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asahicore · 8 months

Text

real me, real you - psh

pairing. sunghoon x fem!reader (ft. jay... sorry)

synopsis. You’re your school’s popular pretty smart girl, but with a twist - you lead a completely different life at home, where you are messy, lazy and foul-mouthed. Only your family and best friend Sumin know about this, until Park Sunghoon, of all people, finds out. The resident cold and arrogant heartbreaker of your school decides to blackmail you into doing his biddings - but you can’t say no, not even when he asks you to be his fake girlfriend, otherwise he’ll ruin your reputation. But as you and Sunghoon get closer, you realize that maybe he’s not so bad after all, and you may be more similar than you'd originally though - all while your old childhood friend Jay watches from the sidelines.

genre. fake dating, high school au, very slight love triangle action, fluff and angst

warnings. this is the first thing i ever wrote so there may be slightly cringe and awkward things but i didn't wanna change anything lol, hoon is a meanie at some point and everything is dramatic and very fanfic-y, mild childhood trauma for both of them <3

word count. 22.9k

author's note. @end-hyphen genie this one is for you... i hope you still like this fic after all this time lol ! as i said in the warnings i only changed a few typos and punctuation from the original but i decided to not make any major changes bc i think it's nice to see what my writing was like when i had just started out!! hopefully i've improved lol, also this was not inspired by true beauty!! i've never seen the show nor read the webtoon. i was inspired by two mangas called switch girl and kare kano (or his and her circumstances) which have this plot of a girl being two different people at school and at home. anyways hope u guys enjoy this and if u do pls lmk <333

Nobody was supposed to find out.

You were the most popular girl in school, known for your looks, good grades, and kind personality. You had a nice group of friends and the whole school at your feet, students and staff alike. As the student representative, you had an image to keep up and needed everyone to think you were perfect; and they did. So you always wore a smile on your face, kept your head up and made sure your uniform was creaseless, all while maintaining the highest scores in your year. Always being friendly to your peers and helping them out prevented anyone from thinking you were a stuck-up goody-two-shoes. You made high school look like a breeze.

But such a life didn’t exist. Who was happy waking up at 6 a.m. every day and dedicating all of their time to schoolwork and student life? You certainly weren’t. What you thrived off of was having everyone think you were. Hearing whispers in the corridor of, “She’s so pulled together!” or “I wish I had her life”, now, those skyrocketed you to heaven. The cherry on top was a nod of approval from a teacher or an “outstanding job again, Y/N” as they handed you back your graded paper. Your favorite color had become the red of the pens your teachers used to write A+ at the top of the page.

You’d always been academically gifted, but as you heard those words more and more, you’d started craving them and doing everything to hear them again until they started controlling you instead of the other way around. Everything you did needed to be perfect. And that was how you had created this persona of the perfect girl who had it all together at the ripe age of 17. But that’s exactly what it was; a persona.

As soon as you stepped off the bus and waved goodbye to your friends, you became another person. Or more accurately, you reverted back to your natural self. You weren’t an evil person by any means; it wasn’t your intention to actively deceive everyone at school, it was more of a side effect of keeping up appearances. Only your family and your closest friend Sumin knew what you were truly like: greedy, messy, short-tempered, self-centered, and sometimes downright insufferable. Your younger siblings, Sunoo and Yeeun, liked to joke that you had a button you switched on and off whenever you left the house. When on, you were the sweetest girl ever, but when off, all your vices crept up and let themselves known to the world, or rather to your family. You didn’t mean to make them suffer, but after a long day of being perfect, you needed to blow off some steam; if they had to be your metaphorical punching bag, so be it.

When Sunoo entered high school, you made him swear he wouldn’t say a thing to anyone. You trusted him and knew he wouldn’t let your secret out - it was too entertaining for him to see you act perfect at school and reveal your true self at home. There was no risk of anyone finding out - you were so intent on keeping the act up that nothing ever slipped you. It had been that way since middle school, and your senior year of high school was going to be no different.

Nobody was supposed to find out, so what was Park Sunghoon doing right in front of you in the frozen aisle of the corner convenience store, just when you happened to be bare-faced, with thick glasses on and a pimple bright red from just having been popped, in your comfiest pajamas, and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s in hand?

“Kim Y/N? Y/N, is that you?”

You froze in place, not knowing how to react. There was no way this, your worst nightmare, was actually happening.

When you regained your senses, flight seemed the best way out of this. You avoided Sunghoon’s curious gaze and curtly replied, “No, sorry, I don’t know who that is,” before walking away, iron grip on the ice cream.

But the boy was quicker than you and grabbed you by the wrist, forcing you to turn around. “It is you! Come on, Y/N, aren’t we friends? Do you not recognize me or something?”

If it wasn’t for the panic coursing through your veins at that moment, you might’ve laughed at his question. How could you not recognize the Park Sunghoon? Along with Park Jongseong and Sim Jaeyun, or Jay and Jake as they liked to be called, he was only the most popular guy in your year - hell, in the whole school. The three of them had gained attention from freshman year as the three handsome soccer players. Jake and Sunghoon had been attached at the hip since kindergarten, Jay joining them sometime in middle school when he came back from his year abroad in Seattle.

Your parents and Jay’s had been college best friends and you two had therefore grown up together, and even used to be quite close. You’d grown apart when he joined Jake and Sunghoon’s friend group, and although you still got on well, there was always a bit of an awkward atmosphere when you caught up with each other.

The three friends had quite different personalities but their complicity and shared history made them stick together. Jake was known for his academic achievements, rivaling yours, and his friendly personality; Jay, for his surprisingly funny antics once you got past the somewhat menacing appearance (which he blames on his resting bitch face). Sunghoon, on the other hand, was as cold as ice, so much that he’d earned the nickname of ice prince, but girls continued to swoon over him due to his incredibly handsome features. When turning down girls, Jake and Jay always tried to let them down gently, but Sunghoon wasn’t one to hold back: he’d laugh in their face or straight up say no, staring them right in the eyes. Most confessions ended in tears (not his, obviously), but girls kept on testing their luck, thinking they might be the one to melt the ice prince’s cold, dead heart.

Clearly, you weren’t Sunghoon’s biggest fan.

His behavior had always made you wonder why Jay and Jake were friends with a person like him. They went back a long time, but how did Sunghoon not become a nice and approachable person like his two best friends? They both seemed so genuine, but he looked like he was hiding something. This was what had made you weary of him; you knew all too well how easily an image that was the opposite of reality could be created. So on one hand, you sort of felt for him, thinking he might be in a similar situation as you. But on the other hand, you couldn’t help but feel some kind of jealousy: if you acted the way he did, you wouldn’t receive half the admiration you did. Hell, you’d probably be hated for it - no one likes a girl that’s both successful and bitchy about it.

One thing was sure, though, and that was that you wouldn’t call the two of you friends, as he just had.

“Y/N? You okay?”

The pure panic in your eyes must’ve made Sunghoon realize something was wrong. He released you and looked you up and down, trying to take your appearance in. The Y/N he was seeing right then was worlds away from the one he was accustomed to at school.

You realized there was no ignoring him, so you collected yourself and faced Sunghoon. “Uh, yeah, hi, Sunghoon. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew here.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, no wonder. You look quite… different from what you usually do,” he said, voice laced with sarcasm.

This whole situation got you dumbfounded. You usually knew exactly what to retort when somebody messed with you, your friend or a classmate, but this time, you were completely speechless. You just wanted to escape.

“Well, it was nice seeing you Sunghoon, but I need to get home.” You pivoted on your heels and started walking again, but Sunghoon had other plans.

“Aw, come on, so quickly? We barely got to chat!” He followed you through the aisles as you picked up the remaining ingredients on the list your mother had given you as quickly as you could.

“I didn’t know you needed glasses. Do you wear lenses at school?”

“Yes. I need them to see.”

“I figured.” You could hear the smirk in his voice, and your shock was slowly morphing into anger. Were teenage girls so blind that they’d have a crush on someone with such an abominable personality, no matter how angelic his face was?

“I really like your outfit, by the way. Looks super comfy.” And as if your embarrassment couldn’t grow any bigger, he added: “Too bad you got a stain on the shirt.”

You looked down at yourself and noticed a huge grease stain on the collar of your shirt. Admittedly, you didn’t always have the best table manners.

You swore under your breath. It was quiet for a couple minutes as you arrived at the register and paid for your items, Sunghoon still on your tail. He had apparently given up his purchases to focus solely on tormenting you. When you walked out of the store, you thought he might finally be done. But of course, he wasn’t.

“You know, my sister has this really effective pimple cream she uses. Do you want me to ask her what brand it is?”

That was it. You sighed deeply. “Alright, Park. What do you want?”

When you turned to face him fully, arms crossing over your chest and an obviously tired expression on your face, the mischievous glint in his eyes made you realize something. That idiot was enjoying this.

Indeed, he beamed down at you. You had probably never seen him smiling so widely. “Wow, Y/N, didn’t know you could have such an attitude.”

You stayed silent and continued staring at him, waiting for an answer. He mirrored your pose, out of instinct or to irritate you, you weren’t sure.

“You know, when I moved to this neighborhood before the start of school, I was definitely not expecting to see Perfect Miss Y/N out in her pajamas buying ice cream. I thought you were more into, I don’t know, rescuing puppies from fires or something. That sounds like something you’d do in your free time.”

“Well, is there anything wrong with what I’m doing?”

“Oh, absolutely not! Just a surprising sight. Makes me wonder what the rest of the school would say…” He looked intently at you, clearly waiting for a reaction. You weren’t about to give him one, though.

You chuckled and rolled your eyes, shifting your weight on your right foot. “Yeah, like anyone would believe you if you said you saw me looking anything else other than perfect.” It might’ve sounded arrogant, but that was the image people had of you. Even your friends asked you how you did it - if only they knew the truth.

At that, his smile got even brighter. “Don’t worry about that, I won’t need to tell anyone. I’ll just show them!” He pulled out his phone, showing you a picture of you in your god-awful pajamas searching for your favorite flavor of ice cream.

He watched as your face fell, taking your silence as an opportunity to go on. “You were so engrossed in the tubs of ice cream that you didn’t notice a dashingly handsome and tall young man very obviously taking pictures of you.”

This put you into panic mode again. It might have seemed foolish, but you hadn’t worked for years to create a perfect version of yourself only for a stupid boy to destroy it all with one picture.

You sighed and lowered your head, taking a moment to think. You didn’t know Sunghoon that well, but you didn’t put it past him to send that picture to everyone and ruin your image in the process. You opted for honesty instead of bluff. You took your glasses off and looked back up at him; even if you couldn’t see him as well without them, maybe he’d see the despair in your eyes better.

“Park. I mean, Sunghoon. You can’t show that picture to anyone, okay? You have no idea how bad I need to keep up appearances. It’s really important to me, so just delete the picture and let’s never talk about this again, yeah?”

You tried smiling at him, but his expression infuriated you. You could tell he had something else up his sleeve. “Now, Y/N, why would I do that? If I’m gonna do something for you, you should do something for me.”

You weren’t sure if you wanted to hear the rest of his thoughts, but you needed to know. Eyeing him suspiciously, you told him to go on.

“Well, I can’t think of anything right now, but I’ll let you know when I do, okay? I’ll see you around, Y/N.” He flashed another one of his smiles, patted your head, and walked away, just like that, leaving you standing outside the convenience store on your own, a melting tub of ice cream in your plastic bag. At least for now, you were safe.

Right?

—

“You saw Park Sunghoon? As in, the Park Sunghoon?” your little sister Yeeun asked, looking at you with huge eyes. You two and Sunoo were sitting on your bed, sharing the ice cream by eating it directly from the tub.

“Yes, that’s literally what I’ve been saying this whole time. How do you know him anyway? You’re still in middle school…”

“Are you crazy? He’s famous in our whole school district! I wish we had cute boys in my school as well,” she sulked, pouting.

“That’s not the point, Yeeun,” Sunoo chimed in, then turned to you. “Well, this is either bad news or the start of a beautiful romance.”

“Sunoo! Take this seriously! I’m in a huge dilemma right now.”

Your siblings shared a knowing glance and snickered.

“Hey! I’m right here. I’m not overreacting, you know. If he does send those pictures around, I’m done for.”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, you’d be so much better off if you could be yourself at school. I see you there almost everyday, and the way you laugh always sounds so fake. Nobody would care if you forgot to put makeup on one day or had a crease in your shirt. If anything, it’d make you look more human.”

You could see where Sunoo was coming from, but you chose to ignore it. You sighed deeply. “You guys just don’t get it. They all see me as this perfect, put-together girl. If I showed them even a glimpse of the truth, everything would shatter. It’s too late to go back now.” You ignored their pitying looks and took another big spoonful of ice cream.

It was their turn to sigh. As always, it was impossible to reason with you. Deep in your thoughts, you added: “You know, there was something really off about him today. I’d never seen him act that way before.”

Your siblings looked at you questioningly. “He’s always so cold and distant towards everyone. I’ve only seen him smile when he’s laughing with Jake and Jay or when he makes fun of someone. But just now, he kept smiling at me like he was having fun. He even patted my head when he left.”

At that, Yeeun swooned dramatically, hands over her heart. You looked over at her and said, “I’d be swooning too if it was any other guy than Park Sunghoon. I’m more confused than anything right now, he was a completely different person from when I see him at school.”

They exchanged another look. “You guys stop doing that!”

“Well, it’s just that that sounds an awful lot like someone I know,” Sunoo replied. Realization hit you and you scoffed, mildly offended. At least you were nice to others at school and didn’t act like an asshole with a superiority complex.

“Anyway,” he continued, “what will you do about Sunghoon?”

“I’m not too sure. I guess all I can do is wait and see whatever it is he could want from me.”

“Yeah, do that, and then date him, please. If I can’t have him as my boyfriend, then I’ll have him as my brother-in-law,” Yeeun joked. You didn’t have it in you to retort anything back and started laughing along with her.

If everything did shatter, at least you’d have your siblings to make you laugh.

—

The next day, you made your way to the bus stop after your daily morning routine: jogging, showering, eating a filling breakfast, choosing the perfect accessories for your school uniform, applying just the right amount of makeup and going over your subjects and tasks of the day. As always, efficiency is the key. You had become so used to this routine that your body did it on its own, which let your mind wander wherever it pleased. Usually, you’d use this time to prepare yourself for the day ahead, but today, the only thing on your mind was Park Sunghoon. What was that boy up to? Was he up to anything, or did you completely imagine his mischievousness yesterday? In any case, you hoped it would all be over soon.

You got on the bus and sat down next to Sumin. Your close friend group at school consisted of her, Park Sieun, Lee Heeseung and Choi Jiung, but she was the only one who knew about your secret. You had been friends for so long that you hadn’t even been able to hide it: she’d seen you from all angles, both before, during and after your transformation to who you were now. It was nice having someone else than your siblings to rely on and tell everything to.

“Minie, you’ll never guess what happened yesterday. I ran into Park Sunghoon at the convenience store next to our apartment unit.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, but her reaction wasn’t as big as you thought it’d be. She smiled and said, “Huh! I knew he’d moved to our neighborhood, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d live so close to you that you’d even shop at the same place.”

She registered your confused expression and continued. “Didn’t you hear? He moved out of his parents’ house at the end of summer. Something about a huge fight with them that made him move out. But there are always so many rumors about him and his group that I don’t know what to believe.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, unsure what to say. Now that you thought about it, Sunghoon had mentioned moving in your conversation yesterday, but you were so preoccupied with him seeing you in your wild state that you hadn’t paid much attention to his comment.

“Wait, did he do something? Your face is telling me he did something.”

You got closer to her face and gestured for her to do the same. With lowered heads and in hushed tones, you said, “He saw me on off-mode.”

She gasped and jolted back in surprise, eyes wide and eyebrows shooting straight up. “What?”

You shushed her and pulled her in by her shoulders. “He even took pictures.” Your grip tight, you held her from jumping again. “That’s not even it. You know how he's always really cold and distant?”

“You mean how he’s always being a douchebag?” She scoffed. “Yeah, I know.”

You remembered that Sumin had been one of the first of many girls who shot their shot with Park Sunghoon, only to get rejected. You both grimaced at the memory that always left a bad taste in your mouth.

“He was completely different yesterday. Kept following me around the store and, I’m not sure, teasing me? Like trying to get a reaction out of me? In a weird half-friendly half-bully way.”

“Hm, you’re right, that doesn’t sound like him,” she mused. “It does sound like a stupid teenage boy though, which I guess he is, no matter how hard he tries to pretend he’s not.”

This is what you loved about Sumin. She could see right through people, and never hesitated to say what she thought of them, especially when they acted the way Sunghoon did. Sure, there were some personal feelings attached there, but she had quickly gotten over them when she realized how much of a douche he was towards everyone else.

When the bus stopped to pick up some more students, Heeseung hopped on. You quickly told Sumin to keep it a secret, at which she smiled and made a motion as if zipping her lips and throwing the key. If you told your friends about Sunghoon, you’d have to tell them the truth about how he had dirt on you, but you wanted to keep your friendship clean. You chatted the rest of the bus ride away and tried not to worry over Park Sunghoon too much.

When you finally got to school, you, Heeseung, and Sumin made your way to your classroom to join Jiung and Sieun. Before you could get there, however, Jungwon, an underclassman you had talked to a couple times for student council meetings, called out your name. You told your friends to go on without you and turned to the younger boy.

“Jungwon! Hi, what’s up?”

He seemed flattered that you had remembered his name but quickly got on with his business. “Um, I’m not sure why, but Sunghoon told me to come and get you? I’ve never talked to him, I think he just picked me randomly and assigned me a task…”

You sighed. Park Sunghoon truly was something. “Thanks for telling me, Jungwon. I’ll make sure he gets an earful for this, he has no right to boss students around like that.”

Jungwon’s eyes doubled in size as he frantically waved his hands in dismissal. “No! No need to do that, I don’t want to get in trouble with him. I’m just here to relay the message.” At that, he scurried off, and you headed towards Sunghoon’s homeroom.

When you walked in, a few people were in the room, some girls gossiping with each other, a couple students doing some last-minute revision for a test. You found Sunghoon sitting at his desk, snickering with Jay and Jake and hoped that the subject of their laughter wasn’t you. They noticed you approaching and the two decent boys greeted you; the other one eyed you, that mischievous glint back in his eyes. What could he possibly have in mind?

“Hi, guys.” You smiled at Jay and Jake and reflexively stood closer to Jay. “Sunghoon, Jungwon said you wanted to see me?” you asked, trying to keep your impatience at bay.

“Oh, was that his name? Well, thank heavens for him, ‘cause I forgot my lunch at home. Would you be a sweetheart and go buy me something at the cafeteria? You know how everything runs out as soon as lunch period starts, and I get really cranky when I’m hungry.”

You stared at him, wide-eyed. His two friends’ reaction wasn’t very different from yours. Go buy him lunch? That’s what he wanted you to do?

“What? You don’t want to? That’s too bad, cause there’s a picture I think everybo-”

You cut him off before he could finish. “No! Of course I’ll do it! Can’t have our star player go hungry, now can we?” You cringed at your own words and Jay eyed you suspiciously. Sunghoon beamed, and Jake’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of you in pure confusion. “Um, any preferences?”

His smile got wider. “A tuna mayo would be amazing. Thanks, Y/N! You’re the best!”

“Sure…” you mumbled and quickly walked away, more bemused than ever. You checked your watch. You had 10 minutes before the first bell rang, and you could not be late for class, which meant you needed to hurry.

You got back to Sunghoon’s classroom just a minute before the first bell. To your dismay, the class was almost full, and girls had gathered around him, trying to get his attention, but he seemed unbothered by their presence. You braced yourself and walked towards him. As your presence rarely went by unnoticed, most eyes were on you and Sunghoon. Not only were you two some of the most popular kids in school, you also happened to be handing him his lunch, a never-seen-before sight between the two of you.

“I also got you banana milk, for good measure…”

What had seemed like a great idea a few minutes ago, something to appease the devil in him, now felt like the biggest mistake of your life. The girls around him started whispering left and right and you weren’t sure whether they felt bad for you, sensing an incoming rejection, or wanted to tear you to shreds for even trying.

The whispers grew even louder when Sunghoon took the sandwich and milk from your hands, thanking you with a smile. You’d be lying if you said your heart hadn’t done a small jump in your chest at that moment. As much as you hated to admit it, if looks were the sole factor for popularity, then you could definitely understand why Park Sunghoon was so loved. His face looked like it had been carved by the gods themselves. When his eyebrows weren’t turned in a frown, his eyes looked almost sweet, especially when he laughed. His two moles gave him so much charm, the curve of his nose was so delicate and his pink lips looked so, so soft…

You cleared your throat and smiled back at him before turning around to walk to your own classroom.

“Wait, Y/N!”

You turned back around, all eyes on you. You could feel Jay’s eyes burning holes into you. Sunghoon was still smiling. You thought you’d seen him smile more in the past two days than you had in all the years you’d known him.

“I’ll see you later.”

—

And indeed see him later you did. You always hung back a bit after classes ended to get homework done or work out student council issues. Being in an empty classroom brought you some peace and quiet, very different from the busyness and noise of your home. You couldn’t even focus in your own room, your siblings or parents always barging in to disturb you. The after-school janitors now knew you by name and saved cleaning the classroom you were sitting in for last.

You had been barely sitting there for 5 minutes, nose buried in a math problem, when Park Sunghoon graciously strode in, swung the chair in front of you around and sat on it, arms crossed over its back as he peered at you. You didn’t even bother to look up at him as you spoke. “What, Park?”

“Oh no, back to last name basis already?” he joked. You didn’t laugh. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Wow, tough crowd. Anyways, thanks for the sandwich today.”

This made you look at him. Or rather, shoot daggers at him. “Yeah, what the hell was that all about? Did you have to pull that little stunt in front of everybody? You know what our school is like! Rumors are gonna start spreading like wildfire.”

“I already told you,” he said with a defensive tone. “Forgot my lunch, everything was gonna run out, didn’t want to get hungry later,” he said as he shrugged, completely ignoring the latter part of your complaint.

“And you couldn’t have gone and gotten it yourself?”

He beamed. If it wasn’t so damn beautiful, you probably would have started getting tired of his stupid smile already. “Why would I do that when I could get you to do it?”

You sighed. “I knew you weren’t the nicest guy, but I didn’t know you could be such an asshole, Park.”

If you hadn’t been staring him down so intently, you might not have noticed the falter in his smile, so quick it was.

“Oh, come on, Y/N. If anything, I’m doing you a favor by not sending out to everyone that picture you so desperately want to keep secret. Thing is, doing that wouldn’t benefit me in any way, except for getting the satisfaction of seeing everybody realize you’re not as perfect as they think you are. Whereas holding it over your head allows me to do basically anything I want with you. And that, that is just so much fun,” he beams, lowering his voice into a whisper for the last sentence.

What a psycho, you thought. You just sighed once more and returned to your textbook, too weirded out to say anything back. You hoped the silence would make Sunghoon realize how creepy what he had just said was.

It was quiet in the room, only the sound of your pencil scratching your notebook could be heard. Sunghoon sat in the same position and watched you working. He often saw you like this, focused and benched over a desk, in the library or walking past your classroom. But it was always in passing, and looking at you so closely made all the world’s difference. He could see how you scrunched your nose when the problem got particularly difficult, or how your smirk as you solved another one made your left dimple appear. He also liked the annoyed looks you gave him every once in a while, as if his presence was disturbing your focus. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about seeing someone who always went about their way with such purpose sitting in such silence.

He decided to break that silence. “You know, Jay was asking about you earlier.”

You kept your eyes trained on your notebook but abruptly stopped writing, your pencil leaving a small scratch on the paper. This didn’t go unnoticed by Sunghoon. “Did he?” you said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible, although you couldn’t help but be curious. Ever since Jay and you had grown apart, there was always a part of you wondering what he was up to, how he was doing, if he thought of you once in a while or reminisced about the good old times as you sometimes did.

“Yeah. I mean, everyone did, but I didn’t really care,” he answers simply, and even though you’re itching to push him to say more, you stay quiet. “You’re right, by the way, I do know the people in our school. The rumors have already started spreading. Up to you whether you wanna deny them or not, though,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t even think about it, Park. There’s not a chance in hell I’ll let them think we have a thing going on. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

He chuckled. “Trust me, I know. Anyway, he wanted to know why you did that for me. Guess he was jealous you didn’t do it for him, too.”

“Why would he be?” you asked, trying to make the question sound as innocent as possible.

“Well, you two go a long way back, right?” he asked tentatively, as if testing the waters.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then it was probably weird for him to see his childhood best friend and his best bro interacting out of nowhere, even though we’ve both seen each other around a lot and nothing has ever come out of that. Don’t you think?”

A beat passed as you thought about it. “Yeah, I guess that’d look weird to him,” you replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of your voice.

You quickly wrote down your last answer, packed up your things, and stood up. “Well, I’m off now. I’ll see you around, unfortunately.”

Sunghoon, surprised at your quick departure, scrambled to get off his chair and chased after you. “Do you want me to drop you off? I’ve got a car, you know. Much more glamorous than the bus.”

You turned around and looked at him. “I’d rather get hit by said bus than get in your car, Park.”

He stood there, watching you walk away with a smirk on his face as your ponytail swayed from side to side. This was going to be a challenge. You were going to be a challenge.

Thing is, he loved a good challenge.

—

Back home, you flopped down on your bed and buried your face in your pillow. You laid there for a few minutes, taking some time to gather your thoughts and try to understand Sunghoon’s actions. It was of no use; you weren’t a mind-reader, and he seemed impossible to figure out. He could make you do basically whatever he wanted to, and he decided to make you get him lunch, creating rumors along the way? What could he possibly get out of that?

Your reflexions were quickly interrupted, however, by a flurry of incoming messages on your phone. Someone had posted a photo of you handing his banana milk to Sunghoon on your school’s Instagram account - because apparently, your school was so obsessed with gossip that they had created an Instagram page just for it. The photo had blown up among your peers and it made you wonder if people really were that bored with their lives.

People you barely knew but that felt entitled to knowing your relationship status were DMing you, asking about today’s events. You quickly got tired of it, so you texted your worried and confused friends that you didn’t feel like talking tonight and would catch up with them tomorrow. You opened your textbook, deciding that studying would be the best and most efficient distraction.

When your parents called you and your siblings for dinner, you still weren’t feeling great. Your family quickly registered your annoyed expression and could only hope for the best. You already weren’t the easiest to live with, but when you were tired, you just got a hundred times worse.

“So, how was everyone’s day?” your mom asked cheerily.

Yeeun’s eyes lit up instantly. “Mine was great! I met a really cute boy. His name is Nishimura Riki and he just transferred from Japan.”

“Oh, that’s nice!”

“You’re too young to be thinking about boys, Yeeun.”

Your mom and dad had replied at the same time, then gave each other a stern look.

“I’m not thinking about him, Dad, just looking,” your sister replied, earning a chuckle from your concerned father.

“Mine was alright. I guess the start-of-a-new-year excitement has already worn off. After a week,” Sunoo said with a sigh.

Your mom turned to you. “What about you, Y/N?”

“It was fine.”

The sharpness of your tone changed the atmosphere in the room at once. You ignored the looks your family exchanged and continued eating your food, eyes not leaving your plate.

For some reason, Sunoo thought it’d be a great idea to chime in. “She’s not happy because she had to buy Park Sunghoon his lunch and everybody went crazy over it.”

“Sunoo!” you protested. Your parents didn’t need to know about this sort of stuff.

“Park Sunghoon? Is that someone we’re supposed to know?” your dad questioned.

Yeeun scoffed. “Uh, he’s only the most popular and handsome guy at Y/N and Sunoo’s school, dad. Duh.”

“Right. Duh,” your dad said, imitating your sister’s tone.

“And why did you have to buy his lunch, Y/N?” your mom asked.

“Because he saw what she looks like when she’s not at school,” Sunoo said, not even giving you the chance to reply yourself.

“Sunoo!” you scolded again.

“And now I guess he’s using that against her to get her to do what he wants? Right, Y/N?”

You glared at your brother and let a beat pass. “Right,” you reluctantly admitted.

“Lucky…” your sister mused, expression like she was daydreaming about being Sunghoon’s personal assistant.

Your dad ignored your sister and looked straight at you. “That’s inadmissible, Y/N. You can’t let him do that.”

“Your father’s right, sweetie. It’s not right,” your mom added when you stayed silent.

With everybody’s eyes on you, you felt obligated to reply. “It’s fine. It’s not like he asked me to do anything crazy. I’m sure he’ll stop soon enough.”

“You know, boys that age, they’ll do anything to get a girl’s attention,” your dad warned. “Just ignore him and he’ll go away.”

“If she ignores him, he’ll tell everyone what she’s really like,” your brother explained.

“And what’s so bad about that? I’m sure it’d be easier if you stopped lying to everyone.”

Everyone suddenly stopped in their motions, wondering why your mom would say something so true yet so controversial. You looked up at her. “What’s so bad about that? What’s so bad? I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’ve worked so hard all these years for everybody to like me and look up to me only for a stupid picture taken by a stupid boy to ruin everything,” you said all in one breath, voice coming out harsh. You were tired of having to explain the same thing over and over again - your parents just didn’t understand why you did what you did.

Your mom opened and closed her mouth again, knowing it was useless trying to talk sense into you. It never ended well when you had this conversation.

“Who put mushrooms in this anyway? You know I hate mushrooms,” you said before filling up your bowl and taking it to eat in your room, making sure you’d slammed your door behind you.

—

On the bus the next day, you tried to explain the events of the previous day to your friends.

“There’s nothing really to it. He just asked me to get him lunch so I did, and when I handed it to him, his whole class was there and saw everything.”

“I get that, but I just don’t understand why he made you do it in the first place, or why you agreed,” Heeseung said, “it’s so unlike the both of you to do something like that.”

You hadn’t even thought to come up with an excuse for your and Sunghoon’s yesterday - your friends were definitely super confused, but you didn’t want to tell them the truth, so you had to quickly find something to say that was somewhat believable, and change the subject.

“I have no idea why he did what he did, but I didn’t want to cause a scene so I just agreed. I don’t really care, to be honest, I just wish it didn’t have such consequences. People seem to think we’re characters on a stupid Netflix coming-of-age series or something, when we literally just go to their school.”

As soon as you’d turned your phone back on this morning, it started pinging with all the messages that had flown in since last night. People were talking about it everywhere: Kim Y/N, highly sought-after bachelorette, had offered Park Sunghoon, notorious rejecter of girls and breaker of hearts, a sandwich and a banana milk, and he had taken them. What’s more, he had been seen at lunch heartily eating them. This was serious.

You didn’t think things could get any worse until you got to school. You were used to random people coming up to you in the hallways or in class for help, except today they weren’t asking for help at all - they were asking what was up between you and Sunghoon, as though handing him a tuna mayo was like asking for his hand in marriage. Most of them were just curious, but some, especially his fanclub members, had an aggressive tone to their voice, which you weren’t used to. If people started liking you less because of Sunghoon, you were going to kill him.

But you had to hold onto that thought, because an all too familiar voice had suddenly called out to you on your way to class. You took a deep breath and turned around, watching him take long strides towards you. You immediately became aware of the amount of people in the hallway and realized you couldn’t talk to him like you had the previous day in front of everybody. You mustered the fakest smile you could and greeted him.

“Hi, Sunghoon. What can I help you with today?”

He smiled, obviously enjoying the fact that you had to be nice to him. “I’ve got my sports bag because of practice later tonight. Mind holding onto that for me for the day?”

Your fake smile turned a bit crazy as your eyes widened in disbelief. "Don’t you have a locker for that, Sunghoon?”

“Yeah, but it’s so much more fun if you’re the one to hold it.” And with that, he threw the bag in your direction, leaving approximately 0.5 seconds to catch it. “I’ll need that later today. Meet me in front of the locker rooms after school, yeah?”

He didn’t bother to wait for your answer and walked away, Jake and Jay following closely behind. Jay sent you a questioning look, to which you could only reply with a shrug. If it wasn’t for all the students in the hallway, you would’ve been yelling Sunghoon’s ear off at that point. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a possibility, so you just smiled to your friends who were looking more confused than ever.

“Let’s just go to class, guys.”

—

Throughout the whole day, you could feel people staring at you, then at the bag you were holding, then starting to whisper among themselves. You tried your best to concentrate in class so you could momentarily stop pondering over what Sunghoon’s evil master plan might be, but everyone seemed bent on making that usually simple feat impossible. When 3:30 p.m. finally came around, you bid your friends goodbye and headed to the boys’ locker room. Every boy walking in eyed you suspiciously, unsure as to what you could be doing there. Of course, Sunghoon had to take his sweet time to get there.

Staring at the opposite wall and planning Sunghoon’s murder in your head, you hadn’t noticed Jay and Jake arriving. Jay signaled for his friend to go inside the locker room and told him he’d join him in a minute. He waved his hand in front of you to get your attention, a smile on his face. You sighed in relief at the familiar sight of your friend.

“Hey, Jay. Sorry I didn’t see you.”

“You okay, Y/N? You look like you’re about to murder someone,” he said, slightly amused.

“If only you knew,” you mumbled.

He noticed the bag in your hand. “You waiting for Sunghoon?”

“Yeah. If only he could hurry up a little bit. I’ve got stuff to do.”

There was something about Jay that made it impossible to lie to him. Maybe it was the fact that you had known each other for so long, way before you’d turned into what you were now, that made you feel as though showing a side of you that gets annoyed and impatient and doesn’t smile all the time was okay.

Jay looked at his feet before looking back up at you. You were still staring at the wall but your murderous thoughts had somewhat calmed. “Mind telling me what this whole thing with Sunghoon is about?”

You turned to him and were about to fumble for an answer when someone interrupted you. “What whole thing with me?”

Whew. Saved by Sunghoon. You didn’t like that it was thanks to him that you could get out of answering Jay, but at least you didn’t have to come up with yet another stupid excuse.

Jay turned his attention to his friend and stood up straighter. “You know, making her get you lunch or hold your bag all day. There’s dozens of girls who’d be more than happy to do that for you, so why Y/N? She doesn’t have time for this stuff.”

You looked at Jay with surprise. Sure, you were friends, but you hadn’t thought he’d defend you like that in front of Sunghoon.

“Well, Y/N’s just such a nice, reliable person. No one better to ask to do those things.” What a reason, you thought. He turned to you and took the bag from your hands. “Thanks, Y/N. I’ll see you outside in a couple minutes.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I’m leaving,” you said, body already headed towards the other direction.

“What? You can’t leave before practice has even started. Go to the benches outside, we’ll be out in a few.”

You were about to open your mouth to protest, but he cut you off. “You don’t want to?” He started pulling out his phone. “That’s funny, because there’s a pict-”

“I’ll be on the benches! See you soon!” you quickly said, pushing the two boys inside the locker room, Sunghoon smirking, Jay looking at you in utter confusion.

Girls sat in a few different groups in the bleachers. You recognized the girls in one of those groups, so you decided to sit with them. As you approached, they quickly looked at each other and then back at you, expressions half-friendly, half-what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here.

“Hi guys! Mind if I join?”

“Hi Y/N! No, of course not, come sit,” Jake’s girlfriend, Yujin, said.

“Are you guys here to watch practice?”

“Yeah! I’m here on girlfriend duties for Jake. These two are just here for the eye candy and to keep me company,” Yujin explained.

“Yeah, but mostly for the eye candy,” added her friend Wonyoung.

“What about you, Y/N? I’ve never seen you here,” asked the last girl, Gaeul.

“Oh, um, Sunghoon asked me to come, actually.” You regretted your words as soon as you’d let them out. They all ooh-ed at your response, making you blush, which just egged them on. This was nothing to blush about, Y/N. You’d just made the rumors get a hundred times worse with one sentence.

“The whole school’s been talking about you two, you know. Anything you wanna share? Don’t worry, we can keep a secret,” said Wonyoung with a wink. You chuckled awkwardly.

“Oh my gosh, yes, tell us!”

“Guys, don’t make her uncomfortable,” Yujin chimed in, smiling at you. You returned her smile, grateful, once again, that you didn’t have to explain your new link to Sunghoon. “Look, practice is starting.”

You turned your head towards the field as the soccer players started doing laps as per the coach’s instructions. Your eyes immediately drifted towards Sunghoon without you even realizing it. His lean figure hypnotized you. The last time you had had PE with him was in freshman year, and puberty had hit him like a fine, fine truck. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him as he lightly jogged next to his friends, chatting like it was nothing. You weren’t being very subtle with your stare and he eventually noticed you, sending a wink your way. This made you snap out of your reverie and you scowled at him, as if he could make out your annoyed expression from such a distance. You turned back to the girls, who were giggling at you.

“Wow, those were some serious heart eyes you were giving him, Y/N,” Gaeul giggled.

You opened your mouth in mild shock. “Was not!”

“Sure, whatever you say,” she replied knowingly. “Well, look all you want. Warm-up is the best part. It gets boring when they actually start playing.”

“No way! Watching them play is my favorite part,” Yujin disagreed.

“Yeah, that’s cause you’ve got someone to root for,” retorted Wonyoung. She looked at you slyly. “Well, I guess Y/N does, too.”

You scoffed. “Believe me, I will not be rooting for him.”

You started staring at him again, this time with a glare in your eyes. From their silence, you deduced the girls must’ve judged it a better idea to not question you too much. After the boys were done with running exercises and stretching (which you had enjoyed watching a bit too much, if you spoke truthfully), they started playing. The coach split the boys into two teams, Jay leading one and Sunghoon the other. It was a very close game. You could never tell who was leading, although that might have been due to your extensive lack of knowledge in the sport. All you knew was that you desperately wanted to see Sunghoon lose; that might put him down a peg. What you told yourself, however, was that you wanted Jay to win. So when he scored a goal, you surprised the girls next to you, the boys on the field and yourself as you jumped up and down, cheering for him. Realizing what you were doing, you quickly sat down and sent him an awkward thumbs up.

Jay tried to hide it, but he was blushing. Hard. Truth be told, he had noticed your little eye contact moment with Sunghoon during warm-up and hadn’t particularly enjoyed it. So seeing you cheer for him like that made him swell with pride, which only grew when Sunghoon scored and you barely reacted.

When the game was over, you thought you might be able to finally go home and start studying. But Sunghoon had other plans for you, as always these past couple days. Heading towards the showers, he motioned for you to come down from the benches. As you did, Jay walked past, and you smiled at each other.

“Good game.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” He continued walking as Sunghoon reached you.

“What about me? I scored a goal, too.”

“Oh, did you? Didn’t even notice," you said, looking at your nails. The polish was starting to chip - you’d need to reapply a layer tonight.

“Whatever. Wait for me, yeah?”

“What? No! I gotta go home!” But your protests were in vain, as he completely ignored you.

You waited outside the school with Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul. After a little while, Jake, Jay and Sunghoon joined you guys, having successfully showered and not smelling of sweat and dirt, thank God. Yujin was dropping her boyfriend and her friends off, so they bid their goodbyes and headed towards her car. Sunghoon and Jay also started to walk towards the parking lot, leaving you standing alone, not sure what to do. Sunghoon turned around and looked at you with a frown.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know, what are you doing?”

“I’m dropping you and Jay off.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, taken aback. “Didn’t know I was just supposed to guess that.”

As soon as Sunghoon started to drive, you noticed the awkward air between the three of you. Luckily, after years of being a people-pleaser, you had become somewhat of an expert in making small talk, which helped prevent a silent ride. You don’t think you could’ve gone through that without a mental breakdown.

Because you and Sunghoon lived closer to each other (and we all know the consequences of that), Jay was dropped off before you. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at school,” he said before giving you a last glance.

“Bye, Jay.”

“See you, bro.”

Thankfully, you only lived a couple minutes by car from Jay’s and hoped the rest of the car ride would be peaceful. Which was really stupid of you to hope for, because you were in the car with Park Sunghoon.

“So, Park Jongseong, huh?” he said, eyes trained on the road in front of him. Even though he was trying to keep his tone light, you thought you detected a slight harshness to his gaze.

“What about him?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’ve just been friends for a long time.”

It was silent for about five seconds. “You really feasted your eyes during warm-up, huh?”

“Shut up, Park.”

“No, it’s alright, I get it. I’d do the same.” He laughed at his own joke that wasn’t really a joke. Why was he laughing, anyway?

You looked at him. His face was so different from all those times you’d seen it at school. His eyes, rid of the harshness you’d seen earlier, crinkled at the edges and had an amused glint in them. His smile dug pretty dimples into his cheeks and you let your gaze linger long enough to notice he had sharp, vampire-like canines, which were surprisingly cute. You didn’t know why he was showing you a side of him he never showed anyone, except for his close friends, you assumed. You weren’t sure what overcame you, but you chuckled with him.

“So, do you already know what task you’re gonna give me tomorrow?” you asked, genuinely curious.

“Hmm, haven’t really thought about it yet. I’d rather keep it a surprise, anyway. Keep you on your toes.”

“Pfft. What a great surprise.” He laughed again, and you couldn’t help but join him. He was unusually giddy that day, but you didn’t want to complain. This was a thousand times better than the arrogant Sunghoon with his I’m-better-than-all-of-you facade. What you didn’t know was that he, too, liked your snarky, no-nonsense side infinitely more than the model student, pretty girl persona you had created for yourself.

Finally at your house, you got out of the car and headed to your house after waving goodbye to Sunghoon. He rolled his window down and leaned out of it.

“Y/N?”

You turned around. “Yeah?”

“About your task tomorrow…”

“…Yeah?”

“I’m sure you’ll love it.” He gave you an umpteenth wink, rolled his window back up and drove off.

You weren’t so awful to your parents and siblings that evening.

—

The next day at school, you were wondering why Sunghoon had said you would love your task. Because you were, in fact, quite loathing it. He had found you studying during your free period after lunch and dragged you to the part of the library where it was okay to talk a bit over whisper level. You were currently going over a scene in The Tempest which you had seen in AP English Lit last year and clearly had no time for. But obviously, that wasn’t a problem to Sunghoon, who just wanted to get a passing grade on his English essay without putting in too much effort.

After twenty minutes of going over the same five lines, you were about to give up. “Look, Sunghoon, I don’t mind helping you. I’ve tutored dozens of students before so I’m used to it. But you’re not making any effort! If you want to get it, you need to at least try.”

“But it’s so boring,” he whined, not unlike a child. “How am I supposed to find any meaning in this? It’s just stupid people doing stupid stuff on a stupid island.” You cringed at his words and hoped Shakespeare wasn’t listening in on this conversation.

“It’s not stupid. It’s about power, and being punished for chasing it, and it’s a metaphor fo-”

“Ugh!” he groaned loudly. “You know what, I don’t care enough about this. Just write the essay for me, okay?” He got up and left, again not waiting for your answer. You wanted to protest, but you know what would happen if you said no to any of his requests, so you just quickly got to work.

Everyday over the next couple of weeks, Sunghoon would find something for you to do. Most days, he’d just get you to buy him lunch (although he thankfully had started paying you back) or carry his stuff around like the first two times. He didn’t ask you again to tutor him, however, so you had gotten used to sitting in an empty class together after class, you doing his homework for him and attempting (and failing) to explain it to him, and him alternating between playing on his phone and looking at you. Although it’d flustered you at first, not used to having someone stare at you while you were trying to concentrate, you’d grown somewhat okay with it - all of your complaints were ignored anyway. One time, he even got you to work on his science project with him, a weirdly-shaped volcano he needed to paint and decorate before actually putting the chemicals in. You’d be lying if you said it hadn’t been fun painting it together, occasionally ‘accidentally’ getting paint on the other’s hand or cheek instead of the volcano.

You went to see him at practice two to three times a week, although you weren’t sure what use that had for him. If anything, you were probably the one who enjoyed yourself more. Perhaps, after being forced to spend so much time with him, you had started to soften up to him. And, perhaps, that made you appreciate his good looks even more. You couldn’t deny the effect his damp hair, stuck to his forehead with sweat, had on you.

The rumors hadn’t died down, but people had started getting used to seeing the two of you together around, so they didn’t ogle their eyes at you everytime you and Sunghoon had some kind of interaction. Not liking that you couldn’t control people’s opinion of you anymore, you were still a bit bothered by them, but Sunghoon’s little posse of fangirls didn’t seem to be. They’d been the one to question you the most, and you got a few nasty looks in the hallway, but the gossip around school hadn’t stopped them from keeping on following him around, harassing him from morning to afternoon by going to his homeroom at breaks, sitting at a table near him at lunch, and going to see him at practice. Their group had dwindled down, though; most likely, some of them thought you two might be dating and had finally realized they didn’t stand a chance with the one and only Park Sunghoon. Thank God you had your friends and now sometimes Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul around you during those times, otherwise, you’d probably have been jumped. Spending so much time with him had kept you a couple times from your friends, which they’d complained about, but sensing that they couldn’t do much about it, they let you be, even though they hadn’t gotten a satisfactory explanation yet.

One person who didn’t want to, or rather couldn’t let it go, though, was Jay. He still couldn’t figure out why you’d started spending so much time with Sunghoon, seemingly overnight, and it created an unpleasant, sour pit in his stomach. Out of all the people you could’ve decided to form a new friendship with, why’d it have to be his best friend, meaning he saw you more often now than before, but not because he was the one you had come to see? Why did you never get him banana milk for lunch, and why’d you only start coming to soccer practice because Sunghoon had asked you to? He’d tried to ask both of you about it, but you always gave him half-assed excuses that didn’t make much sense.

He realized what he was feeling was jealousy the day you came into their homeroom before the first bell rang and asked Sunghoon how his science project had gone. You’d never asked him how his science project, or any of his projects or tests, for that matter, had gone. He recognized it as the same feeling he had harbored when he had come back from the US in middle school and saw you dating Choi Soobin, or when Lee Heeseung had joined your tight-knit group of friends in freshman year. You and Soobin had only dated for three weeks and a half because you had a relationship-terminating argument over mint chocolate ice cream, and you and Heeseung had never become more than friends, nor had the intention to. But Jay didn’t care about that; all he saw was that there were boys around you that weren’t him. He had never acted upon those feelings, dismissing them as over-protectiveness for someone he had known since forever, but seeing Sunghoon and you laughing together hit too close to home. He couldn’t ignore how he felt because he was reminded of it everyday, but he didn’t know what to do with these newfound emotions.

And what’s the best thing to do whenever you don’t know what to do? Talk to your friends. Or well, in this case, your friend. He didn’t wanna talk about you to Sunghoon. He was a firm believer of bro code, but he didn’t wanna bottle up his feelings like he had all these years. So he went to Jake and told him everything, from your childhood friendship to Soobin, Heeseung and now Sunghoon.

“I know it’s stupid. It’s this whole cliché of, you only realize what you have when you lose it.”

“Well, you haven’t really lost Y/N, you know. It’s not like Sunghoon and her are dating.”

“I guess not, but he clearly likes her. It’d be a dick move to go after her now that they’ve got something going on.”

Jake hesitated for a second, debating whether he should say what he was thinking, but ultimately deciding it might be better to do it. “You know, I’m not sure that he does. You know what Sunghoon’s like. He’s never very honest about his intentions. I don’t wanna bring the subject up with him, cause I don’t wanna cause any drama, but it’s so suspicious to me that he’s suddenly spending time with Y/N when he’s never mentioned her all those years and when he rejects all these girls all the time.”

“I think it’s weird, too,” agreed Jay. “I just can’t seem to figure it out. And I’m a bit scared for Y/N, to be honest. Remember that girl in freshman year? They’d gotten along really well when he suddenly dropped her. I still remember his cold-ass stare when he turned her down. It even chilled me, man.”

“God, yeah, I always forget about that. He may be a jackass to all those girls, but when you know what he’s really like like we do, it seems so unlikely that he’d do something like that.”

Jay sighed and looked out into the distance. “I just hope he doesn’t hurt Y/N.”

Jake looked at his friend, thinking how to phrase his next sentence. “Like I said, I don’t wanna cause any drama… but, man, if you don’t want him to hurt Y/N, just don’t let him. If you make a move on her, you might get to her before he does. Better to do that now than to have to pick up the pieces, don’t you think?”

Jay mentally thanked the heavens for gifting him with a friend like Sim Jaeyun. “Yes, that is much, much better.”

He was going to stop sitting on his feelings and finally let them see the light.

—

But before that, Sunghoon had another one of his requests for you. You were sitting together in an empty classroom after school as you often did these past weeks. For you, today was an ordinary day, but the boy in front of you had something else in mind. He wasn’t saying anything but you could feel his nervousness and it was starting to make you feel anxious as well.

You lifted your head from your notes and looked at Sunghoon who seemed lost in his thoughts. “What is it, Sunghoon?”

This made him snap out of his reverie. “Um, nothing.”

“Well, seeing how you’ve been tapping your foot at the speed of lightning ever since we got here, it doesn’t seem like nothing.” You crossed your arms over the table and looked at him more intently, eyes asking him to tell you what was on his mind.

He sighed, giving in. “I was just thinking… there’s something I wanna tell you.”

“Go on. “

“I need you to date me.”

Your breath caught in your throat. Park Sunghoon… needed you… to date him? Was he asking you out? The way he’d worded it was a bit odd, but you didn’t put it past him.

Taking in your silence and wide eyes, he quickly added: “Not in that way! I, um, need you to be my fake girlfriend.”

Oh.

So he wasn’t asking you out. You weren’t sure why that made you so upset, but you tried to keep the disappointment out of your eyes and voice.

“Right,” you said, tone a bit harsher than you’d meant it to, “and why would I do that?”

Sunghoon smirked lightly. “Well, first of all, you don’t have much of a choice.” You rolled your eyes at that. It’d been a few days since the reason why you had started hanging out in the first place had come up, and you didn’t like to be reminded of that god-forsaken picture.

“And second of all… I guess I should be completely honest with you.” This piqued your interest, and you leaned back on your chair to listen to him.

“When I saw you at the store and took pictures of you, I wasn’t really thinking of doing anything. Maybe just get a laugh or two and tease you about it. I even told you outside the store that I didn’t know what I was gonna do. To be honest, I didn’t really think there was anything you could do for me that I’d need to force you to do. So I thought about it all night. And I asked myself, what’s the thing that pisses me off the most at school that you could change?” he looked at you expectantly, as if you could figure it out. You just shrugged.

“It’s those girls that keep following me around. All these years, I’ve acted like a giant asshole with them and still they think they have a crush on me or whatever. And I’ve never liked any of them, they’re all so superficial and ask me out without having ever talked to me before. So I thought, hey, maybe if I have a girlfriend, they’ll leave me alone. Which is why I made you do all those things for me.”

“So that they’d think we were dating?” you asked, trying to take all this information in. You’d sort of known it this entire time, but Sunghoon blatantly admitting he’d been using you hurt nonetheless.

“Yeah. But obviously, you always denied the rumors, so it hasn’t worked as well as I thought it would. It still did a bit though. So I think, if we take it the next step, and actually pretend we’re dating, it should really work. But I need your full cooperation on this, okay?” He looked at you, hopeful eyes and hands in prayer.

You sighed. As he said, it wasn’t like you had much of a choice.

“Please, Y/N? I really want them off my back.”

“Fine, Park, I’ll do it. But this better be the last thing you make me do.” You couldn’t help but sound cold. This made you rethink these past few weeks’ events. Were you the only one actually enjoying spending time together?

“Thanks, Y/N. And yeah, of course. You won’t have to carry my bag or get my lunch anymore if you want. Maybe it’ll be more believable if I do that for you.”

You had focused your attention back to your homework, wanting this conversation to be over as soon as possible.

“I’ll also pick you up in the morning, so you don’t need to take the bus.”

You hummed in response.

“Um, and I’ll also drop you off after school and after practice…” Sunghoon trailed, troubled by your silence. You hadn’t been so cold since the first couple times you two had talked, and he hated the idea that that might be because of what he had just said. So he took a chance.

“You know, Y/N, this doesn’t change anything. I wouldn’t have made you do all those things if I didn’t like spending time with you. You’re really nice to be around,” he admitted shyly.

You were far too flustered to lift your head and let him see your face. You just grinned and murmured, “Whatever, Park.”

—

Sunghoon kept his promise and picked you up in the morning. He called you at exactly 7:55 a.m., saying he was waiting outside and you rushed out of your house, piece of toast still in your mouth. In the car, you two went over what being in a fake relationship would involve.

“We just need to be seen around together, right?” you proposed, hoping your lack of experience wasn’t showing.

Thankfully, Sunghoon had no idea what being in a relationship, fake or not, entailed either. “Yeah, I think. And maybe…” he hesitated.

“Maybe?” you prodded, hoping he wouldn’t (or actually would, but you’d never admit it) say what you thought he was about to say.

“I don’t know, like, hold hands, and… kiss.” The last part had barely been audible, but you’d still heard it.

“Kiss?” you echoed, voice almost a shriek. “I don’t think we need to go that far, Sunghoon.” A little voice in your head was saying that you’d really like to go that far but you made it shut up.

He was blushing profusely but didn’t want to drop the subject there. “At least on the cheek, or something. We do have to make it believable.”

And there it was. The little sentence, reminding you none of this was real. Seemed like that was a pattern in your life.

You looked out the window. Sunghoon glanced over at you, cursing himself for always saying the wrong thing. He was trying so hard to drown his blooming feelings for you that he kept on hurting you in the process. This whole fake-dating plan was the perfect excuse for him to spend more time with you without having to come to terms with his feelings.

“C’mon, Y/N, it’ll be fun. Promise.” He nudged your arm playfully, making you look at him. His smile was contagious; you could never help yourself but start grinning when you saw his face light up like that. Maybe he’s right, you thought. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

When you arrived at school, Sunghoon told you to wait for a second. He got out of the car and quickly walked around to your side, opening the door for you. You hated how your heart fluttered at the sweet gesture, reminding yourself it was just for show. The important part was that it fooled everyone else, and it did - as you took Sunghoon’s hand, letting him help you out of the car, and walked with him hand in hand towards the school gates, you could feel all eyes on you. You could hear whispers of see, I told you they were dating! and defeated no ways.

You realized you didn’t care about what anybody might be seeing, which was a first for you. You’d always made sure everybody saw you exactly the way you wanted to see them. As he was the most popular guy in school, dating Park Sunghoon at once helped your reputation and put you on many girls’ bad side. But holding his hand, you felt as though there was some kind of barrier protecting you. You’d never felt so exposed and so safe at the same time.

You noticed Jay standing next to the gates, looking particularly antsy. He’d texted you that morning, saying there was something he wanted to tell you. Usually, you’d have stayed up, overthinking what that could be, but what with today being the day you’d announce yourself to the world (your school) as Park Sunghoon’s (fake) girlfriend, you had had other things to worry about. You gestured at Sunghoon towards Jay. Your friend only saw you when you were calling his name, standing right in front of him.

“Oh, hi, Y/N! I-”

He immediately cut himself off when he saw yours and Sunghoon’s interlaced fingers. Embarrassed, you took your hand out of your fake boyfriend’s, opting for holding onto his pinky instead, not realizing that it was a much cuter action that made one boy’s heart flutter and the other’s fill up with sadness.

“There was something you wanted to tell me?” you asked with a small smile.

“Uh- yeah, but it’s not important, actually. We can talk about it later.”

“Oh, you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He returned your smile, hoping to make the situation less awkward. It was very obvious he didn’t want to say whatever it was he needed to tell you in front of Sunghoon, which you had both understood.

Sunghoon spoke up. “Right, well I’ll see you in class, Jay. Y/N, I’ll walk you to yours.” And with that, he started walking, holding his friend’s gaze for a few steps. You turned back to look at Jay for a split second, trying to decipher what had just happened, but Sunghoon grabbed you by the waist, making you look up at him in surprise, and breaking Jay’s heart even further.

—

Once Sunghoon and you got to your class, you felt as though you were in one of those movies where the boy drops the girl off at her house after their first date. Except that this was in a crowded school hallway two minutes before the first bell rang. What you had in common with that girl from the movie, however, was that you were freaking out over what your boy was going to do next. In the car, you’d ended up agreeing to a kiss on the cheek, but you hadn’t realized it would be happening so soon.

As you two hovered around your classroom’s door, you looked at each other and giggled. Damn, you were selling this well. So well that if you could have ascended out of your body and looked at the scene as a third party, you’d probably have barfed all over yourself.

You were still holding his pinky. You could tell he was too hesitant to do anything now that you had reached the classroom, and so you mustered all of your courage, stood on your tippy toes and softly pressed your lips to his cheeks. (You were pretty sure you’d heard gasps around you.) Your courage went as fast as it came, and as realization hit you, you quickly squeaked “bye, Sunghoon” and practically ran to your seat. The boy stood there for another second or two, hand going to his cheek where you had just kissed him. He walked happily to his own classroom, completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving.

Heeseung, Jiung and Sieun were looking at you in disbelief as you approached them. Sumin, on the other hand, looked like she had paid no attention whatsoever to the scene.

“Y/N,” Sieun teased in a sing-song voice. “Care to explain what just happened?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually managed to make the oh-so-great Park Sunghoon fall for you?” Jiung asked jokingly.

You looked down in an attempt to hide your grin. You usually did that sort of stuff to appear humble when someone complimented you, but this time it was completely genuine. The mere thought of Sunghoon made you all giddy inside. “Um, yeah, he actually asked me to be his girlfriend last night.”

Your three friends gasped dramatically and Sieun pulled you into a hug, as if you’d just received an award of some kind. Heeseung and Jiung patted your shoulders, congratulating you.

“Sumin? Did you know about this?” Sieun enquired, turning to your friend.

“What? Oh, yeah, Y/N called me last night,” she answered, briefly looking at you before turning back to her phone. Sieun looked at you, surprised, not understanding Sumin’s reaction to what seemed like happy news.

You had indeed called Sumin the previous night, and the call had gone similarly to the way she was behaving this morning. Although you usually told her everything, this time, you didn’t want to share the fact that you and Sunghoon were only fake dating. You found yourself actually wanting it to be true - and you thought it’d be easier to believe it yourself if everyone, including your best friend, did too.

“Minie! I’ve got some news,” you’d said as soon as she picked out.

“Ooh! Hit me,” she’d replied with as much excitement in her voice as you.

“So…” you’d started, already giggling. “Sunghoon’s just asked me out. I haven’t told anyone else, I wanted you to be the first to know.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a while, you added, “Minie, you still there?”

“Huh? Yeah, um, that’s nice, Y/N, I’m happy for you,” she said, not sounding happy at all. There was no trace of excitement left in her voice.

“Yeah, thanks,” you replied, voice ten times smaller than a minute ago.

“I’m sorry Y/N, but I’ve got to go, my parents are calling me. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up suddenly, giving you no time to say bye in return. You were completely confused. Was Sumin bothered by you and Sunghoon dating? Other than a reminder about his past behavior, she hadn’t said anything when you two were getting closer. So what was wrong? You’d hoped you’d find out the next day at school, but the way she was acting didn’t help at all.

You snapped out of your flashback when Heeseung nudged you, faking a pout. “Not fair! Why did she get to know before we did?”

You forced a smile and said you’d known you’d see them the next day and thought it was better to tell them in person, and that you had just wanted to rant to someone quickly. Your teacher came in as the bell rang and everyone went to their seat. During class, you tried getting her attention so you could ask her if she was okay but she kept her attention on the teacher the whole time.

After that, as time went by, you kept up your charade of being the perfect student as usual, adding to that of being the perfect girlfriend to Sunghoon. Time with him passed by so quickly: you hadn’t realized you were more than halfway through the semester until you needed to wear a thicker jacket outside and the leaves had started falling, covering school grounds in shades of brown. The plan had worked: he was finally left alone by his admirers. Sumin had stopped being weird after a few days, saying she had had some problems with her parents but hadn’t gone into more detail. Everything was as great as it had ever been: good grades, good friends and a good boyfriend. Well, fake boyfriend, which you needed to remind yourself a bit too often, on the days Sunghoon didn’t do it himself. You felt a pinch in your heart every time he said something like, “there’s my fake girlfriend!” when it was just the two of you, or “great job today, Y/N” after dropping you off.

One day as you arrived home, Yeeun was waiting outside your house, trying to catch you red-handed. She dragged him inside by the arm and you panicked, not wanting him to see how you lived. But your messy room and invasive siblings didn’t scare him off at all; on the contrary, he smiled one of the biggest smiles you’d ever seen on him, canines and dimples on display. Your mom made him stay over for dinner and it was probably the happiest dinner you’d ever had. The idea of bringing someone home and having them see your habits and odd family dynamics had terrified you for the longest time, but you felt so comfortable around Sunghoon that it felt as if he was part of your home as soon as he’d stepped foot inside. You didn’t feel the need to hide anything from him.

After dinner, he helped your parents clear up the table and even washed the dishes, even though they kept insisting he didn’t have to do anything. He had completely won them over. They sat at the table and watched you two laugh together in the kitchen. They looked at each other, knowing they were thinking the exact same thing: their daughter hadn’t looked this happy in a while.

When you were done cleaning up, you two headed to your room under the pretense of needing to study.

“Alright, but keep the door open!” your mom had yelled after you, making you groan and Sunghoon’s face turn crimson red.

You really had planned on studying - there was a big test coming up and you couldn’t afford to get a bad grade. When you got your physics textbook out, Sunghoon groaned in protest.

“What? You seriously want to study right now?”

You sighed. “I don’t necessarily want to, no, but I need to. And so do you, may I add.”

“We’re not even in the same physics class!”

“Yeah, but we both have Mr. Cho, so I know you’re gonna have a test as well.”

He rolled his eyes and dramatically flung himself on your bed. “Fine.”

When he didn’t move for a few minutes, you guessed what he had meant was that he’d let you study but wasn’t going to do it himself. But after ten minutes, he suddenly got up. “I’m bored to death, Y/N. The test isn’t in another week. Show me what you do for fun,” he said, on the verge of desperation. It had only been ten minutes, but you felt bad having him over and not entertaining him.

“Well, I do have a Switch…” Sunghoon’s eyes widened in awe. “I guess we can play Mario Kart.”

He almost squealed in joy at that. You just chuckled at him, not knowing he was such a fan of car video games.

“I’m gonna crush you, Kim. Get ready,” he said, already looking victorious.

You smirked, not wanting him to get his hopes up. “Oh, it’s on, Park.”

As expected of a pro player like you (on non-schooldays, you could stay up all night playing this game), you won every single round. Sure, he gave you a run for your money, but you always came on top. He took it surprisingly well, congratulating you each time. After your fourth win in a row, you wiggled your face in front of his with a devilish smile, as you couldn’t help but torment him a little. But he wasn’t smiling. At first, you’d thought he was finally getting mad he kept on losing; but then the proximity between you two hit you. You noticed his eyes flicker momentarily to your lips and had backed off immediately.

“Um, if we go for another round, I’ll go easy on-”

He cut you off by putting his hand on your cheek, making you turn to look at him. You’d daydreamed about this moment before, but you hadn’t imagined your heart beating this fast or the butterflies eating away at your stomach. He was now fully staring at your lips, and you couldn’t look at anything else but his either. Too scared to move an inch, you felt him get closer and closer, so close that his lips were almost on-

“Y/N, mom says it’s late and Sunghoon needs to- AH!”

Sunoo had walked in, eyes riveted on his phone until he looked up and saw you and Sunghoon suspiciously close to each other. Sunghoon practically leaped off of your bed in surprise and you flung a pillow over your face, not believing you had almost kissed Park Sunghoon but that your stupid little brother had ruined everything.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” the culprit squeaked before running away. You and Sunghoon looked at each other. It was awkward for two seconds, then you both erupted in laughter.

“Alright, guess I should get going then. Um, thank you so much for tonight. I haven’t had a family dinner in a while, and… Well, it was really nice,” he admitted shyly after you’d calmed down.

“Of course, Sunghoon. I’m sure my parents would love to have you over any time.”

You walked him to your front door, where you exchanged goodbyes and I’ll see you tomorrows. You watched him take a few steps, then turn back and jog towards you. He stood in front of you for a second, then leaned down and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Bye, Y/N.”

You were too stunned to say it back.

—

After the almost-kiss, it felt as though something had changed between you and Sunghoon. The event had somewhat revealed your feelings: you both knew you wanted to kiss each other. But since those feelings hadn’t been acted upon, the transition from fake-dating to real dating couldn’t happen as smoothly. Well, it could, if you two stopped acting like idiots and told each other how you felt. But the author wanted to get a couple more thousand words in, so it had to wait.

You’d gotten used to Sunghoon’s little requests at school, but you definitely hadn’t anticipated a phone call at past 11pm on a Wednesday night.

“Sunghoon? Why are you calling me so late?” you asked, groggy voice because of sleep. Since you woke up so early to get ready in the morning, you always went to bed around 9:30 to 10 p.m. Sunghoon was making you lose precious minutes of slumber.

“Late? It’s barely midnight, Y/N.” You groaned. “Whatever, put on some clothes and come outside! I’m waiting for you.”

“You’re what?” you whisper-screamed, suddenly feeling very awake.

“I’m waiting for you! Hurry up!”

As always, he hung up without waiting for your reply. You couldn’t really turn him down anyway; although you were somewhat obligated, you had stopped seeing it that way and started doing things for him out of your own volition.

Not wanting to get out of your pajamas, you just threw on a warm sweater, a scarf, some socks, and headed down the hallway on your tiptoes. Your parents weren’t the strictest out there, but you still didn’t wanna get caught sneaking out, and with a boy, at that. After putting on your shoes, you left your house, closing the door behind you as quietly as you could.

The late October night was a bit chilly, but you had wrapped up warm enough. Sunghoon was indeed waiting for you outside, wearing a denim jacket over his gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants.

God, he looked good.

“Finally! Took you long enough.”

“Quit it, Sunghoon. Just tell me why you wanted to see me.”

“There’s a place I wanna show you. Come on,” he said, taking you by the hand. You felt tingles in your palm and fingers wherever his hand touched yours. How could something feel so natural yet make your heart race so at the same time?

“Are we walking there?” you asked.

“Yep, it’s not too far. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

Those five minutes felt like five seconds walking with Sunghoon. You chatted and joked around the whole way, not letting go of each other’s hand. You hadn’t even noticed you had reached your destination until he stopped walking.

“Here we are,” he said, facing the building, which made you turn in the direction he was looking.

“The ice rink? What are we doing here?” you asked, confused. It was 11:30 pm; surely, the rink would be closed.

“You’ll see!” he said, heading towards the entrance. To your surprise, he pulled out a key from his pockets and opened the doors.

“What? Sunghoon! How do you have a key to the ice rink?”

“I’m chummy with the janitor. I just need to let him know when I’ll be coming and he doesn’t tell anyone,” he replied, an easy smile on his face, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. He led you first to the shoe rack, helping you find skates your size, and then to the benches next to the rink’s entrance. He knelt in front of you and helped you put on your shoes, doing the laces for you.

He looked up at you, a glint in his eyes. “I’ve never taken anyone here, Y/N. I know your secret, so I thought I’d show you mine.”

You didn’t know what to say, surprised at the sudden confession, so you just looked at him curiously as he took ice skates from his backpack and laced them up.

He stood up, turned to you and said, “Ready?”

You followed him to the doors leading to the ice. He stepped inside without a trace of hesitation, but you were much more doubtful about your ability to stand on the ice without falling instantly. He turned around and saw you looking helpless. He took your hand in his, helping you step onto the rink.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. As long as I’ve got you, you won’t fall.”

“Don’t let go of my hand, then,” you said pointedly.

Too focused on not slipping, you didn’t see his smile. “I wasn’t planning to.”

He helped you get your footing, skating backwards in front of you and holding both of your hands. After a few minutes on the ice, you got brave enough to skate on your own, and you miraculously managed to stay on your feet. However, after a while, your bravery turned to hubris, and you dared attempt a spin, resulting in you miserably falling on the ice, butt first. Sunghoon was worried for a second until he saw you laughing uncontrollably. You looked at him, wide-eyed, and said, “This is so much fun, Hoon.” You were so exhilarated that you hadn’t noticed the nickname slipping from your lips but the boy’s cheeks and ears turned redder than the bruise you had surely just earned yourself. Thankfully, if you commented on it, he could just blame it on the cold.

He helped you up, and you skated on as if nothing had happened. This went on for another thirty minutes, you skating hand in hand and occasionally falling together (but most of the time, just you falling on your own). Sunghoon had been so nervous before bringing you here; he was scared you’d think his hobby was unmanly or lame, as he’d been made to feel. But seeing you have the time of your life, all his worries dissipated. This place was like a second home to him, and bringing someone into your home was always nerve-wracking, but he thought you fit perfectly in it.

When you told him you were getting tired and wanted to sit for a while, you skated back together to the benches and he gave you some water from his bag. You sat in silence for a while, waiting for your breathing to come back to a normal pace.

You broke the silence first. “So, why’d you take me here? Not that I’m complaining.”

He hesitated a second before speaking. "I used to come here all the time as a kid.” He didn’t look at you when he answered, keeping his gaze on his hands. “My mom would take me. She left us for another man the summer before middle school started. She left me alone with my asshole father.”

You let out a small gasp, not expecting such a confession. You placed your hand on his back for comfort and said, “I’m sorry, Sunghoon.”

He quickly glanced at you, a half-smile on his face. “Don’t be. Anyways, he had to somewhat start taking care of me now that my mom wasn’t there to do it.” He chuckled darkly. “I guess his idea of taking care of his son was forbidding him from doing the one thing he loved. He thought it was a stupid sport for a boy. He stopped all of my lessons and made me sign up for soccer, even though I hadn’t ever said I wanted to do that. I still came here from time to time, but I didn’t wanna risk getting caught. God knows what he’d have done if he saw me here.”

You weren’t sure what to say. You felt as if no words would be enough to express how his story made you feel. “I- it’s awful, what he did to you. No parent should ever make their child feel as though their passion isn’t worth it. If it’s any comfort, even though you were mostly helping me, I thought you looked ten times better on that rink than scoring any goal. And that’s saying something.”

He finally looked at you and grinned. “Thanks, Y/N.” He seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, and then continued: “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and I think that’s why it’s hard for me to open up to people and make lots of friends. I only trust Jake because I’ve known him forever and I can’t really get rid of him now,” he said with a chuckle, “and Jay, well, Jake took to him instantly in middle school so I guess I didn’t have a choice there either, and he’s not so bad anyway. The more people I let in, the more likely I am to get hurt. It’s much easier pretending I don’t wanna have anything to do with anyone than try.

“I guess it’s also why I talked to you on that day. Sure, I ended up thinking you could help me with all those girls. But at first, when I saw someone like you, who looks like they have it all together, who’s actually the opposite in real life - no offense - it reminded me of myself. And I thought, maybe she’d understand. Which is why it was so easy to be myself around you.”

You took his hand in yours and pressed it slightly. “I’m glad you were.” You didn’t feel the need to say anything else, hoping it was enough.

“Now, your turn. What made you the person you are today?” he asked with a grin, trying to approach lightheartedly this heavy subject, which you appreciated.

“It’s all about making people think you’re someone else, isn’t it? Because, depending on who you are, they’ll treat you differently. I found that out as a kid, because I, too, have a tragic childhood backstory.” He gasped jokingly.

“It’s not as bad as yours, so sorry about that. Back in primary school, I already had this… attitude that I have today. I had quite the ego, and I didn’t want anyone doing better than me at school. I didn’t care about how I looked, if I was the prettiest girl in class or had the cutest shoes. I was the smarty-pants of the class, basically, and a lot of the kids teased me for that. But I also didn’t let myself get trampled over, and fought back, quite aggressively at that, so I was somehow the nerd and the troublemaker at the same time. I didn’t have the best reputation, but I did have a friend. Jay. Or Jongseong, at the time, before he got too cool for his real name,” you joked. “The thing is, I didn’t see him as a friend. Sure, I was only eight or nine, but I really liked him. And the day I was planning on confessing, I saw him hold hands with the prettiest girl in our class. So I never told him, and then he left for the US a few months later.

“During the time he was gone, I had a complete makeover and actually started caring about my appearance, especially when middle school started. So now I had academic validation from teachers, which I had craved since forever, and both female and male validation from all the girls telling me how pretty I was and all the guys liking me. The people who were in my primary school and went to the same middle school told them how I used to be, but nobody believed them, and if they did, they didn’t care, so everybody just gradually forgot about it. And I just got addicted to the validation, which is why I always studied harder and tried to be prettier, even when it turned into a complete lie. I thought that if I could make everyone believe I was perfect, then it didn’t matter what I was like in real life, so at home, I just let myself completely go. And even now that I’m aware of all of this, I still can’t stop.”

Sunghoon looked at you like you had just slapped him. “So, you used to have a crush on Jay?”

You looked at him in exasperation. “Seriously, Hoon? That’s what you get from everything I just told you?”

He smiled shyly. “Sorry. Thank you for telling me.” You sat there in comfortable silence for another few minutes, still hand in hand. Then, Sunghoon got up, grin on his face.

“Wanna see something cool?” You nodded at him, returning his grin. He headed back inside the rink.

You thought he was gonna show off by doing some fancy trick. But he started gliding on the ice, and you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. He took long strides that looked as natural to him as walking. He spinned one, two, three times, and continued skating as though it was nothing. You were completely mesmerized. You already thought he was out-of-this-world beautiful, but his beauty was brought to another level when he skated. His elegant moves rendered you breathless. When he skated back towards you, you were looking at him with only awe and admiration in your eyes.

After what he’d told you and what he’d just shown you, you couldn't help but get a little emotional. You engulfed him in a hug as soon as he’d stepped out of the rink, your arms around his neck and his naturally coming to your waist. Your hands came up to his cheeks as you leaned back to properly look at him.

“That was- wow. That was amazing, Sunghoon. Thank you for showing me.” You could see the gratefulness in his eyes. There was something else there, and whatever it was, you knew you were looking back at him with as much of it. It was only you two in the building, but it might as well have been the two of you in the whole world.

All too similarly as in your room, his gaze went from your eyes to your lips, and you couldn’t help but mirror that. This was the perfect moment. You inched your face closer, letting him close the gap between you. Your lips touched and it was as if everything fell into place. The kiss was shy at first, neither of you sure what to do, your mouths moving at a slow but steady pace. But as your hands traveled from his cheeks, to his jaw and down to his neck, and you felt him sigh in the kiss, something unclicked in you, making you want more. You deepened the kiss, and he returned it with just as much force. Your right hand came to grab at the nape of his hair and his hands gripped your waist tighter. After minutes or hours, you broke the kiss in need of some air. Your eyes met again and you smiled at him, relieved it had finally happened.

You thought he’d have a similar reaction, but he suddenly looked panicked. Realization hit him like a truck. He liked you. Far too much. And even if the kiss and these past weeks told him you might like him back, it scared him. He’d unlocked his heart for you but couldn’t let you keep the key. Otherwise, he’d let you open it more and more and more until there he was completely bare in front of you, and you decided you didn’t like what you’d found and left him. Just like his mom did. Just like everyone eventually does. Just like his dad never even tried.

He took a step back. His panic was rubbing off on you. You called out his name, but he quickly got his bag and said, “Sorry, Y/N, I have to go. I’ll um- I’ll see you.” He took a few steps, turned around, and said, “I think you should take the bus tomorrow morning. Sorry.”

He started walking away. A few steps before he’d be out of your view, he turned back around. He hated the look on your face, how sad, confused and helpless it was all at once. Above all, he hated that he was the reason behind it. But he told himself it was better to leave you now than be left in a few months when you got bored of him, and started walking again without another word.

—

You walked home alone. It was a dark November night, and you were shivering from the cold and from sadness. Try as hard as you might, you couldn’t figure out why Sunghoon had reacted like that. The past month had gone so well, you were only getting closer and more comfortable with each other. The only logical conclusion you could come to was that kissing you had made him realize he didn’t like you. Thankfully, you didn’t live too far from the ice rink and you got home in five minutes. Lost in your thoughts, you couldn’t even be bothered to be quiet closing the front door and walking to your room, and you woke Sunoo up.

At first, he looked like he was about to scold you for making so much noise; but upon seeing your disheveled state, he started worrying.

“Y/N? What’s wrong, why are you only coming home now? Where were you?”

You couldn’t hold it in any longer. You fell in your brother’s arms and started crying your heart out.

He held you for a little while, but not wanting to wake the others up by staying in the hallway, he said, “Come on, let’s get you in your room. You’re freezing.”

He left for a few minutes and came back with two cups of tea in his hands. He joined you on your bed. You had calmed down a bit and took a sip of the tea, already feeling warmer.

“So, tell me everything.”

And you did. Not just about what had happened at the ice rink, but everything before that: how yours and Sunghoon’s relationship was fake, which you hadn’t even told your siblings, but that it hadn’t kept you from falling for him, and how you really thought he felt the same way. When you got to the part where you told each other about your stories, Sunoo grabbed your arm in surprise, and said, “I can’t believe you told someone about that. Good for you, big sis.”

You sat in silence after a few minutes when you’d finished telling him everything, you, still reflecting on your evening, and him, trying to think of something good to say. He took a deep breath, and started: “You know, this might be completely useless, but I feel like there’s no point trying to figure out why he did that. We’re not mind readers, and assuming things will just go wrong. I think the best thing to do is just ask him tomorrow, or whenever you’re ready to face him, really.”

You looked at your brother fondly. “How can you be so stupid sometimes, yet so wise right now?”

Sunoo and you talked for another minute, but when you yawned for a good seven straight seconds, you both agreed it was time for bed. Before you fell asleep, you told yourself that tomorrow morning, you’d find Sunghoon and make him be clear with you. You at least deserved that.

—

Heeseung and Sumin were clearly surprised to see you the next morning in the bus, but you told them you didn’t want to talk about it and they didn’t push, although it very obviously had something to do with Sunghoon. As you rode the bus and psyched yourself for your conversation with him, you had no idea he was currently in the midst of a heated argument with Jay. The latter pushed him with force, making Sunghoon’s back hit the classroom wall behind him.

“What the fuck did you just say about Y/N?” Jay asked, venom in his voice and fury in his eyes.

Despite the pain, Sunghoon smirked, wanting to rile up his friend even more. “I said, Y/N’s just as stupid as all the other girls. She probably thinks she’s so much better than everybody, but in the end it was so easy making her fall for me. It was almost boring, really, how easy she was.”

Jay pushed him again. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that.”

“Aw, little Jay is getting upset over his little Y/N? You sad that the girl you like actually likes an asshole like me?”

Jay hadn’t had many reasons to get angry in his life. This was making him discover another side of himself; he didn’t know he could get this angry. He didn’t know rage could fill up his veins like that and make him want to destroy absolutely everything around him, but above all, the person in front of him who’d he considered a friend all these years. On the verge of losing control, he reared up his fist, before Sunghoon said:

“You know what’s even sadder? She used to like you, too.”

His arm dropped. “What?”

“Yeah, in primary school. Didn’t you think it was weird how different she was before and after you left? Her little heartbreak made her change everything about herself just so that people would like her. And now all she can do is lie to everyone. I pity her, really. And to think that she thought I liked her. What an idiot.”

That was the last straw. Jay punched Sunghoon square in the nose, making him stumble back a few steps until he hit the wall again. He held onto his bloody, and possibly broken, nose and looked Jay straight in the eyes, still smirking. Thinking his job was done (but not sure what the job was in the first place), he walked away, heading to the nurses’ station. The scene had gathered quite an audience outside. It was less than ten minutes to the first bell, so already quite a few students were there, but no one had dared to venture inside. Jake, arriving too late to prevent any damage, looked wide-eyed back and forth between Sunghoon walking out and Jay standing inside, fists clenched by his side and panting from anger.

Sunghoon barely spared him or anyone a glance as he left the room. What he did notice though, were a crumpled tuna-mayo sandwich and a banana milk on the floor, looking as though someone had dropped them.

What had he done?

—

You had already run back to your friends and were currently crying for the second time in twelve hours in Sumin’s arms. It was the first time ever you cried at school, and probably also in front of your friends, spare Sumin, so it was a curious sight to most; she took you to another room for privacy.

There, you practically told her everything you had told Sunoo the night before, including the fake dating.

“Wait… so, you and Sunghoon weren’t actually dating?”

You nodded, embarrassed by your lie.

“I- Why didn’t you tell me, Y/N? How could you fool everyone like that?”

You looked up in surprise at your friend’s harsh words. You probably deserved them, but you weren’t used to hearing her speak in such a way, nor to the cold stare she was peering down at you with.

“I don’t know… I’m really sorry…” you mumbled, ashamed.

She scoffed. “You should be. I just- I just don’t understand how you can already be living such a lie, and still add onto it. It makes me wonder how I’m still friends with you.” The bell rang right at that moment, and she got up, saying, “Let’s go to class. You wouldn’t wanna be late.”

You followed her, but you felt sick to your stomach. Usually, you could always hide your discomfort or sadness, no matter how bad your period cramps were or how serious an argument with your parents had gotten. But this time, it was too much, and fifteen minutes into the class, you asked the teacher to go to the nurse. Not used to you needing to leave class and trusting that it was for a legitimate reason, your teacher let you off and you quickly packed your bag and left.

When you got to the nurse, you sat down in front of her and said you weren’t feeling well and wanted to go home. For the same reasons as your teacher, she said she’d let you but needed to ask you a few questions before about your general well-being. You answered them quickly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible and just go home.

When you finally were able to leave, you only took a few steps out of the nurse’s office before someone grabbed your wrist, making you turn around. Sunghoon, who was resting in the room next door, had heard your voice and gotten up as soon as he’d heard you leave. His nose was covered in bandages and his eye had started swelling and turning blue, and you mentally thanked Jay. You ripped your arm out of his grip and continued to walk away without a word. You were too tired to argue.

“Y/N, please, hear me out.”

This made you stop in your tracks, but you didn’t turn around. “Hear you out? I’ve already heard enough, Sunghoon. No need to explain, you made it very clear what you think of me.”

You started walking again but he doubled you and blocked your path in the narrow hallway.

“Y/N, I’m sorry, if you’d just give me a minute-”

“I don’t care that you’re sorry, Sunghoon! Sorry doesn’t cut it. I trusted you. Actually trusted you. You out of all people should know how hard it is to do that. Or was that a lie too?” Seeing him in front of you, your sadness retreated to the back of your heart and you were left with only anger.

“It wasn’t, I prom-”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.” You pushed past him and walked on. And this time, he let you go, even though the only thing you wanted him to do was make you stay. You so desperately wanted to hear him out and forgive him, but you knew you couldn’t do that. You had too much dignity, and it would only end up hurting you even further.

So you didn’t shed a tear the whole way home. When you finally got to your bed, you didn’t have the energy to start crying. You fell asleep, tears quietly rolling down your face.

—

You slept the whole day, waking up to a soft knock on your bedroom door. It was your mom, telling you Jay was here to see you. Everyone had been surprised to see you already at home when they came back from work or school, but they knew better than to wake you up.

“I’m surprised, you know. He’s gotten so handsome.”

You rolled your eyes at her. “Just tell him that I’m not feeling well and he should go home, please.”

“Oh, I’ve already tried to, honey. The boy is adamant on seeing you.”

You sighed. “Fine. Can you bring him here, then?”

A few seconds later, you heard another knock, and Jay opened the door just enough to peek his head through, asking if he could come in.

“Well, you’re already here, so might as well.”

You sat up and gestured for him to sit down on your bed.

He looked around, taking in the messiness of his surroundings. “You know, I thought your room would be much more… organized.”

“Didn’t Sunghoon tell you? I’m a big, fat liar who hides the truth from everyone,” you said sarcastically.

“About that… did you hear everything he said?” You hummed in response. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that, Y/N. I don’t know what happened to him. He’d never said anything like that about you, and then, all of a sudden… What an asshole. I can’t believe he was my friend.”

“Was? You shouldn’t end your friendship over me, Jay.”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t be friends with a guy who talks about anyone like that, let alone you.” After a few minutes of silence, he asked, “Did um- did anything happen, for him to say those things?”

You sighed deeply. “I’ve already told this story twice in the past few days, so I’ll give you the short version, but basically, we were fake dating, and I started really liking him, and I thought he did too, until we kissed, and he left me completely stranded, and then the next day I hear him say all those things.”

Silence again. You suddenly remembered something Sunghoon had said that you had completely put to the side: Jay likes you. At least, according to Sunghoon. You didn’t know if it was true, but judging by his disappointed face, it looked like it. Seemed like all of your friendships were going to hell.

“Oh,” he simply said.

“Yeah…” you murmured back.

“Well,” he turned to you, “that just confirms to me that he’s an asshole. Cause no guy in his right mind would turn you down, Y/N. I know I wouldn’t.”

He looked straight at you as he said that. Yep. Jay liked you. It was a nice feeling, but it was also about ten years too late.

“Do you- do you know what I’m trying to say, Y/N?” he asked, gulping.

You hesitated for a second before saying, ”I think I do, Jay. I have to say, your timing isn’t great.”

He chuckled a bit lifelessly. “Yeah, I guess right now isn’t the best time to say this.”

“I also meant, you know what Sunghoon said, earlier? That I liked you before you left for the US? That was true.”

He looked at you, mouth agape. “Oh, was it…” His head hung down in defeat. “I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot. I feel like it’s my fault that Sunghoon hurt you like this. If only I’d been just a bit earlier…”

“None of this is your fault, Jay. Please don’t think that. It’s mine for thinking Sunghoon could actually like me back.”

Jay took a deep breath. “God, as much as it hurts me to say, Y/N, I think he did. Or does, actually.” You furrowed your brows at him. “Sunghoon, he has this thing where he goes into retreat mode as soon as he gets too close, too personal. It’s a stupid defense mechanism, and when he realizes he’s let you in a bit too far, he snaps everything closed and hurts you before you can hurt him. At least, that’s how he sees it, I guess. He’s done it to Jake and me a couple times, and it takes some getting used to, but he stops after a while. When he knows for sure that you won’t hurt him.”

You didn’t know what to do with this information, so you just stayed quiet, which Jay took as a sign to go on.

“I’m not saying forgive him. Believe me, if I could smack him into space and never let him see you again, I would. But I think maybe, just maybe, and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, hear him out.”

You smiled at him. “You’re a good friend, Jay. And I don’t mean just to me but to Sunghoon as well. I hope you know that.”

Jay tried to ignore the pinch in his heart at the word ‘friend’ and smiled back.

“Oh, there’s another thing I needed to show you.” His tone was suddenly much more apprehensive, and he looked both sorry and scared to say whatever he was about to say.

He pulled out his phone and searched the thing in question. Before showing you anything, he warned, “Nobody knows who did this. It was sent out to the whole school on a library computer-”

Expecting the worst, you snatched Jay’s phone from his hands. And there they were. Pictures of you from your primary school years, recent pictures of you in your comfortable clothes, at home or in close proximity to your house. Sent out to the whole school, as Jay had said. You were horror-struck. You could feel all the years you had spent perfecting your image and maintaining it crumbling around you as though they were paper. Charismatic smiles and trendy accessories had been your brick and mortar, but a sledgehammer had hit them, destroying your foundations further with each swing.

And that sledgehammer had a name: Bae Sumin. You’d figured it out in an instant. You’d been friends your whole life, she was the only one apart from your family to know about your true face; only she would have access to such photos. You knew it wasn’t Sunghoon because the pictures he had taken that day weren’t there.

If what had happened with Sunghoon had made a crack in your heart, then this had shattered it into a million pieces. The person who you’d trusted the most, who you’d thought would never do anything to hurt you, had done the worst thing anybody could do to you.

“Y/N- are you okay?” Jay asked tentatively. You had forgotten he was there.

“Um, yeah, yeah- I think I just need to be alone for now, if that’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying a while.”

“Sorry, Jay, but I’m sure.”

He looked at you for a few seconds. He’d never felt more distance between you two, not even when you had been oceans apart. “Alright. Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”

You smiled a tiny, tiny smile in response and he left your room. On his way out, your mom hugged him, saying it was nice to see him again and that he was welcome anytime, and he thanked her.

As he walked home, he couldn’t help but bitterly laugh to himself. Even when he confessed, he hadn’t been able to say the words he’d wanted to tell you this whole time: I love you.

—

You didn’t go to school for the rest of the week, the only stain on your perfect attendance record. All of your friends had tried to reach you, asking if you were okay, and you replied in a few small messages, telling them you’d be back when you could. Other people had contacted you, asking if those pictures were real. You obsessed over your school’s gossip Instagram account: the past few days, all the posts had been dedicated to your pictures and Sunghoon’s and Jay’s fight. You had ten missed calls from Sunghoon and seventeen from Sumin. You ignored each and everyone of them, only giving Jay, Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung the time of day.

On Sunday morning you woke up, already dreading going to school the next day. You could already picture the nasty stares and whispers you’d get in the hallways. You thought about facing Sumin and Sunghoon again, and you thought the worst thing possible would be to have to do it at school. So you decided to wait until they called you again, as you knew they would, and finally picked up their call.

Sumin contacted you first, at eleven in the morning. You agreed to have her come over to your house to talk. When she appeared at your front door, you realized you weren’t sad, angry, or disappointed; you were just confused. You didn’t understand why she’d done it. Looking at her face, you couldn’t imagine her sitting down at that computer and sending out those pictures, writing the comment This is what Kim Y/N is like in real life.

You let her in and walked to your room, your siblings’ eyes burning holes into her soul the whole time. You sat down on your bed, sighed, and said, “Go ahead.”

“Thank you for letting me come here and explain myself. I don’t know what took over me, Y/N. Well actually, I guess I do. Jealousy, as stupid as it sounds.” She chuckled at herself. “I’ve always tried to hide it, but I’ve always been a bit jealous of you, Y/N. You’re the prettiest girl, the smartest, the nicest, and I’m just the best friend. That’s all anyone knows me as. Everybody loves you, yet I know it’s all a facade. And I’m not saying that to be mean, because I know you’re an amazing person even without all the glamor. And when I saw you with Sunghoon, I mean, you saw how I was. I didn't fight with my parents. I was so, so jealous. You hadn’t shown interest in any guy since Choi Soobin and all of a sudden you were dating Park freaking Sunghoon, and he knew about your quote-on-quote ‘real’ face, so I couldn’t even comfort myself that he didn’t know who you really were.”

“Wait- why would you be jealous of Sunghoon and me?”

She took a deep breath. “You remember, freshman year, when I confessed to him and he turned me down?”

“Yeah, but I thought that was in the past.”

“Do you also remember that guy I told you about later on, who I’d gotten really close with but completely shut me off when I thought we were about to start dating?”

Something clicked, but you didn’t want to face it. “Yeah…”

“Well, surprise surprise, they were the same person. Ha. I got mad at you for lying to me, but I did the same thing.”

“Sumin… Why did you never tell me?”

“I’m not sure. When we were in that talking stage, I could’ve bragged about it to anyone, you know, that Park Sunghoon was actually being nice to me, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep him my little secret. And then I confessed, and we all know how that ended.” A beat passes as she takes a deep breath, shaking the bad memory away. “I am over it, it was more than three years ago. Maybe there was a nice part of me that thought he had changed, because you seemed happy with him, and I didn’t want to ruin that. But maybe there was another part that hoped he might hurt you like he did me. And that’s such a shitty thing to do, I know. I should’ve told you when I saw you get involved with him. I can’t believe after all these years, he did the exact same thing to you that he did to me. What an asshole.”

You were staring at the wall in front of you, feeling empty. Why did everything have to happen at the same time? You were just drained of any willpower.

“This doesn’t explain the pictures,” you said plainly.

“Right. When you told me you were fake dating, I guess something snapped in me. I couldn’t believe it was another lie, I thought we had gone past the stage where you hid things from me. So that, plus jealousy, I just went a bit crazy, I think. I really wasn’t thinking, Y/N, and I promise you with all my heart that if I could go back and undo everything, I would. I’m so, so, so sorry. I regretted it as soon as I hit post.”

You looked at your friend and knew she was telling the truth. You believed her, and yet you couldn’t quite look past it.

“I know you are, Minie. It’s just… what am I gonna do now at school? Everybody must hate me.”

“I won’t lie, some people haven’t been saying the nicest things, especially Park’s fangirls. But God, Y/N, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but who cares? They’ll talk about it for a week, two at most. Your life at school won’t be the same, but you’ll still have all of us. I’ve talked to Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung, and they’re not the tiniest bit mad at you. They’re just worried to death. A bit confused too, but mostly worried. And you know what? Even Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul, who I’ve literally never talked to before, came to ask me how you were. Jay and Sunghoon are barely on talking terms but they always team up when it comes to practically verbally assaulting anyone they overhear talking behind your back. Jake has to hold them back sometimes but he always glares at those people too. You don’t wanna see Jake Sim glare, I promise you. It’s so scary,” she says in a confessional tone, visibly shuddering just at the thought of angel-faced Jake looking angry, and you can’t help the small chuckle that escapes your lips.

Her face softens as she places a warm palm over your hand. “We all love you and care for you so much, so screw literally every single other person in that school. They don’t matter.”

There was something refreshing about Sumin’s words. The idea that you could live your life without worrying about other people had always been in the back of your head, but you always told yourself you were in too deep to go back. Now that you had been forced to, you understood why you felt so empty: the immense weight of having to keep up a persona, had been lifted off your shoulders. You would only have to carry yourself, and not a second person, which made you feel weightless. You’d just have to get used to it and come to enjoy that feeling.

You took your friend’s hands in yours. “I want to forgive you, I promise I do. And I will. I just don’t know if I can do that right away. I’ll need some getting used to this new life.”

“I completely understand, Y/N.”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you around anymore. And you know what, I’m sure one day I’ll look back at this moment and thank you.”

—

Sumin left a few hours later and you were now waiting for Sunghoon to call you. You waited and waited, until your phone rang with a small ding: he wasn’t calling you, but had sent you a message. A very, very long message. You were very tempted to reply with a I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for u tho. Or sorry that happened, but you thought it might not be the appropriate moment.

You opened the message, which had come after thirty unread texts, and started reading, slightly appalled by the lack of paragraphing.

Dear Y/N,

Is this how you start a long text? I would much rather be telling you this than writing it, but someone hasn’t been picking up my calls. Sorry. I probably shouldn’t be giving you much attitude right now. Where do I even start? The ice rink, I guess. Asshole move #1, obviously. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you like that. That kiss was really really good and I really really liked it. Because I really really like you. And I think I’ve known that for a while now, but the kiss confirmed it. And I was happy for a second, but then I panicked. There’s no other word for it, I panicked. I’ve never liked someone this much before and I was so scared. I still am. I’m terrified shitless. But I know that my fear is completely irrational, and that you’re literally the best person on Earth, which is why I’m writing this. I know it’s cliché to say my mom left me and now I think everybody will. And my first reaction to that is to hurt someone before they can hurt me, which is what I did. But as much as I wanna fight it, it’s always there at the back of my mind. You can even ask Sumin about it. Should I be saying that? I feel like I might as well. I was an asshole to her, and I’m so angry at myself that I did it again with you. I didn’t mean a single word of what I said about you to Jay. Not a single one. You’re not stupid, you’re the smartest and most amazing girl I know, and I never pretended I liked you, because I never had to. I think I just wanted Jay to punch me, really. I wanted him to run to you and make sure you were okay, because I was too scared to do that myself. But I regret doing that so much. I hope you know that. And bless Jay, he’s a real one. He told me to get my shit together and talk to you. I can tell he’s still mad at me but still wants to make things good between us. I was already trying to call you before he said that, but I probably would’ve said something stupid that would’ve made things worse. And I can’t afford that, Y/N, I really, really can’t. You get me like no one does and being with you is the most liberating thing ever, I’m never myself more than when I’m around you. You just bring out the best in me. Well, except for that thing I did. Which I promise I’ll never do again. I am so extremely sorry, and if you wanna hate me for the rest of your life, I completely get it. But I would also be very happy if you didn’t. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow at school. I really miss you.

Your Hoon

You wiped away the tears that had formed in your eyes and typed back:

You’re such an idiot, Park.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

—

The next day, as you imagined, was mostly hell. You’d decided not to dress up as usual: there was no point trying to look good after this, it would only make you seem more ridiculous. You put less makeup on, not bothering to hide your eye bags, and didn’t bling your outfit up with accessories or fancy shoes, opting for your worn-out Converse you’d had since your feet stopped growing. On the bus, where people usually ignored each other, you could already feel the gossip being told about you. You avoided people’s gaze like the plague and sat down next to Sumin. You laid your head on her shoulder and sighed.

“I already wanna go home.”

She laughed, “I know. We’ll be with you the whole day, so don’t worry.”

You spent the bus ride catching up on what had happened when you were gone (nothing much), and although there was some awkwardness there, it was nice being with your best friend. When Heeseung got on, he practically screamed your name and suffocated you by means of greeting.

“I’m so glad you’re back. You know, I think you look really cute in those pictures. All these people are just jealous they don’t look as good as you even when you don’t dress up.”

Sumin shot daggers with her eyes at him and he cringed, saying, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”

You reassured him, saying that it was fine since it was all you were going to be hearing the next few days. “Might as well get used to it.”

It was somewhat easy to ignore the stares coming your way when you walked into school with Heeseung and Sumin flanked at your sides like bodyguards. When you reached your classroom, Jiung engulfed you in a hug and Sieun was almost crying. How the hell had you gotten such sweet friends?

In the hallways, some people tried to get reactions out of you by calling you out, yelling liar! or you can’t fool us anymore. You couldn’t ignore them as they were very much in your face. When at lunch, a table of girls next to you was very clearly talking about you in the nastiest way possible, you took your tray and were ready to get up and leave, but a very familiar voice stopped you in your tracks.

“You think it’s funny talking about someone like that?” Sunghoon was practically screaming at the girls. “You think you’re any better than her? I bet you do the exact same thing but are just glad someone else got called out for it.” You weren’t sure if that made you feel much better, but you appreciated the effort.

“As a matter of fact,” he continued as he pulled out a chair and got up on it, his voice getting louder, “I’ve got something I wanna say to everyone.”

Somebody whooped (probably Jake) and you tried to get Sunghoon to come down from the chair, but he just smiled his radiant smile at you and turned to look at the students in the cafeteria.

“All of you who judge Y/N are hypocrites. You wanna tell me you’re all as perfect at home as you are at school? That you never relax a little bit? Sure, she pushed it a bit far- (hey! you grunted in protest), but nobody shows who they truly are to everyone. We all judge each other in this stupid high school, so Y/N did what she had to do and protected herself. If anything, this should make you respect her even more. And it’s not like she did anything wrong to you. She didn’t use her popularity against anyone, so you better not use this against her.”

From the crowded tables in the cafeteria, somebody yelled “Nobody cares!”

Somebody, whose voice you thought you recognized as Jungwon’s, joined in: “Yeah, what is it about you seniors and thinking the whole school revolves around you? We still like Y/N!”

Sunghoon, taken aback, simply said, “Oh. Alright. Well, you better keep it that way then!” and got off his chair.

He turned to you, already a pleading look on his face and said “Y/N, I’m so sorry-”

But you cut him off right away. “I know, Sunghoon, I know. I think this proved it.”

“I really wanna make it up to you. So just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Buy you a house, move to another country, you name it. I’ll do it.”

You chuckled at him. “You don’t need to go that far.” You looked down, then back at him. “I think I just want to pretend like nothing happened. Like it was all a huge, awful fever dream. Even if I can’t forgive and forget right away, I don’t think I want you out of my life while I figure it out.”

He let out the biggest sigh you’d ever heard. “My God, you don’t know how happy to hear that, Y/N. Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for defending me just now. That was… definitely something.”

He smiled down at you. "I did my best. Too bad those sophomores ruined everything.”

You could feel eyes burning into your sides, so you turned your head a bit and noticed that your friends and the table of girls that had just been gossiping were staring at you, some of them teary-eyed. When they saw you notice them, they all turned back to each other and pretended that they were having some other conversation. You and Sunghoon chuckled, and you realized how much you had missed him.

Yes, Sunghoon and Sumin had hurt you, but you were a strong believer of second chances. Even if it was hard at first to stop thinking about Sunghoon’s voice when he had said those things or Sumin’s intentions when she posted the pictures, they’d made it up to you in any way they could and you’d reciprocated that by being completely honest. No more trying to look perfect all the time; you were human and were allowed to have low moments. Your grades even dropped by two points, because you’d started spending more time with your friends than with your textbooks. You’d spent whole Saturdays at the ice rink with your now real-boyfriend Sunghoon, and had invited the whole crew. Heeseung was surprisingly good at it. You had even caught your little sister Yeeun on a date with the cute Japanese boy she’d talked about.

As promised, Jay came once a week or every two weeks to have dinner with your family; Sunghoon always insisted on being present. The tension between them had turned into friendly competition, and you could tell the two friends were glad to have each other back.

You’d never felt so free. Your relationship with Sunghoon felt like uncharted territory and home at the same time; so daunting and exciting yet so comfortable and relaxing. You kept the PDA at a minimum at school, but when it was just the two of you, your whole body never failed to heat up, even in the cold of the ice rink. He had been nicknamed the ice prince, but he was so, so warm.

In the end, everybody found out. But you had Park Sunghoon by your side, so it was alright.

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A continuation of this

It was amazing how interesting the hors d'oeuvre table became when one was avoiding social interaction. Danny pouted as he filled yet another plate with the tiny little snack foods. He should have listened to Mom. She had warned him he wouldn't like the party but he insisted on coming too. But how could he resist? When he heard all the fun stories his uncles told, he wanted to see for himself. And his grandpa had been so happy that he wanted to come too. Danny thought he would be in for a night of excitement especially since he'd be able to stay up past his bedtime yet instead he was currently bored out of his mind. He was also incredibly uncomfortable.

Danny didn't like how all these older people kept coming up to him and asking him weird questions or squeezing his cheeks. His mom and uncles tried to intercept as many people as possible but some people had gotten to him and. Danny didn't complain though as he's the one who wanted to come anywhere and he didn't want to seem like a brat. Plus he was still holding out hope that one of his uncles would do something interesting and if he complained, he might be taken home early.

That's why Danny had taken to avoiding his mom. She was very good at reading him and was even teaching him how to read others. If she saw him it would take 0.2 seconds for her to realize he didn't want to be here anymore. Mom was really nice so she would probably take him back home when she noticed. But Danny was a big boy and big boys suck it up for uncomfortable parties that they begged to attend. Though he still wished Sam were here. Sam? Who's Sam? He couldn't remember. There were a lot of things Danny couldn't remember. Even when he tried really hard to.

"Ah so this is the newest Wayne brat!"

Danny was pulled from his thoughts and looked up to see a man staring down at him. The man's blonde hair was very shiny. Must be full of a lot of that gel Uncle Damian liked to use. But he had put on too much and now his head looked all flat and shiny. But maybe the man liked being shiny since he had a lot of gold jewelry on too.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to stare?" the man said harshly, his lazy brown eyes boring into Danny. His body language was practically screaming How dare you? Better than you. This man seemed to sway quite a lot too. Was he drunk? Mom had warned him to stay away from drunk people but it would be rude to just walk away wouldn't it?

Instead Danny put down his plate and signed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. You just have really pretty jewelry sir."

The man's glare only intensified. "Huh? Whazzat? Talk damnit!" He began to project annoyance.

Danny furrowed his brows slightly. The man had said a bad word. You're not supposed to say bad words around children. At least that's what Grandpa Alfred had taught him when Uncle Jason got in trouble for saying one near him. It was also frustrating that this man didn't know any sign language.

Nevertheless, Danny pulled out his phone and opened the notes app. He clicked on the first page which read, "I'm sorry, I have limited speech and use sign language to communicate. However I can use this notepad instead." He held it up for the man to read.

Yet again the man didn't seem to be satisfied as he retorted, "You can speak but you choose not to? You're an arrogant little brat aren't you?" Angry. How dare you think you're above me? Uh oh.

Danny quickly scrolled down to a blank space so that he could explain it wasn't like that but he never got the chance. The man snatched the phone from Danny's hands.

"Listen you little turd," the man hissed, leaning in close. It took all the self control in Danny's body not to gag at his breath. "You may think you're all high and mighty just because you got lucky but make no mistake. You're just gutter trash. Just like all the other pests Wayne brought into his household and just like your mother."

Tears pricked at Danny's eyes. That wasn't true. Neither his uncles nor his mother were trash. They were good people. The nicest people ever. They saved Danny from that terrible terrible place and gave him lots of hugs and sweets and warmth. This man didn't know what he was talking about.

The man continued, "You'll do well to respect me as unlike you and your little pretend family, I actually come from a distinguished background. I'm not some orphan from an unknown background whose parents probably sold him for drug money. Do you hear me?" Hostile. Don't mess with me!

"If I tell you to speak to me, you speak to me. Is that clear?" You're beneath me. Know your place.

Danny didn't know how much longer he could keep the tears at bay. Luckily he didn't have to.

"Is there a problem?" There she was. Mom! In all of her glory. Her hair done up in a little bun and dressed in a suit matching his. He had actually picked it out for her.

Danny rushed over to her and clung to her leg. Not trash he projected. My family. Meanwhile, the man's attitude did a complete 180. "Ah Ms. Cassandra it's so nice to see you again! I was just complimenting your little one on how cute his suit looked on him!"

Mom ignored him and looked to Danny instead.

What happened?

Insulted you. Insulted my family. Mean man. Bad man.

Cass gently patted Danny's head. He loved when she did that. Okay now. Don't worry.

Mom turned back to the man. "For someone so much better than everyone, you really like hanging out in the Bowery," she said. I know your secret.

The man stiffened. Does she know? How does she know? "I'm really not sure what you're referring to Ms. Wayne." Nervous. Agitated.

Mom didn't say anything. Just leveled a stare at the man. His smile began slipping in the awkward silence. Panicked. Must leave.

"Well I should probably be going now. I feel like I've had too much to drink. Perhaps I'll go sit down," the man said quickly, excusing himself and disappearing into the crowd.

Once he was out of sight, Cass turned back to Danny. Okay? Danny buried his face into her leg. Wanna go home. In the next moment, Danny felt himself being picked up and cradled in his mother's arms. Let's go home, she portrayed with a smile. Danny desperately clung to her suit as his bottom lip wobbled.

"Sorry," he whispered. He wanted her to know he really meant it. That he was truly sorry.

He felt a kiss be planted on his forehead. "Don't be," Mom replied. Danny wrapped his arms around her neck and closed his eyes, finally letting the tears he'd been holding at bay fall. He took in the warmth and love his mother showered over him. His family wasn't trash. They were his saviors.

#dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc #dcxdp #winter's tales #you be believe when the rest of his family hears what that man said to danny #his life will be ruined

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kaisfruit · 5 months

Note

Hello love! I love your posts so much and I was wondering if I could request a Cole smut one shot? I mean, I saw your head canons and you said you could go on for longer, girl please do!??

Starved | Cole x Fem!Reader

A/N; I DONT KNOW U TWO, BUT U TWO ANONS MWAH !!! I LOVE U GUYS! i wanted to go so in depth w cole cuz i am unbelievably attrracted to that man i aint afraid to admit it. also, neither of yall specified BUT! im going w fem!reader since u both came from the fem!reader hcs <3

warnings; nsfw under the cut <3, cunnilingus, size kink, pussy drunk cole, unprotected p in v (pls wrap it b4 u tap it yall), probably some typos/grammar mistakes cuz i am way too scared to ask anyone to read this beforehand, and uhh i think that's it!

word count; 4.4k (i may have gotten a bit carried away im sorry yall)

Dinner was a favorite time amongst the ninja. It was time to unwind, to have fun, and enjoy each other's company. You had been chatting idly to Lloyd, who sat to your right, for a majority of the time. He was a bit quieter compared to some of the others (full shade to Jay, Kai, Cole, and Nya) and it seemed as if the mundane practice of just a normal conversation was a great relaxer for the green ninja, so he was definitely one of your preferred dinner companions. That didn’t mean there wasn’t chaos going on around you guys. Jay, who was to your left, seemed to be in a full shouting argument with Kai who sat directly across from the blue ninja. The topic of their angry musings was unknown to you, but Lloyd kept making commentary on it every now and again which you would happily add onto.

Across from you sat Cole, then to his left was Nya, and the head of the table was occupied by Zane while opposite him on the other end sat Pixal. Zane seemed content to exist in the company of all of you, only chiming in when he felt like it was needed, but he and Nya were definitely whispering jokes to each other every now again between bites of their food. Pixal, you noticed, was actually jokingly joining in on Kai and Jay’s argument. She would add in one point that was completely absurd and it would cause the other two to blow up again. That robot could be devious when she really wanted to be.

Then there was Cole. You were surprised that he wasn’t also a part of the argument, but you suppose the topic of…maybe devil worship? You weren’t sure, but still, whatever it was didn’t seem to interest the earth ninja. To be fair, you knew the other was prone to getting entranced into whatever he was eating at the moment and Zane had done wonderfully with tonight’s dinner (as he always did) so it was understandable really.

“And, yeah, I don’t know. I just don’t really understand why I’ve always got to be doing something.” Lloyd finished his story up and you nodded along, having listened intently the entire time.

“I don’t know either man,” you shrugged as you took a sip of your water, “your shit is always getting rocked one way or another.” That caused a slight snort of amusement to exit the green ninja. “I mean, I would’ve already changed my government name and gone into hiding if I were in your shoes.”

Lloyd let out a sigh. “That’s the dream. I don’t know if I could do all of that. Couldn’t leave you guys behind at all. That’d suck big time. Ninjago should just get its shit together so we can have some slice of life anime lives.” You nodded enthusiastically at that idea.

“Ooo yeah. And then we could have like fun drama like…what outfit am I going to wear tomorrow or oh no my hair is so bad!”

“Yes! You’re getting it.” Lloyd grinned. “I think I should get a cat.” His mind wandered constantly, so you were only slightly jarred by the sudden conversation change. “I’ve heard that their purrs do some sort of healing and I could for sure use some of that.”

“I think we’d all like having a cat around.” You added on. “They’re sort of independent, so it would be a good pet for our lifestyle.”

Lloyd was about to respond to you, y’know how conversations work, when all of a sudden Jay slammed his palms onto the table as the “argument” had escalated. It caused the table to shake and before you could stop it your water glass had fallen down and drenched your shirt. You let out a loud gasp which quickly caught the attention of everyone.

“Oh my God, [name], I’m so sorry!” Jay began profusely apologizing, scrambling about the table to find some napkins. Kai was howling with laughter just happy to not be the one who fucked something up. Lloyd was a bit in shock, Zane and Nya had both gotten up to grab some towels from the kitchen with Pixal not far behind, and Cole seemed to be frozen. You were too caught up in the water seeping through your clothes to notice, but the ninja sat opposite you seemed to have his eyes locked onto you, his body tense.

“Jay, it’s fine.” You quickly reassured as you stood up, Cole’s eyes following the movement carefully, “I’ll just go get changed. It’s no big deal.” You tried giving the blue ninja a comforting smile, but you could tell the guilt was already eating him alive and it’d be hard to get him out of that state for a while. You’d try again later, you decided.

Letting those who had left to the kitchen know where you were going, you made your way to your room with your arms held awkwardly in the air so that the weird feeling of the wet fabric wouldn’t be sticking to your skin too bad. Before you could forget, you made a quick stop by the bathroom in order to grab a towel from the cabinet.

Finally having made it to your room, you were quick to tug your shirt off and throw it somewhere on the floor. A sigh of relief left your lips as you began to dry off your top half with the previously acquired towel. With a frown, you removed your bra as well since the water had made it to that garment too and once you were sure your skin felt dry you dropped the towel onto your bed and you made your way to your closet.

You were bent over getting into your dresser looking for a new bra when you heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” You called over your shoulder, still digging around in the dresser.

“Uhhh Cole! Is it okay if I come in?”

“I’m sort of changing right now!”

“I won’t look!”

You huffed out a laugh at that. It was sort of indecent to let him in when you were like that, but he did promise not to look. But what if he did? That thought caused your cheeks to heat up a bit. To be completely honest, you were almost entirely head over heels for the earth ninja. The only reason you didn’t choose to spend every dinner chatting to him is because you knew part of you would slip up and embarrass yourself in one way or another. Not to say he didn’t do his fair share of embarrassing himself, but you found that endearing. He’d probably think you were weird and off putting if you were to just slip up randomly.

“Fiiinneeee!” You agreed against your better judgment. “No peeking!”

You could hear a chuckle rumble from the man as the faint sound of the door clicking open hit your ears. Chancing a glance behind you, you smiled fondly at the sight of Cole with his hands over his eyes as he shut the door behind him. He stood completely still after that too scared to make his way to a place to sit with him completely blind like that.

“Soooo, what’s up?” You finally asked, trying to not get irritated at the fact that you couldn’t seem to find another bra in your dresser.

“I just wanted to check in on you.” Cole answered, his voice strained. “I’ll gladly beat Jay up for you. Swear.” That had you giggling.

“You’d beat Jay up over anything.” You rolled your eyes. “You’re just looking for an excuse to.”

“Nuh uh.”

“You can take a seat, y’know.” You changed the topic, about damn near close to giving up and just going braless (you wouldn’t actually. It sounded comfortable, but you didn’t want to expose yourself like that.)

Cole cleared his throat slightly. “No way! I’d totally bump into like a shelf or something!! All of your shit would be broken and then I’d have to beat myself up after beating up Jay!”

Another laugh escaped you at that. Was all of it made funnier by the fact that it was Cole? Maybe. Afterwards, you went silent as your mind began racing. This could be your chance? Would he think it’s weird?

“Hey, I,” you bit your lip in a pause, “I don’t mind if you open your eyes…” You finally spoke, getting ready to just laugh it off like it was just a joke. What a prankster you are!

Cole seemed to go oddly silent after you said that and you were sweating bullets. The tension that filled the room was suffocating. Quickly, you snapped up with your back still to Cole. That action was followed by the sound of footsteps almost as if the other ninja had begun walking closer.

You were about ready to apologize profusely when Cole’s low voice broke the silence, “can I ask you something, [name]?”

“Anything…” You murmured, still facing the other way.

“Can I…” There was a pause, an eerily similar pause to the one you had earlier. He was hesitant as he seemed to be fighting some inner battle.

Without thinking, you quickly turned around not caring about your current topless situation and you pulled Cole down in order to plant a fierce kiss to his lips. You were about to apologize for your impulsivity and how you should’ve asked first and not assumed, but Cole’s hands came to rest on your waist and he let out a low groan as he melted into the kiss.

You weren’t small by any means, but it was making your knees weak at the feeling of his hands just absolutely dwarfing your waist. Those hands pulled you closer to where your chest was pressed against him and the feeling of the bulge in his pants against your hips caused you to gasp which he took advantage of and slipped his tongue into your mouth. You let out a small whine at the action, but quickly reciprocated even if you let him have control of the kiss.

Eventually, the need for air arose and you reluctantly parted with him, a string of saliva connecting the two of you. His eyes searched yours, as if something in your gaze held the answer to every question he had ever asked, as his hands slowly wandered to the area beneath your ass. After a bit of panting between the two of you, the kiss quickly resumed and he lifted you up easily causing your stomach to do flips. You wrapped both of your legs around his back and took appreciation in the new angle as it was much easier than having him lean down as much as he was.

The kiss broke as his lips began trailing downward. A shiver ran down your spine at the sensation of his lips on your neck and your breath hitched as he lightly nipped and sucked at the skin there.

“You’re gorgeous…” He breathed against your neck.

Between your harsh intakes of breath, you eventually got out, “Cole, I need you.” Which caused another low groan to escape him.

“You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about hearing that come from your lips.” Cole had begun walking over to your bed and gently sat you down atop it as he crawled on top of you. He had barely even done anything, but you already felt like your brain was turning into mush. The sight of his body hovering over yours is something you’ve only ever dreamed about and you subconsciously rubbed your thighs together. That movement caught his attention, but he had to pace himself. Make sure everything was alright with you. You were operating at hyperspeed, however, and began reaching to the hem of his shirt. That didn’t go unnoticed by him either and he was quick to yank the material up and over his head. He flung the shirt onto the floor of your room as you laid there, stunned, at the sight of his body.

Cole was, well you knew he was big, but he was beefy. Clearly, he was muscular, but he had some chubbiness going for him as well and, God, you don’t know if you’ve ever needed anyone more. He was perfect. You started to sit up so that you could absolutely just feel him up, but he didn’t let you get up. Instead, he ran his hands down your stomach towards your shorts. You looked at him confused and he just leaned in close, his breath fanning across your ear.

“I want to make this about you.” His hands had successfully unbuttoned and zipped down your shorts. “Call me selfish, but I need to make you feel good. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t treat you like the finest piece of cake in the damn bakery?” To many, that’d be a cause for laughter, but knowing Cole, that meant everything. He slowly pulled away from your ear and you couldn’t help but look at him with the purest look of adoration after that. Even in a situation as intimate as this, he still managed to get the butterflies in your stomach to go haywire.

Cole slowly slid your shorts down your legs and off of your body. They probably ended up somewhere near where his shirt did. His eyes were transfixed at the wet spot that had formed on your underwear and he found himself subconsciously licking his lips. You, on the other hand, were staring at him with anticipation wondering what his next move would be. Gingerly, his hands came to rest on your waist and you shivered. His thumbs hooked into the last garment you had on, but he paused to look up at you. His eyes were searching yours once more.

“Is this okay?” He finally asked, his voice soft. Your enthusiastic nod put him into action and he quickly slid your panties off of your legs.

Cole could’ve sworn he was fucking salivating at the sight of your core fully exposed to him. He placed his hands underneath your knees and used that position to spread your legs open for ease of access. Knowing he still had his pants on, you were curious to what his current plan was until your eyes widened as you watched his head lower to rest between your thighs. Your face was flushed red and you could feel yourself trembling slightly. What he was about to do was just so…intimate? It felt more like a once the relationship has officially started activity, but it seems he wasn’t even kidding when he said he’d treat you like cake. Was he trying to ruin you for anyone else? (As if you’d want anyone else.)

The breath was knocked out of you as he took one small lick of you. You could’ve sworn you heard a noise escape him as well, but you weren’t given time to even think as he instantly dove back in. He had started eating you out like a man starved. His tongue moved along your pussy masterfully, making careful movements along your clit which caused punctuated whines to escape your mouth. You couldn’t help but reach a hand down to rest on the back of his head which he seemed to enjoy. Cole then made his tongue flatten out in order to lap up as much of your juices as possible. As if this wasn’t enough to get his fill, his tongue finally plunged into your hole and a gasp left your lips that slowly morphed into a low moan. This man was eating you up and you’re pretty sure your mind was completely gone by this point. What was your name? Who cares? Cole was giving you pleasure you had never experienced before and that’s literally all that mattered at this point. If your head wasn’t so far up in the clouds, you probably would’ve noticed that Cole was grinding up against the bed as he ate you out.

Your grip tightened in Cole’s hair and a moan left his lips which seemed to vibrate along your cunt.

“C-Cole–” His name was but a mere whimper along your lips and it only encouraged him to move his mouth against you faster. You felt the knot in your stomach twist up as your peak approached. You were practically grinding up against his tongue which Cole enjoyed immensely. He could not get enough and it rewarded him as you practically exploded all over his tongue. He was licking up as much of your climax as he could as you were still shaking in post-orgasmic bliss. Your vision felt blurry at the continued stimulation that carried you down from your high and you were faintly aware of the moans and whimpers making their way out of your throat.

Honestly, you had expected him to stop, but even one orgasm wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Cole was still lost in the taste of your pussy. You felt a bit of pain flare up at the overstimulation and you were trying to gently pull at his hair.

“Cole,” you whimpered, “h…hurts.” That fell on deaf ears as he just continued on. You thought he hadn’t heard you, but a shit eating look was sent your way and you knew he was trying to work you up.

“Just one more.” He growled along your folds as he moved up to suck on your clit which caused a jolt to travel through your body. It seems as if he had enough of your trembles as his arms came up to rest on your thighs. The position still keeping your legs spread, but his strength kept your lower half still as he continued his ‘feast’. Your moans and whines had definitely picked up in pace at this moment as the pain began to border on pleasure.

Your second orgasm came much faster.

He licked it up just as enthusiastically as he did the first time. You think he probably would’ve tried to keep going for a third time if you didn’t forcefully pull him up this time. There was a sheen of your slick that shined around Cole’s mouth and you looked away slightly in embarrassment. Cole, meanwhile, was licking around his mouth trying to get whatever he had missed.

Your chest rose and fell rapidly as you attempted to catch your breath after all of that. The shifting of Cole’s body was what finally caught your attention. The ninja was moving himself from above your body to your side and it looked as if he was moving to lay down next to you. All signs of lethargy left your body as you quickly sat up and rested a hand on his chest. Cole stared at you with a tilt of his head, the confusion bubbling within him evident.

“What about you?” You asked, still breathing a bit heavy.

“What about me?” Cole replied a bit dumbly.

“You know…” You muttered, a tad bit embarrassed, but you rested a hand over his painfully hard bulge in his pants. The feeling caused him to shiver and he looked down, realization dawning on him.

“Oh, it’s okay.” He said, picking your hand up and removing it from his crotch. “I said I just wanted to take care of you, right?”

“Yeah you did,” you started, “but I said I need you, didn’t I?” Cole nodded slowly, but a small frown was still on his face.

“Aren’t you tired?”

A sigh left your mouth. “A little, BUT.” You emphasized, noticing how he had opened his mouth to speak after you said that. “God damnit Cole. No way am I going to finally get you into my bed just to have you not dick me down. I don’t care how sensitive I am, I need you to fuck me.” You could barely believe what you had just said, but it got the job done. Albeit a bit slowly.

“...Are you sure? I don’t wanna hurt you…”

“I have never been more fucking sure in my life.”

Seeing as he wasn’t moving, you lunged over to him to begin slipping his basketball shorts down. Noticing your haste, Cole finally started taking initiative. If it’s what you wanted then he just had to give it. With a better method, Cole slipped off his shorts and boxers off together in one swift motion. And, boy, did he not disappoint. EVERY part of him was big, you had just found out. Saliva pooled up in your mouth at the sight of his cock as you couldn’t take your size off of it. If you weren’t so needy, you probably would’ve taken him into your mouth right then and there, but Cole already had a hand on your shoulder forcing you to lay back down as he positioned himself right above you again.

Your pussy was definitely still slick from the mix of your own arousal and Cole’s saliva and he ran a finger between your folds before shoving it into you. His tongue hadn’t been as thick as his finger, but it still wasn’t much to adjust to. The second finger proved to be more filling and your breath was once again escaping in huffs.

It took a bit until Cole had either thought you ready or just gotten impatient, but he pulled his fingers out of you and lined his dick up with your entrance. A pause. You were about ready to complain until the breath was taken swiftly from your lungs as he slowly pushed in. As he slid in further and further, the more your breaths turned into short moans. It felt as if he filled absolutely every part of you and it was addicting. The stretch hurt, but it was so deliciously overpowered by the pleasure of him finally being inside you. Though, Cole still didn’t even attempt to move until you gave him the go ahead.

From there, he started at a slow but deep pace. It was a sensual experience. Above you, Cole was letting out little huffs and groans at the feeling of your walls around his member. He could explode right then and there if he wanted to. But, he continued at this pace of almost completely removing himself from your hole before pushing balls deep back in. It was excruciating.

“F..fa…faster.” You panted at him. And who would he be if he denied you this request?

The sound of skin slapping skin echoed around the room as Cole slowly began picking up the pace. His hips were pistoning in and out of you at a rapid pace, and you think you finally understood the phrasing of “being fucked stupid.”

Every push in had you moaning loudly. It was either moans or a broken moan of Cole’s name which made him go in a bit harder every time you did that. His head hung low until it was resting in the crook of your neck. The groans and low moans that were leaving the man only turned you on more and you about screamed his name when he bit into your neck. There were no thoughts of anyone here at the monastery hearing you two, as far as you cared, you and Cole were the only people in Ninjago at this point. All of your senses seemed to be completely filled by the man anyways.

The feeling of his licking, sucking, and biting along your neck combined with his rough abuse of your pussy brought you close to your third climax of the night which might be a record for you.

“C-Cole, I’m-I’m close.” You whined, your voice barely audible over the sound of him fucking you.

“God, me too.” He moaned against your neck. Cole was determined to not let go until you had, so he reached a hand down to start playing with your clit as he continued fucking into you. That absolutely sent you over the edge and you screamed as you came all over Cole’s cock. He continued thrusting into you throughout your orgasm which only made it feel that much better. His hips began stuttering in their movements and he was quick to pull himself out of the vice grip your pussy had on him. Cole wrapped a hand around his cock and jerked himself off the rest of the way until his cum started landing on your stomach. He let out tiny grunts as he fucked into his hand a bit before letting go.

You made sure he was looking at you when you scooped up some of his release and licked it off your fingers. He really had to save that image for the next time he masterbated.

Before he even allowed himself to lay down next to you, Cole carefully got up and reached for the towel you had used earlier to dry yourself off and used it to wipe his release off of your stomach, a small ‘sorry’ leaving his mouth as he did so. He was cute.

Finally, his body dropped harshly at your side and you giggled tiredly at him. Cole rolled over to look at you and you held your arms open, a silent question for him to come cuddle you.

His strong arms wrapped around your body and you rested your head on his chest, listening to his calming heartbeat. Cole found where your covers started and threw them over the both of you which only made you snuggle in even closer to him.

You two sat there in silence for so long, just catching your breaths, that you nearly fell asleep.

“Hey, [name].” You startled at the sound of his voice. A non-committal ‘hm?’ is what you hummed in response and he just rested his nose on the top of your head in your hair. “Do you want to go on a date with me?”

A content sigh left your lips and you sleepily looked up, causing him to remove his head from its place. “Of course, Cole.” One of your hands slipped out from under the covers and cradled one of his cheeks. You leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on the other cheek.

“Now, let’s get some sleep. We can talk about the details later.” You said through a yawn and he just smiled at you fondly. You both returned to your previous positions and slowly drifted off, and for once, neither of you felt fear or dread for what was to come in the future.

#ninjago #ninjago x reader #ninjago fanfiction #cole x reader #cole brookstone #cole brookstone x reader

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i-cant-sing · 1 year

Text

YRG pt 7

“Is it- true?” One servant asked. The knight raised a brow, as he fixed his armor. “What?”

“That she’s alive? The princess? Why the king is gathering his army?”

The knight shrugged. “Does it matter? We obey the king. He tells me to sharpen my sword, I do. He tells me to clean the horse shit off his horse’s ass, I do. He tells me to go to war with an enemy in a place no one knows? I don’t ask questions, I just fucking do. Or else he burns me to crisp. So I suggest you do the same, Berta.” The knight spat as he began polishing his sword, the servant leaving to join the rest of the busy workers, all running around the castle after Dabi had ordered that they were going to war. They didn’t know who or where they were going to war, and they didn’t dare ask the king, well aware of his temper. But they’d figured out this was supposed to be a rescue mission for you after they’d seen concubine Keigo finally sober up after weeks (if not months since your disappearance. Dabi forbade the word “died”) and he surprised them a little when he prepared (and he actually was good at it).

“Is the cavalry ready?” Dabi asked Shotou, who nodded. “Yes, as are the ships prepared to carry them. Well equipped and with enough space for everyone.” Dabi hummed in acknowledgement, before looking over the maps again, trying to figure out where exactly is AFO’s kingdom. The last time he went there was years ago when your mother was still alive. And at that time, he remembers going through land, but he cant find that route anymore, probably due to some quirk AFO used to hide his kingdom. “Did the spies find out where this mysterious island is?” Shotou shook his head. “Havent heard from them yet. They’re still at Emperor Kai’s castle, I should think that Kai isn’t announcing the whereabouts out loud. He’s not stupid.” Dabi shot him a glare. He knows Kai, knows he has spies there, all kings have spies in their homes. “Sure, but he is stupid enough to not come to me the instant that traitorous rat came to him.” Shotou was well aware of who he was referring to- your servant Tomura. “Well, then you know that if the emperor is aware that you know that he’s also preparing for war with AFO, then he must have a good reason for not telling you.”

“Yeah? What could possibly be a good reason to tell me that my daughter, my only child is alive?” Dabi was not in the mood to be accepting any excuses. “Don’t speak for others Shotou.”

The younger brother didn’t press further. “I still want to come along, help you find Y/n.”

Dabi shook his head. “I know you do, but you’re more helpful to me here. I cant trust anyone else with the kingdom while I’m away.” Shotou would bring up that their father, Enji, could help with overseeing kingdom affairs in their absence, but Dabi is already on edge as it is and… well Shotou’s not stupid.

“You’ll find her.” Shotou patted Dabi’s shoulder.

“I know.”

“Don’t be mad at her.”

A soft smile formed on his lips. “I’m not.”

At this point, all the man wanted was to wrap his arms around you and never let go.

The emperor had already reached the port. Kai remained on his horse as he watched his men board the remaining stuff on the ships, Hari by his side who made sure everyone was doing their job. Though Hari couldn’t help but let his eyes wander to Tomura who stood to the side, face expressionless, which annoyed Hari because he couldn’t read him.

How could he just stand there as if he hadn’t made the grave mistake of losing you, the emperor’s most important treasure?

Hari was well aware of Kai’s favoritism towards you, and anyone who really knew Kai would easily see why. Your innocence, naivety, everything- it reminded him of the emperor’s late daughter. Though Kai only came to know of her value when she was no longer in this world, Hari knew how much it pained him. The emperor may be good at covering his feelings, but Hari, his confidant knew- and saw what the emperor had gone through when he had lost his young one. That’s why Kai had been working day and night to find you.

That’s why Hari couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just kill Tomura, the man who was responsible to bring you to the empire as promised.

But as much as he wanted Kai to reconsider killing the traitor, he knew better than to question his emperor.

With everything now loaded onto the ship, it was time for Kai to board it, only to halt when he heard the sound of horses galloping in distance.

Turning around, he saw black flags with blue flames-

“King Dabi.” Hari said, and Kai gave him a nod and Hari looked back at the soldiers, calling them to take position.

“Be alert! Protect the emperor!” The army took their position, pulling their weapons out, ready for a massacre.

Kai never broke contact as Dabi’s knights neared, neither did his neutral face expression change when he spotted Dabi looking furious on his mighty dark horse.

When Dabi and his men reached them, the silence from both sides were deafening. The rulers locking eyes with each other as soldiers on both sides could feel their hearts beating loudly.

Kai didn’t break a sweat as Dabi glared at him. Why should he when Kai isn’t doing anything wrong?

“Going somewhere?” Dabi sneered.

Kai gave a nod. “I am.”

“Where?”Dabi asked, the smile dropping.

Kai remained silent. It was clear that Dabi was aware of his secret rescue mission. All that remains now is whether Kai should lie and possibly cause a war right here, right now, or tell him the truth and cause a war right here, right now.

“To AFO’s kingdom. I’m going to rescue princess Y/n.”

It was so terrifyingly quite, that not even sounds of nature could be heard. As if the birds and the bugs, the leaves and bushes, they were all holding their breath in anticipation.

“Oh? So you’ve known where my daughter is all this time?” Dabi pulled out his sword, as did his men. “And you decided to keep this information from me?”

Kai held up a gloved hand, signalling his men to hold, to not attack. “The information is news to me as well. Princess Y/n’s royal servant Tomura came to me a few days back and told me about her whereabouts. I only didn’t tell you because I am not sure if this information is true as well.”

Dabi’s glare shifted from Kai to Tomura. “Why should I believe you when that traitor still has his head?”

“Tomura hasn’t been killed because he’s the only one who knows where the princess is. With him dead, the chances of ever finding her slim to none. He came to me instead of you because you would’ve killed him the moment he set foot in your kingdom.” Kai explained, watching Dabi’s eyes full of distrust shift between him and the servant. But with distrust, there was also doubt.

What if Kai is telling the truth?

The seed of doubt had been planted, and now was Kai’s turn to change the narrative.

With his hand pointing towards the ships, Kai spoke. “You’re welcome to join us, King Dabi. We certainly have enough space for you and your men. The more, the merrier.”

Dabi stared at him for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and his men began retreating. “No need, we have our own ships. You may give us the servant so he can lead the way.” With Kai’s orders, his men also began retreating as the emperor got off his horse to speak privately with Dabi, who had also gotten off his horse.

“That is a reasonable request, but I must deny it. You see, I cant risk you chopping off the head of the one person who knows where this mysterious kingdom is. You can follow us.” Kai said with a small smile.

“Follow you? The man who hid knowledge of my daughter’s existence? Every single fiber in my body is screaming at me to kill you and that traitorous bastard!”

“But Y/n-“

Dabi cut him off. “You think you care more about Y/n than her own father?”

Kai shrugged. “I said no such thing. But if these past months have been clear proof that you’re making actions based on your feelings, and right now, that is not the best strategy to save Y/n. I know you think I have ulterior motives, and if I were you, I wouldn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. But we have to put our differences aside, Dabi. Don’t be so distrusting of the man you would send your daughter to for training. Besides-” The emperor’s smile dropped. “-everyone knows about your strained relationship with Y/n. I’ve heard the last spat between you two was… very damaging. And for who?”

Who- referring to the little feathery whore Keigo.

“Careful, Kai. I can still bury your empire right here, right now.” Dabi threatened.

Kai didn’t waver. “You could try, but now is not the time to be blinded with your emotions.” He turned around, but casted a glance back. “And lets not kid ourselves, Dabi. You and I both know my men can harm you just as much. But Y/n wont benefit from unnecessary bloodshed.”

Dabi grit his teeth as he watched Kai return to his ship. The emperor puts on his gilded beak mask on.

If Dabi ever thought it was okay to prefer a concubine over his own daughter, then maybe I do care for Y/n more than her own father.

Soon enough, Dabi and his men, accompanied by allies like Bakugo and the barbarians, and Empresses Momo and her army set sail, following closely behind Kai’s ships.

Dabi stood on the starboard of the ship, gazing downwards at the water. His mind is occupied by multiple things- you, AFO, Kai’s intentions with you, the supposed “allies”, military strategies, but mostly you.

Are you well? Are you hurt? Do you miss him? Are you still mad at him-

“Dabi?” Keigo called, coming beside him. “What are you doing here? Come inside and eat.” Dabi didn’t move, and Keigo could see that his mind was elsewhere.

Wrapping his arms around Dabi, he kissed his ear. “We’ll find her, Dabi.” Keigo whispered. “We’ll find her and we’ll bring her home and then we will have a huge celebration and everything will be alright again.”

“None of this would’ve happened if I didn’t yell at her.”

Keigo looked at Dabi and he could see the guilt swimming in his eyes. “If I just hadn’t- made her angry, let her go- she would’ve been safe.” He paused. “What happened to us? She- she used to love me, was a proper daddy’s girl, Kei. Her eyes would lit up whenever she saw me and I would pick her up and waltz. She would tell me about her day, ramble on and repeat everything twice. But now… she won’t even speak to me more than a few words- those too out of courtesy and respect for the crown. Not me. She loathes me- I can feel it. And it fucking hurts because I know I’m the one who created this distance between us.”

“Dabi-”

“I put my only child in harm, Keigo. This is all on me.” He confessed remorsefully.

The two of them remained silent, the ocean air blowing through their hair.

Until Keigo dug his nails into Dabi’s arms. “Then you will find her.”

“Kei-“

“No.” Keigo pursed his lips. “No- I refuse to let you- you must find her Dabi, more so now. You must- you must and make amends with her. All is not lost. We can- you can still have everything. Y/n- she needs us right now, and when we find her, she will need you and she will love you more, and she will think the world of you. So get it- collect yourself. Be at one with yourself and find Y/n. I don’t care who you have to hurt, what you have to kill, burn the whole fucking world as long as you bring Y/n home.” He looked at Dabi, the king who’s pupils had dilated. “You understand? Fucking promise me Dabi-!” Keigo spat but was cut off as Dabi crashed his lips against his, Dabi’s heart swelling with love at hearing how much Keigo adored you.

“I promise you.”

“Position the cavalry here, and make sure the archers are present here. Make sure that there are soldiers surrounding the parameters of the island. The enemies could attack from any side.” AFO ordered his generals as he discussed military strategies. With Tomura escaping, AFO knew that he would be leading Dabi right to the island. But AFO was not worried. Not at all. He was prepared, and even if Dabi brought a couple of allies, they wouldn’t be able to defeat his army of Nomus.

What he was worried about was, well, you. Ever since your failed escape attempt, you’d been crying and refusing to eat anything at all. Your hunger strike is doing nothing but harm your own health.

And now that he sees a servant that was sent to your room with food return with a distressed look, AFO sighed. “She didn’t eat, did she?” The servant bowed before replying, “No, my King. The princess- she refuses to eat lunch. And the dinner sent to her last night, it also remains untouched.” AFO closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. How much longer will you keep this up? He cant focus on the war when all he can stress about is if you’ve eaten or not?

Sensing the distress of the ruler, Kurogiri stepped up to help. “My King, if you allow, may I handle this matter?”

AFO knows you’re not… exactly fond of him or Kurogiri at the moment but… what else can he do now?

He nodded.

Its worth a shot.

The Nomu watched in silence as you laid on the floor, tear streaks now dried on your cheeks, hair unkempt and greasy, complexion sickly pale, disheveled appearance over all. A chain around your ankle, long enough for you to move around the room, yet you continue to lie on the floor, mostly because you just don’t have the energy to get up. The lack of nutrients and dehydration, it was starting to take a toll on you, not only physically but mentally as well. How do you know?

Well, for starters, you could see your dead mother standing in the corner.

“Y/n?” She called out. You blinked.

She was right next to you, on her knees, a very concerned look on her face.

“Mama?”

“Oh baby, what have you done to yourself?” She whispered, blowing cold air on your sweaty forehead.

“Mama?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I cant stay for long, Y/n but-” She smiled sadly. “-I’m here now.”

You smiled back at her, even though you knew she wasn’t real, you still believed for a moment that she was.

“Y/n.”

“Yes, mama?”

“Have you been taking care of dad?”

“Mine? No. Yours? Also no.” You mumbled. “Dad and I fought, we always fight it seems. And grandpa? I- well- I’m mad at him. He kept me here, created more misunderstandings between me and dad and now wants to kill dad for revenge and apparently for “my sake” too.”

She brushed your hair with her fingers. “Seems like you’ve been busy.” She booped your nose. “Still, you’re the only one who can fix it all.”

“How?”

“You’ll figure it out. But the war mustn’t happen, Y/n.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Well I am a figment of your imagination, aren’t I?” She chuckled. You smiled as well. You missed her laugh. Its so delicate.

“I have to go now, baby.” She whispered, a cold kiss pressed to your cheek.

“Mama?”

“Hm?”

“I miss you.”

“I know, honey.” She pointed at the door. “You have company, darling.”

Just then, the door slammed open and your pupils widened at the sight of him.

“Y/N!”

Dabi.

“Dad?”

He rushed towards you, eyes wild as he took in your form. “Oh my- are you hurt?! What did he do?!” He asked checking you over for injuries. You looked so weak, as if the air itself was harsh enough to hurt you.

“You’re here.” You whispered. Dabi’s eyes softened, as he nodded. “I am. And I’m sorry that it took so long. But I’m here now, and I’ll get you out of here. Can you stand?”

With tears of relief in your eye, you shook your head. “I- I cant. Too tired.” Dabi nodded again before pulling out his water container, supporting your head as he helped you hydrate. “Better?” You hummed, smiling at him weakly as he laid your head in his lap. You missed him.

“I have an energy cube- this.” He pulled out a small blue cube. “It should give you enough energy to walk. I’d carry you, but I cant use my quirk without hurting you.” He pushed the cube towards your lips. You turned your head away. “It stinks. Like shrimp.”

He chuckled. “So? Come on, eat it. Then we can get out of here.” You stared at him, brows knitting together.

“Are you still mad at me?” you asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Dabi smiled sadly. “I never was, Y/n. I never truly could be. You- you’re a part of me-” “-and mom.” “-and your mom. You’re my daughter, my pride and joy, my most treasure jewel. You’re the most precious to me, Y/n.”

“I-.” You smiled sadly, nuzzling into him. “- can I ask you something? If you allow-“Always.”

“Did you- did you visit her? Mom?” You asked softly. “I know- you don’t like her, nor do you believe in talking to the dead but… I just wanted to know if you visited the royal cemetery behind my back? The caretakers sometimes forget to clean her tomb.”

Dabi looked into your hopeful eyes, his blue orbs just taking in your appearance. “I did.” He answered. “I talked to her, well I mostly confessed, begged her and god to help me find you. Don’t worry though, the caretakers looked well after the cemetery.” He brought the energy cube to your lips again. “Now, eat this so that we can get out-”He was cut off by you smacking the cube out of his hand and laughing dryly at him.

“Do you take me for a fool?”

Dabi’s brows furrowed. “Y/n-”

“Princess Y/n. How dare you talk to me like we’re equals?!” He shook his head, his hand coming to cup your cheek but you pushed yourself away from him, practically throwing yourself away.

“How dare you try to touch me?!” You shrieked. “HOW DARE YOU PRETEND TO BE A KING, YOU IMPOSTOR?! SHIFT BACK NOW! SHIFT OR I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL DECAPITATE YOU MYSELF!! SHIFT!” The door opened and Kurogiri walked in. He nodded at Dabi.

“You can leave now, Himiko.” The impostor shifted back to a blonde girl. You remember seeing the servant before, when she helped Tomura with ironing your clothes. Kurogiri kneeled in front of you, looking at you with a slightly unamused look you imagine. “How’d you know?” How? How are you to explain that you know your father well enough to know that he would never visit your mother? How do you explain that he hated her so much that he didn’t even think she deserved to be buried in the royal cemetery, but rather in an unguarded, unmarked grave without anyone but you and Tomura to care for?

You laughed dryly at him. “What? You didn’t think I wouldn’t recognize my own father?” Kurogiri shrugged “You haven’t been showing many signs of intelligence; escaping, defending your father, going on a useless hunger strike are just a few examples.”

“Its pissing you off. I’d say they were pretty intelligent decisions.”

“All you’re doing is worrying your grandfather. He can’t focus on the war because he’s concerned about you.”

“Good. I don’t want the war to happen.”

“The war is going to happen, King AFO will win and your father will die-“ “No-” “Yes. And deep down, you know your he deserves to die. You know that it’d better for you to stay here, because you will never be a priority to him, just like your mother never was.”

“Dad didn’t kill her-”

“Perhaps not. But he never loved her, he humiliated her and you publicly when he started sleeping with that concubine. He made your mother unhappy, he kept you in the dark about your maternal grandfather, refused to let him contact you- his only grandchild, his only heir to this kingdom, his- his daughter’s only reminder. Are these not crimes but punishable by death? King Dabi may have not directly killed your mother but he was an accomplice to the murder, he never believed, let alone punish his concubine. He didn’t even believe you, his own daughter, his blood and flesh! What father would allow a murderer around his own child? He does not care about you, never has and never will!” Kurogiri told you. “This war? He’s not fighting it to save you, he’s fighting it to hurt King AFO! You mean nothing to him!’

“No!” Tears escaped your eyes. “You don’t know anything! But I’m telling you to stop this war. If you don’t- countless lives will be lost! Innocent people will die!”

“The people are prepared to die. Not that they will, your dear grandfather is very strong. You shouldn’t underestimate him. He will defeat King Dabi, and he will avenge your mother.” He pulled out another energy cube, placing it on your bed. “Eat it or not, I’m going to tell your grandfather that you’re well. I won’t let your stubbornness distract him.” He turned to leave, halting at your voice.

“Kurogiri, please. This war… it cant happen.”

He looked over his shoulder. “Your father has been begging for a war for a long time. Its about time he pays for the consequences, princess.” He said before leaving.

One of the knights rushed into AFO’s busy court, just as Kurogiri returned. AFO of course looked at Kurogiri first, the latter’s calm demeanor assured the king that he had taken care of the errand he was given. Then he looked at the knight who was trying to catch his breath.

“A-apologies for running in unannounced, my king! But they’re here!” He took a large gulp of breath in to compose himself.

“King Dabi is here!”

The court went silent as they looked to their king, awaiting his panic for Dabi had reached earlier than expected. But AFO remained collected, nodding his head as he turned to address his court.

“Prepare yourself. Alert the people about this as well, so that they may take necessary measures.” He started giving out orders to his generals, pausing to tell Kurogiri to release the several Nomus that are under his control.

“They won’t hurt my subjects, assure the people of that will you?” Kurogiri bowed his head before teleporting to carry out his orders.

By the time he returned, AFO sat alone on his throne, wearing his armor. Kurogiri walked closer to him, and couldn’t help but notice a certain amount of sadness in his eyes.

“Your majesty?” He called out, but AFO didn’t look up at him.

“Y/n reminds me so much of her.” Ah, the late queen. “From the way she looks, to her having the same mannerisms, the same affection for animals-” AFO chuckled. “-they even have the same furrow in their brows when their mad. Y/n… she’s just like her isn’t she?” Kurogiri agreed, because he thought so too. In fact, if it weren’t for your painfully annoying naivety, your rebelliousness, your incessant need to defend Dabi and your urge to make everything unnecessarily difficult for your grandfather, he’d say you were your mother reincarnated.

“I wanted to see her, talk to her one last time before leaving, just to assure her that I’d win, that she need not to worry her head over this matter because I’d take care of everything. Because I’d protect her. But-“ AFO paused, as if the words got caught in his throat. “-I couldn’t. I couldn’t because she’d beg me not to. She’d cry and cry and I just cant- I cant go to war with the sight of her like this Kurogiri. She used to cry like that for him too; my daughter- and now Y/n. They were always blinded by their pure hearted nature, always loved that bastard too much to see that he does not care about them.” Kurogiri will never forget the day your mother had died. King AFO, he was absolutely crushed. He had never seen him like this, the look of utter despair, utter defeat, as if someone had dethroned the king and cut off his limbs with an axe and left him to be feasted on by vultures. The king loved his daughter very much. She was the apple of his eye, his light, his only heir. He never wanted her to marry Dabi, but when she claimed that she had fallen in love with him, he couldn’t help but give in. He would’ve given her the world if she’d asked, but just a few months into the marriage and AFO sensed that he may have made a grave mistake. He gave her several opportunities to escape that marriage, to help her leave that ungrateful bastard, but despite everything, your mother just smiled and continued to claim that she loved Dabi until her last breath. AFO doesn’t know for sure if your mom really loved Dabi as much as she claimed to, especially after concubine Keigo came into the picture. He thinks that you may have been the main reason why she stayed in that unhappy marriage. Perhaps she thought that by birthing Dabi a heir, she might get the love and respect she deserves. But Dabi… he didn’t get rid of Keigo, or even tried to hide his affairs, not even for your sake. You were a child, a product of a broken marriage. AFO wasn’t sure how he felt about you initially, mostly because he thought you’d tied her daughter down in this nightmare of a marriage. But the first time and the only time your mother brought you over to her homeland, AFO (as well as others) were immediately enamored by you. You looked like your mother when she was an infant. When he first held you in his arms, he knew instantly that he was wrapped around your tiny finger for the rest of his life. He swore to himself and to your mother that he would protect you for eternity. But then, Dabi had the audacity to forbid you from visiting AFO, and a few years later, he banned AFO from ever visiting his kingdom, effectively cutting his contact with you, his only grandchild.

That should’ve been enough reason for AFO to start a war with him, but your mother managed to convince him otherwise, promising that she’ll talk to Dabi about this matter.

Later that year, your mother was killed.

And AFO never truly recovered from that loss. What father could?

“This war, she thinks isn’t necessary. She thinks I’m some monster who has it out for her dear father. But she’ll never accept it that Dabi- he isn’t participating in this war to save her. He’s coming because he wants to hurt me. He wants to take her away from me and rub it in my face that she will face the same fate as my daughter did. He wants to take her away so that he can tell me that I failed to protect them both.” He finally looked at him. “I won’t make the same mistake again, Kurogiro. I wont.” AFO stood up from his gilded throne. “I will kill Dabi today, and I will win this war. Your job is to protect princess Y/n. Teleport her to safety if need be.” Kurogiri bowed his head, as AFO continue. “And if things go south due to some unforeseen circumstances, I want you to prioritize Y/n’s life over mine.”

Kurogir’s eyes widened. “Your Majesty, that won’t be-“

“I know, but still. I want you to promise me, Kurogiri. Her life over mine. Prioritize Y/n over me.”

Kurogiri bowed, placing a hand over his heart.

“I promise, my king.”

AFO watched the shore from a distance, his army in position with him. His main order was to distance the enemy away from the castle where you were trapped in, guarded by a Nomu, some knights and Kurogiri.

“They’re near, my king.” One of the generals said, watching through his binoculars. “I count about 300 ships, about 200 baring King Dabi’s flag, 70 belonging to the imperial house of Yaoryuzu, while 30 belong to some barbarians.”

AFO didn’t respond for a few moments, simply staring ahead, before his lips quirked ever so slightly. “There’s more. Look again.” He said. The general was confused but he looked again, now with a few soldiers also searching the waters, tilting their heads a little and that’s when they saw it.

Like a mirage in the desert, when the heat starts to play tricks on your eyes, the wind dancing around to create an illusion, they were able to make out the faintest silhouette of very large fleet. It was as if there was a curtain, produced by nature to hide the enemy.

But AFO knew better. It was no natural phenomenon, but actually an invisibility quirk.

Tomura had mentioned about an emperor who was going to take you in before you came here. Perhaps, its him.

Its time to put an end to all of this.

AFO began giving out orders. “Prepare the canons! Archers, take position! Sakura regiment and Ume regiment, take formation A and charge forwards at command!” The soldiers took their respective positions, holding their breaths as they awaited the king’s next command. AFO wanted to attack first, end the war before it could really begin.

AFO counted down as Dabi’s ships came closer.

I love you, Y/n.

“FIRE!” The canons blasted, followed by- “DRAW!” The arrows flew, but neither the cannonballs nor the arrows ever hit the enemy because they all disintegrated in the sky high fire wall surrounding the entire perimeter of the island.

“What the…” The soldiers, and even AFO was momentarily shocked, and the enemy used that element of surprise to strike. One second the boundaries of the island were surrounded by hellish blue flames, and in the next, thousands of men suddenly lunged through the fire, completely unharmed and charged towards AFO’s army from all directions. On his left, he saw loud explosives going off in the sky, and he immediately spotted the brash blonde roaring as his hands fired blasts after blasts.

Must be a barbarian.

He heard another loud crash behind him, and there he spotted a massive army comprising mainly of female warriors, who were being led by a fierce woman wearing red and gold armor, indicating that she belonged from the imperial house of Yaoryuzu.

And then he heard the screams.

Whipping his head back to the front, he saw the villager’s house up in blue flames, Dabi appearing through the smoke, a manic grin on his face as he locks eyes with him.

Of course, leave it to Dabi to attack the women and children first. He’s a heartless bastard.

With a wave of his hand, heavy clouds appeared over the burning houses and poured rain. AFO’s face remained neutral as Dabi began inching his way closer to him, slaughtering anyone and everyone that stood in his way, even his own men. AFO stared at him dead in the eyes before smiling suddenly because right in the next moment, a Nomu flew and jumped right onto Dabi.

Guess he’ll have to wait for a bit until he can kill Dabi.

Although Katsuki and Momo were tearing through the crowds, swinging their swords and killing enemies easily, and had this been any other war, they might've even enjoyed it. But right now, all they could think about was finding you, both parties have the same motive but neither will attempt to work together to find you quicker. No, not when they wanted to play your "Knight in shining armour", because clearly, whoever saves the princess gets the favour of king Dabi and the love of princess Y/n. Clearly, when they find you, you will throw yourself at them and practically beg them to marry you.

Somehow they had found their way to the high towers where you were locked in, individually taking the opposite routes and hoping the other one dies before they reach you. They killed all the knights and the devoted servants that blocked their way until they stood at the opposite ends of the hallway, bloodied and staring at each other. Words did not need to be shared for the threat to heard-

Back off.

Of course, neither one would. Not when they're this close to making you theirs forever. The two charged at each other, swords drawn and quirks going off, all while neither one of them knew that Kurogiri had already teleported you to the secret passageways underground the moment he saw them coming for the hightower, and now all that was waiting for them in that room up there was the Nomu assigned to protect you.

So, whoever wins Bakugo VS Yaoryuzu battle will have to die at the hands of the Nomu.

Kurogiri almost wished he could watch it all unfold with AFO.

But no, he has to carry you to safety- he promised his king. He paid no mind to you sluring out threats as you went in and out of consciousness, clearly still persistent on starving yourself.

"I'd kill you... my dad- d-dad will kill you and the the- villagers-" you mumbled, eyes closed as your cheek rested against his chest, the man carrying you in his arms.

"Yeah? And then what?" He hummed.

"He'll kill- kill everyone and- and burn thi-s place to- to the the ground and it'll be-" you choked on a sob "-it'll be all my fault!"

"Well, you don't need to worry about that. Your grandfather is a skilled fighter, he will easily decapitate Dabi. Have some faith!" He cheered while you whined into his shoulder. "Now, now, princesses don't whine. I must say, I am excited for your princess training when the war is over. I'll personally see to it that you learn all the manners and ethics of royalty, your father didn't do a good job at finding you a good teacher."

"The late queen appointed me as her teacher, personally. You would be wise not to say anything about the princess's training lest you want a painful death, Kurogiri."

You both looked behind at the source of the voice, opposite emotions coursing through you both as you caught sight of him-

Tomura Shigaraki.

"Tomu~" you whispered, getting teary eyed as you looked at the once gentle eyed, lanky armed, always presentable, invisible servant to now a far more bulked up warrior with his hair unkempt and his eyes wild yet clear.

Kurogiri didn't waste another second as he opened the warp gate and teleported you out of there, Tomura calmly promising you that he'll find you soon. While it would've been easy for Kurogiri to escape along with you, he preferred to deal with Tomura now and be done with it.

Tomura charged at the man, and Kurogiri had his sword drawn out, teleporting just when the former neared. The shadowed man appeared around him and sliced the skin on his arm.

"So weak, its pathetic. How you were allowed to be near the princess is beyond me." Kurogiri said, dodging the swing of Tomura's blade, before kicking him in the stomach, making the latter cough blood. "You were never strong enough to be the princess's guard, or a servant. But I always did think that you'd be smart-" Tomura grunted before quickly jumping and stabbing the sword into Kurogiri's abdomen, but the taller man remain unfazed. "-Guess not." Kurogiri said, before swallowing the sword into his body, warping it to an unknown destination, Tomura's eyes going wide as his hand started to get warped too, but then... he smiled. A sinister grin stretched on Tomura's face as he spoke.

"And your biggest mistake Kurogiri is that you underestimate me." He said before grabbing Kurogiri's neck brace with both hands and disintegrating it until he reached his neck, destroying it too.

Kurogiri was now a pile of ashes at Tomura's feet.

What a waste... of my time.

Tomura thought before he began looking for you again.

On the other side of island, right in the middle, Dabi had just spent the last hour fighting the Nomu that was cannon balled on him. He finally defeated the monstrosity, and it had taken a slight toll on his body. And since AFO saw the battle, he was more than happy to send a couple more his way.

While Dabi began fighting those brainwashed giants again, AFO's mind was still preoccupied by the enemy fleets that were hiding behind an invisibility quirk. They were still nowhere to be seen, and AFO could sense they were plotting something.

AFO looked towards his castle, thinking whether he should call Kurogiri and deal with this hidden enemy and also check up on you, but decided against it because he did not want anyone to know where you were.

He looked back towards Dabi, to see if he'd been crushed to death or not, but instead found him hovering up in the sky, body ablaze and his eyes staring right back at him.

And then... he flicked his wrist.

In just a few seconds, the entire island was covered in smoke. It was dark and suffocating, and when AFO heard people screaming in pain, he could only imagine the horrors Dabi was inflicting on them.

The thick black air made it impossible to see more than just a few steps ahead, and everyone was swinging their swords at anyone and everyone, and those who weren't fighting, were killed by the lack of air.

AFO used his quirks to aid him in breathing and killing, years of training finally coming to use. But truthfully, he couldn't see where he was going even with his quirks. And that's how he ended up in front of you.

You were lying on the ground, unconscious, the side of your head bleeding slightly because after Kurogiri teleported you, your knees buckled and you hit your head on a tree branch.

With neither Kurogiri nor Nomu in sight, AFO couldn't help but wonder what possible trouble could've found them to leave you so dangerously near the battlefield.

AFO kneeled and placed his hand on your cheek, activating his quirk so you'd be able to breathe and not inhale the deadly fumes your father has spread.

He caressed your cheek, silently praying that you didn't inherit your mother's asthma. AFO was sure you hadn't, from the detailed reports he had gotten you never mentioned anything, but... he wouldn't put it past Dabi not to notice you dying to catch your breath.

Poor baby. AFO sighed before calling one of the Nomus (through telepathy) to come. He'd need someone to carry you to safety while he fights.

"Get your filthy paws off her!" Someone yelled from above, AFO barely missing the sharp feather that shot past him.

Keigo.

The winged concubine was hovering above him, wearing battle armour, a sharp contrast to the whore clothes he usually wears. The king remembered him from the last time he visited his daughter at Dabi's place, trying her absolute best to contain her tears while Dabi refused to welcome AFO because he was "busy with important affairs", only for them to hear Dabi and Keigo committing adultery in the court room, your mother hanging her head down in shame as she ushered AFO to move so that she could show him your nursery.

AFO never forgot nor forgave the humiliation he and your mother had to face, and it was even more insulting when he finally saw the bitch Dabi was sleeping with. AFO did consider at first that your father must be either blind and deaf or under the affect of some quirk to be brainwashed enough to think that Keigo was an acceptable replacement for your mother, or even for royalty. It wouldn't be wrong to say that years of resentment had AFO plotting for revenge against him as well.

Another feather shot past him, AFO only tilting his head slightly to dodge the arrow.

The corner of AFO's lips quirked a little.

This ought to be fun.

AFO looked back at your face, still unconscious, and a small part of him wished you'd be awake for this. You'd definitely enjoy this. Oh well.

"I said, get the hell away-!" Keigo's voice got caught in his throat, as if some invisible force was squeezing his throat. Like a fish out of water, Keigo thrashed in air, his hands on his neck trying to release the compression so that air could reach his lungs.

Without looking away from you, AFO spoke.

"Dont yell. I don't want you to disturb my granddaughter." He flicked his wrist and a small domain formed in which all of Dabi's smoke was vacuumed out instantly. The sky was clear, and so was the way he was about to torture Keigo.

AFO further constricted Keigo's throat, making him start to turn blue. In retaliation, he shot many of his feathers at AFO, raining down at him like arrows, but they stopped mid air before they could ever reach him.

"Now that could've hurt Y/n. Involuntary manslaughter... how should I punish you for that?" The king thought outloud, getting up on his feet and looking at the bird that was gurgling for air. "Perhaps, return the attack?" The feathers that had stopped mid-air slowly turned to face Keigo, all glintingdangerously. AFO grinned before suddenly opening his hand (that were controlling the feathers), prompting the feathers to shoot at Keigo.

The feathers revolved and attacked Keigo from all directions, and Keigo felt like he was trapped in a hurricane full of sharpened knives that slashed his skin from all sides.

A few moments later, the feathers stopped and Keigo fell to the ground with them. His armour had protected him from most stabs, but he was still bleeding.

"On to your next offence- killing my daughter and humiliating the royal family. Now, I don't have any evidence for the former except that Y/n accused you, and I don't really blame you completely for either crime because Dabi was mainly involved in it, you were just following orders. Still-" He sighed. "- You were an assailant. You assisted in a crime against royalty, you deserve to be punished." AFO flicked his index finger, lifting Keigo up in the air.

"I've always wondered what Dabi saw in you. Surely, there are prettier sluts than you- thats why he keeps his harem around, eh? It couldn't be possibly that you're strong or smart... and then it clicked! It's those larger than life wings of yours. The fiery red wings that compliment his blue flames. And not to mention how rare your quirk is... haven't seen any other winged humans that could actually fly. And knowing Dabi, that's all he views you as- a rare antique to own. A bird to keep in a gilded cage, if you will. So, thats how I'm going to hurt you and Dabi-" AFO chuckled, his hands making small movements to spread open Keigo's wings.

"I'm going to pluck you like a chicken."

AFO snapped his fingers as feathers began to be pulled slowly, one at a time, from the base painfully, making Keigo scream in agony.

You'd finally woken up by the sound of screams, heart pounding as you saw Keigo strung up in the air with his feathers being pulled out.

Too weak to move, you didn't realise someone was behind you until they covered your mouth, eyes widening in terror before calming down when you saw it Tomura. Placing a finger on his lips telling you to remain quiet as he began lifting you up to carry you out of there, only to stop when you let out an audible gasp as you looked behind him.

Nomu. The one AFO had called just minutes ago.

Tomura only had to take one careful step back to make it banshee scream, making Tomura drop you back down to cover his ears. At the monster's scream, AFO looked back, eyes narrowing at the sight of your traitorous servant.

"Oh, it's just you." He looked at Nomu nodding his head at Tomura. "Take care of him, will you?" You flinched when Nomu punched Tomura, throwing him far away from you. Tomura fortunately softened his landing and jumped back up, pulling out his sword. In order for Tomura to disintegrate the Nomu, he needs to get his hands on him long enough for him to turn into ashes but just before Nomu can crush his skull.

"Dont..." you whispered, eyes fixated on Tomura fighting for his life. Your gaze shifted to AFO,tears forming in your eyes as your lips wobbled. "Please... not him..." you begged, AFO's heart melting a bit at your pitiful sight. He'd give you the world if you'd ask, but getting rid of anyone that stood in his way to protect you was necessary. "Grandpa, please! I promise, I'll be- I'll be good! I won't leave! Ever! I'll do everything you say, just don't hurt Tomura! Please-!"

"Stop it, Y/n. The sovereign never begs." You heard someone say from behind you, making you turn your head to look at the familiar voice.

Dabi stood behind you.

"Have you learnt nothing from princess training? Or has someone been polluting your mind?" He looked at you, his gaze stern but you could see the way they lighted up when he saw you.

Daddy's here.

"Dad." You breathed out. His eyes softened visibly at the word. Oh how he had longed to hear that name again.

He smiled briefly at you before looking back at AFO and then at Keigo, who was still being tortured.

"Let him go. This is between you and me." Dabi said, hands set lighting up.

AFO raised a brow. "How brave of you to man up." He said before throwing Keigo so hard that his body slammed against a big tree, knocking him out. He looked at his Nomu and pointed at Tomura and Keigo. "Get rid of them both. Protect Y/n."

Dabi then launched multiple fireballs at him while AFO jumped back, dodging them all while making sure that you don't get hurt in the crossfire.

Seeing that as Keigo was unconscious and Nomu's full attention was on Tomura, you knew you had to butt in before it kills him.

With all your might, you got on your feet and staggered towards them, picking up one of Keigo's feathers. With unfocused eyes, you walked towards the Nomu, gripping the feather harder as you neared.

"Princess!" Tomura yelled. "Stay back! Stay back, Y/n!" Hearing your name, the Nomu turned around, only to find you holding the razor sharp feather against your neck.

Eyes cold, you stared at the Nomu.

"If he dies, so do I." You threatened, the Nomu's eyes widening. "I'll fucking do it, I swear to god I will. I'm so tired of this "protect Y/n" bullshit, I'm gonna end this stupid thing right here, right now." You slowly inched near the monster. "I should've died, should've killed myself years ago, right after mom died. You all failed to save her, made her life a hell, just like mine is now. My death, my doom is inevitable. But no one else should suffer because of me." You closed your eyes, hands moving to drag the deadly weapon across your neck when the Nomu screeched, falling to its knees, continuing to screech long after you'd dropped your feather.

The Nomu began crying, fat tears dropping down its face as you hugged it, the mutant wrapping its buff arms around you and lifting you up and close.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry I had to do this, but you wouldn't have listened otherwise." It- or well, his tears continued to wet your clothes as you patted his head, and you signalled Tomura not to activate his quirk and kill Nomu. "Its okay, I'm- I'm okay. But you can't protect me without protecting the people I care about. Do you understand what I'm saying?" The Nomu sniffled before nodding, almost like a child. "I care about Tomura, and I care about the villagers. So you must go back to the villagers. The village is under attack, and its burning down. Won't you save them for me? Protect the people I care about?" The Nomu seemed hesitant to leave you at first, but you continued to manipulate him. "If something happens to them, I'll never forgive myself. I'll die-" that was enough for Nomu to agree and leave you behind with a very heavy heart, only after you convinced him that Tomura wasn't a threat.

As soon as the Nomu left, your knees buckled and Tomura caught you before you could fall on your head. "That was... incredibly stupid." He commented. You smiled lazily, nuzzling your cheek against his chest. "I missed you too, Tomu." He pulled you closer to his chest in response, having trouble mustering up the words to express how sorry he was for taking so long, to apologise for not recognising AFO's intentions from the beginning, for being the reason why everything was happening.

But you just looked up at him, staring into his eyes with a soft expression as you whispered "Its okay, Tomura. Its not your fault." And just like that, all was well in the world.

But your happy reunion didn't last long, as Tomura sensed that you were in danger, and in the next second, he'd spun you around to the other direction, gasping as the air got knocked out of him.

You pulled away from him immeadiately, eyes bulging at the large red feather protruding from Tomura's stomach.

"I-" Tomura coughed up blood before falling to his knees, you quickly catching his head before it could hit the ground. Tears falling down your face, you found it hard to breathe as you stared at the crimson staining his shirt

"I knew you'd move." Keigo's voice made you look up, confusion evident on your face. Did he... do this? Keigo walked towards you two, smiling warmly yet with an unsettling look in his eyes, before he grabbed you by the shoulders and hugged you. "I know it looked like I was aiming for you, but I wasn't, love. I could never hurt you!"

Oh no.

You pushed away from him, sobs wracking your body as you tried to help Tomura but far too perplexed as to whether or not you should pull out the feather stabbing him.

But you weren't given much time to ponder upon it as the moment your hands touched his blood, you were instantly yanked back.

"Oh no, honey. You can't let yourself get dirty by his filthy blood. Your father will think you got hurt. Come on, now. Don't fight me on this. Let's go back to the ship." Keigo cooed as he began pulling you away from an unconscious Tomura, and you dropped to the ground to resist Keigo, but he continued to drag you by your arms before eventually picking you up and carrying you. And even though both of you knew that you were far too weak to escape his grip, you still struggled to break free.

Luckily for you, AFO was able to hear your distress calls for help. The moment you wailed to be let go, the instant you called out for Tomura, AFO's head whipped in your direction, veins popping at the sight of that murderer's hands on you, not even looking at Dabi as he blasted your dad away to a distance.

The mere sight of Keigo carrying you crying and sobbing pushed him over the edge, because for a moment he imagined it was his own daughter that was crying.

He is not losing you again.

The deafening sound of AFO's blast made Keigo look back, just to be punched in the face with enough force for him to drop you (as your grandfather caught you and placed you to the side) and land a couple hundred meters away. You immediately scrambled back to Tomura, but the sight of him lying in a pool of blood made you hyperventilate and cry as you prayed and begged for him to wake up while holding his hand in yours, heart dropping to the pit of your stomach as you realised....

There was no pulse.

Meanwhile, AFO jumped over to Keigo again, punching him over and over again until he was an unrecognisable pulp, before flipping him over and he began ripping out the rest of his feathers with his bare hands.

"HOW DARE YOU LAY HANDS ON HER?!" AFO roared, all sense of control out the window as he grabbed hands and snapped them like twigs, Keigo howling in pain.

Suddenly, AFO was kicked off the bird man, Dabi being the culprit of course, who was equally as blinded with rage as AFO.

The battle of quirks began, but as Dabi had one quirk and AFO had an amalgam of quirks, the winner here was clear.

Dabi's fire turned black as he surrounded the two of them with high walls of flames before releasing powerful fire based attacks, only for AFO to use his quirk to create a vacuum and suck out all the oxygen to not only put out the flames but also deprive Dabi of air.

With not being able to either use his quirk or breathe, Dabi didnt have any other choice but to try his luck with hand to hand combat, but the lack of air was getting to him and AFO was a skilled fighter who was able to dodge all of Dabi's punches before he fell to the ground clutching his throat.

AFO stood over him, years of hurt and anger poorly concealed on his face. "Suffocating, isn't it? You've only had to suffer through for a few minutes of something you made my daughter go through for years. For fucking years!" He punched Dabi, who was turning blue now. "She was my daughter, my beautiful daughter and she didn't do anything to deserve what you did to her! You and your slut killed her for what?! For hate? For jealousy? Even if you hated her, had you no heart to have mercy for the mother of your child!? Hell, you could've divorced her, left her, thrown her out of the damn castle if you hated her guts but you could've left her to me alive! YOU DIDNT HAVE TO KILL HER!" He grabbed Dabi by the collar, kicking him in the face. "I've waited to avenge my daughter for years. Today, you will die." AFO pulled out his sword, aiming at Dabi's neck to behead him.

"DROP THAT DOWN OR Y/N DIES!" Keigo threatened, who despite the beating he just took was standing on his feet with one of his sharp feathers against your neck. "I swear to fucking everything, if he dies, so will she!" He yelled as he yanked you by your hair back, and pressed the sharp edge harder against your skin.

AFO's eyes met your face, but you didn't even react as Keigo shook you by your hair, the catatonic state you'd just slipped into as your eyes never left Tomura.

"You wouldn't. You'd never live-" AFO's words died down as Keigo began dragging the feather, drawing blood. "STOP IT! Y/N- OKAY! OKAY!" AFO dropped his sword and released his quirk to allow Dabi to breathe, but AFO couldn't stop staring at you. It just- why didn't you struggle or even flinch at the blade being dragged across your neck, however superficially, it still must've hurt.

Did Tomura's death really affected you this much?

That blank face, that hundred yard stare- it all pained him greatly because it was exactly how he caught your mother when he saw her the last time. And it haunted him all these years that he was so powerless and blind to help his child. That she was so clearly in need of his help and he didn't save her.

But not you. No, no. Even if he has to rewind time itself, he will do so to help you.

"Y/n, Y/n, princess- look at me! I promise you- ill fix this! I'll fix everything! You want Tomura? I'll fix Tomura- just tell me what you want-" but AFO was left at a loss for words once more when you looked directly at him, with the same blank stare but with big fat tears rolling down your cheeks, as if to say that you've lost everything and it can't be helped.

You've failed to protect me.

AFO really did love you, with all his heart and that's why that hopeless, dead look in your eyes hurt him far more than the sword driven through his chest because his heart was already broken by your state. He was far too concerned with you to be aware of his enemy taking advantage of his distraction.

As Dabi began burning AFO, whispering things in his ear, AFO was for once slightly greatful to Keigo for covering your view of your grandfather being burned alive.

He did not want that sight of him to be in your memory.

With AFO being dead and no one to control mind control the Nomus, they stopped fighting and the remaining army of AFO, despite knowing that their king was dead still fought hard until the end to protect their new ruler- you. But with the large armies of the enemy and without Nomus help, they lost.

After finishing off AFO, Dabi walked towards you and Keigo, cold blue eyes staring at you before furrowing his brows as he pulled you in for a hug, you remained limp against him, even as he stroked your hair and said soft words of affirmation to you, giving Keigo a victory kiss.

With your eyes meeting Tomura's dead body, your mind allowed you the mercy of relieving you of consciousness.

Soldiers on both sides, along with the villagers that had now been captured, all watched as King Dabi carried his daughter with one arm, while his other supported Keigo's frail body, walking towards his ship, where his allies stood.

As he was about to climb on the ship, one of his generals asked "Your Majesty? About the prisoners of war, should we sell them or keep them as slaves?" He was referring to the army and subjects of AFO who were still alive.

Dabi didn't look up from your asleep face, smiling softly as you reminded him of when you were a baby.

"Burn them."

What? Even his own allies, even the barbarians, even the ever insane young Empress Momo was surprised at that. Surely, King Dabi would follow the code of conduct for war. Surely-

"Your Majesty-"

"Burn them. Burn it all. Burn the entire island." He then looked up at his assassins/spies Aizawa and Hizashi, nodding at them to see to it that his order is followed before boarding his ship, where Kai carefully took you from Dabi's arms to heal you while other healers came to help Keigo.

With Dabi and Keigo being bandaged and you lying on their in between them, they smiled and kissed once more, their victory only sweetening more with screams of people being burned alive in the background.

War is over.

So... what do u guys think???

PART 8 IS HERE

897 notes · View notes

look-at-the-soul · 8 months

Note

Hi! I'm new to the Peaky fandom and am in need of some Tommy fics because he's my favourite character! If your requests are open, (if not, there's no rush!) may I pretty please have a drabble or imagine -- whatever is easier -- with this gif?

*A little spice is okay, just nothing explicit. Also, my pronouns are she/her, but a gender neutral story is totally okay, too! :)

Thank you in advance!

Hello Jessyca! 🥰 Thank you so much for sending this gif!! I decided to make it part of Adele challenge using one of my favorite songs! (Lyrics in italics) 🔥🥰 edit and welcome to the fandom!! 🥰 I forgot to reply this sorry! I hope so far you’ve found incredible stories and lovely mutuals around (I’m always reblogging stories I really enjoy reading 💖)

🔥🔥🔥although the gif is extra hot, you’ll find nothing but fluffiness in this little story…

Women like me

By the corner of your eye, you found Mr. Shelby trying to catch his breath. Resting on his back against the pillows, he was looking at the ceiling completely lost in his own thoughts, his thumb rubbing absently between his brows.

You're driving me away, give me a reason to stay

I want to be lost in you, but not in this way

Don't think you quite understand who you have on your hands

How can you not see just how good for you I am?

In silence you started the same routine you knew by heart now; get up, get dressed and sneak out of his bedroom in silence, head down.

Ah, yes you were almost forgetting about his generous payment in between.

I know that you've been hurt before, that's why you feel so insecure

I begged you to let me in, 'cause I only want to be the cure

You could still feel his seed dripping down your legs, but tried to pick up your clothes scattered on the floor as gracefully as you could to get dress in the corner.

You’d been serving him for several months now, rumor has it Lizzie Stark wasn’t his mistress anymore because she got pregnant, so that was your job now; being Thomas Shelby’s whore.

Complacency is the worst trait to have, are you crazy?

You ain't never had, ain't never had a woman like me

But tonight there was something different, out of place. Mr. Shelby was still in the same position, his chest was now moving at a more normal pace. Looking at the floor, you felt embarrassed to ask for the money so you decided to pretend to fix your hair to see if he got the hint.

But he didn’t.

So after he longest seconds of your life, you decided to walk out without anything, feeling disappointed because you really needed to money to support your family. Perhaps he’d pay you double the next time, you thought to yourself but as you reached the door, his voice stopped you.

All you do is complain about decisions you make

“Y/N…” Your mouth hang open, surprised to hear him say your name.

“Is there a chance for you to stay all night?”

“I-I don’t know Mr. Shelby.” You stammered nervously, the instructions were clear; let him do whatever he wants, pick up your stuff and leave.

“You can call me Tommy… is there somewhere you need to go?”

Your eyes found his briefly, but you instantly dragged them down. “No, it’s just I’m not supposed to stay for the night.” You answered in a low voice.

“Why not?”

Feeling more embarrassed than ever, you didn’t want to point out the obvious, but as his intense blue eyes stared at you, you didn’t have another choice.

“Sir-Tommy,” you corrected yourself, “I’m just a whore.”

We come from the same place, but you will never give it up

It's where they make you feel powerful

That's why you think I make you feel small

But that's your projection, it's not my rejection

You knew that’s what you were, anyone could tell without even knowing you. But calling yourself that, hit you differently.

“Come here,” he extended his hand at you, and you didn’t have any other choice but take it and climb into bed again. “How long have you been coming here?”

“Six months.”

I put my heart on the line for the very first time

Because you asked me to, and now you've gone and changed your mind

But loving you was a breakthrough

You saw his head moving up and down slowly, but he was still oddly quiet.

He was still trying to organize the thoughts inside his mind as he saw you absently picking on your stockings. How could he put into words the way he felt about you?

“Y/N over the last couple of months, you’ve been the only one willing to spend some time with me, when everyone else finds an excuse to walk out the door, you’ve been the constant of my days, or nights for the matter.”

I saw what my heart can really do

Now some other man will get the love I have for you

'Cause you don't care, oh-oh-oh

Was he going to ask you to stop coming every night? You couldn’t speak, terrified of saying something that would piss him off. You had fallen for him secretly, blame it to the intimacy, the frequent late night calls, the way please took over him, but you did and deep down you knew it was all wrong.

“You’re not like the others, you don’t take and leave. You fill my glass with whiskey before you go or you pick up my clothes and fold them… you’ve listened to all my shit without judging me.”

Confused, you gave him a long look. “Tommy, what are you try-”

“I’ve feelings for you, Y/N.”

“That can’t be true, I’m a whore… men like you don’t fall in love with women like me.”

Consistency is the gift to give for free, and it is key

To ever keep, to ever keep a woman like me

“Women like you?” He was suddenly kneeling in bed in front of you, his hands cupping your cheeks. “Who says that?”

“Everybody knows that.”

This was just a fantasy, a dream. You were worthless, the worst of the worst.

“Just so you to know, I’m not so different than you… we just sell different parts of ourselves, Y/N.”

His eyes fixed on you, his intense gaze penetrating every layer, tearing down every single wall. And as he realized your guard was coming down, he pulled you in for a kiss, breaking the only rule you set when you first walked into his bedroom; no kissing.

That first kiss felt totally different to anything you’ve experienced until now, because men usually take what they want and leave right away, but Tommy took his time to explore your lips, the way they molded to his, tentatively, switching his pace and tilting his head from time to time as if he didn’t want to leave a single spot unattended.

He broke apart allowing you to take a deep breath, your head was spinning.

“Beneath, there’s a good woman, I just know it.” His knuckles carefully caressed your chin. You wanted to believe him, but you had been used in the past you no longer knew who you were.

He saw the hesitation in your eyes, so he took your hand and placed it over his heart. “Y/N I’m not going to hurt you, I genuinely fell for you, for he woman you are, for the little things I know about you… for the way you allowed me to be myself when the door is closed.”

He had been fighting it for so long, but with you he was allowed to strip down not only from his clothes, but from the heartless cold bastard he had to be in front of everyone else.

“Will you give me the chance?”

Looking down you fought against the lump that formed in your throat. “But how will you deal with my past and all the burden I’ve?”

“I’m not going to erase it, just like you can’t delete mine,” his fingers sunk in your disheveled curls, “but we can look forward and take it from there, together.”

As a single tear slid through your cheek, his thumb came to wipe it away, right before he crashed his lips once more and you believed him with all your heart because deep down you knew he was right.

A woman like you wasn’t so different than a man like him.

***

Master list

A/N: I’ve had this idea for a while now, guess it was time to post it, and I apologize because although I absolutely adore the concept I have been feeling a bit down and I’m not sure I was able to portray what I intended to…

Like always I’m so grateful if you decide to share your thoughts x

Tag list: @lyarr24 @runnning-outof-time @cillmequick @datewithgianni @cloudofdisney @gretelshelby @gypsy-girl-08 @lespendy @onlydeadcells @fastfan @stevie75 @rangerelik @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @esposadomd @forbidden-forest-witch @ange-thoughts @moral-terpitude @elenavampire21 @forgottenpeakywriter @thenattitude @winchestergirl22 @zablife @heidimoreton @imichelle-l-rigby @allie131313 @already-broken144 @peakyscillian @babaohhhriley @mrkdvidal1989 @shelbydelrey @shaddixlife @sloanexx @sydneyyyya (can’t tag) @adaydreamaway08 @pono-pura-vida @thomashelbyswife @darleneslane @everythingelseisextra @kmc1989

#That’s what Cill said #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby fan fic #tommy shelby x fem!reader #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby x you #thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby imagine #peaky blinders fanfiction #cillian murphy x reader

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maidragoste · 7 months

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Worry

Aegon II Targaryen x Reader

Summary: Aegon is worried about Jaehaera's future.

This is part of the universe of "The Queen and her husbands" but it can be read independently without having read the series. The only thing you have to know is that Helaena is dead, as are Jaehaerys and Maelor. And Reader is Aegon's second wife.

Aegon and Jaehaera are very important to me so I wanted to write something related to them for a long time. I hope you like it 💖💖

REBLOGS, comments and likes are always greatly appreciated 🥰🥰💖💖

Disclaimer: English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.

You entered the cameras you shared with Aegon and Aemond. You found the king with a glass of what you supposed to be wine and watching through the window like Jaehaera flew with Morghuel while she was followed by her siblings and they dragons. You weren't surprised to see Aegon alone and thoughtful. You knew that the last meeting with the Council was not to his liking. Nor was it from yours.

Aegon turned for a moment when he heard the sound of the door open but his attention soon returned to his daughter.

"Do you think I'm a fool to refuse?" He asked.

During the last meeting, Jaehara's possible nuptials had been discussed. After the last day of his daughter's name, they began to receive proposals for her hand. Now that Jaehaera is sixteen, the court thinks she is ready to marry but Aegon could disagree more. Or maybe he was the one who was not ready to see her leave.

Jaehaera was the last thing he had left of Helaena. Aegon may haven't loved her sister romantically and her marriage may have been unwanted but he loved her just as he loved all of their children. He had to protect Jaehaera as he had been unable to protect Jaehaerys and Maelor. He owed it to Helaena.

If Jaehaera married, she was expected to go live on her husband's lands. If his daughter was away how was he supposed to protect her? He couldn't trust her future husband to take care of her. He couldn't trust anyone. Years ago people whispered about how strange Jaehaera was, how she sometimes seemed immersed in her own world, how she rarely smiled. Now those same people were fighting for his attention so they could marry his daughter, the same girl they didn't want to be around before because of her supposed weirdness.

Aegon wasn't stupid, he knew that they only wanted Jaehaera because they thought the house she married would get more power, they assumed that he would get them more lands and receive more favors from him.

“Of course not,” you responded as you hugged him from behind. You felt your husband's body relax a little. “I would be more worried if you had said yes” you confessed, resting your cheek on his back.

Aegon took one of your hands from around him and kissed it before placing it back on his chest, where your hand was before.

“If Jaehaera gets married, people will expect her to give her husband children. I don't want him to go through the delivery bed. She's too young,” he declared and took a long drink of wine, trying to get the image of her daughter bleeding on the delivery bed out of her head.

He also didn't like thinking about Jaehaera having a baby. She was only sixteen years old—the same age as him when she and Jaehaerys were born—she shouldn't have to worry about raising a child when she was still a child. He wanted to continue watching her grow, he wanted to continue seeing her flying carefree with her siblings, he wanted to see her making flower crowns with her siblings, he wanted her only worries to be taking care of Morghul and taking care of her gardens. Jaehaera didn't need a husband. She was happy as she was.

"I don't want to lose her or for her to end up hurt. I want her to always continue enjoying her freedom."

You frowned as you heard the defeat in your husband's voice. As if he thought that it wouldn't matter what he wanted, Jaehaera would end up getting married and suffering because of it. You couldn't let him continue thinking that so you took the glass out of his hand and then left it on the table and took his face in your hands to get his attention. "Remember that you are the king, love. You have the power. Not the court or the council. No one can force you to get Jaehaera married" you reminded him with determination in your eyes "Don't let yourself be carried away by the pressure. Don't make the same mistakes as your father" you advised him.

Aegon couldn't help but grimace at the mention of Viserys but still valued your words. He was grateful to have you by his side, you always helped him open his eyes and come to his senses. The truth is he wouldn't know what he would do without you. If it weren't for you, it would surely take forever to find the solution to his problems or he would be making mistake after mistake. Taking you as his wife was the best decision he had ever made.

"Please don't mention Viserys again. I can't stand it," he complained and feigned retching exaggeratedly.

"You needed to come to your senses" You defended yourself with a shrug "Desperate situations call for desperate measures" you joked.

Your husband laughed before kissing you. You hummed happily and satisfied that you had gotten him back into a good mood before kissing him back, pulling him closer to you.

At the next meeting with the council, Aegon announced that Jaehaera would not marry anyone unless she wanted, not knowing that his daughter at that very moment was on Dragonstone having a Valyrian wedding. But that's a story for another day.

Taglist: @watercolorskyy @chaotic-fangirl-blog @venus-flytrap3 @sweethoneyblossom1 @fudge13 @alisoncdariel @crystal-faith @tita004 @ichanelvxgue @your-favorite-god

@snowprincesa1 @snh96 @rosey1981 @papichulo120627 @apollonshootafar @jasminecosmic99 @fluffly @bxdbxtxh15 @impartinghades @hannaeditzs @multi-fandoms-stuff @zverea @solacestyles @lilithskywalker @justsumtuffstuff @crispmarshmallow @afro-hispwriter @libdarkheart @chevelledahuman @helloitsshitzulover @ladybug0095 @ietss @serendippindots @ultraviollett @akinatrix @papery-maniac @merovingianprincess @hnybitches @m1ndbrand @giulia2372

@noisyinfluencerstrawberry @bajadotcom @woodandwaxwings @mendes-bae @sustisama @imjustboredso @remuslupinwifee @sarcasticking9 @melllinaa @letsloveimagines

If you want to be part of my taglist

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chlorine-and-daisies · 3 months

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nobody had to tell aziraphale that he loves crowley.

neither angels nor demons are taught anything about love or relationships or desire. even though crowley has been saving aziraphale for thousands of years and repeatedly asked him to run away, it still seems to hit him as this whole realization when nina talks to him about their relationship. he finally puts the pieces together that he needs to speak to aziraphale about their feelings. even during his de-facto confession he still seems to shy away from using the l-word or calling them a couple (a group of two).

we don't see anyone have a similar conversation with aziraphale (no, the "you're better off without him" guy doesn't count). he's never told that loving crowley is even a possibility for him.

and yet it's aziraphale who starts to choke out an "i love you" before cutting himself off.

aziraphale who constantly stares at crowley like he's barely stopping himself from pouncing.

he may be terrified of his feelings, but he can't deny that he knows their name. somehow he came to the realization all on his own, long before crowley did. he's been fantasizing for so long, inserting crowley into every romance book he read, probably guilty and afraid the whole time.

and furthermore he also picks up a little bit about crowley's feelings for him! the raised eyebrow when shax says he's not crowley's type, the "rescuing me makes him so happy." maybe he doesn't yet fully realize that they could be together, but he does at least acknowledge the mutual attraction, which is more than crowley does.

why else would he respond to a kiss that was *not gentle,* that he didn't see coming, that makes him cry, with "i love you?"

he recognizes that in the final act, after the long-awaited kiss, the protagonists of a romance are supposed to say i love you, and then they will stay together forever and get their happy ending.

the whole touching fingers to lips thing is absolutely a trope he's seen in books and movies too.

and i think this explains the ball as well. aziraphale is clearly intelligent and always reading, so at first i was wondering how he could have misunderstood jane austen so badly. after all, balls in themselves don't necessarily help characters find true love- balls are for watching from across the room and short conversations, for wondering who your dance partner really is and what could be. austen's characters don't really Fall In Love until they communicate.

take pride and prejudice- elizabeth may stare at darcy during balls, but she doesn't start to truly warm up to him until he explains his actions and makes his good intentions clear in his letter.

it seems more likely that aziraphale isn't misunderstanding austen's writing- instead he's misunderstanding love.

he thinks that the balls- the pining from a respectable distance, in a space with everyone watching you- are all people need to fall in love, because THAT IS ALL THAT HAS EVER COME OF HIS LOVE FOR CROWLEY.

and i cannot wait for him to realize that crowley loves him just as fiercely, that they are capable of giving each other so much more than the wondering and dreaming, that love isn't just the *hunger* but also the communication and the mutual expressions and the comfortable and safe and beautiful life together. the nightingales :)

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziracrow

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genshingorlsrevengeance · 7 months

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Hey so i have been watching way of the house husband lately so can i ask for some girls with a house husband s/o thanks anyway love too read your stuff

(Genshin Impact/GFL) Sara, Eula, Rosaria, Springfield, AK-15, RO635, and UMP9 with a House Husband S/O

I feel the masculine urge to love and adore my wife. "Today's the day...we got to take your balls away."

Sara honestly doesn't know how to react to her S/O lovingly taking care of things back at home.

She's used to servants and whatnot doing so, but not her own lover.

It made her feel...weird.

(S/O) "Hey, welcome home, Sara! Dinner's about to be ready!"

(Sara) "...T-Thank you."

Sara never fails to be flustered seeing such basic acts of kindness. It made her feel like a normal person rather than a military general.

But she did not hate it, not by a longshot.

She also makes sure to not let any word of her home life. Sure there were security reasons but honestly? It'd just make her feel embarassed.

Here stood Inazuma's general, the Raiden Shogun's second in command, getting all blushy because her S/O made her a cute dinner.

Eula is also in the camp of "not used to being treated with love."

Again, she was used to servants doing these sorts of menial tasks, but S/O did not seem to mind.

It wasn't entirely strange, since gender roles for these kinds of things was quite the old way of thinking, even for the Lawrence clan.

But it weirded her out more because she just wasn't used to having meals made for her, or any type of thing done for her.

(Eula) "Dinner is great tonight, thank you S/O. Remind me to cook for you as well, lest I have my ven...-"

She gives up halfway, seeing S/O's confused expression.

(Eula) "N-Nevermind. Thank you."

She doesn't mention this to others mostly for her pride.

But it was also she wanted this part of S/O to herself.

(Rosaria) "Thanks."

Rosaria had not felt this type of love in a very long time.

She knew for a fact she would never be used to S/O being at home for her.

But she was grateful. S/O was always there at night to provide her a meal and bandaging for her wounds.

They were concerned of course, but she wasn't bombarded by questions of what she was doing or why she was injured.

It was less being submissive and more S/O trusting her. And that meant more than any meal cooked to Rosaria.

The least she could do is return that trust, even if it made her feel anxious.

She still encourages S/O to get out and do some of their own hobbies as well. The last thing she wants to do is confine them. This is the city of freedom after all.

POWER COUPLE

Admittedly, Springfield is a stay-at-home kind of wife herself, so her and S/O get along swimmingly!

The two work with the other T-Dolls at the cafe and are jokingly teased about being an old couple already with the way they act.

The two are always seen together smiling, their homely natures working to great effect at making others relax in their presence.

(Springfield) "Hm, am I cooking dinner tonight S/O, or are you?"

It's a constant battle at home of who will spoil the other, and the two unfortunately do not care about their PDA antics, meaning other T-Dolls and humans will have to suffer in their lovey-dovey presence.

May god (or the Omnissiah) have mercy on anyone in their vicinity, because Springfield and S/O certainly won't.

15 stopped asking S/O why they did the things they did a long time ago.

She did not need to eat, the Dorms were usually pretty clean, and she truly had no preference for a bath, considering T-Dolls were not made for water.

Yet S/O offered it anyways. It was clear they were being polite, and it was appreciated.

(AK-15) "...S/O, your actions make no sense to me at all. But...it is appreciated. If it would make you happy, I suppose I can accept at least a meal."

15 was the type of woman to not like anything pointless being done, but she could tell there was a purpose with what S/O was doing.

They loved her. That was reason enough.

She could at least understand that.

And...it made her happy. She didn't even know she could blush before S/O offered her a meal for the first time.

But her death glare comes back if anyone remotely teases her or S/O.

Usually, RO was the type to bend over backwards for her subordinates and higher ups.

So it was a nice change of pace having someone do so for her. Something RO is eternally grateful for.

She makes sure to always thank them and appreciate their company as her stress melts away the moment she comes into a hug from S/O.

(S/O) "Busy day again?"

(RO635) "SOPMOD found the strangest place to stick her head in, and a horde of animals escaped the rescue station..."

(S/O) "The usual then?'

(RO635) "The fact this is "usual" should really say something about how we operate as a base..."

No living soul ever knows about her with S/O, as her usual professional demeanor completely vanishes the second she steps through their door.

Unfortunately for her, T-Dolls are not really "alive" by a technical definition.

Which is to say, M16A1 and SOPMOD tease the absolute hell out of her and S/O.

(UMP9) "Honey, I'm home!~"

UMP9 completely embraces S/O's tendency to be a stay-at-home.

One of her desires was to have a real family anyway, so this was just one step ahead!

She glomps her S/O everytime she comes back from a mission, ready to accept a meal, a bath, and S/O.

UMP9 makes sure to give back in the relationship so they know it isn't one sided.

She also could not care less of who sees them together acting like the most stereotypical couple.

She loves every single second of it.

(UMP9) "Do you think we can order an apron to really get the effect going, S/O? I'm sure the Commander wouldn't mind ordering one for me!"

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iiotic · 7 days

Text

You have my heart | chapter 2

Human! Alastor x Fem! Reader

❥︎ You have my heart | Navigation

Prologue | chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3..

❥︎ word count - 1.1k

please read the tws before reading this story!! You may find them in the navigation.

You looked up at the man before you. A charming gentleman with brown hair and caramel eyes. Putting your purse down, you decided to respond to his ridiculous question.

- Leaving, and who might you be? - You questioned him as you stood up, only to realise that he was much more taller than you.

- Alastor, pleasure to be meeting you miss..? - He extended his hand for, you thought, a handshake. As you gave him your hand, you were surprised by him kissing your knuckles.

- Charmed - You said, before introducing yourself. You truly didn't want to engage in any small talks nor conversation. You were so tired of this day after your "future husband" didn't even show up. You just wanted to go to bed and take a nap after a hard day.

You tried to excuse yourself from the situation, saying that your cat is home alone, begging for some affection.

- Nonsense, my dear! I assure you cats are very smart creatures and they can take care of themself. - Alastor assured you. Pointing to the table he added. - Would you like to sit down for a nice talk? the dinner is my treat.

You looked out of the window at the chauffeur waiting for you for hours by now, considering his offer. You didn't want to come back home, nor did you want to explain to your arrogant mother that the man didn't show up. However you were so tired and didn't want to stay awake any more minutes. But how are you suppose to find your true love if you didn't talk to anyone?

You sat down at the table, as Alastor did the same beside you. What were his intentions? You didn't know. You couldn't help but to glare at him, yet he still looked so comfortable and calm in his seat.

As he asked you what would you like, you answered harshly unintentionally. The atmosphere seemed tense, as the restaurant was filled with mostly silence. Most of the people already left, leaving you witt just a few people left waiting, not including staff.

You tried so hard to interact with the man before you, but the little voice in your head told you not to, for some strange reasons. Looking out of the window, once again, seeing countless cars and people walking. Pheraps some just went for a walk and others just came back from work? Maybe some of them just got groceries, maybe some of them are going to a important event. Your thoughts were interrupted with a sudden cough.

- Sorry, what were you saying? - You asked hurriedly, seemingly embarrassed by the whole situation. You hadn't had a normal interaction in a while.

- I'd like to apologize for being so pushy earlier, however i wish to get to know you. - He said with his signature smile. Before you could respond your food was delivered by the same young woman. 'Bon appetite' she said before running away.

- If you don't mind me asking, where do you work at? As far as I know the clothes that you're wearing aren't exactly cheap. - He asked, looking up from his now fresh food. - Before you ask "why? ". I'm asking out of curiosity.

You didn't know what to say, you were so embarrassed. You decided to try to dodge his question.

- I accept your apologies for being so "pushy" as you said. And also i don't mind you asking any questions, that's how conversations work, don't they? - You jokingly-asked trying to lighten the mood and make him forget about his question.

Alastor didn't respond, waiting for you to say something, his eyes saying everything. He relaxed a bit after hearing you sigh and finally answer his question.

- If you really must know, I don't work anywhere. - You mumbled quickly, as another sigh of relief could be heard from you. You were so reliefed that you already said it.

- I'm sorry, dear? I didn't quite catch that.

Shit. You truly didn't want him to know that you were unemployed. What would he think of you? When you said it the first time you didn't think correctly. What were you doing? You didn't know but before you acknowledged what you were doing it already slipped.

- I am an medical secretary. - You lied but didn't know what the fuck is a medical secretary. - It's a truly exhausting job if you'd ask me. Where do you work at? - You asked nervously before he could any more question about the job.

- Well, dear i thought you figured out who I am? - he chuckled slightly but when he say the look of confusion on your face he got a bit confused himself. - I am the radio host.

- I'm sorry the Radio host? - You questioned him being confused by his big ego. Frustrated, even.

- I'm sorry, so bold of me. - He fixed his composure. - I'm a radio host, just a radio host.

He was so reliefed that you didn't hear about him. So reliefed that you're not a psycho fan of his.

You thought it was an pretty easy yet exciting job. Sharing your thoughts about his job to him you were interrupted by someone walking in. Your chauffeur. You knew that you weren't the only one tired of waiting. You had to think of an plan quickly. You didn't think that medical secretary makes that much money. But it was too late he was already standing beside your table.

- Ma'am your mother told me that we need to get going now. - Your chauffeur said. Cursing under your breath, you decided to improvise. Just as you were about to say that you didn't know who he was. Alastor interrupted.

- Dear, you didn't say that you had a husband. - But you didnt? You looked at him like a deer at the headline, before fully understanding what he said. Now you had a plan. You stood up from your seat, excusing yourself, standing next to your chauffeur.

- I don't, yet. This is my boyfriend..uh.. - You looked at the chauffeur, trying to remember his name but failing miserably. - yes.

You saw the look of confusion in your chauffeurs eye, not wanting to look at him, you nooded at him to play along. Unfortunately for you, he didn't understand.

- I'm not sure you heard me correctly. Your dad ask- The chauffeur was interrupted by Alastor this time.

- I didn't know you had a boyfriend. - Alastor said glaring at the poor chauffeur.

- Because I don't! - You said after you realized that it was a terrible idea. Your hands sweaty from the whole situation. - This is my dad!

- Your dad? - They both asked confused at the same time. You were in a truly terrible situation. You didn't know what to say so you just nodded and tried to see what will happen next.

However despise your best effort to stay, you stormed out of stress, feeling the tears in your eyes. Gosh, why did you have to be so embarrassing?

Sitting in the car, you tried your best to not burst into tears. Your chauffeur soon following you and driving you home. It was too much for you. You just wanted to be normal, to have a healthy marriage, to love.

Is it that hard?

TAGLIST

@cherry-cola-100 @alastorssimp @cyganep @mutifandomkid @happytacojudgepalace @spirit-of-the-hollow @phisen

#hazbin hotel #alastor x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #alastor #alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel alastor #human alastor #human alastor x reader

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dragon-in-a-fez · 30 days

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Hi. I read a recent ask from someone else, where you say that you are now divorcing your partner, so this may be a little awkward but; I have seen your post about your (ex-)partner several times now, and I wanted to ask. I am AFAB non-binary. Funnily enough, I’m also pan. But I have recently started to think- albeit in the vaguest of senses- about dating, and I realised that I almost certainly will struggle to find cis guys who will date me and be chill with my gender. So, I was wondering if you had any insights? Feel free to ignore this!

I hope you're cool with me answering this publicly, because it's giving me the kick I needed to say some things I want out there for anyone who sees that post and finds my blog.

it's getting easier to talk about. the truth is, my ex treated me very badly in the last couple of years we were together, worse than I was willing to admit to myself before a lot of therapy and a lot of kindness and patience from friends. there was a lot of gaslighting and intense emotional volatility along with financial and legal abuse. I have lingering post-traumatic symptoms from it - frequent nightmares, panic attacks, even a massive months-long gap in my memory.

but none of that really has anything to do with your question, because the fact is, respecting their identity has fuck all to do with our relationship, or their character, or their actions.

I actually had a big fight with my mother recently because she was upset that I don't talk to her about all this enough, and eventually I was like, "after 7 years you still can't even get their pronouns right, how am I supposed to go to you for support about how that relationship fucked up my life when I have to stop to defend them from your ignorance every five minutes?" she seemed surprised that I still cared about being respectful and I was just like, yeah and that's why you and I have spent 30 years not understanding each other lol

and I think that's kinda the best advice I can give you: don't trust anyone who only cares about respecting the truth of who you are when they're happy with you. they should care when you've fucked up and hurt them. they should care when you're yelling at each other because they're being a selfish dickhead. they should care when you break up, or when they ask you out and you say no.

that doesn't mean they always have to get it right. people slip up on pronouns because of how they're used to talking, or they repeat dumbass stereotypes or ask inappropriate questions because they don't know better yet. but don't waste your time with anyone whose level of respect for your gender is based on their attitude to you in that moment. you deserve better than that. someone who only gets your pronouns wrong when they're angry is a way bigger red flag than someone who just occasionally gets them wrong at random times.

and yeah, you might struggle to find people who meet that threshold, depressingly low though it is. but the good news is, once you do find those people you're automatically in a better starting place than a lot of relationships. and knowing you've found the right person is way more important than how long it takes.

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creative-caramel-coffee · 6 months

Text

The Addams Allergy

Pairings: Thornhill x Weems x Reader (platonic)

Word count: 1.7K

Summary: Reader's allergy is a thing of myth, and someone decides to do some myth-busting. This won't end well for anyone.

TW: allergies, anaphylaxis, needles, hospitals, ambulance, difficulty breathing, bullying, attempted manslaughter (fancy legal terms hehe), mentioned heart attacks, physical violence

A/n I have added a link at the end for very simple instructions for how to administer an epipen. Spend like three minutes reading it and save lives. Also please reblog the linked post to help other educate themselves as well.

You suppose it wasn’t too bad being an Addams. But then again you weren’t quite the same as your sister Wednesday. You were more of an interim between Pugsly and Wednesday. You were soft but not squishy, cold but not frigid. You were actually most likely the most seemingly normal of all the Addams’s.

But being Wednesdays twin, you shared many things, a womb (for all of nine tortuous months), black hair, pale skin and your most inconvenient shared trait, an allergy to colour. Luckily though you did not share a dorm. You were roomed with Yoko who was much more palatable than the ball of colour who was Wednesday's ‘roomie’ as the wolf-pup had put it.

Unfortunately, most people were sceptical bordering on disbelieving about the colour allergy. Taking it as another Addams lie. And you being the easier target of the two of you often copped the most teasing. Everyone knew not to mess with Wednesday, but you were slightly easier. You cared more.

Yoko and you were sat in the library studying at the tables down the back when a group of siren boys came in. They had been teasing you a lot as of late and Yoko knew about it, but you begged her to keep quiet, you didn’t want to attract any more attention than you already had.

The boys were quick to spot you down the back and grinned wolfishly beelining straight for you. You let out a soft groan and Yoko looked up.

“If they lay a hand on you, I’ll drain them dry.”

“It's fine Yoko. I’ve got this.”

“The same way you ‘had it’ when you got a black eye i had to help you hide for two weeks?” She asked with a deadset tone. You grumbled a response when you felt your chair being pulled back.

“Hey!” Yoko said, “leave her alone.” She started but one of the boys spoke with his siren song.

“Sit” he commanded, and Yoko found herself no longer in control of her muscles as she sat and watched helplessly.

“So, a birdie told me your allergic to colour?” The main boy said, he was light-skinned with deep rich blue eyes and blonde curls. He looked like the type to be a surfer with the tan he had.

“That would be correct.” You nodded trying to remain calm and mimic your sister's tone.

“Well, how about we check you still have this … so called ‘allergy’” he said in a mocking tone. Pulling something from his pocket, you tried and failed to stop your eyes widening.

Between his thumb and forefinger was probably the most colourful and bright piece of fabric you had ever seen.

Despite the allergy, you hadn’t given any of your friends and epipen for you yet and the only people who had one were the nurses and weems. So, in other words unless Yoko was fast at running because the headmistress's office wasn’t too far, you may be looking at the object that would kill you.

Drawing a shaky breath, you looked the boy in the eyes. “As much as i love attempted murder, this isn’t a good idea.” You said

“Huh? Really?” He mocked “You think your smarter than me, don’t you?” He sneered and you gulped.

“Obviously.” You muttered and the boy scowled. Before you could stop him, he pinned you to the floor and shoved the scrap of fabric in your mouth. Your eyes went wide, and you began to flail and kick wildly trying to get him off.

Yoko was screaming bloody murder which seemed appropriate on more than one front.

After a second the boy rolled off you and stood brushing off his uniform.

“See… lies.” He said as you rolled onto your stomach, propped up on your elbows and spitting out the wet cloth onto the floor.

“Gross.” The boy said.

“You moron, let me go i need to get her epipen.” Yoko screamed and the boy's face morphed into something else for a second.

“Wait is she … actually?” He asked starting to look a little scared.

“Yes, you tool what would she gain from a fake allergy. Now let me go.” Yoko screamed and the boy froze before bolting. Luckily as he grew further away Yoko felt his song fading. She stood running over to you. You were laid on your back gasping as the anaphylaxis began to set in.

“W-weems.” You rasped and then coughed, your throat feeling ridiculously tight. Yoko nodded.

“You’ll be ok Y/n/n. Im going to get weems.” She said and raced out the doors.

Yoko ran the fastest she probably ever had in her immortal life. In a matter of seconds, she was banging hand over fist on the wooden doors before she simply pushed the open wasting no time.

“Ms Tanaka-“ Weems began, she was sat on the couch with Ms Thornhill looking equally startled.

“No time… y/n … epipen…now.” Yoko said between gasps. In a second both teachers were on their feet. Weems hurried over to her desk throwing open the second draw and pulling out the epipen she kept there just for you.

“Where is she?” Weems said with a commanding and scarily calm voice.

“Library.” Yoko replied and the three of them ran to the room of books.

Yoko led the two teachers to the back of the room where you were still gasping. Luckily for them you were already on the floor which made this next part easier.

“Christ.” Weems said, “Marilyn, call an ambulance.” She commanded as she uncapped the giant needle.

The Botany teacher scrambled to find her phone pulling it out and punching in the numbers for the emergency services.

Weems mentally recited the rhyme from when she had to do this for Morticia as a student as she pulled off the blue safety cap.

‘Blue to the sky orange to the mid-outer thigh.’ She thought and in one swift motion she lined it up with your thigh, Yoko having helped her pull down your skirt. She quickly stabbed your outer-mid thigh listening for the click and then counting to three before gently removing it. She gingerly deposited the epipen on the table.

The two teachers sat either-side of you while Yoko sat next to Ms Thornhill on your left. Your breathing began to even out, becoming less and less raspy as the epinephrine began to take effect.

Ms Thornhill was still on the phone with the emergency services who had assured her they were on their way now.

Both teachers and the vampire sat and watched with bated breath as they realised your breathing had stabilised.

After about ten minutes you tried to sit up, but the headmistress placed a hand on your shoulder.

“No. Stay lying down the EMTs will be here soon darling. Then I’ll come with you to the hospital, and they’ll check you out alright?” She said and you nodded and laid back down.

“Can i come too? I need to tell you something.” Yoko said and Weems made a thinking face and then nodded.

“Yes. After all, I do need to know how this happened. The Addams family know their limits and are quite good at avoiding this so any insight you could provide would be helpful.” The principal said and Yoko nodded. After another few minutes of tense silence, the emergency services came in and the paramedics gently lifted you onto a clean white stretcher. You hated the idea but luckily weems made sure nobody saw as you were taken to the ambulance that sat by the nevermore gates. Yoko and Weems joined you in the ambulance and Ms Thornhill waved as you were driven off.

About an hour later you were being held for observation. It was another three hours before they would let you go. You were sat up in a hospital bed with Yoko and weems sat in plastic chairs beside you.

“This feels like one hell of a power imbalance.” You muttered and both of them laughed.

“Well, you did just cheat death.” Yoko teased and you nodded.

“As an Addams it's an expected weekly occurrence. Kind of like a grim ostentatious weekly period.” You grinned always finding ways to relate everything to blood. Yoko groaned dramatically and facepalmed.

“And as the principal of two Addams’s who weekly try and take me with them to then grave, I’d say I’m cheating death myself with the number of heart attacks you and your sister attempt to induce upon my poor heart.” Weems said sounding exasperated.

“It wasn’t y/n/n’s fault though!” Yoko exclaimed and weems raised a brow while you opted to look out the window and avoid eye contact.

“You never did explain how this happened.” Weems said gesturing with a sweeping motion to the bed you were still in.

“Well i guess now’s as good as any and i doubt Ms. I-cheat-death-daily is going to spill.” Yoko said before launching into an explanation starting a few weeks ago when the teasing began. It was safe to say the principal was outraged.

“I will not have students attempting to murder each other.” She huffed with pure unadulterated rage in her eyes burning with fire, rage and brimstone with the likeness of hell itself. The look would have scared Satan into being as straight as a nun.

In a matter of seconds, she drew a deep calming breath, and you were reminded of the saying, the calm before the storm. Then she opened her eyes again and excused herself, walking out into the hallway and pulling out her phone. Not even five minutes after Yoko’s story ended, she was on the phone in the school board arranging his immediate expulsion.

About a half hour later, Weems returned looking flustered but when her eyes settled on you, she deflated slightly and gave a tender smile in your direction. Her eyes locked with yours, scanning for any hints of pain.

She had also texted the anxious botanist who had agreed to come by once you were discharged to drive the odd team home. As well as ordering about a dozen epipens for all your close friends and her office.

Once Weems had decided you were defiantly not in pain, she walked over to your bedside and gently brushed the hair from your eyes.

“It's dealt with darling. Nobody will hurt you now.” She assured and you blushed slightly at the contact, leaning into her hand.

You were safe. Alive. Breathing normally. And safe … again.

Masterlist

How to give an epipen here

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the-solar-system52 · 6 months

Text

TPOH UPDATE THEORY

OH WE ARE SO BACK!!

I wasn't expecting an update this week, and almost missed it since I checked the website too early, but here we are!

Now there is A LOT to unpack in this page, and if you know my theories, then I'm sure you think I'm about to talk about the parallels between The House of Lead and Negative in this dialogue. Which I 100% will, but another time. I want to talk about the Lead House in itself first.

When I first started with my RGB and Negative theory, I said that the House of Paint and House of Lead where supposed to be parallels to RGB and Negative, and I still stand by that.

But as I read recent pages, reread old ones, and was offered different perspectives from other fans, I'm began to think a lot about Lead House and Paint House as their own CHARACTERS, and not just plot points to parallel other characters.

Just listen to this stuff RGB says, this is very interesting characterization! And also incredibly depressing. Lead House's strange and physics-defying architecture being explained by it trying to fill the void left by being split apart, and it's extreme loneliness because of that is a very tragic situation for a literal house to be in.

And when I first read Double Exposure, I was under the impression that either The Butterfly or Negative owned the house, but this is seemingly debunked in this page. And that fact puts the previous pages in a very different context.

RGB outwrite states it here. This House has a personality, toying with RGB and Hero by trapping them, but not actually harming them. It seems to just be excited to be inhabited by people, when it hasn't for so long, and doesn't want them to leave.

Unlike the Paint House, this House can't be owned by anyone, and chooses it's shape based on whatever it wants. And although it seems to take an interest in the conversation Hero and RGB are having (evident by it spawning in the mirror maze when they were talking about Negative) it doesn't seem to be directly controlled by them.

And gosh I love this panel so much! It seems entirely self aware of how it's gone "cuckoo" due to its loneliness, but turns it into a joke. Or maybe its not supposed to be a joke, and the House just doesn't have any other way to communicate, both options are equally sad.

But seeing how much personality Lead House has, it made me realise that Paint House doesn't really share the same traits.

Its design is entirely dependent on person who is controlling it. Although it reflects the inhabitants thoughts, like Click's face in the trains set, Hero's up-high bed, a bunch of plushies spawning in, etc. All these examples all come from the thoughts, wants or memories of Hero when she has the House's key. I wouldn't say it has much of a personality or consciousness at all.

And though this system may be convenient for our protagonists, it is very inconvenient for the House itself. It straight up FALLS APART when Hero isn't paying enough attention to it! And consistently gets more and more abstract when controlled by a distracted 8 year old's mind.

So, Lead House has more individuality, isn't controlled by anyone and therefore doesn't fall apart or abstract. But, because it can't be owned, its gone insane with loneliness and isolation.

Paint House can be owned and wouldn't be considered lonely, but is far too dependent on others and is falling apart because of it.

Both houses are incomplete in their own way, so the obvious solution is for them to be fused back together into the House of Lead Paint!

The House of Lead Paint would be a balance between an individual personality, as well as being influenced by others. And they wouldn't be lonely anymore if they were together, plus once again being a home to someone! I could definitely see Hero and RGB living there, but instead of just outright controlling the House, they are able to ask the House for certain things, (or maybe the House could still read Hero's thoughts, but get to choose if its wants to change or not) and it will be more of a character.

This will obviously take the stress off Hero, since she won't have to be constantly thinking about the House just to stop it from abstracting or worrying about her dreams changing the house, and instead it could take care of itself at times, while still being helpful to our protagonists when they need something.

I think this may be happening sooner rather than later. Specifically because of RGB's "It may be as well for us to stay outside for a while" line, implying that something needs to change before Hero and RGB can go back into the Paint House.

This also seems like a stand in for a 'Tree' to this part of the story. "Big structure with emotional issues that needs to work through its issues in a symbolic way and transform into something else" Hero being the current owner of Paint House, having a track record of wanting to help out Trees, and needing a way to get out of Lead House, it seems perfectly in character for her to want to merge the Houses back together again. And now that the houses are in the same area to eachother (with the folded page being opened) I could 100% see this happening before the end of this arc. Probably as a conclusion to them getting out of the Lead House.

(anddd it could maybe be foreshadowing for RGB and Negative RGB merging back together???) (Fnaf sb ruin eclipse reference???) (tho, if that does happen, it would most likely be at the climax of TPOH)

I can't believe I'm getting so emotionally attached to the character arc of two HOUSES. But I just needed to get this rant out of my system.

So I'll probably talk about the dialogue relating to Negative another time, since this is already very long. Maybe I'll wait till the next update, since I'll undoubtedly have more things to rant on about then. But I hope you enjoyed this, even if it's a bit different from my usual RGB-centric theories.

#tpoh #the property of hate #tpoh negative #tpoh rgb #rgb #tpoh negative rgb #negative rgb #tpoh speculation #tpoh theory #tpoh house of paint #tpoh house of lead #tpoh house of lead paint #tpoh hero #tpoh update #tpoh spoilers

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forays-into-fiction · 2 years

Text

When It Rains, It Pours

This is a follow up/part 2 to Why Don’t You Put on a Show as a couple people have requested (@maystecc and @edsforehead). I hope you enjoy. This one definitely got away from me, it is way longer than I intended and a whole lot filthier too 😅

Minors DNI

Contains: Rockstar!Eddie x Reader, Honorifics/ Petnames (Sir, Babe, Baby, Sweetheart, Princess), Not So Dry Humping, This One is A Lot Heavier on Oral Fixation, Finger Sucking, Oral (Male and Female Recieving), Cum Swallowing/Eating. Dom!Eddie/Sub!Reader, Degradation/Name-calling (Slut, Cockslut, Whore), Dirty Talk, Praise Kink, Unprotected Sex, Slight Domesticity

Eddie had told you not to read the article, it wasn’t like he had himself, but curiosity gets the better of you one day. While he’s out you sneak into the bedroom, feeling like an intruder in your own home. You know where he’s been keeping the magazine, you know he uses it sometimes when you’re not around.

It still surprises you how much these photos turn him on, sometimes more it seems than some of the photos you’ve taken of yourself. You suppose it’s the added thrill of everyone else in the world also ogling your scantily clad frame, that does something for you too that you still can’t explain.

He taunts you with it sometimes, about how you’re ‘such a whore… want all the guys looking at you’ as he thrusts into you with abandon more forceful with each stroke. You love how he can go from degrading to tender in a heartbeat, it sets you aflame like no one else has.

Flipping through the pages you note some sticky stains on the photos of you, hastily wiped away, though the pages still have some resistance when pulled apart. You shake your head, of course he would, you still feel a heat rising in your cheeks though. You get to the article, taking a steadying breath, closing your eyes briefly before opening them and perusing the words.

Meeting with Eddie Munson and y/n y/l/n has been an experience to say the least. We begin the interview with Munson as y/l/n is escorted away for her photoshoot, he offers up information on the band, Corroded Coffin, and their sudden rise to fame explaining how “… it’s something I never could have expected. I mean sure it’s what everyone wants when they’re in a band, right… but the response has just been mind blowing.”

When asked about all the female attention he’s been getting he becomes dismissive, saying that “None of that really means anything… they’re only interested because I’m the new guy on the scene… it’s bound to blow over and I’ve got the perfect girl waiting for me at home…”

He reveals that he’s been working on new material for the band, so everyone keep an eye out for the next Corroded Coffin album. He can’t say when it’ll be hitting the shelves, but assured me it will be soon.

When y/l/n returns the two behave like a pair of lovesick puppies, high school sweethearts who can barely keep their hands off one another. Always kissing or touching in some way, but how long will that last before the strain of celebrity status brings them crashing back down to Earth. Munson is adamant that nothing could ever change and that he’s never been tempted by any of his fangirls, saying “… I love my fans, but that is never happening.”

In relation to her celebrity status y/l/n may be quoted, “It has been a wild ride. I don’t really know why anyone is interested in me […] I’m just […] his little groupie” It is interesting to note that she thinks so little of herself, having to be reassured by her boyfriend that “[…] she is so much more than that.”

The pair first met back in Hawkins High, the super senior Munson needing help with his studies. Y/l/n recalls a tender moment of admiration, “He was sat on his bed strumming on his guitar along to a song […] He’d said it was some new song by Metallica he was trying to learn I just couldn’t look away, I remember thinking ‘how could someone be this pretty’”

Munson begins teasing at this and the pair share a childish moment, ribbing one another.

As to how their relationship affects the band Munson has nothing but good things to say, insisting that she is his inspiration. While y/l/n clams she “[…] just wants whatever’s best for them, whatever that entails.” and admiring their hard work.

It is here however that the pair turn sour, inexplicably. Storming off in a rage, inconsolable. This does not bode well, perhaps indicating early signs of cracks in the relationship. At the very least it’s a sore subject, we wouldn’t want a repeat of the Lennon/Ono drama.

With the interview coming to an abrupt end, we are left with many unanswered questions on just who Eddie Munson’s mystery girl truly is, but some light has been shed on her today. In this inescapable whirlwind of fame more details are likely to come to light soon enough. In the meantime, sorry fans your heartthrob guitarist seems to be well and truly smitten with his girlfriend. Fingers crossed they can stand the test of time.

He was right they did twist your words and make jabs at you and your relationship, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it felt in the moment. People can read into that however they wish, you think to yourself, deciding you’re not going to let it get to you any further than it has.

“Hey babe, I’m home.” You hear Eddie’s voice calling out to you, closer than you would have expected.

You scramble to shove the magazine back in the drawer before he enters the room.

He walks through the doorway, tossing his jacket over the end of the bedframe. He spots you kneeling on the floor by his bedside table, you look up at him guiltily.

“Uh, babe what are you doing down there?” He grins at you in amusement before realising, “Oh, babe no you didn’t read it, did you?”

You nod biting your lip anxiously, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s ok… I mean it’s not like I love what he wrote about us but I can deal with it.”

“You sure?” He asks, concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah, I’m ok. I think it was just a lot worse in person because that made it more real, more personal. This… this is just words on a page. Who cares?” You assure him with a shrug.

He extends his hand to you, “Come on, up you get… unless…” he raises his brows suggestively smirking.

You look up at him curiously, “Unless what?”

“Unless while your down there-”

You cut him off chuckling and grabbing his hand, pulling yourself up, “God, you really are insatiable, aren’t you?”

“What can I say sweetheart…” he shrugs, “… sometimes I’ve just got a one-track mind, especially when it comes to you.”

“Such a pervert more like,” you tease playfully, “come on we should get started on dinner.”

“Oh, you wound me.” He sighs dramatically, clutching at his chest. “Am I not more than just some lowly pervert, do I not deserve your love and affection.”

You scoff at him, “Ok mister ‘love and affection’ I’ll suck your dick later.” You press a gentle kiss to his cheek, sealing your promise.

“I fucking love you.” He breathes out pulling you back in for a heated, more passionate kiss, capturing your lips between his own.

You break apart, “I love you too, now come on, my darling Sou chef we have work to do before you can get your dick wet.” You lick your lips teasingly, eyeing him up and down.

He groans, “Don’t know how I’m gonna make it through dinner when you look at me like that.”

You giggle, leading him out of the bedroom, hand clasped in your own.

You have him chopping vegetables as you prepare a pot on the stove, working back-to-back, “Those potatoes done, babe?” You call over your shoulder.

“Yep, just one second…” he scoops the chopped and peeled potatoes into a bowl, spinning around to hand them to you. As you drop them into the pot of water, he presses up against you, ducking his head to the slope of your neck kissing you softly. You lean into him for a moment before remembering the task at hand and tutting at him, “Hey, come on after dinner, ok? Get back to work.” You try to sound stern but you can’t help the grin that’s breaking out across your face, you’re just as eager to get on your knees for him. Been thinking about it since the moment he suggested it, practically dripping with need.

He smirks against your skin, “Mhmm… whatever you say babe.”

He breaks away reluctantly and you let out an involuntary whine at the loss of contact. He chuckles at you before commenting smugly, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

But, dutifully he continues helping you prep the meal.

As you place the dish into the oven setting a timer, he clings to your apron strings needily. You decide to put him out of his misery giving him his much-earned affection. He pushes into you insistently as you turn and embrace him, you can feel his thick, hard cock against you and your lips meet in a searing kiss.

You pull back slightly, offering breathily, “We’ve got forty minutes until that needs to come out, you wanna…”

“What happened to ‘after dinner’?” His self-satisfied grin taunting you.

“Well, you may have a one-track mind when it comes to me but that goes both ways, you know?”

“Awww, you can’t hold out, can you?” He teases as if he wasn’t just hovering over you ready to pounce.

You pout at him, “I could if I wanted to. You’re the one whose already hard up over nothing.”

“Oh yeah, and if I dip my fingers between your legs, I’m not going to find a soaking mess, am I?”

You blush looking away, he’s called your bluff and he knows it. Stepping closer and pushing you against the counter, you gasp as you make contact with it, your hands bracing against the edge.

He caresses the side of your face, bringing your eyes to his. His fingertips trace your jaw before coming up to the curve of your lips. He doesn’t need to say anything, you part your lips and his fingers slip in, first one, then another as you slobber all over them. Sucking and swirling your tongue around his digits he adds a third and you moan around them.

“Yeah, that’s it baby. You like that don’t ya?” His deep, rumbly voice sends a shiver down your spine and you nod in response.

He chuckles darkly, “Gonna give you something else to wrap those pretty lips around soon, you want that?”

“Mhmmm…” You mumble around his fingers, drool dripping down your chin.

He drags his fingers out of your mouth slowly with a lewd, wet slurp escaping your lips, leaving you a sloppy, drooling mess. You huff out shallow breaths, your chest heaving as his eyes rake over you.

“Always such a pretty little whore for me, love how much of a mess you make of yourself.” He hums.

You whine pathetically, looking up at him through your lashes, “Can I… can I suck your dick now, sir?”

He decides to have some fun with it, pretending to pause in thought as if he has to consider it.

You sink to your knees before him, hands coming up to rest at his hips, “Please… please, sir.” You beg with a pout.

He hums, “Well… since you asked so nicely… I’m gonna have to say yes.”

Your hands are quick to jump to his belt, undoing it hurriedly as you mumble, “Thankyouthankyouthankyou…”

Despite his cocky demeanour, Eddie still finds it hard to believe that he could ever be so lucky as to have someone like you, kneeling at his feet begging to suck his cock, thanking him for it too.

You roll down his jeans and boxers together in one motion to be met with the sight of his ruddy, leaking cock.

You admire it for a moment as he reaches down a hand to glide over it. The same one that had just been in your mouth, spreading your drool and his precum over its length. He growls lowly, “You see what you do to me sweetheart? And you expect me to wait? Nuh uh go ahead now I want you to take it all.”

You nod licking at his heavy balls for a moment before running your tongue along his length. You repeat this a few times, tracing over bulging veins before finally coming up to his tip swirling your tongue around it and enveloping it between your lips. You look up at him, his eyes half-lidded, head thrown back panting softly between pursed lips. As you take more of him into your mouth he groans encouragingly, “Yeah, just like that. Take all of it in for me.”

You continue until your nose brushes against the hair at his base, balls resting against your chin, you breathe in his musky scent. You whine around him and his hand comes down to stroke the back of your head, “Such a good girl… such a good little slut for me…”

You begin bobbing up and down along his length, breathing harshly from your nose and flooding your already wet panties. When his hips begin to thrust shallowly and you feel his length twitch against your tongue, he gives you a little warning tap on the shoulder. You know he’s close, you double down your efforts rolling his balls in the palm of your hand, hollowing your cheeks more firmly as he gasps above you.

“Babe, please I’m gonna… I’m gonna cum soon.” He pants out.

And that is in fact your goal, you want him to cum deep down your throat. You moan around him, swallowing him down greedily.

Both his hands drop to your shoulders gripping them tightly as he thrusts forward just a little more, his cock pulses in your mouth as a steady stream of cum hits the back of your throat. You gulp down as much as you can, some trickles from the corners of your mouth as he pulls out shakily. You scoop it up with a finger pushing the rest into your mouth, sucking it down with a moan, eyes fluttering closed. You suckle on your own fingers a little longer than necessary before he’s pulling you up from the ground to face him. He eases your hand out of your mouth and presses his lips to your own, tasting himself on you as your lips part inviting him in.

His forehead rest against your own as his lips break away from yours to mumble, “Fuck, that was amazing.”

You hum in response.

His hand trails down between you, slipping under your apron he teases the skin at the top of your waistband. You reach behind yourself, tugging on the apron strings until they come apart and you let the fabric fall to the ground between you. He grins, pushing his hand into your pants rubbing you over your ruined panties, “What did I say, huh… you’re absolutely soaked. Is that what sucking dick does for you? Or was it just thinking about it that got you worked up?”

You whine, squirming against his hand as he presses it into your puffy lips and circles your swollen clit.

“You gonna answer me, or are you that cockdrunk?”

You nod finally managing to speak up, “Yeah, I was wet just thinking about it… the whole time we were… we were cooking… I just… I just…”

He continues pressing circles into your folds firmly, putting on a soothing voice he whispers in your ear, “Oh, sweetheart it’s ok… I know...”

But he follows this with a dark chuckle, “I have an idea, but you’re not gonna like it.” His touch recedes somewhat until he’s just barely brushing his fingertips against you.

You whine desperately, hips pressing forward searching for more contact, but he pulls away completely. Moving to tuck himself away he pulls up his pants.

“You said you could hold out if you wanted, well I think I’m just going to make you.”

Your eyes widen, your hand coming to grip his arm, “Please, no. I’ve been good, please sir.”

“Ah, ah no amount of begging is gonna change my mind. You wanted me to wait ‘til after dinner. You thought you could make it that long too. So, it stands to reason that you should be able to now, right?”

“No, please.” You all but sob out.

He caresses your cheek, “Awww, baby I think you can do it… for me?”

Now he’s gone and done it, he had to utter those magic words. You sigh, mumbling softly in agreement, “For you.”

He grins broadly, “That’s my good girl. Now the oven still has a little more than twenty minutes left, how about we clean up here and set the table.”

“Ok.” You reply, pouting and hanging your head.

Kitchen tidied, table set, you’ve been squirming the whole way, your slick cooling against you a constant reminder. The buzz of the timer going off snaps you to attention. You fumble with a tea towel moving to get the dish from the oven but Eddie stops you with a hand on your arm.

“Here let me get that, you just sit your pretty little butt down at the table and I’ll bring it over.”

You do as he says sitting in your spot, you begin rocking back and forth against the seat beneath you, almost unconsciously seeking some relief. When Eddie brings out the food he narrows his eyes at you, mouth turning down. He admonishes you, “Hey none of that now, I know you can control yourself.”

Your hips halt in their motions, you look up at him apologetically, “Sorry, didn’t mean to.”

“That’s better.” He piles food onto your plate before serving himself.

You protest, “Hey, that’s way too much! I can’t finish all that!”

“If you don’t finish your dinner, you don’t get your ‘dessert’.”

“But we didn’t make any dessert… oh, oooh.” You hum in realisation.

He chuckles at you, maintaining his domineering attitude “You can be such a dumb little cockslut sometimes, can’t you?”

You whine at him, “Not fair, you know I’m… distracted at the moment.”

“Oh, I know baby. Now come on and eat your food.”

“Please take some off my plate, I can’t. You know I already ate a little before.” A little smirk threatens to break through.

He falls for your bait, asking, “Hmmm, what’s that? What did you eat sweetheart?”

“Your cum… your cock… your fingers. Don’t you remember? You stuffed me so full, don’t even know how I can manage another bite of anything.” You tease, batting your eyelashes at him.

He groans, “Don’t be cheeky now or I’ll make you wait even longer.”

“Please, just take some off my plate. I promise I’ll finish it.”

He concedes holding out his hand for your plate, “Alright, give it here.”

He scoops what should have been the rest of his portion onto his plate before handing it back and tucking in.

You wolf down your food any sense of decorum out the window and he lets you, eyes glittering in amusement as he takes his time savouring every bite.

You finish long before he does, you know he’s dragging it out on purpose, you know that’s why he initially piled your plate so high. You huff crossing your arms over your chest, trying to subtly squeeze your thighs together, but it provides little relief.

He gives an exaggerated groan, eyes fluttering shut, tossing back his head as he swallows, “God this is amazing, babe. You really outdid yourself with dinner.”

“Oh, shut up you ass and just finish eating already. Don’t act like you don’t know what you’re doing. We both know what you’re doing.” You huff.

He smirks back at you, clutching his chest dramatically, “Me? I’m perfectly innocent. Just enjoying this wonderful meal my gorgeous girl and I prepared. Can’t I do that?”

“It’s probably fucking cold by now just hurry up.” You grumble back.

“Yeah, it is, but you’re not cold, are you? Still all hot and bothered for me?” He teases.

You ball up a napkin and throw it at his face, “You’re mean. You’re so mean. If you keep this up, I may just have to go take care of myself.”

He growls at you, “You wouldn’t dare, you know I’ll punish you if you do.”

You poke your tongue out at him, “So what if you do? I can take it!”

He takes on a warning tone, “Easy now, don’t wanna go saying something you’ll regret. Just be a little more patient, I’m almost done.”

You roll your eyes, “Ugh, fine.”

You are quite literally on the edge of your seat when he takes his final bite, still he takes his time placing his cutlery on the plate gently, taking a sip of his drink, dabbing at the corners of his mouth daintily with a napkin. You’d laugh if you weren’t so frustrated, you rise from your seat grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out of his chair towards the bedroom.

“Babe, what about the dishes?” He asks in mock protest with a chuckle.

“Forget the fucking dishes I need you right now!” You growl at him.

“Oh, princess needs me now does she? Well, I am happy to oblige.” He allows himself to be led to the bed and you shove him down forcefully, pushing him to lie back with a palm on his chest.

Moving to straddle him before he can react, grinding down on his crotch you can feel his dick straining at his jeans, his cocky little smirk never dropping. You can’t even think of a smart-assed remark regarding his situation, whining desperately as you rub against the rough denim between you, “God, fuck… yes finally.”

He grabs your hips slowing their movements, “Easy now sweetheart, take your time.”

Your hips fight against his grip so he brings them to a complete stop, “Oh, you… you…” you whine, you know what he wants, you know what he’s waiting to hear. You let out a desperate little moan looking down at him, biting your lip before continuing, “Please, sir. Please I waited so long… I was good for you, wasn’t I?”

“That’s it sweetheart, beg for me. Beg to ride my cock.”

“Please let me have it. I need it… I need you… only you.”

“Alright, go on take it out.” You don’t hesitate in undoing his belt and rolling down his pants and boxers to his knees once more as his grip on you loosens.

“Enjoy your reward, you were such a good girl for me. You waited so long, I’m so proud of you.” He croons as you lift your hips from his rucking down your own pants and underwear leaving them tangled around one of your ankles losing patience along the way.

You line up his cock with your weeping hole and he slides right in, all too easily as you moan wantonly.

“Tell me… tell me again how good I was for you, Eddie. Please.” You plead as you bounce along his length, the hair at his base tickling against your swollen clit.

“Oh, sweetheart you were perfect. Such a good little slut, taking everything I give you.”

“God, yes! Fingers please…” You wail and he offers you his hand.

You grasp his wrist pulling his first two fingers in your mouth, suckling on them greedily, drooling and moaning around them.

He takes his free hand to press tight little circles into your clit, bucking up into you and your eyes roll into the back of your head. He growls at you, “God, look at you, taking everything I give you and then some. My perfect little slut.”

Your walls begin to tighten around him, pleasure courses through you sending tingles throughout your body.

“That’s it baby, cum for me.”

You cry out, your moans muffled by his fingers as your walls flutter around him soaking his cock with your cum. You collapse limply in his arms, breathing heavily as his fingers slip out from between your lips. He continues thrusting up into you, brushing your hair out of your face as he croons, “Oh, that was a big one, wasn’t it sweetheart? See, holding out was worth it, wasn’t it?”

His hands move to grip your hips, you’re still experiencing aftershocks barely registering his words. Still dripping all over him, it runs down his length and over his balls as he groans, “I’m gonna cum too, babe. Can you feel how wet you got me… ugh God wish I could taste it… maybe I will, maybe once I’m done, I’ll eat my cum out of you along with all of yours… you want that?”

You whimper at the stream of filth coming from him, nodding your head against him.

“Yeah, you do. I know my dirty girl. God, fuck… I’m cumming!” He cries out, hips still pistoning away as he floods your cunt with his warm, thick release.

His head drops bumping against your own, you can feel his heart pounding away in his chest as it rises and falls with his ragged breaths.

“Fuck, babe I should keep you on edge more often, you couldn’t even wait to get out of our clothes properly.” He chuckles as his dick slips out of you, your combined fluids slowly dribbling from your entrance. He rolls his jeans off all the way, from underneath you.

“Please, babe I can’t even think straight right now.” You whine back in response.

“That’s right, ‘cause I got you fucked dumb and stuffed full of cum.” He teases, giggling “Hey, that rhymes, ‘fucked dumb and stuffed full of cum’ maybe that’ll be our next song, whatta ya think? Another dedication to you?”

“Oh my God, you are horrible, you know that?” You exclaim disentangling your own pants from your leg to join his at the base of the bed.

“Oh, am I now?” He flips you over, pausing only to remove both of your shirts.

He grins up at you as he positions his head between your sticky thighs. His long curls tickling your legs, he continues, “Are you still, gonna think I’m ‘horrible’ when I’m eating our cum out of your pretty little pussy?”

You don’t even get a chance to answer as he dives in, obscenely slurping up everything your messy cunt has to offer. Your response dies on your lips as he draws a strung-out moan from you with his ministrations. Dragging his tongue all over you, between your folds, along your thighs, delving down between your asscheeks a little. You’re trembling beneath him still sensitive from your last orgasm, when his tongue prods at your clit you scream, “No, stop no please… it’s too much I can’t take it Eddie…”

He pauses looking up at you his chin glistening in a mixture of drool and your combined cum, “You know your safeword sweetheart, if you need to use it go ahead. Otherwise, ’m not stopping ‘til I get at least one more from you, you can do that can’t you? Cum for me, just one more time… for me?” He gives you the most adorable pout and you can’t resist, biting your lip and nodding with a pathetic whine.

He grins devilishly, “That’s my girl.”

Before you know it, his lips are at your entrance once more, tongue delving in deep, giving your poor little clit some respite. His hands clamp down on your trembling thighs keeping you spread wide open as he fucks you on his tongue, you whine above him twisting your hands into his hair, pulling slightly. He growls into you and his tongue moves back up to your clit, flicking at it and sucking hard, you pull even harder on his locks but he persists. You writhe beneath him screaming out in pleasure and pain as he works your oversensitive nub.

“Please… pleasepleaseplease…” You don’t know what you’re begging for, unsure if you want him to stop this torture or continue ‘til you’re gushing all over his tongue.

He continues nevertheless, grinning into you and bringing one hand to press into your soft, spongy walls, grazing over you repeatedly in just the right spot. Your hips rise off the mattress pressing into his face as an overwhelming sensation courses through you, clamping down on his digits you feel a stream of hot liquid squirting out of you, dousing him and the bed beneath you.

You collapse back down on the bed panting and shaking like never before.

He sits up gaping down at you, “Holy shit babe, you just fucking squirted. Jesus H Christ I wanna do that again!”

He moves to tackle you but you manage to hold him back with a hand to his chest, “Enough, let me catch my breath.”

He knows when to back off and does so with a pout. Moving to sit beside you and pulling you to lean against his chest, he runs a hand through your hair soothingly, humming a tune in your ear.

“Still think I’m ‘horrible’?” He asks softly.

“Oh, the worst, absolutely incorrigible, but I love you anyway.” You smile up at him.

“God, I love you too, babe.” He presses a kiss to the top of your head.

“We gonna clean up?” You ask a little reluctant to actually get up, savouring the skin-to-skin contact you share with him.

“Nah, let’s just sit here for a bit, enjoy the afterglow. Still can’t believe you actually squirted… that was… we have to do that again.”

You chuckle at his eagerness, “Save it for next time rockstar.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” He pulls you closer, wrapping his arms around you, you sigh contentedly.

#eddie munson fic #eddie munson smut #rockstar!eddie #rockstar!eddie x reader #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie x y/n #eddie munson x y/n #dom!eddie x sub!reader #part 2 #Why Don't You Put on a Show

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