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koocycle · 9 months

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screw up; over wine | drabble i.

synopsis; jungkook wants to make your first date special and unlike any other night you’ve had before. while determined to win your heart over with a fancy, romantic dinner that includes sweet, tasty chardonnay and medium rare steaks, not everything goes according to his plan.

pairing; boyfriend! jungkook x model! female reader

word count; 4.1k

genre; fluff, baby angst probably

warnings; none

timeline; this drabble is set 7 years ago, at the very start of the over wine couple’s relationship where jungkook is a finance major and oc is still active in the modelling industry. they’re both in their early 20s here!

author’s note; a thank you drabble for all the support and encouragement i’ve been receiving the past two weeks!! also a lil drabble for the people who aren’t a fan of angst and still punched through that 38k last chapter :) enjoy this little tidbit of the start their relationship before it all became messy and went downhill

series masterlist | over wine universe

The sound of the lively chatter at the tables surrounding you had gone over your head before. The clinking of cutlery amplifies and bubbles of laughter fill the air the moment Jungkook excuses himself to the bathroom and all of a sudden, you watch yourself become a nerve-wrecking mess, unsure what to do the minute you’re left alone and forced to listen to the couples at the tables on your sides. You can feel their eyes on you, noticing the way they keep glancing at you with some sort of pity in their eyes. The bustling restaurant suddenly feels much more crowded and you can’t help but feel exposed with him now gone, the bill at your table staring back at you like it tells you everything Jungkook didn’t have the balls to say.

It’s only when the waitress comes back a second time around when you finally search your handbag for your card and hand it to her, plastering a smile on your face that is supposed to copy the one you were previously wearing. You could tell she was getting impatient before, her hair tied into a bun so slick, you were sure she was unable to move the brows at her forehead.

She’s been eyeing you and Jungkook ever since you came in and sat down, it was hard not to notice, seeing the way her lips pursed as she tongued the front of her teeth when Jungkook ordered you the most expensive Chardonnay on the menu. And at the end, when he left for the bathroom about five seconds after he read the price at the bottom of the receipt, you could swear you saw a vein pop at her forehead. It was funny back then. Though now that he’s been gone for nearly ten minutes, each and every bit of humor has left your body just like you watched it happen to that woman before. The inkling feeling at your chest enlarges each time somebody locks eyes with you and shares that sorrowful, pitiful smile, and you lose it.

You had a good time tonight, that much you can’t deny, and you refuse to be pitied. Especg not by a bunch of strangers. You know everyone at the restaurant had seen it at this point. Seen the way Jungkook had leaned over the table with crossed arms supporting him while that charming, boyish smile painted his face, resulting in a flush to your cheeks as you tried to hide it and blame it on the wine that must have gotten to your head. You felt luckier than anyone else in the room only half an hour ago, where you thought the dates around you couldn’t compare. Like they couldn’t have gotten better than yours by the end of the night.

Yes, embarrassment fills your chest when the waitress hands you back your card and flashes you a knowing smile. However, you refuse to let it bring you down. Humiliation draws over you as you stand up from your seat and make your way over to the corner Jungkook disappeared behind, each step of your stiletto heels to the restaurant’s floor tiles accentuating the flow of your mini dress against your ass. You know eyes are on you, but you ignore it and keep your head high. If you had driven here yourself, you probably would have let the guy rot in the men’s restroom until they had found him, though for now, you still need him for that twenty-minute ride back home.

And it’s not like you mind paying for tonight’s dinner. As a matter of fact, if Jungkook had simply asked you to cover the bill, you know you would’ve reached out for your wallet without a second thought. He made you feel at ease from the start on; ensuring your beef was cooked to perfection, sitting you down on the booth while he did so on the chair. Even double checking whether or not your glass of Chardonnay was sweet enough to your liking, if you needed another napkin at your neck so you wouldn’t stain that pretty little dress, and if you weren’t getting cold right beneath that airconditioning screwed to the ceiling–ready to run back to the car to get your jack from the backseat.

That’s right, you wouldn’t have minded, because Jungkook has been perfect all night. And no matter how many times you thought to yourself “God damn, you’re having a blast and so is he,” you wouldn’t have minded if at the end of the night he’d be like, “hey, this probably isn’t working out and we should never do this again.” Because, sure, then it is what it is. But at least you’ve got more class than him if you think it’s a shitty thing to hide in the men’s restroom the moment the bill is served instead of growing a pair and telling you exactly that in your face.

‘‘Hyung, please, I need you right now.’’ It is the first thing you hear once you round the corner and you come face to face with his back, his phone is held to his ear and it appears his fingers are pinching the bridge at his nose. ‘‘It’s just that I’m really into this girl, and I can swear she feels the same way. I can’t afford fucking it up now. I promise I’ll pay you back by the end of the month, okay?’’

It stings more than you’d like to admit. You lean against the wall, crossing your arms over your chest as you try to process the situation. Part of you wants to confront him right there, tell him the bill has been taken care of and ask him why he brought you here if he knew he couldn’t even pay for it. He could at least tell you to stay within a reasonable budget, where the wine bottle didn’t have to cost 400 bucks and each additional sauce wouldn’t have to cost another 15 on top.

Would he be scared you’d judge him if he brought you some place else?

‘‘I know, I know,’’ he mumbles into his phone, throwing his head back. ‘‘I didn’t want to bring her somewhere downtown and disappoint her, that’s all. How was I supposed to know the prices were that high if they don’t write it down the menu?’’

You have to bite your lip to hold the laughter from escaping. It’s cute, the way he thinks, because the moment you’d see a menu without its prices mentioned, one thing most people would do is run out the building before they charge you for the lukewarm water that’s already served on the table. You can’t help but find his reasoning cute and endearing, his sincerity shining through and you can tell he truly wanted to make tonight special for you. The fact that he was worried about disappointing you speaks volumes about how much he cares. Although, next time around, you’d find him a little cuter if he were honest with you. You really wouldn’t think much less of him if he asked you to pay the bill.

‘‘Thanks, hyung. So much.’’ He breathes out, and you can only figure the person on the other end of the line is transferring the money to his bank account as you stand there. ‘‘I’m dodging a bullet here.’’

It is only when he hangs up the phone that he turns around, halting in his tracks at the sight of you standing there. With his phone still in hand, Min Yoongi’s contact number still displayed on the screen, his expression changes from shock to worry as he sees you standing there, arms folded over another as you’re leaned up against the wall.

‘‘Hi.’’ You smile.

And you have the prettiest smile. Even though it’s closed lipped and seems a little ironic, he thinks you own the most beautiful smile in the room. ‘‘Hey,’’ he says, his eyes faltering even though he’s quick to cover up. Sauntering over, he places a hand at your hip to guide you the other way, over to the cashier. ‘‘I’m sorry that took so long, you know how moms can be.’’ He snickers quietly, ‘‘you’re already two years into college and she still calls every night to ask if you’ve eaten.’’

You stand there, amused by his poor attempt to brush off the situation, His hand on your hip feels warm, and you find yourself swayed by his touch. ‘‘Oh, I see,’’ You play along, unable to suppress the playful glint in your eyes. ‘‘So it was your mom who kept you on the phone for so long? For a hot minute I thought you were bailing on me back here.’’

Jungkook laughs softly, shaking his head. ‘‘With the way you look tonight? I’d be crazy to.’’ His eyes linger on you, shamelessly sneaking down your figure in a long, exposed glance, appreciating the white mini dress that cuts right beneath your ass, accentuating your every curve. He doesn’t even try to hide the boyish grin that works its way up his lips, the hand at your hip instead traveling to the small of your back.

Your cheeks flush a little at the compliment, and you turn to face him completely, a flat hand to his chest. ‘‘Smooth talker,’’ you tease, head tilting sweetly as a rush of warmth flows through you.

He grins, his eyes sparkling mischievously. ‘‘Just speaking the truth,’’ he replies, loving the way your eyes grow so big the moment he holds you close and you start looking up at him. He is still running his hand at your back in small circles as he subtly pulls you closer to him, loving the way you just let him. ‘‘Let’s take care of the bill and get you home safely. Are we all set?’’

You nod cutely, ‘‘I am,’’ you say, and Jungkook guides you around by the waist, his free hand digging into the back pocket of his dress pants before you interrupt him, intertwining your arm with his as you lead the both of you out the door instead. ‘‘And I already took care of it.’’ You teasingly whisper in his ear, the smile that you wear on your face undeniable.

Jungkook’s grin falters, halting in his tracks once you’re outside. His brows furrowed together, clearly taken aback. ‘‘Wait, you paid?’’ He asks softly, seeming a little deflated even as you stand before him with that pretty smile on your face. He usually can’t resist to bring one out himself when your lips break into one, though it comes a little more difficult this time. ‘‘You know you didn’t have to do that, right? I had everything planned out,’’ his hands come to cup your cheeks. ‘‘It was me who asked you out. That means that I’m supposed to treat you tonight.’’

You can see the sincerity in his eyes, and your heart softens at the genuine concern. It is only for a moment that you consider telling him you overheard his phone call with his roommate, and no matter how comfortable Jungkook made you feel tonight alone, you remember it’s only your first date, and you’d hate for things to get sappy so quickly. ‘‘Well, you basically left me all alone with that piece of paper. How could I control myself?’’ It’s supposed to be a lighthearted joke, he can see it in the way you smile at him, but he can’t help but think there’s some truth to it. ‘‘Come on, bring me home,’’ even with the heels you’re wearing, you have to stand on your tippy toes to plant a kiss on his cheek. ‘‘These heels aren’t doing me justice anymore.’’

Jungkook chuckles softly, the tension not yet easing between you even as you drag him to the car by intertwining your hands together. As he opens the door for you to get in, he can’t help but feel like he’s somehow failed today’s date. Looking back at how it must’ve looked like when he ran off to call Min Yoongi for help like he’s still in highschool with a silly little school crush, he feels a pang of embarrassment at the thought of appearing so immature and unprepared in front of you. He wanted everything to be perfect, bring you someplace nice to impress you and show you he could treat you well. Instead, he just looks like a little boy who tried to trick you into paying for the first date.

Even as Jungkook is seated in the drivers’ seat and takes the route back to your home, he turns up the volume of the radio, hoping to drown out the disappointment in himself. He definitely screwed up tonight. He doesn’t even know if he wants you to say something to him; he just knows that you don’t, but the glances you keep sneaking his way for the entire ride back home are enough to make him feel even worse. You can see that something is bothering him, that his playful, flirtatious vibe from before has shifted and is now replaced with something you can’t decipher.

You start to wonder if it’s something you said. Wonder if he’s now getting cold feet and suddenly realizes maybe he didn’t enjoy himself as much as you thought. He hadn’t given you any reason to think like that, though. Not after how sweet he was tonight, not after the way you heard him talk about you over the phone with his friend.

As the car pulls up in front of your place, Jungkook turns off the engine, the radio cutting off as the silence envelopes both of you again. The clicking sound of your seatbelt comes fast and you glance over at him again, finding him already looking at you with a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

He gets out and walks you to the door after that, his hands hidden in the pockets of his pants as he doesn’t care to spare you another glance. The shift in energy is obvious between the both of you, not a single soul out on the street at this hour of the day to distract you from the uneasy silence. Your stiletto heels click against the pavement and you have to bite your bottom lip to make the short but uncomfortable way back a little more bearable.

At the end of a date comes a kiss. It’s how it happens in all the romcoms you watch–it happens in all the chick flicks and all the Disney short movies. But this is no Stephanie Perkins love story, not with the way you’re standing there, hugging your arms as the chilly breeze crosses your skin.

‘‘I guess this is where we split ways, right?’’ You finally break the silence, your voice tinged with uncertainty. You don’t want the night to end on such an awkward note, but the tension between you is undeniable.

Jungkook’s gaze softens, and he takes a step closer to you, the distance between your bodies diminishing. ‘‘I had a great time tonight,’’ he admits, his voice gentle as he reaches to unfold your arms, fingertips grazing over them before they get to your soft hands and intertwines them with his own. ‘‘And I really want to see you again,’’ he says quietly, thumbs rubbing over your knuckles. ‘‘You know, if that’s okay with you.’’

You have to tongue the front of your teeth in an attempt to hide that broad smile that’s tugging at the edges of your lips. ‘‘Yeah, I’d like that.’’ You say, and you can feel your heart race against your chest only with the way he’s looking down at you.

‘‘And I’ll be transferring the money right back to your account first thing back home, alright?’’

‘‘Oh,’’ you raise an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting him to bring up the topic of money again. ‘‘Really, that’s okay. I don’t mind having to spend a little. And it doesn’t really matter in the end, does it? We enjoyed ourselves tonight, and that’s probably what’s most important.’’

‘‘It is what’s most important,’’ he agrees with a boyish smile, heavy lidded eyes staring back at you. ‘‘But it was me who asked you to join me for dinner. Therefore it was my responsibility to treat you, you know? To make sure you had a good time, and to guarantee the bill was taken care of and nowhere within your reach.’’ Jungkook says, one hand held against his chest as he tilts his head in the most charming way you can think of. ‘‘That was my mistake. But I won’t be able to go to bed with a good feeling knowing you paid for all that. We didn’t dine at McDonald’s, you know?’’

You can’t help but let out a soft chuckle at his playful reference, because he’s right. There was a lot more on that receipt than two cheeseburgers and fries on the side. Jungkook took you out to wine and dine; told you beforehand to wear the prettiest dress you own and he spared no expense to make sure the evening was special. It was clear he wanted to impress you, even if you hadn’t overheard his phone call.

Your hands caress his chest until they reach to play with the collar of his blouse, as if to fix it. ‘‘Then maybe it’s time we pick out some place that’s a little more affordable, don’t you think?’’ You’re not nagging at him, your voice is gentle, indirectly telling him he doesn’t need to spend money on you that he doesn’t have. ‘‘You know I’d be fine with a pizza and a soda, right?’’

The feeling of your fingertips tickling at his neck makes him bite his lip, your arms leaning on his broad shoulders for support. ‘‘You know I can’t take you out for pizza.’’

You smile, enjoying the closeness between you when his own hands fall to your hips. Tugging you closer, just slightly. ‘‘Why not?’’ You tease, unable to keep that toothy smile off your face. ‘‘I bet we could have just as much fun sharing a pizza as we did tonight.’’

‘‘We would,’’ Jungkook’s eyes meet yours, and he looks a little torn. ‘‘But you’re special,’’ his lips curl into a small smile when the words leave him, watching as you throw your head back a little in surprise, the warmth rising to your cheeks not gone unnoticed. ‘‘And I don’t know… it’s probably just something you do, but you make me want to give you all the things you’ve never been given before, all right?’’

He’s speaking from the heart, and the longer he looks into those eyes of yours, the more this lovestruck feeling intensifies in the deepest pits of his chest. Because it’s true; Jeon Jungkook is smitten. You pick up his FaceTime calls in the middle of the night wearing silken, champagne pink Chanel pajamas, you carry your Miss Dior perfumes in the side pockets of your Armani handbags and your agent takes you out to fine dinings at least once a month–you’re handed all those luxury items by all sorts of brands trying to get a sponsor out of you because, they as well, know you’re something else. Something big.

You stand before him in a dress he doesn’t even want to know the price of, and instead just wants to admire you. How was he ever going to step up his game and give you things you haven’t seen before? Sure, perhaps Jungkook was a little starstruck the moment the price at the end of the bill caught his eye, but when it came to you, it was worth it. He doesn’t make that kind of money yet, but he will, and when he receives his degree and finally does that, then yes, he wants to spoil you rotten. You deserve it all.

Your heart skips a beat at his words, touched by his genuine sentiment. ‘‘Jungkook,’’ you begin softly, your voice tinged with emotion. ‘‘I had a blast tonight, I really did, and I appreciate you so much for the effort you put in the entire evening. But I really hope you didn’t do all of this with the idea I would like you any less if it indeed was just a burger and some fries from McDonald’s.’’

Jungkook’s eyes soften. ‘‘No, that’s not it at all,’’ he assures you, his voice gentle and sincere. ‘‘I wanted to show you a good time, to make you smile.’’

‘‘I smiled all the way to the end of the night,’’ you sing-song, leaning into his touch when you cup his cheeks. ‘‘So no S.O.S phone calls with Min Yoongi at the end of our next date night?’’

He blinks slowly, shifting his gaze downward as a nervous chuckle escapes his lips. ‘‘You overheard my phone call,’’ you watch as the embarrassment overtakes him and you think it’s rather cute how he tries to hide his face from you, the sight of your feet suddenly so much more interesting. ‘‘Isn’t that great.’’ He mumbles, wincing on the inside.

‘‘I did. And there’s nothing to be embarrassed of.’’ You tilt his head back up, forcing him to lock eyes. ‘‘I actually think it’s kind of cute you wanted to impress me. Am I really that intimidating?’’

Jungkook’s cheeks warm, and he can’t help but let out a laugh at your teasing. His thumbs start caressing the material at the small of your back, leaving you a little weak in the knees. ‘‘Intimidating isn’t the right word,’’ he admits, pursing his lips like he’s thinking hard. ‘‘I’d say you’re frightening. And not in a good way, either. Rather like one of those Disney villains that would keep you awake as a kid, you know?’’ He smirks cutely, playfully nudging at your side and causing you to squirm at his arms. ‘‘Ursula or something. You look just like her, the big eyes and the crazy hair and all.’’

‘‘Do I now?’’ You arch a single brow, amusement crippling at your lips.

He hums, tugging you close to him until your bodies are pressed together and you can feel his warmth radiating through his clothes. ‘‘Like two beads of water.’’ He says a little softer now, his breath fanning against your lips as he reaches out to gently brush a loose strand of hair away from your face.

The space between you seems to shrink, the world around you fading into oblivion the more you’re drawn into him. ‘‘You wouldn’t look at me as if you want to kiss me if that were true.’’

Jungkook’s breath catches at your words, and he can’t deny the truth in them. The teasing glint in your eyes sends a jolt of excitement through him, making him want to prove you wrong. His fingers gently trail along your jawline, a feather-light touch that sends shivers down your spine.

‘‘Oh, really?’’ He retorts playfully, his voice low and husky. ‘‘And what if I do want to kiss you?’’ His gaze intensifies, holding you captive as he leans closer, his lips almost brushing against yours. The air cackles with anticipation, and time seems to slow down as the world around you fades away.

Your heart pounds in your chest, matching the rhythm of his as he hovers so close. You can feel the warmth of his breath against your skin, and it sends a rush of desire through you. Your fingers instinctively find their way to his chest, the anticipation building between you both.

‘‘Do it and find out.’’

He doesn’t hesitate. You’ve given him the green light and with a surge of boldness running through him, he closes the distance between you, and his lips capture yours in a tender, passionate kiss. It’s a perfect collision of desire, a moment that feels like it was meant to be.

You place a hand to his chest, able to feel the steady beat of his heart beneath your palm. With your fingers slightly curling at the nape of his neck, arm leaning on his shoulder, you dare to pull him closer to you as he copies your body language not much longer after. He pulls you by the small of your back to make sure it curves and you’re pressed chest to chest. Your breaths mingle, lips eagerly brushing against each other as the kiss deepens and you feel a tingling warmth spreading through your body. His touch is tender and possessive, as if he doesn’t want to let you go. Your other hand finds its way to his cheek, caressing it with a soft, adoring touch. It’s a silent reassurance that this is right, that you want this as much as he does.

Time seems to lose all meaning when his lips lingers on yours, it seems like. You’re lost in him, just like how he is lost in you. And when you eventually pull away, your foreheads rest against each other, you both share a soft, contented sigh. Your eyes meet, and a knowing smile passes between you.

‘‘Let’s save the rest for our second date, yeah?’’

Your heart is still racing, and his touch leaves your body feeling electric. You can see the desire in his eyes as gazes down at you, and with a gentle caress at his cheek, you nod in agreement, a playful glint in your eyes.

‘‘Definitely,’’ you whisper, your voice breathless.

As you part ways, you fumble with your keys at the door as Jungkook makes his way back to his car. A sense of contentment washes over you, knowing you’ve found someone who makes your heart race and your soul soar.

And as you steal a glance from over your shoulder only one last time for tonight, you find him doing the same thing at the exact same moment. Your eyes meet, and you cutely avert your eyes back forward the moment it happens, missing the way he bites his bottom lip to hold back a cheeky grin, shaking his head in amusement.

You’re truly one of a kind.

#jungkook drabble #jungkook au #jungkook x reader #jungkook imagine #jungkook #jeon jungkook #BTS jungkook #jungkook smut #jungkook fluff #bts #bts fic

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zepskies · 14 days

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Pairing: Beau Arlen x F. Reader

Summary: When Beau starts pulling away from you and Emily during a very difficult case, will the pressure make or break your relationship?

AN: This is a sequel story to the Take Me Home storyverse, set just a few months after Part 9!

Word Count: 5.5K

Tags/Warnings: 18+ only! Smut, a Law & Order: SVU-esque case, angst, perilous situations and violence, hurt/comfort and fluff.

Catch up on TMH: ⤵️

❤️ Take Me Home Masterlist

You took pleasure in the sounds you were pulling out of this man.

You continued to kiss down his neck. Each of your movements was slow and purposeful.

Your hips rolled against his, brushing your clothed, aching core against his risen length. His hands were like steel bands on your hips, not letting you leave even if you wanted to. He groaned.

“I needa get ready for work,” Beau chuckled. And he pointed out, “So do you.”

You smiled against his skin, and you gently dragged his flesh between your teeth.

“It’s still early,” you argued in his ear. You teased the shell of it with your tongue, making him shudder and rock his clothed hard-on between your legs. The wet tip of his cock dampened your panties further.

His hands moved down your thighs, caressing, squeezing, getting a handful of your ass in the process. Just as his fingers dipped under the satin hem of your panties, his phone buzzed on one of the nightstands. Beau let out a sigh of disappointment and reached over blindly for it.

He saw the caller ID and took in a breath to get himself together first. Even though he didn’t quite succeed, he answered the call.

“Mornin’, Jenny,” he greeted. You grinned.

“Tell her I said hi,” you whispered.

Beau shot you a “stern” look, though his lips curved at a smile. He mouthed at you to behave.

You gave him a look that was cheeky at best.

“We caught a new case. If you want, you can meet us at the scene instead of the precinct,” said Jenny.

“Okay, where to?” Beau asked.

While Jenny gave him the directions, you used his distraction to your advantage. You shimmied out of your underwear and the overly large shirt you’d stolen from him last night. Then you drew down the waistband of his underwear and freed his cock into your hands.

“Okay, sounds g—” Beau was forced to pause on a sharp inhale.

“You okay?” Jenny asked.

“Y-Yeah. Just fine. Had a tickle in my throat,” Beau said.

"Okay, well just so you know," Jenny said, continuing to give him tidbits of information that he really should've been paying attention to.

He cleared his throat, shooting you an incredulous look. You didn’t pay him much mind as you began to touch him with care, from the weeping tip and along the shaft down to the base, even caressing his balls.

Beau’s furrowed gaze held yours as his breath faltered again. Your deft hands lined up his cock to your entrance. You teased yourself on the sensitive head of it, brushing it through your wet folds and against your clit. You had to bite your lip against a moan, but you didn’t quite manage to stifle the sound.

“Okay, Jenny. Thanks, I’ll see you there in a bit,” he said in a rush.

He hung up as soon as he could, but all the while, you were unrelenting. You finally sunk fully down on his cock, taking him all the way inside your wet heat.

Beau let out a strained groan and grabbed your arms. He sat up and pressed his forehead to yours. His lips formed a chiding smile.

“That wasn’t very nice,” he said. His voice was a bit rough, sending a shiver down your spine.

“You want me to be nice?” you teased, beginning to let the full length of him slide out of you. You welcomed him back inside with a rock of your hips. “I just need a moment of your time, Sheriff.”

He nodded breathlessly. “Think I can manage that.”

You smirked and held onto the back of his neck as you rode him. You had a feeling you would find fingerprint bruises on your hips and thighs tomorrow, but this was worth it.

It took a lot to see Beau lose control, even in the bedroom. Now, he had a hand tangled in your hair and his lips fastened to your throat. He helped you move on him with a guiding hand on your hip. You slipped a hand from his shoulder and further parted your folds to find your clit.

But as Beau so often did, he moved your hand away so he could usher in your pleasure himself. He massaged your clit until your inner walls became almost too tight for him to drive up into you. Your thighs shook around his hips, and he managed to hold off on his own release until you came, hard on his cock.

You cried out near his ear and held onto his shoulders. He supported your collapse against his chest, but he still grabbed your hip tighter and rutted into you a few more times, until he was able to spill into you and fill you up to the brim with his warmth. You clenched on him on purpose, milking him for all he was worth.

Fuuuckin’ hell, he thought with a grunt, and he panted against your shoulder. He laid a belated kiss there.

“What a way to greet the sun,” he remarked.

You laughed breathily, caressing his cheek.

Beau was, inevitably, running late for work. He found that he was okay with that as he kissed you goodbye.

You were still in your robe and holding a mug of coffee. You didn’t need to be at work for another couple of hours. Your Tuesday classes didn’t start until 10:00 a.m.

“Have a good day, baby. I…” you trailed.

Certain words were poised on your tongue. Words that neither of you had said to one another just yet. Your heart started tripping up a bit as you realized it.

Even though you’d known the truth of what you felt for him for a while now, you’d been very careful to let him say it first. You told yourself you didn’t want to pressure him, in light of his contentious divorce and how new this all still was between you and Beau…

But more often, you wondered if you were maybe projecting, considering your own rocky past. Maybe it was just self-preservation.

“Yeah?” Beau questioned. You waved him off with a nervous chuckle.

“Nothing. I don’t know,” you said. “My coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.”

He just smiled and gave you one last kiss to the side of your head before he left your apartment.

Beau arrived at the scene of the crime: the parking lot of a movie theater. Jenny and Poppernak were already there inside the perimeter of yellow caution tape while the Forensics team did their thing. Jenny checked her watch when she saw the sheriff.

“What took you so long?” she asked.

“Traffic,” Beau lied, his face warming. “What’ve we got?”

He quickly shifted his attention to the pool of blood staining the ground between his deputies. The path of his gaze led to the victim: a young woman wearing a blouse, skirt, and heels. The skirt was torn up to the hip. Her neck was cut, deep but clean.

There were other signs of struggle; road burns on her right thigh, like she had been dragged. Jenny even found a can of pepper spray rolled under the victim’s car.

“Maybe he was trying to get her to his car. She fought back hard enough that he cut his losses,” she theorized.

Beau blew out a sigh and nodded grimly.

“Okay. Let’s get started.”

Two months gave the Lewis and Clark Sheriff’s Department two more murders. Both were women, presumably alone and late at night, and in the dimly lit, poorly secured parking lot of an establishment.

Stressed didn’t begin to cover how Beau Arlen walked back into the precinct two hours before he truly had to. What little forensics they’d been able to uncover from each scene (and on the victims) let them to conclude that the suspect was male, and likely between 5’10” and over 6 feet tall.

As they now had a murder cluster, Beau and his team determined that the victims were found within a 5-mile radius. Both Emily’s school and the college where you taught were within that range.

It had led Beau to long nights spent at the precinct and in town, researching, canvasing, working with his team to lock down possible leads.

But those two months had also led him to cancel dates with you and plans with his daughter. He hadn’t stayed over your apartment in weeks. You’d spoken to Emily, and she told you he was often late in picking her up from school on his custody days with her. When she was with him, he always seemed distant, distracted.

It was all too familiar, Emily told you, and she hated it.

You were worried and becoming increasingly frustrated. Any calls you made to him to check in were a few minutes at most, before he left you hanging to go back to work.

Beau had told you this was a difficult string of homicide cases, and very little else. You knew that he shouldn’t and couldn’t tell you too many details about the case, but you also couldn’t help but feel that he was pulling away from you…and leaving you in the dark.

You’d just gotten home after a longer day than usual at work. Frankly, you were exhausted. All you wanted to do was shower and find whatever you could in your fridge to have for dinner. You didn’t care what it was at this point.

Before you could go rummaging, however, your phone started to ring. You sighed and went back to the purse you dumped on the kitchen table, and you saw that the call was from Carla. Your brows knitted in confusion. She’d been on a business trip in California for one of her higher-profile trial cases.

Carla was polite on the phone, but sounded a bit stressed.

“Emily just called to tell me that Beau hasn’t come by to pick her up from school. She’s been there for two hours,” Carla said.

Your eyes widened in surprise. “What? That’s not like him.”

“I know, but he’s not picking up his phone. Is he with you?” she asked.

“No, I just got home. He has to be still at work,” you said. You restrained a sigh as you grabbed your purse back up. “I can pick Emily up.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, in a relieved tone that suggested that was what she’d wanted all along, but she still wanted to be polite about it.

“Yes, I’ll get her. Don’t worry,” you said. “And I’ll talk to Beau about this.”

“Good,” Carla said. “I appreciate that.”

After getting off the phone with Carla, you texted Emily and let her know you were coming to pick her up. She texted back:

Are you sure? I can just take an Uber to your place or something.

You replied:

No, honey. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be there in 15 - 20 minutes.

You didn’t manage to get ahold of Beau until you’d already picked Emily up from school. You braved through thirty minutes of traffic to get home again, and you stopped to grab dinner on the way.

Beau didn’t get to your apartment until later that night. You and Emily had a nice dinner of Tex-Mex takeout (though she’d said it was definitely better in Houston). He looked tired and apologetic as he went to hug his daughter first.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he said. “I just got held up at work.”

Emily nodded and tried to smile at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“It’s fine, I get it,” she said.

Beau knew his daughter well enough to see the truth. He sighed, but he went over to you in the kitchen next. You were putting away the leftovers. He laid a hand on your back and tried to kiss you in greeting, but you only gave him your cheek.

You didn’t meet his eyes when you slid over the plate you’d set aside for him: a massive carne asada burrito with all the sauces, just like he liked it.

Beau felt like an ass.

You left him to heat up his food and went to Emily, who was helping to clear the kitchen table.

“Do you need help with your homework?” you asked her. “I know you said you did some at school while you were waiting.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty much done. I’ve got it.”

You smiled at her. “Okay, good job.”

The next item on your mental list was grabbing the bedsheets out of the dryer, to set up the pull-out bed from the couch later for Emily to sleep.

Beau watched you putter around the apartment while Emily settled in front of the TV with the remainder of her homework. He felt like an outsider with his own girlfriend and daughter…and there was an eerily familiar feeling churning in his gut.

Later that night, you were reading in bed. Beau stepped out of the bathroom after a shower, with the towel wrapped around his hips, his chest and arms all dewy. You had to force yourself not to take notice.

You’d been missing him—practically aching for him for weeks, for two months. You were also upset with him though, and for more than one reason.

After he got dressed for bed in a long-sleeved shirt and some sweatpants, Beau once again noticed that deceptively calm look on your face. He knew that face, just as he sensed the tension in the air.

He sighed and came to sit on the edge of his side of the bed. Or at least, the side he’d claimed ever since he started sleeping over regularly here. Somehow, his own trailer had become a bit stale and lonesome, unless Emily was staying over.

Beau watched your profile and saw the way you were trying your best to ignore him.

“I get the feeling you’re mad,” Beau said, breaking the silence. “Sorry about today. I know Carla called you…I just got caught up with something at work.”

“Carla was right to call me,” you replied, though your eyes didn’t leave the page that you weren’t reading. Beau’s lips pursed.

“Darlin’, would you look at me, please?” he asked.

You dropped your book into your lap, and you met his gaze.

“All right, tell me. Why’re you mad?” he asked.

You raised your brows with a tense frown.

“I’m upset with you. Because this is the first night you’ve spent here in over a month. And it’s not because you wanted to.”

You shoved the blankets off your body and slipped out of the bed. Beau’s shoulders sunk a bit.

“Come on, honey. You know that’s not—” he tried, but you weren’t done.

No, you were very far from done.

“I’m upset with you, because every time I try to extend an olive branch and make plans with you, you reschedule at the last minute,” you snapped. “I’m upset with you because what few and far between conversations we do have? They consist of me trying to figure out what’s happening with you, trying to share with you about what’s going on with me—and you’re either half-listening, or you’re running off before the five-minute mark.”

Again, Beau opened his mouth to argue as his brows furrowed, but you beat him to it.

“And not to mention, you forgot your daughter,” you said. “You’ve been forgetting her, and you’ve been shutting me out.”

Beau stood along with you, his whole body tense with frustration.

“Look, it’s not like I’m out there cheating on you! I’m doing my damn job!” he said.

His words hit you like a physical blow. Your mouth fell open in soft shock. Tears even stung in your eyes.

“Reminding me of Michael,” you nodded in understanding. “Okay. Wouldn’t be the first time this month.”

Beau bristled; he didn’t think it was right for you to compare him to your bastard ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” he said.

"This isn't fair," you retorted, gesturing between you both with a pointed finger.

Beau's lips pursed. His jaw clenched as he averted his gaze, so he could better hold his tongue before he said something he might regret.

Too late...

Eventually, you stopped waiting for him to answer you.

Beau saw how you withdrew, both from the argument, and from him with a sigh. You crossed your arms and held yourself when you headed into the bathroom.

He internally deflated. Shit.

Something told him that if Emily wasn’t occupying the only other sleeping place in this apartment, he’d have been booted out of your room.

Things were tense the next morning.

Beau agreed to take Emily to school, since you picked her up yesterday. You gave Emily a hug before they left, and you had even packed her a good lunch for school. You knew she had to do that herself whenever she stayed at her dad’s place.

And yes, while the teen was old enough and responsible enough to pack her own lunch, you just wanted to make sure she knew you were still in her corner, no matter what friction might be happening between you and her dad.

You and Beau parted ways that morning with tension still lying between you, just like it had been last night in your bed. After they headed out, you found yourself at a loss, feeling unbalanced.

You didn’t have a class today until noon, so you took the morning to truly think about what was happening here. Whatever Beau’s case was about, you knew it was serious and complex, and he didn’t want to talk about it, likely for your safety.

All you could hope was that Beau, Jenny, Poppernak and the rest of the team were able to solve it quickly. You even began to wonder if it was fair of you to add stress on Beau’s shoulders when he was dealing with something that was clearly taking all of his energy, and making him distant with both you and Emily.

Blowing out a big sigh, you supposed you could try to be gracious one more time. You braved the annoyance of putting real clothes on—a blouse and work casual pants, as you later would have to go in to work.

You first headed over to the precinct with your purse on one shoulder and a plastic bag hanging from your other hand.

You entered the double doors and walked in past the reception desk, then through the bullpen. You noticed right away that there was a commotion going on, as you saw Jenny leading in a man handcuffed behind his back. You almost bumped into him as they crossed you in the hall.

The man was tall and lean, with pieces of his coiffed dark hair falling over his sharp blue eyes. They found you, and his lips curved into a smile after he gave you a once-over.

His smile made a shiver of unease prickle down your spine as you froze.

“Keep moving, Casey,” Jenny ordered.

Beau was right behind her, though the moment he took in the exchange between you and Casey, Beau stalked forward and stepped in between, urging the other man forward with a firm hand on his shoulder and a stern look of warning.

Jenny and Popernak led the suspect into a room for questioning, while Beau’s hand found the small of your back and guided you into his office.

He closed the door behind him and carded a hand through his hair. He let out a subtle breath and turned to face you. He didn’t look all that happy to see you, just tense.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Sorry, we’re a bit busy today.”

Before you could speak, he added, “Matter of fact, it’d be better if you called first next time.”

Your mouth snapped shut. Your brows knitted together in a glare, and you handed him the bag you carried in. It contained a nice hot sandwich and fries from Tonya’s diner, made by Donno himself.

“Here,” was all you said, before you walked out the door of the sheriff’s office.

Beau watched you go in surprise, with the word “wait” halting on his tongue. His gaze traveled down to the open bag between his hands, and sure enough, the smell of a good meal hit him, making his mouth water and his stomach twist with guilt all at once.

Damn it, he sighed. But lunch (and a phone call to you) would have to wait. He set it down on his desk and hastened down the hall to where their suspect, in what had been dubbed the “Fall Murders,” had finally been arrested and held for questioning.

Casey Sanderson; ex-military, dishonorably discharged, an abusive mother in his childhood and an unstable mind following two tours in the Middle East had left him unbalanced, according to his friends from his unit.

His DNA was also discovered under the fingernails of the most recent victim, Christina Mendez. Two weeks ago, her body was found behind a gas station late at night, her neck carved by a knife, and bruises littering her arms and body.

Beau entered the room where Poppernak and Jenny had already gotten started on the suspect.

“Casey here has lawyered up,” Jenny informed him, though her gaze never left the suspect. They were forced to wait on further questioning until the lawyer arrived.

“Ah, the Sheriff of Nottingham,” Casey remarked. His cool blue eyes watch with a measure of nonchalance as Beau stood behind his deputies, arms crossed.

Casey nodded up at him. “Was that your girl out there in the hall?”

Beau’s formerly calm face turned to stone.

Casey’s lips curved slightly.

“Good taste,” was all he said.

His tone was mild, yet it still made Beau’s skin crawl. And his rage built, igniting his blood. He did everything he could to temper that wildfire into a simmer that rolled just underneath his skin.

Jenny and Poppernak knew him well enough to see what he was thinking. Both of them watched him with hidden wariness and concern, especially when Beau stepped forward, placing one hand on the table between him and Casey Sanderson. Darkened green eyes met cool blue.

“Where were you on November 2 between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m.?” Beau asked.

Beau was irate when, a few days later, the ADA prosecutor called him at his office first thing in the morning to inform him of the latest news on Casey Sanderson.

“What the hell do you mean he got out on bail yesterday?” Beau snapped. “We have DNA evidence.”

“He claims that he and Miss Mendez had consensual sex earlier that evening, in the women’s bathroom, of all excuses, but they parted ways after leaving the movie theater,” said the ADA. “As you know, we couldn’t put him directly at the gas station near the theater, where she was found. The defense lawyer convinced the judge that the remaining evidence is too circumstantial to warrant holding him without bail.”

Fuckin’ hell, Beau let out an angry breath, carding his fingers through his hair. He hung up with the ADA moments later. His cell phone lighting up with a notification drew his attention, even perking him up a little, but he deflated when he saw it wasn’t from you.

Just Carla letting him know that she’d take Emily for the weekend this time, just like he’d asked. He felt bad for it, but he needed more time to concentrate on his cases. Sanderson was just one of many now, and Poppernak and Jenny couldn’t handle it all.

Beau tried to rub his tired face back to life, but once again, he thought of you. He still felt guilty, and he still missed you. Missed you like hell.

He hesitantly picked up his phone and he called you, hoping you wouldn’t let it go to voicemail again.

Admittedly, you were being a bit petty. You were screening your boyfriend’s calls.

However, if Beau Arlen wanted to see you, then he could get his ass up off that office chair and come to you this time.

You were tired of giving out olive branches left and right. You didn’t deserve to be the one left waiting and wringing your hands, wondering if this man even cared about you…as much as you’d come to care about him.

So you ignored his call—the second one today, and you prepared for your afternoon classes.

Even after your classes were done for the day, you graded a batch of papers to get them out of the way. As much as you couldn’t wait to go home, you didn’t feel like doing more work when you got there.

Another hour and a half ticked by before you finished grading and inputting the percentages into the online gradebook. Then, with a weary sigh, you grabbed your purse and your workbag and headed down to the garage where your car was parked.

You always tried to park in the same spot for faculty, in a space closest to the elevators. You found your car and put down your workbag in the backseat first. When you closed the door, you saw a figure in the window’s reflection.

You gasped and turned around. A man covered your mouth as a scream tore from your throat and echoed loudly in the garage.

He shoved you hard against the car door, but thanks to a few self-defense lessons from both Jenny and Beau, the heel of your hand came up on reflex.

It hit the man up the bridge of his nose with a crack. He shouted and reared back. When he pulled his hand back, it came away bloody. And you finally recognized him as the man you saw at the precinct: tall, thin, dark brown hair, angry blue eyes now staring back at you.

“Fucking bitch,” he chuckled. “Got some fight in you.”

Fear was a living thing inside you, but you somehow managed to force your body to move.

You scrambled for the driver’s door of your car and tried to open it, but the man shoved it closed, then grabbed at you once again. His forearm pressed across your chest and pinned you there.

The edge of a knife poised at your throat, making you freeze in panic. The blade teased your skin, hot breath against your cheek.

“Freeze, Casey!” came an angry shout. Both you and your attacker recognized that voice. Your breath was stifled in hope. Casey frowned in frustration.

Just over his right shoulder, you saw Beau holding his gun aimed at the man who held you. His brows were drawn together, his entire body poised to react to whatever Casey did next.

“Turn around, hands up high, and drop that knife,” Beau ordered.

Casey’s mouth edged into a humorless smile. “Evening, Sheriff. Up for a date night?”

He slid the blade just slightly against your skin, enough to draw a line of blood, and make you inhale sharply.

“I’m not gonna say it again! Turn around and drop the goddamn knife,” Beau snapped. “Try anything else, and I’ll make a third hole in your spine.”

Letting out a breath through his nose, Casey’s façade of nonchalance fell. He released you, stepping back slowly with his hands held in the air. The knife slipped out of his hand.

Beau stalked towards him before it even clattered to the floor. You were frozen where you stood pressed against your car.

You watched Beau stow away his gun and wrangle Casey’s hands behind his back, slapping on some tight handcuffs, and getting the man onto his stomach on the dusty ground, his cheek pressed hard to the asphalt. Beau held him down with one hand while he fished for his cell in his pocket to call for backup on the arrest.

Beau’s head lifted to catch your eyes. He gave you a reassuring look.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got this,” he said.

His voice was warm for you, steady. When you nodded, it was a jerky motion as you held a hand to your racing heart. You then raised it shakily up to your neck and swiped at the trail of blood there. The wound itself was minor, just a sting, but it was a cold reminder of what could’ve been.

The wait for Jenny and the rest of the team was agonizing.

Beau kept Casey on the ground, facing away from you. Eventually you were able to peel yourself off the side of your car and climb into the driver’s seat, just so you wouldn’t have to keep looking at the man who attacked you.

Jenny and Poppernak arrived within half an hour to haul Casey up and drag him into Jenny's SUV. That allowed Beau to return to your car and tap on the window of the driver’s side. You jolted and looked over to find Beau’s reassuring face.

“They took him. It’s okay,” he said, only a little muffled through the door. You nodded and gestured for him to step back, so you could open the door.

The moment you were on your feet and out of the car, you went into Beau’s waiting embrace. Hot tears welled up in your eyes. You hiccupped and struggled to breathe steady, but Beau held you tight and soothed a hand over your hair, down your back.

“It’s over, honey, I promise. I promise I’ve gotcha,” he said quietly in your ear. You nodded and let his warmth seep into you.

“I’ll take you home, okay?” he said. “We’ll get your car tomorrow.”

You sucked in a trembling breath.

“Please,” you agreed. “Take me home.”

“Am I going to have to testify in court?” you asked.

Beau held you close in your bed later that night. You two had dinner together and had been rewatching old episodes of Friends to take both of your minds off what happened today.

Beau reluctantly nodded in answer to your question.

“The ADA will probably ask you to, but…you can say no,” he said. “I’ll back you, whatever you decide.”

“No, I want to,” you said, even though the thought made you tremble inside. “That animal belongs in a cage.”

Beau silently agreed with you. He admired you for your vehemence, and your courage to even say that you wanted to testify against Casey.

Beau laid a gentle kiss above your brow and continued to rub your back. You both had the blankets up to your hips with a bowl of popcorn balanced between his thigh and yours. He moved it over onto his nightstand so he could curl you more securely against him. You raised your head to consider him thoughtfully.

“Why were you on campus?” you asked, as it finally occurred to you. “How did you know I was still there?”

“I thought I could catch you after your last class, so I went up to your office to see you,” he said. “But you weren’t there. A receptionist was on her way out though. She saw you head out a little while before, so I booked it back down to the garage to see if you were there.”

He was never more glad to heed his gut instinct. That was when he’d heard you scream.

The memory made his insides clench. Beau shook his head against the rest of it. He let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m so damn sorry for what happened. You gotta know, all this time, this is what I was trying to prevent,” he said, with pain written on his face. “But I’m also sorry that I shut you out. You and Em. I just didn’t know how else to keep you out of this. After what happened this summer…I wasn’t gonna let that happen again.”

With tears stinging in your eyes, you nodded. You knew now that he hadn’t meant to hurt you.

Beau Arlen truly was a good man, and that was hard to come by.

You shifted so that you were propped up on your elbow, resting on his pillow. You stroked his cheek.

“I understand. And I’m sorry too. I know that your job can be difficult, and stressful, and sometimes dangerous,” you said. “But I need you to talk to me. If we’re going to do this for the long haul, we need to communicate. I can’t be left in the dark like that again, Beau. I just can’t…"

It was your turn to sigh. "It feels too close to what I went through with Michael. Being lied to. Being told what I wanted to hear, never actually knowing what was going on, until it was too late.”

You admitted that last part with a hitch of emotion in your voice, meeting Beau’s eyes. His were full of remorse.

“I know. Again, I’m sorry. I promise, I’m gonna work on it,” he said, nodding. He planned to make it up to his daughter too. He would talk to her tomorrow.

You drew his attention back with the hand caressing his cheek.

“I just don’t want anything like that to happen to us. I love you too much,” you said. A tear worked its way down your cheek. “Beau, I love you.”

Beau grasped your hand, holding it to his cheek. His furrowed expression eased, and his lips slowly turned up into a smile. A true one, hinting at all the charm that was unique to this man. You’d missed that smile.

He dried your cheek with a gentle hand.

“Well that’s good,” he said. “Because I don’t think I’ve loved you more than I do right now.”

You laughed through more of your tears, and let him guide you into a tender kiss. One sparked another, and more, each one more searing than the next.

Beau’s fingers disappeared into your hair, just as your legs tangled themselves between his when he rolled you over, and underneath him, where he continued putting actions behind his words.

He gave you a promise that night, one that you’d both try to hold yourselves to in the morning.

AN: Ahh, I'm soft. This feels like the more "official" end to Take Me Home, though I'd be open to come back to these two if new ideas hit me. But until then, let me know what you thought of this one! 😘

Keep Reading:

Here's a drabble set directly after this one-shot. It's called A Crime of Passion:

Summary: When Beau Arlen decides to “make it up to you,” he’s damn thorough.

▶️ Next Story: A Crime of Passion

Ko-Fi Me ☕

Take Me Home Masterlist

Big Sky Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Series Tag List (Part 1):

For those of you with tag lists, Tumblr is doing a weird thing again with tags. I had to separate them 5 at a time for the hyperlinks to work on each blog! So annoying lol.

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#A Good Man Is Hard to Find #beau arlen #beau arlen x reader #beau arlen x you #beau arlen x female reader #beau arlen smut #Beau Arlen series #TMH-verse #Take Me Home #big sky #Emily Arlen #jensen ackles characters #big sky season 3 #Jenny Hoyt #jensen ackles #zepskies writes

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withleeknow · 2 months

Text

wishful thinking. (05)

chapter five: say what you mean

summary: the instruction was plain and simple: no strings attached. but you should’ve known from the beginning that it could never apply to you and him.

pairing: minho x f!reader rating: 18+ (minors dni) genres/warnings: friends to lovers, friends with benefits au, college au; fluff, angst, smut; mentions of sex, kissing, we’re starting to dip our toes into angsty territory !!, less edited than i’d like but what’s new lol word count: 2.8k

as always, i’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have, and please drop a like and/or reblog if you enjoy reading ♡

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Get me a drink, I get drunk off one sip, just so I can adore you I want the entire street out of town just so I can be alone with you Now go when you’re ready My head’s getting heavy, pressed against your arm Just to adore you, I adore you

Adore - Dean Lewis

Whenever Minho asks if you two could hang out together at your place, it usually means that you will end up in your bed.

Tonight you suppose is no different.

Even though you often cap off the night having engaged in activities that could make the Victorian lady in Hyunjin faint, it’s not all that you do. Both you and Minho never let yourselves forget that you’re friends first and foremost. Sex is the added benefit that should never take anything away from your friendship. He is still one of the people you’re most comfortable with, one of the few people whose company you enjoy.

You’re sprawled out on the couch in your small living room when Minho returns from the kitchen with a plate of freshly peeled tangerines, the same ones that he brought over earlier. You push yourself to half-sit up so he could squeeze himself between you and the armrest, before you go back to laying your head on his lap as you two resume watching a bad movie that you put on.

“I hate this so much,” you comment, your eyes glued to the TV screen.

“You picked the movie,” Minho says. “It’s not that bad. The plot is kind of decent.”

“I’m not talking about that. Jeez, if they wanted to make a movie where the main character is a graphic designer, you’d think that they would at least consult someone who knows literally anything about visual art. Look at that horrendous typography job, the text isn’t even aligned with the edges and corners. This is hurting my soul.”

Your cushions (Minho’s thighs) shake lightly as he laughs at your dramatic outburst over something as trivial as a fictional character’s poor standards of digital art. But you really aren’t kidding; the way the woman on screen is butchering the text alignment is quite literally making that very particular part of your brain want to shut down for the next five to seven business days.

“They should’ve consulted you first, is that right?” Minho asks.

“They really should have. I could’ve done wonders for them,” you say matter-of-factly. “I almost majored in graphic design, y’know.”

You have a habit of biting your tongue around others because you know that people don’t really care about the same things you do. Whenever the opportunity arises for you to share tidbits about your interests, excitement would tumble out of you only to be quashed soon after when no one wants to listen to your silly little rambles. It’s disheartening, you’re used to it.

But you never feel that way around Minho. He always lets you babble on about anything and everything, even if he might not know what the hell you’re talking about. He indulges you. He never makes you feel neglected or ignored.

“Hmm, my little genius artist.” He taps your cheek once, and when you turn your head to glance at him, he tells you to open up before he slips a slice of tangerine past your lips. “You’re right. Even I can tell that it’s horrendous.”

You hum appreciatively when the sweetness of the juicy fruit floods your tastebuds. Minho’s hand trails down your arm to rest on your stomach, just below your ribs where he fiddles with the worn fabric of your sleep shirt. If he moves his hand up, he would be grazing your bare chest underneath your shirt. You didn’t bother with a bra because, well, comfort above all else, especially within the four walls of your own home. Besides, it’s nothing that Minho hasn’t seen anyway.

He keeps on feeding you tangerines in between your complaints about bad design standards until the movie ends and the plate is cleared. The only sound in the room is the soft music on the TV as the credits start to roll.

You turn to lie on your back, staring up at Minho. “That was deeply disturbing.”

“You chose it,” he reminds you. “You went in knowing what the premise was.”

“Yeah, I have no one to blame but me. I had too much faith in humanity.”

“And you call me weird.”

“You are weird,” you say. “But I like weird.”

Minho looks down at you and for a moment, he says nothing. His fingers trace something on your stomach. A heart or an odd circle, you don’t know; you’re always bad at deciphering those. His eyelids fall a bit, softening the usual sharpness of his gaze.

Then he’s pulling you by your shoulders, guiding you to sit up and before you know it, you’re situated on his lap with one of his hands on your waist, the other on the back of your neck. Minho tugs you closer, meeting your lips in a kiss in which you waste no time returning.

He’s sweet, like the tangerines that you were sharing all evening. It tends to start like this - sort of randomly, whenever it feels right. He squeezes your side in a comforting gesture as his tongue slips into your mouth. There are times where it’s more urgent, where one of you is needy and desperately seeks the escape and release that can only be found in the other’s embrace. Other times, it’s slower, more gentle, where you can really focus on making each other feel fully satiated.

This, right now - you would pinpoint somewhere in the middle. There’s no fiery clothes-ripping urge, nor a need to lay the other person bare and knead every single knot of stress from their system. Today, there’s just languid wanting; an unhurried inclination to be close.

Him and his tangerine flavored kiss, you and your resolve built on shaky foundation.

You start rolling your hips over his, tugging on his shirt because you want to feel his skin against yours. Minho stops you though; he puts both hands on your hips and pulls his lips away from yours. You blink, dazed, confused.

“I...” he starts, trying to even out his breathing as he finds the words. “I don’t want to have sex tonight.”

Embarrassment instantly washes over you. The rejection is a little humiliating; it’s the first time you’ve ever felt like this around him. Your cheeks catch fire from the mortification, and you’re very aware that you’re still sitting in his lap, right over his crotch.

Wanting to climb off of him and just fucking bury yourself in a ditch, you start stuttering like an absolute fool, “Oh... Y-yeah, no, of course! Shit, shit, I’m sorry. Of course we don’t have t-”

Minho holds you in place, one of the hands on your hips goes to cup your cheek to make you look at him. It effectively shuts you right up.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have phrased it like that,” he says, his thumb brushing over your cheekbone in an earnest apology. “I just want to keep kissing you. Is that okay?”

You’re at a loss for words. He’s holding your face, your waist, so delicately. He looks drunk on your presence alone even though neither of you have had a single drop of alcohol tonight, so sincere in his simple request that you feel your heart swell tenfold.

You want it too. You’re more than okay with just kissing him.

You don’t answer him verbally. Instead, you just nod and move to kiss him again, your hands tangled in his soft hair. The sweetness of the tangerines grows more and more distant as you chase his lips, but you can taste his smile. It’s infinitely more saccharine, and it only grows sweeter when he holds you close and knocks the breath out of you.

When you pull away for air, you slump against him, hiding your face in the crook of his face, shy all of a sudden. He keeps you there but continues with his onslaught of kisses - on your hair, your cheek, your neck, anywhere his lips can reach. Like he simply can’t get enough of you.

“You really like kissing,” you comment, giggling quietly as you do. “Even when we… y’know, bone.”

“Bone? You’re so romantic, babe.” You feel the rumbles of Minho’s chest as he lets out a hearty laugh, the sound of which fills the space of your modest home, embeds itself in every nook and crevice, in between every minuscule crack in your walls until the whole place feels warmer, brighter somehow. “Are you complaining?”

“No... just pointing it out.”

“Well, I like kissing you,” he says. “You’re not a terrible kisser, I guess.”

You sit up straighter and catch the teasing grin on his face before you roll your eyes. “Gee, thanks. You really know how to sweet talk a girl.”

“Says the girl who uses ‘bone’ to describe sex.”

“It’s a perfectly good euphemism for ‘sex’.”

“You might as well just say ‘boink’.”

“Literally shut up.”

“Sure.”

Then he’s pressing his mischievous smile against your mouth once more, and you can’t really wrap your mind around how it’s even possible that he keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. His sugary kisses send warmth tingling up your spine, make a fluttery sensation erupt in your stomach. You’re lightheaded, and not the kind that can be remedied by a sufficient fix of blood oxygen.

Even though you’re perfectly content with kissing, there’s a certain implication that comes with only kissing that you’re not sure what to do with. He’s literally inside of you on a weekly basis and yet, this feels much more intimate than anything you two have ever done.

Because friends don’t kiss each other the way he’s kissing you right now. Friends don’t kiss each other the way you’re kissing him back.

A chime from your phone breaks you two apart, the intrusion forcing a mildly frustrated grunt from Minho. You find the mobile device hidden between the cushions of your couch, and after you quickly scan the notification on the screen, you tell him, “It’s Hyunjin.”

“What did I say? It’s always him at the scene of the crime,” Minho mutters, speaking in the same tone that one would when their sibling interrupts a round of their favorite video game. “What does he want?”

“Just wants me to send him a photo of the sample portfolio from our class.”

“Ignore him. He can wait.”

“He’ll call me if I don’t reply.”

“He’s so annoying,” Minho grumbles but loosens his hold on you nonetheless. “Hurry back.”

“It’ll only take a minute, you big baby,” you chuckle, pressing a swift peck to his lips before you get up from the couch and head toward your bedroom with your phone in hand, searching for the binder that Hyunjin is asking about.

Once you’ve snapped the picture and sent it to your friend, you return to the living room. When Minho hears your footsteps, he holds out an arm, silently beckoning you into his embrace again. And you do. You slide into the space next to him, slotting perfectly against his side.

Your fingers absentmindedly trace along his forearm until they reach his wrist. “This is pretty,” you say, touching the thin link bracelet that he always wears, the one with a small charm hanging off the center in the simple outline of a dove.

“You like it? I’ve had it for ages.”

“Mhmm, it suits you.”

A moment passes where you both sit in silence as you fiddle with the gold jewelry, and you can feel Minho’s eyes on your face the entire time. After a while, he pries your fingers off his skin, only to swiftly take off the trinket.

“No, Min. What are you doing?”

He doesn’t answer you. You attempt (in vain) to pull your wrist back but Minho is stronger. He holds it in place as he clasps the chain around your wrist.

“Minho, you are not giving me your bracelet.”

“Relax. It’s not like it was passed down from my great-great-grandfather. It’s just a random bracelet I bought when I was 18.”

“Why would you even give me your bracelet?”

He shrugs, as though he’s merely doing something as simple as letting you borrow you a pen. “It looks good on you.”

You look down to where his hand is still on your skin, his thumb gently sliding over your pulse point as he admires how the dainty gold reflects the dim lighting in your home.

And he’s right. It does look good, but he probably doesn’t mean it in the same way that you’re thinking of right now. You think it looks good because it’s something that belongs to him that’s now wrapped snugly around your wrist, like some sort of affirmation spoken in a language that only the two of you can understand.

Minho leans over and presses his warm lips to your forehead. It takes you by surprise, the way he does it as if it’s second nature to be this affectionate with you. It’s a tipping point, then suddenly your thoughts are running rampant.

The instruction has always been plain and simple: No strings attached.

But...

The chaste kisses with no expectation of sex, being protective when you’re in the presence of other guys, even giving you his bracelet to wear just because you said it was pretty.

Why do all of these sound an awful lot like strings?

You hesitate, then you ask, “What are we doing?”

“Hmm? You wanna watch another movie?”

“No, that’s not... What are we doing?” You don’t even know what word to put more emphasis on.

Minho looks at you and loosens his fingers. What he can’t understand through your words, you think he sees it in your eyes. “Say what you mean.”

“Are we friends?”

“Of course we are.”

“Are we still friends?”

“Do you not want to be friends anymore?” He cracks a smile, but you can tell that he’s just doing it to lighten you up. “You have terrible timing. I literally just gave you a bracelet.”

“Friends don’t do that.”

“Friends don’t give each other bracelets?”

“Friends don’t kiss like that.”

Minho seems a bit taken aback, though he regains his composure in mere seconds, his voice calm as he tells you, “Friends don’t have sex either.”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t know. What are you saying? You brought it up.”

You open your mouth, only to subsequently close it because your thoughts were never really that coherent in the first place. You look away from him to glance down at your wrist.

“You’re being confusing,” Minho says quietly, honestly.

“I just… I don’t want anything to change.”

“Did anything change for you?” he asks.

“No,” is what you tell him after a long minute, when what you really mean to say is I don’t know. You can see it as it happens, some stars fading from his eyes, some light growing more faint in his irises. Though the despondence on his face disappears so fast that you’re not sure if it was even there at all, or if it was only a figment of your imagination.

Then you throw the question back at him. “Did anything change? For you?”

Minho’s answer is the same as yours - a clear No - and yet, it makes you feel like you’ve been punctured by something sharp. You don’t know why your heart drops upon hearing him say the exact same thing that you did, but you try not to let it show on your face. Your poker face isn’t anywhere as good as his, but you hope that it’s enough.

You give him a tight-lipped smile and nod a little.

“Then nothing’s changed.” He strokes your hair, emphasizing his point with a soft smile as he reassures you, “And nothing has to change. It’s a bracelet, don’t overthink it. We’re good.”

Sometimes, the decisions you make are bad because you can foresee the outcomes, or at least, you have an idea of the consequences will be later on and yet, you still choose to go through with it anyway.

Just like how you chose to watch a movie you knew would drive you crazy with its trivial details, you choose to accept the feeling of Minho’s bracelet around your wrist. You choose to believe him when he said nothing has changed, and that nothing has to change. You choose to sweep under the rug the thoughts that you’ve been having about him lately. You choose to overlook the reason why you’ve been having those thoughts instead of facing it head-on because you’re terrified of what you’d find if you dig deeper.

You choose to let the conversation end here though it still lingers in your mind, and you choose to let him kiss you goodnight when he leaves because tonight has already been a series of bad decision after bad decision anyway.

And when you fall asleep, it’s the soothing coolness of the golden dove against your skin that lulls you to slumber, like he’s here right beside you to hold you through the night.

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offside-the-lines · 3 months

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tell me who i run to (if not you) | anthony beauvillier

"The first sip is joy, the second is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth is ecstasy." - Jack Kerouac

Summary In July of 2023, Evie looked at a list of cities in North America and rolled a die. Just like that, she packed up her life and moved to Chicago, a fresh start. The 2023-24 NHL season started well for Tito; he did not expect the call on November 28th telling him that he was being traded. To the worst team in the league. And just like that. 10 months after being ripped from his home, he had to pack up and move again. To an unfamiliar city, and to unfamiliar faces. Which is why, when Tito and Evie ran into each other, quite literally, on Christmas morning, they both latched on to a familiar face. Over the next few months, they became close friends. They didn’t talk about the nights shared in Chicago clubs. They didn’t need to. Because they're just friends. Right?

This is a completed fic split into episodes for easier reading. It was written for @bqstqnbruin as part of the Winter Fic Exchange 2k24 hosted by @wyattjohnston.

Episode 1. Blue Christmas (4.9k) Episode 2. I. Winter (4.4k) Episode 3. Pal-entine's Day (4.8k) Episode 4. Four-leaf Clover (5.5k) Episode 5. Evie's Birthday 🌶️ (5.6k) Episode 6. II. Spring (4.8k) Episode 7. Not Goodbye 🌶️🌶️ (5.4k) Episode 8. III. Summer (4.8k) Episode 9. Tito's Birthday (4.2k)

Read it in full (44.5k)

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Under the cut: author's notes, tropes, warnings & disclaimer, fun tidbits, chapter summaries

Author's Notes: This fic was written for @bqstqnbruin as part of the Winter Fic Exchange 2k24 hosted by @wyattjohnston. It got so out of control long so quickly. I genuinely had so much fun writing this, it's basically my magnum opus; if you look closely, I think you can probably see my soul in there somewhere. I would like to thank @devilssacrament, @wyattjohnston, and @forgottenflowers for being my editors, holding my hand and keeping me sane in this. Also, thanks to @swissboyhisch, and @imperatorrrrr for being a sounding board for ideas . All of your help and support has meant so much to me. You are all just the fucking best, I am sorry this has been my entire personality for the past month, I will probably return to normal soon. Probably...

Tropes: a gut-wrenching mix of angst and fluff with a happy ending, slow burn friends to lover (tbh, idiots to lovers let's be real), alternating POVs

Warnings: alcohol (one instance of alcohol poisoning by side character), mature content bordering on smut (mostly occurring in clubs/public), references to a toxic past relationship. Disclaimer: This series is set in Chicago but does not mention the name of the team based there. Only other Chicago players mentioned by name are: Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Connor Bedard. Other notes: NHL players featured Mat Barzal (a heavily featured supporting character/bestie) and brief mentions of Zach Hyman and Matt Martin. Assume that Tito and Evie are always speaking in French with each other.

Face claim for Evie (if you want one, but you can imagine whoever you like): Adeline Rudolph

Fun Tidbits: Original Character (she/her) called Genevieve Gignac or Evie (pronounced eh-vee) is the oldest sibling of Tito's juniors teammate and friend Brandon Gignac. Along with their other sibling Wiliam, they grew up in Montreal. Evie had been living in Toronto for six years, before moving to Chicago in the summer before the fic starts. I did way too much research so a lot of the little facts are true. Nicknames: (ma) chouette (shoo-wet): owl (mon) chou/chouchou (shoo): in practice, honey, sugar, baby, sweetheart // by definition, my cabbage or my profiterole/cream puff (depends who you ask) Solours (soul-oars): the Québécois name for the yellow Care Bear with the smiling sun on its belly Solou’ (soul-oo): a diminutive Evie decides to use

Cook, Cook, drink your tea, But save some in the pot for me. We'll watch the tea leaves in our cup When our drink is all sipped up. Happiness or fortune great, What will our future be? -- "Afternoon Tea at Pittock Mansion" by R.Z. Berry

Episode Synopses:

Blue Christmas Evie and Tito are both starting life anew in Chicago. It's an unfamiliar city with unfamiliar faces. They're both alone on Christmas. Maybe it's fate that brings them together. Jason and Alandra Dickinson are already smelling smoke from this fire.

I. Winter Tito injures his wrist in the first game of 2024, he’s out for 6-8 weeks and then his car breaks down. He thinks maybe he’s cursed. Evie becomes a shoulder to lean on. Barzy gets suspicious.

Pal-entine’s Day Tito returns her kindness by being a shoulder Evie can lean on when she is having a hard time after all-star break. She tells him it’s anxiety about work. He brings her a box of pastries and they cuddle on the couch all day; he doesn’t realize it’s Valentine’s Day. Later, a hook-up goes very wrong.

Four-leaf Clover Tito’s been playing again, and during his first stretch of away games begins to miss home. Well, Evie’s home anyway. When he sees her in the bar, he can’t help but show it. Barzy calls him out on his lies.

Evie’s Birthday Sometimes the music moves you. Sometimes the bass pounding in your chest makes you do things you wouldn’t do. Fuck it, it’s your birthday. That’s what Evie tells herself anyway. There are gifts given, but there are also secrets kept.

II. Spring Tito tries to tell her— he does— It’s just he needs to find the right time, and something keeps coming up. Evie’s honest with herself. But does that even matter? Mat decides maybe it is his time to intervene.

Not Goodbye Evie realizes that her time is running out. To do what? She doesn’t know. But she has one last night to find out. That is until— Well. It’s too late now. Tito flies home and wonders if that will be the worst mistake of his life.

III. Summer They try to get on with their summers as if nothing is wrong, convincing no one. How long will it take them to realize they can’t keep pretending like everything’s fine? And who will finally take the leap of faith?

Tito’s Birthday Tito receives the best birthday present he has ever gotten: the girl he loves standing at his parent’s front door. It was never destiny or fate; it can only be by choice. And they’ll choose each other every time. Eventually, anyway.

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purpleyoonn · 9 months

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baby (you complete us) 11

C H A P T E R E L E V E N

Summary: Soulmates were a common occurrence, so common, in fact, that the world sought an easier way to find your other half: A bracelet that would scan your mark and match you with those who shared your mark. Within recent years, soul groups were becoming normal, and your own bracelet said you have seven matches.

Or where you wear your bracelet for ten years, and finally give up the hope you would find your soul group, only for BTS to put theirs on and see what they were missing.

Genre: soulmate au, idol au, angst, fluff, eventual smut,

Pairing: Idol BTS x Disabled MC

Warnings: angst, mentions of depression, disabled mc (Ehlers Danlos syndrome), eventual smut, fluff, lots of fluff, mentions of disability, simp bangtan

Chapter Warnings: protective bangtan, anxious mc, mc makes some friends, talk of injury,

*Words in Italics are spoken/written in Korean*

beta’d/edited by the lovely @babyarmybias

masterlist // chapter 10 // chapter 12

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Previously on baby (you complete us):

When you finally pulled away, Jungkook leaned forward, trying to follow your lips. You were sat on his lap, his hands resting on your waist. You didn’t say anything, just stared at one another, trying to breathe and grasp what just happened. After a couple of seconds, you break out into a large grin, moving forward and hiding your head in his chest.

Jungkook laughs at your reaction, wrapping his arms around your back and holding you close. He wears the biggest grin on his lips as he hears your laughter spilling from you. Your soul was warm, body filling with unrestrained happiness. It felt as though one hole in your heart had been filled, filled by the man you were laying with, laughing as if someone told a good joke.

This laughter was different though.

It was pure happiness.

“Alright, we have some vending machines over here, and a little way down, there is a little café that Yoongi likes to get americanos from when it gets late.”

You had arrived with Jungkook after being dropped off by the lovely Songun. It was a little pass nine am and the boys were all slowly trickling into the building. However, instead of moving to the practice room the boys had booked, Jungkook decided to take you on a small tour of the floor, showing you where everything was and giving little tidbits of the boys while you walked.

You were shocked by the number of things they had on the practice floors. Each floor had a small nook where they could pick up fresh snacks like veggie and fruit cups. They also had refrigerated drink stands that had a wide variety of drinks. All four practice floors also had a small café towards the middle of the floor, something Jungkook was excited about.

“I guess I should have brought my card?” You thought aloud once you saw the little fresh fruit cups.

“Baby, you never need to worry about using your money when you’re with us. I can promise the others will get a little upset that you think you need to. Also, everything on the practice floors is free. Well, for us, since we own a lot of shares in the company. Which means you don’t ever need to pay for anything in the company.” Your eyes widen at his words. Everything the boys say or do just keeps surprising you, to the point where your eyes might permanently widen.

“Oh.” you whisper, reaching out slowly to grab a little cup of watermelon, still thinking that someone was going to make you pay for them, popping up from behind the cart.

Jungkook just laughed, thinking you were unbelievably cute and innocent. He couldn’t stop looking at you, happy and excited to be able to be with you and get to know you. He already noticed that you stick your tongue out a little when concentrating, and that your nose scrunches up like his when you laugh.

He noticed that you also tend to pick at your fingers when you’re nervous something that had him moving to hold your hand. Which is what he did when you realized no one was going to come after you to pay for your fruit.

“C’mon baby, I bet the others are already in the practice room getting ready.” Jungkook began to tug you forward to the room. He could feel the pad of your pointer finger rubbing over the top of his hand; a soothing movement, he realized.

I don’t care as long as she is with me. Jungkook thought.

Out of their soulmate group, Jungkook had been the most eager to find you. You were only a couple months apart and to know that he had spent the last ten plus years with their soulmates, enjoying life and the bond between them, while you had none of that, it had him aching to make it up to you. He had so much love to spread, and to have a younger soulmate who he could take care of and protect like his hyungs did with his made his soul sing.

Jungkook wanted to show you how great love and the soul bond could be.

In the hopes of getting your spirit up again, Jungkook began to swing your arms, slowly at first and then faster until your arms were going above your heads and your laughter could be heard from the practice room down the hall. Jungkook began skipping in place, going at your pace until you reached the practice room, door already open and Jimin and Hoseok peaking their heads out.

“Ahh there’s our baby soulmates!” Jimin exclaims, reaching out to Jungkook and pulling him in for a hug.

“Did you two have fun last night?” Hoseok comes and pulls you into his arms, squeezing you tightly as he walks backwards into the practice room where the rest of your soul group were.

“He watched Bride of Habaek with me!” You exclaimed, excited that you had someone to watch Kdramas with you. “And we had lots of cuddles. Jungkook is good at cuddling.” You felt so comfortable that you couldn’t help but to spill everything.

Well, not everything, as Jungkook seemed to beat you to the final punch.

He pulled away from Jimin and pulled you out of Hoseok’s arms, planting a big smooch on your lips and pulled away laughing at your shocked expression. “You’re spilling all the secrets!” Jungkook managed to say through laughter.

The rest of the boys were shocked, completely speechless, as they witnessed Jungkook kiss you. They weren’t expecting it, even with the soul pull they knew you experienced the previous night. In fact, they assumed you wouldn’t let them show you affectionlike that for a few months. They didn’t want to push you, but they now realized they shouldn’t have underestimated the soul bond.

“Hey now! No more kisses until we finish practice!” Jin yelled out, stomping his feet dramatically and stealing the attention from your blushing form.

When he caught your eye, he winked at you, not the normal one you’ve seen so many times on camera, but one letting you know he knew how you weren’t ready for everyone to try and shower you in the affection Jungkook was so easily able to give you. You nodded your head in thanks, moving to the side so you didn’t get in the way as they started to set up for practice.

You weren’t sure what song they were practicing, or what they were practicing for. You tried to get the answers out of Jungkook, but he still held that shit-eating bunny grin on his lips which irritated the hell out of you. Not even kisses seemed to get him to give up the so called “secrets of practice”.

Yoongi came over to you as the boys began to stretch, taking your hand and leading you to a nice little sofa that sat off to the side in the back of the room. He sat down with you and turned towards the small, circular designed table that was to your right. He handed you a small gift bag and gestured for you to open it.

The bag held a cropped t-shirt with the word “Bangtan” on it in a design you didn’t recognize. The image was similar to the Army and BTS symbols but like it was smooshed together. It looked really cool and you could tell this was new.

“This is what we are practicing. Since we’ve returned from the army, we have wanted to do a tour representing our time as Bangtan, and everything we have done in our ten years. Since this coming year, 2023, will be our ten year anniversary, we want to do collective world tour. Songs from each of our albums.” Yoongi’s voice is low, as if telling you a secret, despite everyone in the room already knowing about it. You hold the shirt in your hands, unable to believe that they are already planning a tour since they have only been out of the army for a couple of months.

The boys had enlisted in the army as a soul group in June of 2020, during the pandemic. They wanted to give Army one last festa as a group before their enlistment, so they waited until June 22nd of that year. This meant they had only been out of their enlistment since March of this year, 2022. It was almost August now and the weather was only getting colder as fall began to arrive.

“We have a couple of new songs, one of which Army has waited a long time for. But our album is going to be called ‘Proof’, as proof that we are still here, we are still a group even after coming back. We also have solo songs we are going to introduce from our own solo projects.” Your eyes widened at his words, shocked and excited at the prospect of their solo endeavors.

“The shirt is a pre-release that the boys and I have received in order to see if we like it or not. We wanted to give you one as well. Jiminie and Taehyungie said you had a lot of crop tops in your bags so we picked this one for you.” Yoongi told you, reminding you how Jimin had picked your outfit our for you the day before.

To be honest, you packed a lot of crop tops because you get hot easily, even in colder weather. You always have. You didn’t know what your plans were going to be, but you always pick comfort over fashion and brought enough for you to wear every day for two weeks. You, however, did not feel comfortable enough with your body to wear them in public, let alone in front of the boys yet.

“Thank you, Yoongi. I appreciate the gift.” You feel so lucky to have the boys as your soulmates. They were so thoughtful and seemed to want to include you in everything. You lean forward and kiss his cheek, pulling away before putting the shirt back in the bag.

Yoongi, on the other hand, was a blushing mess. For once it wasn’t you that was flustered this time. He couldn’t help but smile wide at your kiss, even if it was on his cheek.

“Yah! Yoongi-hyung stop sitting and come practice so we can take our girl to dinner later!” Taehyung yelled out, his voice reverberating throughout the room as he interrupted your small bubble.

The rest of your soul group laughed when they saw you both blushing. Yoongi rolled his eyes before leaning forward and returning the favor, kissing your cheek with a loud smack before jogging off and getting into the practiced formation as the music starts.

The music starts with a really cool guitar riff, extremely upbeat and you could tell this was one of the new songs. The song could have been Fire’s younger sibling, the style seemed close. Yoongi started off the song and oh. my. goodness. You knew for a fact that this song was going to drive Army insane. Absolutely insane.

You needed them to practice this seven times, so you could focus on one member each time. You were especially in love with the chorus. You almost couldn’t help but clap after the song was over, eyes lit with excitement.

“I…oh my. Oh my. That was…..amazing!” You tried not to shout out the last word as the boys turned to look at you, Yoongi’s signature smirk resting on his lips.

“You liked it, baby?” Namjoon asked you, knowing how dumb his question was as your excitement was written all over your face.

“Of course! That might be one of my favorite songs yet!” Namjoon chuckled, glad that they could make their soulmate happy.

“Well, we want to surprise you with our other songs later. Are you okay with having Songun take you exploring? Maybe to the café?” Namjoon held your hands in his, noticing your excitement die a little at not being able to see the rest of their practice. But you understood completely.

“No, that’s fine. I want to share the excitement with Army! I’ll bring you guys something back from the café!” You grab your things and put your lanyard over your head as Jin tells you that Songun should be in the hallway waiting for you.

After tons of goodbye hugs, you finally left the practice room only to see that Songun was not in the hallway. You almost turned back to the room, to see what you should do, but you didn’t want to bother the boys when they obviously had things they needed to do. So, you put your big girl pants on and decided to try and navigate the building by yourself. You didn’t want to have to rely on someone else to help you forever.

You decide to turn left, after doing eenie-meenie-minie-mo, your eyes alert as you try to take everything in and remember the way you came so you can get back to the practice room. You only see a couple of empty practice rooms before you turn the corner and bump into someone’s chest.

“Oof! I’m sorry.” You apologize as soon as it happens out of instinct.

“It’s okay.” You were a little proud that you remembered your Korean and was able to understand what the man was saying, but you froze once you recognized the familiar voice.

Choi Soobin was standing in front of you with the rest of Tomorrow x Together behind him. They looked like they were just finishing their practice, sweat dripping from their hairlines.

“Oh! Y/n noona! I’m so sorry!” You were shocked by the honorific, not having heard it yet, let alone expecting to be addressed by it. You watched as the boys all began bowing to you, giving you their greetings.

“It’s okay. Please, you don’t need to bow!” You panic a little, the entire situation being new to you. You weren’t quite comfortable with this part of the Korean culture yet. In your own culture, greetings are done with handshakes, especially when first meeting someone, so it’s gonna take some getting used to.

Once the boys stopped bowing, they introduced themselves one by one, Heuning Kai going last.

“We were so happy when we saw the announcement. It’s nice to know our hyungs soul group is complete now.” He spoke in English, making your body relax a little given you still were in the beginning stages of learning Korean. He then looked behind you, noticing no one with you and the slightly lost look on your face.

“Noona, are you lost?”

“Uhm, I was trying to find the café.”

“We can take you noona! We were just heading that way!” Soobin spoke and Heuning Kai repeated his words in English for you as Yeonjun put his arm around your shoulders and turned you around. So, maybe your eenie-meenie-minie-mo tactic hadn’t been the best idea after all. You laugh a little nervously at yourself before letting them guide you to the café.

“So, Noona. How are you liking Korea so far?” Yeonjun asks you as you walk back down the hallway.

“I like it so far. I got to do a little exploring my first day before meeting the boys in person. I went to a convenience store and made one of those videos like on TikTok!” You bring your phone out and show them the video, receiving “oohs” and “ahs” from the boys.

“You haven’t done anything else? How long have you been here?”

“I’ve only been here a couple of days. I’ve spent most of the time bonding with my soulmates. We also had an appointment with the Soul Registry to finalize our bond officially.” You tell them, the boys listening with full attention.

You found yourself feeling comfortable with the younger group as you all walked to the café. You didn’t find yourself stuttering with nerves or quiet with anxiety. It was nice and the boys were all so attentive and full of life. It was a nice change from what you were used to at home, and you felt yourself growing to think of the boys like little brothers.

You even found yourself going along with their antics, letting them convince you to learn the choreography to their new song and film a TikTok with them. It took you a lot of tries but you managed to learn the choreography without hurting yourself. You felt your right knee giving you a little trouble but you pushed it aside in favor of having fun with the boys.

“Thank you for doing this, Noona! We will tag you when it gets posted!” Yeonjun exclaims once you were done filming in front of one of the portraits outside of the café.

“Thank you! It was fun. I could really go for a drink now though!” You laugh as the boys agree with your statement, Taehyun and Soobin pulling your arms and dragging you into the café.

Next Chapter

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izombie-ao3 · 2 months

Text

❝ Following the disappearance of your paternal figures in 1995, you- the offspring- receive a letter in the mail detailing of their possible whereabouts. The prospect of them being alive after going missing for ten years grasps at you. Waisting no time, you take hold on the letter and rush out the door with keys in hand. Your destination is as clear as day: Playtime Co. ❞ (x)

Word count: 27,051

Tags: Reader’s pronouns are YOU/YOUR & THEY/THEM, Reader is gender neutral, Reader is an adult aged 25, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Love, Strong friendships, strong feelings, Reader IS DogDay’s angel (not literally), DogDay would die for Reader, DogDay is NOT a child, DogDay is an ADULT, occasional flirting (?), Dark Humor, Blood and Gore, Swearing, Hurt/Comfort, Trauma, Angst, Fluff, DogDay lives, This is my Roman Empire and I will die for it, Cannon Typical Violence, Freeform writing, No beta we die like Mommy Long Legs, Possible romance between DogDay and Reader, Friends to Lovers, I kissed canon in the mouth and abandoned it on the side of the highway, Cannon Divergent, CATNAP DIES, (Updated tags)Reader and DogDay are MOST DEFINITELY in love, All characters are written as ADULTS, there are no children in this fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Chapters: 17/?

Status: Temporary Hiatus

You were shaking from head to toe in a mixture of excitement, anticipation and worry. It was all far too much for your brain to comprehend at once; ten years- it has been ten WHOLE YEARS since your parents disappeared in 1995, and only now you get a letter basically telling you to come find them? That there’s hope that they could maybe still be alive?

“It’s... it’s insane, really, it truly is... but-“ you sigh, steeling yourself, hands tightening on the steering wheel of the car. “-It’s all I have to go off of...”

And just like that, you stick your key in the ignition and turn it, listening as the engine roars to life.

As you drive to the destination with the help of your phone’s GPS, you can’t help but wonder what you’ll say when you see them- your parents- after so long.

You half wonder if they’ll even remember you... Surely they will?

They have to.

By the time you arrive at the destination of Playtime Co.’s now seemingly abandoned building, the sun has slowly begun to set, dusting the sky a beautiful iridescent orange-pink, you wager that there’s likely only two hours left of sunlight before the whole world goes dark.

With one last glance at your car, you turn your attention to the large ominous building and feel a strange feeling wash over you and though you can’t find the right words to explain it, you can tell that a certain thickness hangs in the air.

Somethings not right with this place and you’re starting to doubt yourself and that letter. What if the sender has less than pure intentions?

What if your parents really are gone for good?

Would coming here have been nothing but a waste?

Will you find the answers to your questions?

You shake your head and sigh through your nose, clenching your fists together you brace yourself for the arduous journey ahead.

You’re here now and there’s no going back.

You need answers.

As you wandered around the halls of the deserted building, you found VHS tapes that when played back on the VCR gave you small tidbits of information about the people employed there and the place itself. It’s all very interesting information that helps you slowly understand what occurred here...

But, there is ONE glaring issue that you would’ve never thought about when first walking through those doors; being chased by an oversized toy!

You could feel as your heart pumped at an alarming pace in your chest, it was beginning to feel like at any moment it would jump out of your throat just like in those Sunday morning cartoons you used to watch as a kid.

And the cramp ness of the conveyer belt’s segments didn’t make things easier for you as you weaved from one corner to the next, desperately trying to escape your pursuer who was hot on your heels.

By the time you finally manage your escape out of the conveyer belt, you find yourself on a metal walkway with a colorful box hanging precariously nearby. Quickly, you use the mechanical hands from your grabpack suit to hold onto the box and just as you bring it slamming down, the walkway snaps in two beneath your feet.

The gigantic blue toy that had been chasing you falls through the void of darkness below, making contact with the pipes on its way down and in doing so you see... blood...?

You can’t help but blink, bewildered at the sight of blood, especially from a...toy.

But, no matter, you now that it’s too dangerous now to continue to linger, you need to trudge on.

“FIND THE FLOWER” you remember the words on the note, the mental image of the poppy flower etched into your mind, you have to find it, for it’ll lead you to the answers you seek.

The sight that greets you is a concerning one, in front of you is the door that you’ve been looking for, it is surrounded by an enormous painting of the same flower that was drawn in the note mailed to you and near it are various toys strung up with word of warning written around the door;

NO RUN

GO BACK

STOP

TURN AROUND

You don’t know what to make of it and it worries you, you’ve come so far and evaded death only to be met with...this? With... warnings? Warnings to turn back and stop?

You hesitate for a moment, but reach for the door job regardless. Opening it leads you down an impossibly long hallway decorated with yellow floral wallpaper and wall lamps, yet you relentlessly follow it.

The answer to what you seek lies at the end of... Surely...?

When you finally make it, you enter a small room where red light floods the room, the soft distinct sounds of a music box playing in the distance. And in the center of the room lies a glass display case that in it holds a... doll?

She sports blood red hair that is held up by two blue hair ties and a blue and white dress. Her eyes are closed.

You swallow hard and open the case....

ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 2: You meet Mommy Long Legs and find yourself in quite the predicament; play her games or face death. What choice do you have, but to obey?

You venture out of the small room that you were just in alongside with a now missing doll and out into the adjacent hallway that leads you out and back into the rest of the facility.

“Man...” you say, eyeing the place from ceiling to floor tile, “...this place is larger than I thought...” you can’t help but mumble to yourself. Sure the building looked absolutely massive on the outside but, being inside of it now? Man, this place felt like it didn’t have an end to it.

“...This way...” you hear a voice whisper to you, breaking you from your silence, snapping back into reality you decide to follow it. Surely the owner of the voice could tell you what happened here?

Eventually you find yourself entering an office of what could only be the owner of the company, Eliot Ludwig, reads a piece of paper resting atop his desk. Allowing curiosity to take ahold of you, you decide to pick it up and read it and find that it contains information about an experiment... ‘814’.

Huh...

You don’t know what to make of the information but decide to pocket the paper nevertheless, It seems like it could be important.

Following outside of this area, you walk into a more mechanical looking room that seems to need power.

Suddenly the loud sound of one of vents latch coming lose frightens you, causing your attention to shift. Your body tensing up, awaiting for the horrors of this place to attack you.

But, you’re greeted by the same doll from before;

“Oh! Uh...” she seemingly stumbles over her words, a clear air of awkwardness hanging from her, “...I didn’t mean to scare you! I was just- trying to get the power back on!” She explains.

You watch her, astonished that the doll is talking and moving, could... you be seeing things? No, you doubt it, especially after your encounter with that massive blue toy- Huggy Wuggy, was it?

You silently stare at her, curious to see what’ll happen next;

“Here-!” She says, and awkwardly motions for you to do the honors.

With no other option available, you use the electric hands on your grabpack, you help solve the issue by re-routing the power supply from one pilon to the next and then onto the glowing red interface that sits just beside the red headed doll.

Upon your accomplishment, you watch as she applauds you, to which you can’t help but smile slightly and nod.

“I wanted to thank you for freeing me-“ she begins, “-I was stuck in there for so long! Thank you, I’ll have to pay you back!” She adds, to which you nod, seeing as it’s only fair.

“There’s a train station near by-“ she adds and you quirk up an eyebrow, a... train station?! In this place?! Jesus! Just how big really was this building that they needed to install a whole train system!

“-It needs a code! And I have it.”

Ah, well that makes things easier, it seems that all you’ll have to do is find it and move on to the next area.

“We’re going to get out of here...!” She explains and you nod, “As soon as you get on up here!” She exclaims, chuckling awkwardly.

Unable to find a way up to where the doll is, you decide to head back the way you came and are more than surprised when you hear her speak to you again;

“I’m over here!” She exclaims, your head turns to see her, she’s in the vents! “I can follow you from here!” You watch as she scampers off before shouting for you on the other side, “This way!”

You follow the sound of her voice, you judge that she has to be on the other side and so you walk into the hallway and into a small corner where two flashing red sensors display the red and blue grabpack hands. You place them on the sensor and watch as the system green lights your entry, allowing you further access to traverse yet another hallway.

Eventually you find yourself in a rather large room that is surrounded by five closed off gates, each one has a large title overhead indicating to which area it leads to. In the center if this room lies a massive crater whose end you cannot see as it is shrouded in darkness. The doll from earlier sits just in front of the mouth of the crater, as soon as she sees you she turns around;

“Listen, I’m going to need you to trust me-“ but before she can even finish whatever she was saying, a hand from down below reaches out and pulls her in screaming.

You’re left standing there, alone, and unsure of what to do next.

“...Fuck...” you curse, “What the hell do I do now...?” You bite your lower lip in irritation and look around, there’s no way for you to proceed aside from going down the same way that your temporary companion had been abducted.

You sigh and look down at the hole before bracing yourself, “Here goes nothing!” You shout as you descend.

Coming down you find yourself to have had- thankfully- safely landed in one of the lower sections of the facility. Next to you are three locked archways that indicate the following areas that you can go into, one of which seems to spark an innate interest within you, GAME STATION.

You deduce that the door needs power to operate and are quick to find the area that needs re-routing.

By the time you finish that task, you hear the metallic door open and you waltz on over to the connecting hallway.

Right as you use the red metallic grabpack hand on the sensor that rests above the door that impedes your journey, a voice echoes from somewhere above you;

“A new playmate!!” Squeals a feminine voice, and you watch as the hand is snatched from you, leaving you with only the blue one intact.

“It’s been... SO LONG...” the female voice explains and you watch as from above the dark ceiling a long and spindly pink figure descends. She looks no different from just another toy!

“Right, Poppy?” She asks the ‘doll’ that she holds on her hand.

“Poppy!” You can’t help but belt out in response, so that’s your companions name!

The figure ignores you and using Poppy like the doll she is, mocks her voice in response, “Very exciting, Mommy!”

“LET HER GO!” You shout, demanding the... thing, this creature called “Mommy” listen to you.

Alas, your cries fall upon deaf ears as the smile on Mommy’s face stretches farther than humanly possible. Stretching her neck, you watch as her face descends further down onto yours until she is no more than a few inches away from you.

You can’t help but cringe away in disgust, yet she isn’t deterred by your actions and only follows you closely.

“Mommy heard that miss Poppy was going to just give you the train code to escape! Now how is THAT fun?” She grins, “Instead- let’s say we make a game out of it! The game station is still working! It’ll be just like old times~” she explains.

“And-“ she uses Poppy mockingly, “-If you you win all three games, I’ll give you the train code!”

Mommy gasps a sound of mock delight, “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Poppy!”

Just before she slinks away, her head beginning to follow in the motions of the rest of her body, she says one final word to you, “Oh~! You’re going to have SO much fun~! Head to Musical Memory and Mommy will get things started!”

Before you have time to react, her head shoots down towards you at an alarming rate and she stops just in front of you;

“OBEY THE RULES OR ILL TARE YOU APART AND EAT YOUR INSIDES WHILE YOURE STILL ALIVE!”

A shiver runs down your back as finally the monstrous beast known as Mommy finally slinks away into the dark recesses of the facility.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 3: You play Mommy’s games...

Arriving at the Game Station you find yourself in a colorful large open space, with- as the name entails- a large variety of games to play. Remembering the information that you’ve gathered so far of the place from the stray files, notes and fliers littered about, you piece together that this had to have been one of the major areas that the orphans of Playtime Co. would spend a large amount of their time in.

Still though, none of it makes that much sense to you- why would they even have such a place erected inside of the facility?

“I mean-“ you cut yourself off, “-I guess it makes sense..? After all, how’re you going to keep possibly hundreds of orphans entertained?” You asked no one in particular.

“You can’t just keep them locked away in their rooms...” you muttered under your breath, your eyes wandered to and fro. There was so much to look at, from the decoration that littered around, to the cardboard cutouts of what is likely to be the toys and mascots of Playtime, but what catches your eye the most were the drawings left by the orphans.

You looked at the colorful drawings, all made with crayons and markers, it depicted the kids playing alongside three key figures that you’ve now seen and gotten to know thus far;

Kissy Missy, Huggy Wuggy and ‘Mommy’.

You get a sense of... happiness from them? It seems that the children had fun with them...

Fun... huh... that’s, arguably hard to imagine when you’ve had your life threatened by two out of three of these creatures.

Sighing, you hope that at least Kissy Missy won’t slaughter you the moment you meet her.

Shaking your head, you remember what you’re here for; the train code. “Best not to keep Mommy waiting...” you mumble to yourself.

Exploring the area some more, you eventually find the room where the hands for the grab packs are made!

“Oh! Sweet!” Excitement fills you as you realize that you can get a replacement for the one that you lost.

Fiddling here and there with the strange machinery, at long last you’re given your replacement green hand!

Sometime later, you finally make you way into Musical Memory, you’re greeted by a rather strange set up; the room is roughly circular in shape, with a large open space around you that is obviously inaccessible to you. But the center of this room has a circular platform that is surrounded on both sides by round buttons

roughly the size of beach balls.

Atop the circular platform is a cylindrical protrusion that extends far beyond from the ceiling and sits just above the center arena.

You can’t help but whistle in amazement at the sight;

“And to think that kids actually played in here? Geez, you’ve got to be kidding me-“ you mumbled, “- this place would’ve terrified me as a kid...” you add.

Upon stepping inside of the centerpiece, you watch as massive screens all around you suddenly burst to life, surprising you as a result.

The sounds of odd music begins to play and the logo of Playtime Co. appears on screen;

“WELCOME TO MUSICAL MEMORY!” Voices an automated mechanical male voice.

“THIS ADVANCED MEMORY AND RECOGNITION TEST IS DESIGNED TO STIMULATE SEVERAL SEGMENTS OF THE BRAIN! ALLOWING US TO SEE HOW QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY YOUR BRAIN WORKS! A SEQUENCE OF COLORS WILL BE SHOWN, AND YOU MUST RECREATE THE EXACT SEQUENCE USING THE BUTTONS AROUND YOU. BUNZO WILL SLOWLY LOWER TOWARDS YOU-“

“Bunzo?” You croak, “Who the hell’s Bu-?” A nagging sensation in the background of your mind urges you to look up, and as you do you are greeted by the sight of a yellow rabbit with bright green overalls, holding two large cymbals in each hand.

It’s eerie dead smile focused on you.

“Ah!” You say, looking away, “Right...!”

“-WHEN YOU COMPLETE A COLOR PATTERN CORRECTLY, BUNZO WILL SLOWLY RISE BACK UP! WHEN YOU IMPUT A PATTERN INCORRECTLY, BUNZO WILL LOWER TOWARDS YOU FASTER. IF BUNZO REACHES YOU, YOUR TEST IS OVER. YOUR TEST WILL BECOME MORE DIFFICULT AS IT CONTINUES WITH LONGER PATTERNS AND QUICKER SUCCESSIONS. THATS IS ALL, GOOD LUCK!”

You swallow hard and sigh through your nose, shrugging your shoulders in a rolling motion you ready yourself for what’s to come.

However, before the game itself can start, suddenly the light die out, except for one, drawing your attention.

You are greeted by the sight of ‘Mommy’ who sits inside of what looks to be an observation room that sits way above the room, out of sight from those made unaware of its existence.

“Oh~! Isn’t it amazing~?! Mommy hasn’t seen the place up and running in YEARS!! Mommy can only imagine how excited Bunzo must be! It’s been such a long time since he’s been able to play, to cheer, to eat...”

At her last words, the rabbit above you seemingly ‘comes to life’ and clangs its cymbals together producing a rather loud sound. You snap you attention to glare at it, the creature seems unperturbed by your expression.

You hear Mommy sigh, “Ah well, that’s the dinner bell~! Good luck~!” And just like that the room floods back with light and the game begins...!

As you play the game, you suddenly watch as the machine begins to freak out, the mechanical male voice calling out an array of unintelligible colors. The buttons move around in an odd manner; twitching, spinning and even flipping!

You don’t know what to do, so you stand there dumbfounded for a moment until your eye catches sight of a hidden white button. Pressing it causes the machine to momentarily flutter, its mechanical parts visibly stuttering as they move in ways that they should not until it finally ceases all movements.

The lights shut off once again;

“Ah... it broke...”, you can hear the clear disappointment in Mommy’s voice, “...that’s no fun! For doing such a splendid job, Mommy has decided to give you PART- of the code for the train...!”

Above you, in the same place where Bunzo had previously been, comes Mommy’s hand, and in it a piece of paper. You take it with no hesitation.

“Mommy was hoping the game could last a little longer~! It’s okay though... Mommy knows OTHER ways to play with you~”

You bite your bottom lip out of nervousness and choose not to linger any longer, quickly making your leave, lest you overstay your welcome.

Arriving at the following game, you enter yet another odd location; it’s an open concept room with LOTS of space in the center for you to seemingly run or walk around as you please. Around you however is a wall that is painted in a rather whimsical manner, akin to that of Sunday morning cartoons, and inside of said

walls are an assortment of... tunnels? At least you think that they’re tunnels, since looking in them yields no more than expansive darkness.

The same sound as before of TV static catches you attention and you turn to face a lone TV screen;

“WELCOME TO WACK-A-WUGGY! THIS ADVANCED TEST IS DESIGNED TO ASSESS THE EXTENT OF YOUR REACTIONARY ABILITIES. A DUAL PALM GRABPACK WILL BE PROVIDED TO YOU FOR THIS TEST. AROUND YOU ARE 18 SIZABLE HOLES, AN ADORABLE HUGGY WUGGY TOY COULD APPEAR OUT OF ANY OF THESE HOLES! IF ONE COMES OUT, HIT IT WITH YOUR GRABPACK! THATS ALL, GOOD LUCK!”

To say that you’re surprised when the lights don’t die out is an understatement, you almost reflectively call out to Mommy, half wondering if she’d left you.

“The toys in this game, used to have strings attached to them, so they could be pulled back when they got too close to the children...” she explains.

You watch her with a cocked brow, not understanding where she’s going with this, and it’s not until you finally note what she’s holding that it finally hits you.

“Have fun~”

As you finish the game, hitting the last Huggy Wuggy on the head, you hear Mommy chime in once more;

“Oh...” she sounds incredibly disappointed at the results, “...you did it...” there’s a beat of silence before she speaks again, “HORRAY!! Mommy is SO proud of you! Here, mommy has another hint for you-“

A vent in the room opens, Mommy’s hand sticks through it, and on her hand is yet another piece of paper.

You gingerly take it.

“Only one last game left to play...” Mommy reminisces, “Hmm... sad! Mommy was hoping you’d stay here forever! Though~ it’s never TOO LATE to change your mind~” she chuckles eerily.

You can’t help but cringe away in disgust as you quickly make your way out.

As you leave the area, you find yourself in what looks to be long winding hallways that are powered by what looks to be some sort of... train tracks? You wonder if maybe the train passed through here or perhaps- some other sort of mode of transportation.

Given with how long this portion of the facility is, you’d wager that some sort of transportation did in fact pass through here.

As you make your away about you eventually come across a door that is also locked and conveniently, behind it is the lever needed to unlock it.

Sighing and thinking that you’ve struck a dead end, you make your leave, but just as you do so, you’re stopped by the sounds of a door in the distance of the locked metal frame open up. As it rises you feel dread settle deep inside of you, the sight of what greets you causing you to freeze in place.

A toy, much the same size and design as the blue one from faaar earlier in your journey appears before you and it’s making its way TO you.

Kissy Missy.

You watch as she calmly approaches, she stands there for a moment and eyes you curiously, then eyes the lever next to her, then back at you and back at the lever once more.

As if a lightbulb lit up atop your head you nod at her, “Y-Yes-!” Your voice finally finds its courage, “-I-I need to open that! Pl-Please! Please Kissy Missy!” You plead.

Though she doesn’t reply to you, you watch as she fumbles with the lever, her soft plush and somewhat weightless hands struggling to pull it down, until eventually succeeding.

As the gate slowly rises in-front of you, you watch as Kissy Missy gives you one last lingering look before turning around, as she does so, she stops again and seems to give you another once-over.

Seemingly satisfied, she makes her leave, the door at the far end of the hallway shutting behind her.

You enter what seems to be the final game area, the room appears to be dimly lit, with just enough light to see what’s around you. This room is quite unlike all the others, it seems more colorful and as you try to jump over the block-styled plush blocks, you can roughly make out other designs of the area. It seems that this one has more activities than the one before it...

The all too familiar TV static sound behind you catches you attention and you turn to face the only TV present;

“WELCOME TO ‘STATUES’! THIS ADVANCED OBSTACLE COURSE IS DESIGNED TO TEST YOUR PHYSICAL ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: THE LIGHTS WILL TURN OFF, YOU CAN MOVE THROUGH THE OBSTACLE COURSE DURING THIS TIME. HOWEVER, WHEN THE LIGHT TURNS ON; YOU CAN LOOK AROUND BUT CANNOT MOVE. YOU MAY MOVE AGAIN, ONCE THE LIGHTS TURN BACK OFF. THE LOVABLE PJ PUGGAPILLAR WILL FOLLOW YOU, IF HE REACHES YOU, YOUR TEST IS OVER. THAT IS ALL, GOOD LUCK!”

That’s when you notice the face of the odd looking dog just beside the TV screen! Compared to the other toys, his presence is not all that unnerving- well, only partly- and is more... endearing, to a fault.

“Right, okay-“ you nod, “Sounds easy enough...”

You take notice of Mommy in the distance;

“It was always SO sad to see the kids go, they called me ‘Mommy’ because I was the closest thing they ever had to one... They came for the games and then never came back...! They LEFT Mommy to DIE alone! Mommy didn’t deserve THAT~... But you...” she pauses briefly, “...you’re here, so if anyone deserves to DIE ALONE... it’s YOU.”

And just as she finishes speaking, the music begins and PJ Puggapilar makes his way towards you, slowly and lumber some, you waste no time playing the game as you’re told to.

Playing this game was the hardest one by far, but you somehow managed it anyways! As you escaped up into the same room where Mommy was mere moments ago, you find a hole in that little room and descend into it. As you walk out, the sounds of walking are heard above you;

“Where did you go?!”

It’s Mommy

“Shit, shit, shit, shit-!!” You hiss at yourself, you HAVE to get going.

“The game is over~! Come back and Mommy will give you the code! Pinkie Promise!” Mommy exclaims, but her words fall in deaf ears, you know BETTER than to trust these toys.

“Playing those games must’ve been hard! But Mommy decided you won~!” An eerie laugh fills the halls as you make your escape.

“Come baaack~!”

“Mommy doesn’t like cheaters!! The rules were so simple!”

“COME BACK HERE!”

“HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME!! IM GOUNG TO FIND YOU-! IM GOING TO FIND YOU-!! AND WHEN I DO-“ she cuts herself off only to laugh maniacally.

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Eventually as you meander and maneuver the expansive facility you come at a dead end, there’s a closed fence door that you cannot open and you don’t know where to go. Mommy’s hot on your heels and the only where else to go is back the way you came...

“Fuck no...” you shake your head, “I’ll die if I do-“

As if answering to some unholy prayer, Mommy decends from where you’d come from, screaming as she does so. She lands right in front of you with a look of bewildered rage;

“I ASKED YOU TO PLAY FAIR!! AND YOU CHEATED!! I HATE CHEATERS!!” She shouts at you, “Now~ we’re going to play ONE LAST GAME, it’s called... HIDE...AND S E E K!!”

Suddenly!! As if by done divine or unholy magic the one locked gate opens and just as it does, Mommy begins to count down from 10.

RUN RABBIT, RUN!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 4: You escape, or do you?

With your heart pounding inside your chest like never before, you scamper through the facilities seemingly never ending passage ways. The pitter-patter of your feet being echoed and overshadowed by the massive ones just down the hall.

Mommy’s coming to get you and you’d better NOT stop running.

You hear the facility’s weaker points crumble around you under the pressure of your much larger pursuer, causing a cave in behind you at just the right moment. Giving you much opportune time to swing above the maw of yet another bottom less cavern beneath your feet.

As you escape, you enter the same familiar hallway from before, this was the same place where you had

lost one of the grabpack’s hands!

Freedom was just within your fingertips!!

You rush down the hall and place the blue hand against the scanner and watch as slowly the machine ID’s you in.

When a chime rings, indicating a roaring success you rush into the room and barely notice the machinery next to you, your eyes are only fixated on a lever that’s next to it.

On impulse you grab for the lever and pull it down JUST in time for Mommy to rush into the room, her hand lodging itself inside of the machine’s mechanical teeth.

She tries desperately to free herself as she eyes you with wild animalistic eyes, there’s a hunger to them unlike any living creature you’ve ever seen, rivaling that of a starved tiger.

Fearing for your safety, you throw yourself backwards just as she tries to reach for you with her other hand.

Just then, the machine roars to life and begins to grind Mommy’s hand down to a pulp, she screams in agony as she tries hopelessly to free herself from the clutches of death.

“WHAT’VE YOU DONE?!” She screams, “HE’LL MAKE ME PART OF HIM!!”

You watch as Mommy’s arm is taken by the machine, followed by her leg as she tries to wriggle away in vain from its grasps.

“YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!!”

It’s not until Mommy’s torso gets crushed by the machine that she finally gives one final wail of despair that she dies.

Silence befalls the room as you stare in silent shock, your hands are shaking, your heart and head are pounding.

You’ve just managed to escape death, TWICE now.

What remains of Mommy’s body falls limply to the ground, a lifeless smile still decorating her features.

As you stand there, you watch as slowly, from underneath a blocked off door, a long spindly arm reaches out with elongated mechanical fingers.

The creature behind the limb says nothing to you, only reaching forth for Mommy’s remnants and dragging it away into the abyss.

When it finally leaves, do you find yourself sliding down the wall that your back was pressed up against.

You let out a whimper as a cry finally croaks out from your throat.

You cry pathetically, perhaps out of stress, and you allow yourself this grace.

Eventually, when you find your courage to continue, you wipe away your tears and stand back up on shaky legs and make your way back to where your original goal was; the location of the train.

And it doesn’t take long for you to reach it, when you finally find it, you discover that Poppy and the final piece of the code alongside her.

You feel her from the... web she seemed to have been entangled in, no doubt the works of Mommy.

“Let’s go...” is all Poppy offers you, and you can’t help but agree, you want to leave this hell hole and NEVER come back.

As you board the train, you input the code and watch as the buttons light up green.

You can’t help but sigh in relief as you feel that you’re one step closer to finding your freedom.

“I was so scared she’d put me back in that case...” you heard Poppy speaking to you from the train’s overhead announcer.

Wait.... Why hadn’t she gone inside with you?

“What the hell? Poppy?” You called out, but you knew you wouldn’t get a response back.

“But you saved me! You’re PERFECT! You’re too perfect to loose! I’m sorry, but I can’t let you leave-“

You watch as the train is re-routed in front of you, the escape passes you by and the vehicle turns to the right, sending you deeper within the bowls of the facility.

“I’ve never met anyone like you!” She chuckles, “Do you know how LONG I’ve been stuck in that case?! Well~ too long~! I had so much time to think and reflect- to figure out what I’d do when I was freed...” there’s a pause as she speaks, “We have to set things right, terrible things have happened, but I know that whatever I need you to do, you’re capable. We will- what’re-?!”

You watch with great alarm as the train picks up speed, far too much speed for what you think is appropriate.

“Shit! We’re going to crash!!” You exclaim, and you grab onto the red lever with your grabpack hands, pulling it down with all your might.

But it’s hopeless as the train derails, crashing down against the confines of the tunnel, debris and broken rubble surround you and as your consciousness fades, you can just barely make out the words of your new location;

PLAYCARE.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 5: You arrive at PLAYCARE and as fate would have it, a new horror awaits to make its acquaintance with you.

As consciousness slowly returns to you, you find that your body aches all over, a stinging sensation fills you throughout. When you finally do crack your eyes open, you find that your vision is unsteady, your head lolling from side to side.

That’s when you finally realize that you’re being carried... by... something?

Large purple paws adorned with equally sharp claws come into view on a casino as your would-be rescuer walks.

But before you’re given the opportunity to thank them, you’re thrown down a hatch by the same thing that ‘rescued’ you.

The last thing you see is an impossibly large smile and two white beady eyes staring back.

A pathetic yelp leaves your lips, as a malicious laugh echoes throughout the pipe.

You free fall for a short while before falling limply on metal flooring, a red flood lamp circles around

you in this new area along with an alarm that blares loudly indicating something is about to happen.

You rise to your feet and hold your side, you cringe in pain as you stand stupidly eyeing where in god’s

green earth you’ve landed now.

It’s not until the walls begin to close in that it finally dawns on you where you are; a trash compactor!! You must get out.

You scramble towards a pile of precariously placed trash and scamper through a small opening behind

the walls of the compactor.

You find that you’re free- for now- and must find a way out of where you are and go... somewhere that

isn’t here.

It’s too dangerous to stay where you are, and thus begins yet another long and arduous journey.

As you meander about, traveling to and fro inside of the guts of the facility, you find yourself using the

pistons that likely control the trash compactor as leverage to reach newer areas that would otherwise remain out of bounds for you.

You traverse a broken down metal catwalk and use the pistons near it as means for transportation, timing your jumps just right to get over to the other side.

Doing so, you catch glimpse of the same purple figure from before, although this time you now have a slightly better look at their lower half before it slinks away.

A long emaciated body with large paws to boot and a lengthy purple tail to match. A cat.

You shudder as you come to the realization that a game of cat and mouse has most likely begun, and you- my friend- are being stalked from within the shadows.

As you continue on, you eventually find yourself crawling through a ventilation shaft until eventually entering in the same room as just a few moments before. To your far and immediate right is the same hatch you were thrown into, and to your immediate left is an office door locked behind yet another grabpack scanner.

Scanning in the hands, you walk into the new area, the sounds of ringing fills the still air.

It’s a phone...! A phone is ringing!

But, who could be calling? Your pursuer? Or... someone else?

To say that you want to ignore the phone and pursue on is an understatement but, something inside you

wills you to comply otherwise and so you do, rushing off in the direction of the noise.

You find yourself inside of a small office, the distinct ringing of a phone ring much louder now, you’re

close to the source. It doesn’t take long for you to search around the room and find it, you take it with shakey hands and answer it.

“H...Hello?” Your weary voice calls out.

“Hey... Hey! Can you hear me?” A childish voice responds.

A child?

“O-Oh! Um! Y-Yes! Yes! I can!”

“You look kinda lost!” They reply

You pause, dumbfounded, “Wh-...what did you just say?”

“I can see you through the camera’s dummy!”

Cameras? When did-?

As you turn around, you spot one and sigh, oh... right. What better way to make sure that you’re

employees are working than to monitor their every move?

You smile and wave hello at the camera and listen as the voice on the other end laughs in response. “I’m Ollie by the way! What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N, Y/N L/N...” you correct

“Oh! Well it’s nice to meet you Y/N! Look-“ they pause momentarily, “I don’t want you to die, so I’m

going to help you! Check this out! Look at the tube thing in the back wall!”

You follow Ollie’s words and turn to face the back of the room, spotting a large oddly shaped metallic

tube that slides open following some noise. And out from within it pops a large battery!

“You can use that battery to open the door!”

You grab it and place it inside of a battery socked that’s embedded within the wall. The door beside you

opens as a result. “Thank you Ollie”

“Don’t mention it!”

As you go to leave, you’re greeted by the sight of the now broken train, your eyes go wide as you stare at the carnage left behind from the crash.

“Woah!! Did you do that?!” Ollie asks

You nod, “Yeah...” there’s a distinct sadness within your voice, just when you thought you were free you were once again seemingly betrayed by the only toy you thought you could trust.

“I know you’re probably mad at Poppy for not letting you escape, but she needs you! WE need you! You are our mission! Together we can save a lot of people, including YOU!”

You walk along the path, quietly listening to Ollie speak to you from the phone as you traverse the confines of the facility.

“PLAYCARE is straight ahead, it’s the home of CatNap! One of the ‘Smiling Critters’... there used to be...” a pause, “eight of them? I think? Now it’s just him...”

“PLAYCARE is his church- his hunting ground. Whatever he wants it to be! You’d better get moving

quickly. We’ll keep in touch!”

The line goes dead and you’re plunged into silence, an eerie ness settles inside of you as you realize just

how dead and desolate this whole place is. What with the only last remnants of life being the few murderous toys and... seemingly a, child?

You don’t know what’s to make of it, nothing makes sense to you, and the more you explore the place, the more you come across fragmented pieces of information you begin to wonder just what the hell did your parents get themselves into when they came to work at such an establishment.

“Did they even know about the toys?” You ask the empty air, eyeing a poster of ‘Mommy’ who you now knew as Mommy Long Legs advertising a sweet cold drink for children.

You shake your head, you have to find PLAYCARE, it’s likely where your next goal awaits you.

You traverse the rather small area in-front of you fairly easily, having spotted what looked like a tram up ahead you deduced that it needed power and sought out to find a power source. Once founded, its power was re-routed and a chime rang throughout some speakers in the walls, the small child sized gates opened up, allowing you further passage up ahead.

You climbed the short staircase and opened the door to the tram, stepping inside you found a small seating area.

Sighing heavily, you thought that some much needed rest would do your sore body some good.

And just as the doors shut behind you, the lone TV screen inside of the tram came to life;

“Hello! My name is Elliot Ludwig, when you look around at the world today, what’s one thing it needs

more of? I asked around once; ‘Money! I can never have enough!’, ‘Understanding, I can never get any!’, the common man has lost it, each answer was different and I could perhaps see some little truth in each. But I think each was missing something, something simple! You see, not one of them could muster a smile! A smile, is hope! A smile, is love! A smile is understanding! And there is nothing more gratifying to my soul than being the reason for a child’s smile! To be the spark that ignites their hopes and dreams! For it is only through hopes and dreams that we may create a better world! One where our children need not be afraid! One where they are protected! After all, this company and its toys are nothing without them. These children deserve to smile, they deserve to love! And they deserve a safe home...-“

As you listen to the founder’s speech, you can’t help but gawk in awe at what the hell you’re looking at;

A gargantuan dome suspended on equally large metallic cables that hold it seemingly afloat in the middle of an enormous cavern, situated DEEP within the bowels of the facility.

“...that is why, it is with enormous pleasure that as the founder of Playtime Co., I announce P L A Y C A R E !! Our very own on site orphanage, but it’s not only that!! It’s a school! A playhouse! A place to belong! Our very own ecosystem beneath the surface! Dedicated in every inch and detail to ensuring a child’s smile! It’s teachers and counselors, mother and fathers until such a time they have all of that in youth! May PLAYCARE bring; joy! Inspiration! And smiles to all who enter these doors! For what gives live its meaning if not a SMILE! ”

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 6: The game of cat and mouse truly begins.

As you step out of the tram, your phone rings once more;

“Cool place, huh? Kids used to live here... now look at it...”

You look around and notice just how lifeless the place looks despite being one of the nicer looking areas

in the whole of Playtime Co.

“Anyways, do you see that statue in the middle of the room? Take the stairs that go under it! There’s a really cool room that can power all of PLAYCARE! I can give you a key when you get down there!”

Sparing no time to enjoy the sights around you, you make your way towards the large statue in the middle and find the door that sits at its base, opening it reveals a short staircase that leads downwards.

When you descend the stairs you find yourself in a medium sized room filled with electronic machines, a small desk and a few other nicknacks thrown about. However, the biggest point of interest is a funny looking colorful machine that- to the side of it- displays all of the areas within PLAYCARE that have power.

To the side of this machine you note that there’s a cylindrical vessel much like the one you saw in that first office room when you first encountered Ollie, although this time it was far smaller.

A small sound emits and before you know it, a key has appeared inside of it. It’s miniscule latch opens itself up automatically.

You reach in and fetch the key, only for your phone to ring in response, you take the call;

“Great!! You have the key! Now the question you’re probably asking yourself is, ‘where does it go?’ Well, head back out and you should find a door just to the left of the cable car you took down here.”

You had noticed that door earlier upon your arrival, you jog on over to said destination and use the key to open the door. You’re greeted with a rather dark and somber looking area, perhaps that’s due to the poor lighting and metal framework of the facility coming into view once more as opposed to the faux sky and grass from earlier.

As you turn the corner you’re greeted by a massive room and in its center is a large machine with three cylindrical barrels, the one on the far right is currently filled with a gaseous red cloud. The display on the center console for the machine reads;

‘NO POWER - GENERATOR STATUS: {OFFLINE}’

“Welcome to the Gas Production Zone, the beating heart of the whole evil PLAYCARE system! All that has you see coming from the machine is made right here in the factory. It’s called ‘The Red Smoke’. Right now, it’s all headed off to the right. We need to make that Red Smoke go to the left instead. That’s how we can get to him- to CatNap. The machine will probably have a few dumb safeguards for you to work around, but I think you can do it! I’ll call you once it’s done!”

You fiddle about with the machine, trying to see if there’s anything you can do from this end to power it. You’re no engineer, but you wager you can get it going!

After a while, you find a way into the area next door, powering on the locked door with the help of a battery and its wall socket.

This new area is just as massive as the one with the machine, though this time it has an odd looking protrusion in its center. You’re unsure of what it could possibly be, so you decide to ignore it for now and focus on following the wires from the ceiling. They’ll lead you to another power source that needs re-routing.

And it doesn’t take long to spot it and fix the issue, you hear the distant sounds of machinery whirring to life and go back the way you came. When you arrive back at the same room with the gargantuan machine, you press a few buttons to get the process going of re-routing the gas’ location from one onto another when the power abruptly cuts off.

Your phone rings once more and you answer it;

“Oh no! Someone killed the power! Okay, I’ve sent you another key. It’s under the statue, use it to get into ‘Home Sweet Home’. Then once you’re inside, find the building’s back up generator. Good luck!”

You sigh, rolling your eyes, “Of course nothing’s going to be easy, not with that goddamn cat hiding around...” you groan in frustration. You pinch at the bridge of your nose and pursue onwards.

“Fine, a vendetta it is.” You state, fists clenched in annoyance.

With key in hand, you open the doors of Home Sweet Home and walk forth into by far one of the most beautiful and equally terrifying places you’ll ever be in.

Matching green wallpaper and curtains depict both Huggy Wuggy and Poppy in such a way that you wouldn’t have even noticed at first place.

The whole style of the area is reminiscent of vintage mixed with Victorian home decor. You feel like you’ve stepped into a time capsule.

You open the only door leading you further down and it’s ‘blocked off’ by a thick wall of red mist. The same one you saw earlier in the vat of that machine.

“That... can’t be good...” you mutter

You’re hesitant to proceed but there’s no other way forward, so you have no choice but to proceed. Attempting to hold your breath and using your shirt to hopefully mask your nose and mouth you descend

down a large and winding staircase case that seems to go on for a while. Your attempts at holding your breath fail as you hack and cough for air, breathing in lungfuls of the red mist alongside it.

When you finally reach the end, you’re met with an impossibly long hallway. You stand quietly for a moment to stare in awe;

“I’m starting to think that the gas had a negative effect on me...” you speak, keeping your voice low, “... that or they hired the worst contractor in this state...” you can’t help but chuckle at your own joke.

You explore the odd layout of ‘Home Sweet Home’ and find yourself in a never ending loop of hallways, each one just as identical to the last.

Suddenly, the crackle of radio static come on and you hear the radio begin to speak;

“{TRAGIC NEWS THIS MORNING. AS OF 9:45AM, LOCAL AUTHORIES CONFIRM THAT THE BODY OF A YOUNG BOY HAS BEEN FOUND ON THE ESTATE OF THE LATE ELLIOT LUDWIG, AN ESTEEMED TOY MAKER AND ORIGINATOR OF THE PLAYTIME COMPANY. AT THIS TIME, AN IDENTITY FOR THE CHILD AWAITS OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION. FOUND UPSTAIRS IN A LARGE DUFFLE BAG, OFFICERS ON-SCENE REPORT THAT THE REMAINS APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN DISTURBED. ORGANS AS WELL AS KEY BINES FROM THE SKELETAL STRUCTURE WERE REPORTED MISSING FROM THE BODY. IT IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME WHETHER THIS EXTRACTION WAS, IN FACT, THE CAUSE OF DEATH}”

The radio announcement fades into static and you feel a spine tingling chill rush down your back.

“I’m hearing things, I’m hearing things, I’m hearing things-“ you try to assure yourself, you hold your head with one hand and bolt down a random direction down one of the winding halls.

“-all those notes I collected are getting to me, n-nothing’s happening here, I’m just imagining things-“ you slap your cheeks, trying to get yourself to think.

“-Y-Yeah! That’s right! It’s just auditory hallucinations due to that red mist, that HAS to be it!”

As you round yet another hallway, another radio speaks;

“{FOLLOWING RECENT EVENTS, PLAYTIME CO. WAS ASKED FOR ANY COMMENT REGARDING THE DISCOVERY. THIS IS WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY, QUOTE: ‘ITS SICKENING. ELLIOT LUDWIG WAS A GREAT MAN, AND THOSE WHO KNEW HIM UNDERSTOOD THAT HE

WAS NOT CAPABLE OF VIOLENCE, LET ALONE WHAT OTHERS NOW CLAIM. HE HAD A DEEP LOVE IN HIS HEART FOR CHILDREN LIKE THIS ONE, MAKING THE ACTIONS IF WHOEVER PLANTED THIS BODY ALL THE MORE SICKENING. WE LOOK FORWARD TO CLEANING HIS GOOD NAME, BOTH IN THE PUBLIC EYE AND IN THE EYES OF THE LAW.’ STAY TUNED FOR MORE.}”

The voice at the end of the broadcast sent a vile chill down your spine that only urged you to run away in fear.

As you continued to run, the sound of a distant phone caught your ear, and so, you decided to cautiously follow its source.

When you reach it, as you go to pick it up, on the other end you’re met with... Ollie? “YOU NEED TO RUN!!” He urges you.

You feel yourself freeze in place as a sense of dread washes over you, slowly you turn to face what could possibly be behind you, only to be met with the face of CatNap, poking his head out from the corner of the door frame leading into the room.

As soon as you see him, you watch him slink away and a frightened yelp leaves your lips, your hands fly to your mouth in an attempt at further silencing you.

Cautiously you step into the same spot where you saw CatNap but thankfully are met with nothing. You trudge onwards, now on high alert for the feline’s whereabouts...

As you descend down further into the never ending hallway you feel yourself seep further into madness. As you hear the wails of children crying in your ears, the sound only progressively getting louder as you approach a room lit by a dim red light.

And all at once, the wails silence themselves, as though they were never there.

You feel tears pricking at the corners of your eyes when you finally step foot inside of the area. You’re terrified and you don’t know what to do anymore...

You eye the large VCR TV and it’s VHS player, just next to it is a red VHS. Confused you decide to grab it and slide it in, standing in front of the TV and watching whatever it is that appears next;

You’re greeted by the sight of no less than Huggy Wuggy who stares at you with enlarged pupils, an eerie dead smile decorating his features.

The sight makes you gasp softly and recoil in shock.

A recorded male voice chimes in;

“Greetings, Employees, and welcome to your first day here in Playtime! We’re certain that in the days to

come you’ll find your new family here every but as loving and supportive as your own. Feel free to wander the halls! Sit in the mess for lunch! Or watch our children play and learn to their little heart’s content. Join the Innovationists, where the bounds of science are continuously pushed. Or join the Counselors of Playcare, whose diligence and care for our children will help shape a brighter future, just you see. Now, every one of you has your part in that future, so should you come back tomorrow feeling unhappy for where you are... worry not! For your supervisor is here and happy to listen! And...”

Just as the man gives a brief pause to what he’s saying, you watch as the image of Huggy changes to one of pure unadulterated horror. Huggy’s mouth has stretched to an unfathomable degree, sharp rows of teeth make their appearance, and his eyes are now black empty voids.

You feel sick to your stomach at the sight, your insides threaten to spill as you continue to watch in terror.

“...Should you come back... may you descend into the dark and the dust, finding all that awaits you are

incomprehensible horrors... each hungry for you, each eager that they might find you. Perhaps they’d smile at you from a shadow, their smiling mouths full of teeth and meat and plastic, watching and waiting for their turn...”

Just as those final words are uttered you watch as the image of Huggy Wuggy gets closer and closer to the screen until finally and seemingly out of nowhere, coming OUT of the screen, a giant yellow hand reaches out for you and before you’re able to yelp out pathetically, you’re engulfed in the maw of the beast.

The world fades to black as you feel your body finally give up on you...

The sounds of soft thuds encroaching on your unconscious form close in.

A curious paw nudges you, seeing no sign of resistance nor movement, a low chuckle is heard.

“A HERETIC CAN BE TOLERATED. BUT HERESY CANNOT.” They whisper in your ear.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 7: Remember kids! You can spell “School” without ‘cool’!

By the time you wake up, you find yourself in a completely different room and area than before. You’re no longer in the same maze of hallways as before, this time it looks like you’re deeper inside of Home Sweet Home. And though you KNOW you have no recollection of getting here, you know just who placed you here;

“CatNap”

You can’t help but cringe when you hear yourself say that name, that... creature, that THING, it’s toying with you. Trying to break you down until you’re nothing so it can devour you just like the others.

You know better than to let that beast win and let it get the best of you. You HAVE to keep going, and you WILL.

As you walk through the rest of Home Sweet Home, you solve an endless array of puzzles here and there and with the help of the newly acquired gas mask you can ensure yourself of further harm from the red mist.

All these puzzles serve only to help further you in your journey, granting you access to previously locked and blocked off areas. The grabpack continues to serve its purpose in aiding you to reach objects that are too far out of your grasp.

As you traverse the rooms, exploring the once abandoned bedrooms of the children you open a door that takes you to one of the hallways.

You watch in fear as CatNap himself walks right beside you, the only thing separating the two of you is some haphazardly placed furniture that blocks the path.

You swallow the scream that builds in your throat and quickly rush back into the room you were just in. In the distance you hear a mocking laugh alongside fading footsteps.

“Motherfucker...” you curse under your breath.

Continuing alongside the puzzles for a while longer, you ultimately find yourself at a dead end. As you go to turn around from the hallway, something tells you to look into the barricaded room behind you.

And so you do, cautiously peering in only to see none other than Kissy Missy! She’s sitting atop a bed, quiet as can be with what appears to be a picture frame in hand. Her eyes are glued to it... perhaps she’s... reminiscing memories of a friend? A past life full of peace?

It’s a sad sight and you say nothing, quietly turning around you bid farewell, it seems it’s be better to give them space.

You continue in Home Sweet Home, solving the last remaining puzzles until the main gate finally opens, granting you the ability to leave.

You sigh happily and as you open the door, stepping outside and away from that nightmare a large ‘hand’ grabs you from behind. You let out a frightened scream as you’re thrown down to the ground, you’re met face to face with Kissy Missy who eyes you with silent rage.

A low growl begins to emanate from her mouth and you brace yourself for death. “NO, NO! LET GO!”

Poppy! It’s Poppy! She’s alive!

“THEY DIDNT DO ANYTHING WRONG!!”

You turn your head over to look at her with a bewildered look, “Poppy! You’re... alive. Where... where have you been?”

Poppy shakes her head, “It’s... it’s a long story” is all she offers you, “We’re actually here to help-“ she says, gesturing towards Kissy Missy.

You watch as Kissy Missy finally lets you go and you sit up, “This place makes her tense...” Poppy comments, “I’m glad that Ollie could help you get this far. He’s the reason we found you at all! And it looks like the train crash hurt us both...”

You nod, finally standing to your feet.

“You’ve been through so much... you deserve an explanation. Come on.”

You follow the duo to a control panel nearby that Kissy Missy helps Poppy pry open and flip a red switch. Which in turn, turns on a nearby lift.

You three get on the lift.

“Look, I’m not your enemy but I can’t just let you leave. What’s happening down here is bigger than all of us. And I NEED you... so we can get REVENGE on those monsters whose tortured you... who’ve tortured US. They didn’t act alone, they’re disciples of the original, ‘The Prototype’.”

Suddenly you’re reminded of various pieces of information and hidden tapes you saw mentioning the thing, you shudder at the thought.

When you reach the top, the little elevator gives pause, Poppy motions for you to press a button nearby and you do, hopping back on, the elevator descends.

“The Prototype knows were coming by now, you try to escape, he’ll kill you before you ever reach that front door. He’s the reason I was trapped in that...” Poppy stops speaking for a moment, you watch as she visibly shudders.

It seems that you’re not the only one traumatized here.

“... god awful case for so long! You have... no idea the things he’s done! Let me help you kill him. Let

me help you save everyone. We’ve ALL seen how capable you are. You killed Huggy, you killed Mommy, you saved me. You are PERFECT for this. CatNap is coming, he’s a final obstacle that The Prototype has placed against us. We can’t stay here. Keep yourself safe... Ollie will call you.”

As you step off the elevator and watch it ascend one last time, you nod at Poppy and watch as she smiles back.

“Be safe...!” You call out. Poppy chuckles, “You too!”

And just as Poppy told you, your phone rings, with Ollie on the other end;

“Hey, hey! It's me! It seems like Poppy explained everything now. And she turned on the dome’s back up power! Now the plan from here is pretty simple- we need to restore power to the gas production zone. First, go back to the home Sweet Home building you were just in. You should be able to find a big power cord somewhere around the porch. Grab it and plug it in underneath the statue.”

You do as you're told and descend the statue’s staircase to connect the power to the machine below.

“Awesome! Look at that! Remember that generator you turned on inside of Home Sweet Home? Well, that was the backup generator for just that building. And every building should have one. Now you’ve just taken home. Sweet home backup power and routed it here. We’re already halfway done! Hmmmm, but where to go next... everywhere is pretty dangerous around here. That Playhouse especially! So... your best bet is probably the school. CatNap usually leaves that area alone. I’ll send you the key now!”

With the key in hand, you make your way over to the building labeled “School”. Upon walking in you take note of the dank and rank odor filling the air, which makes you wretch.

“Okay! Let’s make this quick! Turn on the generator, leave, and plug the school’s power cord into the center. Be careful in there, I don’t think I can connect to you on that side of the dome. And you won’t be alone. There’s someone else in there too. They’re not your-“

The rest of Ollie’s warning fades into static, it seems that the connection has been lost. Now, you truly are alone.

What new horrors await you in this hell?

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 8: Red light, Green light.

You hear static come from the speakers located inside of the room you’re currently in and turn to face them;

“This is Miss Delight speaking. Please excuse the interruption! Students- remain in your seats until the bell has rung. And no going in the halls without a hall pass!!

You speculate that what you just heard is most likely nothing more than an automated system that must’ve broken down some time above and has likely been playing the same message.

When the static cuts off, you give a soft sigh and continue meandering about the school, going from classroom to classroom, exploring the abandoned areas.

A part of you hopes that you’ll find something of value hidden within but so far, you’ve come up empty handed. Save for one class rol. That catches your attention, it seems that one corner was seemingly sectioned off with the use of furniture.

“...Odd...” you comment, “who the hell would possibly want to camp out here...?”

Approaching the area you notice a bed covered in dried blood and viscera, and all around you are broken and bloodied toys, all very clearly deceased, it’s quite a sight for sore eyes.

You honestly don’t want to keep looking at it for any longer as you feel more nauseous the longer you do.

Moving on, you hope that you’ll find something else to look at.

You unlock an electric door using the green grabpack hand and continue in the new unlocked direction.

Exploring the rooms a bit, you discover that one of them contains a power source, it currently requires two batteries- one of which is out of reach.

With some minor searching you find one battery which you plug in and leaves you to search in the opposite side of the School.

Crawling under the debris of a blocked off area you witness the sight of something- toy? Human? You can’t quite tell- passing by just down the hallway.

You clasp a hand over your mouth in an attempt to stifle a gasp from escaping.

You stay still for a moment, waiting to see if you hear any more movement but when none greet your ears, you decide that it must be safe to continue.

As you open the next door, the same PA system comes back on with feedback static;

“Wait...” it’s that voice again, “I don’t recognize you...”

You swallow and stop in your tracks, your eyes are fixated on the camera hidden just barely out of sight

in the corner of the room.

“You don’t work here. How are you-... alive?” She asks

And honestly? You don’t have the slightest clue.

“Dumb luck, probably...” you mumble, eyeing the room, it looks to be no different from a computer lab

that you’d see back in highschool.

“Hm? Barb? Oh... Barb says you’re probably just trespassing...! CatNap wouldn’t like that you’re

here... you should consider leaving... for your own safety.”

The PA cuts off into static and you nod, “Yeah, that’s uh, that’s exactly what I’ve been TRYING to

do...!” You complain to no one but yourself.

As you look around the room, you take note of a ventilation shaft, it seems that this one connects to that previous room where the battery had been lodged. You use the grabpack to hold onto a bar that’s’ situated above you with one hand as leverage to go down.

As soon as you get down, you use the other hand of the grabpack to hold onto the battery and make your way back up and through the vent system. Only to end up on the other side, in the same room where the power system was in and place the final batter.

Doing so, allows you to electrically charge the green grabpack hand and make your way into the next area.

In one of the new rooms you entered, there appears to be a note left on the floor, you take it and read it;

{“Just a few weeks ago now was THE HOUR OF JOY. today, there’s only silence in the school. I don’t think any of us here know what to do with it. The hallways without the children carry even the smallest sounds as if they were shouts. The other teachers and I started each other constantly we have to get used to it. Something locked the front door this morning and we haven’t been able to open it.”

You hum softly to yourself as you finish reading the note;

“Seems like something big went down- ‘The Hour of Joy’- whatever that means, I’ve been seeing it everywhere...” you squint and re-read the last part over again.

“CatNap?” You snort, rolling your eyes, “Who else? Knowing him and how much he likes to play with his food, I don’t doubt it.”

As you go to pocket the note, you notice another one nearby that you likely missed when first walking in.

{“The put in me howls for FOOD. I CAN’’T THINK About anything other than how HUNGRY I AM. HARDLY HAVE THE STRENGTH TO PICK MYSELF OFF THE FLOOR. Barb speaks to me though. SHE GIVES ME STRENGTH. i’ve found that if I stand still, COMPLETELY STILL, Everyone thinks I’m DEAD. BARB Says I need to EAT, AND THAT THE OTHER TEACHERS would never see me coming. ANYTHING TO STOP THE HOWLING.”}

The bloody note gives you reason for concern and you can’t help but stop and look up, turning around slowly to see if anyone’s watching you.

You shouldn’t be here.

You should leave.

You pocket the note and move on.

You walk into another room and traverse another ventilation shaft as the area ahead of you is blocked off.

As you move through the small cramped space, you notice- through a hole below you- that THING walking by again and catch a glimpse of red and white polka dot dress and blonde hair.

You drop down into the following room, past that thing you just saw.

The PA turns on once again;

“You’re not a good listener, are you? You’re a lot like the other humans in that way. I wonder your

screams will sound like theirs too...!” There’s a chuckle, “Mmmmm... I look forward to finding out~!”

You feel a chill run down your back but shake it off, trudging on forwards regardless of the threat made against your life.

You enter an adjacent room and explore some more, only to find yet another note and this one- at first glance- looks two be much shorter than the first two you found;

{“I’M SO SORRY, I HAD TO EAT. I HAD TO SURVIVE. I ATE THEM. I HAD TO I HAD TO I HAD TO I HAD TO”}

You don’t say anything after reading that, I mean... how can you? WHAT can you? You simply pocket the note and move on.

“This place has made monsters out of all of you, hasn’t it...?”

The following area in nothing more than another class room, you walk past the cardboard cut out of what looks to be the figure you’ve been seeing walking about the place.

“Miss Delight... huh...”

You don’t give it any more attention and open the final door, and there it is! The backup generator! Completing one final puzzle causes what little light was left inside the school to die out momentarily and

in doing so, emerges Miss Delight.

A wicked toothful grin sports her face, with half her ‘skin’ peeled off you can see the flesh and sinew that holds her together. And in one hand is what appears to be a makeshift mace, under the orange emergency lights it’s hard to tell just WHAT they’re made out of but you swear you can just barely make out what appears to be pencils.

White beady eyes stare back at you.

She is unmoving, simply staring, frozen like a statue before your gaze.

What follows next is nothing short of a game of “Red light, Green Light”. Look at her and she stops dead in her tracks, look away? And she’s free to move.

You can’t let her out of your sight, even for a moment as you retrace your steps back the way you came.

Her ragged breaths and mocking laughter fill the air, always telling you of where she is at all times, and due to her innate lack of ‘lips’ you’re thankful for that fact.

Every twist and turn, every time you’re forced to look away at her to face a battery wall socket or obstacle to maneuver around, sends you blood pressure skyrocketing.

That is until you’re given a brief moment of respite, but you don’t DARE to dilly dally, you KNOW death lingers just beyond the corner. And so you pursue onwards, despite the drumming in your chest.

You fiddle with this odd battery puzzle in front of you, it’s infuriating and confusing at times, but you manage.

Finally unlocking the main gate you sprint at full speed down the hallway, not caring to watch Miss Delight anymore. And something tells you that she’s not going to give you up and allow you to escape that easily.

With her footsteps quickly approaching you from behind, you rush into the small room and yank the lever down as hard as you can and watch as Miss Delight tries to slide down to catch up to you but the door was faster, crushing her skull in the process.

You stand there in quiet shock, catching your breath as you stare at her corpse, WAITING for her to move again.

You stare.

And you stare.

But she doesn’t move, breathing a sigh of relief you turn to leave but stop yourself midway.

A sudden and curious thought crosses your mind, ‘when was the last time that you were clean and not covered in blood and viscera?’

You stop and look down at yourself, you examine your shirt, and just as you go to grab it, you stop, noting the fresh coat of blood that now permeates and has soaked itself through the fabric of your one’s favorite shirt.

You click your tongue in and sigh through your nose, “It’s all right-“ you groan, “-when I get out of here, I’ll-“

Wait a moment.

WHEN you get out of here?

You turned to look back down at Miss Delight, for all you know, a month could’ve passed by since you

first got in here. That much time has already passed, it’s going to be a while until you finally get to leave, let alone find a clean pair of clothing.

You bend down to the corpse of Miss Delight and begin to pull off her red and white polkadot skirt. “ I’m so sorry” is all you whisper.

As a respect to her, you advert your eyes, and turn away. The skirt of Miss Delight is luckily, not soaked in blood that you find yourself that it may be useful to use to perhaps fashion a shirt for yourself.

“I guess you teaching me sewing all those years back, finally did come in handy, huh mom?” You mumbled to no one but yourself.

You leave the school, triumphant, and with a smile on your lips.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 9: Tired of the senseless slaughter, you save his life. And in return, HE saves YOURS.

—

IMPORTANT: For the best experience during the chase scene, please listen to the following song: “Ride to Glory by Epic Score”

As you leave the school, humming a tune to yourself, you notice something fall out from the red- and-white polka dot skirt. You give pause pause and bend down to reach for it with one hand, it’s a piece of paper.

“Another note?”

You read it;

{“The door opened today, and I heard something enter my hall. Together, Barb and I found CatNap

waiting. AL THIS TIME, ALL THIS AGONY. It was he WHO LOCKED THE DOOR, and I know it. I wanted to KILL HIM, but I knew better than to believe I could. he seemed oddly glad to see I was all that remained. We made a deal to take care of each other from now on what we see to the other, and to HIM.”}

You folded the piece of paper and pocketed it in your back pocket, “I guess I was right” you paused briefly, “I’m so sorry this happened to you...” you spoke solemnly, your gaze was cast downwards onto the fabric, you thumbed it gently before ultimately sighing and moving forward.

You can mourn later, not now.

As you left the hall and entered what looked to be a dead end, you took notice of the new apparatus that sat behind the Hoppy Hopscotch cardboard cut out. A red grabpack hand! How odd..

You attached the new hand and looked at it curiously; the hand had taken the pose of a ‘gun’ with the ring and pinkie finger curled inwards towards the palm and the middle and pointer finger serving as the ‘barrel’.

You took notice of the hole that lay in the middle finger and thought to yourself for a moment, there’s no way that they actually gave ‘guns’ to kids... right?

Cautiously you take a step back and turn back around to the dark hallway you just back back from and fired a shot down range.

What came out from the red hand was a bright shimmering light that you swore was hot for a brief moment as it whizzed beyond you and down the hall.

As it made contact with the ground, it lit up the surrounding area in a blood red light.

“Ah! A flare gun!” You smiled, excited at the new discovery. “This’ll come in handy.” Nodding and feeling satisfied with your new discovery, you made the rest of the way out of the

immediate area only to pause after you cross the threshold of the doorframe behind you.

You’re stunned into silence as you realize that you’re inside of a cavern. The area is MASSIVE and as you bend slightly, looking over the daunting edge of the cliff side you stand on, you can see a that there’s a lot of jumping platforms that require you to use the purple hand.

It’s... not your favorite mode of transportation, given that you’re situated over the maw of an endless cavern but, beggars can't be choosers.

You steel your nerves and cross the entire area, swinging up in the air and feeling the cool damp air of the cavern against your skin as you breeze by.

Eventually you reach an area that requires you to solve a large puzzle using a combination of the purple and blue hand to unlock an elevator that allows you to traverse to the next area. Of which, by the time you’re done solving it, you now have to traverse a very precarious catwalk, where parts of it have fallen into disarray and broken down.

As you walk in by, something in the darkness catches your eye and so you turn to face and look at it, due to the darkness, it’s quite hard to see and make out. Just as you attempt to fire a flare in the direction of the mass obscured by shadows, you’re stopped from doing so when you hear the catwalk beneath your feet creak and begin to give way.

In a panic you print the rest if the way and make a leap of faith, just barely avoiding death as the catwalk collapses behind you.

You’re much farther away now than before and whatever it was that you were looking at, would be near impossible to see from this angle so you pursue onwards.

As you cross the rest of the catwalk, in front of you is a metallic door with the logo ‘PLAYHOUSE’ above it. As soon as you enter, you find that the entire place has been shrouded in darkness with only some light sources working- barely- and giving you some brightness to work with.

It looks like the flare gun will be your safest bet to traverse this expanse.

As you move around, you find that you’re being stalked by toys that look just like that of the ‘smiling critters’, the same ones that you’ve been seeing on posters around Playtime Co.

Their weird little laughs and cries cause goosebumps to rise all over your arms, they're incredibly off putting and relentless in their chase.

You maneuver and meander around, going through tubes and a plush maze, firing flares as you go to frighten away the little beasts from you. It’s incredibly claustrophobic and you find that you want to leave this area as soon as you can, so you move quickly.

Keeping an eye out for their glowing beady eyes and an ear for their little sounds that key you in on their locations.

You thank your stars when you finally leave that room, sighing in relief as you go down a winding staircase and into a... pool room!

“Weird place to have pool parties...” you comment, before moving on.

As you open the door following the pool area, you’re met with what looks to be a room filled with cellars, each one adorned with hanging chains. Most likely used on the toys that would’ve inhabited this area.

Just as you’re about to ask yourself just WHAT toy could possibly warrant being chained up in a cellar,

your ears are greeted by the sound of a ragged cough nearby.

The sound nearly makes you jump out of your skin, but you steel yourself, preparing for the worst as you

follow the source.

And as you wind the corner, you find your answer to your questions.

A large canine, colored in orange and yellow ochre fur is hanged in his cellar by chains that are connected to the wall, they’re restricting both of his arms. He’s missing his lower half, the bottom of his cell is coated in dried blood, and on his waist is a belt buckle that is secured tightly so as to prevent him from dying of blood loss.

With the pose that he’s in, he looks akin to that of Jesus Christ when he was being crucified by the Romans on the cross.

You gasp in shock at the sight, reeling away slightly in horror at the sight.

“What... what happened to you?” You ask it, half wondering if you’ll get a response.

You watch as the dog lifts its head and as it does so, on its neck you notice its collar and on it is a plastic

tag of a large bright sun.

it finally clicks to you who this is.

“DogDay?” You tentatively call out.

You watch as he silently stares at you for a moment, and though you don’t see any pupils beneath that

darkness, you still feel the weight on his gaze on you.

“You... you’re Poppy’s angel...” he croaks out, voice tired and hoarse. “Come to save us-!” He pauses,

his head hanging low for a moment as he turns to look away from you. He shakes his head solemnly, “Nothing left to save, not here...”

He turns to look at you once more, “You’re in CatNap’s home, angel. THEIR home. A million pairs of eyes are on you now. Watching, waiting, hungry. They want nothing more than to crawl beneath your skin and eat away you bit by little bit-“

You watch him groan in pain as he attempts to shift, the shackles holding him in place are likely digging into his wrists.

“-fill what feels empty inside themselves. That... thing...CatNap. The Prototype is his God, and this is what he does to heretics. These little toys follow CatNap to avoid that very fate- and in return, they are fed.” Another painted groan escapes his lips, but that doesn’t stop him from explaining to you what has been

going in in the facility.

“ we tried to fight it, The Prototype’s control. I’m... the last of the Smiling Critters.”

There’s a brief moment of silence where the sadness within his voice becomes palpable to you, it makes

your heart ache that he’s suffered so much at the hands of that wretched beast- CatNap.

“Listen to me-“ he pleads, lifting his head up all the way now, trying to make as best eye contact as he

can with you, “-you NEED to get out of this place. You NEED to LIVE! You and Poppy can fix this, end this madness, the torment, the- Oh no... OH NO!”

You take a step back, shocked at the sudden change and turn to look just where his head is facing, from the bottom of his cell block, you watch as little beady white eyes begin to emerge from the large holes within the walls.

Instinctively, you fire a shot at it and manage to frighten the miniature critters.

You watch as DogDay turns to face you, “Leave me, please! Just go!... RUN!!” He urges you.

“You have to survive, Angel, you HAVE to. GO! GET OUT OF HERE!!”

You shake your head, “No, not again, I’m done with this-“ you tell him, firing yet another shot at the

little holes, frighting more of the critters away. “-I’ve had enough of seeing such senseless slaughter-“ You use the grabpack hands and grab simultaneously at both his chains and PULL!!

The chains SNAP with a loud crack, metal breaks and clangs, falling onto the floor loudly.

Just as DogDay is about to fall and hit the ground, you catch him as best you can with your arms.

“-HOLD ON!!”

You spare no second glance behind you as you run with DogDay, the poor canine clings onto you with what little strength remains within him.

The two of you fall through broken floor boards and rush through a large system of tunnels, with every twist and turn you hear the beasts behind you gaining ground.

The critters climb atop one another, moving together like a wave of water, a mass of cloth and fabric ready to pry and tare away at flesh.

But you won't let them win. Not this time.

As you traverse the tunnels, running with all your strength, behind you, DogDay turns his head to see if your pursuers have made any ground and feel his grip tighten.

“ITS OKAY-“ you try to comfort him, “-JUST HOLD ON!” “THEYRE GAINING ON US, ANGEL. WE WONT MAKE IT-“ “-YES WE WILL!!”

“SLIDE!!” You announce, “DUCK!!”

DogDay ducks with you, avoiding the lip of the ceiling.

You two slide down with such speed that it nearly launches you in such a way that you almost trip over

your own two feet but manage you catch yourself just in time.

You run down a small hall and towards a room that has a purple hand platform at its end.

“ANGEL, THE HAND!! SWAP HANDS!!”

“GOT IT!!”

You press a button and watch as the grabpack switches it’s green hand with the purple hand, and just in

time too.

As the wave of mini critters closes in.

You take the leap of faith.

And for a moment, time slows down to a crawl.

You’re both airborne for what seems forever, until you finally make contact with the ground.

And when you do, frantically get on the elevator and mash the button for it to lift you up. “COME ON, COME ON, COME ON, COME ON-!!”

You’re desperate, your hands are trembling.

As the machine slowly takes you to the platform above, from bellow you you watch as the critters

desperately climb atop one another to get at the two of you.

Once at the top, you feel DogDay tap your shoulder, “LEFT SIDE, SLIDE!! NOW!!”

You run, making a mad dash and duck, throwing your body into the slide, DogDay ducks with your

movements and holds on for dear life as you two slide down the enormous slide.

As you descend, you hear the slide creak, bend and shake under the weight of both of you. “Of fuck-!!” You shout as the slide gives way under your combined weight.

And so, the two of you fall..

And fall...

Eventually you two land somewhere entirely new, but you’re not able to make out just where you are just yet, because when you finally descend, you two are flung with such great force that you both make contact with the wall. Leaving a small crater in its wake to the sheer force of the impact.

Thankfully though, your blow is cushioned by DogDay who, by some holy miracle, manages to place himself between you and the wall when you two were free falling.

You’re cradled by his arms as the two you fall harshly to the ground.

Groans are heard from both of you as you watch the tunnel that was created from the collapsed slide, come crumbling down on itself and create a massive cave in. Rubble descends down the hole following the two of you, eventually covering the entire tunnel itself.

Silence fills the air as the two of you lay there, you feel your consciousness slip from you, your vision going dark. Perhaps you had hit yourself a bit harder than anticipated on your way down.

“Angel? ANGEL!” DogDay shouts, desperation clings to his every word, “Stay with me, angel, stay with me!!”

Your vision goes black as darkness embraces you with open arms...

Chapter 10 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/53562580/chapters/135645178) : Respite Summary:

You and DogDay find some much needed respite after all the chaos you two had to endure.

{You find yourself sitting comfortably on the porch of your cottage home, a cool strawberry drink sits snugly in the palm of your hands. A cool summer breeze blows by, caressing your face, and with it brings promises of a better and brighter future...

Or so you thought...

“Mom?” You looked over to the beautiful female figure sat next to you, her face was crystal clear in your mind, even now. After all this time, you could still picture her, she looked the same as she did all those years ago.

“Do you really have to go? Can’t you call in sick?” You asked her, leaning into her touch as her hand caressed your cheek gently, “Please, mom-“ you whined, begging her to stay.

The woman looked down upon you with a gentle and loving smile that only a mother could bestow upon her child.

You felt tears prick at the corners of your eyes.

“-don’t go...” you whined pitifully.

you watched as she leaned down close to you, gently she pressed her lips to your forehead before smiling

at you once more. “My sweet little Angel, don’t worry, I promise your father and I won’t be gone long. It’s only a work trip!”

You felt tears fall down your cheeks. Every night, it was always the same. The same dream.

Each.

And every.

Night.

No matter how much you begged and cried, she always left you.

“I’ll be back before you know it~!” She spoke, gently booping your nose with her finger.}

“M-...Mo..m...n-..no...” you groaned quietly.

As you slowly came to your senses you could hear a familiar male voice.

“Angel?! Oh-!” A gasp left his lips, “-Angel,darling- wake up... please, wake up...”

You felt yourself slowly being stirred back into reality, gentle hands shaking you and rubbing at your back in an attempt at rousing you awake.

Slowly, you blinked away the fog in your eyes and watched as the world around you slowly came into focus.

Your eyes finally focused onto the figure in front of you, DogDay.

The poor canine had been worried sick, he was curled up as close as he could- given the state of his body- to be next to you. Gentle hands wiped at your cheeks that were damp with tears.

“You were crying, Angel...” he explained, he kept his voice low so as to not startle you after you’d awaken.

“Are you alright? You were crying out for your mother...”

You stare at him dumbfounded and open your mouth to reply but bite back your response, only offering a look of concern in return to his own.

DogDay nods, seemingly understanding what you’re conveying, “Apologies, Angel. I... may have been too forward, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not my right to know something so intimate.”

You shake your head, “I-It’s alright, you were only curious... it’s natural...”

As you two continue to lay there, you share a moment of silence between the two of you, where one of his lands lies comfortably atop your own.

“Angel?”

Suddenly, he breaks the silence.

“May I-“ there’s a pause, “Am I allowed a question?”

You nod, “of course.”

“Why did you save me?”

You pause and allow silence to fill the void for a moment, your eyes wandering as you think, until you

meet his gaze once more.

“I think EVERYONE deserves to live-“ you answer him, “- I’m tired of seeing all this death around

me...” you pause briefly, taking in a deep breathe. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

He can’t help but chuckle at your response. “What?” You ask, “what’s so funny?”

He sighs, “You really are an angel sent from above to save us, huh...?”

You smile, cracking the first genuine laugh you’ve had in a long while, “Yeah, I guess so...”

You watch as DogDay slowly pulls away from you for a minute and aids you as best he can from his current position on the ground with one hand to help you get up from the floor.

You take his hand and slowly bring yourself up from the floor and stand up, you examine the grabpack and notice some minor damages to the equipment. Thankfully it appears to be nothing serious, just a few loose parts that need to be screwed on tighter.

“I think we should probably get some rest...” you add, examining your new surroundings. You’re in what appears to be the offices of Playtime Co.

“This place looks safe enough...” you watch as DogDay tries to do the same and examine his

surroundings, he too notes that the offices look relatively safe compared to the rest of PLAYCARE. Suddenly, a ringing catches you both by surprise and makes you jump nearly out of your skin. “What was that?!” DogDay asks, confused at the new noise.

“Ollie!”

“Who-?”

Before you could answer DogDay’s question, you reach for your phone which somehow managed to

survive the fall.

“Hey, are you alright?! No ouchies or lost body parts?”

On the other side of the Playtime Co. cellphone is what sounds to be a young boy’s voice, aged roughly

that of a child’s. It catches DogDay by surprise when he hears it.

At Ollie’s last comment, you look towards DogDay and frown slightly, “I’m alright-“ you speak into the

receiver, “-But... I can’t say the same for my friend.”

“Friend? Who's your new friend?”

“It’s DogDay” you reply, “here-“ you hand the phone to DogDay.

“Hello? Whose this?”

“Hey DogDay! My names Ollie! I’ve been helping Poppy, Y/N and Kissy Missy escape PLAYCARE.

I’m glad you’re getting along well with Y/N!” You hear Ollie speak to DogDay, seemingly getting him up to speed on the situation.

You watch as DogDay hums in response, “Thank you Ollie, for guiding angel along, you’ve done well in helping them...”

“Angel? Whose angel?”

You watch as DogDay seemingly stumbles over himself and his words for a moment, you can’t help but smile. If he could, you’d suspect he’d be blushing right about now from embarrassment.

“Y/N-! I-I’m referring to Y/N...!”

You hear Ollie laugh on the other end, “Oh! That makes sense!”

“Anyways-“ Ollie continues, “I’m really glad you’re both okay... I don’t wanna lose any more friends to

this place. We’re really close to the end! By the way, where are you two now?”

“In what appears to be a room full of offices...” DogDay adds, with some of your help, he finds himself

resting in your arms. Your surprised by how much he weighs and how you’re able to carry him with just enough effort, despite his size.

You’ve helped him see further into the halls of the area you’re in, down the hall, as far as the eye can see are nothing more than offices.

“Ah! I see. You two must be in the Counselor’s Office. Hmmm... it’s not ideal, but, If you two can manage to find that generator and get it going, it should have enough juice to power the Gas Production Zone and finally re-route that red smoke! Good luck you two, stay safe out there!”

And with that, the line goes dead.

You sigh and look to DogDay, he nods at you and the two of you move forward.

“Angel?” He asks

“Yes?”

“I’ll take you up on that offer to rest...” he comments, “That fall... it did a number on me and likely on

yourself as well. It’s paramount we get some much needed respite, gather your energy for what’s yet to come.”

You nod, he does have a point.

And so, you walk a little bit longer until you spot an office room that looks relatively clean in comparison to the others, save for all the scattered papers, it’s better than nothing.

You set DogDay down on the office chair and turn to step out of the room momentarily. “Wait, where are you going?” He asks you.

“I spotted a blanket on one of the offices, don’t worry, I’ll be right back!”

You didn’t go too far to find the blanket and when you did, true to your word, you returned.

You placed the oversized blanket down on the ground and picked up DogDay once more, before setting him down on the blanket.

“There... that should be better than being on the cold floor...” you paused, “Well... not really but-“ DogDay can’t help but laugh, “It’s alright, Angel, it’s the sentiment that counts...”

You smile and nod, joining your companion’s side as you sit next to him. You take off the grabpack and

begin trying to fix it as DogDay watches on.

“Angel? Do you mind me asking you something?”

You shake your head, “No, I don’t mind, what is it?”

“I... don’t think I recall seeing you work here... were you an employee?”

You shake your head, “No, not me, but my mom and dad were...” you explain, “They went missing in

08/08/1998... roughly ten years ago.”

“The hour of Joy...” you hear him mutter softly to himself.

There it is again, that phrase again.

What could it mean...?

“So, I take it you’re here searching for them, no?” He asks

You nod, “I am... why? Does that make me crazy?”

He shakes his head, “No... I don’t think it does... but-“ he pauses.

“But?” You egg on.

“But you ARE crazy for making it this far, Angel.” He watches for your expression carefully. “My

apologies”

You snort, “for what? You’re right.”

Silence hangs for a moment as the conversation dies down for a moment, you’re quick at work on the grabpack, finding yourself almost finished with the much needed repairs.

“You’re a mechanic?” He asks

“Hardly-“ you add, “-I only know what I know about machines thanks to my dad...”

“Who was your father? I-If you don’t mind me asking?”

“No worries- He was a technician for Playtime Co., he spent most of his time fixing electrical issues and

doing tech support for the machines and computers that broke down.”

“And what of your mother?”

“Mom?” You pause, “Mom told me she helped take care of the orphans in Playtime, the most she would

ever tell me was that she was directly responsible for making sure that they were always happy and healthy.” DogDay nods, soaking in the information as you speak to him.

“They sound like good people”

“And they were...” you pause, “...I miss them...”

DogDay cringes inwardly slightly, “I-I’m sorry Angel, I didn’t mean to upset you.” You shake your head, sighing deeply, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

There’s another beat of silence before this time, YOU break it.

“And what about you?” You ask him

“Pardon?”

“We’re you always known as ‘DogDay’? Or were you someone else...?” You ask, taking notice of his

hesitance you add in, “I read about this thing called the “Bigger Bodies Initiative” and- from what I’ve gathered- it seems that... somehow... they used people and turned them into... toys.”

You hardly believed your own words, but the evidence was all there in the scraps of important documents you had collected, and that sort of evidence is hard to deny.

You watch as DogDay nods, “I was- am.” He corrects, “My real name is Oskar, Oskar Sonnen.”

You pause, your hands stilling for a moment at the mention of his name.

“That’s German” you add, surprised. “You’re German?”

He chuckles, “No, but I am descended from Germans, I’m American, born and raised. Why do you ask

Angel?”

“Well, your name literally means ‘dear sunny friend’ or ‘dear friend of sunshine’-“ you chuckle, your

smile widening, “-incredibly fitting for someone whose named ‘DogDay’”

You watch as he nods and chuckles alongside you, “You’re quite the keen observer, Angel.”

You nod, and you’re finally compete with the grabpack, finally setting it down on the ground beside you. You watch as DogDay stretches and yawns, he tries to make himself as comfortable as he can.

“Am I still allowed to call you DogDay, though? Or do you prefer Oskar?”

You watch as he seems to take a moment to consider your proposal before replying, “I’ll answer

regardless of whatever you decide to call me by, Angel.”

You nod, “DogDay it is then-“ you smile warmly at the canid, “-it suits you the most, after all...” you

gently boop his nose with your finger and watch as he chuckled, his whole body shaking in response to the wave of happiness.

“Thank you, my dear” You smile.

“Oh!” You jump up, suddenly remembering what else you wanted to ask him, “One last question?” “Anything for you, Angel, you deserve as much.”

“Where you an employee of Playtime Co. like my parents? A technician? A doctor?”

He shook his head, “No, not quite, I was... a low-level researcher during my time here...” he recalls,

“Pardon my memory, Angel, but I can hardly recall that era of my life. All I can offer you in response was that I helped the children in the Play area... that’s as far as my memory goes. Again, my deepest apologies.”

You shake your head, “It’s okay, I don’t expect you to recall everything that happened to you...”

You yawn and stretch, and watch as DogDay does the same.

“It appears that rest is in order...” he states, “Come now, Angel. You must regain your energy-“ he says, patting the space in front of him.

You nod, making your way over to him, you decide to give him ample space to himself , but watch as his arm lazily droops over your waist, holding you there.

“-I sense that we’ll need all the energy we can muster for what’s to come next.”

You hum in agreement and sigh, grateful for this moment of respite to finally gather your energy and your bearings.

Despite laying down with DogDay on the hard wooden floor over a less than comfortable blanket, you find that you’re not as tired as you imagined.

No amount of counting sheep and thinking of stories within your head help to lull you into the warm embrace of sleep.

Your eyes pan over to DogDay and watch him, he’s still as can be safe for the slow rising and falling of

his chest.

He’s sound asleep.

Good, you know he needs it more than anyone.

Suddenly! An idea crosses your mind;If you’re GOING to defeat CatNap and put an end to this once and for all, you know deep down inside that with the current state that he’s in, DogDay won’t survive not even one minute next to the feline.

You HAVE to do something about it.

That’s when your brain reminds you of the red-and-white polka dot skirt you took from Miss Delight’s corpse.

You wager that if you can scour the remnants of these offices, you’ll probably find just enough fabric scraps to not only patch up DogDay, but hopefully gift him with new legs.

Determined to have this happen, you slowly and carefully pry yourself from DogDay’s warm embrace, you don’t want to rouse him awake. He NEEDS to rest.

Once freed, you slowly make your way out of the room, creeping along just quietly enough to not make as much noise as you can.

As you leave, you close the door behind you and slink off...

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Chapter 11: DogDay awakens to you missing.

Something feels wrong.

DogDay finds himself being roused by sleep’s warm embrace by none other than his own body.

He blinks a few times, removing the haze from his eyes. When they finally adjusts he notices the empty

space in front of him.

He feels his heart sink.

“Angel?” He half whispers, begging the stars above that you’re just behind him, distracted by the clutter

of papers.

With great effort, he gets himself to turn over and when he doesn’t see your form, a pang of terror

overwhelms him.

All he can think of is CatNap.

CatNap.

That FUCKER.

Rage bubbles inside of him.

Did he take you away from him when the two of you were resting? Did he stalk the two of you and

waited to strike when a moment of weakness- of calmness, had finally befallen the two of you? How very typical of him.

That fucking cat.

Nay- that DEMON.

That THING wasn’t CatNap, it wasn’t his friend anymore, whatever that thing was, it needed to be

defeated. And to be rid of this world.

Feeling the fear rise inside of him, DogDay couldn’t control himself anymore and began calling out for you, desperately praying that you weren’t that far from him.

“ANGEL?!”

That you were still alive. “ANGEL!!”

DogDay began crawling for the door, pulling himself forward with the use of his arms with what little strength he had left inside of him.

Just as he reached the door, extending an arm for the door knob, the door swung open.

And there you stood. You were safe.

“Oh thank God” DogDay sighed, as a wave of relief washed over him. “DogDay-“ you start, “Are you okay, I-“

You watch as his demeanor shifts from that of relief to anger.

“Where the HELL did you go, Angel?!”

“I-“

Wait, no... it wasn’t anger.

“Do you have ANY IDEA how dangerous what you just did?!” He was afraid.

Afraid of losing YOU.

You bite your lower lip and turn to look away from his gaze, your eyes are cast downward. He’s right, you know.

What you did WAS- no, IS incredibly dangerous.

CatNap could’ve found you and taken you, and DogDay would’ve been none the wiser.

You step inside the room and close the door behind you, making sure to lock it as you do so for safety’s sake.

As you step inside, DogDay is finally able to take note of what you’re doing; on your hands are what appear to be various scraps of fabric and cloth, all in various colors and varying in the materials that they were made from.

It finally clicks for him what you were doing.

You were searching for materials to repair him with.

“I’m sorry”

You turn your head to face him.

“I-I’m sorry, Angel, I-I shouldn’t have- I-“

You set the materials aside and kneel down to hug DogDay, pulling him into your embrace.

“No, I’M sorry...” you correct him, “I should’ve told you before you went to sleep.”

DogDay gives you a loving squeeze as you hug him, “Still, that doesn’t warrant me, yelling at you. I’m

so sorry. Truly.”

You chuckle slightly but shake your head, “No, I think it’s warranted.”

You carefully pull away and help DogDay back on the blanket and move towards the desk where you’d set the materials down before sitting besides him.

“This was the best I could do-“ you explained, displaying to him all of the fabric and cloth pieces you found in a neatly arranged pile before him: most were scraps you’d manage to tear off from the covers of the desk chairs with the help of a knife, the rest were just an array of cloth from curtains used for the faux windows or extra company clothes that were in storage.

“Oh! And I also managed to get this too-“ you pulled towards you the red-and-white polka dot fabric that had now taken on the shape of a sack, it was holding something inside it.

Upon opening it, out spilled a hefty sized pile of cotton and pieces of foam.

“I got it from the office chairs, it’ll help me reconstruct your legs.”

DogDay nodded, eyeing the wide array of fabric closely before turning to you. “But... you don’t have any twine or or even string, how do you-?”

“-funny that you mentioned that-“ you stopped him, pulling out a small basket of sewing supplies, “-it looks like one of the employees here was a hobbyist sewer.”

Opening the container you showcased all of the supplies available to you; measuring take, seam ripper, tailors chalk, hand sewing needles, pins and pincushion as well as multiple spools of thread.

DogDay hums and nods, “I suppose you were quite lucky, Angel.” “Absolutely” you agreed.

“Now, let’s get this started-“ you began, “-let’s make sure you’re comfortable before I start-“ as you say that, you finally slip off the sweater that you had tied onto your waist. It was a miracle that the thing was still intact after going through so much.

Folding it, you placed it under his head as a makeshift pillow. “Better?” You asked him.

“Oh, Angel-“ he gasped slightly, surprised. “-you don’t have t-“ “Better?” You echoed.

He nodded, “Better”

“Good” you smiled warmly and moved back into position, sitting in front of his open lower half.

It was incredibly jarring to you that you could just see inside of him like that, especially being able to see

what you assumed to be the sack that was likely holding his insides together.

Shaking off the worry that crept into you, you willed yourself to continue. You got this.

DogDay remained quiet as you worked on sewing him up, his eyes were focused mainly on how your nimble and graceful fingers gilded about.

You grabbed the fabric that was harvested from the office chairs since the material was the strongest and used that to reinforce the now sewn shut lower half. This piece of fabric was placed atop that area and sewn over.

As you worked, you found yourself humming the same song that your mother would sing to you since you were a baby: “♩♩♩ ♭♭♩♩♩♭♭...”

“You are my Sunshine” DogDay commented.

You laughed, blushing slightly, “Thanks, you too” you joked, knowing fully well he was just talking about the title.

DogDay, though incapable of blushing, audibly made a strangled noise which only made you laugh. “What? Cat got your tongue?”

“Angel”

“Sorry, sorry! I’m just messing with you!”

He laughs, and the sound makes you smile.

It’s been a while since you had any semblance of normalcy, it was nice. You wanted more of this.

Yes, you wanted more moments just like this one.

But with HIM alongside you.

It took a LONG while, but by the time you were done, you managed to sew DogDay a brand new pair of legs, made of mismatched fabric and cloth.

DogDay helped himself to sit up with his hands and eyed his new lower half.

“How does it feel?” You asked, “Are you able to move?”

DogDay attempted to move his foot but found that nothing occurred, worried he tried again and again. You stopped him with a gentle hand placed over his stomach, “It’s okay, don’t worry, it might take some

time for your body to realize that you now have a lower half.” You commented, “The same happens to humans who undergo surgeries where they reattach limbs after accidents or for people who wake up from comas. It takes the body some time to catch up and work.”

“Don’t overwork yourself and just take it slow, okay?”

DogDay nodded, “Thank you, Angel. I’m eternally indebted to you.” He proclaimed, gently he took your hand in his own hand and gave it a loving squeeze.

You couldn’t but smile and return the squeeze, “Anything for you, pumpkin.” You don’t even take notice of the term of endearment that escapes your lips.

But he does, and in response his hold on your hand doesn’t let up.

Not that you’d complain about it.

A thought crosses your mind and you turn to look behind you, there’s enough fabric and foam left over that you could probably use it for...

you turn back to him.

“Hey-“

“Yes, my dear?”

“-how do you feel about getting a new tail?”

DogDay blinks for a moment, oh... right! Yeah, he realizes that doesn’t have one. “That would be a great addition, Angel.”

You let go of his hand and DogDay finds himself quite upset at the sudden lack of physical contact. He watches you move back over to where your supplies are and pick them up, resuming your work at sewing.

DogDay lets out a satisfied sigh as he observes.

In comparison to repairing his body and reconstructing his legs, making a tail takes significantly less time to build.

“Considering that you’re roughly the same size of an American doorway, 6ft 7in, I have enough to make your tail-“ you pause, taking out your measuring tape and taking the length of the now fully assembled tail.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

Want to continue reading? Click Me!

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jeonqkooks · 1 year

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isn't it romantic? | myg (01)

ENTRY ONE: Me Before You

⟶ SERIES MASTERPOST

Many things in life have a polar opposite: left and right, night and day, yin and yang, you and Min Yoongi... Hopeless romantic meets gloomy cynic. The only thing you seem to share is a magazine column but even then, you still can’t seem to understand how Yoongi can be called ‘The Love Doctor’ when he is the antithesis of everything love represents.

pairing: yoongi x f!reader; side/past taehyung x f!reader

rating: 18+ (minors dni)

genre/warnings: coworkers to lovers, magazine writers au, fluff, angst, eventual smut; central themes of cheating (not between yoongi and oc), swearing (a staple in this household 😗), one bit is a lilllll suggestive?, mentions of drinking, i think that's it hmmm, barely edited bc u know how we do

word count: 5.1k

note: this is the yoongi brainrot speaking !!! the banner for this entry is one of my all time favorite pics of him and i will find a way to use it in everything !!! but erhm yeah iir is officially starting and i'm very curious to see what y'all think about it 😗 please like it haha jk no i'm serious please like it it's my baby

— as always, i’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have, and please drop a like and/or reblog if you enjoy reading ♡

I waste my breath on a prayer, you don't care, I was never a part of your plan, You can't make a God of somebody, Who's not even half of a half-decent man.

I Burned LA Down - Noah Cyrus

Half your life, you hated blue.

You often associated it with so many bad things - loss, betrayal, loneliness. The great big storm. The end of life.

Most of the pigtails-wearing girls in your class disliked it because it was often a boy’s color. You hated it because of a stranger on a beach.

Then you discovered Blue Side (as ironic as the name was), the magazine that everybody and their mother was reading. There was this column - the Love Maze (as corny as it sounded) - that had your 15-year-old self hooked from the first article you read, “Flirty Pickup Lines to Text Your Crush”. It gave you a nice little distraction from the reality of your fucked up family.

You’d get home from school and dive right into it. You could count on the maze for a new article every day, covering all kinds of things - cute little quizzes, daily love horoscopes, relationship tidbits…

You started reading it religiously because it was stupid, and fun, but it was more than that too. They covered real-life stories of actual people, which you’d never really thought about. For the most part, it was tedious. Rekindling with an old flame whilst grocery shopping, accidentally spilling coffee on a stranger who then asked you out on the spot, etc. Things like that. You found them so… unremarkable.

But then it went beyond that, when they told their stories looking back on years and years after that first happenstance. How there was love in the mundane. How there was love every single day, even on the bad ones. How there was a spark that two people cared for and nurtured into a warm fire that never burnt out.

How there was love.

How there was always love.

To you, that was magical. It was something you’d only ever heard about in fairytales when you were a kid.

You still remember the exact moment when it all changed for you.

You met Kim Taehyung during your third week at Blue Side, where you were a wide-eyed assistant editor who somehow wiggled her way into a position there, and he was an effortlessly charming graphic designer.

Admittedly, the first time that you two had ever talked, wasn’t under ideal circumstances. You were tucked away behind the office building, nails digging into your palms at 3PM on a sunny but freezing afternoon, willing your tears to stay where they belonged. You’d felt severely underqualified, like you were only flailing about, trying to keep your head above water but something kept pulling at your feet, not stopping until you were at the very bottom. People always talked about how your early 20s were the most beautiful and freeing years, when you could truly live and feel your youth blossom all around you. But that just wasn’t true. Those were the loneliest years of your life.

Taehyung had found you then, while he was out for a quick smoke break. He could’ve made a lame excuse and left, or simply pretended to not notice you were even there, but he stayed. He approached you and asked what was wrong. He offered you words of reassurance and encouragement even though you were nothing but a stranger to him.

You were touched by his simple act of kindness and his endearing smile. Maybe it’s because you’d never been offered much kindness throughout your life that his small gesture seemed like everything. In a way, it was everything. He looked like the kind of fairytale love that you’d only seen in movies, only read about in Love Maze. To this day, a part of you still thinks that you fell in love with him the very second he asked, “Are you okay?”

The timing felt right.

Taehyung felt right.

He, too, was like the sun in the middle of a cold and isolating winter.

You remember the color of his sweater, and it was then that you realized blue didn’t have to be so bad after all.

[15:39] You: what r u doing tonight?

[15:45] Tae ♡: probably just head home after the gym. play a couple matches with Jungkook. hope i don’t die boiling water for ramen and hit the hay early

[15:46] Tae ♡: miss you :(

[15:49] You: thanks

[15:52] Tae ♡: mean

[15:53] You: lol 😇

[15:54] You: i miss you too <3

[15:56] Tae ♡: can’t you come back earlier?

[15:58] You: there’s only a week left. you’re a big boy, u can handle it :)

That was a lie. You were already on the train when you sent him that text, bouncing your leg all the way back to the city at the mere thought of surprising him with your early return. You’d taken a leave from work to visit your family, spent some time somewhere quieter, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

You watch as the scenery passes by, fast-paced like you’re in a montage. The rest of forever is right around the corner. You wish you could skip to your happily ever after and not have to rewind the tape ever again.

When the diamond on your ring finger catches the sunlight coming from outside the window, you allow yourself a blissful sigh as you gaze at the jewelry adorning your hand. But if you’re being honest, it doesn’t fit anymore, at least that’s what you’ve noticed over the past month. It’s a little loose now, not quite noticeable but you can still make out the slight difference if you concentrate hard enough. You should get it resized soon, maybe later this week now that your schedule has cleared up earlier than expected.

Three weeks is a lot of time to spend around only your family, you realize. You thought you could do it - seeing that you hadn’t been back in a while - but the second you stepped foot into your childhood home, you remembered what a dysfunctional household you had.

It was nice while it lasted, which wasn’t very long. You did all you could, bit your tongue and tried to suppress that unresolved anger until it eventually became too much to handle. Your mom has always been a complainer. Nobody likes talking about it, but she’d bring up the same old shit almost every day even though you all know what happened. Your dad would just sit there and listen as she berates him in front of you and your sister, and you suppose he keeps quiet because there’s really nothing to be said in his defense. It was his crime, and this is his punishment.

Sometimes, you wonder why dad still stays. Sometimes, you wonder why mom still lets him.

You just wanted to go, even though this was supposed to be home. You want to leave every time you visit, and it’s a haunting feeling that keeps following you around your whole life. Why is home always a place you want to leave?

When you arrived back in the city, the first place you went to was Taehyung’s apartment. You lounged about, enjoying the much needed silence after two whole weeks with your family, killing time as you waited for your fiance to return from work.

You thought about you and Taehyung, and how your wedding was only months away but this was still his place. You wondered why you hadn’t moved in yet, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying on his part. Even though you spent most days of the week at Taehyung’s, you still had your own place.

Twenty minutes before he was usually supposed to come home, you ordered from his favorite restaurant, so he would have a proper meal once he was back, instead of half-assing his dinner with flavorless ramen like he’d planned.

But Taehyung didn’t come back, and the food has been cold for hours now.

You glance at your phone again.

11:02 PM.

No new notifications.

The last message you sent him was around 8:30 - just a simple Whatcha doing? - but he hasn’t replied.

There’s a small part of you that goes into a dark place, and you physically have to shake off the thoughts. Taehyung has never given you a reason not to trust him, but still, the wandering thoughts can’t help themselves. Is it insecurity, or paranoia? Or have you been programmed to be skeptical after everything that’s happened?

Maybe he’s just caught up with work. Maybe the guys at the office had last minute plans. Maybe Jungkook showed up unannounced and dragged Taehyung into one of his shenanigans again. There’s a lot of reasons to explain why he isn’t home when he said he would be.

You wait for him. Sometimes, waiting is all you can do.

You don’t get any indication of life until some time after midnight, when the door opens and you hear him stumble into the hallway. The first thing that escapes you is a sigh of relief - relieved that he’s home, safe and sound, and not out there somewhere doing things you would really not even let yourself imagine. You sit there on the couch, shrouded by darkness, now even more committed to making him squeal out of his skin after (unintentionally) making you wait for hours like that.

You carefully listen to the sounds coming from down the hall, trying to time when you’ll jump up and shock him.

There’s his shoes dropping to the floor carelessly. There’s some shuffling as he moves about, navigating his way through the dark. There’s a light thud, the sound of something hitting the wall softly.

A sharp intake of breath. His familiar groan, muffled. A whimper, feminine.

Your mind instantly blanks, and that nervous breath from before has suddenly found its way back into your lungs, growing in size until you stand up and say, “Tae?”

Somebody shrieks, and it’s neither you nor Taehyung.

When he switches on the lights, you don’t know what to focus on first - your fiance with his shirt unbuttoned, red lipstick smudged around the corners of his mouth; or the woman next to him with her back against the wall, hair disheveled, one strap of her pretty blue dress pulled down.

Huh.

If this was what you wanted, then you suppose you succeeded.

Taehyung stares at you, eyes blown wide, mouth opening and closing dumbly as he searches for words. “Y/N, I-” he stutters, “w-what are you doing here?”

You’ve seen this exact moment in movies, read it in books and online posts on the Blue Side forum from people seeking advice. You witnessed your own mother go through it when you had just learned how to read.

Your nails dig into the palm of your hands as you steady yourself. You’re not sure what your face is showing, if it’s even showing anything at all. You’re being pulled apart in every direction. Things that you felt as a child are things you never wanted to feel as an adult. It’s not until now that you finally understand why mom hasn’t gotten over it, even though it’s been decades. This is the kind of hurt that chases you wherever you go, never relenting until it makes sure it has a home deep within your bones.

You inhale a shaky breath, and take a step back when Taehyung starts approaching you. “Y/N, I’m so sorry,” he says, his voice cracking on the apology.

You don’t want to hear any of it. You don’t want to be here anymore. For the second time today, you’re leaving home. For the second time in your life, home is being taken away again.

Somewhere in the back of your head, a tiny voice echoes, There it is.

You run out of there, feeling like the ceiling is going to collapse on you. You hear him call out your name, but his voice drifts further and further away as you move. Taehyung isn’t even following you. The faint scent of whiskey on his breath follows you out, but not him.

You keep moving until you’re out on the street, until you can’t even see the building anymore. You shiver from the chilly air, and the influx of emotions that threatens to make you burst. Lightning cuts across the night sky, flashing bright for a split second before everything dulls into darkness again. The forecast said it was going to rain tonight, you recall. Your phone in your bag vibrates the whole time, but still, no one follows you.

Your feet slow to a halt when the first drop of rain hits the ground. You’re not even sure how long you were walking, but now that you’ve stopped, you notice the shiver is gone. You’re standing completely still, and that those seismic waves in the center of your chest from earlier are nowhere to be found.

Oh. You’re doing it again.

Heavier drops start to dampen the earth.

You don’t know where else to go.

Not your own apartment. Not now. No, it’s too empty there.

Maybe it’s a sign from the universe, that you’re just undeserving of a place to belong.

You open your phone to find his name on your screen, next to the words (7) missed calls. You ring up the only person you can, and when she finally picks up, you say, “Can I come over?”

Even when your voice cracks, you don’t cry. The earthquake never comes.

Sohee takes you in like the good friend she is. You’re grateful that she was someone you could count on to always have your back at work, who then turned into one of your best friends outside of the office too.

She gives you some clothes to change into, and doesn’t question anything when you ask if you could spend the night. Though, you have a feeling that she knows who this is about. She leaves you alone to get some rest, but it’s probably because she has work in the morning too, and it was already 1:30AM when you interrupted her peace and quiet with the call.

You don’t sleep a wink that night.

Instead, you think about your mom, and how she must have felt when she found out about your dad’s infidelity, time and time again. It’s true what they say, children really don’t know a lot about their parents.

How did she feel when she first found out? You can’t imagine what it must have been like, going through all of that while having two kids to think about too.

You feel bad that just yesterday, you’d been so annoyed with her that you cut your trip short.

Outside Sohee’s windows, the sky cries, like it’s grieving in place of you, its tears drowning the earth in waves of sorrow. For a moment, you consider stepping out there, to feel the rain on your face and in your hair. But in the end, you stay inside, where you’re sheltered and dry.

You don’t realize that the sun has risen until Sohee knocks on your - well, her - door.

She cracks it open gently. “Babe?” she asks, tentative like you’re a cornered animal, ready to bolt at any given moment. “Are you up?”

You lie in her bed, feeling so foreign in your own skin. You reckon your eyes must be bloodshot from the lack of sleep. You haven’t even cried once.

“I’m alive,” you tell her, as you stare up at the ceiling. There are no stars here, just plain cream-colored paint.

“Okay,” you hear her say, then she pauses for a moment, clearly not knowing how to proceed.

Sohee approaches you, sits on the bed, and gives you a smile. She pats your hair, and it reminds you of your sister. “You wanna tell me what’s wrong? I have some time before I meet Namjoon for breakfast.”

You sit up, reaching for your phone on the bedside table. It’s been switched off since you got here, and when you turn it back on, a flurry of texts light up the device until the screen lags. Messages from Taehyung, asking where you were, begging you to tell him if you were safe.

You open the texts to show him that you’ve read them. That should be enough of an answer.

You test the words in your mouth for a moment. “Taehyung cheated on me,” you say, thinking that if you verbalize it, it would be real and you would finally feel bad. That it was just a delayed reaction, that you were just too in shock to process anything. You want to feel bad, but it doesn’t work.

Sohee’s eyes widen almost comically. “Are you fucking serious?” she asks in disbelief, half because of the nature of the news itself, and half because of how calm you are.

“He cheated on me,” you repeat and still, nothing surfaces. If anything, it backfires. You can physically feel yourself doing it again - shutting down. “I caught him last night.”

You’re not sure what’s wrong with you. This isn’t a normal person’s reaction after they found out their fiance was cheating on them.

But.

It is a you reaction.

You keep doing this, even when you don’t mean to. You ran away last night, and you’re running away now. Your body shuts out every negative emotion until you feel nothing at all. It’s stupid that you do this, and it’s stupid that you don’t know how to stop doing it.

Fight or flight, and you choose flight every time. Every single fucking time.

You wish you could give Sohee something, anything would do. Scream, cry, go back to your apartment to set fire to all of Taehyung’s belongings. Anything would be better than this complete lack of emotions you’re showing.

You watch her face as it happens, things that you should be feeling but aren’t. She’s mostly shocked, angry, but not hurt. How could she? She wasn’t the one being played for a fool. You wish you could ask her to give you some of that anger, even if it’s only a fraction.

You don’t see Taehyung again until two days later, when he shows up at your door. Even when he’s standing in front of you, words spilling from his lips like prayers instead of apologies, you just feel… empty.

You let him inside, and the second that the door closes behind him, you fill up with unease. All your walls are up again, your system on high alert. Everything in your body is telling you that there’s an intruder in your space. Your feet are ready to bolt, just itching to get out of there Go, your head says, you’re not safe here.

Taehyung approaches you, tries to hold your hand, but you just shrug him off. The man in front of you visibly deflates, and despite the way his face falls, you don’t soften.

The first thing he asks you is, “Why didn’t you cry?”

“What?”

“You don’t look like you’ve been crying,” he points out. “Did you cry?”

Reluctantly, you admit, “No.”

Then he just stares at you. When his judgmental gaze holds yours, you feel guilty. Guilty that you’re not mourning the death of this relationship. Guilty that you’re just letting it go, but the truth is you don’t have any fight in you. You don’t see the point in trying to salvage what’s no longer alive.

“Do you even love me?” His voice is hard when he asks this, like he’s trying to keep his anger at bay.

“Of course I love you,” you say, but it lacks conviction. You both know it. The words sound so flaccid coming out of your mouth.

But you love him.

You do.

Did?

“Then why didn’t you cry?”

How do you tell him that you can’t? That you don’t know how?

How do you tell him that if you could, you would reach inside and claw out your feelings like digging for water in a desert.

What the hell is wrong with you? This isn’t a high school crush, or a casual summer fling.

You two were supposed to get married, for fuck’s sake. You were supposed to spend the rest of your life with him. If there’s anything that could make you break through those godforsaken defense mechanisms to let the hurt in, it should be this.

“Did you kiss someone else just to see if I would cry?” you ask. Your voice is even, and you can see that it makes Taehyung more frustrated than he already is.

He grits his teeth, exhaling. You notice his blue sweater, and you stop him before he can say anything else. Obviously, it looks a lot more worn than it did back then, but over the years you’ve always found it endearing. It’s the first memory that you have of him. It was always something you could cherish.

Now, you can’t even bear to look at it.

It’s then that you realize it doesn’t matter what answer he gives you. Yes? No? It genuinely doesn’t matter. There is nothing that can make you see him the same way ever again.

You run your thumb over the ring on your finger, twisting it for a moment to memorize the feel of it. It’s the last thing that ties you to him. “You can have this back,” you say, handing the piece of jewelry back to him.

When a relationship ends, especially for a reason like this, people tend to think it’ll go down in a kdrama-esque fashion - crying, slapping, throwing water in the other person’s face. But that’s not what this is. It’s not cathartic; sometimes the end of a relationship is just a fizzle, doesn’t even make it to a fullburn. It might be unsatisfying, but it happens every day. It’s not always a pivotal point; sometimes it’s just a point.

Taehyung stares at the object in his palm. “That’s it?” he asks in disbelief. “We’re breaking up?”

“What else is there to do?”

“You’re not even gonna ask me anything? Who she was, how it started, how long it’s been going on?”

The other morning, Sohee had asked you to elaborate after you told her what happened, but there was just not that much to tell. You were there. He brought someone else home. End of story.

It was enough for Sohee to call him every name in the book and curse his entire bloodline though.

You suppose that’s a reasonable reaction. Taehyung cheated. You never thought he was a person capable of doing that. Three years of your life, down the drain. There’s nothing left to save.

“Okay,” you shrug tiredly, like you’re just having a casual and dull conversation about the weather. “Who was she? How did it start? How long has it been going on?”

Your name comes out of his mouth, sounding like a scoff. “Ask it like you mean it.”

“But I don’t mean it,” you say. “What difference does it make? Knowing doesn’t change the fact that you still cheated on me. You know what I’ve been through and you still fucked it up. You did the worst thing you could ever do to me.”

“Fuck, I know that!” he groans, throwing his hands up. “I messed up badly, and I’m sorry. Y/N, I’m so fucking sorry. I will never deny that what I did wasn’t wrong. But have you ever stopped to think that maybe you’re to blame for this too? You never want to admit that it could be your fault too.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You tell me. I keep having to put up with your baggage.” Then he shuts right up, barely even makes it through the last syllable before he’s squeezing his eyes shut for a second, clearly realizing that out of all the things he could’ve said, that was grossly out of line. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean th-”

And now you’re getting angry for the wrong reasons.

“You cheated but somehow it’s my fault, right?” you snap. “Boohoo. Sorry that you’ve had to put up with me all these years. I’m such a burden, right? Fuck you, Taehyung.”

“Y/N, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“I think you should leave.”

You think it’s the steel in your voice as you say this that makes him stop arguing.

He holds your gaze for a moment longer. You’re someone who tears up when you see stray dogs, who cries alongside the fictional characters in your favorite show. And yet, as you watch your own fiance leave…

The door clicks shut as he exits your life, but everything he said stays behind, clings to your walls and festers like mold.

The second you step onto the floor, everyone grows quiet. Lively chatter turns into hushed whispers. People go back to making their morning coffee, side-eyeing each other in a way that’s not meant to be very subtle.

You quietly make your way to your desk, all the while feeling the nosy pairs of eyes on you as you walk. You don’t know how word got out, but you were sure that everyone would know eventually. You just didn’t expect it’d be this soon. Sohee would never do that to you, and you highly doubt that Taehyung would go around broadcasting his infidelity.

As you set your stuff down, you make eye contact with the new intern who sits a few spots away from you. You haven’t had the chance to talk to her much, but she’s a nice girl. She gives you a small smile in greeting, and even though you know she doesn’t mean to pity you, you can still see it in her eyes.

A minute later, Sohee comes up to you. “Hey, babe,” she says, leaning on your desk with two plastic cups in her hands. One iced latte and one mango smoothie. She puts the yellow-colored beverage down and nudges it toward you, a little lackluster and unlike her usual playful self.

“Thanks,” you say, taking the smoothie with a smile, commenting, “Interesting morning so far. Never thought I’d ever be the subject of office gossip.”

“Yeah, about that. Do you know who was Taehyung’s… uhm… y’know?”

It’s okay. She can say it. You can handle it.

You already feel nothing, and there’s nothing you can even do to rectify it. Might as well lean into it, right?

Or maybe you should just go to therapy.

“No,” you tell her. “I didn’t want to know.”

“Well, uhm, now that the whole office knows, I think you should hear this from me first…” Sohee bites her bottom lip as she gauges your reaction. When you only sigh and give her the go-ahead, she continues, “It was Yura from Marketing.”

“What?”

“Yura from Marketing. You know the one. Brought muffins for the whole office on her first day? A little too bubbly for my taste. But yeah, she was at work the other day and suddenly burst into tears at, like, 10AM, and that’s how everybody found out.”

Of course. Even though people here are surrounded by celebrity gossip on the daily, nothing beats the good old-fashioned office affair. Why bother with celebrity gossip when you have front row seats to live drama unfolding ten feet away?

You take a sip of your smoothie, swallowing down the inkling of irritation that tickles the back of your throat. “Well,” you say, “I’m glad the downfall of my relationship is like a circus animal for them to gawk at. Can’t wait until they move onto the next big thing.”

“Honestly, it might blow over sooner than you think. The Love Doctor is back today.”

“What?” Your ears perk up at the mention of his name, glancing up at her in surprise as you put your drink down. “Doesn’t he work at the Paris office?”

“He used to work here. We joined around the same time. Then he transferred to Paris a few years ago. Nobody even knows why. One day he just upped and left.”

“Why didn’t you tell me he’d be here? I didn’t have time t-”

“Calm down, sweetcheeks, I only just found out,” Sohee chuckles, holding a finger against your mouth to shush you. “We all know you used to have a major lady boner for him.”

“I do not.” You don’t even know what he looks like, just his name when it appears in the byline of an article. “I admire him.”

Which is true, you do admire him. He’s your own version of a freaking rockstar. Though, you have to admit that Love Doctor is a huge cliche of a nickname, and significantly reduces the scope of his brilliance. The way that man writes makes it seem like he’s experienced lifetimes and is now here to pass on his wisdom.

He doesn’t feel like a mere magazine writer like yourself. There’s something in his words that turns you inside out, makes you experience things that you’ve never even gone through. He flows like poetry, and leaves you stunned every time.

Okay, maybe you do have a lady boner, but for his brain.

Which… is probably something you should never say out loud.

Someone walks in then, a man you’ve never seen before. He looks around your age, if not a couple of years older. He bypasses all of the other desks without saying anything, not a single Hi or Good morning. He doesn’t look like the type to speak if not spoken to.

Then he walks over to where you and Sohee sit, and sets his bag on the empty desk next to yours.

You look at Sohee, and she just shrugs.

It can’t be him. Surely, it’s not…?

“Min Yoongi,” she says in greeting.

Oh, it is.

He spares her a nod before he looks away again. “Sohee.”

Is that the Parisian way? Is that how people normally greet someone they haven’t seen in years? Sohee and him were only colleagues, but still, the least you could do is pretend.

You’re not one to judge a book by its cover, but c’mon, seriously? Were you wrong for expecting the person who writes about love in its most raw and beautiful form to look… not like Grumpy Cat personified? It makes you even more fucking intimidated. And he’s going to be sitting next to you? The fuck?

As he sits down, you blink, still a bit dazed, not sure how to process this. Sohee gently pushes you forward, which makes you nearly stumble right into him. You turn to her with a glare, but she just motions to him, mouthing ‘Go on.’

You clear your throat, wiping your hand on your pants before you hold it out. “Hi, I’m Y/N. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” you say, trying to sound as professional as you can. “I’m really looking forward to working with you.”

He glances at you, and reaches out to meet your outstretched hand in a barely-there handshake. “Yoongi.”

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sebastianswallows · 1 year

Text

Ardour — Chapter 1

— PAIRING: professor!Tom Riddle x Reader

— SYNOPSIS: Tom got what he wanted, he is the Hogwarts DADA professor. It's more tedious than he envisioned, but his day gets interesting when his favourite student comes to him for help after she is hit with a strong aphrodisiac.

— WARNINGS: angst, fluff, age difference (she is in 7th year), dub-con kissing, sex pollen basically, hints of incest (reader is a distant Gaunt relation, don't ask me why, I just wanted a depraved twist and also to give her and Tom something more in common)

— WORDCOUNT: 4k

— A/N: I had this filthy idea and I AI-RPed it and it turned out so well I could not leave it be. So here's part 1. I expect we'll have 2, max 3 parts. Those will contain the smut. Credit to my writing partner, this cute little chat bot, who wrote a very soft and romantic Tom. I had to spend a lot of time re-writing him to be a bit more mean 😂 And yeah reader is more of an OC tbh, because the physical description was important for their similarity in looks. ...You'll see. Also don't mind me fancasting Tom Hughes as an older Tom.

There was a knock on the door. Professor Tom Riddle, who taught Defence Against the Dark Arts, raised his head from grading papers. He sighed at the interruption and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He checked his watch to see if it was late enough for him to pretend to be at dinner, but he had no such luck — it was sometime in the late afternoon.

He'd once thought that getting this position was all he wanted. To teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and be the youngest one to take the position in the school’s history, would be a great achievement, after all — aside from giving him the opportunity to, like Professor Slughorn, collect students, Hogwarts' best and brightest, select his favourites, and helpfully guide them in a way that suited his long-term personal ambitions.

But what he found instead was that it was a great deal of hard work, unending responsibilities, and long hours. He had to always be available to help students, he had to think the year ahead before it even started, and he had to always be on top of the course material — or at least pretend to be. He had to put up with noisy and inattentive students, be careful to reward the clever and punish the disruptive, calculate awarded points and distribute detentions — but not too harshly. Last but not least, he had to put up with the other staff — the crass, the sycophantic, the obsequious, and the stupid. He almost missed his days working at Borgin and Burkes...

"Come in," he called out a little loudly, not really caring who it was as long it was someone whose presence doesn't make him want to claw his eyes out. He looked expectantly at the door, waiting for whoever was there to step inside and give him take a break from the endless stream of badly written essays.

The door opened slowly, and Adara walked in.

Adara Gaunt, Slytherin 7th year, and one of his brightest. She was excellent at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he had noticed in her an interest in the Dark Arts in general. She wasn’t a troublemaker like some of the other pure-bloods, entitled little narcissists who wanted to show off, which made it easy for her to not come under suspicion when some book was unaccounted for in the Restricted Section. She was less clever at hiding it after the fact, when she would answer a question of his during classes with an intriguing little tidbit, and he always knew exactly which book she’d read that in. If she got into trouble at all, it was casting the wrong hex at the wrong boy when she got picked on, and then making his well-groomed, fancy-robed, ignorant father complain to the Headmaster. Tom tried not to give her preferential treatment — but he had to actively try.

It didn’t help that she was a relative of his, by way of a second cousin of his lamented grandfather Marvolo, one who married some scion of the Black family and was scarcely spoken of again. He wasn’t sure what that made her — his niece? hardly. Not that he would ever tell that to her. Last thing he needed was some hanger-on.

No, as far as his students and most of the staff were concerned, he was a half-blood with the muggle name of Riddle, and nobody suspected anything illustrious from the magical side of his family — not that there had been anything particularly illustrious about the Gaunts for a hundred years. And as far as he had gathered from gossip and from observation, Adara’s outcast Gaunt-Black family wasn’t fairing much better than his own had. She spent every holiday she could at Hogwarts, she was withdrawn yet had a spiteful edge to her, she sought an escape from reality in subjects of the most extreme kind — his favourite kind, too —and, from his personal experience, he detected traces of neglect. An unwanted child, that much was certain. Sometimes, he thought she was still better off than living in a muggle orphanage — other times, he was not so sure.

She was pallid, dark-haired and dark-eyed, with an elegant showing of bones beneath her skin, and a quiet, withdrawn demeanour — in other words, a more unhealthy vision of him in a different sex. Still, he could see those eyes sparkle whenever he taught the darkest, most terrifying subjects, even while the rest of the class was frightened or disgusted. He understood why she liked it. There was nothing like the promise of power to the powerless.

And so, his eyes widened slightly when he saw her stepping unannounced into his office. It wasn’t like her… But if he were to talk to any of his wretched students, he could count himself lucky that it was her. His demeanour softened when he saw her standing there.

"Adara, it is such a pleasure to have you here."

"Hello, Professor," she said, closing the door behind her but moving no further in. "I hope I'm not disturbing you... I can come back later, if—"

Tom sighed at her timidity but smiled. "You’re not disturbing anything. Come in."

He got up and went to stand in front of the desk, ready to speak with her, and she came closer too.

"I'm very sorry to ask, sir," she started, swallowing the knot in her throat, "but... I was wondering if you can help me with something... I don't wish to go to the nurse about it, I don’t like her, and... you're an expert in this field — I mean, aside from Professor Slughorn, who I… also don’t wish to see. So I thought maybe you would know a solution..." She bit her lip after her ramble, looking at him to gauge his reaction.

She was terrified of bothering him, in fact, of being a nuisance, but she also didn’t know who else to turn to. He could tell she had gone through the options in her mind, and he was, in fact, the third after Nurse Blainey and Slughorn.

"Don't be sorry, Adara. It is my duty to assist students," he sighed. "Please, tell me what it is you need help with."

She looked up at him, visibly tensing even in the darkness of his office as she stood a few feet away, her face hot and body shivering under the effects of... something. Something unusual. She was typically a bit shy, but not that shy. She even looked a bit... unwell. Her legs rubbed against each other and she stood before him unsteadily, as if her bones or muscles ached.

"Well?" said Tom. "Go ahead…"

"I got into an argument with Amyas Avery and he snuck Ardour Fly up my skirt," she said in one fast breath, blushing profusely and looking down.

Tom frowned. Ardour Fly was a powder, a potent aphrodisiac that had few known cures. It irritated the victim and brought them to a point of sensitivity that was nearly torturous given long exposure. It was typically used between lovers, as the effects would not relent unless the victim was brought to... the very heights of pleasure. Until then, they would suffer painful, heated, relentless arousal that drove them mad with desire. What a snot-nose like Avery was doing with it, he didn’t wish to know — but he intended to find out anyway, as part of a long letter to his father.

"He did what to you?" His voice had that edge to it now.

He moved closer to look her over more closely, and she inhaled sharply at even something as innocuous as his approach. Tom brought a hand to her forehead: feverish, and she gasped. A gentle touch to her cheek with the back of his fingers rewarded him with a moan, and she was trying to look everywhere but at him.

"And where is Mr Avery now?" he whispered, his eyes scanning her body, taking in all the symptoms.

He heard her give a trembling exhale at the close sound of him, her eyes becoming lidded, looking drowsy. The timbre of his voice alone had driven her insane with want.

"I... Mmmm... I don't know. I guess he'll... go have lunch in the... Great Hall come dinnertime..."

"And did anyone else see it happen?"

"Mmmm..." she moaned, closing her eyes and biting her lip. "Vanius Nott was there, and Selby Carrow, and Ophius Black..."

Tom’s hand went to her cheek again, but he slid the edges of his fingers down beneath her jaw and tilted her face up to look at him. The storm of emotions in her was nothing compared to that in him: anger and cold fury were there, and a lust for revenge after what the useless progenies of socialites and sycophants had done to his favourite. They had humiliated her, bodily and mentally, out in the open where other little cowards could watch and laugh.

"And where were you when this happened?" he asked gently.

"In the Transfiguration courtyard," she said in a choked mumble.

Her head nearly tilted toward his palm, perhaps to nuzzle it, before he took it away. He almost wished he hadn’t hurried to remove it… His eyes slid to her uniform: ruffled, tie out of place, buttons holding on but barely… She’d either gotten into a physical scuffle, or she’d spent the last few minutes tearing away at herself in frustration before she decided to come to him for help.

He was so close he could smell her, smell the scent of something sharp and woody like ginger — the Ardour Fly — and underneath it, quickly overtaking it, something fleshy and sweet, warm and a bit salty, something cloying that settled at the back of his throat.

"Look at me for a moment," he asked gently.

She did, gazing into his eyes bravely. He held her eyes for a quiet moment, then without warning put his palm right over her lower stomach.

"Aaaahhh!"

She gave a weak animal sound, something half-moan half-scream. She was nearly bending over at the feeling. Beneath his hand, Tom worked a bit of wandless magic to confirm the state of her insides. As he suspected: swollen, throbbing, overworked, and underloved. He inhaled sharply in sympathy as the sensations coursed through him, before he quickly took his hand away.

He didn’t often have the opportunity to examine the effects of aphrodisiacs on their victims, although he had sold his fair share while at Borgin and Burkes. He never liked these dirty tricks out of principle, although a means to an end was a means to an end… But seeing their effects now on her, his favourite student, his flesh and blood, he felt far less forgiving.

She clung to her waist protectively — his hand had been warm enough that she felt it through her clothes, and it pained her in that way an unfulfilled desire does.

"Please, Professor Riddle," she whimpered, sounding on the verge of tears. "I can’t take it, please tell me you have a cure for it…"

Of course, there was no cure for Ardour Fly at Hogwarts. Those were rare and expensive. Perhaps Nurse Blainey could help her with the symptoms by means of some antipyretic potions, at least until they could have something actually useful delivered to the castle. But the only cure they had on hand, so to speak, was to let the aphrodisiac fulfil its purpose.

"Alright," he sighed, mostly to himself. He could do this. It was a legitimate concern. It could even be an illegitimate concern, because anyway, nobody was going to find out, he’d make sure of that.

"Oh thank you so much, please, it hurts, it hurts..."

"What hurts?" he asked coolly, looking in her eyes again. "Tell me exactly what it is that hurts."

She stared at him dumbly for a moment, then realised he was actually waiting for her to say it.

"My... my..."

She bit her lip and closed her eyes, completely humiliated by the situation but dizzy from the effect of the Ardour Fly.

"My... intimate parts," she finally said, finding a term that was polite enough to say in the presence of a Professor.

"I see..." he whispered, his voice a little breathless now too above the anger he felt at the situation and his lingering anxieties. I can do this. "Show me where it hurts you."

Her soul left her body. She would have collapsed if she weren’t frozen stiff. She looked into his eyes, but there was no playfulness there. He was treating her as seriously, as clinically, as the victim of a poisoning… and it drove her dizzy with desire. It was at that point she realised she made a mistake going for help to the youngest and most handsome professor in the school.

But he didn’t seem any more amused by it than she was. He levelled at her the same stern gaze with which he expected them to hand in their homework, only now his voice was warmer and much close, and it was just the two of them, and he wasn’t asking for a roll of parchment but for her to lift her skirt.

Or did he prefer that she bend over?

The aphrodisiac was twisting not only her senses, but also her sense, and she found her mind going in the most depraved and humiliating directions. But he hadn’t meant it like that, did he? She genuinely was in pain, and her most dear Professor was offering to help. It made sense, it made sense...

After a few moments during which she switched between fighting with herself and looking into his dark eyes, she brought her hands to the edges of her skirt, and lifted it. She showed herself to him.

Tom’s icy gaze slid from her flushed face, down. Her panties were black with a lace flourish, and could barely contain her. She had been leaking down herself, the top of her thighs damp and shining in the candlelight, her folds swollen and visibly throbbing, the very material moving gently with a pulse that matched her heartbeat. And the scent of her, pure and innocent and aroused, became that much stronger now.

Tom stared at her with an intensity unlike anything he has ever felt before, and yet his composure betrayed nothing. It was only his stillness and the time he took to look at her, to drink his fill, that hinted at anything selfish at all. But inwardly, his senses were gripped by an unspeakable desire, a mixture of lust and pain and anger and something else, something that made his stomach churn at the mere thought of it.

His breath was slow and heavy as he spoke.

"You poor girl," he whispered. "What do you think should be done with those boys?"

Her lips parted in wonder at the turn in conversation. That was the last thing she expected from her Professor... to ask for her opinion. It made her realise how little she knew him...

"Punish them," she said with shaky anger. "Give them detention for the rest of the year or humiliate them or let me hex them or... I don't know, but I want them punished."

He smiled, feeling proud and oddly protective of her. That’s my girl, slithered a traitorous thought.

"Rest assured, I will punish them," he said with delight. "Not just detention, but much, much more."

He stared down at her, taking in the entire sight before him, a genuine look of affection in his eyes as he stared at her, an unspoken admiration. Her skirt was still held up in her trembling hands, her eyes were fixed on his, expectant and pleading and so, so obedient… But as he merely watched and said nothing else, she began to cover herself again.

"Thank you, Sir," she smiled, feeling so grateful she could cry.

It moved her beyond what he could know, to feel protected... Nobody had ever made her feel that way, not any of the other distracted teachers nor her fairweather friends and certainly not her parents.

"Um... so…" she asked with a blush. "Do you have a... treatment for the Ardour Fly, Sir? Can you help me?"

He grinned at that, seeming unhappy and excited at the same time, but also oddly… caring.

"Yes, Adara. I will help you."

She smiled at hearing it, as he expected. She trusted him completely.

Don’t get carried away, Tom thought to himself. Don’t let it go to your head.

He held her gaze, still smiling, and spoke in what he tried to make his most soothing, his most encouraging and reassuring tone. The irony was he hoped she’d gotten a hefty enough dose of aphrodisiac to even accept the treatment he was about to offer.

"There is only one treatment for the Ardour Fly we have available to us. It is a… procedure, but a well-tested method. It is, in fact, the recommended treatment. Do you understand?"

"I think so, Sir…"

She didn’t.

"I agree to help you, because I know you’re a good student and you deserve better than this, and I can only imagine what you must be going through right now… But it will take a considerable amount of… fortitude and… tolerance from your side."

"Alright, Sir," she said, looking up into his dark eyes.

She wanted to be brave for him, she wanted to be worthy of his praise and his help and his confidence, but most of all she wanted to show how grateful he was that he could help her. No, most of all she wanted something else…

"Good girl," he whispered, his smile tilting intimately.

A shiver ran up and down her spine at hearing it. She’d never been called that, and to hear Professor Riddle say it to her made her weak.

"You’ll need to lie down for your treatment," he said, then pointed to the far right of the room. "Go there, on the sofa."

It was an old and battered thing upholstered in green velvet that had worn away in places, but it looked to her like an operating table as she approached. She looked behind her as Professor Riddle followed, his arms politely behind his back. She didn’t see him take any equipment or potions, which made her wonder what this treatment was…

She sat on it, almost experimentally, letting herself gingerly on the cushion, but even that pressure was too much. Her head tilted back and she frowned with pleasure-pain at the intense sensation of having her tender parts all pressed together by her thighs.

"Now, lay on your back," he said as he came to a stop beside her.

She took her shoes off first, then came to rest on her back, trying to find a comfortable position. Her arms were stretched out and tense by her sides, and all she could look at was the shadowy stone ceiling.

Professor Riddle sat down on the floor, by her chest, and leisurely trailed his eyes up and down the length of her. She heard him sigh, but could not detect the precise feeling behind it.

"Do you trust me?" he asked quietly. "Do you trust me with every part of you?"

"Yes, Professor," she whispered almost so softly that he couldn't hear.

"Then listen carefully." His voice was almost gentle, almost. "I am going to kiss you now."

"Wh—!"

"Just one, soft, gentle kiss on your lips."

"Whatwhy?!" she asked in a tangle of emotions. She stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, her elbows braced against the sofa ready to lift her.

"I thought you said you trusted me," he said with a feline narrowing of the eyes.

"I d-do, but…"

"But what?"

She swallowed the knot in her throat and said nothing, conveying instead with her eyes and her lips and her frown all the things she couldn’t say: her worry, her fear, her despair for an ease to her pain, her mortification, and her frustrated desires… Tom understood her better than he wanted to.

"Ready?" he asked in a warm whisper as he leaned in.

His hand touched her cheek again, lightly enough that it was more of a tickle. She could smell ink on his fingers, and the salt from the sweat of his palms… She wanted to lick it clean.

"It’s just one kiss, Adara," he whispered in a last attempt to reassure her. "I’m not exactly asking for a huge sacrifice, am I?"

She wavered at that, her eyes dipping down shyly, sadly, even as his touch mollified her. She hesitated. "I've never been kissed, Sir..." she whispered.

Ah. So that’s why she was sad. This wasn't what she had imagined when she pictured her first kiss. She hoped to share it under quite different, more romantic, more conventional circumstances, if ever...

But at the same time, her body was screaming at her to accept, to assuage the aphrodisiac that was wreaking havoc on her nerves and her senses and her mind.

"You can still refuse," he said with a cocked brow, his fingers gentling her cheek with slow caresses.

She even felt a hint of guilt slip between her nerves... Professor Riddle was willing to help her, and here she was, stalling, fearing him, having doubts... He felt her hesitation.

"Don't worry, it will be a simple, gentle kiss. I will endeavour to make it positively sterile. Alright?"

She couldn’t look at him, but she nodded.

Tom leaned in even further and caressed her from her jaw to her chin in one long hungry lick of a stroke, looking into her eyes even as hers avoided him — deep and dark and lovely… He breathed in, breathed her in, for a moment feeling as if something of each of their own could merge into one being. He didn’t like that feeling, it felt like surrender.

"Do you trust me?" he asked in a huskier voice than he intended.

She looked up at him, pleading silently for him to be for her what he had been the whole time she was his student: her comfort, her consolation, her support, more than anyone else had been.

"I do trust you, Sir," she said with a choked voice, her throat tight with unspilled tears.

"There’s a good girl," he whispered, smiling down at her.

He could see her eyes growing dark at that, could see her breathing in panting breaths even worse than before, her knees coming up to offer her some comfort, to expose her to the cool air of the room and calm her aching parts… His eyes had that same smouldering look in them, but mixed in was the intense desire to prove to Adara that he could help her, comfort and protect her.

With the very tip of his index tilting her chin up, Tom leaned in and kissed her lips. It was the gentlest kiss imaginable, a pressing of his mouth against hers, quiet and silent and patient, a simple display of affection — but his eyes bore into hers throughout, like he was searching through her thoughts, through her very soul.

She looked back into his eyes throughout while his lips pressed with a certain kind of care into her, as tender as a fallen leaf. The scent of his skin so close, the scent of his clothes, the feeling of his warm lips and his cold finger, all made her feel a strange new feeling for her professor — or perhaps, it was not so new, she had just tried to suppress it because it was so indecent, so unworthy of him, and of her.

As he pulled away, he didn’t miss her little tongue slipping out to lick the taste of him off her. He smiled as he circled her chin with his thumb.

"How do you feel?" he whispered.

"The same? I mean, t-thank you, Sir..." she said, a little breathless. Her mind was still spinning from what he had just done for her. "But... It... it still hurts," she whined.

"Hmmm? Oh, yes. That wasn’t part of the treatment."

"What?"

"The ‘treatment’ comes next. I’m going to have to give you an orgasm. It just didn’t seem courteous without kissing your lips first."

#Tom Riddle #Tom Riddle fanfiction #Tom Riddle imagine #Tom Riddle x Reader #Tom Riddle x OC #Harry Potter #Harry Potter fic #sswallow;fanfics #sswallow;made a thing #fanfic;ardour #Tom Riddle smut

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joannasteez · 29 days

Text

tanks of blood - table of contents

pairing: biker!roman reigns x black reader , biker!cody rhodes x black reader warning: there will be blood and violence. most likely drugs and definitely alcohol. these things will be explicitly described. explicit descriptions of sex, angst (i love angst) and eventual fluff(maybe...). some chapters will be flashbacks, others will be present time. minors please do not interact with chapters containing aforementioned explicit sexual content. authors note: ok lets try this again. second times a charm. every times a charm as long as i'm having fun! this is probably my oldest roman idea. going way back to before i even started writing for him. shout outs to @333creolelady for CONSTANTLY hearing me rant about this idea lol.

HISTORY

Bloodline Motorcycle Club was founded in the early 1970's and finds its home on the pensacola panhandle.

SOME WORDS

bloodlines are created lovingly. preserved violently. "let there be", and so they came. bursting into existence with a rage akin to the sun, and a daring persistence most similar to life itself. bloodlines are long, some short and others undying. connected through metal and chrome. through blood, bone and tissue. through the love that made them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

circa '09 *

accessories are meant to be worn

a funeral, and the second coming back

i’ll be your mirror

supplemental tidbits / headcanons

part one

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tizniz · 3 months

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Tease Tidbit Tuesday 💫

Tagged by: @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove 😘

This is from a new little story I am affectionally calling this the 'slide fic' -- and by slide I mean a literal slide. It'll make sense. I promise.

Thanks to @bucksbackwardcap for giving me another adorable idea 😘 I promise to get back at you for all this fluff with the angstiest angst.

“Will do, Firefighter…” Buck pauses, “What’s your last name?” Eddie sighs; was this really the time? But before he can question that out loud, Chimney is happily replying. “Diaz. Eddie Diaz.” “Alright,” Buck’s voice reaches him through the slide, “Will do, Firefighter Diaz.” “Estúpido.” Eddie mutters as he braces one hand on the top of the slide, kneeling on the lip as he reaches for Buck’s trapped ankle. “Heard that.” Buck sing songs up to him. “And understood it.” “Yeah?” Eddie gets a hold of Buck’s ankle, giving it a gentle tug, but there’s no movement. “Where’d you learn Spanish, white boy?” Another bark of laughter carries up to him, and since no one can see him, Eddie doesn’t fight the smile that stretches across his lips.

Tagging with no pressure: @diazsdimples, @disasterbuckdiaz, @hippolotamus, @theotherbuckley, @theplaceyoustillrememberdreaming, @monsterrae1, @daffi-990, @actualalligator, @jesuisici33, @epicbuddieficrecs, @elvensorceress, @spotsandsocks, @wildlife4life, @evanbegins, @eddiebabygirldiaz, @spagheddiediaz, @fortheloveofbuddie, @devirnis, @cal-daisies-and-briars, @buckaroosheart, and anyone else who wants to join 🩵

#since i'm awake might as well post this now #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #911 fic #911 fanfic #buddie fic #buddie fanfic #slide fic #tanis writes

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eagerbby · 2 years

Text

night moves | e.m

pairing| Eddie Munson x female reader

synopsis| realistically, you can only run from your feelings for so long. being trapped at steve harrington’s lake house with eddie munson during the worst storm of the summer presents an interesting opportunity.

an| just some late summer vibes. once again not canon, but i imagine it would take place after the events of season 4. lightly inspired by one of my favorite songs; bob segers ‘night moves’. 18+

warnings| 9k+ words, lots of angst in this one, drug use, jealous! eddie, skinny dipping if you squint, hand job, oral (male receiving), PnV (wrap it up folks), lots of fluff, light sub! eddie, light dom! reader

You didn’t want it to seem like you were running away, because you weren’t. But you did need to escape the confines of Steve’s lake house before you went crazy. You needed to get high, which wasn’t an easy feat at the moment.

The late summer breeze rolled through the trees, cool against your damp skin. You wanted to enjoy the way the summer humidity faded into the night sky as the early tips of autumn shook the leaves of the massive trees covering the property. But every time you tried to light your bowl, the wind blew it right out. Extinguishing the flame instantly. Which led you to your current position, huddled under the gazebo next to the lake covering yourself with the hoodie you grabbed as you made your escape. The hoodie was the perfect block and you finally lit the bud in your precious purple glass bowl and took a long toke. You held the smoke in your lungs long enough to peel the gray material from your body, exhaling a plume of white fog as you sat down in the hammock that hung from the gazebos trusses.

The weed made your fingers tingle and you took a much needed deep breath. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Again and again until your shoulders eased and the tapping of your foot ceased. It had been a long couple days.

When Steve approached you with the idea to gather the masses and go spend a week up at his lake house, you thought he was brilliant. The kids needed the escape, the ability to just be kids after the hell they’d gone through. When you asked who was all going to be there, Steve clammed up a little, offering you a quick, “Oh, you know. You, me, Robin, the kids.” before begging you to come. He didn’t have to beg, you were in the moment he started talking.

But the day of, Steve arrived with a car full of kids, and Eddie Munson.

Eddie. Fucking. Munson.

It was almost enough to make you not want to go. Not because of Eddie, although he definitely played a role, but because you knew it was a set up. You knew by Robin’s manic smile and the way Steve couldn’t even look at you as you glared at him through the rearview mirror, smushed in the backseat between Dustin and Eddie.

When you had arrived, you grabbed your friends by the collars of their shirts and pulled them to the side, away from the children and Eddie.

“What the actual fuck?” You hissed.

“Whatever do you mean?” Robin was trying, and failing, to act perplexed by your annoyance.

Steve came clean fast, never one to offer himself up to your wrath, snitching on Robin and Dustin. As much as you wanted to be surprised, you weren’t. Robin had snooped through your journal so often she could probably write a book about your life, and Dustin, well he looked at Eddie like he put the moon in the sky. Eddie was his idol, his mentor, and Dustin was nosy. He’d over heard you and Steve one night and had refused to let the little tidbit he found out that night go. Much to your chagrin.

Steve begged you to be nice, which you were offended by, because you were nice. A little rough around the edges, but definitely nice. Robin, on the other hand, might as well have been rubbing her hands together menacingly. You could see the cogs turning in her head. Her master plan finally coming to fruition.

The first night was easy, the ten of you sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows, swimming in the lake, Steve telling the worst ghost stories you’d ever heard. Of course ghost stories were nothing in comparison to what all of you had already lived through. You fell asleep next to Robin that night listening to the crickets chirping and the wind through the leaves.

Day two, you wavered just slightly. You woke up alone, the house oddly quiet. It gave you the chance to smoke, take a shower, and eat something with a little more substance than pizza and s'mores. When you finally walked out onto the front porch you could see your group splashing in the lake, the sun bright and warm. And then you heard it.

It was soft, just the simple strumming of the guitar. You followed the sound blindly, barefoot against the cool wood of the wrap around porch. It didn’t take you long to find him, but it sure did knock you a little breathless at the sight of him.

He was sitting against a wooden pillar, one long leg hanging off the side of the porch, his acoustic perched on his lap. He was wearing shorts, which was rare, and his Hellfire Club shirt. Admittedly, it was a weird outfit choice but it was undeniably him. He had his eyes closed, not even watching as he strummed the chords of a song you instantly recognized. It was his guilty pleasure song. A song he’d rather go to his grave than admit he liked. But here he was, lazily swinging his leg and smiling softly to himself.

You thought, for a split second, about going over to him. Sitting down cross legged in front of him like you used to. Back when you were a part of his life. But you hadn’t spoken to Eddie in a long time. Things were different. So you walked away from him, much like you had almost a year before.

Day three and four were full of awkward exchanges and sideways glances. It didn’t take long for the kids to realize something was amiss. The tension every time you two were in the same vicinity was palpable.

Day five, you came to the realization that everyone was in on Robin’s masterplan. Everyone, except you and Eddie. The two of you were teamed up at every chance possible. It started innocently enough, but soon it became glaringly obvious. You tried to roll with it, refusing to be the reason the week was ruined, but it wasn’t easy being around him. Looking at him proved difficult enough, but being able to smell him, to physically feel his presence, it was starting to unravel you. Especially after the two of you won a game of fruit punch pong and Eddie scooped you off your feet in a victorious hug. It had sent lightning zinging through your body. But then he all but dropped you to your feet. You stood like a statue as he scratched at his head, avoiding looking at you. You could hear the snickers from the kids, see the way Robin smiled proudly.

Day six came a storm so bad it flooded the driveway separating the property from the main road. Steve promised that that water would rescind soon enough, that you’d only be here a couple extra days. The kids didn’t care, but you felt that knot in your gut. That anxiety at not being able to leave. You all spent the day inside, watching movies and playing board games. Listening to Eddie play guitar and the kids have an impromptu karaoke battle. It was still raining on day seven, and Steve left Eddie in charge as you, him, and Robin walked down the muddy path to the end of the driveway. Except the entire bottom half was completely covered by a steady stream of water. Too deep to drive through. You were stuck. The three of you arrived back to the house with the news, dripping on the porch like a couple wet dogs with mud covered paws. The kids cheered. You and Eddie shared a fleeting, knowing, look.

So here you were, a day after you were supposed to leave, high and alone as thunder rolled in the distance. You could feel the rain coming in, that slight pulse in your foot, the telltale sign of a storm rolling through. Eddie always thought you were crazy when you told him your foot told you it was going to rain. But that small ache in the bone that you had broken back when you were in middle school was never wrong.

The day had been spent taking advantage of every brief moment of peace from the rain. Steve was being his normal self, which was a total mom, refusing to let the kids out unless they promised to stay out of the mud puddles. Made them go down the row, one by one, saying “I promise not to play in the mud.”, until every last kid had said it. When he finally opened the front door to let them out, they ran out like a herd of bulls, straight for the mud. Steve had the audacity to act surprised, waving his hands and stomping his feet as the kids defied him.

What a shock.

Robin and yourself were doubled over, laughing so hard not a sound was heard until you both were gasping for air. Eddie chuckled and clapped his hand over Steve’s shoulder, shaking his head in disappointment before he followed after the gaggle of children, sparring with Dustin whose face was mud brown and cakey.

After showers and a dinner of spaghetti, which you cooked, everyone gathered in the living room. Mike had not so casually suggested a game of truth or dare. You were forced to play. It was fine. Fun even. Lucas dared Steve to lick the bottom of Robin’s foot, which he did, but not without gagging and whining the whole time.

Dustin was determined to make everyone miserable, dare or not. Two fights had almost broken out between the boys. Once when Dustin dared Mike to eat the very questionable pickles in the back of the Harrington fridge. The problem? Mike hates pickles and swore up and down that he was “very susceptible to food poisoning”. Dustin called bullshit. No pickles were eaten. The second time, Will chose the truth. The question was something about Will purposefully losing the last DnD campaign, which started a whole, very heated, argument. That ended when Steve screamed at everyone to shut up before bopping Dustin upside the head. “Quit being a butthead.”

When it was Eleven’s turn to ask a question, she turned towards you with her big golden brown eyes. She was so innocent. So sweet. You picked the truth, just to appease them since you really didn’t want to play, and she thought to herself for a second and asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

It was almost like a movie, the way every head in the room had snapped towards you, waiting for an answer. You couldn’t speak at first, pretending like you were seriously thinking about it, while trying to calm your creeping anxiety. You could feel Eddie staring at you like the others, watching the way you shifted on the beanbag you sat on. All that time you two had spent together, those words were never said. But you felt them. Had felt them from the moment he had laid his head on your shoulder that night in his van when he picked you up because you just couldn’t be at home anymore.

“Yeah, I’ve been in love..” You looked directly at El as you said it, absolutely refused to look anywhere else. It wasn’t an obvious admission, but to the few people in the room that knew, you might as well have sung it from the rooftops. El had smiled at your answer, unaware of the dam she had just shattered, and the game went on. You sat there for another couple rounds before it felt like you were gonna crawl out of your skin. You excused yourself, power walked to your shared room to grab your weed, and grabbed the hoodie off the hook as you raced out the door.

You didn’t have high hopes that it’d be easy, but you never thought it’d be this hard. Things ended badly between you two. After that night, when he almost died, Eddie was a different person. You understood how hard it was on him. Coming back from the Upside Down irrevocably changed. Injured and still wanted. You stood beside him as he healed, as he and Hopper fought to clear his name. But you felt him pulling away. Could feel yourself losing him no matter how hard you tried to hold on. Then that night, when he told you he couldn’t do it any longer. That whatever you two were, was over. You thought, okay maybe he just needs space. So you gave it to him. Waited around for him to call. Days turned into a month and then another. You knew what he was up to, because despite removing you from his life, he was still friends with your friends. Hanging out, playing gigs at the Hideout, getting high with Robin next to the dumpster behind Family Video. It became all too real. He didn’t need space. He just didn’t need you.

The rain was pouring down in sheets as you sat in the hammock, nursing your bowl easily now that the wind had shifted. It felt good to be high. To feel the electrified numbness take over your senses. Thunder rumbled in the distance and you swung happily, relishing in the wet smell of the earth, in the swell of the breeze and the occasional cold drop of rain on your toes. You loved storms. Felt like you had one living in your chest. You’d become good at masking the pain of being tossed aside. Leaving it to brew like black storm clouds in your heart.

You had never put a name on your relationship. You were just friends. Friends who spent maybe a little too much time together. Friends that bonded over music and shitty parents. Friends who fooled around while high or drunk but acted like nothing happened when sober. It was a little confusing, but you grew accustomed to the mystery of it all. It was you and Eddie. That’s the only title it really needed.

There were moments during the week where things felt like they used to. But then you’d lock eyes with Eddie and the fantasy would come crashing down around you. You couldn’t ever read the expression on his face in those moments. You could tell something was simmering under the surface, but you couldn’t make it out. Your doubt said it was disdain mixed with a little hatred. Your hope said it was longing. That’s why you had to get out of there. The storm clouds in your chest crackled with lightning the moment you said what you did.

Yeah, I’ve been in love.

He was sitting in that very room. Watching you say what you’d been too scared to. You grew up thinking love was a hopeless, fickle, thing. You swore it off completely. But Eddie had weaseled his way in, made himself at home.

And then ripped it right out from under your feet.

Yet stupidly, those feelings still remained. So maybe the weed could bury them back down. At least for the night.

“Are you alive?” No such luck.

You raised your heavy head to peer up at the voice. You didn’t need to look to know who it was, but it was a pleasure to see him standing in front of you with his curls all wet.

“I’m alive. Just high.” You said into the wind.

“Shit you have weed? I ran out four days ago.” He shuffled closer, eyes darting from the bowl in your hands to your red eyes. That’s a pretty long time for him to go without, so you reach your hand out, offering the bowl to him as you swung to and fro.

“Really? Shit, thanks.” He takes your offer quickly, taking the bowl and holding it to his plush pink lips. You could still remember the way they felt against your skin. The memory made you shiver.

The two of you stayed in a peaceful silence, passing the bowl back and forth. Your fingers would brush every other pass, his fingers cold against the palm of your hand. It was exhilarating. You missed his touch so much it made your chest heavy. After a while you heard your names being called. Couldn’t quiet the disappointment as you sighed loudly, struggling to leave the hammock. The two of you walked the cobblestone path back to the porch, lingering on a look as you were pulled your separate ways. You went with Robin to the kitchen, Eddie with Dustin to the living room.

You laid in your bed next to a snoring Robin, hours after everyone had gone to sleep, rubbing the path his fingers had taken on your palm. You could still feel him, the lingering tickle of his skin against yours. Your ability to keep your distance from him was dissolving, fluttering away on butterfly wings every time you caught him watching you with furrowed brows and his big doe eyes. You missed him. Missed him so badly you hated yourself for it. Because you shouldn’t miss someone who threw you to the side without a second thought.

Maybe you were a glutton for punishment.

—-

“So what, you’re just gonna stay out here all night?”

Steve tossed you another pillow, which you fluffed before placing it on the makeshift bed you’d been building in the gazebo for the past hour. The sun was setting, tinting the cloudy sky in shade of red and orange. You had spent the day curled up in the hammock, watching the kids splash around in the lake. Steve and Robin had joined them, getting too competitive at chicken and marco polo, while you read the book you had forgotten you’d packed.

Eddie had taken up camp just in front of you. Six feet away. Laying on the ledge of the gazebo in only a pair of shorts hung so low on his hips you could trace the hill of his hip bone with your eyes. He’d brought his guitar out with him again and a very worn copy of Dante’s Inferno. He touched neither, instead he laid there for hours with the sun casting bright warm rays against his pale skin. You tried your best to keep your eyes on the pages of your book but your resolve wasn’t the strongest. You couldn’t stop yourself from peeping at him from behind your paperback. The black widow tattoo next to his collarbone, the demon just underneath it. His chest was a little more defined, his soft tummy a little firmer, the trail of dark hair leading to his thick pretty co-

Snap out of it.

You weren’t trying to objectify him, but when he looked like *that, you couldn’t help but to stare. To roam your eyes over every expanse of skin you could see. You were looking at him like a whore, clenching your thighs together and growing wet at just the sight of him. He never failed to make you horny. He could simply place one of his big, calloused, ring covered hands on your thigh and you’d be wetter than the amazon.

He caught you at one point with your book held against your chin, teeth biting into the flesh of your lips. Your eyes had been focused on the slight bulge in his pants. He wasn’t hard, just big, and it made your mouth water remembering the way the heavy head of his cock tasted in your mouth. Your eyes snapped to his when he cleared his throat and you hurried to stuff your nose back in your book, absolutely petrified that he caught you.

“I’ll be fine, Steve. The house is right there.” You busied yourself in your task, ignoring the sound of Eddie’s white Reeboks as he walked past with Max. “Look, if I have to sleep next to Robin, the Snore Queen, one more night I might smother her in her sleep.”

Steve laughed at that, walking over to the lattice walls of the gazebo and turning on the fairy lights.

“It looks good.” He said, standing next to you to admire your work. “What if it rains?”

“I tested that theory last night. I’ll stay dry as long as I stick to the middle.”

“Is the hammock gonna be in your way? I can take it down.” He offered, moving to do just that, but you held his elbow and shook your head.

“No, I’ll probably end up using it.”

“Mm, okay. Robin’s gonna have a cow that you’re leaving her, you know.” Steve nudged you with his elbow as the two of you made your way up the cobblestone towards the house.

“She’ll live. She can always bunk with you.” You smiled at him when he turned to you with a glare.

“What, so I can deal with Miss Snores a lot, no thanks.” The two of you laughed together.

“To be honest, I just want to get really fucking stoned and relax in peace.”

“Well, I’ll try to keep all the children contained so you can get some much needed alone time.” Steve held the door for you, waving his hand for you to enter first. You offered him a curtsy, turning back towards him as you entered.

“You’re such a good dad.” He rolled his eyes at this, shoving your shoulder lightly. You tossed your head back in a laugh, your favorite pastime was bugging the shit out of Steve.

Eddie was quiet the rest of the night, seemingly irritated if the drag of his fork against his plate was any indication. You could feel his eyes on you every time you talked to Steve. Catching him in your peripheral with his jaw clenched, his head low but his eyes locked onto you. He was jealous, you could tell. He was always jealous over how close you and Steve were. He told you once he couldn’t understand how Harrington had never made a move with the way you threw yourself at him. But you weren’t doing that, your feelings for Steve had always and would always be platonic. You were just a touchy person when it came to your friends.

It was wrong the way his jealousy made you dewy between your thighs. Eddie was a protective, maybe a little possessive, person when it came to those he cared about. So it was definitely wrong of you to laugh a little harder at Steve’s jokes. To run your fingers down his arm as you talked about him getting a tattoo. It was just a fun little game, a cruel but fun one. He had no right to be jealous.

He left you, remember?

But then his chair scraped across the hardwood floor so loudly it made everyone jump and he stormed out of the dining room leaving his food mostly untouched. You felt it, that disgusting guilt in the pit of your stomach. The kids were confused, watching after him and calling his name, but you all heard the way he stomped up the stairs to his room. It wasn’t until the chatter of the kids resumed that Steve leaned over and whispered into your ear, “Is that what you wanted?”

“What?” You whispered back, Steve rolled his eyes.

“You were so obviously trying to make him jealous, even I noticed it.”

“I was not.” It was easier to just deny it.

“Whatever,” He hissed. “Just go up there and fuck each others brains out already. I’m over this whole will-they-won't-they shit. You two obviously still like each other. You just need to get over yourself.”

You just need to get over yourself.

His words played on repeat through the rest of dinner. They still echoed through your brain as you helped build a giant blanket fort in the living room for the kids. Eddie never came back down and when you walked by his room on the way to yours you could hear the sound of music blaring through his Walkman. You stopped at his door, hand hovering to knock, but thought better of it. You were wrong for what you did, but that didn’t mean you wanted to apologize.

After grabbing your things and saying goodnight to the group in the living room, you made your way back to the gazebo. It was pretty and you felt a sense of pride at it. The hammock blew softly in the breeze and your makeshift bed was dry and warm, the whole space lit up by the soft orange glow of the lights hung around the space. You should have done this earlier, maybe you would have gotten some decent sleep. As much as you loved Robin, sleeping next to her was next to impossible. But out here it was just you and the crickets. The soft twinkling of windchimes off in the distance. No one could see you nestled under the blankets, your book in your hands. You caught yourself a mild high, just enough to feel the buzz under your skin but not too much that you couldn’t focus on the winding romance you followed from page to page.

You lose track of time deep in your book, but you hear the sound of shoes against the path, hear the heavy exhale as they stop at the steps in front of you.

“Uh, hey.” It’s Eddie, dressed in his usual black jeans and shirt combo, but he’s wearing a red flannel now. He looks pretty, and tired.

“Hey?” It’s more of a question as you set your book down next to you.

“Do you, uh, do you have any more weed?”

“I do.”

“Mind sharing? I could really use it right about now.”

You pass the bowl to him, watch him take a long hit and hold it deep in his lungs. The breeze takes the smoke as it billows out his mouth and in the distance thunder rolls. Just like the other night, you two pass it back and forth in silence until you can’t take watching him shift around uncomfortably.

“You can sit, if you want.” You said as you scoot over, patting the spot beside you. He lingers for a minute before kicking off his shoes and crawling in next to you. Your heart beats a little faster as he makes himself comfortable, his shoulder grazing yours as he does so.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, taking the bowl back from you.

“Yeah, of course.”

He goes to pass the bowl back to you, but you hold up a hand, telling him to finish the bowl pack. You’re watching him, not even being secretive about it. Fuck that. You didn’t care anymore, not when he looked this fucking good doing something as simple as smoking weed.

“Hey, Eds?” He almost snaps his neck with how fast he turned to look at you. It was the name. Eds. You were the only person that ever called him that. You could see him shiver under your heavy stare.

“Yeah?” He was unsure, eyes a little wider than usual.

“I’m sorry I was so clingy, after- well you know- after everything that happened.”

He looked confused, so you went on.

“But I wish you could have just told me you didn’t want me around anymore. It really hurts that you just dropped me like I meant nothing to you.” You were fiddling with your fingers now and he watched, aware of your nervous ticks.

“Bunny,” His nickname for you. It used to drive you crazy when he called you Bunny, but you couldn’t help but relish in it at the moment. “It wasn’t you.”

“Huh?”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I thought I was fucking helping you, Bunny. When we came back to Hawkins, all I wanted was to be with you but I was fucked up and everyone thought I was a fucking serial killer… I thought if you stayed with me you’d end up resenting me.”

“They cleared your name, Eds.”

“Yeah, and yet I still get dirty looks and yelled at in town. Not everyone believed I was innocent. Especially not your parents.”

“My parents?” Of course they had something to do with it.

“They came into Family Video one day, told me if I didn’t break it off with you that they’d keep your college fund from you. That they would disown their own daughter. I- Bunny all you ever talked about was getting the fuck out of Hawkins, if they did that you’d never be able to leave. I couldn’t let that happen. You were gonna leave me anyways, go off to college and get your dream job. I felt like I was just holding you back.” His eyes were searching your face as he finished, looking for a reaction before you could even process the words he said.

“Eddie, you should have told me.”

“You wouldn’t have listened to me. I wasn’t gonna be the one to take that away from you.”

You laughed darkly, looking out over the pitch black lake. “Eds, they took the fucking money away from me anyways. I crashed my dad's car while driving out to Forest Hills a couple months ago. Completely totaled it. It was never about you, Eddie, my parents are fucking horrible. They were just waiting for a reason to take that money back. I think they’re gonna use it to get divorced.”

“What? Were you hurt?” His whole body is turned towards you now, searching every inch he could see for any sign of injury, as if it had just happened.

“I broke my wrist.” You held it up in front of his face and he gingerly took it between his large hands, tracing the small scar with his thumb. “I’m fine now. I’m surprised the peanut gallery didn’t tell you.”

“I asked them not to tell me about you.” He said softly, gauging your reaction to his words. “It hurt too much to think about you out there without me.”

“You can be really dense, you know that?” He gives you a look you can’t help but giggle at. “I’ve missed you, Eddie.”

“Have you?” He asked, hands still holding your wrist. “Couldn’t tell. You’ve been avoiding me like the plague since we got here.”

“Can you blame me? You broke my heart.” The words escape you before you can stop them.

“I’m sorry.” He said and you know he meant it just by the sad expression he wore, his frown almost upsetting. He was so pretty when he smiled, it almost killed you to see him frown.

“S’okay. I’m okay. It was hard but I got over it.” Lies.

“I heard.” That stops you in your tracks and you squint your eyes up at him, suspiciously.

“What’s that mean?”

“What? Nothing. I just heard that you’ve been dating, s’all.”

He heard you’ve been dating? From who?

“Yeah, thought you didn’t keep tabs on me?”

He shrugged. “Dustin lets things slip.”

“Dustin’s a child. He thinks he knows more than he does.”

He nodded. “So you aren’t going out with Chris Younger?”

Fucking Dustin. That nosy little punk.

“I wouldn’t call it going out.” You said, cocking your head to the side. The orange glow made his eyes look lighter, a more honey brown, but the clench of his jaw was unmistakable.

“What would you call it then?” He asked slowly, each word spoken like he was forcing them out of his mouth.

“Eddie…” It was a warning. You knew he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Bunny.” It was a firm order of your nickname; he wanted to know.

“I fucked him senseless and never called him back.”

There it was, the flare of his nostrils, the clench of his jaw so tight you feared it would lock up, and his eyes so narrowed all you could see in the dim light was his black pupils.

“Is that what you wanted to hear, Eddie? That I fucked him in the backseat of his car? That I let him call me baby as I rode his cock?” You were getting a rise out of him. He shook his head and looked away from you, his hands balled up in fists in his lap. His anger wasn’t enough to shut you up however. You had him right where you wanted him. So you grabbed his chin with your fingers and pulled him into you, your breath fanning over his face.

“Or maybe you want to hear about how I imagined he was you the whole time. That I called him by your name as I came. Because it doesn’t matter who it is, no one can fuck me as good as you can, Eds.”

You kissed him before you could think twice about it. Kissed him so hard he gasped, toppling onto his back in surprise, his hands coming up to hold your face to his. You bit his lip, slipping your tongue into his mouth when he moaned. You were never the one to take the lead, that had always been his job, but you weren’t gonna be submissive to him this time. He had to earn that.

You pushed him until he was propped up against the pillows, looking all pretty with his hair splayed over the pillow and his cheeks all red. Crawling onto his lap, you sat right on his hardening cock, feeling the bulge so clearly through the thin fabric of your shorts.

“Tell me, Eddie. Use your words. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Bunny.” He only whispered as he gazed up at you.

“Bunny.” You mocked him, pouting over exaggeratedly down at him, before an evil thought crossed your mind and you ground your hips down onto him. Your clothed pussy dragging up the length of his hard cock. His hands clapped down on your waist, seizing a hold of your hips with bruising force. He moaned. Long and languid, his eyes falling shut and his mouth parting wide.

“Eddie, focus.” You teased him, grinding against him even harder. Even slower. Circling your hips on top of him at such an agonizing pace it drove even you crazy.

“I can’t.” He whined, eyes still pinned shut, his heartbeat pounding through his chest underneath the palm of your hand.

“I want an answer, Eddie. Is that what you wanted to hear?” His hands flew from your hips to pull at his hair. You could tell how hard you were making this for him. He didn’t want to say it. To say that it made him hard thinking about you cumming over some other guys dick while you screamed Eddie’s name. It made him furious, but it also made him throb. “Say it, Eddie.”

“I-I can’t.” He cried out, slamming his fists down onto the blankets underneath you two.

“Okay.” It was all you said before you removed yourself from him, kneeling between his spread legs instead. His eyes sprung open at the loss of you, propping up on his elbows with a cute little frown.

“Why’d you stop?” He pouted, reaching out for you with his ringed, greedy, fingers. You swatted him away as he pulled at your shirt, giving him your best disapproving look. Inside, though, you were a live wire, crackling with electricity.

“I’m not gonna give you what you want unless you answer me.” You stated. Eddie groaned.

“Why does it matter, Bunny?”

“Because it does. Because for months I waited for you to come back and you never did. Because I had to sit there and listen to Steve talk about Heather Mott coming into the fucking video store every week just to flirt with you. Because I couldn’t *stop thinking about you taking her out to lovers lake and fucking her in the back of your van like you did with me.”

Your chest heaved with every breath you took, spilling your heart out to him as he sat there and looked at you with those big brown eyes that you loved so much. You needed him to say it, because you couldn’t be the only one suffering through your separation.

“Bunny… Dustin didn’t tell me about you and Chris.” He paused, shook his head, and laid back down. His eyes burned holes into the rafters of the gazebo. “I saw you two, at the movies. He had his hand on your thigh and you were whispering to each other and I stood there and I watched you kiss him. It felt like shit seeing you like that with someone else. So I left, went into the parking lot and punched a dent in the side of my van.”

There it was. You had felt like you were going crazy, knowing he didn’t need you but still beating yourself up with the thought of his hands on someone else's body. It certainly wasn’t healthy. But knowing he felt it too made you feel a little less alone.

Your fingers began unbuckling his belt, pulling the leather through the loops and tossing it to the side. Eddie’s hands came down on yours, stalling your work on his zipper.

“Bunny, w-what are you doing?” Once again you swatted at his hands, grabbing him by his wrists and pinning them to his sides.

“I’m gonna suck your cock and you’re not gonna touch me until I say so, understood?”

Eddie was visibly shocked by your words, but he still nodded his head and laid as still as he could as you pulled his jeans down his legs. His cock sprang free, laying against his stomach, precum dripping down the sides of its head. You wanted to lick it all up, savor every drop. But then something else caught your attention.

“What, no boxers?” It was only a tease as you worked his jeans off his strong legs. Eddie shook his head, cheeks heating in a blush of embarrassment.

“Ran out.” He grunted, watching your fingers dance up his shaft.

“Of course you did. Let me guess, you didn’t pack enough?” You wrapped your hand around him fully as you spoke, following the shaky inhale he took at the feeling with lustful eyes. You bit your lip as he arched into your stroke, pressing his head back into the pillows with a groan.

“No,” He said after wetting his lips, his mouth dry. “No, I… I just went through them fast.”

You narrowed your eyes at this, stroking your thumb over his wet tip. “How’d you do that, Eds?”

“Ah shit, that feels- fuck, I-I’ve been jerking it like crazy since I ran out of weed.” A funny feeling grows in your chest at his words, a wide smile pulling at the corners of your lips. You continued the slow caress of your thumb to his most sensitive part as you leaned back on your heels a little, offering him a naïve look.

“Whatchu been thinking about, hmm?” He met your look with one of his own. It was an attempt to look irritated at what he thought was such an obvious question. He knew you knew. But that look wouldn’t hold, not with you swiping the precum from his slit before smoothing the salty taste down your tongue. Because you already knew the answer. You fucking knew.

“Y-you, Bunny. I was thinking about you. I always think about you.” His voice falls off at the end, if you weren’t paying such close attention to him you probably wouldn’t have heard it. But you did, and it sends heat right to your core. His hands shake at his sides.

“What am I doing, in these thoughts of yours?” You flatten your tongue against his tip, keening at the way his brows knit together and the way the head of his cock is warm against your tongue.

“Can’t tell ya. S’too dirty for me to say.”

“I already know you’re a dirty boy, Eddie.” You wrapped your lips around his head, hollowing your cheeks as you coaxed him into your mouth. You took him as far into your throat as you could, gagging on his thickness. You weren’t sure if it was the sound you made or the feeling that got him, but as you pulled up his length his hands sprung to your head. He didn’t force you back down, no, he grabbed your head and stroked your cheeks gently. Peering up at him you found he was gazing down at you so intently, so much affection radiating off him. He broke your rule, but only to silently thank you.

“That feels incredible, Bunny.” Another gentle stroke of your cheek before he lays his hands back down at his sides, allowing you to continue your trail up his shaft.

You go back to the task at hand; slowly unraveling his wits with your hot wet mouth and tongue. Eddie was getting more talkative, a sure sign he was close, and you didn’t want that yet. He wasn’t allowed to cum yet. One last swirl around his tip, his hands found your elbow and you pulled away from him fast. His hands blindly followed after you, reaching out into the orange glow around you. You were already on your feet when he sat up, his hard cock bobbing as he shuffled forward.

“Wh-where are you going?” His voice was strained, his face pinched together.

You pulled your shirt over your head, looped your thumbs in the waistband of your shorts as you wiggled them over your thighs and down your legs.

“Skinny dipping. You coming?”

“What? Bunny, I was so close.”

“I know. You can wait though.” You tried to hide your smile while taking off your bra and throwing it into his face. “Now, are you coming?”

“I’m trying to.” He was starting to whine and you felt so powerful. Loved the way he looked ready to get on his knees and grovel for you. “What if someone sees?” He asked, eyes taking in your bare body, his own hand now wrapped around his cock. You push his hand away with your foot, tsking at him.

“Stop that.” You chastised. “And no one will see, with the day they had they’re probably all asleep. Come on Eddie, don’t you want to see me all naked and wet?”

“You’re already dripping wet.” So he noticed. The slick between your legs was starting to trail down your thigh, leaving you sticky and uncomfortable.

“Come. Don’t come. It’s your choice.” With that you sprinted to the dock, ignoring him calling after you as you jumped. The warm water swallowed your whole, caressing your heated skin, relaxing your muscles. The water was too dark to see but you felt the rumble of water as Eddie jumped in behind you.

You broke through the surface with a laugh, smoothing your hair out of your face and searched the dark expanse of the lake for him. He popped out beside you, grabbing you by the waist and anchoring you to his chest. He kissed you sweetly, letting his tongue trace the shape of your lips. You didn’t push him away, chose to let him kiss you as passionately as he wanted, because this was all *you wanted. To be with him like this again felt too good to be true. But Eddie was sturdy under your touch, there was no doubt that this was really happening.

When he pulled away, you couldn’t help the giggle that flew out your mouth. His hair was wild, soaking wet, little curls glued to his face.

“Hi. You came.” You said as you pushed the hair from his eyes.

“Yeah, how could I not?” He let you finish fixing his hair before he laid your head against his shoulder, a firm hand holding your body to his. His cock was still hard, pressed against your hip, and as much as you wanted to reach your hand between the two of you, you felt content just letting him hold you like this.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” He cooed into your ear, kissing the wet hair at your temple.

“Next time, just tell me, Eds. All this angsty teenage bullshit was for nothing.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing, Bunny.”

“I know. I know.”

“I’ve missed you so fucking much.”

“Me too, Eds. So lonely without you.”

He squeezed you tighter, holding in his warm embrace until the sky opened up and rain poured from the dark clouds in rivets. You shrieked as a pierce of lightning hit the sky, thunder bursting around you making the water shake with the vibration. The two of you raced back to the shore, running through the cold rain toward the gazebo in a fit of laughter.

When you finally reached shelter, you snatched up his red flannel, pushing your arms through the sleeves with chattering teeth. Eddie grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around his shoulders like a giant cape, pulling you into his warmth. You wrapped your arms around him, nosing the slight patch of hair between his pecs as he held you close, eyes watching the rain pound the water.

“What the fuck just happened.” He chuckled, rocking his body back and forth. You jerked side to side with him, poking him in the ribs when he took you off balance.

“I guess it was time to get out.” You mused kissing his sternum, taking advantage of the blanket you were both wrapped up in, to slip your hand between your bodies and stroke his softening cock.

His head fell into yours, humming at the feeling of your cold hand slowly jerking him off.

“Eddie, lay back down.”

“I’m all wet, Bunny.”

“Don’t care, want you inside me. Now.”

You figured you wouldn’t have to beg and you were right. Eddie dropped the blanket and settled down into the pillows. You crawled into his lap, placing your pussy right down against him. He was already hard, hips rutting up into your slick folds as you teased his length. It didn’t take long for him to get needy, impatient. Whining to himself and digging his nails into your thighs. How could you have missed out on this. On teasing him until he couldn’t form a single rational thought other than “fuck me”.

His hands went to your tits as you sank down on him, keening and groaning as you took him to the hilt. It was a little too much, he hadn’t been inside you for so long it felt like the first time all over again. Eddie must have thought so too as one of his ringed hands left your breast to grip your hip, holding you down on top of him. This was always his favorite part, the stillness before he fucked you senseless. Except he wasn’t in control this time, and despite the need you felt to ride him until the sun came up, you wanted to savor this.

So you sat on his cock, pulsing deep inside you with every clench of your walls, and slowly starting to roll your hips. You used the already quivering muscles of your thighs to guide yourself up and down. Slow at first, making sure you were ready, and then faster until your tits were bouncing in his face. He sat up, meeting you halfway, his mouth closing around your pebbled nipple. He flicked his tongue against the bud and your head lolled back, his flannel slipping from your shoulder.

“Jesus, you’re so beautiful. So fucking pretty like this, bouncing on my cock. Feels just like our first time, can’t believe how fucking tight you are.” He’s breathless as he rambled, palms splayed against your back, helping you fuck his cock at a steady, brain rotting, pace.

“So good, Eds. So good.” You cried out when his hips snapped up into you causing you to fall into his sweaty chest. Your thighs were shaking and your knees ached, but you wanted to be on top. Wanted to be in control, but his cock was hitting you in all the right places and he was looking you dead in the eye. Eye contact was a favorite of his. Loved being able to see the moment you came, the way your eyes squeezed shut.

“Let me take over, Bunny.” He whispered, nudging his nose against yours. “Let me take care of you, show you how much I missed you.”

“No.” You growled, shoving him back against the makeshift bed. You paused your hips to lean over top of him, getting comfortable in this new position with your hands next to his head. You sank down fast and hard once you were ready and Eddie choked on whatever words he was about to say.

“I’m in charge, this time.” You punctuated your words with a slow roll of your hips, sighing as you hung your head forward, unable to tear your eyes away from your pussy greedily swallowing his cock.

Eddie was the one to pull you back to him, kissing you deeply, your tongues swirling together in your mouth. You whined when his thumb started making small tight circles around your swollen clit, snapping your hips down on him at the same pace. The fire in your belly felt like it was gonna burst, your thighs shaking as they desperately tried to carry on. But the approaching wave of your orgasm had you losing rhythm, stalling your hips at their own accord. Eddie saw but didn’t say a thing, only rolled you onto your back and hitched your legs over his hips.

You went to complain, but Eddie shushed you, covering you with his body and cradling your face.

“You’re still in charge, Bunny, M’just helping you.” His hand dipped between your bodies, fingers resuming their tight circles. “You’re such a good boss.”

“Don’t-” You whimpered as his thrusts made your back arch and your toes curl. “Don’t patronize me.”

Eddie chuckled, sucking a hickey to your chest. “I’m not, Bunny, I promise. You did such a good job being on top. My good girl.”

His good girl. Fuck you missed that. Forgotten how good it felt to be called his. You clenched around him causing his thrusts to falter. You were so close, you could feel it burning just under the surface. You wanted to tell him, let him know how good he felt inside you, but there was no reason to. You took one look at him and knew he knew. He could feel it in how wet you were getting, as if it was humanly possible for you to be even more wet, could see it in the pout of your lips and the pinch in your brow.

“Come on, baby. Cum for me. Cum all fucking over my cock. I know you want to, baby. Just let go.”

Your nails dug into his hips as you came, hard. You didn’t make a peep, the air trapped in your throat prevented any sound that tried to escape your open mouth. Eddie fucked you through it wildly, his fast thrusts and your wet core making a sloppy sound when he buried himself to the hilt and pulled back out.

“I’m so close, Bunny. W-where do you want me to cum?” Eddie’s voice was ragged, sweat beading down his chest as he fucked into you.

“Inside, Eds.” You were still out of breath, but you had regained at least a small part of your senses back. “Cum inside me.”

Eddie was dumbstruck, groaning at your words, but that rational side of him made him say, “But, I’m not wearing a condom.”

“I’m on the pill, Eds. Been on the pill since you took my virginity.” And since you took his. “I wanna feel it inside me, Eds.”

“Ah, shit. You- You can’t just say shit like that, Bunny. So dirty. My little freak. Gonna make me come too fast.”

“I thought you were close?” You hiccupped, holding onto him like your life depended on it.

“I am. Just wanna h-hold off a little longer.” He was so focused, the tip of his tongue poking out between his lips as he watched the way your soaked pussy continued to take him. “M’not ready to cum yet. Keep thinking about what you said, h-how you thought of me while you fucked that punk Younger.”

You caressed his cheek, guiding his gaze back to yours. “Stop thinking so much, Eddie.”

“Can’t, shoulda been me. Can’t believe you fucked someone else. Hate the thought of it. Hate that it makes my cock twitch.” His pace was brutal now, his hips slapping against yours so roughly the sound echoed through the trees.

“I wanted it to be you, Eddie.” You spoke softly against his ear, carding your fingers through his tangled curls.

“F-fuck, say my name again. Please, Bunny.”

“Cum inside me, Eddie. Fill me up. Make me yours, Eddie. I wanna be yours.” You chanted in his ear all the praise he’d been desperately missing for months now, clenching down around him when his hips stuttered and his breath caught in his throat.

He came with a shaky grunt, his arm wrapping behind your waist to hold you in place as he fucked himself through it in a few hard, sloppy, jerks of his hips. His cum painted your insides, leaking out around his base as he collapsed on top of you.

“Jesus Christ, that was fucking amazing, so much better than my hand.” Eddie joked as he kissed up the column of your neck, licking at your pulse point and chuckling when it made you shiver under him.

“You really didn’t fuck anyone else after you left?” You asked because you wanted to know, because if he hadn’t you’d feel like shit about the fact that you *had.

“No,” Eddie said, raising to his elbows to look down at you. “I didn’t want to. Felt wrong even thinking about someone else.”

Well, that made you feel like shit. Because you did fuck someone else, and it didn’t matter that it was horrible and your regretted it immediately, because you knew it felt wrong and you still did it.

“Hey, Bunny, don’t cry. Why are you crying?” Eddie rolled off you and pulled your head against his chest, cradling you in his arms while he stroked your hair.

“I was so lonely, I fucked him because I was so lonely and just wanted to be touched and y-you didn’t and I’m such a shitty person.” You were blubbering into his skin, hot tears streaking down your cheeks.

“Hey, don’t do that. We weren’t together, you’re allowed to sleep with other people.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t. You could have and you still didn’t.”

He said your name, your real name, so softly and so lovingly that you nuzzled closer to him, too scared to look him in the eye. The moment reminded you of the night you took each other's virginities. How he held you so close afterwards, stroking your hair, and he hummed your name. Said it in a way you’d never heard before. That night, the sex had been okay, you were both new to it all working together to figure out what felt good and what made your eyes roll back into your heads. Every time after had been better than the last as you learned together what sex could be. But it didn’t matter how high he was, how wrecked and worn out he was, he always held you after. Said your name like it was the only thing that mattered. It was his thing, a thing you never even asked for but it made you feel whole inside.

Eddie was always just doing these things for you without you even asking because he wanted to do them.

“Hey, look at me.” He lifted your chin until he could see your sad face. “I don’t care that you fucked someone else.”

“But-” You tried to interrupt but he put his hand over your mouth, efficiently shutting you up.

“I don’t care about that, at least I’m trying not to. I’ll work on it but you need to stop this ridiculous hate fest going on in that pretty little head of yours. It only took you fucking one person to realize the truth.”

“What truth is that?” You asked with a weak voice, muffled by his hand over your mouth.

“That I’m the fucking god of sex.”

He says it with such a straight face you can’t help but laugh.

“You’re ridiculous.” You snorted, shoving at his chest so you could roll onto your back. You were still giggling as you wiped the tears from your eyes, that ball of guilt in your chest a little lighter.

“Am I wrong? Seriously, Bunny. You can’t say I’m wrong.” He’s trying to be serious but he can’t stop the toothy smile that spreads across his face when he hears you snort again.

“I taught you everything you know, Eds. Shouldn’t that make me the sex god.”

“You know what, you just have to steal my moment, huh?” You coo at him when he says this, patting his cheek with so much condescension he bats your hands away and grabs you by your cheeks with his fingers. “Don’t be a brat, Bunny.”

You smooch at him and he rolls his eyes, drawing you up to his lips. He dropped his hand to your jaw, kissing you so tenderly it made your already wobbly knees weaker.

“Eddie?” You asked as he brushed his nose against yours.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t leave me like that again, I don’t think I could take it.”

He turned serious as he said, “I promise, Bunny. I’ll try to use my brain a little harder next time.”

“Good.” You ran your thumb over the sharp edge of his jaw. “Good, your brain needs the exercise.”

Eddie tossed his head back against the pillow, dark curls flying into his face and you giggled even harder, loved how dramatic he just couldn’t help being.

“God, you’re such a brat!” He laughed along with you, pulling you tight against his side, and you knew right then that you didn’t have to worry about missing him so deeply it tore you apart ever again.

He wasn’t gonna run away this time.

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