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qiutls · 11 months

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TNGDH 010

The first day of the Northern festival dawned.

It was noisy all over the place. I woke up early in the morning and sat up on the sawdust with uneven hair.

I'd love to sleep more, but I had a lot of work to do. First of all, it was necessary to increase the miracle value to further increase the duration time of "Summon."

I'm at a loss on how to fill up the remaining percent, but at least I know I can't fill them in this house filled with damn mealworms and crickets.

Yeah, let's go out.

It is also good to go out and grasp the atmosphere of the castle, and check what happens in < Heart of Winter > at this time. And if possible, I may change some of the events and slightly raise the miracle value.

I only have 30 minutes a day, I really need to use it well…

[ Should I use "Summon" now? (｡❛ᴗ❛｡) ]

'No!'

Not now, I don't have any clothes!

Ugh, but there's no better time to go out than now. It has only been 10 minutes since Kyle went to survey the castle for the festival. It would take an hour to complete one roundtrip.

If only there's other clothes available, except for the clothes the magicians picked up…

'Ah! That's right!'

Just then, a wonderful thought came to mind.

The space where Sen found me and chatted along with the other maids. It was the place where they do laundry. In other words, I can get the clothes that servants wore.

Let's just get one of out the pile. Even if it's a bit uncomfortable to know that someone has already worn it, it's way better than being naked.

You never know, I might be able to wear a sleek, and well-washed butler's uniform… Don't you think it'll look good on me?

I had a pleasant imagination in my own way before using "Summon" in the corner of the room.

[ Good luck! (ෆ`꒳´ෆ) ]

However, there was another problem that I've never anticipated.

"I've really lived…"

Originally, life was something you were supposed to know when you've actually lived once, but if you were going with this kind of development, you should at least give me a preview.

I sat with my legs spread out on the stone steps in the corner and put my elbows on my knees. And with an infinitely gloomy look on my face, I stared at the maid's uniform in amazement.

"….."

I should have expected, all the people gathered then were maids. There was no such thing as the butler's uniformed I imagined earlier. Shirts, vests, pants, and shoes are nowhere to be found.

The best I could find was an ankle-length black skirt and an ornamental white apron, and for now, it was the only clothes I could choose.

I screamed silently ruffling my hair with my hands, how can I walk around like this! What do you mean I have to wear maid clothes, I'm a man!

"What's the difference between this and running around naked!"

[ Do you want me to turn off "Summon"? ]

No, don't! That's not what I meant. On second thought, this is not that bad. It's warm and I can move freely, it's even a bit nice… Damn it.

"It's hard to make ends meet."

With this outfit, it's best not to be caught by maids. No, it's best not to be seen by anyone. Hey system, do you have any transparency skills? I'm going crazy here.

Even though I hated it, I had to move anyways. I only have half an hour a day, I need to make the most out of it. I shook myself and went downstairs.

"It would be nice if we could hold the banquet sooner."

"What kind of clothes will do you think His Highness will wear this time?"

"Do you think there'll be more people than last year?"

I tactfully intermingled with servants here and there and heard stories of this and that.

The Northern festival is held only once a year, and it lasts for a week starting from the day when the night is the longest that year. It was no exaggeration to say that it was the grandest even held at the Blake's estate.

The usually dull and cold Blake Castle was now animated and people kept bringing in food from the storage. You can see that the merchants also brought a full carriage. 'Indeed, a festival is a festival.'

The last memory of a festival I remember in my old life was drinking makgeolli at the university festival and suffering from a massive hangover the next day.

At that time, key information suddenly fell into my ears.

"I hope this year goes by without any problems…"

"That's what I'm saying, why am I so nervous? Last year, aristocrats who were in favor of the prince came and bothered me, but this time apparently, the prince himself will attend the banquet."

"Is the rumor really true?"

"Is the prince really coming personally here in the North?"

I crept up behind them with my ears perked up. Of course, I didn't forget to use the broom I got to pretend to sweep across the floor and move.

They went into the banquet hall, loaded with goods, and soon began to decorate the place with flowers and moved the tables around the central dance hall.

"I know right, when this land was a wasteland, he didn't care, even when his subjects asked for his help."

"But since Lord Kyle came, things have improved remarkably. Didn't they say, the reason why the prince never came even thought there was a festival here every year, is because of the bad relationship between brothers? Isn't that the famous story?"

"They sent him to die, but he didn't. Tsk. Tsk."

"Apparently, His Highness Belial will also come, along with the previous Serena, who's on bad terms with Duke Kyle. Their age difference is also…"

the one on bad terms with Kyle is Belial and not the previous Serena, which is a different Serena from Sen

Oh yeah, this is the kind of gossip I want to hear.

'As expected, people who are preparing for the banquet, know the most.'

I should get closer to them, let's step around these servants who are contemplating what to do with the old chandelier, and try to hear more information…

"Woah! That scared me!"

Just in time, the worker who was complaining about the old and loose chandelier ring, turned around and our eyes met.

Wow, you have a really loud voice, thanks to you I was surprised and almost jumped.

"Wait a minute… I don't think I've seen you here before."

… Oh dear.

The skill "Summon" uses my original form and face. I don't know how the system brought my life's data into this world, because if I asked it would never shut up, but right now this person is seeing a face it has probably never seen before, a Korean's face.

In other words, it's a face that doesn't fit this world.

I turned around as naturally as possible and kept sweeping.

Just be natural…

"Hey you!"

It felt like my joints were squeaking whenever I moved.

Indeed, I have zero talent for acting. During the school festival, I always played the role of a tree or a stone. Of course, I didn't want to play that role but for some reason, everyone left it up to me.

The man who looked at me suspiciously, tried to reach for me. But just before he reached my shoulder, I started to move.

I don't care about acting or anything, I just know if I get caught here, it's the end.

"Hey system, how many minutes are left for the skill?"

[ "Summon" will end in 7 minutes. ]

There's less than 10 minutes left.

I can just run until the skill ends.

"Isn't that, that guy?"

It's just your imagination. It can't be you'll know it's me from looking at the shoulders and the height right?

"I'm going crazy."

I only had those clothes to wear. What was I supposed to do in that situation, technically I'm a victim too.

"Wasn't it a few days ago, a guy sneaked into the Lord's study and event took his shirt?"

"Ho, is he that.."

"There, that brown haired guy, just stand there and don't move!"

Ah, I can't hear you. I can't hear anything.

I started fast, almost as if I were running. The soles of my feet felt so cold and numb, but I couldn't help it, there were only socks in the laundry room and no shoes.

'I feel so uncomfortable, I'll wash my hands and feet as soon as I get there.'

This time, after washing my feet, I'll turn the bowl over instead of leaving the dirty water inside, or else they won't change it to new water.

I left the banquet hall, climbed a floor, and fled frantically to the left corridor, it's been a long time since I threw away the broom I held.

'I should've worked out.'

I overestimated the physical strength of an office worker. But at least, I wasn't as weak as before since I rode a wheel desperately to become human.

Thump.

"… Ah!"

I bumped into someone as soon as I turned around the corner of the hallway. You're lucky I'm letting you off the hook today.

"Sorry-"

Obviously I was walking quite quickly but this person didn't even move a bit when we collided, yet I bounced back like a ball.

"Are you okay?"

His voice, low and grave, a voice I'm quite familiar with.

… That's right, it's a voice I hear everyday.

'I'm doomed.'

[ Kyle Jane Minehardt. The Great Duke of Blake. ]

I know. I know. You don't have to tell me.

I turned around and looked at him.

It hasn't even been seven minutes yet and it was weird to end the skill right in front of him. You said I'd be lucky enough to become human? Are you sure it's luck or bad luck?!

[ (◐▽◐);;; ]

'Fuck it.'

I started running away from Kyle and he started chasing me.

His heavy boots banged on the floor and sounded loudly as he approached me. It was like a horror movie. I kept running like before, yet he was just walking. The distance between us gradually got less and less.

"Hey."

I don't know what to do. I'm never running away from him again. When I looked back secretly, his shadow was hanging around my feet.

'….. Crazy'

He's not the Duke of the North for no reason.

Now I really started to give my all into running. The ankle-long skirt started to get in the way, so I held them up with my hands to move my legs easily.

Ah, shit, I don't even have shoes. What kind of situation is this!

"Stop."

'I don't think I will.'

I gasped and tried to breathe in as much air as possible and squeezed out the last drop of my strength to ran further away. When Kyle saw I didn't listen to his orders, he also started following me quickly.

Why are his steps so big? If you're tall, you do everything bigger is that it? How can you make me feel this miserable?

Step. Step. Step.

The sound of bare feet running like crazy and the sound of boots irregularly stepping on the floor. I felt all the emotions I was bottling rise up as I continued to run on the cold floor.

Hey! Stop following me! It's time to give up.

[ "Summon" will end in 1 minute. ]

I shouldn't disappear suddenly today, and it should bring me back to the hamster house once the time is up…

he's talking about the hamster form

Before I knew it, Kyle was right behind me, at this rate, he'll catch up even before a minute passes.

I ran all the way here with the thought of being able to escape, but now it seems like I can't help it. But it seems like I have no choice but to wait for the skill to end and recall back to the hamster house.

Running straight down the corridor, I turned towards the stairs and went down the steps.

"Uh…"

My body leaned forward greatly as I was about to fall when a large hard pulled my arm and causing me to sway back into the ground.

I turned around and saw the owner of the hand, I looked at Kyle with my eyes wide open. My heart was already falling down the stairs, yet my body was held in place with his hand.

"Who are you?"

I can't answer if you ask like that.

[ "Summon" will end in 10 seconds. ]

'It's almost time anyways.'

You're right system, there's no such thing as bad luck.

I laughed and held onto Kyle's arm but still not straightening my tilted body. I wasn't intent on making a good impression. So, I spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Who am I? Me?

"I'm your companion-"

note that companion used here can mean a lot of things, can be friend, associate, partner or even lover, Soohyun was going to say "I'm your companionship hamster" but it got cut off XD

Just then the 10 seconds was up and white light came out of my body. Kyle frowned at the blinding light that flashed before his eyes.

And the me that was covered in that light, became a hamster.

… Who was back in the hamster house.

―…….

I turned my head around and looked at the familiar sawdust and the transparent glass and the duke's study.

Hey, if you're gonna take me back! Take me back after I finished my words! How can you end it before I could say I was a companionship pet. A pet!

I jumped in anger and threw myself on the floor. Great, now not only am I a clothes thief, I'm now a pervert who dresses as a woman and confessed to the Grand Duke.

― Squeak! [ Ahhh! ]

I think it's better to keep living as a hamster. Right? Right. Should I just live like this? That thought easily vanished as I saw the bowl full of mealworms.

Kyle's POV

The flash slowly died down and Kyle opened his eyes. His view was still blurred, perhaps because it was directly hit by the light earlier, but fortunately there was no difficulty in identifying the object in his hands.

The problem was, there was only clothes and the man who had just been in his hands was gone.

A unique face, and thin brown hair that have never appeared in this land. And such light weight, that he was able to hold the man with one hand.

All that disappeared in an instant and all that was left was the maid uniform that he was wearing.

"… Is he a magician?"

But when he disappeared, he didn't seem to chant any incantations. Rather, the last words he said before he disappeared was that he was my 'companion'.

Above all, I definitely saw him for the first time today, yet I felt a strange sense of familiarity. Even though no one I know has no hobby of dressing as a woman.

Kyle raised his eyebrows and picked up the clothes properly. Even when he said he was my companion, why did I just stay still and keep holding his arm.

"I'll find you…"

Even if what you said was just nonsense, I want to find you again.

T/N: this part of the novel is illustrated and made into a promo which you can find in the masterpage for this novel. tysm for everyone who's reading this! and thank you for all the likes, follow and ko-fis <3

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#tngdh

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katethewriter · 2 years

Text

Cookie Monster

from the New Kid Series

Summary: It's not that Y/n is hiding from the rest of the team, except that's exactly what she is doing. Wanda is determined to break through to her.

Words: 3.5k~

Pairing: Wanda x Reader(platonic) - cg!Wanda x little!Reader

Warnings: none, just fluff, reader is just really insecure and shy

A/N: Ok, so I know a lot of writers (including me lol) have Wanda use Russian words for nicknames or as a substitute for Sokovian... but so Wanda and Natasha can each have their own nicknames for Y/n, I'm gonna use Serbian for Wanda! Since the Sokovian signs in AoU were written in Serbian Cryllic 🙃

мала(mala)- little one

мед(med)- honey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n sits in her room happily playing with origami animals and paper dolls. She doesn’t have any real toys since she never has time to go out and get them. After her training and time spent learning as much as she can about the Avengers and their enemies, by the time she is finished for the day, she desperately needs to drop.

So, when she is bigger or just dropped to an age not too young, she makes toys from the resources she has available to her: paper swiped from one of the offices.

Two and a half weeks have passed since Y/n joined the team, and the rest have barely seen her. She stays in her room, only coming out when its time to eat and train. Since that first day, they haven’t really seen her little. Only a few times has she ever come out smaller than 22. When she did, it was for training, and she was only 17.

She trains with Steve in the mornings, usually eats with the team, occasionally she will be in Tony’s lab to try on the suit he is making for her. Since her clothes can’t drop with her, he is making a suit that can.

The rest of Y/n’s spare time is spent dropping to smaller states. She stays in her room while she’s little. The team made it abundantly clear how they felt about having a kid around, so she keeps her distance.

It’s been working so far, so she just assumes its for the best.

At the moment, Y/n is dropped to 6. She is making her origami frog jump across the desk when a sweet scent hits her nose. She would know that smell from anywhere.

Her tummy rumbles, and the smell is calling to her. She ponders if it is a good idea to leave her room like this, but ultimately her nose and tummy win out.

Y/n opens her door and pokes her head into the hallway. She looks both ways to see if anyone is around. The hallway is clear so she tiptoes out of her room, making her way towards the kitchen. At every corner, she checks to see if the coast is clear before tiptoeing out of hiding.

She continues this way until she reaches the kitchen.

In the same way as before, Y/n barely peaks around the corner and into the room. Her little eyes fall on Wanda pulling a tray full of cookies out of the oven.

The Sokovian has done this on purpose of course.

The idea came to Wanda last night, a way to try and lure her new teammate out of hiding. She remembers when she joined the team; she was treated much like Y/n was at the meeting. Granted she had entered their minds against their will, but all the same, she understood what it was like to join a group that wasn’t too thrilled to have you.

Wanda was determined to make sure Y/n felt welcome, and that she had a friend. This proved to be very difficult when the girl barely came out of her room.

Thus… cookies.

It’s a recipe her and her mother perfected back in Sokovia. She hasn’t really had many opportunities to use it since then, but she’s glad she has a good reason now.

She is pulling the tray out of the oven when she feels a pair of eyes on her. From her peripheral vision, she can see a very small girl poking half her face around the corner. Wanda smiles to herself.

Wanda purposefully turns her back to the girl to grab a spatula from a drawer beside her. This gives Y/n enough cover to quickly run from the doorway to behind the island in the kitchen.

As the Sokovian is transferring the cookies to a cooling rack, Y/n watches intently, only her forehead and eyes poking above the countertop.

Of course, Wanda knows the girl moved, but she decides to play along. After she places the last of the cookies on the cooling tray, she turns and jumps in feigned shock.

“Oh my goodness! Y/n, you scared me!”

The girl quickly ducks under the counter to hide from Wanda’s view.

“No no, its ok!” the witch recovers quickly, “I just didn’t see you there. You are quite sneaky.” Wanda waits for Y/n to feel comfortable enough to appear over the top of the counter, although very little of her body is visible over the countertop due to her height. “I was just baking some cookies, what brings you out to the kitchen?”

Wanda already knows the answer, but she is wanting to prompt Y/n into speaking for herself.

Little eyes shoot between the witch and the tray full of delicious treats. The smell of which is what drew her here to begin with.

“You came for a cookie?” Wanda asks and waits until the shy little girl nods yes. “Ok! You’re more than welcome to have a cookie!...... but we have to wait for them to cool down or they will burn your tongue.”

Y/n’s shoulders slump, but she nods anyway. Having to wait for cookies is way better than getting no cookies at all.

The girl moves to the counter right in front of the tray of cookies while Wanda tidies around the kitchen.

Once Wanda has finished picking up after herself, the cookies are almost cool enough to eat. She checks on Y/n, and the girl has not moved from her spot next to the cookies, patiently awaiting the permission to indulge in the sweet treats.

“Ok, the cookies are almost ready,” Wanda says to pull a very young Y/n’s attention, “would you like to get some milk for the cookies while we wait?”

Y/n looks up to the other woman tentatively, not sure what to do in this situation. Wanda said yes to her getting a cookie. Is milk too far? …too much to ask of her teammate.

The Sokovian seems to pick up on this and grants mercy on the poor thing.

“Well I know that I want some milk,” Wanda says pulling the carton out of the fridge. “I can pour you some too, while I have it out?” The sokovian waits for an answer, even though she’s pretty sure she can hear it.

After she gets a confirmation nod, Wanda smiles and gets to work.

The witch sets a small cup of milk on the counter along with a small plate containing one chocolate chip cookie.

Walking around to the stools, Wanda quickly realizes Y/n will probably need help to get on it, but she doesn’t want to push any boundaries. The girl previously stated that she doesn’t want help, so she just pats the top of the stool and watches as she jumps, wiggles and climbs until she is sitting on the top.

Wanda sits in the stool beside her, and they both quietly eat their cookies. Once Y/n has finished her cookie, she eyes the plate of cookies on the counter. Silently, the child glances up to Wanda gaining her attention. She then looks back at the cookies.

“Do you want another one?”

Y/n silently nods.

“Ok мала(little one),” Wanda pulls the plate closer for the child to grab a cookie, “but just one more. We’re gonna have dinner soon.”

Neither of them comments on Wanda’s use of the nickname. No words are exchanged at all. They just sit quietly together, and Wanda is perfectly happy with that.

Baby steps in the right direction are still steps in the right direction.

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Today is just a quiet, lazy Saturday around the compound.

Wanda exits her bedroom and walks down the hall to the common area. She had planned to see if anyone wanted to watch sitcoms in the living room with her.

As she passes Y/n’s door, she comes to a stop. The very loud little thoughts coming from the other side of the door have grabbed her attention. That was something Wanda picked up very early on. The younger Y/n drops, the louder her thoughts are. Its almost impossible for Wanda not to hear them.

That’s how she knows that Y/n is currently little in her room.

The witch now has a better way to spend her afternoon.

“Oh goodness,” Wanda says a bit loudly to ensure she is heard by the girl, “I’m about to bake a whole bunch of cookies, if only I had someone to help me.” Fake distress lays thick on her voice. She’s hoping to lure the girl out again, only this time for an activity that will require a bit more interaction.

By Y/n’s thoughts, Wanda knows the girl is definitely thinking about it. While she ponders, the sokovian travels down the hall to the kitchen where she gathers all the ingredients and tools she needs.

Wanda turns to find Y/n poking her head out the same way she did last week when she made the first batch of cookies. The girl appears to be about the same size as then too, somewhere between 5 and 6.

“Y/n!” Wanda smiles brightly, “I’m so glad you’re here! I was just about to make some cookies, and I could really use some help. Would you like to help me make some cookies?” The enthusiasm in her tone is a bit much, but she just wants to appear as inviting as possible so Y/n can feel at ease.

The child’s mouth curves into a small smile as she nods. She takes very tentative steps until she is standing next to Wanda. The Sokovian grabs two aprons from the hooks on the pantry door. She puts one on herself, before adjusting the straps on the other to fit the child… as well as an apron for adults can fit a child.

“Let’s get this on to keep you clean,” Wanda wraps the straps multiple times around Y/n’s waist before finishing with a bow. “Now, we are ready to go!”

The two of them turn back to the counter and are faced with a new challenge. In Y/n’s small state, she can barely see over the counter, let alone reach anything on it.

Y/n slowly rises about a foot off the ground. When she looks down, she can see red wisps underneath her feet. Her little eyes go wide, and she turns to the witch in astonishment.

Wanda chuckles lightly, “it’s a magic stool, but you still have to be careful that you don’t fall off. Ok?” With a wide smile the girl nods and turns back to the task at hand.

Together the pair take turns pouring ingredients and stirring. Wanda shows Y/n how to crack an egg, and they both laugh when Wanda drops the shell into the bowl.

At one point, Clint comes in and stops only a few feet in, clearly shocked to see Y/n out so young, “Hey guys.”

“Hey Clint,” Wanda smiles. She glances down when Y/n doesn’t respond. What she finds makes her heart clench. The girl is closed off again. With a deer in the headlights look, she stands silently watching the archer closely. All the progress Wanda had made wiped away.

He continues to the fridge pulling out sandwich meat and some condiments, “what’s going on in here?”

“We’re making cookies,” Wanda says, tickling the girl’s side until she smiles up at her. Even if its just a small smile, it makes the witch feel a little better.

“That’s awesome!” Clint exclaims enthusiastically, “can I have one when they’re done?” He smiles to the small girl.

Wanda looks between the two, watching Y/n for an answer. When she doesn’t say anything, the older woman nudges the girl softly, “what do you think Y/n? Should we let him have a cookie?”

Clint puts on his goofiest puppy pout. He manages to crack through the girl’s wall, even if just the tiniest amount.

Y/n gives him a small, tight lipped smile and nods once.

The archer grins, “thank you!” He holds up the sandwich he was making, “well I just came in for this, but I’ll be back when those puppies are done.” He winks to the two of them before heading out with his lunch.

Once they are alone again, Wanda turns to Y/n, “ready for the messy part?” The girl nods, jumping ever so slightly in excitement on her magic step stool. The older woman sets the bowl of dough between them, “time to roll the dough into balls!”

After they run out of dough, they clean their hands and move on to the final step.

Wanda places the tray into the oven and sets a timer. She decides to clean the kitchen while Y/n just sits in front of the oven watching the cookies waiting for them to bake.

Wanda grabs the chocolate chips to put away but stops. “Hey мала(little one), watch this,” she waits till she has the girl’s attention. Suddenly she tosses a chocolate chip into the air and catches it with her mouth. She chews with a victorious grin.

Y/n quickly hops up off the floor and runs to Wanda, “I wanna try! Please?”

The sokovian smiles brightly at the girl’s sudden brazenness. “Here,” she hands over a chocolate chip and watches.

Y/n throws the chip high into the air. On its way down, it bounces off her nose and falls to the ground.

“Try again,” Wanda chuckles, handing over another chocolate chip.

The girl tries again and again and again while they wait for the timer. Wanda coaches her each time, and they both laugh when she misses.

When a chocolate chip finally lands in her mouth, they celebrate.

Y/n jumps into Wanda’s arms happily, and although she is shocked, the witch quickly reciprocates.

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Warmth and darkness surround Wanda when she rolls over in bed. She can feel steady pangs of discomfort but coupled with the very loud thoughts from the other side of the wall, she decides the discomfort is not her own. The whimpers she hears from next door set her into action.

The sokovian quickly gets out of bed to check on her new friend.

When she reaches the door, Wanda knocks lightly, “Y/n, are you awake?” It’s a stupid question. Wanda knows the girl is awake, but she wants to alert the girl of her presence without scaring her.

She doesn’t get a reply so she cracks the door this time, “can I come in?”

Once again, the only reply she gets is soft whimpers coming from the bed, so she pushes further into the room. Wanda takes feather light steps, so as not to frighten the girl.

“Y/n?” the witch whispers as she approaches the bed. “мала(little one), are you feeling ok?” This time she does get a response. Y/n lays on her side faces away from Wanda, but she shakes her head enough for the older woman to understand.

No, she does not feel ok.

Wanda sits on the bed and reaches for the girl’s forehead to check for a fever. However, Y/n has a different idea. She pulls away from the woman’s touch, grumbling.

“Ok,” Wanda retreats her hands and looks down at Y/n, “I know you can take care of yourself, and you don’t need help. But, will you let me help this one time…. please?”

All is silent as Y/n contemplates her next move. With a huff and a nod, she rolls onto her back so Wanda can get a better look at her. She doesn’t look older than 4, much younger than she was earlier today.

She checks her forehead for a temperature, but she doesn’t have a fever. Wanda looks down to the girl who still whimpers in discomfort. “Can you tell me what’s wrong, мала(little one)? So I know how to help.”

Y/n’s little eyes gather with tears when she looks up to Wanda, “hurts.”

“Where does it hurt, мед(honey)?”

The girl only pouts and points down to her abdomen.

“Your stomach hurts?” Wanda confirms gently.

Y/n’s lip quivers as she holds back a sob. She nods twice.

“Oh sweet мала(little one),” the brunette tucks a lock of hair behind the girl’s ear. “We can go get you some medicine that’ll make you feel better if you come with me,” she holds both hands out to the girl, an open invitation for her to fall into.

…and that she does. Y/n sits up and moves into Wanda’s embrace. She wraps her arms around Wanda’s neck, while Wanda wraps her arms around Y/n and lifts her off the bed.

“I’ve got some medicine in my room,” Wanda walks them both next door, “but it tastes a bit yucky, so we’ll have to go to the kitchen to get a drink to wash it down. What would you like juice or maybe some milk?”

When they reach the kitchen, Wanda sits Y/n on the counter. It takes a little convincing to get the medicine down her throat, but after some milk, all is well again. Putting the dirty cup away, Wanda’s eyes fall on the jar of cookies they made this morning… actually two jars.

The first time Wanda made cookies for Y/n, she ate the two she was allowed to and then waited until after dinner to ask again. However, the rest of the team ate all the cookies before she could get another one. So this time, Wanda put the cookies in two separate jars, one of which is marked a sticky note that reads: Y/n’s Cookies.

The jar clearly holds less cookies than it did when Y/n took one after dinner. Suddenly the cause of Y/n’s stomachache is apparent.

“Мед(honey), did you come down here and eat more cookies after everyone went to bed?”

The girl looks to Wanda with wide eyes. She knows she is caught, so she just fesses up. Y/n pokes out her bottom lip and nods.

Wanda knows that Y/n is an adult and wants to be treated like one. Though, sometimes it’s hard to remember that when she is as small as she is right now. Still, the sokovian doesn’t have the heart to scold her. The stomachache is punishment enough.

“You’re a little cookie monster, aren’t you?” Wanda tickles the girl along her sides. She sits the girl on her hip and walks back to their floor.

“That’s why your tummy hurts so bad,” rubbing the Y/n’s back she continues, “too many cookies will make you sick. That’s why I said only two earlier. I didn’t want you to upset your tummy.”

They return to the Y/n’s room, and Wanda tucks her back into her bed. “Will you stay?” a tiny voice catches the witch off guard, “…til I fall asleep?”

The older woman smiles softly and obliges happily, “of course мала(little one).” She sits on the bed and gently massages the child’s abdomen to help ease the cramping.

A long silence stretches between them. Wanda speaks before Y/n can fall asleep.

“Y/n?”

Little eyes flutter open and look up at her.

“I know you’re probably used to doing everything on your own, maybe even prefer it….. but you know you don’t have to anymore, right?”

She tucks some hair behind Y/n’s face while the girl watches her intently, “you can come to me if you ever need anything… when you’re little or big. If you want to hang out or can’t reach something on the top shelf… even if you just want to make some more cookies.” She tickles the girl lightly until she gets a giggle.

“You don’t have to do it all by yourself anymore. You’re not alone. You have me and the rest of the team-“

“They don’t like me,” Y/n frowns and her eyebrows furrow.

Wanda offers her a sympathetic smile, “that’s not true. I think they just don’t really know what to say yet, but they’ll come around. If they opened up for me after what I did, I have no doubt they will for you.”

“What did you do?” the girl asks softly.

The witch opens her mouth to speak but struggles to find the words, “maybe next time. We should get to sleep. Close your eyes, мала(little one). I’ll be here till you fall asleep, and if you wake up again, I’m right next door.”

Y/n smiles up to her sleepily. She closes her eyes and quickly drifts off to sleep.

Once she’s asleep, Wanda quietly exits the room, stopping only in the doorway to look back on the sleeping little girl.

“Good night, Cookie Monster.”

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

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A/N: As always, thank you so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

-k❤️

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taglist: @battleg03 @thelittlewolfofaretuza @emiivey @dylanobriens-love @madelineleong @sluttyforfemaleavengers @santana1437 @thatonementallyillsimp @oliveoilpenguiny @you-are-beautifully-gorgeous @charcharslide-3 @anon1412 @universallypoetrycheesecake @mary-jinx @princess-kennys-rats

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#avengers x reader #wandanat x reader #wanda x reader #avengers x little!reader #wanda x little!reader #wanda maximoff #clint barton #fem!reader #little!reader #cg!wanda x little!reader #shapeshifter!reader #new kid!#avengers x reader(platonic)#Wanda x reader(platonic)

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xleeleeboox · 2 years

Text

oh my god i just kissed you

Robin Buckley x fem!reader

Warnings: the physical descriptions I said to express how emotions feel to me (don’t ask), anxiety, nervous, love/pining, a kiss :)

2.27k words

—---------------

Robin was not good with girls, whether she liked them or not. Whether she tried to flirt with them or not. More often than not, she didn’t flirt. She was always worried that a girl she flirted with would be weirded out. Until she met you. She knew instantly that she was going to be head over heels for you by the end of the semester.

She was right. Only it wasn’t the end of the semester and it was two weeks later. In fact, you intrigued her so much that she asked the teacher what your name was and whatever, even though she already knew all of that.

“Well, she’s a very nice girl, I will say. She has stayed after class to help me clean up from other students. She has even offered to take notes for people that have been absent.” Mrs. Cassidy told her that day. Robin knew you weren’t new, but she never really saw you around school much. But that’s probably because Robin has always been wrapped up in Tammy Thompson or Vickie. And even though she had a massive crush on those girls, they didn’t really compare to you.

You were so nice to Robin, even if you didn’t need to talk to her for any particular reason. You always said good morning, but it wasn’t to her, it was to the room when you walked in in the morning. So every day she waited, sat near the doorway, for you to come in with a smile and say good morning to nobody in particular. Sometimes you would say something else that nobody else except for like two people caught. And when they responded you said “thank you ___” pointedly.

Her favorite was when you said her name. The way you say it is no different than how anyone else says it. Well actually, others probably used her name when they were annoyed with her, you said it just because. And she liked that.

One time, you even called her Rob, you apologized but she just sat there blushing like a fool, stuttering out an “I don’t mind” to you. Then you would turn around and before she knew it, the class was ending, and she had to wait until the weekend passed to see you again. Or so she thought.

Mrs. Cassidy was assigning a partner project to everyone and you had to get it done by sometime next week, but everyone got to pick their partners. Robin wanted to pick you because she wanted to spend time with you, but she also didn’t want to embarrass herself like she did so often. However, when you turned around in your chair to ask her to be your partner, she almost died a little inside.

“Hey Robin.” You grab her attention with a sweet smile. “Do you want to be my partner?” You asked innocently. Her mind went elsewhere, as she began wondering if you could have possibly liked girls too. You said something that sounded jumbled, she didn;t catch it because she was stuck in her thoughts not really paying attention.

“Hm?” She hums, face heating up a little bit.

“Do you want to be my partner? For the project I mean. I’m free this weekend if you would like to meet up to get started. If we get together Saturday and Sunday we could probably get this whole thing done and leave the rest of the week for the inevitable pile of homework we’re gonna have with other classes.” You explain. Luckily she understood 99% of it.

“Uh, yeah yeah that sounds good. W-where, uh, do you wanna meet up?” Robin stutters out.

“Well I could go over to your house, or I guess you could come over to mine? Or a library or something?” You offer.

“Your house is fine, if that’s okay with you?” Robin replied.

“Well duh silly, I wouldn’t have offered. My house it is. Tomorrow afternoon at 2? I’ve got something to do earlier, but I’ll be available after that. ” Robin nodded. To be honest she was desperate to see what your room looked like. And getting to spend the weekend with you? Her heart feels like it’s going to explode. But then it drops. She gets off work at 4, and she needs a ride.

“Steve, you don’t understand! This is Y/N we’re talking about! I really like her and I finally get to spend time with her. I mean I know it’s studying but we can still get to know each other. Please Steve please?” She begs him. Steve gives her an unconvincing look.

“What if…” She was desperately trying to find an idea to convince Steve to cover the rest of her shift and give her a ride. She thought of one thing, she didn’t like it, but it would definitely work.

“What if I ask her out?”

“Deal.” Steve agrees immediately.

“Steve! You didn’t even consider it!” Robin shouts.

“Just find out if she likes girls and ask her out! It’s not hard Robin, you’re just… panicky.” Robin scoffs at this but accepts the deal.

The next day comes and Robin is counting down the minutes, staring at the clock. She gathers her things and hops in the car with Steve, heading over to your house. Oh god, she was going to meet you outside of school, see your house, you room. Robin’s heart speeds up a little more and more the closer she gets to your home.

Steve pulls up the car and he shouts something about ‘not chickening out’ and she hurriedly makes her way to your door, knocking. You open it up rather quickly, like you were waiting for her. She gives you a shy smile, turns around and shoos Steve away. You open the door wider for her to come in, rushing up to your room, eager to get started. Really, you were just eager to be with her.

When Robin got into your room, she noticed how freezing it was. She shrugs her shoulder in her jacket for friction to maybe get a little warm without you noticing, but she doesn’t say anything. You sat on the floor on a pillow and got out whatever notes binder you had for that class.

Hours passed of studying, reading, planning. But all of it was awkward small talk. Every moment, Robin was worried about about saying something stupid. But she wanted to get to know you. Her eyes would kind of scan everywhere, taking note of what was there. You had like three blankets, still had stuffed animals. Your closet door is closed but a mirror and hanger is on it, a bunch of necklaces hanging on the hooks. She picks out a necklace with her eyes, one she has seen you wear at school all the time. It became one of her favorites that you wear.

Robin noticed perfumes, makeup, books, pencils and stuff laying around. She noticed the pictures on your walls of your friends. Who were you friends with? Nancy. You had a picture of Nancy in the newspaper room with Fred in the background, telling you to knock it off. You were funny in class, making comments here and there, a little outgoing.

Her head snapped back to you and she felt your warm hand press against her knee. Your touch was very warm, your hands could have been that warm. Could they? She asked you “What?”

“Are you getting cold? I know it can get pretty chilly in here.” You joke. Robin awkwardly laughs. The next thing she says has her overthinking it.

“Yeah, jeez I wonder how it feels in the winter time.” God she wanted to hit herself in the forehead. But you laughed.

And you responded to her. “Oh my gosh I know, I have lots of sweaters and blankets. I have been trying to find a space heater for my room but it’s hard to do.” You joke back to her. Okay, good. You shoot up, making your way over to your closet, turning a couple of small lights on in the meantime, giving the room a golden yellow glow. You pull out a golden yellow sweater with red, royal blue, and white buttons on it. They were all mismatched buttons and a couple even had little polka dots on them.

“Here, you can wear this in the meantime.” You draped it over her shoulders, and placed your hands on both of them for just a moment, then pulled the rest of her hair out from underneath the sweater. This sent her body into a shiver that she attempted to hide. “Plus it matches your outfit. And it’s my favorite sweater.” You say that last sentence quietly, still smiling. Robin’s heart was now beating really fast because it made her feel all warm inside when you said that to her.

“T-thanks. Yeah, I’ve noticed you wearing this sweater a lot. I mean not like I’m watching you or whatever, it’s just not a common color for a sweater.” She lets out a dry chuckle, convinced she’s making you uncomfortable.

“No, I’ve noticed you looking at me. I don’t really mind though.” You little out the tiniest chuckle, nudging your arm against her body. You continued, “I was actually kind of excited that we got to pick our own partners, and that you agreed to be with me.” You give your head a quick small shake, as if you were flicking away your own thoughts with your head. “I mean, be my partner for the project.” You smiled.

“No, I’m glad you asked, I didn’t want to have to work with anyone else. Like, because I know they wouldn’t try very much to do the work. I’d have to end up doing most of it.” She rambled out. Are you flirting with her? No way. Then you’d be gay? Then you’d be gay. If Robin could think a smile, she’d be doing it.

“Yeah,” You scooted closer, Robin’s body just about burst up in flames as the side of your body pressed against hers. Leaning back on your hands. “I was really hoping to get to know you better. I mean you seem cool, you know.” You say, but not like a question. Your cheeks are pink now.

“Yeah yeah.” She thought of telling you how pretty she thought you looked, how nice you always are. How your jokes are the highlight of her day. How she has this favorite necklace you wear, it looks kind of old, a sterling silver pendant with a stamped image of it of a four leaf clover.

You sat back up, crossing your legs and leaning forward, straight ahead. Robin straightened up too, sitting upwards now, facing the same wall you are looking at. She looks at you looking at your fingernails as she pretends to flip through a page in her notebook.

You look over at her, a certain look where your eyes flit up and down from her body to her face. Like you were checking her out, or trying to make a move. Robin’s thoughts stopped and her body felt a little tingly for a second.

“Yeah I always thought you were… cute, goofy.” You shyly say, leaning a little closer to her face.

“You think I’m goofy?” She asks jokingly, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Yeah, and cute.” Robin’s heart skips a beat, or speeds up, she can’t tell anymore.

“I think you’re pretty.” She whispers, subconsciously getting closer to you, looking down at your lips in a trance.

“Thank you.” You whispered, looking down at her lips, then to her eyes.

Then it happens. Your lips are on hers and she is actually kissing you back. Robin even lifts a hand and places it on your knee. Her chest is feeling warm at this kiss, the feel of your lips, soft and a little sticky because of your leftover lipgloss. You bring your hand up to the side of her face, turning your head a little, pushing into her and getting a better angle. You pull away with a gentle smacking sound. Robin is still in a trance and she shakes her head and her eyes widen and mouth falls further open.

“Oh my god I just kissed you.” She gasps out, panicking. Getting ready to work herself up, you see and stop her.

“Robin no, I kissed you. And I liked it.” You say with a tiny ‘hmp’ and smile. “Is that okay? That I kissed you? I just kinda thought that you liked me because of all the time you stare at me, but instead of hating me, you're nice. So I guess I just thought you did like me.” You explain the sudden kiss shyly.

Robin cuts in quickly, “No no no no I liked it, I really liked it. And I do like you. I just didn’t know if you liked me, or girls. I didn’t want to do anything. But I’m glad you kissed me.” She rushed that last sentence out quickly.

“Okay good.” You let out a breathy laugh. You two sat with each other in silence on the floor of the chilly room with the golden yellow lighting. Moments of quietness pass as Robin speaks up, at a whisper.

“So, would you maybe… I dunno… go on a date with me sometime?” She asks shyly.

You nod with a big smile. Biting your bottom lip. “I’d like that very much, Robin.” She looks at you with a shy smile and pink cheeks, looking down at her lap. She finally asked you out. Now Steve won’t pester her about you.

-----------------

#robin buckley x reader #robin buckley #robin stranger things #robin buckley headcanons #stray kids reactions #stranger things imagines #stranger things 4

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jaimebluesq · 9 months

Note

I wish you would write a fic where...

As his brothers condition is going downhill, Nie Huaisang finds an array/ritual to bolster Nie Mingjue's core at the expense of his own.

This was so intriguing! I hope this satisfied you, dear anon, but be warned - I teared up a little writing this, so it may prompt waterworks in the reader.

~ ~ ~

It was spring, and the peonies around Koi Tower were in full bloom, filling the air with the scents and colours of the season. Anyone walking around the gardens should be feeling relaxed and at ease, perhaps even inspired by the beauty around them.

Nie Huaisang was none of that. He walked around the beauty and tried to ignore the emotions churning at his gut.

His brother had been getting worse. This time, instead of simply yelling at him to go to saber practice, Nie Mingjue had grabbed his arm and physically dragged him across the sect in front of every disciple and a pair of visiting merchants that had come to strike a deal on new metal alloys for their weapons. That night, Nie Huaisang had removed his robes before going to bed only to find bruises on his arm shaped in a perfect imprint of his brother’s hand. Deep inside, he knew what this meant, that Da-ge would spiral out of control until he went the same way their father did. If he were a good brother, he would be in the Unclean Realm, spending as much time with his brother as he could before the end.

But Nie Huaisang was a coward, and instead had run off for Lanling where he could cower and ignore reality for a little while longer.

Jin Guangyao was in meetings all afternoon but would meet him for dinner later, and until then, Nie Huaisang had free reign of Koi Tower. He had all of the sect available to him, and yet he could take no pleasure in any of it. He reached into his sleeve for his favourite fan, only to find it missing. He furrowed his brow – had he forgotten it in Jin Guangyao’s room that morning when they’d had breakfast together? Rather than waiting until dinner, Nie Huaisang decided to fetch it immediately.

At least it gave him something tangible to do rather than simply trying to escape from himself.

He found his fan quickly, exactly where he had expected it to be. He grabbed it and turned swiftly to leave, but his long sleeve caught on the corner of a tea service placed carefully on a nearby sideboard. The set went flying, sending pieces scattering and crashing to the floor.

All except for a single spoon that flew toward the tall mirror in the corner, and then vanished.

Ignoring the mess all around him, he stepped over to the mirror and reached out to touch it, only to watch as his finger ‘disappeared’ as well. He put his hand further inside the mirror and wiggled his fingers, and he was able to feel them moving. If he had any sense, he would appreciate that this was some sort of spiritual or magical item that should not be messed with, and he would take his fan, clean up the mess, and leave Jin Guangyao’s rooms.

Instead, he bit his bottom lip and stepped through the mirror.

He was in a lavishly appointed room with treasures on every shelf. San-ge had a treasure room, and he’d never shown Nie Huaisang! He hated being left out of a secret, particularly one that could be so useful. Imagine, having such a secret place to run to if things reached terrible proportions at home. He wandered around, tracing his finger along various items and deducing where each had come from, though there were a handful that were beyond his comprehension.

And then he spotted a familiar sheathed sword. He approached it and reached out with trembling fingers. “Suibian? What is Wei-xiong’s sword doing here? Does Jiang Cheng know?” Sadly, the sword was nothing like a Nie saber and could not answer his inquiry. He noticed a set of shelves beneath the sword with spaces for various papers and texts, and out of curiosity, he pulled out a pile. Some of it was in Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, descriptions of talismans and theories on reanimating fierce corpses with their consciousness intact. He instinctively shuddered at the thought and set those papers down.

But the other papers were in another person’s hand, and after only reading a few words, Nie Huaisang felt a compulsion to continue looking through them all. They were written by the doctor, Wen Qing, and outlined various thoughts and theories regarding the nature of cultivators’ golden cores. She described the process of transferring a core from one person to another in such detail that he could imagine her having performed such a procedure. And then she proposed theories about further ways that one cultivator’s core could work on another. Such as stabilizing unstable cores.

One page carried both her and Wei Wuxian’s handwriting, each contributing to create an array that would allow a cultivator to use their core to stabilize another.

He stuffed the paper in his robes and quickly put away the rest. He returned to Jin Guangyao’s rooms and cleaned the mess he’d made of the tea service. And he waited impatiently until that night to tell San-ge that he would be returning to the Unclean Realm the next day.

For the first time in many, many months, he felt the glow of hope in his chest.

~ ~ ~

For the first time in many, many months, Nie Mingjue woke feeling well-rested and optimistic for the day ahead. Usually he awoke angry or with a headache, as if he’d overindulged in wine the night before even though he hadn’t touched the stuff since the last cultivation conference. But that morning, he awoke feeling really, really good, and even the confusion it caused him did not hinder the glow of health that left him feeling like he could take on the world.

With a smile, he stretched his arms over his head, listening as his shoulder joints popped. Then with a deep breath, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

What the hell had happened?!

The floor next to his bed had been painted, streaks of white and yellow forming a large, round array that covered most of the room’s floor like a strange sort of rug. And lying unconscious in the middle of it was his brother.

“Huaisang?” There was no answer. “Didi? Wake up!” The only movement was the slight lifting of Nie Huaisang’s chest as he breathed.

Nie Mingjue swallowed around the growing feeling of panic rising up his throat.

He leapt off the bed and reached out for his brother, shaking his shoulder and checking to see if he was injured in some way. But his brother appeared fine, simply unconscious – except for one thing. When Nie Mingjue placed his fingers over his brother’s meridian to check his qi, he felt nothing.

“Huaisang, what happened to you?” he asked, lifting his brother into his arms and cradling his limp body in his lap.

There was a light groan. “Da-ge?”

“I’m here,” he replied, unable to keep the worry from his voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m just... tired,” Nie Huaisang muttered sleepily.

“No, don’t you dare go back to sleep, not until you tell me what happened.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes fluttered open and looked up into Nie Mingjue’s face. “I had to make you feel better, Da-ge. It’s okay... I wasn’t using my core anyway.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t understand the array painted onto the floor, but he didn’t have to in order to realize just what his brother was implying. He clutched his brother harder in his arms, ignoring the press of Nie Huaisang’s nose into his neck even as his own tears began to spill over onto his brother’s braided hair.

“How could you have done something so stupid?” he hissed. “I’m supposed to protect you.”

“You can’t protect me if you’re dead like Baba,” his brother replied weakly.

He sniffed and closed his eyes. Whatever Nie Huaisang had done was done, but he would be damned if he wasted the second chance his brother had given him. And though his brother had now denied himself the long life of a cultivator, at least he might now live longer than most Nie.

And Nie Mingjue would protect every day of that life for as long as he lived.

#nie bros #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #brotherly sacrifice #i wasn't using it anyway

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hwaightme · 1 year

Text

Family for Hire (Ch.2)

(family for hire ml) -> blurb and general tags in series ml

☀️ pairing: single dad!seonghwa x business woman!reader ☀️ genre: romance, family, domestic, fake marriage, slice of life ☀️ ch. summary: after a nerve-busting pep talk from your favourite menace, you bite the bullet and face your fears in the name of business, while Seonghwa is searching for a way to rewind time. ☀️ ch. wordcount: 6.8k ☀️ ch. warnings/tags: language, heavy roasting (maybe to the point that wooyoung would like it), yunho the life coach, hiding in cars, pining, misunderstandings, food/eating, a lot of coffee, talking about kids and family, pregnancy talk, discussions of potential trauma, corporate life, cars, seonghwa being a total dad, a LOT of dialogue ☀️ perma-taglist: @doom-fics @layzfeelit @acciocriativity @justhere4kpop @honey-lemon-goose @byuntrash101 ☀️ series taglist: @yunnierights @moniesmoon @jackinmyarea @hwalysm @sankatchu @hijeongguk @likexaxdaydream @treasure-hwa @paralumanniluna ☀️ a/n: Hello! Big hugs, much love, hope you enjoy, any reblogs, comments thoughts much appreciated~

Chapter 2 - Catching Up

You had a number of opportunities to respond throughout the day, but instead, your brain had deemed it reasonable to wait until your guilt-fuelled insomnia was the one to give the final push. Perhaps if it had been a stranger you were messaging, you would have been more comfortable, would have cracked a joke and gone straight to business. But this was Seonghwa, who as cursed luck would have it, had a world record level answer rate and, apparently, did not go 'night-night' at the same time as his daughter, as you had initially assumed.

As such, at precisely one fourteen in the morning, you had come to realise that speaking to parents was like speaking a foreign language, except there was no handy translation app available - maybe the closest being parents on Reddit but you were not about to spill all your secrets on there. When planning the meeting, while all you had to do was check your work calendar and make sure no one was demanding your attention over the weekend, Seonghwa had mentioned his daughter at least three times, some special weekend class he had to bring her to, and arrangements for who could take care of her while he would be catching up with you if a different time were to be chosen. You had been on the verge of saying that it would be okay if he brought the kid with him but caught yourself. Number one: who were you to give out childcare related orders? And number two: you would be the first one to regret agreeing to such a thing. Thus, it was to be only you and him, sat at a cutesy cafe, located in the middle of a quaint neighbourhood that Seonghwa now called his home; an area void of anything you could deem exciting, aside from the potential to get your career rolling thanks to one of its residents.

Nothing was convincing you to get out of your car, so instead you sat, glued to the driver's seat and choking the mechanical life out of the steering wheel, and kept your eyes peeled for the appearance of your long-lost friend and actor you desperately wanted to cast. The fact that it was a Saturday did not seem to change the lack of activity in this area. Only parents with strollers, elderly patrols with walking sticks and loved up couples high on love chemicals seemed to populate its streets, ambling to and fro as though they did not have a destination - simply floating. The lack of a rush threw you through a loop, as you were so used to walking, working, existing in double speed. Maybe you should not have had that cup of coffee earlier after all, since you were, inevitably, going to end up ordering another once you get out of your makeshift hideout.

There had been no trouble with parking, unlike in your own neighbourhood where it was near habitual to call another driver by a number, they would leave on the windshield to tell them to stop blocking the exit. There was so much space that you had been spoiled for choice, down to how scenic you wanted your views to be. Verdant green trees lined the meandering road, parting with the last of their blooms that now decorated the pavement in a gorgeous spotted carpet. The warmth of the hues that the little stores and houses possessed was whimsical, with an intensity that almost resembled a filter - did they ever have grey days? You struggled to believe that this was the same city as the one you lived in: the concrete jungle, the same dark suits and ties knocking into each other, an ecosystem where the default was to forget and be forgotten.

Your world was the world of fight, grit, and no glamour. Even if the employment advertisements and brochures said so. If one wanted to remember who they were and what they stood for, they needed to battle against the currents, persevere and find ways to fool the enemy. Precisely because you belonged to that world and were motivated by it, you had enough audacity to hop in your ride and make your way across the city, a travelling salesman with a major problem. In circumstances such as yours, morals were somewhat contextual, and while you had been still surrounded by the dizzying, colossal cuboids made of glass, your decisionmaking and lack of explanation for your prospective co-star were perfectly rational. But now, in the sunlight and smiles of flora and fauna, idyllic landscapes and utter bliss of a welcoming and tranquil high street, you were on the verge of quitting. Or rescheduling to meet somewhere closer to your workplace so you would be fuelled by your higher goals. Either way, this place was a sleepy summer paradise.

This was what people meant when they said they wanted to 'settle down'. Find someone to do taxes with, raise something or someone, and live in an area like this. Technically, it was perfect for your full immersion into what could be the most important performance of your life. Except you were not even sure if you were able to breathe the air of this place - maybe you needed to go through acclimatisation first. In an attempt to subtly decompress and distract yourself, you had spam texted Yunho, who you knew to be forgetful when it came to turning his phone on silent. After approximately the tenth text, containing an absurd line of scrabbled letters, he blessed you with a call.

“Do you want me to choose violence?” he threatened, but his voice was too heavy with sleep to deter you from continue the aimless blabber.

“Yunho, help. Me. PLEASE.” you nearly screamed into the microphone, making your friend wince and groan, clearly having just woken up. You could almost see his puffy face and bed head as he rolled himself into a burrito - an action you inferred by the prolonged rustling.

“Early bird hunting season is open.”

“No… come on… I am losing my marbles here. Besides, it's not even that early-”

"Maybe you can function on four hours of sleep, but this king cannot, so bye talk later~" his voice began to fade into the background, clearly him moving the device away from his head, so you proceeded to stoop to the lowest of the low, mentally apologising to your dignity:

"King Yunho, please bless me with your wisdom, oh the greatest in all the lands!" You shuddered at the atrocities coming out of your own mouth, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The shuffling immediately stopped, instead being replaced by one swoosh and a creak. The king of your nightmares rose to attention and off his dreamland throne.

"Oh? Sorry could you repeat that? I didn't quite hear, the connection-"

"Fuck off dude-" the mutter inadvertently escaped thanks to the heightened anxiety.

"Happily! Bye~"

"NO, NO, SHIT WAIT, FINE! King Yunho, give me-" you scrambled to restart, not wanting to let go of the safe haven he was providing just yet.

"Full title please!" In a sing-song voice the menace commanded, enjoying every bit of your desperation.

"Now you're pushing it, dude, I just need some homie clarity and what do I get? Attacked."

"Not my problem that you're shitting bricks over meeting your uni crush-"

"That rejected me, by the way! And no, I am NOT losing it over that, it's just that-" you interjected, though got lost in your own thoughts as you attempted to conjure a reason behind your present feelings.

"Uh-huh, and the budget cuts for marketing are totally reasonable." A silence fell over the call as quickly as the sharp comment shot through the ruminations.

There was no way of getting anything past him. It was true. The past hurt had indeed returned, and stood clear as day, right before your eyes. Seonghwa's withdrawn demeanour, cold expression and cryptic 'you will regret it', still ringing in your years after all this time. You never got the chance to figure out the reason behind his actions - he had not appeared on campus at all after that. Not that you would try, you had even been too embarrassed to stay in touch with mutual friends, the only saving grace that dragged you out of your extensive swim in self-pity being Yunho. But today that rollercoaster was about to be launched back into operation. Damn your ambition. Maybe those words were foreshadowing for this series of events? That you were going to regret ever getting back in touch with him and putting yourself through this test of pride? Perhaps. But your shoddy risk analysis in the form of evaluating the calm nature of the few messages you had received from Seonghwa sent you flying over the fence and into trying to shoot your shot. It was all play pretend anyways, the ball not remaining on any side of the court.

"It is going to be fine, right?" You asked, trying to keep your voice level.

"I dee kay bro you tell me." Your friend deadpanned back at you, preoccupied with searching through his drawers.

"Ugh. I don't know why I called you. Look, sorry for waking you, I guess I'll just-"

"Oh no no, sweetcheeks," you cringed at the nickname, hoping to the heavens above that Yunho did not use this with his women of choice, unless they had a very special taste, "you have King Yunho awake and ready to slap some confidence into you. As we discussed, a lot of what you are experiencing is due to your perception of the meeting, rather than what it actually is to be. You are placing a lot of importance on it, which yes, I get, but at the end of the day this is a bloody experiment! So treat it as such! Remember how we bullshitted a PESTEL analysis two hours before the deadline for that one class?"

"Uh, yeah? But how does that relate?"

"You can work well under pressure, so prove it here too. Digest your fucking butterflies and think of Seonghwa as a prospective business partner you need to butter up. M'kay?"

"That... sounds... reasonable? What?" You heard a laugh down the line.

"Damn I am actually turning into a life coach, HEY! When you make it big you better start paying me."

"Ask for a tax reduction for volunteering." You shot back, snorting.

"So cold, don't want to sponsor your friend..."

"Last time I did you bought a chair with the back of it being shaped like an ass." It was only fair that Yunho was to go through a drought in terms of borrowing money from you – besides, the only reason why he had to take it in the first place was because he had spent too much of his budget on limited edition skins in some game he played. Everyone had their own vices and confusions.

"It was funny! Okay?"

"Mhm, sure, that's why you cover it with your jackets now."

"Who is choosing violence now?"

"Not me, sis. I am a happy bub."

You were repeatedly moving your free hand from one position to another on the steering wheel, pretending you were going through one manoeuvre after another. It was a habit you had formed after spending enough time out of your life stuck in traffic, and in the backseat of one car after another. Getting your license had been one of the first ways in which you sought and achieved a piece of independence, while the money that you had secretly saved up from doing odd jobs and some remote work from as soon as you legally could all had gone into buying your own ride. Anything to get away and create your own path. The complete opposite to what you were doing now, wasn’t it?

"Well wouldn't you look at that, mission accomplished. I am a happy virus, aren't I?" Yunho broke the temporary lull in conversation with the pop culture reference, making you sigh. Though he was right, you were feeling a lot more reassured and supported. Though you two had odd ways of reflecting it, you were a duo would always be there for one another, through thick and thin.

"Say that once more and I'll put your Monday's comeback schedule under question."

"Damn, all these antis got me fucked up. Anyways, glad you are feeling better, Y/N." He ended the banter, switching to a still lighthearted, but genuinely caring tone.

"Seriously, Yunho, thank you so much. I needed this." You really did consider Yunho to be a blessing, even when he swore at you until his colourful language dictionary ran out.

"Anytime. Good luck. And I expect a full rundown after. Preferably in person so that we can talk shit with no limits."

"Aight bet, if I make it out alive." You flipped the sun visor absent-mindedly and opened the mirror to take a brief look at yourself.

"Remember, business meeting. But the gift is allowed in this case." He noted, as you pushed back a strand of hair that was threatening to poke you in the eye.

"Yep. Tha- OH SHIT he is HERE my GOODNESS HE IS-" as soon as you returned the visor back into position, your eyes landed on a figure approaching the café, and instinctively ducked pressing yourself into the seat, heart pounding. You knew there was no way in hell that Seonghwa would see you from such a distance, or even recognise you, but, why not take extra precautions when you could?

"Hot daddy tee em?"

"FUCK OFF DUDE." you hissed, trying to overpower your friend’s obnoxious laughter, but to no avail.

You ended the call, pressing the red button at least ten times as the screen froze up and took ages to register the command. Reaching over your seat into the back you dragged out the gift you had prepared after hours of researching what "children aged four were interested in" - you thanked the lucky stars that you never previously had to consider this user group in your market research, for when you had approached hour three of your investigation and exploration of the rabbit hole called safety regulations, your head was about to explode. Even your friends suddenly appeared low maintenance.

It was simple but effective – a puzzle set that apparently improved creative thinking and promoted pretend play, or at least that was what a professional-sounding blog had written, and that was good enough for you. Now the problem was gathering the courage to actually get out there and give the damn thing to the target recipient. You cautiously raised your head confirming that the man had disappeared from view, you attempted to recollect what you had caught a glimpse of.

He was definitely the Seonghwa on Instagram, rather than the one you had vivid in your memories. And along with that image came the transition to a lighter palette in his outfit – a white cotton t-shirt, beige trousers along with matching sneakers. You almost wanted to call it a stylish dad outfit, but still struggled to pair paternity and college menace together. For science, you needed to get out of this car and make it to the spot, to catch another glimpse of him. Just to check he was real and not the product of pulling too many all-nighters to finish the analytics reports your line manager had the habit of throwing your way. And for business, you had to actually make conversation. This was going to be harder than you had previously hypothesised.

The Mission Impossible soundtrack was looping in your head as you crept out of the car and attempted to appear as casual as you could, slowing yourself to an amble and keeping your head held high. Perhaps you should have chosen a different outfit – the blazer was making you look out of touch with the local customs, but you had not exactly expanded your wardrobe past necessities for work and related social events. You caught your own reflection in the window of the café and were about to stop to take a couple of levelling breaths, when through the glass you locked eyes with none other than the person who you were stalling on greeting. You tried to not let anxiety show on your face, but that was difficult when even with the glare of the sun on the surface, you could see Seonghwa break into a wide smile.

The young man shot up from his seat to meet you at the entrance, rushing to hold the door open. As soon as you were through, the gravity of the situation weighed down on you, and even though it was the politest thing to do, you used the infinite series of bows as an opportunity to not meet his gaze again. At least not instantly. Seonghwa seemed to have had the same idea, as he joined you in the ritual.

"Hi! I'm not late, am I?" you finally managed to break the unsettling quietude, after the two of you stopped acting like pecking pigeons and instead transformed into two awkward pillars. It was not the coolest opener you had ever used, but it was better than gawking. You could already imagine Yunho facepalming at your lack of professionalism – what kind of business meeting was this?

"Hi! No not at all, I just sat down. Wow. You look…” you looked like how he imagined himself looking after the same number of years. He had initially dreamed of living the corporate dream too. Wearing suits, talking smart, making it big. He had really thought he could do it. But destiny had other plans.

"I overdressed, didn't I? Looking ready for a court hearing… ha, ha…” pained laughter, a hand massaging the back of your neck as you pondered ways which could help cut the meeting short.

"No! You look good!” Seonghwa answered, surprisingly fast, though, but appeared reluctant to leave the compliment hanging, trailing off into empty hums and self-assurance of “Um, yeah…”

"You too…”

"Thanks", "Thank you" great, now you were speaking at the same time.

You had changed. Flourished. Ambition having manifested into real results. It was obvious, from how you dressed and carried yourself to an interesting lilt to your speech, common amongst businesspeople. You had decided on what your happiness was to be, and not once had you veered off the path. Seonghwa had figured as much from having asked around about you, and now from his own observations. It almost made him regret what he had done a tiny bit less. But the lack of communication between you, the heaviness, would rear its head right after such an idea came to mind, and he would relive his foolishness, the cryptic answer that had led to your falling out. As if it had happened yesterday. Alas, no such luck – words of explanation had lost themselves over the years. But, if all went well, he could use your shared time today to make things right. Once and for all.

As the two of you moved to take a seat at the table Seonghwa had picked, opposite one another, he could not stop himself from stealing glances at you. And even when you looked to the large chalkboard on the other side of the space to see the menu, he did not waver. It had been far too long. He spotted that, under the table, you were still clenching onto a white bag. Curiosity got the better of him as he pointed to it, and questioned:

"What's that?”

"Oh... OH Yeah! A gift, for, um, for Nari. Hope it is okay..." you turned back to him, lifting the bag and passing it, with another bow. Standing up slightly, Seonghwa accepted it, feeling his heart grow heavy.

"You shouldn't have, oh no!! I- I am so sorry I don’t have anything for you. I knew I should have bought that seasonal tea blend I saw the other day. You still more of a tea person, right?" he tried to hint at the fact that he regularly thought about you, and could remember little detailed related to you. But the latter turned out to be just his own wish.

"Coffee, actually." You had started drinking it because that was the beverage he hated the most. The judging monologues towards his own friends had stuck with you, and once you had stopped conversing, you wanted to wash them down with americano after americano. "You know, the 6 am wakeups do that to you." You elaborated. He did not need to know that your choices had stemmed out of spite.

"I get you. I've been thinking about trying it again myself. But scared the little one will get to it and go mad." It was only natural for him to fall back on thinking of his daughter. She was his world. His ally. The one who had been his life buoy in the sea of darkness that had flooded him after everything that had unfolded in the last year of university. She was born in that sea of darkness – a ray of sunshine through the storm clouds.

“Ah yeah… makes sense.”

“So, puzzles?” he asked, taking out the gift and inspecting it. “You have no idea how perfect this is. Nari loves building things and seeing what fits together. Lego Duplo is pretty much all over the house.” Not quite – it was neatly stored in colour coded boxes and labelled, but that would not provide a good visual.

“Oh whew, I am so glad. Thank you. I was kind of worried because according to Piaget’s theory of development, a four-year-old child is in the preoperational stage and is just starting to do things like pretend play, and when playing with others it is actually parallel play that is going on- wait why am I telling you this, so sorry I’m-”

“No. no. I really appreciate it. And actually, hearing about the thought that went into it makes it all the more special. So, Y/N, I have no doubt that Nari will like it.” He further inspected the instructions and safety labels that were depicted on the packaging, and approved of the toy with a sharp nod, and a shy smile in your direction.

Was he dreaming? There was no difference between the main character of his subconscious and the beautiful woman sitting before him, and since he was seeing the latter for the first time in so long, he was terrified that, at any moment, he would realise that this was all his doing, and he would awaken in his bed, drenched in cold sweat.

In university, you had always been the headstrong and brutal coursemate. You never took unfounded criticism as a response and never backed down until you knew exactly what you needed to know – this was towards both students and professors. You were an advocate for equal opportunity, open communication and were one of the longest serving academic representatives the department had seen. It helped that you seemed to always be on campus; not a single time had Seonghwa ever heard you as much as talk about going home for any holiday, even those traditionally celebrated with closest relatives. He had taken you to be a studious role model and power figure by nature. While he had been one by semi-forced nurture, and in order to survive had to drop his act and go into hiding.

Now, the contrast between you was clearer than ever. Here he was, some washed out good for nothing single father who was spending his days doing pointless arts and crafts, while you, you had remained strong and fought off the demons of the real world. You were thriving. So much better off. If only he could have achieved that while still having Nari, then he could have offered her a much more attractive and higher quality of life.

“So, uhm… I am guessing… you went into business, yes?” he inquired, calling a waitress over with the press of a button attached to the table.

“Yep, associate analyst at AGL. You know Au-”

“Aurora Global Limited, yeah. Damn, you are in one of the big three consultancies, congrats!” of course you were there, who else out of the graduating cohort would be, if not for you? He would not be surprised if you had made it in one the first try, too.

“Hah, thanks, though I must say, when our profs said that they’re intense, they were not kidding.”

As you made your orders, with him spitting a rap line of a beverage where the only thing you could catch was brown sugar and vanilla, while you went for a black hot americano. You were the type to ask if caffeine could be injected intravenously, and your drink of choice was a compromise between a remotely healthy lifestyle with stable water intake and chugging eight espressos in a morning. For ‘experiential completion’, as Seonghwa had put it, both of you had taken a slice of strawberry crepe cake. As soon as the server departed from the table, with Seonghwa thanking them profusely, he immediately switched his attention back to you. There was still almost a lifetime to catch up on.

“And what is it you are doing specifically?”

“I’m kind of more in market research at the moment, so working with corporate clients who are looking to expand into a different market sector or are considering reworking their portfolio of offerings.” You explained, turning your head and bowing it as you received your orders.

Silence had never been louder, and you attempted to fill it by asking the classic: “and how about yourself?”

“Nothing much really. Definitely not related to the degree.”

“So, what exactly?”

“Well… a fancy way to put it would probably be toy designer and small business owner. But in reality it is just me and my friend keeping our own Neverland alive.”

“Wow, and here I am, gifting a toy. I am so dang sorry oh my word…” you covered your face in embarrassment, thinking back to your now obviously unnecessary rambling and of the impression that you had probably made.

If only you could read expressions as well as you had always claimed you could. Then you would maybe, just maybe spot the reawakening of what Seonghwa had tried to bury. But you were not someone who was easy to forget, especially since, ever since that day, he had been blaming himself for unjustly hurting you. You were the kind of person who he hoped Nari would become, and as such, he felt the need to make things right, even if it was selfish.

“Please don’t say that when you are just incredibly thoughtful. You have… always been.” He tested the waters by referring back to the past and saw you automatically tense.

You were not liking where this was going. The shift in his tone was making alarm bells ring in your head and Yunho say ‘business meeting’ along with them. So you took to deflecting and being on the defensive, reigning supreme as oblivious queen.

“Oh uh, thanks yeah. Well, Nari is sure… cool,” could one use that word when complimenting a little gremlin? Well, you were about to be a trendsetter if not, “what was it you said she was doing this morning?”

“She has dance class. There is no particular genre that is taught, it is more for social and exercise, but she has a blast every time. We even bought a cute outfit for her to wear not long ago. Hold on, let me get a photo…”

Score. Ask a doting parent about their kid, and you were saved from suspicious interactions. You watched as Seonghwa eagerly took out his mobile phone and began to scroll through his camera roll to find one of many versions of the same image that he had taken, because ‘natural lighting changed all the time and his precious daughter was beautiful in every frame and needed to be captured at that same rate’. You were impressed. He had more photos of Nari than you had reaction memes in your gallery. He pushed his phone towards you, encouraging to take it into your own hands – so a man with nothing to hide, huh? Bold. Impressive. Sigma.

Nari looked… very toddler-like. You could not figure out the right words to use. You felt nothing. Maybe even less than nothing. Sure, the outfit in the photo was as aesthetically pleasing as a kid’s clothes could go, but other than that… rosy cheeks and snot for weeks. You nodded a couple of times to show that you were perceiving this so-called artwork, then imagined you were looking at a crisp paycheck and looked back up to grin and offer a:

“Cute!” but apparently, that was enough effort, since Seonghwa overtook you in less than a second.

“I know right!? She is just so unbelievably adorable, and if you were to see her bedhead in the morning… my heart melts every time, wait I think I have a picture of that too-”

And thus, you ended up spending the next quarter of an hour simply discussing Nari. You had to admit, the longer you were exposed to her, the more you grew to like the bundle of… whatever. You still had work to do when it came to talking about her though. But if you could continue sweet-talking Seonghwa, you might just be able to give yourself the time to practice. As you spiralled further and further into the conversation, losing track of your time and sanity, you found yourself looking for a reason to leave. You almost wanted the man in front of you to suddenly stop talking, say he did not connect with you, and make an exit. He knew how to do that better than you, as your far too pleased feelings and dopamine elevation suggested.

Seonghwa slowed down to a halt, noticing that you had started staring off into the void while he was ranting about this one meal off the menu at the kindergarten Nari had started attending not long ago. You were bored, weren’t you? You had probably just wanted to spend half an hour or so chatting about insignificant things and then would have gone on about your day, but here he was off-loading everything onto you, as if he had no other – oh. That was right. He barely did have any other friends from his year left. Even Hongjoong, his friend and co-founder for the toy design business was from a different time – a brother from another mother since middle school. You were the first one out of all his closest direct peers at university who had reached out. And subsequently responded back to him.

You observed one another, each hesitating to reveal their own truth and emotions. Worry, amplified by the four years of parting, hanged in the air like a thundercloud, looming. With your drinks and desserts all but finished, it was either speak now, or forever hold your silence. You spun the coffee cup on its plate by pushing the handle with a pointer finger, while Seonghwa eyed it without much else to focus on, except his own psyche yelling at him.

“So,” “So,”

“Oh, you go ahead-”

“No you go-”

“You go-”

“No, please, you-”

“Don’t ladies first me, mister, you know how I am. Now, spill.” You put an end to what could be an endless manners battle, lifting your head and training your gaze on him.

“I just… I just wanted to say, I’m sorry, Y/N.” he spoke with the clarity of a wise scholar.

“Huh?” now that was the last thing you had expected to hear during this meeting.

“The time. Right now. The time we are spending it… it feels so right and I- I can’t help but… go back to… go back to when I was… I was… I was an idiot. A total idiot.”

Your breath hitched in your throat, and you struggled to give even a peep in response, only nodding for him to continue.

“I… you remember that night? At the party?” Of course you did. Even though you were drunk, you somehow could even recall what time the clock hanging on the wall behind Seonghwa had been showing. You nodded again.

“My… I gave no explanation then. I was so lost and… distraught and scared and I made you feel even worse and just… disappeared and broke what we had…”

“We had nothing, Hwa.” The nickname slipped, and you pursed your lips in annoyance. This was a barrage of too many memories at once. He could not answer you, mouth open but no sound emanating. You swore he was getting misty-eyed.

“We… could have. But at the time… I did not want to subject you to how that ‘could’, would have been.” He forced out, remaining cryptic. You raised an eyebrow and squinted in suspicion.

It felt like he was saying everything, yet nothing at all. Beating around the bush. You had seen this happen often at investor and end of year report meetings. Everyone knew there was an elephant in the room, but no one dared to announce it. This was getting painful. You crossed your arms and leaned onto the table to peer at the man.

“What in the world do you mean? If I lay my perspective, you were pretty clear.”

“Clear in not wanting to subject you to motherhood when you had a career ahead of you.”

“What the fuck?” you could not care less for subduing your vulgarity any longer. His words were making your head hurt. What in the world did he mean about motherhood? What kind of fantasy fiction was this? You had not even kissed-

“It… it had been about a week… that I had found out I was going to be a father. My ex had told me the news by, uh, sending an ultrasound. She had waited until it was starting to show to tell me about the pregnancy.”

How could that fact have slipped your mind so easily? Stupefied, you recalled Seonghwa’s monologue about Nari. Four-year-old Nari. But of course. Kids weren’t dropped off at a doorstep with Prime delivery, aged up to the number you chose at checkout. The numbers did add up. So you sort of met Nari that night, unknowingly. Or at least, perceived her through the distress that her father had been experiencing.

“Oh… shit…” you whispered in total shock.

“It’s no biggie, really. I mean, I had always assumed, no, that does not sound right, wanted, yeah, wanted to have a family. Maybe not this soon, and not in a solo venture but hey, whatever life gives you right?” he gave you a weak sigh and let out a shaky breath that he did not know he had been holding. Seonghwa ran his hair through his tousled, black locks, trying to prevent himself from tearing up.

“Huh…”

“So, yeah… I know this is… four years too late… but, I just needed to clear the air. Sorry, this was incredibly selfish, and maybe this is all insignificant for you and-”

“Stop. Fatherhood made you a hell of a lot more talkative, you know that?” you joked, though it came out a lot more judgemental. For good measure, you reached out to cover the hand he had laying on the table with yours, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His eyes kept on darting as he failed to comprehend your actions. Were you not going to leave?

This was the perfect moment, you decided. If this was to be a business meeting and not a confession session, you had to reel yourself back in, and keep Seonghwa on the hook. You pushed your gushing and schoolgirl-style squealing down to let the cold blood run through your veins. What was it that you needed? The promotion. How were you going to get it? By hiring out this happy, or maybe not so happy, but at least genuine, little family.

“I have a proposition for you, Hwa.” This time, the use of the nickname was intentional. It was the quickest way to the sentimental man’s heart, and one would be damned if they were to not pick this low hanging fruit, “while this, indeed, is a moment long in the past, we can emulate certain aspects, potentially for mutual gain.”

“What… do you mean?” you kept your hand on his, and gently traced a line with one finger, giving Seonghwa a soft, reassuring smile. Well, your corporate smile.

“What does an apology mean to you?”

“…learning? Trying again?”

“Then how about we try that.”

“WHAT?” he shouted, gasping and apologising to the staff that shot panicked glances at him with a few speedy bows.

“See, I need a family for this, thing. As you probably know, AGL is notoriously family focused. They are obsessed with the notion. Everything breathes family values and marriage this, marriage that, kids this, kids that… all that jazz, m’kay? You following me so far?”

“Yes.”

“Good. So, that means that my chances of getting promoted amount to a colossal zero.”

“So… you… want me… and Nari, to act like your family?”

“You catch on fast. You always were fantastic at logical thinking.”

“For what? How? Wha-”

“There will be an event, in… one and a half months? Thought it was sooner actually but wow lucky me. Well, this event is basically for staff to flex just how happy they are in their holy matrimony and whatnot, and often, it is at this event, that younger staff is scouted and scoped out for promotions. Thus, I must ask, Park Seonghwa, will you do me the honour of being my fake husband?”

You could hear your own heartbeat, a drum pounding in your ears as you struggled to remain calm. Seonghwa was pensive, and unable to process this overflow of information. He had thought about how his life would have been had he confessed back to you and you would have gotten together then, dreamed about being together and celebrating four anniversaries (and counting), but never did he ever think it to ever be uttered out loud. Especially not by you. Yes, the proposal was entirely fake. Yes, he would be signing up to have him and Nari be, in some ways, exploited. But how else could he prove that he actually had been serious about you, and still was? It could actually be for the better for his daughter too – finally she would have at least a tiny bit of female influence in her life, and would not have to struggle through the motions of her single father being given minimal benefits from the government simply due to his gender, and the pair being side-eyed on the street because ‘why was a man out with such a tiny girl this made no sense’.

“Yes.” He uttered confidently, flipping his hand, raising yours and intertwining your fingers. Now it was your turn to be perplexed. “Though under a couple of conditions subject to change. The main one being is you actually act like a responsible adult slash parent to Nari. Respect her, treat her right and support her. Even if just for a month and a half or whatever. She is a sweet girl. And just so you know, I will protect her with my own life.”

“No doubt about it… husband?”

“Wife.”

“Do you have a fee, by the way?” you were the first to pull away, the closeness nearly making you go into a cardiac arrest.

“Your time will be my fee. Besides, you paying me feels dehumanising. And on that note, I am paying for your coffee, by the way.” He stuck his tongue out and made a beeline for the cash register, taking his wallet out in a flash. You could only raise your eyebrows and fall back into your chair. So… this was how people got married in the modern times, huh?

And apparently, met their kids for the first time by picking them up from a dance academy. Seonghwa had panicked after checking the time and realising that he would have to make a forty-minute journey in twenty minutes, but you quickly piped in offering to drive him there and back – an offer which he had accepted immediately. Just like that, after getting a line of green lights, you and your pretend husband were standing side by side, leaning against your pricey car, when you came face to face with your biggest test. One that was impossible to study for, plan for, or predict anything about. Park Nari. The pouting princess with a Chewbacca plushie in one hand, and the other clenched in an angry fist.

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unabashegirl · 1 year

Text

Different 1 (HS)

Summary: Harry is just like any other college student. He is a senior in Chicago University. He keeps to himself except when he is spending time with his closest friends, Sarah and Mitch. His world revolves around his future career, friends, and family. His quiet and routine driven life takes a turn, one weekend when he meets Y/N Y/L/N. She is way too different from him. She spends most of her days surrounded by people who care for superficial and materialistic things. Her parents are never home, and they think that with money everything can be solved. They are both from different worlds yet something that night clicks and Y/N can never again get him off her mind.

Author's note: I've decided to post the first chapter of Different. It is a story that is EXCLUSIVE for my Patreon subscribers. There are already NINE chapters posted.

Word count: 2.5K

DISCLAIMER: the following story is only available and exclusively posted on Patreon.

“So, are you coming?” Mitch asked him as they sat in the dining hall of the university and attempted to eat what they had chosen as their meal. Harry had ordered a warm tortilla soup and a side salad with some lemonade. He was a messy eater, and so he was careful not to spill any soup on his white sweater or worst yet, stain his sleeves.

“To Y/N’s party?” He asked unbothered and disinterested in the idea of partying at some rich girl’s house. ��Are you even invited?” Harry had no intention of getting in trouble, especially for such a superficial thing as attending a party of an almost stranger.

“Obviously not” Harry rolled his eyes at him as he looked through the notes of his upcoming biochemistry class. “Emma was and I am sure if we ask her, she’ll help us get in.”

“We are barely friends with her!” He argued getting annoyed by his persistence. “Why are you so interested in going?” Harry challenged wanting to know the true reason. “We rarely see her. She is on another major and most importantly you don’t know her!”

“Isn’t she studying psychology or something ?” Sarah asked as she continued eating the grapes that she had carefully packed that morning. Mitch only nodded and took a sip out of his vitamin water.

“So what? I want to get to know her. It’s senior year, H. Let’s finally do something fun” Harry snorted but eventually gave in. Mitch had always craved to be popular and well-known around campus. Although he barely could count his friends on one hand. He blamed it on not having enough time to manage everything. Yet he barely turned in assignments. On the other hand, Harry was an introvert. He hated the uncomfortable silences that surged in conversations with strangers. Therefore, he avoided talking and making conversation altogether.

But either way no matter how annoyed Harry got with Mitch, they were still best friends.

That weekend they found themselves crammed into a small vehicle heading up north, where Y/N’s family house was situated. In a small town named Lake Forest. The town was known for its enormous and pricey houses. As soon as they pulled up into her street Harry already regretted leaving the dorms.

Mitch decided to park the car a few blocks away from the house due to the high congestion of cars. Emma was already waiting for them at the front of the gate with a drink in her hand.

“It’s about time you showed up! I am freezing my ass!” She complained evidently cold from the already low temperatures at the North Shore in early August. Y/N’s house was right on the coast of the Michigan River making the breeze even colder. “Come on already!” She stumped her food on the ground just like a little kid would do when throwing a tantrum. Regardless, she reached over and dialed the intercom.

“Hello?” A soft voice greeted them.

“Hey babe is Emma, could you open the door?” Her tone was completely different from the one that she was using a few minutes ago with them. She was cheerful and happy and kind.

“Oh hey! Yeah sure! Let me buzz you in!” Then within a matter of seconds, the front doors of the house opened up to them revealing a long driveway towards the house. The sides of the driveway were decorated with trees and bushes. Emma lead the way as the rest of them looked around awestruck.

“Who needs such a long driveway anyway?” Sarah questioned clearly annoyed by the attention that they were all giving Y/N without even having to meet her.

“Please don’t be weird” Emma pleaded with them when we came to the end of the road and across her huge house. “She is really nice. So, no need to be assholes” They all nodded before Sarah opened the door.

It wasn’t like Harry expected it to be like. He had assumed that the party would be filled with snobby super-rich kids complaining about their lives but to his surprise, there were people from all over, including people from their major.

There was also space to walk, talk and even sit without having to push or shove people around. Harry knew it was one of the perks of having a big ass house.

“Emma! Hey!” A girl smiled at her and began approaching them. She leaned in and hugged her tightly. “I am so glad you made it!”

“Hey! You look great!” Emma smiled widely at her “How’ve you been?”

“Good! How about yourself?” Emma goes on to explain her boy's problems and the issues about the current gossip going around involving her. All while the rest stood back and tried their best to follow. “Oh! These are my friends Harry, Sarah, and Mitch” She introduced them after a few minutes. I looked up and smiled at her still not sure what to make of her. “This is Y/N guys”

Y/N Y/L/N was pretty known around campus. She was an extrovert. She had at least one friend in every class. Y/N would befriend anyone who seemed lonely. She had this resting bitch face which people misinterpreted.

Harry’s eyes scanned her body and face wanting to confirm everything that Mitch had told him. He spoke about her none stop and even stalked her social media and followers.

She had this gorgeous, thick hair that ran down her back and stopped a few inches above her butt. She had doe-eyes that could move crowds. Y/N wore some type of black shirt, with blue jeans and an oversized cardigan. Her hair was pushed back, and she wore a shiny necklace that stole everyone’s attention. It had been a gift from her grandfather. It held a special place in her heart. She has never taken it off ever since it was gifted to her.

“Hi, guys, nice to meet you” Her voice was even appealing — Harry thought. She shook all of their hands, and she shook Harry’s hand last.

Y/N had never before interacted with him. She had seen him around campus with Emma yet she had never had a conversation with him. Let alone notice his natural beauty. She instantly found him attractive. He wore a simple black hoodie, beige jeans, and vans. His hair was stunning and his face structure reminded her of the carved statues in the museum.

Harry licked his lips and looked away. He felt intimidated by her glaze. His mouth was suddenly too dry and he needed a drink.

“Please help yourself in the kitchen and enjoy yourselves. Let me know if you need anything else” Y/N insisted just before she disappeared in the wave of people.

“What the fuck was that?” Mitch gasped for air, seconds after she left. “Did you see that ass?” Harry chuckled and shook his head at him. “Isn’t she stunning?”

“Yes, Mitch” Harry muttered. Mitch dragged him towards the kitchen in search of some drinks and snacks. “And you wonder why you are still single”. Harry said to him.

Mitch chuckled and continued to pour vodka into three red cups.

“That kind of girl only dates guys with trust funds,” Sarah remarked reaching out for a cup. “And you two don’t qualify”.

“Somebody’s cranky” Mitch poked her on her side. It was clear that Sarah wasn’t too happy. She knew it was silly, yet she couldn’t explain the feeling that bubbled within her. She was pretty but her confidence made her uncomfortable.

“Somebody needs to shut the fuck up” She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Now what?” Harry walked behind them as she exited the kitchen.

“Now we look around the house and try to guess how much everything is worth” Mitch winked, there were two huge glass doors that gave out to the backyard. They were open, expanding the length of the living room. People stood out around a small fire pit. Green grass extended and covered all of the property, ending by the wooden dock over the lake. “She has a fucking boat. Unbelievable” Mitch gasped under his breath.

“It’s my father’s” Her voice startled them as she walked up to them from behind. She barely used it anymore because the weather was starting to get cooler “It’s useful during the summer” Y/N would use it as a car and would drive to her other friends’ docks. “What’s your major?” she finally asked.

“Biology” Harry responded, “Mitch’s is engineering, and Sarah is in economics”.

Y/N leaned against the back of the couch, looking for some support for her back. She had been spending too much time hunched over the books in the library.

“That explains why I rarely see you on campus” Harry was studying biology with the intention of entering medical school. He had even already presented all the standardized exams to enter. He was just waiting for the results. Meanwhile, Mitch was staying in Chicago and Sarah was looking at job opportunities on the east coast.

“Y/N” a guy roughly around their age, walked up to them. His name was Brian and was pretty known around campus. His friends and he studied economics with Sarah. She tried her best to ignore him most days. She sat in front of him and detested the way he talked with superiority to others. Brian wrapped his arms around Y/N as he owned her. Like she was his and the world needed to know.

The gesture generated a small spark of jealousy within Harry.

“Hey. I am glad you made it” She slowly and gently tore off him. Y/N felt uncomfortable and so she took a step backward, trying to gain some distance between them.

“I bought more drinks. The boys are taking them into the kitchen”. Sarah rolled her eyes at the mention of the ‘boys’. She felt like she was back in high school when the popular kids were in this one group that was untouchable and desired by many. “Sorry and who are you?”

“These are my friends” Y/N warmly smiled.

“Right,” he nodded as he stared down at them. “Sarah! I didn’t know you came to these types of things”. She faked smiled back yet held back from insulting him. Brian would really get on her nerves.

“Go get yourself a drink” Y/N suggested, embarrassed of him.

Harry paid no attention to him. He was too invested in holding stares with Y/N.

“Will I get to speak to you later?” Brian looked down at her with a hard state, “Alone” he added. Y/N nodded slightly earning a soft stroke on the side of her face before he left them.

“Sorry about that. Brian plays hockey and his father is the owner of this amusement park corporation, and he thinks he is the big shit” They laughed but Harry could tell that she was still bothered by his attitude.

The party picked up after a few hours. Everyone was spilling drinks and the floor had gotten to that point where it was sticky, but people were having fun. Harry sat on the kitchen floor because all of the couches were occupied by horny couples. He was tired from all the dancing that Sarah and Emma had forced him into.

“Tired?”

“A- a bit” he stuttered surprised to see Y/N sitting beside him. “Y-you?”

“Very much” She admitted. She lived in an apartment in the city that her parents had bought for her during her freshman year. It was a small studio apartment. It was her haven which is why she never threw parties there. That and the fact that it was too small. Therefore, she had driven just like everyone else.

“Aren’t you worried they are trashing the place?” He was curious as to why she wasn’t kicking everyone out of the house, and she was so relaxed.

“They are having fun” Y/N watched Sarah and Mitch holding each other’s hand and spinning around in her living room and hysterically laughing at one another. “That’s what matters. Plus, it’s my parent's house” she shrugged.

“Aren’t they going to kill you?” Y/N’s parents were a touchy subject for her. She isn’t tensed up and quieted down. Harry instantly noticed that his comment had made her uncomfortable.

“They don’t really care” The psychology student confessed. She was surprised by herself. Y/N never spoke about them. She had a difficult relationship with them.

“I- I understand the feeling” He smiled at her weakly. And so, they allowed the comfortable silence to engulf them.

A few hours later, Mitch was drunk and so was Emma. Most people had already left. It was mostly them and three other friends of Y/N’s.

“I guess we should get going” Harry rose to his feet, pulling Mitch up too.

“Would you like some help?” She asked as she pulled Mitch’s other arm over her shoulder. They quietly dragged him out of the house and sat him on the steps leading up to the main entrance.

“Why don’t you go get the car and I’ll buzz you in, so you don’t have to drag him all the way down the street” She suggested. Harry remained quiet and ran out for the car. Meanwhile, Y/N woke up Sarah who had passed out on the couch in the living room.

Harry pulled up and unlocked the car doors so moving/ carrying Mitch was easier. Sarah got in the car by herself. Meanwhile, Harry and Y/N helped Mitch sit upright on the seat.

“You are so beautiful” Mitch slurred to her as she leaned over him to bucked him in. “Date me” he divulges. Y/N laughed at his drunken state.

“Next time big boy” She kissed his cheek and winked. Mitch threw his head back and passed out with a big smile.

“Oh! forgot about Emma!” Harry exclaimed, he felt Y/N’s hand on his forearm which instantly stopped any movement.

“She can stay here. Let her sleep. My parents aren’t home so the company would be nice” She pointed out. “I’ll drive her tomorrow”.

“O-okay” Harry stuttered then cleared his throat “Thank you for having us” Y/N leaned in and hugged him gently.

“Thank you for coming” She muttered before she pulled away. “I had lots of fun! Drive safe”

Harry smiled at her before getting into the car. He watched her through the rearview mirror as she waved. He found himself perplexed by her kindness, her beauty, her eyes, and her simplicity. It was too bad that they belonged to different worlds — he pondered.

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homomenhommes · 6 months

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STORY: Ups And Downs 19

Dinner and Dessert

With less than two weeks to go until our big trip to New York and Connecticut, Woody called Rafael and me into his office to begin making preparations. I took notes with my new Wacom note pad. Our itinerary would look something like this:

Wednesday morning: fly to New York City, check into the St. Regis Hotel (overlooking Central Park and just two blocks from the Museum of Modern Art)

Thursday: cocktail reception in Mr. Block’s suite, followed by dinner for 10 in the Presidential Suite

Friday afternoon: Mr. Block, Woody, and I take the train to Stamford, Connecticut, and then travel by rental car to Greenwich for the art show; Rafael remaining in New York (unsupervised)

Sunday afternoon: take the train back to New York City

Monday: Mr. Block and Woody attend an international conference on LGBT+ rights at the United Nations; Rafael and I free for the day

Tuesday: Mr. Block, Woody, and I fly back to San Diego; Rafael remains in NYC for another week before flying to Spain

“We don’t always stay at five-star hotels,” said Woody, “but Mr. Block chose the St. Regis for two reasons: one, he will be entertaining a very exclusive group of gentlemen, and two, he sees this as an opportunity for the two of you to learn what constitutes first-class service. So, while we are there, take pictures and take notes. Before we check out, you will meet with the hotel manager to ask him any questions you may have. This is an exceptional learning opportunity for both of you, so make the most of it.”

After going over the general outline, Woody dismissed Rafael but kept me behind to work out details. My assignment was to make all the reservations—flights, hotels, train, rental car, and dinners. At the art show, I would be expected to provide whatever services might be needed by Mr. Block, Woody, or the show organizers.

“You’re in charge,” Woody told me, “but don’t be afraid to ask for help. Rafael has been through all of this before, so he can answer almost any question you might have. And when you talk to the sales manager at the hotel about that dinner, pull Kim into the conversation to work out the menu and other arrangements. He’s a pro at that.”

As I got up to leave Woody’s office, he called me back and handed me two things: a box containing the latest iPhone and a credit card. “Use these to make the reservations,” he said. The credit card belonged to Mr. Block’s account, but it had my name on it.

For the next week and a half, I worked my tail off, not only making the reservations and other plans for our trip, but also assisting Rafael, Ron, and Kim in their duties, learning as much as I could so that I could fill in when they took days off.

Of course, I still managed to squeeze in sexual adventures two or three times a day. I had sex before work and after work and sometimes during my lunch break, but never during work hours. I never had to look far for available or willing sex partners. They were everywhere.

I remembered what Woody had said about having sex in the limo, the barn, and the boats, so I made sure to play out those fantasies as well as quite a few others.

On the day of our departure, Ron drove the four of us (Mr. Block, Woody, Rafael, and me) to the airport in the Navigator—plenty of room for the five of us plus our luggage. Sitting next to me in the rear seat, Woody handed me an envelope containing $500 in bills of various denominations. “Remember,” he said, “you’re in charge. This money is to cover tips and any other incidentals that you can’t charge to the card. Use it wisely, but don’t be chintzy with the tips. These guys work hard to make our lives easier. The least we can do is to show them our appreciation.”

On the plane, the four of us sat in first class. I had originally booked Rafael and me in coach, but Woody made me change it. “You must constantly be watching out for anything that Mr. Block or I might need,” he said, “and you can’t do that if you’re not with us.”

Mr. Block and Woody took the aisle seats, giving Rafael and me the window seats. Since he and I couldn’t exactly chat with our bosses sitting between us, we texted each other as soon as the overhead lights went off. We joked about the flight attendants—two females in first class and two guys in the back who didn’t exactly appeal to either of us. We lamented the fact that Freddie wasn’t working that flight.

We initially dismissed the idea of having sex in the lavatory since we had both already been inducted into the “mile-high club,” but then it dawned on us: yes, we had both had sex on a plane, but not with each other. When Rafael got up to go to the lavatory, I waited about a minute and then followed him. Walking away, I heard Woody remark to Mr. Block, “They’ll be a while,” which drew a snicker from Mr. Block.

Rafael and I laughed about the fact that the lavatory in first class was bigger than the one in coach, which made it easier for him to ride my dick at 35,000 feet. At one point, we hit a little bit of turbulence, but that only drove my cock deeper into Rafael’s ass. I thought he was going to give us away when he squealed with stunned delight.

When we arrived at the St. Regis in the limo they had sent for us, the desk clerk immediately called the hotel manager, who came out to welcome us. With two cute bellhops carrying our luggage, he escorted us to the Presidential Suite, which was huge—basically a 3000-square-foot luxury apartment. It not only had two bedrooms, one for Mr. Block and one for Woody, but also a living room, a private office, and even a dining room, where our dinner would be catered. The manager, Mr. Danvers, also introduced us to Conrad, the butler assigned to the Presidential Suite. I tipped each of the bellhops $20, but Woody pulled Conrad aside and told him that Rafael and I were there to learn about superior service and would he….

“Mr. Danvers has already explained the situation to me,” Conrad assured Woody. “It will be my pleasure to assist them as well as you and Mr. Block.” Woody thanked him and slipped him a $100 bill.

The two bellhops then led Rafael and me to our rooms down the hall. Though the rooms were not suites, they were more elegant than I could have ever imagined. We had connecting rooms, each with a king-size bed.

As we settled into our respective rooms, there came a knock on my door. It was Conrad. “Mr. Block would like to have dinner at 7:00. Would you like me to reserve a table in the restaurant or will you have dinner in the suite?”

“I’ll have to call Woody and ask him,” I said, but before I could move, Conrad informed me, “Mr. Woodward said that the decision is yours to make.” When Woody said I would be in charge, he wasn’t kidding.

“Hmm. What would you recommend, Conrad?”

“I am happy to make whatever arrangements you wish, but since you will be dining in the suite tomorrow evening, perhaps you would like to try our restaurant tonight. The menu is excellent, the ambiance is quite nice, and you might become acquainted with some of our other guests.”

Conrad was understating the case. The Court restaurant was gorgeous and filled with handsome, well-dressed, and obviously rich gentlemen—mostly older, but some younger than 30. The four of us were well dressed too, Rafael and I in our new Brooks Brothers suits.

When the maitre’d asked Mr. Block if we had reservations, he and Woody remained silent and just looked at me. “Uh, reservation for Mr. Block,” I bucked up.

“Nice save,” Woody whispered to me as we were led to our table. “You’re catching on.”

I felt a twinge of embarrassment at having initially missed the cue, but hearing Woody compliment me pumped up my chest like you wouldn’t believe.

Conrad was right about the menu too. The food was delicious.

“There’s nothing on our calendar tomorrow until the cocktail reception,” observed Woody, “so what do you plan to do with your day, Joe?” My instinct was to say that I would take the time to see some of the sights of New York, but the fact that Woody directed the question to me and not to Rafael and me both, tipped me off that this might be a test.

“I think I should get together with Conrad to make sure that everything is in place for the reception and the dinner.”

An ever-so-slight nod from Woody said to me, “Go on.”

“And I think I should reconfirm our train and hotel reservations for Greenwich.”

When Woody took a very faint breath and leaned back in his chair, I knew that I had scored, but I didn’t quit there.

“Is there anything else I can do for you tomorrow, Mr. Block? Lunch reservations perhaps?”

The faint smirk on Woody’s face said to me, “Now you’re just showing off.” And I ate it up.

“That won’t be necessary,” replied Mr. Block. “I think Woody and I can take care of ourselves for a few hours. Why don’t you and Rafael use the time to get acquainted with the Big Apple? It’s a fascinating city.”

I thanked him but reminded him that I was just a phone call away if he needed anything.

When dinner was concluded and I saw the waiter approaching our table with the bill, I signaled to him to bring the check to me, which he did. After looking it over and adding a generous tip, I signed the check to my room. I think even Rafael was impressed.

As we were leaving the restaurant, we passed a table with two very handsome gentlemen whose eyes followed us out. When we got to the elevator, I said, “You guys go on up. I want to check with the concierge about sightseeing tomorrow,” which was a lie, of course. I was headed back to the restaurant to get acquainted with the two hunks.

When I approached their table, they invited me to sit down while they finished their dinner. “They have sumptuous desserts here,” I commented.

“They certainly do,” gushed one of the men, “and they’re not all on the menu apparently.” I feigned embarrassment, which they thought was adorable.

They complimented me on my new suit, which was obviously a ploy since they were both impeccably dressed themselves, and one of them asked if he could feel the material. Of course, I said yes. I’m not stupid. As he stroked the lapel between his thumb and finger, he let his hand rub against my chest, especially my nipple, which started to rise to the occasion. “Oh, man, this feels really good,” he cooed. “I’ll bet,” said his friend, who had started a seduction of his own by rubbing his leg against mine under the table.

Taking the hints, I told them about our shopping trip to Brooks Brothers and also to The Body Shop in San Diego, which led them to ask what kind of underwear I had bought and what kind I was wearing that night. “I’ll bet you look fucking hot in them,” said one of the men. “And even better out of them,” the other one dared to say.

“And your friend who was with you at dinner. Did he buy new underwear too? I wonder what he’s wearing tonight.”

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “I didn’t check before we came down to dinner, but I’m sure he’s in his room now. Maybe we could all go ask him.”

Well, I didn’t exactly have to twist their arms. They quickly finished their dinners and followed me upstairs.

When I knocked on Rafael’s door, he must have been exercising some ESP because he came to the door in his sexy underwear, which drew oohs and aahs from our two new friends. Rafael didn’t even look surprised when I led them into his room. Maybe when I said I was going to talk to the concierge, he suspected where I was really going and anticipated what the outcome would be.

The outcome, of course, was the four of us ending up naked in Rafael’s king-size bed. They both claimed to be versatile, but when they saw our dicks, they insisted on having us fuck them, which Rafael and I were perfectly happy to oblige. Actually, we swapped back and forth, fucking our respective partners for a few minutes and then, with a tag team slap of the hands, trading partners. The businessmen loved it.

As we fucked them, they occasionally leaned over to kiss each other and sometimes pulled us into kisses. It was such a delight to watch two incredibly handsome men kissing each other and kissing us. It was such a turn on…as if we needed any extra stimulus. Rafael and I both shot our loads more quickly than either of had intended and somewhat to the disappointment of the guys under us, so we tried to make up for the abbreviated fuck by sucking on their cocks, which they also unloaded more quickly than anyone would have preferred.

With our mouths full of their man cream, they kissed us again, swapping their cum with us and with each other until we ended up in a four-way cumfest.

After they got dressed and left Rafael’s room, he and I showered, but before we could finish drying off, the phone in his room rang. It was the two guys inviting us to their room. “Our husbands are back from their evening out and would like to meet you.”

To be continued

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dontforgetoctober3rd · 5 months

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Spillways (Chapter 3) A Gilded Age fanfic

Faceclaims for George and Randolph Stewart

Contents: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Word count: approximately 2300

Story Summary: All of New York society is in a tizzy over the news: The Earl of Galloway is in town with his son, the 30 year old (bachelor) Randolph. Marriage-minded mamas are on the prowl but the Earl and his son eschew most of the lavish parties and teas they’re invited to...except to a certain tea with Agnes Van Rhijn and her niece, Marian.

Rating: Teen (mentions of drunkenness, slut-shaming) Ratings will be *by chapter*, so subsequent installments might differ in their rating.

Author's Notes: This is a canon-divergence story beginning a few months from episode 5 of Season 2.

DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with The Gilded Age in any way beyond being a fan, I do not own the Gilded Age characters nor am I using them for any commercial purposes or making money from this, this is just basically word fanart of the show

Beautiful divider by @muchomago

It came as a shock to everyone (except Bannister and Peggy) that Agnes Van Rhijn objected to Marian potentially being courted by an Earl’s son.

Everything Agnes did, especially since Ada’s leaving to be with her new husband, was in hopes of finding Marian a husband. Failed courtships did nothing to deter her.

“It seems like she would pair Miss Marian with anything that breathed and wore a top hat if it came down to it.” Jack said one morning at breakfast. The rest of the servants and Peggy agreed: if it was male and available, Agnes Van Rhijn would attempt a match.

Until it came to Randolph Stewart, that is.

Both ladies were in the sitting room when the argument broke out, Marian reading the newspaper and Agnes tending to her letters near the window. Marian seemed more willing to be open with her Aunt about her goings on these days. Agnes sometimes took the information with ill will. Like today.

“He is not courting me, Aunt Agnes, he merely wishes to talk of how to better support St. Mary’s and also the Red Cross! Charity work is important to him. Even if he was courting me...would that be so horrible?”

“He is the son of a member of the peerage, my dear. The most important thing to him is finding a gullible lady who will turn a blind eye to his whoring and give him a legitimate heir so that he can prance around as if he has accomplished something worthwhile in this world.” Agnes said acidly.

“How can you say that when you don’t even know him?!” Marian argued. She folded the newspaper in her lap.

“You certainly had no issue when Charles and Aurora pushed me to meet a drunkard! I heard no complaints from you when Dashiell proposed to me, when it turned out he was only doing it to spite his now wife because she had rejected him!”

“I was right about that Raikes scoundrel, wasn’t I?”

“You weren’t at first and you know it.” Marian shot back. “People change and Tom Raikes unfortunately decided not to include me in his life when he did.”

“I suppose you’ll continue to ignore my advice, as you always do.” Agnes said, returning to her correspondence with a huff. Peggy had the day off, and so Marian and Agnes were alone together in the house with the remaining help.

“I don’t ignore your advice, Aunt Agnes. You only say that because I make choices different to those you would make yourself.”

“Cavorting with a likely rakehell is definitely a choice I would never in a million years make.” Agnes said curtly, continuing to write.

“Giving people a chance to show me who they are is not a poor choice.” Marian said, returning to her reading of the paper. “I will go to see Randolph in the park tomorrow, whether you approve of it or not.”

“Hpmh!” Agnes answered. “I knew nothing good would come of you lowering yourself to doing work at that school.”

The day after their argument, Agnes Van Rhijn strangely accepted Marian’s suggestion that she include Randolph Stewart’s father on an invitation without fuss. The whole incident had gone well. Eerily so. Bannister and the rest of the servants were truly surprised. Comparing it to their previous quarrel, it was like comparing night and day.

It worried Marian now more than when she had anticipated another tantrum before asking. She had expected a battle and gotten mildly annoyed acceptance instead.

Beforehand, Bannister and Peggy had warned Marian that her Aunt felt…strongly about the Earl, even if she had no legitimate quarrel with his son besides lingering prejudices stemming from history with his father. Whatever that history was, the rest of the inhabitants of the house still did not know, but it was obviously something Agnes Van Rhijn refused to let go of for decades.

“If the Earl decides to accept your invitation, I suspect his visit will not go smoothly.” Bannister warned. “Mrs. Van Rhijn may be plotting something.”

“The way she rejected Mrs. Astor’s invitation that day…she was more cordial when refusing Mrs. Russell’s invites when she was first establishing herself in society, let’s just leave it at that.” Peggy had informed her.

“Aunt Agnes is nothing if not proper. She will not dare to behave so impulsively in person with an Earl in her home.” Marian said. She wished she believed it. Perhaps Randolph would tell her what was going on.

There was already gossip in the papers about Marian having talked to Randolph Stewart. When so many pleas for the presence of Lord Stewart and his son had been rejected, seeing Miss Marian Brook going for a carriage ride with one of them felt like another rejection. A statement as well. One that said: Marian Brook is better than you, people whose invitations we have denied. When it came out that both the Earl and his son were invited to tea at 61st Street by Miss Brook, not Agnes herself, and had accepted? Well, the uproar was quite a thing.

They wouldn’t dare utter a word in Agnes Van Rhijn’s presence (or within her hearing range) about it, but many mumbled how unfair it was that someone like Marian Brook managed to snag time with the Stewarts of Galloway.

What was so great about her? Sure, she participated in society, as was proper. However, in the eyes of many, Marian Brook did nothing noteworthy. She did not wear the most extravagant gowns and sure, she was beautiful, but hardly enough to take one’s breath away.

Bertha Russell took no issue with it, despite having received a rejection. Miss Brook had been kind to her from the beginning and if anything, she was impressed by her feat and intended to wheedle all the details out of her when she could. An invitation to luncheon next week was accepted by Marian, and if all went well, Bertha was sure she would be bringing along a very important guest.

Mrs. Astor was not displeased by the news either, even with her friend’s refusal to attend her own tea with the Earl and his son. Marian was Agnes’s niece, after all, and part of Old New York. She saw such a development as Marian’s due. Her worry remained with how Agnes would deal with facing George Stewart again, after all these years.

Aurora and Charles were delighted at the possibility of no longer being pushed to play matchmaker by their Aunt Agnes. They prayed Randolph’s interest in Marian went beyond charity work.

Those that were less than enthused by all this kept their complaints to whispers in a corner at a party or private chats at a luncheon. They did not want anything they said in complaint of being rejected to be misconstrued as a comment against Miss Brook, even if that was what was meant. The specter of Agnes Van Rhijn’s rage loomed over them, the potential of being publicly given a dressing down by her was enough to cow them into being discreet about the matter. Not so with Susan Blane.

The widow had become bitter for a while now, ever since rumors of her and young Mr. Russell had made it into the papers last year, it seemed. She did not grace the ballrooms and sitting rooms of New York with her presence, but all over Newport her complaints were heard. Even the young Mrs. Winterton, with her own position in society more precarious than ever, did not dare publicly disparage a member of Agnes Van Rhijn’s family.

For Susan Blane, Marian Brook seemingly always getting men flocking around her had always been a thorn in her side. To get the attentions of an Earl’s son when Susan herself had been rejected by them, it was like an insult.

“Miss Brook has another suitor? I wonder what this one will find wrong with her.” Mrs. Blane was heard saying at one of Mamie Fish’s parties.

It shocked even Mamie, who was like a moth to a flame where gossip was concerned. “Who is to say it is Miss Brook the one that something was wrong with?” Mamie had put in, attempting to nip in the bud speculation of Marian’s reputation. “Many of her suitors were rather distasteful, if you ask me. Especially that drunk banker friend of the Fanes.”

“I agree,” Carrie Astor said. “Miss Brook showed good sense in rejecting many of them.”

“Rejecting all of them, you mean?” Mrs. Blane continued. “All of them had something wrong? Most of them are married themselves now. What could they possibly have that wasn’t good enough for Marian Brook but was sufficient for their present wives?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Carrie said, eyes narrowing and disdain in her voice.

“Surely you aren’t implying Miss Brook is too high in her instep for rejecting suitors?” Gladys Russell asked in disbelief. “I’ve rejected plenty myself. Are you suggesting a lady should just settle for the first man who will have her, no matter his flaws?”

“I’m suggesting nothing of the sort.” Mrs. Blane said silkily. “Miss Brook is suggesting something else entirely with her actions.”

“And what would that be, Mrs. Blane? Are you sure you’re not imagining things?” Carrie said.

“My, my, I didn’t realize Miss Brook had such a legion of defenders!” Mrs. Blane said. A mean look colored her eyes as she laughed lightly.

“I don’t care for your tone.” Carrie responded coldly. “I don’t see anything that Miss Brook should be defended for, either. She isn’t doing anything improper.” The mood was rapidly shifting to a negative atmosphere and even nearby guests were growing uncomfortable. When Carrie Astor was displeased, it meant something serious was afoot.

“Miss Brook is as respectable as any of us here.” Mamie said, desperate to alleviate things. “There’s no need to try to throw mud on her good name simply because the Earl denied an invitation from you but accepted one from her! He has denied an invitation from nearly all of us.”

Mrs. Blane smiled as if accepting what Mamie said, but the smile did not reach her eyes.

“You know, I think this courtship between Randolph Stewart and Miss Brook will go well.” Carrie began, turning to Gladys. “They already seem to have so much in common. Their good breeding, their dedication to charity…their shared good sense when it comes to rejecting certain people..they seem like a good match, don’t you think so, Gladys?”

“Absolutely.” Gladys said, smiling as she sipped her wine.

Mrs. Blane’s fake smile immediately fell off as she left the scene, not even bothering to excuse herself. The people around them buzzed with whispers.

“I will try to stop the gossip rags from learning of this, but I know that is a fool’s errand, with the servants I have.” Mamie said sheepishly. Gladys and Carrie giggled.

“No doubt we are not the only ones Mrs. Blane has subjected to her grumbling.” Gladys said.

“Still, I will at least try to prevent a scandal.” Mamie replied. “The last thing I need is Agnes Van Rhijn’s wrath raining down upon me for seemingly allowing someone to smear a member of her family in my own home.”

Mamie left the girls to their socializing, both giggling nervously at the thought of Mamie Fish being yelled at by Mrs. Van Rhijn. They were not at all nervous at the prospect of Mrs. Blane getting that treatment, however, and actually hoped Mamie failed in her mission so that they might see the widow get her just desserts.

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Agnes Van Rhijn thundered.

“The morning paper, ma’am?”

Bannister stood before her, holding a tea tray, his mistress shaking a newspaper in his face. He was glad Miss Brook was gone to St. Mary’s for the day.

“Do not talk as if I have lost my senses, Bannister, I mean what is this?!” she pointed to the headline, eyes flashing angrily.

“It seems as if…distasteful comments have been made, ma’am. About Miss Marian. I understand your upset-”

“DISTASTEFUL COMMENTS?! Distasteful? Bannister, she might as well have called Marian a dockside tart!” Agnes screamed. In the back behind Agnes, Bannister saw Bridget immediately turn around with the smelling salts and leave after he gave her a quick shake of his head.

“How DARE she?! A washed up harlot of a widow talking about my niece courting in such a way!” Agnes continued. “If she thinks she can drag a member of MY family through the mud with no repercussions, well, she is about to learn differently! Fetch me my hat!” Agnes threw the paper at the table.

“Ma’am, you have the tea with Lord Stewart and his son today after Miss Marian gets home! I don’t think it wise to go off to Newport right now.” Bannister said, following his mistress stomping to her rooms.

“Who said anything about going to those hovels in Newport?! I intend to call on Mrs. Astor and have that trollop Susan Blane removed from the Academy waiting list! Then, god save me, I intend to call on Bertha Russell and have her do the same with her waiting list for her garish opera house!” Agnes rattled off. “THEN I shall instruct them to refrain from ever inviting that horrid woman to anything EVER AGAIN if they want to continue considering themselves my friend! I intend to go to Aurora about this and Mamie Fish, too, though what I should be doing first is asking Mamie Fish why she stood by and did nothing to stop Susan Blane from opening her muckraking mouth abou-”

“You consider Mrs. Russell your friend?” Bannister asked in surprise.

“Bannister, I do not have time for your jokes! NOW FETCH ME MY HAT AND GET ARMSTRONG UP HERE TO HELP ME CHANGE!”

Bannister bowed quickly before ringing for Armstrong.

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NEXT: Chapter 4

#the gilded age #hbo the gilded age #spillways fanfic #the gilded age fanfic #the gilded age fanfiction #agnes van rhijn #marian brook #fanfiction #fanfic #writeblr

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mental-mario · 7 months

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Part II: Borderline Boogaloo!

Before I continue about my experience in the psych ward, I want to thank my new friend (who is hopefully a real person) lady-macbeth13 for joining me and hopping aboard! I encourage you if you're reading this to click that follow button so you can be my friend as well. Hop aboard this thing before it takes off so you can say, "I knew him when..." Also, please help a friend out and tip me if you can spare it! You can't see but I'm shaking my change cup on the corner right now. I currently have no income, so I am trying to afford the monthly bills and also a video capture card and HDMI splitter so I can get live streaming off the launching pad! I am also trying to afford Super Mario Bros. Wonder, so I truly appreciate any tips you can help with! I want to get some online multiplayer up and streaming with everyone, so look out for that as well! Finally, my friend code on Switch is posted in my bio at this time and QR code is my profile pic, so send me a friend invite! I'm lonely and need friends! :)

So when we left off, I was getting strip searched by 2 nursing staff, and as kinky as that was, it ended rather abruptly when they had me put my jumpsuit back on. Before I could contain my arousal, they showed me to the infamous padded cell. Now, this is all taking place in a cramped, locked, dark area with no windows. The padded cell felt much like a cubicle made of the padded mats from gym class. The walls were the same material, and there was a camera up in the corner of the ceiling near the dingy yellow light. The door had a small slotted window as well. The staff member told me she had to show me the cell so she could document that she showed it to me, and I would only need to see it again if I got violent. From there I was let back out into gen-pop and was given a dinner tray with microwave pizza, which was probably the best thing I had there to eat. As an aside, you may want to make sure what you eat can be a finger food because it is a tall order to eat an overcooked pork chop or chicken breast with a plastic spoon.

As I sat at one of the tables in the dayroom, I got the chance to better observe the environment. There was a TV which was showing the ever-therapeutic local news, where they were running a story about another shooting somewhere. I started feeling less depressed already...There were also a few games like Jenga and Sorry available, which nobody played. Also available was some paper and colored pencils. I ate and sat in a stupor, as the atarax was still kicking in my system. There were posted rules on the wall, stating we are to remain in the dayroom during the day, participate in groups when scheduled, make our beds every day, and clean up after ourselves, including our food trays. The doors were all locked with security monitoring the main doors and cameras everywhere except for the bedrooms. There were a few locked doors designated for group exercise and meeting with the psych team, but I wouldn't get the chance to be evaluated or talk to anyone until the next morning. The rooms were mostly 2 beds but some were private. I did end up having a roommate that night which I hated, but he was quiet enough that I could sleep that night in combination with trazodone. Also in the room was a sink, a bathroom with half door (no lock), a toilet with no seat, and a shower that was surprisingly adequate. For other entertainment, if board games don't grab ya, you could walk laps around the nurse's station, and they even had a helpful sign to let us know that just 33 times around = 1 mile! I know nothing could make me feel more prepared to reintegrate into society than stumbling around the nurse's desk like a zombie in a paper suit that was 2 sizes too large for me.

Since I had checked myself in voluntarily, I was allowed to sign a discharge request notice, which would allow them no longer than 72 hours after submitting it to continue holding me. By 9:30pm, I was ready to go to bed after a long day, and I was also ready to sign the aforementioned form. The unit was loud with lots of hollering, and that triggered my anxiety and shut me right down. Brought me back to my year at the college dorm, which was traumatic and did not go well for me. When I knocked on the door to the nurse's station, I was informed that my nurse was busy at the moment, as she had patients on the other unit to attend to. I stood outside the station, waiting for my nurse to return. By 10:15, I had enough. I knocked on the nurse's door again and said that I didn't care who handled the form but that I wanted to sign it. This other nurse then comes out and gets in my face and tells me it has to be with my nurse and also, "you won't be leaving here tomorrow...I can tell you that!" She replied with such a nasty attitude, and if it's one thing you want to do as a medical professional working on a psych unit, it is to instigate someone with BPD. I started to get nasty right back, and the nurse slunk away back behind the glass, perhaps realizing that she wasn't making the best decision in that moment. I stood around some more until my nurse finally arrived at 10:30pm, and I was wondering the whole time at what point I could expect this experience to actually start making me feel better and less suicidal. Spoiler alert: that moment never came. After this nurse checked that I properly swallowed my late meds, I went to sleep at 11pm, which began quiet time.

I am going to break there and continue on in Part III for my next post, so make sure you click FOLLOW to make sure you don't miss out on that! After all, I feel like we are starting to become good friends now, so friend me and make me a part of your day! I will try not to be too needy! And again, my friend code on Switch is SW-4419-5159-3401. Send me a friend invite and I will accept! I'm lonely...and I'm also broke and unemployable, so please hook your new friend up with some tips on my page! Thank you, and I love you!

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occult-roommates · 1 year

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Content warning for discussion of ED and gun violence below the cut. Viewer’s discretion is advised.

The following day, Akva asked Dawud if his “pilot friend” was available soon, you know, the one who was adopted and got attachment issues. She had to wait the next morning for that, but yeah, he had a bit of free time to see her. Just had to meet him at the airport.

Dawud: Ok, so my shift ends in eight hours, but I can try squeezing some time during my lunch break to help you go back home. Akva: Please Dav, I’ve lived in this city my entire life and I’m a grown ass woman, I don’t need help going back home thank you...Like we literally took the subway to make it here it’s not like you were giving me a lift...

Dawud texted Ralf to tell him Akva is here and waiting for him at the main gate, while he left to do his shift. Eventually, she found Ralf and they sat down together.

Ralf: So what did you wanted to see me for? Akva: I am so worried for the baby. I think the dad doesn’t want to put her for adoption, but I also know neither of us can afford a baby. And like, if I just give her to her adoptive family and act as if she never existed it’s of course awful, but if I stay in her life to some degree, she can actually put a face on the person who abandoned her and what if she grows to hate me cause she thinks I hate her too. Ralf: Well, to me the fact you’re still willing to stay in your baby’s life even if you can’t raise her is a big sign you do indeed love her. Akva: Easy for you to think that and be mature about, you’re a middle aged guy, I’m thinking about when she’ll be a teenager who hates everything, and what if she never outgrows that? Ralf: And you think I never was a teenager who hates everything? I really don’t know what to tell you. My situation and the one of your daughter are very different. Akva: My life already got ruined when this fucking asshole shot me in the legs and now it’s even worse. I’ll never recover from that. Ralf: I’m sorry but what???

Since that is...not something you casually drop in a conversation, Akva had some explanation to do. In short, a guy back in high school had a crush on her, and she said yes to date him. When she realized she’s not in love with him, she broke up. He stole his dad’s gun and tried to kill her in a wood. Thankfully he failed, but he did shoot the lower half of her left leg, destroying her running career.

Akva: In the years that followed I was a mess. I would only eat garbage cause it made me feel happy, and never see anyone except my parents and I’d constantly yell at them. The only good side of that is that when I finally got the motivation to start working out again I developped abs and...well let’s say I don’t even have those anymore. Ralf: Oh, I feel you. As a teenager, I would constantly overeat whenever I felt depressed which was...pretty often, but I was also terrified of putting on weight so I would exercize until I felt sick to compensate. Then as soon as I finally moved out of my parents house I no longer felt like I wanted to die all the time so I just...snapped out of it I think? Akva: ...Sir, that is the textbook definition of bulimia. Ralf: Oh...Ok...I never really realized that...Well, it’s been almost 30 years, don’t worry about me. It must not have been that bad of a case if I just snapped out of it without any help anyway. I am perfectly fine on all account now. Trust me, if I was still even half as bad than when I was a teenager, I would not be allowed to be a pilot.

Feeling like he had said way too much about his past, Ralf tried to leave, but as soon as he stood up, after he took just one step, Akva stopped him. Cause like, not only she does still work out, but she does so for healthy reasons, not sad disordered ones, so she’s pretty damn strong. Basically it took her no effort to drag his ass back on the bench. However, once he was back, she started crying, feeling overwhelmed by everything and you know, the hormones, which caused Ralf’s Dad Instinct™ to kick in.

Akva: I don’t want my baby to be messed up and and and I’m sorry this all happened to you. Everything about your youth seemed to have been awful. Ralf: Hey, it’s fine. Don’t worry about me ok. If anything, worry about yourself, you seem to have gone through a lot and to still be deeply traumatized. But it’s ok, if I managed to go through absolute hell and still make it to the other side not only alive but also happy and fullfiled, then so can you. And I understand right now it sounds awful and your life doesn’t feel worth living, but you know, one day you’re gonna wake up and you’ll be in your mid-forties and you’ll realize that yes, the worst is really behind you and you’ve managed to survive. That’s the good thing about hitting rock bottom at a young age, you still have your whole life to climb back up. Akva: Th-Thank you sir. Ralf: By the way, you can call me by my first name.

In the end, Akva hugged him, though he couldn’t really tell if that hug was to make him feel better, of if she deeply needed one.

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#oh my god this chapter is really depressing im so sorry #not even gonna put as many tags as usual cause it would feel gross to do so #ts4 #simblr #occult roommates #akva singh #ralf montag #dawud sahan #bulimia cw #long post #OcRo s1

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soliloquyepistolary · 1 year

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What am I working on right now?

In the dream, I took my phone off flight mode to see what was going on and Edward had schized it again going crazy in the TG group and writing massive paragraphs of comments. I felt that familiar feeling of dis-ease and uncomfortability. Then I could see Clea's online blog that she uses as a diary and she said that 9/9 people asked after him except for me. She had written a massive post but I hadn't read the whole thing, the formatting was like early 2000's Xanga blog or something, it was stream of consciousness, her thoughts without any punctuation. I think she was worried about me. I felt like I was sensing her intimate thoughts as plainly as you would sense your own thought patterns and spirals when you are absorbed in thinking about something. It didn't feel like just anybody had access to this online blog, the edges of my vision were shrouded. Edward had posted a video the TG chat that was of an animated aeroplane panning to the city of Melbourne and he said 'this is where I am this weekend'. I think Clea could sense that there was something awry between him and I. (as I was typing this I got a phone call from the security company at 10:04)

I was meeting up with a young girl that I did not know, a stranger, just so that I could give away my phone to her. My phone had the most beautiful purple fairy phone case that shimmered or sparkled, like wings that clasped my phone safe. Before I handed it over, I took out my SIM card and I compared my one, to the one the girl had, because she had a micro-SIM and I was curious about it. As I took it out, my SIM fell on the ground and got all wet and scrunched up and it turned from a normal sized one, to a micro-SIM. I wondered about whether she had paid me yet, knowing that she hadn't even though I had sent her an invoice or list of sorts detailing how much everything cost. I reminded her to pay and she said 'it was 50 bucks right?'. I had to trust that she was going to do the right thing and there was nothing I could do but just trust that the payment would arrive in my bank account.

A bird kept fucking vomiting and shitting everywhere wtf I kept trying to catch it and clean it up it was disgusting it got in my mouth and everything. I felt so stressed. Every time I went to clean it up, the mess just got worse and worse and more disgusting. I was trying to catch it and put it back in it's cage. I think I had this dream as a joke, to shock me awake, so that I could wake up and remember.

There was map to a treasure, and we were making our way through some rock tunnels. There was a lady ahead of us, she was on the second floor. She had a group of people and so did I. She thought it was a race but I didn't care.

In the morning, I was getting dressed, I had put on a pleasing outfit but the shoes I chose were roller skates. While driving to TAFE, I regretted that I chose roller skates and I felt very anxious about it. I wanted to drive back home and change my footwear but instead I ended up driving to a strip of shops and now I was anxious about the fact that I hadn't put a sufficient amount of moisturiser on my face. I felt like I hadn't applied enough. I was looking at the time and realised it was only around 15-20 minutes left until it was 9o'clock which is when class starts. I wanted to be able to make it to the department store and be able to get to class on time but I don't think I was going to achieve that. At the store, I couldn't find the exact face cream that I usually use but since I was also in a big hurry I didn't have time to consider the other options available. I asked the shop assistant for help. I have had this dream before, I've seen this shelf of herbal creams in amber jars before, many times. The lady recommended me a pair of creams that go together, one was in a jar and the other in a cylinder and their combined price was around $165. I passed buying the duo because it was too expensive I asked which of the two I should buy and she said if you only want one product that I should use the one in the cylinder packaging as it would make me look 1000 years younger. I agreed to that product, and went to line up to pay for it. It was a long line, and randomly MH from class was in line, possibly with SB beside her. They were making chit chat with me and I was embarrassed about what I was buying since I skipped TAFE for this. When it was my turn at the counter, the server canned the product up and instead of a face cream, it said that it was a foundation and the cylinder packaging turned into a tiny sample pot. I said I'd see them later and walked off but I realised I wanted to go back into the store. I did and ended up choosing a black velvet coat for myself. The line was too long so I stole it. I did it very confidently, by intending that I wouldn't be noticed. I tried to wheel it out on a metal clothing rack by making it look like I worked there. When I made it out of the shop, I made a bee-line to my car that was parked a short distance away behind a large building. I couldn't find where it was parked amongst the many rows of cars. I was panicking especially because suddenly the department store employees showed up and were all going to their cars at the same time. I was hastily trying to get my car to try and hide as I'd just stolen something. I was pressing the unlock button my car keys and I could hear that it was close, the sound of a car unlocking itself, but I still couldn't seem to place it's whereabouts. I was pressing unlock and listening multiple times and getting closer to where it was but then the lady who had recommended the face cream to me started walking rapidly toward my car and she was hopping into it now. It looked different. It had a black registration plate now. Then I suddenly realised that the whole time at the store she had been trying to distract me so that she could change the appearance of my car and drive off with it. It felt like I had been tricked, conned and that I'd been toyed with naively. I instantly felt like a fool.

I was going to be late to TAFE, I was would be there an hour late.

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nephaelia-sims · 2 years

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Kaeru Forsythe’s Wedding

When she left home to go to university, Kaeru quickly acquired many love interests. (And she continues to do so to this day...) But while getting to know them all, one of them stood out as the kind of partner she could see by her side for the long run, who had the same sort of goals as she did. Leland was someone with a strong sense of self and their own personal ambitions, but also someone who treasured their loved ones and wanted to build a family.

Growing up, Kaeru had become used to being able to go for a swim in the pool or work out using a punching bag right at home, but at college, she sorely missed exercise. As fate would have it, she went to a gym for the first time, and it was there that she met Leland Davis. He was a trainer at the gym, and at first Kaeru didn’t think she had a shot. But her fuck-it attitude got the best of her, and she tried flirting with him after her workout and gave him her number. Soon, he asked her on a date, and they quickly fell for each other.

Leland Davis was adopted as a child by Duane Talla and Miko Ojo-Talla. He grew up in San Myshuno with his older brothers Cordell and Tomas and his younger brother Pawel. Nearly as soon as he became a young adult, Leland adopted a baby, Brylee. That must have been when he realized just how family-oriented he was, or maybe he couldn’t leave behind a helpless child in need. Very soon after her adoption, Leland’s father was tragically eaten by a cowplant, and not two days later his mother passed away due to old age. When he was of age, Leland’s baby brother Pawel also adopted a child, Stephanie. The four brothers, their two children, and two dogs lived in the spacious Uptown apartment they’d inherited from their parents.

After Kaeru’s first son, Discoglossus (named for the genus of painted frogs), was born, Kaeru asked Leland to move in. Leland and Kaeru invited Brylee to live with them and the Forsythes. She was a teenager, but it was almost her birthday, and Leland decided to leave it up to her. She decided she wanted to stay in San Myshuno with her uncles, especially because she didn’t want to leave her dogs behind. Leland made sure to check in on her often, and gave her a set of keys to the Forsythe home in case she ever wanted to stay there.

Soon after he moved in, Leland proposed. Kaeru had her reservations about marriage. She had discovered that she loved too much and too easily, and she didn’t want to hurt Leland by making promises she wouldn’t keep. Fortunately, she didn’t keep these feelings to herself, and Leland was more than willing to discuss the boundaries of their relationship. They decided together to have an open relationship, and that they still wanted to get married after all.

Leland was especially excited about meeting Kaeru’s large family. He was very close with his brothers, but his parents had passed away and he’d never known any of his grandparents, so he was far more fascinated than scared when he learned that the reason she had so many family members was because most of them were vampires.

Kaeru and Leland planned their wedding to happen at night- it didn’t start until 10 pm! They wanted an outdoor wedding, so they needed to be careful about when the sun would be out (due to all the vampires who would be attending- though many of them were powerful enough to have become immune to sunlight, Kaeru had been turned herself recently and was not one of them). Besides, they were both actively pursuing promotions at work, so they had to schedule it for a time outside of their working hours!

Kaeru, a scientist, and Leland, fascinated by the mysteries of StrangerVille, were both amazed when they found the collection of alien flora available for wedding decor. It suited them perfectly.

The party lasted until the morning. In fact, Kaeru almost died because of the sun (but she didn’t, so that’s good), and that’s the only reason they had to end the event “early”! Everyone had a wonderful time. Except the photographer who is annoyed that when they set up the lighting beforehand, the glowing orbs were not as bright, so all their pictures came out with Kaeru super washed out and they have to spend forever editing.... seriously tho I’ll have to have them come back and do some posing and get some better shots >:[

#forsythe legacy #kaeru forsythe #sims 4 legacy challenge #ts4 legacy challenge #forsythe gen 3 #my sims #ts4 #sims 4 #oc stuff #i hope this makes sense lol im tired and i am v out of practice at writing fiction

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bluexiao · 2 years

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#i know you, i walked with you once upon a dream

—scenarios of first time meeting—or were they not really the first?—and talks about past lives

CHARACTERS. Abyss!Aether, Albedo, Ayato, Childe, Diluc, Gorou, Kaeya, Kazuha, Scaramouche, Thoma, Venti, Xiao, Zhongli

THEMES. First meetings, Fluff, Slight angst, Mostly hurt with comfort. (except xiao’s), mentions of past lives (ofc)

NOTES. It is mostly not noted if it’s modern or in-game setting. Also, this idea is quite difficult to write, not gonna lie. It took awhile for me to finish but I hope you liked it and I did justice to the idea hahaha. Let me know what your thoughts are on this one okok? I personally liked Albedo’s and Diluc’s on this one hehe

Writing Commissions || Send a Kofi!

ZHONGLI’s life far exceeds humans or probably any other kind, that he knew and was aware of. Each life comes to an end, but fate decides that he, amongst others, was one who shall be “blessed” with years more than he could imagine. The days had been long and the nights were not too far away, yet he persisted. With time in his hands, he knew he needed something to do, to distract himself and to merge into the society of humans.

“Good morning, would you like to avail Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s new promo?” that voice, oh, of course, he knew, he just knew. Tone like a melody heard from the mountain tops and by the rivers, where he’d want to stop and drink tea with the peace overcoming him.

You—he knew it was you and he confirmed it when he turns around and sees your eyes, your face—it really was you.

Memories come flashing in like it was just yesterday, but he held his face—still calm despite the turmoil on the inside. He was taken aback, but no one can notice it, not even you.

“The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor,” he repeats, clearing his throat, “I heard they are trying to hire a consultant, is the job still vacant, perhaps?”

XIAO, the sole-surviving yaksha, had seen many things, defeated many demons or enemies anyone else could count, even himself. Yet one thing he dare not want to witness again was what happened to you. Of course, he knew love—knew it like the back of his hand, but now he rejects it, pushes it away before the same thing repeats again like a neverending curse he couldn’t run away from.

When he saw you, it was like the air had been sucked out of his lungs, his throat clogged up, and flashbacks he wished he could never visit again came on his mind as his eyes widened slowly, gaze focused on your form not too far away from Wangshu Inn. He wanted to go away, to flee before he gave in, but he was magnetized by your pull—or more like destiny wills it to happen.

He unconsciously reaches his hand out but as soon as he realized he did, he pulls away; his hand, his gaze, and himself; disappearing into that one place you and him used to go to when you were once alive before, convincing himself that this was not you that he knew before. This was another you, one he would not want to hurt anymore, not after what happened.

VENTI had questioned himself far too many times; what was his purpose? Why does he still walk among the lands, as if he was waiting for something, or someone. Right. He was waiting for you. This was what had been on his mind that maybe the other gods above granted his wish to lay his eyes on you once again, to hear you voice that he had missed so much.

He would never let you go again, not anymore.

“You must be new here,” he muses, hands on his waist, relishing in the way your eyes landed on his and they were connecte again—finally, “a pleasure to meet you! Outlanders are very much welcome here in Mondstadt, allow me, your humble bard, to tour you around if you’d like!”

THOMA is the neighborhood boy who had always given you a welcoming smile despite not knowing each other that much. He has this aura that you’d want to have in your life, to suck in the positivity he has, almost like the sun—a beaming smile, a warm voice.

“Have I met you before?” one day, he decides to talk to you, like he does to others who are in your neighborhood. You, for one, thought it was just his way of trying to befriend you, but you didn’t know how much he had been longing to have a conversation with you, how much courage he had mustered to walk and talk to you—this had never happened to him, not to anyone else.

It must be why he said those words and sparked a new kind of connection that he just had the feeling that this was not new… you and him. If past lives were true, then he’d believe he was with you.

SCARAMOUCHE has a knack of getting into your nerves each and every time you see him. Yet when others try to do the same, he’s angry at them.

“What’s your problem, even?” you called him out when the same thing happened all over again; others trying to tease you until he comes and glares at them and says “Have you got no better else to do?”

“Shouldn’t that be my line?” he hisses, “I drove them away, what’s your problem?”

You scoffed, “It’s you, Scaramouche—or should I say lord Harbinger?”

He huffs out a breath, “How courageous of you to talk back to me, tsk, why have you always been like this?”

You were left alone as he walks away without another word, leaving you to wonder what his last statement might have meant.

It’s weird, how you felt like you had known KAZUHA even way before you two had met when you were children. Your connection was like gravity, pulling you his way and him to yours, one that he admitted as well.

“Kazu… do you think we knew each other in our past lives?” you questioned him as you both gazed upon the sky, littered with stars as you held your hand out as if reaching out to one of them, searching for their glow. As you do this, KAZUHA reaches out to your hand, grasping it on his own before pulling it on his side and landing soft kisses on each of your knuckles.

“If it’s you, my dove, then I don’t think such an idea would be absurd.”

KAEYA intrigues you, probably just as much as you seemed to him as well. Something in him makes you curious as to if he hides secrets behind that masked eye of his behind his eyepatch. Fleeting glances, flirtatious remarks, sly smiles.

“Who knew I’d find you here, Y/n,” he says that one time you sought solace beside the Cathedral, eyes lingering on the waters around the city of Mondstadt, deep in thought, “A Mora for your thoughts?”

You giggled, averting your eyes his way, “How about we exchange secrets then?”

“Secrets?” he laughs, “If you want one, then I’ll tell you.” he pauses, “Have you ever heard of reincarnations?”

When GOROU met you, he was in the middle of a fight—sort of. You were calling his name and for some reason, he knew yours. By the time he had woken up, your face came into view but he didn’t find you familiar at all, except by the uniform you wore that indicated that you were part of the medical team for the soldiers of the Resistance.

“You called them by name, sir,” one of them says, “do you know them?”

“You know, it’s a rumor that you say your past life’s lover’s name when you’re on the brink of death… maybe…”

“Stop that,” he scolds, “rumors are rumors, you should all focus on our mission at hand.”

He may have dismissed his soldiers but the thought of their words lingered in his thoughts until he saw your eyes again and a single name crossed his mind. Yours.

DILUC had always been intimidating for you, he had this aura that pushed most people away, especially those who dare not want to receive his silence and the glare of his eyes. He was a man full of walls, but it was still a curious thing how you had brought it down.

“I feel like this had happened before,” you said out of the blue one day when you were out with him, waling into the fields that littered all over the city for one to explore too freely.

“What did?”

“This,” you raised your interlinked hands, him with his signature glove that still radiated the warmth of the skin beneath it, “it’s like… we’ve been lovers before.”

He was silent for a little while, and you half expected he would think it was such a stupid idea, but he lets out a chuckle. For those who knew DILUC, they know how difficult it was for him to smile and react like that—only you were probably one of the only ones who could.

“What made you think of that, my love?” he finally speaks, to which you answered,

“I don’t know. It just feels like it. Don’t you think so too?” you peeked into his expression and your heart skipped a beat to see the small smile on his face, especially when he gazes at your way as well.

“I do admit I do feel that as well.”

CHILDE’s enemies had always been those whom he felt were stronger than him, ones that would make him look weak compared to them, against them. When you came in and defeated him in a game of wits, he knew he just had to defeat you one way or another. It was not too long when he realized that you two were like puzzle pieces that were far different but fit each other nonetheless. You two were meant for each other, to fight? Whatever it was, he just knew this was a far too special connection than any other else.

So he decides to beat you in one way he knew that could effectively do so.

He brings his knee down and he could see how you froze in your place, eyes widening in surprise and realization of what he was about to do and what words he was about to say.

Deep blue with the velvety texture of a box on his hand, he opened them and presents the ring in front of you, “Y/n, I don’t think I can hold onto this any longer without seeing it on your finger. The moment I met you, I knew it felt like I had already known you for a very long time. Will you marry me?”

The fallen blossoms get flown away by the wind far from its tree branch, but AYATO knew that two souls could never wander away when they were meant to meet. He believed in soulmates—how silly, isn’t it? Such were just fairytales from their grandparents but it was kept in his heart, even more, reminded by it the day he met you.

“It must be fated for us to cross paths, don’t you think?” were his first words, a knowing smile on his face as he anticipated for what you’d say—would you pull away? Raise a brow at him?

Your giggle resounds in the air, a soft curve on your lips as you replied, “It is quite a pleasure to meet you as well, Master Kamisato. I did not expect a person such as you would believe in such beliefs as well.”

“Well then, do you not?” he questions further, yet that look in your eyes made him think that he knew what the answer was.

“Why should I not when my supposed soulmate is standing in front of me?”

ALBEDO knew he could never impersonate the life in your eyes, to draw them on paper and paint their same hues, same shine. He tried far too many times but never were they ever enough.

His fingers graze over his new drawing of yours and just then, he did not realize someone was already beside him, gazing onto his sketchbook with curious eyes.

“That looks beautiful.”

He dare not speak but the moment he turns and glances at you, his chest tightens for an unknown reason, frozen in place as he waited for you to go away—was he hallucinating? Surely this image is far too perfect to imitate-

“Oh, I apologize if I frightened you. I’m from Sumeru Academy, you must be Mr. Albedo? The Genius Alchemist they’ve been talking about. I came here to meet you.”

Little do you know that as you reached out your hand to him and he reluctantly shook your hand, ALBEDO was breathless.

“Yes, that is me. To what do I owe this pleasure… Y/n?”

It had been so long since he mentioned that name. He might have to tell Klee not to say a word before you and her cross paths or else the past will unravel itself before he could even control it.

AETHER is not unfamiliar with both separation and death. When he lost you 500 years ago, the world crumbled around him and he thought he could never see you again, to have more time with you. Why must this happen to him, he questions far too many times. Yet the answers to them seem to be nonexistent—or more like he did not wish to dwell on it any further, not now that he had met you once again. The stars have finally aligned for him to gaze upon your form and be given the time that was robbed from both of you when you fell along with Khaenriah.

“Y/n… it’s you,” he says, and he remembered wishing that if he was asleep, he did not want to wake up.

“Who… who are you?”

His chest tightens at your words but a smile forms on his face—forced upon, more like.

“Did you really wish you’d like to know more about me?”

Reblogs are very appreciated<3

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#xiao x reader #zhongli x reader #kazuha x reader #gorou x reader #scaramouche x reader #thoma x reader #childe x reader #albedo x reader #venti x reader #diluc x reader #kaeya x reader

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munumono · 3 years

Text

Falling asleep on their shoulders on a train || Genshin Men X GN Reader

modern au

warnings: none, no proof read

characters: albedo, childe, diluc, kaeya, kazuha, scaramouche, thoma, xiao, zhongli

Albedo : He didn't realise at first that you were asleep on his shoulder. He was too occupied to notice. Scrolling through the documents on his laptop, he suddenly felt a weight on one of his shoulder. He looked to his side to see you, peacefully sleeping on his shoulder. He looked at you for a whole minute, deciding whether to move or not. But well, you looked so peaceful that he didn't want to wake you up. He looked at his laptop, sighed, and turned it off, carefully. He took his phone out to lower the ringtone just in case it rings and wakes you up. He lowered himself to make it comfortable for you and gazed at the scenario through the glass window on the opposite side, taking in the silence between you two.

Childe : He was going through his phone that he felt a weight on one of his shoulders. He looked to the side to notice you, in deep sleep. He was planning to wake you up but he noticed your little snores, which would be a lie if he says he didn't find it cute. Letting you sleep on his shoulder, he kept scrolling through his phone. The next station arrived as the sound of the announcement woke you up. Oh dear, how embarrassing, you thought. Before you could say anything, he gave you his phone, "You can keep be the apology for later, can I have your number before you get off the train?"

Diluc : As there were no seats available, he was standing while talking on his phone about some work. As he was speaking, he felt a weight pushing him forward. He thought it was someone trying to break through the crowd, so he looked at his side. You were hardly trying to balance your very self as you leaned on to his shoulder, in deep sleep. Diluc stiffened at the contact. He tried to wake you up but the movement caused while waking you up, made you lean even closer to him while resting your head on his shoulder. He immediately tried to cage you so you wouldn't fall, which, apparently looked like he was hugging you. Embarrassed would be very least compared to what Diluc was feeling at that moment. Poor man, he even thought what if you wake up and think he is a pervert. The voice on the ongoing call kept calling his name. He took his phone close to his lips as he whispered, "Adelinde, can you inform others that I'll be late for the meeting? I can't get down on the next station, apparently."

Kaeya : Kaeya, himself, was leaning back onto the seat while trying to take a small nap. Last night's hangover and all didn't really give him enough time to sleep and, here he was, taking a small nap on a train. Kaeya is a light sleeper, so when he felt a weight on one of his shoulder, he was quick to react. Kaeya stared at your figure leaning dearly on his shoulder in deep slumber. He thought to wake you up but hesitated to disturb your peaceful sleep. So, Kaeya, out of no choice, decided to take a nap too. It will also be much better if you wake up and see him asleep, that way you will be less embarrassed, he thought. Well, you woke up to missing your station.

Kazuha : Kazuha was reading a book, full of poems. He did realise that beside him on the seat, there was a person who was in deep slumber, you. Kazuha and you were both strangers but also not. You both used to get on the same train and get off the same train, together. A relationship where you both met each other every single day but never talked to. Kazuha was reading the poems that he noticed something. Beside you two, there was a third person on your side. Slowly, you were leaning on their shoulder in deep slumber. Well, Kazuha wouldn't have bothered much till the stranger you were leaning onto started to wrap their arm around your sleeping figure. Oh dear, the way Kazuha glared at the stranger was enough haunting to them for few nights while going to bathroom alone. Kazuha coughed, eyeing the stranger as he gestured with his fingers 'they're with me'. The stranger was quick to remove his arms around your figure while Kazuha inched closer to you, carefully making you lean on his shoulder instead. He slowly removed some hair stances on your eyes, and layed his head onto your head lightly, reading his book, as you both waited for the next station.

Scaramouche : Scaramouche wasn't having it. You were sleeping on his shoulder for the past thirty minutes. He seriously wanted to wake you up and he actually did, just to get no response from you. He stared straight, facing the opposite side of the train. He looked so pissed that he even made a child on the train cry from his glare. Giving up, he sighed. He was going to get off on the next station. The next station arrived, he was about to get up while not really caring about your sleeping figure leaning on him, that he noticed something. A stranger on the opposite side of the train, facing you both, as he stared creepily at your figure. Oh dear, the moment the stranger realized they were getting stared at by someone, only to meet Scaramouche's typical death glare, they were so close to wet themselves. Scaramouche didn't stop though. He kept glaring at the stranger as if they were nothing but a piece of dirt. Which ended up with the stranger getting down on the current station even though their station was after few. Scaramouche stayed, not feeling assured that you'll be safe in your deep slumber, missing his station. You woke up after a while, to find a purple haired man looking at you with such disappointment which made you apologize not only at that moment, but, the rest of the journey.

Thoma : It was busy and crowdy on the train. Thoma stood straight with plastic bags filled with stuffs hanging on his arms as he hold you still while you laid your head on his chest being in deep slumber. You both knew each other since you both stayed nearby, barely interacting than just a 'good morning' & 'good evening'. How you ended up like this starts like this, you were standing on the train as you gave your seat to an old lady since there were no seats available. You were pretty exhausted, sleepy, every single word which is the opposite of relaxed. Thoma, being on the same train, took notice of your figure slowly dozing off to sleep. Well, you would have hit your nose or so if he didn't dash in front of you to carefully make you lean on him. Thoma stayed like this for a few minutes till the next station arrived and the crowd got off, leaving enough seats. Thoma, being the gentleman he is, carefully made your sleeping figure sit while taking a seat beside you. Carefully inching closer, making your head lean on his shoulder, he relaxed his strained muscles he got while standing for long enough. Do accept his invitation for dinner at his house after you wake up and instead of accepting your apology he throws this invitation <3

Xiao : Oh please, he is so stiff at the contact as you were laying your head on his shoulder, taking a trip to dreamland. First of all, Xiao doesn't even know who you are. He saw you for the first time on this train. Seeing your packed bag, he assumed you were visiting someone in another city, but, where does you sleeping on his shoulder part came from? He is, not at all, moving. Staring straight on the empty seats in front of him, he's just wishing for you to wake up. Of course, he won't wake you up, if he really did then he won't miss his station which was literally the last one the train stopped at. He didn't know how to move. Bonus, you kept snuggling unconsciously on his shoulder because, it was comfy✨. You woke up to missing your station, which was apparently the second last station in the list. The train all empty, and mind you, you woke up to the Ticket Examiner calling you up since it was the last station and all passengers have gotten down except you two, you and Xiao. You looked at the guy beside you who had a frown on his face as he crossed his arm looking down not saying a word. 'Tsk' was all you heard. Well don't worry, you both took another train, this time, you were fully awake.

Zhongli : How long has it been since you fell asleep? Oh, well, you might not know but Zhongli does. It's been hell lot of time. But the man, as calm and collected he is, even when a random stranger is leaning on to his shoulder in deep slumber, he didn't react. Zhongli, understood how tired you might have been since you basically fell asleep on a stranger's shoulder. He didn't move an inch, just in case he wakes you up. Maybe the calm and collected man has lost some of his calmness, resulting in a flustered mess (still collected though mind you) when an old lady commented on both of you, "Such a lovely couple you both are. I had my time like this too, with my husband, before we both got married." Ok but, it would not be justice if I say you both, Zhongli and you, looked any less than a couple. God, date already <3. Ok facts aside, Zhongli did tell the old woman that you both were not dating, which he got a reply, "Oh, my apologies for assuming that. But, saying from experience, you both should give it a try if you both happen to be single, haha." Ok but that's facts. You woke up to see Zhongli, with red tint all over his cheeks. You immediately apologized for your doing. Don't be surprised if the next day you see the same man waiting for you in the train, keeping a seat for you.

note: might have lost creative brain juice for zhongli's part <\3

#genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin xiao #genshin x y/n #genshin kaeya #genshin diluc #genshin childe #genshin zhongli #genshin albedo #genshin kazuha #genshin scaramouche #genshin thoma #genshin imagines #genshin modern au

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