#fun fact i did this in like six hours straight and now my sleep schedule's messed uop alsdjs

[jiminrings]

bestie what if jungkook finally finds out that jin’s friends with y/n 😭😭😭 he’d live in embarrassment for like eight business days

cold senior!y/n x stem major!koo masterlist :D

jungkook wants to crawl in a ditch for bADLY misjudging a situation he should’ve foreseen in the first place

yoongi has never been this dedicated to curing his hangover

well actually, nO ONE was really forcing him to pick you and taehyung up anyway

you didn't even ask!!! you could 10/10 just call for an uber to bring back taehyung to his place

maybe, just maybe, it's your fault that when yoongi asked you where you were when he's just woken up from a long night of partying, you mentioned "i'm with taehyung" and hospital and go home in the same sentence so that's why he went to overdrive

did he process what you said correctly?? probably not <3

that's the whole reason why yoongi had wasted sIX eggs this morning!!

he read somewhere in passing and watched song-hwa from hospital playlist enough to know that drinking eggs apparently helps you with your hangover and some other things

first, he wasted tHREE eggs because apparently, you're not supposed to drink the eggs !!! whisked !!! because it "defeats" the whole purpose

but it's still an egg whether you whisk it and no one's sane enough to drink raw eggs unprovoked

yoongi nailed it on the second try and he might have gagged a few times but the important thing is, his hangover is all-cured from the stress of digesting raw eggs :D so now he can safely drive at a borderline dangerous speed to pick you and tae up

"hey kiddo."

you peer your head up to see yoongi looking down at you, ruffling your hair in greeting

you've been held up here for less than five hours anyway, and it's not that yOU look tired,,, it's just that maybe you could use a little more sleep

lol you got yoongi thinking for a second that you're the injured on

"hey champ," yoongi acknowledges taehyung who's smiling from his bed, getting a forehead flick from his senior to which he rolls his eyes to

taehyung's... dressed up already in his normal clothes?

he already has his shoe on too so yoongi doesn't quite get why the two of you still aren't standing up

"you're lucky you just got a flick," you add helpfully, yawning in remembrance, "he punched my arm when i fell down the stairs at the dorm."

and wHY is this conversation all pointing to him now??

"because the both of you did stupid things that landed you in the ER!"

"i was just trying to see if i can go down the stairs three steps at a time!!"

"i just wanted to embrace y/n!!!"

very stoopid decisions if you ask him

yoongi shifts his weight from one foot to another, still a little lost because he's already here, and the two of you are all-ready to go, and he's not really a fan of the smell of the hospital —

oh wait

"has the bill already been settled?" he asks in curiosity, fishing out his wallet from his pocket

"mhmm. already did," tae answers instantly, nudging yoongi to put his wallet back where it came from

uhm wait maybe it's the eggs that are talking but uh

..... if the bill's already paid-

"then why are we all just sitting here?"

taehyung opens his mouth but he cLOSES it shut the moment it all clicks in his head, belatedly looking at you whose face screams conflict

yoongi's eyes turn to you on instinct, narrowing his eyes because you're choosing not to meet his eyes

"we're uh, we're waiting for jungkook to come back from the restroom."

...

.....

.......

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

yoongi's quiet, almost like he's calculating the variables in his mind

his mind's working harder rn that it did on his finals last week

"so jungkook is here?"

he gets war flashbacks every time he hears his name

he just shudders at the thought of him and he doesn't mean it positively lmao

"y-yeah! did i not tell you that at the call? he helped me get taehyung here," you scratch your nape in explanation, not accounting for the fact that yoongi still vERY much loathes jungkook when you called him

tae's not actually sure if he's helping you when he opens his mouth but he's trying his best <3

"yup! his shoulders were my crutch for like, three blocks. he also bought us food from the cafeteria while we were waiting to have my leg cast!!"

he glances at the fancy paper bags from the cafeteria downstairs, even some take-outs in there that makes it look all-stuffed

how in the living hELL is yoongi suppposed to feel about all of this :|

"i'm back! should i call an uber now? sorry, i bought these tiny hand sanitizers because they were having a sale at the pharmacy. y/n what scent do you-..."

jungkook happily chirps as he rummages through the bag he was given, preparing to scoop all the different scents to present them to you when he jUST had to look down at a familiar pair of shoes

as in the same black converse that he had the relief of looking at when someone was particularly asking him if he ever had a knuckle sandwich

"h-hi yoongi."

yoongi narrows his eyes at the kid who just squeaked, mouth puffed-up in disbelief that he looks like he's hiding a hamster in there

"bye jungkook."

yoongi uses tae as an excuse to shoo jungkook off as fast as possible but that kinda bites him in the ass

taehyung's going through a learning curve with his crutches and yoongi's making him wALK faster!!!! he still needs a little-

oh wait a minute :-)

"jungkook! help me walk to yoongi's car."

no

there is nO way that even taehyung's conspiring against him now

first jin and now taehyung????

tae solidifies his point by winking at yoongi, leaving you alone with him as you carry the paper bags of cafeteria take-outs

he's not exactly sure if he's helping you out at this situation, but once again, he's just trying his best and having fun alright!!! he likes to be included in these types of things hee-hee

yoongi has no choice now but to aLSO drive jungkook home, and the thought just makes him grumble from thinking about it

he'll have to disinfect his seats ://

"i haven't fully forgiven him if that's what you're thinking about," you chime in with his thoughts, looping your arm around his to help quell the visible stress in his mind

"it's your life," he puffs out because he doesn't want to meddle with you, consciously trying not to be overbearing when it comes to your choices

"i know. i just want you to know that your closest friend has the pride and the brains to not forgive an asshole, a goddamn junior, who said really mean things to her," you add thoughtfully and transparently, making yoongi break into a smile

ok that's got the heaviness in his chest a little lighter

"we should probably talk to each other one of these days."

you haven't had a heart-to-heart talk with yoongi for quite some time now because there weren't really any pressing issues of the sort to make the two of you talk face-to-face, but now it's probably needed

"we should."

:D

jungkook has never feared for his life in a car ride tHIS much before

and he's even wearing his seatbelt!!!!

you're sitting at the front seat and he's with taehyung at the back, the latter dozing off because yoongi indulged his request for sleep music with soft rain on the background (it doesn't make yoongi sleepy) in an attempt to make him feel better about his leg

the one-hour loop's working wonders because you're passed out on the front seat too

normally, this would also make jungkook sleepy

but how the fuck can he sLEEP when yoongi looks at him through the rear-view mirror like an apex predator??????

kook could take the easier route of pretending to sleep so he could get to avoid yoongi's gaze

but then if he pretends to sleep, yoongi would clearly see how his eyeballs are still very much trembling even when his eyes are shut and he's the furthest thing from being relaxed

don't get him started on stoplights too!!! that was just pure torture because jungkook was conflicted to whether or not he should look at him rIGHT back

taehyung and jungkook live in the same building anyway so that's more convenient because he actually wouldn't know how to act if he had to drop j-name (he honestly can't digest saying his name) separately

now that that's all over, jungkook feels oddly fulfilled in a way...?

fulfilled in a sense that even if partially, he managed to earn your forgiveness

he feels like he could sleep a little more peacefully knowing that he atleast did something right this time!!!

which is for the exact reason, he's gonna gUSH about this to mr. kim from student affairs!!!

it's uh the weekend and he walked to campus because he thinks that admin works even on weekends (mad respect)

it's noticeably a lot more empty compared to weekdays and it's just filled with freshmen with their hectic class schedules and some students who are just fulfilling units to graduate early

jungkook walks straight to student affairs and it instantly looks empty, the only familiar face in there being namjoon

as in mr. kim namjoon who's wearing a windbreaker rn and whose hair is dEFINITELY blonde than the last time (two days ago) that jungkook saw him

he's not here to work isn't he

wait is he here to rob the place ???!?#?!?

"and what are you doing here?"

namjoon is as confused as jungkook, his mouth opening and closing in dumbfoundedness

"o-oh! is mr. kim here? w-wait, you are here. i mean mr. kim seokjin, sorry. did he-"

"nope," namjoon shakes his head, putting his bucket hat back on to leave jungkook all by himself

namjoon from work and namjoon every other time besides work are TWO different entities

"we just came here to collect our paychecks. you missed jin by ten minutes."

oh well

his momentum's not entirely ruined!! jungkook just has to cram thinking of a recipe to put in your lunchbox by tomorrow and jin is his tried and tested saving grace

technically, jungkook already saw you this morning because of the whole taehyung in a cast thing, but he feels as if that the take-outs from the cafeteria aren't gonna cut it

he still needs to step up his game of course :D

so that's why jungkook forcibly enlisted jimin's help to make fish and chips for dinner and put them in two lunchboxes

one for you and one for yoongi!! he didn't skimp on the fish nor the chips and made sure they're still toasty and in peak-flavor when he delivers it to your dorm

is he intruding? is this a bad time? he didn't exactly know how to process when yoongi told him that he wouldn't stop him from making it up to you

he just iSN'T sure if delivering homemade lunchboxes at 7 in the evening to your dorm is optimal

oh good!! the door's opening :D

"good evening!! i uhm-"

... what

.......... WHAT

what the fuck is going on

seokjin is suprised to see that the guy at the door isn't from the delivery place he ordered from two minutes ago

... he may be disappointed

but what he is amused about is the way jungkook looks beyond confused and intimidated

jin's in a sleep shirt and some boxers and jungkook doesn't kNOW what to feel about all the variables present that he's trying to connect

"you look like you're hiding a goldfish in your mouth."

seokjin remarks and yawns when a fraction of a minute passes and jungkook's still frozen in his spot, his eyes darting to what the kid's holding

"oh c'mon! one for y/n and one for yoongi? you trying to make it up to him too? and none for me?" jin jives him further, leaning against the doorframe with a sleepy smirk on his lips, "i practically live here, and i gave you the tonkatsu recipe, and i'm the one who doesn't get a lunchbox?"

he eventually saw this coming lmao

jin knew that someway somehow, jungkook would come to know that hE's your close friend throughout the whole time

that he's been the sort of middleman all this time but nah he's on your team of course <3

that all this whining he's done to him has all been in the name of you and seokjin had to sit through ALLLL of that with his fists clenched underneath the table to calm himself down

"oh my god," jungkook's literally WEAK in the knees as it all connects in his mind, the gravity of this scenario kicking down on him

he really iS such a fucking asshole

how did he not hypothesize this????? how wasn't he able to connect you and yoongi and jin as each other's closest friends???

his legs are literally about to give out so that's why seokjin snatches the lunchboxes from his hands

"i am so, so, so sorry mr. kim. i-i really didn't-..."

jin pays him no mind, opening the lunchboxes slightly as he whistles at the sight of fish and chips

meanwhile jungkook is so sO close to crying both in realization and very very slight relief because he knows atleast one of your friends doesn't hate him that much

the door opens wider, the creaking getting both of his and jin's attention

"what's taking you so long? is the-..."

yoongi switches his gaze between the two lunchboxes on jin's hand and jungkook sitting on the floor looking like he's had the shock of his lifetime

wow this is really amusing

this is in fact so amusing that yoongi can't help but to snap a picture for him and jin to laugh at later

"bye, jeon."

yoongi grabs one of the lunchboxes from jin's hand and goes back into the dorm, leaving jungkook alone with mr. student affairs

seokjin chuckles as he outstretches his hand to make jungkook stand up and shoo him off sooner than later so he wouldn't look like a pebble in front of your dorm

he pats him on the back, only having to pull him slightly to get him closer to his ear

"we're still mad at you kid, don't get it twisted. you're lucky i didn't expel you."

jungkook pales at the realization overall, only weakly nodding his head as he attempts to take in everything while trying to look at the bright side

seokjin cheerily closes the door, waving at him who looks so close to passing out from hock

"bye jungkook!!!"

#AHHHHHH WHAT R UR THOUGHTS WHAT DO YOU WANNA SEE NEXT #stem koo #jungkook imagine #jungkook imagines #jungkook oneshot #jungkook oneshots #jungkook au #jungkook college au #jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #jungkook fanfic #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #jungkook headcanon #jungkook series

[jungshookz]

EEEK cee imagine grumpy!yn and jimin where jimin falls asleep on the floor in their lil hangout spot bc he stayed up the night before and yn jus secretly admiring jimin’s adorable sleeping face while caressing his hair THEN jimin wakes up when yn leaned in for a kiss on his forehead :3:3:3

➺ pairing; sunshiney!jimin x grumpy!y/n

➺ genre; of course this is fluff!!! fluffier than the clouds that jimin makes y/n look at and tell him what animal she thinks it looks closest to :D (he thinks it looks like a bunny and she thinks it looks like a.,,. idk man that’s literally just a lump) 

➺ wordcount; 1.3k 

➺ p.s. you’ll be able to find this in the teeny tidbits masterlist later on :’) 

(unfortunately i wasn’t able to track down the original maker of this gif but this is where i sourced it from! all credits go to the original creator of course :-))

                                     »»————-　☁️　————-««

“oh my god, do you hear that?” yoongi gasps, placing a hand on your shoulder before holding a finger up in the air, “that’s incredible.”

?

“what are you talking about?” you frown, looking around as well before shrugging his hand off your shoulder, “i don’t hear anything.”

you and namjoon exchange confused glances and he offers you his own shrug before looking over at yoongi for further explanation

“exactly. it’s nothing. it’s… silence.” yoongi whispers, “i haven’t heard it in so long because jimin’s always destroying it with his motormouth-”

oh

okAy

now you see what he’s going on about

“hey, cut it out-” you roll your eyes before shifting your shoulder slightly so that jimin’s head isn’t at a weird angle and that he won’t wake up with a weird kink in his neck, “he was up all night working on a paper and he’s tired.” you murmur, reaching over and pulling your cardigan up so that it covers his chest a little more

“you know, you were way more fun before you started dating jimin.” yoongi scoffs, pursing his lips in disappointment as he leans back against his palms, “when two people are making fun of someone, it’s all fun and games, but when it’s just me doing it alone, i look like an asshole-”

“oh, cry me a river.”

“see?? why can’t you be like that when you’re talking about jimin?? i miss the old y/n.” 

you move to shove yoongi down to the ground but you stop yourself when you realize that you could accidentally wake jimin up prematurely 

poor jimin was up until six this morning working on a dumb twenty-page report for one of his courses - he read his schedule wrong and it turns out that the report was due this tuesday and not next tuesday, and to be honest, he’s really not sure how he even made that mix-up in the first place because he’s usually always on top of things (you were on top of him when he was typing all of this into his phone so that might’ve had something to do with it)

and he normally gets up around seven-ish on a regular basis which means he literally only got an hour of sleep before he had to get up and get ready for the day

you already knew that he had pulled an all-nighter (you even offered to stay up with him and make him coffee if he needed it but you ended up falling asleep around twenty minutes after you’d made your bold offer) so you weren’t too surprised when you looked over halfway through lunch to see that he’d fallen asleep leaning back against the tree with his mouth wide open

yoongi nearly persuaded you into dropping a chunk of dirt into his open mouth but luckily you decided against doing that

and it didn’t look like he was very comfortable which was why you scooted yourself closer to him and gently pushed his head down so that he could rest on your shoulder

but that was an hour and a bit ago and jimin’s still fast asleep

and you’re pretty sure there’s dried drool on your arm but that’s okay

“-you know, it’s like i don’t even know who you are anymore.” yoongi tuts, shaking his head at you, “one minute, you’re happy to roll your eyes and insult jimin to his face, and the next, you’re cozying up to him like his girlfriend and straight-up fawning over him-”

“i- i am his girlfriend, you dolt-”

“i know, but like- well, you know what i mean.” yoongi flicks his wrist to dismiss you before turning his nose up towards the sky, “you get it.”

“i can honestly say i truly don’t, yoongi.”

yes, it’s fairly evident to see that you’ve changed quite a bit since getting together with jimin, but you like to think that you changed for the better!

you don’t wake up with a scowl on your face every morning which is definitely a good sign, right?

and now instead of staying silent during lunch and looking like you want nothing more than to watch the world burn, you actually contribute to conversations with everyone else and genuinely enjoy talking to them as long as jimin’s right there next to you 

of course, you have to admit that you still have a slight issue with PDA (which is why you’ve been moving your shoulder and trying to get jimin to wake up without making it seem like you’re purposely trying to wake him up) but that’s a conversation for another time

the point is, things are good with jimin

things are really, really good with jimin.  

you crane your neck to look back down at your boyfriend again, reaching over to brush some of his hair away from his eyes

his nose twitches slightly and he mutters something under his breath before turning his body towards you and snuggling into your warmth, wrapping his arms around your elbow and squishing his cheek against your shoulder

“cute.” you hum, reminding yourself to suppress your grin of delight so that no one teases you about how squealy you’re being right now 

you find yourself leaning down a little so you can give jimin a kiss on the forehead, your lips lingering against his warm forehead for a second before you pull away and look back to make sure that no one just saw you do that (god forbid anyone see you show even an inkling of affection for your boyfriend!) 

luckily it seems like the late afternoon sun beaming down on you guys is making everyone feel a little lethargic so no one was paying attention to y-

“did you just kiss my forehead?”

you freeze immediately when you hear jimin suddenly speak up and you clear your throat obnoxiously before raising your shoulder so that he gets his head off of it, “what? no. i think you were probably dreaming or something because forehead kissing is-” you chuckle lightly, pulling your legs up slightly and dusting some dirt off your calves, “it’s not something that i… i don’t do things like that, so- no. no, i didn’t kiss any foreheads.”

your eyes widen in surprise when jimin suddenly lies down and flops his head down on your lap, grinning up at you with twinkling eyes as he reaches up to poke the tip of your nose, “you soOoooOo have a crush on me.”

side note: it’s truly baffling to you that jimin never wakes up groggy

he’s always ready to go as soon as his eyes open and it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever

it’s almost like he has an on and an off switch somewhere and if that’s the case you would very much like to find his off switch so you can shut him up before someone else decides to chime in to the conversation 

“we’re- we’re dating, jimin-” you scowl, flicking his hand away from your face before clearing your throat again, “...obviously i have a friggin’ crush on you if we’re in a goddamn relationship-”

“what are you grumbling about over there now, y/n?” namjoon interrupts you from across the circle, glancing up at you and jimin for a split second from behind his screen, “i’m trying to get some work done and i can’t focus with all the secret muttering-”

“y/n has a crush on me.” jimin teases, crossing his arms over his chest before closing his eyes again, “a super FAT crush on me.”

he cracks an eye open just to see your reaction and he’s pleasantly surprised to see that your entire face is basically beet-red from this fun little game he’s playing

what do you have to be so embarrassed about??

you already said yourself that the two of you are dating so it’s an obvious fact that you have feelings for him

he just likes to remind everyone that you, a typically emotionless, cold-hearted robot, have feelings for him!

“oh, we know!” namjoon plays along with a grin, loving that you look like you want nothing more than to curl into a ball and just scream, “you think we didn’t see that forehead kiss?”

“park jimin, you sick... twisted man.” yoongi purses his lips as he shakes his head slowly, “look what you’ve done to her! you’ve ruined her!!” 

🎙️help me help you make your wishes come true (send me a request!)

✨why don’t you explore the rest of the library while you’re here?

💫or perhaps you want something shorter to read?

🌟or something even shorter?

#teeny tidbits #grumpy!jimin #grumpy!jimin drabbles #jimin drabbles #jimin fluff #jimin fluff recs #jimin fics #jimin fic recs #park jimin #jimin #park jimin fics #bts au #jimin au #jimin university au #jimin cute #jimin cute gifs #jimin cute drabbles #jimin imagines #jimin cute imagines #jimin fluffy drabbles #jimin fluff drabbles #jimin one shots #jimin cute one shots #jimin fluff one shots #bts author recs #bts writer recs #bts author #bts writer #jimin x reader #park jimin x reader

[jalapeno-princess]

Kiss Me More

Mark Tuan X Reader

Word count: 6.1K

Genre: Very fluffy smut

Warning: Some sexy time in there nothing too extreme (hehehe...or is there?)

Summary: You were confident in the fact that your sex life with Mark was very exciting, wild and fun to say the least. In more or less words, it was perfect. Just your relationship in general was the kind that many people around you would be the envy of. It’s been four years since you began dating and you could honestly say it has been the best four years of your life so far because of him. He was the best boyfriend you could possibly ask for; kind, funny, gentle, considerate, soft-spoken, generous and extremely handsome. He took really good care of you and it was obvious by both his actions and his words that he was madly in love with you. As the two of you are coming down from your sex highs, you grow curious as to why once your love making sessions were over, so is the intimacy. Surely, your boyfriend has his reasons for not kissing you for too much longer as you’re about to go to bed. Right?

A/N: Based on the song “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat and Sza. I am obsessed with this song and I knew I had to write something based on it so I hope you all enjoy! (I don’t really care for how the ending turned out but whatever).

We hug and yes, we make love And always just say "Goodnight" (la-la-la-la-la) And we cuddle, sure I do love it But I need your lips on mine

Can you kiss me more? We're so young, boy We ain't got nothin' to lose, oh, oh It's just principle Baby, hold me 'Cause I like the way you groove, oh, oh

Boy, you write your name, I can do the same Ooh, I love the taste, la-la-la-la All on my tongue, I want it (la-la-la-la) Boy, you write your name, I can do the same Ooh, I love the taste, la-la-la-la-la All on my tongue, I want it

“Ah—shit, shit—baby, I’m going to need you to slow down. Please—we have the whole night, I just—y/n—fuck. You’re so fucking sexy—“ Against your boyfriend’s pleas, you only sped up your pace to rile him more than he already was. 

“The whole night? We’ve been at this for three hours baby. I think I’m gonna tap out here soon. Aren’t you tired?” 

The devilish grin that immediately rose on his face at your confession confirmed that no—he was not tired or if he was, he still had enough energy to keep pumping in to you. You were currently bouncing on his cock; sinking up and down on him like it was your life duty to do so. 

Your walls were clenched around him deliciously; his hardened length filled you up to the hilt with every thrust. The tip grazed along your nub; flicking it with every pump and it was quickly driving you to the brink of insanity. Honestly, you didn’t think you’d find yourself in this position tonight. 

The two of you were exhausted beyond belief; you were at school since six in the morning up until four in the afternoon earlier today. You had finished two midterms and one very important exam you’ve been studying almost an entire month for. Tired wasn’t even a good enough word to describe your current state. 

Your boyfriend was just as much in bad shape as you were. His boss had him doing multiple errands today on top of completing his own assigned work. He only arrived home a little over an hour ago. When you heard the front door of your shared apartment gently open, you had to prevent yourself from running towards him and embracing him with all the power you had in your tiny body. 

You were confident that he was probably worn out and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. From previous experiences, sometimes your boyfriend would go straight to bed upon arrival—being too fatigued to care about eating or taking a shower even. 

Although you were just as tired and in more or less words; overworked to the bone, seeing your boyfriend slumped while his dark circles grew more and more prominent every day, you mustered up enough energy to iron his clothes for the next day, prepare the clothes he’d wear to sleep, pack him a lunch and even get some of his toiletries ready if he felt like wanting to rinse off just a bit. 

To your surprise, as soon as he made his way towards you—before you could even open your mouth to ask your boyfriend how his day was, his pretty, heart-shaped lips that you loved so much were fervently smashed against yours. He gave you no time in preparing yourself for what was to come next before he roughly grabbed you at your thighs and wrapped your legs around his waist. 

His mouth never left yours as he led the two of you to your shared bedroom. It boggled your mind that he was giving you his full attention; gnawing and sucking on your lips while he carried you to the room without bumping in to anything or tripping on the rug. Maybe he’s gotten used to doing so since the two of you have been in this exact same scenario more times than you can count on both hands. 

There were so many thoughts running through your mind and questions on the tip of your tongue—concerning the sudden affection and lust he was currently showing you, but whatever you wanted to ask him no longer mattered the second he shoved his tongue down your throat and squeezed both your ass cheeks before slapping them hard. 

“Mark—babe is everything okay—“

“Work was shit—complete and utter shit. I missed you so fucking much like I do every single day I’m at that shithole and so I logged on to Snapchat and to my surprise—and delight, my beautiful girlfriend sent me a few snaps of her pretty outfit today. Don’t play innocent baby, you knew exactly what you were doing as soon as you hit send. You are well aware of the fact that I was seconds away from calling in sick this morning and fucking you in to oblivion right against the kitchen counter when you walked out in to the living room. Ah—there was so many things I wanted to say. Don’t get me wrong, you look breathtakingly beautiful in every single thing that you wear, but my dress shirt and that pencil skirt that hugs you in all the right places and leaves little to the imagination? Tsk tsk—it’s like you wanted me to rearrange your guts tonight.” 

You looked at him in curiosity; it took you a few moments to pin point exactly what photos he was referring to. Since you were so busy today, you completely forgot about sneaking to the bathroom and taking a few pictures of yourself. This last week has been extremely busy for both you and your boyfriend—and so the thought of being intimate with him felt like a fever dream. 

Sex with Mark had to be one of your favorite activities not only as a couple, but just in general. One thing about the older boy that you admired was the fact that he was very talented in each and every single thing he put his mind in to. Baseball, volleyball, football, golf, tennis, soccer, martial arts—it wasn’t even only sports. 

Mark was exceptionally intelligent; he was one of the only people you knew that was good at both reading and math. He also could finish a Rubik’s cube in under two minutes which was quite the impossible task. Every single thing your boyfriend did never failed to impress you. However, you felt as though he was the best at blowing your mind in more ways than one. 

The older boy was extremely generous; he always bought you cute little gifts that reminded him of you, he’d pay for every single date against your pleas no matter where the two of you would go, he’d sacrifice his time and work his schedule around yours so he could pick you up and drop you off wherever you needed to go. When it came to the bedroom, he always put you and your needs first. Mark always made it his main priority to make sure you came first, that you were genuinely having a good time and overall he wanted to do whatever he possibly could to make you comfortable. 

Some days, he’d be so focused on eating you out that he found pleasure and got his full strictly by sucking on your pussy. If you were having a rough day, he’d prepare you a bath and get you all your favorite snacks in attempts of cheering you up but not before finding his place in between your thighs and dragging his tongue along your slit faster than you could actually handle. Mark was the king of overstimulation; one of his kinks was driving you crazy and not giving you a chance to do anything about it. 

He was extremely good at sex— and his body was handcrafted by God. Every single thing about him was annoyingly perfect; he wasn’t the most muscular man but he wasn’t exactly skinny either. He had just the right amount of muscle, a six pack and he was well endowed. Although you considered penises very unattractive before you met Mark, something about his was so pretty and it always made your mouth water. 

You weren’t sure if you preferred having it buried deep inside of your cunt, or filling up your throat—both felt so phenomenal. Out of all the positions you and Mark experimented in during your four year relationship, your favorites had to be doggy, missionary and the one you were currently in right now. In most of your love making sessions, Mark took the lead and dominated you—not that you ever objected. 

A dominant Mark—degrading, rough, animalistic was the sexiest Mark—well, next to jealous and overprotective which usually led to the passionate and extremely freaky sex the two of you’d have. But there were times where you would take control because Mark was the definition of a switch; and something about him submitting to you and whatever you told him to always sent your mind in a frenzy.

Mark was very vocal about how he came faster whenever you would find yourself riding him specifically because watching your breasts bounce, getting to see your gorgeous face and observing your pussy swallow his cock whole—your juices coating his entire length, the sensation was lethal. His hands gripped on your waist all but gently; you might have been the one on top but your boyfriend was a powerbottom. He never allowed you to do things on your own, especially during sex. 

“Nope. I’m like the energizer bunny whenever we make love. In fact, I could probably fuck you for a solid four more hours. I know sex isn’t everything in a relationship and there are so many other things I love to do with you—but damn, you’re a fucking dream y/n. We have sex almost every single day and it always feels like the first time. If you’re exhausted baby, you can get off. As much as I particularly enjoy and get off on the feeling of your ass clapping against my balls, I’m sure it’s pretty tiring.” 

You had to stifle back a laugh at his choice of words; when the two of you first became intimate with one another, there was a lot of laughter and playful banter in the duration of your sexy time to which you didn’t think was normal. Then again, your relationship with Mark was never normal from the start. Your relationship was the envy of a lot of the people around you. 

It’s been over four years yet somehow—maybe it was the deep, passionate love you held for one another, but you were still surprisingly in the honeymoon stage. Neither you or Mark could get enough of each other. Sometimes, whenever the two of you would tumble in to bed together, some jokes, corny pickup lines and even riddles would be thrown in while Mark would be railing you and on some occasions, he’d say things at the wrong time, but you still had so much fun nonetheless. 

“I’m not too tired, I just don’t want to be immobile for the next week. My thighs are jelly and I have work in the morning. I’ve called out three times already in the last month because you fulfill your promises of wrecking me and I’m sure my boss is aware of the fact that it’s not possible for me to get food poisoning that many times within days of each other—“

“I mean, I have no regrets honestly and if I remember correctly, you’re always the one telling me to “go faster” and to “fuck me harder daddy”—ow! What? I’m just stating the facts—“

“I know, but it sounds weird when you say it.” 

He playfully rolled his eyes before stealing a sloppy kiss from the corner of your mouth and motioned for you to get off of him. As much as you were reveling in his many wanton noises and lustful facial expressions, you could feel your legs giving out and you were in no position to be calling out sick again. At least not for another week or two. You let out a whine at the feeling of him slowly pulling out of you; you weren’t ashamed to say you were a huge fan of how it felt to be full of your boyfriend’s cock. 

Cock warming was another favorite kink of yours. Mark on the other hand, would have to mentally prepare a few minutes prior to staying inside of you. It was hard for him to stay idle—he’s told you this many times. As much as he wanted to do whatever you asked of him and wanted to please you no matter what it was you desired, the feeling of your tight, wet and warm walls clenching around him was too much. He allowed it to happen, but not for too long. He could be the one to tap out, but a couple minutes of cockwarming could lead to another round of sex and in many cases; it did.

“What a baby, can’t even go a couple of seconds without my dick inside of her—“

“Shut up, I can go in to the bathroom and finish myself off if I wanted to—“

“We all know your fingers aren’t enough to get you seeing stars princess. And that stupid dildo you bought when I was away in Taiwan last year can’t do shit for you either.” 

Thankfully, he didn’t take too long in throwing you against the bed and lining himself back at your entrance. You were seeping of your essence at this point and he swiped himself along your folds so that it would be easier for him to slip back inside. He brought his face up to your ear and his breath was hot against your jaw as he leaned in to whisper naughty words that had your eyes rolling to the back of your head in pleasure. 

“Only I can bring you to sheer ecstasy. Only I can get you to see white—only I can get your head spinning. My fingers; we both know how much my fingers are one of your favorite body parts of mine.” He wrapped one hand around your neck gently, making sure to glide his thumb along your pressure point while swiping some of your juices with his index finger and bringing it up to your mouth. 

“Taste yourself baby. I want you to experience the euphoria I go through whenever I eat out this pretty cunt of yours. Well—back to what I was saying, my tongue, I know exactly how to use it as we make out, when I suck on this pretty little neck of yours or when I suck the life out of your pussy—so even if you were to finger yourself like the dirty girl you are, you’ll never reach the mind blowing orgasm only I can give to you. Now, I think it’s time I teach you a lesson for speaking out against me.” 

You bit your lip in anticipation for the excitement that was to come; whenever Mark would get jealous or whenever you were bratty and went against whatever he commanded you to do, that’s when he would fuck your brains out. How the two of you were still going at it with such a rapid and forceful pace had yet to really process completely in your mind, but you didn’t question it. A muttered groan fell from both your lips and his as soon as he found his place back inside of you. 

Immediately, he placed his face in the crook of your neck for what you were accustomed to him trying his best not to moan loudly. He dragged his teeth along the juncture of your nape before sinking his teeth in and leaving a dark love bite in its wake. 

“Mark!” 

You swatted his arm once you felt the spot begin to throb. Sure, you found it extremely sexy whenever he’d mark his territory because it proved just how possessive and overprotective he was over you but at the same time, hickeys were difficult to cover up and you were confident the purple mark would be on display for your professors, classmates, coworkers, boss and clients to see. 

“Sorry baby, I couldn’t help myself—I’ll help you put some makeup on it tomorrow. It’s just that—ugh, how the fuck are you always so damn tight? We have sex on a daily basis, you should be stretched out by now.”

“You men obviously don’t understand the anatomy of a woman. You’re lucky you’re attractive and very sweet, you’re lacking intelligence—“

“Hey—“

“Just fuck me already asshole.” 

You didn’t have to ask him twice. He went straight in to ramming his cock in and out of you. There was no time to be soft or gentle; the two of you were just moments away from your releases. You preferred the softness and romanticism that came with making love, but right now all you could think about was how amazing it felt when the tip of his cock reached your cervix. 

“Feels—“

“So fucking good.” 

Your breasts were bouncing up and down with every thrust and to your delight, your boyfriend cupped one of your mounds in his hand; flicking your nipple all but gently and earning himself the sexiest growl he’s ever heard in his life. He wrapped his lips around your other breast and swirled his tongue around your nipple—bringing the nub in between his teeth and nibbling on it. 

“Such pretty titties—so soft, so big—your body belongs in an art museum. You’re a masterpiece. Everything about you—I can’t even wrap my head around your beauty. You’re really a sight for sore eyes you know that?” 

Slowly, you shaking my brought your palm up to his face and cupped his cheek feather lightly. You brought your free hand in to his hair and softly tugged at his curly, brown locks. 

“I—I love you Mark—“

“Mmm—I love you more baby girl. So much more. Every time you say those three words, I feel like a little kid who’s crush complimented his outfit. You do wonders on my heart. What did I do to deserve you?” 

Out of no where, he lifted up one of your legs and placed it on his shoulder. This position allowed him to reach deeper inside of you which you didn’t even know there was more of you for him to reach. 

“Shit—shit, just like that Mark—“

“You like that baby?” 

You nodded in agreement fervently; he needed to know the effect that this position was having on you. Something about having him on top of you, even if missionary was a position that most people considered boring and ordinary—you felt like you were going to burst in to flames at any moment. The sound of his pelvis clapping against your ass cheeks sounded off throughout the room. It only heightened the sexual desire that already filled up the atmosphere. His grip on your lower waist tightened as the two of you grew closer and closer to your ends. 

“So tight—so wet—so perfect and all mine.” 

He brought your other leg up on to his shoulder and you could fill your orgasm right at the edge. A loud moan fell from his lips and he tried to conceal it by smashing his mouth against yours, but you only felt the vibration on your tongue as he hummed in contentment. 

“Mark—I can’t—it’s too much—“

“I know baby, I know. I’m almost there too. Can you hold on for just a little longer?” 

With all the energy you could muster, you nodded against his chest and allowed him to reconnect your lips together; his speed was relentless and with the way the bed was creaking, you knew that there was a huge chance it would break soon and you would get yet another noise complaint. Probably the seventh one in the last month. You were secretly hoping that he was closer than you were and that he was only holding on as long as possible so you both could continue your late night romp. 

Your boyfriend was a nymphomaniac; sex might not have been the most important part of your relationship, but after a long, stressful day at work, he found relief in releasing his anger and frustration on your body. Making love was even better—but it didn’t matter how the two of you were intimate, just having your skin against his and your tongue battling for dominance with his, the sensation never failed to turn his sour mood in to a much happier and lighter one. 

He was happiest being one with you. Just by the way he let go of your hips to intertwine your hands together, you were confident that he was about to cum. Whenever he was at his end, he’d stop whatever he was doing to hold your hands and leaned back so that he could get a better look at you. Seeing your fucked out state; sweat dripping down your neck and chest, cheeks flushed with warmth, hair sticking to your forehead, mouth gasping for air—knowing that he was the cause behind your beautiful glow, it brought him confidence and glee. 

Soon, you were being filled with his warm creamy liquid in spurts—the sensation of being full of his sperm was one that you still haven’t gotten used to. It was just that mind blowing. Your orgasm followed in suit just seconds after. It felt like a tidal wave swallowing you whole, you were drowning but in the best way. It was hard to describe; but it was a high you never wanted to come down from. You were speechless; there were no words to describe just how on top of the world you were currently feeling. 

Mark called it a sex high. Whenever you and your boyfriend would find yourselves tangled in the sheets, you felt like you were in another world. Maybe it was just a high off of Mark himself. He was hot; there was no doubt about it and honestly you could stare at him all day if time permitted you to. For a couple of minutes, there was a peaceful silence.

All you wanted to do was calm your rapid heartbeat and to get your breathing under control. Mark’s heart pounded against your chest and his dick that was once hard as a rock was now soft and limp inside of your cavern—neither of you moved; he was pressed up against your breasts and his head was smashed up along your collarbone. Your mind was too hazy to really feel the stickiness of his sweaty body, but if this were under different circumstances you probably would’ve pushed him off. 

Less than five minutes later, Mark leaned back enough so that he had a better view to look at you. He gently brushed back some of your hair and glided his thumb along your cheek—bringing it down to your bottom lip. The soft smile he was giving you as you placed a kiss amongst the calloused digit sent electricity through your veins. In times like these; where you were bare, not just physically but spiritually and mentally and in the comfort of your boyfriends arms, you always felt so safe—so at ease, so serene, so loved. 

You might have just did something so naughty, yet you couldn’t help but blush timidly. No matter how many times the two of you relished in your love for one another, you always felt so shy with his wandering eyes gazing all along your body. Even if he’s seen you naked at least a hundred times, you still found yourself turning red under his stare. 

A few sweet kisses were placed against your mouth as what you assumed was a distraction because as he began to nibble on your bottom lip, he slowly pulled himself out from your slick walls. The two of you groaned at the feeling of emptiness; you gave him a glare—upset that he pulled out so soon especially since you told him earlier that you were in the mood for cockwarming. 

“Mark—“

“I know, I’m sorry baby. I just want to clean you up and get us ready for bed. I think your pussy puts me to sleep a lot more often now. But if you want to take a bath, I can go prepare one for you—“ 

Something about the thought of fucking Mark to exhaustion made you giggle. Especially because moments ago, he was wanting to continue having sex for much longer. “No, I don’t think I can walk you asshole. I’ll just take one in the morning before my shift. But thank you. Am I wearing you out Tuan?”

“Yes and I’m not afraid to admit it. I think five orgasms in less than two hours would do that to someone. You’re so fucking sexy and so damn good to me there’s no point in trying to conceal my feelings for the sake of my pride. I’d shout it at the top of my lungs if I had to—I’m completely whipped for you and I have every intention on keeping it that way for the rest of our lives. Now, I’ll be right back okay?” 

With a couple of kisses against the corner of your mouth, he disappeared in to your bathroom. It was only natural for you to snicker to yourself at the sight of his cute little butt as he quickly walked over to get a warm wash cloth and a bottle of water. You decided to take that time to reminisce on tonight’s escapade. 

Every time you thought about your love making sessions with Mark, your stomach would swarm with butterflies. In the beginning of your relationship when you were just beginning to learn more and more about each other, the sex the two of you would experiment in was exciting, fun and intoxicating—not that it wasn’t like that anymore. 

But now that you were both so madly in love with one another, it was more passionate, more meaningful and a lot more desirable. You always had to be touching him and without even having to ask him, he’d always have his hands on you too. The bed sank and before you could even comprehend what was going on, a wet towel was gently being brushed along your lower body. 

He first got in between your thighs, making sure to wipe up any excess cum that might have dripped from your entrance. Then he brought it up to your navel, making sure to rid visible sweat—then finally he cleaned your folds and with the way a tingling sensation began to develop, you knew he was purposely taking his time to mess around with and to get a rise out of you. 

Right as you were about to whine in attempts to get him to stop, he got another washcloth and wiped your face. Mark was well aware of how your skincare was very important to you. He’d watch you take the time to put on moisturizer, toner and sunscreen on in the mornings and right before bed. 

It was the little things that he recognized that made your heart swell; no matter how many times a day he’d tell you that he loved you, he professed his love just a little bit more through his actions. Once he was done, he helped you put on a clean pair of underwear and one of his t-shirts—a reoccurring act of affection he did not too long after you came down from your highs. 

With a sweet kiss on your forehead, he went back in to the bathroom to prepare for bed; brushing his teeth and putting on a pair of sweatpants before taking his spot next to you under the covers. By instinct, you were pulled up against his chest and his arms snaked around your hips. He left wet kisses all along your face; making sure to steal a few pecks from your lips as he smiled against your mouth. 

“That was mind blowing as always. My pretty—pretty baby, you’re so fucking perfect. What did I do to deserve you? God, I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve made love—“

“It’s been three days Mark—“

“Exactly. That’s a long time baby. Especially because I crave you every second of the day. I can’t get over how wonderful you are. Literally flawless. Rest up baby, once you come home tomorrow I’m having you again and again and again—“

“Oh God, how I’m not pregnant at this point is still a mystery to me. Horndog.” 

He let out the most adorable little giggle while turning your body so that he was spooning you. He’s told you many times that as much as he loved being able to see your face, he was more comfortable in this position. You were confident it was because he’d get to feel your ass pressed up against his length, but you didn’t want him feeling embarrassed if that was the real reason behind. Besides, you felt so safe and protected in this position. 

However, you’ve been contemplating on voicing your feelings about how nights would end right after you and your boyfriend would tap out from either exhaustion or overstimulation. Sure, you loved the cuddling and being held by him, but that was pretty much it. He’d kiss you a couple of times and then he’d say good night. If you both had even the tiniest amount of energy, you’d stay up and talk about whatever it was that your hearts desired. 

You wanted to kiss him for much longer than the fleeting kisses—you fantasized about spending a little more time with his soft lips on yours. Maybe he saved the makeout sessions for the bedroom. But even during sex, the kisses were hot and wild—in the heat of the moment, but you were too busy focusing on being penetrated to really enjoy kissing him. 

“Well, I mean my pullout game is the best—“

“You literally just came inside of me that’s a joke right?” 

He let out a scoff of disbelief and although you couldn’t see him, he playfully rolled his eyes. “I mean, well, you know—yeah whatever. The thought of impregnating you is a huge kink of mine. You’re stuck with me for the rest of our lives. You’re going to be the best mother one day and the cutest little pregnant lady. I can’t wait to see you swollen with my baby and I’m even more impatient in finally starting a family with you. You really are the love of my life. Look at how sappy you’ve made me. Mmm, I love you, I love you, I love you. Sweet dreams my love.” 

Hearing him confess all that he did about his love for you and the future the two of you had together—you couldn’t stop the smile from taking over the entirety of your face. Almost every single thing Mark said—no matter how naughty or straight up cheesy it was never failed to make your heartbeat increase. You were soon feeling silly for worrying about such a minuscule thing and you wished it could have been enough for you. Yet, the question was on the tip of your tongue; you were mentally battling with yourself. 

There had to be a reason why the kissing stopped once you both reached your fill. You didn’t want to seem too clingy or overdramatic—maybe you were overthinking things. Your mind kept telling you to leave it alone and that he had his reasons, yet you couldn’t stop the tiny voice in your head that begged you to continue to pry at him. Mark looked down at you in curiosity when you turned around to face him. He lifted up your chin and furrowed his brows in confusion. 

“Everything alright y/n?”

“Why don’t you kiss me more?” Your question was muffled since you were too shy to ask him out right and hid your face in the crook of his neck. 

“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you—“

“I want you to kiss me more.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean? Where is this coming from baby?” 

An exasperated sigh fell from your lips and you were soon regretting actually asking him the question that’s been weighing heavy on your mind for months now. It was extremely silly now that the question was actually out there but the reason why your relationship with your boyfriend had been so healthy all these years is because conversation was one of the most important keys to making sure you were both on the same page. 

The last thing Mark wanted was for you to be uncomfortable or to feel as though you had to hide your feelings for his sake. Which is why you weren’t surprised to see him looking at you worriedly, waiting patently for you to go in to further detail. 

“Right before we go to bed, whether it’s after sex or just once we’re done doing whatever it is after we both come home from work, you give me a few kisses and then we cuddle and fall asleep. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy doing those things. I just—I want more. I love kissing you if you didn’t already know that by now. Kissing you is one of my favorite activities that we do because your lips are so addicting. But we only ever passionately kiss during sex and when we make out it usually leads to love making and theres really nothing wrong with that. I just wish we could kiss without having it end up or only be during sex.” 

Although the lights were off and you could barely see him, you could tell he was wearing a blank expression on his face. He continued his ministrations of gliding his fingers along your sides but he stayed silent for a few moments. You wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow you whole; you were so embarrassed but this was your boyfriend. 

He needed to know how you felt if your relationship was going to continue as beautifully as it currently was. To your surprise, he lifted up your chin and reconnected your lips together in a very passionate kiss. His hands cupped either sides of your face and he roughly nipped and sucked on your lips; leaving you breathless as he deepened the kiss further.

It was only natural for you to smile against his mouth; you were hoping you didn’t upset him and that he was only kissing you like this to please you. You were hoping he too was finding some enjoyment in kissing you right now. As his lips continued to attack yours, he took that chance to flip you on top of your back and stole a couple more kisses before sucking on your sweet spot right below your ear. This was what you wanted; it felt so wonderful and you felt even more closer to him than you felt a little over half an hour ago with his cock buried deep inside of you. 

“How was that? By that gorgeous smile of yours and the way your lips are swollen I’m assuming you quite liked that.” You nodded in agreement and stole a few kisses from the corner of his mouth. 

“I’m sorry if I made you feel as though I’m not interested in continuing our intimacy once we’re about to go to bed. Trust me, kissing you is my favorite thing to do with you too. You drive me fucking crazy. I’ve actually questioned myself about this numerous times too but I just assumed you were tired and I didn’t want to press you in to doing something just because I wanted to do it. Plus—“ 

He led your hand down to his sweatpants and your cheeks grew warm at the feeling of his hardened cock. It never failed to make you laugh seeing as how easy it was for him to grow horny at just the simplest touch. “This is why our make out sessions lead to sex and why I was hesitant about telling you that I wanted to be more intimate with you rather than the small pecks and holding you before falling asleep myself. It’s just going to lead in to another round. God, I sound like such a nymphomaniac but I’m proud to say that I am. I got a very sexy girlfriend, who could blame me for wanting to relish in our love at least once a day? Well, now that I know how you feel y/n, I would love to kiss you more. A lot more. why don’t we experiment a little tonight and see where it leads tomorrow?” You beamed up with him and with all the energy you still had left inside of you, flipped your bodies so you were on top. It obviously riled him up and the cheeky grin he was giving you sent warmth to your core. 

“That sounds like a plan. Now kiss me.”

“With pleasure.”

#got7 imagines #mark tuan #got7 mark #got7 #got7 scenarios

[fruitcoops]

I love reading all your works and they put a smile on my face everytime I see them. Is there any chance you could do a whole Lupin family truth or drink (with or without Sirius is cool too) thanks

Hello anon! Thank you for your kind words--they mean more than you know <3 Jules isn’t included here because he’s 10 and the questions are not suited for 10-year-olds, but this was so much fun to write all the same! Sweater Weather credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for alcohol and mentions of sex

“We’re back!” Marlene announced with a smile as she set up an unlabeled bottle on the table, along with three shot glasses. “And today, we’re doing something a little different with truth or drink. Loops, do you want to do the intros?”

Remus waved at the camera. “Hey, Lions, I’m Remus Lupin and these are my parents, Hope and Lyall.” He frowned and looked over at Marlene. “You toned down the questions, right? These are PG?”

“Nope!” she said cheerfully as she took her place behind the camera. “Take it away, Hope, it’s good to have you back!”

“It’s good to be back!” she said, smiling. “I had so much fun last time. Alright, Loops, describe your first kiss.”

He shook his head with a laugh. “It’s so weird hearing you call me that. Uh, I was seventeen and I kissed Ellie Sanders from down the street during her birthday party for a game of truth or dare.”

“Seventeen? I was expecting earlier, to be honest,” Lyall said as he took a card. “Hope, darling, have you ever been arrested?”

She reached for her shot glass and Remus’ jaw fell open. “What?”

“Well, I guess I have to answer it now,” she sighed. “Sweetheart, I grew up in the seventies and eighties, and your father and I met during a protest. This should not surprise you.”

“We can drink at any time, right?” Remus asked Marlene before taking a shot and drawing a card. “I could answer this one. Was I an accident?”

“Yes,” the three of them said at the same time.

“I was 21, he was 23, we had been married for three months and were not planning on having kids for at least six years,” Hope explained. She reached over and took Remus’ hand. “But you were the best accident. Okay, my turn. Have you ever had sex in my house?”

“I knew that kind of question was coming up,” Remus muttered. “No, I have not, and I don’t plan on ever doing it. My childhood bedroom is literally the least sexy place I can think of.”

“I don’t know, those plaid sheets and wall-to-wall bookshelves are really something, “ Lyall teased as he took a card. Remus rolled his eyes. “In a similar vein: when did you lose your virginity, and did you use protection?”

“Again, I was seventeen, and I did use protection because I knew I was gay at that point and didn’t want to risk anything.” Remus ran a hand down his face. “Ugh, this was not how I thought my day was going to go.”

“Was it the same night as your first kiss?” Hope gasped when he nodded. “Look at you go!”

“Oh my god, mom.” Remus picked a new card. “Ha! This should be interesting. Who’s your favorite child? Both of you have to answer.”

Hope drummed her fingers on her knees and Lyall bit his lip. “I love you for different reasons,” he finally said. “Jules is more cuddly and outgoing than you, but you actually have an off-switch and you’re a very kind person. Yeah, it’s an even split.”

“I can’t choose,” Hope said, tapping the edge of her card on the table. “You’re my boys and I love you. That’s all that matters. Have you ever been in love?”

“Yes, I have.” A soft smile tilted the edge of Remus’ lips up and he glanced behind the camera.

“Who are you looking at?” Marlene asked. “The viewers can’t see back here.”

“Oh! Sorry. My fiancé is on a bench by the wall with the car keys.” All three of them waved to Sirius. “Alright, dad, you’re up.”

“Which parent do you like more?” He mock-frowned at Remus. “I hope you know our future relationship directly depends on your answer to this single question from a drinking game on a Wednesday afternoon.”

“Just for that, I’m choosing mom,” Remus said, laughing when Lyall cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. “In all honesty, I don’t have a favorite. Like you said earlier, I love you both for different reasons.”

“What reasons?” Hope asked.

“Dad, you taught me to cook and got me into hockey, but mom encouraged me to stick with PT and always goes the extra mile.” He rolled his shot glass between his fingers for a moment. “I just know that I’m really lucky to have you both in my life, because you’ve been nothing but supportive.”

Hope dabbed at her eye with the sleeve of her sweater and Lyall took a deep breath. “Whew. Okay. Please ask something super awkward,” he said.

“I’ll do my best,” Remus laughed. His smile turned into a grimace when he read the card and he rested his forehead on the table.

Hope nudged him with her elbow. “What, are you going to chicken out this late in the game? We don’t raise wusses in the Lupin family.”

“You have to ask it,” Marlene called.

Remus sat up and shook his shoulders out. “Dad, have you—I am begging you to drink—have you ever performed oral sex on mom?”

“Performed?” Lyall snorted. “What is this, the circus?”

Remus handed him the bottle. “Please drink.”

Lyall poured himself a shot and drank it; just as Remus was starting to look mildly relieved again, he grinned. “Yes, I have.”

“Damn it.” Remus covered his face with his hands. “I should have known you would answer anyway. Jesus. I need to sear that from my brain.”

Hope took her next card and slid the bottle to Remus. “What’s your favorite sexual position? I really don’t need to know this, sweetheart.”

“No, you certainly do not!” Remus said brightly, drinking his shot. “In fact, I’m glad you don’t want to.”

Lyall cleared his throat and took a card. “What’s something I do that embarrasses you?”

“This game is rigged to give all the loaded questions to you,” Remus laughed. “You need to figure out what you want for gifts. You always say you want nothing, and then the day after Christmas you’re pining after something you never told people you wanted.”

“I do not,” Lyall scoffed. Remus and Hope shared a look and his eyes widened. “Hey!”

“Okay, my turn.” Remus’ eyebrows rose when he read the card. “When I moved out, were you relieved or sad?”

“Oh, shit,” Hope murmured with a sniffle. “I’m already crying. Both. There was a little bit of both.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. The first move only happened for a little while when you went to college, but you moved back after the accident and that was…tough.”

“It was easy letting you go the first time,” Lyall said, softer than he had been yet. “You were ready then. The second time, we were so worried and also so proud of you for everything you had worked for.”

Remus scrunched his nose up and let out a shaky breath, leaning their temples together. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Hope whispered. Lyall ruffled his hair. She coughed lightly and took a new card. “Please be something uncomfortably sexual. Ah, bummer. If someone offered you $10,000 dollars to never talk to me again, would you do it?”

Remus snorted. “No.”

“What about $100,000?”

“Nope.”

“A million?”

“Is this an auction?”

“If someone gave you ten million dollars to never speak to me again, would you take it?”

“Holy shit, mom!” he laughed. “Do you want me to stop talking to you? Is this a hint?”

“We did good,” she said, giving her husband a high-five.

Remus narrowed his eyes. “Would you guys stop talking to me for ten million dollars?”

“No, never,” Lyall assured him before turning and winking at the camera. Remus groaned. “Our minds have traded bodies—“

“They have? That explains a lot.”

“Shush. If our minds traded bodies, what is the first thing you would do in my body?”

“No offense, but I would run as far away from mom as humanly possible. We are not having any Oedipus moments in this household. The second thing I would do is reach things on the high shelves of my house, because even though I’m five foot eleven, my six foot three fiancé insists on putting things just slightly out of reach.” Remus craned his neck to see behind the camera. “Yes, I’m talking about you. Stop laughing!”

“You don’t think the aforementioned fiancé would be curious as to why your dad was suddenly on the front doorstep?”

“I would hope you would explain what was going on when you woke up in my body.” When Lyall didn’t answer, Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dad. If we switch bodies, I need you to promise me you won’t sleep with my fiancé.”

“Ugh, fine.”

“You’re not even into men!”

“How do you know?” He burst out laughing at Remus’ shocked expression. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. The first thing I would do is go skating, because I bet your knees don’t hurt after ten minutes. Then I would go to the dentist, because I know you’re bad about scheduling your appointments.”

“He’s right!” A distant voice called.

Remus gave Marlene a disbelieving look as he drew a card. “Is this turning into Remus Lupin Callout Hour? Alright, if you could change one thing about me, what would it be?”

“Scheduling skills,” Lyall answered immediately.

“Answering phone calls,” Hope added.

Remus seemed surprised by her answer. “You told Sirius you didn’t like it when he got into fights on the ice. I was expecting the same here.”

She shrugged. “It’s kind of neat, seeing my kid get in a rumble out there. I’m very proud of you. Less proud when you start bleeding, but that’s only because you have a very nice nose and straight teeth.”

“You heard it here first, folks,” Remus said to the camera. “My mother worries more about my nose and my teeth that the fact that I’m getting beaten up.”

“I think that’s the last question,” Marlene said with a laugh. “How are you all feeling?”

“I feel fantastic,” Lyall answered.

“I know far too much about my parents’ sex life.”

“It was one question,” Hope scoffed. “I feel wonderful, for your information. These are always such fun.”

“Should we ask Jules to come next time?” Marlene asked.

“Seeing as he’s ten and knows way too many embarrassing stories about me, absolutely not,” Remus said.

“We could give him apple juice, he’d have a good time,” Hope shrugged. “I would not oppose it.”

“You’re famous now, Loops.” Lyall grinned. “The tabloids would love having your baby brother as a gold mine of information.”

“Can I sign us off?” he asked Marlene. “Please tell me I can sign us off. I need to leave, like, five minutes ago.”

“You’re depriving me of content, Re!”

“Hey, hockey fans, thanks for tuning in to Lion Pride’s Truth or Drink! I’m Remus Lupin, these are my parents, and we hope you have a great day.”

[echo-hiraeth]

Hi! I was wondering if you could write either a peña or pike x agent!reader with “Where doesn’t it hurt then?” Where she’s been hiding direct threats to her safety?

Blind Dates - Marcus Pike x F! Agent Reader

The ending scene and prompt in and of itself were heavily inspired by this scene from “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” as it’s one of my favourites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFzxuEm9MyM

Prompts:

49: “Where doesn’t it hurt then.”

Masterlist

“Hey, I’m headed out for the night. Think you can manage on your own here?”, you asked, flashing him a smile.

Marcus looked up from his desk, mouth slightly agape. “N-no late-night hangout tonight?”

You slowly shook your head, approaching his desk. “While I’d love to spend the evening here with you, I happen to have some plans of my own."

He raised a brow at you: “Is that what that dress and lipstick is all about then? Who’s the lucky guy.”

“It’s not like that, Pike,” you chuckled, sitting on the edge of the surface of his desk. “Believe me I’d rather be stuck with you all night.”

“Your friend set you up again?”, he grinned, clearly amused over the fact that you were so visibly annoyed.

You threw your head back, letting out a whine. “I promised her I’d let her do one more of these. Fucking regret it though.”

“Oh poor you, having to have dinner at some fancy joint”, he mocked, leaning back in his chair to get a better look at you. “I’d kill for some of that right now.”

“By all means, fill in for me”, you smiled, hopping off his desk. “See you tomorrow?”

He bit his lip as he tried to bite back a flirtatious comment. “Yeah, be safe!”

You gave a small wave and walked out of his office, the smirk on your lips seemingly etched there. Marcus tended to have that effect on you, making you act like some crazed teenager when he’d join you at your desk late at night. But you’d promised your friend you’d go out with the guy she’d been raving about all of last week. So that’s where you set out to go.

Back in his office Marcus found himself extremely distracted. Because no matter how many times he tried to get back to the report he was reading, he just couldn’t get your crimson lips out of his head. Over the course of the last few months the two had gotten much closer, often spending late nights together at the very same desk. He lived for those nights where the two of you would get take-out and just enjoy each other’s company. It was all fine and in good fun until he started to develop these feelings for you. Every bone in his body was head over heels for you, but the fear of being rejected yet again and losing you was bigger than his desires to hold you even closer.

The fact that you were going out tonight made him even more nervous. Surely you wouldn’t just spend the night with your boss? There had to be some reason, some ulterior motive. Maybe you wanted a promotion? Your pay was good though, so it made no sense. Whatever it was, it was absolutely killing him.

As Marcus sat and contemplated every single thing about the past six months, you got out of your cab. The restaurant looked nice, nothing too expensive, just a casual outing. Taking one last deep breath you opened the door, crossing the threshold at last, there was no going back now. The waiter lead you to your table, where you were met with a handsome man, tan skin and a mature little stubble covering his sharp jaw. He looked just over thirty and seemed to be everyone’s dream but yours. It’s only for tonight – you thought to yourself, walking over and extending your arm.

“Was afraid you wouldn’t show”, he chuckled, shaking your hand as he went to stand.

You put your purse on the ground, moving to take a seat. “Got a little caught up at work.”

Well, that was a lie, unless contemplating on how to tell your boss and partner of a year that you had fallen for him. Before you waltzed into his office you’d spent just under an hour in the bathroom thinking of ways to hopefully talk to him about it and maybe even ask him out. But you’d chickened out as soon as you saw him through the cracked door, biting at his fingertip as he was sunken in thought. God, he was so handsome when he shifted in that work mode.

“Wine?”, your date asked, holding out a bottle to you.

“Yeah, sure”, you agreed, shifting your attention back to him once more, something about his face and voice seemed familiar but you couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

You made some small talk with the guy, finding out that he was independent business owner, what of you hadn’t a clue seeing how you couldn’t stop thinking about a certain someone. Dinner was good though and despite everything you ended up enjoying yourself but no matter how hard he tried, you knew he wasn’t it for you and that there was something off about all of it. At the end of the night he offered to split a cab, politely dropping you off first and parting ways with a kiss to your palm. You’d given him your number as a courtesy, not really expecting him to act on it.

Once back in your apartment you decided to go straight to bed, not wanting to think about it any longer. You were woken up early in the morning by a knocking at your door. Grabbing the nearest hoodie you slipped it on and headed for your front door, opening it to reveal:

“Marcus.. what’re you doing here so early?”, you questioned, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

He stepped inside when you moved off to the side, letting him pass. “Well you didn’t text me back last night and I figured you’d appreciate some breakfast”, he reasoned, holding up the bag of bagels.

A content moan left your throat at the sight of the glorious buns. “You’re the fucking best”, you mused, pressing a kiss to his cheek before snatching the bag from his hands.

The morning was filled with soft laughter and a lingering brush of your fingers once or twice. The two of you internally screaming as you went into your bedroom to get changed. Marcus was beaming by the time you remerged, taking a mental note of how beautiful you looked in the early morning.

“You can ride with me if you’d like”, Marcus offered, nervously shifting with his hands in his pockets.

During work the two of you didn’t see much of each other, seeing how Marcus would be briefing to and with his higher-ups and how you were stuck researching the next group of art smugglers you’d be dealing with. You looked through heaps and heaps of paperwork; pictures and recordings. And that’s when you spotted him. That’s where you recognized him from, he was the son of the orchestrator of the smugglings.

You had to tell Marcus, you were fucking screwed if you were right. You tried desperately to get a hold of his phone but he seemed to have left the office early without saying goodbye. That’s when you started trying his personal number, fingers trembling as you stepped outside the building, calling over a cab. You got in without really looking, Marcus finally answering. When you blinked your eyes open and looked to your left you spotted the man, a handgun held in the palm of his hand.

“Hello?”, his voice sounded from your phone speakers.

He gestured for you to put him on speaker and talk to him.

“H-hi”, you answered, voice trembling.

Marcus huffed out a breathy laugh. “Six missed calls, did the office burn down or something?”

You let out a forced laugh. “I-I found a break in one of the cases but I forgot you were leaving for that conference”, you lied, screwing your eyes shut as you focused on not breaking down into sobs.

“I’ll be back by this weekend, we can meet at your place and you can tell me all about it”, he suggested and you could hear the smile on his lips through the phone.

A sniffle broke through as you went to answer him. “I’d like that.”

“Hey what’s the matter do you need me to-“

“Goodnight Marcus”, you interrupted, ending the phone call abruptly.

The man pressed his gun to your temple. “Fancy a second date?”

 You were bound to one of your own kitchen chairs, eyes red from all the crying and pain you’d undergone at that point. The man Jacob Linetti, had been trying his hand at getting all the information you had on them out of you.

“What’s Pike’s next move?”, he asked, flipping a chair and having it land in front of you. “C’mon sweetheart, don’t make me hurt you even more.”

“I don’t know”, you lied, “I’m just his secretary, I just take care of his schedule.”

He struck you across the cheek, making you wince. “Don’t lie, bitch. I heard what you said in that fucking car. Now think again, Pike’s next move.”

“We only just got the case handed to us, we barely have anything”, you cried out, a new bruise already starting to form on your face.

It went on like that for a couple hours until finally he deemed you useless.

“Listen up princess. You will do as your told. Whatever happened here and will happen stays between us.”

You whimpered at his words, entire body shaking with fear despite the exhaustion you were experiencing.

“You call him tomorrow evening and tell him to meet you here. If you snitch on us I’ll slit that pretty little throat of yours and put a bullet through Pike’s skull myself.”

 Meanwhile in his hotel room Marcus sat on the edge of the bed. That call was so fucking weird not to mention unlike you. He’d tried texting you but you once again didn’t reply. He just assumed you’d gone to bed. Well, that’s until you texted him back, at three in the morning.

Hey sorry, everything’s fine, just got caught up and fell asleep in front of the tv xx

He shook his head. You never watched tv, said it was too boring and that the commercials were too bothersome. But having been in the field for quite some time, he decided to play along.

It would be in your best interest not to text back, whether you were in danger or not, he’d wait until the morning and go from there.

You barely slept a wink, the bruises and contusions painfully distracting. Glancing in the mirror you noticed how beat up you actually looked. There was no way you could possibly play that off, so he made you call into work. It didn’t take a lot of convincing, your voice barely above a whisper from the intensity of last night.

His words rang through your ears. You didn’t want to put this on Marcus, you didn’t want him to come over, you didn’t want him to be in danger. But you soon realised that it didn’t really matter you did, he’d end up in the middle of this regardless.

Mind swinging by for a drink tonight?? Xx

His reply came quick.

Course not, see you later tonight x

As soon as he replied you felt terrible. It was a fucking set up and you knew it. But with the other man in the room, you knew you couldn’t do shit about it. Soon he snatched the phone out of your hands, leaving you a sobbing mess.

By that evening you’d been tied down, thrown onto your couch with three sets of eyes glued to you. They’d told you the plan more than once at this point and you knew it word for word. They untied you when one of their other informants texted them to let them know he was coming up. The familiar set of knocks at the door set your adrenaline off and as you reached to open the door you only opened it the slightest bit, gasping when you met his eyes.

You couldn’t think in that moment and just pleaded with him. “Run Marcus! Run!”

“You fucking bitch!”, Jacob snarled, yanking you to the floor by your hair.

Marcus kicked the door open, weapon pointed at one of the other two men. “Back up’s on the way over here, I suggest you drop your weapons.”

He knew he was in a tight spot, he’d need to stretch time for a couple of minutes and from the looks of it, Linetti and his gang were rather impulsive. It was at that moment you felt the ice cold feel on a gun being pressed to the back of your neck, Jacob hauling you in front of him, using you as a shield.

“This is what’s gonna happen, you’re letting me walk outta here or little miss sunshine gets lead.”

Marcus glared the man down, keeping his other eye on the two other men in the room. “I’m sorry pal, but that’s not gonna work out for me. Like I said, back up will be here any minute, whether you’re apprehended here or in that lobby, you’re not going anywhere.”

You opened your eyes, looking over at Marcus. “Please just-just let him Marcus.”

He looked at you for a split second, his heart aching at the sound of your voice. It was then he noticed one of the other men drawing a weapon of his own, without hesitation he shot him in the arm, causing all hell to break loose.

Jacob shot into the ceiling, while punching you in the gut, making Marcus turn his head in your direction once more. It was then the third man grabbed a hold of him, trying to disarm him. It was then Linetti was caught off guard, as you elbowed him in the chest. Marcus was preoccupied with fighting himself free of the other man’s grasp, intent on helping you. Jacob aimed his weapon at your partner and you quickly grabbed his wrist, yanking it away, another bullet whizzing through your small apartment. It was then Marcus yelped, throwing the man over his shoulder, making you look over. Before you could turn your head back around, Jacob hit you on the side of head with the butt of his gun, effectively knocking you out.

That was the last straw, Marcus charged at the criminal, tackling him to the ground as more FBI agents barged in through the door. As the man was pinned down by some fellow agents, he rushed over to you, kneeling down by your side and taking off his jacket to put it under your head.

“She got shot?”, one of them asked.

“No, but call in an ambulance just to be sure.”

When you came to you were laid on a stretcher outside of an ambulance, with two paramedics tending to you. You surged forward immediately, waving the two away.

“Alright, alright, let’s give her some room”, one of them said to the other, taking a few steps back.

You looked around you, noticing Marcus sitting on a curb, a light being flashed in one of his eyes. Your lip started trembling as you tried to call out to him, but you couldn’t manage to say anything, your throat dry and impossibly tight. He looked up and locked eyes with you, immediately excusing himself. He practically ran to you, wrapping his arms around you. It hurt – a whole lot – but you needed him more than anything else in that moment. You hid your face in his shirt, letting out a loud sob. Marcus felt like he could finally let out the breath he’d been holding, rubbing his one hand up and down your back as the other cradled your head.

“It’s alright sweetheart, I’m here now, I’m gonna keep you safe.”

After a few tests back at the hospital you were finally discharged. You’d gotten off easy, a broken nose, some minor fractures and a lot of bumps and bruises. Marcus himself had sustained a cut on his face and a sprained wrist, but other than that he seemed to be just fine. In the emergency room he’d suggested you stay over at his and with some convincing you’d agreed. Since the both of you were in no shape to drive, a cab escorted you back to his.

“Remind me to never let my friend set me up”, you joked as you picked up a spoonful of pasta.

Marcus huffed out a breathy laugh, tilting his head at you. “So you won’t be parading around the office in pretty dresses anymore?”

You rolled your eyes. “Wouldn’t want to keep you from your work.”

Despite it being a playful quip, he couldn’t help but feel a little flustered. “I’m gonna miss it. They suited you.”

Now it was your turn to blush, bashfully looking away as you tried to hide it. “You flatter me Pike”, you murmured, smiling at him with your eyes.

“Want some more pasta? Water?”, he asked, his hands getting more clammy by the minute.

You let out a soft yawn, slowly shaking your head. “I’m okay, thanks.”

He carried your plate to the sink, glancing over his shoulder as you went to stand, a look of discomfort etched on your face, despite the heavy amount of pain medication coursing through your veins. “How about you get some rest, let those painkillers kick in?”

“I’d like that, have a spare bedroom?”, you questioned.

Marcus let out a prolonged sigh. “Well no- but I was planning on taking the couch anyway”, he rambled, gesturing towards the beat up couch with both arms.

You mouthed an ‘oh’, too scared to ask him if he’d just sleep alongside you. “Are you sure? Because I don’t mind.”

“No, no, no! You take the bed, you need all the comfort you can get right now.”

He followed you down the hall, showing you to the bathroom while he disappeared in his bedroom to make the bed for you. You shuffled into the room, a change of clothes held in your hand.

“I uh- I can’t quite change out of my shirt, if you wouldn’t mind?”

His eyes went wide as he looked at you. “Uh, sure.”

It was a little awkward, Marcus requesting you stood with your back to him as he didn’t want to invade your space. It made for a weird angle and soon you doubled over in pain and he got you out of your dirty shirt. He quickly walked around, supporting you, landing him another moan.

“Shit – I’m so sorry!”, he sputtered out, throwing his hands over his eyes as he realised you were in fact topless.

You huffed out an awkward laugh, using the awkward angle to get one arm in the shirt, covering up your chest. “I’ll need you to do the other arm, just make it quick, it’s gonna hurt no matter what.”

He did as he was told, carefully yet in a fast motion (with closed eyes of course) guiding your arm through the whole and tugging it down for you.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you-“, he started after you told him to open his eyes.

“Marcus”, you smiled, “It’s not your fault, I’m black and blue, it was bound to happen.”

He nodded slowly, giving you a once over. “Well, if you need anything else, just let me know.”

As he turned to walk out the door you clenched your fists. “Actually”, you called out, “would you mind staying with me? It’s just that I don’t want to be alone.”

To say that he was taken aback would’ve been an understatement. “Of course! Yeah, just get settled, I’ll get ready for bed.”

You smiled before getting into the bed, biting your lip to stifle any further sounds or indications of pain and/or discomfort. Meanwhile Marcus was furiously brushing his teeth with his good wrist, freshening up and combing through his hair before coming back. He wore actual pyjamas, not wanting to make you uncomfortable by just being in briefs. When he climbed in next to you he made sure to do it slowly and carefully, not wanting to dip the mattress too much.

“How’s this?”, he asked, pointing towards the space between the two of you.

“If I’m asking too much just tell me, but.. do you think you could hold me?”, you asked quietly, anxiously awaiting his response.

His stomach was doing summersaults as he nodded, a grin spreading across his luscious lips. As he scooted closed he noticed the way your jaw clenched.

“Fuck – I don’t want to hurt you though.”

You splayed a hand across his chest as you let him come closer. “It’s okay, pretty much everything hurts, I’d rather hurt in your arms.”

He gave you a curious look, a hint of mischief sparkling in his gorgeous brown eyes. “Well, where doesn’t it hurt then.”

You wiggled your fingers, sighing: “My hands are doing pretty good.”

He took them in his, pressing a kiss to each palm. “Where else?”

The blush you felt creeping up was not to be denied at this point. “My elbow.”

He gently manoeuvred your arm around, pressing a lingering kiss to the skin of your elbow. “Hmm?”

“Here”, you whispered, laying a finger on your lips.

One of his hands cupped your jaw as he leant over you, closing his eyes before tenderly pressing his soft lips to yours. “How’s that feel?”

“Better. But you might need to do it again”, you answered, lips curling up into an adorable smile.

“Say no more.”

#marcus pike #the mentalist #pedro pascal #marcus pike x reader #request #prompt

[charismaandcashmere]

Energy, not time, is the basis for productivity. Having all the hours in the day won’t help you if you’re exhausted for most of it.

Your habits define your energy levels. If you have good habits, you’ll feel energized and be more resilient to burn out, both physically and mentally. If your habits are misaligned, you can get into a cycle where you feel worse and worse, until your it’s a struggle just to keep up.

Here are nine habits you can work on this year to increase your energy levels.

Habit #1: Go to Sleep Early

Sleep is the foundation of your energy. If you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll start to underperform.

While some people claim to work best on six or less hours of sleep, research says they’re kidding themselves. Seven to eight hours are pretty much mandatory if you’re going to stay cognitively sharp in the long-run.

For some people the sleep deprivation may have mentally plateaued, meaning they feel slightly tired all day, but they don’t think they’re getting any worse. An interesting experiment showed that sleep deprivation caused continuous declines in mental performance, even though subjects felt like they were holding steady.

Try this: Go to bed by 10pm every night, including weekends, for the next thirty days.

Habit #2: Exercise Every Day

Exercise is a long-term investment in your energy levels. It’s easy to cut in the short-term, but over time you’ll reduce your overall fitness, making it harder to think straight and stay alert throughout the day.

If you struggle to find time for exercise, don’t make going to the gym your prerequisite. Make a habit of doing some pushups or burpees every day throughout the day. These will get your heart pumping and blood moving, and they don’t require setting aside two hours from your already busy schedule.

You can add gym or fitness classes on top of this foundational habit, but this basic investment in exercise will keep you sharp when you can’t make it to the gym.

Try this: Do at least 10 burpees every day from your home.

Habit #3: Twenty-Minute Naps

Napping may feel lazy, but there’s research showing it has a range of cognitive benefits. This is particularly true if you’re doing a lot of learning, since the short burst of sleep can help with memory.

I used to feel guilty taking naps, believing it was a sign of weakness. Now, I think it’s definitely a strength. A short nap can turn you back on for work in the afternoon, when you’d normally be exhausted. Even if you work in an office that doesn’t encourage napping, you can use a slice of your lunch break, to quickly rest.

The key is to learn how to take short naps. Many people take naps which are too long, pushing them into deeper phases of sleep which cause them to feel even groggier when they wake up (although the benefits to even these naps often occur after the initial grogginess wears off). The key is to wake up immediately with your alarm. If you start adding more time, a quick nap can become a long sleep.

Try this: Insert a 20 minute nap after you eat lunch to recuperate your energy for the afternoon.

Habit #4: Do Your Hard Work in the Morning

Aim to get your most important work done in the first four hours of the workday, starting as soon as possible.

The benefits to your energy here are mostly psychological. My energy levels depend a lot on my mood. If I’ve gotten some important work done, my mood is usually good and I feel productive. If I’ve wasted time on emails, meetings, calls or failed to produce something valuable, I’m often frustrated and exhausted entering the second half of the day.

The other reason for this approach is that deep work isn’t always sustainable for the full workday. Better to concentrate it into a specific period than randomly insert it across chunks of time.

Try this: Make the first four hours of your morning a quiet, deep work zone.

Habit #5: Set Your Intention the Day Before

Energy is often about momentum. Start working hard and you’ll overcome procrastination and keep going throughout the day. Start slow and you may end up struggling against your own impulses, wasting the energy on things that aren’t productive.

One way to avoid this is to set a very clear intention of how your day will go, particularly in the beginning, the night before. Visualizing this intention and writing it down into your schedule can make it happen more automatically when you wake up.

Try this: Before you go to bed, write down your plan for the next day and visualize it.

Habit #6: Sell Yourself on Your Goals

Many people simultaneously hold two contradictory beliefs: that other people (marketers) are really good at persuading them to do all sorts of things they wouldn’t do otherwise, but that they themselves have no ability to change their own motivation to do the things they have to do.

The truth is, you need to become the salesperson for your own goals. Not for other people, but for yourself.

Part of that starts with packaging—how you frame your goals and projects can have a huge effect on your motivation. Is this something you have to do? Or an exciting challenge?

Next it comes from refreshing and reminding yourself of your inspirations. Why did you get started down this path? What were you hoping to achieve. Good marketers know to focus the customer on visualizing what they want to drive sales. You can focus yourself on what you want to have the energy to get it done.

Try this: Set aside ten minutes every day to think about what today’s actions are helping you build towards.

Habit #7: Get Better Friends

You may not be able to choose your parents, colleagues or your boss. But you do have some control over the friends in your life.

You know that some friends you leave a conversation with them feeling excited and energized. Others you leave feeling even worse than you did beforehand.

You don’t need to exclude friends who are going through temporarily rough times, but you should consider who you spend your time with when there are people who consistently create one-sided emotional exchanges as the basis for your relationships. Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes, but some people will expect you to be their permanent shoulder.

Try this: Set a time limit on friends who leave you feeling drained.

Habit #8: Read Better Books

One of the great benefits of reading books isn’t simply to give you ideas and information. Rather it’s to reinforce a mentality that often occurs at a subconcious level. The best books aren’t those that teach you facts, but those that subtly change your entire thinking patterns.

Audio books can be very useful for this, since you can listen to them and re-listen to them on the go every day. A good book for this is one that, when you listen to it, automatically adjusts your thinking onto the things you need to work hard on. Just like a good song can be the background for a particular emotion, a good book can be the background for a particular energy of thinking.

Try this: Always have an audio book that motivates you to work on your goals.

Habit #9: Align Your Life

The last habit isn’t a one-time process, but an ongoing effort to bring the different elements of your life out of conflict and into alignment with one another.

A lot of energy is squandered because the different parts of our lives, both internal and external, are in conflict with each other. That could be the colleague at work who doesn’t want you to get promoted, the friends who make fun of your goals or even the internal fears and assumptions that keep you hesitating.

Spend some time untangling the different conflicts in your life to see how you could resolve them. Sometimes that can be done in the short-term, by making a change. Sometimes, it requires a long-term plan to escape the toxic environment, social circle or belief system that holds you back.

Try this: Sit down for an hour and brainstorm all the things which assist your goals and all the things which hold you back. How could you resolve those tensions?

What habits have you built to give you energy to work hard on the things that matter to you? Share your thoughts in the comments!

#scott h young #productivity #habit forming #shared articles

[gruviafan-forever]

GRUVIA WEEK

DAY 2:- WARMTH

NEXT DAY

Gray was fast asleep until his cute little daughter came to wake him up.

"Papa"

"Papa…. Wakey wakey"

Yuki patted his face which made him groan. She could see the success of her action.

Yuki tried to climb the bed which was a bit difficult for her but finally succeeded and sat near her papa and began to shake him.

Gray couldn't prolong his sleep anymore and accepted his defeat. 

Finally, he opened his eyes and instantly he was hit by a wave of love and warmth seeing his daughter's smiling face first thing in the morning.

"Good morning, dear" His voice sounded a bit hoarse and pulled his daughter into a hug.

"Good morning, papa" Yuki kissed his cheeks and began to play with her father by squishing his cheeks which made him laugh.

After playing and teasing his daughter a bit, Gray sent her back to Juvia so that he could get freshened up.

Then, the family of three were having their breakfast peacefully until Gray's recent commercial began to appear on the television.

Before the commercials could catch Yuki's attention, Juvia turned off the tv and Gray sighed in relief.

They had hidden the fact that Gray is an actor from Yuki to avoid any unwanted issues to arise which may lead to exposing their relationship.

"Mama, why did you turn off the tv?" The little girl pouted.

To distract her attention from this matter, Gray began to question her what she wanted to do today.

"Yuki wants to play house with papa. Will papa play with Yuki?" She began to show her puppy eyes which made him fall straight into the trap.

Seeing her daughter and her husband spend time and reforming their bonds, Juvia's heart swelled up. 

Without knowing herself, she began to tear up as she never got the chance to know what parental love and care was. 

Juvia quickly wiped her tears before they caught her husband's attention.

"Okay, dear, today I'm going to play whatever my darling wants to play. Fine!!" Gray promised his little girl with a pinky cross which Yuki made him do it nevertheless.

#

It had been six months since Gray and Juvia began dating. In these six months, it was hardly a few times he had taken her out on a date.

By then, Gray's first tv drama had gained a lot of popularity for its storyline and also for his handsome features and acting skill which made him quite recognizable in the public.

But Juvia never minded this. She was overjoyed that her boyfriend was gaining lots of attention and his hard work is paving way for success.

Sometimes, they would not be able to meet each other due to his work schedule. Yet Juvia never complained and supported him like a good girlfriend which he was very grateful for.

One such day, when Gray finally got his much needed day off, he had decided to take her to a fancy restaurant and make her feel happy.

"Gray-sama, are you sure?"

"Certainly. Go get ready, Juvia. We don't want to miss this chance." Gray gave her a smile that was laced with tiredness.

Juvia reluctantly agreed and asked her boyfriend to wait for few minutes. Once she came back, the sight she saw in front of her eyes was Gray had fallen asleep and he looked too peaceful to disturb.

"I knew this was the case." Juvia giggled lightly and brought a blanket to wrap around him.

"Gray-sama, it's time to take some rest. You have worked hard enough for the past few weeks. Get rejuvenated.." Juvia whispered and ruffled his hairs lightly, which she always loved to do.

After it seemed to be an hour, Gray woke up suddenly and hit himself for falling asleep. Before calling out his girlfriend, he glanced at the wall clock and realized he had messed up their date night.

He mentally cursed himself and went towards the kitchen as he could hear the voice coming from there.

There Gray saw Juvia was making some spaghetti while conversing with someone over the mobile.

"No, Gajeel-kun. I don't feel neglected or burdened. Gray-sama has been taking good care of me and loves me." 

From her conversation, Gray could make out Gajeel was inquiring about their relationship and still not believe him.

"See, it's not his fault. If he's busy, then that means his work and career are going in the correct direction. Of course, at times, I feel lonely but once I hear Gray-sama's voice everything fades away.

     Poor thing, he had planned to take me on a dinner date to one of those newly opened fancy restaurants but he was so worn out that we couldn't go and neither I wanted to force him" 

Gray could see her genuine concern and satisfaction of having him sleep instead of making him more tired.

"I'm thankful that we could talk every day and see each other at times for now that's enough. Once this project wraps up, we would get some time for ourselves till then I'm will wait." Juvia said earnestly.

Gray was so moved by her words that he felt lucky for getting a girlfriend who was so understanding and mature, unlike the few people he knew.

Soon he moved forward and hugged her from behind which made Juvia squeak which was heard by Gajeel over the line.

"Juvia, what happened? Hello," Gajeel sounded frantic.

"Gray-sama, it's you. Oof! I thought it was someone else. Gajeel-Kun, don't worry it's Gray-sama. I will call you later. Take care." Juvia cut the call before Gajeel could ask her anymore.

"Sorry for startling you. I want to tell you something, thank you for being with me. Having you by my side lessens down my stress and burden, Juvia." His words sounded so genuine to her which brought a big smile to her face.

Juvia cupped his face and without uttering any words kissed him passionately which Gray reciprocated without any second thoughts.

Once they had enjoyed their kissing sessions, Juvia then proceeded to kiss his forehead by asking him to bend down a little.

"Gray-sama, it's me who should be thanking you. After meeting you, I can say my life changed for good. Before it was only me and Gajeel-kun, but now, I got to be friends with everyone and they all are very friendly with me too.

   I never knew this is what it means to be being in love. Just because we can't spend time with each other much that doesn't mean there's no love. So never think that's the case and work on your career. I will always support you, Gray-sama." Juvia said confidently and smiled at him.

Gray smiled at her and kissed her again on her lips, "Juvia, it's you who has brightened up my life. Your warm personality makes me feel at home. At times, I feel guilty that we aren't being like a normal couple but hearing your words puts me at ease. Believe me, I love you and happy to have you in my life." And then kisses her forehead.

"I love you too, Gray-sama" Juvia hugs him a bit tightly.

After dinner, the two had decided to level up their relationship a bit further.

"Are you sure Juvia?"

"Yes, Gray-sama. Until and unless if you are tired, we could just stop now." 

Juvia teased him and got up off the bed but Gray caught hold of her wrist and brought her back to his lap.

"I'm sure we are ready for this. Love you, Juvia"

"So do I, Gray-sama" 

#

Throughout the day, Gray and Yuki had played the games that the latter suggested without complaining.

Juvia had fun clicking pictures of her husband in funny makeup which their daughter had applied on his face.

"While you stop laughing, geez.. stop it Juvia" Gray grew red as she kept looking at the gallery full of Gray's pictures.

"I'm sure Natsu-San will tease for a whole month if he sees you like this." Juvia chuckled and kept looking.

Gray tried to snatch her mobile but Juvia began to play and raised her arms above her head and when he tried to catch it and soon shifted it to her back which happened for some time until Gray gave it.

Seeing he beloved pouted, Juvia let down her guard and that was enough for Gray to cleverly snatch her mobile.

"It's unfair, Gray-sama" Now it was Juvia's turn to pout while he pinched her nose and kept on chuckling.

He kept looking at all the pictures and everything was really funny and a bit embarrassing. 

But he didn't have the heart to delete those pictures as in all those photos his daughter looked so happy and her smile was so adorable.

"Fine, here you go. I'm not deleting those photos. Yuki looks so adorable and innocent. I'm melting seeing these photos." Gray chuckled and handed over the mobile.

Juvia could deny the fact. Suddenly, Juvia's eyes caught the attention of a drone that was flying near their balcony.

"Gray-sama, look outside"

When Gray saw the drone, he couldn't process what is happening. He soon dashed off to pull the curtains together.

"Gray-sama, is it some kind of prank? Or is someone spying on us?" Juvia asked worriedly.

Luckily, Yuki was in her room drawing some pictures. But to be on the safer side, Juvia went to her room to check if any drone was flying near the window.

Gray, by then, informed his agency about this incident and was trying to seek details regarding this.

"Juvia looks like someone is spying on us. These reporters can go to any extent to get a scoop. Don't worry, this will get sorted out soon." Gray assured his wife and hugged her.

"Okay, Gray-sama" Juvia hugged him back.

#gruvia #gruviaweek #gruvia week 2021 #gruvia week

[smol-and-grumpy]

Light My Fire - CH03

Pairing: CEO!Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: She always thought her boss was an ill-tempered man, but when he presents her with a proposition she can’t quite deny, she gets to know him better. It’s not bad, right? Because all she has to do is being fake married to him for six months, sounds do-able, right? Right.

Warnings: There’s sweet fluff in this.

WC: 2738

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Beta’d by @deanwanddamons​​ <3

SERIES MATSTERLIST

They enjoy their glass of wine in silence before her stomach starts to growl. It growls the loudest she’s ever heard. Maybe it’s because she hasn't had anything to eat since this morning, and her stomach rebels against the wine as it’s  the only thing in there. She should have known better.

Dean must have heard it because he starts to chuckle, “What toppings do you like? I thought we could share one.” 

“Sure, but don’t judge, please?” She says as she stands up, sees Dean’s eyes on her and feels the urge to cover up. He gets up from his chair and takes the towel she brought out with her, holds it up for her to cover herself.

When he looks at her again, he has one eyebrow cocked, “Why should I judge?”

 “Uh, because I quite like pineapples on pizza,” 

“I don’t judge,” Dean scoffs, and adds, “But I really think that should be illegal,” He laughs, but he doesn’t say anything more, and goes in to order their pizza. 

Y/N slips in while he’s on the phone and goes straight to her room, and changes into something comfortable. Now that she’s seen that he wears sweats, she’s happy to match him. It’s actually pretty weird seeing Dean like this because the only clothes she ever saw him in are suits, it makes her think that he even sleeps in them. She wonders if he has other clothes at all.

When the pizza arrives, Dean moves the glasses and bottle into the living room and asks her what movie she wants to watch, but she really doesn’t mind so she lets him choose. Dean zaps through Netflix and settles on Bird Box. 

While the movie starts, he hands her some napkins, and she’s wondering if that’s enough, because she’d hate to ruin the nice couch. He must have sensed her hesitation because he’s smirking, “It’s okay, you don’t wanna know what I managed to spill on this couch already,”

“Ewww,” She mocks, cringes her nose and he snorts out a laugh.

It’s easy, she thinks. It’s easy to let herself go. It’s easy to be here with him and just talk about anything outside of work. She comes to the conclusion that Dean’s not such an asshole after all. In fact, he’s a real gentleman. And that’s not really good, is it? It makes her feel things she shouldn’t feel.

She shakes the thought out of her head and takes a slice of pizza out of the box. It’s then  that she realizes that the whole pizza is riddled with pineapples. She frowns, “I thought you didn’t like pineapples on pizza?”

“I don’t,” Dean shrugs, takes a bite and pretends to wrinkle his nose before he grins with his mouth full and continues to eat. 

Y/N doesn’t think she makes it far into the movie because her eyelids are getting heavy halfway through. It’s the most illogical, most boring thing she’s ever seen, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings so she tries to watch it. 

Last thing she remembers, though, is that she’s half leaning against Dean before she fell asleep. 

 ***

 Y/N wakes up in a bed. It’s clearly not hers. It took her an embarrassingly long time to realize that she’s in Dean’s apartment and that she’s in her bedroom. 

Oh no, she remembers eating pizza with Dean, remembers falling asleep to the stupid movie. He must have carried her to her bed. 

Her own fucking boss had to carry her to bed! If that’s not embarrassing she doesn’t know what is. 

She scans the room and her eyes settle on the clock on her nightstand. It’s already past 8am. She slept like a baby through her alarm but in her defense, the bed is so fucking comfortable, more comfortable than her own, and it’s only a fucking guest room. She wonders how comfortable Dean’s bed must be. How he can even wake up and get out of it every morning astounds her.

And then, the thought of being late for work crosses her mind before she realizes that she doesn’t have to go in. Realizes that she didn’t sleep through her alarm because she didn’t set one in the first place.

Grabbing her phone, she sees that there’s a text from Ruby.

 R: How was your first night? Did you consummate your fake marriage? *wink wink* 

 Then a text ten minutes later.

 R: Oh my god, it should have been a joke but you did, didn’t you? He’s in a remarkably good mood. Didn’t bitch about the coffee I brought him at all!

 Ah, Dean’s already at work then. He’s usually there before she turns up, and now she knows why. It’s only about a ten minutes walk from his apartment. 

 Y/N: Relax, nothing happened.

R: Ah, there she is.

Y/N: I slept in. The bed is so comfortable!

R: His bed I’d hope!

 She snorts out a laugh. 

 Y/N: No, I have my own room that’s bigger than my apartment.

R: Ugh, maybe I can come see you? Wanna see how the most not eligible bachelor lives. Or send me pics! Oh shit, he called out for me. I need to go. But I swear, whatever you’ve done to him. Do it again! I like to work for him when he’s not constantly yelling at people.

 She chuckles at that. She doesn’t answer Ruby though, instead she sends a text to Jack, telling him that she’s got another job that would secure him his degree and that everything’s okay.

Climbing out of bed, she decides to get coffee. It’s weird not having to go to work and she kind of misses it a little. 

Y/N walks out into the kitchen where there’s still a faint smell of his cologne and coffee in the air. A deadly combination for her brain apparently, because it makes her insides tingle in all the right places. She looks around and immediately spots a yellow sticky note left on the machine. 

It’s Dean’s handwriting. She knows it from all the scribblings he leaves on her desk when he already shut off his laptop and thinks about something that she must do for him the next day. 

 The machine is easy to handle. On, off. That’s it. I’m sorry I made you watch that movie. If you want to know, it didn’t get better after you fell asleep. Two hours of our lives, wasted. I’ll see you tonight, maybe we can watch something else — D

 She’s smirking. He really took his time this morning to write her a fucking novel. It really baffles her that he goes out of his way for her and it really seems like he genuinely cares to make her stay with him as comfortable as he can. Well, it does benefit him too, come to think of it.

 *

 After another round on the massage comforter, she walks into her room to find a message from Jack. 

 J: I hope you don’t sell yourself for my benefit. But I trust you. Miss you x

 She has to smirk and immediately types an answer back.

 Y/N: Just stay in college and make me proud, alright?

 Just when she’s about to put her phone away, it lights up with a call.

Dean.

“Hello?” She says, wondering if she should add sir to it at first but decides to drop it.

“Hey, you slept alright?”

She smiles, “Yeah, thanks. It’s the most comfortable bed.” She bites on her tongue so as to not ask him about him carrying her back to said bed.

There’s a light chuckle on the other end, “Good. Listen, I went over my schedule today because Ruby didn’t do it for me, and saw that I can’t have a movie night this evening like I wrote on the note,” He pauses to think, “You found the note, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“So, you maybe did know this because you arranged the invitation and you put it into my calendar, but I didn’t until about twenty minutes ago,”

She thinks hard about his schedule, remembers that there was something. An event. Some kind of gala. 

“But instead of watching a movie, what would you say to me taking you out?” He says, “I called them and managed to do a last minute adjustment to my invitation.”

“Oh,” She huffs out, knowing where Dean wants to go with that.

“Thought it’d be a good opportunity to show them my wife. Are you in?”

He still asks, even if he actually doesn’t have to? Because yeah, she obviously can’t be a fake wife in private. The world needs to see it. Amara needs to see it.

“I guess,” She mutters. She is actually not really sure if she can pull that off. Her heart beats faster just thinking about walking on a red carpet.

“Y/N, you don’t have to, you know,” It’s as if he senses her dread, “I don’t want to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, but we should at least try to look like a happily married couple and we can’t pretend if you don’t want to.”

“No— I mean, it’s okay, I’ll do it,” Her voice is more firm this time. She wants to. Wants to show him that she can do it. 

It shouldn’t be hard, right? She’s been with a man before. She knows all that hand holding stuff. And Dean’s paying her double for god’s sake. What’s an evening of being flirty with him? It’s not like he is an old greasy man. Well, maybe that would be better? Maybe then she will not risk falling for him? Because that’s what is going to happen if she’s not careful, she just knows it. And then she’ll get her heart broken. Even though a broken heart is a little price to pay if it means that Jack can finally start his own future, come to think of it.

“Okay,” There’s a huff of breath, he’s smiling, she can hear it, “Good. I’ll get Gabe to drop off my card, you can go shopping for a dress. The card has no limit, just buy whatever you want, alright?”

She grins smugly, “I need shoes, too.”

“Buy all the things you want.”

“Alright, sir.”

“Y/N, stop calling me that. Unless,” He pauses and there’s a playfulness in his voice, “That’s what you like.”

She’s glad it’s not a video call, so he isn’t able to see that her face is burning up. She doesn’t say anything and Dean takes the hint.

“Right, I have another meeting, I’ll see you around 7pm. The gala starts at 8pm.”

“K, bye Dean.”

“Have fun.”

*

 Y/N’s standing in her room as she waits for Dean to come back. He’ll probably need to shower and get dressed too. 

Gabe came by to drop off Dean’s Centurion card and he walked straight into Dean’s bedroom to drop off Dean’s tux onto his bed. She never had such a card in her hands, it feels heavy, made of platinum, not like her cheap plastic one that she only uses once in a blue moon.

At first she didn’t know where to go because she hadn't been dress shopping for a gala before. She wondered if H&M would be a good choice but then thinks that it probably wouldn’t. While she was out shopping she looked into shop windows and came across a beautiful long sleeved sequin pattern dress in gold. 

She never knew gold would look good on her but the shop assistant was so nice, even though she knows it’s that woman’s job, she felt really good in the dress and it wasn’t over the top with the price so Dean should be okay with it. She couldn’t resist buying matching shoes, too. 

Later, she splashed out some money for lingerie that she could wear under it and hoped that Dean wouldn’t mind. He told her to buy whatever she likes, so.

And now, she’s nervously pacing around her room. Her pacing only stops when she hears footsteps approaching.

There’s a knock at her door, “Y/N, you okay?”

“Yeah,” She manages to say.

“Good, sorry I’m a little late, had to pick up something on the way. I’ll shower and get dressed. Meet you in the living room in thirty minutes?”

“Sure,”

She hears him opening the door to his room.

Thirty minutes. Ugh. She hasn’t even applied makeup yet. She’s so nervous.

After a last check in the mirror, she walks out into the living area, her heels clicking on the marble flooring. She’s not used to wearing such high heels, and prays  that she won’t stumble and fall flat on her face. 

As she rounds the corner into the living area, she sees Dean already waiting for her, dressed in a fitting tux and smelling so fucking delicious. He looks like he’s just stepped out of a glossy magazine spread and that’s not fair. She can already see the press giving them a caption for their picture together. It reads, DEAN WINCHESTER COULD DO SO MUCH BETTER. 

Y/N can feel Dean’s eyes on her. They’re wide and his lips part slightly before they curve up into a smile. It’s bright and white. She’s smiling too, can’t not smile when he’s looking at her like that. Looking at her like she’s the only one that matters. She’s not used to it at all.

“Wow,” Dean breathes out, “You look beautiful.”

She was already blushing before but now her cheeks heat up a little more, “Thank you. You’re not bad yourself.”

Dean has to chuckle and then all of a sudden, he runs back to his room, “I’ll be right back,”

After about a minute Dean reappears clutching things in his hand. One of them is a pocket square. He went in and picked out a color that matches her dress. She has to grin at that.

He places it inside his jacket but he seems to struggle, “Can you help me, I—”

“Of course,” She grins, and steps closer to him, arranging the pocket square so that I’d look nice. Patting his pocket, she leaves her hand on his chest when she’s done, feels his heartbeat underneath her palm. She can swear it beats a little faster than usual, not that she knows his resting heart rate. “All set.” She says and Dean grins at her. 

“Okay, now my turn,” Dean licks his lips and clears his throat, and she can’t help but wonder what he means by his turn.

She doesn’t have to wait long, because Dean opens up the little box he was still clutching and she can see the princess cut diamond engagement ring with a matching wedding band. 

“Dean, no.”

“Why, Dean, yes.” He chuckles, takes them out, and takes her left hand in his. “Y/N, will you give me the honor of being my fake wife for real now?” 

Y/N has to giggle at that, “Yeah, of course,”

He smiles, slips the ring onto her ring finger and to her surprise, they fit perfectly. She looks at Dean, raises her eyebrow, “Let me guess, Ruby?”

“Yeah,” Dean smirks, and then he shows her his left hand, “I have one, too. So, you ready?”

“Not really?” 

“That’s the spirit,” Dean places his hand around her waist, pulls her close and kisses her cheek softly. 

It does nothing to calm her down because she’s even more nervous now. 

“You gotta try to keep me from falling, okay?,” She says as he moves his hand to the small of her back, and guides her to the door. 

“I would never let you fall,” Dean shows her a small smile and they step into the elevator. 

In there, she eyes him up again, can’t quite take her eyes off him. He looks so good with the slight scruff and the freckles, the crinkles around his eyes deepen the longer she stares at him. 

“What?” He asks her, raises an eyebrow.

“You look good, Mr. Winchester,” She says with a smile.

“You too, Mrs. Winchester. Most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. And I’m not lying.” He leans in, places another kiss on her heated cheeks before the elevator comes to a halt. 

He helps her get out and Gabriel’s already waiting, holding the limousine door open for them.

CH04

#light my fire #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #ceo!dean winchester #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fan fic #dean winchester fan fiction #nathalie writes

[ad1thi]

downtime (a night off)

also on ao3

//

It’s a rare phenomenon that all Avengers are under the same roof.

It isn’t that they don’t enjoy each other’s company, or that they are in any way adverse to coming together for times of crisis and shit’s hit the fan, or that there is some overarching agenda that depends on them being kept separate unless absolutely necessary. It is simply, a matter of scheduling.

Thor likes to split his time between Asgard and Earth, and goes back frequently to provide company to his brother, worried that Loki will feel abandoned by him yet again if he were not to show his face that often. Those visits never go well however, and when Thor is back on Earth, he seeks out Jane Foster, to lick his wounds in private before he is prepared to face his team.

Natasha and Clint are yet to quit their day job at SHIELD, and Fury frequently calls them away for missions that they can’t hear about, speak about, or even know about until they’re in the middle of the assignment. It isn’t uncommon for them to be summoned at odd hours of the day, sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, and sometimes when they’re just about to sit down for dinner.

Tony, for all his posturing that he has no other focus apart from Iron Man, still has duties and responsibilities at Stark Industries. Not being CEO may have considerably reduced the load, but he’s still the face of the company, the Stark behind Stark Industries, and Pepper likes to use him to remind their investors of that from time to time. Just to keep everybody in line.

In the days after the New York Invasion, after the public had adjusted their worldview, after the cleanup, after things reached some sort of normalcy -  Steve was nowhere to be found. He packed the clothes he had into a duffel bag that fit neatly over his shoulder, and took his SHIELD issued motorcycle cross-country, exploring the America that had become during his extended sleep. Apart from a couple of updates to inform everybody that he was still in fact alive, and hadn’t fallen back into the ice, nobody heard from him for months - until he showed up back at Stark Tower, startling both Tony and Bruce, to say that he was reporting for duty.

Bruce has made his home in Stark Tower, two floors below Tony’s penthouse suite, but he hasn’t forgotten his days on the run, the people who helped him, the people he helped. They have a lot of downtime as Avengers, and he likes to use it out of the country, in the places he used to call home, helping people the way he used to. He doesn’t go alone anymore, instead he manages a team under Doctors Without Borders, but it still gives him the same sense of fulfilment it used to in his days of obscurity.

It’s a rare phenomenon that all Avengers are under the roof, not because they don’t like each other, but because their singular lives are too vast and rich for them to meet frequently and constantly.

This just means that when their schedules allow for a precious opening when the team can meet without fear of an alien invasion or imminent global destruction - they try their hardest to make the absolute best of it.

//

“Has anybody ever told you,” Clint pauses, smacking his lips and squinting his eyes, “that you have the most fantastic ass?”

In front of him, Tony is swaying from side to side, as if moving to music that nobody else can hear, but he still manages to look unbearably smug at Clint’s comment, “Everyday baby. You didn’t think it was my winning personality that got so many people into bed, did you?”

Natasha pipes up from where she’s sunk into the couch, tilting her head up so that her voice isn’t muffled by the cushions, “I thought it was your money.”

Tony whirls around, and points the vodka bottle he’s clutching at her, “That too. But mainly my ass.”

“Barton is right, Friend Stark,” Thor tilts his head, his gaze falling down, “You have a glorious behind. Asgard’s halls are filled with the most voluptuous of courtesans, and I can’t say any of them have a behind that compares to yours.”

“Eyes off his behind,” Steve grumbles, his arms wrapping around Tony’s waist and pulling him close to his chest, so that Steve can hook his chin over Tony’s shoulder. He isn’t as drunk as the rest of them, because Bruce and Tony are still working on combinations of alcohol that work against the super soldier serum, but he’s got a pleasant buzz going on; and it makes him want to bundle Tony up in his arms and never let go.

“That’s my behind,” Steve squeezes around Tony’s waist for effect, “No more staring.”

Tony jerks his head to the side, and presses a sloppy side to the underside of Steve’s jaw, and Steve goes limp around him. This thing between them is still new, undefined, and neither of them want to do anything to jeopardise it. It feels too big for that, too important.

“All in good fun Cap,” Clint says in a slurred voice, “No need to go all cave-man on Tony. You’ve staked your claim, pissed around him, whatever you want to call it.”

Next to him, Bruce wrinkles his nose and whacks Clint upside on the head. He’s the only one out of the six of them who’s currently sober, electing to not drink because he has no idea how the Hulk will react to booze.

“Don’t be crass Clint,” Natasha says, nodding at Bruce approvingly, “I think it’s cute. It’s sweet that Mom and Dad are in love.”

“Hey!” Tony frowns at Natasha, “Who are you calling Mom and Dad? And which one am I?”

“You’re Mom!” The response is simultaneous, and any complaints that Tony has are immediately drowned out by Thor bellowing in laughter.

“Steve,” Tony says urgently, in a soft tone, and when Steve turns his head to look at Tony, his bottom lip is jutting out, “Steve, do you really think I’m the Mom?”

“Sweetheart, you have three robot babies down in your workshop, of course you’re the Mom.”

Tony nods, seemingly satisfied by that answer, and leans more back into Steve’s embrace.

“Okay,” he says after a couple of seconds, “I’m the Mom. I can live with that. I liked my mom more anyway.”

Steve opens his mouth to reply, but he gets cut off by Clint, who yells, “Stark! You have any of those fancy simulations you got in the training rooms up here? I want to see how many shots of tequila it takes to make me stop shooting straight!”

Tony wrestles out of Steve’s embrace and grabs the bottle of tequila that’s lying on the table, “If you think you’re shooting up my living room you’ve got another thing coming Legolas!”

He hauls Clint off the couch and they stumble into each other, making their way to the stairwell, presumably to get to the training room.

“You got the salt and the lemons?” Steve asks Natasha, and she nods, “I can go grab it from the kitchen now.”

“Best to probably grab some water too,” Bruce adds, standing up to walk with her, “So that Tony and Clint don’t accidentally impale themselves.”

Thor stands up with a giant lurch, ‘Fear not! I shall watch over Friend Barton and Friend Stark, to ensure that they don’t injure themselves.”

He strides away in the same direction that Tony and Clint took before any of them can say anything, and Steve and Natasha share a look.

“We need to get down there fast,” Steve says, “Somehow I feel like Thor will do more harm than good.”

“Agreed. You catch up with Thor and make sure he doesn’t accidentally electrocute everybody, me and Bruce will meet you down there with supplies and a couple bottles of water”

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve nods, and rushes off after Thor, quickening his steps when he hears Tony yell out in joy. 

It was a rare phenomenon that the Avengers were under the same roof, but the best of times always came from it.

Fin

#my writing #stevetony #superhusbands #avengers #avengers as a family #fluff #drunk shenanigans #post avengers (2012) #i don't know i just wanted to write some found family fluff #so i wrote this #enjoy hehe #established stevetony

[itsallabigmess]

Crescente | Part Two

Slow burn Friends to Lovers AU A bit of angst, a bit of flirt, lots of cliches.

PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART

Through the taxi window, you watch lazily as the bright lights and busy streets morph into a long road lined on both sides with palm trees, their tops waving slightly with the breeze. You slept for most of the 6-hour flight and is still finding it hard to beat your half-sleep state.

The cab makes a turn and comes to a stop in front of the main building of the resort. The cold breeze hits you as soon as you climb out of the vehicle and you close your eyes, smiling to yourself when you sense the smell saltwater. Somewhere in the distant darkness, you could hear the waves crashing.

Jinyoung touches your arm and nods towards the entrance, where you can see a valet attendant already taking both your and your friend’s bags. You are greeted as soon as you step inside, by a little woman with a broad smile. How could anyone sound so enthusiastic at such an early hour would be forever a mystery to you. Jinyoung hands her both your passports – you don’t even remember when he got a hold of yours – and you watch as she enters your information into the system.

Still smiling, she slides a navy-blue folder with the resort’s name stamped in gold. Her lips are moving but you can barely make out what she is saying. There was something about congratulations to the couple and a list of things you were allowed during your stay. Whatever it was, you were certain it could all acknowledge once the sun was up. For the moment, you only cared to know the directions to your bed.

You manage to smile warmly, thanking the receptionist when she hands Jinyoung the key-card to your room. Your gaze swims through Jinyoung’s features as he adjusts the strap of his backpack over his shoulder and grabs the folder. You were not so confident that you wouldn’t be left completely alone with your own thoughts during this trip until the moment Jinyoung met you at the boarding gate. The previous days you had barely exchanged any words. You were still not sure why he decided to come along but had decided you would spend the following days making sure he knew how grateful you were to him.

 ---

“Holy shit!” you say, dropping your backpack by your side on the ground once you crossed the door. You were not expecting the villa you were going to stay to be so opulent. But then again, why wouldn’t it be, considering you were staying in a luxury resort. “This is bigger than my place.”

“As if it was hard to be,” Jinyoung snorted, leading the way inside.

You rolled your eyes and ignore the tease and the fact that Jinyoung seemed utterly unimpressed.  You stepped slowly towards the absurdly spacious living room, eyes traveling from side to side. There are just many details your tired eyes don’t seem able to process. You’ve been up since 5 of the previous morning, going from your 9-hour job directly to the airport. The time you passed out during the flight was not enough to restore your energy and you were certain you would pass-out at any second.

Grabbing your backpack, you follow the way Jinyoung had made upstairs. You wonder if that was how the rich lived. If they would be just as speechless by the size of the room as you were. Your eyes fixed on the gigantic bed, well made and ready to devour your tired body.

And then… the engines of your brain start to work properly.

“Ahm… Jinyoung?”

He appears at the other door across the room, where you assume is the bathroom.  You don’t need to speak for him to understand the worry growing on your eyes. “Were you really expecting something else?”

You look up at your unbothered friend. Of course, that was supposed to be a trip for a couple. Somehow, the fact that the place would have only one bed skipped your mind. You didn’t mind sharing it. But did he?

“Don’t worry, I can sleep on the couch,” Jinyoung suggests, nodding towards the padded furniture under the room’s large windows. It does look comfortable enough for a person to sleep at, for sure. But still, it wasn’t fair. Especially considering how long you were going to stay there.

You shake your head slowly “No, that’s okay. We can share.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, that bed is obviously too big for just me,” you yawn, kicking off your shoes. “Do you mind if I shower first?”

“Go ahead.”

 ---

You hear Jinyoung’s light snores before you even open your eyes. You fell asleep as soon as you got to bed and wasn’t sure if Jinyoung would actually take the empty spot on your side. Lifting your body, you rub your eyes and stare at the couch on the opposite side of the bed. You could only imagine the hell of a neck pain Jinyoung would feel during the whole trip if he had decided to be a gentleman and let the bed all to yourself.

You get up, making sure to stay as silent as possible as you grabbed your necessaire to the bathroom. Now, well-rested and aware of every detail, you decided that the bathroom alone was the size of your living room and kitchen combined. You loved your apartment but only now realized how small it really was. You really could not complain when your friends teased you about it anymore.

With your hair fixed into a ponytail and teeth brushed, your walk towards the marble bathtub, Spying through the window, you let out a silent curse and runs downstairs.

Air catches on your throat after you open the double window door. Yes, there’s a private pool. That was fascinating on its own but what shocked you was the only thing that separated you from the sea was a small wooden ramp and a few feet of white sand. The villa wasn’t close to the beachside. It was on the beach.

“Is everything okay?” Jinyoung appears a minute later, voice hoarse and hair a complete mess, hiding his eyes from the brightness of the day.

“I’m in heaven!” You stretch your arms as if saying aren’t you seeing this?!

A growl. That’s all you get out of him before he goes back inside. Maybe he would feel better after you found some food to put inside his body. You need Jinyoung to be on the same level of excitement that you are.

Turns out you could eat all the food you want for free at the main restaurant of the resort. It sounded like the recipe for bad food until Jinyoung points out that every item of the menu has a price on its side, and you eating for free was part of the vacation package.

Relishing the plate of waffles and fresh fruit that you made for yourself, you reach for your shorts back pocket and grab the folded list of activities the resort offered. “How do you feel about snorkeling?”

Jinyoung gives a shrug, eyes on his own plate. “I’m not completely opposed to it.”

On the week before the trip you two agreed to not tell any of your friends about you traveling together. Neither you nor Jinyoung were in the mood to deal with all the teasing and inquiries that would come from your friends. Not to mention the frustrating whining from your girlfriends because ‘how dare you to invite Jinyoung instead of any of them’. Girl drama was completely off the limits for you for the next ten days.

The bad part of it was that, by avoiding your friends, you could not ask Jackson the circumstances of Jinyoung’s break up. Over the years you witnessed Jinyoung go through some things that really put him down. His reaction was always different, but you never saw him in the shape he is. It isn’t sadness, at least not completely. No, this is apathy. And you don’t know how to deal with that version of him.

“Here says we can get a boat to one of the nearby islands and snorkel close to the reefs,” you tap at the folder in front of you, hoping Jinyoung would accept your suggestion.

“We have to schedule it with the front desk before,” he says in a monotonous tone.

The normal Jinyoung would make fun of you for not finding it obvious. The normal Jinyoung would probably complain about you not listening to what the woman in the front desk said on the night before. But this Jinyoung only shrugs and fills his mouth with a giant bite of eggs and bacon.

“We can do something else too,” you tell him.

“Let’s check with the front desk first,” Jinyoung stares at you, his lips forming a straight line. Maybe he was trying to smile, but it couldn’t be more forced. It was enough for now.

--- 

Entering your information on her computer, Kaila, another overly excited receptionist informs that yes, all activities should be scheduled at least an hour before, but since you are still far from the high season, you don’t need to worry about it that much. She suggests a half-day at the blue lagoon, a favorite spot for anyone who visits the place. Since Jinyoung doesn’t oppose – or say anything for that matter – you ask Kaila to sign you two for to the boat ride.

“All setup,” Kaila smiles half a minute later. “The van will departure at ten.”

You thank her and rush back to the villa. There’s just enough time to spray some sunscreen on your body and change into one of your swimsuits.

There are already music playing, coming from the boat when you arrive at the harbor. The tour guide greats your small group one by one, telling everybody to find a sit. He passes the itinerary for the six hours you will be spending together, safety instructions, and all. You feel the movement of waves below and while everyone gets distracted with the drinks being served, you become fascinated with the contrasts of blue in the sky.

“We sure don’t have this shade of blue back home,” you sigh, chin resting on an arm over the railing. You wait for an answer. Jinyoung is staring in the same direction as you, or so you think, his eyes hidden by dark shades. You know he must be impressed. Jinyoung was always good at appreciating views like that. And still… “Come on, Jinyoung,” you push his shoulder not so lightly. “You have to admit this place is amazing.”

“It is,” he says flatly, a hand moving to the back of his neck, wiping a bit of sweat. “And it sure is warm.”

After going back home you would call Jinyoung’s ex-girlfriend. You are sure you still have her number saved. You liked her though. Even if you never got incredibly close to each other, you always enjoyed her presence when you spend time together. But she broke your friend’s heart. And that you could not let pass. But for now…

For now, you decide to enjoy your vacation. It’s just like Jackson said: Jinyoung likes to go deep into his own sadness before deciding he was over it. And until that happened, there was really nothing you could do to help him. Even because Jinyoung was not giving you an opportunity to do so.

Sighing, you remove your shirt and shorts, tucking it inside the small bag you brought with you and hiding it under the seat. You decide to join a couple of girls that are sunbathing in the deck. You have no interest in socializing, but you also don’t want to spend the entire morning sitting on the shadows, letting Jinyoung down mood intoxicate you.

And yes, you do feel a bit guilty for it, but you let that feeling steam away with the heat.

Once the boat stops at the island, the tour guide gathers the group and lists the options: explore the island, snorkel around the coral garden or join him and a local to a separate area of the island, where you could swim with stingrays.

“Staying in the boat is an option,” he says, “for those who want to continue to drink or swim nearby. Lunch will be served on the island at one. You can see the tables from here,” he points towards the island, a few benches and tables disposed of in front of what appeared a small green house. “Please keep in mind to be back at the boat by four. Now, let’s have some fun!”

As people start to scatter and jump on the water, you see Jinyoung standing in the back, hands shoved inside the pockets of his blue shorts. You catch a mask and diving shoes with the guide before joining your friend.

“Are you going to stay here?” you ask, handing him the mask so you can slip your feet inside the shoes that were a bit small for you.

“For now.”

“Well,” you take the mask of Jinyoung’s hands to wear, its oval shape covering only your eyes. “Tell me I look stupid.”

“You look stupid.”

“Great!” you show him your teeth in an exaggerated smile, emphasizing it by giving a double thumbs-up. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

The water is cold, but you soon get used to it. You swim away from everyone, towards the coral garden. It’s your first time snorkeling and you are doing a poor job at it, often coming up for some air. You don’t care. Just like the fish that swim around you, not caring for your presence. Underwater, you let yourself be consumed by the colors, the silence, the feeling that nothing else matters. And when you feel tired of swimming around, you take off your mask and just stay there, floating. The little waves making your heart calm.

That was already the best day you had in a long time.

On the island, you go stray to where the lunch would be served. It was still early for food but you sure could use a soft drink to wash away the salty taste the ocean left on your mouth.

The diving shoes do a great job of protecting your feet from the hot sand. But as you walk where water could only reach your ankles, you did not wait to get rid of it. And how pleasant it felt when you did.

Small waves of turquoise water refreshed your skin as you try to hide your feet under the sand. You used to do just that when you were a little child, on the few occasions you went to the beach with your parents. And even though there were no children around now you sure felt giggly like one.

“What are you doing?” you hear Jinyoung’s voice coming somewhere from behind you.

Holding the shoes with one hand and the mask with the other, he caught you in a silly moment of kicking the water to your front, watching the drops of water fall down, and then doing it again. Turning around, you do the same thing on Jinyoung’s direction, wetting his white shirt.

“Please don’t do that,” he says stepping back, looking down the little trail of salty water that went from his right shoulder until the opposite side of his shorts.

You frown in disappointment. Did he really stay all this time only on the boat? “You are no fun, Park.” You do another spin in the water, the sand tickling your feet. “Why do you still have your shirt on?” you ask, pointing at him with your shoes.

“I’m fine like this,” he says simply. “They are starting to serve lunch.”

The barbecue served tastes as amazing as it looked. Somehow, it reminds you of the Korean barbecue, you so much love. Except there are no side dishes there apart from some green salad and rice. You glance at Jinyoung and decides to keep that comment to yourself, certain he would find the comparison offensive.

So, you eat silently, trying not to pay attention to all the talking happening around you. You allow yourself a fruity cocktail, dipping the slices of the fruit salad that was served as dessert on your cup before biting it. When all is finished, cheeks feeling all warm with the combination of sun and alcohol, you get up unceremoniously and make your way back to where the ocean awaits for you.

Walking along the shore, you find sit under the shades, a perfect spot where you can you’re your back against the tree trunk, and still feel the water soaking your feet. In this heaven, you could fall sleep in a second, and you smile to yourself considering the possibility.

“You shouldn’t just wander around by yourself, you know.”

You don’t open your eyes as you feel Jinyoung sitting on your left. “It’s a small island, Jinyoung. The chances of me getting lost are nonexistent.”

Of course, Jinyoung doesn’t respond. Still, you sigh in frustration. If the rest of the trip was deemed to be like that maybe you should become as monosyllabic as he has been.

You open one eye to look at him. His eyes are still hidden between glasses, but you know he is looking at the horizon. “There’s a bit of sand here…” you reach for the grains on his jaw, right below his ear, cleaning it with the tip of your fingers... You never felt uncomfortable being silent around Jinyoung and still, you really wish you could translate whatever was going on inside of him and find a way to make him happy.

“I think I’m going in the water again,” you say simply, trying to figure out how to put your diving shoes on again now that your feet are covered with sand. “You should go for a dip, you know,” you suggest as casually and unbothered as you could. “It’s not every day that we have a chance to be in a place like this.”

How long has it been since you allowed yourself to not think about anything and just… be? You couldn’t remember. So, you just swim and float and dive until, somehow, you notice people going back to the boat. You were not surprised to find Jinyoung on the exact same spot where you both sat earlier.

The boat is already moving back to the marine when you get out of the little bathroom, glad to have brought a piece of underwear with you. You manage to get most of you dry but somehow, there was still sand scattered over your body.

Jinyoung leans forward, his head almost going in between his legs. He stays like that for a few minutes, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” you ask, rubbing his back lightly.

“Not really,” he says, moving quickly to place his head outside the boat. He doesn’t throw up, but his breath is unsteady. When you finally get to see his face, you notice how pale he looks.

You rush to find a bottle of freshwater. Jinyoung drinks half of it quickly and uses the rest to clean his face and neck. You think it’s the first time you see him without his sunglasses since you two went for breakfast.

“Do you want to lay down? There is enough space.”

He shakes his head, leaning back against the railing. The way he is breathing only makes you wish the trip back would not take too long.

 ---

You are about to start a second movie on Netflix when your stomach starts to grumble. Jinyoung recovered his color once you arrived back at the villa. But still feeling nauseated and with a massive migraine, he took his time in the bathroom and then fell into a deep slumber.

After cleaning yourself you decide to stay around, just in case Jinyoung needed something. It was just your first day on the trip and there were a lot more that you could do the next day. You took a little nap at the couch in the living room, spent some time scrolling through Instagram and then checked something off your watch list.

But now, you are in desperate need of food.

At the front desk, Lisa, the same tiny receptionist that greeted you on the previous night, reminds you that you don’t need to leave to resort to enjoy a good meal. And even though the bayside restaurant is full for the night, she can get you a table with a great view at the terrace restaurant.

The view is, in fact, amazing. From your table, you can see how the moon reflects in the ocean, the top of palm trees forming a perfect frame.

You order the Homemade Gnocchi that your waiter suggests, along with whatever wine he says go well with it. And while melting in your chair with the flavors dancing on your mouth, you consider ordering the same thing for Jinyoung before going back to the villa. You left him a note after giving up on trying to wake him for a couple of minutes. The man was beyond passed out.

Which was why you were a bit shocked when he sat in front of you, just as your waiter removed your empty plate.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Front desk.”

You stare at him for a long second. His eyes are still puffy, and it looks like the salty air is already messing with his hair. Sure, he still has this aura of ‘I wish I was still in bed’. But besides that, he looks better than he was earlier.

“You could have asked for room service, you know,” his words come out lazily, fingers tapping over the table.

“I rather limit the time I spend in the room to the hours I’ll be sleeping,” you don’t intend to sound annoyed. But you do. And you feel guilty because you want to blame it on him, but you don’t feel like you can. So, you just sigh and lean back on your chair. “But you could have asked it for yourself. Room service, I mean.”

“You wrote you would bring me something.”

“You could have texted me not to.”

“And where is your phone, exactly?”

“Oh…” After failing in waking Jinyoung, you tried to be as quiet as you could, leaving the villa so fast that just now you realized you have forgotten your phone charging close to the bathroom sink.

Silence settles between you two, being broken only when the waiter brings the desert you had asked for. Jinyoung orders a simple salad, and you decide to focus on a delicious sugary bowl placed in front of you. “If I had gone to dinner anywhere outside the resort, would you still have come after me?” you ask minutes later.

Jinyoung’s eyes travel from you to the view over the balcony, letting out another annoyed sigh. If your dessert wasn’t so good, you would feel compelled to throw the empty bowl in his head, just to get some sort of reaction. Anything. Instead, you call for the waiter and ask for another glass of wine.

He could have said no. When you knocked at his door, you expected him to say no. You had already given up on the idea of coming to this trip when he agreed to come with you. You guessed it was because he saw this the same way that you did: an opportunity to get over your broken hearts. Well, his broken heart. For you, it was more of ‘compensation for all the time you lost with the asshole you used to call your boyfriend’.

And yes, you understand how Jinyoung is feeling. Breakups aren’t the easiest thing in the world. Even if it was him the ended things – which you don’t believe is the case. Still, you can’t avoid being mad at him. Does he believe that he owns your company because you invited him? You do want to enjoy this trip with your friend but if he decided to stay in bed all day every day, it was more than fine. He just needed to tell you so, instead of looking at you like you forced him to be there with you.

Was that it? You did tell him that you only asked him to go with you and would not ask anyone else. So, were you to blame?

There it was, the feeling of guilt once again. Maybe it was your fault. Jinyoung was not ready to socialize, and maybe you put him in a situation he felt he needed to agree with.

You obviously need to talk to him but decides to do so in the next morning. Because even if you are mad at yourself, you still are mad at him. You and Jinyoung are good friends. You have always been good friends. He could have just told you those things instead of acting like you were someone he was forced to interact with.

Overthinking all the way from the restaurant to the villa, and then a bit more while doing your nightly routine, you lay in one of the pool loungers and finally begin to relax. You close your eyes and focus on the sound of the waves in the distance, the wind kindly touching your skin. But you are sure is the glasses of wine that you drank that leads you straight to slumber.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?”

Your eyes hardly opened to see Jinyoung standing on your side. You just grumble and turn to your side, giving him your back.

“It’ late,” he says, voice sounding closer. “Go to bed.”

“I’m good here.”

“Y/N, you are cold,” you feel a warm touch on your naked arm.

“We can try changing the villa tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Hm… This villa for two simple bedrooms,” you curl yourself, your hands going in between your knees.

“What are you talking about?”

You open your eyes again and see Jinyoung kneeling in front of you. “So you won’t have to deal with me.”

It’s silent again and you are already falling back to sleep when you feel his hands on you again, pulling your arms up, and then his own arms going behind your legs and back, lifting you up.

“Jinyoung,” you growl in discontent.

“I’m not letting you sleep in the cold,” his voice sound muffled, the side of your head pressed against his chest as he carries you up the stairs.

You are just too sleepy to object.

#jinyoung #park jinyoung #got7 #got7 jinyoung #got7 scenarios #got7 fanfic #Jinyoung scenarios #kpop scenarios #kpop fanfiction

[lovelylogans]

11 and Analogical for the prompt please?

diurnal/nocturnal

ao3 | other fics on tumblr | coffee?

warnings: uh, mention of someone putting something up their butt that should not be up there (virgil is a nurse, for context, no character does that) food mentions, sleep being interrupted, please let me know if i missed any

pairings: analogical, hinted future royality

words: 1,126

notes: more silly analogical should be In This World so the prompt “You’re a monster.” might not be as angsty as you wanted it to be lmao

Their schedules being opposite had always been a thing, but since Virgil’s taken on his job, it’s been to an even more extreme level.

Their bedroom door flies open. 

“I have to rant about academia, are you up yet?” Logan demands, sounding entirely too lively. Usually, Virgil would cite the time, but he lost that particular privilege as soon as he took on the night shifts at the hospital, so he can’t say Logan sounds too lively for six-thirty at night.

About three seconds later, Virgil’s alarm goes off. Virgil groans, pulling his pillow over his head.

“Virgil,” Logan complains (oh, he would so hate it if Virgil said he was complaining.) 

“You’re a monster,” Virgil whines directly into the mattress, as he’s made an attempt to keep his pillow over his ears, despite the fact that it won’t dissuade Logan.

“Good,” Logan says. “According to my calculations, it has been approximately eleven and a half hours since you’ve eaten. I haven’t had dinner yet. What do you want?”

“Hello, Virgil,” Virgil grumbles into his mattress. His warm mattress, that has never betrayed him by waking him up before his alarm. “Good morning, Virgil—”

“—factually inaccurate—”

“—did you sleep well? How was your shift last night? Oh, here, let me—”

As Virgil has been complaining, Logan has walked over to the bed. Virgil thinks, oh, good, he might sit down and calm down.

But no. Logan removes the pillow Virgil has clutched over his ears, and immediately thwaps Virgil over the head with it.

“Hey!” Virgil squawks, rolling over.

“Oh, my apologies,” Logan says. “I thought throwing open the door and immediately demanding your romantic partner, and I quote, wake the fuck up, Logan, you will not BELIEVE the bullshit that I had to deal with right before my alarm went off was how we were waking each other now, or have you forgotten your return from shift this morning?”

“I had to assist on a butt stuff thing!” Virgil says. “You love hearing about the butt stuff things! You’re overjoyed to get the opportunity to rant about the height of human stupidity!”

“At five-thirty in the morning?!”

Virgil opens his mouth. Closes it.

Logan sighs, but it’s less frustrated, more the kind of tone he takes when he’s forgiving of Virgil’s particular quirks and foibles, and he tosses Virgil’s pillow back. 

“You know very well that I am very interested in all your night nurse endeavors, as you are passionate about your career and I enjoy it when you are passionate,” Logan says, as if detecting any potential misgiving Virgil’s anxiety could possibly discern and twist into insecurities. “I also, yes, enjoy ranting about, as you put it, the height of human stupidity. However, I also value my time of sleep, and mentioned this. Remembering your behavior in undergrad, it is not like that was the first time you inadvertently woke me with some kind of fun fact you thought I would enjoy, and vice versa. Roman suggested doing this to swiftly demonstrate my… malcontent.”

“Roman did,” Virgil says.

“Yes, I know,” Logan says, “Never, ever tell him that I took his advice. But I believe we are now even. Do you agree?”

Virgil stares at him a couple moments. Logan is staring at him, very serious, very straight-faced. Everyone else would think he was straight-faced. But Virgil knows his boyfriend better than basically anyone else, so he can see the slight nervousness that this idea has backfired on him.

“Yeah, fine, we’re even,” Virgil says. Logan smiles, ever so slightly. “I keep forgetting that you aren’t on this schedule.”

Logan considers him, before he makes an attempt to flatten what Virgil is sure is some godawful bedhead. And Virgil, with a soft feeling fluttering in his chest at the look in Logan’s eyes, knows he’s forgiven for his earlier “waking-Logan-up-way-too-early” thing.

“Good evening,” he says, and leans over to peck Virgil on the lips. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, pretty decent, I guess,” Virgil says. “How was school?”

Logan inhales, and it’s the specific kind of inhale Logan does whenever he’s about to start ranting about something, and Virgil tamps down his grin, because annoyed, ranting Logan was hilarious, and also a fantastic start to his day.

Well. Logan in general was a fantastic start to his day, except for when he was on a revenge plot that was hatched by Roman.

And so Virgil listens as Logan rants his way through the politics of academia as he makes them dinner/breakfast (tonight, it’s pasta; tomorrow, Virgil will make it, so it’ll probably be eggs) as Virgil kicks on the coffee machine, and ducks out briefly to brush his teeth.

He and Logan get to have a much more thorough hello kiss that way, one that almost gets carried away until Logan hears that the timer’s going of, and turns his attention back to their food. Virgil’s only a little sad about it.

It’s been strange, definitely, adjusting to their new life; Virgil as a night nurse (extra pay, to help his boyfriend-nearly-husband pay for his doctorate degree in astronomy) and Logan at school means that they have weird hours to be together. But, Logan had reasoned when it first started, a month and a half ago, didn’t most couples only have a few hours together in the mornings and evenings regardless? They were adjusting from their lives as college students; nearly every other couple who made the transition from college to the real world had to deal with the same realities. So it shouldn’t matter that Virgil was waking up as Logan was winding down, and vice versa. They’d make it work.

And they have, for the most part; Virgil likes his colleagues on the night shift, for the most part, especially a particularly peppy nurse named Patton, who he was planning on bringing over on their next mutual off day to have dinner with him and Logan and maybe Roman. He thinks Roman and Patton would get along really well. Maybe even romantically well, but he was keeping that to himself. And Logan was doing a fantastic job at school, idiots trying to scheme to climb the academic ladder notwithstanding. They were living their lives.

It was kind of great.

And so, even as Virgil was making sure that he was dressed in his scrubs and he had everything he needed for the night, as he leaned over to kiss a minty-mouthed Logan, in bed, reading a book before he’d go to sleep not long after Virgil would leave for his eleven o’clock shift, the fact that Logan had been a monster didn’t matter to him.

All the really great parts of him mattered way more.

#anonymous #ask #my fic #sanders sides fic #sanders sides fanfic #analogical

[let-me-write-shit]

Somebody To You: 11

Are people actually reading this? lol. Friendly reminder to please Like and/or Reblog. It helps more than you think! :)

Word Count: 2,924

Click Here For Previous Chapter & Other Completed Stories

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CHAPTER ELEVEN:

“You are the most annoying boy on the planet!” Zoey laughed, gently rubbing her face with a cleanser as the hot steam engulfed her in the shower, “It’s baffling why so many girls are obsessed with you!”

Harry’s laugh echoed throughout the bathroom, almost sounding robotic from her phone’s speakers, “You were one of those girls before, don’t forget!”

She let the water rinse off the suds and quipped, “Yeah, well that was before I knew you. Besides, I liked Louis more.”

Harry gasped, “Take it back!”

She let out a giggle, lathering shampoo into her hands when a knock sounded at the door, “Zoey?” Nancy called, “Were you talking to me? I thought I heard you.”

“No, I’m just on the phone with Harry! He won’t leave me alone!”

Nancy chuckled, “Annoying piece of shit! Remind me why people obsess over him?”

“That’s what I said!”

The girls laughed and Nancy’s voice faded as she walked away from the door saying, “Okay, I’m heading out now. See you tonight!”

  Harry spoke again, “You two are bullies.”

“I’m trying to get ready and you won’t let me hang up!”

“For what? It’s 10 AM there! You barely got six hours of sleep after work last night, and you go back again tonight!”

“Alright, don’t you have anything better to do than memorize my work schedule and chart my sleeping habits? Like, I don’t know, perform a concert?”

“I’m off today, thank you very much!” Harry spat back. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to watch movies all day or to kidnap any more stray cats?”

“For your information, I’m going out!”

“Yeah? Where to? Another date with Brett?” Harry snorted, jokingly. After a moment of silence, he spoke again, more seriously, “Wait, really? You’re going on a date with Brett?”

“I wouldn’t call it a date…”

“Zoey!” He whined.

“What? We’re just hanging out! Andy will be there, too!”

It’s been a few weeks since Harry’s last visit, and things seemed to be going back to normal, although a few incidents worth mentioning had happened. The morning of his departure was probably the single most embarrassing moment of her life. Zoey had gotten up early. Super early. Her internal alarm clock was out of whack that day, for some reason, and so she had the pleasure of seeing the awkward morning after scene when Harry dropped Rory back off at the apartment. 

It must have been around 5 AM because it was still dark, but a faint blue was visible on the horizon. Zoey was making a cup of coffee in the dark kitchen, not wanting to turn the lights on and blind herself, when the door opened and the two stumbled in, Harry in comfortable sweats while Rory wore the same dress as the night before, crinkled now, and her long brown hair in knots. If she didn’t know Rory any better, she would have guessed she was drunk. But she knew that Rory was just clumsy when she was tired. They seemed to not notice her as he led her straight to her bedroom. But on his way out, they caught eyes and Harry gasped at the sight of her.

“Were you there when we got in?” He asked, stepping into the kitchen.

“Yes, and how very gentlemanly of you to bring my roommate back. I trust you had a good night,” she quietly joked, not wanting to wake anyone, while stirring the milk in her coffee and tapping the excess off the spoon.

Harry rolled his eyes, walking further into the dark kitchen and reaching for a mug out of the cupboard, “Yeah, it was alright.”

“Alright?” she questioned quietly, rounding the island and taking a seat on the furthest barstool. “You can’t blame poor performances on inebriation this time, H. You didn’t have a sip of alcohol last night.”

“You really are the worst,” he grinned, pouring himself a cup of coffee and silently spilling the milk in. 

It was so silent that you could barely hear Brett sneaking up behind Zoey, shirtless and only in his boxes, looping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck, moaning in his thick Australian accent, “Was wondering where you went. You were incredible last night. You up for more?”

The clank of Harry’s spoon against his mug as he stirred caught Brett’s attention and he jumped back, “Fuck!” he shouted, clutching his muscular chest, “Hey, Harry! Didn’t see you there.”

“Morning,” Harry muttered, expressionless.

“Morning,” Brett repeated, looking down to see Zoey burying her face in her hands, embarrassed. He continued, “You, uh, heading out today?”

“Yeah, just grabbing a cup of coffee before I go,” he motioned down to his mug.

Brett awkwardly chuckled, shifting on his feet, “Alright. Well, uh, safe...safe travels. I’m just gonna, uh, head back to bed.”

Harry nodded and quietly called after him, “See you later.”

Once Brett was out of sight, Zoey peeked through the cracks in her fingers at Harry who’s eyebrows were raised, waiting for her to say something. Instead, she laughed, which made the singer crack a smile.

“I trust you had a good night,” he mocked her, taking a sip of his coffee.

“It was alright,” she poked fun back.

“Well, from the sounds of it, it was way more than alright,” he said, rounding the island and sitting beside her.

“Maybe for him,” she whispered to herself.

“The kissing again?”

She furrowed her eyebrows in thought, groaning, “Yeah, I don’t know what it is. Everything else is great, I just can’t get past the horrible kissing.”

“Well have you told him?”

“I’m not a monster, I would never!” she laughed, “I just try to avoid kissing.”

He chuckled, sarcastically saying, “Nice. That’ll help.” After a moment of awkward silence he spoke again, “Can we just agree to never have a morning-after-sex run in ever again?”

“Yep, absolutely. Never again. Totally awkward,” she hurriedly agreed.

Later that day there were pictures circulating of the two of them at the beach. Fans had pretty much shut down the idea of them dating almost immediately, thankfully, but they did seem to make a connection between Zoey to Aurora and rumors began circulating about Harry and the model, which didn’t exactly help any when Harry was still trying to figure out what to do about that whole situation.

Zoey, on the other hand, had seemed to be getting better. She still missed her friend and would think of her often when she was alone but was able to enjoy her nights out now without feeling guilty. She had gone on a couple of dates with some guys she had met, though it never went anywhere. They just weren’t her type. Still, she had Brett. He had picked back up where he left off, coming over often to hang out with Zoey and her roommates.

Brett had become so close to Nancy and Rory that sometimes she’d come home from work and the three of them would be sitting on the couch or out on the balcony without Zoey knowing he would even be over that day. She didn’t mind, though. They always had fun together. Besides, every now and then after her roommates had gone to bed she would take Brett back to her room. Obviously her roommates knew something was going on between the two of them, and they knew that it wasn’t necessarily anything serious or official, but that didn’t stop them from making haughty eyes at her whenever they woke up to find that Brett was still there in the morning.

Harry clearly didn’t understand the situation with Brett, although Zoey never went into much detail about it with him. He just didn’t get the point of sleeping with someone continuously with no intention of taking it further. “You’ve been on other dates, you can clearly sleep with anyone you want. Why keep going back to Brett if you have no interest in him?” he always asked her. And it was a fair question, but she didn’t really know how to answer it. Because it was easy? Because she didn’t have to work hard for it? Because she knew him and she felt comfortable? Maybe a mix of all three? Honestly, maybe it was just because she could. Why did it matter, anyway? 

Harry continued to annoy Zoey, refusing to hang up the phone while she got ready for her ‘outing’ until there was a knock on his hotel room door. With his phone to his ear, listening to Zoey ramble on about newly learned, surprisingly interesting facts of Rome, he squinted through the peephole to see his friend and guitarist, Mitch. He opened the door for his friend and just as Mitch was about to speak, he noticed the phone against Harry’s ear and quickly shut his mouth, following the singer inside, and having a seat on the edge of his bed while Harry sat at the desk chair.

Mitch watched as Harry’s eyes widened and his smile grew, letting out a roar of a laugh, “You made that up!” The guitarist couldn’t help but smile at his friend's amusement. They caught eyes and almost as if Harry realized that Mitch was in the room, Harry cleared his throat and said, “Alright, well I’ll let you finish getting ready….Yeah, whatever. Goodluck. Bye.”

The phone went black and Harry looked up to see a smiling Mitch, “Zoey?”

Harry tried his best to conceal a grin, narrowing his eyes and placing his phone face down on the desk, “I don’t want to hear it.”

Mitch smirked, teasing him, “You sure it’s Rory you like and not Zoey?”

“Come on, man,” Harry whined, “She’s just one of my best friends, that’s all. If you met her you would know. She’s not even my type.”

“All I’m saying is I’ve seen you around Rory, and she’s a great girl, but I don’t see you smile nearly as much with her as you do when you’re talking to or about Zoey. Plus, I’ve seen her pictures. You can’t tell me that you don’t think she’s hot.”

“Of course she’s fucking hot, but that doesn’t change anything. I like Rory.”

“Yeah? Is that why you haven’t asked her out yet?”

“Oh, shut it!” Harry groaned, kicking Mitch’s legs, “She’s just a friend.”

But a little part of him worried. Mitch wasn’t the only one to tell him that. Most of his friends would comment on it whenever they caught him on the phone or talked about his little trips out to LA. They all knew of Zoey because he had mentioned her. And he realized after a few people pointed it out, that he had talked about her often. It was normal to talk about your best friends, he thought. But any time he mentioned something, they’d give him a look like he was hiding something and it started to have him second guess things. 

Did he like Zoey? He found himself wanting to talk to her every day, and that’s a pretty telltale sign of a crush. Yeah, he accidentally fantasized about her once or twice, but he did that with nearly any girl he met. Hell, he fantasized about Nancy at one point, that didn’t mean he wanted to date her. Despite what everyone thought, it IS possible to just be friends with someone of the opposite sex without wanting to sleep with them. He liked Rory. There was nothing to not like. She was sexy, smart, cultured, and made him laugh. It just wasn’t the right time to get serious, that’s all.

Zoey put on a white cropped tee, borrowed Nancy’s black denim skirt, and pulled her hair into a ponytail, deciding on a pair of converse before heading downtown to meet up with Andy and Brett for a bite to eat. They decided to sit outside on the restaurant's terrace to enjoy the beautiful warm weather. Their server, a cute, button nosed redhead, kept making eyes at Brett the whole entire time, checking in on them a little more than she probably needed to.

“If you were American you wouldn’t be getting this much attention,” Andy clicked his tongue, taking a bite of his potatoes, making Zoey laugh. Andy turned to her and waved his fork at her, “Uht uh, you not allowed to laugh. You been takin’ this fool to your bed for months now.”

It was Brett’s turn to laugh and Zoey shoved both of them, “I’m only using him for sex,” she joked.

Andy chuckled, “Period!”

“I’m not complaining,” Brett smirked, sipping his drink.

“Duh! Why would you complain when you get to see these beauties,” Andy grabbed Zoey’s chest and gave her breasts a quick squeeze.

Zoey laughed, looking at Brett, “You’re welcome.”

After another hour or so of eating, they decided to walk up and down the strip for a bit. But not before Brett got the waitress’s number. 

The three of them went in and out of little boutiques, mostly window shopping, although Andy bought himself a cute black-rimmed fedora hat when Brett shoved his phone in his back pocket and said, “Rory is going to meet up with us in a few.”

“Oh, did she get done early?” Zoey asked, checking her phone to see if she had any missed calls or texts from her. Nothing.

Brett nodded, “Yeah, she said she’s only a couple minutes out so I told her we’d meet her at the pretzel shop up here.”

Even just in the last few weeks, Rory’s career had skyrocketed. It was now to the point where she got recognized on the street and paparazzi would publish her in magazines on outings. Her DM’s were filled with famous and non-famous people, and still, she was the sweetest girl Zoey had ever met. Harry was lucky to have met her when he did. And honestly stupid for not giving her an answer yet. 

Things had been a little weird between her and Rory since Harry’s last visit, though. She couldn’t help but think that Rory was mad at her for something. Maybe it was because of the paparazzi shot of her and Harry at the beach. Or maybe her friendship with Harry annoyed her. She asked Nancy, but Nancy just shoved it off, saying Rory was probably just stressed about work and she had nothing to worry about. Still, something felt off. 

Rory had on a black bodysuit with denim shorts, a black belt, a brown blazer, and a black fedora, making sure to wear large black sunglasses. She and Brett walked side by side as Andy and Zoey walked a little further behind them, laughing at each other and joking around. They spotted an ice cream shop and called out to the other two.

“Hey! We’re going to stop for ice cream!” Andy informed them. “Want any?” Rory and Brett looked at each other and both shook their heads no. He continued, “Alright! Well, we should get going soon. We gotta change for work. Meet you there?” he asked Brett.

“Yeah, I’ll see you at work!” Brett nodded, and he and Rory walked off.

“At least she’s with Brett in case she gets noticed,” Zoey pointed out, “He’s big enough to look like a bodyguard. No one will want to mess with her.”

“Speaking of, what’s going on with her and Harry? Are they official yet, or what?”

Zoey shrugged, “Dunno.”

She was honestly so confused about them anymore. Zoey stopped bringing it up to Harry because he kept up the same sorry excuse that he always did. She didn’t even know if they were still even a thing. Sure, Aurora spoke of Harry every now and then, but it always seemed so casual and in passing. She didn’t drool over him like she used to. Maybe she was getting tired of waiting for him, which was exactly what Zoey warned him of. 

Andy shook his head, “Man, it really is all men that are dumb. That’s a damn shame if he misses out on her.”

Zoey nodded in agreement, but a part of her was always a little unsure about the prospect of them dating. I mean, Harry had pointed it out before; Aurora fit every category of the type of girl he always dated. She was a beautiful, skinny, successful model. Zoey would be lying if she said she didn’t want him to venture outside of that mold a little bit. Sure, all of their personalities were different, but maybe there was a reason that none of his relationships worked out. He needed something different.

She had to admit, it annoyed her a little bit when his fans were so quick to shut the idea down of herself and Harry dating because she wasn’t the kind of girl he dated. Not because she wanted to date him or anything. But it almost felt as if people knew that she wasn’t good enough for him because she didn’t have the typical lifestyle that the girls he usually dates did. She knew she was just as pretty and as smart and as funny as the rest of them, but because she didn’t have a social media following, there’s no way Harry would touch her. She just wanted him to prove everyone wrong. Not with her, of course. That would be absurd. But with someone. 

However, Rory was perfect. In all sense of the word. And again, he’d be stupid to let her go.

KEEP READING

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Taglist:

@thurhomish​

#Harry styles #harry styles smut #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fan fic #harry styles fic #one direction smut #one direction imagine #louis tomlinson #niall horan #zayn malik #liam payne #smut #blurb #harry styles blurb

[jalapeno-princess]

Chapter 3: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Mark Tuan X Reader

Part 3 of the “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” Series

Word Count: 10K

Genre: Angsty Angst (This chapter is actually the saddest one of the five chapters but don’t worry, it gets better soon)

Summary: Distance makes the heart grow fonder—or does it?

A/N: Hey guys! So this part sounded better in my head(it’s kind of all over the place) but so is my life hahahaha please enjoy! (Italics are past tense but I bet y’all already knew that)

“I’m sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later—“ 

The frustrated groan that fell from your lips was expected. This was the sixth time you tried to get in contact with your boyfriend tonight but all your attempts went straight to voicemail. You knew being in a long distance relationship was going to be difficult; not having Mark around anymore was driving you to the brink of insanity more and more each day. 

It didn’t help that there was a seven hour time difference between the two of you. When he would be waking up, you were in the middle of class and if you were about to go to sleep, he was getting ready to go to soccer practice. As much as you tried to make sure that Mark heading off to college wasn’t going to affect your relationship in any way, there was only so much you could do to stop yourself from worrying about what the future really held for the two of you. 

From the beginning of your relationship up until now, you and Mark experience distance on multiple occasions. However, the twenty-minute distance between your elementary school and his middle school was nothing compared to being stuck in California while he went off to study at New York University. 

You remembered the day he found out he was accepted like it was yesterday. Not only was Mark extremely talented in almost every single sport any college had to offer, but the grades he maintained all throughout his high school career was unbelievable. It was only natural for all these colleges to reach out to him; offering many different kinds of scholarships and even full rides to some of the universities Mark could only dream of being able to attend. 

When you were younger, the older boy would always fantasize about traveling to New York. He would watch all kinds of shows, documentaries and anything kind of tour program that the travel channel had to offer. At the time, you thought it was extremely adorable. Any time Mark seemed very passionate about something never failed to pull on your heartstrings. But when the many acceptance letters began coming in the mail, you wanted nothing more than to rip them all up. 

You’d be lying if you said the breathtaking grin on his face each time he opened up one of the letters didn’t make you happy yourself. You were extremely proud of Mark for being able to excel in almost every single thing that he put his heart in to. To this day, it boggled your mind at the idea of how perfect he genuinely was. There was not one letter of rejection and it wasn’t shocking to you. Mark was the kind of student athlete every school wish they could have. 

He had acceptance letters from almost every university in California and you tried to indirectly hint towards wanting him to choose from one of them. At the same time, you forced yourself to accept whatever it was that he wanted. After all, it was his life—his future. You were being selfish for wanting to get in the way of that. Unfortunately, everything you’ve been worried about since you’ve realized Mark was going away for college at the beginning of your sophomore seemed to come true. 

Fights began to occur whether you liked it or not. Deep down, you knew it was harder for him because he was thousands of miles away from his friends, his family and his favorite person—but that was his choice. His schedule and your schedule tended to collide. You were both extremely busy at the same time and it was evident that making time for one another was harder than you both thought it would be. 

He called you every single day for the first month that he got settled in and he never failed to mention just how much he hated it. The campus was huge; your parents allowed you to go up with him and his family to explore New York City together while helping him set up his dorm. It was honestly one of the best experiences in your entire life. Just like Mark, you’ve always dreamt about traveling the world and the longer you two were dating, all you ever really wanted to do was experience going on trips all around the world with him. 

For the most part of the trip, the Tuan family had an itinerary of what they wanted to do while in New York but they did give you and Mark some free time to do whatever it was that your hearts desired. You found yourself at Central Park having a cute little picnic that he planned out prior to landing in New York and he also took you to the skating rink in the middle of Times Square. Watching him fall on his ass multiple times made you come to the realization that maybe Mark wasn’t perfect at everything—but that didn’t matter. He was still flawless in your eyes; and it was one less activity for you to get jealous over. 

The days seemed to fly by to both his and your dismay and soon, you and his family were just hours away from heading back to California. You deemed yourself old enough to say that leaving Mark had to be the hardest thing you have ever done so far in your entire life. You’ve never seen him cry so much before and you didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. 

Sure, the idea of not having his family around really upset him; but the fact that he was no longer going to be able to see that breathtakingly beautiful smile of yours—nor would he get to hear your contagious in person really broke his heart. If it were up to him, he would’ve held you captive and prevented you from going on that six-hour plane ride home. His grip on your hand as you all drove over to the airport was tight while his face was hidden in the crook of your neck. 

“Fuck—I made a mistake didn’t I?” 

You gently pulled him away from your nape in order to look at him and you could’ve sworn you’ve never felt a pain in your chest like you did when you saw his eyes so swollen and red from all the tears he cried. Out of force of habit, you cupped both his cheeks and tried to give him the best fake smile you ever put on before. 

“No, you didn’t make any mistake babe. If anything, this decision had to be one of the best ones you’ve made so far. Four years will be over before you know it. Trust me, you’ll be over the moon when you finally become a successful engineer and you’ll learn that it was all worth it.”

“Will it be worth it though? Leaving you—no longer physically being with you. Not being able to kiss these pretty lips of yours, not being able to hold you as much as I want to, not getting to hold these dainty little fingers of yours that seem to fit mind so effortlessly; like they were made for me. God y/n, I’m going to miss you so fucking much. I don’t think I can do this. I can’t live without you.” 

The tears were practically burning at your eyelids. Then don’t. You wanted nothing more than for him to change his mind and those two little words were on the tip of your tongue—but it was too late. He was already registered; he had a jersey for all three sports teams he was going to be a part of. His dorm was filled with all his items—this was going to be his home for the next four years and you just had to accept it for what it was. 

“This is your future Mark—“

“You’re my future baby. All I want—all I could ever need, for the rest of my life is you y/n. I’ve known it since I was seven years old and I’ll know it when we’re eighty. Promise me, we’ll be okay. Please. I know it’ll be hard; missing you is probably the only thing really fucking me over right now. I can’t promise you that things are going to stay the same between us as much as I would hope it could, but don’t give up on me. Okay? I love you y/n, more than I could ever fathom in to words. We’re going to be okay.” 

His words from that night came back like a slap to the face. It was like they were taunting you. The two of you were definitely not okay. Although his college experience was off to a rough start, things seemed to fall in to place for your boyfriend during the second month. When football season began, he had something to do to take his mind off of how much his heart was longing to be with you. 

You felt at ease knowing that he was finally getting used to being so far away and that he was actually enjoying his college escapades. He informed you on all the new friends he was making, how practices were longer and more grueling, how the campus food was nothing compared to his mom’s cooking and how people in New York would walk like they were on steroids. 

If only you could say you were having as much of a fun time with school as he was. Junior year wasn’t all that you thought it would be—but you also blamed yourself for your disinterest in anything that didn’t regard your boyfriend. Your life revolved around Mark and it was something you never wanted to admit out loud in fear of sounding pathetic. What person in their right minds would spend the only free time they had sitting around with their phone in their hand, waiting for a call from their boyfriend? Only you apparently. 

Your family were quick to pick up on how you were no longer yourself; everyone and their mothers were well aware of how much Mark meant to you and equally aware of how much you meant to him. The two of you were magnets; where you would go, he would follow. Nobody could separate the two of you even if they tried. 

There was a gravitational pull between you and your boyfriend and everyone knew that his absence had to be the reason you were always so out of it. You might have been there physically; whether you were at school, hanging out with your friends or just sitting at dinner with your family—but mentally, you were with Mark. 

Your mom was actually the one who talked you in to either getting a job or joining a club. Seeing as how you weren’t someone who liked to interact with anybody you didn’t really know on a personal level, you decided to go with the former and found yourself applying to many different jobs. Unlike a lot of your classmates who chose to work at coffee shops or at the state library, you accepted the job at a grocery store ten minutes away from your house. 

It wasn’t the most ideal job, but you could use some extra money. The first day of work was pretty simple; it was more of an orientation to get you prepared for your next shift. Your manager went over what was expected of you as a cashier, how you were supposed to wear your uniform, where you could find items if customers were to come up and ask you for assistance and other necessary information about your responsibilities. 

Right as you were packing up your things and preparing to head home for the day, it was then you walked in to the break room and noticed someone sitting on one of the couches. That someone just so happened to be one of the biggest pains in your ass. 

“Jaebeom, what the hell are you doing here?” 

When you first were introduced to him a little over five months ago, you didn’t think he was going to get under your skin like he has been for the last few weeks. In the first week of his arrival from Korea, your teacher gave you the responsibility of showing him around the school. Not only did you not feel as if you were personable enough to be the one to actually give a campus tour, you cringed at the idea of having to be alone with him. 

At first, he attempted at small talk with you; he wanted to know what your favorite food was, how your high school experience was so far, if you were in any extracurricular activities and the kind of music you listened to. You decided to not give him the time of day and tried to limit any interactions with him specifically because you didn’t think Mark would be too fond at the idea of you befriending another guy. Especially one he wasn’t all that familiar with. 

You also felt that there was a chance Jaebeom took a liking to you. Although you never really thought too highly of yourself nor did you want to assume that he had developed feelings for you, he always seemed so eager in wanting to talk to you. In fact, you had yet to see him try and pester anyone else the way he would with you. It was if he was picking on you purposely. 

A part of you felt as if you were being extremely rude towards him; he was nothing but friendly and patient towards you and you were nothing but hostile with him. His kind personality only lasted for so long. When he realized that you had no intention on being friends with him, his considerate nature took a 360 degree turn. 

Out of nowhere, his flirtatious compliments soon turned in to insults. He also started picking on you; throwing paper airplanes in your direction to get your attention, always selecting the good supplies before giving you a chance to and even hiding your things while you were away from the table. You knew you were at fault for his behavior; your hostility towards him when he was nothing but nice to you was unfair on your part. But you knew guys like Jaebeom—you had a feeling he was like most of the guys at your school. As much as you enjoyed hanging out with Mark’s friends, they obviously only chased after girls for sex. 

Your boyfriend was the only one with genuine interest in relationships and being in love. Jaebeom didn’t seem at all different; it’s as if his aura screamed trouble and the last thing you needed was someone to meddle with your relationship in any way. The older boy looked up at you incredulously; he was wearing the uniform you were just given and he was sitting in the break room—obviously that meant he was an employee and you were well aware of that. 

It was just that you had a hard time processing; or accepting rather the fact that you were going to be working alongside someone you considered an enemy. Out of all the places—why did he have to work at the same grocery store that you just got hired at? He already gave you so much stress at school, you could only imagine it was going to be worse now that he was your coworker. You found out in that same week that he was a stock member, so you wouldn’t have to deal with him at all which you were glad to say the least. 

The less time you had to spend around him, the better. To your dismay, your contact with Mark went from a couple times a day to only once or twice a week if you were lucky. That wasn’t the worst part; the distance seemed to be getting in the way of everything. For the last three years in high school, you were good with keeping up your grades. You were also very good whenever it came to participation and answering any questions your teachers would ask you. 

You didn’t realize just how unhappy and dejected you were until you and your parents were called in to the office by your counselor to talk about your grades. Not only were you failing two classes, you were one letter grade away from being on probation. Your parents wanted to be understanding; although you never involved anyone in to your relationship, they were well aware that your behavior was the subject of Mark’s absence and his failing to call and text you. You began to feel like he no longer loved you the way that he used to—the way you still did with him. 

If he did, wouldn’t he use every minute of his free time, no matter how exhausted he was to talk with you? There were countless nights you’d stay up past midnight because it was the only time he’d be able to contact you. Here you were bending over backwards in order to even get a glimpse of him and yet—he couldn’t; or didn’t even think about doing the same for you and it sucked. It sucked because all your biggest nightmares were coming to life right before your eyes and there was nothing you could do about it. You couldn’t help but cry every time you thought about how he practically begged you to never give up on your relationship, no matter how hard it was. 

Where was the boy who claimed to love you more than life itself? The same boy who would call you up at 2 in the morning just to cry over how much he missed going to sleep with you in his arms? Where was the boy who was willing to give up his entire college career if it meant being able to see you every day and who was this stranger who couldn’t care less about how you’ve been doing? 

A part of you felt as if you wanted to confront Mark and tell him about how you felt, but you never got around to it because if he ever did get in contact with you, it was to complain about what he was suffering through or how his life was going. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to be there for him; you were so grateful that Mark trusted you with all of his worries and problems, but you missed being able to do the same with him. You didn’t want to accept it, but your boyfriend no longer cared about you and it was a hard pill to swallow. 

As irresponsible as it was for you to cry while at work, there was one day in particular that you just had enough. You stayed up the entire night before, contemplating your relationship with Mark and wondering if it was even worth fighting for anymore. Keeping up a long distance relationship was a team effort and you knew you were the only one putting in your heart and soul to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart. 

Your manager had a feeling something was off with you that day as soon as she saw you walk in with your shoulders slumped and tear stains on your cheek. When you were ringing up customers, you had zero energy and you weren’t even trying to put on a fake smile—you just did not want to be there at all. Most of your friends felt like giving you your space even if they were extremely concerned with your well being. But they didn’t feel like there was anything they could do. 

Your sister moved out of the house to live with her boyfriend a couple of months ago and both of your brothers were away at college. It was just you and your parents and even then, they would both work up until late. You felt so alone—and it wasn’t like you had Mark to run to. Everything in your life was falling apart and you were so unhappy. You loved Mark, more than you wanted to; and more than he deserved as of right now. 

There was nothing more you wanted than to fly up to New York and knock some sense in to him—you also wanted to kiss him for as long as time permitted you to. Only one hour in to your shift, your manager pulled you to the side and asked you if everything was okay. 

Honestly, you didn’t know how to respond. You were definitely not okay; nothing was okay. By the weary expression on your face, she knew something was wrong and instead of trying to force it out of you, she allowed you a fifteen-minute break just to take a little breather. 

Sure, you have been working there for quite a while; but you didn’t want to take advantage of your manager’s kindness. She already had done so much for you; whether it was switching around your schedule so you could study for your midterms or finding someone to cover your shift if you called in sick so you didn’t have to, you knew she was an employer who genuinely cared about her employees and it was something you would be forever grateful for. 

Once she told you to head to the back, you found yourself releasing the quietest whimper before you broke down in tears. You didn’t care whether or not someone were to walk in on you crying, everything was just too much for you to handle. Your chest felt tight and your throat grew sore with every sob. Why was all of this happening to you? 

Just months ago, you were living out your best life. You had your entire family to come home to every day, your grades were almost perfect, you had both your friends and Mark’s friends to make you laugh and take your mind off of how difficult school could be but most importantly, you had Mark. You were so busy wallowing in self-pity that you failed to notice that you were no longer the only person in the break room. 

You felt Jaebeom before you saw him. He glided his hand gently along your back as a way to get you to slow down your heaving. When he noticed that you leaned back in to his comforting touch, he took that as a sign to hold you even closer—and he did. Jaebeom had brought you on to his lap and began to run his fingers through your hair while rocking you back and forth. 

Although he knew he was getting in to dangerous territory; there was no way he could just let you cry by yourself. There was a chance you would be mad at him for taking advantage of you while you were in such a vulnerable state, but he didn’t care. He’d accept whatever you were to throw at him once you realized what he did to help console you. 

What you weren’t aware of, was that he did in fact have a crush on you. It may have been a suspicion on your part, but it was true—and he made it painfully obvious that he liked you. On his first day when your science teacher had him sit with you, he was captivated by your beauty. Sure, Jaebeom has seen many pretty girls in his lifetime, but something about you stood out to him and he could explain what it was because he didn’t know himself. 

However, when your teacher had you bring him around the school—take him to his classes, show him where all the important buildings and offices were; he learned that you were a no nonsense kind of person. You were also very bold and blunt; something he wasn’t used to in a girl. Maybe that’s why he liked you so much. Unlike other girls, you hardly ever batted an eye to him nor did you appear to desire his attention. It wasn’t something he was used to; Jaebeom was always well-known and well-liked by his peers. 

In the few months he’s been at your school for, he grew to be a crowd favorite. Everyone in your junior class either wanted to be him, be friends with him or date him. You however, wanted nothing to do with him and something about that made him all the more interested in you. He didn’t know why, but seeing you cry made his chest feel heavy. He had no idea why you were so upset, but he wanted to beat up whoever it was that made you cry. 

Even if it wasn’t towards him, he’d observe the way you were such a bright and bubbly person whether it was with customers, your fellow classmates or your teachers. It was a bit of a stretch to desire a friendship with you, but he at least wanted to be civil. Jaebeom wasn’t going to lie, he got a kick out of teasing you and doing things he knew would get a rise out of you, but it was his only way of really getting to interact with you and he was going to take whatever he could get. When he realized you were no longer crying, he decided it would be best to get you off of his lap. You shocked both yourself and Jaebeom when you stopped his movements and cuddled in to his chest even closer. 

“Wait—just a couple more minutes. Please?” 

You didn’t know what came over you in that moment; whether it was because you were lonely and felt as if you had no one, or because this was the first time in a long time that someone held you in such a comforting way, but you didn’t want him to let go. You couldn’t help feeling as if it was wrong; being held by another guy who wasn’t your boyfriend—you knew Mark wouldn’t be all too happy if he were to find out that you were the one who wanted to continue being held by Jaebeom, but you weren’t able to find it in yourself to care. 

The two of you stayed like that until Jaebeom told you he had to clock in, but once the two of you got up from off the ground, he pulled you against his chest and held you ever so gently. This was the first time you ever felt anything other than disgust for him and it actually felt pretty nice. He could’ve have just left you there; he could’ve allowed you to cry all by yourself and honestly he should have with the crude way you’ve been treating him, but he didn’t. You were evidently hurting and Jaebeom came to your rescue. 

From that day on, your friendship with the kind-heartened boy blossomed immensely. Instead of hiding in one of your classes or in the back of your school library for lunch, you were now meeting Jaebeom in the courtyard. It took you a while to come to accept it, but being around Jaebeom felt like a breath of fresh air. Although his presence didn’t completely take your mind off of your failing relationship and what was barely left of it, he did make you laugh with some of the corniest jokes and he also brought you some of his mom’s homemade strawberry milk. 

The longer you were friends with him, the more you learned that he was the complete opposite of what you thought he was. First, he was the biggest momma’s boy. Well—other than Mark, but being an only child, Jaebeom was always clingy and overprotective when it came to his mom. He wasn’t embarrassed to answer her calls if he were around you and one day, he brought you over to her café in order to let you try a few of her other concoctions. He was also a huge cat lover. 

He was the proud father to five different cats he all adopted from the humane society. The fact that surprised you the most though; was that he was a b-boy dancer. He didn’t give off the vibes of being passionate for dance, but at the same time you didn’t think he was capable of taking care of anyone but himself—let alone five cats. You didn’t want to believe that there was anyone else for you other than your boyfriend—nor did you think you harbored any romantic feelings for Jaebeom; but at the same time, your chest would feel empty every time he would drop you home. 

You wanted to believe that the love you had for Mark was enough to fight off the feelings you assumed were growing for the boy in question. It wasn’t until he called you outside of your house on a Saturday with a bouquet of roses in his right hand and a teddy bear in his left. You would never be able to forget how shy and flustered he looked; you never thought you’d see the day Im Jaebeom’s cheeks would be flushed with pink—it was even harder to process that you were the reason. 

“Hey—I uh—would you maybe want to—I was wondering if you and I could—Junior prom?” 

Shit. You were too focused on everything else going on in your life that you failed to remember than prom was in less than a month. Honestly; you didn’t really care about going. Mark never asked you about it and when you tried to bring it up to him one night, he told you he would be busy on that day so you ultimately decided you wouldn’t go. 

There really wasn’t any point in going anyway; you were hardly close with anyone in your year and you didn’t want to waste hundreds of dollars on a night where you’d be alone and miserable. Plus, you already got to experience both Junior and Senior prom with Mark. Both nights were too amazing to even describe. Mark never failed to compliment how beautiful he thought you looked; in fact, most of the night was spent with him staring at you in awe of your beauty. There was no way you would be able to go to prom without tearing up over how much has changed in less than a year. 

A year ago, Mark rented out a hotel room for the two of you to return back to once prom was finished and you knew exactly what his plans were for the rest of the night once he pressed you up against the elevator mirror and kissed you with all the energy he could muster. Even if you weren’t really in the mood to go, you didn’t have it in you to tell Jaebeom no. 

Knowing the kind of guy he was, you were sure it took a lot for him to build enough courage to ask you such a nerve-wrecking question. The two of you may have been friends; but that didn’t necessarily mean you would want to go with him. As soon as he saw the small smile that he was falling for faster than he’d like to admit rise upon your face while you nodded your head in agreement, he returned back an even bigger and toothier grin. He was quick to hand you the gifts and pulled you in to his warm embrace before your mind could really process what was happening. 

“I like you a lot y/n. Would you be my girlfriend?” 

Hearing those words made your head spin. At this point, you were confident that Jaebeom liked you. He was so sophisticated and chic around anyone else but to you, he would conform in to the smallest little baby. He was so soft for you and followed you around like a lost puppy. You’d be stupid if you didn’t think there was even the smallest chance that he liked you. 

Seeing him with such hopefulness in his eyes broke your heart; your relationship may not have been what it used to be, but there was no way you would ever cheat on Mark—nor did you want to give up on him just yet. You were waiting—what for, you had no idea. But there was a tiny voice in your head begging you not to give up on him just yet. You wanted to believe that one day soon, he would realize exactly what he was doing to you. He would realize how he was breaking your heart and if he didn’t hurry up and get his shit together, he would lose you completely. 

“Jaebeom, I’m so sorry—I can’t—I—I have a boyfriend.” 

When you watched his face practically drop at your confession, you wanted the ground to swallow you whole. Why didn’t you say something earlier? How could you lead him on like this? He was nothing but caring and thoughtfull; everything Jaebeom did was to make you happy. Something that only your boyfriend should be worrying about. 

You didn’t feel like you needed to tell him everything about yourself nor did you feel as though that information was all that important. Yet—you couldn’t help but feel as though there was another reason as to why you didn’t tell him. You didn’t think it was because you didn’t want him knowing you were in a relationship just in case he did have feelings for you. 

So what was the real reason? His frown was quick to disappear and you felt as if you’ve known the older boy long enough to distinguish his real smiles from the fake ones. The smile he was currently giving you did not reach his eyes. You wanted to reach out to him and give him a hug—but you would only be giving him more confusing signals.

“Jaebeom—“

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it okay? I should have expected it. There was no way someone so beautiful with such a charismatic and gracious personality was single. Please know that I won’t let my feelings for you get in the way of our friendship okay? Your boyfriend is a very lucky guy; I hope he knows that. I’ll see you on Monday, have a nice day.” 

That was the first time you ever cried over someone who wasn’t Mark. Your heart hurt from Jaebeom. It was evident that he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy; nor did he seem to be the kind of person who would buy flowers for someone but he did so—for you. Jaebeom was changing his ways in order to impress you—to be the lucky guy who got to be the one who called you his. But that position has been taken for over ten years now and there was a battle going on between your mind and your heart on whether you wanted to continue your relationship or if you wanted to take a break from it. 

That following Monday; you could tell Jaebeom was trying his best to show that the rejection wasn’t affecting him in anyway, but he was only human. You were the first girl ever that he fell head over heels for; so it was a lot for him not only to face rejection, but to hear the reason as to why. He wasn’t as talkative nor did he really show interest in anything at all. You even tried to come up with all kinds of conversations about topics you knew he was heavily interested in, but all your efforts failed. 

You broke Im Jaebeom. 

Thankfully, things didn’t stay awkward between the two of you for too long. If the only way he could have you in his life was as a friend, he was going to take it. Prom night finally arrived and you knew you should have been excited, but you couldn’t wait to get it over with. You didn’t even tell Mark that you decided to go—you didn’t think he would care anyway. It was disheartening for you to come to the realization that your relationship was causing you more anguish and pain than it was excitement and adoration. 

When did Mark grow tired of having to put effort in to your relationship? When did he realize that you were the last thing he should be worrying about? When did he stop loving you? As much as you didn’t want to think or even believe that your boyfriend fell out of love with you, there was no other explanation as to why he’s been acting the way he has towards you. Sometimes, you felt that the only reason why Mark continued to stay in the relationship was because it was convenient for him. Your relationship continued for a span of a decade. 

You were all he has known for the last ten years. You’ve seen it all; the good, the bad and the ugly. The idea of starting over with someone else, having to get used to someone else must’ve been troublesome. While you got ready for your prom, you were quick to pick up on your mom’s unusual behavior. 

She was constantly texting someone on her phone and she motioned for your dad to walk over to where she was so she could show him what was making her so animated. You wanted to think it was because she was just excited that you agreed to go to prom, but something in your gut told you there was more to her exuberant exterior. You were just getting the finishing touches of your makeup done when the doorbell rang and your mom wasted no time making her way downstairs. 

“Y/n! Jaebeom is here, and he’s looking especially handsome today!” 

Your parents were aware of your friendship with the older boy and they seemed to approve of him. They were fond of the idea that he took care of you in the way Mark always did when he was still in California. You decided to leave out the fact that he liked you just in case it caused any unnecessary drama. After you finished putting on your dress and your heels, you started heading down to the living room and you could’ve sworn your heart rate increased as soon as your eyes landed on him. 

Everyone with good eyesight could see that Jaebeom was exceptionally good-looking. You actually hated just how handsome he really was; but seeing him with his hair slicked back, wearing a suit and tie was all the more breathtaking. You didn’t think it was possible he could get any more handsome than he already was. When his eyes landed on you, his eyes widened in shock and you even saw his jaw drop a little bit. His stunned reaction was making you feel things you know you shouldn’t have been. 

“Wow y/n you look—wow—“ 

You giggled softly as you playfully pinched his cheek as a way to prevent him from seeing the effect his words were having on you. “Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself. Shall we get going?” 

He placed your corsage on your wrist and gave you his arm to hold while saying goodbye to both your parents. Jaebeom in more or less words, was the perfect gentleman. From the moment you both arrived to the hotel, he opened every single door for you, pulled out your chair for you and helped lift your dress to prevent it from dragging.

 As amazing as the night had been so far, you despised the fact that you wished it was Mark there with you instead of Jaebeom; but it was only human of you to do so. No matter how much hell he was currently putting you through, you would rather go through the ends of the earth to be with him than to go to heaven with anyone else. 

When your date excused himself to the bathroom, you decided to go on your phone until he was too come back. Right as you saw that you got a text notification, curiosity got the best of you since the only people who would get in contact with you these days were your parents, your siblings and Jaebeom. At first, you just assumed it was your sister wishing you a good time or your mom reminding you to watch your step. However, your heart both fluttered and sank when you finally opened up the message and saw who it was from.

Babe: Hey, are you free right now? Can we talk? 9:23 p.m.

You wanted to laugh hysterically. Out of all the times he could contact you, it had to be the night of your prom. A night where you were supposed to have fun and enjoy your last year and a half in high school. Was he really being serious right now? You wanted to leave his message on read; you told him that you were going to prom and you were sure he must’ve seen a couple of posts on social media from some of his friends in your grade that he still kept in touch with. But your heart was dying to hear what he had to say. 

For some reason, you thought it was something negative. Those three words never led to anything good. Was he finally feeling the distance between the two of you? Was it suffocating him as it was slowly killing you? You didn’t know what he was going to tell you, but you couldn’t let it wait.

You: Sure, let me just go outside real quick. 9:24 p.m.

You decided to send Jaebeom a quick message that you needed to make a phone call so that he didn’t worry about your sudden disappearance. Once you made your way outside, you gave yourself a few seconds to recollect your thoughts. The last time you had a conversation with him that lasted for longer than five minutes was almost two weeks ago. It was currently almost summertime, yet the temperature was in the low sixties, so you began to rub alongside your arms to keep warm. After taking in a deep breath, you pulled up his contact and dialed his number. 

“Hey baby. How are you?” 

You absentmindedly rolled your eyes at his question. What did he care? How you’ve been no longer seemed to matter to him for over four months now, so what was so different about tonight? “I’m fine. What is it that you wanted to talk about? I’m kind of busy right now.” 

You didn’t mean to come off so coldly, but you were just so frustrated with the entire situation and you were anticipating something negative to fall from his lips. 

“Aw shit—I forgot. Tonight is your junior prom right? Damnit—if it’s any consolation baby, you look so fucking beautiful.” 

You were confused at his compliment; when did he get a chance to see you? Since you weren’t all too excited for tonight, you didn’t really post anything—nor did you feel the need to send him any pictures. Maybe your mom sent him photos of you or something. Right as you were about to respond, there were two hands that lightly covered your eyes. 

You knew exactly who it was without even having to guess; these were the hands you’ve held for more than half of your life. The same hands that would wipe away any tears that would fall from your eyelids. Mark. He spun you around and immediately placed a searing kiss upon your lips before you could even say or do anything. 

“Hi baby, missed me?” Seeing him for the first time in almost five months should have been more thrilling, yet when you looked at him, you felt nothing. No butterflies, no sparks, no increasing of your heart rate—nothing. When you looked at him, you didn’t see the love of your life. 

The boy in front of you held no familiarity at all. You wanted to react; you wanted to cry—to wrap your arms around him and kiss him all around his handsome face. You wanted to go in to detail about how much you’ve missed him and how these last five months without him were extremely difficult—but nothing came out. You could tell by his furrowed brows and the way he was biting his lip that he wasn’t expecting such an emotionless reaction from you. 

“What are you doing here Mark?” 

He frowned. Mark had a feeling he was being such an asshole towards you for the last few months. He knew the distance between the two of you was all his fault. It was killing him as much as it was with you. What you didn’t know, was that he took on a job in order to make some money for a trip back home—to see you. To say he was tired was an understatement. 

If he wasn’t at school, he was at work. If he wasn’t at work, he was at practice and the only time he had to rest was right before bed. There was no excuse for not reaching out to you more often; honestly all he wanted to do was to call you and see what you were up to. That’s why all your calls were so short. He didn’t care what the two of you talked about or how long the conversation lasted, he just wanted to hear your voice. It was what kept him going. 

No matter how hard college was for him, he knew he was going to get to see you again soon. If only he knew what his absence was going to do to your relationship; then he would’ve just asked his parents to pay for his flight home but it was a pride thing. Mark hated having to depend on people. He was independent from the day he could walk. Your reaction was the complete opposite of what he was expecting, but it wasn’t exactly unexpected. 

“I wanted to surprise you. Listen, I can explain why I haven’t been so involved in our relationship these days and I’m really sorry y/n. I’ve been such a jerk and you really don’t deserve that but—“

“I think we need to take a break.” 

You couldn’t even look at him; you were sure the two hours of makeup that the makeup artist work so hard on would get ruined if you were to see his reaction. It took you a long time to come to that decision; not once in your ten years of knowing him and loving him for would you have ever thought you would want to take a break from him. You never wanted to be away from Mark—ever. But he was never around anyway and waiting on him only interfered with what was going on in your life. It was also taking a huge toll on your mental health and you no longer wanted to give him that power anymore. 

“Y/n, you don’t mean that. Baby you’re just mad and you have every right to be. But please, hear me out—“ You let out a scoff of disbelief. 

“Hear you out? All I ever seem to do is hear you out Mark. Everything is always about you! Go check your messages. It’s always me—I’m always the one reaching out to you. I’m always the one initiating the calls, I’m the one staying up till the wee hours of the morning and going to school so exhausted just so I can talk to you. I—I can’t help but feel as though you fell out of love with me. Don’t get me wrong, your happiness, your health and your well-being is all I care about. But you don’t seem to give two shits about me or anything that goes on in my life Mark. I got a new job—I tried to tell you, but I never get any word in before you have to leave for school or for practice. I’m also on probation—my grades are shit right now and if I don’t get my act together, they’re going to hold me back an entire year and guess what Mark—it’s all your fault. I’m tired Mark. I can’t keep doing this anymore.”

“So that’s it? You’re going to give up all these years—these wonderful, amazing and unfathomably perfect years together because you’re being stubborn and refuse to hear me out? You’re giving up on us so easily y/n! You claimed that I fell out of love with you—you and I both know I am still so madly in love with you and I’m always going to be in love with you Damnit! What happened to all our plans huh? What happened to forever? You and I are soulmates y/n—did you forget that?”

“Of course I didn’t Mark—but don’t you dare play the victim in this. Our relationship is no longer what it used to be. I tried so hard—so fucking hard to get it back to what it used to be but each and every single one of my efforts went to shit because you obviously don’t think anything is wrong. I’m dying Mark. This relationship is going to be the death of me. I’m unhappy Mark. I haven’t been happy in such a long time. I’ve missed you so fucking much—“

“I’m here now baby. Fuck y/n I’m so fucking sorry baby. Please—please, please—let me fix this. I can fix this. I’m not letting you go this easy—fuck I’m never letting you go y/n. Get it through that thick head of yours. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.” 

You hesitantly brought your hand up to cup his cheek and released a gentle breath of relief when you felt him lean in to your palm. You grazed his bottom lip with your thumb before leaving a chaste kiss against his lips. Your heart was begging you to hear him out—stupid heart. Such a stupid—stupid heart. 

In his eyes, you could see the little boy who added an extra red piece in the slot when you weren’t looking so that you could win connect four against him. The same boy who gave you his shoes to wear as he walked with just socks on because he saw how much pain your heels caused you at his junior prom. There was not a doubt in your mind that Mark loved you even if you kept trying to convince yourself that he didn’t. 

The love he had for you was still there. It just wasn’t as fierce or as strong as it used to be. You wanted to deepen the kiss; you loved kissing Mark. There was nothing you missed more than having his pretty lips meld perfectly with yours—but you knew if you were to kiss him, your entire speech about going on a break was going to be for nothing. You rested your head against his chest before placing a gentle kiss right below his jaw. 

“I love you Mark. I truly believe I was made for loving you and I’m always going to love you. I have every intention to getting married to you, starting a family with you and spending the rest of my life with you. But right now, I think we need some time apart in order to find ourselves again. I lost myself loving you Mark—I gave you everything and you took it all without hesitance until there was nothing left. I need to learn to live without you Mark. I’m not giving up on us—I’m just doing what I feel is going to bring us back to each other again. You are my person Mark Tuan and I’m yours.” 

The two of you stood there for what felt like hours. His grips were tight on your waist and you began to tear up as soon as his chest began to heave against yours. You knew he was crying and you weren’t actually expecting any kind of emotion out of him; you were still so shocked to hear him grow angry with your decision. When you looked up at him and saw his eyes were now bloodshot red and filled with tears; you were ultimately regretting your decision. You wiped a tears away with your fingers and pecked his nose lovingly. 

“Don’t cry baby. In due time, we’ll be fine.” 

You were selfish; you were the one pushing him away, yet you still wanted as much time with Mark as you possibly could get. You didn’t know just how long it would take for you to heal, so you wanted to cherish this moment while you still could. Unfortunately, your little reunion with Mark was interrupted and you had a bad feeling that things were right about to go downhill. 

“Hey y/n, they’re going to start announcing the king and queen did you want to—oh—uh—hey man, you must be Mark. Nice to meet you.” 

Mark’s grip on your waist tightened as his jaw clenched; yeah—this wasn’t going to end well. Mark was the definition of a jealous boyfriend. One time, he almost ended up twisting BamBam’s arm when the younger boy made a joke about how you were in the bedroom. He was extremely protective and territorial over you—but since he’s been absent, he had yet to hear about who this guy was that seemed to know who he was. 

His eyes landed on Jaebeom’s tie and how it matched your dress perfectly. It only made him wonder—who exactly was this guy to you and why were you at the prom with him?

“Jaebeom, do you think you could go inside? I’ll be right there.”

He looked at your worried expression then noticed how both of Mark’s fists were balled at his sides. Jaebeom wasn’t stupid; he wasn’t all that bright when it came to his studies, but he could tell that you weren’t as happy as you played yourself off to be. Seeing how tense you and Mark both were, he couldn’t help but feel that your boyfriend was the reason. 

As much as he wanted to call Mark out for making you cry so much these days, it wasn’t his place to do so. He was just your friend and if he wanted it to stay that way, he knew it was best to keep his mouth shut. You relaxed when you saw him nod in agreement before walking back inside of the ballroom. 

“Mark, I think it’s time for me to head back—“

“Him. Is he the reason why you’re leaving me? Did you fall in love with him? Did you cheat on me y/n? Did you get lonely while I was away—working my fucking ass off at a job I hate in order to save enough money so I could come and see you?—“

“Mark, stop. You know it’s not like that—“

“Needed another dick to keep you satisfied while I was away? Is that what it is? What—did he say all these nice things about you to get you to fall for him? What is it y/n? What’s so good about him huh? What does he have that I’m lacking—“

“ENOUGH! Don’t you dare accuse me of cheating on you. You and I both know I would never EVER do such a fucking thing. My heart—this pathetic heart and what’s left of it, my mind, my spirit, my body—you own it all. How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want anyone else but you for you to get it through your fucking head? Stop trying to play the victim Mark! You’re at fault here! Accept it! Jaebeom is just a friend—he was here for me when I had nobody. I had no friends—my siblings are all out of the house—my parents are gone all the time and my boyfriend only calls me when he wants to—when it’s convenient for him. Jaebeom is a genuine friend Mark. You should be happy that I had him to keep me sane. Instead of wondering who he is to me, you should be focused on what you are to me. Good night Mark.” 

Jaebeom tried his best to cheer you up in any way possible, but he could tell by your body language alone that you just wanted to go home. He didn’t hear what happened after he left, but the curiosity was eating away at him. However, you already looked so distraught—he didn’t want to add on to it. You felt bad for Jaebeom—this was just as much his prom night as much as it was yours and now you ruined it for the both of you. What you could use was a three-month long nap. When Jaebeom dropped you home, he placed a soft kiss on your cheek before wiping a tear from your face that you didn’t even know fell. 

“I don’t know what happened earlier and I don’t expect you to tell me. But just know I’ll be ready to listen whenever you’re ready to talk.” 

You didn’t know what it is that you did to deserve such an amazing friend like Jaebeom—if someone were to put you through what you’ve been putting him through since the day you met him, you would’ve dropped that person completely. But here he was—so understanding—so willing to give up and sacrifice anything for your happiness. You made a mental note to make it up to him once you were mentally ready to do anything. 

Your parents were shocked beyond words to see you coming back alone—they actually didn’t expect you to come home at all knowing that Mark was going to surprise you. They actually conspired with Mark to go and surprise you at the hotel because they’ve noticed how broken you’ve been for the last few months and they were hoping that seeing him again would get you in a better mood. Your mom was about to approach you, but it was evident that you just wanted to go to sleep. 

Only three days in to your break with Mark did you realize you may have made a brief lapse of judgement. Sure, it was as if nothing has changed. You were already used to not hearing from him; but now that you knew the two of you currently were not a couple, it made things all the more difficult. Minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days and days felt like months. Waking up felt like a chore; you missed him like crazy. 

Even if you only heard from him on his time, it was better than not hearing from him at all. Exactly one month after that heartbreaking night at your prom, you found yourself on a plane to New York. Once school was out for the summer, you found yourself at the grocery store almost every single day in order to make enough money to afford a round-trip plane ticket to see Mark with the hopes of mending your broken relationship. In this last month, you came to the realization that you were willing to have Mark in your life even if it was only once or twice a week; it was better than not having him at all. 

“A105, A106, A107—A108. Here goes nothing.” 

You were afraid that in the last month, Mark could have realized that maybe this break should be a permanent decision. He hasn’t tried to get in touch with you once since your prom night nor did he try to visit you once while he was still in California—but then again, you couldn’t blame him. He was giving you the space you asked for; now, you were hoping and praying he was going to open the door and welcome you with open arms. You knocked a few times and it felt as though you were about to throw up your heart. When you had yet to hear a response, you reached forward to knock again. When the door finally opened, the person behind it wasn’t who you were hoping it would be.

“Y/n?”

#got7 imagines #mark tuan #mark tuan imagines #got7 #got7 mark

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

O Tannenbaum

Hi everyone!!! I have a Christmas DuckTales fic for everybody. My OC Sabrina Duck has been one of my favorite original characters that I have come up with. I have been a fan of Ludwig Von Drake since I was really little. He’s always been my favorite member of the Duck family other than Donald. I love kooky Ludwig Von Drake and this has been one of my favorite fluff fics. I wish all of you a happy, healthy and safe Christmas!! 

I put the last bow on the present that I had gotten for Louie yesterday with Mrs. Beckley, the new gaming system that he had wanted. I had spent months working hard in order to be able to afford it and I knew that my brother was just going to love it. Christmastime was a rare occasion for my family. It was the one time that we ever got spoiled. Uncle Donald spent most of the year other than our birthdays saving up for it. As I tied the green ribbon around the green paper I wrote Louie’s name across it.

“Lass? What are you still doing up?” I heard my uncle’s voice coming from the front of the room and he sat down on the couch.

“I’m wrapping Louie’s present. You might have noticed that he’s a bit of a present hound. If I get anything for him every year he finds it.” I joked and my uncle just chuckled at me as I pushed the present underneath the tree.

“Figured that you’d be fast asleep by now. You have to make another trip tomorrow don’t you?” I nodded my head watching the snow outside with a small smile. Another great thing about the holidays was spending them with uncle Ludwig. I had been doing it since I was really little. I would open presents on the boat and then go off to his mansion.

“It’s one of my favorite parts of the holidays. I always spend New Years Eve with him as well but that was before…” I felt the carpet beneath my fingers smiling softly looking outside. I still had two more of Louie’s presents that I wanted to wrap before I eventually went to bed and now I had company.

“Before what lass?” I laughed at him grabbing the green wrapping paper. We always had color coordinated our wrapping paper so that we would know who had what.

“Well before we moved here with you Uncle Scrooge. I might not do it this year.” I carefully measured out the wrapping paper so that I could make it perfect. Uncle Ludwig had helped teach me how to do it to look more professional last year.

“I don’t want you to go changing your schedule around for me Brina. That’s not what the holidays are for. I know that you’ve been spending less time with Ludwig since you moved in here with me. You really only see him for school now and that isn’t how it used to be right?” I nodded my head faintly, my headband slipping a little bit. 

“I would spend every other weekend with him just for fun. That was when he taught me how to play violin and piano. Back when we lived on the boat things were really cramped and that was my time to get away. Now that I live here it’s a lot less crowded so I’m able to be alone a lot more.” I mentioned to my uncle and he just smiled softly at me as I put a little ribbon across one of Louie’s games.

“He can take this counsel on adventures with us; it's one of the reasons why he wanted it so badly.” Uncle Scrooge just smiled softly at me and patted the seat next to him on the couch where he was sitting.

“I know that this year has been… challenging for you. You got your mom back and I know how happy that made you but at the same time you haven’t seen one of your favorite people as much as you used to. It’s been an adjustment having people living in my mansion that weren’t me. I never thought that Donald would actually come back, nor that he would bring you four rascals with him.” I smiled softly at my uncle taking the wrapping paper and carefully wrapping the last of my brother’s presents.

“At first it was… really hard for me. I spent most of my life not having a mom and uncle Donald never talked about her. I figured that it would be too difficult for him to. I’m the only one of the four of us that was the general translator. Louie joked for years that I should write them a dictionary so that they would understand him too. Having a mom now it’s great. It took me probably the longest to get used to it. But then again I’m me and a bit of an oddball.” My uncle chuckled at me adjusting my headband.

“That’s Dewey talking not you lass, I thought that you two were getting along better?” I sighed running a hand through my fur with a small smile.

“We are, thanks to you mostly. To him I’ll probably always be the kooky sister he just doesn’t call me that much around other people. I don’t really mind that nickname so much because it reminds me of uncle Ludwig.” Uncle Scrooge just sighed a little bit and I could tell that what I was saying did hurt him in some way.

“Sometimes the kookiest people are the best people like you and your uncle. There’s a difference between that and being actually crazy. I mean remember your cousin's Fethery?” I shuddered at the memory violently. That had not been a fun adventure; it had been a lot of me and Dewey bickering.

“Don’t remind me of that please, that was not a fun time for me. I missed out a school session that day because of that wild goose chase. Uncle Donald was right, he's kind of coo coo bananas.” I joked and we shared a good laugh about the antics of our wacky family. It didn’t mean that I loved them any less.

“I’m still sorry that you missed your schooling for that day. Not like you need it though you are a little genius.” I rolled my eyes with a small smile tucking my webbed feet into my body with a small smile.

“I am not a genius, just somebody that was taught really well. I didn’t do well in regular school. It was too crowded and I couldn’t think straight during classes. It wasn’t until I was sat down and taught by uncle Ludwig that I became actually intelligent. I think I just needed to be taught in a different way from most people.” Uncle Scrooge smiled softly at me putting his arm around my shoulders.

“I’ve got something for you lass…” He handed me a wrapped package and I was about to protest.

“But uncle Scrooge-” He shook his head at me with a mischievous smile on his face before he handed me the package.

“I think you’re really going to like it. I wanted to get you something special that I knew you would enjoy. I also wanted to give you it before your pesky brother’s got up.” I unwrapped it carefully and saw that he had gotten me a new violin. My old one was on the boat and that had wound up being very bad for me. When the boat blew up due to Magica De Spell uncle Ludwig had promised that he would buy me another one but I kept it at his house.

“You didn’t need to get me a new violin…” I protested and my uncle just laughed at me heartily shaking his head.

“Yes I did. I know that your other uncle already got you one but you don’t have it here. I’ve never even heard you play in front of me. Ludwig has sent me videos of you playing once I told the old loon you were officially staying here with me he just wouldn’t stop.” I laughed a little bit at the fact that my teacher and mentor had been sending videos of my performances.

“I’m sorry about him, we’re just really super close that’s all.” I apologized and uncle Scrooge just laughed a little bit as I got a better look at my new instrument.

“It’s beautiful… thank you so much for this uncle Scrooge!!” I thanked him, scrambling to give him a hug and he just smiled softly at me. 

“It’s no trouble lass, I wanted to find ye something that you would love. And don’t apologize for the antics of my brother in-law. I’ve been related to him for far too long so I’m used to it.” I smiled softly at my uncle looking down at my violin and seeing that it was one in the morning.

“I should really be getting to bed. It’s late or rather early in the morning. Sometimes it’s like I’m the parent. I’m used to staying up past an ungodly hour to wrap Louie’s presents on Christmas Eve.” I told him as I yawned and sat down for a second just looking at the beautiful tree in front of me.

“Go and get a few hours of sleep lass you look like you are just about dead on your feet right now.”  I nodded my head rubbing my eyes and I went back upstairs and curled up in a little ball against my sheets grabbing my favorite stuffed octopus.

“Did you just come to bed sis?” I heard Huey ask me from the bunk below mine and I looked down leaning my head into his bunk.

“Yes and if you were a good twin you would go right to sleep yourself Huebert.” I threatened lovingly and he just rolled his eyes at me.

“Look who's talking, it's one in the morning Brina. Then again I’m too excited to sleep.” I laughed a little bit at my brother’s surprisingly childish nature.

“Just close your eyes and try to get some sleep Huey. I know that we’ve got a lot of presents out there but that’s no reason to not sleep. Uncle Scrooge got me a home violin. He just gave it to me.” I told him taking off my holly headband with a small smile on my face. I leaned my head back against my pillows and instantly fell asleep. Despite everything when I heard Dewey singing about Christmas only six hours later I still felt well rested.

“It’s Christmas, gotta open up some presents, it’s Christmas gonna spend some time with my family, it’s Christmaaaasss!!” I sighed holding back the urge to jokingly throw my pillow at my younger brother.

“Dewey I love you, I really do but please put a sock in it…” Huey muttered from underneath my bed and I laughed genuinely at him. I put back on my headband from yesterday grabbing my Christmas clothes that I would wear over to uncle Ludwig’s after breakfast and presents. It had Nutcrackers on it and I had gotten it last year on Christmas Eve from uncle Donald.

“Alright I’m coming, Louie get up it’s Christmas that means… present time!!” I waved my hands around animatedly and he shot up out of bed trying to race us to the tree. 

“Oh no you don’t, come on Huey we can’t let the greedy Gus get to our presents first we have to beat him.” I told my brother as he put on his shirt and cap and ran after me for the presents. I skidded to a halt seeing Webby looking around our tree. I looked around the tree for the purple wrapped paper that I had put there a few days ago.

“Merry Christmas Webby!! I hope you like it, I wasn’t really sure what to do for you but you’re one of my best friends.” I gave her the sweater that I had made for her that I hoped that she would like. 

“This is beautiful… You didn’t need to do this for me Sabrina.” I shook my head with a small smile gesturing to my dress.

“Obviously I’m a huge fan of the holidays. I have always been since I was small so everybody gets a present from me that’s how the holiday works.” I reminded her and she held up her purple let it snow sweater that I made for her.

“But you hand knitted this didn’t you? I didn’t even know that you could do that!!” I rubbed the back of my neck a little bit.

“Another teaching of uncle Ludwig’s and it’s one of my favorite hobbies. I made my ugly sweater that I was wearing yesterday. It’s just a little hobby that I have I knit usually before bed. It calms down my anxiety putting on soft music and just feeling the tension of the day go away.” My mom came into the room and I ran to give her a hug. She easily hugged me back, tying the bow a little bit better in the back of my dress. 

“Merry Christmas baby.” I smiled softly at her as she pushed my headband back just a little bit. I showed her the violin case that uncle Scrooge had given to me yesterday.

“Oh wow, this is beautiful!! Did you get this for her uncle Scrooge?” He nodded his head, still looking half asleep but happy.

“I did the lass was out here until one in the morning wrapping presents for her brothers.” My mom turned to me with a quirked up eyebrow.

“In my defense Louie is the literal present hound. He always tries to open his presents before Christmas so I have to wrap his the night before.” My mom looked over at Louie who was shaking one of the green presents and I gestured with my hand in a see motion. 

“Alright sweetheart I see your point. Why don’t you give him a present then.” I nodded my head, grabbing one of Uncle Donald’s presents for him.

“Merry Christmas everyone!!” Uncle Donald came through the room and I took one of the mugs of hot chocolate that he was carrying. 

“Merry Christmas uncle Donald!!” I gave my uncle a tight hug with a bright smile on my face. Webby came back wearing her new sweater over her usual colored shirt.

“Merry Christmas Sabrina, which of the boys wants to go first?” I gestured to Louie who had already started to open his already.

“Ugh clothes!!” He made an exaggerated face and I laughed a little bit and I sat down next to him on the floor.

“Come on Lou at least be nice.” I told him and he smiled softly at me handing me his present for me and I shook it gently.

“Don’t turn into me Brina just open your presents.” He said jokingly and I laughed a little bit at him opening the present and finding that he had gotten me the illustrated version of my favorite book series.

“Lou why did you get this for me? You always make fun of me for reading them…” He gently nudged my shoulder with a laugh.

“I make fun of you because you are my big sister and that’s my job.You’re my best friend in the entire world and I love you that’s why I tease you.” I rolled my eyes at my “younger” brother for his gentle teasing and I flipped through the book seeing the beautiful drawings of dragons.

“Hey!! I loved that book when I was your age!!” My mom encouraged me and I looked up at her with a small sad smile on my face.

“Uncle Scrooge already told me about that. Do you want to look at it mom?” I asked her and she nodded her head enthusiastically. 

“Look at this one Sabrina!!” My mom enthusiastically showed me and I took the book from her looking at the sketch that she was showing to me.

“That’s so awesome wow!!” I looked at the beauty of this book and hugged my younger brother tightly.

“Thank you Lou…” I thanked my little brother and he hugged me tightly back with a small smile before lightly pushing me away.

“Alright that’s enough of the snuggles, get away from me clingy.” I rolled my eyes at him and I went against the other side of the couch.

“Fine, you don’t want my love, that's fine with me…” I protested and I took my book from my mom as she handed it back to me.

“Hey Hue I got something for you!!” Our mom got up and handed my brother his wrapped red present. My brother opened it passionately and found that it was a Sr Woodchuck Guidebook for his new set of badges he was going to earn. He had graduated back in June of this year and I knew that he was excited about the new year for that. 

“This one is yours from me Sabrina!!” My mom told me handing me a book wrapped up in pink paper and I took off the corner of it.

“Learning German, a workbook. Thank you mom… this.. This means a lot to me. I’ve wanted to learn the language for so long but have been too scared to ask uncle Ludwig. I want to surprise him.” I teared up looking at my mom. This present was more than just a workbook. It felt like she was accepting that part of my life. I hugged her tightly and she dried my tears with a small smile on her face.

“Don’t cry sweetie. I know what he means to you and I know that you are going to change the world due to his influence on your life.” I nodded my head with a bright smile on my face finding my present for Dewey.

“Merry Christmas Turbo.” I joked and he just laughed at me while muttering still bitter about that. He opened his present and saw that I had drawn a framed sketch of Darkwing Duck and had Drake sign it the last time that we were in St. Canard.

“Thanks Brina this is… beautiful.” He hugged me tightly and I just smiled softly at my younger brother. We really had come a long way since we had moved here earlier this year. 

“You’re welcome Dew. I know that we haven’t always gotten along and that I can be a bit of an oddball.” He gently shoved at my shoulder showing the rest of the family what I had made for him. 

“I know that I’ve been a jerk to you and I’m sorry for that. You’re not a kook in training and I’m sorry that I made you feel that way sis.” I smiled softly at him lightly kicking his foot with mine. I went through the pile finding a box for Uncle Donald and I gave it to my ultimate favorite uncle.

“You didn’t need to get me anything Brina…” I shook my head with a small smile bouncing on the heels of my webbed feet.

“I knew that but it’s Christmas so just take your present. I have one for Launchpad too but he’s not here…” Our local pilot had gone to St. Conard to help Drake officially adopt one of my newer friends Gosalyn.

“He’ll get your present tomorrow when he comes back. Do you have anything for me?” My mom asked me jokingly and I nodded my head with a small smile going underneath the tree and found the spaceship wrapping paper that I had used. 

“It might be a bit cheesy…” I played with my fingers a little bit and she opened the present showing off a blue sweater that said World’s Number One Adventurer\Mom.

“Oh sweetheart, I just love it. This is the best gift that I could have ever gotten and you know why?” I shook my head and she hugged me tightly to her. I hugged her back. It had taken me so long to become adjusted to having a mom in my life. 

“Because it came from you and from your beautiful heart. You have the heart of an adventurer and the stubbornness of one. You got that from me sorry about that.” I smiled softly at her adjusting the skirt of my dress.

“Huey, I’ve got your present right here!!” I handed my brother the wrapped gift that I hoped that he would like. Out of my brothers he was the hardest one to either shop or make things for. Until I got this idea this year, an organized planner using the Junior Woodchuck sash.

“You… when did you do this?” I laughed a little bit, putting up a finger to my lips and sitting down next to my brother.

“A gift giver never tells her secrets.” I teased and he hugged me tightly. I was just happy that he liked his present. I had finally gotten him to genuinely like something that I had made for him.

“Thanks Brina this is amazing!! I can plan accordingly now!!” He cheered and I couldn’t help but smile softly at him as I waved for uncle Donald to open his.

“To my favorite uncle, wishing you another year filled with adventure and stories to tell.” He read the card that I had put on the present. I always left my biggest ones for last. Those all had cards with meaningful words that I typed out.

“Oh Sabrina this is beautiful…” He held up the sweater that I had knitted from last year’s family Christmas photo. I knew that to my uncle nothing was more important than the happiness of my brothers and I.

“You’re not out of the woods yet uncle Scrooge!! This one is yours.” I found his maroon colored wrapping paper that I had put underneath the tree. 

“To the duck who brought our family together and helped me come out of my shyness.” I smiled softly at the tears in his eyes as he opened his present and saw the gold sweater that I had made for him with silver number one dimes on it. “Thank you lass this the sweetest thing that anybody has ever done for me.” He thanked me and I grinned over at the man that had helped me out so much.

“Alright, I think that the gift giver now needs to open one of her presents again before we all start crying.” Louie snarked from over at his spot and I found one of the magenta colored ones testing the weight of it.

“That one is from me.” Uncle Donald told me and I saw the card on the side of the wrapped up box.

“To Sabrina, my niece who collectively is the most stubborn and independent young duck that I have ever met aside from her own mother. You have grown so much out of your shell this last year able to make friends of your own aside from Louie and Huey. Hoping that this new year brings you all the joy and near heart attacks that it has given me.” I opened the present seeing that it was a picture of me when I was a little duckling. I was in the arms of my uncle Ludwig and he was showing me a map that had all the colors of the rainbow.

“I kept that photograph on the boat in a secret spot knowing that one day I would give it to you. You have always been so captivated by the world around you. It’s something that made you unique Sabrina. I am so proud of everything that you have become during these last few months.” I felt tears fall down my cheeks as I took a picture of it and sent it to my uncle. He instantly got back to me.

“What did he say?” Dewey asked me and I let out a watery laugh drying my tears as I smiled down at the picture. 

“He said that I was always his most captive audience. I love that so much oh my god thank you uncle Donald this is so special to me.” I thanked him and he opened his arms to me while I put the picture next to me.

“Don’t thank me my darling, you’ve always been the best of my children.” I stuck my tongue out at my brothers. I got down and found my other present, this one from Dewey. It had a card on it that just said from Dewey on it but it was a new stuffed animal. My favorite sweet treat had been strawberry milkshakes for as long as I could remember. He had gotten me a stuffed strawberry milkshake.

“Aww it’s adorable thank you Dewey!!” I thanked him smiling softly when he just gave me a thumbs up. He also pushed me a French fry set as well.

“No problem alright, alright who’s the big green one for…” He hummed jokingly as he pushed the gaming console and games towards my green brother.

“It’s for me but this wasn’t here yesterday so it must be from Brina…” He trailed off finding the card and smiling softly.

“To the best friend and brother that a duck could have ever wished for. I hope that this brings you as much joy as you bring me everyday.” I smiled softly at my brother as he opened the gift and gaped at me.

“You didn’t?!” I nodded my head as he tore off the wrapping paper finding that I had indeed gotten him just what he wanted.

“You really are the best sibling in the entire world!!” He cheered and I pushed the two video games toward him that he tore open already booting up his new console. 

“Well we won’t hear anymore out of him today.” I joked and he just lightly kicked his webbed foot in my general direction. Huey handed me a neatly wrapped up pink box. 

“It’s not as heartfelt as you gave me but this is for you Brina.” I smiled softly at my brother as I unwrapped his present seeing that it was a scrapbook from over the years.

“I got most of them from the house, read the inscription.” He told me and I flipped to the front page.

“To Sabrina, a sister that taught me that being brave doesn’t always mean that you go looking for trouble but that you know just the right way to get out of it properly. You are the bravest person I know who is always ten steps ahead of whatever enemy she’s facing. Through learning with uncle Ludwig he has taught you to solve problems not just by looking at things straight but also sideways and backwards. Your brother, Huey.” I teared up reading the emotional inscription that he had obviously put a lot of time and effort into. When I flipped through the pages and saw all the different pictures that he had put in there including a replica in the frame that he must have copied. 

“Thank you Huebert this is everything that I could have ever wanted.” I thanked my brother and he just hugged me tightly to him.

“Don’t thank me sis you’ve worked hard enough. Not just on this Christmas but every single one of them before. Even when we were scraping for cash you still made the right gifts that would make everybody have a happy holiday.” I smiled brightly at my brother seeing one last present under the tree with magenta paper. I picked it up and saw that it was from Gosalyn.

“Oh from your girlfriend?” I shoved my Louie hard in the arm and he tilted but thankfully caught himself. 

“She is NOT my girlfriend.” I protested and he stuck his tongue out at me as I grabbed the card at the front of the package.

“Maybe not yet but she will be one of these days.” Dewey commented from the sidelines and Webby came back from the kitchen carrying waffles for everybody.

“Who’s who’s girlfriend?” Huey rolled his eyes coming to sit next to me and he grabbed the last of his presents from uncle Scrooge.

“On three…” I counted down with my brother keeping the card to read a bit later in the car on the way to uncle Ludwig’s. I opened the box to see another stuffed animal, a Build A Bear this time around this one a cute little reindeer that was white and sparkly.

“Ooo that’s really pretty!!” My mom exclaimed from over on the couch and I nodded my head hugging it tightly. 

“Watch her start sleeping with that instead of the jellyfish.” Louie shot back at me and I flushed a bright pink.

“You-why-you-” Dewey laughed heartily at my brother and I looked around for any other presents for somebody.

“Why lass, what’s there up in the tree?” Uncle Scrooge asked me and I looked around seeing that there was an envelope stuck in the tree.

“It’s tickets to St. Conard for New Years!!” I cheered and Dewey looked over my shoulder with a small smile.

“New Years was never really a huge deal for us anyways, we were way more Christmas fans.” I noticed that there was one more present with magenta paper and Gosalyn’s tag on it and I opened it seeing that it was a stuffed fox.

“She got you two?!” My mom asked me and I nodded my head with a bright smile on my face instantly becoming attached to the fox.

“They have those buy one get another for half off deals all the time if you get them without clothes. You’ve never really liked the clothes huh sis?” Louie asked me and I nodded my head standing up and hugging my uncle tightly.

“Thank you for the tickets to St. Conard uncle Scrooge.” I thanked him and he hugged me back with a small smile.

“No need to thank me lass. Why don’t you do me one favor though instead of a thank you?” I laughed a little bit grabbing my new violin and maneuvering my way around wrapping paper strewn across the floor that Huey was picking up. 

“Anybody have any specific request?” I asked and Dewey looked over at me with a small smile as he played with his new electric train that uncle Donald had gotten for him on the floor.

“What’s that Christmas song that uncle Ludwig really loves? O something?” I smiled softly putting the violin on my left shoulder. I gripped it with my left hand and started to play the beautiful Christmas song with my right hand. This had always been a favorite of mine to play. It just simply made me really happy.

“That was beautiful Sabrina sweetheart!!” My mom encouraged me and I did a mock bow in front of my family.

“That was the first time that she’s ever played for the rest of us…” Louie mentioned looking up at me in sheer awe.

“That’s true!! We used to have to sneak peeks of what she was playing because she was too shy to have an audience. You really have grown a lot this year sis.” Huey reminded me and I looked down at my tights.

“We should be getting you to uncle Ludwig’s, he’ll bring you back here. He’s coming to family dinner this year.” My mom told me and my eyes widened turning to my uncle Scrooge who sighed and adjusted his spectacles.

“I thought that it was high time that I stopped avoiding family. I always had a soft spot for my brother in-law anyways as kooky as he can be.” I cheered with a bright smile on my face. I grabbed my boots and coat, lacing them up.

“Are you ready to go Sabrina?” Uncle Donald asked me and I laughed a little bit at him as I turned around in a small circle.

“I’m ready uncle Donald!!” I cheered and he opened the front door for me and I got my new stuffed animal. I hugged my new fox and grabbed my reindeer as well to take them with me.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a little while family!!” He opened the front door for me and I sat down on my side of the front door. Uncle Donald drove me the short distance to my third uncle’s house and I instantly saw him get up excitedly and open the door for me.

“Mein starchen, happy Christmas!!” I hugged him tightly and he picked me up and hugged me back.

“Happy Christmas uncle Ludwig!!” Uncle Donald handed me the present that I had made for my teacher.

“I’ll see you in a few hours okay Sabrina?” I nodded my head while uncle Donald kissed my forehead driving away.

“Come along starchen it’s cold out here you’ll catch ze sick.” I laughed a little bit at my kooky uncle. I grabbed my stuffed animals and the sweater that I knitted for him.

“Did you get those stuffies for ze holiday?” I nodded my head and I softly felt the ear of my fox. He brought me into his study where I saw three carefully wrapped presents sitting on my work desk.

“My best friend sent them to me!! I told you about Gosalyn. She just got adopted by her foster dad a few days ago.” My uncle smiled softly at me as he scooted his chair over so that he could sit next to me.

“Well that was very sweet of her to do something like that. Did you send her something?” I nodded my head, getting out my phone and showing him the Darkwing Duck ugly sweater that I made for her.

“I knitted her this, I’ve gotten a lot better at knitting words over the last couple of Christmases.” My uncle looked at the picture in awe that I had made something of that caliber.

“Do you remember why I taught you knitting?” I shook my head and he just smiled at me taking one of my wings in his.

“When I was a little duckling much like you, I was an anxious little ball of trouble. My granny sat me down and taught me knitting. At ze time when I taught it to you I thought that it might help. I was never very good at it myself. I would always get too frustrated but I am so happy that you’ve stuck with it. Even though it was hard sometimes.” I smiled lovingly at my uncle who had taken me under his wing and made me his protege.

“I think of it as playing the violin. Yes it’s difficult and sometimes I want to throw the needle and thread across the room while telling it to simply do what I want it to. But then I just remember that you can’t rush knitting. It taught me to be more patient because sometimes even when you really want something done a specific way and it just won’t work you need to work through it.” I told him and I handed him his present that he ripped off like he was my age which caused me to laugh at him. He held it up with two wings and tears in his eyes. He had taught me about checklists when I was really little and I had combined that with my recent passion of knitting ugly sweaters.

“Starchen this is so sweet of you, I-I’m at a loss for words…” I laughed at my uncle unbuttoning my coat and draping it over the sides of my chair and taking off my boots.

“There’s a first time for everything.” I teased and he made the oh hush you motion with his hands. He turned the sweater around so that I could see the dark blue sweater that I made. It had a little checklist that I thought of for a design of four boxes, multiple PHD’s, incredible inventor, kooky uncle and best teacher. Every one of them I had double checked along with the percentages of 25. 

“I’m going to wear this, I’ll be right back. Don’t you dare open up those presents while I’m gone.” He told me and I put my hands up in complete surrender as my phone buzzed and I saw the familiar picture of my best friend. Gos: I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!! Thanks Brina it’s super cute and just my style. She thanked me and I smiled softly at the selfie that she had taken of her wearing the Darkwing Duck sweater that I had knitted for her using black fabric. 

Me: Hey no problem!! I had a great time making it besides it’s kind of something that I make all the time. I prefer giving presents to getting them during the holidays (thanks for the Fox by the way I am naming him Ferdinand and the reindeer is Rosanna.) I’m at my uncle Ludwig’s right now. Did your dad tell you that I was coming for New Years?? My uncle came back with a bright smile showing me that his sweater fit perfectly.

“I love this starchen. I’m not taking it off for the next twenty four hours.” He told me and I smiled softly at my educator.

“I’m just really happy that you love it so much. I wasn’t really sure if you would or not but knowing that you do it just… makes me really happy.” My uncle ruffled my hair softly and sat down next to me.

“Did you already name these new stuffies of yours?” I nodded my head gesturing with my wing to Ferdinand and Rosanna.

“This one is Ferdinand and this one is Rosanna. Gos sent me a selfie in her new ugly Christmas sweater that I made for her.” I showed him a picture of what my best friend looked like and she messaged me back.

Gos: He did tell me!! I’m really excited since you didn’t really stay long enough to do some of the touristy stuff with me. We’ll have to do that when you come up for New Years. I thought that you spent New Years with your uncle though? The one that is your teacher?

“You should spend some time with yer friend, we spent a lot of free time together this year too. I knew when Scrooge offered you to stay in his mansion that I would see you less. I expected it so it’s fine that you want to go to visit your friend for ze holiday.” I smiled softly at my uncle giving him a tight hug. His sweater was soft and I instantly melted into the hug.

“Are you sure uncle?” He nodded his head and dried the tears that were there while I smiled softly at him.

“Look at us eh, couple of crying fools.” I laughed at my uncle taking Ferdinand and looking at him. 

“Are you going to knit them some clothes Starchen?” I nodded my head with a small smile. I couldn’t stand the actual Build A Bear clothes; they were far too itchy and scratchy. 

“Probably knit them some ugly sweaters of their own!! I’ll think of something my hands are a little tired from all the knitting that I had to do these last four months.” I went back to my own chair and he just smiled softly at me.

“Well starchen pick a present any present.” He told me like it was a gameshow and I went for the smallest one first. I unwrapped it seeing that it was a new necklace. I opened it and saw that it was a family portrait with my brothers and I last Christmas.

“Oh this is super cute!! Look at Louie’s little hat!!” I laughed a little bit at the memory remembering how much he hated wearing it. We had all worn Santa hats last year in our colors for Christmas photos. This year would have everybody there including Miss Daisy.

“So my nephew is bringing his girlfriend?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face. I was just happy that uncle Donald had found somebody who would love him for who he was. 

“He is actually!! It’s the first Christmas that he is bringing Miss Daisy with him. I just hope that everything goes alright between them. I love uncle Donald but sometimes things just don’t go his way. Daisy is really nice though she liked my knitting the last time that I saw her I was wearing my GIR sweater.” My uncle laughed softly at my interactions as I tried to tie my necklace around my neck.

“Let me help you with that starchen  before you hurt yourself.” He warned half heartedly and I saw the snow start outside. It was beautiful and I always loved watching the snow. It was something that I had treasured ever since I was really little.

“I was really surprised when Scrooge invited me over for Christmas dinner. It has been a long time since we’ve last truly talked.” I smiled sympathetically at the man that had taught me everything I knew.

“I think I’ve helped him just as much as he has helped me. He got me a new violin for home even though you already replaced my old one and kept it here. I performed in front of my brothers…” My uncle gazed at me a little bit surprised since I had always been terrified of performing in front of somebody that wasn’t him.

“And how did that go?” He asked me carefully and I smiled softly nodding my head looking down at my dress. 

“It went really well surprisingly. I didn’t get nervous really at all. It’s not that I don’t love playing, it's that I get performance anxiety when everybody is looking at me expectantly. Like they expect me to do something and when I don’t… I fear that I’ll get rejected.” My uncle put his arm around my shoulders with a small smile on his face.

“But that won’t happen. They are your family and whether or not you get along with all of your brothers is up for debate. You are working hard to repair your relationship with Dewbert and I know that has been hard for you at times. But you’ve always worked through it and I am so proud of you for that. What did you play for them?” I smiled softly looking down at my necklace and seeing the goofy photo that we had all taken together.

“O Tannenbaum at Dewey's request. I was surprised when that was the song that he told me he wanted to hear. He didn’t know the full name but the point was that he remembered that I would always play it this time of year on the boat because it’s your favorite.” My uncle smiled softly at me adjusting my headband.

“Your siblings love you, I know that especially Louie does. Without you he wouldn’t ever do anything most likely but ze fact that you are there he does everything for you.” I smiled a little bit thinking about my younger quadruplet.

“I got him the gaming system that he really wanted. The cool thing is that it’s portable so he can take it on adventures!! He always whines about having nothing to do during the actual adventuring and getting to the place. So I thought that he would appreciate that. He got me the illustrated version of Earthsea. I’ll show it to you when you come back to the mansion.” I told him and he leaned his head on top of mine.

“I look forward to it starchen. How was Christmas with your mother? Was it everything that you wanted it to be?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face thinking about the German workbook that she had gotten for me. 

“It really was!! I made her a sweater that said number one adventurer\mom on it.” He smiled softly at me and I reached for the medium sized present seeing that it was a chemistry set of my very own. I had only ever used his before during school sessions but I loved science and especially chemistry because that was the kind of thing that you could catalogue. He had taught me all the names for the elements through song.

“Thank you uncle Ludwig!! I love it so much!!” I thanked him and he just chuckled a little bit at me as I started to take it out of the box. I looked at all the different mechanics and put them together to make the full set. 

“That’s my niece, using that big brain of hers to put that together in… three minutes flat!!” He encouraged me and I laughed a little bit at him as I looked at all the different elements that were in front of me.

“Well I had a pretty fantastic teacher!!” I reminded him and he just laughed a little bit at me that typical ho, ho, ho laugh that I had grown up loving.

“You were an even better student, you just needed to be taught in an unconventional way. It makes sense since I am a highly unconventional type of person.” He reasoned and I smiled softly at him looking at all the chemicals that I had. I couldn’t wait to start experimenting with this once I got back home.

“I just needed a song about all the chemicals on the table set to a song. I love music and you used that to your advantage.” I added onto that and put all the items back into the box looking at the last one.

“What could it possibly be, I don’t really know…” I gently nudged him while laughing at his typical antics. I took off the wrapping paper and saw that he had gotten me another box. I opened it hearing a soft meow.

“You didn’t….” He nodded his head and I took out the cat carefully seeing that it was this tiny ball of fur.

“I already cleared it with Scrooge and you can keep ze little guy. What do you want to name him?” I hummed in thought before an idea occurred to me while petting his soft little head.

“Jiji? Do you like that name?” The kitten meowed in affirmation and approval and my heart simply melted at the cuteness.

“I say that he does like it quite a lot!! That’s all the presents that I have for you this year. I wanted to get you another stuffed animal but figured that you had plenty of those from the others. So I wanted to get you a real life friend.” I smiled softly at my caring uncle giving him a tight hug. 

“Thank you uncle Ludwig this is the best thing that could have ever given to me.” I thanked him and he just shot me back his signature kooky smile. “There is no need to thank me starchen. Simply seeing you happy is the thing that I wish for every year.” He reminded me and I smiled softly at my new kitten that I had just gotten as I petted his head and scratched behind his ears and he purred back at me.

“Well that’s funny because every year I wish you the exact same thing so it must come true.” I joked and he just smiled at me. Jiji came to sit in my lap and I felt him paw around until he found a comfortable spot.

“How is he already so attached to me?” I asked him and he gestured to the box which I sniffed and smelt the lemon and citrus shampoo that I used.

“I made it into a perfume if you want the rest of it, it's right here. I wanted him to get adjusted to the way that you smelled. I thought that if I made a perfume with that scent it would work and it would be a success!!” He cheered and I laughed a little bit at him hearing the soft purrs of Jiji against my lap.

“I love him uncle Ludwig thank you so much, he’s so cute…” I thanked him again, kissing his forehead and he pressed closer to me.

“There is no need to thank me Sabrina. I knew that he would make you happy. If he gets unattached maybe we could build a snowman in ze front yard?” I nodded my head enthusiastically since that was one of my favorite yearly traditions. 

“Yes!! Of course we’re doing that again, I love building the yearly snowman.” I cheered and I smiled softly taking a picture of Jiji and sending it to the family group chat.

Me: Uncle Ludwig got me a kitten!! Welcome to the family Jiji!! I got a series of gasping emojis from Huey along with a response that he would go out and get a cat tree for him to put in our room. I saw Jiji get up off of my lap and go wander around the mansion for a little while.

“Come on starchen it’ll get dark before you know it and I promised Scrooge that we would be back by four.” My uncle reminded me offering a wing up and I buttoned up my coat and put my shoes back on.

“Here take this scarf and hat. I don’t want you to get sick out there.” He reminded me lovingly and I took the items from him that were magenta colored. I tied up my snow boots and looked out at all the snow.

“Alright time to ze best snowman on ze block!!” He encouraged me and I nodded my head helping him to roll out the base. I got a really mischievous idea when I rolled up a ball of snow and launched it at him. I couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on my uncle’s face. He just looked so dejected and almost hurt for a moment before I saw the determination.

“Oh so it’s going to be like that is it young lady?” He asked with his hands on his hips arming himself with another snowball as I sprinted around his front yard.

“Gotta find a place to hide…” I muttered to myself and I found the big tree on his side yard running over there dodging snowballs.

“So that’s your strategy, you strike first and zen you run away?” I snickered to myself finding another snowball and gagging where his voice was coming from before throwing it.

“Oof!!!” I heard a sputter and a fall over and I couldn’t help but cackle with laughter at the fact that I had made a perfect bullseye shot.

“I grew up with three brothers, uncle Ludwig, in snowball your best bet is to find a place to hide and then build your ammunition. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” I apologized and offered him a hand up only for him to find the first pile of snow and lightly shove me into it. 

“Hey!!” I laughed a little bit when I hit the ground since the snow was not that deep and watched as his eyes widened. 

“Are you okay starchen?! Oh noes what was I thinking, I should have checked that snow pile.” He quickly offered me a hand up and I dusted off the back of my dress a little bit. I was fine. It did hurt a little bit but I was tougher than I looked.

“I’m fine uncle Ludwig, it did hurt but I’ll survive. It was more of a surprised hey than anything else.” I hugged him tightly and I felt him hug me back tentatively. I sighed a little bit since I knew that I had worried my teacher.

“Why don’t we go and finish the snowman? I promise no more snowball fights.” I held my hands up in surrender and he just smiled softly at me.

“You’re so strong starchen, I’m still so sorry that I did that. I wasn’t thinking.” I smiled softly at my uncle kissing his cheek gently.

“I’m okay uncle, come on this snowman isn’t going to build himself!! Ooo that would be a fun invention to try out an automatic snowman builder.” I thought to myself and my uncle did his bright laugh that I always moved hearing.

“It would save us ze trouble of having to freeze our tookies off every year!!” He added onto my thought and I laughed a little bit knowing that next year he just might have made the Von Drake automatic snowman builder. Whether or not invention would work was entirely up to chance. 

“Exactly!! But for now a snowman needs to be built. And a snow niece.” I reminded him helping him to build the perfect snowman while I got to work on my snow niece next to him. I went inside and grabbed the carrots and coal that we used every year and decorated them.

“Ze perfect snowmen!! Great job starchen we still have a while before we need to go. Come along let’s get you thawed out.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me back inside. He lit his fireplace and brought out his latest invention.

“I call it the Von Drake automatic homemade hot chocolate maker!! Have you ever wanted a cup of freshly made hot chocolate and not wanted to use ze sometimes nasty but all together fine instant things from the microwave but the homemade was too much of a hassle for you?” I nodded my head because he did have a good point.

“Well no longer because this will make you a cup of hot chocolate that is homemade faster than the ones from ze microwave!! All I have to do is press this button.” He showed me putting a mug under the machine as I watched it fill with homemade hot chocolate.

“Don’t forget ze marshmallows!!” He encouraged me and I took a handful taking a picture of the hot drink and sending it to Gosalyn. 

Me: My uncle made a machine that makes automatic hot chocolate that is homemade!! Let’s see how it tastes and I’ll give you the verdict. I took a gentle sip and my eyes widened. He was right!! This did taste like homemade hot chocolate and it was made with no fuss, no mess that usually went along with the dessert.

“And what is ze verdict?” I put my mug down and gave him two thumbs up with a bright smile on my face.

“It’s amazing!! It really is, it tastes just like homemade hot cocoa but it’s without having to dirty up the big pot in order to do so.” He cheered with his laugh and filled up a mug for himself grabbing the marshmallows.

“It does work!! This could be my next big project, it would definitely bring in ze big bucks.” He thought to himself and I laughed at him.

“You don’t have to in fact I’d prefer if you didn’t. Have it be our little thing.” I clinked my mug with his and I sent my best friend starry eyed thumbs up emojis.

“It also just makes warm milk for ze kitties…” I looked down and saw Jiji come into the room and uncle Ludwig got a small bowl.

“But uncle Ludwig most cats are lactose intolerant!!” I reminded him and he held up one finger before showing me that he had made it with a cat milk option.

“And only be given it in moderation. Don’t worry, starchen I did my research.” Jiji carefully lapped at the milk that was offered to him and my heart warmed.

“Thank you uncle Ludwig again for him, he's so beautiful.” I thanked my uncle and he just laughed at me sitting down next to me on the couch.

“Tis no problem I wanted to bring you ze happy feels this holiday.” I smiled softly at him and the warmth of the drink brought the cold out of my body.

“Just spending the holiday with you makes me happy uncle. You didn’t need to do anything in particular to make it that way. But building the snowman is always my favorite part of the holiday.” I mentioned to him and I snuggled into his side as Jiji hopped up next to me on the couch curling up behind me.

“It’s my favorite too starchen. It makes me so grateful that you are so kind hearted to your kooky uncle.” I rolled my eyes at my uncle settling against him. I had never liked when he called himself kooky since even though he never really cared about the insult it still made me want to yell at anybody who had ever called him that.

“I don’t think that it’s right that people make fun of you uncle Ludwig…” I trailed off and he just smiled softly at me.

“They just don’t really understand me, tis them that is kooky not me. Besides I’m sorry too. I think that from hanging around me so much you got the gene too.” He apologized and my heart broke for my teacher.

“That’s not true!! I mean it did make me a bit… odd but I love the way that I am. You taught me that there is no straight answer or right way to answer anything. That there is always another way to analyze a problem. That methodology helped me to become a better problem solving adventurer because I knew that whatever bind I got into that there was always another way. It also helps that I got my optimistic attitude from you.” I joked and my uncle laughed a little bit at me.

“You always know just what to say to make me feel better starchen. I was only happy to help you. I knew that your schooling wasn’t helping you and that you needed a more eccentric way of getting the message across.” I smiled softly at my uncle drinking from my cup of now cooling but still warm enough to soothe the coldness in body hot chocolate.

“I made another machine for you to keep at ze mansion so that you can have it whenever you want to.” I cheered since that would make the colder mornings a lot easier for me to handle. I preferred his more grounded in reality inventions. There was one time when I was younger that he made an apple chopper that went haywire that scared me from eating apples for a year.

“Thank you for that uncle Ludwig. Really this is one of the best inventions that you have ever thought up. What made you change from being overselies with them to being more grounded in reality?” He sighed adjusting his spectacles with a small remembering smile on his face. Jiji pressed his body a little bit closer to my leg.

“It was you Sabrina. You made me rethink the way that I was inventing things after the apple slicer incident. I was only trying to make you happy. In doing that you had your first ever sensory overload. It was my fault. I know that you told me it wasn’t but I often felt bad about it. That’s when I knew. I had to stop the crazy gizmos and gadgets and make things that were more practical for people. Things that would save people time or bring people together like this one.” He mentioned to me and I smiled softly at my favorite teacher. He had done so much for me and I wanted to bring just a little bit more happiness to him.

“I love you uncle Ludwig…” I didn’t really know what to say to that whole speech. It would probably take me a bit more time to process but when he kissed my forehead gently I knew that he knew what I was trying to say. “Finish your cocoa and then we should probably get on our way starchen.” He reminded me and I drank the last of my mug and he took it over to his sink to wash later.

“Did you get your stuffies?” I nodded my head gesturing to where they were in my arms and Jiji walked beside me.

“He’s an outdoor and indoor cat but I would keep him indoors if I was you. Don’t want him running away now.” I nodded my head as Jiji looked down at the snow and then up at me as if to ask me mommy what is this sorcery.

“I got you little one.” My uncle picked him up and Jiji looked around at the atmosphere around him curiously. He stuck his pink tongue out at the snowflakes and caught one on his tongue.

“Good boy Jiji, we’re almost in the car.” My uncle had made his first car into an electric one a few years ago to try and save the environment.

“Alright starchen off to Scroogie’s house!!” He cheered and I cheered along with him as Jiji climbed into my lap to watch the world go by out the window. It was a beautiful snowy Christmas night and I loved the look of everything right now. Before I knew it we were at the mansion and I found my brothers playing outside with new sleds.

“Hey!!” Dewey cheered and I rushed to hug my younger brother and Jiji looked around outside the car.

“Hey Dew, what’s going on?” I asked him and he smiled showing me the igloos that they had made while I was gone.

“We all got new wooden sleds and we were giving them a test run. Also you missed a snowball fight but we’ll make up for it tomorrow. Is that him?” I nodded my head with an apprehensive smile but Huey was already rushing towards our uncle.

“Hi I’m Huey, it’s great to finally meet her teacher.” My brother introduced himself to our inventing uncle who just gave his laugh.

“I already knew which one you were actually Huey. She described all three of you to me since she was very little. Where is Louie?” My brother gestured to the inside where I assumed my brother had been most of the day. 

“Playing his new system he got cold about an hour ago which makes sense. I’m Dewey. You probably hate me and I’m sorry for all the stuff that she probably has already told you. I can kinda be a jerk to her sometimes.” My blue brother apologized and our uncle got down on his level.

“I won’t say that your words didn’t hurt me because seeing starchen cry is like a dagger in me. I do however understand that siblings can’t always get along. I commend you for being honest and upfront about your flaws. That is a very hard thing to say. I think ze ego gets in ze way of that.” My uncle reasoned and he took my wing in his wrapping it around his. He looked at the igloos that my brothers had built in awe.

“We build them every year as our team's secret bases for snowball fights. It’s every man for himself so it usually results in all out warfare. Is Miss Daisy already here?” Huey nodded his head with a bright smile on his face.

“She got here just a little bit before you did!! Is this Jiji? I got a place for you to live little buddy.” My brother bent to pick him up and Jiji gently sniffed his hand before deeming Huey trustworthy.

“So he really does say the as ze?” I nodded my head with a laugh a little bit as Huey was already asking him how he came up with the chemistry song.

“I love his laugh too, when he does it you’ll know it’s the ho, ho, ho laugh.” I did a bastardized interpretation of it.

“You are also both hand talkers I see.” I nodded my head since I had inherited that from spending all that time around him.

“Oh yeah he taught me a lot with the hand movements. Starchen is German for star by the way.” I mentioned off handedly to my brother and he just listened to me while I talked about the person who meant more to me than anything else in the world.

“Louie loves his game by the way he was playing it for hours after you left. He didn’t even come outside at first when me and Huey were. Uncle Scrooge had to make me drag him.” I laughed a little bit at the idea of Huey kicking and screaming just wanting to play his game. Huey opened the heavy door to the mansion and I heard Louie in the living room with our mom.

“Die monsters!! Die!!” I cackled with laughter hearing my mom’s overly enthusiastic video gaming style. 

“Ludwig…” I heard uncle Scrooge from the front hall as he walked briskly down the hallway. I couldn’t help but smile since I could see how happy he was. 

“Scroogie…” My uncle’s hugged tightly and I couldn’t help but want to commit this moment to memory.

“I’ve missed you, you old mad scientist you.” I laughed at uncle Scrooge and I knew how important this reunion must have been for both of them.

“I missed you too, my brother in-law. Not really doing much of ze mad scientist thing these days. I’m more moved onto teacher and and mentor now. Look what mien starchen made me!!” He exclaimed, showing him the ugly sweater and I saw that Scrooge was wearing his as well. My family was really the best family in the whole wide world. It was at times like Christmas in particular that reminded me of that. 

[chimswae]

BTS Caretaker CH4

Summary: She may think she has Bangtan Sonyeondan wrapped around her fingers. She may think it is easy to love the members equally without hurting any soul. She may think the boys wont fall head over heels for her. She assumes it is okay to show a little love and affection towards the boys, what if she gets it all wrong? What if it only brings more complication to her already complicated life? Can she survive their charms? Will she be able to resist them? What if they just wont let her go?

- Pairing: BTS x Oc ( Yoongi x OC, Jungkook x OC)

- Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst, Romance, Idol!au

- Word Count: 2,833

- Author Note: I almost forgotten to update bcs too caught up with work :<

Previous | Next

Chapter 4

One month passed so fast, just like the blink of an eye.

Seul was getting used leaving early in the morning as early as six in the morning to Bangtan’s dorm to do the cleaning unless Manager Sejin notified her mother in advance of the changes in their schedule (which rarely happened). No one knew the fact that Seul filled in her mother’s position temporarily. It was her mother decision to keep it to themselves considering it was almost impossible to meet the boys and their managers there.

According to Mrs Hwang, as long as they didn’t get caught then there’s nothing to be worried. All these years, she had been doing her job silently like she never existed there. As much as the boys were eager to meet their caretaker but it was the lines which had been set by their company.

Rule 1: The caretaker is not allowed to have any form of contact with the boys except the managers.

Rule 2: The caretaker is only allowed to perform his/her job without the presence of the boys in the dorm.

Rule 3: The caretaker is prohibited to take any photos of their belongings and to only perform the task as listed in the contract that includes general cleaning and preparing meals for lunch or dinner is optional.

The job might appear exclusive to people out there but it was not as fun as it sounds. First, you had to clean after their mess, when we said mess, it was a REAL MESS. The boys were too busy and had little time in hand to clean their own rooms and clothes. As a result, Seul will be welcomed by the sight of their laundries every single day without failed.

Stack of laundries! We were not talking about three pair of jeans. It was just way too many. She wondered just how frequent they got changed in a day.

On the bright side, she could ease her mother’s burden as Mrs Hwang finally went to her treatment consistently without skipping any in a week. She just wished her mother to get better soon even though she had to work twice as hard than before.

With the help of Wongeun, she was able to keep up with her job at the bubble tea shop. Hence, since they opened around 8 in the morning every day, Seul could come later than her actual shift until she completed her work babysitting caretaking the boys.

“So, how’s life” annoying Ji Hoon sat up as he caught fatigue Seul walked pass him.

“Stop joking around Ji Hoon” she frowned, throwing her small body on the couch accompanied with a deep grunt. Working extras hard made her grumpier than usual. She was drained as hell today. Although, her body got used to perform two jobs in a day yet today was extremely extra in comparison to previous days.

His lips twitched upwards “Nuna, seriously you look super dead. What happen at work today?” he eyes rounded with a hint of concern.

“It was that time of the month when the shop is flooded with humans. Nothing special” Seul muttered with her eyes close. She needed a long bubble bath to get rid of this mental and physical exhaustion before she went gaga.

“Okay. How about Bangtan hyungs?”

“What is with them? And stop calling them hyungs, you don’t even know them” Seul sounded annoy just by hearing Bangtan Sonyeondan names. The names itself drained the last energy in her.

Hoon crossed his arm, turning his body to face Seul “They are my idols and yes I know them!” he responded feeling defensive.

“Ji Hoon being a fan doesn’t make you their friend, stop being delusional. You are seriously worse than their fangirls or those sasaeng in front of their building” Seul cringed at the thought of those sasaeng fans which she encountered every day before she entered the expensive building.

“Oh my god there are fans camp in front of the building!” he gasped dramatically as his breath hitched in process.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Seul shot her brother a dirty look “It is normal. They are celebrities like you never heard such cases on the internet” deep down inside she pitied them. How did they overcome those problems without getting annoyed or crazy over it? Guess they lived up to their names.

“Nuna… have you by any chance met any of them? Accidentally?”

“Are you crazy? Wasn’t it obvious I would only attend my job when they are not around”

“I know but isn’t there any slight chance in certain situation that you accidentally bump into them?” his brows perked up with so much interest. Hoon had always show his interest in her job as BTS Caretaker lately, and for an odd reason he would wait for her to comeback home every day just to get him updated.

Odd human being. Was every Bangtan fans acted like Ji Hoon or was it just him?

Seul inhaled deeply “That ‘certain situation’ will never happen. Ji Hoon I am not in the mood to entertain your weird antic, let’s be quiet and let me rest alright? Good night” with that she arose from her feet making way to her bedroom to get a good rest leaving sulky Hoon behind. Oh hell, it was not like she owed him anything? He was being dramatic as always.

Here goes another tiring day.

 --------------

“Don’t you find it is weird that Ahjumma’s food taste odd lately?” the youngest of the group murmured under his breath while he eyed the food in front of him. Not that he wanted to sound ungrateful yet all these years they grew immune to Mrs Hwang’s cooking. The slight change of taste in her cooking was noticeable to everyone.

Jin nodded along showing his agreement “Yeah, it doesn’t taste as good as before I wonder if she is too busy to cook for us and decide to buy takeaways instead?” he swallowed the last piece of meat in his mouth in delight.

“But there is no evident saying she bought it from outside and just enjoy the food, stop complaining. She works hard for us too” said the leader with serious tone.  It was his job to educate his members how to be grateful in any situation especially when it came to appreciate the fact that had food to eat in a day.

“I am just expressing my concern not that I am being bratty” Jungkook’s lips pursed into a pout.

Namjoon eyed the younger boy sternly “And I am just reminding you to always be thankful” he gave Jungkook a light pat showing off his dimple. He did not mean to cause any harm however it was their way of showing love to each other by being truthful in any occasion.

“Are you guys ready? Manager hyung is here” Jimin blinked fixing the strap of his sling bag with a small pout. It came out of habit whenever he was concentrating in doing something, his lips would twitch unconsciously into a small pout. The cause of death to every Armys outside.

Jin stood up gathering the empty plates placing it inside the sink “How’s Yoongi?” Hoseok appeared cheerfully while snatching the past piece of toast from Jungkook earning a dirty glare from the younger boy.

“Hyung is sleeping. I don’t want to wake him up, or he will insist to come with us” Hoseok shrugged patting Jungkook’s head like a small puppy signalling him to get ready now.

Jungkook tilted his head “Will hyung be alright alone?” his brows creased into a frown showing off his concern for Yoongi. They were supposed to perform in an award show today but few day ago Yoongi got hurt. He was recommended to not participate in any activities that can cause irritation to injured spot. Nonetheless, Bangtan will be performing like they usually do without Yoongi this time.

Guilt took over Yoongi even though he was supposed to get proper rest but his members managed to convince him to shrug the thoughts off.  There were too many things in his mind like how it was unfair for others to work while he stayed at home mopping around. It was unnecessary really, being Yoongi it was not easy to wash off the uneasy feelings in him. He tends to overthink.

“He is a man don’t worry. Yoongi will be fine” Jin exclaimed with a genuine smile ending Jungkook’s worries right way. The boys were ready to leave the house an hour later than they usually did today since they would head straight to the venue for rehearsal. Jungkook, Hoseok and Namjoon left their dorms followed by Jin afterwards whilst Jimin was patiently waiting for Taehyung to show up.

Grinding his teeth together, he stroked his hair getting impatient “KIM TAEHYUNG! WE ARE LATE!” he hollered.

“Five minutes!” Taehyung flustered upon hearing Jimin’s chirpy voice calling out for him. He made sure to clean Yoongi’s injury spot one last time before finishing up the steps with a satisfied smile. “Hyung, we are leaving now! Take care” Yoongi grumbled sleepily with a slight nod and murmuring inaudible ‘thank you’.

Taehyung strutted to the main door with a foolish smile that never left his face, he ducked his head a little “Sorry, I was changing hyung’s bandage. LET’S GO!” he swung his arm around Jimin’s neck, dragging the smaller guy out before he could reply him.

 ----------------

Dragging her body lazily, Seul sighed at the sight of familiar building few metres from where she stood. She noticed black van parked in front of the building blocking the path for people like her to move and some more there she saw familiar faces a.k.a Bangtan’s fangirls there squealing like a freaking dolphin. Tilting her head at the direction, she decided to use the side entrance to enter the building. It was a hassle to deal with such crowd this early and she didn’t like that.

“Seokjin oppa!” a girl squirmed in sheer happiness. One may think this supposed to be an innocent act as a fan, but Seul knew it better. The girl was not a fan but a mental sasaeng who invaded their personal space.  Fans should not act to the extent of camping outside their dorms. Don’t they have a life?

Seul attention was fixed on a guy in his baggy sweater looking drained yet he managed to crack a soft smile. It was interesting to watch something like this live and to be honest she had no idea who this Seokjin person was though she heard from her mother that Bangtan is not the only celebrities staying there. It must be another group that she was not aware of. Scratch that.

Burying herself under her grey hoodies, she pushed herself behind the fangirls making her ways inside. Seul looked into the bright lobby as she scanned the card against a scanner, and the door beeped open. To her utter astonishment, her body almost crashed against two figures who happened to be running like little kids to her direction.

“Shit” Seul cussed under her breath harshly and about to pick up the card that she dropped earlier due to the impact. Before she could bend down to pick it up, the guy with blonde locks was quick to apologize and handed the card with a deep bow.

“I am sorry…Here is your card” Seul made no effort to look at their faces as she kept her head lower taking the card from him with a deep sigh. It was still early for her to get worked up over this matter.

Taehyung looked as guilty as charged “Sorry we are in rush. Jims lets go manager hyung is calling for us!” with those last statement those two dashed past her, pushing the door open with their hip, ran for their life towards the black vehicle.

“Manager hyung? Jims?” she made her way along the hallway while humming to it cluelessly.

 ----------

Seul’s nose scrunched up, inhaling the remaining trail of manly scent from every corner of the room. Guess they just left. She mentally cursed herself for liking the smell. It was creepy but she had a thing for man’s cologne. According to Seul, the best smell usually came from a man’s cologne.

Slipping off her grey hoodie leaving Seul in her cream shirt, she placed it neatly on the couch along with her belongings before attending the first task of the day, laundries. Thankfully, it was not as bad as the day before so she could manage it in one hour. Until then, she had to do the dishes and cleaning off other mess that the boys did. She plugged her earphones and went through her playlist while doing her job diligently without slacking off. Every nook and cranny of this place needs to be clean.

Seul started off with the dishes, the living room and preparing side dishes for the boys to devour once they returned from their schedule. She talked about the significance of preparing food for the boys when they could have eaten outside or ordered for delivery. To her distaste, her mother insisted of preparing meals for them even though the chances of the food being dumped into the dumpster at the end of the day was high. She indicated it was the noble thing to do as their caretaker. It was not all about cleaning but as well as keeping them fed with love and affection. This seriously made her puke rainbows.

The noise came from the living room had awoken the sleeping Yoongi inside the room, now he was genuinely annoyed. He thought everyone had left for good, this called for a fight. Yoongi sat up with exaggerated reluctance, he rose and stretched, not to forget it was followed by curses after curses. He shoved the duvet off from his body and made his way outside groggily.

Yoongi’s nose was welcomed by the smell of food with the mixture of sweet laundry detergent. It was subtle which doesn’t bother him at all as it blends perfectly into the thin air. He came to the realization that it was the caretaker Ahjumma. Apart from them and the managers only the caretaker had the access to their place.

The smile crept farther across his face as he made his way to the kitchen, curiosity did kill the cats. Everyone was dying to meet this kind Ahjumma who had been working for good three years with them. Even though, it was odd to see her working with the presence of Bangtan members today he assumed his manager must have forgotten to remind her about it. They were aware of the nature of her contract with Bighit became the reason why they never had the chance to meet their caretaker.

It was his lucky day perhaps. He finally got to meet her after years and could thank her personally on behalf of others for all the yummy foods that she cooked for them.

Yoongi raised his eyebrows, scrutinizing the small figure before him carefully. Seul had her back facing him with her hair tied into messy bun ‘She looks young. Is she even the Ahjumma?’ Yoongi did not look convince after all. Judging from her back view, she appeared way too young contradicted to her title as and Ahjumma and some more he couldn’t see any wrinkle from her fair skin. He did not want to sound like a creep but it was the truth.

After gathering his courage, he walked up behind Seul carefully keeping a little distance between them not trying to scare her off “Excuse me?” he attempted in gaining her attention. Then he noticed the earphones plugged securely there with loud music could be heard clearly from it.

He tugged the earphone off from her ears causing her body jolted up in surprised. Seul turned to face Yoongi with her eyes wide open “What the fuck?” the words slipped out from her mouth. Unamused Yoongi, narrows his eyes in anger “YOU ARE NOT THE AHJUMMA!” his deep voice gravelled under his breath.

Seul found herself squirming under his scrutiny.

“Who…the.. fuck… are.. you?” Yoongi lurched forwards trapping Seul between the kitchen counter. Every word came from his mouth were dangerously low and disturbing. He cursed something low beneath his breath, something that she couldn’t understand. It sounded like a thick accent from Busan or Daegu to her. Whatever it was, she felt small in front of him.

The breath caught in her throat and her heart twisted at the stunned tone of his voice.

“Stay away from me…” she clutched onto the counter trying to escape from his gaze.

Shit, am I getting caught? She mentally slapped herself for her stupidity.

The corner of his lips twitched into a smirk “Who the fuck are you?” he inquired again this time the tone of his voice was harsher than a minute ago.

This work belongs to  Chimswae © 2020. All Rights Reserved.

#bts fic #bts fanfic #min yoongi x oc #yoongi x oc #jungkook x oc #jeon jungkook x oc #bts fluff #yoongi fluff #jungkook fic #bts series #bts idolau #suga x oc #jungkook idolau #btscaretaker #bts romance

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Its a Long Story

For- Jennifer ( @eloquence-of-felicities ) You said that you loved Olicity’s story and so I have written something that hopefully celebrates their canon story for all its multi-dimension, mutli-timeline awesomeness, including my interpretation of the ending. I hope you enjoy it! By @lupin72

Oliver and Felicity both tell various people the story of some firsts in their relationship.

Warning: the last chapter is rated E

Chapter 1- First Kiss

Oliver felt the punchbag cut into his knuckles, another scrape forming, each time he hit the leather. It didn’t feel like pain exactly. He knew pain well. This was more of an annoyance. But he welcomed it and hit the bag harder, faster.

It had been a couple of hours since he had left the hospital. A couple of hours since he had felt her lips on his for the first time. Or at least that’s what he thought. The clock on her computer screen would reveal it had been nearly 6.

He punched on.

In his trance he didn’t hear the footsteps until they hit the cold marble floor at the bottom of the stairs. Yet another proof she was a distraction. But, a growl tore from his chest, she was so much more than that.

“Oliver?” Dig called. Stopping just before him, and crossing his arms, his signature frown set upon his face.

“What are you doing here Dig?” Oliver asked. He stopped punching and let his hands fall to his waist, turning them to hide the scrapes.

“I left my jacket here so I thought I’d pick it up on the way home. But I can see it was good that I did. What’s happened man?”

Oliver shook his head and turned from his friend. Now that he wasn’t moving he could feel the exhaustion in his muscles and he let himself fall into the nearest chair. Her chair. 

Dig slammed their bottle of vodka onto the desk beside him. Oliver immediately poured them both a shot. As their glasses slammed onto the table Dig sent Oliver a look that couldn’t be mistaken: explain yourself.

“We kissed.” Oliver confessed, not meeting his friend’s eyes. 

He missed the small smile that crossed Dig’s face. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Dig asked, although he could tell from Oliver’s cut hands, which he was failing to hide, that it hadn’t been. 

“It didn’t change anything. Fuck I’ve just made it worse." 

Dig rose to his full height, towering over the man that had instilled fear into a city full of people.

"You’re telling me you kissed her but you still haven’t got your head out of your ass?” Dig did his best to keep his voice steady but this was Felicity they were talking about.

“It wasn’t like that. At least it wasn’t supposed to be.” Oliver shook his head at himself and poured another drink. Only once the burn had stopped did he start talking again. "I couldn’t let her doubt that I ever had feelings for her. She had to know, it seemed worse if she doubted it." 

Oliver didn’t add how he had felt like it might have been his only chance to feel her lips on his. How he was greedy and selfish and took it. How he had felt his heart break alongside hers when she pulled away from him. Instead he summoned every ounce of strength in him and dictated, with as much conviction as he could muster, “It’s over now. So that’s that. We can just go back to normal.” 

Dig sighed and leaned back onto the table. “I don’t know if that’s possible man.”

Oliver didn’t speak. He just hung his head low. It was all the confirmation Dig needed. He knew it too. 

“Look its late, I should go, I’ve got four hours to get some sleep before I’m allowed back in the hospital.” Dig announced, picking up his jacket.

“Hospital rules or Lyla’s?” Oliver asked. 

“Both.”

Oliver let out a breathy laugh. He felt Dig pat him on the back and looked up in thanks.

“You get some sleep yourself, maybe your head will finally be on straight tomorrow.”

Oliver didn’t get a chance to reply as Dig made his way up the steps.

Chapter 2- First Meet

A quiet night in the Smoak- Queen and Clayton household was hard to come by. It had been weeks since its three residents had been able to sit down and enjoy a meal together. But tonight the streets were quiet, Diaz had gone underground and the mayoral work was up to date.

Which meant a long awaited family games night was finally scheduled. 

Felicity had pushed for it when she found a superhero trivia games set in the store. She knew they had a deck of cards in the drawer and William had some old board games under his bed.

After Oliver lost epically at the trivia, and William beating Felicity by one point, and then both boys getting annoyed at her counting cards in their games of black jack, they moved onto a more even game of snakes and ladders. Or it should have been even but Oliver seemed to have a tactic for constantly rolling a six. After one too many innuendos in front of her step son, Felicity had stopped interrogating him on his wrist action and gave in to the fact that he just might win this one. 

It wasn’t just games. They shared small talk between jeers and taunts. Oliver spoke about playing with Tommy as a kid, Felicity showed them how to shuffle cards like she learned in Vegas. William even told stories of playing with his mom. It was fun and relaxing and oh so needed.

“Felicity?” William asked rolling a four and frowning as he was sent down a ladder. “How did you meet my dad? You said when we were in the bunker that it was something to do with a laptop and bullets ?”

Oliver and Felicity laughed quietly and turned to look at each other.

“Well, you remembered right Will, it was a laptop but it was already minus the bullets since your dad thought that would make me believe a latte was the problem.”

“I panicked alright.” Oliver defended , unable to wipe the huge smile off of his face. “You caught me off guard.”

William frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Game forgotten Oliver and Felicity moved into sitting positions. After all they should be comfortable to tell their favorite tale.

“The Hood, they called me that then, had been in a gunfight. I took the laptop to Felicity to try to get some information off of it to help with my…"

“Mission.” Felicity finished when Oliver clearly lacked the words to explain. 

Oliver nodded to her in thanks before continuing. “I had heard that she was the best in the building for tech help, despite her position as support. I don’t know what I was expecting when I walked into her cubicle but it certainly wasn’t…” Oliver trailed off, lost for words again. “I wasn’t expecting Felicity.”

Oliver made direct eye contact with the woman in question, allowing his sincerity to show on his face. If William wasn’t there Felicity knew she would have jumped him. To break the tension building between them she turned to her step son. 

“Picture this Will: I’m just sitting there chewing a pen-”

“A red pen.” 

Felicity tried to glare at him for interrupting but her heart warmed as it did every time he remembered a detail about their past. 

“I’m sitting there,“ she continued, not trusting herself to look at him again, "chewing a red pen when the boss’s son walks right in and smiles at me all handsome and mysterious. So what did I do?”

“You talked a lot?” William asked. He was sitting up straight, completely engrossed by the story.

“Yup.” The family shared a laugh. Felicity’s heart swelled again, this time for her love for the boy before her who she was starting to form such a bond with and who was willing to get to know her as well. “I babbled on about how your dad hadn’t drowned but his father had. It was terrible.” 

“It was cute.” Oliver interrupted again.

“Okay I don’t care how cute you think you’re being if you interrupt me again, you lose your next two turns.” Felicity scolded Oliver. His eyes lit up as he curled his lips tight shut. “Now where was I? Yes, so he gives me this laptop, covered in holes and scratched up where he had obviously taken out the bullets. And he tells me he spilt a latte on it!”

William laughed. “You didn’t seriously think she would believe that did you Dad?”

Oliver frowned, making a deal of showing his lips were sealed.

Felicity smiled in amusement whilst William laughed harder. “So I of course called him out in his bullshi- sorry.” William shook his head and Felicity was glad Oliver wasn’t speaking for she knew he’d have his revenge and scold her for swearing. “I told him they looked like bullet holes and he didn’t even have an answer for me.”

“Why did you help him then?” William asked.

Oliver froze, as did Felicity. They had never discussed the answer to that question before. Intrigued Oliver stared at her till Felicity was sure he would explode if she didn’t look at him. She complied. “Because he needed help. And I could do it.“ She replied simply, but then her eyes burned with mirth and smile snuck onto her face "And he was my boss. And hot as hell.”

They all laughed and Felicity even let Oliver keep his next turn. 

Chapter 3- First Nightmare

Felicity sprung up in bed, her entire body turning rigid for one split second before she was running from the room and towards her baby girl’s screams. 

Cries of "Mom” came from Mia’s bedroom, causing Felicity’s heart to beat faster as they became more panicked. 

“I’m coming Mia!” she shouted, finally able to catch a breath to respond. 

Mia’s shouts turned into sobs. Felicity finally reached the room and she turned immediately, analysing for any danger and sighing with relief when she found none. Her relief didn’t last long when saw her 7 year old’s tear stained face.

“Oh baby”, she sat down next to Mia and pulled her into her chest, softly stroking her hair as she had done since she was small. 

For those who didn’t know she dyed it they often commented she had her mother’s hair but Felicity knew better. She had seen younger pictures of Oliver and his unruly waves. 

The pang of pain when she remembered her husband never seemed to ease. 

“What’s the matter baby?” Felicity asked, pulling Mia closer and getting comfortable on the bed so they could lie side by side. 

“Had a bad dream” Mia mumbled, muffled against Felicity’s stomach where she had buried her head. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Felicity asked. 

Mia shook her head no. 

“Okay,” Felicity pressed a kiss onto Mia’s head and contemplated what to say next. A familiar night came to mind and knowing her daughter’s current love for a story Felicity sat up straighter and whispered, “if I told you another top secret Green Arrow story would that make you feel better?” Mia’s snuffling stopped for a second before she nodded. 

“Alright. So some time ago, long before the Green Arrow was known as the hero he was, and was instead just the Arrow, he decided to give up his fight to save the city and trusted his friends to do it. And so he and Overwatch decided to go out into the world to explore. You remember that baby? ”

Mia nodded. “They saw the whole wide world. The forests and seas and animals big and small.“ 

Felicity smiled in reply. She looked over at the framed picture on Mia’s wall and could feel her daughter turning to the same one. They didn’t have many pictures together as a family. Only a small handful. One sat on Mia’s bedside table, the other on her own. Throughout the mansion there were many pictures of Oliver. Moira had many from when he was younger and Felicity enjoyed hearing some of the stories that went along with them. But Felicity had some favourites of both of them together and Mia always liked them too so she put one up in her room. 

"Yes they did. But it wasn’t all that easy. One scary night, when they were by the beach a storm came in. Now the Arrow didn’t like the sea much but he said that with Overwatch he wanted to learn to love it again. But then the storm came. And the Arrow was scared. It made his mind play tricks on him, nasty tricks and he had dreams. And just like you baby girl he kicked out and shouted and woke up Overwatch.” 

Mia pulled back to look up at Felicity. “But the Arrow isn’t scared of anything!” She admonished. 

“You’re right baby the Arrow wasn’t scared. But,” Felicity paused, trying to find the words to explain to her daughter how her father was both a fearless hero and a man just as capable as being scared as she was. She settled for what she hoped would be an explanation enough for tonight. “He wasn’t the Arrow that night.”

Mia frowned but nodded in understanding after a few seconds.“He was daddy. ”

Felicity blinked the tears from her eyes, a trick she had long since learned. “Yeah sweetheart, he was Daddy and Daddy got scared of nightmares too." 

“But Overwatch helped him?” 

“Yeah she did. She woke up and she told him everything would be alright. That the dreams were all in his head and he was safe. With her. And then she asked him to tell her about it. Because if you talk about your dreams they aren’t scary anymore. They are out here in the world where you can fight them and not in here.” She tapped Mias head with her finger. 

Mia nodded in understanding again. "Do you think if I talk about my bad dreams I can fight them too?” 

"Mia you are the strongest, bravest person in the whole wide world. Yes I think you could fight them. You want to tell me what happened?”

Mia buried her face again but her explanation could still be heard. "Monsters took me away. They were dark like shadows and they went bang when I punched them but they kept coming back. Then they picked me up and took me away. I don’t want to go away from you mommy.” she cried again.

Felicity’s heart broke a little as she pulled her daughter close. The image her daughter created sent a pang of pain through her chest. But she didn’t let it show. “Don’t worry sweetheart. I won’t let anyone take you away from me. Not ever. ”

She knew the day would come, however, when she could no longer keep that promise. Oliver was still out there as Spectre. She didn’t understand how it worked, just as all the alternate realities confused her. She had memories of a life where Tommy and Moira and many of their other friends and family had died. And she had many memories of this new one. It was confusing at times, but somehow she could separate the two timelines in her head. It helped that John and the others could relate and they often got together to tell stories of the old days as they remembered them. But she was forever thankful that her daughter was growing up to a future that much more brighter because of her father. And, knowing what the future had in store for her, having met the hero she would become, Felicity was confident that one day they would both be ready for her to depart to be with Oliver again. And she would explain it all to her, and to William as well, who she was forever thankful to be able to hold close after he had decided to stay with her following his father’s funeral. 

In fact, she had already told William some parts of the tale but it was hard for any of them to understand how Oliver could still be out there somewhere yet they couldn’t reach him all of the time. He could, and had, appeared sporadically as Spectre, however the terms of his visits were as complicated as the rest of their story. But, knowing that with her deal with The Monitor, and that Oliver being Spectre meant that one day Felicity would be with her husband again? That was enough for her to continue to fight each day for a future where their children were safe in a happy Star City when she left to be with him. 

Chapter 4- First Time

They had been on the road for three weeks before Felicity ever saw Oliver drunk. At the start she knew he was clinging onto the control. After nearly losing his mind in Nanda Parbat she could understand him not wanting to lose any of that control now. But then something changed. She’d watched him soften, become more relaxed, letting a tiny piece of the wall down each day. She’d loved it. It was probably her favourite part of the trip. Forget the places they had seen: the hills the sunsets the beaches, this man beside her finally letting his guard down was truly beautiful. And so they sat side by side at the bar, she enjoying a cocktail as she watched Oliver ask the barman for another whisky. He was far out drinking her at this point which would have alarmed her had it not been for the gentle hand on her thigh and smile that lit up his face. He was merely enjoying himself.

“I love you,” Oliver whispered in her ear, his hand sliding a bit further up her leg. She stopped it with a firm hand of her own. 

“I love you too,” she told him and watched as his smile grew wider just as it always did when she said those three words. She often wondered how long that would last.

Just as she was about to lean in for a kiss a man bumped against her as he collapsed against the bar, his weight almost sending her toppling from the seat. Oliver was on his feet in a second, both hands securing Felicity’s shoulders, whilst glaring over her head at the offender. 

The man startled and turned, slurring out an apology. Felicity could tell it wasn’t going to be enough for Oliver. Luckily, the man must have sensed it too for he elaborated. “Really man, I am sorry. Got a little carried away there but I blame this one really." 

On his accusation a tall brunette stumbled against the man. "She’s a bad influence. Just a water please mate.” He told the barman. 

Felicity smiled at the couple, the young woman falling against her boyfriend. "It’s alright.” Felicity reassured the man, offering her hand for a handshake and a sign for her over protective, slightly drunk boyfriend to calm down. Of course just as he let his guard down something would freak him out. Luckily Oliver relaxed offering his own hand and introductions. 

Jennifer and Frank explained that they were in California for the first time, for their first holiday away together, celebrating their first year anniversary. They were both excited to find out that Oliver and Felicity were in a similar situation and, despite the rough start, both couples hit it off. 

After another round of drinks the conversation somehow progressed to firsts. 

Jennifer and Frank had been working together and their first came of a drunken escapade at an office Christmas party. Felicity found it exceptionally sweet but Oliver got strangely grumpy. She was confused until he explained that he had hadn’t got the chance to take Felicity home after their work party. Felicity blushed profusely remembering the night well. She had turned to wine for comfort after getting ridiculously annoyed by all the constant whispering and bitching about how the CEO and his EA were unable to stay away from each other for more than five minutes. She had gotten so drunk she had removed her heels and then lost them when Oliver had offered to take her home. Then she had told him, after he found her shoes, (somehow they had ended up under the Christmas tree), that they couldn’t leave together. That it would only add fuel to the fire. And so Dig had discreetly walked her to the taxi with the promise she would text Oliver as soon as she got home safe. What Felicity didn’t know was that Oliver had stopped by that night just to check and found her asleep on the couch. She didn’t remember him carrying her to bed, nor was she confused when she woke up, having not remembered huge portions of the night. 

“So when was your first time then?” Jennifer asked. “You were friends for 3 years and you worked together, you’re clearly both in love and happy so how did you not explode?”

Felicity blushed further turning to Oliver for guidance. She didn’t trust herself to tell the story believing that she would babble on and give too many details away. Then again he wasn’t very good at cover stories sober. 

“We were on a work trip.” Oliver explained, grinning like a fool. "A super romantic location, remote, high in the mountains. I’d already told Felicity I loved her, but she was in a relationship at the time, and then I screwed it up, but that’s not important.” 

Felicity nudged him in the chest. “Hey babblings my thing!” 

“Sorry honey,” he continued. “So we were on a work trip and I…” Oliver paused. Felicity could sense his planned cover story hadn’t gotten this far before he started talking. She didn’t blame him. Trying to explain why he was joining a league of assassins and she would never seen him again would have been difficult sober. Luckily, she had an idea.  “You got another job offer for different company.” 

“Yeah a different company! Hey that was smart!” Oliver praised, leaning in for a kiss. He froze, realising his mistake when he saw the look on Felicity’s face. “Oh for remembering I mean.” He tried to cover. She still didn’t look pleased. “Oh maybe I’m just flirting to kiss you.” She finally allowed him to do so. 

Sadly, Jennifer told them to get a room, so it didn’t last long, but it appeared to have worked well as a distraction.

"Finish the story you two!” Jennifer demanded.

Felicity started talking when she saw the confusion on Oliver’s face who had obviously forgotten what story they were referring to. She liked to think her kissing skills had at least a small part of that and not just the alcohol. 

“I realised I could lose him and it terrified me. So I told him how I felt.” 

“And then we had sex!” Oliver blurted, looking exceptionally proud of himself for remembering what story they were telling. 

Felicity slapped him playfully on the chest again and Oliver pretended to be in pain, causing her to giggle. 

“Damn that is a good story” Frank praised. “Leaving it all for love that’s ballsy man.” 

“Well she worth it.” Oliver replied, still watching Felicity who was now full on laughing. 

“I’m sorry it’s just you’re a sappy drunk Oliver.” Felicity explained, leaning against him. 

“Only for you.” 

“Okay no more drinks for these two.” Jennifer announced when it became apparent that they were more than likely going to start making out like teenagers again.

“In fact make it these three!” She added when Frank stumbled again, missing the bar when he went to lean against it. 

“Yeah we should probably get going.” Felicity admitted, shakily getting to her feet. Oliver subconsciously steadied her. Apparently it would take more alcohol for him to lose his coordination. Figures. 

After exchanging details and promising to meet up for dinner the following evening the couples partied ways. 

It was a short walk to the small room they had hired so Felicity didn’t mind walking in her heels. Plus, it put her at the perfect height to bury her face in Oliver’s shoulder. 

“You know I think our cover stories are getting better.” She mused. 

Oliver laughed, “I think we just work better as a team. Always have. Always will. ”

Felicity smiled up at him noticing that his eyes had cleared now which meant he was sobering up in the fresh air. “What do you say we remember that first night when we get back? I saw some candles in the drawer earlier, probably not as many as there were back then, but I think it could work?“

Oliver’s eyes glazed over with a look that could only be described as blazing heat as he ran them over her body from head to toe and back again.

"I’d say we better hurry and get back.” With that he picked her up bridal style and began running for the door only a few meters in front of them. 

Both laughing, they stumbled inside. If either noticed what had happened they didn’t comment. Little did they know in three years he would be doing it again. 

Chapter 5- First fight

Oliver lay on the couch contemplating his conversation with his daughter by his father’s grave, two days before. Not much had changed since then. Mia still shied away from opening up to him and William was still overjoyed every time he walked into a room. 

It pained him, but Oliver couldn’t help but be happy. Even in its difficulty this time felt like a blessing. 

He did however still pine for Felicity to be by his side during all of this. Even after William told him not to call her, pointing out the difficulty of the entire situation, he had still been tempted to do so every minute of every day. He wanted her here, he needed her here, she had a right to know what was going on, but nothing had changed. The Ninth Circle were still after them. From what Mia had said, in the future, even when that threat disappeared, the Deathstrokes had already taken over the city. But they had stopped that. The future was surely changed. Wasn’t it?

Mia and William didn’t like to talk about Felicity in the future. It seemed to cause them both pain to remember her. All Oliver knew was that she was alive but in hiding again and they hadn’t heard from her since she left which had been three weeks before they came here. 

They both seemed to think it was more than hiding though, Oliver could sense it. But he didn’t know enough to speculate himself and so he simply hoped with every second that she was safe in the future or that they could change it somehow. 

The very fact that his children were before him seemed to hint to that. So maybe bringing Felicity to Star City would help too? 

But every time he went to press the call button he froze. Mia was still a baby there. Felicity couldn’t come here with her, he knew enough about the laws of time travel to know that they couldn’t meet. The Monitor could also come for him at any moment. He knew he had some time before the Crisis began but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be sent across the world or across time or space at any second. The same went for Mia and William. So if he could spare his wife the heartache of learning that the future wasn’t so bright, of learning about his death, of potentially seeing their children only for them to be torn away again? If he could protect her and their baby from the dangers here? Then he had to do it. And so he never pressed call.

Instead they continued their brief texts every now and then. They were always short. They hadn’t called since he returned. Both had silently agreed that it would cause them too much pain to continuously have to say goodbye again, not knowing if it was for the last time. And that was assuming either one of them would find the strength to end the call. Oliver knew in his heart that he for sure didn’t. 

He looked down at the last picture Felicity had sent him. She was hodling Mia up to the camera and their daughter was smiling almost right at him. He could tell Felicity was trying to smile too but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. She had captioned it ‘Much love from us both x.’ He had cried the first time he saw it and he was barely stopping the tears now. 

It was then that he heard a door down the hall opening and footsteps coming towards him. 

“Mia?” he asked into the dark, reaching over to turn on the light. Oliver hadn’t explicitly told his children that he was sleeping on the couch rather than his own bed. Thankfully neither of them brought it up. He guessed that they knew why he couldn’t return to their bed alone.  

“I’m sorry for waking you,” Mia spoke, cautiously moving closer.

“You didn’t,” Oliver reassured her, a tentative smile on his face. “What’s up?” He sat up fully and nodded his head toward the chair across from him, smirking when Mia perched herself on the arm rather than sitting on it properly. Her mother often did the same. 

“Its fine, honestly, I couldn’t sleep and wanted a drink that’s all. ” The only way to describe the young woman was spooked. She was ready to flee any second. Oliver was about to speak when she blurted, “I’ll go back to bed,” and rose to her feet.

Hastily, Oliver sat up straighter, “Please stay? ” He cleared his throat nervously.  “Maybe I can help?”

Mia shook her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Oliver tensed when he watched a wall form around his daughter, she grew tense and looked ready to flee again. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to push.” Mia settled slightly at the apology. Taking this as progress Oliver hesitantly tried again, “I just want to help you.”

Mia seemed to contemplate the offer. Maybe she was thinking about their conversation by the grave too, or maybe it was how he was obviously pleading with her, but she didn’t argue and instead moved to sit properly in the seat.

“Did your team ever fight?”

That a question he wasn’t expecting. His confusion must have shown on his face for Mia continued.

“It’s just that in our time, the team wasn’t really a team. And I tried to lead and all it led to was Zoe-” the pain in Mia’s face, when she couldn’t finish her sentence, shattered Oliver’s heart.

“We didn’t always get on.” Oliver smiled gently, remembering how their team had started. “Your mother tried to quit right at the start. In the end everyone quit at least once.”

“Mum never mentioned that part of the story.” Mia said, moving closer to the edge of her seat. “She focused on the good stuff I guess.”

Oliver nodded, “yeah your mother has a way of seeing the bright side of things. But no it wasn’t always that easy.”

“Would you tell me about it?” Mia asked.

Oliver’s smile grew. Perhaps this was the start of that impenetrable distance between them starting to close. “I don’t think I’ll be as good a story teller as your Mum but I’ll give it a go.”

The smile that lit up Mia’s face might have been the brightest he had seen since he met her.

“Hmm okay. What if I tell you about our first fight?” 

Mia nodded, that bright smile of hers still in place. Oliver couldn’t help but see her mother’s in it. 

“Well I had just started my mission, and at the start I wasn’t always that…kind, to the criminals I faced. Your mum didn’t like that and so one night, just as I was about to go out, she changed the lock to the door. I thought I had mistyped but, when I tried again, and still couldn’t get out, I realised what must have happened. I was a bit more hot headed back then and I lost it.” Oliver laughed, he could remember the outrage that took over him and the shock that Felicity had dared try such a thing. And then she had surprised him again. “God I was so angry. And I ran down the stairs, straight for where Felicity was working at her desk and I shouted her name. I tried to intimidate her, the way I did with everyone, but she just wouldn’t let me. This tiny woman stood up, she could barely reach my chin, but she looked me right in the eye and told me she was quitting.. I was speechless and Dig just gave me this knowing look. And then we watched her walk out. The next day we were trying to get her to come back because I realised I couldn’t do it without her anymore.”

By the time Oliver had finished a look of wonder covered Mia’s face. A spark in her eyes he had only seen when she had a bow in her hand had been ignited.  

“Listen Mia, this life isn’t ideal. It’s a life I didnt want for you-” he hastened to finish when he saw that she was ready to interrupt. “But I can see that it’s a life you want for yourself and so I’ll support it in any way I can. Maybe start with some training if that’s okay with you?” 

Mia nodded vigorously, looking very much like the child Oliver was still trying to remind himself that she wasn’t anymore. “I would like that.” 

“Okay.” Father and daughter shared a smile. “Well then you better get some sleep because you’re about to start training with the man that out-duelled Nyssa al Ghul.”

Mia smirked. “I’ve done that a few times myself.”

Oliver laughed and watched as his daughter sprung elegantly to her feet and made her way back to her room. She stopped just as she reached the start of the corridor and turned back to look at him.

“Thanks dad.” 

Tears filled Oliver’s eyes for the second time that night. He had long since let go of the idea that he would ever hear his baby say those words. 

“Goodnight.” he replied. With one last knowing look between them, both archers found sleep easily for the first time since this new adventure had begun.

Chapter 6- First I love you

Oliver and Felicity lay in bed, side by side as they had done for the last few weeks. They had been for dinner with Frank and Jennifer and with full stomachs they were both almost asleep. 

Oliver sighed, looking across at Felicity with a gentle smile on his lips. She was lying flat on her back and had been groaning for the last few minutes about how full she was. 

He reached out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear and encouraged her to turn to him with a hand on her waist. She did so with another groan. 

“Mm dinner was good.” she yawned snuggling closer to him.

“So you’ve said,” Oliver replied, his hand rising to cup her head and pull it close so he could whisper “three times since we got home.”

Her only response was another “mmff.” 

He laughed. “You know when Jen asked about when we first said I love you and you spun that story about it being another work proposal that could mean us never seeing each other again because it was in such a remote place I couldn’t visit or call-” Oliver rambled.

Felicity interrupted to cut to the chase, not interested in hearing the embarrassing tale. Living it once was enough. “And they totally didn’t believe me so we had to change the subject? Yeah I remember.”

“Well that wasn’t actually the first time I told you I loved you. I mean it technically was the first time I told you. When you could hear me that is. But I said it before.” Oliver confessed. Truthfully, he had forgotten about it until Jen had asked the question. He figured that the moment must have been clouded by other memories of that particular night.

Felicity seemed to wake up entirely at the confession, pushing off Oliver’s chest so she could look down at him. “Oh really?” 

He nodded. “I told you I loved you the night of our first date.” Felicity’s smile grew. “After the bomb hit and I found you lying unconscious, I knew we had to get out of there so I carried you out the back. It was as I was holding you I realised how much you meant to me. I’d always been scared of losing you, and we’d had some close calls before, but holding you I knew that if you didn’t wake up my life would be over too. I wasn’t even thinking I just said it.”

Tears filled Felicity’s eyes and she leaned down to press her lips against his. “Thank you for telling me,” she said, resuming the kiss. It steadily grew more heated as their tongues fought for dominance. Oliver’s hands wandered from where they were wrapped around her, one heading straight for her ass to pull her close, the other for the bottom of her top to slip underneath it. 

Felicity groaned as she began to move against him causing Oliver to snap his hips up against hers in response. 

“You know,” Felicity continued, as her hands snuck under her boyfriends top, “I told you I loved you before Nada Parabat.” 

Oliver frowned “Really?" 

“Mmhmm,” Felicity began, trailing kisses down his neck and giggling when he squirmed more beneath her. For a big, scary vigilante he was ticklish. 

"I hadn’t been working with the team long. It was just after I cloned your phone. You had finished with another name on the list and I left you a voicemail explaining I had to go home because my cousin was in town. Well at the end of voicemail I said: love you, Goodnight! And hung up without thinking.” Oliver burst out laughing and Felicity couldn’t help but join in. 

"And I’m guessing you hacked my phone to delete it? Oliver asked. 

“Yup, took all of fifteen seconds but it was the longest fifteen seconds of my life. I thought I was done for.”

Oliver laughed harder before cupping Felicity’s head in his large palm. She groaned and turned into it. And he couldn’t help but think about the first time she did so. He had loved her even then he realised. He had loved her for much longer than he let his heart admit. 

"I don’t think you would have lost me had I heard it Felicity. Sure things would have probably been awkward but the man I was then? I would probably have pretended like nothing even happened.” 

Felicity chuckled, "yeah you’re probably right.”

After a few seconds of staring at each other with eyes blazing with humour, a spark seemed to erupt between them. Oliver grabbed Felicity’s hips and turned to lie her flat against the bed. Felicity groaned. He knew how much that move turned her on.

Oliver’s lips immediately latched onto Felicity’s neck, his stubble scratching lightly at her skin as he made his way down. He got to her top and made short work of pulling it up and over her head so that he could continue on his quest. Felicity felt his length press against her thigh and she moaned again. But Oliver didn’t want to rush this time. Instead he latched onto her right breast with his mouth, his hand finding her left. Felicity immediately began writhing beneath him, the noises she was making spurring him on. He slipped one leg between them so that his thigh was pressed tight against her centre. But it wasn’t enough. 

“Oliver! Please,” Felicity gasped, her hand reaching down for him. “Please,“ she cupped him through his jeans causing him to growl at her.

Pulling back from her breasts he immediately made direct eye contact with her. Their heated gazes locked, burning like an inferno as Oliver tore his pants off whilst Felicity made short work of her own. 

Still not breaking eye contact, Oliver softly linked his thumb into Felicity’s underwear and slowly pulled it down the path of her leg, stopping when it was past her knees. He then got into position on top of her again, one leg at either side of hers, as he quickly pulled the garment all the way down before tossing it onto the floor. Oliver then tore off his top and threw it behind him. He lowered himself back on top of Felicity’s now naked body, grinning with a glint in his eye that Felicity was now recognising as pure happiness. 

Felicity’s hands grabbed his boxers as soon as he was close enough and she pushed them down murmuring “off,” and he was only too happy to oblige. 

Now both completely naked, Oliver leaned down so that his weight was balanced on his knees and his arms which allowed him to cradle Felicity beneath him. He pressed his forehead against Felicity’s and they smiled before their lips met. Dueling, they battled, until Felicity reached between them to align Oliver with where she wanted him. Oliver nipped her bottom lip in retaliation before thrusting inside. 

Felicity gasped, "Oliver!” and he groaned her name in response in her ear. 

Allowing Felicity a few seconds to adjust , Oliver pushed up onto his arms again to give him the momentum to pull back and thrust in fast. He then pulled out again, only to slowly push inside, watching as Felicity’s face transformed into one of pure ecstasy. 

He continued the random rhythm he had set, moving from fast to slow until she linked her feet around his lefs and pulled him down on top of her. 

“Faster Oliver,” she growled in his ear. “And don’t stop this time.” 

Deciding to be merciful, and because he himself was on the brink of losing control anyway, Oliver immediately began snapping his hips down to hers. Soon Felicity was on the edge, he felt her toes curl and her spine tense. Reaching down between them Oliver found her clit and rubbed in fast circles to match his pace. 

“Oliver yes!” Felicity cried out as she finally found release. Oliver snapped his hips against hers one more time before he spilled over after her. 

"I love you,” Oliver told her. He was looking down at her like she was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. “And I’ll happily tell you that every day for the rest of our lives." 

Sadly Oliver wouldn’t get to live that promise. Circumstances would tear them apart. Time and time again. But like all good love stories they found their way back to each other in the end. On a strange plane, not defined by time nor space, they found each other once more. And they could say those three words to each other any time they pleased. For eternity. 

AN- I was going to tell the story of the first time Oliver saw her but I felt that it was Oliver’s to tell and the show set it up much better than I could have.

#arrow #olicity #olicity secret santa #goodbye Olicity #submission