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doobea · 4 months

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ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE ─ MEGUMI F.

synopsis: upon graduating and landing your first job outside of college, you soon realize that being in your twenties suck. outside of working nine hours everyday, setting time for the gym, and making shitty home cooked meals, you have a new stressor joining your team on monday - your ex.

MILESTONE EVENT || MILESTONE MASTERLIST

contents: gn!reader, second chances, office romance, lots of awkward tension, background satosugu, alcohol consumption, company mixers and gossip thrown around word count: 7045 (im sorry) a/n: thank you so much for requesting this @mymegumi !! this is my first time writing for megumi so i hope he isn't too ooc!! :3 this was def one of my fav ones i've received hehe also shout out to @popponn for beta reading this like a champ because wow this was a MESS and shes helped w a lot ;;

Walking into the office on a Monday morning and seeing your ex first thing is something you wouldn’t wish on your enemy.

To make matters even slightly worse, the team manager announces that he’s going to be the new software engineer on your team and that his assigned seat is, surprise surprise, next to yours.

So this is how things are going now.

Things have changed drastically between you and Megumi, having today being your one-year break up anniversary, and you’re still finding your ground here. And, it goes both ways, you suppose. The initial shock on your face was hard to hide and you could’ve sworn Megumi felt like putting in his two week notice the moment you walked through those doors. But you don’t blame him when he excuses himself to the nearest bathroom and you don’t blame him when he spends a suspicious amount of time in there.

“Does the new guy have IBS or something?” Your manager, Satoru Gojo, plops himself down at the corner of your desk, completely ignoring the fact that his ass is resting on the pile of documents that you’re planning to review. He’s wearing his usual black circular lenses inside despite it being not sunny on this cold, gloomy December morning. Gojo thinks he looks cool with them on, definitely not trying to gain a certain regional manager’s attention. He’s also disregarding the fact that you’re squirming uncomfortably in your seat.

You cough loudly into your fist and manage to shimmy a packet from Gojo’s ass pile, trying to drown yourself in work and not engage in the conversation, knowing full well that Gojo can’t keep his mouth shut if he finds out about your relationship history.

“Maybe it’s just first day nerves,” you shrug back.

“I’m not paying him to take a shit at work,” Gojo huffs back, hands on hips like a mother hen. “There’s some Pepto Bismol in the first aid kit in the break room, go hand him that.”

You sigh, clicking the pen repeatedly in your hands in hopes that your manager gets the hint that you’re busy, but he just repeats it, emphasizing that ‘hey, no need to create a toxic work environment’ and that ‘everyone here is family’.

“You can’t grab Nobara to do it?” You grumble out.

“I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?” he replies back before hopping off your desk. Gojo adjusts his tie and smooths out his hair before sending finger guns in your direction. “Make Megumi feel at home and I’ll give everyone an extra five thousand on top of the initial holiday bonus, yeah?”

If there’s anything that Satoru Gojo is good at, outside of drunk whining about his ex, it’s bribing. You’ve been working at this company for just under a year and the amount of times he would throw money out in order to get others to do his responsibilities might be more than you can count but, in hindsight, it’s not a bad trait to have. He’s a good listener, attentive of other’s needs, and not a micromanager. And, while you desperately want to say no, you have to admit that having an extra five thousand bonus does sound incredibly nice.

“Fine,” you give in and push yourself out of the seat. “But that’s all that I’m doing for the rest of the week. I’ve got other things I have to catch up on before the end of the year.”

It’s not a lie. You’ve got meetings with clients scheduled back to back until the last week before Christmas and most of them are being indecisive about their app designs. Though, that’s the normal life of being a graphic web designer on a regular day.

“Yeah?” Gojo briefly glances over your calendar that you have pinned against the wooden cork board in your cubicle and hums in deep thought — which is usually not a good sign. “Y’know what? Megumi should join in on the meetings too.”

“H-Huh?”

“Why are you giving me that look? You give him the designs, he makes it look pretty, and then we have profit.”

“Yeah but,” you gesture your hands towards Toge’s desk behind you, who’s currently hunched over and deep into whatever line of code he’s attempting to fix for a particular picky client. “I’m already partnered up with Toge, I don’t think Megumi needs—”

Gojo enunciates your name, loud and slow, tilting his glasses down so you can see the intense blue of his eyes. “Can’t you see I’m trying to hook you up, right now?”

Oh god, so this is why he’s being so persistent.

You heave out another sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose in frustration and embarrassment. “Gojo, are you self projecting right now?” You swear he always does this.

“Am not!” Gojo quickly shoots back with crossed arms. “You look like you haven’t gotten laid in a while and I’d figure I play office cupid with you and the new guy!” Then, a small pause followed by a loud Teams’ message notification comes from his phone. You don’t need to guess who sent it judging by Gojo’s exasperated gasp. “Inumaki, please focus on your tasks instead of listening in on people’s conversations!”

Ping!

DESIGN TEAM - SUB GC [Toge Inumaki]: gojo needs to get laid lolol [Maki Zen’in]: say it louder for the ppl in the back

Gojo manages out another grumpy sound, more a whine than anything else; your grin widens and pat him on the shoulder.

“Pepto Bismol, right?” You snort.

“He’s still going to join—” Gojo starts to respond, but then gets cut off by another notification, and gives up. “Ack—whatever! Just make sure you look after him today, alright? Me and Suguru are going to plan for the holiday party for the rest of the day, so no interruptions!” He announces the last part louder than the rest, staring down at everyone else on the office floor. Gojo is met with a couple of weak ‘yeah, sure, have fun, bud’ before turning his attention back to you. He says the next part in a hush whisper, “Gonna increase it to ten thousand, you spend too much time at work anyway.”

You roll your eyes, nodding away just to agree and end the dreaded topic. “Aye, aye, captain.”

Then, Gojo has the audacity to drink some of your morning tea and sighs, content and relaxed as he’ll ever be, before strutting to the otherside of the floor and into Geto’s office. You and the others are pretty sure they have a secret room connected in there. No one’s ever been able to go inside Geto’s office without a special lock pad code. Something about protecting the company’s patented secrets or whatever. Doesn’t help the allegations that only Gojo has access to said special code.

Ping!

You look at your computer and see that Toge had sent you a private message.

[Toge Inumaki]: u actually gonna flirt w the new guy?

You glare at Toge, who’s now flashing you a knowing smirk underneath the turtleneck that extends over his mouth. You know he’s celebrating inwardly because, yeah, you see that little glimmer in Toge’s eyes that indicates that he does know your dirty little office secret. How do you know this for a fact? Toge always looks up everyone’s personal and employment history.

It’s always the quiet ones who are freaks.

“No way,” you reply, probably with even more indignation than Gojo, if that’s even possible. “Also, keep the info on the down low and I’ll share some of my bonus with you, please?” If you’re going to survive this job, you might as well steal some of your manager’s tactics.

Without any opposition, Toge sends you a thumbs up.

This is going to be an interesting year.

“You’re making it so not obvious,” Maki starts, sarcastically, as she refills her liter sized tumbler by the company’s only fancy coffee machine. It’s also the only functional one on the floor and Geto claims that it’s worth more than your entire yearly salary. What an absurd purchase but everyone abuses the shit out of it, so you guess it’s worth the price.

You stick out your tongue in disgust as you watch her put five shots of espresso into the container and wonder how the hell is her body still functioning correctly. “You could’ve at least told me that he applied for the job, y’know?”

“And what? How was I supposed to know he was going to be on our team? Were you going to look for a new job just because he got it?” Maki shoots you an unimpressed look and totally catches the way you chew your lips as your fingers twitch at your sides. “Listen, as your friend and his cousin, I’m not really sure all the details that went down but I know that Megumi isn’t out to hurt you — you should know that too.”

“I do know that,” you angrily place down your mug underneath the machine, firmly pressing the cappuccino option on the touch screen. “We just… didn’t really talk after he had to move, like at all.” You frown.

Maki leans against the break room counter and sips her beverage. “Mind running it back to me again?”

“It’s long, Maki,” you try to deflect, “Trauma dumping first thing in the morning is rather—”

Ping!

[Satoru Gojo]: did ya hand him the anti poop meds yet?

“Wait, give me a second, gotta reply to…”

Maki laughs. “All good, take your time.”

[You]: not yet, getting coffee [Satoru Gojo]: losing employee of the month status as we speak [You]: u being deadass rn [Satoru Gojo]: you wished your ass was getting aidhwkakha

The sudden keyboard smash and offline status change is enough to lose your interest in the conversation. A chill runs down your spine at the immediate imagination of your supervisors getting it on with each other. As a small distraction, your eyes begin shifting focus around the break room before settling on the small first aid kit in the corner. And now you’re reminded again of the side mission that somehow became a main mission in your twenties’ story line.

Handing your ex bowel medicine was not part of your bingo card.

“I’ll talk to you later, Maki,” you release a groan when she laughs again. It’s light hearted, you know that for sure, but it still feels humiliating.

You round the corner down the hallway leading to the restroom with the neon pink bottle in hand, mumbling to yourself ways to avoid talking to Megumi, before crashing dead on into something, or rather someone, hard.

“Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry—”

“No, it’s my bad, I—”

You regret ever opening your mouth. A heartbeat pause passes before you could gather your thoughts, coherently. You’re pretty sure you have this dumb, gawking, expression plastered over your face because Megumi is doing all that he can to avoid having proper eye contact with you.

Instead of half expecting him to brush past you, he points at the neon bottle and asks, slowly, with all seriousness, “Is that for you?”

“F-For me?” You look down at the bottle and look up again, feeling warmth in your cheeks from embarrassment and… anger? You hastily shove the bottle into his hands, strongly ignoring the fact that he smells really good for someone who just spent the last half hour in a bathroom. “It’s for you, idiot!”

For a split second, Megumi looks wildly offended that you would even consider that he needs something like this. You watch as he’s about to give it back to you or, knowing him, throw it away, when suddenly a tuft of pink pokes out from the corner of your eyes.

Yuuji had somehow acquired a ridiculous bright strand of Christmas lights that he’s looped around his neck. He’s got a Santa hat on, also holding an extra pair too, and you want to question where he managed to get the overly festive attire from, and if there’s some sort of weird in-office holiday event that you weren’t invited to.

“Hey, hey! I was told to bring this over to the new guy!” Yuuji chirps brightly and stops in his tracks when he sees Megumi in front of you. “You must be him!”

“Megumi,” you wince at saying his name finally, pushing aside your previous strained thoughts due to the new company, and run a feverish hand through your hair. “This is Yuuji, he works in our sales department. Yuuji, this is Megumi, he’s part of the design team.” You reply in a sickly-sweet tone.

“ ‘Sup! How are you?” Yuuji pops the ‘p’ and whistles.

“I’m charmed,” Megumi sighs and stares him down for a moment, before he finally grips the festive hat when Yuuji presents it to him. “Do I have to?”

“Of course!” Yuuji flicks on the switch to his necklace and it nearly blinds your eyes from how bright it was. The festive colors alternate, and there’s a small jingle that plays right after. Talk about a seizure warning. “It’s part of the company’s tradition!”

Megumi breathes through his nose, rolling his eyes. “The company was founded this year.”

“Yeah, starting today, it’s a company tradition,” Yuuji corrects.

“Starting today, I’ll write up my notice,” he grumbles, only audible to you.

You have to admit, you appreciate the dry sarcasm. There’s no denying that Megumi looks like he’s a second away from quitting all within the first two hours of his first day. But, as you noted earlier, you don’t blame him.

“You guys are coming to the end of the year party, right?” Yuuji snaps a quick selfie with the three of you in it, explaining something about posting on the company’s Instagram story reels and gaining clout. Though, you’re pretty sure that only Yuuji was smiling in the photo.

“I was actually planning on staying home,” you answer sheepishly, not wanting to give away the obvious reason.

Yuuji frowns and immediately pulls out his signature puppy dog eyes. “Aww, wait really? You seemed so excited for it earlier last week.”

You’re shaking your head. “No, I wasn’t—”

“Yuh huh,” Yuuji fishes out his phone to pull up the fucking group chat receipts, showing it to both you and a perplexed Megumi. “You said you went out and bought an ugly Christmas sweater the next day!”

“It was a joke!”

Yuuji pulls up a photo of you in said ugly Christmas sweater. You die a little on the inside.

“You’re wearing it right here, though!”

“Yuu—”

“A joke, huh,” Megumi kicks the bottom of his loafers against the floor, shoving the red hat deep into his pants’ pocket, before excusing himself, again. He holds up the pink bottle and turns around, back towards the restrooms. “Turns out I’ll be needing this, thanks.” There’s a hint of malice oozing from the last word, one that you pick up quite easily while Yuuji looks around confused.

“So Gojo wasn’t overreacting about the IBS thing…” Yuuji muses.

It’s now midday and a total of less than thirty words have been exchanged so far between you and Megumi. You two have been working in silence for the past hour at the cubicles and you’re beginning to feel awfully guilty about the earlier exchange.

It wasn’t your intention to make him feel unwelcomed. Maybe you’re thinking too deeply into this than needed?

“Are you feeling okay?” You arch a brow, pulling your eyes away from your monitor for a moment to look at Megumi. Megumi stops typing and makes a small appreciative sound, nodding quickly enough. You know better though, whenever he has a far off look on his face, that his mind’s a mess.

“Yeah,” Megumi tries to sound casual as he goes back to coding. “This is probably not easy for you either, right?” He lets an ear bud dangle from his side.

“That noticeable?” You let out a short laugh, knowing that you both know each other still pretty fucking well. “It’s just… been a year, you know? Haven’t seen much of you since you moved.” You’re waiting for him to take the bait as you have your suspicions, and you don’t voice them, but you swear, just for a moment, there’s a strange expression on Megumi’s face. Then, you blink, and maybe you’ve imagined it all, because his face goes back to looking as stoic as he always did.

“I’m,” he pauses his fingers, sinking back into his seat, eyes downcasted. “I’m sorry. I know I should’ve called you, at least.”

“I was worried sick like crazy,” you suddenly admit, the words seemingly flowing out at this point. “Was almost debating calling the missing person’s hotline until the mailman, of all people, told me that your family packed up and dipped.”

Megumi isn’t the most expressive person when it comes to apologies, having an already wildly unconventional childhood was enough to shell himself out from everyone else. Though, it’s hard to deny that he should’ve and could’ve done something earlier.

Megumi chews methodically down on his lips. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

You nod slowly, making note of the way his voice strained, and face back to your monitors. “It’s fine, I probably shouldn’t have brought it up at work,” a pause and then you continue, “Also, I’m sorry about acting like you’re the plague, too. It’s just—people don’t normally work with their ex’s, you know?” You whisper.

He sighs, there’s a finality to it, and puts back his ear bud. “Mhm, I don’t want to think about it.”

Yeah. It’s stupid. It’s stupid and somehow it really sucks, too. You’re absentmindedly nodding and maybe, you think, there’s a quick flicker of that same unnamed emotion you keep noticing from Megumi, one that somehow forces your stomach to twist up, making your insides all confused.

“Okay, that’s fair enough,” you say, and you forget about it, at least for now.

After a few days, working with Megumi is like clockwork.

Greetings are short and brief or none at all. If he needed something, he would contact Toge or Maki since they’re the ones supposed to be in charge of him. If he ever needed to grab something from you… well it’ll just be exchanged via email or the work group chat — nothing ever in person. Which you’re happy that you’re both on the same page. Also, thank god for Zoom Meetings having a recording option. There was no way in actual hell you were going to sit through a two hour long call with your ex sitting across from you.

It’s halfway through the work week and nearing the end of the day. You’ve successfully got off the call with a client and just sent over the finalized web design to the rest of the team.

Yuki Tsukumo, a self-made billionaire, reached out to the company three months back regarding a new app launch she had in mind. Ironically for you, it’s a dating app specifically designed for second chances and heartbreaks. Did you mentally suffer a couple of breakdowns from this? Of course.

Are you going to suffer another one because Gojo is currently ordering a last minute meeting with you and Megumi in a conference room? Yeah.

“What the fuck,” you say, intelligently. “Are you—are you crying?”

“W-What makes you think that,” Gojo sneezes into an already damp tissue. He’s got a stupid Christmas-themed sweater on, even got a themed set of earrings in, too. A little necklace with red and white candy cane beads hangs from his neck, and he’s got a dumb temporary reindeer tattoo on his cheek. Gojo is so themed that it’s almost disgusting. “Why would I—why would I—” and he bursts into tears.

You outwardly groan and Megumi stays quiet but makes his annoyance evident with a deep furrow of his brows. You do not like where this is going. Gojo breaking down combined with Geto suddenly taking off only means that—

“You want us to take over the planning.” Megumi concludes in a flat tone.

“F-For the party—yes,” Gojo hiccups and, fuck, is he also drunk on the job right now?

“Did you and Geto have a fight again?” You deadpan.

“No.” Gojo frowns, going cross eyed. It’s not adorable at all, completely different from how he usually depicts himself to the rest of the office, which is why both you and Megumi stealthily slip out your phones and snap a quick picture… for blackmail purposes. “I-I was just…”

“We’ll do it,” you actually didn’t want to know the details, but you are slightly amused by how things turned out the way they did. “So, why are you drunk?”

Gojo opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. “ ‘m not drunk enough to tell you the whole story,” he gravely replies.

Megumi scoffs as he graciously gets out of his seat. “Well, if that’s all then I’m going back to my desk.”

And, of course, in the end it comes down to Megumi fucking Fushiguro being your co-assistant to organizing the biggest end of the year dinner celebration. A ten thousand bonus is on the line and you could really use a long vacation afterwards.

Gojo sends you to a file containing the event plans that they’ve completed so far and what’s missing. Food has already been covered, Gojo has a fancy restaurant catering information listed down, one he raves constantly about their tiramisu. Below that Geto makes a brief comment about needing an after party reservation at any local bar. Holiday decor still needs to be ordered and a DJ still needs to be booked. Not to mention setting up the office, organizing activities, creating and sending out emails to every—

“I’ll handle coordinating with the vendors, you can focus on the internal tasks.”

You blink. “What?”

He blinks in return. “What do you mean ‘what’?”

And, when you don’t say anything back, he continues.

“I’ll stay out of your way,” Megumi has his back turned to you. He’s unable to catch your slight frown. Those words should be a good sign. The less contact, the better. But hearing it makes your stomach clench uncomfortably, and you find yourself casting around for something to say back.

You try to open your mouth to speak, but it’s a bunch of gibberish, nonsense syllables, the only recognizable word being a bleary, “together”.

“Together?”

“We can work on it together,” you rephrased it more clearly.

Megumi tenses his shoulders and whips his head around, holding a slight sneer, though you aren’t sure if it’s meant for you or just towards the odd situation. “We are, that’s why I’m splitting the responsibilities up.”

“No, I mean like—”

“You don’t have to force anything.” Megumi says, running fingers through his unkempt hair. “I don’t want to make things more awkward than they already are.”

Of course, that sets you off a bit uneasily. You look around in the office and, once you realize that it’s just the two of you, you pull Megumi by his sleeves and find the nearest empty conference room.

“You look upset,” you huff, completely ignoring the way he’s pouting.

“I’m not upset,” Megumi shoots back, but his words are far too quick, a little bit heated, and he flushes instantly. He knows that he’s not fooling anyone, especially you.

You sigh, leaning your back against the wall next to the door. “Maybe not to others,” you begin, “I don’t want to sound like an ass but…” and you instinctively cringe when you think back to Gojo’s words from the beginning, “We have to work together for this project, at least.”

“I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable,” Megumi confesses, and you see the weight coming off of his shoulders as he says it. It sounded like he wasn’t planning on bringing this up at all, but the words are soon tumbling out. “Just… trying to get out of your way, you know? I still kinda need time to process everything.”

“Ah,” you’re looking down at your shoes, suddenly feeling… shy? Confused? You're watching him out of the corner of your eye.

Megumi breathes out a long sigh, fixes the wrinkles in his sleeves, and leans forward, brushing shoulders with you as he reaches for the handle. “I’ll cooperate,” he forces out.

“Megumi,” you say quietly, and you’re watching his knuckles turn white as he grips the knob just a bit too tightly. “Let’s just start over, okay?”

He frowns, and he masks it after a moment, you know how to get him stirring in his emotions, because the thought appears to give him a pause. Megumi’s eyes widen a bit, and he’s back to chewing his lip, a bad habit he’s always had, before smoothing out again.

“That’s complicated, you know that,” Megumi says finally.

You have no right to judge his answer, considering that you also played along in this weird tip-toe dance that you’ve both set. But is it really that complicated? Sure, you’re still pissed about what transpired during the relationship and ‘break up’, if you even want to call it that, but how long are you going to pretend that he’s not an important figure in your life?

“Life is complicated,” you stare into his eyes. “So work with me here, Megumi.”

You begin to feel better when you check off the final bullet point on Gojo’s ridiculously long event planner. Miraculously, the two of you manage to have everything prepared before the end of the month, even if it means working slight overtime together. Not that either of you had minded, it seemed after that conversation, there’s been less tension. You’re both trying to move on from the past and that’s the part of growing up, like it or not, and things don’t really fall neatly in place anymore.

So, when you get to the restaurant, you realize something real fast.

The seating arrangements are absolutely staged.

It’s a small izakaya, so the price to rent the whole place out wasn’t as expensive as some of the places Gojo had listed down as recs in the previous email but, because of its limited space, you knew it was going to be a tight squeeze for all twenty of you guys.

For starters, it was apparent from the moment you sat down that no one wanted to sit next to you. You were wondering if it had to do anything with your body odor before noting two very important things — one, Megumi was going to be the last one to arrive because he’s picking up the cake and two, everyone was staring intently when he entered the restaurant and had no choice but to sit next to you. You were trying so hard not to get distracted but the scent of his familiar cologne and the proximity of his body heat traveled to the forefront of your mind.

Three shots of tequila followed by five lemon drops later and both of your supervisors have disappeared from the dinner table. You vaguely make out a trail of unraveled ties and belts down the restaurant’s bathroom hallway in the corner, no surprise guessing what your bosses are doing — hint, it’s probably with each other. Aside from that, you’re currently trying not to let yourself get distracted by the obvious questions that your other coworkers are currently throwing to you and Megumi.

“We heard from a little birdie that you two are ex’s?” Todo throws the fucking rock out there.

Everyone is either currently drunk or getting to the point of being tipsy. One look at Toge and he has the word ‘culprit’ written all over his smug, redden face. You’d imagine that he told everyone at the table about it when you and Megumi excused yourselves to the restroom separately earlier in the night. Mai is giggling up a storm and Yuuji looks like he’s one sip away from making weird hand puppets of you two kissing. Maybe it’s hypocritical on your part, but you don’t get why they’re making such a big deal out of it. It’s not like you and Megumi are actually making the work environment uncomfortable and it’s also not like you guys are getting back together by seeing each other every day… right?

But you have to wonder, vaguely, when your body’s going to stop doing that weird, fluttering thing it does every time Megumi does look at you. You almost spill your drink everywhere when you catch his eyes again and mutter a string of curses under your breath, forcing your attention back to actually doing some damage control before it gets out of hand.

The only way to stop them from spreading unnecessary rumors is to own up to it. The more you deny, the more relentless teasing you’ll receive. Both you and Megumi drain a shot of tequila for the sake of courage before answering Todo’s unwarranted question.

“Yes.”

“No.”

You stare at each other in disbelief before switching your answers in a panic.

“No!”

“Yes!”

Yuuji starts nervously laughing and scratches his cheek. “Uh, guys…”

“We’re not—”

“We broke up—”

“You gonna take him out on a date?” Todo digs into his food, eyes never leaving the two of you. For some reason, you think he’s enjoying this a bit too much.

Megumi seems to pick up on this and groans. “I’m going outside for a bit,” he removes himself from his seat and pointedly avoids all the disappointed drunk mumblings from his coworkers as he makes a beeline towards the entrance with his coat in hand.

Okay, yeah, he’s smart for not falling for that. You, on the other hand, start pawing at your lap.

“We’re not dating,” you correct Todo, and basically everyone at the table.

“What if… he thinks you’re dating and you don’t?” Yuuji slurs his words, half of his body is basically leaning against the tabletop.

You highly doubt anything you’ve done together would be considered date worthy. You’re pretty sure Megumi feels the same way and everything is exaggerated at this point. Suddenly, you feel really out of your element here, and this burst of anxiety, one that leaves you squirming in your seat, has you itching for fresh air.

“I’ll be right back,” you quickly excuse yourself, grabbing your belongings along.

It didn’t take you long to find him. Megumi is standing off to the side underneath the building’s overhang, eyes glued to the road, silently watching the first snowfall of the month before taking notice of your presence. He flashes you a soft nod and scoots a little to the left, inviting you into his space, which you end up taking.

“When are you planning to leave?” Megumi asks. His face is flushed at this point, the first couple of buttons of his collared shirt are open, and his sleeves are rolled up. He’s got his jacket tossed across his shoulder and, you soon realize, that your ex looks stupidly mesmerizing under the shitty neon lights outside the restaurant.

The answer had been “in about ten minutes” but somewhere between your brain and mouth, the words had taken a detour to Megumi’s long lashes, because instead you say, “Whenever you leave, I guess.”

It’s not like you actually have plans after this anyway. Your apartment might need a deep holiday cleaning after wasting the last couple of weeks working overtime, and you might need to pay the grocery store a little visit to actually start cooking yourself a healthy meal, but that can all wait.

Megumi makes a strange straggled noise at your response and hides his surprise through a long sigh, “So…”

You cock a brow. “So?” You echo back.

Another sigh from Megumi and he finally floods out his words. “The next train arrives in fifteen, we can both make it if you’re fine with leaving now.”

It’s a rare invitation and, despite the initial tension, there’s no way in hell that both of you are letting this opportunity go.

You say yes in an instant, fixing your winter coat around your body and doing a quick three-second check to see if you have everything only to notice that your phone is missing.

“Oh, um—”

“I’ve got it right here,” Megumi fishes out your phone from his pocket and hands it over. “Figured that you would’ve accidentally left it behind.”

For a moment, you wonder if you’re on one of those hidden camera shows. But the look that Megumi gives you, the look that you’re all too familiar with a year ago, it’s there written all over his face. You realize that you are, fortunately, not on a reality show — the alcohol and snow might be paid actors — and your ex, tipsy and but wildly attentive towards you, is completely still infatuated.

You take it without questioning. When you check the phone battery, it doesn’t surprise you to see it almost fully charged too. He’s always been the worry wart, even if he doesn’t show it half the time.

“Gojo recommended this new book series to me,” Megumi says with a small grin, changing the topic. You’re grateful for that, slightly. Even though you can’t quite meet his eyes, your gaze lingers on the way his hand is idly tugging at a loose thread on his shirt, or the way that he’s subtly kicking at the growing pile of snow in the corner, like he can’t stay still. It’s endearing, and you’re left wondering what’s actually going through his mind outside of all things surface level.

You find yourself mimicking his smile, already knowing what might come next. “Bet it’s either a series about friendship and adventure or the nastiest smut he could find in the romance section.” You reply, rolling your eyes.

Megumi lets out a choked laugh, and almost drops his coat. You hide a giggle of your own. “Not anything like that, but I wouldn’t be surprised.” Megumi momentarily eyes you, but then reaches for his phone, pulling it out and thumbs the title ‘Sorcery Fight’ into the search bar. Tons of images pop up, many featuring fanart of who you assumed to be the main character — white hair, wears a blindfold, oddly charismatic in its character description — wait, this all sounds oddly fishy.

“Another self projection?” You realize, instantly.

“Maybe,” Megumi agrees before shifting his weight around, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Did you want to check it out tomorrow…?” He briefly makes eye contact and diverts his attention back to his phone. “If you’re free, that is.” He quickly adds.

You pretend to be in deep thought for a moment, leaving Megumi wondering if he said something he shouldn’t have, because the look on his face screams ‘oh god, have I gone too far’ under all of his aloof persona.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll be free.”

Almost uncharacteristically, Megumi lets out a, “Fuck you,” and that seems like the wittiest response in the world, in that moment.

It descends you into a full on giggling fit, and Megumi can’t help it, your laughter is contagious, and now you’re both giggling, on the verge of leaning against each other helplessly as the winter air is howling rough and bitter around. It’s a damn good thing that the alcohol is still running through your veins, giving you both that hot feeling of dumb immortality.

“Let’s go catch that train,” he looks forward but extends a hand towards you, when you firmly clasp around his fingers, the slightest shade of red coats his cheeks and you’re positive it wasn’t from the weather.

Of course, Megumi ends up at your apartment after you decided at the last minute to pick up crappy, greasy takeout food on the way back at nearly one in the morning. The buzz from the drinks have worn off, but you find yourself slowly gaining confidence scooting besides Megumi as both of you take a seat on the carpeted floor in front of your incredibly dusty coffee table. It’s covered in finger smudges and scratches from all the other previous nights of takeout meals and accidental bumps. You pray that Megumi doesn’t point them out, but a part of you is glad when he wordlessly starts cleaning some of the spots away.

Kinda feels like the old times, you think.

“You ever think that we’re the ones who can’t see what’s going on?” You ask during an opening scene to a British comedian podcast show. It’s a news channel that Megumi likes to watch sometimes, despite not believing half of whatever that’s being reported. Out of the corner of your eyes, you could’ve sworn Megumi’s cheeks are flushing, but it’s hard to tell in the dark.

It’s the takeout food talking. The fries and milkshake combo is making your stomach do weird little flips—or maybe it was from Megumi being close?

You tip your head back, looking out your window, because the thought of looking at Megumi is… hard right now. It makes your heart tight, your throat dry. You’re wondering if he’s even going to show up at your door the next morning, or if you’ll see him the next work day and he’ll make a passing comment about how dumb everything was. Hell, would you even remember this tomorrow with how late it’s getting?

“I’m pretty sure we’re the ones who know what’s up,” Megumi replies, but the words sound hollow, coming from his lips.

“Maybe,” you say, quickly, and the laughter you force out carries the same empty sound that his voice did. “Next time, we should probably have a drink limit to keep them from chatting their asses off.”

“Or never letting them drink again,” Megumi agrees, somewhat, before stealing a piece of fry from your plate.

You hum before testing the waters and letting half of your body go slack against his shoulders. Everything is experimental at this point, so you’re glad when he doesn’t push you away, instead, Megumi leans into your touch, just a little.

“How’s your family? Are they well?” He asks over a news segment. It’s about a modern urban legend, sort of like Bigfoot, but it’s just a guy cohabiting with a giant crocodile. This makes Megumi laugh.

“They are! Parents finally retired so now it’s just me working while they’re relaxing at home.” You let the story wrap up before firing back the same question. “And you?”

“Dad’s still working overseas,” Megumi says with a slight frown.

He’s never really talked about his father, even when you two were together, all you know is that it’s been a complicated relationship since his mother passed away when he was young. His father tried his best raising him all on his own while balancing work, though half of the time Megumi rarely saw him growing up. There’s a bit of resentment, you think, it��s understandable but you can also tell Megumi still holds him high to a certain degree.

“You guys have been talking more though, right?” You vaguely recall a faded memory.

To this, Megumi smiles fondly. “Yeah, we have. Once a month, if he’s not terribly caught up with whatever he’s doing.”

Turns out neither of you have figured out his father’s occupation, which might be for the better. Megumi thinks it’s gang related, and doesn't give it too much thought as long as his father is safe. You, on the other hand, have thought of it being related to overseas construction work, something less… imaginative and dangerous.

“I’m glad to hear that, and also glad you’re doing well for yourself.”

“Yeah,” and Megumi shifts a bit to get a better look at you. There’s fondness in his eyes that steels you to sit up a bit straighter. “I could say the same thing for you.”

“Well, my apartment could use a bit more loving,” you laugh, “It’s a bit hard to manage everything sometimes.”

“Maybe I can help?” Megumi says this with a straight face and you’re wondering if somehow the apple juice with his takeout order is somehow spiked with hard cider.

When somehow you didn’t pick up a hint of alcohol from his breath, from how close you’re sitting against him, you choke on your saliva. “You’re serious about that, Megumi?”

“What? Don’t believe me?”

“No,” you say the words instantly, far too quickly, and feel the immediate warmth spreading to your cheeks, even if you’re trying to look cool and collected.

“Well,” Megumi tips his head to the side, eyes narrowed. “It’s getting late,” he points out.

You glance at your wall clock and, sure enough, it’s three in the morning. You weren’t tired before but, somehow with him pointing it out, your eyes start to grow heavy. You’re grateful for the distraction and you think you just want Megumi to go away, but you know the second he does, you’re going to be obsessing over this conversation. Over the implications, the unsaid words between the fine lines, and well… just about everything that’s been there and been overcomplicated. And maybe Megumi is taking pity on you because he shifts his gaze to your face before settling a firm grip on both of your shoulders.

“Let’s get you to bed.” Megumi scoots a little closer, and you have a moment of panic. Then, you realize that he’s silently asking for permission to lift you up. “Are you planning to sleep out here?”

“Are you leaving right after?” You catch yourself staring at him, a bit too longing, and jerk your head down but he catches your chin, before you can fully pull yourself away.

“No, I’m staying,” he breathes out, his voice a low rumble in your ears. “Is that fine?”

You weren’t expecting that particular answer. You slowly lift your head away, gently freeing yourself from his touch, but staying close enough to nudge your shoulder up against his. Megumi is trying—he’s trying really hard to be open and you feel like your nerves are raging in your body again, although this time, it’s not an entirely uncomfortable feeling.

“I would like that,” Megumi smiles at that, and he lets you lean a head on his shoulder while he slips an arm around your waist, pulling your sleepy figure up, and both of you slip into a comfortable silence.

TAGLIST: @hellothere9597 @sad-darksoul

#doobea writing #jjk fluff #jjk x reader #jjk x gender neutral reader #satosugu #but more in the background lol #megumi fushiguro x reader #megumi x reader #megumi fushiguro #jujutsu kaisen x gender neutral reader #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jjk x gn!reader

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twogyuu · 6 months

Text

not really magic

Pairing: Vernon x fem!reader

Synopsis: In which Jeonghan runs out of babysitter options, so he drops Nina off with Vernon and his girlfriend. Little do either of them know, just maybe the little girl is more capable of making them confront the questions of their future than most adults.

Genre: Fluff, mild angst, good helping of crack, established relationship, featuring ex!JJK

Warnings: Profanity, McDonald's PlayPlace

WC: ~6.3k

A/N: It's Nina from Wonwoo's Tasty Milk (and Cereal) causing chaos again! This has been in the works for a hot minute! Unedited and VERY cringe-y, cheesy, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! I'm kind of embarrassed to be publishing it tbh, but it's the most I've written in forever so I'm just publishing it and then running/hiding💀🤡 The thought that two people are mature enough to talk about these mundane things just makes me feel some type of way T^T

This wasn't inspired by any particular song, but kyungsoo's 'somebody' and sundial's 'rollercoaster' are quite fitting for this fic. Happy reading :)

. . . .

It was a well-known fact that Vernon was not very good with children.

He was not unkind or inconsiderate towards them by any means, but he simply didn’t know how to interact or communicate with them.

And to be frank, though you were a little better than him, it was only by a margin because you had younger siblings at some point (they’re now grown) and kid cousins. It has been a while since you’ve been around children in general – he’d imagine you were rusty to some end.

Consequently, it took him by surprise when Jeonghan called and you agreed to watch his four-year old daughter on Saturday while Jeonghan and his wife were at yet another wedding of their in-laws.

To be fair, however, Wonwoo and Leah were also attending, so their usual babysitter was already not an option. The backup, Mingyu and his best friend (cough, cough – situationship), were out of town attending a music festival. Seungkwan, the backup to the backup, was hosting someone’s bachelor party. The only other father of the group, Minghao, had his hands full with growing and surprisingly, wild twins. Seungcheol was an expecting parent – his wife could go into labor at any moment. The rest of the crew was only slightly less reliable than Vernon and you.

He guessed that extra one percent must count for something.

There was no doubt Jeonghan and his wife were still nervous about leaving Nina with the two of you – and rightfully so.

Vernon and you were relatively young – in age, spirit, and well, your relationship. At least from what Jeonghan could observe, the two of you were clearly not ready for kids, whether they be your own or Jeonghan’s.

Vernon was terrified and he had a feeling Mr. and Mrs. Yoon were too.

They perhaps trusted Vernon a little less than they did you because while Vernon was standing and staring down at Nina by the front door of your apartment, Jeonghan’s wife was going through a laminated sheet of instructions and tips with you in regards to caring for Nina in the next six hours. Hands on hips, Jeonghan was standing over his wife’s shoulder, offering supportive nods and stern, unhelpful ‘mhm’s’ to back her up.

“Hello,” Nina finally squeaked, peering up at Vernon.

She was definitely Jeonghan’s kid – it was in the eyes: brown, round, and innocent, but with a hint of mischief glaring in the corner of her irises.

“Hey,” Vernon greeted back casually.

“Where’s Uncle Wonwoo?” she asked. Her eyes wandered from the tall man and glossed over the unfamiliar apartment.

“Uh,” Vernon panicked and stalled in his reply.

Why the heck was she asking about Wonwoo? Vernon can’t remember already knowing his babysitter by name when he was four.

“Uncle Wonwoo has a giant teddy bear in his house!” she marveled. Her tone was quick to dip into disappointment. “But I don’t see him here.”

Vernon felt his breath grow more shallow. By the power of Boo Seungkwan, he hoped this kid wouldn’t already start crying on him.

He had to make her feel better. How do people make kids happy?

Games? They like games, right?

“Do you wanna play rock, paper, scissors?” Vernon blurted.

Nina peered up at him again, face twisting as she processed the situation and her emotions – confused, curious, and amused.

He would take it.

Vernon silently held out his fist to the girl, waiting for her to take the bait.

“What are you guys doing?” your voice floated into the vicinity, breaking the silence and awkwardness.

Nina and Vernon looked over to find you standing with Jeonghan and his wife on either side of you. Vernon noted how the way his wife was dressed in a light blue and him in a dark suit, was eerily reminiscent of an angel and devil on your shoulders.

“He asked if I wanted to play block, paper, scissors,” Nina explained quietly. She looked back nervously at Vernon.

Granted Nina had not been around Vernon and his girlfriend a lot, her uneasy behavior around Vernon did not go unnoticed by Jeonghan. Nina was smart: wary of strangers, but never shy like this. Perhaps shy wasn’t the right word, but there definitely something going on in that little head of hers. As if she was calculating and observing, trying to decipher Vernon.

You raised a curious eyebrow in the direction of your boyfriend.

“It’s rock, paper, scissors, Nini,” Jeonghan corrected his daughter softly. He skirted around you to come pick her up, a quiet grunt leaving his lips when he heaped her up into his arms. Nina curled into her dad’s chest.

“We’ll be back in a little while, baby,” Mrs. Yoon walked over to the father-daughter duo. She rubbed the little’s cheeks with the back of her finger to soothe her.

Nina lifted her head from her dad’s shoulder and whispered a little too loudly. “What if they’re not fun like Uncle Wonwoo?”

“Nina,” her mom chided.

“Dang, little girl,” you said under your breath.

Vernon bit the inside of his cheek, holding back the urge to laugh. You were blunt for better or for worse.

Jeonghan, her father a little more understanding knowing Vernon for longer, rubbed the little girl’s back. “They’ll be . . . just fine.”

. . . .

Vernon was not sure what Nina did exactly when she went over to Wonwoo’s place, but it must’ve been comparably better than what she was doing here.

Shortly after Jeonghan left, the little girl dumped out the contents of her bag and began to busy herself with the rather few activities she brought along: a coloring book and a set of markers, a hard-covered picture book with a dog on the cover, a doll, and five pieces of those giant Legos. She burned through each item pretty fast – Vernon figured you could only stack the different colored blocks in various order so many times before you got bored.

It was fortunate that Nina already had lunch before coming over and her mother had packed a simple snack of apples and peanut butter to bridge her to dinner. However, as the clock ticked closer to 6PM and the little girl was growing bored, you could also tell she was getting hangry.

Vernon had tasked you with entertaining and playing with Nina. It wasn’t fair, but he figured Nina would like you better than him. He would just observe from afar and take some notes for next time.

“Can I ask you something, Miss Y/N?” Nina wondered aloud. She brushed her doll’s hair with a small purple plastic brush.

Sitting criss-crossed across from her, you hummed and nodded. “Sure, squirt – what is it?”

You didn’t think much of it. A four-year-old’s questions can’t be that deep.

“Are you and Uncle Vernon like my mommy and daddy?” she looked up at you innocently. “And like Uncle Wonwoo and Auntie Leah? Why did mommy tell me to call you ‘miss’ instead of auntie?”

You choked, feeling your cheeks grow warm as you glanced over your shoulder at Vernon. Sure enough, his eyes were lifted from his phone and boring holes through your back – not without the slightest smirk and quirk of an eyebrow. He waited patiently for your answer. The question was honest and innocent – he wasn’t sure what was so funny about it to him or embarrassing to you, but it was.

“Um, kind of,” you replied slowly.

“Huh?” she crinkled her nose.

“Uncle Vernon is, err . . . my boyfriend,” you explained, wondering if she understood the concept of stages in relationships.

“Boyfriend?” Nina repeated. “Like . . . a friend boy?”

“N-no! No, no!” you exclaimed. Now, you didn’t want to give Jeonghan’s kid the wrong idea about being friends with boys meant a romantic relationship. “N-not . . . really.”

“Then you’re like mommy and daddy?” she said more certainly this time.

“No,” you sighed, “Your mommy and daddy are married. Wonwoo and Leah are engaged – they’re going to get married. Uncle Vernon and I . . . like each other a lot but we. . . aren’t there yet.”

“Will you get married?” Nina asked innocently.

“Um,” your voice trailed off, feeling your heart race at her bluntness. That decision wasn’t entirely up to you, but how did you explain that to a four-year-old? Gosh, why did she ask such hard questions in the first place?

The fortunate thing about being four was that your attention span wasn’t very long.

Nina huffed, setting her doll onto the floor. “Miss Y/N, I’m hungry,” she rubbed her tummy. “Can we eat?”

You let out a small sigh of relief. Classic Yoon: puts you in your doom, but somehow also saves you from it.

“Sure baby,” you reply, you threw Vernon a quick look over your shoulder. “Let’s see what’s in the fridge.”

“Um wait–” Vernon rose from his chair.

“Yay!” Nina cheered. She stood up excitedly and grabbed your hand. Despite her immense effort, not surprisingly, you don’t move much. “Does Uncle Vernon cook well? Uncle Wonwoo doesn’t, but Auntie Leah does.”

“Y/N, hold on,” Vernon jogged over and grabbed your other hand.

You paused in your stride and peered at him through your lashes. You waited patiently for him to continue. Nina looked up the same and impatiently swung your linked hands around.

“Um,” he played with your fingers quietly. His cheeks felt warm as he confessed, “We . . . I-I, um, haven’t gone grocery shopping yet.”

“Oh,” you said softly, putting the pieces together slowly. “So . . . what you’re saying is you don’t have food?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“Vernon,” you started. There was a scolding tone to it. “I told you to grab a few things before Nina came over.”

“I know, I know! I just got carried away with work and stuff,” he explained.

You pulled your hand away from him, pressing your lips into a thin line. You can’t believe he didn’t do it! You had reminded him three days in advance and all the days to follow after. Per usual, your mind spun to the future. If he could pull through for this, what did it mean for when the two of you live together?

Just as you opened your mouth to say something, Nina suddenly let out a high-pitch shrill. “Yay!”

You both startled and looked down at the little girl, confused.

“Let’s have McDonald’s for dinner,” she stated firmly.

Nina grinned wide. There was a mischievous glint in her dark brown eyes, one that was all too reminiscent of her father’s.

She was a Yoon through and through, alright.

. . . .

A quarter pounder, double cheeseburger, large fries, twenty pieces of McNuggets with one of each of the special sauces, Fanta, topped with a chocolate milk that Nina was sipping on was spread out on the two square tables you pushed together to hold all your food. This looked like it could feed a family of six, yet you were only three people. Originally, the plan was just to get Nina a Happy Meal, you and Vernon with your own individuals, but the little girl insisted on additional McNuggets and fries too – when you were in the bathroom.

You were quick to learn that Vernon had little to no immunity to the little girl. It was understandable, but you hated playing the “bad cop” and disciplining her.

“Wanna see a magic trick, Nina?” Vernon asked with his mouth full.

She grinned at him, excitedly.

Vernon’s expression mirrored her own and held up a McNugget in front of his palm. “Watch carefully.”

Nina nodded while stuffing a fry into her mouth.

There was a dramatic pause, his free hand covering then uncovering the McNugget like he was casting some sort of spell on it. You too found yourself curiously watching from the opposite end of the table, your chewing slowing.

His hand blocking the view of the McNugget, though you could clearly see his face from where you were sitting, he quickly stuffs the piece in his mouth. Vernon smiled brightly, with his mouth closed as he chewed, clapping his hands together as if he just puffed it into Dragon Land instead of his mouth.

Nonetheless, Nina being a kid and equally fond of your boyfriend, marveled excitedly.

You scoffed, shaking your head, mumbling a quiet ‘seriously’ under your breath. Vernon must have heard it though – his eyes flickered up at you momentarily while taking Nina’s hand in his own.

You reached over and adjusted Nina’s tray. “C’mon Nina, finish your apple dippers – we gotta go.”

She turns her attention away from Vernon and back to you. She stared at you with wide-eyes, mildly creepily – you knew this look. It was reminiscent of when Jeonghan knew he just pissed off his wife, but she doesn’t know yet, and he was trying to butter her up before then (it never works though).

Nina’s chubby little fingers clung tightly onto your forearm, nails digging into your skin as she jumped and whined.

“Miss Y/N, do we have to go so soon?” she asked cautiously. She craned her neck towards the PlayPlace to one side of you. “Can we stay a bit longer? If I finish my Apple Dippers?”

Now you finally understood why Nina wanted to not only eat from McDonald’s, but also in it.

“Nina,” you grabbed her wrist in an attempt to calm her down, “There’s a reason why your mommy doesn’t let you go inside the playground.”

“PlayPlace!” she was quick to correct you.

You huffed and repeated after her, “PlayPlace. Nina – we’re not going to disobey your mommy.”

“Why?! Daddy does it all the time,” she protested.

You heard Vernon snort from the other side of the linoleum table. He was halfway through another Mcnugget, doing his best to suppress the grin forming on his face.

“Your daddy and I are not the same,” you told her. “Besides,” you wrinkle your nose, “It’s disgusting in there – feet and all.”

“Miss Y/N!” she threw her head back in a howl.

She gave you her best puppy eyes, but you didn’t budge.

As if a light bulb went off in her mind, she perked up and let go of you. Timidly, Nina circles around and approaches the other side of the table. Hands clasped behind her back, her fingers tangling with the strings that pulled her dress back, she peered up innocently at Vernon and offered him a friendly smile.

“Uncle Vernon?” she asked. Her tone was completely changed from when she was begging you just seconds earlier.

“Hm?” he hummed, oblivious as day to the little girl’s advances.

“Will you play with me?” Nina continued.

“Uh,” Vernon’s eyes flickered up to you and you simply leaned back in your seat, getting comfortable as you crossed your arms over your chest.

To be frank, taking care of Nina with Vernon did not feel like it was with Vernon. From home to here, you were the little girl’s main companion on top of making sure she was safe, hydrated, and well-fed. Vernon trailed the two of you like a lost shadow. You were annoyed at his lack of contribution, to say the least. It’s not that you didn’t like Nina and you were trying to be understanding of Vernon, but taking care of a child (and low-key him) was difficult – your sanity mattered to! You weren’t Wonowoo – you could only say and take so much about Pokemon!

Perhaps it was already too soon to be thinking about this, but it was difficult to ignore the voice at the back of your head, nagging about what this meant for you and Vernon in the future. Granted you both have only been dating for a little over a year, the question of marriage and kids were far and few. When they did arrive, it usually was in the form of a loose tease from Seungkwan about how the two of you were hopeless as parents. Vernon would just shake his head and laugh it off.

He never seemed to take this topic quite seriously. Your passing comments about cute kids at the zoo or how the Penguins of Madagascar showing was filled with children and their parents, were taken lightly, when perhaps you didn’t really want them to be.

You knew you wanted at least one kid, but did Vernon?

You needed to ask and you were aware, but you thought it was probably pretty ridiculous to bring this up already. I mean, this might not be forever, right?

A lot has already changed in this year.

A lot can change in a year.

Your internal struggles aside, you were interested to see how Vernon handled Nina on his own.

“Uncle Vernon?” Nina asked again, “Pretty please? I’ll eat all my apple dippers!”

“But your mom and Y/N . . .” his voice trailed off as he echoed your concern.

“It’s okay! Mommy’s not here and I have you and Miss Y/N! And there are nets and mats,” she pointed out to him.

Vernon hesitated – why was it so difficult for him to turn her down? He was an adult after all.

“I mean,” he rubbed the back of his head and looked up at you again. “I guess?”

You smirked, cocking an eyebrow at him. Maybe, out of spite, you’ll let this one go for once. Vernon can explain to Mrs. Yoon why her daughter reeks of feet and grease when they come to pick her up later tonight.

“Whoo!” Nina cheered as she ran back to her seat next to you. She started shoving the last of her apple slices in her mouth in a haste, not even caring for the caramel dip.

“Slow down, Nina,” you warned.

“Uncle Vernon is the coolest!” she shouted instead. She grinned happily with pieces of apple stuck in her teeth, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

. . . .

It was an instant regret for Vernon.

Currently, he was trapped in one of the blue plastic cube bridge pieces at the very top. He was far too grown for the PlayPlace and could not bulldoze through it like Nina. While the little girl easily maneuvered her way around the maze, Vernon could hardly crawl through it. He tried to curl into a small ball and waddle through, but that wasn’t helpful either. The extra creaking with each step was also not very reassuring. The only nice thing was that there weren’t other children in the PlayPlace right now; no douchey eight-year-old to hurry the fuck up.

“Uncle Vernon, come on!”

But, there was Nina.

Her head popped into view, the netting separating him and her. “You’re so slow! We have to climb through all of this before Miss Y/N tells us to go!”

Vernon shifted uncomfortably, feeling his neck tighten from the cramped position he was in. “Maybe we should go,” he tried.

“Nope, nope!” Nina shook her head furiously. “We’re already inside! There’s a slide at the end.” She curled her fingers through the netting and jumped excitedly. “We can go down and run back in before she sees us.”

Vernon followed her nervous gaze towards you down on the floor. You’re seated at the same table the three of you were just eating at, scrolling through your phone. Despite your calm expression, Vernon could definitely tell, something wasn’t sitting right with you.

“Let’s go!” Nina shouted.

“Nina, wait–”

However, the little girl was already crawling down the narrow corridor at the speed of a lab mouse trained to recognize a maze.

Vernon sighed, sparing you one last glance before he continued. You’re watching him this time though. It was comical the way the contraption creaked again and the corner of your lips tweaked up as if to mock him.

He looked away and followed in the general direction Nina had headed. He really shouldn’t be in here – what if one of the screws were loose and all just collapsed with one misstep?

Vernon felt guilty for thinking such thoughts knowing Jeonghan’s daughter was in here with him right now. He had to keep her safe! He can’t be manifesting these disasters. Turning the corner towards a light, Vernon decided that the goal would to slide out of here with Nina and not go in. Maybe, he could say it was because he would get in trouble with you or something.

“Boo!”

“Agh! What the fuck!” Vernon shouted. He tumbled towards an opening, hand resting on his chest. Searching his surroundings, he found Nina beside him, giggling.

“Language!” he heard you shout in the distance.

“Fuck!” Nina repeated. She hid a chuckle behind her hand.

“Don’t say that, Nina,” Vernon scolds her breathlessly.

“But why?” she asked. “You did – do people say it when they’re scared? Fuck!”

“Oh my god – Nina, stop,” he shook his head anxiously. “Th-that’s only a word, adults are allowed to say, okay? If you say it in front of Miss Y/N or your parents, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

“I can say it with you though, right, Uncle Vernon?” she whispered. “Fuck!”

“No, you cannot,” Vernon stated sternly. He looked at the opening. This must be the slide. He pointed to it and told the little girl, “Let’s go down, okay? I’ve had enough fun for tonight.”

“Aw,” Nina whined, “Already?”

There was another groan from the equipment – louder this time. He cannot stay here much longer.

“Yes,” Vernon nudged her towards the opening. “You first, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Fine,” she pouted. Her short arms hang onto the top rim, swinging back and forth to build momentum before launching herself down. “Whee!”

When Vernon heard her land on the other side, he stuck his legs, one by one, into the tube and tried to push himself down.

Key word – tried.

He got stuck after sliding probably two feet. Vernon groaned and threw his head back. “Seriously?”

“Uncle Vernon?” Nina’s voice echoed through the slide. “Are you coming?”

“Y-yeah,” he used the heel of his Converse to nudge himself a little further. “Just stuck.”

“Oh no!” Nina cried. He heard her step into the slide again. “Should I come help you?”

“No, no, no!” Vernon exclaimed desperately, “Go back to Y/N – I’ll be out soon. Promise.”

The last thing he wanted to happen was for Nina to be crawling up and he suddenly crashed into her.

“Okay.”

He let out a small breath of relief when he heard a soft landing of her shoes on the foam carpeting. Vernon inches down slowly, finally gaining some traction. He started to speed up with the combination of pushing with his hand, pulling himself forward, and static. When he saw the clearing, relief washed over him.

However, as luck would have it, of course, he’s too damn tall for the opening. Vernon was cramped at the opening, knees tucked and arms squeezed between his body and the plastic. His neck was craned to the right – he could hardly look up at you and Nina who were hand-in-hand watching him.

“Um,” he smiled sheepishly, “Help?”

Nina was a little faster than you, rushing over to his aid. Her added weight as she climbed onto the landing must’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back because Vernon heard a sickening crack and his arm suddenly felt a little looser and freer.

Well, fuck.

. . . .

“Y/N!”

You were bent over, hastily adjusting Nina’s sweater before the three of you left McDonald’s. You were irritable after quite literally breaking Vernon free from the PlayPlace slide. It was embarrassing to have to explain to the teen McDonald’s employee that your boyfriend created a crack in the slide, when there was a sign that quite literally said no one older than eight years-old was allowed to enter the contraption.

When you look up, your eyes immediately widen as you’re greeted with the sight of your ex, Jungkook.

His hair was a little longer now, and permed, the tips of his bangs hanging over his bright doe eyes. His fashion didn’t seem to change – still sporting the simple jeans and baggy t-shirts; a plaid flannel was tied to waist. What took you aback, when perhaps it shouldn’t have, was the petite girl in a white sundress who wrapped her hand tightly around Jungkook’s arm when she saw you.

All thoughts of Nina, who was standing between you and Vernon, fled your mind. You stiffened, unsure of how to respond and what to say, other than a strained ‘hi.’

It wasn’t that Jungkook has a sore spot in your memory – in fact, your breakup was mutual and as good as anyone could ask it to be. After four years of dating since high school, you realized you both grew into different people, and therefore, apart in college. It was a mutual loss of feelings for one another, a mutual agreement that you should go your separate ways. Of course, you were sad for a short bit, but nothing of a heartache.

Nonetheless, there was a part of you that wished he didn’t see you when you were upset with your current partner. Jungkook probably did not have those sort of malicious thoughts, like ‘didn’t know how good she had it with me,’ and it was most certainly all in your head.

Or perhaps it was you? You wanted to show him you were doing well, but you couldn’t fake it at this moment.

All in all, the reappearance of your ex, only made you feel more insecure for some reason. Maybe Vernon wasn’t the right person for you even if deep down you wanted him to be. You knew your break up with Vernon would be much worse than the one with Jungkook.

“Nice to see you again,” Jungkook tried. His eyes flickered to Vernon – they weren’t close, but they knew each other peripherally from mutual friends. Jungkook quickly added, “The both of you.”

“Likewise,” Vernon piped up in a neutral tone.

“Um,” Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck, looking from Vernon to you and back. Momentarily, he glossed over Nina, an idea of the situation clearly forming in his head. “Are the two of you . . .?” his voice trailed off.

It must’ve come as a surprise to see you and Vernon together like this for neither of you were close in university. This relationship was almost a surprise to you and Vernon, yourselves. You couldn’t blame Jungkook for being puzzled.

At this, Vernon reached for your hand and cleared his throat. He gave you a firm squeeze, resting his free hand on Nina’s shoulder. To be frank, Vernon didn't care what idea exactly Jungkook was getting – the point was, you were together. Boyfriend-girlfriend, husband-wife, father-mother. Jungkook could think Nina was somehow your kid and he wouldn’t mind.

“We are," Vernon finally answered firmly.

You turned to your boyfriend with wide eyes.

“Oh,” Jungkook said softly. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thanks, I am too,” he looked back at you nonchalantly before nodding in Jungkook’s direction. “On that note, we should be on our way.” He ushered Nina towards the door. “Enjoy your meal.”

. . . .

When the three of you returned to your apartment, you started preparing Nina for bed. It was clear to Vernon that something was bothering you – you were quiet for the rest of the evening, diving head first in taking care of Nina. And to be honest, something bothered Vernon too since encountering Jungkook.

Vernon did not envy others, nor did he claim to be perfect. It wasn’t that he was jealous of Jungkook and the unknown, presumably happy past that you had with him. What happened, happened and you were with Vernon now. He’d like to think you were satisfied with this relationship just as much as him. Nothing would change that. Vernon was content with who he was, who he had become, and who he was next to you. Nonetheless, Vernon was only human – insecurities were inevitable despite his best efforts.

He knew this turbulence making him solemn was irrational. You had not given him a reason to doubt you and he never did to begin with. Despite knowing this, it didn’t make this feeling any less real.

Did you regret breaking up with Jungkook? Was Jungkook a better boyfriend than Vernon?

From what Vernon has heard through the grapevine, Jungkook happened to be every girl’s dream in university. Good-looking and adventurous, yet still respectful and caring.

Vernon thought he looked alright, but his style was unconventional. He liked to take the city bus around at night if that counts as being adventurous?

For fucks sake, Vernon was no Jeon Jungkook. Vernon was in fact just stuck in a slide today.

Though he knew it was unproductive to ponder these things, it was what kept him preoccupied as he put Nina to bed.

“You should kiss Miss Y/N,” Nina stated randomly.

Vernon furrowed his brows at the little girl.

“She looks sad and you do too,” Nina explained. She laid her small hand over Vernon’s. “That’s what daddy does when mommy is sad.”

“I think it’s time for you to go to sleep,” Vernon sighed, pulling the blanket up to cover her chest.

“Do you love Miss Y/N, Uncle Vernon?” Nina asked.

God, the gall of kids – always asking the hardest, but most important questions obliviously.

“Miss Y/N said earlier that you’re her boyfriend,” Nina continued. She kicked her feet under the covers. “Do you have to love each other to be boyfriends? Kind of like mommy and daddy are mommy and daddy because they love each other? Or Uncle Wonwoo and Auntie Leah? Miss Y/N didn’t tell me earlier when I asked about getting married.”

Did he love you? Did he want to marry you?

Vernon hesitated to answer and to be frank, he hated that he was. However, it wasn’t because he didn’t – these questions of the future were just overwhelming and he enjoyed what you had now. Alas, if things were to progress, he’d have to have answers to them soon.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t know, kid,” Vernon mumbled. He planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “Good night, Nina.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, turning and making his way to the door.

“You should still kiss her, Uncle Vernon!” Nina whispered in the dark. “Good night!”

. . . .

When Vernon exited your bedroom where Nina was residing for the rest of the evening, he found you sitting on the kitchen counter. Your head is hung, eyes swarmed with questions like his own. Your legs swing back and forth, gently knocking against the cupboards. There’s an open bag of Cheeze-Its sitting next to you.

Vernon walked over, quietly and cautiously. He knew you knew he was present, but didn’t acknowledge him. Tenderly, Vernon reached for your hand, loosely weaving his fingers in between your own. Eyes slowly rising to look at you, he mindlessly ran thumb along the side of your hand. He offered you a wistful smile as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear with his other hand. His touch lingered across your cheek.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked softly.

You paused for a moment, eyes flickering up to the ceiling before falling to your lap again. You let out a heavy breath. Your heart swelled, appreciating how he always made these kinds of moments feel a little easier.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered.

“For what?” Vernon asked despite having a pretty good idea of what you were referring to.

“What happened at McDonald’s, running into Jungkook,” you explained, “Today.”

He hummed in understanding. “What about today, exactly?”

It was hard to hold your gaze – it was scary, but he knew he had to. He tried his best to put on an encouraging expression, knowing that this conversation, and further, this relationship would not go anywhere if neither of you were present, physically and mentally, and trying to avoid it.

Only the ticking of the wall clock filled the room, deafeningly so. It was slowly drowned out by the sound of blood starting to rush in his ears, tension growing thick with each passing second.

Your voice barely above a whisper, you took a shaky breath and confessed, “I like you a lot, Chwe . . . and,” you inhaled sharply, squeezing his hand. “That terrifies me.” You swallowed harshly, “Because what if you don’t feel the same? Or we want different things? I think I’d be . . .heartbroken.” A melancholic chuckle left your lips and you shook your head. “That's why sometimes, I feel like I treat you like such - we get too close and I push you away.”

The fear in losing him was evident in the terror that etched its way in between the space of your brows. Vernon was sympathetic; simultaneously, his heart swelled like a balloon rapidly being filled with water to the rim, threatening to burst at one final drop. The adrenaline that rushed through his veins felt like that of being confessed to by a middle school crush behind the bleachers of the soccer field, except, well, you and him were already together.

“I was worried there for a second,” Vernon stated truthfully.

Your eyes whipped up.

He played with your fingers. “I thought you were regretting dating me for a sec.”

“Oh?” you said softly.

“I was kind of not the best boyfriend today either and then we saw Jungkook and I thought maybe you felt differently about me,” he explained.

“Vernon, no!” your hands reached up to cup his face.

“I mean, can you blame me?” he chuckled half-heartedly, “I got stuck in a slide when you told us not to go.”

“I think today,” started slowly, “Made the both of us think a lot about us and what the future holds.”

“So, it wasn’t just me,” Vernon acknowledged quietly. He thought to himself momentarily before continuing. “What do you want?” You stared at him owlishly, your desires on the tip of your tongue, but fearful to share them with him. “We can’t move past this if we don’t talk about it.”

When you still didn't reply, Vernon offered, “I can tell you what I want?”

You nodded once.

“I think dating you for a few more years sounds okay,” he started, staring off to the side. He nodded, better affirming his words.

He paused, making you grow anxious – does that mean he planning on breaking up with you?

“And then, maybe . . . being married sounds nice too – nice is an understatement,” the words felt unfamiliar as they fell from his lips, but he kind of liked it. “It seems far away, but I’d really love that.”

This was something he hadn’t told anyone before because he never felt quite the same with them as he did with you. It wasn’t just easy and comfortable being with you – it was something more. It was in hard moments like this, where these conversations were difficult, but you both still managed. It was in lighter moments, where he could enjoy your company and feel relaxed. It was everything in between.

Call him corny, but maybe the word ‘love’ can’t encompass it all that he felt for you.

His face stretched into a grin when you chortle and shake your head. Playfully, you push him away, but Vernon was quick to catch onto your wrists. “You did really well with Nina today.”

“I think she liked you more than me,” you mumbled.

“What do you think of Nina?” he asked.

“She’s Jeonghan’s daughter, alright,” you joked.

“She did suggest I kiss you tonight,” Vernon remarked, remembering his chat with the little girl before this.

“Well,” you wrap your arms around his neck, “Do you . . . want to?”

Vernon answered by leaning in, lightly pressing his lips against yours. It’s fleeting, but still filled with the same sincerity as every other passionate kiss you’ve shared before.

“If you want kids though, I’m not sure I’m ready for them yet,” Vernon said when you pulled away.

“Oh with how you broke that slide, that’s certain,” you joked.

“Does that mean you do?”

“A family? With you?” you wrinkled your nose playfully. “Nonsense.”

He knew that look – when you don’t really mean what you say, but rather the opposite. Despite all the angst prior, this conversation was surprisingly easy to have. Maybe that was the lesson to be learned: not perfection, but just doing.

Vernon chuckled, about to lean for another kiss when suddenly Nina’s familiar shrill shattered the moment. He jumped away from you as if you were delinquents caught by your mothers making out in the kitchen.

“Mommy said we shouldn’t sit there like that!” she squealed, her fingers pointing at you on the counter.

"Nina, you're supposed to be sleeping," you scold.

“We shouldn’t sit there like that though,” Vernon acknowledged. He walked over and helped you down, not without pulling you into his side though. You’re a little stunned with him being so affectionate suddenly – not that he never was, but he usually showed it in other ways, smaller gestures like the kiss he’s pressing into your temple now.

Nina eyes the both of you curiously, the situation being pieced together slowly in her tiny head. It was visible when she put it all together, her eyes lit up.

“Are guys getting married now!?”

Or not.

. . . .

Epilogue

“Hey dad,” Nina tapped Jeonghan’s forearm. Pushing a piece of kimchi between his lips, he hummed softly and glanced over at his daughter. “Do you want to see a magic trick? Uncle Vernon taught me.”

When did Vernon start learning magic tricks?

“Sure,” he nodded, curious to see what his friend taught his daughter.

With her training chopsticks with Ryan Bear on one end, she holds up a slice of pork in front of her hand. Shielding it with her other hand, she stuffed the piece of meat quickly in her mouth and shouted, “Ta-da!”

Jeonghan swallowed his food harshly and narrowed his eyes at his daughter. “Squirt – what?”

“Did you like it?” she grinned happily, returning to her food.

“You j-just . . . ate your pork though?” Jeonghan stated.

“Mhm! Magic!” Nina chirped. She giggled happily and took Jeonghan by surprise by shouting, "Fuck!"

Jeonghan nearly spat his water out, the profanity ringing in his ears. "Who taught you that word!?"

"Uncle Vernon too!" she kicked her feet happily.

Jeonghan ran a hand over his face and mumbled under his breath, “Oh dear - Yoon Nina, in this household, we do not use that kind of language do you hear?"

Nina's joy simmered down and she shrank back, nodding understandably. She knew when her dad used that voice, she shouldn't push her boundaries further.

His wife popped her head into the room upon hearing his brewing.

Jeonghan sighed exasperatedly and turned to his wife, "I think we should stop hiring my friend’s as Nina’s babysitters.”

#vernon x reader #vernon fluff #vernon angst #vernon scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen fluff #seventeen scenarios #seventeen angst

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cloudaxolotl07 · 2 months

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Here are the official looks for the Bishops in my Beyond au!

They all have the golden skull necklaces but they are just hidden under layers of fabric COUGH I DIDNT JUST FORGET THEM ON ACCIDENT-

Info on each character below!

Shamura

Shamura is the eldest of the 5 siblings and is the Historian and Teacher for the Cult. Shamura is a calm and kind spirit, though if you annoythem enough, they’ll start to disent a little, causing ichor to pour from their wounded head. They can get slight brain fog pretty often during the day but they somehow appear on time to events or remember things when the memory returns after a while. Although Shamura was the ex bishop of War, they are quite the tactical thinker and fighter; quick on their feet and always knows how to take their enemies down when necessary. They assist with educating the younger members of the cult and is quite intelligent in many subjects even if they have brain damage from long ago. They mainly on their free time or when not with any of the kids, they tend to hide in the library, reading in silence.

Kallamar

Kallamar is the second oldest out of the 5 siblings and is the Chief Medical officer in the Cult. Kallamar likes to act prideful and has a bit of an ego, though truly he is a coward at heart. He has sensitive hearing due to the damage inflicted from Narinder, so loud noises can cause pain to him. Being the ex bishop of pestilence, he has the vast knowledge in medicine and medical practice, with that knowledge were they given the job to look after the health of the followers in the Cult. He loves to collect anything he deems beautiful and is sparkling; always wearing some form of jewelry on him wherever he goes on the cult grounds.

Heket

Heket is the second youngest out of the 5 siblings and is the Cult’s Chief Guard. Heket is quiet and stoic, but caring when it comes to her siblings and the followers of the cult. People, especially children tend to get intimidated when first meeting her, but they easily warm up when eating her delicious food she prepares during breakfast, lunch and dinner. She isn’t able to speak all that well and speaking up never goes well for her as she easily gets ichor filling her mouth to the point of dirtying her lungs, causing coughing fits from time to time. Her siblings however can easily understand what she tries to say when reading her body language, facial expressions or listening for her quiet mumbling; except Leshy for most of the time.

Leshy

Leshy is the youngest of the 5 siblings and is the Chief Farmer for the Cult. Leshy is hot-tempered and chaotic in nature and easily can get embarrassed or offended by small things either when people make fun of him or question his looks and/or intellect. Leshy is completely blind when using his eyes, but he soon made a friend who helps him get around far distances in the Cult. Growing up mainly in the Darkwood, he knows plenty about taking care and nurturing plant life, always knowing what each plant in the cult farms needs to grow to their fullest potential. He relies on his siblings to also help him with either hiding or getting from one place to another when Collie can’t. A small thing he appreciates though is on warm and sunny days, he likes to bathe in the sun, feeling the warmth on his body. A small detail about Leshy is when he expresses heavy emotions or feelings, flowers of different kinds tend to sprout from his body depending on how he’s feeling at the time, mainly they blossom on his head.

#cotl #cotl au #cotl fanart #cult of the lamb #cult of the lamb fanart #cotl leshy #cotl heket #cotl kallamar #cotl shamura #cotl bishops #cult of the lamb au #cotl bts au #cotl beyond the shores #beyond the shores au #~doodles

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indulgentdaydream · 4 months

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Cooking Lessons

Jason Todd X Reader

My first x reader fic! Of course I had to go with jason. He’s the love of my life🥰 inspired by me not knowing how to properly cut a bell pepper yesterday and wishing somebody (cough cough, jason, cough) had been there to help me

(ps. for anyone who also doesn’t know how to cut a bell pepper!)

Not proof read!!

Warnings: use of feminine pet names (ex, princess) food mention, knife mention, knife use, one (1) use of profanity.

Jason walked into the kitchen, sweating from his workout. He found you standing at the counter, your back to him. You had a knife in hand, chopping something up. He opened the fridge to grab himself some water. He could smell the spices of whatever you were cooking in the pan to your left.

He walked up beside you. He placed a hand on the small of your back as he looked down. There was chicken cooking in the pan and you were cutting up a bell pepper, “What you cooking, princess?”

“Quesadillas,” You hummed, focused on your task at hand. There was a cooking book open off to your right, set on top of the microwave

Jason hummed in response, smiling, “Smells good.”

He continued to watch you chop. Your hand moved slowly. You set the pepper on it’s side before cutting it in half, straight through the centre. The seeds inside spread all over the knife. You began to awkwardly cut around the centre, further making a mess of getting the seeds everywhere. He grew a little concerned as he kept watching, “Baby?”

“Yeah?”

“Who taught you how to cut up a pepper?”

Your shoulders dropped a little, your hand stilling. You looked up at Jason with a defeated look, “Nobody…”

He chuckled. He leaned in and kissed the pout on your lips, “May I?”

You nodded. He set down his water before moving in behind you. He wrapped his arms around your waist, his arms under yours. He picked up another bell pepper, a dark green.

He placed it on the board, placing his hands over yours. His chin rested on your shoulder as he spoke, “First, you gotta cut off the stem.”

He guided your hands, enjoying the small giggle that escaped you at the sight of his large, calloused, scarred hands resting over your smaller ones, nearly engulfing them.

He spoke calmly and slowly, “Now, you flip it on it’s head, where the stem was. See the bumps? You cut down to chop those off.”

You hummed, “Like this?”

Jason nods, “Just like that.” He pulls his hands off yours, bringing them back to rest on your hips, letting you do it yourself.

“See?” He says when you finish, leaving the untouched centre, with all the seeds still intact, leftover, “This way, you can take the pieces you cut off, flatten them out, and they’re easier to cut,” He pauses, “Plus, you don’t make a mess of the seeds.”

He picks up the centre for you, tossing it into the small open compost bin sitting on the window sill of the kitchen. You shrug, picking up on of the pieces you had cut before, covered in the tiny white pellets that were the seeds, “I was just gonna wash it off with water.”

He lets out a low, thoughtful hum, “Waste o’ water.”

You mimic his hum and cast him a look over your shoulder, where he still rests his chin, “Not what you said last night when you dragged me into the shower with you.”

A grin pulls at Jason’s lips. He raises his eyebrows a little, amused, “That’s why we gotta counteract our water usage, princess.” He straightens, planting a kiss on your cheek, “It doesn’t help that your knife is a bit dull. I’ve got a sharpener in my duffle, though.”

You didn’t realize what he meant until he had already stepped out of the kitchen. You whipped around, “Jason Peter! You are not using the same thing you sharpen your blades with on my kitchen knives!”

He steps back in, holding his hands out, “It’s clean!”

You stared at him, “I do not believe you.”

She caught Jason’s smile before he nodded at the stove beside her, “Chicken’s burning.”

“Shit!”

#dc #red hood x reader #red hood x fem!reader #cw cursing #tw cursing #jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x fem!reader #cw knife mention #cw food mention #tw knife mention #tw food mention #jason todd x you #dc x reader #red hood x you

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pamgkrthwrites · 5 months

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Hi umm question can I make a request of a macaque azure lion wukong x fem single mother tiger

Like she has like three cubs (kids) and she had to raise them and there still young because because there recently born because her ex mate (husband) cheated on her with another woman and when he found out she was pregnant with his cubs (kids) he left her while she was pregnant

Finally, getting to this as ehehehhehehehe

Support me here

Sun Wukong

Is very disappointed that your ex mate left you all alone with your triplet cubs.

Is very angry that he cheated.

When he visits you, he more often then not offers to babysit for a day or two so you can have some rest.

At some point he gets you to bring them to his island and he does so much.

He won't let you talk down about your body, will kiss your stomach.

He understands if your not ready to enter a new relationship, willing to take it slow.

Most importantly though, he understands that to date you, he does have to be a good influence in your kids life.

He is willing to fake a certain idea of himself, but he also isn't really willing to change who he is as a personmonkey.

Macaque

Probably found out about you having kids after a date and he coughs on the glass of water you gave him when one kid comes running out to say hi to mama.

Coughs even more when he sees the other two.

He doesn't treat you any differently(besides from letting you choose times when to meet up more freely) because of your cubs.

He does ask questions about the father though. And is fucking pissed.

This man will hunt down your ex and kill him for leaving you and your cubs. Will make sure you suddenly have this man entire wealth in your bank too.

He doesn't let you figure it out, playing innocent and all.

He does like spending time with your kids, though he likes spending time with you more.

Though he does hate it when one or more of the children join you two in bed because of a nightmare. He doesn't like grubby hands touching him as he sleeps.

Azure Loin

This man does not question it.

He just thinks your husband died while you were pregnant and is willing to look after your cubs.

Why else would a father not be in a child's life.

He goes feral when you tell him the truth.

Will hunt this shit down and cut off his gentiles.

"If he is too much of a coward to look after a child then he doesn't have the right to make anymore children."

Will convince your cubs he is their father and he will treat you as if he is your husband, even if you two never get married.

He won't let children be raised thinking they have no family.

#lmk x reader #x reader #macaque x reader #Sun Wukong x reader #azure lion x reader

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shmaptainwrites · 2 months

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀 [𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍]

PAIRINGS — James Wilson x ex-wife!Reader

SUMMARY — James and Reader have not been on great terms since their divorce, but an emerging situation with their son forces them to put aside their differences and work together and hope that past feelings don't resurface

WARNINGS — hospitalization, chronic illness, swearing, complicated feelings (idk y'all they're divorced what more can I say)

NOTE — Okay so I have so many things to say about this fic, but if I say them all this post will be way too long it already is like this came up as 33 pages in my docs but this is a day late birthday present for @shots-of-wilson-and-whiskey who also provided the James pic I hope you had such a fun day and a great year of simping ahead!

Pronounciation — Mahlet = Ma-h-let | Hennock = Hey-knock

Ever since you had become a mother, birthday parties were the bane of your existence. The sugar overload, the loud noises, the cleanup afterwards, all amounted to your own personal hell. Yet, you would move hell or high water for your son to have the most enjoyable party every single year.

Today was no different, eight years later you were still breaking your back to ensure every small detail was perfect, from the pin the spikes on the stegosaurus to the cake you’d spent at least a month painstakingly training to make.

A friend of yours, another parent from the school your son Julian went to, came over in the kitchen to give you a hand with some of the snacks.

“How are you managing here?” she asked and you took a deep breath.

“Managing is the operative word,” you chuckled. “Kids having fun out there?”

“Yeah, loads, you’ve outdone yourself again,” she assured you. “Will James be making an appearance?”

“I stopped asking myself that question after we got divorced,” you said while fixing the plate of vegetables and dip. “He’s supposed to, he promised Julian, but we all know how that ends.”

There seemed to be a bit of commotion out in the backyard and you tried to assess what was happening from the window, but your suspicions that something was off was confirmed when Julian’s best friend, Hennock, came rushing inside.

“Mrs. Wilson, something’s going on with Julian,” he said and you frowned while your friend followed you outside to see the kids circling around Julian who seemed to be gripping onto his chest.

“Jay, what’s going on? Are you okay?” you bent down to be closer to his eye-level, trying to understand what was happening to your son.

“Can’t…” he pointed to his mouth. “Can’t…breathe,” he wheezed.

Your eyes went wide, but before you could grab him and run for the car he began to cough and you hoped and prayed there was just something caught in his throat that would make its way out, but with the coughing came spatters of red all over your white shirt.

“Mahi,” you looked over at your friend quickly while picking Julian up. You didn’t have to say a word, she already knew what she needed to do.

Living close to the hospital, it was worth it to drive yourself, that way you didn’t have to wait for an ambulance to get to you. You had made the mental calculations many times before, just in case there was an emergency and now it was finally coming in handy.

When you got Julian in the car, you checked in on his breathing, it was still laboured, but at least at this point he was getting in the air, even if he was coughing up blood.

You turned on the car and began driving while calling your ex-husband with one hand. The line rang until you reached voicemail so you called again, expecting at least this time for him to pick up, only to hear the tone once more.

“Dammit James!” you threw your phone down on the seat next to you knowing you’d deal with him later, now you needed to focus on getting to the hospital without killing either of you.

Barely paying attention to how your car was parked, you grabbed Julian out of the back seat and ran into the ER with him.

“Ma’am, what’s going on?” a nurse came and asked you as you put Julian down.

“My son, he-he’s having trouble breathing and he’s coughing up blood I-I-I don’t know what’s happening.”

Before you could say a word they had whisked Julian away and another nurse came to ask you some questions about his medical history and any information that may be important to the doctors treating him.

“Where’s my son?” you asked, “I want to see my son.”

“Ma’am I’m sorry, but the doctors are working on getting his airway cleared, you can’t be with him right now.”

You pressed your lips into a thin line and bit back your tongue. There were a million and one things you wanted to say to the nurse, but none of them would help your situation. On the other hand, finding your ex might.

So instead of finding the waiting room you went over to the elevator and made your way up to the oncology department, briskly walking through the halls until you reached his office. At this point, you didn’t bother knocking, opening the door to see him sitting down over a file and talking with House.

“Hey Greg,” you said in a fake cheery voice. “Mind giving us the room?”

“Oh, this is the wife with the kid, did you forget to pay child support?” House asked James.

“Get out, Greg,” you said warningly and he listened, instead opting to steal the rest of James’ sandwich and slipping past you, while wishing James good luck and letting you slam the door shut behind you.

“What’s going on?” James asked, clearly confused by your demeanour and appearance. “If this is about the party I didn’t forget I was-wait is that blood,” he stood up from his chair and came over to you.

“What’s going on is you didn’t pick up your fucking phone,” you said angrily.

“Hey,” James looked at you sternly. “What is going on?” he repeated his question, this time more pointedly.

You could feel your lips begin to tremble and your vision became blurred while you shook your head.

“Who’s blood is on your shirt?”

You chewed on the inside of your cheek, “It’s Julian’s.”

“Julian-I-what happened?” his demeanour changed from frustrated with your attitude towards him to worrying for his son.

“I-I don’t know he said he couldn’t breathe and then he started coughing up blood and I just picked him up and drove him here a-and now they won’t let me see him.”

“You drove him?” he asked incredulously. “You didn’t think to maybe call an ambulance?”

“That’s what you’re hung up on? That I decided to drive because it was faster than getting him an ambulance?”

“That’s not what I-,”

“Yes it is,” you stepped back. “I wouldn’t have needed an ambulance if you were there.”

James sighed and chose to ignore your comment,

“Where is he?” he asked.

“Emergency room,” you muttered. “They won’t let me see him, you need to talk to them, say something, anything.”

James nodded his head, at least you could agree on that. He walked with you out of the office and to the elevator so you could go to the ER together and figure out what the hell was happening to your son.

When you got down there and James began speaking to the nurses, they informed him that Julian had been moved to the ICU and his respiration was being closely monitored while they ran a few tests to see what had caused the arrest.

You had to fight to hold yourself upright when they pulled back the curtain and you could see Julian hooked up to all the machines and with a ventilator tube stuck down his throat. You covered your mouth with your hand and shook your head again. This couldn’t be happening, now you were supposed to be cutting into cake and opening presents, not sitting in the ICU.

You stepped inside with James and he closed the curtain to give you a bit of privacy and decided to look over his chart and see if they had given any relevant information there. Seeing none, he turned his attention over to you, seeing your eyes filled with tears, unable to tear your gaze away from your son.

James walked over to you and cautiously put a hand on your shoulder, eventually encouraging you to turn around so he could pull you into his arms. You allowed your tears to soak his white coat, gripping onto him so tightly because there was nowhere else to hold.

You could hear his breathing change, accompanied by the small sniffles and you knew he was doing just as bad as you were right now, wiping the tears from his own eyes as he finally allowed himself to see his son as he was, sick, helpless, vulnerable, and only moments ago, without his dad’s help when he needed him most.

Your moment was interrupted when you heard the curtain being pulled back and you saw two doctors standing there. You pulled away from James and wiped whatever remaining tears were in your eyes so you could properly address them.

It seemed as though one of the doctors recognized James and when he looked down at the file and saw the name he made the connection internally.

“Can we talk to you guys out in the waiting room for a moment?” he asked.

“I don’t want to leave my son,” you shook your head.

“Ma’am, this is the ICU and the visiting hours are very strictly adhered to, I think your husband maybe got lucky and pulled a few strings so you could see your son, but we need to leave now.”

“He’s not my husband,” you muttered and reluctantly followed them out of the makeshift room and towards the waiting area.

“Did you find out what was wrong?” James asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I looked at his chart. You took him for an emergency CT and bloodwork.”

“We also ran a few other tests,” the doctor began explaining. “From the medical history your, um, ex wife gave I had a suspicion of something so we ran a sweat test to check for elevated chloride levels and it just came back positive.”

“Chloride levels?” you looked up at James. “What does that mean?”

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “It means Julian has cystic fibrosis.”

“I-I’ve heard of that, is it curable?” you asked.

“I’ll leave you guys with Dr. Liu, he deals with the pediatric cystic fibrosis cases and will be able to answer your questions better than I can,” he wished you a good day and left you alone with the other doctor.

“Cystic fibrosis is manageable-,”

“So you can’t cure it,” you reiterated.

The doctor shook his head, “Unfortunately there is no cure for CF yet, but many people have been able to live longer and happy lives with the medical technology now available.”

James was silent, taking in all the information that was being presented.

“How did he get it? Is it contagious or-or was it just always there?” you asked.

“It’s a genetic condition, so he’s always had it, the symptoms have just gotten to the point where they’re now visible,” the doctor explained.

“I-It’s genetic so one of us is a carrier?” you pointed to you and James.

“We both are,” James said. “Both parents have to be carriers to pass it down to their child, right?”

Dr. Liu nodded and you pressed your lips together.

“C-Can you just tell us what this means for right now?” you asked. “I just think-I think I need a minute.”

Dr. Liu nodded his head and explained they were giving Julian medication to help with the infection and airway damage that caused him to cough up blood, then they would get him on some bronchodilators to help with his breathing for the time being while they assessed what other issues the cystic fibrosis had potentially caused in his body. He’d have to stay at the hospital for a while, but hopefully could be moved to the pediatric ward within the next day or so.

“We can talk more about what Julian’s medical journey will look like later, I’ll give you guys some time together and if you have any questions, Wilson’s got my pager and knows where my office is.”

You nodded your head and thanked him quietly as he left the waiting area. You finally sat down on one of the chairs.

James took the seat next to you and you covered your face with your hands.

“We couldn’t give him a functional family and a happy home and now we’ve given him a chronic medical condition to top it off.”

“Blaming ourselves isn’t going to do anything for Julian,” James said.

“And sitting around here is?” you asked and James sighed.

“No, no it’s not.”

You sat there in silence for a little while longer before you noticed James stand up and motion for you to follow him. As much as you didn’t want to listen to him and just sit and wait until they would let you be with Julian again, you got up and followed him to one of the OR supply closets. He used a key to unlock the door and sifted through some materials until he found what he was looking for, pulling out a scrub shirt in your size and handing it over to you.

You looked down at your own shirt, seeing the red specks of Julian’s blood and closed the door behind your both, pulling your shirt off over your head and handing it to James. You were about to put the other shirt on when you noticed the flecks of dried blood against your chest.

While you eyes were transfixed on that, James had grabbed an alcohol wipe package from the shelves and tore it open with his teeth, removing the wipe and reaching over to help you clean the blood off yourself.

“James, I can do it myself,” you reached for the wipe, but he pulled it away.

“You’ve got some on your neck too, just let me take care of it,” he insisted.

You knew better than to cause a fight over something trivial like this right now so you put your hands down, watching as James tossed your shirt over his shoulder and carefully began wiping away the specks of your son’s blood off your chest, collarbone, and neck.

“Have you eaten today?” he asked you while holding your face to tilt it to the side so he could get a spot he’d missed earlier.

“No, why?”

“Because it’s his birthday, you’d always forget to eat until dinner and even then it would be scraps from the party until I forced you to eat something better,” he recounted. “Let’s just go grab something from the cafeteria before we go back to the ICU, okay?”

“Will it make a difference if I say I’m not hungry?” you asked.

“You can’t take care of Julian if you’re not taking care of yourself.”

You scoffed and pulled the shirt over your head, “And you’ve suddenly become an expert on taking care of your family?”

“Believe it or not, we were once happy and there was a reason we got married and decided to have a child together.”

“And there’s a reason we got divorced too,” you added and opened the door behind you.

You didn’t go to the cafeteria, instead heading back to the ICU waiting room knowing either visiting hours would have to start eventually or they’d move Julian to his own room and you could finally sit with him.

James clearly hadn’t followed you so you ended up alone again, wringing your hands and waiting for some sort of news.

Eventually, you felt a bag drop on your lap and you looked up and saw James standing overtop of you. You looked inside and saw a package of a sandwich, a small bag of chips, and a water bottle.

You knew he was right, that if you didn’t take care of yourself you wouldn’t be able to take care of Julian, so you forced yourself to eat, even if you didn’t want to.

A little while later, Dr. Liu had returned and informed you that they were moving Julian to the pediatric ward and you could stay with him there in his room. When you joined him there, James had taken off his white coat and tossed it on one of the chairs, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and sitting down next to Julian’ taking one of his hands in his own.

“Don’t you have patients you need to see?” you asked, sitting on the opposite side of the hospital bed.

“I told Cuddy I needed the day, someone else is taking care of it for me,” he said, not removing his gaze from Julian.

With the two of them sitting next to each other like that, you could clearly see the similarities Julian had with his father. They shared the same eyes and nose, and when they smiled they had the same little creases around their eyes.

You wished that’s what you could have been looking at, them smiling together, instead of the frown etched onto James’ face and Julian still fast asleep while an oxygen mask now delivered the air he needed to help him breathe.

“Do you know much about cystic fibrosis?” you asked James, brushing your thumb against Julian’s other hand.

“Only that it mainly affects the digestive system and the respiratory tract,” he explained. “I’m not too familiar with how it's managed, just that there’s regular doctor’s visits and probably some medication and therapies involved.”

You could feel a small stirring and you looked down and saw Julian’s hand begin to move underneath yours.

You smiled when you saw his eyes blink open and James was quick to stand up and come closer to him so he had a familiar face to look at while he took in his surroundings.

“Hey buddy,” James smiled and you could see Julian light up at the sight of his dad. He lifted his hand to try to remove the oxygen mask, but James gently encouraged him not to. “This is giving your lungs an extra hand right now, let’s just keep it on until the doctor tells us it's okay to take it off.”

“But you’re a doctor,” Julian countered and James chuckled.

“I am, but I'm not your doctor. I am, however, your dad so you have to listen to me anyways,” he teased and bent down to kiss his son’s cheek and tickle him a little bit in the process.

“Hey, go easy on him,” you placed a gentle hand on James' arm and he laid off.

“You know,” James said. “It’s still your birthday.”

“It is?” Julian asked and you both nodded and James reached down to grab something he’d brought with him.

“All the presents your friends got you are at home waiting for you to get better so you can open them, but this is what I got for you,” he said. “I was gonna come and bring it to the party, but I think you brought the party to me.”

Julian laughed a little at that and you rolled your eyes, of course James could make himself look good by not showing up.

He sat up with the help of his dad and pulled out the tissue paper from the bag to see the present that was hiding underneath. With a big grin on his face, he took out a dinosaur stuffed animal along with a book all about the different species of the Cretaceous period.

“This is awesome,” Julian grinned. “Thanks dad, I love it.”

James gave Julian another kiss and you joined them, taking a seat on the bed and glancing over at the book on Julian’s lap.

“How are you feeling sweetheart?” you asked, fixing the twisted band of the oxygen mask on his face.

“My throat hurts a little bit,” he admitted. “And I’m kinda hungry.”

“Let me call a nurse and we’ll see what you can eat,” you said and pressed the button to send someone over from the nurses’ station.

Meanwhile, James poured Julian a glass of water and helped him take a few sips of it. His throat was probably irritated from being on the ventilator, but his lungs had become stabilized from the use of the bronchodilators.

The nurse came and you spoke to her about getting Julian something to eat and she said she’d double check with Dr. Liu and then grab him some food.

“Hey, Jay,” you walked over to the bed and took your son’s hand in yours. “Are you okay to hang out here with dad while I go grab some stuff from home? The doctors said we might hang around here for a few days so I think I need to pack a bag.”

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Julian nodded. “Are you okay mom?” he reached up and touched your cheek and you realized you'd let a few more tears slip.

“Yeah, I’m just really happy you’re okay,” you wiped the tears away and pressed a big kiss to his cheek. “Right, Jamie? We’re both happy he’s okay.”

James looked over at you with softness reflecting in his eyes at the sound of the nickname he hadn’t heard in a long time and nodded his head.

“Bring some cake back with you,” Julian whispered. “Even if dad and the doctor say no we can sneak some.”

You laughed at his plan and gave him another kiss, assuring him you’d pack some in a container to bring for him when you came back.

When you arrived at your home, you thought you might cry at the sight in front of you. The kitchen and living room were completely clean, presents piled neatly on the coffee table along with a new card you didn’t recognize. Coming closer, you noticed the bright marker, signature of eight-year-olds across the country, with the message Get Well Soon Julian! written on it and signed by all his friends who had attended the party.

You packed the card in your bag along with a few other things and made a mental note to grab a nice thank you gift for Mahlet to thank her for what she had done.

As promised, you cut a big chunk of cake, enough for the three of you to share, and packed it in a tupperware to bring back to the hospital.

You grabbed a few changes of clothes for both you and Julian and changed out of the temporary shirt you had on and into something more comfortable for the rest of the evening, making sure everything you needed was in place before heading out and going back to the hospital.

When you got back to Julian’s room you saw James squished in next to him on the bed, the book he had bought him opened on his lap as he read its contents to Julian. Julian was resting his head against James’ arm and James was doing those big exaggerations he always would whenever he’d read bedtime stories to Julian, emphasizing all the insane details and changing the inflections of his voice in just the right way to make him laugh.

“I brought cake,” you grinned, holding up the container as you entered the room, holding three plastic forks. “If Dr. Dad says it's okay, we can eat it.”

“Dr. Dad desperately needs some sugar,” James nodded his head and closed the book for the time being while you took a seat by Julian’s legs and opened the container, handing each of the boys a fork.

You helped Julian take off his oxygen mask for the time being and placed it off to the side, acutely aware of how his breathing sounded more laboured without it.

James only snuck in a couple bites of the cake before taking the mask from your side and holding it ready in case Julian needed a bit of an extra hand.

Just as he had predicted, after a few bites of cake Julian was noticing a bit of a difficulty to get air into his lungs and James held up the mask to his face, allowing him to take a couple deep breaths.

“What do you think of the cake, Jay?” you asked.

“Really good, just like everytime you make it,” he grinned.

“I’m sorry you didn’t have a great birthday, buddy,” James apologized. “I mean with all your friends and classmates.”

“What do you mean?” Julian asked. “I think I had a good birthday.”

“You do?” you frowned curiously, wondering what kind of light he’d seen in the day that you and James as worried parents had somehow missed. “What made it good?”

“We’re sitting eating cake. Together. Just like when I was little,” he said simply and you chewed on the inside of your cheek, looking over at James whose gaze hadn’t left Julian. He almost looked disappointed, at what, you couldn’t place, but at least for the moment Julian was happy and that was all either of you really wanted.

—

You grabbed your purse from the ground and thanked Dr. Liu for all of the information he had given you and assured you’d be there with Julian at the allocated follow-up time you had arranged. You were just about to leave when James came rushing into the room, apologies spewing out of his mouth for being late.

“Late? You missed the whole appointment.”

“I-I did?” he said, looking down at his watch and cursing when he saw the time.

“Jay, sweetheart, why don’t you sit down here,” you moved out of Dr. Liu’s office and set him up on a chair in one of the general waiting areas and handed him his dinosaur book from your purse. “I just need to go have a chat with your dad real quick.”

Julian nodded and opened up the book, flipping through the pages while you grabbed James’ arm and pulled him into a dead-end hallway so you could speak in private.

“What the hell took you so long?” you asked firmly. “We waited for twenty minutes before even starting the appointment!”

“I’m sorry,” James apologized, “I was in the OR with a patient and something went haywire and it took longer than expected to fix it.”

“Still, you couldn’t have told someone to at least pass on a message?”

“I was in the middle of saving a patient’s life! What did you want me to do?”

“I wanted you to be there for your son,” you whispered harshly. “You make promises you can’t keep and I have to watch him get disappointed over and over again. He does not deserve that, especially now.”

James placed his hands on his hips and said,

“I am trying to be there, it’s not for lack of effort-,”

“Well try harder!” you threw your hands up in the air. “You’re an ex-husband James, not an ex-father. You don’t have to show up for me anymore, but you damn well better show up for him.”

When he said nothing you continued.

“Believe it or not, you don’t have to work as much as you do James. You chose to do that and right now that’s coming at your son’s expense and he is scared and vulnerable and neither of us know half of what Dr. Liu is talking to us about. Do you know what he said to me when I was confused about the management plan? He said Dad would know what this means. Dad can help us. And he’s right, you would have known and you can help so stop acting like your fucking schedule controls you and get your schedule under control.”

James was quiet for a moment before he nodded his head,

“Okay,” he said simply.

You knew better than to get your hopes up with him and you didn’t have any more energy to argue, so you told him you could talk more later, but right now you were going to take Julian home so he could rest in his own bed and finally open his birthday presents.

“Is dad coming with us?” Julian asked when you picked him up and began walking away to leave the hospital.

“No, not this time,” you shook your head.

“Did you fight with him again?” Julian asked and you pressed your lips together.

“We just had a disagreement,” you settled on. “You can call him later when he’s done work if you want to talk to him, sounds good?”

Julian was content with your answer and left it at that.

Over the next few days, aside from Julian’s call, you didn’t hear much for James and you assumed things were right on track to going back to the way they had always been. You loved your son to pieces, but this was one time you wished his dad would be here to support, working and caring for Julian on top of trying to figure out how to be his at home doctor was already taking its toll and you didn’t know how you’d be able to keep it up.

One night, you were sitting in the living room reading a book Dr. Liu had recommended. It was detailing strategies for parents with children who had cystic fibrosis. In the middle of your chapter you were interrupted by a knock to your door and you put in your bookmark, wondering who was stopping by this far into the evening.

Unlocking the door and opening it, you found it hard to hide the surprise in your face when you saw James on the other end.

“James?” you tilted your head. “I haven’t heard from you at all this week, what’s going on?”

“I reduced my patient load,” he said, “and I talked to Cuddy about reducing my clinic hours. I still have to do some administrative stuff for the department, but it can be done from home for the most part.”

“Oh,” you were surprised to say the least. You didn’t realize your outburst the other day had worked.

“You were right,” he said. “I need to be here for Julian and I can’t do that if my work always comes first.”

You nodded your head, following along with what he was saying.

“C-Can I come in and see him?” James asked. “I know our custody agreement has always been all over the place-,”

You didn’t say anything, simply opening the door wider for him to come inside.

“He’s asleep in his room,” you said. “When you’re done we can talk some more.”

James nodded and stepped inside, slipping off his shoes and taking off his jacket, making his way to Julian’s room to sit with him for a moment before joining you in the kitchen.

“Want something to drink?” you asked and he said some water would be nice. You poured him a glass while waiting for the water to boil for your tea.

“I saw the book you were reading over there,” he pointed to the couch. “Dr. Liu recommended it to me too, I just finished it the other night.”

“Show off,” you rolled your eyes and handed him the glass.

“What I was trying to say is I think something that stood out to me is having consistency and a routine is good, especially when things are new,” James explained. “I don’t think it makes sense for him to be moving back and forth from here to my place.”

“So you think we should have a home base here?” you confirmed and he nodded.

“I can come by more often, if there’s days where you need to be at work I can be doing the administrative stuff here after school and take care of Julian until you get back.”

You pursed your lips and as you heard the kettle click, moved to pour your hot water into the mug you were holding.

“These are all good ideas,” you started.

“I’m assuming there’s a but coming?”

“But I don’t want to give Julian the wrong impression is all.”

James shook his head.

“You really need to pick whatever it is you want,” James crossed his arms over his chest. “First I’m not here enough, I don’t put my family first. Now I’m putting my family first and you’re worried Julian’s going to think this means we’re getting back together.”

“He doesn’t need to get his hopes up for something that’s never going to happen,” you said flatly.

“Have you ever considered having a conversation with him instead of shielding him from every little thing that might hurt him?” James asked and you rolled your eyes.

“Clearly every little thing can hurt him!” you pointed over to his room. “He can’t even breathe without help, James. Maybe he needs to be protected.”

“Stop, just stop,” James ran a hand over his face. “I can’t get into a fight with you every single time we see each other. Julian is just as much my son as he is yours, if this is going to work we need to be able to have a conversation with each other.”

You took a sip of your tea and said,

“Okay, I’m worried Julian might take the fact that you’re around more the wrong way.”

James nodded his head, “I hear you, so maybe we should talk to him about it and say I’m coming around more to lend a hand around the house and help take care of him.”

“Dad? What are you doing here?” as if on cue, Julian had walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes awake and adjusting to the light.

“Julian, where’s your oxygen mask?”

“I don’t wanna wear it mom,” he whined. “I don’t like the way it feels on my face.”

You sighed, having had this conversation at least five times before, you didn’t know what else you could say to convince him.

“Hey buddy, maybe we should listen to mom on this one,” James suggested. “You know that feeling you’ve got right here,” he pointed to his chest. “That’s only gonna get worse if you don’t wear it and we don’t want to have to go to the hospital again, right?”

Julian shook his head and sighed, stomping back over to his room to grab the portable machine and place the tube under his nose and around his ears, allowing him to get the right amount of oxygen.

You looked over at James gratefully and he reached his hand out to yours and gave it a squeeze. It was nice being on the same team even if you had just been arguing.

When Julian came back he repeated his question to his dad who explained that he was here to talk to you about a few things that would be changing soon and that he’d be around more to help look after him.

“If you’re going to be here to help look after me can you stay tonight?” Julian asked. “Mom still has some of your clothes in those boxes in her closet.”

“She does, does she,” James looked over at you.

“It was the stuff you wanted to give away and I never got around to it,” you said. “There’s probably a hoodie and some pyjama pants in there if you want to stay.”

James pressed his lips together and sighed,

“You know buddy as much as I would love to have a sleepover with you I don’t think it’s a good idea if I spend the night here,” James said. “But I can tuck you in again and wait until you fall asleep to go back home.”

“Mom, can you come too?” Julian asked and you nodded your head.

James stood up and helped Julian carry his portable oxygen machine back to his bedroom and you trailed behind them, watching as James carefully tucked Julian back under the covers while peppering his face with small kisses, like he would do when Julian was younger and just learning to sleep in his own room.

“Dad that tickles,” Julian giggled and James simply smiled and continued littering his face with kisses.

“Too bad. I love you too much; I just can’t get enough of you.”

“Alright, move it,” you nudged James from the opposite side of the bed and took your turn. “It must tickle having two parents who love you so damn much.”

“It does,” Julian’s laughter died out as you both finally left him alone, sitting on either side of his mattress.

You both wished him a good night and waited as he slowly fell back asleep. When his breathing was steady and his grip loosened on yours and James’ hands you took it as your cue to leave the room.

James placed a hand on your shoulder as you stepped out of the room, prompting you to turn around and face him.

“I’ll come by tomorrow and we can work out a schedule or something, does that sound good?”

You nodded your head,

“Yeah, I have a work thing tomorrow in the evening, I was gonna ask Mahlet, Hennock’s mom, if she could come look after Julian, but if you’re around…”

“I’ll come for dinner and then do the bedtime routine,” he said and you smiled.

“James I’m begging you-,”

“I won’t be late,” he assured. “No surgeries planned and I’m ending my shift with clinic duty.”

You pressed your lips into a thin line and nodded your head.

“I’ll see you then,” you patted his arm and he showed himself out.

You walked back to the kitchen grabbing your now lukewarm cup of tea and sitting back on the couch picking up your book and opening it, reading until you couldn’t keep your eyes open any longer, falling asleep right there on the couch.

—

Over the next few months, you, James, and Julian had developed some sort of routine around school, work, and doctor’s appointments. A part of you thought you were spending more time together as a family than when you were married.

Today you had to go in for work, also having reduced your hours, but in a way that you were working in tandem with James. When you arrived back home the house smelled like warm spices and big plates of home-cooked food.

You dropped your keys on the entryway table, next to James’ keys and wallet and took off your jacket, hanging it up before coming to the kitchen and seeing Julian and Hennock doing their homework at the island.

“Mr. Wilson, what is the difference between these two words?” Hennock asked, holding up his paper so James could see while cutting some vegetables for a salad.

“I think the first one is the kind of principal in your school that looks after all the students and the other one is… man, that’s hard to describe. Hey, how do you describe what principle is to an eight-year-old?” James asked you.

“I think that kind of principle is something that guides the way people behave or act,” you sat next to Julian and Hennock. “Like a principle is the foundation for something that people believe in.”

Hennock and Julian still looked a little confused by your explanation so you tried to give an example.

“So a principle could be to be kind to everyone we meet and so people who believe in that principle will try to follow it.”

That put it in better terms for them to understand and there was a chorus of oh’s before they looked back down at their papers and scribbled down a few things to answer the questions they were asked.

“They learning about homonyms?” you asked James and he nodded.

“I talked to Mahlet,” James said, changing the topic. “Hennock’s gonna stay for dinner and she’ll come pick him up around seven.”

“Sounds good, it’s always nice to have you, Henny,” you smiled and ruffled your hand through his coarse curly hair in an endearing way.

“Thanks, Mrs. Wilson,” Hennock smiled.

James was now over the stove, stirring what looked like a soup before giving it a taste and figuring something might be missing.

“Can you taste this?” James asked. “I don’t know why, but every time I make it there’s something off.”

You took a spoon and tried a little bit of the broth, looking down to see that he was making matzah ball soup and immediately when you tasted it you knew what was missing.

“I know what it is,” you said. “But you can’t tell your mom I told you. She swore me to secrecy.”

“My mother told you this?” James asked and you nodded.

“When we were getting married she wanted me to know how to make it the way she would for you when you were sick.”

“And she didn’t think to tell her own son how to do this?” he seemed thoroughly offended, but all you could do was laugh.

“It’s tarragon. I don’t think it’s something everyone adds, it was just something special she’d put in hers to make it a little different. Here,” you reached into the spice cupboard and took out a jar of dried tarragon and took a bit of the herb out of the container and crushed it in your hands before sprinkling it into the soup. James mixed it in and gave the broth a minute to soak in the flavour before trying it again and shaking his head.

“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!”

“I’ll let you finish having your little meltdown,” you patted his back. “I’m gonna hop in the shower quickly and we can eat when I get out.”

“Did Dad forget the tarragon?” Julian asked and you nodded your head.

“Wow, so everyone knew, but me?” James asked and you nodded your head with a shrug.

“Sorry, I guess your mom has favourites, or something.”

“Figures,” James teasingly rolled his eyes and you chuckled, waving him off and going to take a shower and change into something a little more comfortable.

When you came back outside they had migrated to the dining room table, each with a bowl of soup in front of them and a plate of salad. You sat on the same side as James since Julian and Hennock were already sitting next to each other and the boys happily recounted the details of their school day and playdate with you while everyone ate their soup and salad.

“What did you do at work, Dad?” James asked.

“Oh, nothing interesting,” he shook his head. “I think your mom was doing bigger things than me.”

“Bigger than treating people with cancer? You flatter me,” you drank some of your soup’s broth. “I had a meeting with a big company about a building they’re making.”

“Did you go do a site visit?” James asked and you nodded.

“Engineers are being a pain in the butt, keep making me adjust the design, but we’ll see who gets the last laugh.”

“Mom always does,” Julian told Hennock and they chuckled along with James.

After dinner James helped you clear up some of the dishes before heading out and leaving you with the boys. When Mahlet came by to pick Hennock up you invited her in for tea and a little visit.

“Thanks for coming to stay with Julian the other night,” you said after handing her a mug. “For once, I was the late one and James had an emergency come up so it was a huge help.”

“And how are things now, with the co-parenting?”

You took a sip of your tea, “Weirdly good,” you admitted. “We don’t argue as much which is nice and Julian gets to see his dad more.”

“Do you think maybe you’re not fighting because he’s changing?” she asked.

“I don’t wanna go down that path,” you shook your head. “If Jay hadn’t been diagnosed things would still be the same as they always were.”

“But they’re not. More often than not people show their true colours during times of difficulty.”

You took a deep breath and sighed, “If that was the case I would have seen something worth keeping when my marriage was falling apart.”

Mahlet nodded, seeing as you had a point and your conversation was halted as they boys came out of Julian’s room.

Mahlet and Hennock left shortly afterwards and you quickly got Julian ready for bed, tucking him in and then going to get settled yourself. You looked through a few client papers for work before calling it a night and turning off your bedside lamp, curling into bed and falling asleep.

Your sleep was interrupted in the middle of the night by a tapping on your shoulder and when you blinked your eyes open you saw Julian standing next to your bed.

“Jay, sweetheart, is something wrong?” you asked.

“My stomach really hurts,” he told you and you sat up, motioning for him to come sit with you on the bed.

“Where?” you asked, turning on the light and he pointed to the upper right corner of his abdomen. If you remembered correctly that wasn’t exactly where his stomach was and your suspicions were confirmed when you saw the yellowing whites of his eyes. “Oh, sweetheart, I think we have to go to the hospital.”

“The hospital? What happened?” Julian looked worried and you assured him everything would be alright.

“We’re just being safe,” you told him. “I’m gonna call your dad, maybe he can tell us a little bit more of what’s going on. Do you feel good enough to get your jacket and shoes and your hospital bag?”

Julian nodded his head and you gave him a kiss and he went off to grab his things while you did the same, but also taking your cell phone and calling James.

It took a few rings, but he eventually picked up.

“Hey, did something happen?” he asked and you could still hear the sleep thick in his voice.

“I think something’s wrong with Julian. I’m gonna take him to the hospital, can you meet us there?”

“Yeah, of course, I’m on my way.”

“James…the whites of his eyes were yellow. Does he have jaundice?” you asked.

“It’s possible, was there anything else?”

“Yeah, he mentioned stomach pain, but he pointed to like his upper right abdomen, I think,” you explained while grabbing your bag and putting on some socks.

“Makes sense as a liver issue,” you could hear his car starting in the background. “If he’s presenting symptoms now I would call an ambulance.”

“James-,”

“Just trust me,” he said. “Call 911.”

“Okay,” you nodded your head and hung up, calling the emergency services and explaining the situation to them and then to Julian while you waited for them to arrive.

James made the right call, seeing as while you were in the ambulance Julian began to throw up and the paramedics obviously handled it better than you could have if you had driven him.

When you arrived at the ER they wheeled Julian away and you began getting flashbacks to when you first brought him in.

“Where are you taking him?” you called after them, but no one answered you. “What the hell kind of hospital is this?! Where are you taking my son?!”

“Ma’am they're taking your son to do a liver biopsy,” one of the nurses came back and informed you. “We need you to sign this consent form.”

You nodded your head and took the pen from her hand, signing it, but just as you were about to ask her a question she ran off to give them the okay.

You could feel your anger and worry bubbling inside your throat and you wanted to let it out in a scream and you were about to go running after her, but before you could you felt someone grab your wrist and pull you back.

“James let me go,” you said warningly, looking back at your ex-husband.

“No,” he stated just as firmly.

“James-,”

“I am not going to let you do something you’re going to regret,” he said and pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you, even when you pushed to get away.

“James, let me go.”

“No,” he repeated and simply held onto you tighter.

“Let me-,” your voice broke and you stopped pushing away. “Please, Jamie, please I just want to see him,” you cried into his shirt and he squeezed you so tight you thought you might get bruises in your arm from the way he was holding you.

“I know, I know,” he whispered. “You brought him here and he’s going to be fine.”

“I can’t do this anymore, James. I can't be his mom and his doctor and they can’t expect me to wait out here while they drag him away and ask me to consent to God knows what.”

James didn’t know what to tell you, instead he just continued to hold you close, rubbing his hands up and down your back, and pressed a soft kiss against your temple.

You wrapped your arms around him and finally let yourself fully sink into his embrace, hating yourself for how much you liked it and how good it made you feel while your son was in some back corner of the ER getting a piece of his liver biopsied.

Eventually James pulled away from you, helping you dry your tears on the sleeve of his sweater and walking with his arm wrapped around you to the waiting area. You didn’t know how long you were sitting there, but it was possible that you had dozed off once or twice against James’ arm, waiting to hear some sort of news from the ER doctor.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wilson?”

Your eyes blinked open when James gently shook you awake.

“That’s us,” he said. “Is Julian okay?”

“Your son has a mild case of cirrhosis,” the doctor explained. “Due to his cystic fibrosis diagnosis we believe this is due to clogging and inflammation in his bile ducts.”

“What does that mean for him? Does he need surgery to fix it?” you asked, fighting back a tired yawn.

“Unfortunately, yes,” the doctor nodded. “It’s good you caught it early, there’s minimal damage to his liver so far and he’s still growing which means his liver is too. We can get him into an OR tomorrow if you consent to the surgery.”

You looked over at James and he nodded his head. You trusted him and told the doctor you would sign the papers as soon as you could see Julian.

“He’s been moved to the pediatric ward for now and Dr. Liu has been informed of the development. He should be in touch with you tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” James said and when the doctor left, he helped you up and you began the walk up to the pediatric ward.

When you arrived a nurse pointed you in the direction of his room and after each pressing a kiss to Julain’s forehead you sat on the seat bench together.

“We should sleep,” James said, but you had a hard time imagining how that would be possible.

“I’m having a hard time working out the logistics,” you admitted.

“Come on, it’ll be just like on the way back from our honeymoon,” he insisted, recalling your extremely delayed flight on the way back from France, causing you to sleep with your head on James’ lap, stretched out along the airport chairs.

You were too tired to argue or try and find another way, so you leaned down and rested your head against his legs, closing your eyes and sighing when you felt his hand rub up and down in long motions along the side of your body. Sleep could not have come quicker.

—

“Mom…Mom, Dad?”

Julian rolled his eyes when he received no answer and grabbed the stuffed animal you had placed next to him when he’d come into the room and threw it at his sleeping parents, nailing his dad in the face.

“Oh, God, mhm, wake up,” James shook you while he raised his hands to rub his face.

“Huh?” you opened your eyes and pushed yourself off of James’ lap. “Oh crap, my back. Remind me not to listen to you when you talk about doing something I did ten years ago.”

“Julian, did you throw Steggy at my face?” James asked, picking up the stuffed animal from where it had fallen on you.

“You weren’t getting up,” Julian shrugged his shoulders.

“Julian,” you chastised and took the dinosaur from James’ hand. “You could have hurt your dad’s important doctor-face,” you joked and rubbed your hand all over James’ face making Julian laugh.

“Okay, okay,” James moved your hand away and gave you a look.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” you yawned and moved from the bench to the side of his bed.

“A little better,” he said. “Did the doctors fix what was wrong?”

“Not yet,” James shook his head and came to sit next to you and placed a hand on Julian’s. “You’re gonna have to go in for surgery today.”

“A surgery?” Julian looked a little nervous. “Like cut me open?”

“It’ll be just a line right here,” James drew it with his finger along Julian’s abdomen. “They’re going to fix a part of you called your bile duct and then sew you right back up and you’ll be good as new.”

“Is it dangerous?” he asked.

You looked over at James, a small note telling him to lie to make him feel better. He didn’t need to know all the details.

“No,” James shook his head. “You’re gonna be fine and your mom and I will be here the whole time.”

“Promise?” Julian whispered.

“Swear on it,” James leaned in towards his son and snuck a kiss to his cheek. “We love you, buddy.”

“I love you guys too.”

Dr. Liu came by a little while later to inform you what time the surgery was scheduled for and he helped make Julian feel a lot better about the procedure. When it was finally time for him to go, you were a nervous wreck, but tried not to let it show for Julian’s sake, instead just pressing a big kiss to his forehead and telling him you’d be waiting for him once he got out.

It only took about fifteen minutes of your pacing to get James to grab onto your arm and make you stop.

“You’re gonna burn a hole in the ground,” he said.

“I don’t know what to do with myself,” you admitted. “If I sit I’m gonna fidget, if I stand I’m going to pace.”

“Then come on, let’s go to my office for a second, grab a coffee and a snack and then we can come back out and wait,” he suggested.

You agreed to his idea so he stood up and you walked side by side to his office, passing House who had some comment about your dishevelled appearance together.

“You’re an interesting man, Greg,” you shook your head at him. “You can’t think of any other reason we might be here?”

House was silent so James explained,

“Julian’s in surgery right now. He’s got cirrhosis.”

“Ah so not a late night ex-wife rendez-vous. Can’t get ‘em right all the time,” he shrugged and you chuckled. “I hope the kid’s alright.”

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you,” you admitted.

He raised his brows and lifted his cane to say goodbye, letting you and James continue your walk to his office.

“House mind that you’re not spending as much time here?” you asked.

“No, he just bothers me more when I am around,” James said while opening the door and letting you inside.

He went towards his desk and pulled out a few packages of snacks tossing you one and you shook your head when you saw the label.

“You still eat these? I thought the FDA recalled them?” you asked sarcastically.

“I’m sorry I have better taste in food than you do,” he said right back.

“Right, this is food,” you chuckled. “And if you have such good taste why didn’t your mom tell you about her secret ingredient?”

“That’s cold,” he pointed to you with a bag of chips in his hand.

“No, it’s true. Just like your dad telling me I was his favourite wife of yours,” you opened the bag James had tossed you.

“Just shut up and eat your snack,” James chuckled and you listened to him, beginning to eat a little something, not realizing how hungry you were until the food made its way to your stomach.

“You got another one of these?” you asked and he nodded, passing it to you when you were finished with the first one.

“Feeling a little better?” James asked and you nodded your head.

“Hey James?” you said, unsure of how you’d gotten to this point, but you were too exhausted to stop yourself from saying it. “I want you to move back in.”

“You want me to do what?” he raised his brows and looked at you stunned.

“I want you to move back in with me and Julian,” you said. “It’s becoming pretty clear to me that it’s safer to have two people around when possible than not and you’re already around all the time now.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked. “I mean you didn’t want to give Julian the wrong idea about us.”

“Our lives changed the second we got that diagnosis. I think we need to change along with everything else.”

You couldn’t believe that just barely twelve hours ago you were telling your friend there was no chance James had changed, but here you were saying things that had proved you had changed. Things you wouldn’t have dreamt of saying a year ago.

“Okay,” James nodded. “I’ll move back in.”

You just silently hoped you wouldn’t regret asking.

Waiting for Julian to get out of surgery was a little easier now that you had some food in your stomach and you decided to wait on coffee until you got the note from the surgeon that everything had gone well.

As James had continued to assure you almost a hundred times, the surgery went fine and before you knew it you were back in Julian’s room watching him sleep off the anaesthetic.

“You know he looks like you when he sleeps,” James said from the bench while you sat on the bed next to Julian.

“He does?”

“Yeah, his nose does that same scrunchy thing when he sniffles and when he snores-,”

“Hey, I only snore when I’m congested,” you said defensively.

“I never minded,” James smiled. “I thought it was cute when you sounded like an old man.”

“Yeah, but you’re not fond of all my old man characteristics,” you turned around to face him, still holding Julian’s hand in yours.

“All your old man characteristics?” James furrowed his brows in confusion.

“You told me I argued like an old man. Stubborn and could only see my own way. And I fought dirty.”

“You sure did,” James nodded. “If you brandishing my mother’s clear favouritism shows anything, it’s definitely that you fight dirty, but I never said I disliked that about you.”

“Really? Near the end I thought there was a lot you disliked about me.”

James shook his head, “No, I was just upset and you were passionate. It wasn’t like my other marriages where things just…fizzled.”

“We did go out with a bang,” you inhaled deeply.

“If it weren’t for Julian… do you think we’d…”

You shook your head.

“No, we probably never would have seen each other again. Another old man trait, I hold a pretty mean grudge.”

James pressed his lips together and looked over at his sleeping son.

“I’m happy we had him,” he said quietly. “Even if we didn’t work out.”

“Me too,” you agreed, looking over at Julian quietly snoring, just like his dad had said. “Best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

You leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Julian’s nose watching him scrunch it up, making you smile. It was a miracle that two such flawed individuals could make a child so perfect.

—

“Alright, he is asleep, but I do warn you it took some bribery so you’ll have to buy him another dinosaur book to read to him at night,” you walked out of Julian’s room, dusting your hands off like you’d just finished a heavy labour job.

“I’ll run to the bookstore tomorrow,” James nodded and you fell onto the couch next to him and sighing as you sunk into the plush fabric before noticing what he was doing.

“Where did you pull these out of?” you asked with a soft chuckle.

“I was just clearing up the closet in the guest bedroom and I found a box of these,” he picked up the albums. “Look at this one.”

He placed the book of photos on your lap and you smiled seeing as it was Julian’s baby album, filled with small mementos and little notes you and James had made in the margins.

“Oh my God, Mom’s first day home, she looks like an angel,” you read from the side. “And my response: I look like I just got hit by a bus, cut it out.”

“You can still read my chicken scratch writing?” James asked.

“My most useless talent as I like to call it,” you nodded. “You wrote a lot in here.”

“I used to bring it with me to work cause I missed you guys so much,” he admitted. “Made me feel closer to you.”

You read through some of the notes in the book, chuckling a little at some of the written back and forth you had. Eventually you got to the family portraits you’d had taken a few months after Julian was born, smiling softly to yourself.

You remembered the day well, you felt like you hadn’t slept in weeks, James was just getting off of a twelve-hour shift and you were almost late to your appointment with the photographer. You were worried everything was going to look terrible and you’d barely had enough time to do your hair or makeup, but James had silenced your worries with a kiss and assured you the pictures would be fine.

In the end most of them were terrible, but the photographer managed to get two shots, one of you and James smiling down at Julian in your arms and another immediately after where you were looking up and smiling at each other.

“That session was a shitshow,” you recalled and James agreed. “We did get a few nice things out of it though.”

You looked back down at the pile of albums in front of you and noticed a large white one, tucked under a few things and even though nothing good could come of it, you pulled it out from the bottom of the pile, carefully blowing off the dust and turning the first page.

Centerfold, just like you remembered it, was a picture of you and James on your wedding day. You leaned further back into the couch and James scooched in closer to get a look.

You both looked younger in the picture, with that spark of je ne sais quoi in your eyes.

“I told you there was a reason we got married,” he said quietly, his hand brushing the corner of the photo.

“Yeah, we loved each other,” you said. “That was the reason.”

“Same reason we decided to have Julian,” he added.

You could feel your breathing become a little more shallow and a tightness in your chest as James spoke about Julian. You remembered the conversations so clearly, like you’d had them yesterday, caught between happy and passionate kisses while James made some dirty jokes about getting you pregnant.

That was back when he still couldn’t get enough of you. Before things changed and he slowly distanced himself until it felt like it was just you and Julian against the rest of the world, and not the three of you like he had promised all those nights throughout your pregnancy.

You wondered quietly to yourself what had changed? What had become so unbearable that there was distance in the first place? There was never a lack of love on your end which is why this was dangerous.

At least when there was distance you could be angry with him, you could go to bed at night and not remember all the little things that made you love him in the first place. He wasn’t there as a constant reminder that you loved his cooking, or even just your banter together. More importantly, it was giving you new reasons to feel that fluttering feeling in your stomach.

You’d always loved how he’d interact with Julian, but now that you got to see it day in and day out, it made it harder to weigh that against the cons of everything. Most notably, this was the beginning of the end. If you let yourself fall you would both crash and Julian would be caught in the middle once again.

You tried to distract yourself by flipping through the album photos to find some funny old picture of a relative or maybe even an embarrassing moment to tone down whatever it was that looking at that picture was making you feel.

All you could focus on was how in every picture, almost without fail, James was looking over at you. Rarely into the camera along with everyone else. He was enamoured, that was the only word to describe it, and oh how much you missed that look.

You made the mistake of tearing away your gaze from the pictures, looking up at James instead, and for a moment you thought just maybe you saw that same look in his eyes. But no. It couldn’t have been. The dim light of the lamp must have been playing tricks on you.

Finally you closed the album and put it back down, unsure of what feelings might resurface if you opened another one. Your honeymoon, family dinners and pictures were all just reminders of the happy times, not what came after.

James did what you didn’t want to, grabbing another album and sifting through the pages until he found what he was looking for, taking a picture out of its protective sleeve and showing it to you.

“Can I keep this one?” he asked.

You took it from his hands, examining it while your fingers precariously held the edges of the photograph.

It was a silly picture, something you had taken while you were travelling. James got someone to take the camera, but along with snapping a few shots while you were posed with smiles they caught a few candids, most notably, James kissing your cheek while you laughed and tried to squirm out of his grasp.

Your finger gently brushed over the spot on the photo where James’ lips were against your cheek before nodding your head.

“Sure, you can have it,” you handed him back the picture and patted your hands against your legs, preparing to stand up. “I should get to bed.”

“I’ll be out here for a while longer if you need anything.”

You gave him a tight lipped smile and stood up, walking towards your bedroom. When you closed the door behind you, you let out a breath you had been holding and ran a hand across your face.

Maybe Julian was never the one at risk of getting the wrong idea.

—

Waking up in the middle of the night always made you feel uneasy. Especially if Julian was the one waking you up. The chance that you’d have to drive to the hospital or call an ambulance was high and you hated the fear and worry that came along with any possible complications.

Tonight, you woke up on your own accord. Your heart was beating inside your throat and your stomach felt like it was housing a group of persistent butterflies.

You glanced over at the clock and saw the time, flashing in red.

3:07

You took a deep breath trying to steady your heart rate and breathing before peeling away your blanket and kicking your feet over the side of the bed. You grabbed a different pair of pyjamas from your dresser and walked into the washroom, tossing them on the far end of the floor while you stripped down and turned on the water for the shower.

When you stepped inside you hissed initially at the cold, but forced yourself to become fully submerged under the water, closing the curtain behind you. Your muscles clenched as your body adjusted to the temperature, and when the time finally came you let your thoughts and dreams become washed away by the water coming out of the shower head.

You were simply standing there, letting the water fall on your face when you heard the click of the door opening.

“Julian, sweetie,” you sighed, turning around so you could speak. “Maybe you should go to your dad if something’s wrong, I’ll come out in a sec.”

“No need,” you heard a voice that did not belong to your son.

“James? I’m in the shower. What are you doing?” you asked incredulously, feeling the need to cover yourself up even though there was a curtain blocking his view. You felt exposed nonetheless.

“It’s three in the morning, I thought something was wrong, I came to check on you,” he explained.

“And what were you doing up?” you asked.

“Got in late. There was an emergency at the hospital after you guys went to sleep, I dealt with it and just came back.”

You stepped under the running water again, washing the water over your face with your hands.

“So, is everything okay?”

“Peachy,” you said sarcastically, leaning against the wall of the shower.

“Nobody ever says peachy when things are okay,” James pushed further and you sighed, moving to sit down on the floor of the shower, still positioned under the water.

“I just had a dream, that’s all,” you said, watching as the water hit your toes and the ground around you.

“A bad dream?” he asked.

“No, it was more like… déjà vu.”

James sighed, and rubbed his hands on his legs.

“Was it about us?”

He took your silence as a yes.

James didn’t really know what to say, his hands were clasped together as he leaned forward sitting on the bathroom counter.

“You’re not gonna ask what it’s about?” you hugged your knees close to your chest.

“Would you tell me?”

“Maybe…I don’t know,” you mumbled.

There was another moment of silence before James spoke up again,

“What was it about?”

You turned to face the water with your eyes closed again, gathering the courage to speak.

“It started when I told you I was pregnant,” you said softly. “Like the memory replayed in my head, exactly how it happened.”

“I remember that day,” you heard the soft smile in his voice as he spoke. “You took the test at work and when it came back positive you came straight to the hospital to tell me.”

“I was barely two steps inside your office when I blurted it out, you were eating lunch and had that stupid look on your face with a mouth full of sandwich,” you chuckled to yourself.

“I almost choked on that,” James shook his head. “And I just remember running up to you and freaking out.”

“And then when you were done freaking out and everything sunk in you kissed me, and you told me you loved me, and we cried because we made a child. Our love did that.”

You reached forward and turned the shower off, pushing yourself up on your feet and taking a deep breath before pulling back the curtain. You had told him what you were thinking. You couldn’t get any more exposed than that.

James looked stunned for a moment and it didn’t go unnoticed how his eyes raked up and down your figure.

“Get me the robe, would you?” you motioned to the back of the door and he jumped down grabbing the robe and holding it out for you so you could place your arms into the sleeves and wrap the towelled fabric around you, trying it off with the belt.

When you turned your head to look back at James, you could tell at least you’d succeeded in raising his heart rate, much like he was doing for you recently.

You moved to go sit on the closed toilet while James retook his spot on the counter.

“Do you remember when Julian was born?” he whispered.

“I like it was yesterday. I can’t believe it’s been eight years,” you nodded your head.

He was having trouble holding your gaze and you wondered what he was about to say.

“I-I screwed up,” his voice was soft, almost hurt, like it pained him to think about what he had done. “When you were resting afterwards the nurse asked me if we were going to do a newborn screening. We hadn’t talked about it, but you were so tired and it was such a hard labour…” he swallowed thickly, his voice wavering slightly, remembering the birth. It wasn’t easy by any means and James had often thought that the hardest thing he’d ever had to watch was you in that much pain. “I told her we weren’t going to do it. I just didn’t want Julian to leave and h-he looked so perfect I never thought anything could have been wrong with him.”

James took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, “I am a doctor and I didn’t get a newborn screening for my son, what the hell kind of father does that make me?”

“Oddly enough, I think it makes you a good one,” you admitted.

“Even though we could have known about this years before? We could have gotten him treatment, medication, therapies, all sooner?” he looked back at you confused.

“You said it yourself, Jamie. He was perfect for us. Still is.”

James nodded his head and looked forward at the opposite wall. You stood up and walked over towards him, reaching out a hand to gently hold his face, your thumb brushing against his cheek while he looked at you.

“I don’t blame you for this,” you whispered. “I don’t blame you and I don’t think you’re a bad father.”

“I know,” he murmured, “but I do.”

You leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek, not knowing what other comfort you could offer.

James leaned in a little to your touch, sitting up straighter when it was gone, trying to play it off like he hadn’t been missing it and craving it as much as you.

You were about to say something when you heard a knock on the washroom door, and this time it had to be Julian.

“Mom? Dad, are you in here too?” you could hear his small sounding voice, a little strained and worried so you quickly assured him you were both inside and opened the door.

“Sweetheart, what happened?” you asked, noticing his tear-stained face.

“I just had a bad dream,” he sniffed and wiped his eyes.

You kissed away his tears first before assuring him everything would be fine, you and James were there to take care of him.

“Why don’t you go and lay down on my bed with your Dad?” you suggested. “I’ll get dressed and come join you.”

Julian nodded and made his way over to your bed while you went to quickly speak to James.

“It’ll be good for you. Both of you,” you told him.

“You don’t mind?”

“Just this once.”

James thanked you with a kiss to your cheek and left the adjoining washroom, closing the door behind him and giving you a minute to get changed and deal with anything you needed to before going back to bed.

When you opened the door and came back into your room, you saw James under the covers with Julian pressed close to him, their foreheads resting together while James told him everything was going to be alright and he could go back to sleep.

You slipped in under the covers, sandwiching Julian between you both, letting his back rest against your chest while you pressed a kiss to his hair.

One hand was tucked under your pillow and another was draped over Julian, and your fingers carefully placed over top of James’.

“Will you be here when I wake up?” Julian asked his dad.

“Right next to you,” he kissed his nose. “Now try to get some sleep, okay?”

Julian nodded his head and yawned and you whispered a quiet goodnight to bed him and his dad before letting your eyes close, silently smiling when you could feel James’ hand finally hold your own.

—

“You guys, relax, he’s going to be fine,” Mahlet placed a hand on both yours and James’ shoulders while you spewed out your worries. “It’s one night, I have the whole list of things he needs and I’ve taken care of him before, right? It’s just at my house this time so the boys can have a sleepover and you two can have a bit of a break.”

“She’s right,” James sighed. “I’m still worried out of my mind, but she’s right.”

“Mahi, are you sure you don’t want us to come even for a little bit?” you asked.

“Absolutely, if something happens I’ll call an ambulance and then you, but Julian’s been good for months now, he can survive one night away from home,” she assured you.

“Thank you, Mahlet. I’m sure Julian and Hennock will have a great time tonight. Just call us when he’s ready to be picked up tomorrow morning,” James said.

James wrapped his arm around you, giving you a squeeze knowing you were still uneasy about this, but deep down you knew Mahlet was right. The chances of something going wrong at this point were small and you’d had enough time since your last hospital visit to even consider doing something like this.

“You boys ready?” James called and Julian came rushing out of the room with his bag in hand, Hennock following close behind him.

“You have fun tonight, okay?” you bent down and gave Julian a kiss. “And if anything happens or you feel sick, or are having trouble breathing, tell Mahlet, okay?”

“I know, Mom. Dad already told me this like fifteen times,” Julian chuckled.

You looked up at James and he shrugged.

“Alright, well you guys better go before I change my mind,” you crossed your arms over your chest and that was all the permission the boys needed to run off, leaving Mahlet to say goodbye before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

You sighed and turned around, looking at James who had his hands shoved into his pockets.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“I could eat,” you nodded your head.

“Why don’t we make something for dinner together?” he suggested.

You looked at the clock and smiled, “I think we’ve got enough time for pizza, what do you think?”

“I think that’s a great plan,” James agreed. “I can start on the dough and you get the sauce and toppings?”

You gave him a thumbs up before putting your hand out to high-five him, noticing how your fingers so easily intertwined before you walked apart and let go.

James rolled up his sleeves and took off his watch, placing it on the small jewelry tray you kept by the sink for when you were washing dishes, while you went to the fridge and began pulling out all the things that could make good pizza toppings.

Moving to the sink to wash some vegetables, you noticed James’ watch resting there. You didn’t pay much attention when he was wearing it, but now you realized why it looked extra familiar. It was one you had gotten him as an anniversary present after your first year married.

“You still wear that?” you pointed with your eyes to the watch.

“It’s my favourite watch, of course I wear it,” he nodded while portioning the flour into a large bowl.

“Even with that engraving?” you raised a questioning brow.

“Dearest Jamie, Here’s to the first of many happy anniversaries. Love forever, Your Wife,” he recited the engraving back to you.

“I don’t know why you do that to yourself,” you chuckled a little, looking down into the sink.

“Yeah, well why do you still go by Mrs. Wilson?”

“Easier to keep the name than change it again,” you partially lied, it wasn’t the full truth, but it was what you had been telling yourself ever since the divorce was finalized.

James could sense you were lying, but he knew the only way to get you to open up would be to let himself be open with you.

“The watch is my favourite because you gave it to me. Functionally it sucks and it's uncomfortable, but you went out of your way to get me something that looked nice and that’s why I love it.”

You smiled a little to yourself, but kept your head facing the sink and continued to wash the vegetables.

“You’re not going to say anything?” he inquired.

“Do I have to?” you asked.

“That’s normally how a conversation works,” he remarked and you chuckled.

“What do you want me to say?” you asked.

“Honestly, the real reason why you kept your married name,” he said plainly.

You sighed, “It wasn’t a full lie. If I went back to my maiden name Julian and I wouldn’t have the same last name it just makes things complicated and confusing and I didn’t want to deal with it, but,” you added, “I always kind of liked the sound of Mrs. Wilson and even though I was pissed at you all the time I still liked that there was one thing aside from Julian connecting us. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t want to end up like Sam or Bonnie just…detached, like there was barely a trace that you were even there.”

“It’s a fingerprint,” James said. “Mine.”

“Yeah, even though it's small for who we were to each other, it's the fingerprint you left on my life.”

James pressed his lips together and opened his mouth to say something before shutting it and evaluated how he was going to speak,

“Can I ask you something?” he settled on.

“Sure,” you nodded, moving over to the cutting board and placing yourself on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

“Did…Did you ever stop loving me?”

Your smile faltered and James noticed the change in your demeanor, quickly retracting his question.

“You know what, forget I asked,” he shook his head and continued to knead the dough.

There was a moment of silence before you spoke again.

“I didn’t, but I got tired of not being loved back.”

James stopped what he was doing and looked up at you with concern.

“You thought I stopped loving you?” he asked.

“James, I was wife number three. Didn’t take much to connect the dots and see you got tired of me,” you said bluntly. “I wanted to know if I could count on you, and it was starting to feel like maybe I couldn’t. Then the divorce happened and everything after that just made me feel like I was right.”

James chewed on the inside of his cheek and remained silent.

“You didn’t fight for me,” you said quietly. “You fought for joint custody, but you didn’t fight for me. You just…accepted it.”

“I…I didn’t know you wanted me to fight for you.”

“Are you saying you would have?” you asked, unsure of whether or not you wanted to hear his answer.

“I’m saying I thought I didn’t even have a chance,” he admitted.

“So you wouldn’t have,” you clarified for him, beginning to chop the toppings into pieces and separate them into bowls.

He chuckled humourlessly, “I have dated one person since the divorce. I hated it.”

“Why do you have to talk in puzzles, James? Why can’t you just come out and say what you really mean?”

“And then what?” he asked. “We go back to living in the same house. Sleep in separate rooms. Move on now that we know the truth?”

“Say it,” you put the knife down and looked him right in the eyes.

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked, cleaning the dough off his hand. “I’m going to say it and you’re just going to stand there and I have to live with that?”

You walked around the counter and came right up in front of him.

“If you were listening to anything I was saying, you would stop making excuses and say it.”

“Fine!” he threw his hands up in the air. “I still love you. I never stopped loving you. These past few months, even though stressful, have been the happiest I’ve been in so long because I feel like myself again when I’m with you and Julian. Because I feel like your husband, and I feel like a father and I keep kicking myself wondering how I could have been so stupid to lose that.”

“Say it one more time,” you whispered, lifting your hands to hold onto his face. “Please.”

“I love you,” his voice was softer, relieved like after being underwater he could finally breathe again.

You finally pulled him into you, your lips hesitantly resting on his at first, before you found your rhythm again after so long. It was muscle memory, his hands finding the spot they always rested against on your hips, his lips moving in synch with yours, eventually trailing off and finding their favourite spot against your jaw and behind your ear.

“James,” you breathed.

“Jamie,” he mumbled against your skin. “Call me Jamie.”

“Jamie, Jamie, Jamie,” you repeated the nickname until he silenced you with another kiss, muffling your voice.

“God, I missed you,” he whispered when you pulled apart, breathing heavily due to your fast beating heart.

You closed your eyes while your forehead rested against his, feeling his nose touch yours, his hands still firmly planted on your hips when your thumbs brushed against his cheeks.

“Jamie?”

James snuck another small kiss at the sound of the nickname.

“Yes, my love.”

“Can I count on you?”

You could feel him nod his head and confirm with a verbal ‘yes’. And even if it turned out to be a lie, at that moment you didn’t care. He had proved to you that it was possible, you could work with that.

“I love you,” you said and kissed his nose and then you said it and kissed him again for good measure. “You told me twice; I tell you twice.”

James moved his hands up from your hips and brushed the back of his fingers against your cheek, a warm smile coming to his face.

And there was that look, the one you thought had vanished over time. His eyes fully transfixed on you with nothing but love and admiration. It didn’t take much to convince yourself you could get used to seeing that look for a long, long time.

TAGLIST —

@cuntyvicodin @paola-carter

#james wilson #james wilson x reader #james wilson x you #dr wilson #dr wilson x reader #dr wilson x you #house md #house md fanfiction #house md x reader #hate crimes md #james wilson fanfiction #james wilson fanfic #james wilson fic

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janeyseymour · 2 months

Text

Love Thy Neighbor- pt 7

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6.

Summary: You're sick after Ellie. Who is there to take care of you, but the woman that you've fallen in love with- and also your neighbor and coworker.

WC: ~1.75k

She kisses you back. Of course she does. But this time, when she pulls back, there’s a look of panic on her face instead of yours.

“Y/N,” she whispers.

“You’re worth the risk,” you tell her softly, pulling her in again. “But we should probably talk about all of this when Ellie isn’t going to possibly wake up in our laps.”

She nods, but she doesn’t make any moves to leave. The redhead instead wraps an arm around you and tugs you in closer, if that’s even possible. Her hand gently finds its way around your waist, and she absentmindedly traces patterns on your hipbone while the other hand gently runs its way through your daughter’s hair.

You shift just slightly to lay your head on her shoulder, and that’s when you feel a delicate kiss pressed to your temple.

It’s been a while since you’ve felt that. Your ex-husband used to do that all the time, but long before you had even caught him cheating (although you had an inkling) he had stopped that sweet habit of his. You take a shaky breath.

“You okay, hun?” Melissa picks up on it immediately and looks down at you worriedly. She can read you like a book- she’s always been able to. She could read you from the second she saw you in the parking garage trying to diffuse that meltdown from your daughter.

You nod. “Jared used to kiss my temple a lot,” you admit quietly.

“I won’t do it again,” she tells you. “I’m sorry.”

You shake your head as you take another breath. “No. I liked it… it’s just been a while since there’s been any sort of romance in my life- it’s going to take getting used to again.”

“I understand,” Melissa whispers to you as she kisses your head again. “We’ll take it at your pace- just like we have been.”

You smile at her sadly. “Thank you for being so wonderful. You didn’t have to wait for me.”

“I didn’t have to, but like you said… you’re so special. Worth the wait and all the risks in the world.”

When Ellie wakes up, she insists that Melissa stay with the two of you. So the redhead follows you into your room and lays down with both of you- the little girl sandwiched in between the two of you. She whines that you two aren’t close enough for to lay on both of your bodies, forcing Melissa to get closer to you- so close that you’re hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder. Only then is your daughter satisfied and able to fall asleep with the help of your neighbor’s soft voice singing Italian lullabies.

Once your little girl’s breath evens out, Melissa stops. She turns her head to look at you in the soft light that is trickling in from the moonlight, and she kisses you gently.

You wake up before your alarm feeling absolutely terrible- whatever Ellie has, so do you. You also wake up without your daughter on you. You poke your head up just slightly to see that your girl is now on the other side of your neighbor, curled into her tightly with the blankets up to her chin. And then you realize that your arm is slung around Melissa’s waist and holding onto her tightly. You let her go to roll onto your back- and then the sickness really does hit you.

How did you catch it so quickly? Ellie was hardly around you yesterday, instead choosing to be held by her new favorite person.

The cough that you let out is horrendous, and it wakes Melissa with a small jolt.

“Sorry,” you rasp out.

She turns just her head, still holding your sleeping daughter to her chest. “You caught it.”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “But I’ll be fine.”

“No you will not be,” she rolls her eyes. “You’ll be staying home so you and your daughter can rest.”

“I don’t have any sub plans, so I have to just make do,” you cough out.

Those green eyes are rolled again. “I have sub plans from last year. I’ll put them in your room, because you are not going into school today.”

“Mel.”

She takes one hand away from around Ellie and lays it on your forehead and then on your cheek. “You’re already burning up.”

“I’ll be fine.” You go to sit up when a wave of nausea hits you, and you’re forced to lay back down. “How are you not dying right now?”

“Immune system of steel,” she chuckles out softly. “I already told you that.”

The alarm clock in your room goes off, and Ellie opens one eye before curling into the redhead even more.

“I have to go to work, sweetheart,” Melissa tells her gently. “You gotta let me up.”

“I go see Mrs. Howard?” your daughter asks sleepily.

The second grade teacher smiles softly. “No, hun. You’re gonna stay home with your momma today and get some rest.”

“But-”

“Cuddle with your momma,” Melissa directs her gently over her and into your arms. “She isn’t feelin’ too great either, so when I get home it’s snuggles and soup for both of you. Okay?”

Ellie hums and curls up against you. Melissa makes her way out quietly, but not before pressing a gentle kiss to your daughter’s head and then one to your own. Even in your sickly state, you can’t help but smile softly. You’re asleep with your little girl before she even leaves the apartment complex.

The next time you open your eyes, the clock is reading 11:30. Ellie is sitting up and playing with her dolls next to you quietly. She beams over at you when she sees that you’ve finally risen.

“You feelin’ better, baby?” you croak out.

She nods. “All better!” That makes you smile- having a sick child is never fun. And, if she’s feeling better today, the chances of you feeling okay or at least better tomorrow are much higher.

You manage to get yourself out of bed to make your child lunch, but even then it’s really only to heat up the soup that Melissa had made last night before laying on the couch.

Ellie plays with her toys on the floor before curling up with you and acting as your human blanket while she watches cartoons- you don’t have it in you to entertain her with anything other than a screen right now.

The next thing you know, Ellie is quietly climbing off of you to open the door for no other than Melissa Schemmenti.

You peel your eyes open to see her making her way in.

“How’re you feelin’?” she asks you, although Ellie answers.

“I’m all better!” she grins a toothy grin. “But Momma is not feelin’ good. She sleeped all day.”

“Slept,” the two of you correct her gently at the same time.

“Why don’t you come spend some time over at my place while we let your momma rest?” the redhead suggests gently.

Ellie nods eagerly before looking at you, but you’re half asleep again. Melissa takes it upon herself to just lift your little girl onto her hip and take her across the hall.

You only stir when your neighbor brings your sleeping girl back over.

“Oh, god,” you groan. “I’m a terrible mother.”

“No you’re not,” Melissa scolds you softly. “Let me just put her to bed, and then I can take care of you a little more.”

“But she-”

“She’s fed, she’s in her pajamas and shouldn’t wake up through the night because I had her use the bathroom a couple times before we settled on the couch, and she’ll be ready to go to school with me tomorrow if you’re still feeling under the weather.”

“You’re the best,” you cough a few times as the redhead heads in the direction of your daughter’s room.

She returns a few minutes later, although she passes you and heads straight for the kitchen. She comes sauntering back in a few minutes later with a hot cup of tea for you, which you take gratefully.

“You’re cute when you’re sick,” she notes softly as she sits next to your head. She pats her lap gently, and you move so you’re resting your head on her.

“No I’m not,” you laugh softly. “Jesus, I feel like shit.”

“I’m sorry you still feel like crap.” She looks down at you with so much love in her eyes before pressing her warm hand to your forehead. “Good news is your fever broke.”

“Thank God,” you mumble. “Who was my sub today, and were the kids okay?”

“Ava,” the woman tells you. “But they did great with her. I told them I would let you know how wonderful they were and that they definitely deserve a class compliment star.”

“That’s so good,” you sigh softly as you sit up to sip the tea. You make a face. “I don’t have honey?”

“I bought some on my way home today,” she waves you off. “You’re gonna need it.”

“Thank you,” you mumble as you lay back down.

The two of you watch television for a bit before the redhead can feel your breath evening out as you give back into your slumber. She glances down at you, soft smile appearing on her face as she realizes that she’s the lucky one that gets to take care of you and Ellie. Knowing that she should probably be getting ready for bed herself, she gathers you in her arms and takes you back into your bedroom. She lays you down gently before pressing a delicate kiss to your temple and pulling the blankets up to your chin. You shiver and wake when she’s turning away.

“Stay?” you request softly, catching her by the sweatshirt sleeve. She turns back with a smirk on her face before crawling into the other side of the bed with you.

You curl into her, desperately searching for some sort of warmth- you’re still freezing your ass off despite having spent all day in a sweatshirt, sweatpants, two pairs of socks, and your robe tied around you tightly.

“You’re still cold?” she raises a brow as she wraps her arm around you. You shrug. Before you know it, you’re asleep.

You wake up to Ellie whipping open the door. Her eyes are wide when she realizes that you and Melissa spent the night together without her.

#melissa schemmenti fanfiction #melissa schemmenti #melissa schemmenti fanfic #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti x reader #abbott elementary fanfic #abbott elementary #abbott elementary fanfiction

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fandoms--fluff · 9 months

Note

Hellooooo sorry to bother you but do you think can right one of Katherine Pirces were she has a baby girl y/n and she’s like 4 months old and the salvatores brothers finds out about her they use her to take Katherine dawn but they don’t now that she ask the originals but specifically Elijah help to save ther daughter

Mama's Girl

Baby daughter reader x mom Katherine Pierce

Warnings: kidnapping,

A/n: I made a few tweaks in it, by making Elijah the father, but I hope you like it!

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Katherine picks you up from your playpen which has two fluffy blankets and some stuffed animals. "You hungry baby girl?" Katherine smiles as you babble while nuzzling your head into her chest. "I'll take that as a yes" She kisses the top of your head before sitting down on the black leather couch beside the playpen.

She holds you with one arm and as the her other hand pulls a part of her black shirt down, releasing one of her breasts. She coaxes your head toward her full breast until you easily latch on. As you drink your mama's milk, she holds you protectively in her arms.

She doesn't know how the hell she had gotten pregnant, considering she's been dead a very long time. And it wasn't just her child, you, actually was growing inside her, but her body also changed for how it would when any other woman would be pregnant. ex. she produces breast milk. She's still confused but doesn't ask why anymore, just grateful that you're her baby.

The only two people who know about you are; Elijah and Kol Mikaelson. Kol saw Katherine walking around a park a couple towns over, obviously pregnant. He then later that day asked his big brother how he had managed to knock up Katherine, assuming that Elijah and she had hooked up. And he wasn't entirely wrong, Kol just doesn't need to know that. Elijah went over to her house and confronted her, they had a long conversation, deciding it was best to keep you a secret.

Or so she thought, not taking into account the two Salvatore brothers are staked out, across the road.

"How did Katherine get a baby? and she's caring? what the hell" Stefan says, turning over to his older brother.

"Well, baby bro, when two adults think it's time, they decide to start having se-" Stefan cut him off, "I didn't mean like that!" Stefan groaned.

"Whatever, this is our chance to have something to finally take the vampire bitch slut, down," Damon says, getting out of the car. Stefan sighs before following Damon down the road.

Damon explains the plan he made to Stefan, which they put into action.

Katherine looks up, something seems off. Before she can get a second thought, the front door is knocked off it's hinges and vervain grenades are thrown in. Getting into a coughing fit from the toxic herb, she sees a figure of someone coming over to her with a mask.

As soon as he gets close to her, Damon snatches you out of Katherine's arms and speeds out of the house. Katherine quickly stands up, adjusting her top back, but before she can go after him in a weakened state, someone grabs her from behind. The second person, Stefan, wraps his left arm around her neck until she can no longer breathe in air, passing out quickly from the vervain still in the air.

Stefan lets her drop back onto the couch and walks back outside, peeling the mask off his face. "Now what?" He asks Damon, watching as he tries to make you stop crying. His attempts are proven useless, making you cry louder about being taken away from your mama.

"Oh come on, can't you be quiet, you're going to make a scene with how loud you are" Damon whisper yells at you.

Being a baby and not understanding anything he's obviously saying, you just scream louder.

The brothers quickly get into Damon's car with you, Stefan having to hold you, insisting to Damon it's not a good idea to just throw you in the backseat and hope for the best. He drives off before Katherine has a chance to reawaken.

Coughing, Katherine slowly opens her eyes. The light shining through the windows tells her it's still daytime. Recollecting her memories of what had happened while she stands up makes her freeze. She quickly vamped around the entire house, not finding her baby, you, anywhere.

Damon and Stefan, the two names that come to her mind. They took you. All she can do is pace back and forth, a look of murder in her eyes. But she has to play this smart, if she just goes crashing in there alone, she's more than sure that there'll be everyone there. They'll obviously be expecting that.

She goes to the coffee table where her phone still lays from earlier and dials a number.

"Katerina, how are you doing?" Elijah's smooth voice emits from the phone as he picks up.

"Not well, considering the Salvatores found out about y/n, came crashing in, took her, and now are probably thinking of ways to take advantage of our daughter against me" Katherine exclaims, having no time for small talk.

Elijah's eyes widen and he reassures her everything is going to be okay and to meet her in the woods by the boarding house. Katherine follows his instructions clearly and immediately leaves the house.

Katherine gets to the woods in record time, she looks around before feeling a hand on her shoulder. She quickly turns around, ready for a fight. Though it's just Elijah.

"My apologies," Elijah says.

He starts explaining his plan of what they're to do. Katherine follows every bit and nods before heading to the back of the house, out of sight from anyone inside.

While she hides out back, Elijah goes to the front door. He knocks a few times before Damon opens the door. He gives a suspicious look towards the original.

"I believe this is the part where you invite me in," Elijah says.

He pauses for a second before stepping to the side, letting the older vampire inside.

As Elijah walks down the stairs into the library, he lays his eyes on you. You're currently being held by Caroline. She's been trying to cheer you up and to stop your crying but nothing has worked. You're not wailing anymore but there are still tears running down your tiny cheeks every now and then.

He puts on a facade, acting surprised at the sight of the baby. Caroline and everyone else notice this. Caroline walks over to the other side of the room and places you into an old wooden crib they had found in the attic.

"What's the occasion of your visit?" Damon all but growls, not happy about an original vampire being in his home.

"Just the fact that you have apparently acquired a baby in a short amount of time. I'm only curious" he says, trying to ignore your looks for him. You see the man in the suit is recognizable as your dada. He comes over a lot and holds you and cares for you, and makes your mama smile.

You hold your arms up in a grabby motion. Everyone hasn't noticed. They're all focused on Elijah as there was no way that he just happened to know two hours after they had taken you. Someone must have been watching them.

Damon and Stefan are standing in front of Elijah, whose back is facing you, the rest of the gang all stood behind the brothers.

Katherine watches from behind the door, knowing what to do next. She opens the door and makes her way inside, causing the gang's attention to go to her.

"That was stupid of you" She sneers, her vampire face on display.

As your mama distracts everyone else, your dada quickly goes over to you. He picks you up and vamps out of the room through the same door Katherine left wide open.

"What-" Elena started saying and turned around, seeing that you and Elijah are gone.

Everyone else followed her action and before they knew it, it was only them. You, Katherine, and Elijah, are long gone.

Katherine follows Elijah to a clearing in the woods. He's cradling you against his chest, slightly swaying you as you calm.

"I'm so sorry I let this happen, I never wanted anything to happen to her," Katherine tells him, feeling an emotion she hasn't felt in a long time, guilt.

"There's nothing to apologize for. There was no way for you to know what was going to happen" Elijah says, softness in his eyes. "Come, I have the perfect place for us. It's out of town and secluded" he smiles.

As they make their way there in his car, they talk the whole time as you're sound asleep in your car seat.

#katherine pierce #katherine pierce x reader #katherine pierce x daughter reader #katherine pierce x baby daughter reader #katherine pierce x female reader #katherine pierce x baby reader #elijah mikaelson #elijah mikealson x reader #elijah mikaelson x daughter reader #elijah mikaelson x baby reader #baby mikaelson reader #baby pierce reader #baby reader #damon salvatore #stefan salvatore #elena gilbert #caroline forbes

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pamelasmuse · 9 months

Text

You Are In Love

Dbf!James Potter x Fem!Reader

Summary: You get caught in the shower with James.

Warnings: Light smut, angst and like fluff. Also not proofread.

A/N: This is based of a childhood movie of mine. Can anyone guess it? (Hint it is 2 words and starts with J) Also you are so lucky this fic saw the light of day bc the 1st time I wrote it I didn’t save it and the 2nd time I deleted it on accident.

You felt like you were in a dream. Something you had fantasized about for months now. Not having to hide. Your dads would hate to see you with someone older, not to mention someone married, and that someone was their best friend James Potter.

Your dads were in London with Harry and James wife (soon to be ex) was in Scotland. So you had absolutely nothing to worry about. You were so happy so happy you could finally date like a normal 19-year-old.

you smile and look down at the pink milkshake in front of you. Breakfast was your favorite meal, because you could order super sugary items.

“How is your childish breakfast?” he asks, you smile at him. “ you better be careful who you’re calling a child, James because if I recall correctly, you were inside me less than 30 minutes ago.” You pause for dramatic affect. “ I’m pretty sure that’s against the law.” Now you’re the one smiling

James is a little embarrassed, but he takes it in good fun. You motion to his matching strawberry milkshake. “ if mine is so childish, then why did you order one?” James looks down and smiles.

“ because I know you.” he stops. “ I know that you wanted a milkshake for breakfast and that you wouldn’t order one if I didn’t order one.” Your heart swells with love and happiness that you have finally found someone who gets you who loves you.

“Aw thank you” you smile you look at him for a while just memorizing his face thinking about how amazing he is “daddy” you add. Now it’s James turn to react his face is red with embarrassment and he’s coughing.

It wasn’t a uncommon for you to call him daddy, but it was in common for you to call him that outside of the bedroom. “ not here.” he warned gone with his loveing tone now it was replaced by a stern mean man you didn’t know

“ I’m sorry daddy” you smiled. To anyone passing by it just seems like an innocent smile, but James knew you, and he knew that you were starting some thing. Just then the waitress came over and in that same movement you had slipped off your shoes and one of your feet had started running up the seem of James pants.

James can think straight maybe that was the lack of blood circulating his brain since it all had bled to his lower half. “ did we enjoy everything” you and James nodded to the lady. He handed her some cash, his hands shaking, because at that moment you’re toe had touched the tip of his boner

“ keep the change” James yelled just wanted to get out of there. And she turned around he got up. “ come on.” He yelled at you. When you finally stood up, he grabbed your forearm pushing you towards the door.

“Ow that hurts” you whined. James laying down breathing into your ear. “ well, maybe you should’ve thought about that, princess because now I think you need punished.” You tried to hide your smile as he escorted you out.

* * *

When you had finally reached James and Lili’s townhouse, he pushed you inside, and then the door was shut he push you against it. His lips immediately attacked yours. It’s like he was sucking your air.

He began to kiss down your neck until he reached your(his) shirt, he pulled it off quickly, revealing the pink bra you had worn the night before. It was a surprise for him a surprise, and a thank you for having the house to yourself, and it made him harder

He kissed on your chest until he got to the top of your boobs, then undud your bra. He sucked on your nipple, causing a few moans. You pulled back for a second pulling off his shirt.

He grabbed your hips. Pulling you in and kiss you harder. “ this isn’t much of a punishment.” You quip he looks down at you smiling. “ I promise princess we will get to that.”

He starts to push you towards the stairs. You are halfway up when he finally discard his pants. Then you start to work on yours. But then you hear the door knob start jingle and you here, an all to familiar voice.

“ James” you hear your dad yell. You look at James your face panicked. You start to run up the stairs but you trip on your jeans James picks you up rushing you to the nearest room.

When you are safe in side, you start to listen. You can hear your dad mumble probably confused why there are so many clothes on the ground. But then you hear a smaller voice.Harry.

And finally you can hear your dad “ why don’t you run upstairs and use the bathroom, then we will go.” You look like a James finally surveying the room, you are in, the bathroom.

“ he’s going to come in here” you whisper yell at James. He was thinking quick he moved you into the shower. “ What are you doing?” James hurried in with you. He put a a finger over your mouth, his hands snaked behind you turning on the water. You try to protest but he kisses you to keep you quiet.

He finally pulls back “ we’re just gonna pretend I’m taking a shower”. He winks you. It feels like an eternity when you finally here a little knock. “Daddy?” You hear little Harry say. “Yes?” James calls out. “ I need to use the restroom.” Harry says.

“ OK son just hurry.” James says he looks down at you and your soaked clothes. Any smiles you hear Harry open the door and lift up the toilet. He does his business and Just then James calls out “don’t flush” but it’s too late he’s already done it in a matter of seconds you can feel the burning hot water hit your back

“Ow fuck” you scream out. James hurries and put his hands over your mouth pleading with you Harry stand back, looking at the shower curtain. “Daddy? Is mommy in there?” James is frantic, trying to think of what to do.

“No just me” he yells back. He shakes his head and walks to the curtain trying to open it you quickly try to pull it back, but it’s no use. Harry Pulls it open, revealing his dad in boxers and you in just jeans. You quickly cover your chest.

Just standing here knock on the bathroom door as if this couldn’t get any more mortifying and awkward. “ come on Harry we don’t have all day.” And then you hear the door open near met with your father is modified look as he sees you, his little girl with his best friend.

❤️😭😬⚠️

#harry potter #remus lupin #sirius black fic #sirius black fluff #sirius black smut #sirus black x reader #artists on tumblr #remus lupin smut #halloween #ryan reynolds #dbf!james potter #james potter smut #james potter x severus snape #james potter fic #dads best friend james potter #sirius x remus

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jjunieworld · 3 months

Text

27. the elevator ⸝ ˚⋆

↳ half written, half texts. word count: 3.3k

you and you friends were sitting in you and yunjin’s dorm in a circle on the floor discussing the idea of making soobin jealous. jake and hueningkai had just entered, nervous looks on their faces as they sat down. they purposefully avoided your gaze.

“i know i said fine, but that was a joke. i didn’t think you guys would actually go and key his car and slash his tires!” you exclaimed, throwing your hands up. your heated gaze turned to jake and he cowered slightly. “and carving my name in his seat?!” hueningkai coughed and opened his mouth to speak, but was beaten by yunjin.

“you trashed his car without me?!” she yelled, a look of betrayal on her face. jake scratched the back of head, “honestly, it was a spur of the moment decision and halfway through we almost got caught.”

“i wanted to egg it too but we were broke,” kai added. you looked at them in disbelief and slid your hands down your face. you actually couldn’t believe this. what were you going to say to soobin when you talked to him again? “hey, sorry about my friends trashing your car in my honor. but if we’re being honest, you kinda deserved it?” this was ridiculous.

you wrapped his crewneck tighter around you. you had found another little worn note hidden inside addressed to you that you kept secretly stored away in your drawer. it brought a smile on your face to read, especially since you came to the conclusion that soobin didn’t mean to leave the notes in his clothes.

“okay back to the topic at hand!” yeonjun suddenly said, clapping his hands together. “making soobin jealous. yunjin, you said you had an idea?” the room quieted and yunjin cleared her throat dramatically.

“we get one of soobin’s friends to “pursue” y/n. have them maybe fake date a little or at least look like they’re getting cozy to make soobin jealous.” she confidently stated. your face paled. you did not want to pretend to get cozy with one of his ex-friends. “his ex-friends,” you stated. yunjin waved you off. “and does it have to be one of them. i really don’t want to see their faces, especially after the whole bet thing. and how are we even gonna get in contact with his ex-friends? what makes you think they’re gonna give us the time of day?”

you thought more on the idea, and found that you weren’t that against it. it did make you slightly uncomfortable with the whole backdrop of the bet, but the idea of seeing soobin jealous intrigued you. you put a hand to your chest, over your heart. did you want to see him hurt though?

yeonjun sighed and pulled his phone out, standing to his feet. “i have an idea.”

it was a couple days later and you and your friends were once again not studying at the library like you should’ve been. exams were in two days and the stress was weighing you down. you had been either locked in your dorm, floor covered in textbooks as you and yunjin went over everything a million times or at the library from the break of dawn until closing hours.

everyone had been asking yeonjun what his big idea was and he just kept saying, “just wait, you’ll see…” that was also adding to your stress.

“it’s been days, jjunie. the anticipation is killing me.” kai had drawled as he dropped his head and arms on the table. you weren’t at the usual table you guys sat at, but a bigger one. there was a singular empty seat and you wondered who it was for.

suddenly, a figure approached your table, pulling the empty chair out from under it next to you. “this is embarrassing even being seen here; i look like a fucking nerd, so hurry up and say what you want to say. and don’t waste anymore of my time.” sunghoon said as he leaned back in the chair roughly and crossed his arms over his chest. the whole table, except yeonjun, gaped at him. you felt your heart beat faster in your chest.

your wide eyes slid over to yeonjun. he raised his eyebrows at you and then looked to sunghoon. “we want to make soobin jealous, are you in or not?” yeonjun asked simply. sunghoon raised an eyebrow.

“just to make him jealous? you guys are so fucking lame, surely you can do more than that.” your friends’ gazes landed on you heavily. sunghoon turned to look at you too. you gulped and rose your hands slightly. sunghoon rolled his eyes, “whatever, i’m in.”

hueningkai hummed. “no… that was a little too easy. what do you have up your sleeve?” sunghoon sighed deeply and leaned onto the table. “it’s simple on why i’m here with… you all. i want sakura, sakura wants soobin, and soobin wants you.” he turned slightly to glance at you. “you scratch my back and i scratch yours.”

yunjin gave a disgusted look and yeonjun scoffed under his breath. “more like stab,” he muttered. your eyes widened slightly as you processed what sunghoon had said, “sakura wants soobin?”

sunghoon sighed loudly as he rolled his eyes at yeonjun’s statement. “get over it! that was so long ago.” a look of anger flashed onto yeonjun’s face and he opened his mouth to retort but jake held up his hands to cool the table.

“on making soobin jealous… what do you suggest?” jake asked, looking between sunghoon and yeonjun. yeonjun scoffed lowly and leaned back in his chair. sunghoon did the same and looked to you. “we should kiss in front of him.” your face immediately scrunched up. you did not want to kiss him.

you shook your head. “no, he’ll never believe that i would actually like you let alone kiss you. we have to make this look realistic.” sunghoon rolled his eyes again. if he kept doing that they were gonna come out of his head. “you’re right, i guess. but we should still make the allusion of kissing in front of him. it would drive him crazy.” more disgusted faces around the table, including yours.

jake’s eyebrows raised. “hmm… the drama, though!” kai let out a laugh. you couldn’t help but laugh too. “fine, i guess i could give the allusion of kissing you. that’s the closest i’m coming to your face.” you speak, glancing over at sunghoon. he smirked at you, “you won’t be saying that after all this. i’m too irresistible.” you practically laughed in his face at that.

yunjin looked at him disgustedly once more, “we have to make sure soobin actually sees it though. how are we gonna do that?” kai’s face lit up. “it can be after classes, on the elevator! i can hold redacted back at his classroom and y/n and… him…—“ he side eyed sunghoon “—can get an elevator to themselves. then they can pretend to kiss just as redacted rounds the corner to get onto it!” sunghoon gave kai a bemused look. “redacted?” yeonjun and jake waved him off.

humming as you thought it over, you slowly nodded in agreement and hueningkai started clapping loudly. getting a few shushes from the surrounding tables. “let’s run back the fake dating for a second…” yunjin said. “i don’t think that’s necessarily a bad idea either. maybe not fake dating, but maybe talking? getting comfortable? we can say that sunghoon comforted y/n the day after the party or something like that.” you and your friends all stared at each other for a moment before busting out into somewhat quiet laughter. you got a couple glares and quieted down.

sunghoon gave you all confused looks. “what is so funny? you don’t think i can be comforting?” he asked. that caused more quiet laughter. sunghoon scoffed, “losers. this is why nobody likes you guys.”

still chuckling, you said, “you know what, why not! we can do the elevator kiss tomorrow and plan out the whole getting comfortable thing after at the dorms.” yeonjun smiled widely. “right before exams… i like it.” you shook your head at him. you would do just this one thing to get soobin back, just this one thing. you couldn’t bear hurting him any more than this.

“wait… but how does this help you get sakura?” jake suddenly asked, turning to sunghoon. sunghoon smiled confidently, “sakura doesn’t actually like soobin. she’s just pissed he isn’t under her control anymore. once she sees me slipping, she’ll come running.” you and your friends gave him bewildered looks. hueningkai let out an “oh, that’s not—“

“so you just want fake love then? to be controlled by her forever? that’s sad.” you asked him, genuinely concerned. he gave you a sharp glare. your friends immediately sat up straighter in their seats, giving him a sharper one. “mind your own fucking business. once she sees that i actually love her, everything will fall into place.”

yeonjun gave him a wry laugh. “your business is our business now too… if you think it’ll get sakura to love you back, then by all means!” you had to put a hand on yunjin so she didn’t retort anything back at sunghoon. this whole plan was going to be… interesting, to say the least.

—SOOBIN’S POV—

soobin couldn’t wait until he got back to his apartment. he desperately needed a nap, and the last couple minutes of class were dragging like hell. he was up the whole night with taehyun studying for the exams that were tomorrow. soobin was confident he was gonna pass them with how much information he beated into his brain. he swore he saw the contents of his textbooks when he closed his eyes.

finally, the bell rung and he cleared out of the classroom like his ass was on fire. he rounded the doorframe and had a hand pressed to his chest to stop him. confused, he took a step back and looked at who was in front of him.

hueningkai stood before him, a slightly disgusted look on his face. “soobin,” was all he said, monotone. soobin raised an eyebrow. “yes?” then soobin remembered the fact that he saw him trash his car. “dude… did you have to do that to my ca—“

kai cut him off with a loud sigh. “i could’ve done a lot more than trash your car. you’re rich, get a new one. i never got to say my piece to you after everything that happened.” soobin’s face paled slightly. he was so confused, why all of this now?

“what you did to y/nie was real shitty, you know that?” soobin spoke up, “i know. it was never my intention to hurt y/nie—“ hueningkai held up a hand. “y/n… to you. how would you feel if the person you’ve liked for forever now had finally given you the time of day? asked you out and became your partner? only to find out that it was all some elaborate joke on you. only to find out that the whole time they were laughing behind your back at how clueless and naive you were? how would you feel about that?” he spat, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared holes into soobin’s eyes.

soobin was at a loss for words. “i swear the only thing i did for the bet was the class thing and the dinner. after the dinner, everything changed. i prom—“

“how… would you feel about that?” hueningkai once again cut him off, emphasizing his question with a raise of his eyebrows. soobin gulped. he never really saw hueningkai angry like this, let alone ever at all. all the playfulness and the wide smile that usually came with him was gone. the only thing that was on hueningkai’s face was anger and cold calculation.

“i would feel betrayed. heartbroken. i would feel... unwanted.” soobin had finally said after a moment, looking to the floor. all hueningkai did was hum lowly and stared at him for a moment. then he walked away silently. soobin stood there for a couple minutes, collecting his thoughts, before slowly walking to the elevator to go home.

soobin ran a hand through his hair as he rounded the corner to the elevator, freezing in his tracks when he saw what was in front of him. sunghoon and y/n were in the elevator together, alone. they weren’t standing that close, but close enough to make soobin’s blood boil. what does he want with her? and what was she doing with him?

y/n gave sunghoon a shy smile as he said something to her that soobin couldn’t hear. they didn’t even seem to notice him standing only a couple feet away from them. sunghoon returned her smile, leaning down too close to her lips than he should ever be. soobin felt his stomach drop. they were going to kiss.

before soobin could see the kiss, the elevator doors closed. at the last second before the doors closed fully, sunghoon’s eyes connected with soobin’s.

soobin couldn’t move. couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. what the fuck just happened? sunghoon and y/n? his world was spinning rapidly on its axis. anger suddenly and forcefully hit him, making him stumble a couple steps backwards. what the fuck were they doing together? after everything him and y/n talked about? soobin let out a loud, angry groan of frustration.

this had to be some kind of joke. there’s no way in hell, not even in the ninth circle, that y/n would ever be with him. that she would ever be that close to him without him pulling strings behind the scenes. especially not because sunghoon was the one who suggested the bet in the first place. that she would ever even think of kissing him.

pulling his phone out, he sent sunghoon a “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” text. soobin taped his foot rapidly as he waited for the rickety elevator to come back up to the floor he was on. once it did, he continuously pressed the ground floor button. he needed to get out of this building, fast.

as the doors were closing, a response from sunghoon came in. “what the hell are you talking about this time?” soobin squeezed his phone as he seethed. sunghoon knew exactly what he was talking about. he didn’t even bother with a response. when the elevator doors opened, he flew out of the building and to the dorms.

a sleepy taehyun opened the door to his room from soobin’s relentless knocking and soobin roughly pushed past him to get inside. “what the fuck?” taehyun asks, turning to soobin. he shuts his door and gives soobin a look of annoyance.

soobin then pours the recent events out with heavy breathing. he can’t help his shaking hands as he finishes. taehyun looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “well?” soobin asks loudly, running both of his hands through his hair.

“calm down,” is all taehyun says as he sits on his couch. soobin follows him. “calm down?” soobin retorts, a wild look on his face. taehyun looks over at him calmly. “it’s weird, but it’s most likely not what you think it is. what could he even have on her? and to have her act romantically?”

“what else could it be?” soobin gritted out, annoyed. “not sure. and i’m not your therapist.” is all taehyun replied. soobin huffed loudly and tried to calm himself down, it only worked slightly. that was until his brain recalled the kiss between y/n and sunghoon.

soobin sighed deeply. “you’re my only friend… so yeah, you kinda are.” he looked over to taehyun. “loser,” taehyun said without any punch. soobin rolled his eyes. “just go ask her. i don’t think she would be all cozy with sunghoon considering his hand with the bet.” taehyun then added.

soobin stood to his feet with a new vigor. taehyun was right. he’d go to y/n’s dorm and clear this whole mess up. “you’re right,” soobin echoed his thoughts.

“i know,” taehyun replied. “now get the hell out so i can go back to sleep.”

soobin was in front of y/n’s dorm, a nervous mess. what if it was what he thought it was? that sunghoon was blackmailing y/n in some way? what if her and sunghoon actually were together? he didn’t know what he’d do. soobin rose his hand and knocked three times.

yunjin opened the door, a wide smile on her face that quickly fell when she saw who it was. “what the hell do you want?” she spits at him. soobin takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to start to ask for y/n, but cuts himself off when he sees the scene behind yunjin.

she has the door open enough just for soobin to see that y/n and sunghoon are on her bed laughing together. y/n’s playfully hitting sunghoon as he tickles her, her giggles filling the room. the rest of her friends are also there, on the floor, laughing at the whole exchange.

soobin feels like he’s just been shot. his eyes widen at the two of them together, hurt pouring through his veins until it’s the only thing he knows. he was right. it was exactly what he feared. it was too late. and the worst part about the whole thing was that y/n was wearing one of his sweaters. soobin sputtered as he tried to come up with a response to yunjin.

“uh— oh— sorry…” he pushes out quietly. soobin quickly turned to leave, taking long strides down the hallway until he made it back to the elevator of the building.

soobin’s thoughts are a mess as he makes the walk home. he couldn’t wrap his head around the whole situation. couldn’t come up with a reason on how this all happened. how y/n and sunghoon happened. forget his world spinning rapidly on its axis, it was completely flipped upside down. it wasn’t even in its original solar system anymore.

he still wanted to talk to y/n, but feared it’ll make things worse. the ball was in her court, it was her move. soobin said he’ll give her space and he was determined to keep true to his word this time. but he had to do something… he pulled out his phone, shooting y/n a quick text after all this time.

as soon as yunjin closed the door, you pushed sunghoon’s hands off you and scooted away a little bit. he rose his hands slightly, raising his eyebrows as he leaned away. yunjin came back to where everyone was at and sat on her bed.

“so?” you asked, wanting to know soobin’s reaction. “he looked shocked and was stuttering. i think it worked!” yunjin replied, a satisfied grin on her lips. you turned to sunghoon in slight shock and he rose an eyebrow back in amusement. “you should’ve saw his face at the fake kiss!” jake added, getting a bewildered look from you. you didn’t think he would actually hide somewhere. “he was pissed!”

sunghoon ran a hand through his hair. “god, he is so stupid.” you gave him a sharp glare, causing your friends to laugh. kai suddenly gasped, an excited look on his face. “i have an idea!” you groaned. you don’t know how much more of his ideas you can handle.

“sunghoon can give you one of his sweaters and you can wear it tomorrow! and the two of you can post a picture together or something! one redacted is gonna know is his.” kai continued. you scrunched your face up, unsure. “wait… that’s actually not a bad idea,” sunghoon replied as he stood to his feet. you and your friends gave him a curious look.

“i've got places to be,” he said as he left your room. you scoffed at the closed door and rolled your eyes. you then rubbed your hands down your face, sighing deeply as you agreed to hueningkai’s idea. he cheered and you laid face down on your bed, thinking about how you’ll have to wear a sweater that isn’t soobin’s. out the corner of your eye, you see yunjin get up. she came over to you and rubbed comforting circles into your back as she chuckled.

masterlist.

summary: choi soobin has always been the popular kid surrounded by his popular friends. y/n… not so much. one night, soobin and his friends make bet that soobin can’t get y/n to date him in a month. unfortunately for y/n, they’re a hopeless romantic.

A/N: soobin’s like: “i hate when slitherman take over my thoughts. 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐢 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐢 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐫.” sorry if there's weird formatting i had to upload this from my computer

taglist: @jjunberry @gothgyuu @spooksh0wbabe @beargyuuzz @carengene @binluvsu @seunnimg @vixensss @kittyhyuka @beomsite @hueningm1ckey @n034sy @littlestxli @starsforbeomgyu @soobiary @bunnisoobin @heiiolifeee @cryingforgyu @dani-is-tired @damn-u-min-yoongi @soobieboobiedoobiedaboobie @icouldntcareless22 @sleepdeprivedline @jhuuni @thepoopdokyeomtouched @rikizm @curiousgworge (if your name is bold it wouldn’t let me tag you!)

— kipo <3

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shadesslut · 6 months

Note

So for the father's malice series, could you possibly make Ollie's first word to be "Dada"/"Daddy" (referring to Ethan) which is surprising since Ollie has barely been around him, and it basically warms both Y/N's and Ethan's heart <3 thank you

a father’s malice, pt. 3

(a/n: THIS WAS SUCH A CUTE IDEA THANK YOU)

Pairing: (Ex-Gf!Ethan Landry x Fem!Reader x Chad Meeks-Martin)

Content Includes: (Slight alcoholism?, self-hate, fluff, angst)

Summary: Ethan starts to turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism for his guilt and trauma with his father. Ethan also starts his job in a bookstore! :D

Masterlist

✮

His adrenaline was high, and his pupils were dilated. A part of him liked the chase, the thrill of playing cat and mouse made his hands shake in excitement. It was who he was chasing made his stomach turn.

Y/N was close to the main room where the others were. Her cheeks were stained with old and new tears.

Ethan chased her as he swerved around the beat-up furniture. She moved to the side, trying to cut him off, but she tripped. Her shoe got caught on a wooden panel on the floor, and she stumbled, letting Ethan catch up to her. His heart dropped as she tripped, not wanting to catch her.

He tackled her to the floor, and she let out a sob. She didn’t want to go out this way; alone and cold. She wanted to be held by Ethan or Chad. Not pressed between the floor and her killer.

Ethan raised the knife in the air, stilling his movements as he looked down at her. She cried, but didn’t fight back.

“Come on, Y/N.” Ethan whispered under the mask. “Don’t give up.”

But she did. She went limp under his hold, and Ethan knew what he had to do. He cried with her as he swung his hand down, sinking the knife into her chest. She coughed out blood, and her hands gripped around Ethan’s wrist.

Ethan slid his knife out as he stood up shakily. He looked down at her, and a part of him wanted to take off his mask, to tell her it’s going to be okay. He didn’t do that though; he only sniffled and left her there. He heard Tara’s scream, his cue, and he glanced back at Y/N one last time.

He whispered an “I love you,” to her as he left. He didn’t know she was pregnant then, but again, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.

—

The truth was, Ethan wasn’t doing well. Don’t get it wrong, Ethan was ecstatic to be spending time with Ollie and Y/N, but whenever he wasn’t bonding with Ollie, he was bonding with Chad’s stash of liquor. He had never been known to drink, and to be honest with himself, Ethan hated it. But it was the only way he felt good about himself.

He hated himself. And everyday he thought of it.

“Hey!”

Y/N’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked to her, apologizing under his breath. She looked concerned.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Ethan asked softly. He leaned further towards her on the couch. She had her laptop resting on her thighs.

She sighed, smiling. “Are you nervous for your interview?”

He had stayed with them for two weeks now. Chad had softened up on him a tad, but it seemed a lot to Ethan. Y/N did too, finally giving in to letting Ethan sleep in her bed. They never touched though, keeping to their sides. Only reaching out their hands towards each other. Ethan applied to hundreds of places. You know how it is, being famous for the only surviving Ghostface ever, no one really wanted him. He received a few calls, fortunately.

“A little,” Ethan answered. Y/N placed her hand on his, her warmth causing him to smile.

“You’ll be fine. I know that.” She comforted. “Do you wanna get lunch when Chad gets back?”

He shook his head as he stood up. He wiped his hands on his jeans and adjusted his shirt. “Nah, I gotta head out. Give Ollie a kiss for me.” Ethan smiled, before grabbing his wallet and walking out the door. His smile disappeared as he shut the door.

–

Ethan sighed as he swung the door open. The bell rang and he cringed, not wanting to bring attention to him. A girl at the counter welcomed him in, and her face was covered by the stack of books in her hands. Ethan shifted awkwardly.

“Uhm, I’m here for an interview.” He said, moving towards the desk she was behind.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, before dropping the stack on the counter. She had frizzy blonde hair, was short, and had glasses that were way too big for her face. Her eyes widened at the sight of Ethan. Great. Ethan thought to himself, nervous that she recognized him.

“You’re Ethan Kirsch,” She mumbled, pointing her finger at him. “I just saw you on the news,”

Ethan winced, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah,”

She didn’t respond. She only stared up at him, adjusting her glasses as she pushed them up. Ethan coughed. “I’m sorry, do you want me to-”

“Sorry! I-I’m just a fan of yours. I’m Mary.”

“‘A fan’?”

She nodded, and she waved her hand, urging him to follow her. He looked around at the bookshelves as he walked behind her. He ducked his head under a short doorway, and she stopped abruptly, causing Ethan to run into her back. She turned around and smiled brightly up at him. He looked around.

Ethan felt his chest tighten. The walls were covered with Ghostface and Stab merch, a robe was dressed on a mannequin that sat in the center of the room. Pictures of previous Ghostfaces hung on the wall, including him. She laughed nervously as she watched him take everything in.

There was a section of the room specific to his family, specific to him. He had seen the fangirls that made threads online about him, just like his brother, but he never thought he’d meet one in person.

“Yeah, I’ve made quite the collection. It took too long for merch of you and your family to be made, so I just made it myself.” She giggled. Ethan only looked at a picture of his father and sister in horror, mouth agape. “I’m sorry, but I just have to know, did you do it?”

Ethan jerked his head towards her.

“Do what?”

“You know,” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Kill Anika and Paul.”

Ethan clenched his fists. This is exactly what he wanted to escape from. He didn’t want to be constantly reminded of his sins.

“Excuse me?”

“C’mon, everyone wants to know.”

He shook his head, and her shoulders slumped. She seemed extremely disappointed, like her favorite singer had turned out to be an awful person. It was the opposite in this case. “Oh,”

He still, he only stared at her in shock, not knowing what to say or do.

“People argue that you were the one who did the bodega kills, but I don’t know. I think that one was too vanilla for you. You like to be hands-on and kill with your blade, so there’s no way you’d chase Sam and Tara around with a gun.”

“Mary, please. Whatever you believe, I’m not gonna say anything. I’m trying to move on from who I used to be.” Ethan ignored her previous statement, pleading to her that she’d drop the subject.

She adjusted her glasses. “Yeah but, you don’t have to do that here. I want you to be yourself.”

Ethan sighed at her. She really wasn’t going to let his past go was she?

“So, um, about that interview.” Ethan said. She nodded, and her hands played with the strings of her hoodie.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re hired.” She smiled, walking out of the room. Ethan sighed, knowing she was gonna be awkward to work with. He put up books onto shelves, following the chart Mary had given him. Soft music filled his ears as he worked.

He’d space out here and there. The lyrics of the song he listened to would be incoherent, the titles of the books he fixed blurred. He would hear their screams, Y/N and Chad’s. He could hear it faintly as he zoned out.

He remembers it as if it were yesterday. The way their bodies twitched as he stabbed them. The way their blood stained his robe, and even his clothes underneath.

He’d wanna hurt himself every time he thought about it. He would go to the bathroom to take a breather, and then he’d come back, starting all over.

Every so often as he worked, he’d look over his shoulder to glance at Mary, who would look away once his eyes landed on her. Yeah, this was gonna be a problem.

Ethan sat behind the desk, finished with his training as he began to clock out. He smiled brightly at his phone. A picture of Ollie glew on his screen, he wore a fluffy brown onesie, and Y/N’s smiling face was behind him as she held him up. He loved Ollie, deeply, and even though he thought he had changed, he would kill anyone for him. He loved Y/N too, sometimes he loved Chad.

Y/N

Chad & I are almost there

6:00 pm

“Is that your kid?” Mary appeared over Ethan’s shoulder.

“Jesus!” Ethan yelped, dropping his phone.

Mary grabbed his phone, zooming in on the picture. She squinted her eyes, before Ethan yanked his phone out of her hands. “Yes, that’s Ollie.” Ethan answered. Mary nodded and stepped back. It had only been a few hours of Ethan knowing Mary, and already he was uncomfortable at her presence. It was obvious she was a fan of his, another die hard fanatic that fabricated theories. The door rang, and Ethan couldn’t move around Mary fast enough. “Hey!”

Y/N smiled, holding Ollie in a green baby wrap. Her hair was up in a bun, and Ollie still wore the onesie from the picture. Chad walked in as well after her, and all Ethan wanted to do was go home with them.

“We’re closed,” Mary said in a monotone voice. She glared at Y/N, and specifically Chad.

“It’s okay they’re picking me up,” Ethan said before Chad or Y/N could reply. Ethan hunched down slightly as he greeted Ollie, making a funny face, opening his mouth in a smile. Ollie giggled and swung his arms as he stimmed. “C’mere,” Ethan said in his baby voice, giving Ollie a fat and wet kiss on Ollie’s cheek.

Y/N giggled as she watched the two, but Chad stared at Mary in dominance. She stared back.

“So you have my number right?” Mary nodded in response.

“I’ll send you your schedule.”

“Thanks,” Ethan trailed off, opening the door for Y/N. He didn’t tell them about Mary’s shrine, or her obsession with him. He couldn’t. He knew he’d feel guilty if he brought up the past, and he didn’t feel like talking about it anymore tonight.

—

Ethan hid behind a curtain as he watched Quinn chase after the others. His mask was off, and his cheeks were stained with tears. He replayed his last moments with Y/N in his head. As soon as the knife broke skin, he regretted everything he did. She was the first person to ever show Ethan love, and he hurt her like it was nothing.

His father’s voice played in his head over and over again.

“If you kill them, you’d be doing the world a favor.”

“It’s not easy what you and your sister are doing, and I need you to be perfect.”

“Richie would be proud of you.”

The night he killed Anika, his father praised him. He praised him like Ethan was Richie. And Ethan finally felt a part of the family. That was the only night he didn’t cry himself to sleep at the thought of Y/N’s near death.

Ethan’s eyes darkened, and he slid the mask back onto his head. Chad just punched Quinn, knocking her down. Ethan’s legs bounced up and down as he watched Chad lift a glass candy dispenser in the air, preparing to throw it on Quinn.

Chad had done everything for Ethan. He urged Ethan to ask Y/N out, disregarding his own feelings, and he was the one who pushed them together. He was the one who took Ethan to everything, and he always made sure to make him feel included. He was Ethan’s only friend.

He huffed as he rushed in, stabbing Chad in the side.

—

“So, you think you’ll like it?” Chad asked, mouthful of one of the tacos they had picked up on their way home.

Ethan shrugged, picking off tomatoes from his food. “Seems alright,” Y/N cut a few strawberries up, feeding Ollie small chunks as she listened.

“Your boss seems weird.” Chad stated simply. The truth was, Chad wasn’t an idiot. He had plenty of experience of reading people’s emotions from their behavior. He knew Mary most likely was attracted to Ethan, and that pissed Chad off. In a weird way, Chad only wanted Y/N and Ethan to himself. Three was enough in their relationship.

Not that they were in a relationship, of course.

Ethan nodded in agreement as he rewrapped his taco.

“These are the best tacos, I swear to god,” Y/N groaned, taking a bite.

Chad chuckled. “I’m surprised you’re not tired of them. You had them like every day when you were pregnant.” Ethan smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to react to that. It wasn’t any secret about how much Chad was there for her when Ethan…well wasn’t.

Chad noticed Ethan’s change of demeanor, and he casually rested his palm on Ethan’s knee. Ethan’s eyes widened at his hand placement, and he gulped, not knowing how to react to that.

“Dadda,”

Ethan jerked his head towards the sound. Ollie was standing in front of the couch, next to Ethan’s legs. His small hands rested on the couch cushion, and he started jumping up and down.

“Did,” Ethan’s voice suddenly became high-pitched. “Did he say that to me?”

Ollie’s eyes glimmered at Ethan, his gummy smile showing.

“He’s lookin’ at you,” Chad responded in a whisper. “He only ever calls me daddy anyway, not that I blame him…”

Y/N threw a couch cushion at Chad, who laughed as it hit him in the chest. Ollie reached for Ethan, insisting that he’d pick him up. Ethan obliged happily, and he rested Ollie in his big arms.

“Did you call me dadda?” Ethan asked, smiling at Ollie. Ollie giggled, and Ethan’s heart swooned. He’d never felt this way before in his life. Y/N stared happily at the two boys, and she glanced at Chad, who also grinned ear to ear. Maybe this could work, maybe they could be a family; all of them. Maybe they could forget about the Ethan that hurt them, maybe he was gone.

Ethan kissed Ollie’s cheek and blew a raspberry, earning a loud laugh from him. Y/N let out an involuntary choked laugh as she held back tears. Ethan stood up, sliding Ollie to sit on his hip.

“Think we should celebrate with some shots, huh?” Ethan baby-talked to Ollie as he tickled his belly. Y/N gave Chad a pointed look after Ethan spoke. Chad cleared his throat.

“Don’t you think it’s a little late?” Chad asked Ethan cautiously. “Don’t you have work in the morning?”

Ethan turned around, his smile slowly dropping. “I think I can handle one shot.”

“Eth, you’ve already had four beers,” Y/N said softly, gesturing to the empty bottles that sat on the coffee table. Ethan’s eyes followed to the table.

“Let’s just go to bed.” Chad spoke again, his tone more stern this time. Ethan rolled his eyes, and Y/N stood up next to him, adjusting her jeans.

Ethan stepped away from her. “I wanna have a shot.” She shook her head and sighed. Her fingers pressed to her temple, applying pressure. Chad stood up as well.

“Dude, just go to bed. You’ve had enough to drink.” Chad warned, rolling his sleeves up. Ethan ignored both of them, taking Ollie into the kitchen with him. Y/N sternly said his name as she followed him, Chad behind her.

Ethan grabbed a shot glass from the cabinet, and he reached his hand to the top of the fridge. His head snapped up once he realized the bottle of liquor wasn’t up there.

“I threw it out.” Chad stated as he leaned against the counter opposite of Ethan. Ethan groaned at his words.

He couldn’t take being sober anymore, even tipsy, he needed something. He needed to feel the burn of alcohol soothe down his throat. He needed to make the noises go away. He needed to stop hearing his father’s voice. He needed to forget about that day, and he needed Chad and Y/N to stop looking at him like that.

Chad cautiously walked up to him, holding his arms out to take Ollie. “Go away,” Ethan mumbled, but he wasn’t talking to Chad. The voices of his father rang in his head.

You were born to hurt people.

Chad put two hands on Ethan’s shoulders, which caused Ethan to tense.

You’re not good enough to be my son.

“Come on dude, just come to bed. We want you to come to bed.” Chad whispered to Ethan, gently rubbing his shoulders. Ollie babbled to himself, and Chad smiled at him and put his hand and the back of Ollie’s head. Ethan saw this, and he immediately reached to grab a knife from the knife block.

Chad’s eyes widened, and he stepped back.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Ethan screamed, holding the knife up at both of them. Y/N held her hands up in defense, her eyes flicking to Ollie, who started to cry. She slowly said his name and walked towards him, hoping to take Ollie from his arms.

Ethan turned the knife towards her, causing her to stop in her tracks. “Ethan, please,” she cried. While Ethan was distracted by her, Chad inched towards Ollie, finally sliding him out of Ethan’s arms. Ethan turned towards Chad, and for a split, measly second, he saw his father. He saw his father instead of Chad, and he laughed sinisterly as he held Ollie.

He couldn’t let Ollie get hurt, he made a promise. He swung the knife, cutting his father’s arm. Y/N and Ollie’s cries filled Ethan’s ears as he watched the blood seep down his arm. But it wasn’t his father’s groans he heard, it was Chad’s.

He looked back up with widened eyes. Chad clutched Ollie in his left arm, and he hissed as he looked at the fresh cut on his right. Chad looked at him in horror and anger.

Ethan’s hand shook as he slowly looked at the knife in his hand. He heard ringing in his ears as the knife fell from his hands, clattering on the floor.

“I-I…I’m sorry,” Ethan stammered. He looked at the blood splatters on the floor from the knife. His eyes started to water, and he cried along with Ollie. Chad mumbled something to Y/N, and she shakily took Ollie into her room. “Y/N wait,” Ethan begged as he tried to follow her. Chad stopped him by pushing his forearm against Ethan’s chest.

“Leave it,” Chad muttered. Ethan’s chest rose up and down as he stared at him. Chad looked like he was about to cry, but he repeatedly blinked and held back his tears.

Chad whimpered as he looked at his arm, and Ethan immediately reached for him. “Let me help,” he offered in a small voice, but Chad jerked away.

Ethan had never hated himself more than now. He thought he could change, become a different person than the one his father molded him to be. Maybe he was wrong. Was his father right? Was Ethan always going to be like this? Maybe Ethan should have stayed in jail, and he silently cursed the person who bailed him out.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a whisper as Chad picked up the knife. Chad didn’t say anything, he only glanced at Ethan before leaving him alone in the kitchen. It was mere minutes Ethan stood there, alone with the blood stains on the floor, until he finally left. And as Y/N stitched Chad’s arm, exchanging soft whispers and tears with each other, Ollie peacefully sleeping in their bed, the dresser moved back to barricade the door, Ethan went to the one place he knew he was welcome at.

(Taglist: @onlyreadz, @lloyd907, @hearts4meeks, @emitaylorsverson, @depressedseaweed, @athenalive, @b3bybunny, @aliciacat20, @whoaitsbibi, @fallinforhappiness, @Dabbin22, @leyla-1905, @sflame15-blog, @i-love-milfs2, @zerodotzer0, @ahalliwell5, @gabbylovesreading, @wishyouwere-sober, @leaveitbythewave, @itsnotino, @elltheawkward, @writinganything, @buffhoshi, @reysdriver, @asapkyndall, @champomiel)

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