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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 3 years

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Portrait of a Dangerous Man🎨1

Warnings: (series) non-consent sex and rape; slow creep; cucking; (this chapter) nothing as yet.

This is dark!mob!Clark Kent x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: Your dream of having your work hung in an art show comes true but your first buyer is not all he seems to be.

Note: Yay, mob Clark. And I know what you’re saying right now, enough with Clark Kent! I get it haha. Promise, for a while, this will be the last I do of him. I have Lee fic in the work right now, the early development of medieval Peter, and I’m still sitting on some Loki ft. an exchange student... and then all my other series of course!

Thanks to everyone for reading and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 As usual, I’d appreciate if you let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

You stood against the wall, chewing your lip as you looked around the gallery. You should be ecstatic, you should be floating around on a cloud, but all you could feel was crushing anxiety. It was truly a dream come true; your art hanging on the wall. Only three pieces, but it was there, and your name was below it in print.

You tugged on the waist of your dress and teetered in your heels. It was a borrowed outfit, you couldn’t afford anything appropriate to the upscale venue. The classic starving artist, or almost. You slipped your phone from your purse and up your sleeve. You subtly checked the time and for the little chat icon in the corner. Still no message.

Marcus was almost an hour late. He texted just after the event opened to warn you he was caught up with work but you worried he wouldn’t show up at all. It wasn’t his fault his boss was a jackass but you weren’t prepared to face this alone. You dropped your phone back into your slender purse and snapped it shut.

Vanessa, the gallery owner, made you flinch as she appeared almost out of the air. You smiled at her shyly and stopped chewing your lip.

“You should mingle,” she said, “you have an interested buyer. You might have a few more if you come out from the corner.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so nervous,” you confessed, “I-- thank you so much for this opportunity.”

“You earned it,” she touched your arm daintily, “all those hard hours working the back room, I couldn’t not hang a few pieces.”

You fixed your posture and tried to seem as confident as her. Your income came solely from hours of at-home data entry as you volunteered at the gallery in your few hours between. It was all worth it and maybe if you sold something tonight, Vanessa would feature you work again and you wouldn’t need to spend the bulk of your days staring at tiny font.

“So, where’s this buyer?” you asked hopefully.

“That’s my girl,” Vanessa trilled, “he seems very interested.”

She led you across the room, stopping to greet other artists and old friends with a kiss on the cheek and deep laughter. You’d met them all before as you were often working at these events. It was your first time as one of them.

When at last you neared your little stretch of the wall, a man stood with his head slightly back as he stared at your proto-renaissance portraits. He was tall and his broad shoulders strained the rich fabric of his jacket. His dark hair was neatly parted and a slight curl marked the front above the shadow of scruff poking out along his jawline.

“Mr. Kent,” Vanessa chimed, “I found her.”

He turned to look at you and his deep blue eyes struck you. He smiled between you and the gallery owner, his chiseled jaw even more defined by the gesture.

“This is Mr. Kent,” she introduced you in turn, “I believe he was interested in the larger piece.”

“All three, if you don’t have another buyer lined up,” he intoned, “I think they belong together.”

“All of them?” you raised your brows, “well, I, yeah, I guess--”

“We can put something together for you,” Vanessa interrupted your awkward stuttering, “let me just mark them.”

She took the silver pen she kept on a chain around her wrist and scribbled in the corner of the tags to mark them as sold. You were slightly numb at your disbelief. You were a bit reluctant to part with your work but the check would ease your grief.

“The way you use colours,” he said as he faced the paintings again, “I’ve recently had some work done in my house and I hate the sight of naked walls.”

“Thank you,” you said as you stepped a little closer and looked at your delicate strokes.

“Pardon me,” Vanessa rushed away as she beckoned to one of her assistants and prattled orders.

“Vanessa tells me you’re a new artist,” he said.

“New in a sense,” you said, “I guess, I’m officially an artist now.”

“Oh? I’m flattered. Your first buyer?”

“Besides some online fanart, yeah,” you replied, “so, Mr. Kent, what do you do?”

“Clark,” he corrected, “and a little bit of everything.”

An awkward silence took over and was thankfully interrupted by your name. You turned as Marcus rushed over and his shoes slipped on the polished floor. He reached you and kissed your cheek as he caught his breath.

“I’m so sorry, I got caught in traffic on the way over and then my oil light started flashing,” he gasped out.

“Hey, you’re here,” you rubbed his shoulder and straightened his tie without thinking as it hung at an angle.

“So, you sell anything yet?” he asked.

“Yes, actually, um, Mr-- Clark,” you gestured to the man standing patiently to the side, “he just bought all three.”

“Damn,” Marcus said, “guess I can hold onto my savings.”

“Marc,” you nudged his arm with your knuckles, “you know we can’t afford your cheesiness.”

“Sorry, uh,” Marcus laughed at himself, “I’m Marcus.”

He held out his hand and Clark shook it. His eyes strayed to you as his features sharpened just a little.

“You two…?” he ventured.

“Five years,” Marcus announced, “guess we’re going steady.”

“Oh,” Clark nodded placidly, “are you an artist too?”

“God no, I can hardly write my own name legibly,” Marcus kidded, “I’m a developer.”

“Computers,” Clark mused.

“Yeah, computers,” Marcus scoffed, “and you?”

“Own a couple businesses,” Clark shrugged.

“Must be successful if you can hang around here,” Marcus said and you elbowed him in embarrassment.

“I guess,” Clark smoothed his dark purple jacket and checked his watch, “I’ll let you two be. Maybe I’ll find something to go with these fine pieces.”

“Thank you,” you said sweetly, “I’m happy to see my work go to a good home.”

“I hope to see more in future,” he returned kindly.

He turned and carried on to the statue constructed of can tabs and greeted another suited man. You looked at Marcus as he leaned in to read the tags beneath your paintings. He stood and looked at you with wide eyes.

“Holy shit, ten grand?” he hissed.

“Pretty good pay for one night,” you chirped, “glad you could make it.”

“Sorry again, I… I had to redo some code. Adam was in a mood so,” he shook his head and sighed, “let’s not talk about it. Let’s celebrate.” He peeked over at the server with a tray of stemmed flutes, “and you can decide what you’re going to buy me with that check.”

“Hush,” you chided as you took a glass of champagne, “now is not the time to go over bills.”

🎨

At the end of the night, you watched one of the assistants take down your canvas and you helped wrap them in paper and twine. As you finished a loopy knot, you were surprised by the figure beside you. You looked up and set the smallest piece atop the larger ones. Clark smiled as you moved to let him pick them up.

“All yours,” you said, almost mournful to see them go.

“Thanks,” he said as he tucked them easily under his thick arm, “I forgot earlier but do you have a card? Are you open for commissions?”

“You must have a lot of walls,” you looked down and opened your purse, “I have a card and I could try a commission.”

You slid out one of the cards that had lingered in your wallet for more than a year. You handed it to him and he read the flowery font before tucking it away in his jacket.

“I do… have a lot of walls,” he said with a smirk, “I’ll give you a call once these are hung.”

“O-okay,” you kept from wringing your hands and closed your purse, “thank you… again.”

“My pleasure,” assured, “have a good night.”

“Yeah, good night,” you said and watched him go.

You let out a breath and smiled to yourself. You would talk to Vanessa and get your cut of the check before you went. Then you could worry about getting Marcus home. He’d had a little too much champagne and you’d left him in the backroom so you could help with the clean-up.

Vanessa bid goodbye to one of her featured artists as you neared. She turned to you and threw up her hands in delight.

“Wonderful, darling,” she said, “you earned that wall.”

“Thanks,” you grinned bashfully.

“Really. That man has never bought a piece before,” she smirked, “I’ve been dying to get into his wallet for years.”

“I never saw him before…”

“Oh, well, yes, he has not been to many of these either. I often see him at other galleries,” she explained, “I hope you have some more for the next.”

“Um, yeah, I should be able to--”

“I’ll have the check for you tomorrow,” she patted your shoulder as her eye was caught by another, “go get your boyfriend out of my studio.”

You accepted your dismissal and turned on your heel. That was just Vanessa, steely but slightly flighty as well. Besides, you were exhausted and you would likely be dragging Marcus into a cab.

You found him slumped at the paint-splattered table. You shook him awake and smiled dopily as he opened his eyes.

“Babe,” he pushed his arm around you.

“Marcus,” you drawled in disappointment, “let’s get out of here.”

“Huh?” He looked around and hiccupped, “oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You had a long day,” you assured him as you rubbed his back and let him lean on you as he stood, “I’m just happy you showed up after all that nonsense.”

“Of course, babe,” he slurred and you helped him through the door.

You kept your head down as you slowly sneaked out past Vanessa but you didn’t miss her side-eye. It was best to be as covert as possible. You came out through the door and nearly dropped Marcus.

“Jesus, can I get a little help?” you snipped as you looked around for a yellow cab.

“Sorry, baby, sorry,” he got his feet flat but it hardly helped take his weight off of you.

You raised your hand to hail a cab and he slipped down your arm. Your ankle bent as you turned to try to catch him before you dropped him entirely. He was saved from hitting the ground as he was caught by another. You looked over his head as he was pushed up to his feet again.

Clark kept his arm behind Marcus as you stared at him, “oh my god, thank you.”

“No problem,” he said as he steadied your boyfriend, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” you lied as you lifted your foot and kept the weight off your ankle, “I just need to get a taxi.” You raised your hand again as you tried to see past the large man, “if you don’t mind getting him in--”

“You can ride with me,” he said brusquely as he turned with Marcus and peered back at you, “this way.”

“We can’t--”

“On that ankle,” he said as you began to limp after him, “you won’t get him out on your own.”

“Really, I’m fine--”

“I don’t mind,” he said coolly as he came to a silver sports car and balanced Marcus against him as he opened the door, “I’ll need an address.”

“Uh, oh,” you folded your hands, “thank you. Really, you’ve done too much.”

“It happens. I’ve had these nights,” he put Marcus across the seat and folded his legs up and shut the door, “you can take the front and tell me where I’m going.”

You hesitated and he opened the front door. You neared and hissed as you stumbled on your ankle. You caught yourself on his arm and quickly retracted your hand as you apologized.

“It’s alright,” he said as you sat in the front seat. He knelt and gently took your ankle. His thumb rubbed the swollen joint, “you really banged yourself up.”

“I’ll be okay,” you assured him, “thanks.”

He let go and stood. He waited for you to turn your legs into the car and gently closed the door. He rounded to the other side and got in as he fished around for his keys. He turned the engine and gripped the wheel with one hand as he took out his phone. He placed it on the magnetic holder and his fingers flicked over the screen.

“Address?” he asked.

You recited it and winced as Siri responded, ‘calculating route’. You shrunk against the luxury leather and glanced at him. He let out a huff and steered into the mostly empty street.

“I’m sorry about all this--”

“No, don’t be,” he glanced in the rearview, “he must be happy for you.”

“Yeah, uh, I think he is,” you said as he followed the map directions, “I am too. I mean, it will go along way… uh, well, you know, things can be tough or--” you shrugged, “I mean, it’s not about the money.”

“Yeah, but it’s nice to be paid,” he said lightly, “and I don’t mind paying for good art.”

You looked out the window as your cheeks burned. You could smell his cologne, subtle but strong. You played with your purse as your nerves brewed in your chest. You watched the sidewalks and the street lights as your surroundings grew more familiar.

He pulled up to your building. It wasn’t the greatest area and the brick façade was faded and cracked. Before you could get out, he was at your door. He offered his hand and helped you out as you leaned on the car. He let you go and opened the back and lifted Marcus out. He hooked your boyfriend’s arm over his shoulder and offered his other arm.

“Come on,” he said.

“Look, you don’t-- there’s an elevator.”

“I’d feel better if I got you inside,” he insisted, “especially in this area.”

You relented and took his arm and limped beside him up the steps. You took out your keys and went ahead of him as he dragged Marcus in. You went to the elevator and hit the button. The doors glided open and you stepped inside. He stood close in the small metal box and Marcus murmured dumbly at his side.

The doors dinged and he let you out first. He followed you down the hall and you unlocked your apartment and waved him inside. He carried Marcus to the couch at your direction and you leaned against the armchair as you bent your leg to check your ankle.

“You should put some ice on that,” Clark said as he neared, “get some sleep yourself.”

“Yeah, I will,” you assured, “thank you, again.”

You felt embarrassed as you eyed his expensive suit and looked around your tiny apartment. It must have been laughable to him. He hardly seem bothered as he retreated to the door.

“I’ll let you then,” he said, “and thank you. I really do like your work.”

The door shut in his stead and you heard his footsteps down the long hall until the door at the end swung open. You glanced at Marcus and shook your head. You weren’t as happy to have had him at the show then.

#clark kent #dark clark kent #dark!clark kent #clark kent x reader #fic #series #mob au #mob!au #mob!clark kent #portrait of a dangerous man #dark fic #dark!fic #superman #au #dc #dcu

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diavohno · 4 years

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peccant pt.1

▹ pairing: lucifer x fem!reader, mammon x fem!reader, leviathan x fem!reader, satan x fem!reader, asmodeus x fem!reader, beelzebub x fem!reader, belphegor x fem!reader

▹ genre: smut, rut!au

▹ words: 6.6k

▹ rating: nsfw

▹ warnings: mc curses like a sailor and solomon has no filter, lucifer’s had a rough time, a pinch of grinding, mentions of masturbation, hickies, explicit sexual content, vaginal sex, rough sex

▹ notes: tadaa! this took a bit longer than I had originally planned (hence the big gap between the sneak peek and the full release) but I was determined to crank this out for @hornywrath‘s birthday! hope you enjoy a lil bit of mammon hun, and happy birthday! also, I guess this also counts for a 400 follower milestone, which we hit very recently! thank you all for being here, I hope the wait was worth it ;)

“Solomon, I’m about ready to fight someone,” you seethed to the sorcerer as you glared up at his ceiling from your comfortable resting spot on top of his bed.

The entire situation was ridiculous. The brothers had been actively avoiding you almost all week, which was annoying enough, but today they had cut off all communication with you entirely. No one came down to breakfast, no one was in any of your shared classes, and no one even bothered to text you so you’d know what the hell was going on. If they were going to give you the cold shoulder the LEAST they could do would be to tell you why.

Instead, you were left to wonder what you had done wrong because surely there was some explanation for their behavior. After a full day of scouring your memory during boring classes (in which there was no one to distract you, unlike usual) you were still drawing a blank on what exactly you had done.

This only meant one thing: you were 100% innocent in this situation, and the brothers would never live this down if you had anything to say about it.

When you were about halfway back to the House of Lamentation after class your D.D.D. buzzed. Your heart nearly leaped out of your chest seeing that the notification was a text from Lucifer. It was the first time any of the brothers had contacted you all day! With any luck, you’d finally get some explanation as to just what was going on, and (if you were lucky) an apology. The second one is highly unlikely given that it was Lucifer who had texted you, but you still had hope. That is, until you opened the message.

After class, immediately go to Purgatory Hall. You will be staying there with the other exchange students until further notice.

A second set of buzzes followed the first, in case one punch to your heart wasn’t enough.

Under no circumstances are you allowed to return to the House of Lamentation without permission.

Excuse you? Were you seriously just told that you weren’t allowed in your own house anymore? Sadly, yes, that seemed to be exactly what had just happened, and Lucifer isn’t the sort of person that you’d argue with about an order.

But come on, you hadn’t even gotten an explanation!

With no other choice, you turned your livid butt around and marched (read: stomped) over to your new home, ready to tell (read: rant to) your fellow exchange students of the injustices you had been served as of late. As if Lady Luck wanted to send an ‘F U’ herself, Solomon was the only one in Purgatory Hall when you arrived. Not the beautiful and benevolent Simeon, or Luke, who you thought of as an angelic younger brother, but Solomon, with a fox’s grin that was far too smug for your liking. And, unfortunately, the smugness only grew as you lamented about how abysmally bad your week had been thus far.

“Oh, y/n,” he said, a teasing coo woven into his tone. Your attention shifted from his incredibly interesting ceiling to his incredibly boring head that he was propping up on his desk with his incredibly boring hand. Solomon may be one of your best friends, but you’d be lying if you said he didn’t push your buttons all the damn time. “You’re so naive to the ways of the world.”

“Sorry I’m not a fancy pants magic bitch like you,” you grumbled with no real bite behind your words. Would you believe he then had the audacity to snicker at you? Because that’s exactly what he did. It took all of your strength plus a little extra from the Big Man Upstairs to not clock the white-haired menace into next week. “Solomon, explain to me what’s going on before I do something I won’t regret.”

Ever the fake pacifist, he raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright, no need for violence. And, really, it’s your own fault that you don’t know about demon ruts.”

Silence filled the room, leaving you to sit there and drown in it as Solomon seemingly decided the desk itself would make a much more comfortable seat than his chair. With just those few words he had managed to switch your brain from operating on Google Chrome to Internet Explorer, and what is the next thing he does? Perches on his desk like it was normal.

After some time passed with you buffering and Solomon preening as if he had just been graced by God, you finally managed to spit out, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

More snickering. Try as you might, you couldn’t fight off the blush that had been steadily creeping onto your cheeks, so you instead gave in and decided to find out as much as you could. “You mean, right now, they’re at home—”

“Jacking themselves off on anything of yours that they can get their cummy little demon mitts on? Ding ding ding, you’ve guessed it! Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been in your room already. Having a—” calculating eyes swept your form from head to toe before continuing irritatingly hesitantly, “presumably fertile female so close is akin to torture when they’re rutting, so what remains of your pheromones are probably the only thing they can smell at the moment.”

Taking the high road for once in your little gremlin life, you chose to ignore the ‘presumably fertile’ comment and remained focused on the topic at hand: the brothers were going through a demon rutting period. “That is so unbelievably disgusting and hot at the same time.”

So some of your inner gremlin slipped out, sue you.

Solomon sighed as if he expected nothing more from you, white strands of hair falling onto his face as he pressed it into the palms of his hands. “Leave it to you to be turned on by the suffering of others.”

“Shut it, Solomon, you know what I mean.” Heat flared across your cheeks at the insinuation. You may be many things, but a sadist was not one of them; Lucifer had that title locked down anyway. “Dammit. What do I do, Solomon? Lucifer texted me saying that I can’t go back, so does he really expect me to wear the same clothes for however many days it takes for their ruts to end?”

“Probably. He’s twisted like that. Ooh, what if he’s getting off to the idea that you’re—”

Before you had a chance to cut Solomon off from finishing a sentence that would have undoubtedly mortified you to no end, a series of rapid-fire buzzes from your phone did it for you. You had patted both yourself and the area around you on the bed down thoroughly only for Solomon to dangle your phone in the air. Warning bells sounded off in your head loud and clear the moment you noticed his cheeky grin.

“I think you should put this one on speaker.”

With a flick of his wrist, your phone sailed through the air and landed on the bed next to you after you failed to catch it. Ignoring Solomon’s snort, you flipped your phone over to see who was calling you. The name, along with everything you had just discussed with Solomon, caused your pulse to pound in your ears.

It was Mammon.

Panic ran through your veins like liquid lightning. Should you answer it? There could only be one reason why he would be calling if he was rutting. Warmth shot straight to your core. Deep down, you realize that if he was calling you to ask for help, you’d say yes. Solomon cleared his throat and gestured at your phone, reminding you to answer before you lost your chance. Without hesitation, you answered the call, switching to speakerphone with a pointed glare from the man across from you.

Within seconds, breathy groans rang out from the phone. Your face flushed as you spared a glance at Solomon, who had donned a shit-eating grin, before your attention snapped back to the phone upon hearing Mammon’s voice. “Where are ya, y/n?” he whined. “I need ya so bad.”

Your teeth caught your bottom lip between them. “Lucifer told me not to come back for now, so I’m at Purgatory Hall.”

A string of expletives exploded from the speaker, although they died down as quickly as they started. When Mammon addressed you again, the pleading tone to his voice was in no way subtle. “Please. . . Please come help me, y/n. I need ya.”

“Mammon, babe, are you rutting?” Your eyes widened in horror while Solomon snickered gleefully; the question had fallen out before you could really even think about it.

You weren’t given much time to worry over it, though, as Mammon answered in confirmation, “Yeah. And everythin’. . . Everythin’ fuckin’ HURTS. It hurts so bad, y/n, please.” Images of some of your succubi and incubi friends flashed through your head. It would probably be best that a demon helped him through his heat. If you helped, you’d likely get hurt. You had just begun to offer to call one of your friends when your words were cut short with a growl. “No, dammit! I only want you! Only you, ya hear me, y/n?”

A milky-white hand clamped firmly against his mouth was the only thing preventing Solomon from alerting Mammon to the fact that you were not the only human hearing him at that moment, and that hand was getting dangerously close to not being enough to save the two of you. The thought of how Mammon would react upon finding the two of you out sent a shiver down your back. You could NOT let that happen.

Executive authority coursed through you as you turned off the speakerphone and brought it up to your ear instead; a curling lick of satisfaction in your chest was the only thing Solomon’s huff of discontent managed to elicit. “Okay, Mammon, I’m on my way.”

A pleased groan answered your words, followed by a click. You blinked a few times, waiting to no avail for anything else— he had hung up on you. Although you’re not quite sure what you expected (some thanks would have been nice) you couldn’t help but to notice how your body seemed to be thrumming with anticipation.

“Oh, you’re on your way, are you? You DO realize that if you go to help one of them you’ll have to help ALL of them, right? So are you stupid? Is that it?” the whirlwind that was Solomon accused, white brows furrowed in total scorn. “And here I was, thinking that you were a creature of intelligence. Oh, how it pains me to be wrong.”

Already on your feet, you pocketed your phone and smoothed out your clothes, ready to head to the House of Lamentation at any moment. After concluding that you were presentable enough to go have a demon rip your clothes off your body— a matter that you had grown incredibly serious about in a somewhat suspiciously short amount of time, as if the thought of being ravaged by the brothers had crossed your mind before— you turned to address the snarky sorcerer in the room. “You heard him, Solomon. He’s in serious pain right now, and he wasn’t going to accept anyone else’s help getting through it.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse and you know it,” he said in exasperation. “He’s a DEMON. He’d say whatever he needed to in order to get you there!”

Arguing with him was clearly going to get you nowhere. Instead, you stared down Solomon, daring him to continue trying to change your mind. It was a battle of the minds, and luckily for you, you happened to be one of the most bull-headed humans to ever grace the earth. After what couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, Solomon relented with a burdened groan.

“Fine, just let me cast a spell on you so you aren’t impregnated and obliterated, for the love of God.” His eyes searched yours imploringly. If you didn’t know any better you’d almost think that he was worried about you, but that would be a ridiculous idea. Still, you agreed, to which he let out a breath of relief.

Without wasting any time he crossed the room and took your hands in his own. Low mutterings in a language you didn’t recognize left his mouth, so you focused on the feeling of his hands; they were surprisingly soft and a bit bigger than you had previously thought.

A faint warmth and a corresponding tingling sensation started at your fingertips and soon encased your entire body, the tingling somehow reassuring as it raised goosebumps to the surface of your skin. Your eyes flitted up to Solomon’s questioningly, only for them to widen in shock— his eyes had gone entirely white and were glowing. Just as you were about to admit that his magic was actually pretty cool, it stopped.

The warmth and tingling disappeared, and Solomon’s eyes blinked back to normal. The only effect of the magic that you could feel was a particular humming sensation in your lower abdomen. That, and you felt like you could take on Diavolo himself and win, but that wasn’t a new feeling; an uncommon one, sure, but definitely not new.

Satisfied with his work, Solomon staggered a few steps backward before flopping onto his bed. “You should be good to go.” He propped himself up on his elbows, fixing you with a squinted stare. “You’re lucky I enjoy our banter, y/n. Can’t let you go and get yourself fucked to death, now can I?”

“God, don’t phrase it like that,” you said in a strangled voice, to which Solomon cackled and dropped onto his back once again. Just when you thought the two of you might have grown closer, he had to go and say something as mortifying as that. With renewed vigor, you scurry out of the room.

Solomon’s silvery voice echoed through the open door behind you. “Like what, the truth?”

He just managed to catch your snort before you walked out of earshot, leaving the sorcerer sprawled out on his bed, his chest heaving in deep breaths of air. The spell he had cast on you had taken quite a bit out of him. Now, he struggled to even keep his eyes open as waves of sleep crashed over him.

Would it normally take this much energy to prepare a human body for a demon rut? He supposed not, although it wasn’t exactly something he did except on the rare occasion, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you wouldn’t just be dealing with one demon. There was something else, too. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Ah, well, it was sure to come to him after he had rested up again. The comforting blanket of sleep settled over him, as well as his own blankets after he slipped under their covers. Right before he entered dreamland, the vision of a glowing pact mark appeared in his mind. His eyebrows knitted together; was this a premonition?

However, the mark was soon swallowed up by the foggy mist of his mind, and Solomon drifted off to sleep.

x x x x x

Never before had you gotten to the House of Lamentation faster than you did today. Just going home wasn’t nearly the same level of motivation as going to get some demon dick, so you hauled ass in record time, weaving in and out of random pedestrians you encountered that were walking the paths around the Devildom. Your friends really were right: you had no hope of making it into heaven. The worst part is, they had no clue whatsoever how true that statement was.

You came to a halt in front of the dorm you had recently come to call home, your hands on your knees as you struggled to regain your breath. It took everything you had not to just collapse into a weary heap on the front steps, but the promise of what was to come was enough to keep you going. Instead, you took a minute to steady your breathing before climbing the steps and slipping into the house. Technically, Lucifer had forbidden you from coming home, so it would probably be best to not alert him to your unwanted presence.

Thankfully, you had plenty of practice tip-toeing around from all of the times you’d snuck out with Asmo to go clubbing. Lucifer would never know you were there.

As you snuck past the kitchen toward the hallway of bedrooms, the sound of the tap turning on freeze you in your tracks. With your heart in your throat, you slowly twisted your head toward the direction of the sound, hoping from the bottom of your sin-stained heart that the person responsible wasn’t who you thought it was.

There, his bare back hunched over the sink with a glass of water clenched tightly in his degloved hand, stood Lucifer. Although the mere presence of the man had you rattled, what he was wearing— or rather, what he WASN’T wearing— made you even more so. He had donned a pair of baggy grey sweatpants that rested low on his hips and had lost the rest, leaving little to be imagined. Little to be imagined of HIM, that is— the sight sparked plenty of thoughts on your part.

The temptation to slink away to Mammon before you were discovered was great, but the temptation of marveling this new side of Lucifer was greater; you steeled yourself and moved toward him.

His rut seemed to have taken quite the toll on him already, as his usually well-kept hair was now disheveled and somewhat damp as if he had just recently gotten out of the shower. A shiver ran down your spine as the image of Lucifer in his shower was plastered to the forefront of your mind. With much thanks to your abysmally short attention span, the thought was easily discarded when you noticed that his muscles rippled along his back with each movement he took: emptying his glass; placing it back down on the counter; pushing his hair back.

Even as he turned around and realized someone had joined him in the kitchen, you couldn’t find it in yourself to run for cover. Maybe you’d screwed up your survival instincts at some point?

“y/n?” Lucifer croaked, his gaze predatory as it raked down your form. Something akin to a harrowed smirk cracked across his face when you shivered at the intensity radiating off of him, yet it was soon replaced with a pained grimace. His hands clenched the edge of the counter behind him so tightly that his knuckles were white as he ripped his gaze away from you. “I believe I explicitly told you not to return here until you received further instruction. You disobeyed me.”

You’d be lying if you said that the commanding growl in his words didn’t turn you on. Hell, if anyone told YOU that you’d just laugh in their face because damn if that wasn’t the sexiest thing you’d ever heard. Not to mention the electrifying effect it had on your body; it was as if every fiber of your being was on edge right now, acutely aware of every single thing that Lucifer said or did.

You found yourself longing to press your body up onto his, to entangle your hands in his already messy hair and mesh your lips together while you hook one of your legs around his waist to keep him close as he slams you up against the counter—

The purposeful clearing of his throat snapped you out of your imagination. It’s odd for you to have become so withdrawn from reality, but you just chalked it up to it being a side effect from whatever spell Solomon had cast on you. Anyway, Lucifer had asked you a question, and while it may not have been the smartest decision in the long run, you were in no mental state to be pulling lies out of your ass. “Mammon asked me to come over and help him.”

“Oh really? So you’ve discovered our dirty little secret, but still came?” he hummed in thought, more to himself than to you. Some switch must have flipped in him as he had gone from very obviously holding himself back to slowly stalking toward you with a wolfish glint in his eyes. It was at that moment that your survival instincts kicked in and you took two small steps back for every one Lucifer took forward. Sadly, you seemed to have walked further into the kitchen than you had originally thought you did and soon found yourself pressed along the center table with nowhere else to run from the demon in front of you.

A pink tongue darted out from his mouth, wetting the bottom lip that it dragged along. Lucifer had you right where he wanted you. It took a total of three steps for him to close the gap between you two, his arms resting on either side of you to cage you in. Desire flickered in his half-lidded eyes as he stared you down. “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here?”

You hummed in response, too fixated on how alluring his slightly-parted, flushed lips looked. Due to your intense focus on said lips, you didn’t miss how the corners of his mouth quirked up before he leaned forward and out of your sight. Your breath caught in your throat as his heated breath fanned out across your neck while he spoke. “You’re lucky that you ran into myself and not one of my brothers. Unlike them,” his hips met yours and instantly began to slowly roll, “I can control myself.”

The hardness of his length and the waver in his tone seemed to suggest otherwise.

A devious thought pushed itself to the forefront of your mind, one that you were all too willing to go along with. One of your hands ghosted down his chest, your nails lightly scratching his pale skin while the other snaked upward and caressed his cheek. Lucifer shuddered into your touch and bit back a quiet groan, his hips grinding against yours with a tad more urgency.

“What happened to being able to control yourself?” you asked breathily. With any luck, you’d be able to get his self-control to snap and he’d take you right then and there. Your thighs tensed slightly as heat shot to your core at the thought.

Then he pulled away and your entire mastermind plan came crashing down.

Lucifer stumbled backward, fingers pinching his nose tightly shut as he glared holes into the ground. Wait, do you smell or something? You could’ve sworn you had put deodorant on that morning. A discreet sniff of yourself reassured you that you did not stink, so why the abrupt stop?

“I believe that you should find Mammon in your room.” He staggered backward with urgency; so much so that he would have clipped his side on the counter had you not warned him. Pink dusted his cheeks for a moment as he cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed from not noticing the counter. Your bemusement was cut short, however, when he fixed you with a piercing look that sent shivers down your back. “I expect to see you in my room once you are finished.”

Unable to stop yourself, you quipped back, “I’ll think about it.”

“By all means, do,” he purred, red eyes narrowing into seductive slits. Even as he backed out of the room, sweat beads beginning to glisten on his forehead, he somehow still made you want to do nothing more than hand yourself over to him completely. “But let me assure you that the actual thing will be so much more enjoyable than whatever you end up imagining.”

With that, he was gone, and you were left with nothing but yourself and your newfound neediness. You had half a mind to chase after the first-born, but the other half of your mind was insisting that you go to Mammon, as he was the one who had called you in the first place. With a small sigh, you headed off down the hallway toward your room. It was a short walk, as per usual, but the anticipation that had once again began to swirl in your stomach lengthened it a good bit.

What, exactly, did helping a demon through their rut entail? You assumed that they needed help finishing, but was that it? Of course, you’d help the brothers out with anything, ESPECIALLY if they were in pain because of it, but it was a little unnerving not knowing exactly what you had gotten yourself into. Thank God that Solomon had been there to help cast a spell on you (which you still had no clue what it did, but you trusted him enough to believe that you’d be fine) because, now that you’ve had some more time to think about it, there was no way you’d be able to walk away from this little excursion of yours unscathed.

You hesitated outside of your partially opened door for just a moment before stepping inside and locking the door behind you. As you turned around to once again face the rest of your room, quiet huffing and groaning alerted you of the demon in the room with you.

The sight that blessed your eyes ignited a white-hot fire in your core.

Mammon was sprawled out buck-naked on your bed, your sheets and comforter rumpled enough to lead you to assume that he had been wriggling around on them for a while. As a surprise to no one, your eyes immediately zeroed in on his hand— namely, how said hand was loosely wrapped around his length and lightly jerking it. His caramel skin glistened under a sheen layer of sweat from his exertions, and his head was tipped back against your pillow as he chased a semblance of relief.

You mindlessly take a few steps toward the sight. Had he not noticed you were in the room yet? Considering how tightly his eyes were screwed shut and how his breathing was getting progressively louder, it wasn’t impossible.

“Mammon?” you called out hesitantly, unsure if you should be interrupting or not. Although, he had called you specifically to help him with this exact thing, so maybe you were worrying about nothing.

His eyes snapped wide open the moment his name came out of your mouth; he really hadn’t heard you enter then. A shuddering inhale shook his form for a moment before he pushed himself up to a seated position and said in disbelief, “You really came.”

As if you could ignore his phone call. You rolled your eyes as you finished closing the gap between the two of you, your hands lifting to cup Mammon’s warm cheeks. “I said I would, didn’t I?” Unintelligible mumbling followed that you silenced by pressing your thumb against his lips. “What do you want me to do?”

Without a word, Mammon’s hands gripped your waist and guided you onto his lap, your knees on either side of him. His hot mouth instantly found your neck, the feeling of his hasty kisses and the occasional nip stealing your breath away. Not staying in one place too long, the kisses quickly trailed their way down toward your collarbone, only for the fabric of your shirt to get in the way. Aside from his annoyed grumbling, Mammon didn’t make any comments about it and simply tugged at your shirt, wordlessly asking you to take it off.

Of course you complied (because why would you not?) and freed yourself from the now-restrictive fabric. No sooner had you wriggled out of your top than had Mammon’s hands begun to roam all over your body, almost as if he was attempting to commit your form to memory.

Everywhere his hands went brought a tingling sensation to your skin. Eventually, one dipped low enough to fiddle with the band of your shorts, although it didn’t go any farther than that. As great as the makeout session was, a growing firmness pressing along the inside of your thigh and the unsteadiness of his touch reminded you of exactly why you were called in the first place.

“Mammon,” you tried, but your words fell on deaf ears as Mammon was too lost in the feeling and taste and touch of you to even register that you had spoken. Fog rolled across your mind as he found a particularly sensitive spot and capitalized on it, teeth gently scraping against the skin which was immediately followed by a soothing swipe of his tongue. Still, you found it somewhere within you to try again. “Mammon, wait.”

“Hm?” His lips buzzed pleasantly against your neck, eyes turning up toward your own.

Your stomach flipped at the sheer want pooling in their golden ichor. “I’m here to help you with your rut, but right now I feel more like we’re focusing on me.”

“Of course I’m focusin’ on you,” he harrumphed, a look of embarrassment shading his features. “You’re a human! There’s no way you’d be able to jump right on in without gettin’ hurt, so I’m… I’m tryin’ to warm you up a bit.”

You chuckled, running a hand through his hair reassuringly. “That’s awful sweet of you, babe, but I’m seriously fine. Solomon hooked me up with some magic before I came over, so I’m all set.”

His grip on your hips tightened at the mention of the sorcerer, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, his hands jumped from your hips to your shoulders, flipping you onto the bed with Mammon positioned between your legs. You’d never noticed it before, but his canines were slightly more pointed than a human’s; they’re all you focused on when a smirk crept onto his features. “You should’ve said somethin’ sooner.”

If before had been the warm-up, then the main event was the warm-up times ten. Your mouths crashed together, and you found yourself fighting to stay caught up with Mammon’s urgent pace. The bed creaked underneath the two of you as Mammon rushed to get the rest of your clothes off. It was impressive how he managed to slide off your shorts without breaking away from you, but you weren’t allowed to dwell on that thought for very long at all.

“You’re sure about this?” His breathless question warmed your heart. Even now, as his legs trembled with the discomfort he was surely in and his gaze grew hazy, he had the decency to make sure that you were sure. You hadn’t faltered from your original commitment once, but now you were certain you had made the right choice.

A cheeky grin split across your face. “I’ve never been more sure about something in my life.”

No sooner had you gotten the words out than had Mammon’s cock shoved its way through your entrance, his hips pressing flush against your own. The burning feeling of your walls stretching to take him in so suddenly proved too much to handle, your body arching into his own as a gasping whine tore from your lips.

For a moment— just a moment— he stilled, allowing you to adjust to his size. One of his hands hooked underneath your knee and pulled it closer to your side so he could get a better angle. A shot of pleasure ran through you as the repositioning briefly caused your muscles clenched around him. Seeing the shudder rack your form, Mammon rolled his hips into yours. Your head tipped back at the feeling of his swollen length dragging against your walls, and he wasted no time in leaving blossoms of orchid and rouge along the now-exposed column of your neck.

As your eyes rolled back at the feeling, you missed how he shifted above you, gripping the head of your headboard with his other hand for support. You didn’t miss how his hips pulled back and thrust up into you, nor did you miss how each thrust following that was just as strong.

Unrestrained sounds fell from your open mouth as Mammon launched into an aggressive pace that left you scrabbling for purchase on his shoulders or back so you wouldn’t hit your headboard. The moment your hands bumped into something protruding from his back, your eyes flew open to search for what exactly you had just touched.

At some point, Mammon must have shifted to his demon form, as his wings were currently curling over the two of you almost like some sort of shield. Your legs squeezed together at the sight, allowing Mammon’s next thrusts to find your g-spot.

“Fuck, Ma-Mammon,” you cursed, the demon on top of you growling lowly as he buried his face in the crook of your neck.

“You’re so tight,” he groaned before pressing a firm kiss along your jaw. “You’re doin’ so good for me, y/n.”

You answered with a keening moan, as you were sure that you wouldn’t be able to articulate any more actual words— not while Mammon kept plowing into you at this speed, anyway. Tension coiled tightly in your abdomen, each thrust drawing you closer and closer to your peak. You couldn’t tell how close Mammon was, but with as ragged as his panting was growing, you assumed he wasn’t all that far behind you.

With every passing moment, your body grew more and more flush with heat and your moans increased in volume, which Mammon encouraged with more whispered praise. One particularly strong smack of his hips against yours triggered the release of a loud whine from your throat, and you were sure you wouldn’t be able to last much longer. “Just like that, sweetheart.” His lips brushed tantalizingly against your ear, making sure that you heard him over yourself. “Let ‘em all know who’s makin’ you feel this good.”

A few more solid thrusts were all it took to make you unravel, your toes curling and your body arching into Mammon at the utter bliss engulfing you entirely.

“Mammon!” you wailed, all other words escaping you as stars danced behind your eyes. Your walls clenching down on him pushed Mammon over the edge as well, his hips stuttering before pressing as deep inside of you as he could, release spilling into your throbbing core. A groan tumbled from his lips as his teeth sunk into the crook of your neck, the sharp stinging drawing a soft whine from yourself.

After a few moments of deepening his mark, Mammon flopped onto his back and rolled you on top of him, his arms wrapping tightly around your body to gently hold you against him. The bliss from orgasming was now wearing off and was being replaced with exhaustion. Tension seeped out of you in waves as you relaxed against Mammon’s heaving chest, his skin cool against your warm cheek.

Laughter soon met your ears, and the shaking body beneath you made it pretty obvious who it was coming from. Drowsily, you pushed yourself up to a sitting position and let Mammon slip himself out of you while you threw an inquisitive look his way. The eyes that met your own were no longer ones of a demon in rut, but ones filled with total admiration. “What are you laughing about?”

“You,” he answered simply, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear while his other hand rested loosely on your bare hip.

Your heart fluttered at that, but you played it off with a small smile and a tiny slap against his chest. “Why are you being so cheesy?”

He said nothing, only answering with another laugh as he leaned forward to pepper your face with soft kisses. His laughter turned out to be infectious as you, too, began to laugh, leaving the two of you giggling into each others’ mouths before he pulled away, resting his forehead against your own. “I’m just so happy you actually came, y/n.”

“Me too, I was starting to get worried there for a bit,” you snarked, the teasing lilt evident in your tone. Mammon scoffed at playfully rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms tightly around your waist as the corner of his mouth tugged up in a smirk.

“Sure fooled me. You sure sounded like you were enjoying yourself.” Now it was your turn to fake being offended; you gasped indignantly before turning your head away in a fake pout.

“With this much disrespect, maybe I’ll just show myself out.”

“Woah there, let’s not be too hasty.” A thumb and forefinger grip your chin and turn your head back toward Mammon, who had a peculiar twinkle in his eye. It was something warm and knowing and light, but you just couldn’t put your finger on it. The odd look didn’t leave when he pulled you against his chest for what felt like the hundredth time that day, nor did it leave when you tangled yourselves up in the other while you cuddled, just taking time to soak the other in.

Eventually, Mammon gave himself over to sleep, his light snores rumbling softly against the side of your neck as he unconsciously wriggled himself impossibly closer into you. You were just about to as well until two short sets of buzzes caught your attention.

Twisting around carefully in Mammon’s arms, you were just able to see your D.D.D. flicking off again after receiving the messages. Luckily, your shorts had ended up getting thrown onto your nightstand, so it wasn’t too much of a challenge to snag your D.D.D. from your back pocket without waking up the sleeping demon latched on to you.

Flicking it open, you saw that the messages had come from Levi.

come over please. I know your with mammon right now

I need help too y/n, please

You cast a glance over your shoulder at the said demon, guilt gnawing at your heart as memories resurfaced of how sweet he had been earlier; however, those memories were soon replaced with ones of Lucifer, disheveled and leaning into your touch, and of Solomon, warning you that you’d end up helping all of the brothers out. With a sigh, you tapped a quick reply to Levi that you were on your way and eased yourself out of Mammon’s arms.

As you got to your feet, you were surprised to find that you weren’t sore in the slightest, despite how rough Mammon had been. Solomon’s magic really was no joke. It didn’t take you long to slip back into your clothes (granted, you didn’t bother putting your bra and underwear back on because you’d just be taking them off again) and you soon found yourself staring down at Mammon.

You were still guilty about running off to go fuck his younger brother while he was sleeping, but at the same time, you’d feel even more guilty about only helping one brother and leaving the other six to deal with their ruts by themselves. Worrying your bottom lip between your teeth for a moment, you finally steel yourself and commit to your decision, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead before turning around and marching yourself straight out of your door. You don’t look back, because you know that if you do, the rest of the brothers would end up suffering through their ruts alone.

#obey me #obey me: swd #obey me mammon #obey me smut #obey me mammon x reader #heat!au #obey me fic #obey me lucifer #obey me leviathan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor

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onlysarah235678 · 3 years

Text

A Little Bit Part 20

Pairing: Billie Dean Howard x female reader

A/N: 🙃 Hi. I hope everyone’s had a nice weekend. Here’s more of your favorite medium, but first, look at this gif.

Warnings: angst and mention of dead animals

The rest of your time at Billie’s had been more enjoyable than you could have hoped for. The two of you spent a lot of time together, with Milo too of course, and you even risked going out again. Luckily you had been able to enjoy your time together without incident and you were reluctant to go home the next morning. You would have loved to stay with Billie for longer, but it was time to go back to work.

You and Milo had finally returned home on Sunday, and you’d immediately realized how much you had to do before work on Monday. You’d gone shopping, did laundry, cleaned a lot of your apartment before collapsing at 10. You wake up Monday morning torn between excitement and dread about going back to work. You are excited to be busy again, and to see all of your patients, but you aren’t excited about potentially facing the media and tiring yourself out.

You didn’t bother texting anyone to see if the reporters are there because you doubted anyone would be at work yet. You lock your door behind you before leading Milo down the hallway. You stifle a yawn before leaning against the wall while you wait for the elevator to reach your floor. You consider texting Billie but it was really early, so you decide to at least wait until you got to work.

You are leaving a little early because you want to have time to catch up on what you missed, so you and Milo arrive a whole hour before opening. Most of the assistants aren’t even here yet, but you hadn’t run into any reporters so you’re happy. Since you are here so early, you take Milo upstairs with you and after putting his bed back under your desk you both settle in.

When lunch time rolls around, you are grateful of the fact that Dr. Stewart put breaks into your schedule this week. You’re feeling okay, but your headache is starting to come back. You’re stressing about how much you have to catch up on when your phone goes off. You sigh before realizing that it’s Billie, and you smile widely as you read her message.

You know she has a busy week, but that doesn’t start until tomorrow, so you are going to take advantage of any free time Billie has. It doesn’t even seem odd to be so excited to talk to the blonde again. It’s barely been 24 hours since you’ve seen her, but you’re quickly responding to her message. You’re not really free, but you figure a few minutes on the phone won’t hurt.

You glance to the schedule before you skip ahead a week to double check the time that you had scheduled all seven of the cats to come in. Before leaving Billie’s yesterday, Bit had escaped outside and neither you nor Billie had been in the mood to run after her. Milo had of course, but luckily he had already been attached to his leash so he didn’t get far. You had joked that whenever she came back, Billie would have to bring her in to get spayed. She could get into a lot of trouble relatively quickly.

You had been kidding of course, but then you’d actually talked about it for a while before Billie decided that she wanted it done ASAP. So now you had Bit’s surgery in the morning, and Billie’s appointment with the other cats late enough in the afternoon that she could just take them all home at once.

Guess who made it home?

Billie had attached a picture of Bit sitting in the living room grooming herself and you laugh. You ask Billie if she wants to keep her appointment before turning your attention to lunch. You leave your office and walk down the hall to the kitchen so you can grab your lunch. You’re glad that you went shopping yesterday because you really don’t want to chance an encounter with reporters this week. You sneak a peek at the boarding cats before heading back to your office with a sigh. You sit back down before turning your attention to your computer when it chimes at you. You answer some emails before you finally get to you lunch, and at that point you remember to check your phone.

Yes, please.

You smile before asking how her day has gone so far before returning to work. You’re typing up a medical record while eating your sandwich when your phone lights up again. You’d turned off the sound because it had been aggravating your headache. That said, you don’t realize that you have a new message until you have two and you curse under your breath as you grab your phone.

How has your day been, sweetheart?

You’re on lunch now right?

You respond by telling Billie how your day has been and that you honestly are ready to go home. You talk for a while before you have to get back to work, but you ask Billie when she’ll be free. You are already dreading the idea of having to go back to your apartment alone tonight, but you suppose that’s what you get for spending so much time at Billie’s.

Billie spent most of the morning figuring out her week. She talked to Michelle for a while about the many things she had planned and how she was going to be kept busy up until her show aired. Billie was conflicted because she was glad to work, but she was also exhausted. She wanted a break, and she certainly didn’t want to deal with more assholes like she had on Friday. She and Michelle had talked about this a lot and the solution you’d both come up with was deceptively simple.

Just stick to the same story every time, and don’t crack under pressure. Billie still hadn’t told you about what Dave had asked, and she wasn’t sure if you’d bothered to look it up. This meant that she hadn’t been able to ask you about what she could say on TV. You had agreed to her telling the basics about you, your job, recent move, and all of that, but nothing about your personal life.

You certainly hadn’t mentioned your dad which is why Billie was trying not to either. That said, it was only working so well when people zeroed in on that one article or anything else they could use to bring him up. She knew you hadn’t gotten over his death yet, for several reasons, but she didn’t want to be the one to bring it up again. Billie knew that you had to come to terms with it on your own time, but it just made things difficult for her. Well, she was the one making things difficult for herself by refusing to talk to you about it. She didn’t want to risk you asking about the interview, so Billie was sticking to her ‘nothing more than the basics’ for now and hoping that it didn’t backfire again.

After Bit had returned from her sudden, albeit brief escape, Billie had tried to look her over. She wanted to make sure she hadn’t gotten hurt or too dirty while out there, but she’d had limited success. She only got as far as scratching her head and reaching for her stomach before Bit hissed and fled upstairs. Billie didn’t bother trying to stop her, she seemed fine enough, and Billie spent the rest of the morning alone.

It was odd having the house so empty. After you and Milo had stayed for a nearly a week, it was difficult to get used to the silence. Neither of you had made much noise honestly, but even just the sound of you shifting on the couch, or Milo’s collar clinking made Billie smile. She’d grown to like having the two of you here, but still she’d let you leave.

It was too early in your relationship to think about that, so Billie just pushes the thought to the back of her mind. Maybe in a few months you two can talk about the idea of moving in together.

You and Billie text for a little while longer before you have to go back to work. You’re glad that your afternoon is full of wellness visits, and as you get ready for your first appointment, you wonder if that was intentional. You don’t think about it long before you are meeting your assistant for the afternoon to get a history for the next patient.

You’re seeing an older dog, Rudy, who is relatively new to your practice. He’s a very sweet dog, but his owners are a little odd. Maybe you’re just too introverted for them, but you think that even an extrovert would find their questions a little invasive.

Luckily, it’s a quick visit and they don’t even mention your relationship which is a relief. The focus is on Rudy, as it should be, and you are grateful that no one seems to really care about you today. In between appointments you’re drinking water and working on medical records. You occasionally check your phone to see if Billie’s texted, but you have no new messages. You frown slightly before forcing yourself to get back to work.

The end of the day sneaks up on you, and you have maybe half a dozen records to finish when Dr. Hahn tells you she’s leaving. You curse under your breath after she leaves as you look at the clock. You need to feed Milo, but you still have maybe an hour of work to do. You sigh before jumping up and taking the stairs two at a time. You smile at Mina before running into the kennel to get your dog.

“Hi Milo. Do you want dinner?”

Milo of course just barks and spins around until you let him out. You smile before scratching his head and waving him along. You feed him before letting him out in the yard for a while. You didn’t give him as much time outside today as you usually would and you feel a little bad about it. For this reason, you end up sitting with him for nearly 15 minutes before you remember you have work to do still.

You lead Milo back inside and up the stairs to your office. You don’t like leaving him in the kennel after hours, and since he’s good and just sits at your feet you let him stay with you. You’re yawning by the time you’ve finished the first couple of records, and you are tempted to leave when your phone goes off. You sigh and force yourself to finish the section you’re typing up before looking to see what Billie says.

No one else has texted you today, so you assume it’s her.

You’re right and you smile when you realize that Billie is checking in on you. It’s almost 8 and you groan when you realize how late you’ll be here tonight.

Are you still at work?

You respond saying that you are and will be for a little while before putting your phone back down. You glance down at Milo, confirming that he’s asleep and snoring before you start typing again. Billie is in the middle of trying to wrangle the kittens when your reply comes in. Since you and Milo left, she realized that it was safe for the kittens to roam around supervised. She was downstairs with all of them now, and definitely regretting her decision to do this.

As Billie holds Mickey in her sweatshirt pocket, he was almost getting too big for it, she hurries to pick up two other kittens that were at her feet. She was attempting to get them all back to the laundry room after being out for a while, and it was proving more difficult than she imagined. She sighs in defeat as she watches the other three attempt to jump on the furniture, or bother Bit. She was going to need a drink after this.

She had underestimated how tiring it would be to spend time with them like this. One hour had quickly turned into two. It was adorable watching them all wobble around, and clumsily chase clumps of Milo’s hair that they found on the ground. They were all getting so big that Billie wasn’t sure how she’d manage to get all of them to the vet next week.

Her main concern right now though was getting them all back into their room. She knew she had to spend more time letting them out like this, but she was going to be busy for the next few days. She had a couple of meetings with her producers and Michelle in addition to another couple of interviews. Billie opens the laundry room and sets the three kittens on the ground before going back to get the remaining three.

She tries to chase one down, and he or she, she’s not sure, runs into the kitchen and Billie sighs in defeat. She follows the little one to the back door and watches as she jumps up and puts her paws on the glass.

“Come on little one.”

Billie reaches down and grabs the kitten, smiling slightly as it purrs so loudly that Billie feels the vibrations. She turns to go track down the other two when her phone goes off again. She smiles until she realizes that it isn’t you, and she leaves it be for now before going off in search of the last two stragglers.

You finally finish working around 9, and you’re exhausted by the time you finish locking up. You take Milo’s leash in one hand and grab your things with the other before heading to the parking lot. You don’t even spare the rest of the lot a glance, not caring if they’re there before you throw your things in your car. You get Milo situated in the back and pretty soon you’re on your way home.

You stifle a yawn as you turn onto the road with an exhausted sigh. You’re not looking forward to going home despite feeling like you’re going to fall asleep the second your head hits your pillow. You get home in record time too since there isn’t much traffic and you sigh as you pull into the closest parking spot you can find. You sit in the car with the engine off just staring off into space before you’re interrupted.

“Shit, Milo stop.”

You push Milo away as he sits up and licks your face to get your attention. He just whines when you tell him to sit, and you only get another few seconds reprieve before he’s pawing at you. You groan in defeat before getting unbuckled and opening your door. Milo isn’t going to let you delay this any longer, so you don’t bother even trying. You get him hooked up to his leash before grabbing your things and leading him inside. You make it to your apartment quickly and you close the door behind you before watching Milo run to the couch. You look around with a frown before heading toward the kitchen. You drop your things before opening the fridge for a drink. It’s late and you should just go to sleep, but you don’t want to.

Instead, you sit next to Milo on the couch with your phone and a glass of wine. You sigh as you look to your phone with a yawn. It’s late, but you are sure that Billie is still up. You want to at least say goodnight, or let her know that you’re home. She had asked you to check in after all.

You didn’t expect her to pick up on the second ring.

“Hi, Y/N. Are you finally home?”

You smile before nodding to yourself with an exhausted sigh. You tell Billie how you just got back and that you are tired enough to crash. You hear her laugh at this and you can’t help but wonder what she’s doing right now. You turn to Milo before patting your lap, and you smile as he hurries to lie down on you.

“What are you up to, Billie?”

Billie smiles as she turns to Mickey who is bouncing around on the floor at the end of the bed. She’s watching him from where she’s leaning against the headboard with a glass of wine in one hand. She mentions what she’s been up to for the past 15 minutes and you laugh when she mentions her kitten adventures from earlier today.

“Really? All 6 of them? How did that go?”

You laugh as Billie groans under her breath. She was glad that she’d been able to give the kittens some much needed play time, but she was exhausted. She was close to crashing despite not having worked much today, but she’d wanted to wait at least until she heard from you.

“It was hectic for sure, but they were so cute. I wish you could have seen them.”

Both of you smile at the thought before you’re nodding in agreement. You scratch Milo behind his ears, your smile widening at how cute he looks as he just stares at you.

“Me too.”

The two of you sit in silence for a little while just lost in thought before Billie finally speaks up. You’re looking at your empty glass on the table in front of you while Billie’s picking up Mickey to take him back to his siblings and Bit.

“I miss having you here, sweetheart.”

You smile at Billie’s words blushing slightly as you lean against the couch with a sigh. “You do?”

Billie just nods before she returns to bed and sits down with a frown. She looks to the empty side for a moment and wonders how a few nights of sleeping in the same bed with you did this to her.

“I do. I wish you were here with me.”

You picture Billie lying in bed as she says this, and you can’t help but want to be there with her. You just know that when you go up to bed you will miss being near Billie. You’ll miss her presence, her warmth, and you will especially miss the feeling you get when she holds you close. You don’t realize that you haven’t responded until Milo snaps you out of your reverie with a loud yawn.

You smile and Billie chuckles before you manage to find your voice again. You try not to sound too much like you’re pouting when you speak up.

“Me too. We need to have another sleepover, Billie Dean.”

Billie laughs before agreeing with a wide smile. The two of you talk for almost an hour before you aren’t able to stop yawning. You don’t want to, but you end up hanging up and heading to bed. You tell yourself that you can wait until Friday rolls around to see Billie again, but you’re not entirely sure. It’s going to be a rough week not only because you’re easing back into things, but because of your impending birthday. It will definitely be on your mind, and not in a good way.

You try not to worry about that now as you get ready for bed. You go through your normal routine and half an hour later you crawl into bed. You watch as Milo does the same at the other side of the room, and you just sigh before turning off the light. You close your eyes and groan in defeat as you roll over and hide your face in your pillow. You turn again until you’re staring at the ceiling, and your mind begins to wander to a certain medium.

You close your eyes again and the first thing that comes to mind is Billie Dean’s charming smile. You imagine her smiling at you, and you can practically smell her perfume as you picture being pulled in for a hug. You smile at the thought of her laughing at one of your dumb jokes, and you are eventually able to fall asleep at the memory of Billie lying beside you.

Billie on the other hand was not asleep yet. She was tired enough for sure, but she couldn’t relax enough to lie down. She was on her second cigarette when she decides to look at her phone for a while. Mindlessly scrolling sometimes helped her sleep, but tonight it was stressing her out. It just made her think about everything that she had to do tomorrow, so she put it down quickly before heading downstairs.

She gets another stronger drink before heading back upstairs. She doesn’t make it back to her room because Bit is yowling and needs to be let out before she wakes the neighborhood. Billie sighs watching as Bit runs down the hall and down to the first floor before she sticks her head in the laundry room. Most of the kittens are sleeping, but of course there was one straggler.

“Mickey.”

The kitten turns, either at his name or Billie’s voice, and hurries over to her. She smiles as he comes to a clumsy stop at her feet and she laughs before picking him up. She holds him close and lets him play with her hair, but when he reaches out for her drink, she shakes her head.

“Not for you, little one. It’s time for bed.”

After she gets Mickey settled, Billie heads back to bed. She’s already finished her drink watching Mickey, so she leaves the empty glass on her bedside table before heading to the bathroom. She needs to get to sleep soon. She’s already going to have one hell of a week. The last thing she needs is to be sleep-deprived.

Billie isn’t convinced that this won’t be the case whether she sleeps or not. Last night she’d had difficulty sleeping, and she doesn’t want to think about why. Instead, Billie sits in bed and finishes off her cigarette, dragging it out for nearly a half hour before she falls into a fitful sleep.

You’re so deep in sleep that you don’t hear the series of knocks at your door the next morning. It’s almost half an hour before you alarm is supposed to go off, and you do not want to get up yet. Milo; however, hears them and he sits up before looking at your door. He starts growling as the knocks continue before he stands up and heads out of your room and downstairs.

He yawns on his way to investigate when the knocking stops. There is nothing out of the ordinary, and Milo hurries to the front door to sniff around. He smells something on the other side of the door and he starts pawing at it insistently. He whines as he tries to stick his face under the door, but not even his nose will fit. He lies down on his side and sees that there is something in front of the door. He tries to reach under the door but his paw is too big and he just whines again before scratching at the bottom of the door for a minute.

Eventually he gives up and just stares at it from the floor. About twenty minutes later he hears something shift from behind the door and he sits up suddenly. His ears twitch and he starts to sniff again before he hears the sound again.

He barks a couple of times before he runs back upstairs to your room. He barks again, startling you from your sleep, before jumping on you with a series of loud whines. You groan in annoyance as you roll over and try to push him off of you.

“Milo go away! It’s only 6!”

You honestly consider giving Milo to the next person you see when he pulls the covers off your bed and leaves you cold and very much awake.

“Milo!”

You sit up and glare at your dog who just drops and steps on all of your sheets before coming back to jump on you again. He whines as he tries to grab onto you, but you’re not really wearing many clothes, so he gets skin and you curse under your breath. Clearly he wants your attention.

“Alright, Milo. Stop! What is it? What do you want?”

Milo jumps off the bed and runs to the door before looking back at you. He barks and you groan loudly before following him down the hallway.

This better be good.

You follow Milo downstairs to the front door thinking that he just wants a walk. He jumps up on the door and claws at it and you quickly push him down with a scowl.

“Milo, no! Go get your leash.”

You are surprised when he doesn’t listen and instead just whines and tries to open the door again. You sigh before moving him out of the way before you unlock the door. You are about to step out into the hallway and see what has him so riled up, but you don’t make it that far. You nearly run into a box that was placed right in front of your door. You frown as you look down at the sketchy cardboard box in front of you.

You’re reluctant to open it, but Milo doesn’t give you much of a choice as he comes up behind you and practically shoves his face into it. You move him away before you peek in and you nearly curse as you realize what is in it.

“What the…?”

Billie Dean is already at the studio getting ready for her next interview when her phone rings. She had only gotten 5 hours of sleep, and she’d had to ask Michelle about a half dozen times who she was being interviewed by. Billie was on her third cup of coffee and she nearly spills it on herself when she jumps in surprise as her phone vibrates.

She curses under her breath as coffee spills on the floor, and she’s more than a little annoyed when she grabs her phone. When she sees it’s you; however, her frown turns to a smile and she answers quickly despite the fact she doesn’t have but maybe a minute to talk.

“Good morning, Y/N.”

You don’t respond immediately because you’re too busy staring at the box you’d managed to put on your counter. You didn’t really want it there, but Milo kept trying to get to one of the kittens inside.

Yes. Someone had left kittens at your doorstep. The first and hopefully the last time someone did something so cliché and quite frankly cruel to you. There had been five kittens in the box but only two were alive by the time you got to them. You had checked three times before separating them from their live siblings and hurrying to get dressed for work. You couldn’t help them much here, but from what you could tell they were in decent condition.

You’d wrapped them up in towels and piled them back in the box before realizing that there was a note at the bottom of it. You held it in your hands, and were still staring at it when Billie picked up. You open your mouth to say something, but you can’t find the words.

“Y/N?”

You had almost forgotten that Billie was supposed to be at an interview now, or soon, you weren’t really sure what time it was. This had thrown you off so much you honestly didn’t know if you’d walked Milo yet. Luckily he was just sitting by patiently, watching you and sniffing for the kittens that were almost as young as Billie’s had been when she’d first brought them in.

“Hi Billie. Uh-.”

You trail off as you try to figure out how to explain this. You read the note one last time before throwing it on the counter with a sigh.

“Something’s happened.”

Billie is still a little distracted when the interview starts. She had only been able to talk to you for a few minutes before she had to leave. You had told her as much as you could before apologizing for interrupting her morning. You had to get to work anyway, but you couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going on. Rather, who the hell had left you a box of kittens and a creepy ass note?

You make it to work on time, somehow, and despite your hectic morning you smile at the first person you see as you enter the building. Erin. You had already put Milo in his kennel after giving him a little extra breakfast for making him wait much longer than usual, so you are only holding the kittens when you greet Erin.

“Good morning, Erin.”

Erin smiles as she sticks her phone and keys in her pocket before doing a double take. She wasn’t sure what you were holding, but as she gets a little closer, she sees that the box is not a box of donuts like she’d originally thought. You notice her looking and you’re quick to explain the odd arrangement in your hands.

“Morning Dr. Y/L/N. What do you have there?”

You sigh as you put the box down on the treatment table. You really had wanted to get a different one because this one was falling apart, but you’d already been running late and you really didn’t have a suitable alternative, so here you were. You watch as Erin peeks into the box before repeating what you’d told Billie. Minus the cursing of course.

“Five kittens were left in this box in front of my door this morning. Only two were alive, and they seem pretty weak.”

Erin frowns as you say this, and she reaches into the box to pet the smaller kitten that is still wrapped in a hand towel. You don’t mention the creepy note. You’d only told Billie because you were a little freaked out. However, she’s managed to calm you down and say that it was probably some random creep from your building, not Doug.

You push these thoughts to the back of your mind before you nod at what Erin says next. You were only half listening but you hope that you assume correctly.

“That’s so sad and messed up. Who do you think left them?”

You sigh in defeat as you take the three dead kittens out of the box and set them on the table. You want to make sure that they’re taken care of before your first appointment.

“It really is. I’m not sure who left them. I honestly don’t know many of my neighbors.”

With Erin’s help, the two of you take care of all five kittens and figure out what you’re going to do with them before your first appointment. You know that they need to be taken care of and checked on frequently. You can’t ask any of the technicians to do that because they already have their hands full with surgeries this morning. So you spend all of your free time in between appointments taking care of them when you can and feeding them formula.

Your boss isn’t in today, but almost everyone knows about the kittens’ presence before lunch time. You know it is a lot of responsibility, taking care of practically newborn kittens, so you aren’t surprised when no one jumps at the chance to take them in. You are already thinking of places to call when your phone starts to vibrate from your pocket.

You put the kitten in your hands, you’ve named them already despite your better judgement, back in the bed you’ve made before you reach for your phone. You see it’s Billie and sigh before looking at the time. You are done with appointments for the morning, all you really need to do is walk Milo.

“Hi Billie.”

You answer the phone as you walk to the kennels to grab Milo. You can’t really hear what Billie says immediately because it’s a lot louder than you thought it would be. You grab Milo quickly before retreating to the yard where the labs are already playing. You smile at some of the assistants sitting on the benches before heading out further into the yard.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Billie had returned home a little while ago, and she had decided to check in on you since you should be on lunch. You had told her about the kittens and the note, but she’d literally been on her way to the interview so you hadn’t been able to really discuss it. She realizes that you are outside with Milo because she hears barking and traffic, but she doesn’t get to ask before you’re speaking again.

“Shit, I forgot. How was your interview this morning?”

You’re wandering around the yard, making sure not to step in any mud puddles or anything other than grass. You glance over to your dog who is running back and forth between dogs trying to steal a tennis ball, before you focus back on Billie’s voice when she speaks up.

“It was fine, Y/N. Not nearly as exciting as your morning though.”

You smile at this before you shake your head in disagreement. You weren’t sure why Billie never seemed to want to talk about her interviews. You always assumed that they were more fun than she made them seem, but you knew now wasn’t the time to talk about this.

“So you talked about your show?”

Billie sighs more to herself than at you as she takes another drag of her cigarette. She was exhausted already, and it was barely noon. She had a lot more to do today, but she definitely wasn’t in the mood. She would much rather help you take care of these new kittens.

“We did. Only a couple of weeks before it airs.”

You smile at this before nodding to yourself. You pet Milo as he comes to say hi to you, and you take the ball that he offers you with a smile. You look at it for a moment before you realize how covered in mud and saliva it is. You groan under your breath and chuck it across the yard before responding to Billie.

“That’s so exciting Billie. I can’t wait to watch it!”

You mean this and you smile wider when Billie laughs in return. You two talk a bit about how you are going to watch it together as soon as it airs. You throw around ideas and you’re already looking forward to a night of cuddling on the couch with Billie.

Eventually you change the subject to the kittens that you need to check on again. The smaller one that you’ve dubbed Charlie wasn’t doing so well. He, or she, you honestly couldn’t tell, wasn’t eating as much and barely moved. The other kitten, Bo, was bigger, more active, and would definitely be trouble. You could already tell from how much he moved around and refused to listen to you. Not that you really thought either of them understood much at their age.

Billie laughs at the news of the new kitten’s names. She wasn’t sure why she thought you wouldn’t have names for them yet. You had only told her about half a dozen times how you made sure every single animal you met had a name.

“You said Bo was the troublemaker?”

Billie’s putting out her cigarette as she watches the clock on the oven. She only has a few minutes before she needs to be on a conference call. You laugh before telling Billie a little more about the kittens. You are already head over heels for them, but you really can’t keep them. You sigh as you say this to Billie before throwing the ball for Milo one last time.

“They’re adorable, but they’re a lot of work as you know. I don’t think I can do it on my own.”

You have a full-time job that you may not be working full time at right now, but you will be once you recover. Milo is honestly the only pet you can have right now, but you can’t just dump the kittens on someone else. You just have to see what you can figure out. Make a few calls and hopefully find these two adorable gray kittens a good home.

It’s only 6 hours later that you are on your way home with Milo and two kittens. You aren’t surprised that you ended up in this situation. Despite all the effort you put into finding a shelter, foster family, literally anyone else to take these kittens, you had come up with nothing. Well, that wasn’t true. You came up with a possible lead that someone needed to check on, but that would take at least a couple of days. You weren’t sure that it wouldn’t fall through and you were already preparing yourself to take care of these kittens until they were, well as old as Billie’s cats were now.

You sigh as you open the door to your apartment carefully. You watch as Milo walks in first. You honestly hadn’t bothered putting his leash on because you had your hands full, but he was good and stuck by your side. This was mostly because he wanted to play with the kittens, but you would take what you could get at the moment because it seemed like you were getting very little.

You shut the door behind you with a sigh before locking it and heading to the kitchen. You’d gotten rid of the dirty old box from this morning and now had a small litterbox that was going to house the kittens until you bought a more suitable alternative. You look under the blanket that you had laid on top of the kittens and you smile as you watch them squirm. They are just waking up and you set the blanket back on them briefly before you put your bags down.

You brought home a lot of things for them and you were just now realizing how much as you set it all down in front of you. There was formula, more blankets since you didn’t have a bed for them, and an assortment of bowls. You cursed your inability to make decisions before you got to work making the kittens’ next meal.

Milo just watches as you run around the kitchen and feed the small mewling furballs. He tries to jump up and get a better look once you put them down, but he stops short as you grab the box they’re in and head to the living room. You sigh as you look around and try to figure out what to do next. How the hell are you going to make this work?

Billie is finally done working for the day. She is just about to check on the kittens for the last time when you call her. She’d asked Michelle to buy a pen that she could keep downstairs so they could spend more time outside of the laundry room. They were really starting to spend more time awake and it was entertaining to watch them sometimes. Billie returned to the kitchen for her phone before she headed toward the kittens. She saw it was you and smiled before answering.

“Hi, sweetheart.”

You smile despite how tired you are before collapsing on the couch with the kittens in your lap. Well, the box is in your lap and you just stare down at them as you sigh in exhaustion.

“Hi, Billie. How was the rest of your day?”

As Billie tells you about her busy day, you just watch the kittens squirm around. They aren’t very active, which isn’t surprising, but you still feel the need to watch them closely and make sure they don’t get into trouble. You don’t realize that Billie has stopped speaking until she calls your name twice. You cringe at the fact that you spaced out and missed who knows how much before you sigh again.

“Sorry Billie. I just got distracted by the kittens.”

Billie frowns slightly at this and she glances to her own kittens who are bouncing around excitedly. Mickey is tackling one of his siblings, and Billie swears her heart melts at the sight.

“You weren’t able to find anyone to take them off your hands?”

You shake your head before thinking back to what Mina had said. You relay this to Billie before you have to stifle a yawn. You don’t do a very good job though because Billie clearly hears it.

“Not yet. Mina might know someone, but she’s got to get in touch with them first. For now, they’re with me.”

Billie’s frown deeps as she thinks of all the reasons why she doesn’t like this. You’re still supposed to be taking it easy, and she knows firsthand how time-consuming taking care of kittens is. You sound exhausted and Billie is already thinking of different ways to help you out.

“I hope she finds someone for you soon, Y/N. You already sound exhausted.”

You know that Billie is only concerned about you, but you frown in annoyance because you don’t really have another choice. You’re going to take care of these kittens whether you really want to or not, but hopefully it won’t be for more than a couple of days.

When Thursday rolls around and you still have the kittens, you realize how naïve you’d been. The first couple of days were hell like you thought they would be, but there were little reprieves throughout the day while at work. Someone else would check on Bo and Charlie, everyone loved their names, or a cancellation in your schedule gave you more time to play catch up.

However, Thursday morning you’re not even at lunch yet and you have a raging headache. You’d stayed up late last night taking care of the kittens because when you went to check on them before bed, you noticed that Charlie wasn’t moving. You had hoped he was asleep, but he was actually blue and barely breathing. You had done what you could before rushing to the hospital where you stayed until only a few hours before you had to go to work.

Now you were falling asleep at your computer while you tried to work on a medical record. You reached for your water bottle since you couldn’t take any more pain meds right now, but you miscalculate and it tumbles to the floor spilling water everywhere.

“Shit!”

You hurry to pick up the bottle you stupidly left open and looked around for something to clean it with when there was a knock on your door. You turn, abandoning the mess for now, to see Mina standing in the doorway with a concerned look.

“Everything okay?”

You just nod before getting off the floor and sitting back in your chair. You cringe slightly as you nod which undermines your response but that’s okay for now. Luckily Mina has some news for you.

“All good, thanks. What’s up?”

Mina smiles as she tells you about her friend’s friend that finally figured out how she could take the kittens.

“She says that her parents will take her dog for a couple weeks so she can keep them until we can adopt them out.”

You sigh in relief before smiling widely at the news. You shoot Mina a grateful look before feeling yourself relax. The tension and stress that has built up for the past couple of days leaves your body and you feel lighter.

“Thank you, Mina. That’s great news! Do I need to meet them somewhere?”

Mina shook her head and said that she could take them to her after work today. You were tempted to hug her, but you had a lot of dog hair on you and probably some water, so you held back. Still you were smiling as you thanked her again. You were ready to sleep through the night again for sure.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

The rest of the day goes much better for you because simply knowing that you will sleep better brightens your mood. You still have your damn headache, but even that gets better after the first couple of afternoon appointments. It’s not until the end of the day, that you realize you have to say goodbye to the kittens. At least for the next couple of weeks. You wander back to isolation where they’re being kept with a frown. You watch them just sleep and occasionally squirm for a few minutes before you realize that you’re no longer alone.

You move out of the way so Mina can join you in the small room before asking despite already knowing the answer.

“Time to go?”

Mina has all of her things and she just nods before moving to collect the kittens. They mewl a little at being disturbed and you smile at the adorable sight before holding the door open for her. You follow the brunette out and sigh as she turns to leave.

“See you soon kittens. Please thank her again for me?”

Mina just nods in agreement before she heads out to the parking lot, and you sigh again before remembering that you have your own things to collect before you can leave for the night. You don’t work tomorrow or this weekend, so you have a nice long time to catch up on some sleep. You’re so eager to get home and sleep that you forget your phone upstairs, and you’re so tired you consider leaving it there. Deciding against it, you hurry to your office to grab it before running back downstairs to where your dog is whining impatiently. You silence him with a quick scratch before heading for the parking lot. You put your phone in your pocket without bothering to check it, so you miss the fact you have a couple of missed calls and two new text messages from Billie.

Are you still at work, sweetheart?

Do you want to come over after?

Part 21

TAGLIST ❤: @madamevirgo, @illuminated-blue, @delias-bitch-craft

#american horror story #ahs #american horror story fanfic #ahs fanfic #ahs imagine #ahs murder house #billie dean howard #billie dean howard x reader #billie dean howard imagine #my fic #a little bit #proofread this while sick so....sorry in advance lol

55 notes · View notes

missgarnet · 3 years

Text

Baby Daddies Ch. 3

Pairing: ot7 x reader

Word count: 2.5k

Rating: pg13?

Genre: fluff, and a little bit of chaos

Summary: So... no one tells you what to expect when you and your friends with benefits are about to have a child. (All plans are thrown out the window when your 7 closest friends find out they're going to become dads.)

Warnings: My own horrible sense of humor, pregnancy, Jin feels left out, and even more chaos

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Link to ao3

“You know, if you keep stealing my clothes I won’t have anything to wear. I’ll be forced to walk around the apartment completely nude.” Hoseok teased as he spotted you in another one of his shirts.

“Ooooh now that’s an offer I can hardly refuse. Comfy shirts and a handsome man strutting around my house without any clothes. If only he would make me breakfast too.”

“We could call the guys, see if one of them wants to get breakfast together.”

“Nah,” you said, trying to catch the toast before your overly excited toaster could throw it across the room this time. “They’ve all been so busy with work this week. I know you all said to call anytime, but you need to be taking care of yourselves too.”

Hobi started the coffee pot and sat down at the counter, going back into the routine the two of you had fallen into this last week. “Speaking of the other guys, when are you going to tell them? I know you said you wanted a little more time but they deserve to know too, we’re all in this together.”

“I know, I just don’t want to deal with everyone finding out all at once.I’m hanging out with Jimin and Tae tonight, I thought I should probably tell them next so they don’t have to hear it from Jungkook”

“Oooh, I almost forgot about your little date tonight!” Hoseok joked.

You huffed and rolled your eyes at this, ”It’s not a date, Tae finally got an offer from that gallery downtown. He just wanted to check out some of the other photography there to figure out how he wants to set everything up, and then we’re going back to their place to hangout.”

The words you were saying might have been more believable if you hadn’t started burying your face in your hands, trying to will away the heat of embarrassment. After all you were just friends, sure you were having a kid together now but that was it. All of you had slept together over the years, but it wasn’t like you were actually dating any of them. It wasn’t your place to go on dates with Jimin and Tae, or get jealous when one of your friends got a little too handsy with Jin.

Each of you adored one another more than anything, but that’s what friends are for. You’d be kidding yourself to think it was anything more. Hobi seemed to notice something was off, pulling you onto the couch with him as he turned on one of your favourite game shows.

Just as the two of you finally settled on the couch the door was thrown open by Jimin, “Surprise shawty!”

“I swear you’ve been around Jungkook too much again,” You said shaking your head as he strolled into your apartment with makeup bags tucked under his arm and a curling iron in his hand.

You trailed him to the little bathroom attached to your room, lifting yourself to sit on the counter as he started pulling the makeup brushes from their bag. The rest of the guys used to tease the two of you about taking so long to get ready, but you enjoyed the little routine you’d fallen into.

There was a comforting warmth in your chest as he helped you get ready and you were happy to bask in every moment of it, taking in the gentleness of him sweeping the makeup brushes across your skin, his sweet smile right in front of you as he played with one of the curls he just finished, the little furrow of his eyebrows as he tried to focus on getting your eyeliner perfect on the first try.

“Are you ready to go yet?” Taehyung called from the couch.

You glanced over at Jimin, still touching up his makeup in the mirror. “I’m not sure that I’m the one you should be asking. I just have to zip up my dress and then I’m good to go.”

“Hobi, could you give me a hand? I can’t reach the zipper.”

He moved your hair out of the way as he gently tugged the zipper up, but there was just one problem. “Y/N… the zipper’s not going any higher.”

It was one of your looser fitting dresses, you’d been hoping that the higher waistline would let you keep wearing it for a little while longer. Unfortunately the twins were getting bigger every day, which meant that you were too. This wouldn’t have been a problem if you’d have had any time to go shopping for your first set of maternity clothes. Most of your week had been spent wearing one of Hobi’s shirts or the hoodies you stole from Jungkook.

“Houston, we have a problem.” Tae and Jimin looked up as you said this, “None of my clothes are fitting and I can’t keep stealing clothes from you guys. I think it’d be easier if you guys just went without me this time”

Jimin hopped off the counter “Nope, you can borrow something from one of us for now and then we can go buy something for you to wear tonight.”

Before you could even argue you noticed Tae already giving you puppy dog eyes, “Please? It wouldn’t be the same without you, and we could have fun picking out clothes too.”

Needless to say the two of them easily suckered you into what was supposed to be a brief shopping trip. It was supposed to be a quick run, but the baby section was right next to the maternity clothes, and it couldn’t hurt to look. Everything was so cute and the three of you ended up going even deeper into the aisles looking at the cribs, stuffed animals, and baby blankets.

“It’s so cute.” Jimin said holding up the tiniest button up you’d ever seen. Tae was right next to him looking at another impossibly small pair of converse. The boys had been piling almost every adorable little baby thing they could find into the cart without you noticing until now.

Reaching into the cart you started picking up each piece on it’s own. There were onesies, dresses, and even little mittens. Everything just felt so tiny and fragile in your hands. “Guys, this is too much. It still feels too soon to be getting all this, they’re still really small and we don’t need all of it right away.”

“You’re right, we already have a lot of the basics anyway.” Tae said as if that were obvious.

“We do?”

“Yea,” Jimin added. “We’ve all ordered a couple things, but Jin and Namjoon have a small collection in the guest room right now.”

You picked up one of the onesies from the cart, tracing the two little elephants printed on the front. Were you really the only one who wasn’t prepared for all this? Maybe this was a sign, you still didn’t feel ready for all this but you had people who were. And that was enough for you to try. “What if we just get two of these, that way they can have matching outfits. Maybe we can come back and get two of the little bouncy chairs in a few months.”

It was hilarious to see the look on their faces once everything clicked. Jimin was trying to keep his makeup from smudging as he fought to hold back tears, and Tae was overjoyed as well, throwing his arms around you and pulling you into a tight embrace.

As the three of you were finally leaving the store with way more than you needed, you noticed Tae frowning as he typed out a message on his phone. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I was just asking Namjoon if we needed to start buying two of everything now.”

“Oh dear,” you muttered as you snatched your phone from your purse trying to get a hold of him before he saw Tae’s message. It wasn’t that you didn’t want him to know, you just felt like he deserved more than just a text from one of the guys.

Pausing for a moment you began to tap your foot chanting “pick up, pick up” over and over again. You were right about to hang up and try again as the ringing came to a halt. “Hey Namjoon, what are you doing right now?”

“I’m at the maknae’s. Why, what’s up?” He sounded out of breath and you swear you could hear Jungkook and Hobi shouting in the background.

Taking a deep breath you figured it’d be best to just rip off the bandaid and tell him as soon as possible. “I wanted to tell you in person, but then Tae texted and I felt like it would be better if I just called and told you myself. And I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but we’re having twins.”

It went silent for a second before you could hear him laughing through the phone, “You’re fine, Yoongi already told me after you three got back from your appointment. He wanted to know if there was anything we should be doing to help, and I just figured you’d bring it up whenever you were ready.”

“I’m sorry, I should have told you earlier. I promise I’ll get better at talking about all this.”

“What are they like? Do they have their dads’ good looks yet?”

“Not yet, but they have Jimin’s hands.” Glancing to the side you could see him trying to glare at you but failing to hold back a smile.

You didn’t realize they were leading you home until you were taking the elevator to the maknaes’ apartment, Taehyung pulling you through the door as Jimin carried the bags that he managed to sneak away from you. They set everything in the hall and rushed to meet the others in the living room.

As you rounded the corner you could see Jimin yelling at Jungkook again, “Ya! Why didn’t you tell us? I take care of you and you can’t even tell me that I’m about to be a dad of two.”

“How could you keep the twins all to yourself!” Tae jokingly complained as he flopped down onto Jungkook’s lap.

Hobi poked his head out from Jungkook’s room trying to see everyone, “what’s going on?”

Tae looked up and used the puppy eyes he knew none of you could resist as he pouted, “Kookie was keeping the twins all to himself and didn’t tell us about them.”

The face he was making was just too adorable for you to ignore, but before you were able to give him forehead kisses like you had hoped, Jin peeked out from the same room Hobi had come from. Had it been any other day, your eyes may have fallen to the hickeys on his chest, his belt hanging halfway off, or the way his shirt had missing buttons from being torn off by one of the guys. Instead your gaze fell to the saddened look on Jin’s face.

“Was I the only one you didn’t tell?”

The room was uncomfortable silent and you noticed Hobi awkwardly creeping his way back into Jungkook’s room. Jungkook finally broke the silence as he cleared his throat, “I’m just gonna give you guys some space.”

You looked up to see all three of the maknaes getting up to rush into Jungkook’s room and avoid the awkward situation they were leaving you in. “Jin, I’m so sorry.”

“No you’re not. None of you are. I’m the one who’s always been there taking care of all of you, and I’m always the one being left out.”

“That’s not true.”

He sighed and shook his head, “It is. Why do you think I’ve been at your place so much these last couple weeks? I just wanted to feel like I had a part in all of this. It was wrong of me to start betting on how far along you were, but I wasn’t trying to be mean. I just thought if you were a little further along then they might be just mine.”

“Jin, you are just as much a part of this as the rest of us. I didn’t mean to make you feel left out in any way.” You sat down on the couch, pulling him along with you.

He laid next to you and pulled you close to him, wrapping his arms around you and gently placing one hand on your stomach. “I just want to know that all of you are going to be okay. I know you don’t want to talk about everything right away, but you can’t just close me out. If I’m a part of this then I want to do this together as a family.”

“I know, I’m trying.” you said intertwining your hand with his. As much as the two of you like to joke around and bicker with each other, you could never stop caring about Jin. There was something about being wrapped up in his arms that always made you feel safe and cared for. “You know, there’s still a lot I don’t know about you either.”

“I am an open book, ask me anything.”

You knew that was true for the most part, Jin and you might constantly annoy one another but the two of you shared everything… well almost everything. “What’s that story you won’t let Joonie tell me.”

“Let me rephrase that. Ask me anything else.”

“I mean, if neither of you will tell me I could just ask Hobi.”

“There’s a reason we don’t talk about it. It might be the only secret that Hoseok can keep.”

“Come on, you already told me about the time you ran over two kids and almost broke your nose trying to sled with Joon. What’s so bad you can’t tell me, weren’t we best friends?”

“Yes, which is why I’m not telling you.”

“Ok, what about this? You tell me what happened, and if the twins are both boys you get to name one of them whatever you want.”

You hadn’t noticed the other boys leaving the room they were hiding in until Namjoon walked into the room and immediately sent Jin a warning look, “Don’t do it.”

Jin didn’t even hesitate as he blurted out, “A couple years ago Namjoon and I got married in Vegas!”

Everyone’s heads whipped towards the eldest man as he said that, the youngest of the group in shock and the older half already shaking their head or roaring with laughter. You however were wondering if you’d even heard that right, surely your best friend at the time wouldn’t get married without telling you. “You what now?”

Noticing everyone’s eyes on him, Jin’s face began to grow red as a tomato. “Remember when you went on vacation with the maknaes and the rest of us went to Vegas? Well, we met this guy dressed as Elvis, had a couple drinks, and played the slot machines. Next thing I know it’s two days later and I find a video of us getting married by a drag queen.”

“Jin, what the fuck?”

#bangtanuniversity #bts fic #bts fluff #chaotic bts fic #bts ot7 x reader #bts fanfic #bts ff

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etoileholland · 4 years

Text

Why must I meet you in a secret rendezvous?

@rosieholland asked “Hey I love all your imagines! Maybe you could do one where the boys are stuck at home during quarantine but Harry’s best friend y/n is staying with them. And Tom and y/n and secretly start dating and don’t say anything because they don’t know how Harry will feel about it.

Pairing: Tom x female reader; bestfriend! Harry

Warnings: a lil argument, I think that’s all

Word count: 2.8k

A/N: thank you so much for requesting this, and I really hope you enjoy! As always, requests are open, and let me know if you want to be added to the tag list.

It was a dangerous game to sneak around your best friend’s back, especially since you weren’t very good at keeping secrets.

You and Harry were nearly inseparable, and it seemed as though when someone saw one of you, then the other was somewhere nearby. When he began to work on his short film project and needed an actress, he called you first. You had known Harry for almost two years, and you met over what you call “the frozen yogurt debacle”. This needs no elaboration since it’s not important to the plot, but it’s important to note that a terrible shared experience can bring two people together.

A week into filming, it was announced that the UK would go into lockdown, and that meant filming had to be postponed. Since you spent more time at the Holland residence than your own, Harry asked if you would quarantine with them.

Naturally, spending so much time together with people for a few months would make it so that you get very comfortable around everyone.

The boys knew that you were physically affectionate, so no one batted an eye when you were cuddled up next to someone. Most of the time you were always with Harry, or sometimes Sam, and occasionally Tom.

That’s why no one suspected that you and Tom were secretly dating, especially Harry. You had vowed to keep it a secret from him because you didn’t want him to get mad at you for dating his brother.

Sneaking around was quite fun though, and it was becoming more and more like a game.

“Baby” you trailed off, moaning as Tom trailed kisses down your neck. You were both in his bedroom with the door locked, trying not to make any noise. Harry’s room was right on the other side of the wall, and it was a dangerous game to be making out in Tom’s room.

“Love, I need you-”, he placed a kiss on your shoulder, biting lightly as you moaned, “to be quiet.”

“You’re making it quite difficult.” You breathed back and he let out a breathy laugh.

“Good.” He kissed you deeper, and you heard Harry say something from the other side of the wall.

“Tom.” You were trying to untangle yourself from him, but he just kept pulling you closer. “Harry said something.” You managed to sit up, and Tom just pouted.

“So? He’s probably playing fifa or something.” He said, lifting his head slightly to kiss you on the lips.

“What if he knows?” You asked and he just shook his head.

“You’ve gotta tell him eventually. As much fun as it is to sneak around, you should be honest with him. He’s your best friend.”

“And he’s your brother.” You replied. “I don’t know, I guess I don’t want him to hate me for being with you.”

“I really doubt he’ll hate you, if he really loves me then he’ll be happy for me being with someone as lovely as you.” He stated and you nodded.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Now if you’ll excuse me,” you cupped Tom’s cheek with your hand, placing a light kiss to his cheek, “I did promise Harry that I would bake cookies with him.”

“Alright darling, cuddle later?” Tom looked at you with wide, puppy dog like eyes and you let out a small laugh.

“Of course, see you later, secret boyfriend.” You whispered while holding up finger guns.

“Back at you, secret girlfriend.” He winked as you quietly left the room.

——

“Earth to Y/N, why are you so distracted?” Harry waved his hand in front of you, gently slapping your cheek. “What is going on in that pretty little mind of yours?” He smirked as he let out a small laugh.

You two were supposed to be baking some cookies, but you’ve been lost in your thoughts for the duration of the activity.

“I’m just thinking about how in Italian, when you want to describe a loving boy with a good heart, you say “è buono come il pane” which literally means “he’s as good as bread” and I think that’s beautiful.”

“Actually, yeah that is beautiful. Would you describe me that way?” He looked up from the cookbook and you nodded. “Yeah of course, they must’ve had you in mind when they came up with that term.”

“Aw gosh I love you.” He put his hand over his heart and smiled, “but really, what are you thinking about? Hmm?” He prodded and you felt yourself already start to panic. He took a long drink of his water bottle, while continuing to stare at you.

“Okay fine, I was thinking that the guy who’s in the “Adam.” vine and the “hi, welcome to chili’s” guy are not the same person, but twins and I don’t know what to do with this information.” You rambled and Harry choked, gasping for air.

“Girl, you have got to use your one braincell for something more important than that. You’ve gotta be kidding.” He said but you shook your head no.

“Dead serious, why would I lie to you?”

“I don’t know, sometimes you don’t always say everything.”

“What do you mean by that?” You inquired and Harry remained silent.

“Nothing.” He choked out the word, and began to stare straight ahead. “Anyway can you just pass me the vanilla?”

—

“We can’t continue to do this anymore.”

A few days had passed since the baking incident, and you were convinced that Harry knew about you and Tom. You two were making out in the hallway closet, since it was one of the furthest points away from Harry’s bedroom, and far enough away from the living room so no one would hear you. You had begged Tom to not show any affection in the main parts of the house so that you wouldn’t get caught, so you two often ended up here.

“Whoa whoa, what do you mean by that?” His eyes scanned your face, and he rubbed your arm as you stood there silent.

“Baby please say something, it’s killing me. What do you mean we can’t do this anymore?” He whispered.

“I can’t sneak around behind my best friends back anymore, Tom. Okay? He’s gonna find out and he’ll be mad and I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose either one of you but if I had to choose-” you stopped yourself, and Tom looked at you with wide eyes.

“Finish your sentence.” He insisted, but you shook your head no. “I don’t want to finish it.”

“Say it.” He pleaded, and you looked down so he wouldn’t see a tear escape your eye.

“Say it!” He screamed and you flinched.

“I didn’t want to choose, but if I had to pick then I would pick Harry, alright?” You choked out the last word, and took a deep breath before finishing your thought. “I want a relationship with you but just because I want it, it doesn’t make it right. I love being Harry’s friend, and I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship just for a relationship with you.” Tom backed away from you, speechless as he reached for the door handle.

“Tom I’m sorry, just wait one second.” You grabbed his hand and he stood there, waiting for you to break his heart again.

“Let’s not make things weird between us, yeah? Then everyone will know for sure what happened.” You stated.

“Right, because now we care so much about what others think.” He added as he left, closing the door and leaving you in the closet alone.

You knew this day would come, and you braced yourself for it, so when it crumbled you were prepared for it. You just felt numb, and the shock almost hasn’t registered yet. You left the closet and walked into the living room, where Harry and Sam were playing video games.

“What’s with the long face?” Sam asked as Harry looked up at you.

“Oh nothing, I was just thinking about how once I got a fortune from a fortune cookie that read ‘fortune not found: abort, retry, ignore?’ and I think I’ve been destined for bad luck ever since that fateful day.”

“Ah, cool. Hey would you want to play a game with us?” Harry asked, completely ignoring what you had just said.

“Sure, what kind?” You asked, but before you had a chance to find out what it was, Harry bolted past you.

“Tom, Tuwaine, Harrison, get over here!” He ran up and down the hallway, trying to get everyone’s attention.

“What in the world?” Harrison asked.

“Did someone die?” Tuwaine inquired, peeking his head out of his bedroom door.

“It’s nothing bad, wanna play a game with all of us?” He asked and everyone groaned and rolled their eyes.

“Well what kind of game?” Harrison said hesitantly as Harry just grinned.

“I’ll explain once everyone comes into the living room because I don’t want to explain it twice.”

Everyone made their way into the room, and Harry instructed them to sit on the floor in a circle. Just then Sam downed the last of his beer and set the bottle on its side in the middle of the circle.

“Alright, it’s truth or dare, but with a twist. Technically it’s more of a spin, it’s regular truth or dare but instead of singling each other out, it’ll be more fair with the spin the bottle aspect.” He rambled, taking a seat right next to you.

You noticed that Tom was sat as far away from you as possible, and dodging your gaze. You looked back to see Harry resting his hand on your knee.

“Are we ready to play? I’ll go first.” Harry spun the bottle and it landed on Harrison.

“Alright mate, truth or dare.”

“Dare.”

“Okay.” Harry paused, “I dare you to read the last text message you received.”

Harrison unlocked his phone, and after a few seconds spoke. “Aha, it just says “Your amazon package is on its way.”

“Dang I was hoping it would’ve been juicier than that.” Harry remarked as Harrison spun the bottle. It landed back on Harry and he just smirked.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Last lie you told?” Harrison leaned his arms back and propped himself up with them. Harry thought for a minute and just shrugged his shoulders.

“I told Sam that I really liked his squash soup recipe but it’s utterly disgusting.” He gagged and Sam punched him in the arm. “Oh come on, it’s not that bad, right?” He asked and everyone remained silent.

“Whatever, spin the bottle asshole.” Sam crossed his arms over his shoulders as Harry spun the bottle, landing on you.

“Oh god.” You blurted out and Harry replied “Oh god, indeed Y/N. Truth or dare?” He grinned like the Cheshire Cat and your fight or flight instinct immediately kicked in.

“Truth.” You spit out, and Harry just looked you dead in the eye and said “I dare you to tell everyone that you’re dating Tom behind my back and decided not to tell me about it, even though I trusted you completely and entirely.”

“I-I’m, um, not, well-” you stammered. Your vision was becoming blurry and you felt a panic attack coming on. Without warning you jumped up and ran out of the room.

“Okay I think he had that one rehearsed.” Tuwaine remarked, and the room became silent again. Everyone looked at Harry disapprovingly, and the tension in the room was so thick you could cut right through it.

“Why would you say that?” Harrison asked and Harry was silent. “How do you even know she’s dating Tom?”

“Was dating, we’re not together anymore.” Tom added and everyone looked at him.

“What?” Harry asked, and Tom replied, “You heard me, we’re not dating anymore. She broke up with me earlier because she knew it was wrong that we didn’t tell you. She felt so guilty about it that she tossed her happiness aside to make sure you would still be her friend. She chose you over me, and now I’m starting to think she may have regretted that decision.”

“I’m a terrible friend, aren’t I?” Harry whispered and everyone nodded their heads collectively.

“I’m afraid so.” Tom said quietly.

“I gotta go talk to her.” Harry got up and ran out of the living room. He sped walked around the house looking for you, until he found you sitting outside next to the chicken coop. You were sitting with your knees to your chest on a lawn chair, holding a blanket and looking at your phone.

He hesitantly stood at the glass doors, and cracked the door open. You looked up to see him standing there, and you averted your gaze away from him.

“Hey, can we talk please? I come in peace.” Harry said and you remained silent. He pulled up a chair next to you and sat down, and cleared his throat.

“Listen Y/N, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that in front of everyone. I should’ve talked to you about it in private, and I’m sorry. I know that was a dick move, and I regret doing it.” His gaze was soft as he looked over at you, but you were avoiding his gaze, and pulling on a loose blanket string.

He sighed and continued to speak. “Tom said you broke up with him because you felt guilty for sneaking around. I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to sneak around, though. If he makes you really happy then I want what’s best for you. After all you’re my best friend, and I love you. And if your happiness means dating my brother then go for it, I genuinely mean it.”

You two sat there in silence for about a minute, until you finally spoke.

You knew?” You asked.

“Oh yeah, it was obvious.”

“What tipped you off?” You tilted your head slightly to look at him, and he met your gaze.

“When I came up behind you while we were baking cookies, I noticed you smelled faintly like Tom’s cologne, and how else would you smell like that if you weren’t constantly close enough to him?”

“Well, I also cuddle with you and Sam, so that’s not the best indicator.” You said flatly and he smirked.

“I also heard you two kissing outside at midnight. You were making right above my open bedroom window, of course I could hear you. Look, my bedroom window is right there.” He pointed upwards and you could clearly see his potted plant in the windowsill. “Also, Tom isn’t a silent lover if you know what I mean.” Harry lifted his brow as you began to choke. He patted your back as you tried to catch your breath, which resulted in him breaking out into a fit of laughter.

“I should’ve asked you if it was alright that I dated Tom. I’m sorry I went behind your back.” You had your head low and Harry shook his head.

“You shouldn’t have to be sorry. I shouldn’t have made you feel like you have to sneak around, just to be happy. Do you like him?”

“Of course, I mean sure, he gets on my nerves,” you let out a small laugh, “but I really do like Tom. He makes me happy and I enjoy spending time with him.”

“Then you have my blessing.” He stood up and bowed dramatically.

“Are you sure, Harry? I mean I-”

“Little one, I want you to be happy, even if it means you dating my imbecile brother.” He laughed and you pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you.” You whispered against his chest, and he whispered back “You’re welcome. Now go get your man.”

“I love you Harry.”

“I love you too, Y/N. Now go.” He ushered towards the door and you made your way back inside.

It didn’t take long to find Tom, who was sitting on his bed, eyes focused on his laptop. He looked up to see you standing in the doorway, and he shifted his gaze back to his laptop.

“Tommy?” You walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down. He continued to ignore you, and you felt as though you could cry.

“Please look at me? I’m sorry I broke up with you. I shouldn’t have and Harry said I have his blessing so that we-”

“Wait what did you say?” Tom cut you off, closing his laptop and sitting up. He scooted closer to you and put his hand on your knee.

“Harry said that he’s okay with us dating, so-.” You were cut off again by Tom crashing his lips onto yours. He wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you closer to him, your chest flush with his. Breathless, you pulled away for a second, but Tom only pulled you in again.

“Are you mad-” you tried to speak but he cut you off yet again. “Don’t speak, okay? We’ll talk later. I just want you now.” You crashed your lips onto his, Tom moaning as he kissed you more passionately.

——

Mes petits anges (taglist): @scarletxwidow @starkissedholland @fangirlwithasweettooth @lmaotshollandd

#tom holland x you #tom holland imagine #tom holland imagines #tom holland x reader #tom holland blurb #soft boyfriend Tom #harry holland x reader #tom holland #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfics #tom holland x female reader #tom holland and y/n #tom holland and you #tom holland fluff #tom holland angst #tom holland writing #tom holland oneshot #mine #text

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candlelight27 · 3 years

Text

Chapter 6: This Mask That I've Become

Summary: Sylvain has been ignoring you since you met him. You had been in love with him since you met him. College is about to offer you a fresh start. New academic year, new life. You were ready to forget him. But fate seems to have other plans… (COLLEGE AU)

Series: Seeking Your Warmth If Only For A Day

Warnings: kissing in a church lol, tresspassing and etc... don't do that, kids

Pairings: Sylvain Jose Gautier x Female Reader

Word Count: 7065

AO3: This Mask That I’ve Become

A/N: Thanks to @galamixx again for being my beta! It's hard, I know lol so I appreciate it a lot!!!

I hope you like this chapter! It was a bit hard cause I'm going into unknown territory, but I hope you enjoy it either way. Comments, likes, whatever is really really appreciated! Thanks for sticking around with this!

My dearest Byleth,

Your letters brighten my days, otherwise dulled by duties. I must ask for your forgiveness again, since I couldn’t answer any text message yet. Seteth is trying to help me, but he’s not well versed in technology either. The world is moving way too quickly for us to catch up…

Please, keep updating me with the news of our dear students. I’m truly happy to see them thrive and prosper in the continuation of their studies. All those stories you tell me remind me of good times, already gone… Times I wish to never forget. It’s a gift of the Goddess to be able to see them again, even though I must stay in the shadows of this lonely cathedral.

I know we mustn’t be seen together, but I long to see you. Please, visit us soon. Seteth wants to have tea with you, too. He’s much more cheerful now that he’s sure Flayn is safe and sound whatever she wishes to do.

The real reason for this letter is to inform you that I arranged an archive to keep all of our memories safe. I know I refused your petition at first, but after long hours of deep thought, I came to the same conclusion as you. It’s our obligation to ensure the safety of the continent and everyone who lived here, and if we lose our memories, we wouldn’t be able to do it. And in case we die… others will take on our legacy. Hopefully, you’ll be able to take a look at them soon, so you can add any necessary information. I’ll send them as soon as they’re finished.

I’m doing as you instructed: I’m writing reports and so are the other Nabateans.

Thank you for your dedication, Byleth. I’ll always be here for you.

Yours sincerely,

Rhea.

Sylvain and you were next to each other, leaning over the table in your kitchen. Your gaze was fixed on the careful strokes of Rhea’s quill. Ingrid wasn’t home, so told her you’d invite Sylvain over to study and finish that project ‒ which you hadn’t touched in months, if you were being honest. Of course, it was just an excuse. Instead of doing homework, you were chatting and conspiring among opened books about matters not related at all with university. Who’d rather do that when you were living a real adventure?

As you went over the letter for an eleventh time, Sylvain called your name expectantly. He had a bright gleam in his eye that screamed trouble.

“Do you know what day it is next Friday?” He asked, a tilted smile on his lips.

“It’s the 21st,” You answered. You took the letter with your index finger and thumb, and slowly placed it back inside the envelope.

“Yes and no, my dear friend. It’s the founding day of the Kingdom of Faerghus”, Sylvain pointed out. You raised your eyebrows, questioning. You already knew that, just as every other student; that day marked the date when lessons were interrupted. Typically, there was a week more to hand over projects and other requirements to pass the subjects, so some students went right back home, yet others stayed behind in their dorms until they were completely finished.

“So what?” You asked.

The redhead breathed deeply as he prepared mentally for what was coming next. He felt the weight of your eyes on him. Were you judging him? No, you weren’t, he was well aware of that, but he couldn’t discard all those doubts that bombarded him at all times. He felt the guilt running through his veins and he was second guessing his next proposition.

“I’ve got a plan,” he managed to say at last. That charming façade of his that made him always get his way had faded away. You tilted your head, unable to make heads or tails of Sylvain and prompting him to explain himself. He cleared his throat and continued. “That evening, a special mass is going to be celebrated, just like every year. It’s the perfect opportunity to sneak a peek of those documents.”

“The perfect opportunity?” You exclaimed, eyes wide open. “Sylvain, it’s going to be crowded!”

“Yes! That way, nobody will notice we’re hiding in the old confessionary booth! You know they barely use it anyways. Then, we get out when everybody’s gone, we go to Rhea’s office, find the documents and run away as far as we can.”

You blinked, once, twice, thrice. Sylvain was impatient to hear your opinion. He was jolting his leg up and down out of nervousness as you bit your lips, deep in thought. He already knew you had said you were in this together, that you'd help him find the truth, yet those were just words, not acts. He needed your reassurance once again, for deep inside his chest, against his wishes, he was expecting you to reject his idea, to ridicule him and leave him behind ‒ just like Miklan, like his parents. Because wasn’t that what always happened? He trusted someone, then they’d betray him for circumstances that he never could understand.

“Are you sure that’s not trespassing?” You frowned.

“Since it’s a religious building, I’m pretty sure it’s not,” he claimed. “There’s a right of devotion, or something like that.”

“You’ve thought of this carefully, haven’t you? It’s a solid plan.” You nod slowly. Solid and stupid. It could work, but it entailed a great risk.

“It is,” Sylvain said. His heart was pounding fast in his chest, waiting for your objections.

“What if somebody catches us?”

“We’ll say we forgot something”, he posed. “My phone, your purse, whatever.”

“Seteth won’t buy it”, you argued.

“But it’s me who you’re going with,” he pointed to his own face. “He’ll just think we’re there to bang. He’ll lecture us and won’t think about it further. My reputation precedes me, after all.”

“Okay, fine”, you yielded easily. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” You stretched your arms, thinking about what you were getting into. However, for some indefinite reason, you weren’t worried about it. You were more worried about him.

Sylvain was relieved but, as always, uneasy with his own actions. Was he asking too much of you? Was he pushing your limits? It was hard to act all cool and mighty around you when he could barely control his own feelings and the messy train of thought that always accompanied him.

“I’ll drive us there,” Sylvain commented when he noticed he had been silent for a while. Even though you nodded and tried to smile, you were worried about Sylvain. You noticed him getting lost in his own thoughts, and it was worse that he had the horrible habit of never telling anyone what tortured him inside. Despite wanting to ease him, you couldn’t do anything but reassure him that the plan will go well. Executing it was the only thing left to do now.

Sylvain double parked right in front of your building. He was well dressed to go to the Cathedral, with a white button-up, dress pants and boots. His parents might be there, after all, and he didn’t want to piss them off. Sylvain tapped the wheel with his fingers. It was too early, but he couldn’t wait at home — He was restless, so he had driven to distract himself. Still, that didn’t make him calmer, so he was restless in front of your window instead.

Impatient and anxious, Sylvain grabbed his phone out of his pocket and wrote a message. There was a reason for his uneasiness: he was going to ask you out. Or he was going to reiterate his love for you and see where things would go from there.

Torn between his own actions, his happiness, and if it might make this whole timeline shenanigan more confusing for you, he couldn’t fall asleep and instead dwelled on it for hours. Something had to change. Pitying himself and being a hollow piece of shit to almost everyone only deepened the wound in his soul. He plucked up the courage and decided he’d do things the right way from then on. And, first, he had to confess to you a couple of things ‒ a sort of declaration of intent.

Sylvain wouldn't ask Ingrid for advice, because she would think this is another one of his dating escapades. She never takes him seriously. Dimitri always understood him, but was clueless. So was Felix, who would be even more unwilling to help. Claude would give him the best piece of advice, but he refused asking the Almyran out of pride. And he was sure Dorothea would tell him to fuck off. So he had only one option. His usual first option, because she knew him like the palm of her hand and always spoke her mind: Mercedes.

Sylvain 15:10 : Mercedes, pls, help me ☹

Mercedes 15:10 : What’s wrong, Sylvain?

Mercedes answered almost immediately. Her attention eased his nerves. Sylvain looked at his watch; he had about twenty minutes left until you’d meet him and sort out his agitation.

Sylvain 15:11 : It’s about you-know-who

Sylvain 15:11 : I need your advice

Mercedes 15:11 : You-know-who finally confessed?

Sylvain 15:12 : No, but I might?

He had finally worded it. A weight lifted off his shoulders. Mercedes would know if it was madness or in fact it would work, right?

Mercedes 15:12 : What are your true intentions?

Sylvain 15:12 : I think I’m in love, for real

Mercedes 15:13 : Oh dear

Mercedes 15:13 : At first I thought you weren’t that serious

He could hear the voice of Mercedes exclaiming, as he had for years. He wasn’t surprised. How many times has he toyed with the idea of love only to discard it? And he had never ever been serious with anyone. If somebody showed the littlest interest in him, he’d dismiss that person and do terrible things to them before they’d do them to him.

Mercedes 15:13 : I told her to be careful around you because you play with women’s feelings

Sylvain 15:13 : I’m not angry, can’t blame you for speaking the truth

Sylvain 15:14 : But you’re the worst wingman ever, tbh

Sylvain 15:14 : Still love you tho <3

Mercedes 15:14 : There is something positive!

Mercedes 15:14 : You-know-who hasn’t run away yet! You two grew closer instead! Most would have run away!

Mercedes 15:15 : I think that’s a good sign

Mercedes 15:15 : She might be in love with you, even if she doesn’t know it

Sylvain 15:16 : I don’t like that might. I’d rather to be sure about it

Mercedes 15:16 : Just remember doubts are natural, but you must persist

Mercedes 15:16 : It’s now or never, confess your love!

Mercedes 15:17 : And don’t play with her feelings, please

Sylvain 15:17 : I know it’s hard to believe, Mercie, but I’m serious

Mercedes 15:18 : Sothis has answered my prayers then 😊

Sylvain 15:18 : Or Byleth. The professor paired us on that damned project.

Mercedes 15:18 : I have to go now. I’ll answer later. Write to me if you need it, ok?

Sylvain 15:19 : Ok, see you! Thanks, Mercedes

He appreciated Mercedes’ honesty. However, she had given Sylvain another headache, for the devout girl had reminded him of something else. He hadn’t gone out with a girl in months. He had uninstalled all his dating apps – which weren’t exactly for dating, obviously, but flings. Even so, years of being a bastard had to catch up with him at some point, and he guessed it’d be soon enough.

A knock on the window of the car startled him. It was you, with a radiant smile.

“You’ve come early!”, he greeted you as he opened the window. Unknowingly, Sylvain hid his mobile phone. “Get in.”

You went around the car, which looked new, but not extravagantly expensive, and opened the door.

“You’re the one who is early!”, you said, fastening your seatbelt. “Did I have you waiting for too long?”

“Not at all!” Sylvain brushed it off.

“I saw your car through the window, that’s why I came earlier”, you smiled.

Without further ado, he started the engine and thus began your two-hour journey to the biggest cathedral in Fódlan, and your old highschool.

The nearer you were to Garreg Mach, where you practically lived for years – excluding holidays, of course, when you’d visit your family – the more mountains and nature you’d see through the windows.

Sylvain was suspiciously quiet yet again.

“I thought Dimitri would be coming with us?” You asked to spark a conversation against the unbearable silence.

“He’s going to spend all the break with his father in Faerghus after the mass, so he’s not returning to college afterwards,” Sylvain explained nonchalantly. “Besides, he doesn’t like when others drive. Just an odd habit of his.”

“What about you?” You asked. “How come you aren’t going to Faerghus afterwards too? You’ve finished all your papers.”

“Nah”, he shrugged. “My relationship with my family… is rocky. So I’ll be staying behind until our university closes and I finish all my excuses.”

“I thought Miklan was gone for a long while.”

“Well, it’s not just Miklan...” The redhead added. “My father is not interested in me and my whole being, but rather in my grades and my capacity of managing his businesses and his land. Oh, and he’s also-” Sylvain hesitated. He realized he usually doesn’t open up to others this fast. However, thinking about the past you two share, and how you’re always genuine to him despite everything he’s making you do, he continued. “My father is also constantly trying to auction off my hand to any bigwig’s daughter who might make a big investment for the family. It’s exhausting.”

“Sounds horrible. I’m sorry you have to deal with a family like that.” You commented sympathetically. You wanted to express your compassion, so you caressed his shoulder. However, Sylvain flinched in the slightest manner, which you noticed and retreated your hand.

“Remember those girls in the library long ago?” He wondered.

“Yes.”

“I met them in one of my father’s parties. Two fickle, capricious girls that wanted a good catch to get expensive gifts and an exciting roll in the hay.” His tone was harsh, and you saw his knuckles whiten over the wheel. Suddenly, he changed his register into a lighter one. “I forgot to tell you that Edelgard is going to be there with Dimitri. She usually can’t attend, since Enbarr is too far away. Maybe she’s going to stay with Dimitri in Fhirdiad to… amend their relationship. Who knows. And Hubert will be surely there, being Edelgard’s shadow.”

“Ah, I see. Well, she is Dimitri’s step sister, after all, they ought to be on good terms,” You commented.

“Isn’t she your friend?”

“Not exactly. Well, not like Dorothea. We get along, but we haven’t met that much outside the classroom.” You answered.

“I see.” He nodded slightly.

You took advantage of your position in the co-pilot seat and observed him. His soft hair, dark red in the roots and orangey where the light caressed it, the shape of his straight nose and his outlined jaw... He was objectively handsome. The actions of those girls Sylvain talked about were despicable, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that they thought they had won the lottery: this man was rich, handsome, friendly and extremely seductive. However, they had miscalculated the situation, because they had not been the first nor the last ones to try, and they didn’t know Sylvain hated playing that game.

It saddened you, that he had to live that. But it saddened you even deeper in your heart that you didn’t know what to expect. Nothing could assure you that Sylvain would get over his ex-lovers and stalkers. And yes, you liked him – some would assure you were in love with him – but would you be able to pursue a romantic relationship? Especially in this situation?

Ingrid had voiced her opinion a lot of times: you shouldn’t try it. You knew that whatever you did, she was going to support you, but she had her reservations. Mercedes was wary as well. The only dissonant view was Dorothea’s.

Dorothea had gone to a date with Sylvain back in high school and she concluded he was a pig. You had heard so, sat in your desk right behind hers as she was telling the story to Edelgard. Despite that, Dorothea and Sylvain became allies of some sort – which made you jealous until you finally befriended the star of the Garreg Mach choir. It might have been the common nature of the gossip they both faced, or the fact that most of the high-end parties they attended were frequented by the same dull people. It didn’t matter what it was, but, although Dorothea restated constantly that Sylvain was nauseating, her attitude towards him had changed. It lit a small hope within your heart that your friend, who usually despised a lot of men of his kind, was encouraging you.

“Give him a chance!”, she exclaimed one day while you were having lunch with her and Petra. “I feel it in my gut! You’re made for each other.” Petra agreed, although she didn’t know either of you that much.

Yet, what made you different from all those girls Sylvain hated? That unexplained deep connection? Because, other than that, nobody could tell if your love was more authentic than theirs. You weren’t even sure yourself. Did you like him because he was a pretty face, or because you actually were in love? It was hard to tell.

As if Dorothea had read your mind and your hesitation, your phone vibrated.

Dorothea 15:53 : GO FOR THE KILL

Dorothea 15:53 : Make him suffer a little bit before falling into his arms tho

Dorothea 15:53 : AND tell me ALL the juicy details afterwards 😉

“What’s wrong?” Sylvain glanced over at you with a chuckle.

“What?”

“You just snorted!” He laughed.

“Oh, just Dorothea wishing us good luck,” You tried to sound nonchalant, but you weren’t as good as him. He laughed.

“Is she telling you to avoid me like I’m a pest?”

“Something like that…” You lied.

It didn’t matter from which angle you observed it; the Cathedral had always been impressive. The clear stone, bathed in the sunrays, seemed to be pure gold, resplendent in its holiness. The place stirred like a hive with the confluence of people, most of whom you knew. A nostalgic sensation washed over you.

“Could you wait here?” Sylvain asked, moving his head around and narrowing his eyes to figure out the identity of the people around you. “I have to go greet my parents.” He clarified.

“Do you want to go alone?”

“Yes”, he scratched the back of his head. “I’m sure you’ll meet them one day,” He winked, “but not today.”

The redhead faded into the crowd, while you waited in the courtyard right before the hall. You didn’t know what to do, so you sat over one of the low walls. You saw a patch of blonde hair, but you weren’t sure if it was Dimitri, so you didn’t move. Meanwhile, you recognised many of the passers-by, as they were family of your own classmates, but you doubted they’d remember you.

A deep voice called your name from the shadows of a nearby tree. You looked at the source of the sound.

“Hubert?” You blinked several times. That was a surprise.

“Indeed. I’m here to accompany Edelgard. What are you doing here?”, he asked. “I was certain that you didn’t like going to mass, and you have to ties with the Kingdom of Faerghus.”

“I’ve come with Sylvain”, you answered. Hubert’s eerie, yellow eyes were fixed on you, disturbing you.

“I see,” he commented. A small grimace that resembled a smile formed on his lips.

“He’ll come in a moment”, you forced a smile. You didn’t dislike Hubert, but he had an extraordinary ability to put your nerves on edge.

“I wanted to thank you for that favour,” he commented efficiently.

“That thing?”, you made an ‘o’ with your lips. “No need to thank me, Hubert. We’re… friends?”

“I prefer the term strategic partners”, he nodded.

“Okay, that name is fine too.”

“The reason I’m here is that I must inform you that the heir of the Gautier is engaged”, he said with solemnity.

“Excuse me?” Your little world shattered into pieces, broken. What the fuck was Hubert talking about?

“A month ago, his parents engaged him with one of the daughters of Mr. Rowe. Since you’re rather close with him, I thought you should know it.”

“... I see.”, you muttered, still shocked, trying to remain composure.

“I must go now,” he said, but he didn’t move. “I apologise for being the harbinger of bad news.”

“No need to worry, I just was surprised. See you around”, you waved at him, indicating that you’d be okay. Hubbert made a bow and vanished.

That was an unexpected turn of events. Your heartbeat was loud and fast, and you did your best to quickly blink away tears so that no one would notice. Despite the doubts, the second thoughts and all the things against you, you had thought you’d be in control whether you ended up with Sylvain or not. However, just like the rest of your life, it seemed that you were trapped in a book somebody else was writing. And now, in the place where your crush had begun, any hope you harboured had disappeared, just like a flame put out with a bucket of cold water.

You opened and closed your eyes rapidly to make the tears disappear and stood up. You breathed in and out in slow movements. Your body began relaxing.

Where was Sylvain? There was almost nobody else outside. The mass would begin in almost five minutes. He must have been talking with his parents, if what Hubert said was true. How were you in such a deep mess?

As if your thoughts had summoned him, Sylvain appeared from the lateral of the cathedral.

“Hey! You ready?” He sprang to you.

“Yes,” You tried to cover your face. You couldn’t let him see you in vulnerability.

“Okay, remember the plan.” He leaned into you, lowering his voice. “We sit on the back row, and 10 minutes before the end we get out. Then, we enter through the left door and hide in the confessionary booth. You go in first, then I follow you 3 minutes apart.”

You nodded and walked into the cathedral. You couldn’t look at him in the eyes. It was going to be a long evening.

The confessional booth was dark inside. There was a separation between the two parts that composed it, so the space was reduced. You sat on the wooden bench, thankful that it didn’t crack at all.

Sylvain had been right: nobody saw you. The confessionary itself, with an entry in the back, blocked the view of the lateral door to any onlooker that could have been there. On the other hand, you could see the people sitting in the left wing of the building through the lattice in a very convenient way. It was an excellent place to hide. The pulpit was far away, yet the voice of Archbishop Rhea was heard everywhere.

In spite of your relative security, this had to be by far the worst idea you had ever agreed on. Everything seemed doomed in that moment. You were sure in that moment that you’d get caught or expelled. You wanted to run away.

But right then, the back door silently opened and Sylvain entered the scene.

Sylvain’s wide shoulders almost didn’t fit through the entrance. You tried to move around to make some space for him, but it was in vain. You were thankful for the shadows, because your cheeks were growing redder and redder by the moment as his presence became more and more noticeable.

You didn’t know how exactly, but you ended up with your legs over his lap, your shoulders touching and your faces way too close for your liking. At least right then, when Hubert’s words were still fresh in your mind.

The choir started singing a tune, which indicated that the mass was approaching its end. Such pure voices were inappropriate for that moment you were sharing with Sylvain.

“I swear this was bigger before...” Sylvain whispered in your ear. It made your hair stand on end.

“Yes, when we were confessing, being 12 and younger, and being alone. Now it’s even more tiny because someone decided to have the both of us in here.” You grunted back, careful of not being heard.

His breath caressed your face, and his warmth radiated from his clothes. He was too comfortable, and you felt like you could be cuddled like this forever, while at the same time you wanted to run away from his touch. It occurred to you that he might have been a sorcerer, and that he had put you in an unavoidable spell. How else would all these feelings be so intense? It couldn’t be just love, right?

“I have something to tell you,” Sylvain said, but he wasn’t looking at you.

Was he going to tell you that he was engaged? Your breathing was erratic once more. You couldn’t flee, much to your dismay.

“What is it?”

“I…”, he cut himself.

“You…?” You were suspenseful, but you weren’t sure for what. Disappointment? Elation? Sylvain turned his head and fixed his pupils on yours.

“Be my girlfriend.” He managed to speak. You had no words. The world was definitely laughing at your face. “I’m in love with you and you’re in love with me. So why not? Isn’t it the logical thing to do?”

“It’s not that easy, Sylvain, despite how much I wish it was.” You sighed, at a loss for better words.

“Why not?” He pressed.

His heart dropped and a thousand thoughts rushed into his mind. He wanted to scream. How could he dare to think someone would genuinely love him? He got hurt, as it always happened. He shouldn’t have let his walls down, not even for you. He shouldn’t seek love, he shouldn’t have bothered. Everytime he considered himself worthy of love, the world around him would start crashing down. ‘You’re set yourself up for failure’, Sylvain kept repeating to himself. That’s what his father always told him when things didn’t turn out well. His father had been right. He was a failure. Even when his intentions were pure, he had already tainted his future. There was no redemption for him, right?

You picked up on the rising panic on Sylvain’s face, and you felt guilt inside your chest.

“I’m scared,” you said, trying to justify yourself. You believed it was the moment to be sincere. “I’m scared that you’re lying to use me. Or that you’d just get bored and throw me away.”

“I’d never do that to you,” he said, horrified by the fact that you wouldn’t accept he was telling the truth. “You’re not like the-”. He interrupted himself. “I see it now. I won’t stop repeating the same sentence, right? Now nobody will believe me.” Sylvain covered his face with his hand. “I cried the wolf way too many times…” He mutters.

“There’s something else,” you whispered.

“Just say it. It’s not gonna get worse at this point.” Sylvain chuckled somberly.

“You’re engaged.”

“It’s not something I chose. And it’s definitely not something I’m happy about.” He stated. Your words felt like a knife on Sylvain’s skin. “I didn’t want to tell you because I thought I’d get my parents to break the engagement first, but it’s taking longer than I’d expected.”

Out of the blue, Sylvain placed his hands around your face.

“Will you be my girlfriend? You didn’t say no. You know that I wouldn’t willingly propose to a girl when you are right here by my side. You haven’t seen me with another girl, have you?” He assured, a tinge of desperation in his voice.

“I don’t want to say no,” you answered, confused. “But- Sylvain, we’re doomed. We’re not meant to be.”

“I don’t care about fate. Does that mean you’d give me a chance?” His eyes were intense, hard and, all the same, warm and comforting, with the colour of liquid caramel. Sylvain threw all his doubts away for once, just wanting to be with you. You were one of the only things keeping him happy.

“I don’t know… Sylvain, I-”

“If you tell me I’ve still got a chance, I’m not going to give up. I love you.” He announced seriously. “Don’t get me wrong, if you really want me out of your life, I will do it, but otherwise…”

“This is a trap. How am I supposed to tell you looking at you in the eye that I don’t want to see you ever again?” You complained.

“I’m not a trickster, but I’m not gonna let you go either. I’ll have to convince you to be mine, then.”

“And how are you going to convince me?”, you furrowed your eyebrows.

“I already did the hardest part, I made you fall for me.” he smirked.

With that, you couldn’t resist the invisible force pulling yourself to him anymore. You crashed your lips against his and sat astride his lap. It was easy; you had already done it before. Sylvain was amazed, but he was not one to lose an opportunity. He kissed you back. Unable to control himself, his hands grabbed your waist, but he didn’t let himself explore. He was unsure of what was happening, but he was glad he’d got to taste your lips a second time.

You pressed your chest against his torso, while trying to hug him closer. His lips were soft and firm, his movements decided, and he knew what he wanted. Sylvain took advantage of a pause you took for breathing and let his tongue slide in. He was voracious and greedy in his attentions, and he did not let a single speck of your mouth untouched.

You were starting to feel dizzy and wanted much more, but you stopped.

“Everybody should be gone by now,” you muttered, his mouth still pressed to yours. He was panting, and you could guess what was on his mind – you could feel his excitement rising in his lap, after all.

“What was that for?”

“I felt like it.” you lovingly took off a lock of his hair from his forehead. “I’m not going to give you my heart just like that, but I swear to the Goddess, I can’t resist you.”

“Well, I’m not going to complain if you do it again, you know.” he smirked, releasing you from his grip. “After all, we have to make up for lost time.” He grabbed your wrist before letting you go completely, and lowered his tone. “But don’t get used to torturing me like this, or I’ll eventually lose my composure.”

“I’ll risk it,” you playfully answered while you distanced yourself.

You exited the booth without a single sound. The church was dark, since there was no light coming from the large windows anymore. The sun was gone. The place was creepy without a single source of brightness, and the stone was grey and cold.

Your steps followed Sylvain as he manoeuvred between the pews and towards the sets of stairs that led to the upper floor. You had not been there frequently, just once or twice to help Seteth move some books after class. Sylvain, however, knew the place like the palm of his hand due to Seteth’s insistence in correcting the mischievous redhead’s nature. Seteth never achieved his ambition, of course, but as a result, Sylvain could go to Rhea’s office with his eyes closed. And to Seteth’s one, to the cleaning supplies stall and many more rooms he had the pleasure to visit in his youth.

“Careful with the stairs, the stone is worn-out, and you can fall down”, Sylvain warned you.

There were bright coloured statues of the saints and Seiros splattered around, along with some old-looking tapestries that needed to wash. You couldn’t admire them for long, because before you could register that you were raiding the empty cathedral at 8 p.m., Sylvain had already stopped before a wooden door.

“It’s here”, he stated solemnly.

“Are you ready?”, you asked.

“More than ever”, he smiled and turned around the doorknob.

Of course, it was closed.

“Fuck”, he said.

“We should have expected that”, you rubbed your temple.

“Do you have a bobby pin?”

“Nope”, you hummed.

“Okay, time to go home I guess”, Sylvain suddenly laughed, and so did you. “It feels like we’ve gone crazy, right?”

“Oh my god, Sylvain, you thought about the confessional booth but it didn’t occur to you that the door might have been locked?”, you giggled.

“Shut up! You could have guessed it, too!”

“Four months ago I thought I’d never speak to you in my life, and look at us now”, you couldn’t help the laughs.

“What’s so fun?”, Seteth’s voice reverberated through the narrow corridor, shutting both your mouths at the same time.

He had appeared from a door right across you ‒ from his own office, you presumed. You were so nervous that you couldn’t say a word. It was surreal. Seteth didn’t look angry, he looked curious instead, something you weren’t used to. The years might have eased his nerves. But that fact didn’t make your position any easier.

“Look, Seteth, we’re not here for any funny business”, Sylvain defended himself and you. He stepped forwards out of habit.

“Because entering Lady Rhea’s office is not suspicious at all”, Seteth calmly replied.

“Okay, it seems suspicious. But it’s not what it seems,” he began scratching the back of his head. “I dragged her here and…”

You had relaxed enough to form coherent words. And you decided it was the moment to come out clean, because lies and secrets were just turning your life upside down. Furthermore, Seteth’s presence ignited an old feeling; the need to rely on a much more mature adult. You cut Sylvain’s words.

“Seteth, we’ve come here looking for some papers that belong to Lady Rhea”, you said loud and clear. “We were going to steal them.”

“What are you doing?” Sylvain asked incredulously.

“Seteth, we’ve been having the weirdest dreams”, you said. “And they won’t stop, to the point they seem real, like memories.” Seteth's disposition changed. He tensed, and his face paled. “We went to Byleth’s office and… we read a letter from the Archbishop. We know that those dreams happened, but we wanted to verify it and learn why everything’s happening. Otherwise, we’ll go mad.”

Seteth’s green eyes went from your figure to Sylvain’s and back to you again. It was visible that he was torn, choosing what to do. The older man sighed, defeated. He had lost from the beginning, because he couldn’t conceal his fear from such an unexpected accusation.

“It’s a long story”, Seteth said. “Come into my office and have some tea.”

He let you in the room, only lit with candles scattered around. You and Sylvain sat on a sofa that was behind the coffee table. Sylvain went to a desk filled with piles of papers, where there was an electric kettle and various wooden boxes.

“I’ve got ginger tea and a four-spice blend. There must be some sweet-apple blend too somewhere here, Flayn’s favourite”, Seteth offered.

“I don’t mind which one”, you said, smiling politely.

“We’ll have whatever you're having, Seteth”, answered Sylvain.

There was a prolonged silence. The only sounds were the boiling water of the kettle and Seteth rummaging in his drawers. A nice aroma of ginger slowly spread through the air.

The man of the church placed three teacups on the table and sat in the armchair right in front of you. You had never noticed, but Seteth was fit, way too much for a man of his profession. It made sense, though, when you remembered his expertise upon a wyvern.

“I’m sorry about the light. I never got around installing lamps, and I like the candles. They remind me of more familiar times…”, Seteth said as he poured you a cup of steaming tea. “Where should I begin?”, he inquired.

“Did those things really happen?”, Sylvain asked first.

“Yes”, Seteth nodded matter-of-factly. “All those memories you’ve recovered have happened in the past. Or… in our other lives, as I like to say.”

“Are those things going to happen again?”, it was your turn to ask, then. Seteth could sense the fear in your voice.

“We hope the war will never repeat itself”, he reassured you. “We don’t really know what the future has in store for us, but we’ve deemed it very unlikely. The events that have happened in this era are completely different from those in the past.”

“Who are ‘we’?” Said Sylvain. “If you don’t mind the questions…”

“The Nabateans,” Seteth answered dryly. He took a sip of his cup of tea. “I’m sure you remember, the Immaculate One back in the battle of Garreg Mach, right?”

“Some things are… vague for me”, Sylvain lamented, because you had told him the story a million of times, but he couldn’t recall the encounter.

“I remember it. It was Lady Rhea, right? I remember Edelgard telling us she was a monster controlling the continent from the shadows.” You explained.

“Yes… So-”

“Wait,” Sylvain interrupted Seteth. “Can you turn into a dragon?”

“Not me,” he denied. “It's been hundreds of years, but that’s not quite the topic of this conversation, is it?” The green-haired man reminded him.

“But how did it happen? How did we end up living so many lives?”, you interceded. “Why didn’t we… just die?”

“It’s Byleth’s doing”, Seteth replied. “Lady Rhea, back when Byleth was born in 1159, placed Sothis’ heart in his, hoping our mother would live again…”

“Sothis… the Goddess? She’s real?” Sylvain was dumbfounded. You looked at your cup of tea, then to Seteth, unable to articulate an answer. You were thankful for Seteth’s patience.

“Yes. This gave him great power, as he became one with the Goddess. Which granted Byleth as well the power of turning back the hands of time.”

“So he’s been turning back the time after the war of Fódlan?”, you exclaimed.

“Byleth wanted to save us all from the tragedy that devastated Fódlan. He kept turning back to the year 1180, yet one way or another, the string of events led to the same. So, at last, Byleth decided he needed to go way back, to the beginning of everything.” He paused, and saw your faces focused on every word that was escaping his mouth. He smiled to himself, remembering those times when you both were younger and listened to his lessons. Your faces might have changed, and your voices and bodies, but the eyes of his pupils were still the same. “Sothis, aware of the future, made her holy sacrifice to prevent Nemesis and his kind to take over. The history of Fódlan changed just enough to give us a rest...”

“So Byleth’s hair will be dark blue forever now?”, Sylvain asked.

“Yes. The professor is no longer the vessel of the Goddess,” Seteth clarified. “There are no longer any crests nor Hero’s relics. Therefore, technology has prospered, and your generation was born later ‒ although we don’t know exactly why this happened.” Seteth paused to sip his tea and hear your questions, but all the information had left you and Sylvain dumbfounded. Therefore, he continued his speech, somewhat relieved that he could finally tell a human all these burdens. “Flayn used to cry a lot, weeping about your absence,” he tenderly recalled. “Lady Rhea and I were sad too. We’ve been through a lot, all of us, after all…”

“I have another question, Seteth…”, Sylvain started. He was in deep thought, just like you. “Why is it that we’ve got our memories back?”

“I honestly have no idea…”, Seteth shook his head from side to side. “It could be because of your previous relationship. Back in the Officers Academy you were on... extremely good terms, as far as I know, so when I was your teacher in this high school it surprised me that you two never coincided. However, you’ve found your way next to each other, so perhaps some things are meant to be…” The older man trailed off, but continued. “Well, I don’t know. I know for us, the kin of Sothis, it’s probably due to our blood. For humans… it’s harder to tell.”

You looked at Sylvain from the corner of your eye, but you didn’t dare to face the ginger.

“Isn’t this a big secret?” you questions, amazed that Seteth ‒ and no other than Seteth himself ‒ was confiding to you such details.

“Yes, it is”, Seteth confirmed, narrowing his eyes.

“Why are you telling us, then?”

“Because, as I said, I appreciate you. Both of you. We’ve fought side by side, you’ve rescued Flayn numerous times”, he crossed his arms over his chest again. “Sylvain risked his life for Flayn numerous times, while you were also close to Byleth. It’s unnatural not to trust you...” Then, Seteth spoke once more. “But I must request that this reunion stays between us. Please. We don’t want any resentment to be born in such a peaceful time as this is. And I’ve broken so many rules right now that I’m frankly scared of what might happen.”

“Okay, we won’t say anything, Seteth”, you nodded. “I promise.”

“You have our word”, Sylvain accepted.

“Not even… Rhea or Byleth. If you don’t mind, this never happened.” Seteth touched his beard.

“Wait, Seteth, I still have Professor Byleth’s letter”, you said, worried. “He must have noticed it went missing…”

“Don’t worry about that, Byleth is a disaster. He came by this morning, I’ll tell him he dropped it and that he should be more careful”, Seteth smiled.

“Thank you, Seteth. For real”, Sylvain said. And you saw for the first time in his eyes the lightest shadow of hope.

#sylvain x reader #fe3h #fe3h fanfic #sylvain jose gautier x reader #female reader #reader insert #sylvain jose gautier #fire emblem three houses fanfiction #fire emblem three houses

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spookysweet-heart · 3 years

Text

Freak Show

Request: No

Parings: Circus!Egos x Fem!Reader

Fandom: Youtube Egos (Mark, Jack, Nate)

Warning: Dream manipulation, Nightmares.

A/N: Here’s Part Two of The Circus of Souls series. Part one can be found here! This is directly after the first one so please read it if you haven’t yet! The lovely aesthetic I’ll be using is by the very talented @huffle-princess! The songs that I use in this part are FreakShow by The Nearly Deads and Enjoy The Show by NateWantsToBattle. Edited by @semiproeagle23!

Immediately after getting home, you tossed the book and tickets on your desk. Sitting on your bed, you felt your heart pounding in your chest. “What the fuck was that…?”

Deciding not to go through with your original plan, you ended up running home. Glancing at the tickets, you felt off. There was a reason you knew you couldn’t leave just yet.

Shaking your head, you sighed in frustration. Standing up and running a hand through your hair, you started to head out to the bathroom down the hall to get ready for bed.

Getting back into your room, you threw yourself on your bed and rolled over to pull the covers up so you could get underneath them. After getting comfortable, you looked over at the book one more time. It still didn’t feel right. Turning around, you turned off your bedside lamp, letting sleep take over.

It didn’t take long before you were drifting off. The room fell into a silence that didn’t feel inviting at all, but you brushed it off, thinking it was just your imagination from your interaction with the Ringleader.

Your breathing started to even out when you finally fell asleep, not noticing when the book on your desk opened on its own as a breeze passed through, making the pages turn. The book stopped on the third page with the man who was on a stage surrounded by smoke. The golden light that shined earlier in the day appeared again as purple smoke emerged from the page.

The smoke made its way above you, as if making sure you were asleep. When it was positive that you were, it made its way inside, phasing through your body.

Walking through a dark abandoned building, the only light source that you could see was from the moon shining through the windows. Your bare feet on the cold white tile made a shiver run down your spine.

When you looked around the open space, you noticed shadows on the walls were moving while you walked. It took a second to realize that they were children’s shadows.

Stopping in the middle of the huge room, you closed your eyes, telling yourself it was just a dream, that nothing could hurt you. “C’mon, it’s just a dream...you can change it. Please change, I don’t want to be here.”

Feeling a breeze pass by, you opened your eyes, seeing you were still in the building, but the shadows were now surrounding you. Looking at them, you asked, “What do you want? What is this place?”

You started to hear whispers and giggles of children all around. “Help me…”, “Please save us...”, “Don’t let him trick you…” Taking a step forward, the kids moved, letting you walk away from them. Each step you took became quicker than the last until you started to run away, but the voices and giggles still rang in your ears.

Turning a corner, you saw there was an open room. Peeking inside, you saw there was an almost empty table. Hesitantly stepping inside, you noticed that the voices stopped when your eyes landed on a small toy carousel sitting in the middle of the table.

Just as you were about to touch it, the tiny lights turned on, making the horses move around as a circus jingle started to play. Standing there, you were too preoccupied to notice a taller shadow move behind you across the hall.

The small breeze that passed by was what caught your attention to turn away. Walking back out into the hallway, you heard faint music coming from the end of it. It sounded just like the one coming from the carousel.

Following the echoing music, you felt uneasy again as you were getting closer. Hearing a crowd of people cheer gave you a little bit of hope that maybe this dream was turning into something good after all. Unfortunately, right as you entered the room, all you saw was a stage at the far end.

The music got louder as the invisible cheers did. Looking around, you saw purple smoke make its way to the stage.

As the stage lights came on, the smoke disappeared, leaving a man in a black and purple outfit in its place center stage.

He smiled, hearing the crowd cheer as he raised his mic to his lips. “You wanna take a look inside my head, you wanna analyze the things I’ve said. Well here we go again, I know what you’re gonna find. I know I’ve sought revenge, that I’ve cheated, and I’ve lied.”

Jumping down, he started to make his way to you, leaving a trail of purple smoke with each step he took. “I’ve been selfish, and unkind, and reckless and unwise. There’s nothing you can say to change me. I need to save myself. But you asked, so here we go.”

Lifting up his hand, a spotlight shined on him as the rest of the room turned black. “Welcome to the FreakShow, all my friends are here.” Gesturing to the crowd, you looked around seeing the children from before. “Jealousy and love, envy, lust, corruption, fear. Welcome to the headache I wake up with every day.”

The man grinned as he stood right in front of you. He gently grabbed your chin with his free hand, making you look up at him. “Be careful what you wish for, or you’ll end up just like me…” Purple smoke started to surround you both as he continued to sing. “You’ll end just like me...just like me…”

Feeling your chest tighten when it got harder to breathe, you started to panic, trying to escape, but you couldn't move a muscle. The man leaned down as he whispered in your ear. “Be careful, (Y/n). You don’t want the fate we suffer everyday…”

You wanted to ask what he meant by that, but he only placed a hand above your chest. You closed your eyes and the next thing you knew, you were shoved back with a sharp pain hitting your chest.

Feeling as if you were falling, you woke up startled, sitting up in bed. Frantically looking around, you took everything in, realizing you were back in your room. Looking at your desk, you saw the book was still closed, just how you left it.

Laying back in bed, you turned your head towards your window, seeing it was morning.

Breathing a bit heavily, you stretched out your arms when you reluctantly got up from your bed.

Trying to calm yourself down, you placed a hand where his hand was before. Slowing down your breathing, you felt your chest become less heavy by the second.

Picking up your phone, you saw you had a few missed texts from your group chat.

“Do you guys wanna go to the Circus?”

“It’s the opening night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! I asked my mom if she’d give me a few extra dollars for a ticket.”

“I’m up for it! But I don’t have much money for a ticket.“

“Same here…”

“Sneak in?”

Walking over to your desk, you picked up one of the tickets. “The Circus of Souls….I don’t like this...but there has to be a reason. I know that nightmare wasn’t by chance.” Looking at your phone when it vibrated, you saw it was a new message in the chat.

“Hey, (Y/n)! You’re awake! You wanna go to the Circus?”

You felt a bit nervous when you replied.

“Yeah! And don’t worry about the tickets, guys. I was able to get some for all of us. Free for the whole week.”

“Free?! How’d you get that?!”

“That’s a secret! Meet me by the entrance around 5. Okay?”

Tossing your phone on your bed, you started to get ready for later.

Adjusting the strap on your bookbag, tickets in hand, you looked over at the crowd when you heard someone yell out your name.

Seeing Stretch wave, you smiled and waved to her, making your way to the group. “Hey!”

“Hey, are those the tickets?” Meer looked over at your hand, seeing four tickets.

“Oh! Yeah! These are it! They’re valid for the whole week!” You gave her a smile and handed each of them a ticket. “Before we go in, can I talk to you guys real quick?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sam smiled, putting the ticket in her pocket.

“Before we go in there, you have to promise me that you guys won’t break away from the group?”

“Sure, but why?” Stretch raised an eyebrow, looking at you confused.

“Because...uh…” Looking between the three girls, your eyes landed on Meer. “Because Meer’s afraid of crowds remember! It’s better if we all stick together so she feels comfortable right?”

“That would actually help a lot, honestly…” Meer’s cheeks became a light pink, feeling sheepish as she looked around at the group.

“Hey, don’t feel bad, we’re all afraid of something, right?” Sam wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. “I mean, you can stay with me when these guys go on the rides that take off the ground. I’m not a fan of heights.”

“Okay...sure thing!” Meer smiled again and followed your lead as the group made its way to the ticket booth.

Showing the man at the booth your tickets, he smiled at you as he took it. “Don’t worry about bringing these back, you can just hand them over. The boss man said you and your friends would be coming tonight.”

“Thanks?” You shrugged your shoulders, acting like you had no idea what he was talking about. “Let’s go!” Smiling and leading the group further into the Circus, you were all immediately hit with the smells of fresh popcorn, cotton candy, and fried dough.

Stretch was the first one to suggest you play some games first before going on any rides. Throughout the night, you all challenged each other to the various games and silly dares you four could do. Time flew by, and you almost forgot the real reason you were here tonight.

“We haven’t gotten on any of the rides…” Stretch pouted, grabbing her bag of popcorn from the lady at the stand.

“I wanted to see the animal tamer! Did you see the tiger she’s working with, holy shit!” Meer almost dropped her bag of popcorn in excitement.

“There’s a Fortune Teller booth I kinda wanted to check out too..” Sam slightly pouted as she turned to the group, handing you your bag of popcorn.

Taking the bag, you giggled a bit. “Okay, okay, I know you all wanted to do things, but we have all week, right? We still have time to do all of it.”

Just as Stretch was about to speak up, a loud voice over the speakers ran through the area. “Attention! Attention! The Circus of Souls would like to invite you all to the main tent for a spectacular music performance!”

The mention of a music performance made your blood run cold as you stood there. There was no way it could be the same man you saw in your dreams, could it?

“(Y/n)? Hey, (Y/n)!” Stretch waved a hand in front of your face, trying to snap you out of it.

You blinked and took a step back. “Whoa, what the fuck, dude?”

“You were spacing out there, dork. We asked you if you wanted to go see the performance?”

“Oh,” Looking at your group, you nodded. “Yeah, sure! It’ll be a fun end to the first night, wouldn’t it?”

Walking into the huge red tent made you feel on edge, to say the least. What made you stop in your tracks was seeing Phantom greeting guests. “Welcome! Oh, well I see you made it my dear. Come in, come in! You three must be (Y/n)’s friends. Thank you tagging along. Please, take a seat at the front. There’s four spots waiting for you all.”

Nodding, you silently made your way to the front where the empty seats were, ignoring the looks your friends were giving you.

As the four of you sat down, Stretch beat everyone to the point. “What the hell was that, (Y/n)? You made friends with the Ringleader himself?”

“No! We're not friends…I went exploring the tracks yesterday to clear my head and I sorta bumped into him...”

Before any of you could continue the conversation, the lights went out and a single spot light shined center stage. Only this time, there stood a man in red. His tophat was slightly slanting to one side as he leaned the slightest amount of his weight on his cane for a second before lifting it and greeting everyone.

“Hello, boys and girls. Welcome to The Circus of Souls! I hope you all are enjoying our opening night here in your cozy little town. Thank you for being here and trusting us to entertain you for the evening.”

He glanced over at you before he smiled and continued to address the crowd. “Now, the show you are about to see may be harmful to some since we’ll be using bright lights, flashing lights, and....a bit of disturbing imagery. I know I just greeted you all in, but if there are those of you who are sensitive to these types of things, I suggest you leave the tent immediately for your own safety."

A few groups of people started to leave the tent, only taking a few moments. Making sure everyone was out of harm's way, Phantom grinned as he waved his hand, bowing to the audience. “With that out of the way, I wish you all a fun and safe night here.”

As the spotlight disappeared, the red undertone turned to purple. You felt the same pain in your chest seeing the purple smoke cover the stage. The music started as your eyes scanned the stage before they landed on a familiar silhouette.

A voice over the speakers rang out, startling you. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Gather 'Round, Gather 'Round. Sit Back, Relax, and please, stay in your seats.”

You gripped the strap of your book bag, listening and looking right at the silhouette. “Kick your feet up, and grab some popcorn. Oh, and of course! Lest we not forget!” Feeling warmth by the left side of your face, the next phrase made the hair on your neck stand up, hearing it closer than you expected. “Enjoy The Show”

The stage lights came on, making your eyes widen, seeing him standing there center stage like in your nightmare.

“Come One, Come All! And Behold we have a Sight Immeasurable, A Spectacle, Of Innocence and Fright. Oh Maybe 2, 3, 4 or even five long nights. Now you're crawling, ever stalling. With no end in sight. Up all night to see if you can make it. All new friends to see if you can take it! Be still, be quiet. They still know you haven't left yet!”

White and purple lights started to flash throughout the tent. The purple smoke still covered the bottom of the stage. The man soon encouraged the crowd to come up to the stage while the band continued to play.

“And We'll Pretend. We'll just pretend, pretend that day would never end. I'll make believe that you can see. Everything they did to me. Nowhere to hide and now we're through but if we were just like you. I'll be your friend, I'll be your friend. You can trust me 'till the end.”

Stretch pulled you and the others to the front of the stage, grinning in excitement as everyone started to make their way too.

He smiled down at everyone as he waved to the crowd, making his way across the stage to see everyone else. “There's something bad inside me, I'm broken beyond fixing. Save me! I know that we've all been here. It only hurts a second, there's nothing to fear!”

Making his way further from the crowd, the purple smoke covered the audience so they weren't able to see the stage.

“I have you hidden way too well. It's time to let you out, put on a mask to hide yourself. That made you one of us now!”

The smoke subsided in a flash of white light. Looking back up, you noticed he had purple streaks running down his cheeks now. “And we'll pretend, we'll Just pretend. Pretend that day would never end. I'll make believe that you can see everything they did to me. Nowhere to hide, and now we're through. But if we were just like you. I'll be your friend, I'll be your friend. You can trust me 'till the end.”

He reached out his free hand to you, pulling you up on stage with him. You looked down at your friends, and they were only cheering, seeing you up on stage. The man got your attention by grabbing your chin like he'd done before. Looking into his eyes, you saw they were black with swirls of bright purple.

“We need you, so we can escape. If they find you, it'll be too late, We need you, so we can escape.” Glancing around, you saw the children you saw in your nightmare. They were pale and thin, as if they were ghosts. “If they find you, it'll be too late.” Turning you around so you were facing the crowd, he wrapped his free arm around your waist, holding you against his chest and swaying with you, singing out to the crowd. You looked around and saw the children come closer.

“And we'll pretend, we'll just pretend, pretend that day would never end. I'll make believe that you can see everything they did to me. Nowhere to hide and now we're through. But if we were just like you.” The man let you go when one of the kids almost touched you. Helping you down, he smiled as he let go of your hand. He looked at you through the end of the song. Your friends took notice, only smiling for now. “I'll be your friend, I'll be your friend. You can trust me 'till the end. Now we're afraid, we're all afraid. Afraid that it might be too late! They never learn to wait their turn. Now we get to watch them burn.”

The lights started to slowly fade. The smoke disappeared from the crowd and slowly rose around the band. “Nowhere to hide and now we're through. But if we were just like you, I'll be your friend, I'll be your friend. You can trust me 'till the end….Trust me till the end!” The last thing you saw were his eyes shining bright purple before the smoke covered them.

The lights went out for a second and when they came back on, the stage was empty, save for the Ringleader again. “Well, wasn’t that entertaining! What did you all think?”

The crowd cheered enthusiastically, making the small orb on his cane light up.

“I’m glad you enjoyed the little show our incredible singer, Natemare, performed. He’s known to have a flair for the dramatics, if you couldn’t tell already.” The crowd roared in laughter.

In a matter of seconds, the laughs turned to clapping and cheers when Natemare walked out, standing next to Phantom. He had a grin on his face he bowed, soaking in all the enthusiasm. “Thank you! Though, I couldn’t have done it without the brave soul that let me bring them up here with me.” He looked down at you, smiling, and gave you a wink.

“I’ll be here all week, so if you’d like to see another performance, my time stamps should be on display just outside this tent.”

Phantom wrapped an arm around Natemare’s shoulders, waving to the crowd. “Goodnight everyone! Thank you for making our opening night one we won’t forget! Be safe traveling home, now!”

As the crowds filed out of the Circus, Meer grabbed your arm. You looked around, seeing them all looking at you and giggling.

“What is it?” Taking your arm back, you turned around and faced them.

“Oh, c’mon, (Y/n), you don’t have to hide it.”

“Hide what?”

“You have to tell us! Was he as cute up close?” Sam squealed in excitement, remembering the scene.

“I bet he was! Please tell us!” Stretch grinned, grabbing your hand.

“More like he was terrifying…”

“Huh?” All three girls look at you confused.

“I….I had a nightmare last night and he was in it. I don’t know how to explain this, but I feel like there’s a reason we happened to see him perform today and the fact he picked me out of everyone?”

“Uh oh, I think (Y/n) has a crush on him. Aww, that's so cute! He’s like your dream boy or something.” Sam giggled as she poked your cheek.

You moved her hand away and pouted at the three of them.”It’s not like that at all! Guys, please listen to me, there's something going on here. Didn’t you see those kids up there?!”

“Yeah, but the Ringleader said there would be disturbing imagery, they were probably holograms or something.” Meer adjusted her bag a bit.

“...I know they weren’t holograms. I know I’m sounding crazy right now, but can you three just listen to what I have to say first and then you can say whatever the hell you want after?”

The three girls looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. “Alright, we’ll listen.”

“Thank you. Can we meet up at the park by my house tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, not too early though.” Meer looked around when she noticed everyone was staring at her. “What? I don’t like waking up super early…”

“Yeah, sure, we’ll meet around eleven. Does that work for everyone?”

Nodding in agreement, the four of you headed home. After a long, and sort of fun night, you just wanted to go to sleep.

Dropping your bag by your bed, you immediately fell onto your bed, not caring about changing or properly laying on your bed. Almost instantly falling asleep, the purple smoke emerged from your bag as Natemare took form. He looked at you for a moment before using his smoke to get you under your blankets without waking you. “I’ll give you a break tonight. You need it, kid…”

Tag List:

@lady-bee-fechin

@smolwash

@stretchy-longstocking

@wildspeciallavender

@freckled-words

@nerdqueenkat

@kateneedscoffee

@nekosounds

@justwritingscibbles

#natemare #natewantstobattle egos #battle ego #battle egos #battle boy #battle boys #YouTuber Egos #Circus AU #Circus Of Souls #x reader #fem!reader

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tomtenadia · 3 years

Text

Island Dreams - Chapter 28

Another chapter for you all.

Elide and Lorcan's wedding is here and And please imagine with me Rowan and Lorcan in a kilt... did it just get a bit hotter in your house?

So, technically, of course clan Whitethorn does not exist so there is no tartan, but since this is a fanfiction, I decided to assign to Rowan my favourite tartan: https://www.lochcarron.co.uk/scotland-forever-modern-heavy-weight-tartan-fabric so I gave him my favourite tartan which is called Scotland Forever.

Also, I am incapable of describing dresses so this is the dress Aelin is wearing: https://www.seraphine.com/en-gb/midnight-silk-lace-maternity-cocktail-dress/

Have fun and happy reading :)

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

The next morning Rowan woke up very early. It was six in the morning and he was fully awake. Slowly he got out of bed, disentangling himself from Aelin without waking her up. He took a peek outside and saw it was going to be another wonderful day. Quietly he went to his suitcase and grabbed his running gear. He had decided to bring it with him in the off chance he had the possibility to go for a run. He went to the bathroom and got changed, then left a message to Aelin in case she woke up while he was out.

Rowan left the hotel and went to Kelvingrove park and took the path to one of his old routes of when he was a student. The morning air was crisp and he enjoyed the feeling of the cool air against his skin. His feet pounding on the path and his heart racing, he sped up a bit and he felt the tension in his body leave him. He meant every single word he had told Aelin the previous night, but he was worried. Not about the whole being parent thing, they would tackle that together, like they had tackled all the problems they had faced in their relationship. No, what was freaking him out was the whole birthing process. He had done enough research to become terrified enough and a part of him regretted his desperate need to know. There was so much that could go wrong and as the moment grew closer, his anxiety spiralled as well but he hoped he had done a good job enough so far to hide his fears from Aelin. She did not need his paranoia as well. He was happy when she let him fuss. It made him feel useful. She was doing the biggest job and he needed to help somehow. He would do everything for the woman who had made his life so complete. He took a path going uphill, searching for a challenge and felt his breath become more laboured as he pushed with his muscles and reached the top of the hill. He stopped at a fountain and drank some water and wetted his hair and looked up. The stunning profile of Glasgow University was in front of him and he stared at the building while a flow of memories hit him and looked back at those four years with fondness. He loved the place and being able to share it with her meant the world to him. And although they had been limited in what they could do, he was happy that he did manage to show her places that he loved. He brushed a hand through his hair and went back running following the path winding through the park. It was still morning and he loved to enjoy the quiet. He only met some keen runners like him and smiled gladly knowing that there were other nutters like him who would go running that early in the morning. Rowan ran for a solid hour, then decided it was enough for one day and slowly made his way back to the hotel. Once in the room he noticed that Aelin was still sleeping so he quietly shed his clothes and walked to the bathroom to take a well deserved shower. Hot water was running on his body soothing the ache in his muscles when a pair of hands found their way on his shoulders. When he turned a naked Aelin was in front of him in the shower box. “So selfish of you to take a shower alone.” She said inching closer to him, her hands brushing his chest and following the lines of his tattoo “so, so selfish.” Her lips placed soft kiss on his pecs and Rowan closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling. In an instant his hand was at the back of her head and he pulled Aelin closer for a kiss that sent her mind reeling. They hadn’t done anything in months because Rowan was worried although Yrene had explained to him that it was still safe if Aelin was willing and felt in the mood. But he had been stubborn. The kiss deepened and Aelin moaned loudly as his hands began trailing along her body. “Ro, please…” she begged him and his kisses moved to her neck, her collarbone, her breasts and slowly he began his descent until he was on his knees in front of her. Her hands knitted in his hair as he parted her legs enough to gain access. She felt his tongue on her and Aelin came undone. The shower took much longer than planned as they gave each other the only possible type of satisfaction allowed by the circumstances. “This shower was more interesting that I had planned.” He commented while getting out of the shower and placing a towel around his waist. “You left me all alone.” She sat on the bed, back against the board and opened her bathrobe, revealing her naked form to him. “Don’t tempt me.” He said sneaking closer and stealing a kiss from her lips “we have a wedding to go to. We need to get dressed.” She closed the bathrobe and got off the bed “Fine.” She tried to grab her suitcase and place it on the bed but failed. Rowan rolled his eyes and helped her “You can ask, you know?” “I could have done it myself.” She added when he got the suitcase for her. Rowan scoffed and she punched him lightly and went back rummaging into her case for the dress she was going to wear then she turned and noticed that Rowan had pulled out a kilt from the dress bag he had been carrying. “You are going to wear a kilt.” Her tone was surprised. She had hoped and her mind had tried to imagine on plenty of occasion how he would look with a kilt. Now she was finally going to see it. “Aye, as will all of the scotsmen at the wedding. I am nae going in a suit, lass.” And his Glaswegian accent became quite strong all of a sudden and she found him even sexier. Instead of getting dressed herself she sat transfixed as she stared at him slowly donning the kilt. The transformation was impressive. The skirt had beautiful blue and purple tones with silver lines. Then he had worn a white shirt and a tie with the same pattern as the kilt and a black jacket. He had tied neatly his hair in a small low pony tail. It was getting longer and she loved it. She felt hot all of a sudden. Once he was ready she took a couple of pictures of him and sent one to Lysandra with the title sex on two legs. Lysandra’s reply was not one for the general public. “Are you going to start dressing instead of gawking?” “Can’t help it when the subject is so hot.” “Come on, get dressed, it’s my turn to gawk.” He grabbed her hand and helped her off the bed. Aelin scoffed “gawk at what? A whale in a dress?” She went to the bathroom and five minutes later she came out and Rowan was standing with his mouth wide open “You are amazing.” She was wearing a simple blue navy dress long to her knees and with lacy short sleeves. She was incredible and he was struck dumb. “Do I look that bad?” She added at his stare. “No,” his voice gruff, he moved a step closer “let’s just say that had it been another situation, you’d be pinned against the wall right now and we would not leave this room for a long time.” He took a step closer and kissed her neck “you look stunning.” She sat down and finished to style her hair and applied just a small amount of makeup. She donned her earrings and saw Rowan kneel behind her. His hands went around her neck and she gasped when he saw him unfolding a necklace and clasping it behind it. She looked at it and was stunned. It was something gorgeous. “It’s the tree of life. It was my mum’s. Dad gave it to her for their first year anniversary. I have been meaning to give it to you for a while now.” Aelin turned “Ro, I can’t accept it, this is a beautiful heirloom.” He shook his head “My mum would be very happy to know you are wearing it.” “Thank you.”she kissed him and tried not to cry. She could not be bothered to do her makeup again. “Are you ready?” Aelin nodded and he helped her by grabbing her flats and placing them on her feet. “I got us a taxi. I am not having you go uphill again like yesterday.” “Thank you. My back and feet appreciate it very much.” When ten minute later they arrived at the cloisters, Aelin was speechless. The place had been decorated with flowers and an arch covered in flowers stood where Elide and Lorcan were meant to stand. Some of the guests had started to arrive and Aelin jumped into the fray and began talking to complete strangers while Rowan stood at her side in silence. He was not as relaxed as she was. His attention shifted when he noticed a group of people coming their way and he recognised them straight away. “What?” Asked Aelin, noticing his reaction. “They are the Warriors. Lorcan’s rugby team.” Aelin turned and the only thing she noticed was a wall of muscles in kilt. She was so busy gawking that she did not notice Lorcan joining them “what?” She asked when she finally heard the man’s voice. “Congratulations.” Lorcan added pointing at the bump but Aelin ignored him. “Yeah sure…” and her stare kept following the rugby team. Rowan rolled his eyes “you should stop gawking. And shall I remind you that you are engaged and pregnant with my kids?” “Sure. Sure” she brushed him off. Lorcan laughed and turned to Rowan “you can meet the guys later.” “How’s Elide doing?” Asked Aelin when she finally came back on planet Earth. Then she noticed Lorcan in kilt as well and she looked appreciatively. Elide was a lucky girl too. “She texted me this morning saying she is nervous. We did this thing of spending the night before apart so she stayed at her parents.” “The venue is amazing, by the way.” Added Aelin pointing at the location. “It was Elide’s idea. She wanted to get married in an original place. She organised everything. I was told to sit tight and make sure to turn up on the correct day and in time.” Aelin laughed “Seems about right.” And then glared at Rowan as if to tell that that was what was expected of him as well when their turn came. “So, when did the bun in the oven happened?” “It’s actually two buns and it did happen in November.” Explained Rowan. Lorcan was about to add something when someone called him and he excused himself. “We are not doing the whole spending the night before apart, Whitethorn.” Rowan stooped and kissed her “as you wish, mo chridhe.” It was twenty minutes later when everyone was invited to sit down as the ceremony was about to start. Lorcan was at the arch and was waiting for Elide to arrive. Aelin noticed that it was a rare thing to see the man smile so brightly. It was a good thing that he did not have his grumpy face on his wedding day. Five minutes later a violin began to play a lovely music and two bridesmaids slowly walked down the aisle joining their place at the arch where they would be standing behind Elide. Finally the music picked up and Elide appeared at the bottom of the aisle, her dad at her arm. Aelin gasped, the woman looked stunning in the light blue dress and she approved that she ditched the classic white. Elide and her dad walked down the aisle and once in front of Lorcan Elide’s dad passed her to Lorcan and she noticed him saying something to the man. Elide kissed her father and the man peeled off, taking his seat at the front. Rowan explained to her that the person officiating the wedding was the captain of the Glasgow Warriors and she thought it was such an original thing. “Good morning friends and family.” Started the man, attracting the attention of the people gathered “The whole team never thought this day would ever happen. Our fierce and grumpy leader finally made it to the altar and is getting hitched with a wonderful woman.” Then he turned to Elide “if he makes you mad or unhappy, there is a bunch of guys in the team who would gladly marry you.” He gave Lorcan a wicked smile “This will be the longest and toughest match of your life, but you have a great teammate and that’s what matters.” He heard the guests laugh “Now, I believe you guys have prepared some vows.” The couple nodded. Lorcan was the first one up “Elide, I might not be the easiest of men, but being with you made me want to become a better man and do my best to make you happy. Just as you did by entering my life. You made me happy. I am not good with feelings, but remember this: I love you.” Elide smiled “The kids and I nicknamed you grumpy captain when we met you that first time and the nickname was perfect, but I learned to know and love the man under that tough mask of yours. We had highs and lows but in every fight we always choose us. No matter what future holds, if you are with me, I will be happy.” Aelin took Rowan’s hand and squeezed it and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. “The rings, please.” The couple exchanged the rings and stood staring at each other while waiting for the ceremony to draw to an end. “Grumpy capt—, I mean Lorcan, do you take Elide as your wife, promise to walk side by side in this adventure, support her and love her in this life and forever more?” “I do.” Said Lorcan, grabbing Elide’s hand. “Elide, do you take Grumpy captain here as your husband, and promise to walk this path together and love him in this life and forever more?” “I think I can manage that.” And she gave Lorcan a big smile full of love and squeezed back his hand. “Elide and Lorcan made their promises in front of their friends and family and it’s now my deepest pleasure to declare them husband and wife. Good luck Elide.” And the woman laughed, whilst Lorcan glared at the man then he turned to his now wife and pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. “Hey, get a room ye two.” Shouted a voice from the background and the guests all laughed. Within minutes they were surrounded by friends and family, all wanting to wish all the best to the new couple. Aelin and Rowan waited on the sidelines until the path was clear. Elide squealed as soon as she saw Aelin “Oh my god, look at you.” She gave her an awkward hug “You two have been busy since we saw you in July.” “We have, but that’s not the important stuff. I am so happy for you two and I can finally say that I saw Lorcan smile.” Elide laughed “he does that.” “The ceremony was brilliant.” “I wanted something original.” Then she looked around “where did you leave Rowan? I thought you two came together.” Aelin turned around expecting to see Rowan but he was not there. At a more careful look he saw him with Lorcan and the rest of the rugby team. Aelin pointed. “Your husband has stolen my fiancé and they are having a manly rugby chat.” “Fiance?” Aelin nodded and showed her the ring “He proposed on the winter solstice at Callanish. A month later I found out we were going to have twins.” Elide squealed again “I am so happy for you two.” “And of course you and your husband are invited to the wedding. As soon as we decide a date. We thought it was best to wait until our two girls were born and have them as well at the wedding.” Aelin and Elide kept on chatting until Lorcan arrived to grab Elide and tell her that they were expected for a photo session. “We’ll finish later.” Aelin nodded and Elide disappeared. Rowan arrived a moment later. “So, did you meet all the guys?” “I did and it was amazing.” She kissed him “Good.” “Lorcan told me to start heading for the museum, they will join us soon.” “Good, considering it will take me a lifetime to get there, it seems like a great idea.” And it did. Half an hour later they finally arrived at the museum and Aelin was exhausted. She sat on one of the benches inside the museum. Once she felt rested they walked to the main reception area and checked which table they had been assigned and Rowan took Aelin’s hand “let’s sit down.” Aelin collapsed on the chair with a loud sigh and the only person already at their table gave her a smile in understanding. Rowan removed his jacket and placed it on the back of the chair and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, showing off his tattoo. “Awesome tattoo,” said one of the guys from the rugby team while walking past “that is quite some fine artwork you have there.” “Thank you,” that was all Rowan said. Aelin leaned to the side “It does make you very sexy, I must admit. And I have noticed too many women already making goo goo eyes at you.” He put a hand on the bump “let them look. I am not interested.” Soon after, he stood “Fancy some appetisers?” Aelin looked at him with love “Yes please, I am starving and I don’t think I can wait until the happy couple arrives.” Rowan laughed and went to the table with the appetisers. He was filling up a plate for himself and Aelin when a woman stopped at his side “Are you a rugby player too?” She took a bit of her food in a way that Rowan could only call provocative “Hi, I am Remelle.” Rowan turned and ignored her but the woman was relentless “I saw you with the team. I was quite fascinated by the hair. Do you dye it?” “No, I was born like this.” He tried to shake her off but she placed her hand on his bicep and looked at him from bottom to top and bit her bottom lip in admiration “I wonder where Lorcan kept such a fine specimen of a friend all of this time.” Rowan growled “I am not available.” And he turned “see the blond woman over there in the blue dress? She is my fiancé and very pregnant. Aelin is also very jealous, so unless you want to get punched in the face I would suggest that you let my arm go and go find yourself another prey. Again, I am not available.” “Pity.” She pulled away “Call me if you need a break. Lorcan has my number.” And the woman finally walked away and Rowan sighed relieved and went back on his mission of stocking up in food and hoped Aelin did not notice that interaction. He went back to the table and loved the smile of pure joy when Aelin noticed the food. “I got you a nice selection.” “And you got yourself a girlfriend as well.” Rowan froze. Shit, she had seen it. “I did not. I told her about you, but she was persistent. She left only when I told her that you would easily kick her arse.” “That I would. And I would also win, even this pregnant. Bitch.” And turned to tackle some of the food Rowan had brought her. He leaned back on the chair and placed an arm around her shoulders and grabbed something to eat from the plate. “Thank you for the food.” “It was a very risky endeavour but I’ll go again if you are still hungry.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “You okay?” “Yeah, my belly just feels weird.” “How weird?” “Just… tighter…” she tried to explain. Rowan got lost in thought and she knew he was going through all the books he read “Could it be Braxton Hicks?” “Look who’s a good student.” She kissed his cheek “It might be.” “Are you in pain?” Aelin shook her head then she stood and Rowan looked at her worried. She leaned forward and told him where she was going in his ear and he smiled “Don’t wonder around the museum.” “Don’t eat all my food.” Aelin came back twenty minutes later and was breathless “the friggin bathroom is downstairs,” she growled “and I could not find the lift.” Rowan pulled her down “Sit down. Lorcan and Elide are back so the real meal can start.” “Finally.” “She is eating for three.” He explained to the rest of the people at the table. The first course arrived and Aelin laughed when she realised it was a very fancy version of Mac and cheese. She had loved the wedding from the start. It had been fun and original and the fact that they had not chosen pretentious food was another bonus. The lady opposite her noticed her big smile “Lorcan begged Elide to choose comfort food. He said rugby players were not used to fancy food and tiny portions, so she went for comfort food.” “I love it. Seriously, it’s brilliant.” Added Aelin excited “It’s not just the rugby players.” She turned to Rowan and saw him enjoying the food “there are no vegetables, will you be okay?” “Today it’s a day of celebration and I can make an exception.” “You will go for another run tomorrow morning, won’t you?” “Totally.” The meal continued and more courses came and all of them were comfort food that apparently Lorcan had requested. Aelin was delighted. The meal had been amazing. Aelin shifted again in her seat and rubbed her bump. “Aelin, is there something wrong?” “No just another sharp pain and the girls are quite active.” She put a hand on his knee “I am fine. Don’t worry.” His hand went to her back and started massaging the spot that usually caused her problems. “Do I need to take you to the hospital?” “Of course you should not.” Aelin said almost outraged “I am fine. Stop fussing.” And she stood and went for a walk. Rowan sighed. He was about to stand and and join Aelin when Elide and Lorcan came to them while they were doing their runs. Lorcan had removed his jacket, his shirt had one button open and the sleeves were rolled up. “How is it going? Did you loose Aelin?” Rowan shook his head “Our girls are quite active and she is quite uncomfortable.” Elide walked away and joined Aelin who was pacing on an isolated part of the hall. “Hey you.” “Hi,” replied Aelin in a low voice. “Are you okay? Rowan seems worried.” Aelin chuckled “he is always fussing about me.” Then she leaned against the wall as her strength was abandoning her, but if on one side standing was helping with her discomfort, it was also making her very tired. Her back and feet were killing her. She sighed loudly and the started sobbing “I am so tired.” Elide hugged her but Aelin pulled away “It’s your wedding, you should not be here looking after a mess of a weepy pregnant woman.” “Lorcan is at your table chatting with Rowan and the other guests. I am fine.” “No, just go. I will be fine. I just need a couple of minutes.” “Aelin…” “I am fine.” She almost growled. Elide was just trying to be nice and Aelin had behaved badly, but she was feeling horrible and uncomfortable and just wanted to curl in a heap and cry. Elide nodded and left. Rowan arrived a few minutes later and she ran into his arms, sobbing heavily. “Hey,” he kissed the top of her head “Let it out. Let it all out.” “I am so tired of being pregnant.” She blurted through tears. “I know, Fireheart. A few more months…” he held her close as much as the bump allowed “I need you to be strong for Freyja and Morrigan. I want them to know they have the most amazing mum.” He kissed her again and she stayed in his arms in silence for a while. “They are bringing more food, fancy going to see what is the next course?” He told her, hoping the news of more food on its way would cheer up a little. Aelin gave him a wet laugh “Yes.”

It was much later in the afternoon when Elide and Lorcan announced that dances were starting in the hall next door. The guests left their tables and slowly moved next door to begin the proper celebrations. It was not a proper Scottish wedding without a ceilidh. Rowan held out his hand to Aelin “Shall we?” Elide and Lorcan had their first dance together as husband and wife with the band playing You & I by Skerryvore which apparently had been a song that Lorcan had dedicated to Elide when they celebrated their first year together. Once they had their dance, the band called all the other guests to join them for a few dances before the ceilidh started. Aelin looked at Rowan with a mocking expression. “We are not dancing.” He replied at her stare “And if there is a slow dance before the ceilidh gets in full swing we can just hold each other and sway side to side.” “That is not dancing.” “It is when you are over six months pregnant. Plus, I’d really, really love to dance with you.” “Well,” Aelin drawled, trying to stand and accepting his hand “I can’t say no to an offer from such a sexy man in kilt.” They reached the hall and Rowan had been right. The ceilidh was not in full swing yet and the band was playing a couple of slow songs and a few couples were on the dance floor. “Come,” he offered her his hand and Aelin accepted. They moved to a corner of the dance area. “Come on everyone.”shouted one member of the band “If the pregnant lady can dance, you all can. Don’t be shy.” Aelin hid behind Rowan in embarrassment. Rowan turned Aelin, her back against his chest, his arms around her and began swaying from side to side following the rhythm of the music. “I hate that we can’t dance. This is my first ceilidh.” Rowan kissed her head “we will have one at our wedding and we can dance all we want then.” She squeezed his hand in response. They danced for a good twenty minutes until the band announced that it was finally time for the serious stuff. Aelin squeezed his hand hard “I need to sit.” She sounded almost breathless. Rowan quickly took her hand and together they walked back to their table and Aelin sat down and he crouched in front of her. “You are not well.” She leaned back on the chair “I feel so tired and I am dizzy as well.” Rowan grabbed a glass and filled it with water “try and drink a bit.” She did that and he noticed her hands shook a bit. Then Aelin tried to stand up but fell in Rowan’s arms, “I am feeling sick.” He walked her to the lift and accompanied her to the toilets. Embarrassed he walked in with her and apologised to a couple of women “I’ll be here.” Aelin left the stall ten minutes later and she could see panic in Rowan’s face. “We are going to the hospital.” “We are at a wedding.” She whispered while leaning heavily against the wall. “I don’t care. I’ll talk to Elide and Lorcan but we are going.” Aelin nodded. They went back upstairs and he helped her sit down again at the table “let me go and talk to them.” He came back ten minutes later “Let’s go. There should be a taxi outside.” Aelin followed him in silence and slowly, she felt awful. “Did you apologise from me?” She asked him once they were in the taxi. “They were fine. They asked me to give them an update.” He pulled her to him in an embrace. “I ruined the wedding for you.” “You did no such thing.”

They arrived at the hospital half an hour later and Aelin noticed that the waiting room of the A&E was busy. “Ro, we are going to spend the entire day in here.” He took her hand “I don’t care. You are not well and I’d rather spend a day in the A&E and get you checked than ignore it. Humour me, okay?” He stood and went to check her in, then bought her a bottle of water from the vending machine and got back to her. He took his jacket and placed it on her shoulders and pulled Aelin to his chest. “Sleep a bit. I’ll call you when it’s our turn.” Aelin sighed “This is a much bigger hospital, the A&E is packed and I am not a priority so we’ll have a long wait ahead.” “Then we’ll wait.” He kissed her.

“Aelin Galathynius.” An hour later a woman called her and Rowan nudged her awake. “Let’s go.” Aelin stood and followed him. The doctor took her to a bed and Rowan helped her to get on. “So, Aelin, tell me how you feel.” Rowan took place at her side and she grabbed his hand “I am 23 weeks pregnant with twins.” Rowan squeezed her hand “We were at a wedding and I started feeling sick and dizzy. I threw up quite savagely.” “Do you have an headache?” “Yeah,” she admitted. “She has been feeling discomfort and pain in her bump.” Added Rowan who was going through all of the small signs he had noticed “She has been more tired than usual.” “We have been playing tourists.” Explained Aelin. “Did you have abdominal pain?” And the doctor showed Aelin where and Aelin nodded “It started this morning.” “What about breathing?” “Sometimes I struggle.” “Ok, Aelin, I want to run some tests. I assume your ob/gyn made you aware that with multiple pregnancy you can develop preeclampsia. Some of the symptoms you are describing are the ones you’d develop with it, so I want to make sure you are fine.” Aelin nodded and Rowan thanked the doctor.

It was much later when the doctor came back and Rowan stood. He had sat down on the bed beside her. “So Aelin,” said the woman, sitting down on the stool in front of her “The test are all good. Your blood pressure is within the correct range. I can suggest that you just overworked yourself. Being pregnant with twins puts a lot of more stress on your body.” She explained and Aelin saw Rowan’s face relax. “But I still want you to go upstairs and get checked by the ob/gyn. I am just and A&E doctor and I want you to be seen by a specialist.” “She knows you are coming so all you have to do is go up and tell at the reception that you have arrived.” “Thank you doctor,” said Aelin and Rowan repeated it as well then helped her get off the bed.

It was late afternoon when she got discharged. The ob/gyn had given her a very thorough check-up and Rowan had approved. She also confirmed that some of the burst of pain she felt might have been Braxton Hicks and she saw a smug smile appear on Rowan’s face. She had been told that she was healthy and the babies were doing well. Rowan had been nervous the whole time until he heard the doctor confirm that it was probably exhaustion and that Aelin had to rest. The doctor had left her with a letter for Yrene so she could do further checks once back home. “Can we go back to hotel?” Asked Aelin, leaning against Rowan “I don’t think I can cope going back to the wedding.” “I already texted Lorcan. We are going back to the hotel and watch tv in bed, or read.” “Thank you.” She breathed. The taxi finally arrived and forty minutes later they were back at the hotel. “I am peeved.” Said Aelin while getting changed “It was my first Scottish wedding and I spent it at the A&E. It’s the second time I miss a ceilidh. First is my ex-husband and now this.” And she pointed at her swollen belly and collapsed on the bed in just her bra and pj bottoms. “Being pregnant sucks” she added while removing her bra and wearing the top of her pyjama. Rowan had changed into comfortable clothes as well and now climbed in bed beside her “How can I help you be less miserable?” He gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek. “Cake” was Aelin answer “you have cakes at weddings and we are probably missing ours.” He laughed “there is a Tesco not far from here. I’ll go and get you cake.” “You really are the man of my dreams.” “The things you will say for cake, eh? I just wonder if you love me as much.” Aelin grabbed his face between her hands “You are right behind a good chocolate cake, I promise.” And kissed him deeply “I love you.” “Liar,” he joked. Then he stood and left the room.

Rowan came back half an hour later and smiled when he entered the room. Aelin was on her side and was fast asleep and the tv still on. He placed the bag with some of the things he had bought for her on the desk and joined her in bed but without waking her up. He switched off the tv and grabbed a book. He sat with his back at the head of the bed, one hand holding the book, the other gently caressing Aelin’s head. “You are lucky I don’t eat sweet stuff.” Then leaned over and kissed her blonde mop of hair. “Love you.”

TAG: @rowaelinismyotp

#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #rowan x aelin #lorcan salvaterre #elide lochan #elide x lorcan #fanfic #fluff #Throne of Glass series

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redhairedfeistynerd · 4 years

Text

The Art of Folding Laundry

Pairing: singledad!Bucky x reader

Summary: A moment of silence is all Bucky needs.

Words: 1700

Warnings: Fluff, kids (Bucky’s kids)

A/N: This is part of my singledad!Bucky series.

Slivers of light are starting to peek through the wooden blinds in the family room, he knows he only has another hour or so before the girls wake up. They’ll poke their heads in, bleary eyed and asking him to make a special breakfast; most likely an omelet or waffles with fresh berries.

He takes a deep breath in and enjoys the silence. The few memories of quiet days rotating around his head, usually when the girls sleep or if they spend a night at a friend's house. Memories of life before fatherhood pop up from time to time. The battles, the carnage, the loneliness.

He doesn’t belong to that world anymore.

He’s part of a world that once had dirty diapers and burp cloths and now his world is full of hair braiding and unicorns.

And everything is calm during these wee hours of the morning.

The calmness, the eerie stillness around him before he would fire off a shot from his rifle. This, this was the calm that spread over him now, as he reached over to pull another towel into his hands. Corner to corner, fold, corners again, fold, and they better match up perfectly.

Add it to the pile.

Repeat.

Bucky found great comfort in folding the laundry.

Pick up another towel from the basket. Fold. Repeat. He often felt that it was therapeutic; his brain stopped running in circles, his thoughts generally focusing around the girls.

His girls.

He has a hard time remembering what life was like before them. They consume his thoughts most days. Every leaf that falls, every laugh he hears – he thinks of his girls.

Maybe he’s getting softer with each year that passes. There are no longer missions for him to go on; he gave that up long ago, when fatherhood became his number one job.

Piper came first; silently she fell into this world (and his arms) 8 years ago. He cut the cord and she was handed over to him first, her tiny eyes looked up and he swore that she knew he was her dad. Bucky had never felt love like that before and if anything, it got stronger as each day passed.

He pleaded for a second child and 15 months later, Riley was born. Oh, and did she come into this world screaming; red faced and hands in fists, punching at the cold air. Every day for the last 6 years has been an adventure with his younger daughter. She was the fire he needed, the motivation; his strength to keep going each day and to not give up.

He was forever in debt to his daughters for making him a better person.

And then there was you.

He couldn’t put a name to it yet, whatever it was that was going on.

Friend, confidant, oh he wishes he could up the ante. Lady friend, sweetheart, lover. He shouldn’t get so far ahead; his fantasies were pulling him deeper. He hadn’t even...

“OOF!”

The sudden shout and then feeling of sinking yanked him out of his dream-like state. He heard her giggles before he saw her limbs flailing from the centre of the laundry pile beside him on the couch.

“Daddy you had the goofiest look on your face and you were bitin’ at your lip and you didn’t even hear me do my sneak attack. I must be getting really good at the super spy stuff!” Riley laughed, pushing the wash cloths and towels to the floor.

Bucky tries to make a serious dad face at Riley but the washcloth resting on her strawberry blonde curls has his smiling ear to ear. “You goof,” he laughs, swiping the blue cloth off of her head.

“But I am the best super spy, right Pops? Better than Pip, right?” She crawls out of the pile and into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Yes, my sweet girl, even better than Pips. BUT she rules when it comes to listening to other people’s... CONVERSATIONS!” Bucky reaches his left arm behind the couch and scoops up his oldest daughter, who is so full of laughter than her face is turning red and tears and almost springing from her bright blue eyes.

“POPPPPPPS!! PUT. ME. DOWN!”

He knows this is the end of his alone time but it is also the beginning of a new day with his daughters –and nothing will ever top that.

He does wonder about you though. What are you doing this morning? Are you sleeping still? Maybe you are thinking about him as well. He watches Piper and Riley scamper off into the kitchen and hears the clank of the bowls and utensils that girls are taking out of the drawers. Once they are out of sight, he picks his phone up from the side table and opens up his messages. Last message, two days ago – he had wished you good luck before you went for your review at work. He should send you a quick text, see how things went. Maybe you wanted to come over for breakfast. He tapped a short message and sent it off, leaving it open for her to pop by anytime this morning.

Maybe she would fold laundry with him between giggles and quick kisses while the girls ran around in the back yard.

Maybe the girls could go by their friend's house and he could forget about the laundry and kiss you longer and brush the hair back from your face. You would shy away and hide behind it but he would want to see the way your eyes sparkled before and after his lips were on yours.

“Pops, can we have waffles? The yummy chocolate ones you make, please?” Riley asks pushing her face right into his.

“Yes, yes. How about you pull out the mix and set everything up on the counter, ok?”

“Sure thing,” she says, smiling wide, clearly happy that she can help Bucky and have her breakfast of choice.

The girls are silent as they scoop berries and whip cream into their mouths; their waffles have long been devoured (he has left two for you in the oven, he knows you how much you love them). There’s a quick tapping at the front door and it opens slowly, your voice shouting “Barnes family, I have come to eat all of your waffles! Where are you hiding them?”

Riley stands up on her chair shouting “In the oven! THE OVEN!”

“Oh Barnsey, trying to keep me away from my sweet waffles. I see how it is.” She walks towards where Bucky is sitting at the table and reaches out, tickling the back of neck and giggling.

He pretends to be annoyed and tries to brush her hands off of his neck but she is determined to make him squeal, maybe even scream. Standing up from his chair, her hands still trying to tickle him, he turns quickly and pretends he is going to lunge at her. His girls are quick though and wrap themselves around him, Riley has managed to cling to his right leg, while Piper is pulling his left arm and telling him she is stronger than his fancy arm. Their giggling is contagious and he can’t help but join in. Once their laughter seizes, he unwraps his youngest from him leg and sends them off to get washed and dressed for the day. They both hug y/n and set off upstairs to get changed.

She moves to the oven and reaches in with her bare hand to retrieve a waffle, instantly taking a bit of the warm square. “Oh, these are extra good today, did you put extra love in it for me,” she says winking at him and hopping down the steps to the family room. She takes one look at the laundry on the couch and floor and raises her left eyebrow. “Well Barnes, you sure know how to rile a girl up,” she says poking at the laundry on the couch. “Are these the kind of dates you have planned for me?”

Bucky just stares and keeps staring until he starts feeling a bit uncomfortable and he knows that you can tell because a smile is slowly forming on your lips. She moves forward and before he knows what you are doing (he would have been a horrible super soldier around you) you’ve tackled him down on the couch. He smirks and thinks that, this is where he wanted you in the first place and now that he has you here, what is he going to do with you. A week has passed since you had kissed, while lying in the backyard, staring at the clouds together. He’s pulled out of his thoughts when you shift above him, straddling him and staring back into his eyes.

“Well Barnes, do I get to kiss you now?” Her left eyebrow has lifted as the she speaks; he loves how she looks at the very moment and nods his head in response. “Good. A week was too long not being able to be this close to you.”

Oh, and does he ever want to be closer than this with you.

She leans down, her hair tickling his face right before their lips are touching, Bucky’s flesh hand moves to her side rubbing it softly and shifting her dress around. “Better not lift that too high Barnsey, you don’t want your girls to see anything.”

“That’s not, that’s not what I was tryin’ to...”

“I’m just trying to work you up, you goof. I know you wouldn’t even fathom doing something like that.” She leans runs a hand through his hair and leans down into another kiss.

He hears their feet, elephant like, bounding down the stairs and quickly shifts y/n off into the laundry pile that still remains on his couch. “Is this your way of telling me that you want me to finish folding your laundry? You could have just asked instead of throwing me into it,” she jokes.

Bucky chuckles at her smart-ass response and turns to catch Riley as she is about to wrap her arms around his neck.

“Ha! Not this time, sweet pea! I heard you thumping down the stairs like a wild animal!” He pulls his youngest into a big bear hug and kisses the top of her head. “Go get your shoes on and we’ll meet you in the backyard, ok?” He watches Riley run off to grab Piper and their shoes a nd when he turns back around to give y/n a quick kiss she whispers in his ear,

“So, what’s our next date? Are you going to teach me how to fluff the pillows on your bed?”

#bucky barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes and you #bucky barnes and reader #singledad!bucky #bucky barnes fluff #my writing #redwrites

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fierysafrina · 4 years

Text

Need You Now | Satan x f!reader

Fandom: Obey Me! Rating: Explicit Word Count: 3.600 Genre: Smut | Slice of Life | Romance | Fluff Additional tags: Breath play | Fingering | Double penetration | slight Voyeurism | Hair pulling | Dirty talk Summary: Who knew a trip to a library will bring you this far? Notes: And here it is. At long last! I wanted to post this yesterday on his birthday, but didn’t find the chance, so here it is. One day later, but not less filthier asdfghjkl I apologize ahead if there are mistakes left cause I’m running on time, but I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

If there was one thing you knew, it was that libraries in the human world held nothing against the Royal Library in Devildom. Not even infamous Tianjin Binhai and Alexandria libraries could measure up to it. With many floors beneath the surface, Royal Library was one of the most stunning libraries you had ever seen. It made you wonder how in the whole wide world, Celestial Realm and Devildom did Satan get a job in this one. Then again it was Satan we were talking about. He could devour book after book with no stopping, knowing of things you didn’t even know existed just like you didn’t know demons and hell really existed.

Which was why you were currently gaping at the bookshelf after the bookshelf while Satan was calmly walking in front of you. As someone who loves books and even has a small share of them at home, this felt like living in a dream. It was too good to be true. You pinched yourself into the same place as you did ten times before and no wonder a small redness was already visible.

Not hearing your footsteps behind, Satan stopped and turned. He raised an eyebrow when he saw you peeking behind a bookshelf, eyes unable to stay in one place for long before you walked to the next bookshelf and repeated the same thing. He let out a silent sigh and shook his head, unsure how to keep you distracted.

“You know,” you began slowly when you finally stopped by his side. Your eyes were still all around the place, still unsure where to look before you finally looked at him. “I love this place. Tell me, is there a house built in? An apartment? If you say yes, I’d believe you without checking the facts.” you said ever so seriously and Satan believed you.

“I must disappoint you, but there are no apartments in this library.” He chuckled. “Rooms for staff yes, but nothing else.” He began walking once more, but this time you followed right away. “Each floor has three rooms for staff. One on each side and one in the middle. Makes it a better help when searching for books.”

“Okay, but how many … demons are working here?” you asked.

“Too many; but then again there are always at least two by the counters beside those rooms, at least three inside to prepare books if you check them over the computer you saw on the ground floor and there’s always at least five returning the books to their right places.” He explained and you nodded intently. “Although lately, especially in the floors beneath the surface, we’re trying with a different approach to return the books. It’s something similar to the Harry Potter wizarding world.”

Your eyes widened at that. “You mean like magic?” you wiggled your fingers in front of your face and Satan laughed, nodding. “What about Little D’s?”

“They’re mostly behind in the archive, but they’re also looking if the books went to the right place.” He answered and stopped in front of the elevator. “If you wish we can check it out later.”

“I’d love to!” you agreed without hesitation.

Satan smiled at your enthusiasm before you walked inside the elevator. “I hope you don’t have other things to do today. It could prolong too late.”

“Don’t worry,” You waved with a hand. Tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, you wrapped your arms around yourself, smiling. “If I could, I'd live in a library.”

“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow, curious. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” With a shrug you followed Satan out when you reached the second floor. Your eyes widened, feeling like you just stepped into a castle instead. Shaking your head, you paced to Satan’s side, continuing; “I love books. I have two bookshelves back in the human world. I want more of course.” you grinned.

“So what kind of books are to your taste?” Satan asked as you walked down the hallway.

You kept looking around, almost missing his question. “Criminal, sci-fi, stories based on real events are cool too.” You murmured and stopped when you spotted a sofa chair amongst all those bookshelves. “Are you kidding me?” you looked at Satan, scowling. “You guys can literally sleep here on those chairs and no one would bat an eye?”

Satan looked behind you and smiled. “Sleep over the night no, but something similar.”

“You guys are no fun.” You pouted before you continued your way. “Hey, since I’m here, can I look around?” you asked, pointing behind yourself.

“Sure,” he nodded and before he could say anything else, you were long gone. Satan stood there, in the middle of the hallway, watching your fast decreasing form with wide eyes. He laughed, shaking with his head and continued with his work.

Stretching your arms, you straightened on the sofa chair you were sitting. With legs beneath you and book on your lap, you completely lost track of time. Checking the time on your D.D.D the corners of your lips twitched when you saw a couple of messages from Satan. The last one seemed to be from a couple of minutes ago, asking for a second time about your whereabouts. Feeling guilty for not responding, you decided to call him instead, after all, you didn’t exactly send him where you were in this big library.

It only rang once, when he picked it up.

“Where are you?”

Smiling nervously, you looked around. “Among … history, I think?”

“You think? I’ve been trying to contact you for the last hour, sending you message after message only to get no response. I was ready to overthrow the whole library.”

“I’m sorry!” you were quick to apologize. “I just got so absorbed into the book that it completely slipped my mind to text you where I’m at.” Placing a paper among the pages, you closed the book and stood up, but not before putting on your shoes. “Where are you? I’ll meet you halfway.” You said and looked around, noticing no one around.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there quickly.”

You pouted. “Then I’ll look around a bit if you don’t mind.”

Satan chuckled. “I don’t. But try to be in a visible place.”

“Aye, aye sir!” you were grinning from ear to ear. Hanging up, you placed the phone on top of the book before you disappeared among the bookshelves once more.

You were humming to yourself when you felt hands on your waist. Your eyes widened and you turned your head enough to see blond hair. Satan was leaning his forehead on your shoulder, his grip tightening until you were sure it would leave marks in its wake.

“Satan?” you called quietly, softly and tried to turn, but he didn’t budge. “What’s wrong?” you asked worried and narrowed your eyebrows.

The moment his lips brushed against your skin, you remembered the incident with syrup. You blinked, but before you could speak, Satan bit on your shoulder. You flinched and the moment you took a step forward, Satan pushed you, caging you between his arms and bookshelf. You barely caught yourself only to be turned around and before you knew it, his lips were on yours. Your eyes were wide at his actions that seemed rushed and needy. Your cheeks heated up in a second when you felt a familiar sensation in your stomach.

“I’m sorry…” Satan panted, his warm breath tickling your neck.

A shiver ran down your spine as you tried to control your sudden need for more.

“I-I’ll explain everything, but I need you right now…” his grip tightened before he nibbled on your neck, leaving a small bruise behind.

You unconsciously shut your eyes and parted your lips, a silent moan escaping. With one hand, Satan held your chin and turned it his way, his lips capturing yours while with the other he began to grope your chest. You felt something wrap around your leg.

“Can-can I?” Satan stuttered.

You found yourself nodding and Satan wasted no time to press himself closer to you. You felt his hardness through your clothes and unconsciously ground yourself against him, wanting more. The kiss was anything but soft and gentle. It was needy and rushed. He was holding you by your shoulders before he sneaked one of his hands down your arm and thigh.

Feeling goosebumps on your arms, you shiver when his hand sneaked under the vintage dress that you’re wearing. He half groaned, half moaned into the kiss when he felt your panties already damp and you felt your cheeks grow hot because now he knew. He could feel what he was doing to you. Placing hands on his shoulders, you supported yourself from falling to the floor because the next moment he pressed a finger to your heat, making you gasp in anticipation.

“Fuck, you’re so tight…” Satan cursed when he pulled away and it only dawned on you in that same moment he already had one finger inside. He looked into your eyes. “Is this your first time?” he breathed out as he pulled the finger back out, rubbing at your clit instead.

You moaned at the loss, but shook with your head. “Well…” you began, but stopped. You were the first to avert your gaze, feeling embarrassed to admit it. “I-I tried d-different things.” You stuttered and moaned when every once in a while he slid his finger inside. His fingers felt completely different than yours did. It felt so much better. He was already filling you with just one. How much fuller will you be when he penetrates you?

Leaning closer, Satan began to trail his kisses down your jaw and beneath and then to your neck, making it almost impossible to focus on anything else. You closed your eyes, your fingers going through his blond hair that felt so soft to the touch. Adding another finger, you gripped his hair tighter when you felt something wrap around your panties and tear them apart. Eyes widening, you looked down and bit your lower lip, seeing his tail forming and twirling around your waist.

“Does it bother you?” Satan spoke, his lips peppering your shoulders.

You shook your head and he cursed silently when his fingers easily slipped inside.

“You’re so wet…” he growled, gritting his teeth. “Does it turn you on to see my tail?”

You felt the tail wrap itself around your waist harder, its sharpness almost prodding through the dress and into your skin. You were dripping over his fingers, but couldn’t find it in yourself to care more than you did for the fact that you wanted more. More of his touch, more of him.

“Tell me …” Satan whispered against your ear, his warm breath sending shivers down your spine. “What did you do? How did you do it?”

“M-mostly w-with fingers—” You gasped when his fingers went deeper inside you.

“And?” he growled, relishing at watching your expression.

“P-pillow!” you stuttered with a moan following right behind. “Fuck, Satan!” you gripped on his upper arms, biting your lower lip.

“Did you do it since you came to Devildom?” he asked, his green eyes focused solely on you.

You parted your lips, panting as your hips rocked against his hand, wanting more friction. A whine escaped you when he stilled his movements, which made you look at him with tears brimming in your eyes.

“Answer me, kitten.”

“Yes!” you nodded rapidly. “I-I did it here a-as well!” you stuttered, cheeks hot both from embarrassment and lust that was overwhelming you each second more. “I-I wanted to do it with you so much…” you admitted and widened your eyes when you realized what you just spoke.

Satan stilled completely, his own eyes wide as he stared at you. The edges of his tail prodding through your dress and digging into your skin. It was wrapped around you possessively, marking you with its sharp edges like it wanted you to remember to whom you belonged.

You covered your face and moaned at the loss of his fingers inside you when he pulled them out and grabbed your hands instead. He pried them off your face and you realized his cheeks were dark.

“You have no idea how long I waited to hear this.” He was the first to break the silence only to capture your lips with his, shoving you against the bookshelf. His hands gripped yours tight as his tongue slipped into your mouth, deepening the kiss. He released your hands soon after and you went with fingers through his hair, tugging on the edges, making him moan.

He grinded against you and you could feel his bulge which made you grind back, trying to match up with him. This time you didn’t care if someone heard you, because the next moment he was sliding into you painfully slowly, relishing at every gasp and moan that left your lips as your fingers dug into his scalp.

“Fuck, you’re so tight …” he growled against your lips. Once completely inside you, he stopped to let you adjust before he began to move slowly. He raised one of your legs for better access and you let him.

Your eyes fluttered open, looking up into the ceiling. There was pain, but it slowly turned into pleasure and you wanted more. “F-faster, please…” you whispered and Satan complied.

His thrusts became faster, slamming into you harder. His hands were on your waist, trying to keep you in place as his tail trailed up your side, swiping itself over your lips. You parted them and it slipped inside. You shut your eyes, moaning around his tail, completely oblivious to green eyes that watched you. Your walls clenched around his cock and Satan groaned. He leaned down and nibbled on your neck, leaving a small bruise in its wake.

“I-I was always-ah thinking of you …” you moaned.

“Y-yeah?” Satan stuttered. “What were you thinking? What was I doing to you?”

Your cheeks heated up. "Y-you took me from be-behind while I was supporting my-self on the w-wall." you stuttered.

Satan leaned forward and began to kiss your neck and collarbones. "What else?" He whispered, taking his time in pleasuring you as his thrusts became rather painfully slow and teasing.

"You-you used fingers y-you make me c-come t-two times in a row…" you gasped when he stilled completely inside, his cock reaching even deeper. His tail wrapped itself around your neck, making it slightly harder to breathe, but not enough to make you unconscious. You shut your eyes, your walls clenching around his cock more than before.

"You like that?" Satan asked as his tail tightened its grip just a bit harder.

You parted your lips, moaning in answer.

"What a filthy girl you are." He snarled and began to pound into you, taking you by surprise. You yelped and held onto his shoulders, unable to hide your moans and pants, your nails digging into his shirt.

"If you won't stay quiet someone will come to check." He said against your lips. "But maybe that's what you want," he gritted his teeth; "since you're swallowing me more than you possibly can." His tail lessened it's grip around your neck and it trailed down, sliding along his cock.

Your eyes shot wide open when it slid inside along his cock. "Satan!" You hissed his name, tensing at the sudden penetration.

Satan began to pamper you with kisses on your cheeks, over the tears that escaped. You panted, trying to relax, but it was hard because he began to move slow, yet stilling every now and then. You leaned your forehead on his shoulder, unconsciously biting into the soft material beneath, as pain began to turn into pleasure and you soon started to beg for more. And Satan gave in.

Watching your expression filled with nothing but pleasure edged him on. He reached for your hands, fingers intertwining as he leaned them on each side of your head on the bookshelf behind you. He completely ignored the book that fell down by your feet.

"Shit!" You cursed, feeling you were close. "Shit, shit, shit…" you painted and Satan paced up, his pants, hot breath mixing with yours. "I'm so close, Satan. Please!" You begged and looked at him with tears in your eyes.

"I'm close too, kitten. S-so close." He whispered and when he felt your walls tighten around his cock, he pulled you into a kiss that prevented you from moaning even louder. He didn’t want to have more company than there already was. With a few more thrusts he was quick to follow you, stilling inside you completely. He grunted with eyes shut and it was your turn to pamper him with kisses along his face, a small smile breaking on your lips.

Satan mirrored it, pulling you into another kiss that was gentle, soft to touch.

After you both caught your breath, Satan pulled out of you and you felt his cum dripping down your thigh. A shiver ran down your spine at the odd feeling, but frowned when you saw Satan was staring at you. He was quick to dress himself and thankfully you wore a dress so you didn't need much fixation aside from your hair.

"What?" You asked, head tilted on the side, trying to ignore the slick on your thighs that freely ran down.

"Have you checked the books you wish to bring along?" He asked like the two of you just didn't have sex between the bookshelves.

"I don't need any." You smiled and reached for his hand that he didn't hesitate to take. He raised it and pressed a kiss on the back, smiling as he stared directly into your eyes.

Your cheeks heated up, but your head snapped towards the footsteps that were coming closer. Your heart paced up and Satan chuckled as he pulled you closer and turned you both around so he managed to hide you completely. Peeking over his shoulder, you spotted a Little D with green horns. Your eyes widened, recognizing it.

“What?” Satan’s voice was slightly harsh, directed at the Little D, who didn’t seem to be bothered by it. As a matter of fact it looked slightly disappointed, which confused you.

His green eyes stared at Satan before they focused on you. Blinking a couple of times, he turned and left, not a word spoken.

“What was that?” you murmured more to yourself than to Satan.

Satan pursued lips into a thin line. You looked at him and he couldn’t resist kissing you on the lips. Your eyes widened at his gesture and his lips turned into a smirk.

“Don’t pay attention to him.” he said, his fingers intertwined with yours, giving your hand a small squeeze.

You hummed and tilted head to the side. “Why?” you asked, looking at him. “I wanted to talk with him.” you pouted and Satan laughed.

“You’ll have many chances later.” he pulled you to his side, his tail wrapping itself around your waist.

Your breath hitched before you felt something being put over your shoulders. Your eyes widened seeing it was his jacket and you looked at him confused.

“For your dress.” he mumbled under his breath, his cheeks turning into a darker shade.

You blinked and looked down, seeing it was slightly torn around your waist. Covering your face, you couldn’t stop the heat from spreading over your cheeks and ears, remembering how his tail felt around you. You buried your face into his chest, hands clinging on his shirt as you groaned. He chuckled, kissing top of your head.

“Come on, let’s go back.”

“What about the books and your work?” you were confused.

The corners of his lips twitched into a teasing smile and it dawned on you.

You gaped at him and you slapped his arm. "I can't believe you!" You hissed, feeling the embarrassment three times more. "We could've gotten caught!"

"But we didn't." He said. Who was he to tell you that you had a small company towards the end? "Also it's been one of my many ideas to try out." He admitted and added; "Don't deny it wasn't yours either." when you were about to argue.

You closed your mouth, unable to say anything, because he was right. It was indeed one of your many ideas to go through with. Letting out a sigh, you shook with your head, murmuring; "Can't believe you did this to me." more to yourself.

Satan's chuckle reached your ears and you slapped his arm once again, trying to glare at him, but unable to do so for long. It was something you came to realize soon after you arrived into Devildom. You had an abnormal weak spot for the Avatar of Wrath.

"So," Satan woke you from your thoughts. "Where do you want to try next time?"

Blinking, you stared at him before you burst into laughter. "If I say Diavolo's throne would you dare?" You smirked.

It was a joke, you wanted to say. But the way his expression remained serious and rid of any emotions as he thought it through sent a chill down your spine. It was of excitement and not of being terrified that you even came up with that idea. Instead of saying anything you continued to remain silent as you waited for his response.

Satan blinked at you before he leaned down and whispered into your ear; "Well if you truly wish to do that, who am I to tell you no? Do you think he'd notice?"

#Obey Me Satan #Obey Me Satan x reader #Satan x reader #Obey Me! Shall we date #smut #safrinawrites #Obey Me oneshot #Obey me fanfic #oneshot

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teeztheflag · 4 years

Text

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W h o c a t c h e s t h e a l p h a ?

⋆ pairing : alpha!hong joong x werewolf!reader

⋆ genre: werewolf, angst, fluff, suggestive

⋆ warnings: alcohol, cussing words

⋆ words: 5,500

⋆ „You don’t want to break the rules, am I right?“

─────────────────────

Right now exactly one day until your birthday. That’s 24 hours, 1440 minutes and 86400 seconds. Then you would be able to meet your mate. Your soulmate. Your destined other half. The love of your life.

You were currently stuck in the nearby town with your two friends to find a cute outfit for the festival tomorrow. It has been pretty hot the last days and you were relived to be in the shopping center that had an air conditioning system.

„When was the exact time you were born?“

„3.06 pm and 54 seconds.“

„Oh okay then let’s go the festival by 4 pm?“

„Yes, I think that’s good.“

You went into many boutiques searching through one clothes rack after another.

„Y/N! Look at this one!“ Jisoo showed you a pretty two-piece set.

„Mh, that should work!“ You smirked at her and took the fabric making your way to the changing room. After stepping out both girls gasped at your sight.

„Hong Joong will love this!“ Your smile faltered and you ushered to her clasping a hand onto her mouth.

„Are you crazy?!“ You gave her a judging look and let go to examine yourself in the mirror.

„It was just a joke, ok?“

„She’s right, Lisa. He‘s our alpha. If the pack clan finds out about your loose tongue...“

„What? Those cocky bastards? If you ask me they are still kids! I am not lying! Last week I saw Jong Ho and Min Gi betting on how many apples he could break in under 30 seconds.“

Well, Jong Ho was pretty strong even without his wolf form. Of course Hong Joong inherited the alpha genes from his father taking him to another level.

Thinking about the black colored wolf. He acted like biggest dick you knew at the moment. Being all cocky and arrogant after becoming the new alpha. You knew him since elementary school. Made sense because of your pack living in a separated town just for werewolves so technically everyone knew everyone.

Since your childhood you and Hong Joong were inseparable. You remember the time both of playing in your wolf forms he led you to a secret part of the forest with a little bay. There he snuggled into your side with his wet nose and promised you that he wanted you to become his mate, his luna. He wanted to convince you that he had a feeling it would happen. You laughed at him and tackled him down not wanting him to realize that his statement made your heart flutter.

„Well, we have to wait until my 20th birthday, right?“

Your dad has been a member of the old pack clan and still was good friends with Hong Joong‘s father. You remember two years ago when Hong Joong suddenly went up to you saying he wouldn’t have much time for you from now on. He and the other boys trained and learned all the affairs for working together as the new pack clan. And you understood. Really. But all the times he declined to just meet for a few minutes made you sad.

One day you couldn’t believe your eyes while being out with your girls in a club when Hong Joong and a girl from your pack named Yeri entered it hand in hand. You quickly learned they were dating and the new popular couple in the pack.

That evening your were devastated.

Having built up a deep crush on Hong Joong over all those years made your heart break at the sight. You didn’t understand why he was doing this. But at this time you knew to never believe in his promises again. So you started to ignore the boy. Wherever you saw him you turned another way or occupied yourself with others. If he entered the pack house you would be on your way to the exit. If your family visited his one you made up other plans. Alone the sight of him made you suffer. So you didn’t look at him and slowly his face vanished out of your mind to be remembered.

Unfortunately one day he had to become the alpha. And you couldn’t ignore him anymore. Listening to him at pack meetings or bow to him everytime he passed your way. On his side still the beautiful Yeri. Her white fur caused the male wolves to fall on their knees. One point for her.

But she wasn’t a good fighter. One point for you. Because after Hong Joong didn’t talk to you anymore you spent a huge amount of your time on the training battlefield for distraction. And that’s where you grew close with Jeong Yun Ho. A big fluffy ball of happiness.

Hong Joong found out about the two of you when Yun Ho came back one day with all your scent over him. As soon as the boy entered their pack clan house Hong Joong thought you just entered his place and got so excited he emerged down the stairs but instead of being met with your person Yun Ho grinned at him. The boy carefully sneaked back into his own room leaving Hong Joong in front of the entry.

Did you sleep with Yun Ho? Were you giving away your precious virginity before finding your mate?! He felt himself heating up at the thought of you mating with someone else than him and ran outside to change into his wolf form and running a long time until his anger vanished.

Hong Joong was a really proud boy. And not to talk about his wolf. Ever since he knew he was to become the new alpha a strong pressure weighed down on his shoulders. Always wanting to be good enough for his pack and strong and admirable.

When you were back in school Hong Joong already knew he totally fell in love with you over the years. Everyone knew you couldn’t choose your mate but there was this strong feeling whenever you were around him.

One time made his love for you waver so much it changed something in him. He overheard you talking to a friend that was nagging you about him. How you were totally into the little alpha and when you would tell him. That’s when you snapped and declined your love for him. You said you could never be into him and didn’t wanted to be burdened with all the tasks a luna had to carry. Hong Joong didn’t know your real thoughts about being scared of not suiting him. There were indeed prettier, stronger and more intelligent girls in your pack. You understood your love for him was a dream and it would be quite embarrassing too if someone found out about your feelings.

If the two of you had just had talked with eachother about your feelings.

„Anyways, leave the comments you snake. I hope Yun Ho likes my outfit!“

You giggled a last time at your sight and got back into the changing room. Lisa and Jisoo watched you being excited for your boyfriend seeing you in your cute outfit.

When you were back in the pack town you got a message from Yun Ho asking if you wanted to join them for a barbecue evening.

Being in a relationship with the brown haired beauty brought along the unpleasant case of seeing Hong Joong from time to time. Yun Ho and the others didn’t know about your feelings for each other back then. Woo Young was the only one that caught a moment between you and Hong Jong back when you were young where it was obvious the alpha was into you. Nevertheless Hong Joong pleaded with him to not tell anyone. Nowadays being the alpha he just could use his predominance to shut up anybody even if it was a good friend. So Woo Young stayed silent and watched Hong Joong forced a smile on his face whenever Yeri plastered him with kisses.

You quickly texted him a ‚yes‘ and waited for the evening when he picked you up. It was a little bit chillier outside this night and when you entered their big clan house you were already met with the now well known testosterone. Alpha, beta and pack clan scents lingered in every corner. You pushed yourself into Yun Ho‘s side sniffing in only his alluring boyfriend scent to blank out the dominating alpha odor.

„Oh, cool you are here, Y/N!“ San embraced you in a big hug and you laughed at Jong Ho pouting behind him for not letting you go. Soon the boy made space and gave Jong Ho and the others a chance to greet you, too.

Last one having Min Gi to hug you from behind and shake you from side to side.

„Y/Nah, let’s take a run after we’ve eaten! I bet my wolf is quicker than you now! I trained a lot with Woo Young!“

„Maybe, if you let me go I will think about it!“ You laughed at him when Yun Ho pulled the equally tall boy back by his ear.

„Everybody wanna‘ steel my girl! Come on baby.“ You smirked at him and gave him a quick peck when he pouted at you.

Yun Ho mad himself comfortable on the outdoor couches and you snuggled into his lap. Soon you were into a big discussion about the worst movies ever with the other boys when the alpha and his girlfriend finally arrived in the garden.

You stood up and bowed halfheartedly to quickly sit back into Yun Ho‘s lap and continue to enjoy the atmosphere. Hong Joong took a peek at your form being cuddled by Yun Ho and ignored the urge to roll with his eyes.

Disgusting.

He took Yeri‘s hand into his and lead her to the table and sat down.

You greeted Yeri with a small smile to which she sent you one in return. You were not close with her despite being the only girls in this circle. Yeri had a bunch of popular girls around her and back in school she wasn’t the nicest, too.

But now you could see she was definitely in love with the alpha and they looked really good together. You repeated that quote everytime you came into temptation to take a look at Hong Joong.

It was obvious to everyone who was the more likable couple at the table. It just happened to be that you and Yun Ho were a funny constellation. Hong Joong always seemed tense when you were around joining conversations not as often then. No one really recognized accept of Woo Young and yourself and to Hong Joong‘s dismay Yun Ho, too.

But he kept his mouth shut. He knew you were good friends back in school and once heard you had a big fight after that. Although Hong Joong was his alpha he had to accept that you were his girlfriend. So he didn’t gave the topic more attention than needed.

After the barbecue you went for some cocktails and beer to enjoy the rest of the evening. You didn’t forget Min Gi‘s request and remembered him before the two of you became too intoxicated.

After an hour chasing eachother through the woods you changed back and joined the others again a few of them quite drunk by now.

„Baby! Who won?“

„I don’t know if I should feel insulted by this question.“

„Everyone knows Y/N is the quickest out of the girls!“ San wiggled with his eyebrows while being occupied by finishing a bag of chips.

„I hope so. I’ve not trained her for nothing.“ Yeo Sang smirked at you and stealed the chips out of San‘s grip earning a glare from the boy.

„Is that so?“

Hong Joong shot you an interested look and you decided you would stand the challenge.

„Sangie‘s just exaggerating. But thanks to him, I could improve my skills.“

You weren’t looking away. Why was he suddenly talking to you? He technically didn’t for years. He found it funny you didn’t budge down from his gaze. So he used some of his alpha power to show you who’s in charge.

You saw his eyes turning darker and knew he wanted you to submit back. When his power finally reached a point to feel your wolf nudge you to show respect you sat back down next to Yun Ho and looked away. Hong Joong being satisfied with his work took a sip from his beer and smirked to himself. So he was still having an effect on you.

„Y/N, tomorrow is a big day for you, right?“

„Oh, Jong Ho please stop...“

„Wait, what is tomorrow?“

„Mingi, first the festival is tomorrow. And second, Y/N is going to turn 20...“

San clapped into his hands. All of them being still unmated making you a potential partner. Because only girls held the ability to inflame the mate bond.

„Yah, you thirsty boys better stay away from my girl! If she ends up with someone of you I will literally throw up!“ Yun Ho laughed out loud at this and the others joined him except of Hong Joong and Woo Young.

Yun Ho knew there wasn’t a high chance of you two being mates but there was hope. And if it turned out you were to be with one of his pack clan members so be it.

As soon as someone finds their mate all their romantic feelings for another being vanish. It was just how nature wanted it. So he had to be patient and wait for the outcome of tomorrow.

You took Yun Ho‘s hand feeling his discomfort because of the statement and kissed it bringing him out of his thoughts. He smiled at you and pecked your cheek.

But even you had your doubts Yun Ho would be the one and you couldn’t put your hand on what let you feel this way.

The final day came soner as you wished and Jennie, Rosé, Lisa, Jisoo and you prepared for the festival. After everyone finished the last details you went down to the kitchen being greeted by your family. You mum baked a cake for you with a big ‚20‘ on the top and your dad and brother watched a soccer game in the TV. The only one freaking out were the girls but you knew your dad was nervous as fuck, too. Your brother being grumpy all day because he didn’t want you to love someone more than your big brother.

„So, honey. When do you plan on meeting Yun Ho today?“

„Mh, we want to meet at the festival.“

„At the festival? But isn’t this a little... you know... unromantic?“

You cringed at her words. Of course it wasn’t as romantic as other potential mates did it. But if it turned out he wasn’t the one than you both could spend some time for yourself with your friends.

„Don’t worry Mrs. Y/L/N! We will take care of her even if she doesn’t find her mate today!“

„And if he finds her first?“

You looked at Jennie with widened eyes because her comment made you blush. Of course, she already found her mate just like Jisoo and Rosé.

Your thoughts were a mess searching for all the unmated boys of your pack in your head. Shit, it literally could be anyone. Jisoo seemed to noric your panick mode and ushered to your side.

„Everything will be alright! The moon goddess always chooses wisely.“

Ah, yes. The ball of stone knows what it does.

„5 minutes left!“ Lisa shouted to your dad and brother and they turned down the TV to join you in the kitchen.

After a moment they counted down the time and you officially became a 20 year old girl. You blew out the candles and wished for Yun Ho to be your mate. One after another gave you their birthday wishes and hugged you.

„Ah, finally a woman my little baby!“ You mother had tears in her eyes and took of a photo of every moment.

„So, do you feel different?“

„I remember to have a displeasing feeling in my stomach. But it was just the pasta we ate the day before haha!“ You glared at Jennie at your side.

„I-I feel nothing. I mean no change...“

It was quiet in the kitchen. The atmosphere a little bit awkward but Rosé took you arm and suggested to make a toast. While the others prepared the champagne you looked at your phone to finde a message from Yun Ho saying ‚Happy birthday princess <3 can’t wait to see ya‘.

You smiled at his text and butterflies emerged in your tummy. Maybe this was a good sign?

After some time finishing five bottles of champagne you made your way to the festival.

This was a mistake.

All of you turned into a giggling mess while stomping over to the middle of the town. Everything was decorated in a pretty way. Laterns and fairy lights hanging from the houses and turning the town into a cozy place. Children played an giggled everywhere and the elder sitting by benches and talking. Boys and girls going on their first date and groups of young people trying to test their limits and enjoying the free atmosphere.

And five girls being drunk on their way to the opening ment.

„There are so many boys here. How am I supposed to find the one I am searching for?“

Jisoo turns to you while walking down a street and bops your nose grinning from ear to ear.

„Waeee, oh. I understand.“

You smell him. To be exact, you are able to smell your mate‘s scent. People say your mate smells like your favorite perfume and their odor pulls you in like a magical weave.

So you poked out your nose starting to sniff the air.

Nothing.

The fresh air did good things to you drunk girls and when you neared the big town court you first grabbed something to eat. After looking around and greeting some people you managed to make out quite a number of male wolves that were checking you out looking if your scent gave something off. But everytime you waited for something to happen it didn’t.

No goosebumps or alluring scent. It was quite disappointing but made you happy nevertheless. Your chances of having Yun Ho as your mate grew with each unmated boy you passed.

A bell rang and you and the others went further to the stage where soon the pack clan would hold their opening ment. Your hand suddenly became very sweaty and you waited for Yun Ho ho to appear on the stage. People started to clap when someone pulled at your skirt.

„Wh-Eun Hee? What are you doing here?“ A little girl you babysitted from time to time looked up at you from her little form.

„Noona, I cannot find my mama!“ She had tears in her eyes. You weren’t realizing the pack clan already emerged onto the stage and Yun Ho‘s eyes started to search for yours.

„Oh, don’t be afraid little one! I will find your mum!“

She couldn’t get too far by the way. While scanning the crowd a light scent of richness took in your nostrils. You were trying to concentrate on the people when you luckily saw Eun Hee‘s mother only a few meters away from you.

„Mrs. Kim! Here!“ You waved at her holding Eun Hee‘s small hand in yours and giving her an encouraging smile when her mother discovered you and made her way through the crowd.

Suddenly your ears were infiltrated with a melodic sound of the most beautiful voice you’ve ever heard in your life. You followed it‘s source onto the stage when your breath got stuck in you lungs.

Your gaze landed on Yun Ho. But he wasn’t the one talking. You saw him finding your form and your eyes that were filling with tears. Yun Ho‘s brows furrowed but he understood it sooner as you would’ve thought.

He wasn’t your mate.

By the time Mrs. Kim picked up her daughter your gaze stopped at your real mate. Your soulmate. Chosen by the moon goddess.

It felt like seeing the most beautiful man on earth for the first time. You were happy. Your wolf howled at you and filled your head with thoughts about going to him and marking my as yours.

But your smile faltered when he took a hand in his that wasn’t yours. Jealousy immediately engulfed you and your eyes went dark at the sight.

„Y/N?! Is it Yun Ho or not?“

All the girls were looking at you now waiting for an answer. But you only felt your wolf becoming angrier by each second your mate was with another girl on the stage for everyone to see.

„Don’t touch me. I have to go.“ You gritted out with clenched teeth and a shaking form. The girls new you were just about to change in front of the whole town and let you fight your way through the crowd.

Hong Joong smelled it, too. He was confused why the odor was the best he every was met with. It was intoxicating.

Mate...

His wolf pushed him to the find the source of the scent.

He frantically searched the crowd for the girl the scent belonged to. His wolf growing impatient by each second passing that he couldn’t make out where you were.

He totally forgot about the girl on his side by now when he finally found you rushing out of the place into the direction of the woods.

Don’t let her go!

He left the audience in shock when he jumped down the stage and followed you leaving his pack dumbstruck by his actions.

„Ehm, our alpha will be back in a few seconds.“

Yun Ho watched Hong Joong following your form with teary eyes and as soon as he turned around a corner he stomped from the stage into another direction. Out of all people why was it him to be your mate.

As soon as you entered the forest you got out of your clothes and changed into your wolf running away like an army was chasing you.

Whimpers and cries left you from time to time and your wolf asked again and again why you were not defending your mate and claiming him for yourself.

You went to the secret bay Hong Joong showed you back then knowing no one would find you here. You stopped in front of the water taking in your black reflection. Your wolf managed to get a quite loud howl out of you to which you panicked someone could have heard. And to your personal dismay a large equally black wolf emerged from behind a tree.

You immediately knew it was Hong Joong because of the new undeniable attraction you felt for his figure. You shook away the thought and got into a fighting position showing your fangs and snarling at him.

He stopped in his tracks being confused by your hostility. He rounded you changing the angle of his head from time to time. He took in your form and licked his snout at your scent.

One moment of you being distracted was enough for him to near your butt and smell your scent where it was the strongest next to your neck and it caused him to heckle at the alluring potion.

You flinched away from him and snapped at him earning a warning growl from the much bigger wolf.

You took the chance an started to run away from him.

Oh, she wants to play! Let us catch her Joong!

He never felt this excited before to run after your beautiful wolf. But as it was a play for him and you were dead serious on the other side. This asshole wasn’t going to get you, mark you and all the other stuff he was wishing for.

You were running as fast as you could him being dead on your track the whole time.

She’s really pretty fast! Enough playing, let’s get her now.

You jumped over fallen trees, stones and little water banks when you thought not hearing his paws hitting the ground behind you anymore. When you were sure he stopped chasing after you you slowed down your running until you came to a halt in front of a wide meadow. Time has passed and the sun started to set into a beautiful purple and pink colored sky. You sneaked over the meadow to reach the other side where your territory was slowly ending. It was prohibited to go further in your wolf form but fuck the rules at this moment.

Y/N, I want to be with our mate!

Ah, stupid bond.

After a few minutes you found yourself in front of the end of the meadow going further with careful steps. As soon as you set feet onto the foreign land someone crushed out of a bush into your side pinning you down under him.

As you came back to your senses you made out the black wolf on top of you even seeing his smirk in this form.

„You don’t want to break the rules, am I right?“

„Let me go!“

„I am not. You are my mate!“

You squirmed under him only causing to arouse his inner wolf. He leaned into you fury neck and sniffled you scent and rubbed himself on the point.

„Mate..“

He purred into your form making your wolf nearly fall into unconsciousness at the overwhelming pleasure his movements were causing you.

„N-no... Please... Let go!“

You had no choice against his much larger form on you and were surprised when he changed back into his naked form sweat on his forehead and still holding you in place like you were a puppet.

„Change.“

What?! Was he dumb or something?!

„I said change!“

He used his alpha aura to intimidate you into submission and you felt your wolf quiver at his dominance in a welcoming way.

You changed back and were now lying naked under a also naked Hong Joong somewhere on a meadow. That indeed felt strange.

Hong Joong smirked at your obedience and his wolf was proud you obeyed him.

„Look at me.“

You followed his order and took in his face the first time since years. You wouldn’t thought he could become more beautiful than in the past but how wrong you have been. His features were soft, lips opened a little bit and his hair messed up because of the running.

You didn’t know how long you layed there him straddling you holding your arms in place next to your head and taking in your features like it was the first time.

„My luna.“

As soon as the words left his mouth your brows furrowed. You remembered all that has happened the last years and thought back to Yun Ho.

„No.“

Hong Joong was irritated by the simple word. He grinned at you.

„No? What are you saying there my love. Do you want to make me suffer?“

„S-stop talking to me like this! I am not your mate and I won’t be your luna! This isn’t right! The moon goddess made a mistake!“

Hong Joong backed away from you a little bit because of the outburst.

What does she mean? Doesn’t she want to be our mate? But we love her! We did since we knew her!

„You-you are not meaning this, right?“

„I do!“

Y/N no! Look at him! He’s starting to cry because of what you are saying! Don’t lie to him!

He let go of you fully and sat beside you looking into the distance. Instantly guilt feelings rushed though your system seeing your mate sad because of you.

„Look, I didn’t mean it...“

„I-I am just saying this has to be a mistake! I mean you’re in a relationship with Yeri and I am not suited for you and becoming the luna!“

„What the fuck are you saying?! Why shouldn’t you be suited for me? Heck, I’ve always wanted you to be it! I told you! You were always perfect for me and the position...“

What? He thought you were perfect for him? You wolf teared up at his confession and you blushed hard at his statement.

„Buf Yeri, she’s prettier than me and very intelligent... She would be a better luna!“

He turned towards you tears streaming down his cheeks.

„You are and always were the prettiest, funniest most intelligent girl for me! You are the one that I wanted since high school! Why don’t you understand that!“

You were afraid your heart would burst out of your chest at that moment. You never knew he thought about that way.

„But...you were the one that wanted nothing to do with me anymore!“

„Because I heard you talking about never going to love me and only seeing me as a friend!“

Oh shut up... He heard that crap back in school!

„I-that was a lie...“

You looked down to the ground too ashamed that you weren’t the only one causing the misunderstandings.

„A lie?“

„Yes, because I was so insecure of my love for you. I was afraid the others would laugh at me and especially you...“

After that a long pause came. Neither of you saying something and you still blocking your breast with your arms from his sight.

Suddenly Hong Joong started laughing next to you causing you to join him because the situation was just strange.

Hong Joong carefully took your hand and watched your reaction to be sure you wouldn’t shy away from him.

„Y/N, I am sorry for how everything went the past years. I know I can not make it up to you in one day but I will give everything to convince you that you are perfect for me. I want you to believe in yourself. You are such a pure soul I know you will be the greatest luna ever. I promise you I will stand by your side the whole time and love you unconditionally. That is... if you give me the chance and want to accept me as your mate.“

You saw his eyes literally sparkle while saying these wonderful things to you. You thought back to Yun Ho for a moment being sorry for everything. But you knew that one day he would meet his mate, too. And then he would forget about his romantic feelings for you like you did the moment your eyes landed on your new found mate. And the things you felt for him were real.

So you decided to be brave.

„After all the problems we had gone through... I think I wouldn’t want to be separated from you any other minute!“

Hong Jong‘s eyes lit up and he engulfed you into a big embrace breathing in your scent of your neck again and peppering kisses all the way upwards until it landed on the side of your moth leaving you a giggling mess.

His eyes turned black again and you seductively bit your lip at the excitement you were feeling. He slowly made his way to your lips and kissed you in a slow and passionate style. You moaned into the kiss feeling your two souls emerging into one at the contact. Your whole body felt like spacing out into another dimension at the feeling of your mate’s heat.

After some time relaxing into eachother you both became aware of still being naked somewhere in the nature. You changed into your wolf forms to make your way back home.

„By the way... I know it will be a little bit awkward with Yun Ho... But I cannot wait to wash off his scent from you. Like I can literally not wait to leave my mark onto your form.“

You tensed at his declaration. What did he me with wash off his scent from you?

„Ehm, okay. I hope we can take things slow... It will be my first time, you know?“

Hong Joong stopped in his tracks. He eyed you a with swift shake of his head. Suddenly his tail began to wiggle.

„Y-you mean your are still a virgin?“

„Yes, I wanted to wait for my mate...“

You shyly looked to the ground and not understood why he was so excited about the fact.

„Did you sleep with Yeri?“

„Nope. Same reason like you.“

Your wolf approved of this new information and you liked the thought, too.

You both continued your way back to the town sometimes playing with eachother like chasing the tails or nudging the significant other.

Just as you reached the beginning of the town you stopped in your tracks. A new life would being for you today. And you couldn’t hide the fact that you were indeed a little bit scared. But as you watched Hong Joong from behind you were happy. Happy to have found your mate. Your soulmate. Your destined other half. The love of your life.

„What’s wrong my love?“

He gave you a reassuring smile. Coming back to you and licking your ears and cheeks. You purred at the new feeling of contact and cuddled into his side to smell his wonderful scent.

„Nothing. Now everything’s finally perfect.“

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isoldmysoultokpop · 3 years

Text

{ATEEZ Yunho FF} Love Yourself (pt 2)

~Rating: Teen~ ~Yunho x fem.reader~ ~This is fictional~

Trigger warnings: Suicidal themes, self hate, and anything else that might be related

(Go stream Fireworks xD)

P.S. Sorry for grammatical errors/spelling mistakes ^^;

(Yunho coming into Y/N’s life like ^)

A month had passed. You recovered quickly and was sent home a while ago. You were currently snuggled up in your blankets, eyes red from crying. Your parents were talking shit of you again the night previous.

Now you were just laying in bed, bored.

You glanced over at your night stand at your phone. You reached for it when a small white note tucked under your lamp caught your eye. You hesitated. You were reluctant to reach out to “Yunho”, but I mean, you were bored and had nothing better to do.

You grab your phone and the note. You enter in his number and text him.

You: Hey... this is Y/N. You know, the chick you pulled out of Han River.

Yunho: Oh! Hi! It’s been a month. I almost thought you weren’t gonna text me ^^;

You: I wasn’t going to, but I’m bored

Yunho: Oh

You: I figured you had an idea in mind when you gave me your number

Yunho: Yeah. Are you sure you want to hang out?

You: Duh, that’s why I’m messaging you

Yunho: Hmm, alright. Meet me at the park?

You: Okay. What time?

Yunho: Does a half hour work?

You: Sure. See you then

Yunho: Alright, see you!

You groan. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. Then again, any place would be better than home.

You got out of bed and slipped into some shorts and a hoodie. Spring was near, but it was still somewhat cold. You glanced at your bedroom door. You really didn’t want to explain where you were going to your parents, so you decided to sneak out your window. You often did this to avoid questioning.

Landing softly on the ground under your window, you start heading to the park by foot. It wasn’t far, but you knew you had to leave immediately to get there on time.

You finally made it to the park without any incidents. A few couples were there, some people were walking their dogs, and there were some kids at the playground. Glancing around, you spot Yunho on his phone. Your phone vibrated in your pocket.

Quickly looking at the notification, you see it was Yunho.

Yunho: I’m here~

In reply, you send a picture of himself to him. After seeing the pic, he looks up in your direction. You make eye contact with him.

He smiles widely at the sight of you and he jogs over to you.

“Hey!” he greets you.

“Hi,” you reply curtly.

Yunho scratches the side of his face. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

You purse your lips. “I thought you had a plan.”

He sighs. “Only vaguely. The more time that passed without you messaging me, the less I thought of it.”

That made you feel oddly disappointment. You weren’t sure why though.

“Well, do you like sweets?” you ask him.

He nods, his eyes lighting up. “Yeah, why? Got an idea?”

You think for a second. “I do love me some street food. Maybe we can find a waffle stall.”

Yunho practically glows like a golden retriever that’s about to receive a treat and a petting. You smile the tiniest bit at his excitement.

You and Yunho head out on your mission to find a waffle stall. After a little while of walking down the street full of food stalls and some sampling, you find a cart selling waffles. You unintentionally grab Yunho’s hand and drag him over there in your excitement. Once you get there and realize you’re holding his hand, you immediately let go, a tad bit embarrassed by your antics.

The ajumeoni smiles at you and Yunho. “What can I get you today?”

You order a strawberry waffle while Yunho orders a banana one (im sorry, I’m thinking of him playing that banana as a flute- ;;). You’re about to pull out your money when Yunho immediately pays for both. You raise an eyebrow, but he just smiles at you. Shrugging it off, you turn back to behind the counter.

You watch in wonder and excitement as the ajumeoni quickly and so smoothly constructs the snack. Before you know it, she’s handing you your waffle. You thank her politely before taking a bite of the waffle. You hum in joy as you chew the fluffy waffle with the mildly tart strawberries and sweet cream.

Yunho accepts his waffle from the older lady and joins you in eating. You both continue walking down the street while eating your waffles. Some older couples running stalls try selling you and Yunho things, and more than twice, some of them mistook you two for a couple on a date. You denied it vehemently while Yunho just got flustered and shyly denied it.

You both quietly finish off the waffles and throw the paper pocketss away in a public garbage. You two just walk in a comfortable silence until you find yourself walking alongside Han River.

You stop in your tracks, staring at the water flowing past you.

Yunho notices you weren’t with him anymore and turns around. He notices you staring at the water. He walks back over to you, his hands in his pockets.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “Should we head back to the park instead?”

You continue staring at the water. You walk down to the edge of the bank and crouch down. Yunho is close behind you. You’re aware of him being near you in case you try to jump in again, but that wasn’t your plan.

Yunho crouches down next to you, giving you a worried look. You stare at your distorted reflection for a while, thinking about life. Today was fun, there was no denying that. But was it worth living the torturous life you’ve lived? Just for this tiny happiness?

Well, if you died, you might as well enjoy today. It’s been fun, so it may as well still be fun. Grinning to yourself, you quickly slash your arm out to the water, splashing Yunho in the face.

You giggle as he loses his balance and lands on his butt. He wipes the water off his face and out of his eyes to see you smiling. Legitimately smiling. He smiles at your happiness, but he splashes you back regardless.

Pouting at the cold water hitting your legs, you give Yunho one more splash before getting up and running for it.

“YAH!” Yunho shouts after you, but he can hear the laugher in his shout.

You’re full on laughing as you run from him. You weren’t fast enough though. Yunho quickly caught up to you, grabbing your arm and turning you around, a wide grin on both of your faces.

Noticing his wet hair, you stand on your tiptoes to ruffle his hair to shake some of the water out. You notice he freezes at your touch, but you don’t care.

“You’re gonna catch a cold, pabo,” you chided.

Yunho raises an eyebrow and his smile widens. “Oh, we’re familiar enough with each other to call me a pabo?”

You falter. Pulling your hand back, you think about your relationship with the boy who saved your life. You stare into his dark brown eyes. It was fun today... you did enjoy his company. The thought of going back to your home made you flinch and tears sprung up in your eyes.

“I don’t want to go back,” you whisper. You wanted to stay with Yunho for now.

Yunho, who still had a hold on your arm, pulled you closer to him and gave you a comforting hug. You grabbed onto his jacket, trying to hold back your tears.

Yunho rubbed circles on your back as he whispered sweet and soothing words. Eventually, you calmed down enough to look at him again.

Yunho gives you a small smile. “Did you want to come back to my place?”

Your eyes widen.

Realizing how forward that sounded, he quickly added on to the question. “I have roommates. I’m sure you’d like them.”

Thinking about it, you really didn’t want to go back and face your parents. So, deciding to avoid them for now, you nod. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Yunho nods before grabbing your hand. “Come on, let’s go. It’s not that far from here,” he says excitedly.

Finding his excitement cute, you smile at him again.

~After a few minute walk~

You come up to a large house. You’re kind of shocked.

“How many roommates to you have?” you ask.

He chuckles. “Seven.”

“WHAT?”

The door bursts open, revealing a boy with neon pink hair.

“Yunho! You’re back!” he yells.

Yunho waved at him. The pink-haired boy finally notices you, who jumped behind Yunho after you saw the stranger. You were peeking out at the other boy from behind Yunho.

“Oh, who’s this?” he asked.

Yunho gently guides you out from behind him. “This is Y/N.”

The pink-haired boy snaps his fingers. “Oh! The girl you rescued from the river!”

Yunho winced at that. You gave him a surprised look. He mentioned you to his roommates?

Yunho turns to you. “Y/N, this is Choi San,” he says as he points at the bright haired boy.

You nod at him. “Nice to meet you, San,” you say.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too, Y/N!” San says cheerfully. Yunho and you follow behind him. You can finally hear the ruckus that 7 to 8 boys must make. You could hear the noise of a game cranked up loud and some frustrated yelling while someone yelling from the kitchen for the others to quiet down.

You were honestly a bit overwhelmed at the energy you could feel in the house, but you were kind of excited to meet the others.

You kick off your shoes and follow behind Yunho. You enter the living room to see another black haired boy and one with blackish hair with silver streaks in it sitting on a couch, holding game controllers. There were two other boys, one sitting on a beanbag while the other was just on the floor. The redhead was lazily watching the two game while the one in the beanbag was on his phone. The redhead notices you and Yunho first.

“Oh hey, hyung. When did you get back?” he asks.

Yunho shrugs. “Just now,” he pauses, glancing at you. “I brought someone.”

That made the two gamers stop and the other to look up from his phone. Yunho sidesteps to show you to the other guys.

“Hi, I’m Y/N...” you said timidly, a little unsure with yourself.

They all share looks before looking at you again. Yunho rolls his eyes (in a joking way) before pointing at the one in the beanbag. “That’s Mingi. The redhead is Jongho, and the two gaming are Yeosang and Wooyoung,” he said. The black haired one was Yeosang and the one with the streaks in his hair was Wooyoung.

Wooyoung speaks up first. “So Y/N, how’d you meet Yunho?”

Yeosang gives him a jab in the side. “She’s the girl Yunho rescued from Han River,” he said not-so-quietly.

Wooyoung suddenly shouts, giving you a long, hard stare. Then a light bulb goes off. “AHH, you’re right!!”

Yunho leans over to you, whispering in your ear. “Wooyoung can be loud, so don’t mind his outbursts,” he says in a teasing voice.

You smile and nod. They seemed entertaining.

Yunho points to a different room. “Is Seonghwa in the kitchen, I assume?”

Mingi nods. “Yeah, he’s making dinner.”

Yunho thanks Mingi and gestures for you to follow. You give the four boys a small wave and a smile, getting some smiles and waves in return. You enter the pretty big kitchen. You saw a sole man cooking.

“Hey, hyung, what’s for dinner?” Yunho asked as he leaned against the island counter.

The presumed Seonghwa turned to look at Yunho. He notices you and pauses for a second before replying. “Kimchi jjigae, beef, pork belly. Basically whatever I can find in the fridge,” he says jokingly.

Yunho perks up at that. “Need any help?”

Seonghwa shakes his head. “Not right now, but I might need your help grilling later.”

Yunho nods. “That’s fine. Oh, by the way, hyung. This is Y/N,” he said as he gestured towards you.

You give Seonghwa a small bow as you step closer to Yunho. “Hi,” you say awkwardly.

Seonghwa smiles at you. “Hey, Y/N. My name is Seonghwa. I’m basically in charge of cleaning up after these kids,” he gives Yunho a pointed look.

Yunho shrugs. “Not our fault you’re such a clean freak,” he says.

Seonghwa just gives Yunho an unamused look before turning back to his cooking.

Yunho chuckles softly. “Where can we find Hongjoong hyung?

Seonghwa thinks for a minute. “I think he’s in his room; he’s probably sleeping so I’d just wait to introduce Y/N to him until right before dinner.”

“Oh okay. Thanks, hyung!”

Seonghwa just waves in response. You and Yunho leave the kitchen to find San has joined the other boys in the living room.

Wooyoung and Yeosang had turned off their game, and they were all chatting with each other casually. Yunho sat down on a the smaller couch. You decide to sit next to him for now.

The boys notice you and Yunho have joined. San turns to you, eyes bright. “So, Y/N, tell us about yourself.”

“Uhm...” you stutter. What was there to tell them? That your parents were abusive and you were gonna commit suicide? Might still commit suicide? You mentally clear your thoughts and just start basic.

“Well, I work at a local coffee shop...” you pause.

Yeosang raises his hand. You acknowledge him, and he speaks up. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“Ummm, well, I don’t really watch movies often, but I like Marvel movies,” you say.

“Who’s your favorite superhero?” San and Mingi ask at the same time.

“Er.. Iron Man,” you reply, unsure.

San nods. “Classic,” he says with a smile on his face.

Feeling a little bit more at ease, you smile back at him. “I like your hair, by the way,” you compliment San.

San’s smile widens. “Aw, thank you!” He turns to Yunho. “You managed to snatch up a cute one. She’s a keeper,” he teases, adding a wink to make it more embarrassing.

Yunho blushes a faint color of pink. “It’s not- it isn’t like that, San,” he whines.

“Sure sure,” San replies. The other boys make “uh-huh”, “sure”, and “mhmmm” noises, making Yunho blush a darker shade of pink.

You were honestly amused. You let a small giggle slip, but you quickly cover your mouth with a hand when Yunho gave you a small glare. The other boys grinned at you.

“Maybe after dinner, we should watch a movie together,” Jongho suggests.

Wooyoung nods eagerly. “Yes, that’d be fun; plus it’s been a while.”

Yunho agrees. “What genre?”

San immediately suggests horror while Mingi objects to that.

Yeosang voices the obvious choice. “Why not Avengers?”

That got a positive reaction and everyone agreed to it. They probably chose that since it was the one thing they were sure you’d enjoy. Seonghwa called for Yunho to help grill the meats.

“Wanna come with?” Yunho asked as he got up.

You stick your lips out in a pout in thought. “Maybe in a few. I think I’ll talk to the others for a lil’ bit.”

Yunho smiles at you. “Okay, see you later then.”

“Yeah, see you,” you reply back, an equally bright smile on your face.

Yunho waved at everyone as he made his way to the kitchen. You could hear Seonghwa and Yunho converse a little bit before hearing a sliding door open and close. You give your attention back to the boys.

You quietly observe San and Wooyoung joke with each other, making light hearted jabs at each other.

After making jabs at each other, they started arguing about who was cuter. You smiled at their antics, but you were a little confused. Jongho and Mingi were huddled over Mingi’s phone, looking at something. Yeosang noticed you by yourself and got up to join you.

He sat down next to you. He must’ve noticed your confusion. “Are you alright?” he asked you.

You think it over a little bit. “Well, Yunho told me the people I hung out with weren’t actual friends, but by that logic, I’ve never had real friends,” you say absent-mindedly. You nod at the squabbling boys. “Is that what real friendship is like?”

Yeosang gives you a sad look before turning his attention to the two boys. “Yeah, what we have is real friendship.”

“But what makes it real?” you ask.

Yeosang thinks about it. “Well, we love each other. Not romantically, obviously, but as friends.” He pauses, realizing you probably don’t understand. “True friendship is making sacrifices for your friends, sharing with your friends, defending your friends... things like that.”

You point at the Wooyoung and San. “But they’re fighting?”

Yeosang chuckles. “It’s obviously a joke. We jokingly bicker all the time, for the fun of it. We mean no harm.” He smiles wistfully. “Sometimes we actually argue, but we always manage to forgive each other.”

You’re about to reply, but Seonghwa calls you guys from the kitchen. “We’ve got the meal set up; someone get Hongjoong and come get some food.”

Wooyoung offers to get Hongjoong, and everyone else heads to the kitchen and go out the sliding door to the patio. You find Yunho at the grill, his sleeves rolled up. You walk over to him to watch him.

He glances up to you and smiles as he looks back down to the meat sizzling on the hot rack. “Are you hungry?”

You shrug. “I could be hungrier.”

Yunho flips over a piece of meat. “Can you pass me the salt?”

You grab the salt off of the tray and hand the small bottle to him. He grabs it and lightly sprinkles some salt onto the meat.

Once he’s done seasoning, he places the bottle off to the side. You glance at the others, who have settled down at the table. Wooyoung walked in with another smaller guy following behind. He was in the process of yawning when he noticed you. His eyes widen at the sight of a girl in the place. He quickly makes his way over to you and Yunho.

“Hi!” He greets you. “I’m Hongjoong.”

You give him a bow. “Hello, I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” he says with a bright smile on his face. “Are you a friend of Yunho’s?”

You blink a couple of times. Were you? “Uh...”

Yunho gives Hongjoong a gentle shove. “Go eat, hyung. The others are waiting for you.”

“Okay, okay. Thanks for grilling, Yunho,” he thanks Yunho before sitting down with the others.

After their hyung had sat down, the others started scarfing down the food. San came up to feed Yunho some food and so did Yeosang.

You still stood there, watching Yunho grill. He grabs a piece of meat and offers it to you. You take a bite of the juicy meat. You hum in content as you enjoy the flavor of it.

“It’s really good, Yunho,” you say behind your hand, as you were still chewing.

He grins. “Thanks,” he said. He plates some of the meat and takes it over to the table. Seonghwa had already eaten and offered to take over grilling so Yunho could eat. Yunho nods in agreement, and he gestures for you to sit next to him and enjoy the meal.

You finally start eating some of the food. It all tasted good, although you noticed that the veggies were what there was most of at this point. No one really ate them. You chuckle under your breath at that.

You look around the table to see the others feeding each other, making jokes, teasing, and laughing.

San notices you watching. “Y/N, what’s your favorite meat?”

“Hmmm, I like steak or pork belly,” you say without thought. You knew what you liked.

San grins as he picks up a piece of pork belly and offers it to you. You stare at him, shocked for a second, before leaning over the table to eat it.

After San made that move, everyone else was offering you food. You returned the favor by pouring them their drinks. They thanked you kindly, and Yunho poured you your drink. You thanked him before drinking it.

You joined in on the teasing and conversations, sharing the food and pouring each other drinks.

Yunho ended up getting the chore of cleaning up (since he lost rock, paper, scissors). He told the others to start the movie, so you reluctantly followed the boys out to the living room. You made yourself cozy next to San. The other boys decided to leave the space next to you open for Yunho.

About a half hour into the movie, Yunho finally joined you. He sat down next to you, and you smiled at him in greeting. He gave you a small smile back.

About an hour into the movie, you started feeling sleepy. Not caring, you leaned your head against Yunho’s shoulder. He gave you a quick glance.

“Yunho?” you whisper quietly, not wanting to disturb the others from the movie.

“Yeah?” he whispers just as quietly.

“I think I finally understand what real friendship is,” you murmur, sleep clear in your voice.

“That’s good,” Yunho replies. “So are we friends?”

You smile as you close your eyes. “Yeah, we’re friends, Yunho.”

~To be continued

12 notes · View notes

labyrinthof-fan-fiction · 4 years

Text

Try to Remember

Part 1 Series Masterlist Here

Bucky X teacher!Reader

Summary: First meeting with James and Reader. You meet in a cafe, you’re trying to grade your papers, but you are distracted by a man trying desperately to just order a cup of coffee. You decide to help him and end up sharing a coffee with him.

A/N: This is entirely a service for myself. Entirely. For me. Hopefully someone else enjoys this. But if you don’t it’s fine, because I love it. This is definitely OOC and I am so not following the timeline. But it fine. Probably multi-chapter. Definitely just something I’m writing for myself because it’s been in my head for a while. It’s your sneak peak into my before bed dream set ups.

Warnings: Fluff, mild swears, I don’t think anything else, if there is something please tell me. I am trying to be better about tagging warnings.

Word Count: 1,325

You met him in a cafe, in late September. You were sitting at one of the tables by a window, your laptop open to grading software, a stack of papers next to you. You had left your apartment to get a change of scenery. The first grades of the year were due and you had been trapped by the stacks of papers you had been putting off. You knew you should have taken care of them a while ago, but you had put your energy into teaching in the classroom and the papers had fallen behind.

You took another sip of your coffee, letting the warmth run through you. The most recent paper sitting in front of you. You really should not have given this assignment so early in the school year. Your students had put in good efforts, but you know they would have done better if you had given them more time. You were pulled out of your thoughts by a man standing at the counter, obviously confused by everything in front of him. He was tall, with dark hair to his wide shoulders. He was stumbling over his words, trying to order a simple cup of coffee. The barista was playing with him, you knew that, because he was one of your students. You had seen this game played multiple times, with substitutes and other unsuspecting adults. Usually, you would turn a blind eye, but something made you pity this stranger.

You stood up and made your way to the man at the counter, whose hands were in tight fists by his side. “Tyler, he wants a regular coffee, two creams, two sugars, please.”

The teen rolled their eyes. “Fine, teach. Only because you asked.”

The man turned and you met his grey eyes. “Thank you.” He said quietly.

“You’re welcome, Tyler tends to pick on people who aren’t coffee connoisseurs.” You said as Tyler slid the mug to the man. You could sense a snide remark on the tip of their tongue and raised your eyebrows. They sighed and moved onto the next customer. The man eyed the mug warily, then glanced around the room. “You can sit with me, if you’re not waiting on someone.” You added hastily.

“Thank you…..?” He said, following you to the window seat.

“Y/N.” You answered, “And you?”

“James.” He said, sitting in the seat across from you. You began quickly shuffling the papers so he had room for his coffee. One fell in his lap. “The Censorship of Music in Soviet Russia?” He asked.

“Sorry, I’m grading.” You babbled. “Kids these days have an unhealthy relationship with Soviet Russia.”

He raised an eyebrow and looked back to the paper. He took a sip of coffee as he continued reading the paper. “Kid actually isn’t completely wrong. Has some good points. A few far fetched ones, I don’t think the Winter Soldier was ‘roaming the motherland’ and ‘destroying enjoyers of bops.” He said, flipping to the second page.

You chuckled and shook your head, taking another sip of coffee. Eyes roaming the man in front of you. His grey blue eyes skimming the paper. You glanced at his hands, noticing he was wearing leather gloves, odd. Coffee with a serial killer? You wondered, admittedly you should be more concerned about strange men you meet in cafes.

“I’d say the kid deserves at least a B” He said, breaking through your thoughts. “So what do you teach?”

You took the paper back from him. “I teach band, but also a few general music classes, which is where these papers come from.”

He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. “Seems fun.” He said.

“Makes life interesting. What about you?” You asked.

He paused, thinking through his answer. Serial killer. You’re going to become an Unsolved Case. Ryan and Shane won’t be able to figure out what happened to you. “I served and now I’m just trying to find my place in the world.”

You took a sip of your coffee, noticing how close you were to the end of the cup. “And how’s your search going?”

“To be determined.” He answered, a smirk coming across his face.

You fell into a comfortable silence for a moment before you started conversation again. Speaking of favorite music, you were surprised that he knew most of the older music you favored. Older being from the World War II era. More small things, favorite color, childhood pet, stupid things your best friend had done. The sky began to shift from blue to orange outside the window. You sighed, it was time to head home. You turned to the man in front of you, he glanced at the sky. He took your mug from you and made his way to the counter, placing a few bills into the tip jar.

“I know we’ve just met, but, can I walk you home?” He asked, his hand reaching up to rest on the back of his neck nervously.

“Only if you promise not to murder me.” You answered, putting your computer and papers into your bag.

“I guess I can make an exception.” He said with a wink, before adding. “I swear I’m not a serial killer.”

You chuckled, “If you kill me, I will haunt your ass.”

His eyes widened as he opened the door to the cafe for you. “I’ll keep that in mind.” You sent a quick text to your roommate, letting them know that you were on your way home and you were walking home with a man. Safety first.

He nodded for you to lead the way and stepped to the side. You started walking and he fell in beside you matching your rhythm.

“So, do you normally walk women you meet once home?” You asked.

“Call me old fashioned, but when I meet a woman that I spend a few hours with, I want to be sure that she makes it home safe.” He answered.

“You’re an interesting man, James.” You said quietly, a small smile gracing his lips at this statement.

You both continued to walk the path to your apartment. The sun had gone under the horizon, the lamp lights were flickering, stars peeked through the night sky. You stopped in front of your apartment complex, noticing the outline of your roommate in your window. “This is me.” You murmur.

James looks up at the window, you could tell he had seen the outline of your roommate, but he didn’t say anything. “It was nice to meet you today.” He shuffled his feet, glancing at the ground for a moment.

“It was nice to meet you too.” You answered, this was the moment you realized, are you going to try to keep this man in your life or let him go? “So, what’s a girl got to do to get your number?”

His head snapped up quickly, “Ummm…” His hands flew to his pants pockets, tapping around for his phone. He glanced up, slight panic in his eyes.

You giggled at the sheer panic in his eyes. You pulled out your phone and handed it to him. “Here, put your number in.” He typed slowly then handed your phone back. You glanced at the name, James Barnes. You quickly typed a quick message to him with your name so he would have your number. “Have a nice night Mr. Barnes.”

He smiled at you, “You too.”

You made your way to your door and he began to turn and walk away. “You better text me, James. I don’t just give my number to random men.”

He glanced back, “Don’t you worry about that, doll.” He turned with a small wave in your direction before he made his way down the street.

You closed the door behind you and felt a wide smile break across your face. What you didn’t know, was that the man walking down the street had a smile just as wide.

Part 2

#james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky imagine #james buchanan barnes imagine #james bucky buchanan barnes #fluff #bucky x teacher!reader #james bucky barnes x reader #winter soldier imagine #coffee shop au

22 notes · View notes

phantasticworks · 4 years

Text

If You Don’t Love Me, Pretend - Chapter Sixteen

hello everyone!!! Sorry for the late update, I’ve been working all week and didn’t get home until late today. If anyone is interested I might do a q&a about the story or a sneak peek or something later tonight as an apology for the late chapter! I hope you enjoy reading! ;)

read on ao3

Words: 10k

Summary: Phil has a sick day and Dan takes care of him.

Plus.... the moment you've all been waiting for

Warnings for this chapter: swearing, sickness

There’s a baby crying. Dan doesn’t know where, but he’s positive he can hear it. He’s trying to find it, walking in the direction of the noise, but it seems like the louder the cries, the slower he moves. It’s like he’s moving in quicksand, but when he looks at his feet, there’s nothing. No ground, no legs. Just the sound of the baby crying. He’s panicked, looking around for someone, anyone, to help. He’s about to call out for help, when his world is jostled. It ruins the atmosphere, everything fading in and out shakily.

The cries are still there, but now he’s not sure it’s a baby. It sounds like-

Dan hears an annoying trill in the background of his subconsciousness, drawing him from his dream. He can sort of piece together that the noise is probably his phone, but he’s still not entirely sure he’s awake. He snuggles down into the warmth of the bed, content to let the noise continue and drift back into his dream.

That is, until he feels a sharp prod to his side, followed by a voice. “Dan. Turn your alarm off.”

“Hm?” Dan murmurs into his pillow.

“Dan.” There’s a pause, and Dan’s finally beginning to think he might be able to go back to sleep, but then he feels a sharp pain in his side.

He jolts at the feeling, rolling over to blink at his apparent assailant. “That fucking hurt!” he hisses.

“Turn the alarm off, Daniel.” Comes Phil’s sharp reply.

Dan blinks sleepily, rubbing at his eyes as he flails about for his phone. “Fine, god.” He stops the alarm before yawning, taking a moment to wake up a little as he sits up. He glances over at Phil, frowning when he sees the blanket pulled over his head.

“What’s wrong with you?” He mutters, still a little annoyed that his wake-up call was a rather pointy elbow to his ribs.

“Nothing,” Phil grits out.

Dan rolls his eyes at the obvious lie. He was too exhausted right now to be seriously concerned. Phil wasn’t a morning person all the time, and maybe the whole parenting thing was getting to him.

“Whatever,” Dan mumbles before going to shower.

When he comes out of the bathroom a little later, Phil is still wrapped entirely in blankets. Dan hums to himself as he grabs a shirt from his side of the closet, sliding his arms in and working on buttoning it up. He scrounges around in one of his drawers, wearing nothing but a pair of pants and the shirt as he looks for some trousers or jeans. He sorts through two drawers before he finds a pair he likes, going to his top drawer to grab some socks, still humming.

“Can you please hurry up?” Phil’s voice is weak and strained, and Dan startles at hearing it in the otherwise silent room.

Frowning, Dan glances over at where Phil’s face is barely peeking out of the blankets. “What is your problem, mate? Why’re you being so tetchy?”

Phil closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. Something about that doesn’t sit well with Dan, but it’s teetering between guilt and annoyance, and he’s not sure which to give into. “I don’t feel well,” Phil says finally. “Just… Can you be a little quieter?”

Dan shrugs. “Yeah, whatever.” He heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth and do something with his hair to the soundtrack of Phil letting out a shaky breath.

After finishing up in the bathroom, Dan heads back into the bedroom. His eyes are immediately drawn to the bed, where he can just barely see Phil’s shoulders shaking, just slightly.

Slowly, quietly, Dan makes his way over to Phil’s side of the bed. He sits carefully on the edge, trying not to jostle him too much. “Phil? Are you okay, bub?” His hand hovers near Phil, a little unsure if he wants the physical comfort right now.

Phil draws in a shuddering breath but makes no attempt to hide the fact that he’d been crying. “I’m fine,” he says, strained.

Dan gently lays a hand in Phil’s hair, stroking gently. Phil doesn’t flinch away, so Dan continues the movements. “Hey… what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Dan has to bite his tongue on a sharp rebuttal. “Is it a migraine?” He asks, his chest sinking at the thought.

Phil’s hesitation is answer enough, but he finally says a soft, “Yeah.”

Leaning down, Dan presses his lips to Phil’s temple. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Phil whispers, his tone bitter.

“Not what I meant,” Dan mumbles. He kisses again. “Need anything?”

“No. I just… I wanna be alone.”

And that hurts, just a little. But Dan knows he can only make it better if Phil wants him to, so with another kiss and a soft murmur of, “Okay,” he leaves the room.

The twins are already awake, and he tells them that whoever can be the quietest will get a treat later. He knows it is bribery, but he already feels guilty enough about being loud earlier, so maybe this will atone for that guilt. Levi is practically dead to the world, so it takes a moment to get him up.

“I’m up,” Levi groans.

“Breakfast is gonna be on the road today, buddy. And Phil’s feeling a little under the weather, so try to be as quiet as you can until we leave, yeah?”

Levi nods, waving him off. “Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

Dan heads back downstairs, stopping in the kitchen for a glass of water and a few paracetamol tablets. Phil’s no longer got his head covered up, but his eyes are clenched shut too tightly for him to be asleep. Dan sets down the water and medicine gently before settling on the bed in front of Phil again. He runs a hand down Phil’s arm, rubbing his skin gently. “I brought you some medicine and water, babe.”

“Thanks,” Phil breathes.

Dan feels his gut twist. He hates seeing Phil like this and knowing that he didn’t make it any easier on him earlier makes him feel even worse. “I’m sorry you’re ill,” he whispers, leaning down to kiss Phil’s shoulder.

Phil’s hand finds Dan’s and he squeezes his fingers. He doesn’t speak, and Dan knows he’s probably not making him feel better by sitting here talking. Still, he closes his eyes and just sits there for a moment, stealing that little moment for the two of them before he has to leave. After a moment, he sighs, leaning to kiss Phil’s cheek.

“I’ll call in for you. We’ll be home later, but call me if you need anything, yeah?” Dan rubs Phil’s knuckles with his thumb.

“Yeah,” Phil agrees softly.

Dan nods, mostly to himself, since Phil isn’t looking at him. He moves to leave the room when he hears Phil’s quiet voice behind him. “Hm?”

“The notes,” Phil says, voice wobbly. “I have some notes for the kids in my drawer.” He gestures vaguely to his nightstand.

It takes Dan a moment to process what he means, but when he does he can’t help the fond smile on his face. He quietly pulls the drawer open and finds four stacks of sticky notes. There’s about three or four notes in each stack, but each stack is labelled with a different name. He grabs one note for each of them, making sure his eyes don’t stay too focused on the one with his name for now.

“Alright,” Dan says to indicate he got them. “Get some sleep, baby.”

“Drive safe,” Phil murmurs, his arm covering his eyes. His lips twitch, and Dan hesitates. It was barely a pucker, but when he sees Phil do it again, he steps closer impulsively. Quickly, so that he won’t feel too guilty or awkward about it, Dan leans down and briefly presses his lips to Phil’s in a kiss so fleeting it’s barely a brush.

“Bye, love,” Dan whispers.

He ducks out of the room quickly then, but not before he sees Phil’s lips quirk up, just slightly. The memory warms his chest the entire rest of the morning- through calling in sick for him, to stopping at a café to get the children some breakfast, to dropping them off and strolling into work, a stupid grin on his face.

Louise stares at him suspiciously when he walks in. “What’s got you so smiley?” She demands.

Dan grins at her, shrugging. “I’m just happy, I guess.”

~~~

Happy apparently doesn’t last, as it turns out.

The kids are bubbly and full of life after school, and even Levi is more of a chatterbox than usual. Dan is enjoying it thoroughly, the sounds of them laughing and talking together filling a void in his chest he never realized was empty. They’re still loud and rambunctious as they walk into the flat, although Dan reminds them to use their inside voices in the same breath he uses to chastise the twins for throwing their backpacks down rather than hanging them on their hooks.

He’s humming to himself as he kicks off his own shoes and hangs his bag up, thinking back to the very few messages he’d exchanged with Phil throughout the day.

9:37 AM

Dan: hey bub just checking to see how you’re doing

Phil: I’m okay I guess. Tired :/

Dan: do you need me to come home?

Phil: No

Dan: oh

Dan: okay well ily and I hope you feel better soon x

12:04 AM

Dan: try to eat something for lunch please

Phil: k

1:26 PM

Dan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbDV7uxjqlI

Dan: v important content

Phil: read at 1:27 PM

Dan was nervous walking through the flat to their room, already fearing the worst, as if Phil’s texting behavior today was just a signal that today was about to prove to be a bad one. He nudges the door to their bedroom open gently, noting that the lights are off, and the curtains are drawn. He tiptoes to the bed, eyeing the outline of Phil’s body beneath the duvet.

His chest is rising and falling slowly, a sure sign of slumber. One of his arms is curled around Dan’s pillow, tucked into his side, and the other is splayed above his head. As Dan gets closer he notices how shiny Phil’s skin looks, making him pause. Dan’s careful as he creeps forward and cautiously lowers himself to the bed, laying a gentle hand on Phil’s forehead to check for a temperature.

He nearly swears when he feels how uncomfortably hot Phil’s face is, and his anxiety spikes as he notices the shivers that wrack his body sporadically. Dan has no idea how long he’s been asleep or if he’s already aware that he has a fever, but with a renewed sense of anxiety, he reaches for Phil’s shoulder and gently shakes him awake.

“Phil. Phil, bub, c’mon, wake up.” Dan watches as his eyelids flutter open.

“Huh?” His voice is thick with sleep, and his eyes hold a mixture of panic and confusion as they flit around, finally focusing on Dan’s face. “Dan?”

“Yeah, buddy. C’mon, you need to get in the bath, you’re burning up.”

Phil nods vaguely, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Mm,” he mumbles.

“Phil. Hey, wake up. Come on, you have to get up,” Dan reiterates, tugging Phil’s arm. Phil makes a noise of protest, but Dan just tuts at him. “Let’s go, bath.”

“Don’t wanna,” Phil slurs.

Dan sighs, pulling him up and dragging him off the bed, doing his best to hoist him up and guide him into the bathroom. “I know you don’t, but your fever is really high, and I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out.” The word vomit erupts from his mouth, and he’s selfishly a little glad that Phil seems too out of it to process what he just said.

He lets Phil lean against the sink, quickly moving to fill the bathtub up with water and throwing in some of the peppermint salts that Phil likes. He spins back around when he hears Phil gag, covering his mouth as his panicked eyes find Dan’s. Dan is quick to guide him to the toilet, brushing Phil’s hair back and cringing against the sound of him emptying the contents of his stomach. He’s always hated listening to other people get sick, and to relieve the nausea he feels swirling in his own stomach, he presses his face against Phil’s shoulder blade, trying to minimize his breathing and focus on the sound of running water.

“Shh, shh, you’re okay,” He mumbles, pressing kisses against the damp t-shirt below his mouth as Phil dry heaves. Dan waits for a moment, until he’s almost certain Phil’s done, then quickly pulls away to flush the evidence away. Phil’s face is nearly translucent and haggard as he stares up at Dan, his eyes swimming in tears. “Hey, it’s okay, baby. C’mon, let’s get you in the bath, see if we can get the fever to break.”

Phil nods slowly, standing on baby deer legs and allowing Dan to tug at his shirt. When he hesitates at the waistband of Phil’s pajama bottoms, the older man shrugs. He closes his eyes, looking defeated and exhausted. “It’s not something you haven’t seen before.” Dan chooses not to respond, nodding tersely and making quick work of Phil’s pajama bottoms and pants, keeping his eyes focused solely on his hands. Phil stumbles a little trying to pull his feet out, his hand flying to Dan’s shoulder to hold himself steady. “Er- sorry,” Phil mumbles.

“It’s fine,” Dan replies quietly. He tosses Phil’s clothes into the corner, guiding him over to the tub and helping him lower himself in. The water level has risen almost too much since Dan turned it on, so he’s quick to twist the knob to make it stop.

“Dan,” Phil whines softly as he settles in the water. When Dan looks at him, he’s shivering, his cheeks decorated with streams of tears. “It’s cold.”

Dan feels his heart ache. He hated, more than anything, to see Phil in pain. He brings his hands up to cup Phil’s cheeks, wiping away the moisture there and leaning in to kiss his forehead. “I know, love. But your skin is burning up, I don’t know what else to do.”

Phil’s teeth chatter as he draws his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees. Dan feels this is partly to maintain warmth, but likely because with the cold bath waking him up completely, Phil is aware of his own nakedness. “O-o-kay.”

“You don’t have to stay in here very long,” Dan assures him, brushing a hand through Phil’s hair. “Just about ten minutes, and then we’ll get you back in bed, okay?” Phil only nods, dropping his head to his knees miserably. Dan swallows back the emotion in his throat, petting the back of his head. “I’m going to go check on the kids, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Phil whispers.

Dan’s quick about heading upstairs, where he can hear the kids playing and arguing over something, probably a game. He’s not very surprised to see a Super Smash Brothers game going on, Levi and Jaiden shoving at each other on the sofa, trying to knock each other’s remotes out of their hands. Amelia is cheering them on from the arm chair, but she’s not very loyal to either side. They don’t notice him there at first, but when Amelia sees him she yelps and jumps up, skipping over to him and holding her arms out.

He scoops her up and gestures to the TV with his vacant hand. “Hey, pause that for a minute, guys.”

Levi presses the button and turns to look at him, while Jaiden protests beside him. “What’s up?” Levi asks, glancing towards the stairs. “Where’s Phil?”

Dan tries not to show how worried he is as he nods to the stairs. “He’s in our room. He’s pretty ill, so I’ve gotta go back down there in a minute and take care of him. I think we’re going to have a takeout kinda night, so you guys think about what you want for dinner, okay? And try not to be too loud up here, if you don’t mind.”

They nod, and Amelia presses her cheek to Dan’s shoulder. “Is Dad gonna be okay?”

With a smile, Dan presses a kiss to her cheek. “Sure, lovebug. He just needs to get some rest.”

“Were we being too loud?” Levi asks, looking guilty.

Dan shakes his head. “No, not at all. So, just keep the volume where it’s at, okay? And when you guys decide what you want, text me and I’ll order it.” He directs the last part to Levi, who nods. “Alright, I’ve gotta go back downstairs, but I’ll be back in a bit.”

The children respond with vague acknowledgements that they’ve heard him, the boys already going back to their game. Dan presses another kiss to Amelia’s head before setting her down and heading back down to his room.

Phil’s still in the bathtub, but he’s not shivering quite as violently as he was before. “Alright, let’s get you out of here,” Dan says quietly when he walks in, trying not to startle him.

Phil still jumps, just a little, but he looks grateful when he looks up at Dan. “Okay.”

Dan grabs a towel and helps Phil stand up, drying him off quickly and reaching out to flick the tab so the tub will drain out. He brings one end of the towel up to Phil’s damp hair, rubbing it against his head gently. Phil giggles a little as Dan does this, and Dan offers him a fond smile. They’re stood so close together, and Dan’s eyes flick down to his lips for a half second. Suddenly, Phil’s not laughing anymore, just staring at Dan with something like expectancy in his eyes.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Dan steps away. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab you some pajamas.” Dan’s almost out the door when he hears Phil’s soft voice calling him back. “Hm?”

“Something of yours?” Phil asks, his eyes big and round and hopeful.

Dan bites his lip to hide a smile. “Sure. Be right back.”

~~~

After Phil has gotten dressed in a pair of Dan’s sweatpants and a striped t-shirt, Dan tucks him back into bed before going on a search for a thermometer. He comes back into their room waving it triumphantly, sitting on the edge of the bed and facing Phil, who’s sat against the headboard with his knees pulled up close to his chest. Phil crinkles his nose distastefully but obediently tucks the stick under his tongue and allows it to process. When it beeps, Dan narrows his eyes at it before letting out a sigh of relief.

“36,” He informs Phil, tossing the device onto his bedside table in case they need it again later.

Phil frowns. “That’s still kinda high, isn’t it?”

Dan shrugs. “It’s less than it probably was before.” He leans in then, pressing his lips to Phil’s forehead. He lingers there for longer than is probably necessary, but his hand is itching to run through the hair above Phil’s ear, and Dan can’t help himself. “You’re not as warm as you were before, so I think it probably broke,” he says when he leans away, his hand still stroking Phil’s hair gently.

There’s a strange look on Phil’s face but he nods. “I feel a little better, I guess.” He sounds like he resents this fact, and Dan has to laugh. Phil always was such a baby about cold baths.

“Well, good. I was freaking the fuck out, honestly.”

Phil’s eyebrows draw together. “Why?”

Dan tilts his head and quirks an eyebrow in disbelief. “Come on. You know why.” When Phil gives him a vacant look, Dan makes a noise that’s something between a snort and a cough. “I just… I worry when you don’t feel well. And it makes me sad to see you hurting.”

Apparently, this is the right thing to say, because a grin slowly stretches across Phil’s lips. Dan’s already cringing, prepared for Phil to come up with something ridiculous to say to that, probably something mildly insulting. Instead, he leans forward, resting his head on Dan’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to Dan’s collarbone. “Thank you for taking care of me, bear.”

Dan’s heart clenches at the nickname. He raises a hand, carding his fingers through Phil’s hair and kissing his head. “Of course,” he says, his voice softer than he’d intended. He’s just about to ask if Phil wants to lay down for a nap when the sound of a ringtone interrupts him.

Phil’s nose crinkles as he looks to the side, where the sound is coming from his phone. He leans away from Dan, sighing deeply. “It’s my mum.” He sounds exhausted, even more so than before, staring at the phone like he wishes it would erupt into flames.

“Want me to answer for you?” Dan asks, eyeing the mobile.

Without a word, Phil hands it to him.

“Hello, child. I was starting to think you weren’t going to answer an old woman’s call.” Kathryn’s playfully reprimanding voice greets him when he swipes to answer.

Dan can’t help but grin, moving on the bed to settle himself beside Phil as he chats with the other man’s mother. He loves Kathryn dearly, always has. “Hi, Kath,” Dan laughs. “This is Dan, actually.”

“Dan!” She sounds genuinely pleased to hear it’s him. It makes Dan’s heart warm. He glances at Phil and finds him staring at him with a soft look. “How are you, love? It’s been too long since you’ve called, you know.”

Even as playful as the reprimand is, it makes Dan hang his head in real embarrassment. He actually does try to call her from time to time; there’s just some maternal comfort there that he doesn’t quite find with his own mum. “I know, sorry about that. It’s been rather hectic around here lately.” He glances up at Phil again, his lips twisted in silent question. He didn’t really know what all Phil told his mum about their situation, so he wasn’t really sure what he needed to say.

Phil just shrugs, then nods. His mother is already chattering away in Dan’s ear, giving away what she knows without hesitation. “-and he said you had the older one now, as well. Luke, was it?”

“Levi,” Dan corrects gently. “They’re all lovely kids, really sweet.”

Kathryn coos at this. “I’m so glad Phil and you finally sorted yourselves out. Can’t believe you managed to keep it from us for so long, though.” She laughs then, and Dan awkwardly follows. He very carefully does not meet Phil’s gaze. “I suppose I should ask about my son, while I’ve got you,” she says, her voice teasing.

Dan actually laughs at this, giving Phil a cheeky smile when he furrows his eyebrows. Reaching up unthinkingly, Dan brushes his thumb across Phil’s eyebrows, smoothing them out with gentle strokes. Phil smiles at him, tilting his head and nosing against Dan’s palm, prompting him to stroke his cheek instead. It’s weirdly intimate, but Dan doesn’t drop his hand. Instead, he answers Kathryn, his eyes focused on Phil’s face. “Well, he’s ill today, actually.”

“What’s wrong?” Kathryn’s voice has lost all humor and is coated with that distinct Mum Concern that she’s patented. “Is he alright?”

Phil must hear this, because he rolls his eyes, shifting back. Dan’s hand falls out of reach, and he laments the loss for a second. Only a second, because when Phil’s comfortable he drops his head to Dan’s shoulder, and yeah, that’s better. “He’s fine, I think. Had a migraine this morning and when I came home he had a fever.”

“Poor lamb,” Kathryn coos. Dan can’t tell how serious she is. Phil is a grown man, after all. “Did you get the temperature down?”

Dan nods before remembering she can’t see him. “I did, yeah. He hates me for it, but I reckon a cool bath won’t kill him.”

“It wasn’t cool, it was freezing,” Phil complains loudly.

Rolling his eyes, Dan’s about to respond when he hears Kathryn laugh. “Well, if he can complain about it, he must be feeling better.”

“He is, he’s just a baby,” Dan teases, mainly to see the adorable way it makes Phil glare at him. “Did you want to speak to him? I think he’s feeling well enough for me to hand the phone off.”

Phil gives him a pained look, but Dan grins, knowing already that Kathryn will say no.

“Oh, that’s alright. Let him rest, I can talk to him tomorrow. But love, do call me every now and again, yeah? And maybe visit soon?” She sounds so hopeful, and Dan knows already that he can’t say no to her.

He also can’t blindly promise he’ll do something like that, though, so instead he just makes a noncommittal noise. “Of course, Kath.”

“Tell Phil to get well soon, that’s an order. I love you both, Dan. Don’t forget about that visit.”

Dan laughs. “Sure thing. Love you too. Bye.”

After he’s hung up the phone, he sighs, leaning over to drop it on the nightstand before looking at Phil. He’s got a thoughtful look on his face, but his eyes aren’t meeting Dan’s. He decides to let that go for now. “You alright?”

Phil nods, his gaze refocusing and shifting to Dan’s. A small smile tugs at his lips as he drops his head back to Dan’s shoulder. “Thanks for talking to her for me. I don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.”

This makes Dan freeze a little. Of course, Phil needs to rest. Dan doesn’t need to sit in here keeping him from taking a nap. He slowly shifts, moving to climb off the bed, but then Phil’s arm is around his waist, holding him there tightly. “Not you, you don’t count,” he protests, rolling his eyes.

His heart and face warming, Dan settles back down, gingerly moving his arm to rest around Phil’s shoulder. Maybe he does this to play with Phil’s hair, but that’s his business.

They sit like that in silence for several long minutes. Phil eventually sighs contently and slowly pulls away, causing Dan’s hand to slip away from his hair. “How’re the kids?”

Dan then remembers that he promised to order them some takeout of their choice. “Hungry, probably,” he laughs, reaching for his phone to check for a message from Levi. “I told them to let me know what they wanted for dinner and I’d just order in tonight.”

Levi: twins said they want pizza

Dan: are you good w that

Levi: yep

“Do you think you could eat some pizza?” Dan asks, glancing up at Phil after reading Levi’s message.

Phil’s nose scrunches up in distaste. “I’m not really hungry,” he admits.

Dan narrows his eyes. “What did you have for lunch?” Phil’s silence is all he needs to know that he hasn’t eaten at all today. “You have to eat something. I can order you some soup?”

“If I have to,” Phil pouts.

“You’re so whiny,” Dan teases, pulling up the website for their favorite pizza place on his phone.

Phil knocks his knee against Dan’s side gently. “Don’t bully me, I’m ill,” he protests weakly.

Dan smiles fondly. “Oh, you poor baby,” he simpers.

“Shut up,” Phil giggles, sticking his tongue out at Dan.

After getting some pizza and soup ordered, Dan texts Levi to let him know that the pizza was being delivered soon. “Do you think you’ll want to eat in here?”

Phil shakes his head. “I want to eat with you guys,” he says. He leans his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “I already feel like an invalid, I’d really like to eat dinner with my family.”

Dan frowns at the bitter tone in his voice. Leaning forward, he rests his cheek against Phil’s knee, his hand coming up to stroke his thigh gently, staring at the Game of Thrones logo there. “You’re not an invalid,” He murmurs. “You’re not well today, but that isn’t your fault.”

There’s a long pause, and Dan thinks Phil probably won’t respond. Then, there’s a hand in his hair, scratching at his scalp perfectly. “Thank you,” Phil breathes. “I… Yeah. Thanks, bear.”

With a smile, Dan tilts his head, pressing a kiss to Phil’s knee through the fabric of the sweatpants. “Anytime.”

~~~

After a sort of subdued dinner with the kids, Phil announces that he wants to watch a movie. Dan, quick to comply to any of Phil’s demands today, agrees easily. He’d watched Phil grow steadily frustrated as the kids constantly shot him worried looks, staying quieter than usual, per Dan’s request. He feels a little guilty for telling them that Phil was sick, but he knew they were just trying to do what they thought was right, and he appreciated that deeply.

Still, he could tell it was wearing on Phil.

“What movie do you wanna watch?” Dan asks him, standing to clear the table.

Phil shrugs. “Can we use that little mini projector we bought a few months ago?” He asks, sounding hopeful.

Dan thinks back to earlier this summer, when Phil surprised him with a mini projector for his birthday. Dan had a sneaking suspicion Phil just wanted it for himself but didn’t want to buy it for himself, so buying it for Dan was the compromise. They’d used it a few times, since it allowed them to be lazy and lay in bed while they shot it across the room to the wall opposite the bed, or even onto the ceiling. It was really a good investment, if he was being honest.

“Sure, bub. Do you guys wanna watch a movie with us in our room?” Dan asks the kids, glancing over at the table from where he’s begun stacking the dishes in the dishwasher.

Levi looks up from where he’d been gathering trash, a sort of deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. Before he has a chance to respond, though, Amelia beats him to it.

“Yes!” She cheers excitedly.

“What’re we watching?” Jaiden asks, tapping the table as he waits for the answer.

“That’s up to Dad, he’s the sick one,” Dan says with a shrug.

Phil snorts, whether at the casual way Dan calls him that or the fact that he’s being elected the decision maker based on his health status, Dan’s not sure. “We can watch Wall-E?” It’s a suggestion, but his voice lilts up nervously at the end like a question.

Dan pauses unintentionally, glancing over at him with a raised brow. He hadn’t seen the movie in a while, but back when they first met, when Dan first visited Phil at his parents’ house in Rawtenstall, they’d watched that movie and cried together. It’s still one of Dan’s fondest, unblemished memories of them.

“Sure, baby. We can watch Wall-E,” Dan murmurs softly, closing the dishwasher and setting it to run for a cycle. He moves over to the table, stopping behind Phil’s chair and wrapping his arms around his neck, leaning down and kissing his temple. It’s more affectionate than he’d usually allow himself to be with their current audience, but he’s feeling particularly fond today, especially with Phil being sick and letting Dan actually take care of him for once.

Phil’s hand comes up to stroke at Dan’s forearm, so Dan stays there for a moment, reveling in this rare moment of intimacy. It’s nice, he thinks to himself. “Levi?” Phil calls softly. “Would you like to come watch the movie with us?”

Levi glances over at them, looking away quickly. Dan gets a bitter feeling in his gut, something akin to guilt for making him uncomfortable with the PDA. When he goes to pull away, though, Phil tightens his grip. Dan stays.

“Er, I think I’ve got some homework I should probably do,” Levi excuses himself.

“Oh. Well, alright,” Phil says. He sounds disappointed. “Well, if you change your mind, you can always come join us, yeah?”

Levi nods vaguely before rising from his seat and gesturing to the stairs. “Yeah, sure. Can I go to my room?”

“Sure,” Dan answers, nodding. “If you need any help on your homework, let me know.”

The teen just nods before exiting to his room. Dan feels his stomach sink, disappointed that Levi still doesn’t feel like he’s part of their family. He tries to push that feeling away for now, turning to grin at the kids.

“Who’s ready for a movie night?”

~~~

The projector is fantastic, Dan thinks. They can settle it on one of their nightstands and point it to the wall and it’s just the perfect size. It connects to a phone, so Dan has it connected to his, keeping it on the charger while the movie plays. The twins were so excited when they realized it was a projector, and Dan honestly wished they could really make a movie night out of it and have popcorn. However, he was unwilling to make the bed after eating popcorn in it, and as much as he loved the kids, he didn’t trust them to not get popcorn crumbs and kernels in his clean sheets.

Still, he thinks they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Amelia had wanted to be sat beside Phil, and Jaiden had pretty much crawled onto Dan’s lap the moment they got on the bed. It was comfortable and domestic, being squished together with his family on his bed. And the choice of movie had his eyes going a little misty every time he looked at Phil or thought back to that first weekend they spent together, when things were so unsure, and when he thought there was a chance that they might go in a different direction.

They never had, obviously. But Dan can’t say he regrets becoming Phil’s best friend, because that’s been one of the best things that’s ever happened to him. He has to say that fostering these kids is definitely competing with the top spot these days.

They’re probably less than half an hour into the movie when Dan catches movement out of the corner of his eye. Levi is hovering awkwardly at the door, like he’s unsure if he should come inside or not. Dan smiles at him, motioning for him to join them. “C’mon, there’s room for you too, bub.”

Levi offers him an embarrassed smile, glancing at the wall where the movie is being projected. “Sorry,” he whispers, coming closer. Phil glances over at him and smiles brightly. “I just… got kinda bored. Didn’t wanna be alone.”

“You don’t have to be alone, Levi. C’mere, we’ll move over so you can sit with us.” Dan turns to Amelia and pats her knee. “Mia, love, scooch over to sit in Dad’s lap, so Levi can come sit down.”

Amelia does as she’s told, scooting over and sitting atop Phil’s thighs. He moves to the edge of the bed, allowing Dan to scoot in beside him. Dan gets a little closer than is probably necessary, trying to give Levi as much room as possible, and also just to feel closer to Phil. As soon as they’re situated, Dan pats the bed.

Levi looks a little apologetic as he walks around to Dan’s side, settling himself on the bed and sitting a little stiffly beside him. Jaiden barely gives him a chance to get settled, crawling over to sit in Levi’s lap.

“Traitor,” Dan teases.

Jaiden giggles, sticking his tongue out at Dan. “Sorry, Daddy,” he chirps.

Dan scrunches his nose up with a smile. He watches as Levi settles a little more calmly, probably due to Jaiden’s presence in his lap giving him something to focus on other than feeling awkward about being in there in the first place.

Turning back to the movie, Dan spares a glance over at Phil. He’s already looking at Dan, but a soft smile melts onto his lips when their eyes meet. Dan feels that new familiar warmth blossom in his chest, and this time he lets it consume him, warming the tips of his ears and tingling in the pads of his fingers. To settle himself and ground that feeling, he lays his head on Phil’s shoulder. Phil’s head falls to rest against Dan’s, and it’s so, so nice.

“Still love this movie,” Phil whispers to Dan.

“Mhm. Me too.”

“Sleepy?”

“Mm. No. Just happy.”

Phil raises his head, tilting his face to look at Dan’s. Dan nearly laughs at the surprised smile there. “Good,” Phil says softly. He kisses the tip of Dan’s nose gently before settling his cheek back against the top of Dan’s head. “I’m glad you’re happy, bear.”

“Me too.”

It’s no surprise, really, that Amelia shushes them, but it is funny. They apologize profusely, which she reminds them is also distracting. Pretending to zip his lips, Dan settles back against Phil with a contented sigh and a warm chest.

~~~

When the movie ends, Dan accepts the snuggles that Jaiden and Amelia seem keen on giving him. Amelia wedges herself between he and Phil, wrapping an arm around Dan’s torso and shoving at Jaiden when he tries to join in. Dan tuts at her and she withdraws, although she doesn’t look particularly happy about it. Levi looks over at them, his mouth twisted like he wants to be mad about it but isn’t sure how.

“Can you tell us a story, Daddy?” Amelia asks, looking up at Dan with wide eyes.

He starts to protest, intending on telling her that it’s time for bed, but he catches the expectant look on Phil’s face and immediately caves. “Sure. What kind of story would you like to hear?”

Amelia shrugs, closing her eyes and settling in. “Dunno. Just make something up.”

Dan rolls his eyes fondly, his gaze falling to Jaiden. “Jai-bird? Any requests?”

He seems to consider it but shakes his head. “Just animals,” he says simply.

“Alright, I can work with animals.” He leans his head back, trying to think of a story idea. He liked to think he was alright at this part of the whole parenting thing, but he wasn’t actually positive about that, honestly. His gaze falls to Phil, who’s watching him with soft, half-lidded eyes. Suddenly, he’s got just the story. “So, once upon a time, there was a little bear. We’ll call him Bear, for now.”

Levi shifts on the bed then, distracting Dan a little. When he looks at him, though, Levi gestures for him to continue. Something about that, about Levi willingly spending time with them under objectively childish circumstances, really warms Dan’s heart.

“So, Bear was really lonely, and he lived in a cave all by himself. He had a family, but they lived in a different cave on a different mountain. One day, Bear decided to go out in the woods, and he found a stream. Beside the stream was a lion.” Dan purposefully avoids Phil’s attempt at making eye contact. He swallows hard. “We’ll call him Lion.”

“Lions don’t live in the woods,” Jaiden observes quietly.

Dan has to laugh at that, and even Phil lets out a chuckle. Leaning down, Dan kisses Jaiden’s hair. “Well, that’s why it was such a big deal for Bear to find Lion. Bear felt like he was all alone in the forest, but here was this other person- er, animal,” he corrects himself. “Who liked the same things. They liked the same berries, and games, and they even had a favorite star-leaf tree they would meet at to hang out.”

“Lions don’t eat berries,” Jaiden says solemnly.

“Jai, shut up,” Levi says good-naturedly, poking his brother in the back. “Dan’s trying to tell a story.” He grins at Dan, and Dan’s heart swells.

Jaiden lets out a long-suffering sigh, but gestures for Dan to continue.

“Well, don’t worry, Bear and Lion hunted together. They did everything together, actually. And so, there Bear was, thinking he was all alone in this big forest, but he realized that really, Lion was just like him.” Dan feels Phil’s head resting against his shoulder then, and he pauses, closing his eyes for a second and leaning his head against Phil’s. “One day, Bear decided he wanted to leave the forest, so he told Lion he wanted to move to the city.”

“The jungle, you mean,” Phil says quickly, saving the story when Dan is clearly slipping.

“Right, the jungle,” Dan nods. “So, Lion tells Bear that he doesn’t want him to leave, so Bear asks him to join. Lion agrees. They have lots of adventures on the trip, of course.” Dan rambles for a moment about the adventures, making it up as he goes. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, if Dan is being honest with himself, but if the kids have any sort of problem with it, they don’t say.

“So, Lion and Bear finally made it to the jungle, and after all that time, they decided they’d find themselves a little cave all by themselves, away from everyone else.” Dan is finally at the conclusion, and he can feel Amelia’s deep, even breaths against his chest. Jaiden doesn’t look to be that far from sleep himself. “They built their little home together in the jungle and lived happily ever after. The end.”

Jaiden blinks sleepily. “They love each other?” he asks, his words sort of slurred together at this point.

“Hm?” Dan asks.

“Lion and Bear,” Jaiden says, gesturing vaguely. “You said, “Happy ever after” and that’s a love story thing.”

“Not always,” Dan says, laughing awkwardly, hyper-aware of Phil pressed against his side.

Jaiden shrugs, closing his eyes. “’S okay. If they do.”

“Yeah,” Dan hums. “Yeah, that’s okay.” Before Jaiden can fully drift to sleep, Dan nudges him. “C’mon, bubby, time for bed.”

“I’ve got him,” Levi says, standing up and leaning back down to scoop his brother up.

“Thanks, Levi,” Dan says gratefully. He carefully scoots to the edge of the bed before leaning back in and cradling Amelia to his chest. His eyes catch Phil’s and the older man offers him a sweet smile. “I’ll be right back,” Dan whispers.

Phil nods, waving him off. “Take your time.”

Dan follows Levi down the hall, going to deposit Amelia on her bed when they’ve walked in the room. She makes a noise in her sleep, but Dan shushes her, and she quiets right back up, curling up in the bed immediately after he lays her down. He carefully lifts one of her little arms and tucks her favorite plushy, currently this is a stuffed elephant, under it, pulling the duvet up and tucking her in. “Night, love,” he breathes, kissing her hair.

He turns to do the same with Jaiden, only to find Levi sat on the edge of his bed, watching Dan carefully. Dan offers him a smile, unsure if Levi is upset by his displays of affection or just confused. “Do you always do that?” Levi asks, his voice quiet.

Bringing a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, Dan shrugs. “I mean, most nights. Sometimes we swap, and Phil does that, but usually he wakes them up and I put them to bed.”

Levi nods, looking past Dan to his sister. “Our parents didn’t do that,” he whispers.

Dan’s heart stops. He’s sure of it. This is the first time Levi has been particularly open about their parents, and the twins had said next to nothing about their previous home life. Hazel had told him this sometimes happened when the children wished to repress memories. Levi being fifteen and therefore not in that repressive stage, Dan was surprised it had taken him this long to mention them.

“Yeah?” Dan says gently, trying to leave space for Levi to say anything if he wanted to.

“They didn’t tuck them in. I don’t even remember them ever tucking me into bed, either.” He swallows hard, his eyes slowly drifting over to Dan’s. “They definitely didn’t tell us stories and carry us to bed after a night of family bonding and watching movies.” His voice is bitter, and Dan tries not to take that personally.

“I’m sorry,” Dan murmurs. He steps over to sit carefully on the opposite end of the bed, giving Levi some space. “I hate that you and your brother and sister had that experience. I wish… I wish it didn’t happen.”

Levi shrugs, looking down at the floor and kicking a stuffed rabbit idly. “’S whatever. We’re here now, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Dan tries to phrase his next words carefully. “Well, something can hurt you more after it’s over than when it really happens. It’s kind of like being put to sleep for surgery. You may not be totally aware of what’s happening as it happens, but it hurts like a bitch when you wake up, right?”

There’s a surprised look on Levi’s face, probably at the swear, but he nods slowly. “Yeah. I guess.”

They sit there in silence for a moment, as Dan’s run out of wise things to say and is honestly a little afraid of waking up the twins with all the talking. “Well, it’s late, buddy. I think we should both head to bed.”

Levi nods, sparing a last look at his brother and sister before standing. “Okay,” he mumbles. He moves to hover by the door, and he waits there as Dan tucks in Jaiden and kisses his forehead, leaning down to pick up his bunny plushie and lay it next to him. When he steps out into the hall behind Levi, he finds him standing there with a thoughtful expression. “You’re not so bad, you know.”

Dan smiles at him. “I’m glad to hear that, actually. Sometimes I wonder.”

The teenager smiles and laughs quietly. “Night, Dan.”

“Goodnight. Sweet dreams, kiddo.”

~~~

Halloween comes in a flurry of decorating, pumpkin carving, and costume buying. Of course, with two small children whose minds changed every other day, it took longer than Dan thought it seriously needed to for them to decide on a costume. Finally, after much debate (mostly between the twins and Phil, who was much more invested in the decision making than Dan was) a decision was finally made.

“Daddy!” Amelia squeals from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, love?” Dan is sat on his bed, folding clothes. He knew Phil had been upstairs with the kids after dinner watching a movie, but Dan had just wanted some quiet alone time. Doing laundry was the only excuse he could think of in the face of Phil’s pout when he asked Dan why he didn’t want to stay and cuddle.

Amelia comes bounding in his room, a grin on her face. “We picked our outfits!”

It takes him a second to remember what she’s talking about. “Oh! You decided on what you want to be for Halloween?”

She nods, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Guess what we’re gonna be!”

Phil walks in then, toting a sleepy looking Jaiden.

“We?” Dan asks, quirking his eyebrows at the older man and trying to keep the apprehensive look off his face.

Phil sees right through him, leaning against the wall and stroking Jaiden’s back gently. “They decided we should do a family costume.” He’s got a mischievous glint in his eye, and Dan’s already nervous as to why.

“Okay…” Dan says slowly, dropping the socks he’s just matched onto the bed and straightening his back, cringing when it pops. “What’re we gonna be?”

Phil grins. “You’re gonna love this, babe. Mia, tell him what you’re gonna be.”

She smiles so wide Dan’s surprised her little face doesn’t split. “Bulbasaur!”

Immediately, Dan bursts into fond giggles. “What? Really?” He glances up at Phil, who wears a mirrored expression.

“They’ve been playing Pokémon with Levi apparently.” He shrugs, but Dan can almost feel the excitement coming off him in waves.

“’m gonna be Squirtle,” Jaiden mumbles from where he’s nestled in Phil’s arms.

Dan nearly coos. “Aww.”

Amelia hops up on the bed then, climbing into Dan’s lap. “Are you excited?” She asks with wide eyes.

He nods with a bright smile. “I sure am! What are Phil and I going to be?”

She grins then, but the expression is so similar to the one Phil had made that it nearly knocks the breath out of Dan’s chest. “Well… Dad said he wanted to be Ash.”

Dan rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “Of course he did.”

Phil sticks his tongue out. “Wait till you hear what they’ve decided you’ll go as.” He sounds almost giddy.

“Well?” Dan asks, looking down at Amelia, who looks ready to burst with her little secret. “What am I going as?”

“Pikachu!” She shouts, bursting into giggles immediately.

Dan stares at her, blinking slowly, before slowly swinging his gaze to Phil’s. “I’m… your sidekick?”

At this, Phil gasps. “A…sorry, a sidekick? Daniel! How could you? Pikachu is Ash’s best friend! His companion through life! Like… like…”

Rolling his eyes, Dan stands from the bed, hoisting Amelia up on his hip. “Like his actual soulmate?” Dan quirks an eyebrow.

Phil huffs. “Shut up.”

Dan walks past him, stopping to drop a kiss to his temple. “Yeah, alright. I’ll be your Pikachu. But don’t expect me to forget about this, Lester.”

There’s the sound of Phil breathing a laugh as they carry the twins to their room.

“I think you’ll be a good Pikachu, Daddy,” Amelia says sweetly when he lays her down in bed.

“Mhm. I’m sure.” He scrunches his nose up at her and she giggles. She holds her arms out for a hug, which he gladly obliges to. “I love you, sweetheart. Have sweet dreams.”

“Love you too, Pikachu.” She giggles hysterically when he shoots her a mock glare.

“Goodnight, Mia.”

“Night, Daddy.”

Phil is waiting to switch places as he’s already tucked Jaiden in, and as Dan moves past him, he reaches out and squeezes Phil’s hip. He receives a smile and a relaxed roll of the eyes, and it warms Dan’s heart.

“Hi, bubby,” Dan says softly when he sits on the edge of Jaiden’s bed.

“Hi,” Jaiden replies with a sleepy smile. “Are you excited to be Pikachu?”

Dan smiles and nods. “Wanna know a secret?” he whispers conspiratorially. Jaiden nods in excitement, so Dan leans in. “Pikachu’s my favorite. I’m pretty sure I already have a Pikachu costume somewhere.” In truth, the costume he’s speaking of is actually a onesie, and actually Phil’s, but Jaiden doesn’t have to know that.

“Really?” Jaiden says gleefully.

“Mhm. So, I’m well excited about Halloween. How about you?”

Jaiden nods. “I love Halloween. Dad said we’d go trick-or-treating!”

Dan smiles fondly, brushing Jaiden’s hair back with a nod. “That’s right, bud. We’re going trick-or-treating on Saturday night.”

The six-year-old smiles, looking down at his hands. “I’ve never been trick-or-treating before,” he admits quietly.

A lump grows in Dan’s throat, cutting his breath a little short. “Well,” he starts, stopping to clear his throat. “We’re going to have a lovely time trick-or-treating. Promise.”

Jaiden smiles, his eyelids already fluttering close. “Good,” he says quietly.

Dan leans down, pressing a kiss to Jaiden’s forehead. “I love you, Jai-bird.”

The boy doesn’t answer, probably already drifting into sleep. Dan makes sure his plushie is on his bed before standing, going to join Phil where he’s stood at the door, watching Dan with an affectionate smile.

“Levi in bed already?” Dan asks quietly as he pulls the door closed behind him.

Phil nods. “He went to bed when we came downstairs.”

“He okay?”

“Mm. Yeah, I think so. We asked if he wanted to dress up as Charmander and he said he’d think about it. I don’t think he wants to go trick-or-treating with us, to be honest with you.”

Sighing, Dan shrugs. “That’s fine. We can’t make him go.”

Phil makes a noncommittal noise. “We’ll talk to him about it, see what he wants to do.”

Dan nods, leading the way into their room. He starts clearing the laundry off the bed, rolling his eyes as Phil spreads himself on his side, moving the piles of clothes to Dan’s side rather than putting them away. “You could help me put those away, you know.”

“I could, but you’re doing such a great job, I think I’ll just leave you to it.” Phil smiles cheekily.

Propping his hand on his hip, Dan quirks an eyebrow at him. “You know most of this is yours, right?”

Phil glances around at the clothes spread around him. He can’t even deny it, since all of it is far too brightly colored to be Dan’s. “Well, I dunno…” He trails off, plucking a familiar green piece from the neatly folded pile near Dan’s pillow. Phil unfolds it, much to Dan’s chagrin. “I think you wear this one more than me, don’t you reckon?”

Dan glares. “No,” he mumbles. A lie.

Phil smiles at him, a soft, fond thing. “C’mere.”

Against his will, but not really, Dan shuffles forward, allowing Phil to pull him in closer with a hand gripped on the front of his shirt. Phil pulls him until he’s got no choice but to sit on the bed, pressed flush against Phil’s thighs. Dan watches as Phil spreads the bottom of the hoodie open, bunching the fabric up in his hands.

“Arms up,” he says softly, blue eyes prompting Dan to obey.

Phil tugs the hoodie over Dan’s head, helping him push his arms through before tugging the fabric down on his torso. With the offensively bright fabric wrapping Dan up in that nostalgic embrace, he feels a little careless, a little happy, and a lot emotional. “Thanks,” he whispers, his eyes still locking with Phil’s.

A hand comes up to brush his curls back into something a little neater, and Dan can’t help but reach up and catch that hand when it falls away. Phil watches him as Dan carefully guides Phil’s hand up to his jaw, leaning into the feeling when Phil gently begins stroking his cheek with his thumb. The air is static around them, and Dan’s certain his heart is about to burst completely out of his chest with the way the tension in the air is squeezing his ribcage.

He doesn’t mean to do it. At least, he doesn’t plan on it, exactly.

One moment he’s sitting there, staring at his best friend, and the next thing he knows, he’s leaned in, brushing his lips tentatively against Phil’s. There’s a shaky exhale released against his mouth, but then there’s fleeting pressure. It’s gone and it’s back and Dan’s eyes flutter as Phil hesitates.

Dan’s veins are thrumming. He feels like his whole body is set on vibrate with all the tension there, bubbling under the surface as he waits for the other shoe to drop. Will he or won’t he, will he or won’t he, will he-

And Dan doesn’t actually think that he will, of course. They’re best friends, and Dan is starting to feel things he’d long ago buried, but he doesn’t seriously think that Phil will kiss him.

He’s wrong.

For all his delaying, Phil finally just commits, his other hand coming up to cup Dan’s neck as he fully frames Dan’s lips with his own. Dan is shattering into a million pieces and being put back together all at once, and his hands can’t help but reach out and touch. They fall to Phil’s arms, but it’s enough contact for Dan to feel warmth spread through his chest. His head swims for some sort of explanation or some sort of way out, and he’s shushing that part as he tries to take this moment just to feel something.

And what he feels are Phil’s lips, softer than his own (“because you bite yours constantly,” says a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Phil’s), pressing and pulling all at once. Dan can’t do much more than make a feeble attempt at copying that pressure, but he feels more pliant than anything. He thinks maybe he’s still a little in shock, his mind both racing and taking a slow-motion film of this moment, of Phil gently, gently pressing their lips together once more before letting out a short breath against Dan’s mouth.

“Dan.” He sounds choked.

“What?” Dan whispers. If he tilted his head just a little, he could kiss Phil again. God, again… the word sounds so bizarre in his head now.

“I… I can’t do this, I’m sorry.”

Phil’s off the bed before Dan can even respond, headed for the bathroom and shutting the door. The lock slides into place in the deafening silence of the room, and all Dan can do is stare.

What the fuck just happened?

~~~

“Phil? C’mon, please come to bed.” Dan’s been sat outside the bathroom door for no less than an hour, quietly imploring that Phil come out and at least sleep in their bed. He’d like to also discuss what just happened, considering the fact that about five minutes after Phil locked himself in the bathroom Dan burst into tears, but he knows that for right now, that can probably wait.

For the first time since he sat down here, he hears a noise on the other side of the door. He scrambles to his feet when he hears the sound of the lock sliding out of place. When the door opens, he comes face-to-face with Phil, stood there with red-rimmed eyes and his contacts replaced with his glasses. He’s staring at the ground, avoiding Dan’s gaze entirely.

“Excuse me,” he whispers, inching past Dan like if they touch it might burn his skin.

Dan shifts out of the way, staring at Phil in complete surprise. This is not what he expected. At all. That being said, Dan has no clue how to react. “Er… Phil?” He decides on a whim to just go for it, straight for the elephant in the room.

Phil is climbing into bed on his side, rolling over to face the door, his back to Dan. “What?”

Slowly, so he doesn’t startle him, Dan gently settles himself on his own side of the bed. “Do… Could we maybe… Talk about what happened?”

Dan’s watching him so closely that when Phil takes in a shuddering breath, he nearly jumps. His chest tightens, and his breathing comes a little harder as the guilt starts to settle in. He’s messed up this time. Like, really.

“I… Soon? Just… not tonight.” Phil’s voice cracks.

Dan swallows hard. “Right. Okay.” He stares at Phil’s shoulder. “Do you want me to sleep somewhere else?”

“No!” Phil sounds positively wounded by the very idea. “I just… I need some time to process what just happened.”

Trying to guard the floodgates in his eyes, Dan nods. “Okay.” He lays down, a little stiffly, staring up at the ceiling. He’s well aware of the valley of space between them, but even breathing too heavily that his chest expands just a little closer to Phil makes Dan’s skin crawl with guilt. He stays as perfectly still as he can, trying to focus on anything other than the fact that the person next to him was his best friend an hour ago and is now his best friend who he’s kissed. It makes his head spin.

So instead, he thinks about the laundry he’d shoved on the floor to climb into bed. He thinks about the lamp that he needs to turn off to cast the room into the darkness it takes for both of them to really properly go to sleep. He tries not to think about the fact that he just kissed his best friend. He thinks about ordering the twins their Halloween costumes. He thinks about the ring on his finger, heavy where his hand rests against his chest. He doesn’t think about the feeling of Phil’s lips against his own.

He’s not thinking about it. He’s not.

His ring feels like it’s suffocating him. He leans to the side, flicks the lamp off. After a moment of thought, he gently tugs the silver band off his finger for the first time in months, dropping it onto the nightstand with a little clink.

Funnily enough, it does nothing to ease burning in his throat.

He almost thinks he hears, or rather feels, Phil’s breath hitch, but then the room goes quiet and still again and he’s no longer sure.

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