping on previous day. He did not think he had the guts to ask what happened.

When the duo ambled through ZPD lobby, Clawhauser called to them. “Judy! Nick! Where are you going?”

They consequently swerved to the feline officer. “We’re gonna get some grub.” Nick replied while Judy was beaming at Clawhauser despite her evident droopy ears.

“May I go along with you two?” The cheetah begged.

Nick stood a glance at the doe, coming to a decision. Right now, She needs her friends. “Sure thing, pal” Putting paws in his pockets, he smirked.

.-- --- .-. .-. -.-- / .- -. -.. / -.-. --- -. -.-. . .-. -.

In one fast food restaurant of Bug-Burga franchise, Tundratown, Judy was reserving a table, sitting on an adult high chair for small mammal. To be frank, it was odd to see a herbivore prey such as her in a place best known for serving insect protein food for predators.

Meanwhile, Nick and Clawhauser were waiting near the counter for their ordered meals and a vegan smoothie which the cheetah gladly bought for the bunny.

“It’s the same as before.” Clawhauser, standing next to Nick, said.

The fox turned to the big cat who kept looking toward a french fry station behind the counter.

The feline officer continued, “After that three years ago press conference of missing mammals, she has been blaming herself for starting conflict between predators and preys… although Bellwether was culprit turning predators savage.

Even when you two saved the city by discovering the truth, which ultimately led to creating an antidote for the night howler serum and many praising you, calling you heroes...” speaking distressedly.

“She still doesn’t accept the title ‘hero’... because guilt complex keeps haunting her...” Nick was fully aware of the rest of the story. He as well as Clawhauser received their meals over the counter before returning to their table.

“Here’s your smoothie, Judy.” The cheetah placed a small cup of berry smoothie, equivalent to rabbit’s large cup, right in front of the doe.

“Thanks a lot” She expressed her gratitude, taking hold of the drink.

“Don’t mention it” The cheetah beckoned like a kitty cat.

During the time that the predatory cops were noshing, especially Clawhauser chomping on his bug burger, Nick, chewing ground-up insects with soft buns, gazed upon Judy sipping her smoothie absent-mindedly.

“In case you feel uncomfortable, let me know. I can accompany you to outside. Patty smell in here is rather strong.” The fox told his bunny partner, worried that meat or insect- heavy restaurant atmosphere might discomfort a prey like her.

“I’m fine.” The bunny drew a straw away from her mouth. “Actually, I feel better. The smell in here somehow… help clearing my mind...” She looked around, watching predators other than her friends sinking their sharp fangs into their food.

Clawhauser initially wanted to ask the duo about the mysterious silver chrome wolf but seeing Judy emotionally confused, he would rather inquire some other time. As for Nick, “Carrot-” he wished to reach out to her.

But suddenly, there was a clamor from a next-door shop. Responsibilities kicking in, three of the officers subsequently rushed out to check, discerning mammals in the fishmonger’s shop stampeding.

“Savage! Savage!” Some cried.

“Where!?” The cops speedily got closer, turning left and right swiftly to in search of the monster.

When their eyes laid on a small purple furball sticking to the wall, they discerned what it was, a squirrel with independently mobile eyes of chameleon and toes covered in tufts of tiny hairs, Savage without a doubt.

“Oh, it looks so puny.” Nick sounded let-down.

“Regardless of the size, it’s still a threat. Benjamin, keep an eye on the situation.” Judy, dragging Nick, hastened to the nearest alleyway where there was nobody else.

No word is needed. The tod, perceiving the doe’s objective, belted a MidniDriver morpher around his waist. When she was about to put on hers, “Boy, rabbits sure are fast.” the panting cheetah, tired from running, appeared at the mouth of the alley.

“What!? Why are you here!?” She was startled by the big cat.

“I wanna witness transformation with my own eyes.” He made big ‘please’ eyes.

Sighing, “If that’s so, please look after Nick” she put on the morpher.

“Say what?” The cheetah wondered what the bunny meant while the fox “DRAW BLOOD” pulled the silver syringe on the left side of his transformation gear.

“Catch me, Clawhauser” Out of the blue, the fox leant backward, so the cheetah leapt in to catch the falling fox.

The bunny “INJECT” pressed her syringe, causing her partner to fall asleep by the time he was caught by the fellow feline. “Transform” She announced, drawing cheetah’s attention, before twisting the handle back “IGNITE”.

“Hot! Hot! Hot!” Clawhauser, carrying an unconscious canine, moved farther away from Judy swallowed by scorching purple mist. He gaped at a morpher’s core light shining in a thick fog followed by light of two headlamps at doe rabbit’s eye level.

Once the mist faded away, a flamingo red armored amalgamation between a fox and a rabbit with light green torso and grayish-tan lower body, Hybrid Hustler form, was revealed.

Hybrid vaulted over Cheetah the much larger mammal easily, then hurried into the shop. Others immediately made way for the little red torpedo.

When the duo as one first entered the shop, they noticed an angeline wolverine covering her right paw, face twisted with pain. Hybrid therefore sped to the corner where she was sitting with a muskox.

“What’s the matter?” Nick in the armored mammal body asked the angeline concernedly.

“She was bitten.” The muskox answered in place of her.

Hybrid looked round for the monster. The duo saw the purple furball climbing walls briskly, having difficulty keeping track of its movement under a panic situation. Thus, they twisted the handle forth twice. “FORM SHIFT-ARCHER” MidniDriver emitted purple haze shrouding Hybrid before the united duo pivoted around to clear the haze, becoming the armored mammal with charcoal masquerade eye mask in a green leather tunic, Hybrid Archer form.

A monitor of this form can detect a rapid motion. Accordingly, they pinpointed the squirrel Savage behind seafood counter. Pressing the syringe to summon a bow in the left paw “ACTIVATE”, Hybrid sprinted.

The screeching tiny monster climbed down the wall nimbly. There was a male scream of fear from under the counter. It could be presume that there was a male mammal hiding there.

Hybrid hurdled the counter, generating an arrow from the right wrist before firing it. When Hybrid landed on the floor, Judy was horrified to see a blood-soaked polar bear. Savages don’t bleed, so how there’s blood everywhere!? Or did I shoot him? She was trembling anxiously.

“Chill out, Carrots! It’s just fish blood from a bucket.” Nick shouted in a whisper. Judy eventually perceived that the arrow hit the bucket on the shelf which the Savage rushed to hide behind. As a result, it leaked the blood out on the bear.

The squirrel scampered out of the shop through a back door. Hybrid went posthaste after it. Since the duo traded Hustler form’s speed for Archer form’s monitor sensor, it was not easy task to catch up with the agile small monster. They followed it to the Bug-Burga restaurant, entering the kitchen from the back of the restaurant, which terrified the Bug-Burga staffs.

Hybrid drew the bow string back, determining on shooting another arrow. Once they released the arrow, it flew towards the purple target on the wall. However, it, one eye rotating to look at the armored mammal, bounced off the wall in time; hence, the arrowhead stabbed into the wall instead.

The monster jumped on mammals one after another, scaring them so much that they gave sharp cries.

At the time that a loud noise occured, the customers started to worry not long before worries grew to terrors when the squirrel Savage came in dining area. They were so frightened that they forgot to contact SCU. Some brought their phones up to live stream the event.

Hybrid hopped on the cashier counter, pulling the bow back to aim, revolving slowly. Nonetheless, any mammals around the areas that Hybrid aimed got petrified, freezing in place. At the moment Judy noticed mammals’ horrified faces, she, lowering the bow down, was afraid of accidentally harming civilians with arrows.

In the interval, carrying a senseless fox in his arms, Clawhauser raced to in front of the restaurant. He looked into the place through its window.

Hybrid soon detected the Savage crawling on ceiling. Without delay, the duo shot the arrow up but the monster drop itself first, so the arrow, piercing in the ceiling, missed again. The purple squirrel landed on one puma’s arm. He alarmedly shook it off rapidly and then yelped in pain when it finally fell off his arm to the table, leaving faint claw wounds on him.

Hybrid, pushing the syringe “ACTIVATE”, sprang towards the table while grabbing a gladius sword that popped up out of thin air prior to stabbing the tip of it down with the goal to kill the tiny monster.

However, the Savage leapt off to stick on the wall a second ahead of Hybrid’s attack. The archer armored mammal came down on the table.

Shortly after raising the head, Hybrid shrank back, taking a step away from the sword stuck in the table. Underneath the helmet, Judy became speechless on account of espying the startled puma terrified to the point he shed tears.

Nick in bunny’s body sensed insecurity surged up within her. Judy was evidently afraid of messing up, causing others’ misery. At any rate, to make the world a better place, she still could not ignore those who need help.

“Nick” She breathed, “I’m no hero.” looking at animals around her, “But if...” looking into their eyes which expressed hopes… They were counting on Hybrid, a mysterious stranger from their point of view.

“-mammals see us as a hero,-” Judy twisted the handle back. “CRITICAL BREAK” Hybrid’s right palm glowed.

“I’d have to act like one.” She spoke softly yet determinedly. Hybrid drew the sword from the table. Once the armored mammal grasped a grip of the sword, the paw transferred a glow to its blade.

Hybrid’s monitor began to calculate the squirrel Savage’s movement. It was scuttling on the wall. Hybrid Archer form raised and drew the bow, using the glowing sword as an arrow.

Savage moved to front window of the restaurant. Hybrid released the sword. It flew across the restaurant like the wind to pierce through the fleet-footed tiny monster.

Finally, the Savage, stabbed to the window, was meeting its end. It vaporized while the window was cracking.

Everything happened so fast that eyewitnesses could not comprehend what just occurred.

After the bewildering moments, Clawhauser, holding fox body with one arm, was clapping outside the restaurant. By and by, others gave Hybrid a round of applause.

“Are you smiling?” Nick asked Judy in a low voice.

“No” Her cheeks radiated heat.

“I can feel it.~”

“Quit it!” She ran to exit the back door, pulling the syringe to detransform. The suit of armor let purple steam out, causing a diversion that helped her escape.

On the cheetah side, “Oh, you’re back! How are you? What about Judy?” he felt the fox woke up, regaining his senses.

“Hang on.” The tod fox pressed his syringe to inject the blood, curing severe fatigue. “I’m fine and Carrots...” He swiftly put his morpher away, “she’s doing better~” wearing a genuine relieved smile.

- --- / -... . / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- . -..

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #zoomorphia #zootopia tokusatsu au

[lisatelramor]

Not Left To Stand Alone

Summary:  Saguru had spent the last 16 years in London, but when his life there fell apart, moving to Japan seemed like the best option for a new start. He wasn't expecting his new neighbor to be his old classmate, Kuroba Kaito.

Chapter 1

No matter how many times he traveled to another country, Saguru had yet to get used to the jet lag. He sank into his new desk—in the far corner of the teacher’s room right next to a window. The desk was empty except for his briefcase and two fountain pens looking lost in the wide space. He was sure in a month it would look well lived in. Desks, no matter how much one organized, never remained neat for long. He always ended up with students’ late papers or notes from colleagues in one place or another; loose pens and books stacked up until the space didn’t seem like nearly enough. He sighed, massaging his bad right leg. His knee was aching again. It looked like rain.

On the outdoor track his window overlooked a group of students ran erratically. He was sure that in a month they would be running in unison, back in proper strength and the new members adapted to the pace of the older members. Saguru stopped rubbing his knee. It wasn’t getting any less sore. Tomorrow would be his first day teaching English to Japanese high schoolers. There was a certain irony returning almost sixteen years later to Ekoda high to teach.  It was a bit strange to think that Konno-sensei was still teaching 2-B. Although she was Shizume now, not Konno. She had asked him to call her Erika. It felt a bit unreal.

Saguru sighed again. He should have stayed in England. He taught chemistry not English. He slouched in his chair. It needed a cushion. He was going to have to teach the class standing and moving from classroom to classroom for seven hours. Just one day of meetings and he was exhausted. He should have stayed in England, except there was nothing there for him anymore. Mum moved to Japan two years ago after retiring to live with Otou-san, and after his last case… He wouldn’t be taking any more cases. He probably should have left sooner.

“Hakuba-san,” another English teacher for level two classes said from the door of the staff room. He could barely see her face through the stacks of paper. It was Kate, he thought, a woman from the United States that came to teach as a college graduate and never left. She was married to the level one math teacher if he remembered the flurry of introductions correctly. Kate—no, Takata, he wasn’t in England anymore—smiled. “How’s your desk?”

“Fine.” Saguru smiled stiffly back, the muscles protesting with disuse. “The window is nice.”

Takata laughed. “Ishida-san thought you would like it. Kenta was eying it when Yumi-san left on maternity leave. I told him he wouldn’t even be able to clear his desk off before you arrived let alone move into Yumi-san’s.”

“I like the view.” He smiled a bit more genuinely, tinged with bittersweet emotions. “It’s nostalgic.”

“You used to go here, right?” Takata leaned against her desk. It had photos of cats and her husband and a four year old boy with brown hair and eyes rounder than most Japanese. She had a good looking son. Saguru hoped he wouldn’t go through the same problems Saguru had had as a mixed race child. Those had led to him spending his formative years in England rather than Japan. He had spent so much time in England even he sometimes forgot he was born in Japan and spent the first six years of his life there. Saguru tore his eyes away from the photo.

“Yes. I was in Shizume-sen—Shizume-san’s homeroom. I was only at Ekoda for around a year. My transcript says two years,” Saguru said, “but I spent much of my time in England for familial and job reasons.”

“You had an international job in high school?” Takata whistled. “Wow. Why the heck are you here teaching then?”

Saguru played with the clasp on his briefcase, lips tight. “I would prefer not to discuss the specifics of my circumstances.”

In an instant Takata was on her feet bowing. “I apologize, that was rude of me. We have plenty of time to get to know each other. I am sorry for being nosey.”

Saguru waved a hand. “No. It’s all right.” He turned away, effectively cutting the conversation short with his body language. “We have time to get to know each other more.” Outside on the track the students had taken a break. They milled together on the side of the field drinking water and laughing as one boy chased another in a circle squirting water at each other from their water bottles. He had a moment where their images overlapped with Kuroba and Aoko, the water bottles replaced with a mop and confetti bombs. He shook his head. “Thank you for your concern,” he said. “I think I will settle in fine here.”

“A-ah… I hope you do.”

He smiled, a fake, polite smile. “I should be going. There is not much I can do until I have met my students.”

“Of course. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She stepped away from his desk, trying and failing to hide her curiosity as Saguru reached for his cane. The polished wood was firm and smooth in his hand as he levered himself upright. His knee throbbed. Saguru let his breath out through his teeth and picked up his bag with his free left hand.  Maybe Otou-san was right. He should get a knee replacement. There wasn’t a guarantee that it would solve the problem though. His doctor had recommended it years ago, but he had been young and stubborn. Now he was getting on middle aged and stubborn. Thirty-four wasn’t quite middle aged was it?

Saguru blocked out the ongoing ache in the joint—compounded issues with muscles, tendons and a kneecap that had never quite healed properly after being shot—and walked as briskly as his leg allowed him for the door and the stairs to the ground floor. He wasn’t going to take an elevator, leg be damned. He wasn’t that old yet. “Have a nice evening, Takata-san,” he said over his shoulder. He didn’t bow, which he really should have since she had been working there longer, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted to be home and finishing his unpacking in his new apartment that he’d failed to complete the two previous days due to his body insisting he was supposed to be sleeping when the rest of Japan was awake and moving.

By the time he reached the ground floor, his leg felt all but useless, but this would be life from now on. This had been life for the last sixteen years. It took twenty minutes to get to the train where in the past it would take him ten, and then another thirty to reach his stop. The apartment where he was living was closer to the station than his father’s home. He supposed he could have returned to live there again, but the idea of living with his parents after so long had not appealed to him, and he hated how they looked upset whenever he visited. It was another twenty minute hobble from the station to the apartment building, past a small park with children playing on it, an optometrist’s office and a bakery before he reached the right building. It was a new apartment complex converted within the last decade from four shops-and-above-residence style rooms into a series of twelve livable one to two room apartments. Hakuba had rented a one room. He hadn’t brought many things. He had a desk, a kitchen, and a futon with a western-style bathroom attached to the entry way. Unfortunately it was on the first story, not the ground level.

He glared at the steps. The steps remained present and narrow. He stumped up them, knee aching every time he bent it after a full day of use and leaned on his cane as he looked for his keys. It only took a minute to unlock the door, toe off his slip-on dress shoes and barge through the entryway to toss his briefcase on his desk. Two packing boxes sat next to it and an empty suitcase that had been full of clothing. They were now hung neatly in the closet space behind his futon with non-perishable food items his mother had sent along and a box of his old case files he wasn’t sure why he took with him. He should have burned it with Mel’s body in some kind of symbolic gesture or something. He hadn’t been able to let go, and he was still mildly disgusted of himself for it. If he was going to let go he should let go completely.

His futon was still rolled out, put in some semblance of order before he left. The morning’s breakfast dishes were dry in the dish drainer. Saguru stared at them as if they held the answer to why he was in Japan teaching English when he’d never planned to return at all.

There was no real answer in a porcelain teacup, so he put the dishes away in the cupboard before turning the desk chair around and sitting.

The room’s former occupant had scorched a corner of the tatami next to the stove. It was a half circle, like a black moon, from a sauce pan from the looks of it. The wall above the stove was stained with flecks of grease and sauce and he could picture someone cooking there, day after day, young and inexperienced and figuring out what worked and didn’t the hard way. He wished he could turn off his brain. Then maybe the deducing and observation would stop.

The cane slid through his loose fingers. It fell to the floor but he didn’t bother to reach for it. Saguru knew he should start dinner, but he wasn’t hungry. His knee was past the stabs of pain and had settled into the numb phase where so long as he didn’t move all he would feel was a dull tingle.

There was a noise coming from outside, a neighbor returning home. The sound of a key in a lock and a click of a door opening and shutting. Strange. The walls must be thin to make out so much sound. Saguru’s eyes slid closed. He couldn’t sleep yet. But a few minutes couldn’t hurt, right? His breathing and thoughts slowed. His knee stopped hurting as everything felt a bit disconnected from his body. Just free flowing thoughts and half-formed ideas that spun in and out of oblivion. Somewhere distant a phone rang unanswered.

Saguru was jolted into wakefulness at a loud pounding from near the entryway. He slid half out of the chair, catching himself on his bad leg and ending up on the floor anyway, swearing. The pounding continued, but not from his door. It was the neighbor’s door. It was dark now. Saguru could make out nine o’clock on the blinking LED numbers of his alarm clock. He hadn’t meant to be out that long.

“Open the damn door!” whoever was outside the neighbor’s apartment yelled—a woman. “Takumi was due home two hours ago!” She hit the door again as Saguru was searching the ground for his cane. “I don’t have to get Tou-san again do I?”

There was something familiar about her voice, Saguru thought. He staggered to his feet and clicked on the overhead light, blinking in the sudden brightness.

“Kaa-san!” a young male voice said from the neighboring apartment. “Just a minute! We lost track of time!”

“Don’t give me that. You say that every week—” Dear lord, Saguru hoped this would not be a weekly occurrence. Was that why there had been such a small down payment for the apartment? “—but you both know when you’re supposed to be home. It’s not the weekend, Takumi.”

Well, if he could hear everything anyway, he might as well be nosy. Saguru limped into the entryway and cracked open his front door. The woman’s back was to him, her hands planted on her hips with wild brown hair falling halfway down her back barely restrained by a hair elastic. The neighbor’s lock clicked and a teenager wearing the Ekoda high school uniform tumbled out, struggling to hop into his street shoes while holding his school bag in the other. Saguru had a moment of déjà vu as his door swung open out of his limp hand; he could swear he was looking at Kuroba. Perhaps a year or so younger than when Saguru had known him, but definitely Kuroba.  The boy met his eyes and looked away fast, embarrassed as his mother continued berating Saguru’s neighbor.

“You have four clocks in every room, don’t even pretend you don’t. I’ve seen them. You should have sent him home for dinner. That’s your responsibility if he stops by after class.”

“Maa, Aoko…” a male voice said from the doorway. Saguru felt chills go down his spine. There was a god laughing at him somewhere. Maliciously. Because there was no other way to explain how he ended up neighbors to Kuroba Kaito. Who apparently had a son and some sort of messy relationship with Aoko.

“Don’t you ‘Aoko’ me, Kaito, I—what’s wrong?” She glanced over her shoulder and Saguru was sure that he must have attracted the negative attention of some spirit because they were all staring at him as he stared at them. “Ha…kuba?”

Saguru blinked, shut his gaping mouth and reached for the door. “Excuse me,” the part of him that had had manners drilled into his skull said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.” The door clicked shut.

AN: I started this fic in...gah, summer of 2012? Ish? Too long ago at any rate, and sort of just...stopped working on it for like a year and a half around January 2013. Since I picked it back up again, I've been working on it pretty much continuously, and after years of poking at it, I have a very long, very frustrating first draft that I will be editing and periodically posting chapters until it's all out there for people to read. You guys have no idea how relieved I am to reach this point. I don't post longfics because I seem to never finish writing them, but here you go. My first true longfic. Hope you guys find this a fun ride. It's set in a future of Magic Kaito universe, though Detective Conan characters show up later on. The original idea for this fic came from a prompt bingo list (the same list that hikago baby acquisition fic came from actually....started around the same time...) and was for the "neighbors" square. I went "in what universe would rich-boy Hakuba ever live next door to Kaito??" and of course my brain went with the angst route rather than the crack route. ^_^;;;

Why a teacher? I can't remember my initial motives outside the ones written into Saguru's reasoning (which will come up later) but part of it was wanting to give Saguru an excuse to interact with Kaito's son and see Saguru in a mentor role. This fic, throughout its life as a word document, has been known simply as "saguru english teacher au" and some part of me remains amused by this. I'm going to try to update this every other week as that feels like a schedule I can make myself follow. *rolls up sleeves* First chapter's posted so I am doing this thing.

#magic kaito #detective conan #fanfiction #eventual kaito/saguru #longfic #my writing #gosh i don't know how to feel about posting this #and I am running out the door for work #if i messed anything up it was an accident #nltsa

[sgtnutmeg-blog]

-PART 1- -While waiting for his coffee to brew, Kurtis looked at his kitchen and figured he should probably clean it.

“Should probably do the rest of the apartment as well,” he muttered. The time was 10:26.

-He stripped his pajamas and pulled up his freshest boxers, then poured small brown cat food nuggets into Crystals bowl. He flicked through his phones music folder: he remained indecisive and clicked random. Kurtis knew there were no new messages but checked anyway to reread the ones from last night. Received: 23:34 Toni- I’ll be free around noon so see you then. Sent-23:51 Kurtis- Yep, see you then. -He ignored the smell coming from the litter box and got started by unloading the sink from dirty pans, pots, bowls, plates, cutlery, a cracked 7/11 plastic Slurpee cup, candy wrappers and mug with a broken handle, then turned the tap to hot. He squirted purple dollar store washing liquid into the steaming water. Tiny bubbles formed rapidly and he loaded the sink back up to let the dishes soak: he turned off the tap, soaked a sponge and turned to the oven. -Kurtis wiped the orange and yellow grease droplets on the stove top, and picked up dry, burnt pasta noodles. There were some blotches of dried up pasta sauce that came off with a few scrapes from a blunt butter knife. He threw out the black and red strips. -Kurtis poured a dollop of cream into his coffee and took an unpleasant mouthful and re-soaked the sponge, turning attention to the counter-top. He cleaned the coffee spills which was engraved with bread crumbs and cleared the layers under the toaster too, The sinks water was hotter than he liked so he gave the kitchens laminate floor a quick sweep and took the garbage can from under the sink, to the living room. -Shawn's clothes were scattered on the floor, as well as his old torn up work boots with the landmines of beer bottles and cans, empty yogurt cups and bits of paper. Kurtis had let Shawn move in the week before. Shawn had moved to Edmonton Alberta to work on a high profile construction site for a year and had wanted to move back to the lower mainland British Columbia. Being old high school friends, Kurtis let him sleep on the futon and Shawn ate all his instant noodles in the short period he moved in. Shawn didn’t mind how small the apartment was either. -Kurtis felt himself starting to sneeze so he opened the balcony door. Cool, Summer air flowed into the living room and Crystal ran from under the futon towards Kurtis’s room. Kurtis had picked all the garbage and threw Shawn's’ clothes into the hollow foot rest. It was red and made of pleather. Like the cat, Kurtis’s Dad let him have it. -While placing the Virtual Reality Headsets on the charger, he found one of Toni’s ankle socks. He looked around for a second sock and when he couldn’t find it, got up and walked to his bedroom. He stepped over his own clothes and placed the shopping bag filled with Toni’s things onto his bed. When he dropped the sock inside it he caught a glimpse of what was inside. Specifically the sexy nurse costume Toni had bought around Halloween for him. The-day-before-Kurtis had convinced himself he was fine and folded it and place it nicely into the bag. Right-now-Kurtis yanked the dress out with a primordial fury and tore up the cheap fabric and threw it to the corner of the room. -Kurtis took off his glasses and locked himself in the washroom. He turned the shower to a steaming hot and let the condensation mist up. He took a spray bottle and sprayed and cleaned the toilet of the thin layer dust, puddles of urine and hair. His large body became pink and sweaty as he wiped the condensation from the mirror and the tiles in the shower and clean the sink of minty green tooth paste lumps. -He stepped out of the washroom and felt the cool air of the apartment. The sinks’ water had cooled down. He cleaned the dishes. -PART 2- -Kurtis turned off the vacuum cleaner and answered the phone. “Hey,” Kurtis’s stomach sank when he remember he didn’t hide the torn up nurse outfit. “Hey, I’m outside.” “I’ll buzz you, See you in a bit,” He hung up and quickly pressed the button to open the apartment buildings’ front door. -He panicked. His apartment wasn’t as clean as he wanted it to be. The bed wasn’t made, the garbage was full, his coffee was cold. He was hungry. The microwave wasn’t clean. He hadn’t showered. Kurtis took off his sweaty boxers and pulled on his pajama pants and an old hoodie. There was a knock at the door and he opened it. He forgot how much taller he was than her. “Hey.” “Hi,” Toni stepped in and took off her jacket. Kurtis saw her left fore arm. From wrist to elbow was hot pink. The time was lit in white light under the skin. “How’d that go for you?” Kurtis pointed. She shrugged and folded her arms, “The Stitching wasn’t bad. Was under a mood organ so didn’t feel a thing.” “Was it a full installation or still got your phone?” “Yeah still got it. Chickened out when I thought about what if scenarios of it breaking and having to get further surgery, right?” Kurtis stepped uneasily and put his hands in his pockets, “Thinking of further installs?” She bit her lip, “I once went to a concert and saw a dude with the inside of his mouth fully stitched. He had it light up in different colors which changed to the beat of the music. I don’t think I need anything like that.” Kurtis scratched his neck and said, “I’ll get your stuff.” -Kurtis walked to his bedroom while Toni stepped into thee living room and put her hand on the vacuum cleaner handle.She heard a bell jingle and looked down to see  Crystal, who was peeping out from under the futon. Toni squatted slowly, smiled nicely and held out her knuckle. Toni said “hey” in a high pitched voice. Crystal hummed threateningly and hissed, flaring her curved incisors. Toni stopped smiling and stood back up. Kurtis walked in with the shopping bag and Crystal galloped past him to the bedroom. “She still doesn’t like me,” Toni folded her arms. “She doesn’t like anyone,” Kurtis shrugged. “She’s been giving Shawn Hell.” “Shawn moved in?” “About a week ago. He sleeps on the futon and Crystal hides underneath, scares him, then runs away.” “That’s an asshole move.” “She’s guarding her territory I suppose.” “So being an asshole is more of a byproduct?” she joked. Kurtis didn’t say anything and handed over the shopping bag. Toni exhaled and accepted it. She looked inside the bag. “I found one of your socks,” Kurtis rubbed the back of his neck. “Couldn’t find the second one.” “That’s fine,” she looked up and away, “I was... yeah, thank you, that’s fine.” -There was a second of silence. They both breathed in the void between them. “I should get going,” Toni murmured and hurried to the door. “I need to clean,” Kurtis put his hands in his pockets and took them out. Halfway out the door came a muted “bye” and the door shut. -Kurtis inhaled deeply and walked into the kitchen. He stared at the microwave. His gut neither churned or felt full. “It’s fine,” Kurtis said. He sat on the futon and put on his Virtual Reality Headset. -PART 3- -Kurtis was miming the act of reloading a rocket launcher when he felt the air pressure of the room change. He paused the game and took off his headset to see the blurry image of Shawn shut the door. He put on his glasses. “Hey.” “Hey,” Shawn muttered. He was filthy and kept his work boots and tool belt on as he walked through the living room towards the balcony. “How was work?” “Oh, it was work” he opened the balcony door and sat on the chair he brought out there a few days earlier. He dropped his tool belt onto the wooden balcony floor. He pressed and pried on the heel of his new lace-less work boots and gasped when it was kicked off. He slid his wet sock off his foot and let it slap onto the floor. Then he took off his other boot. “Are you okay?” Kurtis almost laughed, “Do you need anything?” “Nah,” Shawn flexed and crunched his hot toes. He took off his work shirt to reveal his pale clean body that it covered. His arms were layered with sweat and dirt. Shawn leaned his arms onto his knees. “Just give me a minute. How’d today go for you.” Kurtis stayed on the couch, “Went fine.” “Went smoothly?” “Yeah, no issues, in and out.” “Good, good,” Shawn trailed off, continuing to scrunch his toes. Kurtis considered whether Shawn had lost interest in the topic or ran out of things to say. Shawn started talking again, “Did you go to the liquor store yet?” “Not yet. We still have a few hours until they come over,” “When are Sarah and Elsa coming over?” Kurtis check his phone, the time read 16:49, “Around 3 hours.” “Still fine with having people over?” “Yeah I’ll be fine with it. Elsa won’t be staying long and not drinking so really it’ll just be Sarah staying.” “Alright,” Shawn nibbled his lip then stood, his knees cracked. “I’m going to have a shower and when I’m done want to head down to get booze?” “Sure thing,” Kurtis picked up his head set. “What are you playing?” “Atomic Black Crypt.” Shawn thought for a second and then asked, “ What do you do in that?” “Mostly shoot giant bugs.” “Anything else?” “Sometimes all a man wants is a weapon and something to hate.” -Shawn nodded; he took a towel, a pair of boxers from the hollow foot rest and headed to the washroom. Kurtis took off his glasses, put on the headset and lay back. He returned to the ruined digital city. High-rises toppled, cars smoking and mashed. Kurtis raised his weightless bazooka and moved onward. He followed the map on his digital wrist. -He came across a nest of giant praying mantis’s: the generic soldier enemy. They hadn’t seen him yet so Kurtis took cover and looked up at the side of the buildings. Giant purple spiders hung and crawled on its sides; the artillery units. Kurtis aimed and curled his finger. -Sounds of the hissing rocket blasted in Kurtis’ eyes. His aim was true and the rocket hit and blew up a spider. It turned into a green goopy mess and the body fell, its death animation made its legs curl inward as it fell. Before retaliation, Kurtis reloaded and fired again, taking another spider down. The surviving spiders snarled and shot acidic white web at him. He dodged and dived, firing back. The praying mantis’ charged and were now upon him, claws raised. Kurtis backed away, dropping mines while still gunning down the spiders. The mantis’s stepped on the mines and blew up, legs, eyes and claws flew in the black, firey smoke. -Kurtis felt his stomach being poked repeatedly. He paused the game and took off the headset. He blinked several times and said “What?” -Shawn had been poking him with his big toe. He put his foot down, “Want to get going? Thanks for cleaning as well” -PART 4- “Kurtis!” Sarah bellowed and stepped in, giving him a hug, plastic bags of bottles hanged from her arms. Her head came up to his chest. Elsa squeezed in behind. “Hello,” Kurtis felt himself laughing in shock and hugged back. Shawn came around the corner. He’d already drank 2 bottles, “Sarah! Elsa!” “Hey! You’re back!” “I am.” “How it going? How’d Edmonton go?” “Was okay,” Shawn scratched his nose, “Want me to get those bags?” “You may,” Sarah handed Shawn a bag and they both went into the kitchen. Kurtis went to Elsa, “How’s your new job?” “Have you ever seen the steady process of a sheep embryo growing in goop inside a plastic bag?” Kurtis didn’t know how to answer. “It’s pretty great,” Elsa smiled. Kurtis laughed, “Could you give me a tour of your place?” “Yeah,” Kurtis felt the waistband of his pants slipping down so he raised them back up. From the kitchen Shawn asked Sarah, “What’s that?” "Got a light tattoo installed,” She placed the bag of bottles on the counter top and took off her jacket to show. Shawn looked; from the back of her hand to her chest was lit with white light, patterned like flowers, vines and spirals. "How was that installed?" "They used an electric needle to puncture these microscopic chips into my skin, unlike getting stitched which is more of a wire mesh. Less chance of the body rejecting it. " "I thought you wanted to be a teacher?" stated Shawn, "Teachers aren't allowed tattoos." Sarah smiled and said "I didn't get a tattoo for the longest time because of that; but with this it lights up and turns off whenever I want. The skin looks a little darker but other than that, I can blend in perfectly." "Very creative of you." Shawn and Sarah began to mix drinks while Kurtis led Elsa into the living room to look around and examine the apartment. Crystal galloped from under the futon and through her legs."The fuck?" Elsa watched it go. Kurtis stepped up, "Just Crystal, is all." "Your Dad's?" "Technically mine now. When Dad was packing he didn't want to keep her so I did instead." "Was she adopted?" "Yes she was. My Dads' boyfriend wanted to get an exotic hybrid." "Why'd he adopt?" Kurtis shrugged, "Wanted good karma probably. Apparently doesn't believe in that anymore." They walked down the hallway towards the washroom. They heard Sarah and Shawn laugh. "Was probably the price that was the final straw," Elsa said, "Hybrids are generally expensive to feed." "Do you make hybrids at the Pet Store?" "Nah, we just get orders and grow the clones. Pot bellied pigs are the most popular." "Why?" "Smart little things. Before cloning, there was a level of uncertainty if the pig was going to remain small. Some fake breeders selling regular piglets only to have them weigh 200 pounds in a year. So, we clone and grow so they stay small and extra cute." They stepped into the washroom."I like it," said Elsa, "so pink." "I hate it. Look at this stupid thing," Kurtis pulled back the shower curtain and pointed at the shower head. Elsa saw it was lower than Kurtis's head."Oh no. That's hilarious." "See what I mean?" "What do you mean?" Shawn came up behind Kurtis, shot glasses in each hand. Sarah with him also holding shot glasses. "Here take this." Kurtis accepted it and smelt the spice and cinnamon burn this nostrils, “What is it?" "For you," Elsa said, she looked at the shower-head and laughed, "how'd you fit in there?" Shawn answered, "he has to bend to wash his hair." "That's hilarious," Sarah put down the other shot glasses and pulled out her phone. "Get in the shower and drink." "What?" Kurtis laughed uncertainly. "I want to see," encouraged Elsa, unfolding her arms, "It'd be funny." "We'll be taking shots too," Shawn held a shot glass reassuringly. Kurtis couldn't find a way to squeeze past them. The three of them had inched their way closer and closer to him. He moved back further and further, one leg after the other until he was standing in the bath tub. There was no way to escape. "Cheers!" Drank Shawn. Sarah clicked her drink with Kurtis and drank.Kurtis brought it up to his lips. The smell burned his nostrils and he sipped. "Drink!" called Elsa. "Why you sipping?” Sarah's forehead was pink. "Do it," laughed Shawn. Kurtis did. He couldn't breath for a second and gasped. His eyes and nose were scrunched up, his ears and face fired up  "Oh God." The flash went off on Sarah's' phone and everyone cheered, Shawn laughing and flicked the light on and off repeatedly. Sarah's light tattoo shone in blues and greens. Elsa cheered, "next one." "Here," Sarah already pushed the glass into Kurtis' hands. "Oh no." "Do it, you're supposed to," Shawn persuaded. He wasn't holding a glass. "Yeah do it, go nuts," Elsa took her phone out. Kurtis clenched his fingers to a fist and drank. His eyes stang from the fumes and watered up, glasses fogging. Elsa took a picture. Kurtis tried to laugh along with them. Then they offered him one more and he drank it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kurtis collapsed onto the futon and groaned deeply. Shawn and Elsa played beer pong in the office room. Kurtis thought about the time he made Toni a bubble bath; she found out that he used regular dish soap and called him a dumb-ass and they laughed.Sarah sat next to him, her arm a deep red. "How's it going?" "I'm going to explode on someone." "Well," she stroked the hair on his arm, "let's not do that. Do you want me to go through your phone?" "Why?" he thought about how Toni once backed up into a lamp post outside the apartment building. He laughed and said 'how'd you miss that?' and she replied 'I thought you were backing me up.' "To delete pictures of her. It'll help you cope." Kurtis's legs were numb, he held his sweaty forehead and groaned deeply. "What are you thinking about?" "This morning," Kurtis started, " I cleaned up and she came round for her stuff then left. It was so easy. I wasn't expecting that. I don't think I wanted that." "Must've been awkward with both of you." "I know," the sweat was cooling down, he felt icy, "but we couldn't say anything?" "Maybe it was for the best." Kurtis sighed. He barely said bye to her. "Let me go through your phone. It'll help." Kurtis handed it over. He watched Shawn chugged his beer and continue playing beer pong with Elsa. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Elsa left early. Shawn and Sarah drank together then sat with Kurtis. Sarah in-between. They put on Virtual Reality Headsets and chose a Deep Space Reality from the most popular list.  From there they floated in the great digital nothing to marvel at the giant Horse Nebula. Plumes of hot glowing dust and asteroids soared around them. Although the quiet of outer space was an option, there was a deep echoy soundtrack to really sell the feel of being out there. They could feel the chill, the vastness and loneliness of it all.Shawn's chest tightened as he held his breath and reached his hand for Sarah's'. She held his and squeezed. Shawn breathed easier and squeezed back. The view faded and now they floated above Jupiter's giant red eye. It spiraled in an ever lasting hurricane. They watched the chaos of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sarah stroked Kurtis' shoulder to wake him, "Common, let's take you to bed." They removed his headset and Shawn let Kurtis lean on him on the way to the bedroom and flopped him on the bed. "Oh God this is comfortable." "Glad you like it, probably better than the futon," said Shawn. "Think you'll be alright?" asked Sarah. "The cat," mumbled Kurtis, "sorry it smells in here." "It's fine." "No it isn't. I don't like it either but didn't do anything about it." "Just go to sleep," said Shawn, he held Sarah's hand. "It’ll be better tomorrow." "Goodnight," said Sarah. They started to leave. "Shawn," Kurtis reached out. Shawn turned at the doorway and Sarah kept going, "What's up mate?" "I tore up her dress." "What?" "I feel bad about it. I think she wanted it back but I tore it up. I think she thinks I kept it for pervert reasons." "What dress?" ""Her nurse dress. I tore it up and threw it away. I'm not a pervert." "I don't think you are." "What if she thinks I am and tells people?" "Doesn't matter," said Shawn, "You're out of her life and she's out of yours." Kurtis didn't know how to feel and before he could reply Shawn interrupted, "Get to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."